Let's Play Some More Analogue: A Hate Story: *Mute's Story (now with 50% more harems!)

Wouldn't there be proof in the code?

Possibly! Thought I doubt either AI would appreciate being turned in as evidence and having their investigator run off on them.

Haha probably. And that is why it's not a Happy Ending.

Well thanks for reaffirming my thoughts about a truly happy end being impossible :D
Nah, I'm just kidding. Somewhat.

Hey now, you can still have a happy ending without having a Happy Ending. Everyone off the dead ship, alive, and ready to start new, less abusive lives? Even if the three of them go their separate ways, that sounds pretty happy to me.

I know, but my mind just keeps over-thinking it. Say PC person brings both of them with him/her, I don't know how the three would live their lives (probably like some kooky sitcom) but the world is likely insanely different from what *Mute and *Hyun-ae are used to (I have no doubt *Hyun-ae would like it but the former might freak out a bit) and even if she understands the situation better, I don't think *Mute will ever get over the whole genocide thing. Actually what would they do once PC isn't around?

Maybe I'm being too negative, maybe they both adapt to their new lives, maybe forgiveness follows and they go separately ambiably. Or maybe I need to stop thinking so much and just accept the game is over and move on.... Also I'd totally watch that sitcom.

So now that the LP's over, I thought it'd be time for a history lesson! Keep reading, it's mostly about fashion.

Analogue is based on the Joseon dynasty, one of the most oppressive societies for women. It lasted from 1392 to 1897, and was built on neo-Confucianism and a return to tradition values after a long period of internal strife and conflicts. Some things are exaggerated and fictionalized for effect: noble families were not that small and did not have low fertility rates; women's letters were actually commonly saved; *Mute would have never been able to hold that much power; and nobody had their tongue removed. But, as Christine Love states, "The beliefs expressed are not exaggerations; they're often understatements."

But that's quite depressing, and we've had enough of that. What I really wanted to talk about were the design choices.

*Mute's headdress is a binyeo. In the Joseon dynasty women liked to have a lot of hair. Like, the bigger your hair, the higher your status, and to boost their appeal most women wore wigs, or a gachae. The most expensive wigs were incredibly expensive, to the point of causing social problems, and they were so large and heavy that some women developed neck problems, so they were prohibited. Instead, women began wearing binyeo, which are basically wigs made out of light wood. Yes, wooden wigs. There were many different kinds for all seasons and occasions.

According to the design notes, *Mute's blond and blue-eyed appearance is intentionally anachronistic; that's why her binyeo is black instead of matching her natural hair color. And yes, it is supposed to resemble cat ears. Her hairstyle, with the braids looped around her head, is called Eo'yeo Meori. This hairstyle was reserved for very high-class women usually queens (very fitting for the third-in-command; *Mute knew her place well), and was almost always done with wigs, so her ability to create it with her "natural" hair would probably have been seen as pretty impressive. The decorations in it are called Tteoljam, and were added for an even fancier look. The hairstyle we see on Hyun-ae when she wears her hanbok is called Jjokjin Meori, which was for married women. (fun fact: when looking for an image of Hyun-ae in her hanbok, because I can't find my DLC file, I found your photobucket Jaakusan XD)

The most high-class hairstyle looked like this:

Which might have been the kind of hairstyle the empress wore!

In the Joseon dynasty, hanbok style changed a bit so that it ended below the breasts, so you had to wear a cloth called heoritti to cover them. The lower classes had cheap, durable hanboks made of cotton, with light colors such as blues and greens, while the upper classes (and flamboyant entertainers) wore silk hanboks with bright, flashy colors, such as *Mute's flashy double-skirted hanbok. Her norigae (the little tassel) also showed her high-class status. Also, Hyun-ae's hanbok has as a decoration the stylized hibiscus flower on her school uniform. I'm not sure what to make of that, but it's certainly interesting.

Sources, for the curious, and so you can blame them if I got something wrong: http://askakorean.blogspot.com/2010/03/traditional-korean-hairdo-for-women.html
http://kotaku.com/analogue|-a-hate-story/ (Christine Love's answers)
http://obinotbeer.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/wsk-accessories-for-women-in-joseon-dynasty-era/
http://thetalkingcupboard.wordpress.com/2011/06/11/traditional-korean-clothing-inspired-by-kdramas/

Oh no*, not my Photobucket! Now you shall see all of my embarrassing uploads!

*wow I must be really tired to have made that typo

XD I didn't actually look at anything; I just needed the Hyun-ae picture because for some reason I thought she had a long braid down her back in that outfit, but that wouldn't make any sense because that hairstyle's only for unmarried women, and I didn't figure she'd choose her dying moments to break social conventions through her hairstyle.

Well this was a interesting ride, with lots of discussions that made me leave so many times but I still came back because of them. And... I don't know, great job? Nice to see this game and "In your arms tonight" is firing up such heavy discussions.

"From hell's heart, I shake my mullet out at thee!"

That whole fucked up game. it's all ok. When you get harem ending. xD Best ending. Yes. I am ok with this.

Mute's end was good too though.

'Because. You shouldn't. Y'know. Kidnap me. I totally wouldn't want that. At all. Of course. Nope. Don't leave me.'

I do like Mute better than Hyun-Ae. Maybe because we're both stubborn foul mothed hardasses. xD

And we react the same way.

Went and spoiler'd all the image-heavy posts so I could actually load my own LP.

Also, a couple of the images are broken; I'm not a position to fix them right now, but I'll try to reupload them soon.

TRUE FACTS: The original caption to that image was "every player's reaction to Forever Silenced", but it got lost somewhere.

Mute really.. Nailed that one. Yikes.

Also, sorry for adding to image heavy page!

It's okay, it's just the big posts with 20 large images crash my browser. Quoting one or two doesn't hurt, and this page barely has any images on it anyway.

I can't read most LPs for the exact same reason. I only caught up on this one in the library. Pages full fo heavy gifs are the worst, I have to skip those completely... I wish I had a good connection so I could catch up ona bunch of LPs!