Floor themes in In Stars and Time

17 February 2025

This blog post is really informal and more a place for me to store something I was recently thinking about. These are pretty much unedited messages to my partner of my playthrough of the game In Stars and Time where I was reflecting on the themes of each floor after starting my 7th loop.

First floor: Egg keys, broken and intact egg.

I don't completely remember all of the associated imagery with eggs but the idea of "birth" is interesting to apply to Siffrin who doesn't seem to remember his origins and where he is from.

So with the intact eggs I think they represent, like, origin , where you were born, but Siffrin doesn't seem to have those things, which is why I think it's uncomfortable or something he struggles with The broken eggs are a bit easier to think about... Since Siffrin doesn't seem like the type of person to change or even metaphorically come out of his "shell"...

And I think this is reflected when Bonnie says they don't know what Siffrin is to them. In their imagining of a family.. Siffrin, like a white, unborn, intact egg, is a blank slate who hasn't actually opened up to experiencing the world /being broken by the world. I guess this might tie into the touch aversion but I really still can't wrap my head around that

There's also the concept of circles on the first floor and how everything is a part of something. Seemingly space travel hasn't been achieved by the people in this world, but I think if Siffrin's religious background has to do with the stars, then I think part of him knows that the "world" is contained in "nothingness" (space)

Second floor: Craft type keys, rock, paper, and scissors

I really am unsure about this one but the things that came up in this floor were mostly about close relationships, especially intimate/romantic ones. I was kind of disappointed that the keys didn't feel as well integrated on this floor into any main theme, because the 1st and 3rd floors are pretty obvious, but I guess if you think about craft as the way you interact with the world and with people then it kind of makes sense...?

I think that the second floor had a bit of like...personal passions being explored and what intimate relationships mean to people and why they're important

Because Maribelle has the house of change and all of the things she learns, she has a community there, isabeau has his fashion design things, Odile studies...something, Bonnie has their sister and cooking, but Siffrin doesn't have anyone or anything Siffrin has no defined "hobby", no family, no origin, no community they're really integrated to, so in a sense even though they're part of the craft system they don't actually manage to interact with anyone

And no I don't consider bad puns to be a hobby

Yeah I just have a harder time thinking about it personally because I don't really think the overlaps say that much and they're more of a thing that exist purely for game mechanics I can kind of see the basis for personality stuff but I agree with Odile that craft type doesn't really say anything about who you are as a person. (Astrology hater)

For the sake of STORYTELLING their crafts say something about them though

Well. If you want my opinion on the archetypes purely for storytelling purposes:

Third floor: Change god masks, emotions, and identity

I think there are a few intersecting things here since the masks textually represent emotion but this is also the floor where we get more information about body craft, so I think it's also about identity and what constitutes "you"

I also think identity because of the giant mirror camera invention. Anyway for Siffrin this floor is twofold

he has no identity. No community since identity is also ascribed by community sometimes, like Mirabelle being a Housemaiden and Isabeau being a defender. Also Isabeau being the party member to have textually changed their body. He also has no backstory/origin and this is highlighted by the craft garments conversation again...

I'm unsure if Siffrin represses his emotions necessarily...? Because he does feel them (mostly when berating himself) but he's dissociated from them to some degree and he doesn't seem to realize the...origin of some of his behaviors...again, I genuinely don't understand his touch aversion because he doesn't even seem to be aware of it.

I also think him having no identity is why he hates being the tiebreaker since he'd rather fade into the background and not really be important. But he is important, which is why he is at the front lines all the time and investigating for traps etc. I guess the better word is that Siffrin doesn't let. Himself actually process his emotions. He has some degree of retrograde amnesia

He can't remember things that happened before I think most of his amnesia is related to whatever caused his touch aversion since amnesia normally only happens after some sort of injury or illness ,but I'll extend it to psychological trauma too. For the sake of this game

RA can occur without any anatomical damage to the brain, lacking an observable neurobiological basis.[19] Primarily referred to as psychogenic amnesia or psychogenic fugue, it often occurs due to a traumatic situation that individuals wish to consciously or unconsciously avoid through intrapsychic conflicts or unconscious repressions.[20] The onset of psychogenic amnesia can be either global (i.e., individual forgets all history) or situation specific (i.e., individual is unable to retrieve memories of specific situations).[21]

I think not only is the disappearance of his home from existence affecting his ability to recall basic information but he has sustained some degree of psychological and/or physical trauma that's impacted his ability to recall information related to his origins

Patients experiencing psychogenic amnesia have impaired episodic memory, instances of wandering and traveling, and acceptance of a new identity as a result of inaccessible memories pertaining to their previous identity.[20]

Sorry for the psychobabble

—🥀

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