About that ending...[OBV. SPOILERS]

[Rittless]

I have to say I found it a real tonal clash and very jarring that in the space of the ten, fifteen or so minutes between the first antagonisation from Dylan, and his confessional note, that Dylan swaps from being a cover-up threat to atoning for his crimes complete with a game containing apologies worked into it.

That tonal shift makes it feel disingenuous as hell. Maybe it would have been better if Adrian instead was the one to join HAP as the 'threat', and Dylan comes on at the last minute so that his sudden arrival, and atonement seems more authentic.

[Lady Lavender]

I think I would have to agree with this assessment. Moreover, I kept expecting that there would be an apology to Tim. Did I miss something?

[banov]

Going into the ending game, I 100% believed that it was going to be a trick by dylan to trap my mind in hypnospace or something to keep the secret from getting out... I had VERY suspicious vibes, and I was desperately waiting for another follow-up email from Samantha to say something to stop me, but I eventually did run it with the understanding that it was the only way to move the story forward, so I was like, "I guess I have to fall for the trap..."

So I started playing the game extremely apprehensively... really slowly examining every element trying to figure out what the trick was. But then as I started playing it in earnest and capturing cars, I had kind of a pleasant dawning of realization that it wasn't a trick, that Dylan really was apologetic. I didn't realize until now how much of that turn happened entirely in my head, but it made my experience into a pleasant surprise at the end, a proper twist and because I so caught off guard I totally believed it. The game shifting from a horrible trick into a genuine apology was really cathartic for me.

From the perspective the entire game arc, I think it's a really poetic end--throughout the story, the Outlaw game is kind of a malignant force, and seeing it turned into a soothing apology was really satisfying. That fits with my in-the-moment feelings and interpretation as well.

Maybe they could have framed it a bit differently/better to give more folks the experience that I had with it.

[Rittless]

banov の投稿を引用：

Going into the ending game, I 100% believed that it was going to be a trick by dylan to trap my mind in hypnospace or something to keep the secret from getting out... I had VERY suspicious vibes, and I was desperately waiting for another follow-up email from Samantha to say something to stop me, but I eventually did run it with the understanding that it was the only way to move the story forward, so I was like, "I guess I have to fall for the trap..."

So I started playing the game extremely apprehensively... really slowly examining every element trying to figure out what the trick was. But then as I started playing it in earnest and capturing cars, I had kind of a pleasant dawning of realization that it wasn't a trick, that Dylan really was apologetic. I didn't realize until now how much of that turn happened entirely in my head, but it made my experience into a pleasant surprise at the end, a proper twist and because I so caught off guard I totally believed it. The game shifting from a horrible trick into a genuine apology was really cathartic for me.

From the perspective the entire game arc, I think it's a really poetic end--throughout the story, the Outlaw game is kind of a malignant force, and seeing it turned into a soothing apology was really satisfying. That fits with my in-the-moment feelings and interpretation as well.

Maybe they could have framed it a bit differently/better to give more folks the experience that I had with it.

I can actually agree with that completely. It was a 'nice' ending and I wasn't unhappy with it at the time, but now that I've slept on it and thought about it again, I don't think it held up to scrutiny.

I think it would still hold the same weight and still have the same effect if Dylan just showed up with the apology at the end, without the 'Hey what are ya reporting violations for did you know my code still works and I can still see everything lol [bwl]' bizarre behavior that doesn't seem to gel with someone who is so dead-set remorseful that they prepared the game in advance for it. You could keep the doubt on sincerity on Dylan's behalf, and keep the stress feeling of the sabotage possibility, by bringing back Adrian to be the attempted saboteur. It would also read more correctly for their personalities as although I would call both of the brothers greedy and sneaky sods, Adrian was framed in the leaks as being the one more aggressively trying to cover and bury. Dylan was worried about the health effects of the headbands and his deceit was more focused on protecting his game (including banning you for risking that by reporting his filesharing.)

Just my opinion - I can buy that causing deaths and getting someone else jailed over it would ♥♥♥♥ his head up enough over time to have him turn a corner. But we don't need to see his presence and have him say things like 'ensure that Merchantsoft's history is properly recorded' in order to have a very, very severe doubt about reinstalling his game, despite grovelling apology attached.

[Eleghoste]

I can get what the game was intending: a feeling of catharsis and vindication for decades of cruelty as our reward for our cleverness. It's how a better word would work, and a lot of games have similar patterns and rewards.

But... This game is too real for that kind of swap. Many of us can map the villains to real life (e.g. Martin Shkreli, or Fyre Festival) and we know how the villains in these situations will act: illegally as much as they can get away with.

Again, I get why there's an attempt to include this element of redemption and catharsis, but it doesn't fit the reality of the rest of the game. I'd be okay with some victories and some losses (ex: we get Dylan, but only because Adrian throws him under the bus. Adrian is still out there in [New Company] working on [skyyynet/ yuber / amanuzon].)

[Lucatiel of Mirrah Appreciator]

Well, Dylan gets the rap for the crash and the deaths it caused, but Adrian will still have to answer for knowingly withholding information about how unsafe Hypnospace was. At the very least the ensuing class action lawsuit is gonna hurt him.

[Dinjoralo]

Rittless の投稿を引用：

I think it would still hold the same weight and still have the same effect if Dylan just showed up with the apology at the end, without the 'Hey what are ya reporting violations for did you know my code still works and I can still see everything lol [bwl]' bizarre behavior that doesn't seem to gel with someone who is so dead-set remorseful that they prepared the game in advance for it.

I'd need to play through the game again to verify, but I'm guessing he'll send that message if you do any violation, not just the ones for Samantha, and its more there so you know there's a better way to get the HC you need for HypnoCure Pro.

[Narky Sawtooth♪]

Dinjoralo の投稿を引用：

Rittless の投稿を引用：

I think it would still hold the same weight and still have the same effect if Dylan just showed up with the apology at the end, without the 'Hey what are ya reporting violations for did you know my code still works and I can still see everything lol [bwl]' bizarre behavior that doesn't seem to gel with someone who is so dead-set remorseful that they prepared the game in advance for it.

I'd need to play through the game again to verify, but I'm guessing he'll send that message if you do any violation, not just the ones for Samantha, and its more there so you know there's a better way to get the HC you need for HypnoCure Pro.

Nope. It gives you an error if you flag anything past the last timeskip, and I never got the e-mail until using "send evidence." (This also means that if you missed hacked pages in early-game, you need to use safe mode to browse one or two festering pages normally.)

[Klowny]

I agree. Felt the same.

[Jack]

It's easy to apologise when you're caught, and 20 years after you made the screw up. This felt like he was just trying to better his image before going to court.

It felt disingenuous and baseless, and kept me thinking, "Is this it? Is this all?".

I guess short, ♥♥♥♥♥♥ game endings are another thing that was brought from the past in this game.

Unless I missed something, which is possible.

[Torcularis]

It felt a bit out of left field. I feel like Dylan wasn't given a very consistent personality, unlike most of the other characters. The chat leaks make him out to be willingly negligent with the risks in a standard "corrupt corporate executive" sort of way, yet before that he's just a coder with a dream. I think the biggest issue is lack of foreshadowing. None of his character progression felt believable.

[Japes]

IMO, this game has a pretty consistent level of satire throughout- the apologies from dylan are paper thin, and again, from a someone who can't stop. Instead of just giving the apologies straight, he had to imbed them into the game that caused the whole thing. He was obsessed, flat out. You can see how little he actually cared from his apology to rodney- it isn't even really an apology, its just complaining about his family. And his apology to mavis is just "im sorry mavis." He didn't even label her file with her name! It's completely in character, and it underlines what type of person he really is vs. how he wants people to believe in him.

[Rittless]

Dynamo the Kid の投稿を引用：

IMO, this game has a pretty consistent level of satire throughout- the apologies from dylan are paper thin, and again, from a someone who can't stop. Instead of just giving the apologies straight, he had to imbed them into the game that caused the whole thing. He was obsessed, flat out. You can see how little he actually cared from his apology to rodney- it isn't even really an apology, its just complaining about his family. And his apology to mavis is just "im sorry mavis." He didn't even label her file with her name! It's completely in character, and it underlines what type of person he really is vs. how he wants people to believe in him.

But that's not how people work. I know (and have known) obsessive people and when they have a thing that is threatened by collateral damage, the last thing they're going to do is forever tarnish their baby by redesigning it around the collateral damage, and then ensuring that their thing is going to forever be left in that state by turning themselves in to the law.

[Zeon Twilight]

So...Was I the only one who got the vibe that Dylan's apology was uh...killing himself there? Like, Outlaw was responsible for the deaths of a lot of people in the mind crash, and he was beamed up just like the rest of them. Now as for if his apologies were genuine or not I couldn't say, but it struck me as a "Well you found me out, I'm not going to prison, sorry I killed everyone now take me out" kinda vibe. But maybe that was just me, it would be an admittedly really dark turn for an otherwise fairly goofy game. But I can't shake the feeling that Dylan is the sort that would want to die to hynospace over going to jail.

I suppose this perspective made me feel like Dylan did actually feel guilty about what he did if nothing else, that, or he wanted to go on his terms. But that said, I think part of what I like about the game is that all these perspectives on if he felt guilty, or not, if he lives or dies, all that sort of is up to interpretation.

[Mina Zeichen]

I dunno, Dylan did have many switch in the game. He starts up as a pretty chill guy, Samantha admires him and if you browse a bit over time, it seems he really was a cool guy.

Then his corporate self took over, the obsession with Outlaw took over, the crunching of the five spaces into one at Adrian's request and his outburst and abuse of power when you catch him infringing on copyrights. Turns out even Samantha who looked up to him started getting disgusted. Then Y2K happens, Tim gets blamed for the Merchant's screw job and Merchantsoft and HypnOS goes under.

The stress he had to release his obsession (Outlaw) ended up killing people, he got away with murder and got a kid blamed for his mistake. Give it two decades, he probably moved on to some other job, but the guilt could've been eating him. Keep in mind, what happened in a matter of minutes/hours in our game time took twenty years. He can't bring the dead back, he can't give Tim his six years back. Did he stay silent for himself or is he protecting someone else, most likely Adrian?

See, the thing with guilt is its inconsistency. Maybe he ignored it for 20 years and the fight that you came out with your working headband made it come out, or maybe he just pretends to feel guilty because his only guilt is that he got caught... only Dylan truly knows.

Because I'm guessing that's also part of the creator's intent: leave the ending open enough for interpretation.

[Aquillion]

MIMU の投稿を引用：

It felt a bit out of left field. I feel like Dylan wasn't given a very consistent personality, unlike most of the other characters. The chat leaks make him out to be willingly negligent with the risks in a standard "corrupt corporate executive" sort of way, yet before that he's just a coder with a dream. I think the biggest issue is lack of foreshadowing. None of his character progression felt believable.

Keep in mind that the chat leaks were from 19 years ago. It's hardly a surprise that he'd have changed since then and might feel a bit more guilty.