Valle Verde part 2 has been released, and does NOT disappoint! Valle Verde Part 2 Official Video: ua-cam.com/video/sHSEEAwJLrs/v-deo.html Alluvium Patreon: www.patreon.com/Alluvium ------------------ Night Mind Twitch: www.twitch.tv/nick_nocturne Night Mind Index: www.nightmind.info NM Patreon: bit.ly/3sI1PUh NM Twitter: goo.gl/OHSW0F NM Facebook: goo.gl/iPdnq9
58:17 anyone else hearing this song in your head? "♫ I know, I know I've let you down I've been a fool to myself I thought that I could live for no one else But now, through all the hurt and pain It's time for me to respect The ones you love mean more than anything ♫So, with sadness in my heart Feel the best thing I could do Is end it all and leave forever What's done is done, it feels so bad What once was happy now is sad I'll never love again My world is ending ♫wish that I could turn back time 'Cause now the guilt is all mine Can't live without the trust from those you love I know we can't forget the past You can't forget love and pride Because of that, it's killing me inside ♫" Seriously, did we just watch third impact, should I start clapping and saying Congratulation to Alluvium until I turn into goo from the touch of a nintendo friendly N64 render of naked clone "Rei"s Should I be shoving Shinji into the Dang Robot?
BIG DOG the error code at 29:06 is base64, it says "There can be no peace in the world" edit: also in case you missed it that second clip with the barren wasteland and flying things was the same area where in the first one the player gets jumpscared by an animal thing running on all fours with a moving face, with the face catching the player right as the angel got fully corrupted. the message about turning on the console is exactly the same. (no idea what it means doe)
Hey Nick, I avoided commenting on videos for some time not to break the illusion of the first releases, but now that I'm commenting on some of them, I wanted to thank you for covering Valle Verde, your first video was the one that put the series on the radar and many people came to my channel, even from my own country, thanks to it; can't really put into words how much that helped, both in terms of subscribers and patronage, many thanks and I hope you enjoy future releases :)
Thank YOU for making such wonderful and inspiring art! You're very welcome, but you absolutely deserved the recognition and support, and I'm so glad to see the audience and ability you've gained to keep working for your vision. Thank you and much love and great opportunities for you in 2024, Alluvium!
the realization tharsis was totally built from the ground up and perfectly blended in as a real ps1 title was hilarious lmao, but it also really skyrockets your appreciation for this creator’s work
if it helps anyone here, Production IG is a producer behind most of the Ghost in the Shell adaptations/anime. I saw that and INSTANTLY made a few connections to this and GitS with flesh and machine fusing, with hints of religious content
@@galaxywoofer Production IG also worked on End of Evangelion and some of the shots in Tharsis are quite overt homages to that movie. Evangelion is, of course, the creme de la creme of christian imagery turned into horrific apocalyptic visions. So I expect great things if that is on Alluvium’s list of influences.
Nick’s reaction to learning Tharsis wasn’t a real game was basically mine. Thinking “oh cool using a lesser known game” and then nope. Original. Brilliant. This is one of the greatest analog series and we’re two. Episodes. In.
Finding out Tharsis wasn't real disappointed me and then amazed me at the same time. Just that little snippet made me wanna at the very least find a ROM to play it on an emulator, and the realization it isn't real just flipped the whole world upside down.
When I saw the intro I immediately went looking for it. The Production IG logo was cool and then the animation was so like PIG's real work that I was convinced it was real.
Missed this when it was live, and others might have pointed this out: The kid couldn't fit through the gate, even with divine mercy. Immediately reminded me of "it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." He literally has to make himself smaller in order to enter heaven.
I was thinking the same, about the gold gate I mean. Also reminded of a SNL skit, a comercial about a company trying to breed smaller camels to fit through needles (also making larger needles), 'working to help X (forgot the name of the rich person) into heaven'.
I specifically thought of Matthew 7:13-20 :Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 [a]Because narrow is the gate and [b]difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
The creator said in a reply to a comment that Tharsis was a project he made a while ago and he decided to use it for this arg and that this is the first time its seen the light of say so to speak ! This arg is fucking amazing. I cannot wait for part 3
Also a minor thing: The 2 playable characters in Tharsis have themes associated with hell as well. Vergil was a Roman philosopher who acts as Dante's guide in hell in Dante's Inferno. And Eva is a derivitive name for Eve, A.k.a. the first human who committed a sin and went against God in the Garden of Eden.
Kind of a bold move to make Tharsis supposedly produced by Capcom and yet also name one of the characters the same as an already existing Capcom character.
Eva is the spanish translation of Eve, it's how it is written in the bible in spanish, I should know, I went to a catholic school, (talking from Argentina)
Putting games inside the game, and a library that can generate more over time by itself, is a good way to keep the kids locked inside the game from going insane from boredom. Now, insane from existential dread and torture, that's other things, but not boredom.
Same here. I do prefer the traditional format but I think that when it comes to updates like this, the time spent making the video in NM's standard format probably wouldn't be worth it for him. The traditional format is more suited for series overviews or when he's diving into the series for the first time.
Yeah, I myself don't have time to set aside for when he goes live, and when he uploads his streams after the fact, it feels like the mood/vibe/content that made me subscribe for is going away. The avatar and chat and stream format in general is great for community interaction but not that great for UA-cam content imo.
it took me a while to find this, so i also commented that lol. I was a little confused that chat thought it was a youtube link so I went back and copied it myself 😶 lol
7:45 When the father says "This message is just for you, don't write or speak of it to anyone" I couldn't help but think "Oh he's literally doing that recording and uploading it though," and then right when the message starts it cuts off. I laughed out loud. It's good. Also "hoc est verum" is Latin for "This is the truth."
Theory: The thing within the THBrain making everything go fucky-wucky is not, in fact, religiously themed itself. Instead, it's drawing from the subconscious of the people who are using the THBrain (or have previously used it): the players' deep-seated fears become manifested within the game world either because of a bug or because the AI running things has turned evil. One of the other players (Kazuya) was from Japan - Tharsis having untranslated Japanese voice acting along with the anime-esque aesthetic connects to him. This would suggest that either the game was extracted from his memory or else was something he was more likely to interact with. When Tharsis turns into Valle Verde, one of the first things we see is a Japanese sign that seems to indicate that the area is experiencing radioactive fallout. This coupled with the lopsided Torii, traditional Japanese structure (possibly a temple), and the general devastated quality connect pretty directly to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I'm not sure if this is a direct allusion to the event or something we're supposed to connect symbolically with Shintoism, though. EDIT: Also one of the most prominent sounds is the crackling of a Geiger counter. The heavily Catholic imagery is either coming from Matthias (Argentina is about 50% Roman Catholic), Oliver (Who was Irish - the ongoing conflict between Catholics and Protestants is one of the most well-known things about the country) or both. Most likely the former, since Matthias is still apparently hooked in, which would explain its continued prevalence. This is a bit of a stretch, but given the nature of the religious theming, the AI could have been driven schizophrenic by the incongruity of Religion: in the minds connected to it Faith is both a source of tremendous fear and a cause of great suffering, but also a source of hope and aspiration. If it's a 'The THBrain is drawing from the fears and memories of its players' it would explain why Foxxo robbed the player in the previous episode: crooked politicians are pretty much a universal across all cultures. And if I'm right, subsequent episodes will draw from the other players' fears and memories. SECOND EDIT: One of the players was from France - the Masonic imagery might be from them.
My Japanese is a little spotty, but the sign in that area isn't a typical warning sign. It says something like "people who play God", probably alluding to more religious images and texts (I'm not religious so idk) Edit: Maybe the point of criticizing people "playing God" in reference to the atomic bomb is supposed to also criticize the development of TH Brain and AI and stuff. You know, making new brains and altering people like a god.
I wonder if some of the games created are leaking into Valle Verde? Like the angel at the beginning seems to not be from Valle Verde, but "Angel Quest Demo", so maybe that game is what's causing some of this religious stuff to happen, and Valle Verde is becoming a fusion of hundreds of these games.
@@srenten Makes me wonder why all of these games are compiled here in the first place. Sure, it can be a reference to the Nintendo demos in Animal Crossing or Bonus Discs like on the GameCube, but why does Valle Verde look like the nexus or epicenter?
This has probably been mentioned, but to expound on that last edit about one of the players being from France, the words on those masonic arches the player passes through (Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite) are the national motto of France (and Haiti) and originate from the French Revolution.
At 51:44 the Japanese sign reads: “Sodom? Gomorrah? No. It is children playing God” (I’m not 100% certain about the last two kanji) Edit: “children” could also be “men”, the kanji is very blurry.
What's interesting about when Matias gets "freed" or whatever the hell happens, the item that is given to the player is a cross necklace that's labeled as a "compass." This made me think of two things 1. Is this subtly a nod to how faith is like a compass to point people in the right direction or something? 2. I have a feeling that if Pietro is some sort of guiding force that tries to get people out of the tormenting game, he probably did something to make the game think that the object that he gave was a compass so that the game itself wouldn't catch onto the plan that he was coming up with
@@CanonessEllinor Yeah, that's what tipped me off about that possible theory, since it's such a strange thing to change in particular, rather than using like a similar graphic or a completely random graphic.
The bull man at 53:00 is Baʿal Hammon, the demon of child sacrifice, as some of chat had pointed out. Which is quite fitting that it has a giant baby on it's alter.
@@thenateshow4371 Moloch is definitely the intended imagery- Ba’al Hammon was the historical recipient of child sacrifice by Carthaginians in crisis (much to the dismay of contemporary Greeks, Romans, and Israelites), but Moloch is pretty strictly remembered as a flaming bull demon that eats kids
Don't think it's an ARG, there's a game *in* it, but to be an ARG *we* have to be able to interact with it. It's just an Unfiction project, or an ARE (Alternate Reality Experience), not so much an ARG (Alternate Reality Game).
Question: do you have a theory/idea about who the person (woman?) is at 5:40? I can glean that she's some sort of "betrayer" (an Eve figure?) in eternal torment, a burning blade forever stabbing through her body, her hand and legs trapped in stone-- makes me think of Prometheus I wonder about her relation to the painting-- "La Fille de la Lumiere Rose" = The Girl of Pink Light(?)
@@OceanAdrift given the text, I'd say she's just a regular sinner. She's called "the betrayer" but every sinner (especially in catholic theology) is seen as betrayers of the covenant with God. She does appear to be suffering an eternal punishment, but that's what is promised to all of us, so I don't think she's someone specific, just a representation of all sinners
An interesting thing to note from the scene with the debug model viewer: Omniel, at least according to some light internet research, was an angel of oneness. Maybe the allusion at hand is that with the removal of Omniel, one cannot find themselves connected to god, which leads to the players death shortly afterwards? It's maybe a fledgling idea, but still an interesting one!
I think the player was just killed by the face thing that flew by shortly after the angel was devoured. We didn't get jumpscared this time because the camera was currently far from the player model.
I mean just a couple of things I noticed: The dead angel was noted as being from angel quest which was in the list of games you could choose. There is the sound of a Geiger counter in the Tharsis gameplay segment Also the bull suspending the baby and that attacks you is a golden bull, another biblical reference as god expressly forbids worship of the golden calf. At the base of the golden bull that attacks Eva it looks like there is a Merkaba, a part of early Jewish mysticism and still used today
Also the angel is named omniel omni is from greek origin and means everything and el is hebrew and means god or like god, so that angel is basically a representation of god
There's one other thing: the comet at the end that crashes into earth. In the first part of the game, there are references to The Heaven's Gate Suicide in 1997. Heaven's Gate was a cult that combined Evangelism and New Age ideas about UFOs and aliens (they believed that there were Aliens who were gods and aliens that looked like Satan, and that their bodies were vesels for their true forms. In 1997, the cult members committed suicide believing a spaceship in the form of a comet was coming to to pick them up, and that theu would need to leave their boddie behind to board the ship. What if we are dealing with aliens in the form of religion in a video game?
The geiger counter might be a reference to the "Individual Eleven" storyline from Ghost In The Shell SAC 2nd Gig, where a plot exists to develop a nuclear weapon by a faction within the Japanese government, to place in the hands of another faction and thus have that group targeted for a nuclear strike by the American empire to "deal" with them. A Byzantine conspiracy, true, yet seems fitting in this context of a convoluted plot.
honestly the fact that we got Valle Verde Part 2 and the update to the Welcome Home website in the SAME WEEK all while part 4 of The Walten Files is getting closer and closer to finishing development makes me go so goddamn insane in the best possible way
Might be worth mentioning but Angel Quest was an actual game being developed for the PS1 by GT Interactive that was cancelled for unknown reasons and was never actually officially announced and from the few screenshots that of the game that have been released by an exdev, the playable character looks identical to the golden angel being eaten by the bugs. Might mean nothing but I thought I was interesting.
I love how two big horror series have come from LatAm. Walten Files and hopefully now Valle Verde from Chile and Argentina respectively. It's cool seeing them get international attention and I hope more creators feel inspired to put their works out there because of it.
It definitely makes it even more unique as compared to many other analog or otherwise horror projects now that they can be set in other places than Washington, Ohio, AmuricaTown USA
- The whole sequence where Pablo has to shrink himself to get into the gate reminds me of the verse that states it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get into heaven. - Pablo shrinks his character down to .42 of normal size. - Tharsis likely = Catharsis. - We can assume that blue text is pre-programmed, and red text with the gear is the "AI" (Not Nottt). However, some red text doesn't have a gear spinning. Since the gear shows up during horror parts, we can assume Gear = Bad, No Gear = Good/Normal. - Pietro gains a flame over his head in this part, which reminds me of the tongues of fire that manifested over worshippers' heads and enabled them to speak in tongues. - Pietro IS the priest in the tape. It's on the title page Pablo looks at. - The map for the Alamo (?) has sectors in IRSA, or the phonetic alphabet that airplanes use. They're letters. "CAJOK" Edit: The only real anagram I could find was Kojac (Kojak), which is a Bolivian military multi-use vehicle first developed in 1995-1997. This is probably a red herring, unless I'm just not cultured enough to understand what else there could be. There's also "JACKO" but other than poker slang I don't know. - The angel guarding the gates turns into Uppercase Pi. The only biblical relation I found with it is the Codex Petropolitanus. - The error message is in Base64. -DAT probably refers to a database for the artwork. -Minor thing here, but the base of the statue holding the baby REAALLLY reminds me of a cervix. -"La Fille De La Lumiere Rose" = "Girl of the/in the Pink Light"
If you mean the tape at the end is Pietro, then no, that's Arch Bishop Sheen. My mom used to watch him, though the episode itself likely doesn't exist.
Don't know if anyone has pointed it out, but at 54:13, there can be seen in the background a Torii Gate, which in Japanese tradition is normally located at the entrance of or within Shinto shrines, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred, aka from the realm of the living to the realm of the dead.
I just discovered Night Mind recently, and was one of those people who did need to be told "Watch this for yourself. Support the creators." And getting to have my own moments like 31:15 was its own reward! So, thank you, Night Mind for instilling that attitude in me, and thank you, Alluvium for just knocking every single ball out of the park with this installment! I had my doubts after part 1, but they have been fully devoured by the digital purgatory bugs.
38:15 I just noticed that not only is that thing that flies off screen the same thing that caused the jumpscare in the first episode... But it doesn't go for the camera... It goes off screen and takes a moment to cause any effect. Because it's not aiming for the camera, it's aiming for the player character, and then once it makes contact... Sends them to a game-over screen.
Hebrew is pretty complicated and it’s also complicated at times to spell Hebrew words with English (or Spanish etc) letters and it’s definitely reasonable to spell “Tarshish” as “Tharsis” even though it’s not the standard romanization
At 56:56 the file name has “PIETRO” in it. I think we can safely say the connection between the in-game priest Pietro and Fulton J Sheen (who was a real person with a real TV programme) is confirmed.
The zones on the map might correlate to the villagers/the children lost in the game? All the zones are named after letters in the Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, and the letters used(with the exception of Alpha) are the first letters of all the kids' names. Charlie/Chloe, Oscar/Oliver, Kilo/Kazuya, and Juliet/Jansung?
I’m really hoping there’s a summary video once the series has concluded to collect all the little details into one place. Mad respect for the hour long videos you’re already putting out but it is nice to not have to backtrack through several video parts to make sure I can keep track of all the characters and interactions.
29:01 I can recognize by sight that that is a base 64 encoded message. The two equal signs in a row at the end kind of give it away. I threw it into a decoder and got "There can be no peace in the world"
The whole Tharsis segment is amazing. It really goes to show how much passion the creator has for his series. Maybe he could even develop games of his own one day...
To me, the themes of divine retribution are what stick out the most from this update. Seems the story is going for a 'vindictive creation' angle. The program becomes self aware, resents its existence, and punishes those around it as a result. Which might also explain the horrific symbolism of abortion in the first major update. The AI program's 'birth' was aborted before it could finish. Maybe as a result of the developers fearing its growth? Also, I want to point out the gear symbols for the Patreon backers. I think there's actually a hint to the overall story there. So we've got the purple 'Oscar' gear first. It's a three-toothed gear, and it's the color combination of Blue and Red mixed. I think this gear might be indicative of the original program as it was being developed, and possibly a reference to both the Trinity and the Alchemical concept of the Rebis (which are both ideas of multiple disparities existing as one being). I think this because the next tier we see is the SistGear, which is the red and blue cogs next to each other. Why don't we see the red/blue Sist gears first before the purple Oscar? I think there was a schism in the AI's growth. I think there was a point where the AI was a singular entity, then something happened, and it split into two beings. One being is Nott, and the other *might* be the 'Hoc Est Verum' entity (though I'm not sold on that as the HEV entity is green and not blue). But I think the final gear, the Uriel gear, is foreshadowing for the end of the series. The Uriel gear is like the Oscar gear, but more. It's a three-toothed gear but it fractals out into more complicated forms, and it has the eye motif throughout. I think the Uriel gear is indicative of an apotheosis, of the AI reconciling with itself and reforming to become something greater than it was.
A few theories: Pablo the Playtester was present for whatever twisted "ceremony" took place, and feels incredible guilt over it. In part 1, they were cut down by Uriel and denied access to what is beyond. In trying to help Mattias, Pablo found the Divine Mercy. With that, they were able to cross the gate and meet the Priest. The priest referred to Pablo by name, rather than Test05 the character, and asked to speak in private (which Pablo agreed to, pausing the recording). The Priest gave Pablo two compasses, one for him and one for mattias. The only two left that can be saved from this hell (the other kids were introduced in part 1... as a corrupted picture + godforsaken screaming). The scene with the hear/speak/see no evil is located where the townsfolk+mayor headed to in Part 1. I feel like it might be a metaphor for politicians starting wars, being applauded by their supporters/fellow politicians, and they never see, hear, or speak of the atrocities that they cause (the gate to hell is in that same garden). The technology level in this universe must be insane, if consumer available helmets (THBrain) could be available with a game that has true AI. There might be a "your mind makes it real" thing going on, and Mattias's belief in an all powerful, all knowing, vengeful God who is willing to punish you for all eternity is being manifested for real, along with Part 1's Jesus
Loved seeing the reaction to Tharsis being made from scratch for this. Automatically assumed it was, myself, and was impressed they went through all the work in both the voicing and the 2D animation for it. This is some top notch content creation.
So I've said this before, but my only real issue with live stream/VOD videos for exploring things like this, is the fact that normally Nick is SO good with editing and working around jumpscares. It's nice to be able to still feel all the tension and fear in a piece of work while Nick investigates it and brings it to life for us, but knowing that jumpscares won't catch me out and fuck me up like they very often do. In these cases...I'm a little more wary. Then again, in the MyHouse.WAD video that was a VOD that had still been edited and had extra material added in a very Nick way, so that was still just fine. I'm excited for more Valle Verde for sure though ^_^
The Tharsis section is insane, I had the same reaction as you. I figured it wasn't a real game because the Japanese just didn't feel right. It sounded like it was autotranslated and then read by voiceover bots, and the combination strict dictionary-style grammar and vocabulary and flat line delivery clued me in to that. There's no way that commander would use "watashi", there's no way they wouldn't be using some fancier grammar given the military command context, and there's certainly no way I'd understand as much as I did with my very basic, keigoless understanding of Japanese. THAT SAID. The period-accurate art style, characteristic late-90s early-2000s PS1-era jungle/drum-n-bass BGM, and the fully animated cutscenes help make the obviously nonnative Japanese pass the smell test for nonspeakers. Everything else is just so lovingly crafted and spot-on vibes-accurate that it doesn't actually matter for a project of this scope and budget. And why would it need to? THIS MF SPENT FOUR YEARS MAKING AN ANIME CUTSCENE BY HAND. You're right. NOBODY has _ever_ gone this hard before.
Thing is, it could've very easily been a real game! There are so many games, shows and movies that have worse Japanese (and sometimes Spanish, those are the only two languages I'd watch...besides Korean.) and feel exactly like that and if I didn't have the knowledge it can't be real, I would've tried to look for it on the internet 😅 Which is why it's so damn cool they were able to make something fully believable for the time period like this. I hope they're proud of their work, because I sure am!
The whole vision with Dante's Inferno quotes (paraphrasing?) feels like another bit of different game bleeding in, probably same as all the angel assets. Sure it's creepy but apart from surprise transition it's a quality made cinematic, there's no freaky asset kitbashing and texture swapping, no glitches.
51:57 Fun fact! 4,294,967,295 is, is the highest unsigned (that is, not negative) 32-bit integer, which makes it the highest possible number a 32-bit system can store in memory. AKA, whatever that thing was, its health is the highest possible number it could be given the system the game is on. its the prefect totient number, too
Not only that, but the sound they make when they move is sounds a lot like a canon going off. With the polite applause after each move, it might be a metaphor for rich war mongerers treating war like a game
Oh snap part 2??!!!?? I just watched it on my own and your part one last night to get ready for this video. I did NOT expect this to come out so soon!!!❤❤❤
The name of the Bishop is Fulton J. Sheen, an Irish-American Catholic he was famous for his telecasts back through the 1940's-50's, "Life is Worth Living".
56:57 During the analysis I noticed that you were spot on about the comparison between Pietro and the guy in the video cast, because the author of this file according to the game *is* Pietro, dated 07/06/1996. It also would be a good idea to source check for the name Lydia, as Umi No Machi is generating that file, a place very similar in name to the one Nottt mentioned called Mori No Machi. The name screams of biblical reference potential, and when the only difference in the location names is Ocean and Death, that's a big thing to source check. Lastly, of all places to drop your lore, The patreon tiers gave us something to work with in the form of the different Gears. We know which angel stood guard now and can use that for more direct narrative ties - Uriel, one of the archangels, as well as an Oscar gear and the Sist Gear, the former of which has clear reference to the neural network looking Oscar Zone while the latter has no clear reference making it another point of intrigue to source check.
Might be relevant to say that 海の街, Umi no Machi means 'water town' (Edit: better translation, ocean town), and 森の街, Mori no Machi means forest town. couldn't tell ya the reason these names are used, though.
Worth noting is the "dark world" exploration part done by Eva from THARSIS is filled with the noise of a Geiger counter, radioactive clicking. That, alongside the architecture of massive spikes and screaming faces, brings to mind the theoretical hostile architecture to dissuade future civilizations from disturbing buried radioactive waste. "This is not a place of honor." It is also worth mentioning the name of the location of DEBUG-shima and the gospel television mentioning "Even the greatest weapon our minds can come up with will pale in comparison to its heavenly counterpart" alongside some of the visuals of the uh...third impact, I guess, from said gospel bring to mind the destruction of nuclear weaponry. I don't think this is a massive game changer, but it does seem to have become something of a theme. Perhaps the "dark world" is the aftermath of the Heavenly Counterpart to a nuclear bomb, making Valle Verde a prophecy/warning of godly intervention.
Taking a moment to look over at chat to see myself yelling my confusion is hilarious. Thank God we have you here so you can help plebs like myself understand what's happening 😂
Yesss I’ve been waiting for this ever since I saw the new upload released!! Thanks for showing me this series in the first place and for covering it again right here, it makes it easier on my adhd to react *with* someone or have someone talk about a thing vs watching it alone for the first time. And I knew I wanted my first watch or rundown to be from you :)
Hey Night Mind, this is important. Look into The Heaven's Gate Suicide in 1997, then relookover *your* first video for info on aliens and region for the artist behind those prophetic drawings (you point out something regarding the mean behind the drawings being abducted by aliens. Then, look over the info on this video during the meteorite crash. Both videos reference The Heaven's Gate cult, their beliefs, and their suicide.
Like everyone else, I am blown away by the effort that's gone into Valle Verde. Amazing stuff! In the first episode, I was so sure the animated intro scene was heavily inspired by (or even traced from) a Ghibli film. I feel so sure I've seen those aerial shots in Nausicaa or Castle in the Sky, both of which would be fitting for the theming of the story. (also note I'm not accusing the creator of tracing-- the recognition of the style was just so instant and strong) In Nausicaa, humankind destroyed the planet by making giant war machines (related to the atomic bomb room, the escalation of technology leading to the escalation of heavenly punishment) and Nausicaa herself is a messiah like figure, offering her own life to save humans, even her enemies, from the righteous wrath of giant insects. Likewise, in Castle in the Sky, it's revealed that the titular castle is in possession of technology so advanced it's essentially magic, and specifically a weapon akin to divine punishment that can level cities. The villain wants to control the castle to play god, the protagonists destroy the castle so it can't be used for evil. This is a very basic summary of the two films (not touching on Nausicaa's manga), which are very much worth watching. Moving on to Tharsis: It looks like everyone instantly associated it with Ghost in the Shell, which I understand. To me, however, it brought to mind Akira. Since it's clearly inspired by a certain type of late 80s-early 90s anime, I don't think either reading is incorrect. Both have themes that could very well work with Valle Verde's plot. But I saw that hover bike and couldn't NOT think of Akira's sewer scene. On to themes: Akira features children who have been experimented on. They become psychic and have the ability to manipulate the world around them. One of them, Akira, becomes so powerful that he levels the city of Tokyo in another atomic bomb allegory (or just imagery. let's not go Tolkien on World War I on this). Later, another young man develops psychic abilities after coming into contant with one of the children. Longing for power he was denied his whole life, he starts using his abilities to play god (I could see someone playing this up as Lucifer imagery). In the climax, he loses control, becoming this horrible flesh mass that violently assimilated whatever it comes into contact with (which reminds me of the games merging and corrupting in Valle Verde). Now, I don't think Ghost in the Shell is a wrong way to look at it-- but this sequence just screamed Akira to me. As others have pointed out, the warning sign briefly visible mentions Sodom and Ghomorrah, and Akira has the destroyed city. As an aside, the Japanese used is pretty awkward at times. This is fine. The aforementioned sign uses the 男 kanji where I'd expect to see 人 or 人間, for example (unless I'm misreading it), and the chief in the Tharsis animated section has this kind of stilted way of talking? Like, he always uses a subject in every sentence, when generally in Japanese, once a subject is established, you wouldn't say it again. It sounds more like a Japanese textbook companion CD than a native speaker. The same goes for Virgil. And! I love it! You know how the first Resident Evil game is remembered partially for the really awkward English voice acting? I adore that there's a reverse phenomenon here with the awkward Japanese, for a game supposedly from the same generation. If I learned this was done on purpose, I'd believe it and applaud the decision for being lovingly reminiscent of Japanese media that had awkward localization into other languages. (and yes, I noticed the subtitles are one number off in the countdown)
The lady being stabbed repeatedly reminded me of Greek mythological punishments after death. Pushing a boulder uphill only to have it roll back down to the bottom. Getting your lever eaten by an eagle only for it to grow back and be eaten by an eagle AGAIN. getting stabbed with a burning sword so you bang on it so it gets taken out, but then it can stab you again. This ALSO seems like a very Dante punishment, and that's probably closer to the intended reading. But both make for a good symbolic tie. Because let's be real-- symbolically significant hell punishments just make better stories than "everyone sat around bereft of god." Christian myths have a lot of fun variations. For example, at some point Foxxo could try to get into heaven but as he has never donated a pair of shoes to the poor, he must walk over iron-thorned brambles barefoot to get to the gate
I think last video one of the critique's was the lack of build up to the horror, this feels like Alluvium took that as a challenge and doubled down on it XD Just threw us to the wolves, but I'm liking it. I do think, at least in the first part, it could be attributed to the idea that we're watching a play tester who already has specific bug reports (that's how I interpreted the white texts in the bottom left). This part feels like it loses that explanation, and it's just a player going through the necessary motions to get to the good stuff (and being taken on rides), but I think that fits with the progression of the investigation: start with the bug reports, fall down the rabbit hole. The good stuff is reeeaaally good though, and with the insane effort given to every little detail, I'm absolutely okay with it.
I personally like the interesting touch of the map using names from the NATO alphabet, I don't know if the A, C, J, K, and O are relative to any actual codes or not, but just the fact they're there and already named like that is interesting. Coupled with Nottt referring to Pablo and others as "Agents" and the use of Tharsis (and your great theory on it) in this episode. Although I feel like there had been some speculation last episode of Valle Verde that this was a military project (or perhaps I'm misremembering), but now it makes it clearly obvious someone's military (or perhaps several) are directly involved with the TH Brain and perhaps something is after them (very much reminds me of Evangelion and that the Angels came to attack humanity for progressing so far, which also seems relevant to the ending sermon perhaps, as well as the Judgement of Judgements segment?) I wonder just what it was that brought upon these guys divine retribution? Or perhaps it was because they went looking for it and they've been attacking whatever the thing inside the TH Brain and it decided to retaliate? Also interesting note about the priest Pietro and the live action guy who looks like him, the description below the thumbnail of the video for the sermon reads "Pietro" too. Well somebody's probably mentioned all of that already, but I just wanted to say it myself!
So from my understanding, this game is an attempt at having an AI create and entire world, and in the process it began seeking enlightenment. And somehow it ether MADE or connected to actual heaven and hell (Mostly hell obviously)
Theories Theory 1 My theory is that when the Agents or the Smiling One were performing the ceremony, they tried to sacrifice Matias (maybe to complete it) but ultimately failed because Matias was protected by his faith which then caused the game to go apesh*t and eventually get badly corrupted. Theory 2 Another theory I have (even though I admit its a bit weird) is that Nottt took the shape, or represents Mr Kunimochi, the guy Matias wanted to speak to in part 1. When Nottt describes what he is, he mentions how his true self was surrounded by fabric then light rushed away. After that he was surrounded by darkness before he reached enlightenment. Maybe this was how Mr Kunimochi died, or maybe it's portrays how Mr Kunimochi knew what was going on, in terms of the ceremony, tried to change his ways but was killed by his associates or the smiling one just before he could stop the ceremony. (Quick Note) Not sure if anyone noticed or commented on this but in that hellscape with the baby, when you look down you see two dead character models similar to Matias, they might be the other children that were missing in part 1. Also when we take the perspective of the baby we see a raised and bloodied platform heading towards the statue, I'm guessing that that is where the ceremony that Nottt was talking about took place. Anyways those are my theories and thanks for reading
The priest in the black and white tv is Bishop Fulton Sheen, and he did have a TV show that was pretty good, the audio changes from actual old Audio to edited new audio when the glitch happens
I like the first impressions things these live videos have. In Dante's Inferno Lucifer is trapped in a layer of ice created by his wingflaps trying to escape while chewing on three great traitors. The first part of Alamo made me think of it. With the getting stabbed woman... Maybe the layer of lust? None of the other punishments really fit well. Iunno, Wrath but that involves an endless murder orgy iirc. A priest being a Deus ex machina... Trippy. There's this thing pre martin Luther about where the only way to get someone out of purgatory was to pay the church to pray for them. It's been awhile since I researched it so I might be misremembering. That might be what the gallery is referencing with being able to buy the portrait for three coins. Nott is probably an allegorical God, which is depressing. I don't know why he kept the Spanish language module specifically but it's a nice touch. Maybe a reference to the Spanish Inquisition, maybe just to fit with the rest of the text of the game iunno.
Well, in XVII century, when there was the Spanish empire, king Felipe II of Spain said something like God only speaks in Spanish. Spain was and still is such a catholic country.
To prevent purgatory, you had to be baptised. This was a handy tool for the papal states back then since the pope could threaten people with excommunication if they fell out of line or tried to rebel against them (meaning that everyone could attack your city/country and you wouldn't be able to baptise your kids, thereby damning them to purgatory)
I complete support the idea that Tharsis is referencing Catharsis. Although Catharsis is a release of emotion, the rarer original meaning is purgation. As in Purgatory, a cleanse of the inner working of sorts. Which is fitting considering the Tharsis character Eva (Evangelion or Eve maybe? The other character is named Virgil which is a guide character in the Divine Comedy) is sent to Alpha Zone due to the system corruption.
So exited to see your reaction to welcome home chapter 2. No spoilers but the quality has some how improve massively. So happy though this is came out of nowhere for my end lol.
So something I did notice. In the map area at 35:00 the named areas except for Alpha? Those are the first letters of the children''s names in the NATO alphabet. Now, Matias isn't in there, but he wouldn't be at this point. We just freed him. Who the Alpha area might refer to I'm not sure. Given the constant biblical references, especially the garden of Eden ones, I would wager it would be Adam however. Something that might back that up as well is that Alpha is the first real iteration of tech to most people, and Adam was the first man.
could the "smiling one" be Nottt? his sprite is smiling and seems to be the software involved in controlling the game, but at the same time I feel like it's building up to something bigger with the smiling one.
I believe so, when Pablo asks Nottt about the Smiling One, he pretty much says yes. Although because of how the characters in Part 1 refer to the Smiling One, it's possible that the malicious force is impersonating Nottt and manipulating the NPCs.
@@MegabombGamer-rb5kh It could also uh, not be him, I feel like? Or rather, not that specific part of him. I took "How many times must I tell you my name is Nott" to mean "that's someone else, I told you my name already."
To me, the Alpha and other zones are not the games bleeding over but the 'territory' each brain controls. The way that the status screen came up, it seemed to indicate that each brain was being utilized to some extent save for 5 which was 'Idle'. But also having a measure of plasticity as basically how much trauma the brains can still handle is so hellishly bleak of a reveal given that it's done so in such a sterile way. Goodness this is a hell of a project. Also the segment of when we were looking through the Baby's eyes, you could see the crosshairs and the character model flicker as if the player were trying to see from first person. I kinda love the idea of the forced third person so we have that lovely little horror of never able to see more than what we imagine and just extrapolating what terrible things we are being prevented from observing.
So. I was thinking on the "stabbed over and over" bit. Yes, the "Dante" answer makes a lot of sense, but I can't help but think of prometheus. Eaten by birds over and over. Catholic stuff clicks better, but that did occur to me.
The take that the masterwork ai wasnt the big bad but actually wholly stepped back and crippled itself so it wouldnt have to interact with the corrupted game is absolutely stellar. Like thats not something I’ve ever seen before. You think god too lives in fear of what they have created
‘Bout a third of the way through and I just have to commend the god tier level of effort that’s being put into this thing. Functional game snippets, FMVs, 90s accurate sound effects and GUIs. This is insane.
That Dante-tangent reminded me of when I studied literature in undergrad and one person asked, "Did anyone in Dante's lifetime believe that the Divine Comedy was a true story?" and the professor said that most understood it was fiction, but there are accounts of people who met Dante shrinking in fear, essentially saying, "That's the man who saw the sights of Hell." Call that the original ARG.
Small correction, Nick, the Seven Deadly Sins date back to the late fourth century. It's only the popular depiction of Hell that originates primarily with Dante, though certain elements are derived from scripture.
With how much effort this project already had, the THARSIS section didn't even phase me, like, "yep, they made a short anime and completely different game section for one part of this video, nothing to see here."
7:59 does anyone notice that 'Pietro' is facing the camera? As in, the player (you), not the player character in the game? I didn't notice because where the camera is positioned, he's very far back, but he DOES look like he's faced at us.. why did no one react to him knowing Pablo's name? He named the character TEST05, we know their names are Robert Saetern and Pablo L. Gutierrez from the very beginning of the previous video, they are both agents, but the game shouldn't 'know' this. 👀 Also the light gets brighter once glitchy Jesus enters the scene. As for possible theories: The THBrain-generated games were used as a part of the ceremony, hence the Apis/Moloch thing that comes out and nearly completely eats your character. Angel Quest was last accessed by Oliver, Tharsis by Kazuya. Chloe and Matias are the only players here who did not play any of the THBrain-generated games in THIS specific library accessed, as it does say there are at least two other 'database' or libraries, that might be where the other games are. The reason perhaps that Pablo/Robert is able to escape in Tharsis is because of the 'compass' (the prayer beads) the player gets from Flame Pietro. The compass description when he uses it on Matias: "Find yourself in an inhospitable place? This compass will help you find the path." So perhaps the Compass we get is an item that allows the agents to safely traverse through dangerous parts of the game, and it's like a home-warp object that ejects the player from the game if they are suddenly in trouble from the evil forces in the THBrain/Valle Verde. Because why else would they wait to try these games? They'd been trawling the main game so much they seemed to know their ways around, its only after getting the two Compasses and ejecting Matias with one did they start to mess around with the more dangerous stuff.
Crazy how well this could pass for a ps1 game. Such a good job creating this world. Edit: K, so it's AMAZING how well several games in this could be real PS1 games...wow.
Re: Tharsis, look up Ghost in the Shell. The character Eva bears more than a passing resemblance to that series' protagonist, Major Kusanagi Motoko. Probably several references here to Neon Genesis Evangelion as well. Also, when the Eva character is running through the landscape with the assets from the various games and you comment on the giant baby, the sound of a Geiger counter is audible in the background.
52:18: That HP isn't a random massive number. Lemme type out the result of googling said number. "The number 4,294,967,295 is a whole number equal to 2 to the 32nd power - 1. It is a perfect totient number, meaning it is equal to the sum of it's iterated totients." But more importantly. It's also an error code that seems to be related to network connectivity~
I feel like it's worth mentioning that there is a pre-existing game with the name _Tharsis._ It's definitely not related, but it _is_ a fun little time sink.
I really like the music in the Tharsis gameplay section. The haunting and distant vocals give me the GOOD spooky vibes. Also the malformed bodies reaching for the statue reminds me of Albino Lullaby.
![10 Tapes: This is (Not) a Game [Part 1 - Tapes 1 to 5]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/24XGxSdZmyI/mqdefault.jpg)
![10 Tapes: This is (Not) a Game [Part 1 - Tapes 1 to 5]](/img/tr.png)
![JustAcquaintances: Forgotten Found Footage Webseries [Part 1]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1sR3WaQIGvM/mqdefault.jpg)
![Kingdom Hearts: Highlights [WayneradioTV fan edit]](/img/n.gif)
Valle Verde part 2 has been released, and does NOT disappoint!
Valle Verde Part 2 Official Video:
ua-cam.com/video/sHSEEAwJLrs/v-deo.html
Alluvium Patreon:
www.patreon.com/Alluvium
------------------
Night Mind Twitch: www.twitch.tv/nick_nocturne
Night Mind Index: www.nightmind.info
NM Patreon: bit.ly/3sI1PUh
NM Twitter: goo.gl/OHSW0F
NM Facebook: goo.gl/iPdnq9
lostinyt
@@donnybakeher lostinyt
58:17 anyone else hearing this song in your head?
"♫ I know, I know I've let you down
I've been a fool to myself
I thought that I could live for no one else
But now, through all the hurt and pain
It's time for me to respect
The ones you love mean more than anything
♫So, with sadness in my heart
Feel the best thing I could do
Is end it all and leave forever
What's done is done, it feels so bad
What once was happy now is sad
I'll never love again
My world is ending
♫wish that I could turn back time
'Cause now the guilt is all mine
Can't live without the trust from those you love
I know we can't forget the past
You can't forget love and pride
Because of that, it's killing me inside ♫"
Seriously, did we just watch third impact, should I start clapping and saying Congratulation to Alluvium until I turn into goo from the touch of a nintendo friendly N64 render of naked clone "Rei"s Should I be shoving Shinji into the Dang Robot?
search up "G ruler sign" i think the rulers have some in-universe connection to real life 'dark forces'...
BIG DOG the error code at 29:06 is base64, it says "There can be no peace in the world"
edit: also in case you missed it that second clip with the barren wasteland and flying things was the same area where in the first one the player gets jumpscared by an animal thing running on all fours with a moving face, with the face catching the player right as the angel got fully corrupted. the message about turning on the console is exactly the same.
(no idea what it means doe)
Hey Nick, I avoided commenting on videos for some time not to break the illusion of the first releases, but now that I'm commenting on some of them, I wanted to thank you for covering Valle Verde, your first video was the one that put the series on the radar and many people came to my channel, even from my own country, thanks to it; can't really put into words how much that helped, both in terms of subscribers and patronage, many thanks and I hope you enjoy future releases :)
Thank YOU for making such wonderful and inspiring art! You're very welcome, but you absolutely deserved the recognition and support, and I'm so glad to see the audience and ability you've gained to keep working for your vision. Thank you and much love and great opportunities for you in 2024, Alluvium!
I was one of those who found the series thanks to Nick's coverage! Thank you BOTH for all your hard work!!
you deserve so many more views too. even tho i watched it with nick im gonna have to watch again just to give you the views.
the realization tharsis was totally built from the ground up and perfectly blended in as a real ps1 title was hilarious lmao, but it also really skyrockets your appreciation for this creator’s work
The TV broadcast was fake too. Every piece of alternate media in this update was hand made by the creator.
if it helps anyone here, Production IG is a producer behind most of the Ghost in the Shell adaptations/anime. I saw that and INSTANTLY made a few connections to this and GitS with flesh and machine fusing, with hints of religious content
@@galaxywoofer Production IG also worked on End of Evangelion and some of the shots in Tharsis are quite overt homages to that movie. Evangelion is, of course, the creme de la creme of christian imagery turned into horrific apocalyptic visions. So I expect great things if that is on Alluvium’s list of influences.
@@DragonBoi3789 The TV bit felt very slightly off. Tharsis felt spot-on like a real PS1 game.
I thought it was obvious, especially since they created a fake game and did animation in the first video too.
Nick’s reaction to learning Tharsis wasn’t a real game was basically mine. Thinking “oh cool using a lesser known game” and then nope. Original. Brilliant. This is one of the greatest analog series and we’re two. Episodes. In.
Finding out Tharsis wasn't real disappointed me and then amazed me at the same time. Just that little snippet made me wanna at the very least find a ROM to play it on an emulator, and the realization it isn't real just flipped the whole world upside down.
When I saw the intro I immediately went looking for it. The Production IG logo was cool and then the animation was so like PIG's real work that I was convinced it was real.
i like ice cream and nick likes ice cream too. we both like ice cream
Missed this when it was live, and others might have pointed this out: The kid couldn't fit through the gate, even with divine mercy. Immediately reminded me of "it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." He literally has to make himself smaller in order to enter heaven.
I was thinking the same, about the gold gate I mean. Also reminded of a SNL skit, a comercial about a company trying to breed smaller camels to fit through needles (also making larger needles), 'working to help X (forgot the name of the rich person) into heaven'.
Also the idea that one has to be innocent like a child to get to the kingdom of heaven, hence you make yourself smaller.
@@AldenfenrisYeah, I remember that skit; they even talked about reducing the camels to liquid so they could fit through - kind of missing the point.
how does it feel to have such a large and wrinkled brain
I specifically thought of Matthew 7:13-20 :Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 [a]Because narrow is the gate and [b]difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
The creator said in a reply to a comment that Tharsis was a project he made a while ago and he decided to use it for this arg and that this is the first time its seen the light of say so to speak !
This arg is fucking amazing. I cannot wait for part 3
Also a minor thing: The 2 playable characters in Tharsis have themes associated with hell as well. Vergil was a Roman philosopher who acts as Dante's guide in hell in Dante's Inferno. And Eva is a derivitive name for Eve, A.k.a. the first human who committed a sin and went against God in the Garden of Eden.
Kind of a bold move to make Tharsis supposedly produced by Capcom and yet also name one of the characters the same as an already existing Capcom character.
@@MizunoKetsuban Lol, that's what I thought too
Eva is the spanish translation of Eve, it's how it is written in the bible in spanish, I should know, I went to a catholic school, (talking from Argentina)
I've played C&C, I've heard of "Adam & Eve", so this is not surprising to me. Not all C&C games, btw.
Putting games inside the game, and a library that can generate more over time by itself, is a good way to keep the kids locked inside the game from going insane from boredom.
Now, insane from existential dread and torture, that's other things, but not boredom.
The realization that Tharsis is not a real game and thus the developer did all that animation work just... HOLY BAALZ
I thought Nick was gonna lose his mind totally on that revelation.
I was an N64 kid growing up, so when I saw Tomb Raider on the list I was fully prepared to believe it was an obscure PS1 game I just hadn't heard of.
although admittedly it could be a different game, i just started the video lol
I literally went to UA-cam to look for it before realizing it was original
Why was that so surprising to everyone after watching 40 minutes of footage of a not real game?
I like the live form content, but at the same time I get kinda sad when I click a video and I don't hear the rain.
Same here. I do prefer the traditional format but I think that when it comes to updates like this, the time spent making the video in NM's standard format probably wouldn't be worth it for him. The traditional format is more suited for series overviews or when he's diving into the series for the first time.
I don't like the live content so it's even worse for me.
Ibprefer the traditional format than the live one because he can better explain some things.
Yeah, I myself don't have time to set aside for when he goes live, and when he uploads his streams after the fact, it feels like the mood/vibe/content that made me subscribe for is going away. The avatar and chat and stream format in general is great for community interaction but not that great for UA-cam content imo.
Hmm... in that case, at least, I can make sure the rain is falling at the start. Thanks for letting me know.
Spoiler
The error that appeared when Eva was deleted is in Base 64, which translates to "There can be no peace in the world"
it took me a while to find this, so i also commented that lol. I was a little confused that chat thought it was a youtube link so I went back and copied it myself 😶 lol
Good to know someone else also translated that as well.
Figured that would've been the case, but nice to see, nonetheless.
7:45 When the father says "This message is just for you, don't write or speak of it to anyone" I couldn't help but think "Oh he's literally doing that recording and uploading it though," and then right when the message starts it cuts off. I laughed out loud. It's good.
Also "hoc est verum" is Latin for "This is the truth."
Never in a million years would I have predicted a creepy video game ARG project featuring Archbishop Fulton Sheen.
Theory:
The thing within the THBrain making everything go fucky-wucky is not, in fact, religiously themed itself.
Instead, it's drawing from the subconscious of the people who are using the THBrain (or have previously used it): the players' deep-seated fears become manifested within the game world either because of a bug or because the AI running things has turned evil.
One of the other players (Kazuya) was from Japan - Tharsis having untranslated Japanese voice acting along with the anime-esque aesthetic connects to him. This would suggest that either the game was extracted from his memory or else was something he was more likely to interact with.
When Tharsis turns into Valle Verde, one of the first things we see is a Japanese sign that seems to indicate that the area is experiencing radioactive fallout. This coupled with the lopsided Torii, traditional Japanese structure (possibly a temple), and the general devastated quality connect pretty directly to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I'm not sure if this is a direct allusion to the event or something we're supposed to connect symbolically with Shintoism, though.
EDIT: Also one of the most prominent sounds is the crackling of a Geiger counter.
The heavily Catholic imagery is either coming from Matthias (Argentina is about 50% Roman Catholic), Oliver (Who was Irish - the ongoing conflict between Catholics and Protestants is one of the most well-known things about the country) or both. Most likely the former, since Matthias is still apparently hooked in, which would explain its continued prevalence.
This is a bit of a stretch, but given the nature of the religious theming, the AI could have been driven schizophrenic by the incongruity of Religion: in the minds connected to it Faith is both a source of tremendous fear and a cause of great suffering, but also a source of hope and aspiration.
If it's a 'The THBrain is drawing from the fears and memories of its players' it would explain why Foxxo robbed the player in the previous episode: crooked politicians are pretty much a universal across all cultures.
And if I'm right, subsequent episodes will draw from the other players' fears and memories.
SECOND EDIT: One of the players was from France - the Masonic imagery might be from them.
My Japanese is a little spotty, but the sign in that area isn't a typical warning sign. It says something like "people who play God", probably alluding to more religious images and texts (I'm not religious so idk)
Edit: Maybe the point of criticizing people "playing God" in reference to the atomic bomb is supposed to also criticize the development of TH Brain and AI and stuff. You know, making new brains and altering people like a god.
I wonder if some of the games created are leaking into Valle Verde? Like the angel at the beginning seems to not be from Valle Verde, but "Angel Quest Demo", so maybe that game is what's causing some of this religious stuff to happen, and Valle Verde is becoming a fusion of hundreds of these games.
@@srenten Makes me wonder why all of these games are compiled here in the first place. Sure, it can be a reference to the Nintendo demos in Animal Crossing or Bonus Discs like on the GameCube, but why does Valle Verde look like the nexus or epicenter?
This has probably been mentioned, but to expound on that last edit about one of the players being from France, the words on those masonic arches the player passes through (Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite) are the national motto of France (and Haiti) and originate from the French Revolution.
This. I couldn’t get over that Geiger counter noise, this seems to be the most accurate so far
the catholic-to-horror pipeline continues to prevail
Wendigoon’s gotta see this
This one is kinda looking like it's going the other way around
@@twilightvulpine catholic-to-horror-to-catholic
At 51:44 the Japanese sign reads: “Sodom? Gomorrah? No. It is children playing God”
(I’m not 100% certain about the last two kanji)
Edit: “children” could also be “men”, the kanji is very blurry.
Looking at it, I only see 男たち (men), not 子供たち.
What's interesting about when Matias gets "freed" or whatever the hell happens, the item that is given to the player is a cross necklace that's labeled as a "compass." This made me think of two things
1. Is this subtly a nod to how faith is like a compass to point people in the right direction or something?
2. I have a feeling that if Pietro is some sort of guiding force that tries to get people out of the tormenting game, he probably did something to make the game think that the object that he gave was a compass so that the game itself wouldn't catch onto the plan that he was coming up with
Supporting your second point, when the “compass” shows up in the player’s inventory, the thumbnail image for it is a regular compass.
@@CanonessEllinor Yeah, that's what tipped me off about that possible theory, since it's such a strange thing to change in particular, rather than using like a similar graphic or a completely random graphic.
The bull man at 53:00 is Baʿal Hammon, the demon of child sacrifice, as some of chat had pointed out.
Which is quite fitting that it has a giant baby on it's alter.
I'm pretty sure it also goes by Moloch too.
@@thenateshow4371 Moloch is definitely the intended imagery- Ba’al Hammon was the historical recipient of child sacrifice by Carthaginians in crisis (much to the dismay of contemporary Greeks, Romans, and Israelites), but Moloch is pretty strictly remembered as a flaming bull demon that eats kids
I noticed that. Also, Baal was a canaanite solar god father turned into a duke from hell by the christian creed.
@@andrealopezdelgado66
"Baal" just means "lord" and could refer to any of a whole pantheon of gods.
@@thenateshow4371 bro's gotten into the entertainment industry lately
first liminal land and now valle verde
Didn't really expect my theology training after joining a church to be useful in an ARG, but I guess here we are
ikr?? next thing we gonna see is mary becoming a ladder
Don't think it's an ARG, there's a game *in* it, but to be an ARG *we* have to be able to interact with it. It's just an Unfiction project, or an ARE (Alternate Reality Experience), not so much an ARG (Alternate Reality Game).
@@MCOmegaX123 bro stop splitting hairs. If you insist we can call it "unfiction", but life's too short to worry about those things
Question: do you have a theory/idea about who the person (woman?) is at 5:40? I can glean that she's some sort of "betrayer" (an Eve figure?) in eternal torment, a burning blade forever stabbing through her body, her hand and legs trapped in stone-- makes me think of Prometheus
I wonder about her relation to the painting-- "La Fille de la Lumiere Rose" = The Girl of Pink Light(?)
@@OceanAdrift given the text, I'd say she's just a regular sinner. She's called "the betrayer" but every sinner (especially in catholic theology) is seen as betrayers of the covenant with God. She does appear to be suffering an eternal punishment, but that's what is promised to all of us, so I don't think she's someone specific, just a representation of all sinners
An interesting thing to note from the scene with the debug model viewer: Omniel, at least according to some light internet research, was an angel of oneness. Maybe the allusion at hand is that with the removal of Omniel, one cannot find themselves connected to god, which leads to the players death shortly afterwards? It's maybe a fledgling idea, but still an interesting one!
An interesting catch.
I think the player was just killed by the face thing that flew by shortly after the angel was devoured. We didn't get jumpscared this time because the camera was currently far from the player model.
The ghost in the shell segment is insane this is superb quality
You know things have gotten really bad when the AI you created to do all of this doesn't even want to do it anymore.
I mean just a couple of things I noticed:
The dead angel was noted as being from angel quest which was in the list of games you could choose.
There is the sound of a Geiger counter in the Tharsis gameplay segment
Also the bull suspending the baby and that attacks you is a golden bull, another biblical reference as god expressly forbids worship of the golden calf.
At the base of the golden bull that attacks Eva it looks like there is a Merkaba, a part of early Jewish mysticism and still used today
Also the angel is named omniel omni is from greek origin and means everything and el is hebrew and means god or like god, so that angel is basically a representation of god
@@nechocat1234 I didn't catch that, good find!
There's one other thing: the comet at the end that crashes into earth. In the first part of the game, there are references to The Heaven's Gate Suicide in 1997. Heaven's Gate was a cult that combined Evangelism and New Age ideas about UFOs and aliens (they believed that there were Aliens who were gods and aliens that looked like Satan, and that their bodies were vesels for their true forms. In 1997, the cult members committed suicide believing a spaceship in the form of a comet was coming to to pick them up, and that theu would need to leave their boddie behind to board the ship. What if we are dealing with aliens in the form of religion in a video game?
The bull and the baby are extremely obvious references to Moloch.
The geiger counter might be a reference to the "Individual Eleven" storyline from Ghost In The Shell SAC 2nd Gig, where a plot exists to develop a nuclear weapon by a faction within the Japanese government, to place in the hands of another faction and thus have that group targeted for a nuclear strike by the American empire to "deal" with them.
A Byzantine conspiracy, true, yet seems fitting in this context of a convoluted plot.
honestly the fact that we got Valle Verde Part 2 and the update to the Welcome Home website in the SAME WEEK all while part 4 of The Walten Files is getting closer and closer to finishing development makes me go so goddamn insane in the best possible way
Might be worth mentioning but Angel Quest was an actual game being developed for the PS1 by GT Interactive that was cancelled for unknown reasons and was never actually officially announced and from the few screenshots that of the game that have been released by an exdev, the playable character looks identical to the golden angel being eaten by the bugs. Might mean nothing but I thought I was interesting.
I love how two big horror series have come from LatAm. Walten Files and hopefully now Valle Verde from Chile and Argentina respectively. It's cool seeing them get international attention and I hope more creators feel inspired to put their works out there because of it.
It definitely makes it even more unique as compared to many other analog or otherwise horror projects now that they can be set in other places than Washington, Ohio, AmuricaTown USA
- The whole sequence where Pablo has to shrink himself to get into the gate reminds me of the verse that states it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get into heaven.
- Pablo shrinks his character down to .42 of normal size.
- Tharsis likely = Catharsis.
- We can assume that blue text is pre-programmed, and red text with the gear is the "AI" (Not Nottt). However, some red text doesn't have a gear spinning. Since the gear shows up during horror parts, we can assume Gear = Bad, No Gear = Good/Normal.
- Pietro gains a flame over his head in this part, which reminds me of the tongues of fire that manifested over worshippers' heads and enabled them to speak in tongues.
- Pietro IS the priest in the tape. It's on the title page Pablo looks at.
- The map for the Alamo (?) has sectors in IRSA, or the phonetic alphabet that airplanes use. They're letters. "CAJOK"
Edit: The only real anagram I could find was Kojac (Kojak), which is a Bolivian military multi-use vehicle first developed in 1995-1997. This is probably a red herring, unless I'm just not cultured enough to understand what else there could be. There's also "JACKO" but other than poker slang I don't know.
- The angel guarding the gates turns into Uppercase Pi. The only biblical relation I found with it is the Codex Petropolitanus.
- The error message is in Base64.
-DAT probably refers to a database for the artwork.
-Minor thing here, but the base of the statue holding the baby REAALLLY reminds me of a cervix.
-"La Fille De La Lumiere Rose" = "Girl of the/in the Pink Light"
Someone else in the comments stated the letters could correlate to the names of the children? That seems to make a bit more sense.
If you mean the tape at the end is Pietro, then no, that's Arch Bishop Sheen. My mom used to watch him, though the episode itself likely doesn't exist.
Don't know if anyone has pointed it out, but at 54:13, there can be seen in the background a Torii Gate, which in Japanese tradition is normally located at the entrance of or within Shinto shrines, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred, aka from the realm of the living to the realm of the dead.
I just discovered Night Mind recently, and was one of those people who did need to be told "Watch this for yourself. Support the creators." And getting to have my own moments like 31:15 was its own reward! So, thank you, Night Mind for instilling that attitude in me, and thank you, Alluvium for just knocking every single ball out of the park with this installment! I had my doubts after part 1, but they have been fully devoured by the digital purgatory bugs.
I was the same way, he said to watch it for myself first and I was like "I guesssss" and very glad I did!
38:15 I just noticed that not only is that thing that flies off screen the same thing that caused the jumpscare in the first episode...
But it doesn't go for the camera... It goes off screen and takes a moment to cause any effect.
Because it's not aiming for the camera, it's aiming for the player character, and then once it makes contact... Sends them to a game-over screen.
Hebrew is pretty complicated and it’s also complicated at times to spell Hebrew words with English (or Spanish etc) letters and it’s definitely reasonable to spell “Tarshish” as “Tharsis” even though it’s not the standard romanization
At 56:56 the file name has “PIETRO” in it. I think we can safely say the connection between the in-game priest Pietro and Fulton J Sheen (who was a real person with a real TV programme) is confirmed.
Life is Worth Living. Episode 24. 6:07
The zones on the map might correlate to the villagers/the children lost in the game? All the zones are named after letters in the Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, and the letters used(with the exception of Alpha) are the first letters of all the kids' names. Charlie/Chloe, Oscar/Oliver, Kilo/Kazuya, and Juliet/Jansung?
Alpha could also refer to the first child if we're going by that logic. The alpha and the omega, beginning and end.
I’m really hoping there’s a summary video once the series has concluded to collect all the little details into one place. Mad respect for the hour long videos you’re already putting out but it is nice to not have to backtrack through several video parts to make sure I can keep track of all the characters and interactions.
29:01
I can recognize by sight that that is a base 64 encoded message. The two equal signs in a row at the end kind of give it away.
I threw it into a decoder and got "There can be no peace in the world"
The whole Tharsis segment is amazing. It really goes to show how much passion the creator has for his series. Maybe he could even develop games of his own one day...
I sense a strong GitS/Dino Crisis/Killer7 influence in that segment.
To me, the themes of divine retribution are what stick out the most from this update. Seems the story is going for a 'vindictive creation' angle. The program becomes self aware, resents its existence, and punishes those around it as a result. Which might also explain the horrific symbolism of abortion in the first major update. The AI program's 'birth' was aborted before it could finish. Maybe as a result of the developers fearing its growth?
Also, I want to point out the gear symbols for the Patreon backers. I think there's actually a hint to the overall story there. So we've got the purple 'Oscar' gear first. It's a three-toothed gear, and it's the color combination of Blue and Red mixed. I think this gear might be indicative of the original program as it was being developed, and possibly a reference to both the Trinity and the Alchemical concept of the Rebis (which are both ideas of multiple disparities existing as one being). I think this because the next tier we see is the SistGear, which is the red and blue cogs next to each other. Why don't we see the red/blue Sist gears first before the purple Oscar? I think there was a schism in the AI's growth. I think there was a point where the AI was a singular entity, then something happened, and it split into two beings. One being is Nott, and the other *might* be the 'Hoc Est Verum' entity (though I'm not sold on that as the HEV entity is green and not blue). But I think the final gear, the Uriel gear, is foreshadowing for the end of the series. The Uriel gear is like the Oscar gear, but more. It's a three-toothed gear but it fractals out into more complicated forms, and it has the eye motif throughout. I think the Uriel gear is indicative of an apotheosis, of the AI reconciling with itself and reforming to become something greater than it was.
A few theories:
Pablo the Playtester was present for whatever twisted "ceremony" took place, and feels incredible guilt over it. In part 1, they were cut down by Uriel and denied access to what is beyond. In trying to help Mattias, Pablo found the Divine Mercy. With that, they were able to cross the gate and meet the Priest. The priest referred to Pablo by name, rather than Test05 the character, and asked to speak in private (which Pablo agreed to, pausing the recording). The Priest gave Pablo two compasses, one for him and one for mattias. The only two left that can be saved from this hell (the other kids were introduced in part 1... as a corrupted picture + godforsaken screaming).
The scene with the hear/speak/see no evil is located where the townsfolk+mayor headed to in Part 1. I feel like it might be a metaphor for politicians starting wars, being applauded by their supporters/fellow politicians, and they never see, hear, or speak of the atrocities that they cause (the gate to hell is in that same garden).
The technology level in this universe must be insane, if consumer available helmets (THBrain) could be available with a game that has true AI. There might be a "your mind makes it real" thing going on, and Mattias's belief in an all powerful, all knowing, vengeful God who is willing to punish you for all eternity is being manifested for real, along with Part 1's Jesus
Loved seeing the reaction to Tharsis being made from scratch for this.
Automatically assumed it was, myself, and was impressed they went through all the work in both the voicing and the 2D animation for it. This is some top notch content creation.
So I've said this before, but my only real issue with live stream/VOD videos for exploring things like this, is the fact that normally Nick is SO good with editing and working around jumpscares. It's nice to be able to still feel all the tension and fear in a piece of work while Nick investigates it and brings it to life for us, but knowing that jumpscares won't catch me out and fuck me up like they very often do. In these cases...I'm a little more wary. Then again, in the MyHouse.WAD video that was a VOD that had still been edited and had extra material added in a very Nick way, so that was still just fine. I'm excited for more Valle Verde for sure though ^_^
The Tharsis section is insane, I had the same reaction as you. I figured it wasn't a real game because the Japanese just didn't feel right. It sounded like it was autotranslated and then read by voiceover bots, and the combination strict dictionary-style grammar and vocabulary and flat line delivery clued me in to that. There's no way that commander would use "watashi", there's no way they wouldn't be using some fancier grammar given the military command context, and there's certainly no way I'd understand as much as I did with my very basic, keigoless understanding of Japanese.
THAT SAID. The period-accurate art style, characteristic late-90s early-2000s PS1-era jungle/drum-n-bass BGM, and the fully animated cutscenes help make the obviously nonnative Japanese pass the smell test for nonspeakers. Everything else is just so lovingly crafted and spot-on vibes-accurate that it doesn't actually matter for a project of this scope and budget. And why would it need to? THIS MF SPENT FOUR YEARS MAKING AN ANIME CUTSCENE BY HAND.
You're right. NOBODY has _ever_ gone this hard before.
Thing is, it could've very easily been a real game! There are so many games, shows and movies that have worse Japanese (and sometimes Spanish, those are the only two languages I'd watch...besides Korean.) and feel exactly like that and if I didn't have the knowledge it can't be real, I would've tried to look for it on the internet 😅
Which is why it's so damn cool they were able to make something fully believable for the time period like this. I hope they're proud of their work, because I sure am!
Cannot get over the sound design in Valle Verde. Some of the best I've heard.
The whole vision with Dante's Inferno quotes (paraphrasing?) feels like another bit of different game bleeding in, probably same as all the angel assets. Sure it's creepy but apart from surprise transition it's a quality made cinematic, there's no freaky asset kitbashing and texture swapping, no glitches.
51:57
Fun fact! 4,294,967,295 is, is the highest unsigned (that is, not negative) 32-bit integer, which makes it the highest possible number a 32-bit system can store in memory.
AKA, whatever that thing was, its health is the highest possible number it could be given the system the game is on.
its the prefect totient number, too
Ooh. A new word to learn, thanks!
Yours is a perfectly cromulant comment!
That Zom 100 PV cut-in was quite abrupt, and you just tell him to shut up. S-tier reaction speed.
Oh you’re doing updates!! Do The Sun Vanished next! Please I’m dying for someone to cover TSV updates
I find it interesting that the chesspieces that are the three evils are also pawns - they can only move one space forward at a time. Interesting
Not only that, but the sound they make when they move is sounds a lot like a canon going off. With the polite applause after each move, it might be a metaphor for rich war mongerers treating war like a game
Oh snap part 2??!!!?? I just watched it on my own and your part one last night to get ready for this video. I did NOT expect this to come out so soon!!!❤❤❤
Also, Happy Anniversary!!!!❤❤❤
The name of the Bishop is Fulton J. Sheen, an Irish-American Catholic he was famous for his telecasts back through the 1940's-50's, "Life is Worth Living".
The monotone Japanese TTS from that Tharsis game is too fucking hilarious to me
56:57 During the analysis I noticed that you were spot on about the comparison between Pietro and the guy in the video cast, because the author of this file according to the game *is* Pietro, dated 07/06/1996.
It also would be a good idea to source check for the name Lydia, as Umi No Machi is generating that file, a place very similar in name to the one Nottt mentioned called Mori No Machi. The name screams of biblical reference potential, and when the only difference in the location names is Ocean and Death, that's a big thing to source check.
Lastly, of all places to drop your lore, The patreon tiers gave us something to work with in the form of the different Gears. We know which angel stood guard now and can use that for more direct narrative ties - Uriel, one of the archangels, as well as an Oscar gear and the Sist Gear, the former of which has clear reference to the neural network looking Oscar Zone while the latter has no clear reference making it another point of intrigue to source check.
Might be relevant to say that 海の街, Umi no Machi means 'water town' (Edit: better translation, ocean town), and 森の街, Mori no Machi means forest town. couldn't tell ya the reason these names are used, though.
SIST - Shizuoka Institute of Science and Technology. It's in the game's opening credits.
Somebody get this dude to react to part 3 asap
Worth noting is the "dark world" exploration part done by Eva from THARSIS is filled with the noise of a Geiger counter, radioactive clicking. That, alongside the architecture of massive spikes and screaming faces, brings to mind the theoretical hostile architecture to dissuade future civilizations from disturbing buried radioactive waste. "This is not a place of honor."
It is also worth mentioning the name of the location of DEBUG-shima and the gospel television mentioning "Even the greatest weapon our minds can come up with will pale in comparison to its heavenly counterpart" alongside some of the visuals of the uh...third impact, I guess, from said gospel bring to mind the destruction of nuclear weaponry. I don't think this is a massive game changer, but it does seem to have become something of a theme. Perhaps the "dark world" is the aftermath of the Heavenly Counterpart to a nuclear bomb, making Valle Verde a prophecy/warning of godly intervention.
Taking a moment to look over at chat to see myself yelling my confusion is hilarious. Thank God we have you here so you can help plebs like myself understand what's happening 😂
Yesss I’ve been waiting for this ever since I saw the new upload released!! Thanks for showing me this series in the first place and for covering it again right here, it makes it easier on my adhd to react *with* someone or have someone talk about a thing vs watching it alone for the first time. And I knew I wanted my first watch or rundown to be from you :)
Hey Night Mind, this is important. Look into The Heaven's Gate Suicide in 1997, then relookover *your* first video for info on aliens and region for the artist behind those prophetic drawings (you point out something regarding the mean behind the drawings being abducted by aliens. Then, look over the info on this video during the meteorite crash. Both videos reference The Heaven's Gate cult, their beliefs, and their suicide.
Like everyone else, I am blown away by the effort that's gone into Valle Verde. Amazing stuff! In the first episode, I was so sure the animated intro scene was heavily inspired by (or even traced from) a Ghibli film. I feel so sure I've seen those aerial shots in Nausicaa or Castle in the Sky, both of which would be fitting for the theming of the story. (also note I'm not accusing the creator of tracing-- the recognition of the style was just so instant and strong) In Nausicaa, humankind destroyed the planet by making giant war machines (related to the atomic bomb room, the escalation of technology leading to the escalation of heavenly punishment) and Nausicaa herself is a messiah like figure, offering her own life to save humans, even her enemies, from the righteous wrath of giant insects. Likewise, in Castle in the Sky, it's revealed that the titular castle is in possession of technology so advanced it's essentially magic, and specifically a weapon akin to divine punishment that can level cities. The villain wants to control the castle to play god, the protagonists destroy the castle so it can't be used for evil. This is a very basic summary of the two films (not touching on Nausicaa's manga), which are very much worth watching. Moving on to Tharsis:
It looks like everyone instantly associated it with Ghost in the Shell, which I understand. To me, however, it brought to mind Akira. Since it's clearly inspired by a certain type of late 80s-early 90s anime, I don't think either reading is incorrect. Both have themes that could very well work with Valle Verde's plot. But I saw that hover bike and couldn't NOT think of Akira's sewer scene. On to themes: Akira features children who have been experimented on. They become psychic and have the ability to manipulate the world around them. One of them, Akira, becomes so powerful that he levels the city of Tokyo in another atomic bomb allegory (or just imagery. let's not go Tolkien on World War I on this). Later, another young man develops psychic abilities after coming into contant with one of the children. Longing for power he was denied his whole life, he starts using his abilities to play god (I could see someone playing this up as Lucifer imagery). In the climax, he loses control, becoming this horrible flesh mass that violently assimilated whatever it comes into contact with (which reminds me of the games merging and corrupting in Valle Verde). Now, I don't think Ghost in the Shell is a wrong way to look at it-- but this sequence just screamed Akira to me. As others have pointed out, the warning sign briefly visible mentions Sodom and Ghomorrah, and Akira has the destroyed city.
As an aside, the Japanese used is pretty awkward at times. This is fine. The aforementioned sign uses the 男 kanji where I'd expect to see 人 or 人間, for example (unless I'm misreading it), and the chief in the Tharsis animated section has this kind of stilted way of talking? Like, he always uses a subject in every sentence, when generally in Japanese, once a subject is established, you wouldn't say it again. It sounds more like a Japanese textbook companion CD than a native speaker. The same goes for Virgil. And! I love it! You know how the first Resident Evil game is remembered partially for the really awkward English voice acting? I adore that there's a reverse phenomenon here with the awkward Japanese, for a game supposedly from the same generation. If I learned this was done on purpose, I'd believe it and applaud the decision for being lovingly reminiscent of Japanese media that had awkward localization into other languages. (and yes, I noticed the subtitles are one number off in the countdown)
The lady being stabbed repeatedly reminded me of Greek mythological punishments after death. Pushing a boulder uphill only to have it roll back down to the bottom. Getting your lever eaten by an eagle only for it to grow back and be eaten by an eagle AGAIN. getting stabbed with a burning sword so you bang on it so it gets taken out, but then it can stab you again. This ALSO seems like a very Dante punishment, and that's probably closer to the intended reading. But both make for a good symbolic tie. Because let's be real-- symbolically significant hell punishments just make better stories than "everyone sat around bereft of god."
Christian myths have a lot of fun variations. For example, at some point Foxxo could try to get into heaven but as he has never donated a pair of shoes to the poor, he must walk over iron-thorned brambles barefoot to get to the gate
Valle Verde is so underrated. I can't wait to see what's next
I think last video one of the critique's was the lack of build up to the horror, this feels like Alluvium took that as a challenge and doubled down on it XD Just threw us to the wolves, but I'm liking it.
I do think, at least in the first part, it could be attributed to the idea that we're watching a play tester who already has specific bug reports (that's how I interpreted the white texts in the bottom left). This part feels like it loses that explanation, and it's just a player going through the necessary motions to get to the good stuff (and being taken on rides), but I think that fits with the progression of the investigation: start with the bug reports, fall down the rabbit hole. The good stuff is reeeaaally good though, and with the insane effort given to every little detail, I'm absolutely okay with it.
Yessss! Been waiting for your coverage. This new episode was insane and I'm so jealous of the creativity on display here.
i honestly love hearing your geniune real time reactions to this stuff. its so cute :3
Dante's inferno is basically self insert bible fanfiction
Man, every time he says Alamo, I keep getting the nagging feeling I need to remember something...
Good one! :)
I personally like the interesting touch of the map using names from the NATO alphabet, I don't know if the A, C, J, K, and O are relative to any actual codes or not, but just the fact they're there and already named like that is interesting. Coupled with Nottt referring to Pablo and others as "Agents" and the use of Tharsis (and your great theory on it) in this episode. Although I feel like there had been some speculation last episode of Valle Verde that this was a military project (or perhaps I'm misremembering), but now it makes it clearly obvious someone's military (or perhaps several) are directly involved with the TH Brain and perhaps something is after them (very much reminds me of Evangelion and that the Angels came to attack humanity for progressing so far, which also seems relevant to the ending sermon perhaps, as well as the Judgement of Judgements segment?) I wonder just what it was that brought upon these guys divine retribution? Or perhaps it was because they went looking for it and they've been attacking whatever the thing inside the TH Brain and it decided to retaliate?
Also interesting note about the priest Pietro and the live action guy who looks like him, the description below the thumbnail of the video for the sermon reads "Pietro" too.
Well somebody's probably mentioned all of that already, but I just wanted to say it myself!
So from my understanding, this game is an attempt at having an AI create and entire world, and in the process it began seeking enlightenment. And somehow it ether MADE or connected to actual heaven and hell (Mostly hell obviously)
Theories
Theory 1
My theory is that when the Agents or the Smiling One were performing the ceremony, they tried to sacrifice Matias (maybe to complete it) but ultimately failed because Matias was protected by his faith which then caused the game to go apesh*t and eventually get badly corrupted.
Theory 2
Another theory I have (even though I admit its a bit weird) is that Nottt took the shape, or represents Mr Kunimochi, the guy Matias wanted to speak to in part 1. When Nottt describes what he is, he mentions how his true self was surrounded by fabric then light rushed away. After that he was surrounded by darkness before he reached enlightenment. Maybe this was how Mr Kunimochi died, or maybe it's portrays how Mr Kunimochi knew what was going on, in terms of the ceremony, tried to change his ways but was killed by his associates or the smiling one just before he could stop the ceremony.
(Quick Note)
Not sure if anyone noticed or commented on this but in that hellscape with the baby, when you look down you see two dead character models similar to Matias, they might be the other children that were missing in part 1. Also when we take the perspective of the baby we see a raised and bloodied platform heading towards the statue, I'm guessing that that is where the ceremony that Nottt was talking about took place.
Anyways those are my theories and thanks for reading
I love the live format. Watching along and getting your reaction. Of course I love the traditional format too.
This is shockingly well made
The priest in the black and white tv is Bishop Fulton Sheen, and he did have a TV show that was pretty good, the audio changes from actual old Audio to edited new audio when the glitch happens
i was not expecting a part 2.. so awesome i was watching your first part of this one yesterday.. its actually one of my favorites videos :)
The production value is just 🤯
Precisely, it is indeed mind-blowing.
Ah, yes. The best thing to watch when you've woken up, and with a bowl of cereal.
This is gonna be a good day.
I like the first impressions things these live videos have. In Dante's Inferno Lucifer is trapped in a layer of ice created by his wingflaps trying to escape while chewing on three great traitors. The first part of Alamo made me think of it. With the getting stabbed woman... Maybe the layer of lust? None of the other punishments really fit well. Iunno, Wrath but that involves an endless murder orgy iirc.
A priest being a Deus ex machina... Trippy.
There's this thing pre martin Luther about where the only way to get someone out of purgatory was to pay the church to pray for them. It's been awhile since I researched it so I might be misremembering. That might be what the gallery is referencing with being able to buy the portrait for three coins.
Nott is probably an allegorical God, which is depressing. I don't know why he kept the Spanish language module specifically but it's a nice touch. Maybe a reference to the Spanish Inquisition, maybe just to fit with the rest of the text of the game iunno.
Maybe because nobody was screaming in anguish in Spanish?
Of course inquisition and the damm idiot of Luther 🙄
It's possibly because Matias, who speaks Spanish, is not suffering the same fate as the other children.
Well, in XVII century, when there was the Spanish empire, king Felipe II of Spain said something like God only speaks in Spanish. Spain was and still is such a catholic country.
To prevent purgatory, you had to be baptised. This was a handy tool for the papal states back then since the pope could threaten people with excommunication if they fell out of line or tried to rebel against them (meaning that everyone could attack your city/country and you wouldn't be able to baptise your kids, thereby damning them to purgatory)
I complete support the idea that Tharsis is referencing Catharsis.
Although Catharsis is a release of emotion, the rarer original meaning is purgation. As in Purgatory, a cleanse of the inner working of sorts. Which is fitting considering the Tharsis character Eva (Evangelion or Eve maybe? The other character is named Virgil which is a guide character in the Divine Comedy) is sent to Alpha Zone due to the system corruption.
So exited to see your reaction to welcome home chapter 2. No spoilers but the quality has some how improve massively. So happy though this is came out of nowhere for my end lol.
So something I did notice. In the map area at 35:00 the named areas except for Alpha? Those are the first letters of the children''s names in the NATO alphabet. Now, Matias isn't in there, but he wouldn't be at this point. We just freed him. Who the Alpha area might refer to I'm not sure. Given the constant biblical references, especially the garden of Eden ones, I would wager it would be Adam however. Something that might back that up as well is that Alpha is the first real iteration of tech to most people, and Adam was the first man.
Did anybody else notice that when the two games fused together the character for a few second is wearing Angelic armor
could the "smiling one" be Nottt? his sprite is smiling and seems to be the software involved in controlling the game, but at the same time I feel like it's building up to something bigger with the smiling one.
I said something similar, check my comment. ;3
I believe so, when Pablo asks Nottt about the Smiling One, he pretty much says yes. Although because of how the characters in Part 1 refer to the Smiling One, it's possible that the malicious force is impersonating Nottt and manipulating the NPCs.
@@xtalongraspx9004 oops sorry I stole your comment on accident lol >~
@@MegabombGamer-rb5kh It could also uh, not be him, I feel like? Or rather, not that specific part of him.
I took "How many times must I tell you my name is Nott" to mean "that's someone else, I told you my name already."
To me, the Alpha and other zones are not the games bleeding over but the 'territory' each brain controls. The way that the status screen came up, it seemed to indicate that each brain was being utilized to some extent save for 5 which was 'Idle'. But also having a measure of plasticity as basically how much trauma the brains can still handle is so hellishly bleak of a reveal given that it's done so in such a sterile way. Goodness this is a hell of a project.
Also the segment of when we were looking through the Baby's eyes, you could see the crosshairs and the character model flicker as if the player were trying to see from first person. I kinda love the idea of the forced third person so we have that lovely little horror of never able to see more than what we imagine and just extrapolating what terrible things we are being prevented from observing.
So. I was thinking on the "stabbed over and over" bit. Yes, the "Dante" answer makes a lot of sense, but I can't help but think of prometheus. Eaten by birds over and over. Catholic stuff clicks better, but that did occur to me.
The take that the masterwork ai wasnt the big bad but actually wholly stepped back and crippled itself so it wouldnt have to interact with the corrupted game is absolutely stellar. Like thats not something I’ve ever seen before.
You think god too lives in fear of what they have created
‘Bout a third of the way through and I just have to commend the god tier level of effort that’s being put into this thing. Functional game snippets, FMVs, 90s accurate sound effects and GUIs. This is insane.
That Dante-tangent reminded me of when I studied literature in undergrad and one person asked, "Did anyone in Dante's lifetime believe that the Divine Comedy was a true story?" and the professor said that most understood it was fiction, but there are accounts of people who met Dante shrinking in fear, essentially saying, "That's the man who saw the sights of Hell." Call that the original ARG.
Small correction, Nick, the Seven Deadly Sins date back to the late fourth century. It's only the popular depiction of Hell that originates primarily with Dante, though certain elements are derived from scripture.
With how much effort this project already had, the THARSIS section didn't even phase me, like, "yep, they made a short anime and completely different game section for one part of this video, nothing to see here."
7:59 does anyone notice that 'Pietro' is facing the camera? As in, the player (you), not the player character in the game? I didn't notice because where the camera is positioned, he's very far back, but he DOES look like he's faced at us.. why did no one react to him knowing Pablo's name? He named the character TEST05, we know their names are Robert Saetern and Pablo L. Gutierrez from the very beginning of the previous video, they are both agents, but the game shouldn't 'know' this. 👀 Also the light gets brighter once glitchy Jesus enters the scene.
As for possible theories: The THBrain-generated games were used as a part of the ceremony, hence the Apis/Moloch thing that comes out and nearly completely eats your character. Angel Quest was last accessed by Oliver, Tharsis by Kazuya. Chloe and Matias are the only players here who did not play any of the THBrain-generated games in THIS specific library accessed, as it does say there are at least two other 'database' or libraries, that might be where the other games are. The reason perhaps that Pablo/Robert is able to escape in Tharsis is because of the 'compass' (the prayer beads) the player gets from Flame Pietro. The compass description when he uses it on Matias: "Find yourself in an inhospitable place? This compass will help you find the path." So perhaps the Compass we get is an item that allows the agents to safely traverse through dangerous parts of the game, and it's like a home-warp object that ejects the player from the game if they are suddenly in trouble from the evil forces in the THBrain/Valle Verde. Because why else would they wait to try these games? They'd been trawling the main game so much they seemed to know their ways around, its only after getting the two Compasses and ejecting Matias with one did they start to mess around with the more dangerous stuff.
this is one of my favorite ongoing projects right now.
I was so thrilled when I saw the update, both excited for the video itself, and to get another one from you 🤩
Crazy how well this could pass for a ps1 game. Such a good job creating this world.
Edit: K, so it's AMAZING how well several games in this could be real PS1 games...wow.
the production quality. i'm shook.
Re: Tharsis, look up Ghost in the Shell. The character Eva bears more than a passing resemblance to that series' protagonist, Major Kusanagi Motoko. Probably several references here to Neon Genesis Evangelion as well.
Also, when the Eva character is running through the landscape with the assets from the various games and you comment on the giant baby, the sound of a Geiger counter is audible in the background.
happy bday nick
So glad you made an update for this series. Thank you
52:18: That HP isn't a random massive number.
Lemme type out the result of googling said number.
"The number 4,294,967,295 is a whole number equal to 2 to the 32nd power - 1. It is a perfect totient number, meaning it is equal to the sum of it's iterated totients."
But more importantly. It's also an error code that seems to be related to network connectivity~
I sure hope Blockbuster has a copy of this to rent tonight for my N64.
I feel like it's worth mentioning that there is a pre-existing game with the name _Tharsis._
It's definitely not related, but it _is_ a fun little time sink.
This is wild. It's like it goes down through different levels of story-reality.
I don't know if this is any use, but at 2:30 the piece playing is "Liebestraum No. 3" by Liszt.
I really like the music in the Tharsis gameplay section. The haunting and distant vocals give me the GOOD spooky vibes. Also the malformed bodies reaching for the statue reminds me of Albino Lullaby.
That's a name I haven't heard in a good while. I wonder what happened to it.
30:57 Nick figures out Tharsis isn’t real.