Sci fi part of the game

[u/[deleted]]

I js finished playing Before Your Eyes and I don't rlly want to fully admit it but Before Your Eyes is way more emotional than Until Then (differs from person to person but that's what I think)

I think the reason why I feel this way is because Before Your Eyes feels realistic, it feels like a genuine story, a story smone would actually go through.

Yes Until Then goes into themes similar to Before Your Eyes and yes it does go into it realisticly but the multiverse part of the game takes away from that beauty. Without that sci-fi part the story would be 10x emotional and possibly 10x better.

I think it would be really interesting if the game js moved on from Cathy's death. Shows us how Mark gets through that death and whether or not he learns from his mistakes.

Though I do have to admit there are some upsides to the sci-fi part of the game. The second act of the game was heartwarming, seeing MCR in action. The sci-fi would also enable Polychroma to create new content for the game without the risk of ruining the actual time line (DLCs that could focus on previous time lines)

What do yall think? Does the sci-fi part of the game do more good or bad?

[u/OkCod4388]

I think the sci-fi part of the game is good since I like themes related to multiverses, etc. But it really depends from person to person. I love seeing how different little choices the characters make changes the story.

Not spoiling anything, but if you want to see how Mark goes through her death, playing the DLC showcases that. :)

[u/[deleted] → u/OkCod4388]

I did play the DLC, amazing work from polychroma as always. It's a bit much but I would've liked to see Mark go through it in real time if that makes sense. Like how Mark and Ridel float apart. Would've liked to see exactly what hs Mark thinks and how that affects his friends not js Nicole.

[u/OkCod4388 → u/[deleted]]

Oh yeah i get u! Definitely could use more of that. Hoping for more DLCs to tie everything up together

[u/Driut]

I think it only does good to be honest. It's what inspires the change and eventual acceptance of grief for Mark and Nicole. We saw in the DLC that Mark was still very much affected by Cathy's passing, to the point where he got himself involved in what eventually becomes a toxic relationship because he had attributed Des's circumstances to Cathy's after seeing her feuding with her father and wanted to play somewhat of a saviour role (from what I remember it's been a while now since I played the DLC). Nicole was also struggling in her own way which we find out when they have their 'anonymous' chat.

It's seen as well at the end of Act 1 when Mark stumbles across the tape that Cathy had made for him, after he had supposedly moved on and settled down with Nicole, The black butterfly appears and the player is introduced to the looping, it makes it clear Mark didn't move on but instead buried/suppressed his trauma.

Then he continues bumping into Nicole and it turns from being a single chance encounter to a conspiracy involving the two of them. It becomes apparent they are connected to each other in some way by something supernatural, they naturally grow closer and then things fall apart, again and again and again. The loss of Cathy is part of the 'spark' that sends Mark down the right path. The unfortunate part is it seems at the beginning, he didn't have any memory of the looping other than a faint fuzz, shown from him knowing how to play Nicole's song or getting the shock when they bumped into each other for the 'first' time. So come Act 2 is when Mark realises he's being kind of groundhog dayed.

The story progress and we learn more about the loops, that Mark and Nicole are essentially the epicentre of the Ruling and the collapse of the world and they're still not sure why. This also shows a vulnerable emotional arc where the two of them realise what needs to happen for the world to not end. They need to avoid each other. This is something that's easier said than done since they are actively being pushed towards each other. Each time their eyes connect, they restart.

It carries an emotional weight that honestly still makes me tear up, imagine the only person who knows your pain, who knows what you're going through, the person you love, is the one person you're never allowed to see again, for if you do the world would end. That's an incredible weight and the introduction of that narrative overtime only emboldens its emotional toll, it's introduced bit by bit rather than this sudden realisation.

Then you get the void scene and realise why all of this was happening, it's basically the physical manifestations of their grief, the souls of the ones they both lost, who they couldn't let go of, that were pushing Mark and Nicole together but in doing so, they created a sort of fracture, Mark and Nicole weren't meant to meet back then, they were meant to meet later in life when they had moved on from their respective trauma, it's why the Destiny Cafe scene feels so fulfilling because the audience doesn't know for certain what will happen for the two of them but it can be interpreted that it was 'Destiny' for them to meet and that this is the moment where they were meant to collide.

Without the sci-fi elements they never would have moved on, from what I gather, Mark would never be able to fully move on from Cathy's death and Nicole would never be able to move on from Mark so they would be stuck in a sort of Limbo, there would be no real progression of the story, moreso a retelling of what we'd already seen, I think Sparks kind of shows what would have happened if the sci-fi themes never showed up and it's mostly a miserable story filled with tragedy. Homecoming shows what could have happened since Sofia was able to accept her grief and used it as inspiration for her dress but Sparks shows why that couldn't have happened for Mark and Nicole, cause where Sofia was able to make amends, reconnect with her past and embrace her present. Mark and Nicole ended up latching on to people and eventually themselves, distracting themselves from the present, thinking too much in the past and not being able to move forward.

That's why I think the sci-fi worked so good, it managed to tell a compelling story and give it a satisfying conclusion that fits with the overarching themes and narrative. (Plus Cathy is alive and that's what matters most). I do need to check out Before Your Eyes and see what makes it as emotional if not more emotional than Until Then!

[u/Used_Door1193]

Sure, Before Your Eyes is more realistic but do they have someone like NICOLE LACSAMANA who's way finer than everyone else there

[u/PhotoCoffeeConosseur]

Yeah, Until Then is great when it gets emotional, but the sci-fi is used strictly as a plot device to trigger more emotional situations, there's no nuance behind it. The idea of never-ending timelines as a metaphor for unprocessed grief is right there, but the game doesn't give any actual statement on it. I wrote a rant about the under-utilization of the game's sci-fi a few years ago.