“Freud is all about sex with your mother” is such a cliché in modern culture that I didn’t even THINK of that possibility. I am blushing here that it didn’t even cross my mind because it fits pretty darn well!

To be honest, I’m sure there are many other valid interpretations of the game other than what I’ve put forward. I’m not really talking just about the final scene: I’m not convinced I got to the heart of the archangel confrontation. It’s a bit David Lynch in that respect; keeps you guessing about the truth of things, which seems tangible yet just out of reach.

If you have any other ideas about what scenes or characters mean, I’m all aural orifices.

Don’t worry about being late to the party, I leave the comment threads open just in case someone has something interesting to say.

It looks like I’m late to the Polymorphous Perversity party, but I really enjoyed the open letter. I just finished the game, and agree with you on everything except one: the final encounter at the top of the tower is not with yourself, but your mother.

Remember, this game is based on a Freudian interpretation. Also remember, the Prophet’s cinematic sequence states that everyone feels separated at birth from the womb, a lifelong trauma that people try to cope with by union with others (sex). The final line in the game is, “COME HOME,” and the central figure during the “ultimate sex” orgy is a very large female, and you gain stamina from her by sucking on her breast, and she is the subject of your main fuck action.

This is all very in line with the standard Freudian concept of the desire to return to the womb, as alluded to in the game.

My thing about the mining mini-game is that it doesn’t seem to have a proper role in this strange world of sex. Narratively speaking, it’s anomalous. Everything is sex-obsessed – except for the mine. I know there’s a guy in there who says he likes to spend time in the mine to get his libido under control but, well, if he spends too much time in there his penis is likely to explode.

I got three badges, but I never realised there was a badge for hoarding cash. What I love about your little achievements, Nicolau, is that they’re not flagged in advance to encourage player grind. You just find them and the game says: well done for being so, er, enthusiastic.

Regarding the diagnosis, you’re wrong in saying “because many of these activities were mechanically inconsequential, no one would do them again if they reloaded the game.” There are a few inconsequential actions that had no reason to be done more than once, yet players did… and that includes things like eating shit, fucking the teddy bear, paying the girl to be fucked by the horse, etc. I say that based on tester’s data. There are plenty of things that can be done in the game for reasons that are not “let’s see what happens”, and you mentioned some of them yourself (like bringing flowers to Dora). I mentioned the guy who modded the game to use the transgender machine, but there’s also a tester who tried it over 40 times to see if it worked. I could mention numerous other examples.

I’ll also disagree on the mining minigame having no purpose, and I’ll mention another player testimonial example. There’s a badge in the game that you get for having 5000 (filthy reach). I’ve heard of people who reached that amount of money by mining. You definitely don’t NEED 5000 in the game, and even if you have all the mining tools and profit schemes, prostitution is still a balanced option. Yet someone would still CHOOSE to mine dozens (or even hundreds) of times. “Why”?

There are some things I could predict/expect to an extent, but some of them surprise me. Yet, reading/watching players reactions and comments has been very interesting.

@BeamSplashX: Why am I playing La-Mulana? Interesting question, one which I will answer in the sometime future.

(I just hear it’s punishingly difficult in terms of both survival and puzzle-solving. I haven’t the fortitude.)

@BeamSplashX: Heh, no problem! Right now I have Shuggy, La-Mulana, Thirty Flights of Loving, Vesper.5, Exo, Polymorphous Perversity and [mystery game] on my desktop. Oh God, I forgot Mass Effect too.

I am obligated to my backlog, I suppose.

(FWIW, I’m Jewish and cis.)