When first asked about your new body, you’re offered if you’d like any changes to it like a tail or changing cosmetics, but one of the options mentions things like your presentation and identity. I was under the impression that, in picking it, I could make my character effectively transition after death. But I’ve gotten to where the body is revealed and the events following it, but it hasn’t come up at all. Not an option to change it or an option to change my characters name or anything.
I was curious if I’ve missed something, if this is an oversight, or if it’s intentional.
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Since transphobia doesn’t exist in this setting, I think it’s presumed that the PC’s name and gender presentation at the time of their death reflected their actual identity - with minimal barriers or hassles and no particular stigma attached to socially transitioning, what would they possibly have had to gain by concealing who they really were? What Senna offers is the ability to transition physically, in ways that simply weren’t possible during the PC’s lifetime.
The author has stated that she chose not to go into a lot of detail about the physical transition process. She wanted to make it possible to play a trans character, but that’s not really what the game is about, so the details are left largely to the reader’s imagination. If the PC does request that Senna modify their body from its original form in any way, there are mentions later on, so it’s not as if the issue is just dropped altogether. But the way the author chose to go about things was considered and deliberate.
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Oh! No, I don’t mean that I was expecting a deep trans experience or discrimination from the game. I just mean I was under the impression that it woukd show up as an option along with the other customization options. Rather than hiding it, maybe it wasn’t considered or it was a “I’ll wait until after the war” thing, or maybe it’s just a unique opportunity to experiment? It’s been pretty rare, in my experience so far, for a story to have a more explicit trans option so I was surprised then a tad confused with the implementation is all.
Thank you for the answer!
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Yes, the idea is that the gender/pronouns you choose at the beginning of the game are the ones you’d like to keep throughout the story, and Senna is offering a way to modify your body physically to fit with whatever you’d prefer (in ways that aren’t specified, since there are more possibilities than I felt I could easily cover, but there are a few references later on to the fact that your body is different if you choose that option). Being able to change your name and gender after your death was something that occurred to me, but I ultimately found difficult to fit in - for one thing, the PC’s legend is strongly attached to their original name, and needing to update everyone in the setting that that name has changed would be hard to manage (both from a coding and a story perspective). Though I wouldn’t be opposed to adding it in an update if I can think of a smooth way to do it.
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If it helps, the way I played the character was someone who didn’t like the attention and didn’t mean to be a hero since there were options for it. Maybe an option at the end to shed the legend and identity to have a normal(ish) life? At least that’s where I’ve been trying to steer it with Senna and Iris. Haven’t finished the game yet so no spoilers lol.
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I don’t think there’s anything in the endgame contradicting the idea that you could do that (assuming you have a generally successful ending), although I recognize that’s not the same thing as explicitly offering the option!
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