What do the different Tide colors mean?

[burningmime]

Is it specified anywhere what the tides are aligned to? Blue seems to eb knowledge, and you get it just by asking questions (seems like there's way too much of this available). Gold is good guy stuff. Silver is lying, I guess? Indigo seems to be bad guy stuff, and red is just general agressiveness. Is this right?

[Ruinous]

http://numenera.gamepedia.com/Tides

[Gosen]

All those tides seem too positive or it's just problem that there's not a single pure evil/pessimistic one. I'm worried, because if this represents choices in-game I don't see any nihilistic options for myself. Black tide:

1 - nothing
2 - life itself is tragedy
3 - they had existed
4 - void

At least I could kill myself in PT... I hope you will surprise me again with something.

[Procrastinating Gamer]

Each one can be turned to negative ends.

Gold may be compassion and sacrifice, but this can be done for selfish ends (to gain prestige or renown, overlapping with the Silver Tide) or compassion for the wrong kinds of people - like how an organised crime syndicates look after their members and their family as long as they're loyal to the organisation, even though said organisation is doing things like running drugs and protection rackets.

Blue is knowledge, wisdom and so-on, but they may seek to expand their own knowledge and keep their "lessers" ignorant, using that knowledge to control them.

Indigo may sound nice, but it also encourages an "end-justifies-the-means" mentality.

Red is all about passion, zeal and action; a revolutionary may seek to right what they see as a wrong social order but end up taking power and becoming a tyrant of their own - seeking to act first and put down any further revolts (as perfectly shown by the Numenera novella From the Depths: The Red Hand).

Silver is all about making a name for yourself, making sure people remember you and leaving your mark on history. If you need an example of how this can be bad... real-life history has more than enough examples. Alexander the Great, for instance - a tyranical ruler but one who's name is forever etched in history as one of its greatest conquerers.

[cloudwalkr]

Originally posted by Shadow88:

Each one can be turned to negative ends.

Gold may be compassion and sacrifice, but this can be done for selfish ends (to gain prestige or renown, overlapping with the Silver Tide) or compassion for the wrong kinds of people - like how an organised crime syndicates look after their members and their family as long as they're loyal to the organisation, even though said organisation is doing things like running drugs and protection rackets.

Blue is knowledge, wisdom and so-on, but they may seek to expand their own knowledge and keep their "lessers" ignorant, using that knowledge to control them.

Indigo may sound nice, but it also encourages an "end-justifies-the-means" mentality.

Red is all about passion, zeal and action; a revolutionary may seek to right what they see as a wrong social order but end up taking power and becoming a tyrant of their own - seeking to act first and put down any further revolts (as perfectly shown by the Numenera novella From the Depths: The Red Hand).

Silver is all about making a name for yourself, making sure people remember you and leaving your mark on history. If you need an example of how this can be bad... real-life history has more than enough examples. Alexander the Great, for instance - a tyranical ruler but one who's name is forever etched in history as one of its greatest conquerers.

Solid write-up.

[BodyByDave]

Well put Shadow88 - I think the tides are explained in a way that a person attuned to them would imagine themselves being like. It's easy to feel like the decisions you make are the correct ones, but from the outside you may appear completely different - even abrasive to others that think in a different way. Cleverly written.

[Gosen]

Originally posted by Shadow88:

Each one can be turned to negative ends.

Gold may be compassion and sacrifice, but this can be done for selfish ends (to gain prestige or renown, overlapping with the Silver Tide) or compassion for the wrong kinds of people - like how an organised crime syndicates look after their members and their family as long as they're loyal to the organisation, even though said organisation is doing things like running drugs and protection rackets.

Blue is knowledge, wisdom and so-on, but they may seek to expand their own knowledge and keep their "lessers" ignorant, using that knowledge to control them.

Indigo may sound nice, but it also encourages an "end-justifies-the-means" mentality.

Red is all about passion, zeal and action; a revolutionary may seek to right what they see as a wrong social order but end up taking power and becoming a tyrant of their own - seeking to act first and put down any further revolts (as perfectly shown by the Numenera novella From the Depths: The Red Hand).

Silver is all about making a name for yourself, making sure people remember you and leaving your mark on history. If you need an example of how this can be bad... real-life history has more than enough examples. Alexander the Great, for instance - a tyranical ruler but one who's name is forever etched in history as one of its greatest conquerers.

But no color among them lies beyond, concluding that it's better to do nothing, because all people have their own good and trying to change that is source of all evil and always hurt someone. I don't see any wisdom among those colors, therefore I'm afraid that actual game might not be for me as I won't be able to actually role-play... From Torment I expect best, not all this happy-optimistic ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ from every other title. Even bad, evil choices or characters are always so shallow.

[Procrastinating Gamer]

Well let's look at what tide, say, a Nihilist might be. Someone who just wants to end the world.

If they think they're saving people by doing so, then they'd be following the Gold Tide as they feel they are doing a selfless service to the world to spare them the suffering of existence.
If they rage at the world and their desire to see it burn is born of anger and passion, then that would be the Red Tide.
If the have reached the conclusion that the world must end for something greater to flourish, then that would be the Indigo Tide.
If they have reached the conclusion through wisdom and knowledge, then that would be the Blue Tide.

Not sure how they could fit the Silver Tide unless they were going for the "Everyone will fear me before the end" type of world-destruction.

All of the Tides can be both positive and negative. It's less the actions and more the intent behind those actions.