Although I have, in the past, tried to have my blog-posts contain presentations of original hypotheses and original theories, there are some mysteries about which I just don’t feel like I have a good hypothesis or theory to present.
So it may be time to change my approach and and content myself to just presenting an analysis of some of these mysteries and see if you all can help me to figure out how to go beyond this analysis to a satisfying hypothesis or theory.
This is the approach I am taking in my most recent post, The Mystery of the Red Bird Drawing in the Women’s Lavatory (Part 1), and the follow-up posts yet to come in that series.
So… I need your ideas. Have I overlooked something? Have I made a faulty assumption? Give me some feedback on my analysis and let’s see if we can come up with some interesting theories.
~
As always, use the comment-thread of this (or other) Month-iversary posts as the place for your off-topic comments or conversations. Or as a place to ask questions about the game when you can’t figure out where your question properly belongs.
Don’t worry about asking a question that has already been answered, or making a comment that may have been made before. I don’t expect anyone to read this entire site before making a comment. This site is just too big for that, and I understand that it isn’t always easy to search the site for a particular topic.
This site is here to enhance your experience of Rule of Rose. So please have fun with it.
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Well, since this is an off-topic place:
Do you have any speculations on the bandage on Diana’s thigh? I know it’s in the intro video, which you’ve said in the past you’re inclined to discredit, but I think it does have some relevance to the story, if only because it doesn’t really do much to enhance the mood; if memory serves, you’re reluctant to take hints from the intro to begin with because it was designed with marketing viability in mind, and so was created with the intention to set a certain vibe rather than describe the plot. But hell, the flash of the bandage is so brief that I find that most people don’t even notice it the first few times, and I really don’t feel any stirrings of emotion when I see it, just, “Hm, that’s odd.”
So yeah, any ideas?
The red bird image in the toilet could mean anything from the dead body ( if the bird was real ) or a stuffed animal being flushed to just a part of Jennifer’s imagination. The thigh bandage is probably connected to the same perspective that had Hoffman all bound up in the boss battle ( maybe a mummy reference, since they both died ). Any thoughts about the clover field being the inner courtyard ? SD
Emriss, maybe Hoffman has beaten Diana ? This is the first thought I had when I saw the bandage.
I’m so happy that you’re back, PN! I got a little worried when your site vanished for those few days. No one to debate with over the game except for Dad! It’s not much fun since he can see right through me. Parents seem to have that ability.
Dad won’t be commenting for the next few days. He left town to attend the funeral of his cousin who died of cancer (so sad, she was only 36 and left three little boys behind). I really didn’t know the woman so I stayed behind and let him go on his own. He was really close to her (he has tons of pictures of her) and it hit him hard. It’s the one death that I fear the most. She battled it for four years and got really bad the last year and a half. He said the she looked like an old woman in her sixties when he saw her in the coffin at the visitation and funeral. He should be home tomorrow, but probably won’t feel much like commenting for a while.
He’s doing quite well and has impressed the doctors with his progress. He’s stronger every day and more independent than he has been for a long time.
I did note that he has begun small projects on the model and has been working on the editing of the photo folders. That’s encouraging since he seems more and more like himself. I honestly feel that I can go back to New York and he will be okay without my presence. The fiance` had to go back to return to his job and with just Dad here we’ve gotten close again. It’s SO nice to have him back again!
Hey, Masq! What’s new?
Later
Kim
Masq doesn’t have much new on the homefront, Kim.
She’s just plowing forward. Writing, working and waiting. ^_^- I’m glad to hear you’re doing ok.
I’ve seen the cancer thing too. My aunt, who my mom was very very close to was told around 2000 that she had six months to live. She lived four years fighting. But she wasn’t the same person when she died as she was when she was alive. Mom dealt with a deep depression after that. It got worse when her best friend of five years died in a car accident not unrelated to my aunt’s death soon after. The depression became so bad she lost a lot of weight and they made her take a leave of absense from work and put her on some very heavy medication.
Seeing as your dad is still recovering himself, I hope he is doing ok. I’ve seen the horrors of being the child of a depressed parent. I was too young then to really understand but looking back I can still remember the worry… “Did I do this?” It hurts to watch them go through it, not to mention I knew both women as they were very kind to me in my early years. I can still remember the sounds of their voices and the color of their eyes. Aunt Velda smelled like downy when we hugged her, even before we knew she was sick I remembered that.
It’s the stuff like that that stays with you.
Hope you’re doing ok,
Kerri
Hi Kerri,
I’m great, better than great, I’m stupendous (I always loved that word, just about drove Dad nuts with it when I was about 10. Everything was stupendous! ^_^)!
Just noticed that e-mails are now a required field. I hadn’t thought about it much last night when I commented and am wondering about the change. Is Big Brother watching? Or maybe the RCA! @_@ I have to use Dad’s e-mail address for incoming stuff as my ISP has really been cranking up the charges and probably once I get back to N.Y. I will be without the web until I find another provider I like (and can afford)!
Dad got home today and hasn’t said much. It really hit him hard when he thought about the fact that he and his cousin used to play together. Okay, she played while he watched her and sometimes decided to launch a ticklefest on another very ornery little girl. He felt, even at that age, that she was his to care for. I guess that his learning with her benefitted me!
Ciao for now!!!!!
Kim
Maybe they dropped the bird toy in the toilet in real life? Joking, joking… I’ve stretched my mind over this before, though, and I’m at a loss.
My idea? Let’s hunt down the guys who wrote the story for Rule of Rose and make them talk. We’ll use force if necessary. ;D
Also, I just had to bring these five things up (Sorry if anyone’s mentioned them before):
1. Is Jennifer left-handed? She opens the door with her left hand every time. And during “The Funeral”, she points at the Aristocrats with her left hand (Silly, stupid, but believe it or not, I wonder)
2. Has anyone else seen the newspaper in the Smoking Room during “Rag Princess Sews”? The one with the article about the massacre?
3. I did not know this until last night: You can enter the salon and VP room during the “Sir Peter” Chapter. Am I the only one, there?
4. Does anyone know about that door down the hall from the VP room? It’s hard to see it; it’s like a secret door, and I’ve only just noticed it (It’s locked, as of “Sir Peter”).
5. (This is the last, I promise) Did Wendy make Gregory Stray DOG for a reason? A subtle message involving Brown?
Again, if these have been covered before, sorry. But these questions keep me up at night.
INMH asked:
If you collect all 4 perfumes, and turn them in at the exchange box during the “Rag Princess Sews” chapter, you can enter through that door (in that chapter only) and see what is on the other side. You can also obtain a revolver there that you can use as a weapon (if you search for bullets). See the Item FAQ (in the Important Resources) for help with getting the perfumes.
INMH asked:
It is a different newspaper article during the “Unlucky Clover Field” chapter, but after that it is always the article about the massacre. It is among the documents in my Document-based Time-line: After Jennifer Arrived at the Orphanage.
INMH wrote:
Wow. I always thought that the only leftie in the orphanage was Eleanor. Oh, I’m gonna check the RoR videos for Jen’s left-ness.
^___^
I don’t think that really has anything to do with if she’s left handed as all the doors open to the left. ^^()
I’d have to agree with Masq.
Plus, she holds her weapons with her right hand. I assumed she opens doors with her left hand because her right is full (at least in my game, where I’m constantly wielding the Knight Rapier even when there are no imps).
I was messing around and noticed that you can subscribe to any or all catergories of posts now! There is even an option to “Automatically subscribe me to newly created categories.” ^_^ I just turned it on so I can say for sure that it works, but how exciting if it does. I’m also not sure if it would include just new posts or also the new comments.
Anyways, I hadn’t seen that before so I thought I’d mention. ^_^ Not sure if it’s actually new or not.
Hope everyone is well. I finally, *finally* got a copy of the game and am trying to get brave enough to play it. ~_~;
There is are some new features, as I updated to a newer version of Wordpress during the trying-to-move-my-blog-to-a-new-webhost disaster. I also switched to some updated or alternative plug-ins. But I really have no idea what these do as they tend to relate to functions that I, as administrator, don’t use myself. I suppose I could log-out and poke around, testing things as a non-administrator type of visitor, but I haven’t done so.
So thanks for letting me know that there are some new features that you like. I’ll try to preserve them during subsequent upgrades.
fireflys_locket wrote:
Be brave!
Thank you. ^_^; I’m not quite good at being brave, though.
I’ve had lots of company and such going on the past couple of months, but my goal is to at least attempt to start the game at the beginning of next month after things have calmed down. So, someone feel free to bug me about it in August. Haha.
Okay, so… I finally started up the game! I’m scared out of my wits, mind you, but… hey, I’m still trying. It feels weird to have been following all of this for so long, but never actually playing the game myself. But I am *so* not brave, PN.
I couldn’t even make it, though the first chapter. ~_~; Of course I probably should have been nicer to myself and not tried playing when it was starting to get dark… Stupid girl.
Scary games are so not my thing. I was sitting on my bed practically clutching my chest like Jennifer. ~_~; Oh, dear. I can’t imagine what it will be like when I have actual enemies to fight. Though, at least then, I’ll have a weapon… even if it is just a fork…
I seriously need someone to sit next to me while I play. I get too freaked out alone. *Sighs*
fireflys_locket wrote:
I hope you aren’t too afraid to take time to look around and explore.
Assuming that you made it into the yard of the orphanage through the rear gate, did you turn left (instead of following Xavier), go through the gate to the left, and take a look at the mysterious objects lined up on the ground? You don’t get another chance to do so in the game, so you don’t want to miss that.
~
I’ll bet it would be fun to sit next to you while you play.
There are a couple of YouTube videos that split-screen to show a ‘fraidy-cat guy as he is playing Fatal Frame series games (the Fatal Frame games are—in my opinion—the scariest games there are). It is very fun to watch that guy scream and freak out when a ghost comes for him.
PokerNemesis wrote:
There are more of these than I realized. I think they are fun to watch. Some aren’t split screen however: in those you just hear the guy freaking out. Here are a few:
FATAL FRAME SERIES SPOILERS!
Second Scariest Room in Fatal Frame
4PlayerPodcast: Nick scared into an epileptic fit
LOL Why won’t save work? Oh…
What’s going on??
The Secret Room! (Twins strike again…)
I looked for them, but couldn’t find them! ~_~; The picture looks sort of dark and terrible on my tv, and I was having troubling seeing things. I did attempt to look all around inside, instead of just following where you are lead to go. That’s my natural inclination from playing lots of RPGs. All the hidden chests and such. HeH.
Anyways, I got through most of the orphanage, until I scared myself into thinking I saw a goat imp in the library, and decided I need to stop for today because I was losing it. ~_~;
You just want to laugh at my unintentional Jennifer impressions, PN!
Still, I’d gladly accept your presence, even with the laughing. A mood lightener might be good, actually.
Hey everyone, I’m back (well, sort of)!
It’s been a rough couple of weeks. As Kim mentioned I had to leave town to attend the funeral of my little cousin who passed away at the age of 36 from cancer. I really haven’t felt like commenting since returning and actually haven’t even read the comments lately.
Her death struck really close to home and made me realize my own mortality. Less than a year ago she faced my near death and now we have traded places and I have to deal with hers.
We were very close (I was 10 when she was born) and grew up together having fun and being more like big brother & little sister than cousins. Kim was right when she commented that I felt that she was mine to care for. Even at that age, I really did! Strange for a little boy to enjoy being around a baby girl, but I felt a special attachment to her that never faded.
We adored each other’s children and I became more like an uncle to her sons than a cousin and the same went for her and Kim. Her loss will be a hard one to get over and it will take me time.
I WILL be teaching again this year!!! The doctor has cleared me for return to the classroom and I have been busy going over materials for my classroom. I feel more like doing things lately (energywise) than I have since the attack.
The model was dusted off today and hopefully will get underway again soon.
I will be watching the threads for a tempting target!!!!
Hurray! I finally got my gravatar up! Big thank you to RozenMaiden, i would never have found the website without your link
I just now deleted a link from my “links” section.
It was to a Fatal Frame fansite called “Chou”. My anti-virus software reported that it was associated with a trojan-horse virus. When I originally made the link to that site, I had no indications of any problems associated with it.
If you have gone there recently, and haven’t been running an anti-virus program, your computer may have been infected.
I apologize for the link to someplace dangerous to your computer.
I’m quite surprised that a Fatal Frame fansite would be a problem in this respect.
Ah, started from the save point and found them this time. I didn’t go the right way after all. Oops. Well… *stares at them really close to the tv for awhile* Wow, is this game blurry (and dark). ~_~; Maybe I’m just spoiled…
Oh, but since I’ve never really gotten a chance to suggest… I always thought that in the real life of the orphanage, there was never an assigned gift of the month for *everyone* to look for. Just everyone took turns having to give something precious up. Or something like that. That’s just the feeling I got.
Having Jennifer look around for things every chapter might be mostly a set up as you know… this being a story told in a game form. In game you have to, well… have things to do. Of course, we can’t really discount anything as being solely put in as that, but still… I do very much felt it was a personal sacrifice. Though perhaps there were smaller offerings made by everyone in between?
*Shrugs* Back to scaring myself silly, I guess. Let’s see if I can make it through the first chapter this time, shall we? ^_^;
fireflys_locket wrote:
The blurriness is something I find quite troubling.
Consider the objects that I show and discuss in my post Mysterious Eating Utensils?. The image I’ve shown with that blog-post was an enlargement of an image that was taken with the help of an emulator by comment-maker Jay. No way would a player see that level of detail otherwise.
Does this mean that there could be clues designed into the game, that the designers intended for us to see, but we are unable to see? Perhaps we are missing—because of blurriness—designed-in clues absolutely essential for solving certain mysteries. The prospect that that may be the case makes me quite unhappy.
The storybooks, and certain other documents, for example, seem to have some details that might conceivably be important, but are impossible for me to make out. This frustrates me quite a lot.
The blurriness has been getting in the way of me just trying to play my first round of the game. I can’t imagine actually finding real clues in that. o.o; I definitely see what you mean. There’s so much that could be missed. It really is unfortunate.
On the bright side… (Well, not really, but it is good news.) I did manage to get through the first chapter sucessfully… now comes the hard stuff. I could hardly find my way around the orphanage… the airship will be insane. ~_~;