I NEED TO SCREAM ABOUT SHADOWS OF ROSE SO BAD AGHHHHHH
Can we just talk about the amazing use of contrast when it comes to Michael's written words in the dlc??? Everything is so dark and distorted, meanwhile with Michael's words you feel the warmth despite the lack of a voice.
It helps too that they use golden yellow! A warm color, a color that represents happines, optimism, and friendship. The light that guides Rose to her journey to the crystal.
They really could've went and made Ethan a cool, badass, still sane mold monster but they didn't, they made him something that literally look like it came from the heavens. He really is an angel sent from heaven 🥺
Also I'm glad they didn't fully make Mia bad here, though there was the weird plot hole where she didn't tell Rose anything about Ethan... And from what me and my friends discussed it appears Rose has gone into a boarding school, resulting in less time to visit Mia. Probably why she mentions "I haven't seen Mom in ages."
Its super cool Rose is hella smart, though it ended up kinda kickstarting the bullying for her :( they're just jelly she's tons smarter and cooler than they'll ever hope to be.
The whole Winters home sequence wa soooo fluffy and cute it just made me giddy inside!!! :3 and when Ethan says "You have me." when Eveline screams that Rose is no more than a freak who has no friends made me break UGHH
And as usual, Ethan puts other before himself even willing to fight Miranda and possibly suffer a lot. But it wouldn't matter as long as his daughter was safe.
And what does Rose do? She sacrifices the only chance she has to be normal, all just to save her dad. Like he did for her back then!!!!
This DLC dude, i swear.... It really made my heart soar...
That's a good reaction pic for this DLC. Just looking at the void screaming inside.
Ethan's words were like a soft light guiding and supporting Rose through the dark and creepy nightmare. It's not just what he said, but the way his words were shown was so on point. I was so excited to see what he'd say and at the same time felt relief every time he appeared, cause after all the creepy and intense stuff, he provided Rose with support and a moment to breathe.
I feel it's once again them not caring about making Ethan a macho badass. He's just a dude and he cares so much for his daughter, prioritizing her over anything else. And his appearance with soft, glowing words really accentuates that. He's just a soft dad 🥺🥺 and really, it's what Rose needed in that case. It helps build up their relationship up to the end where they hug and say they love each other. It wouldn't work as well, it wouldn't hit as hard, if for most of the game it was just a cool badass portrayal of Ethan who at the end suddenly shows a caring, soft side. I mean, I'm not implying anything about real life; but since this is a fictional story, it worked so well to have "Michael" guide Rose and help her while being portrayed as calm and reassuring, for us to invest and be touched by their final scene. I mean dude they really went for the feels and they wanted us to cry even harder than we cried at the end of the main game.
The boarding school idea is kinda good, although I wonder how and why they decided to send her away. They had seen how Eveline ended up when she felt that she didn't have a family to love her; why did they repeat that mistake with Rose? And yeah I'm wondering too why Mia didn't tell her anything about Ethan. Maybe Rose was too young to remember when Chris took her? But still like, there should be something, idk. And if they do leave it there and don't explore the Winterses' story in any future games, then the reason Rose didn't learn anything about Ethan will stay a plot hole.
Oh I feel that about her being bullied. I was bullied a lot at school too, and it always comes from kids that have something going on with their lives and just take it out on an easy victim. Though that kinda goes to show that Rose had received enough care by that point that she didn't turn full-on Eveline and never burst out using her powers to hurt other people. Or like, you know Stephen King's Carrie? That second doll puzzle where they prepare to throw something on the Rose doll from a bucket could have easily ended up in Rose losing it and killing them on the spot. And now I'm thinking, when K in the beginning cutscene tells her "You're not a freak!" or whatever, it feels like it's the first time Rose hears something like that. And it would make sense, considering it's a fake, only Miranda manipulating her. Geez Rose really doesn't have anyone to support her through this huh. Once again, Chris wants her to join his operation, but god forbid he supports her emotionally and helps her accept that she's not a monster.
No, only Ethan is there for her, and he's not even THERE. That "You have me" breaks me too, I'm going through Maxylobes' first time playthrough and seeing it again makes me wanna scream. My sweet Ethan! He really doesn't care if Rose has her powers or not, he only wants her to be happy in whatever way she wants to be. And he invests in it. Rose wants to remove her powers and is stubborn about it? Imma help my daughter out! Rose accepts her powers back in order to defeat Miranda and have a moment with me? I'm so very proud of my baby T_T
And yeah when Rose breaks the crystal, it's like she's at once and full-force reciprocating her dad's devotion. Like, it means a lot to me that in the main game, Ethan could have left the village at any given moment, yet he stayed and fought in order to save his daughter, even dragged himself back TO LIFE to complete that. And again, Rose has the chance to get out of the megamycete consciousness at any given moment, but she's determined to get rid of her powers… and it's a case of "the real treasure was the friends we made along the way" because she realizes that what she really wanted was not to get rid of her powers, but to embrace and accept them, and feel LOVED with OR without them. And Ethan's guidance, and support, and protection, and LOVE throughout the whole nightmare she was going through, no matter whether she got rid of her powers or kept them, is what helped her do exactly that. She didn't want to feel "normal"; she wanted to feel loved. Her classmates hated her for her powers; Chris seemed to only value her FOR her powers. And instead, Ethan shows her unconditional love, that powers or not, he loves her to death, literally.
Bruh I'm… I'm… I need a moment. I had so many reservations about this DLC but GOD did it give me so much more than I could ever have expected.
