Game Articles and Videos Thread

Old_Hunter_77

Elite Member
Dec 29, 2021
2,136
1,965
118
Country
United States
"Mary Sue" is the mary sue of arguments. It's one of those terms that became popular and then everybody repeats lazily, and now ever female protagonist is a mary sue. *yawn*

re: AssCreed, look, the company's president infamously didn't even want to have a solo female playable character because of the corporate sexist culture, so that alone is going to color any such judgement.

Overall Yahtzee's observation is valid. He's talking about a trend he's noticed not reviewing the entire history of gaming, and came to understand a basic principle that women-led and feminist media criticism has been discussing for decades- the inherent blind spots of biases for women characters created by and/or for men. But gamers by and large don't interact with that kind of writing and discussion so if they have to come to it from thoughtful observation, so be it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan

meiam

Elite Member
Dec 9, 2010
3,600
1,825
118
"Mary Sue" is the mary sue of arguments. It's one of those terms that became popular and then everybody repeats lazily, and now ever female protagonist is a mary sue. *yawn*
Well it became popular because it applied to so many cases.
 

Cicada 5

Elite Member
Apr 16, 2015
2,818
1,398
118
Country
Nigeria

A video on how Sonic discourse in the 2010s badly hurt the franchise and perception of it.
 

BrawlMan

Lover of beat'em ups.
Legacy
Mar 10, 2016
29,495
12,264
118
Detroit, Michigan
Country
United States of America
Gender
Male
A video on how Sonic discourse in the 2010s badly hurt the franchise and perception of it.
I'm glad there's video calling out haters, anti-Sonic fans, and "professional" reviewers, but honestly the discourse on YT started in the late 2000s with certain angry reviewers. Second, Sonic really doesn't need much defending considering Frontiers did great, and the movies brought in a new generation of fans. The haters and the anti-fans know this, so they double down, but all they're doing is preaching to their echo chambers. The evidence stacks against them, and shows how full of shit they all are. I didn't like Frontiers, but I am glad it has a huge audience.
 

Chimpzy

Simian Abomination
Legacy
Escapist +
Apr 3, 2020
12,873
9,314
118
Honestly, something that both the pro and anti Sonic side seem to have trouble coming to grips with is that outside of its mainstream recognition, Sonic is a 'merely ok' franchise on average. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, bust mostly just kinda mediocre.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan

BrawlMan

Lover of beat'em ups.
Legacy
Mar 10, 2016
29,495
12,264
118
Detroit, Michigan
Country
United States of America
Gender
Male
pro and anti Sonic side seem to have trouble coming to grips with is that outside of its mainstream recognition, Sonic is a 'merely ok' franchise on average
The anti-Sonic fans are bad about this even more than the pro-Sonic fans. The pros have their moments of defending nearly all the games blindly, but even most of them admit the franchise has many up and downs, or that Sega can't stay consistent with their ideas and gameplay.

Sometimes good, sometimes bad, bust mostly just kinda mediocre.
I would go that far on kinda mediocre, but yes, the franchise has a few bad or mediocre games. I didn't care much for the storybook games, Colors got repetitive, Sonic Heroes I completed once and never again, and Sonic Unleashed I only like the day time levels. But even Unleashed started getting more defenders of the Were-Hog sections/levels is because of the combat and combo depth, and due to many of the kids playing this game in their late teen or early 20s now.
 

BrawlMan

Lover of beat'em ups.
Legacy
Mar 10, 2016
29,495
12,264
118
Detroit, Michigan
Country
United States of America
Gender
Male
UMVC3 is broken too.


Black Representation & Influences in Jet Set Radio



 
Last edited:

Satinavian

Elite Member
Legacy
Apr 30, 2016
1,941
805
118
"Mary Sue" is the mary sue of arguments. It's one of those terms that became popular and then everybody repeats lazily, and now ever female protagonist is a mary sue. *yawn*
It has a reason to exist because it really is a common writing problem.

Also it has not exclusively applied to female characters for decades even if the Gary Stu name is not as common in use.



That does not mean that every application is warranted, but I have seen sooo many that are. Particularly in fanfiction and light novels.
 

BrawlMan

Lover of beat'em ups.
Legacy
Mar 10, 2016
29,495
12,264
118
Detroit, Michigan
Country
United States of America
Gender
Male
It has a reason to exist because it really is a common writing problem.
Yeah, mainly in fanfiction. Not in most official media.

Also it has not exclusively applied to female characters for decades even if the Gary Stu name is not as common in use.
Thank you.

That does not mean that every application is warranted, but I have seen sooo many that are. Particularly in fanfiction and light novels.
Once again, it's just two areas. I don't read light novels anyway, and most fanfics I don't bother with for it to be a problem.
 

Old_Hunter_77

Elite Member
Dec 29, 2021
2,136
1,965
118
Country
United States
It has a reason to exist because it really is a common writing problem.

Also it has not exclusively applied to female characters for decades even if the Gary Stu name is not as common in use.



That does not mean that every application is warranted, but I have seen sooo many that are. Particularly in fanfiction and light novels.
I'll admit I don't read a lot of pop culture media criticism any more. Just personally/anecdotally I only seem to see the term applied to female characters. Certainly it being a female name probably implants that idea more in my name.

I mean... look.. is Luke Skywalker a Mary Sue? Aragorn? King Arthur? From some of the definitions and applications of the term I could make the case- I just dunno when it just means "hero" and at that point what are words.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan