A Monster Is Stalking You For The Rest Of Your Life - Midnight Scenes From The Woods
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- Midnight Scenes From The Woods is a horror adventure game where a tree and roots are growing through your walls and there's a root monster stalking you. Part of the Midnight Scenes series
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#midnightscenes #fromthewoods
Welcome to the I've Scene It Club, how I've Scene It are ya? ( previous game in the midnight scenes series: ruclips.net/video/Lhr3hq_Dl_0/видео.html )
Im the most ive scene it ever
I still don't know what Scene kids were going for...😆
I might have Scene this.
not now manly im currently drawing on tux paint
What a nice movie
The psych ward is so poorly run. Patients are able to obtain sharp objects and tasers, patients with wildly different conditions are allowed to mingle with one another, putting each other in danger, little to no surveillance, little to no day structure, I could go on and on. The worst part is that many psych wards are like that in real life today
It didn't even feel like a psyche ward. It could've been changed to a boarding school with minimal differences.
I didn't feel like the game adequately explained why any of the characters, other than maybe Oliver? were actually there. Like Elijah seems to have anxiety, but that isn't really a good reason by itself to be locked up in a psych ward, and then he's just magically out a month later? And then the other characters don't really seem to have any reason at all why they are there. It just feels like a high school dressed up as a psych ward.
@@nattteo The game explains the two bullies were there because one was violent skinhead who's father happened to be the governor and basically dumped him in the ward so he wouldn't ruin his image during his re-election campaign, and the other is a psycho who stabbed his own mother to death.
The fact that this game seems to take place in the 90s might explain the abysmal management.
@@nattteo seeing when the game takes place in elijah might be here due to his sexual orientation
He weren't kidding, Tina always with him start to end...What a protective sister she is.
It's messed up that Tina has to live as a vicious mindless monster tho.
@@user-gu9yq5sj7c Well, it is Horror. Endings for horror stories are typically either dark or bitter sweet.
Y
@@user-gu9yq5sj7c i wouldn't say "mindless" more like a "one thought" she's very basic thinking in what she does: to protect.
she listens and stays in the shadows, literally, looking over Oliver and those close as said.
Tina basically fused with Mother to be able to protect Oliver from harm and more importantly, Mother as well.
I agree with Manly on the criticisms but one thing I really enjoyed is Elijah's little narrations. You can tell dude is really passionate about horror and fiction and I love how he had that going for him. More protagonists should do that lol
i genuinely enjoyed that part. it gave much more color to the game. but then it just stopped and everything felt sort of... drab. it was a relatable and fun character quirk and i really wish he kept it up.
the constant bounce back to the interview room with AL is breaking the game's pacing and immersion.
@@theotv5522 It's actually not that uncommon but for a short experience yeah maybe there should have been less of the cutaways. Though I was talking about the way Elijah looks at the other patients/nurses and makes up stories about them.
@@selinnazsur2328 yeah. The biggest issue is due to that, and the game being shorter, you don't really have as much of an opportunity to be drawn into each scene, and once you do, it draws you back out.
I was hoping his narrations were some kind of foresight, like he could see into the future but nobody believes him so hes locked up here.
I'm also confused as to why his personality is so different compared to the beginning of the game and then towards the end. At the beginning while talking with Al I read him as this cynical and edgy teenager, maybe something about his growing up made him prickly and unfriendly to those around him. I was pleasantly surprised to see him be nice to Oliver, like oh yeah hes outwardly cold but lets up a bit if he sees someone out of their league. But then he just turns all goody-goody. He dropped the spice so fast.
I like Tina, in a twisted way. She's a horrific forest monster, but she's still Oliver's sister - and cares for him and his friends. Hope we see more of her later in a potential third part.
It's messed up Tina is imprisoned to live in a hellish existence as a monster.
@@user-gu9yq5sj7c Freeing her from that tormented form would make for a very good part 3 or finale to the series.
Ahhh dammit i scrolled down and spoiled myself
@@IFuckingLoveFrenchToast Yikes, sorry. I wish YT would let us tag a comment as spoiler so you have to confirm before reading it.
@@galloviking4766 It's aight, I watched the full video anyway
I feel like my biggest criticism is the underutilization of the "point and click" aspect in some areas (considering its long run time), and I agree with the story of Elijah, Eric, and Oliver's relationship needing a bit more fleshing out (and giving Grace more plot relevancy/role in the story). I also wished it kinda focused more to the supernatural aspect, balancing out with the character drama (even made up a whole scenario in my head lol).
Overall, it was an OK chapter. Pretty surprising it was a continuation considering all the prior games were their own contained narrative. Liked the goose caring section (spoiler: RIP Ms. Murphy).
I thought it's dragged out enough. It was a bait and switch. Sidelining Oliver and the monster in their own story, and making it about Elijah and a "soap opera or a high school drama". Which I dislike, and there's already a lot of. They could've replaced Elijah with Oliver. Some comments here said they also thought the story would be about detective work and thought that would've been more interesting.
I thought it's dragged out enough. It was a bait and switch. Sidelining Oliver and the monster in their own story, and making it about Elijah and a "soap opera or a high school drama". Which I dislike, and there's already a lot of. They could've replaced Elijah with Oliver. Some comments here said they also thought the story would be about detective work and thought that would've been more interesting.
@@user-gu9yq5sj7c Heya, just wanna say I definitely agree with a lot of the topics you bought up in the comment section. Although I feel our perception of them might differ in opinion on certain topics, I'm not here to entertain that.
I just wanna ask, I think yt might be glitching out and sent your reply twice, so would you mind deleting one of the comment? It's just a personal thing, but I won't hold it against ya if you don't.
I liked Grace. The two institutions sharing an accidental speaking tube was a strange contraption but it was fun, weird surprise. Grace sounds like the single person Elijah really confides in. I don't think it would make sense to have her show up, but as someone Elijah bounces ideas with. Instead of the inner monologue.
Like having an online friend on a different continent but using 80's speaking tube means.
Honestly, turning this into a gay teen drama felt like its just comically missing the point of a Twilight Zone inspired thing
Joe deserved better. I have to agree that after watching the game I really don't know a lot about most of the cast, but I think the most respectful way to move from here would be to put Tina to rest. Even if she's playing the role of a guardian spirit in this game, that's a pretty unfortunate fate. Cool game though, hope to see more.
Joe and ms. Murphy are the real heroes of this game.
I would have liked more of Grace. It wouldn't make sense to have her show up, but as someone Elijah confides in. Not a lot, just replace some of the inner monologues with dialogues with Grace about weird shit happening.
at least the evil creature died with him
@@SusCalvinI definitely could see this game working out better with being longer. Some of the main complains I’ve seen are with grace, Oliver, and Eric’s respective relationships with Elijah not being as fleshed out. So if the game was longer, grace could’ve been a more consistent character, like Elijah visiting the drain pipe every afternoon and kind of recapping what happened the previous night. And all the other relationships would’ve been fleshed out more too.
I could also see her being a guardian for the new Tina (lover and Elijah’s kid) in the next game, if they’re going for a continuous story. Maybe she’ll even become the next “Mother”
Am I the only one who teared up a bit at the goose? Ms. Murphy was such a fancy goose R.I.P. 😭😭😭
I did, but only after Elijah started crying too. I was already horrified, angry, and devastated, but hearing him sob broke my heart. 😢
the moment I felt like that happened I was like not the goose please
I have chickens and ducks so that hit like a truck lol, RIP Ms. Murphy, the fanciest goose around.
@@cyruscunningham1075female
Yes
I feel like Eric served as a flaw in Elijah's character. It seems like their friendship was starting to fall apart before the events that take place in the game. At the beginning, before Eric is even introduced, Elijah sees Eric outside scratching out an "E hearts E" carving that had previously been on the bench. Elijah sees the carving and thinks nothing of it (even though they are the only two boys with names that start with E). Eric has had feelings for Elijah for a while at this point and he now feels like Elijah only hangs out with him as a last resort. We can tell this is true based on their conversation in the cafeteria. Elijah is so caught up in being bullied for being gay, that he doesn't even consider the possibility that Eric is too. After consoling Elijah about Ms. Murphy's demise, Eric vaguely comes out to him. Elijah is silent and Eric takes that as rejection. Eric, feeling rejected, sees Oliver and Elijah together the next night and lashes out by telling Aiden. Elijah's negligence of their friendship by no means warrants the abuse that Eric indirectly inflicts upon him, but all this considered, you can see how it gets to that point.
I absolutely believe Eric would do something like that. People do some horrible things out of spite.
Not to mention he gave off some "nice guy" vibes. He got agitated at Elijah being friendly to someone else in a way that suggested he viewed Oliver as competition, and said "what would you do without me?" while insisting Elijah rest. Might be reaching, but it feels like Eric would be the type to isolate Elijah and be very entitled with him, so yeah it's not much of a stretch for him to make someone pay horribly for "denying him what's rightfully his"
Ain't gonna sugar coat it but Eric was toxic af. People who think they are entitled to other people are toxic and this type of situation goes down for many people out there in real life situations. You can like someone without being possessive and if they don't like you the way you want them to then it's time to move on. If you can only base friendship on the hopes of romance then you don't deserve to be friends with them to begin with.
i kept wondering- if Manly had chosen the other option when Al asked about E&E's relationship, if things would have gone a little different or not
I can tell you if you want to know
I feel like the most horrifying part of this game is that nobody really notices the way overgrown tree roots except for Joe that one time lmao
I know right ? I was half-expecting to learn that those roots had some sort of memetic power that prevented people from noticing them.
Gotta say, the fact that so _few_ people seemed bothered about the encroaching plants that grew over everything _overnight_ is weird, as well as the fact that "Mother" just kinda...died on her own. It'd be one thing if we _saw_ her plants getting weaker, and she killed that nice old man in sort of a last-ditch attempt at getting Oliver back, but both "deaths" just happened off-screen. The death of "Mother" could've easily been a final boss thing, even if all you could do was run and dodge falling or fallen objects.
Tbh the Mother killing Joe taking up the last of her strength plot point feels very much like a "tell, don't show" kind of thing
Yeah, I felt like it was a waste of a character because Mother was obviously being set up as the main villain, but then the story took the "it turned out HUMANS are the true monsters!" route. :/ But deserving deaths, I guess.
The plot legit shrugged and dropped its main villain for two two cliched stereotypes
Man my heart goes out to Thomas. My daughter got diagnosed with cystic fibrosis about a month ago and of course shattered our lives. To hear that Thomas lived 10 more years made me feel a little better even if he's not real. 💜
Oh my god, what awful news! I hope your daughter gets the best medical treatment possible. Cystic fibrosis is a real bitch and a half of a disease. I hope your daughter murders it and puts it in an unmarked grave. And she spits on that grave. And tells its corpse to eat shit.
I feel like the weakest element of the plot overall, besides the valid criticisms with Eric, is Oliver and Tina being missing for -10- years. That just seems way way too long for Oliver to go from that to being found and 2 weeks later being put in the Center. Like he doesn't need to be feral but.. he was really young and underdeveloped and then we have the events of the game and.. yeah he's quiet and weird but he's super well spoken and mannered considering. Also, man, his parents. "We know you've been missing 10 years. You really need therapy. Toodles!". It really feels like the length of the kidnapping needs to be shortened up considerably, like a year, to fit how the game plays out. Which, I get that it's meant as a direct sequel to The Nanny but I don't think it works right.
I thought the same thing, he's weirdly well-spoken and calm about everything. He'd probably be kinda used to the monster after that long but you'd think he'd still be scared and upset that it's coming for him, especially after it murdered his sister. He is quiet but there's no indication that this is because he's traumatized or socially underdeveloped or afraid of new people, it's like he's just being mysterious because he's hiding a secret. Once he decides to trust Elijah he's suddenly normal and gives his whole backstory without much emotion or anything. I wish his character was more fleshed out.
Tbh I was expecting Oliver to have a feral like nature or some kind of traumatic side since being held hostage by an evil spirit at the age of 8 for 10 years would have some significant/major effects on any person.
I don't think he would be "feral" per-say he did have his sister with him the entire time I guess, and she was older, so she could have taught him a lot... But yeah, doesn't really make a lot of sense 10 years in the woods with only one other person would drive you insane, no way you'd be that put together. I also mentioned this in another comment thread but the fact that he's just "conveniently gay" is kinda irritating to me. Considering that he would have gone through his entire puberty in the forest, he's gotta be a little messed up or confused by his sexuality. It would have been pretty great to explore that and explore how he feels about Elijah, but instead the plot just skips all of that.
Honestly I think it would work best if Oliver was found a year prior to when this game takes place. A year spent with attempting to reintigrate him to society and catch him up on the critical socilization skills that he would have developed if he wasn't missing. I think that and showing him to still be struggling with socilization and haunted by his time in the forest would have helped.
I'm guessing that he may be in shock and feeling overwhelmed, and that he would have eventually started cracking with enough time to process things. And The Nanny hints at the parents being somewhat negligent/disconnected from the kids, and given that they probably still live in that house by the forest... Maybe Oliver was too freaked out to stay there? Or maybe he was saying some seemingly crazy stuff about "Mother," and clammed up after receiving negative reactions to it? Who can say.
You know between the Jungle Book and Frankenstein references, these bullies are shockingly well read.
Joe: "Too many bizarre things are happening around here lately."
Elijah: "What .... kind of things?"
*Murder roots from hell just right in the background* : 👁👄👁
I’m only 5 minutes into the video but I have to express how stoked I am to see a sequel to The Nanny. At first I thought the name Oliver was just a reference but when the detective from the end of the first game showed up I knew. I’m interested to see where this one goes.
*Edit:* Oof. Yeah, I 100% agree with your critique at the end. From someone who was hoping for a sequel: The direction this went was certainly something. The teaser at the end of the first game made it seem like a sequel would focus on the detective solving the mystery of the murders and disappearances, and while I’m not super into the idea of directly covering what happened to the siblings, it’s the inclusion of the entire Elijah plot that I’m really not a fan of. Besides the pacing issues that have been already mentioned, I honestly think it’s too serious of a story to be combined with an ~Oooh Spoopy Forest Ghost~ story like this. It feels like two games whose tones don’t mesh.
On a positive note though, I think the art direction is still great and every screen is a visual treat. I’m also really impressed how they managed to make Oliver’s sprite actually look like an older version of the one from The Nanny, what with them being so simple. The details in the backgrounds were also fun, like the scribbled out E+E heart on the bench that foreshadowed a conflict with Eric (even if I’m not a fan of where that ended up going).
Also Thomas is still alive. Yay!
Indeed. When I was playing The nanny I even thought that the "real gameplay" would start with the detective, at the moment the climax happened, and would have more gameplay mechanics, puzzle, or smt, and you had to actual investigate the case. But even if it didn't had, the nanny's pacing is really good. And I think From the Woods didn't do it so well, because it requires a special execution to solve the mystery, and the lore felt a bit rushed.
uhm... where is Thomas?
@@duyvuquang9786 At Seattle with his uncle and aunt. I cannot imagine living with his sickness and his mom died 10 years ago at the bathtub...
I'm really glad I'm not alone in feeling to have to spend a word about the positive parts.
Elsewhere in the comments I've been attacked just because I said that I perceived Manly's commentary a bit too bitter, while I still agree with most of his criticism (as usual). But again, maybe it's just my perception. I agree the game "could have been different" and probably didn't live up to the expectations but - It's a game, it's a rather polished and technically solid game, it's a game that took some effort (not a AAA studio), so I believe it *also* deserved a few words about the positive aspects, that's all.
I legit thought Grace was gonna be something strange given that he talks to her through a drain pipe, it makes me wonder if the originally she was supposed to be the original monster. It would make sense if she saw Elijah in trouble in danger in the shower area because she lives in the drains. Just that part where you see the music notes coming from the pipe is slightly eerie looking.
Grace honestly felt like an afterthought
Yeah, the fact that he didn’t see her made me think that she was a shadow thing too and he wouldn’t know because he can’t see her face or anything. After all, we know that Mother mimicked a nanny’s singing, so Mother (or a spirit like her) wouldn’t have any problem mimicking a girls singing/voice. I thought that the fact that she was always singing was supposed to be a parallel. (Edit: somehow misspelled mother twice haha)
I'm torn because I mostly like the game and the more wholesome ending it has. But also as time went on I do see its flaws. This could have worked better as a trilogy to give more time to Oliver and Elijah individually.
2 people being murdered is wholesome now?
@@Shyhalu depends on your view of capital punishment I guess
@@wildfire9280You can say the same for those bullies.
@@Shyhalu they weren't actually murdered though: in the end, they talked about them as they were still alive (in a coma, maybe...?)
@@kronk2.094 Wtf did you even watch?
All I got was "I dunno", "Well...", and "I can still hear their screams in my nightmares"
I think the game would be better if it were longer, and took more time establishing both Elijah's and Oliver's stories
I thought it's dragged out enough. It was a bait and switch. Sidelining Oliver and the monster in their own story, and making it about Elijah and a "soap opera or a high school drama". Which I dislike, and there's already a lot of. They could've replaced Elijah with Oliver. Some comments here said they also thought the story would be about detective work and thought that would've been more interesting.
@user-gu9yq5sj7c
the story literally starts with them rescuing Oliver ,it was about how he and his sister serviced in the forest ,if your familiar with these games you know there's ZERO detective work involved in any of the midnight scenes stories ,it's loosely based off Twilight zone if that helps.
I feel like a massive issue I have is that Oliver's perspective just isn't explored at all. Like he's just conveniently gay, but he spent the last decade, covering his entire puberty in a forest, completely isolated from human life. How would he even know what his sexuality is? It really feels like there needed to be a lot of time spent on developing that, and developing how he feels about Elijah, but instead the plot needs him to be gay/bi so he is.
Honestly, they should have cut out the bully subplot entirely. I think it would have been better if the story had been Mother trying to get Oliver back, and Tina trying to protect him. And maybe make Oliver himself the player character, not Elijah.
Also, this is the worst psyche ward I've ever seen, and they deserve to lose all their patients at the end.
@@nattteo actually, it makes sense that Oliver doesn't need time to accept that he likes boys, because he spent most of his life living away from a heteronormative society. He was never pressured to follow heterosexual norms as a child, so he's less likely to be closeted and tormented over his gay tendencies. He doesn't have any emotional turmoil, or fear of being ostracized, because he never learned that it's not acceptable for some people.
When Oliver was called Mowgli at 14:45, they were referring to a character named Mowgli in The Jungle Book stories, who was abandoned by his parents in the woods and later raised by wolves.
yep that was my thought as well,
I thought that was obvious. However I forget how much time has passed since my childhood and realize that there is entire generations that may not know that movie exists...
*sad 30 year old noises*
@@Teenage_Mutant_Ginga_Ninja movie I know the book and like it far better.
@@Teenage_Mutant_Ginga_Ninja Boyscout here in Viet Nam is based on the Jungle Book, so I'd say I'm lucky that I know this
yeah in this context its basically calling him an ape.... I'd have rocked his snot box
"I like how I... somehow... used my magic meme powers..."
The lore grows...
"There a beast living beneath the boards. It growls everytime it's hungry even though it eats, nonstop. The screams, the flesh, the blood of men, women and children excite the wretched monster. The beast's hunger never satisfied."
Garfield
Sounds like someone saw me getting a 3AM snack and was a little melodramatic
you're all hilarious and i love you
Seems like an apt description of communists and fascists.
Don’t worry guys it’s just me with my midnight snacks. I get a little ravenous at night so I go a little crazy with the chicken leg with ketchup
I agree about Eric, which is a shame because I was invested at first. I thought the game was going in the direction of them secretly being a couple, and the dynamic there with them having to hide it while stuck living with a violent neonazi could have been really interesting. There was the implication that they had been leaning on each other to deal with all the jerks in that place, which makes the relationship feel like it has more depth. In retrospect, I can see that the game was _trying_ to make me dislike him with some of the things he said about Oliver, but I can't blame him for not trusting a new person acting as sketchy as Oliver was. He certainly didn't seem like a terrible enough person for me to believe he'd do what he did in the end, and it wasn't necessary for the plot. Those guys already knew Elijah was gay, they had all the reason they needed to go after him. Elijah barely reacted to this huge betrayal either, so we didn't even get the drama you'd think would come with it.
Elijah and Oliver getting together seemed pretty rushed. They went from Oliver never saying a word to him and flinching away when Elijah touched his arm and then they're cuddling in bed all of a sudden?? I did like the cute montage of them getting older together (always with Tina in the background lol) but other than that I didn't really care about their relationship tbh. Maybe if the devs got rid of Eric entirely they could have spent more time on that.
It does feel like two plots smashed together. It was so anticlimactic that they put in so much buildup to the scene where Mother kills Joe, but instead of going further with it they just handwaved her away by saying the damage of the fire must have suddenly caught up to her. I really thought that was a fake out and kept waiting for her to show up again... Killing a minor background character should have been the _beginning_ of her attack, not the end. I wish they would have incorporated Mother into the attack on Elijah somehow. Could have been pretty intense if as they were tazing him all those roots that overtook the building came to life and started attacking too, then Tina shows up and takes them all out or sets another fire and burns the whole place down, or something like that. Something to at least tie it all together. (Also yes, I couldn't believe people barely acknowledged the giant roots bursting through the windows every night!)
Still had fun watching it though! The art is really good and I enjoyed the ride even if some parts of the plot bugged me.
100% agreed. i even posted a similar comment about elijah and oliver. it was before i saw yours, so i'm glad i'm not alone.
He feels somewhat like a token character, I understand the point of his character but idk it's an ick for me and I can't quite put my finger on it
@@CinnamonDoll i agree, he definitely feels likea token character, which is unfortunate because i really wanted to like him. his sudden jump from being so supportive of elijah to outright causing him physical harm (albeit indirectly) felt way too rushed.
@@goldlewis_dickinson definitely
It was also never clear whether Elijah was ACTUALLY gay, or just being bullied for it because the violent, murderous, neo-nazi child was clearly projecting...
Even the end scene implied that he had a crush on Grace, and him being gay was never confirmed until the last picture in the credits, and even then it's slightly ambiguous...
"Thank you for listening to my story. I know it's very hard to believe."
Meanwhile, a tree has busted through his window and is steadily growing towards him. Naw, bruh, ain't that hard to believe...
Not sure if it was "Just Ignore Them" or "My Big Sister" for the playthrough, but I do remember seeing that trope consistently of "Having a helpful (sometimes) monster" and I do like to see it in more media
That is done quite a bit. When people have a monster or demon or become a monster to get back at their bullies or defend themselves, or if they got into the occult, etc. Like Gaara from Naruto or more anime. It's messed up that Tina has to live as a vicious mindless monster tho.
I like that trope. What I really want to see, however, is a version where you play as the protective monster
If I got turned into a similar monster, because of my willpower, I would definitely be a protector as well
@@anapplepinetarticathe23rd90 Actually, given how my life is going these days, I would absolutely be down to turn into some weird spindly shadow monster that follows my little brother around and kills anything that tries to hurt him.
@@deen7530 hopefully our crypts would be close by and we could team up or hang out 🤭👾😈☠️👹👻
Definitely was not expecting the heartwarming little credit pictures to accompany but was pleasantly surprised, and I'm glad in a weird way things worked out for both of them and that they were still together and had their adventures/books, but I agree that in regards to Eric and the other criticisms of this story that I wish both Eric and Elijah/Oliver had more time to develop
Looking at the comments, it seems like a "preaching to the choir" situation, but I absolutely agree with Manly on the plot beats of this game. Spoilers obviously.
In the off chance the developers are reading my comment, let me preface by saying that I love the intention of the game. I think there's enough unique story beats here for a good narrative.
That said, I would echo Manly's comments (and will expand on them if I feel they're necessary):
- Eric feels like a lot of wasted potential. I can understand the intention for the "spurn lover" angle who makes a bad call at a bad time. Love triangles (even unintentional ones) are a classic trope. But his decisions, his thought process, and his overall characterization get harmed to make it happen. As Manly points out, it would seem almost insane for him to tell Aiden and Theo. He knows what type of people they are. It creates a very tonally inconsistent character.
- On the topic of Aiden and Theo, I can see where the effort was going. While I don't mind the concept of the character, the dialogue feels a bit over the top, cartoonish, and almost B-movie right before their deaths. I can't speak much further though (as I have not interacted with such individuals in my life nor have I been on the receiving end of such experiences), so I'm ready to admit that this could be a lack of subject matter experience: maybe there are people who speak like that and that the writers were sculpting the character from their memories (as Manly did note that his father's friend was on the receiving end of an attack similar to the one in-game).
- The characters of Mother and Tina, while clearly having to be bundled together (for the bait and switch), feel almost sidelined in the way the game has been written. Manly raises the possibility of this being better suited for two games: (1) a drama around Elijah, Aiden, Theo, and Eric and, (2) a horror game around Oliver and Tina's attempts at escaping Mother. The compression of what could have easily been its own game into a single flashback really compromises both ends I think since we get this supernatural being that acts in frankly confusing fashion. I THINK the intention was for Mother to be searching for Oliver, getting upset at Joe for attacking her roots (or was injured by that), and dying after exhausting herself on that attack. But we have basically no knowledge of her existence or her patterns, so it's left purely as guess work. And, because we have no connection to her, we as an audience are robbed of that catharsis since we were just introduced to her a few minutes before.
- The combining of the two stories also hurts the serious drama side too. I feel like juxtaposing a very serious and real topic with "and here's a scary ghost who's going to murder all the icky stuff away" creates a tonal mess. I, again, understand what is being attempted here. But at least from my perspective, it feels like it's not saying a lot about the former while dragging down the latter's cathartic blood and gore.
So Eric, a presumably jealous gay black man, told the neo-nazi and parricider that the only other openly gay person slept in the same room as another dude and then acted surprised when they tortured him? That was some pretty bad writing at the end there. Along with nobody acknowledging the giant tree roots, that took me completely out of the story. This story could have accomplished what it wanted without even introducing Eric, Aiden and Theo. It's such a blunder that it takes away all the intrigue from what seemed to be an interesting series of games.
A lot of people are skimmed over. I liked Grace. The accidental speaking tube between the institutions was a strange contraption but a nice, weird surprise. Replacing a bit of the inner monologue with a dialogue with Grace about the weird stuff happening would have been nice.
Eric being unable to stand up to the two directly, but still doing his best to help afterwards, was a lot more subtle. When one of them punches Elijah and Eric just shrinks back as it happens.
Hey, I agree with your wider point and this is just a small nitpicky thing, but; I think the word you were going for/thinking of with "parricider" was actually "patricider" - but that's also not quite right. "Patricide" would be if someone killed their father - but since it was his mother, in this case it would actually be "matricide", and you'd use it as an adjective rather than a noun, so for example:
"He is a _matricidal_ neo-nazi; maybe having the gay black character go 'hey i'm in a silly goofy mood - oh i know, i'll snitch on my gay bestie to that guy, haha what a funny prank with the bois that won't end horrifically at all!' and then be all surprised pikachu when they get violent - that's perhaps not in the running for this year's World's Most Believable Videogame Plot Point award."
Anyway haha, just an FYI since you might like to know for the future - but yeah, you were clear enough that despite that detail, I'm pretty sure I still understood what you were getting at here, right? So not a big deal and no judgement intended here from me; just a minor/potentially interesting/hopefully useful factoid :)
@@MononymousM Nope they are right they just used the general term "Parricide
/ˈparɪsʌɪd/
the killing of a parent or other near relatives."
So yeah it just means to kill a parental family figure.
@@MononymousM Dude, you thought wrong, parricide is totally a word and it means killing close relative, usually parent, and if we ignore his attempt at turning it into noun it is absolutely valid word here, so my friendly advise for you is better check your factoids properly before making nitpicks next time.
In way, it's not that surprising. Closeted individuals and members of marginalized groups will turn mutual enemies on each other- but it isn't an ideal trope to feed into or normalize.
I agree with the commentary about Eric.
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.
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Like the building of his character is wild. I mean maybe his actions are unreasonable and flighty because, well they are all in a mental health institution. But it makes NO sense that he "didn't think" that Theo and Aiden wouldn't hurt Elijah. It's obvious from the start that they regularly bully Elijah, from their encounter to his talk with Grace. But ALSO not only was Theo in for his sus violence. But Aiden did hate crimes and actually fked up a girls eyes? So there's not only the knowledge of their backstory, but also poor Ms. Murphy. Like a pen??? Theyre obviously sadistic and happy to resort to violence. They must have had to physically restrain and shove that pen down. I assume they watched her suffer and choke. There's just no way that Eric couldn't see that they'd heighten their level of violence towards Elijah. Like what was the alternative supposed to be? Them just continuing their standard bullying, which had already evolved to lethal animal cruelty? Bruh like from any angle, it's obviously no good and dangerous to be involved with Aiden and Theo.
I wonder if Eric lost his mind completely and had to stay at that place even more..
Mama is the movie you're thinking of, it's a much better execution of this concept. I agree with pretty much all of your criticism, the game was basically speedrunning entire concepts that whole books and movies have been constructed around individually. I also really feel like a lot of the mysticism was lost when they showed oliver's backstory. The monster in the previous game is really pretty horrifying, but then they explain it and all the horror is gone. And then it just dies halfway through the story? Like at that point all the tension is gone because we already know the other monster is tina and she isn't going to hurt any of the characters. I mean even before that, the main cast of characters never felt like they were in any danger. Oliver obviously isn't going to die, and there's never really any implication that the entities would want to hurt Elijah.
Pretty unfortunate, I thought the last game was really good even if it was a total gut punch.
I won't lie - the horror game kind of tripped into comedy at the end. Having Tina appear in their holiday photo and their welcoming of their baby is hilarious to me. She's just there. Standing menacingly.
But! With this set up, I totally can see a new Midnight Scenes starring Tina and the baby inspired by one of Stephen King's stories:
You play an outright bad guy. Someone who kidnaps selected targets in order to pay off your debts to another individual. You know terrible things happen to these people but it's an eat or be eaten world and you rather eat. You spend the opening of the game preparing to kidnap somebody by doing point-and-click stuff - gathering items, combining them, observing details and etc - and after you kidnap them, you hand them over to your boss.
You're new target is the adopted child of an upcoming author, Elijah Darnell, because one of his works mocked your boss. Or something. Anyways - You kidnap the kid with the usual set up and that's when shit goes down: Spooky stuff. Maybe a scare scene or two, as a treat, as you point-and-click escapes for you and your target as you flee a mysterious, monstrous creature as the kid keeps going on about being saved by his 'Auntie Tina.'
Turns out the monster is Auntie Tina and she murder-deaths you and your boss for trying to harm Oliver and Elijah's child. Game ends with the child being safe, Detective Taylor absolutely STUMPED by all this happening to the Darnells and Tina quietly watching this in, like, a corner or spot that will scare you if you notice her.
I agree that the meme sounds were immersion-breaking for me. Also, Oliver & Tina spending TEN YEARS in a forest. So much missed opportunity for gameplay & stories. We could have EXPERIENCED examples of their daily lives, especially their escape attempts. Live through their hopelessness, accepting they're trapped, after the leg break incident, then Oliver getting sicker day by day, and their desperate plan to escape, and Oliver being found, feeling like he was about to die.
It would have been great to play through all that instead of it all being casually explained in a flashback.
I would have also loved sections of the game, where you play as Jojo-Stand/Guardian Tina, sneaking around, avoiding mirrors, sabotaging and steath-killing more bullies, who are threatening the main characters, and other good kids at the center. But that maybe too much. And I laughed like the Joker, for like a minute straight, at the gay friend's reaction to catching them running together. I would have thought that was just comic-relief, if it wasn't for his later actions. The escalation of all that was a little weird. Still, I love the happy ending, and think it was a great sequel. The Nanny ending was haunting by itself, but it's great to know what actually happened to them, instead of me thinking they turned into a magic soul sucking rock painting or something.
something I heard during the commentary to one of the Blackwell games is: If you have a character that seems boring/weak, try and combine them with another boring character to try and create 1 good/strong character
That's called bad writing.
Or maybe don't have those characters. Oliver could've replaced Elijah. I thought this story would be about Oliver, the monsters, and more about the supernatural. But it was a bait and switch, and about a "soap opera or a high school drama". Which I dislike, and there's already a lot of.
@@user-gu9yq5sj7c True, I entered this chapter expecting horror, and I got drama instead. Not that it's an issue, but still, I wanted to feel fear and dread. I don't really like how it just ends up being a drama-story drive with some horror elements to it.
But eh, to each their own. Most people I saw were talking about how real the homophobia and racism issues were and that's completely fine. I just wish people talk about the horror aspect of it more because this is supposed to be a horror game after all.
@Shyhalu actually it's a well-know writing strategy taught in schools, but go off and write a story with 1000 minor characters, see how 'entertaining' your story is when filled with bloat and excess.
@@silvertriforce2574 "actually it's a well-know writing strategy taught in schools"
You mean the same schools handing out worthless degrees?
We have millions of crappy books. A well known strategy doesn't mean its a good one.
You sound like the **** that crashed the market in 2008 by packaging 1000 bad loans with a few good ones.
Just stop writing bad characters or ones that don't need to exist.
Honestly, at least this horror game had a somewhat happy ending. The kind of mistreatment Elijah went through is something that happens too often; Theo and Aide got what was coming to em.
Elijah: "What happened to Joe?"
Me, reflexively before I can stop myself: "Joe Mama..."
I mean... This game specifically is giving me "I wrote this one-shot fanfic at 2 a.m. and I didn't feel like researching anything because real details might ruin the plot I want to write" so I unfortunately can't not judge it.
You know what that makes a lot of sense now
im glad im not the only one with "this is a damn wattpad story" mindset the whole time
pretty weak criticism
I hope the developer sees the criticism from ManlyBadAssHero since I feel like despite him going through that much detail to give that much deep critique for the game, despite it being his least favorite game in this creator's series, shows that he has a lot of respect for the game itself and its creator and really wants them to succeed. Personally, I think a lot of the problems this game had could have been fixed by simply adding more game time and for sure fixing Eric, giving Grace more screentime, and showing the trauma and struggles Oliver has to deal with due to being cut off from society and his family outside of Tina.
Apparently even the "choices" don't affect the outcome. Just an overall poor presentation imo.
I get what Manly is saying. I think stories like this are extremely hard to write, but I really enjoyed this video game. It was one of my favorites, and I encourage the developer to keep trying, cause they have a great start here in terms of story board! I agree with a lot of what Manly said though, there should definitely be more balance with the characters (I especially agree with what Manly said about Eric), and there's also the issue of Oliver and Tina's development. They went missing from a very young age with zero contact with the outside world, they shouldn't have been able to speak as well as they were. I was hoping to see more of the breathing technique mini game too, it seemed like that would've been a great puzzle in tense situations. Still, I really appreciate the happy ending. That was really cute, I highly approve. It took away from the horror a little, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. I enjoyed it! Well done :)
My only problem with this video game is that it barely has any game in it
Yeah I have a lot of gripes with the game and it’s plot but I had a lot of fun and likes the main characters (well not the neonazis but Yknow what I mean), and loved that little credits thing. I think that if it was a longer, fran bow or sallyface style game (that has more time to flesh out the characters and their motivations, *cough cough Eric*) it could end up being really really great.
“Flamethrower hobbyists” definitely sounds like the kind of thing you should be able to find in the yellow pages. Lol.
That reminded me of the South African salesmen and inventor who tried to sell anti-cartheft flamethrowers. After that failed, he built self-defense flamethrowers.
I like that Oliver got a "Happy Ending" sort of. And that we got an answer to where Tina was. This was a neat game.
If something bad happens to the goose I'm going to riot
...... How's that riot going going?
@@katattack5793 NO. NO!!!
🎵So honk if you're ready for chaos!🎵 Say honk honk like a horrible goose.!
I think they could have done more with Grace. She is the one person Elijah confides in most. The accidental speaking tube built between the institutions was a fun, weird twist.
There was a bunch of 80's horror schlock contraptions. Why is the administrator's office unlocked at an institution, where did the two kids get a taser in this place. And why do they keep running the place, it's like why Buffy's school in Sunnydale never closes despite how many mysterious deaths there are on a semester. I think they skip over the exploration and puzzle-solving part of playing exploring horror kids.
The sound effects are just strange. I don't think they added anything. The writing and dialogue was good enough as it is.
Honestly i prefer the first game as a solo experience. It had the element of horror, the mistery on the rock of what happened to them.
The conclusion on how the "Entity" stopped because her batteries went out... I just liked the misterious ghost on the forest who kidnaped them, not a creature with meat and root. This sequel sadly feels totally unnecesary to me and a step down. In a way brokes the mistery and horror of the first one.
Sad Tina is stuck in such a hellish existence, I wish she could be free. :'(
Thank you. Some of the comments said they're glad the MC has a protective monster and/or to attack his bullies, or try to paint it sentimental that Tina is always with Oliver, but forget that's a person imprisoned to live a hellish existence. It seems selfish and disturbing.
@@user-gu9yq5sj7c Not to mention Oliver will no longer have any privacy because his overprotective nanny of a sister is always watching him, even when he is taking a bath, even when he is having wild sex with Elijah
Seeing "Mowgli" misspelled as "Mowgly" was already kinda funny, but Manly mistaking a Jungle Book character's name for a LOTR term killed me as someone who grew up with both X'D
I do like this game a lot, but I agree that the story seemed fractured and patched together at times. It felt like the creators just wanted to show some resolution to the previous game with a happy ending rather than focus on the horror aspect
14:45 I believe they meant 'Mowgli', the wild raised child from Rudyard Kipling's 'The Jungle Book.' And that's why they were telling him to go back to his forest. They just misspelled the name.
lmfaoo you’re absolutely right
Hearing Manly talk about guilty gear was surprising but a welcoming one.
He became Zato got me back there lol
Tina (haunting ghost) is best aunt. Imagine if Baby Tina grows up with Aunt Tina, too. Glad the two boys remained close.
ADD: As Manly said Eric could have been written better.
EDIT: Eric could have talked to Elijah, whom Eric had feelings for. Why would Eric go to Elijah's enemy? Would that not ring as manipulating Elijah into running to Eric? Maybe Eric was thinking "Flip this new guy, I am the only person who can be Elijah's safe space"! If Eric thought that, then he is a toxic friend.
Elijah is Eric's love interest. But as @Void Breather commented Elijah either knows or remains oblivious to Eric's attentions.
Eric and Elijah weren't in a relationship, though. Eric had feelings for Elijah, while Elijah either knows and doesn't reciprocate them, or is oblivious to this.
@@voidbreather7405 Ah I see. I will amend my error.
Also, the two boys did become close, so close in fact that they became a couple!!! Great story, especially the ending but the pacing and character needs more work.
Their relationship is really poorly executed
The game says they're best friends then just gives a single scene of Elijah sitting next to him and Eric goes "oh no you only talk to me when you have nothing else to do"
which is supposed to show that Eric is jealous, toxic, in love with him etc. But all i get is Elijah doesn't care about him. It's only later that the game attempts to add some more almost useless scenes.
The story should go for a little longer showing more days of Elijah in that place. The whole interview should be split into few and in between them more stuff would happen, either him going back to do whatever and the drama and the bullies would happen alongside some spooks or he would one day spend some time alone in his room reminiscing of some more meaningful moments with Eric.
@@Kyumifun I do agree that the relationships in this story are poorly executed.
However, the game uses ambiguity, flashbacks, and multiple perspectives to tell this story. When I say ambiguity, I mean in relation to the relationships. The relationships of the story are implied so the player has a choice. As @Void Breaker commented the player can choose wheather Elijah acknowledges Eric's feelings or not. It is always fun to see how games/game devs tackle players who pick the other options. Anyway, the purpose for these factors is to save time. If game devs put too much story/lore there is a risk that players may get bored. Not everyone apperciates reading visual novel games. Thus, the interview of Elijah gives the story a focused direction. It allows the game tk skip past minor interactions between all the characters. If there is more content, devs risk putting more work into content that people might lose interest in playing. Also, these factors allow the story to be told in a new way from the first. In short, they can improve. But, the game right now is ok.
52:04 - ah yes... the person who you told, in front of the entire cafeteria full of people, that something was wrong with the goose. literally proves he did it with this statement, lol.
I love these midnight scene games. The visuals, the atmosphere, the writing, the music, everything about them
Maybe I missed something but how did Mother die all of a sudden? They don’t explain how it happened. And honestly I would have liked a confrontation with her as the Big Evil because there was so much buildup to her being an antagonist. She’s the whole reason Tina is how she is, so it would have been satisfying to see how that ended. Maybe there’ll be more. That all being said, I liked the core of the story and I enjoy the Midnight Scenes series a lot. It’s a thoughtful and compelling game, and I liked it!
The fire that Tina used weakened her, and she (Mother) used her remaining strength to kill Joe. I'm willing to bet that a prequel is in the works to show Mother's origins (my theory is that she's the nanny with the eyepatch, that she's Tina and Oliver's actual mother, and that she became "Mother" after the father killed and buried her in the forest, possibly under that giant rock; that would explain why she also killed Thomas' mother, if my theory of her having an affair with Oliver and Tina's father and Thomas being biologically his is true).
@@voidbreather7405 Yeah this plus the fact that Joe had been taking a chainsaw to the roots probably dealt the last blow- although I agree it was rather sudden and disjointed with the perceived story climax tbh
I think it was intended as a twist. You thought all the spoopy happenings were Mother? Surprise! It's Tina! But I'm not sure how effectively that panned out, because they didn't let you spend any time with the "yay, the big bad's gone!" fakeout before immediately showing the big bad was still around and kicking.
Well the game did explain, that Mother died because she used her last strength to kill Joe, it is admittedly confusing and underwhelming though.
As I unserstand it, Mother got quite weakened by the fire, she used some strength to kill Tina and then tried to reach Oliver by possesing the oak. When Joe started cutting the roots down, he was weakening her even more, and when she killed him she used up to much strength and died as a result.
What confuses me more is why Tina turned into that other monster thing. Did some of Mothers power jump over to her, or do people just turn into monsters if their death is tragic enough?
It initally looks like Mother is possessing Tinas dead body, but then the story treats Tina as a seperate entity so that can't be it.
Or was Tina initally controlled by Mother, but then Mother died and then Tina gained controll over her monster form?
@@suitov Is Tina a "big bad," though? The only people we see her actually hurt are Aiden and Theo...
I like how she's just chilling in all the photos like "don't mind me. have your baby."
(Spoiler warning)
I actually like the monster attacking the bullies at the end. It feels like having everything go bad for the protagonist is sort of overdone in horror stories. Guess the set up could have been better but 🤷🏻♂️
This is some good news cause when she said the things they did i was like please get killed off
Totally agree. Though imho this is more 80s+90s mentality: Justice is served for the bad guys when they d*e. Nowadays seems no longer acceptable in works of fiction.
Though the bad guys in this game are such extreme caricatures of evil their de*th is an acceptable fate for them.
Nah, the bullies mere existence seemed exasperating... He adds nothing to the story or horror, and his death feels more like the writer having a murder boner for someone in THEIR life than a narratively satisfying end to a character. Not that there was much 'character' to the 1-dimentional bully in the first place...
I agree with you on pretty much all your points here. The Eric subplot in particular felt like it could have been so much more. And that sudden betrayal twist was... jarring? Irritating? "When I handed you over to the violent, homophobic arseholes in a time/place where nobody was around to save us I didn't think they would hurt you!" Like, wtf? It makes no sense. And then he just sits down on the floor? I can't figure out what I'm meant to be getting from his behaviour. It seems so random.
IMO they should have gone with something like Eric confronting Elisha in the shower - he's bound to know that Elisha showers at night, right? And it seems like the bathroom is far enough from the bedrooms that you can assume people won't hear you (unless Elisha wasn't screaming at all while being electrocuted, which I doubt). So Eric follows and confronts Elisha, saying how he saw Elisha and Oliver together the night before and expressing how he feels betrayed and upset. This lets us see more about Eric and Elisha's relationship, fleshes both characters out a little, and you can have Elisha pushed to say how he feels about Oliver.
Then the bullies walk in and reveal they followed the pair and so overheard the whole conversation. Both Eric and Elisha are overpowered, and the scene continues as currently written except that Eric is also tied up and one of the bullies is standing over him with the knife.
So Tina becomes Oliver's Stand 🤔
Who would've guessed that the guy who dodged a hate crime charge by being from a rich political family was the bad guy all along?
Yeah, the character is just a skin head stereotype and...thats really it.
Yeah I find it really hard to believe that Eric would sell out Elijah to those bullies, even if he was jealous and upset. I think the writers needed the story to have some kind of violent conflict so they could have Tina rip out some eyes but I don't think they did it very well. They already had insanely violent bullies, they didn't need to have Eric betray him to have a violent scene. The bullies could have just seen the two go and spend the night and then torture Elijah in the showers. Eric didn't have to be involved in that. I just think they could've written that part better, but I still liked this game
I'm guessing the writers wrote themselves into a corner and that's why this game ended up the way it did. They wanted to portray the mother as a somewhat sympathetic character in the sense that a wild animal would be and the mother didn't do anything really awful or outside what you'd expect. Then they tried to add Tina and Tina needed to be an even more sympathetic character, like one that served an objectively good purpose, but they'd already burned their reasonable animosity between the protagonist and the B plot, so they had to crank the B plot up to 12 for Tina not to just be the same thing as mother.
I think this is written to have Tina be the real focus of the final act and consequently the whole game overall and how are you going to make a morally good character almost kill multiple people for justifiable reasons without an almost comically evil antagonist.
I think the best way to have made this without compromising the two plots they wanted would have been with two games. One focusing on Oliver and Tina with mother as the antagonist and ending at the psychiatric facility, and the other not including mother at all and with a toned down antagonist focusing more on Tina's conflict between instinctive protection and letting Oliver live his life, maybe bringing back the druidic stuff from the fist game to tie everything together.
I don't know. Just my opinions.
It feels like the writers just wanted to write a story about relationships, bullying, and "soap opera or high school drama", and tack on the story of the monsters and the supernatural. I was waiting for it to be about the monsters and the supernatural or Oliver but it was a bait and switch and boring for me. I thought It was messed up they and some of the comments here seemed to be glamorizing it's ok for Tina to be imprisoned in a hellish existence as a monster as long as it's "cool" the MC gets his own bodyguard, and sentimentalizing that "Tina is still with her brother".
I watched MBH's video on The Nanny after watching this video. I like how Thomas from the first game sends a postcard to Oliver in this game! Nice to know that he's alive and well.
ngl I am more upset about Ms. Murphy than anything else
Poor little thing :
i feel like there's another flaw with eric's character- aidan was put in the center for attacking a black couple so badly that the girl lost an eye, according to elijah. yet this game expects me to believe that eric, who is black, would work together with him??? would sell out his best friend to that person? i'm sorry, but no matter how rejected and hurt eric felt, that is some SERIOUS bullshit writing. and highly suspect to me considering that from what i can tell, neither of the writers of this game are actually black. i really don't feel like that was appropriate, it definitely feels like an overstep on their parts.
edit: should have waited a few more minutes bc manly did sort of mention this, but i'm leaving my comment up anyway bc it really bothers me
I liked the game, but I feel like they squished too much in one game. I feel like there should have been a whole game focused on Tina and Oliver escaping from Mother, then the third game could focus on Elijah’s plot and spend more time establishing the relationship between Elijah and Oliver. That way the bully NeoNazi plot could be a bigger focus, with the Mother plot also having more time to develop.
Biggest complaint: I have a hard time believing a black gay man would out his crush to an effing NeoNazi. More likely, Eric would be trying to avoid Aiden at all costs because of the very real possibility that Aiden would try to kill him. And I think it’d take more than seeing your crush holding hands with another dude one time to push someone into helping a literal Nazi. I feel like this part should be left out entirely (it’s unnecessary bc Aiden and Theo already know/believe Elijah is gay).
Also, the goofy meme sound effects were super out of place and weird.
It's a rule: Whenever it's mentioned that a character "Is close to retiring"/"Will retire next month" or similar...
THEY WON'T GET TO RETIRE.
I feel like the whole using pipes to talk to each other is a nod to The Happening.
I really liked The Nanny story from Midnight Scenes (also watched through Manly's playthrough) and I think his criticism is spot on. I think the greatest aspect of the Midnight Scenes was their self contained stories, new characters each time, and then vague horrific endings. I actually didn't like this kind of wrapped up style this ending took, and honestly found it more cheesy than satisfying. On another note, I really like when Manly does more in depth reviews at the end like this! Also fav part of this whole playthrough is Manly getting frustrated that no one noticed the roots!
_I felt sorry for Oliver_
*Semi-spoilery*
And his sister... tho the plot was kind of very very similar to the movie Mama. His whole backstory tho being truncated into a quickie flashback was a strange directorial decision. The whole game focused on the roots growing, the _~OooOoooOoo_ of the spooky happenings - I could have done without the story of the evil kids and the goose and the weird bathroom thing completely in this. Or frankly, make it a separate game altogether, as it was its own plot having zero to do with the supernatural horror of the main game. The story of Elijah was told with a very heavy hand, and such a serious subject deserved better than being basically told as a side story to a horror game about a supernatural sister.
well at least he had a happy ending, which was nice.
@@dantekinkade8765 Yeah they were both happy at the end. Nice that Grace was the nanny - I kinda wondered how the heck she would fit in bc her character was otherwise so random lol. I wondered whatever happened to Tina tho, so that was sad.
@@NaturalFlirtGamer Yeah it felt like she was just there to be there almost.
With all the call backs in this game we might find out what happened to Tina in another game.
Eric: *exist*
Manly: "I want every gun you have to fire on that man"
There should have been a segment from Tina's perspective. Her journey from bratty kid, to caring older sister, to protective Hag o' the Woods, would have been more interesting than Elijah and friends.
'*sigh* black character used as the patsy for the protag. What a _not_ surprise. 🙄
Sucks cause the premise of the game was decent. The killing of the groundskeeper was unnecessary. He cut a tree branch and never touched Oliver. And talking about him shouldn't have warrant such a response.
yeah i hated that Eric was used in that way :(
Right, I just had to roll my eyes a little when I saw what they were doing with Eric's character, I really don't think any of the creator's of the game are poc because that whole narrative was incredibly distasteful
Right every black and gay person needs to be a superhero with the entire plot fixed around them! Let them hear your outrage! You should go watch some Disney movies to calm yourself. Don’t want you getting triggered over white people existing 😂😂😂😂
We had a lady in our neighborhood who had 3 geese. I guess she raised them since they were babies. I don't see her anymore, but I think she was dating one of the people in our neighborhood. She had an awkward attitude about her. One night she was caught on a neighbors camera carrying a shotgun. I'm assuming she was protecting her geese. Either way, it was really weird. She did some other weird actions that I can't really put into words.
The moral of the story is not to trust a crazy goose lady. And yes, this is a true story. It happened last year.
These Midnight scenes episodes are so good and suits Manly's voice so good as well!
Can’t believe it! :D
I never thought The Nanny would get a sequel but here we are! I always really liked that game and I’m so happy to see more! Thanks for playin the new game Manly!
the ending credits were really cute and i like that these characters got a happy ending but yeah, i agree with ur criticisms. you're so right, i really dont understand how eric would ever do that. it undermines the story. rip hardworking old man
saw the title and literally went "oh so my depression and anxiety? when did they make a game of me?"
so the spirit of the forest kinda possesses de body and soul of people who died with a motherly or protective aura, Oliver's biological mother was her nanny, she wished she could see him but couldn't, not only that, she died somehow and became the Mother creature, when Tina died wishing to protect Oliver she also became possessed with the nature's spirit, the onw that made the crows mad and the roots to grow was the mother, she was the one who killed Joe and died in the process, so Tina actually did nothing wrong, she killed/harmed only in legitimate deffense
I do agree that this story suffers in a way that there were two ideas and with the two merged together for the sake of being a sequel, it ended up giving problems and especially assassinating Eric's character (really was a left-field moment with him working for the bullies when he already knows Aiden's homophobic perspective). And the conflicts also dull the supernatural aspect. I like the plot twist they had, but it fell short because it basically became a "we'll wrap things up and have all your problems gone in one swoosh" kind of deal. It didn't have a good buildup and felt rushed to me. And yeah, with a serious tone, the meme sounds kinda threw it off. I think it would have been better to make those sounds be subtle at specific points rather than everything and everywhere. Like the love sound effect for the bench, that could have been not needed (although its a cute touch that E+E is actually Eric and Elijah).
This story would have been better if split apart tbh and if they really want a sequel, they could make Part 2 as that sequel and Part 1 as an introduction to Elijah as a whole. We could have it in a way that the tree is the supernatural focus with it somehow linked to the 'Mother', maybe her way of looking for Oliver or whatever reason for the tree to become a terror and it ends with Eric and Elijah setting the tree on fire and thinking they've ended the strange events. Doesn't, like all horror stories. And then we go to part 2, Oliver enters the picture and the main supernatural focus becomes Tina while Elijah is trying to find answers related to the tree and that night. And with interacting with Oliver, Elijah does learn more and the two make a shocking discovery that the entity with Oliver is Tina at that point of the story. Eric could still be around but maybe the events did take a toll on their relationship or there could be other directions in the story. That's just my two cents and there could be other ways around the story. Or as my friend constantly tells me whenever I'm writing, "kill your babies" XD
The art as always for Midnight Scenes is as brilliant as always and really brings the horror and atmosphere out. And the biggest point I like of all, Thomas is alive! OMG, I really was afraid of either the game doesn't address Thomas from the last game or that given his condition, be written off as dead. I'm so happy he's ok and living with his aunt and uncle!
I want to believe Joe took down Mother but in doing so lost his life. No other explanation why her power started to suddenly dwindle, so Joe did it. He and Ms. Murphy (the goose) are the hero's of this game.
“Hear me and know; I am Mother! What fool dare attack a Goddess?!?”
[spears Joe through the heart with a root]
“Speak, worm. Tell me your name.”
“Joe…….Mama….”
[lightning strikes mother, instantly killing her]
More games need goose walking sections. It's like the best kind of escort mission.
Gotta shoutout manly for constantly featuring indie devs. I feel like that advert was inadvertently for you
I really appreciate Tina in the credits photos
It's messed up Tina is imprisoned to live in a hellish existence.
Felt like a big drop of the ball to
1. make nobody acknowledge in the least the tree's roots and branches literally growing on doors.
2. make a silly unnecessary subplot of a love triangle that takes like a third of the game.
3. Not only kill the main monster, but also doing it offscreen, and leaving a "good monster" thats no way near as scary, like literally "mother" was supposed to be the "heart of the forest", it managed to convert a human into a monster, and to chase oliver as a tree even taking most of the institution with roots and branches, but it somehow dies OFFSCREEN for putting too much effort into killing an old man? nah bro, doesnt even sound legit.
I like the story as in its execution, but I don't like how middle school story it is. There are a ton of cliches, which actually isn't a entirely bad thing a story can be balanced with those cliches in mind but this one just wasn't, Manly pointing out how much the tree growing into the building took him out of it was proof of that. His superhero monster sister, but worst of all imo was the death of the "mother" it's just stupid. That could have been done so much better, hell you could have had the evil boys beat the tree to establish them as the big threat, that twist could have worked depending on the execution.
So, a few cents from a person who hasn’t played/watched the other games from the series.
Overall, I enjoyed it, even if there are many things to critise. I didn’t have any expectations prior and after a few minutes of gameplay, I just assumed that it’s more of a teen drama story with horror elements than an exclusively horror story per se. However, I can understand why many people felt disappointed.
And there is Eric’s character. I get that his relationship with Elijah was supposed to be ambiguous, but it felt really confusing, especially at first. So many mixed signals and the protag doesn’t even comment on things. He’s close with Eric, then he’s not, they’re only friends, oh no, they’re a couple, actually wait, Elijah doesn’t reciprocate Eric’s feelings... It felt like *a lot*. At the beginning, I was geniuenly thinking that Eric’s just a friend, who feels abandoned/neglected by Elijah.
Then there’s a thing with the bullies... I can actually buy that plot point under certain circumstances. That’s my take:
1. Make Eric more pushy/jealous/obsessive over Elijah. We need to feel like there’s some kind of conflict between them, or at least inner conflict inside Eric’s mind. Things don’t happen out of nowhere.
2. Eric could possibly have some kind of condition/illness (we’re in a psych ward, after all! He should have a reason to stay there...) that makes it harder for him to control his emotions, not act on impulse and, perhaps, foresee consequences of his actions. Maybe even make him not take the treatment seriously or something like that.
3. Another idea to add additional layer: make both Elijah and Eric bullied for their sexual orientation (in the game, Elijah is the one who’s the target. We know about the gossips revolving around him specifically, but how they didn’t connect the dots with Eric is bizzare to me). Eric could be disappointed with Elijah and, at the same time, long for acceptance. This could mix into an ugly combination and make Eric hate his sexuality, ultimately pushing him into the bullies direction.
Also, about the bullies: they’re already pretty awful at the beginning but later on, they’re hardcore. I honestly wouldn’d mind if they were tonned down a little. I not, I would’ve appreciated more backstory (especially with the first guy who’s dad is a politician. I think it’d work nicely if they, for example, made his dad a controversial figure who, intentionally or not, taught his son all of these things. People are not just born bad).
We know that Aiden is a convicted racist who already KILLED. Yet, he acts surprisingly cool around Eric and even decides to somehow cooporate with him to hurt Elijah. They’re not friends, of course, but we know that his hatred towards black people is enormous. I guess that means he changed his priorities and now hates the gays more?
And now, Oliver. I’ll be honest, I felt that his character was... kinda meh? He was just there. The only sign of his trauma is that he’s quiet and avoids people. Zero paranoia, even though he is stalked and prayed upon by a possibly evil, ancient goddess/force of nature/whatever. He has lived most of his life in fear to the point of being afraid to visit a hospital. He would rather die than escape if it wasn’t for his sister’s actions. We can see that he’s stressed (sometimes...) and scared, but that’s just not enough for me.
Additionally, he missed ten years of... everything. He doesn’t even know how the world works now. He had no friends besides his older sister but he knows how to act around people. Apparently, no therapy needed. No problems with talking, being vulnerable (once he is safe), no fear/anxiety, no problem with forming healthy bonds. As much as I believe that he deserves a happy ending, it felt as it was earned too easily.
Last thing about the ending of the Mother’s plot point: what an awful example of telling instead of showing. I don’t mind it lorewise at all, I mind the execution. We are told that she’s dead, that’s all. We are not shown that the roots are backing away/rotting/withering away. How nice it would’ve been if we had one last big confrontation and, for example, set the tree on fire. “The process is already in motion, but we decided to put final nail in her coffin”. That’s not a bad explanation at all, at least in my opinion.
There are also some minor things, such as the place itself (it feels more like a fancy juvie/boarding school; the place itself looks nice, but organisation sucks, patients have access to dangerous items!) or Grace, or rather, her acting like an item in the background instead of being a full-fledged character, who *apparently* is Elijah’s close friend.
Those wete my biggest issues with the game. The rest (graphics, Elijah’s narration, even music), in my opinion, was good, even very good in some places. I’d love to see more games from the developer because I can see the potential!
I really hate how the game put more focus into the hate crime at the end than the actual plot. The whole game put more importance on the possibility of Elijah being gay than actually telling a compelling, well written story.
If you have seen the prequel, I somewhat prefer the original twist that the spirit was Oliver and Tina's nanny, some details in the first game suggested the father had a relationship with their nanny and possibly killed her to conceal their affair, she became a spirit and kidnapped both kids in an act of revenge, although the new twist is pretty cool as well that Tina replaces the original spirit and becomes Oliver's guardian, the ending is more light-hearted than other midnight stories but I love it regardless
I love seeing them live a happy life together at the end, with big sister Tina keeping them safe. :)
Tina stuck as a monster is messed up.
@@user-gu9yq5sj7c Well I dunno, monsters don't really need to pay taxes and she seems to be able to sustain herself pretty well, and also has enough concience to tell what's good for her brother and what isn't...
I'd say Tina's better off than most people nowadays :D
Ah yes the ever faithful companion to the fellowship of the ring, Mowgly. Who was ever adamant that his name was spelled Mowgli upon his rescue from the jungle of the book where he lost his dearest friend, a bear named Baloo. Lol
How did Oliver get outside with the garden door locked? It's not like he could have climbed through his window.
By the power of the druids.
@@redundantfridge9764 A+ comment lol
Hey Manly, I really appreciate you saying when you are decidedly not reading the lines. I understand why one might not want to quote directly things they aren't comfortable saying, and as someone who usually watches RUclips while multitasking it really helps keep up with the narrative. If you just went quiet and hadn't said anything, I wouldn't necessarily have noticed what all I would miss.
I gotta say Eric really soured the story for me, a gay black dude outing his friend to a rich neo Nazi who's dad owns the school? Who assaulted an afro American couple? Who knows they're violent enough to kill a beloved pet animal? That's the first person this dude thinks to go to?? Nah bro. Not to mention that tired trope where the black dude is also the oppressor. You can always tell when someone non-black is writing black characters 💀
fr
@@_stillborn wow real cool and original comment. I'm pretty sure your homework is due on Monday little billy why don't you get on that?
@@dragonstame my name is danny actually, excuse me and thank you.
@@_stillborn Sure little billy, go finish your homework and get a good night's sleep, you hear?
Why does being black have anything to do with that?
All black people must be superhero’s who save the day in games and movies!! 😂😂😂 go watch some Disney movies so your fragile ego doesn’t get hurt! 😂😂😂😂😂
This is totally unimportant to anything, but at 14:42 Mowgly (it should be Mowgli) is the name of the boy from the Jungle Book (I just started the video so sorry if you learn this later in, but I know I will forget if I don't put it here now.)
"Go back to the forest mowgly!"
Manly: "What are we using lotr insults here?"
Someone hasn't watched the jungle book apparently.
You commented early - check 49:12
I understand Eric's motivation.
I understand petty jealousy. I'm not saying it's OK because it clearly isn't. I liked the plot, personally.
Ya'll complaining about the weakness of the plot, I'm here building my Ship for Oliver x Elijah from 1:13:06 . I have never fangirled so hard before...
100% agree with your thoughts on Eric.
Your voice would be amazing for the twilight zone thooughhhhhhhhhhhh
Mowgly is the name of the main character in "The Jungle Book" Basically some wild kid raised by a bear
Best way to relax after a 10 hr shift. Thanks, Hero!!
Manly is the morning? Impossible
It's night for me, good morning!
Good morning! It's 2:32 pm where I'm at.