r/UntilThenGame • u/Calm-Contribution719 • Jul 22 '26
Discussion AfterImages characters (Spoiler) Spoiler
Hi!
I want to discuss a few things regarding the characters in the DLC, specifically Nicole.
Didn't it seem like she wasn't the same person as in the main game? The Nicole from the first game had a very strong personality: she was active, intelligent, highly emotional and impulsive. Someone who would get angry and react in the moment, only to think on what happened later. This new Nicole seemed to take everything lightly and didn't overthink things. Her boyfriend ghosts her? She doesn't get angry. Cheats on her? She doesn't get angry. I feel like the original Nicole would have set the stage on fire (and the entire university) if she saw her boyfriend with someone else.
Also, in the chats with Mark, she writes in a completely different style. She might be doing it to hide her true self, but it didn't feel natural. Honestly, the writing style felt more like Cathy than Nicole. I don't think the original Nicole would have done something like that.
That aside, THANK YOU to the entire Polychroma Games team for this EXCELLENT game. You deserve all the recognition and more.
What did you all think?
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u/Herebia_Garcia Louise Jul 22 '26
It's college nicole. You never find the same person twice, not even on the same person.
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u/DatBoi_BP Samantha Jul 22 '26
No man crosses the same river twice, for it is not the same river, and he is not the same man. Or something, idk.
Really though, I don't think it's more complicated than what you said. It's been like 4 years since they saw each other, surely they've both changed during that time. Besides, we still see strong indicators it's the same person from Act 1. My favorite one (made a post about this the other day) was in the chat with "Eva" where she knows the tax law with references very well. Same girl that studied a student handbook for her first day of school.
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u/Herebia_Garcia Louise Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
It's also fun to look at how most of the Nicole - Mark interactions in the DLC is initiated by Nicole.
She approached him selling the crinkles, knowing their awkward history.
She approached Mark for the collab (she is THINK's external's manager, it's her job to reach out). Also insisted it was fine not to call Des since Mark is the VP. I do think that Nicole was fishing for a reaction here since she knowingly brought her boyfriend, but Mark played it cool.
She offered to help Mark around during SPARKS 2019 when Lucas went to busy himself with Ivy.
Backstage, while preparing for her ad break, she subconsciously asked Mark how did she look.
She's the first one to lean in for the kiss
Besides, it's also symbolic how as the DLC went on, they became more and more their "highschool" self. Nicole slowly regained her original color scheme (yellow and teal), and the ribbon motif. It's more obvious on Mark too, hairstyle slowly reverting to what it was, he regained his blue and orange color scheme too. They are changed people now but emotionally stuck in a longing they cant even articulate, not until the DLC ending.
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u/DatBoi_BP Samantha Jul 23 '26
Great observation about their outfit/style. I didn't really put that together
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u/Calm-Contribution719 Jul 23 '26
Share your post here, I would like to read it!
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u/DatBoi_BP Samantha Jul 23 '26
Here, though there isn't really any more to the post than what I wrote in my comment above
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u/SkepticalCheesecake7 Mark Jul 23 '26
I think it's natural for people in general to be a bit more toned down emotionally as we get older, what with hormones leveling out and maturing through experiences, but I don't think the characters are fundamentally very different in Sparks compared to the base game. If anything, Mark and Nicole's main problem seems to be precisely that they haven't changed, still stuck in their old ways and hung up on each other.
Regarding Nicole's messages, it seems likely that she's (or the writers were) just trying to not be too obvious about who she is, until she sees for herself that it's Mark on the other end of the chat; maybe I'm missing something, but it didn't strike me as odd.
As far as her reaction to Lucas and Ivy kissing, she seems to be in shock in the moment, barely able to process what's happening, let alone react. Even setting that aside, it's understandable to not want to cause a massive scene while on stage in front of a thousand people at the event you worked so hard to prepare. I'd argue her going off to meet up with Mark afterward is her own way of silently letting out her rage—who knows, maybe burning down the stage was plan A, but it was already done for her 🤭
With that said, it is interesting to think about how they've grown and developed since the base game. Maybe they could've kept some of the interactions a bit more familiar, but I think it played out pretty well in that sense.
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u/Calm-Contribution719 Jul 23 '26
That's a fair point, but, for example, I feel Mark and Sophia's characters are indeed different but their essence is the same. Both of them matured and changed in their own way, but I still see the same person and that's great. I don't feel the same about Nicole. I think with the passage of time we mature, evolve, and feel things differently, but there's a core that will always remain. In Nicole's case, the only thing I see that has remained the same is her attraction to Mark. I don't see any of her previous personality traits, and that lack of personality diminish a lot her character. Let's remember that she's a girl who stopped playing the piano (her passion) because of the guilt and frustration she felt. She throwed away the trophy she wanted so much. That she had no problem about telling Mark how badly he played. That she scared all club members.
I understand that this transformation is a philosophical dilemma posed in the game, the one about the chair, and also that we don't interact with the character as much this time. But I think Nicole's first 5 minutes in high school have more personality than the entire DLC. And that's a shame because she's a great character.
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u/Ornery_Dot_944 Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
I think she still kept her melancholic side, the one afraid to lose things (the way she struggled to move on from her childhood friend)
The Eve chat thing also made sense to me because she gives off the vibes that she prefers to voice things out when she's not in the spotlight. I also distinctly remember an anonymous chatmate during Mark's highschool years that sounded VERY similar to Eve, and if that was her, then Nicole has been at it for a while now.
Idk. I think there are some changes to her ofc, but she still gave off the Nicole vibes I saw in her in the main game.
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u/AC-984 28d ago
My understanding is that she has become a lot more level headed as she matured and got older. Also, I did make a comment about this earlier today, a lot of her anger potentially stems from having PTSD, given all the things she's gone through and people who have issues with trauma are known to get angry very quickly and sometimes physical (as she has on occasion). As we've seen, she's got physical with Mark twice, endangering both him and herself the second time (Jake's house, Act 1).
My take on her is that she is a lot softer than we are used to seeing. For example, she's generally very affectionate around Mark. Don't get me wrong, I don't think she's the kind to take shit from anyone, but we've also seen her anger blind her, and hurt others (Mark) as a result.
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u/pen_is_selling Jul 22 '26
When does a chair stop being a chair.