I'll be so positive short of having HIV. in Whey and Sonic Screwdrivers.

So, you’ve played a lot of RPGs, right? There’s a trope(?) that Chrono Trigger and Dragon Quest VIII nailed. The penultimate boss as a gatekeep to the Open World.

You think the penultimate boss is the final boss. I think you’ve explored the world.

Then you wake up in a cave without your equipment. You discover there’s so much more to the world than you realized. You’ve lost an ability or two that you used to rely on, though it’s still there in your submenu. Well, not lost - it’s just not as useful as it used to be.

You’re not as bound by the narrative of the story as much. You’re free to explore this open world, but you’re not given much direction. The Final Boss™ seems nebulous and may still not even be clear. All the old levels are pushovers, you’re free to go whereever you want. Yet there are still pockets of new areas which will challenge you.

Probably only making sense to me.

In the past two years, it’s felt like the end of my story. Like I fought the final boss and lost. Like the credits rolled, and the projector played the last frame of the film. Just static and flickering projected to an empty cinema. All the seats empty, everyone has gone home. And I’m still just kinda here.

That’s more of a downer of how to express it.

But being post the penultimate boss? I’m trying to use that as a mental allegory.

I’ll probably rewrite this as I bet I’m not making sense. Or dollars.