Lurker > KCF0107

After getting Iris and everyone going their separate ways, Iris revealed some info at the shrine. Renju was the one who showed up at her house late that night, and she ultimately ran away from the chemical factory inside the closed-off district when she got a bad feeling. Given it was almost two weeks ago in real time and an eternity within the game, I already forget the deal about how the factory caused the air contamination. I wonder if Iris' illness and possibly Renju's if his alleged physical state is not merely from the car accident is tied to chemical disaster.

I stopped before going to the factory, but something else about this trip to the shrine dominated my attention. There was a flashback of Iris playing "ratty cake" with the man Hitomi was dating. It is presumably Falco, but why is Date experiencing the flashback. He had that same flashback while driving much earlier in the game, and we have only played Date's perspective throughout the game, so I know it isn't from Iris' perspective, even with the weird shifts from first and third person flashback perspectives. Am I overthinking this and Date does not experience them and just the audience does? I'm not seeing any physical similarities between Falco and Date, so even if parallel worlds are a thing in the game, I don't think they are the same person. A really out-there theory is that this is some like Face/Off kind of shit where Falco is really the person who invaded the Sagan residence all those years ago and Date is Falco.
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

At ABIS HQ, Pewter was hiding in a locker I guess. I don't know how he knew that Date was coming for him. Oh my god, we might finally stop meandering through the plot after Pewter confirmed that Renju hired the men who attacked Date and Iris outside of the bar and orchestrated Falco's escape. I think him additionally incapacitating Aiba/Date and kidnapping Iris is a good sign we are going to keep moving forward with the plot.

The GPS tracker was used even quicker than I imagined, and recon pointed out lots of obstacles, armed men, a bright red oil drum, and a crane that sticks out like a sore thumb. I wonder how we plan on getting past everything... Moma came to help out with a bullet-proof ATV (I didn't feel like being the bearer of badness that it is only protected from the front), and Mizuki and Ota randomly showed up as well. LMAO what a group of nutjobs this is.

"Hey look is that a tank?"
- These are the worst mercenaries in existence if their shitty aim and horrible attention span outside the bar didn't convince you. Now I understand that it is dark, but at the very least, a tank in use doesn't sound anything like an ATV.

If there was any logic in this story, everyone would have been gunned down long ago, and certainly during this abysmal plan to get Iris back. Luckily, these armed men are just as awful at their jobs as the previous group, as they fall for the same crap and have the same issues with aiming and shooting in spite of their presumed background of training or at least using those weapons before.
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Anyway, since Moma is apparently part of the circle of trust, we went to his building and is taken something out of the Ota playbook in terms of his creepiness. Luckily, I didn't have to linger here for long. I had a choice of three places to go to and decided on Bloom Park. Moma gave Iris a GPS tracker, so you know something bad is going to happen soon.

At the conclusion of our "investigation" at Bloom Park, Part VI or whatever, Date had this appropriately-timed line, "In the end, we didn't find new information on Renju. But I am not too upset. This is what criminal investigation is about." Speak for yourself Date!

Next was the diner, and Mizuki was unexpectedly here. Ota came out and said that Date was neglecting Mizuki when she needed him the most. I certainly do not disagree with that, but I have no player agency in this story, so there's nothing I can or could do about that. In Date's defense though, things have been very hectic of late.

Other than a check-in on Mizuki's declining emotional state, only stuff about Naix was really mentioned, so I left for Sejima's. This might be the quickest I have ever been at a location. I saw Hitomi with Sejima and was kicked out.

Mama's was next. I guess that I never knew that Pewter's real name was Futa. I'm sure it was mentioned in passing and the player was not totally in the dark when it was revealed that Mama told Pewter that Date and Iris were going to meet him. Apparently, that makes Renju and Pewter lovers since I believe that was the significance behind Renju's watch.
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Day 5: Tuesday dakkAI

Okay, I feel like this as good of a time to mention my feelings toward the game so far.

I find somniums interesting, and I like the ability to move around and everything, but I don't like how the system is designed. I would go so far as saying it is a complete mess. It is time-sensitive, is based around trial-and-error mechanics, and your actions affect which path you will go on. So my fumbling around trying to figure out problems with illogical solutions is what decides what I ultimately experience and not, you, genuine actions of player agency?

I love a good mystery, but I am not on board for this one. I was, but they've kind of lost me. The majority of notable mystery stories are layered like this one, but they have a kinetic, apparent sense of progression. Yes the mystery gets more complicated, but depending on the perspective style, the protagonist(s) and/or audience continuously figures things out until everything is solved. In this game, we have Shoko murdered. Then many people go missing. Then we have a "phantom" murder to solve. Then we have an escaped convict. Then we have an attempted kidnapping and murder. I'm probably missing out on one or more things too. You know what we've figured out? Nothing, absolutely nothing. The game has just been going from scene to scene learning nothing or next to it or getting totally stonewalled from people of interest until something big happens then we drop whatever mystery we were in the middle of and go with the new one. We just keep getting further and further from what we started with that we might as well be on the moon.

I was also expecting something to the level of nuance that the Zero Escape series had (well 999 primarily, but VLR and ZTD had more nuanced writing than 95% of other Japanese games that I've played), but there's been far more "trashy anime crap" than I was expecting.
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Unfortunately, I had less than 10 seconds remaining before using the love bomb, so I of course got a game over screen once it was used. I didn't come across any timies though, and I already forgot how I acquired them before since apparently I don't have any to start the somnium. Going through everything again and NOT investigating the vending machine, I had time after using the love bomb. I then had Aiba attempt to climb the pyramid, and that gave me a timie, so I think that I am understanding things now. The Bloom Park somnium had you start with timies but did not give you any during it. The Warehouse somnium showed what timies your actions would net you. Starting with this one, they are all unknown. I avoided actions with mystery effects assuming they would all be to my detriment, but if this is the norm going forward, I think that I understand now. Hopefully, they are fixed effects, so once I test out an action and find out the timie involved, I can see what it is in the future, such as when I go for other paths.

Oh, I thought dancing in the mirror would be the final mental lock, but it apparently isn't, and I only have 25 seconds. The game said that the final mental lock had multiple solutions/paths, but the only action that I am seeing is touching the core. I went ahead and did it, but I do not feel good about this. Scratch that, I am feeling pretty shitty about this once they brought up that my actions meant that I believed Iris. Hell no I don't! I just couldn't find another action at the end.

Day 4: Monday irAI

Ugh, Date is acting really weird and obsessive around Iris. I feel like this is going to be a bad end, assuming the the flowchart is set up like VLR/ZTD and not 999, or this is just going to be a shitty ride until the end of my path.

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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

So I guess I should have expected Iris' somnium to be ShovelForge since she name drops it ad nauseam. Four mental locks again. The only one I could venture a guess as to what to do is the first with needing the pickaxe to bust through the brick wall. Success!

Fuck. Investigating the vending machine screwed me over with the hefty penalty for it being the wrong action. Digging (though I'm not sure that's the correct verb here) the vending machine brought on...something. Whatever it is, I could make a disco ball from it. There are two Irises in this somnium, and I am trying to follow the streamer and not the conspiracy theorist one, though they are both asking for me, rather Aiba, to dance. Lol, they voxel Aiba dancing sure beats Date somnium dancing.

Oooh, once dancing defeated this deadly ball thing, the mental lock image showed up, and I am now seeing where the paths diverge. In this somnium, it isn't until the fourth lock, so I don't have to worry about that quite yet.

Using the words Date/Aiba put out there, I took an egg, made a monument out of it, and then turned that into a love bomb. I'm not sure if any of that terminology was a reference to the source material (Minecraft), but okay!

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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Mortal Kombat 11 (PS4, Xbox One, Switch)

Outer Wilds (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

Shakedown Hawaii (PS4, Switch, 3DS, Vita, PC)

Disco Elysium (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled (PS4, Xbox One, Switch)

Bug Fables: Everlasting Sapling (PS4, Switch, PC)

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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

I believe the Titans have among the most cap space entering the next league year and few free agents they would want to re-sign. They can use the transition tag instead of need be.

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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Titans will probably franchise him to see if he can repeat what he's done for them over a full season.

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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Eastshade (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled (PS4, Xbox One, Switch)

Bug Fables: Everlasting Sapling (PS4, Switch, PC)

Ape Out (PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC)

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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Oh wow, I just saw Creature in the Well was close to pulling off an upset

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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

A Short Hike (PC)

Death Stranding (PlayStation 4)

Gears 5 (Xbox One, PC)

The Outer Worlds (PS4, Xbox One, PC)
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

It has raised over $1 million now!
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Lived in Ohio all my life. I can't say that this subject has been brought up in conversations much, but car tags is definitely the most common term for them in my experience.
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Mac Arrowny posted...

Wow, the two best games are in the finals! What a twist.

That ship sailed when San Andreas was eliminated so early. 1/2 ain't bad on B8 though.
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

You should probably look for a different series to play imo. They all have their fair share of cringey elements, and if you are embarrassed to play them because of it, you should just save your time and money and head into another direction.
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Bump
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Okay, so I have to draw a line here. No, whatever these people trying to kill Date and kidnap Iris may be, they aren't going to stop in the middle of a fucking firefight to look at women's underwear or porno mags. Like having Date call them stupid doesn't come close to cutting it. This scene actually made me angry.

Skipping the bar, I was taken to Date's place where I have to desperately hope the plot is not going off the deep end already and in this particular manor. At least in 999 and VLR, they pretty much waited until the end before going completely collapsing. I say this because that awful segment from before was met with Iris' explanation that some secret society is trying to complete some 150 ft satellite for dumb stuff and Iris figured this all out and is being targeted. Now whether or not this is true, and I am thinking it mostly isn't because among many things, they would kill her, not kidnap her earlier if they wanted to shut her up, I don't think this will end up being all that relevant.

However, I guess we will be psyncing with Iris soon, so I guess something should shed some light regarding this entire clusterfuck of a day. Before I stopped, I was informed by Pewter that there was another psync machine in development by another police department, but it was stolen .. SIX YEARS AGO!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zrMykBnidM
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

We were already at a restaurant, but the food is apparently not good enough for Iris or something, so we went to...oh shit. I didn't recognize the name at first, but the location image shown is Ota's place isn't it? Aiba has been with me for every Ota appearance, and she just now realizes that Ota is the most perverted of them all.

"Ring ring, who's on the phone?"
"Who cares?"
- Damn, what a swift and savage response from Iris when Date was just trying to liven things up a bit.

I knew this was coming, but I lost at rock-paper-scissors, and Date just emotionally lost it. I then almost lost it as I had to hear around 10 different stories about parallel worlds.

I know Iris has had a few moments of exhibiting some sort of condition. The loss of balance and motor control does suggest vertigo as a possibility, but it's probably something that is rare and/or is fatal with a low chance of survival. It's how that narrative device usually turns out. It could also be just like in 999 when June would get sick when you were on the wrong path, meaning I messed up somewhere (probably in the first full psync).

It wasn't that long ago, but until Boss brought it up in the phone call while driving to Mama's, I had totally forgotten about the Falco incident.
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Once again, I had an option of four places to go. I chose one of the new places in the shrine. Aiba likes reminding me that Date is the king of wasting my time. I do not. Only thing of note was Iris saying that the guy who was dating her mom was the reason she became an idol. Not knowing he is incarcerated, she had hoped he would contact her if she became famous.

Going to the warehouse, there was a shit ton of exposition that I obviously don't need nor have any desire to repeat at all. There was however the second joke of calling an oil drum Drumaemon. That must obviously be a reference to something, and I obviously don't know what.

...Okay, I will go back to Sunfish Pocket. When they said Date saw a familiar face, I immediately assumed the worst, and it was Ota again. Why the hell was Mizuki here then? I totally forgot she is Renju's daughter, and he owns this place. Mizuki has a different trident than Ota did. I know it has something to do with member levels, but the hell if I would remember the exact details. I'm going out on a limb here and guessing Mizuki's rank is higher than Ota's. That trident was pretty radiant.

LMAO at Mizuki butchering slang and saying "Yeah, blow those boys!" I'm going to pivot here and talk about a game I played at Christmas. It was called something like What Do You Meme, and it sort of plays like Apples to Apples/Cards Against Humanity where you have a picture and basically use your cards to make your own meme for it. My cousin, who is 12, was going to be the judge for a picture of Barack Obama looking down with a solemn look on his face, and another cousin's wife, unaware that the 12-year-old was judging, was going to lay down a card that referred to having a small penis before realizing what she had done and exchanged it. I can't properly describe why that scene reminded me of what happened on Christmas, but it did.

How (in)convenient, Renju made an appearance at Sunfish Pocket shortly after Date left the day before. I was "treated" to a performance by Iris. I wasn't paying attention to the dancing. Perhaps that was good by video game standards for all I know. I am very easily impressed by singing, but that was...definitely not good. I do not understand why that received so much applause.
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Why does Falco have such a dumb expression on his face? This is an interrogation dammit! Oh maybe that's why, he knew the freaking police HQ was the most important law enforcement building in Japan. Who the fuck allows him to escape under such unbelievable circumstances? His getaway driver was allegedly Renju.

Well, I guess it is time to pay the piper and taken a teenager to a middle-aged crime lord. I'm sure that has never turned out disastrous for anyone. I didn't even lie to her. I straight up said we were going to a Yakuza office building. Can't say I didn't warn you Iris!

"We aren't thugs, we're just a gang." Way to save face and clear the air with someone you admire Moma.

"This is kind of embarrassing." You don't say Moma? I'm not sure if you were referencing what you have said previously or what was to come, but it certainly works for both.
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

I was stuck on Level 4 until he end, so I can't help you with that
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

They have raised over $300k in less than one day. I don't know the figures from previous 100% charity bundles, but this seems excellent!
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Untitled Goose Game
Creature in the Well
Control
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

https://www.humblebundle.com/games/australia-fire-relief

All proceeds go to charities saving wildlife and restoring habitats and ecosystems affected by the bushfires. You can check them out in the link, below all the games.

For $25, you get the following games:
Hollow Knight
Void Bastards
Armello
Eurotruck Simulator 2 + Australian Paint Job Pack
Duck Game
Hand of Fate 2
Paradigm
Crawl
The Adventure Pals
Regular Human Basketball
Satellite Reign
Hacknet + Labyrinths DLC
Mr. Shifty
Primal Carnage: Extinction
Assault Android Cactus+
The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game
Framed Collection
Think of the Children
Feather
Tower of Guns
Rising Duck
Death Squared
Paperbark
Quest of Dungeons
The Stillness of the Wind
The Gardens Between
Paper Fire Rookie
Masquerade: The Baubles of Doom
Machinarium

You have some universally praised games like Hollow Knight and Armello

There are some really neat ones like Void Bastards and Framed

I cannot give enough praise for The Gardens Between. Such a phenomenal and touching experience.
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Is B8 making a push for Chester?
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

The Chiefs are the team I most want to see win the title, but I think the matchup that would be the most entertaining and a true wire-to-wire match is Titans vs 49ers.
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

I thought that I picked Gold Rush Duos last night, but when I saw three players on the character selection screen, I was like, "Wait a minute..." We ended up winning. Then I finally played gold rush and we were sandwiched by 2+ teams in a building and were quickly disposed of.
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Apex Legends
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
Dragon Ball FighterZ
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Hitman 2
Last Window: The Secret of Cape West
Stardew Valley
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Tomb Raider
VVVVVV
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Apex, Captain Toad, Ghost Trick, Hitman, Last Window, Stardew, Super Mario, Tomb Raider, and VVVVVV were the nine I picked myself.

DBFZ was the RNG pick



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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Last call to submit a game
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Deciding to go to Mama's next, I was hoping my info-gathering fortunes had changed, but after almost immediately entering the bar, Mama said she had nothing for me. Fantastic. I did end up learning that Inmate #89, aka Falco, is connected to the Kamakuras. While here, there was this weird flashback of Renju spilling his guts about crimes he was complicit in. It was some baffling adult-adoption murdering get-rich scheme that one would expect from something like a daytime soap opera.

I made Lemnsicate my last trip. One of these times, pushing someone to the brink of something will actually result in them doing it. Aiba threatned to pop out if I kept asking for the receptionist's number, but Date is a buzzkill and chickened out despite my orders. In a conversation with Iris, Date brought up finding her body in the warehouse. I forget which of the two brought it up, but we have our first mention of parallel worlds! Aiba called the idea "bizarre," but based on the previous games I have played that involved Uchikoshi, there is a 100% chance of parallel worlds in this game.

Date, JUST FUCKING PLAY SHOVELFORGE! My god, stop being a dumbass. You have been coming up empty gathering info, and here is someone who can provide you with valuable info on a potential serial killer, and your first instinct is no way, I want to do this the super hard way?

I stopped when Falco was brought to interrogation, but I want to say that he has the same face as the one from Date's dream. I think that ends my original theory that man was the boyfriend, so I guess that he was probably the intruder at the Sagan residence six years ago.
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

My options are to talk to Sejima, Iris, Hitomi, and Mama plus, check out the warehouse. Now that I am expecting to do all of those things, with the order not being a factor, I can make my decisions without having to think about it. Warehouse seems to be a top priority, so I'm going there. Other than them telling me it took roughly 90 minutes from when Date called in backup and when backup actually arrived, this trip was an info bust.

I made my way to the Sejima residence next. On the drive down there, they shed more info on this inmate #89. He was indicted on murder charges, you guessed it, six years ago, and he, but I assume they mean the prison, was on Sejima's secretary's call log. We had another moment where Date's vision lost color and hearing evaporated to where he could only hear a heartbeat. So with this happening like four or so times already, I guess I have to take more notice of this and when it occurs. I'm inclined to think it is a bad sign, but all I can tell is that I think all or all but one of these situations have occurred while driving.

LMAO what the hell was that merman shit at Sejima's pond? It was so weird and confusing, I can't help but laugh at it. Whatever that was, it ended up being the highlight of the trip because as Date is quick to point out, he is not a detective. It stands to reason he is not a good detective, and thus, we end up making a lot of trips that are nothing more than a waste of time.

I checked in on Hitomi. Nothing she had to say made the trip worthwhile, but being a more observant person than Date, I used the opportunity of no Iris to ask about that picture on the wall I keep seeing. Hitomi mentioned the man was a boyfriend she once had...six years ago!!! He had a criminal background, and the home invasion that resulted in Hitomi's injury was the result of his past catching up to him. Both he and the assailant were arrested and eventually indicted on whatever charges (Hitomi was mum on why her boyfriend was charged, but I'm guessing he already had a warrant out for his arrest) were filed against them.
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Day 4: Monday syuurAI

In boss' office, I just realized that the contents of all the bags on the wall keeps changing, or at least I think they do. I don't recall whips being a part of the other times at any rate.

They have three theories for Renju texting Mizuki. He was either the murderer or an accessory to it, he was coerced into having Mizuki go there by someone who was the murderer or an accessory to it, or the murderer or an accessory to it took his phone and texted with it. I feel like they wanted the player to lean toward something, but having still not met Renju and otherwise knowing next to nothing about him, I have no thoughts on the matter.

I have hard time remembering first and last names of characters, so I tend to stick with the one for each that sticks out to me. I guess I "chose poorly" for Renju because his last name is Okiura, which is the same name on the warehouse from the night before. They said that the company belonged to his father, but when he passed away, it went to someone else and Renju is not associated with the company in any capacity. They went out of their way to specifically have this conversation, so I can't imagine it is just a coincidence.

Maybe this time I can remember that the...well shit, now I forget what it is they exactly do. Are they a talent agency? Well, at least I should be able to remember that Iris is employed at Lemniscate.
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Deemo Reborn (PlayStation 4)

Life is Strange 2 (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

Baba is You (Switch, PC)
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Cliff
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Elsinore
Devil May Cry 5
Hypnospace Outlaw
Apex Legends
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

It's my personal policy to only vote in matches I have played both games (how else to determine what game is the best), but it seems you could use the votes.

Team Sonic Racing
Dragon Quest Builders 2
Descenders
Monster Hunter World
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

I will make my final selections tomorrow or Wednesday, so keep the games coming
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

LordoftheMorons posted...

This is probably around the point where you might need a little strategy to get through psyncs (e.g. using timies, dumping bad timies on cheap actions, etc)

I did start using the 1/2 time thing for the crane lever since it was normally 2 minutes. They never exactly explained that well, so I was forced to trial and error in terms of what each timies did and how to correctly use them.
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Even though I knew what to do for the first three locks, I was absolutely stumped for the final one, so I failed once again. It was on my third attempt that I realized I could go through the warehouse door I opened for the portal for Iris to become small. Unfortunately, I had accidentally clicked the wrong promt earlier with the lever, so I ran out of time so as I was about to reach the control box on the opposite side of the warehouse door. On my fourth attempt, I finally got through that pesky fourth lock. Aiba became big and knocked the assailant into the ocean. Predictably fake Iris found giant Aiba scary and continued to run.

Outside of the psync, its was explicitly stated that Boss may have "contaminated" the psyncing process by inadvertently providing key info to Sejima prior to syncing that affected his dream. Uh, did everyone forget the interrogation? We literally showed him Iris' face and informed him of her time of death. What I did find intriguing was that we only showed her face, yet in his dream, her entire body was recreated accurately.

In a major twist, Iris' body is not at the scene, and she was alive and well at her house. Not Iris' body? Date has a different theory in that actions in psyncing change the past. Knowing Zero Escape, I'm inclined to go with Date here.

Since someone mentioned they might have trouble following along since I apparently went on a different path than most people do, I will try and remember to write down the days when they appear on the screen. I just remembered them being obnoxiously written (like in terms of letter capitalization) and either using fake or Japanese words.
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

There's an Iris sighting...oh look, she's getting stabbed repeatedly by a purplish-blue figure. It's a very audible murder too. I can do without hearing the squishy stab wounds over and over. There are four mental locks this time, and I have absolutely no clue what to do other than prevent Iris from being stabbed. I do not like my chances.

I figured with all these warehouse doors, one of them would be needed, but that was a giant waste of time. I instead used the somehow still operational forklift and the "Drift King" managed to crash it into the harbor. I saw the price of said action was 2 skulls, which doesn't bode well. I had Aiba put her hand in the portal, which made it humongous and knock the crate into the water. One lock down.

Oh, now one of these warehouse doors helps me. I whiffed on my first two actions regarding the lever (raised and lowered) before the "fighting game combo" one worked. I even said before that going with the most time-consuming action usually works, but it seemed too dumb to be the correct choice. That further cleared the path for Iris, but with two locks down and two to go, I only have 50 seconds.

I opened a warehouse door that was slightly ajar, and that made Iris small enough to gain some distance from her attacker. That's three mental locks down, but I unfortunately ran out of time with that action. Oh, I am being forced to beat the psync (trademark pending). That makes me curious how the path diverged in the flowchart from the first psync.
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Well this trip out to Sejima's went nowhere. I had to leave my favorite bodyguards to tail the congressman's activities, namely going to a warehouse late at night, as politicians do. This is totally not going to be an issue that Aiba's batteries ran out just before entering the warehouse.

I didn't notice the ice at first, so I wasn't sure if the visible air was due to cold temperatures or something more of the misty/foggy variety. Hmm, there is this lone cart in the middle with a nondescript covering over a lumpy object. Obviously there's a cake or something else nice and pleasant under it. What, it's a dead body? Who could have guessed that? Oh fuck, it's Iris. I guess shit's getting real now.

Kind of a tame interrogation with Sejima if you ask me. Aiba unable to confirm stuff because of battery loss came up, but it didn't seem important. I guess by game time, it probably has been a while, but it feels like I just came out of a psync. I got through it last time, so let's see if I can do it again this time. I do want to point out that even with ABIS being a clandestine organization that has some leeway with legal prodcedure, I would be truly shocked that forcefully inducing Sejima, a politician no less, into a coma and massively invading his privacy by psyncing with him without his permission isn't going to be a massive human rights nightmare in the near future. I mean, you pretty much have to silence Sejima after this right?

Aiba comes barreling in driving a forklift like an insane person and spinning out like its a bumper car only for her to come out and smugly say, "Did you witness my superior driving technique?" Psyncing-version Aiba is the best.
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

I was internally answering all of those questions until I realized what you were advertising lol.
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Oh damn, I had been putting in each game that I had a very high opinion of in my nomination ticket, but I have now reached 10. It's doing to be a pain deciding which game to cut to make room for the RNG pick, and that is assuming nobody posts another fantastic game before this closes.
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Holy shit, I was able to get Descenders into the bracket? Wow, I also got Creature in the Well and Afterparty in too. I feel like I had to have been the only person to nominate those games.
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu

Well, if nominations have essentially dried up, I might just do this tomorrow or Tuesday
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu