Part 40: Episode 4 Datalogs: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
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New Music: A Piece of Remain (Parasite Eve)
The Counter Twisted Investigation gig might have gone up in smoke, but its wonderful database of info dumps that were too much effort to weave naturally into the narrative still remain. Other than the post-game, which dumps quite a bit of debriefing text dumps in our lap, this is the last semi-substantial Datalog blitz. Let’s rip that Band-Aid off all at once and get it over with…
Once again, in the interest of brevity, I’ll just be listing the altered or new events that have cropped up. When actually playing the game, the player has to sift through all three dozen entries (only displayed four at a time) to find the handful of new bits. They’re at least decent enough to color ‘em red. But it’s still a pain.
Once more, while the previous mission was the furthest back Aya had Overdived into to muck up the past, the years 2010 & 2011 remains unaltered.
Jan. 7: Operation Red Fog
Case No. 1536D-205
Codename: Operation Red Fog
Thelonious Cray, a former member of Russo's platoon who had just assumed his post at CTI and did not participate in the operation, has said that the Captain's final transmission mentioned an encounter with a little girl who had become a Twisted.
On January 7, 2012, a year after the first Twisted sighting, the Babel began twining its subterranean roots around Grand Central Station. The military carried out a daring assault with Captain Russo of the elite Delta Force heading up the advance team. With help from the National Guard and CTI Special Agent Aya Brea, the team was able to advance on the interior and deal great damage to the Twisted.
The successful operation was not without its share of tragedy, however. Thelonious Cray, a former member of Russo's platoon, turned into a Twisted and was dispatched at the hands of Special Agent Brea. Although the operation was carried out at great human cost, Captain Russo's team reported only a few casualties, another testament to his highly capable skill in battle.
After Russo's death, the team retained its name out of respect for its late, great leader. Soon mobilizing Russo's enhanced team to one of many strategic locations became the key to understanding the state of any given battle.
TDI Note: Well, let’s see here. We have an instance of nobody telling the Datalog writer that Cray’s boss fight was cut. And Russo’s Squad apparently only had a few causalities, despite Cray’s earlier claim that he murdered everyone off-screen. I guess Cray only really killed Russo and stole his uniform, like a poorly done run in Hitman. I’m surprised they somehow managed to retcon that disjointed mess to be even further nonsensical hogwash. Good stuff!
Case No. 0516G-104
Codename: Operation Violet storm
The elite unit TDM was mobilized to eliminate the Twisted that had infiltrated the landmark Marianne Hotel in Manhattan, breaking through windows on the 53rd floor. TDM used every ounce of its power to successfully rescue 154 hotel guests and capture the military's first living Twisted specimen(though CTI had already obtained one), which set the wheels of Twisted research into frantic motion.
All 14 TDM members who were killed in the mission were awarded the Purple Heart for giving their lives in service to the US military.[/i]
August 19: Private Research Institute Established
On November 19, Warren Smith, the biggest philanthropist in the US, revealed that his granddaughter Wendy had been killed by a Twisted. Smith donated $300 million of his own money to establish the private research institute SRL.
When asked for an opinion on the SRL, second only to the CTI in terms of financial resources, the President replied, “Warren Smith's mourning over his granddaughter's fate can help us recover a future that's in danger of being taken from us.”
TDI Note: I know the date listing for the entry says August 19th and then the body says November 19th. I didn’t make an error in editing. That’s what it says in-game. Whoops!
April 1: Prediction: US to be Wiped Out in
According to supercomputer calculations at the US Army Research Laboratory's large-scale shared resource center, the country's population is predicted to be wiped out by
Case No. 2077V-008
Codename: Operation Golden Tsunami
On the evening of the 4th, the Twisted that had emerged on the Atlantic destroyer USS Metcalf were seen to be increasing in droves. The US Navy mobilized all of its resources to intercept the intruders, but by the morning of the 5th, staggering casualties had forced what few sailors remained to retreat. After the incident, the US had no choice but to abandon its Atlantic line of defense and back down.
While residents along the Atlantic coast had been ordered to evacuate during the operation, by that point any lifesaving capabilities existed in name only. The death toll rose to 400 thousand.
Sept. 4: Operation Green Tornado
Case No. 009X-224
Codename: Operation Green Tornado
On the morning of the 4th, the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS White Galaxy was attacked by hundreds of flying Twisted. The President and the defense Secretary were in the ship's ad-hoc Oval Office at the time of the attack, but Russo's Delta Force platoon was able to remove both of them to safety.
October: NY State Casualties Top
The Department of Defense disclosed on the 12th that the number of casualties in New York State since the Babel first appeared in December 2012 had surpassed
Reuters reported that on the afternoon of the 17th, multiple Babels appeared in Japan, portions of the Korean archipelago, and throughout China, bringing the total number of Babel-infested countries to 24 - about an eighth of the world.
November: Babels Appear Worldwide
Reuters reported that a Babel appeared in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on the afternoon of November 12, killing 540 thousand people, 30 percent of the city's population of 1.8 million. This marked the first time a Babel had emerged in the Middle East. Their debut in that region meant they had now appeared all over the world.
Irish president Nora Townshend announced that she had accepted a request from the US government to take in American survivors as refugees, with approximately 300 thousand arriving in the first wave.
Dec. 9: Operation Grey Blizzard
Case No. 4310N-710
Codename: Operation Grey Blizzard
The mass of Twisted that had appeared in Alaska's protected Russell Fjord Wilderness reproduced at an explosive rate and took over the entire state in the blink of an eye. The military mobilized all of the personnel serving in its five branches for an all-out armed offensive; besieged by the Twisted's relentless onslaught, however, the troops sustained devastating damage.
Eielson Air Force Base was destroyed in the conflict, and the ranks of the armed Forces were slashed by more than 40 percent.
On December 23, 2013, Twisted appeared in Suffolk on Long Island, New York, increasing in number to a staggering two thousand strong in the space of ten minutes. These unwelcome guests threw the quiet upper-class community into sheer pandemonium.
Approximately 700 thousand residents were left missing, among them famous personalities such as Major League Baseball player Arthur Marlon, Hollywood actress Jean Mitchell, and popular RBS weatherman Christopher Burl. Makeshift memorials sprang up throughout Suffolk in the following weeks, including many bouquets sent from overseas.
Dec. 23: Kyle Madigan Makes North Shallows Tower His Base
In the early hours of the 23rd, Coalition Forces reported that Kyle Madigan, a man believed to have close ties to the Twisted outbreak and proliferation, was spotted near the Babel growing out of North Shallows Tower. Having determined that Madigan was their ultimate target, the military immediately began putting together an appropriate plan of attack.
TDI Note: Presumably, the FBI still got its shit kicked in and Hunter Owen ate it there, since he’s still dead and the FBI are gone as well in this timeline. One would assume Long Island getting wrecked happened earlier, given half of New York’s population is dead in this timeline.
Dec. 25: The CTI Murders
On the 25th, all CTI employees were found to have been brutally murdered, with the exception of Hyde Bohr. The incident was first attributed to a radical organization plotting to destroy the country. However, recovered footage from the CTI surveillance cameras make it clear that Kyle Madigan was responsible for the bloodshed. Hyde Bohr's whereabouts are uncertain, and it's not known if he's alive or dead.
TDI Note: Contrary to what Maeda said about the Twisted attacking the CTI Building and Madigan being some rogue element during the attack, the datalog says it was just Kyle running solo lighting up the place like the Terminator. Again, they clearly didn’t go back and cross reference the datalog junk for consistency when locking down the final game’s presentation.
Babel-stricken regions:
Estimated number of Twisted: Approximately
That concludes our look into the post-timeskip timeline of The 3rd Birthday’s Episode 4. I’ve read time so many times now that it’s starting to stop sounding like a real word. Time. Anyway! CTI may no longer be a functional unit, but that doesn’t mean they do not live on in
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----- 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.
TDI Note: Aya Brea, you fucking liar. You never did that!
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----- Hyde Bohr -----
His profile is exactly the same. There’s just an addition mentioning there’s been no trace of him since the CTI murders. I’m sure nothing will come of that…
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----- Blank -----
Update: He’s fucking dead!
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----- 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.
TDI Note: Aya, that didn’t happen. We were there! You didn’t even draw your gun, much less shoot anyone. And who did you testify all of this to? Your Groundhog Day time travel cycle returned to the same day that Madigan rolled into CTI and shot everyone dead. I’m pretty sure the “Overdrive Investigation Unit” (excuse me, when was this a thing?) and the “Data Analysis Unit” are both very dead along with the rest of CTI!
Hey, new question: Aya, how the heck did you get out of the CTI building and link up with Maeda in the first place? And also never come into contact with Madigan or try to stop him from killing all your allies? Again, you ought to have been there…
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----- Kunihiko Maeda -----
Born in Japan in 1963. After working at a Japanese university as a postdoctoral fellow, one particular case drew him to the US, where he got in touch with Aya.
He returned to Japan for a period afterward, but NASA soon pegged him to participate in an interdisciplinary project. After presenting many research papers, Maeda became involved in the development of genetic cloning technology in Germany, at the lab of Bonn University professor Fredrich Gehrmann. Distinguished scholars from all disciplines gathered in Gehrmann's lab, but once the Twisted appeared, the program disbanded, its participants practically going into hiding.
After the CTI murders, Maeda contacted Aya Brea. Her organization was gone, and her efforts at obtaining intel and performing investigations were being frustrated. She asked Maeda for a favor. His excitement at hearing about Aya's genetic mysteries and capabilities verged on the unseemly, though some would say that only proves he's one of those rare scholars who will never lose his passion for challenging the unknown.
TDI Note: Kunihiko Maeda is a part of CTI now? I mean that’s where he’s filed away in the datalogs, but that’s clearly inaccurate. I also like how Aya’s amnesia subsided just enough for her to remember and ask favors from the weird Japanese guy she met 17 years ago and to basically ask a couch to crash on. Also the part where NASA was briefly interested in the creep for… some reason.
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----- Jose Daniel Garza -----
In the winter of 2013, the private research institution SRL conducted experiments on 38 inmates-turned-Twisted from a federal prison in Indiana. These served as the basis of their new military training system.
During the CTI murders, the one responsible took away Vassel's ability to revive and killed him. Maeda asked SRL to let him have Jose Daniel Garza as a similar specimen. Maeda introduced him into the CTI system, thereby putting their battle simulator back online.
Before turning into a Slacker, Jose had been doing time for masterminding multiple government agency bombings.
TDI Note: Yes, so this is a completely different immortal Slacker that Maeda acquired through his CTI Member registration in a deleted timeline where his membership actually existed in the script. Also, apparently Madigan can just rip out training dummy enemies’ immortality like a jerk.
We did encounter a couple new Twisted in our adventures in the NYC Metro. Sadly, there isn’t like some T-Posed textureless model of the cut Twisted Cray still floating in this section.
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---- Snatcher -----
“Dark-dwelling Hunter”
Dangles from the ceiling and searches for intruders. Upon finding one, it drops down and begins its pursuit. It's an extremely keen hunter and fighter both, launching its first attacks immediately after sensing a foe and relentlessly continuing its barrage until it captures its prey. Anyone unlucky enough to be captured won't make it out alone. The Snatcher will drag him or her to its spider web wormhole, where death is inevitable.
To secure an Overdive target, first rescue the captured human by besieging the Snatcher with well-placed attacks before it reaches its web. Sniper rifles work well against Snatchers. Sniper rifle sweet spot: Center of the extremities, i.e., around the “knee.”
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---- Detector -----
“Sinister Quagmire”
Appearing as if bubbling up from the earth, this Twisted work only in tandem with a Rover, acting as kind of an alarm system. It has no attack capabilities and disappears the moment it spots an enemy.
Attack it with a grenade or grenade launcher to send it packing - but not before it sends in its friend the Rover, ready to eliminate any intruders.
TDI Note: Don’t attack the Detectors. You’re specifically told NOT to mess with them at all costs. Who wrote this advice?
That concludes the two new Twisted. The Babel entry has also, once again, gained a new entry between episodes.
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---- Babel 4 -----
The Twisted, the Queen and the Babels are all connected to one another in a kind of pyramidal relationship. The Twisted are the hunters, bringing humans into the Babel. The Queen uses descent attacks to turn those humans into nutrients that will boost the energy of the wormholes at the Babel's core. It's thought that each of these wormholes uses only a fraction of the energy required for Aya's Overdives, yet the wormhole inside the Grand Babel – a fusion of all the Babels worldwide - has enough energy to engulf the present and reduce everything to a void.
The wormhole at the Grand Babel's core can activate a time warp, transporting the Twisted to the past.
TDI Note: Umm… Excuse me? A “Grand Babel”. What’s that? I don’t remember hearing about th—oh… It’s something introduced next episode and y’all just fucked up again by updating the Datalog an episode early? I see… That’s okay. These sort of editing mistakes happen. Just usually not quite so frequently.
The catch-all for weird people related to the Twisted has updated a couple entries and added a new one. Check it out!
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---- 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.
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---- 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.
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---- Isabella Cray -----
Isabella Cray - the daughter of Cray and his wife Sandra. She has the sweetness of a doll, with dark black eyes and blonde hair to match. She loves ice cream at the Harvest Town food stall in Chinatown and won't eat a bite of the stuff from anywhere else.
It turns out the proprietor of Harvest Town had been the pastry chef at a famous Seattle hotel. Seeing that Isabella is already something of a gourmet at this young age, Cray is a little uneasy about her future.
TDI Note: I’m fairly certain this pleasant entry to Cray’s daughter was meant to be unlocked in Episode 3. As it updates in Episode 5 for no real reason saying that she’s dead. Also, according to it, she and her mother got hit by a runaway truck and it had fuck all to do with the Twisted.
Finally, Blank may be dead. But his atrocious network security habits remain and Maeda has downloaded his final e-mails for… some reason. Let’s take a gander into the dead man’s notes…
Aya Brea went back in time and messed it up. The Blank from this e-mail must be from the dubious script timeline where Aya doesn’t seem to bother mentioning her time traveling exploits to anyone.
Could you just offhandedly mention Aya Brea’s twin sister, Maya? You know, the one who was kind of a cornerstone of the plot of Parasite Eve 1. And the New Game Plus final boss. That one. Just namedrop her once? For me? They do not.
He was a mysterious secret agent man from a shadowy government organization of questionable legality. Kyle Madigan probably wasn’t even his real name. Except, much like Ada Wong who was his survival horror template, later down in sequels they just ran with the assumed alias being his real name.
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In any case, that is the conclusion of our tour of Episode 4’s Datalogs. Tune in next time, when Aya possesses assorted members of the UN’s Security Coalition to do all the fighting for her. It’s a long walk to “North Shallows Tower” which… according to this map, seems to be err… roughly where the New York Stock Exchange ought to be, if I’m not mistaken. Geography of real locations? Who needs it!