Zero Punctuation: Agents of Mayhem

[Yahtzee Croshaw]

Agents of Mayhem

Yahtzee reviews Agents of Mayhem.

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[Canadamus Prime]

This game sounds boring.

Also Tracer's a lesbian? Ok, three questions,
1. Who decided that?
2. Does it actually effect anything?
3. Who the hell is Tracer?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

This game sounds boring.

Also Tracer's a lesbian? Ok, three questions,
1. Who decided that?
2. Does it actually effect anything?
3. Who the hell is Tracer?

1. A comic
2. Nope
3. Overwatch mascot

 

[Caylith]

This game sounds boring.

Also Tracer's a lesbian? Ok, three questions,
1. Who decided that?
2. Does it actually effect anything?
3. Who the hell is Tracer?

That's a character from Overwatch and her being a lesbian has been made official some time last year in December. So... old news.

 

[Igor-Rowan]

This game sounds boring.

Also Tracer's a lesbian? Ok, three questions,
1. Who decided that?
2. Does it actually effect anything?
3. Who the hell is Tracer?

1. The Overwatch comic since they couldn't be arsed to make a single player experience.
2. Nothing.
3. The girl in the cover, who stuck her bum out in Overwatch and had it censored.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

This game sounds boring.

Also Tracer's a lesbian? Ok, three questions,
1. Who decided that?
2. Does it actually effect anything?
3. Who the hell is Tracer?

1. A comic
2. Nope
3. Overwatch mascot

This game sounds boring.

Also Tracer's a lesbian? Ok, three questions,
1. Who decided that?
2. Does it actually effect anything?
3. Who the hell is Tracer?

1. The Overwatch comic since they couldn't be arsed to make a single player experience.
2. Nothing.
3. The girl in the cover, who stuck her bum out in Overwatch and had it censored.

Oh is that her name? I think I knew that too.
Anyway, yeah that's what I thought. Completely pointless.

 

[PapaGreg096]

Anyway, yeah that's what I thought. Completely pointless.

What you want her to constantly remind the player she is a lesbian

 

[Bindal]

I'll get it anyway, but on a sale. The basic idea sounds fun enough for me.
And yes, Agents of Mayhem IS an "alternate universe" deal - it continues one of the potential endings of "Gat out of Hell", where the universe got a reboot itself with the Saints not existing being one of the difference.
That said, AoM is not going to be THE canon sequel to Saints Row, just the sequel to one of the endings - some of the others might also get one and continuing the Saints Row name itself.

This game sounds boring.

Also Tracer's a lesbian? Ok, three questions,
1. Who decided that?
2. Does it actually effect anything?
3. Who the hell is Tracer?

1. A comic
2. Nope
3. Overwatch mascot

This game sounds boring.

Also Tracer's a lesbian? Ok, three questions,
1. Who decided that?
2. Does it actually effect anything?
3. Who the hell is Tracer?

1. The Overwatch comic since they couldn't be arsed to make a single player experience.
2. Nothing.
3. The girl in the cover, who stuck her bum out in Overwatch and had it censored.

Oh is that her name? I think I knew that too.
Anyway, yeah that's what I thought. Completely pointless.

For the game itself, yes, it's somewhat pointless.
For the lore overall (which is basically everything EXCEPT the game), not so much. It adds a bit of fluff and given that outside of the comic showing she has a girlfriend, it is never brought up anyway. Which is better than trying to constantly shove it into our face as if to say "Look, we are divierse! We got a gay character, too!" when it then also doesn't matter for the gameplay or story.

 

[Airon]

An slightly more aggressive episode. I love this. Slightly grungy sound too, which fits the tone of the review perfectly.

Thank you.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Anyway, yeah that's what I thought. Completely pointless.

What you want her to constantly remind the player she is a lesbian

Of course not.

This game sounds boring.

Also Tracer's a lesbian? Ok, three questions,
1. Who decided that?
2. Does it actually effect anything?
3. Who the hell is Tracer?

1. A comic
2. Nope
3. Overwatch mascot

This game sounds boring.

Also Tracer's a lesbian? Ok, three questions,
1. Who decided that?
2. Does it actually effect anything?
3. Who the hell is Tracer?

1. The Overwatch comic since they couldn't be arsed to make a single player experience.
2. Nothing.
3. The girl in the cover, who stuck her bum out in Overwatch and had it censored.

Oh is that her name? I think I knew that too.
Anyway, yeah that's what I thought. Completely pointless.

For the game itself, yes, it's somewhat pointless.
For the lore overall (which is basically everything EXCEPT the game), not so much. It adds a bit of fluff and given that outside of the comic showing she has a girlfriend, it is never brought up anyway. Which is better than trying to constantly shove it into our face as if to say "Look, we are divierse! We got a gay character, too!" when it then also doesn't matter for the gameplay or story.

That's the thing, it doesn't add anything. It's utterly arbitrary and pointless. I had the same reaction a few years ago when J.K. Rowling felt the need to announce the Dumbledore in Harry Potter was gay. Does that effect the story in any way? No? Then what's the bloody point?
I'm not a fan of Overwatch and thus have never played it nor have I read this comic. So does her having a girlfriend and her interactions with said girlfriend give us any insights into her character? If no, then I repeat what's the point?

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

Okay, cards on the table, I'm going to find any way I can to steal that "I'm in Seoul but I'm not a Seouldier" joke

 

[Kyman102]

3. The girl in the cover, who stuck her bum out in Overwatch and had it censored.

Okay I gotta stop you right there because you are completely 110% wrong in pretty much how everything about that little pose change happened.

The pose's main critique was not that it was sexy, it was that it felt out of character, which given what personality of Tracer was established (goofy, fun, energetic), the static butt pose DID feel a bit out of character for her.

So the art team fiddled with it and they came up with a NEW pose that focused on her butt that looked like a WW2-era pinup pose, which they felt was far more IN-character.

God the least you could do if you're going to bother answering is bother to put in the absolute minimum required amount of research.

I'm not a fan of Overwatch and thus have never played it nor have I read this comic. So does her having a girlfriend and her interactions with said girlfriend give us any insights into her character? If no, then I repeat what's the point?

Well if you're not an Overwatch fan and have no interest in it, then no, it adds literally nothing.

If you don't have an interest in something, it doesn't add a goddamn thing.

But if you ARE interested, then aspects of the character enrich them and make them feel more alive. Tracer has a girlfriend, one who doesn't appear to be related to any of this Heroing, from the comic.

But from the same comic, we know that Emily (said girlfriend) ALSO knows about the Overwatch past, as she went with Tracer to go spend Christmas with Winston.

Torbjorn being married and having several kids (also from the comic)? Doesn't add much to the game itself.

Showing Pharah eating dinner with her dad? Doesn't add much. Nor would it add much if the creators confirmed the fan theory that he's of First Nation (Canadian Native) descent.

If you get down to how this effects the gameplay, then no, these tidbits don't really do much.

BUT!

Overwatch's characters are in fact CHARACTERS, and these facts revealed about them serve to enrich those characters. And honestly, sometimes 'Well that's neat' is all the reason you need for mentioning a factoid about a character. "Huh, Reinhardt has a mechanic who keeps his old armor working" is a factoid that doesn't really effect much in gameplay, but it CAN bring up questions to wonder more about Reinhardt.

tl;dr - Tracer being a lesbian doesn't effect much in gameplay, but it does inform a lot about her character, and for those who LIKE the Overwatch cast it is VERY greatly appreciated.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Anyway, yeah that's what I thought. Completely pointless.

What you want her to constantly remind the player she is a lesbian

Of course not.

This game sounds boring.

Also Tracer's a lesbian? Ok, three questions,
1. Who decided that?
2. Does it actually effect anything?
3. Who the hell is Tracer?

1. A comic
2. Nope
3. Overwatch mascot

This game sounds boring.

Also Tracer's a lesbian? Ok, three questions,
1. Who decided that?
2. Does it actually effect anything?
3. Who the hell is Tracer?

1. The Overwatch comic since they couldn't be arsed to make a single player experience.
2. Nothing.
3. The girl in the cover, who stuck her bum out in Overwatch and had it censored.

Oh is that her name? I think I knew that too.
Anyway, yeah that's what I thought. Completely pointless.

For the game itself, yes, it's somewhat pointless.
For the lore overall (which is basically everything EXCEPT the game), not so much. It adds a bit of fluff and given that outside of the comic showing she has a girlfriend, it is never brought up anyway. Which is better than trying to constantly shove it into our face as if to say "Look, we are divierse! We got a gay character, too!" when it then also doesn't matter for the gameplay or story.

That's the thing, it doesn't add anything. It's utterly arbitrary and pointless. I had the same reaction a few years ago when J.K. Rowling felt the need to announce the Dumbledore in Harry Potter was gay. Does that effect the story in any way? No? Then what's the bloody point?
I'm not a fan of Overwatch and thus have never played it nor have I read this comic. So does her having a girlfriend and her interactions with said girlfriend give us any insights into her character? If no, then I repeat what's the point?

There is no point. It's just a detail of the character. If the comic casually revealed she was a Leo, or liked her burgers medium rare, or thought that one dress was blue, nobody would bat an eye. But the minute you even mention sexual orientation everybody becomes suspicious.

I do agree that JK editing her published work via Twitter is schlock of the highest order. But Overwatch has no story per se, so making it up on the side is a big whatever.

 

[Imre Csete]

Nice video you have there, it would be a real shame if everyone started talking about the end credits gag.

And here I thought tracer goes both ways.

OT:

The exclusion of multiplayer in a Volition game, especially designed like one which screams for co-op, boggles my mind.

What were they thinking?

 

[Kyman102]

I do agree that JK editing her published work via Twitter is schlock of the highest order. But Overwatch has no story per se, so making it up on the side is a big whatever.

See I heard that the first people to find out about Dumbledore being gay was actually the writers on the movies, where one of the writers wrote in a line about Dumbledore in one movie reminiscing about a girl that he quite fancied when he was younger, and Rowling wrote down "Um, Dumbledore is gay, just FYI"

See I wouldn't so much call Dumbledore being revealed as gay an edit or a retcon... Because there was really no sign of him being romantically interested in anybody. Because he's old. His days of whirlwind romance are long behind him, and he's okay with that. No, there were no real signs of him liking men in the books. NOR were there any signs of him liking women. It wasn't some kind of retcon or editing, it was just a reveal. Like when an author reveals they had an extensive biography of character quirks and notes to try and keep the characters consistent, and were just now publishing the tidbits.

 

[Igor-Rowan]

snap

I know, but since we are in a ZP thread and Yahtzee gave his two cents about that I imagined no one would bring it up.

I'm just saying that because I really spite those people that think that localization or slight modifications like that mean censorship.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I do agree that JK editing her published work via Twitter is schlock of the highest order. But Overwatch has no story per se, so making it up on the side is a big whatever.

See I heard that the first people to find out about Dumbledore being gay was actually the writers on the movies, where one of the writers wrote in a line about Dumbledore in one movie reminiscing about a girl that he quite fancied when he was younger, and Rowling wrote down "Um, Dumbledore is gay, just FYI"

See I wouldn't so much call Dumbledore being revealed as gay an edit or a retcon... Because there was really no sign of him being romantically interested in anybody. Because he's old. His days of whirlwind romance are long behind him, and he's okay with that. No, there were no real signs of him liking men in the books. NOR were there any signs of him liking women. It wasn't some kind of retcon or editing, it was just a reveal. Like when an author reveals they had an extensive biography of character quirks and notes to try and keep the characters consistent, and were just now publishing the tidbits.

It doesn't matter if it doesn't contradict the material, it's still an edit in the form of a clarification. If she thought the books spoke for themselves, why bring it up? And if they didn't, why not weave it in the first place? Because it doesn't matter? Then why bring it up in the first place?

 

[Darth_Payn]

This game sounds boring.

Also Tracer's a lesbian? Ok, three questions,
1. Who decided that?
2. Does it actually effect anything?
3. Who the hell is Tracer?

1. A comic
2. Nope
3. Overwatch mascot

This game sounds boring.

Also Tracer's a lesbian? Ok, three questions,
1. Who decided that?
2. Does it actually effect anything?
3. Who the hell is Tracer?

1. The Overwatch comic since they couldn't be arsed to make a single player experience.
2. Nothing.
3. The girl in the cover, who stuck her bum out in Overwatch and had it censored.

Oh is that her name? I think I knew that too.
Anyway, yeah that's what I thought. Completely pointless.

Reminds me of that time one of the recent Mortal Kombat games announced one of its new characters was gay, and I thought "And? Does that have any effect on how he fights? This is a fighting game, after all."

 

[BarkBarker]

Shoulda gone with G.I Row Yahtzee, missed opportunity.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Anyway, yeah that's what I thought. Completely pointless.

What you want her to constantly remind the player she is a lesbian

Of course not.

This game sounds boring.

Also Tracer's a lesbian? Ok, three questions,
1. Who decided that?
2. Does it actually effect anything?
3. Who the hell is Tracer?

1. A comic
2. Nope
3. Overwatch mascot

This game sounds boring.

Also Tracer's a lesbian? Ok, three questions,
1. Who decided that?
2. Does it actually effect anything?
3. Who the hell is Tracer?

1. The Overwatch comic since they couldn't be arsed to make a single player experience.
2. Nothing.
3. The girl in the cover, who stuck her bum out in Overwatch and had it censored.

Oh is that her name? I think I knew that too.
Anyway, yeah that's what I thought. Completely pointless.

For the game itself, yes, it's somewhat pointless.
For the lore overall (which is basically everything EXCEPT the game), not so much. It adds a bit of fluff and given that outside of the comic showing she has a girlfriend, it is never brought up anyway. Which is better than trying to constantly shove it into our face as if to say "Look, we are divierse! We got a gay character, too!" when it then also doesn't matter for the gameplay or story.

That's the thing, it doesn't add anything. It's utterly arbitrary and pointless. I had the same reaction a few years ago when J.K. Rowling felt the need to announce the Dumbledore in Harry Potter was gay. Does that effect the story in any way? No? Then what's the bloody point?
I'm not a fan of Overwatch and thus have never played it nor have I read this comic. So does her having a girlfriend and her interactions with said girlfriend give us any insights into her character? If no, then I repeat what's the point?

There is no point. It's just a detail of the character. If the comic casually revealed she was a Leo, or liked her burgers medium rare, or thought that one dress was blue, nobody would bat an eye. But the minute you even mention sexual orientation everybody becomes suspicious.

I do agree that JK editing her published work via Twitter is schlock of the highest order. But Overwatch has no story per se, so making it up on the side is a big whatever.

I don't really care that they made her a Lesbian. As I said, I'm not an Overwatch fan. I just have to wonder what the point of establishing that is. I suppose it does flesh her out as a character I guess. *shrug*