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 What even is this? CONSORTIUM (yes, allcaps), is the first of a planned ARPG trilogy from new developer Interdimensional Games (a.k.a iDGi). It was released for the PC in January 2014, after a second Kickstarter attempt succeeded, raising some $70k. You are the player of a video game via a time-travelling satellite that sends you into the future. Basically. It gets more complicated. These days it's pretty fashionable to have branching plotlines and so forth. 'You choices matter!' is a common refrain. On one end you have Telltale games like The Walking Dead where this is mostly an illusion, in the middle you've got Bioware games like Mass Effect, and out on the far edge of reason you have CONSORTIUM. This thing is a web. It's like Deux Ex meets the Stanley Parable. It received broadly positive reviews from the usual indie hipster scum crowd (obviously why I'm playing it). Rock Paper Shotgun said (warning: mild spoilers) it “offers a solid sample of what we’ve been saying games have the potential to do for a generation”, which as far as I can tell is to be a little more Full Metal Jacket and a little less Spec Ops: the Line. What do you think you're doing? A single playthrough of Consortium is relatively short, and mostly hinges on your choices at key stages. The thing is that there's quite a lot of these and if we took votes on them all we'd be watching two minute videos from now to 2042. In advance of particularly big questions, though, I'll throw the thread open to voting. There may also be other opportunities to get involved, which I'll reveal when they become relevant. There's a lot of dialogue in this game, and I'll try to keep my roguish voice from talking all over it, but we'll have subtitles and a no-commentary version to complement this. Can I spoil the hell out of this? No. No spoilers whatsoever. This is a slow burn. You're thrown in with no tutorial or backstory primer and you're expected to just figure everything out for yourself, ideally without giving yourself away. I've only done a single playthrough previously (which I did terribly and missed a lot of material), so as soon as we start branching I will be as blind as you are. This being said, feel free to speculate as we learn more and find more questions to ponder. Rest assured there will be questions: I still have no idea what's really going on. Videos      
Obliterati fucked around with this message at 03:19 on May 16, 2015 |
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Mar 24, 2015 11:06
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Reserved
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Mar 24, 2015 11:07
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Episode 1 - Setting Up the Board   So here's our first update, where we science our way into the future and try to figure out what the hell is going on. What we learned:
2. Bishop Six is nobody's boss 3. To stop asking dumb questions that imply we're not who we say we are Obliterati fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Mar 25, 2015 |
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Mar 24, 2015 11:07
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This is an amazing game and I love it to bits. I am still unbelievably annoyed at the Developer for making me spoil the game entirely to try and get past CTD bugs they had to finish the game. I don't think I have ever gotten as mad at a game as I had when the CTD happens. The only way to describe it is like getting to the best part of movie for it to cut out and be told it will be fixed in a few days.
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Mar 24, 2015 12:21
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I never bought a game after watching a LP of it quicker than this.
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Mar 24, 2015 17:07
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Lord Windy posted:This is an amazing game and I love it to bits. The game does still suffer from having been rushed - it's most obvious when you see the subtitles and their occasional typos - but at least it's fully functional now! I hope.
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Mar 24, 2015 17:07
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Episode 2 - En Passant Second update, where we finally get to the combat mechanics and oh god oh god it's everywhere What we learned: How to shoot mans Bishop Six is Number One! Something is almost certainly going on So I briefly covered alignments this video (and actually turned on the notifications). Here's our alignments with all the known characters as of the end of the episode:  Rook 9 loves us and our refusal to mock his problems with his mother, but Pawn 1 hates the hell out of us for not being Bishop 8 and we made a terrible impression on Pawn 19 in the first episode. This may yet be relevant. At this point, I'm also going to  call a vote on our combat approach. Shall we go lethal or non-lethal? Each has its merits: lethal is much simpler, whilst non-lethal lets us feel super good about ourselves (but lacks awesome death lasers). Each choice will also influence our alignments and future events/options.
Obliterati fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Mar 25, 2015 |
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Mar 25, 2015 18:07
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Huh, I started to play this, but then I dropped it when they said they were going to be relaunching it a little later down the line with major fixes and revisions, and never got around to starting again when they did.
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Mar 25, 2015 18:13
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Clearly you need to be as lethal as possible.
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Mar 25, 2015 18:22
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This looks fantastically interesting. Non-lethal
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Mar 25, 2015 18:23
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They're just video game characters, so clearly lethal is the way to go.
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Mar 25, 2015 18:46
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This game is anything but straightforward; therefore we must take the least straightforward option possible. Non-lethal.
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Mar 25, 2015 18:49
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Can you like alternate or does that screw up the ending?
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Mar 25, 2015 18:54
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SSNeoman posted:Can you like alternate or does that screw up the ending? If you kill anyone, I'm pretty sure the game treats the rest of the plot as if you'd gone full lethal. I learned this in my first playthrough after I shot an incapacitated guy by accident. All or nothing, I'm afraid.
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Mar 25, 2015 18:56
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Well then let's go lethal. Lasers are fun!
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Mar 25, 2015 18:58
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Let's go non-lethal. Sure we're in the future instead of the past, but let's still avoid loving around too much.
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Mar 25, 2015 19:10
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This is meant to be a sort of episodic game, right? Any word if they're working on a second one? If they are, I'll probably pick this up and give it a shot myself.
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Mar 25, 2015 19:36
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Night10194 posted:This is meant to be a sort of episodic game, right? Any word if they're working on a second one? If they are, I'll probably pick this up and give it a shot myself. iDGi originally pitched it as a trilogy: with the eventual success of CONSORTIUM they are indeed working on the second, (provisionally?) entitled The Tower Prophecy. No word on release dates AFAIK, or how tightly it'll tie in with the possible events of this game. Expect it to take a while: it took several years to get CONSORTIUM off the ground although this time they probably won't have a failed Kickstarter adding to the wait.
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Mar 25, 2015 19:42
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I really enjoyed this game, despite its short comings. It really is fairly hefty for what a short game it technically is, because they make it all so concise and have so many branches it feels so deep. I really look forward to something similar with their next game too.
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Mar 25, 2015 19:51
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Voting for Death Lasers.
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Mar 25, 2015 20:00
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This consortium feels pretty sinister. I enjoy quietly sinister global 'utopias' with cheerful blue coloring, though.
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Mar 25, 2015 20:06
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Lethal force is authorized, agent.
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Mar 25, 2015 20:42
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Non-lethal. Remember, these aren't "just video game characters," we signed an agreement! It was right there on the screen, these are REAL PEOPLE! oh god, now I feel like Claptrap...
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Mar 26, 2015 00:37
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azren posted:Non-lethal. Remember, these aren't "just video game characters," we signed an agreement! It was right there on the screen, these are REAL PEOPLE! It was an EULA. EULAs are full of lies.
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Mar 26, 2015 01:26
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Non-lethal please. Murder them with our philosophy and words instead!
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Mar 26, 2015 04:17
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Lethal, we didn't sign up for this game just to knock mans out.
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Mar 26, 2015 06:28
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I approach it like this-think "what would Janeway do?" and then you do the opposite. I believe we should go the Non-Lethal option.
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Mar 26, 2015 06:38
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VolticSurge posted:I approach it like this-think "what would Janeway do?" and then you do the opposite. I believe we should go the Non-Lethal option. Don't do that. One time, as a kid, I was telling my friends about 'what would Kirk do?' merchandise I saw for sale somewhere. One christian kid got real angry at me because, apparently, putting another name in the 'What would Jesus do?' line is a horrible case of blasphemy because you're breaking the commandment of having no other gods before him. True story.
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Mar 26, 2015 08:59
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As Lethal as possible.
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Mar 26, 2015 10:21
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Non-lethal. 
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Mar 26, 2015 10:36
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Voting ends in six hours Currently we're at 7-7, but don't worry if it's a tie: there are, uh, third ways.
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Mar 26, 2015 11:31
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Obliterati posted:If you kill anyone, I'm pretty sure the game treats the rest of the plot as if you'd gone full lethal. I learned this in my first playthrough after I shot an incapacitated guy by accident. All or nothing, I'm afraid. In that case, let's go Non-lethal - if nothing else, it'll keep our options open for later.
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Mar 26, 2015 12:48
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Lethaaaal!
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Mar 26, 2015 15:25
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Lethal, kill everyone!
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Mar 26, 2015 15:34
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Now I kinda want to know what these third ways are.
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Mar 26, 2015 15:35
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Tipping the vote toward's non-lethal, because I'm curious about this "Third choice stuff".
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Mar 26, 2015 15:36
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Let's be non-lethal if only because it'll make things harder for you 
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Mar 26, 2015 16:01
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Non-lethal is always the way to go, yes.
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Mar 26, 2015 16:01
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Vote closed. Non-lethal has it 11-9. Recording tonight, but probably not going to be posting the update before tomorrow. Look forward to shock grenades, me screwing up the incapacitations and a lack of lasers (no, really, I'm not lying to you).
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Mar 26, 2015 17:33
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 Third update, in which things continue to escalate. What we know: I lied about the shock grenades Non-lethal is hard, thanks thread You know what, something is definitely going on
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Apr 2, 2015 03:22
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