The ending, final boss, etc. [Obviously spoilers]

[megablake]

Alec, if you ever did a fancy print edition, this is the stuff I'd pay extra for - like a little booklet of notes and background (and sketches!).

[IceD]

Alec, if you ever did a fancy print edition, this is the stuff I'd pay extra for - like a little booklet of notes and background (and sketches!).

Yeah, something like this was used in Witcher special edition version, where you had also a t-shirt, medallion and a beautiful book full of artworks (something like 320!). It would be good to make stuff like this for the Aquaria 

[The Rover]

Alec, the two of you have created a damn smart piece of interactive art, intelligent, personal and interpretatative. You did just the thing that makes Psychonauts the *best game ever*, i.e.  you used level (world) design to depict an internal conflict of it's creator's psyche, and did that quite well. So kudos for being intelligent and enthralling.

So one thing bothers me even more: The hidden ending with Mia is weak and derivative. Basically, it's "Join me, and we shall rule the galaxy as father and son!" There is nothing secretive about it, it's, well, vulgarly explicit and direct, to say nothing of the cliché (nevermind those, every story has been told already).
The final inward spiral into ultimate darkness was meanignful and functional, if cryptic. The added scene with Mia slaughters the mistery and obscures Naija's own role in her fall. Also, Mia's personality has no style, no drama, if I may, she's just a cheap bitch, there's no pull in her. If she didn't have mind manipulating powers, she would merely be your average annoying carreerist female. This unveiled image of Mia is highly incongruent with The Creator's mystic vision of perfection (howevr misfigured) and her former enigmatic representation.

The last confrontation was a major dissapointment, all the more since everything else was great.

[Alec]

It makes perfect sense to me, but that might be because I already know where the story would go after that.

You're right. Mia is the careerist. Eric idolized her, and thought of her as "perfect", but she was unattainable for him. She wants more, and thinks she can do better.

And I understand that all too well.

I actually find her pretty sympathetic. The secret locations that you find are the places that she raised Naija. The Creator was pursuing her the whole time. I think while she seems "evil" in the context of the ending and Naija's story, the continuing story would go more in depth into why she did what she did and what her plan is.

[Alec]

Someone did a read of the game saying it was like all anti-theology. (because of the slaying of "God") I think its debatable whether or not "the creator" was ever a god, or just being with rare powers.

Naija, throughout the game, is becoming more and more of a weapon as she gains more abilities, finds it easier to kill, finds excuses for anger. Its interesting that after rescuing Li, she's free to leave The Body, but inevitably the player will end up going to the final area and killing the Creator.

Was that a good thing or not? Its hard to say really.

The Creator is either two characters, or one bipolar character. The little boy combined with the ancient power. (almost like what it feels like in the game industry to work for a big publisher, in a way) Is the boy innocent? He's creating and destroying life on a whim, which Naija deems to be "unnatural". Is she right?

Much like real life, there could be another god outside of that equation, or just a natural order. One of the themes of the game is pitting those ideas against each other.

The Creator generally represents some kind of desire to create and sustain order based on one entity's plan, as well as masculinity. The women in the game tend to represent unpredictable, uncontrollable nature. (key example: the forest area and "forest goddess" - based on the creator's girlfriend that you see a hint of in the abyss)

The key with Eric is that he idolized the women in his life, and they ended up leaving him in one painful way or another. (his mother was killed, his girlfriend probably thought he was too weird or too boring)

As being simultaneously a child and a "god", he was in constant internal debate with himself. It was a tortured existence for him, punctuated by sparse moments of joy found in creating beautiful things. This is represented by the beings he left behind, the Erulians being an extension of his wishing for a time of peace and beauty, and the Krotites being part of his anger towards himself and his childish feelings of what would be entertaining. As the Aquarian text in those areas indicates, the Krotites wiped out the Erulians.

Naija stares into the abyss in a similar way, and in a way that partially mirrors what Mia went through. Mia is what Naija could become, if she hadn't found Li. (although it remains an open question of how much Naija was committed to Li, she expresses some doubts in the ending text) Now that Li and her child are removed from the equation, it remains to be seen how that would play out.

[Glamador]

Another good question would be, what if Naija had found a female companion?  Or some form of mentor?  Something other than a love interest.  Really her attraction to Li springs from loneliness more than anything else.  Not a great basis for a relationship at all if I  do say so.  I don't think the game is anti-theology, although I tend to lean that way myself so I might be biased.  I never thought of the "creator" as God anyway.  And what's more, I think there are a lot more experiences in Mia's life that led her to be such a...well a psychopath.  Naija has a love of exploration, a love that she was able to fully realize because unlike Mia she was NOT being hunted day and night by an overbearing oppressive and obsessed child with god-like power.  Sure Naija may have been lonely, but from what we've seen of her I doubt she would turn into Mia from sheer loneliness.

[Alec]

Another good question would be, what if Naija had found a female companion?  Or some form of mentor?  Something other than a love interest.  Really her attraction to Li springs from loneliness more than anything else.  Not a great basis for a relationship at all if I  do say so. 

Exactly.

[silverflagon]

I'm just waiting for the next episode/game and then I will or might give my judgement... hint hint! nudge nudge! Do you have even a vague idea of when it will be finished and ready for us Alex?

By the way to me she seems more like a child exploring her abilities and all those creatures she kills are treated as toys, so she just hasn't grown up yet that's all.

[Sirensongstress]

I felt like the child ghost and the creator were two different incarnations of the same spirit... with the child ghost being the spirit of his childhood and humanity and the creator being what that person became.  I feel like the ghost child likes Naija and wants to help her while the creator is incredibly possessive and wants her to love him - it's like two halves of the same person, one who can love others and one who can only love his- or her- self.  I just did the Sunken City and a chunk of the Body (freed Li) so the image of the ghost child is really fresh in my memory.  Perhaps Li is in a bubble because the ghost is protecting it from the rest of the Body, although unable to do more than that? 

I was wondering why the mother and father ghosts became monsters in the Sunken City.... some kind of reflection of the creator's anger at them for leaving him?  Anger at the dead is supposed to be one of the reactions of people in mourning.  The whole Sunken City ending also kinda reflects what happens in the bigger scheme of things.

Also, why the Erulian, Krotite Warrior, Prince of Mithalas, and Nature Spirit at the end as the spirits Naija must find to free Li?  Are these the ones whom she shares the most attributes?  Maybe these are the creator's favorites... although they didn't live up to Mia/Naija.  Who's Naija's father? He's a Mithalan, right? The Prince even.  So that would explain him.  The Fish Form didn't have a god, it seemed to be an actual gift from the verse itself, and the Spirit Form was a reward for killing spirits in Mithalas Cathedral... Dual Form doesn't have a god either, so that just leaves the Sun Form in terms of other peoples that could have been used for the spirits.  Of course, the choice of these spirits could also reflect the relative power of them.  I love the Erulians.... Dual Form reminds me of them a lot in some ways.  Were they the first civilization? 

Sorry for all the rambling, those are just my thoughts on a few of the posts I read here.... hope they aren't repeats.  Happy playing

Edit:  I just re-read the entire thread, and I see some of this post is repetitive, but I"ll leave it.  Other thoughts: I like the idea of the Mithalan princess marrying Naija and Li's son.  I've got a soft spot for the Mithalans, although I think Mithala the god is my favorite even above them.  And I agree about Mia running around and hiding while trying to raise Naija... I still wonder about the father of Naija or if Mia just asexualy reproduced.  Some plants and animals do that, so maybe that's part of Mia's abilities... and maybe even Naija's.  Also, someone mentioned the blue crystals and Naija's memories in them - there's only one problem with that.  If Naija is there in the crystal herself, wouldn't using the blue crystal free her spirit like it did with the others?  Which would negate the boy/man at the end having to go save Naija....  So, perhaps Naija saved her memories in the red crystals, but when she was taken by Mia, they turned blue?  Or maybe the blue crystals contain her memories, because whenever she used the Spirit form, they saved her memories at the time and the red crystals are not important to the retrieval of her memories by her son.  Like the blue crystals would be copies of her spirit itself?  Seeing as how the other times Naija interacts with a blue crystal (besides Spirit Form that is) there are spirits held in the crystal, that could be a possibility.  I dunno, it'd be interesting to see.  Also, in the sequel, there's always the possibility that Naija is dead... and that it was her body/spirit in the crystal.  If Naija didn't do as Mia wanted, Mia could have destroyed her just as the creator destroyed his creations.  I certainly hope that's not the case, but it is possible.  Naija's son could be going to get revenge.... or he could be a part of Mia's plan as well - she could have taken Naija, "modified" her, and then freed her to do her bidding all unknowing... again.  And this modification could have been part of why she had her son.  Or, she could have escaped Mia and then had the son, and been recaptured.  It's been long enough since I beat Aquaria that I don't remember if she had the son before Mia caught her in the end or not.... so if she had the son first, then most of what I just said is not possible... XD.

Anyway, happy playing

[Alec]

Some interesting thoughts here. 

Wow this thread got long! 

[Glamador]

We saw the son as a baby before she was captured by Mia so yes, she had it before.  But you didn't consider that the discovery of Naija in a blue crystal could be the END of the story.  Her son already heard her tale from the red crystals, and now he's found her trapped in the blue one.  Nobody said that was the beginning of his journey, or even the beginning of the next game.

[Sirensongstress]

Oooh, good thought Glamador!  The way time is maleable in this world makes that such a possibility.  Heh, I just had a kinda cheesy thought there:  Time Form! >.> But doesn't the Spirit Form do stuff that a Time Form would do already? In some ways anyway.... unless you could turn back time, and watch as projectiles floated backwards and monsters "unhit" you.... *Drowns in cheese*

Edit: Yeah, I beat the game again today, and I almost made a post to say I was wrong about the baby birth timing thing...  I really like the idea of a dual story line (from the points of view of Naija's boy and the young mer gal that was shown sleeping in the ending), although I dont' know that Alec or Derek has said anything about it.  But it's nice to just think about all the possibilities for the potential stories .

[Nightmareshadow]

I'm kinda worried about posting here, (I don't want to ruin too much about the sequel, and its interesting to hear all the different interpretations) but I want to clear up a couple of things.

The world of Aquaria is 3D, (i.e. if it was a real place you could visit, it would have a Z axis) but it is presented in the game as 2D. I think this is leading to some of the confusion.




A couple quotes of interest:

"Li was particularly excited by these ruins...
...it was if he recognized them.
They did not look like the work of Aquarians.
I suspected that they were from beyond the Veil.
Perhaps Li's world was destroyed as well..."

"Perhaps". This is only Naija's assumption, its not explained in the game where Li is actually from. (although we can guess it was either the city seen at the beginning, or a similar one; since there don't seem to be any other living humans in the waters) The only human Naija knows at this point is Li, but she also has no knowledge of anything that exists outside of the waters. Naija picks up that Li is lonely and searching for something, but she doesn't know why. Derek and I do, but I don't think we'll get into that until the sequel.

"There are much greater worlds above ripe for the taking." - Mia

Okay...just let me breathe in a little first.  So does this mean we will have a sequel?  I just finished playing Aquaria for the first time and got the secret ending, but my heart sank as we saw Naija spirited away by her mother.  Then the to be continued sign appeared.  Naturally, after scouring the threads for hours at a time i came upon this little gem of a quote.

I have to know...is a sequel in the works?  Could you give us a timetable?  Heck even if i heard that it would be done in 2020 I'd at least have a little closure...and a reason to keep coming back to the site for updates.

I probably sound annoying asking like this, but I just feel like I have to know.  Aquaria is one of the greatest games of all times, easily worth twice the thirty dollar price tag...A sequel to it would be beyond awesome!!!  Besides I think a little more characterization and closure would do us all some good.

Aquaria is a game that is truly one of the greatest of all times.  I'm going to be keeping my eyes to the forum for signs of a sequel.  Fellow players, I hope you'll pray with me.

[Xiagan]

There will be a sequel (at least it is planned), but atm is Bit Blot working on improving Aquaria AND making another (unrelated) game. Right, Alec?

[Alec]

There will be a sequel (at least it is planned), but atm is Bit Blot working on improving Aquaria AND making another (unrelated) game. Right, Alec?

Yeah, I'm working on those. Derek is doing his own side projects now.

I have plans for two other Aquaria games that I'd love to do, but I wouldn't want to do them without Derek's involvement - in some form.

We'll have to see what happens!

In the meantime, working on something new will be a lot of fun... and it'll be with a somewhat different team too.


ALSO:

Glad to hear you enjoyed the game, Nightmareshadow!