Combat and music in this game ruled, and I loved making Serenoa's choices entirely based off of what his wife thought was best.
However. Whew Boy!!!! The orientalism was off the charts with this one!!!! That scene where our European-coded characters are in a desert city (a scene that not all players will see, given it has branching paths) and are startled and horrified by a daily call to prayer that is very reminiscent of Muslim calls to prayer was wild. How is it scary when Muslims have daily calls to prayer but not when Christians drink the blood and eat the flesh of Christ? It's classic Edward Said Orientalism all the way down in this one.
To quote from the article on Said's work from Wikipedia: "These cultural representations [of the Middle East] usually depict the 'Orient' as primitive, irrational, violent, despotic, fanatic, and essentially inferior to the westerner or native informant, and hence, 'enlightenment' can only occur when "traditional" and "reactionary" values are replaced by "contemporary" and "progressive" ideas that are either western or western-influenced."
I finished the game largely to see just how islamophobic it gets and it is rough. I was pretty unsettled not to see it mentioned in most critical reviews of the game, either.
The tactics were great and I loved most of the characters, but I cannot forgive them for that.
However. Whew Boy!!!! The orientalism was off the charts with this one!!!! That scene where our European-coded characters are in a desert city (a scene that not all players will see, given it has branching paths) and are startled and horrified by a daily call to prayer that is very reminiscent of Muslim calls to prayer was wild. How is it scary when Muslims have daily calls to prayer but not when Christians drink the blood and eat the flesh of Christ? It's classic Edward Said Orientalism all the way down in this one.
To quote from the article on Said's work from Wikipedia: "These cultural representations [of the Middle East] usually depict the 'Orient' as primitive, irrational, violent, despotic, fanatic, and essentially inferior to the westerner or native informant, and hence, 'enlightenment' can only occur when "traditional" and "reactionary" values are replaced by "contemporary" and "progressive" ideas that are either western or western-influenced."
I finished the game largely to see just how islamophobic it gets and it is rough. I was pretty unsettled not to see it mentioned in most critical reviews of the game, either.
The tactics were great and I loved most of the characters, but I cannot forgive them for that.
3 Comments
Thanks for pointing this out. I played Aesfrost's route which left Hyzante till the final act, and cut out this specific scene you're talking about. I had a pretty glowing review, so its good I went back and reread some another analysis like this.
YES! The Orientalism is so bad. How do you have a country with all the trappings of the Islamic Golden Age and then make the culture regressive towards scientists and oppressive to minorities compared to the one in the European countries??? It seems like it's supposed to contrast economic oppression in the Western nations vs. religious in the East but it's just so racist I can't believe they thought it was OK.
ranrannerson
6 months ago