[da1edwin]

I downloaded Blue Planet: Age of Aquarius for the first time today and spent the past five hours beating it. What an experience. There are plenty of minor bugs and blips but I've never seen a user campaign like this. Major kudos to the team.

What happens at the end when Samuel Bei meets a technician named Eriana? What's the relation between this Eriana and his dead wife? I thought they could be the same person, but I doubt the alternate universe screwed with time that badly.

Am I right in assuming that Sam is of Chinese descent? He says his family was living in Guangzhou, and his mother has a Chinese name, but I don't know what Admiral Bei's full name is.

And what's the significance of the name "Age of Aquarius", anyway?

I wish there were a Blue Planet wiki to answer questions like these...but I guess it doesn't make sense when the project, especially War in Heaven, is still in development.

[General Battuta]

Well, there's a fairly complete walkthrough of the campaign on the FreeSpace wiki.

My interpretation is that it's an alternate universe version of his own Eriana. History ran parallel, she survived on the Sanctuary, and now - as the Vishnans promised - they're reunited. But that's just what I think. What's your take on it?

Could you list off the bugs and blips? We want to fix 'em for the Director's Cut.

[da1edwin]

Well, there's a fairly complete walkthrough of the campaign on the FreeSpace wiki.

Really? All I see there is a "General Info"/"Description"/"Player Comments"/"Related Links" page for it.

My interpretation is that it's an alternate universe version of his own Eriana. History ran parallel, she survived on the Sanctuary, and now - as the Vishnans promised - they're reunited. But that's just what I think. What's your take on it?

I didn't think that she could have survived on the Sanctuary. That is, of course, a possibility. I was thinking more along the lines of some great cosmic power, possibly the Vishnans, recreating this alternate Eriana as a means of restoring some semblance of normality to Samuel's life. Darius really did a good job of weaving a gripping story while leaving plenty of mysteries.

On a related note, I'll admit that I didn't realize that Eriana was the name of Samuel's wife at first. I kept seeing references to "Eriana and Mother" and thinking she was his sister or something, until he mentioned that his wife died on the transport.

Could you list off the bugs and blips? We want to fix 'em for the Director's Cut.

Ahhhhh, damnit. I wasn't keeping track, because I was so drawn in that I was just concentrating on finishing the campaign. Kind of like not being able to put down a great book, though finishing BP in one sitting wasn't quite as much of a beast as, say, watching the whole LoTR movie trilogy at once (I'll never understand how people can actually do that). Basically, there were a few spelling errors, plus the missing briefings which are probably already fixed by this point anyway. I seriously can't make a list now. But I'll probably go back through missions later and make notes. Also, can we really call it a Director's Cut when Darius is pretty much Producer, Editor, Director, and Final Cut simultaneously? : P

[NGTM-1R]

My interpretation is that it's an alternate universe version of his own Eriana.

I always assumed Eriana and the younger Bei were both Lost Generation, and grew up away from Sol, or at least were born far away from Earth. Maybe if the Sancturary was evacing people as they fled, but...

[-Norbert-]

If the Eriana on Sanctuary is a "dark universe" equivalent of his dead wife (and not just the same name), she must have been the child of some of the awake crew of the Sanctuary, born while they hid inside the nebula.
There are after all 32 years between the first great war (the time the civilians got frozen on the Sacntuary) and the second great war.
If it would be the same Eriana, that would mean that Bei is either dating a child, or was merried to a woman twice his own age.

[Aardwolf]

If it would be the same Eriana, that would mean that Bei is either dating a child, or was merried to a woman twice his own age.

Oh hey, I can has a more sensible explanation!

Eriana wasn't one of the frozen people. The Sanctuary can't all of been people in cryo-stasis... I mean, there's the captain/comms person, turret gunners, fighter pilots.

It makes sense, whereas, as you so plainly pointed out, your explanation is freaky.

Edit: oh, and as for this:

My interpretation is that it's an alternate universe version of his own Eriana.

I always assumed Eriana and the younger Bei were both Lost Generation, and grew up away from Sol, or at least were born far away from Earth. Maybe if the Sancturary was evacing people as they fled, but...

The Sanctuary wasn't in/from Sol, IIRC... it was a last ditch effort by the non-Sol Terran survivors outside of Sol.

[General Battuta]

If the Eriana on Sanctuary is a "dark universe" equivalent of his dead wife (and not just the same name), she must have been the child of some of the awake crew of the Sanctuary, born while they hid inside the nebula.

That sounds reasonable to me. I believe that's what Aardwolf is saying as well. And I'm guessing NGTM-1R is correct about neither of them being Sol natives.

Good luck getting straight answers out of Darius, though.

Of course this leaves the question of what happened to alternate-Sam and his family...maybe the elder Bei died in the fleet, so para-Sam was never born?

[Aardwolf]

(because i updated my previous post before noticing your reply)

Edit: in response to

If the Eriana on Sanctuary is a "dark universe" equivalent of his dead wife (and not just the same name), she must have been the child of some of the awake crew of the Sanctuary, born while they hid inside the nebula.

That sounds reasonable to me. I believe that's what Aardwolf is saying as well.

Good luck getting straight answers out of Darius, though.

No, -Norbert- said the surviving Eriana was the daughter of someone on the Sanctuary, I'm saying she *was* ... ah, but now I'm starting to realize that either she must have been somewhat older than Bei, or they're both older than I thought...

So in other words... damn, yeah, I'm probably wrong 

[Snail]

Of course this leaves the question of what happened to alternate-Sam and his family...maybe the elder Bei died in the fleet, so para-Sam was never born?

SAM HAS AN EVIL TWIN

[da1edwin]

Hmm...is there an alternate-universe version of the Sanctuary? The Orion that, since Lucifer went down, was never converted into a refugee ship?

Anyway, General Battuta, I just remembered - shouldn't the player be invulnerable in nightmare missions (and flashback missions, though I think he's already invulnerable during the flashback of his mother's and wife's deaths)? I remember getting killed by one of the Lucifer's beams as it was firing at the Orestes. While this isn't strictly a bug I think that if you're in a mission that isn't actually happening, you should be spared the trouble of death. (I noticed this sort of nightmare-real-death issue in the Babylon Project's Raider Wars, but that's no longer in development, so I just sucked it up.)

And I'm pretty sure there was a discrepancy in Mina Taylor's name somewhere in the campaign, where her name was given by first initial, middle initial, last name, and the first initial wasn't M.

Edit: Whoops, I found the AoA walkthrough on the wiki. I thought it would be linked to directly from the main AoA page. Grr.

[High Max]

;-)

[da1edwin]

as the Vishnans promised - they're reunited.

But it still is not the same Eriana, even if she looks like her. If you could swap the memories of the other one into her, it still wouldn't be her. Just a clone, like a copy with the same body and genetics, memories and personality, but not the same awareness (consciousness). Like if I had a clone of myself and my memory was copied to him, we would still have a separate consciousness and confined to our own bodies. I know in the alternate universe version, Eriana doesn't have the same memories, but I was making an example that even if she did, it wouldn't be her but more like a copy who thinks she is the same person.

So if I was in Samuel's shoes and encountered a parallel universe version of someone I loved, it wouldn't feel the same since I know it isn't the same person, even if she was identical both physically and personality-wise. Just seems like the same person, thinks she is the same person, and acts the same.

And this is sort of the reason behind my alternate interpretation above (that the Vishnans created alive-Eriana as a deux ex Vishnans)...I feel that it would have been cruel for the Vishnans to bring back someone who was the same person as dead-Eriana, but with a wholly different set of memories. There's something incredibly creepy about meeting a woman who died and whom you were married to, but in a parallel universe, is neither dead nor your wife (yet). I'd rather meet someone who reminded me of my dead wife, and perhaps even brought back memories, but someone who I knew wasn't the same person.

Can someone explain to me the significance of the name "Age of Aquarius"?

[-Norbert-]

Perhaps Darius likes the song from the musical Hair....
After all the UEF does sound a bit like a bunch of Hippies  

[NGTM-1R]

And this is sort of the reason behind my alternate interpretation above (that the Vishnans created alive-Eriana as a deux ex Vishnans)...I feel that it would have been cruel for the Vishnans to bring back someone who was the same person as dead-Eriana, but with a wholly different set of memories. There's something incredibly creepy about meeting a woman who died and whom you were married to, but in a parallel universe, is neither dead nor your wife (yet). I'd rather meet someone who reminded me of my dead wife, and perhaps even brought back memories, but someone who I knew wasn't the same person.

The concept of Sam turning up as a shellshocked pilot because of who he's hanging out with or having a terribly twisted relationship with alt-Eriana amuses me. And in retrospect, I think you're correct: it's also terribly painful to contemplate, something that Should Not Happen.

[SpardaSon21]

Well, alt-Eriana could be someone named Eriana who has just a name in common with Bei's dead Eriana.

[General Battuta]

I think it has to be a case of convergence. She is Eriana, with a similar personality and everything. Of course she's had different experiences, and those differences probably torment Sam, but my feeling is that it would be kind of weak if she was just another woman named Eriana.

I don't know if the Vishnans could fabricate a person, though. I've always thought that they were Sufficiently Advanced Aliens, not gods.

All this is not canon.

[SpardaSon21]

The thing is, alt-Eriana can't be Bei's Eriana since both Bei and Eriana are from the Lost Generation, and alt-Eriana was born before the Great War happened.  Unless, of course, Bei and Eriana are both senior citizens, which I doubt.  Still, even if they were old, alt-Eriana would only be a fraction of Bei's age since she was born pre-Great War.

[General Battuta]

Whuh? No, alt-Eriana could've been born on the Sanctuary at the same time original-Eriana was born in Capella or wherever.

[SpardaSon21]

Makes sense.

[da1edwin]

Speaking of the Vishnans, why would they call themselves that? Is it really plausible that they had a knowledge of human Aryan mythology, and the Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva triumvirate?

As I understand it, names in the canonical Freespace universe were taken entirely from ancient Terran civilizations: Terrans identified themselves with the Greeks, then told Khonsu about Egypt and had the Vasudans all take Egyptian names. The Terrans then named the Shivans after a mix of Semitic (mostly Jewish, but with the occasional Arabic name like Azrael) mythology and Indo-Aryan (mostly Hindu) mythology. If the Vishnans are in fact advanced aliens and not gods, how would they know about all these Terran naming conventions? And why would they speak to the Shivans in Terran terms, before returning everyone to the original universe?