ihaveforgortoomany

[ihaveforgortoomany]

Why is my feed full of horses

[ihaveforgortoomany]

General Review of 3.0 "A Long Long Way"

CN spoilers ahead, major ones!

This has been one of my favourite patches recently and I do see this as a good starting point for the 3.0 series, a setup from 2.0's even (though I will accknowledge 2.0 was an event, but fundamentally it was acting as the introduction to the 2.0 series)

This review will be vague at certain points as of course translations are not fully out yet. I may have a later post for everything we learn.

lets goooo.

(Screenshots from Merui's stream)

Overeivew of the Patch:

Amazing plot, characters, setup of the lore and expanding on what was established back in 2.8. I really do think 3.0 was done well to setup the geopolitical stage for both the Foundation itself, its war against the Manus and the world at large. It does show the ramifications of having Arcana back as extremely critical to the Foundation, with the knowledge that she can alter the timeline of history in the favour of the Manus. In turn the patch allows us to view the response of the Foundation and a potential new arc similar to Chapter 4: Vertin and Sonetto being sidelined for the main story overall benefits both them and the new playables; one the story goes out of its way to explain their lack of appearance and equally setting up the major plot point of the Reformation Bill coming under threat.

I also do enjoy the setup of Vertin, Constantine and Madam Z's relationship going forward: while neither Vertin or Z agree with Constantine's methods the story does present the strained alliance or at worst cooperation the three must undergo. Having the Hawks in power of the committee won't benefit any of them, forcing this alliance.

Ok moving to the main part of the patch:

The patch does an amazing job of an anti-war message through its two playables Charon and Sentinel, one being the adaptation of 'All Quiet on the Western Front' and the other loosely referencing 'A Long Long Way'. I think the general themes of the patch is repentance, grief, peace over violence and a general resolve to what must be done to end the war. I think Charon's and Sentinel's thematic dynamic can be described as this:

One mourns the dead, One fights for the living.

Both characters equally act for the end of the war but also in different ways: Charon desires the fighting all to stop, to prevent others from joining the conflict and suffering the fate of his fellow classmates, ultimately resolves to ensure the dead properly layed to rest. Sentinel equally desires to end the fighting, but instead wants to seek the root of the problems, the Manus. The story explores her own religious guilt as a result of her upbringing as a gargyole that fuels her quest for repentance in the war until she meets Marsha, by the end of the patch her fighting is no longer to soley honour the dead as repentance (Anges) but towards fighting for the living and the peace thereafter (Charon, Marsha and her remaining family).

I was happily surprised by Charon's character, initally expecting Aleph 2.0 and his character failing to stand out from the former, instead Charon's story was a really fascinating take on All Quiet on the Western Front. The dynamic between General Braun and Him, the eventual reveal Charon was an Awakened corpse of Paul, Braun's last 'surviving' friend was amazing and felt like a unique way to introduce another method of Awakening. I was also fascinated how Braun's character turned out by the end: ultimately he was idealistic and naive at best, at worst patrotic with the Manus manipulating his mind until Charon had to shake him out of the mist, ultimately attempting to aid the peace talks and tragically ending himself out of the guilt of his actions. Overall Charon's character and storyline here served as a commentary of how the youth in the 1910s was manipluated into a war on false truths and promises.

Another standout dynamic was Sentinel and Marsha, espeically the realisation and reveal that Marsha was the enemy soldier/ knight that Sentinel 'killed' in the PV who eventually became a war nurse int he Foundation. Once again the anti-war themes come into play as one of the central relationships of the patch focus on enemy soldiers putting aside their differences in order to find a way to stop the fighting. Marsha's measured optimism against Sentinel nihilism about the state of the war was so fun to see, seeing characters damaged by war still find common ground and resolve to put an end to the fighting.

Another character I also want to briefly discuss is Crieus: again another character I'm surprised to be so intrigued about. With the introduction of the XII, Crieus clearly playing to the side of the Hawks and Vertin (another character again who knows Urd), and his 'Manus paraonia' im interested to see how his story pans out in latter patches, maybe even as a playable.

Conclusion: 3.0 serves as a rlly good setup for the 3.0 series and aftermath of 2.8, and Im hoping with how the patch ended that alot of the 3.0 cast may have later appearances down the line.

[ihaveforgortoomany]

I love 3.0, amazing setup for the 3.0 series. Enjoyed Charon and Sentinel's characters, plots with themes that are similar and contrast with each other. Braun and Marsha were standouts for the Npcs.

Im very interested in the setup for the Foundation plot going forward.

I think I might do an analysis or ramble on Charon and Sentinel at some point, but yeah overall a good patch that improves massively on the drawbacks at the three 2.0 main story chapters.

A mix of chapter 4 and 1.7 feel

[ihaveforgortoomany]

3.0 predictions/ rambling before it drops

(innn less than 6 hours lets gooo!)

CN spoilers ofc ofc

We get information or flashback to the Flood's affect on the Foundation, one of the teasers showed propaganda of the Foundation for recruits - with Arcana's return and the fact that WW1 had millions of people sign up to go to war, it seems a prime interest of the Foundation to recruit people against the Manus.

Speculating Marsha, Sentinel and Charon's roles: Clearly Marsha is a war nurse, I predict this is her era and she was recruited recently potentially. With Sentinel: I think the French army considers her a traitor and desserter (the "sniper" both Madam Z and Constantine reference), Charon saved her, either from death or revived her and now they act independently to stop the war.

We know from Chapter 6 with Greta Hoffman the Foundation usually don't get involved in history/ the eras too deeply - now with the potential of a new timeline being caused with a WW1 in 1920 are taking more actions, like probably directly/ indirectly aiding the French offensive (see Marsha)

I still can't guess why Constantine specially would be concerned with Sentinel? Maybe currently Sentinel and Charon are third parties to the war between the Foundation and Manus, and maybe Constantine sees an opportunity either to gain an ally or remove a piece from the board?

Vertin and Sonetto? I have absolutely no idea, I have a feeling Vertin was tasked with something different and happened to be in the area that Crieus needed help. Maybe the ultimate objective in this patch story might be to end the war (Im hoping not so soon)

(cough heres the copium Schnieder shows up at some point cough cough, here or at some point in this patch series)

[ihaveforgortoomany]

Chapter 9: Good idea, bad execution

Hi, everyone! I'm here to complain about the main story yet again because omg, is it bad. Not as bad as chapter 8 (I doubt anything can be as bad as that thing), but bad nonetheless.

But let's start with the things I actually liked, which is... honestly a surprising amount, but that only makes the subsequent disappointment all the more painful imo.

The good.

I really, really, REALLY liked the parallels and contrasts between the Panopticon inmates and the Aperion believers. It was amazing, I loved every second of it, and I wish they had done something better with it.

Think about it! The people in the island are compleatly free, technically, but they consider themselves prisioners of the phenomenal world and consider that only the Truth can free them. Meanwhile, the Panopticon inmates are prisoners in one of the most desolate places on Earth... yet they consider themselves free; free to think, to write and to say anything they want, since "no one can be imprisoned twice". Which is a great concept! A very philosophical discussion about what freedom even is and how each person attains it. Truly a fascinating idea.

Then we also have the fact that both Aperion and the Panopticon are ruled by numbers. However, while in Aperion they followed the strict methods of mathematics and believed in the existence of an Ultimate Truth that ruled everything, the Panopticon inmates use a dice with numbers to decide everyone's destiny, believing it to be truly random and therefore fair (spoiler: it's not, it's absolutely predetermined).

I find it a bit ironic that Aperion fell because they discovered that the ultimate truth didn't exist and the true nature of the Storm was Chaos, while the Panopticon fell because they discovered that the dice wasn't random (chaotic), but instead followed a fixed pattern. Nice little contrast there... but I digress.

I also liked that Urd took a slightly more active role and we even got to see some scenes from her pov; that was neat. Recoleta is also a pretty cool character with a good design, and I adored the Idealist's personality and manner of speech. Octavia was also pretty cool (wish she was playable), as well as the Jailer.

The bad.

Oh boy... where do I even start? I guess the most obvious thing first: the aesthetic. Omg, who was the freaking genius who thought that having a backrooms aesthetic be the best course of action for a story taking place in a mental asylum was a good idea??? It's not! It sucks, it's not immersive and it's stupid!

It feels like the devs are trying to say "see? We know what kids like these days *wink*" and it's cringy as fuck. It's not eerily deserted and mysterious like the backrooms are supposed to be, and it's also not a proper mental asylum. It's just an ackward, distracting amalgamation of both. Why is there water everwhere??? Even inside the cells? What's the purpose of all that water??? And wouldn't it be frozen, since they're almost at the Antartica? Ugh, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.

But anyways, I could've looked past the abhorrent aesthetic if they had at least made a good story with a satisfying payoff and an ending that made sense.

They did not.

Ah yes, Aleph made an entire mental asylum and managed it for almost 15 years just so Recoleta could write her fucking novel that no one understands anyways. Well, he also mentions experiments and the Manus, but both of those are glossed over and not explained enough, to the point that they feel like they don't even matter.

Also... Recoleta being a ghost. What was even the purpose of that??? It couldn't have been just shock value, right? Right???

She tears the novel and "dies" and comes back in the next fucking stage for some reason that makes no sense at all. Bruh, just have her die for real, I wouldn't even mind having a dead character in my suitcase if at least the story would be more coherent and have more of an impact, but Bluepoch are cowards that can't kill playable characters for some unknown reason.

And don't even let me get started with what happens after that. Omg, I'm starting to wonder if maybe Vertin and Sonetto suffered a severe lobotomy that left them braindead after chapter 8 or something. Seriously. They saw that the Panopticon was collapsing and... instead of trying to evacuate the immates or even taking a minute to explain what's happening to the Jailer, they just... leave. Huh??????

I can kind of understand Vertin and Sonetto leaving, since they were just seaching for Urd and maybe they're hyperfocused on that, but imo it's out of character for them to leave without even trying to help anyone when the reason they leave is that the Panopticon is collapsing. Yes, I know they ask García if he wants their help to evacuate and he refuses, but he's just one inmate! There's hundreds in there, judging by the cells, so why just make a half-assed attempt to help one of them and then leave???

Meanwhile Recoleta... I really can't excuse her leaving. Later on she'll go back and be like "they're my friends, I have to help them". GIRL. Why did you leave in the first place??? If they're your friends and you can't just leave them to die, why the fuck did you leave them to die??? Is it just so we can have a "cool" scene of Recoleta walking slowly across a field while the asylum is burning in the distance? Because it really seems like it.

And there's yet another problem. Vertin and Sonetto take Aleph's ship to go to the Antartica and find Urd, which is fine, but then they just... tell him to wait there until Fundation officials arrive? COME ON! He's associated with the Manus, and you've seen him experiment on ppl! Even if he's just a human, he could do heinius things in the nearby town. YOU CAN'T LEAVE HIM THERE UNSUPERVISED! Couldn't they at least have called the local Police and ask them to keep him in custody while the Foundation arrived? Couldn't Sonetto have stayed behind, while Vertin embarked alone in her quest to find Urd? I find either of those situations much more acceptable ngl.

As for the Panopticon ppl... Ugh. What a fucking ending. Seriously. Did they run out of budget or something? We couldn't get a final scene with Octavia and the others explaining why the fire started and why they decided to stay? Because the way I see it, they just wanted to be free to express their art and hope maybe their art could help change Latinamerica... how would they do that from the freaking afterlife??? (No, García's lame "there's no better place for me than here" doesn't count; that's just one person's opinion, and he isn't even a leader, like Octavia).

Seems like a lame attempt at shock value, trying to replicate the amazing storm scene in chapter 7, just without an ounce of the emotions, meaning and phylosophical implications it had. I'm seeing a trend here, ngl, with both chapters 8 and 9 trying to replicate scenes from chapters 2 and 7 respectively and failing misserably at it.

Ugh, I'm starting to hate the main story ngl... which is a shame because the side events that have nothing to do with it are actually quite good, while the events that try to be main story are a hot mess (looking at you, 2.4).

In any case... I didn't love it, but I also didn't hate it. It had some solid ideas and concepts, but it feels like they rushed the ending, added a bunch of things that didn't make sense just for shock value and compleatly underminded whatever message they were trying to tell.

6/10. Not terrible, but also not good.

[ihaveforgortoomany]

Critique of 2.6's story as a main story chapter

(I've been holding this back since CN release because I hoped Global would change my mind, but with translations out little has done to change it)

This will be a critique of 2.6's execution of story, its character writing and narrative structure, how it is largely style and literary references over substance, and finally how the nature of the patch as a main story serves as its detriment for the 2.0 series. I do think the premise and concept for the patch are interesting, especially themes around madness and literature, in general replaying the patch in Global did make me like Recoleta a little bit. However I think the way characters, pacing and story have been written ultimately are a disservice to said themes, and alot of my critique is based on treating 2.6 as an arc in an overarching story of the 2.0 series.

(Disclaimer: this is my thoughts over the patch, and I am not pry to all the literary references present inside the story, however I believe a strength of Bluepoch has been to approach complex topics in a way that someone with or without context to references can grasp overarching themes and characters in a story, something that is not present here in Chapter 9, but are present in Chapters 5 and 6).

Main issues with 2.6's story for me

Pacing and Structure

I would argue the patch suffers from terrible pacing, not only does this patch have a shortened length ---, pacing often feels clunky and often comes to a complete stop at some times. We spend a large section of the patch staring at two characters speak conjecture and jargon for extended periods of time with few and far inbetween battle sections to break it up. Pacing is especially suffering in the Urd sections; not only are they unvoiced for some reason, but pacing comes to a complete stop or interrupts the flow of the A Plot with Vertin.

The patch's story is organised like this - the A plot with Vertin and Sonetto alongside Recoleta exploring the] Prison, with the B plot following Urd's experiences in the Prison in 'The Weaving of the Shadows'. The execution of the parallel narratives for me felt like the story would grind to a complete stop, moment your following Vertin in the prison with Recoleta, then pulled back to Urd's section acting as exposition and greater context of the Prison. It feels as if Urd's sections could have been their own section, an anecdote or even a similar case to 2.4 with Ulrich's character story - however structurality it feels like Urd's sections are used to keep the chapter count low and provide context of the prison that really should be present in the A plot.

The patch is the shortest post-release main story chapter at only 20 parts, (Im not counting Prologue to Chapter 4 since once released all at once) it spends from p1 to p12 entering the prison, exploring how it works and how fundmentally this was another means of oppressing arcanists - writers and artists locked up under the guise of being 'criminals'. However the moment the story shifts to the central tower and towards solely Aleph and Recoleta, it feels the story built around the prisoners and how their are exploited and mistreated by the world around them becomes pointless. Aleph and Recoleta's joint story ultimately downplays the suffering of these people so much that until Garcia appears in Aleph's room, you likely forgot about these characters entirely.

Style over Substance - tell than show

Which leads to another major issue of this story - this style over substence feels like TELL over showing. How is this done? The numerous literary references the story hangs over the players that they HAVE to understand to 'get' the story; the implication that the story feels vague and messy because "oh you were not aware of viseral realism? Foucalt or Borges? Too bad you won't understand the story!".

Recoleta suffers from this issue of TELL than SHOW that for me, quickly diminished my interest in her as a character: constantly she makes literary references to character tropes and conventions in storytelling that feel forced and clunky. Her character as a writer is communicated by TELLING you over and over "oh hey thats foreshadowing! Yk, because Im writing a novel you see?", alot of her dialogue feels like her citings definitions and tropes and stories that don't explore her character beyond the archtype of a 'ambious writer who often doesn't listen to others'. And this isn't to argue that Recoleta needed to have a drastic breakdown or 180 of her personality, its instead that her character from point A to point B, start and end of the patch does not learn, change or progress in any meaningful way. The plot reveal with she is a ghost, a construct from an unfinished novel then feels hollow, and the quick recovery from her near 'death' experience is over so quickly the impact is not there. The story has to TELL you she made friends with Sonetto and Vertin, rather than showing any genuine connection, often times you constantly watch Sonetto and Recoleta disagree and argue.

Her 'friendship' to Sonetto and Vertin is extremely weak and arguably non-existent, the dynamic between them feels extremely unatural especially since Sonetto and Vertin in this patch become walking signposts of expostion and lore; their lack of reaction to the events of Comala and much of their screentime is spent reminding you this is a main story. This can be highlighted in the part where Recoleta explains her novel 'The Rise and Fall of Sanity' - here characters talk AT each other than WITH each other, Vertin flips between either extremely apprehensive to weirdly accepting of Recoleta's novel throughout the patch. Her responses and reactions are reduced to simply accknowledging what Recoleta says, before promptly shifting the conversation to something else entirely. This is the dynamic of the three for the whole patch written as 'friendship'.

Moreover, Bluepoch have shown in the past they can tell compelling narratives with complex concepts - see 1.4 and 1.7: those patches were completely understandable and equally enjoyable to anyone not similar to mathematics or operas/ the play of Tosca. These patches organically introduced the audience to see these ideas in tandem with its characters in a way that the characters shine first and foremost: you don't need to understand Freud or his concepts to grasp Kakania, or have an indepth understanding of Tosca. The story is able to stand on its own with the references serving to enhance the story. In the case of 2.6, the entire backbone and forefront of its story is entirely based on these literary references and jargon that characters ultimately fall flat without them. Recoleta's character cannot stand without the inspirations to her character and the literary references - she embodies the "ghost that can only exist the story" to a detrimental degree.

Any time the story gets remotely close to explaining the ideas it presents, either another completely different idea is introduced, or especially in the case of the Idealist proceed to bombard you with even more literary jargon. In the case of 1.5, the mathematics explored ties into the system of Aperion, but equally is used to explore 37, Sophia and 6's connection to each other and crucially ties to the Storm Immunity Ritual - however in 2.6 retaining anything the Idealist, Octavia or really anyone in the prison is meaningless and its quickly discarded by the end of the patch.

In general, 2.6 presents ideas around Viseral Realism and the Latin American Literary Movement but does not attempt to explore them in greater depth or explain to the player - I believe the confusion many players have been feeling in not understanding the story stems from a central issue this patch has putting knowledge of context and reference foremost than the actual story and characters. Once again, I have no issue with the ideas presented, I have in issue in HOW they were and the LACK of diagetically explaining these ideas.

This is a main story chapter

Argubly, this patch being a main story feels like an afterthought: the inclusion of Urd's sections as not an anecdote but intercut unvoiced cutscenes, the the gimicky and ultimately useless inclusion of the Comala Die as one of the five objects mentioned in 2.5 and the boat at the end leads to me seeing the patch as originally a event patch, but changed to a main story (speculation this part, but it feels it should have been 2.4 as the main story patch and not this one).

In isolation, if this was an event story I wouldn't be as critical of the writing and characters: however the fact that this is the progression of the 2.0 main story and the prelude to 2.8 the finale of 2.0 series makes this patch worse. In what way you ask? The fact that so little impact and information provided by this patch means it is easy to just skip this patch with the most vital information provided being from 2.4 especially. The patch provides little to no critcial information about the ritual happening in Antarctica, anything on Urd that couldn't be guessed by the player already or anything on the Manus activities. Rather the patch invalidates its own reason to be a main story patch - it doesn't take you long for the story to tell you there is not reason for Vertin or Sonetto to be there. Urd had already left for Antractica, the Manus sans Diggers have abandoned the prison because the Die of Komala no longer was important - leaving the sole plot of the patch resolving around Recoleta and Aleph being penpals and the eventual burning of the Prison.

Vertin and Sonetto are non existent in the patch as well, there relevance to the plot fades almost to npcs and bystanders to Recoleta and Aleph despite once again being a main story patch focused on Vertin finding Urd - already this is the second insistence of the two being sidelined in the plot by patch characters. While the focus playables should be given the forefront of screen time of focus in a patch, the problem with 2.6 is that Vertin and Sonetto almost COMPLETELY disappear into the background so much that hearing a single line from them reminds you oh yeah this is a main story patch.

Their characters also suffer as well, despite the earlier connection Sonetto and Recoleta share before entering the Prison over poetry, this connection is never expanded upon or even addressed again because the story shifts gears and becomes purely focused on telling and reminding you Recoleta is a writer and her penpal Aleph is somewhere in the Prison. Alot of points, especially in the cell when Recoleta tells Vertin and Sonetto about her novel the dialogue feels forced, character are talking AT each other and WITH each other. It rarely feels like the trio have any chemistry outside of being a method of exposition of Recoleta's novel.

Alot of my interest in Vertin as MC has not her agency in the story and motivations that carry through each patch, however this is not the case here. Vertin barely speaks unless it is to provide exposition and to move the plot from point A to point B - you would effect a character who spent their childhood treated as an outcast by her peers, often sent into the guardhouse and constantly told to conform would have any opinion on the state of the Prison's systems, but no. Vertin becomes reduced to an NPC in the background pushing the plot forward. Chapter 9 could have easily been used similar to 2.1 Tuesday's motel exploring Vertin's fears, here it could have explored the ramifications of her being a black sheep of SPDM that could mirror treatment of the arcanists in the Prison. Instead over time in the patch Vertin starts to feel like a movement from Point A to Point B.

Urd's sections had the potential to explore her character and potentially give vital lore information about her - instead her sections become extremely pace breaking with the lack of voicing. In a patch that already spends much of its time in the same rooms and hallways with characters purely talking to each other, her sections drag out the runtime to only confirm to the players that Urd had already leave the prison for Antarctica. Despite being sections seemingly dedicated to her, Urd feels like an afterthough in these sections, more designated to flesh out the characters and community in Comala and to some degree this works in exploring Octavia's change and eventual opposition to the Idealist.

Moment in the final volume of Urd's the culminates in the fracturing between Octavia and Idealist, and Urd challenging the perverse nature of the Die as fate was so fascinating ... and then it ends. This patch has a trend of introducing concepts but ultimately stops itself from exploring it further once again, reinforcing that feeling of an afterthought. This is more apparent because these sections feel connected but so removed at the same time as we the players once Urd's section is over, understand and may sympathise with Octavia, but ultimately this goes nowhere since Vertin and Sonetto have no way of knowing what happened between Urd and Octavia .

I don't like the idea that because viseral realism does have the central concept of "taking life as it is" therefore everything should be taken almost at surface value and not beyond, this must extend to everything in this patch as well. Telling us ultimately us not exploring the prisoners, the Jailer, Aleph and Recoleta is intentional feels like shallow writing because this is a MAIN story patch, meant to be an arc in a larger overarching story that progresses the plot. All this patch has done over and over tell you the player that nothing can be gleaned from it.

The ending revelation that Recoleta's conversation with Urd wasn't Urd going to Comala, but instead it was her leaving to Antractica - communicating to the player had Vertin not run into Recoleta, the whole plot of the patch likely would not have happened. Even worse when you realise the only importance of the patch was Aleph's boat in all seriousness.

The situation looks worse if you consider the experience of a newcomer, it will take a year for the 2.0 event patches to be archived and rerun so only 2.2 and 2.6 and 2.8 might be their only exposure to the 2.0 series, and that is alot of missing context and lore that 2.6 simply does not provide.

I argue that the concept and premise of the story is fascinating: exploring the nature of literature to madness, the premise giving the potential to explore the suffering, oppression and mistreatment of arcanists and overall mental health. However I feel this story struggles between reconciling it being a main story patch and not an event, juggling concepts around viseral realism and Latin American literary movements that it fails to explain to players by using to simply throw them into the deep end that the narrative and characters feel less in quality.

Extra thoughts

What about the character stories? You have to read them to understand Recoleta and Aleph! - I disagree with this take, character stories just like the references serve to enhance the narrative of the patch, be places to provide and explore more context to a character's wants and needs already present in the main story but give a separate or new angle to view the character, 2.5 Noire's and Liang's stories highlight this. Back to 1.6 - Isolde's character story for example is argubly not vital to understanding her character, the main story of Chapter 6 explores her extremely well. Her character story therefore serves to enhance that understanding through the context of her family already alluded to in main story. It should be a place introducing new contexts and not an attempt to salvage their character.

I also take issue with how Aleph's actions as the overseer of Comala are not addressed for the implications and sufferings they caused the prisoners of Comala: the story's central conflict argues how the prisoners are all arcanist ostracized and cast out by society unjustly into this prison and labelled as insane and as criminals. The story establishes how Aleph, via The Idealist and The Physician effectively exploited the population, conducted experiments including lobotomies yet the story ultimately brushes everything under the rug because of course nothing matters but the boat and his friendship with Recoleta.

I'd argue the blame is constantly shifted towards the arcanists instead of Aleph the human: "Its the Manus interference", "its the Idealist and Merlin", "Its Octavia's fault (she constantly is antagonised by the story as being the only one early on speaking out against the Idealist) and landing on "its Recoleta's fault and her novel". The patch seemingly tries to create sympathy for Aleph by suggesting his desire to seek the "transcendental truth" went out of his control alongside external factors caused what happened in Comala; avoiding any and all acknowledgement that he was to the highest degree responsible for most of the suffering but this is immediately swept away to focus on Recoleta and his' friendship and suddenly "I have a boat", we leave a burning Comala and barely indication is given that his actions are address thereafter.

Conclusion

In conclusion - I don't like 2.6. I gave it a second shot in Global because of how much unvoiced dialogue was present in CN, and I will argue Global made me dislike Recoleta less, for me, interesting concept and really fascinating reveal that ultimately fell flat because of how exactly she was in the story. But I do think the story, even if it was event or main story overall is one of the weakest in the game for me so far.

(Im feel free to ask me about patch, I am curious about how people see this patch if you want to discuss)

[ihaveforgortoomany]

Current rating for Global releases

(Aperion is there because of the stupid poison birds i got stuck on for a week and the boss for a another week with no 6 star with medpoc and dps being just eagle and pavia until I got marcus - otherwise i like the patch)

I don't like 2.6. I will explore this in the next post.

[ihaveforgortoomany]

This is my OC Neider, please do not steal

[ihaveforgortoomany]

my awesome oc, miisolde

[ihaveforgortoomany]

my oc biggers do not steal!!!

[ihaveforgortoomany]

;R1999 Vertin's Wheel, Unilogs, Fate and Summoning Analysis

Analysis and theories regarding the suitcase's wheel, unilogs, fate and the process of summoning characters as of the 2.8 patch.

It's been a while since I've written an analysis in this blog, but yesterday I had a sudden realization and after discussing it with the R99 RP server, I decided to properly expand on these ideas in case someone else is interested or can offer more insight!

Just as a heads up, this post will tackle big spoilers from the upcoming CN 2.8 patch!

As usual, the majority transcripts were taken from the R99 Transcript Neocities and the transcript project!

First of all, we must discuss Vertin's suitcase.

By now, everyone probably knows about the way Bluepoch integrates in-game mechanics, items and such as diegetic aspects of the world building--the most known example being Picrasma Candy, an item used by players to recover energy and keep playing, but also a real medicine within the universe of Reverse: 1999 created by Medicine Pocket to enhance an arcanist's own arcanum for a while.

Vertin's suitcase and everything related to it is no different; in the prologue, we see Vertin save Regulus from the "Storm" by taking her into the suitcase, which acts as some sort of pocket dimension with a living space for her team; the Wilderness is also confirmed to be a real space that people can explore, as we see many times throughout the main story and anecdotes; Ms. NewBabel's critter business within the suitcase is also real, being mentioned on advertisements in one of 2.5 Showdown in Chinatown's trails.

In Stage 6 "The Living Past" of the game's prologue, we get introduced to the suitcase proper. This is the only instance we have of Vertin using an incantation to lead Regulus inside the living quarters and Wilderness proper.

Vertin: … Relax, Regulus. I will tell you, but not here. Say this with me … Neirü milde en tiün bonan nokton. Take my hand. Let me take you into the suitcase.

We also get some descriptions of what's inside these living quarters--the majority are various things that Vertin has rescued from previous eras, the most important being the photos and documents about the people she's met across time. She confirms that her suitcase and anything she puts inside can brave the "Storm," and avoid being reversed--we now know that arcanists of all sorts can also do this, a loading screen from the game added during 1.5 "Revival! The Uluru Games" clarifies by stating that humans can enter, but they need to find a "Storm" immune place outside to avoid being reversed. The suitcase is also affected to a degree by external forces--if one were to shake it, the people inside might feel an earthquake. But this also happens on reverse--the seeds Druvis III plants drops inside grow outside of the suitcase and take over the St. Pavlov Foundation's courtyard.

Then we have the spinning wheel and the lake. These two things are introduced immediately after the prologue, in the chapter "In Our Time," Stage 1 "Wretched Brats." We know that Vertin has never been to this part of the Wilderness that holds the lake and the spinning wheel.

The outside scenery keeps changing and changing … What has remained unchanged for ages is the lake and an old spinning wheel. Regulus: *sobs* ... The records ... Don’t nick my records ... Vertin: ...! Her voice doesn’t sound right. I should go and take a look. This is where Vertin has never been.

The lake is said to be surrounded by a mist that causes everyone except Vertin to slowly fall unconscious, and the water of the lake is explicitly rainwater from the "Storm." The spinning wheel has "strange threads" that Vertin describes as two-dimensional and by following this thread, she summons Sonetto into the suitcase.

The line in her hand, technically the line-like thing in her hand which cannot be felt in any way, has gradually formed a path in her sight. And someone is going to be invited over. Spin it as you've done so many times. It's someone familiar. Sonetto: The lake is overflowing. It's cold, just like a flowing line … Wait, where am I?

During the early months of the game, a lot of us assumed that this scene was simply a way to introduce the gacha mechanic in a diegetic way, without truly having an actual impact on the story. And there is also the issue of explaining how could Vertin acquire members from eras outside of the 20th century, such as Charlie, The Fool, Dikke and Nick Bottom, when the main story never take us to their respective eras.

I want to argue that the former statement is not true; the summoning aspect is real within the universe, and that it explains the latter statement, giving a reason for these people to exist within the suitcase. There is already so much that explains game mechanic as diegetic, in-universe aspects that exist, so I don't see why this would be any different!

In 2.8 "Paradise Regained," we get a lot of information that ties in a lot of loose ends and plots set up by previous chapters; this is the patch that confirms Urd is indeed Vertin's mother.

The scene where they find each other is meant to point out the similarities between the two--the cave Urd is in, where the Manus ritual is taking place, also has the same exact mist as both Vertin's suitcase and Apeiron's cave, and it urges Vertin to remember her childhood in SPDM, namely moments in which she interacted with Urd or somehow remembered her but was never able to recognize her as her own mother. A glowing, golden thread, identical to the one that was used to summon Sonetto in the suitcase, leads Vertin to Urd, who has her very own spinning wheel.

The reveal here and all the references in Urd's own character point to the fact that she is, to some extent, fate itself or a weaver of fate. Her namesake comes from Norse Mythology, referencing one of the Norns, one of the three deities that weave the thread of fate and dictate the lives of mortals--Urðr.

Urd explains that, just like Vertin, only she seems to be able to see and sense these golden threads. And she also explains her purpose and calling. Here is my transcript of the spoken dialogue they have, and you can see it here in Merui's stream.

Urd: I will go with you, but not just yet. There is something I must finish, these threads I'm spinning. Vertin: Threads? Urd: Yes. Others don't seem to see them, but I do. It's strange, I don't know what they are but I know how to spin them. Does that sound ridiculous to you? Vertin: Not at all. In fact, I can see them too. But perhaps we should do it together, later when the danger has subsided. Urd: There may not be a later. I must finish this now. Vertin: Why? Is this worth more than your life? Urd: I believe it is. These threads must be spun so the all ruling law may be woven in. That is my purpose, my calling. That is why I was led here. That's why you're here too, is it not? To answer your calling?

Urd's role as the weaver of fate or existence as fate itself was foreshadowed by 6 at the end of Vereinsamt as well, when he talks to one of her many iterations, Ms. Marta.

Marta: I find myself uncertain of which way to go. Would you kindly give me some guidance? 6: The guidance I can offer you is limited, Ms. Marta. I think fate knows its own fate better than anyone.

Urd is aware of her purpose and calling to uphold the concept of fate itself, even if she may not understand it fully. And thus, we can understand that the golden threads being woven in her spinning wheel are the threads of fate--they led Vertin here, after all.

This patch also confirms that Urd was the reason Manus Vindictae's plans failed back in 1999, during the first "Storm," and how they're now using her as a catalyst to fulfill their plan by sabotaging her process of weaving--her spinning wheel above can be seen tainted with the characteristic Manus Vindictae black goo, and they force it to spin, taking the threads of fate into the well where Arcana's heart rests. Compare it to Vertin's own wheel in the suitcase.

This leads us to the following point: Urd guides upholds order through these golden threads, which represent people's fates and lives. Vertin, as her daughter, has a similar ability in relation to the summoning mechanic in-game, which explains why the banners are presented as the spinning of their threads. For example, the Golden Thread banners.

To follow this, I want to point out the other items involved in summoning! For example, the Unilog rabbits--they can come in Decalogs, which is a set of 10 Unilogs, and they can have different variations for the other unique types of banners (Boon of the Water, Promise of the Water, every Limited character banner, etc). But if you pay close attention, you may see that these rabbits contain a golden thread inside.

[UNILOG] The golden rabbit is a well known myth. It spies on people, steals their time, and sometimes even changes their fates. Though it's old, decrepit, and stale, it is unique and indispensable. [DECALOG] The storyteller never thought that golden rabbits could travel in packs. Nobody knows what this might entails, but no one chooses one single rabbit over more of it. [DECATONE] Now you see them, many, many rabbits. They change their appearance, whispering secrets. And you―you know what to do now, don't you?

The fact that they're seemingly made from the same thread of fate discussed before, along with these descriptions talking about stealing time, changing fates and the implication that the one using them--Vertin--knows what to do now, works to explain the gacha aspect as a diegetic feature.

Then, you have drops as a different type of currency--there are two types, Clear and Crystal. These items are explained as the "Storm" raindrops that didn't fully make it upwards before the "Storm" ended, Clear being the raindrops closer to the ground and Crystal being the ones closest to the clouds, hence why the latter are more valuable.

You may turn Crystal drops into Clear drops, and Clear drops into Unilogs, which draws a parallel between the threads of fate and "Storm" rainwater, leading to my next point: If these threads represent an organized and linear fate, "Storm" rainwater is chaotic fate in disarray.

Throughout the game, there is a lot of emphasis on the importance of water. It holds memories and information, the entirety of people's lives and entire eras, both metaphorically and literally. In 2.5, the one thing that remains of Pei City from 1.6 "Notes on Shuori" is one of Yenisei's vials from the river, which is highly coveted by Laplace to study and understand what could've transpired there. Yenisei's own arcanum revolves around the idea that water holds information, and can serve to return home. As mentioned previously, the mist in the Wilderness lake, Aperion's cave and the heart of Antarctica is special--we've seen it urge Vertin to remember, and in 1.4 "Prisoner of the Cave" that very same mist contains the same elements that are immune to the "Storm," Asymmetrical Nuclide R. And, above all, we know that the "Storm" itself takes entire eras away from the linear path of time.

In 2.8, Ulrich concludes that the "Storm" has always meant to be a flood--in 1999, Urd stopped this ritual somehow, and ever since then, every "Storm" has been a failed attempt at flooding the world through this water that will reverse everything to the past.

During Arcana's revival, she summons this very same flood across the entire globe, raising the water level of the entire planet. And the water has the same or even worse effects to the rainwater from the "Storm," as it causes those who touch it to disappear.

Thus, we understand that water is an important aspect of the story, and that this special water from the "Storm"/Flood holds the totality of history and chaos, being related to concepts such as time and space due to the way the "Storm" functions--it absorbs eras and people into it, taking them out of the linear thread of fate.

Hence why a second important aspect of the summoning batters is water. The First Drop of Rain, Abundance of the Water, Invitation from the Water, etc etc. These pictures were taken from the GL Fandom Wiki!

The way Vertin summons people is by weaving the golden thread and throwing Unilogs into the water, as explained by the in-game mail reminding players to use their Decatones before they expire.

All shall return to the waters, to tranquility. Before leaving, don't forget those special little rabbits of yours. Although they may not be able to embark on the next stage of your journey with you, they're more than prepared to jump into the lake.

So you could equate this to Vertin throwing a literal lifeline info the lake of the Wilderness to save and take people from the chaos of history, stealing their time and altering their fate--and because it's "Storm"/Flood water, it's possible to bypass linear timelines, thus reaching characters from beyond the 20th century like Dikke, Nick Bottom, Charlie and The Fool.

There are other details to support this entire theory that I had no idea where to fit in, so they're going here as an extra round!

The Crystal Drops, canonically a much more valuable currency than Crystal Drops, are the currency used to buy different garments--some of these garments are diegetic, meaning that they do exist within the canon of the world (think of Sonetto's free garments that show up throughout the main story, Regulus pilot garment which makes a cameo in 37's anecdote) but some of them are not (6's detective garment from 2.0, we know he doesn't ever leave the island, Voyager's 1.9 garment, or any of the garments from 1.6 as it's physically impossible for any character from Vertin's team to have visited Pei City)

If we remember that drops are "Storm" rainwater and that Crystal drops were closest to the cloud, therefore stronger in their effect, we could explain these non-diegetic garments as Vertin acquiring a glimpse into different or alternate timelines in which these situations are possible. Which would also explain Diggers as a whole, since he's portrayed as his 1.1 "Theft of the Rimet Cup" self as a playable character while his 1.4 garment is actually the canonical fate he suffers in the main story, having joined Manus Vindictae. The only caveat to this is the Grandfather Clock Paradox explained by X and Regulus, which states that it's impossible for two versions of one person to exist at the same time.

Moving on. Unilogs are represented by rabbits, and I'm pretty sure there is no myth regarding golden rabbits that steal time--but Vertin as a character has been officially related to rabbits, like the latest offline masquerade event, or her themes as the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, solidifying her role as the Timekeeper but also someone who also guides others and alters their fate.

Also, Urd, Vertin and Arcana seem to also represent the three Norns of Norse Mythology--as usual, I only had a very surface research reading Wikipedia articles, so if you have more insight on this feel free to correct me. As far as I know, the Norns are tied to three springs or wells scattered in different places, which coincidentally match the three locations in Reverse 1999 that carry the same mist--Vertin's suitcase, Apeiron's cave and the heart of Antarctica, furthering the parallels between these three characters and the concept of fate.

I think that's pretty much everything I wanted to talk about! Thanks to the R99 RP server for hearing me out and fueling my deranged ideas!

[ihaveforgortoomany]

It seems another two have escaped oof

Behold more yippies

[ihaveforgortoomany]

(Oc lore)

(Full art below)

[ihaveforgortoomany]

Patch bingo card weeee

[ihaveforgortoomany]

Random thought for 2.8 before I drops in *checks watch* 30 ish hours

So far we have no idea what Beryl is doing, all we know currently is that she possibly had a hand in the breaking to the ACD and 5 artifacts being stolen and circulated to the Manus and other parties.

2.5 hints at how powerful Beryl is, a powerful diviner that the Foundation considered her important enough to give a safehouse (and potentially not have Matilda get reversed in the Breakaway). With Scott she:

-controlled Scott and maybe one of the nurses remotely

-clearly is trying to hide herself from bring found by Matilda (smashing all the crystal balls) and the Vigils (Black Ibis and the "big fish they have been chasing")

- somehow was able to manipluate someone with very low arcane skill to break extremely strong arcanum to steal the artifacts

- more importantly for this, alter the memories of people: with Scott one of the trails included her meeting both Matilda and Beryl at some point, but note how Scott is unable to recall clear details of Beryl's appearance

Beryl has the ability to alter memories enough tk effect someone's long term memory, or at least not just a recent memory.

This is a wild guess and speculation treated to Urd and Vertin, Vertin can only vaguely remember her mother existing but not appearance (she already had met Urd/ Martha but never really questioned if Martha was).

Now we have a shot in the cg that could potentially be a flashback to a moment between Urd and Vertin that she potentially should be the age to remember her mother's appearance (I theorise shes oldest 8 and 6 at best with that shot).

And again recall how in The Star Hoffman records how everyone had vague memories around the First Storm.

Theory or well wild guess: Beryl had a hand in Vertin not remembering Urd's appearance, or preventing her from remembering onwards from the First Storm.

Maybe shes been hiding Urd as well from the Foundation ever knowing she existed. (This is the wildest one)

We don't have enough on Beryl, and I don't think we will see anything conclusive to Matilda's plotline in this patch series, so maybe Im throwing ideas at a brick wall.

[ihaveforgortoomany]

2.8 PV Analysis of this shot with Urd/Dores (not Global Friendly)

Alr so my biggest question about this scene is exactly when it takes place, my initial thought was that this was Vertin and Urd reuniting, and once again Vertin somehow got knocked out again but this time actually gets to meet Urd. However Urd's clothes don't match Dores or the outfit in the teaser. And the hand Urd is holding seems younger.

For reference this is Vertin's hand currently, note the slender fingers and the cuffs of her tailcoat (?) blazer has the ruffles on the forearm than her wrist, so the shot definitely isn't current Vertin but when she was younger.

So I went to grab a couple of cgs of Vertin's hands

There is a discrepancy here I think: Vertin's hand in the 2.8 cg is clearly a younger version of herself, so I assumed it was her younger 8 year old self, or even younger. However looking at the fragment of the cuff of that sleeve its slightly flared - the only SPDM uniform with that flared design is on Vertin's outfit when she was 12 during the Breakaway Incident. The cuff is also more form fitting on the older SPDM outfit then the one she wears in her youngest depiction.

Maybe its really hard to see how the fabric is being pulled back by Urd in that shot, but overall its hard to exactly place when this shot happens. The background looks like curtains surrounding them, maybe this is a dream? The outfit Urd is wearing is completely new and now the one she wears in the next shot of her (the Manus one) or any previous iteration.

What am I getting at? The shot looks like Urd is holding a younger possibly 12 year old Vertin, even though this never happened/ Vertin has never met Urd up until 2.2/2.8. So my wild guesses are:

This is before the First Storm, Urd had been blind prior to the Storm and potentially gained her blindess in the war she was in with igor. Therefore Vertin was already a member of the SPDM or living where her mum worked essentially. However we have seen a younger Vertin in chapter 3 and I don't think the First Storm could have reset Vertin's age back, or maybe this is a flashback and the Vertin depicted is in fact maybe 8: im not entirely sure on this one.

This is Arcana messing with Vertin again, but this time with Urd: the whole scene is a fabrication by Arcana in order to manipluate Vertin to doing something. However I also see this as unlikely: back with Schneider Vertin remained her current self, and wasn't aged down in that illusion. Maybe Arcana could be attempting a stronger illusion to fool Vertin here.

Vertin seems to be awake in that scene, actively reaching out to Urd here. I do think its a neat detail that Vertin has always been known for showing affection through touch, either hand holding or headpats.

Wild theory here: Vertin's method of affection through touch was born from her mother's blindness, communicating affection through touch that even if she can't remember her mother, that still remains.

It would be nice if this patch gave us flashbacks of Vertin with Urd, answers to Urd's blindness or memory.

[ihaveforgortoomany]

Lets go 43 ish pulls for liang and 20 for noire lets goo i can save for 2.8

(Im not pulling anyone until 2.8 lmao)