[This comment ended up being somewhat random and full of many topics and answers to your questions, sorry for the lack of a clear end goal with this, hah.]
Your thoughts were very interesting... I'll talk about them below. (No need to respond, since it might relate to the future of the game, of course. But I'll write about it mostly for personal documentation as well.)
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I'm happy you liked my suggestions. I didn't want to sound entitled or unappreciative, or like I was speaking out of place. Know that I think the game is in good shape, and it is only going to get better.
Because of that, I wanted to add an appreciation section in this comment:
- Great video as main menu!
I have to admit I liked the previous one, which straightforwardly led us to the beginning. But, since the transition of starting and severing the connection was different from the one shown at the end of Chapter Two, the new changes made complete sense. I really appreciate the movable main menu and the little update to the UI. (The button sounds and the quit popup being a "Wait... You'll come back, right?" also add to the immersion and to the fact that Myrddin wants to control what the player chooses. - That is not new, I'm just mentioning it here, though.) In summary: thank you for the attention to detail, know it is appreciated.
- Voice acting.
The use of voice acting in that specific moment added to the atmosphere, and I was surprised we got another voice acted moment aside from the humming!
- New illustrations.
The character's sprite is very well done and the new moments added were surprising. I didn't think one full CG and a new sprite would be added. I also saw a comment asking about AI, which is understandable since the artistic world is not respected by many AI enthusiasts, honestly. But, personally, I didn't think the sprites were AI and I do think they are of extremely high quality. Especially knowing the project is free. ^^
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Additionally, it is nice to see more people engaging again...
- sharpestcookie's comment... Wow, that person basically predicted correctly that Myrddin gets his power through our interactions! Although, I will quote my past self here to point out that in all my rambling, I, at least, got one thing right:
"... OR he is merely a part of the silhouette ..."
I mean, it is not completely right... Since he is more of a reflection/imitation (like the living mirrors from the five kingdoms), but I almost got it, right? Hahah... Anyway, I got so many things wrong, but I liked having that initial theories moment. I mean, I did say:
"...my immediate thought was: Myrddin is or was that silhouette."
I just didn't make the connection that the Outer would possibly be the silhouette or the book, the creator of Myrddin, who is that reflection. And I do mention the first book in at least one very correct theory:
"...I do think that first book is VERY related to Myrddin's nature and past."
By the way, I was partially right about how long Myrddin was there:
[One of my answers to LJEpher:]
"Myrddin did say he created a clock and he destroyed it when it got to the 1000th day. So he stayed there for AT THE VERY LEAST almost three years. Of course, not counting the fact that he took a long time to actually know how to create objects on his own to finally create the clock."
I at least got the initial part going in my thoughts. Of course, now we know the specifics: at least more than 5,000 days.
[Sorry to mention my previous theories so often, I'm a little proud I got some things right after getting so many things wrong and, well, it might be entertaining to you? Maybe.]
Going back to the community reaction, many people are enamored by Myrddin, which is "interesting" to watch... Not that I don't fancy his funny jokes and witty facts ^^ , but I'm cautious regarding fully trusting him, hahah. Also, I noticed LJEpher posted a theory-focused comment, which is great! I'm happy the theory part of the community is growing and continuing active. I, personally, haven't read it yet since I'm planning a big theory and wouldn't want to affect my impressions so that I can test my abilities against the game's new chapters. But I wonder if we will reach the same conclusions since we were analyzing similar things...
Regarding Tumblr, I'm curious to see what sort of posts will be there. I believe you know about pinned posts, tags and so on, right? Visual novel, interactive fiction and so on. If you have any questions, I can share links with more information.
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I finally researched the Freytag's Pyramid and I was sad to find out we might only have three chapters remaining! Of course, totally my fault (do not worry, ToMyself), because I saw the names of the versions: 0.20, 0.2.5 and 0.3.1 and thought we would trace a path toward v1, which would culminate in 10 chapters. That is also why my theories were focusing a lot on what was being shown, not exactly directed to the future. I thought we were in the beginning. However, knowing we will see the climax next has pushed me to do that big theory post as documentation so that I can check on it before the update.
Now, something I found out is that the pyramid is more often used in tragedies... Hum... The last step is called catastrophe. Whatever the player chooses in their emotional path for their endings, I wonder if in one way or another it will be a bad ending for at least someone or a group of people no matter what we choose.
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Regarding the song analysis, you got very close, honestly! It is about a comedian/singer who can't perform anymore because of his panic attacks, even though he loves performing. So he gets stuck in his room, that way he is not going to suffer from those attacks, even though he really wants to get out. Even though his fans want him to get out, he can't. But when he tried, people judged him for it. So he swore that, this time, he won't come back again. Look who is inside again.
It reminded me of Myrddin because of these sentences:
- "I was a kid stuck in his room" -> Myrddin was also stuck there ever since his early existence.
- "Making jokes" -> Myrddin having a witty personality despite his predicament.
- "Making faces" -> That is kind of ironic, since Myrddin did try to create a face for himself...
- "Making little sounds" -> His music box and ability to imitate sounds.
- "We've got you surrounded" -> If Myrddin gets out, bad things might happen. Myrddin is a danger to the depths (allegedly, so far, until we see more evidence to confirm it).
And the overall emotional setting of the song, as well.
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Now, my answers to your questions:
- What do you even think his character is after your experience? (I am sure this will be tackled in your theory post, so these are rhetorical questions.)
I'll answer some early thoughts here since my theory comment will try to tackle possible endings and the game's timeline, since we are halfway through the story already.
Currently, I believe he is a reflection (lake) of the silhouette. He is not an Ebys but not a child of the other world either, since he is defective. - What is actually real?
Perhaps the incident in which Myrddin says: "It is similar with my face" and "Crawling inside my mouth", etc. was not real at all.
That is the one incident that I think differs from the other ones in relation to what Myrddin says, anyway... (And it turns out that incident is the one that was real, ;D )
Yes, it looks like many previous moments were manufactured by Myrddin to make us empathize with him. I didn't fully believe everything he said before, but I at least thought the incidents were real. Well, I was wrong about that. Although, I did notice he portrayed our question to help him in a very weird way, it was in one of my answers to LJEpher:
"But he was very cautious, and his sentences might imply he actually wanted the help, obviously. However, I cannot deny that there might be a possibility he was expecting us to take pity on him all along."
Immediately, after I say that, i say I don't fully believe the theory he is full-on 100% tricking us. However, I do toy with the idea of him manipulating us... I should have dug deeper into that theory.
And, I might affect my theories by saying so, but I still think that at least some part of Myrddin is salvageable, morally speaking. Yes, he is lying and manipulating, perhaps being good only because he is watched, but I wonder if he can't be redeemed, or if he ended up getting attached to the player while going through his plan to deceive the human in order to free himself...
Call me a silly optimistic, but I'll try to see if it will be possible to save everyone and Myrddin, if he shows himself to want to do good. - It is just a fact being stated, with the claim that no lies are being told. And then a final threat.
Yes, I understand he didn't want to portray himself as a hero, but what I found ironic is that he asks us to stop, to quit interacting for everyone's sake, counting on our compassion, right?
The ironic part is: before asking that, the Outer shows us that:
- He tortures Myrddin.
- He enjoys doing that.
- How… how did you manage to skip that?
Honestly, developer, I think I'm amazing like that.
I reach levels of charm that make me able to get moments that are not even possible in the code...
Well, I believe it was because I didn't progress with the "Talk" interaction that much. I did not even get the apple crafting scene, so that is also why I didnt get the snow globe one. My "Talk" interaction that would unlock crafting didn't show up because I ended up choosing other interactions and not talking that much in my first playthrough. - Hm. Idk.
I don't know why, this made me laugh ahgaahga, but yeah, I appreciated the challenge with the decoding, it was very fun! (Not that im an expert by any means...)
Took me some time but I was able to get the full song. ^^
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I think I'll only be able to play the game in some long time. Due to still recovering and getting very busy, -_-
So my theory will take a while. Hopefully I'll also get to play the new patch version that you mentioned in the upcoming month or so. Either way, have a great week, developer, and I hope we get a nice rest of the journey!