[MoriartyL]

I'm really glad Ninth pointed out that the cable should be cut- when I first came across the cable and Foster said "I can't REACH!", I wanted to use Joey to take it. I was annoyed that I wasn't given the option to ask or force him to take it. I didn't want to cut it down- then I wouldn't be able to save it for later. I just wanted to rip it off and take it, and if Joey is so all-purpose he ought to be able to do that for me. Otherwise, Joey's started to grow on me. I like his suggestion at the beginning to jump down- not very conventional behavior for a robot.

Anyhow, we've met a few more characters now, and a few themes have emerged. One common thread between these people is incompetence. We saw the incompetence of the shooters at the beginning; we hear that Norville gets porridge on his ID card; the old man is asleep. These guys aren't doing their jobs very well, and they don't seem to care at all. Pretty realistic.

Another common thread is innocence. Looking through Reich's file, we see that he's just an ordinary guy. He paid not for diabolical plots, but for food and car maintenance. In fact, all these guys are downright friendly. The only guy portrayed as evil so far is Lamb. These workers are pathetic, shallow ("You've got to have tattoos and stuff") and simple-minded, but the game sides with them. They're the good guys here, and we're meant to sympathize with them.

So where's the "eeeeeeeevil" from the old man's prophecy? Judging by what we've seen so far, it'll come from the bureaucracy. We see that this work environment is ineffective when, for instance, the clipboard-lover pretends to not notice that the machinery has broken down so he shouldn't have to bother. Speaking of him, his lines about his clipboard remind me distinctly of the Vogon grunt in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (the book, not the game). So it isn't exactly original. But it still is funny.

That's my reaction to most of what we've seen so far, in fact. Most of the themes here are common to sci-fi comedy. But at least it's done well. Actually, it's not as straightforward as it might seem. Sam and Norville may seem perfectly harmless, but Norville's last line is "Be vigilant!", which seems to be the company's slogan. The security guard by the crash may be so hopeless he doesn't know who you are, but he still cares about the factory more than the hospital. In the bottom line, the company owns these people. When Lamb shouts an order, it's followed. Should we be scared of these innocent people? I guess we'll find out later on.

In the meantime, I think these characters should be more afraid of Foster. Before today, Reich was living a normal life. Then Foster came around. Now he's dead. Foster has stolen a handful of personal items, cut cables, blown up control panels, stolen a robot's body, and broken the company's machine, to name a few offenses. These workers have had quiet and predictable lives, where being reassigned to a different department is the biggest thing that can possibly happen, and the things worth looking forward to are a nap and a clipboard. The other company is the enemy, and the boss must be obeyed. This life has order. Now a man who defies the company, accompanied by a sadistic robot, has come and brought chaos with him. They don't know how to deal with this, so they don't. Clipboard-guy pushes responsibility onto everyone else; the old man pushes responsibility onto Hobbin. Foster is the x factor here.

Speaking of which, what are his motivations? I mentioned earlier that he wasn't a good character, but by this point it's getting ridiculous. Why all this chaos? Is he just trying to get revenge for the destruction of "the gap", or is he blinded by the old man's mention of "eeeeeeeevil"? Joey we can understand. He's destroying things because he likes to destroy things- no ambiguity there. But even after all this time, Foster has not been developed at all as a character.


In addition to the comments on the working class and corporations, the game manages to find time to point out the subversive power of the media. (Another common sci-fi theme!) The headlines on the LINC terminal dehumanize all opponents by defining them as "loonies". The ads prey on the insecurities of the public to sell them junk. Manipulating the public, not informing them, is the media's main goal.

There are a lot of clever lines here. There's a jab at smokers which comes across pretty well. There's the description of Lamb's fur coat which firmly places him in the role of villain. Then there's the line about the pipes. I have nothing to say about it, but it demands attention, so there it is.


More comments (and questions) later.