Theories/Analysis/Thoughts

random thought going over the Klaasje/balcony interaction again; is Volition really any better compared to the skills it says are compromised? although PHY, LOG and MOT are all shot to shit one way or another in varying levels of obviousness (see: Electrochem's brief GLORY spiel), it's easy to gloss over the fact that Volition is essentially saying "everyone but me has been played and fooled; trust my instinct" - not to mention the fact that, being the 'sanest' of the bunch, it's essentially the Moralintern in the form of a skill. and coincidentally, it's very gung-ho on 1. forcing you to doubt everything she says and 2. coercing you into arresting her.

neat lil' tidbit. (weird how it flew over my head on my first run, though!)

I think in that particular scene Volition is correct about the other skills being compromised, however I think you have an excellent point about Volition also being compromised at that moment. Klassje is clearly not being honest about a lot of things, and the rest of the skills are compromised in that they are quick to trust and ignore that fact. However, while volition does accurately point this out, it seems to go overboard in how little it thinks you should trust her/sort of urging you to not empathize with her at all. Volition, in that moment, is acting out of its own desires and not being the all high logical being it sort of claims to be in that moment.

I think one of the most important ideas that the balcony scene presents is that the skills are not all knowing (well. shivers kinda is. but, I mean in that they have their own wants/fears/flaws. they're characters of their own). Up until that point I was blindly listening to the skills because I was under the impression that they did know better. And, I know that many other players were operating under the same belief. I think it would almost ruin the point if Volition was exempt from this rule.

I can't believe I didn't get the Volition Moralism connection until I read this just now. Its painting has crown imagery. The stat it gives you is literally "morale"

practically hidden in plain sight, ain't it? :>

> I think one of the most important ideas that the balcony scene presents is that the skills are not all knowing (...)

i get where you're coming from with this one, but to be rational, this was never really the case - for lack of a better, perhaps less 'obvious' explanation, they were just more sensible and easier to blindly believe compared to you, a perpetually-hungover, bloated mess of bodily fluids and misery that shits the bed upon reading a letter. (and frankly, fair enough, y'know.)

all the same, neat stuff. nuances like this make replays all the more rewarding and worth obsessing over. not sure if i'm gonna have the heart to go through the payphone all over again, though.