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Part 2: "Always believe in yourself and don't do drugs and sure I guess you can shoot me now," the condemned woman whispered Subway and lab approach! Let's make a weird new friend wherever we go~ So the one thought that kept gnawing at me as I played through the Agricultural Lab was, *how did anyone get any work done here*? Like, it is ostensibly a lab. It is presumably a place where actual human beings scurried around from 9 to 5, researchin' and recordin' and typin' up reports and whatever else. I don't know how this works, I majored in English because I'm a whimsical wood elf princess and this skill set does not lend itself to a career in STEM fields. I mean, you would *think* these things were the case, because it didn't all just sprout up from the ground, right? It is ostensibly a lab. It is also a catastrofuck of ledges and mostly-blocked hallways and vents and false floors and overgrowth and one elevator that leads down to one single solitary terminal for recording lab notes and a dead-end and-- Even before some well-meaning researcher just shot up a bag of fertilizer with HGH and watered everything in sight with a few gallons of creatine shake and the plants started growing beards and mouthparts and yelling about sick gains and whether the week has eight days in it*, this place seems like an absolute nightmare of a work environment. Like, at the very least it's the platonic ideal of Not ADA Compliant, right? I'm not--it's not just me being particular, right? when disability compliance officers die this is their hell (Agricultural Lab) *I could not bring myself to care about sports if you paid me but Pretty Good is swell and you should watch it. Now that that's done....  I've got more combat experience than you. Don't try that again......now, that's not actually part of the mission-complete dialogue, it's just (I guess) incidental dialogue that showed up on the bottom of the screen when I walked over to Elsa. I, um, I guess I'll make sure not to....walk? Talk? Does this game have some kind of hidden rpg-lite elements centered around unlocking Ceyda's telepathic potential so we can progress the game without walking or speaking around Elsa? I.......god i'm confused. I got pinged saying that power's out in most of the lab. Guess you did the job? Yeah, I...wait, only most? Huh, wait, yeah. That's odd. Should be fine. It wouldn't be enough light for a plant to grow. I sure as hell hope you're right. Anyways, another job. You can check the lab out again later. Some gov employee's gone off on her own. She's holed up in an old office she managed with some antiassassins guarding her. This will be a silent mission as well. Get spotted and you'll be executed. Heh, no problem. And if it's not an issue, could I ask why she broke off? Ceyda, you know I don't get that info. It'd only result in sympathizing with the target. Huh, alright. Now head to building 117. It's just a bit west of here in downtown.An office! And, uh...... There will be a point where a lot of this goes out the window and it's just like gently caress it whatever, but... Gosh. This game is rife with this like.....mangled uncanny-valley feminism that gives you the feeling the dev's working toward *some* kind of greater point (poorly) before finally just driving it right the hell off a cliff, and I feel like 'this person you've been sent to kill trying to have a Moment with you and asking you to be more mindful in the future and going NEVER LET ANYONE DENY YOUR STRUGGLES AND EXPERIENCES DETACHED ASSASSIN LADY okay kill me' kinda underscores that. Like, 'be mindful of things and don't listen to people saying your struggles (with discrimination, disability, poverty w/e) aren't real' sound like things SJ/feminist folk might say! Just, not in this context holy poo poo I mean, in a way that lines up nicely with the other elements of the game -- you get this janky caricature of What SJ/Feminism Is And Where It Could Go to go with the janky almost everything else -- but it's weird and jarring. Anyways, more work to do. I've got another quickie for you. Tell me what it is. Kind of a two in one. One, we've got suspicions that power suits are being covertly distributed. Two, we want to know where. Conveniently, there's an office next door that handles document storage for various businesses. So you want me to check it out for docs and see if there are any suits? Precisely. Oh, and again, be sneaky. Getting spotted would just get the docs shredded before you can grab them. Alright, I'll be going then.Uh.... (Another Office) So maybe it's a dumb thing to zero in on and I'm just reading wa~y too much into throwaway dialogue, but I couldn't help noticing the same enemy sprite with the same incidental chatter that appears ad loving infinitum across so many different stages going 'THERE BETTER NOT BE ANY SNOWFLAKES IN HERE," and, uh? Like.....with very few exceptions, the snowflakes are the people *we're shooting.* Why would they...how does.....what? How does this even work? Why would they go GOSH I BETTER NOT SEE ANY MORE OF ME AROUND I AM GOING TO RUIN THEM or something? This just.....I don't.....loving hell. Maybe we should put that aside for the moment. Ceyda, we've got another big one. How big is big? After scanning through the document, we found that there's a warehouse stockpiling weapons. Where'd a warehouse like this be? Well, it's hidden under some offices. It's a bunch of pencil pushers up top doing nebulous 'work.' So they're using some bullshit bureaucrats to make it seem like their operation is legit? Isn't that all they're ever good for? Welcome to the joke zone, Elsa. Anyways, get down deep in there and report back on what you find. It seems that it goes down pretty far, meaning we'll likely lose contact with you for awhile. Alright. Be back in a bit. ...before I go. I forgot to ask what office. Oh yeah. You know that big, purple tower here in downtown? First level's the office. You'll probably need to coerce someone into opening some doors. Kay. See you.how many Secret Front Offices are there is this like the joke about everyone at the subversive anarchist potluck finding out that everyone else is secretly a spy (Warehouse) Golly, I wonder what compelling twist will greet us as we leave the Wareh--  CEYDA Yo, SED, don't blow out my ears like that. Ceyda, Elsa's gone! What? I detected her traveling away pretty fast and then her comm shorted out. So... she was snatched. Seems that way. Last I detected, it seemed they were heading to the Old Planina District. . . . I'm not sure what the problem is? SED, that district's got a reputation for being a breeding ground for assassins. Then you'll blend right in! Bro, they've got a strict hierarchy. I'd be an infiltrator and promptly killed. Everyone will recognize me as an outsider from my hair alone and report me to the Family. ...and that's made worse by the fact that it's overrun by people who want a return to the old ways. They're the types that still think Makedonia is Bulgaria's rightful territory. Dye your hair! It should at least get you around town unimpeded and let you ask around for info. I mean, the assassins will notice when you bust down their doors, but you can mingle with the residents. I, well, maybe I could do that. I'll head back home and you can help.~ Ay, Ceyda! Yo, SED, let's hurry and get this done. Alright, let's get that hair back to its natural color! ...how's it look? Looks good! I think you'll fit in in the Planina District. The hardest part now is getting there. Planina District's a pre-rev section of town. Planinans moved there because it's isolated and they're kind of able to avoid the culture espoused by society here. Consequentially, no subway connects to that region, meaning you'll have to take the old highway. It's a dangerous path with restricted access. You'll need a walk to work form to prove you have business there and are allowed to pass. And...? Here's your freshly forged walk to work form to prove you work there! Thanks, lil bud. I'll make sure to get Elsa back.Next time, Part 3: what the hell this is the worst anime convention Ningyou fucked around with this message at 23:41 on Jul 19, 2016 |
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Jul 19, 2016 23:32
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Endorph posted:that said you guys aren't really getting it i don't think, this game hates feminism because of how it excludes trans people not because of gamergate I don't even know if I'd go with "it hates feminism" given that it tries pretty hard to show a diverse spectrum of the types people practice or preach. It's just got that weird thing that a lot of gender-based media does (hello, Wheel of Time novels) where somewhere your metaphor breaks down in presentation and you get some funky unintended subtext.
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Jul 19, 2016 23:48
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Even when I do know what this game's message is I still don't really see it.
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Jul 20, 2016 00:00
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END ME SCOOB posted:I don't even know if I'd go with "it hates feminism" given that it tries pretty hard to show a diverse spectrum of the types people practice or preach. It's just got that weird thing that a lot of gender-based media does (hello, Wheel of Time novels) where somewhere your metaphor breaks down in presentation and you get some funky unintended subtext. I mean, it shows a spectrum but they're all kind of uncomfortable or uninteresting caricatures. But yeah, it's not a matter of the game hating feminism so much as trying to make bad points badly. Ningyou fucked around with this message at 00:06 on Jul 20, 2016 |
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Jul 20, 2016 00:02
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Ningyou posted:I mean, you would *think* these things were the case, because it didn't all just sprout up from the ground, right? Okay, I'm gonna go on the side of the game here: if you're going to get mad at the game for having a layout like this, never play anything that's not one of the FEAR series, with its agonizingly accurate reproductions of warehouses and office blocks. And god forbid you look at a Metroid game, I mean, how did they ever get any work done in that station in Super Metroid? And Fusion?! Don't get me started!
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Jul 20, 2016 00:13
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Kaboom Dragoon posted:Okay, I'm gonna go on the side of the game here: if you're going to get mad at the game for having a layout like this, never play anything that's not one of the FEAR series, with its agonizingly accurate reproductions of warehouses and office blocks. And god forbid you look at a Metroid game, I mean, how did they ever get any work done in that station in Super Metroid? And Fusion?! Don't get me started!
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Jul 20, 2016 00:19
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It's a bit hard to parse the sarcasm when your legitimate grievances with the game are written in the same tone of voice.
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Jul 20, 2016 00:42
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The best part of the game (besides the music) is the "nah" that pops up when you hit an armored part of an enemy.
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Jul 20, 2016 01:44
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:The best part of the game (besides the music) is the "nah" that pops up when you hit an armored part of an enemy.
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Jul 20, 2016 02:00
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Ningyou posted:I mean, it shows a spectrum but they're all kind of uncomfortable or uninteresting caricatures. I got curious, so I looked up some things the creator had written, and I don't even think the writer was trying to make a point about feminism. I think they were trying to use feminism as a vehicle to show how poo poo can get warped in a warped society by those in power using it for their own ends. More "what would feminism look like if siezed by fascists" rather than "this is what feminism will inevitably be" It's still coming across clinky as hell, though. Also, it's strange, everything in this game is amazingly well sprites, except people, but none more so than our main character with her soindly legs, wonky walk cycle and painful looking crouch and crouch walk.
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Jul 20, 2016 02:18
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Ryushikaze posted:I got curious, so I looked up some things the creator had written, and I don't even think the writer was trying to make a point about feminism. I think they were trying to use feminism as a vehicle to show how poo poo can get warped in a warped society by those in power using it for their own ends. More "what would feminism look like if siezed by fascists" rather than "this is what feminism will inevitably be" I think I recall some lovely webcomic from the old bad webcomics thread where the author turned out to be doing kind of the same thing, using furries as a metaphor for other marginalized groups while not being a furry himself or having any real opinions on furries in the real world. Though in his case, he just wanted to avoid accidentally misrepresenting a group that actually matters, which is kind of considerate, I guess. I guess what I'm saying is this game is the video game version of a lovely webcomic.
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Jul 20, 2016 02:39
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EclecticTastes posted:I think I recall some lovely webcomic from the old bad webcomics thread where the author turned out to be doing kind of the same thing, using furries as a metaphor for other marginalized groups while not being a furry himself or having any real opinions on furries in the real world. Though in his case, he just wanted to avoid accidentally misrepresenting a group that actually matters, which is kind of considerate, I guess. Sounds like someone read Maus and tried to do the same thing without doing the research or covering a weighty-enough topic. I mean, Maus is absolutely not a furry comic, but it has anthropomorphic animals standing in for various demographics.
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Jul 20, 2016 03:15
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And even then Maus received some criticism for the choice in some nationality caricatures (Spiegelberg had a side comic on how he ran into trouble in how to depict his wife's conversion to Judaism with his set up), but metaphor is a really tricky art to master.
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Jul 20, 2016 03:55
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Robindaybird posted:And even then Maus received some criticism for the choice in some nationality caricatures (Spiegelberg had a side comic on how he ran into trouble in how to depict his wife's conversion to Judaism with his set up), but metaphor is a really tricky art to master. In that sense, damned if you do, damned if you don't. Like Zootopia got criticized for its animal groupings deliberately not conforming to real world ethnic groups (apart from the shrews, and that was an extended Godfather joke if anything) because it muddled the message... somehow.
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Jul 20, 2016 04:01
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Some aspects of the level design remind me more of a Megaman game than a Metroidvania, especially the emphasis on using timing and height differences to avoid enemy attacks. The plot and setting seem like a bit of a confused mess so far; if the game's trying to push any particular point of view it's not really coherent enough to do it effectively.
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Jul 20, 2016 07:39
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So I was going to wait til Sunday or something but I had some time on my hands while waiting on the oven and so I guess i'm the proud mom of a new batch of recordings. I hope y'all are excited for trans-separatist anime ninjas filtered through Tony Perkins.
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Jul 21, 2016 02:30
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I'm excited in a very Mystery Science Theater 3000 way. By the way, what does "Aerannis" mean as a word? Does it have any particular meaning that makes it (supposedly) connected to the game's "theme", or is it just a pretentious-sounding title chosen just for that?
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Jul 21, 2016 02:56
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I mean, maybe? Google's not being super helpful here, though.
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Jul 21, 2016 03:47
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Part 3: Misandry on the Bounty So I had a small epiphany. See, I was thinking about this and wincing a little at all the dumbass jokes I made in the last update and it sort of struck me that a big part of the reason I can't take anything the game says seriously stems from the fact that it is really, really hard to take it seriously when it does stuff like 'the turbofascist feminist gynocracy took over and the only respite for the oppressed underclass of dick-havers is if they transgender!!!!!!!!!!!!' Like, "feminist" is still a dirty word in no small number of social and political circles, never mind the idea of trans women having an easier time of anything that isn't "getting murdered" than dudes. It's just so......especially as you get further in, it presents itself as a dystopian story with a reasonably serious message underneath all the goofy signage so it's not weeoooweeooo wacky fantasy/SF enough to trip my 'okay i am suspending the HECK out of my disbelief here no prob' switch, but its message is rooted in poo poo so spectacularly far out of the realm of possibility that it's just...it's loving goofy. I can't. But I will! If I could trudge through Bionic Commando 2k9 out of spite and a bitter refusal to LET END ME SCOOB WIN, I can make it through Mega Misandry ZX Advent. (I'm not gonna make the lazy IF I COULD GET THROUGH BAD RATS etc etc joke because Bad Rats is kind of a way overused shorthand for "haw haw hilaribad game" and also because i 100%ed that game without too much wailing and gnashing of teeth. I may be kinda broken) Anyways, moving right along.... In which we get That Upgrade That Adds Another Layer of Jank to the Controls Even If The Animation's Kind of Doofy and gently caress up an anime convention (Mlyako Street and Old Planina District) So there's this recurring Thing that pops up where a character who reads trans as heck is explained as Actually Just A Dude (or Gal) Presenting As ______ for some kind of convoluted, contrived narrative reason that has absolutely nothing to do with gender identity. They're not a trans girl, they're a boy raised by nuns as a nun for anime reasons and possessed by a genderweird ghost and the ghost has lots of transitory but SUPER loving INTENSE feelings about cuteness and literally none of the feelings they themselves express are their own! They're not a trans boy, they're a girl and they're a teen detective but a militant sherlock holmes cosplayer seized power and he made plucky teen girl detectives illegal! FOREVER. ON PAIN OF DEATH. And their supposed gender identity gets more or less cast off once you've finished their questline or they've worked out their feelings about ______ other thing or whatever. Sometimes there's super uncomfortable subtext later, but... This is a thing, and it's a not super uncommon thing in anime and animegames and whatever but it sometimes shows up elsewhere too, and more often than not it's....it's kind of a shitshow when it comes up. Guess what we run right into in the Old Planina District? So the Planinans are an isolated enclave of trans women who stick together for mutual support. They cover up a lot and say "shikata ga nai" (it can't be helped) a lot and keep to themselves and they will straight murder somebody for you if that somebody hurt your dog. They, uh....they're isolationists who reject Plovdiv society at large and just want to be left alone, but they're also the one group in the game we're specifically told wants to annex Macedonia? Um, okay. They also, uh, have a city you can only navigate by climbing a mess of signs and there are a bunch of torii and a vaguely Japanese-adjacent "Light Temple" and everyone dresses like ninjas (with katanas!) because ???????? i mean queer/trans twitter is pretty much anime and cyberpunk shitposting all the way down, but patterning your life and living space around it? But everyone in charge pretty much argues that all the trans women in the setting including Ceyda (who they can totes tell is One of Them*) are "dormant men" and women have been ~missing their other~ or imply that their identity was imposed upon them and they're just presenting this way as a survival tactic and....here's what gets me. *I have to admit, one of the few positive things I will say about this game is that even if it makes a point of pretty uncomfortably going NO YOU SEE YOU'RE REALLY _____ a few times, Ceyda just goes nnnnnnope instead of having some grand epiphany about how she Was Really A Dude In Her Heart All Along, You Guys. Like, there's a highway full of Borrower Size tanks and angry sentient roombas and adult-sized mounds of Dollar Store Brand Mystery Accelerant blocking the way between downtown Plovdiv and the Planina District. The subway doesn't connect to it at all. It's implied that the revolution wasn't too far in the past; there isn't some kind of newspeak thing going on where the government has straight up erased the concepts of men and masculinity and the language to express it or something. They're made out to be isolated enough that if literally anyone there was really like 'oh gosh wait i'm a dude and i've been suppressed all this time,' you'd think they could just freely go HEY MY DUDE BEIN' A LADY IS DUMB SO HI I'M BIFF MCBEEFHUNK WHO ARE YOU ANYWAYS WELCOME TO THE PLANINA DISTRICT OR AS WE LIKE TO CALL IT THE  MANINA DONGSTRICT WHERE WE ARE FREE TO EMBRACE THE OLD WAYS OF BEING MEN AND DOING THINGS MEN DO LIKE WATCHING RED MEAT AND EATING EXPENDABLES SEQUELS, right?But they don't. They don't, and even the ones going NO YOU SEE WE ALL HAVE TINY MEN INSIDE OF US WAITING TO BLOSSOM like they're a bunch of walking meat cocoons for The Shittiest Ken Dolls call each other sister and dress like generic anime ninja ladies and talk about inner/outer beauty in ways that kinda point to internalized misogyny, so.....huh? The more I thought about it the less it made any sense 'til I realized that this is more or less The Persona/Dadgums* Thing and it's less painting a complex and nuanced picture and more just going 'no see all these folks milling around in Genderweird Anime Hell who read trans lady as heck aren't actually that thing they're just larval mras waiting for the glorious revolution' for some incomprehensible goddamn narrative reason. It's kinda dumb. It's also possible that I am overthinking the hell out of the plot and setting of this five dollar video game. *aka Danganronpa, aka Dangit Ronpaul, aka wow gosh this is like Virtue's Last Reward with every last shred of charm stripped out Next time: oh god I can't remember if the worst boss encounter in the entire game is in this one or terfsylvania
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Jul 23, 2016 23:48
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You 100%'d Bad Rats? Any chance you'd be willing to do a Bad Rats Show lp after this?
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Jul 23, 2016 23:58
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This game has more creepy eyes then eversion.
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Jul 24, 2016 00:07
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Cathode Raymond posted:You 100%'d Bad Rats? I mean, maybe? yes I dunno if i'd think about doing it before or after the Rail Slave Grab Bag LP idea i've had kicking around in my head for like a year, though. it's me, i'm the garbage woman who unironically fuckin loves rail slave games
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Jul 24, 2016 00:07
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Klaus88 posted:This game has more creepy eyes then eversion. Not sure how to feel about trying to stick the ^_^ emote on a human face.
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Jul 24, 2016 00:15
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I wonder why the boss lady in the mansion (16:15) has pictures of a submarine and a hot dog on her wall. But something tells me I don't really want to know because it probably ties in with this game's really weird relationship with feminism and transphobia.
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Jul 24, 2016 00:37
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Clearly the hot dog represents the materialistic mentality embraced by the majority of ordinary folk in Plovdiv and the submarine represents sequestering oneself from it to focus on inner strength and beauty. Sequestering oneself in a literal submarine that is literally underwater. Or maybe she's just Really Into Hot Dogs and also the sea.
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Jul 24, 2016 00:41
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For those curious the cyrillic text is actually a legit thing. You have '[video] games', 'coffee' and 'porn' on those buildings (words to live by, really), though most of the other things I can't read since it's prob Bulgarian and not Russian (loan words tend to be similar regardless of language) That grocery store you held up also had a sunny sign that said "Soltsanto" like Monsanto. Just to let you know the razor edge of social commentary you're dealing with here. Anyhow, the greater issue I have with the plot, other than its almost Metal Gear level of forced naval gazing, is because of the Far Cry 3 effect. FC3, for those not in the know, was supposed to be a story that mocked the white-guy-becomes-native-saviour action her trope. It did this by playing it straight to the hilt (heh). The game tried to be clever by having the natives you are helping turn out to be almost as bad as the villains you were fighting, where it turned out they were using the MC to get their land back. Their leader, Citra, was using him to... okay gimme a moment this kinda goes places ...to basically create a new native ruler. Her logic was that since you killed all the bad guys, you were the ultimate warrior and were destined to lead her people to greatness. And in the end she offers you a choice of escaping the island, or ruling it. Ruling it has your character kill his old friends, symbolically severing his ties with his old world, and the game end with him in coitus with Citra. After the, aha, climax, she stabs the main character to death, saying that this way he doesn't have the chance to destroy his legend. The writer of the game believed this was the loving best twist in goddamn existence. "No you see man it was an experiment! You thought you were the savior, but in reality they were playing you and giving you the thrill you wanted" "but up until that point it WAS a white male power fantasy. right down to you boning the chief's daughter" "Man you just don't GET it" My point is the FC3 effect is when a piece of media tries to criticize a <thing> by using the <thing> extensively in its narrative. It fails because it doesn't analyze <thing> and instead spends the time making the player familiar to it before going "NO <thing> BAD!!" There is also another variant where the media talks about <thing> but doesn't really end up saying anything and ultimately the narrative ends up in the same muddled dead zone. It feels cheap, a hallmark of bad writing, and it doesn't work. Watch_Dogs had this too with surveillance. When a game presents itself in such a straight-laced manner and has a very confused stance on what it thinks is satire/societal commentary, the audience can be forgiven for misunderstanding its message. Seraphic Neoman fucked around with this message at 04:43 on Jul 25, 2016 |
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Jul 24, 2016 01:37
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Ningyou posted:Part 3: Misandry on the Bounty Considering that the main character is very adamantly "Yes I really am a lady, not just pretending," I can only guess that MAYBE the district is supposed to be commentary on the Japanese trend? Or on people on the internet who pretend to be trans but have no dysphoria or intention of transitioning. Though Re: Japan's problems portraying trans characters... Japan is backwards and socially restrictive as gently caress, yo. They aren't even that good about gay people, and stepping outside expected gender norms is a good way to be ostracized immediately. So characters like Bridget and Chihiro are about fighting Japan's gender essentiallism. Naoto is too a comment on the country's sexism in that she feels she must present as a man to be taken seriously rather than actually wanting to be a man. None of them are the most nuanced portrayals because A: Japan is still making baby steps towards these things and B: Video game plots.
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Jul 24, 2016 17:43
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Robin Newman from AA5 is especially a weird example as there really was no reason for her to have to pretend to be a boy at all - it'd be less dumb if they had simply went with "Robin was always openly a girl and wanted to be pretty" or "Robin's a guy who secretly liked to crossdress and didn't want to be caught out"
Robindaybird fucked around with this message at 18:25 on Jul 24, 2016 |
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Jul 24, 2016 18:21
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SSNeoman posted:For those curious the cyrillic text is actually a legit thing. You have '[video] games', 'coffee' and 'porn' on those buildings (words to live by, really), though most of the other things I can't read since it's prob Bulgarian and not Russian (loan words tend to be similar regardless of language) Anyways, this is clever and I wish I'd made that connection but I kinda tried to forget about all the Far Cry games that weren't Blood Dragon.  Ryushikaze posted:Considering that the main character is very adamantly "Yes I really am a lady, not just pretending," I can only guess that MAYBE the district is supposed to be commentary on the Japanese trend? Or on people on the internet who pretend to be trans but have no dysphoria or intention of transitioning. 2. I, uh, i'm sure as heck not a demographer but I get the feeling the whole 'folk ~pretending to be trans~ for TREND (though maybe not for CORPORATE ATTITUDE or STONER) or to feel oppressed or for wacky mystery Tumblr Reasons' thing...isn't....really.....a thing that happens much? And I'm pretty sure 'people who ID as (other gender)' still count as genderweird even if they don't have dysphoria or aren't transitioning for reasons (access/costs, risks, whatever else)? Like I could be super wrong but I get the feeling that the game is less presenting subtle commentary on trends in these very specific subsets of social media communities and/or the idea of folk "pretending to be trans" and more just (a) throwing aesthetic stuff at the wall because FUCKIN YOLO is a valid design philosophy and (b) bad points (about other things) made badly. 3. On Bridget and Chihiro and Naoto, I mean...sure, you can say that, but there's still a subtext there? (and Naoto is a really good example of this because holy fuckin' lol it gets uncomfortable if, uh.....my memory of Persona 4 isn't amazing? But I remember seeing one little segment where if you romance Naoto later in the game you can go 'hey wear this girl's school uniform' and Naoto does it but radiates wow-i'm-not-comfortable-with-this.) Ningyou fucked around with this message at 20:12 on Jul 24, 2016 |
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Jul 24, 2016 20:08
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Oh, I'm not saying They were artfully handled, rather the opposite. My point is that the subtext we can read into trans issues wouldn't register to Japanese people because they don't recognize transgenderism quite the same way, and that their restrictive cultural and gender roles are a more pressing issues to them. The story is informed by a different cultural context and worry than the ones we examine them with. They're tone deaf about Trans issues partly because Japan is itself very deaf towards the existence of trans people.
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Jul 24, 2016 20:36
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Ryushikaze posted:Oh, I'm not saying They were artfully handled, rather the opposite. My point is that the subtext we can read into trans issues wouldn't register to Japanese people because they don't recognize transgenderism quite the same way, and that their restrictive cultural and gender roles are a more pressing issues to them. The story is informed by a different cultural context and worry than the ones we examine them with. I'm pretty sure this game wasn't made in Japan, though. I could be wrong, but that's what seems to be the case by all indications.
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Jul 24, 2016 20:39
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EclecticTastes posted:I'm pretty sure this game wasn't made in Japan, though. I could be wrong, but that's what seems to be the case by all indications. I was just talking about the Japanese examples of character that seem trans but weren't. This game I'm still trying to make sense of as we go along.
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Jul 24, 2016 20:51
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Ningyou posted:2. I, uh, i'm sure as heck not a demographer but I get the feeling the whole 'folk ~pretending to be trans~ for TREND (though maybe not for CORPORATE ATTITUDE or STONER) or to feel oppressed or for wacky mystery Tumblr Reasons' thing...isn't....really.....a thing that happens much? And I'm pretty sure 'people who ID as (other gender)' still count as genderweird even if they don't have dysphoria or aren't transitioning for reasons (access/costs, risks, whatever else)? This is correct. Trans people are trans, and gatekeeping is lovely. I say this as a trans person who's transitioned and still has (less) dysphoria. Anyway, everything about this game's story, writing, and messaging is remarkably poorly executed. I'm genuinely not sure how to criticize the game's big social justice-y ideas because I have no loving clue what they even are. How does a writer muddle poo poo that badly without realizing it? It's impressive, that's for sure.
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Jul 24, 2016 21:48
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PrinnyDood posted:This is correct. Trans people are trans, and gatekeeping is lovely. I say this as a trans person who's transitioned and still has (less) dysphoria. A lot of it is likely because, as mentioned before, the toxic manbaby side of "gamer" "culture" got their grubby little fingerprints all over it, muddying whatever message might have originally been in there.
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Jul 24, 2016 22:54
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what the gently caress is this
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Jul 24, 2016 23:15
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Rodyle posted:what the gently caress is this Hell and weird walk cycles
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Jul 24, 2016 23:18
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Rodyle posted:what the gently caress is this a series of poor decisions that somehow snowballed into a monument to them. also, Dumbest Timeline advertisement chat.
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Jul 25, 2016 00:00
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Ningyou posted:I keep wanting to make dumb jokes about hey what are you talking about Far Cry 3 ended with Vaas stabbing boring mcwhiteguy and any claims to the contrary are SCURRILOUS LIES, but. Wing Suit and Sam though  Ningyou posted:Anyways, this is clever and I wish I'd made that connection but I kinda tried to forget about all the Far Cry games that weren't Blood Dragon. A Good Idea, though FC2 was alright too. I'll edit this back in my post since I sort of buried the lede in it: my point is the FC3 effect is when a piece of media tries to criticize a <thing> by using the <thing> extensively in its narrative. It fails because it doesn't analyze <thing> and instead spends the time making the player familiar to it before going "NO <thing> BAD!!" There is also another variant where the media talks about <thing> but doesn't really end up saying anything and ultimately the narrative ends up in the same muddled dead zone. It feels cheap, a hallmark of bad writing, and it doesn't work. Watch_Dogs had this too with surveillance. Seraphic Neoman fucked around with this message at 04:43 on Jul 25, 2016 |
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Jul 25, 2016 04:40
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Ningyou posted:Like I could be super wrong but I get the feeling that the game is less presenting subtle commentary on trends in these very specific subsets of social media communities and/or the idea of folk "pretending to be trans" and more just (a) throwing aesthetic stuff at the wall because FUCKIN YOLO is a valid design philosophy and (b) bad points (about other things) made badly. Frankly at the moment my working assumption is that the writer read an article in Slate or The Atlantic or wherever about how gay men in Iran sometimes transition in an attempt to avoid persecution and decided "hey, I can shoehorn something like that into my game".
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Jul 25, 2016 05:25
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Okay, i admit it, the whole 'EVERYONE THINKS I'M A BAD GUY BC I HAVE A GERMAN ACCENT' thing made me giggle, at least. I could take or leave the wingsuit, though.Thuryl posted:Frankly at the moment my working assumption is that the writer read an article in Slate or The Atlantic or wherever about how gay men in Iran sometimes transition in an attempt to avoid persecution and decided "hey, I can shoehorn something like that into my game". oh whoops i started describing a game that I actually want to play. like you might think i'm joking but i would buy the poo poo out of a megaman x clone centered around weird transhumanist religious ideologues who are also doofy animal robutts whose philosophies get filtered through a Cyber City 2157-grade translation But anyways uh it's entirely possible that that was a sort-of allusion to that other thing.
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Jul 25, 2016 06:25
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