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Writing in games that makes you uncomfortable.

Imbarkus

As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
Dear Valerie,
Did you think you'd get away with it?
Did you take delight in thinking to yourself, "Oh, let's try a fast one
on dumb ole' Simon!"
Did the thought you might of outsmarted Simon excite you?
Did you perhaps do the the dirty and pleasure yourself over that?
Oh, Valerie.
Valerie, Valerie, my dear Valerie.
I of course knew when you became hesitant to give me kisses,
my dear.
You were bringing someone between us.
You wished to dirty your core.
Pulsating, yearning.
Thump, thump.
Simon knows.
That's why Simon must punish you, dear Valerie.
You were so delicate, unspoiled... You hurt me, Valerie.
You were like a pure, glistening flower.
I'll make it so your beauty can shine on, Valerie.
I'll get rid of all that which soils you.
First will be your eyes. I will take my thumbs and wiggle them
around in your sockets.
Squish them, into mush. A fine paste. I'll lick away the liquids that
pour out of your eyeballs, like overflowing tears.
I wonder what Vitreous and Aqueous Humor taste like?
Isn't that such a funny name for it? May we possibly in this moment
just sit back and laugh at how silly a name that is?
But don't stir too much, dear Valerie, or else the next part may be
more painful than it has to be.
Of course, it may be me that's trembling. You know how...
Excitable I am.
But the pain you may feel from my shakes and quivers is out of my
love for you. With each sharp needle of pain and hot, pulsating sore
you may feel, that's my love, Valerie. I want you to feel my love.
When you can no longer see for which you've sinned, then I will
get to work of making sure you can never reach out to sin again.
I'm going to dissect your arms, dear Valerie.
Do you know how many nerves are in the arm, my dear?
I want to open you up, let your inner warmth flow over me.
And I want to give you a treat for the senses.
I will be delicate, my dear Valerie, as I begin to poke and pull at
your nerves and veins.
I want every nerve, every part of your arm to feel the bliss of my
love before, snip, I cut them open.
One by one.
Snip, snip.
And then to saw through the bone.
Before you know it, your arms will be gone.
And that's almost enough, you will have almost felt the pain of
which you've brought upon me, my dear Valerie.
But we must scrub away the sin.
I think you know where, dear Valerie. You need to stop yearning
for him.
He's already dead, he won't come between us again.
At least, he won't, once I've scrubbed you down thoroughly.
So you'll never crave for the flesh again, my dear.
Until then, scream! Scream, dear Valerie! Scratch at the walls, claw
with your beautiful fingers at dirt and rock!
Maybe someone will hear you? Maybe you'll find a way out I
overlooked?
Maybe I'm just lying to you, maybe I didn't kill your perverted
little boyfriend either.
I'm coming for you, Valerie.
Maybe you can still get away.


Close Your Eyes, seen a lot of people get disturbed at this note by Simon, and a note earlier in the game when Simon begins to show his true colors.

I went to look it up and found I already own it. Did you just give me a Ringu-style curse?
 
Persona 4's treatment of Kanji and the girls can sometimes be reeeeeeally >.>. Especially Kanji, yikes. Like, I know most of it is through Yosuke who's a dumbass anyway, but the game never really calls him out on it either, so you have to sit through stuff like the tent scene and it's just profoundly uncomfortable and gross. Ick.

Seriously, and all dialogue options relating to Yosuke shenanigans are either agreeing with him or saying nothing. I was so disappointed at the main character during those scenes.
 
The biggest issue with Nowi is that while the 'little girl who is secretly a 1000 year old dragon' trope is a staple in the series, but up until Awakening they were treated like actual children and never sexualized in appearance or the writing. Honestly that's the biggest problem I have with modern FE, the writing has gotten much worse and there is way too much fanservice/pandering.

Considering that the shift coincided with an absolutely massive growth in sales however, it's just gonna continue in that direction though. :\

Even though the real reason for the change in momentum (well, outside of Japan at least) was the lengthy gap in major releases, numerous mechanic tweaks, and significantly lowering the barrier to entry. They could totally have kept the same momentum up in most markets without the writing shift.
 

AudioEppa

Member
The amount of n-words uttered in GTA: SA made me uncomfortable. I'm very sensitive to how black people are projected in media.

Have you played Mafia 3 yet?

On San Andreas, I believe the game would seem weird if the dialogue didn't represent how some people actually talk and talk with each other. If anyone was uncomfortable that means it did it's job right. I remember my brother not liking the game really at first because of the language between characters. it didn't bother me.
 

bomblord1

Banned
Did I play a different Persona 4 then everyone else here? Kanji was openly welcomed into the group even after his dungeon and shadow side were seen.
 
I found the way they treated Hanako from Persona 4 to be rather offputting. "Hey she's fat! Ha ha. That's the joke." Pretty low tier humor. Out of all the side characters I would have liked her to have had a Social Link.
 
More like, "made me roll my eyes", but Wiegraf Lecturing Ramza about Atheism seconds before he uses A HOLY STONE to turn into a HOLY DEMON from the scriptures of the CHURCH, not to mention in a game where FAITH LITERALLY GRANTS YOU MAGIC, like, it's literally the stat that allows the magic game mechanics.

Ah, yes, the unquestionable perfection of FFT's writing/gameplay synergy.
 

Opa-Pa

Member
Did I play a different Persona 4 then everyone else here? Kanji was openly welcomed into the group even after his dungeon and shadow side were seen.

They do treat him as a friend, but Yosuke will still use every single chance he has to point out how gay he thinks Kanji is and how uncomfortable that makes him, and no one ever points out that he's in the wrong for doing so. I ignored it the first times because "straight teenagers can be assholes I guess" but it happens so often with no repercussions that it just feels backwards.
 

bomblord1

Banned
They do treat him as a friend, but Yosuke will still use every single chance he has to point out how gay he thinks Kanji is and how uncomfortable that makes him, and no one ever points out that he's in the wrong for doing so.

Maybe it's just been too long but I can only think of 1 time this happens which is in the tent when he says something along the lines of "is it going to be ok being alone with you"
 

Zolo

Member
They do treat him as a friend, but Yosuke will still use every single chance he has to point out how gay he thinks Kanji is and how uncomfortable that makes him, and no one ever points out that he's in the wrong for doing so. I ignored it the first times because "straight teenagers can be assholes I guess" but it happens so often with no repercussions that it just feels backwards.

I'd probably say it's a side-effect of the writing team not actually seeing Kanji as gay (as well as not having enough knowledge to know how harmful some of the comments can be) and the team ribbing on each other is supposed to be seen as a sign of friendship.

I found the way they treated Hanako from Persona 4 to be rather offputting. "Hey she's fat! Ha ha. That's the joke." Pretty low tier humor. Out of all the side characters I would have liked her to have had a Social Link.
Even the anime had to go out of its way to give her and the teacher I think one sympathetic scene. Definitely the worst characters in the franchise to me.
 
It might not be in the spirit of the OP as it's not something that creeps me out but I just got done with RotTR and the incredibly terrible dialogue absolutely drove me nuts. Cliche, boring and hate to say this, but painfully delivered.
 

Vanadium

Member
I always though the "joke" about the Raiden or "Raidenovitch" being a gay lover to Volgan was among if not the worst of Kojima.

"Ah so you guys hated Raiden? Fine I'll make him gay. Funny!"

Yeah, no.
 
Yeah, it's pretty clear cut from chapter 1 that Joshua is essentially taken under guardianship, and while there's familial respect, that Estelle and Joshua have a different kind of relationship with one another from the very beginning due to the fact that Joshua is more or less a stranger when it comes to his past and his past family, and that has never left him.

The relationship between the two has zero relation to nasty VN or crappy Japanese stories that seek to titillate viewers with paper-thin excuses to show forbidden relationships. The nuance of it is especially driven home when you learn more about Joshua's family... but that's a spoiler.

It's incredibly odd that the ONE game that aims nowhere near and hits nowhere near that trash and is exceedingly deft doing it gets this whereas SOME others get no looks for it or God-knows-why is defended. :\

I blame all those broken-minded garbage games you mentioned for this, but people need to do some thinking.

Deionarra's sensory stone in Planescape: Torment.

Its completely intentional.

That's a bingo.

This is seriously going to be on a hypothetical "Games Your Ass Shoulda Done Played" thread to open up some minds.

Maybe it's just been too long but I can only think of 1 time this happens which is in the tent when he says something along the lines of "is it going to be ok being alone with you"

And Kanji reveled in threatening Yosuke so long as he even THOUGHT of slighting him afterwards. No, it doesn't end in with an afterschool special, but then again, not all good outcomes to this sorta shit in life do, not by a longshot.
 

SoulUnison

Banned
i forgot about Persona 4's sickening treatment of gay people. Just no. Yosuke, no, its not funny.

Persona 4's treatment of Kanji and the girls can sometimes be reeeeeeally >.>. Especially Kanji, yikes. Like, I know most of it is through Yosuke who's a dumbass anyway, but the game never really calls him out on it either, so you have to sit through stuff like the tent scene and it's just profoundly uncomfortable and gross. Ick.

I always found it so strange in a game that is ultimately about being true to yourself they treated Kanji the way they did, it was such a missed opportunity. Also, FUCK Yosuke. He's a creep.

Hey, Yosuke is just being true to himself. That just happens to be a douchebag.

I don't get the Yosuke complaints. I'm gay and he was a super, super watered down and mostly unintentional version of bulling the gay kid.
He was never really malicious or anything, he just didn't know how to correctly express discomfort with a new concept.
They were both still friends in the group and fought beside each other and everything.

What was way more "offensive" and even then, really it's "not barely any at all" since it's pretty open-ended, is how the story cowers from committing to anything concrete about Kanji.
(Though personally I believe his Shadow's design is pretty blatant.)
 

Jobbs

Banned
Please do tell, I wanna hear this lol

Dumb action schlock with a shitbag fuckboy main character and a dissonance between the tone of the gameplay/action and the tone of the dialog and story that was so jarring that it shattered my immersion in the game utterly before the midway point in a way that it never recovered. It strikes me as a game for dummies. Nice art/tech, sure, but I literally hated the game.
 
So I just started playing the first Trails In The Sky game and, while I'm enjoying the rest of the game, (mild beginning spoilers here)
the game keeps pushing a romance between Estelle and Joshua and it legit disturbs me. I know they're not related by blood, but Joshua keeps calling Cassius his dad and Estelle even says she looks at him as family. I do not like this thread, not one bit.

This is actually one of the major reasons I stopped playing the game.
 

Zolo

Member
What was way more "offensive" and even then, really it's "not barely any at all" since it's pretty open-ended, is how the story cowers from committing to anything concrete about Kanji.
(Though personally I believe his Shadow's design is pretty blatant.)

The story lays it out for the most part. Kanji's issue was being insecure about his feminine hobbies and about what makes a person a man. He ends up embracing his hobbies and learns to no longer be insecure about them as well as realizing they didn't make him less of a man.

Sexuality-wise, he crushes on Naoto, but Naoto's a girl and he still crushes on her afterwards. I guess it could be said to be up to interpretation to say if he's attracted to guys, but it's only ever treated jokingly in the game.
 

Alex

Member
It seems fitting this thread is right next to a Kingdom Hearts one.

Anything Nomura and Nojima have heavy creative control on seems to have dialogue that doesn't even sound like it was written by human beings. Just another reason Square's best bet is to start cloning Heavensward staffers.
 
The story lays it out for the most part. Kanji's issue was being insecure about his feminine hobbies and about what makes a person a man. He ends up embracing his hobbies and learns to no longer be insecure about them as well as realizing they didn't make him less of a man.

Sexuality-wise, he crushes on Naoto, but Naoto's a girl and he still crushes on her afterwards. I guess it could be said to be up to interpretation to say if he's attracted to guys, but it's only ever treated jokingly in the game.
It's strange because Troy Baker says "Kanji was clearly gay", but I actually don't think that is clear in the game at all.

I always felt a little uncomfortable that that game had a gay character who wasn't actually gay (maybe) and a trans character who wasn't actually trans (maybe).
 

Zolo

Member
It's strange because Troy Baker says "Kanji was clearly gay", but I actually don't think that is clear in the game at all.

Listening to English VA's about Japanese-original games may lead to confusion. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if with Atlus USA anyway, the voice directors didn't know more details about the characters depending on how bad the communication is with the Japanese branch.

I always felt a little uncomfortable that that game had a gay character who wasn't actually gay (maybe) and a trans character who wasn't actually trans (maybe).
Kanji, I don't think is seen as gay by the writing staff, but it was still used as a way to show his insecurity about his feminine hobbies.

Naoto wasn't meant to be seen as trans at all. Her issues are not being taken as seriously due to being both female and young. Her gender issue isn't actually wanting to be a boy, but the thought of "If I was a guy, I wouldn't have to deal with this." along with also having similarities with Kanji in having hobbies typically seen as boyish. This is partly why she's seen wearing more feminine outfits like in the P4G epilogue to show she's more confident in herself as both a woman and detective.
 
Dumb action schlock with a shitbag fuckboy main character and a dissonance between the tone of the gameplay/action and the tone of the dialog and story that was so jarring that it shattered my immersion in the game utterly before the midway point in a way that it never recovered. It strikes me as a game for dummies. Nice art/tech, sure, but I literally hated the game.

Thought the writing when it came to narrative and dialogue was fine, I just hated all the padding and how the series went from fun Saturday morning serial inspiration to something more serious. I do like the story mostly but can't shake the feeling that it was too serious in some ways.

Like on one hand I thought the marriage subplot was good, but at the same time I'm not sure that I wanted it there in the first place. There's nothing wrong with drama in the right place but I don't think it was the right place for it.

As far as games with bad writing, most of them. I could probably count on two hands (to be fair!) games with writing I find to be passable to good. So not many.
 

Parfait

Member
Practically nothing's bothered me, writing-wise. I tend to not have knee-jerk reactions to things in games when you don't have the full story, or don't understand the motivations/characters. In stuff like P4, lol, please point me at a number of high-school kids that will handle a person who is possibly gary around them in a totally calm and relaxed manner. I didn't beat P4 for other reasons, but Yosuke's reaction and behavior was accurate, unfortunate as it is. I dunno if he got any better about it, which would be pro writing.

Almost related, the most I've been bothered was watching that fucking vile trailer for that stupid murderer simulator I already forgot the name of. Which was the point, I guess. And mortal combat x. Why anyone likes that stuff, but then probably shed tears over anime titty in other games, is beyond me.
 

Jobbs

Banned
Thought the writing when it came to narrative and dialogue was fine, I just hated all the padding and how the series went from fun Saturday morning serial inspiration to something more serious. I do like the story mostly but can't shake the feeling that it was too serious in some ways.

Like on one hand I thought the marriage subplot was good, but at the same time I'm not sure that I wanted it there in the first place. There's nothing wrong with drama in the right place but I don't think it was the right place for it.

As far as games with bad writing, most of them. I could probably count on two hands (to be fair!) games with writing I find to be passable to good. So not many.

A high body count and completely ludicrous over the top stunts just don't match the tone of the dialogue and acting. People talk about this particular problem with the UC series to the point that it's often dismissed as noise or hyperbole, but I played UC4 and experienced it first hand.

I didn't even talk about the problems with the gameplay, of which there are many. I say it's a game for dummies in the same way I say The Martian is a movie for dummies. There's no substance there and not even an assumption of basic intelligence about the audience. I'm not trying to call people who liked these things dummies, (I like some dumb stuff too) but it strikes me as a thing for dummies.

...And all of this is coming from someone who really liked TLOU. I thought TLOU was wonderful. It had almost none of the problems that UC4 has.
 

bomblord1

Banned
Practically nothing's bothered me, writing-wise. I tend to not have knee-jerk reactions to things in games when you don't have the full story, or don't understand the motivations/characters. In stuff like P4, lol, please point me at a number of high-school kids that will handle a person who is possibly gary around them in a totally calm and relaxed manner. I didn't beat P4 for other reasons, but Yosuke's reaction and behavior was accurate, unfortunate as it is. I dunno if he got any better about it, which would be pro writing.

Almost related, the most I've been bothered was watching that fucking vile trailer for that stupid murderer simulator I already forgot the name of. Which was the point, I guess. And mortal combat x. Why anyone likes that stuff, but then probably shed tears over anime titty in other games, is beyond me.

There are quite a few people who can't handle Gary
e4720bcc563f4329415d7522b93842a5fb92217d_hq.gif
 

jonjonaug

Member
Assassin's Creed 4: The main character is kind of a massive asshole throughout the entire game, gets all his friends killed, and never gets his comeuppance. His major humanizing character development seems to be "so maybe I should just go home after decades of my life being total shit for me and everyone around me" and "well, I guess slaves are people too". I liked the gameplay, but I despised the protagonist and kinda hated playing as him. The entire game I just wanted to see him get kicked in the dick but he gets to go home with his daughter and have a family again.

There was a certain disonnance, I think, with the overarching meta-story of "Templars are trying to turn this into something that paints the main character and the pirates in a negative light as pro-order propaganda", because honestly you don't have to try very hard. There's a part in the game where someone calls out the main character for being a murderer and thief and I was just nodding my head and going "yep, that's the truth of it".

Saya No Uta the thread.

With Urobuchi works like Saya or Kikokugai, at least the uncomfortable-ness is intentional.
 

skypunch

Banned
Everything related to the Murderess in Xenoblade X. Well not her specifically, she's awful but that's the point, the problem I have is the characters around her never seem to actually react to the fact that
she repeatedly kills people, there's even a sidequest where you "prove" her innocence that she never killed anyone, despite all the other sidequests saying and showing the opposite

The writing in X is really silly a lot of the time.
 

Brandon F

Well congratulations! You got yourself caught!
Most of FFXIII and XIII-2 had me questioning why I was wasting my life paying any mind to the atrocious writing coming out of my TV.
 
Considering that the shift coincided with an absolutely massive growth in sales however, it's just gonna continue in that direction though. :

Even though the real reason for the change in momentum (well, outside of Japan at least) was the lengthy gap in major releases, numerous mechanic tweaks, and significantly lowering the barrier to entry. They could totally have kept the same momentum up in most markets without the writing shift.
Oh trust me, I know. I do think that changing character designers to someone with a more modern anime style helped the game as well, even if the current artist is responsible for some of the more fanservice-focused designs, which honestly wouldn't bother me nearly as much as it does now if the writing quality hadn't dropped so much. The fanservice is ridiculous, and the child-pairing aspect is wearing out its welcome with Fates, but the real failure of the newest entries is the writing. Awakening was OK, if a bit cliche and safe, but Fates took a huge nosedive in terms of characters and narrative. There are a few good characters, but most of them are awful.
 

MoonFrog

Member
and i forgot about Persona 4's sickening treatment of gay people. Just no. Yosuke, no, its not funny.

The thing with Persona 4 is I'd have been fine with all that (Yosuke>>>Chie>Others, being homophobic), if the game itself had had more of a positive perspective on homosexuality. Kids are stupid and afraid of 'different.' That's true to life. Don't act like there is something they should be afraid of or just use their antics as comic relief, though. The game needed a storyline that problematized their attitudes.

Was bad about the fat girl too.

Also, Naoto was fine considered alone but in context it felt like just another rejection of queer stuff. Too much flirting with it and dumping it.
 

skypunch

Banned
Murderess is a ridiculous character but she's never actually killed anyone. Shot them in the back and ran away while they recovered, sure, but she never killed anyone.

The fact that she is such a bitch just makes no sense whatsoever. I guess that's anime for you.
 

Spman2099

Member
id say Japan in general as more progressive about gay stuff than most other countries considering the normalcy of shoujou ai and shounen ai in the media, but there's definitely a very notable element of Japan that is regressive.

That is nonsense. It is absolutely unacceptable to be openly gay in Japan. Though people will go out of their way to pretend to not notice if you are. So you are safe as long as you don't explicitly state it. If you consider that "progressive" then you and I have a completely different understanding of the word.
 
I don't get the Yosuke complaints. I'm gay and he was a super, super watered down and mostly unintentional version of bulling the gay kid.
He was never really malicious or anything, he just didn't know how to correctly express discomfort with a new concept.
They were both still friends in the group and fought beside each other and everything.

What was way more "offensive" and even then, really it's "not barely any at all" since it's pretty open-ended, is how the story cowers from committing to anything concrete about Kanji.
(Though personally I believe his Shadow's design is pretty blatant.)

I think it's the making fun of Kanji on top of the blatant creepiness on the girls for me. When he signs them up for the modelling show, my blood actually boiled. But you're right, he is an accurate depiction of a dumbass teenager.
 
They have 2 flamboyant men "predating/making unwanted advances" on Ryuji played for a joke. Tasteless to us. But it's hard to really comment/discuss when people don't have a full understanding of the Japanese social climate and can only reference to their own.

I certainly could have done without that. It just didn't serve any purpose beside trying to be funny. It's not like with Yosuke being pretty dumb at times showcasing his immaturity.

That's such a shame. I wonder how much of the criticism of P4 Atlus saw.
You know what's weird? I'm pretty sure you can
take a part time job as a bartender at a gay bar and that's supposedly well done. Customers come in to complain about their problems to MC and drink.
 

WilyRook

Member
Loveless from Crisis Core is uncomfortable in the cringeworthy sense. Maybe specifically Genesis' rendition of it.

Also the name Genesis.
 
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