This is actually my favorite little thing that Route C does.
The game initially introduce you to a robust but still limited save system, where you have to activate YoRHa distribution machines (disguised as vending machines) across the map in order to save. In practice this means that the man 'hub' of the man is generally filled with save spots such that you don't have to travel particularly far to save, although in most situations you do still have to manually save. You can absolutely forget to do so, wander off the in the wrong direction, and lose a lot of progress, although the game also kindly allows you to retrieve your body, which will give you the experience and chips you lost by being a dumbass. Hopefully you don't die on the retrieval run!
I know that some people complain about this, but in practice it kind of becomes second nature when you're in the area, and the penalty for death is usually fairly minor, unless you really got lost or decided to spend a lot of time out of save range. You get used to it. You might sigh and roll your eyes about the trek from the last save point, you might grumble about auto-saving and forgetting to do so manually for the last hour, but in practice? Not a big deal.
Then Route C happens.
And suddenly that tiny little note that 9S made about desynching himself and 2B from the network is the hinge on which the entire capacity for either of them to function rests. As far as the story goes, the implications are clear-- the logic virus that consumes the station cannot consume them because 9S hasn't bothered re-synching them to the server. They are inadvertently quarantined.
And then you land back in Tokyo.
The game doesn't make a single mention of the implications, but as 2B drags her failing body out of the firefight you realize-- there is no second chance anymore. When 2B dies (cutscene-dies), she is dead. There is no backup consciousness, there is no server sync. She is gone.
When you take over as 9S or A2, maybe you haven't realized what this means, but the first time you die you are not met with the 'Leave a Message/Continue' screen. It's game over. No body retrieval run, no casual slap on the wrist. Everything you have accomplished since your last manual save is gone.
Like 2B.
And suddenly, saving your game isn't just a thing you do because you're playing an RPG and you're probably not finishing it in one go so you set it aside for later. This is your lifeline. This is your living memory. This is necessary in a way that never was before. It's a tiny seed of paranoia now. You were, hours early, casually ready to throw lives away because you would just respawn and have to make the trek to get back what you lost. Now your chosen android is continuous, and finite. You do not get second chances.
Remember the opening mission? 2B's fury that she has 'lost' the 9S who accompanied her on the factory run? That even half an hour of stolen memory means he is no longer the person she loved by the end of that mission?
And how you, as a player, have never needed to feel that loss, because YOU, as the player, have contiguous memory? YOU, as a human being, have memory of that half hour, and of every half-hour when you accidentally wandered into the desert and go blown up by a suicide bot and had to try again, or every hour you lost when you ran down to Emil's house and grossly underestimated the enemies in there? How death was just a sigh and a grumble and maybe an expletive and a button press back into the game?
You'll never feel 2B's anguish in that moment. You can't.
But only now, in Route C, are you reminded that death means something, and throwing 9S or A2 away is no longer the casual option it once was.
those ads for ai integration on phones are so funny bc it seems like they cant. come up with that many use cases that arent already on a phone? "ask gemini to give you recipes when youre cooking!" "use our AI assistant to find the perfect gift for your girlfriend" yeah or i could just like. google it. you've spent millions on a slightly fancier version of an alexa. good job man.
Someone mentioned how they were having a hard time creating a world for their fantasy fiction geographically because they kept reinventing the island of Britain, which also happened to my good close enemy George R. R. Martin. I would like to suggest North Carolina. I know that sounds absolutely ridiculous but North Carolina has an awesome geographic setup for a fantasy kingdom, I think. Inhospitable barrier islands, constantly shifting shoals in the sound, swamps with alligators, venomous snakes and carnivorous plants, lots of very flat and somewhat sparsely populated farmland, foothills, mines, mountains full of mysterious phenomenon that were originally very difficult to navigate and people still get lost in today. It kind of rocks.
i was thinking it'd be nice to have a collection of all our mentions of & memories from preclock dante (especially because i recently discovered one that was obscure as HELL)... here goes!
longpost under cut
I: prologue dante
prologue dante is basically the best source we've got on this, because, yknow, this pretty much is preclock dante. we do not get much time with this dante, but a few things are on display here:
they're an arrogant bastard
"just wait till i get the [aspect]... you'll be no match for...!!!" (presumably saying aspect here.) this is anime villain talk. god what a nerd
2. they're quicker to swear than current dante
in the prologue they have THIS wonderful classic line that lives in my head forever, but then after that dante becomes our classic shuckaroonies fella who swears very rarely
(if you aren't familiar with this line, it was added to the game when the prologue through canto 2 got updated translations in late 2025. the wiki has all the new scripts!)
3. the serpent gang seem to think dante would be fixated on their scheme breaking the city's taboos.
this kinda implies dante was head aligned, or at least would've used the head to rat them out, jia mu style... very little to go on, though.
II: the aspect
preclock dante was EXTREMELY fixated on engraving their aspect, whatever the hell that means, so much so that that urgency has carried over to current dante even without any memory of why.
^ in order: prologue, canto 1 start, mid canto 4
this one's pretty clearly apparent and also we don't know much about it so i will leave it at that
III: something of a bigwig
^ canto 3 after siegfried
dante used to be someone important and notable, with competence, leadership skills, and a higher position of power. this is perhaps the most important thing about their pregame character to me.
^ canto 1 during sinner fight (they were a competent leader! unfortunately poor canto 1 dante is an amnesiac wet cat getting pelted by tomato)
they were notable enough for the serpent gang to remark on how much of an occasion it was to kill them. (this further fuels the idea that they may have been part of the head, or at least high up in a wing)
they were notable enough that there were stories about their genius, which hohenheim apparently heard. (?!?!) (^ THIS IS THE OBSCURE THING I MEANT AT THE START. this is battle narration exclusive to the envy peccatula stage of regular checkup. absolutely INSANE place to dante loredrop)
however, for all that notoriety, no one ever seems to recognize them or even give a second glance. understandable because... well, yknow, no face. i wouldn't be surprised if the only reason hohenheim and vergilius know their former identity is because they're privy to some of limbus company's records.
of course with this status thing, you then have to then think about what it means to be 'a bigwig' in the city. you don't get a position of power or fame through benevolence and activism, you do it through ruthless politics, manipulation, and cutting down people in your way.
^ canto 4, before brazen bull
as a final nail in the coffin, this loaded line from faust implies that the old dante was not at all the kind of person who'd step in to a situation where civilians are in danger.
which is all in stark comparison to current dante, who we've known to be thoughtful and hopeful and kind. i can only imagine what finding out about that juxtaposition themself is going to be like.
IV: the blue man group
dante is inextricably tied to the blue star gang, and god, there sure is . well. there's some goddamn thing going on there.
^ canto 4 end
they had talked to demian, and by extent maybe knew (or knew of) the others as well. which isn't very surprising considering having a star is also dante's Thing, but it is nice to get direct confirmation.
^ canto 4 end. this is likely about dante's star... preclock dante wtf were you trying to DO...
^ in order: canto 7 end, canto 7 end again, canto 6 end
when some dialogues from the blue star gang refer to dante as a "fallen nebulae" or "fallen from the skies", this becomes even more interesting, especially because demian kind of calls himself a star. so... was dante one of this group, and then left? would that leaving be due to their amnesia, or was it a decision before that? did dante leave the blue polycule because of realizing they are aroace and like red better? we will simply never know
V: miscellaneous memories
ummmmm ok i was gonna make this a nice misc section of things dante remembers to close this off but there's actually only like one of those that doesn't fit in any of the other categories LOL
^ mid canto 3. they have a history with the christmas song kromer plays, and not a particularly good one.
that's it that's all we got. to my knowledge anyway. please tell me if i missed something and rejoice my fellow 10 dante fans
Both of these tags are right. I love when a cat will just put up with your silly human games. They love you and know you love them and are just happy with you.
like the betrayalâs always going to be worse if they cared about you and it didnât matter. someone discards you because they didnât give a shit, then you can be angry about that, you can feel vindicated in that, you can get over it. but if they can look you in the eyes and say âI love you. I would make the same choice again.â You will never sleep peacefully again, is all.
âI thought they cared about me, but they were lying this whole time.â <- tired. boring. removes all the nuance of this relationship to make it easier to move on from.
âI thought they cared about me, and I was right, and every minute they were there for me, every time they said they were proud, every laugh we shared leaning against each other bruised and breathless, all of it was real. and they still left me behind. They could put their love aside. I couldnât.â <- insane. will never leave you alone. reminds you that even the worst people are still people and can still care about even the ones they hurt the most and that undoes neither the harm nor the love.
okay. something about the way i worded this is making people think this is a vent thing about real relationships. and itâs fine if thatâs where it took you. but i feel like i need to be transparent here: this be blorboposting. karlach cliffgate and her terrible awful no good very bad betrayal.
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