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Antistar01 posted:It... Sweet baby jesus. bewilderment posted:If you wanted the game not to show you the extra bits, you would've needed to clear your appdata - in particular the 'groundhogs' file that tracks what you've done over past playthroughs.
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Jul 4, 2023 15:04
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There is an in-game way to remove dream options for the current playthrough. It is neither good nor kind.
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Jul 4, 2023 17:53
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Hello again. Three votes for tutoring, one for science stuff, one for animal tending. Tutoring wins!   UH.   Hell no, we are not saying anything. At best, they will not believe us. At worst, Lum and his fascist brigade will hunt Sym.  sure, let's get high with mom and dad   I feel you, Dys.  If there is anyone in Vertumna that deserves to know about Sym, it's Dys.   Well, he was kinda hot, I guess.  Wait, what?   Okay, this will be our secret. Good.  What's going on? You are looking at the newest member of the colony construction crew! I'm surveying the colony for places to build new private family quarters. People are gonna wanna raise families here soon, isn't that real? Why the construction crew? What's not to like? I get to be outside almost all day, I get to make something great, and, hey!He leans in, conspirationally Have you seen the bods of the rest of construction crew? Awooooo!He... he literally did the awoooga meme.  It really does. Since destruction of Quarters there is basically no place to chill in entire Vertumna except park.   It's still Rex being people pleaser, but this time in a good way.  Shouldn't youfetch sticks for me? That's a great joke! I didn't even think about it like that! Maybe if you bring me a stick, I'll throw it back for you a few times.With Rex I am honestly not sure whether it was supposed to be sarcastic or not.   From now on, every log not only makes Rex like us more, it also advances his pet project.  You can try, dickhead, I would love to kick your fash rear end again. I was curious what's Vace reaction to gifts he actually likes.  And accidentaly found out about his birthday. Welp, I guess neutral reaction is better than his usual behaviour.  Registering for engineering classes requires at least 5 points in Reasoning, applying for tutor needs 10 points or higher. Not exactly what I call high standards. Anyway, after Hal's death Vertumna really needs more teachers (with, y'know, actual human feelings), time to do our part!  I actually chuckled.   Instance is probably one of the last people I would entrust teaching kids, to be honest. I think only Lum and Vace would be worse.    But at least she's aware of that. This might be also the first time we see Instance showing some human emotions - we've heard that she's basically Tang's foster parent, but we never saw her acting that way from what I remember.  Remember how Tang told us that her glorified VR implant is peak of human science?  Meet Nougat. She's awesome. We'll see more of her in next playthrough.     We unlocked our first Empathy perk... honestly, I've totally forgot Quarters still exist.  But, more important, we have two birthdays this month.  Aaaand I forgot Tang doesn't like cakes. Fortunately, she appreciates the gesture.   Yes Dys, I gave you this gift because today's its your birthday. That's what people do.     This month we are resting...   ...because our first Glow expedition is coming!  Did I mention I really like how beautiful Glow is?   It also has wonderful, kinda otherwordly music theme   You know, Clarity, things can be both beautiful and incredibly dangerous.  Especially when you are not an apex predator.   It doesn't mean it's evil though. Nature is neither good nor evil. It just is.  Just remember we are the invasive species here.   Because the planet surely knows that.   Was it one of the Gardeners? We'll see.    We are probably one of two people in existence who saw Glow at its finest.   A manticore. Remember how I mentioned we are not apex predators here?   Apparently neither are they.     Beautiful and dangerous.  At least for us.   I totally saw you there Of course you did. You are practically made for this place. Well, things do tend to attack us. That is true. Those attacks are not natural, as you may have guessed. Glow isn't dangerous at all. It's lovely.We've already met two manticores and one thing that is big enough to scare off manticore. Not dangerous at all.    Glad to see even you aren't all knowing.  Arcane power of Save Game and Load Game.   Awww, cliffhanger!  oh crap   Faceless. The most dangerous xeno we saw so far. Thing that killed Kom. We should sound the alarm, warn the guards... ...should we?    There's something weird with this place. I mean, even weirder than rest of the planet during Glow.   We've been here before.   Or will be here?   Or we've always been here?  But one thing is certain.  We are not alone here.     Here's our first ending - Transcendence. It's kinda bad ending, because we got only the most basic of ending slides. I'll show it in separate post as noncanon ending.   Right now, we are going back to reality.  That is pretty big revelation. Faceless aren't part of Vertumna ecosystem, they are bioweapons, made specifically for destroying our colony. Until one of them found this place.  I hope it can find peace here.  And that's it. Glow is pretty small expedition but boy, have we learned much.   Sadly, there are much more Faceless still bound by what I guess is Gardeners/Convergent Domain will. Of course we are going to see what's happening.   Whatever my opinion of Rhett may be, at least he's professional.  Unlike this shithead.    We can't pick off the Faceless! I have a plan! Just follow my lead.   The fact we are not part of Lumjugend doesn't mean we cannot defend ourselves.  Lum is being Lum. Maybe Faceless are going to eat him or something.   the gently caress just happened   Good job telling us about your plan.   Welp, at least we survived?    THANKS, rear end in a top hat.   And with this, we are officialy grownups.
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Jul 11, 2023 21:03
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Well that's interesting. Also Lum is
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Jul 12, 2023 00:07
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Rex' pet project, eh? Eh?? I'll see myself out 
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Jul 12, 2023 00:14
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It's funny how absurdly easy it is to raise friendship with Rex considering how little time you have with him. Also, why exactly are we taking Earth being ruined as a given? Our only source of information for this is the cult, and they are extremely biased. There was even a couple of dialogue choices that calls out how weirdly propagandic the classes were. Personally I'm just assuming Earth is more or less okay, and the colony just needs it to be ruined so that they can justify their choices to come here.
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Jul 12, 2023 03:13
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Dys crushing on Sym is adorable. 
Rogue AI Goddess fucked around with this message at 12:59 on Jul 12, 2023 |
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Jul 12, 2023 03:16
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Marluxia posted:It's funny how absurdly easy it is to raise friendship with Rex considering how little time you have with him. It makes sense, seeing how he made making friends his entire personality. Marluxia posted:Also, why exactly are we taking Earth being ruined as a given? Our only source of information for this is the cult, and they are extremely biased. There was even a couple of dialogue choices that calls out how weirdly propagandic the classes were. Personally I'm just assuming Earth is more or less okay, and the colony just needs it to be ruined so that they can justify their choices to come here.
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Jul 12, 2023 11:19
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The Spa is an excellent upgrade to have. Finally you can remove bad cards from your deck without having to hope they're one of the two random options you get when resting.
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Jul 12, 2023 14:33
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Tenebrais posted:The Spa is an excellent upgrade to have. Finally you can remove bad cards from your deck without having to hope they're one of the two random options you get when resting. Time to play Slay the Stratospheric!
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Jul 12, 2023 15:21
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 As I promised, Transcendence "ending"         That's it. You fall down and leave your body to become one with universe. Or sniff toxic hallucinogens from faceless spores and die, who knows. There's also a second part, but it's the same for all endings, so I'm going to show it with "proper" ending.
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Jul 14, 2023 15:27
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Oh, so that’s why. Neat. Wonder if this is the first time one of your many selves went infinite? Not that it matters, I guess, since transcendence is retroactive?
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Jul 14, 2023 15:44
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BassMug posted:Oh, so that’s why. Neat. Wonder if this is the first time one of your many selves went infinite? Not that it matters, I guess, since transcendence is retroactive?
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Jul 17, 2023 05:27
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BassMug posted:Oh, so that’s why. Neat. Wonder if this is the first time one of your many selves went infinite? Not that it matters, I guess, since transcendence is retroactive? I think "first time" doesn't mean anything beyond borders of time and space.
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Jul 17, 2023 08:39
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This was the first ending I ever got, which left me a bit confused. Getting a 'proper' ending is a lot more satisfying for a first playthrough. That said I think in that runthrough, when I reloaded the game and went back to the colony, I was stuck with yet another non-proper ending... a pretty bad one to end the game with. Not really spoilers, you can guess, but just in case: Colony destroyed.
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Jul 17, 2023 09:42
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We are almost grown ups now and it shows. Every teen character gets new model.  Cal. He ripped now.   Marz is still being her sexy self. Now with longer hair (I think she's the only person in entire colony with hair longer than ours), shorter skirt and bigger cleavage.   Our favourite rear end in a top hat. Honestly, if not for new uniform and more muscles, I wouldn't notice any difference.  Dys. Got rid of acne and acquired... some weird armour?    Do you ever write about me? W-well, sure, you are part of colony, right? A-and you are my friend. So of course I write about you.Hm. He must not want you to know what he's writing about you. Curious. He's adorable.   Nem. Notice her soldier uniform, same as Vace's. She doesn't really hang with Strato kids anymore.  Nomi... who apparently didn't aged at all. I even checked on wiki, their "adult" model is basically identical with "teen".  Like with all Helio kids, teen Rex and adult Rex are mostly the same, main difference being adult Rex getting rid of his shirt. Also, I don't like any of possible answers.  Enjoy your skin cancer.    And Tang. With new haircut, again.   What's going on, Tangent?  At first I thought that in such small community someone would help her fight her addiction. Then I remembered how small communities act IRL - they pretend that there's no problem. Also I still remember that Tang uses performance-enhancing drugs herself. Do you wanna talk about it? I don't think so. Maybe. Will you sit with me?  I believe we can do better here I think so too. I just... don't know how. I don't know if any of us do. We are only human Not only because of that, Europeans actively conquered, murdered and enslaved natives. Diseases were just one part of the greatest genocide in history of mankind. Sorry, colonialism is touchy subject and "it wasn't us, it were diseases who killed natives" is sometimes used to whitewash conquistadores. I just can't help but wonder if we are doing the right thing. Great timing.    I can see why Tang didn't even tried to talk with Instance.  Anyways, we have job to do  HOLY poo poo, IT'S HAPPENING! CONGRUENCE HAS GONE ROGUE!   ...or it's just malfunctioning bot. Disappo... I mean, whew!  there are two numbers here which are very funny for my Polish fellows.   Not really a party guy, but why the hell not.   Now that I think of it... what do they drink? There is that one totally-not-a-drug tea and Dys&Tang mom was clearly an alcoholic, but there's no mention about what exactly is Vertumna drink of choice. I guess they brew alcohol from some local plant, with Earth plants being scarce I doubt Flulu would allow wasting them for beer/vodka/wine.  drat, they are looking good. Also, apparently we drink punch, presumably from Vertumna fruits.   Well, we are already here, so...   That's our call!   Come here, Dys. This is going to be fun.  Or not. Welp. We tried. Perhaps we could sneak outside instead and...   C'MON!  Oh yeah, "you are the future of our country", every dictator favorite speech.  I have no idea whether this is real poetry or made up by devs, but I don't really like it. It's very... imperialistic?   I guess Lum really wants to have his Manifest Destiny.  "Not surprised" would be the most accurate, but I'll stick with "angry".  That being said, one would thought after all this attacks Cal noticed that you can't really make peace with someone who doesn't want to parley, make demands or even actually talk to us (except one being, but he was more cryptic than cooperative) and the only alternative to defend ourselves with violence is to leave planet, which is currently impossible.  Dys notices something else - hunting xeno animals is one thing, attack against something that might be dormant alien civilization with control over spacetime is another.   We need to think about it.   If only we could change the past...    Now that I think of it, I've never shown you the map, didn't I?  Subaqueous Swamp is the last region we haven't seen, the one that Lum and Rhett want to invade.   Now, the important question.   It looks like another choice, so should we join hunting expeditions? On one hand, we didn't really sign for this - defending from xeno attacks is one thing, hunting them is another. As Cal said, we already are invasive species, we don't need to make it worse. On another, we do need food, xenos attacked us first and unlike Earth game, they aren't exactly helpless. And I don't think there's enough of us to actually drive something to extinction. Leave comments and
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Jul 20, 2023 20:06
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Don't join hunting expeditions. Let us not do what Rhett and Vace are doing.
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Jul 20, 2023 20:44
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Nomi has grown bigger, but I'd imagine they're either on hormone suppressors or just don't have the sex hormones in the first place so they're not filling out in the ways you'd expect a young man or woman to. I think either you missed the panel with the poem or it didn't load properly? I'd say join the expeditions I suspect we're not going to be able to see the Swamps if we don't.
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Jul 20, 2023 20:56
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Do not join. We have plenty of monsters right here within our walls, no need to hunt for more.
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Jul 20, 2023 21:22
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Tenebrais posted:Nomi has grown bigger, but I'd imagine they're either on hormone suppressors or just don't have the sex hormones in the first place so they're not filling out in the ways you'd expect a young man or woman to. I'd imagine that Nomi's just petite and dresses androgynously anyway. Though to be honest, the whole second wave crew feel pretty half-baked in my opinion. Anyway, don't go hunting.
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Jul 20, 2023 21:26
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No way!
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Jul 20, 2023 22:14
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Let's not go. Did I miss what our character model looks like now? Marz has gotten pretty. Is that a comment on confident people growing up to be beautiful?
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Jul 20, 2023 22:26
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Tenebrais posted:
Yeah, sorry, here it is  painedforever posted:
Either I'm blind or there's no way to actually see our character model (other than miniature) ingame. Here's art with grownup player character from ending we are probably not going to see (it's from another playthrough). 
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Jul 21, 2023 10:44
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The poem is "Pioneers! O pioneers!" by Walt Whitman. So yeah, very much rah rah colonize the "untamed land". I have to say, that for all I like a lot of the game's themes and presentation thereof, I'm not that big of a fan of the way it presents and discusses it's central thesis. Especially when it comes to the way the game uses the concept of "invasive species". It's a concept that's inherently tied to humans' conception of the preferred state of their environment; many definitions of the term explicitly name "economic harm" or "harm to human health" as a factor. In some cases the label can be given to a native, non-introduced species due to changes in how it interacts with the rest of the ecosystem. In the absence of a sentient's determination of an "ideal" state of any given ecosystem, it's a meaningless concept - but the game seemingly treats it as being objective and independent from a sentient's value set, which is mostly masked by the fact that the colonists can be described as literally invading the planet, muddling the confusing metaphors even further. Meanwhile, culling the population of dangerous species in the colony's vicinity is an arguably reasonable way to be proactive about the colony's protection until a better solution is found. They will be killed by the colony's protectors come Glow anyway, and whittling their numbers down beforehand could be the difference between being able to maintain colony's walls and getting trampled. Unless, of course, you're Cal, who seems to think the morally correct choice is to let the stampede in and roll over? After all, if the colony did nothing to deserve elimination, it would not be under attack. We also know there's a dormant(?) cloning vats system that can produce artificial organisms in unknown numbers, and that the wildlife is somehow externally driven to attack the colony, which complicates the question of how applicable any and all comparisons to interactions with "pristine" ecosystems are.
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Jul 22, 2023 17:55
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When we meet Sym for the first, there is a line that we did not get to see due to Clarity's visions/metaprogression mechanics getting in the way: "I am a Gardener. And you are trespassing on my planet."
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Jul 22, 2023 18:32
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That's the issue right there - Sym hasn't told the rest of the colonists they're trespassing, or even tried to talk to the colony. If Sym is from a wildly advanced civilization, why is he not talking to the sapient creatures? Or are we beneath him? If he can grow giant vat monsters ad infinitum to squash the colony, what about offering a different planet that doesn't have a Gardener on it, and transporting through the wormhole? Hell, Sym could even set up a preserve area in a different part of the Garden (planet). Or are we that uninteresting a species? Sym is arguably the most irresponsible and awful "adult"/character we've met, so far, given the amount of power they have and how they are using it.
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Jul 24, 2023 02:52
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I think you should join hunting to show Vace the error of his ways. And it might help answer the above question.
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Jul 24, 2023 11:33
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Hello again! "it's not all killing, it's also making it easier for us to kill them".  Oh, hi there, nice to meet you, why are you running so...   Who? I didn't see anyone Maybe it's you imagining things, huh?   Yes, because annual invasions aren't "great degree of chaos" at all. Also we do react well to surprises, we do not react well to literally destroying our colony and killing us.  Are you kidding me?    ...okay, FINE! I feel like I'm going to regret this, but fine.  "wow, you are stupid enough to do it without question" vibes here.   Uh-huh. So we get you the data and you MAYBE answer our questions. Great.   More exploring.   You run your hands across the panel, looking for a way to turn it on. Your hands encounter a slot. Upon futher inspection, it seems to match one of the artifacts you've picked up in your surveying. You slot the glowing pick device into the slot.    Game handwaving how Clarity is able to do years of linguistic work here in few minutes.   Nothing really exciting this time, we just did some archeology and agreed to steal some data for someone who might or might not destroy us later.   I wonder if we can talk to Dys about our quest.  Apparently not.   Oh.  Fun fact - until this moment I've never noticed that these two big things on hopeyes head aren't their ears, but second pair of eyes.   Traps loving suck.  Uh, Dys, usually I agree with you, but most living things will do anything to avoid death. And, unlike Earth poachers and hunters, we actually hunt to survive, not for fun. On the other hand... this is kind of foreshadowing.  Please don't go full Cal on me, Dys. While I'm fully for integration with nature and against colonialism, the problem is that this planet is actively fighting against us despite us basically sitting in our single colony and barely interfering until recent Rhett&Vace hunting initiative. And, unlike European colonizers, we can't just leave.  Fair enough.   I'm not sure I want to know what do you mean by "let me go" but... okay? I promise. Thank you, Clarity.   YES. Dys... I feel the same way  What I really like about romances in Exocolonist is that, at least in Dys and Tangent case, most of initiative is on their side. It's so much better than Bioware "collect enough approval points to unlock sex scene", it's not just us making them love us, it's them coming to terms with their own feelings.  Oh my god, you are planning another escape attempt, don't you. At least take me with you this time.   I wonder if Tang is wearing some kind of uniform or she just want to dress like Instance.   It still beats living your entire life on spaceship or radioactive wasteland. I kind of like it, honestly Yuck. You can have it. What big project?  Somehow Lum's idea of changing everything to the better does not fill me with optimism.  Humanity? What are you cooking there, cure for cancer? Wait, we already have it. What's really going on with you? Happy to help a friend!  Okay, so here's where I realized I hosed up. I knew that stealing data for Sym is a bad idea, but I knew it is a separate option in Engineering, so I thought I can just agree and then ignore it.  But appearently no matter what I choose (I clicked "tutor children"), Clarity is still proceeding with data theft.   I have no idea whether it is a bug or Clarity just don't want to lie to Sym.   Whoops.  Did we unlocked "summarily executed for data espionage" ending?  No, appearently Congruence just pretend to believe us.  See? We even got "victory" screen for this month's job! Why is "steal data" a separate option if you have to do this anyway?   Our first Reasoning perk.  We did what we could in Ridge, but I remember there was a Convergent Domain lab in Valley. Remember, the place where they cooked Shimmer and where we almost died?  Oh poo poo, Utopia finally managed to catch Sym! Holy gently caress, what if Sym tells her about us stealing data, we are screwed.  Or they are just standing next to each other because of two unrelated events. I've got the data you asked for I knew it! I dreamed about it last night in my vat In your what now? Nevermind, let me have the data drive.Don't you "nevermind" me, you promised to answer my questions! Yes, but answer the question first! What? I specifically mentioned FEW QUESTIONS and you agreed, you lying gently caress. Anyway, I think we all know which question is the most important. Do Gardeners want to hurt us? Guys, I'm afraid we made a big mistake.   Whatever.   Hey, that alien dude in black you were chasing last month?   You know he was standing right next to you, miss Get Your Eyes Looked At?   Whoa, a manticore!   I really wish there was "leave them alone" option here.  All options were bad, but interrupting natural order is slightly less wrong than betting on animal fights.  Okay, now what?   It's either very stupid or very brave. Probably both.  We definitely had more luck than brains here. Let's go home.   This time there's no data to steal, we can safely do our job   Or not?   Perhaps we can find out what's the Lum's great, humanity changing project is?  Unfortunately we aren't smart enough to hack the poo poo out of it.  Let's see those experiments then.  While I am fully against animal experimentation, I am NOT releasing xenos in a middle of Vertumna  What the gently caress?  what the gently caress?  This doesn't sound ominous at all.  Now we know why Helio is here. They never cared about Vertumna Group or leaving Earth, they were just after Congruence.    So we can choose either Gardeners and what's basically planet's immune system trying to kill us or colonialism, genocide and complete destruction of planetary ecosystem a.k.a. "Earth 2.0" Great.
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Aug 1, 2023 20:32
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I was going to say, "Oooo, plot twist," but it's par for the course really. We all saw this coming, right?
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Aug 1, 2023 20:47
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painedforever posted:We all saw this coming, right? Yup. Only question in my mind is whether you have to pick one or the other or if there's a peaceful resolution.
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Aug 1, 2023 20:51
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Tang, we need to talk. Now.
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Aug 2, 2023 00:24
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Well, we already reached
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Aug 2, 2023 01:07
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The first option here has some interesting and mutually beneficial outcomes, even if you are not planning to romance Tang. Perhaps especially if you are not.
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Aug 7, 2023 16:28
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Whoever made tang's overworld sprite was unwise, i have to double-check that tang didn't just decide to go full naked every time i see it, the colors just blend in too much when the supporting detail is lacking.
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Aug 8, 2023 09:27
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Regallion posted:Whoever made tang's overworld sprite was unwise, i have to double-check that tang didn't just decide to go full naked every time i see it, the colors just blend in too much when the supporting detail is lacking.
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Aug 21, 2023 15:34
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It's honestly mostly the matter of shading that's the culprit, a cooler palette would make the white of their uniform look less skin-tone (or using a much starker white as a base)
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Aug 22, 2023 01:00
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I'm not dead. I'm sure it's a misunderstanding and Tangent had no idea how destructive her project is. Right? She's smart, she has to realize that it is incredibly bad idea. I know about engineered plague  I don't think there's no other way than, you know, destroying entire planetary ecosystem. Not to mention one small problem - we already know that Earth plants grow poorly here, how the gently caress we are supposed to survive after you kill everything that lives on Vertumna, plants included?  Both are preferable over "architect of greatest genocide in human history". This is a terrible idea What would you know. You are just another ignorant ape grunting "fire bad" without realizing you are looking at the future of humanity So yeah, Tang went fully into "mad scientist" mode.  Let's talk to someone sane this time.   That sounds cool! Thanks! I got the idea from the second Turbogirl Hyperjet OVA, you know, the one where the Medusa Demons show up and the aliens and the Turbogirls have to band together to defeat their common enemy? I remember that part!Oh! That reminds me... so... I'm trying to brush up on my xeno anatomy, and I'm totally fine with writing, but... I kinda haven't been here long enough to make sure it feels right, you know? To make it go POP! And I want to make sure I'm being, you know, sensitive about stuff I don't know a lot aboutIs it just me, or it sounds like they are doing research for xeno hentai? So, I was wondering, could you help me with some of the worldbuilding? I'd love to! Make love not war. Or make Faceless/Manticore yaoi not genocide.  Don't worry, we remember. I bet Vace didn't.   And logs for our favourite furry.   Wow, he's really into his dog fursona, isn't he.   I really wish Helio kids storylines were more developed.   That's cute. <3 Every time there are two characters of different gender (or homosexual characters of the same gender) who aren't in romantic relationship is a little step away from amatonormativity  I'm not sure if Nomi try to tell us they are aromantic or just that they aren't dating at this moment. I wish it was former, because aromantic representation is even scarcer than asexual.   Vace is an rear end in a top hat, more news at 11PM  Yeah, I am your friend! Group hug! It's been a while since we last talked with Cal   Oh no, it's not so easy to persuade young men into army without "we'll pay your student debt" argument, isn't it?  On the other hand, even we have to admit that yes, they are actually protecting the colony, whether we like their other... activities or not.   He aren't wrong here, tho.  Rhett. If you really wanted to convince Cal, why the gently caress did you brought Vace with you?  Nice.   We already know what Cal thinks about army defending the colony, so there's no point asking that. I wish they would leave you alone Me too... They have a real messed up idea of what it means to serve the colony. Like, who do they think grows their food? Ghosts? I dunno, man, I'm just a farmer. But even I know there's gotta be better way than this! There has to be a way to live in harmony with nature! They attacked us first. I've said it before, but I'll repeat - I see his point, we are definitely an intruders and colonizers, but there is one little problem with both Cal and Dys arguments. We cannot go back home. For all we know, we cannot join the native people, like Roanoke colonists, nor negotiate with them. No one except Clarity and Dys know about Sym, and even his intentions aren't clear. As far as Vertumna colonists know, peaceful coexistence isn't really possible and Cal himself admits that he has no idea how to solve this conflict.  Yeah, she's definitely got into some bad company, right?   Clarity surely does not mince words here.  Luckily Dys trusts us enought to believe us. I'm not joking, Dys!The tone of your voice makes Dys pause  Wait... you are serious? That's what they are working on in here?You nod and give Dys a quick summary of what you've learned and how. By the end, he's gone so pale he almost looks green. I don't want to believe it. But if what you're saying is true... it'll kill everything, won't it? Not just animals, either... the fungal pathways are integral to all life on Vertumna. Tang has no idea, does she? She thinks she's so smart, but she's always been to proud to get out there and dig around in the dirt to see what's really going onDys looks like he's about to be sick If they release the virus, it'll be the end of everything. Even the Gardeners. I don't like the sound of that. What are you going to do? Just let me deal with this, Clarity. Thanks for telling me.Please don't make me regret this.   Goddamit, Dys.   goddamit   Desperate times, desperate measures, I guess? At least nobody died.  Not in explosion, I mean.   Luckily, it seems that Tang didn't connected the dots. Or she does suspect us, but has no proof? We'll see.   Engineering looks unharmed, on the other hand, we have access only to Engineering and Robotics parts, not medicine wing and Instance labs. Perhaps we just can't see destroyed parts.  We need a walk.  Well, look who's here!   We are senior surveyors now!   I bet Utopia already miss Dys.   oh hai there.  Your boss is that flower? Hah, no! Of course not. That flower is my great aunt.You are not sure whether he's joking this time. My boss, hmm... as I told you, they aren't fond of change. They're also very much like your boss, ah, what's she named... Utopia? Her name-word is fitting, isn't it? I appreciate that she always reminds you not to get yourself killed. I wish you'd listen to her. She gave me a job to do And I have my job. Which is to protect this place. Protecting you seems to be my hobby. If the boss finds out I'm talking to you, I'd be in trouble. So shhhhh. Then why keep talking to me?Sym smiles Because you are the girl of my dreams. Literally. I can't seem to stay away from you....thanks? And because... you humans are different. I'm so bored of everyone else on this planet. The other Garderens... my boss... they have everything on Vertumna just the way they like it, and don't want the teeniest thing to change. It's boring. See that tree?Sym points to a large tree with many long limbs dripping from it That tree was a small creature for part of its lifecycle. You call it the Vriki. Once it plants its roots, that's where it stays for the rest of its life.I like "Speaker of the Dead" too, devs.   Okay, so it's A Form You Are Comfortable With or, in that case, A Form You Find Hot. I'll say!  And I really hoped for some answers now.   Nomi's first day on the job doesn't look good.   aw poo poo!    We save them just like Dys saved us. It comes with promotion to senior surveyor apparently.      That was underwhelming. Let's go home.   "United" is... certainly a way to describe it.   Manifest Destiny all over again. Notice how he straightforward uses the word "eradicated". Not "contained", not "pushed back". Eradicated.  I'm sorry, the what now?  At this point Vertumnalia are part of our culture... the part established before Helios. Of course Lum wants to get rid of it.   Not only he goes full Warhammer 40k with his "humanity first" and "eradcate xenos", he also just paraphrased Fourteen Words. Nice.   I totally missed that Lum isn't really much older than us. Also Marz would make nice governor, I guess.   Ah yes, trivia. I love it.  Sorry Tang, I don't think there's "Best Way To Commit Genocide" category.   ...oh.  Welp, perhaps we will win next tim... oh wait.   Let's get back to work.
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Sep 21, 2023 21:28
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Goddamnit, Dys. Goddamnit, Tang. We are so hosed.
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Sep 21, 2023 22:17
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Something's bound to collapse this colony's house of cards, eventually. We'll see if Clarity sticks around for it.
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Sep 21, 2023 22:38
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wow! i've never seen that particular outcome! oh dear
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Sep 21, 2023 22:44
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