Adventure Gamers - Forums

So, just finished The Cat Lady per Adventure Gamer’s suggestion. Absolutely no regrets, I think it totally nailed so many things on so many levels — well-written dialog, memorable characters, cut-n-paste-yet-somehow-cohesive art style, metaphysical plot grounded in authentic emotion portrayed quite believably… With that said, I was bitterly disappointed the lack of specificity of the ultimate goal of your “quest.” The spoilers start here.

1) So the old lady turns out to be your inner depression in dream-symbol form? How does that account for all of the re-incarnations? Unless each of the horror sequences were actually taking place in a hallucination? If these were hallucinations — did each parasite represent anything in particular or have I just been playing too much Psychonauts and Sanitarium?

2) What ever happened to the devil-obsessed neighbor with the electro-shocked wife? It’s implied at the end, when you see her in m’obese form, that she’s still around? Was he a parasite?

3) What did the candles symbolize? I didn’t bother to count them — was there one for each parasite? My initial impression was that they corresponded with other people who’d committed suicide, that you were trading their lives for your second chances? Did anyone else read it that way? If that were the case, though — the “choose a candle” binary ending wouldn’t make much sense. 

4) Least importantly, what was up with the zombie clone sequence? Didn’t have much of an idea as to what to make on that one, nor the machine that required blood to start.

5) How the heck did The Eye of Adam post the note, set up the traps, etc? Considering his condition…

6) The moment where the Susan decides what to do with the two candles: I refused, what happens when you blow one out? My interpretation of my ending was just that she was taking control of her life again by refusing to be a victim of chance and circumstance — which is a great revelation to come to, but I was disappointed that Susan’s instigating lead up to this conclusion wasn’t more clear. It just kind of…happened — and I don’t see why Mitzi’s death would really lead to that kind of change in perspective. Anyone else kind of confused by that?

All in all, I think the game nailed way too much for any of these holes to prevent me from recommending it — but with so many awesome elements, I was disappointed the ending didn’t feel like it pieced together everything into a cohesive whole. Curious if anyone else felt similarly or if I was missing something?

-Max

yeah i had similar problems with the ending. It felt like they just dropped the super natural plot line and left a lot of questions floating in limbo. I wanted to know what death would do when the 5 parasites were killed… her true motivations were an intriguing prospect of the story. But they tried to go for the “you decide whether this was super natural” and it just didnt fit because too many unexplained super natural things had happened. As for the guy with his wife behind the wall, i’ve been told he is a character from their previous game and it was more of a cameo appearance. Unfortunately it just feels unresolved to someone who hasnt played it. The candles were represnting someone needing to die every time susan comes back.. but again its thrown into question whether its happening at all. I liked the game too.. its a nice story telling experience. It has a lotttt of room for improvement though.

oh and as for

the eye of adam, i assumed he probably had help from his followers in addition to his father. It does seem kind of implausible, but he clearly had help.

The game IS supernatural, it’s not that ambiguous.

1) The Queen of Maggots is a supernatural being that wanted something from Susan. We do not know what it was that she wanted but she didn’t want Susan any good. She’s been around Susan for a long time, and seems to feed on her depression.

2)That’s the protagonist of Downfall, the previous game. It’s a mystery what happens to him now as it was in the end of that game

3)They each represented the life of a person. Susan didn’t know this until the end, when the queen tells her. She never knows who dies when she blows them, and the fact that you don’t know either when it’s most important is a nice touch. They represented Susan’s second chances I believe. A soul for a soul after all

4) Dream sequence. I don’t know either. Interpret them as you wish

5) He had his father

6) Things ‘happening’ without control of the player was really one of the game’s topics and the author’s intent. He tries to mimic real life where you just don’t know what are the consequences for some of your actions. Not blowing the candles at the end is one of the requisites for the best ending. The author discusses it here: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=47199.40

I’ve tried the candles at the end, and they don’t seem to affect anything unless you have all the requisites for the best ending, in which case you must refuse to blow any candle if you want that ending. If you blow any candle then the ending is the same no matter what you do, I think.

And regarding the neighbor, I don’t count him as a parasite. He’s just crazy. He did some evil things but his intentions were good, at least that’s what the previous game tells you. The five parasites are counted thus: Doctor X, the Cannibal, his wife, the weird groaning guy, and Adam.

Ignawesome - 12 March 2013 03:13 PM

1) The Queen of Maggots is a supernatural being that wanted something from Susan. We do not know what it was that she wanted but she didn’t want Susan any good. She’s been around Susan for a long time, and seems to feed on her depression.

except we do know what she wants.. she wants those 5 parasites dead.. we just dont know why, because that plot point falls apart around the same time as its explained that the queen was a representation of susan’s depression, the game doesnt just suggest she feeds on her depression, but that she IS the depression. and she stops existing when susan realizes this.

I can guarantee she’s not her depression because of two reasons: she has supernatural powers (bringing back the dead) and, more importantly, she appears in the previous game and gives the protagonist a hard time there too. She also explains how she has some power over the dead or related with the world of the dead.

I think she probably has bigger schemes in mind. Or she just loves having such rotten people in her realm.

She claims she’s always been there watching Susan. And it seems the words she says to Susan, Susan recognizes to be the same words her conscience has been telling her when she was depressed. So the queen probably had some control over Susan’s mind.

That’s my theory anyway (: