#scpstptpc

[strixcattus]

Can't believe BTG is still saying "Prisoner 3" and "Spectre 3" in the patch notes when Prison3r, Sp3ctre, and Dams3l exist

Then again if it weren't for Tai pointing that out a while back I would probably still be saying something like "Damsel's unique Chapter III," which is even worse

[strixcattus]

Pt. IV of Pt. II of SCPSTPTPC.

Dams3l and the new ending, if I can find it. Severe to extreme Spoiler Zone below the cut.

CHAPTER II: THE DAMSEL

...

I was always planning to save this one for last. Well, I had some thoughts about saving Sp3ctre for last, if it turned out to be something other than slaying yourself while possessed, but clearly that wasn't the case...

But this was the one I had the fewest expectations for, so it's the only one that couldn't possibly end up clouded by disappointment. PatD and Cage are cool chapters, don't get me wrong, but it stings a little that they don't come with any new options.

Dams3l, though? There's nothing already here that could possibly lead to a new Chapter III. Whatever choice I have to make, it has to be something new. Something I can only guess at.

I'm excited!

...

And here it is. Something new. Finally, something genuinely new.

"I don't know you."

I've always thought she was more self-aware than a lot of people read her as. She's one of the Princesses who gets closest to the shape of the Construct in Chapter II, and as we can see here, she's also capable of more than just following the player's desires.

She's looking around the room. Would things be different, if I'd left the blade for her?

...Smitten has a very concerning tone of voice right now.

SMITTEN WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU

A very appropriate expression for the situation.

And more threads, too. With the exception of Den and Cage, I think, and even if I'm remembering correctly there are clearly more threads to follow in the latter, every single one of these new and expanded chapters has been very unconcerned with keeping things under wraps.

...

EPILOGUE: HAPPILY EVER AFTER

...

It's interesting that Opportunist is my new Voice. Have I done anything particularly... opportunistic?

...

The Narrator sounds so disgusted at the Stairs That Go Up.

"As much as I desperately want to know what happened last time, we are not going to examine it. The more we think, the worse it gets."

...

...Huh.

Something doesn't feel right about all of this. I can't put my finger on it, but something isn't right here.

...

Everything is... wearing. This is it. Eternity in bliss, but the bliss gets old, doesn't it? Everything gets old if you have forever to do it in.

This is... it. This is why, back at the beginning, I could not bring myself to do anything other than set the Shifting Mound free. Eternity is a prison and there is only a finite amount of things you can do to distract yourself from it.

The food does nothing to curb hunger. Did the Narrator ever thing things through, when he put his plan in motion? Was hunger to be a thing in his new world, and if so, how would it be quenched? How can you eat when you cannot kill anything for food?

...

"I'm so tired of this."

...

"I don't want him to be upset with me."

Who is "him?"

...Oh, no. Please don't tell me he's who I think it is. Dear lord.

...The shadow does look an awful lot like our silhouette, if you're willing to try.

...

And now we're playing board games. Will the entertainment fade more slowly if I cheat first and then learn to play honestly, or if I play honestly first and then cheat for the novelty?

...It will fade eventually, either way. Eternity is an awfully long time.

...

"This is... awful."

Yeah. You see it now, don't you?

...

...

...He sounds... tired.

...

This wasn't the ending. Is the ending dependent on this? Or is it... something else within it?

If the new ending is contained within the chapter I've left behind, it's not an ending I want to see. But I will, won't I? I have to eventually.

...Well. That's a bit early. I haven't even talked to the big man yet.

...

Sure, Narrator.

This—his wording—feeds into a theory I haven't put in the time to fully polish and write up yet. Maybe I'll get to that soon.

...

It's interesting that the Shifting Mound speaks of violence and struggle in high regard, but dismisses fear outright. Especially when so many of her Vessels embody fear in some way.

...

I went with the Unknown Together ending. I do have a guess as to what the new ending might be. And maybe a second guess if that's not it? Oh, but the implications of trying both in a single run... ouch.

Well. There's more to see yet.

And the bingo card. It's not technically impossible for me to get a bingo now, but let's face it—it's not going to happen!

I'm counting the lack of stairs in Cage as "nontraditional stairs." Let me have this one.

I may see you tomorrow, or I may not. I'll certainly see you Sunday.

[strixcattus]

Pt. III of Pt. II of SCPSTPTPC.

I'm going for Prison3r on this one. Severe Spoiler Zone below the cut.

CHAPTER II: THE PRISONER

...

I really hope this chapter isn't just "leave her head in the basement." I don't want to use the word "disappointing," but...

I say this because Skeptic still makes us take the blade. That's one avenue crossed off.

...

The door locked when I tried to leave. That's two.

...

I'm going to try to slay her. That'll be the final proof.

...

That's three. What a shame.

...

CHAPTER III: THE CAGE

...

Finally, a new title card!

I'd been wondering if this would be the chapter's name, based on some of the non-spoiler achievement descriptions.

A shame we don't actually get anything new within the Prisoner's chapter itself. And now we have... Cheated?

I wonder if the Voice is dependent on whether you slay yourself or if Skeptic stops your heart. I wonder if it works that way in Drowned Grey now, too.

And it's interesting that we still have the blade...

...

Cheated saying he was "fine" with the happiness prison is something that I think I will take as evidence to further my "the Voices are the version of you from the last chapter" theory.

Really, Hero? I'm not sure this is the place.

Oh, this is cool. This is cool.

...

"If the Princess lives here, slaying her would probably be doing her a favor." You don't have to sound so cheeky about this.

...

I don't know. Seems accurate to me.

...

She speaks as though her body is a separate person. That's cool.

...

So I'm a severed head too now? And my body is attacking on its own?

This is cool. I am still disappointed that there's nothing new to see in Prisoner itself, and that it doesn't feel too intuitive that this would be something other than Drowned Grey, but the chapter itself is pretty cool.

...

My Voices are gone, now. Come to think of it, they've been gone since I was decapitated.

I wonder if it's now possible to construct a run such that you never get the choice to lie or tell the truth to the Voices at the mirror. Cage, Razor, Moment of Clarity... is there a Fury outcome that works like this? How was the Princess and the Dragon, I forget about that one. And there's still Dams3l, the enigma.

I have to be off again. I'll see you later tonight with Dams3l and the ending.

[strixcattus]

How on Earth do you get the new ending. Don't answer that. Rhetorical question. But I had a theory and the theory didn't pan out. Now I have a second theory but it seems rather silly as it'd not only be a rework of preexisting stuff but also invalidate an entire achievement. Which is... still there. So.

What to do... what else is there to do... I know what it says in the Gallery, so how do I achieve that...

[strixcattus]

do you mean the regular chapter two or the new one?

Regular Chapter II. The new chapter would’ve been called Prison3r. I’d been thinking/hoping we’d be able to leave the blade upstairs and the new chapter would come from/be affected by that.

(Also, for clarity because it’s occurred to me it could be a little unclear: the X’s are for things that are conclusively disproven. The blue ones are correct theories and the question marks are for anything that’s maybe true if you care to argue for it.)

Though honestly this particular disprove could be either way… if you know how Prison3r goes. Sure, you don’t have to keep it. But that’s not the same as ignoring it.

[strixcattus]

Happy Pristine Cut day!

I will be liveblogging my Pristine Cut playthrough. These posts will not be tagged with #slay the princess due to spoiler reasons, and I'll keep them long and relatively far between for spam-avoidance reasons. (I understand there's some sort of daily image limit in effect, so I'll try not to hit it, either... even though I'm not sure what it is.) They will be tagged with both #pristine cut spoilers and #scpstptpc (Strix Cattus Plays Slay The Princess The Pristine Cut, previously #spstppc which should then be self-explanatory), so those'll be the tags you want to block. I'll also be putting every one under a cut, so no one should be caught off-guard. For anyone who does want to see these posts, read on.

Again, the game plan:

My first run is going to be me, roleplaying as though it's December 25th of last year and I'm playing the game for the first time. Not exactly—I'll cut out the bit where I thought it'd keep overall run progress if I quit and lost a piece of my third route, and just pretend I wanted to do it the second way from the start (unless I see a better option?). The relevant routes here are Tower -> Fury and at least a hint at Sp3ctre.

The second run is where I hit on all the new and expanded chapters. Expanded ones first, ending on either Dams3l or Sp3ctre depending first on whether I've already gotten Sp3ctre and second on last-minute whim.

The third run is to fill in all the gaps. Adversary -> Fury, maybe. Stubborn!Den. (Or should I do Stubborn!Den first, and save Skeptic!Den for the end of this run, on the assumption that it will probably make a good final route? Or should I just do Skeptic!Den first like I'd planned, because it's more honest to what I did on my own the first time around?) Any other Voices to any new chapters, if I can figure them out. (If Prison3r is a guts trio chapter, that's one!)

If I need a fourth run to check out things like Skeptic!EotN, Moment of Clarity, and even more Voices in, say, Adversary -> Fury or the new chapters, I'll do one. I'll try to do as much of these runs in a day as I can, but I will admit this is a rather large amount. (Ha! The naïvété of youth. Is that too many diacritics?)

And, of course, I'll be keeping my bingo card updated:

(Link to my previous pinned post here so I can find it once I'm done with this)

[strixcattus]

Welcome to Day II and Part II of SCPSTPTPC!

This route I'm shooting for everything I didn't get last time around! That means Adversary -> Fury, Apotheosis, Skeptic!Den, Prison3r, and Dams3l, in that order. I'll then do my level best to find the new ending, though I'm not sure where it'll come in!

As always, below the cut is a Spoiler Zone. Now that run I has concluded, my past self has gone off to wherever she now is, so the date is once more... October 25, 2024.

CHAPTER I: THE HERO AND THE PRINCESS

...

I probably can skip Chapter I now, right? Since I'm no longer RP-ing as my past self?

...Yeah. I'll do that from now on. The game plan here is to go Adversary -> Fury, then... I think it's refusing to fight her with the blade that gets the dialogue tree I'm interested in? Pick an option that doesn't ring "Contrarian," and see how it goes.

From there, I'll try something different. Maybe I'll be more sympathetic towards the Fury, this time? It's that or attack without speaking.

...

CHAPTER III: THE FURY

...

I chose the "I care about you" option, so I'm thinking Smi—

...Cold!Fury was not on my bingo card. Much less twice.

That's... interesting? Because in all other cases (aside from when Voices are showing up en masse), Cold comes from successfully killing the Princess, and then choosing to die separately. It's a break from his usual operation.

The curiosity of what would happen does fit him, but my dialogue should have contextualised it into something more like Smitten or Cheated. Does dialogue choice change it? I'll probably need to go through Fury at least one more time to see all the outcomes, so I can do a full test then.

So did I, VOTHero. So did I.

...

Oh, this is fun! This is different!* She didn't even let me try to talk this time. I was planning to go for a more sympathetic path, but now she's just... peeling me.

*things VOTCold would say

It seems if I want to be a pacifist, I have to go to the Tower. And when I decide to fight directly... I need to come back here.

Something's happening!

...

...Everything the Narrator describes as happening to us, is also happening to the Fury.

...I may have reblogged my "more meat" post too soon.

...Does this count as the Fury unwinding herself? I can't tell anything anymore.

...THIS IS SOMETHING TO SEE FIRST THING IN THE MORNING ON A FRIDAY

...

...That's quite the first chapter. I have to be off now, which should give me some time to process all of that.

[strixcattus]

How am I supposed to be normal when ███ ████████ ███ ███ ██████ exists

[strixcattus]

Part five and final of part one of SCPSTPTPC. This may or may not be it for today!

As always, a Spoiler Zone is in effect below the cut, though any spoilers will only be referenced rather than direct. Probably. And as has been the case for this first run, I'm roleplaying as myself on December 25, 2023.

I'm at the mirror again. And... oh, hey! The mouse-pointer from the Fury! That's so cool.

...And here's the Narrator. Time to get some answers.

> So you're the Narrator? "Yes. And you've done an absolute botch job to get here." > Does it hurt like this? "No. I don't feel pain anymore." > What are you? "I'm an echo."

Is that what the Spectre meant, when she compared him to herself?

> Has every Narrator been different? "Of course. That's how the Construct works. Until now." > Do you have anything to say for yourself? "I do. I want you to remember that there are real people out there." > Why did you lie to me? "Maybe the other versions of me thought it would make your task impossible. Maybe they just didn't want to contend with the truth. Maybe they were all just wrong. Not me, though. I'm right." > If you made me, then what am I? "You're the Long Quiet, the god I made to rid the world of death."

To rid the world of death?

I knew we were a... god. I'd been spoiled, remember? I told you back at the beginning, I found out about this game through a spoiler! This was that spoiler!!

But... to rid the world of... death? That's...

I don't want to rid the world of death. I don't want to exist in a world without death.

> If I am meant to rid the world of death... what is the Princess? "She is the Shifting Mound, the Ebb and Flow, the Capacity to Change. She is Transformation, or most of it. She becomes that which people perceive her to be. And you are meant to kill her." > What happens if I kill her. How do you know it wouldn't be worse? "Of course it won't be worse. Anything is better than oblivion."

I don't want to live forever. I don't! And I don't want to make anyone else live forever, either.

> I'm pretty sure death is important. "Of course you'd think that. You've never died." > ...I don't want to destroy death. I'm not going to slay her. "Well. There's no reasoning with a god. I've said my piece, and my time is up. It's like I said; I'm just an echo. And echoes always fade away."

I think I have to free her. It's the only choice I could live with.

I was right, to feel bad about trying to slay her. I wish I could take it all back.

Maybe I can, here. Now.

...

She's dominating. She only sees things from her singular perspective. She does not acknowledge her vessels as people, and she does not acknowledge people as worthy of consideration.

But it would be wrong to kill her, and it is only right to set her free.

Regardless, it is beautiful. And I think I'm making the right choice.

...I'm going to miss my Voices.

...

I think, after everything that's happened, I'm going to miss being past me.

Bingo card, updated for Run I:

I'm not sure if what happened in Sp3ctre counted for breaking "one new Voice per chapter" or not. On the one hand, I definitely didn't start out with a third Voice in my head... but on the other, Opportunist was added—I just didn't get to see him.

And I don't think that hit on "nontraditional stairs." But I'm putting a question mark anyway.

And my gallery has opened up!

I think I will call it a night. Tomorrow, we can see those other new chapters—all of them!

[strixcattus]

PT. 3 OF PT. 1 OF SCPSTPTPC

As a reminder, below the cut is a Spoiler Zone (though it could be anywhere from mild to severe) and the date is December 25th, 2023. Shooting for either Sp3ctre or Spectre and EoTN and/or Nightmare -> Wraith, may or may not hit the ending on the latter.

(UPDATE: HEAVY SPOILERS HEAVY HEAVY SPOILERS. DOES NOT COVER EYE OF THE NEEDLE.)

CHAPTER I: THE HERO AND THE PRINCESS

Okay. Okay! I think I get it now!

My problem is that I keep hesitating. Even one line of conversation with the Princess, one aside, and I lose my chance to kill her. I need to take the blade, step into that basement, and stab her without words and without hesitation.

Third time's the charm, right?

...

My options to doubt her death are greyed out, now. I bet at least one of them leads to the Razor, maybe the other to the Tower?

Anyway, I do know what comes after this. But unlike the playthroughs I've seen, I won't change my mind the second time around. I know how to kill the Princess when I get the chance. All I have to do is not back out.

...

CHAPTER II: THE SPECTRE

...

I did it! I've been trying since I first opened this game, and I finally did it!

Hello, Voice of the Cold! Loved you in Fury. (OOC: God I forgot he threatens to kill the Narrator before you even get to the Cabin. I love him.)

...

GHOST GIRL. GHOST GIRL. GHOST GIRL.

I know that in order to kill her properly, I have to pull a fast one on her. Let her in and then take her out. So we'll chat!

...Though I do kind of want to try stabbing her once. Or even twice. Just for fun—

I know that in order to kill her properly, I have to pull a fast one on her. Let her in and then take her out. So we'll chat!

Not even going to bother with the stabbing. I figure it wouldn't work anyways.

...

It's interesting that she says there are "all these shards of broken glass" when I only have two Voices right now. Are the others there, but dormant?

Food for thought later. For now, stabbing!

...

I like how she describes Hero as "the nice one."

...

...Huh.

"That quiet one kind of gave me the creeps." Excuse me that is my best friend you are talking about.

AAAAHAHAHAH

WHEN I SAY I AM LITERALLY LAUGHING ALOUD

!!!???!!!???!!!

Who's in there? Which Voice is it? Is it the Narrator? (OOC: Is this the Opportunist?)

...And now Cold is speaking. In a different font and color. They have canonical colors. THE VOICES HAVE CANONICAL COLORS

(OOC: Brown is definitely the Opportunist. But then who's the other blue Voice? It didn't sound like Hero... or maybe it does?)

!!

...And I'm back?

...

...

(OOC: My present self and my past self are warring with one another. One wants to show compassion, while the other is still insistent on slaying the Princess.)

(OOC: ...My past self's conviction is waning, but my present self doesn't have the heart to put her foot down and take over the playthrough.)

(OOC: I feel like the Long Quiet right now. Pulled in every direction and none has the strength to cut out all the others.)

(OOC: ...)

(OOC: Did I ever believe the Narrator, or did I just want to see what happened when I listened to him? My present self doesn't know and my past self isn't telling.)

But I should still follow the directive, shouldn't I? Even though I've... been there. Even though I know how it feels to be on the other end of the blade.

(OOC: Is compassion right? Is engaging with the premise wrong? Knowing what I now know, I can't bring myself to bring down that blade.)

I can't bring myself to pick either option.

(OOC: I can't be the one to make this choice.)

I am literally a figment of your imagination.

(OOC: Memory, more like.)

That's worse! We both know how bad our memory is!

(OOC: Why do you think this is so hard?)

...Tell me. Did we ever show compassion to her? Of our own volition, I mean. Not just to see what came next.

(OOC: Yeah. We did. As soon as we learned the truth.)

(OOC: And even at the time... this is later, but you'll be willing to admit that if you weren't allowed to kill the Princess a couple routes on, compassion would have been your next choice.)

Really?

(OOC: Well. It's because the way the option was worded made it seem like an important narrative option.)

Of course.

(OOC: But... it is easier, not to kill an innocent. Some months later, you'll be faced with the same choice in a different game, and you'll only follow through out of obligation.)

Isn't this the same, though? Obligation.

(OOC: Yeah. It is.)

...I don't like this. You don't want this.

(OOC: You're supposed to be pretending I don't exist yet.)

Isn't that just you pretending I'm pretending you don't exist yet?

(OOC: Yes. Yes, it is.)

...I want to talk first. If that stops me from killing her...

...Good.

...

(OOC: Yeah, it never is that simple, is it?)

God, I hate this! I hate this choice! You do this!

(OOC: No!! The point is that I'm RPing as my past self!)

And what if I decide to RP as you, then?

(OOC: How is that even supposed to work? You don't know I exist!)

I'm talking to you right now!

(OOC: Yeah, that's a glitch in the system! Pretend you aren't!)

I can't! You need to pretend I'm pretending I'm not!

(OOC: Fine!)

...

...Are you still there?

...Right. You're busy pretending I'm pretending I'm not talking to you.

...I don't like this. I can't stall any longer but I don't know what I want to do. Even saying I don't know what I want to do is an option I don't want to take.

...I should see this through.

...I don't want to. But I should. And I'm going to. Hey, present self. Future self. I've made my decision and I want you to know I hate it.

(OOC: Don't worry. I hate it, too.)

...

I was honest to them, at the mirror. I couldn't have stomached lying to them. Especially not after that.

I don't think they appreciated it.

[strixcattus]

A

[strixcattus]

Pt. ??? (pt. II) of SCPSTPTPC. Testing my theory.

Spoilers below the cut. Heavy spoilers.

Grabbed a save from Razor. The plan is to fetch Hunted!EotN and Wraith, then... what? I'm not sure I want to do anything new this run because if I'm right I'd rather process things separately. What does that leave? The Greys? Doubt it. MoC couldn't possibly work. I could try slaying the Wild, but I don't want to do that. Cage, Den, and HEA are all off the table, while Fury's already been done and Apotheosis is impossible. Stranger probably wouldn't work, and I can't kill the Thorn. I think that's everything? Except for PatD, but that's been established not to work.

There can't be so few possible chapters, can there?

I'll... I'll do Stubborn!Den.

...

CHAPTER III: THE DEN

...

Even now, there's a moment of regret.

And Stubborn sounds just as intense as Hunted got in the other path.

...

Here's the moment of truth.

...

Den has given me a glowing option. This ought to make five.

...

And there it is.

What... am I?

...

...What textures will you weave for yourself to occupy forever...

And, as a bonus:

And that's a wrap.

Ha. You both raise and lower yourself to her level. Proving one of her assertions wrong—if leaving the rest unanswered—and refusing to let your Voices be their own entities.

This isn't a victory. If you were once better than that which you sought to defeat, you now no longer are. And you are now more alone than in any other ending.

She is arrogant, and she cannot abide being resisted. And for it, you kill her.

You are the only being that can move, here. Towards her, away from her. Of course she would never truly kill you—she is the manifestation of the world as it is, and a world without you is no more a world worth living in, to her, as a world without her.

What does a world in which you are alone look like? Are the people you were meant to save still there? Are they still people?

What textures will you weave for yourself to occupy forever?

[strixcattus]

Pt. ??? of SCPSTPTPC. I want to test something very quickly.

Spoilers below cut (strong theory to the new ending)

Either this works, or it does not. I don't even actually know if I've got the right save for it. I... don't organise them very well.

But if I'm right, this is my last save from SCPSTPTPC run I. I.E. the one where I violently murdered five Princesses in a row.

...

I'm right. I'm at the end, now.

...

Another glowing option. Let's take it.

...

Glowing text on Wraith and EotN, but not on PatD. I think I get it now, though it's odd that slaying Sp3ctre didn't get me the glowing option.

I think I know what I need to do.

May as well see this through just in case. The Shifting Mound called me out when I couldn't pick a glowing option, but I took the ones for Razor and Fury as well.

...

...She's trembling.

...

Hero still stopped me. But I know what I have to do, now.

It'll take... an entirely new run, I think, unless I can skip parts of it by finding an earlier save from this one (before PatD). Den didn't give me any glowing text last time, but maybe if I go with Stubborn's path...

[strixcattus]

Pt. III of pt. III of SCPSTPTPC. Going for another angle at Apotheosis and then to test my theory for the new ending.

Spoilers below the cut.

CHAPTER III: THE APOTHEOSIS

...

I tried every permutation I could after taking the blade, and would have tried variations without it had I remembered to save. Contrarian every single time.

At least I can still try to kill.

...

HHHHHHA

Is "smitten" really the past participle of "smite?" Huh.

...She burned the Narrator out of me. And everyone else with him.

Razor. Apotheosis. Cage. Moment of Clarity if you're willing to let it count. Was there a Fury outcome that worked like this? We may very well now be able to prevent ourselves from ever making a choice at the mirror.

Okay. Time to see about the end of everything.

...

Time to test my theory. Based on the descriptions in the Gallery, my best guess is that the new ending comes if I slay the Shifting Mound right away, without hearing her out.

Making a save just in case. Let's see how this plays out.

...

That didn't work. But, wait, one of the options at Apotheosis seems to be... glowing? I think I noticed that last time and thought nothing of it. But that's new. Right?

I'm going to choose it.

...Nothing unusual. Nothing at all. I went all the way to the New And Unending Dawn ending, just for completeness's sake.

...

I want to try something else. I want to know where the Good Ending fits into the Gallery.

...

It's the last entry in the "Beginnings" section (The Hero and the Princess). Now, the good thing about this is it implies to a degree that we can get the new ending through the usual conflict sequence. But how...? I'm not sure.

I'll have to keep trying.

[strixcattus]

I've been not playing the Pristine Cut for a bit due to a Dams3l moment of my own, but here I am! Pt. II of Pt. III of SCPSTPTPC!

The plan for now is to try new angles of Sp3ctre, Den, and Apotheosis, then to see about the new ending. Maybe I'll get through all of that tonight and maybe not—we'll see.

Obviously, spoilers below the cut.

CHAPTER II: THE SPECTRE

...

The game plan: Leave the blade and be a little mean to the Spectre. At least one of these might cause something different to happen in Princess and the Dragon.

...

...There's new stuff here. Have I actually never been mean to the Spectre before?

And Cold calls the Narrator out on "fates that come close to death." He's oh-so-convinced there isn't anything that could possibly be worse than dying. How cute.

I think I have been here before, I just... never bothered to look through all the dialogue. Now why would I do that?

...

Back at Princess and the Dragon. Same Voice, but the Princess herself is different.

...

WWWWAIT WAIT WAIT I THOUGHT WE WERE COOL NOW

...She's 'taking me back'?

...

CHAPTER III: THE DEN

...

Nothing to say about Chapters I and II here. I'm going for Stubborn!Den. Might do it the intended way, might poke around for a third option. We'll see.

...

I'm taking Hunted's option and fighting her unarmed. My guess? This can only end in my death.

...I'm eating her flesh??

...Oh, this is horrifying!

("That's disgusting! I don't want to do that!" —VOTHero)

I love how fluffy the Den is in some of the new art. Particularly a couple stills from the "free" sequence, but... this works too.

...You know how I said Smitten sounded a bit... unsettling in the lead-in to Happily Ever After? Hunted is like that now.

...

Well!

...

It's a bit of a shame the Den appears in her normal form at the Shifting Mound and not... that. Then again, do I really want to look... that. In the eye at the final fight?

...It's also a shame that the Shifting Mound says the same "she wishes me to devour you" bit even when you get the new Free!ending. Feels to me like a missed opportunity to show the growth of the chapter.

...

Cutting it here. Apotheosis and ending next time.

[strixcattus]

SCPSTPTPC pt. III, pt. I.

I'm going back to look at more sides to the new chapters. Because spoilers are inherent here, the game plan goes under the cut this time. (This post in particular covers Dams3l and Prison3r.)

I largely want to see if differences in how I get to the chapters lead to differences in the chapters themselves. Leaving the blade behind before Happily Ever After and the Princess and the Dragon, and willingly slaying myself before the Cage. Then I'll do Den (Fight) and Apotheosis (resisting the Tower from the start, and taking the blade when I have the chance). And finally... I test the waters for the new ending. I have my theories.

...

CHAPTER II: THE DAMSEL

...

No change without the blade. Same options, no new dialogue. Still have the Opportunist.

...Should I try one more time? Maybe try deconstructing her first?

...

There's a new option after the deconstructions go far enough.

...

EPILOGUE: HAPPILY EVER AFTER

...

PARANOID! YES!!

I always knew he was more on the ball than most of the other Voices.

...Imagine this being your first Chapter "III". "Bonus Voice."

...

We get to yell at Smitten by name... I think this is the first time any of the Voices have been called by name. By anyone. It's usually just epithets.

...

I don't want to keep the flames lit forever. But I have to. I have to see.

...Her voice sounds so... broken.

...

CHAPTER II: THE PRISONER

...

Right. Game plan: Give the blade up right away, then voluntarily slay ourselves as soon as we get the chance. Easy.

I'd guess this goes for VOT Cold, but there's no way to tell yet.

...

CHAPTER III: THE CAGE

...

Wrong. Voice of the Paranoid. I knew he'd show up here!

And, as usual, he's right on the money about how the Construct works.

...

The Narrator helplessly throwing out his scripted lines as I throw out my blade.

...Or not.

...

Nothing new to see here. I'm thinking my only other options are going to come from leaving the blade behind.

I'll be back in a bit for the rest of things.