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Notes -
As a huge fan of the first game, I’d flag that in addition to the main antagonist being gay, there’s a very sympathetic novice monk you can meet in Sasau Monastery, and if you dig into his backstory with some snooping, you can learn that he was sent to the monastery after a love affair with another man. You can confront him about this, and either tell him you don’t see what he did as sinful, or that you consider his acts abominable. So gay themes were definitely present in a subdued way in the first game.
I actually appreciate the first game's inclusion of homosexuality in that manner because it was realistic for the setting and you needed to build a relationship with him (platonic) to get that information out of him. By realistic, I mean that in that time to be homosexual meant that escaping to a convent was a way to avoid execution as a sodomite.
What I don't appreciate is the dumpster fire trying to insinuate that sharing a bath (spa) with your friend in the first game is low key homo-eroticism.
There's this theory that men in the past were actually more comfortable being physically close in a fraternal/platonic way because the potential of homosexuality in the act was unthinkable. It makes sense to me that now homosexuality is ever present, modern men must telegraph their heterosexuality and avoid anything that could allude to homosexuality. This has cut off so much of male/male platonic affection that it's a tragedy.
Edit: There's a 'how are you enjoying the game?' post in the Friday Fun Thread if you guys are playing.
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