This review contains spoilers
V3 isn't my favorite game, but I have been obsessed with it for the past 3 years and counting.
Here is a sad truth; I think my experience with V3 was distinctly colored by having a lot of prior knowledge about the game. Essentially, I knew the plot, I knew who lived and who died. I used to be pretty laissez faire about spoilers - before V3, I would browse for any and all information I could find with very few exceptions. My old philosophy basically boiled down to: I don't want to get invested and then regret it.
V3 made me heavily reconsider that method. Yet, if I went into V3 as blind as I go into games now, I do not think I would have enjoyed it nearly as much.
Humans are full of such idiosyncrasies. To err is to be human, as the saying goes.
I dislike a particular trope, the "rug-pull" that stories nowadays tend to rely on. Hades' initial escape and the storytelling that followed afterwards enraged me for weeks. Basically, I hate when fellow storytellers lull me into a false sense of security and tear that peace of mind away without the necessary foreshadowing. It's a cheap trick, the novel equivalent of a jump scare. Got you!
A central question arises. Does V3 make use of my hated enemy, the rug-pull, or a classic narrative device, a plethora of plot twists?
The answer really depends on the individual. Some will make the false advertising protagonist joke in jest; many are truly not kidding. I have had my fair share of people being upset about Akamatsu, I have seen likeminded diehard V3 fans detest and ignore the ending. People who swear by pre-KG personalities and characters, the very opposition of that theory.
I will say, it is exceedingly rare to find any two people within V3 fandom who think alike. There isn't a consistent understanding of... anything, really. Normally I really enjoy hearing secondhand opinion and accounts but I stray far, far away from any analysis on V3 - more often than not I walk away upset or disillusioned.
Typically, I find that a lot of people tend to miss the central thesis of V3. That being, you don't have to continue existing as the person you once were.
Does it matter if this cast were all degenerates beforehand? What if they did audition, what if they are genuine Ultimates? The characters between themselves disagree on their pasts; everyone's history is murky, unclear, but they are always and constantly given the choice to change and be different.
Not everyone chooses to go beyond their script. Kirumi, Shinguji, Iruma are basic examples - they develop very little beyond their pasts and their backstory is their motivation. Meanwhile, there is development and change to be had in characters like Gokuhara and Harukawa.
The Killing Game is everyone's tabula rasa. The characters', the audience's. Go nuts. Interpret as you see fit.
V3, I think, is a fundamentally kind game even about the most grotesque of people.
Here is a sad truth; I think my experience with V3 was distinctly colored by having a lot of prior knowledge about the game. Essentially, I knew the plot, I knew who lived and who died. I used to be pretty laissez faire about spoilers - before V3, I would browse for any and all information I could find with very few exceptions. My old philosophy basically boiled down to: I don't want to get invested and then regret it.
V3 made me heavily reconsider that method. Yet, if I went into V3 as blind as I go into games now, I do not think I would have enjoyed it nearly as much.
Humans are full of such idiosyncrasies. To err is to be human, as the saying goes.
I dislike a particular trope, the "rug-pull" that stories nowadays tend to rely on. Hades' initial escape and the storytelling that followed afterwards enraged me for weeks. Basically, I hate when fellow storytellers lull me into a false sense of security and tear that peace of mind away without the necessary foreshadowing. It's a cheap trick, the novel equivalent of a jump scare. Got you!
A central question arises. Does V3 make use of my hated enemy, the rug-pull, or a classic narrative device, a plethora of plot twists?
The answer really depends on the individual. Some will make the false advertising protagonist joke in jest; many are truly not kidding. I have had my fair share of people being upset about Akamatsu, I have seen likeminded diehard V3 fans detest and ignore the ending. People who swear by pre-KG personalities and characters, the very opposition of that theory.
I will say, it is exceedingly rare to find any two people within V3 fandom who think alike. There isn't a consistent understanding of... anything, really. Normally I really enjoy hearing secondhand opinion and accounts but I stray far, far away from any analysis on V3 - more often than not I walk away upset or disillusioned.
Typically, I find that a lot of people tend to miss the central thesis of V3. That being, you don't have to continue existing as the person you once were.
Does it matter if this cast were all degenerates beforehand? What if they did audition, what if they are genuine Ultimates? The characters between themselves disagree on their pasts; everyone's history is murky, unclear, but they are always and constantly given the choice to change and be different.
Not everyone chooses to go beyond their script. Kirumi, Shinguji, Iruma are basic examples - they develop very little beyond their pasts and their backstory is their motivation. Meanwhile, there is development and change to be had in characters like Gokuhara and Harukawa.
The Killing Game is everyone's tabula rasa. The characters', the audience's. Go nuts. Interpret as you see fit.
V3, I think, is a fundamentally kind game even about the most grotesque of people.