You can now purchase the paperback novel Culpa Innata Here on Amazon.



Ana

Thanks Ana!

Thanks Ana

Wow, that was fast, thanks for the news, Ana. Will probably pick it up sometime soon.

Thanks for the news BrownEyedTigre!

I requested a Kindle version via Amazon (clicking on telling the publisher I would prefer Kindle), I can no longer read on paper... I hope there will be one available soon.

Edit: the Facebook page says it will be available on Kindle soon.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Culpa-Innata/245415592233682

That is great news rmt! Thanks for letting us know.

Ana

Just got this novel! You certainly get your money's worth from the 498 large pages.

Let us know what you think!

Ana

Should be a good book. I really liked the game.

I should finish the game first...it seemed interesting, but it's too much bother playing through without subtitles. I understand English well enough, but not having it as my mother tongue and playing a plot-driven game with lots of dialogue like this is too much of a hassle. There's so much that I'm missing.

Maybe reading the book first would actually help with game dialogue so you can enjoy it better.

(Just a thought.)

I doubt it, unless it's simply a novelisation of the game dialogue...and even then it would still be far too annoying to have to consult the book all the time. I like subtitles in my games. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

Drizzt - I like subtitles too. I just thought that if you have more of an idea what the story is about (from the book) that then the dialog in the game might make more sense/not be quite as hard to follow. I don't know and I can't get the words out right to convey what I mean.

I bought the book but probably won't be reading it for awhile yet and I played the game so long ago that I probably won't remember it well enough to know how they differ or don't differ.

I understand what you mean, and I probably would be able to follow the story in a general sense, but if I miss muddled words and can't be sure of what they were, it ruins the dialogue a bit for me.

By the way, one thing strange is that there is a button called "Captions" in options, but it doesn't seem to do anything.

That is strange. Sounds like you should be able to read it then. I wish I could remember. After you used the Captions button did you exit out of the game and go back in? Sometimes you have to do that for the changes to take effect.

***Metamorphium's review*** says
Are you not getting the "captions" for anything?

I don't remember seeing them at all, actually. I will check again. But even then, it's really annoying to not have them in the game itself.

So I read it, all five hundred pages this weekend. It follows the game for the most part. What happens in the game is in the book, some events with a slight twist. However, there is so much more. You learn a lot about characters who appeared in the game. Even characters you barely noticed. Then there are characters who were not in the game. no spoilers here but if you liked the game you should like the book, however, the ending is not quite the same. I get the impression this is a message not to expect a sequel to the game. Of course, there is an opening at the end for our girl to have another adventure.

P.S. Nothing in the book will tell you what to do in the game.

Thanks oldmariner - I loved the game & have (more than ) hinted for the book as a suggestion for a christmas present to me!

Thanks for the info, oldmariner. I haven't gotten the book yet, because like chrissie, I was planning on suggesting it as a gift.

Great to know it expands on the storyline and characters. Sorry to hear that it implies we shouldn't expect a game sequel, though. Not that I am expecting one at this point, but I still have a slight hope.

Looking forward to reading the book.

I have read half the book Culpa Innata so far and it is much better than what I was expecting. I just love it, I don't want to finish it and I will read it again. I will tell you more after I finish reading it, I hope to write a more elaborate review.

Barmanbek is certainly extremely talented with an uncanny sense of observation concerning human behaviour. Despite having played the game a hundred times, all the dialogues in the book are just fascinating to read. It is different enough from the game to make reading it truly worthwhile.

It is really like an extension of the game where you finally get to understand everything that was really going on behind the scene, down to what Phoenix was really up against at the GPSN. We get to see just what it really means to live in the World Union and how twisted and ambitious these people are. She is extremely vulnerable in the book, constantly being slowed in her endeavour, but she is brilliant, becomes more confident and you feel her sense of uniqueness.

I am no longer disappointed that this announcement was not about the adventure game Culpa Innata 2. I could not tell you if I would prefer Culpa Innata 2 the book or the game if I had to choose just one or the other. And the strangest thing is that reading the book is like playing the adventure again but in a more elaborate and meaningful way. You will love what Barmanbek did with Phoenix's first immigration interview at the beginning, it is so powerful compared with the game. I must read that whole passage again where all the internal personal wars at the GPSN come to the front, whilst only Phoenix is unaware of what is really at stake.

When all is considered the main line of the story here is a simple murder investigation (albeit set in the future), the basis of most movies on TV. And yet this is radically different from anything on TV. There is such a wonderful historical background of Eastern Europe behind it filled with the infinite imagination of Barmanbek. The book certainly rates high compared with other classics out there in my opinion. I certainly enjoy reading Culpa Innata much more than I did reading other dystopian novels like Brave New World of Aldous Huxley. Culpa Innata is richer and more believable, more human and emotional as well, despite the fact that this is supposed to be the depiction of a cold world.

I could not possibly have waited until Christmas to read it, I believe anyone who enjoyed the game will love reading the book. I can't wait to finish the book to play the game again, it will be a totally different experience now that I am aware of all the nuances.

Roland Michel Tremblay

Thanks for your comments RMT, it sounds wonderful and I am glad you are enjoying it.

Ana

RMT -- that was very helpful, thank you!

Thanks for the terrific review, rmt! My excitement for the book just went up substantially.

I don't know that I'll ever stop hoping for a game version of Culpa 2, but good to know that the novel added so much depth into a story that already had a lot of depth. It sounds as though we actually find out more about what is going on behind the scenes in the World Union, which I really look forward to.

Also, good to know that we find out more about Phoenix. In a way, I felt like game version Phoenix held herself back from the player, if that makes any sense. It was a very smart writing decision because I thought Phoenix was repressed, so it made sense that she would do that. However, it sounds as if the novel gives you more access to her private thoughts and feelings, so I'm looking forward to that. Also looking forward to that first immigration interview you mentioned.

Just out of curiosity - and you don't have to spoil too much if you don't want to - do we find out about any of the other unanswered mysteries in the novel, such as the Renovators and Mata Hari? I realize you may not have gotten this far yet, but I was just wondering if these things were addressed.

Without spoiling anything, the renovators are present from the start as some mysterious organisation behind some of what is happening. I think we will find out much more about them. We have full characters concerning them plotting against Phoenix, two agents called Crane and the Mantis, and we get to know what they think as well. We have explanations for many things that were not explained in the game. Mata Hari so far I have not read much about her.

Phoenix is now fully three dimensional, and more, as she has a new AI friend with whom she converses all the time about philosophical questions like how can she trust her instincts and intuition when those are not very scientific arguments upon which you can base any decision. There is now a whole philosophy of life incorporated within the story, it is fascinating.

And you are right Venus, I realise how we missed a lot within the game that is now in the novel about Phoenix. She is far from just going on with her life in the World Union, quite the contrary. She has fears, she has always been a misfit and it does not seem that she wants or can fit in.

I know now why the game is called Culpa Innata, it is a brilliant idea. And the answer comes from that horrifying 8th grader in the school with the fake Arrivee tattoo on her forehead. For some reason in the novel her behaviour really reaches out to you in an incredible manner. She is talking like you would expect a banker or politician to speak like (in private) in this day and age. That 8th grader must be unique in all of literature, I could write a whole novel just about her and never run out of interesting ideas.

I agree with what you said RMT having read the whole thing in three sittings this weekend. We had Thanksgiving dinner two days early because two friends were visiting and have to work today. She picked up the book and started leafing through it never having heard of Culpa Innata the game or any other computer game for that matter. She had never heard of the author either. In short time she had read forty-eight pages. Her comment was "Wow, too bad our heroine is a blond otherwise I could really get into her." I could not let that rest. Phoenix as a blond is one of several changes from game to book the author took. Julius, the old man with the mop becomes Art among other things. I could not let that rest as there are lots of videos of the game on You Tube. I fired up a twelve minute scene, part one of game walk through showing the real Phoenix, Morrison and a few others. She was amazed offering yet another comment. "Now I can see our heroine, her demanding boss, the obnoxious Julio, the building she detests, I love it. A picture forms while reading giving me clearer views of Phoenix and the environs and I can really like this girl." Needless to say the book is thirty miles from here and I would not be surprised to field a request to borrow the game in the near future.

Even the music of the world of Culpa Innata has not been left to chance, it is almost depressing for any creative mind out there. As if we were witnessing a whole bunch of great creative thinkers from one eastern european country coming together to create something simply just amazing. And it only reached us because somehow it was translated for us. One must move on from jealousy at being able to produce such great art manifested in many formats on many fronts coming together, and just admire such genius.

Even the music of Culpa Innata inspires a great deal. Here is my playlist on Youtube that others put together somehow:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL208ACC46916978B4

Thanks for the info, rmt! Glad to hear that the Renovators are present throughout the novel; hopefully that means they got a lot more development than they did in the game. Interesting that the young girl from the Child Development Center has such a significant role. She was pretty minor in the game, I thought. I'm intrigued. What about Roger Arnett? He was my favorite character in the game, along with Phoenix and Dagmar. Is he in the novel? And thanks for the YouTube link! The game does have great music.



Um, what difference does it make what color her hair is? As a blonde myself, I protest this line of thinking. That's odd that they changed her hair color and Julius's name, though. I wonder what the reason behind that was. Glad to hear your friend got into the book as well as the game, oldmariner. I hope that doesn't mean you'll never see them again.

Venus, you know how it is with some people who are not blond regarding blonds. As for name changes and hair color changes who knows? The differences were minor and those of us who played the game recognize the difference. Roger does play a vital part late in the game. Those who did not play the game will not be aware of the changes. There was more than one name change, all minor characters if I recall. Perhaps someone in the know will enlighten us. I am not too worried about not seeing the one who borrowed the book again as I am good about nagging. My friend has been a close associate for close to forty years so he is not going anywhere. She is a second wife of several years I doubt there is a problem there.

Oldmariner, I know, I just get annoyed when people actually believe that "dumb blonde" stereotype. Not your problem, though.

Glad to hear that Roger will play a major part later. Thanks for the info. And good to know that you won't have any problem getting your book back.

As Sunny said in so blonde "why are blond jokes so short? Because it is the only way brunettes can remember them."

The shock of Phoenix being a blonde is not that she is blonde, it is that we are already familiar with her image from the game and she is not a blonde. I cannot explain this change from Barmanbek and I hope that if there is a Culpa Innata 2 it will be the same actress, like the trailer suggests.

Perhaps Barmanbek thought ahead and wondered if this was ever to become a film, for reasons he could explain, he would prefer her as a blonde. She is so intelligent anyway that it is certainly breaking apart all the dumb blonde stereotypes.

Incidentally, this intelligence does not come across that obviously in the game, perhaps because the player controls her. Another interesting difference from game to novel is that it was not clear in the game if we should get these immigrants to fail their security interview or not, and it changed nothing to the story. In the novel it is completely different, and the consequences lead to a whole crisis at the GPSN. It is a big part of the story.

If I write this more substantial review, I think I will ask questions of Barmanbek first, and I will ask him why he turned Phoenix into a blonde. Any of you have any other questions I should ask him?

I did love that game.

Rmt, I actually agree, it's strange picturing Phoenix as blonde when we're so used to the visual of her with dark hair (or sometimes red hair when you picked out certain outfits. ) Maybe he always wanted her to be blonde, but because of the trend of dark haired female leads (brown haired Kate Walker, auburn haired April Ryan) felt it would be better to go with that look? Or perhaps it's as you said, he wanted to break apart from the stereotype when he wrote the novel. Really, it would only be jarring for those of us who played the game. People who read the novel first would have no preconceived image of Phoenix.

Neither of these things explain why some characters had name changes, though. Perhaps he just felt certain things would flow better in the novel versus the game. Ah, you two are really making me want to read the book!

And if he does do a film version, I want to play Phoenix.

And I will play Roger Arnett. I look forward reaching him in the book because his whole philosophy of image making for Arrivees is almost anti World Union. So it shows that the rules are not the same for people with a low HDI and the ones at the top. It should be very interesting in the book, and I bet Barmanbek found ways to make it much more explosive.

By the way, Phoenix is not the only one who went for a change in hair colour to blonde. I think one of the girls in the Thing store also became a blonde, and Lieutenant Ulrika Thorssen from the GPSN military as well. This is crazy, most women have become blondes! Maybe Barmanbek thought it would look more futuristic.

Good choice of roles, rmt. I know, that's why I found conversations with Roger so fascinating in game. It seemed as though he actually knew more than he was letting on as well, but he felt Phoenix wasn't ready for the information. I kept getting annoyed with her when she refused to speak with him any further.

Okay, now that is odd that so many formerly brunette characters are now blonde. What about Dagmar who was a blonde? No change? And what color hair does Sandra have?

Speaking of Sandra, I am interested in what they've done with her character. As someone who was so rigid in World Union views, she made an interesting contrast to Phoenix, who was more of a misfit, as you said. I wonder if they've expanded on her at all. You don't have to answer if you don't want to. I don't want to spoil myself too much before I even get the book.

Sandra has long dark hair. For Dagmar it does not say I think. The new AI friend of Phoenix is also a blonde. In the Thing store Alicia has chestnut hair and Monica dark hair. Sorry, my mistake. Perhaps they have not all turned blonde after all.

Beverly Blackmore from the monitoring surveillance systems room has auburn hair. But there was another at the beginning who was now a blonde, I can't remember who. Ah yes, Ingrid Valkoinen, the head of the Immigration Academy.

Sandra's role so far has been limited but she is the one who convinced Phoenix to get the promotion in Adrianapolis and who introduced Jean Michel to Phoenix at the beginning. At this point there is almost a conspiracy there, but I have not reached the conclusion of this thread yet. Just as well, it would be a big spoiler.

As I'm sure you can remember, Sandra has only one thing on her mind and she does not disappoint in the book. So casually they talk about such a thing that would make any sensible British person blush...

"Sandra's role so far has been limited but she is the one who convinced Phoenix to get the promotion in Adrianapolis and who introduced Jean Michel to Phoenix at the beginning. At this point there is almost a conspiracy there, but I have not reached the conclusion of this thread yet. Just as well, it would be a big spoiler.

As I'm sure you can remember, Sandra has only one thing on her mind and she does not disappoint in the book. So casually they talk about such a thing that would make any sensible British person blush..."

-------------------------------------

I thought Sandra in the game was a waste of space. She serves a purpose in the book but is still a waste of space. No spoilers coming from this keyboard.

Curiosity won out and I found this which offers some back ground. A short interview with the author.
Interview

Rmt, Sandra hasn't changed that much I see. I was hoping her character would be expanded more, but it seems she may be more of a minor character in the book than she was in the game? I think Ingrid was actually blonde in game, but I can't remember now. I'll have to replay the game, not that I need an excuse. I'm also really intrigued by this new AI friend.

Oldmariner, thanks for the link! Very interesting interview. And, yes Barmanbek says, "I had to make plenty of changes to my original story line as the production progressed, many layers to the story were edited out, scenes were cancelled, so much so that even my heroine didn’t look like how I’d imagined her." So Phoenix probably was originally supposed to be blonde.

Ha, Sandra seems to be a polarizing character. I "like" her for her contrast with Phoenix in game, but I wouldn't be able to stand her if she was an actual person. Not because of her "obsessions" but because of all her prejudices.

Sandra personifies better than anyone else in the game and book the greedy personality that pushing capitalism to such an extreme would entail, and how personal relationships go on in the high life of the city. She is in retail.

Apart from Bogdanov, but since he's the murdered victim we don't hear much from him about greed. I would say she is an important character and I really enjoyed all her conversations with Phoenix in the game. I never miss meeting with her at the Rose Café for more gossips.

Very interesting interview. We know now the game would have had much more depth but Barmanbek was prevented for many reasons inherent to producing such games. It is an ambitious and detailed universe he is building here.

Rmt, those are pretty much my thoughts on Sandra as well.



I do this, too.

And, yes, that was quite an interesting interview. I thought the game already had quite a bit of depth, but it is a shame that so much had to get cut. I still hope we get a Culpa 2 one day, but thanks to yours and oldmariner's comments, I am much more excited for the novel than I was. It sounds as though we are getting the "true story" the way Barmanbek originally conceived it, which is very exciting in and of itself. Now I wish I hadn't put it on my "holiday list" so I could buy it for myself right away.

I see now what the adventure game Culpa Innata was supposed to be. These omissions from the game must have driven Barmanbek absolutely mad over the years. He must have felt something huge was missing from the game, that we did not have enough data to understand most of it.

What he does not know is that for us it simply meant more mysteries and puzzles to solve and put together. And since we knew there would be a part two, we thought it was one huge cliffhanger and we would eventually get all the answers and finally understand.

I would say now that the book is an essential companion to playing the game, because we were meant to know all that or get to learn of it as we played along. What a game that would have been. But then it would have been something else entirely, and maybe it would not have been as successful as this present version we all played has been. These things are hard to predict.

"Sandra personifies better than anyone else in the game and book the greedy personality that pushing capitalism to such an extreme would entail,"

This is where I disagree with the author in his theory. The underlying goal is not greed but power and control. You see Capitalism has been and remains a vehicle that allows the lower end citizen to advance his economic standing through his creativity and individualism. By applying one's creativity their product advances their ability to climb up from poverty. In non Capitalistic societies creativeness is smothered as risk for individual reward is discouraged couched in terms of "fairness" and sharing. Nothing is created without risk taking and no one takes risk without the hope of reward. The greatest societies have been built through individual achievement. I can quote Maggie Thatcher here "Socialism always runs out of other people's money."

Culpa Innata is ripe with constant reminders that under the failed blaming of Capitalism lies the greedy hand attempting to gain control through power. The CDC with their total control of children's development and training. The CDC molds children to the will of the collective to enhance the collective's authority. The authority's total destruction of the family unit is the method that ensured their power. It is even a crime to give birth in this society. Again this is total authoritarian control it has nothing to do with greed. The battle between Immigration and the GPSN over the interview process is not about greed it is about control. Hamilton's planned take over of the academy was all about GPSN's securing control over their adversary. The unit that determines the immigration process directs people's lives and secures power. You see it again with the Renovators not once did they address the bottom line. No profit motive ever appeared. The agents were acting to secure power by interfering with the flow of information, again for control.

It is not greed which created the law each citizen must wear their PA at all times. That requirement is placed to monitor people's movements. Every act, every move, every thought is managed. It is all about total control and ultimate authority.

Barmanbek's indictment of Capitalism is either a ruse to hide the real motive or he failed to recognize the very culprit he so powerfully condemned. His very comments in the interview reenforces he missed the point he made himself repeatedly in his own story. His well crafted narrative undercuts his case against Capitalism. Barmanbek in his own words indicted an authoritarian society exposing the evil to be a concentration of power and control in the hands of a few. I selected very few of the hundreds of power seeking actions he described. He fully illustrated the real criminal lust for power while deflecting the blame to greed for money. Profit for Hamilton was an additional benefit from his seizure of control. You cannot read the indictment of Hamilton's manipulations and not see what he was after. It was not money. Barmanbek's well crafted description of the ultimate goals harbored by each actor reenforces greed for power is the evil within not Capitalism run amok. Through his writing he clearly indicted the greed of power and need for dominating control. Rather than an indictment of Capitalism in reality it is an illustration of how easy it is to deceive a sleeping citizenry. Point the left hand to a popular scapegoat while encouraging political correctness as you grab power with the right hand.

Never-the-less this is a very good novel by a gifted writer. The lesson here is don't listen to what they say, watch what they do.

Yes, extraordinary analysis, I must say. Thank you Oldmariner. I would add though that to control the 90% of the citizens of Adrianopolis with an HDI of only 70%, you must instil greed in them, or in another word the dream of being rich and powerful, as it is hard to get to be powerful without first becoming rich.

But yes, you must ensure that they never actually become rich or powerful. Almost everyone is at the bottom of the pyramid, a powerful symbol in Culpa Innata. And the symbol of the butterfly would be to free yourself from all this altogether and become a star in the universe instead. The metamorphosis into something more meaningful, answers to the existential crisis Phoenix Wallis is going through.

You are right that it is all about power, and maybe this is less an indictment against capitalism, than actually an indictment of where too much greed could push us into an extreme form of capitalism which no longer works for almost everyone. On that point Culpa Innata was certainly visionary as this is what is happening now.

The butterfly and pyramid two symbols I had not thought of, excellent point.

You see we need both, a decentralized government controlled by the people. The government must set reasonable "rules" while not infringing upon the inherent rights of the people. You see the people have a right to seek happiness. That means they also must be allowed to fail. They have a "right to seek" but there is no right to "have happiness."

At the same time we need business, not necessarily large corporations but free business endeavors, to expand growth, jobs and opportunities. Demonizing one at the expense of the other is a rouge's game meant to deceive.

It is called checks and balances. Our dear friend April Ryan astutely understood the need for the Balance.

I give up; I keep losing my posts. My computer seems to be protesting downloading a game and allowing a Gameboomers post simultaneously.

Anyway, just short comments then. Oldmariner, very insightful comments, and you're right, it does seem as though power is the number one motivating factor in the World Union.

Rmt, great point about the butterfly symbolism.

Anyway, I had a lot more written which may or may not have been insightful, but I have to work in the morning, and I don't want yet another post eaten. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow.



She was very wise in this area.

Is there a fundamental flaw in Culpa Innata? Or is Barmanbek just painting us a possible picture of the future without showing a solution or an utopia to look forward to? Is there a solution for our hard sought utopia? We can't seem to find such solutions even today.

Most citizens of Adrianopolis are so selfish, they seem very happy in their individuality and superficial existence. I have still only read half of the book and I will keep an eye on this. But so far I fail to see such a failure in balancing a perfect form of government and system, or that Barmanbek failed to understand something crucial or might be attempting to deceive, but I will keep an eye.

There is no rule stating Barmanbek should have found a balance, he is showing us where we might be heading with this globalisation and one world government. Citizens are the government in Culpa Innata, it is presented to us as an utopia initially, and all seems fine until Phoenix finds out what is going on behind the scene. There will always be this hidden power in the background fighting for more money and power, and even for whom money is meaningless (only because they have so much of it) and can be burnt in order to gain control.

At any rate if the Rogue States are supposed to represent socialism, you can see Barmanbek painted it as something much worse, it is chaos out there in the Rogue States and no one in their right mind would wish to move there. Culpa Innata 2 is called Chaos Rising and takes place in the Rogue States, we might get answers there. I must finish the book and think further, I will get back to you about these points.

But certainly Barmanbek has painted the indictment against power hungry people. Did he wrongly blamed capitalism when capitalism is not responsible for this extreme behaviour? Maybe. Was he right though? Maybe. There must come a time where capitalism leads to all the money and assets of the whole world being in the hands of only a handful of people, and we are reaching that stage. Are you sure Barmanbek is still not showing us exactly where capitalism leads?

The parallel with The Longest Journey is interesting because they too had a great meltdown and bloodbath, and this happened between the Longest Journey and Dreamfall. It is also a quest by some shadowy people to control both Stark and Arcadia and actually bring them together. Funny how we can easily miss this whole background when we play.

But do we see a resolution in the Longest Journey or just the failure of these shadowy people in wrecking the world? Do we reach a real balance concerning the system? Are we presented with only one side of the coin or again just a painting of a possible world? There is no utopia in the Longest Journey. Life in both Stark and Arcadia does not appear ideal even after resolution.

The balance in all things is first about the balance between science and magic, between these two worlds being kept separate. I must read again your comments to understand better what is the balance you feel Barmanbek should have presented us. The Renovators might have seem a more ideal people, but we realise they are as bad as anyone else.

What has been gained by such other utopian books like Men Like Gods of H. G. Wells? There is certainly a lack of balance there and an unrealistic possible world, and was destroyed by the critics. A Brave New World of Huxley was written in answer to that. I have written an article about that if you are interested:

Humankind's future: social and political Utopia or Idiocracy?
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Humankind-s-future-social-by-Roland-Michel-Trem-091101-248.html

And this other article about the difficulties in writing a book about the very topic of Culpa Innata (both these articles are light hearted and meant to be funny):

How to Create a New World Order
http://www.opednews.com/articles/How-to-Create-a-New-World-by-Roland-Michel-Trem-100212-326.html

You see there can be no Utopia as every story needs conflict it is built into human nature. Take for example free speech. I can say anything no matter what it is someone will find a part or all of it offensive. If everyone had what they needed then no one would have goals. A society needs those people at the bottom of the pyramid to hold it up. A comment was made a few years back by Bill Gates when he said he did not wish to burden his children with wealth. A few talking heads on the financial network CNBC discussed how he could give a few million to every person in the country without disrupting his fortune in a significant way. Joe Kernan, one of the level headed analyst pointed out the flaw. "If he did that no one would have to work. Who would provide all the essentials to run the society? No food on the store shelves, no electricity, no on and on if no one needed to work. sorry guys that would destroy the economy."

One story, a tv series explored what happens if we had machines to do all the work. Remember the Cylons? That did not go too well they turned on us destroying the world literally. A Utopia cannot occur without those people at the bottom of the pyramid. The dreamers who build such worlds need those at the bottom with a strong military to protect us from the hoards invading from the Rogue States.

People need conflict as shown repeatedly when one acquires great wealth and seemingly have everything they grow restless and begin to covet power. There are those who have no wealth, who begin with focusing on disrupting creating a power base to achieve that wealth and power.

A one world government cannot possibly work because of those very reasons. The closest example we have of that experiment is the UN. The UN is clearly a corrupt organization filled with self interest and power seeking entities. You cannot possibly explain how an organization could with any regard for justice put Syria on the governing panel of Human Rights a year ago. It is another case of paying off favors. Favors which we have no knowledge. Their every act is based on anything but equality or justice.

It is a flawed world with flawed people. Nation States are required to provide at least a small corner where some of the people have rights and equality. For those at the bottom of the pyramid Capitalism offers an opportunity for those to strive and climb to a higher plateau. My career as a Social Worker for decades can attest President Johnson lost the war on poverty years ago. Government's goal clearly is to keep the poor, poor as they hamper every effort to increase their HDI. Organizations like Salvation Army, Catholic Family Services do a far better job than the government.

This is a long way from the book and our author did a fine job of exposing the flaws of Utopian experiments. Nothing changed in the World Union, power and control remain the central theme. I will leave you with that while repeating Culpa Innata was a great game and the book is a better follow up to flesh out the story leaving us all something to think about. Thank you Mr. Barmanbek for an intelligent thought provoking and excellent Adventure.

If our discussion is any indication, the book Culpa Innata should become a classic. There is so much that can be said about everything mentioned in the book. And we have only covered a few aspects with restraints, in order not to give out any spoiler.

By the way Venus, if I thought the first interview was a great read, wait for the third one. My head is still spinning. I must read that all again right away, I must have missed a hundred details.

Edit: I finished reading Culpa Innata.

It was an astonishing book and I highly recommend it to anyone who played the game and also to the ones who didn't. However I understand now what Oldmariner was saying, it seems final with no part 2 coming.

I can certainly imagine a book 2 and see in which circles it might take place (the high society of the World Union). However all the woven threads have been resolved and Barmanbek would have to imagine a totally new story set in those familiar settings.

And yet, the way the game finished he must have had a clear idea of where it was going, when Phoenix ended up in Russia to investigate Bogdanov's murder. So I suppose he could still develop the adventure game Culpa Innata 2 following his original idea, as long as it radically differs from the ending of the book. We can only hope. These would be important questions to put to B. Barmanbek.

I can't criticise his choices, the ending of the book is rather impressive. Maybe there is still a way to do the game Culpa Innata 2 following the book and leading to the same ending. Who knows.