Part of Many, Part of One

|| Hyperfixations are all over the place || he/him || 23 || Asks Open ||

[marsantiquity]

Hello everyone,

My name is Mars.

Welcome to my Tumblr page.

[OLD ACCOUNT @letterstomarstmblr]

My asks are always open unless stated specifically otherwise.

I swear and whatnot guys so please be aware of that, also, I make inappropriate jokes once and a while.

I jump from fandom to fandom but you can assume I'll go back to everything once and a while. Love you guys.

Everyone is safe here! (If you experience otherwise let me know)

[balketh]

I Don't Think The Bell's Rung Just Yet

Spoiler spoiler spoilerific musings on the plot end of Abiotic Factor 1.0 below, read at your own peril.

One of the things that Abiotic Factor touches on, rather cleanly and, perhaps, all too briefly (1.0 release content being on the shorter side) is Temporal Perforations, or, in the common parlance, 'Time Travel' - though I find the connotations of that particular moniker inaccurate in this instance. "Not simply portals to where, but to when." In all instances, the game goes to a future, not a past, so a classical paradox isn't a point of concern.

We are, at least twice, given a chance to go forward in time in our own Anteverse, which causes a unique malfunction of our otherwise dimensionally-pristine wristwatch - it loses track of the time and date when in these future places, unlike every other Anteverse or Portal World. Although, these are still called, and function as, Portal Worlds - meaning they are not necessarily our own Anteverse.

The game HAS presented us with perforations that are strictly local in nature - teleporting us around the GATE facility, rather than to other Anteverses (though this pairs well with tha in-game raised question of whether or not we're even IN our original Anteverse anymore, as each perforation presents the possibility of entering us into an adjacent, almost-but-not identical version of our own Anteverse - unlikely, simply given the amount of functional quandries that possibility raises regarding the statistical anomaly of unique-vs-similar anteverses...)

The first time we experience a forward-oriented temporal perforation happens, it's used simply as a Prince of Persia (2003)/Singularity style obstacle bypasser in the Divarication in the Botaniacl Gardens.

The second time it happens, someone that we can only assume is Dr Annette Garrick lets us pass the GATE Arch Defense Facility in the unspecified future. One of the ways we can tell it's actually the future of our timeline is the presence of the Unlost Gatekeepers, but the Jotun in particular is wearing new, white, illuminated power armour, rather than their original equipment.

The interesting situation this poses is not one of paradox, as is the case in most media regarding Time Travel. There are two possibilities, one suggested by the Sister of the Unlost, and the other by the outcome of the Kylie Muir storyline.

In the former possibility, the ramblings of the impeccably stylish Sister of the Unlost suggest that time travel is permitted and safe because it is, essentially, pre-destined. I had thought for some time that the Sister was simply aware that she is in a video game, but now I understand it to be her awareness of her future self, given she also has a Shade in the Night Realm, yet seems to function adequately. (Similar to Alice Hong until she passed, and much like Warren Bunning still seems to - his unique Skeletal Shade is present in the Night Realm tower in Fragments.) She suggests that this has all happened before, and will again, meaning that any excursions into the past or future are not only safe, but necessary for time to continue as expected. This is a very safe, video-game-friendly outcome.

The other possibility, however, is far more interesting to me. In Botanical, we enter into brief areas of a 'Portal World' called Divarication, which means 'the process of branching out or separating'. Perhaps this future in which the GATE facility is abandoned as it was is... A branch? And given the malfunction of our watch occuring in both the Divarication and in the GATE Arch Defense Facility, perhaps they are not only the same future, but a branch of our future? After all, there were already machines in our GATE facility that used or required technology from a branch of our future we hadn't visited yet, meaning either someone already did, or someone came back the other way to help.

Most perplexing, however, is that these are not mutually exclusive ideas: the Sister of the Unlost could still be correct, even if we only entered into a branch of our future - ludonarrative fourth-wall knocking, pardon me for cutting through their obtuse banter.

Then there's Dr Stern and the 'Quantum Submarine' being missing, and the mysterious second Journal entry for IS-0117 - written by a character we've otherwise heard nothing about: 'Pyre'. Referenced in only ONE email from Dr Enderson regarding 0117. Their email header is from Intrados, and they only respond with 'Copy.', so I wonder if Pyre is perhaps the leader of the Gatekeepers? Uncertain. Pyre seems to be responsible for having captured 0117 in the first place, and the hint/entry given in the entry for 0117 references this. It's also mentioned, in another email IIRC, that the creature was held by 'the same fetters as its creator', implying that despite all we've done, the worst is still yet to unfold.

I see a path forward where we could, through some fun Temporal shenanigans, either recapture the Wayseeker right at our moment of victory in an amusing inversion of the end of Half Life 2 Episode 2 (a fun re-do on the boss fight where a past version of our character is trying to kill 0117, while we're trying to avoid everyone and set up some kind of teleport ritual in which to capture the beast, or something to that effect), or close the mega perforation, or unfetter and defeat 0117's creator, etc.

Plus, as much as he's a bit of a rube, I want to make sure Dr Stern survives. If only for Dr Ross' sake.

It's a 'bad ending', but not 'The End', and I would absolutely buy a story expansion update DLC thing if they ever release it.

Finally, done writing my thoughts. Now, to record them in separate paragraphs, and scatter them all over the facility. "This is Doctor Derek Manse, Research Director, Cascade Facility..."

[prof-coomer]

ok I’m sick of it, someone has to say it.

this is the single worst thing to come out of Abiotic Factor

[marsantiquity]

i really gotta check tumblr more lmao

[skeletoninthemelonland]

THE STARE DOWN

Sevika & Jinx from Arcane / Charon & Lone Wanderer from Fallout 3

[marsantiquity]

Tumblr, I have news, I don't actually play CRK. I am just friends with the most CRK-pilled person ever. Please Tumblr.

[marsantiquity]

he's overpowered

[foolnamedjoey]

im not overpowered im awesome

[marsantiquity]

You can be both.

[marsantiquity]

Tumblr, I have news, I don't actually play CRK. I am just friends with the most CRK-pilled person ever. Please Tumblr.

[marsantiquity]

he's overpowered

[marsantiquity]

Tumblr, I have news, I don't actually play CRK. I am just friends with the most CRK-pilled person ever. Please Tumblr.

[marsantiquity]

guys he's the crk pilled

[marsantiquity]

Tumblr, I have news, I don't actually play CRK. I am just friends with the most CRK-pilled person ever. Please Tumblr.

[marsantiquity]

i keep going back to this scene because it means so much to me but like,,, these feel like his natural markings. I always figured based on context that Nightbrothers had natural markings like Iridonian Zabrak and those got tattooed over when they were young. But by that logic these could be his natural markings. Which makes me think, they were so much softer than the tattoos. Which... hurts. Born to be kind or whatever. I hate this house...

[marsantiquity]

Hl2vrai and twitch chat i will return later twin, i love yall.

Cant wait to read the tag later lol be back later guys

[marsantiquity]

Call me weak but I might have to back out of stream,,, I think I can feel my brain splitting into atoms,,,

I want to watch so bad but i may have to come back post stream to watch because good lord.

This is so good. This is incredible.

[marsantiquity]

Please do not the xar

[marsantiquity]

God i cant imagine being sick and having to actually do improv in this hellscape

[marsantiquity]

Genuinely the most overstimmulating episode of anything ever

[marsantiquity]

Cough communication

[marsantiquity]

Im still thinking about the morality system. If this keeps coming up and we cant make sure his points go up ill cry and crashout. We gotta take care of himmmmmm