Update 9: The Kinda Mediocre Escape
The next segment starts up in the scanning room outside of the firing range.
: “Your final exam. If you pass, you will be free to leave this facility and go on to your new life.” : “Go ahead. Pick up the gun.”
So, this is where the game’s writing really starts to break down.
I want you to notice (if you have not already) that there is a security camera above the firing range. I also want you to notice that if this is Delta Six’s final exam, it has been at least two days since the point at which Delta Six swapped the gun for the weight. Somehow, no one has noticed this.
: “Well? Why aren’t you shooting?”The Director does absolutely nothing to stop Delta Six from just walking out of the firing range.. which again makes no sense given that every other time we’ve been in here, the door has been locked until training is complete. The only way I can even vaguely think that this might make sense is if I was right and the gun is a fake (since the “download more bullets” button doesn’t exist outside of Deep Fear).
We can actually take the weight and leave the room - again, if you’ll remember previously, the door wouldn’t let us out unless there was something on the pedestal.
Outside the range, we pick up Epsilon Five and go to meet Giselle in the mess hall.
: “Epsilon Five will be coming with us after all.”
She then tells us that Balder was her first choice, but due to an “unfortunate accident” involving third-degree burns to the face, Balder got taken away by medical personnel last night.
This part is also kinda weird. We already checked Delta Six’s stash (in the toilet tank) several updates ago, and the only thing in there was the pipe we used to get the gun through the air vents.
The only thing in Delta Six’s cell is a note by the bed. This is the final note - unfortunately, the game actually locks you out of getting all of the notes after you do the final shooting tutorial, so I’ll go back at the end of this update and get those. So, what’s the significance of these notes? Absolutely nothing!
The writers at Wadjet Eye are kinda famous for leaving in unfinished plot arcs (see: the psychic vampires in the Blackwell quadrilogy who are written in to be the ultimate enemy in the third game but then are never even mentioned outside of a passing reference in the final one). My best guess is that initially, Delta Six was going to have one of the facility personnel helping him escape.. but then the writers just decided to go with something dumber.
As soon as we leave, Balder meets Delta Six outside of his cell. How’d he get over the fact that his face melted off? The answer is actually magic plastic surgery (Giselle mentions that the facility has an “advanced surgery center” they use on the inmates when they leave) which will be a major plot point coming up.. about five minutes from the end of the game.
Balder says absolutely nothing important but claims to have had his brain wiped.
This is another weird bit. We’ve already seen that they contact the inmates directly when they need them to be on maintenance duty, yet this one goes out over the PA. No idea why.
: “I think so..” : “We all here? Did you find Balder?” : “Yes.”
Insert about ten lines about Balder being memory wiped again here.
: “Well, if we don’t make it, at least we went out trying. If we do make it, I won’t miss this place.” : “Do we have everything? Gun, screwdriver.. yeah, it’s all here.” : “Charlie, take the gun. You’re better with it. Epsilon, give me the card and I’ll open the door.” : “Haven’t you decided on a name yet?” : “No…” : “Then I’ll give you one myself. How do you like ‘Sayuri’ ?”
Giselle gives us a code to open the door. It’s the same every time.
And naturally, since Giselle is a complete idiot, it’s a fake code that sets off an alarm. I’m reasonably certain that Giselle was originally supposed to be a villain and that Delta Six was originally supposed to mastermind the escape plan, because that makes a whole lot more sense than what happens here.
: “Delta-Six, Epsilon-Five, Beta-Seven… the other instructors and I are disappointed in you all.” : “Shut up.” : “…Please don’t speak to me like that.” : “Why don’t you come down here and face us for once?” : “Giselle, I see you’re still the same even after your rehabilitation.”Anyway, to sum it up, the Director makes a nonsensical statement about how he’s going to have to mindwipe and retrain everyone (which makes no sense given that it’s already established they can do a memory wipe without effecting learned skills) and that the guards are coming and we have no chance of making it out, etc etc.
Delta Six is having exactly none of this shit, and shoots the handle off the door before kicking it in.
The rest of this is more or less an autoscroller.
Beyond the catwalk area is a room full of crushers straight out of Crash Bandicoot. This is supposed to be the way to the cargo bay, so why they have crushers here (or what purpose they serve) is a complete freaking mystery to me. Actually it’s not, because the developer was ripping off Portal so bad it hurts.
NO! Bad writers! Bad! You’re referencing one of the villains from Bioshock on a character who ostensibly is not supposed to be a villain! What the shit are you doing?
Anyway, my theory here is again that Giselle was originally supposed to be a villain, planted by the Director to try and root out the person helping people escape.
The switch shuts off one crusher at a time, so you have to do this twice in order to get Giselle and Sayuri through the room. I still don’t understand what purpose the crushers are supposed to serve.
An autosave! I wonder what’s coming up next.. could it be another dickish shooting segment?
Yep! The sprite artist clearly wasn’t paid enough, so Delta Six fights multiple clones of himself. There’s an achievement for escaping Center 7 without taking damage. This fight is almost identical to the one Azriel did in the last update - the two clones are constantly covering each other and spamming an endless hail of bullets. Fortunately, they go down in two hits each as opposed to four or five for the Boryokudan guys.
Past them is a pointless room that leads to the reactor core.
And finally, Giselle dies. RIP walls of text, you will not be missed.
Sayuri is also a master of unlocking for some reason. Writing!
What would a mediocre game be without a “Cover the hacker while they hack the door!” segment? I don’t know, because Gemini Rue sure has one. This is another heavily dickish gunfight - the single clone fires a random number of bullets each time he pops out and pops out at semi-random intervals, making headshots impossible. Killing this guy in general is just luck.
As you’ve probably already figured out, Sayuri escapes into the cargo bay while Delta Six gets shot in the back.. on the “stun” setting. By Balder.
Next time, we’ll finish this godforsaken game so I can move on to something that isn’t garbage.
This is the missing note, by the way.