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Regallion posted:Okay, so we uh, have a guy named polytheism and his father is called Odin? Is that what i'm getting here? Cool beans bro. A lot of people in Divine Deception have mythology-based names. We have a Seth (Egyptian god of chaos and the desert), a Pandora (Greek girl who opened a box), and three of the people here have short versions of Greek ones, one which even have a direct link: Athen is short for Athena, and the two brothers, Polly and Art, are short for a pair of twin gods: Apollo and Artemis. Anyway, like with Zodiac Trial, I do have experience with this game, so I'll abstain from voting.
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Jul 8, 2023 18:21
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I basically always viewed Lock in my head as looking like... well, Dog from Zodiac Trial.
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Jul 11, 2023 19:41
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Krish is short for Krishna, a god from Hinduism.
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Jul 15, 2023 02:31
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FoolyCharged posted:The dude in a suit with a big old coat, gloves in a diner, and a big old scar on his face; the man who says he totally doesn't do any real wet work. Yeah, he seems totally trustworthy. Kriah seems like an excellent judge of character, and Yi totally will look out for him. Them. Look out for them.
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Jul 18, 2023 08:27
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Themis understands how Reddit works. And how the mind of your average Redditor works, for that matter.
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Jul 20, 2023 03:01
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Yeah, no points for who Mercury's named after for the mythology poo poo.
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Jul 23, 2023 06:40
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Marduk was a Mesopotamian deity, the patron one of Babylon, even.
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Jul 29, 2023 08:02
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I'm going to make a little habit of checking in every time we hit the gap between Devon's stack and Laverna's, just to act as a barometer of what people think. Who are you the most interested in of all 7 perspectives-Laverna, Lock, Vels, Olif, Mercury, "Thane", and Devon? Any connections you've made? Any theories you have? What's your overall sense of the plot so far?
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Aug 1, 2023 23:54
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Devon is kinda funny to me because i started playing this around the same time that Power Rangers: Beast Morphers was added to Netflix and Devon is the name of the Red Ranger of that season and they're so very very different stories.
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Aug 3, 2023 07:03
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Percy: Perseus (or Percival, but I don't think King Arthur quite qualifies as 'mythology' yet.) Herc: Hercules. No clue on Darda, though.
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Aug 8, 2023 05:26
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Knox's Ten Commandments, for the unaware, were a guideline the mystery writer Ronald Knox gave for writing a fair-play mystery (one the reader could solve once all the clues had been put on the board, possibly before the actual reveals happened). They were: 1: The criminal must be someone mentioned in the early part of the story, but must not be anyone whose thoughts the reader has been allowed to follow. 2: All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course. 3: Not more than one secret room or passage is allowable, and such a passage may only be in a house or building for which it is appropriate by age or purpose. 4: No hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance which will need a long scientific explanation at the end. 5: No Chinaman must figure in the story. 6: No accident must ever help the detective, nor must he ever have an unaccountable intuition which proves to be right. 7: The detective must not himself commit the crime. 8: The detective must not light on any clues which are not instantly produced for the inspection of the reader. 9: The stupid friend of the detective, the "Watson", must not conceal any thoughts which pass through his mind; his intelligence must be slightly, but very slightly, below that of the average reader. 10: Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them. Most of these have been tweaked as the years go on-2 and 4 are usually seen as fair game as long as any important sci-fi or fantasy elements are clearly explained and considered natural in the setting, and if you're worried about 5, it was an admonishment of something considered racist and cliche even at the time, the dodgy Chinese character common in crime fiction-see: Fu Manchu. The modern equivalent would be something to the effect of the Middle Eastern character either being the culprit or a constant red herring. Van Dine's rules, meanwhile, are more general mystery writing stuff. There is some overlap, admittedly, and I won't list the whole here because the individual entries are quite lengthy, but the relevant rule mentioned (the Seventh) goes thus: "There simply must be a corpse in a detective novel, and the deader the corpse the better. No lesser crime than murder will suffice. Three hundred pages is far too much bother for a crime other than murder. After all, the reader’s trouble and expenditure of energy must be rewarded. Americans are essentially humane, and therefore a tiptop murder arouses their sense of vengeance and horror. They wish to bring the perpetrator to justice; and when “murder most foul, as in the best it is,” has been committed, the chase is on with all the righteous enthusiasm of which the thrice gentle reader is capable."
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Aug 10, 2023 07:05
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We haven't seen much of either of them, but would you vote for Aija or Bach?
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Aug 12, 2023 08:44
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Olif is many things but I don't think 'boring' would be one of them. Like, they're lovely, but the shittiness is magnetic in a way. At least to me.
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Aug 17, 2023 05:15
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Do you find Krish's optimism endearing or frustrating?
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Aug 18, 2023 23:18
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I would like to remind people that we've met Chara in person before, during Lock 1:
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Aug 30, 2023 08:06
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It means if something is fixed-either a guaranteed win or loss-you don't devote any thought or consideration to it because it's an expenditure of energy. Focus on the things you can change, rather than things you can't.
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Sep 4, 2023 23:29
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Idly, do you like the art style of the character portraits here more than the Zodiac Trial ones? With the thicker lines and all.
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Sep 13, 2023 02:13
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Alright, time for the post-Devon check in, round 2. Anyone shot up in your protag rankings? Any interesting connections you've noticed? Theories, thoughts?
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Sep 21, 2023 03:32
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Odin Deisma's hosed up.
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Oct 4, 2023 04:14
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Eris's name comes from the Greek goddess of discord, who has basically one major role but it's a doozy: She's the one who throw the golden apple labeled "To the fairest", which Athena, Hera and Aphrodite fight over, before calling in Paris to mediate, aka the thing that kicks off the whole Trojan War and by extension the plots of both The Illiad and The Odyssey.
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Oct 19, 2023 08:20
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Do you think the Thane Mercury is fighting is the one we follow in Stack #6, or the one before him that the impostor killed and replaced yet?
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Nov 3, 2023 23:00
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"how the gently caress did you know that was a Terry Pratchett quote" is one of my favorite lines.
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Nov 6, 2023 05:31
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This has been an exciting set! We found out Eris, the 'real' Olif! Devon's the long-lost Deisma! Lotta fun twists and crazy happenings. So, doing my post-Devon check-in again. Any connections or interesting thoughts? Theories? Who's shot up in your rankings of the seven?
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Nov 9, 2023 04:58
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Mix. posted:Oh, also, I guess I'll continue the "end of round" question of how people are feeling about each perspective Preciate you stepping up while I was out, thanks! Obviously all of these plot threads are intertwined and interconnected to some degree, but between the three big spheres of the corporate (including the Deisma family's soap opera), the political (Bach vs. Aija) and the criminal (The Duats), which intrigues you the most, which do you like the most?
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Dec 16, 2023 09:56
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We're over the hump and into the second half of the game by now, so things are definitely about to start getting shaken up even more than they already have.
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It is extremely fun to see Aija flustered and upset.
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Dec 19, 2023 04:51
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"Zahhak" comes from an evil figure in Persian myth, probably better known as "Ahzi Dahaka". "Apis" comes from Egyptian myth, the son of Hathor.
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Dec 30, 2023 20:39
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Tylana posted:IIRC, Zahhak is the mythological emperor who ends up with a snake growing out of each shoulder who have to be fed brains everyday. At least in some myths. Fitting for his role as Odin has described it. Oh shoot thank you for correcting me, 'preciate it.
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Dec 31, 2023 05:02
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Vels and Mercury are nonbinary, and while Thane the actual person was male we don't know the impostor's gender.
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Jan 3, 2024 19:35
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Which non-viewpoint character do you find the most effective villain (not 'they're the most successful in the story', in terms of how well you like them as a villain/how good you think their writing is)? Aija? Yi? Art? Odin?
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Jan 6, 2024 22:21
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Side question: Do you like Ez as a narrator/facilitator/framing device so far?
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Jan 28, 2024 06:05
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don't you hate it when your two options are 'smart rich rear end in a top hat' and 'dumb rich rear end in a top hat'?
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Feb 8, 2024 21:30
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Sybot posted:If Odin was impressed enough he was willing to let Lara live with him for some time, there's a good chance he did write her into his will. I think the key to this is a reminder of all the mythological names: this is a story about humans with godly arrogance. It's the major connecting thread between Art, Aija and Yi, Polly to a lesser extent as well and Odin absolutely has pride even if he tempers it-they're all convinced that they're 100% in charge of their situations because nothing has ever majorly threatened it before. Pride goeth before a fall, and all. The interesting thing to note is that our protagonists also have quite big senses of pride, but not all of them, and it's a dividing line between the Top Four and the Bottom Three. Laverna extremely confident in her detective skills, Lock in his ability to con and improvise, Vels in their fighting ability and Eris in her hacking and knowledge. Meanwhile, Mercury's too busy fighting for their life to be arrogant, and is also the smallest story (they're not particularly important in and of themselves, and it's the most compressed time-frame wise, with each scene coming immediately after the previous one while everyone else has gaps between theirs), 'Fane' (Fake Thane, but it also sounds like 'feign', which I thought was cute) constantly has to portray outward cool and confidence, but inside they're constantly freaking out and nervous, and Devon's dealing with some serious depression, anxiety, survivor's guilt and childhood trauma. That being said, on the note of your other point-enough people have floated it that I figured I should ask: who do you think are actually the same person using different names? We do have some concrete moments of meeting. Devon isn't Lock, and Vels isn't Devon. Eris and Laverna talked over the phone, Lock contacted Vels at one point, Thane did talk to Laverna but we have no idea if that's Mercury's Thane or Fane.
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Feb 10, 2024 05:52
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Random question for fun: What drugs do you think are being dealt in that one text chain from Polly's phone, from that Eris chapter? Most of the code seems fairly simple-the 'channels' are locations, times are just that, meeting times, 'ratings' are how good Polly thought they were, but what do you think the names are for?
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Feb 16, 2024 05:35
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I guess now's as good a time as any to ask if anyone's been forming a timeline of events.
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Feb 18, 2024 00:22
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Feb 18, 2024 03:16
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Who do you think'll be next-Laverna, Lock, Vels, or Devon?
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Feb 29, 2024 06:15
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I still love the "Hao"/"Who's On First" bit.
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Mar 10, 2024 01:24
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Now that we're on the precipice of the finale, what's your final stance on the 7 stories so far? Favorites and least favorites?
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Mar 24, 2024 18:57
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I do think Zodiac Trial is stronger as a story than Divine Deception, but I will fully cop to enjoying ontological mysteries with a quirky cast trying to figure out why they were kidnapped for a game over political thrillers. But I do respect Divine Deception. I think the "everyone except Devon is Mercury" twist holds up when re-examined, with ample foreshadowing. I like a lot of the characters, (Yi had some of the best lines making him an obvious favorite, but Devon had a strong showing as an honestly extremely sympathetic and sad individual, and I liked how in-over-his-head Bach was, and Krish's optimism was mildly infectious.) I actually think the ending is a little unsatisfying, but I think that's intentional and like the story overall, I respect that.
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Apr 9, 2024 02:23
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 04:18 |
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Anyway, how do you feel about this story now that it's mostly wrapped up?
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Apr 10, 2024 03:09
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