Part 122: Day 50 - Gameplay + Ending

Day 50: Gameplay + Ending

Music: neutral 1


One final look at the loading screen. On day 50 we get one last department… sort of.





In the end our casualties were Sephiroth, Boksi, Credentia, Talow, and Sorcrane. The temp squad can retire, having done their job.

Alright, team. Just one more day and we're ready. How's everyone doing, Angela?

Uhhh… about that. The Sephirot are still offline. Angela, too.

What?! Why?



This is still a suppression. We need every last bit of energy we can get to finish the project.

Dammit. And the crew morale isn't gonna be great, what with the deaths…

I wouldn't be so sure. There's only one way to find out, right?

I guess you're right… Well, whatever. It's time to get to work.

DAY 50 CHALLENGE: YOU HAVE ONE JOB

Rules: Don't screw up.



Music: the night sky




No meltdowns, and no Ordeals… It's just a quiet day?

Of course.



We've reached our goal. We know who we are, and what we're doing. This facility, born of our mind, won't be as turbulent as normal anymore. After all… we're of one mind.

Have to be honest, I was expecting a sneak attack.

I know. But this is really it.



Day 50 is the final day of work at Lobotomy Corporation, and while there's work to be done and one last batch of energy left to collect the hard part is basically over. For any manager with the skills to get past days 46-49, day 50 is usually just an interactive day-long cutscene.

Usually.

Where shall we start, Manager?

With the new Abnormalities, of course.



We start with -76, which is rather hard to show off properly. I have one of our Agents work with it for the moment.



Hey, boss! How are you doing?

Same as usual? How about you two?

Pretty great. There's something in the air today.

Hod again?! Hold on, I'll-

Not like that. Can't you feel it? It's like… bubbles from inside. Things might finally turn out okay.

...hope?

That was the word! Yeah, hopeful. I've had this stupid grin all over my face. I mean, ten years. Who knows how much new anime's been released?!

I should… check on the others.



And then I said, "No thanks, it'd cost an arm and a leg!" HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

...Heh. That is pretty good, I guess.

Should… we be worried about this?

The facility's operating in an unusual way today. The energy reaction's having an effect on everyone's mood. Nothing to be concerned about.

Well, alright.



The meltdown level buzzer doesn't go off today, but Queen of Hatred will still track employee deaths per level. This can make it easier than normal to forget to kill 3 Clerks to keep her happy.

I should be furious. This damn empty room… the sounds of clerks dying right outside, as usual. It's just like Gebura said. But in the end… all I get is this sense of clarity. Calmness. Is this what being a real warrior's like?

...I don't like it.



While waiting for the work with -76 to be done, I also take a peek at our new department: Da'at. Da'at doesn't have any Abnormalities, its only employee is Carmen, and it serves as a convenient hallway between Records and Extraction. That's really all there is to it.



After our first work, we have enough boxes to get our first Abnormality's name: Schadenfreude. For anyone familiar with either German or memey 00's-era Broadway musicals, the name alone is probably enough to tell how it works. For the rest of you, let's watch:



While watching Schadenfreude, all PE boxes that would be rolled are automatically failures.



Its QC also goes down by 1 for every 5 seconds we watch it being worked.



This can lead to it breaching, of course, at which point it will run around causing havoc.



When breaching, it is a weird metallic spider with a fleshy undercarriage, and when it attacks…



It does so with twin buzzsaws, strong enough to cleave off half of Steve's HP here. That said, dealing with it is very simple: just don't look at it. Ever.

While offscreen, work with Schadenfreude proceeds normally. When breaching, if it's offscreen its defenses lower and it cannot move or attack. So long as we set work orders and then keep our screen off of it entirely, it will never cause problems.





Our other Abnnormality, -18, initially goes by Wall Gazer. She likes Temperance work, but doing it lowers her QC. When it hits 0, she gives us the game's one and only "jumpscare."



The screen shakes and goes staticy and we hear a female scream. Back in very early development this was much worse (I'll grab the Wiki's picture when we get to the Abnormality Roundup), but Lobotomy Corporation is ultimately not a game about jumpscares.

Whenever this happens, she deals White damage to all employees in her department. Because Architecture has no Clerks at all, I do not care about TETH-level White damage in Architecture. The only work I do with her is Temperance.



While working on her, we also pass our first energy milestone. The final day isn't measured in meltdown levels, but by how far we are on our daily goal. Every 150 energy, A will chime in.



Dizzy? What do you mean-?



With a great rumble and shake…



The entire facility begins to turn.

What the hell?!

This is also normal. Just proceed as usual, our relative gravity hasn't actually changed.



Wait, was this always the plan?!

Of course. You had to have noticed the Tree of Life was upside down, right?

…

You… noticed it was a Tree of Life, at least?

……

_{Oh boy.} Anyways, it's vital that we orient ourselves. Otherwise we'd be sowing seeds into barren ground, rather than fertile soil.

I'll take your word for it. Hey, wait… Zoom in.



...and that's where soap comes from!

Mizu… what are you doing in Da'at?

Talking to a Bucket. She never says anything back, though…

Why are you talking to the… Bucket?

Iunno. Miss Binah does it a lot, though, and you did say to be like Miss Binah.

Just… just get back to watching WhiteNight, Mizu.

Okee-dokie!



All the Temperance work lets us quickly unlock Wall Gazer's details, and her true name: The Lady Facing the Wall. I also get a very good shot of her cell when she activates her "jumpscare:"



It's not exactly terrifying.



Manager, I've taken a quick look at everyone-they're not acting like usual. I'm worried-or I should be worried. Instead I'm registering a mild confusion. This isn't normal.

You're not wrong, but… Ugh, can you handle this one? _{I'm not great with details.}

Of course. What we're doing here is planting a seed of light into people's hearts. A means to allow them to tell their own stories, and live as humans once more. That energy is permeating the facility, in preparation for the plan's completion. Everyone here is feeling its effects.

How do you know this won't turn us all into monsters?

Oh, that was yesterday. We kicked his ass. Don't worry.

...Typical Manager. Alright. I'll leave it in your hands.



We finish Schadenfreude's full notes as well. It's an excellent early game Repression trainer, once we learn its quirk.



At 300 energy, the facility turns again.



Hey, speaking of which… when we're done, what happens to the employees?

I didn't actually factor that in originally. Did not think we'd give a shit at this point.

We weren't the best person.

Still aren't. We'll have to keep the facility sealed up for the time that the light is shining on the City... but I'll leave a note with Malkuth to let them out after. Angela should be able to process their paychecks.

Oh yeah… what about them?

What about them? Once they're done, their mission is over. They'll probably all shut down once their work is done. Machines aren't people, no matter what they seem like.

...ah. Yeah, guess that's true.

Don't feel bad. I'm sure they're all glad to know that we finally succeeded.

Yeah… you're right. Okay. Let's press on.



Hey, voyeur. You're watching, right?

That's not my name, but yes. I am. Because it's my job.

Cool. My head says I should be a wreck, but I'm not. What should I do?

Honestly… wait. What we're feeling should pass soon enough. You can be a wreck then.

I hate waiting. And being a wreck.

Then pick up a hobby?

...hmm…



450 energy passes by without an issue.



It's fine. I've had it easier than the others, anyways. One more day is nothing.

I'm glad you understand.

Mmm. Speaking of, why didn't you tell Bishop? That we weren't going to be leaving.



You know him. He would have gotten obsessed with trying to find a way to fix it.

Yeah… that sounds like him. You know he's gonna' be pissed, right?

By then, we won't have to worry about it. We'll call it one more sin on the pile. For old times' sake.

...Eh, why not? If you've already eaten the poison, you might as well lick the plate clean.



Oh hey. You're with me again today. I volunteered.



Well, they won't need me anywhere else. And, honestly? Mizu's in Training right now. She's kind of much?





Other me, why is Queen of Hatred hysteric right now?

...I forgot to kill clerks.

You forgot to kill clerks. Please don't do that again.

Got it. On it. I will definitely not forget.

Great. By the way, we're spinning again.

What?



600 energy down. Nearly halfway there.



Now you're just blowing smoke.

Regardless of how it happened, you're the one who did it. We're our best self, progressing in ways I'd never planned for in the first place. That sort of progress isn't something we could have done without you. Puff your chest out more.

Hunching over lets me move the mouse better.

...We don't really need our spine for much longer, I guess.



It's not possible to express in screenshots, but the play area also feels smaller on day 50. I can't drag the camera as far to any one side as I'm used to. It doesn't really matter, though, given that Meltdown Level 3 has hit and there's not even a Dawn Ordeal to fight.



We hit the halfway point here, and the facility is now completely upside down. Playing the game upside down is slightly disorienting, at worst. Compared to what came before, it's a nice way to cool down.



Right. All that's left is to fire it off.

Not quite. We've still got a ways to go.



Okay, we've concluded the graduation party for our ex-captain.

I'm still not sure that's the best term for what happened.

I'm the new boss, I get to choose what we call things. Besides, the atmosphere today totally screams 'graduation' more than 'funeral.'

Eh, I guess you're right.



Around this point I finally finish getting gear from the new Abormalities, which means I start working more. That in turn means Parasite Tree becomes a bit more of a problem. We snap this guy out of it the normal way-I don't need any more kills this level.

Music: Sun and moon


At 900 energy, the facility shakes again, and with the sound of rocks crumbling…



We begin to move upward.



Still not entirely sure I'll be able to do it without having a panic attack.

You'll be fine. We're stronger than we ever knew.

Heh… in the end, Carmen was right again.

Was she ever not?

Point.

From here until we reach the surface, we'll be getting more crumbling and dust every few moments.



Medea and Mizu are out! What do you wanna do?

Relax. Everything feels like it'll just work out right now.

Mmm… you're right, but I still have all this energy. I feel like I barely did anything!

Don't be silly. You helped yesterday, you worked… Uh, Ppodae?

That still doesn't feel like much. Mizu's out working with WhiteNight right now, and Medea's protecting all of us from Punishing Bird's breaches.

Trust me, it's enough that you're here.



For the next energy breakpoint, nothing else happens. A keeps talking to us, though.



Ten years, wasn't it?

For them. For us, it was closer to ten thousand.

Shame I only really remember about 60 days or so of it.

Trust me. That's not a shame at all.



Attention, all hands. Please brace for impact. We may see some mild functionality loss in the near future.

Functionality loss?

Eh, you'll see.



At 1200, we break through to the surface.



Oh come on, it can't be that bad…



And lay eyes on the city for the first time in countless days.

Holy crap. It is that bad.

This is where day 50 can become a problem. For some reason, from this point forward the only functions that still work are clicking on Abnormality cells and on the work boxes that come up after. We can't click off of them to deselect things. We can't box and right click to move Agents. We can't click on Agents to wake them up if Parasite Tree grabs them. We can't use bullets anymore. If something were to breach right now, we would be at an incredible disadvantage.

Luckily, that shouldn't happen unless we're playing like idiots.



Hey… D.A.D. is doing repression work on Queen of Hatred while she's hysteric.

So they are.

Why are they doing that?

Because I misclicked..?

…

Maybe they'll manage to get a good result?



You had one. Job.

It's fine, it's fine. I'll just why can't I control anyone?!

What part of 'mild functionality loss' did you not get? We just rammed through several hundred feet of rock!

That's not mild functionality loss!

Well I didn't think you'd let an Abnormality out!

...hey. Managers.



Sounds like you've got just the thing to take my mind off of all this crap.

Yes. Please, do your thing.



While we can't use any of our normal options to deal with the Queen of Hatred, we can still order Agents to suppress her by clicking on her cell after a breach. Tenebrais, Twee, Chinely, Medea, and Mr.Black all get sent to handle her-their strong Black resistance is going to be important since we can't protect them. They'll head automatically to her location in Control and attack.



She fires her laser, but this group can outdamage it. Once she's done firing, she does something a little odd.



She teleports down to Extraction, waits for a couple of seconds at most…



And winds up here, in Control again. Unlike before, any beam Queen of Hatred fires will cut right through the main room of Control and damage Bishop, Omni, and Chinely. We need to get them out of the way, but we can't actually control them.



We can assign them some work to do, though.

Agents who have been assigned work will walk towards wherever we tell them to go. Since the entire Control team is so fast…



By the time the laser starts, everyone's safely in their own cell. Bishop will only have ~11 seconds before he pops back out, but by then the laser should be done.



Once more, for old times' sake, eh?

Seems that way.

Bleh. This feels like I'm just phoning it in.

It is the E.G.O that does most of the work…

You know what I mean. It feels different.



In the end, our team puts Queen of Hatred down before she can do any real damage to us. While the interface is much more difficult to use now, it's still possible to suppress most conventional Abnormalities with it.

You actually pulled it off...

I guess I didn't get this far for nothing? Now, let's never speak of this again.

Agreed.





This quote was supposed to come at 1200, but I think it may have been delayed by Queen of Hatred's breach.

Almost ready to switch this baby on. Attention all agents, please put on the sunglasses we have prepared for you.

Is this why they were the standard emergency toolkit?

You mean in the standard emergency toolkit.

I know what I said.





At 1350, the screen flashes…



As our facility begins to emit a bright beam of light into the sky.

...It's beautiful…

That's the result of all our hard work, born from our psyche. You feel that tingling, right?

Yeah.



If there's anyone you want to say goodbye to… you should. The sublimation process has already begun.

Is that why I hear the Moonlight Sonata?

...no, no it is not. Is someone working with La Luna?



Tenebrais?!

Sup, boss.

What are you doing? That's not-

Well, someone managed to stop me from feeling angry about the bullshit that went down yesterday. You, I'm guessing.

Unfortunate byproduct of us fixing the world.

Uh-huh. Well, since I don't feel like crying or screaming, and beating the crap out of an Abnormality didn't feel like anything... I'm doing this. For Sorcrane, and mosshead, and my sister. The others too, I guess.

But why Moonlight Sonata?

Stupid Abnormality only knows the one song.

Ah. Look… Sorry I couldn't-

Shut up. I don't want your pity. This is just how things end around here. Normally, I'd knock some lockers over. Can't do that. So I'm playing. The damn. Piano.

Yes ma'am.



I'm feeling really good about today.

Boss would've wanted us to live every day to the fullest.

Then we'll do that.

It's weird that they're not mourning him…

Well, it is Boksi.

Hey, he's pretty okay. Now.

Was pretty okay now.

Forget it, this is making my head hurt.

No, that's the beam of light we're shooting into the air.



At 1425-ish I get my next update. The city itself lights up.



Oh… good. We're almost done.

You holding up okay..?

Just tired. Moreso than usual, even though nothing's been happening today.

Mm. That's normal. We've taken quite a lot out of ourselves already.

What if… I need a minute to collect myself?

...Mmm… since it's based on our energy count, you could call Der Freischütz.



On a side note, Der Shooty's mouse is flipped today when he's hired-though the trailing bullets behind it are not. I don't know why this makes me smile, but it does.

Better?

Yeah. I've set everyone... _{everyone to go.}

Alright then. It's time.





At 1450, we get one last message. The City is bathed with light, and there's only a little more energy to get.

No second thoughts, right?

_{Why're you asking questions… that you already know the answer to..?}

Alright then. Get ready. When this ends, so does our work.

<sub>Right. I know just... how to end it...



Let's go… go out the same way we started… way back then. Mizu?</sub>

Yessir?

_{Go... say hi... to One Sin... One more time. After that… Bear brand Beer... for everyone. On… on the company's dime.}

Okeedokie!



Hey, Mizu? You hear anything from X?

Just to work with Onesie! It's been a while, I hope it still likes me.

Huh. He went offline right after he gave that final order…

You worry too much.





Oh, Onesie. You always know just what to say.

The second we hit 1500 energy, the day immediately ends.





_{We… did good, right?}

There's no way for us to know. But… I think so.



The camera begins to pan up, alongside the beam of light.



And as the day ends, we're hit by day 50's one completely unavoidable death.



Ours.

Music: You are a giant


The screen fades back in to the beam of light firing out of our facility.



The tree cultivated from the process of infinite possibilities is closer to the sky; it is more fierce than anything else. The borders between the past and the future, reality and illusion, the body and the mind, space and time… They all were slowly fading away.



But I know that it is not just nothingness. You shall be the infinite light.



Remember this name of ours. Now…



In the end, Ayin repeats Carmen's own advice back to us.





So ends Lobotomy Corporation's main story! Project Moon was a bunch of untested amateurs when they made this game-and it shows in a lot of the janky programming and odd bugs-but their earnestness shines through and the atmosphere of everything makes for a very good game overall. The names on either side of the beam of light are the names of Tumblbug backers.



Anyways, this has been my first Let's Play. Like most things involving Lobotomy Corporation it was an exercise in spinning a dozen plates while half of them are on fire. Even though I made a number of errors, I think it worked out for the best overall. I honestly don't know what things would have ended up like if I hadn't accidentally lost the footage all the way back on day 3, and frankly I think making that update helped me hammer down exactly what I wanted to write. I feel like I've more 'gotten lucky' than 'been skilled' when making this LP, if that makes sense.



I really do like the new Translation, and CKC did a great job with it. Project Moon was even kind enough to put in all of the people who helped them with proofing+testing the new translation when they updated the game-considering that this project started as an unofficial fan translation, that was really nice of them. It's also a little embarrassing, because...



I helped out a bit with testing how the new tutorial looked and read, so... Turns out I'm in the credits now. Speaking of which, now that we've beaten the game I should probably play the tutorial sometime, huh?

Anyways, the credits cover a lot of other categories-mostly translation based, but there's one more person to thank.



This thread wouldn't be what it is without everyone chiming in, making cool art or miniature stories, sharing theories, and just enjoying watching a really hard game getting taken apart. Thanks to all of you for an amazing thread. Seriously, it's been amazing.

Setting that aside, once the credits are over we go back to the main menu. However, it's had some changes.

Music: Wind ambiance


This is the new title screen for having beaten the game without hitting 100% Abnormality Dissolution. Our beam of light is firing into the air, seeding the world with new possibilities like we planned. The options have been moved to the right, and clicking on the L in the bottom-left will still wipe our save data if we want to. Challenge Mode is now open as well, which we'll cover another time.

There's still the 100% completion cutscene left to see... but outside of that the story of Lobotomy Corporation is now over.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation:
The Seed of Light Scenario Status: COMPLETE
Distribution of Light Status: IN PROGRESS
Please wait. . . . . . . . .

New Guidelines

Schadenfreude
The Lady Facing the Wall

New Gear


Requirements: Temperance 2, Prudence 2
*Not affected by Attack Speed


Requirements: None
*Bonus effect applies whenever Employee is anywhere on the screen at all


Requirements: Prudence 2


Requirements: None

New Story

Schadenfreude
The Lady Facing the Wall

Bonus

VIDEO: Day 50
VIDEO: Ending+Credits