#athena talos principle

[missr3n3]

today: talos principle gijinka

tomorrow? who knows!

[shiroikabocha]

I don't necessarily ship Athena/Milton but if I did, this would 100% be their song

🎶 free will's an illusion, morality is too 🎶 🎶 so it's not my fault that I'm in love with youuuuu 🎶

[nimueth]

The Founder

[rachell-redacted]

Help me if you can It's just that this... Is not the way I'm wired, so could you please Help me understand why You've given in to all these Reckless dark desires?

[rayewarrrd]

“I’m sorry.”

an illustration for Tenr77's fic, Apotheosis. this scene broke me so OF COURSE i had to draw it

[alex-sobolevsky]

There was no point to do it, but I did cos' I wanted to see it.

[theomisama]

one day they will be together again, same space and time

[healthydoseofhedonism]

[translucentjewel]

Replaying Talos Principle in 2023 is strange for me.

Obviously the "viral pandemic wiped out humanity" part hits different but that's not even really what I mean.

When I played the first game eight years ago the protagonist was only ever portrayed as an ambiguously gendered robot, but from playing the demo to the sequel we learn that first game's MC went on to call herself "Athena". Obviously I didn't know at the time, but it serves as a strange echo - I didn't know at the time.

I left all those messages on the walls in my previous playthrough, not expecting it to matter, or for anyone to read them - but here I am 8 years later reading them, having become a different person in the meantime.

[zeevoidlight]

Just finished the Talos Principle 2. I have thoughts on it.

I liked it very much :). Is one of those games that will stay with me for quite a while. I like the world building, the robots, the problems and questions that arise from the story. Just like last game.

SPOILERS My ending was that I unintentionally (because i didn't knew it was a choice) pushed for Byron to become mayor. I actually think it was a good outcome and something I wanted ultimately because the city couldn't possibly survive without him in command for the next election. I liked Byron at first because is almost obvious. But as the story progressed in the game I started to see what the others were talking about when referring to him. I do think he is umm... a bit insane, lol, and later in the game i couldn't but see him as a too rash and unhinged at times, just like the other extreme with Hermanubis. He's clearly a Utopist with big ambitions which wouldn't be so bad if they weren't driven by his own trauma, he cannot see past himself using others necessities to justify and prove his personal point into the extreme. That's why I wanted to side with Alcatraz, which to me feels like the safe option, of not being to rash to take a definitive decision in that moment to completely change reality forever and focus only on the immediate problems at hand. He wasn't opposed to the technology, he was just wary of it, which is perfectly understandable. But... I didn't wanted to admit it but the narrative seems to favor Byron in the very end, even leaving Alcatraz completely out of the picture in all endings, and depicting the "theory of everything" as the only one that gives fruit. maybe, Idk exactly but that's my impression after seeing three endings by myself and the special endings on youtube. Although I still don't know the conditions of the special endings and their variants, and also my impression was a bit different, more balanced when i saw the normal endings by myself. Maybe reddit has a way to skew the truth by deciding to find and choose a "true" ending or "canon" ending, maybe the game is actually biased, idk. The ending i got was, like i was saying before i got sidetracked, I got Byron elected, and I wanted to turn off the machine, not destroy it, to maybe take a bit of time to think about it and study it, and Byron in the meantime could move New Jerusalem out of their stagnation into something better than what they had currently. I was my best outcome because they needed the resources and I think they were absolutely exaggerating by saying that they will destroy the planet if they just basically grow any inch. They were already much better the moment the started making plans for expeditions and gathering resources for their immediate needs, and thinking about creating new things, while at the same time not immediately giving the theory of everything power to them as they were right now because Athena's concerns and Alcatraz concerns where very much real. Is the power to change reality itself! Is Teensy and Tot and the Polyhedron all over again! Don't you see the danger they inherent?! (insert Jeff Goldblum here).

But i feared the game wasn't going to understand me and it was going to give me a bad ending for taking the middle of the road decision, and that's exactly what happened. I took the option to turn off the machine, and apparently that's the worst ending because the mayor is not actually elected, they end up fighting each other, 1K just ends up leaving them to their own and basically exiles himself with Athena and says "fuck this shit I'm out" and leaves them to figure the future out themselves, and the Sphinx tells me that i took a decision that is not a decision. like... *sigh... So, I watched the ending that I think the game wanted me to take in the first place, which is to use the machine to know everything and gain absolute control over reality itself. And i watched it, but to be honest it was still not the good ending, at least for me, even with that Byron super heartfelt dialogue at the end over the scene with 1K creating life in another corner of the universe and the holograms (ghosts? ppl on reddit said it was ghosts) of other AIs and the music and all. I just think that's too much, and as Al and at some point Yaqut said, it felt devoid of meaning, to suddenly have everything and can do anything and know everything, to manipulate life that way. Everything looses purpose. At least that's how i felt.

So, I chose then the other ending where you outright destroy the machine. And I thought the game was going to punish me with something worse than my first ending, complete oblivion. But surprisingly it was the ending i was actually looking for. One where Byron gets elected and he says that he respects my decision without any resentments since he expresses that with respect. I was surprised when he said that! and he was saying in his speech that he was still going to take New Jerusalem to a brighter future worthy of the people that doubt them. It was so much better! And just what i wanted! And then 1K goes into the woods and find a stag, and kneels before it. I don't feel it was in a worshiping way but just in a respectful way. I was just disappointed that I didn't saw Alcatraz in that ending then, because I feel like he would be much more at ease and happy with the results. The only thing he wanted was for Byron to not go crazy, not to stop advancement altogether. But towards the end i feel the narrative started to change Alcatraz into being the opposite of Byron like he was depicted at the very start for you to think that was all his character was. It reverted back into it with little details he says to make you misunderstand what he's saying again...

... I'm happy with that last ending i got being my canon one. Even if it's "the wrong one". Feels like Pathologic all over again. I just cannot win with the choice I thought it was the good one. I hope i'm just tripping and there's actually no bias. But that's why it will stay in the void along with other things as long as the general consensus say there's an actual "canon" ending. At least until the new Talos comes out in a couple of years, if there's another one. Or someone on the team says otherwise. I will have my own canon. And Alcatraz and I can be the forever party poopers.

[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

[missr3n3]

content warnings: panic attack, discussion of mortality

remember how i have a talos principle fanfic? apparently neither did i for months lol. anyway, this chapter includes athena finding elohim's panic room, uriel making a confession, and one last bargain!

[redhatmeg]

Just so you know, I enjoyed The Isles of the Blessed DLC the most.

It's like a Beach/Theme Park Episode of The Talos Principle DLCs - it's cute, relaxing and fun. It also pushes forward most of the main plot with character interactions - Byron and Alcatraz make up, Yakut and Miranda talk about the future, Athena and Cornelius discover new things and give Yakut relatinship advices. We also learn about how the new humanity is moving forward with their new discoveries.

This DLC made me want more stories in this universe. Not necesserily the space anomaly shit but, like, a game when you can interact with those characters, travel through new locations, similar to New Jerusalem. Hell, I would love me some character castomization (in fact my younger nephew, when I showed him this game, really wanted to make a green robot and he was very disappointed that you can't do that to 1k).

Anyways, The Isles of the Blessed are the best, you can't change my mind.

[silavut]

The Talos Principle 2 Post Epilogue Idea

There was a tower built to be a launch pad for space vehicles, but was instead used as a beam generator tower. So does that mean Athena had plans for them to go to space? If so, where would they go? Was there a specific destination in mind? Athena did mention something about contacting other beings out there somewhere.

One of the things she also mentioned in her calculations was one thing she couldn't account for which was the anomaly at the center of everything.

So here's the idea: The launch pad tower was repurposed to be an actual launch pad for space vehicles. They sent a ship to explore space, and because of their durability, went into sleep mode for the duration of the journey to the edge / center of the universe to explore the anomaly. Maybe even make contact with whatever other beings they may encounter.

[rachell-redacted]

Shave my head and call me monkey

Let me see you with the caps lock on

If we're all apoplectic then I'll be the neckbeard, alright?

Music listening session with an old friend (he told me to say hi to y'all)

[rayewarrrd]