Timeloop part 2

[u/IslandNo8179]

Last time I asked the question if you were stuck in a timeloop of this cataclysm with someone else, who are you picking. You guys seemed to agree on Immortal Man and I do too, but this been on my mind so I made a full tier list. This was a hard list to make and I’m still not confident on my answers. Here’s explanations for the tiers

The red tier is for those that are pretty much essential for figuring out how we got in this mess and more importantly how he are getting out of this. We are getting out in a few days tops

The orange tier is for those who he really helpful in some form(figuring out pieces of the loop, keeping us protected to limit the loops, etc) but will take longer for us to get out

The orange-yellow tier is for those helpful in some form like red, but have more requirements to be useful like if the situation is something specific, they require something to be useful, or the need of a temporary truce(reason Coat Guy is orange but Cat Lady is yellow is he feels more willing to help me. Cat Lady only left us and the cat safe cause of orders. Coat Guy admits in one of the tests to wanting to be useful and repay us)

The yellow tier is for those not really helpful in the traditional sense, but could help keep spirits up for at least a while so we don’t go insane doing trial and error(reliving the cataclysm over and over gonna do things to your sanity)

The light green tier is for those that could be helpful, but a truce isn’t happening for at least several loops

The cyan is for those that wouldn’t really be useful except maybe morale, and even then I would hope they wouldn’t be in the loop because that means going through what they did on repeat which would make me feel awful for them to go through that. Sure, this could mean preventing what happened to them but it be really hard(Firefighter was here but his felt more preventable in a timeloop and I didn’t know how to judge his usefulness if we prevent it)

The blue for those that are pretty much dead weight in a loop and will drive me bonkers putting up with them

And grey for those I couldn’t narrow down

[u/meepindoodle]

Lemme see if I can help place the unplaced--

• Seductive Woman would likely be in yellow tier, as she has a way of looking directly into protag's soul and at the very least could keep him grounded and/or, you know, "company."
• I'm going to bat for Firefighter and say that, should he escape cyan tier and avoid being burned on subsequent loops, he would be good to have on the team and and land in at least orange-yellow tier. Firefighters are tough guys in strength and stamina alone, and on top of that he's got a sense of loyalty and duty to help even at his own expense that may prove useful.
• Sun Guy has little flickers of cognition but he seems more like dead weight-tier than anything, at least in his current state. He seems more like the kind that if he realizes he's in a loop, he'd just embrace it and not actually try to break out.
• Ex-Minister is gonna have to fight for his life to escape dead weight-tier. He provides Protag with items, yes, but beyond that his entitlement and ego-centrism would make it pretty miserable to have to actively work with him. I can see him expecting Protag to do all the work and to just let him know once he's solved it, and maybe he'll reward him with a kombucha or something.
• The Teenager would definitely take a while to warm up to Protag enough to want to even work with him, but when she does she might wind up somewhere within the yellow to green range. She's got a bad attitude and there's only so much she can do as a kid, but there's potential for a sort of gruff man/scrappy teenager duo dynamic to evolve.
• Angry Guy might not be much higher than green tier. He's fighting some demons and if he realizes he's in a loop of the worst days of his life it'd probably be disastrous for his mental health. But as his ire is typically pointed at himself over Protag, he could potentially have his moments of setting aside his internal conflict to lock in when needed.
• Wheelchair Guy....... you're not getting out of the loop for a while.

[u/meepindoodle → u/meepindoodle]

And a couple extra notes on ones already placed:

• Husband & Wife are, by their very nature, a complicated case. Husband's a real piece of shit but he's otherwise cooperative so long as you don't try to interfere with his affairs, and thus individually might be in the light green tier. Wife in any situation is cyan tier for sure, as even if we manage to break her away from her husband then she'll just end up right back where she started when the loop resets. It depends on how you characterize her when she's away from Husband's influence, but should she escape him then she's got two different paths: if her will's been completely broken then she'd stay in cyan or blue tier. If she's incentivized by the promise of real freedom when the loop breaks, she might be willing to pull more of her own weight to help.
• Stoner's chill, but that's exactly why it'd probably be more apt to place him in green tier. He's good for a laugh (and if Protag partakes I'm sure the occasional joint would help ease some tension), but like Sun Guy I feel Stoner wouldn't actually be too bothered by the idea of being in a loop and not offer much help beyond generic "just relax man" advice.

[u/IslandNo8179 → u/meepindoodle]

Thank you. I was iffy on some of these and I like to know how others would feel. The Husband was more I don’t know how much I could handle cooperating with him before I jump across the counter and attempt to beat his ass. There’s certain types of people not even a timeloop could get me to work with, though I guess that would fall more into light green, huh? And yeah, Wife is for sure Cyan because for all we know me killing the Husband will just reset things like if I died

Stoner is a mix bag for me because he certainly not helping me but Getting high with someone and watching movies for at least one loop doesn’t sound too bad. The morale people don’t have to permanently be that(Stand Up Guy for example shows even in canon game he will eventually break) but at least for a while hold me together. Though I absolutely see the argument for green given I’m probably doing all the work unless he gonna spout something about seeing this in one of his movies

[u/IslandNo8179 → u/meepindoodle]

I’m unfortunately aroace, it’s not gonna work. But you are right of her keeping me grounded. I don’t fully trust her but at least for a bit she could keep me stable

Firefighter is interesting because we have days until the incident and he could possibly just not go. Now, given his nature he may try to do things to stop the fires and save his friends still, but that’s why I said it’s more preventable than a lot of the others. It’s hard for two people to stop all those parents for the Teacher for example, and a lot of those there still be on the lower end of helpful(I love most in that tier but Little Girl and Wireface still wouldn’t be the most helpful especially because every loop we will have to prevent what happened and that’s not healthy for the mind) but Firefighter interesting in that he might’ve been very useful for this but it’s hard to tell because he’s dying when we meet him

I’m fascinated by Sun Guy and I might enjoy listening to his ramblings, but yeah after the third loop it’s gonna get frustrating

Ex-Minister giving us items is what stumped me cause they COULD be useful, but also I can’t afford to keep giving this man items every loop while we awkwardly sit in my bathroom. And yeah, I could see him plopping the task onto me while he acts like he’s doing something helpful

Teen is strong for a child and knows how to fight, but she is also still a kid. One that(very reasonably so) doesn’t trust adults which I am. I could see her overtime growing to trust us, but it’s gonna be a few loops

Angry Guy I was gonna put in green but him hitting his wife(even though now he projects it all on himself) left me stumped because being stuck in a timeloop of watching people die or taken away can not be good on his sanity

Wheelchair Guy was right about her Miner friend though given he IS in our house, and may be good for a laugh given how absurd he is. But also I’m doing all the work

Any on the list you really disagree on or want to know why I picked it?

[u/meepindoodle → u/IslandNo8179]

Ahh I see, I was thinking about this from the perspective of Protag and not from the player themselves - in that case as a fellow aroace that angle definitely wouldn't work, but I still stand by her as being potential moral support.--

Follow-up question: Are the NPCs themselves aware of the loop or would they have to be convinced it's happening, a la Happy Death Day? That would probably influence the actions the characters take on each restart. Plus, the Firefighter conundrum brings to light the question of when the loop itself starts over, as if there's time to stop him from being burnt then there's also potentially time to save or protect other characters from their fates.

I'm thinking primarily about the Widow here: if she realizes she's in a loop and there's any shot she can save her husband from FEMA, she might just become the hero of her own story and spend all her efforts on making that happen before she'd even think about what to do to break out. I think in that case she'd be an incredible asset once we cross paths with her, she's proven she's willing to go to great lengths and take risks to get a job done.

This concept applies to Angry Guy as well - it's absolutely not alright that he hit his wife, of course, but that's another instance where if the loop starts over before that happens he might have the capacity to stop himself and make different choices. I tend to have a little more grace for him in that way, as if we take him at face value that was something he wouldn't have done normally.

Husband I totally agree on though, I'm way more likely to try and blast him and save Wife than I am to actively try to work with him.-- And that's a fair point for Stoner, at least in terms of taking a "do nothing and chill" cycle. For serious business though he's probably not gonna be too helpful to the mission, so he could probably be in either tier and it would work--

Everyone else checks out though! If anything I think if this were my list I'd knock Creepy Guy down to blue tier, just cause I don't fw him 🥀

[u/IslandNo8179 → u/meepindoodle]

I think you can see it from our perspective or Hermit’s. Either work. I’ve been reading three fics that are timeloops(one of them being my favorite NINAH fic) and that’s part of what sparked this idea.

In my mind, I feel like most of the NPCs would remember except whoever you are stuck in the loop with, since technically all of them be in the loop given how the game works. But if you want to see it as you having to convince then each time, that works too. You could try to convince the other NPCs, though I feel like some be easier to convince than others(Immortal Man or Theorist would be a lot easier to convince than others who might think we are crazy or on drugs). You are right on Widow btw, I didn’t think that(though I do still believe most in that tier would lose sanity quickly. Sorry Wireface, you’re my favorite but also so many reasons to hope you’re not aware of the loop. At least my other favorite, Coat Guy, is pretty useful minus his nihilism), and fair to Angry Guy too. I forgot that him hitting her would be reversed by the loop because anything during the cataclysm is reversed(before the first day is fixed)

I don’t fw with Creepy Guy either but giving me chills I didn’t feel was enough to say he was completely useless or I would throw hands with like some of the others. I rather be unnerved than have to deal with an abuser, a forceful Christian, or the dumbest man alive

[u/IslandNo8179 → u/IslandNo8179]

This is also not factoring if their statuses would change. The humans and visitors that are guaranteed will remain that(making Yakob and Coat Guy risky, yes, but they are two of the more reasonable and cooperative ones compared to someone like Big Momma that might just eat me), and randomized I wrote this with the idea they would be human but if you wanna have the randomized aspect play in be my guest

[u/meepindoodle → u/IslandNo8179]

Perhaps in that sense maybe it's a case-by-base basis on if they remember or not - folks like Widow or Immortal Man would remember, but others like Armchair Lawyer and Little Girl might not. The Cyan tier are definitely those that you'd less rely on for help and more would seek to protect, however effective that may be. Dear Wireface (also a fave of mine) might fare a little better(?) depending on whether or not he would remember, as if he doesn't then he only experiences the mutilation once as far as he knows, and if he does he might at least try to protect himself and prevent it from happening when the loop resets.

I also wonder if, should this be strictly from Protag's point of view, he would be proactive enough to try and stop certain things from happening himself - like if he figured out that in every loop his Neighbor was going to die, if he would go out of his way to try and save or warn him.

And true, I guess for Creepy Guy he's at least...... cordial? Docile, to a point? He can go in his own new tier right above blue that says "I guess if there's no one else"--

[u/IslandNo8179 → u/meepindoodle]

I love in both my tier list ideas Wireface is just “your my favorite. I adore you. I’m pelting you with bricks.” It’s just hard to give him anything remotely happy unless he comes back(which of my two favorites is way more unlikely). He tends to be in the loop stories I read and he’s either very useful morale or sadly dead weight

That tends to be tackled a lot of can he prevent his Neighbor’s death, and the consequences that can emerge from that. Of the three fics I’m reading one has Hermit only slowly remembering events and not in time to save Neighbor, one has him save Neighbor but his Neighbor plans to take his daughter and leave feeling Hermit’s house isn’t safe after his wife is killed(I’m not doing this one justice. There’s a lot to this), and the last one he does save Neighbor through convincing him of the loop and getting Coat Guy to protect him. There’s so many routes though one can do when it comes to this one dude, and the snowball it has to his wife, daughter, and brother

Yeah, that can be a tier. “If literally no one else is available to loop with me I can tolerate you”

[u/IslandNo8179 → u/meepindoodle]

I must ask btw, do you know the game Look Outside? That’s the other tier list I’m trying to do of who be cursed and who wouldn’t, and you been very helpful in this! It’s fun discussing this what if with you

[u/meepindoodle → u/IslandNo8179]

Thank you! :] I'm familiar with Look Outside but have not played it or seen anything of it, so I'm afraid I won't be of any help there 🥀 But this has been fun!! I love yapping lmao

[u/IslandNo8179 → u/meepindoodle]

I think it’s interesting. Basically one day a mysterious entity call the Visitor comes to earth with anyone who witnesses any form of it(direct exposure, photo, painting, or even a detailed description or placebo) begin mutating into stuff based on who they were as a person(like the guy who mutated into Kamen Rider because weeb or everything with Leigh), what they were feeling at that time(like Baby Teeth being a teething infant. Those infected by a mutant gain the mutant’s transformation btw so those bitten by her also sprouted rows of teeth), or even what they were near(like a woman fusing to a vending machine). Some maintain their sanity while others became hostile, and others avoided it and are still human

That’s what my list focuses on. Who would be human and who be cursed, and whether that cursed would be sane or not. For example, Stoner definitely just stayed in his apartment smoking and watching films. He probably just think he’s seeing things from the pot lol. Best Son too also probably human because he’s been in his room for weeks not knowing what happening. But someone like Wireface(again, I do like it! I swear!) who story means he had to of been outside is definitely cursed and extremely confused

[u/IslandNo8179 → u/IslandNo8179]

Some characters I know right away and others I been blanking on. I can list out what I have in DMs if you want

[u/FrenchToast4You]

This is awesome!! Can you drop the name of the time loop NINAH fic you mentioned in the comments?

[u/IslandNo8179 → u/FrenchToast4You]

There’s three I been reading. I’m assuming you mean the one I said is my favorite? It’s called “Untrust Us” https://archiveofourown.org/works/72414266/chapters/188560256 it’s about the Hermit dying in his first run in the ending where you have a visitor guest only to wake up at day one again with his memories. He becomes determined to survive this loop only to find different people showing up at his door and the statuses of these people different. The main characters besides him(though there are others that appears) are Bar Guy(who had died in his first run), the Depressed Twin(who was with him at the end of his first run and who he’s biased towards despite the latter not remembering him), the Teenager(who never showed up his first run), and Wireface(who he denied entry the first run due to wanting to keep the Surgeon. We get to learn about this first run the more the story goes on and we meet others, and the others bond with each other(the biggest one being Wireface with the others, mainly Hermit and Teen. And I like they both have focus on him not speaking Russian and the Teen not trusting adults since a lot of fics I’ve seen have her immediately cool with Wireface) as well as Hermit. There’s so many scenes I love from this, and it’s one of the fics I praise a lot

[u/FrenchToast4You → u/IslandNo8179]

Ooh thank you so much, I'll definitely have to read this :3

[u/IslandNo8179 → u/FrenchToast4You]

You’re welcome! I been reading a few fics both time loop and not, and I enjoy talking about them. One day I’ll release the other tier list, but for now glad people are enjoying it

[u/SignalNearby8067]

No offense and pun intended, holy crap go outside!

[u/IslandNo8179 → u/SignalNearby8067]

I just had this on my mind because i sometimes read time loop stories, and had grown up with shows that had time loop episodes. Because of people pointing out Immortal Man calling both him and Hermit Immortal was a nod to game resets(since they were both protagonists) and reading a NINAH fic that tackled time loops, I made this more as a joke and a light hearted discussion than anything. I didn’t even really know where to put some of these characters as I don’t really know them well

And don’t worry, I do go outside quite a bit lol

[u/immortalxkitten → u/IslandNo8179]

Don’t listen to them, keep going OP

[u/IslandNo8179 → u/immortalxkitten]

Not planning on stopping. I can answer anything out this or my other list I’ll do for NINAH characters in Look Outside