i'm gonna go ahead and call this my favorite game in the series, which i'm aware is not the popular opinion
i liked the ending of the trilogy, it felt appropriate that rufus, of all people, shouldn't have the happy ending, as someone like him can't really grow without learning to sacrifice, and that last choice he makes at the end was the biggest sacrifice someone as self-centered as him could possibly make
it ruled!
but it sucked that goal had no closure, especially since she was treated as nothing but an object (a literal "goal") throughout most of the series, the subject of jokes, the victim of rufus' bullshit, but you know, it's a comedy, so we allow for the fact that she falls in love with him anyway, because, well, i do anyway, guess i can't speak for everyone
but... then he disappears from her life, and the last thing we see of her is cletus pretending to be rufus to the elders on elysium, as she walks out the door
she gets nothing
but this game, despite starring rufus as the protagonist once again, is much more about her coming to terms with everything he did, good and bad, and i admire the developer's commitment to the original trilogy's ending, while finally giving goal the opportunity to move on
it's also remarkably less sexist in tone, although the shit with lotti sure did amp up the transphobia angle, unfortunately... a case of some steps forward and some steps back, i guess
puzzle-wise, i found a lot of the time travel loopy stuff to be too tedious in ways even clone-rufus didn't bother me, but i'm such a fan of the plot in this one that it doesn't even matter!
i liked the ending of the trilogy, it felt appropriate that rufus, of all people, shouldn't have the happy ending, as someone like him can't really grow without learning to sacrifice, and that last choice he makes at the end was the biggest sacrifice someone as self-centered as him could possibly make
it ruled!
but it sucked that goal had no closure, especially since she was treated as nothing but an object (a literal "goal") throughout most of the series, the subject of jokes, the victim of rufus' bullshit, but you know, it's a comedy, so we allow for the fact that she falls in love with him anyway, because, well, i do anyway, guess i can't speak for everyone
but... then he disappears from her life, and the last thing we see of her is cletus pretending to be rufus to the elders on elysium, as she walks out the door
she gets nothing
but this game, despite starring rufus as the protagonist once again, is much more about her coming to terms with everything he did, good and bad, and i admire the developer's commitment to the original trilogy's ending, while finally giving goal the opportunity to move on
it's also remarkably less sexist in tone, although the shit with lotti sure did amp up the transphobia angle, unfortunately... a case of some steps forward and some steps back, i guess
puzzle-wise, i found a lot of the time travel loopy stuff to be too tedious in ways even clone-rufus didn't bother me, but i'm such a fan of the plot in this one that it doesn't even matter!