also while I don’t think the majority of the story content is particularly objectionable, when it’s bad it’s so bad. beyond the shit with the gay bar @physical pointed out, even just naming the bar “dicky twister” makes feel like there wasn’t a single gay person involved. that’s like rob schneider shit. profoundly embarrassing to reveal how bizarre and dated your idea is of queer culture is. somehow feels worse to me than the shit in gta3 where all the gay characters walk around cattily quoting village people songs. and this is especially weird bc there’s at least one nuanced, interesting queer character in judy. it just kind of cements how uncoordinated the writing is in this game.
I’m not sure if this is how other people felt but I also really really disliked how they portrayed claire, the game’s sole trans npc, in her sidequest arc. nothing in the game disappointed me as much as that did. the writing felt very uncharacteristically lazy. but it also feels (to me at least) like they want you to dislike her as much as possible. this game often gives you choices in scenarios like this where you can guide the npc the questline centers around to either a violent vs. peaceful decision, and generally does a good job making both options seem like they have at least some merit and nuance. but with claire’s quest it’s like the game pretty much actively moralizes against what’s she doing with very little ambiguity and doesn’t let you talk her out of it. to my knowledge, at least. I sure chose every dialog option protesting but it didn’t matter. she learns nothing and her story ends on a bleak and underwhelming tone.
and honestly I’d probably be okay with that if that’s how the writing in the game is overall, but it isn’t. she’s the only story that’s like this. it’s fuckin’ weird. of all the ways in which the game is problematic or whatever this particular one I have a hard time not reading subtext from. am I crazy for seeing it this way?