There was definitely also a strong political agenda of EU minister Franco Frattini behind this. Rule of Rose was a great scapegoat for his campaign against the insidiousness of video games. Quite ironic, considering how the game vehemently portrays and condemns scapegoatism.
@@RagnarRoxShow Like... I can understand their hesitancy to some degree because these are incredibly heavy themes... but video games have as much right to discuss dark topics as any other form of media. And outright lying about the game's content is just wrong.
@@LadyBrightcynder I absolutely loathe anyone who would go "This artwork makes me uncomfortable, so I must prevent others from witnessing and experiencing it." No! If it makes you uncomfortable, then don't engage with the artwork, but it isn't your job to censor art or choose what makes *others* uncomfortable! People should choose for themselves "You know what, this art isn't for me, so I will not engage with it, but I'm sure someone else will find value in it."
I'm only halfway through but I had to pause because of the immense respect I have for this video. Most people talking about something like Rule of Rose would just go "children are cruel and here's how fucked up they are" but you actively discuss the role that adults have in shaping and encouraging the cruelty of children. Top notch.
Another aspect of Wendy's reveal to be the secret antagonist all along that I find very important to point out is that the game showed overt bullies and abusers all around - but with Wendy, it showed the very cruel reality that even the most outwardly nice people can be immensely toxic and backstabbing... they just hide and pretend really well.
Studies have shown that smells are one of the best way to trigger memories as the olfactory bulb is connected to the hippocampus in the brain. I don't know if it was the developer's intent but I thought it was interesting that Brown sniffs out clues to help unlock forgotten memories similar to how a scent could trigger a repressed memory.
I thought it's the auditory as they used some favorite songs of Alzheimer patient to recall their memories. But I guess brain has its way of remembering.
That's interesting! For a long time I had a theory that the first time we see Jennifer regain her memories is right at the intro. She sees Brown, Wendy, and the Zeppelin. She sees Wendy play with Jennifer's younger self in a field of roses. Perhaps the smell of roses triggered the return of her memories?
@@wildlyrebellious Terrifyingly that's the last thing they renember, when they don't renember who they were, their family, friends, or their favorite hobbies even skills (an artist who had alzheimers drew a self portrait every year and every year it became worse and worse and worse) all that you can renember is your favorite song. And when you forget it, you go.
All of the main antagonists (wendy, hoffman, gregory) justified their abuse with ""love"". And yet, the purest of all loves happened between the poor jennifer and brown. That's why she decides to lock him up in her memories. To always have him safe, before the nightmare happened. But this could be tragic, since it kinda implies that jennifer still can't manage to accept what happened. Truly, a story too cruel, too beautiful, to go untold. Thank you for telling it, ragnar. Thank you.
More so, it shows how Jennifer mimics the same actions that Gregory took when he "replaced" Joshua with Jennifer. It's very indicative in that the epilogue scene is shown from the first-person perspective of Brown.
I interpret it more as being similar to Mila's situation in Psychonauts. By accepting what happened and keeping the horrible things cordoned off from the forefront of your mind, you are made a far more healthy person. I don't think Jennifer will ever forget Brown, or what happened to her and the other children, but my finally being able to move on, she is free to live her life the way she wants, not bogged down by her trauma.
My impression of that ending scene is that Jennifer is falling into the same cycle of abuse that was inflicted upon herself. Like so often happens, the victim becomes the abuser. Just as you say, she locks up her memories of her childhood friend out of love, despite Brown's obvious reluctance toward it. It makes me wonder what Jennifer is doing in her real life, how she is treating the people around her, now that she is grown up.
I personally think that it means that she chose to "lock" the memories, so to speak. To never forget them again. She chose to lock the memory of Brown, to remember him forever. I do not believe that it signifies her becoming abusive herself, as some in this thread think
I see it in a different way personally. I think Jennifer accepted her dark memories because she wanted to remember Brown. She didn't want the horrible memories to overshadow the good ones, that's why she choose to "protect" memory about Brown. However she realises that she has to move forward and past has to stay in the past. That's why she had to lock Brown away and leave on her own. That's also why she leaves Wendy behind. Rule of rose: Roses are beautiful but they have spikes. Same could be told about Jennifer's memories of Brown.
Speaking truth to power. This game was always especially fucked up for me because of the sheer hell I went through in middle school. Kids are nasty motherfuckers to each other.
As silly as the source is, Metal Gear Rising was right. "Kids are cruel, Jack. And I am VERY in touch with my inner child". - A man that fights with mega-scissors and plots to acquire the brains of the children
Yet even the most cruel kid in aristocracy is a mere victim of adult hoffman mistreatment and cruelty itself. So which is the cruellest sinister child or the source of the sinister child?
@@spicybeantofu nah not all kid are nasty by nature. At that time of age, their psyche is still developing thus the are bulding their character by exposing themself to enviroment around them. Shoud the kid: A. not an orphan B. taken care in other orphanage taken care by different guardian. They might grow to be different kind of kid.
There are two video games that have ever made me cry, entirely with their endings. The first is Silent Hill 2, hearing Mary’s letter to James, telling him that he made her happy. The other is Rule of Rose, when Jennifer shuts Brown away in her memories so that he would always live on there. When I tell you that I sobbed after that, I mean I sobbed.
I think one of the heaviest hitting part of rule of rose is when you get to the ending the saddest part is that despite all the horrible things the kids did - theyre all still just kids. This could have just been the start of their story not the ending. Who they are as children isnt who theyll be for their whole lives. They all could have grown into interesting and matures adults with their own deep passions. They showed signs of remorse and as they got older would have probably fully come to grips with what they did to Jennifer and maybe even tried to reconnect with her and apologise. But they never got that chance of redemption because they all died. Wendys last look at Jennifer through the gates as she leaves really hammers home the agony that jennifer will be the only orphan who gets to live her life as an adult while the rest will all remain eternal undeveloped children, all remain wasted potential, within a hated warped memory of the only person who will remember them.
I'd argue the point of the game isn't that Jennifer completely hates them, but has a lot of complicated feelings and childhood traumas that she needed to process and, by the end, finds ways to process everything and to have some small bits of forgiveness to them to help herself move on. She'll forever remember the bullying the girls put her through, but she'll also remember the context that the adults around her weren't helpful to anyone.
It makes me think of Amanda a lot, she made a decent animation of an angel flying in her diary which you can find. She was probably very artistically talented and could’ve went on to become an artist but she was practically driven insane from the other orphans and then brutally killed.
One little thing I really liked was how in the cutscene of Jennifer standing up to the aristocrats she becomes her younger self, probably because this was her actual play-by-play memory of something that happened and not her later interpretation of the events. I dunno, I just thought it was pretty neat
I think one of the most haunting aspects of this game is probably it's biggest antagonist/villain - Dr. Hoffman. Out of anyone, he could be argued the "villain" of the entire story and the sort of "root of all evil" in the children and yet he never gets punished. He just up and leaves with little to no consequence. It's such a brutal yet realistic portrayal of how some events like this end - the bad guy doesn't get his just punishment and the heroes/victims don't find peace and have that happily ever after. They are scarred or worse - dead. And even more so, what makes him genuinely terrifying is that at some point he was mentioned to be a "kind and admirable teacher " by Jennifer which shows that any good and morale person given power always runs the risk of turning to abuse it and becoming a monster like Hoffman if they aren't careful. Or on the flip side, how our perceptions of people can hide their dark intentions because it's quite possible that Hoffman was always this way and Jennifer just never saw it because it was either before the Club started to bully her or because she wasn't a sexual target like Clara or Diana.
Wendy is most definitely the biggest antagonist to Jennifer, if there had to be one labelled. Hoffman is a scumbag, no doubt, but Wendy was the one who led to the orphans being killed and Jennifer being bullied. And it's difficult to judge whether or not Hoffman initiated her behavior, but in one of his letters he claims how "everything went wrong after that wretched child came". I assume the child he's referring to is Wendy, as she's the ringleader. So, it can be concluded Wendy was always like that? Well, the Orphanage surely didn't help. Hopefully, Wendy was what explicitly drove Hoffman away after knowing what he did. edit: In case Hoffman was referring to Jennifer, just as well, because then Wendy successfully turned all of the adults against Jennifer, too. From them constantly lying/keeping her from her duties by bullying her/tying her up. Either way.
Hoffman could have always been this way, he could have tricked her into thinking he was good but never was, sometimes abusers hide their true colors,, then one day, you meet them, like children may never know their mom was abused by their dad due to dad hiding it. Then, one day, dad snaps and hurts the child, to the child, he was always the nicest person before, but he changed, to the mom, he transferred the abuse or after mom leaves dad has no one else to take his rage out on so he takes it out on the children. The children are shocked because their dad hid this side of himself until he couldn't hide the evil.
That really sucks, but I think it might help a little if we imagine that karma punished Hoffman by having him get repeatedly run over by a bus until his bones had been crushed to a paste and having him be alive for most of it so that he could suffer a slow and painful death.
It's implied Hoffman was killed by the children, just like they killed the cook woman as portrayed in the "fantasy" airship, it happened in real life. Who knows, maybe Jennifer partook in killing Hoffman as he was a boss, perhaps directly dealing the killing blow. Even if the children didn't kill Hoffman, Gregory killed everybody except Jennifer so if Hoffman could only have survived until that point.
I don't remember in which room it was, but there is a representation of a hanged man, which could represent how Hoffman was killed by the kids and that also explains the "unexpected" disappearance of all the adults , considering the the rest were killes to, at a certain point in the game.
Proper Bird I fully expected it to say ‘Brown, my brown... my goodest of pants’ Since it’s a horror game, and Dead Pool’s ‘see? He wore the brown pants’
The ending of Jennifer running away from it all with brown, into the light, is so heart breaking knowing Brown is dead. It makes me cry everytime I see the scene.
Quick note regarding the 'c-section abortion' you suggested: Surgical abortions are not typically performed via c-section (if at all). Generally they go via the cervix, and it doesn't really involve much in the way of incisions. However, if she brought a baby to term at such a young age a c-section may have been necessary due to her being physically undeveloped for a regular birth. ... Yeah, that just made it more sad/disgusting.
I think you could also consider the fact that Hoffman, whose only job is really to be the headmaster and not a surgeon of any sort, would not know the proper or common way to go about such a procedure. You can find all the tools he uses in the attic, bloodied on the table. Both a scalpel and dental forceps are seen amongst the disgusting pile of tools, so maybe he tried going about both methods...? It's really quite horrific, but I can't imagine Hoffman cared so much for efficiency as he did covering his own tracks. What a sick freak.
Its implied that Wendy didnt actually intend for Stray Dog (Gregory) to actually kill the orphans, more likely just to scare them. She appears very sad after they are killed and even gives Jennifer the gun to kill Gregory, leading to her own death.
I guess. Personally I find it outrageous and hard to believe a child around the age of 9 would be capable of manipulating and brainwashing Gregory. Especially when you see the rope marks and scars on his body. Then there's Martha's letters and the W & J letters... The W & J letters state that Brown was alive on 28th November 1930. However, Martha's letters state that on 23rd November she witnessed Wendy interacting with Gregory as if it looked like dog-training gone wrong. There's also the fact that on 20th October 1930, the police sent a letter to Martha telling her that they don't find anything wrong with Gregory and that he's a father to a child (it sounded like Joshua was still alive). My point is, days before the massacre Martha had suspected Gregory of being a kidnapper and that Brown was alive when Wendy was seen with Gregory by Martha. I don't think Jennifer has the correct information or memory. The whole part about the massacre was fabricated and what happened is still suppressed in Jennifer's memories. Heck I think Joshua was still alive the whole time because of the police's reply. But who knows?
As someone who has loved and admired this game for years, I cannot begin to tell you how amazing and satisfying this video was to watch! It always made me a bit sad that apart from the complaints about the poor game mechanics (which were admittedly true and valid), Rule of Rose earned a reputation as an exploitative and edgy game, when it was, in fact, a game with a rich and interesting plot that dealt with themes of abuse in one of the most respectful and nuanced ways I've ever seen, so it is wonderful to see someone bring attention to it's qualities in such a detailed way. Also, this video brought new perspectives on this game that despite my admiration for it, I had never considered before, such as the political aspect of it, and I thank you for that! The symbolism seems even a bit on the nose when you point it out, so much so that I felt stupid for not realizing it before. Though there's another thing about this game that really moves me and that wasn't discussed much in here, and that is the theme of remembering (and the significance that simple act holds). On the final chapter of the game, Jennifer comments that the orphanage massacre ended up being completely ignored in favor of the more 'glamorous' tragedy of the airplane crash, once she was found. That leaves Jennifer as not only the sole survival of the orphanage, but also as the only person to even acknowledge that these children, with all their desires and their flaws, ever existed in the first place, as they were completely forgotten by the rest of the world. And that extends to even Brown himself, Jennifer's dearest friend who was just a stray puppy who had no one else to remember him but her. I find the ending very poignant as it is essentially about Jennifer realizing all of that, and choosing both to never forget the precious and pure memories she had in there (putting an end to her need to honor 'the promise she forgot' , something that had been tormenting her throughout the whole game), and choosing to look at even the children who made her life miserable with merciful eyes, as she can realize that they were victims too. Anyway, I really just wanted to thank you for your insightful and well researched work! I look forward to future analysis coming from this channel :)
I haven’t played the game because I wasn’t born when it came out neither do I have the money to get it. But I can still see that the mermaid princess is the scariest boss compared to the old man that swings a wire at you. Or big furry with no fursuit.
The thigh bandages could also be insinuating self harm, as it’s common for victims to go there, due to it being around the location of abuse or because it’s a less visible area.
"Who ever believes the victim?" Ugh, that sent chills down my spine. It's true, though. These days, we are doing better but for many years, many victims weren't believed until it was too late.
@@tuckernutter This is what's been happening to me. Dozens of people in my home town believe I was the abuser so they look at me with fear or anger. "Who ever believes the victim?" is the most important thing you could say.
this game cut me deep, because I could relate profoundly to the protagonist, but even more so to the main villain.. it's hauntingly terrifying to recognise the evil shown in that character as something, that can be found in myself.. thankfuly, in my experience, the person that become target of my obsession was able to direct my attention to this unhealthy pattern in my behavior, so I could stop it before any real harm was done.. hopefuly, now that I'm aware of this demon, I can keep it contained, and maybe even overcome it..
I don't know if anyone is interested to know but I have came across the same problem. I would sometimes obsesses about someone or something and it ultimately make them distance themselves away from me. I don't really do something inherently bad but I was also coming across as too needy and clingy. I am not sure if I have grown out of it yet but I am still fighting against it up to this day. I don't want to loose more people but more importantly I don't want to loose myself and I'm pretty sure this obssesive person isn't really me.
I love the that a game confronted a platonic relationship being abusive in this way. I had a very abusive best friend for 4-5 years. This game mirrors so many of her behaviors in a theatrical way (besides the physically violent) that it feels visceral.
Yeah. And it does a great job at showing how girls bully each other. I had a hard time coming to terms with my own bullying because I thought “real bullying” was physical, but my best friend and I were harassed and ostracized so badly, she was pulled out of school to be homeschooled and I developed severe social anxiety that I still struggle with more than ten years later.
I’m sorry you went through this and I’m glad the game helped you. I have a current ex that used his past of bullying and neglect as an excuse for not achieving his goals or solving problems in general. He even claimed HE WANTED TO COMMIT SUICIDE, just to get my attention. He had harmed himself in middle school, so I believed him the first two times. Additionally, the girls that bullied Jennifer for reason was how my ex made me feel when I called him out for doing something wrong. Sorry for the rant.
@@Jay-qh6uv given that Wendy originally thought Jennifer was a boy I didn't see wendy as being lesbian, maybe heteroflexible, i agree it seemed like a romantic relationship instead of platonic.
@@boketto9521 There was very clearly homoerotic subtext in the entirety of the game and Wendy's feeling towards Jennifer are hinted to be romantic. What I like about the game is that it shows girls being abusive, which was exactly what the team was going for as girls are usually viewed as sweet and innocent and this shows that not all girls and women are good people and they can very much be abusive.
Bought the game when it first released when I was 13 and it truly had a positive psychologically healing impact on me (and it was super triggering at times as well) I think I gravitated towards it because I had two friends who were super abusive from 1st to 8th grade, 10 years later I found out they were the way they were towards me/ each other because one was being beat daily and the other molested. The game is an excellent depiction of these RL scenarios, however disturbing it may be. Really wish I didn’t sell my copy in college. And am I the only one who LIKED the fighting mechanics because she’s an awkward scared girl? seemed convincing she couldn’t fight for shit, fit the narrative
Rule of Rose was bordering on a traumatic experience for me. The themes and even some specific scenes were incredibly reminiscent of my own experiences growing up and when I played through the game, I was sent on a trip through my own memories. It forced me to reflect on the person I have become since. In that sense, the game was a formative experience to me. I genuinely wish gaming would delve into such real, relatable and incredibly cruel topics more often - the potential within it is so unbelievably great an can serve as a means to help people evolve in a very real sense. Fantastic video, I really enjoyed hearing your thoughts and analysis on this fascinating piece of storytelling. Thank you.
I was in a position like Wendy once. It was horrifying to be now aware of the emotional manipulation I did to my friend and justifying it as "love" or "true friendship". All I did was hurt myself and the people I love. Like what you said, "possessiveness in relationships eventually, always, damages everyone involved." Thank you Ragnar for making this analysis for this amazing game!
I've never seen an antagonist so relatable as Wendy, I've lost my parents and live with my granparents but I never talk to them as I'm not a social person. I have asthma and scoliosis, so I never get to go out and meet or play with people and I used to be alone for years and the loneliness was getting to me, I was ready to take my own life because there nothing was going to happen, I was going to be stuck alone where everything is going to be the same, but I met someone so I gave myself a chance and tried to talk to her, later on I became more and more attached to her to the point where I would panic if she wasn't texting or been gone even just for a minute.. as you'd expect things started to go down hill. but thankfully, unlike Wendy, I would not go as far as ruining her life, just because she hates me now.
Thank you so much for this video.. it gave me a look at how I can be a terrible person and how the person I loved would suffer.. if it weren't for this.. who knows what I could've done.
@@vincebradleysolante7895 Thanks for sharing. I can REALLY relate, and seeing others open up about such a similar experience makes me feel less alone. I wouldn't have guessed English wasn't your native language either. You did fine.
I actually remember feeling really bad for Amanda when I played the game mostly after reading her journal and especially seeing her little animation in the corner pages of her with wings flying into the sky and then crashing down.
me too. as unhinged and disloyal as she was to anyone, she was just trying desperately to be liked and included, and clearly didn’t know how to navigate the fucked up dynamic portrayed in this game, and just barely scraped the barrel the entire time
the story about your PE teacher made me sick to my stomach, especially since I've heard so many of those kinds of stories about PE teachers specifically. It's disgusting how common it is for pedophiles to be hired to lead the class that puts kids in a very physically vulnerable position.
Ragnar... you seriously out did yourself this time. I'm not kidding, this may be your best video yet. I actually cried during curtain moments. This was amazing. Seriously glad I found your channel.
Societal dysfunction, emotional abuse, authoritarian misconduct, and the decay of morality in the interest of survival. This game is horror at its most real, because there are more monstrous humans than fantastical ones. We played this as a group back at home because it stirred plenty of discussions and debates on just how justifiable each person's actions truly were. Thank you for putting a voice to our gaming.
as someone whos had a wendy in their life, this game was very meaningful and important to me. i agree entirely with your ending point. i want to work with children and teach them healthy patterns to deal with their peers and even their own emotions so that things like this dont happen as often. this game is incredible and youve done good by it. thanks for doing this.
As someone who subscribed and participated in the Rule of Rose Mysteries forums/website by PokerNemesis since 2006 where we've analyzed, shared insights and dug through game files and data until the site's end at around 2015. What we all accepted as passionate ramblings from a bunch of nerds that'll never come to light back in those days.... well, now this is a dream come true for us! Thank you very much for this video essay!! It was our wish for more people to see the depth and majesty of Rule of Rose and I'm glad that it had finally happened! I'm sure wherever we members are, we will always remember the love we have for this game! P.S. I like the Political Aspect you discussed very much. Damn government conspiring against video games!!
I was actually also frequently digging through Rule of Rose Mysteries back in the day. It was such a good time. :) Reading this makes me really happy, so thank you!
Even though Wendy's actions at the end are very "out there," I feel like it's pretty in align with the rest of the violence in the game. I feel horrible for Gregory and I think the game does a very good job of painting all the antagonists as humans even though at first glance you can write them off as crazy villains. There's a logical reason for all their actions, and the level of sympathy the game makes us feel for all the antagonists, because everyone was a victim in some way or the other, made it an amazing story. And shockingly, all the subjects were handled very thoughtfully without scummy exploitation for the "shock factor" which I feel like a lot of games do not do well in horror genre especially...
I know this will sound stupid but I learned a lot of English words with this game when I played with my grandmother, is funny how even with the language barrier we knew what was going on and I got chills just from remembering our theories and discovering key points to the plot, solving puzzles....Thank you so much for this video, this game was so important to me that when you played the "A Love Suicide" song it gave me so good memories, I can't wait to tell her new things I learned from this video.
With your grandmother? That's incredibly cool, I wouldn't think of even watching cartoons near mine because of her quite extreme religious beliefs and conservativeness, let alone a game like this
35:13 its insane how this could be applied to real life as well. How we, the people, the lower and middle class, are manipulated to hate each other, while those in power, are safe and sound
Having been in an abusive romantic relationship, I really appreciate this analysis of the game and your deeply respectful and understanding discussion of abuse (a topic not often brought up in discussions of games, or games in general). Such a powerful video. Thank you!
Alright first of all, thank you so much for making this. Rule of rose is one of my favorite games, it unites the aesthetic of an era I love very much and an exquisite way of presenting the real horror embodied in human beings and the grey area of being between good and bad. Towards the end, I feel like your spiel was directed right at me, because I had an emotionally abusive friendship much akin to that of Jennifer and Wendy, and it took me years to realize it was abusive and I am so happy it was soon over, what saddens me is that I don’t have a grasp on what a good friendship is and that I feel like sometimes I picked up on my ex abusive friends habits such as jealousy and unhealthy dedication. However I am very happy that at least I realize this and I am slowly but surely finding my autonomy and independence. It feels really nice it feels like actual fresh air!
It often takes years of distance and introspection to realize that a friendship or a relationship was actually abusive in nature. It's a process, and not a pleasant one, but one that's worth it. Thank you for sharing this
RagnarRox this truly was one of the best and if not the best video essays I have seen so far. U improve massively and I mean it. I shared ur vids to a friend of mine and she loves it. It helps her as well as me to improve and be inspired.
Thank you so much for covering this rare gem, I saw Nitro Rad's video few months ago it was amazing but this is more in depth about the abusive relationship and I really enjoyed it through the end. The revolution part was really well edited and you caught me off guard when you showed Jojo HAHA. I didn't noticed the story has came to a full circle and also why she's all alone again. Also, the gym story was disturbing and frustrating at the same time.
Lord of Flies: A story about affluent boys lost in the wilderness with no structure and how they turn primitive and decay without the system to keep them in check. Rules and obedience combats the desire for violence. Rule of Rose: A game about impoverished girls creating another hierarchy as a demand for control, and to covet what little they have. The system is broken and they use rules and obedience to continue the cycle of abuse. Story wise the only thing they share in common is a group of children struggling in a dystopian environment, they're almost polar opposites, perhaps that's why it works better, it's not just Lord of the Flies but with girls.
@@chaoticneutralsheep I agree. Equating this with Lord of the Flies almost does a disservice to it. Besides their superficial similarities, they couldn't be more different
I'll always remember the music of this game. Not only that, but I feel like this game was way ahead of its time. It tells a great, eerie story that has been so wonderfully crafted that people are still uncovering new details about it today. Can you imagine what could've been if the studio had still been alive today to continue creating games like this? This game will always have a soft spot in my heart.
Scariest part of this game: The depiction of the "artificial friction or the lower classes to distract them from focusing on the Powers that created the inequality" is all that has been happening in the last 10 years, and even more relevant now.
We never got this in the UK yet surprisingly got Haunting Ground around the same time which covers entirely different concepts of vouyeurism, envy and sexual abuse but both seemed to come out at a strange period where the threat and fear was not based on death or some form of body horror. Which looking back were two monstrously rare standouts in horror games. We can watch Issac Clarke get turned into flesh soup without batting an eye as violence is so normalised but concepts like abuse and betrayal remain such strong agents of disturbing reaction and i have to wonder if part of that is the rarity of them. They are the type of games i don't think would or could get made in todays climate and i don't think we will see something like them again. Often psychological horror is taken as 'be the armchair guy reading into what this imagery means or represents' but these were two cases where they specifically make you feel something more than a jumpscare or simple shock and revulsion. You feel for the characters in a way beyond 'i cant let the player character die' and thats very, very rare.
I'd argue that emotional and psychological horror use doubt as means to deeply disturb the viewer. We normalise violence by thinking it a "mere exaggeration". When it comes to murdering hordes of enemies, we really can't relate since that sort of experience isn't common. When it comes to abuse, use, manipulation, lies and bullying, I'd say we all know them as parts of the human experience. We can empathise with Jennifer because we've been her, we've seen her or we've damaged someone like her. We doubt our own experiences and a game like this, too, forces us to introspectively analyse our life and figure out if we've wronged or been wronged. After all, most examples of mediatic abuse, show us that the victim is unaware of the power imbalance they suffer or benefit from. We dread being the victim or realising we are the perpetrators.
@@Gray963 thanks for reading it c: it's difficult to find a proper intellectual discourse in RUclips... But I think Ragnar's fans will be the sort of people fascinated by psychology and horror. I'm willing to bet they would also love to discuss such topics with others over the Web.
I picked up an Italian import - which required a plastic widget to play on my English PS2. As frustrating as the combat itself - but still my fave video game experience of all time.
There's something about your voice and script that always have me eager to learn about whatever new topic you put out. I've never heard about this game, but this was still a treat to watch. Now I know about Rule of Rose, Thanks!
wow, no wonder that I've never heard of this game. Such a taboo themes would've definitely garnered controversy & ban policy especially at the era when literally video game was scapegoated hard for the unfounded cause of kids & violence by politicians. Thanks for this video. I learned such a comprehensive new things & looking forward to play this game in the future.
That slap Wendy got was so satisfying for me but this game overall broke me in a bittersweet way. It's so well done in story and background and u did such a excellent job explaining everything there is to know about the plot, characters, and it's symbolism.
This game was absolutely terrifying, and it is so rare to have such a compelling, profound, and meaningful narrative attached to a horror title of this caliber. Thanks for letting me revisit this experience in its whole.
I have never played the game, and do not intend to, but honestly, this entire video was a wild ride and I still managed to feel for the characters. I thoroughly enjoyed this video and adore what I know about this game. You're awesome!
Rule of Rose has lowkey been one of my favourite stories told in a video game; and with that, this video has to be the best analysis of the story, the characters and the underlying themes the game has to offer. I was glued to the screen without pausing for the entirety of it. Thank you for such an amazing video, it's obvious that it came from a place of both fascination and love for the game.
people laugh at me when i say rule of rose is one of my favorite games. i'm so glad to finally see it fully appreciated for how well it does what it does. it's an impressive work of art overshadowed by a lot of misunderstanding. incredibly well researched and well put together video, thank you so much!!
What I really like about games such as Rule of Rose and Pathologic is how they depict children in horror. They actually act a lot more like believable children in those games which plays well with the world and plot. I'm very sick of these boring, psychic, clichéd children that we keep on getting in modern horror films. They're boring, emotionless and way too adult for children characters. Horror should try using realistic children aspects to its advantage more often.
Old comment but it just reminds me about the Movie "The innocents" from 2021. The depiction of the Kids is in my Opinion highly realistic even while they "perform" their horrific acts.
This was so well written and presented. Being someone who suffers from depression and ptsd from my youth due to being bullied and ostracized by my peers, this analysis has served as a cathartic depth-charge. I couldn't help but cry by the end of it all. Thank you for making this video.
It's so sad that game development is so expansive nowadays. We will never get games that deal with such heavy subjects and taboos outside REALLY small independent games
though as game engines are getting more normal on the market and the tech becomes better, its getting ALOT easier for private groups to develope games, and with the internet like it is gathering funding from other people is also possible. upsetting as it is how daft and knuckle scraping the companies are these days, and have been for a long time, its only recently that the tech has become widely available for private people. so i actually think things might be moving in a good direction, where sensorship gets less power, and private developers gets more power.
This is I was so surprised with Hellblade. It's a heavy subject beautifully handled (even though Is till don't know what to think about that ending...) that showed that a game didn't have to be AAA to look good and be good.
Look, it's benn a few years since I started watching you beautiful channel, but this time I have to speak you directly. Rule of rose was the first game I, you know "watched" on youtube instead of playing it. Videogames weren't really quite accepted in my house, so you can imagine what would have happened if I asked my parents to buy the game that the news called "the satanic children's game". I think bullism in school, gym and sometimes even in my home really shaped what I am today. I don't think that even now, as a 24 years old biophysicist student have really finished with dealing with all that. The, you know, insults, the things you liked ripped and destroyed, the acid on the back. I think I'll never finish with those things, even now that I have love on my side. I suppose thank you for the memories, and good work with the channel.
Your writing style is so elegant and professional, and your soothing voices really compliments it. I’ve been trying to find a good video of someone actually looking into Rule of Rose for a while now since it’s such an under-looked masterpiece and voila, here it is! As usual, I’m blown away by your effort and passion for these subjects.
Aa terrible as it was to hear your story about that disgusting gym teacher, I am glad you shared it. So many people see sexual misconduct and even pedopillia and choose to look the other way. I had a similar experience in middle school where a 50 year old male teacher would let the attractive girls (aging 11 to 13) in his class sit on his desk. He would give them sodas and let them grade other kids papers. Since my mom warned me to literally never trust any older man when I was a kid I always steered clear of him. My brother had his class afterwards and since he had a learning disability, he was ostracized and actually picked on by the teacher and the girls. The disgusting teacher was finally fired after some parents found out he had been adding the girls on facebook. BTW this man taught religion in a catholic school. Remember kids, religion can be a great thing, but just because someone is religious doesn't mean they won't sexually harass/assault you or your children. Sorry for the long comment, but to wrap it up I think it's important that people come forward with these stories instead of choosing to turn the other cheek. Although awareness may not do much in the beginning, the more people who discuss the problem, the more likely people will recognize the problem when they see it and therefore more likely take action against it.
Really great video. Only big thing I think you missed was that Gregory was really kidnapping children and was the real life inspiration for the "Stray dog (kidnaps +) eats children" boogeyman, which he literally physically became. He would talk about finding peas, how peas would be kicking & screaming, then chopping up peas, then burying peas never to be found. Then his journal entries correspond with police reports about missing children. It can be surmised that Jennifer would have been another one of these peas, and he was probably kidnapping children (at first) as replacements for his son Joshua. No clue why he later became cannibal eating the peas. Also the children's clothing on the ground in the courtyard are most certainly the dead bodies of children (the ones heard screaming before Wendy opens the door with Gregory on a leash), but Jennifer had blocked that gruesome memory from her mind and can only visual it as empty clothing on the ground. Bear Prince being placed on the throne by Wendy is obviously her projection of where she wants Jennifer to ultimately be, and attempting to bully her into submission. The socialist thing was a bit much, and kind of a stretch (the black shadows are blue, so it's like the blue in the French Revolution flag, it's totally a marxist thing even though Marx wouldn't be born until 30 years later)
It's funny that many years after i finished this game, everytime i hear about Rule of rose still triggers a feeling of sadness and melancholy. Thanks for bringing it back into the spotlight as i am sure a lot of gamers have no idea this gem exists.
After viewing this analyais and listening to the game's theme song "A Love Suicide", I notice how the song itself can be the ballad of an abuser. The lyrics flutter between pleas of attention/demands for appeasement, threats of harm to listener and songstress and gaslighting that the songstress is "a victim" of the listener's "charm".
As soon I clicked on this video, i remembered cry's let's play out this and the part when brown died 😅 yeah, the mermaid fight I remember almost made him quit the game lol
Brilliant... just brilliant! This is, hands down, the best review/analysis of this game that I've ever seen. This game... it's stayed with me for a long time. Because at first, I didn't get the game, just like most of the players. But after many years, I've decided to give it another chance, and it was a huge surprise - the soundtrack, atmosphere, story and it's themes - it was so unique and frightening in it's own way, but fascinating at the same time. I know, that the game is not for everyone, not everyone's going to tolerate the "not so perfect" controls and gameplay, which can be tedious at times. However, those, who value the story and atmosphere more than convenient control scheme and can tolerate mild monotony of the gameplay will discover an experience, that will stay with them, that they won't forget or recapture anywhere else. Truly a one of a kind game and it deserves to have such thorough analysis like this one (btw I've seen other videos on this game, and some of theme were good, but your video is outstanding)! Well, I have nothing else to add. I express my greatest gratitude to you, RagnarRox. Keep up the good work!
I would never understand revolution reference on my own. I would also probably never get hints that mermaid girl had abortion. Amazing video, impressive research! Thank you very much!
This was amazing, thank you so much for the hard work you put in- this game deserves so much analysis and dissection, it's so rich in story and imagery! And thank you for your insight on Clara- I had NEVER considered that her story was she was pregnant! That just makes the mermaid all the more horrifying...
I know right?! What I did pick up on was that in the attic there was a table with a bunch of tools on them, some of them were recently used and resembled tools that are used for makeshift C-sections. That kinda clued me in on what happened to Clara's stomach in the mermaid fight.
Rule of Rose has always been one of my favourite horror games, just its incredible use of symbolism and showing not telling makes it one of the best out there in my opinion.
Having sat calmly, with only a few jitters here and there, through the course of this video, and by extension game, I came to remember something I'd also buried so many years ago. Anger. It burns through my fingers, washes palpably over me like a tide, what I suffered from people drunk from power that didn't even exist. What growing up in middle and high school was like. Dejection, sheer murderous bloodlust, a need for vindication I one day came within inches of quenching. Your video was powerful, Ragnar. Thank you.
15 years in and I still feel this from middle school. They wondered why I ended up like Amanda, bloodlustful and angry, lashing out in the last few days I was there. And I'm STILL angry. Still not playing by their stupid rules though. I'm still not part of their world enough to deserve to.
After listening to Love Suicide on Rule of Rose's soundtrack, the various themes of abuse and possessiveness seem to be spot-on (the lyrics sound like they describe Wendy's character and what her friendship/"relationship" with Jennifer was really like)...
This has to be the greatest Psychological horror game along with Silent Hill 2 with no doubt, there's no greatest video dedicated to this amazing game than yours, I'm sure of that, congrats for what you've achieved
Ok I completed the whole thing. At first I was curious as to why you called it Monsters of the Week. I remember RoR had interesting monsters but I don't remember them much. After watching the video, I understood what "monsters" you were referring to. Also that who section about bullying, the types of it, and how it's carried it among adults (even though we thing it just happens between children), was very informative. This game was certainly far ahead of it's times. Great video! You are a master at audio and I really loved how you fit the music while explaining your points.
Thanks Hemang, glad you enjoyed it! I'd like to point out the common (and understandable) misconception that 'Monsters of the Week' does not refer to "This show covers a monster every week" - but it's a reference to the TV show trope. So a MOTW can easily talk about something that has nothing to do with any factual monster - but... there's enough monsters, both literal and metaphorical ones in Rule of Rose that it would qualify for both. Only that I will never be able to churn these out on a weekly basis. ;) tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MonsterOfTheWeek
After watching both yours and Nitro Rad's videos on this game, it's really cool to see your slightly different interpretations, focuses, and approaches. I think it's the sign of a good story when everyone can come away from it with their own impressions and lessons learned.
there will never be another era like the PS2. so many games to the point a lot of them are considered niche treasures at this point. this one reminds me of someone very near and dear to me.
One of your best works and by far the best RUclips video I've seen this year. This is some next level shit! As soon as I can afford it, I will support you on Patreon. Thats a promise.
@@SuperMilkKun well I loved Rule of Rose since I ever got the game but yeah the gameplay is very flawed everyone who played the game knows that lol, and Nitro Rad is also a reviewer in terms of the gameplay so its only fair.
Ava Lin more than half the video, Ava. More than half. His video didn’t go nearly as deep as RagnarRox here. His video was a flop compared to this. And it’s okay. :)
@@SuperMilkKun No his video was very good, very wel written and goes into good depth. :) for a more story depth experience and history, this is a better video but for more history (on the game itself) and gameplay reviewing Nitrorad is the better one.
You have really outdone yourself with this one, a topic I had been patiently hoping you'd cover. This video exhudes so much emotion and I consider it the best of all those about Rule of Rose I've seen. Considering this gem will likely never see a re-release or remaster, I think the magic you've captured here is as beautiful a way to share it with the uninitiated as we could hope for. Thank you for all your passionate work. Bravo!!
I keep coming back to this video every now and again. I can't say why it, and the game by extension, are so comforting to me, but I suppose it has something to do with the framing of the abuse in the story that you mentioned: It's not coming from an exploitative perspective, but from a sometimes painful but thorough exploration. Anyway, thank you for making this video.
Another fun fact. If you use that song in a video without distorting it in some way (The version with vocals) Atlus will copy claim your video... Happened to me 3 times. I got the video back every time, but it's kind of annoying lol.
First, I watched 3 minutes. Stopped and the I found the game. Finished it and came back to see the video. I can tell for sure, it became one of my favorite games of its kind. Thank you Ragnar for showing me another awesome game.
Sat through *ALL* of it. Never played Rule of Rose before, I no longer had a PS2 at the time, but I've always heard great things of this game, despite it's mechanical flaws. Loved it, amazing work as always! :D
You are a true one for picking this game to analyze. I admire that you are using your own real life experiences as well as real world examples to explain the themes in the game.
Thank you for covering this game. It touches me emotionally in ways Silent Hill never quite hit. I've had a Wendy in my life, as well as a survivor of sexual and other types of abuse. The fact that this game touches on these themes in such a respectful way helps me cope.
Rule of rose is such a beautiful game that is seriously hindered by gameplay. I couldn’t finish it because of the awful combat system but continued the story through a let’s play. It’s one of my favorite stories in a game, and it’s really so sad that it hardly ever gets a chance to shine because of what it lacks. Love the game and the video!!
I've always loved this game. However, I've just gotten out of such a possessive relationship earlier this year, so now this game is different. It's now permanently etched into my heart. Thank you for this great video, mister :)
God damn, this makes me wanna go out and eat some bourgeoisie. I mean burgers. I mean rich people squeezing the windpipes and treading on the hands and faces of the working class. I mean burgers.
I like the way it referenced both Marxism and Nazism. Both systems (whatever they say they stand for) that represent a few people on the top shitting on all the populace below - and in spectacular ways historically.
@@skittennarkotika5448 there's a clear divide between the rights of the higher and lower members of their club. Did we not watch/play the same game? This video kinda goes into it too, if you've seen that.
This game is the prime example of the application of the quote "Anybody can become angry-that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way-that is not within everybody's power and is not easy."
There's so much I'd like to say so I'll put it in numbered bullet point formatting in hopes of eradicating a fervent mess. 1. Thank you for taking the time to make this video for us. Regardless of the content the work alone in creating this is immense and skilled. Eternal appreciations to your dedication in crafting this. 2. I bought and played this as soon as it came out. While I don't have the physical copy anymore (which apparently is worth like 2 months of rent) the impact of my initial playthrough still remains strongly in me. I kept a journal logging all of the content and topics this game was touching upon. Layers and layers of things I'd be unable to dissect or understand until later in life. It was hard to progress at times due to my own inner shit. I got through it and passed it along to a pal of mine in 2007 in hopes that they'd resonate with its dark majesty. They're likely & unknowingly now two months ahead on their rent. 3. I found that journal about a month ago and relived this story in ultra detail. 4. Today I found myself here after watching your video on Pathologic 2 and lost my mind (pleasantly) that someone was as moved as I once was. 5. Thank you again for touching upon this masterpiece with such sensitivity & keen detail and for sharing it with us all. May this gem (and it's brilliance) never be forgotten.
Just impressive. I think it's the best essay on a video game I've ever seen, heard or read in my life. It's people like you who help video games mature into the art category. My sincere congratulations and keep working so damn well.
Also, I suffered bullying in middle and high school. It wasn't until college I found a safe space. The thing is, I studied journalism and I left school halfway through because I was "recruited" by a well-known video game magazine in my country, Spain. I was working on it when we received a pre-release copy of the game from the publisher (I really don't know if the game was officially released here). The staff writer assigned to RoR was fascinated by it. I would sometimes approach his desk and look over his shoulder for a while. I didn't think it was an interesting game at the time, especially when I saw how clumsy his combat system was. How wrong I was... Also I wanna kill Wendy. Again.
So when are you going to a look at Haunting Ground? I only ask because to me Clock Tower 3, Haunting Ground, and Rule of Rose all share similar art styles, game play and themes. Hard to think of one without thinking of the others.
I played this game when I was definitely too young to even begin to understand its story. I tried later on after beating the game multiple times to look further into the game and try to piece together the story as best as I could on my own, but struggled and ultimately gave up. I was able to piece together a general understanding of the story, but not enough to say I understood exactly what the game was trying to say. But this video made the story so much clearer! I now feel like I have a more complete understanding of this game and have unlocked a new appreciation for this game that I haven't felt since I played it last. I knew I was playing something special, since the game really left a lasting impression on me when I was younger playing it, and thanks to this video I finally feel like I get it. Thank you so much for making this video it was incredibly well done! Also, side note: did anyone else watch Cryotic's playthrough of this game several years ago? (Don't watch it, it's bad lol) but I got pretty offended watching him play this masterpiece and kinda just want to rant about it quickly lol.
(Rant about Cryotic) I was so annoyed when he started laughing at the mermaid princess. That boss is one of the most tragic and in my opinion most disturbing bosses in the game physically and contextually. So for him to laugh at it just really irritated me. Then for the final chapter, he was drunk. The final chapter is, as stated in the video, is the most pivotal moment in the game. Brown being killed, Jen snapping and beating up Wendy was one of the most incredible moments of the entire game for me. So to be altered and experience that moment kinda ruins it. No offense to anyone who drinks, it was just the lack of respect for the game that ruined the whole let's play for me. Sorry to anyone who liked him (me included) but I'm glad he's no longer on the platform because let's be honest, he was a pretty mediocre RUclipsr and now a hebephile.
By far the most in depth and extensive video I’ve seen on Rule of Rose and I watch them all. An incredible achievement! I can feel how much work went into this and I thank you for it
I had hoped to get around it, but this video got demonetized by RUclips (not advertiser friendly) right after it was released.
*sigh*
This is just absolutely idiotic . You put so much effort into creating these videos the least you should get is some form of income imo.
dw my dude I'll patreon ya
Absolutely incredible video. Thank you so much for making this kind of content.
well....about time i supported you on patreon anyway. Amazing job as always!
Really a crime, after you've put so much effort in it. I hope this video of yours, gets enough attention, that it will help you in other ways instead!
It seems that the authorities don't realise that _exploring_ a topic is not the same as _endorsing_ it.
There was definitely also a strong political agenda of EU minister Franco Frattini behind this.
Rule of Rose was a great scapegoat for his campaign against the insidiousness of video games.
Quite ironic, considering how the game vehemently portrays and condemns scapegoatism.
@@RagnarRoxShow Like... I can understand their hesitancy to some degree because these are incredibly heavy themes... but video games have as much right to discuss dark topics as any other form of media. And outright lying about the game's content is just wrong.
There are a LOT of people who don't understand the the difference, and for that, art must continue to be made.
Silence is the endorsement in abuse cases. They are endorsing it by banning it.
@@LadyBrightcynder I absolutely loathe anyone who would go "This artwork makes me uncomfortable, so I must prevent others from witnessing and experiencing it." No! If it makes you uncomfortable, then don't engage with the artwork, but it isn't your job to censor art or choose what makes *others* uncomfortable! People should choose for themselves "You know what, this art isn't for me, so I will not engage with it, but I'm sure someone else will find value in it."
Jennifer slapping Wendy to the ground was the most satisfying moment in a video game I’ve ever experienced
I' so glad he put it so much o the video
Can't get enough of that tricolor motif.
That part broke me, I was proud of her, finally standing up to them...I cried so much.
@@LilithScarlette me too!
Mars yasss
Fun fact: This was the last game I ever worked on while I was at Atlus. I miss it sometimes.
:o
@@RagnarRoxShow Ha, yeah! This duck's got history
@@WobblesandBean please tell us some more...
Bro tell us more
Wow y’all did an amazing job with the story. I would love to have a interview with the team about the subtext and symbolism.
I'm only halfway through but I had to pause because of the immense respect I have for this video. Most people talking about something like Rule of Rose would just go "children are cruel and here's how fucked up they are" but you actively discuss the role that adults have in shaping and encouraging the cruelty of children. Top notch.
Another aspect of Wendy's reveal to be the secret antagonist all along that I find very important to point out is that the game showed overt bullies and abusers all around - but with Wendy, it showed the very cruel reality that even the most outwardly nice people can be immensely toxic and backstabbing... they just hide and pretend really well.
Studies have shown that smells are one of the best way to trigger memories as the olfactory bulb is connected to the hippocampus in the brain. I don't know if it was the developer's intent but I thought it was interesting that Brown sniffs out clues to help unlock forgotten memories similar to how a scent could trigger a repressed memory.
Nice one!
I thought it's the auditory as they used some favorite songs of Alzheimer patient to recall their memories. But I guess brain has its way of remembering.
All 5 senses can trigger memorys
That's interesting!
For a long time I had a theory that the first time we see Jennifer regain her memories is right at the intro. She sees Brown, Wendy, and the Zeppelin. She sees Wendy play with Jennifer's younger self in a field of roses. Perhaps the smell of roses triggered the return of her memories?
@@wildlyrebellious Terrifyingly that's the last thing they renember, when they don't renember who they were, their family, friends, or their favorite hobbies even skills (an artist who had alzheimers drew a self portrait every year and every year it became worse and worse and worse) all that you can renember is your favorite song. And when you forget it, you go.
All of the main antagonists (wendy, hoffman, gregory) justified their abuse with ""love"".
And yet, the purest of all loves happened between the poor jennifer and brown. That's why she decides to lock him up in her memories. To always have him safe, before the nightmare happened. But this could be tragic, since it kinda implies that jennifer still can't manage to accept what happened.
Truly, a story too cruel, too beautiful, to go untold. Thank you for telling it, ragnar. Thank you.
More so, it shows how Jennifer mimics the same actions that Gregory took when he "replaced" Joshua with Jennifer. It's very indicative in that the epilogue scene is shown from the first-person perspective of Brown.
I interpret it more as being similar to Mila's situation in Psychonauts. By accepting what happened and keeping the horrible things cordoned off from the forefront of your mind, you are made a far more healthy person. I don't think Jennifer will ever forget Brown, or what happened to her and the other children, but my finally being able to move on, she is free to live her life the way she wants, not bogged down by her trauma.
My impression of that ending scene is that Jennifer is falling into the same cycle of abuse that was inflicted upon herself. Like so often happens, the victim becomes the abuser. Just as you say, she locks up her memories of her childhood friend out of love, despite Brown's obvious reluctance toward it. It makes me wonder what Jennifer is doing in her real life, how she is treating the people around her, now that she is grown up.
I personally think that it means that she chose to "lock" the memories, so to speak. To never forget them again. She chose to lock the memory of Brown, to remember him forever. I do not believe that it signifies her becoming abusive herself, as some in this thread think
I see it in a different way personally. I think Jennifer accepted her dark memories because she wanted to remember Brown. She didn't want the horrible memories to overshadow the good ones, that's why she choose to "protect" memory about Brown. However she realises that she has to move forward and past has to stay in the past. That's why she had to lock Brown away and leave on her own. That's also why she leaves Wendy behind. Rule of rose: Roses are beautiful but they have spikes. Same could be told about Jennifer's memories of Brown.
To quote a wise man, “There’s nothing more pure and cruel as a child.” That’s the best way I can summarize this game.
Speaking truth to power. This game was always especially fucked up for me because of the sheer hell I went through in middle school. Kids are nasty motherfuckers to each other.
As silly as the source is, Metal Gear Rising was right.
"Kids are cruel, Jack. And I am VERY in touch with my inner child".
- A man that fights with mega-scissors and plots to acquire the brains of the children
Yet even the most cruel kid in aristocracy is a mere victim of adult hoffman mistreatment and cruelty itself. So which is the cruellest sinister child or the source of the sinister child?
@@RePhantomz Dude kids are nasty no matter how nice you are to them. Its human nature to be awful.
@@spicybeantofu nah not all kid are nasty by nature. At that time of age, their psyche is still developing thus the are bulding their character by exposing themself to enviroment around them. Shoud the kid:
A. not an orphan
B. taken care in other orphanage taken care by different guardian.
They might grow to be different kind of kid.
There are two video games that have ever made me cry, entirely with their endings. The first is Silent Hill 2, hearing Mary’s letter to James, telling him that he made her happy. The other is Rule of Rose, when Jennifer shuts Brown away in her memories so that he would always live on there. When I tell you that I sobbed after that, I mean I sobbed.
I think one of the heaviest hitting part of rule of rose is when you get to the ending the saddest part is that despite all the horrible things the kids did - theyre all still just kids. This could have just been the start of their story not the ending. Who they are as children isnt who theyll be for their whole lives. They all could have grown into interesting and matures adults with their own deep passions. They showed signs of remorse and as they got older would have probably fully come to grips with what they did to Jennifer and maybe even tried to reconnect with her and apologise. But they never got that chance of redemption because they all died. Wendys last look at Jennifer through the gates as she leaves really hammers home the agony that jennifer will be the only orphan who gets to live her life as an adult while the rest will all remain eternal undeveloped children, all remain wasted potential, within a hated warped memory of the only person who will remember them.
the video didn't depressed me
you did
I'd argue the point of the game isn't that Jennifer completely hates them, but has a lot of complicated feelings and childhood traumas that she needed to process and, by the end, finds ways to process everything and to have some small bits of forgiveness to them to help herself move on. She'll forever remember the bullying the girls put her through, but she'll also remember the context that the adults around her weren't helpful to anyone.
It makes me think of Amanda a lot, she made a decent animation of an angel flying in her diary which you can find. She was probably very artistically talented and could’ve went on to become an artist but she was practically driven insane from the other orphans and then brutally killed.
One little thing I really liked was how in the cutscene of Jennifer standing up to the aristocrats she becomes her younger self, probably because this was her actual play-by-play memory of something that happened and not her later interpretation of the events. I dunno, I just thought it was pretty neat
I think one of the most haunting aspects of this game is probably it's biggest antagonist/villain - Dr. Hoffman. Out of anyone, he could be argued the "villain" of the entire story and the sort of "root of all evil" in the children and yet he never gets punished. He just up and leaves with little to no consequence. It's such a brutal yet realistic portrayal of how some events like this end - the bad guy doesn't get his just punishment and the heroes/victims don't find peace and have that happily ever after. They are scarred or worse - dead. And even more so, what makes him genuinely terrifying is that at some point he was mentioned to be a "kind and admirable teacher " by Jennifer which shows that any good and morale person given power always runs the risk of turning to abuse it and becoming a monster like Hoffman if they aren't careful.
Or on the flip side, how our perceptions of people can hide their dark intentions because it's quite possible that Hoffman was always this way and Jennifer just never saw it because it was either before the Club started to bully her or because she wasn't a sexual target like Clara or Diana.
Wendy is most definitely the biggest antagonist to Jennifer, if there had to be one labelled. Hoffman is a scumbag, no doubt, but Wendy was the one who led to the orphans being killed and Jennifer being bullied. And it's difficult to judge whether or not Hoffman initiated her behavior, but in one of his letters he claims how "everything went wrong after that wretched child came". I assume the child he's referring to is Wendy, as she's the ringleader. So, it can be concluded Wendy was always like that? Well, the Orphanage surely didn't help. Hopefully, Wendy was what explicitly drove Hoffman away after knowing what he did.
edit: In case Hoffman was referring to Jennifer, just as well, because then Wendy successfully turned all of the adults against Jennifer, too. From them constantly lying/keeping her from her duties by bullying her/tying her up. Either way.
Hoffman could have always been this way, he could have tricked her into thinking he was good but never was, sometimes abusers hide their true colors,, then one day, you meet them, like children may never know their mom was abused by their dad due to dad hiding it.
Then, one day, dad snaps and hurts the child, to the child, he was always the nicest person before, but he changed, to the mom, he transferred the abuse or after mom leaves dad has no one else to take his rage out on so he takes it out on the children.
The children are shocked because their dad hid this side of himself until he couldn't hide the evil.
That really sucks, but I think it might help a little if we imagine that karma punished Hoffman by having him get repeatedly run over by a bus until his bones had been crushed to a paste and having him be alive for most of it so that he could suffer a slow and painful death.
It's implied Hoffman was killed by the children, just like they killed the cook woman as portrayed in the "fantasy" airship, it happened in real life. Who knows, maybe Jennifer partook in killing Hoffman as he was a boss, perhaps directly dealing the killing blow. Even if the children didn't kill Hoffman, Gregory killed everybody except Jennifer so if Hoffman could only have survived until that point.
I don't remember in which room it was, but there is a representation of a hanged man, which could represent how Hoffman was killed by the kids and that also explains the "unexpected" disappearance of all the adults , considering the the rest were killes to, at a certain point in the game.
Brown ... my brown, my goodest of boys. T_T
Fancy seeing you here loremistress of witcher
...too soon
Proper Bird
I fully expected it to say ‘Brown, my brown... my goodest of pants’
Since it’s a horror game, and Dead Pool’s ‘see? He wore the brown pants’
Oh, whoa! What the hell are you doing here?! Uh...m'lady...
@@stevied3121 Yes, it gets murdered by the little kids...buahaha
The ending of Jennifer running away from it all with brown, into the light, is so heart breaking knowing Brown is dead. It makes me cry everytime I see the scene.
Quick note regarding the 'c-section abortion' you suggested:
Surgical abortions are not typically performed via c-section (if at all). Generally they go via the cervix, and it doesn't really involve much in the way of incisions. However, if she brought a baby to term at such a young age a c-section may have been necessary due to her being physically undeveloped for a regular birth.
... Yeah, that just made it more sad/disgusting.
The deeper you dig with this game😔
oh god. So if that were the case and Hoffman didn't just murder her or whatever. She was probably tossed out on the street with her baby. Shit man
I think you could also consider the fact that Hoffman, whose only job is really to be the headmaster and not a surgeon of any sort, would not know the proper or common way to go about such a procedure. You can find all the tools he uses in the attic, bloodied on the table. Both a scalpel and dental forceps are seen amongst the disgusting pile of tools, so maybe he tried going about both methods...? It's really quite horrific, but I can't imagine Hoffman cared so much for efficiency as he did covering his own tracks. What a sick freak.
Its implied that Wendy didnt actually intend for Stray Dog (Gregory) to actually kill the orphans, more likely just to scare them. She appears very sad after they are killed and even gives Jennifer the gun to kill Gregory, leading to her own death.
I guess. Personally I find it outrageous and hard to believe a child around the age of 9 would be capable of manipulating and brainwashing Gregory. Especially when you see the rope marks and scars on his body. Then there's Martha's letters and the W & J letters...
The W & J letters state that Brown was alive on 28th November 1930. However, Martha's letters state that on 23rd November she witnessed Wendy interacting with Gregory as if it looked like dog-training gone wrong. There's also the fact that on 20th October 1930, the police sent a letter to Martha telling her that they don't find anything wrong with Gregory and that he's a father to a child (it sounded like Joshua was still alive). My point is, days before the massacre Martha had suspected Gregory of being a kidnapper and that Brown was alive when Wendy was seen with Gregory by Martha.
I don't think Jennifer has the correct information or memory. The whole part about the massacre was fabricated and what happened is still suppressed in Jennifer's memories.
Heck I think Joshua was still alive the whole time because of the police's reply. But who knows?
As someone who has loved and admired this game for years, I cannot begin to tell you how amazing and satisfying this video was to watch! It always made me a bit sad that apart from the complaints about the poor game mechanics (which were admittedly true and valid), Rule of Rose earned a reputation as an exploitative and edgy game, when it was, in fact, a game with a rich and interesting plot that dealt with themes of abuse in one of the most respectful and nuanced ways I've ever seen, so it is wonderful to see someone bring attention to it's qualities in such a detailed way.
Also, this video brought new perspectives on this game that despite my admiration for it, I had never considered before, such as the political aspect of it, and I thank you for that! The symbolism seems even a bit on the nose when you point it out, so much so that I felt stupid for not realizing it before.
Though there's another thing about this game that really moves me and that wasn't discussed much in here, and that is the theme of remembering (and the significance that simple act holds). On the final chapter of the game, Jennifer comments that the orphanage massacre ended up being completely ignored in favor of the more 'glamorous' tragedy of the airplane crash, once she was found. That leaves Jennifer as not only the sole survival of the orphanage, but also as the only person to even acknowledge that these children, with all their desires and their flaws, ever existed in the first place, as they were completely forgotten by the rest of the world. And that extends to even Brown himself, Jennifer's dearest friend who was just a stray puppy who had no one else to remember him but her.
I find the ending very poignant as it is essentially about Jennifer realizing all of that, and choosing both to never forget the precious and pure memories she had in there (putting an end to her need to honor 'the promise she forgot' , something that had been tormenting her throughout the whole game), and choosing to look at even the children who made her life miserable with merciful eyes, as she can realize that they were victims too.
Anyway, I really just wanted to thank you for your insightful and well researched work! I look forward to future analysis coming from this channel :)
@zac don't care Why did you respond to it then? lol
im reading through every comment in this section that has more than one word dont worry
@eViL rEsIdEnT to think you must think you're being funny lol
I am reading Thamires, really insightful comment, thank you!
eViL rEsIdEnT Bro I am currently not only reading it but also crying, so checkmate
Amazing comment thank you
47:17 I just realized that her "Fish-part" is not made of scales but of rope... the details everywhere...
Damn!!!
I haven’t played the game because I wasn’t born when it came out neither do I have the money to get it. But I can still see that the mermaid princess is the scariest boss compared to the old man that swings a wire at you. Or big furry with no fursuit.
I feel like the rope alludes to how Clara might have taken her own life, most likely by hanging herself.
@@mask938i thought that too! the way she’s hanging from the ceiling during the boss fight too..
The thigh bandages could also be insinuating self harm, as it’s common for victims to go there, due to it being around the location of abuse or because it’s a less visible area.
"Who ever believes the victim?"
Ugh, that sent chills down my spine. It's true, though. These days, we are doing better but for many years, many victims weren't believed until it was too late.
Not to mention people who pretend to be victims caught lying only undermines real victims.
@@tuckernutter That's one of the most messed up things you can do too.
@@tuckernutter This is what's been happening to me. Dozens of people in my home town believe I was the abuser so they look at me with fear or anger.
"Who ever believes the victim?" is the most important thing you could say.
@@salazar556 Yes, and it often piles on more trauma and stress. Abusers are clever creatures.
Well when the "victim" is Amber Heard not a lot of people believe you.
I personally think they should re-release this game
On top of that the team should receive a written apology from Franco Frattini.
Totally, with improved combat mechanics. Not modernized, just balanced better like SH has.
Like a tv show
I wish, but I don't know who holds to rights to ROR after Punchline dissolved
They never will. Atlus likes to limit copies to create a false demand.
this game cut me deep, because I could relate profoundly to the protagonist, but even more so to the main villain.. it's hauntingly terrifying to recognise the evil shown in that character as something, that can be found in myself.. thankfuly, in my experience, the person that become target of my obsession was able to direct my attention to this unhealthy pattern in my behavior, so I could stop it before any real harm was done.. hopefuly, now that I'm aware of this demon, I can keep it contained, and maybe even overcome it..
Care to elaborate? It could help someone else. Plus, I'm always curious to hear tales of personal triumphs and overcoming integral demons.
I don't know if anyone is interested to know but I have came across the same problem. I would sometimes obsesses about someone or something and it ultimately make them distance themselves away from me.
I don't really do something inherently bad but I was also coming across as too needy and clingy. I am not sure if I have grown out of it yet but I am still fighting against it up to this day. I don't want to loose more people but more importantly I don't want to loose myself and I'm pretty sure this obssesive person isn't really me.
I love the that a game confronted a platonic relationship being abusive in this way. I had a very abusive best friend for 4-5 years. This game mirrors so many of her behaviors in a theatrical way (besides the physically violent) that it feels visceral.
Yeah. And it does a great job at showing how girls bully each other. I had a hard time coming to terms with my own bullying because I thought “real bullying” was physical, but my best friend and I were harassed and ostracized so badly, she was pulled out of school to be homeschooled and I developed severe social anxiety that I still struggle with more than ten years later.
I’m sorry you went through this and I’m glad the game helped you. I have a current ex that used his past of bullying and neglect as an excuse for not achieving his goals or solving problems in general. He even claimed HE WANTED TO COMMIT SUICIDE, just to get my attention. He had harmed himself in middle school, so I believed him the first two times. Additionally, the girls that bullied Jennifer for reason was how my ex made me feel when I called him out for doing something wrong. Sorry for the rant.
“Platonic”
[gay silence.]
@@Jay-qh6uv given that Wendy originally thought Jennifer was a boy I didn't see wendy as being lesbian, maybe heteroflexible, i agree it seemed like a romantic relationship instead of platonic.
@@boketto9521 There was very clearly homoerotic subtext in the entirety of the game and Wendy's feeling towards Jennifer are hinted to be romantic. What I like about the game is that it shows girls being abusive, which was exactly what the team was going for as girls are usually viewed as sweet and innocent and this shows that not all girls and women are good people and they can very much be abusive.
Bought the game when it first released when I was 13 and it truly had a positive psychologically healing impact on me (and it was super triggering at times as well) I think I gravitated towards it because I had two friends who were super abusive from 1st to 8th grade, 10 years later I found out they were the way they were towards me/ each other because one was being beat daily and the other molested. The game is an excellent depiction of these RL scenarios, however disturbing it may be. Really wish I didn’t sell my copy in college. And am I the only one who LIKED the fighting mechanics because she’s an awkward scared girl? seemed convincing she couldn’t fight for shit, fit the narrative
Rule of Rose was bordering on a traumatic experience for me. The themes and even some specific scenes were incredibly reminiscent of my own experiences growing up and when I played through the game, I was sent on a trip through my own memories. It forced me to reflect on the person I have become since. In that sense, the game was a formative experience to me. I genuinely wish gaming would delve into such real, relatable and incredibly cruel topics more often - the potential within it is so unbelievably great an can serve as a means to help people evolve in a very real sense.
Fantastic video, I really enjoyed hearing your thoughts and analysis on this fascinating piece of storytelling. Thank you.
Are you ok there?...
Yea its a bittersweet story for me as well
I was in a position like Wendy once. It was horrifying to be now aware of the emotional manipulation I did to my friend and justifying it as "love" or "true friendship". All I did was hurt myself and the people I love. Like what you said, "possessiveness in relationships eventually, always, damages everyone involved."
Thank you Ragnar for making this analysis for this amazing game!
I've never seen an antagonist so relatable as Wendy, I've lost my parents and live with my granparents but I never talk to them as I'm not a social person. I have asthma and scoliosis, so I never get to go out and meet or play with people and I used to be alone for years and the loneliness was getting to me, I was ready to take my own life because there nothing was going to happen, I was going to be stuck alone where everything is going to be the same, but I met someone so I gave myself a chance and tried to talk to her, later on I became more and more attached to her to the point where I would panic if she wasn't texting or been gone even just for a minute.. as you'd expect things started to go down hill. but thankfully, unlike Wendy, I would not go as far as ruining her life, just because she hates me now.
Although a part of me at the back of my mind wanted to... but I know that's wrong... It's uncomfortable seeing at what I could be..
Thank you so much for this video.. it gave me a look at how I can be a terrible person and how the person I loved would suffer.. if it weren't for this.. who knows what I could've done.
Sorry for the shit english, It's not my native language...
@@vincebradleysolante7895 Thanks for sharing. I can REALLY relate, and seeing others open up about such a similar experience makes me feel less alone. I wouldn't have guessed English wasn't your native language either. You did fine.
Thank you and you're welcome. hahah :>
I actually remember feeling really bad for Amanda when I played the game mostly after reading her journal and especially seeing her little animation in the corner pages of her with wings flying into the sky and then crashing down.
me too. as unhinged and disloyal as she was to anyone, she was just trying desperately to be liked and included, and clearly didn’t know how to navigate the fucked up dynamic portrayed in this game, and just barely scraped the barrel the entire time
the story about your PE teacher made me sick to my stomach, especially since I've heard so many of those kinds of stories about PE teachers specifically. It's disgusting how common it is for pedophiles to be hired to lead the class that puts kids in a very physically vulnerable position.
And just think: white liberals are pushing harder and harder to protect pedos and give them rights.
@@charlottecorday8494 And yet they don't give rights for LGBTQ+...mmm mmm mmm
@@bluewolf6323 I literally just said white liberals are pushing harder and harder to protect pedos and give them rights. What are you not getting?
@@charlottecorday8494 I was adding on to how they give more rights to others than people who need it?
@@bluewolf6323 what? Both are groomers lol. What a stretch.
Ragnar... you seriously out did yourself this time. I'm not kidding, this may be your best video yet. I actually cried during curtain moments. This was amazing. Seriously glad I found your channel.
the dog being murdered definitely hits home. really heavy stuff. :(
Good to see even rat bois can have excellent taste
Yeah, no kidding! He really outdid himself!
this is one of the best videos of history!
Societal dysfunction, emotional abuse, authoritarian misconduct, and the decay of morality in the interest of survival. This game is horror at its most real, because there are more monstrous humans than fantastical ones. We played this as a group back at home because it stirred plenty of discussions and debates on just how justifiable each person's actions truly were. Thank you for putting a voice to our gaming.
That orphanage severely needs a visit by cool cat.
Trouble is Daddy Derrick will be with him selling mediocre merch and copyright striking anyone who hates Cool Cat
Cool Cat and Daddy Derek will probably teach Gregory proper gun safety
@@ihvojd cool cat stops an orphanage molestation
as someone whos had a wendy in their life, this game was very meaningful and important to me. i agree entirely with your ending point. i want to work with children and teach them healthy patterns to deal with their peers and even their own emotions so that things like this dont happen as often. this game is incredible and youve done good by it. thanks for doing this.
"Realistic" Horror is, other than jump-scares, the only type of horror that freaks me the hell out.
As someone who subscribed and participated in the Rule of Rose Mysteries forums/website by PokerNemesis since 2006 where we've analyzed, shared insights and dug through game files and data until the site's end at around 2015. What we all accepted as passionate ramblings from a bunch of nerds that'll never come to light back in those days.... well, now this is a dream come true for us!
Thank you very much for this video essay!! It was our wish for more people to see the depth and majesty of Rule of Rose and I'm glad that it had finally happened! I'm sure wherever we members are, we will always remember the love we have for this game!
P.S. I like the Political Aspect you discussed very much. Damn government conspiring against video games!!
I was actually also frequently digging through Rule of Rose Mysteries back in the day. It was such a good time. :)
Reading this makes me really happy, so thank you!
Rule of Rose Mystery
Even though Wendy's actions at the end are very "out there," I feel like it's pretty in align with the rest of the violence in the game. I feel horrible for Gregory and I think the game does a very good job of painting all the antagonists as humans even though at first glance you can write them off as crazy villains. There's a logical reason for all their actions, and the level of sympathy the game makes us feel for all the antagonists, because everyone was a victim in some way or the other, made it an amazing story. And shockingly, all the subjects were handled very thoughtfully without scummy exploitation for the "shock factor" which I feel like a lot of games do not do well in horror genre especially...
We feel some amount of sympathy for each villain. Except Hoffman. Nobody has any sympathy for that creep.
I know this will sound stupid but I learned a lot of English words with this game when I played with my grandmother, is funny how even with the language barrier we knew what was going on and I got chills just from remembering our theories and discovering key points to the plot, solving puzzles....Thank you so much for this video, this game was so important to me that when you played the "A Love Suicide" song it gave me so good memories, I can't wait to tell her new things I learned from this video.
With your grandmother?
That's incredibly cool, I wouldn't think of even watching cartoons near mine because of her quite extreme religious beliefs and conservativeness, let alone a game like this
coolest grandma
Love this
35:13 its insane how this could be applied to real life as well. How we, the people, the lower and middle class, are manipulated to hate each other, while those in power, are safe and sound
Having been in an abusive romantic relationship, I really appreciate this analysis of the game and your deeply respectful and understanding discussion of abuse (a topic not often brought up in discussions of games, or games in general). Such a powerful video. Thank you!
Alright first of all, thank you so much for making this. Rule of rose is one of my favorite games, it unites the aesthetic of an era I love very much and an exquisite way of presenting the real horror embodied in human beings and the grey area of being between good and bad. Towards the end, I feel like your spiel was directed right at me, because I had an emotionally abusive friendship much akin to that of Jennifer and Wendy, and it took me years to realize it was abusive and I am so happy it was soon over, what saddens me is that I don’t have a grasp on what a good friendship is and that I feel like sometimes I picked up on my ex abusive friends habits such as jealousy and unhealthy dedication. However I am very happy that at least I realize this and I am slowly but surely finding my autonomy and independence. It feels really nice it feels like actual fresh air!
It often takes years of distance and introspection to realize that a friendship or a relationship was actually abusive in nature.
It's a process, and not a pleasant one, but one that's worth it. Thank you for sharing this
RagnarRox this truly was one of the best and if not the best video essays I have seen so far.
U improve massively and I mean it.
I shared ur vids to a friend of mine and she loves it.
It helps her as well as me to improve and be inspired.
Thank you so much for covering this rare gem, I saw Nitro Rad's video few months ago it was amazing but this is more in depth about the abusive relationship and I really enjoyed it through the end. The revolution part was really well edited and you caught me off guard when you showed Jojo HAHA. I didn't noticed the story has came to a full circle and also why she's all alone again. Also, the gym story was disturbing and frustrating at the same time.
If ever they make a "Female Version" of Lord of the Flies, they should just make a Rule of Rose movie. For real.
The Orphanage is very close to RoR in many ways!
Lord of Flies: A story about affluent boys lost in the wilderness with no structure and how they turn primitive and decay without the system to keep them in check. Rules and obedience combats the desire for violence.
Rule of Rose: A game about impoverished girls creating another hierarchy as a demand for control, and to covet what little they have. The system is broken and they use rules and obedience to continue the cycle of abuse.
Story wise the only thing they share in common is a group of children struggling in a dystopian environment, they're almost polar opposites, perhaps that's why it works better, it's not just Lord of the Flies but with girls.
@@chaoticneutralsheep
this game is a great mirror of Lord of the Flies.
@@chaoticneutralsheep I agree. Equating this with Lord of the Flies almost does a disservice to it. Besides their superficial similarities, they couldn't be more different
if they make a rule of rose movie, milly shapiro *HAS* to play amanda.
I'll always remember the music of this game. Not only that, but I feel like this game was way ahead of its time. It tells a great, eerie story that has been so wonderfully crafted that people are still uncovering new details about it today. Can you imagine what could've been if the studio had still been alive today to continue creating games like this? This game will always have a soft spot in my heart.
Scariest part of this game: The depiction of the "artificial friction or the lower classes to distract them from focusing on the Powers that created the inequality" is all that has been happening in the last 10 years, and even more relevant now.
As a trans guy that hit way too close to me ha….
@@lemonlypophas nothing to do with your consumerist mental illness
We never got this in the UK yet surprisingly got Haunting Ground around the same time which covers entirely different concepts of vouyeurism, envy and sexual abuse but both seemed to come out at a strange period where the threat and fear was not based on death or some form of body horror. Which looking back were two monstrously rare standouts in horror games. We can watch Issac Clarke get turned into flesh soup without batting an eye as violence is so normalised but concepts like abuse and betrayal remain such strong agents of disturbing reaction and i have to wonder if part of that is the rarity of them. They are the type of games i don't think would or could get made in todays climate and i don't think we will see something like them again. Often psychological horror is taken as 'be the armchair guy reading into what this imagery means or represents' but these were two cases where they specifically make you feel something more than a jumpscare or simple shock and revulsion. You feel for the characters in a way beyond 'i cant let the player character die' and thats very, very rare.
I'd argue that emotional and psychological horror use doubt as means to deeply disturb the viewer. We normalise violence by thinking it a "mere exaggeration". When it comes to murdering hordes of enemies, we really can't relate since that sort of experience isn't common. When it comes to abuse, use, manipulation, lies and bullying, I'd say we all know them as parts of the human experience. We can empathise with Jennifer because we've been her, we've seen her or we've damaged someone like her. We doubt our own experiences and a game like this, too, forces us to introspectively analyse our life and figure out if we've wronged or been wronged. After all, most examples of mediatic abuse, show us that the victim is unaware of the power imbalance they suffer or benefit from. We dread being the victim or realising we are the perpetrators.
@@hombreg1 Very well said, both of you. Thanks for the insight. Comments like these are why I spend an hour reading them after the video.
@@Gray963 thanks for reading it c: it's difficult to find a proper intellectual discourse in RUclips... But I think Ragnar's fans will be the sort of people fascinated by psychology and horror. I'm willing to bet they would also love to discuss such topics with others over the Web.
I picked up an Italian import - which required a plastic widget to play on my English PS2. As frustrating as the combat itself - but still my fave video game experience of all time.
TheDeliciousMystery
i really appericate this comment. Worth Reading
There's something about your voice and script that always have me eager to learn about whatever new topic you put out. I've never heard about this game, but this was still a treat to watch. Now I know about Rule of Rose, Thanks!
Same! Your narration is completely engrossing and always pulls me in....thanks! You deserve so much more than what has been happening to you lately :D
Its cause you're ready to reproduce. You are being affected lust. Prepare yourself, your uterus is about to have a guest.
I hate horror games, but I love watching Ragnarox analyze them!
I know right i love it 😊😊😊
wow, no wonder that I've never heard of this game. Such a taboo themes would've definitely garnered controversy & ban policy especially at the era when literally video game was scapegoated hard for the unfounded cause of kids & violence by politicians.
Thanks for this video. I learned such a comprehensive new things & looking forward to play this game in the future.
That slap Wendy got was so satisfying for me but this game overall broke me in a bittersweet way. It's so well done in story and background and u did such a excellent job explaining everything there is to know about the plot, characters, and it's symbolism.
This game was absolutely terrifying, and it is so rare to have such a compelling, profound, and meaningful narrative attached to a horror title of this caliber.
Thanks for letting me revisit this experience in its whole.
I have never played the game, and do not intend to, but honestly, this entire video was a wild ride and I still managed to feel for the characters. I thoroughly enjoyed this video and adore what I know about this game. You're awesome!
The greatest video game experience of my life! Despite feeling as helpless as Jennifer during the combat!
Rule of Rose has lowkey been one of my favourite stories told in a video game; and with that, this video has to be the best analysis of the story, the characters and the underlying themes the game has to offer. I was glued to the screen without pausing for the entirety of it. Thank you for such an amazing video, it's obvious that it came from a place of both fascination and love for the game.
people laugh at me when i say rule of rose is one of my favorite games.
i'm so glad to finally see it fully appreciated for how well it does what it does.
it's an impressive work of art overshadowed by a lot of misunderstanding.
incredibly well researched and well put together video, thank you so much!!
What I really like about games such as Rule of Rose and Pathologic is how they depict children in horror. They actually act a lot more like believable children in those games which plays well with the world and plot. I'm very sick of these boring, psychic, clichéd children that we keep on getting in modern horror films. They're boring, emotionless and way too adult for children characters. Horror should try using realistic children aspects to its advantage more often.
Old comment but it just reminds me about the Movie "The innocents" from 2021. The depiction of the Kids is in my Opinion highly realistic even while they "perform" their horrific acts.
This was so well written and presented. Being someone who suffers from depression and ptsd from my youth due to being bullied and ostracized by my peers, this analysis has served as a cathartic depth-charge. I couldn't help but cry by the end of it all. Thank you for making this video.
It's so sad that game development is so expansive nowadays. We will never get games that deal with such heavy subjects and taboos outside REALLY small independent games
though as game engines are getting more normal on the market and the tech becomes better, its getting ALOT easier for private groups to develope games, and with the internet like it is gathering funding from other people is also possible.
upsetting as it is how daft and knuckle scraping the companies are these days, and have been for a long time, its only recently that the tech has become widely available for private people. so i actually think things might be moving in a good direction, where sensorship gets less power, and private developers gets more power.
This is I was so surprised with Hellblade. It's a heavy subject beautifully handled (even though Is till don't know what to think about that ending...) that showed that a game didn't have to be AAA to look good and be good.
Same goes for movies and literature suffers a lot from it as well a bit, though not nearly as much as it is a different audience.
Look, it's benn a few years since I started watching you beautiful channel, but this time I have to speak you directly. Rule of rose was the first game I, you know "watched" on youtube instead of playing it. Videogames weren't really quite accepted in my house, so you can imagine what would have happened if I asked my parents to buy the game that the news called "the satanic children's game". I think bullism in school, gym and sometimes even in my home really shaped what I am today. I don't think that even now, as a 24 years old biophysicist student have really finished with dealing with all that. The, you know, insults, the things you liked ripped and destroyed, the acid on the back. I think I'll never finish with those things, even now that I have love on my side. I suppose thank you for the memories, and good work with the channel.
Your writing style is so elegant and professional, and your soothing voices really compliments it. I’ve been trying to find a good video of someone actually looking into Rule of Rose for a while now since it’s such an under-looked masterpiece and voila, here it is! As usual, I’m blown away by your effort and passion for these subjects.
Aa terrible as it was to hear your story about that disgusting gym teacher, I am glad you shared it. So many people see sexual misconduct and even pedopillia and choose to look the other way. I had a similar experience in middle school where a 50 year old male teacher would let the attractive girls (aging 11 to 13) in his class sit on his desk. He would give them sodas and let them grade other kids papers. Since my mom warned me to literally never trust any older man when I was a kid I always steered clear of him. My brother had his class afterwards and since he had a learning disability, he was ostracized and actually picked on by the teacher and the girls. The disgusting teacher was finally fired after some parents found out he had been adding the girls on facebook. BTW this man taught religion in a catholic school. Remember kids, religion can be a great thing, but just because someone is religious doesn't mean they won't sexually harass/assault you or your children.
Sorry for the long comment, but to wrap it up I think it's important that people come forward with these stories instead of choosing to turn the other cheek. Although awareness may not do much in the beginning, the more people who discuss the problem, the more likely people will recognize the problem when they see it and therefore more likely take action against it.
Really great video. Only big thing I think you missed was that Gregory was really kidnapping children and was the real life inspiration for the "Stray dog (kidnaps +) eats children" boogeyman, which he literally physically became. He would talk about finding peas, how peas would be kicking & screaming, then chopping up peas, then burying peas never to be found. Then his journal entries correspond with police reports about missing children. It can be surmised that Jennifer would have been another one of these peas, and he was probably kidnapping children (at first) as replacements for his son Joshua. No clue why he later became cannibal eating the peas. Also the children's clothing on the ground in the courtyard are most certainly the dead bodies of children (the ones heard screaming before Wendy opens the door with Gregory on a leash), but Jennifer had blocked that gruesome memory from her mind and can only visual it as empty clothing on the ground. Bear Prince being placed on the throne by Wendy is obviously her projection of where she wants Jennifer to ultimately be, and attempting to bully her into submission. The socialist thing was a bit much, and kind of a stretch (the black shadows are blue, so it's like the blue in the French Revolution flag, it's totally a marxist thing even though Marx wouldn't be born until 30 years later)
It's funny that many years after i finished this game, everytime i hear about Rule of rose still triggers a feeling of sadness and melancholy.
Thanks for bringing it back into the spotlight as i am sure a lot of gamers have no idea this gem exists.
After viewing this analyais and listening to the game's theme song "A Love Suicide", I notice how the song itself can be the ballad of an abuser. The lyrics flutter between pleas of attention/demands for appeasement, threats of harm to listener and songstress and gaslighting that the songstress is "a victim" of the listener's "charm".
Do you know what happened to Wendy after?
I remember when Cryaotic played this game. He was *so* pissed off at it.
Erich Kulp why? Can you elaborate a bit if you don’t mind? I don’t follow his stuff but I sort of know him and I’m curious.
Erich Kulp why? Can you elaborate a bit if you don’t mind? I don’t follow his stuff but I sort of know him and I’m curious.
@@wtfbruhnonono4696 He got really frustrated with the gameplay, getting lost everywhere and having no idea what to do or where to go.
Wtfbruh nonono gameplay mechanics are pretty much broken especially in mermaid section
As soon I clicked on this video, i remembered cry's let's play out this and the part when brown died 😅 yeah, the mermaid fight I remember almost made him quit the game lol
Brilliant... just brilliant! This is, hands down, the best review/analysis of this game that I've ever seen. This game... it's stayed with me for a long time. Because at first, I didn't get the game, just like most of the players. But after many years, I've decided to give it another chance, and it was a huge surprise - the soundtrack, atmosphere, story and it's themes - it was so unique and frightening in it's own way, but fascinating at the same time. I know, that the game is not for everyone, not everyone's going to tolerate the "not so perfect" controls and gameplay, which can be tedious at times. However, those, who value the story and atmosphere more than convenient control scheme and can tolerate mild monotony of the gameplay will discover an experience, that will stay with them, that they won't forget or recapture anywhere else. Truly a one of a kind game and it deserves to have such thorough analysis like this one (btw I've seen other videos on this game, and some of theme were good, but your video is outstanding)! Well, I have nothing else to add. I express my greatest gratitude to you, RagnarRox. Keep up the good work!
I would never understand revolution reference on my own. I would also probably never get hints that mermaid girl had abortion.
Amazing video, impressive research! Thank you very much!
This was amazing, thank you so much for the hard work you put in- this game deserves so much analysis and dissection, it's so rich in story and imagery! And thank you for your insight on Clara- I had NEVER considered that her story was she was pregnant! That just makes the mermaid all the more horrifying...
I know right?! What I did pick up on was that in the attic there was a table with a bunch of tools on them, some of them were recently used and resembled tools that are used for makeshift C-sections. That kinda clued me in on what happened to Clara's stomach in the mermaid fight.
Rule of Rose has always been one of my favourite horror games, just its incredible use of symbolism and showing not telling makes it one of the best out there in my opinion.
Having sat calmly, with only a few jitters here and there, through the course of this video, and by extension game, I came to remember something I'd also buried so many years ago.
Anger. It burns through my fingers, washes palpably over me like a tide, what I suffered from people drunk from power that didn't even exist. What growing up in middle and high school was like. Dejection, sheer murderous bloodlust, a need for vindication I one day came within inches of quenching.
Your video was powerful, Ragnar. Thank you.
valcliff b hey for what it’s worth, I hope you’re doing fine today
Took the words out of my mouth... I need to go have a smoke and a drink.
15 years in and I still feel this from middle school. They wondered why I ended up like Amanda, bloodlustful and angry, lashing out in the last few days I was there.
And I'm STILL angry. Still not playing by their stupid rules though. I'm still not part of their world enough to deserve to.
After listening to Love Suicide on Rule of Rose's soundtrack, the various themes of abuse and possessiveness seem to be spot-on (the lyrics sound like they describe Wendy's character and what her friendship/"relationship" with Jennifer was really like)...
This has to be the greatest Psychological horror game along with Silent Hill 2 with no doubt, there's no greatest video dedicated to this amazing game than yours, I'm sure of that, congrats for what you've achieved
Thank you for your work!
Ok I completed the whole thing.
At first I was curious as to why you called it Monsters of the Week. I remember RoR had interesting monsters but I don't remember them much. After watching the video, I understood what "monsters" you were referring to.
Also that who section about bullying, the types of it, and how it's carried it among adults (even though we thing it just happens between children), was very informative.
This game was certainly far ahead of it's times.
Great video! You are a master at audio and I really loved how you fit the music while explaining your points.
Thanks Hemang, glad you enjoyed it!
I'd like to point out the common (and understandable) misconception that 'Monsters of the Week' does not refer to "This show covers a monster every week" - but it's a reference to the TV show trope.
So a MOTW can easily talk about something that has nothing to do with any factual monster - but... there's enough monsters, both literal and metaphorical ones in Rule of Rose that it would qualify for both. Only that I will never be able to churn these out on a weekly basis. ;)
tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MonsterOfTheWeek
@@RagnarRoxShow Oh haha, got it! I kinda of had an idea what it meant, but the page was lot more informative about this.
Thanks.
I love how you used SH: Homecoming ost when talking about death of a kid named Joshua. Briliant analysis
After watching both yours and Nitro Rad's videos on this game, it's really cool to see your slightly different interpretations, focuses, and approaches. I think it's the sign of a good story when everyone can come away from it with their own impressions and lessons learned.
there will never be another era like the PS2. so many games to the point a lot of them are considered niche treasures at this point. this one reminds me of someone very near and dear to me.
One of your best works and by far the best RUclips video I've seen this year. This is some next level shit!
As soon as I can afford it, I will support you on Patreon. Thats a promise.
Finally, a good Rule of Rose video.
Nitro Rad also has a good ROR video
Ava Lin More than half of it is bitching about the gameplay but go off.
@@SuperMilkKun well I loved Rule of Rose since I ever got the game but yeah the gameplay is very flawed everyone who played the game knows that lol, and Nitro Rad is also a reviewer in terms of the gameplay so its only fair.
Ava Lin more than half the video, Ava. More than half. His video didn’t go nearly as deep as RagnarRox here.
His video was a flop compared to this.
And it’s okay. :)
@@SuperMilkKun No his video was very good, very wel written and goes into good depth. :) for a more story depth experience and history, this is a better video but for more history (on the game itself) and gameplay reviewing Nitrorad is the better one.
You have really outdone yourself with this one, a topic I had been patiently hoping you'd cover. This video exhudes so much emotion and I consider it the best of all those about Rule of Rose I've seen. Considering this gem will likely never see a re-release or remaster, I think the magic you've captured here is as beautiful a way to share it with the uninitiated as we could hope for. Thank you for all your passionate work. Bravo!!
I keep coming back to this video every now and again. I can't say why it, and the game by extension, are so comforting to me, but I suppose it has something to do with the framing of the abuse in the story that you mentioned: It's not coming from an exploitative perspective, but from a sometimes painful but thorough exploration. Anyway, thank you for making this video.
Can we all appreciate for a moment how wonderful RaganaRox is for making the effort to pronounce foreign words and names?
How lovely and refreshing~
Fun fact: The game's main theme "Love Suicide" is actually about Wendy.
Another fun fact. If you use that song in a video without distorting it in some way (The version with vocals) Atlus will copy claim your video...
Happened to me 3 times. I got the video back every time, but it's kind of annoying lol.
@@TarksGauntlet great channel you have
“Fun fact”
@@TarksGauntlet have you tried Kingdom Hearts 368/2 Days?
First, I watched 3 minutes. Stopped and the I found the game. Finished it and came back to see the video. I can tell for sure, it became one of my favorite games of its kind. Thank you Ragnar for showing me another awesome game.
Now that I call dedication!
Sat through *ALL* of it. Never played Rule of Rose before, I no longer had a PS2 at the time, but I've always heard great things of this game, despite it's mechanical flaws. Loved it, amazing work as always! :D
You are a true one for picking this game to analyze. I admire that you are using your own real life experiences as well as real world examples to explain the themes in the game.
Thank you for covering this game. It touches me emotionally in ways Silent Hill never quite hit. I've had a Wendy in my life, as well as a survivor of sexual and other types of abuse. The fact that this game touches on these themes in such a respectful way helps me cope.
Rule of rose is such a beautiful game that is seriously hindered by gameplay. I couldn’t finish it because of the awful combat system but continued the story through a let’s play. It’s one of my favorite stories in a game, and it’s really so sad that it hardly ever gets a chance to shine because of what it lacks. Love the game and the video!!
I've always loved this game. However, I've just gotten out of such a possessive relationship earlier this year, so now this game is different. It's now permanently etched into my heart.
Thank you for this great video, mister :)
God damn, this makes me wanna go out and eat some bourgeoisie.
I mean burgers.
I mean rich people squeezing the windpipes and treading on the hands and faces of the working class.
I mean burgers.
@@pheenixgryphon7857 because that thing where you can get super sick by eating human meat. including mental degeneration? if i'm remembering correctly
Eat the rich
There's only one thing they're good for.
Take once bite now and come back for more.
I like the way it referenced both Marxism and Nazism. Both systems (whatever they say they stand for) that represent a few people on the top shitting on all the populace below - and in spectacular ways historically.
State your sources. How does the game show Marxist ideology in this way?
@@skittennarkotika5448 there's a clear divide between the rights of the higher and lower members of their club. Did we not watch/play the same game? This video kinda goes into it too, if you've seen that.
This game is the prime example of the application of the quote "Anybody can become angry-that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way-that is not within everybody's power and is not easy."
There's so much I'd like to say so I'll put it in numbered bullet point formatting in hopes of eradicating a fervent mess.
1. Thank you for taking the time to make this video for us. Regardless of the content the work alone in creating this is immense and skilled. Eternal appreciations to your dedication in crafting this.
2. I bought and played this as soon as it came out. While I don't have the physical copy anymore (which apparently is worth like 2 months of rent) the impact of my initial playthrough still remains strongly in me. I kept a journal logging all of the content and topics this game was touching upon. Layers and layers of things I'd be unable to dissect or understand until later in life. It was hard to progress at times due to my own inner shit. I got through it and passed it along to a pal of mine in 2007 in hopes that they'd resonate with its dark majesty. They're likely & unknowingly now two months ahead on their rent.
3. I found that journal about a month ago and relived this story in ultra detail.
4. Today I found myself here after watching your video on Pathologic 2 and lost my mind (pleasantly) that someone was as moved as I once was.
5. Thank you again for touching upon this masterpiece with such sensitivity & keen detail and for sharing it with us all.
May this gem (and it's brilliance) never be forgotten.
Just impressive. I think it's the best essay on a video game I've ever seen, heard or read in my life. It's people like you who help video games mature into the art category. My sincere congratulations and keep working so damn well.
Also, I suffered bullying in middle and high school. It wasn't until college I found a safe space. The thing is, I studied journalism and I left school halfway through because I was "recruited" by a well-known video game magazine in my country, Spain. I was working on it when we received a pre-release copy of the game from the publisher (I really don't know if the game was officially released here). The staff writer assigned to RoR was fascinated by it. I would sometimes approach his desk and look over his shoulder for a while. I didn't think it was an interesting game at the time, especially when I saw how clumsy his combat system was. How wrong I was... Also I wanna kill Wendy. Again.
i could listen to you analyze this game all daaay! brilliant job!
So when are you going to a look at Haunting Ground?
I only ask because to me Clock Tower 3, Haunting Ground, and Rule of Rose all share similar art styles, game play and themes. Hard to think of one without thinking of the others.
Haunting Ground is definitely in my closer circle of possible future topics for a *Journey Through* video.
@@RagnarRoxShow YAY!
I could never get into ct3. The panic mode, while probably representative of what they wanted it to be, always looked... Silly?
this one is one of my most favourite youtube video ever. Watched it now the 5th time fully.
So damn tragic. I wish we had more stories like this. Really exploring how destructive systems of abuse can be
i dont know why this video was in my subscription but damn i'm glad it was.
same.
Loved the video. Poor brown. I'm glad you used Jojo for kick the dog analogy. Damn it, a dog dies in each part of that show.
Hirohiko Araki is so sadistic
This MOTW was worth months of waiting, a delight to watch and listen to. This is in my opinion the best work you've done, bravo!
I played this game when I was definitely too young to even begin to understand its story. I tried later on after beating the game multiple times to look further into the game and try to piece together the story as best as I could on my own, but struggled and ultimately gave up. I was able to piece together a general understanding of the story, but not enough to say I understood exactly what the game was trying to say. But this video made the story so much clearer! I now feel like I have a more complete understanding of this game and have unlocked a new appreciation for this game that I haven't felt since I played it last. I knew I was playing something special, since the game really left a lasting impression on me when I was younger playing it, and thanks to this video I finally feel like I get it. Thank you so much for making this video it was incredibly well done!
Also, side note: did anyone else watch Cryotic's playthrough of this game several years ago? (Don't watch it, it's bad lol) but I got pretty offended watching him play this masterpiece and kinda just want to rant about it quickly lol.
(Rant about Cryotic) I was so annoyed when he started laughing at the mermaid princess. That boss is one of the most tragic and in my opinion most disturbing bosses in the game physically and contextually. So for him to laugh at it just really irritated me. Then for the final chapter, he was drunk. The final chapter is, as stated in the video, is the most pivotal moment in the game. Brown being killed, Jen snapping and beating up Wendy was one of the most incredible moments of the entire game for me. So to be altered and experience that moment kinda ruins it. No offense to anyone who drinks, it was just the lack of respect for the game that ruined the whole let's play for me. Sorry to anyone who liked him (me included) but I'm glad he's no longer on the platform because let's be honest, he was a pretty mediocre RUclipsr and now a hebephile.
By far the most in depth and extensive video I’ve seen on Rule of Rose and I watch them all. An incredible achievement! I can feel how much work went into this and I thank you for it