I was sad that John lost the life we had - and wanted to have - for a childhood dream, that is basically his live. I wanted to wake up John and say him "everything is alright".

The absolute GALL of Eva to “just move her” and gamble on the way to make it work…oof heavy

This is amazing!!! What was the class?

@@munasiri29 Technology and the Humanities: The Intersection of Self, STEM, and Video Games!

wow, this was beautiful. thanks for sharing.

That is the hidden tragedy behind this beautiful tale. Johnny died happy, sure. But on the other hand, River died never understanding why is it that he can't remember their true first meeting, the moment her life changed. Looking at it now, it seemed so unfair that it had to end like that. Really brings into question whether Neil and Eva's job is as noble as it advertises itself to be or not...

Your daughter has excellent taste

Thank you for sharing your insight, it was very interesting to read!

Exactly right. Honestly, I found the ending too disturbing to really cry. And at the end, I just felt numb. Like... a good thing was just destroyed forever. Not to be replaced by something bad though. But just... gone.

You could write it down and "hope" for a similar condition to John. Then enjoy it every time.

Man, i played it 10 times, and every single time i discover something new, that make the game even better than it was the time before. That is the range of quality this pice of art offers

Well, they made a sequel and there's a third game coming out.

@@hipporopinguinninis6650 wow you are so brave

@@hipporopinguinninis6650 wouldn’t you cry?

Toastoffire He favorites this comment, guess he's still checking back several years later.

End Me That doesn't really surprise me. His channels a lot smaller than it has any right to be, so he likely has email alerts on for comments. It's kinda funny, but the best way to read comments on your stuff is through your email, rather than the thing being commented on imo.

Toastoffire I just get notifications that aren't from Email

To clarify, I do believe river had a romantic side too, however, her obsession with those concepts, like the lighthouse, were only there, because it represented that part of their lives and the person she first met, she couldn't let it die. We attribute it to her disease, the obsession, at the point of giving her life, but if you think about it, maybe we shouldn't; or maybe we should, but in a good way, seeing that if she wasn't autistic, she could have let them fade. In the end, it wasn't only a weakness.

I'm definitely keeping at it. It doesn't help that I'm lazy but I'm overcoming it to get more content out there! :D Thanks so much for the support *and* for being the first comment on this video! :D I sincerely appreciate both!

Espanholina A Sonhadora Thank you so much! :D

Why what happened? Can you tell me please?

@@theshoes7488 River was saddened when John revealed that he believed that the first time he met her was in highschool. She made the paper rabbits as her own way of trying to remind him of the real first encounter but his childhood memory loss wouldn't allow the connection. Then the last one she made was blue with a yellow belly to really drive the point home but it still didn't click for him. I too ended the game very sad for River because she died without that closure, and still unable to express that their first meeting was in childhood.

River spending the rest of her life trying in vain to get John to remember with the paper rabbits was, without a doubt, one of the most heartbreaking realizations/reveals ever. That was when I really sprung a face leak. Although to be honest, I was welling up for most of the final acts.

YES i know it's been 3 years since your comment but that's what completely broke me today, I never cried like that in my whole life jesus christ lmao

Thank *you* for watching! :D

But I'll be honest, I didn't agree with the metanarrative angle at all - but still, a good video

I think it was just that Johnny was never aware of her having Asperger's Syndrome when they were children, and since Eva changed most of his memories past his early childhood, he probably never got an artificial memory where he learnt about it, and thus thought she was a neurotypical person. That's probably why she speaks normally when he met her again at NASA.

To The Moon is getting a sequel. Check out Kan Gao's channel

Thanks so much for the kind words! And yeah, I certainly think she did have a happy ending. She got to rest next to her lighthouse while Johnny got to meet her on the moon. I think they both got what they wanted considering he was the romantic and she was the realist. :)

I still cant help but feel that its still a little sad, that in remembering the promise that johnny made for river, he lost his memories of him and river's real story, and of river's attempts to bring back the memory of when they first met.

That's a really awesome observation! I just went back and checked but I can't quite make one out. I think I see the hilt of a knife at the top of the screen and a little to the left of the window, but it's too dark for me to decisively say it's a knife and not peeling paint. My screen just not have the adjusted colors that let me see it. Is that what you're talking about, though? If it is a knife, and Ellie's knife at that, I'd guess it's foreshadowing of Ellie's character. That would be my guess but please let me know your thoughts if you have a theory! :D Thanks!

SolePorpoise my thoughts on it were the old saying bring a knife to a gun fight in that battle with the canibal clan she was way way capable of carring a gun (not it in that fight) she had the smaller knife and won. She is the youngest of the 2 characters. She did kill him with the butcher knife she did use the bigger one. So maybe he next last of us joel leaves and ellie picks up a kid. This is coming off my head it may not make sense. U tried me best so

spraynpray1010 That's a brilliant idea for a sequel if we get one. I hope you're right on that!

wind565 Thanks so much, man! :) I did actually! It's hard to say if that will come to fruition though for a lot of reasons. I did a couple months'-worth of research but it never came to be. One of the reasons is the fact that Kojima has said video games aren't art; it made me feel like I wasn't finding things that were actually there, but were instead mere coincidences. And, as you probably know, MGS games are pretty weird. :) So It's hard to see contrast in the things that are weird for artistic purposes, and things that are just weird because that's Kojima's style. This makes it hard for me to feel confident in my reasoning and I started to feel dishonest when building my case. With that said, there are a ton of really incredible theories out there that I totally subscribe to, I just felt I should postpone it until later. If it's going to happen, it'll happen after The Phantom Pain comes out. I'm really looking forward to that and I have a my notes ready to see if the stuff surfaces in that game too. Depending on how my theories line up with TPP will depend on if that video gets made or stays in the "maybe pile." Thanks for the support and the recommendation! It's awesome to know there's interest out there for that. :D

SolePorpoise But that's okay! I'm sure you'll agree with me that authorial intent is only a small part of what makes a piece of art impressionable and exciting for everyone else. Very much to the spirit of this video, it's not the game I am so enamoured with, but what you, dear sir, have extracted from it. That in its very own right makes me stay up in the middle of the night watching your videos. I have not done much in my life, but I will be satisfied that I have encouraged you, the great Sole Porpoise, to confidently push forth your own interpretation of what art is available to us in our generation.

Adrian Li Hahaha I'm going to print out and frame that last line! You're way too kind but thank you so much for your support. I'm thrilled to have it! :D

SolePorpoise You should really get on Patreon and have a FB page! I'm already following you on Twitter. I'd be shocked if this wasn't your full time job already. I'd like to make it so.

Adrian Li Oh my God! :D Thank you very very much. I have a Patreon in the works but surprisingly enough, you have to be delicate about begging for money. Who knew? :D I should have one up in the next month or so. Thanks again, man!

Bob Jove With us humans, the ideas of realism and romanticism go hand in hand (aka duality). As characters, River and John have both. River wanted to build the house for the same reason John wanted to go to the moon - their love for one another - romanticism. River didn't want treatment because she cared more for John, that he understood her love for him, than for her own life. John understood that River was different because she was autistic, just as River understood they didn't have enough for everything - realism. When SolePorpoise says River 'represents' realism, he is simply saying that River's story arc is one that mirrors the ideal of realism. John 'represents' romanticism because his story is one driven by a single emotion - love. River 'represents' realism as she portrayed as a rational guide for John, from the moment they meet ('burning spheres of gas') till the last time we see them together. Then again, that is just my 5 cents on the matter.

Nathan Chan They never explained why River wanted to die at f***ing all. "love for him", yeah ok , the bitch still pretty much left to 40 years of solitude without him. River was not the realist, she was the insane romantic person who cared more about a STUPID FUCKING LIGHTHOUSE then her own life. Of course John was a little unrealistic, but if anything, he was trying to convince her they would do both, for a chance she wouldn't continue with her killing of herself. I also disagree about the autism part, it's very clear that when they are both older, they're both mature and responsible enough to have learned and understood each other, yeah autism may have been challenge, but people exaggerate how bad it is (it's not bad inherently, it usually just means people are assholes to you) River's choice to DIE rather then CHOOSE life, for A LITERAL ROMANTIC PURPOSE is not only very mean to John, but also makes no logical sense at all.

Bob Jove 'They never explained why River wanted to die at f***ing all' Well if we connect the dots, we know that they had agreed to meet back under the stars when they were young. And that they never did until they were slightly older. So symbolically, she would have wanted to regroup on the moon. Perhaps she wanted to remind John that she would always remember, even if he had forgotten. 'River was not the realist, she was the insane romantic person who cared more about a STUPID F****** LIGHTHOUSE than her own life' Agreed, River choosing to die was a choice powered, in its core, by emotion. Yet even in just that scene, there is a duality within River, as there is in all of us. Especially when River tell John they can only chose one. 'Of course John was a little unrealistic, but if anything, he was trying to convince her they would do both, for a chance she wouldn't continue with her killing of herself' In the same line of thought, John was both realistic, as you have stated as well as romantic (why did he not want River to die? Emotion) 'they're both mature and responsible enough to have learned and understood each other' Correct. To a point. They understood each other, but not completely. John never figured out why River wanted the house, nor why she started folding the rabbits. He probably didn't know why she was so attached to his old sack either. 'it's not bad inherently, it usually just means people are assholes to you' From WebMD (www.webmd.com/brain/autism/mental-health-aspergers-syndrome): Asperger's syndrome, also called Asperger's disorder, is a type of pervasive developmental disorder (PDD). PDDs are a group of conditions that involve delays in the development of many basic skills, most notably the ability to socialize with others, to communicate, and to use imagination. So no, the autism part wasn't mentioned much in game, but in actuality, it was the driving force. And to me, autism does NOT just mean 'people are assholes to you'. To me, autism is like losing a social leg. 'River's choice to DIE rather then CHOOSE life, for A LITERAL ROMANTIC PURPOSE is not only very mean to John, but also makes no logical sense at all' It makes no logical sense unless River cared more for John's state of mind than for her own life. Characters evolve throughout every story, though in this case, on our image of them evolves as we discover them. To determine her character arc, we must look at the climax for the story (not the climax of John's life story). And what is she doing there? Being extremely rational. In the beat that made us all cry, River goes: 'What if you forget?'. So yes, you are correct in saying River could fit the role of a romantic. But at the story's climax, River is more realism than romanticism, something which concludes her character arc. (What happens after isn't River)

Nathan Chan I still disagree about River. Autism isn't impossible to deal with, I have autistic friends, yes the communication can be difficult, but it's not IMPOSSIBLE. As with River, she clearly wanted to communicate something to John through the Tower and her art. Perhaps I just never bought the whole brother part, the whole plot pretty much hinged on it, and it didn't really make too much sense. (it felt like it was crammed in there to avoid any major plot holes) I AM being nitpicky, it's a story, not real life, so something dramatic is nice, I just don't agree that River represents logic, as John probably spent much of his older life alone without her.

Bob Jove I agree with the autism part. The brother part is really an explainer, a reason as to why John could not remember his first encounter with River.

The lighthouse

+Clorox Bleach He dies with the created memories they give him, reaching the moon I think is one of them because although the game didn't show it, it would be a giant memory impossible to forget.

He was given the memories total recall style so that he could die without regret.

No it doesn't. Not really. I transfigured the dialogue into something more palpable as I read it. Because although the dialogue lacks finest, the other components make up for it. To me, the directing is meticulous; the character gestures, and music beats helped me understand what the scene(s) was going for. So I changed what the characters were saying to what I thought they were trying to say, I know enough turn of phrase and tropes that it became easy. Maybe I missed some nuances but the story in it's simplest context is beautiful to me.

A little late, but the answer is yes. I can see how the start is a bit rough, but as soon as you get into the actual dreamworld, the story picks up and the characters gets a bit more direction to their quipping. The kid-like behaviour/stern nature of the doctors is not all there is to them and, well... this story kind of creeps up on you over time. It's well worth it to play, and if you find it tedious to play, watching a Let's Play of it is an option (if yet a less qualitative one, I would say). You'd do yourself a favor to experience it some way though, because even if it might be rough sometimes, it's very much worth it in the end, at least in my opinion.

Thanks for the feedback! I wasn't aware of that so I'll make the change ASAP!