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Argos back story

A topic by hiereus created May 02, 2023 Views: 656 Replies: 7
Viewing posts 1 to 4
(+3)

I got Argos/Nikos back story for the first time in my most recent play though, and I absolutely love it. I feel like I can relate to it quite a bit in the aspect of performing a roll of religious devotion and familiar duty that you come to regret. I feel like a lot of queer people are damaged by the religions of their upbringing in a way that is analogous to Nikos. 

For myself I was a missionary for a particularly homophobic sect of Christianity. I knew I was gay, but I believed I was doing the right thing evangelizing and I hoped it would make me a good person. In retrospect I worry that the children of any of my converts are queer, and are being harmed because of their family's conversion. So that "Am I a good person?" discussion with Nikos really hits home.

Also while the bit where he calls Asterion in a panic because his father has kicked him out. That is so relatable for a lot of queer people I know. I'll be interested to see if that phone call is given any more context in updates. As it is I suspect that Nikos was trying to draw Asterion out of the hotel to protect him from whatever Hermes was up to, but I wonder if there wasn't a grain of truth in him being kicked out.

Also the detail that Nikos is Christian is a really interesting detail. I kinda assume he's as gay as all of the other major characters in this story. I find myself wondering if his family is also homophobic.      

(+2)

Argos is absolutely one of my favorite characters, in fact he's second only to Asterion. I feel like his story has so much to be explored, and I really hope that the Devs continue developing his backstory and character!

(+2)

I have not thought of Nikos' story of having the dogma of his people serving the Overseer having parallels to gays growing up in a homophobic sect of Christianity but that's an interesting thing to think about. Though I'm assuming that you haven't played or seen the Ruthless route. I would argue that in the Ruthless route, there's a protagonist swap where Nikos (not as Argos) becomes the protagonist and the MC becomes the antagonist. In the second act of that route, during Nikos has a memory of eating breakfast with his parents, talking about how proud they are that Nikos won the title of Argos and that his grandfather would be proud. It's likely that Nikos wouldn't be kicked out but we don't know what the views of his family or the society he grew up in on homosexuality so it is possible that he could channel fears of rejection over it with that evangelist's story.

(+4)

the ruthless route is so rich with juicy info for those who are depraved brave enough to walk it

(+4)

That's interesting addental context. I don't know if I have it in me to play the Ruthless route. I looked up some "Lets Play" videos and I was immediately faced with an image of Nikos beat up and missing an eye. It hurt my heart.

If I remember correctly Nikos' grandfather was also trying to create sympathy for Asterion by trying to be an obviously evil villain, which ultimately backfired with Cl茅ment. This game has a lot of really well written metaphors, and the background of the Argoi may also be comparable to Eichmann, or rather Hannah Arendt's analysis of his war crimes trial after World War II.

I think this especially true since Eichmann's defense at the trial was that he was just doing his job, which is basically what Nikos says for himself when asking if he is a good person. A question of surrendering your own morality in the name of doing your job or following the will of the gods.

Now that I know that Nikos tries to play the hero in a timeline where you abuse Asterion, its clear that he is a better person than Eichmann, or even his own grandfather. He wants to do what's good and will break job he's cast for and damn the will of the gods to do what he thinks is right. That's just amazing. I love his character even more because of it.

Even still I find the history of the Argoi as a whole relatable to committing harmful acts in the name of religious duty. I feel like Nikos' grandfather has some culpability for what happened to Asterion, the same way I feel some culpability for converting people to a homophobic religion. I'm glad Nikos has a timeline where he figures out his ethics before doing any lasting harm. He needs more hugs, and probably a good good boyfriend.

Damn I didn't expect this game to effect me so much when I first picked it up. I love it.   

(+1)

I never hated Nikos. When I learned his backstory I started feeling bad for him. 

Everyone in this story just needs a hug! 馃槶鈾ワ笍鈾ワ笍

Everyone is kinda broken in some way. Asterion has it the worst given his backstory. I went for a Ruthless run once and it skeeved me out so much I couldn't go for the other ones.