@Aera The violation of the Law of Identity which I saw was specifically with the notion of a soulless person; For, as I mentioned previously, a soul is, by definition, a mind/conscious entity/etc. A person, therefore, has a soul intrinsically, by nature. To suggest a soulless person is to suggest a soulless soul, which is to say “That soul is not a soul”, or “A is not A”, - and there is where I see the violation of the Law of Identity. It is also, incidentally, possible to phrase this objection as a violation of the Law of Non-Contradiction, if we are talking about the entity (i.e. the PC) in question, for it would be both true and false that a ‘soulless person’ has a soul.
Now, this objection can be evaded (as you observed) if you redefine a soul to be life-energy or whatever. But, that opens itself to the criticism of “Why are you redefining words?” - I do not think the definition of “soul” is vague enough to allow that. I mean, I ran my objection past four other people before I brought it up, and two more since then, and all responded with something akin to “A soulless person is contradictory” or “A person without a soul is dead.”
Your epistemological divide between the Known, the Unknown, and the Unknowable is fine. I would phrase it as the Introspective, the Phenomenal, and the Transcendental, however. And I would further stated that souls fall under the category of the Known, by virtue of being immediately Apprehended through Introspection.
I don’t believe you are bastardising the Greek mythology, my phrasing was sloppy. I was advocating that you should bastardise it, by adapting Ichor and the like for your life-energy purposes. From “The blood of immortals” to “The blood of life-energy” and what have you.
@Aera When it comes to my comments about what I did/didn’t like about the game, more specifically Emilio’s way of speaking, the grim reaper and snickers: don’t remove those things only because I didn’t like them. Wait for more people to offer feedback on these same things. If most like it, leave it in. If most don’t like it, remove it. Don’t remove things because of only one person.
Aera, the psychic echo theory is one some paranormal researchers have as an explanation of ghosts, especially in those recorded cases where the ghost is seen reenacting a scene again and again, namely that ghosts are nothing more than psychic reflections or echoes, not the actual soul of a dead human, and no more a person than a mirror image is.
And Drazen, it took me a grand total of twenty seconds of googling to find one single webpage that lists that the American Heritage Dictionary has 10 definitions of soul, the Collins English Dictionary has 11, and Random House has 13.
One of those definitions is "The animating and vital principle in humans, credited with the faculties of thought, action, and emotion and often conceived as an immaterial entity," which obviously is not the case here.
Equally valid definitions include "The spiritual nature of humans, regarded as immortal, separable from the body at death, and susceptible to happiness or misery in a future state" would seem to be the definition this game is using.
If the PC’s state has a psychological origin than maybe it’s “a person’s feelings or moral nature as distinct from other faculties.”
Since it’s not so much a matter of not having a soul but having one that isn’t durable it could even be argued that the definition of “The central or integral part; the vital core” that is being used here.
So it’s hardly redefining the term when the English language took care of that already.
@stsword And it took me a grand total of three seconds to realise that you haven’t contradicted me: When a Soul is defined as being “credited with the faculties of thought, action, and emotion”, it is a Mind; Likewise, to be “susceptible to happiness or misery in a future state” is to be conscious, and hence a Mind is once again entailed. There is no valid, legitimate definition which doesn’t boil down to “A soul is (or at least, entails) a mind.”
Maybe the MC has a corrupt soul? Like, it didn’t attach properly to its body and slowly rotted down to nothing, like an internal clock that would determine when the MC kicked the bucket?
@Random that’s strange i didn’t move any file to make that happen… will try to fix it sorry.
@stsword thank you thought the psychic echo theory was a gypsy kind of voodoo thing thanks.
@Drazen I cannot change the games definition of a soul because it would make the plot pointless. Still thank you for your inputs.
@Aquos_Boost nope regardless of being good or bad some people undergo a soulless stage (can’t say how because its spoiler lol) but i can tell you is that out of all the seven ferryman only two of them are honest and the rest are lying.
@Aera yes yes i understand, really thank you for the input it actually made me question things that i was going to incorporate to the story line. The main plot is actually knowing why a soulless is called a soulless when in reality they still have a soul but in a dormant state. I cannot continue the sentence out of fear of spoiling the plot sorry.
@Drazen Truth?..Nope nothing as in nada. The concept of the game came when my boss made me and my co-workers watch “Death to smooch” and i laugh at some parts but didn’t get the whole idea so i had this sudden urge to kill the purple dinosaur via Grim Reaper style. After that well some of my co-workers i think i should term “ecstatic” when i showed them the idea and well the rest was history already. The theories to support the game terms comes after i made an idea if that even makes sense.
@Aera It’s definitely something worth considering. An understanding of how the soul works, what its relation to the body is, what aspects it has beyond mere consciousness, and how it transitions into the afterlife, would be prudent. A general model of this process would, I would think, be integral to your plotline.
@DSeg I didn’t removed them or changed anything based on one person’s opinion i must have phrase it wrong if i said that i’ll change or remove them based on your opinion for that im so sorry, but i do like the feedback you gave, made me realize how weird a snicker bar was used in the explanation. The car accident was on purpose if you read the family files and see your father’s occupation, well its a given but to who did it and why… the plot thickens…
@Storm the game was supposed to be really dark and creepy as i have some plots that revolve death and moral dilemmas that are really disturbing, then after re-reading them i mellowed it by adding humor to counter the dark and creepiness of the story. Although i do apologize for the slow updates i’m still learning to code so it takes me some time create them.
@Aera I disliked the snickers idea exactly because it is weird. I have never heard of or seen an empty snickers bar. I was very confused when the ferryman started talking about one.
I can see someone shady getting angry at Evans, but wouldn’t the most simple and logical answer be to kill Evans and not his child? This gives me a feeling they are going to kill the whole family. If their goal is to kill the whole family, it makes sense, but if they only want to get rid of Evans, not so much.
The game I am working on is also dark and creepy. Briefly, I considered adding humor, but eventually didn’t do it when I realised medieval gothic horror and humor don’t mix too well. However, it fits your story good and most of it is funny.
I just played it again and I see you removed the afterlife part and improved the regular life part. Also, I like “Unseen University”. Is it the final name for the university or just a placeholder untill you come up with a name?
