Topic: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

@JONOFTHEJONS You would have to upload it to YouTube I believe but don’t quote me on that.

This is probably my most controversial take, but:

I don’t think Madeline being trans in Celeste was a good idea.
I am in no way saying it’s inherently a bad idea or that I am against trans people, I just think it was a poor choice to add that huge characteristic of Madeline into the game AFTER the game was released and the story was finished, it just doesn’t work into madelines character in the game because of it.

Again; I have nothing against trans people, I just think this specific implementation was really poorly done

@DiamondCore If I recall, the timing coincided with the developer realizing they themselves were trans. So it wasn't so much an issue of bad planning, it's just what happens when you put that much of yourself into a character at the exact same time of trying to discover yourself. In that sense it's messy in the same way real life is messy. Most games are made by a larger team and aren't directly tied to one developers emotions, so it is kind of an unusual case.

As someone who is "under that umbrella", as it is sometimes described as, I don't particularly care one way or the other about Madeline being trans. I think the actual story behind that is interesting and cool and...y'know, real, but it doesn't add much to the game itself, for me.

But I don't really have anything against it either. But its more an interesting piece of trivia then anything that adds to the experience itself.

I actually have a maybe hot take on Celeste on my own. To me, the reason the story of Celeste really worked as well as it did, is not really the actual written story and dialogue. Which is good, but not something amazing, it feels very "solid video game story with a modern, mental health focus" more than anything. To me its that how they utilized climbing a mountain as a metaphor for mental health, and then used "playing through a challenging video game" as a metaphor for climbing as a metaphor for mental health. And I felt that was incredible well realized, especially since the actual gameplay was as strong as it was. Like most games that try to bring gameplay as part of the storytelling, from what I have seen, tend to go against typical video game gameplay, either partially or entirely. So its incredible to me that I felt it worked so well at that, while still just feeling a very good 2d platformer.

In general I think climbing an impossible structure or the like is in general a great way to have a gameplay experience add to a game's story. I think the long, gameplay dominated, Mechonis section of Xenoblade Chronicles was one of the highlights of that game for similar reasons and playing as Seven for most of that time made them a much cooler character than they would've been otherwise, because they lead the team through all of that.

@kkslider5552000 it's actually kind of interesting how often this metaphor is used. Getting Over It is of course also a metaphor relating mental health (or at least aspects of it) and climbing up a mountain in a game. Of course there the controls are purposefully bad feeling because the game is more about frustration and calmness.

Not a mountain and not difficult, but I really enjoy Lost Words: beyond the page which also has platforming as a metaphor with dealing with emotional things. Parts of it have you literally platforming on words.

Madeline being trans is sort of like Dumbledore being gay. It neither adds nor subtracts from the experience.

With that said, there's not a lot of trans representation in video games, and I feel like there aren't enough trans characters in media in general where it's not one of the defining aspects of their character arc, so I respect it as far as that goes.

Bendy and the Ink Machine was a fantastically stylised horror game. It and Baldi’s Basics are mascot horror games done right by passionate developers. It’s certainly better than the trash that is the Hello Neighbour franchise and Poppy Playtime. That… Thing terrifies me. Why do small children like that!?

I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.

This! The mains story in itself is anxiety (or that is how I related to it). But like you said I loved that it wasn’t her defining character aspects, Madeline is Madeline, she is she, she is a person.

@Ralizah Hold on. People say Dumbledore is gay!?

@Snatcher Yeah. I feel like quieter efforts at representation like that are necessary for normalization in media.

@JONOFTHEJONS JK Rowling said Dumbledore is gay. So word of God.

I mean, I certainly never saw him acting explicitly heterosexual in the main movies. Granted, he was fairly old so it didn't come up much.

🤔 Relatedly, I wonder if wizards can permanently change their gender if they want. That would be convenient.

@FishyS from what I remember it wasn’t really brought up much at all whatsoever, which is just fine, I think she indeed up mentioning it in a interview.

I feel like they could but I never actually looked into it.

@Ralizah I agree! It’s crazy because some people are just baffled that she is trans and saying that not true because it’s never said in the game, which yeah, it should have to be as that wasn’t the main focus lol.

Unless characters are plainly defined as trans or gay from the outset, the audience is probably going to assume that they're straight and cis. That's just how the world works.

I'd think it only fair play to challenge that assumption once in a while.

I'm going to assume all characters in all games are transformed possums unless the dialogue explicitly tell me they aren't.

But yeah, people can assume whatever they want if it's not mentioned in the game, but it's silly to think that your own arbitrary conclusion is somehow 'right' and even sillier if they get offended when someone (especially the author/developer) says it's not right.

@Matt_Barber I usually assume based off of actions, but that’s not really the first thing that comes to mind, and if I do assume there straight and cis, and I’m wrong, then I’m wrong, because it was an assumption not a fact, and the fact people get mad about there assumptions being wrong is stupid lol.

If you voted K-1 games over than Smash Bros games, you have better taste in fighting games.

If you voted Ratchet & Clank games over than 3D Mario games, you have better taste in 3D Action Platformer games.

If you voted DDR / Beatmania IIDX over than Just Dance, you have better taste in Music and Rhythm games.

If you voted Mario Kart style games over than Forza / Gran Turismo games, you have better taste in fun racing games.

If you read this whole comments, Oops...
That was me basically. 😅

@Anti-Matter The problem with a lot of those options, is they aren't on Switch. Give me alternatives on Nintendo consoles so that I might be able to actually try them.

Peachette slot in MK should have Been given to someone else, and I think peach is just another reskin of peach and we already have three of them in the game.

As for who they get replaced with I don’t know, I would have loved a nintnedo crossover character!

@Snatcher Even though I personally hate nabbit because he's ugly (I realize that sounds bad 😝), I think Nabbit deserves a spot over Peachette, especially since he is in Wonder.

As for crossovers, Kirby would be nice.