OK, this game made a significant impression on me, and I've been meaning to write this post for a while now; it's just been a matter of (a) letting all the awesome intricacies fully sink in, (b) collecting my thoughts, and (c) getting the time to sit down and write a proper post. In a nutshell, I consider it one of the most exquisitely beautiful, intellectually rich, and thought-provoking computer games I've ever had the pleasure to play, and it's left me with an overflow of thoughts and questions that I would love to discuss further.
First--without meaning to start a big sticky religious discussion--I loved the fact that the main character has religious convictions that were not simply dismissed as being fanatical, illogical, or just plain silly. Rather I very much got the impression that Horatio's desire to build, rebuild, and help the lost stemmed in large part from his belief in Man. And it's interesting to see that
Horatio's deep respect for those who build even goes back to his career as the airship Horus. (The log sequence was one of my favorite parts of the game--makes me choke up a little, even.)Second (and I've chatted with Mark a bit about this already), given Horatio's faith, it seems rather funny--perhaps ironic--that
the only Primordial Steward he doesn't get to meet in the course of the game is Steeple--though admittedly the ones he does get to meet are all either inactive or dead except for MetroMind. I was left with quite a bit of curiosity
about Steeple--are we supposed to consider him "one o' the good ones," or not? Whose side was he really on?Lots of thoughts and questions on the endings, because there are so many of them and they are all so interesting:
On endings, part 1:
In the "use Thanatos on the radio tower" ending, what exactly is being "thanatosed"? The city of Metropol? All of the Earth? And what is the significance of showing the candles and lamps at that moment (other than, of course, the fact that it's yet another exquisite piece of artwork by Victor P.
)? I guess those are the same ones sitting up on the high shelf in the UNNIIC/Horus?On endings, part 2:
When you use Thanatos on Scraper, is it only shutting down Scraper, or is it shutting down MetroMind, too? It's hard to tell, because on one hand she screams out "What have you done?!" and her screen goes blank, but on the other hand Horatio's comment "Find your darkest tunnel and hide" suggests that he thinks MM is still alive, just beaten into submission.On endings, part 3: Anyone else get the impression that
there's a sort of Minority Report-like thing at work with the endings where you just say "yes" or "no" to MM's offer to merge? Much is made in the commentary track of MetroMind's ambiguous moral status in the final scenes of the game, but one of the things that really made up my mind about her was finding from both of these outcomes what she was capable of doing: either (a) assimilating me Borg-fashion or (b) killing me.Many thanks once again, and much kudos!
... Findswoman