So TES lore was written on drugs and Fallout was written on historical materialism
And Bethesda doesn't get either of those so that's why their game's lores fucking sucks
Rich failsons living in a DC suburb aren't very good artists: shocking
Fallout was written on historical materialism
Please elaborate.
Wasn't this particular story debunked by Kirkbride himself? I swear he says this part is basically a mythologised version of events.
Yeah, pretty sure it's not a real image from the UESP wiki, it's edited. Even if there were drugs involved, there definitely wasn't Todd Howard personally going to Kirkbride's apartment and snapping a pic of him
He debunked it, but then it turned out he was hopped up on a bunch of different drugs instead.
Take enough psychedelics and the daedra reveal themselves
I can't imagine caring about the games after Morrowind. Shame AAA studios can barely produce anything good now.
Some of those reasons actually make the rest feel untrustworthy.
“He drew a gross thing!”
Some are pretty bad though, like the rusty coat hanger shit, and kind of casts his other actions in a more negative light.
Also I can't help but notice that redguards had lower intelligence, willpower and personality (before skyrim got rid of attributes, including all the caliper-y "different races are naturally weaker than others" shit). I dunno what he thinks of this, or how responsible he is for this before skyrim. The orc depiction, taken together with how orcish armor appears and the related context of all the heavily orientalist tropes surrounding the akaviri (How responsible is MK for this shit?), certainly feels like a racist caricature.
Also I can’t help but notice that redguards had lower intelligence, willpower and personality
To be fair, they are generally regarded as excellent swordsmen in the lore, so for balance reasons I could understand them lowering more mage-oriented attributes and skills,. Case in point: they have a bonus to long swords. At any rate, I don't think he was involved in the more technical points of the gameplay. He was mostly a concept artist and writer, from what I understand. He also wasn't the only writer on the project - another big name is Ken Rolston, who is extremely talented in his own way.
The orc depiction, taken together with how orcish armor appears and the related context of all the heavily orientalist tropes surrounding the akaviri (How responsible is MK for this shit?), certainly feels like a racist caricature.
Only if you look at it from a Tolkienist perspective. Orcs in TES aren't mindless brutes. They're downright just humans (or, rather, elves, to be specific). Then again I might be biased because I think Samurai Orcs are fucking cool as hell.
Orsimer are cool, but I was looking at it from a "nonwhite ethnicity is represented by literal non-humans" POV, which has always rubbed me the wrong way (as a general trope)
He probably wasn't responsible for the Redguard stuff, given his involvement with TESA:Redguard. Here's what he has to say
No, I was actually referring to The Black Panthers and their radicalism. As some people know I'm not really a fan of the United Colors of Beneton approach to Tamrielicreation, which smacks of white guilt and offensery rather than some holistic form of beautiful inclusion. Thus, it's my fault that the Asian analogues got eaten. Oops. Looks like others are bringing 'em back, though. But I promise my choice had nothing to do with Yellow Peril, it had to do with co-opting "coolness of color" without thinking about it intelligently and compassionately. (Hunkers down for the flame.) That said, when I started writing Redguard I really thought about how unique the black people of Tamriel were: they came in and kicked ass and slaughtered the indigenes while doing so. They invaded. It was the first time I had encountered the idea of "black imperialism"...and it struck me big time, as something 1) new, 2) potentially dangerous if taken as commentary, and 3) potentially rad if taken as commentary. Who knows. AVault did say it had a story worthy of being on stage, and Michael Mack (Cyrus) once thanked me for giving him words that "Black folks don't get to say" (referring to Cyrus' speech and the reversal of Son to the Father)... which broke my heart and made me puff my chest all at the same time. Which is a long way of saying: panther-love
Which is a little clumsy-white-guy, especially with the "Black Imperialism" shit, but his heart's in the right place.
Reads like a guy who puts it all out there, even when he doesn’t need to.
Techbros/gamers and being misogynistic pieces of shit, match made in heaven.
His partner Lady Nerevar has publicly stated the MK was fucked up for doing this.
And, I believe, MK has apologised too, he was apparently on a long recovery from...long term barbiturate abuse I think? It was apparently giving him blackouts and psychotic breaks. Which isn't an excuse since plenty of people have that and don't run around spewing transphobic bullshit, but does explain some of the crazier shit.
Eh, complaining about misogyny/rape themes in fantasy writing seems like a poor gotcha. Are we just not supposed to talk about rape or misogyny, ever? To never have it appear in our fiction? And complaining about his more out-there art also feels like grasping at straws.
The second link is fucked up, though. Pretty inexcusable.
There's still some questionable stuff in there, though. And taken together with the shit spewed in the second link, the rape/misogyny themes feel more sus/uncomfortable (?)
I think what he said in the second link is really fucked, but I don't think it's fair to retroactively condemn Kirkbride's work just because it has themes of rape or misogyny in them. Besides, it's not like he was the only one involved in that Azura Trial RP.
I not condemning all his work, just saying that it feels uncomfortable in the wider context
Makes sense. The most I ever delved into TES lore was in similar conditions.
