#ooorgh

So, yesterday morning, I woke up not feeling too great. Nothing new so I didn't pay it much heed. It was the kind of not great where I didn't have an appetite, though, so I then forgot to eat and drink all day.

By the time it hit the afternoon, I was dizzy and nauseous. I couldn't stand or move too much without feeling awful and I couldn't keep anything but liquids down. I had chills and it hurt to go to the bathroom.

After my mom got home, she took me to Urgent Aid and they took me right back once they saw how bad I was and how my vitals were reading. I had a fever of 103°F, my heart rate was 170 and trying to go to the bathroom felt like trying to pass a small knife while peeing.

I was in Urgent Aid from about 6pm until 3am (CST). During that time, I:

-had my blood drawn for testing

-had to give a urine sample

-was given two bag of saline solution to rehydrate me, along with cup of water

-given graham crackers when I was allowed to eat again

-tried to force myself to stay still to calm down and lower my heart rate

After all was said and done, it seems I had another bad UTI and it compounded with the fever and raised heart rate. Doctor told me to take it easy for the next couple days, take my antibiotics and ibuprofen and to try and cut out caffeine from my life. He was mostly shocked about how my resting heart rate was still 120, when the average is supposed to be somewhere between 80-100.

So, yeah. I'm okay and home right now, just taking it very, very easy right now. The antibiotics seem to be working and the ibuprofen definitely is, so I might be a little more up to doing in the next couple days. This is the first time, in a long time, that I've had to stay at a hospital for myself like that. Hopefully, I don't have to go back anytime soon, for that reason.

General points

- Keep in mind this expac is set between the events of EU and XCOM 2. I’ll just reiterate my point here that we wouldn’t really learn anything groundbreaking new because we know what happens -- Central gathers the crew, rescues the Commander, etc. I was correct in that assumption.

- Absurdity is a theme of this DLC. Whilst that may be strange to note.. you’ll understand.

- It is not to be taken as serious canon. While I do believe the events that happened were canon, the way in which they were executed were definitely not. Bradford wasn’t lying when he said it was 20 years past and his memory is fuzzy -- he’s clearly filled in those memory gaps with egregious embellishments.

- The Chosen are only mentioned once in the entirety of the expansion and even then it wasn’t a very good reference. So make of that as you will, they’re absent in this.

- My theory as to why the Chosen aren’t mentioned is because, like the Commander, they are personal to us. They’re randomized when you first meet them in-game, so there isn’t really a “canon” Chosen. Comics and other media notwithstanding, Game-canon has them not set to anything specific.

- The Commander is mentioned, but is also absent. They’re kept ambiguous and gender neutral.

A Blast From The Past

- By the time you get to the police station and there’s a Sectopod in it, or earlier with the Archon in the freight yard, you realize that Bradford is either a dirty stinkin’ liar, or he’s embellishing the story. This becomes a theme for the archives.

- I don’t think anything here was actually canon save for Central romping about the outskirts and the commentary that very early on after the Alien’s takeover, they were arrogant. Sectoids were powerful enough (perhaps thanks to the Commander in the Network) to maintain their psi-zombies even after death, and Faceless were just wandering about like shambling meatsacks.

- It was set exactly one year after the takeover. Bradford has not met Volk yet.

- Bradford talks about the bar and drinking, alluding to the fact he had, or still has, a problem with alcohol.

It Came From The Sea

- So, we get our canon confirmed appearance of the Radio DJ. Blue Mohawk was not what I was expecting, and it wasn’t just RNG, since Grace had the exact same appearance for him. That’s.. something.

- This is the archive that really sets a tone for my ‘Dres makes XCOM 2 into a Horror Game’ vibe, because, I mean, those Faceless popping outta the fish? Scary. The load screens? Even Better:

- Everything I’ve said about Chryssalids from their skills of adaptation, to the Elders’ lack of control of them? ALL OF IT WAS CANON CONFIRMED IN THIS ARCHIVE. I feel validated.

- I will also accept the fact that the Radio DJ is some sort of strange maverick with broadcasting technology by managing to hack into an ADVENT transmitter. Bradford is right to be wary of him.

Avenger Assemble

- Lily! This gives an INCREDIBLE insight to how she was thinking during the early days of XCOM, and I also think this is the most realest version of events as opposed to the others. She’s incredibly torn between disappointing the memory of her father and the advancement of technology requiring things that she perceives he’d disapprove.

- No seriously, I have nothing but good things to say here. Lily was the perfect balance of tightrope morality that I envisioned she’d feel -- bitter admiration for the alien tech and how good it is, and distinctly guilty that she knew her father hated humans adopting it for better or worse. It was enjoyable to listen to her justify things to herself and honestly? I kinda wish we had some VO’s of ADVENT trying to convince her to join over their side. Throw a Hunter in there because y’know. So I can feel even more validated.

- And not to mention the frustration she felt from the lack of disrespect she thought she had, only to realize that her squad would literally lose their lives protecting her / for XCOM. She really does go from “Shen’s kid” to “Chief Engineer.” here.

- Confirmed that Central was a bit more lax with sending her out on missions. Maybe to toughen her up, or maybe it was because he didn’t want the others seeing her get special treatment.. who knows. Either way, he regrets it in the next archive.

The Lazarus Project

- .. because the first mission is rescuing Lily from ADVENT. No, seriously. They could’ve done something a lot more than what they did, considering this is the prime scenario to really test Lily’s loyalty. But, since it was told from Central’s perspective, he says that she was ‘kept in stasis most of time’ -- and whatever torture they did do apparently wasn’t very good.

- A lot of rescuing in this. Jane Kelly is.. described like nothing we HCed. All those HCs about her being a bruiser and the like? Completely WRONG. Central confirms that she’s “cold, quiet and calculating.” She’s not even a Blademaster Ranger, either. So, that’s. One characterization that I completely got wrong.

- We rescue Tygan, and he’s apparently a heavy sleeper, and also his in-game title? ‘Hamburgler.’ I wish I was making this up.

- This is the archive that proves everything was a big massive joke. That Central is just having fun with storytelling. Why? The last mission.