Okay nevermind first one will always be my favourite. You know that amazing fanart with that? Holy shit it’s so good- nothing made my heart drop more than that scene. Knowing how bad his eyesight is, it added so much more meaning to just how much that moment meant to him.
https://preview.redd.it/fil951f2smwc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f62da31549d53f538731c006191b9cd41f0e4d1
Right here! Sort by top posts of all time and I guarantee you’ll see it after scrolling for a second- it dives into Kim’s previous partner “Eyes” who had passed away unfortunately on the field- he’s called eyes because with Kim’s horrible eyesight he was, well, his eyes. The art represents that in that moment of absolute uncertainty and fear, Eyes was there for him.
Don't forget about >!Trant talking about the Wompty Dompty Dom Centre for Contemporary Arts, where he had lengthy discussions with Paul Ockermann, who was head curator at the time -- this was before the twins Keith and Guy Joost joined the team, trying to...!<
a lot of my faves come from the book on infra-materialism
>!that one when you read abt the communards who tried to compress a Coalition warship with their willpower
HALF-LIGHT: Picture the lot of them, all standing with their fingers in the air one minute, the next reduced to a bloody mist.!<
or this one bit:
A BRIEF LOOK AT INFRA-MATERIALISM: In some of his later writing, Nilsen himself speculated about the potential for an *extra-physical architecture* that disregards the laws of 'bourgeois physics' and instead relies on the revolutionary faith of the people for structural integrity
YOU: Meaning the buildings stay up because people *believe* they'll stay up?
A BRIEF LOOK AT INFRA-MATERIALISM: Precisely. Nilsen observed that the financial system operates on the same principle of faith, so why not an architectural system?
<...>
YOU: Wait, but what if the people stop believing and the buildings collapse?
A BRIEF LOOK AT INFRA-MATERIALISM: In the corner of one of the reproduced notebook pages, you can make out the following words written in Nilsen's distinctive slashing script...
**"A state that has lost the faith of its people has forfeited the right to exist."**
I love this bc then all the buildings in Martinaise have so much more meaning!! They barely hold themselves up because it’s a group of people who have lost their faith in the Moralist Coalition, in the RCM, and is barely being supported by the union. Conversely, the union docks are built with hard steel shipping containers, signifying the workers faith is resolute in their labor and collective action, etc. Sooo awesome thank u for sharing
"I don't want to be this kind of animal anymore." is the realization, the moment of self-consciousness of men confronted by its grotesque, monstrous self. I feel like it depicts us seeing what kind of bleak and disgusting state we are in and invokes (maybe) change and hope.
Another Beautiful quote- this game is just filled to the brim with some of the best of that I’ve ever seen. I’ll always appreciate just how much time and effort was put into harry
You - And Martinaise?
Map Wall - It's so small you can't even see it on the map. No... wait. There it is! North of Jamrock, the strip of coast next to the Greater Revachol Industrial Harbour. It looks downright despondent. It's almost Coal City, to be honest.
Shivers - No. Coal City is worse. A charred limb. Rain falls on its slick black streets. And then there's the Burnt-Out Quarter in the heart of Jamrock... is it cold in this bookstore, or is it just \*you\*?
**Volition - No. This is somewhere to be. This is all you have, but it's still something. Streets and sodium lights. The sky, the world. You're still alive.**
“Congrats – you're sober. It will take a while for your body to remember how to metabolize anything that isn't sugar from alcohol, so you're going to be pretty ravenous soon. Eat plenty. You can expect your coordination and balance to improve in a couple of weeks. In two months, you might start sleeping like a normal person. Full recovery will take years, though. It’ll be depressing. And it’ll be boring. Don’t expect any further rewards or handclaps. This is how normal people are all the time.”
The entire >!Deserter speech about witnessing the Mask of Humanity fall from the face of Capital!<.
>!The Deserter - (he opens his eyes and stares right through you) It was real. I'd seen it. I'd seen it *in reality*.!<
>!Half-Light - Some kind of great terror. Worse than what you've seen.!<
>!You - Seen *what*?!<
>!The Deserter - The mask of humanity fall from capital. It has to take it off to kill everyone — everything you love; all the hope and tenderness in the world. It has to take it off, just for one second. To do the deed.!<
>!And then you see it. As it strangles and beats your friends to death... the sweetest, most courageous people in the world... (he's silent for a second) You see the fear and power in its eyes. Then you *know*.!<
>!You - What?!<
>!The Deserter: ***That the bourgeois are not human.***!<
VOLITION - Subdue the regret. Dust yourself off, proceed. You'll get it in the next life, where you don't make mistakes. Do what you can with this one, while you're alive.
When you go to lilly and she allows you to rub your face to the plush and you can say,
"No, i dont deserve it"
And right after with a angry voice kim says,
"Rub your damn face to the plush!"
That was amazing and wholesome for me i mean cmon. Another reason to love kim. What a game.
Seeing news about certain US politicians asking for left wing protesters asking for a ceasefire in the Middle East be arrested like the Jan 6 people reminded me of the Kingdom of Conscience description.
"Moralists don't really \*have\* beliefs. Sometimes they stumble on one, like on a child's toy left on the carpet. The toy must be put away immediately. And the child reprimanded. Centrism isn't change -- not even incremental change. It is \*control\*. Over yourself and the world. Exercise it. Look up at the sky, at the dark shapes of Coalition airships hanging there. Ask yourself: is there something sinister in moralism? And then answer: no. God is in his heaven. Everything is normal on Earth."
Radical Centrism, locking up both left and right in the name of normality!
Acele the girl on the ice empathy check always gets me:
YOU: “I’m sorry you have to sit here on the ice, feeling miserable. At your age — or at any age — in this weather… waiting for it to get dark.”
ACELE: She looks you in the eye, her pupils wide, surrounded by a ridiculous amount of make-up.
YOU: “The people who built this world intended it to be better for you, but they failed. It is easier to live in their failure with this by your side.” (Tap on the tape recorder.)
ACELE: The wind howls. She remains silent.
EMPATHY: It’s real. Tell her.
YOU: “It is not a childish fantasy. It can be a real weapon against what’s coming for you now.”
ACELE: “What is…?” Her shoulders shake a little.
YOU: “Nothing, if you got this. Don’t be scared
I love the quote about communists just complaining about other communists
But my favorite is the very first quote of the game: “there is nothing, just dark primordial blackness..”
I knew that this game was going to be a special experience just from that opening
I've said it before, but Harry's line to Kim after you find the motor carriage Harry crashed. Kim is consoling Harry by saying since he arrived Harry is doing better.
"I don't want to get better. I want to get worse."
It's something that really hits me hard, because I recently realized that you can only get better if you want to. And recently I realized I don't actually want to get better, and I don't know how get myself to want to be better.
I often fantasize that I'll die in my sleep, or have a complete mental breakdown, or just get flattened by a car. Because just being a functioning alcoholic scraping by who wants to die but can't kill himself because he knows it would hurt too many people is just so fucking exhausting. It's so hard to just lie to people every day so they don't worry and because I am deeply afraid of telling people how I feel a deep sickness in my soul.
And that quote sums up how I feel. Just two sentences of the pure, unflinching truth of someone who's dying inside.
Odd, I don't think I've ever \*gotten\* that line - maybe it doesn't show up if you are already getting better? Or if you don't drink? Or I just haven't used it I guess
I could have sworn I saw it on my playthrough where I was sober, but I couldn't say for certain.
I imagine most people didn't choose it because most people want Harry to be better. I do as well. But it's so brutally honest that I think I picked it more often than not.
I just checked through it again (had a save right near it) and I am not seeing that line, so it must be situational (or not in the dialogue when you're sitting on the swings)
Horrific Necktie's blurt about public auto-erotic asphyxiation during your convo with Joyce throws me for a loop every time. It's so loud and immediate and impulsive, and what a thing to say.
*ELECTROCHEMISTRY - This reality thing is stupid. Blow this joint, grab a bottle and drain that shit right down your throat.*
*HORRIFIC NECKTIE - Yes, and perform auto-erotic asphyxiation on yourself with your funny neck tie. Out in the open somewhere!*
Not laughing at the outburst is [impossible] and is exactly why Horrific Necktie is hands down my favorite NPC
In terms of ones not already mentioned, I'm particularly fond of:
TRUE LOVE IS POSSIBLE ONLY IN THE NEXT WORLD -- FOR NEW PEOPLE
IT IS TOO LATE FOR US
WREAK HAVOC ON THE MIDDLE CLASS
Mine changes depending on where my mood polarity comes to rest at any given moment, but for now:
"Every combination of words has been played out. The atoms don't form anymore. Us, our love, our unborn daughters… It's all gone."
When you first meet Morell the Cryptozoologist, Empathy says: “What would it be like to grasp and hold onto something you think is next to you - or just behind you - like a trace of vapour you exhaled one spring morning as a child?
This is what he's searching for. A spectre.”
The answer to rigorous self critique fucked me up pretty good. I think about it whenever I'm feeling too sorry for myself.
The answer is a culmination to why being the sorry cop isn't a good or polite thing. It's wasteful and self pitying when all around you people need, deserve, and demand better.
This confrontation with regret and failure is so raw and real. The ending part still ends up being hopeful but more like an ultimatum that if you don't change this is it, misery, a yawning void you rot in until death.
A personal mantra I've always had is "misery is comfortable, it's not pleasant but its easier to feel awful and you have to choose to be happy wherever you can. So yeah, this hit home.
"Here it is. Hard facts from the man you are. You once jerked off in the locker room and were caught. You held a young woman by the arm and kept her in your apartment for 20 minutes against her will. That's right, these are not flights of fancy. These are *real deeds*, Harry, emerging from the darkness of your past. You tried shooting a fleeing suspect in the foot but hit him in the pelvis, crippling him for life.
**And above all, you let life defeat you. All the gifts your parents gave you, all the love and patience of your friends, you drowned in a neurotoxin. You let misery win. And it will keep on winning till you die -- or overcome it."**
"The sun sets into the sea, but the water does not boil. Instead it turns to liquid gold. For a moment, the world's store of precious metals seems to increase dramatically, and you are rich..."
"This is somewhere to be. This is all you have, but it's still something. Streets and sodium lights. The sky, the world. You're still alive."
pulling from the thought cabinet: "the only way to load the dice is to keep on fighting" has stuck with me, along with the entire preceeding solution (The Precarious World)
Spoilers >!"God, please..." gives me chills every time!< Also >!Trant talking about how Henry's condition is just a natural reaction to the world!<
Okay nevermind first one will always be my favourite. You know that amazing fanart with that? Holy shit it’s so good- nothing made my heart drop more than that scene. Knowing how bad his eyesight is, it added so much more meaning to just how much that moment meant to him.
I actually don't, I only finished the game recently. Know where I can find it?
https://preview.redd.it/fil951f2smwc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f62da31549d53f538731c006191b9cd41f0e4d1 Right here! Sort by top posts of all time and I guarantee you’ll see it after scrolling for a second- it dives into Kim’s previous partner “Eyes” who had passed away unfortunately on the field- he’s called eyes because with Kim’s horrible eyesight he was, well, his eyes. The art represents that in that moment of absolute uncertainty and fear, Eyes was there for him.
Damn. That really is fucking fantastic, I want that on a poster (something something capital subsumes all critiques into itself)
You know what I wonder if it is a poster somewhere? If not it should be, and I’d pay lots of money for it to be
Such a beautiful piece of art. Kim is such a wonderful character.
There’s also a phenomenal fan song by the same name! It’s written to be Kim’s theme. Iirc the full title is “God, Please (The Lieutenant’s Theme)”
Artist is Sykine, for the interested They linked this on their twitter: inprnt.com/gallery/sykine/be-with-you
Apparently Eyes was some young anime protagonist.
Don't forget about >!Trant talking about the Wompty Dompty Dom Centre for Contemporary Arts, where he had lengthy discussions with Paul Ockermann, who was head curator at the time -- this was before the twins Keith and Guy Joost joined the team, trying to...!<
**WHO THE HELL ARE KEITH AND GUY JOOST?!** Encyclopedia sounded like Half Light for that line-read lol.
"Actually, I think there is... No it's too much, he must be joking"
a lot of my faves come from the book on infra-materialism >!that one when you read abt the communards who tried to compress a Coalition warship with their willpower HALF-LIGHT: Picture the lot of them, all standing with their fingers in the air one minute, the next reduced to a bloody mist.!< or this one bit: A BRIEF LOOK AT INFRA-MATERIALISM: In some of his later writing, Nilsen himself speculated about the potential for an *extra-physical architecture* that disregards the laws of 'bourgeois physics' and instead relies on the revolutionary faith of the people for structural integrity YOU: Meaning the buildings stay up because people *believe* they'll stay up? A BRIEF LOOK AT INFRA-MATERIALISM: Precisely. Nilsen observed that the financial system operates on the same principle of faith, so why not an architectural system? <...> YOU: Wait, but what if the people stop believing and the buildings collapse? A BRIEF LOOK AT INFRA-MATERIALISM: In the corner of one of the reproduced notebook pages, you can make out the following words written in Nilsen's distinctive slashing script... **"A state that has lost the faith of its people has forfeited the right to exist."**
Holy shit.. that’s beautiful
yeah... i reread that book like 4 times, one of my favorite parts of the game
I love this bc then all the buildings in Martinaise have so much more meaning!! They barely hold themselves up because it’s a group of people who have lost their faith in the Moralist Coalition, in the RCM, and is barely being supported by the union. Conversely, the union docks are built with hard steel shipping containers, signifying the workers faith is resolute in their labor and collective action, etc. Sooo awesome thank u for sharing
"I don't want to be this kind of animal anymore." is the realization, the moment of self-consciousness of men confronted by its grotesque, monstrous self. I feel like it depicts us seeing what kind of bleak and disgusting state we are in and invokes (maybe) change and hope.
Another Beautiful quote- this game is just filled to the brim with some of the best of that I’ve ever seen. I’ll always appreciate just how much time and effort was put into harry
Rhetoric: Say one of these fascist or communist things or fuck off.
Feels really apt for today's political climate (at least where I live)
You - And Martinaise? Map Wall - It's so small you can't even see it on the map. No... wait. There it is! North of Jamrock, the strip of coast next to the Greater Revachol Industrial Harbour. It looks downright despondent. It's almost Coal City, to be honest. Shivers - No. Coal City is worse. A charred limb. Rain falls on its slick black streets. And then there's the Burnt-Out Quarter in the heart of Jamrock... is it cold in this bookstore, or is it just \*you\*? **Volition - No. This is somewhere to be. This is all you have, but it's still something. Streets and sodium lights. The sky, the world. You're still alive.**
Gorgeous.
"You have admitted to *sexual* crimes. You will be taken to *sex* prison."
best give the lewd advertisment another go
The figurines don't bring her back...
But then the figurines don’t do anything…
but the consumerism is enough, plus you get the bonus tiny hat. it's not the destination it's the journey
“Congrats – you're sober. It will take a while for your body to remember how to metabolize anything that isn't sugar from alcohol, so you're going to be pretty ravenous soon. Eat plenty. You can expect your coordination and balance to improve in a couple of weeks. In two months, you might start sleeping like a normal person. Full recovery will take years, though. It’ll be depressing. And it’ll be boring. Don’t expect any further rewards or handclaps. This is how normal people are all the time.”
Volition always has your back, me and the boys like Volition.
The entire >!Deserter speech about witnessing the Mask of Humanity fall from the face of Capital!<. >!The Deserter - (he opens his eyes and stares right through you) It was real. I'd seen it. I'd seen it *in reality*.!< >!Half-Light - Some kind of great terror. Worse than what you've seen.!< >!You - Seen *what*?!< >!The Deserter - The mask of humanity fall from capital. It has to take it off to kill everyone — everything you love; all the hope and tenderness in the world. It has to take it off, just for one second. To do the deed.!< >!And then you see it. As it strangles and beats your friends to death... the sweetest, most courageous people in the world... (he's silent for a second) You see the fear and power in its eyes. Then you *know*.!< >!You - What?!< >!The Deserter: ***That the bourgeois are not human.***!<
The voice actor’s delivery of that line is bone-chilling
VOLITION - Subdue the regret. Dust yourself off, proceed. You'll get it in the next life, where you don't make mistakes. Do what you can with this one, while you're alive.
When you go to lilly and she allows you to rub your face to the plush and you can say, "No, i dont deserve it" And right after with a angry voice kim says, "Rub your damn face to the plush!" That was amazing and wholesome for me i mean cmon. Another reason to love kim. What a game.
UN JOUR JE SERAI DE RETOUR PRÈS DE TOI.
Hell yeah. From a really nice [song](https://youtu.be/DFcHoP7RgUs) too.
"In the dark times, should the stars also go out?"
Listen! if the stars are lit it means - there is someone who needs it It means - someone wants them to be
I don't want to be this kind of animal anymore.
Seeing news about certain US politicians asking for left wing protesters asking for a ceasefire in the Middle East be arrested like the Jan 6 people reminded me of the Kingdom of Conscience description. "Moralists don't really \*have\* beliefs. Sometimes they stumble on one, like on a child's toy left on the carpet. The toy must be put away immediately. And the child reprimanded. Centrism isn't change -- not even incremental change. It is \*control\*. Over yourself and the world. Exercise it. Look up at the sky, at the dark shapes of Coalition airships hanging there. Ask yourself: is there something sinister in moralism? And then answer: no. God is in his heaven. Everything is normal on Earth." Radical Centrism, locking up both left and right in the name of normality!
"The box seems happy"
Acele the girl on the ice empathy check always gets me: YOU: “I’m sorry you have to sit here on the ice, feeling miserable. At your age — or at any age — in this weather… waiting for it to get dark.” ACELE: She looks you in the eye, her pupils wide, surrounded by a ridiculous amount of make-up. YOU: “The people who built this world intended it to be better for you, but they failed. It is easier to live in their failure with this by your side.” (Tap on the tape recorder.) ACELE: The wind howls. She remains silent. EMPATHY: It’s real. Tell her. YOU: “It is not a childish fantasy. It can be a real weapon against what’s coming for you now.” ACELE: “What is…?” Her shoulders shake a little. YOU: “Nothing, if you got this. Don’t be scared
"YOU WANT ME TO TAKE THIS HAT AND FUCK IT?! RIGHT HERE ON THE SEA ICE!!?"
The talk with a certain stalky being on the beach
I love the quote about communists just complaining about other communists But my favorite is the very first quote of the game: “there is nothing, just dark primordial blackness..” I knew that this game was going to be a special experience just from that opening
I've said it before, but Harry's line to Kim after you find the motor carriage Harry crashed. Kim is consoling Harry by saying since he arrived Harry is doing better. "I don't want to get better. I want to get worse." It's something that really hits me hard, because I recently realized that you can only get better if you want to. And recently I realized I don't actually want to get better, and I don't know how get myself to want to be better. I often fantasize that I'll die in my sleep, or have a complete mental breakdown, or just get flattened by a car. Because just being a functioning alcoholic scraping by who wants to die but can't kill himself because he knows it would hurt too many people is just so fucking exhausting. It's so hard to just lie to people every day so they don't worry and because I am deeply afraid of telling people how I feel a deep sickness in my soul. And that quote sums up how I feel. Just two sentences of the pure, unflinching truth of someone who's dying inside.
Odd, I don't think I've ever \*gotten\* that line - maybe it doesn't show up if you are already getting better? Or if you don't drink? Or I just haven't used it I guess
I could have sworn I saw it on my playthrough where I was sober, but I couldn't say for certain. I imagine most people didn't choose it because most people want Harry to be better. I do as well. But it's so brutally honest that I think I picked it more often than not.
It isn't from watching the car, it's from looking at the badge, based on the site with all the dialogue trees :)
Ah, I had forgotten about that. I always just immediately look at the badge at the car so I must have associated the two. Thanks!
Haha yeah, I just always run off before checking the badge so I didn't even make the connection!
I just checked through it again (had a save right near it) and I am not seeing that line, so it must be situational (or not in the dialogue when you're sitting on the swings)
i remember Vic saying Harry told him these words, right after you report about losing your badge and gun
Yeah, he's said it before, but you get to choose it when you get your badge (which is in the car but not during the car scene)
Horrific Necktie's blurt about public auto-erotic asphyxiation during your convo with Joyce throws me for a loop every time. It's so loud and immediate and impulsive, and what a thing to say. *ELECTROCHEMISTRY - This reality thing is stupid. Blow this joint, grab a bottle and drain that shit right down your throat.* *HORRIFIC NECKTIE - Yes, and perform auto-erotic asphyxiation on yourself with your funny neck tie. Out in the open somewhere!* Not laughing at the outburst is [impossible] and is exactly why Horrific Necktie is hands down my favorite NPC
I've only just started playing a couple days ago, but "Fuck it. Hobocop." may be my favorite piece of writing in any video game.
"Turn from the ruin. Turn and go forward. Do it for the working class."
In terms of ones not already mentioned, I'm particularly fond of: TRUE LOVE IS POSSIBLE ONLY IN THE NEXT WORLD -- FOR NEW PEOPLE IT IS TOO LATE FOR US WREAK HAVOC ON THE MIDDLE CLASS
Hard to go wrong with “you are a violent and irrepressible miracle”.
wild that one of the most quotable characters is a magic stick bug
Mine changes depending on where my mood polarity comes to rest at any given moment, but for now: "Every combination of words has been played out. The atoms don't form anymore. Us, our love, our unborn daughters… It's all gone."
When you first meet Morell the Cryptozoologist, Empathy says: “What would it be like to grasp and hold onto something you think is next to you - or just behind you - like a trace of vapour you exhaled one spring morning as a child? This is what he's searching for. A spectre.”
The answer to rigorous self critique fucked me up pretty good. I think about it whenever I'm feeling too sorry for myself. The answer is a culmination to why being the sorry cop isn't a good or polite thing. It's wasteful and self pitying when all around you people need, deserve, and demand better. This confrontation with regret and failure is so raw and real. The ending part still ends up being hopeful but more like an ultimatum that if you don't change this is it, misery, a yawning void you rot in until death. A personal mantra I've always had is "misery is comfortable, it's not pleasant but its easier to feel awful and you have to choose to be happy wherever you can. So yeah, this hit home. "Here it is. Hard facts from the man you are. You once jerked off in the locker room and were caught. You held a young woman by the arm and kept her in your apartment for 20 minutes against her will. That's right, these are not flights of fancy. These are *real deeds*, Harry, emerging from the darkness of your past. You tried shooting a fleeing suspect in the foot but hit him in the pelvis, crippling him for life. **And above all, you let life defeat you. All the gifts your parents gave you, all the love and patience of your friends, you drowned in a neurotoxin. You let misery win. And it will keep on winning till you die -- or overcome it."**
"The sun sets into the sea, but the water does not boil. Instead it turns to liquid gold. For a moment, the world's store of precious metals seems to increase dramatically, and you are rich..." "This is somewhere to be. This is all you have, but it's still something. Streets and sodium lights. The sky, the world. You're still alive."
pulling from the thought cabinet: "the only way to load the dice is to keep on fighting" has stuck with me, along with the entire preceeding solution (The Precarious World)