The Corpse In The Pit

[Kilarin]

I'm adding spoiler space at the top of this message, because it is discussing one of the central plot points of LOH. If you have not yet played LOH, and don't want the story spoiled for you, please do NOT read any further!
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OK, that should be enough, now on with the question.

I've always assumed, since the very first time I started LOH, that one of the corpses in the pit in the first scene was the Hero. (There are actually TWO corpses, but I never noticed the one half buried under the waterfall until I noticed in one of Xaa's old SN posts a comment about the bones and two corpses in the pit)



When Hyperboria loaded up the very first time for me, I caught a glimpse of that corpse, then the fade to the man at the top of that very deep pit, and I thought, "Oh yeah, that's him, isn't it. Either he's dead, or nearly so, and this is all a dream"

So, Xaa, was that the intention? The "Hint" that all in Hyperboria was not as it seemed? Or have I been reading too much into it? Is it really just a matter of (as the dwarf says) The hero got out before going over the waterfall, those other poor fellows didn't.

[Xaa]

kilarin said:

So, Xaa, was that the intention? The "Hint" that all in Hyperboria was not as it seemed? Or have I been reading too much into it? Is it really just a matter of (as the dwarf says) The hero got out before going over the waterfall, those other poor fellows didn't.

The idea is that the hero managed to pull him/herself out before they went over the waterfall - and others who tried, died. I.E. it supports what the dwarf said. The hints that this is really all just a dream come along a bit later, beginning when you have to get the robe from the priest. There's an NIS that happens once you have it where the hero says (paraphrasing) "This all looks so tremendously familiar..." And, of course, it should look familiar to the DS player, too, as that entire region (and nine others) are taken directly from the original game maps, KoE and UP. As the player continues on, they come back there and head to the farmland region - which is the Elddim region from UP. Then, once they get inside StoneGate, it should be obvious it's StoneBridge from KoE, except it hasn't been burned. On and on, familiar scenes re-cast in unfamiliar ways, with totally unfamilair areas in-between. By the time the player is overhalfway through the game, they have this eerie feeling that they *should* know what's coming next because everything feels so familiar, but they never quite do.

This was one of the story advantages I had working with DS - I was able to take the base terrain (the node tiles) and re-use them. After you start walking through an area, particularly a really familiar area like Stonegate, you know where it comes from. Yet, when you look at it, you realize it's NOT Stonebridge - none of the houses are burned, all the plants and trees are in different locations, and there's a dwarven mine off to one side of the town that wasn't there in StoneBridge. You go inside the mine, and it's like 'hey, this is kind of familiar', because it looks like the mine area from KoE. Yet, there are differences that make it unfamiliar (like the clearly-marked death-trap that everyone has to try).

Hauntingly familiar, yet not - that's what the hero keeps feeling as he progresses through the story. And the echoing effect in the player's minds, which helps you more strongly identify with the hero, was an effect I was only able to acheive because everyone had already played KoE and UP.

[Kilarin]

Xaa:

The idea is that the hero managed to pull him/herself out before they went over the waterfall - and others who tried, died. I.E. it supports what the dwarf said.

Ha! I got the right conclusion for the wrong reason. By the time I hit all the OTHER clues, they were just confirming the theory I had started with.

Even a broken clock is correct twice a day.

[Hacknshoot]

kilarin said:

Even a broken clock is correct twice a day.

Ah, but how is it broken? That is the true question. If it's going backwards at the exact pace a regular clock does, then it's broken but it's right forty-eight times a day. ;D But 2 is within 48, though...