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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: General » ARG: Acheron
If 'tis done... (A review from the peanut gallery)
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choie
Boot


Joined: 19 Sep 2003
Posts: 28

 		If 'tis done... (A review from the peanut gallery)
First of all, let me just say that I still hold out hope that we'll hear from Harker/CT and that Becker will respond to Magesteff's email offer to catch and disarm Jake.

But if not, and the game has ended...

Well, some background first. I was mostly a lurker, pretty much a nonentity in the Acheron community. Smile I followed the plot and puzzles carefully, attended a few chats, and made a couple of speculative guesses and research posts now and then, most of which were ignored -- and no, I'm not complaining, 'cause they were probably very ignorable! Very Happy (Although, despite my general uselessness as a player, I take a little pride in the fact that I'm on record as not trusting Jake/SHIFT as early as our very first chat with him, LOL.)

The first time I ever got "involved" in an actual group activity (albeit in a minor minor way) was, by pure serendipity, last night ... when, as if compelled by forces unknown, I wandered into chat yesterday in time for the final puzzle wrap-up, the fateful decision to send CT back, and the timeline shift to a universe where callousness, greed and a dude with a rather creepy God-complex prevailed.

All this is a preface to my following "FWIW" comment: in my own humble position as an audience member/sometime participant, I really really enjoyed this ARG!!!!

From the pre-game, which was clever and appropriately intriguing, to the launch and early segments in which we met poor screwed-up Reggie, lonely Meghan, and the enigmatic Caretaker; from the frustration of "play chess with Turk" to the helplessness of watching Reggie get bullied by the "gray people" to the sudden reappearance of Jake; from uncovering the truth about SPECTRUM to the birth of the DevilBaby ... acheron was a wild ride.

Was it a successful one? For me, at least, the answer is "absolutely!" The premise and storyline offered many intellectual concepts and moral dilemmas to contemplate. The puzzles were varied, hard, and IMHO well-integrated with the plot (i.e., not just games-for-games' sake).

The "architecture" of the fictional universe -- the unique websites, documents, phone contacts, images, programs, packages, near-misses at ARGfest -- aptly fulfilled the "immersive" promise of immersive gaming. I mean, geeze, think about all those phone numbers and domains the PMs created! Not to mention all the stuff (press releases, emails and messages/notes written for New River U, CoyoteDispatch, HCRD, Neotech and Becker's desktop) that wasn't even plot related, instead added to the game merely for "atmospheric" purposes to create a realistic universe! My mind boggles at the ingenuity and perspiration that went into these careful, detailed "extras." They may not have gone directly towards unravelling the plot, but these nuances brought the people and places in Catalina, Arizona to life.

Finally, perhaps most importantly in an ongoing drama, the characters' personalities and plights were altogether believable, captivating and emotionally gripping. The fact that some players are down-hearted and outright depressed by the ending is understandable. We placed our trust in the wrong man, and by so doing we may have sent Harker to oblivion, led Reggie to an early grave, failed to prevent Meg's suicide, and -- good grief! -- perhaps enabled the birth of the Unholy Beast who'll reign over us as the Last Days engulf the world in hellfire!

That's an awful heavy responsibility placed on the shoulders of a bunch of folks who just wanted to help out a missing guy & his wife!

But it's a measure of the PMs' skill and success that many so closely sympathized and connected with Reggie/John, Meg, and Harker. It says a lot about the players that we were able to care. But it says even more about the PMs' talent at building characters, imbuing them with individual personalities and "voices," and -- even harder -- sustaining them not just in static emails and blog entries, but within live chats and IMs. As a writer I'm incredibly impressed with the effort and adroitness they've displayed, not to mention awed by their improvisational skills.

So ... for putting everything together -- the drama, technology, cryptography, originality, historical research, psychology, and much much more -- and creating a fun, frustrating, scary, sobering and emotionally satisfying experience I'll remember for a very long time, I offer the PMs of Acheron my most vociferous praise and sincere gratitude. I hope you guys take a bow in public! And please please give us a post-mortem chat! Smile

And for being incredibly adroit at discovering, uncovering, researching, decoding, hacking, calculating, decrypting, and interacting with both the characters and each other ... I applaud the Acheron players themselves, folks like Steff and Rose and Addlepated and konamouse and Lazarus_Long and so many more whom I've watched in sheer awe. You are all amazingly smart, creative, daring and funny.

Sure, we all basically caused the hastening of Armageddon. But hey, it was a crapshoot. Better luck next time! Very Happy

But I still wanna know what happened to Harker, what the Game of Life puzzle was all about, who the hell was Seraphim, whether Meg was successful in killing the little hellspawn, the identity of that injured chick who looked just like konamouse, the purpose of the badges some players received, and whether Jake actually went so far as to murder Reggie/John.

-- Kira (choie)

PostPosted: Sat Feb 14, 2004 10:01 pm
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addlepated
Unfictologist


Joined: 17 Aug 2003
Posts: 1885
Location: Austin, Texas

 		Choie, I'm so glad you were in chat last night! And it's fun to know that there were people in the shadows lurking from the very beginning. I had a total blast as well and I think your notes are dead-on. Thank you also for the compliment. This was my first ARG but absolutely positively not my last. I'm afraid I am hooked for life. If it's wrong, I don't wanna be right! Wink

PostPosted: Sat Feb 14, 2004 10:15 pm
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aiesha_anonymous
Veteran


Joined: 18 Jun 2003
Posts: 101
Location: Australia

 		If the game is over ... and I kinda hope it's not.

What could we have done differently to reach a different conclusion? If we didn't trust Jake, who else could we have trusted? Becker? Were there any clues that we might have trusted him? Any evidence against Jake?

I'm not certain that there was any alternative mapped out for us to follow. Perhaps if we'd all turned against jake something else would have turned up in the storyline?

It's something I'd be interested in hearing about from the PM's when they've rested up and are ready to face the world again.

Thanks to all for the fascinating experience of my first ARG. It was great and I feel more confident about getting more involved with future games because of it.

Aiesha

PostPosted: Sat Feb 14, 2004 10:23 pm
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dashcat
Entrenched


Joined: 09 Dec 2002
Posts: 816
Location: Under the bed

 		Choie, you said it! Here's to the PMs! Thanks for the fun. I can't wait for the PM chat.
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 15, 2004 3:45 am
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Flynn
Decorated


Joined: 11 Nov 2003
Posts: 240
Location: UK

 		Have to agree with Choie, I was in a similar situation in that I lurked a lot, stuck a few posts on here that were mostly useless, and also, bizarrely, lost my "chat cherry" on Friday. Only I went off to bed just before it all really kicked off. I wasn't around for I guess the first half of Acheron, I started looking at these forums after Metacortechs finished, but I was pretty soon hooked on the story and the puzzles.

I loved the ending, the fact that we were unwittingly helping the bad guy all along, even if I now hate the character Evil or Very Mad And to the "hard core" of players who solved the puzzles, and interacted so well with the characters, for me you made the game almost as much as the PM's did - Rose's wonderful flirting with CT couldn't have been scripted better and added a dimension to the game that I suspect the PM's couldn't have predicted - although they responded to it very well.

All in all, just a big shout of thanks to both the PM's and the players, for making this such a great ride for us spectators. Hopefully I can be in at the start of an ARG next time! Mad

PS - having come into both Metacortechs and Acheron about half way through, does this mean I've technically completed one ARG? Laughing Laughing

PostPosted: Sun Feb 15, 2004 9:02 am
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MageSteff
Pretty talky there aintcha, Talky?


Joined: 06 Jun 2003
Posts: 2716
Location: State of Denial
Flynn wrote:


PS - having come into both Metacortechs and Acheron about half way through, does this mean I've technically completed one ARG? Laughing Laughing


We will remember to drag you into the rabbit hole on the next one.
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Magesteff
A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead


PostPosted: Sun Feb 15, 2004 12:53 pm
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Flynn
Decorated


Joined: 11 Nov 2003
Posts: 240
Location: UK
Magesteff wrote:
Flynn wrote:


PS - having come into both Metacortechs and Acheron about half way through, does this mean I've technically completed one ARG? Laughing Laughing


We will remember to drag you into the rabbit hole on the next one.


Now I know about this place, I'm hoping to be in at the start next time Smile I think I've learnt more in the last six months than I did in the previous six years - facts, myths, legends, obscure cryptography techniques, and the amazing things that a bunch of people from all over the world can accomplish in ridiculously short amounts of time. This is fun Very Happy

PostPosted: Sun Feb 15, 2004 5:27 pm
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talax
Boot

Joined: 26 Jan 2004
Posts: 39

 		I'm so disappointed. I took a vacation last week so missed the ending. Crying or Very sad

Oh well, it was a wild ride. I had a lot of fun, and when there is another ARG, I'll definitely join in. Very Happy

PostPosted: Mon Feb 16, 2004 1:10 am
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lurker
Boot


Joined: 06 Nov 2003
Posts: 52
Location: uk

 		That's the last time I go away for a weekend... just got back today and missed all the action!

I'm with Flynn - I joined MU quite near the beginning and Acheron considerably nearer the end than I'd realised... but had a great time.

At risk of sounding cheesy, this is a unique and exciting community to be a part of and I look forward to spending many more waking hours here (even if they don't coincide with the other half of the world)!

PostPosted: Tue Feb 17, 2004 12:06 pm
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bagsbee
Unfettered


Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Posts: 417
Location: NYC

 		This was ARG 1½ for me. I played MU pretty much from start to finish, and once it was over I was so hooked on ARGs I would've played the Garfield ARG if that was the only one running.

Fortunately, Acheron was running, but unfortunately, it was midway when I started playing. After many failed attempts to catch up on the story (even now I don't know the whole story), I concentrated on the puzzles, or should I say, I provided mostly useless spec while watching grumpyboy solve them Razz. It was great fun wracking my brain on orb.jpg, writing nonsensical haikus (and getting swag out of it!), and just hanging out on IRC and providing moral support.

Kudos to all the PMs and BTS people. Looking forward to the next one.

Oh, BTW...if I hear one more UF old-timer say, "Man, you should've been around for Chasing the Wish, it was AWESOME!!!!!!", they're pie.

PostPosted: Tue Feb 17, 2004 2:56 pm
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Flynn
Decorated


Joined: 11 Nov 2003
Posts: 240
Location: UK
bagsbee wrote:
once it was over I was so hooked on ARGs I would've played the Garfield ARG if that was the only one running.


Couldn't have put it better. BTW, where is the Garfield ARG Laughing

PostPosted: Tue Feb 17, 2004 6:54 pm
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jamesi
Sentient Being


Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 2195
Location: Canadia
Flynn wrote:
BTW, where is the Garfield ARG Laughing


I believe if you go searching around the 7th layer of hell, you'll find it. Right beside the ARG based on the Cathy comic strip.
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 1:59 pm
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bagsbee
Unfettered


Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Posts: 417
Location: NYC
jamesi wrote:
Flynn wrote:
BTW, where is the Garfield ARG Laughing


I believe if you go searching around the 7th layer of hell, you'll find it. Right beside the ARG based on the Cathy comic strip.


and upstairs from the new Mr. Ed starring Sherman Helmsley ARG. Trailhead is www.urbansensibility.com

PostPosted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 3:12 pm
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