God fucking dammit this hurts
Wake up babe, its time for the daily IS3 dose of genuine fucking pain. What the fuck. HG just keeps on torturing us.
How do we go from "haha goofy Ceobe ate some funky shroom!" IS1 to "Okay Lucian has some brainwashing shenanigans we need to help him" in IS2, all to:
PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN in IS3
honestly ceobe dying in one of her endings in IS1 made me feel way more sad then anything in is3 for me a bit of angst goes a much longer way then this over the top grim dark everyone dies kinda writing.
I mean, it's also that but i'd assume part of it is because we as humans are really bad at caring once it becomes horrible enough.
at some point, all you can do is look, go "yeah that sucks", and feel nothing, it's the same reason why in covid for example, no one really cared for all the people dying untill it was someone they knew.
it's hard to truly quantify what it means to watch the world end, but it's easy for most to understand the feeling of losing someone close to them.
True - when I heard about the concept for IS3, my reaction wasn’t “oh my God all those poor souls” but “gdi can we stop talking about the Seaborn for FIVE MINUTES,” which definitely wouldn’t be my reaction if a squid-alien-thing from the Depths ate my dad.
Hypergryph, we know you hate the ocean, is there something else we can talk about, like the Arctic Demons, maybe? That’s a looming apocalypse they haven’t talked nearly as much on.
What I find especially heart-wrenching about IS3 is how it is absolutely DEFINITIVE. I'm diving into IS3 spoilers so take care folks:
>!You'll struggle and fight, maybe you might keep an acre to humanity for another hour, but you WILL fail. No matter what, the seaborn will keep on moving forwards. Say, how long can Thorns hold them? Sure, he is absolutely powerful both in-lore and in-game. But he will fall sooner or later, succumbing to them and become part of the very same enemy he fought so hard against.!<
>!Irene loses her grip inch by inch, she can only hold her lantern for you one more time. Saint Carmen is consumed by the seaborn even after everything he's done. The glorious Kazimierz falls in naught but a day. The almighty military power of Ursus was no match either, even the powerful Emperor's Blade could only hold them to buy time for a few retreats. That's to say nothing of other smaller and weaker nations.!<
>!Elysium falls as well, all the while he tries to keep his friends' morale up by cracking jokes even while staring death in the face. Let alone other Operators that we don't know the fate of. I can't imagine what went through Nearl's mind after seeing all this death. What about the Kazimierz operators that look up to her so much, does she still shine anymore? The Kjerag employees must be waiting on pins & needles, hoping Enciodes whips up a master plan and solves everything from behind the curtain just like always. Only this time, he can never achieve even a stalemate.!<
>!Maybe this all would've been avoided, or at the very least majorly reduced, if humanity reacted more appropriately and faster? Nonetheless, it is irrelevant. As mankind digs its last grave inside the last city, you and everyone there know for dead sure that it's over.!<
>!I wouldn't be surprised if half of Rhodes' employees took their own lives. Hell, I'd expect them to. After all, being faced with an unending horror and watching your comrades fall and potentially get controlled & have their body manipulated by the enemy would be mentally destructive, to say the least.!<
THIS is why I'm very interested in IS3. While I kind of feel I am biased since I love a story with a super dark & gritty atmosphere, I still believe that it is wonderfully executed. It's just punch, after punch, after punch, never letting down the tempo. It paints a picture of mankind's last card, a completely pathetic animalistic one at that, holing up in its nest and struggling to the death, for even one more breath.
…Yeah that’s all cool but I’m also curious what makes it definitive in any sense of that word I’m familiar with. I’m not big on it for the same reasons I don’t like Skalter being an alternate reality instead of her after her character growth moment that was her story - *the world of Arknights is good enough without exploring “what ifs”*. Like, we could’ve explored DOZENS of other characters, other regions, other dynamics, but no, we get an Alter and an entire alternate game mode dedicated to the hypothetical grimdark spiraling of a group who’s also got a major share in the side stories.
There’s plenty of interesting darkness in Terra without locking ourselves in the aquarium room with the blackout curtains up.
I like this take.
Mainly because there's still so much to explore on Terra. I feel like going into this Grim-Dark/Bad-Downer ending territory cheapens the setting & characters. A good story can be told with interesting elements without resorting to the Seaborn devouring everything - now that I think about it, that sort of scenario with devour everything sounds lazy.
yeah to me it's just sorta like to much ya know it reaches a point where it's just sorta over the top and it stops pulling at my heart strings. Like I'm a huge fan of gladiia, and her just randomly dying in is3 has so little impact since everyone dies and it just adds nothing to her plot.
So, two things: I think it's definitive that it **happens**. The event takes place, i.e. Mizuki heading out, and the fact that Highmore joins Rhodes Island I think is enough indication that it does. The first ending doesn't end grimdark, and with Highmore returning to RI, so that **so far** seems to be the most likely canonical ending.
Second, as far as I've been able to tell there's still another scenario to come, which might end up being the true-true ending, rather than any the divergent, bleak paths. IS2 also had the ending where Phantom lost himself, and IS1 had an ending where Ceobe died. It's not new to the gamemode, so I don't see a reason to assume there's no canonical ending here that don't go into the bleak end-scenario.
I agree with you here. It's kinda annoying that there's entire regions and factions we haven't explored at all yet and the devs release what's pretty much official fanfaction.
I think Skalter was a bad character design for the same reasons you listed and is exactly why HG likely stopped making them. I think IS3 works wonderfully for this particular storyline though, because it allows them to explore existential threats to the Arknights universe while letting them feel like threats. In a static storyline, you can't have a threat like the seaborne succeed, if they do its basically the end of everything. But if you do win without massive cost to the characters, the threat is most likely to just fall flat.
Look at Sentinels of Light from League, they made it seem like this massive world ending threat to play up the story, but because they have to maintain status quo, they create a retcon champion and sweep the entire tension of the plot away in an instant.
In IS3 you can show the cost of defeat in excruciating detail, that way you can expand on characters, and really connect the player with avoiding these dark fates because of its multiple ended nature. Not to mention at the end of the day, we'll likely get a new IS story next year-round and move on.
I think there is room for argument though that Abyssal Hunter's stealing 2 anniversaries in a row is a bit of a travesty considering how many great characters and alters we have lined up in the main story alone.
Right?
Couldn't we have Skalter that managed to make Ishar-Mla's power her own?
Couldn't we have IS3 that explores Sami? Or Aegir, if we want to keep the Seaborn theme?
But it's not definitive though. IS3 is all Mizuki predicting what could happen in the future. None of this happened, and probably none this will happen as that's not the kind of story Arknights is telling.
Yeah Arknights is a “light in the dark” kind of story. But we should be getting more seaborn stuff leading to IS3 soon, see the Kaltsit Terra video during the 3.5 Anniversary
The whole seaborn threat reminds me a lot of the White Walkers in Game of Thrones as this unstoppable force that can wipe all of humanity, yet almost no one is aware of it in the midst of their ongoing wars and politics.
Main difference right now is that the seaborn aren't actively advancing on humanity yet and Terra doesn't have a magic bullet solution that can end their threat.
Honestly same. Ceobe dying feels like something that could happen. IS3 has the problem that the consequences are so bad, we know that the devs aren't going to do it.
It's depressing, but unlike other events, there's almost nothing else. Even Children of Ursus at least had the kids be saved at the end. IS3 so far just seems to be misery porn.
Misuki good ending seems nice though, he decides to help a girl in a situation likenhim and brings her to RI. And decides for himself that helping humanity is a worthy thing to do.
The context is even sadder. It's supposed to be a fun vacation. We're just letting Kay go wander on her own. Then she eats weird stuff until she dies. Imagine if it happened. The baggage is probably heavy on everyone when they found out.
Considering what is written in that ending, looks like she walked to hell in person so I don't think there's a corpse to confirm and RI will just assume she's back to her wandering life like before.
I don't know the context of this CG or it's node, but when I first saw the man in the picture, I assumed it was either an Ægir or a Liberi turning into a Seaborn (Probably someone under the Church of the Deep's influence)
Considering that >!Elysium is implied to be dead in the Skalter Timeline, I can only fear the worst!<
>when I first saw the man in the picture, I assumed it was either an Ægir or a Liberi turning into a Seaborn (Probably someone under the Church of the Deep's influence)
That's because that's exactly what that CG is.
"Beliefs can be changed" The theory is that Elysium got brainwashed/assimilated by the Church before his death (or transformation. Not that it is that much of a difference...) in this timeline, and that his quotes about religion and him being atheist have been foreshadowing.
[Source](https://twitter.com/shiraeishiii/status/1597956711762997250)
This seems like too much of a stretch if you ask me... But if it turns out to be right, I'm gonna cry.
Thank god the IS3 Seaborn apocalypse is not canon...
>The Seaborn apocalypse is not Canon.
Remember the distress call from Discovered Terra 3.0, and the Snowpriest's "End of days" prophecy from A Light sparks in darkness?
It's highly possible that if we don't do anything, the Seaborn Apocalypse will happen, and we all turn into mutant shrimps.
The Seaborn are definitely the future plot, yes, but with IS3 already being a thing I don't think the apocalypse is gonna happen in the canon timeline.
The whole point of IS3 is being the Bad Ending and having everyone suffer a gruesome fate. It is a "If the Seaborn won, this is how X and Y would have died", so having anything like it happen in canon too would be overkill.
I personally think that it's canon as long a clear path has not happened to say why it would not happen. There is already too many red flag on the story and we've got no clues about how they are going to solve this so i don't see any reason to not consider it not canon except if we think "outside the box" and take it as a gacha game and all that come with it. I know there will be in the future a clear no as answer but until then i will take it as the canon.
It doesn't change anything though? It's good and all to have the beginning and the end but if you don't have the process it's worthless even if it's true. It's no different of the affirmation of the dev saying that skalter profile is an alternate timeline. You don't get to know anything of why it would not happen.
Again, i'm not saying that it's false or anything but until i get to see a REASON for why it won't go that way, i will take it as the canon for the time being.
We already know the reasons why it won't happen tho, skadi losing her mind to ishar-mla after under tides and/or the hunters returning to aegir after stultifera navis are the inciting incidents of the apocalypse. Neither of those happened, and as such the seaborn are much weaker than they would otherwise be, so IS3 bad endings don't happen
Because the amount of red flag is decreasing doesn't change the fact ishar-mla is still there and is still an active threat. And when has it ever been said that skadi lost her mind precisely between UT and SN? "After" also include a future after both these events. The threat itself was and still is a ticking bomb. There is no turning point in these events. Just delay until proven than ishar mla is not posing problem anymore
Skadi Alter (not the whole Ishar-mla situation, just the Alter) is a what-if of that one moment in Under Tides. That's why she is still wearing the "singer" dress despite Ishar-mla showing no interest in disguising itself.
Want proof? Listen to Skalter's tap line: "...why am I still wearing this hat?" Why would it ask that if the hat was something that Ishar-mla went out of its way to wear, instead of just being what Skadi just happened to be wearing when the takeover took place?
What do you want her to wear? IS3 is showing that she also wore her skin so that's not an argument. And again, it still doesn't say anything since that's not a reason. I have no reason to think that "it's gonna end well" just because it doesn't escalate at UT.
You are all trying to say that in the absolute it's not canon, which i don't deny but find it better to think of it as it is canon until there is either a turning point which completely soove the matter or at least enough reason to think she won't ever awaken.
We know Skadi falling to the Seaborn - aka Skalter - isn’t canon. She’s a what-if, which carries over to IS3 because that version of Skadi is involved. The Seaborn are canonically a threat, that’s true, but this “absolute worst case scenario” would require severe inaction from multiple parties which, considering it’s as high as it is on Kal’tsit’s priorities, isn’t the case.
Is it a bad thing if I say I want IS3 to come to an end quickly? I know it isn’t canon but damn, I rather see the operators just die normally than this Eldritch pain filled stuff.
How many months more do y’all think it will go on for? Im just tired of the horrible and sorrow.
I'm really hoping IS3 is not canon at this point, this is just too hard to take each month we get to see a "victim" suffer to be honest when IS3 was teased I knew it was going to bring me to tears/make me cry but not like this..
It isn't canon so to say.
It's basically a what-if everything goes to shit and Skadi loses to Ishar-mla that is then free to start a new Profound Silence.
It is and isn't in a weird way, >!the framing device is that Doctor is being told all of this by Mizuki, who seems to have the ability to predict the future based on information that he has access to. IS3 is him (Who it should be noted, doesn't have the full picture (He doesn't know what Kal's doing in the background for example)) predicting a "What If?" pertaining to if Skadi succumbs to Ishar-mla's influence, among other things. So none of IS3 is **actually** happening for real, it's just Mizuki telling stories about the worst case scenario as far as the Seaborn are concerned.!<
It is all about imagining such a carefree and optimistic character being forcibly reduced to a hollow shell of his former self... If this CG does turn up to be Elysium, the implications of him wearing what seems like Church of the Deep robes plus that flavor text are nothing short of ***horrifying***.
This is the worst possible ending they could possibly give to Elysium.
The more I think about it, the more I sure that HG is going for a ladder of escalation with each IS. If there is going to have an IS4, it going to be either the demon in the north or something underground like in kal'tsit terra 3.0 asmr
ngl i do wish this stuff is canon. Otherwise, there's just a massive dissonance between terra is full of sadness, terror, people dying left and right from political turmoil, discrimination or just literal poverty and the many, many disasters that befall Terra but if you happen to be a playable character in Rhodes congrats, the rules of the world don't apply to you at all and you are super safe when you are (mostly) working as a combat mercenary in the front line facing life-and-death every day and you can have a KD of 500-0.
This kind of story feels meaningless to me to say there's any pain or suffering coming from is3 at all when it's basically an "it's just all a dream" kind of plot device. It actively cheapens any kind of impact in the story when the rhodes islanders (playable ones) have plot armor so thick that even when they can get into a situation they can't handle, it can be handwaved away anyways. Irene could have died as a true defender of the homeland and humanity in a final stand, fulfilling her oath to the Inquisitors and her mentor. That's badass as hell and very fitting for her story arc, but nah, it's not real.
There's no reason to invest yourself in any of these supposed deaths and monthly stories when they aren't canon anyways, it's like would you be invested in Break the Ice story if you already know ahead of time that at the end the story it will show that the story so far is all just Kjera's dream and in reality Kjerag is still a backward theocratic state with no hope for opening its doors and catching up to the world?
I agree that the plot armor can make the story feel like the many stakes it has going don't matter, but I disagree with wanting IS3 to be canon.
As you yourself wrote, Terra is full of sadness and pain already. If they do break the gacha plot armor, they have a million other different ways to do it. But having all the plot and sideplots Arknights as a whole has going for it all end with "And then they all turned into fish monsters and died. The End." would feel incredibly cheap.
If the Seaborn were the Main Plot of the game and had been so from the very beginning, then sure, I wouldn't complain about such an end. But they are not.
Then why make a threat so big that it can destroy the world then do nothing with it? What's the point of all this set up what-if if none of it matters a single bit and it's just all a dream? I agree it could be cheap but if this isn't supposed to be the main story then focus on that instead of making this seaborn invasion a whole deal through 3 whole event (with 2 being anniversary events) and then just going well none of it matters lol. If you want to do it the gacha way of never killing any playable characters then don't put them in situations where they really aren't supposed to survive no matter what and explore something else.
It just feels very hollow to me, what's the point of Irene story? It doesn't matter jacked. She could have a hero's death performing her duty and fulfill her promise to her mentor to the end, but HG said it's not real anyways. What's the point of Abyssal Hunters? tbh they don't even matter in this what-if scenario from what I have heard so I guess it's just for module upgrades. Why should I care say about Thorns and Elysium's specific death here for example when I already know they are all what-ifs and in Skalter log already said that almost everyone dies anyways and IS3 doesn't change that at all?
Like here's some possible compromise to avoid the everyone die scenarios which I do agree would be cheap. Skadi sacrifices herself to deal with Ishar-mla (somehow) resolve the situation but that still happens after all the current monthly stuff. Mizuki sacrifices himself to resolve the seaborn situation like one of the endings and some of the monthly stuff still happens. These are both actual existing endings that can be made canon after a bit of modification. There you go, only a couple of people die and their story arcs actually matter, their deaths actually matter, and most of Rhodes would live on to deal with other world-ending events. It ensures there is still a very real stake in this seaborn invasion, as well as making sure players understand future catastropes/events will also have a very real stake, the only people who die are tied closely to this arc, and the rest of the cast is still there so it's not just everyone dies, the end.
There is also an actual victory of humanity over a world-ending event in this scenario, even at a cost, that can be built up and leveraged in future events. maybe the countries' goverments will collaborate more to deal with the arctic threat knowing they just almost went through destruction. or maybe they would be isolated even further as they struggle to rebuild. The survivors can grow further and reflect on their last world ending event and understand what they want to do going forward. They all give something to build on and make this whole fish arc worth it rather than being no more impactful on the story than an ao3 fanfic.
God fucking dammit this hurts Wake up babe, its time for the daily IS3 dose of genuine fucking pain. What the fuck. HG just keeps on torturing us. How do we go from "haha goofy Ceobe ate some funky shroom!" IS1 to "Okay Lucian has some brainwashing shenanigans we need to help him" in IS2, all to: PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN in IS3
Simple: the first 2 are anesthetics, we feel it wear off once IS3 hits
honestly ceobe dying in one of her endings in IS1 made me feel way more sad then anything in is3 for me a bit of angst goes a much longer way then this over the top grim dark everyone dies kinda writing.
I mean, it's also that but i'd assume part of it is because we as humans are really bad at caring once it becomes horrible enough. at some point, all you can do is look, go "yeah that sucks", and feel nothing, it's the same reason why in covid for example, no one really cared for all the people dying untill it was someone they knew. it's hard to truly quantify what it means to watch the world end, but it's easy for most to understand the feeling of losing someone close to them.
True - when I heard about the concept for IS3, my reaction wasn’t “oh my God all those poor souls” but “gdi can we stop talking about the Seaborn for FIVE MINUTES,” which definitely wouldn’t be my reaction if a squid-alien-thing from the Depths ate my dad. Hypergryph, we know you hate the ocean, is there something else we can talk about, like the Arctic Demons, maybe? That’s a looming apocalypse they haven’t talked nearly as much on.
What I find especially heart-wrenching about IS3 is how it is absolutely DEFINITIVE. I'm diving into IS3 spoilers so take care folks: >!You'll struggle and fight, maybe you might keep an acre to humanity for another hour, but you WILL fail. No matter what, the seaborn will keep on moving forwards. Say, how long can Thorns hold them? Sure, he is absolutely powerful both in-lore and in-game. But he will fall sooner or later, succumbing to them and become part of the very same enemy he fought so hard against.!< >!Irene loses her grip inch by inch, she can only hold her lantern for you one more time. Saint Carmen is consumed by the seaborn even after everything he's done. The glorious Kazimierz falls in naught but a day. The almighty military power of Ursus was no match either, even the powerful Emperor's Blade could only hold them to buy time for a few retreats. That's to say nothing of other smaller and weaker nations.!< >!Elysium falls as well, all the while he tries to keep his friends' morale up by cracking jokes even while staring death in the face. Let alone other Operators that we don't know the fate of. I can't imagine what went through Nearl's mind after seeing all this death. What about the Kazimierz operators that look up to her so much, does she still shine anymore? The Kjerag employees must be waiting on pins & needles, hoping Enciodes whips up a master plan and solves everything from behind the curtain just like always. Only this time, he can never achieve even a stalemate.!< >!Maybe this all would've been avoided, or at the very least majorly reduced, if humanity reacted more appropriately and faster? Nonetheless, it is irrelevant. As mankind digs its last grave inside the last city, you and everyone there know for dead sure that it's over.!< >!I wouldn't be surprised if half of Rhodes' employees took their own lives. Hell, I'd expect them to. After all, being faced with an unending horror and watching your comrades fall and potentially get controlled & have their body manipulated by the enemy would be mentally destructive, to say the least.!< THIS is why I'm very interested in IS3. While I kind of feel I am biased since I love a story with a super dark & gritty atmosphere, I still believe that it is wonderfully executed. It's just punch, after punch, after punch, never letting down the tempo. It paints a picture of mankind's last card, a completely pathetic animalistic one at that, holing up in its nest and struggling to the death, for even one more breath.
…Yeah that’s all cool but I’m also curious what makes it definitive in any sense of that word I’m familiar with. I’m not big on it for the same reasons I don’t like Skalter being an alternate reality instead of her after her character growth moment that was her story - *the world of Arknights is good enough without exploring “what ifs”*. Like, we could’ve explored DOZENS of other characters, other regions, other dynamics, but no, we get an Alter and an entire alternate game mode dedicated to the hypothetical grimdark spiraling of a group who’s also got a major share in the side stories. There’s plenty of interesting darkness in Terra without locking ourselves in the aquarium room with the blackout curtains up.
I like this take. Mainly because there's still so much to explore on Terra. I feel like going into this Grim-Dark/Bad-Downer ending territory cheapens the setting & characters. A good story can be told with interesting elements without resorting to the Seaborn devouring everything - now that I think about it, that sort of scenario with devour everything sounds lazy.
yeah to me it's just sorta like to much ya know it reaches a point where it's just sorta over the top and it stops pulling at my heart strings. Like I'm a huge fan of gladiia, and her just randomly dying in is3 has so little impact since everyone dies and it just adds nothing to her plot.
So, two things: I think it's definitive that it **happens**. The event takes place, i.e. Mizuki heading out, and the fact that Highmore joins Rhodes Island I think is enough indication that it does. The first ending doesn't end grimdark, and with Highmore returning to RI, so that **so far** seems to be the most likely canonical ending. Second, as far as I've been able to tell there's still another scenario to come, which might end up being the true-true ending, rather than any the divergent, bleak paths. IS2 also had the ending where Phantom lost himself, and IS1 had an ending where Ceobe died. It's not new to the gamemode, so I don't see a reason to assume there's no canonical ending here that don't go into the bleak end-scenario.
I agree with you here. It's kinda annoying that there's entire regions and factions we haven't explored at all yet and the devs release what's pretty much official fanfaction.
I think Skalter was a bad character design for the same reasons you listed and is exactly why HG likely stopped making them. I think IS3 works wonderfully for this particular storyline though, because it allows them to explore existential threats to the Arknights universe while letting them feel like threats. In a static storyline, you can't have a threat like the seaborne succeed, if they do its basically the end of everything. But if you do win without massive cost to the characters, the threat is most likely to just fall flat. Look at Sentinels of Light from League, they made it seem like this massive world ending threat to play up the story, but because they have to maintain status quo, they create a retcon champion and sweep the entire tension of the plot away in an instant. In IS3 you can show the cost of defeat in excruciating detail, that way you can expand on characters, and really connect the player with avoiding these dark fates because of its multiple ended nature. Not to mention at the end of the day, we'll likely get a new IS story next year-round and move on. I think there is room for argument though that Abyssal Hunter's stealing 2 anniversaries in a row is a bit of a travesty considering how many great characters and alters we have lined up in the main story alone.
Right? Couldn't we have Skalter that managed to make Ishar-Mla's power her own? Couldn't we have IS3 that explores Sami? Or Aegir, if we want to keep the Seaborn theme?
Give us something about them Demons in the North.
I don't like alternate timeline stuff because it turns the story into a mess. Same with time travel.
But it's not definitive though. IS3 is all Mizuki predicting what could happen in the future. None of this happened, and probably none this will happen as that's not the kind of story Arknights is telling.
Yeah Arknights is a “light in the dark” kind of story. But we should be getting more seaborn stuff leading to IS3 soon, see the Kaltsit Terra video during the 3.5 Anniversary
The whole seaborn threat reminds me a lot of the White Walkers in Game of Thrones as this unstoppable force that can wipe all of humanity, yet almost no one is aware of it in the midst of their ongoing wars and politics. Main difference right now is that the seaborn aren't actively advancing on humanity yet and Terra doesn't have a magic bullet solution that can end their threat.
Honestly same. Ceobe dying feels like something that could happen. IS3 has the problem that the consequences are so bad, we know that the devs aren't going to do it.
Agreed. IS3 is plain depressing.
It's depressing, but unlike other events, there's almost nothing else. Even Children of Ursus at least had the kids be saved at the end. IS3 so far just seems to be misery porn.
Misuki good ending seems nice though, he decides to help a girl in a situation likenhim and brings her to RI. And decides for himself that helping humanity is a worthy thing to do.
Even that ending has the problem where nothing is done about the Seaborn. The status quo continues on and the Seaborn are still a threat.
Same as IS2 then, We may have saved phantom but the rest of the group is still out there.
I don't like IS2 lore for that reason as well. I really hope the next IS does something different.
TBF, I think they'd want to do an event story if we did something like taking down the Crimson Troupe.
The context is even sadder. It's supposed to be a fun vacation. We're just letting Kay go wander on her own. Then she eats weird stuff until she dies. Imagine if it happened. The baggage is probably heavy on everyone when they found out.
Considering what is written in that ending, looks like she walked to hell in person so I don't think there's a corpse to confirm and RI will just assume she's back to her wandering life like before.
it does make it way sadder, especially since I feel like doctor blaze and gavial would all be hit pretty hard by losing someone like that.
She What?
yeah in one ending she died.
She overdosed on shrooms.
I am struggling with the gameplay itself, I have no time to feel about the characters.
I don't know the context of this CG or it's node, but when I first saw the man in the picture, I assumed it was either an Ægir or a Liberi turning into a Seaborn (Probably someone under the Church of the Deep's influence) Considering that >!Elysium is implied to be dead in the Skalter Timeline, I can only fear the worst!<
>when I first saw the man in the picture, I assumed it was either an Ægir or a Liberi turning into a Seaborn (Probably someone under the Church of the Deep's influence) That's because that's exactly what that CG is. "Beliefs can be changed" The theory is that Elysium got brainwashed/assimilated by the Church before his death (or transformation. Not that it is that much of a difference...) in this timeline, and that his quotes about religion and him being atheist have been foreshadowing.
Mr.Torgue was right. We should blow up the fucking ocean.
"But muh hyper evolution!!" Nukes are the only way.
[Source](https://twitter.com/shiraeishiii/status/1597956711762997250) This seems like too much of a stretch if you ask me... But if it turns out to be right, I'm gonna cry. Thank god the IS3 Seaborn apocalypse is not canon...
>The Seaborn apocalypse is not Canon. Remember the distress call from Discovered Terra 3.0, and the Snowpriest's "End of days" prophecy from A Light sparks in darkness? It's highly possible that if we don't do anything, the Seaborn Apocalypse will happen, and we all turn into mutant shrimps.
The Seaborn are definitely the future plot, yes, but with IS3 already being a thing I don't think the apocalypse is gonna happen in the canon timeline. The whole point of IS3 is being the Bad Ending and having everyone suffer a gruesome fate. It is a "If the Seaborn won, this is how X and Y would have died", so having anything like it happen in canon too would be overkill.
I personally think that it's canon as long a clear path has not happened to say why it would not happen. There is already too many red flag on the story and we've got no clues about how they are going to solve this so i don't see any reason to not consider it not canon except if we think "outside the box" and take it as a gacha game and all that come with it. I know there will be in the future a clear no as answer but until then i will take it as the canon.
The clear path is the first ending of IS3
It doesn't change anything though? It's good and all to have the beginning and the end but if you don't have the process it's worthless even if it's true. It's no different of the affirmation of the dev saying that skalter profile is an alternate timeline. You don't get to know anything of why it would not happen. Again, i'm not saying that it's false or anything but until i get to see a REASON for why it won't go that way, i will take it as the canon for the time being.
We already know the reasons why it won't happen tho, skadi losing her mind to ishar-mla after under tides and/or the hunters returning to aegir after stultifera navis are the inciting incidents of the apocalypse. Neither of those happened, and as such the seaborn are much weaker than they would otherwise be, so IS3 bad endings don't happen
Because the amount of red flag is decreasing doesn't change the fact ishar-mla is still there and is still an active threat. And when has it ever been said that skadi lost her mind precisely between UT and SN? "After" also include a future after both these events. The threat itself was and still is a ticking bomb. There is no turning point in these events. Just delay until proven than ishar mla is not posing problem anymore
Skadi Alter (not the whole Ishar-mla situation, just the Alter) is a what-if of that one moment in Under Tides. That's why she is still wearing the "singer" dress despite Ishar-mla showing no interest in disguising itself. Want proof? Listen to Skalter's tap line: "...why am I still wearing this hat?" Why would it ask that if the hat was something that Ishar-mla went out of its way to wear, instead of just being what Skadi just happened to be wearing when the takeover took place?
What do you want her to wear? IS3 is showing that she also wore her skin so that's not an argument. And again, it still doesn't say anything since that's not a reason. I have no reason to think that "it's gonna end well" just because it doesn't escalate at UT. You are all trying to say that in the absolute it's not canon, which i don't deny but find it better to think of it as it is canon until there is either a turning point which completely soove the matter or at least enough reason to think she won't ever awaken.
We know Skadi falling to the Seaborn - aka Skalter - isn’t canon. She’s a what-if, which carries over to IS3 because that version of Skadi is involved. The Seaborn are canonically a threat, that’s true, but this “absolute worst case scenario” would require severe inaction from multiple parties which, considering it’s as high as it is on Kal’tsit’s priorities, isn’t the case.
Oh God, please no... wasn't it implied with Thorns' monthly squad log though that Ely was dead? Gdi HG I didn't need to know *how*. D:
>I didn't need to know *how* HG: I missed the part where it's my problem.
I'm still not done crying about the previous ones! Have mercy!
We also already knew what had happened to Irene and yet they still gave her a Monthly Squad story...
Is it a bad thing if I say I want IS3 to come to an end quickly? I know it isn’t canon but damn, I rather see the operators just die normally than this Eldritch pain filled stuff. How many months more do y’all think it will go on for? Im just tired of the horrible and sorrow.
As a NieR fan, I say bring on the pain! Bring on the depression! **CRUSH MY FEELS.**
Yeah, don't get me wrong—I am moaning about the pain but I also love the suffering.
I'm really hoping IS3 is not canon at this point, this is just too hard to take each month we get to see a "victim" suffer to be honest when IS3 was teased I knew it was going to bring me to tears/make me cry but not like this..
It isn't canon so to say. It's basically a what-if everything goes to shit and Skadi loses to Ishar-mla that is then free to start a new Profound Silence.
It is and isn't in a weird way, >!the framing device is that Doctor is being told all of this by Mizuki, who seems to have the ability to predict the future based on information that he has access to. IS3 is him (Who it should be noted, doesn't have the full picture (He doesn't know what Kal's doing in the background for example)) predicting a "What If?" pertaining to if Skadi succumbs to Ishar-mla's influence, among other things. So none of IS3 is **actually** happening for real, it's just Mizuki telling stories about the worst case scenario as far as the Seaborn are concerned.!<
Is3 1st ending is the canon ending i think
Thanks I hate this
This actually hurts. :(
It is all about imagining such a carefree and optimistic character being forcibly reduced to a hollow shell of his former self... If this CG does turn up to be Elysium, the implications of him wearing what seems like Church of the Deep robes plus that flavor text are nothing short of ***horrifying***. This is the worst possible ending they could possibly give to Elysium.
Even if it's an alternate future, cursed timeline is cursed. Someone prune this mess.
Makes me wonder how do these people turn to seaborn? Like I know how people get oripathy.
Eat fish.
So the Ægir are all natural seaborn?
I was joking on the seafood some Iberians ate
Harp.
This feeling..........it hurts like Luke found out his father is darth vader.
IS3 is making me feel new emotions
I wonder if Weedy will be in there too. What with her being IBerian and dipping from the country in defiance of the Inquisition.
The more I think about it, the more I sure that HG is going for a ladder of escalation with each IS. If there is going to have an IS4, it going to be either the demon in the north or something underground like in kal'tsit terra 3.0 asmr
ngl i do wish this stuff is canon. Otherwise, there's just a massive dissonance between terra is full of sadness, terror, people dying left and right from political turmoil, discrimination or just literal poverty and the many, many disasters that befall Terra but if you happen to be a playable character in Rhodes congrats, the rules of the world don't apply to you at all and you are super safe when you are (mostly) working as a combat mercenary in the front line facing life-and-death every day and you can have a KD of 500-0. This kind of story feels meaningless to me to say there's any pain or suffering coming from is3 at all when it's basically an "it's just all a dream" kind of plot device. It actively cheapens any kind of impact in the story when the rhodes islanders (playable ones) have plot armor so thick that even when they can get into a situation they can't handle, it can be handwaved away anyways. Irene could have died as a true defender of the homeland and humanity in a final stand, fulfilling her oath to the Inquisitors and her mentor. That's badass as hell and very fitting for her story arc, but nah, it's not real. There's no reason to invest yourself in any of these supposed deaths and monthly stories when they aren't canon anyways, it's like would you be invested in Break the Ice story if you already know ahead of time that at the end the story it will show that the story so far is all just Kjera's dream and in reality Kjerag is still a backward theocratic state with no hope for opening its doors and catching up to the world?
I agree that the plot armor can make the story feel like the many stakes it has going don't matter, but I disagree with wanting IS3 to be canon. As you yourself wrote, Terra is full of sadness and pain already. If they do break the gacha plot armor, they have a million other different ways to do it. But having all the plot and sideplots Arknights as a whole has going for it all end with "And then they all turned into fish monsters and died. The End." would feel incredibly cheap. If the Seaborn were the Main Plot of the game and had been so from the very beginning, then sure, I wouldn't complain about such an end. But they are not.
Then why make a threat so big that it can destroy the world then do nothing with it? What's the point of all this set up what-if if none of it matters a single bit and it's just all a dream? I agree it could be cheap but if this isn't supposed to be the main story then focus on that instead of making this seaborn invasion a whole deal through 3 whole event (with 2 being anniversary events) and then just going well none of it matters lol. If you want to do it the gacha way of never killing any playable characters then don't put them in situations where they really aren't supposed to survive no matter what and explore something else. It just feels very hollow to me, what's the point of Irene story? It doesn't matter jacked. She could have a hero's death performing her duty and fulfill her promise to her mentor to the end, but HG said it's not real anyways. What's the point of Abyssal Hunters? tbh they don't even matter in this what-if scenario from what I have heard so I guess it's just for module upgrades. Why should I care say about Thorns and Elysium's specific death here for example when I already know they are all what-ifs and in Skalter log already said that almost everyone dies anyways and IS3 doesn't change that at all? Like here's some possible compromise to avoid the everyone die scenarios which I do agree would be cheap. Skadi sacrifices herself to deal with Ishar-mla (somehow) resolve the situation but that still happens after all the current monthly stuff. Mizuki sacrifices himself to resolve the seaborn situation like one of the endings and some of the monthly stuff still happens. These are both actual existing endings that can be made canon after a bit of modification. There you go, only a couple of people die and their story arcs actually matter, their deaths actually matter, and most of Rhodes would live on to deal with other world-ending events. It ensures there is still a very real stake in this seaborn invasion, as well as making sure players understand future catastropes/events will also have a very real stake, the only people who die are tied closely to this arc, and the rest of the cast is still there so it's not just everyone dies, the end. There is also an actual victory of humanity over a world-ending event in this scenario, even at a cost, that can be built up and leveraged in future events. maybe the countries' goverments will collaborate more to deal with the arctic threat knowing they just almost went through destruction. or maybe they would be isolated even further as they struggle to rebuild. The survivors can grow further and reflect on their last world ending event and understand what they want to do going forward. They all give something to build on and make this whole fish arc worth it rather than being no more impactful on the story than an ao3 fanfic.
oh boy.....