Technobabylon

[MithrandirOlorin]

The first chapter was pretty funny.

[TheNewTeddy]

I was interested in chuck's choice of names.

I live a dual life, online and offline, and get the idea that mandala/latha does too; and was interested that chuck chose to call her latha and not mandala, whereas from the review I get the impression that she probably considered it the other way around.

[Independent George]

On the subject of cannibalism in this story, I don't think the potential side effects would be enough to dissuade people if they were into that, and could get away with it. Otherwise, there would be no drug problems in the world.

"Frank fed us human meat, and we've got the hunger.... That's how you become a cannibal, Dee - if you get one taste of delicious, delicious human meat, none of this stuff ever satisfies you again for the rest of your life."

https://youtu.be/dW1LNP02miw

[SFDebris]

I was interested in chuck's choice of names.

I live a dual life, online and offline, and get the idea that mandala/latha does too; and was interested that chuck chose to call her latha and not mandala, whereas from the review I get the impression that she probably considered it the other way around.

I tried to refer to her in the trance as Mandala and outside as Latha.

[rickgriffin]

I haven't played this game but I DID play Beneath A Steel Sky several years ago, and I noticed a lot of similarities--such as the avatar-based internet and The Chair That Gives You Power Over The Whole City and I'm SURE a ton more. It was a much shorter and simpler game than Technochocolate natch, to the degree it now seems like a concept prototype for this game.

[SlackerinDeNile]

"You would hardly expect it to be a cyberpunk sitcom."

You know, Chuck said this as a joke, but now I kinda want to see a cyberpunk sitcom.

The Max Headroom series was kind of this.

[Madner Kami]

I was interested in chuck's choice of names.

I live a dual life, online and offline, and get the idea that mandala/latha does too; and was interested that chuck chose to call her latha and not mandala, whereas from the review I get the impression that she probably considered it the other way around.

It's pretty clear, that she completely rejects reality altogether. She very much is Mandala and she only starts becoming Latha towards the end of the game (to some degree it depends on which ending you choose). Her Trance-addiction is also a very understandable character-trait. From her point of view, her parents are either dead (killed in an atomic war) or she was abandoned by them, dropped off in a foreign country and left to her own devices, due to the miss-management of the refugee-crisis faced by Newton. And her habits are not particularly helped by Central's interference. It's implied at various points, that Central and the people who built Central took steps to keep her socially isolated and out of the loop, even going so far as to remove her from incentive programs, that encourage getting a job and regular life.

[lsgreg]

All I am gonna say about this is that I had to stop the video after five minutes. I wanted to play it with no spoilers!

[animalia]

ALSO! Cannibalism is the cause of a LOT of different diseases, conditions, and other issues! It's not something that would be recreational, as it would result in random outbreaks of things like a human equivalent of Mad Cow Disease, among other issues!

Not if it's a cloned human, though. If you've got the technology to clone a human body, you've got the technology to screen for prions or other contaminants.

Hmm. Okay. That's one of the many issues of cannibalism mitigated.

That still doesn't prevent the other issues, like the buildup of certain compounds in the body from consuming human flesh, from happening. So... yeah, there would still be other symptoms beyond the risk of disease, even with the technicality of clones.

What compounds may I ask? I would like to know what these issues are.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

"You would hardly expect it to be a cyberpunk sitcom."

You know, Chuck said this as a joke, but now I kinda want to see a cyberpunk sitcom.

It made me want to WRITE a cyberpunk sitcom, just to show it can be done, and I don't even like Cyberpunk.