İf you told me one day I would be playing a game where after struggling against madness and loss, being a toy to Lovecraftian Outer Gods and dealing with Twisted versions of fairy tales, important figures, and Urban legends, and going insane over an Eldritch horror that has gone too deep into it's Alice Liddel Larp. I would go on to fight the nightmare mockery of Wonderland made manifest with Furry Florence Nightingale, Thomas Carnacki Who decided to multi-class into Paladin and Detective, and Gerda from Snow Queen I would have never believed you. But now All I can say is Pure, Absolute Peak Fiction.
I think it's really interesting that you can see some Buddhist influences in this style of work. The constant craving for an object of desire (in this case Alice) that leads the protagonist to experience cycle after cycle after cycle of suffering. It's only after sufficient knowledge is gained that the problem can be cut at the root. This last sequence of fights against the Crawling One, Jubjub, Jabberwock, and Bandersnatch is reminiscent of the last temptation of the Buddha by Mara and his three daughters under the Bodhi tree. Grimm failed to let go of Alice and escape after fighting the Crawling One so he did the next best thing. If you can't beat the Jailer you have to break the Jail itself. In this metaphor the Grand Guignol would represent the six realms of Desire themselves. The nature of the Crawling One is the nature of Dukkha, an endless craving without true fulfillment. At most a temporary one. "Love, when obtained, loses nearly all of its value". Because to her the meaning of love is the yearning that comes with it. A form of longing and attachment. It is only after letting go of Alice and surpassing the Jail that we can be free. It's just too bad that unlike the doctrines of Buddhism this is not a story of hope though. What awaited at the end of this particular journey was not enlightenment but even more heartbreak. But still, I don't believe this was just coincidence.
"If you want allies, starting over is an option." Dr. Dog(not the band), Alice winter ver., and homie Carnacki fight a mechanical god. I see this moment as a subtext of development for Grimm. Ever since the first game he's been more or less all alone, he's lost a lot of people he grew close to. But that is no reason to carry such a burden all alone, no one can and should not be all alone.
"Vile spirit, begone!" "Do not fear... Carry the flame of hope and advance." "Please don't lose mister Crow! I'm sure we're almost there!" All I need as the final push to smash apart the mechanical god of this nightmare.
I remember trying to fight it the first time around without help (Because they're all dead). Ended up getting stun locked into rage quitting. So imagine my surprise at how easy the fight is with just one helper at your side. Kinda make me wish Melinda and Heinz were around to help with that one Lindameia fight. Edit: that's my nickname for Miranda's newest lease on life... or unlife for those who know what she is.
@@johncedricksantos2401 if u didn't kill him everytime u met him or trick him to fall to his own death in the snow castle, u will meet him again in Winterbell but he is badly wounded and blind, pick the "touch his shoulder" dialogue, he will give u his notebook.
My heart left my body when I slew Grand Guignol. Because I knew the journey in Wonderland was truly over now. There will never be another first time playing Black Souls 2, and that will forever torment me.
When I defeated Grand Guignol. I stopped playing. The story ended right there. When the story ended, my vicious cycle of torment finally ended with only the feeling of longing, and regrets, and those culminated into suffering. It was to remind me of what I have become after those endless unwinnable wars in my mind. Being obsessed with Alice was my longing for those memories that I could no longer come back to, and the dreadful anxieties and traumas I had to endure. Now I have to move on because she definitely wouldn't want me to linger on our past memories that will no longer come back again.
I think one of the reasons Grimm had such a hard time letting go is that deep inside, he thought he deserved the hell that Wonderland was. Offering your soul instead of fighting represents the final submission to this; Grimm giving up after being unable to escape even after learning the truth and falling into despair completely.
It had to be done... in order to understand the truth behind Mary Sue's world, he had no other choise but to close his eyes and push foward. Grimm's suffering must be trully unberable ngl.
@@gametime8300 probably one of the most fundamentally broken protagonists I have seen. From the make up its multiple souls fused as one, with even a pedo included. Then his soul was tainted so black from all the fucked up acts he did out of desperation, even if his memory was lost every cycle. Escaped from one garden only to be trapped another, and only gained freedom at the cost of losing everything dear to him in the end.
And it gets worse when you find out that all the endings on BS1 are cannon since the world got reseted after every ending, meaning Grimm probably went through all the companions bad endings + Mary Sue's one (the most traumatic imo) god knows how many times. Bro has its mind broken with reason on BS2.
When I fought the crawling one I thought how can one beat the genius and kino of fighting the amalgation of your lust abd loved one turned into a grotesque monster that both encapsulates the sexiness of an H game with eldritch body horror Then we fought a collage of real life sketches of the original wonderland and symbolizing the irl lewis caroll's nightmare. kino. absolute gem mine.
This game truly is amazing, and I mean it, a compelling story, fascinating lore, and a lot of depression, the wait for DRH and Black Souls 3 is honestly killing me, but you gotta endure for peak cinema.
Я оставлю свой след здесь. Сегодня я сразил тебя,Театр Тьмы! Сегодня я покинул эту ужасную клетку.Но почему-то я не испытываю ничего,кроме пустоты внутри... Мы вновь не смогли никого спасти... Мы не спасли Алису...
Its been 4 days since I Killed GG... And i still cant shake this feeling of loneliness... Did i beat the game or the game beat me? i want to go back without memories and be part of this rollercoaster of emotions again and again. True Kino.
@@smoqueed44 well, dark souls didn't really have much of a plot in the first place. it was all item descriptions and environmental storytelling. I don't really get the comparisons between dark souls and black souls beyond the surface level references, because they're entirely different in every way that actually matters
@@johoreanperson8396 Better than reality where no one is there for you. At this point, I also don't care if it is real or fake. To me, this game holds a special place in my soul.
The most gut punching-ly ironic about this is that in the epilogue where Grimm lives in real world the first thing we see is that RRH dies when she turned 20 Screw you, Leaf. Like, seriously, screw you, flying green tomato
Red Dead Hood will just be them making a torture game for fun, but BSIII will be the true kino and I'm sure EMMM will be able to make a much better game than what BSII was.
When i heard this epic music, i wanted to hold the sword once more, stand up to fight nightmare, smash the madness garden to piece..... Waiting 2 series and the journey of grimm in blacksoul 3.
@@lazuardialdi2646 it is the first blade you get, broken sword, iirc that name, skill give you a crit up and dmg, but lose hp, and the more hp lost, the more dmg can be. the only farvorite weapons I use from beginning to the end of little madness garden, combine with han machine gun and absolute hit, it is the beast.
Final phase of the final boss of the final DLC. Should def play through it if you haven't yet, it contains some juicy lore and what's likely the true ending of BS2.
pure white prison was the easiest for me, although thats because before the stage changed i spammed a lot of attacks from hans machine gun and killed it in one turn
"I guess I want something more than just to live... I want to be myself." "And I am the only one who can keep that will, am I not?" "Not at all... What a silly story. Those who called it "Your Shield" realized that." "...this body is about to shatter, but even so..." "If the last thing left of me is the ego, I won't give up-" "...I will struggle to protect my will until the end." "Are you ready?" *Shield of the EGO intensifies* >Schwarzschild >Enduring 7 >Staggered, *Scharfrichter*
Ahh now I feel silly I'm even aware of that reception and it's use of this music just haven't done it/ sorry for wasting your time have a good day.@@idontgetjokes216
@@Destruction42k-yg4ws You didn't waste anyone's time, it's fine. I recommend it if you can do it since it's a fun mod in my opinion although a bit hard if you use non-OP pages. You have a good day as well.
