For that matter, there may also be people who buy most CoGs/HGs without really looking what the story may be. Not the best thing to do, but I do know some people who will buy every game put out by a company, or in a given series, etc (yeah, I’m thinking of some hardcore Sims fans I know as an example of this).
In a way, I am one of those for buying CoGs/HGs, especially when released on Steam. I may not care for a particular game/story, but I see it as trying to give a bit more notice to the company as a whole because I do tend to enjoy the vast majority of games, even if some have more problems than others.
This is a very true situation. I have stated this about the Infinity series by Cataphrak; the first game really didn’t do anything by itself, but combined with the second one…then it was a series I could recommend to others.
There are people who felt the same way about ZE: Safe Haven. They liked parts of part 1 but were hesitant by it, but when they combined that with Part 2, then they were on board.
Ooooh I like the brother angle. Adds even more chaos to the mess that we call the MC’s life. Along with the heartbreak, puppet gaining independence, sleeping with your employee as the puppet, Ortega being interested in you and puppet, etc. you know? Everything that’s related to the Mc.
Okay so I know it’s a little off the line of thought right now but I just had something hit my head. So who wants to bet by the end of all of this the MC can ditch their own body/ leave it as a scape goat and then take up permainte residence in their puppet body and run off with the Good Doctor into the sunset?
It is something I really thought about, and I would love for it to be an option, but only if it is possible in the frame of our story. For example can your mind stay in another body if you are not awake and aware ? I should have paid attention but I don’t think we slept only once while in the puppet
Understandable. I closely followed the demo so that’s most likely where the bias came from and why I wasn’t disappointed at all. Either way, I was pertaining more to those people who complain about the game’s theme irrationally (?) like that one steam review who said that the author is probably fucked up for writing such things.
I kinda consider myself as this but at the very least I make sure to learn about what I’m getting into before taking out my wallet, ya feel? Learning about this perspective just upsets me more because [generally speaking] people like those are usually vocal and give unpleasant “feedback” to otherwise good games
If such an option would be possible, I think only one out of 6 of my saved files would take it. Even then, it would probably be done with a heavy heart despite his intense self-hatred. I see him as a noble well-intentioned extremist so he probably won’t bail unless he really has to.
On an unrelated note, I played a what-if version of my main MC earlier today and I’m still surprised by how different things ended up for her just because of two key changes. Basically, I planned for a “What if MC gathered the courage to be with Ortega in the past instead of secretly pining for years?” playthrough and flipped the puppet’s gender from female to male. Boy, am I glad for this playthrough to not be canon.
In this pt, MC ended up preferring brainwashing than manipulation, Farm took notice of MC, and worst of all:
this!
“Well, I have to go after them.”
“Aren’t there any other heroes out there who can deal with these things? I mean, you do get sick days, right?”
“Well…” Ortega shakes his head a little fondly. “Well, we do. Sort of. And it’s not like I’m going to pull on my suit and run right out of here, but…” He looks down at his hands. “I can’t let this one go.”
“Why?” You can feel your stomach constrict a little.
“I can’t let this one go. I just can’t.” Ortega is frowning now, looking deeply disturbed.
“What happened was horrible,” you say, swallowing a little. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean you need to be the one to stop them.”
“No. You’re wrong. This is on me. I should have stopped them right then and there.” Ortega sighs in frustration. “I should have…”
“So it’s about you, then,” you say, giving him a disapproving look. “I thought that heroes were supposed to be above that sort of thing.”
“That’s not…” Ortega sighs a little. “I can’t explain, but this one is personal. It’s just…I know I am imagining things, but…”
“But?” You swallow a little, looking down at your hands. This is hitting too close for comfort. “I’m just saying you’re not the only hero in this town. You can let yourself heal.”
“No, I need to be the one to bring her in.” He breaks off as a small surge of electricity arcs around his hand.
“Are you sure you’re alright?”
“Sorry.” There’s a moment’s pause as Ortega shakes his head. “If it makes you feel better, I am not the one running this show now. Marshal Steel is. And he won’t let himself be carried away by feelings.”
I’m fairly sure he wasn’t able to figure it out in my main playthrough. Dang, I think I raised his relationship and suspicions too high this time What a mess… I look forward to continuing this PT in the sequel.
( On the positive side, at least the MC isn’t obsessive and didn’t pull off a sketchy love triangle with Ortega and the Puppet in this PT lol )
I think the puppet could be their own person later on with a different personality. There is a stat called puppet_individuality that can make the puppet more and more independent. There was even this scene with Mortum where you cried telling them you’re afraid what boss would do to you if the stat was high enough.
The question is what would happen if your own body dies, could the puppet live on their own? Basically transferring the whole mind
About MCs looks, I always took it as fact that we are uh… below average. I mean, Ortega spends half the game telling us we “look like shit” (geez thanks, buddy ).
Plus the MC keeps stressing over how important it is to pass by unnoticed. No one passes by more unnoticed than uglyish people - and if the theory that the MC is indeed a re-gene made for espionage, it makes sense they would build them as average as possible. Why would they make us stand out in any way?
The MC is prone to self loathing. I wouldn’t necessarily take their self image at face value.
What I think is more likely is that they are attractive in a more normal person kind of way. But they are comparing themselves to other people with movie star looks and coming up short.
In the present time we aren’t taking care of ourself, preferring the puppet instead. So we probably look pretty feral.
Though I would like to point out that often ourselves are the worst judge of our own looks. It was something Malin mentioned on the Tumbler is that we shouldn’t take the MC’s opinion of their own looks at face value. (Also that looks aren’t everything and is more personal then given 100% truth.) So I guess what I’m trying to say is take what the MC says with a grain of salt and treat them as a not completely reliable narrator.
Though personally I always picture my Mc as by no means Lady Argent pretty or Ortega level of looks, but I do think she is probably more on the cute side then pretty. LIke She’s maybe a bit above average, but she has her own charm which would lean her towards the cute end. Though that’s just how I imagine the MC (and self project a bit about a me years ago who has so much low opinon of herself she thinks she’s just really not good looking at all, so the fact she’s cute just does not regester at all.)
AGreed I think if the MC put the effort they never have before in themselves as they do for the Puppet they would look nice. If nothing else it would be a good first step into starting a cycle of taking care of themself and trying to exercise a little self-love.(since that sort of thing has to become a habbit when you don’t like yourself as much as the MC does not.)
Just an add-on, if you don’t mind, of Malin’s tumblr response about the MC’s looks, if anyone’s interested:
“By now you might have caught on to the fact that the MC is not really looking at themselves (or the world) through rose-colored glasses. Just compare the descriptors between when you pick the looks for the MC compared to the puppet.
Don’t trust that the views held by the MC is the objective truth is all I am saying…”
I guess the MC would be an unreliable narrator but I actually like the idea that the MC is not a pretty face. Idk, a lot of games stress over and over of how good-looking and alluring the MC is, which is fine because who doesn’t like to feel desirable but for me, it’s also really refreshing to play as someone average-looking for once.
It’s interesting in the sense of how other characters not only react to you but also the contrast of that difference on how they react to our puppet.
Maybe it’s purposively left for our own interpretation.
When you guys put it that way I get behind that as well. I mean it would be new. Also, I just find it important that one day that the MC might at least find something to like about themselves, even it’s just one thing. But then again I’m a dork who worries about a fictional character’s health and wellbeing.
If the mc’s purpose is as a leader or an infiltration unit then that rationale is not necessarily true, I talked with someone in the intelligence community once who said that for infiltration they prefer average height but above average/handsome, but not absolutely stunning looks for the operatives. This would also chime with the mc’s observations that the Farm took care to make them generically handsome, as handsome but not too handsome is what you’d want in a leader or your average spy.
Beat me to it! Too attractive or too ugly would get the infiltrator unwanted attention. Average looks would help blend in but not when you have to charm people into doing/saying things. Slightly above average is the way to go!
I agree, I like it when the MC in a game is just considered average looking. Besides, I don’t know about y’all, but it’s really rare for me to run across a random person and not be able to find a single physical quality that I like. In general people are way better looking than they ever give themselves credit for. Also, I want the MC to be able to develop some form of self esteem, cause they deserve to be happy evil or not! If the MC actually began learning to take care of themselves I’m sure they’d be plenty attractive.
Yep, same story for (military) leaders, too attractive/gorgeous is distractive, but simply handsome helps people pay attention and focus and what you’re actually saying.
Provided they’re willing to put in the work then, yes. Considering the mc probably put quite a bit of work into their appearance and style back when they were SideStep they could have been very cute indeed, if again not quite Herald’s level of absolutely stunning. But then even among the Rangers Herald is the only one who is that ridiculously good-looking (maybe younger Ortega did come close, but since in my game she’s female the mc would never have considered her more than a friend or sister in spirit, no matter how gorgeous she used to be).
Mc was apparently designed to be handsome or well above merely average, even by their own very much non rose glasses tinted observations. Though anyone can be at least somewhat unattractive if they grow a neckbeard allow themselves to get really out of shape and dress/smell badly.
It’s not like Ortega is winning any awards with his lovely comments. No wonder the Mc can’t gain any confidence with their friend saying things like that.
We all are. I’m with you that I really want the MC to strengthen their self-esteem and learn to accept themselves. I just think that in order to do so you don’t have to be drop-dead gorgeous.
Let me play as an average Jane for once.
Hmm I think I saw you mention this before. Could you tell me where this has been stated, if it’s not too much of a bother? I missed that info.
What a mess… I look forward to continuing this PT in the sequel.
).
I’m with you that I really want the MC to strengthen their self-esteem and learn to accept themselves. I just think that in order to do so you don’t have to be drop-dead gorgeous.