Side blog for InkArchivist. This way, I can reblog Outer Wilds Stuff I like or share my thoughts about the game. There will also be Project Hail Mary stuff here sometimes, and maybe a little bit of Subnautica stuff too since the second game is coming out soon. Don't expect much of my own content if any for the moment. Maybe just personal thoughts about the listed items. I'm 19 and He/Him, in case it matters to anyone. Also, no politics or real world issues. This is just to enjoy some media I enjoy.
I don't want to reveal who I am yet in case I don't finish this, but I feel like trying to draw Lith. Do you have any tips? Thank you. :)
Oh my goodness, thats so lovely and wonderful of you to even consider thank you so so much!!! Even if you do not draw them, the fact that you want to touches me VERY deeply ♡♡♡ I have a couple sketch pages to try to get a better grip on drawing them, but the main things that I tend to think of is
- small build, but not too thin/muscular. Softer edges. They are quite weak!
-spots are on forearms, shoulders, knees, and face
-large top eyes (primary viewing eyes) very round eyes and very thin irises/pupils. Bottom eyes are smaller and around the same height as the bottom of their nose.
-ears start at the level of the top eyes, stiff cartiligenous top and thin notched membrane at the bottom. Theyre a bit long,,
-profile has no visible nasion (indent between nose and forehead). Nose is prominent!
Uhh I hope those help! Here are a couple of sketchy pics that I hope can also help, and thank you so so much once more!!!
First the Outer Wilds Archaeology blog sharing about the origins of Hearthian names, now @spaced-out-tiger saying this in their tags when reblogging this... Have I been missing out by not thinking about rocks?
You know what? Fair enough. Too many ads, too much AI... I don't even live in an area like this, but the Internet exists so I know that AI and other random stuff that only the CEOs want gets advertised and shoved into random products/services.
I just thought about the fact that Outer Wilds is probably the only space game that lets you take a ship anywhere that it'll fit even though it's made for travel between planets. Most games that give you full control have limits like certain areas being blocked for your ship, or that you can't take it underwater, and may even limit where you're allowed to land. Meanwhile, Outer Wilds let's you wedge your ship into a gap between rocks and use that as your ship's landing location, or you can use it to handle your underwater travel instead of needing to immediately get out with it on land. I'm mentioning this because I appreciate the level of freedom that the player gets in how they handle Outer Wilds, and I thought this was a good example of that.
Edit: I remembered another detail. Outer Wilds is the only game I know of that doesn't prevent you from leaving in space, and one of very few that doesn't have you lose velocity when you aren't accelerating despite space not having air resistance. Even with there being things in the game that wouldn't work in real life (like the sizes of the planets), it still feels more immersive for space travel than Starfield or No Man's Sky, just to name the first things that come to mind.
Outer Wilds DLC spoilers, but I think that the Owlk instrument might be a string-based theremin. I'm finding some clips to base this off of to try to help explain what I mean.
Major Spoilers for both Silksong and Outer Wilds under the cut.
Is it just me, or does the conductor's song sound very similar to the singing in Elegy of the Ring? I was playing Silksong and decided to play the needolin in front of the guy, but I almost instantly thought "wait a minute, that sounds like that song the owlks sing."
Almost everyone's in agreement on aroace Grace. Pretty much the only people I've seen have him be something other than aroace are people trying to ship him with another character. Hear me out, though, what about aroace Rocky?
Translation errors can happen easily, as evidenced by the "who's on first" style attempt to translate "no" in the book. What if Rocky misunderstood what "mate" means, and is actually just super platonic with Adrian. Like, I might write a fiction of this and anyone else is free to do so, but my idea is something like Rocky on the human thinking machine, then he accidentally discovers romance movies but doesn't realize it.
He gets visceral reactions to all the romantic scenes, and doesn't understand any of the flirting, so when the movie finishes with them marrying, he assumes it was a horror movie or something. He goes up to Grace with it to try to ask why people watched it, feeling bad for Grace when he decides to turn it on, then confused why Grace was chill about it. When he hears that that's what Grace meant by "mate", he gets horrified and quickly corrects "Rocky Adrian not mates, exclamation! Bad bad bad! Need new word, exclamation!" After a bit of talking, he realizes that his relationship with Adrian is actually platonic, and Grace realizes that Rocky had thought mate actually meant very-close friends. This could also be when Grace realizes that he didn't understand romance either.
Giant's Deep - If you were one of the travelers, what instrument would you play?
The Interloper - Which discovery did you find the most impactful?
Hello! Never gotten three prompts before, this should be interesting. I'll just use the names since you included their prompts in the ask. I'll be answering somewhat out of order to hold off on spoilers for at least one answer.
Giant's Deep: After some thinking, I think I'd have to go with the Hurdy Gurdy. Partially because I like the sound and think it's a very convenient instrument to move around (it's kind of like a crank-powered lute shaped piano with a droning sound built in), but also because it's kind of funny. While everyone else is using a traditional instrument, I'm using the string/percussion equivalent of a bagpipe.😆
That's the only thing I can say without spoilers, so the rest will be under the cut.
The Attlerock: There are two main ones, and I feel a bit awkward about having struggled with them, but I also have no problem with sharing. First of all, I was a bit confused by the tower of quantum knowledge because I didn't realize it falls into the blackhole until I got stumped and looked it up.
The main difficulty was with The Interloper, so I'll go through my thought process to at last make getting stuck a bit more understandable. So, when I first landed on it, I assumed that I had to be at the back when I'm near The Sun to avoid dying. The Sun has strong gravity, and it emits a lot of heat, so it felt reasonable that I'd want to be as far as possible. Then I saw the ship in the ice, and the note about entering, so I tried to teleport the ship from its launchpad before going back. The ship was full of ice, so I assumed it was covering the entrance. Then I tried looking around, and I couldn't find anything. Eventually I just gave up, looked it up, and felt like I had been missing the obvious when I saw that I had to be on the front when passing The Sun. I then also couldn't find all the tunnels within The Interloper at first, so I thought there was a speed at which you could survive ghost matter since you don't technically die instantly.
The Interloper: I personally found ATP the most impactful, but not because I didn't understand it. Before I found any information about ATP, I accidentally launched out of the Solar System with a Nomai launchpad, and decided to just wait and see what happens if I get far enough out. Fortunately, without aiming at all, I didn't hit any planets, so I got the situation where your vision fills and you get sent back without dying to anything. After that, I took a break from the game because I didn't want to get through the game too fast.
I started theorizing after I saved and quit, and keep in mind that I had no information about ATP yet except for seeing the mask. Here's what I somehow theorized just from that one experience and my prior observations, as close to my original thought as I can get, and I wish this was a joke because it's hilarious to me. "So, I always go back after The Sun explodes, regardless of whether or not I die. I think that those two towers on Ash Twin are somehow collecting energy from the explosion, then using it to send my memories back instead of myself. That would mean that I'm not actually time traveling, I'm just getting the memories of failed attempts." Imagine my satisfaction when I found out that was exactly how it worked.🤣
for the ask game!! dark bramble, ember twin, and/or the eye!!
AAAAAH thank you!! <3 <3
Dark Bramble: Did you ever "Feldspar" anything? (ex: slingshot around the black hole as a shortcut, brute force GD's current, etc)
Ahahahaha, no!! I was too much of a coward! The friend I played with admitted once I'd finished the game the first time (pre-dlc) that, despite dying a lot, I didn't die in a lot of the ways he'd seen because I was the exact opposite of Feldspar and was so overly cautious!
Ember Twin: Favorite planet to explore vs least favorite?
Oh man this is super easy, ahaha. Favorite planet overall is Brittle Hollow. Favorite planet to explore is...still Brittle Hollow (but was almost Ember Twin!). Something about the vibes, the colors, and the fact it all looks like one massive geode intrigued me immediately! It wins out over Ember Twin because it has some of my favorite story and emotional beats.
Once I finally calmed down about the black hole (man, that yawning pit in my stomach whenever I fell into it never quite vanished, though... T_T), I actually enjoyed traversing under Brittle Hollow's crust! I even enjoyed the outside as well, despite how barren it is. I love the lil ice secret/shortcut from the surface to the inside! (mostly because I really like the ice sfx in this game)
Least favorite is definitely Dark Bramble! Mostly because I've never actually explored it, ahaha. I have One Set Path And One Set Path Only and never deviate. Because deviating means fish. And we can't be doing with that.
The Eye: How did you interpret the ending?
I'll just put this under a read more tbh...
Oh man. This one's rough. I've retyped this...multiple times at this point.
I keep coming back to: I loved (love, but I'm speaking as in on my first time playing) all of the travelers' quotes at the ending campfire, but the one that got me, the one that I know will break me when I play by myself, was Riebeck's.
"I learned a lot, by the end of everything. The past is past now, but that's...you know, that's okay! It's never really gone completely. The future is always built on the past, even if we won't get to see it. Still, it's um, it's time for something new."
Something about that just rang so clearly in my head.
Life will find a way?
It's never truly over?
We pave the way for the future with our past (& current) actions?
The things we learn & share can enlighten or even help someone in the future?
But also, I mean, of course, there's the letting go. Acceptance of finality and seeing the beauty in it -- and in the journey taken to get there (thanks, Gabbro). Some things end, and that's entirely okay. More than okay, sometimes that's good, because oftentimes something else is going to follow that deserves its own time to live.
I've seen so many people's interpretations of the ending, and I love every single one of them! I just hope what I rambled about just now made some sort of sense!
EDIT to say that, like, if the question is literally as simple as "what's the campfire at the end of the universe, bro" then I'd have to go with!
I think it's a final breath. A blink. An eternal moment where someone is shown a glimpse into the inner machinations of something beyond mortal ken. And the visuals we see are the culmination of the Hatchling's mind trying to comprehend the incomprehensible.
Would you still enjoy Outer Wilds if you were a nomai?
See now this all rides on whether i'm one of the dead ones or not LMFAOO, if i've been nuked by ghost matter then probably not but if i'm out there still doing my thing in a different colony then hell yea, heat death of the universe be damned being a 3 eyed goat person is fire
I just had an idea to replay Outer Wilds at least once without needing to use fan made mods to have a new experience! Roleplaying the hatchling!
You don't use mechanics or information that you haven't found yet in the playthrough, and you find do anything you think skins scare the character in the first few runs. You can also use how you imagine your chracter's personality, or your Hearthian/hatchling OC's personality, to decide how you handle things. For example, when I'm ready, I'm probably going to play as someone interested in the architecture (as a compliment to Riebeck's interest in the culture), starting by exploring their structures and following any leads that gives me. However, I might end up choosing to play as someone interested in touring the planets and their views instead, visiting the travelers and following their leads. If I go that direction, I'll probably look at more "random" things as well, which would be nice for finding easter eggs.
I don't expect a lot of attention on my own personal blog, but reblogging this would be appreciated if you like this idea so that the Outer Wilds community who haven't thought of this might find this and have the chance to try it if they want to. ::) (Edit: A few days later, and I suddenly feel strange about asking if people could reblog it if they like the idea. Sorry if that sounds like I'm asking for attention at all, I've already got more attention on thoughts I've posted than I ever expected. I just thought it would be nice for anyone who hasn't thought of this to have the chance to find it.)
Spoilers for major plot elements of all of Outer Wilds/EOTE below the cut, but it's mainly a technology/advancement related theory.
I just had a weird thought. I'm pretty sure each civilization of Outer Wilds figured out something that the others didn't. The Owlks, or whatever they're called, are the only ones to make a moving environment, and the only ones to make something that can affect the Eye's signal. They also made VR and projectors. The Nomai are the only ones to figure out FTL travel, unless the Stranger had that and it just wasn't clarified, as well as the only ones to figure out teleportation and time travel. Finally, the Hearthians seem to be the only ones making flame-based propulsion, I'm pretty sure they're the first ones to make traditional computers, and they even figured out how to make a translation device. If I'm right, then maybe no civilization is smarter than the others, they just achieved different things with different tools.
This also just made me realize something about the time loop. The player isn't time traveling because they're having memories go back in time, but the memories going back in time would make it technically time travel unless you don't consider that you be time travel. Schrodinger's Time Travel?😆
Hi!! For the OW ask game! Brittle Hollow and White Hole Station? :D
Hello there! Thanks for the ask, it's always fun to talk about this game. Both answers have spoilers related to endings, both the base game and the dlc, so I'll do the answers under a cut just to be safe. (Thanks for following, by the way. ::) Saw it pop up in the notifications.)
Brittle Hollow - Any quote(s) that stuck with you long after finishing the game?
I have a proper quote of one, and an idea of what I can remember for another one. First of all, the more serious answer is the idea one, but the fact that The Prisoner asks if you really want them at the last campfire, and then thanks you for having them there, just feels really sweet to me. Like, "despite what my people have done, despite the harm that could have been caused, I appreciate that you would want me with you at the end."
The full quote answer just stuck with me because it's kind of funny. To make sure I do it justice, I'm pulling up my screenshot of it since it's one of only two I took a picture of in my first playthrough, and it's from that quantum museum thing. "Of all the lifeforms who will perish in the oncoming death of the universe, we will miss the anglerfish the least." They gave me a long wheeze laugh because of how funny I thought it was.
White Hole Station - Favorite song(s) from the OST? (base game + DLC!)
I have three favorites, believe it or not. I don't have any particular order, but I'll include my reasons.
Travelers: Not only is it a great tune, it's inspiring. Even across interplanetary distance (for Outer Wilds), they're still able to work together to make a song. And then hearing all the instruments combined in the ending feels like you're coming full circle, everyone working together to say goodbye to what was, and to welcome what comes next. (Got slightly emotional writing that.) Plus, it's cool that the final song you hear from the old universe is a more emphatic/grand version of the song that accompanied you in your journey.
Echoes of the Eye: A beautiful ending to a nerve-wracking DLC. If I could only pick one favorite, this would be it. Even though I enjoyed it, I try not to listen to it too much because I don't want to lose that emotional impact, especially since it's the first time I understood and experienced how someone could have tears while happy.
Morning: I always enjoy the sound of a cello. Anyway, while this is a short track, it feels like a proper send off. The instruments you'd already heard, and by extension the people you knew, are gone, but it's okay. A new people will play a new tune, they'll have the chance to make their own discoveries, and your sacrifice is what made that possible. Fun fact, I learned through a video that the tune itself is a slowed down version of the start to Timber Hearth.
