Does Galaxy's story work better played 6/4/5

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monochameleon
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Does Galaxy's story work better played 6/4/5

Post by monochameleon »

I was thinking about this today, and I'm starting to wonder: should the order of the games be 1,2,3,D,6,4,5? Follow me on this: 6 mentions the end of 3 (which neither 4 or 5 does) but not the end of 5. After rescuing Molly, Keen learns that Mortimer is alive and therefore goes home and works on the Photachyon Transceiver to try and suss out Mortimer's plan. He finds out about the Shikadi and decides to save the galaxy but doesn't learn of their link to Mortimer McMire until after destroying the QED, at which point he finds the letter and learns Mortimer's plan to destroy the universe is underway. Both the Bloogs and the Shikadi are essentially great big distractions to keep Keen off the right path.

Technically, the slight repetitiveness of the stories of 4/5 and then 6 (essentially, Mortimer distracts Keen/Keen finds out Mortimer is alive and plans to destroy the universe) can be explained by the real-world fact that Galaxy and Babysitter were sort of released as closer to parallel games than genuine continuing stories - people who bought one at shareware might never encounter the other at retail or vice-versa, and the games are designed to both function, essentially, as sequels to Vorticons rather than each other.

What does anyone else think? Am I crazy or do you think there's something to this?
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Nisaba
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Re: Does Galaxy's story work better played 6/4/5

Post by Nisaba »

I find your train of thought exciting to categorize the 6th episode between 3 and 4. There is surely enough room for interpretation for this thought. Especially because 6 somehow falls out of the whole saga story-wise.
Dreams however gives me a hard time to fit into...

Side note: On a purely aesthetic level, I have always closely linked episode 1, 4 and 6. I think it's the monster sprites that made me feel like these planets have some' strong in common. But that's a different story.
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Grimson
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Re: Does Galaxy's story work better played 6/4/5

Post by Grimson »

Actually, the scrolling story of 4 mentions the events of 3. So at best, it seems like 4 and 6 are parallel stories.

I do like this theory though. It sounds more plausible than Keen just forgetting about Mort's letter and acting all surprised in 6.
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Re: Does Galaxy's story work better played 6/4/5

Post by Quillax »

Hm, I never thought of the possibility of episodes 4/5 and 6 being separate parallel stories. Nor did I think of this theory, speaking of which is pretty neat. You got quite an imagination, monochameleon. I do find it a bit odd that 6 is -- in some ways -- more incomplete compared to 4/5 (i.e more bugs, lack of help). Game polish-wise, this theoretical order would make more sense.
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proYorp
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Re: Does Galaxy's story work better played 6/4/5

Post by proYorp »

That's a cool theory! I like that sort of outside-the-box thinking.

It's a very interesting concept to think about the stories being "parellel." Almost as if they are two separate timelines.

I'd never considered the fact that iD would have had to give separate introductions of future episodes to give context to both retail and non-retail audiences. Wonder how much prep work they must have done for the episodes that never came to be...

I haven't thought of those particular points before, but I did once write a whole Game Theory-style essay on why Molly in Keen 6 may be an android dummy, and that played into the idea that the episodes were supposed to take place in a different order. So... you're not the most crazy one around here. :p
proYorp wrote: Or say the order was 6, 4, 5. There is some evidence in the Keen 6 manual that its story was written first (Keen working on his "new" ComputerWrist).
You would rescue Molly before hearing anything about Shikadi, and in fact it would be Molly who initially alerts Keen to a plot to destroy the Galaxy.
It has been officially noted that the episodes were not developed in numerical order -- they were produced in the order 4, 6, then 5 according to 3D Realms.



As for references within the games...
Keen 4 Scrolling Story wrote: Episode Four

Secret of the Oracle

After delivering a crippling blow to the plans of Mortimer McMire and receiving the praise of the Vorticon race, Commander Keen returned to his home in the suburbs.

Here he was forced to go to bed at an early hour, and to eat mashed potatoes.
The Keen 4 scrolling story references both Keen 3 and Keen Dreams.
Keen 6 Ending wrote: "Your brother?" Keen asked. Molly is the older sister of his former nemesis, Mortimer McMire. But he was caught in the explosion of his Mangling Machine . . . wasn't he?
Keen 6 does indeed reference Keen 3 in the end story.

It is a very interesting point that while episode 5 references episode 4, neither episode references "Aliens Ate My Babysitter!" which in turn contains no reference to either episode of "Goodbye, Galaxy!" I'm sure I've been aware of that fact on some level, but to draw special attention to the fact that there is nothing... yeah, that is very odd. Interesting...
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alexis92
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Re: Does Galaxy's story work better played 6/4/5

Post by alexis92 »

Definitely a good theory! Maybe someone should blindly play through the games in that order and compare notes with someone who played the games chronologically, and see how it stacks up. I dunno, just spitballing really.
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