#Phoenix point

[soup-mother]

did anyone actually play phoenix point without being paid to? i know it had updates and stuff but it just looks like a "spiritual sucessor to xcom" by the original xcom guy that somehow was just...xcom 2 war of the chosen.... like you haven't made OG xcom fans happy and it's basically just xcom 2 wotc but a bit different.

[chaoticevilspacewitch]

I really wish I was into these gacha games full of cute anime girls with all these sapphic stories and implicit/explicit yuri, but that's not a game style I like.

Someone make X-Com or Phoenix Point like that, and let me cry as I debate ending an Ironman run after someone's girlfriend gets eviscerated by alien fungus monsters.

[captainbragd-personal]

pandoravirus: Carcinisation speedrun

[untilteddocument]

So I've Been Thinking About: Phoenix Point

Welcome to the inaugural So I've Been Thinking About, a journal series where I talk about things I find interesting or appealing about various pieces of media, often video games. This time, I'm gonna talk about Phoenix Point, a very PC-style strategy/RPG (by that, I mean more X-COM than Fire Emblem) designed by none other than X-COM creator Julian Gollop himself.

The basic premise is, you're the last remnants of your organization, some of humanity's finest, navigating a post-apocalyptic world filled with monsters and untrusting people, fighting to survive and end the threat of the monsters. Not all that distinctive, right?

Well...

Has The Sweet Breeze Blown

The actual premise is that of a world still going through the throes of social, political, and environmental collapse. A climate-change-thawed mutagenic pathogen, dubbed the Pandoravirus (the game was released in 2019 with backstory elements written since 2017, so considering that and similar dynamics being observable since at least the Spanish Flu in the early 20th century, I don't believe that the comparison to SARS-CoV-2 being The Coronavirus was intentional), is in the process of rewriting every ecosystem on Earth, impeded in no way whatsoever by the now-crumbled world of neoliberal and neoconservative capitalism, who used it as yet another excuse for its endless rounds of power plays.

In the face of destruction, humanity retreated to havens, small settlements where they can exist without attracting too much attention from the eerily-conscious mist and the creatures it made out of family and fauna. Precarious though they are, enough havens hold. People make it through each day as best they can, slowly reaching out via long-distance communication and careful trade by aircraft, and they spend the next 25 years coming together into three relatively solid factions:

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The right-wing militarists of New Jericho, led by soldier-businessman-business, man-philosopher-king Tobias West. Hammered out of his pre-collapse PMC, Vanadium, Tobias West seeks to claw normality and humanity back from the jaws of the alien...at the very least, what he deems normal and human.

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The anarchist assemblies of Synedrion, who coalesced from refugees, revolutionaries, and independent scientific groups who were trying to share data on the mist that was being hoarded and used for saber-rattling by the governments of the world. At once insular and forward-thinking, they seek to realize their dreams of a world without hierarchies...if they can all agree on how.

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The mysterious and obscurantist Disciples of Anu, a radical transhumanist cult born from the shards of doomsday cults that had seen the world die, and, at long last, see an opportunity to birth a better one in its place. Led by an ecclesiastical hierarchy culminating in the enigmatic Exalted, they accept the vast waves of change enveloping the world while rejecting its more destructive effects...but secrets are ever present in their halls.

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Dealing with all, any, or none of them is the player's group, the Phoenix Project, the latest iteration of a long but often-broken chain of secret societies that had stumbled upon the same information and dared to know (their motto, in fact: Sapere Aude) and prepare for what was coming.

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It's The World I Know

Let's go over a few details there and how they change the tone of the story as a whole. In post-apocalyptic scenarios, there is, of course, the apocalypse to explain. What caused it, how people reacted, what replaced the old world, what the new environment makes possible and impossible.

Going through the in-game snippets as well as the short stories included with the game and on the official site, Phoenix Point is clear on what led things to where they are. Yes, the Pandoravirus mist, the people it took control of, the monsters it made of them and the ecosystem itself, those were all horrific force majeure that no ready-made solution would have easily solved.

However, no solution was ready at all, because nobody in power cared. This is one of two things that all factions agree on. The Powers That Were saw Tobias West as a dumb hick with soldiers they could use for their squabbles. The Powers That Were saw the Firebird Initiative and the people of their own countries as greater threats to their power than the mist. The Powers That Were ignored the sick and suffering who then, bereft of hope, sought to find it in cults and from anyone else who promised it. When The Powers That Were at last saw that the mist was an actual problem...they tried to leave the rest of the world to die.

I'm just going to...leave that there, and...let people chew on that for a bit.

Every faction is a response to this last severing of ties. Tobias West let his customers throw their bought-and-paid-for rocks at each other while he focused on solidifying his holdings, crafting Vanadium into a force that could weather the collapse. The Firebird Initiative and the various refugees and revolutionaries that would become Synedrion didn't even have to change their strategy; they defied the governments of the world and worked on technologies to save others outside the grip of monetization and weaponization. The Disciples of Anu reached out to the infected, those abandoned by everyone else as lost causes, and gave them a way to live.

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And I Laughed At Myself While The Tears Rolled Down

I do mean live, by the way. Distinct from mere existence. The mood of the game is so powerful in part because of the care it takes to be so deftly unambiguous about what people are looking for, even staring out at a wasteland. People need to have fun.

People need humor.

People need lives outside of survival.

The factions feel so much more real because the writers understood how to make them feel like they're populated with characters rather than plot devices. It goes into the factions' overall characterization as well. The leadership of New Jericho and the Disciples, despite their moments, often seem reluctant to accept the frivolous (in the former's case) or the unsanctioned (in the latter's case) as part of what they are. By contrast, Synedrion is full of jokes and memes, though in turn the other two factions would probably say that this and their tendency to argue distracts them from important work. That factional interplay is a big part of what helps me care about the world, because I can imagine these people being the ones to inherit it.

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Has All Kindness Gone

The big uniting concept that gets me about Phoenix Point is that despite being a horror story and a war story, it never ends on the more unsavory conclusions that often arise in those stories. It is true that times are grim, and trust is scarce, but Phoenix Point reinforces that people have to care. Fiercely, bravely, people have to care.

Care about our memories.

Care about each other, even if it's not safe.

It's a bit of a read, but "The Interrogation" is one of my favorite short stories for the insight it offers.

Quick note: Spoilers ahead

Despite it being the "wrong decision," I don't think Lt. Petyaeva was wrong for reaching out to Amanda whether by my standard or the narrative's. Despite being unable to countermand the Pandoravirus's orders, interrogating her while denying her personhood would not only have been outright useless, it would have been a denial of Lt. Petyaeva's humanity as well. In a way, both of them were denied personhood. "Subject 16 is not a person." "We don't get to choose our fate anymore. We all have to do our part." What's more tragic is, considering the short story "Harbinger," which is likely about "that woman in Greenville," if Amanda had been picked up by the Disciples of Anu rather than New Jericho, she would have had a chance to live.

End spoilers

It's not just that story either. Hell, Citizen Zhara of Synedrion outright voices her thoughts on the matter in-game.

This sort of sentiment isn't unheard of in other stories, of course, but oftentimes, it's presented as foolish naivete that will only get them killed, or at best a tragic dream that is chosen in the place of survival.

What does Phoenix Point have to say about it?

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Hope Still Lingers On

Quick note: Spoilers ahead

In the end, Zhara's hopes are proven not only well-founded, but reachable, and the game lets you do so. In her specific ending scenario (Synedrion has two subfactions you can support; hers is the Polyphonic tendency, which refuses all hierarchies, including man vs. nature), Synedrion is able to break the mind control on the Pandorans, freeing them as well as humanity and allowing for true coexistence. They do gloss over the method somewhat, but what we are given seems plausible enough, certainly no less believable than New Jericho's idea that nuking the final boss will be a permanent solution. Either way, rather than promoting detached cynicism disguised as stoic realism, the devs emphasize the importance of the player caring enough to take a side. The absolute worst ending you can get comes when you don't make a choice, just hedge your bets until the end. You end up resolving to commit a genocidal atrocity, the factions put their differences aside to try and stop you, you wipe out 90% of the population of the world, and end up taking authoritarian control over everyone left because no other option exists at that point. Even the New Jericho ending, which results in a war of extermination even in the face of evidence that the Pandorans aren't essentially hostile but enslaved and mind-controlled, at least leaves more people alive. (The same consideration for the enemy is present in some measure in XCOM 2, where the Elders are shown as having to put their entire faction, ranging from their vat-grown ADVENT soldiers to their elite alien troops, under constant mind control or else many of them would surrender or turn on their masters. It was a nice touch, and part of why I also hold XCOM 2's story in high regard.)

End spoilers

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Why Am I Even Using Collective Soul Lyrics For This

This has been meandering and probably incoherent, and believe me, I could go on, but I think that's enough for now. There's plenty of words out there about the gameplay, but not many about these aspects of the story and general mood, as far as I've found. This game had so much I've been looking for, and I hope I've managed to explain why.

[todayinfiction]

TODAY IN FICTION: A mutagenic alien disease is discovered frozen under the ice caps in Phoenix Point (🇧🇬/🇩🇪2019)

Unspecified date, 2022

Two and a half million years ago, an ancient and advanced hominin species emerged in Antarctica. Their civilisation was destroyed by a disease introduced from the planet Yuggoth in the outer Solar System; a disease which would later become known as the Pandoravirus. This virus was a deadly mutagen, capable of transforming any living creatures into terrible monsters, but thankfully it became trapped in the ice beneath the frozen continent.

Today, an operative from the Phoenix Point organisation travels to Antarctica to investigate reports of a possible biohazard at an outpost near McMurdo Station. There he discovers the science team has been mutated into horrifying abominations after a sample of the Pandoravirus thawed from the permafrost.

With climate change and the melting of the ice caps ever-worsening, it seems like it won’t be long until the virus is able to break out into the ocean. Perhaps it already has, and horrors beyond comprehension lurk just out of sight beneath the waves...

This information comes from a series of short stories that were released online during the game’s development. The events mentioned in this post mostly come from The Tomb of the Phoenix and Semper Fidelis written by Jonas Kyratzes in 2017. Phoenix Point was released on this day three years ago.

[hiscursedness]

Phoenix Point (Snapshot Games, 2019)

[ironmyrmidon]

So cruel of Phoenix Point to give me a level map with a crumbling bridge that can be destroyed with explosives and then use that map almost exclusively for the one faction that's all snipers.

[o0kawaii0o]

Ace Attorney x Hades

[cyberdhole2069]

[Vtuber] Red Lobster was the first to fall, right in the middle of Lobsterfest. (Phoenix Point)

[bittersnsweetz]

Art request for @cyandreamz >:] Thank you so much for this, it is a very fitting headcanon

Also for anyone curious this is the message I translated and then copied! (I didnt think excessively hard about it but i knew i wanted to write SOMETHING. also i know zero german so if there are spelling and grammatical errors I am sorry)

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Flower Empowered.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[kata-kemi]

🔥Murisa - Eye of Fire - lvl 19 Monk I love my firebender monk (even she is more closer to a druid in The Plane of Fire) with supeority complex.

[corviiids]

as part of my pitch re: this post please see below my original concept donut steal for an "if phoenix wright had to catch kira death note" au. best regards

more about this, probably:

this is probably the last case of the game where it transpires that all the other apparent murders in the game have been somehow set up as part of kira's master plan (kira has found creative ways to get around the fact that you can't use the death note to force one person to kill another person and also around rule 10 of the death note that a written death cannot cause other deaths. if you have further queries regarding this matter please do not hesitate to contact me via email best regards)

framing L involves setting up an elaborate murder scene with preset evidence where L is in precisely the wrong spot at the wrong time. L of course anticipated this

the detective character is soichiro, but the real detective character for most of the game is his son light who is a very helpful young man and in fact is the one making most of the contributions

L is ostensibly a detective character too but he mostly just shows up, licks some evidence, blinks at you, and fades out. until he gets arrested

the prosecutor is still miles edgeworth. consider the following:

edgeworth: we have security footage of the defendant holding the murder weapon, at the time of the murder, standing directly in front of the victim, using the weapon on the victim, and then the victim dies

phoenix: okay... but... what if there was a magic notebook

[untilteddocument]

After-Action Archive Phoenix Point 2nd Gig - Hack the Planet, Part 2

Note: Being that this is an ending-related entry, unmarked spoilers ahead!

Welcome back, one and all, to my After-Action Archive! This is the second part of my recap of the final Phoenix Point mission when aligned with the Disciples of Anu. Let's get to it.

Last we left off, we'd just gotten past the Pandoran gatekeepers. The only thing left between the Exalted hijacking the Yuggothian Receptacle and turning into Good Nyarlathotep is...the Yuggothian Receptacle itself, plus a few elite guards and gradual but endless reinforcements.

First off, we parked ourselves at the gate, waited for the fire to burn out (it was a little close and I didn't want any careless moves to result in unnecessary damage), and slowly refreshed our Willpower Points. It took a few rounds, but we weren't speedrunning this, so patience was our ally. After everyone was good and ready, we put in.

The final charge was a bit trickier than the gatekeeper battle. For one, fewer and tougher enemies with more space between them and starting farther away from us means even a Terminator or Jedi would have trouble starting and sustaining the kill chain.

Micaela was able to get some shots in on the Siren and Chiron who were crowded together over on the right side, and the Siren in the central hallway was pretty easy pickings, but that Chiron on the left side was able to get off a shot...

...that totally missed, so fuck 'em! Ms. Howard and Ms. Brown with some support fire from friends below paid it a visit and brought it down.

There were some reinforcements that managed to catch us, but they were of little concern. However, it wasn't entirely sunshine and rainbows.

The Yuggothian Receptacle doesn't have immediate power on its side, but Mark of the Void offers inevitability, and every turn we spent dealing with the bodyguards was one more turn it had to wear us down. The good thing is, thanks to the Legacy of Ancients weapons having no ammo requirements, we definitely had more kick than it had ass. The trick was bringing it to bear fast enough. Cue montage.

Aside from a few required heal-ups from the Technicians, it was pretty steady going. There were a few rocks in the grind, though, in the form of those reinforcements. Two of them had the Tar Shadow ability, and I was running low on incendiary grenades. 'Course, killing them with fire isn't the only way to deal with the problem.

There's also...not killing them.

The first one, a gun-toting, grenade-launching Scourge which appeared during our approach, I had the Exalted mind control. No need to worry about it dying if it's helping us out. As a plus, Ms. El-Haddad's Synod head was paying the upkeep cost of the mind control, so all the Exalted had to do was stick nearby her.

Next up was another Scourge that came up from the rear, and Milas Johnston was the rearguard. In addition to sidestepping Tar Shadow, the benefit of not killing reinforcements is they don't send more reinforcements to replace them. Aside from mind control, the other way to safely not-kill them?

Paralysis.

That Athena sniper rifle put its two cents in nicely, stymieing both the Scourge and a Shieldbearer that tried to hold the line. Two shots each was all it took, and while the Scourge did manage a Return Fire burst on him, it wasn't anything that a Technician couldn't patch up.

Turns basically started to blur together.

Step 1) Find hole

Step 2) Fill with bullet

It's like the most bare-bones summary for TF2 porn ever.

Still, we kept the pressure on, and before long, we were listening to the sweet, sweet sounds of victory.

The Exalted was able to handle her end of the plan, and we were able to head out, fulfilled and comforted by the knowledge that our god was a hot giant squid lady, and she was right over there.

Thanks to everyone who stuck with me for this recap, and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it! I'm not sure if I'll do any more of these even if I do another playthrough, but never say never, I guess, so until next time.

[bitterseaproduction]

AA7 game idea? Playing AS Eustace Winner. As a prosecutor. With a new face/Athena as your main rival, Edgeworth as your main mentor, and Phoenix Wright as your final prosec- I mean defense lawyer.

Give me back Phoenix Wright, but as my Red in Pokémon: The final boss you have to take on. Make me prove to Phoenix Wright himself that his client is guilty against all his bluffs & efforts, without dismissing or disrespecting his faith in his clients. Make a tale of struggling to reach justice and truth from the other bench, with all the conflict of Case 2-4 but without a kidnapping motivation or an early villain reveal. Make us tear apart the lies and fight to make everyone, including Phoenix, face the truth, only to underline how it was never that he should have doubted his client, but that he should trust US. Trust the prosecution even when their name isn’t Miles Edgeworth to help him find the truth.

Give me back Phoenix Wright, show him at his strongest, but also show that, even at your peak, there are still new lessons to learn from new perspectives.

[v3nuskae]

I love BratFeen fanfiction that's basically like:

(Sorry for the bad doodle. I have so much art ideas rn that I feel like I'm going to explode if I don't do all of them.)