>JC ... is born under mysterious circumstances
Don't forget: immaculately!
>But the ending stretches weeks and possibly months ahead to Jax
>and Mare's wedding. In the interim, I can't see how Gavin could avoid hearing
>something about what happened as a result of the virus's defeat -- from
>Jax, if from nobody else.
The epilogue does not make it clear whether or not Gavin is at their
wedding. The epilogue is not supposed to be a wrap-up of any kind; think
of it as just a snapshot. It tells you about one tiny aspect of the
future, but not about *everything* that has happened in the interim. The
relevant fact is that it's sometime after JC appears to have given up
the ghost. (So to speak.)
>Having weeks pass raises expectations about that, and after having spent
>months researching the Unnkulians I doubt Gavin would at this point
>suddenly lose interest.
It's not that Gavin loses interest, it's just that you aren't privy to what
he does about it. Besides, what is there left to do? The virus is gone,
so the immediate threat has been taken care of.
Legend leaves open the issue of where the virus actually came from and who
actually put it there (if anyone). It certainly could have been the
Unnkulians, but they don't seem to be around anymore, do they? This could
be the topic of a whole new game. (Remember that Gavin only *hypothesizes*
that the Unnkulians created the virus. This isn't necessarily a correct
hypothesis. Admittedly, the second person narrative style can make "your"
thoughts hard to distinguish from the author's factual interjections. )
Plot-wise, Legend is about a single major event --- one that Gavin plays a
small role in (largely unknowingly), but primarily just witnesses. So the
fact that aspects of Gavin's life that the game deals with are left open
should be no surprise. People ask what happend to Ada. Well, who cares?
The story isn't about Ada! This is like asking what happens to the third
guy who gets shot in a Clint Eastwood movie. Jeez, I don't know --- does
he end up lying in the desert for three weeks and ultimately get rescued,
or does he die immediately? I don't know, and I don't care!
Chekov's comment about the gun over the mantlepiece only makes sense if the
gun is actually *over the mantlepiece*. If it's hidden in a closet, then
the adage doesn't apply. (And for that matter, we can't take his advice
too literally, since there are plenty of settings in which a gun might be
over the mantlepiece *by default*, at least in America.)
I think that this feeling is partly a remnant of the "every object must be
useful in a puzzle" mentality. There are a zillion things in Legend that
have nothing to do with puzzles. People seem to be able to handle that.
But likewise, there are some things in there only for the sake of the
setting. What happens to the old guy on the couch on Foon is not important
--- he isn't there for the sake of the plot. He's there for other reasons.
>Fair enough; I was only speaking to the puzzle aspect. Again, I don't see
>why Plast couldn't be as complex and elaborate as Foon in this respect.
First, I envisioned Plast as miles and miles of identical hallways. Maybe
I made it *too* boring.
Second, I thought that the Squirt puzzle would be more than interesting
enough, and more than time-consuming enough. Aside from perhaps the
CraneMaster, I was most proud of Squirt --- I think that's my most inspired
puzzle. And wasn't I peeved when I found out about the mouse in Curses! I
didn't know Graham had already beaten me to it...
Dave Baggett
__
dmb@ai.mit.edu ADVENTIONS: Kuul text adventures! Email for a catalog.
"Mr. Pierce: Please don't try to make things nice. The wrong notes are *right*!
-- Charles Ives (note to copyist on the autograph score of The Fourth of July)