{"id":2203,"date":"2020-01-30T22:00:08","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T13:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/?p=2203"},"modified":"2020-01-30T18:45:22","modified_gmt":"2020-01-30T09:45:22","slug":"breaking-down-controls-most-awesome-musical-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/2020\/01\/30\/breaking-down-controls-most-awesome-musical-moment\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking Down <i>Control<\/i>\u2019s Most Awesome Musical Moment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Ashtray Maze is easily the highpoint of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Control<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and this is in no small part due to the amazing soundtrack.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Note: This article contains major spoilers for <\/b><b><i>Control<\/i><\/b><b>&#8211;including the ending.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the last hours of the game, you need to guide Jesse through the ever-changing Ashtray Maze. Of course, this is easier said than done. As you strap on a borrowed walkman&#8211;the key to progressing through the area&#8211;you are greeted by the awesome Norse Metal song \u201cTake Control\u201d by the fictional band Old Gods of Asgard (known in the real world by the name Poets of the Fall).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While this music makes you feel like a badass as you shoot your way through one of the game\u2019s toughest gauntlets, it doesn\u2019t exactly give you a chance to listen to the song\u2019s lyrics&#8211;which is a shame because they\u2019re actually all about Jesse and her life both before and after entering the Oldest House. Hell, the song even spoils the ending of the game mere minutes before you get to experience it yourself. It\u2019s an amazing easter egg and one well worth breaking down, so let\u2019s do just that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Old Gods of Asgard - Take Control (Lyric Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/k0QsHKH77MI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The important thing to note from the start is who the viewpoint character is for the song&#8211;who the \u201cI\u201d is that is singing. From context, it\u2019s clear that it\u2019s Jesse&#8211;specifically post-ending Jesse&#8211;which makes the fact that she\u2019s listening to it in the game itself even more surreal.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Take control, take control<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jesse has to take control of so many things in the game: the old house, the Bureau, her life, her mind, her powers, her past, and her future. Of course, this would be her inner mantra.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I see a vision rising, dreary<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fading in as children play twilight games<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the town called Ordinary<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An eye of light reveals a gateway to doomsday<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s no surprise that Jesse dreams of the events in Ordinary where she, along with her brother and the most picked-on kid in school, used the Slide Projector AWE to play in other worlds. And indeed, one such gateway opened by the projector did spell doomsday for their town.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In that projection of reality<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Something passes through the stars, shifting walls<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Enter agents of ill fantasy<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For evil holds you in its arms, false alarms<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the slides was connected to the world of the Hiss&#8211;a malevolent race of beings. When they were let into the Oldest House via the projector years later, they began physically remaking the internal structure of the house. This invasion was possible because one of the Hiss trapped in a different reality invaded Director Trench\u2019s mind, deceiving him and making him doubt his allies little by little over a long period of time&#8211;eventually driving him to believe the only way to save the world was to let the Hiss in.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Illusory, treading on reality<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Polaris in a web of hypocrisy<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Take control, take control<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Like the Hiss, Polaris is a being made of resonance&#8211;almost undetectable in our own reality. However, unlike the Hiss, she is against taking people over to achieve her goals. Yet in both the crisis in Ordinary and the events of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Control<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, she is forced to inhabit Jesse to thwart the Hiss&#8211;thus making her a hypocrite.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oh, can\u2019t you see, see the light is fading?<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And in the night the demons rage and call your name<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No deeper madness than your own making<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Visions lashing blades of shame, but will you take the blame?<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Late in the game&#8211;shortly after this song is played to be precise&#8211;Jesse experiences first hand what it\u2019s like to be controlled by the Hiss. She\u2019s left in her own personal hell where she is living a truly unimportant existence, forced to do only the most menial tasks and being unfairly scolded for the quality of her work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hissing noises in the hallway<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bloodshot eyes, staring through, what seeds are sown?<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Who\u2019ll survive the blood red power play?<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Who\u2019ll take control, whose name will be known?<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With the Hiss having invaded the Bureau of Control, the vast majority of its agents are under Hiss control. Their eyes now glow red and many have been warped into abominations. The Hiss themselves have one major goal: to unseat the Board as the rulers of both the Old House and the Astral Plane. As for if they\u2019ll succeed or not\u2026 well, that\u2019s the entire story of the game.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Illusory, reality\u2019s all fallacy<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Polaris in a web of hypocrisy<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Take control, take control<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As Jesse explains at the start of the game, what we call reality is like a single room with a poster on the wall. There is actually so much more out there than we can even imagine. Pretending our one little room is all there is to existence is a lie we tell ourselves to feel safe.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I wish I\u2019d had the wherewithal to find you when I had the chance<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instead I danced with death in fervour\u2019s skin<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I missed the moment before the fall to recognize I had a voice<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A choice to stop it all from happening<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If only I could save you from the pain<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jesse\u2019s biggest regret is not being able to find her brother, Dylan, in all the years they were separated. Even when she finally got inside the Oldest House, she spent her time battling for her life against the Hiss instead of hunting for him like she wanted. When they were finally reunited, she failed to realize she had the power&#8211;and the duty&#8211;to stop him. Because she didn\u2019t drive the Hiss out of him then and there, Hedron was killed and the Hiss almost won by replacing the Board and setting up Dylan as their own Director. But more than anything, Jesse regrets not being able to protect her brother from all the suffering he experienced in the years they were separated&#8211;the pain that drove him to let the Hiss in.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A rising sense of awe and wonder<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A might I see has always been deep within me<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I can feel my inborn power<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I call the shots when it\u2019s all finally clear to see<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the start, Jesse believes that the supernatural things she can do are caused entirely by an external force&#8211;i.e., Polaris. However, as she learns when breaking free from Hiss control after the death of Hedron, she was always potentially able to wield supernatural powers (just like her brother and other past Directors). Polaris may be the literal power source she utilizes but the ability to control the various powers is her own, not someone else&#8217;s.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And so I\u2019m drawn ever deeper<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the Oldest House and all these empty rooms<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This vacant, spellbound mystery motel<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Where I\u2019m the keeper, where I set the rules<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As she explores the Oldest House, Jesse goes on a personal journey as well. Near the end of the game, when controlled by the Hiss, the Ocean View Motel acts as a metaphor for her own mind. Inside it, she takes the final step to once again take back control and discovers who she truly is in the process: She is the master of her own mind, her own fate, and&#8211;as the Director&#8211;the Oldest House itself.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Potency is my new reality<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Polaris living now inside of me<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I control, I control<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Polaris exists within Jesse, feeding her raw power. However, it is Jesse that decides when and how that power be used. She is truly in control of her life. And that control&#8211;despite all the supernatural craziness surrounding her&#8211;brings the happiness she has long been searching for.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Control<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is available for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>I just wanted to give out a big thanks to Joshua Ott for sponsoring this review with his\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/biggestinjapan\">Patreon<\/a>\u00a0donation. (At the $60 a month tier, you are allowed to pick anything up to an including a 13ish episode series to be reviewed\u2013which is released in addition to the one article a week I normally put out here on BiggestinJapan.com.) So thanks again!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/2020\/01\/30\/breaking-down-controls-most-awesome-musical-moment\/\">Click to Read<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Breaking Down &lt;i&gt;Control&lt;\/i&gt;\u2019s Most Awesome Musical Moment<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[175],"class_list":["post-2203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-control","excerpt","zoom","full-without-featured","even","excerpt-0"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biggestinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EPhRI3IUEAEeMOP-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1440&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2203"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2209,"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2203\/revisions\/2209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}