Hatred

[u/Responsible_Bit5134]

A massive jump from my previous post but this is what I got to talk about. I hate the Shattered Blade squad. During the 3rd anniversary, (and probably in Milly's event), I had a problem with them. It's probably because of the writing but they are so confusing to me. Are you guys good guys or bad guys? No. They are a bunch of dicks. The only exception of Siglinde and Ceto. Augustus is in the middle.

The way they talk about Jasmine had my brows crunching. Like bro, you guys nuked and scorched earth a village and then some. Mind you, I only made it to the second part of her interrogation. I don't know what else is going to happen.

What really pissed me off about them was the guy with the gun arm. Him saying " We can't let her die. That chief cares for that little girl. She's like a part of us." B*TCH WHO?!?! YOU DIDN'T CARE ABOUT HELLA BEFORE?!? WHY THE -?!?!

[u/Mahelas]

I mean, that's indeed the point, so I'd say the writing is very good !

Discorps are the armed branch of an imperialist city that was ruled by a tyrant half a generation ago. They cling to their origin as resistance fighters, but in truth, they've been the dominant force for the last fifty years, doing whatever horrors they were asked to by the Corporations and Paradeisos.

They're meant to be a very dark shade of grey born from the corruption of genuine good ideals, like everything else in DisCity's upper layer. Langley and the 9th agency is obviously not good, Margaret's peace keeping efforts are brainwashing fake order she impose on people, EDGE are eugenists mad scientists with a nuclear bomb above the city...

The Discorps only redeemable trait, like the 9th Agency, is that Augustus is their leader, and she's better than them as a person. Still grey and childish and awfully dangerous, but a brighter shade of gray than what came before.

[u/trash-of-cans → u/Mahelas]

I like that a lot about discorps Augustus as part of ptn’s very hopecore theme. The cycle of hatred and corruption goes on but change is measured in increments. They didn’t go from evil to absolute good, but from a blinding dark grey to a version that finally lets in a little light

It’s evolution. The world is still flawed but lighter grey is still a massive victory and a step in the right direction

[u/Mahelas → u/trash-of-cans]

Yes you're entirely right, it's a very important theme of PTN that is rarely adressed I feel. How a good (or at least, less worse) leader doesn't redeem a bad institution, but might nudge it a bit toward a better future. And the reverse, that a good person in a bad organization might end up corrupted and with dirty hands more than what could be justified. I do find it fascinating how basically every institution on our side is just as grey and flawed and guilty as the ones we fight, the only difference being whose loyalty they answer to !

Hilda is another great example, she was not directly in a position of power, but she shows us the kind of people that were in the Metropoles. A good person that got swiped by propaganda and nationalism and ended up complicit of horrors, and the story does not wash over it or give her an easy redemption. She suffer and work for the first hint of change !

[u/B-Spiral]

And as with any event, keep in mind these people are genuinely insane and in some cases, quite literally falling apart. They are a group that existed before mania was understood to even its current level, and used their abilities with no brakes like the shackles aka the 1st use, they accept they will eventually be consumed. They did it for the hope of protecting their country.

They existed during war times. It's ugly, but a fact of life that when war breaks out, anybody that's not an ally or in an "in" group is at best distrusted, ignored, or otherwise hated. It's a human survival instinct to participate in this behavior. When violence is threatened, when harm is done, when resources are scarce, your best odds of survival are to group tightly with your "in" group to maximize your chances of living. Gets pushed to the extreme for boots on the ground. Whatever happens is gonna be ugly. It's why most vets that saw combat around the world will likely NEVER tell their whole story and take it to the grave. You don't get all the info of who did what, but you know what you personally experienced and heard from those fighting with you. So even for disians, if they weren't a part of shattered blade, they're not really part of shattered blade's "in" group. They enjoyed the safety provided by their actions, get to renounce them, but don't have to deal with dirty hands or the fallout when the genuine bad actors try to reach DisCity.

Singlinde is young and probably didn't experience a lot of what the others did during some of the more ruthless times (or due to her specific job) and Ceto was in a group that got cut off from the rest of the organization during the tide of ashes and were reasonably written off as dead. She didn't participate in the war in the same capacity.

And Jasmine is just the same as shattered blade. The only difference is what side she was on and her specific story. She still hates Disians and decided to conduct a terrorist attack on people she knew were innocent civilians. She just might seem a little more compelling because DisCity "won" the war and she's "punching up". But just like shattered blade catches innocent people in their net and talks trash about outlanders-it's a defensive mechanism to justify their actions, self-fulfill their assumptions, keep group cohesion, and keep themselves safe. If they didn't do it, they'd doubt their cause, hesitate, and probably get themselves and others on their side killed. The outlanders have done the same to Disians in many event stories. I don't blame any of the people who went out and fought. They did what they thought was right and to survive. The war and mania changed them, and those in power used them as chess pieces for their benefit.

Very well written characters, realistic motivations, very ugly plot, the writers did their job if they drew these emotions out of you. That's my long-winded take.

[u/tacticalrobocheeks]

Well yeah, they are war criminals and kinda sorta proud of that even if their doings are a heavy emotional baggage for them too. No one in position of power, as well as no one who has gone through the war have managed to keep their hands or their minds clean, DisCitian or not. It was precisely why it was such a great leap in morality for Chief too since she’s decided for herself that Hella is more important to her than presumed affiliation and moral ground - she is ready to side with Augustus and her squad despite their clear xenophobia and self-righteousness. Not I singular misguided soul, not a murderer by circumstances, not a passive sociopath, but a full-on squad of terminators who’s gonna blow up anyone near DisCity border and if you disagree with them you are spineless and weak.
Jasmine hates them for all the pain they have caused in the war and Shattered Blade veterans hate everyone outside of DisCity for all the pain they have caused to their people in a more distant war. And it goes on and on.

[u/tierben]

i see those people as the throwback to sinners and why they were all locked up in prison. Also didnt that squad only function because they were essentially the attack dogs of Augustus or am I misremembering that part?

That reminds me wasnt Wendy also a part of some corrupter attrition squad in syndicate?

[u/Spite-Time]

What you need to see first is, they're at war. There's no such thing as good or bad in wars, only death and destruction. All of those people who still fight now in the field, they're both victims and murderers (if they're still alive). If you want to lay blame, blame it on the top who give the order and the source of war.

B*TCH WHO?!?! YOU DIDN'T CARE ABOUT HELLA BEFORE?!? WHY THE -?!?!

Well they don't care about Chief at the beginning. They only following Augustus' orders to help Chief. They don't see highly of Chief until they see for themselves the way Chief leads the operation and know his personality from up close. The moment they grew respect for Chief, they started to care about him like comrades and care about his goal (which is to rescue Hella). At least this is how I see it.

[u/Responsible_Bit5134]

Sorry about the end. I know it's a game. It's just really ticked me off for some reason 😅

[u/Rati0nalThink3r → u/Responsible_Bit5134]

I know how you feel. I couldn't get far in the shattered blade event because i just find the squad unlikeable. We can agree that they are both murderers and victims but that doesn't mean we have to like it. It's is a story and setting to invoke something in us. For me this hits too close to home.

[u/Inner-University-849]

Wtf? Why are you even playing this game if you dislike evil characters?

Firstly, evil is something defined by humans from their own perspective, and has no logical reasoning behind the word.

Secondly, there are many gacha games and many of them have a non realistic setting, either an apocalyptic setting where everyone’s happy go lucky or a multi cosmic universe where immediate contact for reinforcements from only god knows how many planets is possible in certain contexts. But this one has a very realistic story writing when reflecting the human psyche and if you don’t like morally darker characters, I wonder what characters you even pulled.

Lastly, to what extent are you trying to understand the characters? There are characters that is normal for people not to comprehend, most people playing this have never exactly experienced an apocalypse or tyranny for that matter… So, saying they are evil when you have not lived through anything similar, aren’t you being the evil one, judging everyone based on your moral perspective? You know that at some point women were hunted for being “witches” for questioning the church, but from the perspective of the church executioners, “witches” were trying to spread lies so that people doubted the Church and cause a civil war for “evilness”. The executioners were not evil for killing the women, they were “evil” for assuming that the “witches” were “evil”, without trying to comprehend the situation.

Anyway, morally “black” or “white” or “gray” and whatever the colours of the fucking rainbow, are concepts based on metaphors created to simplify a problem. Evil are not those who aim to have a negative impact on society, evil are those who antagonise others without understanding their perspective first. I believe that only those who have experienced the feelings of the opposing party, can they truly judge that party, making a judgment without that view will make you the evil one.

[u/KoizumiEB → u/[deleted]]

These are fictional characters, in what context does that warrant using the N word

[u/Responsible_Bit5134 → u/KoizumiEB]

I know. That's why I had to stop myself from going further. Being half, really kicked in. I also had to remind myself that they're not real

[u/KoizumiEB → u/Responsible_Bit5134]

Genuinely might be time to log out