straightforwardly (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
straightforwardly) wrote2017-07-24 07:47 pm
straightforwardly) wrote2017-07-24 07:47 pm
Entry tags:
150 | Transistor thoughts
I beat Transistor over the weekend. That was… a really good game. Even before you get to the story, it’s just gorgeously designed: lovely graphics, an amazing soundtrack (example: the song that plays during the first boss battle *_*), and one of my favorite battle systems in a long time. Seriously, let me gush about that battle system for a moment, because at first I thought, “oh, this is just okay”. But the more I played, and the more I experimented with the functions (especially after the sandbox tests pushed me to do so), the more I realized just how complex it was. This is not a game where strategy isn’t important, and I loved that. ♥
I also really like how the game itself encourages you to experiment with different function combinations? Like, you could spend the whole game making only small adjustments to the same set-up (like I did in the first half or so of the game), but if you try out new things, you’re rewarded with more information about the characters who formed those functions.
As for the story… I’m not sure if I ever fully understood what was going on, but I did love the characters an awful lot, especially Red. For a silent (or, perhaps more accurately, silenced) protagonist, she had so much character. ♥ But I was also really fond of Sybil (...and kind of shipped Sybil/Red a little, cough), Asher, and the narrator/Transistor (and was sold on him/Red by the end too).
I’m not really sure what to make of the ending (specifically, Red’s choice there)*— but I do like how it worked in terms of the story. Her lover narrated everything, but just because he thought a certain thing would happen, didn’t mean that was actually what Red was planning. Ugh, I’m explained that poorly, but I guess what I’m trying to say is: Red was the protagonist, and the story was advanced through her actions, and it was her decision what would happen; all her lover could do was watch from inside the Transistor, and piece together what he thought was going on based on her actions— but whatever answer he came to wasn’t necessarily going to be the correct one. That part definitely worked for me.
*Though I will say that, the more I think about it, the more I understand it, even if I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it.
Another aspect I found interesting: Red was the silent protagonist in the literal sense, but she ends up being pretty fleshed-out as a character. On the other hand, the one whose voice we hear— her lover, the narrator, the Transistor— is the character we know the least about, despite being the conduit for most of the game’s story. Even his file doesn’t have any real information about him, and when we see him in flashbacks, we never see his face. Pretty much all we really know about him is in regards to his relationship with Red. In that sense, he fits the mold of the silent protagonist much better than Red does, despite being defined by his voice.
I also really like how the game itself encourages you to experiment with different function combinations? Like, you could spend the whole game making only small adjustments to the same set-up (like I did in the first half or so of the game), but if you try out new things, you’re rewarded with more information about the characters who formed those functions.
As for the story… I’m not sure if I ever fully understood what was going on, but I did love the characters an awful lot, especially Red. For a silent (or, perhaps more accurately, silenced) protagonist, she had so much character. ♥ But I was also really fond of Sybil (...and kind of shipped Sybil/Red a little, cough), Asher, and the narrator/Transistor (and was sold on him/Red by the end too).
I’m not really sure what to make of the ending (specifically, Red’s choice there)*— but I do like how it worked in terms of the story. Her lover narrated everything, but just because he thought a certain thing would happen, didn’t mean that was actually what Red was planning. Ugh, I’m explained that poorly, but I guess what I’m trying to say is: Red was the protagonist, and the story was advanced through her actions, and it was her decision what would happen; all her lover could do was watch from inside the Transistor, and piece together what he thought was going on based on her actions— but whatever answer he came to wasn’t necessarily going to be the correct one. That part definitely worked for me.
*Though I will say that, the more I think about it, the more I understand it, even if I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it.
Another aspect I found interesting: Red was the silent protagonist in the literal sense, but she ends up being pretty fleshed-out as a character. On the other hand, the one whose voice we hear— her lover, the narrator, the Transistor— is the character we know the least about, despite being the conduit for most of the game’s story. Even his file doesn’t have any real information about him, and when we see him in flashbacks, we never see his face. Pretty much all we really know about him is in regards to his relationship with Red. In that sense, he fits the mold of the silent protagonist much better than Red does, despite being defined by his voice.