The dude in the present-day timeline slaps on his goggles and says to himself words to the effect of, "Okay, time to see if there's anything good in here that can be made into a video game."
That strongly, strongly suggests that he's reviewing the data he actually got from the subject's memory, and the timeline -- as in, the lack of virtually any time at all between him extracting the memories and reviewing them -- further supports that implication.
One reason I called it a complete self-own is because just a tiny bit of extra effort would've smoothed it out completely.
Sorry, but I strongly disagree. The fact that, multiple times, after the doctor puts on the headset the program specifically says it's creating
simulations tells me this isn't just looking at the data. It's looking at the data and creating extrapolations on said data. Obviously you feel otherwise, but it seemed obvious to me the machine was creating a video-game-ish VR experience and not just showing memories of Cecelia.
you apparently have zero interest in playing with or seriously interrogating the concept of memory... why even bother with all that setup in the first place?
Because it demonstrates the doctor's true motives, despite what he claims. Remember, he started to pitch the idea for its video game potential. At the bar, he again brought up the idea of a video game. So despite running the clinic to be "benevolent" or whatever, he
actually wants memories as a foundation for a VR interactive experience.
And I disagree with your description of internal vs. external consistencies. The doctor is duplicitous; that doesn't make what is being created and interaction within that inconsistent at all. People lie IRL; that doesn't make what they do necessarily inconsistent with their true motives. Hell, there have been historically therapists who have go so far as to get their doctorates solely so they later can do horrible things with their "patients". The fact that they went to all of that effort doesn't run contrary to what their true goals were at all. In this case,
your interpretation of the game's intent is the issue.
As far as I've seen, this game was never meant to be some examination of memories in any thought-provoking or emotionally moving way. Theory-crafting really doesn't have much of a (if any) place in this game. It's basically a quick fap game with the backstory as window dressing to give a loose theme to potentially an entire series of games where this doctor is involved.
You didn't really want to limit the material to the older woman's memories. You didn't even want her to be the focal/anchor character. You didn't want to explore the idea of "changing the past" in a subjective sense as a form of therapy. You didn't want to challenge players on any level with the fact that memories are difficult for people to consciously, proactively change.
If the game you made had just straight-up been the "game within a game yadda yadda," what would have been lost?
Correct. The intent was never to limit content to the older woman's memories. As far as the VR-goggles experience the doctor himself has, you are correct that the idea of changing the past was never to be explored nor used as a form of therapy. It's totally possible
later sessions with the woman could do something like that. But the actual experience we as players see isn't meant to be that therapy. It's instead meant to be the doctor perving out by using the data from her memories and an extrapolated, simulated "game world" through which he can get his rocks off. The doctor never really left his video game idea behind, even if masked behind the veneer of clinical therapy.
I would say Cecelia (the older woman's default name)
is a focal character; she's just not
the PoV one. In the older television series
Twin Peaks, the story primarily focuses around Laura Palmer and the life she led before she died. Barring its prequel film,
Firewalk with Me, Laura is practically not in the series at all. Sure, there's the murder investigation as the initial vehicle to kick things off, but the focus of that entire series is
not Laura, but instead the town left reeling after her demise.
Obviously in a
much less serious tone,
The Mystery Machine is
primarily about the ability of the doctor (and so, us as players in the doctor's shoes) to use Cecelia's memories as
the basis for a computer-generated world that allows for free interaction with characters and things in the environment. I should clarify that we are
not actually the doctor himself; we are the in-simulation MC that interacts with the environment. So while the doctor himself does immoral things by violating Cecelia's trust and privacy, we ourselves are just a character within that simulated environment. We're playing as "Person young Cici knows" in the simulation,
not the pervy doctor.
Once generated, it's all about the male MC from her past and his interactions with Cici, Sophia, and potentially other people within the world where Cecelia's memories took place. The trigger for Cici's bad memories is never specified, so that guy in her past may very well have never done anything pervy with her in reality. We just don't know.
Again, this is because what the doctor creates at night by himself is a simulation; it's not a fact-verification or reality recreation. Within that video-game simulation, the focal character
is the younger version of that older woman. She's the focus because the entirety of the environment in the VR experience exists because of memories she had. But that environment is only
based on those memories, it's not an exact replication of them.
The PoV character is the male MC within the simulation, who interacts with the generated environment, allowing the player to choose interactions and the machine-generated result of those.
If anything, this would be more of an exploration of AI and the consequences / dangers / pleasures / abuses of modern technology. (Although, I wouldn't think that this game / game series will ever try to explore those themes too deeply, either.) It was never really meant as some psychological analysis or philosophical-discussion catalyst.
