Part 108: Episode CIV: That's An Order!

Episode CIV: That’s An Order!



Welp. This is happening now. We could have just stopped at Ending A or B and everything would have been fine. But nooooo... Now look what happens.


Music: The Sound of the End (Quiet)



Did the virus infiltrate the Bunker itself?
Oooo! B-b-bingo AGAIN!
Operator, what—
That’s not the Operator. It’s—
We are your beloved _{machine lifeforms.} We speak to you through the network and the virus.
How is that even possible!?
We’ve had a great deal of fu-fun watching you squiiirm. <crackle> But I’m afraid the end has come for this o-o-outpost. Ah ha! Aaaaaah ha ha ha! Ah ha! Aaaaaah ha ha haaaa! <crackle>



9S has run upstairs and is busy trying to hack open the door to the Command Center so we can escape. Meanwhile, 2B has to defend the Commander from the rampant YoRHa androids. Thankfully, the Commander isn’t actually an escort objective. She’s just hanging out looking very confused while 2B slaughters all of her soldiers.



While the YoRHa troops on the Bunker are closer to 2B’s level, the lot of them clearly haven’t been equipping the right plug-in chips as they’ve all got pitifully low overall HP and go down in a few hits from just about anything. Especially the Operator type androids. They’re infected and trying their best to take on 2B unarmed. It doesn’t go well for them...





Speaking of murdering our former comrades, they recorded like four dozen different death cries for the YoRHa soldiers so almost every one of them gets a unique scream when 2B and 9S kills them. There’s also just as many crazed giggling and laughter audio clips for them too. Just a morbid little “fun” fact...



After we’ve finished killing a good a good dozen YoRHa soldiers and the bulk of the Operator staff manning, 9S finally gets the doors open. Took you long enough. An emergency alarm and lights (red, the only color visible in space, of course) kick on alongside a PA announcement.



Emergency. The fusion reactors in the Bunker is currently in an uncontrollable state. All YoRHa units must evacuate the Bunker as soon as possible. Repeat. The fusion reactors are currently in an uncontrollable state. All YoRHa-a units must eh heeh heh heeeeeeeh! Evacuatehehe haaaahahaha haaaa! <static>



Yeah... That sounds bad. Not 2B self-destructing next to the hull of the Bunker bad. But less than great overall... We should probably consider leaving the Bunker soonish. 9S links up with 2B and the Commander in the hall out of the command center.



As soon as we step foot into the main hallway corridor, blast doors bar our path the left as YoRHa troops pour in from down the hall. They’re not going to make this easy...



All YoR... Ha u-u-units... _launch...
Reporting... c-c-current st_atus...
They’re still... conscious...
Stay focused, 2B!





The Logic Virus doesn’t just turn androids into crazed berserkers. It keeps them fully aware their bodies have been taken over and are proceeding to murder their friends and comrades while they’re helpless to do anything about it. So that’s fun!



Also fun is the power abruptly failing on the Bunker. Since that’s always a good sign for a space station. I don’t think we’re going to have time to go sort out the power plant melting down. So all we can do is keep fighting our way forward.



This f-f-food... isn’t that good. Hehehe.
Hee hee! When does the w-war END? End? <shrieks>



Here’s a little Easter Egg. Completing one sidequest way back in Route A results in some additional dialogue over the PA system as we fight through the hallways. Can you guess which sidequest triggered it...?



ThANk you f-f-for...foR the FLOWErs. Deeesert FLOWErs are B-B-BEAUTIF <crackle>, arEN’t thEY... Th-Th-thaaaank You... SoooMEdAy IIIIIII... <crackles and disconnects>
!!



Well, I suppose it’s nice they didn’t make 2B directly murder an infected 6O. Hopefully 6O’s end is just happily browsing corrupted .jpegs of puppies and pretty sunsets.





As we progress down the hallway, a good chunk of the exterior of the Bunkers explodes and debris drifts off into space. That’s less than ideal. We should probably keep moving...



Commander, the Bunker is lost. We have to evacuate!
But tell me—why weren’t you two infected?
I don’t know!
It’s probably because I deferred our data sync. I noticed some weird noise in the Bunker’s server data, so I paused the upload.
......
I see.
The transport terminal is corrupted. We need to get to the hangar and get some flight units!

While the transport terminal is infected (i.e. no fast travel off the Bunker) we can still at least save the game. It’s highly recommended to save the game here. No reason... Just being careful.



Ooooh! This is so much f-f-fun! The virus we planted has blOSsomed into a b-beautiful flower.
Damn it!







OK. All we need to do is hop on a few flight units and get the hell out of here before the Bunker goes down. Commander, you can fly one of these things, right? If not, you’re going to have to comically jam in with 9S. Or 9S can get roped on top of one and remotely hack it to fly while you stay in the cockpit. We’ll figure it out...

Music: ENDS



Commander, hurry!



I’m staying here. I can’t.



Well shit...



I, too, was synced up with the server...
But 9S can hack into your systems and—
There’s no time! You two are the last remaining members of YoRHa. It’s your duty to survive.
But Commander...
Besides... this is my command. Let me at least fulfill my duty here to the end...
<runs up and grabs 2B’s hand>


New Music: Crumbling Lies (Front) (Hey go listen to this! The full version of this song only ever plays here.)



Commander!
Move it, 2B! That’s an order!

9S pulls 2B to their flight units. And so...


Video: Click here to watch the rest of the update’s content in motion. It’s probably one of the best sequences in the game.





It’s the solitary time we ever seen the Bunker’s exterior in-game... just as it’s about to blow up. Fitting.



Welcome to the part of the game where Yoko Taro got over his hangover and now shit gets real. I mean, the opening credits are just now rolling after 30+ hours.





I bet you through the Commander was going to betray us or turn out to be a boss battle. Nope! She stayed firmly on our side the entire time and goes down with her ship. And the rest of YoRHa. Can’t say I saw the entire Codec support staff dying 30 minutes into the second half of the game...





RRAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!







The light from Bunker’s explosion is making the PlatinumGames logo.





2B and 9S were understandably a bit rushed escaping their exploding home and having all of their allies die at once and forgot to you know, go into flight mode before entering the atmosphere. Easy mistake...







It doesn’t seem to be a pleasant time for anyone involved.



At least the Bunker blew up in orbit and didn’t pull a colony drop on Pascal’s Village or something along those lines. This could be way worse.





Little buddy, we’re gonna need a lot more buckets of oil to fix this whole mess...





Commander...
Alert: Multiple pursuers detected.
Hostiles?
No... Oh no... This signal, it’s...



Christ, can we have a break for a minute to catch our breath!? I suppose we did see a bunch of unaccounted for flight units drop with 2B during the invasion descent. They didn’t waste any time being rampant jerks.



The enemy flight units have all of our stock abilities such as minigun fire and missiles. They also have come equipped with a few extras we don’t have. Such as an EMP generator...



Aaaaugh!
All right, enough of this shit... 9S, I need to take over your controls!
You need to WHAT!?
I’m getting us out of here!
Um, o-okay...



Flight controls transferred to unit 2B.
Flight controls established for unit 9S. Setting automatic course. Entering escape route from combat zone.

And with that, 9S’s flight unit zips off-screen. The enemies cannot pursue. They’re trapped in shmup mode. That’d be cheating.



No!
Stealth function released!



Wait! ...2B! 2B!





2B’s flight unit enters all-range mode and dips below cloud cover. The viral infected YoRHa pilots follow after her. We can put up a decent fight against the enemy units. But even if their HP is depleted, they’ll instantly regenerate it. I guess at least a few nameless YoRHa troops actually bothered to install overpowered plug-in chips too.



No matter how well we do against the rival flight units, all four of them will eventually release area wide EMP blasts that are impossible to dodge and mess up 2B’s flight unit real good.



Proposal: Eject immediately.
Gotta find a way to land this thing...





Another EMP blast causes 2B’s flight unit to catch on fire. That is... less than ideal.



Analysis: Offensive functionality lost.
God damn it...



Music: ENDS







2B pulls a 9S in getting her flight unit destroyed and eating shit hard on landing. Granted, she had a lot more reason to bail in a hurry than 9S ever did. On the plus side, at least we won’t be getting reprimanded for trashing another one of those things. Ya know... because everyone who would care is kinda dead now...



Alert: Multiple enemies confirmed.





It just doesn’t stop, huh? Looks like we’ve landed in the Flooded City and the place is lousy with machines since the YoRHa invasion sort of failed spectacularly.





Tune in next time to see how 2B gets out of this mess and links up with 9S so they can go carpool to file for unemployment as the first chapter of Route C concludes. Reminder: this is only like 40 minutes into Route C...






Video: Episode 104 Highlight Reel (Watch this. Now.)





Flight Unit Concept Art – This was actually one of the last times we ever see those things.