#the player is very obviously supposed to react with horror to the reveal that shes 'actually a man'. you were the lead writer on that game.

[sangfielle]

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you know man i think it "seemed like" that because that is what she was there for

[vaalthus]

Remthalas Theory/Sort of Analysis: The All-Seeing Idiot God, The Dreaming Chaos, The Path of Omniscience. Oh and like potential Lore Spoilers maybe.

With the conclusion of the Reckoning War, and having bared witnessed to Remthalas’ actions, I believe we have a better idea of what our aquatic Dreamfarer desires and intends not only for themselves but for the inhabitants of Lore as well.

We already know that Remthalas believes that the only way to achieve freedom, to dream, is to not be shackled. To not live out the dreams or whims of others. Unfortunately, this boils down to the lesson Remthalas got out of the idea is that people should not tie themselves down by basic laws or morals people tend to follow. Otherwise, the endless possibilities provided by true freedom are not possible.

This a concept that he has clearly taken to his very core given how angrily or impulsively he’ll react should he feel someone is ordering him around or someone else shirking their freedom in his point of view as demonstrated when he rebuked Notha twice for commanding him and when he killed Mr. Nameless/Twinkles.

So that’s it then, right? Remthalas is just an anarchist drunk on freedom? Wanting all of Lore to break their shackles and live out their own dreams never minding once of those around them, right? Well yes, but there is I think a bit more going on here.

I found a few things concerning about Remthalas in our fight with either Notha or Uaanta. One, is that he found the Avatars more interesting in their reduced orb state. Secondly, he didn’t appear to want to destroy them. Thirdly, is that regardless of who we chose to side with, Rem finds us interesting either way. Fourth, and most concerning is that he only found Uaanta truly fascinating if she merged with the Avatars. Lastly, and most revealing was his desire to see all the events unfold regardless of what the outcome was and then simply bounce when a conclusion was reached.

The reason why I find him being able to see Uaanta as a truly fascinating player in this conflict is to be some cause for concern is that being ‘interesting’ to Remthalas seems to, at first, amount to being someone that can bring about his idea of freedom, freedom from the balance the Avatars imposed. Characters like the Hero and I imagine Notha when he first met her and was introduced to her ideology. However, if this is the case, why find Uaanta interesting? She after all plans to shepherd away the very entities responsible for the very concept that resulted in his abandonment and have shackled so many others and their dreams. Why find someone who still intends to be devoted to the Avatars to be a person of interest then? Are they not still choosing to wear their shackles? To ignore their own dreams in the favor of the dreams of others.

 The answer I think is simple. In the end, it was just less about Remthalas serving his ultimate plan and Remthalas wanting a show. Remthalas has always long been aware of our capacity to come out on top over our opponents, including his own fellow members. Why would he suspect there was any possibility we would lose to our dear friend or even Notha? He didn’t because he knew we would win, but how can he enjoy the play if all the actors aren’t putting in effort for their roles. After all, are you satisfied by the just the ending of a movie or the passionate performances that it took to get there?

You see I believe Remthalas revealed what he plans for us and Lore all the way back when we first met in the Ex Somniis Fabula or The Story of Dreams quest. In his introduction, Remthalas posits the question of whether he’d be able to alter reality if the entities only referred to as “They” dreamed instead of just slumbering. With quite the determined, if not a bit demented, expression on his face I might add. There’s also one other feature to this and it’s the fact that Remthalas points out that we’re in his dream, or perhaps more accurately his dream space, and that it’s basically just a blank white box. (There are also the blue glowing circles on his robes that could symbolize having multiple eyes to see which are only visible when he’s in his dream form, but it could also just represent Kathool’s eyes so who knows) This is ultimately his domain and by the looks of it he can bring anyone into it and determine what is experienced within this tiny space. What the viewer sees could amount to anything but what they ultimately stand is just the box, the blank canvas. Here, Remthalas controls reality, what goes on in the ‘bigger picture’ so to speak. Here, Remthalas is as close to a god as anyone else that can control their own dreams.

 What I’m getting at here is that Remthalas doesn’t just want freedom he wants to see possibilities and the process it takes to getting to an outcome. What he wants is to dream and for everyone else to be the actors in his never-ending play of entertainment. To see the big picture change from one point to the other. These are details that I think were touched on when he mentioned that he enjoyed the dreams of children because of their ability to imagine possibilities to fill in gaps left behind by a world they are still very new to. Or when he appeared genuinely disheartened at the idea that he was not at rest. Or when he finds dreams to be not interesting enough when pointing out that Voyna can only ever dream of dragons due to her trauma with them. Or even when we fought him in the dream to save Sally and he noted that our dream was “Fierce, but one dimensional” Or the rather basic nature, in comparison to whatever else he wanted to show us, of Notha’s backstory and memories.

 What he wants is for Lore to be his dream. To fit all of existence in that little box of his and to watch things go wild. Which is why I called him ‘Idiot God’ because if true then Remthalas is basically trying to become Azathoth, the Blind-Idiot God from the Lovecraftian Mythos who created the entire universe in that series by simply dreaming, and who will kill it if he ever wakes up. A character/concept I still believe was being referenced when Remthalas asked what would happen if “they” woke up and questioned if the world would stop existing if “they” did. However, unlike Azathoth, Remthalas intends to be aware of all that happens when he finally dreams.

Azathoth is not the only eldritch god that Rem appears to share similarities with and to be honest it the one that makes him perhaps the most untrustworthy. The god I’m referring to of course is Nyarlathotep: The Crawling Chaos, The Dweller in Darkness, The Haunter of the Dark. These are just a few titles of Nyarlathotep, but I believe they would fit Remthalas for the similarities they share with the Outer God. For one thing is how both Remthalas and Nyarlathotep communicate through dreams to any of their unaware victims and pass on information that might shatter their world view. Furthermore, much like Nyarlathotep, Remthalas seems take more enjoyment in the dreams of others being messed with in a way that is typically nightmarish in nature. The most important similarity here of course is that both entities are more driven by spreading chaos and madness through people as opposed to their utter annihilation like other eldritch gods such as Cthulu. The reason for this is because in the case of both characters, I believe in Rem’s case anyway, their enemies isn’t so much other people but rather boredom, in addition to their own stagnation.

An interesting contrast I just thought about between them however is how Nyarlathotep and Remthalas spread chaos. As mentioned, Nyarlathotep does so through dreams by revealing, in typical Lovecraftian cosmic horror fashion, how utterly pointless the lives of his victims are in the face of the sheer overwhelming forces at play in the infinite and unknown universe and how they should just succumb to madness and/or become one of his followers, to amuse himself. Remthalas kind of does something similar when he suggests that morals and the lives people are currently living don’t hold much weight in the face of the grander schemes and roles of the Avatars. 

However, unlike Nyarla, Remthalas would do this so that others cast off their rules, still to amuse himself with the chaos that would thrive from that but in his view, they’d be getting something out of it. A sort of “You and everything you’ve known don’t matter so succumb to despair and madness and entertain me” vs “You and everything you’ve known don’t really matter so do what you want and entertain me” Chaos vs Chaos but different philosophies on how to get it.

The connections that can be drawn to other well known eldritch entities does make me wonder if when we see Remthalas next he might be trying to elevate his power on the material plane to that of the Primordials (Kathool, Uthuluc (probably not Uthuluc out of all of them to be honest), The Witness, Sciuridaehotep, the latter of which is just a Nyarlathotep reference) or is somehow going to get them involved in some way when his plans really start to get under way. If he does somehow involve Kathool in what he intends to pull off I imagine we might see Aquella again given that she’s supposed to overwatch his bedtime and I think it would fit to have a water take on another that was devoted to Kathool. I’d suspect she, or potentially another water elf, could reveal more of in-depth info on Remthalas’ servitude to the Avatars and later Kathool.

This brings us to the question of course of how exactly Rem plans to pull this all off. Obviously, we fit into those plans. However, with what just happened with the Avatars now being out of the picture and Myalos also being out of commission, what’s the next step? Where does he take us from there? The answer goes back to those “They” entities being referenced. Remthalas has brought them up, but he wasn’t the only one I believe. Celeritas mentioned them once when Sinnoncence made his move. I believe, I’m certain, that our dear Big Daddy named dropped them for us a long time ago. 

The one and only Aequilibria, the true gods of existence who are said to be slumbering even now. How Remthalas intends on exerting power over these beings is unknowable, but it would appear the best time to do so before they awake once more.

Which brings us to the Hero and the interest Rem has taken in them. It is clear the main reason that Remthalas has taken an interest in us is because of how capable we were in comparison to Uaanta at the time he was scouting us both out. We are an invested tool…and yet. I cannot help but wonder if Remthalas continued engrossment of us isn’t just because he knows we’ll be useful to his plans but also because Remthalas is straight up looking for a plus one when his plan would be theoretically completed. He did offer us to see where the currents of existence could take us.

  After all, why look at and enjoy multiple paintings in a vacuum or go to the movies by yourself when you can have someone watch it all with you. Then again, as I mentioned earlier, he could simply be viewing us as just another tool to pull off his plans and that is join the others later once everything falls in place

All of what I stated is more speculation than anything but if any of it’s true then we are in for a ride.

[jmsebastian]

The Dismemberment of Horror in Dead Space

After playing Dead Space for the first time I became increasingly frustrated by its attempts to be a horror game despite firmly planting its flag in the action camp. Action-horror is a tightrope walk between genres that I think rarely pans out, but that combination is alluring enough that I can’t fault anyone for trying. To me, action and horror are almost antithetical. Good action games provide a vehicle for players to feel powerful once they understand the mechanics and master them. Good horror games never let the player feel at ease, using the player’s expectations against them to keep them constantly unsettled.

Dead Space betrays its horror elements almost immediately. In two very important ways. First, the game’s monsters, the necromorphs, are revealed in all their gross glory before you even get two rooms deep into the mining ship you’re investigating, the Ishimura. You get onboard after crash landing in the opening cutscene, you walk into a room that’s got blood all over the floor, and then the necromorphs try to murder the entire crew you came with while you look on behind the complete safety of glass.

Dead Space takes so much inspiration from the 1979 film Alien as if the necromorphs weren’t a huge giveaway. But Alien works as a horror film because it spends the majority of its time building tension, first through the interpersonal issues of the crew, and then by having characters picked off one at a time by a monster the audience doesn’t really get to see. During that first encounter with the necromorphs you get a very clear look at them. You get an even better look when you’re chased into an elevator by one whose predatory instincts are questionable, at best.

Once you’ve seen the necromorphs, you know what you’re up against. This leads to the second way in which the game betrays horror, it tells you exactly how to deal with the necromorphs, and it does so in the absolute clumsiest way possible. Necromorphs need to have their appendages cut off in order to get them to cease reanimating and you get four opportunities in a row to learn this, two of which are impossible to skip. First, you find a message written in blood next to a body that says “Cut off their limbs”. Pretty straightforward. Minutes later, you can find an audio log where a crewmember says the same thing. Technically, both the bloody message and audio log can be skipped over or missed, but their placement makes that unlikely, at least on a first playthrough. What’s not skippable is the captain chiming in over your communication device saying the same thing as the audio log, followed by instructions from your suit that appear on the screen.

That’s four instances of the player receiving the same information all within the span of a couple minutes. I understand that severing necromorph limbs is the crux of the game’s entire combat, but when you tell the player the solution to fighting every single enemy in a game that’s supposed to scare them, you are doing them a terrible disservice. What makes this especially painful is that the player is given a subtle hint about cutting limbs off with the first necromorph that the player sees. As Isaac stands in the elevator while he’s being attacked, the elevator doors close and chop off the necromorph’s arm and head.

I am empathetic to developers not wanting players to get thrown into combat situations and repeatedly die because they don’t know what they should be doing, but this a game whose combat is modeled almost entirely on Resident Evil 4. In Resident Evil 4 you can shoot zombies in the legs to slow them down, you can shoot off their heads for quick kills, and you can even shoot thrown projectiles out of the air. None of this is told to the player, but it doesn’t take much experimentation to start figuring it out, which is arguably the most enjoyable part of the game. Dead Space never lets the player work out strategies for themselves, which can reduce the enjoyment and prevent the sensation of panic that horror games can elicit so well.

For all the things that Dead Space did well with regard to immersion, a few choices really break the illusion for me. There are a lot of small, but obvious issues. Necromorphs drop ammo and health items despite being horrifically twisted re-animated flesh with no need for either of these things. The ship is littered with caches of those same items, either built into the Ishimura’s structure or littered about the floor. There are also shops that allow you to buy health and ammo, as well as upgrade your protective suit.

All of these little problems add up to one big problem. All of the tools you end up using in the game only work in the context of a shooter. Sure, they try to justify the various weapons you can carry by giving them a tenuous relationship to mining, but even that is shaky. You first pick up the plasma cutter, presumably the most advanced type of mining tool in existence. So what purpose, then, does a circular saw serve? The answer is that the various tools flesh out the combat mechanics because they’re weapons, and nothing more. It would have been nice if the various tools could have been used to solve environmental puzzles and really explore the idea that Isaac is an engineer and not a soldier. Sadly, there’s nothing that Isaac ever does over the course of the game that doesn’t seem like something any other character couldn’t have done. The very existence of the item shops and upgrade stations pretty much proves it.

That brings me to the characters. This is where Dead Space felt the weakest to me. Every single character is a very broadly drawn archetype. You have a no-nonsense soldier, a nagging second-guesser, a mad scientist, a religious fanatic (well, several of them, actually), and the secret agent. To top it all off, you have the silent protagonist. Non-speaking player characters make a lot of sense in a lot of games, but it just doesn’t work out as well in Dead Space because your character has a personal reason for being on this particular mission: your girlfriend is on the Ishimura.

The first thing you see in the game is a video clip of Isaac’s beloved, Nicole Brennan. Kendra asks him about it, and the motivation is set. Isaac’s goal is to save Nicole. During the course of the game you do eventually run into her, and yet despite the horror show that both she and Isaac have gone through, Isaac does absolutely nothing even remotely resembling how one would react upon reuniting with a loved one. At the end of the game, we are treated to yet another obvious trope: Nicole’s been dead the whole time. I’m not sure if this was intended to actually be a plot twist or not, because it’s heavily foreshadowed. The video clip at the beginning clearly cuts off before it’s finished, and Isaac is arbitrarily kept from being close to her due to door locks that couldn’t possibly be activated if it wasn’t all occurring in his mind. When you finally are in the same room with her, Isaac has no reaction whatsoever. He’s supposed to be in love, but there is nothing even close to resembling human emotion coming from him.

One interesting explanation could have been that the trauma of the events has left him emotionally comatose, but instead, it’s all hand-waved away by the Marker. The Marker is a weird space object that is responsible for the necromorphs and drives anyone who spends enough time around it insane. Isaac is supposed to be a victim of this, and Kendra straight up tells us this after she reveals herself to the double-crosser that she is. It’s here that we get to see the video of Nicole played back in its entirety, and watch as she takes her own life to spare herself the horror of the situation.

The root of every element of the game can be clearly seen. You get your doses of Resident Evil 4, Alien, System Shock, and Event Horizon. Obviously, there are few or no true new ideas when it comes to stories, but what you want is a game that works to defy expectations a bit, and that allows the interactive elements to tell the story in ways other media can't. Dead Space doesn’t do this, it simply adds everything it can into one pot and hopes for the best.

For all its lack of a true sense of horror, Dead Space is still an immensely enjoyable action game, which is, itself, a huge accomplishment. You can try it for the first time a decade after its release like I did, and it plays just as well now as I’m sure it did then.

[jacksonruff]

Because I can!

Here’s a gigantic review of the fifth part of the Spider-Man Clone Saga, issue by issue.

Note: These are the issues included with The Complete Clone Saga Epic, Vol. 5. I’ll try to keep most of these fairly brief because, while I enjoy this, I know no one reads ‘em and I don’t wanna go on forever.

New Warriors #62 - Feels somewhat inessential. Considering that, outside of the New Warriors books themselves, we don’t get too many references to Ben’s existence within the team, meh. Art is very 90′s.

Amazing Spider-Man Special - I’m a big fan of the art here. Lots of moody darks. We get officially introduced to Gabrielle Greer, and she’s a lot of fun. She plays off Ben really well in a way that makes one want to see where it goes. Both the generic agent-villains and Armstrong are pretty one-note, though.

Spider-Man Special - Despite some very solid art with nice, clean linework, this issue’s just filler. The agent-villains and Armstrong continue to be uninteresting. The Lizard is the only spot of excitement, and that’s only for the prospect of Ben facing him--that doesn’t happen in this issue.

Venom Special - Can someone explain to me how the hell Venom ended up in this mix of ‘specials’? Were they that desperate for a fifth Spider-related book for this storyline? That aside, the art on the Lizard here is really striking but the human characters (especially the faces) look a bit wonky. However, in terms of characterization this is probably the most fun to be had with Ben yet. We get to see he and Gabrielle play off each other more and get to see the juxtaposition of him with Peter. Whereas Peter would leave a civilian situation to play hero, Ben leaves to protect his and Peter’s identities as clones. 

Spectacular Spider-Man Special - The dialog, especially from Armstrong, is pretty clunky in this one. As in, low-tier golden age comic book dialog. Oof. The penciller here (Claude St. Rubin) is very obviously doing his best, but his Lizard falls pretty flat and his Scarlet Spider is stiff. The ending is kind of... dumb. It implies that Gabrielle is sleeping with Armstrong to create unnecessary drama for us, the audience, based on preconceived notions of how we’ll judge that. It seems to be there to foster artificial shock rather than actually create drama for Ben. Overall, very meh.

Web of Spider-Man Special - Ben looks very blonde on the first page, which is a little early! Aside from the off colours, we also have comic book male anatomy going on like crazy: every dude is exceedingly, exceedingly buff. Like, the guy that the flirty co-worker is going out with is buffer than Ben, and yet the flirty co-worker makes a comment about how ripped Ben is? Just weirdly incongruent. However, I will say this issue’s Scarlet Spider is very well-done. Aside from art, there’s further proof that the whole Armstrong-naked-in-Gabrielle’s-apartment was more for the audience than for in-universe tension, since Ben basically sees a naked Armstrong in *his* apartment and doesn’t... really... seem to care. So why are we supposed to care? Honestly, of the five specials, the only ones worth reading are the first and third (the latter of which is supposedly a freakin’ Venom comic).

Web of Spider-Man #128 - Steven Butler (pencils) does a really great job here with both Spider-Men and Black Cat, with a lot of dynamic linework and good action shots. There are some well-done silhouette shots as well. In terms of plot, I’m very glad to be away from the largely self-contained Specials, and *extremely* glad to start getting some Spider-Man-and-Scarlet-Spider action. Watching the duo play off each other is a lot of great fun. The moment where Black Cat calls Peter a liar is rather poignant (in comic book terms) and I love where she snaps out of it to team up with the Spiders. The ending, as well, is well-done and I enjoy the two Spiders coming to terms with their situation.

Amazing Spider-Man #405 - Mark Bagley is very missed here (aside from the cover, which isn’t exactly his best work). While Darick Robertson does an admirable job, it’s very strange to (at this point in the series) not see Bagley’s work. Regardless of the art, however, this is a very essential Ben Reilly story. We finally get to truly explore Ben’s relationship with Seward, and see why we should care about him at all. Very, very solid issue.

Spider-Man #62 - Pat Broderick is, evidently, a fantastic penciller and I wish he’d done more of this book. Aside from that, we get an odd moment with Peter and MJ thrown into the middle of the book that (as far as I know?) doesn’t really get any pay off and just kind of feels like a reminder that Peter and Mary Jane exist. Regardless, this issue is a solid chapter three of ‘Exiled’, continuing the concurrent storylines with both Scarlet Spider and past Ben Reilly.

Spider-Man Unlimited #10 - Comic books should not be this long. While I like the reveal that Vulture’s youth has to be constantly fed to remain, far too much time is spent on it. Additionally, though I appreciate the time spent on seeing something of an untold Ben Parker tale and the resonating effect that has on Peter and Ben, I feel that that almost could’ve been an altogether separate story from the Vulture thing and probably worked just as well (if not better). What I’m really saying is, this book has no business being ‘Exiled part 4′ and should’ve been an anthology split between the Vulture story and the Ben Parker story.

Spectacular Spider-Man #228 - Bill Seinkiewicz has a lot of fun doing Spider-Man, and it shows. Especially on top of the (I’m sure masterful) work of Sal Buscema, his work always shines and that’s true for every issue of Spec the pair did. Anyway: this is the beginning chapter of ‘Time-Bomb’, the third major arc in this volume. I have a couple problems and a couple things I like about this concept (wherein Peter is brainwashed into attacking his wife with intent to kill, but is fully aware). Problems: It quickly gets tiring watching MJ and the unborn baby constantly used as bait to get the reader to care; Peter doesn’t do much either than scream about how he has to kill his wife (but oh God don’t let him) and it quickly gets repetitive. Things I like: Watching Peter’s horror (at least at first) is morbidly good drama; watching Peter in hunter mode is extremely cool, as that’s not something we normally get to see; and MJ’s resourcefulness is on full display here and I always love watching MJ be a badass normal.

Web of Spider-Man #129 - So, this is pretty much the one time within the main Spider-books in this volume that it’s relevant that Ben is part of the New Warriors. Steven Butler again does a good job with breakdowns, showing off some very fluid action from Spidey. Watching Peter pretty much wipe the floor with the Warriors because he’s not holding back is great, and is something I wish we could see in Spider-Man books more often. We again get to see Mary Jane being a complete badass, trusting her gut and having it win the day.

New Warriors #63 - Ben barely appears in this, and when he does he apparently gets the hots for Starfire (a teenager) because she bears some resemblance to MJ. All right... Otherwise, completely inessential.

New Warriors #64 - If you’re a fan of Thrash or Firestar, you’re in luck. Because they’re the only characters who do anything of interest in this entire issue. Again, Ben is not an important player, the villains are actually just stupid, and nothing of note to the Spider-Man mythos occurs. Why were the New Warriors issues included, again?

Amazing Spider-Man #406 - Bagley did the cover on this one again, and it looks great. Really miss that guy on the interiors... Anyway, we start with an extremely pseudo-science bullshit comic thing with cyberspace or whatever. While guest penciller Angel Medina gets some cool mileage out of the imagery here, the concept is just so out of left field for a Spider-Man story that i just kind of pretend it didn’t happen, since it isn’t super important to the overall plot. The new Doctor Octopus’ first appearance is extremely well-rendered. The final things of note here are getting to see the Parkers react to their baby moving, which is great; and new Octopus revealing Seward to be her father. Neat.

Spider-Man #83 - Peter being so giddy about feeling his child move is very sweet, and very in character for him. Though it’s kind of confusingly laid out, it seems like classic Spider-Man artist Gil Kane did this issue and it looks great. You can definitely feel the classic comic sensibility bleeding through.The layouts are super dynamic and fun, and we get an easy-to-follow, exciting battle between the Spiders and new Octopus.

Spider-Man Team-Up - Aside from the (shockingly relevant) ‘Cats’ parody and Ken Lashley’s depiction of Spider-Man, this issue isn’t overall super interesting or entertaining. Then again, I abhorred the issues of Marvel Team-Up I read, so maybe I just don’t like this format. Peter does quit the Bugle though, and it remains to be seen past this book whether or not that sticks or has real consequences.

Spectacular Spider-Man #229 - Sal Buscema and Seinkiewicz get a more even billing this time around, with a couple pages clearly done all on Buscema’s lonesome. It all looks great! The storyline falters a little, though, due to the very direct and less engaging ripping of the Master Planner climax. Though I liked the stakes, the way it was resolved (”You did it! You survived until I got here to save you, wow!”) felt really lack-lustre and like a passing of the torch to Ben that doesn’t really work. Beside that, I like the development of Peter giving up being Spidey “””for good””” and look forward to moving onto the Ben Reilly-centric Spider-Man stories.