Baby, baby, baby, yeah. Let's [REDACTED] Control

It feels like forever since I accomplished anything in this LP, but I think I’m getting back into the swing of things. I finally got a take of the first supplemental episode that I don’t completely hate, so that may actually materialize some day, and I’ve got a PS5, which may let me cut down on loading times while recording future episodes. It might also prevent things like what happened in this video from happening again, but that remains to be seen. Sidequest Hell is officially underway, and we’re going to solve some mysteries that have been outstanding for quite some time.

Part 20: Living in the Fridge Polsy Youtube Documents

For some reason, I feel like things have been slow recently, but that’s probably just my warped sense of time and the usual mental health issues making me feel like I’m getting nowhere no matter how much I do. Sometimes, even though I can go places if I need to (and I do), I feel like I’m living in a prison specially built to contain someone in exactly the mental state I’m in. This is, of course, the clumsiest possible segue into tonight’s episode, where we’ll be touring the Panopticon, a prison specially built to contain Altered Items. There’s a lot of underused space, but there’s also plenty to see. I’d like to call attention to the timestamps in the video description - there’s a long section with an Astral Spike occupying most of the background on and off, so I timestamped the important collectibles in case anyone can’t watch those scenes but still wants to see the background information contained there. They should show up as chapter markers on both the Youtube and Polsy pages for convenience.

Part 21: The Panopticon Polsy Youtube Documents

Okay, I’ve finally managed to wrestle myself away from all the other distractions (and I’m not kidding about that - I took a break in the middle of this to attempt to fix a leaky faucet) to put together an episode of that supplemental podcast I’ve been talking about so much. The first couple of episodes are going to cover the psychology topics that came up in the early parts of the Research Sector, and later on, I’ll be talking about that conversation with Dylan, and I’m hoping to put together a full plot summary of Alan Wake for anyone who wants to understand the references here but doesn’t want to sit through the whole game. I’ve also got plans to talk about the Rubber Duck Altered Item and my theories about that. This is all just my own perspective, of course - psychology experts will probably disagree with everything I say here, and that’s fine. I recommend that anyone who actually wants to learn something about these topics do some proper research. I just hope I can offer some interesting ideas along the way. Let me know what works and what doesn’t - I’m holding off on recording another episode so I can incorporate any feedback, and maybe so I can learn some plumbing.

Uncontrolled episode 1: Synchronicity and the collective unconscious Youtube

I considered making an April Fool’s Day video, but in this game, how could anyone possibly know whether it was part of the game or not? I certainly can’t think of anything that would top most of what’s actually in the game in weirdness, so instead, have a perfectly normal (comparatively) video where I explore various parts of the Maintenance Sector. I think it’s the biggest sector, in terms of the portions we can explore so far. The Quarry alone is probably about as big as the explorable area in Executive. I was planning to get there, but I got distracted. Instead, let’s wrap up the sidequest I went out of my way to activate and then completely forgot existed. I usually just sort of run into this one as I’m exploring.

Part 22: Drinking Buddies Polsy Youtube Documents

Sidequest Hell is well underway, so everything is retreading old ground. In this video, we’re going way back to the beginning and searching the Executive Sector for new things to do with our abilities. It’s a small sector, so there’s not much we haven’t seen, but what there is is pretty expansive. We’ve also got one part of a sidequest to handle while we’re here, some out-of-reach chests, and a whole bunch more of our favorite documents.

Part 23: These Letters Aren’t Dead. They’re Ambulatory! Polsy Youtube Documents

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I’d say we’re about halfway through Sidequest Hell at this point, and I’m not going to try to claim that we’ve left the best for last. On one hand, we’ve got a couple of bosses to fight, the end of Langston’s scavenger hunt list, a new power, and quite possibly the most important document in the entire game. On the other hand, there’s more space than secrets, so I may end up searching some areas and not finding anything interesting. I don’t think that’s going to be a problem for Containment, at least. There’s always something interesting going on in Containment.

Part 24: Cleaning the Clocks Polsy Youtube Documents

Can I just say I like the fact that the report dealing with the (removal of) the esoteric parts of the Bureau is named the Tennyson Report? That’s either some deep study into the Etymology or a very very good happenstance. Considering what happens later, I’m leaning towards the study bit myself.

Etymology needing incoming! Spoilered for those who don’t care.

Tennyson is a surname meaning ‘Son of Denis’. Denis (modern: Dennis) is a medieval form of the name Dionysus. It came into popularity when a 3rd-century missionary to Gaul and the first bishop of Paris was martyred by decapitation, after which legend says he picked up his own severed head and walked for a distance while preaching a sermon.

So a report written by a person who wants to return to the religious/spiritual aspects of the organization and is being persecuted by the established order while also being named after a god known for causing madness and brutality through the loss of self? Daaaaang.

That’s interesting, but from what little research I’ve done, the poet Lord Tennyson also dealt heavily with the specific theme of the rise of science weakening people’s faith in religion and spiritualism, so it’s probably shallower than you’re thinking.

I’m trying to get back in the groove of making videos more regularly, but we’re finally into the part of the year when it gets hot where I live. The good news is that snow doesn’t tend to fall when it’s this warm out. The bad news is that thanks to my hyper-sensitivity to temperature changes, I can’t keep the house cool without running a noisy fan, so recording commentary means setting aside time to bake for a while. But I’ve got plenty of videos edited, and the end of Sidequest Hell is within sight. There are some tough bosses left in the Research Sector, but there’s also some neat stuff to learn, some experimental Finnish rock music, and a whole lot of ground to retread that doesn’t have any bosses in it. We’ll get to bosses shortly.

Part 25: My Sister Lives in Glasgow Polsy Youtube Documents

Did Darling lock himself in the LSHC? Why would you do that! That’s so stupid. Would exposure to that much Hedron turn a human into whatever Polaris is? Is that what he was trying to do?

If he’s dead, I’m going to be sad. Darling is one of the more interesting characters in the game. He’s like the good version of the Mad Scientist trope.

It looks like Awkward Zombie made some comics based on Control. Here are the first two.

Sidequest Hell is almost finished, so it’s time to get to the things I’ve been putting off until I was strong enough to deal with them. The Mirror holds a challenge that I think has been greatly diminished with subsequent updates to the game, and as for Mold-1… well, the extra Launch power really helps there too, if you use it properly. Basically, if you’re just getting around to playing Control now, you’re in much better shape than I was when it came out. Niaga revo lla emit tsrif eht rof ti ecneirepxe dna kcab og nac uoy os emit dniwer ot woh nreal ot tnaw uoy sekam tsomla ti. Almost.

Part 26: !sessob eht lla htiw ti potS Polsy Youtube Documents

Don’t worry, my long silence isn’t because I forgot about this or got burned out from all the sidequests. I’ve been really busy, haven’t had much time to work on videos for the past month or so, and wanted to have something more to show for it than this video. Alas, that hasn’t come together yet, but I’m hoping I can pick up the pace from here. The good news is that this is the last of Sidequest Hell. At the end of this video, I will have done just about everything I can do at this point in the game aside from progressing the plot. Still not touching the Jukebox missions for a good while. But don’t worry - next time, we will definitely find out what Dylan wanted us to see.

Part 27: Please no more Polsy Youtube

Here are some more Awkward Zombie comics.

And here we go. New territory, starting with the Prime Candidate Program, the department Trench established to identify and investigate people who potentially had what it takes to be future Directors. Honestly, there’s not a whole lot of information here, but what we get is pretty enlightening. Dylan wanted Jesse to see it, but is it going to have the effect he expected?

Part 28: The Prime Candidate Program Polsy Youtube Documents

And here’s one more set of comics.

The first one will make much more sense once we get into the DLC and the referenced mechanic actually becomes a thing.

I’ve been feeling a little off recently, but I’m still plugging away at this, bit by bit. We’re getting back on track, and finally moving into the endgame. It’s odd that Jesse needs to go to the Ordinary AWE wing to learn what’s going on, since she was there. She knows what happened. But now, she’s seeing it from the Bureau’s perspective, seeing how much they really know about it. There’s an odd reverence in creating a department just for a single event, after all. But most of that takes a back seat when we can finally afford the upgrade I’ve been saving up for.

Part 29: Still Control but now I can juggle Polsy Youtube Documents

I’ll be honest with you - it’s been a bad day. My internet connection flaked out just long enough to ruin the project I wanted to complete, and because I woke up early for it, I was tired all day. That’s really as bad as it got, but something like that can really throw off your whole day, you know? It’s garbage, that’s what it is. It’s a big old pile of garbage. Hey, speaking of Control… take a guess where we’re looking for the answers to the questions the Ordinary AWE raised.

Part 30: This place is a dump Polsy Youtube Documents

I have to apologize for the lack of updates lately. I think the problem is that I’ve become so disconnected from my emotions that when I have an emotion, I really don’t know what to do about it, so it just lurks. It affects me no matter how much I try to ignore it, but because I’m ignoring it, I have no ability to deal with it. What I’m trying to say is that you need to be in touch with your mental state, however inconvenient it may seem, or it will lead you in circles and you’ll never get anywhere. Understanding that is an important first step to dealing with it, but actually putting it into practice is a long and difficult process. What I’m trying to say is that I’ve been working on something big for the upcoming end of the story, and it’s been slowly coming together. Today, we’re going to deal with a problem we’ve been ignoring for way too long, and then we’re going to follow a long, complicated set of steps that will leave us feeling like we’ve been led around in circles. But we’re getting somewhere. We’re almost done. And if I can get my act together over Christmas break, we may actually get there.

Part 31: Ahti’s Holiday Retreat Polsy Youtube Documents