Part 41: Episode 5 Datalogs: Updated My Journal

Welp. Datalogs aren’t particularly prevalent this episode. Don’t worry! They come back with a vengeance in the final episode. But for completion’s sake in this LP for a game that does not deserve such diligence, I’ll compile the last of the updates in our The 3rd Birthday wiki.



It’s been one day and we no longer are time traveling. There is only the timeline update on the events from yesterday. But, hey…





Feb. 15: The Capture of North Shallows Tower

Having determined that Kyle Madigan, now hiding out in North Shallows Tower, was their ultimate target, the Coalition Forces rallied their remaining troops and began their assault.

The troops focused their efforts on attacking their target, turning the tide of battle and successfully destroying the Babel. The main Babel remained, however, and the strategy ended in failure. Afterward, the Babel attached to North Shallows Tower absorbed the other Babels to become a Grand Babel. The US government received word of the failed mission and followed the plan to the letter by proceeding with a tactical nuclear strike, but even this final desperate attempt on the Grand Babel was incapable of putting even the smallest dent in the monstrous entity.

TDI Note: That wasn’t even how it went! The government made the nuclear strike and THEN it formed into the Grand Babel. That was a pre-rendered CGI scene. I know you had that made months before the rest of the game was finalized. There’s not even an excuse!



Yep that’s it. Still the same number of Twisted and countries getting overrun by the Twisted and all that. In any case, let’s continue onward to the CTI members. A few of ‘em have updated. Puzzlingly… not Hyde Bohr. He still merely has the blurb about being AWOL.



----- Aya Brea -----

Half Japanese, with blonde hair and blue eyes. Her unique genetic makeup has given her the physique of a woman in her 20s.

One Christmas Eve 2010, she was found outside St. Thomas Cathedral in Manhattan, suffering from amnesia. Judging from her bloodstained wedding gown, she had been found just before or just after her own wedding ceremony, although that hasn't been confirmed. She remember nothing of herself apart from her own name.

Soon after entering CTI custody, she exhibited a mysterious ability. After much analysis, this ability was dubbed ''Overdive.'' The Overdive device made Aya the only person capable of diving into a human's past consciousness. Her chief mission was to move back into time and alter the reality that had already happened, but if she were to go beyond the limits of her abilities, her consciousness would be lost in time, never to return. In short, death during an Overdive operation had a direct effect on the physical body left behind.

Aya testified to fatally shooting the Delta Force's Thelonious Cray after he turned into a Twisted during the investigation of Operation Red Fog.

The US government lost all contact with Aya Brea after the CTI murders.

Aya has testified to making contact with her former fiancé Kyle Madigan during the North Shallows Tower mission and recovering the majority of her memories.

In 2000, when Aya was a secret operative with the FBI, she crossed paths with government agent Kyle Madigan on one of her missions. She became engaged to Kyle in 2008. The two of them lived together with her younger sister Eve Brea. Their wedding ceremony was held at Manhattan's St. Thomas Cathedral on Christmas Eve, two years later.

TDI Note: I’d ask why it took eight years for Aya and Madigan to hook up. But you know what? I don’t think I care too much. Relationships with secret agents are complicated affairs, alright?



----- Thelonious Cray -----

Born in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. His parents divorced when he was five; he was sent to his mother's house, where he was forced to live in extreme poverty.

Before coming to work at the CTI, he had been part of the elite Delta Force unit of the US Army, specializing in counterterrorism. He was enlisted in Captain Russo's squad, one that took on only the trickiest and most dangerous missions. Though he's ably equipped for counterterrorism missions, he's distinguished by his skill in close quarters combat, which is truly second to none.

Cray ran a hostage rescue mission in the Grand Pacific Airlines hijacking, taking command of the Red Squad as they subdued the hostages, bring the event to its conclusion with no casualties. It was this feat that got him assigned to Russo's squad. As they racked up more and more victories, Russo's squad became known far and wide as the pride of the Delta Force and the terrorists' biggest threat. All that came to an end with the failure of Operation Red Fog in 2012. Delta Force was annihilated, and all squad members were killed in action. Cray was all that remained of Russo's squad. He hadn't been part of the fatal mission, instead assuming his new post at the CTI.

In the spring of 2002, he married Sandra Smith, an exchange student nurse he had met while in the hospital. Their daughter Isabella was born the following year.

Aya has testified that Cray had intended to destroy his Delta Force team during 2012's Operation Red Fog, but Aya fatally shot him after he turned into a Twisted. The Overdive Investigation Unit has asked the Data Analysis Unit to carry out research on Thelonious Cray as a mutant Twisted.

Cray had intended to destroy his Delta Force team during 2012's Operation Red Fog. He turned into a Twisted and was fatally shot by Aya Brea. He became the subject of research into mutant Twisted, along with Gabrielle Monsigny and Emily Jefferson.

TDI Note: Psst. Datalog author. We’re calling them High Ones, not mutated Twisted now. Just a lil' FYI. Also, that bit with him turning into a boss and Aya shooting him still never transpired.



----- Gabrielle Monsigny -----

Born in Baltimore, Maryland. Her grandfather had emigrated from Belgium; her father was a police officer, and her mother died when Gabrielle was an infant. She was a special agent in the CTI's Overdive Investigation Unit. With beautiful features, balanced proportions, and large, discerning eyes that speak to her profound insight, one glance from her would stop you dead in your tracks.

Gabrielle truly worked her way to the top, starting with the LAPD before being selected for the SWAT team. She acquired outstanding sharpshooter skills while part of a sniper team with a hostage rescue unit. She was also one of the few chosen by the FBI's Counterterrorism Division to join a special emergency squadron as part of the SWAT team.

Around this time, she fell in love with fellow team member Scott Gray. Upon learning he was a spy for an overseas agency, she secretly reported him to her superiors. Her karmic punishment, as she saw it, was knowing that her lover was later executed for espionage.

She first worked with Hyde on a CTD mission; she transferred to the CTI on his enthusiastic recommendation. Her sharpshooter techniques and HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) parachute skills were among the very best. Aya says that Gabrielle taught long-range combat to short-range fighter Cray.

Gabrielle suddenly turned into a Twisted during the Spanish Harlem Incident of December 21, 2013, fiercely turning on Aya before being destroyed herself. As mutant Twisted, both she and Emily Jefferson are now being investigated by the CTI's data analysis unit.

She got to know Aya while teaching a sniper class during a special training session for the FBI secret operative unit. Since then, they've been each other's only friend.

Gabrielle suddenly turned into a Twisted during the Spanish Harlem Incident of December 21, 2013, fiercely turning on Aya before being destroyed herself. As mutant Twisted, both she and Emily Jefferson are now being investigated by the CTI's data analysis unit.

TDI Note: Hey! Guy! You were told. They’re High Ones now. Mutated Twisted is downright racist rhetoric.



That’s a wrap for the CTI brigade. There are no updates on Maeda becoming a scummy alcoholic or Hyde becoming a higher being. Moving on! We did meet the few new Twisted the previous episode. Let's take a gander at their entries.



---- Worm -----

“Fiery Field”

Small Worms are also knowns as Runts, while large Worms are known as Spawn. Runts move slowly before molting, but their armor-like exoskeleton makes them impervious to attacks. Fire at their mouths to kick-start the molting process. They move that much more quickly afterward, so stay on top of them; don't give them any room to fight back before wiping them out.

Note that their weak spot becomes their strong spot after molting. Attacking the mouth will restore damage, not increase it. Sniper rifle sweet spot: Inside of the mouth before molting (with its shell closed).

Worms are born of the projectiles fired by Spawn (large Worms.) Their main attack consists of shooting fireballs and molten lava from their mouth. When attacking in swarms, the Spawn give orders to the Worms as they raise one great cry en-masse and start in on their concentrated attack.

Large Worms - Spawn - are too large to move. Still, they have the highest endurance of any Twisted by far, and can spit forth rocky shelled projectiles that spawn Worms on impact. Destroy them before they hit the ground, or an endlessly roiling mass of Worms will be the last thing you ever see.

TDI Note: This is all copied verbatim. They cannot even keep the Worm is the species and Runt is the smaller subset thing straight in the same datalog entries.



Your face-off against Kyle is also a battle against the clock, with the military counting down to a tactical nuclear strike.

Another special case like Emily and Gabrielle before him, Kyle's self-awareness and intelligence distinguishes him from the run-of-the-mill Twisted. It attacks Aya with sweeping barbed projectiles and a number of different blades. However, its greatest threat it Kyle's Evil Eye. Each of its eight eyes is a wormhole to a parallel universe: unless every last one is destroyed, time as we know it will be blown away and reality will be eliminated - sucked into that parallel world.

TDI Note: I uhh… must have missed that Evil Eye attack. It did have an attack where it summons eight orbs that must be destroyed but uhh… They just kind of hit the targeted helicopter for a large chunk of damage. Not open up wormholes to parallel universes.

Look, Square-Enix. I LPed Chrono Cross. I already know you don’t have a handle on time travel meets parallel universes. And that was back when you were competent developers. Don’t even tempt the idea.



There is one new entry in the Babel section. It is actually one of the Twisted we saw during the helicopter shooter segment. I’d have stuck this with the Twisted entries but eh… What do I know?



Spitters are a defensive weapon found scattered across the Babel's exterior wall. They appear to be independent organisms, their grotesque and unsettling forms verging on the crustacean.

Before unleashing an attack, their shells part suddenly to reveal a hideous sphere containing a liquid resembling human blood. The sphere expands and bursts, releasing a projectile. Spitters cannot be damaged while their shells are closed.



Thanks for the tips on an enemy type we’ll never see again and indeed only appeared in a three minute segment. Anyway, let’s see what our updated profiles on Ghost Clone Sister and Ghost Dead Fiancé




---- Eve Brea -----

A girl Aya claims is her younger sister.

However, Eve is on record as displaying the strange behavior of disappearing whenever data surfaces concerning her past. In order for a substance to be said to exist, both light and an observer must be present. With no one to recognize that a substance exists, it's the same as if it didn't exist at all. Thus Eve is little more than the possibility of an indeterminate entity.

More specifically, she is Aya's clone, produced in a lab somewhere as part of some organization's scheme. Like Aya, her special genetic makeup has markedly slowed her body's development and given her the appearance of a young girl.

After a certain event, Aya brought her to New York, where she enrolled in the State University of New York. She was last seen at Aya's wedding on Christmas Eve 2010.

TDI Note: Hey, they actually acknowledged Eve is a weird Aya Brea clone. And that lab wasn’t some unknown somewhere. It was the Neo Ark facility beneath Dryfield, Nevada. The rest being nebulous sequel bait for the better timeline where Parasite Eve 2 had a direct sequel, instead of this whole sordid affair, is another matter.

Eve being a college graduate actual lines up. Aya adopted her then stuck her in junior high at the end of Parasite Eve 2 in 2000. A decade later... yeah she'd probably have her Bachelor's degree by 2010. Apparently nobody questioned why she hadn't aged a day past about 13 years old in the past decade.



---- Kyle Madigan -----

The man Aya claims to have encountered during the Spanish Harlem Incident. He was wearing the same ring as Aya and told her Eve was dead. Although he gave his name as Kyle Madigan, there's no record of anyone by that name in any agency database.

There's no record of him in any agency database. His objective in abducting Eve Brea is unknown.

Aya's husband.

Worked with (and investigated) Aya on a mission as a government agent and later became an operative for an unofficial intelligence organization reporting directly to the Secretary of Defense. He became engaged to Aya in 2008. The two of them lived together with her younger sister Eve Brea, who had just graduated college. Their wedding ceremony was held at Manhattan's St. Thomas Cathedral on Christmas Eve, two years later.

Later, something set off his transformation as a High One. Kyle had lost all reason and was being controlled by someone (or something) when he kidnapped his sister-in-law Eve and took her to the North Shallows Tower. He began to come to his senses after Aya shot him. He took his last breath after leaving behind the cryptic last words “Eternity...is inside of you.”

TDI Note: Just forget about the part where Kyle was a rogue agent and on the run from the federal government because he fucked off and knew too much! Hmph. Oh, and the part where he lost a leg. A dreamy ghost significant other (Husband? I don't think they officially tied the knot datalog) cannot be an amputee. Eww. Gross. It's just not done.



And that’s a wrap for Episode 5’s Datalogs. There’s only one episode left after this, but there might be a post-game debrief volley of Datalogs after everything is all said and done. Until then look forward to some of our questions being answered in the most outlandishly stupid way imaginable as The 3rd Birthday soldiers onward!