Confused spoilers for things and people and events in Ghostwire: Tokyo
Butch:
Was annoyed by cleaning and home maintenance projects, so I killed the shit out of everything and cleansed some gates.
I figured out the best way to kill those damn ghosty things: Play angry. They don't stand a chance against me when I'm pissed about house things. Why did I buy a house? Explain this to me.
If you want to muse on story I'm likely still ahead of you, if not I have some musings on experience points because I can get that technical.
Loothound:
You bought a house because of building equity, putting down roots, planning for the future, not subject to the whims of a landlord, property values, getting to have the feeling "this is MY house!", or some combination thereof. That's why. It sucks, but it is fully your suck—so there's that…
I was a mile from my exit to work this morning when the phone rang saying that we would be closed today due to power outages, so I got the pleasure of a full day's commute all at once. A more than fair price for a day off. I need to clean up from the wind around here later, so I'm playing for a bit right now. All aboard the story train!
Also, one of these days I'm going to send an email without fixing all of the insane things the autocorrect on this donkey of a machine I'm using does. It will legit be he'll arias.
Seriously, it's like having an incredibly capable assistant, who is incredibly eager to help you, but has a very limited ability to read what you actually want under particular circumstances. I need to figure out how to fire him.
Feminina:
I know that assistant. It helps me text. So eager! So incompetent!
I feel like Chalmers, all "Skinner! Once again, you have completely misjudged my attitude!" Ahem.
Loothound:
I've realized that fire ether comes from gas cans and such, and water from jugs and things, but I only just caught on that air comes from things like fans and air conditioners.
Butch:
It...does?
Man, I'm dense. I was even wrong about those gas cans not being bombs. They're ammo. Not bombs. I've been avoiding them, wondering why I have no fire ether. Because I am stupid.
But there ARE bombs! I was protecting cubes yesterday and shot something and it very much exploded (killing three baddies, which was nice)! So there are things that one should not whack! But not the gas cans. Those you should whack.
Feminina:
O. M. G.
You're right...air DOES come from fans!
I mean, I also noticed the gas can, water bottle connection in a vague way, but yeah...of course, those green fans are everywhere. Man, I'm dense.
Also, I think maybe the bombs and the fire ether are the same thing. I think if you shoot the red things, they explode, but if you punch them you get ether.
Maybe.
Loothound:
I gotta say, they really handle the horror elements in this game really well. The "haunting" details during that mission in the newspaper offices, freaking brilliant. The real atmosphere of the void train ride on that side mission. I have to say, I kind of appreciate the way the fight at the end of that one went (once I stopped cursing it, that is). Tons of baddies along with two umbrella guys with hammers that take four, well placed, fully charged fire shots to beat. Well played, game. With a chaser of Red Lady-mouth right after? Stop hating me, world!
Butch:
What about the glowing vending machines? They should give you everything, like skittles. Cuz vending machines....
Void...train ride?
Dude, I have done every green icon on the map. My map, anyway. Are there gates I'm missing or something? I thought I was being so thorough! Did you get ahead of me? Like, I KNOW I don't have any side missions I haven't done (that I can actually access) save for the moon readings.
(As an aside, caught a kappa last night and dude, I think yours are glitched. It was nothing, man. You do harder stuff just booting the game up. I'm calling glitch on your kappas.)
The newspaper stuff was, in fact, the shit. The pages crawling along the walls? Nice.
Feminina:
Actually, the vending machines DO do that! At least, they give you multiple types of energy. Not always all of them.
Man...more connections than I realized. I am dense.
The newspaper office was great. Also, good story there with the rich guy wanting to develop AI to talk to the spirit world or whatever. I'm sure that's totally unrelated, ha ha.
You didn't talk to a spirit who mentions a haunted subway ride? I'm sure you will.
Loothound:
So, it seems like not all side mission markers pop immediately when you purge a shrine. Some of them only seem to come up once you get close enough. That may explain why you haven't seen it. Also, those invisible enemies I talked about are called Silent Gaze. I ran into another one last night, count yourself lucky if you don't run into them.
Not to burst the glitch bubble, but I caught froggy last night. I messed it up at first, but you actually have to spy on him long enough to actually see him eat the cucumber. Kinda sounds icky when I say it like that. Anyway, yeah, worked fine. Sorry, Fem.
Feminina:
[shedding a silent tear at the thought of that damn kappa]
Loothound:
I think that I've figured out the colors thing, too. The ether things that aren't obviously green, blue, or red they look like an iridescent black. If you watch them they actually cycle through different colors in waves, and the colors of the waves seem to signal what kind of ether it contains. I've watched a few of them, and most cycle through blue and green, but some will have a wave of red. I'm pretty sure there's a connection there.
Feminina:
Oh yeah!
Also, has everyone else heard about Erika yet? Because in addition to the newspaper, the Erika bit raised some questions for me.
As for the newspaper, I guess...what do we think about the afterlife-communicating AI? Is Hannya using it right now? Was the rich dude who was paying for it involved with our ragtag group of supernatural detectives? Or was it just an interesting side story?
Maybe it's related in some way to Ed's spirit-transporting telephone system? I feel like there could be something here about this intersection between technology and the spirit world, but it might not be connected.
Loothound:
What if the Ed we're talking to IS the AI?!?!?
Feminina:
I...could see it! In a way, it would be a reasonable choice to represent an AI as a foreigner, since it's literally a foreign kind of intellect. And there have been several references to the fact that Ed doesn't like to talk to people directly, so he leaves these recordings instead. Maybe he's worried about giving himself away if he had to respond directly to human conversation.
On the other hand, one of the recordings referenced the uncomfortable plane trip he and Dale took to get here, which suggests a physical body. Of course, that could be fiction, or maybe it was uncomfortable in a way that was NOT actually about a physical body.
Butch:
Not only have I met Erica, I know something about Erica. I have so many beans I'm not spilling!
I don't think Hannya is using AI for reasons regarding the thing I know. More on that when y'all get there.
It seems that Ed's thing is more about moving spirits than actually talking to them. Even Rinko seems to be using it as her own personal subway. There is some communication with the phones and spirits, but I think that's more of a Convenient Game Mechanic than it is actual story.
(If you're not there, when you get to this Convenient Game Mechanic you will roll your eyes at how Convenient a Game Mechanic it is.)
The only subwayesque thing I did around the station was the dude who said there was this legendary basement but no one could find the stairs. That was in the subway station, but did not involve actual train travel. Good horror, though.
Feminina:
I know about Erika's connection with Hannya, if that's what you mean. That's an intriguing angle for some dramatic story at some point.
And yes, the way Rinko can apparently just travel around through Ed's phones in spirit form is interesting.
I do think there's something to be said here about how at different times there have been these scientific attempts to study, prove, contact, etc., the spirit world...I feel like there was a whole 'spirit photography' thing early in the days of photography that (at least some) people genuinely believed was a way to prove the existence of ghosts, there was the interest in spiritualism and mediums in Victorian times that was framed in part as taking advantage of new scientific developments in electricity and so forth...so this all kind of fits into that human inclination to turn a new technology to the cause of studying the afterlife.
The inevitable course of technology: first killing each other, then porn, then the afterlife.
Loothound:
Well, on to Chapter 4, and boy all the bananas. Also, the Erica thing, definitely messed up. But hey, kitty!
Butch:
Aaaaaaaaaaaaand y'all are ahead of me.
Not on Chapter 4 yet. But close!
Hey! Y'all were right about Hannya being SOMEONE'S dad.
What did I tell you about Convenient Game Mechanic? "I can now use this phone to reveal map icons I mean places I found out about cuz I'm a spirit!"
But now, at least, we know a) why Hannya might want to be contacting the dead and b) what he might need a vessel for. Using a living person to bring back the soul of a loved one. Tale as old as time.
Of course, might NOT be that, but I'm guessing based on it being a tale as old as time.
Certainly it is in the vein of "let's study the afterlife." It's also something KK didn't exactly like and/or respect and/or approve of. His disdain for "researchers" was obvious.
So, does this mean everything "Rinko" told us during the newspaper mission is bullshit? Because that wasn't really Rinko, right? That was the masked baddie.
Also, this revelation brings up a recurring problem when you have a video game companion who knows stuff. Eventually, there will be a time in the story where you, the player, say "Uh...why didn't you mention that before?"
Like, KK, you KNEW this dude was Erica's father? What ELSE do you know about this dude?
Now, I get that you can't just meet the dude you're going to be with the whole game and have said dude tell you everything. That wouldn't be very good storytelling. That said, the whole "Dude, why did you wait?" and the suspension of disbelief that Akito wouldn't say "WHAT? The hell else you know that I don't know?" or ANYTHING is always jarring to me.
Feminina:
Yeah, Hannya is someone's dad!
But another thing I wanted to say about that is, Erika isn't a Japanese name, right? So is Erika, like Ed and presumably Dale, a foreigner? If so, does that mean Hannya is also a foreigner? (Or, perhaps, a Japanese person who married a foreigner...)
And if even some of these additional people are foreigners, basically what's up with all these non-Japanese people being so deeply engaged with the Japanese afterworld?
Loothound:
I'm not sure about much of anything here, at the moment. Maybe they are part of some international research project, or something? I keep thinking about how all of the weirdness in this game is a combination of classically spiritual/horrorific (traditional monsters and spirits, magic, ghostly auras, etc.) and technological elements (the haunted screens, the glitching, etc.) and the comment that you made about the role of AI in all of this. Clearly there is a supernatural element and a technological element to what is happening.
Think about the use of supernatural powers by all of the humans and ex humans. Akito/KK have that weird circuitry thing in the hands that seems to be key to the power, and Hannya and his undead minions all have some sort of gauntlet/arm sleeve with the swirling blue power. Maybe, in the quest to cross the spirit barrier, it was discovered that to properly harness the power of ether weaving AI assistance was needed and it resulted in some sort of hybrid power which is what we're seeing manifested. Dunno…
Feminina:
Interesting thought. Everyone is talking right now about what generative AI can do for us...maybe it turns out that what it's great at is harnessing spirit ether.
Heck with autofilling email responses: make with the hand circuitry that lets me shoot at manifestations of emotions!
Butch:
Erica is not a Japanese name, it's true, but, in the English version, when KK talks about Erica he says "Erica" with a Japanese accent, like "Ehyaka." It's striking because it's the only word he has said so far that has any kind of Japanese affectation. Even when he's saying Japanese words he sounds like Great Value Keanu Reeves, and yet "Erica" gets an accent.
Hmm.
Feminina:
Interesting.
I checked the codex, but at least at the point where I am, there's no image of Erika. (There is one of Ed, who is definitely a white guy with strong 'Shaun from AC' vibes.)
I suppose this is one of those things we shall have to hope to learn more about anon.
Butch:
Well, in the ghostly distance, she did seem to be wearing a schoolgirl outfit. Indeed, at first I thought she was going to be some boss.
Feminina:
Speaking of bosses (or at least things you have to fight), have you seen the Visitor that's basically a woman's head and torso with no legs, but walking on its arms like some kind of horrendous bird?
Man, they have a lot of super creepy things in this game.
Butch:
Um….no.
I did a side quest where I had to follow something similar. It had lipstick. It was weird. Didn't fight me though.
Loothound:
I have seen that boss. Is it just me, or are a lot of the bosses basically terrifying distortions of women? That lady, scissor-lady, red lady, it goes on and on.
The ghost at the start of a side mission said that their son was in a club at school where they basically idolized the exploits of KK and other monsters hunters, so I guess his activities in life weren't THAT secret. Was his team talked about in pulp magazines or something? Considering that Japan basically has fan magazines of yakuza members anything is possible, I guess.
Feminina:
Good point...the male Visitors are basically variations on either guys with umbrellas or headless students, but many of the female ones are horrifyingly twisted womens' bodies.
I guess ugly women are inherently terrifying.
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