Queerbaiting and forced heteronormativity in TFTBL, an overview (spoilers near the end)
Quite honestly I've heard about this a lot on Tumblr (of course), from my friends, and I have thought on the subject myself. And here are my thoughts on the matter.
First a bit on what could be implied when it comes to potential male love interests in the game:
In the first two episodes of TFTBL there were no real hints at romance outside of the scene between Vaughn, Rhys, and Jack and even then that was only if you take it that way. Still for many people, including myself, it seemed pretty obvious that the following went on:
A. Handsome Jack most likely has the thing for men (He's probably pansexual guys lets be real, he'd bang anyone if they were hot) considering how much he brings up Vaughn's body after he sees Vaughn's Abs
B. Rhys had at that point or before been practically obsessed (and depending on dialogue choices it can start to sound on the level of attraction as well)
C. Rhys and Vaughn are really close and have been so for a long time, and considering the way Rhys can act towards Vaughn you can make their conversations seem more than platonic as well.
Especially with the last point there are clear signs of something more there, especially then come the beginning of episode three. Between all the potential dialogue options and a LOT of the unused dialogue, Rhys and Vaughn clearly can be taken to have a romantic attraction to each other. However it's all implied, its there if you want to think about it that way. Same with some conversations between Handsome Jack and Rhys, they're dialogue can become blatantly flirtatious in tone depending on dialogue options you take, but nothing is ever really said and it's all implied.
Now for the main issue with all of this:
In episode 3 Telltale went out of their way to provide a Rhysha romance option, even going so far as to railroad the us into a section of the game with her, (without giving any option to choose a different character to come with us, which -let's face it- would've given us the chance to make like any ship possible but I digress), and no matter really what options you choose in the section except near the end of it, Sasha and really the entire setting of the game attempts to be as romantic as possible. Telltale clearly WANTED players to ship this. Which at its base, is fine. Rhysha is a fine ship and Im happy for shippers of it getting the chance to play that route and have a good time.
However the issue here is the lack of options.
With other Telltale games this has never been an issue with the player character. There either were only implied romances (Wolf among Us), or romances that were optional to the plot and could be completely avoided (Walking Dead season 1 with Carly, or simply no romances for the player character.
TFTBL however changes this. The Rhysha romance is practically shoved down your throat whether you want it or not, and the only way to avoid it for the most part is to be a jerk. This isn't okay, and its not something we as players should accept. In a game that constantly puts players options above all, refusing to let a player say they were in love with Vaughn or Jack or Fiona and pursue those romances while shoving another romance in our faces is simply a gross version of railroading. In a game that's all about player choice it's unacceptable.
Simply to put it, if the game developers aren't willing to even put in one other romance option, especially a gay option considering the fact that in today's gaming society such a thing should be available where a hetero romance option is available, they shouldn't blatantly try to force players into another romance. If youre planning on only sticking in one romance option then they should of stuck to the formula such as Carly from TWDG, where there were optional dialogue trees where you could pursue her. However you were never forced into romantic situations with her.
The other way to fix this would be to simply let the player choose who they took through that romantic part of episode 3.
SPOILERS: Furthermore then at the end of the whole game when Fiona approaches Rhys about if he likes Sasha. The ability for him to say he likes someone else doesnt fix everything. Why couldnt we have Rhys just say who he liked. Tellale could of just let him hint that he liked fiona, or said somewhat embarrassed that he's been in love with Vaughn. It was a perfect spot to allow for simple resolution to the matter, but instead we get a vague line that doesn't really solve anything, especially considering earlier in the episode they still treated Rhys like he had a crush on Sasha, even if you were blatantly a jerk to her earlier in the game or cancelled out the romance.
Simply to put it Rhysha isn't the problem in TFTBL. It was the fact there wasn't really any choice. There wasn't really any choice to pursue other characters, or to even have the romantic Rhysha subplot not happen. No matter what you do Rhys is portrayed to have a crush on Sasha through episodes 3-5. It doesn't matter how hard you cancelled the romantic subplot out, or how much you took all the implied romantic dialogue for other characters. Its still shoved in our face. And in a game about player choice, such a thing is disrespectful to the player above all else. Telltale should know better, and we should expect more. Thank you.
Comments
Considering that this isn't a dating sim in any shape of form. I don't see the problem. If the focus was on dating I would see your point, but, It's not. Telltale's number one priority isn't who Rhys ends up hooking up with it. They just want to tell a story. The focus isn't throughout the entire series and is only highlighted on one scene in episode 3 and a fraction of it is brought up in episode 5. Your literally complaining about 20 minutes out of 10 hours of gameplay which is pretty silly.
https://www.tumblr.com/
He actually is from Tumblr, I saw his post there. Here it is:
Can't believe he managed to get 36 notes out of nothing.
Isn't this the third of these threads made in a fairly brief timespan?
Op please go back
What the heck is with all these threads today?
It's the same guy.
He probably got his league of Tumblr fans to bitch on here
I just don't understand why he/they insist on making the same thread when it's been locked twice.
Sigh.
Another case of mistaking admiration for attraction and bromance for romance.
Never. In the entirety of the game does Telltale ever imply that Rhys is at all attracted to either Handsome Jack or Vaughn and vice versa. Rhys admired Jack (That was it) and Rhys and Vaughn are just best friends (That was it). They also haven't queerbaited don't know where the hell you're getting that from. It's just you getting mad over something that isn't there.
Actually Im not the same
Poster as that tumblr user. However I believe my points are still vaild, and considering these reponces I doubt most of you even read my whole article.
Perhaps I shall make an article about how cishet men get defensive when people want variation in their videogames and percieve it as an attack
If you would all like I'll start finding points in the game where this is all implied
Oh damn dude! You sure showed us, anonymous person on the internet.
We've had several threads on this today alone. I can't see this discussion on this going anywhere positive or civil so I'm just going to lock it.