That opening speech actually brought me to tears. A really incredible performance and it hits something in me that I find very moving. Congratulations to the writers and the actor
It's indeed great and I can agree with him, especially with knowing the taste of a dying world. I also believe that the belief he indicates privately is also correct, that when it comes to our survival as a species, the end justifies the means. If that means shattering our moon and ruining the planet, then so be it.
As a mathematically inclined person and a huge science fiction nerd, the VOHLE engine really scratches my future technology itch perfectly. It's never really explained what the engine does but since they use the terms self-similar space and self-similar traversal, I'm imagining Dolos found a way to somehow manipulate the geometry of spacetime mathematically. Self-similarity is a property of fractal objects. It means that the shape of the entire object is repeated infinitely at different scales within the shape itself. When you have a fractal object, you can choose any subset of points of the object and find a similar arrangement of points elsewhere in it, scaled down and rotated in some way. Similar, in this case, is a mathematical term that describes two objects that have the same shape but may differ in rotation and scale. You may have heard of similar triangles in school, where all the angles are the same but the second triangle may be rotated by an angle or bigger or smaller than the original. Self-similar space suggests that the VOHLE engine does some sort of mathematical operation on spacetime to fractalize it. The pathway to a distant star is extremely long in our universe but a fractal universe is self-similar, so there is an infinite number of copies of the universe within the universe. Reaching the destination star is then just a matter of plotting a course to the nearest self-similar copy of the star you want to go to which may reduce the effective distance you need to travel. Depending on the type of fractalization used, it could imply that the distance is reduced or it could imply that you don't even need to move. Your destination could effectively come to you. I imagine there is some sort of mapping function at work that can map your self-similar location in the fractal universe to the unique point in space in the real world that it corresponds to. This is a process called "unfolding" a fractal. As far as my limited mathematical knowledge takes me, I am guessing the VOHLE engine first folds the universe into a fractal, then the ship moves to a different location, then it unfolds the fractal back into the universe's real shape.
It's fair to say, whatever the Vohle/Ixion drive actually is, it's certainly not just simply a kind of FTL engine as implied by the persons you talk to. "a.k.a. quickly jump to alpha century". Anyway that even after lots of people finished the game and no one can tell with certainy the actual story.. kinda makes it bad writing overall. Gets lots of "Lost" feeling. In the end its just like a dream, it makes sense while you are having it, but in the end if you want to make heads and tails out of to put in into an awesome story, something always just doesn't work.
that seems to be the idea. but if i understand correctly, it would seem that the first attempt didnt quite work, as the self similar space probably just brought them straight back to where they started, unless there was a bit of time spent in proxima centauri. that we were just unable to see. so maybe instead of bending the space, or going to another space that is the universe, for some reason, its like time moved forward or time came to the Tiqqun station. of course this is coming from someone without any knowledge and only common sense.
@@operator_ace8502 As I understood it, they did go to Alpha Cen and then came back immediately to find the solar system destroyed because they somehow traveled in time but I might have misunderstood the situation.
@@gownerjones the only reason i suspect that they never really went anywhere was the small text from the gate ways. where they were suppose to unlock after completing objectives in said system. but us being forced to override the locks with resources. but maybe it could also be the case that the Tiqqun indeed established some resources, but came back to see earth gone.
There is a cyclothrone or some sort of particle accelerator behind Tiqquin, it's moving away from main body before jump. I believe they are generating Fraus-tachyon particles (and a lot of visible radiation), inabeling traversal between our plane of existence to self-similar space.
100% .Vanir starts off barely noticeably awkward/stilted, but in a realistic way- you can feel him building steam, passion as he continues, and his last two line absolutely got me THIS side of the fourth wall..
And yet in the end, what is it? Hot air, bluster, the corporate-slick boastings of an egomaniac. Rather than try and solve the crisis on this home he professes to love--the dirty, grimy work--he instead pursues glory, and ends up destroying everything.
this scene encapsulates 'that escalated quickly' in such an in your face way. playing the game blindly and was so optimistic at the start, I thought the trouble with the colony ship was that it was because it jumped into unknown space then this thing happened and I just feel so sad that we destroyed the moon(and earth as a result) in the process of trying to find a solution to our survival.
As I understand, the Moon was destroyed because of the jump, but not "really" by the Tiqqun. A jump from anywhere in the system would have led to the same result. The damage on the Moon doesn't line up with the ship and looks like it was blown from the inside, not by a ship's exhaust across the surface. But I won't spoil anything (at least more).
@@ALEX_VII It was actually all planned by Vanir. The first VHOLE engine was a weapon designed to destroy the moon due to various corporations on earth trying to repair the planet, and Vanir thought the earth was doomed either way, so he just sped the process up in order to make his work necessary. Of course that failed and he ended up dead.
@@dragonf1recdn Because of the "Anomalous Spheres" (and other objects) in EVERY system Tiqqun jumps to, their properties similar to the Vohle/Ixion engines and their extremely violent reactions to being disturbed in any way, I think the Moon had one "Anomalous Sphere" too. The Spheres were all either in comets or on the planets on the edge of the system. Given the history of the Moon (being created after a collision of Proto-Earth and a Rogue planet) it's not unlikely it could end up buried inside it. I think the jumps trigger this violent reaction from the spheres, only much stronger, enough to destroy a part of the planet. The only immediate result of the jump we see is from the Test Jump when the Tiqqun was leaving it's original Sol (and it's through a cutscene). There is also the aftermath of the Protagora's jump from their Sol. And it's crew says that every Vohle/Ixion jump brings destruction with it. Also my theory is that the Vohle/Ixion jumps are not through time or space, but dimensions. Every system we visit is some variation of Sol. The onboard AI of the Tiqqun - Eden is monitoring and manipulating every bit of information going through station (as she admits it herself). So most of the stuff she tells us can't be trusted, expecially knowing she had the coordinates for or final destination from the start. But after the first jump has a few slip ups in admitting that the second Sol has some inconsistences with ours. Also, the DLS system is designed to monitor and detect any minor inconsistency in crew behaviour, which detects a few instances of some crew being swapped to a parallel versions of them during some events. And in the final system we can also find a torn off copy of a secton of Tiqqun with copies of Tiqqun's current crew inside it, and trigger an event which brings a copy of one of the scince ships to the system. But I might be wrong. As for Vanir - he admits it was planned by him in the ending, but not in much detail.
When the AI talks after the jump, the musical shift, the way it's voice slowly becomes like static as it lists the hopeless situation, the creative team really did well on that part, or rather the entire game honestly in terms of presentation
I haven't seen the trailer before I played the game. This scene hit me so hard I had to collect my jaw from the floor. Not going to lie I think this is the second greatest cinematographic masterpiece after 'Tears in Rain' from the original Blade Runner. Everything just fits and dances like in a musical. So great.
Maybe with a DLC they explain better what happened. I do not believe that only the jump caused this disaster, because when the next jump was close to jupter, apparently the same did not happen.
@@wearver how would you know that it did not happen if they left the solar system? At one point you're told that the IXION drive causes these disasters each time it jumps
@@Foxador it makes sense... so a DLC would be a great time to explain it... or even a spinoff... I don't remember the name of the ship that supported Taqquin, it could be a DLC focused on it, even because there have been several years, not to say thousands of years after the "test"
@@Foxador It wasn't said in a way that was definite but instead a theory. At least as far as I know since I only got as far as three jumps before taking a break and then starting over because reasons.
Dolos claims that the lunaclysm "was inevitable." What that exactly means, nobody gives a straight answer. Really, it doesn't matter. One point is certainly true, humanity will either colonize the stars, or fade into the night.
As every series has a horrible ending, it would be better if they made a movie. It has several elements that if worked right, it would be a film of the same quality style as Interstellar
I just loved that this game got me the same vibes I got when playing Homeworld for the first time, after the Kushan race unite after centuries of civil war to build a mothership to get to their true Homeworld, and they make all this huge effort to get everyone into stasis, and that girl makes the ultimate sacrifice to fuse her brain with the mothership, just to get most people's capsules destroyed in the blink of an eye by some interstellar empire they didn't have a clue It existed. That was so amazingly heartbraking but weirdly inspiring at the same time because the kushan are wit, brave and resourceful, just as humanity in Ixion. Amazing, a true epic journey of survival
The speech really got me hyped, I resonated with it, then I saw Earth DEAD. I never felt so quiet after a scene in my whole life. Made me so sad seeing Earth dead, my eyes got wet.
Considering the amount of erosion needed to wipe most traces of humanity and evaporating the oceans but, being relatively stable afterward... More like a a few thousand to tens of thousands of years is realistic. Less than a hundred and most cities would still be "relatively" intact or at least recognizable derelicts, steel and concrete is really tough you know.
That catastrophe at the begining makes a lot of sense. Scientists probably focused on VOHLE engine working and not killing the crew and forgot about vincinity of the ship. For safety they didn't launch it from Earth but from the Moon. Lastly the Moon was probably a great background for such launch so pr team and maybe even CEO were probably vocal about using it as one.
Spoilers for later in the game, but they knew it would happen. They were also convinced that there was no way for humanity to get to the stars without someone doing it. So they did it first.
that is beautiful. there's so many different visual effects for all kinds of warp/FTL drives in all kinds of different media, and almost every one is unique in some way. this one's definitely one of the best
the vohle jumps cause the tiqqun to appear in a different universe after each jump, which is why we can find other ships (protagoras, etemenanki, and the piranesi) when the tiqque was supposedly a prototype test jump
Yep. The Tiqqun was also a last ditch effort to save the humans in our universe. You can explore the whole original Solar System in the tutorial and learn that we have no more resurses left. The Tiqqun is the last big ship we can create, and we couldnt even finish it, let alone create all the nececary tech for it to function properly. So seeing the "Post Test Jump Solar System" after exploring the original one in the Tutorial, it should be immideatly obvious the two systems are completely differnt. The game contains a lot of events and sidenotes that elude to us jumping between universes. The only reason we aren't told this directly is because the ship's AI is constantly monitoring and redacting the information we are given. The protagonist (us) is living inside a speical pod, connected directly the ship, in order to better manage and control it. In one of the failure endings your qrew can riot and forcefully extract you from that pod. But sometimes the AI makes mistakes because it does not understand some context or contents, and we are given the unfiltered data from which we can uncover the truth about the artifacts we are using as beacons to jump betveen different universes, but to the same star system.
I keep coming back to this video. I think the jump sequence is my favorite cutscene. Just Guillaume David's soundtrack, mixed with super fascinating visuals suggesting complex mathematics, and by god, they didn't put any goofy whoosh brrrr sci fi noises in it at all. Silent space, pretty, interesting visuals, and a fantastic soundtrack. It's just masterful what this little indie game created.
I remember watching this EPIC introduction and Epic failing the jump. I GIVE YOU THE STARS. I GIVE YOU THE VOHLE ENGINE... (Proceeds to epic fail jump and with proud face)
Video's description already answers why: "The first jump of Tiqqun with cutscenes in chronological order." As for the mood, it shouldn't change anyting - the Moon explosion is revealed at the end either way. The original order is: Tiqqun jump - Dolos stage - Moon explodes - Tiqqun jumps back Chronological order: Dolos stage - Tiqqun jump - Moon explodes - Tiqqun jumps back
@@ALEX_VII I disagree, the orignal order was perfect, making you believing that the jump was successful. Plus your version cut right before the explosion, which make it far less impressive.
I don't agree, I would say that humanity itself is the villain. Humans aren't evolved for anything beyond basic survival and it will take many more centuries if not millennia to evolve for a more modern state. It would likely also take a form of eugenics being implemented and only allowing those who are more passive by nature to have children.
