Hello, and welcome to my first topic. It is on something that has troubled me for over a year, and it's the question: Did Richtofen and co head straight to the Moon after Ascension, having already obtained the golden rod and focusing stone, or did the events happen in the order of the maps release?
Reasons why Ascension may be directly before moon:
-It would make sense; they are at a space station, perhaps they were attempting to access moon from there?
-Dempsey's, Nikolai's and Takeo's clothes are ripped and bloody on Ascension, they are immaculate on Shangri-la, and then back to ripped and bloody on moon.
-Richtofen is wearing some sort of astronauts outfit on Ascension and moon, but back to his Nazi Major General's uniform on Shangri-la.
Reasons why Ascension may be before Call of the Dead and Shangri-la:
-Richtofen may have attempted to create the ... (I forget the name (includes two plates and a lot of energy) affect at Ascension, but realized he needed more energy, so set out to obtain the golden rod and focusing stone.
-The characters mention Shangri-la on Moon, as if they had just been there. E.g. Takeo says: "This place has Richtofen written all over it. No, not literally, that was the last place". He means the rock found by the explorers in Shangri-la. This suggests that they had just been there, as he refers to Shangri-la as 'the last place'.
My evaluation:
The characters speak to the player more and more as the maps progress(e.g. Dempsey speaking directly to 'the player'), and I think that Takeo (and other characters' quotes) may well be just this; talking as if the player had just played through these maps.
I just believe that the change in clothes is just too much to miss out. I think it is a far more valid clue than dialogue said by characters in a jesting manor. How would the characters obtain immaculate clothes/uniforms again? and why would they bother getting exactly the same clothes?. You can see that Takeo's uniform is somewhat ruined on Ascension, but perfect on Moon. Also why would Richtofen change his outfit for Shangri-la?
Some of my knowledge may be flawed, I accept that I'm not as knowledgeable as many of the users on these forums .
Discuss your thoughts and theories below! :)