If you think I meant to discredit Bully, I think I either didn't explain myself well or there was a misunderstanding.

For the record, I think Bully is the best open(ish) world game Rockstar ever made. Then probably Vice City or San Andreas. They really haven't done a lot in my mind that expands on how the games play, they've just added more stuff. I get that most of the humor was tongue-in-cheek. It felt to me like it was making fun of the stereotypes versus really making fun of certain types of people with those stereotypes. I just don't know if making fun of it in that manner would make certain people rage now.

Then you have things like Cook's Crush quest where you help the lunch lady acquire items for her date with one of the teachers that includes sedatives, because he doesn't really know there's even going to be a date. Implying some things that aren't considered things to laugh at anymore. The lady is unhinged, the situation is crazy, and it's played for laughs.

Did I laugh at the ridiculousness at the time. Yes. Would I laugh now? I really don't know. I think so given the right set up. I don't even know if it's objectively bad to laugh at a joke like that. It's fiction, but it's also making fun out of a dark scenario.

Regardless of whether or not I'm aware of what 70's and 80's coming of age/teen movies and shows inspired the humor and world, and regardless of whether or not the game knows it's making fun of those things, I just don't know how some of it would be received currently.