#to the moon series

[empty-dream]

"I wanted to build you a garden."

[badkunz]

"...Just a while longer, okay?"

[esfersart]

I don’t know what’s real If an ending is ever good enough Maybe it never is Maybe it never was —  World in a Memory 

[sunbloomdew]

ttm beach episode spoilers below!

something about how the game lets you decide when to end it all and come back to reality. press esc to leave. how it would be up to eva how long she'd stay there on that beach, but knowing she could never remain there forever. just a little while longer. something about how it greets you with the same image if you decide to open it again. the truth is, i never actually felt that way. do you begin the cycle again or do you find comfort in that temporary ending? and i just can't get past that it's the one i didn't want.

something about how player's actions represent eva coming back to the machine searching for closure. did she find it? will she? will we?

while it was only my first (of many) playthroughs, i think the way the game portrays dealing with grief is really heartwrenching and beautiful in how real but fleeting it all is.

[narnia-dreamer]

The thing I love the most about Just a to the moon series beach episode is the fact that... They never hid the truth about Neil.

If you read the comics, if you played the games, watched the trailer or simply looked at the menu screen... It was there. It was clearly there. During the game itself there were multiple elements that made it clear. The books at the bookshop. And then seeing Quincey and Lynri at the airport. You knew. Of course you knew.

If you played the To the moon mini episodes you had long known (I did play them when they first came out). And yet while playing the game you feel just like Eva. And you desperately try to think there are other possibilities, other realities, you try your best not to think that Neil is dead. You convince yourself there must be something else, something more. It's just a trick, they are playing you, Neil is alive and well.

But then you confront Neil and the truth comes crashing down on you. You've always known that, but when Eva says that Neil is dead is the moment you start coming to terms with it. You stop being denial, just like Eva is forced to.

And just like her, you hope you can live another moment with Neil despite knowing that it's not real.

And every now and then, you open the game again and just look at Neil and Eva on the Beach and wish they got their happy ending. And we all know Eva is doing that as well.

[misstiramisssu]

I am having an aggressive emotional hangover after playing the To The Moon Beach Episode and need to talk about it. I want to talk to other fans about it but alas, I am alone in my fervor rn.

Polite spoiler break (just in case) but tldr I am satisfied with the end but also an aggressive romantic so I've just been CRYING

How dare Neil say the things he says and do the things he does? The man's been dead since the first game? And yes this whole series has always been about managing grief and loss and living life to the fullest and we knew, we knew, we KNEW he was going to die but the undying flame of hope still burned in my heart for a sliver of happiness for these two but we instead get to see our beloved Eva crumbling and broken in the wake of her closest confidant's passing and how she has to keep going on despite that. Yet she keeps crawling back into the comfort of his last gift to her and ruminating in a world that'll never be. I'm aching FOR these sweet characters never being canonically able to express their feelings, to share a shred of their reciprocated feelings... and that's okay.

Part of me wants to read and write fan fiction where they get to simply be. The fantasy and all... And that's part of what fan fiction is for... At the same time, I jokingly wonder if that would be doing the same thing as Eva, ruminating... It's a dramatic stretch I won't linger in but I hope my intention comes through?

And what really got me was how dare this man only tell her he was in love after he died? And by his computer shadow self? That must have been so devastating for her to hear. Though she doesn't say I love you too in the game she's upset that he made that decision for her and is so reluctant to let him GO? That she fights with the virtual version of him to have the one she actually loves even if it's only an echo of the self? It's so MUCH.

I AM DISTRAUGHT AND CAN'T STOP CRYING.

[one-strugling-bean]

Rewatching Finding Paradise after the Beach Episode has been something alright....

really something....

[noneaazures]

I need to remind myself about these games from time to time

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

I know this is supposed to be a cool memento for the series but putting Neil and Eva in a “memory globe” is making me nervous. What does it mean. Does it mean anything. Kan Gao is this a hint or am I overthinking this.

[justsalpals]

-sitting up in a cold sweat-

THE ACHIEVEMENT DESCRIPTION IS "Go to the beach with Neil (alone)" BECAUSE NEIL ISN'T ACTUALLY THERE AND EVA IS ALONE

[talientravere]

Before I go, I wanted to leave you guys with an update on my backlog. We'll be picking up one of these games when I get back!

[empty-dream]

BEACH EPISODE LET'S GOOOO!!

[esfersart]

Get hugged, you stupid owl

(sketch is under the cut)

[sunbloomdew]

beach episode spoilers below cut a collection of random thoughts :]

kudos to roxie and rob for being great friends to eva, reaching out to her and taking her on that vacation. we don't know who was calling eva in the starting screen but it was probably one of them or members of her family. it could have also been quincy! i've been thinking how they could help each other out while grieving :( i'm glad she has people she can count on in her life

also i really like that the beach episode gave us more roxie and rob moments, showing us more of their characters!! i love that they got more chances to be goofy <3 rob especially since in previous games, when he had lines of dialogue he was stoic and serious, and here we get to see that he matches roxie's freak kshfskfhskj

im wondering if eva left her job at sigmund after neil's death, since she'd had to get a new partner. plus this whole thing going down would definitely change how she feels about her job... i wonder if she ever briefly considered signing up with sigmund for a life where neil lived.

and last but not least: what the hell did angus mean by "... who's still alive, that is..." what is the fate of sigcorp

and i gotta say, while im a tinyyyyy bit disappointed over there not being a lot of new music tracks in the game, i really enjoyed hearing music from the previous games. and the title theme GOES HARD

thank you for reading this assortment of thoughts

[misstiramisssu]

That's it it is three am and I want to share a snippet of the AU long fic of my dreams. Because I'm idly plotting it instead of sleeping. I am but a loyal servant of the To The Moon series and I want to write fake dating AU with fluffy moments but also managing guilt and dealing with reconfiguring your relationship with someone you thought you knew so well your entire life but... Did you, did you really?

Plot summary (and my self indulgent snippet) below the cut because it kind contains info recently hard confirmed in Beach Episode so I want to be polite. The fic is still an AU though so don't worry.

Not everyone visiting their loved ones in the hospital is family, but when someone spends two weeks crammed into an awful recliner for said loved one, they could be. Maybe even a little bit married. A night shift nurse asks Eva Rosalene if she and Neil Watts are engaged, and she doesn't quite answer his question. However, not quite answering his question gets them special privileges neither of them want to give up, even when playing it up for the enamored nurses leads to trouble. Who would expect Quincy Reynard to overhear that the young woman he helped raise and his beloved son are engaged? They'll have to tell him it was just for show. Eventually.

(AU of YEAH HE LIVED. But continuing to live when you expected to die is... hard. Managing preemptive grief is hard.)

I want to write the whole thing from Eva's third person pov because I like her voice.

Oh right the snippet.

“Ready, Mr. Reynard?” Eva said, shoving her hands into her coat pockets. 

“As I'll ever be.” Compared to earlier, Quincy looked radiant, his smile coming from deep beyond his heart. “I know I keep saying it but I'm so happy for you two.” he paused, a slight shake to his words. “Just wish I could have been there for more of it.”

If Eva grit her teeth any harder she'd crush them into her skull. 

“Thank you. It means a lot to hear you say that.” At least that wasn't a lie.

The elevator dinged at the ground floor and they both stepped out, Quincy a flitter of joy while Eva trailed after him, her head already pounding. This was like ripping off a bandage. All she had to do was look a man she saw as a guiding figure in her life in the eye and say, “No, I'm not actually engaged to your son and I'm not even sure what kind of relationship he and I have but you're more than welcome to ask him because I'd love to know. Good luck getting a straight answer. And yes, I did spend a hundred dollars on a very nice second-hand engagement ring to make this look more “authentic.” We can't be brilliant neuroscientists all the time, Mr. Reynard. Thanks for stopping by, have a safe trip home.”