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Just wait for the new Bachelor and it will be clear for you, that saving the tower will be "giving the town a future", while destroying it and saving the town will bring up all the chimeras Haruspex released by doing the opposite. You'd be foolish to think that 2 of the endings you seen as the Haruspex in Patho 2 will look remotely similar in he Bachelor play.
I do think the addition of the Earth creatures' survival aspect in P2 was only introduced to give people a reason to spare the tower, however weak. If it weren't there, I think just about everyone would have chosen the town. In that regard, I kinda preferred the way it was done in P1, with the Bachelor giving you some pretty good reasons to consider his choice instead, but with both choices having pros and cons and ultimately still being up to you. (to be clear: even without that conversation, I think I might have still changed my mind because of what the kids said in the final day, and because of the underground reveal from the Bachelor's route)
We'll see in the Bachelor's route in P2 then. Maybe they will give me a good reason to save the tower.
In both games, the main dichotomy of the two options was wonder and transcendence of man vs. mundanity and survival. In both games it was implied that saving the town and destroying the tower means preserving the city for the ordinary people and children, securing their future (and I believe it was implied at some point in the OG game that destroying the tower will stop the sand plague from emerging again, although I can't remember in which route it was).
Now, the other option is where the things differ... and kind of don't at the same time. In the original game, the Bachelor, and through him the Haruspex, come to the conclusion that the tower is the vessel for Simon's soul and also the udurgh, which in turn means that saving the tower is essential simply because saving the udurgh was his father's duty. Saving the Polyhedron means preserving the wonder kept inside it, and leaving a room for transcendence from "larvae to men", as per the Kains' beliefs. In P2, preserving the tower means merging with the Earth, going back to the old ways and preserving the ancient wonders roaming the steppe. So, in both games saving the tower is about preserving the miracles and letting a man become something more, although in quite different ways.
As for fulfiling your destiny, both games make it quite unclear what your destiny really is, because your father didn't have the time or means to convey it to you properly (and in P2 it's flat out said that Isidor himself was torn between the two options). In P1 and P2 both, it is unclear what the udurgh really is, and P2, in addition to that, also raises the question of what defeating the plague would mean, as becoming one with the Earth and the plague would also kind of mean overcoming it.
So, the choices in the two games are different, but I feel that the core ideas behind them are the same.
Also, this. The delivery of the story seems a lot more clumsy in the first game compared to the second.
I imagine the new campaigns won't be as interconnected on events as the original. Because I truly believe they wouldn't cut Eva Yan's suicide for the Bachelor, and so playing his story must be quite different from our current experience of him as a side character in Haruspex. The endings will definitely be different. The Changeling, I dunno. I want her to be completely different from the first two, because she is. But I have a feeling that requires a lot more funds for IPL.
Most likely, although I can't shake the feeling that it might have been done on purpose? Very clumsily so, but maybe on purpose.
After all, the game subtly pushes you to play the Bachelor's route first. He's a stand-in for the player, an outsider who doesn't know anything about the town and believes in science over magic. In a meta-sense, maybe you don't discover anything as the Bachelor because a man such as him would have rejected an irrational conclusion like Simon's soul being stored inside the tower. For most of his route you are dealing with rational problems and political intrigues. The one time you find something crazy like the auroch, you go and burn it down, just in case. The albino's very presence literally drains the existence out of you. And the Bachelor's conclusion seems more like "just move the town where the plague can't reach", rather than any true belief that the tower is important for mystical reasons. He is effectively "whew, weird how this thing stands, let's keep it around since it's pretty cool".
Now that still doesn't explain why the Bachelor suddenly knows everything in the other route. But maybe (and again I'm talking out of my rear here)... now that the player is the Haruspex, and thus more willing to believe in magic, that means everyone else in his play can now share a similar outlook? And so even the Bachelor's reasons are more irrational than before.
There are many events in the Haruspex's route that are only mentioned in passing, even though they are actually pretty important to the plot (Saburov's power play, Vlad being taken to the Termitary for reasons, etc), but I knew about them because I had played the Bachelor first. Playing as the Bachelor first, there are no events that you will not understand, but you also won't learn of the real story behind the plague.
While the execution could have definitely been better, you could explain it like this: the Bachelor's route is supposed to be played first and is his own story; the Haruspex's route is supposed to be played after, and is both men's story, since you have been both men. Just an idea. Probably wrong, but still.
That was a good read. I agree with you, that the first game pushed me to be more sympathetic towards the Bachelor, although I still mostly tried to do good, I think. But the town was more obviously a "sandbox", so to speak (notice that they also cut out the Powers That Be scene....), and I took advantage of it however I could. In the second game, not only I found myself more sympathetic toward the Haruspex's choice, but i also felt more attached to the people of the town.
Even though I was still most attached to myself in the end. Sorry Lara, I only had one shmowder and I needed to keep it just in case. I did manage to save Capella with the right antibiotic though. So it's good. As for Sticky, he miraculously survived the last midnight roll, but he still appeared in the theater at the end. I'll chalk it down as a bug. He was in good company though: I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't save a whole lot of people. Maybe around half of them. But hey, I got the Imago achievement. That was worth a bunch of deaths.
I wonder what they'll do with the Bachelor, because it will take a lot to make me consider saving the tower next time. By the way, the two routes were connected in the first game, but not all that much. Eva Yan didn't die in the original game during the Haruspex's story either. If we want to be meta, I guess it's because she's completely irrelevant in that route, so there was no point in her dying.
What I'm interested in is that most likely the Bachelor will be written as a second act now, as opposed to the original where it was written as the first. The game will know that you know certain things and play your expectations of them. At least that's what I expect, because IPL is good at that kind of thing. Based on what's happening in Artemy's campaign the Bachelor seems to suffer a massive reputation drop and get a little unhinged after the Inquisitor shows up so I'm hoping that reflects in game.
He also had some of the plague minigames (like the one where you have to stay one hour inside a house) that made it onto P2.
As a whole, the Haruspex's story in P2 actually seems like a mix of the two routes from P1, including also some elements from the Changeling's path. Which is why I think the new Bachelor's route will have to be completely different, and will certainly require to be remixed gameplay-wise. If you take out all of those mechanics, you are left with little more than a survival walking sim with a character who doesn't care one lick about the town inhabitants. Would anyone really want to play as that?
Or again, if we want to be pessimistic: maybe the devs feared they wouldn't get a chance to make the second route, so they made sure to tell most of the story with the Haruspex.
The devs say it themselves – they started with Haruspex now because Bachelor was the first and the most finished back then, while Haruspex needed more reworking and they wanted to put all initial enthusiasm into him.
The reason Bachelor strongly suggested to be played first is because the game was made in this order – first they finished Bachelor with all the writing passion and pretty rough understanding of what they are doing, then they added more ideas and realized what the final shape of the plot and gameplay would be in the Haruspex, and finally, hastily scrambled Changeling when they already run out of steam, funds and time.
In the perfect world all this stories should had went through some final syncing after being written but this never happened, so Bachelor get revelations post factum, while Haruspex becoming repeatative by the end as they had to extend his story to the Bachelor length somehow.
I should look into playing the Changeling's route eventually, but the premise doesn't appeal to me much. And I'd several times before that it was rushed and padded. Maybe one day.
Yeah it's unfortunate the three of them will be written separately, that would be really frustrating from a narrative point of view since it's bound to create inconsistencies or missed potential. On the other hand, maybe the disjointedness would work in some kind of odd, pathologic-style, way. I wonder if they'll do updates on Artemy's playthrough once they're done with the Bachelor's or Changeling's.
I actually feel like that's a very admirable quality in some ways. Anti-Nihilistic. Existential even, which is very fitting for the game.
"Udurgh" - it's ancient, but pretty useless word (in this situation). Litterally it's mean - "one in many", "the body that holds the "world"".
So you can place here almost any of living of systems. Planet = Udurgh. Eco-sistem = Udurgh. City = Udurgh. You = Udurgh. Me = Udurgh.
Haruspex - just dumb like a brick :) It's a rare but common word. But he think that it - something... special... or even - magical.
His father put this word under the list, like you can do the list of the physical exercise, and put "system" in the end. But Burakh running all over the city and asking "that it mean" (the question is so dumb, that no one really know that he want to hear.... one of the funniest thing in a game...... :):):))
The tower and the ancients are not enemies. In P1 it was not very well shown. So many people got the wrong impression. In the second part it was corrected.
New wonders, or old wonders... they are wonders anyway. Scientists and the ancient tribes are not an enemies (usually). They both believe in impossible things (or better say - that impossible things CAN be possible). They only have different terminology. Magic is essentially the same science. (+they are bound together, but it's a long story).
They enemy it's a "normal" city. Simple example: The Inquisition burned primitive pagans AND advanced nerds. Because they're both "not normal".
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If short :)
But i really doubt that they can live so long to see it.. Clara will come back and they will have to cut something else. And again. And again... Until there's nothing left. (actually it's not even a Haruspex plan. It's a plan from Inquisitor - she's just manipulating him).
Or... to take a less fantastic example. "We happy few" - they also solve all problems with chemistry (panacea).
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In reality It can be classic "stone age" ("Far Cry Primal").
Or... may be better example - "Horizon. Zero Dawn" (there are even giant robots (bulls) from past eras. Wandering alongside "primitive" tribes.)
It's much better than the first ending. But still not great. The chance that humanity will not repeat the mistakes - is low. (it's like throwing dice far, far into the woods. And hope that they will show not the usual numbers, but... apple pie).
+ It will take a lot of time! And in this time another giant meteorite (for example) can destroy the earth. That's why Mark says that the Haruspex doesn't respect the subjects of death (not afraid of it).
(agane - it's not his plane. It'a Capella's plan). in fact, the Haruspex remains a pawn - all throughout the game.
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So... he has two endings - "not so good" and "sucks at all". (well at least, in P2 he got "not so good". In P1 he had only "sucks at all"). However both endings are not good, and Mark kicks him out of the lead role.
P.S. The bachelor had more chances, but his risks were extremely high. So the really good ending can be achieved only in parts of Changeling. Although there were some flaws (I hope in the second part they will correct it).
P.P.S. if you need a complete analysis of the ending - better to make a separate topic. Because here-only basic information. Without, "main players" and intrigues at different levels.
One thing about the "not so good" ending for the Haruspex though, P2 was at least optimistic about it (everyone had such grand plans for their own future, and it helped that the game wants you to be much more connected to the townsfolk). But in P1, with a more detached and cynical point of view, I couldn't help but see past their plans as mere illusions, no less utopistic than the Utopians' plans. It was so glaringly obvious to me, from their dialogue, that the children would have just followed in their fathers' footsteps. That really soured the last day for me, and it's the reason why I just saved the tower instead.