Exy gameplay from Neil’s pov is very exciting, fast-paced, and full of emotional highs & lows that leave you on the edge of your seat because Neil is truly thrilled to be playing. Exy gameplay from Jean’s pov (so far) is more clinical and detached partially due to his focus on behaving like a Trojan but also because Jean is just doing a job. His entire life was sold into and still hinges on Exy so of course he takes it seriously, but it is his prison. The same was almost true for Neil but Exy became his freedom. The one exception to Jean’s more dispassionate narration was watching the Fox/Raven championship match in TSC (and really only once the game was over). For the first time there are actual emotional stakes in the game, and I’m not talking about his fear of the physical consequences of a Raven loss. Neil and Kevin leading the Foxes to a win on their own terms is the first seed of concrete proof that his prison is escapable.
