The shadow factory is the sequel of "Looking for Paradise", which is the sequel of "To The Moon". In fact, the evaluation of IF is not without pointing out the first two.
Incomplete story, complete story and exquisite story
I used to divide stories into three categories: incomplete stories, complete stories, and exquisite stories.
Incomplete stories are often stories whose outline and content are out of control. For example, any of the "Flash Track" is an incomplete story, because its stories are always east to west, with weak relevance and large water injection. When you finish reading an incomplete story, it is hard for the story itself to leave a positive impression on you.
A complete story is like an excellent composition. It echoes from beginning to end and is coherent. Although there is no highlight, it is complete and self-contained. The ups and downs in the story, although all within your expectations, at least it has; Although the structure and plot are very old-fashioned, there are both. You may not remember it for a long time, but at least at the moment when you finish reading it, you have the feeling of finishing it.
The exquisite story, on the basis of the complete story, ingeniously breaks away from the mediocre narrative and makes the story rise a dimension. Reading such stories will make people forget the frame of the story. Even though many years have passed, when tasting other stories, the shadow of these stories will still pop out of my mind.
For example, in the movie "The Graduate", the protagonists who escaped from the wedding scene looked at each other and smiled, then fell into a long silence. Then the "The Sound of Silence" quietly sounded, making the loneliness, helplessness and uncertainty of the future suddenly erupt. This was the successful upsurge of the marriage snatching. The whole story also rose from a complete story to an exquisite story.
Unlimited possibility caused by closing the door
Back in the shadow factory, if Neil's office did not automatically close the door, it would be just a complete story.
The main line of shadow factory is basically the plot of recursion, simulation, cylinder like brain. The protagonist is the product of a recursion under the cylinder like brain theory. Simulation program A creates simulation program B, and simulation program B creates simulation program C in its world, infinitely downward recursion, which is not difficult for programmers to understand.
In the last story, the infinitely nested recursion is captured by the monitor program (Faye) set by the administrator, and our protagonists (people) get an opportunity to run optimally when they are told the truth. After the running is completed, our protagonist is suspended, archived and turned into nothingness, and the context of the protagonist is also recycled by the system.
At this point, a slightly suspenseful and not difficult to guess story can be completed. At the end of this chapter, it is also the practice of most ordinary stories. For example, see the movie "Out of Control Player". Their structures are even similar.
I thought that IF would end here, but I didn't expect the next scene. After the conversation was over, Neil's office door suddenly closed automatically. When I played here, my heart seemed to "bang" for a while. Less than three seconds of content shocked me as much as all previous content.
Those who have never played the trilogy may not understand my shock. In short, the sudden closing of the door has expanded the infinite possibilities, which include my views all along:
Neil may be virtual/ Eva may be virtual!
Why do I think so? Think about the red flash in To The Moon, and then think about the architecture of the trilogy.
Going to the moon is an exquisite story, but looking for heaven is not
To The Moon is a classic comment: "I thought Johnny loved River very much, but in the end, he found that maybe River loved Johnny more."
The flashback of the moon, stars, origami bunnies, plus a turning point hidden behind layers of fog, in the words of old Beijing Fast Hand, is "my old baby has been capped". Even if Neil's painkiller and red flash screen are not considered, this story is exquisite enough.
Yes, there are two free DLCs! There are two Dr. Eva!
Yes, you haven't played To The Moon, so you can't understand what I'm talking about.
As for the Finding Paradise, I can only say that the Bgm on the store page is good. Faye's first transformation is very scary. The story is very ordinary. It belongs to the kind that sees the head at a glance.
Trilogy Player Questions
- If Neil is virtual in his mind, is Eva in his mind?
- If Neil is nested, what happens before him?
- If Eva is virtual in her mind, is Neil in her mind?
- If Eva is nested, what happens before her?
- If Eva is in a simulation program, what will be the future if the IF door is closed or not?
- Why does the door close automatically? Does the higher-level program have the same nesting avoidance mechanism as Faye&Octopus?
- Brain in the vat theory player: "It doesn't matter, it's all the same".
For others
For the evaluation of this game, some people are talking about topics such as "starting from scratch", "deep parental love", "family love career", and "choice". In my opinion, their evaluation cannot be said to be meaningless, but it is just a scratch. It is unnecessary.
Yes, the game really shows the choice of love, family, career and kinship. Players can see it as long as they have played it. As for the choice and kinship, the story is well described, and the audience cried, then what?
I think it's not realistic to comprehend the truth of life from a fictional word game. Dark doesn't have to work hard to compile it, but he should evaluate the game in a down-to-earth way.
