#reverse 1999 3.7

[skittythecat1516]

I AM SMOKED FOR REVERSE 3.7 I BEEN SAVING UP ALL MY CLEAR DROPS FOR THIS MOMENT!

Me gonna be like once the update drops (also gambling)

I been keeping myself spoiler free WAITING for this moment if the story will flop I'll crash out (saying this pretty early but I'm just excited)

[hubris-moment]

Made an AMV for 3.7. Mostly Rhiannon/Merel and Ms. Stranger. Spoilers ahead.

Featuring the beautiful femtanyl song Attacking Vertical

[player-1]

Besides the fact of me essentially strolling up to a barside conversation with a mini research/rant essay, Reverse's 3.8 trailer made me feel some pretty strong opinions about it...Whether or not they've valid on my end is something I'll have to deal with until it eventually releases on global :') Nevertheless, this is more or less about a pattern I've begun to notice with the story 3.6 onwards and how the character design is starting to lean more into the fantasy side of things over alt-history. Some minor-ish spoilers about Turquoise Serpent Club, some of the 3.7 character reveals and 3.7's Truth a Posteriori will be mentioned, but I'm all hear about the internet sleuthing I did with the character lineup and story theme alone.

Even if I am starting to appreciate Bluepoch's move towards fleshing out the Foundation's and Manus' lore as potentially understanding the inner machinations of the Depths as well (since it's certainly becoming clearer by the day that the Foundation was utilizing its power without realizing and/or comprehending it); it also depends on how that experience is expressed through the characters, visually and emotionally, over the audience being an outside observer. It has more or less been a breath of fresh air for me to enjoy a gacha game like Reverse (and Limbus Company) since they add their own spin to historical/literary figures and references without being too tongue-and-cheek on whether the audience understands said-references if it's not spelled out to them.

Of course, in Reverse's case it wants to tell and overarching story about time being erased and folding into itself; of loss and bittersweet reunions, and of the sacrifices some people are willing to make to bring back the memory of someone that can never be replicated to its fullest extent. And while I haven't entirely completed TSC yet (or yet dare to peer into 3.7), I got a pretty good run-down from my sister since it heavily focuses on the Depths and how pretty cutthroat its deals are to whoever wishes to harness its power...Also Aleph and co. and the (human) Perez family being the catalyst to lead and/or mercury poisoning in Mexico City (Example 1, 2, and 3), more-or-less kickstarting the craze of the "magic pigment" to Manus and the Foundation was a plot point I was not expecting at all but appreciate immensely. Still though, it's a major step-up from Triste Tropiques trying to find that fine line between expanding on the overarching narrative and respecting the culture/country it takes place in.

Nowadays, the playable characters have certainly shifted to letting the audience learn more about the inner workings of the Foundation and Manus. Of course, that means a massive chunk of them try to fit the status quo design-wise since both corporation/cult have a semi-lenient dress code, but they still squeeze in a few notable accessories and clothing designs that connect them to their given era/nationality/culture/etc (Hummingbird/Muriel being a prime example in Flowing Feast and TSC so far). So when the little preview poster for 3.8 came across my feed, I went to work coming up with my own theories on who will be significant to the story the day before the trailer dropped.

Everecho: Not exactly a name but a concept of sound that lasts indefinitely, but mainly used in musical riffs (I swear we get another instrument Awakened).

Cornerstone: Can't say for sure who that might be but it could be a prominent Foundation/Laplace member or something like the Razor Squad...Or if it's based on masonry, they could be a architect for the Foundation since the Storm should be wearing their foundations down for sure.

Grundriss: Apparently a German word that more or less translates to "A comprehensive and systematic outline, especially of a science"…I'm sure them and Cornerstone are best work buddies :)

Keena: A Irish/Celtic name that means brave, but it's certainly going to be a step up having a authentic Irish character that isn't riddled with stereotypes for once in gaming history 🙃

Irinei: The bastard that was managing the Foundation's (War) Hawks all the way back in A Long Long Walk and Campaign's Tale. Can't say for sure why he would be around, but given everything with 3.7 he could be working more as a supervisor alongside Constantine making sure there isn't any funny business going down.

Bkornblume: Possibly will be similar to TSC with Centurion and Latham/Loggerhead as a Team Timekeeper advocate since Vertin is definitely on the fence about whether or not she can trust the Foundation anymore. Or you know, especially after the headquarters blew up...

Then Temporal Scale dropped... While yes, it does connect to the real scientific study of the varying forms of degradation to living/inanimate objects throughout time, observed or not, the references in this patch seem oddly disjointed and confusing at best. Nowa Miedz seems to be a combination of two different things: Nowa being Polish for "new or fresh", while Miedz is the Polish word for copper but there are some other words that mean boundary or foundation (między and miedza respectively); although Polish is definitely a pretty diverse language, even, but I figured it could line up with the Depths becoming more and more relevant to the Foundation itself. After all, this lost and clearly-abandoned Foundation site (likely as a prominent copper mining company) that used to be around until the First Storm and was abandoned since then, but the forces that be still linger after all this time, waiting to find some closure in the way they desired... However, the things also I learned about Everecho particularly had some great potential if she learned more into the ghostly aspects of her character/story for now. Since the concept of an everecho (if I wasn't fighting against ceramic/art companies, oceanographer, and AI brands using the same name) it is meant to be a form of sound that continues indefinitely, although it could be used in music to signify the passing of time (mainly with guitar riffs). So I'm going to lean on the theory that she's meant to be a Felicienne 2.0 and is a ghost of the Depths that is more-than lost to time/reality, although it would've made more sense for the story to crank up the incorporeal/ghostly vibe up to 11, maybe looking more like a shifting veil or haze in the shape of a human or the one ghost to out-ghost them all. And yes, while her outfit and doll could connect to her country/era of origin in Czechia/Bohemia, I have yet to travel down that rabbit-hole on why she looks more like a combination Lorelei-Night Echo...Unless they're going to have some kind of found-family relationship or if she is Lorelei's bio mom since it's been pretty vague since A Series of Dusks on top of me finally having a big brain moment that she ticks off almost every mark of her possibly being a seer to the Depths), but I'm sure that will be shown later down the line.

Hell, I was having a blast theorizing about Truth a Posteriori and how it connects to the horrors of colonization, baseless rumors fueled by greed, and how the Foundation/Laplace don't exactly understand the concept of "dead men tell no tales" if the expedition team in El Dorado are going insane from a paradoxically abundant sponsorship budget...Or advocating for rainforest preservation efforts by a kickass ghost tree that may or may not being a Myth Manifest, that too.

Of course I have no idea how 3.8 are going to fare (or the rest of the story up in 4.x), but as someone who's played the game since the beginning, the story is starting to feel like a slow and steady decline in substance and overall dedication to the craft itself. Not that it is faltered with its worldbuilding, localization, and character development; but how it is being expressed through the playable characters (and a couple npcs on occasion) seems to be shifting towards a different direction to me. While it's definitely not as drastic as the current lineup of gacha games (Genshin, ZZZ, Neverness, Morimens, and the like) that use these tropes/themes on the wayside, but I'm honestly crossing my fingers that the next chapter of the story will focus more on the history of a character's look over true visual appeal just like the good ol' days.

[just-1-scorpio]

CN 3.7 Dev Broadcast, and On Another's Sorrow

So the 3.7 Deb Broadcast is out.

Reverse: 1999 3.7 News

And it's name after William Blake's On Another's Sorrow.

So let's speculate about the themes, and the story, based on this, and the avelable information.

Merel and Ms Grace will play and important role

2. Ms Grace will probably be the free character, and Merel will be the banner character.

Based on how during the 1st aniversery Semmelweis was the free character. She was introduced in 1.6, and the banner character was Kakania who was introduced in 1.7.

And how on the 2st aniversery we got Ulrich as the free character, who was introduced in 1.9, and the banner character was Moldir who first apeard in 2.2.

Ms Grace first apeard in 2.1, and Merel first apeard in 2.8.

3. This character will be the new limited character:

3. The chapters is named after William Blake's On Another's Sorrow, so it's main themes will be compassion and empathy.

William Blake was an English poet, painter, and paintmaker. He published On Another's Sorrow in 1789, as part of his Songs of Innocence and of Experience. More specificly as the last poem in the Song of Innocence section.

In the poem Blake asks whether he can see another’s sorrow and be a sailent listener to it. According to him. It is a natural instinct to feel sorry for other people. He also talk about how God feels the same way. The peom's main themes are compassion and empathy.

So my gues is that the event's main theme will be compassion and empathy.

Sources:

On Another's Sorrow - Wikipedia

Analysis of On Another's Sorrow by William Blake - Poemotopia

"On Another's Sorrow" appears in William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience. This poem is about divine compassion and empathy.