#warframe analysis

[gillyeowalters]

Thank you DE for making this distinction. The way people are towards their children can be vastly different than the way they are towards the rest of the world.

I am just glad that someone at DE has done their homework when it comes to child/parent dynamics, family dynamics and childhood trauma.

There are so many games that do a shitty job when it comes to these things (staring angrily at the 2010s trend where every plot twist in every indie horror game was that the crazy father murdered his entire family).

[chronicler-of-narrative]

If you think about it, the gameplay dynamic between Stalker and Jade is hilariously absurd. On the one hand, we have this mixture of dps and support with entirely newly-minted abilities the likes of which we've never seen before. And then you pan over to her boyfriend who has 3.5 recycled abilities and unlike his wife, who just blows everything up, just dinkily executes enemies one by one.

Actually, now that I think about it...Are Jade and Stalker not representative of Warframe's change in design philosophy over the years? From the fact that Stalker has been around for basically a decade compared to Jade being shiny and new, to how Stalker is more stealth-based like early Warframe was, with Jade just blasting everyting to kingdom come with no remorse while ALSO supporting her team like how most new frames are like. Not to mention how they use literally the same weapon classes, except Jade's all have unique and cool effects, while Stalker's just kinda...kill stuff.

Damn, DE thought this through much more than I thought...Kudos to them!

[cardinalgoldenbrow]

This analysis of the Tales of Duviri from its author's perspective is pretty delightful. Euleria's almost unique among the Orokin in that her answer to the sort of void manifestations of their emotions (like in the Lua void conjunctions) wasn't to fight them with better warframes and bigger Vessels, but to build emotional intelligence and exercise self-control. Which is a pretty foreign concept to most other Orokin. So even if she was pretty imperfect about practicing it, she's still impressive.

Tales of Duviri is a storybook written by Euleria Entrati for the purpose of teaching children how to handle the manic flood of emotion that comes with Void exposure.

I pose a question: why does Euleria feel so strongly about this?

Her interactions with her own children are... let's call them wanting, and dialog implies that the negative aspects of their relationship--her denigrating, controlling nature, the distrust, etc--did not begin only after the Infestation brainrot set in.

We also know that she holds her father in extremely high esteem, but Albrecht did not think much of Tales of Duviri (see: him talking about his previous disdain for it in his own Duviri notes). Euleria put resources into writing Tales of Duviri instead of more traditional science, and Albrecht did not think much of it.

So why did Euleria write Tales of Duviri?

Let's rewind a step. Void exposure-induced mania, the whole thing Tales of Duviri is written to help manage.

How was that discovered and studied? It clearly was studied, enough to be a recognized condition and for the Orokin to build the iso vaults and for Euleria to write Tales of Duviri. But who would they have observed this mania in if Void research was an abandoned dead-end line of study?

Perhaps...the man obsessed with the Void who'd survived an unshielded Void dive?

Euleria had patient zero of Void mania sitting at her dinner table. Albrecht is the character who's undoubtedly had the most Void exposure.

Albrecht himself must have exhibited the Void mania and mood swings that Tales of Duviri exists to teach caution of.

And that's why Euleria wrote it; she had this gyroscope of a mood swing at home. She admired Albrecht too much to consciously deride his lack of control as irresponsible and so she channeled her energy into writing Tales of Duviri instead.

The emotion spirals of Duviri are loosely based off of what Euleria witnessed in the Entrati household and particularly Albrecht himself.

I don't believe that any courtier is a 1:1 translation of a member of the Entrati household, but more that their toxic interactions and dramatic heights reflected things that Euleria herself saw--or lived.

This reading of the Duviri characters and story--that they mean things to Euleria specifically--gives us a fun new lens to look at all of the chapters with.

For example, Mathila.

"Two children, and no memory of her husband. Poor Mathila."

Two children like Euleria herself, eh?

Mathila loved her husband. He also textually does not exist. He's not on the screen or in the text. He is a memory, and one that Mathila herself cannot even remember. There is no portrayal of their love.

Pivot to a writer's perspective. You need to write a loving relationship. You look to real life for inspiration, right? If you're a married woman needing to write a married woman in love, you naturally look to your own relationship.

And if you can't find anything to base that love off of? Well...move that character offscreen. Just tell about the loving relationship, don't show. Actually, do you even have anything to tell about? Well. Move the entire loving relationship offscreen, then. She's got amnesia. Nobody needs to talk about the love to sell it or make it feel real now. The narrator can simply mention it as a fact and it need not be challenged. Euleria doesn't have to imagine a loving family life between a husband and wife and their two children and question why that's hard for her. There. Problem fucking solved.

Another parallel that fairly started screaming at me once I started considering that the Duviri courtiers had meaning to Euleria specifically: Luscinia.

"I was created to be Sorrow, written into being, to serve as a lesson... can that change?"

Luscinia knows that she is a tool. As much as she dreams of being more, she knows very well that she is a tool--both a literal narrative element to teach a lesson and within the story itself Thrax's servant (his personal songbird).

Is there anyone in Euleria's life who might have some angst over their position as a tool? A servant who wants to escape the limited definitions of their role?

And so... here I am, back to my old role. The diligent servant. Albrecht would have smiled at that, I think.

Loid. It's Loid.

Luscinia: "This structure and I share much. Both of us once useful, both of us discarded, both of us now derelict. Both forgotten." Loid: "How might this relic make himself useful today?"

Both Luscinia and Loid are also capable of surprising amounts of ruthless violence. Luscinia has no hesitation telling you to kill the Dax or otherwise wreak vengeance on her jailers. Loid's Necramech lines feature him ranging from being excited for ensuing violence to coldly promising the Murmur regret.

The Duviri Tales were a subconscious form of therapy for Euleria herself as well, allowing her to write a story where emotional explosions were a problem that must be addressed rather than a social struggle to be suffered through at the whims of the more powerful.

[themanwhomadeamonster]

The 1999 combat theme and its foreshadowing because the autism got to me and I spent too long trying to figure out this soundtrack

Jumping off from @brokenjardaantech's WITW music analysis post here - go check it out, it's very insightful and lays the foundations for what I'm about to talk about! And thanks to @theterribletenno for the burst of inspiration by giving me a massive oh shit realisation in the most chilling way possible LOL

Spoilers under the read-more; TL;DR at the end :'^D

To preface, the soundtrack is structured in an ABC structure with bridges between A and B, as well as another between B and C that borrows from A. The key starts in Cm, briefly modulating to Gm in section B then back to Cm during the second bridge, and settling on Em for section C. In-game for WITW you most likely will only hear up to the first bridge since the Technocyte fight only goes for around a minute long

Sections A, the bridges and partially C feature genre similarities to grunge rock with fuzzy guitar chugging, whammy bar, and palm muting, while the drums are notably sharp snares (except for the first bridge, which are clean bass kicks that gradually distort transitioning into section B's style). Musically, it sounds like a typical fighting soundtrack meant to hype you up - the melody is confident and likes to push and pull its rhythm. But in section C it notably become emptier in its layering while keeping the distorted drums, placing emphasis on the lyrics (which I'll get to below lol). Heavier syncopation and polyrhythms are also introduced.

Section B however is the main outlier. This section is where it most strongly resembles industrial rock: rhythmic synth layers begin to accompany the melody (a pedal point line that plays every semiquaver/sixteenth note), synth drums replace acoustics and the guitars drop the fuzz that is characteristic of grunge and steadily strum every quaver/eighth note. Compared to the push and pull rhythm of section A, this section is steadier, less chaotic than the other sections, it wants you to focus on this section.

Notably, the lead guitar introduces a familiar leitmotif: This is What You Are (which @brokenjardaantech goes more in depth regarding its use in WITW). Here, though, its second chord becomes flattened (Dm -> D♭m) and introduces a diminished, dissonant sound. To me this was the first hint that the song may actually be about Arthur's downfall. This is What You Are is a musical leitmotif that recurs in moments of vulnerability, especially when someone is at risk of losing their sense of self, their identity and what they are. It plays during The Second Dream when we discover the Operator, during the New War when Eidolon!Lotus just lost herself to Ballas and can't recognise the Tenno, and in WITW during the Vessel "fight" when the Tenno is forced out of their Warframe.

I was prompted to actually dig more into the lyrics because I saw @theterribletenno bring up something really interesting

In this specific song, the leitmotif is diminished, it's corrupted. "Surrender to the corruption" - this is what Arthur is afraid of. I brought up earlier that section B had a genre shift. The contrast of the music is important, it's highlighting something, and together with the musicality of the leitmotif, it's making a sense of urgency and danger. The leitmotif is a warning to Arthur.

Section B sings these lyrics:

Break it, break it, Break it open!

Compared to the desperation in the other lines, these two lines are sung mockingly. The Infested are trying to break Arthur, and are succeeding. Their voice is becoming his. But there are actually two vocal lines in this section - you can also hear muted backing vocals in a much less aggressive and lethargic tone warning that "Disillusion". Arthur is trying so hard to keep his own voice and stay clear-minded but it's being drowned out and he's nearing his breaking point, and Albrecht, based on the Codex Fragments you find, is well aware of this.

In section C, while the layering is less intense it's noticeably more heavily syncopated and polyrhythmic, and introduces new (accompanying) echoing and dissonant synth layers reflecting the confusion and disorientation that Arthur begins to feel (these synth layers are actually introduced in the second bridge, but are more easily heard in section C). Section B and C also keep the synth/distorted drums that section A and both bridges lack (at most it's a reverb in those sections); the industrial sound of the song becoming associated with the increasing influence of the Infested over his humanity.

So I tried deciphering more lyrics for each section; I haven't figured all of it out and most of it could very well be wrong because of how heavily clipped the vocal line intentionally is so I don't want to make anymore assumptions than I need to, but I can understand enough of it to realise that the song is foreshadowing Arthur's corruption to the Infested. In green are the lyrics I'm confident are correct:

A:

Sting it, sting it, sting it! Sting it, sting it, sting it in the flesh!

Bridge:

I don't understand! It brings more disease!

B:

Break it, break it, Break it open! (Disillusion)

Bridge:

Sting it, sting it! Sting it in the flesh!

C:

Who's dreaming? Who's the [???] It's a vision[?]!

TL;DR: the grunge/industrial genre hybrid represents Arthur's humanity/Infested respectively, and the song becomes increasingly industrial as the song progresses, most noticeably through the increasing distortion of the drum sound. Section A sets the stage, section B serves as a warning to Arthur that he's losing his sense of identity as the Infestation drowns out his "voice" while a dissonant version of This is What You Are plays, and section C is him experiencing confusion and disorientation as the Infestation continues to corrupt him.

[newbiespud]

This weekend, both for my own edification and on the off-chance it might help someone else keep things straight, I replayed or revisited a bunch of missions and quests to recap the timeline between New War, Duviri Paradox, and the upcoming 1999. (You can watch it here, even, plug plug.)

A few more (somewhat spoilery) thoughts from this replay session:

Hope you listened to all of the Albrecht Requiem recordings in Deimos's hidden chamber, because those revelations underpin a great deal of the story arc from here on out.

Boy howdy, they are really going all-in on the "love wins" theme in a number of ways (Whispers in the Walls, Jade Shadows, etc.). Which is great, I love a subversively positive literary theme when the work is put in. And if that's any indication of the tone of the writing going forward, 1999 and the Hex storylines are going to be a hurt/comfort bonanza.

"You are late" happens at the stroke of midnight. Something about the moment of January 1st, 2000 lets the Man in the Wall in. I have a feeling that keeping the Indifference at bay involves keeping Hollovania and the Hex in a permanent state of 1999... eternally.

Loid really needs his problematic boyfriend back, dammit. (On a repeat playthrough, WitW does a really good job of selling us on how perfect these two too-smart-for-their-own-good drama-queens are for each other.)

As a corollary to 3, I have a sneaking suspicion that the overarching mission of "find and secure Dr. Entrati" is not going to be exactly... complete at the end of 1999's main story quest. The post-quest status quo might have the Hex in a perpetual state of "looking for Dr. Entrati" eternally. The actual stuff that advances the status quo will have to come later. But this is the one I'm least sure of, so we'll see!

You bet I'm gonna be streaming 1999 on day one. I'm way too invested, as ever.

[shdwtouch]

everyone doing rp stuff on the dash: me, coming back from a break to discuss warframe lore:

[stealtharchaeologist]

@ritasanderson

[xeilon]

Heyyy, do you want to read Party Of Your Lifetime lyric analysis / speculation / vibe check that would make any sensible literature teacher weep (not necessarily for good reasons)? Hi :)

"Party of your lifetime" -> So title, obviously menacing, you WILL die after this. Very cool 10/10.

"We're On-Lyne" -> Not just announcing the bands name but also alluding to the fact that they have the technology based Techrot. Also, infested, hivemind, online, got it? Gotta love it.

Bit of a theory, if the Techrot was a thing before Y2K but Y2K is still a threat, it could be argued that the Techrot would/will become more powerful once the clock hits 0:00, especially if the computers are not turned off. We know how fans are, if your faves name is On-Lyne you will keep your PC on going into the new year, as every true On-Lyne fan should. So their name's also a tactic to make sure they spread as far as they can.

"Step into the night, where all the stars are bright" -> Stars, celebrities aka. On-Lyne, also stars make up the night sky, they are a 'unity' could allude to the infested hivemind, also also, manipulation, "You can become a bright star just like us, you just have to 'step into the night' / become infested."

"We're back again to do this, and we're gonna do it right" -> This song is On-Lynes big return, but also could mean that the infestation is here. Also could mean that the Techrot isn't just 'infestation that started in 1999' but the infestation we know and love from the game, that Albrecht brought back from the future to make proto-frames that is now spreading far and wild in 1999. This would also explain why the Techrot / Coda Technocyte managed to evolve into Liches while our 'basic' infestation couldn't. Because they are the basic infestation that had ages to evolve.

"Something wild's in the air, I just know it" -> Infestation obviously. I'm also gonna say that this line has a double meaning, and is a warning to the listeners.

I think this song, other than being a catchy indoctrination 'hymn' of the infested is also a warning by the original On-Lyne members. Throughout the song the heat as motif pops up multiple times usually followed by / following references to fighting / winning. There are also some lines that makes the song feel like a bit of a tug war between consciousnesses, a fight for control, I believe between the Techrot and the band members, which is actually a pretty common theme in Warframe, see Umbra, all the Warframes, Ordis, Narmer, the Holdfast, even to some extent Drifter in Duviri and Stalker in his recent quest.

"Now we're moving quicker [...] there's no turning back" -> Again, obvious infested reference, the "Once we hit the scene, there's no turning back" being another double meaning warning, that once the concert happens something will change forever. I believe this would be the Techrot taking complete control over On-Lyne.

[Chorus starts]

"Gonna bring that feeling, gonna feel the heat, On-Lyne is in town and we can't be beat" -> This is again the Techrot spreading, little shout out to heat damage that is effective against them except, no.

If my reading of this song being sang by 2 opposing forces is right this is probably one of the coolest lines here. So if this is On-Lynes big return this could also be the first time they're preforming this song live. Now the Infestation and most likely Techrot too, are weak to heat, so it could be that it's influence gets weaker the higher the temperature is. And this will be a concert. Do you see the vision?

"We come alive moving under the neon glow" -> And what a follow up, someones "coming alive" moving (generating body heat) under the neon glow (lamps probably also generating a lot of heat).

"Everybody rock!" -> Again as reminder that this would be a stadium filled to the brim with people. Also a call to make people move, sing, etc. which is also could and probably is a tactic of the Techrot to get people more in sync.

"It's the party of your lifetime" -> Love the title.

"The signal's strong can you feel it in the floor?" -> This line gives me the vibes of both a cover up, like the Techrot moving under the crowds feet and so giving a reason for it, "Yeah that's how loud we are!" but also as a warning again "Can't you feel the floor moving???"

"It's the party of your lifetime"

[Chorus ends]

"Now that you can see there ain't no stopping me, The city's on 11 it's two thousand degrees" -> Again with the heat motif and fighting, this line to me has the double meaning, the infestation can't be stopped, it's 11, almost midnight, and shit is soon hitting the fan, but also could be a call out OF the infestation, "Here we have some control, it's HOT in here, like 2000 degrees"

"Something big is coming, but it's just the beginning (this is just the beginning, just the beginning)" -> This is one of the 2 lines that made me believe this theory, because while this could just be the infested cheekily telling us "Hey hihi shit is gonna happen soon, lol" it's right after the line that can be read as 'going against the infestation' and while this line could be read as a warning, we can't forget about the background vocals. Let's consider the difference between the lines 'It's just the beginning' and 'This is just the beginning' the first can be said by someone who has nothing to do with something, very general, while the second says THIS, THIS thing that I'm doing, THIS thing that is happening. The way I read it the front vocals are sang by the actual humans that the Techrot is controlling, and the background is the Techrot.

"Neon lights flicker, DJ spins the track, the boys are in sync and there's no turning back" -> Notice how right after the last line we get a sharp switch to 3rd person story telling, as if the Techrot just managed to get control back? This is obviously telling someone that these people are now under control and this is something that can't be undone. But whom? This sounds just like "There's no reason to fight now, everything is lost anyway." Also the line "Neon lights flicker" is painting a scene that usually alludes to something changing / bad happening.

"Now that you're invested, we're turning up the heat, Everybody sing together on the one, two, three" -> This is the line that is being called out as famously mishear for 'Now that you're infested', for good reason, but again, notice how heat and fighting (albeit well hidden) come up again in the song, 'You're in(f/v)ested so we're turning up the heat, and everybody should sing along now, (which is again something that would make the stadium hotter from moving -> body heat.

[Chorus]

"Floating higher as the stars align, here on the edge of 1999" -> This could be meaning that as Y2K approaches they are getting stronger 'floating higher', just as it could mean out of body experience, aka. losing control.

"All systems go in this moment like you've never known (you've never known)" -> This is the line I'm gonna cling to as the biggest clue to the Techrot going crazy at the New Year. Also why I think On-Lyne encouraged their fans to not turn their computers off before midnight. I'm not sure I really believe this but this line could be the reverse of 'Something big is coming' with the boys singing in parenthesizes 'You've never known what's happening' to the crowd.

"Join us embrace us, don't ever erase us (On-Lyne's in the house)" -> So subtlety is out the window, we're bringing in the chanting until-

"Stop" -> And this is the line that made me write this whole post. Just. Why? Why would the Techrot put a stop to the chanting? Except if this isn't the Techrot but there is some humanity, something, anything remaining from the people they infested, that is for one last time fighting back?

"On-Lyne's in the house to bring the party of your lifetime" -> So this is purely speculation but I do believe that from this line forward it is the actual On-Lyne singing right until the end. Why?

Right after this line the music stops, like a moment of clarity, that could be so much. It could be the infestation wrestling back control once and for all, but I don't believe that that would be the case, from the lyrics that follow.

[Chorus] -> So I already explained that everything in the chorus could be interpreted as either the Techrot or On-lyne singing it, but after it comes

"We come to life, we come to life on the floor, This feeling's what we came for, The beat is strong, we can feel it in the floor" -> 'We come to life on the floor' can be interpreted as the Techrots control loosening which is the 'feeling that [they] came here for' and it's not the infested moving underfoot, but the beat they will feel in their last moments as the song ends.

"Party of your lifetime"

"[distorted] Party of your lifetime" -> The Techrot singing, trying to imitate human sound probably.

"Party of your life. Time." -> The moment I think the Techrot won was right after 'life' but it couldn't stop the 'time', because Warframe is at the end of the day about love, and hope and all that good stuff and so I refuse to look at this in any other way.

So anyway, this is just a random theory / analysis that I thought of after listening to this song too many times. I think the themes of battling for control over our lives fits Warframe perfectly, with the quests that we had in the past few years, and so I wouldn't be surprised if our new fan favorite boy band had a similar story to tell.

[gillyeowalters]

Xaku and the Entrati family

Just a small analysis I wrote a couple months ago. [Spoilers for Heart of Deimos] I love how Xaku's background story is a reflection of the Entrati family's situation. Of course, there is a direct connection between them and the family, as Xaku is composed of three Warframes that were asigned to the Entratis, but there is also a more emotional connection.

Let's put it into simple words, to compare: -> something is lost to the Void -> as a result of that, something breaks -> through another's influence, broken parts become something new, damaged and changed, but whole again

Xaku: -> the three Warframes were lost to the Void -> they broke while in the Void -> they were fused back together (either by the Void itself or some other force) into Xaku, a broken Warframe Entrati Family: -> Albrecht Entrati is lost to the Void -> Mother's grief over loosing her father breaks her family apart (definitely there were other factors, but this seems to have been the main catalyst). -> the Tenno helps them grow back together as a family. They are damaged, emotionally and physically by the infestation but seem to slowly become a unit again.

Also, notable is the theme of Mother dismembering Father, quite literally breaking his physical form. We have three Warframes becoming one and three family generations (Grandma/Parents/Children) coming together. Xaku's deluxe has the art of Kintsugi as its main theme (putting broken ceramics back together and painting the cracks golden, not only repairing it but elevating its status). Why does a fixed plate hold more value? Because someone found it worth fixing. It was valued. The same goes for the family; after saving the Heart, the Tenno could just leave, but they instead decide to run errands for the family, helping them come together-finding value in them. What would have been the other option? Indifference.

[chronicler-of-narrative]

Also, me and @alteredsilicone were discussing how the Orokin viewed relationships and stumbled upon a much bigger realization:

At its core, Warframe is a game about love.

Yea, sure it sounds kinda weird that a game about commiting space war crimes would be about love, but if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense, no?

After all, every single antagonist, every single faction, even our own characters, have motivation that is founded on love. For the Grineer its their built-in love of the Queens and of each other, for the Corpus its their undying love of Profit and just overall Desire. For the Infested, well...Need I say anything?

Like you can apply this to basically everyone. Ballas, the sentients, Wally, hell even us (our love of Space Mom). Its love all the way down. Which for a game as strange and bizzare as Warframe is actually, really charming.

Oh yea, and the homosexual allegations (or in Ballas's case, bisexual allegations) we just received in the form of the Proea Prime trailer

[meatball-headache]

I have completed The New War. It is indisputably Warframe's greatest, grandest, epickest, most unique quest.

...so, it's worth a few words, but where do I begin?

Wow. Okay. Well... that's, that's certainly something.

Okay, but... Warframe's story quests... somewhat baffle me. Maybe it's me. As I often confess, I don't play games with a lot of cinematic story these days, FFXIV being the exception to every rule. I played Red Dead Online instead of the actual game, so I could just get to the action without being bogged down by story. That's why I like things like Bloodborne and Warframe, which have this deep, cool lore, but the game just starts with you playing, and you figure it out from the game itself, rather than having it all explained in cutscenes.

So, seeing cutscenes in Warframe is a fascinating experience. I know these characters, Ballas, Teshin, Margulis... or, at least, I've heard of them. But, I feel like I've missed some introduction. Teshin, for example. The first time I saw him was when I did Duviri. This was before I did the Second Dream, even—for some reason, I did Duviri right when it came out. So, Teshin's a Duviri character. But, later, in the War Within, you deal with Teshin a lot, and your Operator speaks as if she knows him well already. There's no mention of Duviri at all! So... what am I supposed to know this guy from?

It's a little like Destiny 2, which I hated. Whenever I'd play that game, once every couple months, it would open with me in a mission, characters I don't know telling me to fight someone I never heard of, all the while someone I never met is congratulating me for killing some boss I don't remember. Then after that mission, you're locked out of the story unless you subscribe for real money... so I was constantly confused.

Let's look at Warframe specifically. Where we last left the story, in the, the Apostasy Prologue, I think? That was just a cutscene where we saw Ballas pull the Lotus from a machine and take her away. No, no—it was the Sacrifice, where we fought the Umbra Warframe, and we kept having these cutscenes where we had the POV of someone sick in bed, playing a board game against Ballas, and someone else watching on. The name "Ballas" was familiar from dialogue in the Second Dream, where we gathered that he was some important figure from Orokin history. But who were we in that scene? Are we supposed to be Teshin or something?

Maybe I'm just dumb, coddled by FFXIV's all-access story where Y'shtola or Alphinaud are on hand to explain everything. Maybe I've been ruined by growing up on JRPGs with tropey plots and bad translations, and never had to challenge myself with actual literary analysis.

No, no. Well, yes, I could still be dumb, but, here's what I think. I think that's the game's intent. It wants to baffle you, drop you into scenes with characters you're sort-of heard of, and let you piece together just what's going on. So, if we look at where we left off and where we began yesterday, in the previous cutscene, Ballas—who's apparently just alive and around—takes the Lotus out of her Lotus machine or whatever and leaves with her. Lotus seems to go willingly. How, and why? We don't get a clear answer. In fact, we don't even get a clear question, we just want to get the Lotus back. With the beginning of The New War, we have a full-scale attack from the Sentients against everything and everyone, and we see the Grineer, the Corpus, the Ostrons, and our old friend (apparently) Teshin himself fighting against them. We hear Erra's comments on our "slapdash" alliance. Wait, we're allied?

Yeah, obviously. See, a lesser game, like FFXIV, would've had a whole series of drawn-out cutscenes where the danger is revealed, the heads of state get together to discuss their options, they agree an alliance is their best hope, they appoint Alphinaud as the overall leader, they discuss their plan... (I disparage FFXIV a little bit. Dawntrail had a similar scene, but it just cut to Vrtra blasting the mothership—thought we did pause on Koana to here him explain what's going on and why.) Warframe did none of that. We had a scene where we saw Erra with Ballas in shackles, apparently, and the Lotus turned into a Sentient, and then we cut to—

Right off the bat, The New War is a whole nother thing. Rather than make you sit through cutscenes ELI5ing you, it goes straight to the action. The game—the devs—trust the intelligence of the player to get what's going on from context, and, they attack your emotions directly by thrusting you into the danger immediately, rather than letting you get settled and learn everything about what's happening.

Kahl-175's chapter was beautiful. First we saw the Ostron get attacked, and Erra approached a child and said sweetly, "Don't be afraid." Is he... going to kill the child? Or... just capture them, maybe? We cut to Kahl, injured, loyally responding to Vay Hek's commands. He bravely sallies forth, but then when he sees another Grineer—another brother—go down, he goes to help, but it's too late. He plans to sacrifice himself as a living bomb to blow up the enemy base, "For the Queens!" So he fights through waves of Sentients, finds a bomb, and finally climbs, injured badly, to the base of the... base, and sets off the bomb, not for the Queens, but, "For my brothers."

...but the bomb doesn't go off. Time stops. Erra is there. "Don't be afraid," he says.

Oh.

Oh.

He's definitely going to kill Kahl. His noble plan failed. And this means, Erra definitely killed the Ostrons, too. Shit just got really real.

Next we meet Veso in the weak middle act, being berated by Alad V, and "nobly" fighting in the name of profit. (The Corpus' prophet is profit. Heh.) His section is full of puzzles that kind of baffled me. In fact, half the time, I didn't even know I was doing puzzles. That's Warframe for you—it'll helpfully put a waymarker exactly where you need to go, but it won't tell you what you need to do when you get there. (Usually it's Void Sling, which I always forget how to do.) In the end, he has to fight the goddamned Jackal... I strugged with that and died a lot, but eventually got it done. I think the game took pity on me and gave me an automatic win because looking back on it, I don't think it had a life bar on that last attempt? At any rate, Alad V wants to surrender to the Sentients—honestly, a logical idea, because there's no way they can win—but Veso overrides his override and syncs the fleet in one grand, albeit futile attack.

And then Teshin shows up, because of course he does. Teshin's a major character in these story quests, but his introduction is still a complete mystery. This is where I draw the line between "the game trusts the player to understand what's going on" and "okay, I definitely missed an intro quest somewhere." I think he's the NPC you talk to for PVP? Which no one does. My guess is when PVP was added, there was something introducing him. Maybe there's just a video on the Youtube, like how FFXIV 1.0 ended. (I'll do my own headcanon, hang on... Okay, so at the beginning of the game when you first get to your first Relay, Teshin senses the presence of a Warframe and goes to you, saying, "So, the Tenno are back..." Then he leaves and leaves you wondering what the heck.)

Anyway, now you do Teshin's chapter, and, it's worth mentioning, each of these chapters have their own UIs, their own unique skills, their own style of shields and HP. I've noticed this about Warframe: it makes every scene unique. Think back to the scene where you're a sick person in bed playing a board game against Ballas. It's not just a cutscene you watch, you actually play the board game. Someone went through the effort of programming in a minigame for you to play during a dialogue cutscene. Again, this is something any lesser game would have you do separately, so you can watch the cutscene and focus on it, and then play the minigame and focus on it. Warframe, again, trusts the player's intelligence to do both at the same time—or, they trust that it will be just too much to do all at once. I'm trying to solve this new minigame while listening to new information, and it makes it hard to process all of it—which, I think, is the point. Warframe wants to keep you completely on your toes. I kept putting down my controller during cutscenes to take screenshots, only to snatch it up again once I realize, I'm supposed to be aiming that beam or something.

Warframe loves to give you puzzles and no explanation. I can respect that. Some are really confusing, and to my shame, I was not able to first-try... nearly anything in this quest. I did Kahl's chapter on the first try, but everyone else died all over the place. And, what's really interesting, is that it's not a case like, again, the only other game I play FFXIV, where if you die, now you know what that does, and you don't die to that again. In Warframe I just had to try and try again until I figured out, one, what the game was asking me to do, and two, how to do it.

At the end of Teshin's chapter, there's a confrontation, and then the Lotus is sucked into a vortex, the Operator is stabbed through the whole and sucked into a vortex, and then...

What the... What the hell is going on? First, they make you sign a contract to begin the mission, and now this!? ...or... is this because I was idle for like 45 minutes at one point and my computer turned off Wifi when it went to sleep? It's probably the latter, but in the moment, it was certainly a fourth-wall-breaking mindfuck of the ultimate degree. I was already completely hooked, and now this?

Now we see Ballas as a king. Wasn't he shackled by Erra? Why's he in charge now? Was their a conflict between the two that we didn't see? Was this their plan from the beginning? Will it be explained if I keep playing or is this all we're going to get?

Naturally, I kept playing, and then—

...if this dude turns out to be my Duviri guy, I'm going to scream.

So now I'm Human Male, infiltrating the Narmer, which the context tells me is the kingdom Ballas made. "Narmer" is a familiar name. I've heard the song on Youtube, sans context, and I've seen notes saying that certain mods and arcanes and stuff can be gotten from "Narmer bounties," so there's something going on with them later. Human Male has a pistol, radar, and a smoke grenade—and a healing power reminiscient of what I had in Duviri. And that's it. Up against these guys that just dusted the Lotus and my invincible Warframe both, and conquered the entire solar system.

Again, no context. The game is letting us figure that out for our own—who this guy is, where he came from, what he's doing, and why. We're resisting the Narmer, of course. And, it says right there, rescue Ostron prisoners, so you know I'm doing that. He gets to the end of the level, and then there's something called an Archon, so he has to book it, and he goes...

...back to my ship.

Well, all my decorations are missing, but the colors are mine. Why is he in my ship? And then—

YEAH IT'S MY FUCKIN' DUVIRI GUY. Okay! Okay, so we're really doing this! Not only is it my Duviri guy, but he's got Ordis, too—and, somehow, what's left of the Lotus.

Why does he have the Lotus's remains? The game doesn't tell you, but, obviously, he went into the Void and found them. What, you think he ordered it from Amazon? He's trying to revive the Lotus, but so is Erra and Ballas—only, Erra wants to remake her as Natah, Ballas wants to remake her as Margulis, and John Duviri wants to remake her as the Lotus.

Now, in the quest Natah, we learned from Hunhow that the Lotus's real name is Natah. Then in the Second Dream, we heard the Lotus's voice actor being called Margulis. Margulis was apparently executed for treason or something, we don't know what happened to Natah, and now there's the Lotus. So, was Margulis not executed, but turned into the Lotus? Or, what? The Lotus is very mysterious. She has extremely powerful powers and is essentially a Tenno goddess. Perhaps more will be revealed in the fullness of time? But, the game is often content to not answer questions. Half the time it doesn't even ask questions, it just does what it wants and leaves it to you to grok what's going on.

So, we try to find out. First, John Duviri needs to steal a Corpus ship, so for that, we travel to Fortuna—and if "We All Lift Together" jumps into your head just by reading that name, you're not alone. But this time, we're treated to a different song...

"Praise the wise and mighty Ballas . . . "

Powerless against the Narmer, we enter the stealth section of the game... and this was really frustrating. I got caught dozens of times and this took me an hour or so. Especially inside the factory, I just couldn't figure out what to do on the left side for ages, until I finally opened my eyes and saw the extremely obvious way to go—so obvious, in fact, that the game pops up with a "Press L1 to Crouch" tutorial. Bro—do you think I made it to The New War without crouching? What do you think I've been doing for the whole stealth section thus far!? So, I stole a ship and went to Uranus (which is occupied by Grineer, so why do we need a Corpus ship?) where the Natah quest took place, and where we first encountered Sentients, and Hunhow. This time, though, we meet Hunhow in the flesh (?) and he gives us a magic weapon, the S-tier bow N... Nakurak? Nataruk. It's on Overframe.gg's tier list at the top of S rank, masked with a spoiler filter, which made me click it because, how could a weapon's name be a spoiler? It can't be that much of a spoiler, just a teaser, right? So I clicked it long ago and thought: yep this means nothing to me. But! Now, I had it, this famous bow. It must be good, then. And, yeah, it's pretty good—especially compared to my pistol.

Ah, I'm doing that thing again. Everyone hates when a Youtuber provides an "analysis" of some piece of media, and it turns out just to be recapping the story. That's exactly what I'm doing here. But, I'm also not pretending to provide a new and unique analysis—and I'm not writing and revising a script beforehand. I'm just thinking out loud, so to speak—so to type—and getting my thoughts out in writing. And part of that is retracing my steps through the story, refreshing my memory, and just sharing how I felt each step of the way. But you, dire reader, should have already done this quest—so there's nothing new for you, and if there is, shame shame, you're spoiling it for yourself. But that's all right, in the end, because I'm not writing for you, honestly, I'm just writing for myself. So it goes.

So, Hunhow introduces the three Archons to us, and now I'm thinking, okay, so the weird part's over and we're getting back to a normal video game now. Here's the "kill ten rats" part.

Hah.

But, on seeing the Archons, I noticed one thing right away. Actually, I think I saw it when John Duviri got chased by one in his first mission, but, they've got the body of a Warframe—recognizable ones, that's Mag, Rhino, and... I'm not sure about the other one but his powers seemed like Caliban's—and a Sentient on their head, with a crystal stuck through them both at the Warframe's head, like a linchpin. What would happen if you took the crystal out? What would happen if you stuck the crystal somewhere else? I'm vaguely aware that Archon Shards are some kind of game mechanic—can't be that complicated, though, because the top searches on the wiki are always Kuva Lich and Icarnon...

Anyway, right after that, we get a smash cut to a Zariman school? It's first person, but I know who I am. I'm my kid, back Before It All Happened, bored at school, as all kids throughout all time have been. There's a training drill for the crew, and we get to watch—only for it to fade back to Duviriman, and the battle against the Archons.

I went against the Owl first. Well, I went to Earth, first, I wasn't paying any attention to who was where. I kept dying because I wasn't listening when Hunhow was telling me how to attack the enemy weak spot for massive damage, but helpfully after I died, Ordis reminded me just vaguely enough for me to get what to do. Still hard, but I got it done, and just as I had suspected, he pulled out the crystals to kill them. One down, two to go! Thanks to my magic bow, this will be easy and normal!

Back to the Zariman. Something happened. The whole place is attacked and destroyed. Your classmates are crying in the corner, and I'm my kid, as I suspected. So, this is retelling the history of what happened on the Zariman. I just know what... a lot of bad shit happened, everyone was fighting everyone, it's complicated. There's Tenno, Sentient, and Orokin involved, and the Sentients made the Warframes to wipe out the Orokin? All tied together by the Lotus, which only makes things more confusing... But, anyway, yeah, time to see what really happened back then! My kid helps her friends, and then, in the corner...

"Is that me? Nah, we all have the same uniform, and there's only so many hair styles."

...I didn't get a screenshot, but that person turns around and yep, it's me. She has black eyes and says "Thanks, kiddo." End scene.

What the fuck is going on?! Once again—when the devs decided to start having cutscenes in Warframe, they clearly didn't consult any of the standard texts, or they did, and decided to skip all the rules. Half the time I'm playing in cutscenes. The entire time, crazy, weird shit is happening. From the beginning, Warframe has been nothing but baffling—no, no, "baffling" isn't the word. I've just been spoiled by having the Echo in FFXIV to let me go into the past and read people's mind and see exactly what happened to set things in motion. In Warframe, you don't get those Echoes. You just get... the experience, you just see the aftermath, so to speak, and it's on you to figure out what's happening and why.

Did you read Dune? It's fantastic. Better than fantastic—it's possibly perfect. Dune is rife with its own mythology, history, language, culture, all that—and at no point does the narration explain a single thing to you. The characters live in their world, and are completely comfortable with it. It's normal to them, they don't feel compelled to explain what the kwisatch haderach is, just like I don't feel compelled to have to explain who Jesus Christ is. Warframe has a similar aspect to it—you keep getting these scenes where characters might be talking about something about the Old War that they know all about, and you're in the dark, and that's that. They won't light the way for you, figure it out yourself, and if you can't, that's not their problem.

I'm not sure exactly what I'm trying to say—how I feel. Warframe's story is not badly written, but, it could seem that way. It could seem like there's plot holes, or missing pieces, or they're just jumping around at random. I don't have all the answers, and the game isn't telling me that I should even be asking questions. Everything is taken as a given. For instance, when you play as the Drifter, Ordis has a body. Ordis has a body!? When? How? Why? —none of these questions are relevant. Ordis has a body. Maybe the Drifter built a flying computer for Ordis to inhabit because the ship computer was offline. Maybe this is Ordis's true form, finally recovered from an ancient Old War battlefield. Maybe we're in a time loop and this is Ordis's original body, before he lost it and became the ship in the Warframe game that we've played thus far. The game's not putting a spotlight on it and saying, "Whoa, how mysterious, don't you wonder about that?" I do wonder about that! But the narrative takes it as a given and rolls with it, so I've just got to do the same.

And the same happens with bigger plot, too. In, what, the Sacrifice, or the Apostasy Prologue, something in there, we had a cutscene where we just see Ballas approach the Lotus and take her out of her Lotus machine and take her away. Or vice versa. I don't remember, and I think I have a screenshot of Lotus carrying Ballas. So... why is Ballas around? Isn't he an ancient Orokin, and weren't they wiped out? Where's he been, and why'd he get out? Where was the Lotus and how does he or anyone know where that is? Why was it possible to... anything that happened? There are lots of questions, but no time to ask them. The game simply says, "This is what's happening now. Try to keep up, kiddo."

...anyway, after the weirdness with your clone on the Zariman, the Drifter fights the second Archon, in my case it was Rhino on Mars. This was a much easier fight, I won the first time, though I didn't figure out his gimmick where he clones himself. I just shot them until I found the real one. I'm guessing, since the Owl required you to use the smokescreen ability, this one requires the radar ability? In any case, it was an easy fight, and we brought the crystal back to the Lotus, even though she was showing signs of hostility after the first crystal. This time she broke loose and attacked us, Ordis sacrificed himself to save us (but he turned out to be fine anyway), and Lotus flew away to do something mysterious and probably Ballas-related.

Then we're back on the Zariman where the kid is facing her clone who says—with great acting and facial expressions, by the way. This blows anything FFXIV has ever done with animations out of the water... but maybe that's typical of more Western games, there's more of a movie-based inspiration than anime or whatever? I just know every JRPG is filled with scenes of everyone just standing around taking their turns talking, whereas western games seem to be a lot more Hollywood. Anyway, the clone says she can save everyone... something something, I don't remember exactly, but it's a deal with the devil sorta thing. The kid accepts and they shake hands, and then—

I didn't get a good screenshot, but there are thousands and thousands of copies of the kid. And then I realized:

At the game's beginning, you controlled your Warframe, and Ordis called you "Operator," like he was speaking to you, the player, not the person inside the Warframe. There's not a person inside the Warframe, though. As we began to realize that in-world these things are remote-controlled somehow, we eventually did the Second Dream, and learned that it was the Tenno that control the Warframes. In the Second Dream, your Warframe rescues your you, your kid, from the pods in the Reservoir. One thing I wondered was, what about all the rest? Sure, it's a video game, so the bad guy goes after the player, but what about all the other Tenno sleeping in the Reservoir? But, with this scene, I realized...

I am every Tenno.

Every Warframe is piloted by this kid, the one survivor from the Zariman incident. She's copied thousands and thousands of times—infinite times, probably—through some kind of parallel time, multiverse shenanigans. It's extremely magical and totally unexplained. And, the thing is... Hunhow addressed the Drifter as "Tenno." He doesn't refute this at all. The Drifter is a Tenno as well, but there was only one survivor... in this timeline, maybe? Is he from another timeline where there was no Zariman disaster, or, somehow my grown-up self? (I like how they discuss in the cutscene whether he's just her from the future, and the game totally ignores that they're different genders. The kid just thinks "Huh, I guess I trans my gender when I grow up, okay then.") Or, something even more mind-bending? The same timeline, but just a different outcome—but still the same. Somehow.

It's fucking weird.

And I still have one more Archon to beat!

The writers for this game... well, the advice I know is "If you want to have good ideas, have lots of ideas." You come up with an idea for your story... and you throw it out and come up with one better. So they must've just had a lifetime of "Yeah... but what if instead..." and one-upping their ideas until they got to where they are now. The scene where the Drifter—now in a timeframe where he knows what's going on—sits down to dinner with the kid—who simultaneously just experienced the Zariman attack, and is also the kid we later play as, who "got all your Warframes back" as the Drifter asks—this scene is where my brain finally shut down and I understood. You're not supposed to be trying to understand this intellectually. You're supposed to be trying to understand this emotionally. Respond to the impact and magnificence that the game wants you to experience, rather than fussing over the little details of "Wait, why's he standing over there now?" It is beautiful, and it's art in the most extreme and perfect way.

Then, you get a strange choice, for the Drifter or the Operator. "To finish this," they say, so I assume it's just for the rest of this quest? Or, would this actually change my Operator into the Drifter permanently? I mean, this quest made me sign a contract before I started! Anything could happen.

I chose the Operator. I am the Operator. I've always been the Operator. And the Drifter, he's... also me, but not yet.

The Operator got stabbed by Ballas (or was it Erra? I don't remember, I was getting stabbed at the time) and fell into the Void with the remains of the Sentiented Lotus. How did the Operator survive? Obviously, she didn't. This is another identical copy, plucked from infinite timelines. The copy also got stabbed and died in the Void. Everything happened, has happened, will happen, and is happening. That kid was mumbling, "When are we gonna use this stuff?" during our Eternalism lesson, and hey! I wound up having to use it right away.

I also noticed, on the slides for the Eternalism lecture, that the recommended reading was some books by A. Entrati and E. Entrati. Our teacher was E. Entrati (I don't remember her first name)... and it occurred to me... I don't have Grandmother's name on Deimos yet, do I? Hm...

And then, final battle. The Lotus went to confront Ballas and we went to confront both. Erra had a change of heart and died on his own. No pity for bastards. And the fight, in true Warframe form, was a cinematic spectacle—I know FFXIV's trials and raids are spectacles, but Warframe, at its best, is like playing a movie. There's dialogue constantly, and the combat is a puzzle, reflecting beams at targets, baiting your foe's attacks, that sort of thing. I didn't even realize it was a boss battle, I didn't even realize it was a puzzle at first, I thought it was all cutscene for a while. It was intense, and once I realized that I'm part of it, the tension only amped up.

But, in the end, it's a video game. We defeated Ballas, and rescused the Lotus, and now everything is back to norm—WHAT IN THE HOLY NAME OF FUCK IS THAT????

All problems solved, Ballas done away with, Narmer's yoke broken, the mystery of the Lotus solved—and then this insane, preposterous, impossible thing. It loomed up with perfect megalophobia, and then... just grinned and smiled. On top sat the kid's clone, wearing the Lotus mask—the same weird creep that we chased during one early part of the quest. All it did was appear and smile and then it was gone, without a flash or bang or the remotest effect, it simply disappeared.

This is an absolutely bonkers ending to what was a pretty bonkers quest. The New War, as a whole, didn't answer a lot of questions about the Old War, the Orokins and Sentients, or what happened on the Zariman. In fact, it just raised a lot of new questions, introducing the Drifter and his impossible connection to the Operator... and this ending. What. Just... what.

Now, I'm not playing this on launch day back in 2021. I have the benefit of scraps of information that's come since. For instance, there was a new Warframe named Jade—in the Second Dream (or thereabouts) we see that Margulis was sentenced to the Jade. So, whatever Jade's quest is about, it'll reveal more about that time. I also know there's a quest "Whispers in the Walls" that's been on my Codex forever, waiting for me to clear—to even reveal—the prerequisite, "The New War." And I've seen mention of "the Man in the Wall" as a character of some sort, and, uh... I guess I'm looking at him. And, during the tantalizingly named patch "The Lotus Eaters," the login screen seemed to depict the Lotus and this wall-man looming over her.

The New War is unquestionably Warframe's greatest quest (so far). It took me nearly 12 hours. FFXIV's patch stories don't even take me that long! Not even if I combine the raid grind that comes with it! This was absolutely epic and perfect in every way. Every scene kept me completely rapt, and constantly guessing and wondering at what might come next. Everything kept being different, from playing playing as a Grineer and a Corpus with their own title cards, weird new hacking minigames, mashing buttons during cutscenes, and a beautifully perplexing story.

But.

The single reveal in the Second Dream, when they suddenly dump you into a character creator, is a better moment. That moment is honestly the highlight of my entire gaming career. Nothing can touch that... unless it turns out that all of Warframe was just the tip of the iceberg leading us to some kind of ARG or something paradigm-shifting like that. But I've already said my piece on the Second Dream.

It turned out that @chiclet-go-boom sent me the New War trailer all those years ago. My first-ever contact with Warframe was seeing that. I didn't understand anything that was happening, but had grandeur and mystery in spades—though it didn't show any gameplay, it promised some kind of substantial world and story that was more than I expected. I thought Warframe was some kind of PVP game like Apex or Overwatch and just as "deep." When I did get around to actually playing, when the Angels of the Zariman came out, I had all these quests in my Codex that required The New War to unlock... but I didn't have The New War in my Codex. This was telling: clearly, this The New War quest was going to be something special, accessed from somewhere else, perhaps, and with so many other quests hanging on it, it must usher in some complete shift in the game to reveal so many new paths. Plus, just look at the name. "The New War" is exactly what you call your big 2.0 restructuring quest.

So... what do I think happened?

There's been plenty of text ingame about what happened, from the Zariman, the Old War, Lua and the Void and everything. I don't remember most of it. But, I'll try to make a go at... some of the key points.

There's three species here. First is human, the Tenno on the Zariman. We saw the kids, bored at school, flying off Saturn, which means that humans must have mastered interplanetary travel, since it's mundane to them, and they feel comfortable enough to sit kids down for regular classes during trips. Well, they get attacked, so not totally safe. Second species is the Orokin, the blue, long-armed humanoids. Third is the Sentients, really cool-looking alive robotic monoliths... or something. Where the Orokin and Sentients came from I do not know—I think one came from the Void, and the other can't enter the void, or vice versa, or something.

The Zariman got attacked and only the children survived. Margulis took them in, which was an act of treason, so she was sentenced to death by the Jade light. So, the Orokin and the humans must have been at war, or something. Ballas loved Margulis but Margulis loved the children. The Orokin built Warframes—I think some dialogue during the Sacred Grove quests has a person talking about how she's designing Warframes for Ballas. Then, I guess, the Sentients made the Lotus in the image of Margulis to use the Tenno to pilot the Warframes to wipe out the Orokin? Snippets of mention of the Old War suggest that the Warframes wiped out "a civilization," and since we see Orokin ruins everywhere and Orokin people nowhere, I guess it's the Orokins that were wiped out. Interesting is that all the Orokin levels are in the Void, except Deimos, where an Orokin surviving family lives.

But, wait—they're the Entrati family, aren't they? All them on Deimos? Then why would the Zariman classroom slideshow say to read books by A. Entrati, if he's Orokin and they're warring with them? Unless, the Deimosites aren't Orokin? But they're blue, they look like Ballas, who is certainly Orokin I think.

Also, if the Sentients made the Lotus, how come they have the power to do so? How come the Lotus has the powers she has? Why would the Tenno children be particularly good subjects to pilot the Warframes? Is this some Evangelion thing where you mother has to be dead? Why wouldn't the Sentients just make a bunch of Lotuses to attack the Orokin directly?

And, the game begins with the Tenno returning—the Warframes coming back to life. So, where did they go? But, in The New War, the Tenno disappeared again. Is this some more time loop stuff? Are we essentially at the same beginning, but now history is different there's Narmer? Who is Natah, and how—in what way did she become the Lotus?

All this, and now the Drifter, the evil clone, the man in the wall... I know Warframe 1999, or, something, has something to do with the Entratis, so there's more to be dug from that hole. They added a new faction or something when they released Dagath, or Dante, or something. I don't know, I just watched the one dev stream one time to see the Hydroid rework :p But I know the story's going to go down that path.

Also, @maeljade said "Congrats on beating Warframe's Endwalker." What's that supposed to mean? Because it was a grand, epic, emotional, time-traveling adventure? Because it was much-hyped and long-awaited? Because they came out at the exact same time? :P Or... because this is the end of the first story, and now a new story arc begins? From the hints I've seen, it looks like the Entrati family, this man in the wall, and the Lotus are going to be the focus of the upcoming story. But, let's be honest, "focus" and "story" don't belong in the same sentence where Warframe is involved. Don't get me wrong, I love this game, I love how they're telling the story—but it's extremely confusing, completely open, and if you measure from Natah to The New War... there's not really a solid throughline here. In Natah we find out that the Lotus is really Natah, a Sentient. In the Second Dream we find out that we're really the kid on the moon. In the War Within... I forget what we found out but Teshin shows up to help us fight the Queens and unlock the Kuva zone. Some kind of coming-of-age episode, I guess. In Chains of Harrow, we learned that the Void is even weirder than we thought, and perhaps is just a person unto itself. The Sacrifice was about the Umbra Warframe and we met Ballas, and then in the Apostasy and The New War, we have the whole Ballas kidnaps the Lotus, Erra enslaves Ballas, Ballas creates Narmer and conquers the game thing. It's hard to argue that it was all leading up to that, everything just kind of suddenly happens.

Anyway, I've been writing for almost as long as the quest took. It's, no question, the greatest quest in Warframe, there's no comparison whatsoever. It's probably longer than every other previous quest combined. It absolutely exceeded all possible expectations—I was expecting more of the usual, kind of regularish quests with voice overs during, cutscenes between, and some big twist at the finish. This was like playing a movie. So many times I wasn't sure whether I was playing or watching—in a good way! I'm watching something exciting happen and the camera moves just so and I realize "Oh wait, I have to be them now!?" Active time events popping up during cutscenes. This was simply unprecedented. With the Second Dream, the game began to experiment with cinematic quests... and, having instantly perfected it, they then went off to the races with it.

I've been playing Warframe for a couple years now, and I have around 650 hours in it. I know, I know, I thought it'd be a lot more, too! Sure feels like I've been playing for a lifetime. I could've done this quest a long time ago, but I'm glad I waited. I'm glad I let the game steep, let myself sink into it and absorb it, take my time and go my own way, and now, finally, have this phenomenal experience. Like I said, the moment in the Second Dream was, I think, still a more profound, eye-opening, jaw-dropping moment—but that whole quest takes like, half an hour. The New War took me a solid twelve hours, and I did take a break for like twenty minutes to do something else, but I realized... no, no, I have to do this in one go. One massive, monumental, extraordinary adventure. And it was perfect.

...

Man, I don't know what else to say. I don't know what to think. The Second Dream had that moment, but The New War was just a wall-to-wall nonstop experience. It's like the Second Dream was magnificent, and then The New War said, "Ah, but I am not left-handed..." and really kicked it up to 11. It's going to be a long time before I'm ready to do another story quest. I don't know what this has unlocked for me, other than a slew of new quests. I know I've seen tooltips that say items can be gotten from the Drifter's Camp, and now that I finally have that, I can check that out. I've seen that you get some things from "Narmer Bounties" so there must be something about that somewhere. I know that the Zariman will be a zone on the star chart at some point because I have a button for Arbitrations that says I need to complete the entire start chart including the Zariman and a bunch of places on Deimos that aren't on my map... But, there's a lot of quests ahead of me, and we're finally getting to the things that I saw come out: Angels of the Zariman, Whispers in the Walls, the Jade Shadows. Probably it won't be until next Christmas that I get around to doing those... but, we'll see. After all, we're fighting a new war now...

All right. I think that's all for now. My mind is empty. I said some words. That's all for now.

[alteredsilicone]

Reddit Post

"Glast is still Corpus, he still cares about profit, he's not going to turn down a trade when it doesn't directly conflict with his goals. His problem with the Corpus isn't that they are the bad guys, or too greedy...it's that they've become so directly obsessed with greed and ruthlessness that they've stopped being businessmen and have basically just turned into pirates.

For example, in the Glast Gambit, Nef Anyo almost destroys a long standing trade agreement between a colony and the Corpus because he only sees the value in what he can steal...not what the trade agreement itself is worth.

This is what Glast really hates...it's not about morals...it's about good business. Glast tries to push the system back towards stability and order, but it's not altruistic...it's because he believes that is the route to most profit and that Parvos is holding the whole of the Origin System's economy back by constantly sabotaging and stealing."

"Heh as a moral code. it's just one that directs him into believing in a sustainable ecosystem rather than a burn everything down and sell the ashes because after I'm gone fuck you approach"

Direct quote from the game (Nightwave Season 3, The Glassmaker):

Opportunity and Acuity, Protocols of The Perrin Sequence."'Create a problem then sell the solution!' No. To embrace Fraudulence is to embrace Idleness. Idleness creates dull minds. Dull minds fail. No. Opportunity is our watchlord. Opportunity and actuality."

"He is an entity that understands that war is often wasteful and force destroys the things you want."

Anyways, I am glad that once in a blue moon I see actual good analysis and understanding of what Ergo Glast and the Perrin Sequence stand for. He is Corpus, yes, but his whole shtick is that he sees creating artificial scarcity to exploit vulnerable people as a bad thing, unlike Corpus who are basically soft-Orokin in their desire to strip the world of every valuable it offers, consequences be damned. Corpus canonically sell materials to Grineer who then craft weapons to facilitate a never-ending war between the factions.

Ergo Glast believes that peace could be achieved through trade and negotiations, peaceful ones, where both parties benefit. The Perrin Sequence Railjack crewmate even muses that once you understand the language someone else speaks, it becomes much harder to plant an ax in their face. Thus - communication is key to peace.

You can dislike it because you dislike capitalism or whatever, but I still want people to at least try to understand his philosophy and not just dismiss it due to their own prejudices. It also doesn't have to be the Correct solution to the Origin System's problem, but it is a solution. Warframe's universe is the perfect opportunity to see what sort of ideologies might spring up after the fall of the Empire and what ways of life might eventually prosper.

As for his attitude towards Parvos: Glast might like Parvos and see the original Corpus doctrine as something the current era Corpus have strayed away, but I also like that OP writes that Parvos would see Glast as sentimental, which in his eyes is a moral failing. Though Glast stands his ground because he knows what he's about.

When we visit the Mycona colony, the first thing Glast urges us is to not cast judgement on the Myconians for living a lifestyle that might seem bizarre to us. So this sort of tolerance and open-mindedness is something that definitely would stem from a post-Orokin society that no longer values strict hierarchies.

Ps. the "how they would actually talk" is funny because both of these men are very sharp-tongued and quick-witted and they would definitely have some godly banter. I can imagine Ergo even bringing up Nef as a dig at Parvos.

[keoulkeech]

An analysis of the relation between The Great Despair and The Hex (Spoilers for Warframe 1999)

Glossary:

“The Great Despair” acting as a title for The Great Indifference

“Time”, “Love”, “Babe”, “You” acting as an reference for the Drifter

“I” acting as an individual member of the Hex (any)

The idea that the Hex (or a singular Hex member) POV is being represented by On-lyne - as in the Hex are the composers or the ones performing the music - came to me after completing The Hex (quest) Finale...

Please stay / Don’t put out the flame and run away / In this heartbreak / I’ll be here fighting for it / With or without you

The Drifter came with the information, plan and [apparently] solution on how to save them from the Reactor (as in bringing up the mentioned “flame” of hope). I interpreted this as a dramatic telling of the scenario from Wally disappearing with us [and Albretch]. The flame being put out but that they would be fighting with or without us (as they tried).

Baby ‘til you come back with something / I know I’ll never let it go / I’m waiting but you come back with nothin’

This as the first attempt of the Drifter in saving them at the Zariman.

This obsession has turned / Into the Great Despair

I believe that the scenario of hopelessness (“obsession” with the return of the Drifter, their flame) and conflict among the Hex made Wally stronger in some way...

They say love is time / But all in love isn’t fair

Some kind of “meta” since the Drifter can manipulate Time and Love is the shield against the Indifference.

So pull me out of the Great Despair

Regarding the Ending

Every day / I’m getting stronger but I still feel the pain / Time will show the way

The Drifter (manipulator of Time) will show the way.

Baby ‘til you come back with something (until you come back with something) / I know I’ll never let it go (I know I’ll never let go) / Your indifference lets you come back with nothin’ (you come back with nothin’)

Once again - but more “on the nose” - referencing the first attempt of the Drifter of saving the Hex.

Now referencing the Ending:

We watched the world burn down around us / But we’re still standing here / With a flicker of hope on the darkest of days / Now it feels like the end is near (feels like the end is near) / The end (The end) / Of the Great Despair (Great Despair)

This obsession has turned / Into the Great Despair / Now all I see is you / You’re everywhere / They say love is time / And now it’s time we declare / Goodbye to the Great Despair (Goodbye to the Great Despair)

Goodbye to the Great Indiferrence!

[stealtharchaeologist]

do you think Solaris United know the tenno is a child?

do you think Ticker heard her Stardust stumble through a physics concept or mess up a word and thought, little one, you may be as displaced in that body as I am in mine.

Not necessarily understanding the mechanics of it and not especially caring. Just another luvvie who needs her help.

You're one of us now, and I take care of my own.

do you think Eudico put her faith in Sparky only for it to hit her, in the middle of her work in the back of her head, why the tenno don't quite behave like other soldiers? Did the guilt make her fall to her knees? Legs, the Ventkids, just more kids I am putting in danger.

When she realized that Little Duck knew all along, did she lift the spymaster up by her lapel and raise a fist, only for the Business to gently intervene?

do you think Roky put it together second, after Ticker, because obviously a grown-up wouldn't hang the k-drive like that! Confused at why the other Solaris are so upset, because why wouldn't childhood be anything but a mad dash for survival? That's all she's known.

do you think Zuud keeps the tenno at an emotional distance on purpose? So she doesn't build another family to lose? But the guns will still keep you safe. I know my guns.

I'll tell you what I think: Nef Anyo could encounter the tenno time and time again, and never connect the dots: he didn't get to where he is by now by putting his enemies at eye level.

[rockermazy]

All singing in the show is canonically diegetic - meaning that all singing 100% takes place in-universe, for all the characters to hear and potentially participate in.

In the first (non-pilot) episode, the " Story of Hell" book, as read by Charlie, states that Lillith "empower[ed] demon-kind with her voice and her songs - and as the numbers of Hell grew, so did its power." After the extermination began, Lilith's "dream was passed down to her precious daughter, the Princess of Hell", who is presumably Charlie herself. Two scenes later, Charlie is in musical-notation hammerspace with other denizens, being the cognito hazard that she is.

In episode 7, Rosie invites Charlie to rally Cannibal Town in defending the hotel during the upcoming extermination. When Charlie initially fails, Rosie asks how she normally explains her hotel. Charlie replies, "Through singing". Singing is canonically a gift of both Charlie and every demon - both Hellborn and Sinner.

Which leads me to a theory: One thing that's been nagging me since the pilot, is how Lucifer and Lilith have been fucking for nearly 6,000 years, but only NOW decided to have a daughter in the 21st century. It makes Charlie's existence look almost Mary Sue-ish*. After watching Helluva Boss, it made more sense that Charlie might be an "insurance baby", much like Octavia is to Stolas' lineage. Lucifer might not be unkillable. Carmine and the hotel battle of episode 8 have both demonstrated that angels can be killed with the right ammunition. But why was Charlie born now, in the 21st century? My theory is that Heaven asked Lilith to leave Hell, hoping she'd take her song with her. Heaven knew that Lilith was the one making Hell stronger through her songs. Charlie uses song to rally the people around her.

Husk used song to heal.

Song, even when used to butt heads, (ex: Lucifer vs Alastor), will make combatants drop valuable info, basically outing themselves to everyone within earshot in this universe.

My guess is that a conversation sometime in the past went something like this: Heaven: Lilith, bitch - we see what you're doing. Stop teaching Hell how to sing - the bonding and wholesomeness is threatening our status quo." Lilith: No. Heaven: Fine, we'll exterminate. Lilith: (years later, looking at Carmine's charts) hmmm... the number of sinners getting exterminated each year seems to be climbing. Heaven might want all of us dead. Hey, Luci-boo... get your depressed-ass over here. You wanna make a kid this time? (Waits til Charlie is somewhat grown, and asks Heaven for a "meeting".) Lilith: ok, I have got an offer you cannot refuse - I will never EVER sing again, and my power will leave with me - IF you give me a spot in Heaven (or Earth - I should technically be immortal since I never touched the Forbidden Fruit). Heaven: um... win for everyone? ok! Charlie herself (for lack of a better term) might be Lilith's "ace in the hole" herself. Also, this makes me wonder if the only way to avoid lying is to avoid singing on the topic XD

*I have nothing against mary sues. I'd been wanting for years now to do something visual describing the internal turmoil that religious trauma caused in my The-Cell-starring-J-lo --like inner worlds. Telling personal stories and Mary Sues are inextricably intertwined. This show has inspired me to either keep pursuing that or just quit. Because picking apart past trauma for analysis can be more trouble than its worth - especially if you are ready to forget. u.u I still get deep chills every time I hear Emily and Charlie's duet in "You Didn't Know", even though I've officially considered myself atheist for like, what, three months?" This shit was an essay. I'm just going to play Warframe instead. Peace.

[poppyxz]

CODE WAR - Three Days (Chapter Two)

Chapter One:

You contain your nervousness as you push the wheels of your chair through the corridors. "What does Price want with me?", "Are they whispering about me?"... Screw it, you think, trying to push those useless thoughts away. Now, standing in front of his office door, you knock twice and hear a muffled "Enter."

Price is standing, leaning against the rectangular office desk, and points to a spot in front of him. "At least he didn't ask me to sit," you laugh internally at your own joke as you wheel over.

"So, sir?" you ask.

He clears his throat and begins:

"Has Soap tried to tell you about what's happening? He mentioned that you could help..."

He asks casually, shuffling through some papers as he leans over the desk. "My file?..." you wonder, eyes fixed on him, but then you respond:

"Mactavish is quite the chatterbox, isn't he?" you sigh with a light laugh, but quickly return to seriousness.

"Yes, he told me some things... he said things were tense and that—"

"That's right," he cuts you off, now looking at one of the papers in his hands. Your file.

"Sniper with the codename Raven... It says here that your academic background is in software engineering," he flips through the pages. "Do you have hacking skills?" he asks, looking at you.

"Yes, sir, but—"

"Great," he interrupts again, now with an urgent tone. "We need your skills."

He turns and sits in the chair behind the desk, opens a drawer beside him, and retrieves a small object, placing it on the desk in front of you. "A... flash drive?"

"We found this in one of our latest operations," he says. "I think they left it behind in a hurry. And well... it's completely encrypted," he rests his hands on his mouth as he watches you. "Can you do something? We haven't found any breaches yet."

"What could be on it?" you ask, examining the flash drive.

"Well, that's your job," he says, smiling as he crosses his arms.

"I'll do my best... permission to start, sir?"

"Of course, but first, how about meeting the rest of the team?" he gets up and touches your shoulder. "Sorry for not asking about your situation... are you okay, soldier?" he asks softly as he heads to the door.

"Ah, it's fine, I don't use the crutches out of laziness," you laugh quietly as you follow him.

Price's boots echo through the ethereal, empty corridor, accompanied by the soft sound of your wheelchair's wheels rolling slowly.

"Here," he signals, already opening the door, giving you passage.

As you enter the room, you see the rest of the team gathered around a large conference table. They greet you with small nods, while Soap offers a subtle smile. However, some of the members' looks don't go unnoticed by you.

Ghost tilts his head slightly, seeming curious about your situation. König narrows his eyes slightly but maintains his composure. Laswell gives a brief assessment before nodding. And Gaz seems already familiar with you.

Your analysis is interrupted when Price begins:

"Let me introduce them to you," he says, moving towards the table. "This is Ghost, our infiltration specialist. Next to him is Gaz, our tactical operations man. Here we have König, responsible for the heavy lifting, and Laswell, our intelligence analyst. Look for her if you need anything."

Finally, he points to Soap.

"This one, of course, you already know," Price concludes, sitting at the table.

"Yes..." you confirm, approaching the table between Gaz and Soap. "It's a pleasure to meet you all," you say with a brief and friendly smile. Before a moment of silence sets in, Laswell interrupts:

"Our hacker girl, huh?" she nods and slides a laptop across the table to you. "This will be your companion. It's fully anonymous and equipped with everything you need."

You thank her and run your fingers over the laptop, opening it. Moving slightly away from the table to focus and start the process of analyzing the encrypted flash drive on it.

Laswell and the rest of the team give you one last look before resuming a strategic discussion. Price starts outlining possible scenarios and action plans if the flash drive's data confirms their suspicions and potential traitors.

................

Your eyes are fixed on the screen. When you connect the flash drive, a series of encrypted lines and data fill the display. Sequences of seemingly random characters like "9f6a3b4d2e1c..." and "a5b7c9d3e8f1" mix with blocks of hexadecimal text (4A6F686E20446F6) and binary (01001000).

Soap approaches and gently touches your shoulder, giving a brief stroke with his thumb. "What do you think? Any leads?" he asks, bringing you back to the room.

"This is well-protected, it will definitely take some time," you respond, shaking your head while your eyes remain fixed on the screen. "Now I understand why there are so many 'virgins' trying to find a breach in it."

"That also makes you a 'virgin,' right?" Soap laughs.

"That's not what I meant," you roll your eyes but can't help but laugh a little at your own slip.

Suddenly, Ghost stands up enough to make the chair scrape the floor, drawing everyone's attention.

"Really? Now is not the time for that." He interrupts, with a slight irritation in his voice and a furrowed look.

You clear your throat. "You're right, sorry..."

"You said it would take time, right?" he asks seriously.

"Yes, it will... but—"

"Then don't waste time with these jokes," he concludes, sitting back in the chair.

You return your attention to the laptop screen. The room around you goes silent, and for a moment, you feel Ghost's watchful eyes on you. The pressure becomes palpable, making your skin prickle, but Price quickly notices.

"I think that's enough for today, reach out to any of us when you make progress." He says, as he gets up and ready to leave. "Do you want me to give you a deadline?" he asks, looking at you.

You nod. "Three days," he responds firmly.

He and the others start heading for the exit of the meeting room. Before they leave, Laswell and Gaz give you a farewell look, which you promptly return. Soap hesitates for a moment, but Ghost pulls on his tactical uniform. König is the last to leave, closing the door silently.

"Can I do this? Three days..." you think, anxious, as you lean your head on the back of the chair, looking at the gray ceiling.

-----------------

autor's note: This chapter is a bit longer. I hope it's good 😊. I was unsure about the raven; in my country, there is no distinction. Also, I don't know how to link the first chapter nicely 😔.

Chapter Three: