This has the same exact feel to me as the “MC isn’t as beautiful as anyone else” narrative interpretation before.
I won’t see the update until it is released to the public demo, but so far, Avina is an alternative to the MC, neither perfect, better nor even prefered in my reading of the narrative.
I’ve seen this a few times; can you explain to me how the MC is unreliable? Was this said on Tumblr?
In that case Seven had better keep Avina away from their baby Rootintootin or there might be trouble in town tonight!
MC only sees what they see, and sometimes that leads to incorrect conclusions. Like, they’re not omniscient so sometimes their perception of something won’t line up with what happens when they’re not present.
I’ve seen people here say it, as an excuse for MC not seeming to be attractive, as well as their take on Savina being “wrong” (if you happen to disagree with the narrative that they’re just friends and Avina isn’t a saint, lol). To my knowledge, and a quick search of the author’s tumblr, the MC has never been painted as unreliable.
To put it bluntly, every narrator, if it’s from a specific characters point of view and not a third person omniscient PoV, is inherently unreliable and that’s by design, by default.
Not every unreliable narrator is Tyler Durden levels of hallucinations and disconnection from reality, but all characters have their own biases and experiences that colour their perception and views. This is kind of basic storytelling 101.
The idea is that the MC is an “unreliable narrator” in a literary sense (not that they are an unreliable person) so the way that their narrative voice/perspective is coloured by their experiences, feelings, or anxieties. For example, the way the flavour text dwells on jealousy/anxiety about Avina if you choose to be annoyed by them, or focusing on conclusions about them sleeping in the same bed if you were in love with Seven previously (which are reasonable conclusions given common social norms, I wouldn’t deny that!)
Whereas them sleeping in the same bed is a stated fact in the game, rather than being tied to the feel of the narration. (Which can then be interpreted in various ways.)
Everyone is an unreliable narrator, even in our own lives, because the way we perceive the world is colored by our personality, knowledge, relationships, etc.
For example, imagine walking into a room where people are laughing. Someone glances at you while continuing to laugh.
If you don’t know these people, you probably won’t even think about why they are laughing. You might be there to ask someone a question or retrieve something.
If you’re in a good mood and have a good relationship with these people, you’ll likely assume that someone told a good joke, and that’s it.
If you’re in a bad mood, you might feel irritated, thinking you missed something or that they excluded you.
If you assume that these people don’t like you, you might believe they’re making a joke at your expense. And unless you ask and trust the answer, you won’t know whether you made the right assumptions.
Thank you for telling me, because I was so confused. I guess people using that term in regard to those things make sense. I’ve run out of likes, but I’ll like this post once they regenerate.
Interesting. Thank you for telling me. I’ve run out of likes, but I’ll like this post once they regenerate.
See, this is what I thought was happening with how it was being used. Thank you. I’ve run out of likes, but I’ll like this post once it regenerates.
This makes even more sense, LMAO. Thank you, I’ll be sure to like this post once I can.
I appreciate the response. I mostly thought that the MC was hallucinating certain factors in the game with how the term was being used, but nonetheless, thank you. I will like this post once I can.
Nope, no hallucinations even if we do drugs. Tested that on both of my MCs and none started seeing women swimming in pink linen in a sink.
Yeah unreliable narrator doesn’t necessarily mean “they perceive things wrongly because of substances etc etc.”
A favorite example of mine when it comes to unreliable voices and IFs is Sidestep. They present you xyz, only for secondary characters to give a different take. Letting the reader know that maybe something else is going on.
So yeah I do think it’s fair to say the MC here might be biased in terms of certain things because of past events etc etc.
I believe the reliability of the narrator is key to the disconnect we see in interpretation of the narrative.
The question is: Is the MC
reliable (i.e., the MC-narrator presents a straightforward, credible account of events)
or unreliable (i.e., this is a story in which we might not entirely trust what the MC-narrator is telling us).
It isn’t about any MC-narrator being 100% completely reliable, but rather if you think the MC is presenting the narration in a manner that we can believe their account of events.
It is my belief that the MC-narrator in Infamous is a generally reliable narrator that lacks all the information. At worse, the MC is “Naively Unreliable” and is honest and trustworthy.
Other possibilities (if you think the MC is unreliable) are: “Deliberately Unreliable” and “Evasively Unreliable”.
I do not think a case can be successfully made for either. The MC is not intentionally lying to the reader, nor do I think the MC is trying to justify anything to themselves nor the reader.
To be fair, the relationship between Avina and Seven is intense, but let’s be honest—it’s a game, and games showing us a reality TV aspect need drama. For it to be entertaining, people can’t be 100% stable and mature adults (though I doubt those kinds of people even exist in real life! 
)
In my three cents regarding ‘Savina,’ it seems Avina was a fan of Seven, and that definitely colored their perception, allowing Seven to set the tone for their friendship. As discussed many times, Seven is intense, and with their closest friends (the band) out of the picture, they only had some loose acquaintances and the new band with Avina at the helm, so they latched on.
From the Patreon POV with Seven’s bus talk, it’s evident that Seven was annoyed that Avina didn’t outright provide them an out from the conversation with MC. So I don’t think Avina is out to get us, or thinks that they need to stop us from reconciling with Seven.
I don’t believe Soft Violence gives much thought to the MC. Here is the person that hurt their friend, and while they don’t know the details, they don’t seem to care much because why would they even need them, it’s not like they had any plans to befriend MC.I think they dislike and mistrust MC at most, unless we are outright hostile; then, it’s probably different.
This is true, but that’s not my point. Certain things can’t be argued, such as the fact that Avina and Seven share a bed every night, they are extremely attached to each other, Avina chases Seven down any time Seven is out of sorts, and Avina is always whispering in Seven’s ear. These aren’t subjective, they aren’t events in question due to an “unreliable” MC. That’s my point.
The same can be said of the “fugly MC” debacle. Fact is, no one but Dakota (who was clearly horny and would’ve hooked up with anyone who said yes) seemed attracted to the MC before the update and none of the ROs seemed interested at all yet (save for G, but that came off as just G being an insufferable flirt who would’ve done the same with anyone). It’s not due to an unreliable POV–things simply didn’t happen to support the view that the MC was attractive at all, much less as attractive as Seven or the other gods/goddesses that everyone falls all over in the game. Personally, I felt the update addressed it well enough, but someone on patreon provided a valid argument against it and feels the MC is still fugly–given her reasoning, I don’t really blame her.
Anyway, unreliable narrator or not, there are certain things that are set in stone unless the MC is hallucinating. How we decipher those things can differ, of course. Some people have no problem with Seven bedding down with Avina. And, maybe, if MC is lucky, Avina will let the MC in their and Seven’s bed once MC is romancing Seven. /sarc
I don’t think that’s how it’s gonna play out. Mc will probably get Seven in their bed instead of Avina if that’s what you’re worried about. Seven will be in love at that point and will want to be with Mc. They have plenty of other times to hang with Avina since they’re in the same band. Despite having a tight knit, I’m sure they are both aware things need to be tweaked.
Not worried, hence the “/sarc” tag. However…
That’s when Savina will still be sharing a bed, since Seven can’t sleep alone and we’re apparently supposed to find sharing a bed to be a normal friendship thing with these two.
Should be interesting since Avina clearly is in love with Seven…
I completely agree with you. The Infamous MC is not a strong (or even weak) example of an unreliable narrator in the literary sense - not right now anyway. And yes we all have our biases and own interpretations but I don’t see a reason not to see this MC as reliable currently. Unless they’re hallucinating the events they’re seeing but considering multiple characters comment on the closeness between “Savina”, there’s not much of a case for that either yet.
The MC perhaps being jealous because they see their ex bestie/gf/bf sharing a bed with and generally being emotionally+physically intimate with someone doesn’t make them an unreliable narrator/storyteller. As far we know, they’re still telling us the truth. Seven and Avina are very close.
Maybe if that term is being used colloquially in the sense that, sure, we’re all biased but it’s not a useful interpretation for the literary definition of an unreliable narrator. Sidestep is a great and fun example though, as referenced earlier.
Mc and Seven shared a bed since they were kids and Seven still got mad when others assumed the two were together romantically. I think it’s doable with Seven, especially since they’ll be off the market and their loyalty for Mc seems to come above really everything…just think of it like an ordinary sleepover.
My main problem is the absolute lack of reaction. Give me jealousy, give me pure ubridled drug-fueled anger, give me reaction, give me something, anything that will make Seven or Avina react. When Ivan rolled his eyes at the sight of the happy (ha-ha) couple (ha-ha), it was Orion that scolded him and said that he should keep his anger under check, Seven’s reaction was summed in a single sentence. When Anna saw him at the party with Avina, I don’t remember any actually strong emotions you’d probably get when a random-ass person asks your ex-boyfriend to do something for them in such a manner.
For both of my MCs it was a formulative experience and a proverbial start of their downward spiral, and even if you were not a couple, it’s clear MC still cares. Where’s the roleplay for jealous sorts when jealousy is a very reasonable reaction to the stunts he pulled?
“Budge, I was there first” is something both I and Ivan would say. It’s funny when I feel total solidarity with my imaginary children. But to be honest, I really would not care about Avina in the slightest if they weren’t shoved down my throat like I’m fucking waterboarded. They’d be another “oh, you exist” in a very long list.
I’m curious. Do you get the impression from the text that the MC is jealous? It seemed to paint the MC as shocked (not sure why, really), but I didn’t feel that the game is forcing our MCs to be jealous. There is a bit of a… sting?.. at times, like when they’re writing songs together, but I felt like that was more nostalgic than anything, because the MC is obviously going to think of how they used to be the one who was there for Seven, but have been replaced by Avina.
Still, I don’t feel like it’s forcing a specific mood/reaction on the MC, until there’s a choice to do so.
My feelings, exactly. It’s only because Avina is shoved at us at every turn that I’ve grown from minor dislike to outright hatred of the character. That and the MC can’t be around Seven without having Avina butting into the middle of it. Avina’s like a damned bad penny that keeps smacking you in the forehead.
lmao