Hey everybody. I've really been enjoying this game - the quiet vibe, puzzles, blunderbussing, and especially the soundtrack really have been a unique experience that I've loved up until this point. The driving even gives me Deadly Premonition vibes, which is a huge compliment.

However, I've gotten to the point where I apparently have to play flutes to attract four innocent little crows, presumably stun them with rocks, put them in cages, and burn them alive. I just can't do it. Even though it's just a video game, crows are my favorite animals and I actually have one as a pet. It's a drastic tonal shift from the relative nonviolence (at least against living things) expressed thus far, and I've had to put my ghost-hunting on hold because this just seems so wrong.

Is there any other option? Can I burn the flutes or something instead as a symbolic ritual?

Call me a sissy, but this kind of thing just really really bothers me, especially in a game where up until this point we've done nothing more aggressive than shooting nails into black clouds.

It just seems so jarring; up until this point, we've seen dead crows and listened to Bobby's recordings about having to capture and kill them, which helps set to color the actions he was forced to do negatively and set up a sense of malice toward the antagonists... but then suddenly having the protagonist say "that seems easy" and not even consider the alternative? If that is really the only option, it makes me really dislike the character - it's so obvious the crows have been helping her at that point, and she just shrugs and decides it's cool to torture and kill them without a single thought?

I guess if the dev was going for some sort of escalating moral dilemma, that was a success. I mean, they have names, and they come up to you like you're their master. Even the ghost calls them his babies, which is just heartbreaking. If that's my only option, I think I'd honestly be happier to just stop playing and pretend that Juliette just said "screw you, I'm letting these nice birds live, and I'm going to wander the red mists for all eternity while living off the infinite supply of potatos in the trunk of my teleporting car."

Anyway - are there other options I'm missing here? I'm doubting it but really hoping so, because I'd love to play more of this game.