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X7 Narrative Overview Transcripts and Notes: Acts I-III

Hi there. Nothing revolutionary contained in this one, I was just bored so I decided to start writing everything I could see on the other slides I didn't end up doing when this stuff first came out.

This doesn't include the first slides of each Act, which are summaries of everything that happens in them. What's contained in *here* is just production notes and whatnot. Here's some links if you'd like to read something shorter that actually tells you what you're looking at.

Acts 1-3 Summaries Acts 4-5 Summaries

I need to stress by the way, I'm trying to not squint as much at these since it really hurt my eyes last time lol, so this probably won't have as much hard-to-see stuff as the other ones did. Also, length warning, there's more content in these so the post is way longer.

Including screenshots in case anyone else sees things better. Alrighty, have at it

act 1 da murda

They want me to die so this one's a nothingburger and the stuff that could have been a somethingburger just straight up never becomes visibleburger

Location

The timestamp seems to read "Season: Autumn (<5 min. post-Dream)"

This section of the game takes place at the Capeside Apartments, but rather than simply reusing the location from Disco Elysium, it appears they were remodeling and retexturing the maps. There are four images here: "Interior (Old)", "Interior (WIP)", "Exterior Dock (Old)", and "Exterior Dock (WIP)". Probably just so these parts can be visible from a different angle than the game.

This bit is never zoomed in enough for the other text to even become blurry pixels, sadly.

Characters

Five characters appear in this segment of the game: Beast de Ruyter, Cuno's father as seen through his eyes (crucial); Cuno and Cunoesse (crucial); Call Me Mañana (on the cusp between "necessary" and "supporting"); and The Swarm, Cuno's box of locusts (necessary).

The video never zooms in close enough to see the other text clearly, but some of the concept art on these slides appears at full size later on in the video.

Plot Details

They don't even want to give me a chance. The text never even becomes a visible blur, it just stays as lines. There is this odd little "FELD" thing in the top right corner though, I guess?

Tasks

Critical tasks:

First, survive

Return to Cuno's Apartment - [...] Completed when both Cuno & Cunoesse have [...]

Find what's left of Cuno's people [A/N: probably The Swarm]

Subtask: Find something to carry the survivors [A/N: probably the box he carries The Swarm in for the rest of the game] - Complete when Cuno [...] the remaining locusts in the box. [...]

Leave Martinaise forever

Reactivity/Outcomes: Three sticky notes. Too blurry to read.

Items

Definitely: [Interactable item sticky with no text], [Family?] photograph (Interactable)

This section contains a screenshot of a mock-up of the in-game clothing system, with the items that both children are already wearing highlighted. I assume it to be such: For Cunoesse, hat, shirt(?), pants. For Cuno, shirt(?), pants, shoes. There's two sections that have nothing in them, one between Hat and Shirt and one between Pants and Shoes, but I'm not sure what they would be.

There is other text, but it never zooms in enough for it to be visible.

Maybe: [Two interactables, too blurry to read]

To Be Decided: x2 Healing Item (Consumable); x2 Hype Item (Consumable)

Section also contains one other consumable, two clothing items, and one interactible. One of the clothing items has a screenshot which looks to me like some kind of beanie and scarf set? Not sure. Can't read anything else.

Thoughts

Cunoesse has one Thought, and Cuno has two, but I can't read them. I'm not a magician. Sorry guys...

Special Assets

Systems: (unreadable) Art: Title screen at end, Opening dream sequence, Locust Swarm Audio: (unreadable)

Relationship Beats

Cuno vs. His Dad; Cunoesse vs. The Strong

Act II: The Escape

everyone say Thank You Dora for Zooming Riiiiiiight In on This One

Location

Top text:

"On the splash screen at the opening of each Act (Location), the Player should immediately be given the ability to place themselves in time and space to understand how much time has passed since the last Act and how much distance remains to their destination. Each Act (Location) should be introduced alongside the distance to Hämärä Maa (in kilometres.) Therefore, the distance to Hämärä Maa will serve as a reference point for the gameworld and as a tension-building countdown towards the game's climax."

"1,347 km to Hämärä Maa (Tweak the numbers)"

[A/N: Hämärä Maa is likely named after a Finnish song by the same name written by Matti Esko. You can view translated lyrics in the reply section of my Acts 1/2/3 Summaries Transcript post.]

Note on Geography:

"Consulting the huge wall map of Le Petit Continent on the Jamrock Central station wall the kids learn there's a 14:44 train to June Cite, -- Revachol Express' Azure Sans-Détour -- that completes the 1300 km journey south in three days. Before reaching June Cite -- the third largest city on La Petite Continent -- the train drives past Rhône Tréville (formally Royal) Penal Colony. That's right across the bay -- few kilometers -- from Cunoesse's ancestral home -- Hämärä Maa archipelago -- marked as Breach Atol on the station map. If the kids could only find a way to stop the train there, they'd be almost home."

[A/N: chat, is it Le Petit Continent or La Petite Continent, why is it spelt both ways]

Jamrock Central

"Refer to Jamrock Central Map (hyperlinked) for more references." [A/N i would give anything to have this]

Sticky notes: [unreadable] Groningen station Green marble Peacock, cockatoo [unreadable]

[A/N: Groningen Station is the main railway station in Groningen, in the Province of Groningen, in the Netherlands. It's quite lavish. Many of the reference images on the left side of this slide are actually of this train station.]

Middle block of text:

"Jamrock Central is one of the three major transportation hubs in Revachol. The other two being railway hub in Ville de Charbon and the aerodrome on La Délta.

Jamrock station was erected about 150 years ago by the edict of King Philippe III the Squanderer. It was the height of opulance for the Philippian kings and and[sic] not a cent was spared building the station. The ceilings are high, the windows are huge, the floors are all marble and there are columns everywhere. It's the lavishness of the catholic church + of Sheiks of Dubai but with the taste and sensibilities of Louis XIV the Sun King. Or "was", because after the communards dethroned the Suzerains in the Antecentennial Revolution (Turn-of-the-century Revolution) and the Great Spending came to an end no one wanted to carry the insane upkeep costs. Nowadays the marble is cracked, the colors faded and no one is even thinking about renovation. The station is still very busy and multiple trains both regional and continental arrive and depart every hour.

Near the entrance is a fish pond turned wishing well. Beastmaster Raccoono can talk to the fish, Cunoesse can talk to the water and every 30 minutes the pond produced 0.50 cents from people wishing for stuff.

The station should be populated by lots of npc's barking as crowd in a way the Scabs bark in DE. Ideally there's lots of motion and commotion. The busier we can make the place look the better.

Notable areas might be: - The Fish Pond - Source of income, Cuno beastmaster reactivity, Cunoesse surface tension reactivity, foreshadowing the blind cave fish of Hämärä Maa) - The Ticket Offices - Might be just a dinow in the wall. Ask information, buy tickets, pull a schenanigan) - The Little Gentleman's Room (Piss Lounge for Noblemen? Salle de pisse pour Nobles?) - Rob Herculé, set fire to create a distraction to sneak aboard the train. - The Platform (maybe two sets of track visible?) - The one further back would be purely cosmetic -- inaccessible for PC -- and could show cool trains flashing by"

[A/N: Louis XIV, King of France in the 1600's, commissioned the Palace of Versailles and had a huge influence on French Baroque fine art and architecture. Also was notable for a bunch of other things, but that's what's relevant here.]

Middle image references: Estimated size of this map is compared to the whole road area of the Martinaise map, from the scab area down to where the lorries end near the open water lock. There are also some more reference images in black and white, as well as some more images labelled "Early platform concepts".

Right side: Title text "Arrive at dawn, leave at mid-day" A box titled "Visual references: Train, Exterior". Contains many older style train carriages and artworks. There's a draft logo with small top text "REVACHOL EXPRESS", large text below "AZURE SANS-DÉTOUR". There's two sticky notes, one reads "MARX!!!! HELP PLEASE!!!!!!". Middle text: "The Train from the next Act needs to be visible on the platform (exterior only.) Rough level map below; needs to go through several iterations with level & environment design." The rough level map is divided into the Pavillion and the Platform.

Characters

"updated 02/03/2023"

Character Map Crucial: Cuno, Cunoesse, Trip the Train Conductor (Ticket Control) Necessary: Petite Hercule, Beggar King, Dog Courier, Rémy the Ticket Seller Supporting: The Academic, The Wandering Widow Marginal: Man from Jamrock Station, First Class Lounge Door (No portrait, but might need some funny VO (TBD, small)

Character Relationships Beggar King: Observing The Academic, Has dirt on Trip the Train Conductor, Observing Petite Hercule Petite Hercule: Following Cuno, Following Cunoesse, Helps steal from Dog Courier Cunoesse: Wants to mug Petite Hercule Rémy the Ticket Seller: Creeping on Dog Courier

Major Area NPC: Hercule Louveau, the Younger Kid Flow map: C&C enter the Train Station -> (no text visible on other sticky notes)

Biography:

8 years old

Travelling [...] to see his grandparents in June Cite, [...]

sheltered, [...]

total [...]

[...]

fascinated with C&C, because they're the only other unsupervised kids

slowly manipulated [...]

Narrative function:

can be manipulated to help you steal from the Ticket Office

can be mugged for his ticket by [...]

[...]

[crossed off list item] (TBD)

Also a section labelled "Appearance" with no text visible, and some TINY screenshots of text in the bottom left corner

Beggar King No text visible

Man from Jamrock Station No text visible

Dog Courier There is a name here, almost certainly readable with the right eye, but I cannot read it. Most likely her real name.

Some quotes read:

"No petting the dogs!"

"[Name] doesn't like you."

"These aren't dogs for petting."

The dogs in the references appear to be borzois. There's other text, but it's unreadable.

The Academic Split into two. The two sections are titled "Convergent Field of Disaster" and "Dr. Agathe Maier-Sachs" respectively. Also a small text box at the bottom labelled "Financial [Autonomy? Astronomy?]". Other text is unreadable.

Rémy Caprice Subtitle "Employee of the month". Other text unreadable.

Estelle Edelbrock Subtitle "The Wandering Widow". Other text unreadable.

Barkers Cops; Public [...]; Barking passengers; [...]; Janitor Bonus: [...]

Trip the Train Conductor

Present here only as gatekeeper to the Train level

Major character in the next Act

Might even have a different entity name, since he has not introduced himself yet

Needs to be presented with two tickets, or a ticket and a pet carrier to let you aboard

Him letting you aboard ends the Act (otherwise chasing the train as it's pulling out of the station ends the Act)

(Unreadable text box)

This box connects to a box immediately below it in the Act III Characters section.

Plot Details

There is a note on this slide that reads: "Information might be outdated, See the latest Progression Path in the Act II Miro board:"

Location Objective: "Get on the 14:44 train to June Cite. If possible, secure two train tickets. If not, get creative. You arrive at the Station at 07:30. Your time at the Station is limited."

Ways to board the train: "Ideal: You have two tickets. Show your tickets to the conductor and board. Sub-optimal: You have one ticket. Obtain a pet carrier from a Station NPC. Smuggle one of you in it. Inadvisable: You have no tickets. Create a diversion and board in the chaos. (?) Disastrous: Train is departing. Last calls, dramatic encounter where you [...] RC's to mitigate losses. [...] on the train, but you likely lose inventory, health... [has been cut]

The amount of tickets you are holding will have reactivity in the next chapter, as Trip the Train conductor will be able to casually blackmail you."

Ways to obtain tickets: "1. ONE can be stolen from the Ticket Office, if you manipulate the Young Kid to help. 2. ONE can be taken by force from the Young Kid, if the previous has happened. 3. ONE can be bought with fish pond money, but it takes a whole day of fishing for coins.

The dog carrier can be stolen from the Dog-Walker if you can trick the dog to get out.

The diversion involves setting fire to the men's room...?"

Plot:

Cuno and Cunoesse arrive in Jamrock Station at 07:30.

At a first glance it seems cops have beat them to it. Several groups of RCM patrolmen are moving around the crowd. You don't know this yet, but the cops aren't there looking for you, they're looking for someone else.

This "Criminal at Jamrock Station" side-plot will unfold in parallel to Cuno & Cunoesse's story, as their fugitive paths cross during Act 3 and possibly 4.

First they need to know how to get to where they are going. Consulting the huge wall-map of the entire Le Petit Continent the kids learn there's a 14:44 train to June Cite, -- Revachol Express' Azure Sans-Détour -- that completes the 1300km journey south in three days.

Before reaching June Cite -- the third largest city on La Petit Continent -- the train drives past Rhône Tréville (formally Royal) Penal Colony. That's right across the bay from Cunoesse's ancestral home -- Hämärä Maa archipelago. If they could find a way to stop the train they'd be almost home.

Originally, Cunoesse made her way to Revachol as a stowaway on a train along the same line, so she is trying to retrace her steps back home. (Being illiterate, she barely understands maps, and needs Cuno to connect the dots between her recollections and geographical locations.)

The task now is to find a way aboard the train. There's a number of ways to do it. Should they be able to acquire the means they can straightforwardly buy the tickets aboard AZURE SANS-DÉTOUR. Alternatives include, sneaking aboard, stealing a ticket from a young(er) boy or perhaps outright forging it.

The main goal in the Station should be getting aboard that train and one of the more obvious ways to accomplish that is to just buy two tickets. Tickets cost money. There are three ways to get money in the train station.

Fish coins out from the Fish Pond (0.50p/30min)

Beg for money. -- After talking to the character "beggar king" about begging and it's finer nuances and option to tell your own little sob story (Series of RC's on different character in station) to people owns up. Tell it convincingly and they'll give you their change.

Steal a number of items from NPC's in train station and sell them to Beggarking.

Criminal from Jamrock Station notices that and has reactivity to the fact in ACT III.

Once you've found a way to get past Trip and board the Train, the Act ends.

Tasks

Note at top says: "This is a rough overview. The latest Task Chain can be seen in the Progression Path in the Act II miro board:"

Critical tasks: "Find out how to get to Hämärä Maa: Activates upon arrival at the Train Station. Completes upon FELD interaction with the Continental Map. Subtasks: Consult the (huge) railway map on the wall. Ask for directions. Find a way aboard the 14:44 train: There are multiple ways to go about this objective. Let the PLayer know that their time at the Station is limited. This task can fail if the time runs out and the train begins to depart, triggering a failsafe "jumping on board" sequence with critical penalties. (It might also mean a different starting point for Cuno & Cunoesse in Act 3, with them waking up in the Cattle Car instead of the Passenger Car.) Solutions: Buy a ticket; Smuggle one of you on board; Steal a ticket; Forging? Distraction?; Each one of these can be a task with its own subtasks."

Side tasks: "Make the kid stop following you Figure out Beggar King's luggage stealing ring Evade the RCM officers Deal with your injuries? Find new clothes?"

Reactivity/Outcomes: "How many tickets you have = the ease of Trip blackmailing you; Lost items, money, if boarded via failsafe; Criminal from Jamrock Station knows all you did at the Station, and he boarded the same train; Hercule either left behind safely, or mugged, stranded and possibly even stabbed"

Items

At the top is a concept map of the station showing where items or perhaps people can be found. Note reads: "Please refer to the location map (hyperlinked) in Act II Miro for the latest number and distribution of items, NPC's and containers."

Definitely: None in this section

Maybe: Interactable: Can of dog food; Railway map of La Petit Continent; Book: interesting Zoology: Animal colonialism. Consumable: Candy stolen from a baby Other: Locust home upgrade item; an umbrella; Ring from the fish pond

To be decided: Clothing: a hat; Winter-barka; What are those? [A/N: ugly ass shoes]; Meque[sic] sailor shirt; pair of pants / a skirt?; Tioumoutiri T-shirt Consumables: x3 Substances, x4 Hype Healing item; x3 Hype Healing item Other: TBD ITEM from FISH POND

Thoughts

Cunoesse:

Cuno's dead dad.

Reflecting on Hercule

Trains

Predators & prey

Blood debt

Hämärä Maa 1

[Four blank "THC" diamonds]

Cuno:

The Man from Jamrock Station

Dead Dad

Thoughts from Beggar King

Leaving home

Beast-master

Swarm 1

Thought about money?

Hooked to the Book

Blood debt

[One blank "THC" diamond]

Special Assets

Systems: In-game economy: The buying-selling mechanic and the use of money start to play a role from this Act forward. Some preliminary design brainstorming needs to be done on the game economy, including what kind of merchants and money sources should each location require. Mechanic for a fishpond that generates 0.50 centimes every 30 minutes Special movement: Hercule pathfinding: See the Hercule character brief for the idea on the kid following Cuno & Cunoesse at a distance around the Train Station. He should initially be evasive and retreat if you try to approach him, only after some time you can catch up to him. Explore technical possibilities for implementing this kind of special pathfinding for Hercule. A large clock on the station wall which is in sync with the game one? Kid in a pet carrier: There's a sequence where the kids steal a dog carrier, and one of them crawls into it to be smuggled onto the train. There can be strategic screen fade to black to avoid some of the unnecessary animation work, but at the very least the player should be able to have a conversation with Trip where one of the kids' character model is replaced with a dog carrier model. Jumping on a train failsafe [has been cut]: Specifics are largely TBD, but there should be a scripted and [...] sequence where [...] in-game clock reaches 14:44, triggering a FELD-[...] where the [...] some Red Checks and jump on the departing train with minimum [...] losses. Introducing the Cooperative Red Check ?

Art: Map of La Petit Continent: Use the map from the Location Brief as reference. Half-screen sized, like Harry's *expression* painting. Afterwards, it should get added to the map roster in the journal screen. Should there be a marker on it that shows your location in each Act? Train Station map: Standard location map that automatically gets added to the Journal. Shows the layout of the station and platform. Should be done in the style of retro railway pamphlets / subway station maps. Location splash screen: This Act, and each consecutive Act, opens with a title screen overlaid on the environment (in the style of Control or Fringe.) containing the words "ACT II -- JAMROCK CENTRAL -- 1,347km to Hämärä Maa" [A/N - not sure what they mean by Control or Fringe] Kid in a pet carrier Dog model, running away Cuno and Cunoesse idles: Both in the free exploration of ACT I and in Act II, Cuno and Cunoesse's body language should be uncomfortable, suspicious - a lot of looking around and [...] kind of hunching into themselves, generally uncomfortable and [...] by possible witnesses. Jumping on board failsafe (animation) [has been cut] Hercule mugging animation Potentially animations for [...] other [...] the [...] dog [...] carrier [...]

Audio: Train Station foley: Voice calling out names of cities, murmur of crowds echoing in the waiting room space, sound of idling train engine on the platform, and more Action music for failsafe sequence?: The very short but intense failsafe sequence will require some action music. Since this is not necessarily the path the majority of players will see, the music doesn't need to be unique, it can be a piece of generic action music we will reuse in other tense chase/combat scenes as well. Dog/animal noises: voices for the dog in the dog carrier and/or other animals which might be present on the location. (Pigeons?) Subtle, occasional background music: The Train station is far less [...] than the Murder Scene, but still not as lighthearted or [...] as the Train. Most of the time, the Player's focus should be on the [...] sounds of the Train Station, and in the [...] of when a musical track is present, it should come with a sense of [...], feeling of tension, of looking over your shoulder, of being a fugitive on the run. Nothing [...], but rather a [...] reminder that this is not a place where you can relax. It is a place you are eager to leave, but you can't allow yourself to be too visibly agitated. Some musical references TBD?

Relationship Beats

Cunoesse vs. The Weak; Cuno vs. His Conscience

Act III: The Journey

this ones also evil strap in boys

Location

Top box: "Day 1: [1,004] km to Hämärä Maa Day 2: [489] km to Hämärä Maa Day 3: [76] km to Hämärä Maa [Tweak the numbers] [Unreadable sticky note]"

Revachol Express Azure Sans-Détour: Sticky note sequence: Locust Dream 2 -> After the first day on the Train, [...] will [...] -> [...] -> [...] Ghost station -> Second night -> [...] Left notes: "Inspired by mid-century European trains. The [...] and first class luxuries [...]"

Characters

Fuck if I know

The Trip box from Act II's characters links to the box here titled "Major Area NPC: Trip Leroy Fruiscante aka Trip the Train Conductor" actually

Plot Details, Tasks

le shrug

Items

surely im gonna run out of images here soon right

"From top to bottom: items for which we hae a solid narrative idea, vs. items for which the specifics are still unknown. Objects in the definitely pile can already be passed to an artist to paint, whereas the TBD pile will need some concepting first."

Definitely Clothing: Trip's coat?

Maybe Other: Skippy's leash Interactable: [...]; Adult flip-book; [...]; Interactable; Interactable

To Be Decided Clothing: like 50 of them idk theres no writing... Consumables: [...]; x3 Healing items; x5 Hype items

Thoughts

i swear this is actually harder than the summaries were

Cunoesse: There's four thoughts there idk Cuno: Road Living; Swarm 2; yeah that's it sorry, there's 7 more thoughts there

Special Assets

Systems: [...]; Daily map changes; [...]; Jumping off the train Art: Train map; [...] sequence; Locust dream; Two kids in a trench coat model / animation; Jumping off the train animation; Animated character model; Location splash screen Audio: Locust dream; [...]; [...]

Relationship Beats

Cuno vs. His Influences; Cunoesse vs. The Ordinary World

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