mintcastle
never trust anyone who doesn't like this game
2013
I love it when you establish that a society is brutally racist and that black people are an underclass who live in abject poverty, and then having a black woman decide to fight against that society before having white characters (one of whom was at WOUNDED KNEEE), start moralising about how awful this woman is for wanting her freedom and then comparing her to the racist leader of the very city that oppresses her as "basically the same." This is such a normal thing to do and definitely not racist. I love it when your white character who literally did a genocide is given more moral complexity than the one black character who is a freedom fighter who just becomes willing to kill a child out of absolutely nowhere just so you can justify having another white character kill her. Also that character is both a daughter figure for the MC and also a love interest for the player because how else can men interact with women right.
This game isn't actually half a star, there are some okay parts and also some good parts, mainly the Lutece twins who are fantastic. Also that scene where songbird dies in rapture. The dlc gives Elizabeth actual autonomy which is nice and booker isn't even in the second chapter which is great.
Look the reason i hate this game so much is because the writers probably thought they were being politically progressive, dealing with themes of christian fundamentalism and the bloody history of America. They essentially start the game by giving you to throw a baseball at an interracial couple. The developers are screaming at you that this is going to be a serious game, and all that build up ends up them scolding the one black character in the story for daring to stand up to a society that hates her, all under the guise of some faux liberal progressivism. This ends up with a game thats political message that is completely soulless. The one conclusion you can draw is that fighting racism is just as bad as being racist, and if that isn't the most cowardly thing I've ever heard then I don't know what is.
This game isn't actually half a star, there are some okay parts and also some good parts, mainly the Lutece twins who are fantastic. Also that scene where songbird dies in rapture. The dlc gives Elizabeth actual autonomy which is nice and booker isn't even in the second chapter which is great.
Look the reason i hate this game so much is because the writers probably thought they were being politically progressive, dealing with themes of christian fundamentalism and the bloody history of America. They essentially start the game by giving you to throw a baseball at an interracial couple. The developers are screaming at you that this is going to be a serious game, and all that build up ends up them scolding the one black character in the story for daring to stand up to a society that hates her, all under the guise of some faux liberal progressivism. This ends up with a game thats political message that is completely soulless. The one conclusion you can draw is that fighting racism is just as bad as being racist, and if that isn't the most cowardly thing I've ever heard then I don't know what is.
2014
I actually have some really complicated opinions about this one. cw/ Sexual abuse, physical abuse
First off, Ubisoft is an awful company never forget that
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-21/ubisoft-sexual-misconduct-scandal-harassment-sexism-and-abuse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRhYT5Lgp98
Regarding the game, this is a difficult one. The presentation is fantastic. The music, by Coure de Pirate is really really great and adds to the atmosphere, and its the atmosphere that's really the star of the show. The game is obviously mimicking a fairytale, both aesthetically and thematically. In this regard the game succeeds exceptionally. The combination of the aforementioned music, the hand-drawn art-style, and the idiosyncratic way the characters always clumsily rhyme their sentences. This is all great, and the best part of the game, the story is secondary to this feeling or experience you have while playing the game. This is to say nothing of the unique and interesting world and characters. I actually played the game over a year ago now, so it's not all as clear as it was, but i can remember the main cast of characters vividly. The fantasy world that they inhabit is great too, with really interesting and unique elements like Magna and the Bolmus Populi who travel on his back. The visuals in said world are obviously gorgeous too. As for the story, it is about a young girl who's mother has died going into this fantasy land where she has to save it from her evil stepmother, yeah it's like a fairytale. There are also a bunch of other cool smaller stories from the individual characters which are usually quite fun. I noticed a lot of them surround conflict resolution but I'm not entirely sure of what to make of that so I'll just point out the observation. As for the main story, it is essentially an allegory for dealing with the loss of a parent in ones formative years and how accepting the loss is the only way to grow up and move on (Aurora, our main character literally grows up). The decaying fantasy world is presumably allegorical for the loss. There's probably more stuff I missed but it isn't very subtle or deep and that's absolutely fine. It's a game that throws you in a world that is colourful and interesting and gives you a bunch of great characters to go through that world with, all in service of creating this dream like fairytale. This game is about the experience. I haven't even talked about the 'game' part of this yet, which is also great. It's an interesting riff on the turn based rpg that has some complex stuff in it. Anyway this has gone on for too long and no one will ever read it but it's here anyway.
First off, Ubisoft is an awful company never forget that
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-21/ubisoft-sexual-misconduct-scandal-harassment-sexism-and-abuse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRhYT5Lgp98
Regarding the game, this is a difficult one. The presentation is fantastic. The music, by Coure de Pirate is really really great and adds to the atmosphere, and its the atmosphere that's really the star of the show. The game is obviously mimicking a fairytale, both aesthetically and thematically. In this regard the game succeeds exceptionally. The combination of the aforementioned music, the hand-drawn art-style, and the idiosyncratic way the characters always clumsily rhyme their sentences. This is all great, and the best part of the game, the story is secondary to this feeling or experience you have while playing the game. This is to say nothing of the unique and interesting world and characters. I actually played the game over a year ago now, so it's not all as clear as it was, but i can remember the main cast of characters vividly. The fantasy world that they inhabit is great too, with really interesting and unique elements like Magna and the Bolmus Populi who travel on his back. The visuals in said world are obviously gorgeous too. As for the story, it is about a young girl who's mother has died going into this fantasy land where she has to save it from her evil stepmother, yeah it's like a fairytale. There are also a bunch of other cool smaller stories from the individual characters which are usually quite fun. I noticed a lot of them surround conflict resolution but I'm not entirely sure of what to make of that so I'll just point out the observation. As for the main story, it is essentially an allegory for dealing with the loss of a parent in ones formative years and how accepting the loss is the only way to grow up and move on (Aurora, our main character literally grows up). The decaying fantasy world is presumably allegorical for the loss. There's probably more stuff I missed but it isn't very subtle or deep and that's absolutely fine. It's a game that throws you in a world that is colourful and interesting and gives you a bunch of great characters to go through that world with, all in service of creating this dream like fairytale. This game is about the experience. I haven't even talked about the 'game' part of this yet, which is also great. It's an interesting riff on the turn based rpg that has some complex stuff in it. Anyway this has gone on for too long and no one will ever read it but it's here anyway.