AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative - A Full Chronological Summary [Major Spoilers]
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- Опубліковано 5 лип 2024
- AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative has one of the Uchikoshi's most ambitious narrative twists. if you felt a bit confused after finishing the game, hopefully this video will help you out.
This is a video version of a Google Doc which you can find here : docs.google.com/document/u/0/...
(The Google Doc will be more up to date than the video)
This was also posted to Reddit a few days ago. If you have any comments specifically about the document say them here: www.reddit.com/r/aithesomnium...
Chapters:
Intro: 00:00
Preface - About The Twist: 00:33
Preface - About Ryuki: 01:44
6 Years Ago (Chronological Order): 6:49
Present (Chronological Order): 31:08
INTERLUDE - What was Mizuki doing on the 14th?: 49:13
Present (Chronological Order): 51:24
![ОРБАН приехал к ПУТИНУ и "отчитался" о поездке в Киев 😁 [Пародия]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/_0ukDovOWq8/mqdefault.jpg)
43:04 Correction: this journal entry by Tearer was when he killed Jin Furue, not Chikara. Jin's right half recovered from Studio Dvaita was missing a tooth, "T" was apparently apologizing to Tearer right before Tearer hit him (which wouldn't have made sense for Chikara, who never felt bad about ANYTHING he'd ever done), and this event took place on the 9th while Ryuki first met Chikara on the 11th.
I wish they added a mode where you can play the game in the real chronological order after finishing it the 1st time
I mean, you can. Just play the game as usual, and when the timeline switches over, just jump to the other one
Seeing this video pop up in recommendations while just starting the game: "Huh, a chronological summary for an Ai somnium game, thats funny, why would you wanna watch that instead of just playing through the game"
30 hours later: "Oh."
Uchikoshi has mastered the writing technique "make the player think we made hundreds of continuity errors before blowing their minds at the climax".
You mean "make up a dozen of random stupid reasons why characters behave like monkeys; while also actively decieving the player for no real reason" ? Yeah, he sure did.
I'm looking forward to watching this video, because I remember finding plot gaps and issues in the game even after the big reveal, but it's been so long since I've played it that
1) I've forgotten them
2) maybe I'll see them explained by others now that content like this is out
When, in reality, all they did was lie and retcon things throughout
@@WRanger87 not really
It makes so much more sense that Ryuki is being demoted over shooting at a civilian than what it leads you to believe at first (that Tearer was underground with him and he failed to catch him). I thought the implied reason was too harsh a punishment for that.
It also makes sense considering Ryuki's more of a rookie 6 years ago.
Rookie Ryuki
God of Puns, Pachaka Max!
Yeah I thought that was a bit out of character for Boss to be so harsh, really glad that reaction ended up being explained and honestly justified
I also found it weird he was bowing his head and begging for forgiveness in shame. I'm not an expert on Eastern customs, but I always got the impression that you do that for being imcompetent at your job and embarassing your superiors in public. None of that would apply for what happened in an underground temple of a secret organisation, but now it makes sense with the actual reasons.
So if he got demoted to a simple police officer, how was he still able to just go to the psynch room to psynch with other people in the present days?
@@jonoinvielleicht4803 he was either doing that when boss and pewter weren't around or just with pewter. Basically sneaking in and doing it without permission
One other thing: in Gens somnium, the model they use for Ota when he’s judging the cooking contest is his design from 6 years ago. It’s a clever hint that Gens somnium actually happens in the past
I never noticed that. That's really cool
@@Neptune_1313 It would make sense even if it was in the present, considering Gen sees Ota as an immature child. That's a good curveball
I personally just saw it as Gen not wanting to acknowledge Ota’s current design
@@captainblue5096 Honestly pretty based
Yeah but Mame's first somnium has 12-yo Mizuki despite taking place in the present.
Two minor nitpicks with the story:
1. Mizuki having the same outfit in the present, as Bibi 6 years ago. Maybe if it was just her high school uniform I could suspend my disbelief, but having the same outfit seemed a bit too out there. Moreso it could be explained easily with a comment "Boss gave me this outfit, I knew it fit too well"
2. Out of all high school or younger age characters (and Ota), Mame was the only to not receive an updated outfit during the timeskip. I'd have to go back and check the timeline for any cases it would completely spoil the twist. Perhaps in those cases Mame could be conveniently working at Sunfish Pocket.
My favourite part is how they hide the twist, most of the characters you interact with in twist chapters are people who don't change during the time skip with Shoma throwing a special curve ball by being an immortal child.
Funnily enough, this is not the first time Uchikoshi has used the "unaging, immortal child" as a plot device to fool the player
A recent rewatch made me discover the answer to what I thought was one of the bigger/cheaper holes in the twist.
When first playing as Bibi in Yoyagi Park and finding Chikara's other half, Aiba and Bibi have a short exchange at the start mentioning how Bibi didn't get much sleep last night like something was bothering her. This is to help hide the jump to the past from the player. From the player's perspective, last night was when Mizuki learned she was genetically modified and adopted, which would account for her saddened state. However, since this is 6 years ago and Bibi, not Mizuki, this doesn't quite make sense. At first, this seemed like a hole, but there actually was a reason.
In the Shoma and Komeji route, you Wink Psync with Bibi, wearing her mask, and see a scene of the nurse talking to Bibi about her condition. She also mentions that the day was February 11th. This not only shows us what Bibi did during the first section of the past, where we play as Ryuki and see that Mizuki was with Kizuna and Ota, but also explains why she was upset the next morning. This is further backed up by Boss saying that Aiba was on her "secret mission" in the very first scene of Ryuki Chapter 1, meaning that even on the 11th she was with Bibi.
It blows my mind how much of this connects together like this. Almost every detail, every plot point, every line was written meticulously to tie together perfectly at the end.
Thanks. I was so curious about that myself.
I reaaaally like this twist, despite what others may say about it. The game is so tightly written around the twist and it’s amazing
Before the timeline twist, I was so confused over how Shoma says that he remembers Komeji saying something a few days ago. But he supposedly died 6 years ago. It was craaazy but good nonetheless
At that moment I was like: did they f up translation? What is he saying, it doesn't make sense, and later timeline reveal makes everything understandable
This. Exactly this. When they suddenly started talking about things that happened 6 years ago (to us) I was legit trying to stay sane lmao. I was streaming the game to a friend, and we were both like ???????????????????????? for the next 2 hours or so, until Mama explained the timelines
@@volbelis3465 There were a few moments leading up to that point that I thought were weird but didn’t think too much of. That line though made me *certain* that some timeline fuckery was going on. Such a good twist, I love how they did it
That was the first moment I really started to think about the order of events. I was like, “Wait a minute… is this scene secretly a flashback? How many other times has the game done this…?”
lol same, i think that was when they really tried to make it obvious that theres something going on with the timeline
I've seen people complain that this twist was bad because it was "bad narration", but considering that this was kind of Ryuki's perspective on how the story unfolded due to how messed up his mental state was, I thought it was a genius narrative decision.
Valentine's Day seriously threw me for a loop, when Ryuki waited for Shoma at the Ferris Wheel and took him to the hospital, which is when Mizuki (Bibi) went to go see him and talked about her sister, who we have no idea is actually the Mizuki know because we're under the impression that we're playing as Mizuki Date and that she shouldn't have a sister. And then six years later on the night before Valentine's Day, we see Ryuki staring up at the Ferris Wheel waiting for Shoma to come down which is when we're lead to believe Shoma somehow disappeared during the ride. This sequence of events shows us first hand how messed up Ryuki is, which is why I think this out of order timeline twist was perfect.
I had the twist spoiled beforehand but not in full- I knew the timeline was messed up, but I didn’t know why, or how. I thought the twist was going to be like Slaughterhouse 5 (which is referenced in the Diverge ending), where the book is very non-chronological and jumps around a lot- I thought Ryuki was like Billy Pilgrim due to PERGE, and I thought every time he blacked out from PERGE, that signified a jump 6 years in the past or in the future. I really liked how Uchi completely threw a curve ball with the twist, but I’m not sure if I like that it doesn’t impact the characters in the story, but rather only the player- similar to ZTD’s big twist.
@@gaspastrikewell it narratively wouldn't impact the characters because to them it actually was 6 years and things hadn't happened for those six years
Also you were most likely right the first time. In the hospital Bibi was most likely talking about Mizuki and not Kizuna because of how protective Bibi was of Mizuki and her strong desire to keep Mizuki's life normal.
she also specifies that her sister is younger. even though shes referred to as big sis by kizuna since that was how she was referred to at aioen, she probably wouldnt refer to kizuna as her younger sister (at least, not without also specifying that shes not actually younger than her either. kizuna is actually a couple months older!)
it also seems more natural for bibi to have a hangup with calling her _clone_ her sister than.... her adoptive sister that she lived with for 6 years, lol
the only thing i noticed before mama explained the timeline was the scene in the cathedral, when date said "was it you that ran yesterday?" i was so confused
and at the time at the abandoned factory, when he also said "you're just so similar" at the time i thought it was just him seeing mizuki after a long time
i didnt noticed tokiko's new glass statue after she broke it just before. i thought it was just game logic that it came back when we went to the naix building
thank you so much for making this! just like boss said, my brain was doing cartwheels trying to figure this out
This video should be mandatory viewing after completing the game. This made me realize so many of the details about the true flowchart
i swear this is the only game ever where a "Chronological Summary" video actually ended up not only being very helpful, but also gave me further appreciation for the videogame itself as i did see a lot of new things in this video that i never noticed that were clear foreshadowing after the fact. so for that, biggest thanks
Another clue I picked up was when Bibi was in Tearers somnium, Aiba makes a joke about her wearing glasses and she responds something like "I don't wear glasses, my one eye is 1.5 and my other is 20.5" I don't know much about eyesight but 1.5 sounds bad and while Mizuki doesn't have a bad eye, Bibi does!
I'm really glad you clarified the timeline. Even after Tokiko reveals the timeline of events chronologically, i didnt really put it together that the Mizuki's were switching out with each other depending on what point in time your in.
Yee we played as 3 people and we didn't even know it
Talk to Bibi when you go back to the destroyed cathedral. She reveals it there.
New discoveries:
February 13th (Wed) - 6 Years Ago
(2/13 Ryuki Chapter 3: Farewell)
Ryuki continues his investigation at Lemnescate. Iris, Moma, and Ota are here. During Ryuki’s conversation with them, the “Masked Woman” (Bibi) enters the building and sits down on a couch. This is the first time that she appears in this outfit. We don’t really know why she’s here and you can’t ‘Winc Psync’ with her. My guess is that she was hoping to see Mizuki there. She does state later on in the game that she "shadowed" Mizuki quite a bit, and it would make sense that she wouldn't want to show her face around her (that's the whole reason for her disguise; she didn't want Mizuki to find out that she was a clone).
I guess she must have made that outfit to go undercover?
@@krsynx probably. in the epilogue when looking at the masks in Boss's office she mentions she found the mask she ended up wearing in Boss's closet. I assume she didn't expect it to have experimental NASA glue on it lol.
@@DreamerADV it was probably something she did herself, given that she mentions it multiple times
honestly, knowing bibi i wouldnt be surprised if she was bullshitting about it being Top Of The Line Mega Stick NASA Glue, one to deter people from trying too hard to remove it, and also because whenever bibi is in disguise shes such a cocky smartass when she wants to avoid giving people actual info or reasons for stuff, and "this is some nasa grade shit so if you tried to force the mask off it would rip my skin clean off" sounds like some shit shed say
@@DreamerADV I'm pretty sure she added the glue herself. Remember that she wore and removed the mask several times 6 years ago. The glue and solvent are probably other things she stole from Boss.
@@DreamerADV I can't fucking believe Boss' masks ended up somehow relevant...
The timeline twist was incredible. I remember after psyncing with Masked Woman (Bibi), and seeing all the inconsistencies starting with the Shoma hospital scene. They outdid themselves this time. I only wish the game was slightly longer.
*The first game :* Tricks you into thinking there's going to be a morphogenetic twist on the timeline.
*The second game :* Tricks you into thinking there's NOT going to be a morphogenetic twist on the timeline.
I had to read the logs and pause a few times to think things through after the timeline got shifted correctly. My mind was blown after things made more sense. Now I wanna replay the game again in the right order to really get a sense of the story. I hope they make the third one cause this franchise is truly great.
I really appreciate the effort and time put into making this. Gotta watch it later even though I already have a solid grasp of most events and foreshadowings.
Btw I want to add my opinion regarding Mizuki's clothes in the present being the same as BiBi in the past and how convenient it is. People can understandably forget how long of a time 6 years in real life is because we are playing the events back to back in game. I personally don't even remember the clothes of people I met few days ago let alone several weeks or years. so it is not really that strange seeing the characters not comment on it. Also this is my head canon but I can imagine Bibi arranging for her clothes to be received by Mizuki as a present or something for joining ABIS and following on her steps.
Couldn't have asked for a more comprehensive breakdown, really helped me digest the story and learn a bunch of new things while simultaneously celebrating that some of my own theories i've cooked throughout the playthrough were true, i've completed the series 3 days ago and still get chills thinking about it. What a gem... Thank you for the amazing vid!
Okay so I was watching someone let's play of this game after finishing it and I just realized something.
When in the car, Tama tell Ryuki "What are you hiding" and he answer she would probably hate him if he told her... It was because of tearer threatening him to destroy her...
Ryuki know Tama would never approve to do that for her sake.
ARGH GOD DAMN IT THEY ARE SO WHOLESOME TOGETHER.
23:18 I feel so silly for blanking during this line and completely missing one of the biggest hints as to what was happening
and then I just concluded I was dumb for not knowing who the "sister" she cared for was if it wasn't Kizuna
I respect the twist so much more now with all these hints, though they still cheated by saying on the box art "6 years later, the other half of the body was found"
i mean its not wrong. the Uru half of each body was found in both instances, which in some roundabout way that is still the same body
To be fair, the box was just talking from the perspective of the knowledge that the characters have at the beginning of the game.
At the time I was taking the "sister" to be Iris since Date is like both of their step-dads and they were very close.
@@Neptune_1313 I made 2 different assumptions in this scene that hid the twist better:
-Mizuki Date had recently found out that she's adopted And has started to wonder about her biological parents. Not knowing anything about them, including whether they are alive or not
-I concluded the Little Sister was Aiba. She is rather human-like, they have spent 6 years living together (10 if you count Aiba observing Mizuki). She is in the scene, though doesn't comment on the declaration. Also we as players of the first game have the emotional attachment that "Yeah I would die for this little hamster"
I thought it was iris, because in the first game they called each other sister
24:25 No, I think you were right the first time (the video, not the subtitle) -- Bibi was referring to Mizuki as the one she would die for. As evidence, there's the somnium where she was desperate to save the rabbit from similar tortures in the hidden lab. While this was never made completely clear either, I'm certain this was baby Mizuki. There's no evidence Kizuna was ever at the institute.
actually i think its pretty clear because bibi tells mizuki that in the institute they didn't have a hard time with sharing the same names because they all had like codenames or nickgames there? and bibi was rat, while mizuki was the rabbit. while talking with ryuki(?) bibi says "rats don't wear shoes" when ryuki asks why she is barefoot. we also see bibi protecting a bunny plushie in her somnium so id say its for sure mizuki date
5:20 Ryuki said he saw Date EARLIER, and not 2 days ago, where he saw him at ABIS. This proves that Ryuki took info from 2 past timelines. "Waiting for someone" was about Shoma in R1 and "saw date earlier" was the battle in the harbor which happened around 21:00 same day in R2 which makes sense being called "earlier"
Just wanted to share. I haven't watched the entire vid, but I'll delete this if it actually has been adressed
That's certainly possible!
Great video compiling everything together on such a bonkers twist!
I really adored the twist and how it connects with the theme of the game. The characters spend the game living on one side of a topic (ex loving others vs loving self). They can only become "whole" once they strive to live by both halves of the issue. The flowchart works the same way. All the pieces were there, but going down Ryuki's half and Mizuki's half separately left a lot of things in question. It's only when both halves converged to be a whole could the truth be found. It's as the title of dance song says "Half to Whole".
Btw there is one new dialogue if you talked with Shoma before talking with Ryuki. Ryuki confirms there that he found Shoma in front of a Ferris Wheel. The downside is that you don't get bow and suitcase dialogue from Shoma if you visit locations in this order.
Ah, Thank you for clearing that up. I'd heard about the other dialogue but couldn't figure out exactly what triggered it
@@Neptune_1313 I don't know if someone said it already but the next thing I noticed. In Date's house you can wink psync Bibi, there you find out that she was informed about her life expectancy. They clarify that it happened at the national day(10.02), that's why she was feeling down the next day when you play as her for the first time.
Thank you for taking the time out to make this, when they revealed that the time line wasn't what I thought it was my brain couldn't comprehend it and i was sad because I felt dumb not understanding what was going on 😣 but this video helped me understand everything now, thanks a lot man
Don't feel dumb - this is genuinely a massive flaw in this game that not many people are acknowledging. It's a great twist but the game makes no effort to step you through its implications, in a large part relying on people like this video's creator to realise the twist's potential.
my first note that something was wrong was Kaniza being everywhere at once and nowhere. One day he's at the park, another he's elsewhere then back. All hail... ah, what was his name? Omochi?
“Kaniza” lmaoooo
Thank you for putting in the effort to make such a long and detailed video on the Chronological timeline
Thank you for make it easier to understand the timeline of this series. I hope you keep up the hard work and make similar videos to this.
After the rmotional roller coaster that was this game, and the timeline twist, you fixed it all up in my head. Thanks :)
thank you so much for this video, you have no idea how it answered all my questions about the game. i was so confused when i finished the game for the first time
Thank you so much for compiling this! The amount of effort you must have put- I really appreciate it because the twist confused me so much
INCREDIBLE SUMMARY!!!!! Thank you for all your work! This helps me enjoy this wonderful puzzle of a story structure even more!!
Thank you for this. I appreciate the story even more after watching this. Exactly the video I hoped existed!
Thank you for the video! Nearly an hour long! omg..... and my brain is still mush, and I still get a chill down my spine every time I think of this twist!!!
I've been trying to find this video after watching it the first time.
great explanation!
Fitting username
I really, really appreciate the hard work you put into making this video for this wonderful game. Thank you!
There were so many small things that made more sense but it was still overall so confusing so I'm glad this video exists
THANK YOU!! Just finished the game yesterday and this was exactly what I needed.
Thanks for this video. I didn't have the gusto to replay the finished game piece by piece nor did I want to overwrite my progress by scraping and restarting.
This vid has given me a whole new appreciation for this game, there's a lot of trippy stuff under the surface that I didn't piece together. This game is just as psychedelic as AI1 just so much of the trippy is weaved into the story
thank you so much for making this!🙌👑
oh my gosh, thank you so much for making this video! I had just completed the game the other day (though not the diverge ending yet) and I was so confused about the timeline. I also took a long time to play the game since I was so busy (over the span of months and months) and there were so many things I just couldn't keep track of. your explanation and pointing out when mizuki is mizuki date and when it's bibi, when ryuuki's memory blends occur where he thinks he's 6 years in the past, and your summaries of what happened each day are incredibly helpful
Thanks for making this, I just finished the game so it was very helpful to put some of those remaining pieces together.
Thanks for putting this together. I didn't appreciate what the timeline twist was doing during the game, but now I understand how much work went into putting it all together - impressive. A shame that I needed something like this to do so though!
The reason Bibi is wearing the same outfit as Mizuki in the past? Coincidence. In other words, an intentional coincidence to back up simulation theory. Ota mentions the same person/outfit coincidences as one of his reasons when he's talking about why he believes simulation theory is true.
Oh fuck I forgot about that line. It’s hard for me to believe it was that intentional but I want to believe that’s the reason they had in mind with both Mizukis dressing the exact same way
This was super helpful for me! I appreciate your work.
I'm half way into his video and omg the clarity! And omg this game is way.more clever than I thought. Superb!
Thank you so much. Gladly I found your video.
Thanks for doing this, I played the whole game myself but after watching this whole thing, it clarified a few things I still had questions about. Ex: shoma not getting off the Ferris wheel, or when and where Ryuki thought he was in the past or present.
Thank you for making this video it was very clear and precise and easy to understand and follow. While playing the game I was especially confused at the part in game where date suddenly shows up at rhe abandoned factory and “mizuki” (bibi) didn’t seem surprised at all to see him after 6 years like she was basically unfazed and I remember being so confused but now that I’ve finished the game it makes perfect sense
thank you for this!!! you explained it so well !!!!
Really well done bravo
I don't know if someone said it already but the next thing I noticed. In Date's house you can wink psync Bibi, there you find out that she was informed about her life expectancy. They clarify that it happened at the national day(10.02), that's why she was feeling down the next day when you play as her for the first time.
This was a great video, a critique I had of Nirvana Initiative is that I thought the story was a bit confusing and didn’t make sense. But this video covers up the holes of the game that I thought was prevalent and makes me enjoy the game more as a whole, thank you
I finally have the game and I'm ready to play it !
You know what I'm most excited for once I finish playing the game ? Unlocking all routes. You see, back at the first game, after unlocking every route, I restarted the game and played bits of every route in a specific order in order to tailor my own story. It required a lot of my imagination and memory. But it was worth it then. It's going to be worth it now.
Good video - you put a lot of effort into it! I did have a few questions about the plot that I can't make sense of, and was wondering if you had any thoughts:
1) Why does Tearer leave the Balloon puzzle for the police/Bibi to solve? Prior to the twist, the game makes it look like Tearer wanted us to find Tokiko's corpse and the basement where he was held captive, but we know that this discovery is made by Mizuki in the present (while the Balloon puzzle was six years ago). The best explanation I can think of is that he WANTED Bibi to find his former jail cell and see the suffering he went through, but that's kind of flimsy...
2) Is the relationship between Gen and Tokiko ever clarified? Gen is present in Tokiko's Somnium, and she caresses him, but while Shoma (who is also in the Somnium) was inducted into Naix for a time, this does not seem to be the case for Gen. Does Tokiko only know Gen because he is the result of Chikara's experiments?
3) Speaking of Chikara, is it ever stated when/how he saw Naix creating the Bats490 video? He was part of the Order of %, a rival organization. I know him and Tokiko still kept in contact because of Jin Furue, but that still doesn't explain how he witnessed Bats490 being created.
4) Gen gives contradictory statements as to why he wasn't present when we found Ryuki drunk. He originally says he was buying ingredients, but later he says there was an odd customer sitting next to Ryuki, saying something like “When the king awakens, I’m gonna disappear like a candle. I’m not real just something that shows up in the King’s dream.” Gen says that he chased after his customer, which contradicts his original statement. I thought this would be a major plot point, but it's never followed up on. Do you have any idea who this mysterious customer is meant to be?
1) I don't know either
2) Yes, I'm pretty sure it is because of his time at Horadori Institute.
3) I don't think that 'Winc Pync' was a literal event. Just a metaphorical way of presenting that he knows where the video came from.
4) Given that this was the same night that Amame placed Uru's body in the stadium, I assume that he left to see her. Either that, or this is Date as Gen and he has no idea why Gen left.
Thank you for enjoying the video.
I think Tearer wanted to kill all the potential threats (Date, Bibi, Ryuki) that were investigating his case so he lured them into his death trap with clues but failed terribly (Bibi and Lien ran away from the basement without finding anything because they heard footsteps, that's probably Tearer trying to kill them but missed the chance).
Re: 1 - There's a couple of theories that could be work, but it's never explained. One possible explanation is that this was actually instituted by Tokiko to set the stage for the warp and weft (i.e., getting Bibi involved). Another is that it's a publicity stunt; the crossed arrows found in the balloons was a key cypher to solve several aspects of the Nirvana Trial (including the final code for the stadium setup). There's lots of such explanations that could work.
@@Neptune_13134 is definitely Date. There’s a couple of points in the game where you’re definitely talking to Date (eg Mizuki tells Gen that he told her about his favourite spot outside the Warehouses, Gen *asks* if he told her that, then after getting affirmation pretends that he feels that way).
Ryuki being the unreliable narrator reminds me of Cloud from FF7 before he gets his memories back.
The two things that really standed out before the twist of having the chart being wrong were Shoma's age and whe Mizuki didn't ask Date how was alive but this was actually Bibi.
Since we're now conditioned to expect events to be shown to us out of order, I fully expect that AI 3 will be much more blatant about its chronological shuffling and present events in an obviously out-of-order sequence. Perhaps the Frayer will need to piece together timeline snippets like a jigsaw puzzle; depending on how we arrange the pieces, we'll unlock different branches, which will in turn give us more timeline snippets to put together; only by trying all viable combinations and getting all the timeline pieces can we discover the one true timeline.
I remember the first time I played the game, when they got to discovering the other half of Komeji's body, I was so confused when they began talking like he was alive until recently. Even if I am a bit mixed on the twist, i do genuinely enjoy how it messes with you. Having those moments where something seems wrong but you can't wrap your head around why are incredible.
Perfect video, made me appreciate the game more. Wasn’t the biggest fan of the timeline twist but it was pretty well done
Tokiko is the real winner in this game
I'd have to check when they unlock to be sure, but I stayed mostly on top of the files for people and I feel like some unlocked at "weird" times pre reveal that could be part of the foreshadowing to the twist. Things like seeing Mama or someone as Mizuki and not getting the present version of the file right then but only the next time you see them, but then it turns out those were times Bibi met her 6 years ago
Heck, before you even choose a route, Boss' file mentions adopting Mizuki, despite the fact they never act like mother and daughter once. The most reasonable conclusion was that, after Date's death, she adopted her since she was only twelve, but in reality, it referred to Mizuki (Bibi) and not Mizuki (Date).
@@rileymoore7025 Though that one's on the localization team. Not sure if it's a mistranslation that happens to be true or if it's an intentional change, but the Japanese profile doesn't say that
==EDIT== A more direct translation of the first few lines of Boss's present profile would apparently be "Mizuki's direct superior. She is old friends with Date, Mizuki's adoptive father.", which has a completely different impact
This happened to me with Shoma and I was so confused
thank you for your efforts, great video. was thinking about how good would it be to experience the game while playing with the true flowchart but got a little disappointed when it wasnt a option. this video is much needed and godsend for me and other players who also thought the same. I really appreciate it
Splendid video! You really helped me understand some things I really needed answers to when it comes to this game. Though I do still have a few questions and I would love if you could help answer them.
1. How do Shoma and Moma know Bibi? Seemingly at the time everyone refers to her as "Mizuki" and Shoma especially should at least mention the fact that his grade school crush happens to have a sibling with the exact same name.
2. The fact that he sees glitching and blue people seems likely because of the influence of Naix/TC Perge, but he also has an episode like that at the very start of the game, when he watches the QR video for the first time after finding Jin Furue's body. At this point he doesn't even know of Naix's beliefs nor has been infected, so why does he have one there?
3. Continuing off that, why do the videos cause him to pass out? and seemingly Tearer knows that, which is how he makes him unconscious when he's with Komeji.
4. Why would Shoko and Renju adopt a child? Shoko clearly never wanted a child, considering she says that she had to sacrifice everything she worked hard for because of Mizuki. It would make sense if she was birthed, but not when she's adopted.
1) I don't think it's ever confirmed how Bibi knew Shoma. All the narration says is "It felt like meeting a distant relative. Basically strangers, but still familiar". He doesn't say anything when he sees Mizuki and Bibi together at the end of the game which implies that he already knows about the two of them. My best guess is that they knew each other from their time at Horadori Institute. That definitely fits with the description of "It felt like meeting a distant relative."
2) He experiences the glitches there because it's a flashback taking place on the 10th in the present after Ryuki learns about the other half of 'Jin' being found at the stadium. He drinks to try and forget about the event, passes out, and dreams about the quiz show. His hallucination never actually happened here in the past.
3) I don't know.
4) This isn't really addressed in the game, but I saw a great post on the AI Reddit by ChielArael where they theorised that Shoko birthed Mizuki (Bibi) with gene therapy; but then after realising that she had a weak heart and a blind eye, they 'discarded' her, had her cloned and took in that clone (Mizuki Okiura) as their daughter once she proved to be a success. They are described as "designer babies" and that definitely fits with the abusive rich parents angle that we know of Shoko and Renju. It certainly makes them look even worse than the first game did, but it also fits what we know of them.
Link to that post: www.reddit.com/r/aithesomniumfiles/comments/vwg6rq/full_ai2_spoilers_questioning_a_point_about_mizuki/?
In chapters 2 and 4 (when you play as Bibi), the only characters who actually refer to her as Mizuki are Aiba, Boss, and Pewter. No one else calls her by name during these chapters. There are actually specific instructions to the devs/writers left in the code that say no one other than those three can call her Mizuki in those chapters, and to report it as a bug if anyone else does. (Hooray for dataminers!)
3) According to Tama after Ryuki regain conscious he was attack by behind & the shock short circuit Tama. The video was a distraction it has nothing to do Ryuki’s inconsistent pass out
@@QuantumB00 She specifically said "After you lost consciousness, you were attacked from behind. A high voltage current was delivered to your back"
Meaning he was electrocuted after passing out.
Now that I'm watching this...ryuki lowkey sucked at his job 6 years ago...
49:52 I usually just use the alt route as building blocks for filling in the blanks
I wonder how they knew about the location of the cathedral 6 years ago considering ryuki discovering it was actually in the present...
There are two cathedrals. Ryuki discovered the second one in the present.
I loved the twist but Mizuki's appearance was definitely a bit too convenient. I think giving Bibi a slightly different one would have been a good clue. Say if the difference is Bibi's hair was down and Mizuki's was up in the braids, Aiba could have made a comment that Bibi's hair looks nice down which would lead the player to believe she tried having it down that day.
ryuki in the destroyed cathedral at the climax was so annoying because his sprite and hitbox was so tiny.
The secret ending finally made me understand 100% the mindset behind a lesser evil for a greater good. At first, this transformation was scary. But after the adrenaline was gone and I kept my head on the objective...it was beautiful.
I won't deny it felt a little wrong all of that happiness. Because I felt so lonely. But then Tama, Aiba, Mizuki and Bibi acknowledged the memories's authenticy...it made me feel better.
Though Tokito's video makes me wonder. Was she asking which timeline it was true ? Or was she asking if the player is the character or the other way around ?
Personally, Tokito was the character I related to most. That's why although I wished she was less selfish...I hope she finds what she was searching for. Although, maybe I should have denied her salvation. It should not be done so selfishly and so ruthlessly. At least I want to believe it shouldn't.
POV: You just learned about the true flowchart and don't know if you were playing as Mizuki or Bibi anymore
Thanks for explaining I didn't fully understand everything
16:00 An interesting moment is Riichi's shocked reaction when first meeting Mizuki Date. This is because of her resemblance to his own ward Bibi.
There is one thing that doesn’t make sense. The nurse said that she was taking care of Jin since he was a teen but she didn’t realize Jin’s real face is different from the public image?
EXACTLY!!!
So many plot holes left unexplained in this game...
i guess they made the body switch when they were older..? this game is making me crazy- i love it
1:38. About the bike (the pipe too), it was provided by ABIS according to Aiba, so Bibi and Mizuki both issued the same model.
That's probably true. It's mostly the Adorabbbit decal on the bikes being identical that most people find strange. But maybe it's just an official Addorabbit bike that ABIS gave to them? It would certainly be strange, but this game does have a bit of a wacky world.
@@Neptune_1313 Easily explained, or at least no reason she could not too. Bibi likes rabbit cause rabbit = Mizuki, so she just happened to also get an adorabbit sticker.
There is one point that I remember the nurse purposefully lying to the player I think? She said she was 100% young Jin with his tumors was exactly the same person as adult Jin as seen in the media. How can that be if young Jin would have had a completely different face+hair color+% scar on the side.
I also find the trauma Ryuki has before the virus to be too much? He's way more crazy when his trauma is that his brother was hit by a car on a half of his body (so the case HB affects him a lot) than when he contracts the virus, for which they say he develops a resistance+can't pass it around in just mere days. He also shot a civilian in the past, to be demoted in 3 days yet 6 later he's still going about and psyncing and everything.
The twist was amazing and its incredible that for the most part it works from both timeline perspectives, but I do think there are some rough edges that require suspension of disbelief. Though I guess all the battles with bad guys barely shooting and just standing there to be defeated with pipes is an even less credible staple of these games
Thank you for clarifying a lot of this. I noticed some of the inconsistencies while playing but I didn't realize how far it went lmao. I just have 2 questions.
1) What does dahila and boat mean? If I remember right Ryuki was told dahila was Tearer's name, why is that?
2) Ryuki got a message from Tearer that told him to go to the abandoned factory. Did we ever see that/when did it happen/is it ever illuded to outside of Ryuki saying he's meeting up with someone?
1) Dahlia Boat is an anagram of laldabaoth (a.k.a Yaldabaoth the "creator of the material world in various Gnostic sects and movements" (Wikipedia)). It can also be decoded using the ROT22 cipher as 'Helpme fsex' (Or 'Help me Mum' which is what was written on the lockers in Uru's Somnium.
As for why he would tell Ryuki this fake name; It was probably to create a 'seam' in reality by artificially 'Mandela effect'ing his own name.
2) When Ryuki tells Mizuki (Bibi) that he's meeting up with someone, he's referring to meeting Tearer at the underground cathedral- as we see when 'Winc Pync'ing with him as Mizuki (Bibi) at the abandoned factory on the 14th. Unless you're referring to another time?
@@Neptune_1313 Thank you for number 1, but I don't think I clarified number 2. I understand that Ryuki was meeting up with Tearer and catching up with Date; what I mean is is there a scene with Ryuki getting the text message to meet him, or is this like the interlude with Bibi and Mizuki where it happens off screen?
@@Neptune_1313 Yaldaboath is also known as the "false god", jin furue's nickname is "the almighty" therefore tearer is the fake jin furue
A comment pointed out the third game should be about the soul of a person. Based on this, I think it should be the new story.
The new serial Killers's victims should appear with holes spread all across the body, with whatever is left of it being completely rotten. The method ? Somehow the killer absorbed the majority of the victims'mitochondria from the cells of the bodies. The people on the case are Bibi, Mizuki and Ryuki with their respective partners. But here's yet another strange detail. While a strange woman (Tokito) appears out of nowhere, causing strange phenomenons to happen in order to keep Bibi and Mizuki from getting to the truth (this is a test), Tokito pretty much gives the answers, even if in a cryptic way, to Ryiuki, as he's ready to reach Moksha.
By the way, I think Shoma should return as an assistant to Pewter, having joined ABIS because just like the detectives, he feels something is wrong, because of all the nightmares he's been having. And I think Date's case should be trying to find out if this mysterious woman truly is the missing Tokito.
Thank you so much for making this video. After I finished the game, I really wanted to go back through it again but in the correct chronological order, but I was too burnt out. This video really helped me put the events of the game into perspective!
There was something that I didn’t quite get. Was it ever explained why Gen took the red and blue balloon from the docks and hid that information from Bibi?
I think Gen was scared that by letting Mizuki find out who's the true cuprit would lead to the investigation of the missing left half of Uru that Amame was trying to hide
This is also my assumption
It took me some time to realize this, but Tokiko was basically trying to crash the game by making everyone go crazy and do unpredictable things at the same time.
omg, didn't see that bullet wound! even when you're pointing at it in the vid I still had to squeeze my eyes to see it
Shouldn’t that be the real Tokiko when Ryuki went to the office in the past? She wasn’t dead at that point, then Ryuki passed out from the shock and she escorted him out
You’re *supposed* to think that Ryuki’s hallucinating, when in reality she’s still alive
Yeah, I think he does see the real Tokiko. But he still has a hallucination after seeing her.
Awesome! I’ve been looking for a video to catalogue spree vents so this is super helpful! Can’t wait to sink my teeth into this. Beyond the other questions people have asked I just have one more about two versions of a scene with Shoma in the hospital. In my version playing the game I got prompts with the bow tie and suitcase like you but in other playthroughs I’ve seen nothing of that sort and instead Shoma talks about Komeji hiding something and he even acts a bit different in his emotional response. Mizuki/Bibi even is surprised by the mention of a big sister in those playthroughs and looks it up, and a nurse comes in the room too to make you leave. Basically it’s a slightly different version of the scene and extended a bit and I don’t know why?
I haven't heard of this, that's really interesting. Edit: Wow I just found a video where that happens. That's weird. I'll have to see if I can get it to trigger. Looking at a few different videos I think it only occurs if you don't go to the hospital last. That version of the scene ends with Aiba talking about continuing their investigation. Going back to scenes on the flow chart will always treat investigation scenes as if they are the last area you need to visit. Edit 2: Yeah it happens if you visit Shoma before Ryuki
Here's a link to that video if anyone else wants to see it: ua-cam.com/video/_8X0sSdDF3s/v-deo.html
@@Neptune_1313 yeah I first found it while watching a play through from crystaahhl and was super confused when it happened. I had to double check a few times with my own save file. But that does sound like a plausible answer. I was just confused bc with the way the different scenes played out it felt like something was significantly different that I couldn’t put my finger on (timeline, mizuki, shoma etc). So that’s reassuring to hear, thanks!
Oh yeah, I saw so much seams at first, but now they are all teared 😄
32:54 I thought it was because he realised it is impossible for him to know Dahlia Boat, causing a mental breakdown
Yeah, that's right. I just said in the video that he didn't explain to Mizuki what happened in the past- which is also true.
@@Neptune_1313 do you think that the psync machine is what allows people to remember other timelines? So far across both games we’ve had 4 people be able to remember other timelines; Mizuki, Bibi, Ryuki, and Date. The common thread being that they’re all psyncers. No non-psyncers can remember, except for maybe Tokiko, but that can be explained since she reached Moksha.
Maybe
I don't think it's a mental illness causing the timeline stuff.
The game starts with Ryuki recalling the events. By this framing device it is inferred what we're seeing on the Ryuki route is what he experienced. In addition, having him get infected at the end of the chronology defeats the purpose of the premise if we assume his time skips do not occur in reality.
So, because there is a Ryuki active during the time jumps (off screen shooting at a civilian) while the Ryuki we play also has sentience, it can be concluded that 1 Ryuki follows the chronological timeline and one follows the initially presented timeline with the chronological remaining active on the alternate route. Technically there is likely a 3rd, being the one who recalls the events to Mizuki at the beginning who did experience the time skips which then creates the one who knows the name Dahlia Boat.
Ryuki 1 is traumatized by the events and proceeds as described by the other characters > Ryuki 2 tells Mizuki recollections involving his lost time > Ryuki 3 recalls information he should not via the existence of the timeline circling around to creating the originally presented timeline because the events simultaneously did and did not occur in the order as described. Actually, that would also suggest a 4th variant of Ryuki who recalks the events in order of chronology.
In effect, the bodies both did and did not traverse through time.
You know, out of allthe people I expected to be at the final dance. Riichi and Amame were definitely reverse of what I thot 😆
I just finished the game and my brain scrambled on the timeline twist
One thing I don't understand it's how did Ryuki find the underground cathedral 6 years ago, like who told him where it is, unless him and Tama solved bats490.
Also I wonder why did the QR video affected him at the start and when Komeji was killed.
Ryuki finds the underground cathedral for the first time when he meets with Tearer there on the 14th in the past. Presumably Tearer tells him where to meet him. The second time he visits the cathedral on the 15th he goes there because of So's somnium where he learns that the "execution chamber" "lies at the abyss of nine X's".
As for his glitch at the start of the game: He experiences the glitches there because it's a flashback taking place on the 10th in the present after Ryuki learns about the other half of 'Jin' being found at the stadium. He drinks to try and forget about the event, passes out, and dreams about the quiz show. His hallucination never actually happened here in the past.
By the time Komeji is killed he has already met Tokiko and learned about the simulation theory.
@@Neptune_1313 I think you meant Iris' Somnium.
Was it ever explained how the prototype psync machine can be used without the left eye needing to be removed? I remember Date mentioning that it would explode or something if it was moved, which is why it's still there, but don't remember any mention of how it interacts with the left eye.
As far as I'm aware I don't believe it's ever mentioned. Edit: Apparently it's explained in the archive in the Japanese version that ABIS upgraded it.
I saw in a comment somewhere else that it's explained in the archive if I remember correctly.
@@Neptune_1313
The plot hole that is removing the eyeball to use the prototype psych machine is actually not a plot hole, but a localization hole. The Japanese version of the game clearly states in the appendix that ABIS updated the prototype so you don't need to remove the eyeball anymore. But it got cut from the english version for some reason.
The only thing that stopped me from being suspicious about Shona not looking any different is the fact that Ota exists when I first saw Shoma after the timeskip I thought to myself "why does he look the same, something's going on here" after a few seconds I just thought "ah nevermind Ota looks exactly the same after 6 years it's probably just a design choice"
makes me wonder if ota was expiramented on, he might have some anti ageing gooing on too not to a degree like shoma but he definately seems young for his age
Hey man thanks for this great video do you think about making one about the first game
Probably not. I think the first game does a pretty good job explaining it's major twist and it goes over the true chronological order of events in great detail in the game itself. (Arguably it spends a little too much time recapping things).
By contrast the second game explains the basic premise of the twist (that two days have swapped) and not much else. It never even explicitly states that you were playing as Bibi for those two days, and the game leaves a huge amount of the twist for you to go back through the game and work it out yourself.
Personaly I had no problem understanding the story of the first game from just playing it, but was pretty lost by the end of this one. At the time, there wasn't anybody else that had done a recap or explaination of the story since the game was so new; so I went back through the game myself to figure things out. Afterwards, I thought other people might be in the same situation I was in, so I made this summary to help them out.
SUDDENLY EVERYTHING MAKES SENCE
Maybe someone in the comments can help me out with this one thing.
In Mizuki (Bibi) Chapter 2, at the start where you find Chikara's left half at Yoyagi Park. Aiba asks Bibi if she's ok saying that she barely got any sleep last night but that would also be understandable for someone in her position. Bibi claims she's fine and says "that's that and this is this".
On first playthrough we assume that this is Mizuki still reacting to the events we saw in the previous scene where she finds out about her parents and how she was genetically modified. But since the timeline switched and we know this is Bibi and not the other Mizuki, I'm wondering if there's any indication of what Aiba is referring to when asking about how Bibi is here.
I actually found the answer further down in the comments. Shoutouts to Nicholas Trabucco
"In the Shoma and Komeji route, you Wink Psync with Bibi, wearing her mask, and see a scene of the nurse talking to Bibi about her condition. She also mentions that the day was February 11th. This not only shows us what Bibi did during the first section of the past, where we play as Ryuki and see that Mizuki was with Kizuna and Ota, but also explains why she was upset the next morning. This is further backed up by Boss saying that Aiba was on her "secret mission" in the very first scene of Ryuki Chapter 1, meaning that even on the 11th she was with Bibi."
26:44
Just a question tho, since this has been annoying me since the first time Ive seen this scene. Is it ever mentioned anything about improvements to the prototype Psync Machine? Because according to the whole premise of the first game, it was necessary to have one of the eyeballs removed in order to use the machine (the whole cable thingy and stuff). How could they use the machine without revealing Tearer's face?