Qwerty2629
3 reviews liked by Qwerty2629
This review contains spoilers
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It's becoming more clear that attempting to treat these chapters as if they were their own self-contained entity is folly, but I think I'm still able to say a few words on it as its own story.
For one thing, it's obvious that you should be playing Chapter 1 first to get introduced to all the characters and put you in the right mindset, but besides that I found Chapter 2 to be a heartbreakingly sorrowful tale of a best friend losing her state of mind to a powerful demon. While Chapter 1 is meant to make the reader feel paranoid, Chapter 2 sends them in a state of denial with you learning so much about one particular character and just how deep their emotions and sins go.
Watanagashi stands head-and-shoulders above Onikakushi for me, and earns the oh-so coveted title of Alliecore for one particular reason, and that's Mion's struggle with identity. When Mion first mentioned that sometimes she wonders why she wasn't born as a boy, I joked about it with my friend going like "Mion trans arc??? Based Ryukishi07???" But then the story went on. And as it went on, her struggles with femininity became more than just a simple line and I found myself relating heavily to that.
Mion is for the most part a tomboy, but as Rena mentions, she has an unseen feminine side. I may be different in that I am a trans woman, but I have trouble expressing that I am that. I myself do prefer androgynous clothing simply because it's easy to wear and comfortable, but that means that my identity is invisible to the naked eye of the random observer. The pain I feel in never getting to be called miss or ma'am is enough to break me into tears at night. Especially when my own family thinks I don't make sense. That pain rivals what Mion feels when Keiichi treats her as a boy. While she has different reasons for feeling pain (namely, romantic interest), the message is the same. It's not that she's blaming Keiichi for not treating her the way she wanted, but it doesn't take away from the fact that she's hurt and she wants him to know the pain she feels. I don't want to blame anybody either for their ignorance, but sometimes it's a bit hard when I give clues like my trans-designed sweatshirt or a pin showing my pronouns.
Another point of emotional pain I sustained within this scenario was Keiichi trying to give the doll to Mion after she was fully consumed by her demon. After finally recognizing her and him trying to make up for his blindness, it's too late. Mion stabs him and he drops the doll, soaking it in a pool of its own blood. The doll is a representation of Keiichi seeing Mion for what she is, and it being ruined by blood is a ruin of that perception, the beauty of caring for a best friend marred by the blood of a relentless evil.
I compare that scene to my current state of mind, my deep desires to cut contact off from my non-understanding family and friends that have greatly hurt me clashing against my meek and forgiving personality not wanting to go through with it. I fear that Watanagashi is a reflection of my intrusive thoughts and what happens when they fester. In my case, it is the desire to hurt with words, and with the intensity of hammering 30 nails into one's fingers.
I'll talk real quick about the horror. Definitely not as unsettling as Chapter 1, maybe because I could sort of expect what was to come this time around but the CGs of Mion going insane are going to keep me up at night lmaooo.
Everything just made me yearn much more to want to have a good ending for everyone. But at the same time, I'm also hoping the Chapters 3 and 4 live up to the attachment that Watanagashi had for me towards Mion. I'm also hoping, like, the ending isn't terrible either because this is a goddamn 60 hour time investment and I would be FURIOUS if the ending sucked lmao. Also I find Keiichi to be a massive shithead. I hope future chapters show him growing as a character. But, overall, still very much into this series and I can't wait to finish it!
It's becoming more clear that attempting to treat these chapters as if they were their own self-contained entity is folly, but I think I'm still able to say a few words on it as its own story.
For one thing, it's obvious that you should be playing Chapter 1 first to get introduced to all the characters and put you in the right mindset, but besides that I found Chapter 2 to be a heartbreakingly sorrowful tale of a best friend losing her state of mind to a powerful demon. While Chapter 1 is meant to make the reader feel paranoid, Chapter 2 sends them in a state of denial with you learning so much about one particular character and just how deep their emotions and sins go.
Watanagashi stands head-and-shoulders above Onikakushi for me, and earns the oh-so coveted title of Alliecore for one particular reason, and that's Mion's struggle with identity. When Mion first mentioned that sometimes she wonders why she wasn't born as a boy, I joked about it with my friend going like "Mion trans arc??? Based Ryukishi07???" But then the story went on. And as it went on, her struggles with femininity became more than just a simple line and I found myself relating heavily to that.
Mion is for the most part a tomboy, but as Rena mentions, she has an unseen feminine side. I may be different in that I am a trans woman, but I have trouble expressing that I am that. I myself do prefer androgynous clothing simply because it's easy to wear and comfortable, but that means that my identity is invisible to the naked eye of the random observer. The pain I feel in never getting to be called miss or ma'am is enough to break me into tears at night. Especially when my own family thinks I don't make sense. That pain rivals what Mion feels when Keiichi treats her as a boy. While she has different reasons for feeling pain (namely, romantic interest), the message is the same. It's not that she's blaming Keiichi for not treating her the way she wanted, but it doesn't take away from the fact that she's hurt and she wants him to know the pain she feels. I don't want to blame anybody either for their ignorance, but sometimes it's a bit hard when I give clues like my trans-designed sweatshirt or a pin showing my pronouns.
Another point of emotional pain I sustained within this scenario was Keiichi trying to give the doll to Mion after she was fully consumed by her demon. After finally recognizing her and him trying to make up for his blindness, it's too late. Mion stabs him and he drops the doll, soaking it in a pool of its own blood. The doll is a representation of Keiichi seeing Mion for what she is, and it being ruined by blood is a ruin of that perception, the beauty of caring for a best friend marred by the blood of a relentless evil.
I compare that scene to my current state of mind, my deep desires to cut contact off from my non-understanding family and friends that have greatly hurt me clashing against my meek and forgiving personality not wanting to go through with it. I fear that Watanagashi is a reflection of my intrusive thoughts and what happens when they fester. In my case, it is the desire to hurt with words, and with the intensity of hammering 30 nails into one's fingers.
I'll talk real quick about the horror. Definitely not as unsettling as Chapter 1, maybe because I could sort of expect what was to come this time around but the CGs of Mion going insane are going to keep me up at night lmaooo.
Everything just made me yearn much more to want to have a good ending for everyone. But at the same time, I'm also hoping the Chapters 3 and 4 live up to the attachment that Watanagashi had for me towards Mion. I'm also hoping, like, the ending isn't terrible either because this is a goddamn 60 hour time investment and I would be FURIOUS if the ending sucked lmao. Also I find Keiichi to be a massive shithead. I hope future chapters show him growing as a character. But, overall, still very much into this series and I can't wait to finish it!
Persona 3 FES
2007
I played this at 13 and it was a sea change for my perspective - no other game I would readily recommend to a high schooler than this one because it so expertly talks to them at their level, unafraid to sugarcoat the real drama, frustrations, sexual paralysis, and depth of angst a teen can feel, the entire spectrum of coming into an existential self, toiling with agnosticism, and becoming aware of yourself and your limited time in such a dreadful way. it’s a post-structural treatise on a teen’s burgeoning time management skills, their ability to juggle relationships while toiling with inner conflict and secret traumas, and while it’s flaws are immediately apparent to me on replay in adulthood, it’s hard to fight the gloomy catharsis this game achieves, one I have never found anywhere else in quite the same way.
We Love Katamari
2005
"Wake up! Time to start another fantabulistic day!" The alarm clock rings you awake. Groggy and fatigued you get up in your usual rut. Stuck working under the boot of those who treat you as a tool rather than a person, yet forced to manufacture a smile as this is the only way in your current life. You don't want to do this anymore, you told yourself this a while ago, yet you continue out of demand rather than of passion. Hey, if it makes others happy then it has to be worth it right? So you trudge along, stretching yourself until you find yourself deflated, only to go back home and lay in your bed only to hear your alarm clock signal you to do the same thing over and over again. This is We ❤️ Katamari.
Knowing anything about the history of this game makes the humorous tongue-in-cheek dialogue feel more cynical. It's still funny, but it's obvious that this game was written this way as a way to cope and reason for the need of this game. "Welcome to the sequel to our hit game Katamari Demacy" is very blatantly the theme of everything that happens, it even says so in the opening cutscene. While there is still more work to be done, the King is rather dismissive of continuing to make katamaris. Only when a fan of his work mentions how much they loved what "he" did does he entertain the idea of continuing work. Now, with new ideas being thrown at you, you are forced to continue with the demands, no matter how zany or obtuse.
Everyone praises the work, so we must continue going. Everyone looks up to the King of All Cosmos as this bringer of joy, when the worker, you, are made to mass produce. When you get things right, all goes well and we continue on to work on more Katamari making, but when you slip up or underperform, then you are met with the wrath of your boss. Everything mirrors what it must have felt like for Keita Takahashi to work on a sequel he never wanted, or just anyone suffering from industry abuse. Working on products well past their time because they are popular and make money, one of the most dreadful outcomes of any franchise or IP in media entertainment.
It should be noted that unlike other Katamari games where the game over screen is a playable minigame with a high score to track that makes losing arguably fun, this game holds no punches. It is impossible to avoid the onslaught of lasers from the King, and there is no scoring system. Once he is done berating your "incompetence", you are sent back to the level again to make it right this time. Forced to continue after mental and physical harm come your way.
I should also just mention the abuse you suffer in this game. I had only played Forever and Reroll before this game, and it's very apparent that the King is not a good father/uncle. Disregarding the physical abuse of his child nieces and nephews, there is also this general dismissiveness he holds against you. Only if you surpass his completely made up expectations does he shower you in praise, but not reaching those bars is met with a blase reaction. Going for the standard set isn't enough, it has to be better. You ARE royalty, after all. Even in this game which does not have a scoring system and he is generally nicer on stage completion The King still shows his ugly side when rating you every now and then if you do not meet the goals he never tells you about. Only now, as I played this game did I find out the reason.
Generational trauma is something that affects many, including myself. The awful experiences of an event cause us to be met with abuse and neglect in a viscous cycle, and it appears that The Prince and his cousins deal with it themselves. We get to see a younger version of The King in flashbacks during this game, The Prince of All Cosmos if you will. His father holds this same level of dismissiveness as The King would later go on to adopt, from physical abuse to seeing anything below the best as failure. Granted, it is a kid's game, and eventually The King makes amends with his father and inherits the crown, but it doesn't feel right. The last cutscene of the game is seeing The King, all grown up when his wife shows him the newborn prince and they all party around. A sweet moment soured by the realization of the torture that would be inflicted later.
Honestly it all rings true, to me at least. I will not go into it but I did grow up in similar, although not as hyperbolic scenarios. Physical abuse was common as a child, and even now as an adult, while everyone around me saw me getting straight B's in my last semester as something to be proud of, my own mother didn't, which made me undermine my own success when I had felt like I was going to fail two of those classes. I want to say this is something I have gotten over, but that would be a lie. Having this type of behavior be what I'm exposed to has damaged me. Even while trying to be better than those before me I still have a short fuse and get easily frustrated, just like my mother and my grandmother before her. I've lost friends to it and much worse as I tried to end the cycle. It's not gone, it is currently a part of me, but I like to believe it's gotten better.
For a surreal arcade game about becoming a giant mass of objects, something about this game specifically is very profound to me. Maybe I am reading into it too much, but it's hard to overlook what is being shown when I relate to it so much.
I normally like to end reviews with a shitposty type joke, and I was going to do one with the sumo level and how you just vore people, but I think I found my own capitalism metaphor in it. In that level you help a sumo gain weight so he can defeat another sumo, and what starts as a humble binge of food and random objects eventually leads to him getting so fat that he devours other people and destroys the city if you go big enough. The fact that to often fulfill your life's ambitions requires trampling over others regardless if you know of it or not is reflected in this level, and if I'm still reading too into it you can just say it's the funny vore level and laugh.
That's what I would say about this game in general. My views and experiences are mirrored here, so the game is a lot more profound to me, but I know for many others it is just a silly game that is very very fun. And sometimes that is all a game needs to be.
Knowing anything about the history of this game makes the humorous tongue-in-cheek dialogue feel more cynical. It's still funny, but it's obvious that this game was written this way as a way to cope and reason for the need of this game. "Welcome to the sequel to our hit game Katamari Demacy" is very blatantly the theme of everything that happens, it even says so in the opening cutscene. While there is still more work to be done, the King is rather dismissive of continuing to make katamaris. Only when a fan of his work mentions how much they loved what "he" did does he entertain the idea of continuing work. Now, with new ideas being thrown at you, you are forced to continue with the demands, no matter how zany or obtuse.
Everyone praises the work, so we must continue going. Everyone looks up to the King of All Cosmos as this bringer of joy, when the worker, you, are made to mass produce. When you get things right, all goes well and we continue on to work on more Katamari making, but when you slip up or underperform, then you are met with the wrath of your boss. Everything mirrors what it must have felt like for Keita Takahashi to work on a sequel he never wanted, or just anyone suffering from industry abuse. Working on products well past their time because they are popular and make money, one of the most dreadful outcomes of any franchise or IP in media entertainment.
It should be noted that unlike other Katamari games where the game over screen is a playable minigame with a high score to track that makes losing arguably fun, this game holds no punches. It is impossible to avoid the onslaught of lasers from the King, and there is no scoring system. Once he is done berating your "incompetence", you are sent back to the level again to make it right this time. Forced to continue after mental and physical harm come your way.
I should also just mention the abuse you suffer in this game. I had only played Forever and Reroll before this game, and it's very apparent that the King is not a good father/uncle. Disregarding the physical abuse of his child nieces and nephews, there is also this general dismissiveness he holds against you. Only if you surpass his completely made up expectations does he shower you in praise, but not reaching those bars is met with a blase reaction. Going for the standard set isn't enough, it has to be better. You ARE royalty, after all. Even in this game which does not have a scoring system and he is generally nicer on stage completion The King still shows his ugly side when rating you every now and then if you do not meet the goals he never tells you about. Only now, as I played this game did I find out the reason.
Generational trauma is something that affects many, including myself. The awful experiences of an event cause us to be met with abuse and neglect in a viscous cycle, and it appears that The Prince and his cousins deal with it themselves. We get to see a younger version of The King in flashbacks during this game, The Prince of All Cosmos if you will. His father holds this same level of dismissiveness as The King would later go on to adopt, from physical abuse to seeing anything below the best as failure. Granted, it is a kid's game, and eventually The King makes amends with his father and inherits the crown, but it doesn't feel right. The last cutscene of the game is seeing The King, all grown up when his wife shows him the newborn prince and they all party around. A sweet moment soured by the realization of the torture that would be inflicted later.
Honestly it all rings true, to me at least. I will not go into it but I did grow up in similar, although not as hyperbolic scenarios. Physical abuse was common as a child, and even now as an adult, while everyone around me saw me getting straight B's in my last semester as something to be proud of, my own mother didn't, which made me undermine my own success when I had felt like I was going to fail two of those classes. I want to say this is something I have gotten over, but that would be a lie. Having this type of behavior be what I'm exposed to has damaged me. Even while trying to be better than those before me I still have a short fuse and get easily frustrated, just like my mother and my grandmother before her. I've lost friends to it and much worse as I tried to end the cycle. It's not gone, it is currently a part of me, but I like to believe it's gotten better.
For a surreal arcade game about becoming a giant mass of objects, something about this game specifically is very profound to me. Maybe I am reading into it too much, but it's hard to overlook what is being shown when I relate to it so much.
I normally like to end reviews with a shitposty type joke, and I was going to do one with the sumo level and how you just vore people, but I think I found my own capitalism metaphor in it. In that level you help a sumo gain weight so he can defeat another sumo, and what starts as a humble binge of food and random objects eventually leads to him getting so fat that he devours other people and destroys the city if you go big enough. The fact that to often fulfill your life's ambitions requires trampling over others regardless if you know of it or not is reflected in this level, and if I'm still reading too into it you can just say it's the funny vore level and laugh.
That's what I would say about this game in general. My views and experiences are mirrored here, so the game is a lot more profound to me, but I know for many others it is just a silly game that is very very fun. And sometimes that is all a game needs to be.