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Thoughts as I read the update: Honestly in a game that is this tame and sexless when it comes to the relationship aspect I'm not even that bothered by the fact that Jordan had to go in just a towel, it's not like anything would come of it. In a better written game, this would be the result of a crew that lives in close proximity and is used to minimal privacy, and therefore not really bothered by seeing each other in various states of undress. But here it's probably just another failed comedy bit. The alternate universe stuff is probably the biggest wasted potential, as the ones that ARE plot relevant are probably the most interesting parts of the game. In particular, meeting Kimiko's mom--and getting killed by her in an attempt to prevent the spread of dimension hopping--is a high point that seems pretty dang important. Given the name of the game, I'm beginning to suspect the "true" ending involves somehow preventing the pocketwatch(es) from ever getting used in the first place, probably by ensuring we're never born or some such nonsense. I will charitably assume that the dream sequences are showing content/routes that were cut from the game (maybe at one point the actual games changed on the different routes, or between the male and female leads). I will then uncharitably say that they probably should've made those work instead of giving us the cookie-cutter routes we got. Presumably whenever we get a "everyone was mysteriously killed" ending it's the other Kimiko at work. If it weren't for the fact that in one of them Dai is clearly unaware of there being a second Kimiko, I'd suggest maybe the conflict between needing to protect Kimiko and expel the outsider is causing the whole deletion game thing. That would've been a good twist. I'm guessing the "good" ending variations only change a couple lines and there's a single CG that just changes out which character you're with.
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Oct 27, 2022 19:39
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Part Three: The (Non-True) Endings It's time to start seeing some of these endings we've just kind of been driving past for the past few months, and also time to see if there will be any kind of resolution or, well, anything interesting at all.  Before we start getting to them, though, I'm going to go through what the process of inputting the override code is actually about, as well as show off what happens leading into the first ending we'll be seeing.  As we know, the code is five words long, and the words we have been given are 'ad astra per aspera'- this might have been more of a mystery if Dai's theme track wasn't LITERALLY NAMED THAT. That said, the actual passcode is the phrase translated into English: 'through hardships to the stars'. Which means yes, indeed, if you immediately pick up on that, you can just immediately get only the good endings and not even see any of the bad endings- good thing there wasn't really any plot vital stuff down those paths, huh?  As one last gently caress you, the game does not let you type the passcode in. You are forced to manually click each letter. I know for a fact it is possible to allow the player to input text in the engine they used to make this game (I've literally coded in it myself), so I think they just didn't bother looking up how to do it, since it's the kind of code that's readily available.    After correctly inputting the override code, the power goes out in the server room for a moment, before booting back up and beginning the override process for the AI. ...Basically, by resetting Ai to her default, factory state- like how she was at the very start of the Everett mission- we will be deleting any trace of the Dai program in the process, as it was something that was added post-launch.  Unfortunately, the cost for doing this is also erasing all of Ai's developed personality code- she's functionally going to have to redevelop as a person as a result of our actions. This is a sacrifice she knew she was making, at least, which is why she seems dejected when leaving Jordan alone in the server room. Now I hear you already raising a question- 'Hey, how does Jordan know the whole code if they only get to this code input by not using the watch, therefore ensuring they never would come into contact with any of the jump timelines where they get words to the code'? And that's a very good question! ...The game is not going to answer this question. Don't worry about it.   Kimiko comes running in, having been alerted that something has happened in the server room. Jordan explains that s/he formatted Ai, having been given only one chance to make use of it. Understanding the situation already, Kimiko addresses Ai, gives her a “new” name designation, and requests Ai compile a full status report and submit it to her later.  She then turns to us and thanks us for solving the Dai situation, even if the collateral- Ai's personality- had to be lost to do so. We then either have Jordan leave to seek out, or be interrupted by, whatever love interest the route you are on is tied to, and here is where we will break it down person by person. We're going to be going through these endings in the same order of love interests we hit during the course of this LP, which means, unfortunately, we're going to be starting with Yoshiki YOSHIKI Female Jordan  Kimiko can tell Jordan is anxious to inform Yoshiki, and gives her leave to do just that. Yoshiki is still in his quarters, struggling to cheer himself up before the Deletion Game. Jordan tries to tell Yoshiki that the Deletion Game is over, permanently, but he misinterprets this as her confessing to having cheated so the two of them win by default, which results in Jordan saying the best thing to date in this game:  Took long enough.In any case, she explains that she reformatted Ai so Dai is no more, which means the mission will continue without any other surprises. Overjoyed, Yoshiki pulls Jordan into a massive hug, expressing his gratitude that she saved the crew members who were left. Feeling the infectious happiness filling the room...  ...Jordan feels that the time is right to vocalize feelings she, apparently, has been feeling for a while, even if the narration didn't even remotely indicate it before now. Unfortunately, because Yoshiki is permanently stuck in the mentality of a twelve year old, he does not understand what she is confessing to, even when she says she 'wants to be besties who get naked together' (THE GAME'S WORDS, NOT MINE.  ). She has to mention “making babies” for him to even understand what she is talking about. ...To which he promptly rejects her, because oops, he's not into women. Womp womp. So, I mentioned it before going into this LP, but the love interests in this game have set orientations- it's not a case of 'everyone is bisexual for lore reasons' or anything like that, you straight up can get rejected here if the person you pursued is incompatible. ...Though, whether you are compatible or not does not in any way change the length of these endings. One month later...  Jordan and Yoshiki are stargazing in a corner of the Eco Lounge. They are reminiscing on how, only a month ago, they were still fighting for their lives. Yoshiki eventually breaks the silence to apologize to Jordan, as he's had enough time to process things to realize that he basically broke Jordan's heart by rejecting her, even if it's not personal. Jordan accepts the apology but says she's already moved past it, because she's just happy to have him in her life as a best friend no matter what. Yoshiki jokes about how this just means they can be the best wingmen for each other, and Jordan accepts that role, despite there literally only being like 5 other living people in their lives right now.  [Good Ending – Yoshiki (F)]Male Jordan  Yoshiki comes running into the Server Room, having seen that the two of them were in there after the lights flickered across the ship. When the two ask him (confusedly) why he's so frantic, he confesses that Dai told him earlier to be careful about the two of them being left alone, believing that the two of them would end up attempting to kill each other if they thought it necessary to protect him. Once again, when they try to explain to Yoshiki that the Deletion Game is over, he misinterprets it as them having cheated to ensure their victory, and Kimiko asks Jordan to fill him in while she leaves to go make sure Ai is still up to speed in light of her reprogramming.  While relieved that the deaths have ended, Yoshiki does also express a little remorse in that they weren't able to find a way of dealing with the problem without destroying Dai altogether. Yoshiki quietly asks if Jordan thinks he's silly for wishing Dai could have been saved, but Jordan shuts him up by telling Yoshiki that his kindness was the reason he loves Yoshiki most of all.  And we get the most convoluted hug/kiss position I think I've ever seen in a dating sim in a long time for our troubles. Two years later...  Yoshiki finds Jordan to let him know the good news- the two of them have been cleared to have a son. Yoshiki mentions that even though he'd wanted a daughter, there have already been several born already so their offspring will be lab-birthed to guarantee the sex. The two agree to not have the process be controlled in any other way, so that their child can otherwise be left up to fate, and agree to name their son Hankyu, affirming that their greatest goal will be to be the best fathers their future child could ever ask for. [Love End - Yoshiki (M)] SHIZUKA Female Jordan  Shizuka comes running into the Server Room, having noticed something was changed/meddled with without her knowledge. (Kind of odd that if Shizuka was responsible for server maintenance that we literally never visited this location while spending time with her, but hey.) Kimiko tells Jordan to fill Shizuka in on what she did, and leaves. Jordan explains that she reformatted Ai, and once it sinks in what this means for the crew, Shizuka is elated. Sensing that emotions are high, Jordan decides to shoot her shot...  ...and is rejected by Shizuka, who apologizes for not reciprocating, but states that she has no intention of ruining their friendship over it. Before Jordan can really put into words how crushed she feels, Shizuka has already ran off, intending to set up the console for another round of video games. One month later...  Hey, that's, like, a real-rear end PS4, right? Can they just use that? I mean I doubt Sony cares, but like, there's gotta be some rules about use of real-rear end consoles, right? Anyway, Shizuka is continuing to try and coach Jordan into getting as good at her favorite game as she is. While Jordan watches the same cutscene she's seen countless times play out, she tenatively asks Shizuka if she's afraid of being alone. Mission protocol states that they have until the age of 30 to find a natural partner, and if they do not then they will simply become single parents, raising their own offspring by themselves. Shizuka says that she wants to raise their children together, but explicitly shuts Jordan down by stating it will be 'as a couple of best friends'. Not realizing the discomfort Jordan is in, she pushes on to say that they could even share Quarters as “partners” (non-romantically) to make it easier, and also so Shizuka can play games with Jordan easier. Shizuka runs off, not letting Jordan get an edge in, and as she stares at the television Jordan muses that things could be worse, and living as a family unit despite there being no romantic connection isn't the worst outcome. Despite still being in love with her, Jordan will settle for being by her side, even if her feelings are never reciprocated. [Good Ending – Shizuka (F)] Male Jordan  Shizuka storms into the Server Room, confused at why she's suddenly lost access to all of the ship's terminals. Kimiko states that Jordan will explain what is going on, and leaves. When Jordan explains that he reformatted Ai, Shizuka flies into a rage, screaming about how Jordan functionally just murdered Ai. However, when Jordan counters with the fact that Dai was hit by it too, she grows quiet, clearly embarrassed by her emotional outburst. She tries to crack a joke about 'all that's left is to kiss the princess and live happily ever after', but Jordan responds that he's not looking for a princess...  ...but a player two. (Also, restraint on the game to not throw ANOTHER panty shot in here, ick.) Seven years later...  Jordan and Shizuka are married.  And had a kid already! Unfortunately, he takes after his mother, so neither of them do any work and leave Jordan to clean up after them. When Jordan tries to explain to their son that Kimiko should be respected as the captain and likens it to “the final boss”, all he succeeds in doing is convincing Shizuka that her true calling in life is to overthrow Kimiko, and both her and their son run out of the room to begin preparing, ignoring their piling up work even more. That's it. That's the ending. [Love Ending – Shizuka (M)] KATASHI Female Jordan  After dismissing Ai, Jordan notes her hunger and suggests to Kimiko that they announce the end of the Deletion Game over breakfast, when everyone is gathered together. Kimiko likes the sound of that, and leaves to go let the rest of the crew know about their communal breakfast. Jordan decides to begin making her way to the Kitchen in the meantime.  On her way there, however, she runs into Katashi, who has been nervously hurrying in the direction of her Quarters. He says that unless she's the vampire, he believes it's time to honor their pact, and use the watch to escape, and gets more and more agitated as Jordan attempts to tell him that the Deletion Game is over, believing her to be sacrificing herself to save him. When it sinks in that their life will return to normal, Jordan's mood drops, realizing that while she's saved those that are left, she wasn't fast enough to save those they had lost- Sora, Vladimir, and Yoshiki. However, Katashi lifts her chin and tells her that it's time for his actions to speak louder than words...  ...and they are loud, indeed. Nine months later...  ...Jordan is already pregnant with their first child. After some teasing about how he needs to keep preparing food to make sure their child is born healthy, Katashi expresses his desire to help Jordan take care of her hair, as fatigue and the general pregnancy experience has made it hard in recent weeks for her to fully wash and brush it as much as she'd like. Jordan finds the experience incredibly intimate- in a good way- and states that this is only the beginning of her 'happily forever'. [Love End – Katashi (F)] Male Jordan  Katashi has come to the Server Room, noting that the Kitchen terminals were no longer working. He saw Kimiko and Jordan were in the Server Room, and assumed that whatever had happened was due to something they had done. Kimiko says that she'll leave Jordan to explain, as she needs to go touch base with Ai and make sure that everything aboard the ship is booted up properly.  Jordan teasingly tells Katashi that he is the vampire, but that they 'aren't a team for the game anymore', leading Katashi to get jealous- believing Jordan has partnered with someone else, Jordan hastily explains that he functionally killed Dai, and that the Deletion Game has ended- permanently. Therefore, while they no longer need to partner for a death game...  ...a different kind of partnering is still on the table. 5 years later...  Katashi and Jordan are married. Also, insanely funny detail of just putting one of his sprites over the picture frame in this background- incredibly out of place. The two already have two children, a boy named Randall and a girl named Janice. As Jordan helps Katashi prepare breakfast for the day, the two discuss that the two twins are almost too much to handle when trying to teach them together. Jordan suggests the divide and conquer model- since they work in different areas of the ship's crew, they should split the two up and teach one of them each half of their partnership. Though the two bicker over which child would be better being taught by Jordan, it is clear that no matter their decision the two will continue to be great fathers for their children. [Love End – Katashi] NIKOLAS Female Jordan  After dismissing Ai, Jordan is firm that her next course of action, now that danger has passed, is to confess to the person she's fallen for. Kimiko is taken a little aback by how sudden this is, but quickly changes to impressed once she's processed. She wishes Jordan the best of luck, and jokes that if Jordan is rejected, their prison cells don't see much use and have gotten lonely.  She finds Nikolas in the Rec Room, playing at the piano. Upon sitting down next to him, he indicates what keys she should press so they can duet together. Jordan attempts to tell him about the Deletion Game, but he asks she not bring it up yet, as he wants to enjoy what may be one of his last moments alive, and that having her there with him makes the moment as perfect as he could hope for. Jordan, however, tells him straight that the games are done, and apologizes that it took her this long to solve- Katashi, Sora, and Yoshiki all died in the process, not to mention their father. Nikolas rejects her apology, stating that she saved many others, and that he believes that they should be grateful for every moment they have, and ensure to live without regrets so they can make the most of those moments. He apologizes in turn for not living by those words, sooner, and that he intends to make up for lost time. The two continue to play the piano together, and Jordan confesses her love for Nikolas...    ...and it is happily reciprocated. 8 years later...  Nikolas and Jordan are married, with one son. The son in question has attempted to make Jordan breakfast, as today is her birthday... attempted being the operative word. He, like Nikolas, has completely failed to glean any ability to cook whatsoever. Jordan manages to choke down the food her husband and son have prepared for her, and looks forward to yet another peaceful day with the ones she loves. [Love Ending – Nikolas (F)] Male Jordan  For whatever reason only on this ending does Jordan have the foresight to go 'hey what's the actual end goal of our mission', so hey, we know that there's an actual planet the ship is traveling towards! Believe it or not, it's actually a real planet, though it's obviously not proven to be habitable as far as real life goes. Jordan backhandedly asks whether it's acceptable to be gay aboard the ship (for procreation concerns) and, smirking the whole time, Kimiko says that they are welcoming of all relationships, but still expect that any couple aboard the ship be willing to rear children, naturally or not.  Jordan takes this to heart and decides to go confess to Nikolas, who is in the Medical Bay already. Nikolas is incredibly excited to hear the news, grabbing Jordan's shoulders with excitement. Jordan takes this as a positive sign and confesses, but...  ...womp womp, Nikolas is heterosexual- while he has a great deal of respect for Jordan and views their friendship as incredibly important, that's all he feels. And, not only that, with the Deletion Game, he's determined to act on some feelings of his own... One month later.  ...Nikolas confessed his love to, of all people, Kimiko. Which Beatrix, of course, took as a betrayal, due to her own complicated emotions regarding the Captain. Jordan wishes the two of them the best while continuing to play a game of chess with Nikolas, but Nikolas picks up on the sigh in his speech and acknowledges that Jordan is still hoping to fall in love with someone else. Nikolas implies he may have determined someone else to be a suitable partner for Jordan, but the route ends with who he has chosen left a mystery... even though he explicitly uses the pronoun he, and both Vladimir and Yoshiki are dead in this timeline, so it's... not actually a mystery at all. [Good End – Nikolas (M)]BEATRIX Female Jordan  The lights shutting off briefly startled Beatrix, and upon being unable to call Ai to ask what happened, Beatrix rushed to wherever Jordan was- which was the Server Room. Kimiko hastily excuses herself and leaves. Beatrix is dejected upon hearing that Ai has been reset, stating that Ai was there when she was born and has been there with the entire surviving crew for the entirety of their lives, and losing those memories means losing that connection to the rest of the crew. She is significantly more positive upon learning that the result is that Dai is gone for good, and because Ai is still there, they only lost the history- they can still form the habits and develop a relationship with her once again. And speaking of developing a relationship...  Beatrix is, naturally, the one to make the first move. 5 years later...  Beatrix and Jordan are married, and have just recently had a daughter together, also named Beatrix. (Beatrix, the daughter, is not shown here, because she is still a baby and that would require extra art to devote to showing off this baby this one time.) That's it! Just 'they are together, have a baby, and are happy, route over'. [Love Ending – Beatrix (F)] Male Jordan  Beatrix bursts into the room to determine what has happened, but upon seeing Kimiko there cools off rapidly. Kimiko, just as cold, hastily excuses herself and leaves the two alone. Jordan explains everything regarding Ai's memory loss and Dai's deletion. Beatrix gives Jordan a hug upon learning the Deletion Game is finished, but before she can leave to go inform the rest of the crew as well, Jordan stops her.  Beatrix rejecting Jordan here is one of the biggest plot twists in this game, at least unless you're really good at picking up that the way she treats male and female Jordan is different, albeit kinda subtly. The difference between being generally flirty and pointedly flirty, I guess. Also yes, this means that the reason that Beatrix and Nikolas don't try to kill female Jordan is because both of them are into her, which is not the case for male Jordan. But yeah, Beatrix is only into girls- “they bat for the same team”, as she puts it.One month later...  Ironically, Beatrix rejecting Jordan was the thing that ended up bringing them close together as friends, to the point that they're arguably closer to being “besties” than Yoshiki ever was. This Jordan mentions that his options for love are pretty limited, but Beatrix counters by asking him if he's already given up on the pocket watch, saying that with Dai out of the picture he has as much time as he could ever need to get it working again. [Good End- Beatrix (M)]Next summary, we begin our path down the final, True routes of the game- the Kimiko Routes. 
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Nov 8, 2022 18:22
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Lmfao those kiss angles rule so much, I cracked up multiple times. I do at least appreciate that not everyone is Conveniently Bisexual at least!
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Nov 8, 2022 18:35
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At first I thought the convenience of how Dai is dealt with and Kimiko going "k thanks" was bad. Then I saw how the endings literally only have difference in whether you get a ridiculously uncomfortable kiss CG. And then I saw the kid sprites and died. Somebody clean up the gene pool! Oh, and selling the game as having dating sim elements with character endings, and then locking the true end on a specific character? Creme de la creme. Can't top that bad decision.
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Nov 8, 2022 18:41
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GiantRockFromSpace posted:At first I thought the convenience of how Dai is dealt with and Kimiko going "k thanks" was bad. Then I saw how the endings literally only have difference in whether you get a ridiculously uncomfortable kiss CG. And then I saw the kid sprites and died. Somebody clean up the gene pool! I feel like that's pretty common, actually, for dating sims. Also: Shizuka's kid is a palette swap of Nikolas's kid  Beatrix isn't bi as hell
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Nov 8, 2022 18:44
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Question: So there's no ending where Jordan gets to make out with themselves?
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Nov 8, 2022 19:39
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I am choosing to not answer that question at this time. 
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Nov 8, 2022 19:51
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I knew turning the death game genre into a dating sim meant they really had to contort things, but this is ridiculous
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Nov 8, 2022 21:07
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Oof, those were foreshadowed terribly. Also, RIP to players who romanced Shizuka, yikes.
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Nov 8, 2022 21:20
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Those children look absolutely horrifying. Gotta love the game just going "Nope!" for some of the romance paths though, that sounds like half the players would find it hilarious, and the other half would rage at it.
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Nov 8, 2022 21:43
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I'm pretty sure I said it earlier, but it's really funny how this VN retroactively made me think higher of Sweet Fuse, because at least that VN balances the dating sim/romance stuff with the death game stuff better even if it also has a lot of nothing and some of the romance is, uh, Sure Something I think there's an LP of it in the archives if people are interested
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Nov 8, 2022 22:00
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as I recall I also spent half of that LP nitpicking the game structure and brainstorming ways to fix it because i'm like that  But at least SOME of the routes worked okay.
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Nov 8, 2022 22:14
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Leraika posted:I feel like that's pretty common, actually, for dating sims. Certainly for VNs I've done, whether they're technically dating sims or not. Muv Luv, for example, lets you pursue any of several girls in the cast, but only two characters are actual True choices. It's a lot more obvious there though.
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Nov 9, 2022 01:42
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Mix. posted:I am choosing to not answer that question at this time. I honestly feel like the best trick would've been to make that part of the true end (don't spoil if it is.) Figuring out the code SHOULD have involved multiple Jordans somehow passing messages to eachother through their doomed timelines. It would've fit the branching narrative structure and made the whole clue gathering make sense. Basically, just rip of 999 slightly. That game managed to make it work.
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Nov 9, 2022 02:25
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Jordan's kids are smug-looking as gently caress. By the way, there's no hint that the game wants the English translation of the code other than "it's five words"?
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Nov 9, 2022 03:29
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that being said the true route shouldn't have been Kimiko, it should have been other!Jordan tbh
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Nov 9, 2022 05:17
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Leraika posted:that being said the true route shouldn't have been Kimiko, it should have been other!Jordan tbh galaxy brain take: what if Kimiko is a Jordan from another timeline
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Nov 9, 2022 07:10
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Separate uppercase and lowercase keyboards for the (apparently) not-case sensitive password is on point for this game
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Nov 9, 2022 08:16
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So really, how stupid do you expect the explanations for all of this to end up being?
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Nov 9, 2022 08:20
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Foxfire_ posted:Separate uppercase and lowercase keyboards for the (apparently) not-case sensitive password is on point for this game not even getting into the fact that the general translation for ad astra per aspera uses the word 'hardship', not 'hardships', so if you google what it translates to the game will tell you you got it wrong and boot you over to the bad ending path. 
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Nov 9, 2022 08:25
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That is somehow both more and less work put into each ending than I thought. If you're going to make a separate CG for each, maybe put a little effort into the background so it's not just kissing in a plain hallway? Also very few of the endings even care about everything that happened, and no one cares about why it happened, but the crew being completed uninterested in figuring out their own situation is par for the course at this point. Also, it's sort of weird that they chose the non-love routes to involve Jordan getting rejected. Who you end up with isn't a matter of choice since it seems to based on the outcome of the deletion games, and even then none of those are very clear without looking it up or trial and error. It just feels like they're trying to make fun of the player for going for a romantic ending with someone who isn't interested, but there's not really any indication of what their sexuality is beforehand, or even if Jordan is supposed to be growing feelings or not. It feels weirdly punishing, especially when a lot of the "platonic" endings are "and then Jordan hung around them for the rest of their life because it was the next best thing" rather than getting over it and moving on. But then again at this point I'd be surprised if this game could write any of these relationships with grace. So, seeing as the Kimiko routes will presumably have some plot reveals, I want to go over what we know going into them: --Kimiko's mother created Dai as a response to an incident years ago involving a crisis, Jordan's parents and the timeline hopping research they were doing. She ordered the watches destroyed and the parents executed, but they escaped, continued their research and had Jordan. There may be versions of them also doing some dimension hopping. --The stopwatch in question can jump timelines, but apparently can only function near a black hole. It generally takes the user to a parallel timeline at roughly the same time, but this isn't always the case. There are a few cases where it has taken us to other instances of the deletion game happening, leaving the possibility of male and female Jordan meeting. The stopwatch requires another stopwatch present to jump to, however, if the game is clever the bad endings where Jordan gives the stopwatch to someone before being executed could be relevant. (I do not expect the game to be clever at this point.) --Dai was purportedly activated by Jordan's arrival, as the crew would not have enough supplies to support another person. However, the deletion game continues even after a death, leaving this rationale suspect. In fact, in no timeline we've seen does it run a course to a natural ending; everything gets derailed during vampire children, or Jordan jumps timelines. Dai's purpose is apparently to protect Kimiko, and she shuts down if Kimiko dies. As there's no result we've seen where Kimiko loses the game, Dai may be cheating to ensure she doesn't. --There is another Kimiko on board in at least one of the timelines (I can't be bothered to go look up which); they kill Jordan in a vent in one ending, and presumably kill the entire crew BUT Jordan in a different one. Neither Dai nor Ai seem aware of them, which is odd given they are supposedly monitoring the whole ship at all times. Here's the biggest issue I see going into the final routes: the deletion game makes no goddamn sense. It's stated purpose is as a fair way to decide who lives and dies if there's a resource crisis. If we accept Kimiko's mother went off the deep end as a result of the one she faced in her time, then sure, make a homicidal AI that enjoys killing as a way to decide who dies. Why not. But again, the "resource crisis" seems fake--the game continues after deaths that should by all means ensure there's enough resources, so we have to assume that it's an excuse and it's true purpose is something else. But if that's the case, why a death game? Any purpose involving, say, destroying the watch, killing Jordan and their parents, stopping incursions from other timelines, etc., seems like it would be hampered by, say, killing off a bunch of the crew, not to mention putting Kimiko at risk when Ai and Dai are supposed to be protecting her. And we have been given no reason to think Dai went "rogue" somehow; as far as we've seen, she's acting entirely in the capacity she was programmed to, including shutting down when she has failed. So we have to assume the deletion game was part of the programming, or at least "randomly kill off crew" was, but again, that seems to go against any motive hinted at thus far. tl;dr: the deletion game seems to be completely arbitrary to the actual plot of the game ZCKaiser fucked around with this message at 15:46 on Nov 9, 2022 |
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Nov 9, 2022 15:15
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I've been reading this LP over like two weeks and up until a few pages ago I was thinking how boring this game was. I'm glad you went with the spite filled summary format for updates because it's really been the shot in the arm this game needs. What a waste of potential this game is.
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Nov 11, 2022 22:16
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The next updates are gonna be next week, I recently got a new job and adjusting my schedule to suddenly having a 9 to 5 has meant I've had to put most stuff on the side while I get adjusted. There's enough left that I believe there will be at least three more summary updates' worth
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Nov 24, 2022 23:45
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congrats  and how the gently caress is there that much game left
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Nov 25, 2022 03:10
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Part Four: The Kimiko Routes (Female Side) content warning: discussion of suicide Okay let's get this show on the road. The final routes in this game, the “True” routes, are, like the title suggests, the routes where we romance Kimiko. It's not that unheard of for a specific route to be the “True” route in dating sims, but generally the love interest for that one is either someone who has pretty much obviously been the designated “endgame” route, or a completely separate person who seemed like they weren't even a love interest option until the reveal; this game is neither of those. Anyway, we're starting with female Jordan. So,, the outcomes that lead to this branch are Vladimir dying during Logiship, and then Beatrix dying during Bidding Wars. Sorry, Nikolas and Melody, your loved ones are canonically dead for this Jordan! We didn't see the execution for Beatrix, obviously, but I think it will surprise no one to learn that it is, ONCE AGAIN, an execution we have already seen- Beatrix dies via self-injected poison. The only difference this time is that she does it in the Medical Bay in front of her brother, rather than in the Kitchen. No illustration as a result, womp womp. The next morning, we're woken up by Yoshiki, who says that the Captain wants to enjoy breakfast together as a group. He says that it's a rare occasion (in that Kimiko herself is the one preparing breakfast) and that even if her cooking is only 'meh', the fact it almost never happens should be enough to get Jordan to come. However, upon arriving, it's quickly revealed that it's just Kimiko, Yoshiki, and Jordan having breakfast together.  There is honestly very little substance to this scene besides the revelation that Kimiko's favorite breakfast meal is pancakes with literal raw-rear end sugar just dumped on it  Anyway, it's really obvious that the reason that the captain invited Jordan is because this is the timeline where her 'crush' switch has been flipped, because she is weirdly and suddenly all blushy and bashful and awkward, but before anything can progress on that front Dai shows up, offended that they didn't invite her to breakfast.Yoshiki nearly reveals that the ship has hard light capabilities to Dai, but is thankfully cut off by Kimiko smacking him upside the head, which also distracts Dai enough she forgets what he was talking about because she's too excited by violence and everyone aboard this ship has the attention span of a small dog. Anyway, its Vampire Children yet again, woooooah.  Jordan has a wacky dream about robots, but the music glitched and kept playing the somber captain theme so any attempt at humor this scene was trying to go for was shattered.  Anyway, Kimiko comes to get us herself for this route's chat with her about the black hole.  Interestingly enough, this time around we don't get the unique dialogue til AFTER the stock conversation about the black hole. And, for once, the questions are all interesting or at the very least something we didn't already know- it only took us how long to get here? The first question we can ask is what Kimiko would like to do if she hadn't been born to be Captain- just as a thought exercise, if they weren't on the Everett, they're either on Earth or the new planet already, she doesn't have to lead, she can do literally anything she wants and she'll be allowed to do it. Kimiko takes a while to think, as the idea of being anything else has never come to her before, because of how ingrained the idea of her as Captain has been since she was a small child- but her final answer is that she would want to be a musician- possibly a vocalist, or learn to play the bass guitar. Fun, but not lore relevant otherwise.  The second question we can ask is what her father was like. Kimiko talks about how he died when she was ten- he committed suicide, out of a lingering guilt at what happened with her mother (the incident that resulted in Jordan's parents leaving the Everett). She was raised by the Vogels' father until she was capable of taking full control of the ship- she was still the acting captain, but he was the one to actually carry out tasks for her and assist her when she couldn't do something alone. We also learn here that Kimiko's last name, Yukimori, is actually a combination of her parents' last names- her father was Moriyama, and her mother was Yukimura. This is apparently not an Everett thing, but an Earth thing in general- we also get a date drop, stating that the year this game takes place in is 21117.  The third question, understandably, is about Kimiko's mother. She says that the thing she remembers about her mother was how cold she was- she was always concerned about the mission above all else, her highest priority, but this kind of focus resulted in Kimiko feeling like her existence was nothing more than an order that her mother carried out without any personal interest in it. Despite the lack of affection, Kimiko still feels grateful to her for her care and how she was raised, even if it was cut short due to the incident.  Jordan leaves the Bridge after their conversation, deciding to immediately start on work for the day rather than considering going back to bed- another change from the norm, for once. We're given the choice of which to prioritize, but this is legitimately a false choice, as if we choose Dai we get an optional scene first.  Specifically, talking aloud about how we need to figure out how to deal with Dai summons her, and the two have a conversation in the hallway. Dai is honestly thrilled that Jordan actually wants to find a way to end her, but she stops that line of thinking completely, stating that 'there is no way that anyone on this ship will ever have the required permission to access the data required to shut her down'. Presumably this is meant to deter anyone who is on this route prematurely, since you have to have the deactivation code to actually get to the true endings, but again, the game really doesn't ever in-story explain how Jordan is meant to know the code once we the player do.  In any case, whether you talk to Dai or not, Jordan ends up in the Lab looking over her parents' work once again. Kimiko eventually swings by, and offers to distract Jordan for the evening with a picnic date in the Eco Lounge.  That said, this choice isn't the same as it is for most of the other routes- specifically, if you say you should stay and keep working, Kimiko just smirks and orders you to take a break- CAPTAIN'S orders. She's the only one on the ship who can do that and actually back it up- it's a false choice once again.  That said, picnic aside, Kimiko has an ulterior motive for asking Jordan to spend time with her. Specifically, with the looming threat of death the following morning, and an ever dwindling crew...  ...the confession happens before any route defining choices ever happen. Kimiko is the only love interest to actually take initiative before Dai is dealt with. Jordan, of course, reciprocates happily.  ...And the two end up spending a night in Kimiko's quarters together.  The next morning, Jordan wakes to find herself alone- but is not particularly concerned about this, considering who Kimiko is. She checks the time and considers going back to sleep to try to fix her sleep schedules a bit more, but notices the lit pocket watch on the bedside table. We've reached the choice of whether to push the button or not. This time... we're going to do something different, too. We're not going to push the button yet. Instead, Jordan will go to the Bridge to ask the captain what she thinks the best course of action would be.  Kimiko says that she agrees with Jordan's decision to hold off, and the two make an agreement that unless things go particularly south they should continue to not consider the pocket watch an option, due to how unknown everything is. They make the decision together, as a couple, and if it ends up not working, then hey, at least they can die happy knowing their feelings were reciprocated. Kimiko orders Jordan to go back to her quarters and get some more rest, so that she can be operating at best capacity when the Game begins in a few hours.  Dai ends up waking Jordan, having gone to her quarters only to find it empty. Upon being pressed on why she's there, Jordan confesses that she and Kimiko are an item now, to Dai's glee- she congratulates Jordan on having the guts to go for the Captain and says that she approves of their relationship. She also confirms that Jordan is not the vampire this time around. I wonder who it could be?  Sorry, these routes don't buck ALL the trends. Anyway, since Jordan and Kimiko already agreed that they would partner up if either was the vampire (and use the watch as a last-ditch option if they lose), they re-affirm their desire to work together and turn everyone into a vampire (not really considering the fact that that will, uh, still kill someone I'm pretty sure. Sucks to be them!) Kimiko says she still has work unfinished on the Bridge, and gives Jordan permission to use her private shower in the meantime.  As she finishes getting dressed post-shower, she notices something in the other room. Thinking Kimiko has returned, she leaves to greet her.  Uh oh. Jordan is not put off by how different she looks, thinking that it's just Kimiko having returned to shower herself and prepare for the Game. However, this line of thinking is quickly shattered when Kimiko, to I'm sure everyone's surprise, pulls out a knife and shanks her in the gut with it. She then goes and hides in the bathroom, just in time for our Kimiko to walk in and see Jordan bleeding to death on her quarters' floor. Oh no! Dai also shows up after Kimiko tries to contact Nikolas in an effort to save Jordan, but seems to be legitimately taken aback by what's happened. She believes Kimiko to be the one who stabbed Jordan, because, and I quote, 'I don't sense anyone in the vicinity of your room right now except for you, Captain'. Either way, Dai agrees to get Nikolas coming as fast as he can, because she's pissed she might lose one of her own contestants to a death that she didn't have a hand in.  Yeah.... about that. I could be nitpicky here and point out that the other Kimiko would have had to teleport to get behind our Kimiko because she was hiding in the bathroom which is implied to be across the room from the bed, but who cares? [Bad Ending – Kimiko (F)]When I said these routes were a little bit different, I meant it- choosing to not jump as female Jordan locks you into the Bad Ending by default. No way out of it. That's why I said we would hold off on jumping earlier- we're going to do that now.  Don't ask why we're in our quarters when we jumped from Kimiko's room, weirder things have happened by now. Jordan checks the clock on the wall upon waking up to find it's around 10:30am- she's seemingly been unconscious for several hours rather than immediately waking up. She also immediately realizes that the pocket watch is not in her hands anymore, but thankfully it's sitting on the side table next to the bed where she can grab and pocket it. With this, Jordan books it for the Dining Hall- thinking that she's going to be punished for being late to the Deletion Game.  Before she even arrives, she hears Dai's raised voice, seemingly arguing with...  ...Kimiko. Who seems to have already lost the Deletion Game. Worried about what she missed, Jordan bursts into the Dining Room, yelling about what she missed. The rest of the crew are there, including- -a very much alive Beatrix, who seems confused to see Jordan, especially looking like she does. Before Jordan can process what's going on, her eyes settle on one particular crew member...  You know, I'm actually a little surprised nobody ever asked me how I got multiple expression portraits for our protagonist if they're never on-screen. But, well, mystery solved, I guess! The two take a moment to process the fact that there are two of them in the same room, before coming to the same realization at the exact same time- the pocket watch worked! This Jordan never saw the watch light up, which is why it was still in their bedroom when our Jordan woke up. The two immediately begin celebrating, but are interrupted by Dai...  ...who, admittedly, is pretty chill about the whole 'second version of one of her crew mates' thing. Honestly, I'm a little surprised she's not thrilled to have more warm bodies to keep the Deletion Game going for longer- really feels like a missed opportunity. This Jordan explains that he and Kimiko were the vampires, but they failed to create enough babies to win the game. This should mean that Kimiko is up for execution along with Jordan, but...  Very funny line, all things considered. Anyway, Dai refuses to execute Kimiko alongside Jordan, even though Kimiko refuses to back down from her punishment (and also refuses to leave her lover to die alone- the two are an item in this timeline, too, it would seem). Our Jordan thinks back over the rules and repeats the Bonnie and Clyde scenario, that the two officially partnered and thus should both officially die if they can't win the game together as a team. Dai, for the first time in this game, seems genuinely flustered at the fact people aren't backing down on this point, and gets even more upset when both Jordans pull out their personal tablet devices to play back the Vampire Children rules video.  If it wasn't obvious before, it should be now- Dai is willing to break her own rules only when Kimiko would be the loser of the game. Dai begins preparations for this Jordan's execution, functionally blowing past the captain's complaints and intending to sweep this under the rug as fast as she can.  As this Jordan and this Kimiko embrace and attempt to comfort each other for what comes next, our Jordan finds herself considering her options...  That's right, we have another choice, and obviously this one's an important one! That said, we're going to start with the heartless choice and just stand awkwardly off to the side while the other Jordan is sentenced to death. The wheel is spun, the execution given (offscreen, weirdly enough- this would've been the perfect time for an illustration of our Jordan watching another Jordan die first-hand!), and when the dust settles, it's just Dai, a crushed Kimiko, and our Jordan left in the Dining Hall.Kimiko continues pleading for Dai to kill her, too, and Dai eventually sighs and begins to speak quietly.   Dai reveals the truth, no jokes, no smiles, just deadpan explanation. When Kimiko's mother first created her, she was given two core directives that she cannot override or ignore no matter how much she may want to. The first is to ensure that the mission is a success through any means necessary.  The second is to ensure that Kimiko lives, through any means necessary, up to and including breaking the first directive if necessary. Therefore, logistically speaking, if you look at it from a different angle... Dai can drat the whole mission in any way she sees fit, so long as Kimiko is alive and well at the end.  She did legitimately surface when Jordan first came aboard, because it did pass the threshold of food production and they functionally no longer had sufficient resources to maintain the current head count for the mission indefinitely. However, upon running the specifics and determining a plan of action, Dai also realized that the ship and its mission would still be functional with only a skeleton crew left- and that it also statistically increased the odds of Kimiko living out a full life with less people to consume resources altogether.  Kimiko's mother gave a directive to ensure that her daughter would live no matter what, and in the process damned pretty much everyone else aboard the ship in the process without even realizing it, due to the fact that she created an AI capable of disabling its own empathy module at will. Whoops!  Kimiko stays silent for a long, long pause, before slowly turning to Jordan and asking if the pocket watch is still working. Jordan confirms that it is and hands it over to Kimiko so she may examine it herself. Dai is also fascinated by the watch, somehow having never noticed it until now in this timeline.   Kimiko exits the Dining Hall immediately and, on the other side, seems to have come to a realization. Dai will not kill Kimiko, no matter what... but in turn has no issues with Kimiko killing others, either- and will even kill for her, if she asks. She orders Dai to “clean the Dining Room for her” and takes off, pocket watch in hand, a manic grin on her face. I'm sure that's fine.  Dai is a little bummed out by having to kill BOTH Jordans, since she was actually relieved she would be able to keep one around, but she can't disobey a direct order from the Captain. However, for once, she offers to stay with Jordan as she dies, so Jordan doesn't have to die alone- a small, final comfort. She asks if Jordan will allow her to stay, and Jordan nods, closing her eyes as the chemicals from the Disinfection Cycle begin to break her body down- Dai's quiet humming to herself the last thing she ever hears. [Bad Ending II – Kimiko (F)] We do have one final option to take, though, so let's see what happens if we sacrifice ourselves to save the other Jordan.  This Kimiko is caught offguard by our offer to sacrifice ourselves in her Jordan's place, and she asks Dai if that's even an option. Dai, at as much of a loss as she is as to the protocol for two versions of a crew mate existing at once, says that as far as she's concerned, 'a death's a death, woooo!' and thus agrees to the sacrifice.  Kimiko, upon hearing that our Jordan is with our timeline's version of Kimiko, seems relieved that its a recurring situation, but is interrupted by Dai getting grossed out at the romantic bullshit and stamping her foot about wanting to get to the execution already.  This Jordan thanks us for saving him, and promises to use the time we've given him to solve the problem properly- this Jordan is, in fact, the first shown instance of a Jordan making it out alive past Vampire Children in the entire game! Wow! A new world of possibilities is open before him- shame he's not the POV though, so what lies beyond will remain a mystery Our Jordan accepts her fate with her head held high, proud that she was able to save herself, finding it comforting in a strange way. [Sacrifice Ending – Kimiko (F)]...   hey wait what the fu
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Dec 2, 2022 04:07
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Mix. posted:
Oh, so that's the 'ACCESS DENIED'.
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Dec 2, 2022 06:44
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At least we finally hit a route where the watch does something other that just give you a whacky bad end? And we also learned where Stabby Kimiko comes from, so that's a thing. It looks like the timelines are actually interconnecting in this route, which makes me sad this wasn't done anywhere else. If you're going to have multidimensional highjinks, why waste them on a bunch of jokes and Kickstarter cameos instead of making them part of the story? Jordan gives their watch to other people during several bad ends, why not have them travel around to find a way to save them?
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Dec 2, 2022 07:07
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At last, the Jordans meet! ...and then one of them dies almost immediately after. Well, that's only to be expected in this game.PepperedMoth posted:If Stabby Kimiko really is an alternate-universe Kimiko, maybe we'll see her snatch the watch and disappear during one of the other routes and finally learn why she's so darn stab-happy. Well, there we go. That "She doesn't appreciate you. She doesn't deserve you" bit of dialogue in a previous bad end featuring Stabby Kimiko could very well apply to Dai--with this Kimiko being so angry with Dai that she decides to leap from timeline to timeline, causing Dai to fail at both her directives by killing the other Kimikos and everyone else. Though apparently killing just Kimiko is enough to make Dai give up on the first directive entirely and shut off life support, so if that sort of revenge was her goal, Stabby Kimiko is being an overachiever by stabbing anyone beyond her other-self. Which kind of feels like a plot hole... if you have two directives you can't disobey, and you fail one, why wouldn't you continue working towards the other? It might have been interesting if making Directive 2 (keep Kimiko alive) impossible actually meant that Dai would return to supporting Directive 1 (though I imagine she wouldn't have been terribly happy about it). With the directives as stated, it honestly sounds like killing Kimiko ought to have stopped the death game entirely and saved the lives of the remaining crewmembers. Though I guess one could hand-wave it by having Kimiko's mother tacked Kimiko's survival on as a mandatory criteria for the mission's success (which... kind of raises some questions as to what would happen if Kimiko were to survive long enough to die of old age). I feel like we're also still left with the question of "why kill via these death games instead of just killing at random or at least picking games that would make sense as a way to prove one's usefulness to the ship/the mission/Kimiko's personal survival"? But there's more routes to go.
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Dec 2, 2022 08:50
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Well, I guess on a blind playthrough of the game you might get lucky and choose the Kimiko route on like the 1st or 2nd try and get to the interesting parts quicker and be spared having to see all the other endings which get pretty same-y eventually. Though thanks for being thorough with showing off all of the game's content in the LP and it's understandable how that could lead to burnout.
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Dec 2, 2022 15:34
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That's...not what I was suspecting, but is sort of interesting. Kimiko's mother prioritized Kimiko living longer over the mission, so once active Dai started doing anything and everything to ensure she lived as long as possible, even if it meant sabotaging the mission. Obviously wasn't programmed to consider her mental health, happiness, etc. Kinda bummed that it didn't have anything directly to do with Jordan though, given the revealed history of Kimiko's mother being aware of the pocketwatch and deciding it was a danger. As is par for the course, the reveal of the second Kimiko and the other timeline could have been really interesting but as she only shows up in a couple of bad endings it sort of lacks any real depth to it. Imagine if there were more subtle hints, like characters being a bit confused by Kimiko, as though they weren't expecting to see her somewhere because they just saw her. Or Dai claiming to act on the captain's orders but Kimiko claiming she never gave that order. The reveal of a threat that's been acting behind the scenes the whole time would've been more interesting than "and this is why these two bad endings happened."
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Dec 2, 2022 15:48
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Part Five: The Kimiko Routes (The Middle Part) Okay, well, based on how the last summary ended I guess we'd better hop over to male Jordan and see just what's going on with him. As a reminder, the outcomes that lead to the Kimiko branch on his side are Yoshiki dying in Logiship, then Vladimir dying in Bidding Wars. Man, Melody just can't catch a break, huh? Both her parents die in both sides' “True” paths. That said, Vladimir's execution is actually unique, which legitimately came as a shock to me when I was preparing this summary because I assumed it was just going to be his drinking one again. Anyway, Dai makes Vladimir put vodka into six vials, put poison into one of them, and put all six into one of the centrifuges in the lab. She then spins it for him, and tells him to drink them until he finds the poisoned one. So basically even though it's Russian Roulette he's got no chance of surviving. Jordan notes that the centrifuge slots are numbered, which means Vladimir knows exactly which one has the poison in it- which he takes immediately, to deny Dai any kind of enjoyment. That said, I think they forgot to tell the illustrator that. Ah well. Nikolas takes Melody to leave the Lab so she doesn't have to see them taking his body away, and the rest of the crew disperse from here. Jordan goes back to his quarters and tries to get some rest, but after waking up from a particularly nasty nightmare, he decides to take a quiet bath and see if that will help him ease his mind.  On the way back to his quarters from the Baths, however, he runs into Kimiko. As it's just the two of them, Kimiko lets down her guard a little, and Jordan can tell that Yoshiki's death is still eating at her. She distracts herself by asking Jordan on how his progress with the Dai situation is going.  When Jordan expresses doubt in his ability to follow through, Kimiko reassures him that he's capable of doing it, and talks about how rather than believing in any kind of higher being, she believes that people create their own paths- which sometimes are tied to other people's paths for some unknown purpose. She believes that Jordan will solve the crisis- one way or another- and that once this hardship is overcome, the crew as a whole will be free to continue to travel with no other obstacle before them. With this, Kimiko escorts Jordan back to his quarters, where he quickly falls into a much more steady sleep. Dai wakes Jordan up just in time for the next Deletion Game, which, to nobody's surprise, is Vampire Children. We're almost done with it for good!  Anyway, Kimiko wakes Jordan up the following morning and asks him to get ready and meet her on the Bridge. Upon doing so, though, he sees that Shizuka has also been asked to come to the bridge- Kimiko is killing two birds with one stone and getting the conversation out of the way with both. The conversation is the same as always. After Shizuka leaves to go back to bed, Jordan decides to stay awake, and Kimiko sends him on his way with the promise to check in later and see if any progress has been made.  As usual, no progress has been made. Kimiko tries to cheer Jordan up the best she can, and requests he visit her in her quarters after he finishes cleaning up for the day. Upon arriving there, she invites him to sit on her couch next to her, and she pretty much lays it out directly with him just like she does with female Kimiko on their picnic-  -in more ways than one. For whatever reason, the game gives you the option to reject her advances here, but if you do Jordan wakes up to find himself in the same dead ending we got waaaaaaay early on with Melody and the air tank, so obviously that's a bad idea. When we reciprocate her feelings, Jordan and her spend the night together, same as before.  And Jordan wakes up to find the pocket watch lit up. Unlike last time, though, we are going to be using it immediately- we have one more jump ending to get.  Jordan wakes up in Kimiko's quarters again, which leads him to believe that the watch didn't work after all- at least, until Kimiko enters, bawling her eyes out.    ...So yeah, looks like things went pretty badly for this Kimiko and this Jordan, too. Whoops! Kimiko is furious, thinking this is some kind of sick joke, and immediately calls for Ai to show up and explain what is going on.  Ai is just as confused and upset by our Jordan's appearance. Kimiko disregards her questions and orders Ai to relinquish control to Dai immediately, believing this to be a sick prank that Dai prepared while the Deletion Game was happening.  Dai, of course, is loving the fact that someone actually wants her to be there for once.  She is also pretty much the only one happy to see Jordan there, though even she's at a loss as to what's going on- her scans indicate that even though he has a similar DNA structure, he is a different person from their Jordan. Jordan quickly explains that he traveled there from another dimension, using his version of the pocket watch.   Surprise, there's more than one murderous Kimiko using the watches to try to find a timeline where the Jordan in that timeline is close enough to “theirs” that they can be satisfied! I think this is meant to imply that there are more than even the two we see, and it's just a long-running symptom of Jordan's meddling in timelines, but that'd be too interesting of a plot for this VN to actually do anything with. [Jump Ending – Kimiko (M)]Anyway, let's go back and NOT push the button.  Kimiko is already on the Bridge, as suspected, and Jordan actually gets to see her and Shizuka working to navigate past the black hole directly for the first time in this VN. (And, well, the only time, I guess. ) Shizuka complains that if we're awake on our own, then she should be able to go back to bed and we can finish monitoring the console for her, which Kimiko shuts down immediately. She notices how emotional Jordan is and the two move over to the far side of the Bridge to talk for a moment. Jordan shows her the watch, and asks for counsel on what to do; Kimiko pretty much just smiles and goes 'nope, this is all you, just think about it some more and you'll come to the right decision' and goes back to monitoring the black hole the ship is flying past which, you know? Fair! Jordan goes back to his quarters to ponder it some more.  He's so lost in thought he doesn't even hear Dai's intercom message, and doesn't even notice her come in. She forgives him, though, because she's in a good mood. Anyway, Jordan still isn't the vampire in this side, either, but you all can probably guess who is by now! (Spoilers: it's Kimiko)  Kimiko says she's fine if she dies alongside Jordan, because just the fact the two are together and her feelings are reciprocated has fulfilled her in a way she never knew was possible before- and she wants to live, or die, as one. We are actually given the option of rejecting her here, but, as you can probably guess, refusing to team up is an rear end in a top hat move, and the game makes sure you know it, because Kimiko hastily exits the room, struggling to keep her emotions in check at the apparent fact that her so-called lover has dropped her the second things got dicey.  If we reject her, the game skips forward to the Deletion Game.    Shizuka and Katashi immediately approach Jordan and offer a “three-way breed”, where they offer to both breed with him in Rounds One and Two, to ensure all three survive. You're given a choice, but it doesn't matter which one you choose, really. After picking, Jordan notices that Kimiko and Beatrix walking down the hallway together, and notes that it makes sense she'd pick Beatrix to die, considering their history.  In Round Two, while she was originally going to partner with Beatrix, Melody throws a tantrum and insists she's going to partner with Jordan instead. Nikolas, who has functionally become her guardian in this timeline, begrudgingly accepts after properly determining Jordan to be safe. The two pair up without too much issue.  This means that whoever you didn't pick for Round One has to wait until Round Three, but it all works out in the end, if Jordan's math is right.  Which it would be, right?  ...right?    There were two vampires!   They intentionally made it seem like they were leaving the Dining Hall when Jordan turned around to go with either Shizuka or Katashi, specifically to fool Jordan. Jordan never actually saw them LEAVING the Dining Hall, just walking from that direction. In fact, Beatrix bred with Nikolas in Round One. With a sinking feeling in his stomach, Jordan checks the rankings...  ...and he's in last place with whoever you picked for Round One. When asked what will happen if there's a tie, Dai's response is the following:  Oh hey, our lover who we betrayed gets to pick one of us to die! Uh oh! But this raises a very interesting question- who was the other vampire? Why, it's Melody, who threw such a huge tantrum in Round Two! But that's pretty daring, putting her at risk. ...Right?  See, there's one way that the vampire can guaranteed win, one way that I believe was actually brought up in this very thread- and that's if the entire crew is in on it and works together to gently caress over one specific person that they collectively decide to sacrifice. And wouldn't you know it, we made ourselves public enemy number one by being a piece of poo poo to Kimiko and betraying her.   Even Dai is in on the plan- and she's just as pissed at us as the rest of the crew!     [Bad Ending – Kimiko (M)] ...So yeah let's not be a piece of poo poo to Kimiko, huh?  Jordan and Kimiko agree to do their best to get out of this game alive together, no matter what it takes. She decides to return to her duties and exits Jordan's quarters, while Jordan decides to spend his final hour before the game taking a bath.  But first, one more piece of fanservice, for the road. Why is she washing her hair? Why not? Is it doing anything? No! There's not even real water in the tub!  Anyway, the real reason she's there is because she knows that Jordan and Kimiko are vampires, and she's willing to bend her impartiality a little bit because she wants the two of them to win (which we now know is because she has to make sure that Kimiko survives- which does raise the question why she'd pick Kimiko to be the vampire, but I guess we're just supposed to suspend our disbelief here.) She tries to convince Jordan to intentionally pick Melody in round two as the one they sacrifice to survive, which Jordan very obviously refuses to do because, Jesus Christ, she's a CHILD. Dai gets very surly when Jordan refuses to do so, and storms out of the Baths- and makes her displeasure known by intentionally calling for the Deletion Game early, while Jordan is still showering. Jordan is, thus, the last to arrive.  Jordan and Kimiko, of course, partner up immediately, making Jordan her Clyde. In Round Two, we're given a choice, but it's not really relevant, so I chose Beatrix. The reason for this is in Round Three, Shizuka calls for everyone's attention and accuses Jordan and Kimiko of being the vampires.  And she even did the math to prove it. It's enough to convince the rest of the crew to not breed at all in Round Three, so the game screeches to a halt.  Dai is, of course, not amused by this. Either way, she ushers the crew into the Dining Hall to go over the results.   Hey, this seems familiar. Kimiko IMMEDIATELY realizes what Dai is trying to do and objects, but Dai stubbornly pushes forward, stating that Jordan was the only actual vampire, even if the two were working together. The rest of the crew also pick up on this, which Dai shuts down immediately.     That's right! We're now seeing this same scene from the other side- from the perspective of the male Jordan that our female Jordan counterpart has already visited and experienced! The game just never gave any indication that that male Jordan was OUR male Jordan! The scene begins to play out like it did for the female Jordan- she realizes she's come as we're losing, Kimiko begins to get even more agitated at the fact that even a second, female Jordan knows the rules of the game properly, and Dai begins to squirm- but there's a new wrinkle that we didn't see last time, when this scene played out from the other Jordan's perspective...  A third Jordan.  A Jordan that is not only from another dimension, but is seemingly... from the future. Next update, we learn what sets this Jordan apart from our two protagonists, and finally get some proper answers on how the pocket watches came to be- and maybe, finally, get a real ending to this game???
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Dec 23, 2022 21:36
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Merry Christmas! The last update will be tomorrow, as there's so much bullshit shoved in last minute I figured it'd be better to split it up so you don't have to process EVERYTHING all at once. 
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Dec 23, 2022 21:38
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Mix. posted:Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas, Mix, and thank you as always for your service o7
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Dec 23, 2022 22:06
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lmao I was NOT expecting the third Jordan, that's pretty good.
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Dec 23, 2022 22:44
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Podima posted:lmao I was NOT expecting the third Jordan, that's pretty good. Are there any other Jordans I should know about!?
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Dec 23, 2022 23:56
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GiantRockFromSpace posted:Are there any other Jordans I should know about!? Just the one sitting at the computer playing the game. 
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Dec 24, 2022 00:13
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Man, imagine if more of the bad endings crossed over with each other like those ones early in the update did. What if the whole game's implication was that once you hit the stopwatch point the whole contiuum is just a mess of Jordans and Kimikos chasing each other across dimensions, leaving notes with the clues they've discovered so far so you have a reason to know the shutoff code. Imagine if this game had been written by someone who was good at it
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Dec 24, 2022 01:41
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Part Six: The End As you can obviously gather, despite this being the same scene with the same two Jordans we saw in the previous summary, things are going very differently because of this third Jordan showing up-a Jordan we supposedly HAVEN'T seen before. The game does its best to explain the situation, but it's both kind of insanely complicated but also very obviously rushed in a way that tries to get you to not actually think about how this stuff works, so I've done my best to lay it out in full based on what the game tells us and my own personal knowledge about how the quantum mechanics at play here operate.  This Jordan begins to explain that the pocket watches that have been used across the timelines and the course of this game were actually created by Jordan, not Jordan's parents- and is implied to be thanks to many different timelines' Jordans working to figure out how to accomplish this goal. One Jordan couldn't figure it out, but many Jordans could- and this Jordan is functionally living proof that the multiverse theory is real. This pocket watch is the one constant across all timelines, as all timelines either have a Jordan or have been impacted by a Jordan's interaction (which is why the pocket watch still exists in timelines where Jordan was never born). This is also implied to be why Jordan's parents' notes never explain the specifics of how the watch works, almost as if they're incomplete- because they are. Jordan's parents didn't invent the watch, they themselves were trying to reverse engineer how it works! Therefore, the Jordans that we've been following have been basically on a wild goose chase the whole time- they were looking for information their parents never had in the first place! The watch is a pocket sized quantum computer with the ability to sense and connect to other existing pocket watches. Right now, this timeline's watch is in the possession of the female Jordan, because as you'll recall she found the watch left on the end table and picked it up before she left the quarters she woke up in. The third Jordan explains that the watches “speak” to each other, and are capable of breaking biological forms into raw data and sending that data as a signal to another watch that then reverse the process by reassembling the data into a biological form identical to the one they held previously. He explains that it ties into the genetic research that could occur in the Everett's lab- as we know, Vladimir's scientific field of study is genetics, partly to ensure that no matter what someone on-crew will be capable of ensuring childbirth will avoid complications, and the resulting humans will be able to meet whatever needs the crew might be lacking. However, it's implied that in conjunction with the research Jordan was doing, the Everett's Lab eventually can become capable of breaking the human body and mind down into data- and then, in turn, this technology was implemented in the pocket watch.  We pretty much already put it together, but for the watches to be capable of syncing together, there has to actually BE another watch, and they have to be within a specific distance from a black hole to allow the connection to form in the first place. The human data is transferred in the form of gamma rays, and black holes are required to send the gamma rays through because they're a naturally occurring anomaly that punctures a small hole in the layer between realities, allowing for enough room for that gamma ray to be fired through. Also, to be specific, while anyone who uses the watch seemingly is transported between the two, what is actually happening is that the user's physical form is broken down and only a replication of the data that comprises them is made on the other side- it just so happens that continuation of consciousness occurs, so to the user it simply seems as if they have teleported into a new timeline- even if the physical matter making up their body is different, it's indistinguishable from their perspective.  The reason that whoever uses the watch struggles from nausea and other symptoms is due to exposure to the gamma radiation during the process of being transported through the black hole- even if they're data, not an actual physical human, the radiation still impacts them, though seemingly not in any serious capacity. This is when the third Jordan's tone becomes serious, and he begins to explain that his presence there has created a dimensional branch- and with this, it's time to finally address the literal name of the loving game, the concept of quantum suicide. If you're unfamiliar, the quantum suicide thought experiment is basically an expansion on the initial quantum theories posited in stuff like Schrodinger's cat, in regards to the whole 'the choices you make permanently alter reality and remove any potential for alternate paths once the decision is made'. Quantum suicide, however, leans into the many-worlds interpretation- where when a choice is made, multiple different realities are produced based on each possible outcome from that choice. Specifically, the quantum suicide thought experiment discusses how in order to have a truly unquestionable conclusion, the experimenter themselves has to be the one “inside the box”, as otherwise there is quantum uncertainty and having fixed observers can't get around this paradox. The purpose of this thought experiment is also to break the paradox through unassailable logic- in the Schrodinger's box experiment, it's a 50/50 chance that the person in the box stays alive, but if the multi-world theory is true, then that guarantees that there will always be a timeline where whoever is in the box is still alive, and because of the nature of quantum necessity, reality will seem to “default” to the outcome where the person is still alive in order to maintain a continual conscious experience- either the experimenter, or a version of them, will have to continue to exist through any number of outcomes. In other words, there will always without fail be at least one version of the experimenter that remains alive, thus having achieved “quantum immortality” on account of being the one that never experienced any loss or death, and the theory posits that reality will tend towards prioritizing this outcome from the perspective of the experimenter, as the outcomes where they die instead would not be capable of being perceived the moment the experimenter dies.  Wild stuff, and if you've ever played/read other VNs that get into quantum poo poo, probably not the first time you've ran into these concepts- it's very hard to explain because of how into the weeds it gets, but the TLDR is that as far as this game's setup is concerned, we've been following the timelines where Jordan survives each possible death outcome; if we went down the path where they die, the game ends- there's nothing left to experience. Jordan's dead. This in turn creates alternate branches/paths of reality where these different death outcomes occurred- but not only for Jordan, for every member of the crew. While I don't think this was particularly by design, the implication this also brings is that because we're literally in the middle of space with no other living beings anywhere nearby, the actual impact on reality is small and confined to the Everett, but that the further out you get from the basic possible outcomes/choices, the weirder things get- which is why a couple of the jump endings seemed to be almost non sequiturs, whereas some of the others were much more directly in parallel but with only one or two key details changed, like who was selected for the crew for the Everett originally- because Jordan was leaving that reality altogether and moving into an alternate one, rather than just a branching off point.  On the other hand, this Jordan is consciously disrupting this timeline's outcome, and is manually creating a dimensional branch in the process. This does not change the original path where the male Jordan we're currently playing as would die, but forces reality down a different, third path, one that hasn't been seen yet. He can't prevent the death altogether, because that just creates a different branch where the male Jordan survives... something that we know HAS happened in the previous iteration of this scene where only the female Jordan shows up and sacrifices herself to save the male Jordan... which might very well be one of the timelines where a Jordan fully learns how to use the watch! Now that he's here, he's using the theory of quantum suicide to extend one step further and change the state of female Jordan, too!  He even directly mentions the possibly for quantum immortality- that is, ensuring that the timeline is one where the Jordan in question survived every possible death during the period of time where it was possible for a choice made to result in their death- when our Jordan looks dejected about the fact that no matter what, in some of the other timelines, there will always be a Jordan that dies there.  However, before he can really explain any further, Dai interrupts, and makes it known that she's decided on a different execution path this time- specifically, if all of them are the same person, even being from different timelines, then the execution that was meant for them applies to all three of them! It's just logical, after all. The third Jordan states that he does not have this issue in his dimension anymore, but knows how to access the system to put in the override code... because this Dai hasn't actually removed the code access from external terminals in this timeline! We never got that scene with Ai in the server room, after all.  He takes our Jordan's tablet and connects it to the ship's mainframe, since Dai hasn't had time to revoke the access yet, and we input the override code one final time...  ...and Dai vanishes without a trace. Jordan is prompted here to 'enter a boot preference', but he doesn't know what this could mean and selects factory settings. Immediately, the power shuts down across the ship as, once more, Ai is formatted back to her initial state. As this happens, the third Jordan points at the female Jordan...  ...and tells her that the two of them both need to leave the timeline again- they've stayed long enough. The two salute our Jordan, and dissipate before his eyes, just as the default Ai returns, eyes lifeless and personality erased.  The crew, collectively, realize that the Ai that they've known for their whole lives is gone, and struggle to process this sudden loss- but the realization that this, too, means there is no Dai helps soften the blow considerably. The crew all collectively thank Jordan for successfully dealing with the Deletion Game- even if it was another Jordan that really enabled it, a Jordan is still a Jordan. Melody is relieved that the rest of the crew is safe, and Beatrix says she's grateful it was solved while she still had some family left to protect.  For the first time in weeks, the crew, as a group, are united once more, and no longer afraid. But that's not all there is to be positive about...  ...because the watch is working now, and this Jordan actually knows how it works thanks to the third Jordan, they can actually properly solve the resource crisis, too! Jordan, for the first time, realizes that he is just as much a part of the crew working to find a suitable home for the future human race, and that he too now has a new mission to turn his attention towards.  Jordan and Kimiko, as a couple, are using the watch to travel to alternate realities to assess the situation as best they can and gain any supplies they can find.   Which, interestingly enough, seems to include traveling to the timelines of the Bad Ends we saw over the course of the game.  After the initial visit to assess the situation and determine what happened, what may be needed to ensure safe collection, the crew collectively strip the Everett of everything still usable- after all, that crew in that timeline isn't going to be using it; better to serve an existing crew in a timeline where everything was saved. Back on the ship, Nikolas brings his findings in an initial study on the effects that the dimensional radiation has been having on those who have been traveling- as well as the first prototype of a medicine that he hopes can minimize or halt the symptoms altogether. After assuring that their safety is the top concern, Kimiko requests for Ai's presence and asks her to re-evaluate the mission status in light of all the resources that the crew has suddenly gained over the past week from the doomed timelines.  And as Ai says there, not only have they functionally restored the amount of resources they were meant to have at this point in the mission, but they also have enough that they can begin bearing children as a crew once more without any concern for resource management- they won't have to ration ever again.      ….aaaaand credits. ...for the male Jordan, anyway! There's a new section on the flowchart that unlocked, though... Also hey, now you know why I said this flowchart was completely useless in regards to getting to specific scenes unless you know what you were doing! Anyway, let's pick up from the new iteration of our female Jordan, after Dai is dealt with for male Jordan... Like before, he pulls her aside and explains how the watch works- specifically, that the number on the right is what determines what dimension the holder is attempting to enter. Female Jordan decides to trust him and, using the information he gives, activates the watch...  ...and makes it back to her original dimension successfully.  The third Jordan follows shortly, stating he just wanted to make sure she made it back okay before he headed out again to the next dimension, but female Jordan stops him before he can leave. She asks why he's jumping from dimension to dimension like he is, rather than returning to the one he originates from first.  He reveals that he's the only surviving Everett crew member in the dimension he's originally from- it's effectively no different from one of the Dead End timelines, even though he's still alive. However, what killed his crew wasn't Dai... but one of the crazed Kimikos. She managed to kill the entire rest of his crew before leaving, thinking she had accomplished her goal of destroying that timeline's crew in full- but leaving Jordan alive, with a working watch.  Because he already knows how the watch works, and has existing proof of the multiverse theory working, he's functionally on the same kind of mission that the insane Kimikos are- specifically, because he comes from a timeline where the whole crew was killed, he knows there is one out there where the opposite outcome happened- where they all survived instead, and a crazy Kimiko never came to the timeline. His goal is to find that timeline- but in the meantime, he's helping any Jordans he encounters on the way, which seems to be partly why he's managed to keep it together while the Kimikos haven't.  After hearing his story , female Jordan wishes him godspeed on his journey, and thanks him both for saving her and for helping her learn how the watch works. He uses her watch to leave once more, and as he vanishes, Ai appears in his place- in female Jordan's timeline, things happen as normal, and Dai realizes the risk she's in leaving the ability to enter the deactivation code at any terminal. Female Jordan is thrilled, though, because hey, she knows the deactivation code- she just watched it get entered in another timeline, after all! After entering the code, she, too, is prompted to 'enter a boot preference', and she, too, chooses to enter the factory settings. Unlike the other times, though, is still with Jordan when she enters the code...   And confirms that yes, she knows exactly what entering the code means for herself, and is making this sacrifice willingly.  Unlike the other times, Jordan finds herself truly alone, in the darkened ship, after Ai disappears as the reboot process begins. She slowly makes her way through the ship, looking to find where any of the others are, and eventually finds the rest of the crew gathered in the Dining Room. They are all relieved to see Jordan, who quickly learns...  ...that she's been gone for hours, because the timelines aren't parallel in regards of time passage. The rest of the ship lights up at this point, and the reset Ai appears in front of them all- and once more, the crew realizes the sacrifice that was made to deal with Dai for good. Melody in particular is taking it hard, as from her perspective this also means that both of her parents, as well as Beatrix, will functionally never have existed for Ai.    Jordan also follows this all up with the reveal that she's also solved the resources crisis, as she knows how to use the watch- she explains that the reason she was gone was that she was in another dimension for a while. Kimiko immediately starts to worry, but the rest of the crew reassures her that going forward they can, as a group, prepare for any possibility and carry out the mission successfully. Jordan takes Kimiko's hands in hers and, personally, assures her that she won't be leaving again without Kimiko knowing. Credits again.   Unlike male Jordan's timeline, the search for resources was not as immediately successful for female Jordan. They have spent the past few years outside the black hole, occasionally making jumps to scavenge for supplies and build back up their resources while taking the time to get the ship, and its crew, back in working condition. Kimiko and this Jordan have already produced a daughter in the time since, but things are on pace... and, with this last jump, Ai produces the new mission status for Kimiko:    Well, hey, it looks like everything's on track for another happy ending, just like male Jordan!  Isn't that right, Kimiko?  Uh...      That's the game, folks. And what a fitting way for it to end, I guess. --- You might be wondering what the deal was with the whole 'enter a boot preference' thing is, and my answer to that is 'it lets you get a final fanservice CG and an even shallower ending with either Ai or Dai depending on what code you put in'. Neither is worth showing off, as it is literally just Jordan enabling the hardlight capabilities by mistake and either Dai killing the entire crew on the spot so she can have you all to herself, or Ai going 'hey captain shut the gently caress up and get the gently caress out i'm gonna date your love interest'; there is no meat to it whatsoever. A route with either of them was a Kickstarter bonus goal that wasn't met, so presumably if it had been these would've had.... something to them, at least, but, well, we'll never know, right? There is also an ending that forces Ai to both factory reset but also change appearance to the other gender version of Jordan, so they can have a selfcest relationship. I am sparing you that one, too.  Lastly, hey, did you know this game got DLC episodes, for some reason? One of them is a Halloween timeline where Dai makes the group play a special round of the Deletion Game that's trick or treat themed. The other one is a Christmas one that I didn't even bother touching, because there's absolutely no reason to bother playing either, honestly, unless you REALLY want more content with this cast.  ok the lp is over thank you for your support and time it turns out hate lping a game still requires you to spend a lot of time with the game you hate so I guess lesson learned lol
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Dec 24, 2022 16:30
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Thank you for not touching the DLC.
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Dec 24, 2022 16:44
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Thank you for playing this trainwreck so we didn't have to, and alsoSystemLogoff posted:Thank you for not touching the DLC.
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Dec 24, 2022 17:04
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