As a fan of Wendy, this short makes me immeasurably happy.

[WenericMember]

I love this short so much. Despite how many characters are in most shorts, we rarely see them interact for more than a scene or two, which really limits the depths of the interactions. On top of that, a significant portion of them are either constrained to integrate with trailers (Staying Afloat) or before the survivors met (Projector).

Shorts that go beyond this have typically always focused on the same handful of characters - Wilson, Maxwell, Charlie, Wagstaff & Winona (Forgotten Knowledge, Encore, Interference, Host of Horrors, Terrors Below).

While this short still prominently features Charlie and Winona, it gives a character that has had minimal involvement in those events a chance to shine - Wendy.

Wendy, much like those other than listed above, has spent pretty much every appearance other than her dedicated short, well, surviving.

This short, however, allows her to exist in a way the game itself never could. This is most apparent in Abigail, who gets to sulk after being told off, dance with joy when be reunited, and generally, prove that she exists as more than a shadow of her former self.

Wendy exhibits a wider variety of personality then normal too- she gets to be childish, to be determined, to be grieving, but most importantly...

Wendy gets to be happy.

When the survivors mostly get 10-20 seconds of screentime, they're Flanderised by necessity - there isn't time to show off any other aspects of their character. Wendy is probably the most obvious example of this. She's "the sad one." Curse of Moon Quay, Swine & DIne, Encore and Host of Horrors either make her act interchangably to other survivors, or radiate "I don't want to be here" energy. The one exception to this is the Monster Marsh, which is another of my favourite shorts.

It's a completely different story here. She's shown enjoying herself picking flowers with Abigail, albeit with a restrained smile in comparison to most other survivors. She's also a lot more open to Winona, actively being grounded by her presence and reminding herself to calm down. Finally, once she's reunited with Abigail, she smiles unreservedly for the rest of the short. It's a wonderful change of pace that shows how much the other survivors are helping her feel like a normal kid again. It makes me happy how far she's come from "Abigail never failed to make Wendy smile, sadly it would be the reason it went away forever."

It also has a great moment for Charlie, as she not only kills that catcoon that had stolen Abigail, but directed Wendy & Winona to the flower - the petals leading to the corpse aren't the long thin petals of Abigails, but the shorter ones left by the rose Charlie left behind. This makes it clear that Charlie is still capable of acting altruistically, and not just for Winona. While we probably won't get much more on Wendy & Charlie's relationship, I would really like to see it referenced in future rift content.

Winona's also given a good time to shine here. She act's as a supportive older sister to Wendy in a way we've never really seen her before,  presumably in the same vein she used to be with Charlie. While she's unhesitating in helping Wendy, she's also shown as the more rational, helping Wendy calm down and stopping from running into the caves without preparation.

For a dynamic that didn't canonically exist 24 hours ago, the short convinced me of their relationship and made me love Winona in a way I never did before, as she got to exist as an emotionally grounded. In most of her previous appearances, she's either "the mechanic" or chasing after Charlie. 

As an aside, I think this is the first time characters have ever cried in DST, and it says a lot for both characters that while Wendy's are grieving tears of the loss of Abigail, Winona's are tears of joy seeing them reunited. It's really powerful for both characters and is just such a cathartic moment.

The previous tales of the Constant-  Swine and Dine & Falling, had a lot of these elements too, but the suffered from mainly featuring nameless pigmen as opposed to the survivors. This is the first one to mainly feature two established characters interacting since the format was introduced, and it make's all the difference in the world. Walter's a good example of this, he gets to be slightly irritated by the lack of interest of the other survivors, disgusted by the pigs cooking, etc.

Overall, I think Tales of the Constant has been a MASSIVE improvement over the previous formats of shorts, and hope they continue no matter what. Survivor Combos like Maxwell & Wendy (PLEASE), Wickerbottom and Wurt, WX & Wagstaff all deserve shorts like this.

Hide and Seek is the pinnacle of Klei shorts, and is probably my favourite one ever.

[Captain_Rage]

Nice?

[NPCMaxwell]

I can't believe I have missed Charlie actually doing an act of /kindness/ here...even though it meant sacrificing the catcoon.... (but then I am not surprised since I often struggle with recognizing nuances like that) Anyway thanks for explaining the video a little bit, I really missread the part of Charlie having tried to save Abigail basically by leaving the flower path. I had seen the whole scene in a way too dark light.

 

On the rest: I actually hope for all characters showing lots of interactions in the future, but my favourite interactions would also be Maxwell and Wendy, WX and Wagstaff and anyone's interactions with Wickerbottom. I am sure Wickerbottom has a lot of potential of characters reaction in different ways to her. (e.g. I'm sure Willow would have a completely different mindset towards her than Walter would have.)

[WenericMember]

12 minutes ago, NPCMaxwell said:

On the rest: I actually hope for all characters showing lots of interactions in the future, but my favourite interactions would also be Maxwell and Wendy, WX and Wagstaff and anyone's interactions with Wickerbottom. I am sure Wickerbottom has a lot of potential of characters reaction in different ways to her. (e.g. I'm sure Willow would have a completely different mindset towards her than Walter would have.)

Too true - I nearly put down Willow and Wicker (Followup to the fire Willow started), Woodie and Wicker (Wicker canonically helped create the idols), Wicker and Webber (Similar dynamics to this short). I think it helps that she's the most grounded character on the roster, with only like Warly and Winona also being rational human beings.

[NPCMaxwell]

9 minutes ago, WenericMember said:

Too true - I nearly put down Willow and Wicker (Followup to the fire Willow started), Woodie and Wicker (Wicker canonically helped create the idols), Wicker and Webber (Similar dynamics to this short). I think it helps that she's the most grounded character on the roster, with only like Warly and Winona also being rational human beings.

I kind of hope for future videos given by Klei that they really make a good mix of "episodes" focused on at least two different characters as their main focus, but not always the same. Just a good mixture that really gives opportunity to both show every day situations and special synenergie / conflincts that comes from the characters differences. Also more "normal" characters like Wickerbottom, Warly and Winona may give less reason for "wacky" videos like the tree-chopping-tutorial, but they have their own potential for scenes.

[WenericMember]

9 minutes ago, NPCMaxwell said:

I kind of hope for future videos given by Klei that they really make a good mix of "episodes" focused on at least two different characters as their main focus, but not always the same. Just a good mixture that really gives opportunity to both show every day situations and special synenergie / conflincts that comes from the characters differences. Also more "normal" characters like Wickerbottom, Warly and Winona may give less reason for "wacky" videos like the tree-chopping-tutorial, but they have their own potential for scenes.

Absolutely, I think Inevitable is another top animation for similar reasons - focus on two or three characters and their dynamic.

 

[Squidyfoo]

I completely agree with everything said. This short was amazing and I'm really hoping for more like it. It showed how the characters are doing now, and what they are like now. But it also showed a little bit of their background much like Maxwell's Encore short. This is a pretty good formula because it allows to see character growth, but also let us see more of their backstory which is nice. As for pairs I'd like to see... WX and Wes would be fun to see. Wurt and Wicker most definitely, maybe even seeing the first time Wurt met with the survivors (Outside of Monster Marsh). Whatever happens next it's definitely going to be good and I can hardly wait.

[WenericMember]

One other thing I forgot to mention is that I appreciate Abigail's summoning being fully animated. It's done really well (and I think is the first confirmation that Abigail is the flower, and not just linked to it).

I thought it was animated in the Don't starve together launch trailer, but it was Wendy using a telltale heart going through similar motions.

[Mike23Ua]

As a fan of Catcoons, this short stings into my heart with the bitter sweet taste of never ending sadness.

[NPCMaxwell]

17 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

As a fan of Catcoons, this short stings into my heart with the bitter sweet taste of never ending sadness.

Exactly how oldschool DS should feel imo (at least that's how I used to feel at the end of adventure mode in the original DS)

[Jakepeng99]

On 8/2/2024 at 2:29 PM, WenericMember said:

Absolutely, I think Inevitable is another top animation for similar reasons - focus on two or three characters and their dynamic.

 

The inevitable one is what i imagine a movie would look like.

[NPCMaxwell]

6 minutes ago, Jakepeng99 said:

The inevitable one is what i imagine a movie would look like.

The voiceactors in it are pleasant enough for my ears that I HOPE they won't cause me the pain of getting used to different voices in case a fully-voiced film is being made. (and that the other characters get as pleasant voices too)

[WenericMember]

4 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

As a fan of Catcoons, this short stings into my heart with the bitter sweet taste of never ending sadness.

o7

On one hand, they are cute and largely innocent. On the other hand, they attack Webber and Abigail (I think) so they are a pain to deal with.

1 hour ago, NPCMaxwell said:

The voiceactors in it are pleasant enough for my ears that I HOPE they won't cause me the pain of getting used to different voices in case a fully-voiced film is being made. (and that the other characters get as pleasant voices too)

I agree, for the most part I wouldn't be confident in most of the cast getting voice actors as the Musical instruments have become so iconic, but I think all the VA's peformed in a way that really worked well with the aesthetic, though I can't quite put my finger on what it is exactly.

[NPCMaxwell]

11 hours ago, WenericMember said:

o7

On one hand, they are cute and largely innocent. On the other hand, they attack Webber and Abigail (I think) so they are a pain to deal with.

I agree, for the most part I wouldn't be confident in most of the cast getting voice actors as the Musical instruments have become so iconic, but I think all the VA's peformed in a way that really worked well with the aesthetic, though I can't quite put my finger on what it is exactly.

If it was /my/ decision ALL characters would still be having musical instruments and the whole film (if we speak of a film or of a series) would be entirely WITHOUT words. The topic and the emotion of the dialogue would simply be brought accross without verbal or written means (and by the instruments "speaking")

[WenericMember]

1 hour ago, NPCMaxwell said:

If it was /my/ decision ALL characters would still be having musical instruments and the whole film (if we speak of a film or of a series) would be entirely WITHOUT words. The topic and the emotion of the dialogue would simply be brought accross without verbal or written means (and by the instruments "speaking")

I think it depends on what they're going for. If it's "A span of time with the survivors in the constant." I think having the instruments is fine - Hide and seek demonstrates this, but If they're trying to go deep into the lore there are some things that just won't be explained well without some form of script.

[NPCMaxwell]

17 minutes ago, WenericMember said:

I think it depends on what they're going for. If it's "A span of time with the survivors in the constant." I think having the instruments is fine - Hide and seek demonstrates this, but If they're trying to go deep into the lore there are some things that just won't be explained well without some form of script.

Sadly that's true, which is why I had hoped for a less lore-heavy approach. (but since so many people here are lore fans that's rather unlikely to happen. Me who is scared of nummerous lore additions / changes (for me the DST additions / change have already been WAY too much to handle) would prefer the minor approach that would also allow for more instruments use.)

[WenericMember]

4 minutes ago, NPCMaxwell said:

Sadly that's true, which is why I had hoped for a less lore-heavy approach. (but since so many people here are lore fans that's rather unlikely to happen. Me who is scared of nummerous lore additions / changes (for me the DST additions / change have already been WAY too much to handle) would prefer the minor approach that would also allow for more instruments use.)

Fair, Personally i've no strong thoughts either way. Seeing characters interact? Cool. Having lore/plot? Also Cool.

I just hope they actually progress the rifts from "Oh hey Wagstaff and Charlie are messing with forces they can't control," which has been the status quo for two years now.

[NPCMaxwell]

1 minute ago, WenericMember said:

Fair, Personally i've no strong thoughts either way. Seeing characters interact? Cool. Having lore/plot? Also Cool.

I just hope they actually progress the rifts from "Oh hey Wagstaff and Charlie are messing with forces they can't control," which has been the status quo for two years now.

As much as I ADORE Wagstaff and Charlie as characters (especiall i adored Wagstaff as a PLAYABLE character though which is another thing I like less about DST ...), I don't quite like how they have become kind of "middlemen" to some kind of elder-gods or something.I kind of hope, though, now that the "return of the gods" thing is more and more part of the plot the story will maybe dive further into some kind of aporcalypse-direction. Meaning destructive inreversible changes happening to the world with celestial champions and ancient fuelweavers defeated. But for my taste it would have to go into the direction mass-extinction and creatures permanently replaced bit by bit by lunar-events / shadow events and biomes being terraformed bit by bit with more and more rifts flooding the world. Basically extended mass-extinction from both shadow and lunar ending in a war between both sides that LITERALLY changes the world instead of "just" rifts-stuff. But since this may be too blunt I would of course also be happy if the changes were more subtile but still going into the direction of the toying-with-forces would come to a final distructive / changing conclusion.

[WenericMember]

8 minutes ago, NPCMaxwell said:

As much as I ADORE Wagstaff and Charlie as characters (especiall i adored Wagstaff as a PLAYABLE character though which is another thing I like less about DST ...), I don't quite like how they have become kind of "middlemen" to some kind of elder-gods or something.I kind of hope, though, now that the "return of the gods" thing is more and more part of the plot the story will maybe dive further into some kind of aporcalypse-direction. Meaning destructive inreversible changes happening to the world with celestial champions and ancient fuelweavers defeated. But for my taste it would have to go into the direction mass-extinction and creatures permanently replaced bit by bit by lunar-events / shadow events and biomes being terraformed bit by bit with more and more rifts flooding the world. Basically extended mass-extinction from both shadow and lunar ending in a war between both sides that LITERALLY changes the world instead of "just" rifts-stuff. But since this may be too blunt I would of course also be happy if the changes were more subtile but still going into the direction of the toying-with-forces would come to a final distructive / changing conclusion.

I think it's fine - it was apparent that both of them were always heading in this direction since the start of DST (Wagstaff on the throne and Charlie in trailers). But I think  the issue is that they got bogged down with the QOL of life updates. iirc, from beyond was originally only supposed to be 3 or so updates in, which would've had Charlie and Wagstaff move beyond this middleman status quo fairly quickly.  However, since then there's been 5 or so from beyond updates with no real end in sight, which is what needs to happen gameplaywise, but leaves Wagstaff and Charlie in purgatory.

That said I think your description is probably what's going to happen in the end. Despite things taking their time, our questions ARE slowly being answered.

I do wonder if Wagstaff/Charlie will eventually become playable though.  them pulling a maxwell seems like the most obvious outcome of from beyond, forced to pay for their Hubris by joining those they were toying with prior.

9 hours ago, WenericMember said:

Actually I don't think you are on copium. It's very much becoming a recurring pattern that those corrupted by Shadows are still capable of humanity. No one talks about swine and Dine anymore, but the big takeaway I had from that short was that this happened:

The shadow watcher, presumably ancients thoroughly corrupted by nightmare fuel, was still friendly to Woby and gave it attention and pats.

And in this short, both Charlie and Abigail thoroughly prove that they still have humanity. (Abigail isn't in the same circumstances as the other two, but is very much still someone lost being found again). The resting horror does too, albeit in a different manner.

Also, think about the tagline of this short:

"Some things, once lost, are gone forever... but how will you know for sure unless you keep searching? "

Obviously, it's referring to Abigail in a literal sense, from Wendy's perspective, but I think it's also referring to Charlie's humanity from Charlie & Winona's POV. 

The way the line is phrased obviously implies a double meaning, but it isn't applicable to the game of hide and seek Winona & Charlie were remembering. Also, Winona wasn't searching for Charlie, nor was Charlie trying to be found in the present. The only lost thing left then, is what Charlie lost when she got trapped in the constant so long ago - her humanity.

She protected Abigail from the catcoon and led Wendy & Winona there, without trapping them and without seeking anything in return. Whether it was a sign of actual empathy for Wendy, or indulging her sister (doubtful), her humanity was certainly highlighted in a way we haven't seen in a long while.

It might be possible to save Charlie, it might not, but to call it copium? how will you know for sure unless you keep searching?

Also I went over it a bit here, but the short is very clearly indicating that Charlie can still be saved, so I don't think they're just going to get evicted from the narrative after this.

[NPCMaxwell]

24 minutes ago, WenericMember said:

I think it's fine - it was apparent that both of them were always heading in this direction since the start of DST (Wagstaff on the throne and Charlie in trailers). But I think  the issue is that they got bogged down with the QOL of life updates. iirc, from beyond was originally only supposed to be 3 or so updates in, which would've had Charlie and Wagstaff move beyond this middleman status quo fairly quickly.  However, since then there's been 5 or so from beyond updates with no real end in sight, which is what needs to happen gameplaywise, but leaves Wagstaff and Charlie in purgatory.

That said I think your description is probably what's going to happen in the end. Despite things taking their time, our questions ARE slowly being answered.

I do wonder if Wagstaff/Charlie will eventually become playable though.  them pulling a maxwell seems like the most obvious outcome of from beyond, forced to pay for their Hubris by joining those they were toying with prior.

I kind of /HOPE/ for Wagstaff at least to return to his playable status. How long this middlemen thing is already going, I don't know, because I left DST when Charlie took the throne (I didn't LIKE the change already back then. I have some repulse towards lore changes), and when I joined DST again was the last update before the junkyard was introduced so I missed most of every development and how long they took from inbetween. But what you tell it does indeed seem like the story had been STUCK for an unnatural long time. About Charlie becoming playable...on the one hand I would love to have her finally getting an official voice and official quotes (so far I only know modded Charlie characters), but at the same time I would then suddenly "miss" her on the throne, like I always used to miss Maxwell being on the throne when I played him after replacing him with Wilson on the throne, so apart from when playing SW or HL I usually used Maxwell in DS or ROG to travel back to the Maxwell door and reverse the change I made by putting Maxwell on the throne again, then playing with Wilson until I felt the need of freeing Maxwell again (or starting a new world).

So I kind of /hope/ they will become playable while at the same time knowing that a crucial part of the game will feel missing for me then (the nightmare throne), unless it goes together with the final "mass-extinction" theme for the throne to be ultimately destroyed or the old forces returning no need for the nightmare throne as a tool.

 

EDIT

@WenericMember I didn't see the last part earlier. I somehow completely missed that Charlie was doing something /good/ in this animation, but that's due to my own struggle with recognizing such things, now that several users have pointed out I can see it. I am sure she will be kept in the story in some way, definitely, probably even becoming a survivor once, or something similar helpful, I deeply doubt she would be destructed or ereased (also it seems to me lots of people here seem to have quite lots of sympathy towards Charlie, too which would make it a bit difficult for Klei to make her be gone and not anger a lot of members I suppose?) When I spoke of destruction I didn't mean characters being destructed, but the CONSTANT itsself becoming a non-constant and also the nightmare throne as a symbol of the "old game" being over to be destroyed. Something like this, sorry if I worded everything in a weird way again.

[gaymime]

i don't see a problem with using captions to tell the more complex part of the story or even using a narrator like the wortox short. i personally mute the talky videos(until recently i just wouldnt watch those ones but they are fine muted too) and i havent had any issue following along so truthfully pantomimes and instruments is probably fine

[NPCMaxwell]

8 minutes ago, gaymime said:

i don't see a problem with using captions to tell the more complex part of the story or even using a narrator like the wortox short. i personally mute the talky videos(until recently i just wouldnt watch those ones but they are fine muted too) and i havent had any issue following along so truthfully pantomimes and instruments is probably fine

I only ENDURED the wortox short having a narrator because it gave me Dr. Seuss-narrotor-type vibes for some reason, but the first time I was therefore confronted with voiceacting in DS I was so shocked I watched the video with tone-off as well. (Later I thought: Well actually it DOES sound ok in this particular video AND it reminds me of Dr. Seuss stories, so I started to rewatch the video with audio until I got used to it. I still prefer the instruments over everything But IF voiceaction is mandatory in the future [as I said I'd prefer the non-human-dialogues] I hope no until now-"established" voices are changed once again.)

Some user said that using captions would make the whole thing un-enjoyable for people who struggle with reading, when I made the same point that even complex dialogues and so on can be brought across by non-vocal means, (although I never meant ANY text at ALL but it seemed to be brought across this way what I wrote), so....whatever Klei will do, if they will do something in the future, it probably won't be able to please everyone but I hope there will be a common ground.

(me with my pickiness when it comes to voiceactors and voiceactors / vocal expressions staying as constant as possible is the smallest problem, vs people who simply CAN'T read due to dyslexia being a big problem and then people who insists on detailed lore that probably WILL have to require lots of explanations or dialogue is probably the best option when it comes to "expanding" the fandom for people who are not familiar with the instruments being the character voices and in-game quotes.)

[gaymime]

-shrugs- i am not sure what to say to that. sorry.

[NPCMaxwell]

20 minutes ago, gaymime said:

-shrugs- i am not sure what to say to that. sorry.

That's fine I just repeated what another user had to say about the only-instruments thing + in-depth lore aspect that may not be working good together for everyone in the fandom.