Iconoclasts

A new Metroidvania game that just came out, starring the young mechanic Robin on her quest to fix an entire world under the grasp of a creepy Orwellian religion, invincible superpowered Agents, and a whole mess of ancient technological mysteries. There's a ton of story behind it and a lot of interesting worldbuilding that gets revealed piece by piece, so I thought I'd put up a thread for people to discuss the game, trade ideas and theories, and share info about potential different paths.

edited 25th Jan '18 2:21:11 AM by RedSavant

I bought it entirely on the strength of Noitu Love 2. It's a very different game than that, but still fantastic and full of charm. And heavy. Whoof does it get heavy at times.

Here's an embedded trailer.

Having finished the game just now, I... woof. It's an experience. Not ever too difficult, and in the cases when it was difficult it tended to be from unclear boss mechanics or difficult dodges (I managed to dodge the giant cat boss's pounce attack all of once, and mostly facetanked it).

Now, having finished it... I have so, so many questions. Some are, I believe, caused by questionable writing (it doesn't always feel like English is the writer's first language), but others are just... present anyway. Questions like... are there other endings? Is it possible to change certain outcomes? I ended the game with a number of items in my inventory that I never found a use for, or had a suggested use that I never managed to find. There are also a number of NPCs in the game who imply they're there for some purpose, but end up disappearing without a trace - people like Leticia, the masked woman you meet in Settlement 17, and Michi, the blue-haired woman in One Concern West.)

Basically, there's a lot of stuff I don't know for sure, and I have tons of questions. If anyone else has finished the game, can we trade info? Geez, this is why I usually don't get games on release!

Leticia is hidden easter egg sidequest where they appear in every new area in hidden room marked by her flag.

Anyhoo, I got stuck in shock forest and took a break

edited 25th Jan '18 9:21:44 AM by SpookyMask

Beat the game. When "His" true form was revealed I laughed because it was such a tone shift, but I think it really worked. Like "Yeah, that makes sense".

I also looked up all locations for the Leticia side quest. That ended up being really cool, I recommend going through it. Tip: The final location is in that deep deep underwater section. The trick is that you use less air if you aren't constantly mashing the swim button.

Oh damn, I knew I'd forgotten something! I completely forgot to check down there. Of course, I also missed the rest of her flags, so.

What I want to know is, what was up with the black and while segments during the final boss, and why can what is apparently an intergalactic petrol trucker cause that kind of phenomenon? They're very clear references to the Concern people, the Isi, and the Divinities given the symbolism, but what is the shape of the second dark form (the first one is clearly Elro - a one-eyed, one-armed sword-wielder), and what is the fourth form that you have to beat to death?

Also - did you have to lose Royal on the moon? I wonder if that section in the cave where you can refuse his help changes the story significantly, or if he just catches up to you at Myron anyway. I kept getting vibes that I'd just missed the golden ending with a poor choice, or perhaps that I'd pulled a Cave Story and missed a super obscure turning back point...

I do have a theory about one side quest, though. I imagine that if you hold off on delivering the letter in that subplot, you can probably give the Stroke of Delight to Joel the Painter?

Edit: Man, looking like a black ops document in here.

edited 25th Jan '18 11:30:25 AM by RedSavant

Leticia locations, grabbed from the steam forums.

That beam the worm could shoot apparently affects your mind, Royal got hit with it too. I think it's just some sort of weapon, since if I'm remembering right it's the same kind of beam that shot out of the weapon on the cartographer's ship.

I wasn't able to save Royal either. Using the swap beam didn't do anything. I refused Royal's help the first time, but when he showed up at the divine pod to explain it I agreed to take him along. I figure if I'd said no again he'd have shown up at Concern HQ.

edited 25th Jan '18 11:48:23 AM by Moth13

Damn... Poor kid didn't deserve that. I guess we had already seen what the beam could do when it was used on the boy who escaped the Tower, but...

But yeah. I figure it must be impossible to make it up the mountain without Royal destroying the Omega Controller because that's what causes most of the endgame to happen.

One theory I had which ended up not panning out, but would have been interesting, was that Robin was an Agent. I know there are a few pieces missing Ivory regen and special powers, to name a few, but she's noted to be unnaturally tough several times, Tweaks run on Ivory (which she can collect from anything, including by sitting still), etc. It doesn't hold up, but for a long time I was convinced that Sunflower was her color name.

Awwww. If you get 100% completion the picture on the end results screen change to Mina and Samba cuddling.

Less cute is the end game sidequest about the pupils. Even after I beat the boss, that one pupil not responding to anything doesn't feel great.

Holy shit damn was that a game.

The dream sequence where you fight the four (4) forms are Elro, Mina, Royal, and (I think) Black. I also think that the sequence differs based on how you treat the characters as after the first form, none of them really made an attempt to attack Robin in my playthrough. Which would make sense since I had Robin be nice to Mina and Royal but shitty to Elro because that piece of shit deserved it.

Boy, is Elro garbage-tier.

Yeah, Elro was pretty garbage.

I finished this yesterday. Overall, I think it's really good, but I could've done without The Reveal of the Starworm's true nature. I don't want to say that it ruins the game, but it... kinda does...? It's arguably the most jarring tone-shift I've ever seen, and it completely undermines the divine and apocalyptic themes that the entire game spent exploring. It also raises several questions. It's less "Doing In the Wizard", and more taking the wizard out back and shooting him.

The One Concern spent generations building up this cult around the Starworm and Ivory, both of which have weird, supernatural powers, but then it turns out the Starworm is just a Space Trucker and his Space Truck, and Ivory is just Space Oil. wut. In particular, the scene of the Starworm destroying the Midway Station (one of the best scenes in the game, in my opinion) went from a Bolt of Divine Retribution due to Royal going "Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter", to a petty trucker casually committing homicide because some kid threw a rock at his windshield.

Oh, and that stuff about it being The End of the World as We Know It? Yeah, it's fine, Robin just blew up the Starworm and that somehow healed the damage that Ivory caused.

As I said, it's a really great game, but it should've ended about 10 minutes earlier. Everything before The Reveal is fantastic.

Edited by Primis on Sep 8th 2019 at 8:27:23 AM

Yeah, exactly my thoughts. It really does kind of ruin it even if the point is to be kind of absurd.

Yeah, I wouldn't mind it as much if the game had more absurdist moments like that, but everything's played completely straight up to that point. Agent Black's Villainous Breakdown is both chilling and sympathetic, and being forced to leave Royal behind is genuinely upsetting, especially since it gives you enough time to make you think you can save him. It's really effective.

Definitely agreed, on both points. It's been a long time since I played the game, but I remember the feeling of the game being a little weird like that, in several places. It's really good, it's just that the writing/plotting gets a little odd sometimes.

As much as I like this game, yeah the endgame did sort of leave a negative impression. Like mechanically the final confrontation is fun enough but narratively it was a negative and probably my least favorite thing about the game. TBH I skip it on most repeated playthroughs. I feel the rest of the game is still good enough on its own though.

Edited by Vertigo_High on Sep 8th 2019 at 12:14:40 PM