Opinions of Walter's fear of shadow magic

[Bandzia]

Hello! I’m discussing with a close friend of mine and we were talking about Walter and we have two clashing opinions about his Fearless motto and that it may not be so accurate.

We saw the game update which says "Walter’s fearlessness no longer prevents sanity loss while equipping Night Armor and Dark Sword. It was not intended to protect him from the effects of shadow magic." I personally liked it because I think that this ability of not fearing shadow magic should be left for now to Maxwell(I mean, We have Wendy who doesn't seem too bothered about it, however she will still lose sanity.), however this makes me a little bit confused about his motto and also his contradicting quotes that he says.

However she didn’t think there was anything wrong with him not being afraid of holding a dark weapon of any sort or armor and him not losing sanity. She said that it’s a part of his personality and she could understand the bees because he’s allergic etc., but dark magic has little to do with him, so why would he be afraid? She didn't see the point in adding another fear because he’s already scared of getting hurt and of bees. She thinks adding another fear really discredits his character.

So we decided to ask the community about your opinion. Are you enjoying this change or not? Tell us. We really want to bring this topic to light, since we enjoy playing this character, however we also do care about his personality.

[CameoAppearance]

I don't think sanity loss from shadow items actually has anything to do with whether or not the character is afraid of shadows or afraid of dark magic; I think shadow magic makes you feel fearful and unsettled, even if you otherwise wouldn't be. It extracts its price from the user's mind. I think this was the right choice for consistency with the lore.

I'll also point out that Walter still isn't affected by insanity auras from active shadow creatures or nightmare lights, which is the best proof I can think of for him not actually being afraid of shadow stuff now.

[Dr. Safety]

From a lore perspective, yeah maybe it would make sense for his mind to be incorruptible, but from a gameplay perspective, it makes absolutely no sense. Since all magic items cost sanity, I always saw sanity as "mana". That's why Maxwell was always the ideal magic user because he is the only one with a passive mana regeneration. If Walter didn't lose sanity, then that would just be broken imo. Come to think of it, does Walter lose sanity from using things like the ice staff or telelocator staff?

[Bandzia]

4 minutes ago, Dr. Safety said:

From a lore perspective, yeah maybe it would make sense for his mind to be incorruptible, but from a gameplay perspective, it makes absolutely no sense. Since all magic items cost sanity, I always saw sanity as "mana". That's why Maxwell was always the ideal magic user because he is the only one with a passive mana regeneration. If Walter didn't lose sanity, then that would just be broken imo. Come to think of it, does Walter lose sanity from using things like the ice staff or telelocator staff?

He does. He also looses 10 sanity from digging up graves which is understandable since it is grim.

24 minutes ago, CameoAppearance said:

I don't think sanity loss from shadow items actually has anything to do with whether or not the character is afraid of shadows or afraid of dark magic; I think shadow magic makes you feel fearful and unsettled, even if you otherwise wouldn't be. It extracts its price from the user's mind. I think this was the right choice for consistency with the lore.

I'll also point out that Walter still isn't affected by insanity auras from active shadow creatures or nightmare lights, which is the best proof I can think of for him not actually being afraid of shadow stuff now.

I was also thinking that but couldn’t quite put it into words. It’s just every time I hear dark magic immunity it makes me feel iffy about the character already. Thank you for It bringing up.

[Owlrust]

I'm not mad that he gets his sanity drained from the shadow items, but it annoys me that Shadow Armor was going to be amazing for him and then suddenly it goes back to being one of the few armors never crafted. The armor itself already makes you lose sanity when hit, but that is only insult to injury since it stacks with Walter's con as well. In my own opinion, I feel that the armor should not have a -10 sanity/min modifier but rather stick with the sanity drain per hit mechanic.

[Raeku]

Yep it's not fear, it the influence of dark magics upon the wielders psyche.

Maxwell was not afraid of the Codex Umbra, yet his continued use of it's spells drove him to madness.

[Serph]

From a gameplay stand point i was 100% sure the fact that he didnt lose sanity from night armor was intentional. One of his perks is "Doesnt care about fashion" so logically he should ignore all clothing sanity effects for better or worse. But nope, turns out he can get the negatives but not the positives, which is not just unintuitive but unfair. He also has some others arbitrary sanity rules, like not losing sanity from wormholes but still losing from picking evil flowers. (inb4 klei says the wormhole wasnt intentional either)

I get that Walter is a "normal boy" and shadow stuff is supposed to be scary but his brain already makes no sense and this logic isnt consistent with itself. Walter is not afraid of monsters and shadows but he is afraid of dying. He now loses sanity from shadow gear but not from night light that is powered by nightmare fuel. He starts with a hat that makes him "50% less afraid of death" but he cant get sanity boost from his OWN HAT.

Overall i hated the change because regardless of lore, night armor + sword was pretty good on Walter and gave him a good reason to play him as melee fighter so he actually gets value from being immunie to monster auras.

[.]

I think night armors' sanity drain is not about being scared. It's kind of antimatter drain mental healths. It's sucking your sanity like a blackhole. Maybe it's the reason why this weapon is so powerful.

[ArubaroBeefalo]

As lovecraft inspired items, they drain your mental health. So is not about fear is about forbidden knowledge and how you go crazy when you know more about that dark reallity