Some questions about the Black Parade (spoilers)

[ULTRA]

I tried reading everything I could but it was a lot of damned reading so I may have missed something, but does anyone have answers to the following:

1. What was the point of Viktoria? Like I know she's in "undercover" mode for the sake of finding someone suitable to steal the Eye, but is that it? What is her involvement with DeWall and co.? Was she aware of these other treasures' relationship to a secret sect of necromancers planning to Ghostbuster the city? Why does she seem so oblivious at the end of the campaign? Is she dumb?

2. I guess maybe this was just referential for the sake of it, but why would Gamall be patrolling the forbidden library and turning into the hag upon seeing an intruder? Considering you just kinda have to hide around a corner or in the shadows to get away from her in this or Thief DS, isn't she concerned maybe that a Keeper is going to see her and go, "hmm that's odd, I didn't know that little girl could turn into a gigantic ghoulish monster and throw ancient glyphs around?" Especially considering there's a book right there with the names of like 8 likely candidates to be doing something of that kind.

3. What was that titty monster in the Highkeep (Highwatch? Uhh) lab, and why couldn't I kill it other than for pacing reasons?

4. Am I stupid and/or should they have indicated you have to wait for the ritual to complete in the objectives in the final level, like they did in the Maw of Chaos? I must have reloaded the game 3 times wondering why loading up his bowls wasn't doing anything. Was there some other kind of indication that you'd have to wait?

5. We're in agreement that Azaran just goes back to his day job or whatever at the end of this, right? Why would he not also die? Did he die trying to navigate out of that very annoying part of the city? Is that why we never hear about him again? What about his army of nearly helpless adepts sitting around in Aboobtiyar land? Are they ULTRA dead?

6. There are several writings throughout the campaign by Pagans but none of them seem to be in the Pagan dialect, not even just conveniently throwing 's's in there or changing tenses. Is this because of some kind of translation mishap, because surely these guys are French? Or are they somehow NOT French (can such a thing be possible)?

I welcome your astute consideration of these points or concurring bafflement

[constancejill]

3. Do you mean the one that got locked in the alchemy lab, in Arcane Sanctum? It can be killed (at least in normal mode it can), though it does take quite a bit of punishment before it dies.

[Repugnant Human]

2. Gamall isn't patrolling the library, she is burning all books with prophecies which mention her existence and hint at her actions in TDS. Plus she probably isn't able to fight in girl's skin and is sure to kill whomever sees her
5. Azaran had to survive bc player can find his corpse during rooftop section of Life of the Party

[ULTRA]

Originally posted by constancejill:

3. Do you mean the one that got locked in the alchemy lab, in Arcane Sanctum? It can be killed (at least in normal mode it can), though it does take quite a bit of punishment before it dies.

Damn, I hit that guy with 2 mines, 2 fire arrows, 14 broadheads and then flipped on a strength potion and slapped him like 10 times with a sword while he made metallic sounds punching the wall, and then I rolled my eyes and quickloaded

Originally posted by Repugnant Human:

2. Gamall isn't patrolling the library, she is burning all books with prophecies which mention her existence and hint at her actions in TDS. Plus she probably isn't able to fight in girl's skin and is sure to kill whomever sees her
5. Azaran had to survive bc player can find his corpse during rooftop section of Life of the Party

Ohhhhhh yessss, excellent, I remember the tower with the zombies now (and the readings in the fireplace in the library), good looking out

[amuys]

1. Because it's a neat nod to Mission 2.
2. She doesn't like people snooping on her and wants to make sure anyone who sees her is ultra dead.
3. The ettin is a failed magical experiment and the mages and guards reference numerous times its beyond them to take care of currently.
4.Yes
5. Yeah why the hell would he care about some dumb necromancers and thief going away.
6. The Pagans speak in a weird creole, but that isn't indicative of their written word, much like in real life with derivative languages. Plus most of the pagan documents are old and likely translations.

[ULTRA]

Originally posted by amuys:

6. The Pagans speak in a weird creole, but that isn't indicative of their written word, much like in real life with derivative languages. Plus most of the pagan documents are old and likely translations.

But the briefings in the main games are awash with "Pagan texts" and "etchings" that are in that pidgin dialect and the dudes in Thief 2 are all writing about thems jacksfruit or whatever the hell. Surely this is something that just didn't translate to French and didn't make a lasting impression? I can't really see any other explanation.

BTW I saw Romain Barrilliot from Arkane/Streumon worked on this, Frenchness confirmed

[chakkman]

Originally posted by ULTRA:

3. What was that titty monster in the Highkeep (Highwatch? Uhh) lab, and why couldn't I kill it other than for pacing reasons?

It's a cardinal game design error to introduce invincible, or almost impossible to kill enemies to your game. It's unfortunate that people like stuff like that, probably most prominently introduced by Resident Evil. IMO, it makes no sense at all to give the player weapons when he can't kill enemies.

That said, it's only a very short part of that specific mission, so, I can hardly complain about it.

[chakkman]

Originally posted by ULTRA:

BTW I saw Romain Barrilliot from Arkane/Streumon worked on this, Frenchness confirmed

Yes! He seems to work for Arkane now. He was actually the head of the Black Parade project, and he did some very good missions for Thief Gold and Thief 2 before that. Definitely check them out.