Despite having to pull off some very difficult checks to do it, I was able to

Spoilers

both spot and talk to the Phasmid. Very glad I did so. I did not go into this game expecting to be able to pet a bug.

Real talk, though, the spoilered section was one of the most strangely beautiful and haunting things I’ve ever seen in a game and the encounter legitimately made me tear up a bit. It being so easy to miss made it seem all the more poignant somehow - sure, I technically could have savescummed for it, but that I didn’t have to made it all the more impactful. To say nothing of the fact that

Spoilers

The only reason I had a chance to see it at all was because I decided to kill some time by going on a seemingly unimportant flavor sidequest.