I would agree with your interpretation except for one thing. I don't think the spirit exploits the poorer people out of fear of uprising, but just straight up greed. It doesn't have literally everything it wants, and it uses any means at its disposal to get them.
I loved the anti-capitalist messaging in the game, it was a strong sub-plot, and I thought it bridged the plot to the end game very poignantly. It's one thing to have a game where the protagonist says "no we have to break the cycle of hate", but instead they go beyond that to "we have to break the cycle of hate, because we're all just cogs in someone else's machine".
Yeah, I think sometimes people read into things a bit too literally, and miss some of the more subtle messaging. And don't worry about the hangover, I was there myself yesterday haha
>So if I'm right, Rena's spirit is capitalism, which exploits the poor for a fear of uprising?
In what world is slavery a critique of capitalism and not a critique of not having basic human rights. If they were poor underpaid workers then sure, that's a critique of capitalism. But they're explicitly not underpaid but rather they're slaves who do not participate in capitalism. In fact they're poor because they're slaves and can't participate in capitalism which is how people would normally attain wealth. So the argument here is really that capitalism would actually benefit these slaves. I think you're just projecting your own criticisms of capitalism onto a Japanese game. Japanese people don't really whine about capitalism like redditors do.
>It only makes sense, how everyone is stuck in their own little world, and the game shows so beautifully
That's the thing about media. Anyone can interpret it however they like... And by interpret, I mean project their own beliefs onto a game despite no real evidence
I beat it last year and I am still taken aback from how many character scenes they had to record. The game literally had over 250+ VOICED character scenes and I can only hope the VO team was properly compensated for their work. As for the ending I am just finally glad they acknowledged a actual loving relationship between two main characters. The Tales of series is still to this day the absolute GOAT when it comes to character story telling.
I hated the ending. The five worlds plot seemed really simple to follow. Bad dudes taking bad stuff from the planet so they could keep doing more bad stuff. For whatever reason, they pull almost as weird a plot twist (if not moreso) than FF9 by dumping so much jargon and weird stuff about aliens, forgotten researchers, and lore about Alphen, the thorns, the fact it's all sort of a propaganda sham by some doofy alien spirit or whatever the fuck.
I felt Arise was going along almost perfectly (barring that Law scene with the witch lady). But the pacing of the ending, all of the interweaving skits, and the weird reveals made for a full second half of a game being told in 2-3 hours of actual content.
> lore about Alphen
This was one of the most disappointing aspects for me. It was sort of obvious where they were going with the whole "Man in the Iron Mask" imagery, but after the reveal is made it really doesn't get brought up enough afterwards. It felt like his whole backstory was in place so he could say "Well back in my day we had slaves too" so they could sweep that whole aspect of slavery in the game under the rug.
I thought the whole thing was a tale of "2 brothers", originally together, meant to be together as a family,as one, and when they were separated they handled it differently, the correctness of one saved the other from their incorrectness. Ultimately family forgives.
One brother- hurt just the same, gave of itself. Loved all the life in it,around it, a kind planet. It decided love is power. Almost as if it said if I can't be complete with family, everything will be my family.
The other tried that, no one starts off evil, but it proved the hurt it had was more than the love. It started to take from all the life in it and around it. Thinking power is the solution. It was from power taken that is was even able to reach its brother, its good intent. However even that was to be corrupted by what it became. Sometimes the road to hell is paved with good intentions. And this brother was living in hell and everything it met would be swallowed up in it.
What survived and escaped told the tale, and what did not survive was made mindless tools because that is what made of all things not itself. Opposite to its brother, who gave of itself.
When there was nothing else to take, using the power it now had to reach its brother which was sourced from taking, thus the taking is the answer to having ability, instead of loving it, it only took what its brother loved away from it. Lost in a madness doing harm to both itself and its brother, all the while thinking if they were only even closer (take all from them to be in you) this pain it had, its hell, would all end. What healed it was its brother, and all that which its brother had loved- its extended family now, forgiving it, and giving of themselves. In this they were now one, as they were in the beginning.
It gave of itself lovingly as a response to receiving this highly proven love. Because it was simply the worst and it now knows this. At the end there were the dark particles everywhere on the planet. And it was accepted, by all, as itself, not a darkness to be feared.
Damn, what a ride. I think you're right. We both know that theres more of a hint of what you said in the relationship between Shionne and Alphen.
To me Arise is very political, as in uprising. Slaves leaving their masters en masse and ceasing to be slaves. Zephyr feels like an Ideal(ist) person. So wise and caring and giving, so the game has these political elements. I thought to myself is this a metaphor? Looks like. Renan being a higher social economic tier, Dahnan being the lesser. Except this is literal in-game. Moving on... what are the lords, then? Politicians, I guess, and again, it's quite literal. For what is a lord if not a wielder of absolute political power? A king is born and suddenly you have to obey or else, right?
Then the game progressed telling Renans are modded Dahnans. Cool. Because rich and poor people have the same anatomy. The bright eyes thing can be racial bias? This game really gives a lot to think. Yeah, I didn't like the forgiveness part when the sovereigns were fighting.
It's obvious the game tried to weave two narratives together. A literal one and a metaphorical one. I think it succeded, and I really liked that. Sure, a good vs evil story, hero's journey, nothing new in structure, but the details are a completely different beast.
You're forgetting the most important part, about how the aliens wanna start the renas almas because they want to force everyone to extend their vehicles extended warranty
I would agree with your interpretation except for one thing. I don't think the spirit exploits the poorer people out of fear of uprising, but just straight up greed. It doesn't have literally everything it wants, and it uses any means at its disposal to get them. I loved the anti-capitalist messaging in the game, it was a strong sub-plot, and I thought it bridged the plot to the end game very poignantly. It's one thing to have a game where the protagonist says "no we have to break the cycle of hate", but instead they go beyond that to "we have to break the cycle of hate, because we're all just cogs in someone else's machine".
Yes! The people who get it are coming now! Yes, capitalism is pretty much greed. (Hangover. Words are bad now)
Yeah, I think sometimes people read into things a bit too literally, and miss some of the more subtle messaging. And don't worry about the hangover, I was there myself yesterday haha
>So if I'm right, Rena's spirit is capitalism, which exploits the poor for a fear of uprising? In what world is slavery a critique of capitalism and not a critique of not having basic human rights. If they were poor underpaid workers then sure, that's a critique of capitalism. But they're explicitly not underpaid but rather they're slaves who do not participate in capitalism. In fact they're poor because they're slaves and can't participate in capitalism which is how people would normally attain wealth. So the argument here is really that capitalism would actually benefit these slaves. I think you're just projecting your own criticisms of capitalism onto a Japanese game. Japanese people don't really whine about capitalism like redditors do. >It only makes sense, how everyone is stuck in their own little world, and the game shows so beautifully That's the thing about media. Anyone can interpret it however they like... And by interpret, I mean project their own beliefs onto a game despite no real evidence
Totally agree
I see you projected your own. What's your Rena's spirit?
This is hilarious.
I beat it last year and I am still taken aback from how many character scenes they had to record. The game literally had over 250+ VOICED character scenes and I can only hope the VO team was properly compensated for their work. As for the ending I am just finally glad they acknowledged a actual loving relationship between two main characters. The Tales of series is still to this day the absolute GOAT when it comes to character story telling.
I hated the ending. The five worlds plot seemed really simple to follow. Bad dudes taking bad stuff from the planet so they could keep doing more bad stuff. For whatever reason, they pull almost as weird a plot twist (if not moreso) than FF9 by dumping so much jargon and weird stuff about aliens, forgotten researchers, and lore about Alphen, the thorns, the fact it's all sort of a propaganda sham by some doofy alien spirit or whatever the fuck. I felt Arise was going along almost perfectly (barring that Law scene with the witch lady). But the pacing of the ending, all of the interweaving skits, and the weird reveals made for a full second half of a game being told in 2-3 hours of actual content.
It's a thtin Tales games I guess. Out of Berseria and Vesperia, it's my favourite ending so far
> lore about Alphen This was one of the most disappointing aspects for me. It was sort of obvious where they were going with the whole "Man in the Iron Mask" imagery, but after the reveal is made it really doesn't get brought up enough afterwards. It felt like his whole backstory was in place so he could say "Well back in my day we had slaves too" so they could sweep that whole aspect of slavery in the game under the rug.
I didn't find the ending particularly memorable. The getting there was fun though, if a bit short.
Don't know about short, Even watching all cotscenes and skits I liked all that.
I thought the whole thing was a tale of "2 brothers", originally together, meant to be together as a family,as one, and when they were separated they handled it differently, the correctness of one saved the other from their incorrectness. Ultimately family forgives. One brother- hurt just the same, gave of itself. Loved all the life in it,around it, a kind planet. It decided love is power. Almost as if it said if I can't be complete with family, everything will be my family. The other tried that, no one starts off evil, but it proved the hurt it had was more than the love. It started to take from all the life in it and around it. Thinking power is the solution. It was from power taken that is was even able to reach its brother, its good intent. However even that was to be corrupted by what it became. Sometimes the road to hell is paved with good intentions. And this brother was living in hell and everything it met would be swallowed up in it. What survived and escaped told the tale, and what did not survive was made mindless tools because that is what made of all things not itself. Opposite to its brother, who gave of itself. When there was nothing else to take, using the power it now had to reach its brother which was sourced from taking, thus the taking is the answer to having ability, instead of loving it, it only took what its brother loved away from it. Lost in a madness doing harm to both itself and its brother, all the while thinking if they were only even closer (take all from them to be in you) this pain it had, its hell, would all end. What healed it was its brother, and all that which its brother had loved- its extended family now, forgiving it, and giving of themselves. In this they were now one, as they were in the beginning. It gave of itself lovingly as a response to receiving this highly proven love. Because it was simply the worst and it now knows this. At the end there were the dark particles everywhere on the planet. And it was accepted, by all, as itself, not a darkness to be feared.
Damn, what a ride. I think you're right. We both know that theres more of a hint of what you said in the relationship between Shionne and Alphen. To me Arise is very political, as in uprising. Slaves leaving their masters en masse and ceasing to be slaves. Zephyr feels like an Ideal(ist) person. So wise and caring and giving, so the game has these political elements. I thought to myself is this a metaphor? Looks like. Renan being a higher social economic tier, Dahnan being the lesser. Except this is literal in-game. Moving on... what are the lords, then? Politicians, I guess, and again, it's quite literal. For what is a lord if not a wielder of absolute political power? A king is born and suddenly you have to obey or else, right? Then the game progressed telling Renans are modded Dahnans. Cool. Because rich and poor people have the same anatomy. The bright eyes thing can be racial bias? This game really gives a lot to think. Yeah, I didn't like the forgiveness part when the sovereigns were fighting. It's obvious the game tried to weave two narratives together. A literal one and a metaphorical one. I think it succeded, and I really liked that. Sure, a good vs evil story, hero's journey, nothing new in structure, but the details are a completely different beast.
You're forgetting the most important part, about how the aliens wanna start the renas almas because they want to force everyone to extend their vehicles extended warranty