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Broken Age story discussion (includes spoilers!)

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I’ve played through Act 1 of Broken Age twice now. After I finished it the first time I was so surprised by the ending I wanted to go back and replay, knowing “what I knew now.” I noticed a ton of parallels I didn’t see initially (also might have something to do with the fact that I first played as Shay all the way through, so by the time I got to Vella I missed some links between their stories).

There’s some cool stuff going on story-wise and we have nothing to do now but wait, so I wanted to start this thread as a place for people who have played the first part to talk about what we think is going on. No debate about puzzle difficulty or whether this game will change the world, just story speculation.

To start, here’s a big one that I totally missed the first time through (I actually read a mention of it on another site after I finished the first playthrough, and I couldn’t believe I’d missed it…)

The creatures that Shay “saves” are the maidens at the maiden feast. First area he goes to is the Talon Nebula (bird-themed Meriloft). In the second batch, the final creature he tries to save when the ship goes under attack is Vella. And again in the third area - he tries to grab Vella and the ship is then hit with the death ray.

I was kind of confused about the Dead Eye God. At first I thought he was Shay, much older. He refers to the mission as Dandelion (which Mom also calls it at one point) and talks about crashing after he tried to hack into the ship. Except he’s wearing red, not blue. Then Vella starts calling him Alex during the fight with Mog Chothra… not sure how she learned his name, but since Shay shows up soon after and the Mog Vella is fighting is Shay’s ship, maybe Alex is another guy who showed up 300 years ago in another ship/Mog? Could he and Shay be related, or clones?

We learn in Vella’s part that Mog Chothra shows up every 14 years to eat maidens. Shay has been on the ship for 14 years… I’m not sure if this is explicitly stated, but Tim has said in interviews that Shay and Vella are both 14 years old. Does that mean that when Mog Chothra returns every 14 years, it’s actually a new kid in a new spaceship? Or Shay over and over, in a time loop?

During Shay’s portion, “Mom” alludes to having once been a maiden sacrificed to a monster. She doesn’t finish the story so we don’t know if she resigned herself to being eaten or if she stood up to the monster—in that case could she be a time loop version of Vella?

Marek says he’s a “rescuer of creatures in need.” It seems like the “creatures in need” are actually the maidens getting eaten, so he’s the rescuer of the maidens. Does that make Marek a Mog? In Vella’s portion when you ask some people about Mog Chothra they imply that no one really knows what a Mog is, maybe Marek is one in disguise, and the ship is just a pawn being used by the Mogs to fight their war?

One of the girls guarding the Dead Eye God refers to the eventual Battle of Vulgentoll, “the final battle between humans and Mogs and the end of our entire age.” Is that the battle we’re headed for in part 2? Could “end of our entire age” be a reference to the title, Broken Age?

The earpiece that Marek gives Shay, maybe he and Vella will be able to use that to communicate in Act 2?

Any thoughts from people who have played it? Did you notice other parallels I missed? Theories about what’s going to happen next?

     

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Must we use spoiler code if the thread title warns about them?

     
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The story was definitely very carefully crafted, with lots of little details and mysteries. The twist took me by surprise, but the points you brought up came to my mind when I thought about the story afterwards.

There’s definitely a strong time loop theme, [spoiler]with “Mom” being a past sacrifice girl and Alex being very similar to Shay. I don’t think Shay and Vella have been going through this over and over. Vella definitely hasn’t, since she knows about past Mogs coming, so she‘s not stuck in a time loop. I don’t think Shay’s either, because that would break the symmetry between the two characters, which has been one of the game’s main themes. It seems it’s more like a pattern going on over and over again, for some reason. By being the first one to fight back, Vella’s breaking the cycle; I definitely picked up on the prophecy about the end of the age and the connection to the game’s title. It looks like the ending of the cycle and its consequences is where the game is headed.[/spoiler]

Marek’s identity is clearly a key element. [spoiler]I definitely think he and “Mom” are working together / part of the same programme. Marek’s missions are just Mom’s missions updated for a rebellious teenager. I wonder if the point of capturing the maidens is not just to find Shay a girlfriend, who eventually has a child with him and then becomes the new “Mom” (while Shay becomes the new Marek?). That timeline wouldn’t work with a 14-year cycle, but there could be a 28-year cycle and two ships. Of course, why all this would happen in the first place is very unclear.[/spoiler]

In any case, the story is really clever and I’m excited to find out where it’s going.

     

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I played Vella’s arc first and immediately became suspicious that Alex/Dead Eye God was Future-Shay. That theory seems to have changed with the unfolding of Shay’s own story, but isn’t entirely off the cards.

If Marek is eventually going to be unmasked, it would surely have the biggest impact for him to be a character we already know/have met/have heard of. Could he possibly be Alex/The Dead Eye God from another timeline, or maybe Shay’s nightlight/father figure computer program - perhaps even in physical, human form - who appeared to be spying on Shay throughout his chapter.

Are the Maidens chosen and tested to discover which would function best as a potential new Mother computer - although that theory doesn’t explain why they’d need to get rid of the old program?

     
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I played Vella first, and when I first met ‘The Dead Eye God’ my mind went to “Future Shay?” I spent most of Shay’s story waiting for that shoe to drop. Remember Alex says that he screwed up his own ship and caused it to crash. So based on what little of Shay’s story I knew already before playing, that could have fit.

This had an actual benefit because I completely overlooked the Alien Rescue/Maiden correlation until the very very last second. Which honestly strikes me as something that would have been made more obvious if you played Shay’s campaign first. Although… possibly Mother’s comment about being a ‘sacrifice girl’ could have been enough misdirection to confuse things? Any Shay-first players got a opinion on that?

As for speculation. My current theory Alex crashed on the planet 300 years ago, and something he did set this chain of events into motion. Perhaps some rogue element of his ship (Mother?), and the importance of the mission. I don’t think time loops are involved, but there’s definitely some kind of recurring event who’s chain has been broken.  The good news is, sacrificed maidens might still be alive? The bad news? What the heck happens to previous boys in the Shay role?

I definitely think ‘Dad’ has more to do with things then we’ve seen. He might be Marek, but I think its more complex then that.


What I really can’t wait for, is Mom’s reaction to Vella being on her ship. Hint, it probably won’t be good.

     

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Jim Purcell - 21 January 2014 02:59 AM

What the heck happens to previous boys in the Shay role?

If the Maiden’s potentially become the new Mother program, do the boys in Shay’s position become the new ‘Dad’ program?

I’m not really convinced, just throwing ideas around.

     
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When mom at first told the sacrifice girl story I at first though that Vella and Shay stories are taking place at different times and that by defeating the Mog Vella also did something to her home planet.

My theory of that was derailed however when Alex stepped into the picture, as I as well though he was an adult Shay. So I was guessing then, that perhaps it was Shay, who crashed on the planet and set the cycle of Mogs harvesting the planet, not for girls at first, as Vellas grandma says that she remembers 4 celebrations, which I took meant that that cycle hadn’t been on for 300 years, but took on a bit later, when something went wrong in the harvester program.

After the final twist I started to believe that Shay is a part of some ancient race, whose ships have landed on Vella’s planet. They are harvesting the planet for resources which also includes the search for a potential companion for Shay/who ever is riding the ship, as the lineage has to continue. It in turn might be a failsafe program, as I don’t think Shay was meant to spent his time in the ship to his teens, as it was designed to smaller children. Now the Mom program is trying to adapt to the new situation, which has lead into the maiden fest.

As for Marek, I think he is yet another computer programmed robot, whose task is to make sure, that Shay doesn’t doubt a thing. He prepares the maidens and coaxes Shay to believe that it all is fine and dandy. Nothing out of the ordinary and that they have saved the girls of which one would be a potential companion. But a huge question here is: what happens to the rest of the girls?

     
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Well, I talked a bit about it in thread-that-shall-not-be-named and I also think the fox Marek is part of the program/cycle of growing up a new boy - Shay in this cycle- just dealing with the rebellious fase.

Interesting theory here that Alex/Dead Eye God started it all - the cycles. Makes sense in a way that he knew Vella’s tribe has being badass but the constant cycle of being beat up by the monster probably calms them into that candy tribe. Maybe was the one searching for a new place to live, and he was alone, so he needed a companion, so that was part of the program, some problem happened and the computer continues working in cycles.

I’m not seeing the maidens becoming “Mom”.

What happens to the boy and the maidens is probably what will connects everything together, Episode 2 still has a lot to explain and I look forward to rest of the story. I hope fov is right and Shay and Vella can comunicate in episode 2.

     

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I want to know what “Dad” is up to. I didn’t like him…spying on Shae like that. Something’s up.

     
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Weird, Dad was the only one I felt like I could trust. Because he didn’t meddle.

     

Adventure Gamer Since 1992

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Vella’s grandmother also mentions a plague barrier and says, that the Mog’s come from there. Perhaps this point will be also emphasized in the act 2 as some sort of potential source of the Mog’s current behaviour. 

     
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wilco - 21 January 2014 06:27 AM

Well, I talked a bit about it in thread-that-shall-not-be-named and I also think the fox Marek is part of the program/cycle of growing up a new boy - Shay in this cycle- just dealing with the rebellious fase.


Or marek is supervising the clones/cycle of Shay like Moon, is another popular idea, though personally i dont want game to be that obvious since premise of shay in
Space, with all resources and AI overlooking is already enough Moon.

     
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I replayed a few bits from both Shay and Vella. I have no ideas how the story might develop. I just hope one thing. From the bottom of my heart: Please, please, Tim Schafer, do NOT let the two of them fall in love and live happily ever after! Thank you.

Vella really stood out in Shay’s part as the only red creature among blue ones, with her very noticable silly headband. Cool

I have a few questions though. Why is Prima Doom a forbidden destination because of hostility, according to Weaverman. Mog Chothra is expected at Prima Doom, so it makes no sense. Unless perhaps Mom/Dad know that Vella is a bad apple and will attempt to destroy their ship. But then Marek can’t be in league with them since he wants to go there and gives Shay the Prima Doom chart. He saves three blue creatures at Prima Doom, but there are only two girls + Vella. Huh? And why does Marek break off all the rescue missions when the ship is only attacked during the last one. To make the whole engineered playacting more exciting for Shay?

EDIT: Prima Doom forbidden because of Alex’s crashed ship? But that was 300 years ago, and they’re expecting Mog Chothra, so he must have been paying them visits since the crash.

     

See you around, wolf. Nerissa

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Like someone mentioned above, I also thought that Marek was an extension of Mom (or at least they’re in cahoots). I did pick up on the missions Marek gives as being like Mom’s but designed for a teen, especially how saving the creatures is like an arcade game.

If this is correct, then Prima Doom being a dangerous location could be part of this - not because it actually is dangerous, but because getting Shay to steer the ship there is part of his training.

About the creatures at Prima Doom - there are three (two maidens and Vella), Shay saves two of them and then when he tries to save the third the ship is attacked by the death ray and he has to let go of her. I played these two segments right after each other and they do match up.

Jim Purcell - 21 January 2014 02:59 AM

This had an actual benefit because I completely overlooked the Alien Rescue/Maiden correlation until the very very last second. Which honestly strikes me as something that would have been made more obvious if you played Shay’s campaign first. Although… possibly Mother’s comment about being a ‘sacrifice girl’ could have been enough misdirection to confuse things? Any Shay-first players got a opinion on that?

It honestly didn’t occur to me. I played Shay in one sitting and Vella a few days later and the parallels didn’t jump out at me until I saw it mentioned afterward.

 

     
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fov - 21 January 2014 12:59 PM

If this is correct, then Prima Doom being a dangerous location could be part of this - not because it actually is dangerous, but because getting Shay to steer the ship there is part of his training.

It’s possible, I guess. I’m hoping for a more interesting explanation. If Tim Schafer had managed his funds better we wouldn’t be playing guessing games.

About the creatures at Prima Doom - there are three (two maidens and Vella), Shay saves two of them and then when he tries to save the third the ship is attacked by the death ray and he has to let go of her. I played these two segments right after each other and they do match up.

Well, you sound very positive, so you’re probably right. I don’t feel like checking and replaying boring bits again, since I don’t have a save just before the rescue operation. But I did take screenshots along the way and this one was taken after Danger Zone 5 and before Prima Doom. They’re obviously the sea maidens. Also, I don’t remember trying to rescue a red creature.

     

See you around, wolf. Nerissa

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Karlok - 21 January 2014 07:51 PM

If Tim Schafer had managed his funds better we wouldn’t be playing guessing games.

I know! We’d have missed out on the fun of speculating, swapping ideas and theories and having an ongoing community experience while we wait for the second half. We must just be lucky, I guess.

     

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