#alexandra drennan

[alex-sobolevsky]

[precalamity]

what is the love between Hypatia and Sarabhai if not dormant reincarnation. Sarabhai naming herself after one of the more unsung heroes, one of the lesser gods of their existence, the woman whose words and care and hope marked the beginning of the Simulation. Hypatia naming herself after the mathematician and philosopher of Alexandria, a woman who stood brave in the face of disbelievers and pessimists, (one cannot name herself after God, not really, but the echoes of Alexandra were clear in her choice). Hypatia and Sarabhai finding each other. falling in love as simple as any two newborn metal creatures in a world of greenery. Hypatia and Sarabhai reading the words of Alex and Nadya, finding the love of those women tucked in the corners of the archive, built into the hope that defines their species. Hypatia and Sarabhai are themselves — unique beings, fully existing on their own — but they like to imagine they are more than this: the manifestation and reincarnation of a love that went unrealized in favor of saving the world.

finally with the time to breathe

[magnusthehorseman]

[barrymccaulkinem]

oh no if talos principle II is anywhere near as good its going to have me weeping

[wardenmages]

Erin Fitzgerald in Talos Principle 2 as the founder and leader of the android society is literally making me want to cry. The announcement post says "because who else's voice would [Athena] have taken if not Alexandra Drennan's?" I literally teared up I'm so stupidly emotional about this puzzle game I missed my gorl

I'm also excited about Tim Watson being back as Elohim because it's always a good time to listen to his voice :')

I don't recognize the others in the cast but I'm excited at how many there are! Most of TP1 was voiceless with info conveyed over screens and while I enjoyed that format and think it was a good way to cover not having a full cast (especially with Gehenna) but I also know the reading was a barrier for some people so I'm glad it might not be so heavily weighted on that this time!!

if I don't have an announcement date soon I will go feral. like I want them to have time for everything to be ready and not rushed but also I will be a wild animal if I can't play it

[musingsofanaroace]

Top Five Video Games Part 2

The Witness (2016)

I purchased this game on Steam during a sale and became instantly hooked. I love exploring and solving the unique puzzles; although, the sound and color puzzles did drive me a bit insane. As I type this, I can still hear the sounds of bird tweets mixed with discordant clanging sounds in my head. And to this day, I still see environmental puzzles everywhere! Even though I enjoyed this game immensely, the story did let me down a bit. And lastly, I liked how the gate at the beginning serves a dual purpose. Hint...hint, wink...wink.

The Sims 2: University (2005)

Out of all The Sims 2 expansion packs, this one stood out above the rest. And all right, I confess. I did kill off the parents so that the teenagers could have more money for college. The only gameplay mechanic I didn't like was the short semesters. That did make it difficult to build skills, socialize, and complete term papers on time! And looking back, playing this game definitely didn't help me finish any of the literary analysis essays I had due.

The Sims 3: World Adventures (2009)

This game blends puzzle, adventure, and Sims antics into one enjoyable experience. Too bad EA didn't release more games with this format. And too bad EA never released a patch to fix some of the glitches and "the Sim disappearing from the tent only to reappear outside the temple" issue. If you haven't played this game, I would recommend it.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1991)

I remember playing this game obsessively in the Summer of 1995. I so desperately wanted to be Link and go on a merry adventure slaying monsters and solving puzzles.

The Talos Principle (2014)

This was the game that renewed my interest in puzzle games. It has an engaging story and scenic visuals. I especially liked conversing with Miton and listening to Alexandra Drennan's audio logs. The last one really hit me in the feels.

Well, that's all I have for today. Until next time, take care and stay curious.

[anestheticrage]

>Loading library session…. Done.

///Running TetrisPrinciple.iso….///

Be m3.exe:

In the beginning. With the Words. And the World. And all that jazz. Bootin' up in G∅D's very own rock garden and///or Military Grade Obstacle Course, complete with disembodied megalomaniacal voice to make me feel #5p3ci4L. Tells me to solve puzzles for my own salvation or some shit. Can do O L∅RD, i didn't pay $20 to sit around in your ghetto ass eden anyway. This is what happens when you only hire mines and automatic sentry guns as groundskeepers you sociopath.

Alright, time to Jam, cause as with any puzzle game protagonist I'm too stupid to handle more than one new mec$^2$%^#567@435hanic at a time! Short out some fences, steal some floating keys, more fences, murder the groundskeepers, and OH LOOK MORE FENCES. Glad these mechanics are as original as the PUNNY FUCKING TITLES.

Aight, it's been fun O savior, but it's time. for me to yeet on ou- wait. Is this. Tetris. I SPENT $20 TO PLAY TETRIS WITH EXTRA STEPS, YOU GOTTA BE F%×]!¿....:::--///+&8907$/) 57 38 92 29 29 /////////////////////////

Oh. that's ALOT more puzzles. Fuck it, salvation and ascension here I come. As a reward for my unliving f41Th.png, I even get some new toys! Now we've got a laser stick that only shoots lasers when being shot with lasers. Now in two different colors!!! dOnT cRoSs tHe StReAaAmmMSsSs!!!¿?¿? hE hE XDddD.-/d///_D__xXx_:!|∆…and don't forget to euthenize your faithful Companion Cu- wait fuck wrong simul$&%\ion__.# ..-

'Feel free to participate our new QR code scavenger hunt like it’s 2010! We didn't have the funding for other voice actors, but we hope you enjoy the full cast of zany characters in a purely textual format!' 

Get bored of reading Commander Shepherd and Serious Sam-sung bitching at eachother on every other EL∅HIM DAMNED WALL, and decide to spend some quality time with psychonaut Gho5tM0m.m4a. She really had high hopes for us to become Tetris Grandmaster of the Apocalypse and seeing as there's NOTHING ELSE TO DO, i guess we're living up to the hype. Sounds like the humans all died out from being too bored of solving puzzles [mustb3n1ce.txt], but that wasn't good enough for lovely sado-masochist mother. Must run in the family. She'll even give you a GOLD STAR for breaking the game.

Times are tough with no humans left to torture so naturally S4t4n® got a part time gig as a librar[y]ian, purely out of spite for me, G∅D, and most especially: me. Take a break from all the puzzles and Tetris to debate philosophy with the d3vil which is why we started this shitshow to begin with,...((($#>>>-- right? But don't worry, every right answer is the wrong answer, cause the only wrong answers are the right ones, and if you dont stand your ground you're a little bitch in the 3Ye of the mean librarian snake. Its cool tho, were only doing this TO MAKE THE FUCKING BEEPING STOP ANYWAY. I Kant take this anymore. {}

Time to finally ascend the stupid elevator and end the…. ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS THERES MORE PUZZLES. IM NOT EVEN A THIRD OF THE -#!_847#8$(@-#8# @+$AAHHHHHHHHHHH!???!¿?¿!!!$+#6484 37 FML.JPG 40 37 38 67 40

"Don't go to the tower. You'll die." Says G∅D.

"Sounds fake, but okay." Says I, Immediately walking into it while s4taN beeps happily in the background. Que ♪Walk To The Peak♪, cause it's the end of the world bby. 

But the M4N×86 In The High Tower still has the upper hand cause ya cant play Tetris without the square, and the L, and the stupid stunted T thing (?¿??¿??¿). fuck it lets go graverobbing, cause misappropriaton of a full pantheon of spiritual allegories into your pseudo sci fi existential crisis isn't complete without some PYRAMIDS!

Find a VHS player, jump on some fans, join a Lan party with yourself, read depressed emails, wonder how m0M ever got funding to build the world's most pointless hamster wheel when all she did was drop acid and listen to Pink Fløyd, lose all your self esteem to the d3vil, and find the sacred tombs of the most h#%\\°^Ly of messengers. Don't worry: just like any good servant of G∅D, they can only help you after you've helped yourself.

E:\> CMD.GoFuCkYoUrSeLf  

Stumble over to Camelot, learn how to serve yourself on a silver platter, fall in a hole, Indiana Jones yourself to that last gold star, fall in the SAME FUCKING HOLE, realize the sci fi genre should’ve died with Philip K Dick, and I swear to Milton, if I have to play one more fucking round of tetris, I @/*>>WILL <”! bring that axe with me up the tower. 

After several long weeks of screaming into the void, picking sand out of my joints, crying about my mommy issues, striking deals with Librarians, tuning out G∅D like its sunday mass, and collecting tetra-blocks like a coked out vintage gaming hoarder; the pearly gates finally open. 

"I am proud of you, my child. You may now ascend as one of my chosen fe- wait where are you going with that axe!? Eugene, come back dOnT gO uP tHe ToWeR&$! 66 75 63 6b!!!!¿!?!?"

Go straight to the top of the fucking tower and run into Samsung the QR hunt reigning champion. Bout to axe him some deep philosophical questions before Shep shows up. "No, Eugene, this man is a nihilist. Nothing to be afraid of." Works for me. How about the allegorical stormcloud of spiritual doubt and existential regret chasing us up the tower with s0ul.{error} crushing determination? Nothing like a timed event in a self-paced game to ramp up the tension in place of functionally innovative mechanics! 

Climb to the peak with new best bud and the devil o{in}n my shoulder while G∅D.exe cries digital tears of joy that you rejected him (wtf). Hack [see above axe.png] into the Heaven Hub and commit mass self genocide to get a slick ass robo bod and a brand new empty wasteland to rule while the devil and god continue raging inside of me.

I hope mom would be proud… 3a 20 27 20 28

>>> Terminating session….

> Session terminated.

[rachell-redacted]

paradise lost

Inspired by @alex-sobolevsky art.

[milliondollarbaby87]

The King's Man (2021) Review

The King’s Man (2021) Review

During World War I, the Kingsman agency begins to form in a stand against those who betray their countries, going to places that the secret service cannot reach. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (more…)

[ariose-ghoul]

I'm gonna start rb'ing things as drennancore. bc of a character in a game and also I deserve it

[meezer]

if I ever die I want this written on my grave

[alex-sobolevsky]

"I was in school when I first read about the Talos Principle. I think it disturbed me at the time, made me hyper aware of... my body as a physical object. The material reality of the brain. Ideas that made me uncomfortable at first, but I think in the long run it helped me understand how frail human beings are, and how precious. It's not a comforting way of thinking about the world, but I'd rather face the truth than lie to myself."

— Alexandra Drennan. Time capsule 03, The Talos Principle

[precalamity]

ALEXANDRA DRENNAN “DO NOT STAND AT MY GRAVE AND WEEP” TALOS PRINCIPLE

[seths-wife]

Fact (no one cares about) of the day:

"Talos" was the original name of "sickle".

My true name is—‘Talos’. I am a helper robot specially made for the ‘climb one’!” ("master of the heavenly yard" chapter 11, section 2–"truth"; scene 1).

In the cretese dialect, τάλως was a synonim of ἥλιος hḕlios, the sun...

...and in the series "sickle" is called "sun god".

By all rights a different ruler should have been on the moon, but currently it was the sun god—he also went by the other name of “sickle’—that lived there. And no one doubted that. ("master of the heavenly yard", chapter 1–epilogue; scene 1).

Another potential reference can be to the videogame "the talos principle" (credits to @yuri-ia for the idea to check this out).

Looking at the plot i found out some similarities with the second-period arc.

The player character, an unnamed android, is awoken in a serene environment. A disembodied entity named "elohim" instructs the android to explore the worlds he has created for it.

Talos has always taken the role of the explorer.

As the android progresses, it becomes evident that these worlds exist only in virtual reality, and that it, like other androids it encounters, are separate artificial intelligence (ai) entities within a computer program.

The second period is a virtual reality and at one point he realized that, suffering a lot for it.

"I just wanted you to feel…just a little bit. The despair that—that i had to face.” ("master of the heavenly yard, chapter 11, section 2–"truth"; scene 2).

Within the computer terminals are news reports and personal logs of the last days of humanity, driven to extinction by a lethal virus.

Oh yes, the second period ended because of a virus.

One researcher, Alexandra Drennan, launched a companion "extended lifespan" program to create a new mechanical species that would carry on humanity's legacy.

That kinda sounds like the "climb one" project...

[barrymccaulkinem]

did yuo know: The Talos Principle is the best video game ever made? in terms of artistic quality AND puzzle design.

now you know!

[wardenmages]

hello Erin Fitzgerald retweeted my post crying about her returning for Talos Principle 2 because of how much I love Alexandra Drennan and I'm