About the ending (Spoilers spoilers spoilers)

[IntrinsicVoid]

Stop reading now unless you played the entire game and are satisfied with all the sendings you have had.
Yes there are multiple endings, now stop reading and go try get a few more.

Ok so if you have had them all.

It appears there is no way to kill metromind, but let the city live on. I am actually all for this realistic twist of the game. In most politic crisis there is no perfect solution. And most wars don't end in some kind of satisfaction. So it is fitting.

But till the very last moment, I was holding hopes that maybe Metromind could be purged from the city, and either Horus or Factor, or maybe even clarity or Leopold could take her role as council members.
Metromind is very much a politician who has whiped democracy under the carpet. If she would have been placed out of function, there would be room for a new government, and thus potentially for a democratic government.

Anyway.
This game is brilliant!
And looking as the world as it unfolds today, looking at Russia and Turkey with a failed coup, this game predicted a very simulair senario, but in a completely different sci-fi universe.
This is not just an interesting game, it also helps you rethink some real life events. It connects to reality. This is the best sort of game in existance.

The game is a few years old now, but if it were up to me it would still be raining awards on this diamond.

[Mark Y.]

Let me start by saying thank you -- for the bug reports, for the kind words, and for spending your time and money on the game. The best thing I've gotten out of working on Primordia is getting to hear how it has connected with people, and I know the rest of the team feels similarly.

Obviously I agree with your assessment of the ending. To me, the story isn't about rescuing Metropol -- that isn't what Horatio wants to do, and it's not really in his tool-box. It's about rescuing himself, both in the practical sense of needing to recover the UNNIIC's power core but also in the spiritual sense of getting mastery over the violence that was coded into his core logic. To me, Horatio's greatest victory is not using Thanatos in the end, though of course most players think that using Thanatos on Scraper is a "better" ending.

I did at one time have in mind endings where you could basically replace MetroMind with either Crispin (!) or Clarity, i.e., using their respective dismembered bits. The idea was that you would have to actually walk out of Metropol, and on the way you could go down into "Calliope Station" and hook your friend into the nerve center. But for a variety of reasons (including discovering that that was the ending of Beneath a Steel Sky), I dropped the idea.

I am less optimistic than you are about the future of Metropol without Metromind, though -- I think she was basically right that the world (and her city) were doomed. She tried to solve the problem by chasing after a singularity (i.e., by trying to get enough processor power to advance herself to the level that she could see a solution), but it was unattainable. I'm not sure a democracy would do any better at saving the city, but it might do a better job of facing the end with dignity. Who can say?

Anyway, thanks again for the kind words! While we will never have awards rained on us, we are lucky to have such generous fans, and the word of mouth you guys generate (in posts here, reviews, Let's Plays, tweets, and so on) is basically what sustains the game's stature. So thanks!

[IntrinsicVoid]

Did Factor's partial not at some point mention Factor was just waiting dormantly untill Metromind would finally fall? That was one of the lines I was building my hopes on.

Besides, it was mentioned that Steeple was also dead, but we never really saw him, so there was a chance he might still be recoverd, or simply went into hiding.

[Mark Y.]

Yes, Factotum does make that claim. It was intended to be unclear whether this is simply a king-under-the-mountain myth / Second Coming hope (a dark reflection of Horatio's re: Man) or a factually accurate assertion.

I'm not sure if you've read "Fallen" (primordia-game.com/fallen.html) but that provides one look at a scenario in which all is not lost.

[IntrinsicVoid]

OH! There is more story! This is like unexpected desert after an already good main course!

[Mark Y.]

Enjoy! "Desert" is an apt typo. :)

[veryinky]

I'm curious as to what happened with the Luna Space station which is mentioned in the Info Kiosk about the spaceport district of the city. I saw it as an indication of something similar to "Children of a Dead Earth" where civilization on earth was destroyed but it survives in space.

[Mark Y.]

That is the topic of "Fallen."

[bliss]

Originally posted by IntrinsicVoid:

This is not just an interesting game, it also helps you rethink some real life events. It connects to reality. This is the best sort of game in existance.

I love how you put that, and I feel the same way. I follow a bunch of adventure game discussions and none attract as much discussion about meaning and lore as does Primordia. This also probably has a lot to do with how engaged Mark Y. is here.

Just an idea: Some Steam games have multiple PDFs linked from the Store page. For example, QFI has both a manual and quick reference. This could make Fallen more accessible.

[Mark Y.]

Ooh! I'll ask Wadjet Eye if they'll do that. That's a great thought!

[IntrinsicVoid]

Not sure if allowed because it isn´t really a part of primoria itself. But I hope you get that through Mark.

[veryinky]

Originally posted by Mark Y.:

That is the topic of "Fallen."

Thanks, I listened to it. I'm just really glad that humanity wasn't wiped out by a malfunctioining subway ticket dispenser.

[Mark Y.]

I think it's just WEG's call, not Steam's -- we have "Fallen" up on GOG.com, for example, so we may as well have it here. But we'll see!

[wcc]

If I recall correctly, there's also a read version of the Fallen, right?. Maybe you could add this one, too.

[bliss]

On relevance, it could always be an appendix to a basic manual, or basic manual could have a hyperlink in it.

[wcc]

Is there still anybody out there who reads game manuals? For a Point-and-Click-Adventure? The only way to notify people that there's bonus content available is by selling it as a GOTY Premium HD remastered Director's Cut Collector's edition or DLC.