The more I think about Joseph “Good” ending, the more I feel like I gaslighting myself into trying to believe it deserve to exist and not one big fuck up by writers.
I’ve been thinking about it LONG and HARD. And my conclusions are: no. It’s not me who’s wrong is the writers.
1) Cult ending is not canon. Said by devs and GameGrumps. Joseph is NOT secretly a horror villain.
2) Joseph has some hypocrites to him, but no more that some men do irl
3) His relationship with Mary are terrible. This marriage is not salvageable. It’s fake front for two extremely unhappy people. In no way shape or form these two staying together is “good” or “morally correct”.
4) I love Mary I don’t think she’s the problem. Or that “she’s an abuser” (as some people say lmao). She deserves better.
5) Joseph MIGHT be the problem here, since he’s lying to himself and the one who cheats. But then why is him staying the same is a “good” ending??
6) All other romance routes let the protagonist to HELP other dads. To change their life to the better.
7) If this was supposed to be a moral lesson about “dating married men is bad”:
a) what a wild choice to put it in video game where all the other romances are 100% wholesome and have a true happy endings.
b) they should’ve been clearer with the message
c) they should’ve given the player the option to refuse sex with Joseph
To keep this consistent with other dads, there should’ve been an option like in Robert route (help him with his daughter/don’t help him be an egoist). For example (help Joseph get back with his wife/don’t help).
You know? Something like this.
Imagine if we discovered more about Joseph and Mary. Discovered that they truly love each other and although Joseph feels trapped and loves us too, he loves her and kids more. It’s tragic. It’s emotional. But we do the right thing and reunite them.
Instead Joesph just dumps us coldly and our character says “Did I do something wrong?” and “I guess this plate of food is now my new boyfriend”. CLEARLY signaling to the player, that they failed the story and there is a better ending.
People online says “yeah there is a good-good ending but devs say it’s bugged and can’t be unlocked”. Which I also doubt. Because every dad in game have 2 endings and so does Joseph (“bad” ending is where dadsona stays as his side piece). Why would he suddenly have 3?? White privileged imma right fellas?
And on top of that there’s a people who can dig anything from video games files, I’m pretty sure if “True good ending” for Joseph existed - they would’ve found it and uploaded it on YouTube. Maybe even released a patch for the game itself.
So I think third ending is a lie. And if it isn’t a lie then it’s baffling that this bug hasn’t been fixed?? The disrespect to paying customers???
In conclusion. Joseph route was fun, but the ending is nonsensical, cruel to the player and illogical to rest of the game.
Oh, fuck, wait. Another thing.
8) Joseph to me seemed like a clear metaphor for closeted gay man who have accidentally trapped himself in traditional hetero marriage and is suffering. Let him be a hypocrite, let him be a bad husband to Mary, let him be the man who prefers approval of patriarchal society over his own need (or needs of his loved ones). Ok. Let Joseph be imperfect. Let him be bad even. But it enrages me that in a truly genuinely progressive game about queer people we leave Joseph behind. The man who MAYBE needs to be rescued the most*. From heteronormativity no less. This is such a shitty message. This makes me so mad.
And also Mary. Mary deserves better than to become alcoholic because of unhappy marriage and to be a prized possession of a queer man, who parades her (and the kids) every time he want validation from the community.
* - I honestly think Craig is the one who needs to be rescued the most, this guy is working himself too hard. All other dads seems to be doing fine on their own and not actively dooming themselves with their lifestyle. Maybe also Rob. But he’s not in a active danger of complete burnout like Craig is so…
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