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Keldulas posted:I'm also looking forward to everyone seeing Yesod's. It's my favourite theme of the Upper core suppressions. It’s one of my favorite ones in general. 
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Sep 29, 2020 01:55
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| # ? Jun 10, 2024 12:47 |
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Awfully nice of the Briah Sephirahs to delay going Maverick until all of the Asiyah have been suppressed.
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Sep 29, 2020 03:22
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It is easy to forget that on a first unspoiled playthrough, when you have no idea what the mechanic is, you don't know immediately that any healing is going to be forthcoming until it happens. And you can easily get two meltdowns in before you realize what's happening. And you'll know by that point that things typically get progressively worse as you proceed, so you have no idea what terrible thing is coming next.
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Sep 29, 2020 04:56
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That's basically true of all the core suppressions though? Playing blind, you don't know what's going to happen in pretty much any of them.
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Sep 29, 2020 06:54
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Uhm, Chesed to meet you?
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Sep 29, 2020 10:05
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Day 28: Supplemental Facility X-394 Meeting Room, Upper Sephirot Meeting   How's Netzach doing, Hod?  He's still in the middle of detox. It'll be about another five or six hours. Thank goodness the manager was able to render so much of the Enkephalin inert… I was worried. It's never good to lose one of our own. I feel so horrible for Tiphereth each time… Well, it's almost time for the meeting. Where's Yesod? The last I heard, he had a couple more tasks to do prior to arriving. He should be here on time. Um… Do you have a question? When you… needed repair… did you remember anything? Why, did you? Oh, um… Yes. I remembered several things. I'm carrying them with me even now. I remembered dying. That was actually part of the problem. Oh my. So then… There's no easy way to put this, but… Did you realize what I realized? You mean the thing where our manager's definitely one of the founders? !! Yes! Absolutely! I didn't know if I should say, but… the resemblance is just uncanny isn't it? For sure. If he's not the guy himself, he's definitely a relative. That'd explain why he seems to be so competent at working with Abnormalities, too, wouldn't it? And why he doesn't bother worrying about half the employees. The clerk half. Thank goodness. I was worried it was just me. Do you think Netzach..? I'm sure he's probably remembered something too. That just leaves Yesod out. Leaves me out of what, exactly? Oh, Yesod! When did you get here? A couple of minutes ago. You were having such an interesting conversation I didn't want to interrupt… Oh! You… you think so? Yes. Please, go on. I'm very interested in what you have to say about this manager of ours. The meeting can wait a little bit, right? You… you got it..! Yesod..!
TeeQueue fucked around with this message at 07:46 on Jul 4, 2021 |
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Sep 29, 2020 10:09
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He's just standing there... menacingly.
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Sep 29, 2020 10:30
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Angsty man and boxes is my favourite comedy manga.
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Sep 29, 2020 11:59
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The most menacing we've seen Yesod.
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Sep 29, 2020 14:12
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Related note : As 'muda muda muda muda' basically means pointless, pointless, pointless, I can now imagine Netzach just lying there doing nothing saying that while X taps at buttons to give orders going "ora ora ora ora"
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Sep 29, 2020 14:18
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HeyItsKasey posted:The most menacing we've seen Yesod. Nice.
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Sep 29, 2020 17:27
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I petition that from now on Netzach's character portrait be permanently replaced by a burlap sack of rice.
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Sep 29, 2020 18:12
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Without the cognition filter he already doeeeeeeees
Dog Kisser fucked around with this message at 19:33 on Sep 29, 2020 |
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Sep 29, 2020 19:25
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Dog Kisser posted:Without the cognition filter he already doeeeeeeees
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Sep 29, 2020 19:35
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HeyItsKasey posted:The most menacing we've seen Yesod.  Yesod looks amazing.Dog Kisser posted:Without the cognition filter he already doeeeeeeees
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Sep 29, 2020 19:46
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So Malkuth isn’t running off of delusions and insanity in the middle of a catastrophic meltdown anymore, but is still confident that X is A. And Hod, who didn’t voice any such claims during her core suppression, agrees with Malkuth 100%. I am starting to lean very much into the idea that X may actually be A, and to never doubt Malkuth on anything ever again. Dog Kisser posted:Without the cognition filter he already doeeeeeeees  HeyItsKasey posted:The most menacing we've seen Yesod. Also dang it Hod did you just push Yesod over the edge into a meltdown by accident?
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Sep 29, 2020 20:08
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the Orb of Zot posted:So Malkuth isn’t running off of delusions and insanity in the middle of a catastrophic meltdown anymore, but is still confident that X is A. And Hod, who didn’t voice any such claims during her core suppression, agrees with Malkuth 100%. How can one thread keep delivering such good poo poo.
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Sep 29, 2020 22:31
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Dog Kisser posted:Without the cognition filter he already doeeeeeeees How dare you besmirch Netzach's honor and image like this!!!
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Sep 30, 2020 03:46
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Aeromancia posted:How can one thread keep delivering such good poo poo. 
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Sep 30, 2020 13:08
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So... Now instead of a Netzach... I guess now he’s a Ricezach. ... Please kill me.
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Sep 30, 2020 19:35
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Mecha_Face posted:So... Now instead of a Netzach... I guess now he’s a Ricezach. ... Please kill me. You deserve it. *cocks pistol* *bang* [1 damage] Aw gently caress.
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Sep 30, 2020 23:55
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Day 29: Story Music: Romantic   I mean, we’ve never really talked to each other. After all, I was here because I trusted Carmen, not you.  Music: Ricardo's Revenge   I couldn’t answer his last words because I didn’t want to desolate the only hope he had left. That was my selfishness, believing that he would be at least happy in a fleeting dream he could not wake from, lying in restless sleep.Music: Strange Dream   I’ll have to check out another way next time. I heard treatment is needed for a while because my parts were full of Enkephalin. It’ll probably be tough. Bit painful, too. But somewhere deep in my flickering consciousness, someone called out to me. That familiar, yet unfamiliar voice said this: “No, you cannot. Here, you must ask my permission for anything. Even for death.” And then you saved me. Opened my eyes once again to here where we stand, sadly. It’s impossible, even if everyone tries. Well, there is something to get out of all this. It’s to try and live. Even though life is full of pain, if I have to find and hold onto even the tiniest speck of possibility, if that’s what you and the voice wished for… I can’t help but give a shot at living up to your hopes, now can I? But for the first time, I think that maybe it was me who called you.*static*    We were both caught up in the karma of the past. I’m not the one who has changed. It’s you, manager. You’re the one who’s finally starting to see clearly. In summary: A admits to letting Giovanni believe a lie in order to give him a peaceful rest, since he was probably going to die from the Cogito dosage experiments. In the present, Netzach's going to be needing some additional maintenance, but he'll be fine. He tells X that they're both caught up in the karma of the past, but that X is finally starting to see clearly. With the Fearlessness to keep on Living acquired, the seed grows to a full 30%.  Glad you're doing better. Does this mean you'll be putting in work now? Yeah, I guess so. I wouldn't mind if you want to let me sleep through another day, though… Yeah… Not happening.Music: Dear Lorenne   After all this? Even if you turn back the clock… Do you really think your regrets can be so easily washed away as if nothing happened?In summary: Angela asks us if going back in time will be able to remove our regrets. This scene is actually special, since it's related to the number of Core Suppressions we've completed-showing up after hitting 30% regardless of who we used to get there or what order we do them in. Music: Emotional  One thing I didn't mention last time is that the memory scenes that play out involving this person all have old-timey camera effects going on on them, so there's little flickers of black lines and stuff like we're watching an old movie. It's a neat effect. "…. ……." Don’t be so humble. You could have gone to any Wing you wanted. But you still chose to come here; is it because of your trust in me? Just you wait, I’ll make sure you won’t regret your decision. Everyone is forcibly locking away their own light and potential… And here, this is the treatment I’ve told you about. The treatment for the soul. Trust me, we’ve made a worthy first step. People will gather around us soon enough. In summary: We remember joining some kind of organization with the mysterious shadowy lady who is definitely Carmen. She mentions that everyone's subconscious leads to death, as people forcibly lock away their own potential… and that she's got some kind of treatment for this. Music: Forgotten Entrance of Memories   Lady Angela must have showered you with praise for your work, right? …Such glorious, yet boring platitudes. I myself had a burning passion in the past. Being responsible for a whole department, how charming is that? I hadn’t even acquired a taste for coffee back then. Should I say I developed that taste after learning the bitterness of life? One time, I even insisted on managing the Abnormalities myself. I thought that only allowing employees on the field was plain ridiculous. Seems pretty absurd to look back on it now. You must be asking yourself, why have I become like this? Music: Romantic Memories  Chesed, what did you write up this time? I told you that this will change nothing. But please, just look it over. This does have a statistically proven impact, and it even costs less. This will be beneficial for everyone. Listen, Chesed. No matter how strongly you insist, using machines in place of human employees will never happen. It’s clear that it will benefit everyone. The casualties caused by Abnormalities will be lowered, too. How many times do I have to repeat myself? No the first time, and no yet again. Return to your post and finish your work. I’ll never give up on this. I swear to you that you will like the plan in the end. I’ll keep developing and furthering it, and I’ll continue to show you again and again, no matter how many times I may have to.Music: Forgotten Entrance of Memories   A few of our employees have made the suggestion to temporarily close down that part of the corridor. There are body parts that still have yet to be disposed of. Alright. I’ll order it to be blocked, and have them take detours. Like yesterday, this answer doesn't change anything.  Surely that Abnormality had knocked them out before disintegrating them… I’m— Yeah, I’m sure it was a painless death.In summary: Chesed used to give a drat, trying to get Angela's approval for a program where robots would work with Abnormalities. She turned it down, however. Even now, he still seems to care about our employees somewhere deep, deep down.  Same thing, less time. We're down to 8 minutes to play with. Yesterday was rough for all of us, without the regenerators. Don't worry too much about it. It was… only clerks. After all. And they don't count in the first place, right? Pretty much, yeah. Well, I do still have to clean them up afterwards. Try to be conservative, manager. Finally, a nice quiet day without any distractions… feels like it's been forever. Manager! There's a problem! ...Just had to say something, didn't I? Okay, Malkuth. What's up? It's Yesod. He's… Um… There was something off about him at today's meeting. I don't know if it's a problem or not, but I think you should speak with him. I guess so… Let's find out what this is all about, I suppose.(Yesod previous story: 1, 2, 3, 4) Music: Through the Mist      I’d give you a compliment if I didn’t have so much work to do. The Information Team has a task they must do periodically. Among the tremendous amount of information we gather, there are some that should remain off limits to the employees for security reasons. The names of the employees are one such thing. There is no way for me to know what the criteria for stripping the records are. They are set by another department, not us. We only manipulate the information we receive, per orders. Isn’t it funny? Whenever I introduce myself as the Sephirah of the Information Team… I sometimes feel something bubbling up inside of me. You will get the list of employees soon as well. Please do not forget to review it after you have finished expunging the documents. Ms. Angela, what do you think it means to remember someone’s name? This is a work you regularly do. Why are you so emotional about it today? Maybe names were marks atypical beings gave each other, to engrave each other upon their memories. Someone might have named you Angela following the same concept. I knew you would say that. Referring to employees by name is not recommended here. When employees first enter the company, each one receives their own unique identification number. This is to allow the company to identify them using the minimum amount of personal information. We have their numbers in our data storage devices. Malkuth has never called the employees by their names ever since she started working here. This is not to say that Malkuth deserves to take all the pain as well. None of us do. What kind of poor taste is that, to lock us inside metal bodies, and throw us into an endless loop of days that feel just the same as yesterday? I heard you might be one of the architects responsible for our creation. The only thing I could do here is remember the names of a few forgotten employees, and eternally despair… Feeling nauseous from even a single breath of air… Have you had fun watching your guinea pigs run around in circles? ......Music: Until Dawn   He was unmoved, even after hearing about what happened to Elijah. Some said he lacked empathy. But nobody realized that his emotions were festering on the inside. Maybe he began falling apart from long ago, ever since Carmen left this world. He slowly became expressionless. He wouldn’t allow himself to have even a paltry joy. He also couldn’t stand having even the smallest part of his body exposed. To not let what Elijah did be in vain, instead of taking the time to grieve, everyone knew they needed to utilize this result to the fullest. He tried to maintain a facade of level-headedness, but his attempts to remain rational slowly morphed into an obsession. He started to wear long sleeved clothing that also covered his neck. Not much later, he started to scratch himself harshly. Health check-ups were needed to prevent further damage. Persuasion became coercion, and coercion led to the use of physical force. He was tied and bound for the check-up, but he resisted so desperately that it was hard for us to watch him. Eventually, it turned out that he wasn’t infected at all. Was that really fortunate, though? When I saw him last, he wasn’t lucid or cognizant to any human speech, and his body was completely covered in scratches. No one has seen him since then.Music: Boss Warning  In summary: Yesod reveals to us that the Information Team periodically purges employee records from its systems, based upon orders from another department. He then goes on to talk about the importance of names, then comes at us directly for being one of the founders of this place. It's about then that he starts breaking down, and we remember Gabriel, who was a former employee who went a bit nuts after Elijah's death. As a side note, there is a single line that was cut from the script to the game, placed when Angela would leave. I'll put it below, and leave in the line before it for context. Cut content! posted:
We're not really missing anything, but it reads like originally Angela was supposed to basically try and force herself to have the last word. Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Yesod tries to kill us because he's an AI and this is a video game.  Okay kiddos, just heard from management-it looks like our department's the next to get hit. I was really hoping we'd somehow dodge it. Yesod's always been the level-headed one. He seemed… fine. Does seem that way, doesn't he?  His problem is he gives a drat. Around here, all that does is cause problems. There is hardly room for caring in this world. A place devoid of mother… is no place at all. Case in point, Yesod would be sad if he got buzzsawed in half. And you wouldn't? …eh.  Mr. Blond, you haven't spent as much time here as some of us so you may not notice, but… There's a kindness behind that harsh exterior. Feelings that run that deep can bubble up into a whirlpool, and then... Well, there goes my nice, quiet day in Information. ...Hm. I guess I might have misjudged the guy. It is best to view nothing by its surface appearance. Look within, beyond, and only then can you proceed. That... was an unusually relevant thought from you, Sephiroth. Anyways, I'm gonna' go mosey. Try not to tear up the place while I'm gone. Hey, if you're gone, does that mean- We all can have a break after this is dealt with. For now, find a team that seems shortstaffed and help 'em out. Yes, D.A.D.…  See you tomorrow then, I guess. If we're lucky. No dying on me now, kiddos.
TeeQueue fucked around with this message at 07:49 on Jul 4, 2021 |
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Oct 2, 2020 10:21
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Interesting shape for boxbot Netzach, especially with the eye off to the side on the upper part. Which brings up some questions about boxbotbox manufacturing! Is each one custom-made? Is there a Tiphereth factory? Or is the shell part of the weird tentacle-plant core thing?
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Oct 2, 2020 11:12
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Someday, this war will end. And by that I mean, all the Sephirot will be... vaguely stable. I like Netzach's true design, though.
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Oct 2, 2020 11:25
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Rapidly losing the ability to track and organize the story thus far.
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Oct 2, 2020 11:27
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Artificer posted:Rapidly losing the ability to track and organize the story thus far. Honestly a tl;dr summary is probably in order sooner or later, probably ~day 35 or so. Trying to track the past and the present and the past-but-not-as-past-as-the-far-past and who everyone was and will be and what color Malkuth's hair was again and when everyone got loving murdered is... a little complicated, particularly since the game has no problem giving you things out of order depending on how you do them.
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Oct 2, 2020 11:57
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I really like the detail that Netzach's robot form is still leaking what is probably Enkephalin. Also really like how despite being an AI, Chesed had to let his hair grow all messy to drive home the point that he's lost his passion. I bet Malkuth would be happy to hear that Yesod called her the most ideal of them even if the context isn't so heartwarming...
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Oct 2, 2020 12:00
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My favorite part about the Netzach story bit is how A tries to sell the fact he lied about the only reason Giovanni even agreed to the Cogito experiment in the first place (saving Carmen) as some benign white lie to spare his feelings 
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Oct 2, 2020 12:24
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Poor Yesod. Like Malkuth, I hope he'll get through this okay. My heart aches for the boxbots, their existence is suffering.
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Oct 2, 2020 14:36
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So Enkaphalim is literally Monster Energy Drink if Netzachs new body is anything to go by. It would explain so much
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Oct 2, 2020 15:18
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Slaan posted:So Enkaphalim is literally Monster Energy Drink if Netzachs new body is anything to go by. It would explain so much So is this a prequel or a sequel to Death Stranding? Or DLC?
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Oct 2, 2020 15:39
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Wa11y posted:So is this a prequel or a sequel to Death Stranding? Or DLC? Death Stranding happened when previously unseen Aleph-level Abnormality escaped facility.
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Oct 2, 2020 16:24
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I mean, I kind of love the idea that LobCorp is how Korea reacted instead of the US to Death Stranding spoopy stuff.
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Oct 2, 2020 16:31
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Artificer posted:Rapidly losing the ability to track and organize the story thus far. From what I understand, there are a couple of things going on in parallel: Angela did some memory mumbo-jumbo to X, who now starts remembering scenes as if he were A. Some of the Sephirah remark on the resemblance between X and A as well. We also started to get a glimpse that the Sephirah don't look like people, and instead look like boxy robots. There's also a very heavy implication that Angela might have been based on Carmen, who also seems to have founded LobCorp and hired A originally? The Sephirah are starting to "wake up" for lack of a better term. Each Sephirah was based on a real employee prior to whatever happened that caused the robots to be made. Each employee appears thus far to have died horribly in some sort of trauma, and that trauma is something that the Sephirah still carry with them to this day. At this point, the player is given the option to suppress that trauma, and you have a unique boss fight that rewards some pretty neat things as well as some story. There's also a % counter that increases as the Sephirah are suppressed, and that appears to go up by 10% per Sephirah suppressed. There are also some heavy implications that this isn't the first time the manager has dealt with the Sephirah (time travel shenanigans). At this point it feels pretty safe to say that every Sephirah will be suppressed, but there's absolutely a possibility that the game will throw a curveball at us. And, of course, in the background of all of this are the horrifying abnormalities that we are harvesting for energy. They used to be the biggest focus, but after the Sephirah started to wake up, we've started to focus on them over the abnormalities.
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Oct 2, 2020 16:55
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Gotta say, Netzach still my favorite Sephirat. For all the white lie that A was telling himself and Giovanni to make them both feel better I think it's an interesting insight to A. A is just bad at expressing himself, and perhaps started to change even just slightly after Elijah's death. Only very slightly though, because holy poo poo Yesod.  Also probably the most  'd thread for me in LP, seriously keep up the amazing work TeeQueue.
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Oct 2, 2020 17:16
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So all of Yesod's problems originate from incredibly repressed feelings of guilt in regards to Elijah back when he was still human, and the fact his memory is recovering in that regard means he might even remember/realize that the girl he tore himself apart for out of guilt (literally ) is right there as one of his fellow robot box friends. Every robox needs multiple hugs, goddamn. EDIT: Also not only is this by far the most thread in this board for me, it's kind of incredible how over the last few days everything's shifted so much from the focus being on the abnormalities to the Sephirah. I've gone from pressing F5 to see what new horrible thing that might kill everyone will show up next to see what's going on with the Sephirah next.
the Orb of Zot fucked around with this message at 17:26 on Oct 2, 2020 |
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Oct 2, 2020 17:18
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Dirk the Average posted:From what I understand, there are a couple of things going on in parallel: Is this facility just full of robot impersonations of dead people reenacting their last days or something? Angela and X, all the sephirah, everyone is a machine and the filter is preventing the player from seeing that?
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Oct 2, 2020 17:53
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MiiNiPaa posted:Death Stranding happened when previously unseen Aleph-level Abnormality escaped facility.
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Oct 2, 2020 18:14
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Just popping in to say I'm absolutely loving the LP. Great presentation. I seriously thought about stopping after the first time the cognition filter dropped so that I could play it unspoiled, but micro-heavy games aren't really my cup of tea, and my Steam backlog is already too long. Is Library of Ruinia similarly micro-heavy? Dirk the Average posted:And, of course, in the background of all of this are the horrifying abnormalities that we are harvesting for energy. They used to be the biggest focus, but after the Sephirah started to wake up, we've started to focus on them over the abnormalities. That... didn't work out. Carmen is dead, A is AWOL or amnesiac, and judging by the menagerie TQ has assembled, they managed to release the thoughts that lead straight to death, rather than the potential and light. At some point, someone involved came up with a plan to un-gently caress this situation, and called it the "seed of light." The plan would require absolutely staggering amounts of energy. Fortunately, they had figured out a way to extract energy from the material nightmares they had unleashed from the human subconscious. Now all they need to do is work the abnormalities flawlessly for tens of thousands of days in order to get the required energy without letting the abnormalities escape and destroy the world. Good thing they leased some Time Travel Tech for when they mess up! Also, it turns out that suppressing a Sephirah's core releases thousands of times more energy than a day of working abnormalities. Which is interesting, because it seems like core suppression resolves the depression and death drive the Sephirah experiences and allows them to unlock their repressed hope and potential. Slaan posted:So Enkaphalim is literally Monster Energy Drink if Netzachs new body is anything to go by. It would explain so much
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Oct 2, 2020 18:17
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| # ? Jun 10, 2024 12:47 |
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Artificer posted:Rapidly losing the ability to track and organize the story thus far. This is honestly the normal state at this point. This is why the period pre-Day 25 has been referred to as the prologue, the lead-up and so forth. The writing of the game is innately very dense, and once the Core Suppressions start happening, the game starts tossing a lot of things at your head all at once. I know myself that I'm getting a lot of retroactive understanding from reading the dialogue bits now. Other people have already summarized the current state, but I'll repeat here. Core Suppressions are the Sephirot breaking down due to prior-life memories, and us stepping in to stabilize them. They're talking of their memories, and we're getting memories from A's point of view. The actual Core Suppression is the AI trying to fight us off using whatever systems they have under their control. This is the framework, and the LP now has the links in the Core Suppressions to review the Sephirot's story. Take all the time you need. I know I had to step away from the game a few times before due to overload.
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Oct 2, 2020 18:51
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