The absolute trauma Ortega and the rest of the Rangers would go through I really want to open the gates out of morbid curiosity
I just did the first pass and I’m crying! I’m crying because I can’t continue right now! I love the story.
Writers, you have great talent. If it ever comes out as a book, I’m running to buy it!
By the way, I was surprised that there is an option to date the Marshal. Was there any possibility in the first part? Somehow I didn’t notice that there were any hints of romance.
Not in rebirth, no
Thanks. I thought there was no way I would screw it up when he was my second favorite character. Ortega of course is my heart.
AHHHHHHHHHHH. The argue-flirting is fun but that movie night with Argent. The hand holding, snuggling, kissing her hair - Argent going all soft made me melt. Just had to fangirl. End rant
Does anybody know how to get the Sanctuary or Rancher achievements? As well as how to get Ortega to break you out of the hospital… if that’s even possible? Thanks!
There is a achievement guide at post 3. To get either Sanctuary or Rancher you have to be in the Step car crash and stuck in Step’s body path and the fact you are the villain can’t be out. To get Ortega to break you out if you are a know villain first you need to pick to think of them as the person you regret hurting the most so that they will be checked first and second no killing or at the very least being repentkill and no massacre
Here is the exact check
*if ((((not(fakeself)) and (not(por_ghost))) and ((not(knownkill)) or (repentkill))) or (((not(fakeself)) and (villainortega_relationship = “sympathetic”)) and ((not(knownkill)) or (repentkill))))
Similarly, I really liked this conversation:
Spoiler
“I thought I could be a hero,” you admit with a grimace. “Make a difference. I was an idiot.”
“You did,” Argent says, a fond little smile on her lips. “Saved a lot of people.”
“Didn’t make a difference in the end. Not to me. They still got me back.” Words like old poison that you’re too weak to spit out.
“Isn’t that what makes a hero? Saving others instead of yourself?”
“Shut up,” you grumble.
I think that idea – that getting hurt while helping others isn’t ironic or stupid or rash, it’s noble, and often well worth it – is a really powerful one.
I don’t think the MC is a regene.
If the special directive can factory reset the minds of regenes, which is practically human, who says they can’t do it to a person? Reset their mind and make them think they’re a regene? They can probably add the tattoos or give them regene body parts. So, it might be possible that you are Hollow Ground’s actual sibling. A young telepath kidnapped and modified to look like a cuckoo and think they’re a cuckoo
I think that the scientist head of the Special Directive is cruel, and will enjoy revealing that your inner turmoil and trauma from being a regene/ ‘a thing’ all these years wasn’t all real. They just made you believe it and suffer through it.
Further edit: This is not a fact, only a theory I got by piecing together some info.
Yeah this was one of my theories, too!
It sure seems like telepaths are the “new nuke.” That advancement that completely changes everything. Hell, HG shows exactly why in that they’re a kingpin who happens to have Ortega’s old mentor under mind control so that they get to control the earthquakes.
With more training and or mods/boosts/whatever, Sidestep sure is on their way to being able to turn anyone into a puppet. And any nation on Earth would do anything to have that kind of power at their disposal. That The Farm seems to be singularly focused on telepaths corroborates this.
And if you can make the world think a normal human is a regene (ergo, no rights at all)? Then you can take all the guesswork out of rolling the dice on if your regene will be a telepath or not. You can just grab a telepath and declare them your property. I wouldn’t doubt other governments are attempting something similar.
Most importantly, maximum angst is inflicted on poor Sidestep who spent their entire life thinking they weren’t a real person, only to be told that they are. Oh and also your former life was completely stolen from you and there’s probably no way of getting it back.
Sure seems like it, since the boost drug’s effect is pretty random, the special directive can’t mass produce telepaths. Maybe that’s why Locus and other telepaths have been missing, why roll the dice when you already have an existing supply of boosted telepaths? All you need to do is get them and modify into cuckoos. Honestly, all they need is their head. You can replace the other parts with regene parts, with the way they could repair the MC after the fall, I have no doubts they can. Plus add in a little factory reset to their minds and make them believe they’re a thing.
I want maximum suffering for our MC, makes the revenge sweeter.
Do you have evidence from the game? Because otherwise this seems against what we have been presented so far which includes memories from inside the tank.
I mean you can believe whatever you want, I just don’t think it’s supported by the text.
i think that the mc is a regen, that the efect of the boost drug is the same betwen a person and their clons is the same that why we are telepats like HG (i had a theory about shroud bein one of their clons as us being a cucko telepat but she is always female) but is posible that telepats regen tend to develop personhood from being exposed to human thoughts and that shows that they are not as inhumane as the government claims, which could put the farm in a difficult position in front of the public, that’s why they stopped their production
Nope, I did not present this as a fact as we don’t exactly know yet – only the author. This is just a theory I got by piecing together some info of the Special Directive that we got from the story and a little bit of thinking about the possibilities with those info.
Like:
1. Locus and other telepaths missing, in the ending we see that the Special Directive is trying to find Locus. What are they trying to do with those telepaths – besides something related to Heartbreak?
2. When the MC fell, pieces of other regens were used to bring him back. I assume it can also be done with a normal person, get the cuckoo tattoo version body, and slap the head of a telepath there.
3. The Special Directives can wipe the memory of regens, resetting them. The only differences they have with humans are their color or tattoos. There’s a possibility they can wipe out the memory of a person/telepath. Even plant memories of being in the farm – but that may be a stretch, unless they have an allied telepath or a natural regene with regene memories that can manipulate their memories when they get wiped.
HG is confirmed to have siblings, Ortega has a record of one of them which he thought was you. The rest are dead. I’m not sure about the memories though, I read that too when you try to manipulate him about your resemblance. Him being HG’s sibling and made to believe he was a regen is still a theory. Although, we don’t know if HG is a regen himself and is just an older less powerful batch of you, since he is only a tactile telepath (touch).
Its likely you are a clone of the sibling not the actual sibling themselves also I remember somewhere in book one Sidestep says something about having an unconventional childhood or something like that so they would have to make an entire life for him to remember for him to believe himself to be a regene
Finally finished the playthrough with my non-killing (I’d say pacifist but he’s really not) hero hunter (he considers himself a hero trainer) on a quest to bring truth and justice and expose the Farm and other corrupt institutions such as the government for what they are. Despite his hatred/rivalry of Herald in the first game, he grew to like and mentor, and later love (and trust with his greatest secret, that he was a Re-Gene) Danny. His other leap of faith/attempt to get the Rangers to understand his point of view, telling Ortega the truth about Mastermind’s real identity, got him an arrest and a vicious scar on his cheek courtesy of Argent (which he’s not angry about; he did, after all, possess her). And yet despite his world being upended and his heart being broken, Herald (perhaps Danny again someday?) broke with the Rangers, liberated my MC, and joined him on his quest. I liked this ending a lot, but I suspect that my MC will forever feel like he ruined Herald’s life even if they get back together (and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m here for the angst). It was also oddly fitting that the devoted apprentice joined the master on his quest.
I can’t wait for the implications of the following in book 3:
- My MC being a hero that’s oddly insistent he’s a villain, as Mia Ochoa would probably put it, even giving his robbed money to charity.
- Captain Blaze possibly joining MC’s side after their fight. I wonder how he will get on with Rosie (maybe Marcia too) and Herald.
- The fan club. I wonder if they will make an appearance in Book 3.
- Chen wondering if Mastermind is truly a villain, especially after finding out that the villain who helped him evacuate the manor was in fact his once teammate (whose death he investigated and whose Re-Gene status he knew) and new friend who bonded with him over Spoon. I wonder if he may also break with the Rangers and join MC eventually.
- Dr. Mortum meeting my MC in his real body. She’d befriended the Puppet before, but she didn’t (and doesn’t) know Puppet was being commandeered by someone else. While they agreed to have a working relationship, I am not sure if that will last, especially if she starts looking into Puppet (would she? She certainly could).
- Even though my MC was uncomfortable about being in a puppet, and ultimately woke up in his own body, the Puppet himself did awaken at the end. I’m sure he’ll be pleased to find out about MC…
- The Farm being curious about Mastermind even if they haven’t found his secret identity yet. Interesting, and it’s going to be rough for MC.
- Everything to do with Hollow Ground. Especially if he finds out that my MC pretended to be under his power but noticed his attempt and had shielded himself the whole time. My MC’s alliance with him is tentative (and above all, not telepathically mandated).
- Ortega, definitely Ortega. Her best friend who she thought had died turned out to be a villain (working with Hollow Ground!) and a Re-Gene (he told her the former, she found the latter out), and she is about to find out that one of her coworkers broke the guy out of prison and joined him, and her co-leader is possibly thinking of leaving the Rangers as well. Now that the Puppet is up and about and probably doesn’t see her as a friend anymore, her world is further turned upside down. I feel bad for her. I wonder what book 3 will bring her.
- Lady Argent’s reaction to the Rangers splitting will be interesting for sure. She also had little reason to respect Mastermind since he never fought her fairly (in his mind, the Special Directive certainly wouldn’t fight fair so why should he in a “training session”? His restriction was no killing), so I doubt she’d join him. There is also the fact that he did possess her. I wonder if she’d see Mastermind as a nemesis as well as a cheater now.
The funny thing about that is that Ortega would have break out your mc if Herald hadn’t beaten them to it As someone on the discord said Ortega got held up in line at the Gucci store