Stellar Blade's Manipulator: Adam | Complete Character Arc

[@vPrism]

Best channel for stellar blade content, i’m so glad you’re still keeping it going! We need a sequel/ or a prequel

[@unlistednaytiba]

Wow, appreciate your comment. Hopefully in Q1 or Q2 of this year (sometime around the 1-year anniversary of the game) we will get some info about the future of this franchise. Have a good one.

[@TheIronTiger44]

Loved this essay. Though I personally liked the Fusion ending. The Return to the Coloney ending didn’t suggest to me that Eve had found her independence, as much as she accepted and did the will of Mother Sphere. Other than that, great job!

[@elishaj2977]

And considering his situation I don't blame him for being manipulative even though he was always something of a liar (the book of quotes showed he was always kind of sneaky). He was fighting a one man war for the sake of his species who had been condemned to death by a faulty system. To not only manipulate the situation to his advantage, but do so in a way that doesn't condemn the propped up false humanity that said faulty system put to replace humanity is not only justified, but way more gracious then some people would have acted in his shoes believe me.

[@envysmith6832]

Raphael Marks wanted humanity to transcend through Mother Sphere. When it backfired, his reuluctant gamble was through the Naytiba, which also backfired. On both occasions, his ambition and arrogance led to the extinction of humanity. His punishment is the guilt of knowing that it was him that doomed his species, and the solitude that comes with it. In that regard, and despite the manipulation and duplicty, i still felt compelled to side with Adam because ultimately, he wants to atone and redeem himself. Yes, he's responsible for the destruction of earth and its people, but it's also grants him the unique responsibility of ensuring that humanity does not become forgotten which only he can do. There's something admirable in his struggle as compared to Mother Sphere's sterile utopia. The will to struggle, endure, and triumph is a testament to the human spirit, which is something worth holding on to.

[@unlistednaytiba]

Extremely well written comment. I agree and connect with you r last statement about the human spirit. This is also something that Raphael says when you come to Xion (that you can always count on human ingenuity or something like that).

[@cesarignjas]

the ending of this game remembers me a lot the ending of Ghost in the Shell, were Major Kusanagi chose to fuse with Pupetmaster AI to create a new entity. i'm sure that was the inspiration for this finale.

[@sodathejunker]

Keep doing your thing man. Love your content and so glad you’re deep diving into such fun and interesting topics in these games I love.

[@unlistednaytiba]

Appreciate your comment and glad you are getting something out of it. Have a good one.

[@reactsgamergirls]

I think Adam’s journey is so cool-changing his name from Raphael Marques to Adam, Eve’s initial distrust, but him playing the adversary right under her nose while having to stop Raven from killing her before he could figure out if she serves his purposes, which are to save humanity. Let’s not forget that the Mothersphere attack came first, and the creation of Naytibas was a response to the unstoppable force of the death angels (Eve, Raven, and the other girls from the attack squad). I also find the feminine form of the attack angels fascinating-not just because they’re beautiful, but because the female form has the greatest agility and combat capability compared to men. That’s probably why Mothersphere only creates female angels. I love the story of Stellar Blade and can’t wait for the PC version to arrive so I can play it myself. Bring on the prequel to the battle of Mothersphere and the fall of the colonies to see where Tachy came from! I really, really want to see a Tachy prequel! ♥

[@unlistednaytiba]

Appreciate your post. I have wondered a lot about the reason for the Angels to all be female body frames. Besides the meta-reason of Kim Hyung Tae designing female characters for his games, you could be right in terms of the lore reason. And I agree, so many people want more of Tachy. That would be awesome if we could somehow get more of her. Enjoy the game when it comes out on PC. My thinking is it will drop in April as I believe PS has the one year exclusivity deal for the game.

[@Thunderflare99]

I think it's fascinating that Adam is Raphael Marks, most casual gamers don't even know this (I initially didn't), and just appears to a partnered NPC. He is the past, present, and future of the story. Seemingly once a powerful tech CEO, creating Mother Sphere and its consequences, then ensuring the desparate survival of the human race by creating the Naytibas with him as its Elder. Adam will definitely be back in the sequel, he didn't give his life, just the body as he knows it, just like Eve. They fused, but are still separate entities. I still don't understand as the game starts how the Naytibas have the capability and intelligence to knock down the Angel ships out of space. They appeared to have the upper hand in the war, particularly since the location of the Nest was known. Since Adam is referred to as "Father" by Mother Sphere, and she has the appearance of a child, she is still young in her experience overall.

[@elishaj2977]

Adam probably set those Naytiba up as a deterrent to keep Mother Sphere from getting too close to affairs on earth. He's still the Elder Naytiba and targeted for death by Mother Sphere so these Naytiba were probably designed for defending his territory from the aggressing force.

[@DevaChriss]

​@@elishaj2977 Yes as the Elder Naytiba Adam possesses the power of creation of life, naytiba life. If you kill him, all the cocoons die in the nest. So it's extremely probable that he designed them as anti-air defenses. We can also assume that he can influence other naytibas a little. He can probably do it, when he is near them.

[@Thunderflare99]

@@elishaj2977 Yeah, good point. Had a defense system set up already, and Mother Sphere clearly hadn't been able to win any offensive battles. It's all scorched Earth, or nothing.

[@elishaj2977]

​​​@@Thunderflare99War is war especially when it is a war for survival against genocide and Adam understood the assignment.

[@zackfair6791]

Interesting. A few months ago it seemed like the fusion ending was pretty much universally agreed to be the ideal canon ending. And now it seems like there are some people popping up that prefer the colony ending because they don't like Adam. Still think the fusion ending is by far the best ending because Eve becomes human. And i don't think it would be good for the story to let the last human (Adam) perish.

[@fretmyster]

When I chose to take Adam’s hand it was less a vote of support for Adam, more a vote against Mother Sphere. I believed Adam when he said that Mother Sphere would continue the cycle of destruction and therefore misery for life on Earth. Adam’s story is dark and tragic leading him to make increasingly desperate and morally repugnant and manipulative decisions. We are left with choosing the lesser of two evils for this world. Fusing with Adam is the better, more hopeful ending whether you like/agree with Adam or not.

[@elishaj2977]

I'm glad you understand the essential truth. Yeah Adam is suss, but not evil. At worst he's more of an evil of circumstance like an opposite side of a very grey war (I'm being charitable to MS calling this war a grey one), not an active evil like Mother Sphere.

[@kkbaby30]

@@elishaj2977 He's more like a lot of geniuses that think of things, formulaically. A lot of them feel they're the smartest people in the room and know what's best. He sees people as instruments and feels they can be categorized by usefulness to achieve prosperity for humanity. Mother Sphere is just an AI and more than likely sees humanity as a program like herself that runs on hardware. If she can make better hardware on which to run the program, it's hardly a problem to her. She just sees it as another extinction event that wipes out one Order so another arises.

[@arturmagomedov02]

@@fretmyster Agree mostly, but what morally repugnant decisions did he made? Manipulative, yes, but repugnant? Repugnant against who, a bunch of plastic? Who cares, they are machines not humans they are our creation, we can do to them what the f*ck we want. They are no humans, they have no soul, they aren't living things. They are just programs, life can only be born.

[@arturmagomedov02]

Agree mostly, but what morally repugnant decisions did he made? Manipulative, yes, but repugnant? Repugnant against who, a bunch of plastic? Who cares, they are machines not humans they are our creation, we can do to them whatever we want. They are no humans, they have no soul, they aren't living things. They are just programs, imitating sentience and being coded to believe they have real emotions, but they are just simulating. Life can only be born. Eve is the closest to being human in this universe now.

[@unlistednaytiba]

Great comment. I agree with you in that Adam's comment about Mother Sphere would continue. They both operate in similar ways though in that they continuously work in iterative steps. MS has her waves of Angels, and Adam repetitively tries to upgrade humanity (however he has failed twice and doomed two different species of "humans."). I am glad, Adam finally saw this, and he is ending his role in this, and finally allowing another that he has guided/manipulated (however you want to view it) to make her own choice. He has laid everything out for her to chose. So in this sense, he has redeemed himself because he is allowing another to choose.

[@caleb8364]

Personally this vid is one I’ve been waiting for 🔥🔥

[@unlistednaytiba]

Yes, you are a RETURN TO COLONY enthusiast, correct? I take this particular view of Adam swayed you to not take his hand.

[@caleb8364]

@@unlistednaytiba So at first I was 100% on taking Adam’s hand, but right now idk each decision has its pros and cons. I just didn’t like how much manipulation that Adam was doing behind the scenes before the game events and during the game events but my mind still kind of sways to taking his hand anyways. It is because to Mother Sphere the end justifies the means. She was willing to kill off every human so that the Andro-Eidos can exist in their place but Adam is the cause of it all so he is a major factor in this story

[@billyargouzis7938]

My first playthrough i refused to take his hand. I couldn't trust anybody except Lily anymore lol. People can say whatever they want you sir are the answer to all the people saying that stellar blade story is meh. They are just prejudiced and dont look careful enough (same with other games). I sunscribed when i saw you making videos of things i was theorizing when reading all the item descriptions. Have a wonderful day

[@unlistednaytiba]

Appreciate your comment. The game does give you a feeling of mistrust since EVE is in the dark pretty much about everything up until the very end. Have a good one.

[@amazingmysteryykumicho]

Great video man! You put a lot of effort and an interesting perspective with your take on Adam’s character. After seeing this and your other SB videos, you seem to be someone who believes in siding with him to be the lesser of two evils, and a fan of the Making New Memories ending. Though I do disagree with a lot of what you have to say about him. I don’t think he’s a lying manipulator, and he never came off as one. He certainly had negative flaws in his character back then(such as arrogance and an ego), but he’s a good man who wanted to help mankind and build a bright future, only for his creations to go awry and cause chaos. As he bears some of the responsibility for the world’s destruction, he’s obviously broken and depressed due to being crushed with guilt. I do believe his efforts to atone for his sins are sincere, he’s determined to save both Andro-Eidos and Naytibas with his plan, especially considering how he knows he’s sacrificing his own physical existence in the process. Also, he cares about Eve and did nothing but help her throughout her journey. He may have hidden his identity of being the Elder Naytiba, but given how Eve’s mission is capturing or eliminating the Elder, that’s understandable. There are ambiguities about Adam that aren’t answered, and that could be why there are some people that think negatively of him and see him as manipulative. Some prequel DLC for him would do a great job clearing things up. It can show Adam’s actions leading up to and during the Liberation War, the Humanity Liberation Front’s experiments in the Levoires, and the time he spent with Raven. Also, I’d really love for him to come back in a sequel. Since Eve now carries his blood and likely his dormant consciousness after fusing with him, maybe he could be cloned?

[@unlistednaytiba]

Appreciate you rocking with all these videos. Yes you are correct, I am a fan of the Making New Memories ending because of what you said in your second paragraph. I do believe Adam is genuine in some ways. However, after spending more and more time with this game (second and third playthrough, watching cutscenes over and over, etc.) I thought it would be nice to do a video on the other side of the argument and shine light on this other perspective. I agree, a little bit more on the time before the Final Way would be great to get in a cutscene or something either in a DLC or sequel. In terms of his blood, I am intrigued about how EVE could use the Naytiba blood in her body frame if we are to move forward with the Making New Memories ending. They could definitely go the route of something akin to a clone like you say,

[@bcfcjames85]

Click on these as soon as they show up on my recs. Great video, think KZbin got hacked by the colony around the 30 minute mark.

[@kkbaby30]

Even though EVE is the main character of the game, it always feels like Adam is the main character for the story. BTW, I think you're confusing Adam's sincere desire to save the New Humans and Surviving humans with Adams deceptive tactics to achieve said desire. It would be like me loving German Chocolate cake and wanting the last piece in the kitchen. My desire for that cake is for real as I honestly love it. Now, if I use deceptive tactics to steal the last piece so others can't get it, it doesn't change my sincere love of the cake, it just means that I'm also a thief. Other than that, cool video as always.

[@unlistednaytiba]

Love your analogy of your cake - and your specific use of German Chocolate cake :) I'm curious to know Adam's view on Andro-Eidos humans. I wonder if he really cares for them in the same way he cared for the surviving real humans (who he refers to as Naytiba now)? He definitely cares for Naytiba as he wants EVE to carry his Naytiba blood into the future through fusion. It will be really cool to see what happens with this in sequels if Shift Up continues to explore this story thread. As for the A.E. Humans, there are times when it does seem like he cares for them, but part of me thinks he would sacrifice them at a moments notice because they are not true humans.

[@kkbaby30]

@@unlistednaytiba I always felt he did respect AE's pursuit of humanity if for no other reason than being proud of his creation of MS and thus, her creations. I wonder if he sees AE as his grandchildren. I can't imagine what's it's like to be the catalyst for an entirely new civilization created by new lifeforms, but that's got to be quite the ego-stroke. I mean, he basically became a god before becoming the Elder, then again as the Elder with the Naytiba. To quote Lily, "That's insane!" By the way, I really enjoyed your FanFic on Adam's life before the game and hope to see more. As you can probably tell, Adam is my favorite character in the game. He's definitely no hero and is often guilty of treating humans as number in an equation, but he's 100% interesting and I'm here for it! I love characters like Adam and Mathias Cronqvist in Castlevania: Lament of Innocence. Characters with intricate machinations that come to fruition by the end of the game and just leaves the player shook when they revisit all of the steps taken to achieve said goal. Thinking of the gamble Adam took guiding his would be assassins on a discovery of their own humanity, risking his life and all of his plans every step of the way is so satisfying by the end of the game. 🤔

[@kkbaby30]

@@unlistednaytiba Oh also, as you know, if Adam rejected Raven for synthesis because of her anger and vengeful heart toward MS and all of AE, then I'd imagine that's some proof of Adam's respect for AE. There wouldn't be much lost if she just declared war on the rest of AE to make way for her as the mother of Elder/Angel humans. But he chooses another that still respects all life and wants to preserve that pursuit. Maybe that's some evidence, although he could just want her to be benevolent toward her own creations going forward. Definitely interesting.

[@specialnewb9821]

I think you need to compare Adam's actions to that of a parent. Parents raise their children along a goal they decide whether it be "good person" or sometimes in fiction "instrument of revenge" etc. They expose them to information carefully at first a guide them along a path of understanding. And parents also make an effort to have a child avoid mistakes the parents made, to fix in the child the errors the parent made in their own life. And eventually if you are a good parent, you let them go. And the motives I want to teach the child to be a great human because "it makes me look good" or " it's right" or "love" or whatever, functionally the outcome is the same. And also a tool or a person is not demeaned by being used for it's intended purpose. The key here I think is that Eve/Player makes the choice. What the choice is, is sort of irrelevant because it is an expression of agency either way and breaks Adam's manipulation.

[@unlistednaytiba]

Adam's final gesture to EVE of taking his hand or not is the parent "letting go to let grow." Love your analogy of a parent and their child. I can agree with what you're saying as I have kids and it is so true.

[@arnoldf6970]

# adamdidnothingwrong # justiceforadam # downwithmothersphere

[@elishaj2977]

💯

[@amazingmysteryykumicho]

Long live Raphael Marks!

[@unlistednaytiba]

You gotta bring these hashtags back when the DLC or sequel hype comes around. haha. Have a good one

[@AegisKHAOS]

I originally chose the fusion option the first time because Mothersphere came off as the worse of the two options, particularly the part where she will scrap the andro-eidos and anything else after for an impossible perfection of humanity. This, despite the fact Adam was ultimately responsible for true humanity's downfall, and made some questionable steps to try to save humanity. It wasn't a tough decision, either. These days I would rather fight the Elder Naytiba, albeit for gaming reasons than lore reasons. Afterall, Elder Naytiba felt like a true final boss fight, while Providence looked like an inconvenience. :p Either way, while I have since questioned Adam's actions more, I still liked Adam. I liked his overarching role in the story, as well as I like beating him as the final boss. :p

[@Valkyrion126]

You could call it manipulation of EVE or programming. Since she is AI he is programming her to see the truth and go beyond the programming that Mother Sphere gave her. Another great video as always. Thank you.

[@xctionjaxon]

Eve isn't an AI though?? Mother Sphere is an AI, EVE is an Android.

[@Valkyrion126]

@xctionjaxon EVE is an android with her own AI. She doesn't have all the resources like Mother Sphere. EVE only has the programming that Mother Sphere gave her in the beginning of the game and her experiences with Tachy. EVE is just a very simple AI not very evolved.

[@unlistednaytiba]

Appreciate your comment. @specialnewb9821 eloquently brought up the comparison of Adam to EVE as a parent is to their child. I believe you are saying the same thing. When you say "programming" EVE, it could be the same as "parenting" EVE. In terms of the AI that is housed within EVE's bodyframe, it would be great if we could get some lore explanation of how it functions. Is it similar to the Terminator AI brains in how they can learn and become more human? It must be. But then where is Mother Sphere's boundaries with tampering with the AI after she "touches her Andro-Eidos with life." We know she wiped the memories of the Andro-Eidos after they killed all original organic human beings. But now, during the events of Stellar Blade, MS seems to be unable to access the AE Humans on earth because of the Network not reaching them (thanks to the Demogorgon). But now the Demogorgon is gone and Mother Sphere can seemingly access her AE Humans again due to the Network now reaching earth (Lily sends a signal to the Colony seemingly from Earth after the Demogorgon is destroyed). I think we need the sequel soon, haha.

[@JobeStroud]

You have a freeze at 31:50 to 32:05. Great video as usual.

[@unlistednaytiba]

Appreciate it. Just checked on my end. My MP4 runs smooth, looks like the YT upload must have been janky at that time window. Thanks for the heads up.

[@tigerfire108]

Did anyone else notice a glitch at 32:01

[@unlistednaytiba]

Appreciate you pointing it out. My MP4 is clean, it was the YT upload. I think I gotta start previewing the upload before posting from now on. Again, I appreciate you pointing it out. The only thing you missed is my pointing out the second example of how Raven has targeted EVE due to her jealousy. The example I pointed out when the video froze is how Raven tries to destabilize EVE by turning her friend (Tachy) against her through Raven's indoctrination of Tachy.

[@andrewheitz2328]

My first playthrough i chose to destroy Adam. I know it is supposed to be the bad ending, but my instinct was, with the reveal, that Adam was not a good guy to be trusted. It does a great job of making it a tough decision, and I didn't chose it right away. However you look at it, it seems to me that Adam, was the one truly responsible for the destruction of humanity, and while mother sphere isn't really any better. I personally didn't really see either ending as ideal, but the developers did clearly see taking Adam's hand, to be the correct choice.

[@elishaj2977]

I mean tbf the destruction of humanity was a Skynet type accident. It was bad, but not his fault directly. Additionally, place yourself in his shoes. Your last chance to save humanity (the genetic alteration project) after screwing up your big project (MS) which was designed to bring humanity happiness and prosperity (which you dreamed of creating) just went fubar after Skynet (MS) decided to ruin everything again. So you end up alone with no one to understand you and your circumstances (in fact you have to fear hostility from them) as you are the last true member of humanity (and even that is questionable after genetic re-amalgamation) in a world of unquestionable fakes (which would anger most people to look at after the circumstances Adam went through) with Skynet still desiring your death what would you do? As for me I'd personally wage war and maybe down the line come to the same conclusion Adam did about fusion after being tired of revenge cause revenge tends to lead to emptiness once the dust settles. Of course this all is provided I didn't lose my mind due to the sheer loneliness.

[@charlescyborg]

There is bug at 31:50 to 32: 04 that freeze the imagem and cut the sond, what did you say in this is part of the video ?

[@benforer9318]

I chose to fuse but not for Adam, and not for lack of respect for Eve's agency. I just thought it the more interesting choice to continue humanity even without Raphael Marks. Also her new form looks cool. I'm curious to see where they go for the next game.

[@unlistednaytiba]

Fusing definitely is a good choice because it allows you to maintain Naytiba Blood, which I think is Adam's most sound argument for his proposition of taking his hand. I agree with you, I am curious how Shift Up will incorporate his fused Naytiba blood if they go that route for sequels.

[@planetgodzilla473]

Yeah he's a lying manipulator, but so is mother sphere. Soooo I guess, "like father like daughter".

[@elishaj2977]

You know what they say about art; it often reflects its artist.

[@didyouknowbydan5151]

To be honest, at first I think Adam made an honest mistake for the creation of mother sphere and he deserves redemption etc but after scouring through documents it appears that he was after his own glory. If I'm not mistaken everything that happened was the consequence of his effort in leaving his name in history.

[@elishaj2977]

It wouldn't have been for his own glory because the Elder Naytiba info slide literally says he was grieved at seeing his inability to restore the Naytibas to human existence and that he really was seeking redemption or at least make something good out of his mistakes. Creating MS you could argue was an ego trip to an extent (he still made it hoping it'd make the world a better place even though it ended up doing the opposite), everything that followed was anything but an ego trip and was the desperate actions of a man who f'd up too many times trying to better the situation and the situation getting worse driving him to become more desperate. His last words if you kill him are that he hopes everyone is guided in the right direction, no hatred or malice present. The data slides literally confirm this to be fact (9:37). Adam can be a slimy liar and perhaps a tad egotistical (at least until after the Naytiba experiment failure), but he's not the villain here.

[@ultra80sretrokid70]

When Eve reject Adam than Adam robot Daughter take over the World wish she trying to Annihilate the Humans in the first place so choosing Adam was a better choice to saved Humanity 🤔

[@aresrivera9744]

I’m guessing you didn’t mention Adam‘s Christianity because there’s not much on his particular beliefs right?

[@elishaj2977]

I didn't know Adam is Christian. Where is that stated? I'm genuinely curious 🧐.

[@aresrivera9744]

@ Adam states Jesus is God in matrix 11. “ this was the last gift God gave to humanity.” (referring to the wine you find)

[@elishaj2977]

​@@aresrivera9744W. I'm happy about this being a Christian myself. Actual W.

[@elishaj2977]

​@@aresrivera9744Then again this could be him sharing an old motif as Christian beliefs are so tied into culture that references to them abound.

[@aresrivera9744]

@ he wouldn’t call Jesus God though. He would you say a righteous man or Jesus of Nazareth if he didn’t believe. Because it is inaccurate to call him God if he doesn’t believe it . Adam is not saying “ people say it’s the gift from God” he says “ this is the last gift God gave to mankind. “ it is that he believes not that he says people believe

[@arturmagomedov02]

Oh how tragic he wanted to save the rest of what is left of humanity, after humankind got genocided by their own creation. The true manipulator is Mother Sphere, he just did all he could to save humanity, and I think everyone of us, who doesn't hate their own species and prefers a bunch of plastic, would have done the same. Everything else is betrayal on your own kind. He was even so selfless and sacrificed himself to ensure that the essence of humankind and his genes live on in her, creating the next evolution of human, and ensured that the future won't be just a bunch of machines roaming the world. We are God's finest creation, true life can't be made, it can only be born. I would be shocked if the merge ending won't be canonical, given the fact that 2 of 3 endings are merch and for one you even have to work for to unlock. And it's the only one where the Eve protocol is complete and has a after credit scene. This whole game is a philosophical and theological construct filled with biblical references, and an experiment with the goal to prove our morals and faith in our own species For those who decided to kill him and doom humanity I can only say that I am glad that such people aren't in position of power in the real world (yet), otherwise we would be extinct already Glory to mankind, always!

[@elishaj2977]

While I won't say humanity is perfect you can't seriously think that Adam is wrong for using the tools at his disposal in the wake of this unforeseen tragedy.

[@arturmagomedov02]

​​​​​​@@elishaj2977No, not perfect, we aren't machines. But our flaws are part of us that makes us human in the first place. They define our autonomy and allow us to make our own decisions.

[@elishaj2977]

​​​​​​​​@@arturmagomedov02if I were to speak from my perspective as a Christian myself (I mean no offense) I never thought our flaws (moral) gave us autonomy as moral failings really come down to a binary choice of do or don't and when we're choosing wrong it isn't a flex of free will as much as just being a plain jerk for that decision. That being said life is only life when born from life. Life cannot emerge from non-life. Even the Andro Eidos who you can argue are or aren't life only exist because of humans who themselves are living creatures.