Catholics Interview the Director of Pentiment

[@pbnjustice5504]

first It was a pleasure interviewing Josh, hope you all enjoy!

[@Glassandcandy]

Josh Sawyer wrote the greatest example of a Christian parable in the entire history of video games. The story of Joshua Graham played a fundamental role in my decision to come back to the church. I think what spoke most to me was that although he believes deeply in his faith he still has doubts and he still struggles to reconcile them, I like the idea of faith as a continuous struggle of belief rather than an unwavering and dogmatic certainty.

[@ronnie1999]

Great conversation. We all have our own spiritual journey so it always brings a smile on my face when people are able to have a nice dialogue despite their differences. The fact Sawyer is not particularly religous just shows how much of a great writer he is

[@marcoantoniobecerrarodrigu5989]

Josh is very talented, I thank Xbox for giving him creative freedom to create pentiment, a gem of a game. I look forward to more of his projects.

[@WvHarpGuitar]

Very good interview, I thought you had some really good questions for Josh. I grew up Catholic and now go to a Baptist church. I played Pentiment and I was completely enthralled by it.

[@krkenheimer]

of course you were. The game shows the Church in a horrific light and is based on the name of the rose, a thoroughly anti-catholic novel.

[@PresidentFoxman]

How did this come about? Great conversation and it's great to hear Sawyer's thoughts on these topics, thank you for sharing this with us!

[@brianwoodcox9878]

I agree that I would absolutely love to know how this happened. Good for y’all though, 174 subscribers and interviewing Josh Sawyer? Good get.

[@pbnjustice5504]

Sometimes you just take a shot and people respond to it! Josh had always seemed open to answering questions, so I figured there was nothing to lose asking him for an interview

[@brianwoodcox9878]

@@pbnjustice5504 mad respect. Josh is the closest thing I have to a hero.

[@PresidentFoxman]

@@pbnjustice5504 thanks! And great job taking the time to gather thought provoking questions

[@pbnjustice5504]

Thank you guys for watching! We enjoyed thinking up these questions, and hope to be doing more like this in the future

[@stevemont7022]

I don't usually gravitate toward religious discussions but this was wonderful! Great job

[@elwin794]

great interview. Sawyer is one of the few game directors that gets history right.

[@scalamuushlentz5715]

this whole interview was goated. bless you and yours.

[@jt2749]

Based josh agreeing to be interviewed by catholic game reviews and stating he does not believe in god

[@kloa4219]

I figured, it would be on the nose if he weren't. I was surprised to see those types in the writing religious characters well. I liked the Christian depiction in arches despite it being made by gay non-Christians. I think the ones who do it without nuance just do it out of their bad experience with religious people. I guess its important to be nice for that reason.

[@pbnjustice5504]

I was pretty sure before asking to interview him that this was the case! But considering how rich Pentiment and Honest Hearts are, I knew it'd be a fruitful discussion regardless of his personal beliefs

[@tacoman3725]

As a Catholic leftist Josh Sawyer is my goat you can tell he deeply values showing the authentic humanity in all people.

[@nerolykk]

He's literally me

[@ian-Alex-2000]

@@tacoman3725Why would you be a leftist Catholic? The first leftists(from the French Revolution) literally tried to replace the Catholic Church with the “Cult Of The Supreme Being”!

[@skoomajoe6205]

Great interview, Matt! Great job.

[@voltcorp]

I truly appreciate you getting Josh to talk at lenght about religion and spirituality in PoE. That's by far my favorite aspect of the lore, in an universe filled with very cool worldbuilding all around. (spoilers for PoE) The idea that you can have a universe where deities were created by mortals but are still actual gods is genius. For me it seems like the perfect analogy to how spirituality works in real life (from my atheist pov): deeply pervasive and powerful social constructs.

[@TimmacTR]

52:00 Very interesting point he shares about having Faith.

[@kloa4219]

18:56 Yeah, that trope was kind of unrealistic to me. I think that new converts would have that level of zeal, but never old ones (it's called "Zeal of the Convert"). Even the hate pastors who are indirectly rude with people try their best be be amicable with their enemies up close.

[@kaptenteo]

Fantastic interview. Well done!

[@pucktoad]

Pentiment was my favorite game of its release year. It had a lot going on, but I can definitely see why it wasn't for everyone.

[@SomniaCE]

Lovely discussion!

[@lt3880]

This interview was really refreshingly diffierent.

[@nurgle-j5n]

a new sawyer interview to add to my playlist. thanks!

[@ps_garak]

Great discussion!

[@jesseshaver2262]

Love this!

[@liquidatedrice5274]

Why was he pulling a Gus Fring impression before speaking?

[@JonathanRossRogers]

14:00 I'm surprised to hear Josh express regret about "native representation" in Honest Hearts because as he's pointed out in past interviews, the Sorrows, Dead Horses and White Legs are descended from a mix of pre-war racial and ethnic groups and not based on any specific group from the real world. Each was much more fleshed out than tribal groups in earlier Fallout games. People looking for reasons to object to fictional people groups will find them and it's unfortunate that Josh seems to agree with them.

[@alphasword5541]

You're writing that in bad faith if you're claiming that people are just arbitrarily searching for reasons to be mad, rather than indigenous represnetation in american culture being an actual topic that's rightfully talked about by indigenous groups.

[@JonathanRossRogers]

@@alphasword5541 Unlike you, I made no claim about any specific person acting in bad faith. I speculated about why Josh seems to have changed his position. Again, the groups in the game are not indigenous groups. If you disagree, I'm willing to have a good faith discussion.

[@alphasword5541]

@@JonathanRossRogers The groups in Honest Hearts are still based on and function in the same way as many stereotypical representations of native americans. It's not an act of pure irreedeemable evil that they exist like that, but it's still a faux pas. It's equivalent to if you created a character or group in a piece of fiction that was based on anti-semitic tropes, but then removed the label of "Jew" - even if the intent isn't bad it would still be antisemitic. Because for all intents and purposes the stereotype has been fulfilled. Josh himself mentioned that an aspect of the groups in Honest Hearts' representation being poor is that they didn't actually end up representing them as multi-ethnic, what the end product was ends up mattering more when discussing this rather than it just existing as a factoid.

[@JonathanRossRogers]

@@alphasword5541 First, I appreciate that you mention native Americans, though that label covers many groups with different histories. Which stereotypical representations are you referring to? AFAICT, the three main groups in Zion are quite distinct. The Sorrows are nearly pacifist. The White Legs are entirely oriented toward raiding and war. The Dead Horses are somewhere between those extremes. Is there any particular group in the real world that each could be associated with? More generally, Is it necessary to avoid all stereotypes when creating fictional characters or groups? For example, was it wrong to use Italian stereotypes to create the Omertas? What about the people that populate Arroyo in Fallout 2?

[@Skullnaught]

It's unfortunately somethimg he feels he probably needs to do given the state of the peoole in the games industry and the overton window swinging so far each year

[@nerolykk]

You must review Stellar Blade

[@nifftbatuff676]

Stellar Blade is a clear rip-off of the passion of the Virgin Mary.

[@redditastic6711]

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