Spoilers: Moral of the story/treatment of depression and suicide

[katzzz]

So, during one of the run-throughs, Clarissa mentions that she would get an ampersand on her finger if she got a tattoo, and I know that's a tattoo that suicide survivors get.

Why does the game encourage you to treat Clarissa like ♥♥♥♥ if she's a suicide survivor? I know you're supposed to make up with her, but even the options to do that are pretty rude and there's no way to actually talk to her or make her feel better except in ghost form, and even then Michael tells you to "know what to leave behind and what to take with you." And he supposedly loves her??? (and you only get him back if you tell him to stay in town and leave her...)

So like, what's the moral of that? That depressed people treat other people like ♥♥♥♥ and you should ignore them to be happy? That no matter what you do depressed people will always be depressed? Cause that seems pretty ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up, even if this game has like, an eternal recurrence vibe. I've had severe depression, and if my friends treated me like a nuisance and acted like they do in this game, I would not be where I am now.

So, I like this game, but I'm kind of pissed about that, and Jonas forcing his weird religious morality down your throat at that one point. And like, with all the talk about who's fault it is, and blaming people constantly, and Clarissa being someone who blames people, is this game supposed to be sympathetic to people with depression, or is it just patting people on the back who weren't there for their friends when they killed themselves? Cause that's kind of super ♥♥♥♥♥♥ tbh. Like, you obviously shouldn't blame anyone for someone else's suicide, but that doesn't mean you should encourage people to treat a depressed person like ♥♥♥♥ and basically say no matter what you do she'll always be depressed. There are natural and synthetic treatments for depression.

Opinions?

TL;DR what the ♥♥♥♥ about how they treat Clarissa and her depression.

[Toaster]

the characters in this game are not perfect.
they are teenagers, with faults, who treat eachother questionably. even with your input, they are still characters put into a harsh situation who don't necessarily like eachother or know eachother super well or have sympathy or empathy.

I don't think the devs are making any particular statement about how to treat all depressed people or suicide survivors, or even making broad statements about religion with jonas (I never even got his religious dialogues, nor clarissa's tattoo dialogues, for example.)

They are just painting a picture with this specific situation, with these characters, who are imperfect. They treat eachother poorly, are put into an awful situation, and do dumb things. That is partially what the story is about.

I also don't think it ever says she'll always be depressed. In the ending I received, she went off to get her degree and was living (seemingly) happily w/ her bf.

Ultimately, I don't think it's saying you should treat Clarissa poorly or even that the "nice" options for her denote this connotation. I also don't think it glorifies the rude options at all, considering how a huge part of the moral in this game is treating people well/avoiding arbitrary conflict. In my run through I treated her nicely, and she seemed to be fine, never brought up her tattoo, and had a happy ending. She was more aggressive to Alex than Alex/anyone else was to her. So I think it boils down to how you play, and what choices you make, most likely.

[katzzz]

yeah but like, the devs posted in here and told people to not be Clarissas so....