Hell, half the clips that were going around weren’t even *that* bad. Some were cringy, others were perfectly fine or at least just up to taste. But a game with a Black lady lead... of course it was gonna get a ton of shit. Societal racism+sexism are hard to beat and a lot of the time aren’t even conscious behaviors.

The frustrating (and entirely expected) thing is that most of the backlash I’ve seen is as simple as “I am disappointed to see someone playing this game,” only for it to be framed as bullying and harassment.

Reminder: telling someone you’re disappointed in them for playing Hogwarts Legacy is not bullying. Telling someone you’re going to unsub/unfollow them for playing it is not bullying. Asking someone not to play a game because the franchise’s creator is loudly, proudly transphobic is not bullying.

Reminder: telling someone you’re disappointed in them for playing Hogwarts Legacy is not bullying. Telling someone you’re going to unsub/unfollow them for playing it is not bullying. Asking someone not to play a game because the franchise’s creator is loudly, proudly transphobic is not bullying.

I doubt they would. The parks make Disney a shitton of money - to my understanding, they’re some of the only consistently profitable projects the company has going. It’s always a balancing act of profits and losses, but the parks have practically been their lifeline at times.

As terrifying as the idea of a megacorporation having complete control over their zoning and such is... of all the companies and all the theme parks, I’d rather Disney have it than Florida itself tbh. Disney as a corporation is terrible, but they’re smart enough to know they *have* to make their parks as safe as…

I thought the same thing! I thought the whole draw of the game was actually getting to be a Hogwarts student in an open world, but it sounds like the actual student portion isn’t really there. I wouldn’t expect them to do something Persona-like if they really want players to explore, but classes hardly having a place…

The thought process is generally that even if you buy it used, especially right now when the game is new, that contributes to getting eyes on the franchise and increasing its clout, which gives Rowling even more reason to keep making money. Just wait on it to hit bargain bins at GameStop or something. There are tons…

Okay, but we’re not talking about DC Comics or the current owner. We’re talking about not buying Hogwarts Legacy, a game inextricably tied to JK Rowling, who keeps tight control over most of the franchise and is loudly and harmfully transphobic.

Maybe I’m just biased because I like Yoshida’s work on XIV and see that he genuinely cares as a whole (not just about games, but about their impact on people), but I’m hoping that his comments on diversity were phrased/translated poorly considering it’s not quite the same situation as white creators making medieval…

Try and go in with an open mind. I’m split on what they’re doing with it, for instance, but I’m interested to see what on earth they end up trying to do with the narrative. imo that’s the best way to go into remakes and adaptations; we know they’re gonna change things, so if you can approach them as more “inspired by”…

I think the company seems to be correcting overall, tbh? Fabula Nova Crystallis was definitely mismanaged - XIII had no clear vision until its sequels (we know development itself was a mess), Versus kept getting staff pulled away from it to work on other projects to the point that imo most of the blame wasn’t actually…

I think for the series, charging into that space *is* experimental. Having played XIV pretty much since the rerelease, I can see some of the game’s DNA in XVI, even. There’s a lot of medieval stuff, a lot more seriousness to some of the main story beats, but the game (even the main story) still has a lot of…

It’s not a simple issue. There *are* Black people in Japan, including a few celebrities, though the country is definitely more homogenous than, say, the USA. There’s definitely going to be a bit of a learning curve.

I think it started as a way to distinguish between the style of RPG where you create your own character to actively roleplay as them (“wRPG”) and the style where there’s more emphasis on narrative structure (“JRPG”). For a while, though—I’d say the later 2000s from what I remember—there was a good amount of backlash…

I think that for a while, there *was* some use of JRPG as an insult, or at least a negative perception of them. It seemed to me it started more as a way to indicate that games were still RPGs, just not the same type as the Western-style ones where you create your own character and explore a world as if you’re actually…

Ooh, so the anxiety meds aren’t there in the original, just in the Part I remake? That’s really interesting - I never picked up on Joel potentially having anxiety, even as someone who lives with it myself.

I mean, the article isn’t arguing that Ryuji/Joker should be canon; it’s saying it should have been an option.

We need more male friendships that aren’t just typical toxic masculinity, but at the same time, the entire concept of “bromance” is a huge thing in media. We get bromances and no-homo friendships way more often than we have actual queer relationships, and in cases like Persona 5, I don’t think there’s anything wrong…

Let’s not forget, either, that Yosuke in Persona 4 appears to have been intended as a romance option at one point, too - he even had romantic lines cut! It’s such a shame the games don’t let you. Even more than Ryuji (much as I liked him and would have romanced him), I think Yusuke would have been a fitting option…