Oh. Hm. This is going to be a novel series by the time it’s done, isn’t it?
we are finally leaving the damn playground
(paraphrasing) “I like sunflowers, they always face towards the sun.”
Basil has clinical depression
Up until… Vast Forest, I think? which we haven’t even reached yet? I was honestly perfectly happy not doing a single battle, just exploring and enjoying cutscenes. It was almost disappointing to be faced with a battle; like, “aw, interactive story turns into standard JRPG fare :(”
Omori has an interesting relationship with violence in general, really. It becomes quickly apparent that this isn’t an Undertale-esque “you don’t have to fight anyone, actually” gig, and of course battling is par for the course with RPGs. But Omori doesn’t not draw attention to the fighting, either, and there are a lot of encounters that made me go “no, I don’t want to resolve this with violence”—only to discover the Run option didn’t work.
On one hand, Sunny sees the world as an RPG; I don’t think it’s a stretch to say he might literally experience Headspace as we do, with little pixel sprites running around. (Consider that Rococo’s final painting, which is basically just the party’s sprites, is described as “you in your true essence.”) Suspension of disbelief so he and his friends can wail on random bunnies and plants with stuffed toys and sportsballs? Why not!
On the other hand, “Push & Shove” and “Tussle Among Trees” sure have those names for a reason!
why am I being forced to fight this guy he’s just twirling and vibing :(
With continued disregard for chronology (the following line precedes the screenshotted battle), and despite the fact I didn’t find this idea noteworthy while playing until later, I want to draw attention to this particular quote:
Sprout Moles are highly intelligent creatures, but become dangerously vicious when they are lost.
Thanks for saying that with a “^v^” smile, Aubrey. (Thanks, also, to the Let’s Play for transcribing so much.)
loss dot sproutmole
That’s it, that’s the thesis, everyone else go home. You’re frustrated, you have nowhere to go and no one to turn to, it’s just problems and misery and awful closing in from all sides—you’re lost. You yell at your brother, falling apart in his face, because he reached out the wrong way. You shove your ex-friend into a lake because he won’t go away. You grab at something in your best friend because he can’t abandon you, too; why won’t he stop struggling? “You lose all sense.”
Kel and Mari are the only ones of the main six who don’t lash out once. You can argue Mari did in the prelude to the recital, hell knows how the argument got to that point (or why she felt the need to block Sunny’s path, if we want to account for those unused captions), but then she fucking dies and that overshadows everything. Kel, I think, narratively serves to be the one who doesn’t drown in his problems, which is necessary for the rest as it is unhealthy for him.
And that’s why they’re the only two who don’t have head rabies, send tweet.
From February. See, the ribbon is on Mari’s neck because— do I even have to elaborate actually
We like character design in this house.* Speaking of which…
Theory-Thought the Second: Does Hero is Sunny
We are going to continue borking the chronology, because up to and including the end of Basil’s house, most of my notes were pretty slapdash and I don’t have much to expand on. (Also, my initial draft of this post did keep it all in order, and on a fresh-eyed reread the pacing was awkward and meh. Sledgehammer edits ahoy.) Instead, here’s an idea that got introduced around this point:
[upon seeing the emotion guide]
The guy everyone loves is associated with Sad, huhMore wild crack theory: Hero as an idealized version of Omori/Sunny? They look similar at least, but idk if that’s simplified anime sameface
Okay So Firstly. No, they do not look terribly similar, at least not now that I’ve gotten used to how everyone looks. Still, they both have those Rabies Antennae, and Hero + Omori’s eyes are less wide-open than Aubrey + Kel’s (comparing default Headspace portraits).
Second, yes, of course Hero is A Real Separate Person and not wholly a manifestation of Sunny’s imagination. Far as Headspace!Hero is concerned, and the rest of the gang for that matter—I don’t think it’s helpful to dismiss all Headspace characterization just because it’s not real, but it should also be considered the Headspace crew is everyone as filtered through Sunny, particularly Sunny wish fulfillment. This will come up again, especially where Aubrey’s crush and Basil/Stranger are concerned, but for now I digress.
Major aspects of Hero’s character parallel Sunny’s. He’s associated with sadness; Sunny’s grief shapes Headspace. Both had a close relationship with Mari; the love was mutual. In the wake of her death, they shut themselves in, Hero for “almost a year” and Sunny for 4 years and counting. More casually, they both have a noted fear of spiders; and where Kel and Aubrey can be volatile, Hero and Sunny seem pretty chill by default (externally, at least). Even Hero’s most emotional sprites don’t look half as extreme as the others’, both in Headspace and Faraway; this guy doesn’t exactly wear his heart on his sleeve.
Why? From a writerly standpoint, Hero could’ve been anything; why would he be shaped in a way that parallels the protagonist so closely?
Uh. Hm.
I… don’t have a definitive answer to that! This is not as developed an idea as the sprout mole thesis. But consider Hero and Sunny’s major point of divergence, besides age: Hero is “perfect,” and Sunny… isn’t.
Hero is capable, good superb at everything he’s ever touched. Hero doesn’t snap; when he did, his sibling bounced right back (which is a character dissection in its own right but let’s keep it on the big bro for now). Hero’s worked past his depressive fugue and has moved out, is going to college. Oh, he’s a pushover, his arachnophobia’s gotten worse, and there’s something borderline neurotic about how trophies monopolize his room, unadorned and probably not entirely wanted; Hero is not actually flawless, to be clear.
Wow… you really don’t know how to say “no” to anyone, do you, Hero?
Still. The one and only name he is ever known by sure is “Hero”!
I think, both in-character and from a meta-development standpoint, Hero is a person Sunny wants to be, could see himself as, looks up to. Hero is a Sunny who got his shit together, who can match and even surpass expectations of greatness at every turn. Sunny sinks; Hero swims, even literally saves him from the depths, just like Mari.
Hero supports the group, in battle. Sunny ghosted them all.
I’m just saying, when you’re developing characters around the protagonist, “the protagonist, But Better” ain’t a bad choice. If you wanna get angsty about it you can throw in the idea that Hero, in his sparkling greatness, is “worthy” of Mari’s love where Sunny isn’t. (If they ever clashed, it doesn’t seem Sunny knew much about it—and why would such a perfect couple ever let cracks show, anyway?) And there’s definitely something to Hero’s Afraid portrait being grayscale when no one else’s is (changed from the demo, no less—very deliberate choice!).
That I don’t have a good thesis to all this Irks Me, but this is what wild conspiracy parallel boards are for. I haven’t even watched the damn Bossman clips yet!!!
miscellaneous notes
Anyway. No more text walls, just slapdash observations from before Basil’s house:
- In case beating up the first happy sproutmole wasn’t needless enough, the second is explicitly stated to be in “fetal position.” Thanks, Hero.
- The concept of the “steel chair,” in which My ever-wonderful Guy Weeb makes a joke or otherwise-innocuous-sounding that will later thwack me in the face like the titular furniture, or in which I make a comment that Weeb will thwack me in the face with later instead, spawns around this point.
paraphrasing again but “Wow, Mari’s so wonderful, she has everything together so effortlessly!” “Haha I kinda don’t :D” “Everyone loves Mari!!!” all these people have so Issues
Mari just warping her whole picnic save point is obviously a game mechanic but I’m also placing bets on that being somehow ~story-relevant
And as for the actual Basil segment:
- Basil living in a shoe is probably a reference to a fairy tale. There are two other instances where the story draws attention to shoes: the “feet/shoes in a circle” photos, and Aubrey met the gang (minus Basil) when she lost her shoe. I have no godforesaken idea how these dots connect.*
- Gameplay design is just as great as the rest of the package; story pacing and “hey, this might be a good point to save and/or check everything you have before proceeding” player-nudging are in lockstep. There are some later points I feel were less strong about this (it felt like The End was coming for forever), although IRL pauses were almost definitely a factor, so I don’t have a strong general judgment.
- I winged every single one of the photo placements because I didn’t notice they were highlighted. I have no idea if I guessed correctly or if it’s impossible to get it wrong. I feel like I should have something more insightful to say about this whole sequence, but I spent a majority of it yelling internally and getting jumpscared. Fun times!
9:08 PMdialogue that happens before a significant irreversible cutscene
9:12 PMhere we gooo
9:12 PMdread dread dread dread dread
9:13 PMWhat the fuck was that
This game is very, very good at atmosphere.
*Had some further thoughts on both the character design and shoe-circle ideas, didn’t think they fit here; shoved those into the next post.
