Shlong.

day 11 - the prisoner

No worries! I usually respond to asks when I have time/when I'm in the mood to talk anyways, so it's never a bad time to send an ask!

In general, I don't think I really feel comfortable with saying any parts of StP are genuinely bad, per se, because the game is just so expertly crafted and means so much to me personally that I'd be lying if I said I'm not biased to it. And also I'm no media expert, I'm not even that great at media analysis either, so I generally tend to be quite reserved with judgements; there is no way I could, in good conscience, say that any parts of StP are objectively bad or anything like that.

What I can share, though, are my personal dislikes about the game and its writing. There aren't a lot of them, and of course, the positives far, far outweigh the negatives (I wouldn't be here if they didn't), but I still have a couple of issues with the game, and I want to talk about one:

Happily Ever After lets the Long Quiet, or rather, you, the player, get away with too much.

Now for full context, Happily Ever After is one of my favorite chapters in the whole game. It is deeply personal to me, and I resonate with it on a very strong level; it emotionally devastated me, in the best way possible, when I played it for the first time (Paranoid variant), and this chapter holds a very special place in my heart.

...that being said, I dislike the fact that the game never acknowledges that it's your fault that everyone is miserable and stuck in the cabin. You made the decision to stay in the cabin, but the game never calls you out on that, never forcing you to acknowledge that you did this. It weakens the ending of the chapter for me, especially with the princess asking "Do you... still care about me?"... I know the game gives you a lot of options in that moment, a lot of which are written well, but the option to say "Of course I do" just feels so off and so hollow to me, and I can't seem to verbalize it quite well, but it really annoys me.

In general, the ending is very sweet, but in my opinion, it doesn't feel that earned, precisely because the game never acknowledges your fault and never lets you to truly apologize for it, to feel remorseful for it, to earn that moment of dancing under the stars. Though, I do very much like that scene from the princess's perspective, as I've rambled about in tags of this post, as this symbolic moment of her finally getting her wish fulfilled after being denied and denied and denied for so long.

I'm sure I'm not expressing my thoughts very clearly, and I apologize for that, I just feel quite passionate about HEA because it really did impact me so much, and so these personal dislikes about the chapter irk me because it feels like a missed potential to me, on an already such a great chapter. If it affected me this much and this deeply when, in my opinion, it has a pretty major flaw in its story... I can't help but imagine how much more powerful it would've been without said flaws.

Yes. Yes, and yes, and yes.

This is my main problem with Happily Ever After: its non-commitment, it tries to cover too many angles, and as a result, its message ends up quite muddled.

Is it a story about a stale, dying relationship that lost its spark over time? Okay, but then the way you get to this chapter doesn't work with that message because there wasn't really a spark to begin with; the Princess never wanted that life; she wanted to leave. You can't have a "dying" relationship if the relationship was forced or coerced to begin with.

Is it a story about a one-sided toxic relationship where one part is constantly ignored and disregarded? Okay, but then what's with the lack of accountability and "it's not anyone's fault" lines? If it's supposed to be a toxic relationship, and Quiet/the player are on the wrong side of it, it should be called out as such. Otherwise, it's excusing Quiet/the player too much of their behavior and mistakes.

Is it a story about stagnation and disappointment, about getting something that you thought you wanted that turned out to be hollow, something that you are now desperately clinging onto? Okay, but then... the reunion and the dance under the stars feels really odd and out-of-place, and while you could argue that you are simply finally granting the Princess her wish... it's not framed like that in the game, it's framed as this moment of affection and closeness, which it should not be if this is about realizing that this relationship is not what either of you wanted it to be.

I mean, look at these lines from the dance scene:

"She gently pulls you forward, and the two of you fall into graceful step. The only rhythm that guides you is the shared thumping of your hearts, beating in perfect unison. Her face, worn and tired, brightens the faster you move, a soft, sad smile widening and widening until it reflects only genuine affection. You send her out in a wide spin, and your arms stretch to their limits, only the tenuous grasp of your hand in hers holding you together. You share a gaze that feels like it lasts forever."

It's a very beautiful, very romantic moment, and so to me, it screams "maybe, after all of this, there is some affection, and we do care about each other"... which the rest of the chapter kind of contradicts.

And I think that's my main problem with this route. The fact that it's inconsistent with its message, and the fact that its resolution goes counter to the rest of the chapter.

For me personally, HEA is a wonderful route that deals with these themes of stagnation, and struggling with disappointment and dissatisfaction, and clinging onto "good" status quo, and being afraid to move on... up until the moment that the torches go out. The moment the torches go out is where the chapter kind of loses me, and I think it's because it tries to cover too much as I talked about above.

One of my favorite bits of stp trivia.

Hi Miss The Fury I'm free tomorrow at 2, just saying haha.

Finally had enough mental space to doodle something! 🌟

The last few weeks have been incredibly exhausting and stressful, largely due to work. It's nice to be able to draw something and like it somewhat.