Well, "trans people", not "transvestites" (two different things, though the latter can be considered a subset of the former), but...

A few things. One, the fact that the "satire" is operating in exactly the same way as non-satirical portrayals of trans people. For satire to work, it's often...exaggerated, or off-kilter…

Hm, well, okay.

That's fine if you perceive it that way.

So you aren't going to address how you are saying it's 'masturbatory' among all things?

Characters like Franklin even actively denies going after a relationship or sex because of many reasons, whether from the way he sees the dysfunction he sees in Michael or Trevor. It definitely is there. They even poke fun at him like he might be gay for being so asexual in the story.

Also, they poke at heterosexual appeal whether it's from the mass market culture, the sex houses or the TV shows. It's pretty obvious.

Well, maybe I worded it somewhat ambiguously, but you really didn't need to go all in on how I'm 'enforcing' any narratives or defending something. It'd be nice if there's a proper back and fro instead of jumping on any perceived wrongdoing and going from there.

Yeah, GTA is pretty guilty of that. It's like the angsty teenager version of social commentary: "Man, everything is just bullshit."

Read my other posts. I address the "But they make fun of everyone!" argument, which is...flawed.

And of course my opinion "doesn't make it so". That's not how opinions work. Just because you think it ISN'T bad doesn't mean that's true, either.

I'm not even entirely sure what that last bit is getting at, to be honest.

EDIT…

"Normal people". Classy.

I posted this once already in this discussion, but it's still relevant:

The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.

I don't believe I was putting words in your mouth. You said:

You're making a lot of blanket statements about satire that really aren't accurate. Satire is not always "blunt and unrepentant".

It's really the furthest thing from being politically correct and that's why it works.

Eh. Sometimes, GTA is spot on, but sometimes, it goes for the laziest, cheapest "satire" possible and just ends up looking stupid.

It's actually a lot like South Park in that way.

Plus, sometimes the satire is either confused or...well, sort of gross. Like, when GTA makes shitty comments about trans people, are they…

Oh wow, fantastic "get" for Kotaku.

I've been following your work since the good old MTV/1Up days, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what you've got in store.

Plus, Kotaku could really use the infusion of horror expertise!

You know, I want to like Danganronpa, but there's one certain character I simply...can't get past. The portrayal/handling of that character is just so...tone-deaf that I can't force myself past it.

You probably know the one I'm talking about.

Wolfenstein is fantastic and, really, criminally underrated. It got some attention, but it didn't get nearly the praise or coverage that it deserved.

The soundtrack, particularly in the CD version, is stellar.

The game had a tone that you rarely saw in adventure games at the time. It was dark, it was violent, it was "adult". It acknowledged sex, drugs, and mental illness. Your character, instead of being a hero, was a conflicted antihero whose actual sanity was in…

For what it's worth, I'm totally on board with your reading of Parker and Stone (or, at least, what I understand of your reading from the bits excerpted here).

They're occasionally brilliant, but much of the time their "satire" is essentially one big golden mean fallacy dressed up in fart jokes and easy mockery of…

That game is criminally underrated, even if parts of it really are rushed and under-developed.

Not necessarily! After all, the story indicates that the whole "chosen one and 7 bad guys" thing is cyclical. You could easily do a similar scenario with a new protagonist, or do something exploring the larger mythology.