the joko discourse is bumming me out because it feels like some genuinely excellent storytelling is, as a consequence, being overlooked
Full disclosure: I enjoy(ed) the “Praise Joko” meme in the sense that it is/was satirical. It’s always been obvious Joko is p terrible, yet Daybreak still slapped me in the face hard. It was upsetting. It made me uncomfortable. It made me stop laughing. And I love it for that.
TLDR; The writing team set us up brilliantly (lured us into overlooking Joko’s horrors in favor of his absurdities, even though those horrors were never hidden) and now we’ve rightfully been had (+ some general praise for how anet’s improved their characterization of antagonists/story pacing/narrative buildup). Spoilers ahead: