Part 13: Blackwell Legacy - Update 11

Update 11

So last update Joey beat the fuck out of a ghost and then sent him off to be confronted by the devil. Just beautiful

Before we continue on with that, let's see what would have happened if Rosa had decided to handle the Deacon instead.

The Deacon's Theme



You wanna handle this? Go right ahead. Let's see you do any better.

Rosa now has a chance to reason with the Deacon, to get him to move on willingly.

You've killed two people! Almost killed a third! Doesn't that mean anything to you?
They called ME! Why would they call me, if they couldn't help me?
You can't keep going on like this.
It's better than burning!

However, the Deacon is fairly hard-headed. Mind you, I can't really blame him after seeing the devil appear last update

Rosa, of course, has no idea about that, and figures that sending the Deacon on his way is probably going to be perfectly safe.

I know a safe place. You can hide there.
Really? Where is it?
Not far. But you'll have to trust us.
Trust you? Why should I trust you?

At this point, Rosa has three choices. She can claim to be an authority:

Because we know what we're doing.
Know? Know?! What do you know?! You know nothing! You're going to make me burn!

But the Deacon immediately recognises that as bullshit. Rosa can also try to play on the Deacon's guilt.

Because we don't want you to kill anyone else.
They weren't my fault! They just wouldn't listen to me! Why don't they want to help me?! Nobody wants to help me. You're a liar.

But that doesn't go so well either. Each time Rosa makes the wrong choice, Joey jumps back in and starts pounding the guy.

Finally, Rosa hits on the right choice of words.

Because nobody else has offered to help you before. Right?
Yeah?
You ask and ask for help but nobody answers, right?
No. Nobody answers!
Well we have. We're gonna help you. Has anybody else said the same?

This argument seems to penetrate the Deacon's defences.

No they haven't! I think... Ooh, I'm so tired of running. If you say you can help me, I believe you. What needs to be done?
Just listen to my friend.



Joey grudgingly offers up the tie without laying in any more fists, and with that, the Deacon zooms off into Nodespace.

... I can't believe she pulled that off.

The game actually gives you an achievement for having Rosa succeed here. In the later games there will be plenty of achievements sprinkled throughout, often for quite amusing things.



This time around, the Deacon is actually pretty calm when he enters Nodespace.

I feel... safe!
Are you ready?
Yes, I really think so. It's really nice out here. Almost like...

Going Insane



But either way, the devil still comes to fuck with the Deacon's shit.

You lied to me!
What?
It's here! You LIED!

And, once again, Rosa finds the portal closed behind her.

Joey? Joey! Get me out of here!
Stay away! Stay AWAY!
There is nowhere to go. You can not return to the mortal world. You can only go through me. Accept the punishment for your sins, and come with me.

The Deacon frantically turns to Rosa, begging for help.

Help me, please! YOU brought me here! You have to save me! You have to!
Fool! No one can save you now. I will give you a moment to prepare for the eternity to come, but then you are mine.

Poor Rosa feels obliged to respond.

What is that thing?!
It's come to take me to Hell! Just like it always said it would!
I... I don't know what to do! I've never done this before!
I'm doomed!

Rosa can also straight-up deny reality.

This is NOT happening!
You've got to do something!



With nothing else she can do, Rosa starts asking questions.

I... don't... know! It haunted my dreams when I was alive, and wouldn't leave me alone after death. And now, there's no place left to run.
What are your sins? What have you DONE?
I don't know! Please, God, I DON'T KNOW! I didn't mean to kill those people. It's just I've been so SCARED and I don't know WHY! Please help!
So what can I do? What does he want?
He wants ME. I... I don't know why.

The Deacon is seriously losing his shit here.



At this point, the Deacon slurps down another hit of whatever is in his flask.

What is that in your pocket?
My flask?
Yeah. What's in it?
Nothing. It's just a... force of habit, I guess. Used to keep whiskey in it, when I was alive.



After chatting with the Deacon, Rosa decides to start up a conversation with the devil himself.

Converse with me not. My issue is not with you, but with this wastrel here. I shall give him some time to prepare himself for the eternity to come. But then, he is mine.
How did you get here?
What is "here"? It is but an abstract concept, to one such as I. I move at the power of thought. At the speed of death. Once my business is concluded, I shall trouble you no more.

Oh geez, apparently the devil is all abstract and stuff. An interesting point on the devil - Gilbert himself did the voice acting, by playing around with various audio filters. Gilbert would continue voicing roles in later games, but unfortunately has a very distinctive (and kind of nerdy) voice, making his characters stand out, particularly among an ever-more-professional cast of voice actors in the later games.

Rosa decides to push the issue a bit further.

Why are you after this man?
For his sins. All this time, he has not renounced them. Even after many years of death, he still carries them with him.
Can't you just let him go?
He has killed many with his madness. His sins weigh him down even as we speak. Ask yourself, does he deserve mercy?



Rosa can actually choose whether she feels the Deacon deserves mercy, though it has no impact on the game itself.

If she chooses to say yes, her heart isn't really in it:

Yes?
You may think so, but your heart does not believe it. You have witnessed the results of his actions with your own eyes.

Of course, if she says no, the Deacon is horrified at her:

No, you might be right.
WHAT?
She speaks wisdom, worm. You are totally without redemption, and you know it. Collect yourself, for the time comes near.



There are actually two possible endings here. If Rosa just kinda futzes around and doesn't help, the devil will periodically clench his fist, which prompts panicky screams from the Deacon.

Please! Help!



If Rosa continues waiting too long, or is too slow at figuring out what to do, the devil finally decides to take action.

The time has come.
No! NO!



I'm sorry.

This is pretty damn terrifying.



The devil clenches his fist, and the Deacon's soul dissolves away to the sound of a distorted scream.

Heed the Deacon's lesson well. For he brought it upon himself. Go, now. And forget not what you've seen here. Remember. Actions in life are remembered in death. We shall meet again.



The devil then vanishes, leaving a horrified Rosa free to return to reality.

But you know what, that's probably a worse fate than anybody deserves. After all, the Deacon seems more confused than murderous. So let's see if we can sort this out properly.



Rosa notices a loose stone here on the ground. In fact, it's been there the whole time, even during her other visits to Nodespace. She pockets it.



Apparently Rosa has been keeping track of clues in her notepad, even inside of her own head with the devil right there next to her. Damn, that's dedicated journalism.

The solution, of course, is to combine these two clues and recognise that the Deacon's sins and his flask are related.

The Deacon is "carrying" his sins... And the Deacon is "carrying" his flask... Could this be... symbolic?

Well, let's test out the theory!

Get rid of that flask!
Huh?
Your flask! Get rid of it!
My flask? Why?
Just do it!

But the Deacon doesn't want to get rid of it.

But... I can't.
Why not?
Because... it's my flask!



Rosa comes up with a fairly convincing argument.

Well... OK.

With that, the Deacon takes one last swig and drops the flask to the ground.



But they still taint this place. That isn't enough to save you.

Oh, come on. Rosa decides to just grab the flask and chuck it, but is stopped by the devil.

Beware, mortal! The sins this man carried with him are still tainting this place. Touch them and they taint YOU, as well. I am content with taking my quarry, but I have no claim on you. Take this man's sins upon yourself, and I shall be forced to take you as well. You do not want that, and neither do I.

Apparently the devil is not interested in Rosa's soul. I don't know, I expected this dude to be fairly evil, but he seems more like a middle manager or something here.



The makeshift solution is to shatter the flask with the stone, which causes both to dissolve.

The sins have been abolished from this place! Any my claim on the dead one is gone. Move on in peace, and be troubled no more.

And once again, the devil just warps away, leaving Rosa and the Deacon alone.



I think so.

So apparently whatever the Deacon did was bad enough to have his soul damned for eternity, but someone else shattering his flask absolved him? This cosmic justice thing seems poorly thought-out.

He's... gone! I.. I'm free of him. I'm really free! All this time... It's... all so clear to me now. Like my head was full of cobwebs, and now they're gone. I...

Opening Menu Theme

Suddenly, it dawns on the Deacon what has happened in the last few weeks.

All those people who died... They killed themselves. Because of me.

Deciding to interject, Rosa can either agree:

Yes.

Try to comfort the Deacon:

It's all right.
No, it's not all right.

Or, bizarrely, attempt to psychoanalyse him:

And what do you think about that?
I don't know.

He follows up with a sad confession.

I didn't know what I was doing... but that doesn't excuse it. I spent most of my life as a drunk, and most of my death as a murderer. I was worried about going to Hell before. Maybe I'm okay with that, now.



Jesus Christ dude, don't say that too loud or the fucking devil might come back!!

For one final time in Legacy, Rosa gets to choose from three responses. I should point out that in future games this is done less often, or is done in such a way that all three responses flow into one conversation, so I will be interrupting the stream of dialogue less often from now on.

Firstly, Rosa can be philosophical:

Maybe there isn't a Hell.
It's too late for that.

I don't know, that seems unlikely considering we just had the fucking devil appear right in front of us. She can be hopeful:

Maybe you can still redeem yourself.
Maybe. Eventually. But not right now.

Or, perhaps most fittingly, she can continue to psychoanalyse the Deacon:

You seem strangely happy about it.
I'm just happy to KNOW.

The Deacon leaves us with one final glimpse at his backstory.

You see, I was a religious man, once. Before disease took my wife away, and I took to the bottle. If I'm going to Hell, maybe I can still spread the word of God there. Do some good, for once.



Good bye, and thanks.



With a smile, the Deacon spirals off into the light. The portal reappears, and Rosa departs with only a momentary glance back at the Universe behind her.



Back in the real world, Joey is more than a little concerned at how long Rosa has been under.

Yeah... yeah. I'm fine.
What took you so long?
It got... a little complicated.

"A little complicated?" You call the fucking devil showing up "a little complicated?" Rosa is as cool as a cucumber. As far as I'm aware, she never actually tells Joey about the devil, though I guess maybe she mentions it between episodes?

Well, I'm just glad you're okay.
Let's get out of here. I need some air.
I know the perfect place.

Ashes



In the game's final scene, Rosa and Joey head back to the Brooklyn Bridge for some final reflections. I have to say, the pixel-art night time cityscape is absolutely gorgeous. This is definitely drawn from a reference photo.

The dialogue in the ending sequence is different depending on whether Rosa was able to convince the Deacon to take the tie without Joey beating him into submission, and whether the devil took the Deacon's soul or not.

If the devil takes his soul, we get:

Scared and confused and I couldn't do anything.
Yeah, well who says you had to.
I was just so useless in there.
He still moved on. We did our bit.
I guess.

But if we smashed up his flask, we instead get:

He's at peace now, I guess. Wherever he is. I saved him, I think. Gave him some hope, at least.
He's getting no more than he deserves. No more than any of us deserve.
I guess.

Then, if Joey punched the Deacon into Nodespace, Rosa follows up with:

Did you have to hit him?
It was the only way, darling. I didn't see YOU coming up with any bright ideas. Sometimes the best idea is a punch in the gut.

Whereas Rosa's solution elicits:

I really wish I could have popped him one more time. He really hacked me off.
Is that your answer to everything?
Don't you start judging me. You managed to pull it off. I'm impressed. I'm just... glad you're okay.

The two of them admire the view in silence for a while, before Rosa pipes up with a question she's been wanting to ask for some time.



Yeah?
Why did Auntie stop?
Stop what?
Stop doing this. This ghost saving. Or whatever it is we do.
Oh. Ah...

Joey pauses slightly before answering.



Me?
She wanted to take care of you. Wanted to do it right, she said. Stopped listening to me. Stopped listening to me. Stopped saving the ghosts. Just put all her effort into taking care of you.

Wow. Presumably Lauren made this decision after Rosa's parents both died in an accident. It must have been a fairly difficult decision to make.

And then she... fell into that weird coma.
Yeah.
...
I see.

Rosa mulls the situation over for a while before remarking.



Is there?



Ending Credits Theme

And with that somewhat ambiguous ending dialogue, the ending screen flashes up:



Rosa's final comments are left to interpretation, with Gilbert saying as much in his commentary. He does, however, indicate that his reading of the dialogue is that Rosa has come to an acceptance that this is her life now, and that she doesn't really have the choice to stop, so she needs to make the best fist of it she can.

A credit sequence rolls, where the voice actors are recognised with photographs.

After the credits, a final scene is displayed:



There's hundreds of confused spirits out there, sweetheart. And there's nobody else who can help 'em. There's just us. Bestowing eternity on every sob story out there. One lost soul at a time. ... Whether we want to, or not.

And with that, the game ends, though not before providing a code to access hidden features. In this game the hidden features are not that exciting, although some of the voice acting outtakes are quite amusing. In the later games (other than the fourth, which has none) the hidden features are interesting enough that I will make a point of looking at them.




And so we've finished The Blackwell Legacy! By all means, please let me know what you thought about the game, speculate about what lies ahead (without any spoilers from those in the know!), or just get excited for the second game in the series!

A couple of closing remarks of my own. I like The Blackwell Legacy and think it has some great moments, an intriguing setting and two brilliant lead characters, but I also think that as a game, it falls a bit flat, particularly at the end. Rosa's final dialogue, although very much in-character, doesn't really provide a satisfying conclusion.

The music, voice acting, and artwork are all quite bipolar, with fantastic moments mixed in with disappointments. It's painfully obvious that this project was an unfunded indie game with a development cycle spanning only a few months. It's kind of telling that one of the best voice acting performances, that of Rosa, is actually a more recent implementation. The original voice actress, Sande Chen, did a reasonable job, but in my opinion was nowhere near as good Rebecca Whittaker, who took on the role after having played Rosa in subsequent games. Amusingly, Whittaker is actually a burlesque dancer who never uses computers, which makes her brilliant rendition of the dorky, awkward Rosa even more impressive.

The scene with the Deacon is very odd. The devil showing up out of nowhere is a massive moment with absolutely no foreshadowing. Gilbert's stated intention was to have the game end on a dramatic moment, but he ended up overshooting the mark in my opinion.

Perhaps it's not all Gilbert's fault, however. The character of the Deacon is not entirely his own creation; it was taken from a story told by a famous Manhattan bohemian, who will actually go on to be a feature character in a future game. At the time Legacy was released, Gilbert challenged players to figure out where the inspiration for The Deacon had come from, but as far as I'm aware, nobody did until it was revealed in one of the subsequent games.

Still, that's all in the future. For now, we'll stop here. Tomorrow we'll get started on the second game in the series, Blackwell Unbound! Thanks for your support so far, and stay tuned - there's a lot more Blackwell to come!!