it’s interesting to see someone else discussing isat with mixed or negative feelings!!
i liked some of what it was doing but would never recommend it to anyone i think! and i’ve said so on many occasions because i just find myself very frustrated with it!!! the writing oftentimes felt juvenile and catering, like none of the characters were allowed to be genuinely reactive to the protagonist’s harmful behaviors in service of fulfilling that “fix-it ending,” as you describe. like they largely existed just to forgive him and never abandon him rather than as people who may react badly to being treated badly and could possibly even be justified in doing so… it felt like it was everyone else’s responsibility to handle their emotions rather than their own, if that makes sense. the “family” misunderstanding in particular felt so juvenile i wanted to tear my hair out…
i guess i just felt like it was a story that flinched. it was uninterested in its own themes or maybe afraid of portraying them complicatedly, so everything has to end well… genuinely so strange. i’m glad i played it, but like you, it made me very frustrated. sorry to spam your inbox discussing it! i just always feel like nobody else has been interested in discussing the game critically so it was exciting to see someone else who seemed to have similar feelings to me
YES EXACTLY! isat as a whole just felt like it was written by someone who has zero faith in their audience to come to any conclusions on their own so literally everything has to be carefully spoonfed to them which ultimately just comes off as really childish and condescending. like do i really need siffrin to explain to me every single thing hes feeling every time literally any plot point happens? i have a functioning brain that is capable of reading between the lines lol. like its almost a bit insulting how little this creator trusts their players
and yes absolutely agree about the rest of the cast being way too flat and one dimensional in comparison to siffrin. like im sorry but this whole found family schtick just does not work in the slightest when i... dont know these people lol. conceptually i think the game taking place at the end of the party's journey is interesting but with the way it was executed ingame it just feels so unbelievably lazy. like you are assuming i should already know everything about these characters and how their dynamics mesh with each other and now i just need to sit my ass down and read this fic about tying up all the loose ends in their story but like... not once have i been given an actual reason for why i should care about their relationship with siffrin (or each other) beyond 'theyre found family just trust me bro'. its such insanely lazy writing! it's even more insane after finding out this creator had ZERO ideas or concepts for their dynamics during their actual journey (like ok yeah. i can tell lol). as a player, i should not have to do all the heavy lifting of developing these characters for you, the creator. thats literally your job!