One of the most fascinating things about the Zero Escape community is how universal people's opinions about Light are.
We are presented with a man who we learn to be Clover's blind brother, we interact with him briefly, and then he is snatched away for the majority of the game. By all accounts, we shouldn't care about him. We barely know him.
But my strongest memories of 999 are crying when Light died in the incinerator, crying when Clover and Light were reunited, and feeling a warmth in my chest thereafter whenever he interacted with Junpei.
Perhaps it is because we see him through Clover's behaviours. We see her grieving. We see her withdrawing and becoming lifeless without him. We see what happens when her sorrow turns to rage. And we see the all-consuming joy she feels when we rescue Light.
Furthermore, saving Light becomes a personal mission for the player. We experience three timelines in which we fail to save the Fields, timelines that all end in tragedy. In order to get the true ending where everyone lives, we are forced to experience a timeline in which we finally save Light, only to discover Clover is dead. We see a reflection of Clover's grief and rage in Light, and we are helpless to save Light from Ace's bullets, to stop him from burning in the incinerator and dragging Ace down with him.
Junpei's screams as he watches Light burn have always haunted me; the despair and overwhelming grief, the sense of inevitability and loss is very real for the player. The voice acting for the scene is heartbreaking. We feel what Junpei feels.
It's hard not to become invested in saving the Field siblings.
And in the true ending we finally are able to save them, and somehow the pain of each terrible ending becomes worth it, because we see Clover back to her cheerful, rambunctious self for the first time in hours, we hear Light's witty retorts and amused commentary that has been missing for so long.
It is a real, genuine joy and sense of accomplishment that we feel. Even more so, dare I say, than when we save Akane.
Our direct interactions with Light information us that he is a bit of a stuck-up, holier-than-thou kid who is infuriatingly sure of his own capabilities, but Clover makes sure we know that he is also the smartest, most loving, protective friend you could ask for; facts that are then confirmed by our interactions with Light in the final endings.
And it is essential that we feel this way.
After all, we have to be motivated enough to trudge through the same dialogue over and over again to reach the true ending :P
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A fucking Gashapon/capsule toy in Japan..
That’s not a want it’s a need cause that’s how mermaids should look like!!!!
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creative liberty is an extremely amazing thing, actually 🙏
how about, how about sharing your talents with us? how about you tell us why your hands are so golden? love? lovebird? beloved?
/pos /hj
you really, you really have a lot of amazing talents that I didn't even know about before– it's delightful,,,,, I would even say fantastic<3333
waiting for the suitable babygirl, hm? how picky /ht
thanks for the art, it's mine now— /pos
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-->And then I decided, “how about we work on VICTOR’S aspiration milestone?” and had him head to the Magic Realm via Glimmerstone, before summoning Alice and Smiler to join him. Alice, who was both feeling the need to hibernate from her instincts and pretty tired anyway, curled up on the ground for a nap while Victor Transportalated himself into a nearby toilet (he still had to go after all) and Smiler went over and tended some of the plants in the nearby study (poor things needed watering). They then went upstairs to observe the sky for a bit and play MySims Go on one of the research computers, because they didn’t have anything better to do here. XD (Though they did get up to Video Gaming Level 9!) Victor, meanwhile, ate some of his honey for a snack, then started searching for tomes. I was kind of hoping to find a potion recipe book –
But instead he found a familiar orb of the dragon! :D So now he had the familiar that I wanted him to have! I still need to bind it to him, but at least the darn thing is in his inventory now! Yaaay!
-->However, finding familiars wasn’t Victor’s reason for dropping by the Magic Realm – challenging people to magical duels was! And the first person to come near him after he found his orb was one Emilia Ernest. I had Victor introduce himself and challenge her to a friendly spar – she accepted, and they had a battle in the pit in the front foyer. It was a tough fight, but Victor ended prevailing and getting the win! :D One out of three duels set! Being gracious in victory, I had him give Emilia a compliment for being a good sport. :) He then grabbed some apples from the nearby apple tree and napped for a bit to regain his energy (which was NOT looking good, poor guy), while Alice woke up from HER nap outside, had a nice Feral Run to improve her fitness, then got herself some water before using one of the bathrooms (both to relieve herself and to privately lick herself clean without people complaining). She ate some strawberries to soothe her rumbling tummy, then headed off to the observatory to spy on the neighbors (which – didn’t yield anything, as no neighbors)...
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