Wouldn’t this be the best way, as not only does it not detract from the story, it seems to imply that the issue of negative representation of differing minorities doesn’t even exist? IE it’s a post-racism/sexism/etc world.
I’ve enjoyed the game the couple of times I’ve run through it. I will admit that I… Hadn’t really noticed the heavyhandedness of the ‘minority issues’ bit- likely because I was playing the way the author apparently “intended” the game to be played? Or I was simply oblivious to it; that’s something that happens often.
I do wonder if this heavyhandedness is the point of this installment, which makes me wonder if we (frequent Choice of Game players, often minorities in our own right, aware of social justice issues to at least some degree) are actually the ‘target audience’ of this one. Certainly, we’re the core audience, but… Was this particular game actually intended for those who aren’t really aware of these sorts of issues? I mean… Heroes Rise was a popular series outside of the CoG community, correct? Isn’t it one of the more, er, successful series? I wonder if the author was hoping that this success would lead to those not exactly ‘in the know re:issues and such’ hearing about and trying a new superhero game (or those who’ve only played Heroes Rise seeing that the dude who wrote it has a new game out! And it’s set in the same world!) If this makes sense. Does this make sense?
…I don’t think that beating people over the head with the issues is the way to get them to care about things, mind you, and it would appear that it backfired anyway if it’s the case, but… Bah, I don’t know. Maybe I’m overthinking things, and the game is simply preachy for the sake of being preachy.
Another thing, about the MC seeming to be defined by/railroaded into identifying largely with their minority status (if I’m not misreading some of these comments; I’ll admit to skimming and skipping a large portion of this thread): this is something that happens all the time in the media today. Certainly, there are times where it’s important for that bit of ‘other’ of someone’s identity to be a focus- it was important that Obama was the first black President of the United States, for example. But the media and, consequently, the average viewer tend to define public minorities chiefly by that bit of ‘otherness,’ whether or not the person is trying to make that a visible part of their public persona. That it’s more or less unavoidable in the game makes me wonder if that’s what the aim was - to show those not ‘in the know’ what it feels like to be defined by their… Otherness… Assuming that my ‘not for us’ “theory” above holds any sort of water.
Again, not the way to go about this sort of thing. And I’m likely overthinking things, something I do much too often, and the game is simply a textual train that we readers are mere passengers on.
I will say that I was pretty upset about Jury shacking up with someone not my previous MC. I’m hoping it’s a ruse, honestly, that my MC asked him to keep an eye on the Hero Project (by any means necessary!) because of everything that happened in the first season. And… They faked a breakup to give Jury a bit of leeway in terms of how exactly he keeps an eye on things.
…I refuse to accept that they’re broken up for real. That’s some nonsense if they are.
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Apparently Black Magic moves on from the MC? I never got this because in my game, my previous MC and her are married.
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It’s more, moved on with her life than moved on from the PC.
If the PC doesn’t romance BM, nothing really changes from a romanced BM.
Ah, makes more sense now.
But jeez… Bright Magic? at least Light Magic could have been a little inside joke.
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I think it is to continue with the “BM”.
If she changed to Light Magic, it would be strange to call her LM after I don’t know how many years.
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Mary Poppings is the first impression I had when I heard him her. I am almost perfect in every aspect. She he is very proud of him herself she he should be more humble after use people like Duracell bunnies.
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As a gay person (for whatever that’s worth), this game just really weirded me out; it feels like a distilled version of all the problems I’ve had with this writer’s other games, and it kind of sucks that they’re getting worse instead of getting better.
The contrast between the very silly, broadly-drawn characters and the seriousness of the social issues the game’s trying to address creates a super inconsistent tone to the story — the silly stuff seems really crass when someone has just died because of you and the serious stuff seems really stupid when you’re talking about discrimination against people with chicken heads. All of the social justice bits come off as well-intentioned, but it’s weird, reductive and honestly pretty dehumanizing to introduce every character with a tally of how many marginalized identities they represent.
Mainly I feel as though the writer is really overestimating the audience’s investment the minutiae of his particular world when it seems as though the real reason people buy these games is because they like superheroes. It’s like buying a Star Wars game and having it turn out to be about campaigning against no-droid policies in Mos Eisley cantinas. Technically those are things that exist in the Star Wars universe, but it’s not what anyone shows up for, right? They want to see some lightsabers.
I don’t know. I have really fond memories of playing the original trilogy about two years ago, but those games had a lot of stupid stuff and it’s disappointing to see that the author hasn’t improved since then.
Also, the repeated references to “Bootylicious”…like, come on. We got the joke when it first turned up; it didn’t need to be made three more times. Chill.
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Like I stated before, I hated the focus on the Ani-Powered heroes. It also just seems like bad writing to say "Oh, and you’ve been on a bird streak lately, but lets make you a Dog, a weird beetle thing, and then make you a really hot leopard hybrid mix, on the only day you don’t need to look amazing.
I’m going to assume that the player will eventually become able to control their powers, but at some sort of great cost. It’s just bad writing focus. I mean, he even had Transfer be the only one to notice how “hot” you looked. Then he forces you to either be a personal “jerk” or be another version of the Kardashians, by being societal. I loved the previous series, but this one just… forced it’s ideals down your throat. To me, it sounds like he Sergi wants to recreate a version of the 1960’s with Ani-powered discrimination.
I don’t know how much longer I can stand the changes. Bright Magic? Come on! I liked her specifically because I found out where she gets her power. I mean, to me, If I was a villain, and I heard “Go take him down Bright Magic” I would probably laugh so hard that she wouldn’t have to use her “Light” magic to take me down, just because “Bright Magic” sounds like she likes making kids laugh rather then being a badass. This has made me replay the entire first series just to try going for Lucky.
As for Jury, i think Verdict sounds cooler, but come on! Don’t give me a romance option if you aren’t going to continue it. I mean, really? You’re just gonna be all like, “Ok, here’s a romance, but instead of letting you know, ‘oh it didn’t work out’ in the first game, I’m gonna make you wait until the second series to let you know that it didn’t work out.”
I can’t stress how much these issues bother me. I could potentially see a sort of infini powered plot line, like I stated above, involving your MC being able to control what they are, but that would just remind me of Beast Boy, rather then making me think, “Wow, I’m a badass.”
I’m gonna keep buying the game series, so that way I can post my opinion and review, so that others don’t need to waste their money.
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This reminds me of a class I recently took at college that I hated. The name was Culture, Disease, and Healing, and it was advertised as an anthropology class that analyzes how different cultures view disease and medicine. We spent the first three weeks on actual diseases, and then the rest of the course on reproductive rights and how terrible the Catholic church is for denying birth control to women.
Now, I’m female and pro-choice, and I think everyone should have access to birth control, assistive reproductive technology, etc. But that’s not what the class was advertised as. The professor advertised the class as being about disease. Last time I checked, wanting to have sex without getting pregnant is not a disease. And the professor didn’t really analyze the cases; she just complained about the people she perceived as the “bad guys.” The sad part is that the course as advertised sounded very interesting and really had potential.
This game reminds me of that. It was advertised as one thing. It turned out to be a soapbox for the author to lecture from.
Edit: Oh, and another similarity: The professor was teaching this class to a bunch of liberal college students. Zachary published this game in a place where tons of gay, straight, bi, ace, pan, etc. people hang out. They were both preaching to the choir.
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Yep. Exactly what I was trying to say, without the rant. XD. But seriously, it’s like this guy wants us to hate on his game. Segi had to know that people as diverse as the people who play CoG games were going to give his game bad reviews. I really hope someone shows him this thread, because I don’t think he gets it. I’ve made this point before, but this reminds me of Bethesda and them saying Fallout 4 was probably better then Skyrim. What I’m trying to say is, I think both Bethesda and Sergi knew that people would point out problems with the game, but were using past glories to hype their game.
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So the reason for their breakup (according to the author) is that Jury and the MC need to get stronger (what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger), and they will need that strength going forward.
Link:
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Ok I feel better now. If that’s what’s going on, then I will probably wait for the next game to come out before playing this one.
@WIre_Ryse Oh, I’m sorry. Uh. Agree to disagree?
Yeah fine… (sniffs) ok… we all have a right to an opinion… lol. XD
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As long as my original MC gets to punch Jury in the face for pulling that stunt I’m all for it. (Like, seriously. At least try to act heart-broken for a little bit. I’m pretty sure my original MC didn’t get over their break-up that quickly.)
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YOURE RIGHT THATS A TOTAL CROCK OF BALOGNA
But it’s balogna that I’m gonna grab by the tiny strings it is and hold onto because I need this. It’s a cop out and I know it and that just makes it worse.
It feels like he broke them up like “no ones gonna care haha” and then finding out EVERYONE and their mother cares he had to backpedal and say something like that to appease everyone.
But that’s just how it feels; this coulda been his plan from the beginning? Maybe? Idunnoooo
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My theory is that since Jury was always intended to be a villain, but Zach failed to give us enough reason to hate him, he hasn’t been able to figure out what to do with him.
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That’s a good theory, but he has quite a bit of potential right in his lap with the character. I mean, Jury’s the asshole in the series everyone loves to hate who turns into the asshole everyone ends up just loving straight. There’s quite a bit of potential behind a character who was the president’s son - a president who was the main villain of the series. That screams redemption arch harder than the Crush’s actual backstory.
You can be Good without being Nice. Aaron Victon can be the staple example of Asshole With a Heart of Gold (slightly, I always envisioned him with just a slightly askew moral compass that’s more ‘in it for me’ than anyone else. But the romantic in me wants to take that and makes something out of it that involves Jury falling in love and suddenly it’s less ‘about me’ and more ‘about him/her/them’)
My sap is showing. WOOPS.
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Yes, please! Give us two or so POV chapters for our MC and Jury to sort that out. And preferable for once with the option to put a RO for their faults in their place without automatically dooming the relationship…In case that includes a punch to the face I’m all in for it. Original MC punching Jury already has some kind of tradition, so why not?
Just something, anything! That way I could even consider to get over this…mess. (Not completely over all the other bad things of the game, but at least over the Jury situation)
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