![[History] When Rooster Teeth's The Patch Game Club played Sunset and Meg says she feels bad it was her suggestion they all try it based on reading some really good reviews about it she'd read.](https://external-preview.redd.it/WQgLA5HF7bFiReAT9K0VQInOwqxPRASP2xRrQNvSQus.jpeg?width=140&height=105&auto=webp&s=86b1ab79c673f6ddd15d098e551f30ebf1da98a5)
So I've not played the game
I don't own the game.
This is just based on what I've been hearing around and piecing the stuff together.
The back of the box for Saros and some of the marketing has the phrase "Come Back Stronger".
It's a roguelite but also I'd suggest this is the first bit of the subversion of expectations the studio has set up.
So spoilers for Saros now turns out the main character wasn't a great Husband: he drank, he was somewhat abusive and he cheated on his wife. The reason for him going there is to try and save her and win her back. the idea being he's trying to be a better person now. In the end the only way he can have her is by becoming the new king in yellow or something and basically replacing the games villain.
The true ending sees him reject it and it's above him moving on and accepting his wife has moved on. The thing being and where the issue is from my perspective the game and narrative gives his wife the happy ending as such while our main protag has put in all this work for um........growth for growths sake? It's not a happy ending as such.
It's a heroes journey of growth and redemption to no-where and that's why it's not satisfying. It's Dragon Ball if after being beaten by the next major threat Goku / Vegeta / whoever trained and worked to get stronger and better and came back to fight them only to lose again and just give up.
Contrast this will the show Hell on Wheels a probably fairly obscure show on AMC, which doesn't do a subversion of expectations but does have a flawed protagonist. It's protagonist is a former confederate solider, former slave owner, shown at times to be a bit of a womaniser which gets him into trouble, a basically serial killer early on killing to take revenge on those who wronged him before. The show has him have an arc, find a calling in life, take responsibility for his actions, reflect on how he was in the past. Does it have a happy ending? No but it implies one might have happened slightly later with Cullen off to find the person who makes him happy again finally finding a lead and that she's not lost for good.
Just hearing about the narrative for Saros has put me off it because it's a redemption arc to no-where and sure the argument can be made becoming a better person is it's own reward but it doesn't seem to present the protagonist as being able to go off a live a better life as such free from issues potentially caused by his old character flaws.
So to be clear it's a subversion because it doesn't complete the heroes journey as such as set up the video game formula of go out, get better and get good enough to save the girl and win the girl / get the happy ending.
So I noticed it doing the rounds again and I noticed the normal Woke crowd saying Anita has done no wrong and was just critiquing video games and was so mild.
Well there's a reason I'm unwilling to support any developer who works with her. On an ideological level I see her as a censor pushing for similar restrictions on games that the Hays Code brought to films or the comics code brought to comics. Even though video games skipped that bit and adopted the method other industries later accepted of suggested age ratings. The second reason is there's a video out there (and I can probably track it down if people really want to see it) where on stage she says how she wishes she could sue me, and a few other people to who were critical of her. So I have an ideological and personal reason disliking her.
What she believes and pushes using her own words. Now most censors won't claim to want censorship they'll claim to want moral restrictions etc or "sensible adjustments" or some good framing like Mary Whitehouse did famously while debating Michael Winner in the past before I was born.
So here's the quote from Anita from an interview this interview
> After a brief pause and a laugh, Sarkeesian responded: “I would love for companies to have moral restrictions, but they don’t.” She then dove into a multitude of examples of games or movies wherein female characters are used only as devices to show how depraved a male character is, citing specifically Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood and the Grand Theft Auto series. “Video games are an art form, but they’re made by corporations, and corporations aim to make money,” she explained, noting a corporate flaw.
The normal woke defence is that Anita was on about exploitative monetisation but as the quote shows she specifically brought up specific content in games NOT monetisation. In fact the interviewer was on about monetisation etc and Anita chose to specifically make it about specific in game content.
Following on from that here's the why does she not want specific content in games.
And these are
If you click read full article you get the transcript with where I've pulled this quote from.
> Researchers have also found that after long-term exposure to hyper-sexualized images, people of all genders tend to be more tolerant of the sexual harassment of women and more readily accept rape myths, including the belief that sexually assaulted women were asking for it, deserved it or are the ones to blame for being victimized. > > In other words, viewing media that frames women as objects or sexual playthings, profoundly impacts how real life women are perceived and treated in the world around us. And that is all without even taking into account how video games allow for the more participatory form of objectification that we’ve been discussing in this episode.
and more this time from
> Sexual and domestic violence is at epidemic levels in the real world; one out of every five women in the United States will be raped in their lifetimes. One in four will be sexually assaulted. And women involved in prostitution are at a much higher risk of violence because they are seen as vessels to be used by others rather than as fully human.
The framing is clear folks and having studies communications Anita is familiar with Advertising techniques. This is her using such a one. Anita doesn't outright say "video games cause rape" she says Rape happens, people who play these games or enjoy this kind of media are more likely to tolerate or allow it to happen, ergo what's stopping rape from being eliminated from society as a whole is specific content in video games" it's using your own brain's systems of learning against you by letting you make the logical connections. Pepsi didn't tell you it was the drink for radical extreme people, it had Skateboarders and extreme sports people drink it in ads in the 90s and early 2000 and let your brain make the connection. That's how advertising works. That's how Anita planned her content to work. So to the woke side who will claim "Anita never said video games cause rape" she didn't need to she said Rape still happens because of attitudes caused by video games.
So I figured I'd bring this show up because there might be some people out there who look for weird and wonderful shows they've never heard of it try just in case they're missing some old hidden gem.
Second because it shows the same themes the woke side keep pushing.
Third because it's just ripe to be riffed on.
So basic premise is the Wizard of Oz but also trying to do more grim dark stuff with it so the changes from The wizard of OZ:
The Wizard saved Oz from "the calamity" and blames magic for it happening so Magic is mostly outlawed The Wicked With of the West actually works with the Wizard now somehow running a brothel and the Opium trade in Oz which is also when they Yellow bring Road is Yellow it's due to the road being in part coated in spilled crushed Poppy seed. Glinda the Good Witch runs a school training scholars and some witches which the Wizard allows because she sends him Scholars to try to help him predict the return of the prophesised Calamity that will keep coming in one form or another to Oz.
After Dorothy accidentally causes the death of The Wicked Witch of the East, The Wizard tries to find her and get her to reveal how (A gun from earth) on the promise of sending her home and decides it's time to get rid of magic fully as he knows Glinda has been plotting against him to bring back magic. There's also a sub plot about Ozma the princess of OZ and true Heir to the throne of Oz who The Wizard killed her family to take power.
Doesn't sound awful right?
So some stuff I can't go into because of Reddit's rules but here's some actual things that happen or are revealed in the show.
The Wizard sends an agent of his disguised as a policeman to arrest Dorothy.
The Wizard is implied to be lecherous and lust over the young ladies Glinda sends him to help with his research and often frequents the brothel run by the Wicked Witch of the West.
The Cowardly Lion is actually one of the leaders of the Wizards Army and is cowardly because he refused resist the Wizards plans and helped depose the Oz royal family killing them and was meant to kill Ozma but she escaped.
The Tin man is actually a steam punk cyborg who starts as a normal mid to late teen boy and ends up part machine because he stared at Ozma's cleavage and tried to kiss her so she pushed him off a roof and ran away.
The Tin Man is bought by the ruler of a neighbouring kingdom to be her play thing basically.
The Wizard finds out a Gun from Earth killed The Wicked Witch of the East so decides to try and get guns and have to grovel and try to get a deal out of said female ruler of the neighbouring kingdom.
The Wizards is obsessed with Science but shown to not be a Scientist he was originally a security guards at a lab where they were trying to create unlimited green energy using s cyclone chamber system and because he felt inadequate during one test he started pushing out the actual scientists to take control and it goes wrong sending him and the other Scientists to Oz. The reason he hates magic is Science can't explain it.
It's revealed The Wizards wears a Toupee because he's balding. And the scientist lady he found attracted rejected him in Oz and it's implied after finding out she fathered a child with one of the male scientists he kills both of them out of rage.
It's revealed the Wizards didn't actually stop the calamity as such he harnessed the power of a Witch among the Munchkin tribe and it was her power that allowed him to stop it. To cover this up he keeps her in a secret prison cell .
Dorothy gets magical powers because um she killed a Witch or something and for most if it comes off mostly as the stock girl boss trope presenting at knowing best............ which hilariously makes the slight Season 1 cliffhanger twist (there was no season 2) funnier because in taking down the Wizard and breaking into the magic prison to free the Witch who actually saved OZ Dorothy actually unleashes the physical incarnation of The Calamity which had unknown to anyone else ended up sealed in the Wizards prison too.
Ok this has come about for a number of reasons all happening rapidly.
First watching and some daring to engage with the activists in attempts at good faith debate.
So Sh0eonHead did a recent video about the whole Diana / Pragmata controversy and the activists / left losing their shit over it. In part of the video she called out Hasan and made a counter argument to his points.
Hasan then responded on stream by calling Sh0eonhead stupid and saying to even go onto her level to debate her he'd have to basically give himself a lobotomy.
Not an argument. Not any points just an extended "You stupid" insult.
In engaging with the activists and woke side on topics on social media I've seen similar they don't make points just thrown insults like petulant children while claiming to be superior and "You are just too stupid to see why I'm right" no actual defence of their positions, no counter to the issues in their stance. No adaptation or amendment. They're King Canute commanding the tide not to rise then being shocked when it does because they ignored people telling them how things would go.
I've been seeing them pushing more stuff out that's just can't stand much scrutiny. A recent one circulating again being the "You always sided with the resistance why not now?" kind of post and they're using the Hunger Games as an example. A series where I did watch all 4 films and . Another one doing the round (possibly again) is the "Star Trek was always woke you stupid chuds" and they're using "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" as one of the examples, an episode that ends with and we're living in a world where the woke / activist side (and I've had this said to me personally by one of the No More Robots founders) they're looking forward to people not marching in lock step with them dying out or trying to push the idea of re-education camps.
The Star Trek stuff annoyed me more because much of Star Trek is about the idea of trying to talk things through and find solutions to work togehter. The Activist side are pushing Star Trek as woke and how society should function from behind their blockbots / blocklists and if somehow they see you post and disagree they'll happily announce how they're blocking you rather than engage. On Bluesky (cause I'm still waiting for that unban on twitter, any day now Elon when you're ready) I'm blocking 2 people. 1 because I got fed up of their posts just keep appearing on my feed and the other because they blocked me, then kept screenshotting shit I was saying and sharing it so I kept ending up with their followers appearing in my notifications talking shit with no clue where from. I'm blocked by 2,213 people.
The woke side has had title after title in recent times appealing to them that's bombed. I'm even watching Paul Tassi admit he doesn't really like Marathon and admitting the numbers going down isn't a good sign. But each time it's "This time this will own the Chuds" and "Chuds just mad this game is a success" only for it to die a month or less on. Meanwhile the Chud games are soaring, new titles entering the market being successful enough to create sequels and franchises. But they keep blindly marching on with it.
How has the woke side not got dissonance going on or something when they're on about how well they're doing and each title keep flopping. Or on about how they don't need "The chud audience" or whatever then articles are flooding out claiming "The Chuds are why this thing failed" when said people were told it wasn't for them so just left it for the woke side / activists.