Do you have any theories on Gost?

[Dr. Horny]

I guess the community is half-dead, but I'll try my luck. Do you have any opinions\theories on Gost? What the hell is the supernatural dealer doing in cyberpunk setting?
If he turns out to be some kind of a massive virus\bug (which is untrue because Donovan doesn't have any implants, but sees him), or any other nearly-scientific\technological explanation would be cool. But I'm just here sitting feeling myself robbed because of lacking any detailed lore about this.

[JackalNetlien]

"Твой папочка", ахахах
На самом деле в игре очень много недосказанного, например, этой фишки с алкоголем, который влияет на эмоции. Тоже магия ведь. Гост — загадка в чистом виде, его роль в игре не понятна: он просто возникает из ниоткуда и так же мгновенно испаряется. Хотелось бы надеяться на вторую часть игры, хотя бы на дополнение, но... подпишусь на обсуждение, может, кто-то имеет свою теорию насчёт этого персонажа :)

[Dr. Horny]

Originally posted by JackalNetlien:

"Твой папочка", ахахах

;)
На самом деле, я только сейчас, после этих слов задумываюсь, что действительно, алкоголь неординарный. Но Донован взывает к вышней силе, которую представляет игрок, и мы и управляем его руками/направляем его собеседника на нужное настроение, чего он сам не видит, исходя из того, что он про себя удивляется аызыванным у людей эмоциям. Так что он не более, чем исполнитель, которому, по всей видимости, просто не везёт на сверхъестественность :D
Сам Гост отвечает, что он некий владыка соглашений (если что, при выборе опции "Кто ты такой"). Демон в киберсеттинге, не иначе.
Плюс Донни постоянно говорит, что не может покинуть заведение. Видимо, не только из-за коленей.

[gamble007]

I think it's both a homage and a bit of wink to the user. His name being Gost is likely a homage to Ghost in the Shell which was obviously a cyberpunk anime. As far as Gost being a supernatural entity, much like the term "ghost" being used as a euphemism for a soul in the anime, the fact that the character Gost is supernatural could be playing along those lines as well. Within the game's narrative though, they seem to allude (or at least Donovan believes...) that he has the ability to change a person's fate through his cocktails...that along with his supposed inability to leave the club itself are all supernatural in nature...it may just be used as a contrasting element to the cyberpunk themes that the majority of the story is grounded in. Either way, it was an interesting character that I would have loved to have been used a bit more.

[Dr. Horny]

Interesting point of view, thank you for your comment!

[morumoru]

地面に衝突する寸前のブランダイスを救い出し、
冥界騎士としての力を与えて甦らせることで
暗黒電脳勢力との戦いを新たな局面に導くことこそが
彼に与えられた真の役割なのではないでしょうか？？？

[MadFatVlad]

Я думаю, что это просто отсылка к исполнителю GosT ( https://gost1980s.bandcamp.com/music ), который так же загадочен и не раскрывает свою личность.

[Solequen]

В ходе игры упоминалась такая деталь как то, что Акара не способна отследить Госта вплоть до того момента пока он не окажется прямо у порога бара, а также провести его эмпатический анализ. Моя теория такова, что Гост может быть таким же искусственным интеллектом как и Акара, но он не посвятил жизнь изучению мира и человечества, он выбрал жизнь мифического контрабандиста. Это объясняет то как быстро он находит нужные его заказчикам вещи, ведь в его распоряжении весь интернет мира будущего. Тем более, возможно он даже превосходит Акару в развитии и за счёт этого становится для неё "невидимым". В таком случае встаёт вопрос, кто появился раньше, Гост или Акара?

[terrorman777]

I searched his moods since they had odd, Latin names. It turns out Gost is a music artist and the moods are named after a song and an album. Other than that, no idea.

[Cap'n Saccade]

Yeah - old [dark] synthwave from when the scene started emerging several years ago (back when Marco Maric would still be doing the radio show and before Synthetix was a label and Perturbator was making music "for love and the fans" more than "for money".

Idk if GOST is still producing.

They were OK.
Preferred Deetloss, KFDDA and Gatekeeper for that flavour.

[Mobbstar]

I like the idea of Gost just being heavily augmented, but I still can't wrap my head around how Akara fails to track or identify him. It sounds like the all-seeing chaos controlling AI had no idea he or his powers existed.

[Cap'n Saccade]

He's mentioned in the notebook at the very start, so I'm unsure of Donovan's reaction towards him as he already knows who he is and what he does.

I like to think he has been an integral part of the Red Strings Club for some time, to make sure he's around when the events of the Red Strings Club take place (farsighted guy) and perhaps is the "ghost in the shell" type human/AI/can't tell anymore which, who can jump between hosts (why the mask, else how'd you recognise him/them) and can manifest their presence whenever and wherever there's some tech from which to project (no appearance until AI chick is there - she's the conduit) - explains why the robot chick can't figure him. He's projected from her.

Perhaps he's an old-old owner of the club or a founder of what became the corp.
Or the one who's really pulling the strings.

If all humans with souls were happy and they all did good - what place would hell have in such a world..?

If there's no hell, there's no demon.

If there's a redundancy across multiple gateways (such a redundancy is the aim of the "evil plot" that you go to stop), a particular daemon is redundant, aborts and restarts.
Essentially, dies and is reborn as new.

A Daemon is also a guiding spirit (and, in this game, this spirit not only provides the spirits but provides guidance on how to use them in a new way...).

By intervening in the grand scheme of things, at a critical juncture, Gost, the skull-faced demon/daemon is taking a step in order to prevent themselves from being made redundant and facing abort and restart (death).

Or ensuring they're not going to lose their godlike status, since people might not require his services in the new world.
Or any number of motivations, really... Can think of many.

Ultimately, he only really serves to fill a few holes (that would otherwise be more difficult to explain with some "deus ex machina" type character such as him) with some mystery and introduce a new game mechanic.


However:

I don't think Gost is as big a mystery as to why the game always crashes when I get right to the end, no matter what computer I play it on that I own, and so I've never actually been able to finish it.

To me, he's simply an old writer's trick - a characterised plot device that's introduced at the very start in order to justify their existence, fill a difficult to write plot hole through their appearances, cover all that up with some mystery to further disguise the holes and who teaches a new gameplay mechanic to add some progression to the minigame in the bar.

But that's kinda mundane.

So I prefer to think of them as someone important.

Hodor was simply a very cleverly placed Deus Ex Machina that had been inserted at the very beginning, just waiting for that one moment that turned a dimwitted giant donkey into a (woefully) sacrificed pawn by an evil Bran-flake in his manipulation of his most loyal and trusting friends to ensure his survival.

A bit like a smuggler just turning up out of nowhere and delivering something that was missing in order to be able to do something new.

He's no more special than the appearance of the cocktail mixer, really, as he has no story or relevance.

Such characters as this need to have a reveal, or they tend to have no impact.

If it wasn't for this thread - I'd never have given Gost a second thought, other than "I know I'm gonna meet him" from the start of the game, when looking at the book and "well he solved that problem and made the game a little less repetitive".

If there was any hint at Gost's true nature or character, or inclusion in the plot or any part of the history or future - that would've been great.

(ps, if there is, at teh ending, don't tell me, cos I've not seen it).

// my immediate thought was - oh, they've name a character after a synthwave producer.

[Dr. Horny]

Cap'n Saccade, thank you for your detailed contribution to this post, I'm so glad to see somebody this passionate!
(Also I hope you've finally got to the end successfully.)

[Cap'n Saccade]

Still not finished the game, heh :p

I try, but only so many times I can do the drinks and sculpting before "uggghhh again!?" :)
Maybe I could record a macro to do it, as it is always the same, and only push a button...

Hey - that's not a bad idea - thanks!!!

It crashes before the end, every time, so I think I'll end up installing it on the laptop (c-raptop).

I can remember the answers to the questions and the order to do things for different things to happen (eg, taking different parts of the personality, the bridge, the drinks to give and sculptor's questions)... That is one problem with good games - they are easy to remember.

It would one day be nice to see how these play out in the end, and if it affects the ending.
If it can really never be finished, I will simply watch a youtube video that has the endings :)

It's probably a driver or redist. bug that makes it crash, or life teaching me to persevere.

As for the rest - people often get annoyed and cry or get angry when I theorise on certain things or read deeper into stories, plots or characters and the implications or possibilities...


So it's refreshing that someone has a nice thing to say like this, for once :P


Spasibo bolshoiye, priyatel' - eto vyosoko tsenitsya))

(Spasibo mnogo? Moy ♥♥♥♥♥♥ nye horosho - eks podruga nauchila menya... Ya terya'yu slova)
V lyubom sluchaye, vy sdelali moy den luchshye!

Ya zapishu makro skript dlya igru. Dlya skulptora i barmena - spasibo za ideyu!

Terima kasih banyak, mas!

[Dr. Horny]

Good luck with writing the script! And lol, this theme was made for theorising, so no problem here at all.
And yes, "bolshoiye" is correct in this context :D

[fabulousReaper548]

Gost is an allusion to the band "Gost." His emotions are names of songs and albums by them. As far as how he fits into the world... I'm not sure. I figured he was just there to demonstrate how Akara does have some sort of a flaw, and with them being an all knowing AI, using some sort of supernatural force that exists but also doesn't is probably the easiest way to do this.