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[GMCamaro]

 

[simpatico]

Humanity is at the verge of extinction. I mean, it's just not smart. Especially with those athletic and heroic Aloy genes.

 

[EMR]

Looks like the fat kid in Stand By Me, but with big red hair.

 

[JeloSWE]

Are there any other main female main protagonists from active Sony first party IP or is it just Ellie and Aloy?
Chloe Frazer i guess?

Aren't all of them into girls?

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

What is people’s interest in user review scores on aggregate sites like Metacritic?

I don’t get why people review bombing something is super interesting or newsworthy.

 

[custardbun01]

Same people complaining about this are also probably furiously jacking it to rule 34 porn of these characters. I get why people like complain about this stuff when it’s forced in there for lazy virtue signalling but at the end of the day, if you’re outraged by this you need to seriously assess your priorities in life.

 

[Skifi28]

Same people complaining about this are also probably furiously jacking it to rule 34 porn of these characters.

 

[custardbun01]

With or without the lesbian love option forbidden west and the dlc are at best a solid 7/10 imho. And if it didn’t have the graphics and production values it’s sure a very Ubisoft like boring experience but more polished. Zero dawn at least was a little bit more enjoyable. On Forbidden west even many of its main missions were boring. This game is not close to NDs or God of Wars top notch quality….. to me even Spider-Man franchise of insomniac is better! And it’s not about the fans or some angry metacritic users ….. forbidden west won almost ZERO AWARDS! That says it all.

Can attest to this. I finished Forbidden West last night. It’s pretty to look at and smooth to play. But it’s a solid 7 in terms of overall game and gameplay. I enjoyed it but it’s not going down as an all time favourite. The writing is annoying, Aloy is totally one dimensional, and its big moments, big reveals and boss fights, fall flat.

Another thing that irks me with this game and lots of AAA games of late is they’ve been “Marvelised” in their violence. Action spectacles without gore. This game is totally devoid of it but large parts of the game are fighting human enemies. The only violence you get is a little red mist so it doesn’t get a mature rating. I hate it. Makes me feel like I’m playing a Disney film.

 

[Kokoloko85]

We all knew she was gonna be a lezzer.
But its a choice people can make In the game, just like Mass Effect and Dragons Age. No1 complained about those because it wasn’t a PS exclusive.

Would be good if they made it more player choice like those games. Horizon needs to be more WRPG, better NPC, better and deeper side quests, more things to do

 

[Rykan]

There's nothing specifically about the way that Horizon introduces it that is political, and it could be that it isn't. But it's just too much of a coincidence for me to believe.

You misunderstood what I was saying about virtually all game developers: not that they all make their characters gay, but that they're very politically correct and often enthusiastic fighters in the culture wars. This has been my consistent experience when encountering them.

Okay, but then you don't really have an argument here. You're not actually critiquing the game on its own merits. You're saying: “It has a gay main character, therefore it's “woke and political”.

Not politics, plain old opportunism.
If it was stated, or strongly hinted that Aloy was lesbian early in the first game, nobody would even bother with this in the DLC of the second one.
But adding this in the DLC, accessible only after finishing the second game, seems opportunistic and a rushed decision just to tick the "inclusivity" box they forgot when making the main game.
I'm all for as many gay characters as possible as long as they are well written and their sexuality is relevant to the story.
When I play a game I don't care if a character is straight or not, it's irrelevant to their purpose in the game, but if you (the devs) feel it is important I know their sexual orientation, give me a reason why it is important, don't just shove it in my face!
Her sexual orientation is completely irrelevant for the game main story or side quests.
It feels like the joke sketch of Mario with Pedro Pascal where characters just introduced themselves and shouted "I'm bissexual" for no reason.

And here is the issue with that: You're setting up these insane arbitrary rules that developers must follow, and if they don't follow these rules that you've set up then it means that it's “pandering” or “ticking the boxes”.

Just look at some of the things you're suggesting here:
A character's being gay must be explored thoroughly in the main game: It can't be done in DLC.
A character being gay must mean that their sexuality is relevant to the story and a big part of the game.

Do you have the same rules for straight characters? Of course, you don't. Developers don't have to follow your arbitrary rules to justify having a character be gay. It doesn't matter if their sexuality is thoroughly explored and a big part of a characters' story arc, if it's just a mention in a conversation halfway through a game, or an optional choice at the end of a DLC campaign. Much in the same way that developers don't have to justify any of that for when the character is straight.

 

[SeraphJan]

You can't please everyone

Compare it to here Gaf, its the polar

While gamers typically stayed in their own echo chamber, dev had to see the metric, it has less to do with wokeism, more to do with money

You might felt Les/Gay are invading your one game, but to them, the opposite is true for their entire life, so lets just respect each other

Many people here have complained their dislike for Aloy, however what if I told you this character was made specifically to please female power fantasy from day one? Many Girls love this franchise the main reason being Aloy, her Arc resonate with many female players.

 

[A Most Virtuous Cat]

What did they expect? 99.9% of cultures/ religions abhor this stuff. It's only the frenzied West that believes and paddles this ideology. Of course, people won't like it.

 

[Rykan]

Here's the uncomfortable truth. 95+% of the population, around the globe is heterosexual. And that's no surprise, because if the human race is to continue existing, that needs to be the paradigm. So when this kind of stuff just happens to get pushed to prominence in the biggest productions of the entertainment industries, often when the property or franchise is already successful, above what is statistically normal, whether or not it actually makes sense in the context of the world (and in the context of Horizon's traditionalistic cultures and on-the-brink-of-extinction scenarios, it really doesn't), plot or characters (see the arguments about Aloy being focused on her job as the Messiah of humanity), it's a very obvious attempt at social engineering.

Oh wow. Just wow. "Social engineering". I'm a bit unsure why you mention that 5% of the population non- heterosexual? Are you trying to imply that non heterosexual characters in video games or the Horizon franchise exceed 5%? Because they don't. Whether it makes sense in the context of the world? That's not at all how sexuality and attraction works. Saying that “Aloy should be focused on her job” is not a valid criticism. She's a person, not a machine that is only designed for one task.

The thing is that they literally tell you that that's what they're doing. They make entire blog posts, videos, corporate mission statements about why they're putting certain content in their games, making effort to hire people based on identity variables for the sake of bragging rights, and further influence of the content (which I think is quite ironically insulting to the groups that are being targeted there).

And who are they bragging to? The 80+% heterosexual male audience that plays Horizon? Women? Even lesbians? No, no, and not really, believe it or not.

They're bragging to special interest groups like GLAAD so that they can attract ESG investments. They're appeasing government officials who get all sorts of funding and donations to push this kind of thing. They're increasingly subsumed by a cabal of activists making the the studios inhospitable for non hyper "progressive" philosophies.

Are you aware that Guerrilla Studios is not located in the United States?

 

[Mozzarella]

The fact that Metacritic user reviews are getting attention on many forums is sad and embarrassing, imagine creating a buzz out of this. I have a feeling some fans for the games do it just to increase sympathy and thus generate more positive reception for it, i just dont see why you would give these metacritic reviews your eyes and ears after constantly showing how illiterate, dumb and poorly written they are.

 

[Dr. Claus]

Okay, but then you don't really have an argument here. You're not actually critiquing the game on its own merits. You're saying: “It has a gay main character, therefore it's “woke and political”.

And here is the issue with that: You're setting up these insane arbitrary rules that developers must follow, and if they don't follow these rules that you've set up then it means that it's “pandering” or “ticking the boxes”.

Just look at some of the things you're suggesting here:
A character's being gay must be explored thoroughly in the main game: It can't be done in DLC.
A character being gay must mean that their sexuality is relevant to the story and a big part of the game.

Do you have the same rules for straight characters? Of course, you don't. Developers don't have to follow your arbitrary rules to justify having a character be gay. It doesn't matter if their sexuality is thoroughly explored and a big part of a characters' story arc, if it's just a mention in a conversation halfway through a game, or an optional choice at the end of a DLC campaign. Much in the same way that developers don't have to justify any of that for when the character is straight.

Arbitrary rules? You mean having well crafted stories and narratives that make logical sense? If you are going to highlight someone's sexual orientation, whether they be straight or gay or bi or otherwise, you have to have it make logical sense. People criticized "straight" games for failing to do this for years.

Reality is Burning shores is poorly written mess and clearly done to hit a checkmark on a list, not because it felt natural for the character or made sense for the overarching narrative.

 

[Nubulax]

The fact that Metacritic user reviews are getting attention on many forums is sad and embarrassing, imagine creating a buzz out of this. I have a feeling some fans for the games do it just to increase sympathy and thus generate more positive reception for it, i just dont see why you would give these metacritic reviews your eyes and ears after constantly showing how illiterate, dumb and poorly written they are.

Whats even more amazing... is that it is A CHOICE..... you have to actively choose that option

 

[Rykan]

Arbitrary rules? You mean having well crafted stories and narratives that make logical sense? If you are going to highlight someone's sexual orientation, whether they be straight or gay or bi or otherwise, you have to have it make logical sense. People criticized "straight" games for failing to do this for years.

Reality is Burning shores is poorly written mess and clearly done to hit a checkmark on a list, not because it felt natural for the character or made sense for the overarching narrative.

I'm not going to argue with you about Horizon having crappy story telling because it does. It's a Guerrilla Game. They all have terrible story telling. But what part about the storytelling doesn't make sense when it comes to Aloy's orientation? Or how does Aloy being gay/bisexual not make sense?

People haven't criticized "Straight" games in any way comparable to this. I've never seen a thread on GAF that is filled with comments like "They are adding straight characters just to tick a box. They are forcing heterosexuality on us. Screw this ideology. This is social engineering".

Critiquing character and relationship development is not the same as critiquing the orientation of said character or relationship.

 

[Otre]

So you can choose a partner. wow, these people need to have a grass enema or something.

 

[Rayderism]

I really wish games would start putting an option to enable or disable woke agenda stuff. Let the gamers decide what they want (or not) in their playthrough.

As for this DLC, in that particular scenario, I chose the option that basically said, "I don't have time for this."

 

[Dr. Claus]

I'm not going to argue with you about Horizon having crappy story telling because it does. It's a Guerrilla Game. They all have terrible story telling. But what part about the storytelling doesn't make sense when it comes to Aloy's orientation? Or how does Aloy being gay/bisexual not make sense?

We have had two full games where any sort of "romance" is dismissed and hardly touched on, all of a sudden to have her fall head over heals with someone in this very short, very small expansion? You aren't an idiot, Rykan. You should be able to see why this is blatant checklist design.

People haven't criticized "Straight" games in any way comparable to this. I've never seen a thread on GAF that is filled with comments like "They are adding straight characters just to tick a box. They are forcing heterosexuality on us. Screw this ideology. This is social engineering".

We very much did. For literal years. They were the crazies that were on this site before the exodus and now they plague many other locations. They act much like you in the opposite side/direction.

 

[Rykan]

We have had two full games where any sort of "romance" is dismissed and hardly touched on, all of a sudden to have her fall head over heals with someone in this very short, very small expansion? You aren't an idiot, Rykan. You should be able to see why this is blatant checklist design.

The character that she falls for wasn't in the main games, right? The fact that they've decided to explore a romantic side to her in the DLC isn't at all evidence that this is “checklist” design, as if it's common to "turn" main characters gay in a DLC. Why would it matter if the relationship is established in a DLC or a Sequel? That's such a strange technical distinction to make.

We very much did. For literal years. They were the crazies that were on this site before the exodus and now they plague many other locations. They act much like you in the opposite side/direction.

Oh come on mate. You know that isn't true. there have been calls for more representation of minorities, including minority sexual orientations. That is VERY different from some of the comments that I referred to earlier.

 

[Dr. Claus]

The character that she falls for wasn't in the main games, right? The fact that they've decided to explore a romantic side to her in the DLC isn't at all evidence that this is “checklist” design, as if it's common to "turn" main characters gay in a DLC. Why would it matter if the relationship is established in a DLC or a Sequel? That's such a strange technical distinction to make.

In over 100+ hours of games, she shows zero romantic interest in anyone. Then all of a sudden a new character comes out of nowhere and they push hard to make Aloy into a lesbian/bi character that was never once hinted at? There is a reason why people don't mind characters like Ellie in TLOU1, Emil, or Kaine, or Sylvando yet have an issue with characters like Aloy or Ellie in TLOU2. You just don't want to admit it because it is easier to dismiss anyone who is annoyed by it as a "bigot".

Oh come on mate. You know that isn't true. there have been calls for more representation of minorities, including minority sexual orientations. That is VERY different from some of the comments that I referred to earlier.

It absolutely *is* true, so I am not sure why you are so desperate to dismiss reality.

 

[yurinka]

While gamers typically stayed in their own echo chamber, dev had to see the metric, it has less to do with wokeism, more to do with money

Way over 90% of the population are hetero and if now woman are close of being half of the gamer population has been thanks to browser and mobile gaming, a bigger market than consoles, where woman are majority.

They didn't do if because the lesbians are a huge portion of that PS market and that they wanted to appeal to that huge unsatisfied market. The majority of PS players are men, and most of them should be hetero. Plus also white since most of their market is NA and Europe, where there's a very big majority of white people. They made it because of wokism and white signaling trying to appeal a percentually tiny niche that in a big part isn't interested on their product, not to appeal the typical customer interested on this kind of products.

If they would do something because of the money they'd try to appeal the (mostly western white heterosexual) males, who are by far the largest demographics interested on their type of games. Obviously there are a lot of woman who like console games and this genre, but on average they prefer to play other platforms and genres.

 

[SeraphJan]

Way over 90% of the population are hetero and if now woman are close of being half of the gamer population has been thanks to browser and mobile gaming, a bigger market than consoles, where woman are majority.

They didn't do if because the lesbians are a huge portion of that PS market. The majority of PS players are men, and most of them should be hetero.

Just PS4 owner alone Girl is 40%, you are living in the 90s

If you take the consideration that majority of games are catered to male, that left even a bigger market void for female.

HFW an IP that is relatively new, being a story driven game but with many people complaining its story and protagonist being bad, have you wonder who made up that 10+ million sales number? Isn't it possible that many people actually like the story? Do you really think publisher are idiots that are willing to lose sales and fanbase for the sake of wokeism?

Not to mention, only one scene that is also selectable, that is not enough to make the entire game qualify as a Lesbian game.

 

[yurinka]

Just PS4 owner alone Girl is 40%, you are living in the 90s

I said 'a majority', and 60% is a majority.

 

[Chronicle]

User reviews don't matter. Everyone claims sites give biased scores but then you have idiots scoring games 0 and 1. The only game that was ever a 1 or zero is ET for Atari because yiu couldn't even play it. People are stupid.

 

[Dr. Claus]

Just PS4 owner alone Girl is 40%, you are living in the 90s

If you take the consideration that majority of games are catered to male, that left even a bigger market void for female.

HFW an IP that is relatively new, being a story driven game but with many people complaining its story and protagonist being bad, have you wonder who made up that 10+ million sales number? Isn't it possible that many people actually like the story? Do you really think publisher are idiots that are willing to lose sales and fanbase for the sake of wokeism?

Not to mention, only one scene that is also selectable, that is not enough to make the entire game qualify as a Lesbian game.

Millions of people buy Madden. Most people are retarded.

 

[ReBurn]

Aloy breaking hearts in the real world

 

[Hunnybun]

Okay, but then you don't really have an argument here. You're not actually critiquing the game on its own merits. You're saying: “It has a gay main character, therefore it's “woke and political”.

It's a matter of cumulative evidence. Of course there's no actual proof for any of this PC stuff ever being politically motivated - can you ever really prove any motivation? Ultimately someone like you can always just deny it if they're determined to do so. That's part of the insidiousness of political correctness.

And no, I'm not even particularly critcising this game for it. Aloy always came across as a lesbian, I like the new love interest, I think the relationship is believable, and it adds much needed humanity to Aloy's character.

But do I believe that Guerrilla were politically disinterested all along? No, not for a second.

Imo the whole series had a kind of earnest leftish attitude from the beginning, something you might tentatively characterize as politically correct, or "woke". There was the consistent focus on "strong female characters", the proliferation of bumbling or cruel male characters, the thematic parallels with the global warming crisis (an clearly, although not unreasonably, left wing political issue) and just the general way so many characters talk and behave like humourless Resetera scolds.

Each one of such things is pretty minor, but combine them, and then add in the absolutely overwhelming evidence for the hyper woke leanings of the development community, the laughably PC content of other big Sony games like TLOU2, The Lost Legacy, and Miles Morales, and most of all just the hugely accelerated PC influence in ALL culture since about 2017, then it's really increasingly obvious to a fair minded person that the decision to make Aloy gay was far more likely to be politically motivated than not.

 

[Danjin44]

How dare you!? All "strong woman" have to be lesbian...I dont make the rules. /s

 

[Filben]

I don't know why we need to know the sexual orientation in the first place. It comes across like "just look at how cool and progressive it is". I couldn't care less, especially if there are real stakes at place and it's not just a daily soap opera where you would expect these kind of things. I never ask a real person for his or her orientation and I wouldn't in a fictional story.

But on the other hand, knowing these "gamers", they make it probably bigger than it is. It's a difference if a game/movie/book starts with a sex scene as a opener to show the sexual orientation as the first thing about a character, or if it's a two second kiss after like an 70hours adventure.

 

[Danjin44]

I guess creative freedom only matters when it caters to internet edge lords, when it doesn’t then it is somehow PoLiTiCaL.

The things is creative freedom works both ways. Western gaming media loves consider characters like Aloy as “brave” but they absolutely shit on characters like Bayonetta.

People who review bombing a game over petty reason like a character’s sexuality is stupid but so called “professional” reviews almost do same thing which even more pathetic since they are supposed to be “professional “.

 

[hemo memo]

I really wish games would start putting an option to enable or disable woke agenda stuff. Let the gamers decide what they want (or not) in their playthrough.

As for this DLC, in that particular scenario, I chose the option that basically said, "I don't have time for this."

Pretty much. Just like difficulty and language. Give an option for woke-free experience. Also 3.8 on MC is more accurate than the ridiculously high 82.

 

[mrmustard]

Again available for cheap:

EA FC Coins, Buy WoW Classic Gold, Game Key Deals

EA FC 24 Coins, Daily Game Key Deals, WoW Classic Gold and PSN Card at MMOGA. Also, buy Xbox, PSN and Steam vouchers cheap and 100% secure.

www.mmoga.com

 

[hemo memo]

Again available for cheap:

EA FC Coins, Buy WoW Classic Gold, Game Key Deals

EA FC 24 Coins, Daily Game Key Deals, WoW Classic Gold and PSN Card at MMOGA. Also, buy Xbox, PSN and Steam vouchers cheap and 100% secure.

www.mmoga.com

Even at that price it is still expensive for what you are getting.

 

[L*][*N*K]

I think most straight gamers would just prefer to play as a straight protagonist because makes the character more relatable to them.

Speaking as a Straight male gamer, I couldn't give less of a fork what sexual orientation the protagonist of the game I am playing is.

 

[mrmustard]

Even at that price it is still expensive for what you are getting.

I don't think so. 11 Euro is 2 hours cinema. Here you get i don't know like 5 hours and more.

 

[Danjin44]

Next up is Kratos, he has some experience.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Hating on this becuase Aloy is gay is super funny. Who cares? Let her do whatever she wants in between fighting huge robots.

I'd watch her

 

[Majormaxxx]

Horizon Forbidden Puss: Burning Loins

Heheheheh

 

[phil_t98]

who cares as long as the game is good

 

[nowhat]

I'd watch her

With the PC port of Zero Dawn out for so long, I'm sure there's plenty of rule 34 material online if you're so inclined.

 

[DenchDeckard]

With the PC port of Zero Dawn out for so long, I'm sure there's plenty of rule 34 material online if you're so inclined.

I don't even know what rule 34 is...I feel old...I was just making a joke.

Do I just search rule 34? I'm curious.......

 

[Fully engaged]

I guess this makes up for Bayonetta being straight? Right? Right?

 

[GymWolf]

Shame they didn’t make her trans.
Aloy having an 16 inch robo dong would have been the best.

Finally a new melee weapon other than the spear.

 

[nowhat]

I don't even know what rule 34 is...I feel old...I was just making a joke.

Do I just search rule 34? I'm curious.......

Yes. You absolutely need to google rule 34. Preferably image search with safe search turned off.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

They are trying to turn guaranteed financial success into disappointment for woke points like Lightyear huh?

I'm still amazed they were willing to give up hundreds of millions of dollars box office receipts from not just the US but also countries like China for a 1 second kiss in the background of Lightyear. I guess Disney really does have too much money and don't know what to do with it all.

Sony should be a bit more careful, they actually do need money if they really want to fight Microsoft after Call of Duty is taken away from them.

 

[Spukc]

They are trying to turn guaranteed financial success into disappointment for woke points like Lightyear huh?

I'm still amazed they were willing to give up hundreds of millions of dollars box office receipts from not just the US but also countries like China for a 1 second kiss in the background of Lightyear. I guess Disney really does have too much money and don't know what to do with it all.

Sony should be a bit more careful, they actually do need money if they really want to fight Microsoft after Call of Duty is taken away from them.

Uuuh they adjust movies for different regions?

 

[Nautilus]

Uuuh they adjust movies for different regions?

They kept the lesbian stuff for Lightyear for all regions and refused to remove it, and that's why it was banned in many countries, including China and Middle East.

 

[Silent Viper]

Wasn't Ellie enough? Does everyone has to be gay in Sony games?
I'm gay and I'm disappointed because it's just to tick a box.
It would feel more natural to the game if she was straight since she had plenty of male suiters in both games and then they shove a lesbian interest in a short dlc that not everybody will play.

Kratos will be gay too. They will figure out someway to butcher his character