Tag: huh

darkmarxsoul:

I find the duality in this game super interesting. Tribes of Ancients and Darkness, Light and Dark Prognostici, Purity and Chaos Hearts, Flipside and Flopside, two Merlons, opposite citizens in each one otherwise …

The ultimate source of this game’s conflict is the union of two members of opposite tribes, and yet the solution of the conflict is the second union they share. At the same time, though, the game doesn’t perfectly embrace the union of opposites—the Light Prognosticus and Purity Heart are ultimately the ones that win out, and the Dark Prognosticus and Chaos Heart fail.

Meanwhile, Dimentio seems to exist as a walking, talking example of that duality. He’s constantly working both the heroes and the villains as the man in the middle of both of them, he wears a mask coloured black and white and split down the middle … yet in the end he denies the power of the Pure Hearts and covets the destructive power of the Chaos Heart, favouring one side over the other in the end. This leads to his death.

It’s hard to say what the ultimate message is. Does Super Paper Mario want you to take the yin with the yang, so to speak? Does it want you to understand that light and darkness are both necessary and must both exist in tandem for harmony? Or is it a more straightforward “love shall prevail” type of message that favours the yin over the yang and takes a stance against chaos, destruction, and nothingness?

Maybe the game isn’t that deep, but given how much effort was put into crafting this game’s surprisingly effective lore, I don’t want to be too hasty to deny its depth.