I've often heard it said that Susie's feelings for Noelle have advanced to an almost-jarring degree in comparison to where she was in prior chapters, and that if they'd been given just a little bit more time to cook, it would have come across much more naturally to us as players. And, when initially playing through the chapter for myself, I agreed with this assessment at first. It did seem very quick and sudden from my perspective, and I wondered if the game had done enough to "earn" this moment.
But I've thought about it some more, and I've come to realise there's more going on here than we're being shown - indeed, considering the way that Deltarune only permits us to witness certain moments within its narrative while skipping over others, and how our limited perspective is itself tied to Kris, it becomes obvious in retrospect that there have been key moments in the development of Susie's feelings to which we have simply not been privy. For instance, all we see of her in Castle Town is her getting ready for her big date, but we haven't seen the preperation leading up to that moment. We haven't seen her and Ralsei discussing it, as doubtless they did while Kris wasn't there. For all we know, they could have spent the entire night hyping Susie up for this date, and we simply wouldn't be any the wiser.
And yet, even this isn't the full story, because once again our perspective is tied to Kris's, and so in a sense we see what they see. And so, after spending the full day at the festival with Susie and Noelle, and then falling asleep on the bench next to them while they talked for HOURS - hours we did not get to witness, mind you - we are seeing not just what the game only permits us to see, but also we're seeing this development the way that Kris themself is seeing it - as a bewildering escalation of Susie's feelings towards Noelle that have seemingly come out of nowhere, and are now threatening to sweep her entirely out of their reach. We are witnessing Suselle as this all-encompassing event that's seeping into every single aspect of their time in the dark world - see how Susie won't flirt with enemies if instructed to (ignore Pink), and that she'll suddenly wear ribbons after spending four entire chapters refusing to, and how she's constantly being called away in the service of deepening her devotion to Noelle.
And if we witness all of this, coming from the emotional gut-punch that was Chapter 4's conclusion, and feel slightly knocked off-balance by how rapidly this relationship has blossomed... well, wouldn't you say that perhaps we are being invited to consider this development through the eyes of somebody who may well not have wanted it to progress so quickly, so suddenly, so violently? Are we not being invited to perceive this through the eyes of somebody who, despite everything, still isn't quite ready to let go of their friends, and fears above all else being left behind and forgotten about?
If that's how some players are seeing Suselle's development in Chapter 5, then perhaps it's only because it's how Kris sees it, too. And honestly, I feel that's a really clever and subtle narrative device that really enhances my own appreciation of both Suselle and of Kris's own inner turmoil. Well played, Deltarune, well played.
