I haven’t even cooled down yet, literally just finished it… I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a piece of art so carefully intentional, so cleverly crazy, or so painfully human. I’ve only done one playthrough, but I could guess the multitude of paths and forks, the complexity of it all, simply staggering.
My friend recommended it to me a couple weeks ago, and I went “yeah yeah, sure I’ll play it”. Oh, boy. I got hooked a few days ago and played through the entire last night -I think I didn’t blink once during the last four or five hours. I was nearly brought to tears when I met the phasmid on the island. I was hoping so hard that holding onto that belief would pay off… and it did ! it appeared at the apex of the story, the moment of resolution, and suddenly… nothing else mattered.
So much conscientious artistry went into that world, it feels incredibly tangible. That writing was unbelievable. The art style is fantastic too of course. Perfectly wraps the whole package.
For the record, I played a mostly communist Harrier, with artsy tendencies and a logician/analytical brain, but also a strangely developed sense of authority. 😂 Gotta admit I was kinda trying to throw off the game, but it… totally rolled with my weird build.
So yea I just needed to share. Peace !
Welcome to the club, there’s coffee at the back!
I seriously was unhealthily obsessed with this game for two years straight after playing it. Hell, it’s still got a hold on me. I think apart from the sheer quality of the artistry, so many of the themes resonated deeply with me. There is something special about the delicate balance the game strikes between nihilism and hope.
I know you mentioned the phasmid (and it’s great!), but for me the absolute peak is the awful phonecall and the final dream. Very few pieces of media have hit the emotions of loss and obsession, of a terrible love you must let go of so well. The intensity of cathartic emotional torture the game put me through is something else. I keep looking for more Let’s Plays, hoping to find new people to relive those moments through. The game just grabbing you by the heart and and mercilessly wringing you out.
“See you tomorrow, Harry”
Ah, yes ! so much happened in the late game, I forgot about these parts. I loved the dream. It was definitely painful going through it. I’m not sure if it’s just my playthrough, but there was surprisingly little revealed about Dora? Do we ever know more about the events from six years before? I made the long distance phone call as soon as I reached the payphone near the boardwalk, so there was a bit of a gap between it and the dream, that didn’t help me piece it together. Sometimes I need things be spelled out for me.
Does the phasmid appear even if you didn’t complete the quest? I suppose not? How many playthroughs did you do?
It’s extremely hard to find all the pieces on a first playthrough, as details are interspersed into dialogue trees all over, with lots being missable (even big things like the letter in the ledger, the phonecall and the final dream are all missable!). The final dream also gets more dialogue options the more little things you have uncovered during your playthrough.
In fact, a lot of it is deliberately vague as one of the big problems in the relationship was Harry’s distorted view and deification of her. This putting her on piedistal also most likely led to him joining the RCM (to better himself in her eyes - as opposed to being a gym teacher), which tragically led to further mental deterioration for him, the stress also leading to substance abuse. It’s also implied that Dora was involved in his alcohol problem (or at least didn’t help in any way). Both Jean Viquemare at the end mentions this, as well as one line buried somewhere in the final dream dialogues.
And of course his lack of financial stability didn’t help, which also may or may not be part of the reason they aborted their child. Harry is an unreliable narrator, so you have to view the final dream through that lens. What Dora tells him is his projection, colored by his own interpretation of events and by his self-image. They probably agreed on the abortion at the time out of practical reasons, but in his head he failed as a provider (he has very clear issues with masculine stereotypes and expectations), leading to the inner interpretation we see in the dream (“I terminated yours, you poor fuck”).
It does always appear, but I think if you don’t have the pheromones from Morell you can’t approach it (the check always fails) and it runs away. It’s one of a handful of rigged checks in the game.
I think I only completed two all the way to the credits, but I’ve mucked around a lot exploring various options. And I’ve probably watched 10 complete playthroughs by other people. Maybe more, actually.
Ooooh I had totally forgotten about the pheromones. I did not approach the phasmid as close as could (only walked one step towards her, renounced the second one) because I was afraid I’d blow it, she would attack me or something. Didn’t know she appeared regardless of your progress in the corresponding quest.
The pheromones are important because talking to the phasmid is such a huge moment. After the gut-wrenching final dream and the pessimism-drenched Ghost of Christmas Future for Harry that is the Deserter, the conversation with the phasmid comes in with the counterpoint of hope and wonder in the face of dreary reality. Alongside the communist vision quest, it’s one of the aforementioned beacons of hope among the nihilism the game gives you.
God, the entire sequence on the island is so good.