More VLR
The short, non-spoilery summary: This game really does live up to its predecessor.
HOLY SHIT
IT JUST OPENED UP A WHOLE NEW EXTENSION TO THE STORY PATH
What appeared to be the shortest path in the game actually expanded and is now the LONGEST. This means that the flowchart appearances are NOT what they seem, and that looking at the chart is NOT reliable in deducing where to actually go. This THRILLS me.
The implication seesaw has been epic. Finally more information about the mysterious old woman, or specifically, her death - and the revelations ended up verifying something I'd suspected...that the AB Rooms had been physically moved. When things started to point to Luna, I practically started foaming at the mouth, "Are you telling me my initial hunch really WAS right?!?" But then SHE was murdered, so it can't be her, and we're back to figuring out who it was. Was it Clover on a vengeance streak? Was Dio doing some sneaking around? (I think Tenmyouji needs to come back with that luminol of his and spray down Dio's conveniently red coat 9_9 )
I actually got to go through a white door!! The tension leading up to that was so thick that I could feel the anxiety and I think I started yelling at my DS. ("NO! DON'T TURN THIS INTO A SUICIDE PACT, SIGMA, JUST GO THROUGH THE FUCKING DOOR--- THANK YOU, K") And then the story flowchart magically expanded and I lost my shit (in a good way). I finished off the Security room puzzle and got through some of the aftermath dialogue, at which point I really, really needed to turn the game off because I'm leaving for New York City on Monday at 3:45am (aka: late Sunday night) and I have to pack and clean and shit.
But I did get through a lot of video footage, which narrows suspicion down to exactly the two people I was thinking of. And Sigma had a disturbing moment that does not bode well, seeing as how no one went through the Biolab in this storyline.
Only 4 people are confirmed to be alive: Sigma, Phi, K, and Dio, all poised to have 9+ points after the next AB Game. Unless Clover or Tenmyouji found Quark and all three of them were in that third white door before K and Dio returned, there's a high chance that they're dead now. (Or I should say before K returned, because Dio is a manipulative liar. He might not admit it even if he did see them.)
And in the middle of all this, Sigma completely forgot about the plug found in the GAULEM Bay, which Alice would have had on her body. Poor K.
There has been MUCH more of that brilliant prose that I enjoyed in the previous game. It started much more subtle, and the rising tension really snuck up on me. The dialogue has been getting more intense, the music has been getting more intense (I really, really like the song used when everyone's in a hurry, like when they're all charging to get to the Chromatic Doors before time runs out), there's been more of that descriptive non-dialogue prose, and that prose has become increasingly illustrative, emotional, and chilling.
One final thought, on the cryptic graffiti in Warehouse B. "Memento Mori -- if the nineth lion ate the sun." Phi points out the misspelling (which I also caught) and emphasized it. Counting the letters, the misplaced e in "nineth" is the 9th letter in that line. I'd already noticed that several rooms have some kind of lion imagery in them, and usually not far from some kind of sun.
- the corner of the Lounge, and the phrase "Red Moon Lion" that appears when you use the light from the sun clock
- one of the counter surfaces in the Biolab has some heraldic-style emblem that looks like a lion mounting and biting on a sun
- the Botanical Garden has a lion mosaic at the bottom of the pond, and the "sun" lamp drops into a well in the lion's mouth to turn day into night
- the light switch in the Security room is a lion's head, and the button (in the lion's mouth) has a sun on it
And there's probably more in rooms I haven't been to yet. There are 6 more rooms behind the red/blue/green doors and 2 behind the white doors that I haven't been through yet. There could easily be 5 more lions among the 8 unvisited rooms, but they may not be relevant... because I get the feeling that the riddle concerns one that I HAVE been to.
"Memento mori" means "remember death". The Botanical Garden had a tombstone or epitaph stone next to the lion pond, one with another Latin phrase: "tu fui, ego eris" ("you are as I was, you will be as I am") - the monument is a memento mori. The 9th letter in that phrase is the e in "eris". Something may happen if someone goes back and inspects that e, possibly with the lights turned off (when the "lion" eats the "sun"). Perhaps the protrusion in the e is a switch, or the e can be scratched away. Maybe some glowing message will appear. There's still a keyhole in the corner of the damn thing, but maybe the key is behind the e.
Anyway, I won't be able to play more of the game for a couple days because of all my last-minute trip preparations. Originally I'd just intended to get through this ending, but that was before it turned out that the last flowchart block wasn't really the last flowchart block. Then I was like "well shit, there's no way I'm finishing this today, I have shit to do =/ "
HOLY SHIT
IT JUST OPENED UP A WHOLE NEW EXTENSION TO THE STORY PATH
What appeared to be the shortest path in the game actually expanded and is now the LONGEST. This means that the flowchart appearances are NOT what they seem, and that looking at the chart is NOT reliable in deducing where to actually go. This THRILLS me.
The implication seesaw has been epic. Finally more information about the mysterious old woman, or specifically, her death - and the revelations ended up verifying something I'd suspected...that the AB Rooms had been physically moved. When things started to point to Luna, I practically started foaming at the mouth, "Are you telling me my initial hunch really WAS right?!?" But then SHE was murdered, so it can't be her, and we're back to figuring out who it was. Was it Clover on a vengeance streak? Was Dio doing some sneaking around? (I think Tenmyouji needs to come back with that luminol of his and spray down Dio's conveniently red coat 9_9 )
I actually got to go through a white door!! The tension leading up to that was so thick that I could feel the anxiety and I think I started yelling at my DS. ("NO! DON'T TURN THIS INTO A SUICIDE PACT, SIGMA, JUST GO THROUGH THE FUCKING DOOR--- THANK YOU, K") And then the story flowchart magically expanded and I lost my shit (in a good way). I finished off the Security room puzzle and got through some of the aftermath dialogue, at which point I really, really needed to turn the game off because I'm leaving for New York City on Monday at 3:45am (aka: late Sunday night) and I have to pack and clean and shit.
But I did get through a lot of video footage, which narrows suspicion down to exactly the two people I was thinking of. And Sigma had a disturbing moment that does not bode well, seeing as how no one went through the Biolab in this storyline.
Only 4 people are confirmed to be alive: Sigma, Phi, K, and Dio, all poised to have 9+ points after the next AB Game. Unless Clover or Tenmyouji found Quark and all three of them were in that third white door before K and Dio returned, there's a high chance that they're dead now. (Or I should say before K returned, because Dio is a manipulative liar. He might not admit it even if he did see them.)
And in the middle of all this, Sigma completely forgot about the plug found in the GAULEM Bay, which Alice would have had on her body. Poor K.
There has been MUCH more of that brilliant prose that I enjoyed in the previous game. It started much more subtle, and the rising tension really snuck up on me. The dialogue has been getting more intense, the music has been getting more intense (I really, really like the song used when everyone's in a hurry, like when they're all charging to get to the Chromatic Doors before time runs out), there's been more of that descriptive non-dialogue prose, and that prose has become increasingly illustrative, emotional, and chilling.
One final thought, on the cryptic graffiti in Warehouse B. "Memento Mori -- if the nineth lion ate the sun." Phi points out the misspelling (which I also caught) and emphasized it. Counting the letters, the misplaced e in "nineth" is the 9th letter in that line. I'd already noticed that several rooms have some kind of lion imagery in them, and usually not far from some kind of sun.
- the corner of the Lounge, and the phrase "Red Moon Lion" that appears when you use the light from the sun clock
- one of the counter surfaces in the Biolab has some heraldic-style emblem that looks like a lion mounting and biting on a sun
- the Botanical Garden has a lion mosaic at the bottom of the pond, and the "sun" lamp drops into a well in the lion's mouth to turn day into night
- the light switch in the Security room is a lion's head, and the button (in the lion's mouth) has a sun on it
And there's probably more in rooms I haven't been to yet. There are 6 more rooms behind the red/blue/green doors and 2 behind the white doors that I haven't been through yet. There could easily be 5 more lions among the 8 unvisited rooms, but they may not be relevant... because I get the feeling that the riddle concerns one that I HAVE been to.
"Memento mori" means "remember death". The Botanical Garden had a tombstone or epitaph stone next to the lion pond, one with another Latin phrase: "tu fui, ego eris" ("you are as I was, you will be as I am") - the monument is a memento mori. The 9th letter in that phrase is the e in "eris". Something may happen if someone goes back and inspects that e, possibly with the lights turned off (when the "lion" eats the "sun"). Perhaps the protrusion in the e is a switch, or the e can be scratched away. Maybe some glowing message will appear. There's still a keyhole in the corner of the damn thing, but maybe the key is behind the e.
Anyway, I won't be able to play more of the game for a couple days because of all my last-minute trip preparations. Originally I'd just intended to get through this ending, but that was before it turned out that the last flowchart block wasn't really the last flowchart block. Then I was like "well shit, there's no way I'm finishing this today, I have shit to do =/ "