AAAAAAAAAA OMG IM JUST SEEING THIS AFTER GOING THROUGH MY EMAIL??!?!?!? CHAPTER 2 LETS GO IM SO EATING THIS UP THANK YOU AXLELISM 🙏🙏
ive been taking my sweet time and so far only took 1 route (ASSUMINGLY.), "jacob's" route
honestly i dont even have the words to describe how happy this chapter made me. the references and possible symbolism (or maybe im really just making it up in my head), jacob and naiko's dynamic, everything. for example (i havent seen chapter 1 for over a year so i might just be wrong about this reference thing) but as far as i remember, naiko's room is, simplified, a room to guide "children of the dust" in a way. kind of like rehab considering how "jacob"'s route turned out
so in a way, you would see naiko as an entity that wants to help "children of the dust" (i cant explain this all that well, kind of like... children that were misguided; whether its addiction(a recurring theme) or not)
at the same time, jacob views naiko as the complete opposite. (which is also kind of a given with how they treat him. (strangling, threats, inducing him with nic as a way to make him more docile.. the wound on the forearm might be their doing too? or did he harm himself somehow? unsure of that)) even going as far as suggesting he and lucy should abandon naiko altogether and get out on their own, saying naiko only wants to kill lucy (which is weird how he managed to survive 11 years in the room that way (he also isnt considered a child of the dust so perhaps its different? they say hes still useful in some odd way, possible reason as to why he survived so long if hes right))
so in ANOTHER way, you could envision jacob as "addiction" itself. lucy finally felt at peace around him and it kept her coming back; just like addiction, it keeps you hooked as long as you experience those small moments of bliss, even after seeing how small those moments really are. taking you back to the state you were in before, just worse. this claim becomes even more ironic once you realize that to even reach jacob, you have to OD (take 3 instead of 2) ... which was the initial detail i noticed before i wrote 4 different paragraphs leading up to it (including this one?)
my thoughts are honestly kind of scattered right now and i cant form a proper analysis of the chapter as a whole, BUT GOD it was so good. i loved the small references, will probably replay again after doing the other route to see if the books have anything special foreshadowing or not because it was honestly a part of the routine i overlooked (which makes me realize that its weird youd add them if there really was nothing special about them)
there was also the bonus room which was a nice relief after the chapter, though the only reason i really am mentioning it is cause of the classmate dvd. honestly another cool thing, the game closed while lucy was describing something about ashley being ganged up on, something along the lines of her not wanting to stand out amongst everyone else making fun of ashley "so... i..." (something like that?) kinda scared me at first, thought my laptop was about to crash again. neat little thing looking back at chapter 1 when ashley died . despite the death being caused by ashley, you could probably continue lucy's words with "killed her". maybe thats just her belief? i dunno!
all in all, this chapter was amazing. i do wonder in chapter 3 whats gonna happen with/to "jacob". im curious if naiko would really allow him to get so far that lucy actually sides with him and gets rid of naiko or if both routes lead to naiko winning lucy over (whether in "jacob"'s they get rid of him sooner or not) (i also say both routes winning lucy over, but i still have only played one route... so who's to say taking 2 pills actually leads to naiko) (kidding that wouldnt make sense)
keep cooking axlelism, me, my symbolism delusions and the other 2.5 people reading the devlogs will be embracing chapter 3 just as hard as jacob did the first time he and lucy met in the garden