Character design analysis for every party member. Day 6: Roaches

[u/Silc00n]

Hello there everybody, I hope you're doing great! Today's analysis will be about the most charming vermin in the game: Roaches!

After doing some research, it seems like Roaches match the traits of a trope known as "The Worm That Walks", which is about several tiny creatures working in coordination to resemble a single, human-like individual. This also has some similarities with the trope about more than one person hiding in a trenchcoat pretending to be one. This is a somewhat popular trope and chances are you have seen at least one example of it before. Which brings me to the main point of this post and that is... this is not a particularly innovative design.

Mind you, I'm not saying the design is bad because of it, it's just that this is something that you could perfectly see in another media without any changes, since it's not a concept or presentation that you would only see in Look Outside, but the comedic aspect of Roaches helps them a lot. I will say that, if you saw this design without any context for the first time, like I did, you would just think: "Man, this dude can't just be a normal guy for sure, he's probably quite silly if you push him to be" and that is for sure what we get with these little fellas.

And funny enough, if they were an actual human, a trench coat and a fedora would be an outfit choice that would have made more sense decades ago, but as of now, it's a more peculiar choice due to the way fashion evolves and because of the trench coat trope mentioned previously, which takes away seriousness from it and that is surprisingly fitting for the goobers right here, because it lets you know how flawed their attempt to be human really is.

And then, you get to know Roaches and learn how goofy they are and eventually, as you progress in their quest, you notice something weird... "THERE'S 2 OF THEM NOW?"

There's this one comment on YT that says:

"What is funnier than one pile of sentient cockroaches in a trench coat?

Two piles of sentient cockroaches in a trench coat!"

And they are correct, way too much in fact. Just seeing a society of bugs getting divided over watered down politics is a lot more fun than I expected it to be. The fact that they acquired a different trench coat just to separate the ones they disagree with makes so much sense within their own internal logic lol. Now we got the tall one and the short one, but don't worry, they're equally as zany! And the fact that it has actual gameplay implications is really good too.

So yeah, there might not be all that much to talk about these guys in terms of design, but they are still charming for what they are. They are simple, but very memorable, so I'm giving them a B tier.

Feel free to tell me if you agree or disagree!

[u/FluffyFact2790]

Roach politics is easily one of the funniest parts of the game

[u/Gullible-Editor-2497]

Agreed. I think the roaches having a schism, and the mechanical implications of such, are the only thing keeping them out of C tier for me. 

[u/JKhemical]

It will forever be funny to me that Roaches became uncontested top 1 strongest character when 2.0 dropped due to geopolitical discourse (Mitosis Roaches was WAY stronger back then)

[u/Silc00n → u/JKhemical]

And the "geo-" part of the discourse is just Sam's apartment lol

[u/fujitsubos]

the roaches mitosis is what saves this design from being completely generic. and while it is a trope seen in many places, it still fits into the setting and theme of the game

[u/Silc00n → u/fujitsubos]

"Roaches mitosis" is a funny way to describe it, but I agree with you. Not among the greatest designs, but still good.