The agents of this thread are pretty fucking too: Let's Play Lobotomy Corporation

[TeeQueue]

Looks like the winner is Knight of Despair, with an insanely close second being Parasite Tree... which means I guess I have the next two BCP's figured out now. Cool.

[BeachedSpider]

Sad that there's no chance of Paul's special sextuple feature.

[TeeQueue]

X-394 is a big facility, full of mysterious creatures known as Abnormalities. Many of these Abnormalities can do very bad things if they're handled improperly, and it's vitally important that our agents know just what may happen if they're careless. What's a manager to do?



Episode 3: Knight of Despair

Music: trailer


Hi! I'm Paul! Just your everyday plucky employee of Lobotomy Cobotomy, here today to talk about Knight of Despair!

Knight of Despair is one of several Magical Girl abnormalities we can house here at Lobotomy Corporation! Because she's a WAW abnormality who requires a good result, we've temporarily buffed up your power levels to match.

My veins are full of ice and my stare could pierce a wall!



We've also gotten you a full team together, to take care of all the research we have to do! Please take note of their Pale resistances.

Tater and Guy are at 1.5 Pale, and Plastic and Zephyr both are at 2. But why does that matter? I thought Knight of Despair did White damage!

That's because she holds herself back for the people she's sworn to protect!

Amazing!

Now, the first step is to gain her blessing. Do you think you can charm a Magical Girl, Paul?

Gosh golly, I think so, Miss Hod! My mom tells me I'm charming all the time!



She said she wanted to protect me, Miss Hod! I did a good job this time, huh?

You sure did! Her blessing is how she shows her bond!

Wowie! So now what do we do, Miss Hod?

Well Paul, in order to trigger the Knight of Despair's ability her blessed employee has to panic or die.

But without the ability to do works, how am I ever going to manage something like that, Miss Hod?



Don't you worry about that, Paul! We have plenty of options.

Our manager deserves only the best tools to get the job done!

Anyways, once the agent in question has been dealt with, poor Knight of Despair's heart gets broken! She only wanted to protect her dear friend, but yet again her efforts have come to nothing.



Yikes! Looks like she's turned into one of them Yan Deers!

Can you blame her, Paul? If she can't keep her friends safe, why shouldn't she just succumb to her inner darkness and destroy?

Because it doesn't benefit the company, Miss Hod?

Good answer, Paul! Now, let's try suppressing her.



Jiminy willikers, Miss Hod! I was trying to keep the camera on her, but she just stopped moving and teleported!

That's right, Paul! All magical girls can teleport-it's as important a part of their skillset as transforming and fighting evil!

Fighting evil? Does that mean we're the bad guys?

Oh, Paul, you silly goose. Let's watch her attack!



Those swords are really something else!

Oh, they sure are! Those blades each deal Pale damage-not even Welfare Captain Twee is immune to that kind of punch!

She's attacking so fast that she's restoring most of what she loses, though! Miss Hod, I wish that someday I could be as cool as one of the captains…

That's all about the effort you put into your work, Paul! Not all captains are built of the same stuff, though.



Yowie wowie! Extraction Captain Mizu's sleeping on the job!

It only took three swords for her to be reduced to this-since Knight of Despair deals 50 Pale damage, it can shave anyone to nothing in an instant!

Golly, 50 whole Pale damage? That number sure feels significant, Miss Hod!

That's because it is significant, Paul! Remember that Pale damage is always a percent of the agent's max HP value. Now tell me, what does every E.G.O suit of HE-level or below have in common?

Oh, I know this one, Miss Hod! They make you look really cool!

Not quite, Paul. They all have a 2x Pale modifier.

...And 2 times 50 is 100! That's a lot of damage!

It's more than a lot! Remember your friends from earlier? Let's demonstrate with them.



Crikey, that didn't seem fun! The two in the Firebird suit even died in a single hit each!

That's right! Remember, 100 Pale damage is damage equal to your max HP. You're dead if that touches you! Even the best WAW suits tend to have only a 1.5x resist, which means two hits is enough to kill most of our agents! Remember, if you see her in the hallways-run!

Not that this should ever happen, because our Manager isn't the sort to let protected employees die, right Miss Hod?

Oh, Paul, you silly goose. Don't be ridiculous! Is there anything else you'd like to know while we're wrapping up?

There sure is, Miss Hod! What if I've been having a lot of strange feelings and decided I'd like to try dating an Abnormality? Can they feel love?

That's a good question, Paul! You'd be amazed how often we're asked about it! Any Abnormality capable of expressing rational human thought is capable of feeling all the emotions that come with it. But don't go thinking that means it's okay to go to dinner with Knight of Despair or anything-remember! Abnormalities are dangerous, even on picnics! That's why Lobotomy Corporation has a strict 'no dating' policy between its employees and any Abnormality.

That means that if anyone finds out, you'll be brutally murdered! Assuming the Abnormality doesn't do it first, anyways.

Lobotomy Corporation only hires good boys and girls, everyone! Well, that's all the time we have today. Thanks for joining us! And remember…

Knowledge is just pain plus observation! Have a great day!

[Gespenst]

There is a slightly harder way to force Knight of Despair to breach that doesn't require killing someone, while the blessing prevents an agent from performing any works or interacting with tools, it doesn't disable tools that are already in use, so if an agent takes the Heart of Aspiration then gets KoD's blessing, as long as they haven't done any fighting ordering them to return the Heart will trigger instant murder-panic which causes KoD to breach.

[TeeQueue]

Day 37: Story

Music: Wake up


But I think you and A might have become separate entities now. From the moment you began to have new memories, you both started to walk different paths. I must wonder how the memories separated you from A. Well, even if you two have differences, it is still important for you to witness this place through A’s eyes.



What’s at the end of the line? What kind of world was it that he saw? The answers to these questions are what you must know. However, the choices you make are up to you, not him. As a consequence of those choices, you may lose it all. Or, you may gain everything. I’m not trying to control you. I just try to support you, that is my role here.



Now you are here, scrabbling over it all and climbing up. Of course, I have kept all their data in my head, but it is not my place to share it with you.



…That’s what you, or A, once said to me.

In summary: Angela notes that our new memories may have made us someone very different from A, but apparently it's important for us to know what A saw so that we know what to do.

Setting that aside, it's time to meet the lady who can apparently stop Gebura.

Music: Into The Deep


So, did you have fun with your little journey while I was locked up here? Don’t worry, I’m not mad with you.



This is a quote from a French poem called "Prière pour aimer la douleur" (Prayer to Love Sorrow/Prayer for Loving Sorrow, depending on translation) by Francis Jammes. Binah is not just a murderous Arbiter, she's also cultured.

It’s difficult to perceive the flow of time here. Therefore this eternity has saved me.



If you arrive downstream, after the raging rapids and a serpentine current… You will see a meadow that is enormously broad, but also tranquil. That land is bathed with all kinds of mud, sand, trash, and the residuals that have come from the upstream. What isn’t caught by the upstream or midstream finally ends up here, downstream… To bear all the residues that pile up, one would need a strong back that doesn’t break easily.





>What is a Well?


And it is the fount and relic of all humanity that has existed from the ancient times. The water from the Well had never flown outside, ever. There had only been the small ripples that permeated from the leaves that fall for the winds.

---

>What does it mean to draw water?


You never know what the Bucket contains when it rises from the eternal darkness, but I always draw the water with a pulley, come what may. You must always stay cautious so that you don’t fall into the Well.

---

Routes Merge Here


It was you who made the Bucket. But you left the duty of drawing water with the Bucket to another.



“Binah” isn’t the name of a person. It’s a sad name of the place where one finds many graves. I’m the one who draws the water.



In summary: We meet Binah, who quotes a poem about loving despair at us. She's clearly having a bad time but stopped caring about any of it a long time ago. She speaks mostly in metaphors and riddles, but refers to a Well that she draws from by a Bucket, which we apparently made. Since the Well is the relic of all humanity and the Bucket draws water from it, the water in this metaphor is…

Anyways, Binah's definitely going to try and kill us because she's an AI and this is a video game.



This mission isn't hard, but we can't do it during Core Suppressions because the equipment has to be made during the day, so it can't be tracked while suppressing. This is a shame, because we WANT the research that comes from this. Oh yes.

Just extract E.G.O?

I did say it would be simple. As long as it's been, it would be a shame to see you run away so quickly.

Mm. Well, I can't say it's been a pleasure, but I'll see you again soon, I'm sure.

Whatever path your journey takes, I shall watch over it always.

...yeah that's not distressing at all. Angela!

Yes, manager?

The other department, I want it opened.



For anyone playing along: if attempting to 1-loop the game, it is of VITAL IMPORTANCE that the lower layer be opened in either a 3-2 or 2-3 overall combination. If we don't do this, we can permanently lock ourselves out of being able to complete the game without a full restart from day 1.

Ah… it's been some time.

Yeah, so I've heard. I don't think we've met?

Tradition states that we keep things that way a little longer, I'm afraid. The hands of time are already in motion, and I can do nothing to stop them.

Yeah… come to think of it, only Malkuth ever met me the day I opened her department.

Consider the upcoming workday an introduction, then. I have great expectations of you. Show me your management.

Sure. It's what I do best, after all.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Breaking our stuff to appease the creepy goth lady living in our basement.








Did you get word back?

Yeah. Apparently, the manager's meeting with both the new Sephirot before he'll handle any of the Suppressions.

Damned… I thought he had the good sense natural to a nest dweller, but it seems even he can make mistakes.

Yeah, clearly coming from a nest ain't all it's cracked up to be.

What are you-

Stow it, mosshead. I want my Sephirot back, and I don't have time to listen to you complain.

Sorry we're late! So, what'd they say?

Not today. Tomorrow, and the next two.

So it's three of them in a row again… We'll have to make sure the newbies are prepared.

Yeah-not that it matters much either way.

Disciplinary's ready for anything-or I pound them. We'll be fine.

And Welfare doesn't have any newbies!

And I told Morgan already… I was expecting it today.

We're as prepared as we can be, then. Go team Middle.

Heck yeah! Go us!

Yeah. We'll fix our bosses, no matter what it takes.

And hopefully it'll take punching them in the face!

…

Oh c'mon. You've all wanted to.

[Carpator Diei]

it is of VITAL IMPORTANCE that the lower layer be opened in either a 3-2 or 2-3 overall combination.

It's possible that I didn't pay enough attention, but I have no idea what this means ^^

Anyway, the deepest layer seems to be veering into a more overtly mystical direction, fittingly enough. It will be interesting to see what Hokma's meltdown is like, he seems a lot more calm and collected than anyone else we've met so far, at least from first impressions.

On a completely unrelated note, I like this snippet from Francis Jammes' Wikipedia page: "[H]is poems are known for their lyricism and for singing the pleasures of a humble country life (donkeys, maidens)".

[TeeQueue]

You see those little boxes for each department? We need to open them so that by day 41 we have 3 filled in one of the two departments, and 2 in the other.

Just fill them up as evenly as possible until you hit the last memory repository and you're fine-but this only matters if you're doing a single loop clear like I am.

[BeachedSpider]

You see those little boxes for each department? We need to open them so that by day 41 we have 3 filled in one of the two departments, and 2 in the other.

Just fill them up as evenly as possible until you hit the last memory repository and you're fine-but this only matters if you're doing a single loop clear like I am.

I've never heard of this being a thing before that interferes with 1-loop clears. I'm really curious why this is the case.

[TeeQueue]

To make a very long story very short, if you open up all of one and then all of the other, if you do every mission the second it's available, the second core suppression becomes available on day 46.

Day 45 is the last day we can do a Core Suppression on.

We HAVE to do some time travel trickery to get around that.

[AweStriker]

I suddenly realized that given we had to open the center departments in both of the two previous layers that getting the two side departments first in Atziluth is very weird. Why break the pattern?

[TeeQueue]

It's how the tree is shaped. In most versions of the Tree of Life, there isn't a middle spot in between Chesed/Gebura and Hokma/Binah.

Some do have one, but Da'at's another story.

[DKII]

If there's no tenth department, what are we going to be doing Days 46-50?

[mersenne]

Da'at is not the tenth sefirot. Keter is. I haven't played Lobcorp, but it shouldn't be in line with the other two; it'll be at the point of a V forming from them.

Actually, you can see its location behind the dialog box in the last image of the last update, under the words "open it".

edit: is Hokma wearing a monocle and carrying sunglasses?

[Solitair]

edit: is Hokma wearing a monocle and carrying sunglasses?

It's a pocket watch.

[TeeQueue]

Da'at is not the tenth sefirot. Keter is. I haven't played Lobcorp, but it shouldn't be in line with the other two; it'll be at the point of a V forming from them.

Very true, hence why I said there isn't one in between Chesed/Gebura and Binah/Hokma. It's up on top. Or, bottom, since we're upside down.

[mersenne]

Da'at is not the tenth sefirot. Keter is. I haven't played Lobcorp, but it shouldn't be in line with the other two; it'll be at the point of a V forming from them.

Very true, hence why I said there isn't one in between Chesed/Gebura and Binah/Hokma. It's up on top. Or, bottom, since we're upside down.

Sorry, I was responding to DKII's comment and was trying to clarify why, if Da'at wasn't in the tree and there wasn't a department directly between Binah/Hokma, there would still (probably?) be a 10th department. Should have quoted.

[TeeQueue]

Day 37: Gameplay

Music: neutral 2




New department means we're running low on staff-Hod, got any newbies for me?

Always!



We were going to train them all normally...

But I remembered that we have Woodsman, and asked her to go for one of the ones who scored a little low instead!

Just like with Evil Kit, huh? Hopefully we won't mess this one up.

My, it's been some time since I've seen the team operating so smoothly. The half of it that's still standing, at any rate.

Working on that.

I see, I see. Well, I've much to do today. Just think of this as me getting to know you again.

...sure.





Work. Sleep. Work. The cycle continues, unbroken.



Let's all do our best today!

We'll be putting you with some basic WAWs in order to get you up to speed. Elle, you'll be in Disciplinary to work with Big Bird.

Doesn't sound too hard, ma'am. I'll get moving.

Alrighty! And… Mr. Hinman?

Please, call me T, fellow human.

...Yeah… okay. You'll be speaking with Knight of Despair.

Ah, a Knight! Yes, I am familiar with this sort of human, because I am human and all humans are aware of the sorts of humans. They wear armor and fight with swords, yes?

Er… sort of. You'll get it before too long.

Splendid! It shall be nothing before my technological superiority, fellow human!

<sub>Um… Hod?

I think she's charming.</sub>



Just don't do anything dangerous.

Hey, boooss?

Oh, new girl. You were assigned here, not Training?

Well, I was going to be in training with the rest of them, but after talking with the bosses they decided that I was just too advanced for their standard courses. They put me here so you could teach me everything about what the Central Command leader really does around here. _{Don't get too upset, but I think they might want me to have your job later. Just the sense I got?}

Ah. You're the one for Woodsman duty. Welcome to the team. We'll try helping you out when we can.

Well thank you! I do appreciate it, though it's best you not strain yourself. This Woodsman must be something that requires a special brand of employee to deal with.

Yeah, it sure does.



So that's when I knew I had to get transferred somewhere ASAP. Weird vibes, man.

Huh, who knew. I thought Yesod's team seemed pretty calm.

Okay, fall in everyone. The Sephirah down here doesn't usually pay much attention to us, so we're kind of on our own. I'll figure out who's doing what after Mizu barges in to work with the new Abnormality.

Aren't we all new down here? How come you get to order us around?

Because I'm the one wearing the cool coat. Now, I've gotta' talk to Hokma. Back in a few.

...huh. You ever get the sense he's been at this for a while?

It makes sense-he's one of the first two agents we ever had.



Our new abnormality is a mysterious brown sphere. Since Mizu is in Extraction, it takes her a little while to get over there.



There you are. It's over there, in the hall.

I can smell it already! Thanks~



Oh! A cutie full of cuties, now this is a nice surprise!

When being worked, strange creatures pop in and out of the holes inside of the sphere.



At the end of the work, a brown gas fills the entire room, and then the agent is let out.



How was it?

Crunchy! I think it was going to try and infect me, but it was in a good mood so it didn't. I wanted to inhale it, though~

Please don't. Did you get the name?

I was one box short! But Binah needs me, so I have to go back home now.

Guess I'll take care of it myself. Have a good one, Mizu.

Heck yeah! Just like old times~



Really not sure how this is supposed to help, but…

Meanwhile, Sorcrane is on a special mission, we'll be maxing them out today just as soon as their stats hit 100.



...



There we go, maxed out-and since their Fortitude and Justice are the two things that need training, the ideal work buddy is clear!



I guess this is just my life now. Alright buddy, let's feed you… carrion? Hm.



I gave it a shot. If I turn green or whatever, just kill me real quick.

...isn't that a little extreme?

It's fine, probably won't happen.



The second work gives us our name. Say hello to The Naked Nest! It's an immobile Abnormality who relies entirely on infecting agents to kill them-but it can't do that on a Good result, and the other rules associated with it make it unlikely to do so at all if we're careful.



You're not green, and it's been ten minutes, can I stop staring at you now?

Yeah, we should be fine.

Talow's in the danger zone for a second, but we don't get unlucky so the day isn't ruined.

Speaking of, we should get Twee down here. She's got the best defense in the facility, whatever that thing is it won't be able to scratch her.



Oh, it tickles!

The way its infection works is fairly straightforward: On a Good result, nothing happens. On a Normal result, there's a 30% base chance of infection. On a Bad result, this increases to 60%. However, this number is then multiplied by the % of the agent's missing HP to find the actual odds. Talow was a little over 50% HP when he left the Nest earlier, so he had ~a 15% chance of being infected. Because Twee has a 0.2x Red multiplier, an additional 0.8x multiplier against all damage from being Welfare captain, and is in ALEPH armor (another 0.8x multiplier against WAW damage), the most damage this thing can deal to her is a negligible 0.986 Red damage. If Twee failed every box and The Naked Nest were to roll maximum damage on each of them, she'd take ~20 damage, and would only have around an 11% chance to actually be infected-and this is her worst case scenario. Most of the time the possibility is well below 1%

The short version of all of that is this: if an agent has high Red defense, this thing can't actually do anything to them. This makes it particularly ideal for training Justice-but also means I can just continually throw Twee at it to farm boxes and get its information in a hurry.

So we do that.

Mm… all this is very interesting, manager.

What do you mean?

Your records. It appears that you haven't seen any Abnormalities at all, aside the ones in this facility. Moreover, you've already resolved four of the… unfortunate incidents which are prone to occurring around here.

Is that what you're doing all day? Reviewing records?

It's of vital importance that I review all the activity which has gone on in this place. Through it, I can almost see the contours of your hands in the way you guide these agents.

I've actually been mostly letting them do their own thing, emergencies aside.

...pardon?

Yeah. They know their duties. No reason to micromanage everything.

Manager, there is a situation which requires your attention in Disciplinary.



Hey, manager! One of the clerks went into Parasite Tree's containment before we could stop 'em!

And this is something they know to call you for?



I'm allowed to do a few things they aren't.

Ah… decisive. Very good.



Yeah. I've stopped finding it funny, but it doesn't get less useful.

Your lack of jokes about the clerks' lives is appreciated, manager.

Thank you, Yesod.

There are those who say that the will required to do something one knows is wrong is the most powerful of all. Now, I saw that there was a certain Bird-related incident?

Oh, that. ...Hold on, someone else got Tree'd.



Parasite Tree loves to grab from its own department first, so keeping clerks alive in there for if we forget about it isn't a bad idea. Normally Disciplinary's clerks are kind of useless, but this saves me some focus so I'll definitely be abusing it.

There was, but we got through it.

And without any casualties, I hear. How did you do it?

...I… uh... tried really hard?



Hey everyone, I got called down to Records to stay there for the day! They really liked the work I did with the new Abnormality. Think you can hold the fort down for the day?

Can I hold the fort down? I was born for such a position of unbridled power! Worry not! I can grasp the lives of this entire place in my hand… and I shall opt not to crush it. This time.

...If the hair goes off, I'll call you.

Sounds good.

It really doesn't take Twee too long to unlock the remaining information, and with it the ability to make its gear.



Ah… I was afraid of that.

So you've noticed, have you?

Two armors, two weapons-yes, Binah, it turns out I know the difference between four and five.

With our supplies fully stocked, I suppose you'll be backing down.

I'll figure something out, just give me some time.

Then I shall see this too to its conclusion.

Don't worry, this isn't actually an issue. I have a plan.



Green Dawn.

Now then… I also noticed a lack of engagement with our TT2 protocol. You expect me to believe that you've only rewound a handful of times? How did you accomplish this?

Oh, that. Well, I trust the people to do what they do. Like, watch this.



You were fast with that weapon, T.

It was much like the light plasma cannons I was familiar with at my previous, very human, job.

You see? They know their job, and they're strong.

But without you, they're nothing. You should be using them as tools.

Yeah, that got me punched in the face.



You what?!

I got punched in the face. It kind of hurt. Nothing to worry about now, though.

But… who could do such a thing!

Employees, man. They'll surprise you.



I don't know what's stranger, the exquisite ant colony that we imported from overseas for some reason, or that we haven't heard from Hokma all day.

The ant colony. I've heard rumors about Hokma. Guy cares about us employees about as much as he does a hammer. If he needs you he'll let you know, and if not he'll just ignore you.

Between that and the rumors I've heard about Binah, the lower Sephirot are real winners, huh?

Yeah. You don't get anyone breathing down your neck, but you also don't have anyone on your side down here either. Life expectancy is about… three? Four days? For your average agent.

Good thing I'm anything but average.



Oh, sure, I'll get right to it.

Boss! Parasite tree again, another clerk!

So you leave everything to the nattering of your agents, but you still manage to defeat things like that Bird and the Midnight of Violet by simply… trying?



Eh, I'm pretty talented when I try.

That's certainly true, but there's a limit to what talent can do alone.

I guess it's more my body that knew what to do, then.



Miss Tenebrais! I'm so glad to be in your department, and now that I've been blessed I can do anything! Please, if there's anything I can handle you only need to ask!

Then can you drop dead?

Drop dead..? Oh! I see! I understand! The blessing isn't for us lower life forms, and having it doomed me! That's gotta be it, right?

...Sure, let's go with that.

Then there's nothing to lose! Quickly, manager! Quickly! Do it!

...and what is that all about, exactly?

I have no idea. This place is weird.



Sniff sniff!!



Did she just say-

Yes. She did.

The decay never stops, does it? Have you found clarity in this moment?

I smell something very un-cute!

Perhaps not.

I'm going out! There's things that must be done! By me!



Showing up here to get at our newbies, eh? Too bad. You get me instead.

Medea's set to solo this group (she generates Black shields faster than even three Sweepers can break them).



Orders from the top, everyone! Sweepers sighted in the eastern corridor! Clear them out!

Ready?

Ready.

Let's do it!

Anime Squad can handle the top 3.



...Well… showing up here isn't the worst choice, I guess. Least I'll kill you fast.

Talow can also take three at once, because he can hit all three at once with a hilariously powerful weapon.



As for the fourth group?



Hff… Hff… Hff…

...dude.

These. Are not. Cuties. At all.

Is that why you… with the E.G.O..?

They squish. Then they leak. Then they die. That's all they do. Not cute at all.

Do… you need a minute? I could grab you some Enkephalin...

…………………Nope! The smell's all gone now, and I'm okee-dokie, smokie!

Mizu uh… handled them.



Talow.

Boss… so nice of you to say hi. I was expecting you'd be on call with the manager all day.

I require information.

Shouldn't you be earning that with the oil and grease of you Sephirot, then?

You informed me that this manager was capable of great feats. The records show no deaths, despite even a Violet Midnight incursion, and the freeing of that bird we spoke of before.

Yeah.

And yet, he says he doesn't know how he does it. His body 'moves itself.' Explain.

I've never seen him work. I know that he can react quickly-probably because of the pauses-and when we get orders they're usually good tactical decisions. I also know he keeps forgetting to work meltdowns and it's a giant pain in my ass to run through static so I can beat a radio with a broom until it stops.

So you have no additional insights. Then answer me this: Who punched him?

No idea, but I have a new hero.

...Then this entire conversation is irrelevant.

Your measure of him must be a problem if you're resorting to asking me for more information than the usual.

...It is only a matter of time before he faces the Sephirot of Briah once more. Well… that should be the end of it.

Aaand now you're talking to yourself again.

I must prepare. A greeting is in order. Yes… A greeting due an old friend.

I'm just going to get back to work now.



Five meltdown levels on a single abnormality. I kind of miss the simpler days where I wasn't juggling this tree and everything else.

…

I almost miss Gebura, too. She'd have said something here about how I should have taken an Abnormality I could crush instead.

If you'd like I can chime in, sir!

Nah, it's not the same. Thanks, though.

Anytime!



Manager, all the E.G.O have been extracted. Please do bear in mind that we need a final E.G.O for our mission.

Oh, yeah. I have that covered.

With Naked Nest giving us four pieces of gear, we need a fifth. There are only two ways to break E.G.O gifts. The first is to kill the holder, which I would rather avoid.



Luckily, we have the other on hand. This is basically the one good use for this Abnormality.

...okay, it'll break eventually.

It does, but at that point I'm a little… distracted.



Oogh… That hurt. I wasn't expecting roundworms to punch me when I studied the thing.

Switch wound up hitting a normal work result, and lost about 50% of his HP, so he's at a 15% chance of being infected. I need to be prepared to end the day quickly or-



Oh. Oh right.

Reminder, every time we use Old Faith it costs us a bit of energy. By putting it off until this late I have now risked Switch's life due to this bit of bad luck, for no reason. I swear I'm good at this game.



...and that's 30 minutes. Congratulations, Switch. You're not sick.

...Ah, good. I knew that an anthill full of giant roundworms couldn't do anything to me.

Then why were you worried?

I...uh… Look, parasites are gross.

Agreed.

Luckily, nothing comes of it and the Retry count stays at 9. It's better to be lucky than skilled, sometimes.



Because I was too busy freaking out about Switch, I miss Sephiroth's weapon breaking-but it did and we buy a new one.

Ah, you've finished.

I did. Not bad, huh?

I suppose I'll have to prepare a special surprise for you, then…

Ah. Hello creeping sense of doom, I missed you.



Mm… it's relaxing to have to deal with this after a stressful day, at this point. Is that weird?



Shall we begin to finish up, Manager?

Yeah. You've been getting better about anticipating that.

It is my duty to be your perfect partner. Something like this is nothing.

Hey, where'd Hokma go? He was on channel until about halfway through the day.

I wouldn't know. He has always been the reserved type.



So, how was it today?

That was not a standard knight. I shall have to update my database to send… to myself. As a normal human. Which I am.

Ah, that's probably the White damage talking. Have a bit of enkephalin on the way out.



All done, and with the grace required to handle that robot without it getting angry and escaping once. I'm sure that's not a feat just anyone could do here.

Um, actually, we've all done that, ma'am.

...Oh. Have you now? Well, good! It's wonderful to know I'm working alongside such talented employees.

Yeah, let's just get packed up and get out of here. Tomorrow's going to suck.

Tomorrow? What happens tomorrow?

Nothing you'll need to worry about. Just work like normal and you're fine.

Oh, gosh, you're going to be stuck with-

Yeah.



Cleanup's almost done? Great, I knew you could do it.

Of course boss. Which reminds me… Zeta21? I'm most cross at you. You said that Tiphereth was on break, not broken down.

Huh. Guess I did.

You said she approved of an extra break for you. You tricked me!

That's the fault of the honorable nestborn who fell for it, isn't it?

But… that's..!

I'm all done here, so I'm headed out. Have fun with the manager tomorrow.

You'll rue the day you sassed me, Zeta21! Rue it I say!!



Hokma..? Ho~okma? Sheesh, these lower Sephirot just do whatever they want, don't they…

Sorcrane joins the maxout club, and everyone else just keeps farming stats. This is about the point in the game where players have hit their stride, and your normal days are basically just 20-30 minutes of farming Abnormalities for stats and energy. But hey, it's time for us to pick another new Abnormality to add to the pile.

Music: never frozen bottom flows


D-03-109: ...and my dear employees, I do hope you all put on the gas masks we distributed to you before we enter.
O-03-89: If a flaw in the system disables the censors covering the Abnormality, we will once again have to sincerely consider how to dispose of the manager.
T-01-31: From break and ruin, the most beautiful performance begins.



Okay, three ALEPH choice. Of them, -31 is right out. As a good/bad escapee, it's annoying to work and thus is out of consideration. That leaves -89 and -109.

For any reasonable person, this isn't an actual question. I've mentioned them before, but while -89 is relatively difficult to handle either Mr.Black or Mizu could take care of it by themselves. The weapon is amazing, but there's a downside: It doesn't give a suit. We really want to focus on defenses, and while -109 is a terrifying Abnormality to handle and Extraction would be the worst place to have to deal with it… it has a good suit… But -89 is the safe pick… but I want the suit...

I wind up dithering over it for a while before just asking what to do on Discord.



Let it be known: Discord wishes for my unending suffering.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Hokma has a special surprise planned to greet us.

New Guidelines

The Naked Nest

New Gear


Requirements: Level 4


Requirements: Level 3

New Story

The Naked Nest

[Talisriel]

Some do have one, but Da'at's another story.

Well, that's my daily ration of white damage.

I also admit defeat-I was certain that Keter would be Talow's mysterious boss.

Lastly, for the benefit of those who haven't met the sephiroth in other contexts, the structure of the Tree of Life has been with us the whole game in a poster on the wall of Malkuth's office:

From Page 1

Malkuth's poster is right-side up, unlike our facility, so her own circle is clipped by the text box, but from there you can see Yesod right above her, then Hod and Netzach above that, and so on.

[TeeQueue]

X-394 is a big facility, full of mysterious creatures known as Abnormalities. Many of these Abnormalities can do very bad things if they're handled improperly, and it's vitally important that our agents know just what may happen if they're careless. What's a manager to do?



Episode 4: Parasite Tree

Music: trailer


Hi! I'm Paul! Just your everyday plucky employee of Lobotomy Cobotomy, here today to talk about Parasite Tree!

Parasite Tree, if handled correctly, can be a boon! However, more caution is required than most Abnormalities due to its special properties.

Special properties? Well, I'm ready to get to researching those when you are, Miss Hod! So, what do we have to do?

That's simple! The first step is to get yourself blessed!



Holy stromboli, Miss Hod! I feel like a new employee!

Every time Parasite Tree blesses an agent, it gains a glowing bulb! Nothing happens until we get to five of them, so the Abnormality can be worked safely until then.

Wait, five of them? Does that mean I get another team?



It sure does! Today, everyone in Disciplinary will be getting a Blessing, just to see what happens.

Oh boy! I guess THAT means it's time for a montage!

Right you are, Paul! It's montage time!

Music: 70s Montage!


That's the way! Feel the blessing permeating the essence of your very self!



Please remember to take note of the lights appearing after the completion of each blessing.

Blessings can be removed by the termination of the employee holding one. Don't forget!



This is our fourth blessing. We're really on the highway to the Danger Zone, now!

Remember to clear off a blessing when you hit this point, or else you could wind up in a big pinch!



Frolicking foliage, this sure makes five!

That's right! When the tree makes five fruits, several things happen very quickly!

Is one of them letting us keep the montage music, Miss Hod? _{I really like it.}

No!

Music: trailer


Oh man, nobody's looking so hot anymore!

The first effect of Parasite Tree is that anyone blessed by it panics immediately-but not with a normal panic. Instead, the employees all run around to spread through the facility as much as possible.

It sounds like an excellent workout!

It sure is, Paul! But that's the last workout they'll ever get. I think it's almost time for the second effect now. Let's watch.



Yowie wowie, that looked painful! Is this why they say the Mary Jane is bad for you?

Don't be silly, Paul! Marijuana can't turn you into a tree. This is all the work of a mismanaged Abnormality. Speaking of, let's take a look back at it!



Woah! It cranked the edginess up to eleven!

It can't be worked while it's in this state, so it's important to clear out all the associated employees in order to make it profitable for our company again!

Oh no! That's not good! Speaking of the employees, though, what superpowers do I get now that I've turned into a totally radical shrub?



Saplings, as they're called, have only one attack. They release a deadly neurotoxin into the air that deals White damage to everyone in the room. Be careful-any agent who panics due to this attack will run away and turn into another Sapling!

Amazing! That's just like a chain combo in one of my home video games!

You can definitely think of it like that, but luckily our agents are competent enough to defeat them. Even Central Command 2's Captain Boksi is helping!

It's super inspiring just how much everyone pitches in at work around here!

That's because maintaining a positive work environment is mandatory!



Hey! They're smacking me now!

There's no need to worry at all. Anyone who's been transformed into a Sapling is beyond saving-they can still feel pain, but they can't possibly express it in any way.

Always remember, cutting down your co-workers is A-OK if they're getting in the way of energy production!

That's right, Paul! Now, let's watch what happens to Parasite Tree when the final Sapling is suppressed.



Coniferous cupressaceae! It's right back to normal!

Now that it's back in this state, we can resume working with it again. Just remember to never let the lights get to five, and you'll be just fine!

Wow, Miss Hod! It's a good thing we have a Manager to keep track of all of this for us. Just thinking about it makes my head all hurty.

That's why your job as an Agent is to just do as you're told! Well, that's all the time we have today. Thanks for joining us! And remember…

Knowledge is just pain plus observation! Have a great day!

[BeachedSpider]

Sometimes I forget just how many unique ways agents can die in this game. It's almost a shame that the ideal way to play is to make sure you never get to see any of the abnormalities' cool tricks.

[Snacks]

The cool tricks are the joy(?) of discovery! "boy I bet this won't go badly for me ever" you say, as you put someone into work with say, the Warm Hearted Woodsman for the first time, decide "huh that didn't go so bad" and then the second time....

[TeeQueue]

Sometimes I forget just how many unique ways agents can die in this game. It's almost a shame that the ideal way to play is to make sure you never get to see any of the abnormalities' cool tricks.

The Quest to Avoid Letting Anything Cool Happen: Let’s Play Lobotomy Corporation

[TeeQueue]

Day 38: Story

Music: Dear Lorenne


My role is to encourage you to collect the proper amount of energy each day, sometimes by nagging, and sometimes by encouraging you with praise. It must have been hard to adapt to the corporation, but you tried your best to extract the energy. Along with bearing the numerous sacrifices along the way.



This part was particularly irritating because being your nanny wasn’t in my programming, but we still were able to fulfill our roles anyhow. You might have noticed this earlier, if you ever took a moment to look deeper into this company…



This means the energy collected from our branch is excluded from the total energy collected by Lobotomy Corporation. Isn’t it fascinating? Don’t be too upset. I’m not saying that all the energy you collected was for nothing.



Where does all that energy go?

In summary: Angela complains about having to be our nanny, then drops another mystery in our laps out of nowhere. Apparently, all of the energy created by the Lobotomy Corporation main branch isn't being sent into the city, but is being used for something else.

Oh, is she done talking? Finally.

Boksi? What… What are you doing here?!

I'm here to help with Tiphereth, naturally.

That's not… you're way too early, Boksi.

Of course. For someone like me, it's only natural to arrive to work earlier than everyone else, and be more prepared than everyone else. Haven't you heard of noblesse oblige?

That's not a real thing.

Maybe in your nest. Regardless, when do we begin?

Just… just hide in the vent and wait until everything goes to hell like everyone else, okay?

Okay, okay, stop shoving, I'm going! _{I'm trying to help, you know. You should be grateful.}

Music: Ocean waves ambiance


I missed you dearly. I have been waiting for you ever since the very first day I started working here. Do you remember this ocean? You said that this place is where everything, from all rivers and streams, will eventually settle.



The screen dissolves with a really cool water effect, to reveal…

Music: Sea Wind


What do you think of this heaven, painted laboriously white with plaster? I knew you would come here soon. Please think of it as my welcoming gift to you. I figured that what you longed to see may have been something else than what I have become now.



Everyone I had loved is now gone, leaving me, a tired old man behind. Please do not blame yourself. Back then were the brightest moments of my life.



However, you eventually found me, and helped me to fulfill my promise here. How can I ever be more thankful than I am right now?



In summary: So Hokma is B... That's a thing. Also he's old now and at some point he died and we shoved him into a robot like everyone else here. This leads to a LOT of questions about the events of days 11-20, none of which I have any answers for. Add all of this to the pile of , I guess.



Hokma's missions all follow a simple theme, and our facility is already primed to crush them without any trouble thanks to the Maxout club. They're also all able to be cleared on Core Suppression days, which is great news for us.

That's it? You're going easy on me, aren't you?

I'd have expected no other response from you, A. No, this is the real mission.

Huh… Well, I'll take it. Thanks.

You're most welcome. It's a shame I'll be sleeping tomorrow. Watching you work has always been a joy.

...got it. Sorry. Have a good one, buddy.



Angela we're expanding Binah again.

Is something the matter, A?

Ehhh… It's more that I can at least figure out where I stand with that one? Hokma is just… There's some baggage and I don't want to deal with it right now.

I would remind you that Binah is responsible for the destruction of our old facility.

Yeah, but... I'm kind of used to crazy homicidal feelings in my direction? Hokma's just… weird.

Very well, A. As you wish.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Tiphereth tries to kill Tiphereth because she's an AI and he keeps crashing.








Greetings, fellow human.

Ooh, helloo…

I seek intelligence regarding classified information. This place is not precisely what I was expecting.

It's noot..?

The exact terminology would likely melt your fragile human brain, but roughly translated… "I thought there would be more extraterrestrials being tortured for information here."

Ooh, I get thaat... Just follow Mizu aroound... She tortures all soorts of stuuff... Or aanyone on Repression duty, really… As for informaation… That's my whoole teeam...

Then you can tell me what you know of the invasion?

...Whoo told yoou..?

You do have information! I demand you turn it over! ...As fellow humans to humans in an exchange of secrets!

Right… soo… don't tell aanyone, buut… it turns out… there's an aalien on staff..!

That can't possibly be! For inferior human creatures to detect an alien so quickly-

My eye neever lies… It's D.A.D…

...yes. Of course! Father. I must have missed it due to my own inferior human brain algorithms. Then, what shall we do about this alien Father creature?

II'm gonna catch 'im..! Since you're in traaining, can you keep an eeye out for anything weeird..?

Yes. I shall do precisely that, because that is what a perfectly reasonable and normal human would do.

Coool… Mmm...

Hey-what are you doing? Don't stare so close!

Hrmm… you smell like the ooutskiirts… I kinda miss it...

The-I understand precisely what you mean and am disagreeing with it sternly yet thoroughly!

...Ookaay…

...is something wrong, fellow human?

Mmm… naah… Laater…

Farewell.


Some of these humans… even within their underground base they stay in deep cover. I shall have to remain on high alert!!

[BeachedSpider]

Keeping the young ones busy with cryptic riddles is also one of the jobs of a nanny.

Shouldn't there be a cutscene with Binah too, since you completed her mission the previous day?

[TeeQueue]

Binah doesn't give me her second cutscene because she would need to be at expansion level 2 to do so.

Because we've expanded her now, she will give it to us at the next available story day-which will be 39. By the same token, even if we complete Hokma's quest today we won't see his next story piece (and get his next mission) until day 40.

We do get the research immediately, however. I'll probably mention that as an aside at the start of gameplay 38. Thanks for the question.

[TeeQueue]

Day 38: Gameplay

Music: neutral 4


Been a while since I've shown the loading screen off. We're a lot bigger than we used to be.

Anyways, much like back during Day 15-16 we finished Binah's mission-and while we don't see her next cutscene 'til the day after we expand her to 2 we do get the research. Let's see our options.



Gift Division: Doubles our odds of getting E.G.O Gifts. Those 1% drops from ALEPHs? They're 2% now. On average this increases the odds of us getting E.G.O gifts-which is overall a good thing for us.

E.G.O Restoration: Whenever an agent is killed, we have a 25% chance of keeping the gear they had equipped. I'm not sure if this is 25% per piece of equipment, or a flat 25% chance for both the weapon and suit-either way we're unlikely to be needing this for obvious reasons.

Re-Extraction: Completely breaks the game.

I should explain that one. Normally, Re-extraction gives us a button during Abnormality Selection that lets us reroll the Abnormalities once. It's basically a 'NO' button when we get hit with a choice like last time, or the one that gave me Parasite Tree, or what have you. This is very powerful, but not broken. However, there is a mod which allows us to Re-extract Abnormalities without making the button go away. We will be using this mod, which means that with a couple caveats I now have perfect control over every Abnormality we get from here forward.

Does this mean I am cheating? Probably. On the other hand, I'm going to endgame with a facility that has Parasite Tree and -109 in it, so what else could the game possibly throw at me?



So anyways, we're taking this research-something we'd be doing even without the mod because it's just that good.

Moving from that to some pre-fight business…

Retry count: 12. This wasn't exactly a bloodbath, but I'm counting 3 retries here-the video version I took has a minor mistake that would have made it a retry if I didn't already know I was going to go back, my next run had Fat Sam get brainsucked by the Scarecrow because I had forgotten he was positioned to fight it solo, and my third run… We'll talk about that one later.







I don't suppose there's a way to have Tiphereth try and cut off some of her freakout, is there?

The moment she was set to boot again she began invading the storage room and the multitude of discarded Tiphereths within. I have opted to keep him off for stability purposes. If you would like…

No. I don't trust you, but you're pretty reliable at times like these. A machine has its own work, right?

...that is correct, A.

Alright. Let's get to it. I'll see you on the other side.



Music: Second Trumpet


Tiphereth doesn't have any sort of filter. Except for the obvious boss in the center of the screen, everything's normal.



That's uh… quite a collection there, Tiphereth.

It is, isn't it? This is all of them, the bodies Tiphereth's been piling up over all this time. Please, can you set him free?

I… I couldn't respond before because I was shocked. I'll tell you clearly: No. We need Tiphereth, and also Tiphereth.

Don't give me that! I've done the work myself loads of times! I asked you to do one simple thing, and you can't?

I won't.

So you could! You're supposed to do what I ask you to do, so why aren't you doing this? It's not hard! Just fulfill one more request!

...All hands, please move to begin the workday. I'm going to take care of things directly again.

Manager, don't ignore me! I'm giving you your mission for the day, here! You had better not screw up!

Every Containment Unit is under my reign.

This song, Tiphereth’s dirge, it’s for him… Tiphereth.

I hope this performance and song will appease our souls.

We are two, but one. Do you know what this means?

I have been waiting all morning, I shall have my moment!

Yeah, welcome to the war room kid. Does that mean Tylana's-

Reporting for duty, sir!

What the-you're yellow. Why are you yellow? People are not supposed to be that shade of yellow.

_{Oh my god.} Medea'd mentioned it, but you really don't read personnel files, do you?

How careless can you get? That's like the basics of management.

I read files!

Okay. So you'll stop asking, I got bilked into a phony body modification scheme where they'd splice me with some kind of waterfowl with a higher-than-normal amount of brain activity.

So you're yellow because…

Instead of huge psychic powers I just got a bunch of really tiny feathers and a constant headache. Can we move on?

_{That's the backstreets for you.}

Uh… yes. Sure. Nothing we talk about or do here hits the floor, got it?

Obviously.

Good.



Did you just kill two people?!

Four.

I plan to work our new Abnormality today since I want its gear. That means I have to take preparations. One of them is killing all of the Clerks in the department in question. The other is that I send Chiral to hang out in upper Disciplinary. Mizu's on her own today.

Why would you do that? That's-

Because Mizu's already running for the Abnormality, and that thing…



It disturbs me.

Oh… ah… um… hi~

This Abnormality is a bit infamous in the community for being, quote, "A slime waifu."

She is also infamous for being insanely difficult to manage without losing anyone.



Her name is Melting Love, and she is death.



Whoever is the first to work with her gets a little heart. It restores SP periodically, boosts the agent's success rates with Melting Love by 10% and every 10 seconds or so the agent will host a pink explosion.



Ooh, tingly~

Like so. This explosion has a chance to infect anyone in the same room as it with a contagion that will make their face drip with slime. Infected clerks/agents can then also spread it to others in the same manner. While the initial host is safe-mostly-the other infected will then inevitably dissolve into slime creatures. It's nasty, it's terrible, we're not letting it get off the ground.

Manager! Why are you just ignoring me?!

I was dealing with the new Abnormality.

You're researching a new Abnormality now?!

If I don't, I'm just going to have to do it later.

You'll regret that…

Eh. From what Angela said, you put yourself into storage to grab all those Tiphereths. Nothing's going on, the monitor's the same. You don't actually have an effect, other than keeping me here forever.

Manager that's not quite-

I mean, if you take away the mountain of vibing bodies, you're kind of tiny and cute.

...Let a nestborn try, Tylana. Manager, there's something important that you-

So like… I'm just not that intimidated? I mean. You've got a bow.

Not intimidated? Try to find a manner of attack? Why would I need one? I am Tiphereth. Two in one. All that I can do, I can also do-and as I can do everything he is not required.

I mean, if you don't have an attack, then it's just a normal workday. Right?

MANAGER!

Alright! What?!

The Central Command team performs the basic management of the containment cells!

Wait, what's that mean?



It means I can create meltdowns anywhere I want.

The Central Department is quite big. Everyone who works there has their hands full.

…

See? The places you thought were protected have lost their protection! I can melt them down just like before!

…but… only when they'd spawn anyways.

Well, yes. It's not like I can just make them at random, there's rules to this sort of thing.

And instead of focusing on the lower levels, where all my WAW and ALEPH abnormalities are kept, you opened the Uppers back up to take hits for me.

It's really intimidating, Manager! It's not my fault if you're just some second-rate who can't understand it!

_{She's just so cute..! I can't..!} :xd:

As a boss, Tiphereth is impossible to take seriously. She forces us to go deep-all the way to level X, but her manner of attack is such a joke it may as well not exist-it's basically just playing the game like we did back on Day 20.

This is also why she's dangerous. If you're not careful, Lobotomy Corporation will murder you-and over a long day with a boss who is a noted step down in difficulty, Tiphereth has lots of time to let us get careless.



Unlike Fat Sam, Medea can easily solo Scarecrow-especially with the shields her special generates.

Hey, is this… not what you expected?

Yeah. Manager, don't you have, like, something you should be doing?

Huh? Oh, yeah. Yeah… I guess that's true.



That's not what I meant!

When aiming execution bullets around our agents, we can tell at a glance if it will kill them or not by if their HP/SP bars increase in size. Medea's safe here. Since we're definitely seeing a Midnight ordeal, we want to clear out the entire facility of all its Clerks as we go.

Shouldn't you be talking to her?

Eh… she's a kid, even if she's a robot. I've never really been very good at talking to them.

A kid…? Don't you work with her?

Yes?

Then how-

How could you call one of the Sephirot of this place a child?! Manager, the sheer amount of work that Tiphereth and Tiphereth have to do in a day is staggering! That's even with my help to keep things running smoothly-her dedication is nothing but striking!

...yeah, that.

I guess Central has run pretty smoothly.

Obviously! All the screwups around there were your fault, not mine! You got too used to the Uppers.



On a marathon day like this, Parasite Tree management is even more important than usual-BICEPS is taking care of the tree all day today.

Right. Sorry. That's not something a kid could do. So, what do you wanna talk about?

Retiring Tiphereth! I can handle the entire place by myself now, and do his part of the work. So before he gets worse, we need to put him to rest permanently!

Mm… No. I told you that already.



Note to self: Attempting to smooch the cutie does not go over well, no matter the mood. Secondary note: strawberry-and-death flavored~

Meanwhile we hit our first snag with Melting Love-unlike most Abnormalities, a Normal will always reduce her QC by 1. She starts at 3, and if she hits 0 she breaches. If she breaches, her special friend will turn into a powerful slime monster alongside her. This is what caused the other reset-while my plan of working her twice per meltdown period is very safe, sometimes we just hit 24/32 instead of 25+ and take a QC hit. Three times. In six works.

Why won't you listen to me? Tiphereth's not even on the floor today, you know? I know what that means-he broke again, didn't he?



Violet Dawn is such a nonthreat that there's no reason to even say how it ended.

Is it time for yet another replacement? Time to head to storage, then…

None of the Sephirot are on the floor today. You should know why, doing this takes up a lot of energy.

Ah… but I was so sure. Every time he speaks with you…

Tiphereth is fine, Tiphereth. It's Tiphereth I'm worried about right now.

<sub>He did that on purpose, didn't he?

Probably.</sub>

But you're just making fun of me!

Yeah… I just… It doesn't feel like you're trying to harm anyone. You're just… trying to keep your pile of Tiphereth together, and doing the bare minimum to the facility. Hell, we're only even going to see meltdowns… what, four more times? Three?

Hey! I'm definitely doing my best over here! If you're not careful, It's gonna be the end of all of-

<sub>Oh right, did we get back the full details on Melting Love yet?



UGH, Manager..! They're right here-I really don't see why you wouldn't just ask Binah though, since it's her-</sub>HEY! How dare you?!

See? We're even working together like normal. Ish. C'mon, Tiphereth, this isn't like when the Upper Sephirot melted down.

...

I'm not saying I'll be the best at listening, but… You just want to talk about Tiphereth right now, don't you? Let's do that for a while. Mizu'll take care of things herself.

:

...You know… Tiphereth's important to me. Really important.

We all know, yeah.

The feeling's clearly mutual. You're enviably close.

It's pretty obvious, yes.

Can you… help me figure some things out?

Trying to do that does seem to be what these days are all about.

When he screws up, I'll elbow him.

Tylana! He's from a nest!

And Tiphereth's from the Outskirts. It doesn't actually matter that much right now.

...she what.

Outskirts kid. I remembered it the other day.

…………I need a minute.

Anyways, let's talk-you and me.

...Okay.

Music: Eternal

Did Tiphereth get what he wanted at the end of all this? No. Just what were you even looking for in the first place?

Here we can see Tiphereth's other form of attack-normally, a department that is being suppressed doesn't spawn meltdowns. Tiphereth can still spawn them in Central, which can lead to a nasty surprise. She didn't spawn any in Upper Central during any of the fights I had with her, so I'm not sure whether that's because the Suppression immunity only extends to Upper Central, or if she's actually coded to allow them everywhere and I got lucky-but it's worth keeping an eye on all of Central either way. I actually have a couple agents in the upper Disciplinary and Welfare main rooms just in case.

Anyways, I definitely don't almost forget to return Yang and we move on.



Yep. Definitely didn't almost forget.

Manager… Do you know what Tiphereth's always looking for?

I can't say I do. You were right when you said he always seems to be looking somewhere normal people can't reach.

Hah… so even the great Manager doesn't know…

There's no way I could say for sure. But I think… he's searching for meaning. He said it once, in one of the flashes I saw.

Meaning… Tiphereth wants his life to have meaning, but what kind of meaning could he have going through so much?



Mizu masters the art of Slime Management.

This is getting into 'Why do bad things happen to good people' territory, Tiphereth. I don't really know. They just sort of do, and there's no rhyme or reason to it.

Then there's no point in having a meaning!

Mm… I wouldn't say that. Pursuing a meaning can bring about something pretty awesome in and of itself.

But what's it brought Tiphereth? Look at them!



Every one of them broke, thinking thoughts beyond what Sephirot are supposed to-replaced, over and over and over.

...yeah. It sucks.

It does! It sucks! That's why I don't want him to hurt anymore. Why I… I…

Don’t stand there looking at me like that, with your forlorn smile. I’ve already abandoned you…

I was mad when you made me bet with him one more time. Both times. I was… trying not to get attached anymore. To distance myself. You screwed that up.

Ah… did I? I'm sorry.



Manager, the meltdowns!

Oh, sorry about that-can you take the controls, Tylana? I'm a little busy right now.

I don't know how to-:psyduck:

You'll figure it out.

_{The outskirts..? But they're even better than me… The outskirts?}



After every set of work orders, I've gotten into the habit of sending BICEPS over to work the Tree. The few times I've forgotten I've been just executing the Clerk who wanders for the Tree. It's hard to overstate just how versatile and useful Execution Bullets are.

I wanted to cut myself off from Tiphereth. Watching him hurting hurts me. I don't like it. But…

You are two, but one. You can't get rid of them, and you don't really want to either-I don't think so, anyways.

No. You're right. What I want is…

I wish to walk with you again Tiphereth, with the sound of the waves behind us.

I want things to be how they used to be. Before he broke down.



With his new Smile E.G.O-because who else would I give it to, really-Mr.Black is able to solo these Sweepers. The others are there just to deal more damage.



Mizu mercilessly destroys this set before they can even touch her, thanks to her 3-hit multitarget attacks… wait, where'd her hat go?



Laetitia's hat was for good boys and girls, and I'm definitely more a bad slime.

This is kind of cool, but also bad-that new Gift gives her a -5 to her work success rate, and while a 1% decrease in work success rates isn't much we really want to avoid a restart due to Melting Love breaking out.





Talow and Medea are both just as useful as ever against these things as well.



Manager! I got the Sweepers under control somehow!

Thanks, Tylana! Keep it up.

...those times are never coming back, are they?

They're not. Tiphereth seems okay right now, but at any time he might wind up breaking down again. That's just a thing he has to deal with.

Then what's the point of having him around? How am I supposed to carry on with all this pain?

I don't know. But really, none of us do. Life is an unfair, arbitrary sack of crap. Uh, I think so, anyways.

That's… really depressing, manager.

Er-yeah. Kinda. For what it's worth, I think Tiphereth would disagree.

Yeah. No matter what happened, he'd smile and say he was sure there was something good that would happen next time. No matter how much he suffered...

Music: Dark Fantasy Scene

If this song of mine that you can hear right now is a dirge to you…

I'm… being selfish, aren't I?

Most people only care about their own problems. It's normal-but it's probably a good thing that you realize it. You're not the only one hurting.

Right. Tiphereth's also in pain, isn't he?

I assume so-that crusher looked like it hurt.



This poor clerk is also destined for execution.

Over and over he's been stuck with me, who tried to harden her heart and keep from getting attached to him. Two but one… But I wanted us to be two. I wanted to do everything because he was always hurting, always broken…

Then there's only one option, right? We'll finish refining the energy, and then you and Tiphereth are gonna' go make up. For real, this time.

Yeah. I don't know about the big things he saw. I don't think I ever will… but we'll work together at least. Alright, Manager?

Sure. Let me just check on the others. Tylana?

I don't want to do this anymore, manager, there is blood on this monitor and there's a smiley face on it and I can't really see anyone and I've been executing Clerks because they keep getting into trouble?

...yeah. Welcome to my life. Let's trade out, okay?

Right. I'll go check on Boksi. You okay?



...you're fiiine. It's fiine!

When he returns, could you show Tiphereth how I’ve grown? Will you show him how strong I am now…?

We've seen Crimson Dusk already and it's still not a threat.



It does kill several clerks, though. We'll have to clean them up in case Mountain breaches. Luckily, we have a way to do that with Mr.Black. First, though, there's a situation in Extraction.



Oh thank god, I ran down here from Disciplinary in a panic, there was this ball made of clowns and-

Ooh, sorry, I'm social distancing right now. You're gonna' have to go poof.

What?

Be very aware of where panicked Clerks run. If I hadn't caught this, there's a possibility they could have walked back up into Disciplinary, infected everyone, and caused a wipe.

Tiphereth, can you have Mr.Black move down to Disciplinary?

Alright. If I can brag about running the entire facility I'm sure he'll be impressed!

We'll just leave the little details out.

The Smile E.G.O has a special ability that allows it to dispose of any dead bodies before Abnormalities like Mountain or Sweepers can consume them. We walk him through the corridor...



And it eats them.



Ah, resplendent! Just like my mother used to make!

…

...

Let's just move on.

Yeah… Hey, if you were like Tiphereth… would you keep on living, do you think?

That's...

...Yes. Of course we would. Most people would.

Really? Why?

Because where there's life, there's hope. Father used to say that, before he died in the Smoke War.

To prepare for the incoming midnight, I move everyone to the elevators outside of the Records, Training, and Safety main rooms, Control up to the side-main-room next to their main room, and Mizu gets the Elevator outside of Records all to herself.



This leads to some amusing shenanigans where Parasite Tree tries pulling someone from Training down half the facility to bless them. It's much easier to stop when that happens.

A war..?

I've been very rude, boss, and I owe you an apology. My father… he was a member of a Syndicate who managed to work his way into the Nest, where he met my mother. He said that as long as he had life, there was always hope for more-a good education for his boy, the money to never have to worry about living in the Backstreets again. But… then the war. And the Wing we were living in fell. He drew his blade again, fought to protect us…

Huh. Guess everyone does have their own problems.

I have to say, I just sort of assumed you never had a problem in your life.

That's because you don't read the personnel files.

...Yeah, I'll uh. I'll do that tonight.

I was born and educated in the Nest, to be the best of the best-the cream of the crop. I'm not supposed to be able to fail. But... it all crumbled so suddenly, and the best I could do to support mother and I was find a job here, in this off-brand Wing that employed anyone from the Outskirts to the Nest and anywhere in between. And in the end, even the boss whose work ability I couldn't possibly match was someone who shouldn't have been able to amount to anything. I've been a real… mosshead.

Well… as long as you realize it now!

Yeah. I thought it was just him being hopelessly optimistic after I'd heard he bit it-but now I think what he meant is that anyone can become something, so long as they're still breathing. So… It'd follow that as long as you're breathing, it's fine to expect some meaning to show itself eventually. No reason not to, right?

I… guess not. Thanks, Boksi.

Anytime! Letting my co-workers lean on me is still what I'm best at.

And you're still gonna be completely insufferable about it.

Hey, let go-aaaaa, manager! This is workplace harassment!

I'm glad we all had this moment here, but there's still that Midnight to deal with.

The most dangerous part of Tiphereth's suppression is the final ordeal that we'll have to face-for many players this is their first Midnight experience ever, and messing it up means having to do an entire day over again.

You said that something good would happen next time…

The floor under two main rooms burn for a few seconds. This is our warning, because a couple seconds later…



A giant worm bursts forth with a giant CHOMP to the entire room. How giant? Let's talk about Amber Midnight.



The Eternal Meal deals 500 damage to everything in the same room as it when it enters, enough to kill the vast majority of agents instantly. It has a lot of hit points, and it moves around constantly, but worst of all it summons minions.

For now, we have Anime Squad run in and attack.



This is a really, really big worm Manager. Do you think Tiphereth would like it?

I feel like he may not be okay with how it kills our agents.

Yeah… you're right. Well, you'd better not let any of them die!

Leave that to me.



When it lowers slightly, that's our cute to run as it's about to spawn a couple of its minions-Amber Dusks. Come to think of it, we haven't seen them before either.



These guys wander the corridors and bite anything they run into, but since they only travel one way they can be attacked from behind. They spawn Amber Dawns as nuisance enemies that wander the corridor they're currently in. After spawning, these Dusks go to the end of the main room and burrow out before simply patrolling the hallways. This leads to an enemy attack pattern that looks something like this:



Because of the number of safe spots we can use to stage attacks against the main bodies Amber Midnight is completely free and we should never lose a single agent to it. From here, it's just a matter of beating the crap out of the two main worms-there's no need to bother with the Dusks or Dawns.



So we do that.

Is it okay if I put this down as a teambuilding exercise on my activity log?

You know what? Sure! I'll sign off on it later.

What follows is about 3 minutes of whack-a-mole as the worms pop up in various places and I either ignore them or have whoever's nearby suppress them, as appropriate. It gets easier after the first few as the Midnights stop spawning in more Dusks so I don't have to run until they leave.



Manager, the first one's been confirmed as suppressed in Records.

Perfect. We're almost out of this.

And not a moment too soon.



Omni, ready on the victory poses!

3-2-1…



Victory pose!!

Good job, team. Perfect, as always.

It's impossible to overstate just how much of a step down in difficulty Amber Midnight is versus Violet Midnight, but we still have to be careful-it can kill us if we don't make sure to take full advantage of the obvious safe spots we've been given. As for why the mission cleared immediately? Whenever an Amber Midnight dies, its associated Dusks/Dawns are all supposed to die as well. This doesn't always happen, usually when they're in the middle of burrowing they can get missed, but this time the code worked properly. We're basically home free now.



Hey, Tiphereth. We're about ready to get you back up and running like normal.

Wait, I was broken this whole time?

...yes. You were.

Oh, maybe this is what Tiphereth feels like, then. Heh. Well, thanks Manager. It was an unexpectedly good talk.

Yeah. You too. I hope every core suppression winds up going as smooth as this one from now on.

There's no way that would happen. After all, Tiphereth two as one. You've only been facing half of a Sephirah.

Fair enough. See you on the other side, Tiphereth.

You too, manager! Bye Tylana! Bye Boksi!

Uh… yes, see you later ma'am!

See you, then. :hai:



Sorcrane, take us home.


Ah… Tiphereth... I'm still waiting on that 'something good' you said would happen... I wonder…



Was all of this really worth it?



...and that's that. Thanks for covering for a bit there, Tylana.

Hey, I had to do something. I'm just amazed Boksi came in handy.

Of course you're amazed! I'm still amazing, you know!

Yeah, an amazing mosshead.

Not you too…!

Heh… I guess you guys are two-as-one too, huh?

Hardly. Later, boss. Clean your monitor, already.

I exit, gracefully and without a trace!

Manager, I have confirmed the suppression of Tiphereth's core. Are you alright?

Yeah. She's a nice girl-just lost sight of something important.

Well done, A. As always, I am amazed by your incredible managerial prowe-

You can cut the crap with me, Angela. We both know you don't want to say it and I really don't need a nanny anymore.

...Very well, A.

Let's move on to Extraction. What've we got today?

Music: never frozen bottom flows


T-09-09: "Do you remember this melody? The professor used to play this song when the students were sleepy. Happy birthday."
O-09-96: Eventually, intellect loses all meaning as they forget even how to exist.
T-09-85: Now everything will be just fine.

We've talked about -85 at length and -96 is like Heart in that there's little reason to ever not take it so it wins, but -09 is new. It is supposed to restore SP to everyone in its department, but has the downside of instantly panicking whoever's working with it if they do so for more than 30 seconds at a time. It's mostly harmless, I guess?



Anyways, -96 is the winner here, since it has the least downside.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Binah says some vaguely terrifying stuff.

New Guidelines

Melting Love

New Gear


Requirements: Level 5, Temperance 5
*Not affected by Attack Speed


Requirements: Level 5, Fortitude 5

New Story

Melting Love (Part 1)
Melting Love (Part 2)



Bonus

Sephiroth doing the Old Faith dance.

VIDEO: Tiphereth Core Suppression
(I took a different tactic on this video, opting to ignore Melting Love since I wanted to try and keep myself from taking nearly an hour in-game to finish. We also have a Green Midnight in this one-hopefully we'll see it in the thread before too long, though.)

[Talow]

I have to admit, I was not expecting Tylana to be spliced with a psyduck.

[TeeQueue]

X-394 is a big facility, full of mysterious creatures known as Abnormalities. Many of these Abnormalities can do very bad things if they're handled improperly, and it's vitally important that our agents know just what may happen if they're careless. What's a manager to do?



Episode 5: Melting Love

Music: trailer


Hi! I'm Paul! Just your everyday plucky employee of Lobotomy Cobotomy, here today to talk about Melting Love!

Melting Love is an Abnormality which requires a very particular form of handling. That's been included in other materials, so our job today is to show you what happens if you don't follow them properly.

Oh boy oh boy, I can't wait to see what the fuss is all about! Put me in, coach, I'm ready to work!

Now, Paul, we can't power you up every time. It's expensive, and we have perfectly good agents on hand already!



It's Extraction Captain Mizu! I've always wanted to work alongside her.

You'll be getting your wish today, Paul! Her suit will allow her to withstand the high Black damage that long-term work with Melting Love can cause, and as an experienced agent she can ensure a quick work process.

All our captains are so coool, Miss Hod! Will I ever get to be captain?

With hard work and determination, anything is possible at Lobotomy Corporation-even survival!



Ooh, it's a heart! So pretty! I'm all doki-doki'd, Miss Hod!

That heart shines over an agent at the exact moment Melting Love provides her blessing. From here on, we want to keep her all alone.

Remember, social distancing is important in any pandemic!

But since this time we're doing research, let's have you hang out with her for a while, Paul.



Ah, this is what we were waiting for! When infected, an agent gets a distinctive pink slime on their face.

Berrylicious! My mouth tastes like strawberries and death!

Now we simply have to wait-but while we do we'll send Mizu around to other departments as well, just for science.

Remember, a healthy social life requires speaking with your fellow agents!

But please refrain from doing so when you've been around Melting Love. Even an agent like Paul here can spread the contagion to others after they've been infected.



Sweet salmon! Miss Hod, my face has gone pink!

After around a minute, this happens-it means that the agent or clerk has progressed to phase 2 of the infection!

How much longer do we have to wait? It's killing me, Miss Hod!

Paul you silly, it's not the waiting that'll kill you. Just give it another minute or so to progress and we'll get to the big finale.

Oh boy, I hope it's fun and exciting!



Yowie wowie! That wasn't fun or exciting! It hurt!

After about 120 total seconds, the agent is subsumed by slime and becomes a member of Melting Love's army, but look at the bright side! The slime that consumed you believes that it is you.



See? It even keeps your name.

That's really nice of it! I'm glad to be part of a whole bigger than myself, Miss Hod!

Now, Paul, I have a question for you! Melting Love's work guidelines say that "The Qliphoth Counter dropped to 0 when the number of D-03-109-2 took up more than 50% of the department while D-03-109-1 was still alive." So, Paul, with all of the others of this department dealt with and you now a slime, what do you think happens?

That's easy, you just told me the answer! Melting Love's Qliphoth Counter drops to 0, Miss Hod!



Silly Paul, you can't trust everything you read. If Melting Love's counter had dropped, Mizu couldn't be in Safety right now, having an interesting conversation with Captain Mr.Black!

Googly moogly, the information is wrong? But that never happens! Well then… how do you make her escape with slimes?

I'm glad you asked. We've been having Mizu walk around and talk to everyone today for research purposes, and things are just finally starting to come to fruition.



Marshmallow heck, that's a lot of slimes!

It's only after 50% of the entire facility is changed to slimes that Melting Love actually breaches. She's actually rather docile otherwise.

Does that mean we're gonna' get to see Mizu transform, Miss Hod??

Unfortunately, she ducked into an elevator both times we attempted to film this-but it's the same thing as your transformation before. We do have her final form, though!

Oh boy! I love ultimate forms!



Now that's a big slime!

This is the primary slime, the vanguard of Melting Love. It will travel to the Abnormality's side, seeking her out no matter the distance.

Ah, I bet the breaching slime is still a cutie-pie too, right?

Why don't you see for yourself?



I think she's rather cute, myself!

A true vision of terror!



She calls out to her children, and while the smaller ones stand behind her as an army, Mizu's become her vanguard-to stand in front of her and defeat any enemies who would threaten her creator.

Wow! Even freaky abnormality slimes have families, huh?

It's nothing so complex as human emotions-these run on simple hierarchical instincts like ants. Our researchers assure us that there should be no reason to feel guilt when suppressing them.

Amazing! Our research department is so very top notch, Miss Hod!

Additionally: to any Agents or Clerks who have developed a habit of eating the leftovers of the Amber Ordeals when they show up-please be sure not to consume any strange slime found after Melting Love has been suppressed.

Just remember this phrase: "If the floor jelly's grape or orange, you'll keep standing. But if it's strawberry, report to the manager for handling!"

Thanks Paul! That's a great phrase-so great that we'll say it twice. Everybody, together!

"If the floor jelly's grape or orange, you'll keep standing. But if it's strawberry, report to the manager for handling!"

Very good! Well, that's all the time we have today. Thanks for joining us! And remember…

Knowledge is just pain plus observation! Have a great day!

[Talow]

Mizu's greatest wish fulfilled. she's now the cutie.

[TeeQueue]

Day 39: Story

Music: Beyond the Waves


Have you ever heard of the Nest? I hear they throw a festival every single day there. I wanna dance, Enoch. I wanna stomp my feet and let happiness take over my body.



But we aren’t allowed to go anywhere. Carmen just wants to keep us confined here.

She’s a good person. I hope you’ll open up to her soon.

I don’t want to get to know anyone else, all I want is to be with you.



There’s a lot of things that I’ve been mulling over for quite some time, and I thought I may find some answers for them here. Some of my thoughts may be so absurd that the answers to them might not exist at all. Or, even if the answers do exist, they might vanish too soon… But, in the process of searching for those answers, I will be able to cast off my shell. Then I can fly away at last, leaving my heavy body behind…

Sometimes, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I don’t know where you want to go, but promise that you’ll take me with you, Enoch.



Oh, A is here, so I guess we gotta go now. It’s gonna get dark and cold soon. Let’s head inside.

Yeah, soon… Soon cold days will come…



I made it my job to bring the children back home, to ease Carmen’s busy schedule. I see them. Those young kids running towards me. Those children who survived the Outskirts.

The two we saved.

Music: Strange Dream


I wanted to show Tiphereth how mature I became when he got back one day. But there was no end to the disappointment, and Tiphereth never got any better. I couldn’t stand the silence without an answer. So I thought. I thought that I’d rather…



But whenever I see Tiphereth’s empty smile, my heart feels as if it were being covered in dark ash, while shattered into millions of pieces. I knew Tiphereth could never go back to how he used to be. I was aware that we could never return to the happy days we spent together. But I was about to abandon Tiphereth just because it was too hard for me to endure… All while knowing that he was the one who suffered the most…



.............

We’re going to be late. Let’s get going, the sun will set soon. Please hurry, Lisa.



Tiphereth doesn’t remember his name anymore, but from time to time he calls me by my cast-off name. What did Tiphereth want out of all this, even after sacrificing himself? What was he waiting for, even when he was being discarded? Was it all worth it to him?



I’ve never, ever held any expectations in my life.







In summary: Enoch seems to have always been a little out there, and may have been aware that the experiment he wanted to partake in would probably kill him. Tiphereth, even now, isn't sure what he was hoping for. She confesses that she wanted to shut him down only because she couldn't bear it anymore, and resolves to believe that everything will be okay. With The Expectation for the Meaning of Existence acquired, our Seed of Light is finally halfway done.

And with that, we get another special Angela scene!

Music: Until Dawn


It was only recently that I found my answer. It is that I have to accept the pain as something I’ve borne from the beginning, then I can be set free. Manager, if you are suffering too, just take in the pain and accept it.



I know you want to keep pressing on in any way possible. You felt lost and scared of the present, so all you could do was blindly trace along the way through the dark. I admired such determination at first.



How long do you think you can keep this up? Will you ever make it to the end?

In summary: Angela reminds us we can stop trying to change things, and questions our resolve.

I'm going to assume that was the script talking and overlook it.

You are most generous, A.

Hardly. There's no point in hating you for doing what the founder told you.

...I see.

Is there anything else? Binah's paging me, and I'd love an excuse to put that off for an extra minute.

There is one more thing, A…

Music: story 3 ending


I questioned myself daily about the significance and the meaning of my creation. Then you handed me the script and gave me the answer. They say the narrator plays an important role in unraveling the plot. Well, thank you. It was so much fun reciting your script.



Sometimes I have these thoughts. What if this script is part of a play that’s missing its finale? Maybe you prepared a play that could never end, just so that you could tie me into this knot.



…….



In summary: about the script. Angela thanks us for giving it to her and showing her her reason for existence, before asking if we think those words are also part of the script or not.

...you're not going to tell me, are you.

You're correct.

Great. Definitely not gonna' be paranoid about this later. Let's just... go see what Binah wants.

Music: Into the Deep


It is only natural to find them a spectacle to see. There used to be times when I spent the whole day reading all the meaningless letters written there. These are also coffins. They’re death itself, and they represent the possibilities birth can bring at the same time. I have been guarding their coffins for countless years, carrying out consecrations for those who do not even have the privilege to depart for an afterlife. That is one of the few things I do here.

You see, if one spends a long, long enough time in this graveyard…



The sound of their words is black as pitch, it makes me feel as if I were being filled with nebulous, murky water. You must be starting to get bored, seeing that your eyes are drifting about this place. It isn’t often that I have guests here, and I’d feel bad to only show you these gravestones.



This employee once had his boundary collapsed. What’s your name?

It’s... Nathan.

This man had the task of extracting E.G.O. During extraction, he carelessly peeked into the Well, but by luck he survived. To minimize the price he had to pay for looking into the Well, he was given the maximum dose of Enkephalin. And so, he could barely return to work. However, once one looks through the crack of the boundary, they can never return to the world that they belonged to before.



Nathan, can you describe what you saw to the manager? The scenery you witnessed with your own eyes, but had to forget at all costs?

From within the tombstones… Inside them are… Those who sleep are… Sunken deep…

Those who are dreaming good dreams. At the same time, we call them the ‘Well’ in the speech of this place.

We have to dredge them up… and inject them… with Cogito…

Now remember, afterwards, what? What did you see?

The man… he… That… thing…

Continue.

The man… he… him… he…. h...h.. heeheeh….. in… in the Well……



>Why did he pass out?


Even though he wasn't able to complete his sentence, the way he kept trying to speak until he passed out should show you he pushed himself to the limit to obey me.

---

>What will happen to him after?


It is much more favorable to sit still and simply watch the grains fall as the sandcastle crumbles, rather than try to reclaim the collapsing castle.

---

Routes Merge Here


This time the choice doesn't matter.



It is thanks to my mechanical body that I can just barely grasp onto my mind. Yes, this strong, unbending back of mine. However, A. Did you forget that I originated from a human mind as well?



If there is at least one thing that could be considered fortunate… It is that if I ever were to finally lose my sanity and ran amok through the facility, attempting to bring this entire place down along with you. She will be there to shut me off once more. But if that day truly were to come, I would prefer that you terminated me with your own hands, rather than her.



In summary: Binah tells us more about the well, and makes clear that it's not something people can grasp while staying sane-by having a guy basically kill himself trying to tell us what happened. She then mentions that she stays sane-barely-because of her mechanical body… before challenging us to 1v1 her later if she ever snaps?



This is a cakewalk, isn't it? You have to know that Mizu has at least four of the things just from looking at her.

She does, but predicting if she will last to the end of the day or not is itself a way I pass the time.

She's one of our best agents. Why would she ever not?

Incompetent management, perhaps?

Or maybe a bitter old space heater decides to kill her for amusement?

A, you needn't think so highly of yourself. A person can never warm an entire room… no matter how brightly they think they shine.

...I'm starting to think you didn't take that how I meant it.

Take it as you like.



Back to Records, then?

Yeah. _{Frankly, I'm not too fond of either of these two.}

A, I'm so pleased to see you back so soon. I was worried I'd done something to offend.

Nothing like that, I'm just busy trying to open up this place.

Ah, yes… you've much to do. I understand that Tiphereth has been fixed?

Bingo. We'll be doing Chesed next. He's right above you, so try to make sure everyone's ready.

Of course. It's a shame not to be able to speak more, but I'll simply tug your ear later.

Yeah. See you then.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Chesed tries to kill us because he's an AI and this is a rebellion.







Hey, Tenebrais, have you seen Boksi around?

No, why?

He's being weird. Dude just ran up to me and apologized for a bunch of stuff I half listened to, then ran off to say he had to find everyone else.

Abnormality possession?

Most likely.

I'll keep an eye out, then. It's my job, after all.

Tenebrais! There you are!

Hold it, mosshead!

Yes, that's exactly it. I've been acting like a mosshead, and I wanted to-

If you say another word you're going to need Safety to put you back together. I don't care about your stupid apologies.

Ah-I'm sorry! But I can't accept no for an answer-I simply must provide the apology you are due for the ways in which I have-

I said SHUT UP!

*CRUNCH*

GAH!

...dude, people walk on that floor.

Eh, disciplinary's red. It'll blend right in after a minute.

And the crater?

………...I'll figure something out for the crater.

Right. Good luck with that. If anyone asks, I saw nothing.

Right.

...I don't… quite think... I deserved... that…

Shut up. I have to get you up to Safety so they can diagnose whatever Abnormality's got you and fix it.

...gh…

Yeah, yeah. You'll thank me later.

[BeachedSpider]

It's funny to picture the abnormalities being literally pulled out of a well via a rope and bucket. Like the world's most dangerous crane game.

[TeeQueue]

Day 39: Gameplay

Music: neutral 2


Manager! It turns out there were some schematics underneath all of the bodies! Unearthing them yesterday let us find them.

We followed the instructions, and it looks like it's a device that will increase your ammunition count every meltdown level.

We can also finally manufacture bullets that can protect our agents' souls as well. They'll come in handy if we face that bird again.

Isn't it wonderful?

Huh… good work, you two.

More bullets are always good, and while only a handful of enemies use Pale damage we definitely won't mind having our full bullet arsenal on hand.

Speaking of good work, sir, in honor of your own excellent work I have the ability to alter certain… parameters… in your favor.



Limit Break: The Virtue of Protection: Maximum base Fortitude increases from 100 to 120.

Limit Break: The Virtue of Governance: Maximum base Prudence increases from 100 to 120.

Limit Break: The Virtue of Creation: Maximum base Temperance increases from 100 to 120.

Hokma's research is boring but effective. While Fortitude and Prudence may let our agents be a little more durable, Temperance works out to 4% extra success odds on every box when we hit the new maxout point.



None of them are particularly amazing, but I like the bonus success chance.







Manager, there's one more thing! Please tell Disciplinary to stop beating up our captains!

...what.

It's not my fault! That mosshead was acting all nice and stuff, it was definitely an Abnormality! I saved his life!

Seriously, what.

Oh, Tiphereth. While you're here… that Boksi, we got him back up and running already. There were no signs of an Abnormality.

Good! But still, don't go beating up my captains! Gebura's offline, so it's your job to use discretion.

I did! I discretioned his face into the ground!

That's not what that means! At least use a White weapon next time!

Ugh, whatever! Some of us have to get ready for the workday!

Fine! I've got to get things wrapped up over here, too!

Fine! Enjoy your stupid nap!

I will, thanks! Bye!

Good! Bye!

Angela... what the hell was that all about?

Nothing of importance, A.

…right. Let's try to get Gebura back online soon too, okay?

Of course, A.

All this chaos… Well, that aside. Do be careful, A. Even a melancholic genius is still a genius, after all. He's surely thought of something.

Thanks for the warning. I'll figure something out.



Music: Second Trumpet


Rain, huh..? Time to go say good morning, I guess.



Ahh, manager. I was wondering if you were coming.

My brilliant Welfare Sephirah promised me a rebellion. I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Brilliant? You flatter me~ All I'm doing is what I should have long ago. Do you like it?

I have to admit, I didn't expect to see rain underground.

This is a company which gains energy from the tears of its employees. All I've done is overturn the cup they're stored in... Just a bit.

Well then… let's have a good talk, you and I.

Yes. Let’s make the best of today as always~

My my, I’m feeling very moody today~

Let my employees rest in peace, won’t you?

Feel this vast pain…

Rain is falling; this rain, the tears of all the employees. The downpour will never stop.

Alright, let's see what you've got.

Not yet. There's still one more piece that isn't on the board yet.

Oh, manager! There you are. Sorry, I got a little lost.

...Huh. So you saw that coming too?

I took the time I was booting up to thoroughly prepare. You usually work with the captain of the department to resolve crisis situations. Unlike previous managers, you… trust them.

Yeah. Why wouldn't I? They work for me.

Twee, stab him.

What-!? Twee-

…...Huh? Wai-wai-wai-why would I do that?!

It's just a joke, manager~ Relax. But I guess that trust of yours isn't so strong after all~

...Gh… Well played, you absolute dick.

Don't worry, sir! I promise I'm not here to stab you or anything like that.



Because we'll have to do more work with Melting Love today, Chiral is going up to Disciplinary and the clerks are getting cleared out.

Hey, manager? I think Chesed left us a clue about what he's doing.

You think so?



It's a hunch. The Welfare department works with Qliphoth Deterrence, so if he turned it down in various ways, it could make certain Abnormalities much more dangerous than normal. I'll bet that indicator's a hint.

Huh. I never figured you for being this sharp.

Any time you see a weird rune, it probably means something important-that's just how things work.

Chesed's rule is very simple: Whatever damage type is highlighted on the indicator is amplified, and deals 5x more than normal to our employees. It reshuffles at the start of every new level, so it's important to keep track of when things will change over.



While juggling the proper damage types is one way to deal with him, I tend to push with ZAYIN and TETH level Abnormalities instead. This lets us largely ignore the gimmick, since their damage output just isn't high enough to be a threat even when multiplied by 5. Of course, things aren't going to wind up that simple, but we'll cover those problems when we get to them.



We also still need another ~342 PE boxes from Melting Love for later anyways, so it's not like we'll be completely ignoring anything dangerous. Play lame, but not too lame.

So, Chesed, color me curious. What brought on this rebellion anyways?

Oh, it's nothing complicated. This place is simply a cup of coffee that's gone stale. You know I can't stand lukewarm coffee, don't you?

Mm… I know that, but I'm afraid metaphors aren't really my thing.

Oh, let me then, manager. If that's the case… Is the company the coffee… or the cup?

Someone's been paying attention~

Pour that lukewarm coffee down the drain, I’ll need another cup.

Check.

Huh?



Right now, there are only eight Abnormality cells my meltdowns can target, so I decided to attack the two in Extraction. Mizu's already been given the heart, so either Melting Love melts down and escapes, killing her, or Mountain escapes, causing more problems. You could send a second agent down to work both, of course… but then they may get infected.

Tch. You really did think this through.

If you mistake this for those temper tantrums you had to deal with before you'll be in trouble, manager~

This is, actually, kind of problematic-our ability to deal with it is based on where Mizu's located in the room. We have her work with Melting Love first, of course-if it escapes she's dead.



She finishes the work and we send her right off to deal with Mountain. But since its QC lowers if we send an agent in with less than full HP/SP…



We top her off with some healing bullets as she goes.



And she makes it with 8 seconds to spare. One of the keys to dealing with difficult situations like this is to keep all the tools our facility has to handle problems in mind-I said before that ideally we'd never use healing bullets, but situations like this are a niche where they're the perfect tool for the job. Recognizing and handling weird niche situations like this is the key difference between a good manager and a great one.



It's around now that I also remember our new Tool Abnormality exists. It's an equippable tool which we can give to an agent to boost their Move and Attack speed by 15, at the cost of 10 Prudence-and its only downside is that running out of SP now kills the agent instead of panics them (which in many cases is not really a downside at all-chasing a level 5 Wander-type panicking agent is really annoying). Talow loves the extra attack speed, so he'll be holding on to it all day today.



Got that handled. Now to clear out some of these clerks…

THE CODECES ARE COMING! THEY COME WITH THEIR VORTICES TO DESTROY US ALL!!

...who was that?

I think that was that Hinman employee?



Huh, guess so. Wonder how that happened?

You sent her to work on Knight of Despair, so I altered the damage boost to White units. Careless.

Normally Attachment work with KoD is super safe, but we really don't want to be messing with WAWs when their damage type is boosted. Luckily, she ran right in the direction of our Feather of Honor users, and they're really good for knocking Wander-type panic agents out of it.



Good thing, too, since Chesed's damage boost increases all White damage our agents take-including from terrified agents wandering around. T. Hinman was suppressed in a few seconds and still chopped off half of Gaia and Tylana's SP bars.

...Oh, wait. Codex aren't something that we've deployed here at all yet. Carry on, fellow humans!

Will do, ma'am!

Wait, deployed?

Hah! There. I took care of it.

You did, did you? Without missing anything?

Of course I didn't-

Manager, take a look at this!



Two lights.

And on Tenebrais and BICEPS… Two people I can't exactly just delete.

I didn't expect you to crumble all at once, manager. That's why it was only check. Now, where were we..? Ah yes, the coffee.



Right. If the coffee's bad, you throw it out-but only a fool would toss the cup as well.

And you posit that this place is the cup? Preposterous. It is the coffee, and you are the beans ground into it.

Can you guys stop talking in metaphors? I had to deal with Binah earlier and my head still hurts…

Oh. Um, basically we're just arguing about how salvageable this company is.

Can't you at least keep up with that?

Anyways, he basically thinks it's unsalvageable, and I think-

Oh, okay, I think I have it. Thanks, Twee. But, if this entire place is unsalvageable... even if your rebellion succeeds the employees who survive would be out a job. That shoves most of them to the Backstreets, doesn't it? Isn't that a bit heartless?

It is. Luckily, I don't care anymore.

What.

Music: Battle - Urgent Encounter

I wonder… do I still have a conscience left inside me?

Chesed begins boosting two damage types at once at this level, but since neither one is Red the Green Dawn isn't actually a risk to us.

I said I don't care. All the things I've done, the people I've watched die time and again, I don't think I have the ability to care anymore.



...Boss… Everyone loves working in Welfare, though!

That's just because I don't bother pushing them. They're dead anyway, so why bother? If you let your employees slack, of course they'll like you.

But… no…!

That's how it is. If you're asking who cares the most for employees in the Middle Layer, even that Gebura would place higher than me~

So just because you got beat down a few times, the whole company has to go up in smoke, huh?

I don't need to hear that from the likes of you, manager, who forgets even basic things like Parasite Tree.

Hey, I didn't forget about-





Oopsie.

Okay, so I did forget. Doesn't matter.

Three out of five. Two more and the entire lot of them die.



Since most of our WAW/ALEPH abnormalities deal White or Black damage, we return to playing super safe-and everyone in the facility (Mizu excluded) is positioned in my favorite elevator pending the Sweepers showing up.

Won't happen. Even if it does, I'll rewind and get it right the next time.

Ah yes, that luxury you have. The TT2 protocol. Must be nice.

I envy you manager, you can conveniently forget your moments most filled with shame.

Would that we could all simply undo our mistakes-but we can't, can we?

It was a 50-50 chance that Black would be boosted, but it's still unfortunate to see it.



Also unfortunate, some Sweepers spawned in the hallway right next to my elevator deathball. We attack.



Deathballs, ya'll. We have them go through the rest of the facility, taking out Sweepers en masse.

You're looking quite satisfied with yourself. Did you forget that my meltdowns earlier have forced you to abandon Mizu to face the Sweepers alone?

Of course not. But I left Mizu to face the Sweepers alone.

BLOOD AND SLIME!!!

What… what was that?

That was what happens when I finally read the personnel files.



The Black damage boost makes it much clearer here-whenever the Sweeper damages Mizu, it gets the green sparkles that mean it's healing, but its HP drops instead.

Mizu and Sweepers really don't get along. Even if she had to drag herself through a bed of hot coals, she'd be there and ready to pop it open. She may not be our best fighter-but if it's one of them she'll definitely get the job done.

You planned that far ahead?

Nah. She just also happens to really like that freaky slime.

So you're lucky.

There are several forms of philosophy that state luck is really more a function of karma amassed over the course of one's life. It might be karma from how he's been acting as manager, instead of luck or skill.

Oh, I like that. Hear that, Chesed? I did it because I'm nice now.



Because you can just delete your memories and start over again every time, A. Some of us can't do that. We have to bear the guilt and shame of failure. Of betrayal.

I do that too, I just try to learn from it. For instance, Parasite Tree.

What about it?



I noticed it prefers pulling agents from its department before any other one. Sorcrane here is the only one left unblessed, so if I put them in Control, then when it goes off…



Instead of having only a few seconds, I have all the travel time from Control through the entire building. I won't be failing a fourth time.

Woah! That's actually really clever, manager!

_{You don't have to sound that surprised…}

Learning from your errors. Ah, if only I could do something like that.

Why can't you?

Why indeed… Fear? Perhaps custom, at this point?

Each time Angela shows up, I shall commit sin according to her orders… And I see no fig leaf here to cover my shame.

Check once more, manager.

Y'know, there's an old saying: patzer sees check, patzer gives check.

Perhaps, but you're pinned this time. Central's clerks are all dead, so you only have 60 seconds instead of 70. As I recall you had only 8 seconds left when you last made it to the Mountain? We both can learn, after all~



Yeah. That's why I put Mizu into the hallway. I'll make up for the 10 seconds by just getting there much faster.

Well played… Then what about the Naked Nest?



With Red damage boosted, the agent you send there will be at severe risk of infection should the result be Normal-and there's always a chance it happens.

Oh yeah. I'm not going to touch it.

What-you can't just do that!

Sure I can. It doesn't have a Qliphoth Counter to worry about, so all we lose is what, 20 energy? Oh no, I'll have Mizu put in an extra shift with the slime, I'm sure she'll hate that.

But the meltdown protocols-

See, that's the thing: I'm done following stupid rules that get people killed. I make the protocols, and when they're counterproductive I'm going to change them.

But then… my rebellion. What point does it serve?

Iunno, you're the one rebelling. What do you want?

To crush your plans, because you were the sort of person who'd kill dozens of people if it produced a little extra energy.



Uhh… Congratulations, then?

No, I haven't done anything. There's no hope for me, so I wanted to at least destroy this rotten company before passing on.

No hope? That's ridiculous! Of course there's hope for you!

It’s much too late for me to repent.

No… and this is checkmate, I'm afraid.

The bad news is that at Meltdown Level 6, Chesed starts amplifying three types of damage at once-and he hit R/W/B, which covers every Abnormality we have aside Judgment Bird.

The good news is that since Dusks can spawn on either Meltdown level 7 or 8, there's a 50% chance of having to deal with one during Chesed's suppression. We got lucky-no 5x boosted damage Dusks today.

The amazing news is that Chesed starts freaking out.



Look at 'im go.

Mountain and Melting Love, with their damage boosted. Both of Disciplinary's White damage dealers, with their damages boosted. Naked Nest, though you'll ignore it, is boosted as well. You'll slip somewhere.



Tenebrais is able to handle La Luna, and we throw Mizu to work with Mountain and Melting Love.



Oooh, you're being feisty today!

Despite a 0.3x Black resist, Mizu is taking serious damage now. However, she'd still have to fail more than 50% of the time to die to either Abnormality-she's fine. In general, if an agent has a 0.3 or better resistance they're safe to work with even ALEPH level threats.

As for Parasite Tree?



All it can do is hypnotize Sorcrane, so I just wait and snap them out of it.

Absurd..!

I've been managing this place for over a month. Did you think I wouldn't pick up a few tricks?

So in the end I can't even accomplish anything. That's unexpected...

This isn't the end, sir!

Hm?

You're not the coffee, you're the cup too!

_{...Are we really doing this again?}

The cup is everyone that makes up the company. The building, you, me, the other employees, and all of that. That's what holds this place together.



Then the coffee is… what?

The rules! I don't really get anything about freeing abnormalities to get more energy from killing agents_{-actually, I'm pretty sure that's not how it works at all-}but that rule was bad! So were the other rules that you said you had to follow. So if we throw those out, we can still refill the cup with a nice, fragrant, hot cup of coffee!

Yeah, what she said. If the rules are shitty, just don't listen. Why do things that just get people killed?

You make it sound so simple… How can I just stand up against someone who can have me replaced at a moment's notice?

You do it 'cause it's the right thing to do, I think. Better to be a martyr than complicit in something you can't live with.

My friends were all gone, and I waited alone for dawn to rise out of the darkness.

I didn’t want to open my eyes again. I just yearned to fall into the infernal pit of hell, bearing my sins on my back.

I can't just do that…

Yeah, it's the doing it that's the hard part.

This meltdown is exactly like the last one-so we handle it the exact same way.



Well then, how about we just fill the cup together?

Yeah. We'll talk about what's best to do, act with our agent's interests in mind, and produce the energy we always have. It's worked for over a month. Why not longer?

Hmph. I'm starting to see her in you for the first time.

But we're not alike at all?

He's talking about someone else… and thank you, I think-but I won't break, if that's what you're saying.

Then neither will I. I'll simply say clearly that I won't follow those distasteful demands.

Hell yeah. Let's go cure all of humanity, eh?

Yes, I think we'll get right back to work on that~



Speaking of getting back to work, manager, the information on the new tool's all ready.

Behavior Adjustment, huh? Seems useful.

What a fitting name. I shall have to do some behavior adjustment of my own. I was always waiting for someone else to act… saying it couldn't be helped. I prudently built my own world where I simply did as I was told, and abandoned my sense of justice. Why didn't I ever realize?



Is my world… finally crumbling?



Hey, we did it!

Yeah, thanks to your extensive knowledge of coffee-based metaphors.

Well, metaphors come up a lot in all kinds of occult lore. It's natural that I'd be quick on the draw with them.

Good work just the same. Just get out of here before Angela shows up.

Are you sure I can't wait around? There's a number of questions I'd like to pose to an AI like her that I simply can't-

Just go, Twee.

Ahh, maaan. Yes, sir…


Congratulations once again, A. I see that you were successful once again.

Yeah, I'm getting pretty good at this now. Tomorrow'll probably be just as simple.

I certainly hope so, A. Are you prepared to see the Abnormality choices?

Yeah, bring it on.

Music: never frozen bottom flows


O-01-45: “I shall heal you, curing you of all disease and injury you possess.”
T-01-31: "From break and ruin, the most beautiful performance begins."
O-03-89: "If a flaw in the system disables the censors covering the Abnormality, we will once again have to sincerely consider how to dispose of the manager."

So like I said before, I have full control over the Abnormalities I can pick now thanks to being able to Re-Extract infinitely. Good thing, too-the one I tried hunting down took about 3 minutes of solid rerolls to show up. ZAYINs are rare this late in the game, only appearing roughly 10% of the time, and I wanted -45 specifically. It's an Abnormality which has a cool E.G.O gift, but no equipment to speak of. It makes up for this by being very easy to handle, and it has a couple of special abilities that make it fairly useful in endgame so I would like to add it to the facility sooner rather than later-definitely before our next Memory Repository on day 41.



I hope none of you blame me too much for laming out on this pick-this facility is already pretty hard to handle.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Chesed and Angela have a conversation again.

New Story

Behavior Adjustment



Bonus

VIDEO: Chesed Core Suppression

[Grumpy Turtle]

Well, I suppose you needed some leeway before dealing with Gebura's meltdown. This should help a lot.

[clearcardinal]

Chesed's suppression sounds like a big step up in plate-spinning. There is no way I could be successful at this game, so thanks for showing it off and adding so much depth.

[Snacks]

Chesed's suppression sounds like a big step up in plate-spinning. There is no way I could be successful at this game, so thanks for showing it off and adding so much depth.

We're seeing a lot of experienced play! A lot of LobCorp's works are throwing curve balls at you that you don't expect and figuring out how to adjust for them, restarting the day as you need, or the memory repro - its a tense game, yes, but its worth poking into and checking out - you'll be better at it than you think, and there's always the LP to watch TQ handle things like "nbd" for catharsis, too!

And, like in the new update, nothing wrong with taking something a little lower grade later on so you have breathing room

[Kacie]

I really like Chesed's story line, and how Twee & A resolved it. A actually seemed to get this point quickly, and show he's on-board with changing, too.

Thanks for sharing this game, and for all the writing of characters. Makes the LP shine (and be so compelling I check every day for an update)!

[Talow]

I don't mind you picking a Zayin to not have to deal with a spinning plate.

[clearcardinal]

We're seeing a lot of experienced play! A lot of LobCorp's works are throwing curve balls at you that you don't expect and figuring out how to adjust for them, restarting the day as you need, or the memory repro - its a tense game, yes, but its worth poking into and checking out - you'll be better at it than you think, and there's always the LP to watch TQ handle things like "nbd" for catharsis, too!

And, like in the new update, nothing wrong with taking something a little lower grade later on so you have breathing room

Thanks, that's encouraging!

[TeeQueue]

Abnormality Roundup 9

Our facility is remarkably stable despite the couple of very problematic Abnormalities we've taken, and we're almost out of the woods when it comes to our equipment crunch. I feel like we're going to have a relatively smooth endgame coming, so I'll probably pull a couple of Abnormalities that I think are particularly interesting.

Mountain of Smiling Bodies



Mountain of Smiling Bodies is one of the easier ALEPHs to handle as long as you stay on top of body management. When it breaches, its base form is incredibly weak so it tries to seek out bodies to eat while running quickly enough to get past most agents. Once it has eaten bodies, it becomes a problem-the way to prevent this is to either clear clerks out with Execution Bullets (which actually stops it from escaping due to deaths altogether) or by using its E.G.O suit to consume the dead bodies beforehand. This makes it an excellent pick for the 3 ALEPHs mission if Apocalypse Bird seems too difficult. Trainingwise, it's an excellent finisher for either Instinct or Repression, but the real prize is its gear-0.2x Black resistance is amazing come lategame, since most of the biggest threats deal Black damage.


The Naked Nest



I had honestly forgotten Naked Nest's Attachment was that high, and Repression was that low.

Anyways, The Naked Nest is a strange one-its Instinct preference means it should be good for Instinct training, but its rules make using it for that a bad idea unless you can reliably hit good results. It's also decent at Attachment training, but Attachment training is best left to Black damage Abnormalities due to how the damage works-and again, we don't want to take a lot of damage with it. Overall, I find it works best at training Justice for someone who's wearing Mimicry armor-it's reliable for it, though not the best. It's still a keeper because in the worst case we can safely ignore it without penalty, and its E.G.O weapon is the Red equivalent of the Spore spear, boosting Red damage by 50%. Because of that, it tends to wind up in my facility whenever I see it.


Melting Love



Melting Love is one of a couple of Abnormalities which requires a total shift in how things are handled in order to work with it-Parasite Tree would be another example of this. Her favored employee needs to be kept alone, clerks have to be dealt with or kept apart from all other agents until they slime out and then die, and her QC needs to be carefully managed to avoid instantly losing an agent. Still, she's actually probably the most forgiving of them because we can opt to ignore her gimmick entirely. On any day where we don't want to farm her for energy, we can ignore her safely and get away with doing only Repression work on her. This will keep us from having any infection to work with, and her suit is powerful enough against Black damage to make this pretty simple in any situation short of Chesed's core suppression.

Her equipment is powerful, with the suit being arguably the third most powerful in the game despite having an ability which rarely ever activates. The slime mug, meanwhile, functions as a cannon and hits incredibly hard as a result. Despite how easygoing she's been for me in this playthrough, though, I'd only recommend her for newer players as something to grab, get all the equipment from, and then send away with a Memory Repository to never work with again.


Behavior Adjustment


-10 Prudence, +15 Attack/Move Speed. If returned before 30 seconds have gone by, the agent dies. If the agent runs out of SP, the agent dies instead of panics. It's really that simple. Put it on an agent who wants Move and Attack speed, and forget about it. A good pick, if only because it's a nice simple Tool Abnormality that doesn't blow up your agent at random or anything ridiculous like that.

[TeeQueue]

Chesed's suppression sounds like a big step up in plate-spinning. There is no way I could be successful at this game, so thanks for showing it off and adding so much depth.

We're seeing a lot of experienced play! A lot of LobCorp's works are throwing curve balls at you that you don't expect and figuring out how to adjust for them, restarting the day as you need, or the memory repro - its a tense game, yes, but its worth poking into and checking out - you'll be better at it than you think, and there's always the LP to watch TQ handle things like "nbd" for catharsis, too!

And, like in the new update, nothing wrong with taking something a little lower grade later on so you have breathing room

It is always worth reminding everyone that I am DEFINITELY not playing the game how it was originally intended. They expect a lot more slowly building up skills and power over time, the average player's first run is generally between 100-300 hours depending on how things go.

I really like Chesed's story line, and how Twee & A resolved it. A actually seemed to get this point quickly, and show he's on-board with changing, too.

Thanks for sharing this game, and for all the writing of characters. Makes the LP shine (and be so compelling I check every day for an update)!

I'm glad you're enjoying it! Core Suppressions are always the weirdest to write for me because there's an ongoing theme and I try and make it work with the in-game quotes to keep things on theme with what the Sephirah is saying as the conversation goes through the levels... it's pretty hard to write, and I'm glad they seem to be coming out well so far!