Re: Let's Play OFF: Completed!

by **Caprizant** 21st February 2014, 11:01 am

Seems the place I got it from deactivated their account Gonk

I'll have to go through and fix them sometime. Hopefully there's some sort of a tool I can use to do it quickly. However, it's kinda pointless in the end, cuz all of these images will be broken before long if someone doesn't go through them at least once every six months (which I doubt).

I really need to find a new hosting site (or get Imgur Pro). Annoyed

by **Caprizant** 28th February 2014, 5:58 pm

Status of the theory post:

Elsen wrote: I'm... I'm working... I'm being productive...

by **Caprizant** 3rd March 2014, 10:08 pm

The post is 99% done and will definitely be up tomorrow. ~~I've been smart enough to save it on a sticky note this time.~~

by **Caprizant** 4th March 2014, 7:16 pm

Present for you guys!

this theory post is brought to you by the folks at development hell:

Right, let's start with the things that I missed. It's not much, but there's one in particular I've been kicking myself over (that I believe jokool already knows about).

But first up is one that isn't really all that important, and it's in the purified zone 3.

ON Things of Which I Missed

Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 N2hIoK8

Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 N2hIoK8

In the purified zone 3, you will find a chest in the station below Area 2. In it you'll find...

A Silent Symbol has been found.

I believe we found/bought that during the main adventure anyway, so yeah, not a big deal.

The next thing, however, is a very big deal, and very far back in the story. We're talking about way back before even zone 2 was purified.

Thing is. Remember that rollercoaster ride? That was actually kinda important to what we're gonna be doing here. We got the Photo of You, yes, but there's another photo we can get as well. And I hope you like this, because I had to go all the way back through the shopping mall maze and the pedalo maze again to flip the switch to reach the coaster.

Anyway...

Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 WqHUvfc

Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 WqHUvfc

We need to push this thing into the front seat with us.

Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 9z1F3dS

Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 SwsFaFL

Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 JiwvMaa

Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 8Aj8aZc

Here is your photo.

A Photo of Zacharie has been found.

Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 Jawa99

Wow, you're lucky, you rode it with the owner...

Yep. That's right. Zacharie owns the park.
What can I say? He's an enterprising man.

Interestingly enough, if you try to sell the Photo of Zacharie to the man himself, he'll pay 500 Credits for it, while the Photo of You is only worth 10. Narcissist.

And now... remember that Elsen who was refusing us entry to the Boss' office because we needed proof we know him? Well.

Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 5W55EWz

Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 5W55EWz

Th... This is the boss' office.
Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 Jawa99

I... I cannot let you enter.
Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 Jawa99

U... Unless... Maybe you know him personally...?
Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 Jawa99

But... without proof, I cannot... I might get in trouble...
Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 Jawa99

I... Is that a photo of the boss?
Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 Jawa99

A... And you're right next to him?
Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 Jawa99

On a roller coaster!? But that's terribly dangerous!
Most emotion we've ever gotten out of one of these dudes.
Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 Jawa99

Well... at any rate...
Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 Jawa99

I guess you're a friend of the boss. You may enter.

Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 GVDIzyw

YEAH. Look at all this loot.

A Taurus-orb has been found.
A Libra-orb has been found.
A Scorpio-orb has been found.
A Virgo-orb has been found.
A Capricorn-orb has been found.
A Gemini-orb has been found.

Now let's take a look at what those do.

Taurus-orb: Increases a character's max HP by 50.
Libra-orb: Increases a character's max CP by 15.
Scorpio-orb: Increases a character's Attack by 5.
Virgo-orb: Increases a character's Agility by 5.
Capricorn-orb: Increases a character's Esprit by 5.
Gemini-orb: Increases a character's Defense by 5.

Yeah. Really hurting that I couldn't get those on my main save now. Really.

Oh yeah, and the description of the Photo of Zacharie, which I forgot to do and am too lazy to edit back in in its proper place:

Photo of Zacharie: A photo of your ride on the Roller Coaster.

I guess you could say it's a memento of sorts Extreme Smiling

Anyway, that is pretty much it for stuff that I missed (except for one small thing that I'll show later). If you know of any more please tell me right away and I will cry until it goes away.

And all this new info about Zacharie leads me straight into something I'd like to talk about.

ON Zacharie, Sucre, and Enoch

After you have obtained the Grand Finale, you can fight Sucre. As stated in the main updates of the LP, she is widely believed to be Zacharie's girlfriend. However, this is only from the words of (I believe it was) one of the translators, and Mortis Ghost himself is not sure of the nature of their relationship.

Some have speculated that Sucre is directly or indirectly related to Enoch in some way--mostly as her supplier of sugar, which she uses to escape the world around her. Zacharie has protected and stuck with her all this time out of love. Her Guardian, if you will.

After you defeat Sucre, Zacharie says something about it being "better that way." Perhaps he is referring to Sucre's state of health in the time before we killed her. She had become deranged, sickly, pale, driven mad by the sugar and by the world around her. Perhaps it was best that it ended, if not exactly in the way that it did.

ON the Significance of a Select Few of the Books in the Library

There is yet more about Zacharie in this section, but for now, let's talk about that illegibly titled book in the Library. You remember it, right? No? Well, here it is:

Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 0KNjgNc

Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 0KNjgNc

Look familiar? Good. Well, there's something special about this book. Some of you may have picked up on it. You may recall that we gave a book to Japhet.

One with an illegible title. This is that book. Japhet kept it all this time in the Library, his most sacred creation.

Now, we shall move on to a slight error of mine in translating that one French book. The book actually goes like this:

"Take care, madam, you are starting to get fat! ... and to get fat is to get old! ... By following the Dalcroze method, which introduced solfege, you will keep all your slenderness.

Three sonatas of --------- determines a very sensible and progressive weight loss and six - fugues of ---- have an overwhelming action on fat cells. You can still accelerate the effects of treatment by executing them on"

Basically, it wasn't a diet book, but a book on how to teach music through motions, as that's what the Dalcroze method is. Well, uh, it was a diet book, but, uh... also a... book on... singing? I don't get it. I don't feel like explaining those other terms in there before I lose my train of thought, so we'll move on to the next book: The Toad King.

As a quick reminder, here is what the story goes like:

The Toad King

A long time ago, lived an evil king. His face was so repulsive that he was nicknamed the Toad King. One day, a masked man met the King during an audience. He said the following words to him: "Greeting wretched monarch, leave this land at once or perish at the tip of my blade."

The King replied: "I am the king and you are my subjects. You are not to go against my will." And so the Masked Man slew the King with his mighty sword.

The End.

Now, do we know any masked men? Any at all? Hmmm...

Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 Copy__2__of_le_batteur

Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 Copy__2__of_le_batteur

Hello.

Ah, right. And hey, doesn't that mask look a bit... toadish?

Well, the theory goes that Zacharie is the Masked Man who had slain the Toad King in the book, and that he cut off his face as a prize and used it as a mask. (It's been confirmed by Mortis Ghost that Zacharie did not, however, cut off Valerie's face and use it as a mask while impersonating the Judge, as he's too good of a friend to both of them to do that. In case you were wondering.)

Another theory goes that he is actually wearing a surgical mask, which makes more sense to me, but more on that later. There is also one more book I'd like to talk about, but again, more on that later.

ON the Batter, Enoch, and the Sole Elsen

Now, this one's not exactly a theory as much as it is an observation. While going through the game I noticed something about the way the Batter speaks in comparison to the rest of the world: He says "specters," they say "spectres."

It makes sense for someone appearing as a representative of such an American sport as baseball would use this spelling. However, I also noticed that Enoch and the sole Elsen left after the purification of zone 2 spell it as such as well. I didn't notice anyone else doing it. Enoch would also make sense using this spelling--he is, after all, a true businessman, and a rather portly one at that.

Perhaps it's just that these specific characters were translated by an American, or there's some sort of a connection between them that we don't know about, but I found it interesting just the same.

ON the Destruction of Zone 1

You guys may remember all the lectures we received about the Four Elements in zone 1, where all meat, smoke, metal, and plastic are produced for the rest of the zones to use. There's a problem with that, though.

Remember what we did to zone 1? That's where all necessities for their everyday life are produced. The only element left after zone 1 is destroyed is sugar. Effectively, after we defeat Dedan in zone 1, it's already over.

ON the Guardian of Zone 0

That's all very well and good, but... we never really purified zone 0, did we? We came back after we cleared it with the Judge. Fine. We came back after we defeated Sucre. Still fine.

So who is the guardian of zone 0?

Well, let's look at it this way. All of the guardians gave us cards with which to traverse to the next area (except Hugo, and discounting Zacharie, as, being a merchant, he likely was not supposed to have it in the first place). Now, who gave us the card to zone 1?

The Judge.

This has actually been confirmed by Mortis Ghost at some point (I don't know when, but everything I've seen points to it being Word of God). However, there's something else about the Judge that I'd like to discuss. He may not just be the guardian of zone 0, but it may very well be that his duty goes far deeper than that.

We first encounter this cryptic cat in zone 0, a seemingly empty land which it would seem the Judge would have no reason to bother being in (well, besides being its guardian). As the adventure progresses, we meet him time after time, until suddenly he disappears after zone 2. We know now that this was because he was mourning his dead brother in the dead zone 2.

It may have been at this point that the Judge began to realize the nature of the Batter's mission.

You see, as the guardian of zone 0, he is effectively the gatekeeper to all of the zones in this world. His existence and presence in zone 0 could very well be pivotal to the zones' survival. But there's more to it than that.

Some speculate that he also guards the switch room and ensures the safety of all existence. As the guardian of the switch room, he decides whether all that exists shall continue to exist or cease to exist. The judge, if you will. This is why whether he lives or dies determines the ending, and why he reached the switch just in time to stop the Batter--he has some sort of a link to it.

With that out of the way, let's talk about the other guardians a bit--specifically, about the guardians and Hugo.

ON the Guardians' Promises to Hugo

Think back to the section of the room where we met the guardians in a strange world, sometime before the zones existed--they each promised Hugo something.

the quote (kinda big to leave unspoilered):

Dedan promised pedalo rides--his office in Alma is the only part of the zone to contain pedalo rides. Japhet promised to show him the sky and the clouds--he built a towering cityscape for his people. Enoch promised sweets--he created the element of sugar.

However, they all fell flat on the second halves of their promises.

Dedan promised that they would work together to rebuild the world--but the world we see is crude, artificial, and broken. As the rebuilding grew more and more troublesome, and the Elsen became more and more afraid, he began to get angry. He became lazy, arrogant, and resentful. He failed to fulfill his promise.

Japhet promised that he would never have to be scared again--and he tried and he tried to fulfill this promise. But no matter what he did, still the Elsen feared the world around them. He tried to placate them, to calm them, to alleviate their fears, but they did not listen. His mental health began to degrade, and he soon hated the Elsen and the world they all lived in. This culminated in his campaign of sabotage on his own people, and his madness led to Valerie's death. He also failed to fulfill his promise.

Enoch promised that the world was good and that he would make it a good place to live. He would make a world of happiness and abundance. This he did, with the creation of sugar. With the sugar, the Elsen no longer felt fear or paranoia of the world around them. They felt free and happy. But it was all superficial, and it all came at a cost. The world was still crumbling around them. He also failed to fulfill his promise.

Each of the guardians is represented by an Add-On.

Alpha, for hard work and determination.
Omega, for bravery and courage.
Epsilon, for happiness and freedom.

Each Add-On represents the ideals the guardians lost as the world crumbled around them.

ON Humans and Their Fate

As it may be evident by now (or may not be), the world of OFF is actually Earth after some sort of cataclysmic event that forced the world to be rebuilt from scratch. In this world, Mortis Ghost has confirmed the humanity of a few characters--Zacharie, Sucre, Enoch, Hugo, and the Elsen. Elsen are all male and cannot reproduce.

The nature of such a cataclysmic event is, as far as I can remember ~~from the theory post I typed up before...~~ , unknown. It may have been some sort of great war or something completely different. One thing we do know is that it involved a lack of oxygen:

book in the library wrote:

As the Elsen breathe smoke, I doubt that they would ever suffer from a shortage of oxygen. Therefore, this book must have been written before the zones existed.

Also, I kinda wonder what the hell Dedan is if he's definitely not human.

ON the Batter, the Queen, and Hugo

Now hang on a moment. You may notice something. Hugo is confirmed to be human, but not the Queen and the Batter. But how can a son be human when the parents aren't?

Well, that's because he isn't their son. Quite different.

You see, there is a slightly major mistranslation in this version of the game that has been pointed out several times around the internet. And it's in this line right here:

The Queen wrote: I will not let you lay a hand on the son we have brought into the world.

You see, the quote should actually be something like this:

The Queen wrote: I will not let you lay a hand on the son that brought us into the world.

So--Hugo created the Batter and the Queen, not the other way around. So why would this happen? Well, some say that the Batter and the Queen are manifestations of the fatherly and motherly figures that he didn't have.

I'm still not entirely sure how that works, but after you look past those bits, the story starts to make sense. Hugo created The Batter and The Queen as the world crumbled around them. They both set to work at creating a brand new world for their "son" to live in. The Queen appoints Dedan, Japhet, and Enoch as guardians of their new utopia. However, as they come nearer to their goal, the Batter begins to slip his duties.

In the beginning, the Batter cared for Hugo. He wanted to fulfill his purpose. He gave him a music box, helped him out when he was sick, and more. He would always be there for him. But as he began to doubt the reasons for his existence and the feasibility of their goals, he became more absent. As the Queen was busy with her duties, Hugo was alone.

It's been suggested that Zacharie was Hugo's doctor during this time. Hugo was a sickly child--suggested by the narration in the Room saying he needed to take pills--and Zacharie is strongly hinted to have close ties to him. Couple that up with the theory mentioned earlier that Zacharie appears to be wearing a surgeon's mask, and it all clicks together.

As the Batter lost faith in his goals, he exiled himself. To where, who knows? But at this point, all Hugo had was the Queen, who was busy with her duties. Then, Hugo met his three friends and the rebuilding of the world went on. As Hugo's sickness worsened, he was confined to the Room, alone. The Queen continues ordering the world to be rebuilt anew to please him.

Then, the Batter returns to purify the world, which had grown into darkness and been infested by spectres. He returns to pull the plug on existence, which had grown futile in the loss of hope.

The game's ending is all about a choice--a choice of emptiness, pain, and regrets versus a choice of non-existence and finality. Is it better to preserve the world in its sordid state, or to snuff it out before things get any worse?

This leads us all back to home base, and to the Batter.

ON Bad Batter

If you choose the alternate ending, the Batter looks rather different. Or rather, you perceive him rather differently.

You see, the Batter is not human. It's not certain whether or not he has a definite form. The Judge pretty much, erm, judges as such at the beginning of the game, though thinks better of it a few moments afterwards. The point is, the Batter that we play as is only the Batter that we perceive--stoic, probably good, most likely knows what he's doing. Most likely has no eyes.

But it seems that someone, even before the Judge, saw right through us. Sucre.

Sucre wrote: I think the huge, frightening ducky has won this round.

Now, here's the Batter's form in our battle against him with the Judge:

image:

Looks rather like a "huge, frightening ducky," doesn't he? Well, Word of God says that the Batter's form in the final battle if you choose the Judge's ending is just how you perceive him, after all that it's been revealed he's done.

Batter was once a utopist as well. He represented the importance of love and friendship. But as he was the first to go, he was the one to let it all fall.

Now that we've got the meaning of the story out of the way, there's still a few odds and ends to wrap up.

ON the Space Apes Ending

This ending is likely just a joke, probably a reference to the UFO endings of Silent Hill. No need to worry about space apes building factories on the ashes of zones, ratatam tam.

ON the Origins of Names

One interesting thing to note about the names of the characters in this game is that they all seem to allude to the Bible, as you shall see below.

The Batter: Obvious. Likely no Biblical reference, unless baseball existed then. Which it didn't.
The Judge/Pablo: "Judge" possibly coming from the theory that he "judges" the fate of existence, or whether or not someone can enter the zones. Can find nothing on why his name is Pablo, however, it's notable that "Pablo" is the Spanish form of "Paul," possibly referring to Paul the Apostle.
Elsen: Reference to Elijah, a man who, in the New Testament, Jesus and John the Baptist were compared to. He defended the worship of Yahweh over the Canaanite god Baal and is said to return "before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord."
Alpha/Omega/Epsilon, Delta/Sigma/Ipsilon: Letters of the Greek alphabet.
Zacharie: Reference to the Book of Zechariah, generally attributed to the Hebrew prophet Zechariah, and the penultimate book in the Old Testament.
Dedan: Means "low ground," and is the name of at least two men in the Bible.
Japhet: Reference to Japheth or Japhet, youngest or eldest son of Noah and sometimes believed to be the father of all European descent.
Valerie: Can't really find a conclusive source for this. All I get on Google is some actresses.
Enoch: Reference to the Book of Enoch, an ancient Jewish religious work, and its purported author, Enoch, great-grandfather of Noah. Enoch is mentioned a few times in the Bible as well.
Sugar/Sucre: The element sugar.
Vader Eloha: "Vader" in Dutch means "Father," and "Eloha" in Hebrew means "God." Not much else can be found on this.
Hugo: Not much I can find on this. Only thing I learned was that Rotten Tomatoes apparently thinks it's a good movie.

And now, for some areas as well:

Damien: Wikipedia comes up with such things as football players and pornographic actors and Belgian-Hawaiian Catholic priests, but I'm pretty sure it's none of those. Damian, however, seems to correspond to a priest from what is now Turkey who was an early Christian martyr with his brother.
Pentel: Japanese pen company that perfected the non-permanent marker. Yay, product placement!
Shachihata: Name of some other sort of Japanese pen company. Seems they also make stamps as well. Biblical.
Alma: From the Book of Alma, one of the books that make up the Book of Mormon. The title refers to Alma the Younger, a prophet and chief judge of the Nephites.
Vesper: From Latin "vesper," meaning "evening." Refers to either a sunset evening prayer service or a martini. Take your pick.

ON Music Not Included In OFF

There are some songs that didn't make it into the game. Thankfully, all can be found online. You can find them in the following links:

Music - Tense
Music - Outside Flesh Fountain
Music - Multitap Delay Nightmare
Music - Hip2-2

The first two and the last one are on YouTube, while the third is on Soundcloud. They're all really great tracks, though I can see why they might've been cut (didn't fit the atmosphere, parts where they play removed, etc). I especially like Tense and Multitap Delay Nightmare. Notably, Hip2-2 would've been the longest track in the game if it were included.

ON Concept Art

Mortis Ghost's concept art folder is available for download in various hard-to-find places, but the images tend to make their way around the internet anyway. I managed to find a good download, so I'll be posting some of my favorites from the folder. Some of the art seems to have been adapted for use in the actual game as sprites. You may also notice some changes in design throughout the development of the game; for example, Zacharie once had wings and a sword.

Images by his friends typically have their name in the corner somewhere.

images:

ON Boss Stats

During the LP, we couldn't get stats on the bosses because question marks had taken over the world of boss stat calculation area things. (Official nomenclature.) But now, thanks to the magic of the internet, I can tell you the stats of each boss of the game.

Name/Sprite:	Stats:
Dedan	HP: 4000 / CP: 200
Japhet (first battle)	HP: 1000 / CP: 80
Japhet (true battle)	HP: 6000 / CP: 250
Enoch	HP: 7000 / CP: 300
Sucre/Sugar	HP: 12000 / CP: 500
Dummie	HP: 1 / CP: 50
The Queen/Vader Eloha	HP: 4000 / CP: 1000
Delta, Sigma, & Ipsilon	HP: 1200 / CP: 500
Hugo	HP: 2000 / CP: 9999 (but uses none)
The Judge/Pablo	HP: 4000 / CP: 250
The Batter	HP: 2500 / CP: 400

It should be noted that Sucre can actually be very easily taken down if you inflict Poison on her, but I didn't do that because a) I didn't know, and b) it seems like cheating. I don't know what other bosses can be poisoned.

Now, it should be noted that you can go way beyond the levels that I gained in the LP. Let's go over that a bit.

ON Levels Past 20 and the Ashley Bat

The Ashley Bat, which can be obtained instead of the Aries-card as a prize from Zacharie, increases attack by 21, increases accuracy and critical hit rates, is treated as the elements of meat and metal, and allows you to attack twice in a row. This is insanely overpowered and you can only get it just before facing the Queen, so it's not really worth it.

The actual level cap of this game is supposedly 50, while you get your last competence at 45. We completed the game at level 20, quite easily. But just in case you wanted to know, the competences you receive in the upper levels are as follows:

Level	Name	Description
The Batter
25	Magic Homerun	Special attack of important impact
30	Save Fourth Base	Reanimates an ally
35	Run with Belief	Special attack of the element Meat
42/43	Save Secret Base	Restores a lot of HP for the whole party
45	Ultimate Homerun	Special attack of cataclysmic impact
Alpha
20	Open Embrace	Special attack inflicting Muteness
30	Entire Chain	Special attack of incredible impact
40	Impossible Embrace	Specal attack inflicting Palsy
Omega
20	Gaussian Blur	Attack decreasing the adversary's CP
30	Decoupled Perspective	Revives a person
40	Radial Blur	Attack decreasing the adversary's defense
Epsilon
20	Cubist Tragedy	Special attack of multiple, important impacts
30	Unrevokable Drama	Increases an ally's agility lightly
40	Fauvestic Tragedy	Special attack of multiple, incredible impacts

Someday I may actually go through the game and try to achieve the highest levels possible, just to see how much that breaks the final battles. I guess we got a glimpse of it with the Judge's ending, though.

Anyway, that's pretty much all I have to say! I'll keep this open for a few days then laser powered trash compactor it. I've gotta say, this post was a lot more organized than the one I'd typed up earlier. I'm pretty satisfied with it. I'll try to make a To the Moon update soon. And now, here's that final thing I said I missed to end it... OFF. Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 Pccool

Let's Play OFF: Completed! - Page 17 Pccool

thing:

by Lief Katano 4th March 2014, 7:32 pm

Caprizant wrote:I guess you could say it's a memento of sorts

...I don't get it.

For "ON the Batter, Enoch, and the Sole Elsen"...Batter is a purified Elsen. That is why he says/spells it as specters. It still works even if you like the theory of "the Batter is Ness who went insane" because Ness is American(ish?) and it would still imply purified Elsen talk like that. trufax

I had other stuff to say, I'm sure, but I forgot.

by Guest 4th March 2014, 11:00 pm

Yeah, that photo and room was what I had found. Other than that, that was it.

Awesome theory post! Dunsparce Approves

by **Truthseeker4449** 4th March 2014, 11:02 pm

It does help make things click. Thumb Up w/ Blood

by **Caprizant** 8th March 2014, 12:13 pm

I'm now gonna close this thread and move it to the archives. Sometime in the future I'll try to repair any of the images that may be broken (since I found a new image hosting site).

Thanks for reading along! It was quite fun for a first LP. Hope you guys liked it as much as I did.

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