Maggs is a writer who is very passionate about feminism (or at least frustration with the patriarchal system that somewhat exists in a lot of video game and media culture, in addition to a number of social institutions) and representation, especially queer representation. KOTOR was very good for it's time, but I'm sure there's some valid criticisms to be made especially if you're coming from that angle. Sounds like Maggs enjoys Star Wars, and enjoyed KOTOR, but probably vented some frustrations, which likely pissed off a certain segment of toxic Star Wars fans, who then retaliated the the same way lots of toxic fans retaliate against a female who dared criticize something they love: Call her an SJW Woke B-word and run an online smear/harassment campaign against her.
Probably not that different than if a female NRS player were to say that she liked MK9 but didn't care for the representation of female characters. MK9 is a beloved game, but it has some problematic elements that haven't aged well, especially if viewed through a certain lens.
Sam Maggs
is a "SJW woke bitch", no doubt about it & doesn't even hide it. I'm not even talking about Star Wars even though my opinion is the exact opposite (I like the prequels & the originals but hate the sequels but I loved Rogue One & didn't mind Solo). She hated on the Charlie's Angels (2000) movie by calling it & the 2000s feminism "misogynist & racist" but she says the same thing to anything doesn't like & thinks anything right-wing is misogynist, hateful &/or racist. Her whole "fighting the patriarchy" is cringe. I'm someone who is
mostly right-wing but that doesn't mean I hate diversity, LGBTQ+ or women as I have close family who are Filipino & I don't discriminate against people who are LGBTQ+ or women.
A lot of Sam Magg's views are nonsense, "
Don't compare how we felt to how (Trump) supporters feel tonight. We were rightfully scared for our lives, for our rights, for our friends & family & all marginalized people in this country. They're scared of being held accountable for their racism, misogyny, and hate." Everything that a SJW or woke melodramatic morons don't agree with is racist, misogynist or hateful as even my Prime Minister called unvaccinated people the EXACT same thing, it's lunacy.
Ah, as I said above, a lot to take in. As I've mentioned in other threads I have no fondness of social media at all, and I find any hot topic tends to devolve into extremists from both sides freaking out instead of actually trying to resolve issues.
For the original KOtoR, it has been 20 years so we'll see what they do with it. I do recall the original dealt with racism and discrimination very well (and early in the game too). Karth's line of "Ignorance and stupidity never going out of style" in relation to racism has stuck with me to this day.
Interestingly, while the canonical player character is male, as decided by LucasArts, apparently the writers originally intended it to be a female player character.
For Mortal Kombat, the female characters (and characters in general) look so vastly superior in Mortal Kombat 11 compared to Mortal Kombat (2011). That was the aesthetic for female characters at the time (in most games, not just MK), but it's nice to see characters are appearing more realistic now. At the end of the day though, gameplay is more important to me than visuals and I wouldn't freak if that visual style made a resurgence.
The tone from Malak, Canderous & the Jedi Masters is bizarre when you play as a female when they talk about Revan's history & due to the Revan & Bastilla relationship being a bit more fleshed out than the relationship with Carth or the relationship with Juhani. Surprisingly (as someone whose preference usually female), I actually loved playing as a male in KOTOR II due to The Handmaiden as I'm not a fan of The Disciple as I think Micah is annoying. Brianna is such a cool character as it sucks that you can't recruit her if you play as a female without mods: Having Visas Marr, Brianna, Mira with Meetra Surik would have been so cool (except the jealous lock). I think when you play the Jedi Exile as a male, not sure if it's just me but I think Atris hates you more but when you play as a female it seems to be more about jealousy & resentment towards Meetra leaving to fight in the Mandalorian Wars also Kavar's Master-Apprentice relationship sounds better if the Jedi Exile is a female too.
Now when it comes to female characters in Mortal Kombat. Kerri Hoskins (MK3 & MK4 Sonya) is the biggest critic of the how female characters have changed (at least Sonya) as she hated MK11 Sonya, "
They softened her up, flattened her chest & made her a plain face" & wants to "
Make Sonya Sexy Again" & I'm all for that. Sonya has been busty since MK3 when Kerri Hoskins took over & MK9 Sonya pretty much had the body of Kerri just with longer legs & the face was off. I know plenty of female MK players who miss MK9 female characters as they made them powerful & sexy, they're the most popular cosplays too. A lot of the reasons folks have against MK9 female models are kinda dumb, "Characters with boobs that big can't fight" then watch IBF Female Bantamweight Champion, Ebanie Bridges fight & certain professional wrestlers.
My only issue with MK9 character models were the female faces except Sindel who actually had a pretty face. MK9 Jade is by far my favourite in design because they just made improvements from her alternate costume from MKD/MKA & I loved it then as a 9 year-old boy in 2004 in MKD, I loved the MK9 version as a 16 year-old teenager & I still love both as a 27 year-old man while feeling meh about Jade's MK11 character model. MK9 in general had the best story by far, the best character designs that every fan of the series before then could recognize, with flawless voice acting (except Sonya tbh, kinda cringe), familiar movesets that old fans would recognize & it was by far the most compelling to watch. The only issues MK9 has is bugs (
See this thread) & it's unbalanced.
I read an interesting review of KOTOR II which stated that based on the call backs in KOTOR II it actually made for a more compelling story in KOTOR if the main character was female.
As for social media, I just wish people would realize that it's ok to love something, and for that thing to be considered great, while at the same time being open to criticism of that thing. Everyone's life experiences are different, and people value different things. It's also ok to acknowledge that the thing you like has flaws, or at least elements that could be problematic to others even if they're not problematic to you. Doesn't mean you can't still enjoy it.
Kavar's Master-Apprentice relationship sounds better if the Jedi Exile is a female & the whole story of Meetra Surik is amazing especially if you played The Old Republic & read the Revan book (I have it, it's pretty good).
I can see what's wrong with the original KOTOR, the plot was not always consistent, it was predictable, it's too black & white in terms of good & bad (that's BioWare problem though) there's very little grey especially with moral choices & Juhani is pretty much ignored, she seems like an afterthought. Also not getting your mask back is annoying but I know the lore behind the reason why but why let us get our robes back on the Star Forge?
What made me love KOTOR II is how dark it was. Korriban level is almost entirely callbacks & the return of the Mandalorians which was awesome. I think the story of KOTOR II is way better due to Chris Avellone's insane writing & dedication in being thorough & he didn't have an easy task of continuing Drew Karpyshyn's story with the same quality & intrigue, what sucks is KOTOR II didn't get the same respect as the first one for some reason & it's not really fair. They went above & beyond to make the sequel that was edgier, the moral choices were more significant & grey, there was a lot more shock & awe moments & the story is far better paced. There's so many things that they didn't change that was perfect as there was minimal changes to combat so why change it when it's not broken? The biggest issue is graphics as they look exactly the same as the first game, lots of bugs & Peragus (fuck Peragus).
