Rule of Rose: The Survival Horror that Lost to Plagiarism

when people talk about the more obscure survival horror gems on the PS2 there's a lot of names that always get a mention siren for its anxiety inducing gameplay Haunting Ground for its Dark Yet relevant storytelling Kuan for its beautiful design and setting but there's one game in particular that has a reputation that precedes it a game that is faster recognized for the controversy that surrounded it more than it's recognized for its Story characters or gameplay that game is Rule of roles rule of rules began development in the early 2000s when Sony Japan wanted to create a horror title that had a strong focus on psychological storytelling they entrusted the studio punchline to develop this game which was quite a risky move considering they had only released one other game up until that point the 2002 adventure game tulip where the central mechanic involves kissing people yeah quite the Far Cry from horror I'd say or maybe it's equally as horrifying I guess it depends on your perspective the team tossed a few ideas to Sony all drawing inspiration from the dark and often cruel storytelling you'd see from the the likes of Brothers Grim fairy tales and in a similar Fashion To Grim fairy tales punchline wanted the cast to be made up almost entirely of children which may sound like a bold move and that's because it was but the developers had strong faith in their artistic choice and what it could bring to the table we wanted to depict the darker side of children not really dark per se but if you really think about kids they aren't really afraid of the same things that adults are and often aren't aware of the consequences something that may seem benign to them may seem wrong or frightening to adults but it's really just a form of Innocence we sort of wanted to show not only how scary adults can be from a child's perspective because that's been touched on many times but also how scary children can be from an adult's perspective we want to see that contrast unfortunately rule of rules was doomed before it even hit store shelves as an Italian article was released in late 2006 damning the game for its violent shocking scenes scenes that aren't even in the game it didn't take long for this article to do the rounds across Europe and would you believe me if I'd told you rule of rules even became the Hot Topic in the European Parliament seriously the moral Panic that erupted because of this game is insane all built on complete lies there's a lot more to unpack with this controversy as you can imagine and we'll look at it more in depth later but despite all of this bad press rule of rules has since garnered a very strong cult following ask anyone who's into Retro survival horror and Rule of rules is often said to be one of those hidden gems a rough around the edges Masterpiece I mean I've even seen it described as a great example of video games as an art form I guess the only way to find out whether or not that's true is to jump in and see for ourselves so let's give rule of rules the world to see if it lives up to that name the game opens up on a CGI intro where we see our protagonist Jennifer sitting in a park she notices two kids playing nearby just as an Airship ominously looms overhead it then suddenly jumps around to us seeing Jennifer falling into a coffin and then there's also a massive fish in the sky and honestly this opening makes a little to no sense when you have no context of the story but either way it is very pretty all of the CGI cutscenes in this were made by shirogumi and animation studio that has since gone on to make adaptions of ips like Doraemon and Dragon Quest quite the tonal shift from rule of rules I would say but seriously they are such a treat to look at and still look great even now they were definitely making the most of the PS2 Hardware to pull off these visuals when we start the game we see Jennifer dozing off in a bus ride before she's approached by a young boy he asks her to continue reading a story to him but when she opens the book it's blank the boy runs off the bus suddenly and into the nearby Forest but when Jennifer tries to stop him she soon finds herself stranded with nowhere to go she decides to follow the path into the forest eventually coming across a seemingly abandoned building Jennifer isn't able to find that young boy but she did instead find a coffin with a small bag in it without getting much chance to investigate Jennifer's approach by a group of young girls who push her into the coffin and carry her away and definitely quite an ominous opening that leaves more questions than it does answers when Jennifer comes too she finds herself on an Airship where a voice speaks to her telling her that she must now give the so-called Aristocrat Club a gift every month or else they'll kill her you will follow my orders or else [Laughter] this is your but your play by my rules hahaha with seemingly no other choice in the matter Jennifer begins to look around for her first monthly gift a beautiful butterfly this is when we're given a chance to look around a little bit and get our bearings much like its contemporary Haunting Ground rule of rules opts for a semi-fixed camera angle style of gameplay but it does tend to switch things up a little bit now and then sometimes the camera will follow along behind Jennifer and other times it's a little bit more static pivoting on the spot to follow Jennifer's movements instead after all this was in that weird transitional era where survival Horrors were gradually moving away from the more Antiquated fixed camera angles in favor of more Dynamic camera movement and it definitely makes sense in a game like this the Airship is full of very tight corridors and narrow hallways so much so that I think fixed camera angles would have just been way too cramped as we explore the Airship we come across the members of the Aristocrat club and soon discover that there's a social rank amongst its members there's Diana who seems to be the leader of sorts there's Eleanor her second in command as well as Meg and all three of these girls are in the refined classes as they call it while Amanda I know Jennifer herself are in the lower class it seems that Jennifer will have to race through the ranks if she's to be taken seriously by the other girls and until then she is snubbed by them often leaving her as the butt of jokes or the victim of cruel pranks as such each chapter of the game takes place over the course of a month usually revolving around finding the monthly gift for the aristocrats and getting glimpses into the girls in their relationships navigating the Airship looking for gifts is mostly manageable there's only a handful of major areas in it to begin with so you can't ever really get too terribly lost I would say a lot of the areas can begin to look quite samey especially the turbine area and its connecting hallways I don't know how but I just could not find my way in this area there is a map but it's honestly a lot to take in a first gun so I wasn't very inclined to look at it much it's just a jumble of lines to me honestly do get used to looking at this animation though and there is a lot of doors around every corner and you'll be seeing this a lot yeah if you have to backtrack or find yourself getting lost it's a little bit tiring with all these door animations every few seconds especially in one of the later chapters where you have to go all the way from one end to the ship to the other and then back again I genuinely think half of my play time in that chapter was just spent watching Jennifer open doors anyway after looking around for a bit Jennifer eventually finds a poor dog that's been bound and tied up in the turbine area this is brown our companion for the rest of the game you can definitely see why this game gets compared to Haunting Ground a lot they do share a lot of similarities but I would argue Brown plays a much more Central role here in Haunting Ground Huey was mainly there to defend you and help out with the occasional puzzle but in rule of rules Brown is more or less your only means of progressing the story mainly because of the find mechanic Brown can use the scent of an item to track it down which is something you have to rely on heavily to look for key and health items for example while searching for the Aristocrat club's monthly gift we find an insect case in one of the bedrooms setting it as our find objective and commanding Brown to then search for it he'll eventually lead us to one of the neighboring hallways and voila there's our butterfly you can also command Brown to stay and follow you as necessary which is a mechanic you really only need for enemy encounters to avoid in taking any unnecessary damage there's not much need for it outside of that I found you can take damage but I'm pretty sure he can't die I mean it never happened to me if so instead he'll faint and you'll have to use a healing item to wake him up between healing items weapons and key items there are a lot of things to find as you explore there is an item box in the form of this little rubbish bin and using it you can store and swap out items as you please you can even send items from your inventory directly to the item box regardless of where you are on the Airship which is a godsend because your inventory is going to get filled up really quickly a good few story beats are told through letters or hand-drawn story books but every time you get one it takes up a slot in your inventory so you could go to pick up a new item and it's like oh okay my inventory is full oh yeah because I have like four pieces of paper in there I don't see why they couldn't have gone down the Resident Evil or Silent Hill route where notes or letters are just stored in your files instead of taking up a whole inventory slot just feels like a little bit of a clumsy system to be honest but at least there is an easy solution and this is what the majority of rule of roses progression comes down to having Brown sniff out a key item or having him just lead you to the next point of interest it's definitely very light on puzzles I mean I don't think there's any puzzles at all really at least not in the traditional sense that you'd expect from a survival horror I could see this being off-putting to some people for sure but rule of rules places great importance on its storytelling and atmosphere over the gameplay the developers themselves even described it as more of an interactive movie than a game with the focus being on unraveling The Mystery of the Aristocrat club and why Jennifer was dragged into it and I was hooked on this narrative the admittedly very simple gameplay Loop didn't bother me I was far too invested in learning more about the girls in their relationships to let it bother me this is all enhanced by The Game's overall visual design so much effort has been put into it to give it a very Whimsical almost childlike aesthetic the narration for example is written in a way that makes it feel like a fairy tale Jennifer always being referred to as the poor unlucky girl while all the aristocrats have their own titles the strong-willed princess the wise looking princess the cold princess and so on the save point is a scarecrow that looks like he was hastily thrown together by a child and each chapter starts off with a hand-drawn storybook with these cute little drawings so much care has been put into making the narrative and overall visual Direction look like it jumped straight out of a kid's storybook which is 10 times more effective when contrasted with how dark the story gets and the music oh my God the music the music makes me feel so many good emotions it is so beautiful the soundtrack is almost entirely classical music with loads of strings and pianos and it is just wonderful it really fits the 1930s setting of the game not to mention how much it helps us stand out from the crowd I mean how many games can you think of with an entirely classical soundtrack my favorite has to be the more ambient tracks they have such a somber melancholic sound to them that just really complements the tone of rule of rules well I feel anyone who's a fan of the works of Joe hisai she aka the guy who composed the majority of Studio ghibli's films will have a lot of love for the soundtrack here there's a lot of great examples to pick from but my favorite had to be this track called The Attic one you'll hear quite a bit throughout the game and personally I was very okay with that [Music] foreign [Music] who previously worked on a lot of Sega games like Skies of Arcadia Panzer Dragoon and even some of my personal favorites like Space Channel 5 and Sonic it's kind of insane though to think that the same guy who went on to compose rule of rules previously worked on games like this but when rule of rules is flawed it's flawed if you've played this before you already know what I'm talking about the combat yeah as you probably would have guessed by now this game does indeed have combat and oh boy where to start with this one I've played many a survival horror with clunky controls I am well used to them by now and I like to think I'm a fairly patient person but oh my God I'm sorry but this is possibly the worst combat I've ever played in a survival horror and I've played Silent Hill you eventually encounter these small imp creatures which serve as basically the only enemy in rule of rules there are some variations some imps carry a weapon or have different attack patterns but for the most part you deal with all of them in much the same fashion Dodge their attack going for a swing rinse and repeat standard retro horror fair right but the combat system likes to make that as difficult for you as possible for one Jennifer runs very slowly as you probably noticed by now and that's fine during exploration none of the areas are that big so her running speed suits the environment she's in but in combat it's a totally different story a lot of the enemies are simply too fast for Jennifer often swiping or jumping on her before you get much opportunity to react this wouldn't be so much of an issue perhaps if most encounters were just one-on-one if there's only one enemy in front of you great the combats were off but you eventually get into the swing of it and you make do with what you have anytime there's more than one enemy though you're done you will suffer you will objectively have a bad time if dodging one bad guy takes careful bobbing and weaving just to not get hit try dealing with four or five of them at once and an already Dreadful battle system just crumbles even further Jennifer's attacks much like her movement are far too sluggish to keep up with a horde of enemies so for every hit you might land you're probably going to take a hit in return to make matters worse when you want to move her away from an enemy she does this curved motion for lack of a better word it's not an instant Dash away and that's also probably going to land you some unfair hit by the time you notice the enemy going in for the kill Jennifer won't be fast enough to get away then if she's hit on the ground she takes like five seconds just to get up and if an enemy was already swinging by the time you stand up that up you're on the ground again oh my God this this sucks and to rub salt on the wound if Jennifer takes too many hits she starts limping so slowly like you may as well just reload your save and try again because if she wasn't already slow enough then limping as slowly as this is just the fast track to dying Jennifer is also able to stomp enemies if they're on the floor but I don't think this does anything at all I was constantly trying to get an extra hidden but there's just no reaction like is this doing anything thankfully most encounters can be skipped and I would highly recommend doing so if you don't have to fight don't bother but there's a lot of force encounters where you just can't avoid the combat system and oh not it can completely kill any immersion or enjoyment you might feeling dude there's one chapter about halfway through that was really pissing me off you have to go through this maze-like area but there's like four forced encounters back to back along the way in these cramped little spaces if I had to deal with this rough combat system at least give me a little more room to work with or the section here where you're just going down this Narrow Path and it just throws like 20 of them at you like who thought this was fair I just keep taking hits and then oh great all of my health is gone now and this is right before boss fight 2 like come on this is cruel but probably the worst issue with rule of roses combat are the hitboxes they are insane seriously the hitboxes are abysmal here and you will suffer many unfair hits and deaths because of them the first time you'll probably notice it is in the first boss fight not too long into the game this guy just swings like mad and you really need to make some distance or he'll probably hate you I mean what was that I was nowhere near him and he hits hard too you really need to go into these boss fights with a lot of healing or you're honestly screwed it doesn't help that enemies have very weird iframe sometimes where you could just swing but they just won't take damage but unfortunately you don't get that same luxury in return so it just feels like a severely unbalanced system that works against you every step of the way but the second boss fight is even worse the infamous mermaid boss this is just so needlessly drawn out man she retracts up to the ceiling every few seconds so most of the fight is just spent sitting there twiddling your thumbs waiting for her to come down so you can maybe Land one hit two if you're lucky and then rinse and repeat for the next five minutes don't even get me started on her green goop move get stuck in that and you're just in an infinite Loop of taking insane damage get used to hearing this for five minutes straight by the way [Music] if you do choose to play this game and suffer through the combat I highly recommend getting the steel pipe early on and never letting go of it its range is a godsend and the Damage isn't the best but it works a lot of the shorter range weapons like Knight are just way too risky with the janky hitboxes the steel pipe is your friend because you'll probably be surprised to find there are no guns of any sort here well that's a lie you can get a revolver way later on but it sucks and there's like no bullets for it so you know that's that yeah the combat is just severely undercooked and feels very much like an afterthought and it's a crying shame because the atmosphere Story music are all so fascinating and well crafted it's a shame it has to be locked behind such poorly developed combat that'll just leave you tearing your hair out but trust me when I say that the story and how it unfolds is so worth it if you have the patience to power through on that note let's discuss the plot of roller rolls so you know the drill spoilers and coming you've been warned blah blah blah skip ahead to here if you don't want to hear anything about it things are going to get a little heavy from here on out by the way the story is definitely pretty dark so do be aware of that going in alright let's go as the months go by Jennifer eventually wins the favor of the aristocrats much to Amanda's disdain Jennifer isn't really that much better off though as the aristocrats still treat her like dirt all the same a man named Gregory is often seen wandering around the Airship and keeps calling Jennifer Joshua instead for some reason he even kidnaps her at one point holding her hostage in his house until Wendy one of the girls on the Airship comes to save us we never really spoke to Wendy all that much up until now because of her illness she's often confined to the Sick Bay but she grows very fond of Jennifer even saying that she'll cherish her teddy bear as much as she cherishes her Jennifer wakes up one day in the same building we saw at the very beginning of the game we wander around to see all the girls doing chores none of them acknowledging Jennifer after a while Brown suddenly disappears following his cries up to the attic we see the aristocrats waiting for Jennifer where they reveal that they've killed Brown and this is the scene that flips everything we thought about rule of rules up until now on its head [Music] it's too late now [Music] [Laughter] [Music] my friend give me back my friends lie don't wait just go away never forgive you not ever [Music] nothing we experience until now was really happening well more specifically they were all Jennifer's traumatic memories from her childhood being kidnapped by Gregory the red crayon Aristocrats and their awful bullying her relationship with Wendy Brown's death all of these were repressed memories that Jennifer is now coming to terms with as an adult when Jennifer was young she was on an Airship with her parents but a crash landed leaving her as the only Survivor before she could be saved she was kidnapped by Gregory a grieving man who had lost his son Joshua to an illness so after finding Jennifer he began to raise her almost as a replacement son to cope from the loss one day Wendy saved her from Gregory's house bringing her to the nearby orphanage the building we found ourselves in at multiple points throughout the story Wendy eventually developed feelings for Jennifer and the two girls made a promise to each other Everlasting true love I am yours but finding brown one day is a puppy all of Jennifer's attention went to him instead so much so that Wendy began to feel jealous especially since she was a sickly child and spent many of her days in the sick Ward that loneliness began to Fester eventually turning into resentment towards Brown for stealing Jennifer away from her all of the other girls joined in on the bullying as well but to no avail so Wendy decided her only solution was to kill Brown to get him out of the picture and win back Jennifer's affections so then how did this dark story end after this Wendy realized she was fighting a losing battle and went to Gregory's house dressed as his son emotionally manipulating him into coming to the orphanage with her to scare the other girls into submission but Gregory being severely mentally unstable killed everyone at the orphanage instead everyone except Jennifer perhaps because he still Associated her with his deceased son and so realizing the severity of what he'd done Gregory ended his own life the last chapter lets us play as a young Jennifer at last finally having come to terms with her past as she recalls a happy day at the orphanage before the massacre the day when she found Brown as a puppy she builds a bucket Prince next to Brown the Scarecrow we had been using as a save point throughout the game as if to symbolize that she'll never forget him and writes the same promise she once made to Wendy underneath this time for brown Everlasting true love I am yours foreign [Applause] [Music] [Music] it's been a long time since the story hit me as hard as rule of rules did it's a dark cautionary tale about how love while a pure emotion at its core confessed her into something dark and destructive it's definitely a game though that you need to experience twice to appreciate everything about it knowing the ending and how it re-contextualizes the story so many things that seem nonsensical or absurd in your first playthrough suddenly make a lot more sense the Airship setting because it's where Jennifer lost her parents Gregory constantly calling her Joshua after his late son and then visions of Wendy dressed up as Joshua throughout the game they're all Jennifer's jumbled up memories from her childhood that she's slowly unraveling and coming to terms with in adulthood and you have to remember that throughout the game you were re-experiencing the memories of a young child you were seeing her through the lens of a young Jennifer and so a lot of her memories are clear probably because she didn't understand what was happening at the time and Rule of rules uses this child alike lens to masterfully tell its dark story Wendy was a lonely child who grew fond of Jennifer because she was the first and only person to give her attention and love Wendy's fondness for her became obsessive her desperation leading to her killing and animal just to have her way I really like that we barely ever see Wendy during the majority of the story mirroring how Jennifer ignored her as a child much like how Jennifer neglected Wendy you the player also neglected her without even realizing and yet despite the very evil thing Wendy did in killing Brown there's something deeply sympathetic about her as a character children don't have the foresight and awareness that adults or teenagers do they don't realize the severity of their actions often because they're still innocent to the world and how it works as an adult we can confidently say that dressing up as someone's deceased child is a disgustingly evil and manipulative thing to do but for Wendy it was a cry for help a desperate means to an end for people to pay attention to her even in her final moments she's aware that what she did was wrong but unfortunately it's too late the damage is done and everyone including herself lost their lives because of it listening back in the game's main theme very aptly called a love suicide the lyrics very clearly reflect Wendy's conflicted emotions towards Jennifer I want to be dead [Music] like to shame you I would like to blame you [Music] just be cold of my love to you [Music] and in the Final Chapter when Jennifer reflects on her childhood she gently kisses Wendy on the forehead and closes the gate behind her as if to imply Jennifer in adulthood Harbor's no ill feelings towards Wendy anymore she's finally found closure and come to terms with her past Wendy now nothing more than a memory Amanda is another character who depicts a very particular childhood experience before Jennifer showed up Amanda was always the one who got pushed around by the aristocrats she was the small fry of the group and so when someone joins her in the lower class and is finally on her level she seems to get joy in having someone she can push around she was finally given the slightest bit of power over someone else and she's running with it enjoying being able to torture Jennifer but when Jennifer ends up being favored by the aristocrats Amanda starts to hate her she becomes resentful towards Jennifer because she's gotten what Amanda seemingly can't the approval and social acceptance of the other girls her hatred of Jennifer even goes so far that she creates a life-size punching bag of her which just shows how she spirals mentally throughout the events of the game to the point of being severely mentally unhinged thank you fine really I'm not upset at all oh Jennifer you know what I've got something special look isn't he cute yeah it's yours give it to a gift and you'll be Miss popular again and while that is a problem in and of itself it comes from a very understandable place she just wants to be accepted she just wants to not be bullied for once but again being a child she doesn't know how to articulate that in a healthy way so it turns into a concerning violent jealousy instead you know the way the girls treat each other in this game really hit close to home for me and it made me recall some of my own childhood memories I know everyone went through this to some degree or another but I went to an all-girls school and so I can personally attest to how realistic the aristocrats behavior is and you know not to generalize an entire gender of course I'm sure boys can act in this very same way but girls can get very when they want to be the power dynamic between the likes of Diana and Meg and how they think they can treat you differently because you're lower than them is painfully relatable which made some of the scenes feel a little too real you know you're just the opposite I hate you and I hate you and you you and I hang myself the very most for playing your stupid games and not having the strength to stand up to you man just I wish I could have said that back then you know and Jennifer struggled to stand up for herself and her shame looking back in it as an adult is an insanely relatable thing which makes the writing here so much more powerful it's interesting then how they contrast the girl's Behavior with the boys because you never even really see the boys throughout the game at best you see them playing with sticks and messing around but they're never involved in the bullying and the strange hierarchy that the aristocrats have made for themselves it's interesting apparently this was an intentional choice on the devs part because they believed girls tend to bully in a more psychological way while boys typically bully in a more physical way which is something I would generally agree on from how I remember childhood of all the scenes showcasing that social hierarchy though the one that stuck out my mind the most funnily enough was this one Eleanor who's amongst the upper class alongside Diana and Meg finds that her pet bird has gone missing while Jennifer is helping search for it she to hear someone coming so hides in one of the bathroom stalls Diana and Meg come in and start gossiping unaware that Jennifer is in the stall right next to them revealing that they were the ones who took the bird as a prank on Eleanor even though they are apparently friends with her at least they act like that to her face it's funny that out of all the scenes of bullying in this game this is the one that impacted me the most not the scenes of animal cruelty or Amanda's violent tendencies but just two girls being two-faced to one of their friends and feeling justified in doing so just because Eleanor is a quiet reserved character she's more of a close book and because of that even she's not safe from being bullied despite being in the same social rank as them she's bullied just because she's different an experience I think a lot of us can probably relate to his kids yes she deserved it are we too cruel snow you're right it's her own fault [Music] as stoic as Eleanor is though she barely reacts to the news that her bird was killed continuing to carry around the empty bird cage for the rest of the game maybe she carries it around to keep the bird in her thoughts or just finds comfort in feeling like it's still with her regardless of her reasoning even if she may not show it on the outside they hurt Eleanor and Show No Remorse for doing so but that's just how bullies work right there's a reason bullying is so bad when you're a kid because kids lack the mental maturity to understand the lasting impact it can have on someone I can bet you that you probably remember something nasty someone said or did to as a kid because it is traumatic especially in your formative years when you're probably lacking in self-confidence and words hurt all the more because of it children need a parent to guide them they need someone to watch over them and teach them when to say please and thank you when an action is right or wrong they need to be taught morality being orphans the girls at the Aristocrat Club don't have that and so rule of roles is a harrowing exploration of the chaos that can happen when such Behavior goes unchecked now in saying that there are technically parental figures in their lives mainly Hoffman the Headmaster but here is where we find a rather upsetting subplot and another strong example of how rule of rules uses that childlike lens I described earlier to subtly tell a very solemn story more specifically Hoffman's relationship with one of the older girls at the orphanage Clara who we barely ever encounter through of the story in fact we never see Clara interact with anyone ever really besides Hoffman she does get a bit of attention though about halfway through the game during the mermaid princess chapter the girls are disagreeing over whether or not mermaids exist so Diana and Jennifer end up searching for one together as we explore we see Hoffman and Clara eventually going to a bedroom alone together and considering we also see him getting a little too friendly with Diana in that same chapter yeah you can probably guess what's going on here Clara is very guarded anytime we interact with her outside of this chapter the last time we see her she's cleaning the Sick Bay Area and when Hoffman calls for her she visibly tenses up but of course Jennifer wouldn't have been able to understand what was going on here at such a young age it's not even very really clear whether or not she dies in the ending considering she was in her late teens she may very well have already been gone by the time Wendy brought Gregory to the orphanage one thing we do know however is Hoffman left the orphanage very Suddenly at one point with no clear reason why perhaps this is implying people eventually grew suspicious of his behavior but either way we unfortunately never know the ending to Clara's story The Mermaid boss fight as awful as it is from a gameplay perspective is very symbolic of Clara's experiences even during the fight the mermaid is constantly whimpering and crying and its bound feet could be a representation of Clara feeling trapped in her situation with Hoffman it does seem that Clara was meant to have more screen time or at the very least a bit more character development there's quite a few voice signs that were never used in the final game and I do recommend checking them out if you're interested but be warned they can be heard to listen to how can I I get get out what do I do but I I don't want to go out so but I don't want to stay in here either I help me alone alone Clara historian rule of rules instantly reminded me of Angela from Silent Hill 2. both are a master class in telling a sensitive troubling story in an artistic way there are great examples of less is more storytelling and a testament to the fact that you don't need to show violence or upsetting imagery to shock the player as many horror games tend to rely on it's the fact we don't see it and their stories are merely employed through words or actions that make it all the more effective and you might be wondering as well why does Clara end up becoming a boss fight then it's not like Clara was evil or anything perhaps the boss fight itself is meant to be symbolic of Jennifer coming to terms with what she witnessed as a child looking back in it in hindsight as an adult she struggles to come to terms with the knowledge that Clara was silently suffering and Jennifer did nothing about it and this isn't Jennifer's fault of course but she likely feels guilt all the same following this train of thought I believe the imps exist for a similar reason my gripes with the combat system aside I feel the enemies are a representation of the small part of Jennifer's mind that may still be unwilling to accept the truth their childlike appearance and the way they cling to her almost as if they're trying to physically stop her from delving deeper into her own past feels like a very intentional design choice to me the entirety of real roles after all is just a deep dive into Jennifer's psyche and given the dark nature of her childhood a bit of mental resistance is natural it's only human the last time we ever see the impsas at the orphanage right before Jennifer learns about Brown's death they call out the windows as if desperately trying to stop her from learning the truth a truth that will be undoubtedly hard to hear rule of rules is the perfect example of a flawed Masterpiece in my opinion the story the characters the visual design and music are all Second To None and it easily stands amongst the PS2 survival horror greats like Resident Evil Silent Hill and Haunting Ground but it's let down by an awful combat system and tedious progression it's a shame that so many people who play this will probably get too frustrated before they get to experience its story especially when the combat easily its most glaring flaw doesn't even really feel like it needs to be there to begin with in that sense rule of rules strikes me as a game that came out a few years too early the heavy emphasis on narration and storytelling makes me feel like it would have fit really well into the walking Sim genre in the Modern Age think a game like Dear Esther or gone home I know I am gonna get some heat for that in the comments but the combat just didn't need to exist in rule of roles and ended up being its greatest Vice if you're willing to push through regardless go for it hell even watch a let's play or stream of it whatever route you decide to go for rule of Rose is one of the most meticulously crafted deeply moving stories in the video game medium and shouldn't be missed just because of its flawed gameplay so remember how I mentioned at the beginning of the video that rule of rules was subject to a lot of controversy back in 2006 particularly in Europe let's talk about it a little bit because oh my God it is quite the roller coaster it all started when a magazine published a very harsh piece about the game so let's use that as a starting point on November 13th 2006 Panorama and Italian news magazine released an article with the damning headline he who buries the girl alive wins the article is very long-winded though but let's just talk through some of the important parts so I can illustrate to you just how misinformed it really is a child is buried alive after physical and psychosexual torture of all kinds her tormentors other children very very nasty ones that's the plot of an upcoming horror title but it's only the latest in a series based on violence and sadism so already there's a mistake here Jennifer isn't a child she is 19. nothing psychosexual happens whatsoever to her during the story and she is definitely never buried alive at any point they're clearly referring to the opening cutscene when she falls into the coffin but that's metaphorical if anything that never actually physically happens to her at all you know if they played real rules they know that every shot oozes perversion the Shah shots of the little girl in the coffin for example are shot from the side of her feet with the camera deliberately lingering on Jennifer's still immature form with a little skirt that just can't stay in place I don't know about you but this seems like a fairly tame outfit to me and again she's not a child she's 19. the author also has a very strange problem with homosexuality what's new where they say every scene is pervaded by homosexual and sadistic undertones that you're not prepared for later saying in another situation two young girls hold their hands and tell each other soft like princess I saved you now kiss me editor's note and not on the cheek and then says one of the girls lifts her skirt in front of the others it's a it's a curtsy they're curtsying this is the 1930s here oh my god um the author then goes on a ramble that was very typical back in the 2000s saying games like Grand Theft Auto Mafia and Bully all apparently glorify violence murder or just general anti-social Behavior saying that games like rule of rules tantalize the ogre that might reside in those hauling the joypads you hear that guys for ogres now apparently anyway it is clear as day that this article is just trying its best to villainize rule of roles and what makes it all the worse is that it was actually plagiarized Chris Daryl aka the creator of the remothered franchise whose games we actually just covered in the last video published an online review of rule of rules on March 28 2006 eight months before panorama's article so let's look at some of the alleged examples of plagiarism here in his Original Italian review of rule of rules which Chris very kindly linked me for the video he specifically describes the Hoffman boss fight as the terrifying teacher who finds himself Bound by ropes in the Airship Hangar with a brain now devoid of cells and neurons this exact same line exists in the Panorama article down to the letter they only dropped the word airship in their version similarly with the description of the final boss fight against Gregory in Chris's article he is described as the farmer slave who chases and attacks Jennifer at the girl's behest whereas in the Panorama article it is very slightly altered to the slave big fat and panting who chases and attacks Jennifer at the behest of the aristocrats Chris ends the review with a very poetic analogy comparing Jennifer's experiences in the game 2 claiming a rose with the Thorns thick and sharp and this entire analogy and paragraph is paraphrased in the Panorama article as well with only a few alterations to the sentence structure and wording this plagiarization was quickly noticed by those who had read Chris's review and many comments were left on the uploaded version of panorama's article but these were all apparently deleted Chris's editors in Chief contacted the magazine for an explanation regarding the plagiarization or at least some kind of apology but there was never any response Panorama removed the article from their website shortly after that but even so big names in the Italian gaming scenes such as Mateo betanti a writer and Scholar from Milan who specializes in video games were all coming forward asking Panorama for an explanation and also why they kept insisting the game was for children when rule of rules had already been raided as a Peggy 16 title but it seems no explanation was ever given the Scandal even spread to other countries with the Czech publication level magazine documenting panorama's actions even going so far as to say that the only thing that has been buried alive is panorama's professional Integrity ouch Chris was only a teenager at the time of the plagiarization and remembers how the situation made him feel like a victim saying that now he would absolutely have no qualms about contacting a lawyer but thankfully he's able to take the positive from the situation as well having gone on to say at least there's something I am quite happy about a professional journalist for an important magazine such as Panorama ended up copying a teenager's review on a forum it probably meant I did good work regardless of the drama Chris said this review actually helped him kick start his career in the video game business as a reviewer and analyst before eventually becoming a developer now with his own Studio little sewing machine but unfortunately thanks to its shocking content and scaremongering this article did the rounds across the majority of Europe back in 2006. reactions were overwhelmingly negative towards rule of rules including the Italian president of the committee for childhood Anna Serafini questioning how such a game could have made it into the market at all while also admitting in the same breath that she doesn't even know how to turn on a PlayStation after coverage in major Italian newspapers and TV stations rule of rules is brought up at the Italian parliament only 4 four days after the publication of the Panorama article they conclude that a committee should be formed that will evaluate and rate the content of future video games wait till they find out that Peggy has already been doing that for years within a week or two the European commissioner for justice fundamental rights and citizenship at the time Franco fratini called for an urgent meeting after watching and apparently being revolted by the quote-unquote obscene cruelty and brutality in rule of roles the game was also quite the Hot Topic over in the UK in particular making the headlines and the likes of the times The Daily Mail and More continuing to insist that it was a child's game the news also made it to Poland where the Polish Ministry of Education claimed the game's contents were dangerous to children and young people and it doesn't end there it kicked off over in France as well with three deputies introducing a bill to the French assembly stating that the goal of rule of rules was just to straight up kill children apparently and the one who has shown the most infamous the most repungent ignominy wins the game ignominy means like dishonor and disrespect by the way yeah I didn't know what it meant either they go on to imply that rule of rules could signal the downfall of society as we know it if it were to be released quite literally begging the French assembly to hear them out with all of these countries collectively losing their minds over content that simply does not exist in the game actual video game organizations run by people who've actually played rule of roles were getting sick of the slander the video standards Council in Europe or VSC blasted for tini's claims I have no idea where the suggestion of in-game Sato masochism has come from nor children being buried underground these are things that have been made up there isn't any underage eroticism we're not worried about our integrity being called into question because Mr fertini's quotes are nonsense but that didn't stop the European Parliament from whining about the game even more a few months later in March 2007 two members of the parliament called for an intervention to stop games like rule of rules being produced because the game is um harmful to human dignity while admitting in the same proposal that their only basis for these claims was the same Panorama article and they've now played nor watched the game whatsoever they also wanted to set up what they called a European Observatory on childhood and minors to monitor video game content oh my God Peggy is right there the drama got so heated that it even caused Bad Blood amongst members of parliament themselves pertini was still insisting that something had to be done about rule of rules and wanted to call All European ministers to discuss the game in its content viviane reading the commissioner for Information Society and media clearly got sick of his and sent him a letter telling him that he was speaking out of turn about something he knew little about and he should think before he acted next time reminding him that the Peggy system exists for a reason oh thank you ultimately though after all was said and done rule of rules only ended up being banned in the UK and while it came close to being banned in Italy and Poland it did eventually release in those countries too as for the U.S Sony America passed on publishing it after seeing the chaos that erupted over in Europe apparently stating it doesn't sync up with their image which is quite ironic since it was Sony Japan were the ones who wanted the game to be made in the first place either way Atlas swooped in and published rule of rules in the states instead but to say that rule of rose's name was tarnished was an understatement unsurprisingly a lot of people just saw the headlines and took them at face value and Rule of rules at least in the eyes of the general public was forever branded as a disgusting piece of media that is a threat to children and society as we know it the same rule of rules that is a dark but masterfully crafted narrative that delves into topics like childhood trauma and bullying was somewhat ironically bullied by people who hadn't even played it but what made rule of rules so particularly controversial especially since the likes of Silent Hill and Haunting Ground had released years before it both been titles are Delavan to equally harrowing topics what is it about rule of rules that cause such widespread moral Panic there's a few possible reasons why the first and most obvious reason being a lack of respect for the medium of video games simple as that rule of rules at least in terms of what is actually shown on screen is really quite tame in comparison to other video games but even if it was overtly violent and grotesque that's nothing new in media films have been doing it for decades books have been doing it for centuries but video games have only been doing it for about 50 years how is it then that newspapers TV stations and the entire European Parliament were incapable of fact checking the Panorama article did it never cross any of their mind to perhaps pick up a Playstation and try a rule of rules for themselves or hell even just get someone else to do it for them such blatant disregard would never happen if it was a film or book but because video games are still a very new medium that makes it an easy target especially for Boomers with too much time on their hands who just want to find the newfangled hobby of the younger generation to point the finger at now only that but beyond just being a new medium there was still a rampant belief back then that video games are exclusively for children I believe that isn't totally gone still I would argue notice that all of the Publications kept insisting that rule of roles was a children's game wrongfully claiming it featured a child protagonist despite a Peggy 16 rating clearly indicating it's for late teens and up video games at least in 2006 still have the heavy Association of being a child's plaything and not a legitimate art form that can tell compelling moving Stories the controversy that erupted from rule of rules was such a fascinating case that it has even been studied by academic journals the 2013 publication moral panics of the Contemporary World featured a study dedicated to rule of rules and points out the irony that despite rule of rules being labeled a threat to children children are the ones who are the most evil in the game itself it's the children who torment an adult Jennifer but the media seemed to want to gloss over this fact and there's a very distinct reason why that may be in horror media there's the age-old Trope of the evil child think movies like The Exorcist or The Shining having creepy children but notice that there always has to be an explanation behind their creepiness in The Exorcist she's possessed in The Shining they're ghosts there always has to be something after all is said and done to convince the viewer don't worry kids can't be evil as if we have to maintain this idea that children are always innocent pure beings rule of roles is a very rare exception to this rule there's no greater reason to why the aristocrats act in an evil and malicious way towards Jennifer they just do because some people are just evil and children are no exception to that rule the same academic Journal points out that rule of rules is intentionally designed to be suggestive what they mean by this is virtually none of the explicit themes that explorers are ever shown on screen so you can interpret it however you wish like I mentioned earlier it makes use of the less is more method of Storytelling anything concerning or upsetting that you draw from the experience is really being drawn from your own imagination how ironic then that all of the people who complained about it condemning it for don't forget tantalizing the ogre that might reside in those holding the joy pads were people who had never even once played it believe it or not this isn't the first time a child-centric story has been under Fire from the media rule of rules has often been compared to Lord of the Flies and 1954 novel written by William Golding for anyone who saw familiar the story centers around a group of boys whose plane was shot down and they've been left stranded on an island with no adults to guide them these boys who all come from upper class families descend into savagery forgetting any sense of Civility or order from their lives up until this point rule of rules has often been labeled Lord of the Flies but with girls and if you can really see why they both tackle the same basic narrative children without the guidance of Parental figures who end up devolving into a brutal doggy dog world and while Lord of the Flies was mostly praised upon its release back in the 50s and has since become a literary classic it definitely had its critics as well it was accused of being cynical portraying children as selfish creatures even unrealistic it seems people are very unwilling to believe that children can do evil things and it's interesting that despite a 50-year gap between Lord of the Flies and Rule of rules it doesn't seem like much has changed if anything the backlash was even worse in the Modern Age but a lot has changed in the 20 or so years since rule of rose's release and I do think the public opinion of video games has improved a hell of a lot since then I definitely don't think such an ill-informed controversy would happen nowadays but even so it's heartbreaking that rule of rules of all games was the one to face such awful slander and bullying in the media back then with such ruthless backlash sales were inevitably weak and the game has never seen any form of re-release since even to this day I can't imagine many companies would want to have their name tied to it given the controversy and having fallen Into Obscurity in the years since rule of rules has become literal Goldust you're looking at hundreds just to own a physical copy of it right now leaving many people with no choice but to emulate whatever way you end up experiencing rule of rules though make sure that you do yes it isn't perfect but it's an emotional experience that tells a story very few games have managed to achieve one that reaches into your memories and will remind you of years long gone of memories both nostalgic and Bittersweet a harrowing tale that explores how innocence can be equal parts terrifying as it is in steering equally cruel as it is kind much like a rolls with its beautiful petals and sharp Thorns love can be just as much evil and twisted as it can be tender and sweet foreign [Music] thank you so much for watching I really appreciate it very much I hope you enjoyed our deep dive into rule of Rose if you want more my kind of content I do stream horror games over on Twitch or alternatively if you just want to keep up to date with me in general and the video progress blah blah blah feel free to drop me a follow over on Twitter but otherwise thank you so much for watching and I will see you the next time thank you

Channel: tangomushi

Views: 729,167

Keywords: rule of rose, rule of rose gameplay, rule of rose walkthrough, rule of rose review, rule of rose analysis, panorama, rule of rose controversy, rule of rose retrospective, chulip, haunting ground, rule of rose ps2, rule of rose ost, tangomushi, rule of rose trailer, rule of rose banned, rule of rose video essay, shuji ishikawa, yutaka minobe, punchline, rule of rose the attic, rule of rose a love suicide, rule of rose cutscenes, rule of rose ending, ror

Id: y3TnMMFTVHA

Length: 51min 9sec (3069 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 17 2023