Good queer representation

[Luna]

Spoilers for a major part of the story below. I played this game on another platform.

I was very impressed by Asalia's plotline, and I think the writing for her scenes was superb. The game foreshadows her relationship in the weeks prior to her revealing it to you, even from the first scene where you see her swordfighting with Maya. I think it is very sweet that she changes her outfit to look more like her girlfriend, and I like that Cedani also rips her dress to be more like her older sister.

I like how unapologetic Asalia is during the reveal. I also like how the player is distracted juggling resources and managing their kingdom, and the game just places this identity reveal right in front of your after you finish a day on the throne. The reveal is also framed as being much more shocking to Eryk that his daughter is in love with a lowborn than a woman, and I applaud the writers for choosing to make Asalia's love interest not be a man. I also think that it is an amusing twist that this is Beyran's prophecy being fulfilled.

It is so uncommon to see important queer characters in historical fiction, even more so in video games. I did not expect there to be any significant queer characters in this game, and the game was not tagged in a way that suggested that it contained them. I will be recommending this game to all of my queer friends, and I will be checking out any future games that the developer releases.

[Showtimedr]

She would have been killed living like that back then.

[Lacy]

Originally posted by Showtimedr:

She would have been killed living like that back then.

Good thing OP mentioned the word "fiction" then, eh? Nothing wrong with having a fiction based work involving characters like Asalia.

[TinyPixxels]

Glad you enjoyed it! We adore Asalia and I'm glad you did too!

[Helly Belly]

Originally posted by TinyPixxels:

Glad you enjoyed it! We adore Asalia and I'm glad you did too!

Asalia's great and I also loved this storyline. The one qualm I have is why on her ending slide does it say he never saw her again? Like why doesn't she ever visit? It just felt weird and sad

[Sonnenmitte]

Originally posted by Helly Belly:

Like why doesn't she ever visit?

Maybe she visited incognito from time to time? This storyline might also be part of a follow-up..

[Doug_Dimmadome]

Wow, thanks for letting me know why I need to refund this before I got too far into the game.

[SilverRaven]

I can't believe I have to start my comment like this but I am a bisexual man. To be clear I think my sexuality has nothing to do with this conversation but I only bring it up because I want to establish I have a personal stake in how queer people are represented.

I am incredibly torn on my opinion regarding the representation in this game.

It's not... bad. But I think it gets muddled with the wider theme of racial prejudice that this game is attempting to focus on. Be honest, if you had to explain the story in the fewest words possible would you mention the fact you effectively commit genocide on a group of people your wife calls "barbarians" and then have the option to further ethnically cleanse the survivors of your war crime, or that one specific character is at least bisexual if not a lesbian?

I think I know which of those points would get more focus.

Now a counter point to this would be that the queer subplot should be looked at by itself and not as a part of the wider story. Fair enough, but it's really hard to do that when one of the characters involved is a member of the minority race the game spends half it's run time focused on.

Now I am NOT saying either of these subjects are tackled poorly in this game, far from it I appreciate the dev's desire to address these topics, but in a world where racial tensions are so high I find it hard to ignore that this game is seemingly tying queer issues to race issues without properly exploring what that means.

I think it's clear the developer is of the opinion that racial and sexual prejudice is wrong. You get "negative" gray ending slides for pursuing bigoted policies and "positive" full color slides for tolerant policies, that's a pretty clear indication of their views. And as much as I agree that intolerance is as terrible as it is sadly relevant today, I think both groups (racial and sexual minority) are done a disservice by conflating them.

I would be mortified if this game led to some nut job saying something like "I KNEW I had a reason to hate X, they're all sexual deviants!" or something in that vain. Is this only a problem because of our current political climate and a possible over reaction by me? Possibly, but I can't help but see how this game could potentially be misread by exactly the type of person I think the dev is trying to show the faults of their ideology.

I'll leave off with this, this game allows you to commit genocide, but does not allow you to imprison or kill your daughter's lover, which is absolutely something that happens today when gay people are outed to governments. I find it hard to accept that this game implies it is not a choice to accept someones sexuality but it IS a choice to commit genocide.

[Ichmag 🔑🌙]

i dont get why people care so much lmao

[SilverRaven]

Originally posted by Ichmag:

i dont get why people care so much lmao

Well to be frank that shows a major lack of empathy on your part. It is amazing to me that anyone could NOT care about genocide and political imprisonment because human beings are suffering

[Ichmag 🔑🌙]

Originally posted by SilverRaven:

Originally posted by Ichmag:

i dont get why people care so much lmao

Well to be frank that shows a major lack of empathy on your part. It is amazing to me that anyone could NOT care about genocide and political imprisonment because human beings are suffering

no, i dont care about whats happening in a video game. this is gonna turn into a huge ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ so i dont think ill contribute anymore lmao

[Pixalex]

Not letting maya in my castle, married Asalia away with no remorse

[AyyEffM]

Originally posted by Doug_Dimmadome:

Wow, thanks for letting me know why I need to refund this before I got too far into the game.

Imagine being this weak and delicate!

[keatingfamily2001]

Originally posted by AyyEffM:

Originally posted by Doug_Dimmadome:

Wow, thanks for letting me know why I need to refund this before I got too far into the game.

Imagine being this weak and delicate!

Weak and delicate? You mean like boycotting everyone who doesn't agree with your worldview? Leftists are the pros at that.

Personally, I just married her off and got the army because I didn't want to deal with that part of the story and made a mental note to not support the developer in the future.

[SilverRaven]

Originally posted by keatingfamily2001:

Originally posted by AyyEffM:

Imagine being this weak and delicate!

Weak and delicate? You mean like boycotting everyone who doesn't agree with your worldview? Leftists are the pros at that.

Personally, I just married her off and got the army because I didn't want to deal with that part of the story and made a mental note to not support the developer in the future.

> Criticizes "Leftists" for boycotting products
> Openly states he's boycotting the developer
> Literally can not even post 50 words without exposing themselves as a hypocrite
> I laugh

[REhorror]

Honestly feel 50/50 about the character until she ♥♥♥♥♥ off with her mate and never returns to help at all LOL.

Should give you a choice to marry her off to the barbarian tribe, you want sword fighting, you want action, got it for you!