#yet it makes Haruspex an integral part of the Town in a way that P1 doesn't

[daisyachain]

corollary to that post talking about how the Classic true endings are the solutions that each character is capable of thinking of, rather than the endings the character prefers (borne out by Bachelor’s seeming disillusionment and pessimism at his own solution, Haruspex’ choice to save the town being counter to his own job/interests/history) I like to think about the Polyhedron choices in P1/P2. P1 Haruspex can choose between saving the Town based on his own personal reasons or saving the Polyhedron based on the Bachelor’s personal reasons, P1 Haruspex has plenty of cause to destroy the town but he is never quite allowed to articulate this apart from ‘yeah fair point.’ P2 Haruspex can take Bachelor or Changeling’s advice into account, but he can also choose to save the Polyhedron/destroy the town for reasons unique to him and his story.

P2 often acts as a flattening/simplification of P1, taking all the twisty and obscure bits and providing a more convenient narrative (P1 never makes clear why Isidor was so deeply tied up in the Plague via Aspity, Daniil, Rubin, 5-years-ago, why such an integral individual would send his son away, why Rubin would so hate Artemy if he was so beloved, P2 makes him into a man so obsessed with his pet metaphysics that he loses grip on reality). At the same time though, it often clarifies how P1 can be read. In P1 one can...assume...that Artemy has his problems with the Town due to its racism and contempt, but he never objectively sways from his path to save it. If he does, it can be viewed as a failing, as a surrender to Bachelor or Changeling. In P2 on the other hand it’s crystal clear that he does have that tension, he’s aware of the contradictions, though exactly how he feels remains unknown. Taking it one step further, with the theatre metaphor, P2 is the player trying to construct their own interpretation of P1. The true story has already taken place, and now we are trying to reconstruct it in a way that works.