ORIGINS - Cinematic Intro Analysis

[InfestLithium]

We've all seen the cutscene at least a dozen of times since its release today. No matter how many times you play it, your mind will be blown away. But let's save the mind blowing for when the actual DLC drops, yes?

Video:

TS701bMxmSI

I've dissected as many stills as I could from the video. Let's see what we can explore, friendos.

Ah, the zeppelin and bi-planes. This is what we first experience in the atmosphere. We are given a pretty distinct view of a cloudy, foggy, overcast, and stormy weather pattern in this map. No doubt that it will be rather difficult to see in a much similar manner like Call of the Dead.

The wasteland of a battlefield. Blood touches blood. All of the undead thrive here. Or, at least within this building that's on fire. It looks like a church but it has been destroyed to a point of no recognition at the moment.

Welcome to the trenches. We see a sign that says "No Man's Land" and another sign that is a bit illegible to read. If anyone can transcribe the writing on it, that would help us greatly. It's good to see we have some kind of navigational control of this map instead of wandering aimlessly.

The duo that started it all. We finally see the face of the Maxis that we've come to know so much throughout the story, alongside a very young (and handsome) Edward Richtofen. Bar-le-Duc seems to be our precise location, or at least the proximity of area we will play in. Here is a tidbit of the location:

Bar-le-Duc was not much affected by the battles of the First World War though it was a border city after the defeat of 1870. However, the city came to play a major strategic role during the war thanks to the Varinot railroad and the Sacred Road (“Voie Sacrée”), which both started from Bar-le-Duc and provided supplies to Verdun.

It seems to have been a rather important area for transportation. An open wasteland? Seems about right.

Group 935 has struck once again. This operation has been going on in the location for quite some time given that the group decided to use its location as a surveying point/archaeological dig.

The gateway to the ruins, or excavation site. I wonder what that object is on the left. You might say it's some kind of telescope or something, but I don't think such an object would belong there. This looks to be the entrance way before descending into darkness.

An interesting contraption. We are well aware that this is not a teleporter. Why is that? Richtofen did not create the first successful teleporter until a few decades after 1918. Perhaps it's a vacuum for absorbing energy or some kind of material from the ground. I would even go as far as saying that this is a container for holding the element 115.

The meteorite that is infested with 115 at its highest point in energy. The element is extremely fresh, hence the hot blue pulsating through the rock. This is the very beginning of 115's unearthing. Who knows what cna be done with energy as such high levels. Perhaps even powering robots...?

Welcome to the excavation site. This is where dreams become nightmares and nightmares become reality. Note that even the large stones are pulsating with 115 as well. How did they manage to harness such energy, and where from exactly? This is going to be a crucial point for the Easter Egg/Side Mission.

Some soldiers begin picking away at the walls with strange markings on them. Little do they know that they are actually breaking down a crypt that holds something more fearsome than the war itself. The ring in the middle makes it pretty clear that something may come out of it, or at least contained in a given circumference. Laser beams of beams of light/energy anyone?

The knight has arrived, but it's not the right knight that we exactly want. There are many discussions about this - the blue/purple eyes, the Group 935 symbol on the crate, all the works. More discussion about this is here:

viewtopic.php?f=155&t=35090

Hold onto this image, because we'll fall back on it in a given point within this thread.

All hell has broken loose. Now we can see visible pathways and areas which may allow us to explore in-game. Small, tight-knit spaces might be a great danger to us as we face these new kinds of zombies. Well, not exactly new but rather nerving. Could this lead us to a mysterious new place where Pack-a-Punch or an Easter Egg step may be?

Here are our typical zombies. There is a great difference between the knight and these, yes? Purple eyes, yellow eyes. There's something amiss here. Could the knight zombies be controlled by something other than 115 itself? The zombies with yellow zombies are more commonly known as "average zombies" since they are reanimated by the properties of the element 115.

Tank is holding the new LMG while riding on a tank. The new version of badassery.

The return of the Remington New Model Army, anyone? It tickles my fancy to see it return.

He might not be addicted to vodka as much, but nothing screams sexy more than Nikolai.

He can wield an axe? Or at least a tomahawk? Perhaps we are getting something nice since we've been so good this year. Consider this a plausible wall melee weapon.

He was born from the Badass Crater of Badassitude. Takeo is found thrusting his famous sword into the many zombies. Now hopefully we can actually utilize his sword as a weapon in some point in the game.

The beginning is the end. Nikolai, Dempsey, and Takeo first meet (or so it seems). They don't exactly seem like friends in this instance.

If you saw the video (who am I kidding, you did), you may have also witnessed Tank ignoring the other two soldiers and going straight for Richtofen while the rest keep their guns cocked at him. History buffs will understand to some extent why an American might be more concerned with a German than a Russian or Japanese samurai. For those that don't, keep in mind that this is World War 1 era.

In 1917, America waged war against Germany because the Germans violated neutrality by attacking an American trading ship as well as the infamous Zimmerman Telegram. The Allies consisted of several countries including America, Russia, and Japan. Germany belonged to the Central Powers, which were the opposing forces against the Allies.

The Doctor is in! A surgery is going underway with a not-so-clear image of a person. Some speculate the figure to be Maxis' body. Notice that the corpse has a white, fluffed bear with a bald head much similar to Ludvig Maxis. It may or may not be him. For what reason might Richtofen be performing surgery at a time like this?

That's Doctor Edward Richtofen, to you. You can't say manly without thinking of a mustache.

Being caught by three members of the opposing force may catch you in bewilderment. To have these enemies find you with your hands bloodied could lead to some serious interrogation...with a bullet to the head. Perhaps explaining your way out of this situation is not going to go so well.

Everyone is caught off guard by the intensified surge of lights appearing from the roof. What could it be?

Ahh yes, it's the giant mechanical robot. A clear distinction in this image is that the robot did not simply hover by and accidentally begin to step on them. Rather, we see the giant looking down upon our crew and deliberately lift [his] foot to bring swift death. Why are the robots searching directly for our crew? There is a bigger mystery to them than we think.

=============================

Hopefully we can gain some more insight on the intro cutscene. I'd love to hear why everyone else has to say about this. :)

[AlphaSnake]

Return to Castle Wolfenstein (RTCW) is a reboot of the early first-person shooter Wolfenstein 3D. It includes a story-based single player campaign (which uses certain themes from the original game), as well as a team-based networked multiplayer mode.

In the campaign, Allied agents from the fictional "Office of Secret Actions" (OSA) are sent to investigate rumors surrounding one of Heinrich Himmler's personal projects, the SS Paranormal Division (also see Ahnenerbe). The agents are, however, captured before completing their mission and are imprisoned in Castle Wolfenstein. Taking the role of Blazkowicz, the player must escape the castle and continue investigating the activities of the SS Paranormal Division, which include research on resurrecting corpses, biotechnology, and secret weapons. During the game the player battles Waffen SS soldiers, elite Fallschirmjäger (paratroopers) known as Black Guards, undead creatures, and Übersoldaten (supersoldiers) formed from a blend of surgery and chemical engineering conducted by Wilhelm "Deathshead" Strasse. The end boss is an undead Saxon warrior-prince named Heinrich I

Regards Alpha.

[Rissole25]

Very nice analysis Lithman. Love the high quality pics.

The sign says "RAP STATION 3" I believe. RAP stands for Regimental Aid Post. Basically, a RAP was generally right behind the front lines, and was a quick stop first-aid station. You were patched up and sent back into the lines, or if you were unable to, were sent back further to receive further medical care in larger stations equipped with your needs.

Here's further reading on it: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regimental_Aid_Post

Anyway, this indicates at least 3 stations like these in the area. We may have access to them all or just this one. Either way, Richtofen may have been stationed in one of these (being a Doctor, and eventually a back alley surgeon) and is the room we see him in on the trailer. Though surgeries and the like we're not generally performed in RAP (be that location or because of equipment), it's Richtofen here.

Anyway, that's just a theory for Richtofen. But yes, that is RAP STATION 3, a quick first-aid station by the front lines. :)

[Electric Jesus]

I thought it just said pump station. You know, for refueling tanks and such.

In retrospect, if you keep massive amounts of flammable gasoline available on surface level in the middle if a battlefield, you're probably gonna have a bad time.

And "sexy" is far from the first word to come to mind when I think of Nikolai. But ok. :mrgreen:

[ETEl2NAL407]

I think the massive pump-like structure are a way to fill the cavernous underground temple with some weaponized gas. Notice the soldiers are all wearing gas masks when they first break through the wall.

I'm thinking, 935 set up at this site, perhaps using the church as a base, and began to excavate. The gas and soldiers mean they may have suspected to meet hostility and instead of having a scientist meticulously excavate, they sent in force to just ram through, after hoping to incapacitate danger with a weaponized gas.

The meteor/rock looks to be above ground since it's surrounded by foliage and looks to be in water. So, what I can't deduce is whether the meteor came prior to 935 arriving. Since the meteor and the monolithic structures seem to share that blue energy, it would make sense they were connected somehow, but were these monoliths constructed by 935 or unearthed by 935 and the meteor's appearance powered them on, so to speak?

I'm thinking the latter. What was just a fact-finding excavation may have turned to a battlefield after the meteor arrived and existing structures began to show signs of life. This may have alarmed 935 into bringing in force to continue the excavation. Just like the film, 'Independence Day' when the President first arrives at Area 51 and the lead scientist tells him "the last 24 hours have been really exciting for us." because the recovered spacecraft they couldn't figure out was suddenly working again after the appearance of the mother ships. Perhaps this meteor is a sentient being of its own and a similar event is ocurring.

Still don't have an adequate way to explain that Robot...

[Guest]

I don't like the intro. And all I really got from it was how Dr Maxis looked like. Not even a characters voice, just a lot of angry stares. Very disappointed. But I still love Takeo. Eff the rest.

[Flatty]

"The gateway to the ruins, or excavation site. I wonder what that object is on the left. You might say it's some kind of telescope or something, but I don't think such an object would belong there. This looks to be the entrance way before descending into darkness."

That is a Transit Level used to create a map of the dig site and spatial data which records exact locations and heights of specific points.

[ETEl2NAL407]

"The gateway to the ruins, or excavation site. I wonder what that object is on the left. You might say it's some kind of telescope or something, but I don't think such an object would belong there. This looks to be the entrance way before descending into darkness."

That is a Transit Level used to create a map of the dig site and spatial data which records exact locations and heights of specific points.

Yeah, I was going to say...Looks like an old-timey land surveying tool. I see guys with these tripod devices on the road all the time before they start tearing out the roads and stuff.

[MF_MaxiMillion]

Give Maxis a Christmas hat and he'll look just like Santa Claus.

Awesome analysis, dood!

[InfestLithium]

Return to Castle Wolfenstein (RTCW) is a reboot of the early first-person shooter Wolfenstein 3D. It includes a story-based single player campaign (which uses certain themes from the original game), as well as a team-based networked multiplayer mode.

In the campaign, Allied agents from the fictional "Office of Secret Actions" (OSA) are sent to investigate rumors surrounding one of Heinrich Himmler's personal projects, the SS Paranormal Division (also see Ahnenerbe). The agents are, however, captured before completing their mission and are imprisoned in Castle Wolfenstein. Taking the role of Blazkowicz, the player must escape the castle and continue investigating the activities of the SS Paranormal Division, which include research on resurrecting corpses, biotechnology, and secret weapons. During the game the player battles Waffen SS soldiers, elite Fallschirmjäger (paratroopers) known as Black Guards, undead creatures, and Übersoldaten (supersoldiers) formed from a blend of surgery and chemical engineering conducted by Wilhelm "Deathshead" Strasse. The end boss is an undead Saxon warrior-prince named Heinrich I

Regards Alpha.

Hm, very interesting. This seems to be a pretty damn good variable for our Templar knight(s). They look a tad stronger than the others and don't exactly seem to be controlled by 115 alone. Perhaps that's one of the special enemies we'll encounter in the map.

I completely agree with you, Eternal. The pump station seems like a perfect tool for excavating a newfound element to humans. This may be one of the reasons why the undead are reanimated. Things may have been different if the humans did not do so much as touch the ruins or store the element.

[ETEl2NAL407]

I actually theorized that the pumps were being used to fill the underground with a weaponized gas, like mustard gas, to try and stifle any hostility upon sending the troops in.

I suppose they could be used for extracting, but what would they be extracting? 115? From this meteor? Is 115 airborne?

[ThrowAmonkeyBomb]

Great Analysis mate,Im so excited!sadly Im on ps3 so Ill be waiting longer :cry:

Well,this I what i think.I think that this knight zombies could be some kind of boss,similar to the astronaut,or maybe george...hopefully itll be more of a "special zombie" though like the napalm zombie from Shangri-la.As for the bit when the heroes meet,it does seem this is their first meeting.But who is Richtofen cutting up,hmm?Could it be maxis?maybe.And the robot...wtf?As for the sword and Axe,i hope this will be usable melee weapons,but Id like them to be well something found maybe?And only able to be wielded by the proper characters maybe?Or maybe the axe could be used by all but the sword is takeo only.Or theres one of each on the map,which anyone can use.Or their a buyable wall weapon.So many possibilities!Also,the knife that umm,tank I think it was used to stab the zombies skull,what do u think?Is that the same knife weve always seen?I hope its this.http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j254/ ... hknife.jpg

[InfestLithium]

I actually theorized that the pumps were being used to fill the underground with a weaponized gas, like mustard gas, to try and stifle any hostility upon sending the troops in.

I suppose they could be used for extracting, but what would they be extracting? 115? From this meteor? Is 115 airborne?

It would be inside the ground, yes? Or at least in some forum underneath the ground from the ruins, kind of like a transport pump system.

[ETEl2NAL407]

I actually theorized that the pumps were being used to fill the underground with a weaponized gas, like mustard gas, to try and stifle any hostility upon sending the troops in.

I suppose they could be used for extracting, but what would they be extracting? 115? From this meteor? Is 115 airborne?

It would be inside the ground, yes? Or at least in some forum underneath the ground from the ruins, kind of like a transport pump system.

I don't know, really. I never thought 115 was an airborne compound. Most elements we know of are not airborne naturally. Pure 115 would have to be a gas like Helium to be extracted with a pump like that. More evidence supports that they were pumping the underground chambers with a weaponized gas of some sort, mustard gas was a widely used gas for military purposes during those times. When the soldiers are breaking through the first wall, they're all wearing gas masks. So, I think that pump was trying to exterminate any life in the underground chambers with a gas.

The other thing that pump resembles is a transport tube, most commonly seen at bank drive-thrus. You know, you pull out the little canister, throw in your ID and the check you want to deposit, stick the canister in the tube and press "send" then it gets sucked into the bank for the teller. These could be gigantic transport tubes too, for sending artifacts back to the surface quickly...

[Wooodd]

Excellent post as always Lithium. I cannot wait until Tuesday, and your post got me even more hyped.

Also,

Give Maxis a Christmas hat and he'll look just like Santa Claus.

Here ya go MaxiMillion, its Maxis Claus!

[PINNAZ]

Hahaha, awesome stuff Wooodd.

"Samantha, Santa brought you a puppy for Christmas"

I was watching an Australian TV show the night that the trailer was released & this character showed up. I was like "It's Maxis!!!"

Great screenshots & breakdown Mr Lithium. Thanks.

[Wooodd]

Hahaha, awesome stuff Wooodd.

"Samantha, Santa brought you a puppy for Christmas".

Thanks, I considered making Richtofen an Elf, but I am at work :D

[BenHR]

Kill count:

German Soldiers: 2

Zombies: 8

Dempsey: 8

Nikolai: 7

Takeo: 10

Richtofen: 1

[GRILL]

Festo - just wanted to pop in and say +1 on the analysis.

probably one of my favorite parts of being a CoDZ member is reading the trailer breakdown threads

sad though, that it'll be a couple years before we get another one of these... :(

[Electric Jesus]

Excellent post as always Lithium. I cannot wait until Tuesday, and your post got me even more hyped.

Also,

Give Maxis a Christmas hat and he'll look just like Santa Claus.

Here ya go MaxiMillion, its Maxis Claus!

I knew it had to happen. *clap clap clap*

Also,the knife that umm,tank I think it was used to stab the zombies skull,what do u think?Is that the same knife weve always seen?I hope its this.http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j254/ ... hknife.jpg

I hope so Dimitri, I hope so.

Edit: after taking a closer look, it certainly could be, based on how Dempsey is holding it. However I can't see it with good enough quality to determine whether or not it has brass knuckles, which are a defining characteristic.

[James Dean]

I'm thinking that Maxis may have turned into a zombie, or perhaps about to become. Edward mentioned that his men started to turn into one of "them". I assume that he is talking about zombies. Also, the letter of his in his final journal entry on the beginning screen before you go into a match, mentions that he has to preserve what part of sanity Maxis has left. Maxi was a part of his crew, again, assuming, so maybe Edward was speaking about him turning. :? Many people think that Maxis is on the table, In a way Maxis turning into a zombie makes sense. Edward is seen performing a lobotomy of some sorts on him. That is, if that is indeed Maxis on the table.