To the Moon
So, I played through To the Moon tonight. Spoilers lurk beyond the cut, so read at your own discretion.
Playing a game like To the Moon makes me feel like the movie is an outdated medium. I've sort of had a problem with them for a while, but I haven't really been able to pinpoint it. I suppose one issue I've had, especially with anime films, is that oftentimes it feels like they try to cram too big of an idea into too short a time. There's a pretty specific amount of content you have to put into a movie, since if it's too short people will feel like they got scammed and if it's too long people will get bored. Games, on the other hand, get the best of both worlds. They can be exactly as long as they need to be to get their point across, and you're not committed to going through the whole thing in one sitting. If you get tired of playing or something comes up, you can save and come back to it later. With a movie, you have to dedicate a 2-3 hour block of time to sit through the whole thing, whether you're actually engaged for that entire period or not. And speaking of engagement, John and River sure got married, didn't they (I'm sorry). Speaking of actual engagement, I shouldn't really need to mention how a game pretty much has you constantly engaged. Everything happens at your own pace, and if the game is doing its job then you're motivated to keep going. On the topic of pacing, though, my main gripe about To the Moon is your movement speed. During SOME (not all) outdoor scenes you can move at a reasonable speed, but most of the time you move at like a kinda realistic walking speed which is just frustrating considering how big some of the environments are. It doesn't help that the mouse controls are kinda wonky and sometimes when you click on something it just does nothing. But I digress. To the Moon's strong point is its writing, and it knocks that out of the park. Right from the beginning, it draws you in with the banter between Eva and Neil, and their light-hearted jabs at each other continue throughout the game to brighten the mood now and then. Also, going backward through John's memories is god-damn brilliant, since it allows for such compelling mysteries to be introduced. I guess...the other thing that kinda bothered me is the preparation of the mementos. Neat little puzzles, I guess, but I don't really see what purpose they were supposed to serve. Most of the time I just wanted to rush through them because I was interested to see where the story was going to go next.
I...thought I was going to have a lot of things to say about the story, but I'm kind of drawing a blank. River is a huge cutie though and I just want to cuddle her. That aside...I think they did a good job showing how difficult it would be to love someone with a disorder like that. Obviously there were extenuating circumstances that sort of caused her mental health to deteriorate, but still. It would take a lot of strength to remain dedicated to someone who doesn't really understand how to show that they care. One thing I appreciated that they brought up is the thing about parents hiding the truth from their children. To me, the whole Santa/Easter Bunny thing has never seemed like the best example to set for your kids. I mean, you can say that it's harmless and that they figure it out eventually anyway, but when it comes down to it you're deceiving your kids for your own enjoyment. The other part of that is how John's mother erased his memories of Joey. Maybe I don't have the right to say this since I don't know how John acted/felt between Joey's death and the memory wipe, but I can't condone erasing your kid's memories like that. Especially not if you're going to leave yours intact and have them affect you so strongly. Maybe I can't speak for everyone, but your memories and experiences are what make you who you are. I don't think you should just destroy them so lightly. But again, there's a lot I don't know. Maybe he wanted to get rid of them. I guess that sort of struck a nerve with me, because there was actually a time when I was younger where I had to get some sort of medical test done that was going to cause me a lot of discomfort, and my parents had the doctor give me some medicine beforehand that would make me forget what happened afterwards. They didn't tell me what it was going to do at the time, though, so a little while after the test I was just like "...I don't remember a thing that just happened." I just laugh it off and it comes up as a funny story now and then, but in a way I felt...betrayed? That seems like kind of a strong word, but it bothered me that they did that without my consent. I don't know. There's no real point in being mad at them since that's so far in the past, but I hate how parents always feel like they need to hide things from their kids. Even in To the Moon, when Eva asks the housekeeper about what she'll tell her kids when John dies, she says "Oh, I'll just make something up." Why? Why try to hide death? A common excuse is because "they won't understand", but that's a load of shit. First of all, kids aren't that dumb. Secondly, so what if they don't understand? If we were only exposed to things that we understand our whole life we'd never learn anything. They treat not understanding something like it's something terrible that should be avoided at all costs. It's the same reason they use to prevent their kids from watching sex scenes in movies. "They won't understand." And how are you proposing they learn about it? They certainly aren't learning about it at school. Or rather, they are, but it's not the the teachers that are doing the teaching. It's word of mouth and rumors from other people who "don't understand", which we all know is the best way to get reliable information.
...This is kind of getting off topic, so maybe I should wrap things up. In conclusion, To the Moon is pretty great.
Playing a game like To the Moon makes me feel like the movie is an outdated medium. I've sort of had a problem with them for a while, but I haven't really been able to pinpoint it. I suppose one issue I've had, especially with anime films, is that oftentimes it feels like they try to cram too big of an idea into too short a time. There's a pretty specific amount of content you have to put into a movie, since if it's too short people will feel like they got scammed and if it's too long people will get bored. Games, on the other hand, get the best of both worlds. They can be exactly as long as they need to be to get their point across, and you're not committed to going through the whole thing in one sitting. If you get tired of playing or something comes up, you can save and come back to it later. With a movie, you have to dedicate a 2-3 hour block of time to sit through the whole thing, whether you're actually engaged for that entire period or not. And speaking of engagement, John and River sure got married, didn't they (I'm sorry). Speaking of actual engagement, I shouldn't really need to mention how a game pretty much has you constantly engaged. Everything happens at your own pace, and if the game is doing its job then you're motivated to keep going. On the topic of pacing, though, my main gripe about To the Moon is your movement speed. During SOME (not all) outdoor scenes you can move at a reasonable speed, but most of the time you move at like a kinda realistic walking speed which is just frustrating considering how big some of the environments are. It doesn't help that the mouse controls are kinda wonky and sometimes when you click on something it just does nothing. But I digress. To the Moon's strong point is its writing, and it knocks that out of the park. Right from the beginning, it draws you in with the banter between Eva and Neil, and their light-hearted jabs at each other continue throughout the game to brighten the mood now and then. Also, going backward through John's memories is god-damn brilliant, since it allows for such compelling mysteries to be introduced. I guess...the other thing that kinda bothered me is the preparation of the mementos. Neat little puzzles, I guess, but I don't really see what purpose they were supposed to serve. Most of the time I just wanted to rush through them because I was interested to see where the story was going to go next.
I...thought I was going to have a lot of things to say about the story, but I'm kind of drawing a blank. River is a huge cutie though and I just want to cuddle her. That aside...I think they did a good job showing how difficult it would be to love someone with a disorder like that. Obviously there were extenuating circumstances that sort of caused her mental health to deteriorate, but still. It would take a lot of strength to remain dedicated to someone who doesn't really understand how to show that they care. One thing I appreciated that they brought up is the thing about parents hiding the truth from their children. To me, the whole Santa/Easter Bunny thing has never seemed like the best example to set for your kids. I mean, you can say that it's harmless and that they figure it out eventually anyway, but when it comes down to it you're deceiving your kids for your own enjoyment. The other part of that is how John's mother erased his memories of Joey. Maybe I don't have the right to say this since I don't know how John acted/felt between Joey's death and the memory wipe, but I can't condone erasing your kid's memories like that. Especially not if you're going to leave yours intact and have them affect you so strongly. Maybe I can't speak for everyone, but your memories and experiences are what make you who you are. I don't think you should just destroy them so lightly. But again, there's a lot I don't know. Maybe he wanted to get rid of them. I guess that sort of struck a nerve with me, because there was actually a time when I was younger where I had to get some sort of medical test done that was going to cause me a lot of discomfort, and my parents had the doctor give me some medicine beforehand that would make me forget what happened afterwards. They didn't tell me what it was going to do at the time, though, so a little while after the test I was just like "...I don't remember a thing that just happened." I just laugh it off and it comes up as a funny story now and then, but in a way I felt...betrayed? That seems like kind of a strong word, but it bothered me that they did that without my consent. I don't know. There's no real point in being mad at them since that's so far in the past, but I hate how parents always feel like they need to hide things from their kids. Even in To the Moon, when Eva asks the housekeeper about what she'll tell her kids when John dies, she says "Oh, I'll just make something up." Why? Why try to hide death? A common excuse is because "they won't understand", but that's a load of shit. First of all, kids aren't that dumb. Secondly, so what if they don't understand? If we were only exposed to things that we understand our whole life we'd never learn anything. They treat not understanding something like it's something terrible that should be avoided at all costs. It's the same reason they use to prevent their kids from watching sex scenes in movies. "They won't understand." And how are you proposing they learn about it? They certainly aren't learning about it at school. Or rather, they are, but it's not the the teachers that are doing the teaching. It's word of mouth and rumors from other people who "don't understand", which we all know is the best way to get reliable information.
...This is kind of getting off topic, so maybe I should wrap things up. In conclusion, To the Moon is pretty great.