The YG Kings all illustrated what the weak and oppressed will do when they are given some measure of great power. The Bear just used it to enrich himself, the Sage tried to strengthen himself to defy his lot, Yellowbrow started his own religion, the Centipede tried to be useful to the Heavens and the Bull just lived in fear because he has too much to lose.
Building upon all the characters' human traits is something Game Science needs to be recognized for. I hope they get some recognition today with the reveal of the Game Awards nominations.
Something that got lost in translation is Yellowbrow's dialogue throughout your fight with him. He perverses the Sultra scripture and quotes it to the players. For example, the "Tree Seals Mantra" (which is one of the most famous Mantra) is "All things are impermanent. All things are imperfect/unsatisfactory [...] Lay down the butcher's knife. Evil-doers becomes Buddhas on the spot" which got perverted and twisted by him into "All things are impermanent. All unsatisfactory leads to imperfect. Hold on to the butcher's knife. Even evil-doers become Buddhas on the spot." (This line got translated into "All conditioned things are impermanent and lead astray. Be a butcher, then be a Buddha!" which conveys the meaning but loses the culture/religious significance.)
sigh..... some people are just too smart... Me ? i just giggled when the macaque Chief farted and this guy came with along with this excellent video. Now i feel bad for the chief. Tragic.
great comment - yeah Macaque Chief was pretty funny when he was introduced sitting atop the roof and tossing a peach on one of the frozen zombie worshippers.
this is such a well made video and the analysis and interpretation is so on point. This deserves more views! Chapter 3 id definitely one of my fav chapter and I think Yellowbrow is one of the richest and most complicated characters in the game
Right on. I appreciate your comment. Yes, he is quite complicated. To your point about chapter 3 being one of your favorites, I think it is presented in the most unique way. After the boss fight with Kang Jin Loong, when we fall through the ice, the chapter really gets going and it leaves us uncertain of what is really happening because of how off putting the Pagoda Realm is. It was my favorite chapter of the game.
This is incredibly well done! While I think most people have a surface level idea of Journey to the West, you did a fantastic job tying in all of the nuance in background knowledge of the original literature to give clear context of what we see in game. Fantastic work!
The philosophical dispute between Yellowbrow and Jin Chan Zi easily made chapter 3 the most compelling chapter to me. If you really think about the stuffs he have said, hes not exactly wrong, but his hubris is; by evaluating an end through an escalated mean.
Great analysis, you perfectly showed how evil this character is. However, I wish you talked about how he manipulated Cyan Loong with a fishing challenge forcing him to stay forever on the giant turtle because he criticized his weird teachings. Also, Yellowbrow tortured the Turtle and Snake General by making them fight each other until their death. In short, he was a total piece of garbage
Yes you are correct. When I came upon Cyan Loong just chilling there and fishing, I thought it was strange. Then I discovered the lore about him. I appreciate your feedback about the turtle and snake general. I didn't know they were tricked into fighting one another.
Where some of the other bosses were reimagined to be tragic, I love the fact that Yellowbrow remained vile. Also took amusement that Game Science genderbent Kang Jin Loong into a beautiful woman. 😏 As always, I enjoyed your vid as I did your Stellar Blade ones. I in general look forward to Journey to the West vids, including Black Myth Wukong.
Comparing original Buddism teaching and Haungmei's conditioning can help people understand how Nihilism can go different ways. Buddhism: Learn, acknowledge your nature and fight it, to be a better person. Huangmei: Learn, embrace your nature and give up, pray to me and maybe I will grant you salvation if I like what you do. What I comprehend from the diorama rampage is Huangmei trying to steal the concept of "nothing you do matters(everything is empty)" symbolises by hollow dolls, then pervert the conclusion to "therefore do as you like" instead of "so all that matters is what you do"
Excellent video! MORE! We need more! lol seriously, keep up this awesome work. Perhaps a series on Wukong, GoT, or Space Marine. Kind of reminds me of a mix or Vaatividya & Fatbrett. Check out Fatbrett he has some great insights on games as well.
Uhhhh I beat him on first try.. the one that had me on my toes was the second chapter boss. I didn’t know about the wind cancel vessel lmao. Same with the chapter 4 boss. Didn’t know about the secret boss to get the vessel to counter the thousand eye boss and I just kept retrying until I beat him. But yellowbrow was legit so easy for me at least that when I heard after he’s broken in the lore I was like “uhhhh”. Ch3 is still my favorite chapter
Yes, chapter 3 is my favorite as well. Can't believe you beat the 100 eyed daoist without the needle. When he goes gold mode and shoots all those beams at you, it is near impossible without the needle. You musta put in some real work to beat him without the needle.
Yes to an extent. I don't personally agree with his view, but there are those that do. He is delusional but from his point of view, he is correct. So hard to say totally black and white, but yeah, I think his viewpoint is doo-doo.
Another theme to be aware with levels is the relic sense itself and the failure of those who have them. With the Black Wind King he is blinded by his very greed (He cannot see the power the relic can give him) With the Rat King he is deafened by his own lies in a desert full of roaring sands and conflict. With Yellow Brow? The man in the valley of ecstasy, armed with a nose, or smell. A nose can indeed experience ecstasy. In a snowy land though, scents become hard to pick up. Blinded without smell, we miss the rotting pleasantries that Yellow Brow presents. Find the thing weakening that sense and you find the person plagued by a blessing.
I like your interpretation of uncovering themes based on what sense the relic held by that particular Yaoguai king allows - the nose being held by Yellowbrow being tied to smell.
Why take for granted that Buddha and Celestial Court are good? Or that those opposed to them are automatically bad? This view of good and bad limits your understanding of the story and our world. Perhaps they represents different world-views and interests: those above wanted a stable and structured hierachy, those below wanted a flat and even playing field. None of them is good or bad, they are just in conflict with one another. "Destined one" in Chinese is "Heaven's Mandate", he is supposed to be just a pawn in this great game of chess.
Agreed about your thoughts on good or bad - not sure if I mentioned one being good or bad in terms of Yellowbrow's views on Buddhism, just that his actions are pretty appalling a vile - IE: what he did to the third prince and his captains, how he indoctrinates people, etc. Great comment, have a good one.
Buddha and arahats(disciple buddhas) were those who achieved getting rid of Greed, Anger, and delusion. By definition, they are good. Boddhisattva and divine protectors are not necessarily good on the other hand. Original Boddhisattva are would-be buddha. There were two such Pusas, baby buddha Maitreya and certain Nepalese Shakya price who became gottama buddha. However, later Buddhism schools declared many powerful kings, queeen, feudal lords, hindu gods, chinese gods as Boddhisatvas, "wanna-be Buddhas" who vowed to achieve Buddhahood (wish!!!). These new bodhisattvas and dharma protectors are generally good, but there is no guarantee that they will always do good. God King aka Indra aka Jade Emperor aka Zeus was dharma protector (i.e. the one who protect the stability, protect weak and judge the wicked) but he was more than willing to crash anyone who attempted to dethrone him. He won't mind using shady methods either. BTW, that was what wukong did in havoc in heaven episode, attempt to overthrow the god king. And the god king would use all shady methods available to crash him since wukong quit being a Buddhist monk. It is lore correct. Meanwhile , baby buddha shows no anger or any bad sentiments when pigsy hit his head despite his rank much much higher than Bajie, an altar boy. As for farming yaoguais for golden pills, that is more or less the same as what meat industry is doing business in real world. If the yaoguai core can increase primodial Qi according to modern Xian Xia lore, there would be yaoguai farming gods naturally.
@@waiphyohain How is "getting rid of Greed, Anger, and delusion" good? They are what define us human beings. They are just a twist on "ambition, righteousness, and aspiration". We choose which terms to use base on who we are siding with. If I don't like someone, to me he is "greedy". Otherwise he would be "a great visionary".
@@賴志偉-d7h You are overinterpreting. A good buddhist/taoist/sramana (seeker) cultivate generosity, patience, forgiveness, wisdom etc. Second, you do not need anger to uphold justice. You just need to cultivate bravery (daring to do the right thing, nothig to do with anger), attentiveness (mindfulness), wisdom (correct timing, tactic etc). For example, a king/ a judge/a CEO/ a president/a leader just need to be impartial and not affected by four factors (fear, anger, greed and ingnorance) . A king is not a monk and he should not act like one. On the other hand, a monk must behave like a monk, not like a king. That is where the problem is. The bodhisattvas in BM wukong were acting like warlords. That is not good.
Split dialogue option would have been kinda cool. I was surprised when the Keeper of Black Wind Mountain said we didn't succumb to the indoctrination effects at the end of chapter 3 when he's speaking in the voice-over, cause we definitely did for a while. Would have been cool to see at least Yellowbrow get frustrated or say something as a reaction if the Destined One doesn't kill anyone as in your case.
I just beat the game but i dident get the great sage character colection in jurnal and the gourd master i have Done his quest What did i do wrong i did the True ending
Not quite sure. Did you battle on the secret bosses of each chapter and then battle Erlang in chapter 3? You'll have to do all that, then go back and beat the last boss in chapter 6 one more time.
Humans are messed up. I think the game did a good job at showing he and some of the other yaoguai kinds are not necessarily black and white "evil" but what they do when given power - Yellowbrow was given the relic to boost the power of the seedsack and he used it in a terrible way.
The YG Kings all illustrated what the weak and oppressed will do when they are given some measure of great power. The Bear just used it to enrich himself, the Sage tried to strengthen himself to defy his lot, Yellowbrow started his own religion, the Centipede tried to be useful to the Heavens and the Bull just lived in fear because he has too much to lose.
The Bull Demon King was the only one wise enough to not use the Sense to empower himself. And he still suffered for it with bad health.
And the Red Boy used it for vengeance against Mount Lingshan.
Building upon all the characters' human traits is something Game Science needs to be recognized for. I hope they get some recognition today with the reveal of the Game Awards nominations.
Something that got lost in translation is Yellowbrow's dialogue throughout your fight with him. He perverses the Sultra scripture and quotes it to the players. For example, the "Tree Seals Mantra" (which is one of the most famous Mantra) is "All things are impermanent. All things are imperfect/unsatisfactory [...] Lay down the butcher's knife. Evil-doers becomes Buddhas on the spot" which got perverted and twisted by him into "All things are impermanent. All unsatisfactory leads to imperfect. Hold on to the butcher's knife. Even evil-doers become Buddhas on the spot." (This line got translated into "All conditioned things are impermanent and lead astray. Be a butcher, then be a Buddha!" which conveys the meaning but loses the culture/religious significance.)
Good catch with all this. If you pause and listen to everything, you can uncover a lot like you did.
sigh..... some people are just too smart... Me ? i just giggled when the macaque Chief farted and this guy came with along with this excellent video. Now i feel bad for the chief. Tragic.
great comment - yeah Macaque Chief was pretty funny when he was introduced sitting atop the roof and tossing a peach on one of the frozen zombie worshippers.
Damn I missed all that
this is such a well made video and the analysis and interpretation is so on point. This deserves more views! Chapter 3 id definitely one of my fav chapter and I think Yellowbrow is one of the richest and most complicated characters in the game
Right on. I appreciate your comment. Yes, he is quite complicated. To your point about chapter 3 being one of your favorites, I think it is presented in the most unique way. After the boss fight with Kang Jin Loong, when we fall through the ice, the chapter really gets going and it leaves us uncertain of what is really happening because of how off putting the Pagoda Realm is. It was my favorite chapter of the game.
This is incredibly well done! While I think most people have a surface level idea of Journey to the West, you did a fantastic job tying in all of the nuance in background knowledge of the original literature to give clear context of what we see in game. Fantastic work!
The philosophical dispute between Yellowbrow and Jin Chan Zi easily made chapter 3 the most compelling chapter to me. If you really think about the stuffs he have said, hes not exactly wrong, but his hubris is; by evaluating an end through an escalated mean.
You missed the point
You are right in that his hubris is next level... haha. And also because his never-changing view of inherent evil.
Great analysis, you perfectly showed how evil this character is. However, I wish you talked about how he manipulated Cyan Loong with a fishing challenge forcing him to stay forever on the giant turtle because he criticized his weird teachings. Also, Yellowbrow tortured the Turtle and Snake General by making them fight each other until their death. In short, he was a total piece of garbage
Yes you are correct. When I came upon Cyan Loong just chilling there and fishing, I thought it was strange. Then I discovered the lore about him. I appreciate your feedback about the turtle and snake general. I didn't know they were tricked into fighting one another.
So I was right calling him a fraud wanna be piece of sh*t when I died to him the 20th time
I felt the same way about the Yellow Wind Sage - that Rat destroyed me so many times.
Great analysis, happy I found your channel❤
Appreciate it. Hope you got to kick Yellowbrow's A** in chapter 3. He's a fun boss.
Great video. You broke down a lot for me that I was too lazy to read in the portraits cause I was rushing to start another playthrough… or two
Have fun with the second playthrough. That's something I want to get on soon myself. Appreciate your comment. Have a good one.
Insanely fascinating lore. Please do one for all of the yaoguai kings and bosses
Bull King is quite tragic. He would be a good one to talk about. Appreciate your comment and the motivation.
I need Wukong’s energy for my next Zoom meeting. Imagine the confidence!
Wukong's voice is next level Parseltongue.
I don't know why, but ever since I fought her, I've been fascinated by what exactly happened with Kang-Jin Star.
She got played pretty bad. Pretty messed up what happened to her.
14:19 I think it deserves to be said once: Yellowbrow was turning him into one of his 'flying monkies.'
Yes and succeeded for a little while.
Where some of the other bosses were reimagined to be tragic, I love the fact that Yellowbrow remained vile. Also took amusement that Game Science genderbent Kang Jin Loong into a beautiful woman. 😏
As always, I enjoyed your vid as I did your Stellar Blade ones. I in general look forward to Journey to the West vids, including Black Myth Wukong.
Right on. I agree. He is on another level of messed Up. Also, I appreciate your feedback and glad to have you here rocking with all these videos.
5:40 you forgot another disciple: Bai Long Ma (White Loong Horse).
Loong's pronunciation: long
Good feedback. Yea, the double-o threw me for a loop. Got it now. I appreciate your comment. Have a good one.
Wukong's staff has more reach than my social media posts.
Comparing original Buddism teaching and Haungmei's conditioning can help people understand how Nihilism can go different ways.
Buddhism: Learn, acknowledge your nature and fight it, to be a better person.
Huangmei: Learn, embrace your nature and give up, pray to me and maybe I will grant you salvation if I like what you do.
What I comprehend from the diorama rampage is Huangmei trying to steal the concept of "nothing you do matters(everything is empty)" symbolises by hollow dolls, then pervert the conclusion to "therefore do as you like" instead of "so all that matters is what you do"
Wow, I like your connection to dolls - Yellowbrow definitely has the "do as you like" philosophy to life
Excellent video! MORE! We need more! lol seriously, keep up this awesome work. Perhaps a series on Wukong, GoT, or Space Marine. Kind of reminds me of a mix or Vaatividya & Fatbrett. Check out Fatbrett he has some great insights on games as well.
Appreciate your comment. Yeah, Fatbrett is a good one. A ton of good videos. Haven't seen Vaatividya's videos yet. Good recommendation
Uhhhh I beat him on first try.. the one that had me on my toes was the second chapter boss. I didn’t know about the wind cancel vessel lmao. Same with the chapter 4 boss. Didn’t know about the secret boss to get the vessel to counter the thousand eye boss and I just kept retrying until I beat him. But yellowbrow was legit so easy for me at least that when I heard after he’s broken in the lore I was like “uhhhh”. Ch3 is still my favorite chapter
Yes, chapter 3 is my favorite as well. Can't believe you beat the 100 eyed daoist without the needle. When he goes gold mode and shoots all those beams at you, it is near impossible without the needle. You musta put in some real work to beat him without the needle.
Bottomline: Yellowbrow is full of doo-doo, but thinks he's correct.
Yes to an extent. I don't personally agree with his view, but there are those that do. He is delusional but from his point of view, he is correct. So hard to say totally black and white, but yeah, I think his viewpoint is doo-doo.
If Wukong was my teacher, I'd actually do my homework.
Another theme to be aware with levels is the relic sense itself and the failure of those who have them.
With the Black Wind King he is blinded by his very greed (He cannot see the power the relic can give him)
With the Rat King he is deafened by his own lies in a desert full of roaring sands and conflict.
With Yellow Brow? The man in the valley of ecstasy, armed with a nose, or smell. A nose can indeed experience ecstasy. In a snowy land though, scents become hard to pick up. Blinded without smell, we miss the rotting pleasantries that Yellow Brow presents.
Find the thing weakening that sense and you find the person plagued by a blessing.
I like your interpretation of uncovering themes based on what sense the relic held by that particular Yaoguai king allows - the nose being held by Yellowbrow being tied to smell.
Why take for granted that Buddha and Celestial Court are good? Or that those opposed to them are automatically bad? This view of good and bad limits your understanding of the story and our world. Perhaps they represents different world-views and interests: those above wanted a stable and structured hierachy, those below wanted a flat and even playing field. None of them is good or bad, they are just in conflict with one another. "Destined one" in Chinese is "Heaven's Mandate", he is supposed to be just a pawn in this great game of chess.
Agreed about your thoughts on good or bad - not sure if I mentioned one being good or bad in terms of Yellowbrow's views on Buddhism, just that his actions are pretty appalling a vile - IE: what he did to the third prince and his captains, how he indoctrinates people, etc. Great comment, have a good one.
Buddha and arahats(disciple buddhas) were those who achieved getting rid of Greed, Anger, and delusion. By definition, they are good. Boddhisattva and divine protectors are not necessarily good on the other hand. Original Boddhisattva are would-be buddha. There were two such Pusas, baby buddha Maitreya and certain Nepalese Shakya price who became gottama buddha. However, later Buddhism schools declared many powerful kings, queeen, feudal lords, hindu gods, chinese gods as Boddhisatvas, "wanna-be Buddhas" who vowed to achieve Buddhahood (wish!!!). These new bodhisattvas and dharma protectors are generally good, but there is no guarantee that they will always do good. God King aka Indra aka Jade Emperor aka Zeus was dharma protector (i.e. the one who protect the stability, protect weak and judge the wicked) but he was more than willing to crash anyone who attempted to dethrone him. He won't mind using shady methods either.
BTW, that was what wukong did in havoc in heaven episode, attempt to overthrow the god king. And the god king would use all shady methods available to crash him since wukong quit being a Buddhist monk. It is lore correct. Meanwhile , baby buddha shows no anger or any bad sentiments when pigsy hit his head despite his rank much much higher than Bajie, an altar boy.
As for farming yaoguais for golden pills, that is more or less the same as what meat industry is doing business in real world. If the yaoguai core can increase primodial Qi according to modern Xian Xia lore, there would be yaoguai farming gods naturally.
@@waiphyohain Let's just say that Journey to the West can be a bit... satirical at times.
@@waiphyohain How is "getting rid of Greed, Anger, and delusion" good? They are what define us human beings. They are just a twist on "ambition, righteousness, and aspiration". We choose which terms to use base on who we are siding with. If I don't like someone, to me he is "greedy". Otherwise he would be "a great visionary".
@@賴志偉-d7h You are overinterpreting. A good buddhist/taoist/sramana (seeker) cultivate generosity, patience, forgiveness, wisdom etc. Second, you do not need anger to uphold justice. You just need to cultivate bravery (daring to do the right thing, nothig to do with anger), attentiveness (mindfulness), wisdom (correct timing, tactic etc). For example, a king/ a judge/a CEO/ a president/a leader just need to be impartial and not affected by four factors (fear, anger, greed and ingnorance) . A king is not a monk and he should not act like one. On the other hand, a monk must behave like a monk, not like a king. That is where the problem is. The bodhisattvas in BM wukong were acting like warlords. That is not good.
So i absolutely refused to kill anyone after youre taken out of the sack and i was really disappointed it changed nothing lol
Split dialogue option would have been kinda cool. I was surprised when the Keeper of Black Wind Mountain said we didn't succumb to the indoctrination effects at the end of chapter 3 when he's speaking in the voice-over, cause we definitely did for a while. Would have been cool to see at least Yellowbrow get frustrated or say something as a reaction if the Destined One doesn't kill anyone as in your case.
Wowzers
Appreciate your comment. Have a good one.
I just beat the game but i dident get the great sage character colection in jurnal and the gourd master i have Done his quest What did i do wrong i did the True ending
Not quite sure. Did you battle on the secret bosses of each chapter and then battle Erlang in chapter 3? You'll have to do all that, then go back and beat the last boss in chapter 6 one more time.
Yellowbrow reminds me of virtue signaling people, they won't give you a choice only forced behavior
He definitely has the reverse outlook where his point of view results in him forcing outcomes.
Seedsack lol
and it's his greatest weapon 😂
I dont know , he kinda has a good point
Humans are messed up. I think the game did a good job at showing he and some of the other yaoguai kinds are not necessarily black and white "evil" but what they do when given power - Yellowbrow was given the relic to boost the power of the seedsack and he used it in a terrible way.