JoeKool82185 wrote:snip

I agree that most of these scene ideas are pretty damn useless. In fact, I've already stated earlier that adding such scenes would needlessly pad out the intro and break the immersiveness for the player.

But I'm still in support of the 990 idea. It's cool, it's creepy, and it wouldn't be a bad way to start the game.

I do agree that the intro could use slightly more background dialogue/events. Not too much, just enough to give new players an idea of what the setting of the game is.

JoeKool82185 wrote:snip

No; you are special because you are ultimately one of the lone survivors after the containment breach. 990 can predict this ahead of time, he can predict everything that happens in the future. And 990 can appear to anyone in the Foundation.

scpharrisee wrote:

JoeKool82185 wrote:snip

No; you are special because you are ultimately one of the lone survivors after the containment breach. 990 can predict this ahead of time, he can predict everything that happens in the future. And 990 can appear to anyone in the Foundation.

Being a survivor doesn't make your character special, unless he is the Chosen One or something like that. The protagonist, at least at this stage of development, is nothing more than a random Class D who is just lucky enough to be controlled by you, the player, and thus not die. That's it. Like the random soldiers you play as in Call of Duty or Medal of Honor, etc. D-9351 or whatever is not the Miracle Child spoken of in the Great Holy Prophecy, here to bring balance to the Force and drown in flame the mountains of man, so on and so forth. Unless we actually do something that has earth-shattering consequences to society/humanity/reality, our character is no one special. Just a guy trying to escape a prison. He ain't the first.

And I agree with you that SCP-990 can predict this ahead of time. He can predict anything ahead of time. I'm sure he knows the exact time and date of the next shit I take. But that's not important enough for him to appear in my dreams and talk to me about it. Why is our character so important that 990 must appear? If the answer doesn't extend beyond "990 is cool" and "our character is the protagonist", then perhaps 990 shouldn't be there.

See, don't misunderstand, I'm OK with having random SCP's there, but for the purposes of atmosphere building. SCP-012 serves no purpose other than to build atmosphere, to show the facility as a stark raving madhouse that is now unchecked (I would have a person pushing around SCP-382, just for the sake of weirding the player out). But to take SCP-990 and put a scene in there that implies some greater importance and not follow up on it is just silly. It just drags out the intro for absolutely no purpose, and takes Regalis's focus away from parts of the game that need more immediate attention. For comparison's sake, imagine that after watching SCP-173 escape his chamber in the issue, we never see or hear from him again. All that buildup for a non-character. That would be pretty bad, right? It's the same thing here.

I have to agree, as I stressed a long time ago the player character is not special or unique, he is just some other Class-D.

In light of those good points, I give up. The 990 idea is bullshit.

106phobia wrote:In light of those good points, I give up. The 990 idea is bullshit.

Yeah, I kinda have to agree on that.

SCP 513 wrote:

106phobia wrote:In light of those good points, I give up. The 990 idea is bullshit.

Yeah, I kinda have to agree on that.

+1
As I said long time ago, it looks like a cliche. You aren't any Neo (Matrix)

So how about instead of 990, we actually see what goes on in the facility before we approach 173 for testing? For example, as we walk over the office, we should overhear some researchers and other staff having conversations. This has already been said, but I feel the need to reiterate the points - they are good ones. The facility should look as lively as possible (while still having a mysterious air) so that after the breach, the complete lack of life and brightness in a once bustling facility will make you shit your pants.

For argument's sake, i'm going to defend Mr. Dream Man, just because I think he's cool. Literally, no reason beyond that.

I'll start off with this:

Event log 990-07:

Agent ██████ failed to report for duty at his assigned time. He was instead found in his quarters, asleep. Subject had been asleep for roughly eighteen (18) hours and all subsequent attempts to wake him were unsuccessful. Subject was transported to medical bay.

After over 40 hours of sleep, Subject awakened in a highly agitated state. Subject reportedly ran through the facility yelling loudly about "the end of the world." Even after being heavily sedated, all of his bodily functions remained in a dangerously accelerated state: increased heart rate, high blood pressure, etc.

Subject described a man matching the regular appearance of SCP-990. According to Dr. ██████████'s report, Agent described with great detail a series of events that would lead to several tactical nuclear missiles being launched into mid-Europe and eastern Asia, ultimately resulting in the extermination of nearly 98% of the human race and the total collapse of human society. Agent claimed that the information had been outlined to him by SCP-990 while he was trapped within his dream.

Mobile Task Force ██-█ was dispatched to eliminate the initial threat that would begin the chain of events. MTF ██-█ was successful and the crisis was averted. Agent ██████, however, did not survive his ordeal and died of shock-like symptoms.


These people aren't any more special than the guy. The person isn't even worthy to merit a blackout, just "Subject".
990 doesn't just appear to chosen people who are here to lead us to the ends of the earth or protect us from Nazis. He can appear to anyone. Also, in the article, it says he predicted the destruction of a watch station. This wasn't an XK event, it was just a station being destroyed. So wouldn't he warn someone to give them a chance to survive? He's shown MTF's, agents, so why not a Class-D? He hasn't proved to be discriminatory, so I presume it would be perfectly plausible for him to make sure somebody knew. And anyway, the Class-D never sleeps, so he probably would never hear from him. An intro scene with some control instructions and a vague warning could be fine.

My point being, 990 "Only appearing to special people" is disproved in his own article. So... yep, argument set.

Trust me whathopercy, I agree with you and tried to make the very same arguments in the past, but now I see that the 990 intro won't work unless executed perfectly. Anyways, if you escape, you ARE special - no doubt about that. And considering that you are one of the few survivors of the initial breach, I don't see why 990 can't appear to you. He can predict future events and warn folks of them, after all.

Ok screw all the doubts I had, I'm back on board for the 990 idea. Since when is it cliche to have a dream about an anomalous old man? It's mysterious, and mystery is EXACTLY what the intro needs. You need an ominous air to creep out players and make them terrified about impending doom.