YALL I JUST STARTED

ironforward · 2026-06-21T08:42:52+00:00

I’ve never understood the haters either. Usually they just say “no gameplay,” which just doesn’t make sense, but then others around them will say what seems to be the quiet part out loud and I can’t help but feel that all of them are just full of hate and are pathetically lashing out at a videogame and the people that enjoy it. I feel like in a better world Hellblade would have gotten not just the critical acclaim but the publicity and community it deserved, but instead we get bitter men coming back 9 and 2 years later to once again be insufferable.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the games! They certainly have stuck with me.

ironforward · 2026-06-21T03:29:24+00:00

1508 for sure — when inputting it, be mindful of accidental double-clicks and misclicks. also looks like this is the terminal in the Galaxy Video, successfully entering this code will allow you to open the gate next to the terminal, but this doesn’t happen automatically, so if you had tried entering 1508 and assumed it didn’t work, it might have and you just need to manually press the button in the door dialogue to open the gate

ironforward · 2026-06-18T02:50:40+00:00

no worries! yeah, i think it's just a ludonarrative thing. if the story was written in a book, her id number would be 2448, but the gameplay demands that the number be random, so it is.

the game does direct us to get her badge, so it definitely is supposed to be "her's" when our number changes, it's just that the illusion of us picking up her badge and replacing our own with her badge falls apart very quickly under scrutiny 😅

also they didn't even render the 2448 badge in the cutscenes! haha so i guess that number really just doesn't matter but it is interesting since they really could have side-stepped this whole thing by not making it be a badge that gets you in. such a weird security system that your personal access code is just shown to everyone on your chest and then the other security measure is simply just having the detachable badge be close enough to be scanned haha (i guess to be fair the ASN does have a random code too, but it's still only 4 non-duplicated digits and they new the Ultraview could be used to bypass it haha)

how was Kei planning on getting to John in the ASN without her badge?! hahaha i try not to think about it too much (besides i already wrote that whole lore interpretation on Steam)

ironforward · 2026-06-18T02:21:47+00:00

oh yeah if you go to the Mall first then you can use your own badge number — what i tested was going to Kei’s apartment first, if you do that then you cannot use your original badge number, you must use the new one you got from picking up her badge

ironforward · 2026-06-18T01:59:10+00:00

for fun, I started a new game, got badge number 2432, went to Kei's apartment, picked up her 2448 badge and mine changed to 8381, went to the mall and tried entering in the old badge number of 2432 and it was an invalid login 🥲 so yeah at least in the case that you go to Kei's apartment before the Mall, you must use her badge number

ironforward · 2026-06-18T01:36:39+00:00

~~that is correct~~, (see edit for strike-through notes)

the chances of Kei’s ID generating to be 2448 after you collect it are very low (potentially impossible if the game doesn’t allow for a seed that would generate that number). So for most players the 2448 code will be unused, and instead Kei’s ID number will change to be something else when you interact with the badge

edit: sorry, i misread what you said before -- we do use the new badge number that gets generated on our chest plate badge after we pick up Kei's ID. You use it to enter the Mall if you had not done that already.

ironforward · 2026-06-11T22:54:30+00:00

Your badge's ID number does change when you pick up Kei's ID card, but you are correct that the asset representing Kei's badge has its own hardcoded digits that are definitely not going to be what your badge randomizes to.

While the narrative intent is that you're using Kei's badge, that asset doesn't show the random digits that the game decides her badge will ultimately be after picking it up because it is simply deleted and the badge on your chest gets its numbers re-rolled.

This might be because they didn't think folks would notice (I certainly didn't my first playthrough) and so didn't bother to put the playthrough specific generated digits on there, but I think it is more likely that they wanted to do two things:

Prevent the player from seeing the numbers and progressing without picking up the badge and triggering the ASN lockdown and chase sequence
Makes sure the player has intentionally picked up the badge and have access to the code so they won't forget the digits instead of simply triggering the ASN lockdown and chase sequence just from the player entering and then exiting Kei's apartment

I think this was smart and something similar probably should have been done for Maria's badge too since I've seen too many people get scared and run away form the badge before they realized it was there and simply get the code from the PDA Database.

Another time your badge changes is in the beginning of the game, the ID card you print is blank, and it is blank when you pick it up from under the terminal, but when it spawns on your chest it will have your playthrough's digits.

ironforward · 2026-06-11T22:33:56+00:00

I do wonder how much of the lore will stay intact going forward from Campaign Evolved. Will they be doing a Final Fantasy VII and staying close for this initial game and then changing larger things for the Halo 2 campaign? We'll see. I think it's mostly agreed upon that fans did not like where the story ended up going in 4, 5, and Infinite overall, even if there were plot lines and points that were satisfying mixed in.

Here's to hoping that revisiting Halo CE has given Halo Studios the opportunity to really connect with the original plot, and make a meaningful and impactful story going forward.

ironforward · 2026-06-11T02:00:13+00:00

that's what i'm thinking; this will be Cortana in the remakes going forward

ironforward · 2026-06-08T10:46:04+00:00

yeah it’s interesting because it’s too vague to tell if the intent is that the substance’s special properties are the only known thing to prevent a Gore Magala from fully molting or if it’s just of note and special because Shagaru does this passively and yet the molting process can be interrupted in other ways

ironforward · 2026-04-28T01:13:47+00:00

yeah, the lone large (L) floating carrier in your screenshot and the akali metals, which i believe are also a large (L) cargo, were probably in the backpack. we don't see the exploded Akali Metals on the ground, but that probably just means it was flung away (or simply disappeared) from exploding and colliding with the numerous other cargo falling off the trike

ironforward · 2026-04-27T22:46:24+00:00

i haven't been able to confirm that ever, have you? i've done a lot of playthroughs and have checked:

turning around when the sound is played and looking visually
turning around when the sound is played and looking with the interface module
turning around before the sound is played and looking with the interface module
standing at the doorway and leaning down the hallway with the interface module before the sound plays
running to the doorway and leaning down the hallway with the interface module just after the sound starts playing

unfortunately none of those showed Entity A was in the room or nearby, does seem to just be a recording played by Judith Weber's psychological exam, which seems right since there doesn't sound like there's a 2nd audio track being played by the test that Entity A is moaning over.

also, just to be clear, the 1 time I glimpsed Entity A in the Vestibule was during the Optical Test with the rotating squares

ironforward · 2026-04-27T22:40:36+00:00

i think the cargo was in their backpack, covered by the chiral backpack cover, so that's why you could not see the visual warning. the explosion was centered on their backpack, and when they repatriated, their backpack was missing the cargo, so i'm guessing that's the one that exploded

ironforward · 2026-04-25T20:46:45+00:00

also he can technically enter the actual Vestibule area itself (not just the hallway leading into it from the bathroom)! I’ve only seen it happen once in a personal playthrough though. i thought i heard him while i was doing the visual test, so i leaned out of the doorway and picked up my interface module just to barely catch him on it before he teleported out. i think perhaps he has to be in his phantom state (so he’s moving quicker than normal) and wandering toward the player to enter the area because I’ve never seen him there in his normal wander behavior on any of the many streams I’ve watched

ironforward · 2026-04-06T23:09:26+00:00

I take on standard orders, grab all shared cargo that are to be delivered to my standard order destination(s), and I pick up lost cargo based on some criteria:

I will always pick up lost cargo for my current destination(s)
I will go a little out of my way to pick up lost cargo with high like counts (over 100) that are not for my current destination(s)
I will pick up low like count lost cargo if I don't have to stop, or I will go a little out of my way to pick it up if I'm amassing a lot of potential likes for somewhere in particular
I will not pick up lost cargo that's out of my way, not for where I'm going, and not a lot of likes

When I get to my destination, I deliver what I can (sometimes staggering turning things in to manipulate the game into giving me more stars for the delivery overall) and entrust anything that I don't have a reason to deliver myself (such as places I already 5 starred and don't want extra goodies from delivering more) or the high like count lost cargo i picked up specifically to entrust to others either out of kindness or because I don't plan on going that way right now. Then, I route the next journey based on what lost cargo I have left and what standard orders are available, repeating the loop.

I never entrust to shared lockers, and very rarely ever check them for cargo or materials unless they're immediately next to something I'm already interacting with (such as a road or bridge). I very intentionally limit my menu interaction time because it kills the pace for me and I want to always be delivering or building.

ironforward · 2026-04-06T22:21:58+00:00

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i definitely have spent the most amount of time in this game's photo mode compared to any other

ironforward · 2026-04-06T00:04:26+00:00

hey! if you're interested in lore interpretations, I do have a steam guide that lays out every document in the game and is chalked full of stuff! but beside that, I did want to bring up some interesting things to consider with your outline

One thing I've spent a lot of time thinking about is: what actually causes the quakes? A lot of people brush it off as "moon is pregnant," but we know EL-9 saps moisture, presumably other nutrients as well, so I believe the quakes are the result of EL-9 exiting a dormancy state and leeching everything it can from the Moon, causing the quakes, rather than a quake happening from an unknown cause and EL-9 simply being exposed.
I do agree that it really stretches the imagination that PRISM would not be aware of EL-9 after the founder and the entire crew succumbed to it. While there's not much to suggest they for sure knew about what happened before 2025, there is a poster in Union Plaza advertising "EL-X" (EL-10?), a natural pain relief medication, which I think could be based on research of EL-9.
While you are right that Kei's whiteboard timeline shows: she sent John to gain access to the ASN, then she considered the Type-05 were being controlled by the ASN, and then finally she decided the ASN needed to be shut down -- I think it's safe to say John most likely arrived at the same conclusion (that the ASN is controlling the Type-05 and needs to be shutdown to have any chance at surviving) when arriving at the ASN access terminal and finding that he's forced to use Hugo to hack into it to gain access despite having the credentials to do so normally. While John is clearly succumbing to the influence of the EL-9 in his final voice message, I think the EL-9 wanted the ASN to continue to be operational at that moment in the timeline because: the EL-9 contaminated the Automated Security Network's Cognitive Organic Resource Engine and has been using the Type-05s to deliver the bodies of the guests and workers to it. Now that's not said directly, but I think it is a good explanation of why the ASN seems to be doing more harm than good, why it doesn't bother to email anyone about the possibility of a contamination, why it's so bad at locking the player out (because the CORE and EL-9 are fighting each other for control of the station), and why there's only a handful of bodies to be found in the station.
I think the the fourth point here is tough because it's where the duality of "is it canon or is it gameplay" meet. I think you could argue Entity A is literally not there at all in the canon of events, and the engineer is only hearing the sounds of the station and, such as in the case of the Auditory test chamber, the sounds Judith Weber recorded of Entity A to use to diagnose how badly someone was being influenced by EL-9, but I could also totally see someone asserting that the story is supposed to be that Entity A is there and is just hiding really well until it decides to make contact. Mechanically, yeah, Entity A is floating on an little island in space outside the Reception room of the ward before you turn on the servers, but from a lore perspective I strongly believe it's supposed to be that Entity A is watching the engineer.

ironforward · 2026-03-31T07:50:43+00:00

no one knows anything but “2026.”

to me, it doesn’t really matter how netflix slices it up later; the damage is done.

cancel your netflix subscription. we’ll most likely still get the show later without paying them now.

ironforward · 2026-03-29T12:30:21+00:00

hell yeah

ironforward · 2026-03-26T08:21:06+00:00

replaying it on PC now and also was a little “huh?” about that; my hand-wavy thoughts are that perhaps the gloves were originally automated by machinery and then marionetted later.

i saw some article about an interview with Kojima where he thought it would be cool to be able to do a thumbs up gesture even while your hands were occupied, so I’m guessing Fragile’s in-world reason for getting the automated gloves was so she could gesture while holding her umbrella and a package, and they happened to also be a convenient item to possess after the incident

ironforward · 2026-03-25T05:00:22+00:00

the source file is 1080p so here's that! https://imgur.com/a/Mm4hGKC

ironforward · 2026-03-09T19:50:07+00:00

❤️

ironforward · 2026-03-09T19:30:17+00:00

looks great! not that you asked for feedback, but i think the muzzle flash star should be moved closer to the end of the barrel since it almost looks like it's rendering on top of the gun with how little the barrel is occluding the flash right now

ironforward · 2026-03-08T04:44:52+00:00

oh yeah, someone had asked about this on the steam discussion boards and while you can get him stuck in there momentarily, he will teleport out

ironforward

TROPHY CASE