In my opinion Wendy's worst quote is when examining a rope she says "This would be easy way to get out of this place" and imagining it is just horrible Also a great vid
Thanks! i considered using that quote too, as its quite gruesome and would leave.. uh... *remnants* for everyone else to see, compared to a lava pool. But i decided against it since the rope quote is quite popular and well known throughout the community. Thanks again! glad you enjoyed the video :D
What i love about this game is like its chess, maxwell is seen as the all powerful god but when you reach him he's not actually that strong he's more like a puppet to "them" so basically maxwell is like kings in chess
@Purplex08 and there's literally enemies in the game that are robots symbolizing the knight the bishop and the rock pieces and if we say charlie is the queen we have a full chess board and if them are the players we can have a don't starve chess tournament
Wormwood, I think, is the most hopeful out of all of the Survivors. He was born into a world where practically everything wants everything dead, he still tries to make friends. Even if it’s in vain, He still tries to make friends with practically anything. And he never once has a line of dialogue filled with hate towards another living being, and I think that’s nice.
Speaking of Warly, i feel like the deal he had with constant was a bit weird since every person craved something and got it like wilson can actually feel like a real scientiest, Wigfrid can be valkyrie, and many more. But Warly didnt really needed something. So if i could speculate then my theory is that Warly wants make people happy as a cook, basically the constant let him make other people happy by cooking for them, starving in constant is a constant treat but warly can always surprise you with a perfect meal. On another hand i think that maybe Warly needed an escape from his granny, dementia is really scary and to watch a person you love, die a bit more with every day could really harm your mental state, so maybe constant saved him from that, by putting him in extreme situation like surviving in constant, he could finally stop thinking about awfull things and start think about saving himself. Thats a bit grim, but thats just how deals with constant goes
warly is in DS too, not just DST. i take care of an elderly person with dementia full-time. She is my grandmother and i used to love her more then anyone in the world. There are days when i legitimately have to stop myself from strangling her with a pillow now. There are no words to describe how having to explain everything 20 times in a row fucks you up. How much it sucks when you realize they have no idea who yuu are after you spent five years cleaning, cooking, washing them and their clothes and wiping their butt, sacrificing you youth, your health, your career, your hobbies, your mental health, everything. If i didn't have my husband and cat, and Maxwell came to me and asked, "do you want to never have to see her again and no one will ask any questions about it" i would seriously consider it. Warly might be the only character here who actually got what he wanted
Remember this is the same game where you can see the cursed animation of tallbird laying eggs, the same game that half of the time also doesn't take themselves seriously
it's interesting you bring up the colour choices for the game, i knew someone who said that they couldn't play Don't Starve for long because the colour casting made them feel tired and depressed. However when i showed them the shipwrecked DLC, they said the colour cast was much more pleasant and bearable for them. it's true the sepia filter really does have an effect on one's perception!
This is also one of the reasons why some schools have green and yellow walls and or floors those colors calm you down since they are colors that appear in nature a lot
The community belives that the deal, has the recipe and ingredients to make a Dish so powerfull that Will cure early grandmother dementia. It is belive that this Dish included the the brainny mather a edible item found in shipwereked DLC, the DLC where warly has introduced
piano works too, as it is quite a somber instrument when used correctly, however violin is used in more songs and is known for its themes tied to despair and hopelessess itself great train of thought! thanks for the comment, have a great day :D
So fun fact. All of the music in the game is a light motif of the song "Rag time". The song that Maxwell is forced to listen to on the grama phone in the end of adventure mode in Don't starve single player... FOREVER, and we as the player, join in on that suffering.
Good video. Thought out and well written. I just have one disagreement. Spring music doesnt sound dreary or depressing. Its an anxious energetic mess. Full of "hop to it" energy with the undertone to say you might miss your chance. Fitting because its the most abundant season for food after the empty winters preventing many recorce regrowth. Spring is for food from farming, frog legs, and feathers of Moose, and the slippery chance lightning will ruin everything for you. Spot on with the feeling of autumn. Peefect music for the exploration and curious nature of a new wilderness
oh thats a perfect description for spring! i wish i could go back in time and use that instead haha xD thanks for the feedback! also, im glad you enjoyed the video, it took a lot of work :D
when I saw the title of the video I thought it was calling the game itself hopeless, like in a derogatory way of calling any more development a lost cause, so I'm glad I moused over it for longer
What's even more depressing is that when the survivors in dst found a potential portal out of the constant, they instead got sent to multiple dimensions, each more dangerous and deadly than the last. And what's worse is that once they conquered these dimensions, they were just sent back to where they began. None of it mattered or changed anything, it was just more pain to endure.
I don't think Dst is hopeless, at least not the for the character, they find joy in the Constant, it's fill with the primal wild, sure it's dangerous, but it's just as exciting and free, sure you might not be safe all of the time, but as time go on, you got years of experiance to guide you, and in Canon Dst lore, they got a lot of people they can depend on.
yes yes, but after that joy what do you have? every single time you die you get transported to a different dimension, and while yes, people you know may be there, they arent the same and this cycle of drying, respawning, making friends, dying respawning etc is horrible but i do see your point! thanks for commenting ans i hope i didnt sound rude or anything :)
yes, but for a while he remained in the real world and was treated like garbage by even his own parents guess webber didnt get too screwed over by maxwell, huh?
Spring's theme always came across to me as more frantic, and chaotic, which is what it feels like as your trying to make sure you get enough food as it rains frogs down upon your head with your sanity draining, and your tools keep slipping out of your soaked hands. xD
I really like that even in moments where there is some hope of a real way out, the characters continue to fuck each other up, like helping Charlie fix the Atriun portal, which summons more shadow creatures and acid rain, or helping Wagstaff with celestial champion, which should be something "good" but simply ruins your world with moon entities spread across the world ruining your things and making your life difficult
Probably because it might let them escape,in the forge event they got there with the Atrium portal also with the gorge event their so desperate,they'll go through it to try and go back to the real world by helping the shadow queen,same with wagstaff the survivors probably think he can help them because he can travel between the real world and the constant,they think by helping them they can escape
Nice essay! Time to comment. -the whole thing about the characters dying over and over (especially Wilson) doesn't seem to stem from the world ramping up the difficulty but from the lack of knowledge Wilson has at the beginning. DS prides itself on being uncompromising after all. There is little to no handholding and the player is supposed to learn about the world by trial of fire, dying again and again until they make it. -the concept of most if not all characters missing or wanting something is quite interesting! Here is my idea list, feel free to correct me though. -Wilson wanted knowledge and to be a real successful scientist, which he got one way or the other. -Willow is in an interesting spot. She was attacked by a creature of the constant but later helped Maxwell by setting a library on fire. She also seems somewhat insane and I can't imagine her making a deal for anything she could not have, seeing as her pyromania is easy to satisfy in the normal world. -Wendy is a clear case. She lost her sister, got depressed and wanted to see her again. Weird though that Maxwell doesn't recognize her as family. Maybe he didn't have much of a bond with his brother. Then again, he seems to be able to stalk the normal world from the nightmare throne and didn't see her father once? Weird. -Wolfgang is another obvious case. He wanted strength and got it one way or the other. -WX is an outlier. He got into the constant not through a deal but seemingly unintentionally after discovering that blaming organic parts for everything wasn't the best idea, becoming unstable and being banished by Wagstaff. -Wickerbottom wanted to preserve her books after Maxwell set her library ablaze through Willow. She didn't WANT or need anything initially so Maxwell pushed her into accepting his twisted deal. I suppose he targeted her because Wickerbottom conducted studies on nightmare creatures, so Maxwell wanted to keep her silent. Maybe he also got her, together with her knowledge, into the constant to use for later in a strategic move, seeing as Maxwell is quite fond of chess. -Woodie is... weird? His short contains no lore and we can only glimpse info from Walter's short. Maybe he wanted to be free of his curse? That can't be, seeing as his desire was never fulfilled, contrary to the other characters. Maybe his curse is a result of the constant, seeing as it has a more powerful "moon"? Maybe something else, maybe a clue can be found in some obscure quote I don't know. -Wes was a mistake, simple as. He was at the wrong place in the wrong time. He also introduced crows to the constant, how wonderful! -old Waxwell himself was pulled in by them after playing with (shadow) fire and getting himself burned. Though his capturing of other survivors was his decision, perhaps for amusement in some sort of hunger games esque game of his, seeing as they never forced him to do anything. Maybe he glimpsed a larger reality and thought it necessary to pull people in, who knows? -Wigfrid wanted to be on stage again and to be in the headlines. A classic case of wishing upon Maxwells splumonkey paw. -Webber wished to be either separated or normal again (I forgot the exact word of the short) and either got screwed over or got his/their wish as a friendly spider-boy is far more normal in the constant than a lot of other stuff. -Winona is also a bit of an outlier as she was pulled in not only by someone other than Maxwell but was also involved in a portal incident (which are outliers in my opinion since if someone enters the constant via self built portal, they aren't there for Maxwell's amusement (or other ulterior motives) but simply ended up there). I also think Winona was in the wrong place at the wrong time too since it feels to me that Charlie merely used the opportunity for whatever reason. She also never wanted for her sister to really be in the constant, as evidenced by unused and removed Charlie quoted attached to Winonas different stages of darkness damage. Maybe there is some further split-personality-stuff going on. -Warly got pulled in for unknown reasons, as you stated in the video. Maybe to make people happy with his cooking, maybe to find a way to cure his grandma, who knows. -Wortox, Wormwood and Wurt are all inhabitants if the constant but may have desires of their own? Wortox got cursed by an unknown force but is not bound to the constant, as evidenced by him stealing the Terrarium. Maybe he wants to be free of his curse but Maxwell has nothing to do with it. Wormwood was a creation of the "moon", for unknown reasons, and is just a plant child, rejected by many, except those who love AoE damage. Maybe he is a sleeper agent for Alter, seems unlikely though. -Wurt is an intelligent merm child, fair enough. There are theories about her and the Gorge so she might actually be a goat who has not been totally mermified and is still somewhat intelligent? She seems unaware of this. -Walter made no deal we know of, being pulled in while investigating Woodie and the Werebeaver. Maybe Charlie pulls in people randomly when the opportunity arises or maybe Wagstaff is to blame, seeing as his radios are prominent connections to the constant. -And finally, Wanda. She was hunted by nightmare creatures for unknown reasons, maybe she used the constant's powers (seeing as her watches are powered by Thulecite and nightmare fuel) but tried to outrun her part of the deal or the consequences of her actions in general. Her entrance into the constant was not of the nightmares doing, but of a watch malfunction which combined with the whole "shattered timelines" thing might show that she got captured, but in an unusual way with possible repercussions. So in conclusion: Maxwell's deals are far more common with DS and RoG characters while DST characters have more unusual methods of landing in the constant. Huh.
i agree with the beginning statement alot, the no handholding rule the game has makes it super difficult, and you can see that where wilson stops dying again and again due to more experience. and also, this is probably one of the most in depth and interesting comments i have EVER seen, so thank you so much for typing it all out!
@@Purplex08 Exaclty. In the, I believe it was the cyclum?, comic we see Wilson doing fairly well after being kicked off the nightmare throne and back into the wilderness so he must have picked up SOME skill. And while life in the constant is portayed as more difficult in the shorts than in game (if you know what you are doing that is), the survivors definetly DID defeat the Fuelweaver as seen in the forge and gorge. And yeah, thanks for liking it! I went on kind of a rant there :v
@erwin101 yes cyclum! i remember doing that puzzle a while back haha (3 weeks ago xD) and no worries at all! Feel free to write more in the future! you seem to be really good at writing long in depth mini essays, i look forward to feedback from you in the future :)
off topic, but still: by creating a temporary rift in that clearing, it turned out that the owl man appeared, whom we see in the screecher. (sorry for the mistakes, I don't know English well)
One thing i see a lot of people mentioning is that in later updates when we get the final updates of the game we might see a way for us to escape... But here's the thing i dont think we ever will putting aside gameplay implications bo character would actually want to escape You think warly wants to go back and face the reality of his mother being dead ? Or do you think wendy wants to go out only to never see her sister again ? Or look at webber he would be chased away into the woods and then killed by a hunter... In fact all monster characters would face the same fate... Even wickerbottom would go out only to loose the insane knowledge she gained from the shadows and with her beloved library burnt she would lose uer life's meaning, and oh wigfrid she had so much money but she literally was bored outbof her mind she didn't want it she just wanted to be some legendary warrior and thats exactly what she is in the constant she is happy there...
precisely, i think characters "escaping" is more of a detriment due to maxwell COMPLETELY screwing them over in the real world so in other words, its best to stay in this horrible place forever, and die over and over again *fitting, isnt it?*
I feel like the weirdest part of don't starve is that there's a weird bit of good. Kinda like the comment on a Lisa the pointless video about Hugo Leopardi. Nothing matters, but you managed to find meaning in it, almost comfort in eternal doom. Everything you do might not matter, but it matters to you. Because if you wanted to give up, you could have just sat still, eternally numb. But you just choose not to. You find joy in your freedom despite being locked within the boundaries of the constant. Honestly true hopelessness can only be achieved if you can't find meaning in what you do, can't enjoy anything. Might be just fleeting moments but they will all be cut short. You will have to eventually make a tough decision where there is simply no winning. But in Don't Starve you just find joy in the simple things. Your character doesn't go insane purely because of basic things and pleasures like Candy and sleeping. It's the beauty of the eternal struggle, you know it won't matters but you will still do it. Almost like real life. you will eventually die, everyone will. And in the end, nothing will matter. Yet we still enjoy it.
The screen being so blurry was kind of a strain on the eyes, but I enjoyed the video otherwise. Although this is why it's a shame they gave up on the single player game. I think it conveyed the themes and concept of hopelessness an isolation much better than DST does.
Hey, here's a comment on the video - 2 minutes in I am entertained and I'm loving it, but the blur was a bit too much for my eyes, it just feels unpleasant. Putting that aside - great video
@@Purplex08May I ask why you put any blur at all? Any other videos about video games don't have this constant blurring so I don't think there should be a problem with copyright or anything... It just makes it hard to watch and removes the 'video' part of 'video essay'. Why not have it normal and only blur it when you want to make text or pictures in the foreground more visible? Other than that it was a nice analysis, well done!
Its mainly due in part to how i got used to editing, even as ealy as around 100 subscribers i got into the habit of blurring background footage, and as such got used to it. If youre wondering why exactly i did that, its mainly due to a video series known as the "10 stages of every xxxx main" for TF2, which very much likes to use blurry footage. I am aware of my mistakes now though, and i hope ill be able to create better footage from now on :D also, glad you enjoyed! @@soccmel4778
oh yes! thats what i mean, after the events of the webber short, it is implied that webber stayed in the real world (atleast for a while) and so his only source of food would be his human mothers stale leftovers, perhaps left out by her, or found in the trash either way, i feel bad for webber
I like how there are really dark ass characters, and then we have Wilba and Walter. That makes me question if they're just inocent or if they're just really optimistic
Really good for a first video essay, and make sure to keep all the words on screen readable, for some of them, i couldn't quite read them, but other than that, incredible stuff! some people to get inspiration from is TheCursedJudge, Orang3 (he made a 2 hour long video on don't starve lol, it was very good), and of course, Summoning Salt, and its nice to see your not being chained to GD 👌🎉
thanks so so much! ill be sure to change the texts in the future to be more visible :D as for the inspirations, i personally love watching both SummoningSalts, and OrangE's videos, so theyre a big inspiration to me already. I hope i can make more video essays like this in the future :)
Well done on your first video essay. Incredible work. One thing I can point out though, is that you faded to black a bit too often. There are a plethora of reasons as to why you don’t want to fade to black too often, but to keep this short I just wanted to point it out. Keep it up man.
thank you so much! i absolutely love getting feedback and growth is pretty much my main goal, so thank you so much! if you dont mind me asking, why is it bad to fade to black? id love to know the reason incase it can help me out in other fields, thanks so much again! :D
@@Purplex08 Good to know man! Love the dedication. Well, for starters it can disrupt the engagement of your audience. For example, imagine listening to a song when the music cuts out and the flow is disrupted. It’s sort of like that, but on a smaller scale. It can almost make you feel disjointed from the content - as the viewer. It also helps to keep people more engaged when there aren’t too many pauses in the video. It can almost feel frustrating at times, imagine it in a movie! Constant fading to black would definitely agitate you. - that is not to say your video was agitating, not in the slightest, just trying to help you with a hobby I wish I had started a long time ago haha! It can disrupt the pacing of a video, almost like riding a bike. You ideally want to keep a somewhat constant pace that you aren’t changing all the time. So it can feel more like a smooth ride, instead of riding over speed bumps 😂 Forgive my analogies, but it’s the best I’ve got at the moment! Thinking on my feet haha. Using multiple different fades give an impression of knowing how to edit. If you use the same fade - and too often for that matter - it can almost give off an amateur-esc feeling. Again, not trying to be rude! Constructive criticism is something I find hard to give. This might sound like repetition but I just want to highlight it a bit more. It disrupts your storytelling - which is okay sometimes but in a video essay format it doesn’t fit as well. I think it should be used more to convey a point more effectively, like when you want to emphasise something. Almost like a dramatic pause! Also, the viewer sits in silence, staring at a reflective screen - majority of TH-cam users use phones. So you often find yourself starring into your own face, with no noise. It’s definitely a pet peeve of mine! Haha. I don’t enjoy seeing my own face 🤣 I hope this helps. Please take EVERYTHING I have said with a massive grain of salt! I’m in no way experienced in this field - I study film as a hobby, that is the only experience I have. Learning from your own experiences and your own perspectives is majorly important - taking too much feedback can be severely overwhelming. With all of that said, I really enjoyed your video and look forward to more from you. Keep it up!
@@danielkelsosmith thank you so so much! and im so glad the video was still enjoyable despite its faults :) also, your analogies are great! thank you so much for sharing your feedback with me :D
For your first video essay, I would say you did really good explaining everything and making good points. And yes, Wendy is the definition of hopelessness in this game. Also my favorite.
love the video! The music that hits every passing day also emphasis this, it feels less like "you survived the night!" and more like "you made it, but to what end?" Each character, diverse in knowledge, strength, and power, are all on equal-ish footing too. A time traveler, a shadow-puppet(eer), they're brought down to the same level of a depressed occultist child. I Imagine a bunch of them would never get along in real life, but in the constant each other is all they have. Don't Starve Together is the best thing to happen to the survivors since entering the Constant too if you think about it, imagine the fucking relief you'd feel finally meeting someone going through all the same shit you've been dealing with your past 100 deaths. In fact it'd probably help a whole lot with the whole "not dying anymore" thing as well, you can never die, but you can never lose the people you've come to rely on for comfort and survival either. Big ups for their sanity at least. Recently it seems that there's been a subtle transition to acceptance, they've come to grips with the fact that they are literally never leaving, and are just trying to make the best of it now. Death may not be a way for them to escape, but in a way continuing to live is.
I'll say there's a conclusion to have, and it's that among the feelings of endless nihilism and numbness the characters are still motivated to do things and achieve something despite the fact that it won't matter in the end. The player is the manifestation of this motivation, without whom the characters would literally not do anything.
13:36 it's also might be emplied that in real world mother spiders actually die after laying egg to feed the young with their bodies... Idk it's just a nature fact
The constant is relentless, and its portrayed so so well. There have been numerous civilizations present within various different areas of it, the gorge and ancients in the caves as specific examples, and almost all of them are either falling apart, or completely in ruin. The only exception to this that i can think of are the pigs in hamlet, and i have no idea how. Even with all the hopelessness though, they still continue, they know there is no point, but they haven't stopped yet. Granted, its hard to exactly stop when you just get brought back every time, but even so i think its important to note. Indomitable spirit n all that. I wouldve said indomitable "human" spirit but thats not right because we got many a nonhuman survivor, so. Like, some of these characters, as hopeless as it is, have seemingly found more hope in the constant than they have in their past. For example, willow can live in the constant and burn to her heart's content without any societal repercussions, winona is closer than shes ever been to finding/saving her sister charlie, wx78 can be a menace also without any societal repercussions, wigfrid is able to live out her life as a living play and frankly she seems to be having the time of her life, and that only feels like its scratching the surface. Dont starve together brough them all together, they're all kind of one big unlikely found family :]
Don’t starve Is a great game to make a video on! I have always really loved the music and I think this video has great organization. I hope you make more like this in the future!
thanks so much! im planning to make more but i dont have any ideas other than discussing the lore so far im not too good at the game myself, i only have 8 hours haha
Bro… this is amazing! Not just to examine the game’s perfect style, but to transplant the research you did for DS for other styles, like say, your own! My world’s lore seems to have a few similarities with the game, but also so different, and it really makes me want to research and refine my own craft to make it just as good in terms of identity as Don’t Starve.
@@Purplex08 Heeeey, if I’m allowed to ask… since you know what to think of and what to ask about DS’s style… could you maybe give me a set of questions I should ask myself about my own style? Like “What emotions does it convey to you?” or “What does the stereotypical character look or act like” or “If your style was music, what instruments would it be?” Etc.
@creechieuihana sure why not! if youd like, you could join our discord server, im fairly active and would love to answer some questions and stuff like that :D link is on the channel page :D
@@Purplex08 I’ll join it when I have the time, thanks a-plenty, I think you know your stuff enough to help me out and also you seem like a great guy anyways, so why not?
Yo! For whatever music doubts you may have unironically hit me up im a musician and ADORE overanalyzing game music. I can talk about the specific integration of many things in the dst soundtrack which help this overwhelmingly dreaded feeling. The insistence of leitmotifs and 3/4 time signatures paired with sharp violins are stuff id adore to spend an evening analyzing
well now that I think of it, I wonder what will happen with the survivors later? since everything is hopeless, what is awaiting them? if there is no escape, everyone is dying constantly... like seriously what tragic end awaits for them?
Even those made in the constant have no hope. Wormwood and wart lack things and they cant go home. Because they ARE home. A bleak hopeless world where they can never gain their wants or desires.
I think people that just watch tutorials and letsplays are missing the point of the game. youre supposed to starve and die and struggle due to lack of knowledge thats why the game has ways to revive cuz youre meant to die. Its not supposed to be this clean nerdy way of playing where you never feel any real pressure. And playing like intended not optimally is so much more fun. Thank you for this video. People forget this game is supposed to be bleak and hard to conquer.
regarding music there are tracks that sound epic and glorious, mainly the boss themes. it's not quite hope, but it tells us that these events are significant and do in fact matter. regarding violins you probably should've said 'violin family intstuments' instead because some of that was cellos im pretty sure, too low a pitch to be a violin.
Great video boss, I love how someone actually talks about the music and instruments finally. Just a small suggestion- if you could make the editing of images on screen less flashy and abrupt if that makes sense? I have a feeling I’ll enjoy other videos you make but that makes it hard to watch the screen and causes headaches. Thanks chief.
The characters in Don't Starve are constantly compared to chess pieces. When you re-arrange the chess pieces after a match is over, you're technically reviving them, and the same logic is applied to the survivors, that could explain why them dying and being resurrected multiple times is canon. Like this, Charlie is the Gamemaster and an Endless Witch, capable of creating endless events with the pieces in the gameboard.
this was really interesting to watch and now lots of quotes that I use to read as jokes seem a lot more depressing, but either way keep up the good work I love your don't starve videos
hi everyone! this is my first ever video essay so any and all feedback is requested! By the way, if i happen to say anything wrong then im really sorry xD, im just bad at speaking tbh anyways, thanks for reading this, have an amazing day! (also, please be sure to join our discord server! link on channel page and description) -Purplex
Well the celestial orb allows you to change characters at a very light cost, but my biggest critique is the title, it could easily come off as if the video is a negative review of dst.
@@ErikStewart-is1hm the title yes, mayhaps but i think the thumbnail and the start of the video itself explains the content within the video pretty well also, im now aware of that character change, but even then all that does is make another character suffer whilst the one in your original world ends up somewhere else
@@Purplex08 I get that just you might get some people who just click on the video to chew you out for dissing their fav game, I’m not one of them and I still want to see your channel grow
Here ill name a few more examples of characters giving their lives up for somethings Wilson and william both gave up their lives for ancient knowledge and are most likely the smartest people in the constant (outside of Wagstaff) Webber gave up his life for friends in the form of spiders. Winona gave up her life for knowledge about her sister I feel like there are a few exceptions to this rule however, the most blatant being wortox, as he can leave whenever he wants. Wormwood was born in the constant, so he most likely had a purpose here. The biggest outlier here has to be wx 78, as wagstaff forced him into the constant without him agreeing to go. (Watch the short to understand what i mean.)
You know I’ve actually been planning on making character anyleses on all the characters and you mentioned alot of stuff about the characters I think I should look into more
One thing about the colors since you said you dont know much about! The fact dst for the longest time (and until today really) only had red/redishpink(in wendy's case, that also can simbolize a lot of things) as a vibrant color says A LOT. The vibrant red in the chracters as their only saturated color is there to remind the player of how brutal the game is. Red at the same time can simbolize passion, it can simbolize danger and brutality. All characters (but some of rhe new ones like walter and wanda(that have their own meanings regarding the lack of red and etc) having this red/redish colors, are there to say "theyre used to that" "theyre used to that pain", to say that even the characters are twisted and fucked up, not only by the world but on their core even (willow is a exemple of that). Elaborating on wendy bcs i have noticed you like her a lot just like i do (shes my daughter fr fr). The fact that she has the pinksh red accents on her design says a lot. But its mostly to remind the player that: thats just a little girl. A 8-12 years old that, yes, is acostumed to the pain just like the others, but shes still a little girl. A little girl who likes literature and art, a little girl who made friendship bracelets for her only friend on the constant (Webber) and plays tea parties with him. A little girl whose only wish is smth pure as having her beloved sister back.
this was an amazing read and really insightful, so thank you so much! The whole red thing was something i never even realised, and its use with Wendy (best character fr) is actually so tragic, but adds so many layers to her. The newer more innocent characters like Walter not having red as well is something also never noticed! This was one of the best comments i think iv ever gotten, thank you so so much for commenting! :D
Fancy, I have the exact opposite experiences. Play/Check out the 'stage' story inside DST. I would attribute the game towards mystery for solo and social experiement for multiplayer gameplay. Sure the game doesn't do any handholding and can get very stressful, but it also let's the player shape up their own paradise (sandbox game after all). The music in the game is not memorable, but for example the summer work theme is such an enjoyable and energetic theme, an actual "bop" one might say. Even in terms of colours and animation, DST is very tame and goofy looking, even colourful by comparism to dark, bleak or scary games of the horror/psychological/drama genres. Isn't "hopeless" having the feeling of "just giving up?". Don't Starve's and DST's main appeal is the challenge and the mystery, as far as I know. Sure the player has stebacks and restarts but then wants to find out more and do better the next time. Hope this different view can be used in some way as constructive criticism.
A bit of feedback, take more time to describe the music, make it personnal, the game is about character sent in the constant, being toyed by some forces they cannot comprehend (Being Charlie mostly) most of the player screen can be thought as how WE follow the character, we are the silent observer watching for any opportunity in this tiny theater of consequences to jump at them once it's totally dark, winter seems to laugh at you, spring is chaos unfolding, and summer a callback that in the end everything will be fine if you survive it, yet, this is another cycle, and even If you make it through, nothing changes, it just starts over. That is what hopelesness is, a constant feeling of dread and perpetual cycle of agony, nothing matters in the long run.
I think the music that is the most hopeless is the phonograph music that plays at maxwells throne it plays the same tune over and over again as if whatever you do it will never stop playing just like how the constant will never stop
really good video essay! It's always cool to see people talking about the game in more interesting ways and wow, this explains A LOT of my experience with the game. I first got don't starve together to play it with friends and had a pretty great time. then i got my hands on solo don't starve, mainly for the two dlcs, though eventually decided to try out the old classic reign of giants just to see how the game was back then. It's probably because i was playing with friends that i didn't notice it that much, but boy does this game just radiate with fear and depression. while i wasn't hopping in blind, classic don't starve feels much more dangerous and grimm, since you're fully limited to your island with no way of exploring the ocean. the biomes just seem more barren and lifeless, despite plenty of danger to be arround. and how could i not mention adventure mode, a great conquest to reach maxwell, wich ultimatly is pointless. It really is just nihilistic. even in a game like minecraft, there is a "technical" ending to the game, yet don't starve has nothing to work towards exept survival. And somehow we still keep playing as the game becomes bigger and more dangerous without any hope that there ever will be an achivable end.
hi! sorry for the late reply (im normally better at this 😭) but thats a great story, and i think the way you explained the original DS and its Story Mode is right on the money, iv never been able to beat story mode but the fact that the ending (i wont spoil) turns out the way it does, really just shows that there ISNT anything you can do, there quite literally is no escape. *checkmate!!!*
Damn i thought San's life was tragic, but this is actually a step up from that , Sans lives in a world where everything without warning can be reset effectively trapped in groundhog year , thats why he eats bad food is lazy and doesn't even have the energy to kill you when you kill his Brother But in don't Starve its on a completely different level , you can accept your fate of living for eternity in the Constant but even if you do , the entire world wants you dead and dying doesn't even save you from eternal Damnation and nothing you do can change it , atleast Sans kinda lives a normal life but it's not Eternal damnation because at some point the person controlling the timeline will get bored and leave but Willson has no hope of that , just surviving until he doesn't.
good analogy, both worlds are effectively the same when it comes to dispair within the characters, the difference is, frisk has complete control and can choose to be kind, but in dont starve the world makes it very clear that it wants to kill you, and not even once, but over and over again thanks for the comment! i love undertale :D
thank you for the feedback! ill be sure to use this in future video essays, since this was my first one i was quite sure i had messed something up haha thanks for the comment, have a great day :D
I think the only characters that are actually happy to be in the constant, would have to be Walter and Wormwood. (With Wormwood being born in the Constant)
@@Purplex08 because of his bravery, the fact that he just pretty optimistic, from telling scary stories to the survivors, to having Woby by his side. Walter just looks he’s mostly enjoying his time in the constant. Not to mention, he’s also a Boy Scout who loves the wilderness
@estarriaofficial6463 ah i see, he does seem to be quite happy in the constant for sure! i cant imagine just how traumatic it would be as a little boy trying to survive and (possibly) dying over and over
im so sorry about the blur, many have complained about it and i have 100% taken it into account, all future videos will (and have) included little to no blur at all, hope the video was still enjoyable despite the annoyance 😅 (Also, sorry for the late reply!!)
Really enjoyed the video you had me excited with the lore before saying it's the end of the video :D. Hopefully you come around that idea and do it since I haven't seen much of lore videos with Don't Starve Together and myself finds dst lore very fun and interesting.
I have been considering doing the video, i could even name it "The Tragic Tale of Dont Starve" which breaks down the story in a more cinematic "storytelling" kind of way, do you think that would be entertaining? since its quite different to my normal style of video, im still in debate
12:48 no you don't "know this", it's just a speculation. and even if they are from different time periods, time flows very differently in the constant than in the real world. maxwell has been there for a LONG time, but meanwhile very little time passed in the real world. i feel like the whole videos point of the game being hopeless is just wrong. the only reason most of the characters are doing what they do is because of hope. hope keeps (most of) them alive. saying the whole game is hopeless is just wrong.
The world is hopeless but SOME of the characters arent. Characters like wilson and ironically maxwell are the opposite of hopeless, while on the otber sidea yeah wendys hopeless. Characters like willow are also juat fine living in the constant lol.
I don't think warly is the character who made the deal with maxwell he's originally from the appendix we also know he was in gorge he's more on a journey to help his mother I've heard theories that warly needs to bring new and novel dishes to restore his mother's memory (Which ties in with his passive) so he went to this world to get new ingredients
Very nice video jam-packed with information! To make the text more legible, you could have a dark outline around each letter to help separate it from the video. And the blur editing was extremely distracting, I had an easier time listening when I wasn't watching the video. Maybe only blur when you're focusing something else in front of the gameplay 💚
thanks so much for the feedback! im still quite new to the whole video essay format, so any and all feedback is invaluable to me, thanks so much! i hope you enjoyed the video, and sorry for the late reply :)
yes, he was a human boy in the real world turned spider, then he presumably stayed there and eventually got trapped in the constant sadly, in his time in the real world (as a spider, not human) he was treated like garbage, really sad :(
Hi I wanted to ask what software you use or video editing I'm getting into video essays myself and the editing is really fun, I'm currently using DaVinci Resolve I'm still new so I can't do more than a glorified Slideshow but I want to the same level of editing as this video
![How Does Charlie Feel About Every Survivor? [Don't Starve Together Lore]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-FfW1Fg0bAs/mqdefault.jpg)
I like your video purple man
Oh hello there! Absolute honour that youve seen this, i love your content :D
Tysm!
Man behind the slaughter
please make video about don't starve update or i'm actually going to die
"i like your funny words magic man"
I love both you content!!!
In my opinion Wendy's worst quote is when examining a rope she says
"This would be easy way to get out of this place" and imagining it is just horrible
Also a great vid
Thanks! i considered using that quote too, as its quite gruesome and would leave.. uh... *remnants* for everyone else to see, compared to a lava pool. But i decided against it since the rope quote is quite popular and well known throughout the community.
Thanks again! glad you enjoyed the video :D
ACK
Except it's not, Wendy would just reappear in another world, ready for hell once more
I like how Wortox isn't trapped in the constant but he stays there because he is bored
oh yeah, wortox really doesnt care at all lmao
bros just there cus he wants to be xD
Isn't Wortox native to The Constant? So is Wurt and Wormwood
well yeah, i did put wurts portrait on the screen for a second when i said "*almost* every character is stuck there because of maxwell" or something
@@xXFeralPyr0pteraXx Nope he is from other dimension. When he examines the ancient gateway he says he came from there
then are all krampii from different dimensions?@@asdfxl3346
I remember being afraid to play this game in the evenings and I never knew why, but now it explains everything
the game has a creepy aura around it doesnt it?
What i love about this game is like its chess, maxwell is seen as the all powerful god but when you reach him he's not actually that strong he's more like a puppet to "them" so basically maxwell is like kings in chess
yep! in the original game, there were only 8 characters, yknow how many pawns are in chess?
...8
@Purplex08 and there's literally enemies in the game that are robots symbolizing the knight the bishop and the rock pieces and if we say charlie is the queen we have a full chess board and if them are the players we can have a don't starve chess tournament
Btw Webber used to be a human boy before getting half eaten-fused with a constant spider that’s why he’s called “the indigestible”
Wormwood, I think, is the most hopeful out of all of the Survivors.
He was born into a world where practically everything wants everything dead, he still tries to make friends. Even if it’s in vain, He still tries to make friends with practically anything. And he never once has a line of dialogue filled with hate towards another living being, and I think that’s nice.
very true! thanks for the comment :)
Speaking of Warly, i feel like the deal he had with constant was a bit weird since every person craved something and got it like wilson can actually feel like a real scientiest, Wigfrid can be valkyrie, and many more. But Warly didnt really needed something. So if i could speculate then my theory is that Warly wants make people happy as a cook, basically the constant let him make other people happy by cooking for them, starving in constant is a constant treat but warly can always surprise you with a perfect meal. On another hand i think that maybe Warly needed an escape from his granny, dementia is really scary and to watch a person you love, die a bit more with every day could really harm your mental state, so maybe constant saved him from that, by putting him in extreme situation like surviving in constant, he could finally stop thinking about awfull things and start think about saving himself. Thats a bit grim, but thats just how deals with constant goes
thats a good way of putting it, great thoery! appreciate your interesting comment :)
warly is in DS too, not just DST. i take care of an elderly person with dementia full-time. She is my grandmother and i used to love her more then anyone in the world. There are days when i legitimately have to stop myself from strangling her with a pillow now. There are no words to describe how having to explain everything 20 times in a row fucks you up. How much it sucks when you realize they have no idea who yuu are after you spent five years cleaning, cooking, washing them and their clothes and wiping their butt, sacrificing you youth, your health, your career, your hobbies, your mental health, everything. If i didn't have my husband and cat, and Maxwell came to me and asked, "do you want to never have to see her again and no one will ask any questions about it" i would seriously consider it. Warly might be the only character here who actually got what he wanted
Remember this is the same game where you can see the cursed animation of tallbird laying eggs, the same game that half of the time also doesn't take themselves seriously
it's interesting you bring up the colour choices for the game, i knew someone who said that they couldn't play Don't Starve for long because the colour casting made them feel tired and depressed. However when i showed them the shipwrecked DLC, they said the colour cast was much more pleasant and bearable for them. it's true the sepia filter really does have an effect on one's perception!
woah thats really interesting! i never knew colours could affect people that much, thanks for the interesting comment :D
This is also one of the reasons why some schools have green and yellow walls and or floors those colors calm you down since they are colors that appear in nature a lot
@kwad9145 thats actually really cool, too bad my school never used em haha
your friend might like color cube mods then! to change normal dsts season colors to a brighter one (i wont link one here but they exist)
Literally just up you sanity back up. lol.
The colors desaturate as you lose it. On purpose and by design.
I have a theory, maxwells deal with Warly was that his grandmother would no longer suffer, and of course, pain only ends once the life ends…
oh god thats really dark...
The community belives that the deal, has the recipe and ingredients to make a Dish so powerfull that Will cure early grandmother dementia. It is belive that this Dish included the the brainny mather a edible item found in shipwereked DLC, the DLC where warly has introduced
During the instrument part, I was thinking "Alright is it Violin, or piano?"
Because the piano sure was also there. in all three.
piano works too, as it is quite a somber instrument when used correctly, however violin is used in more songs and is known for its themes tied to despair and hopelessess itself
great train of thought! thanks for the comment, have a great day :D
also some percussion instrument, i cant tell if its xylophone, marimba, or glockenspiel.
So fun fact. All of the music in the game is a light motif of the song "Rag time". The song that Maxwell is forced to listen to on the grama phone in the end of adventure mode in Don't starve single player... FOREVER, and we as the player, join in on that suffering.
oh i never noticed that!
Good video. Thought out and well written. I just have one disagreement.
Spring music doesnt sound dreary or depressing. Its an anxious energetic mess. Full of "hop to it" energy with the undertone to say you might miss your chance. Fitting because its the most abundant season for food after the empty winters preventing many recorce regrowth. Spring is for food from farming, frog legs, and feathers of Moose, and the slippery chance lightning will ruin everything for you.
Spot on with the feeling of autumn. Peefect music for the exploration and curious nature of a new wilderness
oh thats a perfect description for spring! i wish i could go back in time and use that instead haha xD
thanks for the feedback!
also, im glad you enjoyed the video, it took a lot of work :D
dude im so glad to see some more dst content that aren't guides and stuff, this is great!
thanks so much! glad you enjoyed the video :D
when I saw the title of the video I thought it was calling the game itself hopeless, like in a derogatory way of calling any more development a lost cause, so I'm glad I moused over it for longer
thats a mistake on my part, the title can be a tad misleading so apologies for that!
It brings me immense joy whenever someone talks about this game, I feel like it's so underappreciated.
it really is, it has so much care and thought but into it and i love it
What's even more depressing is that when the survivors in dst found a potential portal out of the constant, they instead got sent to multiple dimensions, each more dangerous and deadly than the last. And what's worse is that once they conquered these dimensions, they were just sent back to where they began. None of it mattered or changed anything, it was just more pain to endure.
The most"hopeless" moment in this game is when it's summer no sanity no food and you are getting chased by hounds and shadow creatures
currently experiencing that on my world xD
I don't think Dst is hopeless, at least not the for the character, they find joy in the Constant, it's fill with the primal wild, sure it's dangerous, but it's just as exciting and free, sure you might not be safe all of the time, but as time go on, you got years of experiance to guide you, and in Canon Dst lore, they got a lot of people they can depend on.
yes yes, but after that joy what do you have?
every single time you die you get transported to a different dimension, and while yes, people you know may be there, they arent the same
and this cycle of drying, respawning, making friends, dying respawning etc is horrible
but i do see your point! thanks for commenting ans i hope i didnt sound rude or anything :)
@@Purplex08 just like real life... merely without respawnings
fair enough
Yeah but it took a long time for them to be able to work together, they had to go alone for a long while
Webber was a human until a spider from the constant Mutated him, and he got chased out of the house and made a deal with maxwell.
yes, but for a while he remained in the real world and was treated like garbage by even his own parents
guess webber didnt get too screwed over by maxwell, huh?
@@Purplex08 hey! Look at the good side! He now has spiders to his side and many friends especialy Wendy!
@French_officer_of_1e_Regiment yeah! im glad webbers happy now :)
Him and wendy are great friends! its really wholesome
@@Purplex08 They even have friendship braccalets! Aww so wholesome in such Purgatory
From what i remember the characters are all adults so i think they spent so much time in the constant that they grew up there. Which is depressing.
The summer theme almost feels like the game is telling you “Oh you made it, I didn’t think you’d get this far”
yeah! xD
Spring's theme always came across to me as more frantic, and chaotic, which is what it feels like as your trying to make sure you get enough food as it rains frogs down upon your head with your sanity draining, and your tools keep slipping out of your soaked hands. xD
I really like that even in moments where there is some hope of a real way out, the characters continue to fuck each other up, like helping Charlie fix the Atriun portal, which summons more shadow creatures and acid rain, or helping Wagstaff with celestial champion, which should be something "good" but simply ruins your world with moon entities spread across the world ruining your things and making your life difficult
Didnt even know that, thats really interesting! Even in times of hope, the constant pushes back :(
Probably because it might let them escape,in the forge event they got there with the Atrium portal also with the gorge event their so desperate,they'll go through it to try and go back to the real world by helping the shadow queen,same with wagstaff the survivors probably think he can help them because he can travel between the real world and the constant,they think by helping them they can escape
Nice essay! Time to comment.
-the whole thing about the characters dying over and over (especially Wilson) doesn't seem to stem from the world ramping up the difficulty but from the lack of knowledge Wilson has at the beginning. DS prides itself on being uncompromising after all. There is little to no handholding and the player is supposed to learn about the world by trial of fire, dying again and again until they make it.
-the concept of most if not all characters missing or wanting something is quite interesting! Here is my idea list, feel free to correct me though.
-Wilson wanted knowledge and to be a real successful scientist, which he got one way or the other.
-Willow is in an interesting spot. She was attacked by a creature of the constant but later helped Maxwell by setting a library on fire. She also seems somewhat insane and I can't imagine her making a deal for anything she could not have, seeing as her pyromania is easy to satisfy in the normal world.
-Wendy is a clear case. She lost her sister, got depressed and wanted to see her again. Weird though that Maxwell doesn't recognize her as family. Maybe he didn't have much of a bond with his brother. Then again, he seems to be able to stalk the normal world from the nightmare throne and didn't see her father once? Weird.
-Wolfgang is another obvious case. He wanted strength and got it one way or the other.
-WX is an outlier. He got into the constant not through a deal but seemingly unintentionally after discovering that blaming organic parts for everything wasn't the best idea, becoming unstable and being banished by Wagstaff.
-Wickerbottom wanted to preserve her books after Maxwell set her library ablaze through Willow. She didn't WANT or need anything initially so Maxwell pushed her into accepting his twisted deal. I suppose he targeted her because Wickerbottom conducted studies on nightmare creatures, so Maxwell wanted to keep her silent. Maybe he also got her, together with her knowledge, into the constant to use for later in a strategic move, seeing as Maxwell is quite fond of chess.
-Woodie is... weird? His short contains no lore and we can only glimpse info from Walter's short. Maybe he wanted to be free of his curse? That can't be, seeing as his desire was never fulfilled, contrary to the other characters. Maybe his curse is a result of the constant, seeing as it has a more powerful "moon"? Maybe something else, maybe a clue can be found in some obscure quote I don't know.
-Wes was a mistake, simple as. He was at the wrong place in the wrong time. He also introduced crows to the constant, how wonderful!
-old Waxwell himself was pulled in by them after playing with (shadow) fire and getting himself burned. Though his capturing of other survivors was his decision, perhaps for amusement in some sort of hunger games esque game of his, seeing as they never forced him to do anything. Maybe he glimpsed a larger reality and thought it necessary to pull people in, who knows?
-Wigfrid wanted to be on stage again and to be in the headlines. A classic case of wishing upon Maxwells splumonkey paw.
-Webber wished to be either separated or normal again (I forgot the exact word of the short) and either got screwed over or got his/their wish as a friendly spider-boy is far more normal in the constant than a lot of other stuff.
-Winona is also a bit of an outlier as she was pulled in not only by someone other than Maxwell but was also involved in a portal incident (which are outliers in my opinion since if someone enters the constant via self built portal, they aren't there for Maxwell's amusement (or other ulterior motives) but simply ended up there). I also think Winona was in the wrong place at the wrong time too since it feels to me that Charlie merely used the opportunity for whatever reason. She also never wanted for her sister to really be in the constant, as evidenced by unused and removed Charlie quoted attached to Winonas different stages of darkness damage. Maybe there is some further split-personality-stuff going on.
-Warly got pulled in for unknown reasons, as you stated in the video. Maybe to make people happy with his cooking, maybe to find a way to cure his grandma, who knows.
-Wortox, Wormwood and Wurt are all inhabitants if the constant but may have desires of their own? Wortox got cursed by an unknown force but is not bound to the constant, as evidenced by him stealing the Terrarium. Maybe he wants to be free of his curse but Maxwell has nothing to do with it.
Wormwood was a creation of the "moon", for unknown reasons, and is just a plant child, rejected by many, except those who love AoE damage. Maybe he is a sleeper agent for Alter, seems unlikely though.
-Wurt is an intelligent merm child, fair enough. There are theories about her and the Gorge so she might actually be a goat who has not been totally mermified and is still somewhat intelligent? She seems unaware of this.
-Walter made no deal we know of, being pulled in while investigating Woodie and the Werebeaver. Maybe Charlie pulls in people randomly when the opportunity arises or maybe Wagstaff is to blame, seeing as his radios are prominent connections to the constant.
-And finally, Wanda. She was hunted by nightmare creatures for unknown reasons, maybe she used the constant's powers (seeing as her watches are powered by Thulecite and nightmare fuel) but tried to outrun her part of the deal or the consequences of her actions in general. Her entrance into the constant was not of the nightmares doing, but of a watch malfunction which combined with the whole "shattered timelines" thing might show that she got captured, but in an unusual way with possible repercussions.
So in conclusion: Maxwell's deals are far more common with DS and RoG characters while DST characters have more unusual methods of landing in the constant. Huh.
i agree with the beginning statement alot, the no handholding rule the game has makes it super difficult, and you can see that where wilson stops dying again and again due to more experience.
and also, this is probably one of the most in depth and interesting comments i have EVER seen, so thank you so much for typing it all out!
@@Purplex08
Exaclty. In the, I believe it was the cyclum?, comic we see Wilson doing fairly well after being kicked off the nightmare throne and back into the wilderness so he must have picked up SOME skill. And while life in the constant is portayed as more difficult in the shorts than in game (if you know what you are doing that is), the survivors definetly DID defeat the Fuelweaver as seen in the forge and gorge.
And yeah, thanks for liking it! I went on kind of a rant there :v
@erwin101 yes cyclum! i remember doing that puzzle a while back haha (3 weeks ago xD)
and no worries at all! Feel free to write more in the future! you seem to be really good at writing long in depth mini essays, i look forward to feedback from you in the future :)
off topic, but still:
by creating a temporary rift in that clearing, it turned out that the owl man appeared, whom we see in the screecher.
(sorry for the mistakes, I don't know English well)
One thing i see a lot of people mentioning is that in later updates when we get the final updates of the game we might see a way for us to escape... But here's the thing i dont think we ever will putting aside gameplay implications bo character would actually want to escape
You think warly wants to go back and face the reality of his mother being dead ? Or do you think wendy wants to go out only to never see her sister again ? Or look at webber he would be chased away into the woods and then killed by a hunter... In fact all monster characters would face the same fate... Even wickerbottom would go out only to loose the insane knowledge she gained from the shadows and with her beloved library burnt she would lose uer life's meaning, and oh wigfrid she had so much money but she literally was bored outbof her mind she didn't want it she just wanted to be some legendary warrior and thats exactly what she is in the constant she is happy there...
precisely, i think characters "escaping" is more of a detriment due to maxwell COMPLETELY screwing them over in the real world
so in other words, its best to stay in this horrible place forever, and die over and over again
*fitting, isnt it?*
I feel like the weirdest part of don't starve is that there's a weird bit of good. Kinda like the comment on a Lisa the pointless video about Hugo Leopardi. Nothing matters, but you managed to find meaning in it, almost comfort in eternal doom. Everything you do might not matter, but it matters to you. Because if you wanted to give up, you could have just sat still, eternally numb. But you just choose not to. You find joy in your freedom despite being locked within the boundaries of the constant.
Honestly true hopelessness can only be achieved if you can't find meaning in what you do, can't enjoy anything. Might be just fleeting moments but they will all be cut short. You will have to eventually make a tough decision where there is simply no winning. But in Don't Starve you just find joy in the simple things. Your character doesn't go insane purely because of basic things and pleasures like Candy and sleeping. It's the beauty of the eternal struggle, you know it won't matters but you will still do it. Almost like real life. you will eventually die, everyone will. And in the end, nothing will matter. Yet we still enjoy it.
woah, thanks for the essay, i think iv just re-evaluated my life haha
thanks for the interesting comment! :D
when i clicked on this i thought it was like a bashing towards the game and i was ready to throw hands but glad that it is not
heh, that makes 3 people now
hope you enjoyed the video, i love dont statve honestly
The screen being so blurry was kind of a strain on the eyes, but I enjoyed the video otherwise.
Although this is why it's a shame they gave up on the single player game. I think it conveyed the themes and concept of hopelessness an isolation much better than DST does.
7:56 PLEASE talk about them at length that would genuinely be so fun to dissect
why each character in dst is hopeless? could be a fun idea!
Hey, here's a comment on the video - 2 minutes in I am entertained and I'm loving it, but the blur was a bit too much for my eyes, it just feels unpleasant. Putting that aside - great video
im glad youre enjoying it, and thanks for the feedback! ill be sure to dial down the blur next time
@@Purplex08May I ask why you put any blur at all? Any other videos about video games don't have this constant blurring so I don't think there should be a problem with copyright or anything... It just makes it hard to watch and removes the 'video' part of 'video essay'. Why not have it normal and only blur it when you want to make text or pictures in the foreground more visible?
Other than that it was a nice analysis, well done!
Its mainly due in part to how i got used to editing, even as ealy as around 100 subscribers i got into the habit of blurring background footage, and as such got used to it.
If youre wondering why exactly i did that, its mainly due to a video series known as the "10 stages of every xxxx main" for TF2, which very much likes to use blurry footage. I am aware of my mistakes now though, and i hope ill be able to create better footage from now on :D
also, glad you enjoyed! @@soccmel4778
@@Purplex08 Ah I see! I'm very excited to see more of your videos :D
13:48 no no no... in the real world he was a kid and not a spider and thereby most likely a human mother´s stale food is meant in that quote.
oh yes! thats what i mean, after the events of the webber short, it is implied that webber stayed in the real world (atleast for a while) and so his only source of food would be his human mothers stale leftovers, perhaps left out by her, or found in the trash
either way, i feel bad for webber
I like how there are really dark ass characters, and then we have Wilba and Walter.
That makes me question if they're just inocent or if they're just really optimistic
most likely a combination of both honestly
Really good for a first video essay, and make sure to keep all the words on screen readable, for some of them, i couldn't quite read them, but other than that, incredible stuff! some people to get inspiration from is TheCursedJudge, Orang3 (he made a 2 hour long video on don't starve lol, it was very good), and of course, Summoning Salt, and its nice to see your not being chained to GD 👌🎉
thanks so so much! ill be sure to change the texts in the future to be more visible :D
as for the inspirations, i personally love watching both SummoningSalts, and OrangE's videos, so theyre a big inspiration to me already. I hope i can make more video essays like this in the future :)
Well done on your first video essay. Incredible work.
One thing I can point out though, is that you faded to black a bit too often. There are a plethora of reasons as to why you don’t want to fade to black too often, but to keep this short I just wanted to point it out. Keep it up man.
thank you so much! i absolutely love getting feedback and growth is pretty much my main goal, so thank you so much!
if you dont mind me asking, why is it bad to fade to black? id love to know the reason incase it can help me out in other fields, thanks so much again! :D
@@Purplex08 Good to know man! Love the dedication.
Well, for starters it can disrupt the engagement of your audience. For example, imagine listening to a song when the music cuts out and the flow is disrupted. It’s sort of like that, but on a smaller scale. It can almost make you feel disjointed from the content - as the viewer. It also helps to keep people more engaged when there aren’t too many pauses in the video. It can almost feel frustrating at times, imagine it in a movie! Constant fading to black would definitely agitate you. - that is not to say your video was agitating, not in the slightest, just trying to help you with a hobby I wish I had started a long time ago haha!
It can disrupt the pacing of a video, almost like riding a bike. You ideally want to keep a somewhat constant pace that you aren’t changing all the time. So it can feel more like a smooth ride, instead of riding over speed bumps 😂
Forgive my analogies, but it’s the best I’ve got at the moment! Thinking on my feet haha.
Using multiple different fades give an impression of knowing how to edit. If you use the same fade - and too often for that matter - it can almost give off an amateur-esc feeling. Again, not trying to be rude! Constructive criticism is something I find hard to give.
This might sound like repetition but I just want to highlight it a bit more. It disrupts your storytelling - which is okay sometimes but in a video essay format it doesn’t fit as well. I think it should be used more to convey a point more effectively, like when you want to emphasise something. Almost like a dramatic pause!
Also, the viewer sits in silence, staring at a reflective screen - majority of TH-cam users use phones. So you often find yourself starring into your own face, with no noise.
It’s definitely a pet peeve of mine! Haha. I don’t enjoy seeing my own face 🤣
I hope this helps. Please take EVERYTHING I have said with a massive grain of salt! I’m in no way experienced in this field - I study film as a hobby, that is the only experience I have. Learning from your own experiences and your own perspectives is majorly important - taking too much feedback can be severely overwhelming.
With all of that said, I really enjoyed your video and look forward to more from you. Keep it up!
@@danielkelsosmith thank you so so much! and im so glad the video was still enjoyable despite its faults :)
also, your analogies are great! thank you so much for sharing your feedback with me :D
@@Purplex08 Not faults, but steps in a creative journey. Nothing is a fault in your video.
It's not a recent video, but it's a good and well-crafted video, keep it up man
@hamstermalandro thank you! im trying to make something similar but its a bit difficult, its coming together though! slowly but surely :)
For your first video essay, I would say you did really good explaining everything and making good points.
And yes, Wendy is the definition of hopelessness in this game. Also my favorite.
thanks so much! im not quite good at this yet but im trying to get better, any feedback is appreciated :)
tysm for the comment!
love the video!
The music that hits every passing day also emphasis this, it feels less like "you survived the night!" and more like "you made it, but to what end?"
Each character, diverse in knowledge, strength, and power, are all on equal-ish footing too. A time traveler, a shadow-puppet(eer), they're brought down to the same level of a depressed occultist child. I Imagine a bunch of them would never get along in real life, but in the constant each other is all they have.
Don't Starve Together is the best thing to happen to the survivors since entering the Constant too if you think about it, imagine the fucking relief you'd feel finally meeting someone going through all the same shit you've been dealing with your past 100 deaths. In fact it'd probably help a whole lot with the whole "not dying anymore" thing as well, you can never die, but you can never lose the people you've come to rely on for comfort and survival either. Big ups for their sanity at least.
Recently it seems that there's been a subtle transition to acceptance, they've come to grips with the fact that they are literally never leaving, and are just trying to make the best of it now. Death may not be a way for them to escape, but in a way continuing to live is.
@@kushtakathenomad8385 great breakdown! thank you so much for the interesting comment and im glad you enjoyed! :D
I'll say there's a conclusion to have, and it's that among the feelings of endless nihilism and numbness the characters are still motivated to do things and achieve something despite the fact that it won't matter in the end. The player is the manifestation of this motivation, without whom the characters would literally not do anything.
14:20 also Maxwell:
"BOW BEFORE YOUR NEW FISHING KING!"
*when the fish scale is on fire*
"NOOOO!"
13:36 it's also might be emplied that in real world mother spiders actually die after laying egg to feed the young with their bodies... Idk it's just a nature fact
oh my god thats horrifying
The constant is relentless, and its portrayed so so well. There have been numerous civilizations present within various different areas of it, the gorge and ancients in the caves as specific examples, and almost all of them are either falling apart, or completely in ruin. The only exception to this that i can think of are the pigs in hamlet, and i have no idea how.
Even with all the hopelessness though, they still continue, they know there is no point, but they haven't stopped yet. Granted, its hard to exactly stop when you just get brought back every time, but even so i think its important to note. Indomitable spirit n all that. I wouldve said indomitable "human" spirit but thats not right because we got many a nonhuman survivor, so.
Like, some of these characters, as hopeless as it is, have seemingly found more hope in the constant than they have in their past. For example, willow can live in the constant and burn to her heart's content without any societal repercussions, winona is closer than shes ever been to finding/saving her sister charlie, wx78 can be a menace also without any societal repercussions, wigfrid is able to live out her life as a living play and frankly she seems to be having the time of her life, and that only feels like its scratching the surface. Dont starve together brough them all together, they're all kind of one big unlikely found family :]
The Hamlet pig society still falls into cycles of apocalypse and calmness though.
@@AeyakS thank you for pointing this out omg. i havent actually. played. hamlet and i wasnt. sure. thank you so much
Don’t starve Is a great game to make a video on! I have always really loved the music and I think this video has great organization. I hope you make more like this in the future!
thanks so much! im planning to make more but i dont have any ideas other than discussing the lore so far
im not too good at the game myself, i only have 8 hours haha
Bro… this is amazing! Not just to examine the game’s perfect style, but to transplant the research you did for DS for other styles, like say, your own! My world’s lore seems to have a few similarities with the game, but also so different, and it really makes me want to research and refine my own craft to make it just as good in terms of identity as Don’t Starve.
thats amazing! thank you so much for the kind words btw, it really means a lot to me :D
glad you enjoyed the video!
@@Purplex08 Heeeey, if I’m allowed to ask… since you know what to think of and what to ask about DS’s style… could you maybe give me a set of questions I should ask myself about my own style? Like “What emotions does it convey to you?” or “What does the stereotypical character look or act like” or “If your style was music, what instruments would it be?” Etc.
@creechieuihana sure why not! if youd like, you could join our discord server, im fairly active and would love to answer some questions and stuff like that :D
link is on the channel page :D
@@Purplex08 I’ll join it when I have the time, thanks a-plenty, I think you know your stuff enough to help me out and also you seem like a great guy anyways, so why not?
Thanks! I really appreciate it :D@@creechieuihana
Yo! For whatever music doubts you may have unironically hit me up im a musician and ADORE overanalyzing game music. I can talk about the specific integration of many things in the dst soundtrack which help this overwhelmingly dreaded feeling. The insistence of leitmotifs and 3/4 time signatures paired with sharp violins are stuff id adore to spend an evening analyzing
woah thats amazing! i definitely will if i make more videos like this, thank you so much!
Good work! You're doing great especially for a first video essay!
well now that I think of it, I wonder what will happen with the survivors later? since everything is hopeless, what is awaiting them? if there is no escape, everyone is dying constantly... like seriously what tragic end awaits for them?
Even those made in the constant have no hope. Wormwood and wart lack things and they cant go home. Because they ARE home. A bleak hopeless world where they can never gain their wants or desires.
I really liked your analysis! You made it able to convey a deep reflection in a clear way. Good work!
thank you so much! glad you enjoyed :D
This is great. It is concise, paced well, and well rounded. Good job.
thank you!
I think people that just watch tutorials and letsplays are missing the point of the game. youre supposed to starve and die and struggle due to lack of knowledge thats why the game has ways to revive cuz youre meant to die. Its not supposed to be this clean nerdy way of playing where you never feel any real pressure. And playing like intended not optimally is so much more fun. Thank you for this video. People forget this game is supposed to be bleak and hard to conquer.
regarding music
there are tracks that sound epic and glorious, mainly the boss themes. it's not quite hope, but it tells us that these events are significant and do in fact matter. regarding violins you probably should've said 'violin family intstuments' instead because some of that was cellos im pretty sure, too low a pitch to be a violin.
oh oops! didnt know haha, thanks for the informative comment! :D
nice video! i especially like the instruments section, and the dawn/dusk themes in-between sections
Thank you so much! glad you like the video :D
Great video boss, I love how someone actually talks about the music and instruments finally. Just a small suggestion- if you could make the editing of images on screen less flashy and abrupt if that makes sense? I have a feeling I’ll enjoy other videos you make but that makes it hard to watch the screen and causes headaches. Thanks chief.
yes will do! thanks so much for the feedback :)
iv had a few complaints, and im taking them all to heart :)
Wagstaff went in and out of the Constant with his physical body multiple times .
The characters in Don't Starve are constantly compared to chess pieces. When you re-arrange the chess pieces after a match is over, you're technically reviving them, and the same logic is applied to the survivors, that could explain why them dying and being resurrected multiple times is canon.
Like this, Charlie is the Gamemaster and an Endless Witch, capable of creating endless events with the pieces in the gameboard.
@@lovkarts ooo thats a really good way of thinking of things!
tysm for the intrresting comment
this was really interesting to watch and now lots of quotes that I use to read as jokes seem a lot more depressing, but either way keep up the good work I love your don't starve videos
thanks so much! hope i can continue to entertain haha, got some more ones planned for the future :)
hi everyone! this is my first ever video essay so any and all feedback is requested! By the way, if i happen to say anything wrong then im really sorry xD, im just bad at speaking tbh
anyways, thanks for reading this, have an amazing day!
(also, please be sure to join our discord server! link on channel page and description)
-Purplex
It’s great! 😊
Well the celestial orb allows you to change characters at a very light cost, but my biggest critique is the title, it could easily come off as if the video is a negative review of dst.
@@ErikStewart-is1hm the title yes, mayhaps but i think the thumbnail and the start of the video itself explains the content within the video pretty well
also, im now aware of that character change, but even then all that does is make another character suffer whilst the one in your original world ends up somewhere else
@@Purplex08 I get that just you might get some people who just click on the video to chew you out for dissing their fav game, I’m not one of them and I still want to see your channel grow
@ErikStewart-is1hm ah i see, i would change the title but i wouldnt know what to, and i appreciate the support btw
Maybe Warly's deal had it so his granny would be cured of the disorders?
why do i feel like wendy would stay in the constant with abby even if she knew how to escape
Really thorough research dude! Not a Don't starve player, but still pretty cool
ayy thanks so much! and you should definetly consider trying the game out if you have the chance, its incredibly fun and the community is very kind :D
Yippie!!! More dst content being recomended to me i need it the hyperfixation is coming back
that happens to me wayyyy too much xD recently started again with stardew valley
How do you not get depressed when your sister die and you get trapped into basically hell
fair enough
God i love the dst soundtrack sooo much.
Cool vid, would love to see more of your thoughts on stuff on this game
thanks! glad to see people are enjoying the video :D
Here ill name a few more examples of characters giving their lives up for somethings
Wilson and william both gave up their lives for ancient knowledge and are most likely the smartest people in the constant (outside of Wagstaff)
Webber gave up his life for friends in the form of spiders.
Winona gave up her life for knowledge about her sister
I feel like there are a few exceptions to this rule however, the most blatant being wortox, as he can leave whenever he wants. Wormwood was born in the constant, so he most likely had a purpose here. The biggest outlier here has to be wx 78, as wagstaff forced him into the constant without him agreeing to go. (Watch the short to understand what i mean.)
good examples! thanks for the comment :)
@@Purplex08 oh I forgot another outlier, Wes. Enough said.
yep, wes is so unlucky :(
You know I’ve actually been planning on making character anyleses on all the characters and you mentioned alot of stuff about the characters I think I should look into more
Another super sad thing about Wendy is that her dad is a relative of the person who trapped them inside of this dimension
oh i forgot about that detail!
One thing about the colors since you said you dont know much about!
The fact dst for the longest time (and until today really) only had red/redishpink(in wendy's case, that also can simbolize a lot of things) as a vibrant color says A LOT.
The vibrant red in the chracters as their only saturated color is there to remind the player of how brutal the game is. Red at the same time can simbolize passion, it can simbolize danger and brutality. All characters (but some of rhe new ones like walter and wanda(that have their own meanings regarding the lack of red and etc) having this red/redish colors, are there to say "theyre used to that" "theyre used to that pain", to say that even the characters are twisted and fucked up, not only by the world but on their core even (willow is a exemple of that).
Elaborating on wendy bcs i have noticed you like her a lot just like i do (shes my daughter fr fr). The fact that she has the pinksh red accents on her design says a lot. But its mostly to remind the player that: thats just a little girl. A 8-12 years old that, yes, is acostumed to the pain just like the others, but shes still a little girl. A little girl who likes literature and art, a little girl who made friendship bracelets for her only friend on the constant (Webber) and plays tea parties with him. A little girl whose only wish is smth pure as having her beloved sister back.
this was an amazing read and really insightful, so thank you so much! The whole red thing was something i never even realised, and its use with Wendy (best character fr) is actually so tragic, but adds so many layers to her. The newer more innocent characters like Walter not having red as well is something also never noticed!
This was one of the best comments i think iv ever gotten, thank you so so much for commenting! :D
@@Purplex08 yippie!!
Yw! :3
This was a really great video! There's a lot to improve and I can see you doing that.
thank you so much! glad you enjoyed :D
The Don't starve ost is peak music
it really is xD
Fancy, I have the exact opposite experiences. Play/Check out the 'stage' story inside DST. I would attribute the game towards mystery for solo and social experiement for multiplayer gameplay.
Sure the game doesn't do any handholding and can get very stressful, but it also let's the player shape up their own paradise (sandbox game after all).
The music in the game is not memorable, but for example the summer work theme is such an enjoyable and energetic theme, an actual "bop" one might say.
Even in terms of colours and animation, DST is very tame and goofy looking, even colourful by comparism to dark, bleak or scary games of the horror/psychological/drama genres.
Isn't "hopeless" having the feeling of "just giving up?". Don't Starve's and DST's main appeal is the challenge and the mystery, as far as I know.
Sure the player has stebacks and restarts but then wants to find out more and do better the next time. Hope this different view can be used in some way as constructive criticism.
7:34 Wurt technically also has a tragic backstory, since she was turned into a merm by the gnaw during the gorge event
oh thats true! i completely forgot about that
A bit of feedback, take more time to describe the music, make it personnal, the game is about character sent in the constant, being toyed by some forces they cannot comprehend (Being Charlie mostly) most of the player screen can be thought as how WE follow the character, we are the silent observer watching for any opportunity in this tiny theater of consequences to jump at them once it's totally dark, winter seems to laugh at you, spring is chaos unfolding, and summer a callback that in the end everything will be fine if you survive it, yet, this is another cycle, and even If you make it through, nothing changes, it just starts over. That is what hopelesness is, a constant feeling of dread and perpetual cycle of agony, nothing matters in the long run.
this is amazing! thank you for writing this out and especially thank you for the feedback! hope you have ana amazing day :D
I think the music that is the most hopeless is the phonograph music that plays at maxwells throne it plays the same tune over and over again as if whatever you do it will never stop playing just like how the constant will never stop
you could almost say its… constant. AHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHUSIDIDJDMW
really good video essay! It's always cool to see people talking about the game in more interesting ways and wow, this explains A LOT of my experience with the game. I first got don't starve together to play it with friends and had a pretty great time. then i got my hands on solo don't starve, mainly for the two dlcs, though eventually decided to try out the old classic reign of giants just to see how the game was back then. It's probably because i was playing with friends that i didn't notice it that much, but boy does this game just radiate with fear and depression. while i wasn't hopping in blind, classic don't starve feels much more dangerous and grimm, since you're fully limited to your island with no way of exploring the ocean. the biomes just seem more barren and lifeless, despite plenty of danger to be arround. and how could i not mention adventure mode, a great conquest to reach maxwell, wich ultimatly is pointless. It really is just nihilistic. even in a game like minecraft, there is a "technical" ending to the game, yet don't starve has nothing to work towards exept survival. And somehow we still keep playing as the game becomes bigger and more dangerous without any hope that there ever will be an achivable end.
hi! sorry for the late reply (im normally better at this 😭)
but thats a great story, and i think the way you explained the original DS and its Story Mode is right on the money, iv never been able to beat story mode but the fact that the ending (i wont spoil) turns out the way it does, really just shows that there ISNT anything you can do, there quite literally is no escape.
*checkmate!!!*
Damn i thought San's life was tragic, but this is actually a step up from that ,
Sans lives in a world where everything without warning can be reset effectively trapped in groundhog year , thats why he eats bad food is lazy and doesn't even have the energy to kill you when you kill his Brother
But in don't Starve its on a completely different level , you can accept your fate of living for eternity in the Constant but even if you do , the entire world wants you dead and dying doesn't even save you from eternal Damnation and nothing you do can change it , atleast Sans kinda lives a normal life but it's not Eternal damnation because at some point the person controlling the timeline will get bored and leave but Willson has no hope of that , just surviving until he doesn't.
good analogy, both worlds are effectively the same when it comes to dispair within the characters, the difference is, frisk has complete control and can choose to be kind, but in dont starve the world makes it very clear that it wants to kill you, and not even once, but over and over again
thanks for the comment! i love undertale :D
This is a really neat video! I just wish you had elaborated a little more on how and why the music feels hopeless
thank you for the feedback! ill be sure to use this in future video essays, since this was my first one i was quite sure i had messed something up haha
thanks for the comment, have a great day :D
Great job bro, this is riley and i already know u are going to be a great youtuber one day. very professional video essay
ayy thanks man!
is it concerning that wendy is my favorite character...
as a wendy main, *yes*
I think the only characters that are actually happy to be in the constant, would have to be Walter and Wormwood. (With Wormwood being born in the Constant)
Why Walter?
@@Purplex08 because of his bravery, the fact that he just pretty optimistic, from telling scary stories to the survivors, to having Woby by his side. Walter just looks he’s mostly enjoying his time in the constant. Not to mention, he’s also a Boy Scout who loves the wilderness
@estarriaofficial6463 ah i see, he does seem to be quite happy in the constant for sure! i cant imagine just how traumatic it would be as a little boy trying to survive and (possibly) dying over and over
we all know warbucks escaped thats why you can't play as him anymore
My vision is too shitty from a distance irl to watch this blur on the ipad
im so sorry about the blur, many have complained about it and i have 100% taken it into account, all future videos will (and have) included little to no blur at all, hope the video was still enjoyable despite the annoyance 😅
(Also, sorry for the late reply!!)
Really enjoyed the video you had me excited with the lore before saying it's the end of the video :D. Hopefully you come around that idea and do it since I haven't seen much of lore videos with Don't Starve Together and myself finds dst lore very fun and interesting.
I have been considering doing the video, i could even name it "The Tragic Tale of Dont Starve" which breaks down the story in a more cinematic "storytelling" kind of way, do you think that would be entertaining? since its quite different to my normal style of video, im still in debate
12:48 no you don't "know this", it's just a speculation. and even if they are from different time periods, time flows very differently in the constant than in the real world. maxwell has been there for a LONG time, but meanwhile very little time passed in the real world. i feel like the whole videos point of the game being hopeless is just wrong. the only reason most of the characters are doing what they do is because of hope. hope keeps (most of) them alive. saying the whole game is hopeless is just wrong.
fair enough
thanks for the feedback :D
The world is hopeless but SOME of the characters arent. Characters like wilson and ironically maxwell are the opposite of hopeless, while on the otber sidea yeah wendys hopeless. Characters like willow are also juat fine living in the constant lol.
YAA YOU TELL THAM to be honest i miss this feeling
I don't think warly is the character who made the deal with maxwell he's originally from the appendix we also know he was in gorge he's more on a journey to help his mother I've heard theories that warly needs to bring new and novel dishes to restore his mother's memory (Which ties in with his passive) so he went to this world to get new ingredients
Very nice video jam-packed with information! To make the text more legible, you could have a dark outline around each letter to help separate it from the video. And the blur editing was extremely distracting, I had an easier time listening when I wasn't watching the video. Maybe only blur when you're focusing something else in front of the gameplay 💚
thanks so much for the feedback!
im still quite new to the whole video essay format, so any and all feedback is invaluable to me, thanks so much!
i hope you enjoyed the video, and sorry for the late reply :)
This video makes a lot of sense but it sounds like Purplex is wearing braces through the whole thing
Well, its because i am! my braces got tightened mere days before the video XDDD
youre the first to pick up on it so congrats!!!
@@Purplex08 well it wasn't hard because I sound just like that rn lmao
I don't really think the music of this game is hopeless or the art design is sad, in fact it's charmingly classic
i love the music, its got its own personality thats for sure!
The hole game feels like a monotonouse and raw
yeah, the game does a great job conveying those emotions
I appreciate your effort in your videos
@@Philip-xk7nj thank you! :)
@@Purplex08 I should be thanking you for bringing me entertainment
Webber, Wormwood, Wortox, and Woodie: " fren "
Great video essay!
@@spcraftsman2656 thank you! :))
I really liked how you called Webber a spider in the real world. He was a boy which is shown in the charcter video. But still good video
yes, he was a human boy in the real world turned spider, then he presumably stayed there and eventually got trapped in the constant
sadly, in his time in the real world (as a spider, not human) he was treated like garbage, really sad :(
But there’s some happy themes so it’s not totally hopeless
Spring work music
All time banger
@@MrKillka117love spring, best season in the entire game honestly
@@Purplex08 If you not WX,but umbrella from Deerclop is not a huge problem
my second main is WX and i still love spring, its amazing how well they made that season
@@MrKillka117spring as wurt best season so epic
New dst TH-camr rapidly approaching your location
mayhaps xD
Hi I wanted to ask what software you use or video editing
I'm getting into video essays myself and the editing is really fun, I'm currently using DaVinci Resolve
I'm still new so I can't do more than a glorified Slideshow but I want to the same level of editing as this video
oh i use davinci resolve too! and dont worry, with enough practice youll be able to make great video essays im sure of it!
For a first video essay this is a pretty good one
thanks!