Grotesque Tactics II: Dungeons & Donuts Review
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But what really sucks the joy out of Grotesque Tactics 2 is its humor. Sometimes, it seems to be poking fun at genre conventions, but the humor isn't sly--it's downright disrespectful. Nearly every female non-player character has a ditzy or sultry voice and is dressed in a skimpy getup. A number of these characters also make come-ons to you, and the dialogue is frequently laced with innuendo. The gear for your female guildmates is either a dress or a leather outfit, all of which seems more appropriate at a strip club than in an adventuring company. Holy Avatar, the demigod character, is a blond Adonis that keeps a harem of adoring maidens. You even have to steal one of their bras in a quest for a goblin that wants women's underwear for "sniffinz." (Gross!) And though women bear most of the brunt of the game's offensive characterizations, that's not always the case. For example, Deacon, the black character, talks in jive and keeps hitting on one of the female characters. Without wit or charm, Grostesque 2 ends up merely serving up more of the same stereotypical shlock that it intends to satire.
Grotesque Tactics 2 seems intended as a light take on a serious genre. Instead, it's a sexist disaster that is offensive when it means to be funny and flat when it means to be fun. Rather than deep combat, you get mindless tactics. Instead of interesting character progression, you face bland skill trees. The game isn't stable and is unfinished in parts, and the story leaves little impact on you. This all adds up to make Grotesque Tactics 2 one of the worst strategy RPGs in recent memory.
