Anyway, Forspoken. Despite the teaser promising something interesting-normal girl gets transported to fantasy world and lives out wish fulfillment-people were fixated on the writing. It was “too quippy”, “too self-aware”, “too snarky”. That was the discourse for a while, and it was seriously mocked by several (admittedly-funny) YouTubers. Now that the demo has been released for The PlayStation 5, that’s what everyone’s talking about…again.
I haven’t played Forspoken, and I don’t think I will. I don’t own a PS5, as the console’s out of my price range. But the reviews for it seem to be fine. They peg it as a passable action game, which appears to be what it was going for. The actual writing is, therefore, secondary, right?
You’d think, wouldn’t you? I’ve played great games with terrible stories before. Some didn’t even have stories! Many of those games are classics, and a few are personal favourites. Video games are unique in that, unlike other literary mediums, player interaction is first-and-foremost to narratives, so it’s easier to be forgiving in that department.
Forspoken is yet another example of that. So its dialogue being front-and-centre in the conversation is a little odd. Especially since it’s coasting on the “Joss Whedon class of character quips and one-liners”. But is it? And is that inherently bad?
I don’t want to sound like a Joss Whedon apologist. I’m not. The man’s creepy and abusive to his crew, and has had allegations of sexual assault thrown his way. Me defending him wouldn’t only be hypocritical, given my history with sexual assault, it’d be wrong. It’d also be demoralizing to sexual assault survivors.
That said, Whedon wasn’t the progenitor of this style of writing. Quippy dialogue has existed for centuries, and various writers have used it. William Shakespeare, one of the greatest playwrights in The West, used quips and snarky language in his plays constantly, especially in his comedies. If anything, Whedon was following in Shakespeare’s footsteps by “popularizing” this for audiences in the modern age.
Besides, the protagonist in Forspoken appears to be a teenager, judging by her design. And don’t teenagers tend to be quipsters anyway? I remember being in high school and behaving like I was hot stuff. It’s embarrassing in hindsight, but that was to be expected for a 17 year-old. This game’s tapping into that energy, so I don’t see the problem.
Additionally, Forspoken isn’t all that “cringy” compared to many superhero and young adult stories. This is especially true of The MCU, a franchise that has all of its characters, even the adults, sounding like that at various points. Even non-MCU superheroes, like Deadpool, have a habit of being quipsters. And this is all well-loved entertainment, so…
That said, Whedon wasn’t the progenitor of this style of writing. Quippy dialogue has existed for centuries, and various writers have used it. William Shakespeare, one of the greatest playwrights in The West, used quips and snarky language in his plays constantly, especially in his comedies. If anything, Whedon was following in Shakespeare’s footsteps by “popularizing” this for audiences in the modern age.
Besides, the protagonist in Forspoken appears to be a teenager, judging by her design. And don’t teenagers tend to be quipsters anyway? I remember being in high school and behaving like I was hot stuff. It’s embarrassing in hindsight, but that was to be expected for a 17 year-old. This game’s tapping into that energy, so I don’t see the problem.
Additionally, Forspoken isn’t all that “cringy” compared to many superhero and young adult stories. This is especially true of The MCU, a franchise that has all of its characters, even the adults, sounding like that at various points. Even non-MCU superheroes, like Deadpool, have a habit of being quipsters. And this is all well-loved entertainment, so…
I’m also confused as to why this is an issue anyway. I’ve listened to some of the lines, they’re fine. This is a game about a normal teenager who’s sucked into a fantasy world from an unusual scenario. And she realizes that she has powers. Ignoring the teenager component, who wouldn’t behave like her? I know I would!
I know what this is really about. The protagonist, Frey Holland, is a black woman who happens to be a teenager. Additionally, the game’s writing is going for a comedic vibe. Considering that the gaming world’s notorious for sexism and racism (there are so many horror stories), I can’t help wondering if this is related. It probably is.
I can see quippy writing not being your cup of tea. There are many writing styles that don’t appeal to me either. But something not being for you doesn’t give you an excuse to be a jerk for no reason, and that’s what’s happening. It’s not even like Forspoken’s trying to be self-aware, edgy nonsense akin to Velma, because then I could see the complaints being valid. No, Forspoken is yet another run-of-the-mill action game for The PlayStation line of consoles. It simply happens to have a character who’s upbeat enough to constantly crack jokes about her situation.
Finally, I think we need to not let piss-poor teasers ruin our perception of what something really is. Plenty of mid-to-great games and movies have had bad teasers, it’s the nature of meeting deadlines. Forspoken’s yet another example, and that’s okay. People were making a stink about nothing. And we need to stop, or we’ll start devaluing how outsiders view our hobbies. (Or, at least, we’ll start devaluing our hobbies more than we do.)
I know what this is really about. The protagonist, Frey Holland, is a black woman who happens to be a teenager. Additionally, the game’s writing is going for a comedic vibe. Considering that the gaming world’s notorious for sexism and racism (there are so many horror stories), I can’t help wondering if this is related. It probably is.
I can see quippy writing not being your cup of tea. There are many writing styles that don’t appeal to me either. But something not being for you doesn’t give you an excuse to be a jerk for no reason, and that’s what’s happening. It’s not even like Forspoken’s trying to be self-aware, edgy nonsense akin to Velma, because then I could see the complaints being valid. No, Forspoken is yet another run-of-the-mill action game for The PlayStation line of consoles. It simply happens to have a character who’s upbeat enough to constantly crack jokes about her situation.
Finally, I think we need to not let piss-poor teasers ruin our perception of what something really is. Plenty of mid-to-great games and movies have had bad teasers, it’s the nature of meeting deadlines. Forspoken’s yet another example, and that’s okay. People were making a stink about nothing. And we need to stop, or we’ll start devaluing how outsiders view our hobbies. (Or, at least, we’ll start devaluing our hobbies more than we do.)
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