I have the ability to summarize good stories in a way that makes them sound like shit. My latest demonstration:

“Necroepilogos is about a group of women and girls who wake up as zombies in a burned-out wasteland with nothing to eat but other zombies. It’s much more idealistic than it initially looks, and apparently it’s going Communist now?”

Drawing an obscure comparison in my head.

In this story, the character Invidia has magic tied to her jealousy and insecurity, letting her mimic anyone she feels is better than herself. If she ever feels okay with herself and doesn’t need to compare herself to others, the magic backfires so hard it causes physical pain. She’s locked in a self-hating mindset, but she considers this “fake happiness” better than potentially going back to when she had no powers and felt completely inadequate.

In Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, Staunton trusted a demon he thought loved him, and many people died for it. He’s spent decades in a penal legion, hated by almost everyone. When the demon comes back, he joins her again, because he’d rather have “fake happiness” with someone who at least pretends to love him.

Both Invidia and Staunton seem to be trying to get the hero to kill them. I guess that’s where that path leads.

I like to think Jack Fenton isn’t stupid per se. He has a problem with doing or saying his first impulse before his conscious mind catches up to him. Give him time to think, and he can recognize where he went wrong.

It’s weird how whenever you interact with the cops, they’re the most heroic faction in the game. Zoom out, and their apathy, bigotry, and selective enforcement of the law was part of how the city got so messed up to begin with. Did everyone who cares about protecting civilians end up in the anti-gang task force?

The hero beats up this heavily modified combat cyborg, and it’s supposed to be this triumph of humanity. But the reason he can win is because he has unexplained durability that lets him shrug off all the times he gets shot in gameplay. There’s nothing within the narrative framework that explains how he can possibly live through this fight. It reminds me of that post about how Star Trek stacks the deck so normal humans can win against heavily modified and ostensibly “better” humans.

Person who identifies as Jewish, celebrates Jewish holidays, and doesn’t believe in any of the religious aspects.

Person who identifies as atheist, celebrates Christian holidays, and doesn’t believe any of the religious aspects.

I maintain these are exactly the same.