2.- Raven doesn't seem to be a good old Jiminy Cricket, she is not there to help Elsa mature but just to make her realize her powers are supposed to be used for many other things than sex. She fucking broke Elsa's boyfriend's finger after almost suffocating him, and her ways to make Elsa realize there's something more to herself are, in general, kind of half-assed. So I wouldn't count on her to be the smartest love counselor around - chances are that this inner side of Elsa could've actually been telling her to forget about that guy who is acting like a hindrance to her, preventing her from releasing her full potential.
We don't see enough of Raven to get a clear picture and Tlaero may have twists instore for us down the line, but I definitely get the impressions she's meant to be somewhat sympathetic. She at least claims to feel bad about hurting Jason, and it's unlikely Jason was ever in actual danger of suffocating (not that that excuses Raven's actions). At any rate, I wasn't trying to imply that Raven was a deliberate self-improvement guru for Elsa, more that she's presented as a sign Elsa wants to move on from the immature use of her powers (as a glorified sex toy) and accept greater responsibility. Having Elsa
appear to ignore her relationship issues so she can pursue 'the greater good' muddles that metaphor.
Now it's entirely possible the dissonance is deliberate, or that Elsa is working hard to patch things up with Jason and we simply didn't see it in
Transitions. Those are both valid explanations, but I'm always nervous about plot arcs that are entirely reliant on later twists to feel satisfying - especially when the wait can be a long one. IMHO, sometimes it's better to forego a little of the shock from a surprise to keep things from feeling too out of whack during the windup. A feint that fools the audience
completely is, in my experience, self-defeating.
3.- In Nightmares, despite the initial shock after the finger incident, Jason shows he's willing to understand and support Elsa through her issues. So yeah, I can see why it's shocking that now we are told this is still an issue for Jason. But the way I see it, to him, now the broken finger is not an issue in itself (it's obvious he accepted her explanations and apologies, as they are still together), but more like a first sign of warning: this Elsa is not the same girl anymore. She has started to use her power for bigger things and just grew too much for Jason, whose canon characterization is that of an insecure, simple guy who always believed a stronger woman than the cliched shy librarian from the original title would be out of his league. If you read Multiplicity, he's still that guy and now he doesn't even have Elsa at her place anymore, as she's saving others like Miranda. Of course, Jason wouldn't dare to complain about Elsa helping a friend, but it doesn't change the fact that she's not there for him and he's not her main focus anymore. Before Trisha's arrival, he was probably on the verge of internally accepting (even though he wouldn't ever admit it or voice it up, most likely) he has already lost that girl he knew in DwE and should decide whether to fight back against this (which would imply actually maturing up and growing himself) or just let her go. Then Trisha gets there, makes him verbalize all of this, and with a little power nudge he decides to cheat on Elsa on her own bed. But yeah, this is just my headcanon. CB doesn't even mention Jason and Elsa, so we'll see.
I'm willing to believe Jason has lingering resentments (or fears) he was unwilling to articulate to Elsa (or his other friends), and that Trisha could exploit those feelings in some way. But that's the *start* of a character arc, not the whole thing. I can't go straight from "exploitable vulnerabilities" to "Jason betraying Elsa's trust in the most fundamental ways possible" without some level of introspection/angst/cries for help from Jason. Not unless Trisha's power is flat-out mind control, but that's definitely not what's implied (and would be a nuclear-powered can of worms in its own right).
4.- I'm open to admitting that powers have, indeed, a convenient way to work throughout the whole saga, as in there's always a very specific detail that lets you either use it or overcome it, depending on what the story needs at that point. They are always explained in retrospect to make them fit the narrative -and we could argue whether this is a sign of writing excellence, as in 'she's a master who has everything planned in advance', or just a dirty trick, as in 'she never explains powers extensively and in advance so that she always has this ace on her sleeve to close her plot-holes'. Now you mention it, yeah, it seems Trisha shouldn't have needed the sex to get the code -so I guess we'll be getting some proper explanation when Trisha's power is actually revealed, as it has been the case all the time. Charles' power, for instance, is actually consistent despite your doubts because CB's post-credit scene shows it has a very limited range. Enough to make Maria's show go unnoticed that evening, not enough to cancel Jessica's power if he was a dozen of meters away from the stage. He was just immune to her singing, like a whole bunch of other people close to Jess and, eventually, half of Sangrive and even of the world population, if Mayhem are so successful.
Let's cover this below.
First, thank you for playing so many of my games!
Second, I love these conversations about the characters in the games. Thank you for taking the time to write so much. Your post is well thought out and presented respectfully, and I really appreciate that.
My pleasure. I have my quibbles with the various games, but I'm glad I played them. Honestly, Sylvia and Sarah alone were worth the price of admission.
I can't address too much without giving away future stories, so this post may not be very satisfying. I'll go meta level first.
I don't like, "And they lived happily ever after." Life is hard. You have ups and downs, wins and losses. Even powerful people screw up and go through hard times. I wanted that reality in Elsa and Jason's relationship, to make them live through hard times and, hopefully, get stronger as a result of them.
I've no objection to seeing Elsa and Jason go through the crucible. As a hopeless romantic I'd obviously prefer to see them emerge the stronger for it, but even seeing people break during their test can be satisfying in its own way - if it's handled well and especially if it leads into other stories. But as I said, I don't think it's something that should be done lightly, and IMHO
Transitions just didn't give the Elsa/Jason relationship the focus or detail it needed.
As for living happily ever after, I certainly respect your view. Sometimes we do need to rein in the sunshine and rainbows with a cold splash of reality, and there's unquestionably a lot of mileage to be gained by asking what happens after the story ends. But then again, sometimes you need to buck cynicism and go for broke; we all need a happy fantasy once in a while. Being a man of simple tastes, I tend to prefer the fairy tale (and it seems to be in something of a downswing at the moment), but there's plenty of room for both approaches.
That said, IMHO converting an existing 'happily ever after' into a 'reality ensued' is a perilous endeavor. Once you let the genie out of the bottle, it's a real bitch to get it back in there. If the sequel isn't as satisfying as the original ending, there's no going back (
*still* looking at you, Madoka Magica!! ).
Now ultimately this is your story and I wasn't particularly invested in the happy ending, so I'm content to roll with it. But I get why people who were more invested would react so viscerally. It's all the more reason to tread carefully when blazing the path away from the first story to next.
I've been setting up this fall for a while. I'd argue that you see Elsa starting to overshadow Jason in the first short story after DwE (Learning to Fly) and even more in the second one (Dreaming with the Dead). She's been pushing her boundaries with him for a while now and, so far, he appears to be growing slower than she has. The situation that he's in now is definitely a growth opportunity for him.
I don't know if overshadowed is quite the right word here; Elsa outclassed him the instant she read Morpheus. But I think I understand what you're saying. Elsa's treatment of Jason does take on a a more patronizing tone starting in the short stories, as though he's a stubborn child who needs to be tutored rather than a peer that may have his own tastes and priorities. Perhaps 'outgrow' would be a better term? (At least from Elsa's POV, I don't think she's objectively more mature.)
At any rate, I actually agree Elsa's behavior in the short stories is problematic. (Personally, I though
Learning to Fly was the worse of the two; threatening to withhold sex for a month if Jason didn't throw himself off a (dream) building is comparatively trivial (and probably meant to be taken in a lighthearted manner), but it just seemed so unnecessarily adversarial.) But that's part of why I was surprised the issue hadn't been sorted out after
Elsa's Nightmares. Jason finally voiced a complaint to Elsa, and she took it very seriously. It seemed like that would naturally lead to the two discussing the topic at greater length once Elsa finally figured out what was going on with Raven.
Now I can believe that Elsa would throw herself into her new project and lose sight of this issue when they no longer spend anywhere near as much time together. That would certainly put a strain on the relationship. I can even believe Jason would feel it incumbent on him as a "supportive boyfriend" to bury his concerns and accept Elsa's new attitude, thus allowing resentment to build subtly until Trisha's appearance forced him to recognize how unhappy he'd become. I just can't accept that happening "offscreen," as it were.
There's a reason tragedies play up the hero's flaws before the fall, not after. If Jason is going to fall, *we* need to see the disaster coming even if the character is caught flatfooted.
I promise that I will resolve this situation in a future game.
I wanted to do 3 things with Transitions. Primarily, I wanted to transition the story arc from the original games where Morland was the antagonist to future games where there are other ones. Secondly, I wanted to set up the next two major games, Chasing Beth with the vigilante parts, and the next one (currently called "Dream Corps" in my head) with the Jason parts. Finally, I wanted to show how various characters who hadn't been seen in a while were getting on.
Fair enough. As I said, I'm willing to see where this goes.
Leaving it on a cliffhanger is a dirty writer's trick, but there's a reason so many of us use it...
Cliffhangers up the stakes, but that's not always a good thing. If the audience trusts you to make good on the promise inherent in the dramatic setup, the wait builds anticipation without raising expectations to unmanageable levels; you still need to stick the landing, but they won't hold a stumble or two against you. But if you lose the audience's trust, the wait gives them time to pull the premise apart and go over it with a fine-tooth comb; now they really will expect perfection because you not only need to resolve the situation, you need to justify all the things they didn't like in the setup.
Still, no guts no glory. You can't please everyone and it's a mistake to try. I do think you could have benefitted from a little more groundwork before dangling off this particular cliff, but if it's the one you have your heart set on so be it.
As for Charles at the concert, he blocks powers, not the effect of those powers. He would have needed to be close to the stage to block Jess's power. To my knowledge, I've been consistent with my use of powers in the Elsaverse, but enough years have passed through these games that it's entirely possible that I screwed things up. Heck, I got the bookstore's name wrong in the
second game and there are clear places where I plagiarized
myself and didn't even realize it until years later. I'm unquestionably fallible.
That said, if there are places where things seem off, I'm happy to discuss them.
If Charles only blocks powers at the source, that would imply he himself should be affected whenever the source power outranges him, which we know can't be the case (Jessika's song can clearly affect the entire arena). To me, this explanation means that Charles actually has two separate (though thematically related) powers: he suppresses powers within a certain radius, and he himself is unaffected by powers regardless of range.
I don't think that would contradict anything we've seen on screen (Charles doesn't appear much). The added complexity of two rules does make it feel less 'natural' than I'd like, but I guess I can live with it. It does make me wonder if Morland's already nebulous precognitive ability should have worked on Chloe whenever Charles stood next to her, but that's the sort of question
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. Better not to dwell on it.
