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[GavinUK86]

Just finished it. Wow. It really picks up the narrative slack later on.

I saved everyone and destroyed the Typhon. Took Alex's hand in the post-credits scene.

That was 45 hours well spent.

Need to load a past save and check out other stuff.

 

[Intheflorsh]

I probably just missed the explanation, but I never really understood what the opening simulation was supposed to be testing and why Morgan volunteered to do it.

 

[Moff]

I probably just missed the explanation, but I never really understood what the opening simulation was supposed to be testing and why Morgan volunteered to do it.

I think it had to do with testing the effects of memory loss and personality changes after removing an implant

 

[Revolutionary]

I probably just missed the explanation, but I never really understood what the opening simulation was supposed to be testing and why Morgan volunteered to do it.

They discovered how to use Typhon abilities with neuromods. Morgan volunteered to test them in order to study the Typhon further as well as to understand the Coral that was starting to spread (Morgan suspected it was a neural network). Edit: Study is probably secondary to the fact that the Yus want all the glory for themselves. Morgan and Alex believed that Typhon neuromods were the future of mankind so it's possible that Morgan simply wanted to be the first.
It seems that, as humans, they were only able to install a handful of neuromods at a time, which necessitated an extended testing period. But, as you know, neuromod removals mean the deletion of all memories from when they were installed. So In order to get the best possible test results they decided to revert back to the first day Morgan EVER installed neuromods - hence, the apartment and getting ready for his first day on the job.

I think it had to do with testing the effects of memory loss and personality changes after removing an implant

I think the personality changes were a side effect from so many neuromod wipes.

 

[Intheflorsh]

They discovered how to use Typhon abilities with neuromods. Morgan volunteered to test them in order to study the Typhon further as well as to understand the Coral that was starting to spread (Morgan suspected it was a neural network).
It seems that, as humans, they were only able to install a handful of neuromods at a time, which necessitated an extended testing period. But, as you know, neuromod removals mean the deletion of all memories from when they were installed. So In order to get the best possible test results they decided to revert back to the first day Morgan EVER installed neuromods - hence, the apartment and getting ready for his first day on the job.

I think the personality changes were a side effect from so many neuromod wipes.

That actually makes a lot of sense, thank you.

Edit: That said, I'm still not sure why Morgan would personally take the risk.

 

[pa22word]

I legit thought the game was bugging out hardcore on me at the endgame. I redid the last flyaway like 4 times because of the way the credits transition was handled.

Hilariously enough, this made me think straight back to System Shock 2 trying to play the game on Windows XP the game had a bug where it wouldn't play FMVs at all. None of them are important at all except for the very last one, which is the game's ending. I play the entire game, and beat SHODAN and then the game just dumps me back on the main menu. I thought it was some weird plot twist for the game world falling apart when SHODAN died and the cyberspace world collapsed, and I didn't even know about what was supposed to happen for like a month or so until I found out about the "nah" ending.

I liked my og "ending" better tbqh >.>

 

[EmCeeGramr]

I enjoyed how the game ended up being mostly played straight.

The reveal of December and January destroying him is meant to play off Shock veterans' paranoia that there's a SHODAN twist coming, so the realization that all sides are telling the truth - just a different truth based on a different Morgan - was actually neat.

I knew something was up when I tried to take the escape pod from the December quest and I heard Alex's "this isn't the one." and the female Operator voice, and when the credits started I was confused that wasn't addressed until the end. I actually like the twist.


Anyway, I saw in the other thread that there's a "trolley problem" involving detonating a shuttle that I never saw in my game. Was it because I saved everyone's lives, or because I chose to use the Nullwave and it would have triggered had I headed to the Reactor?

 

[Alucrid]

you probably didn't look at a computer that was in the bridge

 

[EmCeeGramr]

you probably didn't look at a computer that was in the bridge

Ah, I looked at the computer that Alex and January were at, and the one that controlled the camera, so I didn't see that computer.


edit: ha okay, i found it. i had only gone to the bridge earlier to get the volunteer, and somehow missed that second floor entirely

 

[pa22word]

I enjoyed how the game ended up being mostly played straight.

The reveal of December and January destroying him is meant to play off Shock veterans' paranoia that there's a SHODAN twist coming, so the realization that all sides are telling the truth - just a different truth based on a different Morgan - was actually neat.

Yeah, I get that. I basically guessed what was going to happen (the general plot, not the logistics of it) at that single scene. They were either doing SHODAN again (please fucking no christ jesus), or going to be distinctly screwing with the players expectations around it being a SHODAN again. I'm glad they went with the latter, even if I wish they would have just let it alone. Move on from the SHODAN twist guys it's been nearly 20 years. Was it awesome? For sure! But let the genre go someplace else again. Which to be fair they mostly did, but in a very convenient way to the genre and series tropes. Considering how much I really like the rest of the game and think it stands well enough on its own two feet, I wish they would have just left all the narrative stuff to the old games and went on their own way entirely.

 

[Perineum]

Who knows if Morgan even did die, she/he has a penchant for sticking themselves into scientific testing, could have likely done the same from behind the scenes alongside Alex in that ending sequence.
Unless I missed the line where they outright say he's dead.

Oh, and I got baited hard by the Luther Glass quest in the Trauma Center, see I didn't realize he was already dead, so I thought that every time I was spotted trying to take out the Military Operators, Luther was executed-- I mean they play a voice sample when you walk into the room (not that I realized it was a sample at the time), so I reloaded a save right before that encounter dozens of times, trying to save Luther.

I couldn't save Luther.


First thing I checked on my second playthrough.

I forget what was said in the ending by Alex when you are out of the simulation and being judged, but it definitely infers Morgan is no longer around.

 

[pa22word]

I forget what was said in the ending by Alex when you are out of the simulation and being judged, but it definitely infers Morgan is no longer around.

I went back and played through the bridge sequence about 4-5 times, and there's a sequence that starts if you just walk up and press the explosion button while January and Alex are talking that goes into how Alex's biggest regret in this entire experiment was that he lost his own brother that in the delivery I can't help but think makes it part of the canon sequence of events of Morgan Prime. There's a real pain in Wong's delivery that feels strikingly almost placed-in to the convo vs the rest of his lines in which he's just mirroring his own interpretation of Morgan's ideas.

 

[Revolutionary]

That actually makes a lot of sense, thank you.

Edit: That said, I'm still not sure why Morgan would personally take the risk.

I just rewatched a cutscene and I think I may have been a little off with his motivation for volunteering. Study is probably secondary to the fact that the Yus want all the glory for themselves. Morgan and Alex believed that Typhon neuromods were the future of mankind so it's possible that Morgan simply wanted to be the first.
Hard to say anything definitively considering the ambiguity, but that's my take on it.

 

[Morts]

I created my own jump scare after starting the self destruct countdown and just wandering around the bridge area, unexpectedly running into the fake cook in an escape pod and reflexively wrenching him in the face. Is there any other reason for the game making you wait out that countdown in real time?

Skimming this thread it looks like I missed out on some interesting stuff by accidentally killing Igwe. I thought maybe hacking that keypad on his cargo container would fire some thrusters or something...

But yeah, one of January's first lines of dialog made me suspect the simulation aspect. He tells you about how there's more than one way to complete an early objective, then comments on how you do it, as if he's observing you in a simulation! It wasn't until the later I started to suspect that you weren't the real Morgan, but the first time you have one of those visions where characters refer to you as an 'it' makes it pretty obvious.

 

[mishakoz]

I created my own jump scare after starting the self destruct countdown and just wandering around the bridge area, unexpectedly running into the fake cook in an escape pod and reflexively wrenching him in the face. Is there any other reason for the game making you wait out that countdown in real time?

Skimming this thread it looks like I missed out on some interesting stuff by accidentally killing Igwe. I thought maybe hacking that keypad on his cargo container would fire some thrusters or something...

But yeah, one of January's first lines of dialog made me suspect the simulation aspect. He tells you about how there's more than one way to complete an early objective, then comments on how you do it, as if he's observing you in a simulation! It wasn't until the later I started to suspect that you weren't the real Morgan, but the first time you have one of those visions where characters refer to you as an 'it' makes it pretty obvious.

You can sit in the captains chair and it will skip the countdown.

 

[OBias]

I guessed the whole "you're a typhon with a human mind" thing pretty early, after the logs about placing human neurons in Phantoms.

Then I was kinda disappointed when it didn't play out.

Then the post-credits scene happened.

Yeah, Alex also mentioned mirror neurons when you met the trapped convict in Psychotronics. I put these things together and expected myself to be this Project Cobalt subject who is supposed to learn empathy.

I wonder how the Earth became infested. Perhaps the shuttle we could destroy was spared by the real Morgan, and it was really carrying mimics.

 

[GameAddict411]

It was pretty clear from the beginning of the game that it's a simulation of some kind. There was a nice hint when you can use Alex's escape pod, but if you do it says that you "failed the test" or something like that. It seems that the real world is already destroyed. They didn't make it clear how, but it seems that the subject being tested is a human/alien hybrid. I guess to bridge the gap between the humans and the aliens. A lot of choices in the end of the game don't really matters. What matters if you pass the test or not is how you treated the crew and the characters if they survive. Now I am curious how they infested the earth? Did the same events happen on the real Talos 1 and Morgan failed to save the station and stop the aliens? Or was it a failed experiment on earth? Either way, it seems the situation on earth is pretty dire. I really loved the game despite the significant amount of back tracking done to do the side quests. I think the game was super pretty and enjoyable. I didn't like the military robots in the end. They were hard as fuck to kill. Dahl got under my skin and I really questioned if I really wanted to spare him. But saving the station could only be done by saving him as well. I am really interested as to how they make a sequel to this. I want to see more for sure.

 

[terencecah]

I grew tired of the combat after seeing dahl's shutter and pretty much just turbo'd the game until the end, first run was about 15 hours

cool game

 

[xErotic]

Was there any background as to why Alex and Morgan's father orders Dahl to kill everyone on Talos 1 including his children?

Or are we just to assume that the Yu parents are heartless assholes?

 

[OmarTheHippo]

Was there any background as to why Alex and Morgan's father orders Dahl to kill everyone on Talos 1 including his children?

Or are we just to assume that the Yu parents are heartless assholes?

Probably the heartless asshole

The thing is, we have no idea how much of the simulation was REAL, and how much was programmed as a test. Besides Alex, any of the characters could have been fictional, or any of the dramatic events. The entire Dahl storyline could have been fictional considering your actions towards Dahl were used as evaluation criteria at the end

I know Alex says the simulation was based on Morgan's memories, but since neither ending scenario can actually be what happened (the Typhon weren't destroyed because earth is infested, and the station wasn't destroyed since Alex is alive), it's not a genuine memory. It's tough to draw any conclusions about the events and what did/didn't happen

 

[chrominance]

Probably the heartless asshole

The thing is, we have no idea how much of the simulation was REAL, and how much was programmed as a test. Besides Alex, any of the characters could have been fictional, or any of the dramatic events. The entire Dahl storyline could have been fictional considering your actions towards Dahl were used as evaluation criteria at the end

I know Alex says the simulation was based on Morgan's memories, but since neither ending scenario can actually be what happened (the Typhon weren't destroyed because earth is infested, and the station wasn't destroyed since Alex is alive), it's not a genuine memory. It's tough to draw any conclusions about the events and what did/didn't happen

I haven't yet gone back to try this, but do you have the option to save Alex if you decide to destroy the station? There's a conspicuously empty fourth seat on the shuttle (the other three seating Elazar, Igwe and Ilyushin. From what I can tell, you can let Alex destroy January and then press the self-destruct anyways. In that scenario, it might be possible for the station to blow up while still keeping Alex alive. The Typhon could've just hitched a ride on the shuttle.

Alternatively, the nullwave device might not have worked as well as Morgan and Alex hoped, so the real Morgan might have seen the original plan through, only for it to be the wrong choice.

Since it's a simulation, it's less interesting, but I was really hoping for some kind of ending that acknowledges you did everything possible to contain the spread of the Typhon (though I personally screwed this up on my playthrough so maybe there actually is one!). You would've had to, at minimum:

1) kill Dahl, so no one can use his shuttle to escape;
2) fail the sidequest where two people are trapped in an escape pod and need you to open the exterior station hatch;
3) destroy the outbound shuttle remotely in the captain's nest on the bridge;
4) destroy the station;
5) sacrifice yourself.

 

[OmarTheHippo]

I haven't yet gone back to try this, but do you have the option to save Alex if you decide to destroy the station? There's a conspicuously empty fourth seat on the shuttle (the other three seating Elazar, Igwe and Ilyushin. From what I can tell, you can let Alex destroy January and then press the self-destruct anyways. In that scenario, it might be possible for the station to blow up while still keeping Alex alive. The Typhon could've just hitched a ride on the shuttle.

Alternatively, the nullwave device might not have worked as well as Morgan and Alex hoped, so the real Morgan might have seen the original plan through, only for it to be the wrong choice.

Since it's a simulation, it's less interesting, but I was really hoping for some kind of ending that acknowledges you did everything possible to contain the spread of the Typhon (though I personally screwed this up on my playthrough so maybe there actually is one!). You would've had to, at minimum:

1) kill Dahl, so no one can use his shuttle to escape;
2) fail the sidequest where two people are trapped in an escape pod and need you to open the exterior station hatch;
3) destroy the outbound shuttle remotely in the captain's nest on the bridge;
4) destroy the station;
5) sacrifice yourself.

Ya it's really tough to determine what part of the story actually happened to the real Morgan or how much was the simulation. In some ways it undermines the player impact; none of your decisions had any impact whatsoever on the station's fate (if the station ever existed at all...). But I've played enough games where I single handedly saved a world I didn't care about. Viewing the game as simply an exploration of cool ideas felt worth the money for me, and the ending was just another cool idea on top

It's interesting how you phrase it, hoping that the game acknowledged you did everything possible to stop it. Since the game takes place after whatever happened occurred, there is no "you" to stop it. The way I read the ending, Morgan was the villain. Everything you learn about him/her during the game paints Morgan as the villain. In my head cannon, January is a construct of the simulation. The Typhon we play in the game is just as much Morgan as we the player are; zero. I didn't interpret it as "playing out the real Morgan's memories" because Alex is analyzing our DECISIONS not our REACTION to someone else's actions

It's weird they used Morgan's memories as an attempt to teach the Typhon empathy, when the real Morgan seemed to show no empathy at all based on the logs. That's the only part that felt weird to me

 

[Lime]

Wow, that ending..that's just too abrupt. I need more than that, especially if new shit comes to light.

I get what they were trying to go for, but the execution was really lacking. Too many new questions and a complete lack of denouement of the plot and the characters that I was invested in. The Leave ending with the shuttle with everyone being saved I sweriiusly thought was bugged because it ended so abruptly.

Kind of disappointing to be honest to an otherwise entertaining game with some decent sidequests.

It's also funny to see so many people I've talked to blazed through the final part of the game and just speedran all the areas. I thought I was the only one who just got tired of cleaning areas but I guess not.

 

[OmarTheHippo]

Wow, that ending..that's just too abrupt. I need more than that, especially if new shit comes to light.

I get what they were trying to go for, but the execution was really lacking. Too many new questions and a complete lack of denouement of the plot and the characters that I was invested in. The Leave ending with the shuttle with everyone being saved I sweriiusly thought was bugged because it ended so abruptly.

Kind of disappointing to be honest to an otherwise entertaining game with some decent sidequests.

It's also funny to see so many people I've talked to blazed through the final part of the game and just speedran all the areas. I thought I was the only one who just got tired of cleaning areas but I guess not.

I think they reward anyone who feels like the ending was disappointing by letting you murder everyone

 

[Lijik]

My fourth seat had the prisoner from Psychotronics in it fwiw. Itd be neat if there was a way to get Alex there


I wasnt too let down by the abrupt ending but only because that seems to be Arkanes MO at this point after the past two dishonoreds and the firsts dlc. Its something I wish theyd improve on but also something im braced for.

My theory is the outbreak on Talos 1 happened, and Morgans decisions led to the invasion on Earth. The simulation recreates the outbreak and has variables set up to gauge what the Typhon would do in Morgans place. Granted thats just something quick and loose, i havent thought about it too deeply so maybe it doesnt hold up.

 

[SomTervo]

I never met Danielle either. Is she physically in the game?

I probably just missed the explanation, but I never really understood what the opening simulation was supposed to be testing and why Morgan volunteered to do it.

As Revolutionary said, i think Morgan is constantly testing Typhon neuromods and unwriting them.

They create the simulation to ease him back into things after they wipe the mods.

Wow, that ending..that's just too abrupt. I need more than that, especially if new shit comes to light.

I get what they were trying to go for, but the execution was really lacking. Too many new questions and a complete lack of denouement of the plot and the characters that I was invested in. The Leave ending with the shuttle with everyone being saved I sweriiusly thought was bugged because it ended so abruptly.

Kind of disappointing to be honest to an otherwise entertaining game with some decent sidequests.

It's also funny to see so many people I've talked to blazed through the final part of the game and just speedran all the areas. I thought I was the only one who just got tired of cleaning areas but I guess not.

You watched to the end of the credits right?

 

[CypherSignal]

I never met Danielle either. Is she physically in the game?

Yes, but in a limited form. I don't know exactly what plot state she'll be available in, but there's a large pool adjacent to the fitness center (Crew Quarters, right?) where you can bang a window a few times and she'll come over and say hi. Iirc, there was a quest that breadcrumbs you over to the window?

 

[uncredited male]

Alex could have conceivably escaped in his pod after January knocks him out.

D. Sho is in the game but it is an optional 10 second or so encounter by the pool window.

The hard thing about trying to match up the game events with actual events is the 4 operators at the end. They don't fit into any ending possibility easily. Maybe they were added into in Morgan's memories, or actually are the personalities of those people who were scanned. But it seems unlikely some of them would have cooperated with Alex if the simulation was that accurate.

I like the personality shift with Morgan. The more Morgan's mind was wiped the more altruistic/good Morgan becomes.

The original Morgan (prime?) is heartless and has no problem killing people for research, December is Morgan who is not as outwardly evil but is still concerned with self-preservation first and foremost, January is Morgan who wants to do good but struggles with empathy, the Morgan you hear in the pysch evaluation is "good" Morgan trying to stop the project and help people.

I think this is what ultimately leads to Morgan being locked into the simulation by Alex to try and restore Morgan prime.

 

[Primethius]

Unfortunately, the story for me was a huge miss. There are aspects I like, but it was executed poorly almost across the board.

And that sucks in a game like this, where the world is so interesting. I enjoyed the game despite the story but I chalk that up to Arkanes brilliant work on the level design and general feel and look of Talos I.

For the most part, the story felt too rushed. It never really let itself breath, never really established why I should care about any of the characters or even the world. And the audio logs and emails are just mostly bland so having them flesh out the world doesn't work when the game relies on it so much. Off the top of my head, I really only liked the Danielle audio logs because they tied into the side quest in a very cool and direct way. The rest I grew tired of and they were largely a bore to listen too.

Had this game a better executed story, I'd have it dethrone Bioshock 1 as an overall experience. But because the story just falters from the get go and there's quite a few things that are immersion breakers throughout the experience, it ends up being just a great game to me rather than a masterpiece.

 

[chrominance]

For me, the mundane nature of the emails and audiologs is actually what sells the world to me. Like, it's basically a corporate office atmosphere like everything else, except that a) they also perform sinister scientific experiments of dubious moral fiber and b) when that inevitably backfires, everything goes to shit fast. So the blandness actually helps for me.

I'd actually put Prey's audiologs and emails above the original Bioshock, if only because it's not just people pontificating on their philosophical beliefs in isolation. In Prey, people actually talk to each other, and they talk about dumb bullshit that doesn't matter: petty fights over credit, lovers' quarrels, dumb nerf gun bullshit and trying to impress girls with engineering knowhow, an old man desperately trying to remember his late wife, etc. Prey is not just a series of soliloquies. Bioshock may have a more cogent thesis to present, but Prey is the one that feels more like actual people living in a space with each other. At least, that's how I saw it.

Re: Danielle. Yeah, there's definitely a string of emails or audiologs that takes you to that window. In fact, it might have been an actual sidequest, because I think there was a quest marker for it. It's essentially pointless, except that it alerts you to the cook in Crew Quarters, and then the Danielle operator uses that as a judgement criterion during the ending. But otherwise, it's really just there so you can finally meet this person whose voice logs and notes you've been digging into for an hour or two. Also, because it was essentially the first contact you have with a human being in the whole game, and because she's essentially doomed and can't help you out there, I found that whole section weirdly touching. I wonder if you can find her body out there.

 

[OmarTheHippo]

Re: Danielle. Yeah, there's definitely a string of emails or audiologs that takes you to that window. In fact, it might have been an actual sidequest, because I think there was a quest marker for it. It's essentially pointless, except that it alerts you to the cook in Crew Quarters, and then the Danielle operator uses that as a judgement criterion during the ending. But otherwise, it's really just there so you can finally meet this person whose voice logs and notes you've been digging into for an hour or two. Also, because it was essentially the first contact you have with a human being in the whole game, and because she's essentially doomed and can't help you out there, I found that whole section weirdly touching. I wonder if you can find her body out there.

She sends her girlfriend a message saying where she is and to bang on the window. Her girlfriend's body is in the freezer in the kitchen, murdered by the cook

I don't know how people find her without that note. Who is going around banging on pool windows otherwise?

I also don't know why we never rescue her. I know airlocks were blocked at one point in the story, but we're never even tasked with checking on her when they're unlocked. I kept waiting and it never happened

 

[superjona]

You can take Alex's hand in the post-credits scène. I played through the two endings but didn't realize you could do this.

Also, I must've missed the fact that the Earth was typhonized because I didn't notice until I read this thread. Bit of an unsatisfying ending.

 

[OmarTheHippo]

You can take Alex's hand in the post-credits scène. I played through the two endings but didn't realize you could do this.

Also, I must've missed the fact that the Earth was typhonized because I didn't notice until I read this thread. Bit of an unsatisfying ending.

Did you not play the post credit scene at all? The post credit scene is a huge part of the ending. The earth being infested is a big dramatic reveal where he turns your chair around and shows you all the video screens of earth. It's the entire reason your character exists...

 

[superjona]

Did you not play the post credit scene at all? The post credit scene is a huge part of the ending. The earth being infested is a big dramatic reveal where he turns your chair around and shows you all the video screens of earth. It's the entire reason your character exists...

Just the typhon sitting in the chair, with Alex and the three human operators. Alex said something in the lines of "start over" and then it fades to black and goes to the main menu.

 

[OBias]

Just the typhon sitting in the chair, with Alex and the three human operators. Alex said something in the lines of "start over" and then it fades to black and goes to the main menu.

This is the bad ending, you weren't empathetic enough. The good ending is longer.

 

[Rymuth]

One thing still eludes me - who is/was October?

 

[Morts]

One thing still eludes me - who is/was October?

You're supposed to think it's an Operator created by Morgan from a "reset" prior to when he/she created January. But really it's a test in the simulation to see if you're an empathetic Typhon or not.

I brought this up in the other thread, but is there any reason to think the Talos 1 incident has basis in the fiction's "reality? As I see it the whole idea of the station could've been created by Alex for his Typhon test.

 

[chrominance]

You're supposed to think it's an Operator created by Morgan from a "reset" prior to when he/she created January. But really it's a test in the simulation to see if you're an empathetic Typhon or not.

I brought this up in the other thread, but is there any reason to think the Talos 1 incident has basis in the fiction's "reality? As I see it the whole idea of the station could've been created by Alex for his Typhon test.

I suppose it's possible, but it sort of defies believability. If the Typhon menace is as bad as the images show, would Alex be given the opportunity to build an elaborate fiction with multiple interwoven storylines aboard a space station that might not have existed and thus would've had to be designed, or would the powers that be have told him to get on with it and work with what we already have?

Or to put it another way, I doubt Alex would have essentially rebuilt the game Prey from scratch in the middle of a global catastrophe.

 

[Dipper145]

Got a little annoyed at the end, went to blow up the station and it started a countdown, the quest marker was on the chair, which I assume you would just sit in and watch it explode, but I couldn't interact with it at all, so I just had to wait like 7 minutes for the game to end.

 

[ichtyander]

I brought this up in the other thread, but is there any reason to think the Talos 1 incident has basis in the fiction's "reality? As I see it the whole idea of the station could've been created by Alex for his Typhon test.

Alex specifically says in the post-credits scene that "what you experienced was a reconstruction based on Morgan's memories." It's kinda hard to know what were the actual events, but we can assume there was a Talos I station, Alex and Morgan encountered the Typhon and experimented on them with the Neuromods, things went terribly wrong, people died, Alex managed to survive a trip back to Earth, Morgan either died or turned into a Phantom at some point and Earth was invaded by the Typhon. It's also very probable that the main characters you see as Operators in the end have all died on Talos I and have been reconstructed by Alex as assistants (which makes the whole thing even more creepy), rather than being completely made up constructs for the purposes of the simulation.

It's really open to interpretation but I think it's probable that "you", the Typhon put into the simulation is actually Morgan turned Phantom, kept by Alex for a long time, maybe years, trying to form that bridge between the species. It would make the whole thing a bit more personal, Alex trying to bring his brother back in a way, and making the human bond a bit stronger by forcing the Phantom to reconnect with its former human self. On the other hand, the early escape pod ending with the "We failed. This isn't the one. Start over." dialogue might imply they're just rounding up Phantoms and testing them, one by one, trying to "create" a more humane and compassionate Typhon instead of just repeating the simulation on a "mutated" Morgan.

The story is basically an "it was all a dream" scenario, but it (arguably) cleverly redeems itself by making the "dream" be based on actual events, so it doesn't make everything you've seen and done be irrelevant.

 

[superjona]

Got a little annoyed at the end, went to blow up the station and it started a countdown, the quest marker was on the chair, which I assume you would just sit in and watch it explode, but I couldn't interact with it at all, so I just had to wait like 7 minutes for the game to end.

That's weird. It fast-forwarded for me.

 

[Rexatality]

One thing still eludes me - who is/was October?

My impression is that October is an Operator that was closer to the original personality of Morgan. Early on the tests, she decided to make the Operator in case she suffers from memory losses during the tests. You can see the disassembled the Operator and it's audio output on the workstation in Morgan's cabin

Back then, "original" Morgan believed using the prototype Nullwave device would contain the Typhon threat without killing them or destroying the station and all the research.

Btw, for those who decided to destroy Talos 1, you need to sit on the chair at the captain's loft to fast forward the countdown

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

I'm not nearly as down on the ending as most people ITT. The game makes it obvious at several points that there's something still going on, and it doesn't overplay the twist trying to be too clever with itself. Nor does it really go out of its way to lie to the player, most of the puzzle pieces were lying around and even with only a few of them you were steered in the general direction of what is happening even if you didn't know the precise details. For me I didn't see it coming exactly as it did, I was expecting it to be the case that I was a clone Morgan or an alternate reality search or something (based on mimic research referring to swapping in objects from parallel universes) but did not suspect I was still in a simulation until I got the early optional ending to see what would happen. I was also putting together puzzle pieces that weren't actually part of the puzzle - I had an internal theory that the operators Morgan built for herself were based on the date when she was running through tests and smiulations. October, then December, then January, all created by different iterations who had different philosophies and personality traits that developed during their testing. Equivalent to Planescape's Paranoid/Good/Practical incarnations.

Compared to something like Bioshock Infinite it was refreshingly non twisty, in the sense that it doesn't really try to fully blow you away with ridiculous charades and extreme plot contrivances.

In terms of where the story took you in the end, I was surprised by Earth already having been overrun and a lot of the thematic elements, like January's suddenly very introspective dialogue about humanity's place in the cosmos was well written. Far, far more interesting than some fucking bullshit about lighthouses and girls.

 

[ilium]

I was also putting together puzzle pieces that weren't actually part of the puzzle -I had an internal theory that the operators Morgan built for herself were based on the date when she was running through tests and smiulations. October, then December, then January, all created by different iterations who had different philosophies and personality traits that developed during their testing. Equivalent to Planescape's Paranoid/Good/Practical incarnations.

Yeah, that was my take on operators as well.
There's an email that talks about Morgan requesting enough parts to build an operator five times over before the experiments start.
-There's October we know only from one audiolog as far as I can tell.
-There seems to be no mention of November.
-December is a secret escape plan in case the experiments go wrong. (After having learned more about the Typhon?)
-January wants to destroy the station. (After having learned even more?)
-No mention of February.
Doesn't mean November and February have to exist of course, some experiments could have taken two months obv.

And I think they actually were part of the puzzle:
There's a whiteboard with Thorstein's projects and I assumed project Blackbox was either the original simulation or relevant to what was happening since I was looking for allusions to Control Theory and Cybernetics after having read one of the books in Morgan's room right at the beginning. There's also a book about consciousness.

Turns out tho, that project Blackbox was about the military operators mounted with Q-Beams, not the simulation(s). I don't know however why those operators specifically are called blackbox operators (other than them maybe being an inherent part of the simulation/blackbox, while the others are not? But that doesn't seem to make much sense)
In systems theory a blackbox is a system of which only the output is relevant, not what happens within.
And an operator or controller "manipulates the inputs to a system to obtain the desired effect on the output of the system".
For example January at one point says: "Knowing the corals real purpose will reinforce your desire to destroy it"
So I thought the Typhon simulation is a blackbox where the desired output (empathy, which Typhon's lack according to one dialog in M's office) is achieved by input from the operators based on Morgan's personality (to some extend at least)

 

[OBias]

Turns out tho, that project Blackbox was about the military operators mounted with Q-Beams, not the simulation(s).

The simulation is actually called Project Cobalt, by the way. It's even mentioned as the backup plan on the whiteboard at Alex's safehouse.

 

[ilium]

The simulation is actually called Project Cobalt, by the way. It's even mentioned as the backup plan on the whiteboard at Alex's safehouse.

Right, I think the audiolog about putting human neurons into Typhon had that name in it as well.

 

[chrominance]

The simulation is actually called Project Cobalt, by the way. It's even mentioned as the backup plan on the whiteboard at Alex's safehouse.

Actually, that puts an interesting twist on your parents. After you manage to get into Dahl's shuttle, you can listen to an audio message from your dad to Dahl telling him to grab everything related to Project Cobalt and destroy everything else. Dahl asks if he means EVERYTHING, and dad says yes. At the time, it felt like your parents trying to salvage the very experiments that caused the initial typhon outbreak. But what if they actually knew or believed the station--and possibly the Earth--was already lost, and were instead trying to salvage the one thing that might save humanity in the end? It seems like an unusually sympathetic angle for them to take, but also makes you and Alex seem even more like monsters in a way (since it's heavily implied that Alex and the original Morgan opposed this decision because they trusted the nullwave).

 

[Rexatality]

@illium: In regards to October, when you go to Morgan's Cabin in Crew Quarters, you'll find a disassembled Operator and an audio output that says "October" in Morgan's Workstation with a number of audio logs that discusses about important people to Morgan.

So October must have been disassembled while Morgan was going through the experiments.

 

[Hopeford]

Literally just finished it.

What I really liked about the game is that it highlighted how Morgan was an entirely different person every "reset" but also wasn't. He was always an overconfident, arrogant scientists who thought little of his brother and was certain he was right. But over each reset he seems to change just what the hell he wants to do.

But yeah I liked the ending because it wasn't really a twist. It felt like a way to punctuate the story. It was very well foreshadowed and it didn't feel like it was brought out of the left field or whatever.

I do wish we knew what exactly happened in the real world though. Gonna try to put things together a little:

-There WAS an attack on Tales because Alex specifically said the incident was based on Morgan's memories.

-Something, at some point, happened to Morgan. This doesn't mean that Morgan died during the invasion, he can have died, have had a falling out with Alex, was turned into a phantom, a thousand different things. But Alex wouldn't be specifically trying to use his brother as a model if there wasn't a reason for it. Hell, there's even a chance that Morgan is cool and alive but changed personality so much from the constant neuromodding that he doesn't want to do anything sciency anymore. Hencec Alex's constant "I want you back to how you used to be..." stuff. Granted, Morgan could also be the phantom that's getting modded into being human again.

-Neuromods in-game mention they can extend lifespans indefinitely.

-There is literally zero reason for Alex's simulation to show us modern day looking normal if it had been Typhon'd for a while.

So my timeline goes like this:

Morgan starts the experiments. He presumably creates one different robot every month he wakes up because of the side-effects. Shit goes down, he escapes. His Batman levels of paranoia conflict with each other. In the end, he chooses not to destroy Talos and keep the research alive. I'm assuming that's the canon ending because they make a big deal about how the entire research would be lost if Talos blew up, and evidently they've been living in a pretty big society so...

This eventually leads to the present day we see in the ending, some X years after that.

Granted, whether the society is just exploiting the living hell out of the technology or whether it's a dystopia is something I didn't super get, but I figure they are being at least partially vague for sequel's sake.

Speaking of which, really interested where they take this with a sequel if it happens.

 

[Rexatality]

Since this is the spoiler thread, I felt like posting this podcast which I had the displeasure of listening to it:

http://www.bulletpointspodcast.com/post/161359592822/episode-41-prey

Its 1 hour long, so to keep it short:

- They say the game is bad because they didn't care about the people
- They feel the game is too hard
- They feel the main plot is bad because it isn't direct to them
- To them, storytelling elements like e-mails, audio logs, and so forth are insulting to them

Oh, and they hated the 0451 reference. So basically, rather than accept the fact that Prey wasn't for them, they outright hated it.

I know I sound like a fanboy, but what I heard was more of nitpicking and making baseless statements rather than just constructive criticism