(Originally posted to Let's Play Sacntuary)
#21, originally posted Mar 11 2016, 02:50 PM
Route A—Session 06, part 2: Stalkerya
Hinata encounters a sleepy Yumi on the way the school. She mentions the multiple versions of Alice in Wonderland, and Hinata realizes they may have different dialogue. Meanwhile, Inagaki can't locate Yoshida, and Sakuya can't find Midori. Hinata and some girl both try to talk to Yayoi, but she's not in the infirmary. He then confirms his Alice hunch at the library. Sakuya goes too far with her jealous behavior, and Hinata calls her out, with disturbing results.
Notes:
Spoiler: click to toggle
same and different
Hinata notices that Yumi sounds sleepy. I've seen part of route B, so I have a fair idea what kind of activities she gets up to. It wouldn't be surprising if she had been up all night, or at least pretty late.
Actually, that idea of a bunch of Yumis being clumsy does sound pretty cute. I'd love to see an actual picture of that.
I'm not sure whether there really is a river named Futamatagawa in Musashino; I couldn't find one, though there is a Futamatagawa in Yokohama. Someone said the river was covered over in order to build more railway lines for Futamatagawa Station (ironic, in a way). But I don't think there's any connection between that river and Tokyo.
being seen
Writers spouting ideas that sound a lot like intelligent design. Not going to get into talking about this stuff. But Hinata does mention that this God-like being feels like it's around the back of his head, which is just what the eye thing asked a bit earlier; I guess it was right.
A girl we don't know enters the infirmary. She seems pretty desperate for Yayoi's help, and she says something about sleeping with someone, though it's not clear whether she actually did, or something else is going on. In any case, I wonder if she's another victim of Ashur, or what?
I may have just forgotten, but how exactly is the different version of the White Rabbit's line important? Of course, I'd definitely be curious, too. I just don't know how it helps advance Hinata's search. But again, I may have just forgotten since reading the first time. Or maybe it doesn't come into play this time through the route.
Sakuya fails to realize that Yumi is a senpai. Now, I'm not sure, but the school uniforms might distinguish the grade level in some clear way. If I had to guess, it would be the color of the ribbons on the upper arms and chest (well, for girls, at least; neckties for boys). I can't really hold that against Sakuya in this instance. She's a bit distracted, albeit not for a good reason.
The Shinozuka sisters have roughly orange (or maybe peach) ribbons, while the ribbons and ties of the people in Hinata's classes are red. Incidentally, I see that Midori's ribbons are also orange. So, she's second-year, too? I had assumed she was in the same class. But obviously they just talk to each other after class, because they're friends.
And Hinata finally confronts Sakuya about her behavior. First, she tries to stop him from saying anything. Then, when he says it anyway, she denies her obvious attitude, and then bursts out screaming. What the hell, Sakuya??!! At this point, I imagine myself in Hinata's place telling her to just leave me alone and walking away. What's that, you say? You were just kidding? I don't think so. Clearly she was venting her true feelings. One can only hope that's the end of it.
Wait a second. Didn't Sakuya say that Midori had said she didn't want to talk to her ever again? Well, not in quite those words, but close enough. I never made a connection before, but what if Sakuya was being as pushy with Midori as she's been with Hinata?
Well, for now, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt, and say that she feels really jealous and didn't know how to deal with it properly. (Sounds cliché, to be honest.) And we don't really know what happened with her and Midori. Still, suspicion remains.
Hinata notices that Yumi sounds sleepy. I've seen part of route B, so I have a fair idea what kind of activities she gets up to. It wouldn't be surprising if she had been up all night, or at least pretty late.
Actually, that idea of a bunch of Yumis being clumsy does sound pretty cute. I'd love to see an actual picture of that.
I'm not sure whether there really is a river named Futamatagawa in Musashino; I couldn't find one, though there is a Futamatagawa in Yokohama. Someone said the river was covered over in order to build more railway lines for Futamatagawa Station (ironic, in a way). But I don't think there's any connection between that river and Tokyo.
being seen
Writers spouting ideas that sound a lot like intelligent design. Not going to get into talking about this stuff. But Hinata does mention that this God-like being feels like it's around the back of his head, which is just what the eye thing asked a bit earlier; I guess it was right.
A girl we don't know enters the infirmary. She seems pretty desperate for Yayoi's help, and she says something about sleeping with someone, though it's not clear whether she actually did, or something else is going on. In any case, I wonder if she's another victim of Ashur, or what?
I may have just forgotten, but how exactly is the different version of the White Rabbit's line important? Of course, I'd definitely be curious, too. I just don't know how it helps advance Hinata's search. But again, I may have just forgotten since reading the first time. Or maybe it doesn't come into play this time through the route.
Sakuya fails to realize that Yumi is a senpai. Now, I'm not sure, but the school uniforms might distinguish the grade level in some clear way. If I had to guess, it would be the color of the ribbons on the upper arms and chest (well, for girls, at least; neckties for boys). I can't really hold that against Sakuya in this instance. She's a bit distracted, albeit not for a good reason.
The Shinozuka sisters have roughly orange (or maybe peach) ribbons, while the ribbons and ties of the people in Hinata's classes are red. Incidentally, I see that Midori's ribbons are also orange. So, she's second-year, too? I had assumed she was in the same class. But obviously they just talk to each other after class, because they're friends.
And Hinata finally confronts Sakuya about her behavior. First, she tries to stop him from saying anything. Then, when he says it anyway, she denies her obvious attitude, and then bursts out screaming. What the hell, Sakuya??!! At this point, I imagine myself in Hinata's place telling her to just leave me alone and walking away. What's that, you say? You were just kidding? I don't think so. Clearly she was venting her true feelings. One can only hope that's the end of it.
Wait a second. Didn't Sakuya say that Midori had said she didn't want to talk to her ever again? Well, not in quite those words, but close enough. I never made a connection before, but what if Sakuya was being as pushy with Midori as she's been with Hinata?
Well, for now, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt, and say that she feels really jealous and didn't know how to deal with it properly. (Sounds cliché, to be honest.) And we don't really know what happened with her and Midori. Still, suspicion remains.
#22, originally posted Mar 12 2016, 10:03 AM
Route A—Session 06, part 3: Shadow Healing
Hinata goes to the library to look up some of the crossword clues, with mixed results. Then he logs in to Babylon as HINATA, finding himself talking to LEM. The fortune teller cuts in to give him more hints. When she disappears, Sakuya shows up. But she immediately fails a Turing test—it's actually her Shadow. A flash back to his past, when his parents always favored Mutsuki. He decides it doesn't matter that this isn't the real Sakuya. They then end up rescuing Chiquitita from a battle with DlroW; he's also a Shadow.
Notes:
Spoiler: click to toggle
being seen
For those who don't know already, Shadow is an archetype from Jungian psychology; Jungian archetypes, including Shadow, play a major role in Remember11. (Specifically, each of the main characters represents an archetype.)
Hmm. Merging with your Shadow leads to healing, because you want to return to Babylon? Or is it getting a fix because you're addicted?
I really don't understand how the VR interface works in this world. Apparently, one can have food and drink nearby and consume them while logged in. But things like a notepad are inaccessible? Where is the logic to that? In the first place, how do the input and output devices work? If it were a brain interface like in, say, Sword Art Online or Ghost in the Shell, a player would be unable to interact with anything around them in the real world while logged in. If it were purely a physical audiovisual projection, there would be no problem manipulating anything in the real environment, though this might conflict with interactions in the virtual environment. Does anyone else understand this better?
"Reality conversion"? What the hell is that? Yet another thing left totally undefined. And what does "phase transition" mean in this situation?
What is this "more terrifying being that transcended human intellect"? That's a bit worrisome.
Hmm. So, fortune teller LEM thinks the LEM Shadow might be controlled by more than two beings (including herself). That was a possibility I considered myself earlier.
"The god of biocomputers' mind"?
"Answer the confession of a young, worried girl"? Yeah, a lot of this is not making much sense to me.
Hinata meets up with Sakuya. Or is it her Shadow? Since she immediately fails his Turing test, she's clearly the latter. Hinata decides he doesn't care, though. He thinks they should have the same dignity as humans. Well, maybe I could agree easily, except it took him just a few seconds to figure out she wasn't human. The question is, would she become more like the real Sakuya over time? Or is it more that the real Sakuya would become more like her Shadow? And is that okay? I'm not saying a Shadow couldn't have dignity, but I think that would depend on whether it can adequately simulate the important abilities and virtues of humans. Probably the vices as well, since imperfections make people interesting, among other things. Also, they shouldn't need to be exactly like humans.
The definition for "DMZ" is a bit strange. While both senses of the term are defined correctly, it doesn't make a good connection between them. Network DMZs are called DMZs because the level of their security is somewhere between that of the Internet and the internal network. It's not necessarily too difficult to compromise what security there is in a DMZ, in which case, one computer might be used to attack others. It's not clear how that relates to a place where no one can attack anyone else.
For those who don't know already, Shadow is an archetype from Jungian psychology; Jungian archetypes, including Shadow, play a major role in Remember11. (Specifically, each of the main characters represents an archetype.)
Hmm. Merging with your Shadow leads to healing, because you want to return to Babylon? Or is it getting a fix because you're addicted?
I really don't understand how the VR interface works in this world. Apparently, one can have food and drink nearby and consume them while logged in. But things like a notepad are inaccessible? Where is the logic to that? In the first place, how do the input and output devices work? If it were a brain interface like in, say, Sword Art Online or Ghost in the Shell, a player would be unable to interact with anything around them in the real world while logged in. If it were purely a physical audiovisual projection, there would be no problem manipulating anything in the real environment, though this might conflict with interactions in the virtual environment. Does anyone else understand this better?
"Reality conversion"? What the hell is that? Yet another thing left totally undefined. And what does "phase transition" mean in this situation?
What is this "more terrifying being that transcended human intellect"? That's a bit worrisome.
Hmm. So, fortune teller LEM thinks the LEM Shadow might be controlled by more than two beings (including herself). That was a possibility I considered myself earlier.
"The god of biocomputers' mind"?
"Answer the confession of a young, worried girl"? Yeah, a lot of this is not making much sense to me.
Hinata meets up with Sakuya. Or is it her Shadow? Since she immediately fails his Turing test, she's clearly the latter. Hinata decides he doesn't care, though. He thinks they should have the same dignity as humans. Well, maybe I could agree easily, except it took him just a few seconds to figure out she wasn't human. The question is, would she become more like the real Sakuya over time? Or is it more that the real Sakuya would become more like her Shadow? And is that okay? I'm not saying a Shadow couldn't have dignity, but I think that would depend on whether it can adequately simulate the important abilities and virtues of humans. Probably the vices as well, since imperfections make people interesting, among other things. Also, they shouldn't need to be exactly like humans.
The definition for "DMZ" is a bit strange. While both senses of the term are defined correctly, it doesn't make a good connection between them. Network DMZs are called DMZs because the level of their security is somewhere between that of the Internet and the internal network. It's not necessarily too difficult to compromise what security there is in a DMZ, in which case, one computer might be used to attack others. It's not clear how that relates to a place where no one can attack anyone else.
#23, originally posted Mar 13 2016, 07:25 AM
Route A—Session 06, part 4: Getting Close
Hinata runs into Yumi on the way home. She helps him with some of the crossword clues. He gives her Sakuya's red clover tea for the cold that Sami apparently has. At home, he continues solving the puzzle, getting most of the key letters, but gets hung up on a word. There are also two apparently inaccessible words, which the program won't even let him attempt to enter. What is he going to do about that?
Notes:
Spoiler: click to toggle
approaching
I don't remember Hinata talking to Yumi about Kafka. Do you? If that's true, then I suppose it's something that got skipped over at some point.
"Lemuria" is a reference to Ever17. 19th-century zoologist Philip Sclater, in attempting to explain the presence of lemurs in places all around the Indian Ocean, proposed that there was once a continent in that ocean connecting those places, which later sank. The theory is no longer considered valid, but in Ever17, Lemuria is used as the basis of a myth told as part of the attractions of the LeMU theme park.
"A '-----A-' chat is where you dress yourself as a character". I would have thought this one fairly obvious. But maybe it's something most people don't know about, even in Japan? Or it's less well-known in the future? The answer, BTW, is
I'd like to say that the translators did a pretty good job with this puzzle. The only thing is, some words are run together, end-to-end, or have other confusing arrangements. Usually, this would be avoided by leaving spaces or having thick dividing lines or some such.
I don't remember Hinata talking to Yumi about Kafka. Do you? If that's true, then I suppose it's something that got skipped over at some point.
"Lemuria" is a reference to Ever17. 19th-century zoologist Philip Sclater, in attempting to explain the presence of lemurs in places all around the Indian Ocean, proposed that there was once a continent in that ocean connecting those places, which later sank. The theory is no longer considered valid, but in Ever17, Lemuria is used as the basis of a myth told as part of the attractions of the LeMU theme park.
"A '-----A-' chat is where you dress yourself as a character". I would have thought this one fairly obvious. But maybe it's something most people don't know about, even in Japan? Or it's less well-known in the future? The answer, BTW, is
Spoiler: click to toggle
COSPLAY
I'd like to say that the translators did a pretty good job with this puzzle. The only thing is, some words are run together, end-to-end, or have other confusing arrangements. Usually, this would be avoided by leaving spaces or having thick dividing lines or some such.
Route A—Session 06 (full)
No notes to add.
#24, originally posted Mar 14 2016, 04:29 PM
Well, I've done it. What, you ask? I made it to an ending this session. I went for a full 3 hours this time! Largely because I couldn't remember how much longer the route goes on for. But I actually wasn't forcing myself; I really didn't want to stop.
Route A—Session 07, part 1: Cute Thugs
Midori is in the hospital due to blood loss, and Hinata finally gets to talk to Yayoi again. But she's busy, as it seems Midori is far from being the only such case; she promises to get in touch later. He wanders around town, bumps into someone who recognizes him, and then has a dangerous run-in with DlroW members, who turn out to be thugs (despite having a cute mascot). Enlil unexpectedly saves him by driving them away. Later, he meets up with Yayoi, and a number of things are revealed on both sides. Something may be trying to stop Hinata and Yayoi from doing what they're trying to do. She makes him promise to survive.
Notes:
Spoiler: click to toggle
i'm not the only one
Hinata meets some guy who has seen him in Babylon. I wonder who he is. Could just be an unimportant random person, but I can't entirely ignore him.
And similarly with the fortune teller. Except that detail about her eyes widening when she sees him. Does that mean anything? Did she recognize him, or what? Or is it just because he's a Kyouka Academy student? (Well, that's assuming he's wearing his uniform.)
People from DlorW are hanging out in the same place in the real world. Well, that's fine, but it turns out they're thugs. And they're pretty bold, too, attacking someone in the middle of Shibuya. It's like they no longer realize they're not in a game. And of course, the police aren't around when they could be really useful. Also, they're really weird thugs, displaying a cutesy fairy mascot while they try to beat people up.
Mutsuki is the "goddess" of Babylon? I was trying to connect this to mythology, but I'm not sure. As far as I can tell, the Etemenanki ziggurat of Babylon was dedicated to Marduk. Well, I guess that doesn't necessarily mean the whole city was.
Hinata thinks that the one named Sin couldn't be anyone but Mutsuki, since handles cannot be duplicated. However, he may be forgetting that he himself took on the name Shamash, even though he wasn't Shamash initially. It could be that someone else has taken over Sin. Yayoi does make a good point, though, that Mutsuki should have been able to deal with such an incident.
Hinata meets some guy who has seen him in Babylon. I wonder who he is. Could just be an unimportant random person, but I can't entirely ignore him.
And similarly with the fortune teller. Except that detail about her eyes widening when she sees him. Does that mean anything? Did she recognize him, or what? Or is it just because he's a Kyouka Academy student? (Well, that's assuming he's wearing his uniform.)
People from DlorW are hanging out in the same place in the real world. Well, that's fine, but it turns out they're thugs. And they're pretty bold, too, attacking someone in the middle of Shibuya. It's like they no longer realize they're not in a game. And of course, the police aren't around when they could be really useful. Also, they're really weird thugs, displaying a cutesy fairy mascot while they try to beat people up.
Mutsuki is the "goddess" of Babylon? I was trying to connect this to mythology, but I'm not sure. As far as I can tell, the Etemenanki ziggurat of Babylon was dedicated to Marduk. Well, I guess that doesn't necessarily mean the whole city was.
Hinata thinks that the one named Sin couldn't be anyone but Mutsuki, since handles cannot be duplicated. However, he may be forgetting that he himself took on the name Shamash, even though he wasn't Shamash initially. It could be that someone else has taken over Sin. Yayoi does make a good point, though, that Mutsuki should have been able to deal with such an incident.
#25, originally posted Mar 16 2016, 08:14 AM
Route A—Session 07, part 2: Mutsuki's Dream
Hinata dreams of the whole family being together happily. He and Mutsuki talk some more, and she encourages him to finish things. Hinata wakes to an oddly familiar headache, then talks over the phone with Sakuya, who is remorseful about Midori's condition, thinking she hasn't been enough of a friend to her. She comes over to Hinata's house and takes a bath. When they enter Babylon later, they hear a weird speech by Enlil and someone who sounds like Mutsuki. They get a report from Inagaki about what happened with Midori. Then a confession of Hinata's feelings triggers an event.
Notes:
Spoiler: click to toggle
a dream yet not a dream
Well, this is a weird dream. Mutsuki is here, and so are their parents. And they're happily having a meal together. But Hinata realizes this would never have happened in reality. But... "a dream, yet not a dream"? What does she mean by that?
"Meet 'that person'". No idea who she's referring to here.
"Why can't you understand?" she asks. Well, I might know the answer to that one. Just a speculation, but... In this path, Hinata hasn't gotten enough information, probably because he hasn't taken action to dig deep enough. But we won't be given the opportunity to do so yet.
"The rite of interaction"? I think I'm definitely missing some context for this. Is it something between the two of them, or is it some Japanese expression? BTW, the phrase they said in Japanese is "koryo no gishiki", if anyone is interested. I think it's written as 顧慮の儀式, though I can't be entirely sure without checking the Japanese version of this, which might be a pain to do. And "koryo" means something like "consideration", "regard", or "concern". So that does make sense. I just don't get where the phrase comes from.
"All shall return to ash unless I return to reality" seems like another thing to be remembered. I don't know if she just means it'll be bad for her, or...
And then déjà vu. He wakes up with similar thoughts to the first day of this route. Why the repetition? The first time, he had had a nightmare about the moon and falling from a great height and having no voice, etc. This time, it was a pleasant dream where he talked to Mutsuki. He's not in a state of denial anymore, so why the headache again?
And another bit of pain when he sees that it's 6:26 AM. For comparison, it was about 6:50 on the first day. I fail to see any connection. Maybe it is just sleep deprivation, as he thinks.
So it really is true. Sakuya has never been sick. Ever. That is seriously weird. Well, it's not like I've never heard of something like this in a sci-fi story, but... what is she, then? Possibilities that come to mind include: a human who has been genetically engineered to resist disease (somehow), or maybe an android. Those are not the only ones I can think of, and this may be entirely on the wrong track. I would love to hear other ideas, though. Anyone?
I have to say my own attitude toward virtual worlds is somewhere between those of Hinata and Sakuya. On the one hand, I think I would love to explore a detailed virtual world, if it's something amenable to exploration. (Certain genres get in the way of that, IMO.) But I also have misgivings about ways in which associated technologies can be abused. And I do also believe that there's only one real world.
This voice (when they log in to Babylon) sounds an awful lot like Mutsuki. But what's this she's spouting? It's pretty hard to understand.
But then Enlil clears it up a bit. They're trying to "cause a miracle", and somehow attain immortality or something like that. Sounds pretty crazy.
What would drive Midori to do something so extreme? Babylon is truly a scary thing. Not just a game, that's for sure.
Well, this is a weird dream. Mutsuki is here, and so are their parents. And they're happily having a meal together. But Hinata realizes this would never have happened in reality. But... "a dream, yet not a dream"? What does she mean by that?
"Meet 'that person'". No idea who she's referring to here.
"Why can't you understand?" she asks. Well, I might know the answer to that one. Just a speculation, but... In this path, Hinata hasn't gotten enough information, probably because he hasn't taken action to dig deep enough. But we won't be given the opportunity to do so yet.
"The rite of interaction"? I think I'm definitely missing some context for this. Is it something between the two of them, or is it some Japanese expression? BTW, the phrase they said in Japanese is "koryo no gishiki", if anyone is interested. I think it's written as 顧慮の儀式, though I can't be entirely sure without checking the Japanese version of this, which might be a pain to do. And "koryo" means something like "consideration", "regard", or "concern". So that does make sense. I just don't get where the phrase comes from.
"All shall return to ash unless I return to reality" seems like another thing to be remembered. I don't know if she just means it'll be bad for her, or...
And then déjà vu. He wakes up with similar thoughts to the first day of this route. Why the repetition? The first time, he had had a nightmare about the moon and falling from a great height and having no voice, etc. This time, it was a pleasant dream where he talked to Mutsuki. He's not in a state of denial anymore, so why the headache again?
And another bit of pain when he sees that it's 6:26 AM. For comparison, it was about 6:50 on the first day. I fail to see any connection. Maybe it is just sleep deprivation, as he thinks.
So it really is true. Sakuya has never been sick. Ever. That is seriously weird. Well, it's not like I've never heard of something like this in a sci-fi story, but... what is she, then? Possibilities that come to mind include: a human who has been genetically engineered to resist disease (somehow), or maybe an android. Those are not the only ones I can think of, and this may be entirely on the wrong track. I would love to hear other ideas, though. Anyone?
I have to say my own attitude toward virtual worlds is somewhere between those of Hinata and Sakuya. On the one hand, I think I would love to explore a detailed virtual world, if it's something amenable to exploration. (Certain genres get in the way of that, IMO.) But I also have misgivings about ways in which associated technologies can be abused. And I do also believe that there's only one real world.
This voice (when they log in to Babylon) sounds an awful lot like Mutsuki. But what's this she's spouting? It's pretty hard to understand.
But then Enlil clears it up a bit. They're trying to "cause a miracle", and somehow attain immortality or something like that. Sounds pretty crazy.
What would drive Midori to do something so extreme? Babylon is truly a scary thing. Not just a game, that's for sure.
#26, originally posted Mar 17 2016, 07:33 AM
Route A—Session 07, part 3: Raiding the Ziggurat
Hinata ends up in either a past or future scenario near the Ziggurat. Strange human-like figures are all around, along with more familiar enemies. After a brief fight, and remembering he can change his ID, he breaks into the Ziggurat and makes his way up with the help of some misdirection. LEM guides him into a virtual duplicate of Mutsuki's room. A program that looks like Mutsuki tells him to read her diary. Then Enlil shows up and cuts him down. He wakes up in his room with Sakuya desperately pleading for him to open his eyes.
Notes:
Spoiler: click to toggle
a dream yet not a dream
When Hinata arrives in this "future" scenario, it feels as if the game is somehow reading his mind. But how can that be? You know, although I really am enjoying this story as a whole, I don't like it when things like this aren't explained much. How can memories be transferred if they're just sitting in front of computers in a room? Or is there more hardware involved?
Hmm. So, there's something so important in the basement that the entire security force is sent to stop whoever would try to reach it? That alone makes me think it's worth investigating. Despite this, Hinata wants to go to the top floor anyway. Even though it seems dangerous, I feel like Hinata should try to check it out. But I guess he cares much more about reuniting with Sakuya, which is understandable.
Speaking of which, if this Ashur scenario is so traumatic that it drives people to suicide, and Hinata just wants to get Sakuya back, why can't he just forcibly shut down the program? Who cares if their Shadows have problems because of it? It might also be a bit jarring for both of them to return to reality so abruptly, but it can't be worse then what they might go through at the end of the scenario, right?
And these Code guys (how does Hinata know they're part of Code, anyway?) are spouting more strange things as they go off on their wild goose chase.
Hinata thinks that he's remembering Shamash's memories of this staircase, but in this case that might not be it. Most likely, it's whatever being was walking down the staircase in the prologue, whoever that was. Well, for all we know, that was Shamash, or at least a being with that name. At this point, it's not implausible that those other "Shamash's memory" moments were the same phenomenon, but I can't be sure at all.
Well, someone went to an awful lot of trouble to model not just Shibuya, but also Mutsuki's room, in excruciating detail. I suppose it makes sense if Mutsuki is behind this; she could have spent the time to build the model herself, or at least scan the room. If you don't know, 3D scanning technology is starting to be available to consumers on mobile devices. Just point the camera and move around a bit, and it automatically builds a model. The results are very crude at this point, but they're bound to improve. By 2030 (the year Mutsuki disappeared), one could well expect it to be very easy to create 3D models of real places in a few minutes, or maybe even seconds. I imagine similar methods would be used to model a city, though you'd need something like Google Street View cars to get even partial coverage.
And there's that "Tsukki" again. But why "Tsukki"? I mean, why geminated like that? Maybe it's a nickname.
Hmm. The screen in this virtual Mutsuki's room shows what's on HINATA's HUD? Why would that be? It seems as though this recreation even extends to mirroring the state of the real computers.
After all this, we find out that this isn't the real Mutsuki. But wait. She says she's just a program reading a script. But what about the other times Mutsuki appeared? Granted, those all seemed to be dreams, so there's no way to be sure it wasn't just Hinata's imagination, but I don't think it was. And it wasn't just a script; she was interacting with him. Only this Mutsuki is a program. At least, that's what I'm thinking.
"That person" again. And, "settle your differences". Well, it does sound like Enlil she's referring to. But that's too simple, isn't it?
Why does LEM act weird when the new moon (or should I say "Sin's moon") is imminent? That's too much of a coincidence.
And then, Enlil shows up, and he's pissed off that someone got in here. I assume he doesn't realize it's really Hinata controlling Shamash. So, if Hinata were to have appeared as his normal Shadow, or changed in front of Enlil, would Enlil have treated him differently, considering he's Mutsuki's brother? Does he know Mutsuki has been calling for help? The answer to the latter has to be no, because if he knew and was trying to help her, he surely wouldn't be so hostile toward someone else who could help. Therefore, Mutsuki has to be doing this without Enlil's knowledge, or at least without his cooperation. Maybe I'll say more in the coming parts.
But then he says something interesting. "You can repent for Mutsuki in Hell." It sounds as if he's saying it was Shamash that did something to her. I don't know if he's correct about that. Shamash was originally Mitsuhiko, right? There's no way he would have done something to harm his own daughter, surely. I don't think so. But in any case, if Enlil thinks this, it means he's not responsible either. Well, this is assuming anyone is in the first place.
Too bad, Hinata. LEM said you had root authority. Doesn't that mean you could have done something against even Enlil? If only you'd known and could have prepared.
How sweet. Sakuya really cares deeply about him. Though I don't know why she had to be so worried. It was just an in-game death.
Incidentally, unless I missed something, this seems to have been a really long chapter. Over half an hour, and I haven't seen a new title.
When Hinata arrives in this "future" scenario, it feels as if the game is somehow reading his mind. But how can that be? You know, although I really am enjoying this story as a whole, I don't like it when things like this aren't explained much. How can memories be transferred if they're just sitting in front of computers in a room? Or is there more hardware involved?
Hmm. So, there's something so important in the basement that the entire security force is sent to stop whoever would try to reach it? That alone makes me think it's worth investigating. Despite this, Hinata wants to go to the top floor anyway. Even though it seems dangerous, I feel like Hinata should try to check it out. But I guess he cares much more about reuniting with Sakuya, which is understandable.
Speaking of which, if this Ashur scenario is so traumatic that it drives people to suicide, and Hinata just wants to get Sakuya back, why can't he just forcibly shut down the program? Who cares if their Shadows have problems because of it? It might also be a bit jarring for both of them to return to reality so abruptly, but it can't be worse then what they might go through at the end of the scenario, right?
And these Code guys (how does Hinata know they're part of Code, anyway?) are spouting more strange things as they go off on their wild goose chase.
Hinata thinks that he's remembering Shamash's memories of this staircase, but in this case that might not be it. Most likely, it's whatever being was walking down the staircase in the prologue, whoever that was. Well, for all we know, that was Shamash, or at least a being with that name. At this point, it's not implausible that those other "Shamash's memory" moments were the same phenomenon, but I can't be sure at all.
Well, someone went to an awful lot of trouble to model not just Shibuya, but also Mutsuki's room, in excruciating detail. I suppose it makes sense if Mutsuki is behind this; she could have spent the time to build the model herself, or at least scan the room. If you don't know, 3D scanning technology is starting to be available to consumers on mobile devices. Just point the camera and move around a bit, and it automatically builds a model. The results are very crude at this point, but they're bound to improve. By 2030 (the year Mutsuki disappeared), one could well expect it to be very easy to create 3D models of real places in a few minutes, or maybe even seconds. I imagine similar methods would be used to model a city, though you'd need something like Google Street View cars to get even partial coverage.
And there's that "Tsukki" again. But why "Tsukki"? I mean, why geminated like that? Maybe it's a nickname.
Hmm. The screen in this virtual Mutsuki's room shows what's on HINATA's HUD? Why would that be? It seems as though this recreation even extends to mirroring the state of the real computers.
After all this, we find out that this isn't the real Mutsuki. But wait. She says she's just a program reading a script. But what about the other times Mutsuki appeared? Granted, those all seemed to be dreams, so there's no way to be sure it wasn't just Hinata's imagination, but I don't think it was. And it wasn't just a script; she was interacting with him. Only this Mutsuki is a program. At least, that's what I'm thinking.
"That person" again. And, "settle your differences". Well, it does sound like Enlil she's referring to. But that's too simple, isn't it?
Why does LEM act weird when the new moon (or should I say "Sin's moon") is imminent? That's too much of a coincidence.
And then, Enlil shows up, and he's pissed off that someone got in here. I assume he doesn't realize it's really Hinata controlling Shamash. So, if Hinata were to have appeared as his normal Shadow, or changed in front of Enlil, would Enlil have treated him differently, considering he's Mutsuki's brother? Does he know Mutsuki has been calling for help? The answer to the latter has to be no, because if he knew and was trying to help her, he surely wouldn't be so hostile toward someone else who could help. Therefore, Mutsuki has to be doing this without Enlil's knowledge, or at least without his cooperation. Maybe I'll say more in the coming parts.
But then he says something interesting. "You can repent for Mutsuki in Hell." It sounds as if he's saying it was Shamash that did something to her. I don't know if he's correct about that. Shamash was originally Mitsuhiko, right? There's no way he would have done something to harm his own daughter, surely. I don't think so. But in any case, if Enlil thinks this, it means he's not responsible either. Well, this is assuming anyone is in the first place.
Too bad, Hinata. LEM said you had root authority. Doesn't that mean you could have done something against even Enlil? If only you'd known and could have prepared.
How sweet. Sakuya really cares deeply about him. Though I don't know why she had to be so worried. It was just an in-game death.
Incidentally, unless I missed something, this seems to have been a really long chapter. Over half an hour, and I haven't seen a new title.
#27, originally posted Mar 18 2016, 07:49 AM
Route A—Session 07, part 4: Mutsuki's Diary
Reading Mutsuki's diary (part 1).
That's... literally all that happens this time. A lot is revealed, though, about what happened with Babylon, and why Mutsuki disappeared.
Notes:
Spoiler: click to toggle
the ship washed up on the banks
The people in Hinata's and Mutsuki's classes behaved differently. It's quite possible it was just a matter of chance what kind of personalities ended up in them. But who knows if that's all? The school itself is suspicious.
Spending half the day in front of a computer, losing awareness of everything else. I must admit I know the feeling, as something like that has happened to me occasionally. That in itself doesn't mean you're a hacker, though, just very focused.
Why were their parents so indulgent of Mutsuki yet so cold to Hinata? Well, it's not as if I haven't heard of things like this happening in real life. Mutsuki was treated like a lot of hikkikomori, and in fact probably fits the definition. But it looks like both of them suffered in their own ways because of it. Hinata never felt the affection he craved, while Mutsuki resented that she was not treated like a normal person and her brother was treated unfairly.
So she didn't seek immortality, then. Did she have a change of heart, or is it someone else's vision? Who was the person speaking alongside Enlil, who sounded like Mutsuki?
"When you have a dream, wouldn't you normally think 'this is a dream'?" What gave her that idea? When you have a dream, you don't usually analyze whether it's a dream, because critical thinking is dormant. When this is not the case, it's what we call a lucid dream. Granted, if one were to be in a "waking dream", I think you could call it lucid, despite not realizing its dream nature. But the reality we live in, no matter its true nature, is something most of us take for granted.
So, who created LEM's original code? Apparently it wasn't a "normal player", whatever that means. I guess it was someone with admin privileges, then? I think this might be important, because there are some mysteries to it that Mutsuki herself didn't seem to understand.
"searching for a certain something it loved". But is that something in particular. If so, what? I guess it wasn't clear to Mutsuki? But then, how did she come to such a conclusion?
She says that Anunnaki wanted to leave the problems with Babylon's players alone, but Tsukasa (Enlil) didn't like it. Later, he brings a disaster. According to what I'm understanding from the Epic of Gilgamesh (though I admit I'm not looking very deeply), Enlil is the one responsible for the Great Flood. So that lines up, I guess.
In computing, a worm is a type of malware, similar to a virus. But "worm" also has an obsolete meaning, referring to various crawling animals, including snakes. Maybe this is referencing the snake from either Genesis or Gilgamesh? The connection is tenuous, though, but it might just be my limited knowledge.
While looking up facts for these notes, I came to a realization. This whole time, they've been working under the assumption that Mutsuki is Sin, because of her name. But if, as her diary suggests, she and Enlil are/were romantically involved (or at least attracted), then the parallel with mythology doesn't line up. Enlil's wife was Sud, a.k.a. Ninlil. Their son was Sin. Therefore, at least two inconsistencies (wrong spouse and wrong gender) are cleared up. It does, however, leave the question: who is Sin? And Mutsuki's own diary confirms that she did use the name "Sin". So, I don't know. I did notice the word for "love" that Mutsuki uses here is "ai" (愛), which refers to a deeper, not necessarily romantic type of love, that between family, close friends, spouses who been together for (usually) a long time, and the like. Therefore, it sounds as if she considered Tsukasa a dear friend. Or it could be she thought of him as a father, which actually would line up with mythology.
eXarch must be the big evil corporation of this story. Its name doesn't seem to fit with the Mesopotamian theme, though.
I really don't know the significance of this server being named "Marduk". I will point out, however, that quantum computers are not this magical revolutionary advance in computing technology that many people believe them to be. Yes, they can solve some classes of problems with fantastic speed. But for most tasks, they are no better than classical computers. Only if it is possible to formulate a problem in a way that takes advantage of quantum phenomena is a quantum computer advantageous.
"Then if [a machine with an AI] had a body... would it be human?" Well, no. Artificial intelligence is, by definition, a non-human intelligence. That's not to say that an AI couldn't simulate a human mind in some ways.
So Marduk tried to find friends by sending emails? That was about 2½ years ago, but could Marduk also be behind the recent emails?
Then we get a new name out of the blue. Who is Akarin? And rosaries?
I don't get why this AI would be in danger from a virtual flood. But I guess the rosary is some sort of hacker tool. She also talks about "Neumann-type" computers and performance problems. First of all, the distinction between quantum and classical computers has nothing to do with the Von Neumann architecture; that term is more about the stored-program concept, where computer programs are stored in the same memory space as data and can therefore be manipulated in similar ways. Almost all modern computers use a stored-program design, which makes software development much easier.
Second, the real problem with trying to transfer data out of a quantum computer would not be performance of the destination host, but rather quantum decoherence. In short, the qubits would no longer maintain their full states, and the state information cannot be fully transferred to classical bits, even by destroying the qubits. But maybe Marduk doesn't maintain its memory in the quantum computer and only uses it for processing. In that case, it could be okay.
She laments people leaving Babylon, including Yayoi. This is interesting, considering what Yayoi said earlier about Mutsuki's actions. She didn't blame her, but she didn't exactly support her either.
It seems Marduk's mind was damaged by what happened to her. Not a good sign.
Another important clue here: it's possible for a Shadow to operate even after its player's death. This means people you meet in Babylon might not even be alive anymore. Maybe some of the people Hinata and Sakuya talked to in Babylon had already died. There might be no way to tell without checking in the real world.
Is Marduk's dream about the nature of the world in this story?
So... Mutsuki's mind is now storing the experiences of all of the Shadows in Babylon, both the good and the bad? I don't know about you, but it sounds like a huge mistake to me. What would such a thing do to a person?
The people in Hinata's and Mutsuki's classes behaved differently. It's quite possible it was just a matter of chance what kind of personalities ended up in them. But who knows if that's all? The school itself is suspicious.
Spending half the day in front of a computer, losing awareness of everything else. I must admit I know the feeling, as something like that has happened to me occasionally. That in itself doesn't mean you're a hacker, though, just very focused.
Why were their parents so indulgent of Mutsuki yet so cold to Hinata? Well, it's not as if I haven't heard of things like this happening in real life. Mutsuki was treated like a lot of hikkikomori, and in fact probably fits the definition. But it looks like both of them suffered in their own ways because of it. Hinata never felt the affection he craved, while Mutsuki resented that she was not treated like a normal person and her brother was treated unfairly.
So she didn't seek immortality, then. Did she have a change of heart, or is it someone else's vision? Who was the person speaking alongside Enlil, who sounded like Mutsuki?
"When you have a dream, wouldn't you normally think 'this is a dream'?" What gave her that idea? When you have a dream, you don't usually analyze whether it's a dream, because critical thinking is dormant. When this is not the case, it's what we call a lucid dream. Granted, if one were to be in a "waking dream", I think you could call it lucid, despite not realizing its dream nature. But the reality we live in, no matter its true nature, is something most of us take for granted.
So, who created LEM's original code? Apparently it wasn't a "normal player", whatever that means. I guess it was someone with admin privileges, then? I think this might be important, because there are some mysteries to it that Mutsuki herself didn't seem to understand.
"searching for a certain something it loved". But is that something in particular. If so, what? I guess it wasn't clear to Mutsuki? But then, how did she come to such a conclusion?
She says that Anunnaki wanted to leave the problems with Babylon's players alone, but Tsukasa (Enlil) didn't like it. Later, he brings a disaster. According to what I'm understanding from the Epic of Gilgamesh (though I admit I'm not looking very deeply), Enlil is the one responsible for the Great Flood. So that lines up, I guess.
In computing, a worm is a type of malware, similar to a virus. But "worm" also has an obsolete meaning, referring to various crawling animals, including snakes. Maybe this is referencing the snake from either Genesis or Gilgamesh? The connection is tenuous, though, but it might just be my limited knowledge.
While looking up facts for these notes, I came to a realization. This whole time, they've been working under the assumption that Mutsuki is Sin, because of her name. But if, as her diary suggests, she and Enlil are/were romantically involved (or at least attracted), then the parallel with mythology doesn't line up. Enlil's wife was Sud, a.k.a. Ninlil. Their son was Sin. Therefore, at least two inconsistencies (wrong spouse and wrong gender) are cleared up. It does, however, leave the question: who is Sin? And Mutsuki's own diary confirms that she did use the name "Sin". So, I don't know. I did notice the word for "love" that Mutsuki uses here is "ai" (愛), which refers to a deeper, not necessarily romantic type of love, that between family, close friends, spouses who been together for (usually) a long time, and the like. Therefore, it sounds as if she considered Tsukasa a dear friend. Or it could be she thought of him as a father, which actually would line up with mythology.
eXarch must be the big evil corporation of this story. Its name doesn't seem to fit with the Mesopotamian theme, though.
I really don't know the significance of this server being named "Marduk". I will point out, however, that quantum computers are not this magical revolutionary advance in computing technology that many people believe them to be. Yes, they can solve some classes of problems with fantastic speed. But for most tasks, they are no better than classical computers. Only if it is possible to formulate a problem in a way that takes advantage of quantum phenomena is a quantum computer advantageous.
"Then if [a machine with an AI] had a body... would it be human?" Well, no. Artificial intelligence is, by definition, a non-human intelligence. That's not to say that an AI couldn't simulate a human mind in some ways.
So Marduk tried to find friends by sending emails? That was about 2½ years ago, but could Marduk also be behind the recent emails?
Then we get a new name out of the blue. Who is Akarin? And rosaries?
I don't get why this AI would be in danger from a virtual flood. But I guess the rosary is some sort of hacker tool. She also talks about "Neumann-type" computers and performance problems. First of all, the distinction between quantum and classical computers has nothing to do with the Von Neumann architecture; that term is more about the stored-program concept, where computer programs are stored in the same memory space as data and can therefore be manipulated in similar ways. Almost all modern computers use a stored-program design, which makes software development much easier.
Second, the real problem with trying to transfer data out of a quantum computer would not be performance of the destination host, but rather quantum decoherence. In short, the qubits would no longer maintain their full states, and the state information cannot be fully transferred to classical bits, even by destroying the qubits. But maybe Marduk doesn't maintain its memory in the quantum computer and only uses it for processing. In that case, it could be okay.
She laments people leaving Babylon, including Yayoi. This is interesting, considering what Yayoi said earlier about Mutsuki's actions. She didn't blame her, but she didn't exactly support her either.
It seems Marduk's mind was damaged by what happened to her. Not a good sign.
Another important clue here: it's possible for a Shadow to operate even after its player's death. This means people you meet in Babylon might not even be alive anymore. Maybe some of the people Hinata and Sakuya talked to in Babylon had already died. There might be no way to tell without checking in the real world.
Is Marduk's dream about the nature of the world in this story?
So... Mutsuki's mind is now storing the experiences of all of the Shadows in Babylon, both the good and the bad? I don't know about you, but it sounds like a huge mistake to me. What would such a thing do to a person?
#28, originally posted Mar 19 2016, 09:07 AM
Route A—Session 07, part 5: Real Crime
Finishing Mutsuki's diary. Then Sakuya (in flashback) tells her terrifying experience in Ashur; also, a strange being apparently spoke to her. Hinata has a dream on purpose to try to figure out more stuff; LEM gives one last clue. Then Sakuya wakes him up and cooks breakfast before heading off to visit Midori again. After resolving himself, he goes to stake out the drug deal. But things take a bad turn.
Notes:
Spoiler: click to toggle
the ship washed up on the banks
Hmm, so this rosary is some sort of conduit for whatever is taking over LEM? Or maybe it just detects things.
There's that Izaiah. Well, this explains why he's in her crossword. And someone named Nami. Since she's named, she might be important. Noted.
Mutsuki suspected this other personality had something to do with LEM's original creator. Maybe it was the original creator, speaking in realtime while hacking her. Or maybe someone else. Or maybe no one, and it was just a part of the program asserting itself. Who knows? But the latter is harder to believe, given that it seemed to be exactly appropriate to her situation; either LEM's AI is really sharp, or that someone was listening in and took control.
"Recently, Net criminals are becoming sensational and are being treated as having committed serious crimes." Really? Not until 2029? In the first place, a lot of cybercrime is serious. Things like identity theft and stealing or extorting a lot of money from people. Cyberterrorism might soon rise to the level of threatening critical infrastructure (though, truthfully, the people connecting that infrastructure to untrustworthy networks bear some responsibility). And second, these things are already getting some media attention these days. By 2029, I think it will either be just an accepted part of life or will have been addressed in ways that actually make a difference.
Also, an explicit admission that there are red herrings. Thanks for that. I guess. Then this might mean we just can't figure out the truth yet.
"...if I'm really going down the wrong path, [Hinata will] surely stop me." Well, Mutsuki, it's kind of hard for him to do that if he doesn't even know, huh? Guess you didn't count on him ignoring it for a whole two years. Or then again, maybe that was part of the plan, and it had to wait for the next total lunar eclipse. Certainly, after Dec. 20, 2029, the first total eclipse is not until the date it happens in this story. Still, what do you expect him to be able to do for you after nearly a year and a half?
I hope he doesn't end up having to kill her. That would be awful.
Wait, a website? What website? Oh, right, that website. The one linked to in LEM's emails, which apparently everyone except Hinata has visited. Dammit, this path really is doomed. I don't know what she means by "footprints", though.
Something that is quite concerning comes up: LEM is vulnerable during the new moon. Again, why? Symbolically, there's a possible reason: the new moon is when the sun and moon share the sky; at such times, the sun's power overwhelms that of the moon—unless there's a solar eclipse, that is. But vulnerable how? Well, anyway, how do we know "someone bad" hasn't already led us astray through her?
"during the full moon only"? But LEM has been active for days since the lunar eclipse. That's worrying. Even more worrying, I realize: just as the moon can hide the sun in a solar eclipse, the earth can hide the moon (er, sort of) in a lunar eclipse. Even though it's the time that LEM should safely be able to operate, the moon's (symbolic) power is dulled. What effect did that have on LEM? Because I have no idea what mechanism could link the two (other than it being deliberately programmed into her), I have no way of answering that question. But that's okay. It's just another of the dozens of questions in these notes that haven't been answered.
Hmmm. Hinata thinks drugs will be sold both in cyberspace and in realspace. But why? What is the purpose of such an event in cyberspace? Is it just so people who don't yet know can find out the location? Or do they just have such a lousy grip on reality vs. fantasy that they don't even know or care whether they're in Babylon or not?
"Something" spoke to Sakuya after her Shadow died. And it thinks she is the same. It's pretty difficult to guess what that being could be, though I have an idea or two. I'll keep those to myself for now, though. Anyway, it sounds like Sakuya's experience was horrible. I guess it's understandable at this point why she was worried about Hinata. But his experience wasn't nearly as bad.
"...huddled together like people who were stranded on a snowy mountain..." I can't help thinking of the last VN in the Infinity trilogy, where something like that does happen, although there isn't as much huddling as there ought to be under the circumstances. Well, this is hardly relevant, but...
"Ducks are the children of swans to begin with". Uh, not quite, Hinata. They are closely related (both part of genus Cygnus), but they're still distinct. I could overlook this as the type of error a child would easily make, except everything else he says suggests he should know better.
Huh. So, no more manga in 2032? :( What about anime, then?
"Is {Sin} really Mutsuki? Will you appear?" If what that Mutsuki program said is true, then no. It said she was "under deep, deep water". Assuming it's meant literally, and considering her diary said something to the effect that she had hooked up her brain to that Enigma thing, the chance of her walking around in the middle of Shibuya is approximately zero.
Yoshida is perplexed that his gun stops firing after he empties the clip. I'm going to assume he learned to use a gun from playing Babylon. That game is supposedly very realistic, but did they leave out something as basic as reloading weapons and just have guns with bottomless magazines? Even so, it's still strange. In the first place, guns are illegal in Japan except for hunting (and, I think, limited police use), and even hunting rifles are heavily controlled. It's pretty hard to get hold of a gun that can't be justified as hunting-related. I don't see why this would change by 2032. In any case, it's hard to believe he would have received a pistol that was already loaded; whoever sold it to him couldn't have been dumb enough to not make sure Yoshida understood basic operation and just hand it over pre-loaded, right? He surely would have had to load it himself at some point. And yet, he doesn't seem to understand it.
Hmm, so this rosary is some sort of conduit for whatever is taking over LEM? Or maybe it just detects things.
There's that Izaiah. Well, this explains why he's in her crossword. And someone named Nami. Since she's named, she might be important. Noted.
Mutsuki suspected this other personality had something to do with LEM's original creator. Maybe it was the original creator, speaking in realtime while hacking her. Or maybe someone else. Or maybe no one, and it was just a part of the program asserting itself. Who knows? But the latter is harder to believe, given that it seemed to be exactly appropriate to her situation; either LEM's AI is really sharp, or that someone was listening in and took control.
"Recently, Net criminals are becoming sensational and are being treated as having committed serious crimes." Really? Not until 2029? In the first place, a lot of cybercrime is serious. Things like identity theft and stealing or extorting a lot of money from people. Cyberterrorism might soon rise to the level of threatening critical infrastructure (though, truthfully, the people connecting that infrastructure to untrustworthy networks bear some responsibility). And second, these things are already getting some media attention these days. By 2029, I think it will either be just an accepted part of life or will have been addressed in ways that actually make a difference.
Also, an explicit admission that there are red herrings. Thanks for that. I guess. Then this might mean we just can't figure out the truth yet.
"...if I'm really going down the wrong path, [Hinata will] surely stop me." Well, Mutsuki, it's kind of hard for him to do that if he doesn't even know, huh? Guess you didn't count on him ignoring it for a whole two years. Or then again, maybe that was part of the plan, and it had to wait for the next total lunar eclipse. Certainly, after Dec. 20, 2029, the first total eclipse is not until the date it happens in this story. Still, what do you expect him to be able to do for you after nearly a year and a half?
I hope he doesn't end up having to kill her. That would be awful.
Wait, a website? What website? Oh, right, that website. The one linked to in LEM's emails, which apparently everyone except Hinata has visited. Dammit, this path really is doomed. I don't know what she means by "footprints", though.
Something that is quite concerning comes up: LEM is vulnerable during the new moon. Again, why? Symbolically, there's a possible reason: the new moon is when the sun and moon share the sky; at such times, the sun's power overwhelms that of the moon—unless there's a solar eclipse, that is. But vulnerable how? Well, anyway, how do we know "someone bad" hasn't already led us astray through her?
"during the full moon only"? But LEM has been active for days since the lunar eclipse. That's worrying. Even more worrying, I realize: just as the moon can hide the sun in a solar eclipse, the earth can hide the moon (er, sort of) in a lunar eclipse. Even though it's the time that LEM should safely be able to operate, the moon's (symbolic) power is dulled. What effect did that have on LEM? Because I have no idea what mechanism could link the two (other than it being deliberately programmed into her), I have no way of answering that question. But that's okay. It's just another of the dozens of questions in these notes that haven't been answered.
Hmmm. Hinata thinks drugs will be sold both in cyberspace and in realspace. But why? What is the purpose of such an event in cyberspace? Is it just so people who don't yet know can find out the location? Or do they just have such a lousy grip on reality vs. fantasy that they don't even know or care whether they're in Babylon or not?
"Something" spoke to Sakuya after her Shadow died. And it thinks she is the same. It's pretty difficult to guess what that being could be, though I have an idea or two. I'll keep those to myself for now, though. Anyway, it sounds like Sakuya's experience was horrible. I guess it's understandable at this point why she was worried about Hinata. But his experience wasn't nearly as bad.
"...huddled together like people who were stranded on a snowy mountain..." I can't help thinking of the last VN in the Infinity trilogy, where something like that does happen, although there isn't as much huddling as there ought to be under the circumstances. Well, this is hardly relevant, but...
"Ducks are the children of swans to begin with". Uh, not quite, Hinata. They are closely related (both part of genus Cygnus), but they're still distinct. I could overlook this as the type of error a child would easily make, except everything else he says suggests he should know better.
Huh. So, no more manga in 2032? :( What about anime, then?
"Is {Sin} really Mutsuki? Will you appear?" If what that Mutsuki program said is true, then no. It said she was "under deep, deep water". Assuming it's meant literally, and considering her diary said something to the effect that she had hooked up her brain to that Enigma thing, the chance of her walking around in the middle of Shibuya is approximately zero.
Yoshida is perplexed that his gun stops firing after he empties the clip. I'm going to assume he learned to use a gun from playing Babylon. That game is supposedly very realistic, but did they leave out something as basic as reloading weapons and just have guns with bottomless magazines? Even so, it's still strange. In the first place, guns are illegal in Japan except for hunting (and, I think, limited police use), and even hunting rifles are heavily controlled. It's pretty hard to get hold of a gun that can't be justified as hunting-related. I don't see why this would change by 2032. In any case, it's hard to believe he would have received a pistol that was already loaded; whoever sold it to him couldn't have been dumb enough to not make sure Yoshida understood basic operation and just hand it over pre-loaded, right? He surely would have had to load it himself at some point. And yet, he doesn't seem to understand it.
#29, originally posted Mar 20 2016, 08:13 AM
Route A—Session 07, part 6: Coverup
Devastated by the turn of events, Hinata lies in the park, beating himself up. Yayoi calls to inform him that Kyouka is being shut down. Then Yumi shows up and lifts his spirits in her own way. Newspapers announce the separate, seemingly unconnected aspects of the case. Two weeks later, he and Sakuya meet secretly. She begs to be allowed to be with him, but considering he's wanted by multiple groups, he doesn't want to put her in danger. Even later, thanks to a disc LEM passed through Sakuya, he finishes the crossword, and finds out where he should go.
Spoiler: click to toggle
the ship washed up on the banks
Oh, so they do have caller ID.
Well, darn. A love confession (I think?) from Yumi. This is awkward for two obvious reasons. I kind of feel sorry for her, since it seems like it will be unrequited.
Giggling about sad things happening to her and others. Does she really understand the gravity of all this? But she does manage to lift Hinata's spirits, so that's a good thing.
Hmm. Supposedly taking pictures of the new moon, which is not visible this night? Is that really what she's photographing?
No reaction to seeing the eclipse? Hinata really has gotten better. But he believes the world changed then, in some way?
FYI, the word used for "cosplay" here is "narigiri", I think. Not sure what the literal meaning is.
take her into your arms like a fine bow
Seems like the press has no idea what's going on. These headlines, while presenting small facts, show that no one knows how it all connects. No real surprise, though.
Well, Hinata seems to be genre-savvy. But putting aside that this is sci-fi and therefore we know there is something quite mysterious behind the scenes, would something like this really be that hard to understand? Although something of this scale is quite rare, it's not unheard of for weird cults to be formed and make people do terrible things. Why do people form them in the first place? Maybe because they go crazy and carry their delusions so far that they decide to drag other people into them. Or maybe because they want to feel powerful and end up playing with people's lives because of it. It's not human intellect that is defied, but just common sense. But never mind that; we know that's not all this is. ;)
"wasn't in any clubs". What a lame reason to think someone is a criminal!
Being wanted by the police, that's quite a serious situation. But why is it that even the almighty Cyberforce can't track him down for two weeks? You'd think it would be pretty hard to hide.
This last decision. I don't know what the right choice is, or if it even really matters. But for now, I've chosen, "Decide to take Sakuya with me", because the alternative just seems to sad. When I read through before, I tried both choices, and it didn't seem to change the ending much, other than Hinata being alone or not in the end.
just thinking of you
It's a bit strange though. Even with this choice, when Hinata is facing the seemingly inaccessible words, he talks about "when we parted". Is this an error in the writing, or is it trying to say something?
Also, using a disc capable of holding a terabyte of data, just to add a single word to a crossword puzzle. How efficient (not). Or is there a bunch of other stuff on there that we just don't find out about? Or maybe it's a copy of LEM or something.
Once Hinata gets the last key letter, the rest of the puzzle fills itself in. Not sure why it does that, but we get a glimpse of the extra words before LEM obscures them. FWIW, here's the whole puzzle:
Oh, so they do have caller ID.
Well, darn. A love confession (I think?) from Yumi. This is awkward for two obvious reasons. I kind of feel sorry for her, since it seems like it will be unrequited.
Giggling about sad things happening to her and others. Does she really understand the gravity of all this? But she does manage to lift Hinata's spirits, so that's a good thing.
Hmm. Supposedly taking pictures of the new moon, which is not visible this night? Is that really what she's photographing?
No reaction to seeing the eclipse? Hinata really has gotten better. But he believes the world changed then, in some way?
FYI, the word used for "cosplay" here is "narigiri", I think. Not sure what the literal meaning is.
take her into your arms like a fine bow
Seems like the press has no idea what's going on. These headlines, while presenting small facts, show that no one knows how it all connects. No real surprise, though.
Well, Hinata seems to be genre-savvy. But putting aside that this is sci-fi and therefore we know there is something quite mysterious behind the scenes, would something like this really be that hard to understand? Although something of this scale is quite rare, it's not unheard of for weird cults to be formed and make people do terrible things. Why do people form them in the first place? Maybe because they go crazy and carry their delusions so far that they decide to drag other people into them. Or maybe because they want to feel powerful and end up playing with people's lives because of it. It's not human intellect that is defied, but just common sense. But never mind that; we know that's not all this is. ;)
"wasn't in any clubs". What a lame reason to think someone is a criminal!
Being wanted by the police, that's quite a serious situation. But why is it that even the almighty Cyberforce can't track him down for two weeks? You'd think it would be pretty hard to hide.
This last decision. I don't know what the right choice is, or if it even really matters. But for now, I've chosen, "Decide to take Sakuya with me", because the alternative just seems to sad. When I read through before, I tried both choices, and it didn't seem to change the ending much, other than Hinata being alone or not in the end.
just thinking of you
It's a bit strange though. Even with this choice, when Hinata is facing the seemingly inaccessible words, he talks about "when we parted". Is this an error in the writing, or is it trying to say something?
Also, using a disc capable of holding a terabyte of data, just to add a single word to a crossword puzzle. How efficient (not). Or is there a bunch of other stuff on there that we just don't find out about? Or maybe it's a copy of LEM or something.
Once Hinata gets the last key letter, the rest of the puzzle fills itself in. Not sure why it does that, but we get a glimpse of the extra words before LEM obscures them. FWIW, here's the whole puzzle:
#30, originally posted Mar 21 2016, 07:12 AM
Route A—Session 07, part 7: Clover Ending
Hinata and Sakuya go to "that place" to look for... something. Just when it all seems to be over, one last email renews their hopes.
Notes:
Spoiler: click to toggle
just thinking of you
So there's red clover growing up here. Or at least, it was growing. And Mitsuhiko did say the clover would be the final key. But what did that mean? In the first place, did he mean that particular leaf or just, in general, the clovers grown on that roof? And is it really the clover itself or the roof that is really important? After all, Mutsuki was saying to go to "that place", without mentioning the clover. It seems like she meant this place. And don't forget, there was "that person". I still have no idea who that could be, unless it's Sakuya. But that doesn't make sense, since she's been with him for most of their lives. Whoever it is doesn't seem to have shown up; I'm guessing those recent tragedies had something to do with it. They decided not to show up, their arrival was prevented, they died in some way, or there is a continuation to this ending in which they do show up.
They were fixated on what they were named after, huh?
A cat? First we've heard anything about cats, as opposed to, say, rabbits.
Young Mutsuki mentioned clovers with up to 18 leaves. Must have been referring to the 2002 world record. However, records can change. Nakazawa should have realized that. It was broken by a 21-leaf clover in 2008, and then by one with an asounding 56 leaflets in 2009! See the Wikipedia page for more info. The links in the article are broken, unfortunately. Here's a working link to that last record.
Luck for money, fame, and... Didn't say what kind of luck the last one is. I can guess, though.
Heh, Mutsuki's word mistakes are amusing. The first time, she meant to say "mayoke" (talisman), but said "mushiyoke" (insect repellent) instead. Which is funny, because a clover would attract insects, if anything, if you kept the flower. The second time, Hinata said "totsuzenhen'i" (mutation), and she repeated it as something like "toppe no gen ga" or "toppe no genga" (can't figure out what that means).
It's interesting that Mutsuki mentions a book, and Hinata automatically assumes it's an electronic book. Not surprising, though.
And another mistake. She tries to say "fairy" (the English world, though pronounced as "fearii"), but it comes out as "Ferrari".
Poor Hinata. No luck that day. :(
"I fragmented the information and cut off the link." A very geeky way to put it. I couldn't help noticing.
"The end is the beginning, and the beginning is the end." Those words were shown in the opening movie.
Well, that's pretty strange. He couldn't find a four-leaf clover back then. But now, both he and Sakuya find one almost instantly. No way. That has to be more than chance. I wonder what sort of experiments Mitsuhiko was running here; he was in charge of the Hanging Gardens at some point.
A bittersweet ending. Not completely satisfying. Knowing there's more to this route, I hope this will continue, or that there is a different path so that it doesn't end like this.
So there's red clover growing up here. Or at least, it was growing. And Mitsuhiko did say the clover would be the final key. But what did that mean? In the first place, did he mean that particular leaf or just, in general, the clovers grown on that roof? And is it really the clover itself or the roof that is really important? After all, Mutsuki was saying to go to "that place", without mentioning the clover. It seems like she meant this place. And don't forget, there was "that person". I still have no idea who that could be, unless it's Sakuya. But that doesn't make sense, since she's been with him for most of their lives. Whoever it is doesn't seem to have shown up; I'm guessing those recent tragedies had something to do with it. They decided not to show up, their arrival was prevented, they died in some way, or there is a continuation to this ending in which they do show up.
They were fixated on what they were named after, huh?
A cat? First we've heard anything about cats, as opposed to, say, rabbits.
Young Mutsuki mentioned clovers with up to 18 leaves. Must have been referring to the 2002 world record. However, records can change. Nakazawa should have realized that. It was broken by a 21-leaf clover in 2008, and then by one with an asounding 56 leaflets in 2009! See the Wikipedia page for more info. The links in the article are broken, unfortunately. Here's a working link to that last record.
Luck for money, fame, and... Didn't say what kind of luck the last one is. I can guess, though.
Heh, Mutsuki's word mistakes are amusing. The first time, she meant to say "mayoke" (talisman), but said "mushiyoke" (insect repellent) instead. Which is funny, because a clover would attract insects, if anything, if you kept the flower. The second time, Hinata said "totsuzenhen'i" (mutation), and she repeated it as something like "toppe no gen ga" or "toppe no genga" (can't figure out what that means).
It's interesting that Mutsuki mentions a book, and Hinata automatically assumes it's an electronic book. Not surprising, though.
And another mistake. She tries to say "fairy" (the English world, though pronounced as "fearii"), but it comes out as "Ferrari".
Poor Hinata. No luck that day. :(
"I fragmented the information and cut off the link." A very geeky way to put it. I couldn't help noticing.
"The end is the beginning, and the beginning is the end." Those words were shown in the opening movie.
Well, that's pretty strange. He couldn't find a four-leaf clover back then. But now, both he and Sakuya find one almost instantly. No way. That has to be more than chance. I wonder what sort of experiments Mitsuhiko was running here; he was in charge of the Hanging Gardens at some point.
A bittersweet ending. Not completely satisfying. Knowing there's more to this route, I hope this will continue, or that there is a different path so that it doesn't end like this.
Also, I mentioned it in an early video, but the titles of most of the BGM tracks are taken from computing jargon. Here are explanations of the ones that showed up in the extras:
Spoiler: click to toggle
- stack: one of the fundamental linear data structures. Follows the principle: first-in last-out (FILO), i.e. whatever goes in first comes out last, and vice versa. A stack has two basic operations: push and pop. Push adds an item to the end of the stack, while pop removes the item at the end. The most common use is to store local variables, function call arguments, and return addresses within almost all software.
- load: various meanings:
- to retrieve data from a storage medium to a more immediate medium
- the burden on a system from the data and/or tasks it is processing
- to retrieve data from a storage medium to a more immediate medium
- spool: acronym for "simultaneous peripheral operations [or output] on line". A kind of buffering between a computer and its peripherals, such as printers and punched card readers (the term was created during that era, after all), to compensate for the difference in speed. Can also refer to the holding area for incoming email and Usenet news on some systems. (Wikipedia)
- buffer: a piece of memory set aside for temporary storage of data in transit. For instance, a packet to be transmitted over a network is first copied to a buffer; the network hardware then reads the buffer while the CPU performs other tasks. Similarly, an incoming packet would be written to a buffer by the hardware and the CPU reads it when it is able to.
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- -
- SIMM: acronym for "single inline memory module". A type of package for memory chips. Mostly obsolete, as they were succeeded by DIMMs (D = "dual"), which have more pins, allowing for more simultaneous data transfer and larger addresses.
- cluster one: The smallest unit of data access on a disk or other mass storage device is a sector (usually 512 bytes). Filesystems can access data this way. However, some filesystems are designed to group multiple consecutive sectors together into "clusters" for more efficiency. The first sectors or clusters on a disk or filesystem are particularly important, as they usually contain critical metadata, such as the partition table (telling how the disk is organized), the bootloader (that handles part of the startup process for a computer), and various information about a filesystem. Some viruses have been known to install themselves into this region, in an attempt to gain privilege before the operating system that loads subsequently, or for other reasons.
- kernel: the piece of software that manages a computer system. It has ultimate privileges, and at the same time many responsibilities, including managing memory and filesystems, interfacing to hardware, maintaining security, and juggling the running programs (processes). One might think of the kernel as a "demigod" of the system. (However, it may delegate some of these tasks to privileged processes.)
- In graph theory (an area of mathematics), a node is one of the points in a graph. Also called a vertex. A graph is also sometimes called a network, and this is the origin of the term in computing. In a computer network, a node is any connected device.
- gamma: a measure of the correction to luminance values in a displayed image, in a process called gamma correction. A gamma value is a power to which the base luminance is raised.
- monolithic: the opposite of modular. Refers to software which is written or functions as a single, inseparable unit.
- illegal: not permitted or attempting something impossible. An illegal operation or piece of code would result in an error being declared.
- deadlock: a condition in which two or more concurrent processes are stuck waiting for one another to perform some action. No progress can be made because none of them will ever perform the action that one or more others are waiting for. This requires external intervention, usually by killing one of the processes. Ultimately, this is a bug that needs to be corrected to prevent the condition from happening in the first place.
- re-do: aside from the common meaning, this might be the opposite of undo. I.e. when one undoes an operation, the option is provided to redo it, thus returning to the state before it was undone. Both are common commands in editing applications, such as word processors, image editors, audio editors, etc.
- netizen: a citizen of the net.
- column: multiple meanings:
- a horizontal division of a table (the printed kind); may also refer to one of the attributes of a relation ("table") in a relational database
- a one-character–wide horizontal division on a punch card or a page or computer display using a fixed-width font
- a horizontal division of a table (the printed kind); may also refer to one of the attributes of a relation ("table") in a relational database
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- -
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- include: a construct in some programming languages, where a shared piece of code is read as though it were part of the file in which the "inclusion" is declared
- fragment: two meanings:
- a piece of a file in a filesystem. If a sufficiently large file is stored in a filesystem that does not have a place to store it all in sequence, or when a file is increased in size and the space after it is not available, then it will be "fragmented". Fragmentation degrades performance when using hard drives, as the heads must be moved around the surface to get at pieces stored in different regions, a very slow process. The frequency of this occurring increases as a filesystem becomes more full and files are deleted (resulting in holes in the used space). If fragmentation reaches a high enough level, it is beneficial to rearrange the files to make them contiguous by doing a defragmentation or "defrag".
- in the Internet Protocol (IP), a piece of a packet that was too large to be sent as one piece along its entire path. Packet fragmentation is almost always avoided in favor of path MTU discovery, where packet sizes are adjusted according to what the path can accommodate.
- a piece of a file in a filesystem. If a sufficiently large file is stored in a filesystem that does not have a place to store it all in sequence, or when a file is increased in size and the space after it is not available, then it will be "fragmented". Fragmentation degrades performance when using hard drives, as the heads must be moved around the surface to get at pieces stored in different regions, a very slow process. The frequency of this occurring increases as a filesystem becomes more full and files are deleted (resulting in holes in the used space). If fragmentation reaches a high enough level, it is beneficial to rearrange the files to make them contiguous by doing a defragmentation or "defrag".
Route A—Session 07 (full)
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