#lobcorp scenario

[judey-80085]

3 cheers for sinclair

[leonawriter]

I have another (bigger) post in the works, but the concept and argument of "Would things have gone better if Angela had been allowed to be kind to the Sephirah?" keeps sticking in my head, because I have my own arguments against it based on the setting and the concept of the Seed of Light Scenario.

(Post has spoilers for the end LobCorp/LoR.)

Thing is, going through Angela's memories in LoR makes what she went through seem unreasonable. Which I think it's supposed to, since you're seeing things from her biased perspective. It's also fair to show her perspective; she's the main character of her game, and as she herself points out, she's the only one who didn't get her own catharsis and conclusion from Lobotomy Corporation (an argument can also be made for Ayin himself not having a perfect conclusion, but that's for another time, and other people have talked on it).

The problem with Angela being able to simply be kind the way she wanted to at the start lies purely and solely in the very nature of the Seed of Light, and also in the tagline of the Corporation/game itself:

Face the Fear, Build the Future.

In order for each of the Sephirah to "Face their Fear," each one has to break the veneer of their shell, have their meltdown, and air their ugliest thoughts.

In other words.... the selves that they have as Sephirah - Gabriel vs. Yesod, Daniel vs. Chesed, for example - are masks for their insecurities and traumas. "In the past, [x trait] caused me to fail, therefore I will have nothing to do with that trait and be better that way."

In that sense, Angela encouraging them to be the best that they can be as Sephirah is encouraging them to remain happily in their own masks, not requiring them to take said masks off, and in theory things could remain the way they are like that in perpetuity (ironically, much like Hokma wanted in his meltdown).

Sure, they'd get what they want... but would they be getting what they need?

Answer says No, Not Really. With a loud buzzer. And flashing lights.

Because what was that tagline again?

Face the Fear, Build the Future.

In order to face the fear, you have to accept that it exists in the first place. The first step to solving your problems is to recognise them.

You have to, quite literally, face your fears. The Sephirah had to each face the fact that they were running away from their problems.

Only by remembering who they were (in the correct way) and allowing them to process the grief, despair, rage, and turmoil of their past selves could they hope to accept that fully, and to build themselves into better versions of who they are, starting from that moment on.

It's pretty much a certainty that Ayin, who studied the brain, who almost certainly knew a lot about psychology, and who would have listened to the specialities of the others, would have had all of this in mind while writing the Script.

So like... yeah. Yeah, it IS cruel to Angela. Unconscionably cruel!

Personally I abide by this being part of the reason (much like how he couldn't face the others while they were dying) why he could never look at Angela the way she wanted him to; much like with them, he could see the suffering she was going [to] go through, and couldn't face her.

All of which is the reason why Library of Ruina was necessary for her own character development. She is justifiably upset over never having been given the same catharsis in Lobotomy Corporation - but with how much anger she has at Ayin, would she have accepted him trying to help her? No matter how different she could tell that he had become? I highly doubt it.

I think that it's only because she herself had, by the end, gone through an arc similar to Ayin's, where she (knowingly or not) follows the footsteps of both of her "parents" that she's able to hear Ayin saying "I'm sorry, and good job" at all. She's reached a point where she's able to see more of who Carmen truly is (a bad influence) and who Ayin was outside of some of her own biases (even if she hasn't forgiven him).

[picaroroboto]

(guy who played LobCorp in the time between Canto 5 and 6 voice) the other thing I really gotta talk about about Canto 6 is this:

From the new Sapling of Light mechanic. You can see the cursive text above the ability says "Hokma", and those exact towers and winged clock imagery appears in the Records Team room in LobCorp, Records Team being lead by the Sephirah Hokma. Hokma who turns into a clock and messes with the usual time control abilities during his Core Suppression.

Dante realizes this ability by thinking about why their head is shaped like a clock, and because they don't want Heathcliff to be trapped in his past anymore. Hokma's Core Suppression is about proving to him, who wants to stay in the past, that you're strong enough to face the future. It's thematic overlap! It's crazy! It's amazing!

Okay, also: judging from the fact that this is the first Sapling of Light ability, it's like we're moving downwards from the top of a normally-oriented Sephirot instead of the inverted one in LobCorp, which would imply: - there will be further Sapling of Light abilites that may also be thematically connected to the Sephirah, but we'll be moving in reverse order compared to LobCorp (wonder what the power associated with Binah will be, since that would be next?) - whatever Kether means in this scenario, Dante already has it (and we add one more point on the scoreboard for the Dante-Ayin theory)

[strangefellows]

and theres another faust line i want to point out that’s potentially big (walpurgis night 5 spoilers)

this feels too big to be just a simple throwaway line, plus Faust does not have access to that information. either the sinners need to know the secrets of lobcorp and the library to stop the huge event seen in the trailer or they outright get trapped in the past due to not being able to finish the scenario

YEAH I CAUGHT THAT

that and the fact that she said right after that about dante leading them through with intuition "like [they] did today".....

it 100% feels SO so significant

[shuuen-no-cimory]

what districts would LIs even be from? or at least which one of them would be from nests?

like I'm pretty sure whitney grew up in backstreets, and with how clueless sydney is i'd almost call them a nest dweller

...on the other hand, we already have the city's Britain...

Crack my fingers and open your eyes. I'm gonna write about this in FULL THROTTLE as I've been thinking abt all this for THE WHOLE MONTHS.

WARNING: some aspect might spoil any of the lore related to both medias That's an interesting question... Personally I do think they all collectively came from District 20 LOL BUT YES, defo Whitney came from Backstreet, District 20 nonetheless. I can already imagine them ever joined Dead Rabbits at some point if they didn't decide to enter any Wing or pursue higher education (as per Vrel ever mentioned how Whitney might wants to be a doctor.) Robin... I personally enjoy the idea of them coming from District 12's Backstreet when Lobcorp. still running as the Wing. Or maybe D22 where Vergilius orphanage is on. Ok no, I'm joking, that's gonna be a bit painful but kinda interesting scenario alright. Other possibility I have in mind is that Robin might be living in District 21's Backstreet, right at the coastal area that's under Middle's control. In this scenario, Bailey themself might be someone involved with The Middle. Probably a Big Brother/Sister. As for Sydney, I could imagine them came from Nest K, or at least Backstreet area in D10 that's under Dieci Association's control. This can play into an interesting scenario of how Sirris (who I could see might be working for K Corp. or any high school in Backstreet 10) met their partner, which I can already see very fitting to be part of Dieci. Oh on the side note, River is defo a Dieci alright. That fist filled with knowledge say it all LOL Kylar... ISTG I can't not imagine him as Edgar Linton HFVJSFVHSD but yes, they might be a rich Backstreet dweller but with family involved/under the protection of/influenced by The Ring. Or hell... What if they're involved with Church of Gears instead. That'll be pretty fun idea to think of... Alex... I can imagine them to be on the well-off side of Backstreet dweller. As District 19 is under S Corp. that run in agro-industry bizz, I might put them here. HOWEVER, seeing how adamant many people wants to leave District 19 (Yi Sang, Blade Lineage), it's a little hard to imagine them staying on District 19 either. Though I might change this once Don's Canto drop, which could possibly take place in either District 20 or District 19. As of now, I can think they might be coming from Backstreet T, probably on the same area where The League of Nine used to live on. ... Which then also make Remy possibly a D19 dwellers as well! However, I can see them as one that's backed out by syndicates instead. A big shot one, that is. Move on to Avery. Definitely some hot shot in T Corp., could be Class 5 worker. Them being 'interested' in science (or that's how they claimed to be when we met them as PC for the first time), rich, gaudy, and all that kinda scream a Feather to me. Could be one that involved with some Syndicate as well. The Thumb, perhaps...? Oh, as I write this, I found that northern area of the City supposed to be a lot richer and developed. That might be where they came from too. However we couldn't make any assumption yet as this part of the City hasn't get much attention from any of the game/media. With how keen they're to stay out of The Town, can I say Eden might be Outskirt dweller...? Maybe someone who used to be someone from the City but decide to pull off? Perhaps even might be someone that ever put some hands on The Light project while not directly took part of the group. I can imagine them as someone living on the outer area of Black Forest, alright? Like, maybe someone that knows about the Three Birds and been telling people off. Maybe in Ruina era, they ended up joined the Library once it got yeeted to Outskirt lol who knows. AND OF COURSE, we couldn't talk about LIs without talking about the beasts! Both Great Hawk and Black Wolf is under Site X-394 trust me. I can already see them on Outskirt, alright. Probably not on the same part of Outskirt as Eden but still around that area.

AND WHILE WE HAVE FINISHED THE LIS, I might as well talk about some of the People of Interest as well. THERE'S TWO THINGS I CAN THINK OF ABOUT WINTER: Either a Claw/Arbiter, or someone that used to take part in Smoke War or the War between Wings. If he was a veteran of Smoke War, I can see them on the winning side, or someone that's ended up like Salvador. Perhaps they might be retired fixer too, an Ex-Dieci that used to be the one who did Ruins-delving to retrieve Relics. Wren is defo someone who visit Backstreet J often, might even be District 9 dweller. They might be one with a Nest permit but not really living on the Nest themself. Hell, they could actually run a bizz on Nest as a way for them to smuggle things to-and-from Backstreet J. Though them as part of a pirate syndicate that deals more in smuggling bizz is a good possibility too, alright. Zephyr is, clear as a day, as part of pirate syndicate OR sailor ship akin to the Pequod in either of the coastal districts. I can see them as part of the Twinhook, though they might run their own syndicate instead. I have two ideas for Ivory Wraith in mind, according to "which" we're talking about. As an actual person, Ivory might be part of Index who had a clash with Church of Gears and fallen victim. However if we talk about them as the Spirit, I can imagine them as something like Bloodfiend. In a way, a nonhuman born out of Distortion-esque phenomenon. Harper... What can I say about them but Dongrang? LOL. I just can imagine them as a big shot on K Corp. that's close to who Dongrang is. Someone influential enough to be taking care of Teary-Thing. Yeah, something along that line... If not, they might run their own clinic that provides healthcare, but of course with whatever The City-esque business backed it. With the new Dieci Association updates I can confidently say that Jordan is, without doubt, a Dieci's Saint, at least on Section 4 or 5. If not, at least he's at the same level as Dieci Meur. One thing for sure, Niki definitely NOT from District N. They'd disappear as soon as they whip up a camera. N Corp and its Taboo is just something... As for the others... I have no idea yet, but maybe I'd came up with one later on!

[multitrackdrifting]

In light of the recent Limbus shitshow, are you still gonna finish up library of runia or are you just done with Projmoon?

Well I can't refund it so the least I can do is play it - but I don't plan on publishing my lobcorp video that's about 2-3 hours long for the time being. I probably won't resume streaming Ruina however.

It leaves a bad taste in my mouth if people would use a labour of love of mine to say "hey look there's something good here", I know there is something good there - but the CEO and his unquestionably stupid decisions makes the game impossible to talk about. I'm gonna be honest as far as boycotts go you and I probably know people who play league, overwatch or cod or something (maybe) or play something from a company with just as bad of practices that are either not as publicised or simply too far in the past for people to care.

I don't expect people to boycott nor do I think it's the bare minimum standard, people I know, especially those with larger platforms refuse to post about it even if they do play it or still keep up with it but yeah it's basically branded as a game now because of the controversy.

The thing about boycotts a lot of the time and I know this will be kind of bizarre to hear but I think they're very aesthetic in nature in that a lot of people usually clamour for them when they have less stakes in the matter so it's much easier to put pressure on others to do something they would not do for League (Riot Games), or Overwatch (Activision Blizzard).

This exact scenario has actually arisen with people talking about the game in that way and honestly it's not even like a what-aboutism kind of thing it's like, people really do not truly care about the ethics of the situation a lot of the time and many others simply do not know when they make their game-playing decisions, so it's really difficult to get mad about in most cases. That said, this game is niche enough where people probably know, but I wont assume their reasons for playing. Some people, however, are reveling in the backlash about the game bc they're not real fans or something for being upset about seemingly capitulating to reactionaries. This exchange I saw earlier honestly boggled my mind lmao - when the dog whistle is loud as fuck.

We don't have the complete facts, but unlike the nuance enjoyers on youtube & twitter that doesn't automatically mean I'm obligated to financially support a company because I obviously am concerned about the broader company and their job security.

On one hand it makes me frustrated beyond all belief that the decision makers (because lets be real falsely assigning blame to the artists, programmers, writers etc. at pmoon that aren't in a decision making role) are stupid that their art has to be undermined. Yeah, I don't doubt that there is more to the situation but if you make a tweet saying "we didn't do shit and we will sue u lol" and then announce a new banner the next day of course people are going to think you're a slimy company.

I'll put it like this anon: I might enjoy LCorp & Ruina privately at the very least, but Limbus is probably the most embarassing piece of media to be openly associated with, especially when you have people reveling in that a lot of women & lgbt+ members are going to be "filtered out" of the company by what they're reductively describing as "drama". Whether people boycott or not is up to them, but I'm waiting to see if they just brush it aside and pretend like nothing happened over time - I won't spend or post about the game, but I expect we won't actually see a genuine resolution until Canto IV ends and they realized that they didn't actually net anything from firing the artist or capitulating to an audience that will just as soon threaten their financial stability the moment they're validated for having achieved this outcome once before.

It's completely embarassing to be an open project moon fan right now, and honestly I could care less whose comfort media it is, I don't really care what they post or like - for me personally, this ordeal is so shameful that a video I worked hundreds of hours on is probably never seeing the light of day. That's about the gist of how I feel about how icky it is to even bother talking about their games. Fanart is one thing I guess, maybe I'll rb some from time to time, but honestly yeah I don't feel like making anything PMoon related pretty much until we have clear cut facts and if we never get it then yeah I'll just make peace with the reality and stop caring about Project Moon.

To answer your overall question, I probably won't bother making anything anything content wise for the game or even bother talking about it outside of DMs with my friends because yeah it's pretty much embarassing as fuck to even associated with this world. I think the art here is good, in terms of its writing & the artstyles of each of the games, I respect what is made there - but unfortunately we're the laughing stock of every other gacha community & honestly Idec about the hypocrisy of it all, I'm just astounded that they keep making it worse without ever really getting to the heart of the backlash. For LCorp & Ruina fans specifically I feel for them because it's not like they could've ever foreseen that this whole gacha endeavour would send everything up in smoke.

As for being Project Moon's strongest soldier (joking), I have less than zero interest in promoting their work until I have a decent confidence of vellmori's side (which I suspect is not even known because of either unknown factors, or a generic NDA that prevents them from commenting on their contract termination, not that unusual, especially if some kind of severance package is offered alongside it). Basically, I don't want to do any heavy lifting, even though I don't have that big of an audience, it just feels gross to bring them money when KR fans are outwardly begging other fanbases to stop playing and whether you do or not is up to you, but I'm personally just waiting till they shoot themselves in the foot enough times to completely walk away from this community/world. I do think that expecting everyone to express a deep remorse about a situation they did not create nor can they really control for the time being and self-flagellate about it is stupid though.

Hope vellmori & the pmoon staff get an equitable outcome out of all of this because as mad as I am I'm not so selfish as to think that having a dumb boss means you should have no job.

tl;dr - I don't want to openly associate with the "brand" even if the company =/= the community, it still feels weird, but that is just my own choice. I don't expect others to boycott. I'm waiting to see what happens, but judging by the reactionary replies to the latest banner it's probably nothing good in our future if Limbus survives this ordeal - since you will mostly have people who revel in the exodus of LGBT+ & women from the fandom.

[overworkedblorbobattle]

angela lobcorp. propaganda

hey spoilers ahead. just saying. also no major cws but, time loops babey. and manipulation.

angela is an ai robot who was made in the image of someone (carmen/c) who died before the story began but started the story off. her objective was to complete the work started by the abc trio. angela was specifically programmed to experience time 1,000 times slower than the average human. imagine that. you go through your day and one hour itself is not that. it is an hour to everyone else but to you it’s longer. unimaginably long. you have to keep an eye on every little thing that goes on. you have to understand everything that happens. you cannot fuck up in the slightest.

angela was handed a ‘script’ to a ‘play’. she had to follow this script to its exact parameters. if she messed up ONE line or ONE thing or even TRIED to save the employees, make things safer, or help the sephirah, she would be punished. everything would be reset. the employees wouldn’t remember a thing, they’d be ‘new’. (the same employees. different ranks and memories.)

the sephirah would have their memories completely wiped as well, all except the lower level sephirah, hokma and binah. but everyone above wouldn’t know what happened. angela had to get used to this. she was forced to go through so many “scenario errors” and an alarm would sound, deeming a reset. one wrong word, hesitation, being too nice, unsatisfactory death quota, and more. she didn’t want this, she didn’t deserve this. even x/a had told her when she questioned something “a machine should behave as a machine.”

benjamin was the only one around for her until he was gone. until she was truly alone. until angela had to be someone who was cold and uncaring to the world, to the deaths of the employees, the well-being of them, the safety of the company, the sephirah.

.

[nanjokei]

sorry people trying to claim some kind of insane doomer scenario about how project moon would have died and signed a deal with the devil to make a mobile game is so insane to me. they were doing perfectly ok. they just wanted a bigger cashflow for more ambitious projects as far as i remember 😭 you people are such annoying doomers AND honestly lets be real kind of telling lies here. like this is called lying

like.. at worst lobcorp and ruina are cult classics. but theyre not unpopular by any metric nor was projmoon flopping ever after like, idk 2019 at the very latest

and this isnt me coming to the defense of A Gacha Game i just think misrepresenting the facts just to bolster your melodramatic blog post is honestly so annoying to me. it is literally an early access game with in app purchases idt its anything crazy compared to the other two games rollouts. if anything, its similar to early access except they have way more legal obligations bc of the money/lbr, gambling aspect

[felikatze]

Ayin Amy's voice clip or her saying to Metal Sonic Angela with "You can't do anything right yet you must try and try, need some help?" and/or "Do what Sonic would do or else"

considering it's Amy and she tries to be kind always i'm undecided if she was actually nice to metal but still just kept comparing him to sonic. i dont think she would put him down directly like that bcuz i think when ayin says "machines must act like machines" he's also projecting. i should dig up my . nearly 3yr old ayin thesis on that. he's very "everyone has to fulfill their role" which i dont think amy would be

but in the specific lobcorp scenario, Things Must Go as the Must, so I think she'd be apologetic about forcing metal into the role. We need you to do this, I'm sorry. You're the only one who can save us all.

So Metal would get even more of a front view to how Amy is nice to Everyone Else, except Him. there's a lot more spice in that to me personally. or even just, circumstances didn't permit amy to be nice to him, but she would have been, otherwise.

can you tell that the keter actualization patch where they added in ayin saying he's proud of angela lives in my brain and made me cry

[jestressofnihil]

Lobotomy Corporation is (and I'm saying this half as a meme and half as an actual valid comparison hear me out I know this is a very 2014 thing to say) a lot like Dark Souls in a lot of ways.

Not only because of how difficult it is, but because of how it makes you feel rewarded. Not because you became very cool and strong, but because you just learned by your own experience. It's a satisfying and tense process, it feels like obtaining real EXP points. It's even more rewarding because it's not a phisical thing, there are no reflexes. Just mind strenght.

There are two fucking amazing feelings in LobCorp, being able to finally manage a Meltdown is one and the other is realizing you now can deal on a regular basis without that much trouble with an abnormality that used to fucking terrify you.

The latter is reasuring in the way it solidifies how much you've improved since before. That abno you extracted once, killed 80% of your employees and you promised to yourself you would never ever extract again? Yeah now that's just the one Cooper works on, it's their thing, it's okay, who cares. Like, yes, that monster is horrible and frightening, stupidly dangerous and unstable.

You have experienced how bad it can get under bad management

And you just happen to know how to tame it now

My personal ones are Queen of Hatred and Red Riding Hood, and that makes me kinda love them now.

And if that rewards your ability to stay safe, Sephirah Meltdowns force you to get dirty and confront how much your team can really last. And that?

That's cathartic.

So, yeah. You are prepared, okay. You have trained your agents. Maybe even strategically placed your abnos to minimize risk and maximize profit. You have been playing carefully and safe, avoiding any mistake because, hell, as long as you know what you are doing there is, most of the time, no problem at all!

What if we change that?

Most Meltdowns (and most of Gebura's missions) force you to break with the safety. Abnos are going to scape. Your agents will be badly hurt. Ordeals are going to happen. Maybe even Midnight Ordeals. It's virtually impossible to save everyone. You need to do this. But also, you can always rewind safely ONCE YOU HAVE WON.

So let's go with all we have. Hard.

If an abno breaches, you supress it with all of your strenght. If you can't, you let it go around. You won't rewind until you can't end the day anymore. As long as one agent stands breathing and sane, the day is not over. If you have four Alephs roaming around, Red Riding Hood chasing the Wolf here and there and one or two crazy employees killing randomly or releasing abnos...this for once does not mean defeat

And it's cathartic becase usually you are not allowed to be fine with this level of chaos and destruction. This apocaliptic scenario is what you always tried to prevent. Now you can just let it happen.

It feels a lot like buying a new phone and getting to brutally destroy your old and barely functional one. It feels like that time I got to destroy with a hammer my ceramic hob to make my landlord's insurence pay for a new and better one.

All of that work you have been protecting now serves it's purpose and breakes. It's amazing. It's so great.

Lobotomy Corporation is not just a hard and painful game with narrative meaning behind that pain (even if, yes, there is pain and yes there is narrative meaning behind it!). It's not Pathologic. I'm a depressed college dropout with empty plastic bottles all around my room. I don't have the motivation to keep going with a game just because of art.

Lobotomy Corporation is a hard and painful game. It's also a fun and rewarding game with cool and interesting mechanics, a colorful and charismatic cast and lot's of self contained stories waiting to happen to you.

Lobotomy Corporation is a good game. Not only a good story, not only a good piece of interactive narrative and art. It's a good and fun videogame.

It really disheartens me that I see a lot of people disregard Lobotomy Corporation. Especially in the wake of Limbus Company's popularity. I was even told to skip it by one of my friends when I got into Project Moon last year (<3)

People say it's bad, it's hard, it's not worth playing, "Just watch a recap video" or "Just go straight to Ruina" or "Play it with cheats" (the gameplay experience is vital to the story but im a grouchy old woman about this) and while Ruina definitely can be played without playing LCorp first. A big theme of the game, repetition and cycles, hinges on you having played LCorp.

Not to mention LCorp is just, an amazing game? It's a clever little title that's an incredible experience, with some flaws that I think are outshined by the power-trip level moments when you're finally able to overcome the web of bullshit it throws at you. I'd put it in my top 3 games of all time, tbh. higher than Ruina.

If you're getting into Project Moon for whatever reason, I HIGHLY implore and recommend you to give Lobotomy Corporation a try before Ruina. It takes a bit to get going but if you see things through to the end, you won't regret it, I promise.

You'll make it. I know you will.

[leonawriter]

It's Called "The Knowing I" For A Reason.

Okay so I went from Limbus to a cutscene playlist of Lobotomy Corporation to a long play (skipping most of the fighting) of Ruina, and back to Limbus again, and now I'm all caught up on everything, except... I'm going back to LobCorp to read through a non-video Let's Play, and boy oh boy this is gonna be interesting, because some of the things I'm seeing tie into the next post I'd been wanting to make.

That is- The Very Fact That "the Founder, A"/"Ayin from before the loops" and "the Manager you play as, X/A" are the same person, and that this is foreshadowed very, very early in the game.

This should be obvious, really, but apparently a lot of people like to think that they aren't the same person, for one reason or another. Maybe he's a clone who isn't really Ayin. Maybe he's someone you can self-insert yourself into. I haven't looked into all options people have come up with.

Unfortunately, none of those are really... plausible.

Let's start with the foreshadowing I mentioned.

Now, this comes right on Day 7, the last day of the very first week X has here at his "new job." Angela has been talking about how amazing the Founder of the company, A, is, and also how hard to understand he is. Right at the end she leaves off with this apparent non-sequitur of turning things on X when she's been talking about A up until now.

I mean, it could easily be said that she truly is just turning the question onto the person she's currently with. "I couldn't understand this person, but I wonder if I'll understand you?"

But knowing what we do, and the way that she and others refer to X later on, it's most likely that she has trouble sometimes separating the two, because... they're not different people.

Which actually reminds me.

"Manager X," in-game, has nothing to identify him as looking different from A/Ayin. Literally nothing. There is no canonical sheet of paper with an X written on it attached to his forehead. I bring this up because in 99% of fanarts I see of him, he has that piece of paper to denote "this is X! not A! not Ayin!" and yet... for him, there's nothing of the sort.

There's nothing to count as a visual reminder for Angela, either, aside from the knowledge that he has no memory, and is looking at her with that trusting (or distrustful) and clueless look on his face.

I say this because although I questioned what he'd look like at this point (whether it's any different or the same as how he looks on Day 50), the devs seemed to have answered that in an interview some time ago.

This answer points out that "A [stays young]" as he is "well contained within a time machine (TT2 Protocol) so he doesn't age with every loop."

So, effectively, he looks exactly the same.

Talking of the TT2 Protocol and other tech... those two things - the time machine looping things back to the starting point (much like how the Warp trains are able to reset everything in a train back to how it was when they first set off) and the regeneration bullets/ampules (which are K-Corp technology that we see in Limbus) also reset people back to their "default" state, which are known to be able to bring someone back from the brink of death.

Both of these put together neatly sidestep the issue of "but we're shown that Ayin/A died at some point during the loops! that means he has to be someone else-" wrong. As long as there was the ability to use either of these things, they could keep him alive. And they have both. And he has Angela to keep a close watch over him. And from what we see in Ruina, the Scenario of Light seemed to reset the moment it was deemed a "failure" anyway.

Anyway. With those very important things out of the way:

Yesod, stating "Manager, you are the head of this corporation. You are supposed to set an example for others, but that outfit would warrant at least 10 points in our department."

"Head of this corporation" could be Yesod referring to X as the "manager of this branch," or... it's another subtle nod to how those around X know that he's actually A, and he's the only one in the dark as yet.

To be noted, however, is how the original game has been retconned in the sense that in games set since then, it's made clear that no one sees the Manager, only hears from him over the tannoy. Scenes such as this where Yesod clearly states that this is an in-person meeting don't even make sense, considering how the Perception Filter they had to put in place (because Ayin's mind kept breaking) only works through screens, or at least has very clear limitations, and can (as happens in the game) malfunction.

I can clearly remember the reason why the Manager needs the Perception Filter is also said somewhere (possibly in those same interviews I read on my phone) because of the psychological stress of seeing everything as it is. Which. We see that there are people with full-body prosthetics in the City in Limbus; as early as Canto 2 in fact, and that person looked incredibly similar to the Sephirot.

My personal theories on A's memories returning are currently standing at - with a little help from Limbus characters theorising about memory loss - that Ayin had pre-programmed the amnesia. Specifically, that he'd put his memories into something, and coded this thing that they would only unlock at specific moments, such as a Sephirah about to have a meltdown, or a certain day, or something happening, rather than the random chance that everything could come back at once and overload him.

Ayin clearly knew a lot about psychology. He clearly knew his own psychology, in order to plan the entire script based on how he would (hopefully) react to things, and he knew the minds of his coworkers, since he knew how they'd react to everything, too.

Something to ensure that he didn't overload only makes sense, especially with how, when there are flashbacks, we see "A's" views on them talking to "us."

Which brings us neatly to... "the flashbacks, A, and the Keter all use "I... we..." to refer to themselves and the player as one person." In other words, basically just... they're mirrors of the person they're talking to. In Persona terms? Shadow selves. Of course they're going to use "we" and "our" to refer to themselves and the player Manager!

Abel even directly refers to the player facing the Keter as "facing [himself]."

Here, Abel is also stating "That old, strange letter, that had the same name for sender and recipient." Sure, one could argue that just because it has the same name, doesn't mean it's the same person who picks it up - to which we can come back to Angela stating earlier (from that perspective) how the Manager she is talking to seems to be a different person to the one who started it all, and perhaps the one who started it has died.

This... is not to be taken literally.

And also ties in with the fact that when the Keter are talking to the Manager, they ask questions that they themselves could not find the answer to, or found the wrong answers to. This includes the Ayin on Day 50, by the way, since he's still talking to himself with "we" and "us," not "me," by the way. That's not the player character Manager speaking.

All of which means that there's been character development going on through the loops that we're not fully aware of because we're only seeing the current (final) loop, with only the memories filtered through by A[yin] given to the Player Manager X/A to show us what has happened in the past.

Which neatly reminds me of something Angela states on Day 5, again:

In short: "A" had told her "many a time" that "Each successful experiment makes you a better person." As she puts it herself, "The greatness of this company was founded on multitudes of trials and hardships."

So, basically, that the person we're playing as, known at the start of the game as "X," who later realises that he is actually "A," must have done a whole lot of growing over the course of the loops.

It's easily theorised (and in some cases outright stated in the materials) that the reason many loops fail is because the Manager isn't able to keep up with managing the facility (just as the player might not be good at the game) or because abnormalities breached one way or another (hello, supplemental information on [CENSORED]!), or because... on a less pleasant note... either the perception filter broke and the Manager's mind broke with it for non-abnormality reasons, or in remembering, and dealing with the Sephirah meltdowns, the Manager quite simply cannot handle the level of guilt and regret that he is faced with, and gives up one way or another. It is canon that one of those ways is to commit suicide.

There sure is some dark irony to how people might want to call Ayin a monster and an awful, irredeemable person for the things that we're shown in the memories, but... just from that one memory, we can see that Ayin himself is well aware of this, and would quite readily agree with you, actually. It's only by him not going through with the desire to end his life - and by finding, along with Netzach, the "Fearlessness to Continue Living" - that the game can be completed.

I was going to say that it's "not relevant to the original point of the post, but actually... the fact that X/A feels the same regret and guilt that leads him to the same conclusions IS very relevant, and leads me to the next point.

Which is that the Sephirot would NOT be able to find a satisfactory ending to their meltdowns with anyone other than the one person who inflicted that trauma on them to begin with.

Imagine, for a moment, that you have been hurt by someone. That person seemed to not understand what they had done wrong, and never apologised for it.

Now, you are being faced by someone who is... different. You can hear it in their voice. You know that it isn't the same person, but they're trying to apologise on behalf of that person who did hurt you. In spite of you having no proof that the person who hurt you even sent the apology along, let alone means it.

Question: would you accept the apology?

Honestly, I personally would not.

I do not think that the Sephirot would either.

The Sephirot are very explicitly furious with Ayin for how he treated them all, and rightfully so.

Importantly, the Seiphirah who is melting down cannot see into A's head, any more than we can see into the minds of our friends or enemies. They can't see the flashbacks, or the memories that hit the amnesiac X/A. They only remember their own pain.

Personally, I also believe that even if it was someone else gaining Ayin's memories here, that would not be enough for the Sephirah. They would still see it as "Okay, but you're interpreting what you're seeing with your own bias. You're changing the terms. You are not the one who did this, understanding what he did wrong."

The only way for this to work is for X to slowly understand through management and memories that he IS A, that he is not just the Founder who Angela talks about but also the person who hurt the Sephirot in those memories, and to put everything together in order to speak to them in a way that will not just mollify them but ensure that they know that he's now capable of that understanding, and that he has changed, and that he wants to improve with them.

In fact, we see as much in Library of Ruina, when the Patron Librarians are able to mention their experiences with him.

This is just Netzach's; I'd love to include other references like this, but it'd require another watch through their scenes and a lot more time than I can dedicate to it as I'm writing this post.

But, basically, that's the gist right there - a nostalgic voice.

Even if the voice has changed, even if the tone is different and there are different emotions behind it, the person behind the voice is the same.

The Manager is X is A is Ayin. Perhaps the Keter are all different refractions of the same person, but they are of the same person. Perhaps they disagree on things - but who doesn't disagree with the version of themself that chose differently? Who was cringe in the past, or did something awful, or gave up at one point?

Who wouldn't disagree with a version of themself who decided, last night, to get roaring drunk and leave their present self with a godawful hangover?

Or, in this case, who'd be happy with their past self deciding what they were going to do from the start, and not giving them much leeway once they've got to the end, and they're changed as a person?

All in all, the game's core drive is to ask the question of how much a person can change, and how much it takes for someone who originally can't answer the Keter's questions to reach the end and fully be able to move forward.

If you put someone else into that role (because you don't like who they were, even if you like who they are now), the entire theme of the story falls apart.

[strangefellows]

so uhh fifth walpurgis cutscene dropped (minor spoilers ahead)

im literally doing the soyjack point at my phone screen rn. is that a motherfucking lobcorp reference

HAHTRSFSGFSTHBSHTSHSJAH

HOLY SHIT

also. ALSO. LIKE. if that doesn't vindicate my theory re: all the people who think dante can't be ayin because it's "repeating the same scenario" of 'mc-is-secretly-ayin' like. that feels SO SIGNIFICANT towards the game as a whole and my theory I'M LOSNG IT OH MY GOD

[rlyehtaxidermist]

so much of angela’s character arc is rooted in “how would an actual feeling person respond to the ayanami rei ‘you are a plot device to be used and discarded for someone else’s story’ role” that i think it would be funny if she adopted rei and trained her in the art of the last minute betrayal revenge gremlin surprise

[funnyboxman]

Most debuffs and buffs found are in a separate document in my blog that I probably should link in the guidebook (although I should update that too, thank you for reminding me!).

Defense ratings for E.G.O. Suits are completely up to the person making the abnormality. I tend to keep it on 25% intervals, however. For ZAYINs and the other weaker abnos, I also usually have an equal percentage of weaknesses and increases (so 2 resistant damage types means one very weak).

I thought that too, but there really isn’t much to do with Temperance as a stat. In Lobcorp it’s mainly used for work speed, which I couldn’t figure out a system for, and means moderation. I truly had no idea what to do, so I made it the main talking stat. If you need to persuade or barter, that’s what you use. It’s not useful in most combat scenarios, but it still has its uses. As for the AC thing, I can sorta see it working??? I mean, it IS based around self-restraint, which could work for keeping yourself away from enemies. I might have to think about different AC types now-

Thank you for your feedback!

The City: A Lobotomy Corporation TTRPG Complete Guidebook

Sorry this took so long! With 8012 total words and 46307 characters, this thing was bound to take a bit. But, without further ado, it's here! A complete guidebook explaining everything about the system in (relatively good) detail! Complete with Character Creation, Abnormalities, Running a Facility, Combat, AND E.G.O. equipment (not in this order), you have everything you need to know to play your own game! Have fun reading this, boyos. Now that this is out of the way, I'll get back onto making abnormalities for a while. I'm hoping to make around 100-130 total before stopping, so this is gonna be chock-full of content eventually. Oh, and for anyone who doesn't know what Lobotomy Corporation or Project Moon is, you can just use this as an SCP foundation system, they're fairly similar in concept! >_0 Have a good day, and remember:

Face the Fear, Become the Future

- FunnyBoxman

[ruinaimagines]

Announcement & Update

Hello to all that follow this blog and apologies that it has been so long. Unfortunately, in classic fanfic writer fashion, medical problems have recently befallen me and have consumed most of my time. That said, I come with some good news!

Requests have opened once more! 

Now, you may be wondering what happened to the requests I have failed to write. And my answer for that is because I was so backed up I have chosen to rid of all of them and instead opt for current, newer ones to help get back on a proper schedule. A cleaning of the plate, if you will.

The deletion absolutely has nothing to do with the content requested on whether I will write for it or not, so if you really want something to be written, just request it once more! I just hope that this way I can figure out and prioritize better.

Thank you all for your patience, and I truly hope that I can get back to writing! 

Additionally I would like to thank you all for the 100+ followers, it makes me happy to know so many enjoy this blog.

-Mentis

[ein-liebloser-wanderer]

⸸ Eyes on Me — The Silent Orchestra ⸸

(An AU of Lobotomy Corporation where I made as many Abnormalities into aesthetically pleasing humanoids as possible, so OOC and fanon are to be expected. Inspired by my personal experience playing with these fuckers ladies and gentleman for the first time.)

~~~~~~~~~~~

Mentions of other Abnormalities like the Crumbling Armor, WhiteNight, [Censored], and Nothing There as humanoids. MC knows nothing about classical music.

Pairing: [Insert!MC] x T-01-31

Word Count: 2200 &lt;

Description: The Silent Orchestra was born to be praised. To be loved. To hear the applause of anyone that stumbles upon them. But to guarantee the survival of the facility's entire personnel, it is detrimental that agents must deprive them of that privilege. No matter how deserving, no matter how tempted they are to scream and applause with madness...

...The Conductor must never see their soul.

Warning: general yandere themes (obsession), gore

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The moment the Manager chose to contain T-01-31, the entire facility was bound to fall into break and ruin.

Agent [Name] was in the middle of doing Instinct work on O-05-61 when the warrior suddenly spoke to them.

"Go. Your strength is needed elsewhere." With a wave of his hand, a blue flame began flickering around [Name], sparking a new kind of vigor within them. And just like that, the door behind them slid open.

But before they ran out of the containment unit, they made sure to bow in gratitude.

Sure, it was just something the Abnormality did for those he found worthy, but it was still a nice gesture.

Some personnel had reported feeling wary or anxious around O-05-61. Some said that they felt something akin to a thin line being tightly wrapped around their neck around him. But for [Name], they only ever felt warm, safe, around the warrior, and with the blue flames engulfing them, that sensation didn't disappear, even as they traversed further and further away from O-05-61's containment unit.

Not long after, the Manager immediately ordered them to go to the Central Communications Department. Suppression Work.

[Name] could only assume the worst had happened. That an ALEPH-class Abnormality had breached.

...But who?

It couldn't have been Nothing There nor [CENSORED]. There were dead bodies, yes. A lot of them in fact, but it was too...clean. It was a word they never thought they would use to describe a massacre, but it was true. It lacked the barbarity and unrestrained violence that [Censored]'s unique killing style had. That Abnormality left entrails and mangled remains in its wake, leaving no surface untouched by blood.

But it couldn't have been Nothing There's either. The Assimilator left wounds too large to be from a human weapon. Besides, it favoured short-distance weapons; the scythe and mace in particular. These corpses had bullet wounds.

[Name] couldn't help but feel their heart sink. This was obviously a massacre committed by humans.

All the while, [Name] could hear it, the absolute chaos that was currently the CC Department. It was a tumult of horrified screams and the mad ramblings of agents on a murderous rampage. But even through it all, they could sense it.

The music of the end.

It thrummed through their bones, sending vibrations down their spine. It was as if the very sound was trying to encroach their mind.

By the time [Name] reached the Central Communications Department, they were greeted by absolute chaos. Beneath the sharp howls of violins and flutes, and the angry growls of brass instruments, they found their fellow agents.

The panicking ones were out on a murderous rampage, their eyes crazed with bloodlust as they hacked and slashed at anything that moved, but some were just sitting on the ground, staring catatonically at nothing. Then, there were those who were still sane, struggling to stay intact.

And at the midst of it all was the perpetrator.

He looked tall and proud as he stood there on a platform with his players. His hands gracefully motioned about, waving some sort of stick. Upon closer inspection, it looked to be made from the ivory of bones.

At first, [Name] thought it was WhiteNight, but no. If it was, she should have heard the bells before she even left 0-05-61's containment unit. This was...was this the new Abnormality?

The brass were getting louder, overpowering the soft chords of the strings, until eventually, all slowed to quietness.

But the performance wasn't over yet.

[Name] took this opportunity to land their killing blow. The man—Abnormality had their back turned to them. He was completely engrossed in whatever he was doing. Directing the Orchestra? But there was nothing else in front of him other than four women in white, all of whom only played violin and...whatever the bigger violins are called. Didn't they only need the stick-man for a large group of players?

Like WhiteNight, it was a mystery where music was coming from. Quite possibly, this Abnormality had a unique ability that negated the need for physical instruments. That was probably what its little stick was for.

Carefully, they aimed their gun for his head. Sure, a rifle from Der Freischütz won't kill them like it would a human, but it is a humanoid. Surely, a shot to the head would stop him even for just a second?

"S-stop."

A weak, raspy voice halted them. [Name] looked down at the ground beside him and realized the Agent was still alive. Immediately they knelt down. Not to help her, but so they could hear her better.

"How did everyone die?" Information was more important than anything else right now. Their survival relied on being able to avoid whatever killed their colleagues.

"The...music." She began hacking up blood. It took a while before she was able to breathe fine again. "It drove everyone mad."

"Then how come you're still alright?"

"I'm a senior. The lower-ranks weren't able to withstand it. What level are you?"

"Three...I think I have enough Prudence. And fortitude."

"Save it. You think you'll be able to take down that thing on your own? My entire team was decimated by that monster." Her rage seeped through their teeth like the blood on her chin. But beneath it all, they could see grief. Pain.

"Wait for back up, at least. Or hope that this day will be over soon, and you can leave this hell hole to be cleaned up by someone else."

That was...true. The departments from the upper levels were probably still harvesting energy. If that was true, then they should be reaching the daily quota soon.

But that was hopeful thinking. They might finish the day, but would they be able to make it until then?

"God damn, this is what I hate about this job," she angrily spat out, blood mixed with saliva dripping down her chin. "You'll never know what you're dealing with until its out killing all of your colleagues."

"What do you think its defenses are?"

She blinked, trying to recall, but with her blood loss, that seemed like a tremendous task. "I...I don't know. At first, no one could hurt it, but Emily with the Black weapon was able to hurt it for a while. But then, it just stopped working. After that, that awful noise began to ring in my ears, and everyone suddenly went crazy." Tears began to pool in her eyes. "I think...it became immune to damage altogether."

[Name]'s eyes couldn't help but widen.

Immune to damage..? That's..! That shouldn't be possible! If nothing could hurt them, then—

They turned to look back at the pale man. Beside them, they heard the dying Agent chuckle roughly. "What the hell is the Manager going to do about this?"

What the hell, indeed. If it can't be hurt, then was suppressing this thing even possible?

The music became more and more dynamic, probably nearing its finale, until finally, the clanging of metal and abrupt bellows of trumpets warned the descent of the grand finale.

A...flute? Oboe? Whatever it was, it began playing a soft sound similar to a rooster's crow in the morning. And as it did so, the women in white shook their fingers in a way that made the strings tremble.

When it finally did, [Name] thought they could relax...but they knew there were consequences for this.

They failed.

That was when every single person in the room began to laugh, scream, and cry in joy. Except for their senior. The agent beside them only clutched their head, nails digging harshly through their temples.

"What's wrong? Ma'am?"

She began to scratch, the soft skin easily peeling off from the unrestrained force.

"Make it stop make it stop make it STOP!"

[Name] could only watch helplessly as their senior kept banging her head against the floor. They tried to restrain her, but they only wound up with deep scratch marks on their arms. Their weapon might kill her, but knocking them out with the butt of their rifle would be worth it. But just as they were about to do it, all the lights in the department died out.

That was when when they heard the explosions.

All around them, [Name] heard their final cries of anguish before it all ended spectacularly with a bang. It was as if someone had shot them to end their suffering, but...

They touched the blood that splattered onto their face. It was still warm. Rubbing it between their fingers, they felt little chunks of meat and shards of bone.

What kind of gun could...did Der Freischütz shoot his magical bullet?

But that didn't make sense. His bullets never miss. Once he shoots, it hits everything in its way. They should be dead right now.

Their questions were answered soon enough when the emergency lights began to flicker an ominous red throughout the entire facility.

For a split second, they saw it. The corpses lying on the ground. The twisted bouquet of brain mush, eyes, and skull shrapnel where their heads should be.

They could only stand there, shocked. It was only a fracture of a second, but they were already closing their eyes, unwilling to see more.

'Maestro...it seems like one of them made it 'till the finale.'

They heard an airy voice speak, likely from one of the women in white.

Eyes still shut, [Name] could only listen to the clacking of shoes against the CC Department's polished floors. It grew closer, and closer until stopping in front of them. Just a little, they opened their eyes to see.

All they saw was the white of his shirt, the delicate black ornamentations on his tailcoat, and the fine weaving of his cravat. Even amidst all the gore and blood, he somehow remained untouched, unsullied.

The false purity reminded them of WhiteNight, and it made them sick.

[Name] refused to look up. They would have closed their eyes again if it weren't for how angry they felt. From their peripherals, they could still see the aftermath, and now, they couldn't stop looking at it.

The fact that something could kill, cause absolute chaos, and still remain clean, spotless, or act as if they have done no wrong...it made their blood boil.

"Maestro, perhaps she is deaf."

"Or crass. Trashy Another rubble in the heap."

"They must be for not appreciating the marvel they just witnessed!"

A sharp giggle pierced their ears. "Ladies, please. Let's be considerate. We must understand that not everyone has the same refined tastes as us."

At that, all the women began to giggle as if one of them had just said something clever.

[Name] had to grit their teeth at all the insults the airy-voiced women threw at them. She would soon rather go deaf than praise any of these plastic-faced pricks.

What were they even talking about? What did their hearing or taste in music have to do with this?

The Agent was glaring at them when she suddenly felt a cold hand pull their chin away from their direction, forcing them to look at the pristine face of the man. Half of his face looked human.

Well, as human as Abnormalities could look. His skin was as white as the fine fabric of his clothes. It was almost difficult to see the thin line between his true face and the porcelain mask that covered half of it.

His mask's eye was pure black, forever crinkled by the perpetual smile on its black-painted lips. But his true face, the one uncovered, was unsmiling. Dispassionate. Determined.

But for what?

The women immediately hushed upon noticing his solemnity. [Name] could feel their black beady eyes watching them, as if anticipating what their master would do next.

"Maestro, please. Let's not waste our time!"

"I agree! They aren't worth your salt!

"Ladies," the one with the terrible laugh cut in, but this time, there was no disdain in her words. Only stern assertion. "Remember your station. If the Maestro says so, then we follow."

What in the world are they even talking about? He hasn't said a word at all this entire time? Was all the Agent could think.

"Consider yourself lucky, human," a different woman, the one with the...dot with a wavy line drawn on her left cheek said.

Now that [Name] was looking at them, they noticed that all the women had symbols drawn on their cheek, and just like their 'maestro', they all wore porcelain masks. But unlike him, theirs covered their faces entirely.

"Our Maestro is planning another performance. Just. For. You~"

"After all..." One of the women leaned back on their chair. With her chin still pointing up, it was clear she was looking down on them. "...the show doesn't end unless we hear the applause. As such, the Maestro wishes to see you on our next performance."

"We will be looking for you."

And, just like that, all the lights in the facility turned back on. [Name] winced, blinded by the brightness. By the time their eyes adjusted, the ensemble had gone, vanished.

That day, they were busier than usual. Much to everyone's despair, they couldn't end since T-01-31's breach had completely depleted their enkephalin sources. Even the ones that the facility needed to run. Many other Abnormalities breached because of the power outage.

Not long after, the ensemble's entries were updated.

ALEPH-Class, T-01-31.

The Silent Orchestra.

.

.

.

~~~~~~~ End ~~~~~~~

"Every song has a heart, and a heart, its own melody. By now, you should know his." - T-01-31's Redrafted Entry

This definitely won't be my last snippet on him. No, this is just the first movement~