You CAN'T Solve This! | The Beginner's Guide (Creator of The Stanley Parable)

[@fatesse3135]

"Sometimes a game is just a game, it doesn't need to be overanalyzed." :: MatPat would like to know... his... own location?

[@kaleax7525]

Real Mr Hippo hours

[@dudesayswhat1011]

see i feel like theres a difference between mat, and MatPat. game theory and all it produces is a persona aka MatPat, this feels like a genuine version of mat. the creator behind something, who can see all the pitfalls of those he interacts w

[@aerozord]

This was my thoughts on part one. This game is just going "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar". The Coda at the end basically going, this isn't a metaphor, or a cry for help, or a deep dive into my psyche. Just a game idea I had.

[@bowmanc.7439]

Yeah, years ago when I first played it, my instant response was “this is matpat. Matpat is Davey.”

[@benjidavis9525]

@@dudesayswhat1011 and he himself even talks about how his theories aren't always supported by himself or the channel,, the purpose of game theory is to promote critical thinking and looking deeper into games, cause they can't always be taken at face value. Yeah sometimes a game is just a game, but sometimes it's not

[@split_bug6760]

A thing you can deduce which is actually quite sad: The narrator said that the cleaning game didn't have "a way to end it" and that the game made coda happy, but coda said that he was the one adding the lamp posts, which means that the narrator was the one that made the end of that game, and the end of coda's happiness

[@vijayanand6650]

I think when Coda said to Davey to stop adding 'Lamp posts' he was speaking metaphorically, since Davey said they represent a goal or destination. But IDK

[@TheGrimFormOfLuck]

@@vijayanand6650 and coda never wanted them to have a goal to begin with

[@LemurG]

I thought the same thing. The lamps were the "end" of the game, and the narrator likes having a clean solution, and ending, and putting one made him feel better. But it was his need for answers to everything about Coda that drove Coda away.

[@incognitogirl6201]

i feel like its almost made even worse, because as hes explaining the cleaning game, he tells you that the game ends. that eventually the door opens and youre forced to move on from that space because "You cant stay in the darkness forever". But he also said the game represented codas happiness. So hes basically saying that coda putting the game on loop as his way of staying in that happy place forever, and davie lies to you and brushes it off as unhealthy.

[@slowclapswellwellwell6423]

Narrator also says that Coda's cleaning game went on forever and he was the one who had to cut it off. What an awesome game.

[@tiredturtle6860]

It's really interesting watching Mat play this because he sees a lot of things differently than the average player might? Like when we're told that the doors mean something (by the guy who's searching hopelessly for meaning) Mat says he thinks it's just a game mechanic. Or when they insist that the notes mean Coda is lonely, Mat says they just seem like a game mechanic. He agrees less with the voice and more with the structure as the "creator of the games" intended

[@archivist_13]

Which is pretty interesting to see, because all other playthroughs I've seen of the game either have the guy playing it either agree with the voice's assessment or don't comment on it at all.

[@kylewhitehead5749]

Kinda proves that Mat's theories are just for fun and not 100% serious. People always say he's "looking too much into details" but here he's being completely grounded and logical.

[@DerikHendric]

This game (like the title) is a begginers guide. It's telling begginers to not look for meaning simply because someone is walking you through it. Make up your own interpretation. I took from it that all the issues the narrator assumes that's Coda's, actualy they're his own. Coda and the narrator are one and the same, the narrator tried so much to convey the idea that Coda is trying to talk to himself, and in the end the narrator is kinda talking to Coda, which is his creative "machine". So this is the narrator's coping with his depression. And the epilogue is screaming to me that everyone is trying to make sense and find their own way through life, which is a giant maze. So again, each and everyone is ok to understand it from their own point of view.

[@Kirbychu1]

Yeah, and the narrator keeps insinuating that the half-year gaps between Coda releasing games indicates he's depressed or has art block, while Mat is just like "Or he's just doing other things..."

[@conMiericonstructs]

Do you think he's self-reflecting? i could see that.

[@samfleming1648]

There's something interesting that I've noticed about this game. During the maze game near the beginning, the one where you're asked to sacrifice yourself into the beam of light at the end of the maze, if you play the game without Davey's narration, and go through the maze without skipping it, your sacrifice at the end has more weight to it. Because you had to overcome an actual challenge, you might feel more hesitant to go through with the sacrifice, even just a little bit. Whereas if you play Davey's way and skip the maze, the sacrifice means nothing and the player most likely won't care as much about it. Further demonstrating how Davey's meddling of Coda's games loses the point of the game itself.

[@foodforfaeries]

I don't know exactly how to explain it but this is how I feel about like, when people tried to control the experience of playing Undertale for others. As soon as you meddle with the first impression of the narrative you are changing that narrative - and there is only every one narrative.

[@samfleming1648]

I completely agree. I've seen let's players actually not enjoying the game as much as they could have because they were trying to play it the way that other people wanted them to play it, instead of playing it the way they wanted to.

[@BigFearedBalloon]

Davey also meddles with our perspective with the death. Showing the "corrected" "planned" death, before showing the "glitched" "unplanned" death. For all we know Coda always intended us to float into space, and Davey just ruined it with his interpretation of how the death was planned, showing it off, before allowing us to play Coda's Version of the Death where we float to space.

[@psychs6720]

@@foodforfaeries I remember when undertale first became mainstream and a bunch of the kids in my middleschool class who never were avid gamers started talking about playing it, there were conversations of like "You killed toriel on your first run?! you cant do that! start over, you can spare her by trying to a bunch of times"

[@ColdPhoenixR]

"Would you stop adding lamp posts to my games?" is a top 10 anime twist. Every time I see a play through of this game that line just gives me chills for some reason.

[@undertraveler]

It feels like finding out that davey lied to you, as a person that you didn't question before

[@yin_va.a]

It’s the sudden realization of the Narrator having been practically plagiarizing Coda’s work. Honestly I can’t explain it more than that. It gave me chills as well.

[@stellanovaluna]

Same

[@UnofficialTranslator]

Davey told everyone that coda used the lamppost at the end. Is like seeking meaning and adding reasons where they are not. Changing the facts to make the argument you want.

[@donnamarie33]

Same with the twist that the housecleaning game doesn’t actually end

[@IceMetalPunk]

"Coda" tells Davey to "stop putting lampposts in [his] games". The lampposts were, throughout the games, a symbol of the light at the end of the tunnel, a solution, a way out of the darkness. But Coda never actually put the lampposts in the game, *because the games were never about being in the dark.* The feelings of being lost and alone and trying to find a light at the end of the tunnel were all Davey's, that he projected onto the games, and as such felt like he had to add a way out that was never needed in the first place.

[@Sencaster]

I personally believe that Davey didn't place those lamposts manually, instead he "planted" the idea of a throughthread between all of the games in Coda's mind and *that* led to the lamp posts. Hence why he asks Davey to stop putting them into his games as he realised they weren't a component of his making but another aspect of Davy "poisoning his personal space" with his belief that games should be playable and completeable.

[@Queengeek]

@@Sencaster that could also be the "solution" mentioned

[@amberreed5324]

It's interesting because after the reveal, watching it back and finding where the lamposts are, they're off. Off center, in an overly crowded area. Unneeded. An extra thing, done after seemingly without much thought as to where they go, so long as they're there. Idk, if Davey did put them in, then it would show that he's not a game developer, he doesn't have that idea of where these ideas *should* go. He just says "light here go yay"

[@hamishgoeden7852]

@@amberreed5324 I think that's kind of the point. *he* needed and ending to the games even where there wasn't one. He crammed them in where they didn't fit because they were never meant to be anywhere. The spaces/games were complete as they were and he fucked them up

[@Dranlia]

@@Sencaster Well the house cleaning game was supposed to go on forever so I kinda doubt Coda put a lamppost behind the door if it was never meant to open.

[@pkmntrainermark8881]

"Stop showing people my work." "To show you I'm sorry, I'm gonna release all of your work."

[@cottage-core_]

How to be a bad friend 101

[@Rimuru_Tempest_-]

@@Ren33469 Just in case someone doesn't know, Coda is not a "real" person. Rather this is a kind of representation of what Davey went through after releasing The Stanley Parable. In another comment it said he explained it on his website, so the whole explanation might be there.

[@nasirulrich2148]

@@Ren33469 Davey and coda are the same person btw so he didn't actually steal work

[@michaelramsey1299]

@@Rimuru_Tempest_- see I suspected that before I read your comment because I could see some people playing the Stanley parable and reaching the conclusion that the creator was depressed or felt trapped by mundane day to day stuff when in reality he just really enjoys twisting the narrative and conventions of gaming cause he finds it fun.

[@oscarwang7227]

I mean I feel like this perfectly represents how hard a problem like this is to solve and it doesn’t really ever go away you just need to live with it. ‘Coda’ is trying to tell Davey to move on and accept himself but in releasing this collection of ‘coda’s work’ he is continually trapping himself in this metaphorical tower while Coda has most likely moved on. Even if he did see it he would be disappointed that Davey is still meddling with his art. Or maybe he wouldn’t.

[@ajkcool]

"Would you stop changing my games? Stop adding lampposts to them?" is such a powerful, underrated line.

[@compteyoutube9915]

This one line hit like a truck. The most memorable line of the game imo.

[@informitas0117]

I wonder if he means that literally.

[@Amodh1257]

The fact that Davey tells us, only at the last game, when we're getting past the maze, that the first time we saw the lamp post, aka at the cleaning game, he had to alter the game and end the endless loop of chores. He didn't tell us that during the game itself, it's so devious. For all we know, that could've just been a test asset or something

[@Marisa-fy4gj]

Right? My heart stopped because he made such a big deal about the lampposts being a focal point for Coda. I also noticed that Davey said he ended every game after that with the lamp but that wasn’t true.

[@lukebradford]

Another one, for me, is "Maybe he just likes making prisons..."

[@cheesegavioli]

I love how, as the ending approaches and the narrator begins to break down, you realize how this "collection" is only disrespecting the original creator. Not only because he's sharing the games, but because he constantly changes them to fit what he thinks they should be like. At the start of the game it feels helpful-- increasing your walking speed and skipping an hour-long wait-- but by the end you understand more and more the mindset of the creator and how these changes go against his intent.

[@PurtyPurple]

Yup. Makes me think back to the things Davey The Narrator told us when he skipped the hour long wait in the prison: Coda didn't want his games to be playable. That wasn't the point, mainstream success wasn't his goal. Of course we know that Coda and Davey represent different parts of the same person - Coda was the part that used game making as a creative outlet, but Davey is the part of him that craves validation and fame, and will change or even destroy Coda's work to accomplish that. Ultimately his actions drove Coda away.

[@bulletproofwhale5869]

"Ollie is into weird songs" *Gregorian Chant: Dubstep Remix*

[@jae_lee-]

sounds like a banger tho

[@anthonygerrrard8543]

Songs by Weird All

[@adammoore8478]

@@anthonygerrrard8543 and malinda kathleen reece for the contemporary equivalent

[@adammoore8478]

Have to agree 👍

[@marillama]

It's increasingly funny to me that I feel like Mat is constantly saying "Ollie is SO INTO [new thing]" and it cracks me up that a four year old has more, interesting interests than i have had in my entire life :D

[@felbarashla]

I can’t believe Oliver is 3.

[@TransTrekTnerd]

I really like seeing someone who disagrees with alot of the takes on Coda's games

[@alalalala57]

He sees through the narrator. Sorta telling for Mat to think independently and not just go with it.

[@LGSweets]

The medium is the message

[@MrKiwi24]

You should watch Joseph Anderson's playthrough of this game then.

[@RossPitSharkHunter]

When I was first playing the game I was agreeing with everything he was saying, but yeah, the second time around I was realizing how much something feels off from the start, especially when he's analyzing.

[@TheLordGirahim]

Pink monke dropped?!

[@scorpionbuilder4273]

I think that when coda said to "stop putting lamp posts in my games" it's supposed to make the player think, "wait he was placing those things that he called out coda for?" Which would lead you to what else has Davey put there? What has Davey made up for the sake of story telling? The huge unseen stuff, mazes, corridors, etc were those in fact Davey's? Were some of the games themselves completely made by Davey? If that's the case the whole, "we capture the machine that produces games" which they call out as coda. Makes way more sense than before. With just that one line, the entire story is flipped on its head.

[@omershaik6374]

I think the mazes are actually a symbol of the real coda. Coda loves those mazes, Davey doesn't. He's skiping the players through them, he doesn't understand their function. And then the end, that one giant maze... finally coda is coda and not coda through davey's eyes.

[@VerySmartPerson]

I thought it was just Coda feeling pressured to add that solution because he knew Davey would see it.

[@ShadowWolfe101]

As we get to the ending it made me realize that "The Machine" where Coda is the Machine is how Davey perhaps made Coda feel. Davey needed Coda to work. So that Davey could show off that work to everyone else aka The Press in that game. People had come to expect what Davey was showing them and when Coda started taking longer to make the games he began to stop working. They were trying to make Davey reflect long before the true last game.

[@poke-talia268]

The machine "Coda" also had the three dots

[@Rye_BreadGod]

Its also interesting that Davey mentions that he told people he thought (Or he knew,) that Coda was depressed and after the reporter confronts the machine, one of the options is to say to the press: "The machine refuses to admit that it hurt us." It could be linking to Davey feeling as though he Coda needed to open up to people and admit he was struggling with something like depression. Plus the machine did not answer back to the reporter at all, which is similar to how Davey over analysed the games, and took them as a sign for help when they weren't meant to be seen that way. Instead of communicating to Coda and asking if he needed help directly, he took the matter into his own hands and shared Coda with the world when he obviously didn't want that.

[@auderrynewton]

I firmly hope that they are making a playlist of all Ollie's songs for him to see in the future

[@thenonchalantzealot1000]

^ like that so MatPat has a better chance to see it

[@generallyunimportant]

abcdefg

[@nelaepowt]

That'd be sweet and cool. Then Ollie can perhaps add more to it as he listens to more kinds of music.

[@thenight9077]

That'd be really cool

[@mcdonathan2235]

Person: I'm planning on ripping my eyes out. Matt: That's interesting...

[@zmaj12321]

I love how Ollie is just a kid but he's already an off-brand music nerd

[@TrickyNixon2505]

Dang I just realized ollies three, it feels like 2018 was only 1 1/2 ago

[@onii447]

What can I say... it runes in the family

[@DorkyWolf]

Well, the theater life is in his DNA

[@FirstNameLastName-gh9iw]

You'd think he'd be blasting baby shark or something

[@DorkyWolf]

@@FirstNameLastName-gh9iw Ollie's too advanced for that

[@oneclumsysnep]

The realization that Coda's games being put out there just.. absolutely twists the meaning of the whole compilation 180 degrees. In the beginning, it feels like a person trying to reach his old friend by putting his games out there and showing the goodness of them, but in the end the narrator is just doing more of what he did wrong in the first place. "If I put my name on it... maybe... it will find its way to you, so that I can tell you... I'm sorry" he says, immediately after the revelation that showing it to just a few people, putting his name on it, is what led Coda to quitting in the first place.

[@nendymion]

The question is though, did Coda really quit making games? Consider the fact that this game is all from the narrators perspective. It's entirely possible Coda is still making games but this time being far less willing to share, so as to avoid what happened with Davey. Just because the narrator hasn't seen a game from Coda in a while, doesn't necessarily mean he stopped making games for himself, which is something he's always done.

[@Mr.Carbon1]

The 3 dots represent that the Machine/coda made it, like a signature. The front of the machine also has 3 dots

[@verybored6922]

I would have to check again but I wonder if the games that dont have the three dots are the ones that davey has heavily altered or made himself

[@Rurike]

​@verybored6922 i believe most if not all levels has the three dots somewhere. The best interpretation ive heard for them is its something that only has meaning to coda himself and not meant to be known to others. This is why the narrator through the game often turns your attention away from it and doesnt mention them til the end where he mentions he doesnt know what they mean despite having tried to ask. It goes really well with the games theme that you can analyze a game to try and determine what message the author was trying to share, but what the author was thinking or feeling making it will always be a mystery to the player, and should be assumed just off the game. "Maybe he just liked making prisons"

[@matthias720]

Man, that line about Davey adding in lampposts shocked me the first time I played this game. I spoke to me about trying to force someone else into becoming your vision of them and how inherently toxic and crushing that is. Having neither experienced either end of that gave me great pause to stop and consider how I would react under those circumstances. It was quite sobering and compelling.

[@kepai584]

The first time round i didnt have quite an understanding of it but then as years passed by and re watching this hit me, because now i get how soul crushing it is to have a good friend change your views on a game. I originally played games for fun but being constantly surrounded by ppl looking at your game time, expecting you to get all achievements and going along with it- i ended up starting to hate playing or ever finishing my games. now, im just desperately trying to find the original joy i had when i was much younger. Ironically the games i do enjoy, my friends hate saying: “your obsession with one or 2 things cause me to hate the thing u like”. Which is unfortunate that I feel compelled to close off my interests with my liked friends =| This video kinda spoke to me.

[@carianawaters6425]

Yeah, cuz he said at the first lamppost that it was a “destination”, which I see as Davey trying to add as a continuation of his obsession with there being a solution or answer

[@ReanniexXx]

I love this game so much, and the first time I read 'stop adding lampposts to them' felt like a physical punch to the stomach. The game is fiction, Coda is written by Davey the creator. Davey the fictional character is a surrogate for us, looking for meaning in the game. The dots, the lever puzzle, the unanswered questions; they mean nothing... but the fact that they are there deliberately, to apply and theorise our own ideas onto, means they DO have meaning. They're designed to make us as helpless, curious and lost as the narrator. It's also easy to see the game as a metaphor for the scrutiny (the real) Davey Wren felt when people were playing and critiquing and looking for meaning in The Stanley Parable... but by saying that I'm doing exactly what the game is criticizing, reading too deeply into the assumed mental state of someone I don't know based on their artistic work. It's a beautiful nightmarish paradox of a game that I always end up coming back to, and the more I think about it the worse I feel because I'm doing exactly what the game is criticizing. But how can you not when it raises such big questions about how we see ourselves in other peoples work, the death of the author once their work is published, dealing with toxic friendships, the list goes on. And don't even get me started on the irony of this being a let's play... specifically on a channel that dissects games and tries to discern their meanings.

[@flouglemireindustries4335]

The paradox is what gives the game meaning

[@brandonmacleod]

I love how Mat is actually disagreeing with some of the things Davey is saying as opposed to just blindly agreeing with him.

[@Shark20167]

Right? I was like “This feels like a spoiler without being a spoiler”

[@germany3285]

I think this playthrough is the one that made me realize that Mat actually *is* intelligent and isn’t just *purely* a content creator

[@fedcab4360]

​@nuh_uh210man, you can't even compliment someone publicly without someone being offended in some sort of way.

[@Nylspider]

This went from "let's take a walk through memory lane and look at all of Coda's old games" to "I became obsessive and addicted to the self fulfillment that came from trying to help Coda despite Coda never needing it" This was extremely moving. If Coda did ever find this game, I hope he talked to Davey at least once more...

[@craigsanders9268]

Coda is basically Davey's game Dev side, he's a fictional character.

[@SkyFluff224]

I don't, Davey is hella toxic and not Coda's problem

[@imge509]

That would contrast Coda's whole point tho. Davey's problem is that he is trying to fix things he shouldn't fix or doesn't need fixing for his own fullfilment. In fact, him trying to contact Coda through his game just to apologize, "fix" their relationship and start talking again shows that he didn't understand the real problem with himself except until the last moment where he just leaves instead of trying to give a solution.

[@UnofficialTranslator]

Once you get it, don't respond Coda didn't want Davey to reach out

[@PhoxphorusKitKat]

Yo guys do realize that this game is just a story right? I don't think you can put a compilation of games without the creator's permission on steam and charge money for it and continue to get away with that for as long as the game has been available for.

[@fernboy]

I think that Coda just wanted Davey to tell him that he was okay as he was. He wanted Davey to stop adding 'purpose' to his games, ruining them for him and making his passion a chore. The tower game is so chilling, it just screams 'get away from me, get out of my head'.

[@Rurike]

I think the bigger offense is not that he was trying to discover meanings in the games themselves, many of them have meanings or messages to say, but he was forcing a narrative so hard to the point of ignoring the game itself and literally manipulating it to fit his idea of it, and more offensively he went beyond the game and started making assumtions about the makers character and emotions.

[@CMT_Crabbles]

@@Rurikeyeah, personal interpretation is one thing, applying that to the AUTHOR and everything else Davey did. Definitely crosses a line

[@the_unkown5194]

I really liked this game. Very somber at the end. The feeling of desperation in the narrator’s voice at the end hit me hard. That he was so desperate to find a solution that in the end it only ended up hurting someone. I don’t know what to say, this game, I liked it.

[@aaronfry27]

"Doing theater professionally prevented me, in a lot of ways, from enjoying theater personally. Because I was always so critical of everything that I would see and watch and consume and it really affected my enjoyment of theater by doing it professionally." -MatPat 1:06:00 that's a really good quote. you can apply that to any passion you have that you pursue professionally.

[@LemurG]

I was considering writing or making music professionally, but then I realized I started scrutinizing every song I heard by the same standards I had for myself. It made it so hard to enjoy music because I was constantly thinking about how the melodies or the lyrics weren't "good enough" for my taste, and that it could be better. I realized that I love music because it's an outlet, and trying to apply all these rules and requirements for what's good and what isn't ending up hurting how much I loved music to begin with.

[@aaronfry27]

@@LemurG thanks for sharing, yeah its definitely hard to not be critical of it cause professionalism is critical by nature or it doesn’t keep up but you can always find a way to balance it

[@funkopotamuswes]

MatPat has explained my thoughts that I couldn’t explain to myself. It’s really hard to take something you do for fun and make it something serious.😔

[@aaronfry27]

@@funkopotamuswes yeah, you can definitely do it but you gotta get the right mind set on it. MatPat had some good stuff to say in this video 100%

[@funkopotamuswes]

@@aaronfry27 Indeed, having the right mindset is important for anything. Thank goodness I have been able to maintain a good one!😁

[@tylerbrown9631]

The first time I experienced The Beginner's Guide, I felt sick, like I was complicit in this terrible act, playing games against the creator's wishes.

[@jonathanlennon-kelly8642]

Sick... is the right term. I almost threw up...

[@elthion22]

It didn't help that the real life Davey Wreden intentionally refused to clarify whether or not Coda was a real person and how much if any of it was real for several years after the game came out

[@dustrose8101]

I mean this game does cost money, which would make it illegal for the Narrator to release them if him and Coda really are separate beings and not just a moral transgression

[@controlcon]

@@elthion22 iirc coda isn't real and this game just talks about what davey felt during that time period.

[@hihellothere9569]

@Kawaii Potato from another comment it was from a different podcast

[@dolphin6756]

timestamps 8:41 *this game is connected to the internet* 19:11 speakspeakspeakspeakspeak 19:30 *prison V1* 20:40 *prison V2* 22:14 *prison V3* 23:15 unpause 24:38 *blinking through the prisons* 25:20 *escaping the prison* 26:23 a conversation 29:29 *housecleaning game* 35:42 *Items You Love at Members-Only Prices* 36:47 perspective shift 39:19 *The Theater* 42:52 "this is what is was like" 44:06 *Mobius Trip* 46:27 opening you eyes 47:40 truth 48:47 *blank space* 51:59 puzzle 55:25 *The Machine* 58:53 destruction 1:02:50 *The Tower* 1:09:39 unpause 1:12:12 code 1:13:40 switch 1:15:36 Dear Davey, 1:18:43 Im sorry 1:20:30 *Epilogue* 1:26:41 credits

[@id01_01]

This needs more upvotes

[@nancygilmour1941]

For me, the most interesting thing you didn't mention was the "stop adding lampposts" to me, those lampposts were the embodiment of the light at the end of the dark, which within itself is a metaphor for getting through dark times I suppose. The fact that the narrator made it out that those lampposts were added by coda was his attempt to fix coda, show that there was a light at the end of the tunnel, that his games did have a happy ever after.

[@miloformiles]

Hey, if you're interested in more thoughtful games like this, I'd recommend Presentable Liberty. Lots of opportunities for tangents and introspection

[@mariam-li3pp]

agreed! that game does a really new and interesting job at creating a story that makes you think and feel a lot.. though the story behind it makes me very sad

[@elora512]

Seconded

[@TomSketchit]

Well, that took me back on a nostalgia trip, remembering watching playthroughs to it and its prequel. Then remembering how the creator was trying to fund a third game by selling the games together as a package on Steam (using Let's Player footage for the trailers). And then I decided to look into how that went, and now I'm sad. The creator is no longer with us.

[@screenspelunkers1026]

That game really does need to be played in one sitting.

[@SourceCod33]

Yes.

[@Meteorite_Shower]

The three dots is one of my favourite parts of this, because it's never brought up by Davey until the very end, and so going into this game blind it becomes a mystery that only you, the player, can obsess over. You never have any sort of clue as to their purpose, so while Davey talks about Coda, it lurks in the back of your mind only resurfacing every time you see the three dots, frustrating you more as Davey continues to not even mention them. And then Davey hits you out of nowhere with the reveal that he's been just as frustrated with not knowing why they're there.

[@Little1Cave]

“The idea about a game lying to you about things is really fascinating to me” Oh boy. XD

[@fats2010]

little did he know he was in one

[@rosieamoret7748]

It's so strange to watch a let's play of this game again after so many years. When Sean first played it, I agreed a lot with what the narrator said (the "I'm doing something good" part), but I was pretty depressed myself and so maybe I wished I had someone to do that for me, now that I've become a lot more healthy mentally, I was frowning when that part came on cause it felt so wrong to have someone decide your feelings for you, and assign themselves your saviour or whatnot.

[@SecondBreakfastClub]

I've always really liked this game for a lot of reasons you mentioned, but one thing I think about a lot is that when it first came out many players wondered if it was a real story, and if you play the game genuinely thinking it is, in the end you actually feel really guilty for participating. The sudden realization that by playing the game itself you're violating someone else's wishes--especially this person you've grown to care about throughout the game--mirrors the narrator. You feel like you know Coda, then also realize you don't at all. So the panic in the door room hits extra hard if you've ever felt the emotions the narrator is discussing because the trip up the tower itself has already left you vulnerable. It's a maze game that's very good at directing your emotions in a full arc and says something interesting about parasocial relationships. People have given it flack for being "not really a game" or "just a walking game" but I think the way it directs emotion in ways no other medium could proves how games can be art. This story wouldn't hold half the punch if you as the viewer weren't actively participating the whole time. Thinking about it as fictional, I know there has been the theory that the creator of the game is both Davey and Coda and his desire for and joy from external validation could have burned out the part of him that just loved making games. Or perhaps the pressure from public response of such a huge hit like The Stanley Parable--which really has no big goal or deep meaning--made him introspective about that burnout and depression. But even guessing that is totally going against the message of the game.

[@chloedove2201]

I can honestly say...i am in this comment section to find out if this story is really because the ending made me feel so sick and guilty this game is honestly amazing to be able to lead emotions and deep wanting to help others to in a way that made the fact that everything you were shown was not what it seemed and that you playing the game was a betrayal to a person you thought you knew and did grown to care about vary painful and extremely difficult to grasp I should stop looking for the truth and just learn from the game it self this game is deep and hits on a lot of points that I think most people feel and understand

[@creeperindisguise9278]

It was really interesting to see how the narrator felt coda was going through when coda really wasn’t going through anything

[@greatduck5297]

And ironically as shown by the theater game and the machine and some of the later games, the thing that was going through was not depression but rather peer pressure because someone that met him as a friend instead became an obsessed stalker of sorts.

[@MDG-mykys]

"wasn’t going through anything" not completely true, it's just that the narrator take on it wasn't a good one

[@DerikHendric]

The narrator was going through all of that, and he either projected on Coda, or Coda and the narrator were created by Davey.

[@compteyoutube9915]

@@greatduck5297 Yeah in the theater game "You are playing as me", and things like "No you don't understand the tone", it feel like Davey pushing his opinions on Coda.

[@jimjam7697]

The story of Coda isn't real, Davey created it to express what he went through after The Stanley Parable blew up and he felt like everyone was expecting him to follow up and keep providing content when all he really wanted to do was create weird games without feeling obligated. He explained it all on his website I'm pretty sure.

[@shannonfallon668]

This game got really deep. I like to think that Coda kept making games. He just didn't show them to the narrator. Maybe he was only making them for himself all along and was just willing to share them with a friend. Like Matt pointed out, they didn't seem like the kind of games that would appeal to a wide audience, especially without the edits, and Coda liked them better before the edits, which makes it seem like he didn't care if other people didn't "get it". There can be a joy in just creating, just like Coda seemed to find joy in that cleaning game, where in his version he could just keep playing it forever and ever as long as it made him happy. I think that Coda was making games for the sake of making them, while the narrator saw the games as a means to an end (external validation). I think that's why the narrator was so drawn to Coda, even though he didn't realize it. The narrator wanted to find that kind of fulfillment, but he didn't understand Coda or himself. I think he ended up projecting onto Coda, believing Coda was struggling with depression because he himself was struggling with it, deep down. I think he wanted to be like Coda so desperately that he actually ended up wanting to be Coda. He ended up living his life through Coda, to the point where he believed that Coda needed external validation because he believed that he needed external validation. And meanwhile, I think that Coda started feeling all this pressure. Maybe at first he was flattered that someone else had taken an interest in his games. Maybe he did spend a lot of time alone and just wanted another friend. I think that he got drawn along without realizing what was really going on, without realizing that he was subconsciously responding to his friend's apparent need for him to be a certain way. And maybe at some point he did realize that the narrator was struggling and didn't know how to cut him off without hurting him. Until the narrator shared the games without permission, which was probably a huge violation of Coda's privacy. Maybe it was even hurtful because the narrator had changed the games so that they weren't even what Coda had made them to be anymore and was even interpreting their meanings to people when those meanings seem to not have been what Coda had in mind at all. The narrator didn't say "this is what this game means to me", he always spoke as though he had THE ANSWERS. He pushed things onto Coda that were never really true, and he even told them to other people. Can you imagine someone going around and telling other people that you are or were "spiraling" and all the rest of that, when actually you just went through what you consider a temporary low or an understandable period of frustration? I think that when Coda made the tower game, it was both him realizing that this friendship had become so unhealthy that he couldn't go on with it and realizing that it wasn't healthy for the narrator either. I think that he intentionally made it difficult to progress because he didn't want his friend to see the harsh message that he had at the end of it, even though he knew he had to deliver it. Or maybe he created it that way because he was hoping that his friend wouldn't actually go through so much effort to figure out the maze and the code, that maybe the narrator wasn't so ridiculously obsessed and that the message wouldn't be necessary. But the narrator did do all of that, or he dug through the code and "fixed it" until he could cheat his way through. Either way, that's a lot of effort to put into a game that even the narrator admits felt cold and uninviting. I think that in itself is a sign of just how much he was trying to understand Coda, trying to be Coda. And I think the fact that he was living through Coda so deeply is why he felt so empty when it all ended. He didn't want to be himself, and so he'd emptied out himself. But he could never actually become Coda. And it was hurting both of them that he was trying to. Sometimes, leaving an unhealthy relationship is the only thing that you can do. You do it for yourself. You hope that it helps the other person, too, or that it forces them to see their problems for what they really are. Maybe you give them one last message. But in the end you can't force anybody to change or to get help. You can only do what you need to do for you. I hope that Coda did find happiness again. (Even if he is a fictional character)

[@ResidentKen]

Wow. This comment is excellent. Hits on every note. Well done. And it’s sad. I’m sad. Maybe I’m a fixer. Because I’m sad that those two will never be friends again. They won’t be able to move past it and fix their friendship. It’s just so sad.

[@shannonfallon668]

@@ResidentKen Yes, it is sad. I definitely felt that too, and taking time to write this helped me work through it a bit. I'm glad you liked it :)

[@paranoiacomplex9680]

@@ResidentKen If it makes you feel any better Coda isn’t real. The events in this game are fictional and based off of Davey Wreden’s experiences with depression and whatnot, particularly after the release of The Stanley Parable. The Beginner’s Guide is very gripping and I also thought it was real at first. After the first time I was left feeling very hollowed. To this day it’s extremely powerful whatever way you view it. I did a book report about it once in high school hoping that my teacher wouldn’t look it up. I think I said it was an audiobook for something.

[@blee3181]

You want a weird song for Ollie? Try “Ring Ding Dong” by SHINee. That song is so weird, it’s addictive

[@vivi032]

A fellow Shawol, I also recommend "I'm the best" by 2ne1 It's a classic and very addictive

[@megankievit3141]

Why was I looking through the comments looking for someone to recommend kpop at some point😂

[@blee3181]

@@megankievit3141 I didn’t even know about kpop back then but the song is so weird/annoying/new sounding that it played nation-wide where I’m from 😂 Those who didn’t know the song didn’t even know it’s Korean, some thought it was from an anime or Japan in general

[@kemistree5312]

I ALSO THOUGHT THIS WHEN HE SAID WEIRD SONGS LOL hey fellow 5hawols!!!!

[@madeinhell5100]

OMG YEEESSSS

[@carleyno8276]

The line, "you can't talk yourself out of loneliness." Has always hit me the hardest. Along with, "Whatever you do, make sure you own it otherwise it'll own you. So, let's leave future problems to future you and attend to the task at hand."

[@violetpencil9614]

1:03:50 This entire segment with Matt Pat was so touching to me why I feel this on a emotional level I like writing I like drawing but I hate doing it when someone tells me to do it like when I have to do it like for school it’s only fun if the teacher makes the creative part option it being the main assignment and yet everybody tells me well you have a talent why don’t you make that your career and I have no idea what I wanna do with my career but I know that if I did that I would lose the one thing they bring me any form of temporary or at least somewhat happiness

[@Sylfa]

One thing that I felt after seeing the end of this game was that, you can't psycho analyze someone who makes art - in this case games - from their work. A happy game doesn't mean they are happy, a disturbing game doesn't mean they need help, etc. When this game was freshly out a lot of online discussion was along the lines of "was Davey wrong or right", or "Davey is the one that needs help" - and we had people ask Davey "what's the meaning of the game", "does Coda exist" and so on. And that's what I felt was very interesting, people were treating Davey Wreden - the developer behind this game - like this game is a cry for help, or that it showed how bad a person he was for releasing Coda's games, etc. In other words, a lot of people were treating Davey like the Narrator in this game treated Coda. Which I feel is missing the whole point of the game, or perhaps just reinforcing it. That's not to say that it's impossible that this game is "the real story", but one thing the game showed was that: you can't get to know the artist through their work. Not truly.

[@kaydensullivan5342]

True

[@littleredruri]

It's not the real story. Davey confirmed in an interview that Coda isn't real.

[@Sylfa]

@@littleredruri I don't have notifications for replies on, so this reply is a tad… late. But I'm not surprised in the least to hear that. Also KZbin likes suggesting videos I've already seen, it's a bit annoying. My memory might be bad at times but I recognize that I've seen it fairly quickly. That's why I saw this comment now anyways. 😅

[@JetZV]

I think the ending kinda speaks for itself, especially in the fact that it is clear that Davey still doesn't understand what The Tower is trying to tell him. It is also pretty obvious that Davey was projecting his own problems onto Coda and that these games, especially the ones after he meets Coda, are more just about Coda testing Davey. However, there is a single part of the level that still bothers me a bit: the very end of The Tower. The end of the level before the Epilogue starts has you/Davey redoing the door puzzle; simple enough. Once the door closes you find out that the second lever isn't on it and you're trapped with the back wall closing in. The earlier section when the lever is outside of the room represents how Coda is sick of Davey making workarounds to problems that aren't meant to be solved. Leaving messages behind that block is Coda proving that he knows what Davey was doing and had issues with it. Giving him the door puzzle but preventing it from being solved at all is clearly Coda locking Davey out of his life completely. My question is this: what do the closing walls mean as a message to SPECIFICALLY Davey? Sure, it's a symbolic reversal of how Davey closed in on Coda's passions and made him lose his passion, but the words Coda leaves behind would make that clear well before the walls do. I don't believe that Coda is petty enough to make the walls represent how he wants Davey to be crushed by him leaving (or, in an extreme interpretation, maybe wants Davey to die for ruining his passion), but Coda was also completely willing to be a bit vague with his words in the lead up to that trap so... yeah. My honest guess is that it is meant to be a final goodbye; there is no solving the puzzle and there is no lamp post.

[@Glisten456]

Maybe it's related to Davey's increasing desperation to project himself into Coda slowly leading to his downfall...

[@amitthehuman]

I think that the end with the doors is the facade of coda being real shattering and davey's emotions taking control of the environment instead.

[@xionatgas6610]

I just realized that matpat has an overwhelming amount of Dad energy

[@woteveruk1]

you JUST realized? he's had dad energy for years even before he was a dad, look at al lthe dad jokes he has in his videos lmao

[@nelaepowt]

Haha he does.

[@ryanmcintyre3616]

But good Dad energy, not the other kind

[@justanotakuandasinglemom5355]

Be grateful you have a good dad.

[@shafaalya884]

matt : “sometime games is just a game” also matt : *WELCOME TO GAME THEORY!!!*

[@lazylass2309]

In a weird way, i feel like i relate to Coda. He had placed so much of himself in these games and made it just cause he loved doing it. But as soon as someone decides to make themselves a part of it, who want to make it their thing too, it no longer feels important. It becomes tainted. I'm a person who writes. I love writing. Heck I love it so much I decided to make Fan Fiction just to do something public about it. The reason why I do it though is because it feels like the only way I can spill my heart out. To symbolize myself and clarify what makes me happy and me. But there's this sense of dread when it comes to sharing it with someone. Not the fact that I want to seal it away and keep it to myself, but that I fear that when I share it, reveal it, it's like revealing who I am. And because it makes me feel so exposed, it hurts all the more when someone tries to tell me why it doesn't work. It almost feels like what I was didn't measure up to what the person wanted from me. Now that doesn't mean ignore the haters, or not take critique, it is important to do so. But there are times when somethings are just for yourself in a sense. It's you just wanting to do something for yourself. You don't want input cause your not looking for input. It's not to sell, it's not to make you popular, it's not to help you advance anywhere. It's just for you, to just enjoy and have fun and be free. I know this comment is long, but it really is important to me to make it this long cause this feeling can't be swiftly explained. It never can be. So what happened to Coda here in a way is much more personal than we can understand. Even me. But I'm sure we have felt something similar whenever we find a passion or a drive to do something. The main reason why we can feel bad for Coda is because we understand that feeling of exposure. It terrifies and ruins one's self. Especially when it's used to make someone feel better.

[@Unknown-yz6md]

I feel exactly the same. When I read your comment, it actually felt like I was reading myself. I never related to comment this much before actually. I also write (unfortunately in a diferent language) and when I released my first serious book, I was just like "It is what it is. If it's not happy, it's not happy. If you like it, you like it.". I don't like to write happy books, it just doesn't feel realistic to me. Sadness and grief is unfortunately a big part of life, and I haven't been actally happy for a long time. I just feel normal. If I'm going to release a book, it's going reflect on that; like you said. Sorry to go on a rant, but I also feel you when you said "sometimes I just do things for myself, I don't expect for anyone to reflect on it.". I literally released videos which I didn't care about the likes, views or how many subs am I going to get. In which I told myself "why would I release it anyway?" but, you know; there's a glimpse of hope that maybe someone can reflect on it. I don't know you, I didn't see you on the comments before; but just know that someone feels exactly the same (still actually). Have a nice day my friend, hope things are going okay. By the way, love the game. ;)

[@vanilluvcoffee]

I really relate to this comment. I also write and I completely know what you mean by it being the only way to spill your heart out. When I make something that I truly cherish and think is special, I get really scared. Because usually I think it is special because I think there’s something that I offer in it that’s unique to me, but that’s scary. You don’t know what people will think about this obscure idea you have. That’s why every once in a while I write a short story I will not show to anyone, and my only rule is that I have to genuinely think it offers something valuable. Keeps me grounded in how it’s important to put parts of myself in my work even though I may not get any feedback on it whatsoever

[@kaitlinmills6412]

I completely relate to this, as another writer. I write for me. When I publish fanfiction, or maybe a book one day, or even a script if I get into screenwriting, if I like it, that's all I need. I feel complete. I'd feel naked showing somebody writing that I wanted to keep for myself. So many of my private thoughts and emotions are visible in my characters and there are some things I don't want, or even need, people to know. I write for the love of it, and I have to remember that sometimes. But I do.

[@MeemahSN]

I can relate. I find solace in my writing - it's a way for me to express my thoughts and feelings without fearing judgement. It can be very freeing when you have such an outlet for those emotions you find difficult or messy, but as a result you have to be careful with who you share it with. It takes a lot of trust and vulnerability to be willing to show another person your writing. It's a boundary violation and a disregard for trust to show a person's writing or other creative works to others without their permission. It's like leaking their diary.

[@nathancollins1715]

The most heartbreaking thing about this story is that (fictional) Davey still, STILL, doesn't fully understand what Coda's games are. He's still compelled to alter them for accessibility, and worse than that he belittles the games for being inaccessible or otherwise containing elements he considers unorthodox. He modifies the staircase game so that you, the player, can literally invade Coda's private little room, his mind, and lay bare all the ideas within. He modifies the game with the rich exterior filled with hundreds of hallways so that you can see them, while his dialogue seems to convey that he continues not to understand why they were hidden in the first place. He modifies the cleaning game so that you can move on, and doesn't even comment on that fact until The Tower, long after we think we understand the game for what it is. He inserts himself so completely into these games that are not his, he's given the appropriate reaction, which is Coda telling him to screw off, and while he's nominally apologetic and remorseful for his actions, he CONTINUES to not comprehend the most fundamental aspect of Coda's games: that they are not games to be played. That Coda does not care if other people like or enjoy them, because they were never meant to be seen by others in the first place. It's such a simple thing that Davey fails to see, that games are for Coda what idle doodles or a private journal are for other people. Davey just cannot stop analyzing them from an external perspective, he cannot stop asking what the games might mean to somebody other than Coda. Coda is an extremely self-centered person. But if there's one thing you should take away from Beginner's Guide, it's that being self-centered isn't always a bad thing. Being alone with yourself, having thoughts and hobbies and ideas and emotions that are ONLY YOURS is not a bad thing. Not everything needs to be shared with others. Of course some of Coda's other tendencies, like isolating themselves from other people, are unhealthy. There's being introverted, and then there's being so purposefully distant that you cut yourself off from society and only confide in a single person ever. But what Davey never learned is that the motivation to share yourself with others is something that comes from within, not from without. You can't just wrench a person open like a locked closet and expect them to thank you for your trouble. They have to want to be opened, and YOU cannot be the one to convince them to do so. They have to want it. If they don't, it's a violation. As an aside, it's a personal theory of mine that Coda is actually a woman. A lot of people have brought up the fact that Coda's representations of themselves inside the game are feminine, with the person trapped inside the prison being a woman as well as the interrogator in the penultimate game being called "Ma'am." But what a lot of people seem to miss is that Coda, being so isolated and making games only as a hobby, would likely never dare to ask somebody to voice act for their games. Why, then, is the only voice we hear in the entire game other than Davey's a woman's voice, over the intercom in the Whisper Drive game? Just something to consider. I don't know why Davey would be concealing Coda's gender, but maybe it's to reassure the players that their friendship was purely platonic and not sexual. I'd love to hear others' interpretations though.

[@Cattyclysm]

Yeah I noticed something about the feminine coda too. I was thinking the stage game could be a representation of Davey meeting coda, with the animal photographer representing coda It could be another thing of Davey projecting himself to the extent of changing the gender of his friend? Or possibly that he knows so little about them that he doesn't realize that coda isn't a he I'm not sure, but it's very interesting

[@nathancollins1715]

@@Cattyclysm I can't think that Davey doesn't know Coda is a woman, considering that we know they met in person at least one time: at the Sacramento game jam where Coda was making "This game is connected to the internet." So it seems that Davey is purposefully concealing Coda's gender for some reason or other. I like your interpretation of the stage game. It never seemed to fit in with the rest, since the message seems very explicit in a way that the other games aren't. But when you look at it as Coda making something that Davey can relate to rather than herself, it makes more sense. Coda even admits later that she might have started leaving clues unintentionally for Davey to find. Maybe she wanted Davey to see that self-doubt is something everyone contends with, and that shutting yourself off isn't necessarily always a bad thing? I don't know.

[@znahejebe4063]

Coda isn’t real. Davey said himself that he IS coda.

[@nathancollins1715]

@@znahejebe4063 You realize we're talking about the in-game Coda, right? In The Beginner's Guide, Coda and Davey are clearly separate poeple.

[@xerozoo]

i choose to believe that coda is ftm (though your opinion is as valid as mine). it makes me happy. probably not intentional though. as for their relationship, it's just a basically mature thing to have a male-female relationship that is purely platonic and not romantic or sexual, and i doubt Davey thought that players playing such a high-concept game would not understand the concept of platonic friendship across genders. i would definitely want to hear from real world Davey why he chose to use a female presenting voice, but also use he/him pronouns. i completely agree on everything else you said. One thing i don't understand is why coda would choose to show their games to Davey at all. if you have any ideas i would love to hear them!

[@xincnos9657]

I watched Jack's playthrough years ago when that was new and I was quite young, the game shook me on a deep level, now I'm 21 and the games themes are uncomfortably familiar and hitting close.... :/

[@alalalala57]

Exactly. Especially as a creative person, it was extremely uncomfortable but one that put things into perspective.

[@farrael004]

The thing about speaking the truth was also very big. But it was something that flew over my head when I played it the first time. Had to figure out by my self why that's so important.

[@nelaepowt]

Same here. I watched Jack's playthrough back then and revisit it over the years. This game is so incredibly profound but simple. The idea of simply understanding something for what it is and not projecting.

[@laytonpro8655]

Same here, watched jacks when I was younger and I was moved back then but now it hits even harder now I’m older and creative person, understand coda’s perspective and hearing davie talk about his work is uncomfortable

[@JameyMcQueen]

I read this comment thinking you were 12 when this came out, and now I realize 16-17 is "quite young" according to a 21 year old. That's coming from a 22 year old.

[@orangsucc]

I still don't really know if Coda is/was a real person or if he was just made up for the story of this game, either way the ending made me feel some stuff and actually think about what I'm doing with my life, I can relate way too much with both Coda and Davey, as in I don't feel like making much of anything and even if I do then when I spread it out for the world to see either noone cares enough to tell me how they feel about it or noone likes it, so I end up putting in less and less effort which makes me feel like I have no real self-worth and in general, just... ...I just don't want to stop, but I don't want to continue like this either, I'm confused, I honestly don't know what to do anymore.

[@kittygirlnya]

I know exactly how you feel... This game.. it hits us in such a weird way. I feel like... Well I need to solve something within myself. I truly hope you continue to create, even if all you do it for is for yourself.

[@victorhugovillarperez594]

Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself, always remember that self validation is…well…valid. Even if the world doesn’t appreciate or care about your work you have to always ask yourself “¿Am I proud of this work I’ve made?” If you truly believe that what you’ve done is something good and special and worthy of praise, then you have already given it the praise it deserves. You don’t need others to validate your efforts or your work, the first person that the work is dedicated to, is you. Remember that your opinion is the first, the last and the most important when talking of your work. Keep on doing great things, I’ll be cheering for you and your success, and I know many others do to.

[@elijahcusrex7766]

I feel that

[@ameliarosealdridge6468]

Coda is a fictional character. Now if it's based on another person, that's up for debate. But me and many others are on the side that Davey and Coda are one and the same. This kind of duality and mentality is very common for certain people, especially in the creative industry. It's also usually caused partly from getting serious in a hobby you just wanted to enjoy at first.

[@beyblade4690]

I remember there was a video talking about this game and it was based on a true story the creator went through with an old friend of theirs. Not sure if they're still friends but I think they're on okay terms.

[@kaleenar963]

I knew this game was good, but the twist ending made this 100% better.

[@wiseforcommonsense]

I love how mat keeps seeing the 3 dots and wondering what they mean, and in the end they are the cogs on the machine

[@justsomeperson5110]

It's both impressive and sad that someone felt such a need to deliver this message as to put in so many hours not just into the message, but into the prolonged setup needed to give that message appropriate weight. It's amazing in that respect! Well done to be sure! But sorrowful to be so necessary.

[@gamemagma9045]

I'm very excited for you to play The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe when it comes out. Also very happy to see you finally play this!

[@_Nomen_Nescio_]

i hope The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe gets delayed... we dont want rushed game.

[@CoopaTroopa06]

@@_Nomen_Nescio_ It got delayed twice so who knows

[@Somebody-Somewhere]

@@_Nomen_Nescio_ just because a game isn't delayed doesn't mean it's rushed.

[@creeperindisguise9278]

They’re making a joke referencing the delay announcement for The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe

[@myrmatta1]

Is that actually a real thing?

[@mialaine3045]

You have to show Oliver "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by The Charlie Daniels Band! That was my little brother's favorite song when he was around Oli's age!

[@peckedoutbuttoneyes]

that is exactly what i was thinking when he said he needed country songs. hearing oliver's tastes in weird music, he probably wouldn't be that interested in more new age country, as to my knowledge it's very similar to pop in the fact that it's very similar songs and lyrics, but older country songs and folk songs in general have always been a favorite of mine, and the fiddle goes hard in that song

[@zanegrimm2697]

Isn't Johnny cash a country singer

[@phantomkitten73]

Also... PLAY FREE BIRD!

[@peckedoutbuttoneyes]

@@zanegrimm2697 he was a country singer, but not only was he a singer that started in the 50's, he also tended to sing a bit differently from other people of his time, the first coming to mind being Elvis. Some of his less popular covers/songs also tend to get dark (hurt and delia's gone in particular), so I wouldn't recommend his mellow singing for a toddler.

[@hanakoisbestgirl4752]

Also include the lesser know "the devil came back to georgia" that's one sort of an epic with multiple artists on board. Charlie Daniel's, Mark o connor, johnny cash, Marty stuart, and travis tritt.

[@DiabloGraves]

The illusion of choice is one of the most underappreciated tools gaming has as a medium because it gives the creator (and the player) a chance to interact on vectors that aren't just "do you match with me on what I think is right". When done right, you can see many viewpoints at once approaching the same question or interaction, and the thought behind shifts from "which one is the correct one" to "how can people of different ideals find commonality, and use that to explore our similarities and differences". I dunno, maybe I'm wording it poorly, but there's just something about the way interactivity happens in games with metanarrative elements, especially in regard to choices (and how often they lead to the same result, yet the paths to get there remain important), that really speaks to me, and Wreden is *really good* at showcasing it.

[@criptych]

"There is always a lighthouse. There's always a man. There's always a city."

[@tomeromcclenton5072]

"Sometimes a game is just a game" Also mat: "This game where furniture gets put in a room is actually a metacommentary on societal imprisonment"

[@Swagaito_Gai]

I guess, in the end, the narrator doesn't learn his lesson. Despite realizing that he is missing something important, despite realizing that he needs to work through this issue, he comes back after recording that and still decides to release Coda's work to the world. Even after realizing that it is the wrong thing to do, he does it anyway.

[@hihellothere9569]

If he was truly ever wanted to fix himself. He wouldn't ever release the game at all

[@user-rc9gq1py6v]

my interpretation is that while you play, this game it was actually never released, at the end davey understands and leaves the game behind, this idea makes it impossible to make sense because then what are you here if you're not a random player? but honestly the end of the game feels like it's in real time in a way, that those aren't recorded audios anymore and it would only make sense to me tat he never released it, why would davey release that ending? then who you are, where you are etc would make less sense but still I feel like it would make very much sense overall (im obviously talking about in game davey here, not te creator of the game)

[@CasparLapthorne]

Yay! I was worried you’d got distracted by DDLCPlus. Such a fantastic game and I’m so glad you’re still playing it

[@eistheguy3789]

I mean how could u not get distracted by the cupcakes and cookies

[@donkeyface4452]

@@eistheguy3789 and large heaving *breaths*

[@ShadowDemon_4]

No matter how many times I see this game it always makes me feel so many different emotions.

[@_Lucifer.x_]

Omg when matt asks mirror matt how he's doing he was so thoroughly sincere and serious that it caught me off-guard for a second. I legitimately almost cried

[@jago1996]

When was that?

[@_Lucifer.x_]

@@jago1996 45:01 - 45:42

[@justanotakuandasinglemom5355]

He was half serious. And half hamming it up.

[@braindeadgenius2]

The argument early on over whether a game "needs" to be playable is, I think, the crux of the conflict. Coda was making games for himself, for fun. The fun was in the making, not exactly the playing. It was Davey that demanded "fun" and "purpose" out of Coda. As Davey's demand for meaning began to infect Coda's art, the creation process drained him more and more, ruining the original motivation for making the games in the first place. For fun.

[@selinnazsur2328]

"It ain't that deep" the game, which ironically manages to be deep in another way.

[@DawnAfternoon]

Instead of going deep into the author's mind (Coda), the game instead goes deep into the observer's mind (Davey).

[@TodosLocosOfficial]

Based on what I've seen, the game is kind of a retelling of his experience after making The Stanley Parable. There's a lecture he gave at a university once that gives a lot of context for this game

[@russianvalkyrie2358]

Can you explain more?

[@abdullahemek2488]

I don't know if anyone's gonna read this but at the start of the game, I was thinking like, oh this coda guy is so, me. I would reflect my thoughts and feelings about myself in games. Then at the end, I was like, oh this Davey guy is talking exactly like my inner monologues. This game affected me in a way makes me deal with myself. It's depressing and painful to realize how a shitty person you are by seeing another shitty person. Also, the games we played were also the changed form of the games. Davey modified them as like how he sees or wants to see them. So it's only natural for the player to think along with the narrator until the very end story. This game and story have so much to think about. And also I feel like every out-of-place assets are Daveys, not Codas, and at the very end of the game, the place you can finally see something coda wrote directly to Davey, they almost seem out of place. What if Davey put them there so they were not originally Codass words to Davey but Daveys thoughts about what Coda would say to him as a result of self-dealing he has been going through.

[@DerikHendric]

Those're a lot of reasons why I think that narrator and Coda are one and the same. Davey is his name, narrator is his inner monologue, Coda is the coding dev, his creative machine, that when he got exhausted it stopped working. This game resonated with me in this way, I feel like sometimes i'm two people struggling with one another, and all that has to happen for things to start going forward in my life is making the two voices cooperate and understand one another.

[@Kirarak]

@@DerikHendric Oh, I like this thought. Like we all have our inner creative Coda and rational Davey.

[@n3vrvalk855]

"Can you stop putting lampposts in my game" actually made me sob

[@LemurG]

same here! when I realized that it wasn't coda who made the lamps, it made me so sad that the narrator had changed the games so much, which was what coda hated the most.

[@mitchellharding9323]

"stop adding lamp posts to my game." Hit me like a truck

[@philwithawill1541]

What’s the time stamp

[@Deacf_YuriBird]

@@philwithawill1541 1:32:06

[@I_Have_no_nam3]

for me when Davey starts obsessing over how he wanted that feeling of fulfilment with the games, how good he made them and the simple action of making said games . reminds me of one of the previous games , the one with the perfection. as it has a very similar concept , someone in the crowed watching on, Davey , thinking that the teacher was perfect and feeling jealous in a way. now of course it was revealed that coda was not depressed but it doesn't mean that he didn't make the games with a curtain feeling in mind (also shown as when Davey said that he was in awe at he made the games with such accuracy and emotion, fuller fulling the idea that coda had previous experience with his self image). so , knowing this could show us that even early on in his game making experience coda was feeling the pressure from Davey ________________________________________________________________________________ overall this game is phenomenal , absolutely amazing . Davey did an amazing job as the narrator and i could really feel all the emotion is this game, the message was heart-breaking and it had all sorts of twists . not only that it managed to emulate the feeling of depression, social anxiety a feeling of trapped and a feeling that your alone. yes the message was that the narrator was wrong to assume that Cody was going through something but honestly i agree with him . if this was happing to someone I knew, a friend even I would immediately be concerned and want to help . of course Davey showing other people Cody's work was the wrong thing to do as he really only did it to feel good about himself ,and to feel a sense of purpose. but he tied to do something , he tried to help at first , initially he had good intentions , isn't that all that matters? no. him "doing the right thing" ended up hurting the person he was trying to help and him showing the world Cody's work as an apology/i want to find you completely defeats the whole point in apologizing as he's not stopping or changing his actions . his reason for an "apology" is purely selfish because he's only doing it for that hit of dopamine that comes with playing/showing others Cody''s games. this could have ended better ,with a happy ending, if davey had thought more logicly when trying to apologyze . he couldve reached out to him in other ways and kept it personal (not share it to the world) _________________________________________༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ________________________________________ tysm if u read all that :D it took a while

[@coshie4324]

It would be really cool to see GTLive play "Presentable Liberty" I think the feelings of the 2 games are a little similar. Also, Presentable Liberty is very thought provoking, so I'm sure the conversations would be interesting.

[@windflier1684]

Presentable Liberty to me is very manipulative, it try too hard to make you fell guilt and in fault

[@Scottthespy]

I would love to see Matpat's views on Presentable liberty, but I think there's a very important part of the game that's lost when you play it with other people. Isolation is a huge part of the experience you get. We bond so strongly with that bug, we care so much about those letters, because we are *so* alone. Playing it with any one else around to alleviate that, to take you out of that mindset, fundamentally alters the experience you get from that game. Everyone I've watched who played it on their own had a similar profound experience...the few I saw who played it together with others found it kind of dumb and didn't get the big deal.

[@starkillerreborn5445]

One more thing, the door, I think it's reflective of how he made games. It represents him cutting off all ties and interaction with his previous game before making a new one. This at it core is an allegory to life its self, in many cases we can not go backwards once we have moved forward in time and in life.

[@alalalala57]

That, and its also just a door. As in, its a mechanic he liked, its neat, and he thinks its good enough.

[@chupaxf]

@@alalalala57 Exactly. People over-analysing Coda’s games are missing the point.

[@starkillerreborn5445]

@@chupaxf there is motivation in everything, even if unintentional or subconscious it still exists. He put it in because he liked it, this reflects a piece of who he is. This of course is the irony of this game, the whole point is to not over analyze, to just take everything in, and yet even within that motive there is something to analyze.

[@lionlickers6058]

@@starkillerreborn5445 Exactly! Even if the motive was "hey cool mechanic i like it, gonna use it!" and thats it, that still tells you something about a person. it can be a simple lil thing but nothing exists in a bubble. Whats important is no to be be Dave, grossly projecting yourself onto others so much that you create a false reality of them and then spread those falsehoods about them.

[@starkillerreborn5445]

@@lionlickers6058 Exactly!! Being analytic and obsessive are two different things. Personally I still wonder if coda isn't based on Davey himself but I suppose we will never know.

[@FTZPLTC]

Gotta say, it's really interesting watching this, knowing what I already know about where this game is going. It's interesting to see how you go from being on the narrator's side, to realising how wrong he is, and how selfish in a lot of ways. It's hard to know when he crossed the line the first time around, but watching this, you can see that that's actually been the problem almost from the start - the guy fundamentally does not understand why Coda makes games, belittles his creative choices, and straight-up alters his work to make it more palatable to himself. I like the fact that, in that last game, the narrator could absolutely have just not altered the game. But he can't help it because he sees Coda as a puzzle to be solved, rather than a person. Also I love how being blind in the game also makes you deaf.

[@skylarlee9691]

Personally, the ending hit hard for me. I've done similar things to the narrator. I've made mistakes in situations like these. I've messed up, and the result is that the person I've hurt pushed people away, including me. I've been a hypocrite. I've been self-centered. I've been clingy and horrible and I've hurt people. Not just once. And honestly... it hurts more to think about how I've hurt that person compared to how I ended up. Compared to them, I'm lucky. Compared to them, I'm scot-free. I'm happy. I'm loved. I'm not as hurt. I had a chance to help them. But I screwed up, I pushed them too far. It's hard to trust people once you've been hurt like that. I think, I could have done this, or I could have done that. Then, I resolve to do "this" or "that" next time. But then I think... is there really a next time? A next chance I'm going to get, where I can make up for all I've done? I was happy. I was loved. I was safe. Why couldn't I make them feel that way too? Why did I push them to a point where they felt like they had neither of those, that they couldn't even trust to give other people a chance, either? I know I messed up. I know I screwed things up. I know I made horrible mistakes, and no matter what I do, I can't turn back time. I can't erase them and try again and hope for your forgiveness, your trust. I can't hope for things I've squandered away. I'm sorry, I want to say. I'm sorry. I don't know if you'll ever know that. But I'm sorry, I really am. I want things to go back to the way they were. I want to apologize and make things better and have a do-over so I can undo the mistakes I've done. I'm sorry. I really am. So... will you forgive me? I know it's hard to trust. I know it's hard to forgive. But could you give me a chance, please? I'll do anything. Anything. Isn't that enough? ...It's not, isn't it? I know that too. But I wish, I really wish it were. There's so many things I want to say that I just can't. I'm sorry, I can repeat. But I know my words sound empty. They're not, I can say. But I know that that's just not how it works. So thank you, "The Beginner's Guide". Thank you, MatPat, for playing this game and showing me a game I wouldn't have known otherwise. Thank you, Narrator, for giving me a chance to reflect. Thank you. Isn't that better than a "sorry"? I don't know. But thank you anyways.

[@iw9472]

I loved your comment and connected deeply to what you said. Thank you

[@shayanzamanpoore2744]

i think this game definitely deserves to be played again with the new perspective in mind. there's an early comment on how Coda and the Source engine are good with small corridors; and that all the lamp posts were in large areas. I also noticed that when you're doing the house cleaning the first time, Davey says something like "but you have to go" and the NPC is removed. then later he says the tasks were on repeat on you could never leave (the original Coda's no solution/ unplayable theme). makes me wonder how much the narrator lied to us; and how much of it was his work, his feelings, inserted into Coda's. thinking back; the whole "leave a note" game felt more like Davey's work, both in style and in tone; than to the rest of Coda's games. definitely worth a replay

[@treadingwater86]

The Machine also felt very much like Davey's work as well, it really felt like it was Davey's reaction to Coda not giving him games to show anymore, thus deriving him of what he needed to feel good about himself, and even showed hints of resentful feelings towards Coda for stopping by 'destroying' the game-environments at the end.

[@speedyboyo748]

Man, this game shook me h a r d. It reminds me of an issue that I've been struggling with a bit recently: the concept of meaning. In all honesty, meaninglessness has become synonymous with my attitude towards the future. I haven't had any real aspirations since I was in primary school and I'm at the age where I'm "supposed to have that sorted", the age where university is the next big step in life. Without that meaning, that sense of purpose, who am I really? Why can't I be the person everyone expects me to be? Who even is that person to begin with? Recently I've been diving into the world of writing and illustration, finding my first passion in years: a passion for storytelling. Even then, I'm told its unrealistic, that it isn't a gateway into many jobs (the same could be said about my artwork). What meaning is there in the things that I enjoy when I am told that it is going to lead to an unsustainable future? These thoughts kinda came to me as the video concluded, so I wanted to see what you all thought, discussing our own lil issues like Mat explained. The idea that everyone in this lovely community is here for each other sets me at ease, and could very well raise some interesting points of conversation! Thanks for reading, hope you're doing okay :)

[@xenostar6482]

Life has no meaning, you have to give yourself meaning

[@Amaiguri]

I think it's really cool that you reached out like this and shared. The thing to remember is that... if you have a passion for storytelling, that's wonderful. Don't let it leave you. BUT it's very different from doing it professionally. I encourage you to learn more about the business side of things and find out if you actually wanna deal with that. If you don't mind it, then pursue your passions and be aware of the sacrifices you will make. But for some, the business ruins the magic. And that's okay--your work doesn't have to go pro. You don't owe high skill or professionalism to anyone--that's just the stupid pressures of capitalism. You're valid whichever you decide. Good luck!

[@renab.7390]

I feel you. I'd say learn about and try out different things to find out what you like, care about and what excites you, no matter what it is. This way you learn about yourself, get to know yourself. You passions, ambitions, beliefs, principles, morals, that's what makes you you. Not knowing what to study or do professionally is something many people struggle with. I did too. What I've learned is that what matters most is finding what you want out of life. Is it love, happiness, validation,...? And, if you pursue that greater goal, what is it that you strive for, that you can't live without: a romantic partner, a big circle of friends, a comfortable life, money/possessions, helping others, making others lives better, fixing problems, learning new things, teaching/giving advice, kids/a family, being creative/creating something, fixing/improving things, etc It takes a lot of thought and often a long time to find your goal in life. Don't give up, keep looking!

[@Rockancrime]

I'd flag that if you want to be a storyteller, there are a million ways to do that. Working in a museum or public institution for instance. Historians, geographers - storytellers. Stock market analysts? Storytellers. [Ed - sorry couldn't resist the dig] Do you want to literally read books to children, or the elderly? Storytelling! It's one of the most deeply-ingrained human needs - to participate in stories. to share them. we use them to teach, to entertain, to immortalise. It can be done in so many forms - from statues made to last millennia to improvised street performances that disappear on the wind. From a straight-forward, single narrative like a book to a collaborative experiential experience like an escape room. If you're passionate about story telling you need to find your format, and the stories you want to tell, and the sky will be your limit.

[@Rockancrime]

(he said, quietly observing the lamp post he'd just placed ;P )

[@greenetomphson6164]

I wonder if he knows that the three dots are in Stanley Parable, too.

[@sedefozengi4760]

wait really?

[@mochi3764]

i think they are just a signature of some sort , i don't think they have that deep of a meaning

[@criptych]

Illuminati confirmed.

[@sedefozengi4760]

@@mochi3764yeah... but I'm still curious!

[@why_awesome]

@@mochi3764 i think davey (the creator of this collection of games and stanley parable) was referencing coda's games

[@Lyn0k]

Since Mat asked about feelings related to this game... Everything, for me, could be summed up as "melancholy." I related a lot with "Coda," and some of the messages their games seemed to portray, but also slightly with the narrator. When the housecleaning game suddenly stopped, I felt almost a little sour, like the message was suddenly being artificially changed. The tone change was a little too drastic, and seemed like someone else's story, which makes sense since the narrator says he did exactly that later on. I felt the same with the floating islands game where you're searching for the machine. At first I thought it was kind of a neat ending, seeing all the choices you've made so far, then when the wall broke away to reveal choices from past games, I felt "sour" all over again. I knew that the only way that ending could have done that was if the narrator had changed the game in some way to fit with The Beginner's Guide. It made me wonder what was originally there. Was the dialogue the same, or was that changed to make it seem like Coda was pushing himself in a negative way? It seemed to purposefully change the intent of the message, it felt as if someone had walked up to a priceless art piece, whited out a section, and added their own brush strokes. I also thought it was interesting that the final "Coda-made" level was obviously off-putting, obviously trying to close the player out, and the narrator talked about never understanding that last level. I thought that kind of showed just how much the narrator ignored, just simply couldn't see, the somewhat obvious message. Almost like his need to change and show the games he changed in an attempt to show Coda's artificially added sorrow or pain was so blinding that he couldn't read what was in between the lines until after he had already changed them, leading Coda to feel that very way. In that vein, I feel like I kind of share a few problems with the narrator, a need to try and fix what may be a very minor problem better left unfixed, likely all for the need of some form of validation, some meaning to the madness. However, I feel much more like Coda in the way that friends have tried to help me in the past, but usually only with things that didn't require fixing, making me search for some deeper meaning in the things they found problems with, finding nothing, and poisoning that thing for myself in the search for whatever it was. I frequently struggle with motivation, to the level that I haven't started anything I have wanted to do for over a year, and only finding the energy to do things I've convinced myself I have to do in brief stints that has, so far, made little to no progress. I have always struggled with depression and anxiety, and am very introverted. All this made me feel a lot more for Coda in this story, but also understand the viewpoint of the narrator at the end. So, yeah, melancholy.

[@WolfofFaron]

I was never Davey's call to share Coda's games with other people. It was never his call to ascribe meanings or endings or "truth" to games that weren't meant to have any. And it was certainly never his call to TELL OTHER PEOPLE something about Coda that was NEVER true. He took what Coda made for fun, for himself, and twisted it because HE wanted them to mean something, something that was never true. He took something that was never about him and FORCED it to be. It's the whole idea that Matt talked about - about how, sometimes, people just need someone to be there and to listen instead of trying to give advice or to fix things. Coda likely began sharing his games with Davey because he was glad to have someone to share in his enjoyment of creating them - not for any particular reason, but just because it was fun. And Davey ruined that, because HE was always the person who actually needed help. It's been years since I played The Beginner's Guide myself, and when starting to watch this playthrough I remembered that I didn't like the feeling I got from the game by the end, but I couldn't remember why. But I do now - because the person Davey turned out to be left a sick taste in my mouth. And yet, it was also somewhat familiar, because I know I've also tried to give meanings to things that weren't true and aren't there, and I've also had that done to me by other people. It's a great game, truly, with a powerful message. But it's a hard one to get through, too.

[@winters_snow7839]

I just wanted to thank you. As an artist, I always have had trouble being able to find the motivation to do work, and how you spoke about working and being able to separate doing it because you want to or because you feel you have to really resonated with me, deep in my chest. I want to do art. I always have, but I also feel because it's the only thing I've ever been told I'm good at, I also feel like I have to do it. I'm always creating art for the approval of others, and have only ever felt really happy when I was just doing it for myself, and you really reminded me of that, so I thank you, Matpat. You'll never know how grateful I am.

[@jacobweeks777]

I feel like Dolly Parton's Jolene is a good song to know

[@KohakuAmber22]

Oooo you reminded me that 9 to 5 would be great. I think These Boots Were Made For Walkin' is also pretty child friendly. Jolene is about a guy possibly cheating on his gf/wife for another hotter lady so not sure how child friendly that would be, but definitely great song.

[@torpedorunner2228]

I meant to recommend Islands In The Stream :D

[@KohakuAmber22]

@@torpedorunner2228 The only reason I didn't mention that one is it says, Making love to each other, which a child wouldn't understand so it's proooobably fine depending on the parent.

[@j.a.shawkins7640]

OH!!!! COAT OF MANY COLORS, ALSO BY DOLLY PARTON!!!!

[@cottage-core_]

+

[@amaimojiretsu7450]

Johnny Cash, Ring of Fire was always me and my brother’s favorite when we were little. Maybe Oliver will like it?

[@risingsunquincey1311]

That is a good one! You are my sunshine is a great song, I love by Tom T Hall is also great!

[@gadnes330]

Ya

[@alli4534]

Aw happy belated birthday to Ollie!

[@Tepalus]

Matt: Plays a very emotional game about 2 friends Also Matt: "Sometimes Games don't need to be overanalyzed" Matt when a new FNAF game comes out: InTeReSsTiNg

[@JustSayAl0ha]

Wow, that game was pretty deep. I've definitely been on the Coda side, but it really makes you look at when you might have been doing that to someone else. To be as equally excited and proud as the narrator only for him to reveal his obsession, makes me think there are times where we don't hear those thoughts out loud like he said them, but in our own heads, so we can't take that step back and really evaluate that process

[@highlord2841]

Congrats on 10 mil on Film Theory

[@genaervin3484]

I can't believe Ollie is already 3. Seems like only yesterday Steph was hiding her pregnancy from the world.

[@alalalala57]

Right? Time flies, and I don't know if I'm ready for it. :(

[@RossPitSharkHunter]

He's grown up too fast!

[@adrgru]

Well, Ollie was born before the pandemic. And this pandemic has actually been going on for one and a half years already. It's really strange how time warps sometimes.

[@micahbirdlover8152]

@@adrgru really I didn't know 🤔

[@victorlrs6686]

The talk about motivation literally gave me an existential crisis... O.o

[@Junior-jf1sd]

Big facts bro

[@justanotakuandasinglemom5355]

I believe you should read up on what, "literally", actually means. If you truly comprehend what you've stated, and you firmly believe it, perhaps you should seek out mental guidance.

[@Djay_B]

Happened to me too when I first played the game back when I was in middle school 5-6 years ago. If only I could play it for the first time again...

[@williamsmith7835]

This is honestly one of the most hard hitting game narratives I've ever witnessed. It was a literal gut punch going through the Tower, despite many parts of the narrative being predictable. When he has the breakdown at the end, saying "I need to know I'm going to be ok", brings tears to my eyes every time. I spent a long time living my life by trying to find happiness from the happiness I could bring to others and that's.. that's just no way to live. I know that now, but this whole experience throws me back to a point in time when I didn't, and serves as a powerful reminder that you simply cannot be that.

[@reddawnstudios2016]

About the chapter with the fake internet notes, when it gets to the door puzzle, it's such a fascinating puzzle because if there really was lots of people traversing the level and able to communicate with each other, upon reaching that door, you would lose contact with those yet to solve the puzzle, unable to help them through, thus trapping those who can't figure out the solution. The whole level was just remeniscent of Dark Souls and specifically that moment for some reason.

[@DnAgamesPlanet]

The talk before the last game was really touching on a personal level. Thank you

[@boonboonsaga99]

That message on the tower hit me like a truck

[@hognibaker7484]

This is one of the very few games that teaches that ones happiness isnt the same as anothers, I'm glad Matt played it finally.

[@normaljim]

Everyone likes to talk about the would you stop adding lamp post which is really good, but I think I'm more underrated and little bit more powerful quote is the fact that you think I am frustrated or broken says more about you than about me

[@darryllmaybe3881]

I try really hard not to let this happen with me and my friends. I've had some friends in tough situations or in dark places and it hurts to not be able to help them in the ways I want to, but I have to remind myself that it's not about me. So whenever someone I care about comes to me, I try to gauge what they need from me instead how I want to help them. I try to be very clear that if they want advice, then I can try and give them advice, if they just want me to listen, then that's ok too, but regardless of what I think the correct option is, I want them to do what's best for them, my opinion is not the important one here. This may not necessarily be the best approach possible, but it's the best I know of. The important part is to respect others' boundaries and not overstep my bounds unless they've invited me into their personal space themselves. Of course interventions are a thing, and those can be healthy, but they're also tricky and can be just as unhealthy, and luckily I've never into a situation were it felt like the only option.

[@BenjaminNaman]

Matpat: Don't believe the cabbage people. It's a cabbage conspiracy. Me: MY CAAAABBBAGEEEEEESSSS!!!!!!

[@syd-thesciencekid]

A man of culture I see

[@crimsonxero5924]

@@syd-thesciencekid And then the cabbage man created a monopoly on the cabbage market. I'm so proud...

[@hawz]

If Ollie is into weird songs try maybe getting him into Eurovision. There’s a bunch of amazing and weird songs every year.

[@winterjames4083]

if you are looking for a fast pace country song “the devil went down to georgia” has a good story that people of all ages can enjoy with a good beat behind it

[@justanotakuandasinglemom5355]

I suppose. If you have zero taste and prefer, easy to digest, simplicity.

[@donutboi467]

@@justanotakuandasinglemom5355 1. You refer to yourself as an otaku 2. You cannot use commas correctly 3. It's a widely enjoyed song 4. Ollie is 3 years old

[@JL-zw3tj]

All songs may need to pass parental approval, but here are some of my recommendations: Country: The Highwaymen - Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson The Blues Brothers country song covers from the movies (and all the original artists they cover) Weird songs: They Might Be Giants Help, I'm a Rock - The West Coast Pop Experimental Band Rubber Biscuit - Blues Brothers (don't know original artist, this is the version I know)

[@benjaminweise4316]

MatPat- I realize this is a year late, but when I grew up, half my diet of music was what some call "novelty" music, and I had some suggestions for Ollie... If you haven't already (if you haven't, then shame on you), then you must introduce Ollie to Weird Al's canon. I also suggest Dr. Demento's Anniversary compilations for you to find suitable "weird" songs for Ollie... To this day, at 32, "novelty" music (I just call it comedy)is a major staple, and Dr. Demento is THE king of comedy musc. His show is actually where Weird Al got his start. There are such great tunes like "The Elements" by Tom Lehrer, "Fish Heads" by ( I believe) Barnes and Barnes,Monty Python's The Lumberjack Song, The Tennessee Birdwalk, They're Coming To Take Me Away, King Tut, Boot to the head/last will and temperment (parts 1 and 2) (both amazing as well), Because Im a Blonde, Car Phone, and (one of my absolute favorites) Bulbous Bouffant, just to name a few gems. Further Weird stuff (I'm a musical theatre kid from North Canton... small world, eh?) I would include the soundtrack for the Broadway Tour of The Scarlet Pimpernel, Also, Dragostea Din tei by O-zone, Barbie Girl by Aqua, I can go on and on. My country isnt expansive, but I doubt the appropriateness of most of that for small children, however, theres always the standard mention of johnny cash, and Ollie may indeed very well love Marty Robbins! classic cowboy country! I have a very driving and specific taste in music, and I'm well versed in everything that is less than current or hidden from the mainstream, so I'd like to believe that due to that, my background, and my parent's relationship with me, that I likely have an internal discography as robust as industry insiders, music historians, or a game of trivial pursuit (lol). I say this because I want to let you know if you need any more suggestions, or maybe identification of obscure music, I am always more than happy to help. If you, or any of the GTlive staff read this, and possibly pass it on to the big man, reply and please let me know if you would? I halted every task I was occupied with and began to intensely focus and rack my brain for memories in the way only someone with severe ADHD can, and this has occupied actually a sizeable portion of my morning (I am not a speedy person), so I would really appreciate knowing whether or not I wasted my time doing my research and writing this... Cheers y'all, Ben

[@xerrex5667]

I noticed something that you may find interesting. In the Stanley parable in the escape pod ending it says “you are now leaving” on the wall. This may be related to the ‘game’ that says the same thing in this game

[@MDG-mykys]

when was it? edit: oh, wait, you mean the sign on the dark road?

[@xerrex5667]

@@MDG-mykys yep

[@strange17]

I think they did the escape pod ending wrong and i can't remember if they redid it

[@xerrex5667]

@@strange17 the ending itself is still the same

[@llamalama_ded7163]

You know. I definately get this. The fact that, people, even myself will try to find the meaning of something and will process it through out thier minds and come up with what makes sense to them. Because to me, i write lots of type of stories, and some sad and when ive had people read my work, theyve asked if i needed help. And i did, but the fact was, my solution was writing. It was where i could explore a world different to what i was in, or writing in some part of me/ my life. I see both koda's and the narrators part to this. Id had things blamed on me even though i had nothing to do with it, so for me, id feel obliged to fix things that i feel like needed to be fixed. Its what made sense to me. The funny thing is that you never really realise it until you realise its doing harm or even just have it click years later.

[@llamalama_ded7163]

@@Ren33469 Ur right tho. A lack of imagination just makes the world seem like its full of only problems. Its the reason people will cancle movies for having themes that seem too "sick" or "dark"

[@Goobergal8705]

Ugh... that scene on the stage legitimately gave me anxiety. Nailed the feeling perfectly.

[@Desyncronized]

The thing Matt said about wanting to fix the problems but sometimes needing to be a soundboard is definitely true. My mom and I are solvers: if we fix the problem, then you won’t feel bad anymore. There! You’re welcome! With the source of the problem gone, you should now feel better. My sister and my dad are feelers; they’re not really focused on fixing the problem right now. They need their feelings to be heard and they need the attention of us acknowledging their feelings before we start talking about solutions. They need the acknowledgment before the solution, otherwise to them it seemed like you didn’t really care - even if fixing it fixed their problem. It took a long time for us to figure out what the problem was, because my mom and sister would have a lot of fights because of this difference. I never had many issues because I didn’t allow problems to manifest, or if they did I would fix it immediately because I would keep feeling bad until the problem stops being a problem. Just figured this elaboration may help someone who maybe struggles with this with their family. Consider what role you all play (if either) and chances are you can reconcile or at least recognize what you need or want from someone.

[@Littlechonch]

If anyone has watched it, the end of this game reminded me so much of Bojack Horseman in the episode when he begs Dianne to tell him he’s good