Lore Expert Plays Alan Wake 2 [Final Draft] | Final Ending

[@PunkyNerd]

I love how flawed the characters are in the game. When Saga has all those dark thoughts for instance is so relatable for anyone who deals with intrusive thoughts and anxiety. Alan’s also relatable when it comes to major depressive disorder, getting easily triggered and angry, etc. I love that about this game. The characters are written so well. Such a beautiful game.

[@tomb4250]

21:32 Oh thats how Ahti manages to travel beyond worlds and sets up the puddles with his mob for the transition between Alan and Saga and has the access to the writers room bcs his water in the bucket is the water from the lake!

[@Nothinggaming_.]

I FINALLY GET ZANE'S POEM! the shadow you settle for is the you not yet one with the self, it could be you never will be, but there is potential, the miracle illuminated... The ending and Alan saying it finally made me understand

[@reifuTD]

I like the twist of the Hero having to pay a high price, then twisting that idea and making a high price a boon to the hero.

[@bryguytyguy]

The fact that Tor, Odin, and Ahti all refer to Alan as Tom definitely proves that there is a version of Alan that has constructed this story and set all of these events into motion. The Alan’s we play don’t remember it, but he doesn’t have to because him not remembering is what’s best for the story. In order to break out of the Dark Place, Alan needed to forget that his reality WAS the Dark Place. As Door says, the Dark Place goes by many names and reflects all sorts of different versions of reality. Control, Max Payne, Quantum Break, Death Rally, all the Dark Place. And what is the Dark Place? The crater in the dreamer’s mind… Sam Lake, the Dreamer, the writer of the first word. It WILL end up to be the truth I swear to it and when it does I won’t feel crazy anymore.

[@piratetv1]

The writers room is the dark place but Ahti opened an overlap. He can create one with just water. " I'll come to wash the floor in your room next." Edit After watching more play throughs i think the writers room at the end is the attic in the rest home. The puddle on the floor was for Saga to exit the dark place and end up right in front of Alan.

[@anom3102]

I had the same thought on my play through! Ahti is powerful af! It’s like he can move through doors doors! I was so confused but so excited!

[@piratetv1]

@@anom3102 that last writing with the shadow over the lake and Ahti picking up the bucket was amazing

[@anom3102]

@@piratetv1Yes it was!

[@shamarinka9985]

If this is an attic of the rest home why is Alan still in his Dark place suit? Shouldn't he return to his real life bloody leather jacket he was wearing? If this part IS the really from which Saga is able to call Logan. I am still confused by this scene.

[@tomb4250]

​@@shamarinka9985bcs its not the dark place, i thought this aswell first but Alan goes into the most powerful AWE ever summoned by Casey which is spreading and located in our world, not the dark place. So it makes sense.

[@aettic]

Okay, now that I've finished watching this video, gonna share some thoughts: I'm almost positive that the Writer's Room we see at the end is really in the real world. Though Alan enters the weird Deerfest Overlap, he seems to exit it when he leaves its proximity (after he leaves out the back of the Lodge, and heads to the woods, it suddenly becomes night, which it was in the real world before he entered the overlap). I believe from this point forward Alan is effectively in the real world. I left a whole detailed comment on the original finale stream episode, so I won't retread all that, but back then I had not seen the NG+ ending. Now that I have, I think the fact that Saga is able to contact Logan is a decently secure indicator that they are back in the real world. We never see Casey-Scratch in the Dark Place, since the only times we see him are at the lake, in Bright Falls before he uses the Clicker, in the Wellness Center after Alan leaves the Overlap, and then in the Writer's Room. One major caveat, and I think you pointed this out: Scratch using the Clicker to turn Bright Falls into the Eternal Deerfest appears to have caused a bleedthrough with the Dark Place and reality. I think there's decent precedent for AWEs affecting the world in a radius - as Estevez mentions if you leaves its area the world might not be affected. "Sometimes they expand, sometimes they fizzle out". We get some info from Alan's dialogue and the Writer's Room plot board that indicates this AWE (Eternal Deerfest) would spread and encompass the whole world eventually. I take that to mean it would spread from that point, but because Alan left that radius he returned to the real world. , the lines are blurred. I don't think we can say for sure where the AWE ends and the real world begins - I do believe that the night / day transition is a good indication, but Rose being dressed in her Diner uniform is curious... The Valhalla Nursing Home's sudden appearance of doors on the second floor is curious. I think they ARE in the real world, BUT I think the real world is being influenced by the AWE that's in progress from Eternal Deerfest. All that to say: I don't think the Writer's Room at the end is the Dark Place. I think it's a real room in the Valhalla Nursing Home, but the entire area that we see (Bunker Woods, the Nursing Home, Wellness Center) are being influenced by the proximity of the AWE. Last point: I believe that when Saga appears in the room, from the Janitor's bucket, she is now back in the real world, not trapped in the Dark Place. Alright, that's it. Sorry to ramble, but I wanted to put this out there, because I think it matters.

[@leonardolf6974]

I totally agree

[@VeryBoringStream]

I think the story ends when the screen goes black, that is, at the moment of the base game finale. Everything we see after that is them proceeding with their lives after the story has ended and they've played their parts. So the room has to be in reality by that moment, but it's possible it's connected to the Dark Place while the story lasts. It would also imply that Zane's existence as a filmmaker becomes a permanent reality, as he was the one who built this house, and they are still there after the AWE.

[@davidr3627]

The containment unit may have had black rock in it. In Control we see two kinds of glass in the oldest house. Breakable and unbreakable. The unbreakable glass looks like it has wire mesh reinforcement. Considering this mesh reinforced glass is used in all containment cells, including the one they tried to lock Scratch inside of, I've always assumed the mesh is made of black rock.

[@reifuTD]

Wow, Sometimes I like to looks at a character's action and think how that action falls under a D&D alignment perspective, Door 100% knew what Alan had done and will do because the Old Gods had been hanging out with him the whole time but waits for Alan to have to memory of what he did before getting mad at him. Yeah I'd say that's a strong Lawful Neutral action.

[@piratetv1]

The manuscript is a fair criticism, except she's an Anderson. Odin says, "Being crazy is a requirement sonny. Who else could understand the world when it's like this? It takes crazy to know crazy"

[@aettic]

1:45:18 - "Now that he went through the spiral door, he's back in the dark place, so to speak" Not necessarily. Especially considering what we see as the finale to this Final Draft ending, I'm more and more convinced that this is indeed the real world. We know that the spiral door existed in the real world version of the Valhalla Nursing Home. It's convoluted, but I really think the ending takes place in the real world, not the dark place.

[@R3VELAT1ON]

From what I saw all of them were in the real writers room at the end because ahti opened an overlap for both Alan and saga. For saga to come back from the dark place and for Alan to be able to communicate with her. Casey/Presence was back in the real world too so yeah they are all back im pretty sure unless I’m missing something.

[@barkasz6066]

Ahti's line "all you need is water... and vileda" always cracks me up. Vileda rules.

[@acedias12]

While the FBC screws up time to time, but the Koskelas bros, for their part, severely overestimated their ability to contain the AWE. Whoever that "Max Bermudez" guy in chat is, he is viewing this situation with a very narrow mind. ​"Pretty much way I see it the FBC should stop fucking with the dark presence and cauldron lake." By right, NO ONE should be messing with it in the first place. It's mainly thanks to Thomas Zane messing with it that this entire thing kicked off.

[@whendarknessfalls6969]

Trying to blow through all these over the past couple of days to get in your mindset and see from another perspective. But i want to add something here. Notice how in the concert Visions Odin is using his own guitar and Balder is playing with them, but on the stage Odin is playing Balders guitar. Also, look into the Death Rally remake if you haven't.

[@aettic]

So regarding the ending credits bug - the game engine is still running behind the credits, that's why you have to hit pause to interact with the credits. The comment in chat about "Press R2 and laugh" is because you can hear Saga swing her fist, or if you hold L2 first you can shoot your gun. You can actually completely interact with the world. Someone confirmed in the AW reddit that they were able to walk around and stumble back into the ending cutscene while the credits played - so they could hear the cutscene dialogue but also the music and could only see the credits. I was able to open the map, profiling, manuscript pages (I was able to play Alan's VO for manuscript pages), and interact with the case board - though you cannot see any of it, you can only see the credits. This is most likely a bug. Based on "stumbling back into the ending cutscene" my guess is that Saga is still standing near the fountain in the Dark Place where you initially trigger that cutscene, but the audio of the overlap sound effect in the fountain has been muted. Pressing Start seems to break out of the engine and force you back into the credits - it also mutes the credits song until you press start again, but you cannot return to interacting with the game engine. Or at least, I wasn't able to. I loaded up my final save a couple times to mess around with it, and confirmed it's a repeatable bug. Each time, it seems to trigger only if you speed up or skip the first half of the credits, and only happens at the beginning of the second half of the credits. My guess is that it has something to do with the fact that there is no mid-credits scene in Final Draft.

[@Keyh]

My parents were both medical professionals. Holidays were one or both working. I became used to them not being around and have a vastly different mindset of holidays than my wife does.

[@Xehanort10]

1:01:05 The "For silent lies that which covers the night. And it may ride in your step from the other side of the moonlight" lyric there because Tor and Odin knew they couldn't summon Alan without Scratch also hitching a ride.

[@bryguytyguy]

25:03 Casey asking wheres the tech guy is a reference to the guy talking about the “raccoons” with Ilmo earlier, right? Makes me wonder if something happened to him and if we’ll find out in the Lake House DLC

[@SuperClarisso]

I just realized that Logan's picture gets darker and darker, like a xerox taken from sequential prints, or, in a more Hiss chanty way, "a copy of a copy of a copy"

[@VeryBoringStream]

What I also find interesting here in Saga's dark version of the Mind Place, is how she constantly feels responsible for Casey. But he's his own person, it was his decision to go to the lake even though he was injured, she couldn't decide for him. Now, one of the main things they teach you in therapy is to differentiate what you can control and what you can't, and you can't control other people and decide for them if they are adult and sane. But this is indeed one of the things that often get lost in the downward spiral of self-loathing that gets you deeper and deeper.

[@VeryBoringStream]

Having a psychological trauma makes the whole scene with Saga in the Dark Place so relatable. Things I've gone through during the therapy in a nutshell. Having a dialogue with those parts of yourself and accepting them is hard and painful, but it helps a lot.

[@dr.catherineelizabethhalse1820]

The description of Cauldron lake on the page reminds me of another comparison. Black holes. Apart of the obvious connections to darkness and time altering, scientist also talk of them creating identical "holographic" image of the objects spiralling into them (Scratch no?). Also in the game the vortex you go through when moving in between the Dark Place and reality looks like cosmic worm hole which is a thing that theoretically could be behind a black hole.

[@dr.catherineelizabethhalse1820]

Btw the worm creating a wormhole would be the worm through time (and space)

[@CallMeKes]

I can't really get much from the Archivist series. When the other entity or whatever if speaking, it requires reading. And I am usually listening to the video to relax. If I have to read along not only do I need to turn my head (I have SEVERE neck issues and watch youtube laying down, as I am semi bedridden) but I also have to pause every every sentence because, despite being an avid reader all my life, I am so slow at it that I can't keep up without pausing. It's frustrating because I love Control and I love GU and I love the Archivist concept so much.

[@GamingUniversityUoG]

I'm sorry to hear that's an issue with your ability to view it. Luckily we don't have a lot of episodes that involve that entity. Most of it will be spoken in full. I'll think on how I can deal with the subtitles to make them easier.

[@leonielson7138]

I can't help but imagining Logan waking up from a nightmare only to discover that her dad doesn't recognize her, getting thrown out by a confused Adam, and finding her way to The Oldest House where she helps Jesse and Dylan Faden clear out the Hiss.

[@leonielson7138]

Alex Casey's love of bad whiskey reminded me of a Calvin and Hobbes panel I saw recently: "Yeah, that's me, Tracer Bullet. I've got eight slugs in me. One's lead, and the rest are bourbon. The drink packs a wallop, and I pack a revolver. I'm a private eye."

[@christophercomtois7175]

I just noticed that one of the only residents of bright falls that is missing from deerfest praising Alan is Rose. She is waiting for him at Valhalla why would he not include her in deerfest, she is his biggest fan.

[@E5rael]

Because she knows Alan so well that she would see through the mockery if she was put in the scene. Maybe, idk? 🫠

[@Jillbles]

Thanks for doing this right up to the wire on Christmas Eve! Glad I finished base game when I did, so this was here waiting for me. We already know Barry's in with Blessed, now, and he'd be the most likely one to arrange a clean out of the unit, I'd think. So the boxes make sense in that context.

[@mossegutten]

So.. Just a thought.. A lot of the talk about fact and fiction has defined the two as conditions opposed to each other, but i would dare to disagree. I feel, in the context of the game, like there's a lot pointing to a theme of duality and convergence. Picture a child playing and having found a set of dinnerplates, imagining the plates being frisbees. As the dinnerplate leaves the childs hand its in a state of convergence, and while its flying through the air the plate is both fact (a dinnerplate) and fiction (a frisbee), and it only turns back to being a dinnerplate if it breaks or the childs parents defines it as being so. Metaphorically, the parents could be seen as a "higher power" or, in the games context, the manuscript. This a state of convergence is only possible in the childs perspective, as the two conditions has not yet been defined as being opposites. Both doors is still open if you will. With that in mind, Alans mom by giving him the clicker, gave him the power to define what is real and not, fact or fiction, and thus she kept both doors open. However, when Alan later gets trapped in the dark place, this convergent ability opens all the doors so to speak, wich in turn explains how time and space works differently in the dark place. Because its every possible idea at the same time. So maybe the dark presence can be seen not necessarily evil, but as a higher power (a parent) desperately trying to define what is fact (reality) or fiction (the story). Almost as if people like Alan, Tom, Thor and Odin, with the ability to communicate fact and fiction as being truely one, defiles the order of reality. The deerfest ending of Return is the dark presences last desperate attempt to define what is real and not. As if it's a parent who finally succumbs to a child who wont stop destroying plates (Alan killing people in his stories) and incessant claims of the dinnerplates being frisbees (Alan wrighting real people into his stories), ultimately yelling "Fine! The plates are frisbies! ALL THE PLATES ARE FRISBIES!", while throwing alle the plates on the ground and destroying them. Just a thought, hehe..

[@celadore]

Still waiting to find out they call him Tom because Alan Wake is an obvious pen name.

[@GamingUniversityUoG]

I think Tom will be end game of the first grand arc of Remedy.

[@martinzalle]

@@GamingUniversityUoG I just hope we'll see more of this story someday. The ending is beautiful but it feels sort of "final". At first I was hoping we'd see an Alan Wake 3 eventually but now that hope has kind of diminished after The Final Draft". Thoughts? That said, these games have still been an amazing journey.

[@aettic]

I also tried to use the flare gun on the shadow spots to break down the barrier, and it did not work - and screwed me over similarly. I think what happened is it's not actually anything, so it doesn't trigger. I suspect if we hit the ground below those points it might work.

[@dgc1570]

Our boy is truly back from The Dark Place for good!

[@anom3102]

I think Tom is an Old God. I just really love this community. So my biggest thought…I feel like cauldron station was a love letter to James McCaffrey and the original subway level in Max Payne. Most of the game had Max Payne elements in my opinion. If you can’t tell Remedy won me over with Max Payne aka RIP James Mcafferey.

[@piratetv1]

There's a lot more Stephen King. Parautilitarians like Jesse and Saga come from the world of the shining, Carrie, and firestarter. Also, What was that prison movie? The one with the poster?

[@perversemite519]

Can't wait for another video 🔥🔥

[@yxranauran6332]

Actually I would love to see you analyzing Kingdom Hearts, its not the deepest series, but it has some great things hidden in it

[@Xehanort10]

1:37:40 Alice was trying to get Alan therapy at the start of 1 but unknown to her Hartman was a manipulative scumbag.

[@BlazeMakesGames]

you know that comment about alan writing a book about his time dealing with the dark place raises an interesting question. If the thing manifests fiction into reality, then does that mean writing a non-fiction book is actually immune to the effects? Even though it's based on material that only existed for supernatural reasons and was based on other fiction?

[@other3]

3:10:42 was the bucket here on the base gameplay?

[@Keyh]

It almost had to have been, Ahti brings the bucket into the writer's room to create the overlap needed for Saga to come out of the dark place.

[@forzimus]

Still can’t figure out Alan’s phrase about Casey - he isn’t my creation, so he isn’t a suitable host for the Dark Presence. But why?

[@GamingUniversityUoG]

Loophole really. Casey is not his character. Wake wrote that at the end as a deus ex machina to force the dark presence out of Casey and into him. Since Alan is acting a sa character in Initiation and Return it went to him.

[@forzimus]

@@GamingUniversityUoG Ah, so suitable host for the Dark Presence is a character from the book?

[@MrFrankcap]

Will you make a video pointing out any differences/new content you found in the final draft?

[@kktallman6257]

And how do you expect it to become understood if isn't fucked with?

[@KimmyQueen]

I am not a stupid person... I just have NO IDEA what the end is about. I understand the concept of the hero's journey... But how was the loop broken?

[@jonathonpolk3592]

It was confusing to me too. I know that the loop was finally broken here and Alan finally succeeded, but I don't understand why. He didn't really change anything of causal significance between the first and final drafts that should have changed the outcome. This new ending was nice because it gave closure, but it made no sense in light of its own rules.

[@Keyh]

There was never a loop, it was a spiral, every time around the perceived "loop" things changed. In the first playthrough, Alan/We didn't realize Alice was still alive and was helping us until after the credits rolled. During Final Draft, Alan knew she was still around and she was his "muse" and helped him integrate his shadow and ascend as a person which was needed to actually finish the spiral. That's how I took it at least.

[@KimmyQueen]

@@jonathonpolk3592 Thank you! I feel less stupid lol I guess as the person below this stated it was not a loop but a spiral... but even then imo not sure how he ASCENDED to a higher level of the spiral for the spiral to end? Did it end?

[@KimmyQueen]

@@Keyh Thank you but how? How did he integrate his shadow? That is I guess the question.

[@jonathonpolk3592]

@KimmyQueen I'm sure GU has a planned video where he will address this. Upon further reflection and reading other people's responses, I think the answer lies in the metanarrative, not the narrative. There really isn't an in-universe explanation for the success of the final draft. However, when you look at the AW series as a literary embodiment of the "monomyth" from the Heroes Journey, it kinda makes sense. In that framework, all heroes go through 3 eras in their journey: Departure, Initiation, and Return. The same names as all of Alan's new books. This breaks down into like 12-17 specific steps. In Return, one of the steps is "rescue from without", where some entity or outside force interjects to save the hero when he or she cannot save themselves. The first time around, there was no rescue from without, as Alice used Wake to give the bullet and clicker to Saga. As Alan mentioned, he was his own deus ex machina, which does not follow the heroes journey. But in the final draft, Alice made the rescue by directly giving him the new photo. By doing so, she enabled him to complete the monomyth and "return." That's my take, at least. I'm sure GU will have a much better and thoughtful explanation.

[@JohnnyYeTaecanUktena]

Rip still no wife

[@Bitumesilicatissimo]

But now Alice is lost in the dark place, right?

[@zachansen8293]

32:30 well, the title does say "lore expert" not "aiming expert"

[@GamingUniversityUoG]

Haha yeah me and shooters are not the best of friends for this very reason.

[@indigocrow8385]

Do Taken or Shaded individuals experience the same thing as Saga does in the Dark Place and surrender to it? Is it because they aren't protagonists in the story?

[@maetheron1160]

The dark presence will use any obscure moments from their victims to drive them mad and finally make them succumb to it, making them "Taken" Nightingale for example, traumatized for losing his partner and obsessed with Alan Mulligan and Thornton killed an innocent woman because they thought she was Taken. Being desperate and shaken with their actions made them the perfect prey for the dark presence And Cynthia? Poor lady got her lamp stolen. That and her total devotion towards Thomas Zane led to her demise by the dark presence The dark presence will use any of your fears, memories and thoughts against the victim, and it's up to them to survive, like Saga did

[@vociferous777]

This was a good 30+ hours of entertainment. I didnt even watch though. i just like listening to your nerdy ass explain the remedyverse in the background. Thanks for a good time.

[@SapphireStarGaming]

faccckkk this game is beautifullllllllllllllllllllllllll

[@GamingUniversityUoG]

It really is! One of these days I'll have a good PC and see how it looks with all settings maxed out.

[@Dulkh4n]

Everytime i see a streamer skipping the end of chapter songs i stop watching, ;)

[@kurts.7225]

For a game with a hella decent soundtrack, what a middling and boring fucking song. Nothing to say but at the same time so loud that it brought me out of my other task to say, "dear God, who the hell is banging rocks together?"

[@vociferous777]

This was a good 30+ hours of entertainment. I didnt even watch though. i just like listening to your nerdy ass explain the remedyverse in the background. Thanks for a good time.

[@GamingUniversityUoG]

Haha thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed my ramblings. And thank you so much for the donation. You're amazing!

[@vociferous777]

@@GamingUniversityUoG You make really high quality videos analyzing really complicated universes such as the remedyverse. I've been a fan of the channel for a long time and have gotten a lot of value out of you. Felt only right that I gave some value back.