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why did people complain about the gruff white male protagonist of Days gone but not RDR 2?

Mister Apoc

Demigod of Troll Threads
I do find it interesting that the discourse around Days Gone was Deacon was another "gruff white male" protagonist. It permeated through the discussion of the game from the beginning and even IGN mentioned it in their review..

although i remember their was never really any criticism about this for RDR 2 and Arthur who by all intends and purposes was another "gruff white male"

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why was it different
 

Mister Apoc

Demigod of Troll Threads
I don't think the complaints were largely about the protagonist being a gruff white male. The complaints were that the character was generic and uninteresting, and that the dialog was cringe.
but one can say on the surface Arthur looked generic and he never really got that criticism

obviously as you explore him he becomes one of the best protags in gaming, but im talking when he was first shown in the trailers
 

digdug2

Member
I don't think the complaints were largely about the protagonist being a gruff white male. The complaints were that the character was generic and uninteresting, and that the dialog was cringe.
Despite that, once Days Gone clicked for me (about 2 hours in, once I started getting meaningful upgrades), it became one of my favorite open world games. It's too bad that they're not going to explore that world any further.
 

Doom85

Member
To be fair, Deacon’s character is pretty weak until you get to Iron Mike’s camp which is a decent while if you’re exploring a good deal and especially everything the game has to offer. It’s not helped by his backstory being told in poorly-executed fractured parts in non-chronological order, it’s liked they looked at the prologue of Last of Us Part 1 and said, “how can we take what Naughty Dog did and make it needlessly messy?”

So it does take a good while to reach that point (not to mention it’s also where the story improves, hordes really start getting utilized, resources are found at a more reasonable rate, etc.) which some players might not have the patience for.

Mind you, the worst offender is Boozer, who is a frustrating chucklefuck who just causes Deacon and thus the player a headache until, again, you get to Iron Mike’s and he starts growing as a character.

I personally just not in to biker characters.

You apologize to the best character of Persona 5 right now, mister!

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RavageX

Member
I didn't have a problem with either character. Now characters like those dinosaurs in that high school game, or the characters in the Saint's Row reboot...yeah I got issues with those.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
You apologize to the best character of Persona 5 right now, mister!
Do you see her with tattoo and wearing cloths like biker gang? I like her design but I absolutely don’t care for Days Hone character design.
 

Doom85

Member
Do you see her with tattoo and wearing cloths like biker gang? I like her design but I absolutely don’t care for Days Hone character design.


Im Right Seth Meyers GIF by Late Night with Seth Meyers


Regardless, I was just messing with you, it’s all good.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum

Im Right Seth Meyers GIF by Late Night with Seth Meyers


Regardless, I was just messing with you, it’s all good.
Yeah maybe I should have worded better but what meant was Days Gone character looks like biker gang you see Rid to Hell game and I don’t care for those type of characters designs.
 
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hopefully Sony does the right thing and releases Days Gone Remake for PS5 Pro and replaces Deek with a nonbinary disabled furry poc
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
Days Gone guy was pretty lame. They tried to have their cake and eat it too with a Nice Guy biker. Kept groveling after his wife left him, had no other motivations, just miserable to play. People are more likely to come up with complaints when something doesn’t feel right.

Arthur meanwhile is one of the best written and most memorable protagonists in gaming.
 

Saber

Member
Days Gone was an easier pray for social people because of how much word of mouth call this game mid and the character itself has a code of conduct against women.
 

EverydayBeast

ChatGPT 0.1
Rockstar paid a ton of money on red dead, sure a white male protagonist violates woke laws today but I don’t think they would change anything about red dead 2.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
RDR2 has a 98 on metacritic. It's the game of the generation. Possibly one of THE greatest games of all time, and Arthur is definitely the greatest gaming protagonist of all time.

Days Gone had a 70 on metacritic. It's a good game with flaws. Easy target for culture warriors trying to score easy points.

Deacon also doesn't really have much to do until you get to Iron Mike's camp which is roughly 8-10 hours in the story. I think the first 2 camps in the game were by far the worst with little to no story beats and that led to some poor pacing in the story. Deacon grew on me by the end, but i suspect most people didnt stick around till the end.
 

Aion002

Member
Deacon at the start of the game is kinda annoying and the biker culture is niche... The game also launched with a lot of issues and people compared it to TLU.
 

digdug2

Member
Deacon at the start of the game is kinda annoying and the biker culture is niche... The game also launched with a lot of issues and people compared it to TLU.
Those bugs when it launched... Damn. I was just driving the motorcycle around normally and then it fell through the world. I waited a while for a few patches to pick it back up.
 

PandaOk

Banned
I do find it interesting that the discourse around Days Gone was Deacon was another "gruff white male" protagonist. It permeated through the discussion of the game from the beginning and even IGN mentioned it in their review..

although i remember their was never really any criticism about this for RDR 2 and Arthur who by all intends and purposes was another "gruff white male"

10436c0f6cc9571ddd3cf3c10aab0469.jpg

1973036

why was it different
One looks like a probable white power biker gang member and the other looks like the usual archetype of a cowboy during that time. Never played either, but yeah…
 
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Vick

Member
Better writing. /thread
I believe it's also a case of extremely progressive writing v just barely progressive writing.

RDR2 balanced the (extraordinarily likable) white gruff protagonist (still progressive at heart) with that literal and embarrassing cartoon of Sadie Adler and "he's the best of us all, we're luckly to have him" Lenny.

Days Gone tried to barely balance things here and there, but dared to have its bisex female character wanting to cheat on her girlfriend with our protagonist..

I think the gap as wide as the grand canyon in the quality of how they were written could have been one reason. 🤷‍♂️
Not even sure gap is as wide as you're suggesting.

DG's consistent and competent (but especially honest) writing doesn't reach RDR2 highs, and yet every time I think of RDR2 writing all comes to my mind is how colossal of a downgrade it was from RDR.

Sure, Arthur might be Top 5 gaming characters of all time for me, but I still loved Deek as a protagonist.
 

Pimpbaa

Member
Probably because Days Gone is just a good game while RDR2 is amazing. The devs of Days Gone gets extra credit for at least unlocking the framerate on a PS5.
 
Op there have been plenty woke criticism of rdr2, have you been living under a rock,
Critics found it easier to complain about days gone simply because they did not like the game.
 

Gambit2483

Member
Who complained about Deacon St. John? He was a great character for the story they were telling.

He had more character than most of the bland Female protags they're pushing out now.

Edit: It's not as if you can't like both characters. Sure Arthur Morgan was more nuanced but Deacon had a really great backstory and motivations if anyone bothered learning them.
 
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DavidGzz

Gold Member
I don't think the complaints were largely about the protagonist being a gruff white male. The complaints were that the character was generic and uninteresting, and that the dialog was cringe.

This, I liked the game but damn, get these cutscenes outta here lol
 

Mister Apoc

Demigod of Troll Threads
I believe it's also a case of extremely progressive writing v just barely progressive writing.

RDR2 balanced the (extraordinarily likable) white gruff protagonist (still progressive at heart) with that literal and embarrassing cartoon of Sadie Adler and "he's the best of us all, we're luckly to have him" Lenny.

Days Gone tried to barely balance things here and there, but dared to have its bisex female character wanting to cheat on her girlfriend with our protagonist..


Not even sure gap is as wide as you're suggesting.

DG's consistent and competent (but especially honest) writing doesn't reach RDR2 highs, and yet every time I think of RDR2 writing all comes to my mind is how colossal of a downgrade it was from RDR.

Sure, Arthur might be Top 5 gaming characters of all time for me, but I still loved Deek as a protagonist.
i don't disagree with you but what do you mean by DG being"honest" in its writing?
 
Cos he was about as believable as a 1%er MC guy as the cast of Wild Hogs. He's lame, whiny, overly dramatic and boring at the same time. I liked Days Gone a lot for a certain amount of time but that dude sucked.
 

Vick

Member
RDR2 has a 98 on metacritic.

Days Gone had a 70 on metacritic.
Reasons behind this vary though, ultimately not representative of how the games are generally regarded.

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i don't disagree with you but what do you mean by DG being"honest" in its writing?
That is not poisoned by forced ideology.
You can feel DG writing as genuine (like RDR was), just as you feel the interferences in RDR2 from a mile.
 
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