/flow/ - .flow

>>2006
"But if you do try to interpret the character's history and lifestyle and how this would affect her psyche and "dream world", then I think having her being imprisoned makes the game all the more psychological, doesn't it?"

I do think the game is mostly psychological, thus the huge wall of theory text that no one criticized (no one prolly read it, cba). For your theory, I don't dislike it like I've said, some points here and there that I promptly stated. Just think that most of the theories revolve heavily around "she's physically sick".

Unrelated to other theories for the most part, but I think Sabitsuki might have a general dislike of men. I'm noticing how all of the male characters seem somehow evil.

Smile I don't even feel like elaborating on, he's pretty clearly a scary guy.

The Doctor is of course connected with all of the dying children, implying that he might be a very corrupt doctor.

I also notice that in the city, all of the figures laugh at Sabitsuki with distinctly masculine voices. What's more, the brothel area in the city (I can't remember what people call it.) most *certainly* hints at some hormonal conflicts, with the little victimized looking girls in the rooms, and the dead/bleeding one on one of the beds. I also notice that Sabi refuses to enter the Mens Room, which could just be her being polite, but it certainly contrasts with many other fan games.

I also notice how many of the female characters appear kind of victimized around the men. Smile is an acception with Sister, but this could be *because* she's his sister. But the nurse seems fairly normal, and yet she shows up in that one dark area with that weird plant ailment. Alongside the brothel girls, there's of course, Sabi's "mother", and assuming that she is, in fact, pregnant, this could also be placing some blame on her partner - Sabitsuki's seemingly unseen father.

I feel like I'm opening a whole big can of SABIWUZRAPED.

>What's more, the brothel area in the city (I can't remember what people call it.) most *certainly* hints at some hormonal conflicts, with the little victimized looking girls in the rooms, and the dead/bleeding one on one of the beds. I also notice that Sabi refuses to enter the Mens Room, which could just be her being polite, but it certainly contrasts with many other fan games.

Where was this?

>>2022

Sweet Sugar. New area in 0.17. Also lol at hormonal conflicts

Hey, I want to tell you all about this thing, which was my first impression of the 'Corrupted School Event'. I have read the old threads (but very superficially), and maybe someone has said like this. Still, is not a theory, but maybe something that can start it. Aslo, sorry for shitty engrish.

Well, everybody talk about this as if it were a 'bad memory' of Sabi. Some say she witnessed some kaibutsus killing/becoming kaibutsus. Others say that Smile did something there, posibbly a killing spree, possibly a suicide. But, for me, is not like that (at least close to that in that way).
See, in the normal school, you see a Sabitsuki with a kabutsu smile (the Sabi you get the School uniform for). This tell us Sabi started to have those… 'Aggressive' attacks in school. And when you get in there, she is ALONE in that room, only surrouned by some tables. (I'll return to this point later).
Well, when you are in the corrupted school, you see a kaibutsu chasing you with a pipe. And if you see better, you see two things really, really familiar. The hairstyle, and, obiously, the pipe. Yes: This kaibutsu is none other than Sabitsuki under the influence of RUST.

Yeah, yeah, nothing new, nothing fresh, you are surely thinking. But here is where it starts again.

Some people think the Kaibutsu is chasing Sabitsuki as she tries to get to the basement. Reality, for me, the first time I played it, it was really different. The kaibutsu is not chasing you. You see how it gets to the basement. Is a memento of how things happen. She is seeing it in 3rd person.

Think about this: Sabitsuki was alone, with a problem (Who knows? Maybe she was bullied, or just put whatsoever theory you like). And, whatever rust is (An illness state, a mental state, and experiment, etc.), it was activated there. She was alone, and it started to manifest in the place where the school effect is. Sabitsuki started to become mad, moving things around her as rust came over her. Then, she found the pipe, and would have killed someone if something would not had happened. She still wasn't so consumed by rust as to not control herself. That's why she moved out directly to the basement; a place where she knows no one would be. She wanted to shut-in herself there; but something happened. Something she didn't know. Smile was there.
I think, thanks to his smile, that he knew it would happen. Maybe Sabi told him about it, maybe he figured it out somehow. But, for whatever reason, he was there, and feared not her. Probably he tried to reassure her, demonstrating that he wasn't afraid with that grin; but also he could have been wating for it,to kill her.
And, for whatever reason, the battle started. Here you can think about if you see Smile like a bad guy or a good one, and understand it from your point of view. Sabitsuki could've tried to kill him, and that's why he pulled his hammer off to defend himself. Or he did the first moviment, and tried to kill Sabitsuki.

And here, again, from your point of view, things are different. From one or other reason, I think the winner was rust. But not physically. Smile knocked down Sabi, forcing her to came back to her normal state. But, if he was a 'good guy', he could have felt guilty, thinking he killed her, and that's why you see him in the rooftop. Maybe he killed himself (As someone already mentioned, rooftops are related to suicide in Yume Nikki's games).
Now, if he was bad… why he would go up for the rooftop? Well, here is the first hole. Personally, I can't 'fill it up' because I see Smile as the good guy, who, somehow, tried to help Sabi, but because of that battle, SHE thinks he is evil or malignant. Maybe he just know he would be punished for his acts, and, to not get into jail or a psychiatric, he killed himself (Some people, specialy crazy people, prefer this than to get there).
Other theory I thinked of, was that he seemed that rooftop like his house, or it was a place where he could see his house (You know, Smile's house is just UPON the school). For one or other reason, that rooftop is really important to him.

>-But, what's going on? There are 2 kaibutsus in corrupted school!
Yes, but for me, this seemed like 'Rust' was wandering around before Sabi gets the basement, and that's how Sabitsuki sees it.

Probably not important, but I don't remember someone pointing this out. So, if someone had holes with the school events, maybe that someone will see this nice.

>>2121

>(the Sabi you get the School uniform for)
>from*

>Other theory I thinked of…
>thought*

Shit, I haven't thought that being asleep would make me made SUCH HORRIBLE GRAMMAR ERRORS!
Sorry! Sorry!

>>1841
your theory on it affecting women makes sense because the kaibutsu's are all said to be female, they were probably others who were affected with the disease as well since you can see the way they look is deformed.

So have there been any theories about Sabi either miscarrying or getting a C-Section?

Okay guys come here hear this
hear me out
what if…. while we play .flow….
sabitsuki goes on her computer
TO PLAY A YUME NIKKI FAN GAME???
AND THE GAME SLOWLY KILLS HER
BECAUSE SHE MADE THAT FANGAME AND ITS KILLING HER BECAUSE SHE THINKS ITS SO GOD AWFUL AND SHE WANTS TO MAKE IT INTERESTING FOR THE INTERNET.

>>2140

So, are you telling me Lol is Sabi?
But, where are her tits? Where is her sexy white hair?

>>2021
With the whole 'Sabi was raped' part, I think you might be somewhat correct. The place you mentioned was pretty clearly a brothel. My personal hypothesis for it is that Sabi may have worked there for a little while. Especially taking in some other theories, such as the dead mother, seems to support it. How exactly does Sabi support herself? She has a computer and an apartment, pays electricity bills, and needs food. I don't think she has any talents that legitimate employers would look for, so working there may have been the only way she could support herself.
But maybe I'm just full of crap.
Although something else I'm wondering is what about her father? Who is he? Where is he?

>>2163
For rape, the only prominent male figure to fit the bill is Smile. It is true that he does seem associated with rust, but I think you'd be hard pressed to argue he does anything (symbolic or not) that could be interpreted as rape.

As for means of employment, you're thinking way outside of the box. It is a yume nikki game: having an isolated self-sustaining apartment area is just one of the cliches that comes with the package. As for the brothel, the only possibly significant connection I can make is the maids. If it was really a significant part of the plot lol would have included it earlier and tried to tie more of the plot to it. By meta-logic alone, I'd say lol felt that particular area of the map was too sparse and needed something more to justify itself

I think I've come back to this several times, but I really feel what needs to be understood is the meaning of pic related

>>2165
If you're looking for what that picture might mean you should read the old theory thread. Look for That Guy's posts, he had a pretty good theory related to that pic. Hell, most of what he said about .flow instantly became headcanon for me.

>>2163

I'd like to reiterate, I don't think she was raped. :P I do, however, think it's likely that she was maybe sexually promiscuous in some way? Or at the very least, hormones played a role in her life, I think she either wanted sex and got in trouble because of it, or totally rejected it and feared the implications it had for women, seeing as how there's so many references throughout the game towards women and or pregnancy. Sweet Sugar just seems to have some very serious implications about what she things of it. I haven't played the game in a while, but did the mangled girl on the bed look anything like Sabi's "mother"? Maybe this is where the sexual connection comes in, that her mother was some kind of a prostitute and became pregnant with Sabi? Or at least Sabi thought of her mother as a prostitute. I don't think it's a coincidence that there's no apparent father in the game, and the lack of one would certainly imply some kind of accidental pregnancy where the man refused to take responsibility/wasn't around.

And I hate to try and guide what people post about, but has anyone else come up with a theory for the meaning behind what I mentioned in >>2007 ? This seems like a really important part of the game but I've yet to see any discussion about it.

I get so totally sucked into this every time I read this thread. I thought I'd broken my theory addiction. x_x

>>2172
this is part of the problem with large threads I think.

I've tried to explain the ending sequence much earlier by saying that the appearance of the maid only represented the fact that sabi was still in .flow, only on a different level. You begin the game with static, and probably by no coincidence this same static is associated with entering .flow. It seems to me that no matter what, sabi has been trapped the whole time.

>>2175
It's like the Avalon movie.

Reality is just an upper layer of the game.

>>2175

Sorry if I missed what you said about the bed, I did remember your post mentioning the multi-flow layers. I thought her getting out of bed meant she was in the real world. So you're saying that even when she gets out of bed, she's still in .flow, and it's just .flow trying to trick the player into thinking it was all a dream? Just as plausible as any other theory, I suppose!

I think my whole "She's being quarantined" theory is stupid now, because I read through some of the old theory threads, and That Guy mentioned something about the roof she goes to actually being her school roof, and I found that to be quite plausible, more so than my silly theory.

But a new theory I'd like to propose, I think the sequence of Sabi walking with her headphones on at the end is supposed to represent a timeline of her life. I think the order in which the characters appear would correspond to some of the theories we've already had, and might just lead into some new ones. The fact that Sabi is walking straight through it is representing her trekking through her life.

1. Mother: Sabi's mother dies at child birth. 2. Flower Girl : IDK. Never convinced by a theory for her. 3. Doctor/Nurse/Children: Sabi is held in the hospital for a condition she's had since her birth, sees children dying around her. 4. MechaGirl: Prosthetic limb patient that creeps Sabi out. 5. Scarf Sabi: Sabi released from the hospital, frail, weak, and alone. 6. Enrolls in school, suffers some sort of bullying at the hands of the Kaibutsu, and betrayal from Smile, an older student who she looked up to. Kaibutsu manipulate her and make her "one of them", which Sabi is greatly disturbed by once she realizes it. 7. Effects: This is when the events of .flow start. Sabi locks herself in her room and collects the effects. 8. Red Demons: Rust Chapter. 9. Oreko: This is the one that seems very out of place to me. Maybe representing Oreko being her only friend and staying with her until the end, seeing as the next one is… 10. Gas Mask Maid: The end of Sabi's life. The Maid, for SOME reason, kills Sabi. The Maid is, in all ways, the end, but I don't think she's entirely evil, from the way she bows to Sabi. I think she was, in some odd way, serving Sabi when she killed her. (Obligatory Rust Ending "SABI JUST GOT SEEEERVED" comment.)

Quite rough around the edges, but I do think there's something very significant in the order in which the characters appear in that last scene.

>>2177
The only problem in the order is that you're explicitly telling us what is what even though it may not be it. I too think that the end may refer to what happened to her before we start the game, although i refrain from saying that the blue girl is her mother, partially because i don't think she is her mother. Apart from the names, all ok with that.

Btw Chesir, the part about viewing Smile from another perspective was indeed interesting. If we go only by what you said, we may even think Smile thought it was his job of taking care of Sabitsuki, and after bashing her he just felt he couldn't live without her so he ended up in the roof and did himself off. Personally don't like it much because of of the chronology of the story, and becomes a bit hard when you have 2 schools with 3 parts displaced in time, in 3 different ways. Like one representing Pre-bash, then going for Why-bash, And Bash-Result.

>>2183

I think that that thing of 'two schools' and 'wtf is going on with so much changes in the same place' can be seen as a change of perspective from Sabitsuki's and Rust's point of view, plus the confusion induced by the traumatic events Sabistuki could've lived there.
And, thanks for comenting; for a moment I thought no one saw that post or it was going to be forgotten here in darkness.

>>2182

Lol yeah, I get a bit carried away with the details. The specifics are all cut and paste, really. But my point in that theory is mainly that I think the end scene is a chronological order of events of her life time, including both what we see in the game as well as what we don't see.

But what are some other theories regarding the blue girl? I remember the one about her being Sabi's immune system, and while I can somewhat see the vslidity in that theory, I'm still much more sold on her being Sabi's mother, primarily due to the event with her stomach exploding, as well as the fact that she's seen in the hospital bed with what looks to me like a bun in the oven underneath the covers. :u

But when I say it that way, I can see that there's not much to suggest that she's Sabi's mother specifically.

As far as the school and Smile, I got the impression that the dominant "atmosphere" around Smile is that of a clique. All the students hanging around him, Sabi's inability to get to him, as well as her inability to get his attention, he seems very exclusive and somehow powerful in the school. Sabi found him kind of ominous and daunting, and tried join him, imitate him, or be more like him. His grin is him laughing *at* Sabi, particularly when she tries attacking him, saying "Idiot, you think you can hurt ME?" So I thought that him attacking Sabi in the basement was his way of saying "You're not welcome here, we don't like you, get out." In other words, I don't think Smile was being nearly as just and somehow helpful as he would be if he were fighting back a dangerous Rust.

And I'm not sure if I've suggested this theory before, but I thought that the Kaibutsu-Sabi's presence in the school, as well as the presence of the Kaibutsus in the school's lobby, suggested that they were some kind of higher up force in the school. Disciplinarians, maybe, or possibly a group of preppy snobbish kids, with the way that they all wear their neat little uniforms. But, connecting to your theory, Chesir, I do think there was conflict between them and Smile. Smile's some kind of a gangster, I think that goes without saying, which would put him in stark contrast with the preppy little Kaibutsu. Sabi saw the Kaibutsu as the one way to get back at Smile for antagonizing her. And I can't remember which was which, but aren't there multiple versions of the corrupt school event, where in one, Smile kills you, and in the other, you kill Smile? Maybe Sabi killing Smile is after she's teamed up with the Kaibutsu and can finally seek her revenge?

(PS I think I'm mentally unable to make short posts. I'm sorry. u_u)

>>2188
>But what are some other theories regarding the blue girl? I remember the one about her being Sabi's immune system, and while I can somewhat see the validity in that theory, I'm still much more sold on her being Sabi's mother, primarily due to the event with her stomach exploding, as well as the fact that she's seen in the hospital bed with what looks to me like a bun in the oven underneath the covers. :u

I'm not going to go read my theory nor going to get my notes, so i'll just write from what i remember.

iirc we see the blue girl in the hospital in a bed, big version of blue girl in the "womb area" and a blue girl in an area that i think that is connected to the hospital where there's a blue girl on the floor with 6 guys looking at her. I think there was one more blue girl but can't really recall. Being that there are two instances of a dead blue girl in two different ways may turn the mother theory less viable. Plus, iirc, Sabi's room is next to Blue Girl, albeit in "different" hospitals.

Not going to add more, if needed i dumped my theory here, but simply put i think blue girl and Sabi are indeed connected, but doesn't sound like she's her mother. Even Machine Girl (Mechajou, go!) would make more sense as a crippled motherly figure, but that's just a timely opinion.

I can't say I visit this site often, so apologies if this theory has already been written here, but I've got a theory that's quite different from the rest of them here. P.S. There's spoilers here for the game EarthBound / Mother 2. If you haven't played these games and don't want to know the story, I recommend you stop reading!

So I'm sort of leaning towards the idea that .flow isn't actually telling some ambiguous or deep story that's meant to be decoded, but that it's actually a homage / retelling of the Giygas foetus theory from EarthBound. For anyone not aware, basically a widespread theory is that the final boss, Giygas, represents a foetus, which the player fights and basically 'aborts' as the characters have to travel back in time to attack Giygas. A slightly more in depth version of the theory ties in with the fact that the boss' portrayal was based on a childhood trauma by the game's writer Shigesato Itoi, in which he walked into the wrong film at a cinema and believed he was witnessing a depiction of rape.

Anyways there's quite a few comparable things I've found that relate to this, which I feel the story is directly referring to, or at least heavily influenced by:

1. Yume Nikki itself was heavily influenced by both Mother 1 & 2. Looking at how .flow adopts and adapts these influences (the Pyschedelic Streets area seems much more influenced by EarthBound's Moonside than anything in Yume Nikki, for example), it's pretty much a given that lol is very familiar with these games.

2. The title 'Mother' itself seems to have quite a recurring theme in .flow. The exploding womb sequence, Sabisuki being the eldest among a wave of sick children, the hospital in the alleyways (backdoor abortions, anyone?) etc.

3. The oversized body parts printed on walls and the like appear very similar to the eye when first presented with Giygas. This one is a bit more tricky as I don't think that's the main motivation towards them (dreams about teeth for example are a traditional sign of failing health, hence why I think references to smiling is so heavy in the game). Certainly rings bells though.

4. On that subject, the final smile of Sabitsuki in the ending looks eerily similar to Pokey's smile at the fight with Giygas. Maybe a reference to the idea of her becoming corrupted?

5. The final elevator sequence is well, pretty much a direct analogy to the boss fight. The only way to find and tackle her reflection is the same to how Ness is able to find Giygas (in EarthBound you have to find 8 sanctuaries where you collect melodies, in .flow you have to find 3 sanctuaries where you find memories). The purpose of the fight also becomes similar, where you travel into the deepest areas to destroy the core of sorts. It's possible there's a twist where Rust represents Giygas and she destroys Sabitsuki, aborting the inner child (both metaphorically and literally). The idea both sequences seem to share very similar themes and ideas of evil, well just seem very similar.

Does this theory have flaws and holes? Course it does, I don't think I've entirely made sense of .flow. Just seemed a very odd coincidence I feel strongly could well be related. Maybe someone can elaborate a better, more thought out theory related to this than I have!

I personally have a hard time believing that the entire point of the game is to retell the story of Giygas, just because that seems like one hell of a drawn out tribute/homage, but these are some extremely interesting comparisons you've made. I've never played the series, only heard of it and watched the Giygas battle, but I can definitely believe that lol would have been influenced by Earthbound and have made parts of the game similar to it. Lol seems to have been directly influenced by quite a lot of things. :P

The abortion idea *has* been brought up before, I think, seeing as many people relate the body world layout to the womb and think Sabi's birth has something to do with the plot, so the idea that she's "aborting" herself fits in with other theories. On the other hand, though. people are still only theorizing that Giygas deals with abortion in the first place, so it could just be that people love to theorize about abortion, which has certainly been my experience with other things. xD

Is it possible to support the theory that the black-haired woman is indeed Sabi's mama is that she died during child-birth and that has scarred Sabi ever since? Like, that has to be a terrible weight on a child and then to grow with that into your teenhood reh teh teh.

Like the gory gut-exploding reh teh teh is how Sabi imagined it to be and it's something that she's blamed herself for?

I am posting my theory here as required

Well this more than a theory I think is a fact due that it is so evident.

The love hotel in the psychedelic city, and the city is controlled by the yakuza.

First in the hotel there´s a room with three female bodies (probably murdered and raped) to access that room you must kill the little black guy guarding the entrace.

The black guy, with those laughts, are mob members. Even there are some of them with signs promoting their "love business"…

Why yakuza? In Japan most of the motels (prostitution biz) in certain areas of Tokyo are run by the Yakuza and considering the game creator is japanese. Seems more tan obvious…

Looking forward your opinions…

So, I've always believed the whole "Sabitsuki has a fatal disease, probably called Rust" theory. The imagery that surrounds this is so prevalent that I can't see it any other way. I have some thoughts about what exactly the symptoms of this disease might be…

- Obviously, it causes some kind of hemorrhaging. Blood from the mouth, nose, and eyes would probably be a sign of internal hemorrhaging (to kind of a ridiculous degree)

- It's debatable whether or not the white/grey hair is caused by the disease, or some kind of cure. In the corrupted/future alleyway hospital, we can see black-haired children who are just as dead as the white-haired ones… This makes me think that the hair color change is not part of the progression of the disease, but a side effect of whatever treatment they received.

- I get the feeling that it also causes brain damage. There are two things that lead me to think this:

Number one, unless we take the symptoms of the disease into crazy town (which is still fun, but still), the Kaibutsu and Red Demons couldn't be caused by the disease itself. Rather, they might be some kind of hallucination associated with brain damage. In my mind, Sabi went through a LOT of trauma related to the hospital and school, which could be the reason that the Kaibutsu and Red Demons are so damn scary looking.

Number two is the whole "flow" thing and how Sabitsuki and Rust are somehow the same person. "Flow" must be some kind of software to help repair the brain damage caused by Rust, or kill it off, or something like that. The two apparatus that show up when the Erosion Counter goes above 150 seem definitely medical, and the fact that they're next to Sabi's PC means they aren't just life support. This also leads me to believe that .flow is set in some kind of future and not modern-day, where science magic could do something like repair heavy brain damage.

- The brain damage in the later stages is mostly in the frontal lobe. People with injuries to the frontal lobe tend to have a lack of self-control, inability to empathize with others, and increased aggression. I would say that those sort of symptoms could be seen in the Kaibutsu, considering how most of them will immediately attack you.

- Lesions could also be a symptom. Off the top of my head I can't really think of any other reason as to why blood soaks through the hair of people who are really infected.

Also, some random ideas:
- Rust was some kind of pandemic.
- Sabitsuki has had Rust for a long time.
- The alleyway hospital experimented on patients, perhaps because there were so many coming in.
- Sabitsuki is immune or resistant in some way to Rust.
- There is a sort of timeline related to school and the hospital and Sabitsuki's room. Maybe it was something like this:

Sabi is treated for Rust -> She starts going back to school with other sick kids while rehabilitating herself with flow -> Things go crazy and somehow the kids at school get out of control -> Sabi is forced to defend herself at the school for a while, maybe a couple of days (notice how the desks in the school are all bunched up together in several rooms)
-> Sabi escapes, and has to take care of herself (related effects: gun, black hood, iron pipe) -> Sabi comes back to her house, and no one is there -> Sabi holes up in her room and continues flow -> The events of .flow

Sorry for the megapost >_> Some of this has probably been said before, but oh well

>>2565
I think Sabi is a pretty cool girl, eh beats Yakuzas and doesn't afraid of anything

so i found this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust_%28fungus%29
and it made me wonder if it inspired lol at all

granted, real life rust fungi primarily target plants, but plants do feature heavily in .flow. perhaps one particular strain of fungus managed to mutate into something that could affect humans?

Does anybody have any theories about the Dead Hole? The fact that there's an event with Oreko there and the chipset has what appears to be her discarded suit and helmet hanging up is creepy as hell.

Anyone have any theories on the new areas in v0.19 – the Streets, the Underwater Village, and the weird areas connected to Sweet Sugar?

Also, does anyone have anything on Charlotte (the pink-haired girl by the girl in the alleys)? I haven't really seen anything on her.

>>2609
>>2786
Sabi
Is
A
Slut

S.I.A.S.

What do people think of the theory that Rust is Sabi's protector, instead of a disease trying to kill her? For example, Rust is a split personality created as a defense mechanism against either the disease or the awful things that happen in Sabi's life, but Rust becomes a misguided protector that does more harm than she does good. The endgame where you play as Rust is her racing against time to try and save Sabi from the disease, perhaps even sacrificing herself in the process to try and kill the disease (final corridor), either failing or succeeding (likely failing, given the whole maid thing that happens after). Thoughts?

sure I'll post my massive theory here

warning for super long, possibly boring, possibly a stretch, but give it a read maybe


so a while back I wanted to really look at the things that made up Rust as a disease, and .192 rolled around, new areas, etc.

so I started doing some lookaround on conditions with two things

>dermatological disease w/ blood vessles that resemble "rust"-like pockets
>said disease is also terminal/fatal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaposi%27s_sarcoma

(gore warning obv because this is .flow, but there are some really nasty images in there)

so the first thing you usually hear about Kaposi's though is that it's related to AIDS, which as an immunodeficiency syndrome is why you… erm, well, die- kaposi's can be transferred through sex regardless, as well as saliva, and can be contracted through blood so things like organ transplants or blood transplants can cause it

first things first is the theory that sabitsuki is immunocompromised, and that's based a lot in the events in the Viscera world - the Dying Girls event is often thought to be symbolic of Sabitsuki's immune system being damaged/dying (plus accounting for the rust factor it has with one large increase, then same increment increases as you see it later times)

it brings you back to "how, then, did Sabitsuki become immunocompromised enough to contract Kaposi's" and there's a number of things

>Sabitsuki could be albino (People with albinism often have weak immune systems.)
>Sabitsuki could have been one of the forced child prostitutes from sweet sugar.
>Sabitsuki could have had an organ transplant/blood transplant as a child from an accident, and then as a result of a bad transplant/IV + the immunosuppressants given after a transplant, caught it from other patients who were there from catching it from sweet sugar.

The reason I say there are other patients that are around that caught it from sweet sugar is because of the resemblance of some NPCs from Plant World & the lower hospital and those girls in sweet sugar you find laying around, dead, exhausted, etc.
In particular the black-haired girl, who was called the "director", who is theorized to be Sabitsuki's friend who she can't "reach out" to.

what my main theory is that

>Sabitsuki was hospitalized as a young girl for something serious, needing an organ transplant.
>The condition of the hospital is obviously extremely corrupt, given the back-alley has corpses all over the place.
>One bad organ transplant later…
>Sabitsuki as a child has now contracted Kaposi's Sarcoma.
>Sabitsuki has to be treated for Kaposi's Sarcoma, which she has nicknamed 'Rust', especially when it starts to enter terminal stages. She's gone through several cycles of contracting and being treated when it becomes terminal. (sort of like how the "flow" thing was referenced in the manga, though the manga isn't canon)


one thing as well that came up in .192 was the symptoms of Rust and how they're treated, so I went through a few

>obviously the lesions, and they appear pretty much almost everywhere on the body but we often focus on the ones on her face and legs
>adding in to the idea that the rust factor represents how far the disease has spread, here's this bit from the wiki article:
>"Growth can range from very slow to explosively fast, and is associated with significant mortality and morbidity."
>said lesions can cause skin breakdown from pressure ulcers, which = necrosis
>skin necrosis = needed amputation
> .192's release image + sabitsuki's child self + machine effect = "treatment"
>coughing up blood is also a symptom, but I don't remember Sabitsuki coughing up blood? might just be worthy to note then

a friend of mine mentioned that the reason mouths may seem so prominent is because of Kaposi's saliva transmission, making Sabitsuki scared of them

as for the girls, being child prostitutes, it isn't unlikely to say - if this theory holds, they could have contracted it from STDs/saliva. their "customers" aren't exactly the most respectable of people.

I like the idea of a plant existing originally for treatment but instead causing more problems, since Kaposi's isn't curable. It's just hard to conceptualize a flowering plant that will literally grow inside your body and exit and whatnot. Plant gore concept stuff based on actual diseases/botany isn't my thing.

Anyways feel free to rip this apart or whatever. I'd like to hear some thoughts on Kaposi's or other diseases similar to "Rust" disease.

>>2835
Sabi coughs up blood when you try to enter the bloody white room. There's also the bleeding mouth background in the body world I think, the many, many instances of bloody mouths that appear in the game. But bleeding from facial orifices is a thing in this game. Rust even has a nosebleed if you look in the mirror in the brothel's bathroom.

So, given that you get the Nightmare event by raising the Erosion Counter really damn high… do you think we could add hallucinations/nightmares to the list of symptoms that Sabi has?

New theory.
S.I.N.A.S
Sabi is not a slut

The same girl that Sabi is seen eating with is found at the end of the Sweet Sugar Hotel progression.
This other girl is placed outside of Sabitsuki's reach and is blocked off by a large arm as well as placed inside a cage of hands along side a cliff.
I personally think that this new girl was sabi's friend whom with Sabi used to hang out with and eat cake and drink tea with; however, this girl was employed by/in slavehold at the Sweet Sugar Hotel after some point in time, and Sabi was unable to see her any more. Then Sabi finally found out where the girl worked by talking to the maids at the Sugars Hole Cafe. Sabi went to see what kind of place her friend was working at, but her friend was already demented and broken because of the time she spent as a sex slave / prostitute.

anyone else notice that the majority of the events that increase the rust meter reside near the sewers?
the kaibutsu are the obvious exception, but then we have the white room event (accessed by way of sewers), the barbutsu (sugar hole, next to sewers), the exploding girls (second apartment, accessed by way of sugar hole, again next to sewers), and even the rust demons (body, can be accessed via sewers).
perhaps whatever disease(s) sabi has were in part caused by lack of hygiene?

>>2889

Well, yeah. Lack of hygienic conditions seems to be a recurring theme somewhat. The state of the hospital just behind it, for instance, even though the hospital should be the "cleanest" area, then sweet sugar hotel, and… in general everywhere there are "carriers".

If Sabitsuki has a weakened immune system as is theorized super commonly, her contracting Rust wouldn't be hard if her dreams are direct reflections of real life/her experiences.

Also, I think maybe the school might be the cleanest. Which is weird imo, since usually school is where everyone catches whatever's going around.

it's been said these backgrounds are representative of sabitsuki's state of mind, yes? did we ever figure out what each one means?

i think the white one means safety or relief, given that it tends to show up after using the arm effect.

>>2899
Weren't they completely randomized?

>>2900
functionally, yes, but i remember seeing it stated somewhere as an in-game explanation. might have been a rumor or just someone's theory mistaken for fact.

y'know I used to think .flow was never gonna update after .18

do you think we'll get a .2 ever

I get this feeling that lol might have some more stuff to add onto like. Sabitsuki's story or something, like with what they did in 19 and whatnot.

also .flow is one of the few games without any yume nikki fangame references, maybe next update (if it ever happens) will have references… or not (sometimes it's one room full of a bunch vs one or two references scattered)

>>2918
I'm pretty sure that lol has already confirmed that he's planning to update .flow to version .2, eventually. Then again, it could be a just joke like the VX remake he talked about.

i'm just going to leave this here.

SIAS

>>2918
>>2919
he's working on something else. tweets fan things about .flow a lot. apparently he's into hotline miami.

>>2929
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA oh good show man

My interpretation: Sabitsuki was born with a deficient immune system (possibly HIV+) and had to be installed with cybernetic organs as a result of a disease soon after birth (hence the "machine" effect). She was born around the time of the first outbreak of the Rust illness, which killed many children at the hospital she was in. However, she herself survived due to her isolation (as seen with Little Sabitsuki in the Parade ward, located in her own seperate room before the erosion meter increases). When she uses the computer, she uses an experimental form of virtual reality intended to be used for psycholgical therapy based off her own thought patterns, made possible by the fact she is a cyborg. Even though she had been previously employed as a beta tester for this technology before she contracted the "Rust" illness (which she was more susceptible to due to her weak immune system), after her diagnosis her mental world rapidly changed as the knowledge of her illness mentally consumed her. She continued to test the system as her wages rose due to the special insight gained from her case and in order to incentivise her to continue testing in spite of the mental stress, but being placed under quarantine, she was unable to do much with it.

Oreko was a childhood friend who she met as a result of her being the daughter of a scientist her parents met specializing in cybernetic enhancements. She grew up around her father's machines, hence why she is often seen with them.

Sabitsuki becoming Rust represents her entering the terminal stage of her illness, with the ending depicting a maid/nurse, assigned to her apartment block to care for her wearing a mask (as presumably the disease is airbourne - the same way that oxygen rusts metals), before "euthanizing" her with a chainsaw (possibly meaning the disease cannot be stopped by bullets). The rust corridor represents the disease killing Sabitsuki off, with the smile that appears when she encounters the nurse being the disease beginning to physically manifest itself.

So, nothing really new other than the cyborg thing…

>>1

why does it look like bacon?

>>3180
Because SIAS