#isat meta
Text
I know it's said before, but there's something so pointed that you'll always get Siffrin's happy ending no matter how you eventually play the game, but you actively have to investigate Loop to get theirs. It both rewards players who are actively curious enough to engage with the game thoroughly, and a wonderful artistic choice for the narrative. This is not Loop's story. It never can be again. They're not required to get a happy ending. Maybe twohats isn't a happy ending either. But it's something. In the end, Loop knows they were remembered, that they were the reason Siffrin succeeded.
But you never have to do this. Siffrin's story is their own. It's your choice to bring Loop into it. To make one hats into two.
40 notes
·
View notes
Text
I have this thing when it comes to post-canon Loop. Where I understand the desire to make Loop A: a human(/human-adjacent), and B: able to return to their original timeline. Because I like happy endings. I like when people can correct their mistakes. And I've designed a human Loop! And written drabbles about them returning to their own time!
But I also think, for me, that I like the option where they have to stay as they are more. You can't go back to who you were before this. You can't go back to where you were before, either. The only way through is forward and the only way forward is through. You are not Siffrin anymore, these connections you had as Siffrin no longer belong to you.
You have to do something else, now. You are something else, now. You have to Change (not like that. Maybe a little like that), be someone new. You have to create an identity for yourself, learn to love this thing you are. Or if not love, because that sounds impossibly hard, you have to learn to live with it. You have to at least try.
Look up at the stars. They live in you, now.
115 notes
·
View notes
Text
Siffrin plays Disco Elysium AU: Featuring backseat gamer Loop.
#in stars and time#ISAT#Siffrin#Loop#disco elysium#digital art#When I first thought of a crossover I went from 1) 'ISAT Disco AU but Loop is all of the skills'#To: 2) 'Loop is in the mindspace alongside the skills#To my magnum opus: 3)'Loop is sitting next to Siffrin backseat gaming him the whole time.'#Loop beat Disco Elysium ages ago and repeated it to the point they know all the vision quests and dialogue variables.#Siffrin just started playing and Loop keeps ruining the fun by using their meta-game knowledge to try and help.#Also let's be real. Siffrin's stats are 100% completely focused into motorics and nothing else.#If we can't Savoir Faire ourselves of this situation - we will explode. Endurance? Call my insurance instead.#Thinking skills? None. Emotional intelligence and morale? A failed social interaction canonically feels like death to them.#I might have bumped Phys up but...Siffrin's Electrochem stat is like -10. And Pain Threshold is emotional durability too.#Unused part of this joke is that I set their signature skill to Drama.#Both these games made my brain melt so now I get to combine them! I have that power!#This joke made me laugh the entire 3 hours I sat down and drew it and that is what creation should be about.
354 notes
·
View notes
Text
considering how much isat is a deconstruction of the rpg genre in itself i love the way they handle smaller rpg tropes like. rpgs let you go into people's houses, but they're rarely more than one room (since they mostly only exist to build the world and provide side quests). going into people's houses is normal in vaugardian culture, but only the first room. the broken bridge that serves as a way to prevent you from going a certain direction can be leapt over really easy, actually. you don't need to pay for food and equipment, because of course people will be happy to help the group trying to save their country!
but isat still understands why these things are the way they are, and uses them anyways. the houses are still used for sidequests, and the game really wouldn't gain much from letting you explore more anyways, so why bother? the bridge still serves as a barrier for progression, because the story wouldn't work without it. you can still try to pay for food, but you're too broke so you just get it for free anyways
in any other game it'd feel like a cheap jab at the genre's quirks (despite the game falling into the same pitfalls), but isat isn't making fun of these tropes. it's just acknowledging them for what they are. and well.
here's what lies at the core of in stars and time: all of the grindy, miserable repetition of an rpg's endgame; optional conversations and sidequests that you won't gain anything from seeing; dying to the same boss over and over, and either fighting it again and again out of stubborn willpower or grinding on weaker enemies; cutscenes that you've already seen before and skip without a second thought; a path you cannot stray from, because you can not and will not choose to jump over that broken bridge.
and it's about revisiting that same story, again and again, because for all its flaws, you can't help but love it. it's about finally putting that game down when it stops bringing you joy. it's about how, even if you've moved on from something, the love you had for it was still real.
and it's about how you can still go back and revisit it, even if it's no longer the part of your life you wished it would always be.
#drop#I dont know if this is even remotely comprehensible but it's ok 👍✨️#anyways i think more people should talk about the meta elements of this game i think the meta elements are awesome actually#isat#isat spoilers
282 notes
·
View notes
Text
DAY 16: guess which game i've been replaying
#codacheetah#isat#loop isat#ddlc#sorry gamers that this is both lazy and borderline late my body has been very unkind to me today :/#anyways nooo little [redacted] star don't look into the hole of infinite choices#oh mein gott this hole is full of bright beautiful colors#i dont think loop is monika coded aside from the meta knowledge however i would play a dating sim for them.#i mean thats basically what im doing with the bright flower shenanigans anyways so
106 notes
·
View notes
Text
thinking about the relationship between sif and the universe, and related theories / headcanons aka I listened to a song and I need to get these feefees out of me
this is a lot of prelude for something that can be shown with just the video clip, but I want to include all the strings that make up this knot
Its not explicitly stated, but I believe it's pretty clear that whenever sif repeats something three times while hoping for something (sharpening the keyknife, carving in general, praying to the change god statue in dormont), he is performing wish craft.
however, he doesnt repeat anything three times when getting the keyknife. he doesnt even need to pray to get it at all, the change god just gives it to him. they say themselves that they dont care for rituals. they never even take credit for the stat buff, they only take credit for the keyknife
when sif changes how they pray at the change god statue, their method more strongly resembles the ritual to make a wish at the favor tree (picking the one you like best), and as a result the buff gets better. it is the wish craft ritual that is the important part of the prayer to that statue, not the change god
one thing that IS explicitly stated is just how powerful wish craft is for those who know the rituals, and how dangerous it is in the wrong hands. between the disappearance of colors (Im pretty sure that was the result of a wish, I may be misremembering), the disappearance of the country, and the king being nearly successful in freezing all of vaugarde in time, it only takes one wish to take out massive chunks of the world at a time
we know that wish craft is very entwined in the culture of the country (the story written about in the journal is told as a cautionary fairy tale, the rituals themselves are so deeply ingrained in sif that the wish to forget the country did not restrict his memory of the rituals, and he can perform wish craft without even being fully aware he is doing it)
it seems reasonable to me that the reason for the country's disappearance was to hide the existence of wish craft and the rituals to access that power from the rest of the world. considering sif didnt even remember his culture AND had good intentions, and still nearly ended the world, seems like that concern is pretty well founded. however, thats not the important theory Im making this post about
the country has knowledge of wish craft in conjunction with worship of the universe. "the universe leads, we can only follow," "the universe willed it," seems pretty safe to say that sif's Universe is the "entity" that is granting wishes
the way wishes are described, they dont seem like something the universe grants based on who worships it. as long as you know the ritual, you get the wish. everyone is part of the universe, after all, worshiper or not
Admittedly, its a bit of a stretch to say that the universe as a collective force has any sense of empathy for human struggles. but using the change god as an example, as spiteful as they are to sif, and unsympathetic to anything other than a human's role in the concept of change, they still show a great deal of care and favor to mira, someone who loves them. it is possible for a deity to care for those that care about it
sif, despite no longer having access to his culture or why he cares about the universe, still loves the universe, very very deeply, just as much as mira loves change. the change god says that sif's deity will never answer him, but I dont think thats the case
and this is the important headcanon that I am making this post for
sif is performing the rituals, so he gets the wishes, simple as. but I feel strongly that his wishes getting granted in very small but noticeable ways, despite not knowing how or why hes doing it, is the presence of his universe helping him, caring for him, even when he doesnt remember it
the strongest evidence for this, and the basis for this whole thing, is exactly how euphrasie breaks down in act 5
at first I only really noticed when she laughs, it reminded me very much of how the change god, a being who uses sprites of other characters and has done a whole possession, laughed during their encounter. they and euphrasie are the only two that use anything other than "ha," and right after this laugh is when her breakdown pauses and she says the lines
"... Soon you'll be able to go back to your normal lives. Away from battle and strife.
Finally, you'll all be able to go home!!!"
which, knowing the end of the game is coming, is incredibly relevant. very deliberate
before this pause, her breakdown seems pretty chaotic. the characters and the player are just coming out of one harrowing experience, and are clearly headed for another. the cohesiveness of this glitchy breakdown amongst a mess of the rest of the world doing the same isnt really high up on the list of priorities. none of the characters notice anything beyond the fact that reality is breaking, not even sif. it just sounds like scary nonsense.
but with the context of euphrasie being possessed to talk to sif, every single one of her lines makes perfect sense
(footage from Zhain Gaming on yt)
the universe is there its talking directly to him, it was there the whole time
the Universe loves Sif so much
#isat#in stars and time#isat spoilers#isat act 5 spoilers#I have no idea how obvious this is or if its old news#since I havent seen anyone else talk about it#but the relationship between sif and the universe makes me emotional#I wrote this at 3 am based on memory#at first I wasnt too confident in it since it was only based on the laugh and the lines that follow it#this was just something that made me happy that I was gonna keep no matter what#but when I went back to look at the lines and found that every one lined up‚ I cried#anyway#I wanted to write this whole thing after listening to Secret For The Mad by Dodie under the lens of the universe talking to siffrin#special shoutout to pidgey who joked that the universe was adrienne actually#they were goofing but as a high concept meta art thing I can definitely appreciate#speaks
147 notes
·
View notes
Text
I know it's a dead topic but the whole games as art thing really shows it'd teeth with bangers like Outer Wilds and In Stars and Time
Like yes they both tell a story you can tell through text or film
But to experience that? Personally?
To have to trudge the same halls and kill the same enemies and find the same items? The pay off at the end it's so much better than just Watching someone experience that and have the abridged maybe 3-5tops looping scenes with ~~slight differences~~ in either editing or acting
But to watch the sun explode every 20 minutes or to Feel the impatience of dialogue boxes grow within you as a person is significantly different
It's another layer of nuance that's executed PERFECTLY
#same can apply to going Meta with arteficial bugs#world tiles or sprite glitches forced to show that everything's unstable#nothing is real#isat spoilers#in stars and time#in stars and time spoilers#outer wilds#essay#i need to write this in full#i feel TWEWY can be added here but i havent got to playing it just yet#though ghost trick can be included in here too
80 notes
·
View notes
Text
emery and i have discussed before how relieved we are that isat isn't trying to be a meta game because we feel like after utdr those types of stories have just blown up and are overdone at this point. but like. isat still kinda is that looking back on it? but it's farrrrrr more subtle about it, which is a much welcome change. it's not treating the player like another entity like utdr or rejuv does, but we are still acknowledged in some capacity. we're also directors in this play.
#bwark#like it's there if you look into it but not a whole lot of attention is drawn to it#i love the subtlety of it because i am so tired of meta storytelling being in my face about how clever it thinks it's being#isat spoilers#<- not really but jic
30 notes
·
View notes
Text
something very funny about the undertale timeline canonically resetting if you reset the game, meanwhile in stars and time is specifically about siffrin struggling with the idea of moving on after the journey is over but in the qna the creator was like. yeah dont worry about it if you restart the game youre helping a siffrin from another timeline lol
#not saying this to dunk on either narrative btw. isat cares less about the meta which I dont mind#plus the meta is by far not even my favorite part of undertale#and in fact I love ignoring its implications so I can revisit the characters <3#isat spoilers
21 notes
·
View notes
Text
I know the fandom generally hand waves tawky tawnys back story because 'powerful and eccentric gentlemanly tiger shapeshifter' is pretty cool as is, give or take a stuffed animal or two, but I looked it up out of curiosity and???
Not only does this man (tiger) have many (many) WILDLY varying backstories (on brand tbh) a lot of them deal with quite uh, intense dehumanisation (de-sapient-isation?).
I'm not even joking, in one they have him as a member of an alternate reality where humans died out and humanoid animals rule, except tigers are still kept in zoo cages and denied basic rights. Tawny nearly gets executed for wearing clothes and reading a self help book, and is forcibly stripped naked and locked up again, meeting the marvels when they're tossed into his pen under the assumption that he'll eat them. WHAT?!
In his first appearance (in the 1940s) he's a side character, a bipedal bengal tiger migrating from India to America to, quote, 'integrate himself into American society'. Despite his kindness and politeness, he's met with fear and discrimination, to the point marvel shows up and realises he's chill and helps him get a job as a tour guide for a museum. The writers surely weren't trying to say something with that, no.
Other origins include:
A normal tiger accused of killing a person, granted the ability to walk and talk like a human by a 'local hermit' with a serum to help clear his name.
Mary's mass produced tiger teddy containing a scarab necklace that contained black Adam's powers (?) that was briefly brought to life by satanus as a six legged pooka (English/Celtic/Irish ghost fairy??) to fight his sister blaze and eventually 'earning' permanent personhood from the wizards friend Ibis for being so good at his job.
Random magic tiger who joined a wartime superhero group fighting mind controlled supers and once killed the leader of the Tiger men and took his place.
Random tiger at the zoo Billy thought was cool and tried to turn into a smilodon by sharing his powers, failed. Never left the zoo.
Ifrit tiger who liked to disguise himself as a stray cat or homeless person, who helped Billy when he became homeless.
Enchanted tiger kept on a lead by Pedro, who transforms with him into a smilodon. Quality of life dubious, because this was flashpoint.
Genetically enhanced bengal tiger saved from mind control.
Meta human (maybe??)
A mystical tiger and 'servant of Shazam'
Now that is a roster. The word tiger has lost all meaning to me. Give this guy some civil rights.
I reckon in any universe where one is true tawny would tell the rest as stories to anyone who asked XD. Keep them in their toes lol.
#dc comics#shazam#tawky tawny#billy batson#dc captain marvel#character analysis#Character origins#Like fr tawky is so unflappable but he goes through all this ToT
206 notes
·
View notes
Text
I think the most important part of the Isafrin confession in act 6 isn't the actual confession itself. Yes, it's adorable and wonderful, and CATHARTIC especially if you got obsessed with getting it. (Me I was. I YELLED at my computer multiple times in my playthough bc of it). BUT truly the most important part is HOW the confession happens.
Mainly, even in act 6 Isabeau has issues confessing. He still stammers. He still cannot say it.
And then Siffrin reaches out and takes his hand.
THAT!!!! THAT IS THE IMPORTANT PART!!!
The entire game Siffrin has been waiting for Isabeau to breach that gap. To reach out. To confirm that he wants to touch Siffrin. ANYTHING. But no matter what, when Isabeau pulls away, Siffrin does the same, either physically or emotionally. What's most interesting is when you finally get everyone to not interrupt. Siffrin is READY for the confession, but Isabeau stops? Because? BECAUSE SIFFRIN LOOKS OFF. Isabeau cares more about how his friend is doing than his own romantic feelings (which is also an issue why the confession isn't happening, bad timings). And every time Isabeau tries to confess after, Siffrin cuts him off. Because Siffrin has accepted that no matter what, this confession isn't happening that the Universe doesn't want it to happen.
But it could happen. If Siffrin asked. But to them, asking for that touch is too much. It's devastating. So he's stuck in this endless cycle of waiting for this confirmation that will never happen because both sides are too scared to act.
At the end of the day, the confession isn't as much about the romance but rather specifically a RELATIONSHIP. And in doing so, confidence that the other person is reaching out.
Isabeau will never touch Siffrin's shoulder. He will not cross a boundary he thought was in place. Siffrin has to communicate to ease that misunderstanding. In that where where Siffrin reaches out and takes Isabeau's hand? That! THAT! Changes everything.
It's vulnerability. It's reassurance. It's trust. Siffrin will take Isabeau's hand to reassure him, and Isabeau will take that as permission to love them back.
237 notes
·
View notes
Text
obviously ISAT is a videogame but i think if you were gonna adapt it into a linear noninteractive story, a musical would be cute... music would be good for playing with repetition and uncannyness, and obviously the extended stageplay metaphor would be fun and meta.
specifically i'm imagining a separate song for each friendquest, and eventually they get mashed into one song that's too busy to linger in the beauty of each part, hitting the most important lines without the transitions and build-up that are necessary to create a moving piece. then you add another layer of siffrin freaking out and berating themself on top. and finally the act 5 version is barely even a song anymore - just lines, out of context, incorrect, with no orchestral backing.
in general i think you could get a loot of mileage out of reprises with the "siffrin hates themself and everything that's happening" motif winding its way in and overpowering the original songs. until it becomes its own song for mal du pays. and then takes on the king's motif for the bigfrin fight!
i just think it would be neat :3
#idk what the game's actual soundtrack does i haven't done a focused listen hdgshf#in stars and time#isat#isat spoilers#in stars and time spoilers
136 notes
·
View notes
Text
me repeatedly checking the isat tag and the isat ao3 category like there'll be new fic/meta and it's like. I'm gonna have to write more fic huh
#in stars and time#I'VE ALREADY WRITTEN 6#granted all oneshots but. lmfao#'this is your brain on stardust'#but no I gotta focus on other fic right now!!!!
38 notes
·
View notes
Text
Now that I've finished In Stars and Time, I wanted to do some writing on my thoughts and favorite detail of the game, especially regarding the relationship between the Protagonist (Siffrin) and the player:
ISAT SPOILERS BELOW
So, if you're reading this post, you've finished ISAT.
One detail I really wanted to explore was the player's experience as Siffrin. From the beginning, you're often treated as a typical player-protagonist relationship; you have one consistent character you see the story through the lens of, and interact with other characters and items in the universe through their hands and interactions.
Though at first, you as the player see chat notifications/text boxes (Memories, tutorials, etc.) that only you can see and that pertain to gameplay mechanics that wouldn't necessarily be deemed as canon-narrative things rather than just skills purely for the gameplay; it'd fourth-wall breaking and meta for the character to know what you as the player knows.
This is then immediately shattered by the character Loop, who reveals that they're the one talking to you when you see the text boxes about the Memories.
From then one, one detail I initially was iffy on but ended up loving was Siffrin developing as a character and individual separate from the player. Examples:
Text options can be limited. Often at times, I found the only options there in a conversation to be things I never wanted to say, or there being no option at all other than one choice because Siffrin already knew what he as an individual wanted to say and what he was feeling at that time.
Siffrin had his own trains of thought on the loops. Can I be honest? I had caught on to the idea that perhaps Siffrin's wish and internal feelings of never wanting to separate from the party had been causing the loops far before your last run through Dormont and the House. By this point, you've seen Siffrin loop due to death, to being frozen in time, to scaring the party from wanting to travel with him by the way he killed a Sadness, to talking to the House Maiden after defeating the King and everyone declaring they'd go separate ways-- The only common denominator was every result ended in Siffrin being unable to continue on with the party for one reason or another.
Despite this, we still see him struggle to come to terms with any reasonings for the loops other than being hellbent that everyone wishing for a Savior for Dormont locked him into the cycle to begin with and because Mirabelle was dealing the killing blow on the King--not Siffrin--the defeat didn't count as his and he had to do it himself. Loop (the character) was very insistent that this wouldn't work and tried several times to get him out of this logic, but Siffrin had their mind set. You as the player cannot choose to stop Siffrin from this, at this point.
Funnily enough, despite all this marking Siffrin as an individual who is very sentient and independent of you, I found his emotional plight to be the same: I hate when games force you to lose your found family. I hate when you've spent 10-100+ hours building relationships and confiding in these people who you'd otherwise be lost without and have formed loving dynamics with, only to lose all contact or connection with them just because your journey is over. I understood his fear of change and abandonment and loneliness perfectly, and quite honestly, I felt the same every time the King was beaten--the reminder that damn, this is all just minutes from being over, if not for the loops.
So in the end, despite the writing very much turning Siffrin into his own character and individual whom we end up having minimal direct control over, he still ended up perfectly mirroring my sentiments.
And to be honest, I'm more attached to him than I have ever been to other protagonists because I've gotten to know him more individually than just use him as my marker or representation of myself in their universe.
48 notes
·
View notes
Note
Hello! I just wanted to thank you for introducing me to In Stars and Time with your artwork… as soon as I saw your piece, I ~knew~ it was a game for me to check out, and oh was it incredible. I binged it, then I wrote a fic for it, and now I'm replaying it and still finding new things. When I got to the mirror in game, I was so excited to finally be at the place illustrated in your art (but of course spoilers spoilers wow your art is so good on so many levels of meaning!) Thank you! <3
oho! how wonderful!! it's really an amazing game, isn't it...!! games that are able to make use of the gameplay as a medium to deliver a unique experience are really special. (it's also why i like v3 so much (': games like undertale/v3/isat are stellar at using text AND meta-text of their narrative vehicles to tell a story...!)
the mirror (esp in later acts) is a really devastating place lol... ill also refrain from talking about spoilers, but i think of it as one of the most layered objects in the game, so I'm glad you feel it in my draw! the attention to detail in sooo many interactables and UI stuff is really satisfying to explore... hope you're enjoying discovering so much more in every loop siffrin certainly isn't 🤍
#ask ever#this is a PSA: play isat it's fantastic#isat is like ghost trick in that its impossible to talk much about it without spoiling intended experience/twists#so like. all you can do is just shill for it as vaguely as possible LOL#ill have to check ur fic out! yahoo
22 notes
·
View notes
Text
meta abt the country and wishcraft with isat spoilers for act 4 !!
do you guys think whoever used wishcraft to delete The Country did it for a "good reason"? that, like, someone else had used wish or time craft for something bad, and they were so horrified they decided it needed to disappear?
maybe the colors disappeared due to a wish. we don't know. no one knew, for years. it's a new discovery. doesn't that sound familiar? that no one could remember it?
i can't recall, do they say looking at the new shade made them feel queasy? gave them a headache?
sorry for my rambling :p i havent been able to stop thinking abt it
14 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
