Quote Originally Posted by Brinne View Post
I still have a strong feeling that EW came out the way it did in part because the devs were determined to make it as positive and encouraging for the player as possible, given their acknowledgment that so many these days are having a difficult time--but then when you start to think about it, the ultimate message of "things may be hard, and you're a cool and strong person for living in these conditions - but also, did you consider that if your life was better, it'd actually suck?" seems... incredibly tone-deaf.
Agreed. I think the combination of Yoshi-P wanting to rush the end of the story combined with covid gave us the "lackluster" EW. I found quite a lot of it to be tone-deaf, especially the beloved 'walk' scene where Venat chastises a group of people for not overcoming their trauma and grief in the way she deems fit. I shake my head every time someone calls it badass because it's probably one of the most sanctimonious displays I've ever seen followed by that disgusting 'feel bad for me now' pity stumble through the ages. That whole cutscene was the "flames on the side of my face" moment for me. :P

As far as being in the minority, in the west that's certainly true. It's the reason why I think that there must be more debate happening in Japan for Yoshi-P to feel the need to communicate she's "not a bad guy" because at the time of that LL all the western fan sites were still gushing over her and any criticisms were being downvoted/dogpiled into oblivion. Criticisms in the west have since grown substantially regardless of if they're still a minority.