The “To The Moon” Play-Along – Act 3

To The Moon! We’ve kind of forgotten about that, haven’t we? Well, I haven’t. I was just really busy… and didn’t really feel like playing the game. Act 2 was dragging on for so long and Act 3 wasn’t too surprising either and also felt quite boring so I stopped streaming the game (as it wasn’t entertaining to watch at all) and I planned on playing it… later… I wouldn’t have thought that I’d be a whole month late but whatever. The post is here! Hope you enjoy it! I’m glad that I’m done with this one. I didn’t particularly enjoy To The Moon due to Act 2 and Act 3 being somewhat slow and boring, I guess? I didn’t personally enjoy it as it felt really long and I just didn’t want to play it despite actually wanting to answer the question. Heck, I didn’t even read the posts by the other people over here yet as I didn’t want to spoil myself, just in case, it got better? Idk.

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1 – Johnny… Joey… Twins. It seems after the accident Johnny lost his identity to his mother and became a replacement-Joey. Does it change how you feel about Johnny as compared to your Act 1 impressions?

Not exactly. I felt as if “erasing River” was a bad thing to do in Act 1, so I doubt it justifies it. Seeing that he wanted to “collect her” is still weird to me. I guess traumas can do all kinds of things to people and you don’t know what exactly could happen with these… I guess Johnny could have potentially turned out a lot worse, killing people and stealing their identities/faces, so at least he’s just some weird guy who wants to possess humans, right? 

If I went as far as to excuse someone based on trauma, however, I’d end up also justifying all kinds of other sick people who do horrible things to other people based on some trauma they had in the past. And without naming any politicians, radicals, serial killers or whatever, I’ll just leave it at that. 

2 – Eva and Neil have a verbal sparring match on their differing views of contract vs. what they now know (or think they know) about what would make Johnny happier. The outcome of Eva’s actions notwithstanding; do you sympathise with one view over the other here?

I feel like it’s wrong to change the memories/brainwash others. While it may make them “happy”, it won’t satisfy them. I don’t think “erasing” River was the right choice. Erasing their sad moments was a bad thing to do even if Johnny wanted it. Alas, I guess I’d side with Neil there.

3 – Throughout that same exchange, Eva asks Neil to trust her. He clearly didn’t. Did you?

Nope, I wouldn’t have and I didn’t trust her at all since she seemed to turn into a maniac doing all the out of line stuff with the drastic changes and all of that. Idk.

I would have expected it to go horribly wrong and Neil to fix it. Neil would do it just the right way with some Deus Ex Machina bullshit (because I’m a horrible writer) and his idiocy paired with some game-maker magic would end up saving the day while Johnny is flying off on the lighthouse to the Moon where all the rabbits await.. and then he dies…

Nah, even I wouldn’t write that bullshit. I guess if it was me, I would have written it to go horribly wrong and Neil would revert everything back to normal before Johnny dies, thanking the two for not altering his memories. I feel like that would have been a nice touch. 

4 – “He can always find another ‘River’… But he’ll only have one brother.” Again, pretending for the moment you don’t know the outcome of Eva’s actions and what she (suspected) would happen… Do you agree? What about in this context of overwritten memories as opposed to life as it was?

I guess you can always fall in love with someone else but I wouldn’t agree that someone else means necessarily the same to you as the same person. Despite us all being “humans”, we’re all “individuals”, after all. Each with our own personalities, flaws and traits – each with our own ways of thinking, communicating and all of that. Saying that you can always find someone else to love or whatever would be somewhat true as there are many other humans out there… but personally, I’d say that it’s not the same as having a true soulmate that you’re destined to meet and that you love and honour in good and in bad times. You know? 

Same thing with brothers: While it may be true that you only have so many blood-relatives, I would not agree that you can’t find people in your life that are equally important or that could replace those gaps. Joey still is with Johnny in his heart (that sounds cheesy) but he also has friends, I’d reckon, apart from Nicholas, so I’d reckon that you can still find new people that are equally as precious. 

Some people in the world are not blessed with “normal” or “good” family members and alas have to suffer through a lot. Some people get abused – mentally and physically – throughout their whole life while nobody is listening to them and while it all gets shrugged off. Some people get treated badly all their life and have to go through harassment, insults and violence, always fearing that they might get hurt once again. Some people don’t have the luxury of having family members that they love or that love them. In those cases, you can cut ties with them. In those cases, you can still find new people to replace those family members. You can still find new family members or people that are equally important to you. 

So, while you always can find someone else to like, I wouldn’t agree that family members are that much more valuable on a social level compared to someone you’re destined to meet with. You can find new family. You can find new friends. You can find new love. But it depends on your relationship with your old family, your old friends and your old love. You can’t just say that no family is replaceable and that every love is. It all depends on you and others. 

5 – Anything you wish I’d asked you about that I haven’t, for this act or any of the others? Answer that question for this one. ;)

Uh, the answer to that question would be “Take 42 – Electric Boogaloo”. (You see the error to that phrasing? “Answer that question for this one” doesn’t necessarily imply that I need to mention the question as well, right? All jokes aside, I don’t really think that there are any question that I could have potentially answered for this one. I feel like the Play-Along was a lot of fun overall (mostly due to me being able to read other posts related to my own posts or rather due to me being able to see the answers that other people had compared to my own ones, I guess?). Uh, I didn’t like To The Moon… I mean, I kinda liked Act 1 and Act 2 felt super slow despite being shorter… and Act 3 dragged on as well… so whatever. Good job, Naithin. You made me play this game. :P
Again, jokes aside, the planning was cool. Hope you do something like that again in the future. :)

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Well, that’s it for the post. Hope you enjoyed it. It’s super late but again, I didn’t really enjoy To The Moon all that much past Act 1 and I’m really happy that I only have to go through the Mini-Sodes now. 

Cheers!