SmallsMalone

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Sep 7, 2017
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Hello again folks, I don't chime in very often but the latest update has gotten my attention once again. In particular, I find the discussion about the "redemption" of Ami fascinating. "She's gone too far!" (or) "She'll come around in the end!". As if we, the spectators strapping ourselves to the narrative rails of a madman, have any say in the matter.


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beh123234

Member
Dec 11, 2018
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Eventually, finally, maybe... She will either drag us into her world or fall into ours.
Gotta admit, I am a fan on inverting the trope of cosmic horror by making the mortal just as incomprehensible to the immortal. When we inevitably get into the really weird aspects of the metaphysics of the time loop and how to break it, that would be a neat angle to approach the Ami issue
 

DeanNoriko

Member
Aug 20, 2022
219
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Hello again folks, I don't chime in very often but the latest update has gotten my attention once again. In particular, I find the discussion about the "redemption" of Ami fascinating. "She's gone too far!" (or) "She'll come around in the end!". As if we, the spectators strapping ourselves to the narrative rails of a madman, have any say in the matter.


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I_Like_Your_Funny_Words,_Magic_Man.jpg

tl;dr: "Ami is an eldritch horror."
I can agree to that bottom line.
 

TheGoodPastor

Member
Feb 8, 2024
375
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Hello again folks, I don't chime in very often but the latest update has gotten my attention once again. In particular, I find the discussion about the "redemption" of Ami fascinating. "She's gone too far!" (or) "She'll come around in the end!". As if we, the spectators strapping ourselves to the narrative rails of a madman, have any say in the matter.
I mean, I think the discussion has less been "will she or won't she?" and more "is it possible for Ami to be redeemed at this point?"

As for the rest it feels kind of...Forced, to me. For starters Ami's not the sole being of her kind, she's essentially evil Maya lol she's always had at least one person - sometimes two people - to share her elongated existence with and if some of the theories here are on-track she could/should theoretically be able to teach others to maintain themselves or do it for them.

Ami's a cruel sadist who takes joy in tormenting people and her motivations are petty and small-minded, there's nothing seemingly nonsensical that could be called alien in her behaviour or reasoning - quite the contrary.

What we see is the most isolated being in the universe begging and pleading and clawing and scraping and trying everything to bring something, anything into her world so she doesn't have to face it alone.
This is just the polar opposite of what we see in Ami lol
 

SmallsMalone

Newbie
Sep 7, 2017
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This is just the polar opposite of what we see in Ami lol
Perhaps implying we literally see that in action was a mistake, the intent was that we're seeing the endgame of those intentions given unending failure and atrocities she herself has endured.

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In my view, a face value assessment based solely on the events we see on screen is judging a book by it's cover. Or at least the last chapter of an anthology.
 

DeanNoriko

Member
Aug 20, 2022
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She lives in a prison that is emotional torture to live in, regularly tortures her physically and attempts to rob her of the only thing that separates her from the rest: Her memories.
Tbf, Akira has been suffering through similar Lovecraftian shit and emotional torture all throughout the story, but especially after chapter 3, and he didn't turn out to be a supervillain that just wants to kill others.
I guess, it is implied that Ami has been going through the cycles for a lot longer, but then there is Maya Prime who, while occasionally killing someone "by accident" through interfering with the rules or by wanting to love Akira too much, she has never turned into a murderous little devil (afaik).

Besides, if you have been suffering as much as Ami apparently has, why would you then want to inflict the same on others? She literally tortured and killed several characters in this world alone, beheading Maya just to troll her "oh so beloved" Dad.
Is this supposed to be some sort of shoe-horned parallel to Akira and how his way of dealing with being abused is ending up becoming the abuser?

I think you are painting Ami in a much more favorable light than her character development (if there even was any, she might have secretly been exactly like this for the entire playthrough) deserves so far.
And I know that your intention is to justify her behavior and look at it more objectively, disregarding our "mortal" moral code and subsequent judgement, but I believe there is a lot of wishful thinking involved to facilitate that.

Then again, what do I know. I never really liked her to begin with :giggle: (Team Red path)
And ultimately I do hope that there is more to her character and motivation than what seems to have been revealed lately, as it just makes her, in my eyes, a pretty one-dimensional villain that is difficult to root for or even wish a happy ending for. Which we know she is getting, and I guess that's fine.
I just find it more and more difficult with every update to try and see her as a victim of unfortunate circumstances rather than as an instigating, evil, whiny lil' bitch.
 

TheGoodPastor

Member
Feb 8, 2024
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Perhaps implying we literally see that in action was a mistake, the intent was that we're seeing the endgame of those intentions given unending failure and atrocities she herself has endured.

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In my view, a face value assessment based solely on the events we see on screen is judging a book by it's cover. Or at least the last chapter of an anthology.
Yeah I got what you meant, I just think that what we do see on the screen implies otherwise too strongly.

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Just in case I'm coming across wrong here I'm not trying to be dismissive or argumentative here or something, just saying why I don't agree right now with this particular viewpoint on Ami. I do find the subject interesting though, I've thought about it quite a bit since I first read the event where Makoto speculates a bit on the impact of time on morality.
 

Ma1phas

Newbie
May 18, 2022
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And ultimately I do hope that there is more to her character and motivation than what seems to have been revealed lately, as it just makes her, in my eyes, a pretty one-dimensional villain that is difficult to root for or even wish a happy ending for. Which we know she is getting, and I guess that's fine.
I just find it more and more difficult with every update to try and see her as a victim of unfortunate circumstances rather than as an instigating, evil, whiny lil' bitch.
Yeah, she seems to love the idea of Akira more than she loves him as a person. Specifically, her ideal of him as a helpless, broken baby to shelter and mend just enough to keep him going. Yet seems willing to try to mentally, and based on threats, physically tear down if he grows too well to fit into her vision.

Now, devil's advocate, she implied at one point that even Maya prime's time was a blip compared to hers, so who knows how long she's had to go absolutely nuts. And whatever anomaly or protection she has may have status quo restrictions she must uphold. Frankly, if most people were caught in a multi-million year time loop where everything almost always resets back to the start every few months with no seeming consequence or way out (not that she wants the latter), there's a lot worse someone could do than temporary violence to try to maintain when things are at least set up to offer some comfort. I wouldn't doubt Maya had a violent phase seeing if killing the right people could break the loop.
 
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TheGoodPastor

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Feb 8, 2024
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Yeah, she seems to love the idea of Akira more than she loves him as a person. Specifically, her ideal of him as a helpless, broken baby to shelter and mend just enough to keep him going. Yet seems willing to try to mentally, and based on threats, physically tear down if he grows too well to fit into her vision.
I hadn't really thought about it before - probably because Akira's the adult so it's a bit out of touch with reality - but that's its own type of abusive cycle too.

Now, devil's advocate, she implied at one point that even Maya prime's time was a blip compared to hers, so who knows how long she's had to go absolutely nuts. And whatever anomaly or protection she has may have status quo restrictions she must uphold. Frankly, if most people were caught in a multi-million year time loop where everything almost always resets back to the start every few months with no seeming consequence or way out (not that she wants the latter), there's a lot worse someone could do than temporary violence to try to maintain when things are at least set up to offer some comfort. I wouldn't doubt Maya had a violent phase seeing if killing the right people could break the loop.
Yeah, that's quite possible. I wouldn't mind so much (or rather I wouldn't judge Ami as much) if that were the case here, it's more the sadism that goes along with Ami's actions and the way she views people around her that makes it so difficult to morally justify I think.

Ami's the most interesting character to me at the moment (except maybe Nao) so I hope we learn more about/see more of her soon.

But then I also hope we don't 'cos really right now I just wanna see some of the less important (plot-wise) stories go forward. Some of the girls haven't had any proper events since before I started playing 6 or 7 months ago, it's driving me kinda nuts lol
 
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