Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Locked thread
gameplusmeagan
Apr 2, 2014

I play games and sometimes the things I say are of a humorous variety.



Release Date: May 2009
T for Teen: Mild Blood, Mild Language, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence
Genre: Adventure
Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
Developers: Spiders, Frogwares

From IGN:
The year is 1888, and the setting is London's Whitechapel area, where a horrible series of crimes has taken place in this East End district. The bodies of several women who have suffered horrible mutilations have been found. The police have been having a hard time finding a serious lead as the murders continue, creating paranoia and terror in the streets. Sherlock Holmes sets out to find clues in the dark, gloomy streets of Whitechapel, following a macabre trail of the one that the press calls Jack the Ripper. During this terrifying adventure, Sherlock will attempt to shed some light on the mystery that shrouds the identity and motive of the one who hides behind this terrifying nickname.




I'm Meagan and I play video games with Chuck. For fun. Our style is casual and we say bad words. This is an entertainment-heavy LP. While we actually enjoy playing the game and have never played this particular game before, we are by no means professional video game players. If that's not your jam, it's cool; we just want you to know what to expect.

Since this is a game about a mystery, NO SPOILERS PLEASE! Like I said, we've never played it before and we really want to deduce on our own, so don't be lovely by revealing anything we haven't seen/done/learned yet.

Let's get sleuthing!











































































gameplusmeagan fucked around with this message at 00:31 on Oct 20, 2014

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

dijon du jour
Mar 27, 2013

I'm shy

gameplusmeagan posted:

Developers: Spiders, Frogwares

The first video game developed entirely by a witch's brew.

Also, that guy at 8:50 is totally Fozzie Bear. I hope he becomes a regular character.

Better yet, I hope he turns out to be Jack the Ripper.
"What would a prostitute say when you cut out her uterus in a murderous rage?"
"Calm down! You're ovary-acting! Wakka wakka!

Seyser Koze
Dec 15, 2013

Mucho Mucho
Nap Ghost
I bought this game for my mom a few years back so that she'd have something to play on my dad's XBox, but we ended up dropping it after about half an hour due to what the "puzzles" turned out to be like doing random fetch quests for people so that they will give you clues relevant to the actual case. I'm told most of the Sherlock Holmes games aren't like that, but...

gameplusmeagan
Apr 2, 2014

I play games and sometimes the things I say are of a humorous variety.

dijon du jour posted:

Also, that guy at 8:50 is totally Fozzie Bear. I hope he becomes a regular character.

You're totally right. Can't unhear that.


Seyser Koze posted:

I bought this game for my mom a few years back so that she'd have something to play on my dad's XBox, but we ended up dropping it after about half an hour...

Oh, we're finishing this bitch. I will not rest until I solve the case!

David D. Davidson
Nov 17, 2012

Orca lady?
Since it was mentioned in the video.
The tv series and Guy Ritchie movies do play up Holmes' eccentricity and Watson's character has changed to him being more of a straight man to this to give him a bit more character. In the series Sherlock is also kind of bitchy whereas in the books he just smug.

citybeatnik
Mar 1, 2013

You Are All
WEIRDOS




David D. Davidson posted:

Since it was mentioned in the video.
The tv series and Guy Ritchie movies do play up Holmes' eccentricity and Watson's character has changed to him being more of a straight man to this to give him a bit more character. In the series Sherlock is also kind of bitchy whereas in the books he just smug.

Watson was always the straight man though? I thought him being a bit of a bumbling idiot and clueless came about thanks to how he was portrayed in the Nigel Rathbone movies.

anilEhilated
Feb 17, 2014

But I say fuck the rain.

Grimey Drawer

citybeatnik posted:

Watson was always the straight man though? I thought him being a bit of a bumbling idiot and clueless came about thanks to how he was portrayed in the Nigel Rathbone movies.

Eh, he's pretty much in the stories to give Holmes someone to monologue at. It works most of the time but every once in a while he'll ask about something really really dumb or obvious, which I imagine got exaggerated and included in the Holmes mythos. Just like the hat.

edit: Also, like most of the video, but please for the love of everything holy to you, cut down the shrieking.

anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 13:01 on Apr 16, 2014

gameplusmeagan
Apr 2, 2014

I play games and sometimes the things I say are of a humorous variety.

anilEhilated posted:

Eh, he's pretty much in the stories to give Holmes someone to monologue at. It works most of the time but every once in a while he'll ask about something really really dumb or obvious, which I imagine got exaggerated and included in the Holmes mythos. Just like the hat.

edit: Also, like most of the video, but please for the love of everything holy to you, cut down the shrieking.

That's an interesting point, perhaps Watson was also there to clarify some points that the reader might have missed? So Holmes had a reason to explain in greater detail?

And you got it. Sorry about that, I got caught up in the moment of portraying an 1800s prostitute and my excitement got the better of me.

gameplusmeagan
Apr 2, 2014

I play games and sometimes the things I say are of a humorous variety.
Episode 2 is up! In this one we talk to a lot of ladies of the evening and learn they really only have one good pickup line. Also, check out 10:10 for my spot-on Michael Caine impression.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewt6aAKJ78w

Suspect Bucket
Jan 15, 2012

SHRIMPDOR WAS A MAN
I mean, HE WAS A SHRIMP MAN
er, maybe also A DRAGON
or possibly
A MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TEAM
BUT HE WAS STILL
SHRIMPDOR
I cant believe you haven't mentioned that those little dialogue cues look like comical sherlock pipes hanging from their lips.

LordHippoman
May 30, 2013

I, frankly, want this smug Jagen to be my avatar on all forms of social media immediately.
The best part of these Frogware Sherlock Games is teleporting Watson, so I have my fingers crossed for some Watson Wizardry.

gameplusmeagan
Apr 2, 2014

I play games and sometimes the things I say are of a humorous variety.

Suspect Bucket posted:

I cant believe you haven't mentioned that those little dialogue cues look like comical sherlock pipes hanging from their lips.



Oh my god. I can't believe I missed this. What kind of master detective AM I?!

dijon du jour
Mar 27, 2013

I'm shy
Oh jesus christ almighty the game has just started and already we have nested fetch quests. :cripes:

By the time we actually get around to the case itself the police are going to be all "What? Jack the Ripper? Oh yeah we solved that case ages ago, Holmes. Where the hell were you?"

LordHippoman posted:

The best part of these Frogware Sherlock Games is teleporting Watson, so I have my fingers crossed for some Watson Wizardry.

Yeah, I was hoping for some Wily Watson Wizardry, too, but it looks like in this game Watson actually has walking animations and pathfinding. Bleh.

Speaking of which, any chance of seeing any LPs of the other games in the series after this one is over?

dijon du jour fucked around with this message at 03:44 on Apr 18, 2014

gameplusmeagan
Apr 2, 2014

I play games and sometimes the things I say are of a humorous variety.

dijon du jour posted:

Oh jesus christ almighty the game has just started and already we have nested fetch quests. :cripes:

By the time we actually get around to the case itself the police are going to be all "What? Jack the Ripper? Oh yeah we solved that case ages ago, Holmes. Where the hell were you?"


Yeah, I was hoping for some Wily Watson Wizardry, too, but it looks like in this game Watson actually has walking animations and pathfinding. Bleh.

Speaking of which, any chance of seeing any LPs of the other games in the series after this one is over?

Yeahhh, settle in, we got lots more errands to do. I think we pick up someone's dry cleaning next.

Watson doesn't exactly glitch in this one from what I've seen but the little bugger DOES sneak up on you a lot.

And you know, I've been hearing a lot of good things about Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments, I think it's the newest one. Read a review where it was said to have taken some cues from the Walking Dead game, which I absolutely love, so I thought maybe we'd follow up with that one. You know, cleanse the palate with some quality Sherlock after the fast-food variety?

steinrokkan
Apr 2, 2011



Soiled Meat
I wonder if the ability to freely roam the streets of Whitechapel will ever become actually useful - so far it looks like a feature included for the sake of demonstrating apparent production values. Like a terrible Vampire: Bloodlines map without any of the interaction options.

Dopilsya
Apr 3, 2010
I never knew there were Sherlock Holmes games, I'm definitely interested to see how this plays out; hopefully the fetch-questing dies down a little bit.

gameplumeagan posted:

Oh my god. I can't believe I missed this. What kind of master detective AM I?!

Speaking of things you missed... In the first video, when Watson is reading the paper about the woman who was killed with 30+ stab wounds, you two made fun of him and said it wasn't that bad. That wasn't the murder we saw firsthand, that one happened almost a month previous to the date the game started us at.

anilEhilated posted:

Eh, he's pretty much in the stories to give Holmes someone to monologue at. It works most of the time but every once in a while he'll ask about something really really dumb or obvious, which I imagine got exaggerated and included in the Holmes mythos. Just like the hat.

edit: Also, like most of the video, but please for the love of everything holy to you, cut down the shrieking.

Actually, you'll find that Watson was the true master detective. As well, speaking of the hat, in a Shyamalanian twist, Jack the Ripper may have worn a deer-stalker.

I thought I would make some notes if nobody minds. So far the game hasn't given us much information on them, but I'll try to leave out any information that we haven't heard yet, though I don't know what will be important or even if the game will give us anything else on these. If you want, I could do a more thorough write up:

The first victim the game mentions is Martha Tabram. She was murdered on 7th August, 1888. She had been stabbed 39 times. The theory that she was killed by Jack the Ripper is somewhat controversial, but police at the time at least did believe that her killing was connected with the next victim.

Our second victim is "Polly" Nichols. She was the one we watched murdered and was killed in the early morning of 31st August, 1888. Unlike Tabram, she was not stabbed that many times, she had her throat cut and died almost immediately, but was mutilated after her death.

gameplusmeagan
Apr 2, 2014

I play games and sometimes the things I say are of a humorous variety.

Dopilsya posted:

I thought I would make some notes if nobody minds. So far the game hasn't given us much information on them, but I'll try to leave out any information that we haven't heard yet, though I don't know what will be important or even if the game will give us anything else on these. If you want, I could do a more thorough write up:

That would be great! I know we tend to get to joking around sometimes and might miss some stuff, so seeing someone outline the finer points would be awesome.

Also, a note, there are points in the game where we fast-forward, but we will never fast-forward over actual dialogue or important gameplay. When you see a stretch that's sped up it's usually because we were looking a long time for something or stuck for some reason; basically, we're skipping the parts that would be super boring to watch and not important to the game's plot.

Interesting point about the deer-stalker! If this turns out to be true I hope they compliment each others' hats.

Pesky Splinter
Feb 16, 2011

A worried pug.

LordHippoman posted:

The best part of these Frogware Sherlock Games is teleporting Watson, so I have my fingers crossed for some Watson Wizardry.

For anyone who has never seen "Creepy Watson". Nothing spoilery from this game; it's from Sherlock Holmes vs. Arsene Lupin.

I was disappointed that they appeared to have fixed it.

Dopilsya posted:

I never knew there were Sherlock Holmes games, I'm definitely interested to see how this plays out; hopefully the fetch-questing dies down a little bit.

There's quite a few; 10 at last count.

LordHippoman
May 30, 2013

I, frankly, want this smug Jagen to be my avatar on all forms of social media immediately.
A lot of the Sherlock games do run on a pretty poor old engine though. I couldn't get through Awakened, despite desperately wanting to see if Watson boxed Cthulu or whatever. However, The Testament Of Sherlock Holmes does run on the same engine as Ripper, I think, and it works really well. That is the go to game if you want to see Sherlock go into full on rear end in a top hat mode and Watson sputter about what a dick he's being.

The plot sort of ranges from "Sorta interesting" to "Totally nonsensical", but it's a good amount of fun, goes on Steam Sale fairly often, and lets you play as Watson too, as well as the one character we've all been waiting for, TOBY THE DOG!

David D. Davidson
Nov 17, 2012

Orca lady?

Pesky Splinter posted:

I was disappointed that they appeared to have fixed it.

They're bringing it back for the next game.

Dopilsya
Apr 3, 2010
In the newspaper article the game references a second murder that happened 3 months prior, but hasn't given any information on it, so I'm leaving it out for now.

Alright, so here's our victim list as it stands:


Victim # 1

This is her real-life mortuary picture. A delicate flower of English womanhood, cut down in her prime.

Name: Martha Tabram

Height/Weight:

Date of Birth:

Date of Death: nearly one month prior to September 1st, 1888 (historically this happened 7th August, 1888)

Time of Death:

Cause of Death: stabbing, 30+ wounds

Location of Body: George Yard

Discovered By:

Identifying Marks:

Witnesses:

Any clues to the identity of Jack the Ripper:

Other information:




Victim # 2


Name: "Polly" Nichols

Height/Weight: Height of 5' 2"

Date of Birth: unknown, but aged 35-40

Date of Death: 31st August-1st September, 1888

Time of Death: body was found at 3:45 a.m., 1st September, 1888

Cause of Death: her bowels were disemboweled out of her bowels, also nearly decaptitated

Location of Body: Buck's Row, Whitechapel

Discovered By: Constable John Neill

Identifying Marks:

Witnesses:

Any clues to the identity of Jack the Ripper:

Other information: The cut on her throat was made from left to right and was made with a "very large knife", one of her
fingers bears the impression of a ring, but there were no signs it was forcibly removed





Victim # 3

Missing, presumed dead. Last seen in the company of a group of London guttersnipes who are believed to have connections with men as large as Turks.

StoryTime
Feb 26, 2010

Now listen to me children and I'll tell you of the legend of the Ninja
I have a soft spot for these Sherlock games. I just love the way they want to tell a story, but fail to present it over and over again. I still think Ripper is better than The Awakened, in the sense that the engine they're using doesn't completely destroy your immersion at every possible turn. Teleporting Stalker Watson is far from the worst that the earlier games have to offer.

The Testament of Sherlock Holmes, the next in the series, is actually a decent adventure game. It doesn't look like an Unreal Tournament mod, and has a cleverly written plot that plays on your expectations. I wouldn't mind seeing you play through that one as well.

I'm really looking forward to Crimes and Punishments. With quality writing, it could be really fun.

gameplusmeagan
Apr 2, 2014

I play games and sometimes the things I say are of a humorous variety.

Dopilsya posted:

Victim # 3

Missing, presumed dead. Last seen in the company of a group of London guttersnipes who are believed to have connections with men as large as Turks.

Great write-up, thank you for this! You are truly a master sleuthsman.

And I'm so, so worried about that leatherfolderbag. We can only pray it's safe from harm. And Turks.

gameplusmeagan
Apr 2, 2014

I play games and sometimes the things I say are of a humorous variety.
The mystery continues! In this episode we make living arrangements for a transient. I wish I was joking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHAVxlIVpK0

Polaron
Oct 13, 2010

The Oncoming Storm
This game cannot be serious. Who thought "Let's start our Sherlock Holmes game with half an hour of fetch quests!" and wasn't immediately fired/beaten senseless by his coworkers?

If they were going to force you to walk slowly around London they could at least have left Teleporting Watson in.

gameplusmeagan
Apr 2, 2014

I play games and sometimes the things I say are of a humorous variety.

Polaron posted:

This game cannot be serious. Who thought "Let's start our Sherlock Holmes game with half an hour of fetch quests!" and wasn't immediately fired/beaten senseless by his coworkers?

If they were going to force you to walk slowly around London they could at least have left Teleporting Watson in.

Oh it is quite serious indeed. I am experiencing it firsthand. Supposedly the other games aren't like this but I don't understand why since they're all from the same company.

On a related note, I mentioned Crimes & Punishments earlier and how I wanted to follow up with that game but I haven't seen a release date on it. Does anyone else know when it's coming out? Closest I can find is Q2 of 2014.

Pesky Splinter
Feb 16, 2011

A worried pug.

gameplusmeagan posted:

Oh it is quite serious indeed. I am experiencing it firsthand. Supposedly the other games aren't like this but I don't understand why since they're all from the same company.

On a related note, I mentioned Crimes & Punishments earlier and how I wanted to follow up with that game but I haven't seen a release date on it. Does anyone else know when it's coming out? Closest I can find is Q2 of 2014.

The earlier ones are pretty much "Fetch quest", or "pixel hunt every inch of the screen until you can find something to interact with", the more recent ones have slightly less of that.

The big difference from this particular game to all the others, is that this is based on actual historical events, so they tried to be somewhat more respectful in portraying the womens' corpses, as opposed to the mutilated NPCs in their other games (which are based on their own original stories).

Coming up blank, on the release date, looks pretty good though :shobon:

Pesky Splinter fucked around with this message at 23:14 on Apr 22, 2014

gameplusmeagan
Apr 2, 2014

I play games and sometimes the things I say are of a humorous variety.

Pesky Splinter posted:

The big difference from this particular game to all the others, is that this is based on actual historical events, so they tried to be somewhat more respectful in portraying the womens' corpses, as opposed to the mutilated NPCs in their other games (which are based on their own original stories).

Interesting! So that's why the close-ups of the victims look like a coloring book illustrated by Tim Burton.

gameplusmeagan
Apr 2, 2014

I play games and sometimes the things I say are of a humorous variety.
Episode 4 is up and you'll never believe it WE ARE ACTUALLY INVESTIGATING THE MURDER NOW. Chalk outlines, swollen tongues, Sherlock-on-Watson action... this baby's got it all!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IfWZUa_g4M

Rocketlex
Oct 21, 2008

The Manliest Knight
in Caketown
The way the Deduction Board interface looks, I can't get over the mental image that the only way Sherlock Holmes can solve a murder is to open up a laptop and make a TWINE game about it.

Polaron
Oct 13, 2010

The Oncoming Storm
See, this is closer to how a Sherlock Holmes game should look! It can't last. You guys are going to be halfway through deducing the motive when their landlord shows up and needs Holmes to go pick out a birthday present for her granddaughter before she'll make you guys a pot of tea or something.

gameplusmeagan
Apr 2, 2014

I play games and sometimes the things I say are of a humorous variety.

Polaron posted:

See, this is closer to how a Sherlock Holmes game should look! It can't last. You guys are going to be halfway through deducing the motive when their landlord shows up and needs Holmes to go pick out a birthday present for her granddaughter before she'll make you guys a pot of tea or something.

We spent several precious moments actually feeling like detectives so I can only imagine we've got about four hours ahead of us where we have to find the doctor's assistant's favorite porcelain figurine that's limited edition and only available in Ireland but he's not willing to pay more than $4 for the shipping...

That being said, Frogwares, WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO US?

Polaron
Oct 13, 2010

The Oncoming Storm

gameplusmeagan posted:

We spent several precious moments actually feeling like detectives so I can only imagine we've got about four hours ahead of us where we have to find the doctor's assistant's favorite porcelain figurine that's limited edition and only available in Ireland but he's not willing to pay more than $4 for the shipping...

"I say, Holmes, we just received a missive from Lestrade. He informs us that he has a new lead, but first we must meet him at his abode to assist him in defeating the Hakuna Matata level in The Lion King."

gameplusmeagan
Apr 2, 2014

I play games and sometimes the things I say are of a humorous variety.
New episode! Well that was exciting but it's all over now. Back to talking to streetfolk and begging the police to let us do stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WGSAUzbQd8

Pesky Splinter
Feb 16, 2011

A worried pug.

gameplusmeagan posted:

New episode! Well that was exciting but it's all over now. Back to talking to streetfolk and begging the police to let us do stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WGSAUzbQd8

The bullet holes are from the book. It spells out "VR"; Victoria Regina, as in Queen Victoria.

For the BBC show, IIRC they decided modern Sherlock wouldn't be so patriotic, so they changed it to a smiley. There's quite a few references to the stories that the devs stuck into Baker street, they tend to change with each game though, as they jump all over the timeline - some games are set before Holmes' disappearance after confronting Moritarty from the Reichenbach falls (The Final Problem), and others after his return (The Empty House).

Also, I feel this video is relevant to Sherlock's deductions. :mmmhmm:

Pesky Splinter fucked around with this message at 22:52 on Apr 27, 2014

Suspect Bucket
Jan 15, 2012

SHRIMPDOR WAS A MAN
I mean, HE WAS A SHRIMP MAN
er, maybe also A DRAGON
or possibly
A MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TEAM
BUT HE WAS STILL
SHRIMPDOR
"What do you think, Deputy Chairington?"



"I think you're mad, sir."

Suspect Bucket fucked around with this message at 23:28 on Apr 27, 2014

gameplusmeagan
Apr 2, 2014

I play games and sometimes the things I say are of a humorous variety.

Suspect Bucket posted:

"What do you think, Deputy Chairington?"



"I think you're mad, sir."

STOP MOCKING ME CHAIR

gameplusmeagan
Apr 2, 2014

I play games and sometimes the things I say are of a humorous variety.
Who's ready to go to a brothel!? Not Watson. He's tired and fussy. New episode up!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNbYvFJgckQ

KamikaziPie
Oct 21, 2008
Everything in these videos should be turning me away from this game, but for some reason I'm getting this incredibly desire to get this and the other Sherlock games and play them for myself. I suppose it seems kind of charming in it's own obtuse and plodding way.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

dijon du jour
Mar 27, 2013

I'm shy

KamikaziPie posted:

Everything in these videos should be turning me away from this game, but for some reason I'm getting this incredibly desire to get this and the other Sherlock games and play them for myself. I suppose it seems kind of charming in it's own obtuse and plodding way.

The whole deduction gameplay element where you have to investigate the crime scene to make observations and then connect those observations to lead to logical conclusions looks really cool and like nothing I've seen before in a game. It's just... everything else that's so baffling. I can only imagine that the original plan was to have a purely investigation exploration game then 6 months before release and 95% into the budget some higher-up burst into the developers' cave shouting "Alright everyone, we've been talking to the investors and we've decided the game needs to be about 2 hours longer. You have fifty bucks and whatever you can find between the couch cushions. Go."

  • Locked thread