Feminina O'Ladybrain posted: " Spoilers for the end of Plague Tale: Innocence OK, did it. Took a while, but did it. Done. I....have questions...... So many questions...... Game left a couple loose ends, didn't it? Some thing were left...unexplained....weren't they?" Play First. Talk Later.
Game left a couple loose ends, didn't it? Some thing were left...unexplained....weren't they?
I have questions.
What was with the white rats other than someone had this idea for a boss fight with black rats vs. white rats?
Was Vitalis controlling the black rats, too? Why were there rats in the first damn place?
What's with the elixir?
What was.....
You know, fuck it, what's with everything?
Feminina:
Yay, you're done! It was...a thing?
Because dude, I don't even know. I don't think the black rats were Vitalis. I think...if I had to guess at explaining the whole story, I'd say
there's a plague now and then in history that causes swarms of rats to appear somehow, and
there's some kind of genetic connection to this plague that is carried by certain humans (though does that CAUSE the plague/rats? Could we literally have avoided the whole thing if Hugo had died in infancy? or would it have happened anyway and he just happens to be there with the power to control rats? unclear, and kind of a big question), and
Vitalis knew enough about this to somehow breed his own rats to try to take control of the plague this time around and
he needed Hugo's genes/plague rat connection to control his own rats and
he would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for those meddling kids.
The elixir I think was supposed to keep Hugo from coming into his full rat-control powers, though why they wanted to do this given how obviously handy it is to be able to control swarms of flesh-eating rats, I do not know. It seems like it worked for a while, but then his case got too far advanced or something? But the delay was enough for Amicia's love to...uh...work it's magic and keep him from surrendering to the white rat dark side?
There's a lot that's a bit fuzzy, let's just say that.
But the overall themes of sibling love, and the importance of family AND of 'found family' that you kind of adopt along the way, I thought that was decent. And the puzzles were mostly fun.
I'll probably play the next one to see if things make any more sense.
Butch:
That's....about what I got?
Had there not been an epilogue, I would've gone nuts. Just "Hugo...it's over..." Hugo stares, Vitalis stares, Hugo stares again, Vitalis stares again, HUGO REALLY STARES credits.
I think I said "That's IT?" out loud.
Not that the epilogue did a whole hell of a lot to flesh that out. Where'd Meile go? Hard to believe that she, all of a sudden was like "Oh, wait....you're kind of a weird kid! Hadn't noticed. Bye!" And who's looking for them? They didn't let Hugo go to the fair (I was bummed about that, poor kid, let him have his fun) because...why? Who is trying to get them? Vitalis and Nicholas are dead, right?
Disappointed kids bum me out.
We will likely play the next one to see if it makes more sense. Just like we do with Assassin's Creed. And everything else. Maybe this will be the game that makes more sense!
I do find it incredibly ironic that we shied away from this game because there was a real life pandemic and we didn't want to be reminded of real life things, and it turned out to be the most bananas game we've played in a LOOOOONG time, including Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which is saying something. So much for real life things.
I'll tell you something, though. I usually am not keen on plot dump exposition side dialog, but I was waiting, hoping, PRAYING that Lucas would start chiming in. Like, kid, you seem to be the one who has anything close to an idea as to what the fuck is happening. If you want to chime in, I have the subtitles on....go ahead now....any time you're ready....
It was a good game, though. I agree that the use of puzzles in such a way that it didn't feel like a puzzle game was good. But man, this game got praised from here to there on its story and...well...I felt that it could've had more themes, more metaphor...more SOMETHING than it did. I certainly did not come away from this thinking "This is one of the better game narratives I've ever seen," and yet some reviews said just that.
Different strokes, I guess.
Feminina:
I mean...there was certainly story there, no doubt. It just wasn't really clear exactly what that story WAS, if judging by certain metrics like "making a damn bit of sense."
I mean, I liked it. I did. It was creepy and puzzley and mostly fun, and the mechanics were interesting, and I liked the main characters (I was sad when Roderick died!). I'm just not totally clear on the details of what was going on. But that's life sometimes!
Butch:
Agreed. It had a lot going for it. Liked playing it when I wasn't in a fit of controller throwing rage (though, given that each of those times, things were far easier after a night off suggests that was more me than the game, so it gets a pass). Good characters (though, one thing I've meant to mention is that I thought the voice acting was a little flat. Spoiled by Horizon, I guess).
But that "making sense" thing, that it lacked.
Feminina:
I mean, a lot of games have plot holes/vagueness and general goofiness, it's fine, it doesn't keep us from enjoying a story, but sometimes one does wonder, especially when it's a story that is so focused on a few people/locations and a fairly short time period.
Butch:
Right. I mean, there's "plot holes," which, as you say, are very, very common in games, but then there's "We're not even going to try to explain anything cuz fuck you now avoid rats," which is what we had here.
Feminina:
In their defense, that is pretty much word-for-word what I usually want to say to anyone asking me to explain anything about anything.
Butch:
Hey...now that you mention it...yeah.
Congratulations, Asobo Studios, you're living the dream.
Feminina:
We salute you Asobo Studios! May your glory inspire us all.
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