DT3 Epilogue - the cutting room raocow

[moogy]

Here's Jaimers beating this dude without getting hit at 2x speed, because why not.

[Sebby19]

I would have never figured out what that meter in the corner was for. The concept of a 'Graze Meter' was completely foreign to me.

I guess rao has just played the right Danmaku games.

But man, even Jeremy trashtalks his own sister on the game over screen. No one is safe from him.

I hope the Abomination doesn't hunt down Jeremy, after Hexor is dealt with.

[kitikami]

The Virus Parasite is one of my favorite fights in the game. The music and graphics work really well together and create a great atmosphere, the boss design is interesting without relying on particularly fast/dense/complex danmaku, and Chao finally gets her moment to shine (#teamChao). I also really like that Chao doesn't address the voice as the Abomination even though everyone calls it that. It's a minor detail but it feels so much more in-character for her.

Everyone else is a jerk for ignoring Chao finally doing something badass alone against a boss.

Here's Jaimers beating this dude without getting hit at 2x speed, because why not.

All hail the Western god of shmups

[Implo]

So the fight with Abomination is different this time. That's smart. I mean, who would like to refight Abomination just to do something different at the end.

But boy, I know I would struggle a lot with this Touhou boss and to fight it using mouse for precise movement. This can tire hand really fast.

[Sebby19]

I was half-expecting another platformer segment inside the

[Nimono]

Speaking as a shmup fan...

THAT BOSS WAS FREAKIN AMAZING *w*

[Grounder]

at long last

gamers have risen up

NGL, I dropped 3 like a hot potato at one point or another, in the case of raocow because it never seemed like it was going to end, and for the game itself because it got too hard and I was too stubborn to resort to easy mode, but this is a fantastic way to send the series off for real.

April Fools announcement of 4 aside, of course.

[raocow]

it's worth saying zephyr pointed me in a direction so we'll be taking an extra video to look at bonus things so Henry is gonna have to be a little bit more patient

[BobisOnlyBob]

it's worth saying zephyr pointed me in a direction so we'll be taking an extra video to look at bonus things so Henry is gonna have to be a little bit more patient

THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END

"Shut up, Jerry"

is the single best way to end the story though. Nothing more apposite for DT.

[Sebby19]

I liked that last bit with Jerry and Claire.

The only thing missing is an icon indicating you reached the true end on the title screen. There is even some free space next to all the musical instruments. Enough room for Hex's tombstone, perhaps.

My only lingering question is... where is the Abomination now? It absorbed the Warship, and disappeared.
Also, looks like Jeremy still has access to his spot on the 4th wall, correct?

[raocow]

there isn't an icon but it does say 'you got the true end' over the file select, so close enough ?

[BobisOnlyBob]

My only lingering question is... where is the Abomination now? It absorbed the Warship, and disappeared.
Also, looks like Jeremy still has access to his spot on the 4th wall, correct?

Zephyr can probably answer these better, but my interpretation: the Abomination, being what it is, effectively suicide attacked - it had been controlled by the parasite the entire time it was a rampaging nightmare, and it probably wasn't happy with its own agglomerated glitchy nightmare of an existence. However, if it survived, it's probably flown off to be a sentient landmass somewhere else, away from the large island DT3 was set on. The Darkness/Program literally swallowed the whole damn world, so it's probably just as vast.

I'm reasonably sure when Jeremy manifested an avatar form, that was his step off the "fourth wall". He still has ludicrous privileges and access over the new digital world, but the only reason he's gotten back up there before is because of massive reset actions, like at the end of DT1 and using the Undo in DT3.


You know, I know the ending sequence was long enough already, but I would have loved to see just a little more Chao in the ending, given she was the focus of the Bad/Original End. Especially since, if I'm right about Jeremy losing his coveted position, she actually has more insight into world mechanics than he does now with her semi-avatar form.

[Sebby19]

there isn't an icon but it does say 'you got the true end' over the file select, so close enough ?

I know, but that text could be missed. Eh, I'm just a guy who likes big icons.

As for Bob's answer, I accept either of your interpretations of what happened to the Abomination.
But as for Jeremy, I only question if he can go back becuase of his fight with Hexor, doing hacky stuff like refilling his health, changing sprites, and temporarily freezing the world, as he threatens Hex with a sealed duel in a can.

While this is my opinion, I think the fight with The Artist in DT1 was more awesome. I miss Rave Mode.


Actually, 1 last question. When is Jerry going to take off his dang cosplay costume?

[Nimono]

THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END

"Shut up, Jerry"

is the single best way to end the story though. Nothing more apposite for DT.

TAKE THE DEAD TO TAKE THE DEAD TO TAKE THE DEAD TO TAKE THE DEAD TO TAKE THE DEAD TO TAKE THE DEAD TO TAKE THE DEAD TO TAKE THE DEAD TO TAKE THE DEAD TO

That boss was amazing thematically- watching it, the end of it felt so anticlimactic, though. Like... There was no scream of defiance or defeat from Hexor, just him smugly acting like he had the upper hand, since they were both evenly matched in hacking. Then...somehow Jeremy's able to defeat him anyway? It doesn't make too much sense to me how he managed to overpower Hexor when the fight prior showed neither could truly overpower the other.

[BobisOnlyBob]

But as for Jeremy, I only question if he can go back becuase of his fight with Hexor, doing hacky stuff like refilling his health, changing sprites, and temporarily freezing the world, as he threatens Hex with a sealed duel in a can.

That was specific to The Distortion, which was "of Hex", therefore "of Jeremy". Same fundamental personality and origin.

[ano0maly]

Long video warrants long post, I guess.

It bothers me that Jeremy's controls aren't explicitly explained in the game for the most part, so here's an expanded controls list if anyone wants to consult it:

Mech

Jump - Jump
Jump (press & hold midair) - Hover (consumes mech fuel meter) (makes Jeremy ascend slightly)
Action A - Shot
Action B - Flame (goes through enemies, good for racking up your hit chain which increases Jeremy's damage)
Up + Action A - Rocket (consumes rocket meter (bullet-shaped meter)) (does not deal AOE damage)
Up + Action B - Laser (consumes laser meter)
Action C - Shield (consumes shield meter (circle-shaped meter))

Fighting Game Phases

Jump - Jump
Action A - Punch
Action B - Kick
Up + Action A (from ground) - Uppercut
Down + Action B (midair) - Dive Kick
Dash Right/Forward (from ground) - Slide Dash Right/Forward (consumes dash meter (yellow meter below health))
Dash Left/Back (from ground) - Slide Dash Left/Back (consumes dash meter)
Down > Forward > Action A - Hadouken (consumes attack meter (blue meter at bottom-left))

Some of these attacks are honestly superfluous. The kick does the same thing as the punch but covers a wider area, and you can't alternate between them either for reduced cooldown, so the kick seems to be strictly better. The screwdriver dive kick is hard to use and not needed, but the shoryuken uppercut is useful for reaching Hexor when he's high up.

Pong Subphase

Action A - Shoot (consumes attack meter)
Jump (hold) - Slow
Dash Right/Forward - Boost (consumes dash meter)
Dash Left/Back - Boost (consumes dash meter)

I do agree with interpreting the game over message on top making fun of you as Jeremy's quote - and during the final part of Warship level, the optimistic message as Chao's. In the Distortion where Jeremy is alone, I personally would have turned the quotes into monologues or just removed them.

Also I'm glad the title "Hexor" is back. That was his name in the first game, and he's always been Hexor to me.

Now I guess I can add Distortion to the list of creepy moments in the game:

Now here's a question I would like to ask people: how would you rank the scariest, most disturbing moments in the game?

• The Vault, where you confront the Abomination
• The lower chambers of Neo Grime City, with Stalkers patrolling in the dark
• The Hidden Program Facility underneath Central City, with slowed-down dial-up sound
• Gate H with Claire's mother looking for you
• The Hexor fight in the warship, with a mangled version of the creepy Sonic CD boss theme edited by ZephyrBurst
• Something not on the list

(By the way, calling those patrolling things in Neo Grime "Stalkers"... it turns out that I'm not sure how I came up with that. I think I tried to put two and two together while reading various development notes of tentative plans (with some scrapped ideas) without having it confirmed if that was actually true.)

The odd thing with the good ending is that you can skip all the other endings in this game and get directly to this one, which means you might never see the full credits at all.

[moogy]

I'm glad that raocow enjoyed the true end content so much, even coming back to the game after several years lol.

I have to thank him for LPing DT3 and the rest of the series in general and being willing to give a weird spriterip thing a fair shake in the process; DT3 has become one of my favorite games of all time and helped renew my passion for video games at a time when I was getting pretty jaded with them, and I never would have found it without raocow. (Would anyone have found it without raocow, really?)

Also, since nobody brought it up yet: the Distortion area at the end is actually a reskin of the first Distortion in DT1, hence Hex's comment about it being the place where they first met. Zephyr got a little bit better at visuals since then.

[Sebby19]

I'd imagine the final beat down on Hexor would have felt a lot more cathartic, if this was played a lot closer to his original climatic battle.

[Count Mohawk]

That boss was amazing thematically- watching it, the end of it felt so anticlimactic, though. Like... There was no scream of defiance or defeat from Hexor, just him smugly acting like he had the upper hand, since they were both evenly matched in hacking. Then...somehow Jeremy's able to defeat him anyway? It doesn't make too much sense to me how he managed to overpower Hexor when the fight prior showed neither could truly overpower the other.

Well, I dunno. I feel like, even though the "normal" ending explains that Hexor is an "ascended" bot due to his self-awareness, he's still a bot at the end of the day, which makes him limited in some ways compared to the all-too-human Jeremy. The best example I can come up with is during the Slow Walk segment where Jeremy comments that Jerry would have found the big battle they just went through "fun", but that Hexor wouldn't understand that sentiment because he is incapable of understanding it.

Also, the post-battle talk with Hexor reads to me like the last-gasp vibes of someone who has just lost the fight but is incapable of admitting it to themselves. Remember, immediately before the big fight, Hexor was chilling up in his room in the Warship, setting the thing up to go KA-BLOOOOOSH, when suddenly the Abomination shows up and eats the ship whole. At that point, he has no plans left to fight the heroes, so he retreats to his last bastion of safety, The Distortion. Everything he throws at Jeremy from that point on is basically half-assed half-measures, completely lacking the "heads-I-win tails-you-lose" qualities from all his other traps, which Jeremy is easily able to swat aside when he goes forth in his mecha.

So TL;DR, the circumstances leading up to Hexor's last boss fight made Jeremy's victory possible, despite them being evenly-matched or Hex having the upper hand in all prior encounters.

[ZephyrBurst]

BobisOnlyBob and Mohawk have this down.

[BobisOnlyBob]

BobisOnlyBob and Mohawk have this down.

But does the Abomination survive?

[Implo]

Well, that was a good ending. I especially liked music during Hex battle and final conversation between Claire and Jerry. Too bad it's over. I actually thought that raocow will try new levels from Bubble Tower B that has been added at some point. But, I guess, not this time.

[stormie]

And so, the long saga of Distorted Travesty (once again) came to an end. What a heck of a game and what a heck of an LP.

I know I'm in the extreme minority here, but actually I was never bothered by the original ending. It fascinated me, I honestly thought it took a lot of guts to take a series with this much buildup and give it a bittersweet/tragic ending. People have said that it felt like the mid-tier ending to a game with multiple endings (and it is now), but the choices that led to that ending were not failures on the part of the player(*), but of the characters and especially mission control. The now-neutral ending came about because of Jeremy's inability to deal with the -style- of threat that Hex posed. I love that you have a villain who is threatening solely because he knows exactly how your party is going to react to any given scenario -- it's like fighting the meme version of Batman where he has a contingency plan ready for every possibility. The only way they finally outmaneuver him is when Jeremy takes a step back (literally here, back in time), and implements one of Chao's plans. Perhaps a Chao plan could have broken the sequence sooner, but I'm not sure where when the Virus and the Warship were still world-ending threats that needed to be thwarted regardless.

(*Player agency, or lack of agency, in game stories is a very interesting topic in general that I'm always excited to see explored. Feel free to disagree with me on the assertion of the role of agency in DT.)

Hexor in particular is a very interesting villain to me because of how -everything- he does is solely for the sake of revenge on Jeremy for the crimes of their mutual existences. Whether it's repurposing Jeremy's own weapons against him, killing the lore's equivalent of capital-G God, enslaving a sympathetic lovecraftian elder god, or inciting a war and arming one side with world-ending weaponry, -all- of that stuff is a means to an end of his primary goal: GET. REVENGE. ON. JEREMY.

The way I've seen someone else put it is that "fantasy is at its best when the emotional problems of the characters outweigh the world-ending problems", and Hex absolutely -nails- that. Hex doesn't give a damn about The Darkness, and when Jeremy changed sides Hex changed sides too out of spite. He's using the Warmaster as a tool and the Warmaster knows it but the Warmaster has been left backed into a corner by his choices and Hex's manipulations.

Hex's personality can reflect back on Jeremy as well, Jeremy seems to be struggling with his own feelings on identity and self-worth when confronted with his doppelgänger. But, to make a deeper analysis I'd have to go through the whole story again. Honestly, I find the whole plot of the series to be fascinating, in more than the "early 2000's sprite comic come to life" kind of way, but I can't put into words fully why. Someday I want to play the whole trilogy myself, make it a stream, and take notes on the plot for analyzing it. There's something in there that I'm looking for and I don't know -what-. I think about it frequently though, and have been since the previous end of the LP.

I think about this series a lot though, despite never having played it personally. Besides rao's LP I've lurked in a few streams and several of the speedruns. I have a huge amount of respect for DT and its spirit of experimentation. I love how ZephyrBurst is unashamedly recreating the games he loves in his own style, trying to figure out what makes them tick. Iterative/derivative art, that borrows liberally from existing works and sources of inspiration, is something that should be respected IMO! Additionally, part of why I love indie games is that I love getting to know the styles of different authors, and I have greatly enjoyed Zephyr's games. I'll be interested in seeing anything that Zephyr makes in the future.

Is there a DT discord anywhere? I'm sure I'm going to have more thoughts later and I'd like to have a place to fangirl more

[raocow]

the reason why the reasoning above doesn't land with me is that we keep beating hexor

[Mandew]

For a series about a literal, deliberate hodgepodge of many video game worlds uniting into a single entity, I don't think it can get much more climactic than this. It's made even better by Hex being just... a sore loser. Like your little sibling losing to you at Mario Kart. I think it's brilliant.