Spoilers for some main story in Stray Gods
Butch:
OK! Played.
Sang in the Underworld. CHOICES were made.
I wish Orpheus had been in this more. Dude needs a better agent.
Told them they were both wasting their time, destroyed the throne. Persephone was not pleased. Gave Freddie the Eidolon to save her. I'm not entirely sure why that was a "sacrifice," as I didn't really want it, but it worked. In retrospect, felt kinda bad for Caliope. Should've left Persephone down there. Oh, well. Told Freddie I loved her, too, had a nice, bittersweet song.
Tried to make right with Apollo. Still mad that Oracle didn't get to sing. Was there a series of choices where Oracle got to sing?
Now I have to talk to Pan and Persephone and then the Grand Finale (I think).
I'm still not sure how Athena did this. Will time tell?
Feminina:
…ish?
I mean, she never hands over a book titled "How I Did It: by Athena, Goddess of Wisdom". But, you know.
See, romancing Freddie is one path I never took. If I play again, on it! I just felt we worked so well as friends.
Oh, and letting Orpheus have the underworld. Never did that. It just wasn't really possible to support him when even he basically admitted it wasn't Persephone's fault he lost Eurydice. "I'm just mad at her out of spite, damn it!"
Though I did appreciate his attempt at a MUSICAL SMACKDOWN, because there should be more such contests in games.
Butch:
A musical smackdown where dudes can make electric guitars appear out of nowhere!
Of course, maybe not, as I saw the trailer for Death Stranding 2 and there was that bit where Troy Apollo Abs Baker basically was, like, future alien David Bowie with a death guitar. Maybe we don't need more of that.
I did, however, completely love the spirit chorus. I totally would've taken the throne had I been kick ass just to have those dudes as back up singers.
Feminina:
The spirit chorus was pretty great. And when he said "it's been a long time since I collaborated with someone so talented—no offense, Benny" and the spirit made a sad face, that was a funny moment. Also when Persephone started singing a dramatic line and then stopped – "what happened to the music?"
So this was an entertainingly kind of goofy as well as dramatic number. Not bad for a guy we never heard of until three minutes ago, and will never hear from again!
Oh, and as to your question about the Oracle, I did not have any playthrough where the Oracle sings, so unfortunately I don't think she's musically inclined.
Butch:
Poor Benny. You put all of your eternity into being a great back up singer and that's the thanks you get. Maybe Caliope will get together with those dudes and start, I don't know, a Gladys Knight and the Pips tribute band. Take it on the road. Charon would love it.
The "random funny character who moves the plot" is something sometimes seen in the musical. I keep thinking of "Beauty School Dropout" from Grease, in which a large, African American angel shows up, belts out a soul song to get someone to go back to high school, brings the house down and is never seen again.
The Oracle is a missed opportunity. I think one thing that happens when you do a musical in games is that you're tied to having the main character be in every song. What would we "play" without it? The song that would've been eight ways of awesome would've been a duet between Apollo and the Oracle. The potential for musical hilarity there is infinite. That said, there's no Grace in that song. The Oracle has no reason to sing to Grace, and Grace horning in on their weird relationship would kill the vibe.
I'll just write it in my head.
Feminina:
I recall I didn't love "Beauty School Dropout" when I saw Grease, I thought it was kind of a boring interlude, but then, I was only about 12, so what did I know from funny?
And yeah, the thing about the muse being the reason for the musical is that she pretty much has to be involved in every song, which limits the options for other characters.
There's also some interesting stuff here now that Grace isn't the muse anymore, but you'll see how they manage it.
Butch:
I have to admit, I don't like Grease. There. I said it. (I still have a VHS tape of it for sale, though.)
Wait, you could save Freddie even if you didn't romance her?
Feminina:
Yes, if you haven't been picking the 'heart' options earlier, you can still give her the eidolon, and then when she says she's in love with you, you just sort of say "there there, it's all going to be fine" and move on.
Butch:
So, what happens if you romance Persephone? I guess you'd have to give her the throne, because she wasn't into me at all after I destroyed it (where'd I learn to do that break stone with my mind thing?). You just chill with her in the Underworld? And if you leave Freddie there she doesn't show up again?
Or are these spoilers?
Feminina:
If you give Persephone the throne you can continue to romance her – not in the underworld, though, she comes back to the real world with you and hangs out there, so the story proceeds basically the same no matter what you do. There's a bit of a line about how she's going to work on getting the underworld up and running again, but you don't live there with her or anything.
At least not during the course of the game – we can of course imagine in our heads (and I do) that they moved there later on and Grace ruled at Persephone's side or something.
But yeah, if you leave Freddie there, she's gone.
Butch:
Were that me, my first priorities would be pumping up Benny's confidence and teaching Charon to deal blackjack. He'd love it, and no one would cheat that motherfucker.
So….these choices didn't mean much? Is this game more linear than we thought?
Feminina:
It's one of those games where there's a certain story that's going to get told and certain beats that are going to be hit no matter what you do, but certain ultimate outcomes will be different depending on the specific path you take between the required beats.
So…the overall narrative is pretty linear, I guess, but who you get to different places with changes. And the songs you get to sing along the way are different, which in a musical IS a pretty important part of the whole thing.
So I guess one could argue that choices matter a lot, or not a lot, depending on whether we're considering the soul (music!) or the skeleton (narrative).
Butch:
The soul for sure. I looked at trophies and "experience every song" is one and I don't think you can do that on one playthrough. Or two, for that matter. These last four chats, I'm guessing you only get a romance song if you did certain things. Apollo didn't sing with me. Doubt Pan will, either.
Maybe it was my choices, but that dude didn't get enough song time. After that take in Lost Girls, I thought he'd get more songs.
Feminina:
Yeah, he sings more if you encourage him. Pick some heart options. "I'm only here for the dance" is his big number. No, wait, "let's have this dance," but I feel like he SAYS "I'm only here for the dance at one point.
Loothound:
Super busy at the moment, but Orpheus/Persephone song might be my favorite of the game…
Fuck. Why am I always busiest when there's a lot to discuss?
I have a bunch of stuff, but I don't have time to put it down properly. Orpheus was way underused, the bits with Charon and the sad, damned backup singers were awesome, and I would love to go through this again some time and romance Persephone. I was never 100% sure how Athena pulled off controlling the Furies, since everyone was pretty certain that that couldn't be done.
Feminina:
That's a solid song! Orpheus may be a whiny bard, but he gets the job done musically.
As is his job. As a bard.
I admit to even kind of liking his cheesy teardrop eye makeup. Still not going to support him in his whiny claim to the throne, though.
Maybe I would have felt more sympathetic to him if I knew I was going to romance and have a chance to save Freddie, because then I would feel that "rescue your lover from the underworld" connection?
But at this point (at least when I first played), we don't know we can save Freddie, so it's just this kind of abstract "guy wasn't supposed to look back but he did and now he's blaming the person who didn't even run the underworld at the time" and I really can't muster a lot of urge to reward that.
Maybe next time I'll romance Freddie AND support Orpheus, just for completeness.
Butch:
Yeah, I could totally get his motivation.
I missed a number with "I'm just here for the dance???"
Shit.
Feminina:
That's what you get when you avoid flirting with people just because they "seem evil."
Butch:
I often flirt with evil people! (T SHIRT!!!!!)
Take Morrigan for example.
Freddie just made more narrative sense. And the horns were a little off putting.
Loothound:
My god, this fucking day.
Evil people may be the most fun to flirt with, just the most dangerous ones to close the deal with. They'll usually play at least sort of nice until they get their claws (horns, hooks, eggs/embryos, mental domination powers, etc.) into you.
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