- Feb 10, 2020
- 85
- 819
Your point about the writer's perspective intruding upon everything is spot on. With better writers, we would be presented with information about the world and it's characters then be allowed to make decisions based off of that information. It can be biased based off who you learn it from, but the text and situations you are put in shouldn't be biased one way or another. I think this is why Cait is so hated around here, because the text presents her in such a glowing light that it feels like it's demanding that you like her. Given how they divvy up writing characters, I am not surprised in the slightest. Because every character is someone's Special OC that must be liked at all times, because doing otherwise would be a personal attack against the person writing them. It's the amateur fanfic problem turned into a game, with the added problem that they're also including kinks in there and that's a whole 'nother can of worms.Talking of RPGs, imo at its core a power-fantasy is nothing more than a regular RPG that puts the PC at the centre of its narrative while providing a multitude of paths and one optimal one, that you usually can go down by going the extra mile. So while functionally a power-fantasy because of the porn aspect, i still wouldn't call this game one because it often just lacks the most basic of choices (beyond sex stuff). And i think it does so because the writers' perspective just intrudes too often on their writing.
Like, from the writer's perspective the foxes weren't meant to come across as a bunch of soul-sucking assholes, so you can't talk back to them. Mallachites weren't meant to come across as a weird grooming cult, so they're the best people ever and here's your temple. Everyone practices slavery, but because reasons only the orcs are bad for doing it and just accept it. Gweyr the kidsslayer and Kiyoko the terrible mother are actually upstanding citizens, so god forbid you ever question them. The Champions needs to like Cait because she's actually lovely, the Champions needs to be Agni's whipping boy because she's actually just spunky, and so forth and so on.
It's honestly odd. Those themes and characters wouldn't even feel bad, in absense of choice, if they were treated with a measure of awareness, but it's all just so biased. Don't question anything and like what we like, kinda thing. Which is why i think Wsan is as appreciated as he is around here. He doesn't provide much choice either, and he doesn't write the most complex of characters/situations, but at least he doesn't impose controversial takes on the player/character.
As a side note, can I just say that despite the game presenting itself as sex positive, it's weirdly judgemental. This ties into the whole "just about every character is someone's OC Sex Dream," you get weirdly pressured into having sexual encounters with everyone and everything. Every situation is someone's magical realm. Which usually isn't a problem in most games because they're clear about what the game is about. But with CoC 2, it presents itself as a choice-based RPG. A sexy choose your own adventure novel. Except the narration keeps pushing you towards fucking everything and everyone, rather than presenting a buffet and allowing you to pick and choose.