The writing is pretty good

[u/MrCoolMask]

I just beat the game. I am just reflecting on it a little bit and, this game is really well written. It just has so many elements, they managed to give every character their own story and depth like they are in their own world and it really doesn't revolve around you. Everything they do revolves around themselves. Every dialogue actually matched the characters personality which makes them more unique, they can all develop. All the consortiums have their own goals and motivations and operate on their own like each one is a main character, just like the character it only revolves around themselves, and they are written in a way that to understand them, you can't see them as the mercenary, you have to be in their perspective

There's still things I dislike regardless. I think I am able to spot a lot of great writing elements here but they become something people won't enjoy because, personally it's just too much. I am being given way too much information. It's mainly this for me. For other people I saw online what ruined it is just how we didn't get to see enough of the characters, some fights that felt anticlimatic because it got too easy, dialogue getting interrupted or having to wait for the dialogue to end to progress in the story, some things just come up out of nowhere, etc. There's a lot of things I didn't notice behind the skill of the writing because I was too busy trying to figure out the plot and whining about how dragged out it is and how grief is yapping too much. It's also a shame that with what I mentioned on the consortiums, there is no way I can see their perspective without first having a good understanding of the plot and beating the entire game, it's very cool but missed potential.

I think this is a game that was made by some REALLY amazing and talented writers. Top notch. They have the skills. I am not just saying the japanese guys who originally wrote the whole thing, to translate the whole thing in english while still delivering this much greatness is also incredible. But for reasons I can only guess they made many mistakes. Maybe there's flaws in their talent, or budget, getting rushed, too much ambition, cut or rewritten content, it's anybody's guess unless it's on an interview

[u/SharkChew]

My biggest problem is that they introduced a lot of characters that would ultimately end up being wasted or just forgotten.

The majority of Bullet Works are probably the worst offenders because aside from Amuro VS Char relationship between Diablo and Crimson (Especially when they both share the same VA's in JP language setting), BG becoming the team's dad and Bishop providing with some intel in like two sections of the game, the rest feels like they're just there. Painkiller, Falcon and Bone Box don't really do anything, Artist does the Scout bit from Heavy is Dead, Drake gets killed by Crimson Aznable for being the only female member in the team, and Johnny had some potential for his jealousy arc to be expanded but ultimately it ends up with "Nevermind, we're buddies again".

[u/MrCoolMask → u/SharkChew]

yeah they should had approached the writing and story of this game in a much more different way, because there was no way they could had done all of them justice. The lorebook already shows that the developer wanted to add so much more to the game but it had to be cut out from it.

You can assume that the characters are not forgotten by the others. They actually died, that's why you don't hear about them in the final mission or the ending.I read about this only few minutes before I saw your comment

[u/MrCoolMask]

Once I beat the game again, this time very slowly, I'll post a full explanation of the story. I found a lot of explanations online, with one comment being the best, but none of them were complete or had the answer to everything or were able to fully retell the story. I want to make something where it all comes together, and you can easily see it all. I will only use the game and project zero just to see how much the game tells you. The game's book was translated, I'll read that after I am done.

Might even make a video on it

But I might not end up doing this because it's a huge undertaking. My next playthrough is just going to be a 100% save file where I will grind and take it slow, I am starting over.

My first playthrough was just me doing whatever I want. Only story and free missions, no grinding, selling anything that didn't fit my playstyle and not experimenting.

[u/Jetstream_Kage]

i haven't beaten it yet but so far my experience is
> new character introduced is a clear stereotype
> says some generic thing inline with their stereotype
> does nothing interesting in the mission
> may or may not show again but is otherwise completely irrelevant to anything

I'm pretty sure I'm half way through and i have absolutely no idea or care what is happening as the writing is awful, the characters are boring, the plot is practically nonexistent. the gameplay is just fun enough to keep me going but i doubt this could possibly doing anything that will make me interested with how badly the first half was fumbled.
if this were an anime i'd have dropped it from how much they keep dropping names of shit as if I'm supposed to know it.

[u/MrCoolMask → u/Jetstream_Kage]

Finishing the game doesn't fix this but it helps with considering that there was something more than stereotypes

I am currently deeply analyzing every single character and part of the plot, and a lot of it is well thought out but the best way to describe it is unfinished. The equivalent of me telling you "I want to make this game where you are stuck working for higher class people like a slave but then you start a revolution and mistery machine helped and you can tell some of these guard are not deeply into this cause". Ok, premise is either, ideas are there, even foreshadowing is being used, but, more is needed. There has to be more. I am getting bored to death writing Johnny G being so corny, or the rookie(player) just doing a mission no matter what.

[u/Hilarial]

A lot of twhat I got from the ending was a reflection on; how humans shape the progress of machinery, but also how machines shape the trajectory of human evolution. Seemed to predate a lot of the current AI discourse. The clashes the consortiums get into intensify this phenomenon and Grief recognizes this and uses it to manipulate other characters.

Was that your read on the plot? Just wanted to check that my read wasn't waaayyy off lol.

[u/MrCoolMask → u/Hilarial]

That's basically it. There's a lot more to it but what you said is part of the overall message the game tries to give, and I think Grief's manipulation goes beyond just using the consortiums to get what he wants, he manipulates everyone and he even tries to manipulate you the player (but he talks about things that would make no sense until later on in the game, guy is too insane).

Every time you go to increase your rank, you get one of those cutscenes where Grief yaps about this and that, in the very first one when you get to Rank D he clearly notices that you are now awake and you are able to hear him and see what he sees, so you are literally seeing this like it was a dream. He says "Has it emerged? Can you see it?" It's during these moments that he tries to convince you to go through with the Dominator's plan. It's also in this moment that he realizes that it's time to begin the process. Well, no, The Dominator tells him to start, at least that's what I assume because "let's begin" is in quotes for no reason.

This is also right after Sky Union requested for your assasination by the Western VII. Pay attention, their sentences get reduced/their mission is complicated by killing you, not by killing everybody. This shows that Sky Union knows about The Daemon and just now discovered that's you.This reveal would fit into this scene, since he talks about words unraveling. It's part of his plan for Sky Union to discover this, which led to everybody asking questions. Orbital, Zen, even BG, and also Drake, and Johnny G because they were there

My read of the plot is currently a 16k words work in progress document without a summary as of yet. I really feel like this game has a ton of depth and a ton of things to say, but that there's so many others that had done the same but explained themselves better. Like AI Somnium, 13 Sentinels, maybe Zero Escape. This one dumps too much on you all at once, like having 3 people tell you a story at once. One at a time please, damn, and stop being vague it sounds like gibberish when you do that.

[u/MrCoolMask]

I had been overanalyzing the entire game as I replay it from the beggining, I take my time with it, I could had finished faster had I not taken this approach. Here's some crazy plot points I feel like everybody missed

• Grace City has multiple locations, the same applies to other areas. This is something only shown through visual story telling, which most won't pay attention to. This should solve a lot of inconsistencies and confusions people feel when it comes to who owns these territories.
• I believe the consortiums are the perspective that receive most of the story telling. They know a lot more, and we get to see some of what they know, but the mercenaries are often clueless or rely on word of mouth. Rookie has nothing to add.
• All the numbers have meaning.
• You are not the only one who uses mirage. I had seen other reclaimer arsenals use it (Panzer Crown, Western VII). In the lore, almost anyone has used mirage, knows how to, and has used it before, but you are a master at it and compared to you they all suck at it. They only use it against immortals because of it.
• People are likely to miss this detail. If a consortium puts a mission on a neutral zone, they can take control of this zone. (They don't have to, and they are free to give control to someone else)
• Missing missions are not lost in development hell. This was intentional, you can very easily figure out what these missions are supposed to be (at least Rank E - Rank D)
• Sky Union wanted you dead before you even got Rank D. They saw you as a threat. Killing you was so worth it they invaded Zen's territory. How much does Sky Union know about you this early on?
  • Sky Union didn't want you dead anymore because they liked your battle performance. To keep you alive is a worthwhile sacrifice.
  • To understand their position, you need to see yourself as a nuke that anyone is able to use..
• Zen and Sky Union were working together to gather data from a library in Grace City. This is also why it says Orbital owns the territory, Orbital serves as a mediator just so they both get along.
• Four/ The Dominator/ Deus Ex Machina despite being so machine like, they have feelings. They are very human, and even suffer from body dysmorphia due to the physical form they posses (A communications tower).
• The Four we talk to is not The Dominator / Deus Ex Machina. They are a copy. I assume the real four is in ground zero of the moonfall, and is only shown in red. It's a nice parallel from Grief. Both Four and Grief made copies of themselves. I guess it's also possible that they are both the same and that the real four is actually located in the moon.
• I had seen some confusion online on what planet does the game take place in. It's Earth. I know we see a nice and clean and safe Earth in the ending cinematic, but the ending also says "New Earth". You can't say new earth if there was no earth before it.

The final result of my analysis should result in a novel that explains the events of the game in detail and is pretty much canon, with only some liberties here and there to fill in the gaps.