Some people played this game with their eyes closed I swear.
As someone who's from an island that's been colonized by the mainland, and has actually been forgotten in maps before; Isat and Siffrin's story hit home in ways that I never even considered as possibilities.
I truly feel no empathy nor any kind of understanding whatsoever for people who think like this.
They don't seem to feel any for the people who relate to this very real and tangible event, so why should I give them any grace.
One part of the story that stuck out a lot to me is the party's dismissal and oftentimes mocking attitude towards Siffrin's culture. And some people may say that they acted like that because they didn't remember the island and its existence.
And sure, that can be part of it. But that doesn't erase the fact that they were assholes about it.
And I'm genuinely so glad that this was shown in the game.
Isat focuses a lot on different cultures and beliefs and upbringing, but I feel like some people still miss the point of everything that is shown to us.
We see Mirabelle struggle with the Change Belief, Odile and her estrangement from a culture that "should" feel hers, and Bonnie and Isabeau still managing to connect to some aspects of the Change belief even if not as devotedly as Mira.
We're shown how the Change Belief isn't perfect, obviously, but the people who worship it, despite the difficulties, are still very prideful of it. Which is a very real portrayal about how people are when it comes to their beliefs, and that's obviously fine, and again, important that it was shown.
Which is why, after we've gone through the game learning more about them and their beliefs as Siffrin, someone who doesn't relate nor understand fully said beliefs, but obviously cares about their friends and their lives enough to want to learn more; their dismissal of his beliefs hit so much harder.
We've spent so much time learning and participating in their cultures, that when it's his turn to share, we're instead met with condescension, dismissal and skepticism, it truly feels like a slap in the face.
The stars to his friends are such a foreign concept, something that isn't even considered in any of their beliefs, that when Siffrin mentions them, even if they do it unconsciously, they don't consider it, the same way their beliefs don't.
And that's something that I'm sure more people that I can count can relate to.
Because obviously there's whole systems in place in the world that have been set up precisely to diminish other cultures and write them off and mock them.
And people really don't realize how easy it is to absorb all of these systems and abide to them yourself. And I'm obviously including myself in this, I'm constantly learning and putting in effort so I don't fall into these circles. And Isat shows how easy it truly is to fall back to those preconceptions.
I love all the Isat family members to bits, which is why this was so important to me when it was touched on in the game.
I love them all and I do believe that they're good people, but that didn't exempt them from being assholes to Siffrin and diminishing their culture. Even if unintentionally and done without malice, they still did it.
And I feel like so many people missed the whole point of that happening, and how the story revolves around such prejudices and preconceptions.
The whole story, we're being told: people are more complex than what they seem. The whole story circles around the topic of understanding.
We go through the game learning more about our friends, their lives and their depth, and everything that happens with Siffrin I personally feel falls everybody's shoulders. We've spent so much time dismantling the superficial ideas we had of our friends, and in the entirety of Act 5 we're shown what happens when they can't do the same for Siffrin.
And all of this comes full circle when Siffrin breaks and locks himself in a fight with their friends.
Because while we've spent the whole game breaking down our surface level opinions about our friends, and yet they don't do the same until they're faced with the consequences of their inactions.
And they admit to such. Yes, Siffrin was in the wrong for not talking with them this whole time; but they're just as much at fault for not trying harder to get closer to them, even if it would have been difficult, even if they would have had to pressure, to be uncomfortable; they admit that they've been relying on the same surface levels opinions that they had about Siffrin.
So it makes me so mad when I see people completely miss the point of this game.
Tying back to what this post touched on.
All of the party had an idea about who Siffrin was as a person, and that preconception subconsciously extended to his beliefs.
None of them can ever truly understand fully what Siffrin and the other inhabitants of the Island went through, but they don't have to.
They will never be able to fully relate to them but that's not necessary for them to recognize their errors and learn and be better.
Obviously not everyone will relate to Siffrin's story. And I don't expect everyone to.
But I do expect people to be able to show sympathy to that story, and more importantly, to the people who do relate.
And if some people can't even do that because they'd rather be assholes to make themselves feel better instead of learning from that discomfort; then genuinely fuck off.
Grow the fuck up, if you have to spin the tale about how "actually those people that had that horrible thing happened to them were evil so really it's a good thing that it did"; because you can't sit with the feeling of injustice and unfairness that a (in this case) fictional story invokes; you have a lot of growing and reflecting to do as a person.