Half life 2:EP2 - Korsakovia mod part ten....(ending with annotations)

[2hakkabakka]

I don't think that Grayson deliberately wanted to kill him. She wanted to inject some sort of drug into his cortex to either cure him or let him sink completely into his psychosis, but surprisingly he either dies from it, or slips into a coma. That's why she's yelling at him to wake up.

[awesomefulmclovin]

i guess im not

[blackoutninja]

ok, someone please tell me the storyline of this mod, i don't get a thing.

[M3GAMAN100]

i will seriously give someone a million bucks if they understand this

[YTman]

My interpretation of the end after 'playing' it (basically cheating due to the fucked up glitches source 2010 has brought) is that he just falls back into his psychosis and is lost into it. The falling at the end is him succumbing to that psychosis which offers him no memories. Either he really did die (for what ever cause) or its a technical death as he stays insane and locked away inside himself forever (the blackness).

She would not have killed him and then yelled WAKE UP!

-------

[SCPantera]

I read the script after watching through these and I believe there isn't some clever story hidden here. It's simply a depiction of good old schizophrenic psychosis. The experience of the game is simply Christopher navigating his delusions. At first Grayson is genuinely trying to help him out of it, but she eventually becomes another aspect of his progressing delusions. It's not meant to make sense, for neither does psychosis.

[Tman545380]

sprta scary

[Stainlesssteele4]

For some reason, I'm reminded of American McGee's Alice, only better written.

[2muchwatching]

art..?

[BalthaxZelda]

I love the twist at the end of this very unnerving game. The way his world ended was in flames, the sun, the television, caused by him gouging his eyes out in his delirium. The copper wires, used to spark the flames from the television, burned his eyes to a crisp, along, possibly with his body. The doctor, who I still haven't figured out who the hell she is, or the point of her being there. That is his world, and he died in it.

[faszika]

these are the early tries the birth pangs of something amazing... the marriage between movies and games, the best of both world, its not perfect of course but it will become the ultimate entertainment.

[zestron]

Thanks for taking the time to do this, I much rather watch than get scared and fail at finding out where to do

[envagelium]

He in his delusion took out his own eyes, placed them in his hands along with the copper wire, let the tv run for 2 days in static to "exaust the programmers" and with all his strenght he punched the tv, burning his hands and loosing his eyes, the shock affected his brain and allowed him to create this dellusion he lives in. He died in the process thats why the world ends....

[LookieHippie]

You could write a study from this. For a psychology class, for example. Really, I partly played this mod just so I could analyze it.

But really, this is one of the rare horror games/mods I've actually enjoyed playing. Dear Esther and Korsakovia are my favorite mods EVER! I wish we could see these kinds of games even more. :)

[Geoxile]

I think,

The collectors are people from the real world, like the medics who tried to save him. The doctor might be his voice of reason trying to rationalize with him while his syndrome causes him to insist on believing his delusions. Also, I'm pretty sure he's in a coma, not dead.

[PyrosNine]

I agree somewhat with your view on things.

Doctor Grayson probably existed prior to the "game" She states that he seems to be incorporating her into his delusions, and I think the Grayson that echoes his madness is actually warping of Chris's memories of her. We only get a few glimpses of the real grayson in the beginning and less as time goes on. The real grayson chose to mercy kill him because he's stuck in delusion and horribly crippled.

His mind warps his death to match his beliefs.

[TheGreatMrKite]

This mod is intended as a sort of experiment. I'm fairly sure the confusing level design is purposeful.

[TacoForPaco]

I am sure that he killed himself and Grayson at the end is trying to talk to him. "Wake up!"

[Misterfreeman1]

anyone else think this should be made into a short movie? I would go watch it. It would be the first scary movie i would willingly watch.

[hungaryanhyker]

christopher had korsakoffs syndrome but it was weak and nobody noticed,then it became worse and worse and he wanted to die,in his words,"channel into another world",so he hit the tv in with his fists and he were transfered into hospital his mind and body just wanted to die,but the doctor and his instinc wanted to keep him alive,that was the collecters

so the levels itself was a combination of christophers feelings and his mind trying to fill in the gaps he didnt remembered with absurd things

[awesomefulmclovin]

Am I the olny one who finds Dr. Grayson's voice to be incredibley attractive?

[rinoz47]

No, apparently not. It is a very fine voice, even when things are at its most bat-shit insane. It doesnt help this increasingly frustrating mod.

[blackoutninja]

@awesomefulmclovin does the number of thumbs up you have answer that question?

[spartan66onblockland]

@awesomefulmclovin

18 more people do

[RomZomCom]

Didn't the site use to have some sort of weird-ass backstory for Christopher involving a world-wide blackout?

[TheGroovyMule]

This is an amazing mod, really shows what can be done with interactive storytelling. Yeah, it suffers from poor level design, though you may have noticed more repeating, broken down, and haphazzard area's as Christophers mind breaks down. My theory is for a short time he get's better, recalls her name. But when she tries to take him too far back, he gets lost, and starts assimilating what the doc says into his own world, the suble change from "He ate his eyes" to "We ate his eyes" indicated this

[sn00ke]

I'm all for creative storytelling but it's still being done in a game and it'd be nice if the design was a bit better and there were subtle hints as to what to do next. Some of the stuff in this mod is completely idiosyncratic and has to be found by trial and error. You can't put platforming mechanics in a "story" and pretend that standard game design conventions don't apply.

Don't get me wrong, it's a good of work (especially the voice acting/script) but god damn it's frustrating.

[Zlandael]

I agree with the platforming. When I recorded Part 9 of this game, it was TOO frustrating. I fell a few times....well, too much. I was about to ragequit, but I had to commend myself.

[SerpentofSet]

@sn00ke *ahem*

"...designed to explore what happens when normal expectations of play are subverted and destroyed, so the player cannot rely on the normal cues..."

-taken from thechineseroom's website

[TacoForPaco]

I think this game is about Christopher's decent into madness and becomes more and more cut off from reality (Dr. Grayson).

[salavini]

Oh I should mention, the reason those TV didn't have their signal is because there are 3 TV that are lit in the factory area. You smack them out and the other TV's become lit (from what I found anyway.)

[salavini]

Thank you for showing this, It's nice to sit back and enjoy it without getting scared when playing. Loving the theories that people are coming up with. So interesting to read!

[Tinuviel451]

I think the big mistake of Dr. Grayson's theories on Christopher is that she assumed that it was the real world that Christopher was talking about, when the world ended when it was actually Christopher's own world that was ending. Its interesting that Christopher himself was a doctor, considering how far gone he is. With Dr. Grayson's injection of Alprazolam into Christopher it makes me wonder if "seeing again" means that Christopher will be forced back into the real world.

[Tinuviel451]

If this is true then maybe pushing his hands through the screen was an attempt to stay within his own world forever, especially since since Christopher says that it was "time to leave." Perhaps his self-injection of Alprazolam was wearing off and he couldn't sustain the fictional world he lived in. I also wonder about the patient he treated and why Christopher would try to create a fictional world to be with her. Perhaps we will never really know.

[nozero1]

My theory is that Dr. Grayson becomes "assimilated" into the fantasies of Christopher just as she feared. That's why her dialogue begins with stuff the doctor would have genuinely said, but gradually changes to conform with the kind of things Christopher believes in. Christopher is at the same time, growing further from reality; becoming increasingly unresponsive. Occasionally, the real Dr. Grayson can be heard trying to rouse him, but eventually Christopher enters a catatonic state.

[nozero1]

I never finished this game. I was bored at having to navigate the same couple of buildings again and again, to look for that damn crowbar again and again, to smash more tvs, and get shrieked at by the same annoying puffs of black cloud. I prefer "Dear Esther" because it was short and sweet.

[GrimmSoldier]

christine is the female version of the name "christopher".

think about it.

[PyrosNine]

Oh snap, this does fit the ending. What if he never met a doctor at all, and created one to suit his belief that he would meet a doctor? And a female one, like a nurse? And since he can't remember anything other than his own name....Does this mean his name's Christopher Grayson?

[ppitm]

Interesting that Dan, the creator, reused that twist from Dear Esther.

[nevasoft2k7]

me thinks its a tie between esther and dis, howver i suppose its only cos ive watched the series of this and only played dear esther cos i dnt have hl2 ep 2 was soo looking foward to it aswell..counted the days, checking the website every hour..and now i cannot play :(. Esther is awesome cos its no wepons or any thing just a very puzeling story. I loved the bit whr u go thru the caves :) i wish ther was a game for xbox or pc where all u did was explore caves that would be best game evar

[Zlandael]

I suppose there is a hint of another mod being created. Watch the credits. Might involve snow particles that my computer cannot handle. ;d

[n00bie51]

Another mod that I'm looking forward to watching you upload videos of. :P

[tylergarynoahcox]

THIS GAME ROCKS! Infact, I'm downloading the mod right now! its 13% right now, I will continue...

[xxEDJExx]

Try downloading the script of Korsakovia, that way you can read it from start to finish faster, and it'll finally make sense.

[Zlandael]

I did that to revise my annotations...

But I have missed some segments of the game. For example, I was supposed to go near a bathtub and it triggers a sound...

[1987tBH]

@Zlandael please answer my question can you please in a nutshell explain what happened in the story line i got lost

[Zlandael]

@1987tBH Christopher was treated in a hospital named St. Clemens (or what Christine calls 'the clemency'). He has Korsakoff Psychosis, which turns out to be a brain disorder due to a lack of vitamin B1. Throughout the mod, you play as Christopher, who creates these weird and trippy delusions (levels) resulting from Korsakoff's. First you start in a hospital, then in an apartment, and lastly a 'factory' for the mist clouds. In the last level, all levels are mashed up into an indisposed puzzle.

[Zlandael]

@1987tBH From corridor and to rooms, Christopher begins to remember what had happened from his incident, which was him breaking a TV in order to cancel the 'signal'. Aside from his messed up memories, Christine Grayson tries to wake up Christopher, but sadly Christopher could only create a conversation in his head. From Korsakoff Physcosis, his memories and past interactions unbalance, creating frantic, insane hallucinations in his head. At the end, Christopher fails to wake up, and dies.

[1987tBH]

@Zlandael thank you so much man but one more question wtf happened when grayson was being all creepy and weird what was happening?

[Zlandael]

@1987tBH That was another one of Christopher's delusions from my point of view. She wouldn't have said that anyway, so it must have happened in his mind, not in reality.

[1987tBH]

@Zlandael thank you for everything dude im to much of a pussy to play that game so thank you for the answers and gameplay

[Jarethenator]

when he died your monitor committed suicide...

that white flashing is lag btw

HOLY CRAP!

the collectors are the medics!

the world that ended was "his world"

everything is beginning to make sense

is it just me or is dr.grayson creepy all of the sudden

holy crap everything makes sense now...wow...all you had to do was translate and there you go...

well that was one fucked up mod...AND IT WAS AWESOME!

[Zlandael]

The white flashing isn't lag, it's an effect that could annoy treacherous platformers.

And I believe you are correct about the collectors.

And Christopher is emulating Dr. Grayson in his mind. Does she talk that way in the real world? I don't think so.

I loved this mod, but for some reason I can't play this from start to finish again because I finally realize it's terrifying.

[Shadow2271]

i think you can't play this game from start to finish is because the base of this game is gone now. the need to understand Christopher world.

[Jarethenator]

see I thought it was lag cause on other games when the screen flashes it is laggy....like in css it does it when to many people are on a server....or in gmod when there's to much stuff...or in dear esther when I spawned all that crap and--wait...does that count?.....

[Zlandael]

"Spawned all that crap"? Where in Dear Esther? I might like that mod if you could spawn things....

I don't know what you mean by flashing, do you mean stuttering?

[Jarethenator]

I ment the white flashing on the screen

[n00bie51]

Does that mean Christopher has been killing medics with a real crow bar all this time?

[PyrosNine]

With only a few fingers, no less!