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Hey, great to see some legitimate discussion going on in here  Hope you all keep contributing!! These SSLPs get bogged down much more than VLPs because the updates separate the discussion by so much more space.ultrafilter posted:I'm looking forward to this. There was an LP of the first game in the series a while back, but none of the sequels have been covered, and as a result there were quite a few questions left open. Valiantman posted:Oh, someone's playing through these? Great! I read TheDarkID's LP of this first part and was left hoping for more. You're doing great with your commentary! I should thank TheDarkID, I took his portrait files for use in my thread since I am terrible with any kind of graphics editing software. We're less than a week from Legacy finishing and the next games in the series starting, so stick around! Legacy sets up some great characters and an interesting setting but all three subsequent games are superior in my opinion, so hopefully it's only going to improve for you.grandalt posted:And now it appears we are at the meat of the game. Plus, we appear to have our big problem to deal with, The Deacon. Well, here's hoping the game stays interesting. One thing these games always manage to do is stay interesting - being relatively short and episodic in nature helps that. Ytlaya posted:I just started reading this, and it's been pretty interesting as an NYU alumni to have the main character visit all of these familiar locations. I'm at the part where she's about to go to Brittany (most of the Freshman dorms are - or at least were back in 2004-2008 - located around Washington Square; I was in Rubin which is a few blocks up 5th ave, and I would pass Brittany pretty much every day since it's located right near all of the class buildings). You'll probably appreciate the attention to detail put into keeping the locations faithful to actual Manhattan locations more than I will then. I've visited New York a couple of times but never really looked at anything more involved than Times Square and the Brooklyn Bridge. TKMobile posted:Man, this is a really interesting adventure here; I'm getting all antsy waiting to see how plot threads from this first game play out into the following ones. Looking at the dates on the letters in Lauren's file, she would have been working with Joey for a good ten years before ending up in the asylum. Presumably things were at least sort of alright over that period of time. So either she hosed up badly somehow, or something messed her poo poo up. Or, I guess, like you say it could be a long-term mental degradation thing from dealing with this kind of supernatural junk for a decade? RickVoid posted:It's too bad that you haven't gotten very many comments, six updates in. This actually seems pretty interesting, and you're doing a pretty good job presenting it. Been a while since I played a good point and click adventure, I think I'd have had fun with this one. But since you're playing through it, Ill content myself with just watching. Thanks, appreciate it And no, it is never too early to begin speculating!Shinjobi posted:The smiling character portraits are the best. It's so hard to take them seriously, it's easily my favourite part of the dialogues. They're delightful, aren't that? In the later games there are multiple different varieties of dorky smiles they bring out  WFGuy posted:I would comment more, but I played (and enjoyed the heck out of) all the games, so I'd rather not poison the speculation well. I'd probably be enough of a clumsy idiot that I'd give it away for great speculation like Assoonasitits figuring out Joey's Blackwell link. Yeah, that was my one regret for choosing a SSLP rather than a VLP - the voice acting is very strong, particularly for the leads. I'm trying to describe the emotion whenever relevant but it's one of the flaws of SSLPs. Still, hopefully the benefits more than make up for it! Assoonasitits posted:That's a real nice compliment, thanks! Please do keep speculating As long as nobody spoils what is happening, speculation is probably the most fun that can be had with these LP threads.Antemony posted:Hm. So even back then, Joey didn't feel that it was important for Lauren to attend her own brother's wedding... it wasn't just callousness brought on by staring at the ceiling for twenty-five years. I kind of wonder what kind of life he led when he was actually alive to make him not see the significance of that. Probably didn't have very many close relationships with people. Yeah, Joey is a very interesting character in that regard. He's clearly used to getting his way and doesn't like being told no, but at the same time seems to actually give a drat about the ghosts he's saving as well. Keldulas posted:Joey's argument there does have merit, but it's a massively uncompromising attitude. Part of the problem is that people need to spend at least a LITTLE time on the things personally important to. Otherwise you get burnt out. He doesn't really see it like that. I'm commenting "out of turn" here, since I do actually know how these games play out, but when I was first playing through my theory was that Joey really can't do anything else other than try to deal with ghosts, whereas Patrician/Lauren/Rosa can. So perhaps he resents it when they want to do things he can't really be involved with? A selfish attitude, but at least I could understand it. Next update (and, blessedly, a new page!) will arrive later on today. Edit: Or in fact a new page is already here. Probably a good thing given we had three plot dumps sitting on the previous page!
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Oct 7, 2013 07:18
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Let's keep this moving! Update 7 Having made very little sense of the ghost in the park, Rosa decides to visit the Brittany hall dorm again. Kelly knew JoAnn, and judging by the photo JoAnn was a friend of the ghost in the park when she was alive. So perhaps Kelly will know something?  NYU Theme  This time around, Kelly doesn't even bother getting up and meeting Rosa at the door, so we just go inside.  Kelly never even bothers looking up, presumably just focusing on her midterms. I guess this is (or was) a common study area, with Kelly's side covered in various poo poo while JoAnn's side is pretty much empty. At least I assume it's a study area and not the entire dorm... unless JoAnn and Kelly were sharing a bed? This would explain why Kelly never wanted to sleep here. Rosa looks around the room... at Kelly:  That's Kelly. She gives me the creeps.At the bed/couch: It's the only bed in the room. I guess Kelly got rid of the other bed after JoAnn... left.Apparently it's a bed. My guess is that this room was another victim of the lead artist vanishing in the crucial final stages of Legacy's design. At the window:  This comment isn't just designed to show Rosa being awkward and insensitive - many upper-floor dorms at Brittany dorm hall actually do have safety bars on the windows in real life. Gilbert was a pretty big stickler for realism when he put real locations in-game. Off on JoAnn's side of the dorm, there are some photos pinned up on a pinboard.  From right to left: That's her, the ghost in the park. She looks so happy here. I wonder what happened to make her... like that. I recognize her. That's JoAnn. The future Mrs. Davenport? I wonder what that means?Can't help but wonder why Kelly didn't just give us this photo of JoAnn before since it was an individual photo and the text could easily have been cropped out. Oh well.   *sigh* Fine. Make it quick.Rosa continues pushing her luck with Kelly. Thanks again for lending me that photograph. No big deal. It was just sitting there on her desk."But damned if I was gonna walk all the way to the loving pinboard!!" How are you holding up? Me? I'm fine. Midterms are a bitch, but I'm handling it. Or, I WOULD be handling it if you didn't keep bugging me. Can I take a look around? What for? Just to see if I can find anything else about JoAnn. What, you're a detective now? Well... Forget it. Please let me look around? It would really help me out. I've helped you out enough. You can ask your stupid questions, but you touch nothing.Kelly is happy for us to be here, but not to actually touch anything. It's pretty obvious that we would want to look at the diary on JoAnn's desk, but if we try, Kelly tells us to take a hike. Come to think of it, why didn't the police take it? Surely they would be obligated to investigate in a situation like this? I don't know.  Rosa asks Kelly about the two girls in the photos, in particular the "Future Miss America". Oh. THEM. You know them? Only through JoAnn. Do you know their names? The blond girl is... Alli. I think. And the Asian girl is Susan. I tried to avoid them when they were here. Really? Why? Look, I need my space. JoAnn needed her friends around her. So whenever JoAnn turned this place into Social Central, I split. They didn't care for me, and I didn't care much for them.So at least we have the ghost's name. Alli. Perhaps that will help Joey bring her back down to Earth again. We also get an explaination of why Alli told us that they "drove Kelly away, but that was okay, she didn't like us anyway." Rosa keeps asking "her stupid questions". After all, Kelly said she could! Does the name "Deacon" mean anything to you? Nope. I'm agnostic. Do you know anything about JoAnn's friend, Alli? You mean Miss Blondie? Yeah. I know enough, which isn't much. She was over here all the time, visiting JoAnn. She was kinda... sweet, I guess. Laughed all the time. Ugh, that was annoying. That was usually my cue to get outta here. Why do you want to know about her?This is a question Rosa will get alot through these series: why is she asking about person A when person B probably only tangentially knows them? I'm having... difficulty finding her. Would you know where she is? I dunno. She could be anywhere. Studying. Partying. Pushing up daisies? Shh! Hm? Nothing. Right...I always get a kick out of Joey piping up in the middle of a conversation where only one participant can actually hear him  Rosa now turns her attention to the third girl. The other two are dead. Either the third girl will be useful in finding out about her friends, or she will also turn up dead. Either way, Rosa needs to know about her. Not much. Quiet, I guess. Maybe she just didn't talk around me. I never stuck around long enough to get to know her.On the photo of Susan, it mentioned she was the "Future Mrs Davenport." Rosa asks about that. Do you know anyone named "Davenport"? No, but it's a stupid name. It's written right over here on JoAnn's bulletin board. You think I care what she does? I mean, what she did. I mean, I don't know anyone with that name. Sorry.Kelly is starting to run out of venom by here, and sounds pretty drained. This interview is probably over. Thanks for helping out. Yeah, sure. Whatever. No. JoAnn and I might not have been buddies. But I'll be damned if I'm gonna let some stranger paw through her stuff.As I mentioned before, trying to take JoAnn's diary elicits an angry response from Kelly. We need that diary though, so we'll need to take advantage of some trickery to get it.  You what? It'll only take a second. Fine fine. Just hurry up. Who do you think you're calling?Rosa grabs the telephone, pretends to dial, and then says: Hello, could I speak to Joey please? ... Hi, Joey? Um... Yes, I had some questions for you. ... Ahh! Heh. Not bad, kid. Not bad! If you got something to say, say it quick. Lady pincushion here is starting to look a little hot under the collar.This scene is a classic because Rosa speaks in such a stilted, put-on manner So what's happening here is that Rosa wants to ask Joey to help her to distract Kelly so that she can take the diary. All in all it's a pretty clever puzzle concept, except for one problem - she could just have easily have stepped outside, spoken to Joey in the hallway (or hell, back in her own apartment), planned what they were going to do, and just returned. Still, if she had done that, we wouldn't have been able to see this beautifully awkward conversation that's about to come!  Do? Look around. Check for clues. We need all the information we can get our hands on. Joey, I'm not sure I can do... what you asked me to do. This is stupid. Kid, you HAVE to. Don't back out now.I love the way Rosa is trying to back out of her own terrible plan here  Huh? You mean metal nose? Yes. She's making me nervous. Me? What can I do?Hahahaha, this is so blatantly suspicious that if Kelly was even bothering to listen she would immediately kick Rosa out. You performed a little trick for me earlier. I'd like you to repeat it for me. Trick? Joey, do you see the pile of papers on the desk? Yeah... I need you to work your magic on them. Ahhh. Sure sure. I can handle that.Honestly, this is the least smooth piece of deception I've ever seen Fortunately Kelly isn't actually listening at all. Thanks again, Kelly. Yeeah. Sure. Joey floats on over and blows Kelly's papers off her desk. As Kelly bends to pick them up she takes her attention off Rosa (whatever little of it was there to begin with, anyway), and Rosa is able to pocket the diary. Nice one! Continuing to flaunt the game's Adventure Game Puzzle mechanics in its face, Rosa then whips the notebook (not a diary, apparently) open right there and then and starts reading it, which of course Kelly doesn't care about in the slightest. Looks like standard poli-sci lecture notes. It looks like JoAnn liked to doodle in class. The last set of notes in this notebook is pretty... strange. I'd better take a closer look. Hahaha, very cute. JoAnn presumably split up with a boyfriend recently, which may or may not be a clue. Susan is buddied up with some cool, hip (or possibly blind?) dude called Alexander. And Alli was polyamarous or something. The next page is a bit more frightening.  See, this is the kind of thing I would have thought the police might want to see. So what can we deduce from all of this? "He" made Alli go, and now Alli is dead. It's safe to assume from Joey's chat with Alli that "he" is the Deacon, whoever that is. On the other hand, it sounds like Susan has been taken somewhere. And in the meantime, JoAnn was apparently going batshit crazy. Rosa checks in with Kelly regarding this Alexander character. Do you know anyone named Alexander? No. Sorry.Nothing much more we can do here, but at least we have a couple of leads now.  You've commited your first burglary. Is that what I just did? For the greater good, kid. For the greater good. That makes me feel SO much better.Seriously, I love the interplay between these two Now, you may have made the mental leap already - if Susan was the "Future Mrs Davenport" and was dating a guy called Alexander, presumably his full name was Alexander Davenport. But of course, Rosa will only make the leap if you combine the two clues together in her notepad. Hm. It's safe to say that these refer to the same person.Rosa starts to talk to Joey about it, but he quickly cuts her off.  Even with nobody in the hallways, I guess it is a bit dangerous to start talking out loud to a ghost with people potentially coming in and out.  Back home, Rosa checks out the web to see if she can dig up anything on Alexander Davenport. Hm. An Alexander Davenport was listed as being on the Hockey Team at NYU. It doesn't say anything else about him, though.That's not particularly useful, unfortunately. Let's see what Joey thinks. Who do you think "Alexander" is? Well, judging from that silly doodle you're carrying around... I'd say he was Susan's boyfriend. You think he's involved? Anything's possible. Washington Square Park  Yeah, sure.Armed with the ghost's name, Rosa and Joey decides to approach Alli again and see what can be found out.   Yes! That's me. Alli Montego of story and song. She kisses the boys, but not for long. Cute. Well, Alli Montego. At least we've confirmed who you are.Excellent, confirmation is had, and we also get Alli's surname. This will be useful for assisting Rosa to cyberstalk her. For reasons which are never really made clear, Alli speaks in rhymes whenever talking about people in her life. Can you tell me about your friend Susan? Quiet Sue. Little Lady Lee, always neat and always fair. Won't say much, but you'll know she is there. Lady... Lee? She had to go away. Stupid Deacon. Sending away all my friends. Even the little, little ones. Do you know anyone named "Alexander Davenport"? On a date, with Alexander the great! Was it an accident, or was it just fate?My guess is that the rhyming thing was intended to be a common trait for all ghosts in the series, but was eventually dropped because it stymies good writing without really adding anything. So if Susan is "Little Lady Lee", presumably her full name is Susan Lee. Fortunately this time we don't need to combine clues in the notepad in order to make that connection. Perhaps this is the game's indication that Joey is better at mentally processing clues than Rosa is? There isn't much else we can get out of Alli yet, so Joey and Rosa excuse themselves and head back out of the dog run. *sigh*. You all right? This is going to take a long time to get used to. We got the rest of your life, doll.I can't tell whether that's supposed to comforting or horrifying. Rosa and Joey head back to their apartment to try to figure things out. Rosa's Theme  Looks like it. And she's trapped in the dog run at Washington Square Park. That's where she is. And we have to save her. Yep. ... Is this going to be a typical day from now on? You'll look back on this as one of the normal ones.As we will see throughout this thread, Joey is absolutely correct here.  Jumping onto her computer, Rosa does some research while Joey scouts out the kitchen, or whatever the hell he's doing. Joey's lack of interest in computers is a fairly well-maintained concept in the games, since presumably his living years were long before computers were invented, or at least mainstream. I guess a career detective might resent a little box that can a thorough investigative job in a few minutes. I think I got her. Susan Lee, 18 years old, was admited to Bellevue Hospital last week after an apparent suicide attempt. I think that's our girl.So it turns out Susan is in Bellevue, where she hopefully is not being seen by that rear end in a top hat Dr. Quentin. At least she is alive, although she apparently attempted to kill herself like JoAnn. Rosa continues her research, searching for Alli Montego. Alli Montego? Let's see if I can find her. Hm. She apparently spent some time on a spiritual internet forum. She was looking for information about... Ouija boards? "Are Ouija boards dangerous?" she asked. "Can they call anything evil? And if so, how do you get rid of it?" Oh jeez.This doesn't sound very good.  This has happened before? A few times. Those things are NOTHING but trouble.Rosa tries looking up information on Ouija boards herself, but doesn't get very far.  There's no way to really tell fact from fiction.So it seems out next step is to try to speak with Susan Lee at Bellevue, in the hopes that the one friend still alive can shed some light on what happened to the other two. We'll get to that tomorrow, but just before we finish today, let's see if Joey is willing to open up a little about Lauren and Patricia.  Eh, I guess. She was a tough lady. Stubborn. Smoked like a chimney. Anything else? Your aunt was... she was tough. Always ready to pick a fight. Wouldn't take guff from nobody. We got on famously.Joey really perks up when speaking about Lauren. It's pretty clear he liked her alot, clear enough that even Rosa picks up on it. So you liked her? Liked her? Hell. Sure I liked her. She was the first person in ten years who was willing to talk to me. She didn't scream, or run away. And she certainly didn't SWOON, like some people. Shut up. She just looked right at me and said "Oh." That was it. That was all I needed to hear.The timeline here mostly matches up. As far as we can tell, Patricia started seeing Joey in 1961, and died in 1970 after eight years in the asylum. Judging by these comments, Patricia had absolutely no interest in acknowledging Joey's existence, which I imagine must have been extremely frustrating for the both of them. So what happened after that? What's this? An interrogation? Cut with the questions, kid. You're bothering me. We'll talk about this later.This is all Joey will say for now about Lauren. After we have solved some more puzzles, he'll open up further. Technically you can wait until the very end of the game and get the entire backstory at once, but I think it works better in dribs and drabs. However, even though Joey is through talking about Lauren, Rosa can still ask him about Patricia.  Ole Pattycake was a real bundle of laughs. Pattycake? Yeah. Your grandmother. Her name was Patricia, right? So you get Pat. Patty. Pattycake. You really called her Pattycake? Joey sounds really pleased with himself about this, hahaha. Come to think of it, just about everything I did hacked her off. Like what? Like... eh, forget it. Ask me later.Apparently we've done enough puzzle solving, because Joey decides it's already later and allows us to continue. Why did she hate you so much? Because I ruined her perfect little life. She had the nice house, the supportive hubby, the two kids... And then I came along. Yeah, you have a way of ruining peaceful lives.It's nice to see Rosa's passive-aggressive streak hasn't diminished at all through this whole experience Hm. Anything else? Nah, I'm done talking about her. Ask me again later.That's all we're getting out of Joey for now. Tomorrow, we'll head to Bellevue to speak with Susan to see if we can figure out just what the hell is going on here. cmndstab fucked around with this message at 09:22 on Jun 27, 2014 |
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Oct 7, 2013 13:23
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If I apply the law of conservation of characters, I have determined that the Deacon is probably a character we have met, or at least heard about. Likely candidates are Doc Quentin, Kelly's boyfriend or Adrian. Quentin is unlikely because he's probably only had contact with Susan, and he was also necessary for plot exposition. Kelly's boyfriend is likewise an unlikely suspect since he's a convenient excuse for Kelly to not be in her dorm room; also, he doesn't have a name yet. That leaves Adrian: he's a pretty likely suspect, too. He's living in a girls' dormitory and acting as RA. Sure, there was a "mix up" with the registrar and it got him assigned to the wrong dorm, but that's probably an easy fix and for sure does not mean he has to be the RA. Add to that the fact that he doesn't seem fussed about it (who would, really), the fact that he's been relatively useless so far and the fact that he seemed to give off some creepy vibes (at least to me). Regardless, whoever the Deacon is, I can guarantee that he was JoAnn's paramour.
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Oct 7, 2013 14:29
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This game looks great and I'm looking forward to seeing more. Love the writing, Rosa alone has more personality than five average video game protagonists put together.
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Oct 7, 2013 16:26
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So Joey fell in love with Lauren. Hope that's not going to end up a huge reveal, but it's pretty obvious with him cutting off the "Liked her? Hell, I loved her." phrase. Explains the fact that they look like a couple in those pictures. That would be pretty drat frustrating. Not to mention having to watch her waste away for 25 years. Either he's secretly totally off his nut, and we just haven't seen it yet, or he was the hardest-boiled goddamn detective ever when he was alive. I'm betting on the latter.
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Oct 8, 2013 01:32
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The game is fairly good at subtlety, so hopefully you'll be happy with how things progress RickVoid ASAII - if your theory proves correct, I'm hoping the Deacon turns out to be Jim Burdo Or maybe it's Moti.....  Cardiovorax posted:This game looks great and I'm looking forward to seeing more. Love the writing, Rosa alone has more personality than five average video game protagonists put together. Glad to have another one on board! The good news is the writing remains consistently strong throughout all four games, so there's plenty to look forward to ahead!
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Oct 8, 2013 06:39
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cmndstab posted:The game is fairly good at subtlety, so hopefully you'll be happy with how things progress RickVoid Crap on a cracker, I forgot about Jim Burdo. He serves the important part in the plot of sending you to meet Nishanthi, who will turn out to be a valuable ally who believes every word out of Rosa's mouth or something.
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Oct 8, 2013 12:49
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Let's keep this show running! Update 8 Time to see if we can find out what the "Future Mrs Davenport", Susan Lee, knows about what's been happening. Hospital Waiting Room  First thing's first, though, Rosa will need to get past the security guard. Is Susan Lee a patient here? Susan? Yeah, we've got her. She came in about a week ago.Although it's not 100% clear, JoAnn's note last update seems to indicate that Susan was taken here after Alli died, so presumably Alli has been haunting the dog run for some time now. May I visit Susan Lee? Sure, if you are on the approved guest list. What was your name again? Rosangela Blackwell. Hm. Sorry, you're not on the list. She'll be out in a week, you can visit her then.Wait, really? Out in a week? I would have thought when someone attempts to commit suicide and is subsequently hospitalised in a psychiatric institution that you can't really set a timeline on their treatment like that.  Rosa, of course, is undeterred by the security guard's refusal of her entry, and decides to blatantly lie her way in. I told you, you're not on the guest list. Oh. Well. That's because... I wasn't on the list at the time. I should be on it now. ...Sadly, the security guard is not impressed with Rosa's awesome little smile.  Well let's check then. What was your name again? Rosa can then choose names from her notepad, though she will refuse to call herself "Ouija boards" or something else stupid like that. My name is JoAnn. Sorry. There are no JoAnns on the guest list. I don't think they'd let dead people on the list, sweetheart. But good try.Bit of an odd comment from Joey, given that Susan was hospitalised nearly a week before JoAnn committed suicide. But JoAnn did mention that "they wouldn't let" her see Susan, so at least that marries up with her name missing from the guest list.  Of course, this is an Adventure Game, which means Rosa can completely insult the security guard's intelligence by repeatedly giving him different names, one after another, until she hits on one that he'll accept. You did what? Yeah. Gave the wrong name. Sorry! It's... a character in a play I'm in. ... Ugh. That's the best you could come up with?I love the way Rosa immediately follows every single mistruth with her dorky little grin She'd be the worst poker player ever. Really? Well what IS your name? Ahahahahaha. Your name is Susan Lee as well? Er, yes. Right. Well, you're still not on the list. What are you thinking, doll?Rosa can attempt to pass herself off as Adrian, or rather Adrienne... You didn't see it. Maybe you should check again. I missed it, huh? I'm sure of it. ... Well let's check again. What was your name again? My name is.. Adrienne. Sorry. No Adriennes on the guest list....but that doesn't work either. Neither does Alli, which gets the same response as above and Joey's comment that dead people wouldn't be on the list, which at least actually makes sense this time since Alli was dead by the time Susan was hospitalised. Of course, the obvious choice of name that might be on the guest list is Alexander Davenport, but Rosa immediately spots the problem with that name.  But, as we've (apparently) seen with Adrian, sometimes names don't have to be restricted to a single gender.  In one of the least obvious (or intuitive) puzzle solutions for Legacy, we need to combine the Adrian clue with the Alexander Davenport clue. Hm. The school thought that Adrian was a girl because of his name. "Alex" could also be a girl's name. I wonder... Hm. Your name IS on the list."Well that totally makes up for the five incorrect names you gave me earlier!" Can I go in now? Sure. I'll notify the nurse that you're coming. She'll take you in. Thanks.With that, Rosa heads off to Susan's room. Hospital Clocks  Hahaha, whoops! Um, no. I'm sorry. Where's Alexander?Rosa has three choices here, to either tell the truth: He's not here. They told me... they told me he was coming. Yeah. I'm sorry but I... It's okay. He doesn't want to see me, anyway. Who are you?To tell a white lie: He's... right outside. But I'd like to talk to you first, if that's ok. I think you're lying. Hm? Alexander wouldn't want to see me. He can, but he won't. Who are you?Or to heighten Susan's sense of mental instability by just outright pretending the name was never mentioned: Alexander? Who's that? Ooh. That's cold. It doesn't matter. He wouldn't want to see me anyway. Not anymore. Who are you?I'm surprised Rosa managed to refrain from her dorky grin after such blatant lies. Susan sounds thoroughly depressed and tired of life here. My name is Rosangela. I'd like to talk to you, if that's okay. Are you a doctor? Uh, yes I am. ...Ahh, there it is Where's your coat? My coat? It's ah... Mm hmm.Way to stick to your story, Rosa. Susan, meanwhile, doesn't give a drat that you lied to her and very clearly are not supposed to be here. So Susan. Could you tell me what brought you here? I dunno. They think I'm crazy. Are you? Crazy, I mean? I dunno. They think so.Susan really doesn't sound like she gives a poo poo about anything. Rosa keeps trying to speak with her. So how are you feeling? Fine. That's all? Yeah. I'm fine. Whatever.Rosa also tries to relate to Susan. So do you like Bellevue? It's ok. I used to come here every week. To visit my aunt, you know? Mm hmm. I don't think she cares. Well anyway. I'm just saying. I've spent a lot of time here. You don't have to be scared of me.Nothing says sensitivity like trying to compare visiting your aunt to being hospitalised after a suicide attempt!!  Rosa finally decides to just cut to the chase. You know JoAnn? Sort of. What about her? Can you tell me about her? She's JoAnn. That's all.This is going well. Do you know why JoAnn killed herself? ... Susan? She just did. Don't know why.Presumably Susan was told the news by someone, since JoAnn was quite alive when Susan was brought here. Next, Rosa asks about Alli. Do you know what happened to Alli? Yeah. Do you know why she did it? No.Jesus, Rosa wasted a good lie coming in to see this girl and she's got absolutely nothing for us. Susan, can you tell me why you're here? What happened. Nothing! Just... nothing. Can you tell me anything about Alex? I don't know. He's nobody. Just some guy.Finally, Rosa can ask about Ouija boards and the Deacon. Do you know anything about Ouija boards, Susan? ... Susan? They... Susan? Nothing. Who is the Deacon? What do you mean? The Deacon, Susan. He's nobody. Nobody!What a waste of drat time this was. I have to go now Susan. But I'll come back to check on you again. Mmm.Figuring we might actually get a more meaningful response from a panicky, disoriented ghost than we did from Susan, Joey decides to speak with Alli again instead. Washington Square Park  Ouija boards? I hate them. Why did you have to bring THAT up? I had a Ouija board once. The next thing I knew, everybody went away. What happened with the Ouija board? No no no. They are horrible things and I won't discuss them. Kid, we can't help you unless we know what happened. Hmm. Everybody went away.Some serious poo poo seems to have occurred with that Ouija board, and Alli doesn't want to talk about it.  At this point I kind of stumbled around for a while trying to figure out what I should do next, before finally realising that I was supposed to combine some clues together again. The girls were interested in Ouija boards... and they are all haunted by someone named The Deacon. Could there be a connection? Having combined the clues, it is now finally possible for Joey to ask the obvious question. Did I? That's what I'm asking you. I hate those things. I'll never use one again! And why's that? Because...No point beating around the bush, Joey. The Deacon, kid. Did you get in contact with someone called the Deacon? The Deacon! I hate him so much! I knew it.Tired of waiting for a direct answer, Joey apparently just interprets Alli's anger as tacit agreeance.  Don't worry. We'll clean up this mess. It's the same as ever, babe. Just instead of a living person in there, there's a dead one. The sooner you think of us ghosts as "normal", the better.Rosa is still kind of creeped out about talking with Alli. Okay, so now we've reached the stage where we have some idea what went wrong. The three friends were playing with a Ouija board, and apparently summoned some kind of supernatural being called the Deacon. Shortly afterwards, two of them committed suicide, and the third attempted to commit suicide as well. Time to speak with Susan about this. Hospital Clocks  You're not crazy. I know what happened. You summoned the Deacon with the Ouija board. No. That didn't really happen...At this point Rosa sounds like she's playing Cluedo or something. Susan. You don't have to pretend. I believe you. You... do? Whatever happened, I believe you.There is a pause while Susan decides whether she trusts you or not, before she speaks up again.  The drugs keep him away during the day, but when I sleep... He enters my head and he won't stop screaming. I thought I was crazy, but JoAnn and Alli... How could it happen to all three of us? It's impossible. No, it's not.Joey is now starting to prompt Rosa. No, it's not. The Deacon is real? I believe so, yes.Either that or the Ouija board was laced with some seriously good poo poo. Are you here to help me? I'm going to try. Thank God. I was ready to die here, but... I know. Can I ask you some questions about what happened? Sure. Ask whatever you want.Susan perks up a little bit at this point, though only a little. She is also more forthcoming about what happened.  JoAnn wanted to save the world, but she couldn't even save her friends. After Alli... went, JoAnn couldn't take it. She blames herself, but it's not her fault. I don't blame her for it. Any of it. It was only luck that I ended up here, and didn't die. Do you know why JoAnn killed herself? Yes. The Deacon... He got in our heads. His voice keeps pleading, babbling. Nothing shuts him up. Just keeps... going. I just wanted quiet. Peace and quiet. That's why JoAnn jumped off the roof. She was willing to give anything to just keep him quiet. Even her life.That does sound pretty nightmarish, yeah. So what happened to you, Susan? What did the Deacon do to you? The same thing he did to the others. Got into my head and just wouldn't keep quiet. It was just so noisy inside my head, I... had to do something. I saw the speeding taxi, and I just... Well, you know. Here I am. Were you hurt? No. The driver hit the brakes in time. Taxi missed me completely. Then the stupid cop on the corner dragged me here. I can't even kill myself right.That answers that question. The girls all tried to kill themselves to silence the Deacon's voice in their heads. Alli took a lethal cocktail of pills, JoAnn jumped off the roof of her dorm, and Susan attempted to jump in front of a car. Rosa has some more follow-up questions. Was Kelly involved in any of this? Kelly? JoAnn's room-mate? Yeah. No. She always left when we came over. She didn't like us much. But that's okay. We didn't like her either.So Kelly has nothing to do with this. Can you tell me anything about Alex? Alex... was my boyfriend, I guess. But since I came here, he won't see me anymore. Just as well. The jerk.He probably has nothing to do with this either. Finally, let's ask about Alli herself. Can you tell me about Alli? Alli. Oh, I miss her so much. The sweetest, funniest person in the world. You couldn't help but smile with her around. She was always dragging us out on some adventure. She was so... different. Every other girl had pictures of boys on their walls. She had pictures of dogs. She loved dogs. She was studying to be a vet to take care of them. And now she can't. She... She was the first of us to go. Why is that? This whole scene is pretty heartbreaking, really. Susan's voice throughout is mostly a depressed monotone, with the occasional flicker of emotion, but when speaking about Alli she gets relatively upset. Susan's comments about Alli being obsessed with dogs is important, though. As Joey explained earlier, the secret to helping ghosts move on is usually to bring them something of emotional significance to them. A dog might just work for Alli. But where will Rosa find a dog...? I have to go now, Susan. Mmm. Storm  Yeah, I can see that. Was it the darkness that gave it away? I'm just saying.By this stage, the sun has set. In an unusual twist, the hospital music at this point becomes an actual song, complete with singing and all. I'm pretty sure the song is actually built on a midi, like the rest of the game, but with a voice dubbed in over the top. It's a pretty simplistic song, but it's still pretty catchy. This same "technique" is adopted by the composer in the later games, but with a saxophone rather than vocals. The base music will be written as a midi file, and a live saxophone is recorded playing the melody lines over the top. It's surprisingly effective.  Presumably, the song is supposed to be coming in over the radio, because as Joey floats near the radio, the signal cuts out, and the security guard fiddles with the antennae. On the note, I'll finish the update here. Feel free to listen to the rest of Storm in anticipation for the rest of the game - the "storm's coming" lyrics are fitting, because poo poo is about to get pretty drat weird. Coming up next update, we'll attempt to help Alli move on, and see if we can figure out what the hell is going on with The Deacon. We're not far from the pointy end of Legacy now! cmndstab fucked around with this message at 09:24 on Jun 27, 2014 |
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Oct 8, 2013 14:56
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WELP. Guess I was wrong. This is kind of terrifying in a way, really. Keep it up, you're doing great.
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Oct 8, 2013 16:29
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I think you made Photobucket cry. Any chance you could switch to a different image host?
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Oct 8, 2013 23:15
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I hear LPix.org is pretty good.
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Oct 8, 2013 23:32
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I'd recommend LPix or Imgur, I don't think either of them have bandwidth caps. Well, I know the first one doesn't, and I think if the second one did, it would defeat the purpose. I was really enjoying the LP up until this point! I don't post much because I don't know anything about these games, but I'm loving the art style and the characters all have clearly defined identities beyond just being some archetype. I may have to throw a couple shekels the developer's way and pick them up myself.
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Oct 9, 2013 00:09
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The Muffinlord posted:I'd recommend LPix or Imgur, I don't think either of them have bandwidth caps. Well, I know the first one doesn't, and I think if the second one did, it would defeat the purpose. To add more info, basic Imgur has 1 GB bandwidth caps if I'm not mistaken. LPix sometimes doesn't load quickly at all, but it should do the job for this case. Cmndstab, thanks for let's playing this game. I've seen theDarkId's thread of this game a while back, and I also went through the the second and third one. I won't be able to join the speculation, but I do want to say that I love that you've put details from creator interviews here. I hardly know a thing about the development of this game or New York so I'm learning new things here. Also I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who thinks that Dr. Quinton poses way to coolly for his character. EagerSleeper fucked around with this message at 01:02 on Oct 9, 2013 |
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Oct 9, 2013 01:00
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inflatablefish posted:I think you made Photobucket cry. Any chance you could switch to a different image host? You motherfucker, Photobucket  I could have sworn I had a pro account, which is why I used Photobucket for this LP - figured I may as well get my money's worth. Apparently that expired a while ago or something. I've topped it back up so the pictures should load fine now. After I finish this LP I might cancel my subscription and move somewhere else.Assoonasitits posted:WELP. Guess I was wrong. This is kind of terrifying in a way, really. Keep it up, you're doing great. Hey, speculating is only fun if you get it wrong occasionally It's a sign of how strong the writing is that the dialogue can be legitimately chilling at points here. Really appreciate your ongoing input and kind words!The Muffinlord posted:I was really enjoying the LP up until this point! I don't post much because I don't know anything about these games, but I'm loving the art style and the characters all have clearly defined identities beyond just being some archetype. I may have to throw a couple shekels the developer's way and pick them up myself. I should point out that Wadjet Eye Games have several other games besides the Blackwell games. I haven't actually ever played any of them so I don't know if they're any good, but Gemini Rue received several awards when it was released in 2011. From memory TheDarkID did an LP of that too, though I never followed it to see if it was any good, or if he finished it. EagerSleeper posted:Cmndstab, thanks for let's playing this game. I've seen theDarkId's thread of this game a while back, and I also went through the the second and third one. I won't be able to join the speculation, but I do want to say that I love that you've put details from creator interviews here. I hardly know a thing about the development of this game or New York so I'm learning new things here. Thanks Initially I wasn't intending to namedrop Dave Gilbert so often, but I've always found indie game development such a fascinating process so it just comes naturally.The fourth game is the longest of all of them, so you'll have plenty of time to enjoy some speculation once we arrive there. Let me just give a big thank you to the readers of this LP so far for having gone through almost all of Legacy without giving away a single spoiler, I think it's really added to this thread. We're only three updates from finishing Legacy now, and let me tell you, they are three pretty crazy-rear end updates. I'll get the next one up later on today.
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Oct 9, 2013 01:45
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I was going to guess that most of the ghosts in this series are a result of bad juju sticking them to our world, but I don't think that's likely. Since I'm guessing this game has more than just one ghost to save, I would guess you'll be releasing the Deacon at some point in the near future.
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Oct 9, 2013 01:55
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"Bad juju" is no less handwavey an explanation than Joey's "their little spirit minds snapped!" explanation as far as I'm concerned. What isn't really clear here is what happened to JoAnn? Presumably she had a very similar experience to Alli, but somehow Brittany dorm hall comes up clear on the ghostometer while Alli bops around in the dog run.
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Oct 9, 2013 09:14
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cmndstab posted:"Bad juju" is no less handwavey an explanation than Joey's "their little spirit minds snapped!" explanation as far as I'm concerned. I meant specifically situations arising from stuff like the Ouija board being used. "Oh no, I went to a haunted house!" "Oh no, I mistakenly made a deal with a swarthy man in a black suit!" "Oh no, <something supernatural>!" That sort of thing.
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Oct 9, 2013 11:38
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I figure other supernatural elements will play a role at some point, because unresolved issues every time would get boring fast, but we don't really know enough about this case yet to make an informed judgment.
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Oct 9, 2013 12:03
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Never played this before. I love how the game picks up speed pretty quickly after the introduction of Joey. I also can't get enough of the soundtrack.  Looking forward to seeing what happens next!
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Oct 9, 2013 12:08
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That Discworld game the developer mentioned was probably Discworld Noir, where you play as Lewton, the Disc's first and only Private Detective as he is given a missing person case by a mysterious and beautiful woman. I liked it.
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Oct 9, 2013 12:44
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Jeabus Mahogany posted:That Discworld game the developer mentioned was probably Discworld Noir, where you play as Lewton, the Disc's first and only Private Detective as he is given a missing person case by a mysterious and beautiful woman. From memory, I think you're right. I never played any of the Discworld games so I wasn't sure. Snugglecakes posted:Never played this before. I love how the game picks up speed pretty quickly after the introduction of Joey. I also can't get enough of the soundtrack. Hey, glad you're enjoying the soundtrack! In my opinion the soundtrack in Legacy is decent without standing out, but the later games hit higher peaks. Just getting the latest update set up - should be up soon! cmndstab fucked around with this message at 13:58 on Oct 9, 2013 |
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Oct 9, 2013 13:49
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Update 9 Last update, Rosa had just finished speaking with Susan, and had walked out of her room to see that sun had set. It's not exactly obvious, but the next step for Rosa to take is to immediately spin on her heels and go straight back into Susan's room. Storm  I know that Storm isn't the proper song for Susan's room, but we've heard Hospital Clocks enough and, frankly, it's a pretty boring track. So we're going to listen to this weird (and oddly catchy!) country midi mishmash instead. Besides, "storm's coming" is a fairly prescient lyric, because oh boy is some crazy poo poo about to go down over the next few updates. Hi! It's good to see you again."Hey, you too, Susan! It must have been at least 90 seconds since we last spoke!" How are you now Susan? Better. It's nice to know I'm not crazy.Yeah, that's a good feeling.This dialogue is interesting, because Rosa understands exactly what it feels like to think you're crazy before discovering you're simply a victim of supernatural forces... but she can't actually explain that to Susan, who is probably wondering why Rosa thinks she can empathise with her situation. It's just... these drugs. The meds help keep the Deacon's voice low... and that's good. But they also cause water retention, and I have to take a diuretic pill to fix that... Now that I know I'm just haunted and not really crazy, I don't see why I have to take it. I don't care if I retain water and get fat. I just want to stop peeing! Is she for real?Joey can't tell whether he finds this amusing or disturbing. Thing is, if Susan really is "just" haunted, but the drugs are keeping the Deacon away anyway, surely she'd want to stay on them? I've been palming the pills. Is that bad?I can't answer that. Well, I was hoping you could do me a favor.What?Oh man, here comes another criminal act... Can you take the pills out of here? I'm scared the orderly will find them. Pleease?Fine. Give them to me. Thanks so much.Hey, no problem at all. Medical fraud is one of Rosa's hobbies! Between trespassing on the dog run, stealing JoAnn's diary, committing journalistic fraud by publishing Adrian's name against his stated wishes, and now stealing medication from the hospital (while stealing Alexander's identity no less), Rosa has probably used up her quota of criminal acts for one game. She won't do anything else illegal from now on, I'm sure.  Just kidding!! Rosa is about to do something much worse than any of the above. I'm not even exaggerating here. Nishanthi's Theme   Come in. Come in. I...It's all right. Don't worry about it.Nishanthi is busy washing up in the kitchen, while Moti sits out in the living room. Before we proceed here, let me try to paint the picture of what's about to happen here, and why. So, we know from that Susan that Alli is a dog lover. And we know from Joey that bringing objects or people of emotional significance to a lost spirit often helps jolt them into recognising their own death, a necessary step in allowing them to move on. So the next step is to bring a dog to Alli's ghost. Thing is, Rosa only knows one dog, and that's Moti. I guess Joey just can't wait until the pet shops open up the following day or something. But she can't simply take the dog without Nishanthi knowing, and it's too late at night to offer to take Moti for a walk. Unless...  What if Moti were to, say, suddenly need to go for a walk to relieve himself? What if the dog really needed to answer nature's call badly, but Nishanthi was too busy washing the dishes to take him herself, and for some Godforsaken reason didn't have a place for Moti to relieve himself in her upper-floor apartment? Then Rosa could generously offer to take Moti for a walk, like a kindly neighbour. Only one problem - Moti doesn't need to go at the moment. So Rosa's feverish brain concocts a horrifying, exceptionally dangerous solution! OK. I put the pills in the dog biscuit.Come on Rosa, you're not really going to do this, surely?  Jesus Christ, Rosa!!   So Rosa drugs Nishanthi's dog with a human dose of diuretic pills, and it apparently has an almost immediate effect, with Moti pelting over to scratch and whine at the door. Rosa is so getting taken off Nishanthi's Christmas card list for this. Oh, Moti. Now? I just took you out an hour ago. Well, you're going to have to wait. I have my hands totally full. Unless... Rosa, would YOU mind taking Moti for a walk? If you're going to be friends, this is a good opportunity for you to bond.Oh, SURE! I don't mind at all. Thank you so much. Moti gets cranky when he doesn't get his way. Just take him to the park until he goes. It shouldn't take long.Right. Here you go, boy.I took the liberty of researching this, by heading to that font of wisdom, Yahoo! Answers, and it seems the general consensus is not to feed a 10 pound dog a diuretic designed for a person more than ten times its size. Who knew, hey? This whole puzzle is actually quite frustrating, because the diuretic pill is the only object in the entire game that Rosa can combine with other objects. You can't even try to combine the biscuit with the pill, it has to be combining the pill with the biscuit. If you are a season Adventure Gamer, you are likely to notice that the combining objects mechanic is not included early on and simply stop trying. And it's not as though the "drug Moti for fun and profit" solution is hinted at anywhere in-game. Overall this is up there with the worst couple of puzzles in the series.  Even Joey is a bit taken aback by Rosa's approach this situation. It's only a mild diuretic. It won't hurt him. And you're the one in such a drat hurry. All right. Point taken.Hahaha, I love how they just quickly dismiss it. This was one of those puzzles that Gilbert revisited later when he did the remake and thought, "holy poo poo, what did I write?" He was apparently tempted to leave it out in the remake but figured, what the hell, it's already been done and he didn't get shut down before. Washington Square Night  Alright, let's just get this over with. Presumably Moti either squirts his insides out on the way over, or just decides he doesn't need to go after all, because we never see it happen. Instead, Joey heads back up to Alli with all his usual charm. It's me again. Are... are you him? No, I'm not. But I've brought some friends. Say hi to the kid, sweetheart.Um, hi. I don't think she wants to see me. Hahaha, Rosa's awkwardness is at it's absolute peak in this sequence Go on, kid. Tell Alli how much you want to see her.Um, yeah sure. Great to meet you. See? I don't believe you.Rosa is still kinda creeped out by Alli, I think. It doesn't matter if you believe me or not. She needs your help. Help? See the dog over there? The Boston Terrier? Good, good! You know your breeds. This Boston Terrier is not feeling too well.I WONDER IF THAT'S BECAUSE YOU TWO loving DRUGGED IT, PERHAPS?  I... yes! Yes I can! I know a lot about dogs. So we heard. That's why we came to you. But... they won't let me help them. They always run away. This one won't. Go on. The dog needs you.Come to think of it, why isn't the dog running away or barking like mad? I thought that's what happened in the past when they got near the dog run? I guess he's calmed by Rosa, who he has apparently taken an ill-advised liking to. Or maybe the diuretics are acting as a sedative?  Um, yeah. Sort of."I certainly didn't drug or kidnap him or anything. Really." Hi, little guy. What's your name? Moti responds with a friendly little yap to Alli's question. Heh. Right. Aren't you the cutest thing? Hm. Your ears look okay. No sign of inflammation. Now I'm just going to open your mouth... ... That's odd. I don't feel any breath.Here it comes...  I... Alli's ghostly form starts to flicker and waver as the sound of a ghostly wind rustles through Washington Square Park. This visual/aural effect is used for the rest of the series, whenever a ghost has become aware of its nature. When Alli mutters "oh" afterwards, her voice has lost it's echo, and she sounds more or less like a normal person. This is also maintained throughout the series. I'm sorry. I remember. I'm dead. Yep. I killed myself. I had no choice.Only two things left to do now - find out as much as possible about what happened in case it helps other ghosts, and then send Alli on her way. Can you tell us what happened? A Ouija board. We thought it would be fun. And you called something. Yes! He called himself the Deacon. It's... kinda hazy now, but I remember his voice in my head. Screaming.That matches up with Susan's description, and JoAnn's notebook. What did he say? I don't know. It didn't make any sense. I tried ignoring him, but he just got louder and louder until I took the pills and... Shhh. It's over now.Alli is starting to get worked up here, so Joey decides to let her rest. I know. So what now? Now? Now we're going to send you where you need to go. Time for Joey's magical tie to do it's work. He hands one end to Alli, and the other end to Rosa. You ready?I guess so. Good. Now pull. Rosa pulls the tie, and Alli hurtles straight into Rosa's skull and into Nodespace. Moti is suitably concerned about Rosa collapsing, eliciting an amusing response from Joey. Ow. ...Rosa tumbling face-first through the portal to Nodespace is another constant that will be maintained through the series. Alli is Saved  Pulling herself up, Rosa goes to speak with Alli, who is staring in wonder at the Universe. Yeah, hi!Alli sounds much brighter in here, almost happy. I'm not sure if we've met. I'm Rosangela. I know! You brought the dog to me. You brought me back to my senses. And then you brought me here! Thanks so much!"No problem. And, hey, there's at least a 50/50 chance the dog will be joining you soon enough!" So, are you ready to... well... you know. Am I ready to die?Well, yeah. Sorry, I'm kinda new at this.Hahaha, I love how Rosa manages to come across as the awkward one here Alli is a champ about it, though. That's okay. I'm going to make it easy for you. Just tell me what to do.Just head towards that light. The light. Right. Like every cliche in the book.Alli starts to take off, then stops and turns back.  Rosa, of course, has no idea, so she can choose from three responses. She can either be positive: Sure you will. Fantastic. Uncertain: I'm not sure it works like that, but anything is possible. Well, either way I'm glad this is over.Or just kind of ambiguous: I'm sure you'll find... whatever it is you want to find. Yeah, I suppose you're right.Alli has one last concern before she heads off into the great unknown. And hey, you'll make sure Susan's okay, right?Sure. Well, here goes. See ya! With that, Alli swirls off to the next plane of existence, leaving Rosa to ponder what she has just witnessed. ... See ya.With that, Rosa turns and heads out of the portal.  You're awake. That didn't take too long. She just... went. She seemed happy about it.Rosa seems unsure how to feel about what she's just witnessed here. Yeah. Sometimes you'll get easy ones. The ones who are all too happy to move on. Others, well, you'll see. Anyway, let's get this dog back before your neighbor calls the police. Our work is not over yet.Actually, the length of time here hasn't been that unreasonable. Of course, they'd better hope Moti doesn't show any kind of symptoms throughout the night...  Just a minute! Oh, there you are. I was just about to go to bed. I'm sorry we took so long... Not to worry. Did you have fun, Moti? Did you have fun?Moti yaps back, presumably trying to warn Nishanthi that her neighbour is a canine drug dealer, but Nishanthi misinterprets it as happiness. Of course! Well, good night, Rosa. Thanks again for helping me out.Yeah, "helping" is one word for it.  You're a ghost who has been haunting a family for five decades, and Rosa just drugged her neighbour's dog. Nishanthi is the least strange one here by a country mile. In the next update, we'll head back to Bellevue to see Susan one last time, and try to figure out what to do about this Deacon situation. Today's update may have been pretty out there, but believe me when I promise you that Legacy hasn't peaked in that regard yet! cmndstab fucked around with this message at 09:25 on Jun 27, 2014 |
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Oct 9, 2013 14:17
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I think part of the reason the LP's not gettin' so many comments is that you're so gosh-darn quick, cmdstab! Still, it's fun to see it, you're doing a good job, and I'm loving it! Also, for those who are on the fence about buying the games for yourselves (there's apparently a final one out soonish!), the voice actor for Joey, Abe Goldfarb, is a god-drat star, and seemingly a nice bloke too!
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Oct 9, 2013 16:27
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You are seriously posting at an insane pace. I love it! These games have some genuinely chilling moments, and I'm looking forward to the later games in the series.
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Oct 9, 2013 16:50
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This game is fun to follow in this format, but I'd never play it myself. You're doing an awesome job though.
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Oct 9, 2013 16:55
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cmndstab posted:This whole puzzle is actually quite frustrating, because the diuretic pill is the only object in the entire game that Rosa can combine with other objects. You can't even try to combine the biscuit with the pill, it has to be combining the pill with the biscuit. If you are a season Adventure Gamer, you are likely to notice that the combining objects mechanic is not included early on and simply stop trying. And it's not as though the "drug Moti for fun and profit" solution is hinted at anywhere in-game. Overall this is up there with the worst couple of puzzles in the series.
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Oct 9, 2013 19:34
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xedo posted:You are seriously posting at an insane pace. I love it! These games have some genuinely chilling moments, and I'm looking forward to the later games in the series. JamieTheD posted:I think part of the reason the LP's not gettin' so many comments is that you're so gosh-darn quick, cmdstab! Still, it's fun to see it, you're doing a good job, and I'm loving it! Also, for those who are on the fence about buying the games for yourselves (there's apparently a final one out soonish!), the voice actor for Joey, Abe Goldfarb, is a god-drat star, and seemingly a nice bloke too! Yeah, I guess the "substantial update once per day" model is a bit of a double-edged sword in that regard, but I'm glad you guys are enjoying it Still, even at the current pace, this thread will last a good six weeks or so so I figure there is plenty of time for people to get on board. And the rate of commenting has picked up over the last few updates, which I really appreciate.Oh, and yes, Abe Goldfarb does a seriously excellent job of playing Joey. I intend to stop and take a very brief look at the various voice actors at the end of this game. Wentley posted:This game is fun to follow in this format, but I'd never play it myself. You're doing an awesome job though. Those are the best kinds of games for LPs; ones with interesting stories and dialogue, but not necessarily that engaging to play. I should say though, Legacy plays relatively well. The occasional retarded puzzle, but overall it feels pretty tight. I guess that's one of the benefits of writing the game within a propriety engine. Cardiovorax posted:Yeah, this is absolutely retarded, not just because of how absurd and adventure-game-logic-y the puzzle is but also for the stupidly specific way in which you need to solve it. What the hell, Wadjet Games. It's pretty clear that this puzzle was designed well before Gilbert decided to not allow Rosa to combine objects together. The thing is, it's obvious that the functionality is there, since it works for the pill, so presumably he specifically prevented all others from being able to be combined. The games are pretty good at hinting at what should be done next as the series progresses, with Joey often acting as a free clue dispenser. Not so here, though. This puzzle took me a few sittings to figure out the first time I played the game.
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Oct 10, 2013 00:42
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Really liking the LP. I hope we meet the Deacon soon, since clearly his current method of "let's just whine at college girls" is clearly not serving his intended purpose of getting transported back where he belongs. Are there any good close-ups of Joey's sprite in the manual/supporting info/etc? I'm wondering about the whole "cut off at the knees" thing he's got going on.
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Oct 10, 2013 02:34
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Probably the best full-body image of Joey is from the poster art for the third game, Blackwell Convergence: Judging by the one other ghost we've seen so far, apparently they all are missing the bottom 10% or so of their body/clothes. It's a pretty nice stylistic choice, actually. As for the Deacon, believe me, he's not far away.
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Oct 10, 2013 04:06
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cmndstab posted:As for the Deacon, believe me, he's not far away. Don't look behind you...
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Oct 10, 2013 05:21
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Update 10 So last time, Rosa drugged a dog in order to send a ghost to the next plane of existence. That was pretty wacky, but Legacy has an even wackier surprise in store for us by the end of this game! Before we start working towards that, however, Rosa wants to chat with Joey and get a bit more backstory. Rosa's Theme  Yes, darling? Can you tell me more about Auntie Lauren? I guess. What do you want to know?With Joey seeming to warm towards Rosa a bit, Rosa is suddenly unsure what to ask. I don't know... um, tell me about a case you went on. Hm. It was a long time ago, but I do remember one. There was this brownstone, down in Brooklyn. One of those fancy houses that got converted into apartments. The residents kept complaining of weird noises and bad dreams. Your aunt and I heard about it and went over there. Turns out these two little boys had been locked in a basement closet, over thirty years beforehand. The door was paved over. Nobody knew it was even there. Those two little ghosts had been crying in the dark for thirty years, until we came along. That's... horrible. Yeah, that was a messy one.Thirty years That's pretty awful. How did you save them? We did some snooping. Found the grandmother. Brought her to the house. The boys calmed down, and we took care of the rest. So you saved them? Yeah. We had no choice, did we?Good thing it wasn't any longer than thirty years, or the grandmother could have been dead herself. I can see why this kind of thing could be fairly rewarding for Joey.  Next up, Rosa points out the Brooklyn Bridge photo. Picture? Yeah. The one on the TV. Oh, the Brooklyn Bridge picture. You don't remember? I was five years old. Right. Right. You tend to forget stuff like that, when you're... well. When you're me.It's a neat little character concept that Joey has a blind spot for aging, since he's probably spent more time dead than alive. So what about the picture? Oh. It was just one of your Aunt's little field trips. One of many, I hasten to add. He still sounds fairly bitter here, but not nearly as much as he did about Patricia. Really. Yeah. I knew it was a bad idea.Why's that? Just leave it.But- Shut your mouth, kid. You're attracting flies. We'll talk about this later, maybe.Just as quickly, however, he gets sick of talking about it and fobs Rosa off. This is actually as much as we'll get out of Joey regarding Lauren until the endgame sequence, so for now let's talk about Patricia instead.  I'll be frank, kid. She might have hated me, but I hated her even more. Hated her. The whole seven months I was with her, she spent the whole time pretending I wasn't there. Can you believe that?You're hard to ignore, Joey.The timeline doesn't really match up here. Joey was with Patricia for a hell of a lot longer than seven months. I guess perhaps he doesn't consider the time she spent being treated for dementia as "time with her." Or maybe something happened in the interim? I'd say most likely this is just a little plot hole. Pff. Tell me about it. And I did everything I could to get her attention. I'd yell in her ear. I'd get right up in her face. She knew I was there, and I KNEW she knew. But she just ignored me all the same.Well you can hardly blame her. Don't lecture me, dollface. I did what I had to.Joey gets really worked up here. He's still pissed about what happened over four decades ago. Rosa keeps pushing him on it. Had to? You could have- Could have done what? Look, I'm done talking about that old bat.You're not getting out of it that easy, Joey! Rosa can keep prodding him further. Can we talk about my grandmother more? Don't you let up?You destroyed her life! Yeah yeah. I got enough of that from your aunt.Hey-This is getting a bit tense now...  You Blackwells and your goddamn self-pity. All I heard is "Poor us. Poor us." I'm sick of it. Ever think about what it was like for me? One minute I was breathing, and the next - pow! - dead. I was a ghost. Forced to haunt a complete stranger. I had no idea what was going on. You'd think that Someone Up There would have told me what to do, but no. I was dead, cold, alone, and scared out of my mind. Nobody could see me. Nobody could hear me. Nobody except old Pattycakes Blackwell, and she didn't want to admit I was there. So don't you dare lecture me, sweetheart. You don't know from nothing.I- Forget it. Let's just concentrate on the case.Finally Joey lets loose about the time after his death. It all sounds like it was pretty drat confusing. Rosa and Joey won't talk about the issue with each other any further at this point, preferring to leave the argument unfinished for now. Storm  Alright, with that bit of backstory dealt with, it's time to work on coming face to face with this Deacon character. Rosa and Joey arrive back at Bellevue, but it's just shutting up for the night. Oh well. Looks like we have to wait until tomorrow. No can do, toots. Remember what she said? The Deacon comes to her at night, when she's SLEEPING. Waiting until tomorrow won't do us any good.What, you think we can just waltz right into Susan's room? Sure.How? Improvise, sweetheart. That's what this gig is all about.I love the way Joey's solution to everything is "how about you just break and enter?" While we're here, we should talk to Joey about the radio he floated near earlier. Joey, what happened with that radio? What do you mean?When you got near the radio. The signal got interupted. Was that you? Yeah.How do you do it? No idea. Although your aunt never let me get near the TV during "Days of our Lives." I'm sure there's some scientific explanation, but I have no way of knowing and, frankly, who the heck could we ask?This is the game's hand-wavey explanation for another of Joey's "abilities" - he can disrupt airborne waves, which in later titles will include telephone signals and wireless modems.  Rosa figures that perhaps she can just talk her way back in again. It's not that inconceivable considering the guard bought her painfully obvious lies last time. Visiting hours are over, miss. She's probably sleeping by now.About Susan Lee... I TOLD you. Visiting hours are over.It will only take a few minutes... Sorry, miss. Rules are rules. Nobody gets in past visiting hours. Nobody.Rosa can continue pestering the guard. Please can't I go past? ... Oh jeez. I told you. Visiting hours are over, miss.I'll admit it, I get a kick out of Rosa's earnestness in continuing to try here She can try to sneak past:Hey, what's that behind you? Just the duty roster. I'm on double shifts this week.She can try to threaten the security guard: Look, you'd better let me pass, or... Or what? You'll keep glaring at me? Forget it, miss. Don't threaten me again, or I'll have you escorted out.And hilariously, she can even try to seduce the security guard: Uh, you're kinda cute. I will never, ever, get tired of Rosa's grin I love the way the security guard has his head in his palm here. I'm flattered, miss, but I'm gay.Oh! I'm sorry.Hahahaha. Beautiful.  Rosa returns to the fusebox she scouted out near the beginning of the game. Perhaps if she can short out the power, she'll be able to sneak past the security guard. Judging by the flickering lights, it must be broken. You need a key to open it. Some small keys. One of them is labelled "F.B.", I assume that means fusebox.Of course, Rosa can't simply take the keys, or the security guard notices her and asks what she wants.  The solution, of course, is to have Joey disrupt the radio signal, and while the security guard fiddles with the antenna, Rosa swipes the key for the fusebox. I could probably do something with this.You sure could, Rosa!  Rosa waltzes on over to the fusebox, and shorts the power out, alerting the security guard. The music stays on at this point, so presumably that radio is battery-powered. Now you've done it. You'd better find a place to hide, quick. You'd better leave, miss. I can't be held liable for your safety until the lights are repaired. I'll get the elevator for you.Rosa has only seconds to find a good place to hide, or else she is discovered by the security guard, who is somehow not even slightly suspicious that the only visitor in the hospital is hanging around the open fusebox right after the lights have gone off.  Continuing to prove he is the worst security guard ever, Rosa is able to continue re-entering the hospital and shorting out power, getting caught each time without repercussion, until she finally succeeds in hiding. It doesn't look obvious that this nook is a good hiding spot in this screenshot, but when Rosa steps in here she gets a bit darker, as though she is obscured in shadow. I guess that emergency exit light doesn't go around the little corner here.  As the security guard switches the power back on for the tenth or so time, Rosa sneaks down the hallway to Susan's room.  All is quiet as Rosa and Joey sneak into Susan's ward. I guess the power buzzing on and off didn't wake her up. She's asleep. Yeah. Like a baby. It won't be long.Before what? The Deacon's Theme  With a flash and some noxious vapers, a hideous being oozes in from the mirror and takes a ghostly form, pausing only to sip from a flask before floating on over to Susan. This, presumably, is the infamous Deacon.  Please? Please! Can't you help me? Please? I don't know what to do! I don't wanna burn! Please...Straight away, he starts pleading out loud in a panicked voice.  Please! You can't hear me here, but you can hear me in your dreams. Please! Wake up and help me!I was kind of expecting something more sinister, but this dude seems more frightened than anything else. It's out there. Watching. Waiting. Susan. Susan. You called me. You can help me.At this point, Joey decides to speak up. Ahem. Ignore them, Susan. Listen to me. Help me. Please. Hey! I'm talking to YOU, clown shoes! ... Presumably the Deacon is used to everyone else not being able to see him, so he is understandably surprised when Joey addresses him. Yeah. So can you calm down long enough to tell me what the hell's going on? I... can't! You're like me! What do you mean? Dead, like me!This immediately sets the Deacon apart from other ghosts we will encounter in these games - he is well aware of his own death. Joey immediately recognises this as the rarity is is. Wait a minute. Just a god drat minute. You know you're dead? Yes! Well that certainly saves time. We can help you. Joey whips off his tie and offers it to the Deacon. With any luck, we can help him move on and he'll leave Susan alone. However, the Deacon is having none of it, and recoils in horror. No! Get that away from me! What the hell is wrong with you? You need saving. We're here to save you. What's the problem? I can't! What are you so scared of? You're stuck, right? We can help you move on. No! I don't want to!The Deacon somehow knows what the tie does, and he wants no part of it whatsoever. You don't... want to? No. I... I'm afraid! Oh, you're afraid, are you? Joey is getting more and more pissed here. Rosa tries to take over for a while... What do you want? Safety! Sanctuary. It's following me. Waiting. Watching. Trying to take me! But it hasn't caught me yet. Not yet....but Joey isn't interested in backing down. Yeah, whatever. This guy's off his nut. Let me handle this, babydoll. I know how to speak to spooks like this.What hasn't caught you? It! It! I see it everywhere. In every shadow. In every corner. Why is it after me? Why?! The soft touch ain't gonna cut it, sweetheart. You're too green. Let me show you how it's done.Rosa wants to try one more time, though. Who is after you? It! It! Haven't you ever seen it? Forget it, kid. He isn't listening. We're wasting our time. He knows he's dead. We don't need kid gloves to handle this. Let me take over.At this point, there are two possible options - Rosa can either continue trying to help the Deacon, or she can let Joey take over. Technically, having Rosa succeed in dealing with the Deacon is the "good" outcome, and if she fails at it too often Joey just forces his way in and deals with it himself. For the sake of this LP, we'll let Joey handle it today, and I'll show Rosa's method of dealing with the Deacon in tomorrow's update. Sure. Do it your way.Joey at this point gets right in the Deacon's face, full of piss and vinegar. All right, Mac. Spill. You've scared these girls literally to death, and I wanna know why. What are you so afraid of? I... I don't want to burn! Burn? Oh, I get it. You think you're going to Hell.So this is why the Deacon has been pleading for help, and why he doesn't want to move on. Makes sense, I guess. Joey, however, is not impressed.  The devil himself. He told me! Please don't make me go! You're scared of the devil, huh? Yes! Yeah, well. I don't see any devil. There's just you and me. And you know what? Joey decides to let force and intimidation do the talking for him, grabbing the Deacon by the scruff of his neck. Hey! I've been doing this for forty years, bucko. Every ghost I meet goes to their final rest. One way or the other. You're scared? I don't give a rat's rear end. Two people are dead because of you. So take the drat tie and let's get this over with. No! You can't make me! Don't make me burn. Please! Not one to be deterred, Joey socks him in the stomach. Hurts, don't it? How..? Ghosts aren't supposed to feel pain, but I've learned some tricks. Now take the drat tie!By this point Joey is practically yelling through his teeth, much to the chagrin of Rosa. Joey, stop it! Kid, stay out of this. This is between me and the spook. So are we gonna do this the easy way? Or the hard way? Please! No! What are you gonna do to me? Please don't make it get me! I don't want to go to Hell! Joey isn't taking any poo poo though, and socks him another one. Hell. Shmell. You wanna stop talking crap? Hey! Stop! Let me talk to him, okay?Whenever Rosa interjects, we can switch back to letting Rosa handle things if we like, though she now has less chances to get it right, having already "used" a couple up by letting Joey smack the Deacon around. But let's stick with Joey for now. I don't believe in Hell, buddy. But you have two choices. The slight possibility of an eternal torture in Hell. Or the dead certainty of an eternal torture by ME. But... you can't! Sure I can. You gonna stop me? I... Joey is seriously intimidating here. He's beating the poo poo out of the Deacon. You're hurting him, Joey. Yeah, that's the idea. You got any better ones? Let me talk to him.Rosa again offers to take over, but we'll turn her down again.  Joey continues his physical assault on the Deacon, punching him several times and only stopping to ask if he's had enough. Well? Fine! Just stop hurting me, please! Good boy. Take the tie. Rosa is not at all pleased about what she's seen here, but Joey is too angry to listen to her. This WHAT? It got the job done, didn't it? Now yank this loser out of here so we can go home.Fine. Rosa pulls the tie, and as usual ends up flat on her face in Nodespace. The Deacon is NOT happy to be here. I don't want to do this! Please, send me back!I don't think that's possible. He forced me here. I... JESUS gently caress HOLY poo poo NO! I told you! There's no escape!What is THAT?A giant loving demon, or possibly even the actual devil, appears out of loving nowhere I guess Joey's "slight chance" has just paid out. Rosa immediately tries to hightail it out of here, but the portal vanishes behind her. This is turning into a seriously bad evening. So now the goddamn devil himself has crashed the party and wants the Deacon's soul. Better hope he wasn't watching when Rosa drugged Moti earlier or he may be leaving with two for the price of one! How will Rosa handle this situation? See you all tomorrow for the final update of Legacy! cmndstab fucked around with this message at 09:27 on Jun 27, 2014 |
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Oct 10, 2013 15:28
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Nice time to discover the thread and end up with this cliffhanger... So, is this a "you get what you believe you deserve" kind of deal? Because Alli didn't meet any demon, and last I checked suicide was pretty high in the list of sins in the big three (Islam, Christianity and Judaism). Fat Samurai fucked around with this message at 16:09 on Oct 10, 2013 |
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Oct 10, 2013 16:07
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I think it works a bit differently than that. Well, I know it works differently as I know how this game ends, but I'm not telling.
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Oct 10, 2013 16:42
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Nice suit. Encourages trespassing, theft, and drug running. Gut-punches people as a standard intimidation tactic. Named "Joey". The evidence is pretty clear: Our ghost was an Italian Mafia boss prior to his death.
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Oct 11, 2013 00:07
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 The devil is inside Rosa's head. She is going to go crazy, isn't she? 
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Oct 11, 2013 00:42
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Snugglecakes posted:
Naaah, she's already had to deal with incompetent quacks, ghosts of all stripes, and the fact that the one person she's racked up the nerve to come on to (even if it was to get some keys) turned out to be gay. She'll deal.
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Oct 11, 2013 00:46
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Fat Samurai posted:Nice time to discover the thread and end up with this cliffhanger... grandalt posted:I think it works a bit differently than that. Well, I know it works differently as I know how this game ends, but I'm not telling. Perhaps the powers that be figured that being haunted by a loud pleading ghost who never shuts up is a sufficient excuse for suicide? MagusofStars posted:Nice suit. Encourages trespassing, theft, and drug running. Gut-punches people as a standard intimidation tactic. Named "Joey". Hahahahaha, this theory is as good as any The grizzled detective front is just part of his cover story, see?Snugglecakes posted:
JamieTheD posted:Naaah, she's already had to deal with incompetent quacks, ghosts of all stripes, and the fact that the one person she's racked up the nerve to come on to (even if it was to get some keys) turned out to be gay. She'll deal. Either that or she's already gone crazy, probably after her first visit to Quentin. The only realistic ending to Legacy would be Rosa waking up strapped to a gurney with Doc Quentin wheeling her into a padded room after she went crazy in his office and started babbling about saving ghosts and drugging dogs.
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Oct 11, 2013 03:36
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Update 11 So last update Joey beat the gently caress out of a ghost and then sent him off to be confronted by the devil. Just beautiful Before we continue on with that, let's see what would have happened if Rosa had decided to handle the Deacon instead. The Deacon's Theme  You wanna handle this? Go right ahead. Let's see you do any better.Rosa now has a chance to reason with the Deacon, to get him to move on willingly. You've killed two people! Almost killed a third! Doesn't that mean anything to you? They called ME! Why would they call me, if they couldn't help me?You can't keep going on like this. It's better than burning!However, the Deacon is fairly hard-headed. Mind you, I can't really blame him after seeing the devil appear last update Rosa, of course, has no idea about that, and figures that sending the Deacon on his way is probably going to be perfectly safe. I know a safe place. You can hide there. Really? Where is it?Not far. But you'll have to trust us. Trust you? Why should I trust you?At this point, Rosa has three choices. She can claim to be an authority: Because we know what we're doing. Know? Know?! What do you know?! You know nothing! You're going to make me burn!But the Deacon immediately recognises that as bullshit. Rosa can also try to play on the Deacon's guilt. Because we don't want you to kill anyone else. They weren't my fault! They just wouldn't listen to me! Why don't they want to help me?! Nobody wants to help me. You're a liar.But that doesn't go so well either. Each time Rosa makes the wrong choice, Joey jumps back in and starts pounding the guy. Finally, Rosa hits on the right choice of words. Because nobody else has offered to help you before. Right? Yeah?You ask and ask for help but nobody answers, right? No. Nobody answers!Well we have. We're gonna help you. Has anybody else said the same?This argument seems to penetrate the Deacon's defences. No they haven't! I think... Ooh, I'm so tired of running. If you say you can help me, I believe you. What needs to be done?Just listen to my friend. Joey grudgingly offers up the tie without laying in any more fists, and with that, the Deacon zooms off into Nodespace. ... I can't believe she pulled that off.The game actually gives you an achievement for having Rosa succeed here. In the later games there will be plenty of achievements sprinkled throughout, often for quite amusing things.  This time around, the Deacon is actually pretty calm when he enters Nodespace. I feel... safe!Are you ready? Yes, I really think so. It's really nice out here. Almost like... Going Insane  But either way, the devil still comes to gently caress with the Deacon's poo poo. You lied to me!What? It's here! You LIED!And, once again, Rosa finds the portal closed behind her. Joey? Joey! Get me out of here! Stay away! Stay AWAY! There is nowhere to go. You can not return to the mortal world. You can only go through me. Accept the punishment for your sins, and come with me.The Deacon frantically turns to Rosa, begging for help. Help me, please! YOU brought me here! You have to save me! You have to! Fool! No one can save you now. I will give you a moment to prepare for the eternity to come, but then you are mine.Poor Rosa feels obliged to respond.  What is that thing?! It's come to take me to Hell! Just like it always said it would! I... I don't know what to do! I've never done this before! I'm doomed!Rosa can also straight-up deny reality. This is NOT happening! You've got to do something! With nothing else she can do, Rosa starts asking questions. I... don't... know! It haunted my dreams when I was alive, and wouldn't leave me alone after death. And now, there's no place left to run. What are your sins? What have you DONE? I don't know! Please, God, I DON'T KNOW! I didn't mean to kill those people. It's just I've been so SCARED and I don't know WHY! Please help! So what can I do? What does he want? He wants ME. I... I don't know why.The Deacon is seriously losing his poo poo here.  At this point, the Deacon slurps down another hit of whatever is in his flask. What is that in your pocket? My flask?Yeah. What's in it? Nothing. It's just a... force of habit, I guess. Used to keep whiskey in it, when I was alive. After chatting with the Deacon, Rosa decides to start up a conversation with the devil himself. Converse with me not. My issue is not with you, but with this wastrel here. I shall give him some time to prepare himself for the eternity to come. But then, he is mine. How did you get here? What is "here"? It is but an abstract concept, to one such as I. I move at the power of thought. At the speed of death. Once my business is concluded, I shall trouble you no more.Oh geez, apparently the devil is all abstract and stuff. An interesting point on the devil - Gilbert himself did the voice acting, by playing around with various audio filters. Gilbert would continue voicing roles in later games, but unfortunately has a very distinctive (and kind of nerdy) voice, making his characters stand out, particularly among an ever-more-professional cast of voice actors in the later games. Rosa decides to push the issue a bit further. Why are you after this man? For his sins. All this time, he has not renounced them. Even after many years of death, he still carries them with him. Can't you just let him go? He has killed many with his madness. His sins weigh him down even as we speak. Ask yourself, does he deserve mercy? Rosa can actually choose whether she feels the Deacon deserves mercy, though it has no impact on the game itself. If she chooses to say yes, her heart isn't really in it: Yes? You may think so, but your heart does not believe it. You have witnessed the results of his actions with your own eyes.Of course, if she says no, the Deacon is horrified at her: No, you might be right. WHAT? She speaks wisdom, worm. You are totally without redemption, and you know it. Collect yourself, for the time comes near. There are actually two possible endings here. If Rosa just kinda futzes around and doesn't help, the devil will periodically clench his fist, which prompts panicky screams from the Deacon. Please! Help! If Rosa continues waiting too long, or is too slow at figuring out what to do, the devil finally decides to take action. The time has come. No! NO! I'm sorry.This is pretty drat terrifying.  The devil clenches his fist, and the Deacon's soul dissolves away to the sound of a distorted scream. Heed the Deacon's lesson well. For he brought it upon himself. Go, now. And forget not what you've seen here. Remember. Actions in life are remembered in death. We shall meet again. The devil then vanishes, leaving a horrified Rosa free to return to reality. But you know what, that's probably a worse fate than anybody deserves. After all, the Deacon seems more confused than murderous. So let's see if we can sort this out properly.  Rosa notices a loose stone here on the ground. In fact, it's been there the whole time, even during her other visits to Nodespace. She pockets it.  Apparently Rosa has been keeping track of clues in her notepad, even inside of her own head with the devil right there next to her. drat, that's dedicated journalism. The solution, of course, is to combine these two clues and recognise that the Deacon's sins and his flask are related. The Deacon is "carrying" his sins... And the Deacon is "carrying" his flask... Could this be... symbolic?Well, let's test out the theory! Get rid of that flask! Huh? Your flask! Get rid of it! My flask? Why? Just do it!But the Deacon doesn't want to get rid of it. But... I can't. Why not? Because... it's my flask! Rosa comes up with a fairly convincing argument. Well... OK.With that, the Deacon takes one last swig and drops the flask to the ground.  But they still taint this place. That isn't enough to save you.Oh, come on. Rosa decides to just grab the flask and chuck it, but is stopped by the devil. Beware, mortal! The sins this man carried with him are still tainting this place. Touch them and they taint YOU, as well. I am content with taking my quarry, but I have no claim on you. Take this man's sins upon yourself, and I shall be forced to take you as well. You do not want that, and neither do I.Apparently the devil is not interested in Rosa's soul. I don't know, I expected this dude to be fairly evil, but he seems more like a middle manager or something here.  The makeshift solution is to shatter the flask with the stone, which causes both to dissolve. The sins have been abolished from this place! Any my claim on the dead one is gone. Move on in peace, and be troubled no more.And once again, the devil just warps away, leaving Rosa and the Deacon alone.  I think so.So apparently whatever the Deacon did was bad enough to have his soul damned for eternity, but someone else shattering his flask absolved him? This cosmic justice thing seems poorly thought-out. He's... gone! I.. I'm free of him. I'm really free! All this time... It's... all so clear to me now. Like my head was full of cobwebs, and now they're gone. I... Opening Menu Theme Suddenly, it dawns on the Deacon what has happened in the last few weeks. All those people who died... They killed themselves. Because of me.Deciding to interject, Rosa can either agree: Yes.Try to comfort the Deacon: It's all right. No, it's not all right.Or, bizarrely, attempt to psychoanalyse him: And what do you think about that? I don't know.He follows up with a sad confession. I didn't know what I was doing... but that doesn't excuse it. I spent most of my life as a drunk, and most of my death as a murderer. I was worried about going to Hell before. Maybe I'm okay with that, now. Jesus Christ dude, don't say that too loud or the loving devil might come back!! For one final time in Legacy, Rosa gets to choose from three responses. I should point out that in future games this is done less often, or is done in such a way that all three responses flow into one conversation, so I will be interrupting the stream of dialogue less often from now on. Firstly, Rosa can be philosophical: Maybe there isn't a Hell. It's too late for that.I don't know, that seems unlikely considering we just had the loving devil appear right in front of us. She can be hopeful: Maybe you can still redeem yourself. Maybe. Eventually. But not right now.Or, perhaps most fittingly, she can continue to psychoanalyse the Deacon: You seem strangely happy about it. I'm just happy to KNOW.The Deacon leaves us with one final glimpse at his backstory. You see, I was a religious man, once. Before disease took my wife away, and I took to the bottle. If I'm going to Hell, maybe I can still spread the word of God there. Do some good, for once. Good bye, and thanks. With a smile, the Deacon spirals off into the light. The portal reappears, and Rosa departs with only a momentary glance back at the Universe behind her.  Back in the real world, Joey is more than a little concerned at how long Rosa has been under. Yeah... yeah. I'm fine. What took you so long?It got... a little complicated."A little complicated?" You call the loving devil showing up "a little complicated?" Rosa is as cool as a cucumber. As far as I'm aware, she never actually tells Joey about the devil, though I guess maybe she mentions it between episodes? Well, I'm just glad you're okay.Let's get out of here. I need some air. I know the perfect place. Ashes  In the game's final scene, Rosa and Joey head back to the Brooklyn Bridge for some final reflections. I have to say, the pixel-art night time cityscape is absolutely gorgeous. This is definitely drawn from a reference photo. The dialogue in the ending sequence is different depending on whether Rosa was able to convince the Deacon to take the tie without Joey beating him into submission, and whether the devil took the Deacon's soul or not. If the devil takes his soul, we get: Scared and confused and I couldn't do anything. Yeah, well who says you had to.I was just so useless in there. He still moved on. We did our bit.I guess.But if we smashed up his flask, we instead get: He's at peace now, I guess. Wherever he is. I saved him, I think. Gave him some hope, at least. He's getting no more than he deserves. No more than any of us deserve.I guess.Then, if Joey punched the Deacon into Nodespace, Rosa follows up with: Did you have to hit him? It was the only way, darling. I didn't see YOU coming up with any bright ideas. Sometimes the best idea is a punch in the gut.Whereas Rosa's solution elicits: I really wish I could have popped him one more time. He really hacked me off.Is that your answer to everything? Don't you start judging me. You managed to pull it off. I'm impressed. I'm just... glad you're okay.The two of them admire the view in silence for a while, before Rosa pipes up with a question she's been wanting to ask for some time.  Yeah?Why did Auntie stop? Stop what?Stop doing this. This ghost saving. Or whatever it is we do. Oh. Ah...Joey pauses slightly before answering.  Me? She wanted to take care of you. Wanted to do it right, she said. Stopped listening to me. Stopped listening to me. Stopped saving the ghosts. Just put all her effort into taking care of you.Wow. Presumably Lauren made this decision after Rosa's parents both died in an accident. It must have been a fairly difficult decision to make. And then she... fell into that weird coma. Yeah.... I see.Rosa mulls the situation over for a while before remarking.  Is there? Ending Credits Theme And with that somewhat ambiguous ending dialogue, the ending screen flashes up:  Rosa's final comments are left to interpretation, with Gilbert saying as much in his commentary. He does, however, indicate that his reading of the dialogue is that Rosa has come to an acceptance that this is her life now, and that she doesn't really have the choice to stop, so she needs to make the best fist of it she can. A credit sequence rolls, where the voice actors are recognised with photographs. After the credits, a final scene is displayed:  There's hundreds of confused spirits out there, sweetheart. And there's nobody else who can help 'em. There's just us. Bestowing eternity on every sob story out there. One lost soul at a time. ... Whether we want to, or not.And with that, the game ends, though not before providing a code to access hidden features. In this game the hidden features are not that exciting, although some of the voice acting outtakes are quite amusing. In the later games (other than the fourth, which has none) the hidden features are interesting enough that I will make a point of looking at them. And so we've finished The Blackwell Legacy! By all means, please let me know what you thought about the game, speculate about what lies ahead (without any spoilers from those in the know!), or just get excited for the second game in the series! A couple of closing remarks of my own. I like The Blackwell Legacy and think it has some great moments, an intriguing setting and two brilliant lead characters, but I also think that as a game, it falls a bit flat, particularly at the end. Rosa's final dialogue, although very much in-character, doesn't really provide a satisfying conclusion. The music, voice acting, and artwork are all quite bipolar, with fantastic moments mixed in with disappointments. It's painfully obvious that this project was an unfunded indie game with a development cycle spanning only a few months. It's kind of telling that one of the best voice acting performances, that of Rosa, is actually a more recent implementation. The original voice actress, Sande Chen, did a reasonable job, but in my opinion was nowhere near as good Rebecca Whittaker, who took on the role after having played Rosa in subsequent games. Amusingly, Whittaker is actually a burlesque dancer who never uses computers, which makes her brilliant rendition of the dorky, awkward Rosa even more impressive. The scene with the Deacon is very odd. The devil showing up out of nowhere is a massive  moment with absolutely no foreshadowing. Gilbert's stated intention was to have the game end on a dramatic moment, but he ended up overshooting the mark in my opinion.Perhaps it's not all Gilbert's fault, however. The character of the Deacon is not entirely his own creation; it was taken from a story told by a famous Manhattan bohemian, who will actually go on to be a feature character in a future game. At the time Legacy was released, Gilbert challenged players to figure out where the inspiration for The Deacon had come from, but as far as I'm aware, nobody did until it was revealed in one of the subsequent games. Still, that's all in the future. For now, we'll stop here. Tomorrow we'll get started on the second game in the series, Blackwell Unbound! Thanks for your support so far, and stay tuned - there's a lot more Blackwell to come!! cmndstab fucked around with this message at 09:28 on Jun 27, 2014 |
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Oct 11, 2013 11:54
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I actually really liked Blackwell Legacy, for all its flaws. Especially Rosa, who definitely grows as a character as the series progresses. Still, the second game gave me a mild disconnect, for reasons which will become clear very quickly.
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Oct 11, 2013 12:04
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Well, that was random. You get a bunch of vaguely spiritistic handwaving and then bam, giant demon out of nowhere. That's certainly the last thing I was expecting at that moment. I'm kind of disappointed about the length, though. I actually bought the bundle to play along just now, and what you can't really tell from the LP is that the whole game can be over in maybe half an hour, if you don't get stuck on some puzzle or another. Makes me think of a short flash game more than a commercial adventure game.
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Oct 11, 2013 12:43
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