Rule of Rose: Difference between revisions

''Rule of Rose'' is an [[Adventure Game|adventure]]/[[Survival Horror]] game set in an [[Orphanage of Fear|orphanage]]/[[Global Airship|airship]] in [[World War I|post-war]] England ... '''or is it?''' It should be noted before going any further that the entire game is difficult to summarize for all sorts of reasons: the elaborate use of [[Fairy Tale Motifs]], the [[Unreliable Narrator|narration]], the [[Trapped in Another World|setting]] (and [[All Just a Dream|the setting]]... and [[Dead All Along|the setting]]), the surrealist horror aesthetic, and the purposely uneven story-telling. All this is used to weave a [[Grimmification|broken fairytale]] about [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|thoughtless cruelty]], [[Love Hurts|wrecked love]] and [[Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids|childlike longing for an idealized adult reality]], culminating into an unusually thoughtful and heartbreaking story of [[Coming of Age Story|self-actualization and growing up]].

Yes, it's still a [[Video Game]]. And a [[Mind Screw]]. And a [[Unreliable Narrator|pretty good one at that.]].

Gameplay consists mostly of finding items with Brown's help, giving him an inventory item to sniff, then letting him guide Jennifer through the environment to whatever it is he's found. All plot-important items and most health restoring items (instead of potions, various [[Health Food|cookies and chocolates]] are used) must be found in this way. Other items such as marbles and ribbons have [[Not Completely Useless|no immediate use]], but [[Vendor Trash|may be traded]] with the Aristocrats. Combat tends to occur as the events in a chapter come to a climax;: enemies will often appear seemingly from nowhere, allowing Jennifer to use a variety of [[Improvised Weapon|improvised weapons]], such as a [[Knife Nut|kitchen knife]], an icepick, or [[An Axe to Grind|a hatchet]].

** Each costume also comes with a built-in one-hit super-weapon. See also [[New Game+]] below.

* [[Arc Words]]: Gathered slowly through three chapters: ''Everlasting / True Love / I am yours.''.

* [[Broken Bird]]: Clara and Diana.

* [[Brown Bag Mask]]: The Aristocrats are seen wearing these early in the game, and later on, some imps are seen wearing them as well.

* [[Canine Companion]]: Brown.

* [[The Chessmaster]]: {{spoiler|Wendy}}.

* [[Controllable Helplessness]]: Both times Jennifer is tied up, you can make her struggle. {{spoiler|The second time, you have to make her call for Brown's help.}}.

* [[Elaborate University High]]: Well, in this case, ''Elaborate Orphanage'' -: inside an airship the size of the Hindenburg. Oh, Asas it turns out, this is ultimately {{spoiler|subverted, as the airship orphanage is a mixture of the memories of the most traumatic portions of Jennifer's life.}}.

** It's still rather amazing. {{spoiler|Compared to the number of the orphans and the minimal staff, the manor in which the orphanage is actually set is still huge and extremely fancy -... apart from the parts that the kids have doodled over or trashed.}}.

*** {{spoiler|However, it looks realistically as if people live in it (as opposed to the spotlessness of the common [[Elaborate University High]]), with most of the rooms being used as storage.}}.

* [[Emotionless Girl]]: Eleanor.

* [[Everything's Better with Princesses]]: The game seems to be concerted attempt to outdo ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'' in subverting this trope. It succeeds, because of its intricate way of working and reworking [[Fairy Tale Motifs]].

* [[Harmful to Minors]]: It is strongly implied that {{spoiler|Hoffman raped Clara and touched Diana inappropriately.}}. However, Jennifer is an unreliable narrator, and many [[Alternative Character InterpretationsInterpretation]]s and arguments have sprung up because of them. {{spoiler|The main difficulty in interpreting is Jennifer's ability to recognize the signs of abuse;: what Jennifer sees during the game does pretty strongly imply something was going on, but is it something that Jennifer suspects in retrospect and 'remembers', or is she remembering it clearly but not seeing it as unusual?}}?

* [[Littlest Cancer Patient]]: Wendy.

* [[Meganekko]]: Meg. [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Coincidence?]]

* [[Princess Curls]]: Amanda.

* [[Psycho Lesbian]]: {{spoiler|Wendy}}.

* [[The Quiet One]]: Clara.

* [[Social Services Does Not Exist]]: Justified;: what social services there were in depression-era England were very busy and did not have time to look in on every single rural orphanage.

* [[There Are No Adults]]: Even at the start the orphanage was heavily understaffed, but by the end, the orphans were left to their own devices for an indeterminate out of time after Hoffman, Martha and Clara disappeared without trace.

* [[Those Two Guys]]: Xavier and Nicholas.

* [[Trauma-Induced Amnesia]]: {{spoiler|Jennifer. The entire game is her attempt to revisit her childhood and retrieve her memories of the traumatic events that occurred there.}}.

* [[X Meets Y]]: ''[[Silent Hill]]'' meets ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]''.

* [[Yandere]]: {{spoiler|Wendy}}.

[[Category:Play StationPlayStation 2]]