I was recently discussing with the Schell support team about the lack of captions available in IEYTD 2, and while they didn't have any updates on when something like that could be coming, they did give me a copy of the dialogue spreadsheet for the game! While this normally wouldn't be too interesting, the spreadsheet contains not only a narrative context column (providing intent behind quite a few lines), it also has various cut lines that never made it into the game!
Below is my link to the file, alongside my general IEYTD resource google drive for those interested!
VO Lines full game[IEYTD2].xlsx - Google Sheets
A quick an easy compiling of all my current IEYTD Information resources! Including things like write ups on officially hosted events and com
Below the cut are a few of my thoughts on the content contained in the file and what it might have meant for the early/mid development of the narrative of the game for those interested! (Although, be warned, it is a little jumbled haha)
Like this note in particular has wormed its way into my brain as I relate it to my own preexisting character interpretations. I think a very interesting part of Juniper's character is that, a lot of the time, for lack of better phrasing, he simply can't help himself. As much as he may try to conceal or subjugate his own interests, he can't help but indulge at the end of the day. He'll always strive for more, something bigger and better than whatever he was doing last, his next big break, so to speak.
Even though we don't get a chance to see Juniper attempt to impersonate the player, this particular line, I feel, especially with this context, implies that not even the peace maker incident was enough for him. He says this line during the opening tutorial, meaning that it takes place sometime around Safe and Sound, right in the middle of the entire peace maker operation, showing that he still has the intent to try and one-up himself even after what he presumes will be a world-dominating event. Even that isn't enough for him to settle down; he always has to look ahead. Or at least that's what I'm getting from this.
There's also some cut lines in the Party Crasher section that make it seem like, at one point during development, you could actually kill Juniper with a trap during the mission, which is crazy to think about compared to the final story of the game. (Although I am glad they didn't include this bit, as funny as it may have been to consider, since Juniper's character is much more satisfying as a whole when given the chance to shine across the entire game)
This cut line, paired with the previous Juniper death lines, makes me think that Zor may have originally been the one to give a monologue of sorts and kidnap Phoenix during Safe and Sound, which could have been very interesting! I can't be certain that they had all of the levels planned out when this idea was still being floated around,d however, so there may have been an entirely different mission instead of Safe and Sound! (although, like I stated before, I do think it was better to keep Juniper around, and to save the Zor content for last as the story feels more impactful/complete that way, in my opinion at least)
Love that you could have at some point locked Juniper in the study too, there's also mentions of Gibson giving the play some kind of key, which I think probably played into this at some point (although I of course can't be too sure it related to this specifically, could have also been another way to open the escape passage or some other puzzle, either way, funny idea absolutely)
I like how you can't even see his face when he says this line since he's leaving and wearing the mimic mask, but they still specify that he's winking anyway.
This implies that he had a choice in the matter of killing you, which, realistically, I don't think he did; more so, he believed that he did (no way Zor would let Juniper make a decision against their own), very, very interesting that he has to rationalize the choice, however. I have a strong belief that Juniper sees the player agent as a sort of specimen to study, and as much as it's counter to his preexisting plans, a little bummed that you eventually had to die, even if it's for selfish reasons of wanting to learn more about the player to portray them and or use their life as a baseline for future characters he may need to play either on screen or for future Zoraxis work rather than genuine care for another person.
Narrative Context here is really interesting, like the clarification that this is as much of a big moment for him as the final monologue he gives.
I like to think she’s talking about the knight armor in Juniper's house (with this tape being before a presumed switch in development from gun to poison gas), which is so funny to think about (although I don’t know how well that lines up historically- )
That would be horrifying though, imagine playing Party Crasher and instead of being met with a quick poison gas death, you get shot 57 times in the chest by a suit of armor.
I love this more violent/gruesome take on the Fabricator's character; quite a few of these cut lines really emphasise a sort of ruthlessness that I think is only more so implied in the game rather than seen directly. I do wonder what Project Firebrand could even be about. It's said to not have worked out, so I doubt there are any remnants of it left in the game since there probably weren't any to begin with. Still intrigued and speculating what it may have been.
These are just my initial thoughts, so I may be back with more once I've more thoroughly gone through the entire spreadsheet, if that's even something anyone here would be interested in haha. Hope everyone here finds it as interesting as I do!
