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Episode 6: Part 16: Rhue's Credit History.
Fleshwit fucked around with this message at 08:33 on Apr 12, 2020 |
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Jun 28, 2019 02:22
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Rhue is taking all of these developments surprisingly well, both given his situation and given his personality. Lol that we just bought a shiny new house in a blasted out town. EDIT: Actually speaking of which, we have yet to meet Lyrra, right? If we are inside of Rhue's sword, she should be around here as well. Seraphic Neoman fucked around with this message at 02:35 on Jun 28, 2019 |
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Jun 28, 2019 02:32
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Right, and when I went to see if we could talk to Jed again, he wasn't home.
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Jun 28, 2019 02:44
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It's hard to comment on any of this because it's all so weird and obviously an unreal, wish fulfillment fantasy world, but with no actual answers in sight until presumably the very end of the game.
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Jun 28, 2019 03:49
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We've actually gotten some pretty big hints from some of these sidequests and the last sidequest I do will drop a pretty big one on our heads, but no straight out answers until we go and speak to the Red Headed Woman about Shadow Swords, no.
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Jun 28, 2019 04:33
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Episode 6: Part 17: The Charlatans of Justice.
Fleshwit fucked around with this message at 08:36 on Apr 12, 2020 |
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Jun 28, 2019 10:26
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Episode 6: Part 18: Homeownership Is Tiring.
Fleshwit fucked around with this message at 08:38 on Apr 12, 2020 |
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Jun 28, 2019 15:39
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Little late but I wanna say I can forgive someone who's lived a basically nomadic life up to now not getting how home ownership works.
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Jun 28, 2019 17:39
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The first five episodes were a necessary prelude for Rhue's Big Stupid Adventure and I'm glad of it.
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Jun 28, 2019 19:16
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Episode 6: Part 19: The Phantom Menace (Low Hanging Fruit Title)
Fleshwit fucked around with this message at 08:50 on Apr 12, 2020 |
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Jun 29, 2019 04:23
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I want to say that when Rhue/Lexus pops up it's supposed to indicate that they are doing a combination attack for large damage.
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Jun 29, 2019 04:55
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Random notes from Lun. There's a bunch of notes from Lun I haven't posted yet due to not really having good timing or they don't fit into an update anywhere. This one is in the Val Parra Cafe, where we could take Lexus or Sorya on a date. I suspect it's about Lexus from Texas: Note: It was a hot day, but we were inside when we met. A complex. A dome dedicated to the memory of brave soldiers. Note: It was a random selection process. How we ended up walking together I have no idea. Note: She told me she liked my shirt. Note: We got along. I liked her. Note: She was a happy girl. Note: But the last time I saw her she was in tears. Note: I could have helped her. Note: But I didn't. Note: Seeing her cry like that, I couldn't think straight. Note: The panacea could have been in my hands in a moment. Note: I'm still upset at myself. Note: Stupid. There's a few notes that indicate Lun was working on scenes out of order. And I don't mean, working on Episode 6 scenes out of order, I mean across the -entire- series out of order. For the dinner date with The Girl at Icabods: Note: Scenario completed December 5, 2002. Basic testing complete. Lun Note: And man does my freaking wrist hurt. For the courtroom: Note: This event was completed on December 6, 2002. Lun. For an area we haven't seen yet: Note: It's a late night, but I'm almost finished. Watched some movies tonight with the neighbor girls. Man, I've got to add enemies to the Forest area after this. I think I'll easily finish before the end of February. Might do some special stuff for Lexus quest. Note: Episode 3 got released just a little while back, been getting about 2 or 3 letters a day. Trying to help everyone who is asking me questions as best I can. Note: I'm still feeling lots of pressure to do something that "matters". Games are considered to be silly and childish by a lot of people around me. Or maybe it's just me. Note: They don't see it the way I do. That's all right. Note: Note: Lun February 9, 2003 The note from the end of the play event I didn't want to post back then due to spoilers: Note: ======= The creation of this part in the game occurred after I had completed the end, the forest, and the barrucha bridge maze. This whole experience was a blur. Note: Halfway through I realized that this part was grand, but really wasn't that much fun. Though I had planned to do a lot of fun things with the Concert hall I'm not so sure I will be able to accomplish them. Note: I plan to complete the Lexus sidequest and have it reach it's climax here. This was a miserable experience to make, and now I'm moving on to the arena. after I fill in the crowd which will be mostly lifeless due to my burned out mind. Note: I've been telling people I will take a break after Episode 3, but I don't know if I will or not. Note: UPDATE Note: I've decided to change my plans for the Lexus part. It will not take place here as I originally planned. Also I left out one note in the last update that I've edited in: PHANTOM: I put it inside a person's heart. Note: His own heart, but also another's. Fleshwit fucked around with this message at 08:50 on Apr 12, 2020 |
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Jun 29, 2019 05:39
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Episode 6: Part 20: One Man, Two Title Defenses.
Fleshwit fucked around with this message at 08:54 on Apr 12, 2020 |
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Jun 29, 2019 13:05
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We became the best Plunger with surprisingly little fanfare. No other details why the other dude wanted to give up his title either.
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Jun 29, 2019 17:15
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A lot of the self-insert metatextual stuff reminds me of a more sincere, less overtly fictionalized version of what The Beginner's Guide was doing. Also I think the weird note in the Phantom's lair is using anagrams? I'm nearly certain "I plot my bash" decodes to "holy baptism" given the other religious elements going on, but I'm not sure about the other 2 lines. The middle line could be "California" but I can't see anything for "ideal riff"
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Jun 30, 2019 01:26
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King of Bleh posted:A lot of the self-insert metatextual stuff reminds me of a more sincere, less overtly fictionalized version of what The Beginner's Guide was doing. Jeramyu's site mentions the California one but nothing for the other two. I suspected someone might have decoded the other two but the forum search on The Way forums doesn't bring anything up for any of the phrases, so I'd have to search manually.
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Jun 30, 2019 02:15
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So, obviously, Kavax is Kava + x. Now, does that mean Exmus is Emus + x? No wonder he was champion, in another life he beat all of Australia.
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Jun 30, 2019 02:50
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Kavax took the idea of adding a letter to your name a little literally and didn't get creative.
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Jun 30, 2019 02:59
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Episode 6: Part 21: Shadow Swords.
Fleshwit fucked around with this message at 09:01 on Apr 12, 2020 |
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Jun 30, 2019 05:53
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One thing that is great about The Way is how it never straight up tells you what dots to connect, but like in the conversation with Traziun's mother, if you remember bits and pieces certain things become obvious and in fact somewhat horrifying.
Tallgeese fucked around with this message at 06:08 on Jun 30, 2019 |
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Jun 30, 2019 06:02
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Tallgeese posted:One thing that is great about The Way is how it never straight up tells you what dots to connect, but like in the conversation with Traziun's mother, if you remember bits and pieces certain things become obvious and in fact somewhat horrifying. Right. There's one fact about Shadow Swords that uh... contradicts a part of a story that has been core to this whole journey. And might confirm a suspicion some people might have recently developed.
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Jun 30, 2019 06:06
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What's great about the suspicion you mentioned is that you would only have it before now if you studiously examined objects throughout the series. Whereas if you did not, you would only now start to think something is up. (Who's gonna take a stab at what we are talking about?) Tallgeese fucked around with this message at 06:18 on Jun 30, 2019 |
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Jun 30, 2019 06:10
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Sure. The main new bit of info here is that shadow sword behave suspicously similarly to Rhue's sword, and after a certain point you snap and go crazy. Also they make you immortal. So one possibility is that Rhue has had the sword for a very, very long time and has been in "crazy" mode for the entire duration of the series, with the Rhue identity just being based on absorbing Lyrra's brother back in Landorin and taking all his memories. This makes some sense, but also is confusing in other ways, because the symptoms as described don't really match what we've seen from Rhue. He's not suicidal, and he seems to have at most 2 personalities, not an uncountable multitude. (Also: if he's not Rhue/Jeruh, who is he? Kura? Midian?) Another possibility is that he acquired the sword originally in Landorin, and Episode 6 was the snapping point, where only now he's crazy, but the "Rhue" identity really was his original identity. Hanging out in the City of My Victims is how we're experiencing his madness. That's hard to assess because it's pretty clear nothing in this episode has been "real" in the same sense as the first 5. edit after re-reading more closely. King of Bleh fucked around with this message at 09:38 on Jun 30, 2019 |
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Jun 30, 2019 09:24
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Someone has pointed out that Rhue's name has all the letters in Jeruh earlier. That guy being involved is pretty much a freebie. Tallgeese fucked around with this message at 09:37 on Jun 30, 2019 |
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Jun 30, 2019 09:28
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That all aside, I just did the Pits and I recorded the hardest boss in the game and the first alternate ending as a video. I'll only be covering a couple parts of the alternate ending in screenshots, mostly cos of some Lun notes and screenshots from another scene all together. Otherwise its a 15 minute video, about ten minutes of it being me nearly losing my first attempt at the boss. Don't think we're so near to the normal ending and the second alternate ending though. You get the first alternate ending a fair bit before those. We have a whole bunch of other story stuff to go through. The first alt ending... The Reaches ending, is my favourite though. It's... the weird one. Anyway, so, right after the Pits update goes up, there'll be a second, smaller bonus update with the Reaches ending and my notes on it.
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Jun 30, 2019 11:48
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Episode 6: Part 22: Mining Out The Truth.
Fleshwit fucked around with this message at 09:05 on Apr 12, 2020 |
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Jun 30, 2019 17:43
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Bonus Ending Update: The Reaches Ending.
Fleshwit fucked around with this message at 09:18 on Apr 12, 2020 |
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Jun 30, 2019 18:38
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holy moley what an ending.
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Jun 30, 2019 19:59
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This game is deep and deeply weird, and it has become extremely my jam I dig it, and I dig the hell out of this Let's Play. Thanks for it! I hope the other endings are as much of a bona fide trip as this one is  Out of curiosity, have you ever played and/or heard of the RPGMaker games Middens and Gingiva? I can't get them to work on my laptop nowadays, but I thought those were also kind of rad. (I could have sworn I heard that the person behind those was working on a new game, but I don't exactly keep my fingers on the pulse of the RPGMaker community)
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Jul 1, 2019 02:19
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I don't know how to fully parse that ending either narratively or thematically, but "holy moley" indeed. The "walk with me" segment and then the one after it seems as close as you could get to expressing a thesis for the game. I think it's suggesting, and this is even kind of subversive from within the context of a cliched JRPG setting, that the grand quests and tragic destinies etc are all just lovely window dressing that gets in the way of people connecting with each other. That's a pretty novel punchline to put in a game like this. What actually digetically happened to the characters we didn't know to already be dead seems less clear, that one final shot of the bloodstain is annoying opaque in that regard.
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Jul 1, 2019 02:31
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SatansOnion posted:Out of curiosity, have you ever played and/or heard of the RPGMaker games Middens and Gingiva? I can't get them to work on my laptop nowadays, but I thought those were also kind of rad. (I could have sworn I heard that the person behind those was working on a new game, but I don't exactly keep my fingers on the pulse of the RPGMaker community) I've heard of Middens but never played it. I did hear about some alleged... but very serious issues with the creator though. https://clowdergate.tumblr.com/ King of Bleh posted:I don't know how to fully parse that ending either narratively or thematically, but "holy moley" indeed. The "walk with me" segment and then the one after it seems as close as you could get to expressing a thesis for the game. I think it's suggesting, and this is even kind of subversive from within the context of a cliched JRPG setting, that the grand quests and tragic destinies etc are all just lovely window dressing that gets in the way of people connecting with each other. That's a pretty novel punchline to put in a game like this. I think you're spot on actually, and about something I hadn't even fully realised myself. This was something I only touched on very slightly way back in Episode 3, and even said later that I kept meaning to write on it and never did but, do you remember the Episode 3 scene right after saving Scatha from the volcano, she starts ranting at Rhue about how he obviously thinks he's a big macho hero and all that? I said back then that I thought she was right, and I still do. Rhue changes a lot after that, and gets progressively darker and nastier, but there's no doubt he sees himself as on this big heroic quest to save a girl he hasn't seen in a decade or something. Even his telling of the Landorin Massacre reeks of... typical beginning to a heroes journey. A happy life is stolen from Rhue. He somehow survives under mysterious circumstances. He gets a sword from two mysterious men. He himself even states that he feels like there was a lot more going on that night, and that if he ever came to fully understand it, he'd find Serena. He uses his search for Serena not just as an excuse to do what he thinks needs to be done but an excuse to just keep moving on. He never addresses things like what happens if he finds Serena and she's... what? What if she's been living on the streets of Estrana? Rhue sweeps in to give her a better life? What if she's happily married? What if she resents him for not saving her? What if, what if what if? Does he expect her to drop everything and be with him? ... The first scene where Traziun and Rhue really begin to bond is when Rhue tells Traziun of the Landorin Massacre and his quest to find Serena. (interesting point to note that Traziun seems really interested in Rhue's Sword, Phantom Slasher, at this point of the story). Lexus' and Rhues most intimate feeling scene in Episode 4 is the one where Rhue tells her what Serena was like as well. Otherwise Rhue is very tight-lipped about Serena for a man supposedly desperately searching for her. He only mentions his search for her to someone if provoked (Scatha), deranged and on the verge of being killed by them (Slade), or if he thinks 100% they know something or even are her. (Cetsa). It's his special, personal quest that he keeps close to his heart. I think the only exception is the very first scene of Episode 1, and even there it sounds like he was being really vague, since I think that scenes the justification for the opening monologue.
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Jul 1, 2019 03:03
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...in that case it's just as well those games don't work for me anymore, because he's right off my list now  thanks for the information, despite its depressing nature e: on the bright side, at least I never gave him money
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Jul 1, 2019 03:36
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King of Bleh posted:I don't know how to fully parse that ending either narratively or thematically, but "holy moley" indeed. The "walk with me" segment and then the one after it seems as close as you could get to expressing a thesis for the game. I think it's suggesting, and this is even kind of subversive from within the context of a cliched JRPG setting, that the grand quests and tragic destinies etc are all just lovely window dressing that gets in the way of people connecting with each other. That's a pretty novel punchline to put in a game like this. That seems right. Pretty much everything about Tetzel is like this. Speaking of Pontifex Maximus Tetzel, who killed Eyashu: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Tetzel Something is rotten in the Guided. Probably. (Also, I point out that Gharon's strongest attack is End of The Way.) Tallgeese fucked around with this message at 04:05 on Jul 1, 2019 |
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Jul 1, 2019 04:01
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This game is really good. I'm not a fan of the gameplay or the art but... This game is really really good otherwise. That ending, gently caress.
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Jul 1, 2019 04:52
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Episode 6: Part 23: The Key.
Fleshwit fucked around with this message at 09:26 on Apr 12, 2020 |
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Jul 1, 2019 19:57
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I feel like a dunce for not being able to follow a lot of what's going on but... some random thoughts. EDIT: Whoops, an update went up as I was typing, let's see how wrong I was.  -Phantom Slasher isn't just the name given to a serial killer that is certainly Rhue's alter-ego, it's the name of Rhue's sword, and that sword is probably a Shadow Blade. -The Shadow Blades all started out as Illuminati, magic swords created to kill the devil, but ended up being corrupted in the completion of this task. -At the very least, Rhue's Shadow Blade has a kind of "pocket universe" for the souls/auras it absorbs. Do they all? Are the original wielders of the swords "stuck" in or residing there somehow? Is that what the Phantom Slasher (as a shadowy person) is? -Episode 6 is Rhue, or whoever the current wielder of the Phantom Slasher is, descending into madness as the bonds between aura and body unravel. The pocket universe contains not just stuff relevant to Rhue's journey, but the history of the sword going back to the battle with the Lord Below. Do all the people who wield these swords have a similar end point, getting absorbed into the sword-world? -The part of the ending where Rhue meets and rejects various potential love interests shortly before Phantom Slasher kills them tells me that something is going on with this Shadow Sword that is unusual, or maybe notable. My theory is that Rhue might be an identity based on a real person, but is functionally just an "interface" for pursuing the agenda of whatever is really in control of Phantom Slasher, who is possibly the same as the "Phantom Slasher" shadowy individual. This entity is too hosed up to interact with people so it needs a persona that wants to keep moving through the world to accomplish its goals: Rhue, on a quest to find his childhood sweetheart. But the persona is so "detailed" that it grows a mind of its own and could derail itself. Hence, Phantom Slasher killing all the love interests. If they didn't die, they very well could divert Rhue from continuing the "mission." That's what the business with buying a house in Episode 6 is meant to show, that potential for Rhue to give up on Serena and live a normal life. But Phantom Slasher has other ideas. (Edit: This goes pretty well with the idea that the message is that "grand quests and tragic destinies etc are all just lovely window dressing that gets in the way of people connecting with each other.") -What does Phantom Slasher want? Based on the final interaction, it's some kind of infernal entity that hates humanity. Maybe the same as the guy, "Venge?" who went up from the pits to avenge the Lord Below. The Rhue persona wants to believe in people and have a normal life, but it's just a tool for some kind of demonic incursion? -At the end of Episode 5, for some reason Gaius wanted to help Rhue self-actualize as an independent person rather than an elaborate fake identity/vessel for a demon haunting a sword. Perhaps he was in a similar situation to Rhue, maybe even a former "face" persona for a Shadow Blade, but managed to somehow gain his own independent existence? (Hard to account for his presence in the ending if so, though...) GunnerJ fucked around with this message at 20:13 on Jul 1, 2019 |
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Jul 1, 2019 20:00
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You're pretty close on some things even with some incorrect assumptions mixed in there. However there's some stuff that's flatout wrong. You're not the first person to say this one, and I can understand why this is an easy mistake to make, but the idea of The Phantom Slasher being an alternate personality of Rhue is wrong. It -is- the sword. And it seems capable of manifesting itself in a humanoid form separate from Rhue. (Though I believe it... wields itself for a blade.) The idea that its using Rhue as a vessel for its goals is spot on. The idea of the Illuminati being the Shadow Swords is definitely what is strongly implied thus far too. Though they actually weren't successful in killing the Lord Below. He's still very much alive, as we know Sacrifa was trying to contact him in person. About Venge... He was only avenging the Lord Below's scarring in Sacrifa's version of the story. I'd guess thats the story as most people know it (or Sacrifa is lying...?) ... Like the story of Janwen being an ancient city destroyed by The Purpose for being an abomination. The poem Kleunwrade wrote about Venge implied he was the one who scarred The Lord Below, and then he sought safety in the Middle Way. I guess its up to you which version you believe. And Gaius is 'merely' a Blood Lyn specially trained by Kalmar to be his perfect instrument of justice. If he's ever had a shadow sword, we don't know about it, but I highly doubt it. I suspect Kalmar might have experimented on/tested him with Ghost Horror though, but as we wound up seeing, Kalmar still had Ghost Horror right up until he died. I wont go into the rest of the things in this post but boy howdy, not exactly looking forward to writing up the huge post(s) detailing all the things that took not just me, but many other people, many playthroughs over the years to piece together. And those people still made a bunch of mistakes (in my opinion), like the Slade thing, and a couple other things.
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Jul 1, 2019 20:48
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Fleshwit posted:You're not the first person to say this one, and I can understand why this is an easy mistake to make, but the idea of The Phantom Slasher being an alternate personality of Rhue is wrong. Eh, should have made clear that this is more what it looked like at first. By the time I finished writing my post I had settled into "sword as a mind and persona of its own" as how I understand things. quote:And Gaius is 'merely' a Blood Lyn specially trained by Kalmar to be his perfect instrument of justice. If he's ever had a shadow sword, we don't know about it, but I highly doubt it. I suspect Kalmar might have experimented on/tested him with Ghost Horror though, but as we wound up seeing, Kalmar still had Ghost Horror right up until he died. The reason I figured he might be something more is because he compares himself to Rhue in terms of "not being exactly human" or something, but I guess getting hosed with in magic experiments could do that too. Somehow I got the feeling he was implying some greater degree of "kinship" with Rhue though... Guess I'll find out.
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Jul 1, 2019 20:58
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What makes you think the Illuminati are the Shadow Swords, out of curiosity?
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Jul 1, 2019 22:25
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I'm gonna be honest, if that was the ending I got after 6 goddamned episodes, I'd be annoyed as all hell. After the endless parades of distractions and finding straw for holes in buckets we find out that Serena is dead. I actually called this earlier because that would have been perfectly in line with the rest of Rhue's story thus far. I didn't wanna post about it cause I didn't wanna be bagging on this story super hard and I was promised episode 6 to get weird so I held my tongue. I'm gonna be honest, I don't think Lun can write tragedy within the framework of a game, and I think Lun recognizes that in himself too. Lun's quests felt like he ran out of ideas. Remember the endless parade of quest lines we had to do in ep 5 that ultimately resulted in us accomplishing absolutely nothing? That's what this ending was, that Lun just ran out of ideas on how to put more obstacles before Rhue and his increasingly-unattainable goal. Of course the final punchline would be that Serena is dead. Of course it is. If you look at it from that perspective, it's obvious. I also find the navel-gazing dubious because while the game waxes about the nature of human relationships it's kind of lost considering we're a guy who might be possessed by an evil sword and might not even be his own person. EDIT: maybe I'll hold off my judgement for when we see the other endings. Seraphic Neoman fucked around with this message at 00:52 on Jul 2, 2019 |
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Jul 2, 2019 00:29
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