"everyone knew sybil."
"but only we knew sybil as the camerata's eyes and ears."
camerata
The bad guys of this story, within reason. Sybil Reisz, Grant & Asher Kendrell, and Royce Bracket; a shadow group of influence and control behind the scenes of Cloudbank. As the saying goes...
saying?
when everything changes, nothing changes.
sybil
Sybil Reisz. Beautiful woman.
Iconic parasol, striped in red and white.
sybil
The problem is that Sybil was in love with Red.
problem?
We begin the story of Transistor in medias res; Red, our protagonist, begins the story pulling a big fancy microchip sword, the titular Transistor, out of the chest of her partner.
partner?
It's not until we come face to face with the first boss of the game, Sybil, or what's become of her, that we get to see the events that actually begin our story.
partner?
The problem is, that Sybil was in love with Red.
partner?
And she told the Camerata, who at this point had been collecting the necessary influencers of society to make real change, the kind of change that doesn't just go away —
change?
when everything changes, nothing changes
— that Red would be necessary, and that Red would be alone. Instead, her partner was the one who took the hit. Gone ahead inside.
inside?
the transistor.
and that spells the beginning of the end for the Camerata, with the Transistor in Red's possession, and with the Process they brought to bear now truly without a leash... the answer is in the question. and that is how the story begins
sybil
To love sybil reisz is to at once simultaneously understand more than one story.
story?
the story as it happens and is presented, where she is a pitiable villain, put out of her misery.
story?
a different one.
different?
here, perhaps sybil acted responsibly.
different?
or here, perhaps Red loved her back.
different?
or here, perhaps sybil was the one who was collected, who went inside the Transistor, who is dragged along the game by Red and narrates the
conversation that Red cannot. she begins with Help() instead of Breach(). perhaps.
story?
in this one, she does all the regrettable things she always did, but we choose to look at her differently. in this one, we let a woman be evil sometimes. we let a woman be gay and have a crush and act badly about it. she gets a comeuppance but with every breath, every recursion, we wonder – things are not different. but they could've been. "listen closely and maybe you can hear them. and that, i believe, is the transistor's true purpose, it's true nature."
transistor
transistor
transistor
!
maybe you're looking for someone to blame
sybil
when we do come upon Sybil, she's processed by The Process... mostly.
processed?
that all-white ceramic sheen, the artificial restructuring of the once-was-organic. The Process; the enemies, in the game.
mostly?
98%, the HUD kindly informs us.
sybil
she's still waiting on the stage where it all went down, where it all went wrong. and she tries to speak.
speak?
"listen closely and maybe you can hear them."
speak?
"when you speak, I hear silence."
silence?
your voice...
it is gone
it is gone
it is gone
speak?
Sybil tries. It's hard to listen to, glitching audibly. She always speaks, you may have noticed, in threes.
transistor
help us, help us, help us, won't you? we only wanted your help
when everything changes
nothing changes
nothing changes
nothing!
transistor
this is why we say "transistor transistor transistor" when we say the title of the game.
three?
three times.
she repeats it three times,
building each of the three times.
as a boss, she's the same way.
same?
she attacks, then attacks, then Attacks.
same?
she speaks, then speaks, then Speaks.
same?
she has three phases, each of which come with a new orchestration of the song, a new pattern of enemies, and of course the third is the strongest. this isn't unheard of for a boss, but it is fascinating how the function of the game reinforces this ritual behavior of what is left of her.
transistor
finally
not yet. Red sings her song; "In Circles." it's got a mournful tone, but compelling. when she was able to sing, it was a good voice
finally
not yet. you begin to notice the lyrics; the chorus cries passionately: "But I won't save you."
finally
sybil sings her version, "_n C_rcl_s." a tragic little duet circling the same inevitable end. no matter the recursion, Sybil never saves her. no matter the recursion, sybil is never saved. maybe you're looking for someone to blame?
sybil
the villains of this game are not good people
at best, we can say that they are flawed.
flawed?
flawed in their goals
sybil's goal – Red – is the least laudable of the bunch. but it's also the most personable.
flawed in their means
duplicity, the process, control. sybil represents the sinister side of social skills, of an organizer gone awry. she lies, she monitors, she manipulates.
flawed, tragically
she just wanted that particular human connection so bad that she damned the camerata's vision, and a whole city to do it, and still failed. she thought she could manipulate the pieces for her own purposes this one time. she forgot that other people are sometimes what they say they are. when everything she does is a lie what is left of her – that 2% that remains you – can't sustain the whole. no way left to move forward, only around and around, circling the drain.
transistor
transistor
transistor
"hey, red. we're not gonna get away with this, are we?"
