(SPOILERS!) Just finished the game. Got a few questions (SPOILERS!)

[Jewtaro]

Did I miss alot of information or does the game just not give you enough explanation?

1. Why did they start the loop in the first place? Just to have fun? But how can repeating the same day over and over be fun? Why did they think that was a good idea? Only a few people remember their last day(s) right? So most people are going to be doing the same thing over and over and depending on what thing is it can be a really bad day.
I mean we see a few people straight up kill themselves at the beginning of the day! Did the visionaries think that they are going to remember what they did when they wake up so they could continue having new experiences and stuff? Thats why some call it first day? But there is no first, second or last if it keeps repeating exactly the same.

2. Why did our Colt lose his memory at the beginning?

3. Why does Colt keep coming back to the Loop as Julianna says bunch of times? Why does he love the place?

4. And why ending the loop wasnt a good idea? Why did Julianna want us to stop trying to end the loop so bad?

The ending was just bad in my opinion. What happened to Julianna? What happens now that the loop is over? Nothing? seriously you are going to show us nothing? That sky looked weird, didnt it? I thought the world was going to end or something. Something catastrophic maybe happened but no, just cut to black!

I'm sure I've forgot a few more lol. Sorry for long post.

[asura]

1. In the current iteration of the loop, the Visionaries are a group of people selling tickets to other people to join in them in a never-ending party for eternity (Eternalists). Never age, never die, never run out of things to do on the island. Originally they were supposed to remember their previous loop. Something that the game doesn't really explain happened so that no one remembers (well, only a few people remember).

2. We don't know. This is the second time Colt is going through a loop. It isn't really explained well on why he forgot or why he started remembering.

3. We have no idea. There's a light skimming of Colt wanting Julianna to have "a real life outside of the loop" but not much else. The other versions of Colt seem to hate the loop, too.

4. The loop is a safe place for everyone. Julianna wants to stay - she mentions she's read a library worth of books and had all sorts of experiences free from any restriction of time, age, health, death, etc. It's a paradise.

Julianna lives on either in the loop or in the "real world" - whatever that might be with the red sky and slabs still working.

[Kurobon]

Game gives a lot but leaves a lot to interpretation.

1. Why did they start the loop in the first place?
First it was science. Per the armory audio logs, funding was cut when stuff wasn't found within 6 months. So they privatized the efforts and found backers with lots of money and fame, and now you have an eternal loolapalooza with rich kids, Fia, Frank, Aleksis.

2. Why did our Colt lose his memory at the beginning? Losing memory is the rule, not the exception. A better question is why he remembers.

3. Why does Colt keep coming back to the Loop as Julianna says bunch of times?

Every Colt might have a reason, your Colt found after escaping he had a daughter from his ex when he left, and then he returned for his daughter, but forgot. Also, when Colt left the first time he was found in the 80s, without memories of when he first escaped. When he does return thanks to Egor, spies get sent to spy on Colt. One of those spies might be another Colt. Spies are not participating on what you think is the First Day, some of them spent even months before the First Day and already knew all you know.

4. And why ending the loop wasnt a good idea? Ending the loop could create entropy or tear space time. No one knows for sure how time has passed out of the loop.

The ending was great because there's not supposed to be an ending.

[Justinyl]

1: They start the loop to have infinite time for research and experimentation, and probably immortality.

2:People losing their memories was something not expected, as everyone still thinks its their first day.

3: He was invited back into blackreef by egor, due to the latter getting him out of asylum and giving him a job.

4: Juliana wants to protect blackreef as its the only place she knows. (She was born there, and knew that hundreds of years had past by, & didn't want to venture out into the world)

[Jewtaro]

Okay with the unexpected amnesia things make more sense. Idiots thought they were going to do whatever the hell they wanted everyday without any consequences and try new things everyday forever but ended up living the same day over and over without knowing it.

But Julianna knows right? Since she can remember. And she never tells others? So she can have fun playing cat and mouse with her dad? Or is there another explanation for it that I missed? Or does she tell others somewhere and I forgot it?

Originally posted by asura:

4. The loop is a safe place for everyone. Julianna wants to stay - she mentions she's read a library worth of books and had all sorts of experiences free from any restriction of time, age, health, death, etc. It's a paradise.

Not really a paradise since things are eventually going to become super repetitive considering there is no way of communicating with the outside world. Julianna is going to run out of new knowledge and new experiences to keep her busy, don't you think? Thats no paradise thats hell.

Originally posted by Kurobon:

The ending was great because there's not supposed to be an ending.

But if you choose to shoot Julianna the loop ends. The Deathloop literally ends. How is that not an ending? And all you get is Colt looking at Julianna disappearing and then the now obviously different view in front of him and game just cuts to black?

[Kurobon]

Originally posted by Jewtaro:

But Julianna knows right? Since she can remember. And she never tells others? So she can have fun playing cat and mouse with her dad? Or is there another explanation for it that I missed? Or does she tell others somewhere and I forgot it?

Whether she tells others or not it's irrelevant since most of them would forget. No, there's no direct explanation to her motives other than the ones she outright says of wanting to kill Colt for eternity, save the loop, etc.

And it's not Julianna, but multiple Juliannas that are on it. Julianna is the archivist in the game. Her skills are based on information gathering. Today she revealed another motive to me after I killed the gas chamber guy and Colt discovers he is a torturer: she wants to see Colt change.

Something to consider is that Visionaries skills, powers and narratives are sometimes tied. Egor uses an invisible cloak because that's how he feels, invisible. And you can use his slab to bypass his own meassures. Nexus manipulates group of people, just as Harriet does. Try to nexus everyone in Hangar 2 and kill them with her own gas. :D Julianna is the archivist and the overseer; and to beat her you need to know more than her. A bit irrelevant, but since you're displeased with the story, I think the narrative and gameplay is well woven and good.

Originally posted by Jewtaro:

But if you choose to shoot Julianna the loop ends. The Deathloop literally ends.

Could not have said it better myself. The deathloop ends. So the game called deathloop ends. Perfect ending. Whatever happens next is a mystery and it's good. You don't have to like the ending. I do.

[Quillithe]

Originally posted by Kurobon:

Could not have said it better myself. The deathloop ends. So the game called deathloop ends. Perfect ending. Whatever happens next is a mystery and it's good. You don't have to like the ending. I do.

My only little gripe with the ending is how Juilianna tells you she needs to talk near the end and you assume it'll be some sort of revelation instead of just "what if you don't break the loop please".

I guess some of the conversation could be potentially new, but for me I already think I knew basically all of it, and I already knew she didn't want you to end the loop, so it fell a bit flat.

[Kurobon]

For me, is all about the Deathloop playground and what you get from it... and breaking it (and main storyline) is just finishing it. I am really used to main stories being weak in videogames butt I can see why people don't like it.

For me, I followed the cannon in Updaam, and in turn out some dumbass wanted to do a trick on it and I got a cool, equally useless trinket. I also nexus'd the people that wanted that guy kill himself in the morning. And got to hear a guy banter about his POOP sign which he calls art.

I also realized that Fia does remember the loop. She is just too artistic (and drug addicted, something the game only implies in a poster) to outright say it. She uses dreams in her disclosures. Her dreams always discuss what you did the day before. That's what's great for me at least. No game has ever done this imho.

[Quillithe]

Originally posted by Kurobon:

I also realized that Fia does remember the loop. She is just too artistic (and drug addicted, something the game only implies in a poster) to outright say it. She uses dreams in her disclosures. Her dreams always discuss what you did the day before. That's what's great for me at least. No game has ever done this imho.

Wait, really? That's pretty cool, I never noticed that, I guess that kinda makes sense maybe - her memory didn't fill up and start dumping things the same way since it's probably not behaving normally anyway.

I think there's quite a few references to her at least being the big drug supplier - I guess maybe they don't explicitly say she's using them but it's pretty clear once you know she's the source. I think I remember some line about her not actually being sure if it's you or if she's had too much.

[Kurobon]

Originally posted by Quillithe:

Originally posted by Kurobon:

I also realized that Fia does remember the loop. She is just too artistic (and drug addicted, something the game only implies in a poster) to outright say it. She uses dreams in her disclosures. Her dreams always discuss what you did the day before. That's what's great for me at least. No game has ever done this imho.

Wait, really? That's pretty cool, I never noticed that, I guess that kinda makes sense maybe - her memory didn't fill up and start dumping things the same way since it's probably not behaving normally anyway.

I think there's quite a few references to her at least being the big drug supplier - I guess maybe they don't explicitly say she's using them but it's pretty clear once you know she's the source. I think I remember some line about her not actually being sure if it's you or if she's had too much.

Correct. If you only kill her in a loop and come back to her bed, her recording will outright say she took too much drugs. (Literally did this right now). Every Visionaire painting will have an X painted if you killed them the loop before, so she knows.

Yes, that's the cool thing about this game. There's a lot to find if you're willing to play the arena. BTW, if you go to Aleksis PC without killing anyone it opens a new chat too.

[asura]

Originally posted by Jewtaro:

Originally posted by asura:

4. The loop is a safe place for everyone. Julianna wants to stay - she mentions she's read a library worth of books and had all sorts of experiences free from any restriction of time, age, health, death, etc. It's a paradise.

Not really a paradise since things are eventually going to become super repetitive considering there is no way of communicating with the outside world. Julianna is going to run out of new knowledge and new experiences to keep her busy, don't you think? Thats no paradise thats hell.

I think it would be paradise. Researchers like Wenjie would have new research. People would discover new parts of the island (as Colt you discover quite a lot). Julianna was doing a lot of reading. People on the inside could write and make movies eventually, probably. You could always take to trying to study the anomaly itself.

I think it would be a paradise. But maybe you're on to something - maybe everyone cracked in that "hell" and that's why they can't remember. :)

[Paddy O'Furniture]

I have some additional questions, didn't want to start a new thread.

1. Is the Julianna that's hunting you during missions the same Julianna that you're having a conversation with over the radio? Or is she another variant?

2. There are strong implications that The Army of the Motherland is Tyvia's national army. Is Colt himself a Tyvian? Or is he like from Dunwall, or Karnaca?

[Kurobon]

!. Game does not state one thing or the other. The Julianna at the ending behave so much differently than the one threatening to murder you that it might be possible. There are multiple Julianna's and unlike Colt, they are all in agreement.

Mental well-being is another factor to consider, it would be impossible to exist infinitely with unresolved truama and not act out (which might explain Julianna's behavior at large).

2. The pistols at the end are the duelist guns of Dishonored. Games seems to be related. I am hoping this game is it's own thing. People want big universe yet merging them together make it so small. But... it seems it's not.

[Watermelons]

Originally posted by Paddy O'Furniture:

I have some additional questions, didn't want to start a new thread.

1. Is the Julianna that's hunting you during missions the same Julianna that you're having a conversation with over the radio? Or is she another variant?

2. There are strong implications that The Army of the Motherland is Tyvia's national army. Is Colt himself a Tyvian? Or is he like from Dunwall, or Karnaca?

1. No. You can see this when you begin playing as her at the start of "Protect the Loop". You're a very bored Julianna in her own reality when you finally get your big break, a tear in space-time that leads to the Julianna who's talking to you on the radio when you play Colt. So your Julianna is one of many who jumps in to kill Colt in a different reality. Why? Who knows why specifically, besides Julianna protecting the loop by not exposing her actual self. Maybe something to do with dying in a reality that you don't belong to doesn't destabilize the loop at all, you probably get sent back to your home-loop.

There are only a few lines she says that disputes this, getting frustrated with Colt having killed her. Like "at least I left a pretty corpse, UGH!"
2. I keep seeing some official? timeline that mentions the death of the Outsider spreading weird space-time anomalies around the world. If that's real and official then Deathloop does in fact exist in the same universe. Funny to think that, beyond the Dishonored timeline, when the world modernizes it goes into a 60s/70s era parallel to real life's. I guess it's all an alternate and fantastical parallel of Earth and human history.

[Paddy O'Furniture]

Originally posted by Something Something Watermelons:

keep seeing some official? timeline that mentions the death of the Outsider spreading weird space-time anomalies around the world. If that's real and official then Deathloop does in fact exist in the same universe. Funny to think that, beyond the Dishonored timeline, when the world modernizes it goes into a 60s/70s era parallel to real life's. I guess it's all an alternate and fantastical parallel of Earth and human history.

I do like that the Arkaneverse is set in a world that is quite similar to our own, even down to the year calendar closely corresponding to our own (i.e 1850s Victorian era and the Swinging Sixties). And of course, Colt being born in 1911 is quite clever and funny. I'm not including Prey in the Arkaneverse because it's quite clearly set on 'Earth' Earth. Granted, alternate universe Earth but Earth nonetheless.

[Iiaeze]

1) People were originally supposed to keep their memories during the loop. Only Julianna, Colt, Two-bit, and Pick-Rexly do however. Weinje suspects that the loop is... looping due to how well Colt and Julianna fight each other, but forgets her memory at the reset all the same.

2) No idea, game never explains it. Some hints are present that it relates to the ability to feel empathy, see Two-Bit, but nothing is definitive.

3) There are two loops. The first Colt is accidentally placed into, as a member of the military, which is relieved by him committing suicide after a number of years. He's locked in an asylum, then rescued by Egor. The second, he wants to end because he feels that's wrong and knows that Julianna is his daughter. He does eventually forget this and just wants to end the loop for feelings that it's not right, but learns the real reasons again before the final mission. He wants to give Julianna, and everyone else, the chance to follow a real life.

4) While the loop is kept at a single time, the world outside moves on past it. The world was already going bad by the time the loop was made. Julianna knows this. The loop has been going on for 150+ years - if it ends everyone gets transported to the present, and who knows how that is. In the end the loop ending we know the ocean is dried out and the sky has an anomaly over it and is dyed red - not exactly a situation conductive to safety.