Fourthmatchflame
Fangirl of Ryoshu and Scorched Girl
- Location
- A certain Pale Librarians Book.
- Pronouns
- She/Fae
tbf thats just speculation based on something everyone whos ever heard of Hell Screen knows.
All Aboard The Magic Hellbus! Let's Play Limbus Company
- Thread starter ZerbanDaGreat
- Start date
- Let's Play
Dream Logic
An offseason swallow
- Location
- In transit
I am so very clever that I thought of just about every piece of 'Ryoshu is/was a mom' evidence except for most obvious and serious one to ever exist.
ziizo
Lazily Lurking
So fun thing about this Yuri, Alya and Hopkins all have a belt in one of their legs making it part of their uniforms. Hopkins and Yuri are blue while Alya one is red implying Alya and Yuri exchanged these leg-belts sometime in the past.
To this day doomsday calender is still not added to MD. Ebony queen's apple is, and the maggot-filled apple also is, and they both got their gifts obtainable. But doomsday calender is forever consigned to this dungeon, and Luxcavation if you aren't levelled enough to fight the objectively cooler frog. Even pjm agrees the calendar is shit.
I'm pretty sure some of the ego gifts were a late addition, actually! I remember the ones you get from the abnos are - to retroactively follow the trends set by canto...4? I think. Of you getting an abno's gift after defeating it. The events might be new too not as sure on that.
Doomsday Calendar is still in MD right now. It was in general pool during MDs 2 and 3, if I recall. It wasn't particularly pleasant to deal with, but it gave me a number of opportunities to try (and fail) and fail its final skill check. It's been since locked behind the The Outcast pack.
The E.G.O. Gifts are a late addition; they were added sometime during Season 4, I believe. The events are not new.
Oh huh! TIL. My memory of MD2 and 3 are incredibly blurry at best, and with MD4, it didn't have an ego gift, and I barely ever pick outcast, so I wasn't aware. Good to know, I suppose.
Fourthmatchflame
Fangirl of Ryoshu and Scorched Girl
- Location
- A certain Pale Librarians Book.
- Pronouns
- She/Fae
uh, yes it is? ive fought it in mirrors.
Fourthmatchflame
Fangirl of Ryoshu and Scorched Girl
- Location
- A certain Pale Librarians Book.
- Pronouns
- She/Fae
i am trying so hard to not ramble about ishmael rn becuase that knot tying scean makes me want to spoil so much and i hate it.
- Location
- Portugal
Well. That was a grim start to the Cantos.
There's a lot going on that we can get out of the closing illustration, I feel. Heathcliff looking frustrated. The various degrees of angst and depressed acceptance between others. The ones that stand out for looking pretty unperturbed. Sinclair looking like he's about to cry. Dante being somewhere between devastated and exhausted. It's no wonder, with the failure this trek through the horrors ended in, and in particular Yuri's abrupt death.
I wonder if there is a recurring thing to come of this with Dante - the writing is quite clear on how distressing and painful it is to them to revive the Sinners, and that they'd rather avoid more of it, but will the story keep like... putting cases in front of Dante where they wish they could revive someone else who died for no reason just by being there? Hrm.
The theme of living through suffering with only resignation really rhymes hard here even though the Canto doesn't seem that long. It feels oddly like our trip through Greg's mindscape should have gone through more layers, but it's not that the point wasn't made abundantly clear.
There are a number of brief moments of humanity through this Canto from the other Sinners, some screw-ups, some willingly showing softness, and some incisive insight... but the narrative here really does orbit around Gregor and what he expressed to the struggling Yuri and what Gregor is still, I reckon, trapped by. Giving up on resistance, on doing things differently, being complicit in sin, becoming numb or dismissive of the weight because nothing you do can undo those things and you're the only one who'll get flayed by carrying the guilt all the time.
I think actually that's also what surprised me at first. There's no resolution here for Greg. Just a rehash of the pressures that shaped his life and brought him low, confirming his coping mechanisms.
There's a lot going on that we can get out of the closing illustration, I feel. Heathcliff looking frustrated. The various degrees of angst and depressed acceptance between others. The ones that stand out for looking pretty unperturbed. Sinclair looking like he's about to cry. Dante being somewhere between devastated and exhausted. It's no wonder, with the failure this trek through the horrors ended in, and in particular Yuri's abrupt death.
I wonder if there is a recurring thing to come of this with Dante - the writing is quite clear on how distressing and painful it is to them to revive the Sinners, and that they'd rather avoid more of it, but will the story keep like... putting cases in front of Dante where they wish they could revive someone else who died for no reason just by being there? Hrm.
The theme of living through suffering with only resignation really rhymes hard here even though the Canto doesn't seem that long. It feels oddly like our trip through Greg's mindscape should have gone through more layers, but it's not that the point wasn't made abundantly clear.
There are a number of brief moments of humanity through this Canto from the other Sinners, some screw-ups, some willingly showing softness, and some incisive insight... but the narrative here really does orbit around Gregor and what he expressed to the struggling Yuri and what Gregor is still, I reckon, trapped by. Giving up on resistance, on doing things differently, being complicit in sin, becoming numb or dismissive of the weight because nothing you do can undo those things and you're the only one who'll get flayed by carrying the guilt all the time.
I think actually that's also what surprised me at first. There's no resolution here for Greg. Just a rehash of the pressures that shaped his life and brought him low, confirming his coping mechanisms.
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MiracleGrow
Miracles for only $19.99 [They/Them]
- Location
- DOOR STUCK DOOR STUCK PLEASE I BEG U
Actually enjoyed this Canto a lot more than I remembered. They dodged the curse of first shit chapter most gacha games have to deal with.
Fourthmatchflame
Fangirl of Ryoshu and Scorched Girl
- Location
- A certain Pale Librarians Book.
- Pronouns
- She/Fae
yeah, the first two are kinda like that. theres a lot more hope in later cantos... honestly, they really do give me hope that one day ill be able to live as the person i truely want to be. its... very relevent to the cantos 3, 4, and 5.
So two things I think should be mentioned with this final story update for Canto I. The first involves the G Corp. Head Manager. He actually reappears as one of the Recollected G Corp Soldiers.
"But wait," you're asking, "Zerban never said anything!" Well neither did the game.
And just like the regular version, he's barely tougher than the rest of the enemy group. So you'll only notice due to him being not dying at the same time as the rest of them while being level appropriate.
This will not be the the last time the game does this.
The second involves a five second foreshadowing of Yuri's use as a ventriloquist dummy.
Oh, and as a bonus here's what the Yuri False Apple sprite looks like in full:
"But wait," you're asking, "Zerban never said anything!" Well neither did the game.
And just like the regular version, he's barely tougher than the rest of the enemy group. So you'll only notice due to him being not dying at the same time as the rest of them while being level appropriate.
This will not be the the last time the game does this.
The second involves a five second foreshadowing of Yuri's use as a ventriloquist dummy.
Specifically the gaps in the head area.
Hmmmm...I wonder what that could be...
Hmmmm...I wonder what that could be...
Oh, and as a bonus here's what the Yuri False Apple sprite looks like in full:
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Fuck, I didn't even know that actually. God damn.
GilliamYaeger
M'crazy.
It's really fascinating how the group's first mission is a complete failure on all possible levels. Not only did they lose Yuri and the Golden Bough, but Gregor himself completely failed to achieve any kind of personal growth. Instead of confronting his mother's image in his mind he just breaks under the pressure and gives up.
- Location
- Lost in Hell
It doesn't help that his mom *literally* shows up afterwards to stomp down on him harder.
- Location
- Brittany, France
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Damn.
I don't have a clever commentary here this is just. So much. What a series of gutpunches. I don't know that I would want to engage in a series of difficult fights with such complex mechanics for my reward to be "Now you feel fucking sad." But it's definitely good at doing that! Thanks for the chapter Zerb, this LP definitely has my interest.
you simpleton
you absolute buffoon
I am playing as Karlach
I don't have a clever commentary here this is just. So much. What a series of gutpunches. I don't know that I would want to engage in a series of difficult fights with such complex mechanics for my reward to be "Now you feel fucking sad." But it's definitely good at doing that! Thanks for the chapter Zerb, this LP definitely has my interest.
squirt you fool
you simpleton
you absolute buffoon
I am playing as Karlach
Project moon does a lot of things well, but "rewarding you with horrible sadness and horror after very difficult gameplay, yet still making you want to play more" is definitely up there. We are not even close to the peak of "difficult fights with such complex mechanics" or "Now you feel fucking sad" yet, so I'm excited for all the non-pjm people to stumble through the urban hell that is the City, along with the LP.
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Canto I: The Outcast (Part 4) - Postscript
ZerbanDaGreat
Daemon Noble of D E M O G R A P H I C S
- Pronouns
- They/them
What is The Metamorphosis about? It's about a man who turns into a cockroach.
Except it's not a cockroach, it's an unspecified ungeheueres Ungeziefer.
Except it's not really about that, the same way monster movies aren't really about monsters. Horror is about anxieties - of the era or of the author or maybe both, endlessly repackaged and reprocessed with each new iteration, into something just far enough removed for plausible deniability. The vampire is a distant, inhuman aristocrat who makes livestock of the lower class. The vampire is a charming predator who hides behind a human face, the threat you don't see for what it is until you've already let it into your home and let yourself believe it loves you. The werewolf is the monster in human skin that isn't so controlled, can't be controlled, leaving even the body it inhabits a frightened victim, powerless to prevent the harm it causes by existing. Sometimes when monsters menace and kidnap our women, it's because there's a certain kind of human that the author is really worried about.
The Metamorphosis is about Franz Kafka waking up one morning and realising that without his ability to provide for his family he would be lower than the lowest vermin in the eyes of society, reviled by even his own flesh and blood, and in that state find nothing more comforting than the idea of quietly expiring in the dead of night, never to trouble them again.
It is not always best practice to use a work of art to psychoanalyse the artist, not even generally, but when there is published evidence of Kafka's relationship with his father being so strained that literary critics have no problem believing that the Mr. Samsa of the novella who ultimately condemns Gregor to death by hurling rotten garbage at him in a fit of rage is a stand-in for Hermann Kafka, you have to talk about the elephant in the room. It's not exclusionary, either. Even in an experience so unique and personal I find something so deeply resonant in the way Kafka's Letter To His Father opens "you asked me recently why I claim to be afraid of you. I did not know how to answer, partly for the very reason I am afraid of you, partly because an explanation of my fear would require more details than I could even begin to make coherent in speech." He writes about his father's uncaring and unkind words, in front of him and others, about every comfort and opportunity that he had been given by the sweat of Hermann's brow and yet offered no sign of gratitude or sympathy. The disdain and judgement one feels for the crime of not correctly capitalising on privilege, of squandering the hard work of those around you on which you build your luxurous life. I read those words and I am acutely aware of every way in which Franz Kafka has felt the same things I have felt, grappled with the same fears and insecurities and fragile sense of self I have. Even the most personal of experiences can resonate across time, across countries and cultural boundaries, to the point that in 2011 Sui ishida published a manga half the world away in which the protagonist directly namedrops Kafka's work - and subsequently becomes a creature that is less than human through no particular sin of his own, parasitic and monstrous, worthy of death in the eyes of society, forever grappling with the question of whether he and those like him even deserve to exist.
Canto I of Limbus Company is the story of Gregor, a man who is the son of one of the most powerful women in the world. A man who was used as a quite literal propaganda piece, upholding a shining vision that proved to be a lie for anyone who wasn't born with the same privileges as him. A man who escaped hell by the skin of his teeth, blessed to have escaped grotesque disfigurement and outright shunning from society, to find a second chance at a new job with a new company. A man who, when asked if it's really a sin to live on where others died, where others suffered and failed to reach the same low rung of the ladder you clung to, replies "Yeah. You just can't let it get to you." Nevermind what he suffered at Hermann's hands, nevermind what he suffered in the Smoke War, nevermind how he suffers again and again working for Limbus Company's goals past the point of death. He's internalised all that. He's depersonalised himself to the point that everything he's suffered feels like a bad dream. He can only accept that the way things are is the way they're always going to be, and move forward along the track.
Gregor's base EGO is Suddenly, One Day. It's relatively unique among base EGO in that his base ID can't fuel it at all, and that neither of the sin resources used to fuel it match the sin affinity of the EGO itself. Lust and Gloom make Sloth, helpless dejection in the face of his circumstances. In the art, his prison is twofold - the striped prison jumpsuits that all Sinners share is wrapped around his arm and nothing else - he himself wears his old Smoke War uniform, the nightmare playing out in the world beyond the bars forever. Bound by barbed wire, menaced by shadowy hands and bloodstains, his arm a warped and distended monstrosity chained and sealed by symbols of the Sefirot, his posture hunched yet slack - defeated and accepting. Suddenly, one day, this happened to him, and it's going to keep happening forever.
Touching on the Sefirot briefly - the seals on his arm correspond with the iconography previously used in the series for Malkuth, Gebura, Chesed, Binah and Hokma. To be excessively reductive these represent the earth, strength, mercy, knowledge/understanding and divine wisdom. What these mean specifically for Gregor remains to be seen, but given the series' historical fondness for the Sefirot it's a topic we're sure to revisit down the road.
Let's return to the Smoke War illusion for a moment - in that I was lucky enough to get The Outcast pack in Mirror Dungeon so I could some non-spoiler opponents for an EGO showcase. Specifically, a rematch with our good friend the G Corp Head Manager.
I truly can't tell you whether I somehow bypassed fighting him again in Canto I's story dungeon third floor or didn't and steamrolled so badly I straight-up forgot, but he's here now and boosted enough in power to last more than a couple of rounds. This time he boasts a particularly dangerous skill called Mind Wave, where he releases some kind of psychic blast that inflicts a whopping -15 SP on up to two Sinners on heads hit.
Let's give Gregor the win on at least one small part of his past, shall we?
Suddenly One Day is not a good EGO. Among a selection of actually pretty good base EGO, it stands out as impressively mediocre. Gregor is bad at fuelling it, and the only IDs of his that can don't want to. Its ceiling of 28 is impressive but its floor of 14 is not, even less so when it boasts an unimpressive -1 Offence Level and the truly useless effects of spinning a roulette wheel to decide what status effect it inflicts. Its passive helps keep him alive, with 2 Protection and 15hp restored every turn he starts below 25%, but even 'unleashed' it only serves to horrify, inflicting SP Loss Efficiency on both an ally and an enemy.
And really, isn't that just a perfect marriage of story and gameplay? This arm is something that was forced on him. Gregor doesn't need it, doesn't want it, gains nothing from it besides ostracisation. And yet he can never be free of it - in this world, even severing it completely barely slows it down. In every other world, something happens to his right arm regardless. Every new EGO he gains, the Abnormality's power takes root first in his arm.
In fact let's go ahead and look at his alternative ZAYIN-class EGO, Legerdemain, offered as a free battlepass reward in the very first season of the game. This one he does fuel with his base ID, quite perfectly actually! Its power ceiling is lower but its floor is far higher, and with a whopping 4 Paralyse on 3 ATK Weight it's even desirable for him to use if he happens to get lucky with a speed roll.
Let's demonstrate on Steam Machine, the absolute fucking bastard, whose first appearance in Railway 2 is no longer playable and good riddance.
Here we can see both Golden Apple's domain unbound by Qliphoth Deterrance, and the utility of a high Attack Weight EGO in action - a mere 41 damage doubles just because Steam Machine is a 2-part Abnormality. Thanks to a heads hit, Gregor inflicts a massive 4 Paralyse on his target. What does Paralyse do? Well I'm glad you asked, because it's so powerful that the game has just stopped allowing you to inflict it in such large quantities ever since launch - it fixes the power of the next X coins the target flips to 0, effectively meaning that heads hits are meaningless.
The funny part about it, of course, is that reverse coin skills that lose power on heads are actually buffed by Paralyse, because instead of adding 0 to a low amount of base power you are now subtracting 0 from a high amount of base power.
The extremely funny part is that because Steam Machine also inflicted Paralyse on Gregor in the process of him landing that Legerdemain, despite rolling heads 3 times on the Corrosion next turn he nonetheless clashes and then unleashes it at full power. What's Corrosion? Well I'm glad you asked.
Note the purple light shining behind the cracked screen.
And the caution markers at the corners of the screen where the Awakening had plain green labels.
Remember how I said that when Sinners hit -45 SP they can panic or Corrode? Well, here's the downside to EGO derived from Abnormalities: while their own base EGOs will perform reliably every time (and indeed consumed no SP on launch), extracted EGO has a chance to Corrode on use the lower their SP when firing them, and if they hit -45 they will uncontrollably transform into a mutant hybrid of the Abnormality and their own body, which will proceed to attack indiscriminately next turn before finally letting them snap back to 0 SP. A post-launch update added the ability to Overclock, expending extra sin resources and SP in order to utilise the power and unique effects of an EGO's Corrosion (as opposed to its standard or Awakening version) without risking harm to the team - or just Sending It without enough sin resources to pay the surcharge, Corroding the unit on purpose.
Corroded Golden Apple trades the Tremor and Tremor Burst for guaranteed Paralyse on hit, some Bleed application, and the unique status Maggots which inflicts a little Gluttony damage at turn end before raising the target's Bleed Count by 1. Its passive, here meaning the effect that becomes active the turn after using either form of an EGO for the rest of a battle, gives him a chance to inflict more Maggots on every hit scaling with Gluttony A-Res.
And isn't it just insult to injury that the objectively superior option to the manifestation of his own soul is to mantle the rotten power of the thing that killed Yuri? That it's the more natural fit for him across so many possibilities? And that a rotten apple is what spelled his literary namesake's doom, left lodged in his back where he was powerless to reach it on his own. Rotting, moldering, something that could have been treated if only his loved ones could stomach him long enough to help, until at last a combination of infection and starvation claimed him. But I'm sure our Gregor's gonna be fine, right?
Speaking of Canto I Abnormalities, Outis has the honour of mantling Ebony Queen's Stem, and all respect to my beloved rat woman but this isn't her canto so I'm not screenshotting every inch of her Awakening and Corrosion animations. Of note mainly is her Awakening activation quote, "If this is to seize victory..." and the name of its passive, Stem of Distrust. The quote doubtless alludes to Outis and her namesake's willingness to do whatever it takes to win their wars and return home to their families. Stem of Distrust is a little more cryptic, as Ebony Queen's Stem has more regal and imperious themes than anything duplicitous or treacherous. But you know who is duplicitous and treacherous, at least in aesthetics, and whose namesake is a king? This gal.
I doubt it's a coincidence either that the Trojan War began in myth thanks to Eris' Apple of Discord.
Next is Impending Day, the EGO infamous for being the only thing Sinclair could Corrode into for months and months and months until he finally got Faelantern.
Do not talk about Soup.
Impending Day is in rare company among EGOs in that even its Awakening is a reverse coin skill, punishing him for using it at high sanity and rewarding him for risking using it at low sanity and edging his mental illness like he's trying to open up to his therapist without being committed to the psych ward. It has a particular niche use in being intended to finish off already weakened enemies, offering not only a power boost and team healing for killing, but showering Sinclair in bonus sin resources for killing with its passive active. Funny how it incentivises the boy to murder so much!
Sinclair's time in the spotlight is fast approaching so I won't delve any deeper into the possible symbolism of giving him this EGO, but suffice it to say I think he's well acquainted with the fear of a forever-looming day of reckoning.
Now, let's get back into Identities. I elided much of what's going on with them in the process of hitting the ground running with the story, but as was previously explained in the prologue an Identity is a shard of possibility extracted from another world and used as a kind of 'skin' around the relevant Sinner - granting them the powers, equipment and skill of their other self, while preserving their ego against contamination by the reflection. An Identity's strength is determined by both its level (scaling health, offence and defence level) and its Uptie rank (unlocking combat passive at U2, support passive and skill 3 and U3, and a slew of balance changes trying to save piss-poor launch IDs at U4). Level cap rises by 5 with each new Canto (i.e. with the release of Canto 6 the previous level cap of 40 was raised to 45), and upon completion of Cantos I and II the base IDs are all automatically Uptied to 2 and 3 respectively. There is no way to reverse Uptie rank and I thought it would suit the story better for you to see all base IDs in combat screenshots so I just decided to let it lie - it won't be long until Canto III when the gap closes anyhow. What's important is that once you uptie an extracted ID to 3, Dante gets to take an insightful peek through the crack in the mirror and into the other self's life.
Let's take our first example of a 'story' ID, one explicitly patterned off a character that appears in the relevant Canto's main plot. G Corp Manager Corporal Gregor is a reimagining of Gregor as just another of the rank and file in G Corp's army, one of the boots on the ground rather than the literal posterchild. Doesn't he look all bright and shiny and proud?
With those scraggly antennae on his cheek and bandage over his left eye, he's a dead ringer for Tomah isn't he?
Narrator: "He could've been hacking away. Or perhaps he was stabbing. A medal emblematizing his rank rested at the corner of his chest, as if to acknowledge the troubles he went through. The child's eyes, ones which once shone with a vigorous gleam, have now been drained of any colour."
Narrator: "Was there any meaning to that war? The conflicts of interests between multiple Wings? Perhaps, but were the interests of the many children who fought the war part of them? It certainly would be nice if they were..."
Narrator: "Because, for this child, there's no desire or wish of any kind on his face as he skewers the hearts of one enemy after another. The child used to salute with pure passion in his eyes only a short time ago, but that span wasn't so short in his memory."
Narrator: "And, his tired and battered mind... eventually settled on the conclusion that stifling his emotions amidst bloodshed was the right away to be, or so it would seem."
Narrator: "Alright. If that is for your sake... then, in its own way, it's the right thing to do."
What an odd thing to say, mysterious narrator who uses a completely different narrative voice than Dante. You seem to have your own opinions about how Gregor does or does not process his emotions in this state. Care to elaborate?
No? Okay, let's move on then.
Next is Outis, taking the role of our nameless G Corp Head Manager. It's only natural that she would end up in the world of G Corp - after all, didn't you see the silhouette of a horse back in the previous update...?
Outis: "... F Corp, and E Corp."
Military Court: "... Any others?"
Narrator: "The child was vexed by the question, especially so, as she knew that having the expected answer come out of her mouth would put her standing in jeopardy."
Outis: "... The old L Corp."
Military Court: "What you've just testified would signify that you fought alongside the instigator of the war. Do you admit this?"
Outis: "I was only following G Corp's orders as an employee-!"
Military Court: "Manager Outis, please."
Narrator: "Annoyed by the child speaking out of turn, the judge lifted a hand to stop her from further interruption."
Military Court: "... Manager Outis. Listen, the war has ended. Furthermore, it was your side that won. G Corp acquired what it sought: decades worth of energy from byproducts of the smoke. This court is not being held to find you responsible or punish you. Do you understand?"
Narrator: " 'As if' the child thought to herself. The victory of G Corp's alliance does not mean that its influence extends to the whole City. Rather, it comes with a problem: as the war involved the inextricably intertwined interests of several Wings, the victor will need its justifications. For those sorts of matters... the obvious move for a company would be to appear as innocent as possible in the public eye by reprimanding an easy target..."
Narrator: " 'And that's why I'll be thrown to the wolves', she concluded."
Outis: "... I understand, your honour."
Yet more tantalising hints and tidbits! Is this an alternate universe in which G Corp 'won' the Smoke War, or was the bounty of the old L Corp's fall simply not enough to keep it afloat in any world? Interesting too that the fallen L Corp was apparently the instigator of the war, and that Outis colluded with the as yet unknown F Corp and E Corp. What was her angle? If one 'side' can be painted as analogous to the Achaeans in the proverbial Trojan War, then what does it mean that she fought for so many sides in this world? Did she mastermind the war's end, as implied by her namesake? What brilliant, terrible thing could one woman have done to end such a terrible war - something worth casting her as the scapegoat in a war crimes tribunal, even by the victors?
Outis' time in the spotlight is a long time out yet, and tidbits are still all we have. But it's nice to take stock of the relevant information as it arises all the same.
And last but certainly not least we have Faust, taking the role of Yuri as Lobotomy Corp Remnant Faust.
Narrator: "Her lost right eye, her lost colleagues, her lost workplace, her lost trust. Countless other lost things flashed together in her mind."
Faust: "The job's done. I'll be heading back."
Narrator: "After that short report, the child shoved the transmitted into her pocket. The world within her single-lens view... A dead person, separated into two halves, succumbed on the cold floor of the Backstreets; illuminated by an ill-maintained blue, blinking and flickering."
Faust: "Do you know?"
Narrator: "The child asked a question to someone who couldn't reply. The child, expecting nothing as an answer, goes on."
Faust: "When will Faust's work be recognised?"
Narrator: "No one, not even a common insect, is there to lend an ear to her withered lament."
Faust: "When will I be free of the stigma that binds me to a fallen Wing?"
Narrator: "If there is one thing she hasn't lost, it would be a fact, tying her to the old L Corp... Yes, the fact that she once worked for the company where my children resided."
Faust: "Is there any reason why I had come out alive from that living hell? Is there any place that needs me? Did anybody else survive that sudden burial? What was the meaning of those shining nights and sunless days?"
Narrator: "The child let out a small sigh..."
Faust: "There is nothing that Faust can know."
Narrator: "Her tiny breath scattered away before it could fill that small corner of the alley."
Wait hold on back up what was that part?
Mx Narrator? What was that bit you said about L Corp?
The bit about the company where your children resided?
You gonna elaborate on that?
Hello? Person-Who-Isn't-Dante?
NEXT STOP - CANTO II: THE UNLOVING
(I jest, of course - I know exactly who the narrator of the Uptie stories is, but we won't be talking about their identity for some time yet. Please look forward to it~)
Except it's not a cockroach, it's an unspecified ungeheueres Ungeziefer.
Except it's not really about that, the same way monster movies aren't really about monsters. Horror is about anxieties - of the era or of the author or maybe both, endlessly repackaged and reprocessed with each new iteration, into something just far enough removed for plausible deniability. The vampire is a distant, inhuman aristocrat who makes livestock of the lower class. The vampire is a charming predator who hides behind a human face, the threat you don't see for what it is until you've already let it into your home and let yourself believe it loves you. The werewolf is the monster in human skin that isn't so controlled, can't be controlled, leaving even the body it inhabits a frightened victim, powerless to prevent the harm it causes by existing. Sometimes when monsters menace and kidnap our women, it's because there's a certain kind of human that the author is really worried about.
The Metamorphosis is about Franz Kafka waking up one morning and realising that without his ability to provide for his family he would be lower than the lowest vermin in the eyes of society, reviled by even his own flesh and blood, and in that state find nothing more comforting than the idea of quietly expiring in the dead of night, never to trouble them again.
It is not always best practice to use a work of art to psychoanalyse the artist, not even generally, but when there is published evidence of Kafka's relationship with his father being so strained that literary critics have no problem believing that the Mr. Samsa of the novella who ultimately condemns Gregor to death by hurling rotten garbage at him in a fit of rage is a stand-in for Hermann Kafka, you have to talk about the elephant in the room. It's not exclusionary, either. Even in an experience so unique and personal I find something so deeply resonant in the way Kafka's Letter To His Father opens "you asked me recently why I claim to be afraid of you. I did not know how to answer, partly for the very reason I am afraid of you, partly because an explanation of my fear would require more details than I could even begin to make coherent in speech." He writes about his father's uncaring and unkind words, in front of him and others, about every comfort and opportunity that he had been given by the sweat of Hermann's brow and yet offered no sign of gratitude or sympathy. The disdain and judgement one feels for the crime of not correctly capitalising on privilege, of squandering the hard work of those around you on which you build your luxurous life. I read those words and I am acutely aware of every way in which Franz Kafka has felt the same things I have felt, grappled with the same fears and insecurities and fragile sense of self I have. Even the most personal of experiences can resonate across time, across countries and cultural boundaries, to the point that in 2011 Sui ishida published a manga half the world away in which the protagonist directly namedrops Kafka's work - and subsequently becomes a creature that is less than human through no particular sin of his own, parasitic and monstrous, worthy of death in the eyes of society, forever grappling with the question of whether he and those like him even deserve to exist.
Canto I of Limbus Company is the story of Gregor, a man who is the son of one of the most powerful women in the world. A man who was used as a quite literal propaganda piece, upholding a shining vision that proved to be a lie for anyone who wasn't born with the same privileges as him. A man who escaped hell by the skin of his teeth, blessed to have escaped grotesque disfigurement and outright shunning from society, to find a second chance at a new job with a new company. A man who, when asked if it's really a sin to live on where others died, where others suffered and failed to reach the same low rung of the ladder you clung to, replies "Yeah. You just can't let it get to you." Nevermind what he suffered at Hermann's hands, nevermind what he suffered in the Smoke War, nevermind how he suffers again and again working for Limbus Company's goals past the point of death. He's internalised all that. He's depersonalised himself to the point that everything he's suffered feels like a bad dream. He can only accept that the way things are is the way they're always going to be, and move forward along the track.
Gregor's base EGO is Suddenly, One Day. It's relatively unique among base EGO in that his base ID can't fuel it at all, and that neither of the sin resources used to fuel it match the sin affinity of the EGO itself. Lust and Gloom make Sloth, helpless dejection in the face of his circumstances. In the art, his prison is twofold - the striped prison jumpsuits that all Sinners share is wrapped around his arm and nothing else - he himself wears his old Smoke War uniform, the nightmare playing out in the world beyond the bars forever. Bound by barbed wire, menaced by shadowy hands and bloodstains, his arm a warped and distended monstrosity chained and sealed by symbols of the Sefirot, his posture hunched yet slack - defeated and accepting. Suddenly, one day, this happened to him, and it's going to keep happening forever.
Touching on the Sefirot briefly - the seals on his arm correspond with the iconography previously used in the series for Malkuth, Gebura, Chesed, Binah and Hokma. To be excessively reductive these represent the earth, strength, mercy, knowledge/understanding and divine wisdom. What these mean specifically for Gregor remains to be seen, but given the series' historical fondness for the Sefirot it's a topic we're sure to revisit down the road.
Let's return to the Smoke War illusion for a moment - in that I was lucky enough to get The Outcast pack in Mirror Dungeon so I could some non-spoiler opponents for an EGO showcase. Specifically, a rematch with our good friend the G Corp Head Manager.
I truly can't tell you whether I somehow bypassed fighting him again in Canto I's story dungeon third floor or didn't and steamrolled so badly I straight-up forgot, but he's here now and boosted enough in power to last more than a couple of rounds. This time he boasts a particularly dangerous skill called Mind Wave, where he releases some kind of psychic blast that inflicts a whopping -15 SP on up to two Sinners on heads hit.
Let's give Gregor the win on at least one small part of his past, shall we?
Suddenly One Day is not a good EGO. Among a selection of actually pretty good base EGO, it stands out as impressively mediocre. Gregor is bad at fuelling it, and the only IDs of his that can don't want to. Its ceiling of 28 is impressive but its floor of 14 is not, even less so when it boasts an unimpressive -1 Offence Level and the truly useless effects of spinning a roulette wheel to decide what status effect it inflicts. Its passive helps keep him alive, with 2 Protection and 15hp restored every turn he starts below 25%, but even 'unleashed' it only serves to horrify, inflicting SP Loss Efficiency on both an ally and an enemy.
And really, isn't that just a perfect marriage of story and gameplay? This arm is something that was forced on him. Gregor doesn't need it, doesn't want it, gains nothing from it besides ostracisation. And yet he can never be free of it - in this world, even severing it completely barely slows it down. In every other world, something happens to his right arm regardless. Every new EGO he gains, the Abnormality's power takes root first in his arm.
In fact let's go ahead and look at his alternative ZAYIN-class EGO, Legerdemain, offered as a free battlepass reward in the very first season of the game. This one he does fuel with his base ID, quite perfectly actually! Its power ceiling is lower but its floor is far higher, and with a whopping 4 Paralyse on 3 ATK Weight it's even desirable for him to use if he happens to get lucky with a speed roll.
Let's demonstrate on Steam Machine, the absolute fucking bastard, whose first appearance in Railway 2 is no longer playable and good riddance.
Here we can see both Golden Apple's domain unbound by Qliphoth Deterrance, and the utility of a high Attack Weight EGO in action - a mere 41 damage doubles just because Steam Machine is a 2-part Abnormality. Thanks to a heads hit, Gregor inflicts a massive 4 Paralyse on his target. What does Paralyse do? Well I'm glad you asked, because it's so powerful that the game has just stopped allowing you to inflict it in such large quantities ever since launch - it fixes the power of the next X coins the target flips to 0, effectively meaning that heads hits are meaningless.
The funny part about it, of course, is that reverse coin skills that lose power on heads are actually buffed by Paralyse, because instead of adding 0 to a low amount of base power you are now subtracting 0 from a high amount of base power.
The extremely funny part is that because Steam Machine also inflicted Paralyse on Gregor in the process of him landing that Legerdemain, despite rolling heads 3 times on the Corrosion next turn he nonetheless clashes and then unleashes it at full power. What's Corrosion? Well I'm glad you asked.
Note the purple light shining behind the cracked screen.
And the caution markers at the corners of the screen where the Awakening had plain green labels.
Remember how I said that when Sinners hit -45 SP they can panic or Corrode? Well, here's the downside to EGO derived from Abnormalities: while their own base EGOs will perform reliably every time (and indeed consumed no SP on launch), extracted EGO has a chance to Corrode on use the lower their SP when firing them, and if they hit -45 they will uncontrollably transform into a mutant hybrid of the Abnormality and their own body, which will proceed to attack indiscriminately next turn before finally letting them snap back to 0 SP. A post-launch update added the ability to Overclock, expending extra sin resources and SP in order to utilise the power and unique effects of an EGO's Corrosion (as opposed to its standard or Awakening version) without risking harm to the team - or just Sending It without enough sin resources to pay the surcharge, Corroding the unit on purpose.
Corroded Golden Apple trades the Tremor and Tremor Burst for guaranteed Paralyse on hit, some Bleed application, and the unique status Maggots which inflicts a little Gluttony damage at turn end before raising the target's Bleed Count by 1. Its passive, here meaning the effect that becomes active the turn after using either form of an EGO for the rest of a battle, gives him a chance to inflict more Maggots on every hit scaling with Gluttony A-Res.
And isn't it just insult to injury that the objectively superior option to the manifestation of his own soul is to mantle the rotten power of the thing that killed Yuri? That it's the more natural fit for him across so many possibilities? And that a rotten apple is what spelled his literary namesake's doom, left lodged in his back where he was powerless to reach it on his own. Rotting, moldering, something that could have been treated if only his loved ones could stomach him long enough to help, until at last a combination of infection and starvation claimed him. But I'm sure our Gregor's gonna be fine, right?
Speaking of Canto I Abnormalities, Outis has the honour of mantling Ebony Queen's Stem, and all respect to my beloved rat woman but this isn't her canto so I'm not screenshotting every inch of her Awakening and Corrosion animations. Of note mainly is her Awakening activation quote, "If this is to seize victory..." and the name of its passive, Stem of Distrust. The quote doubtless alludes to Outis and her namesake's willingness to do whatever it takes to win their wars and return home to their families. Stem of Distrust is a little more cryptic, as Ebony Queen's Stem has more regal and imperious themes than anything duplicitous or treacherous. But you know who is duplicitous and treacherous, at least in aesthetics, and whose namesake is a king? This gal.
I doubt it's a coincidence either that the Trojan War began in myth thanks to Eris' Apple of Discord.
Next is Impending Day, the EGO infamous for being the only thing Sinclair could Corrode into for months and months and months until he finally got Faelantern.
Do not talk about Soup.
Impending Day is in rare company among EGOs in that even its Awakening is a reverse coin skill, punishing him for using it at high sanity and rewarding him for risking using it at low sanity and edging his mental illness like he's trying to open up to his therapist without being committed to the psych ward. It has a particular niche use in being intended to finish off already weakened enemies, offering not only a power boost and team healing for killing, but showering Sinclair in bonus sin resources for killing with its passive active. Funny how it incentivises the boy to murder so much!
Sinclair's time in the spotlight is fast approaching so I won't delve any deeper into the possible symbolism of giving him this EGO, but suffice it to say I think he's well acquainted with the fear of a forever-looming day of reckoning.
Now, let's get back into Identities. I elided much of what's going on with them in the process of hitting the ground running with the story, but as was previously explained in the prologue an Identity is a shard of possibility extracted from another world and used as a kind of 'skin' around the relevant Sinner - granting them the powers, equipment and skill of their other self, while preserving their ego against contamination by the reflection. An Identity's strength is determined by both its level (scaling health, offence and defence level) and its Uptie rank (unlocking combat passive at U2, support passive and skill 3 and U3, and a slew of balance changes trying to save piss-poor launch IDs at U4). Level cap rises by 5 with each new Canto (i.e. with the release of Canto 6 the previous level cap of 40 was raised to 45), and upon completion of Cantos I and II the base IDs are all automatically Uptied to 2 and 3 respectively. There is no way to reverse Uptie rank and I thought it would suit the story better for you to see all base IDs in combat screenshots so I just decided to let it lie - it won't be long until Canto III when the gap closes anyhow. What's important is that once you uptie an extracted ID to 3, Dante gets to take an insightful peek through the crack in the mirror and into the other self's life.
Let's take our first example of a 'story' ID, one explicitly patterned off a character that appears in the relevant Canto's main plot. G Corp Manager Corporal Gregor is a reimagining of Gregor as just another of the rank and file in G Corp's army, one of the boots on the ground rather than the literal posterchild. Doesn't he look all bright and shiny and proud?
With those scraggly antennae on his cheek and bandage over his left eye, he's a dead ringer for Tomah isn't he?
Narrator: "He could've been hacking away. Or perhaps he was stabbing. A medal emblematizing his rank rested at the corner of his chest, as if to acknowledge the troubles he went through. The child's eyes, ones which once shone with a vigorous gleam, have now been drained of any colour."
Narrator: "Was there any meaning to that war? The conflicts of interests between multiple Wings? Perhaps, but were the interests of the many children who fought the war part of them? It certainly would be nice if they were..."
Narrator: "Because, for this child, there's no desire or wish of any kind on his face as he skewers the hearts of one enemy after another. The child used to salute with pure passion in his eyes only a short time ago, but that span wasn't so short in his memory."
Narrator: "And, his tired and battered mind... eventually settled on the conclusion that stifling his emotions amidst bloodshed was the right away to be, or so it would seem."
Narrator: "Alright. If that is for your sake... then, in its own way, it's the right thing to do."
What an odd thing to say, mysterious narrator who uses a completely different narrative voice than Dante. You seem to have your own opinions about how Gregor does or does not process his emotions in this state. Care to elaborate?
No? Okay, let's move on then.
Next is Outis, taking the role of our nameless G Corp Head Manager. It's only natural that she would end up in the world of G Corp - after all, didn't you see the silhouette of a horse back in the previous update...?
Outis: "... F Corp, and E Corp."
Military Court: "... Any others?"
Narrator: "The child was vexed by the question, especially so, as she knew that having the expected answer come out of her mouth would put her standing in jeopardy."
Outis: "... The old L Corp."
Military Court: "What you've just testified would signify that you fought alongside the instigator of the war. Do you admit this?"
Outis: "I was only following G Corp's orders as an employee-!"
Military Court: "Manager Outis, please."
Narrator: "Annoyed by the child speaking out of turn, the judge lifted a hand to stop her from further interruption."
Military Court: "... Manager Outis. Listen, the war has ended. Furthermore, it was your side that won. G Corp acquired what it sought: decades worth of energy from byproducts of the smoke. This court is not being held to find you responsible or punish you. Do you understand?"
Narrator: " 'As if' the child thought to herself. The victory of G Corp's alliance does not mean that its influence extends to the whole City. Rather, it comes with a problem: as the war involved the inextricably intertwined interests of several Wings, the victor will need its justifications. For those sorts of matters... the obvious move for a company would be to appear as innocent as possible in the public eye by reprimanding an easy target..."
Narrator: " 'And that's why I'll be thrown to the wolves', she concluded."
Outis: "... I understand, your honour."
Yet more tantalising hints and tidbits! Is this an alternate universe in which G Corp 'won' the Smoke War, or was the bounty of the old L Corp's fall simply not enough to keep it afloat in any world? Interesting too that the fallen L Corp was apparently the instigator of the war, and that Outis colluded with the as yet unknown F Corp and E Corp. What was her angle? If one 'side' can be painted as analogous to the Achaeans in the proverbial Trojan War, then what does it mean that she fought for so many sides in this world? Did she mastermind the war's end, as implied by her namesake? What brilliant, terrible thing could one woman have done to end such a terrible war - something worth casting her as the scapegoat in a war crimes tribunal, even by the victors?
Outis' time in the spotlight is a long time out yet, and tidbits are still all we have. But it's nice to take stock of the relevant information as it arises all the same.
And last but certainly not least we have Faust, taking the role of Yuri as Lobotomy Corp Remnant Faust.
Narrator: "Her lost right eye, her lost colleagues, her lost workplace, her lost trust. Countless other lost things flashed together in her mind."
Faust: "The job's done. I'll be heading back."
Narrator: "After that short report, the child shoved the transmitted into her pocket. The world within her single-lens view... A dead person, separated into two halves, succumbed on the cold floor of the Backstreets; illuminated by an ill-maintained blue, blinking and flickering."
Faust: "Do you know?"
Narrator: "The child asked a question to someone who couldn't reply. The child, expecting nothing as an answer, goes on."
Faust: "When will Faust's work be recognised?"
Narrator: "No one, not even a common insect, is there to lend an ear to her withered lament."
Faust: "When will I be free of the stigma that binds me to a fallen Wing?"
Narrator: "If there is one thing she hasn't lost, it would be a fact, tying her to the old L Corp... Yes, the fact that she once worked for the company where my children resided."
Faust: "Is there any reason why I had come out alive from that living hell? Is there any place that needs me? Did anybody else survive that sudden burial? What was the meaning of those shining nights and sunless days?"
Narrator: "The child let out a small sigh..."
Faust: "There is nothing that Faust can know."
Narrator: "Her tiny breath scattered away before it could fill that small corner of the alley."
Wait hold on back up what was that part?
Mx Narrator? What was that bit you said about L Corp?
The bit about the company where your children resided?
You gonna elaborate on that?
Hello? Person-Who-Isn't-Dante?
NEXT STOP - CANTO II: THE UNLOVING
(I jest, of course - I know exactly who the narrator of the Uptie stories is, but we won't be talking about their identity for some time yet. Please look forward to it~)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
With... maybe 1 or two exceptions. Namely Bone Claiming.
Yknow, design wise at least. The Fairy Tale it's based on makes it make a little more sense given that the Ebony Queen in this case is based from the Evil Queen from Snow White, that gives her the apple that would put her to sleep forever. The act of which was duplicitous, because the Evil Queen tricked Snow White into eating it, as she wanted to be the "Fairest of them all."
...I'm assuming "characters' literary inspirations" applies to Abnormalities too when there are so many based on fairy tales and myths aha.
No Pablo Mention? This is so sad.
For the fans at home, Pablo (name not official) is the cockroach that you can see in every single Gregor ID. Namely in G Corp Gregor's Splash art, he's on top of Gregs shoulder and then...
He's the shadowy outline, also above Gregor's shoulder. Above his Ponytail really.
We love Pablo.
- Location
- Somewhere on Earth
Which reminds me, Golden Apple also has its own observation log, which, and if you want to talk about yourself I'll delete this, but it does note a couple interesting things:
This is one of the observation logs that directly states who wrote it, though the personal details Gregor gives pretty much nail him as the creator anyway. That said, this is also pretty hard proof that our actual experiences in gameplay aren't necessarily reflective of how they go in the story. Like with the Ebony Queen's Apple, the Sinners' experience with any notable Abnormality are probably going to be way worse than the player's. They only just learned how to beat up the homeless, what do you expect.Observation Log (First Clear) said:
This one kinda contradicts the mechanics of the actual boss fight, but... eh, refer to the first log.Observation Log (Level 1) said:
Of course Vergilius (I assume it was Vergilius, at least) made him write the closing report on that fucking thing. In any case, this also tells us about another (and the more blatant) layer to why Legerdemain fits Gregor so well. The shining golden boy, the propaganda piece for G Corp's draft, and the broken man who tried to escape it. In one sense, Gregor has to mantle what killed Yuri. In another, Yuri died the same way all those G Corp veterans died to Gregor and the Sinners. As victims for their survival. When that abnormality devoured his friend to sprout a face of maggots and rot, Gregor saw a little bit of himself in it. No wonder it fits him, right?Observation Log (Level 2) said:
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ZerbanDaGreat
Daemon Noble of D E M O G R A P H I C S
- Pronouns
- They/them
Sometimes you think of a thing to say and plan to insert it later and then get so wrapped up in the thing you're writing that you forget 😔
Ah yes thank you, I skipped it in the part 3 update so as not to break up the flow of everything from Yuri's death to the end of the canto, but it slipped my mind to add it to the postscript since I was also juggling analysing Suddenly One Day and all the ID stories.
- Location
- Wörms, the half continent
Yuri....
Faut's Yuri Identity was notable, when I played, of being one of the best 00 identities, and was honestly one I had her mantling a lot in the early-ish game. Just had good skills. Honestly don't think I stopped until very close to when I finished playing due to my awful luck with the gacha when it came to Faust.
Faut's Yuri Identity was notable, when I played, of being one of the best 00 identities, and was honestly one I had her mantling a lot in the early-ish game. Just had good skills. Honestly don't think I stopped until very close to when I finished playing due to my awful luck with the gacha when it came to Faust.
Fourthmatchflame
Fangirl of Ryoshu and Scorched Girl
- Location
- A certain Pale Librarians Book.
- Pronouns
- She/Fae
my chargers nearly busted, so i may not be able to comment on this thread soon. unfortunate.
Amazing analysis here, chief. Metamorphosis is a really good tragedy, and it's interesting to see the ways it suffuses into and is adapted by limbus company. Also, it is real nice to have a look back at old ids and egos (wings know it's been a long while since I've used g!greg for anything but his passive...)
Yup! The limbus gang is, canonically, dying a lot more than presented in game. There's a lot of throwing themselves head-first into conflict and winning through attrition that are implied in the narrative, but cannot be truly shown in-game.
I still use yuri!faust in my envy team (though I am somewhat considering switching to multicrack). she's just. such a good 00 id. better than several 000s for less investment, and at little to no conditions. she's so good...
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Fourthmatchflame
Fangirl of Ryoshu and Scorched Girl
- Location
- A certain Pale Librarians Book.
- Pronouns
- She/Fae
shame about the poise count thing.