A Response for Deffy
A Response for Deffy
Crap. Well, I keep trying to respond to my friend Deffy, but freaking You Tube keeps deleting my comments. So, it comes down to this. Me vs. the infernal computer network. Therefore, I am writing this responding post in antagonistic opposition to the rasser frattin, tootin shootin, gall darned Skynet of algorithms, the blasted, craptastic You Tube twits that think it is okay to censor me. It. Is. Not.
So, for the third time…
Dear Deffy, what I have been trying to respond with on your last X Com 2 post is the viewpoint of what has been happening from a writer’s perspective. You touched on it briefly in one of your comments, I think. We want to cheer for our heroes. Not for our hoes, which is another subject entirely, but our heroes. We root for them. We want to see them succeed. It the same kind of thing when we cheer for our favorite sports team. We celebrate vicariously with them.
However, when an author is bad, they will kill characters for no worthwhile reason at all, or in fact, just to manipulate the reader (or viewer for a TV series or movie.) A prime example of this was The Walking Dead series when favorite characters were killed off at the end of each season. I got so frustrated with this that I finally started rooting for the zombies, then stopped watching altogether. It’s BAD WRITING to kill off characters for no reason and it is like cheating the reader.
And this leaves you with a predicament because you didn’t have much of a say with the game literally cheating and the enemy having unreasonable (and unseen) advantages. It was difficult to see all the great characters either dead or in the hospital resembling Swiss cheese lined up like sardines with red letters next to their names.
Now in Campbell’s Heroes Epic Journey plotline there IS a place to take heroes and throw them from the pan into the fire, and that is in the second act (or the second movie in a trilogy.) An example of this might be Luke and Han in Star Wars The Empire Strikes back. Then, when they overcome their setbacks, we can cheer along with them as they start winning. The same is true of the formulaic way professional wrestling bouts are scripted. The evil dude has the champ on the mat, and he start twirling his evil villain mustache and prancing about the ring, taunting the live audience. While this happens, the hero wrestler makes a fist. Then he starts shaking it. Then he gets up from the mat behind the villain wrestler’s back and opens up a can of whoop ass. The hero wins; everyone is happy and celebrates.
So I am glad you are now toning back the actual language in the program to modify for these unseen aberrations in the story of your X Com 2 campaign. When your heroes heal back, then we can cheer them on as they deserve. And perhaps in future campaigns or seasons, we can see once again the people we left behind.
Oh, yeah. And screw you, You Tube.
G.Houtchens
Armchair coach
Amateur historian
