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1. Christi Junior (christijunior@detroitriotcity.com)'s status on Monday, 18-Mar-2024 09:39:18 JST Christi Junior

   • Christi Junior
   2/4
   
   (SPOILERS AHEAD FOR A 25 YEAR OLD FIRST GENERATION N64 3D PLATFORMER)
   
   However, Death has by now realized that a regular vampire is no match for Reinhardt – the most powerful of Dracula’s demons will have to kill the holy warrior himself. Their final, fateful encounter sees Death overwhelming the vampire hunter with his signature scythe spam – but when the demon goes for the killing blow, none other than Rosa jumps in between him and Reinhardt, absorbing the fatal attack and sacrificing her undead life for the one man who showed her kindness and mercy. Despite her heroic sacrifice, Rosa feels only despair – as a vampire, she is convinced that her soul is damned and bound for hell.
   
   Reinhardt however, can not accept this outcome – in perhaps the single most powerful scene in the game, we see Reinhardt cradling the dying Rosa in his arms, praying for God to forgive her sins and allow her soul entry into heaven. Finally, convinced that God will show Rosa’s tortured soul compassion, Reinhardt hands her a Cross – which does not burn her. As Rosa’s body fades away from this world, along with the Cross she holds, we can infer that this tragic young woman, who held onto her humanity to the very end, has indeed been Saved. Moreover, her death provides Reinhardt with just the Shonen power-up he needed to overcome and destroy Death, avenging Rosa in the process. Seriously, this whole scene is beautiful, and still holds up in my view:
   
   https://youtu.be/9iUjJEtcXI0?si=U4M9LXA7Jg9J2GZo&t=38
   
   Eventually, Reinhardt does succeed in slaying Dracula and destroying his castle. Moreover, in one of the most blatant divine interventions in Castlevania history, God rewards his strongest Vampire Hunter by bringing back Rosa to him, now restored as a human. Grateful, but not complacent, Reinhardt leaves us with these parting words, which I’d like to relay in full:
   
   “When desire rules people’s hearts, evil arises and Dracula can return. The fight between Dracula and humanity is endless. I know no way to escape this struggle against evil.”
   
   …
   
   “But we have faith in each other and we have love. That gives us hope, and the strength to fight against despair. As long as we have hope, evil can never defeat us!!”
   
   Faith, love and hope, huh? Man, those Godless Nips sure to know their stuff, better than many of today’s Cultural Christians in the West :)
   
   (SPOILERS OVER)
   
   I know I’ve talked a lot about religion and Christianity in this writeup so far, but I do think it’s extremely notable to see a mainstream Japanese video game THIS steeped in “our” religion. Now, I do know that the horror genre in general is even today considered to be unique in terms of its willingness to depict positive Christian characters and real, unironically demonic evil – however, I’ve seen insightful Christian film critics point out that while this is both true and good, horror movies do also generally depict a world where the forces of Good seem outmatched by Evil – and while His existence is undeniable, God seemingly prefers to remain silent, while Satan and his forces routinely flex their muscles, and often come out on top (at least in the short term).
   
   Castlevania 64, partly due to being a video game with where you the player expects to prevail, suffers from no such issues – beyond God’s direct intervention at multiple points of the story, this is a game where Evil eventually gets its ass kicked three ways to Sunday due to the actions of God’s holy warriors. At the same time, it avoids taking a smug, triumphalist attitude, as reflected in Reinhardt’s final words. The game would seem to strike as good a balance as you could possibly hope for.
   
   It’s not all religion either – Reinhardt’s story is one with no interest in feminist nonsense like “toxic masculinity”, instead promoting traditional masculinity as good and heroic – Reinhardt honors his father (not only his Heavenly Father, but also the human man who raised him), and faithfully follows his code of never harming the weak. Reinhardt believes that men are and should be Strong – after having rescued a young boy called Malus from a chainsaw-wielding Frankenstein’s Monster (Castlevania 64 can be delightfully silly sometimes), Reinhardt sends the boy off with the encouragement that “You’re a man, you can do it!”.
   • Christi Junior repeated this.
   • Ardainian Hebrew Israelite (ardainianright@detroitriotcity.com)'s status on Monday, 18-Mar-2024 09:39:15 JST Ardainian Hebrew Israelite

     in reply to
     @ChristiJunior
     Right-wing simply means "aligned with human nature and broadly promoting the human good." It took a lot of deliberate effort to make most media left-wing, because a simple appeal to instinct is inherently right-wing. Leftists pretend that human nature doesn't exist and it's all social conditioning one way or the other, but we all know that's bullshit.
   • Christi Junior (christijunior@detroitriotcity.com)'s status on Monday, 18-Mar-2024 09:39:16 JST Christi Junior

     in reply to
     4/4
     
     Clearly, Castlevania 64 is a game with a strong vision of Good VS Evil. However, it’s well worth noting that these kinds of stories also often prove better at coming up with memorable, morally complex characters than amoral, nihilistic stories with no room for true Good. It’s “Childish” stories presenting Black and White morality that have given us the likes of Anakin Skywalker and Gollum after all. I’ve already mentioned Rosa, who could serve as another good example of this type of morally multifaceted character, but perhaps an even better character to highlight is Renon the Demon Salesman.
     
     Renon is most assuredly NOT a good soul, but he is a pragmatic one – as he says, one needs gold even in hell these days, and selling items to the heroes traveling to Dracula’s castle is a surprisingly lucrative business opportunity. His healing items are VERY helpful, arguably even necessary to survive the adventure, and by finding his demon scrolls you can summon him instantly.
     
     Now, this certainly *seems* like a good deal for the both of you – you get the items you need, while Renon gets his gold - however, the game acknowledges that He who sups with the Devil should have a long spoon. If you spend too much gold at Renon’s shop, he will near the end of the game show up and ask you an uncomfortable question – did you take the time to read what was actually written in his demon scrolls? Not that it would have done you much good anyway - it was written in ancient demon script, impossible for humans to read, and reveals that by paying 30, 000 gold coins to Renon for his, you’ve given up your soul to Satan, and Renon has now come to collect your soul! A boss battle follows, and while killing Renon does apparently break the contract and prevent your soul from being claimed, it’s a stark reminder that demons will never leave well enough alone, and can not to be trusted.
     
     Really, Castlevania 64 is just full of great themes, messages and insightful little touches, all of them feeling organic and appropriate for the game’s story and context. I guess some people might still object to certain aspects, like Good Vampires existing and possibly being redeemed (I personally disagree – surely all of us should be rooting for Bobby Fischer’s soul, despite how vile Jews in general are?), or Carrie being a heroic Witch (note however the contrast that Actrise represents, and her repeated attempts to recruit Carrie to the dark side – clearly magic, while not inherently evil, is dangerous to dabble with, and can easily lead to human souls being corrupted).
     
     Me, I think this game represents something close to the Peak of what I’m thinking of when talking about “Based Morality”. It’s an easy +3 in my eyes, and if you’re more concerned about Christian moral messaging than politics or race realism, you could even argue for a +4 score. This is a game where God is real, good and actively intervenes in the affairs of man, where the final destination of your immortal soul is of urgent, existential importance, and where Good and Evil at their purest do battle, with Good prevailing for all the right reasons. It achieves all this while also telling multiple compelling, character-driven vampire stories that demonstrate how moral clarity make ethical dilemmas and morally ambiguous characters more, rather than less compelling. Say what you want about this games’s camera and platforming sections, in terms of moral content Castlevania 64 deserves to be recognized as a landmark Castlevania entry.
   • Christi Junior (christijunior@detroitriotcity.com)'s status on Monday, 18-Mar-2024 09:39:18 JST Christi Junior

     in reply to
     3/4
     
     Now, Carrie Fernandez is obviously NOT a man, but can she still “do it”, in the sense of delivering a profoundly Based and countercultural storyline? Turns out, yes she can – though Carrie’s story is far less heavy on religious themes than Reinhardt’s. Indeed, supplementary materials (not referenced in the game itself beyond bringing up how Carrie is an orphan whose stepmother sacrificed herself for her) apparently describe Carrie as having at one point outright turned her back on God, due to all the horrible things that happen to her as a child – though by the time Castlevania 64 takes place, she seems to have made her peace with God, seeing how she’s now fighting alongside holy warriors and working for the church to take down Dracula.
     
     The reason Carrie’s story is both compelling and profoundly Based is Carrie’s relationship with a recurring enemy that she will have to slay before getting a crack at the Count. While the demon Death was Reinhardt’s nemesis, Carrie’s story sees her taking on the wicked witch Actrise. While Carrie and Actrise are both formidable magic users, Actrise turns out to be not so much an evil counterpart to Carrie as she is to the mother who sacrificed her own life to save Carrie’s! Motherhood and maternal self-sacrifice prove to be the dominant theme of Carrie’s whole storyline, which is profoundly countercultural in an age where women killing their own babies is celebrated as the most important of rights.
     
     That last dig wasn’t even gratuitous – during Carrie’s decisive showdown with Actrise, the diabolical witch reveals how she was able to become Dracula’s right-hand woman: by sacrificing the life of 100 children, one of them Actrise’s own child – just a little girl, like Carrie herself had been when the woman who raised her made gave up her own life so that Carrie could survive. The striking contrast between these two diametrically opposed visions of motherhood causes Carrie to proclaim that Actrise is a pathetic failure:
     
     Actrise: “You surprise me. To be able to defeat the Fernandez warrior. It is still not too late. Give your soul and power to Dracula! It is a simple matter…sacrifice the lives of 100 children. I slew my own child to attain this prize of eternal life!”
     
     Carrie: “…she was really only my stepmother. But my mother gave her life to save mine. She truly loved me. She showed me happiness. Your child received no love from her mother…that’s, that’s pathetic…”
     
     Actrise: “Oh dear, you make me so sad…looking at me just as my child did…how pitiful! I love no one in this world other than myself! I will gouge out your heart as a gift to my lord!”
     
     Carrie then proceeds to utterly roflstomp Actrise, sending her off to hell with the words that she NEVER stood a chance against this GigaChad Loli, and that Dracula himself knew this well. All Actrise sacrificed to gain her powers, only to be humiliated by a 12 year old girl, alive today because of a mother’s selfless sacrifice. I shouldn’t really need to go further in-depth as to all the reasons why the Carrie VS Actrise storyline is remarkable and fucking BASED, but just to reiterate: An extremely ambitious career woman kills her own child in order to achieve her own selfish goals, only to have her entire existence exposed as a sick joke by a girl whose great deeds are only possible because of a woman who was willing to give up her own life so that her own child could survive.
     Christi Junior repeated this.
   • Christi Junior (christijunior@detroitriotcity.com)'s status on Monday, 18-Mar-2024 09:53:14 JST Christi Junior

     in reply to

     • VidMasterEon
     @Vidmastereon Looking through the Castlevania 64 cutscenes, I was kinda blown away by just how hard the Reinhardt-Rosa storyline hits, and how multi-layered it is. In fact, the anti-euthanasia angle just dawned on me while doing the writeup. Post-Christian Million Dollar Baby morality would obviously dictate that Reinhardt killing Rosa is both good and merciful, even before factoring in the fact that whatever human soul she has left really is in urgent danger of being permanently corrupted.
     Ardainian Hebrew Israelite likes this.
   • VidMasterEon (vidmastereon@varishangout.net)'s status on Monday, 18-Mar-2024 09:53:15 JST VidMasterEon

     in reply to
     @ChristiJunior >Reinhardt being a devout Christian believes that no compromise shall be made with evil but every human who seeks salvation should be given the chance to redeem themselves
     >this leads to a moral quandry where he chooses to try to save the part demon rosa even though choosing not to kill her only extends her suffering
     Damn that is pretty deep
     
     Let me add on a little more
     Either by coincidence or intention this seems to echo a lot of kierkegaard's fear and trembling and his concept of the knight of faith
     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_of_faith
     
     even though it is a foregone conclusion that he will not be able save rosas soul he puts his upmost faith in god that he will be able to and like with the binding of isaac god come through for him
     
     Good too see you have kept your writing sharp since your tenure with ralph