Okay turns out despite doing a two and a half hour podcast about Pyre I’m still not done thinking about it. Why does no one at Supergiant care about anyone else who lives in the Downside? Why, even when your revolution ‘succeeds’, are you left with all of these awful stories of those left behind in the Downside? What does this world look like that you cannot bridge those two places together except for a magic portal? If that’s the only method of travel between the two places, how is commerce and exchange taking place? None of these questions are answered in a meaningful way and it completely undermines everything that Pyre is trying to sell you. The game’s anti-violence stance being tied to the good ending is the definition of cowardice. I’m still so confused and upset whenever I think about this game. Who is going to help those in the Downside? No one.

I've been thinking about Fate/Stay Night for the last few days, even before I wrapped up Heaven's Feel yesterday. It's at its best when it is a game about a stupid boy who is trying to take care of the army of girls who are staying in the home left to him by his foster father, in those quiet moments where he's sparring with Saber and getting clowned on, or the wonderful scenes of arguing over who is cooking dinner tonight. It's at its absolute worst when it's trying to describe what sex is like because I don't know that Nasu knows what it is.

All this said, it's a really nice set of stories that range from Really Good to Fairly Mediocre. I understand why the Fate route is first, because it's the best way to really lay out the groundwork of the Holy Grail War, but the rest of the stories truly suffer from not utilizing Saber as a character. If you asked me which route was the best one, I would probably tell you it's Fate two out of three days, and on the others it would be Heaven's Feel. They resonate for me a lot and Sakura is probably going to live in my heart forever.

I think I'm writing this mostly to think about Ultimate Blade Works, which is honestly sick but flawed by giving Shirou what he wants instead of making him confront himself. I know everyone that I talk to thinks it's pretty miserable but there's also a very large part of me that can't help but respect how stubborn Shirou is. There is an inevitability shown by Archer that is undeniable but he denies it anyway. Maybe I'm just a stubborn asshole, maybe I just like Shonen protagonists too much, but there's little I love more than spitting in the face of destiny and committing to your path anyway, even if it goes wrong. It's a failed ideal. It will never work. But in my heart I can't help but root for him anyway. To keep going even as your body fails you, to continue fighting even though the fight ended a week ago.

It's sad. It's pathetic. But I also find it a little admirable. Maybe more than a little. No one can save everyone, but God do I wish someone could.