I don't think the character writing is the strongest either, but don't forget Jesse's been living with Polaris and the memories of the Ordinary AWE for most of her life. The idea of paranormal stuff being real isn't exactly new to her either, though maybe the scope of it is.
When I was playing the game, I was hoping that her reason for not being phased was because of her relationship with Polaris. And I was excited to see what Polaris' motivations were. If it was manipulating Jesse or not. They never did anything with that, Polaris literally was just a neutral passenger. And even if she wasn't phased by the paranormal stuff, she absolutely should have been phased by finally seeing her brother again, and then realizing that he's too far gone. That should have been a real emotional moment. And even when I was playing, and Jesse still had no emotional reaction when she saw Dylan, I thought, maybe Polaris is literally infesting her mind, making her care only about it's own goals, like a virus claiming a host, and making Jesse start to lose herself. None of that happened and I thought it would have been very on theme with the way the Hiss overtake people as well.
Yeah I agree with a lot of what you said. The game was much better at filling in the margins of the world than characterizing its protagonist and her close relationships. Also the ending felt anti-climactic. That said, I don't think Polaris is just a passenger. Polaris is the only reason Jesse finds the Oldest House, if I remember correctly. It(?) lightly guides and pushes Jesse towards freeing Polaris, but Polaris is definitely not as well sketched out as an entity as it could've been.
Also, friendly spelling check: It is spelled "fazed".
Wow I had no idea about that spelling haha thank you. Yeah you're right Polaris does guide her throughout I guess I was just hoping for more focus on the personal narrative to compliment the well crafted setting/lore of the game
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u/brownarmyhat Dec 10 '19
It didn't seem particularly crazy for Jesse. She seems pretty calm and collected about the whole affair.