That’s logical thinking @Gysbert As players we do want to feel capable, like we can take on the impossible. It’s empowering, and part of what makes games so rewarding. But there still has to be struggle. It’s what Joseph Campbell talks about in his excellent Hero’s Journey book, it’s not just about being blatantly OP, it’s about earning that strength through trials, setbacks, and growth.
Striking the right balance is key. If we’re too powerful from the start, there’s no tension. But if we’re constantly failing and stumbling, it can become frustrating instead of fun. That’s where the real magic happens; giving players enough challenge to feel tested, but also giving them the tools and space to rise to it. Wrap that all up with an excellent story and beautiful setting with loads of lore and you have gold! GZ gets this right for me. When I first played it I threw my controller to the ground. I couldn’t do it, it was too hard for me and scary! But I persevered, learnt the mechanics and was forced to get better because I wanted to see how the story played out and learn more about the lore! I ‘Got Gud!’ This is a good life lesson too and something we can carry with us well beyond the game into real life!
@Vynym That said, It’s honestly intellectually rewarding to explore ideas that go beyond the limits of the game world, speculating on what could be, what’s really happening under the surface, that’s where a lot of the depth for me comes from. I’m really looking forward to reading your ideas when I finish work later. Just the fact that you’ve taken the time to build your own take on the ending is brilliant!!!
I basically agree with both of you, @Gysbert and @Vynym. It makes a lot of sense, and who wants to play a game being killed every second minute, raise from the dead, and keep playing?
Oh … wait a minute … I did! This was the harsh reality for me from starting the game and deep into the forest and marshland regions. As I got better and more powerful weapons, gained experience and built competences, I died less often. Then, finally, I became a marksman and aquired … sigh, sigh, sigh … the experimental PVG90, and practically has never died since. That let quite a bit of the excitement out of the game.
There was a reason why I wasn’t particular happy about the start of the arms race
At that time, I think I missed your short story post, but I’ve read it now. I do like the idea that the protagonist was actually an android tasked to infiltrate and test the grounds to see if they could operate like actual human-beings.
To make such an endgame work, I feel we should have found more fleshed out lore, so that in hindsight the fact that the protagonist was a machine really fits. Speculations like being overly capable, or having no reflection doesn’t do it for me. These things all feel like normal game-mechanics. I need lore, that leave clues, that in the end make a story believable.
To me, the fact that FNIX didn’t want the teenager to die, showed that its initial goal wasn’t to kill all humans, but simply to survive. Holberg’s machine-interface project was designed for military advantage. Machines doing the fighting, controlled by humans remotely. As a result, the only thing FNIX knew from the moment it came into existence was battle. Like a child, it began to learn how humans behaved, what made them vulnerable, and how they reacted. Holberg however, didn’t wanted Fnix to have control, and wanted the FNIX code deleted.
Basically, we can think that FNIX didn’t seek destruction, it merely wanted to coexist, not to be erased, and only reacted the way it was programmed to do.
The game started or seems to be started with a different intention. It felt like a survival game.
We were weak, we had to hide and we had to be careful to hit the machines without dying too fast. Ammo was rare, health was rare.
Yes, we became stronger, we got better weapons and became more experienced. But some day the game changed… The devs or the company wanted to give every player the same experience from the start. The “evolving” which made GZ special in my eyes, became subordinate.
Players didn’t have to evolve any more, they just needed the gear, which they got from dlc packs or other players early.
I’m sad that it got lost, the original feeling. Or the original intention.
I definitely agree that my story isn’t going to hold up with what the actual game story takes us. It was just fun ideas. While I agree to a point about what you said …
I felt his attack against people began with him wanting to wipe anything that threatened him, out of existence. But really that scene where he says to you to run as the place blows up, FNIX didn’t have to care one way or the other. Even for coexistence at this point, he knows that forces will work to destroy him. As that’s even what you were there for at that time.
To me a creature that’s about to bring my destruction, I’m not really going to care if it survives or not … unless there is an ulterior motive. Hence that’s where my idea generated from. If something wants me dead, that’s not coexisting. It’s just borrowed time until they accomplish it. To me it’s subtext. It’s what’s not stated.
Granted that means I’m making up what I want there. So yeah, its not canon to the story, but I think it would make a great twist!
Thanks for liking my idea even though its crazy! I certainly enjoyed getting your take on it too!
Yes, I agree Vynim about the ulterior motive. That part of the story is definitely a bit confusing. Why would FNIX save the protagonist from getting killed? Why help Tatiana survive her injuries? Here’s what I think the writers of the Generation Zero story were trying to suggest through subtext.
We know that FNIX had become sentient, and after deliberately killing eleven FOA personnel to protect itself, it may have begun experiencing something like human remorse. It knew the device wasn’t an EMP, as the teenager had been told, but a bomb meant to destroy the entire facility. It also understood that the teenager was acting out of loyalty to his country, his family, and the people he cared about.
By combining emerging human-like emotions with pure computer logic, FNIX could have reasoned that letting the teenager die would serve no purpose. It had already ensured its survival by copying its code to other servers, so letting him being killed would have been meaningless.
I’ve read that the developers chose to tell the story through scattered bits of writing and visual clues, leaving players to connect the dots themselves. Personally, I don’t always like that approach. It feels like the narrative wasn’t fully formed before the game’s release, leaving us guessing too often.
The soviets were responsible for the crater, now another bomb … Maybe fnix knew about the golden circles intention and wanted us to survive, to help fighting the soviets, too.
That was the case, I guess. And that was part of the magic of GZ.
And it makes sense that some devs would hope that the world and things found in it, would tell some of the story for them. But if some people like (like myself) don’t find or overlook it … well we tend to make up what we want!
All the same though, it let me have a conversation with an awesome person like yourself! So something great was still accomplished!
Take care bud! And thanks for the amazing maps and conversation! Also thanks for the information on the Kiln - I loved that detail!
