I'm wonder what that blue planet is supposed to represent. It seems to be important.
The first game is a metaphor for CommanderVideo's birth and beginnings. The planet we see at the beginning is where he departed from when he began his existence as CV, and at the very end, he returns to it. And since we've figured out that we are CommanderVideo...
I just made an account so I could share this with you.
At the ending... I was looking at the white screen. Pressing bottons, tilting the wiimote and pointing it to the TV. And suddenly I noticed the entire thing.
Commander Video was staring in silence at me in my own house, waiting for me to accept it.
Commander Video was staring in silence at me in my own house, waiting for me to accept it.
i love this game.
BEST THREAD EVER future of NL >:3
[16:43] James: I should learn these site rules more clearly
[16:44] LztheBlehBird: James doesn't know the rules? For shame!!!
More people have seen NoPlo:s observation. I didn´t but I can after reading about it, see the connection. The white area on VC is known to be his eyes or face. Also, the developers made it 16:9 on purpose. Maybe not having NoPlo:s sight of ending in mind. I´d like the ending to be more happy. I would like to see coloured bits hitting his body before he vanishes, igniting life just as the beginning of BEAT. Maybe that´s the secret ending everybody is looking for, maybe there´s is no alternative ending.
@Mange We've tried plenty of things, there is no alternate ending, unless you have to do something like perfect the game, which I think most of us will never do.
"Oooh, yes I said it! I said it! I said it 'cause I caaan!" My Backloggery
Did anyone else find any sort of meaning in the music?
My turn to pull a theory out of thin air here.
So everything starts with BEAT. At this point in his life, Commander Video doesn't know what to think of anything. He's lost in a completely new world (literally tripping over himself in the second cutscene). The music around him acts as a guide though his endeavors, almost like a parent. Commander Video has a limited amount of movement that he can tap into, so the help is welcoming to him. The pulsating rhythm of the controller vibrations likely represent this guiding hand as Commander Video takes his first tentative steps of his life.
Now move on to CORE. The controller is still vibrating to the beat, as Commander Video is still locked in place with limited mobility. However, this time there is something different. For the first time in his short life, he is given the power of choice. Which lane should he choose to shoot his laser? At first, Commander Video doesn't fully appreciate this freedom. Focusing in the cuscenes, the first one is CV surrounded by three distorted other CVs. This represents the music, and the inkling feeling of dread that comes with it. This is the "Discovery" that the music is controlling his thoughts and actions. Moving on to the second cutscene, CV looks lost and forloorn. Que the two other CVs coming out of nowhere and taking his hands. Together, they all fly up. The music (the other CVs) refuses to let CV out of its parental boundaries. However, at the end of the game, CV assumes "Control" of his own fate, as he flies off on his own in the final cutscene.
Next up is VOID. Here CV is given free reign of his actions. He can move wherever he wants, and manipulate the music how he desires. The cutscenes show him sapping the energy out of others (namely the music) in order to express his newfound freedom of choice. However, in the second cutscene, the music displays its dominance, and dwarfs CV in comparison. By the end, they find a compromise, and both are happy with the agreement that is reached (watch the cutscene). Or so it seems. What's this? In the epilogue, where is CV running to (or from)? Does he still want to explore his freedom of choice? It seems so.
It is here that we reach the events of RUNNER. The first cutscene starts off with him plummeting towards land. Once he reaches his destination, he hits the ground running. In my (currently sleep deprived) interpretation, he's attempting to escape the music, and run away from its guiding tendencies. He shouted in the epilogue of Void that "I AM READY!" It can be easy to assume that he was shouting at the music. Attempting to flee from the problem, the atmosphere in this game is, for the most part, upbeat and happy. CV feels genuine excitement over the fact that he is given (what he percieves to be) total freedom. What he is unaware of is the fact that he is still following the patterns set forth by the music. In this game, the music is embodied by that machine-looking thing that is the first and third boss. By the end of the game, CV has made a slew of new friends, by his own choosing. Upon displaying this, he scoffs at the music in the final cutscene. In response, the machine declares "You are not a man!" and flies off.
In FATE, CV begins by expressing his total freedom from music and sound, flying free with all of his friends. However, it isn't long before he's tethered to a line and forced down a direct path, destined to follow in the music's footsteps. This frustrates CV. It angers him. At the beginning, he tries to remain in control, and is patient (hence the name of the 3 main titles of the songs). The line that CV follows can be interpreted to represent his mental state. In the beginning, it's mostly flat and stable, with a few curves here and there. Near the middle, things start to get jagged as CV begins to lose control of his thoughts. By the end, there are huge dives and spikes, which represent the fact that CV has completely lost his mind, thanks to the unmovable force that is the music. In his final moments, CV decides that he would rather cease to exist rather than remain under the control of the music.
FLUX is the final act in CV's life. When I was about to play this game, I got ready for some good old-fashion BEAT gameplay. However, right off the bat, I noticed that something wasn't quite right. The controller wasn't vibrating. The guiding hand wasn't there to help CV (or me) along on the final legs of this journey. CV is limited in his freedom again, but as a result, he is given time to think. What is true freedom? Is it the ability to choose what you want to do and when, or is it something more? You'll notice that none of the bosses in this game follow the rhythm of the music. Instead, they are a more free-form type of boss. CV can choose how to handle the problems set before him in order to conquer them. The end sequence in this game is really where things start to come together. There you are, in an empty space, deflecting beats. However, there's something missing: There is no music to follow. CV is making his own beats, and his own rhythms. There is nothing coherent or musical coming from what he makes, but these are just his first steps. As he experiements, he begins to feel a familiar sensation. A certain pulsating beat (a vibration). As you draw nearer to the source, it grows stronger. It's as if the music were trying to tell you, "THIS is the point I was trying to make. THIS is what it means to be human, to be free. Creation is the ultimate freedom." CV passes by, making his own rhythm, continuing to experiment. He then realizes that he was wrong in deciding for himself to end his journey in order to escape from the music. As the screen fades to white, he tries to maintain the freedom that he has, creating his own music and guiding himself. In the end, he realizes that his is not properly prepared, and his effort is futile (the player recognizes the insignificance of the actions as well, and puts down the controller). What is the result of this entire journey and this sudden realization?
A big, fat, depressing "GAME OVER."
Too long for ya? Here's a summary: The music in Bit. Trip is a parental figure for Commander Video. As it tries to teach him life lessons, he tries to break free and learn on his own. In the end, he realizes his mistakes, but by then it's already too late. In a nutshell: BEAT = Commander Video in his infancy. CORE = Commander Video beginning his teen years and discovering choice. VOID = Commander Video in his late teens, revolting against the parent and ultimately running away. RUNNER = Commander Video in his impulsive "I'm invincible!" 20's FATE = Commander Video as a frustrated, middle-aged man who still feels the strings of his life being pulled. FLUX = Commander Video as a dying old man, realizing the error of his ways. It is too late to fix what has been done.
Well, that's MY take on the series, anyway. I haven't even read this over to see if there are any flaws in my interpretation. I have reason to believe that there are SEVERAL problems with it, but I typed this while I was dead tired, so we'll see if I can fix anything up when I look at this later...
I'm working on a game that's coming out soon! Cipher Trailer
@BleachFan888: It's a decent theory, but it completely ignores his friends.
in Core, he learned he wasn't alone, but everyone else he came across looked just like him in Void. I saw Runner as more joyful than escapist, at least at first... he's running through a world of creatures and objects fantastic and new, meeting all these friends he's never come across before, but this time around one of the bosses also comes to life — Mingrawn Timbletot.
After finally conquering the city with his innocent love of everything presented to him, Mingrawn reappears to CV and co., incorrigibly full of hate. CV tries to make peace (the heart) but Mingrawn wants no part of his friendship (the skull, the 'no CV' figure) and mockingly states 'you are not a man' before flying away into the sky... and everyone else follows.
they fly through space together, the group of new friends, until Mingrawn shows up again with hatred and death for CV on his mind, and CV seems to finally snap and respond in kind. he starts with 'determination' to take Mingrawn out so that he won't be able to hurt himself or his new friends, gradually working his way through the steps of finding and taking him out... through 'patience' and 'desperation', then 'frustration', 'anger', and finally he 'fall's from his former state of grace. IMO, he figured that if Mingrawn had it in for him he'd also wind up attempting to take out all his newfound friends... Fate to me felt as if it started out with CV attempting to protect himself and his friends by merely taking Mingrawn out just like any other boss, but it got too complicated for our poor CV and finally he wound up sacrificing himself to protect everyone else (thus the tear from CGV and his ascension).
the heartbeat-esque line in 'fall' faltered and faded into a flatline a few times just before the final boss of Fate iirc, so naturally there's no more 'heartbeat' vibrations in the controller in Flux. it doesn't so much feel to me that he's escaped the natural beat of the music as it does reinforce the fact that our beloved hero is no longer among the living. his friends have abandoned him because where he's going, they can't follow... he's going home, back to the beginning of it all (thus the Beat-style gameplay). I do agree that the end sequence is pretty much what you make of it (create your own music without being tied to either success or failure — quit, don't quit, noodles, don't noodles), but I don't agree that he's a dying old man in the end — to me, it felt as if he sacrificed himself in the prime of his life, and now he's left to reflect on his choices and realize everything will be okay in the end. he can't do everything, and he's done his part in life... now he just has to let go and allow nature to take its course, and the cycle to eventually begin anew.
it's not a "big, fat, depressing 'GAME OVER'," it is what it is, and there's nothing we can do to stop our own eventual 'game over's, either. the only thing we can do is make the best choices we can make and try to do right by ourselves and by our friends as well.
anyway, i ramble, and i've probably missed some random important crap and managed to totally go off-topic somehow, but that's pretty much my take on the end half of the series — the joy of runner, the innocent determination that eventually led to his fall in fate, and the gradual acceptance of flux.
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[16:43] James: I should learn these site rules more clearly
[16:44] LztheBlehBird: James doesn't know the rules? For shame!!!
I generally agree more with TBD. I definetely don't think the ending of FLUX was meant to seem depressing. Though I still agree with Odnetnin's idea that he was trying to escape the confines of a video game and finally did it at the end of FLUX, thus the "Game Over" and the putting down the controller.
I still haven't figured out most of this series, and generally what I have figured out has already been stated above. But I have a theory of VOID. Based on the names of the levels, as well as the cutscenes, I believe that it was about him trying to get his mind in the right place, determining what's right and wrong, etc. By the end, he has worked it out and knows his path in life. Thus, "I AM READY!" fixed your link code — TBD
@TBD: Your theory seems to have a lot more merit behind it than mine. I more or less blew mine out based on a bunch of jumbled ideas in my head at like 1AM. Just trying to get it down in writing (typing?).
However, I'm for some reason dead-set on the belief that the "Game Over" screen has some sort of depressing connotation. Why would the developers choose "Game Over," instead of the more traditional "The End?" In my opinion, that would better suit the mood of CV accepting the end of his life. Throughout the series, the "Game Over" screen was slapped in your face, almost taunting you, every time you failed. It never really had a good connotation to it, so why use it here?
it's not a "big, fat, depressing 'GAME OVER'," it is what it is, and there's nothing we can do to stop our own eventual 'game over's, either. the only thing we can do is make the best choices we can make and try to do right by ourselves and by our friends as well.
I still find that kind of depressing. I mean, it makes sense, and it's definitely true, but...yeah...
I'm working on a game that's coming out soon! Cipher Trailer
haha, i don't. the beauty of it is that that's ok, though — in the end, it's up to each of us to make of it all what we will. :3
as for why use 'game over' instead of 'the end', though... IMO it made more sense in terms of the game itself (and it being a game, even), since that's the same 'game over' screen used in each of the other games [that featured straight-up game overs; i don't believe Runner did]. it was part of the 'letting go' that we are forced to accept, that CV's game is finally over.
BEST THREAD EVER future of NL >:3
[16:43] James: I should learn these site rules more clearly
[16:44] LztheBlehBird: James doesn't know the rules? For shame!!!
(This could be wrong because the operations guide was not correctly translated from English to Dutch)
The operations guide says there are no game overs in FLUX, RUNNER' s guide said the same but had a "(or are there?)" directly after that. If the FLUX operations guide says the game has no game overs, I think that would suggest it is possible to complete the game without a game over.
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