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 UPDATE - I am now going to be LPing the fifth game in the series, The Blackwell Epiphany, as well. A short summary of the first four games is included in the update links next post if you want to skip straight to Epiphany.  What is the Blackwell series? The Blackwell series is a collection of, currently, I don't want to give any of the story away in advance, as the slow reveal and strong dialogue is a strength of the series, but loosely speaking the Blackwell series follow the adventures of Rosangela Blackwell, an awkward and kind of goony young journalist whose aunt has recently died after a long battle with a mental disorder. This event ushers a new, supernatural, companion into Rosa's life and turns everything upside down in the process. The games themselves are pretty simple fare, and can be most easily compared to early 90s Lucasarts adventure games. The pixel art is kind of charming in the first couple, and actually quite pretty in the next two games. The puzzles themselves are generally fairly easy (barring a couple of nasty ones) and the games, being episodic in nature, are pretty short. It is the dialogue and the well-crafted story that keeps them interesting. The game is played fairly straight, but is sprinkled liberally both with humour and genuinely touching moments. The games are entirely voice acted, and the acting ranges from very good down to very poor. The early games in particular have some disappointing performances, but fortunately the leads are consistently very strong. The music is also catchy, particularly from the second game forward. The same composer is used for games 2-5 and does a great job. The games tend to have plenty of bonus content, they all come with developer commentary, and I highly recommend them for anyone looking for a bit of a retro adventure gaming experience. The entire series of four is available as The Blackwell Bundle on Steam for $20 at http://store.steampowered.com/sub/13237/, or you can purchase a bundle containing the first three games for $15 on Wadjet Eye's own page. Of course, instead of doing that, you could just watch me play through them instead! In fact, do that. And then buy the games afterwards. How will the LP be handled? I will be doing this game entirely as a screenshot LP. When I think a static image isn't enough, I will use animated GIFs to show off the action. Unfortunately this will not allow you to experience the full voice acting, but it will give me the opportunity to show you the dialogue better. You see, the Blackwell series are quite wordy, and there are often multiple dialogue paths that can be taken. When appropriate, I will show you each of these individually, or try to combine them together whenever possible. I will also be linking to the relevant soundtrack files, which I strongly recommend you listen to. They do a great job of setting the mood in the game and there are some excellent pieces, especially later on. I will be going through each of the games in order, so one benefit of this thread will be that it will get prettier as time goes on. Oh boy!! Now let's set a couple of ground rules here. These threads can be pretty boring if nobody contributes, so I'm really keen for people to comment regularly on what is happening. However I am also hoping there will be quite a few posters who haven't played these games before, or perhaps only played some of them and want to see what happened. So I am requesting that spoilers be kept out of this thread . Not in the spoiler tags, not at all. Feel free to speculate or discuss what has just happened, but if you know what is coming up, please keep mum. This game relies on intrigue to stay interesting.Finally, fanart and other such creative input is very welcome! This thread will be fairly long so you have time to think about it. I intend to update daily whenever possible. Let's go save us some spooks!! cmndstab fucked around with this message at 14:40 on Jul 3, 2014 |
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Oct 1, 2013 15:51
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 Main Menu The Blackwell Legacy As mentioned above, The Blackwell Legacy was the first game in the series, and was something of a test case for producer Dave Gilbert. Legacy plays more like an interactive novel than an adventure game, heavy on dialogue and with very few puzzles that involve much more than talking to the NPCs. Nonetheless, it does a good job of introducing the characters, setting the scene, and was successful enough in its own right to keep Wadjet Eye Games above water in the early days. When Dave Gilbert succeeded in getting the four Blackwell games placed on Steam, one of the requirements was that the original game be effectively remade in a newer version of AGS. This allowed Gilbert to tweak some aspects of the game, removing needlessly heavy dialogue and fixing a couple of puzzles. It also, notably, saw the replacement of lead voice actress Sande Chen with Rebecca Whittaker, who had voiced the role in the later games after Chen had become unavailable. Of course, this won't make a different to an SSLP, but is interesting nonetheless. It should be mentioned that the soundtrack in this game, while containing a few good pieces, is nothing spectacular. Things will markedly improve once we reach the second game in the series. I still recommend you listen to the music when I link it, which I will try to signpost by the flashing sirens. Ashes  We are introduced immediately to our protagonist, standing atop the Brooklyn Bridge. It should be noted that this game is set in New York, where designer Dave Gilbert lives. He states several times in his commentary that one of his aims in designing the game is to give people a taste of New York culture.  All of the Blackwell games, with the exception of the second game, use portraits for their dialogue. In the first and third games the portraits are animated but this is dropped for the fourth game in favour of static portraits. The emotions are fairly well communicated as most characters have several different portrait images. I will typically notate dialogue outside of screenshots, but will show the important parts of the conversation as images.  I guess this is it. Years of watching and waiting and hoping. And it comes down to this. Do I love you? Do I miss you? But you're the closest thing to family I've got, and I suppose that's something. Good bye, Auntie. She scatters her aunt's ashes into the East River...  And leaves, pausing all too briefly for her to notice a wisp of energy swirling in the air. Blackwell Theme  The intro scene scrolls across some pretty space imagery, before settling on the logo.  Which actually looks pretty drat cool. Not Quite Right  What a morning. At least I'm home now.Arriving home from scattering her aunt's ashes, Rosa finds a stranger out the front of her apartment door.  I've never seen this kid before in my life. Before talking with him though, let's check out our inventory, where we have a letter.  Our aunt's physician has offered to speak with Rosa about how she is handling the loss of her aunt. We'll visit him soon enough.  Time for the first of many awkward conversations in this game! Um... hi? So who are you visiting today? The Blackwell games quite commonly give you several options of which only one can be chosen. Usually it makes no difference and just adds flavour to the game. Generally I will pick the most interesting option, but if several or all of them warrant being shown I will do that. It's worth mentioning that there are no "dead man walking" situations possible in the Blackwell games, so if any dialogue choice is actually important, there will be another opportunity to choose it. What are you talking about? Seriously, who are you here to see? I can't let you in unless you tell me. Um... I live here? No you don't. I know everybody in the building. I don't know you. Really, I live here. Nice try. I know everybody in the building, and I don't know ya. Sorry. Then how come I've never seen you before? I have no idea! Does it matter? If you lived here, I'd know you. That's all there is to it.This is going well. Rosa decides to throw it back at the kid.  Jim Burdo. Alright. Jim. Where's the regular doorman? Jeez, where have YOU been? He's on strike. He's what? Strike. All the building servicement in the city are doing it. Union rules or something. How come nobody told me? Noticed were posted all over the building. I put 'em up myself. If you lived here, you'd have seen 'em. Who pays attention to things like that? Well, that's not my problem.I have to admit, I'd probably ignore that kind of thing too. Rosa appeals to Jim's better nature.  I need to get home. Sorry, lady. Rules are rules. How long is this strike going to last? Dunno. Could be a couple of hours, of a couple of days. Depends whether they reach a settlement or not. I don't know the details. Listen. I really live here. Fourth floor. Number 4E. 4E. Hm. No! *I* live there! And I want to GO there, thank you very much. Oh. Hm. Maybe you're telling the truth. He sees reason. Thank God.Good plan, heckling him out loud right as he's starting to come around, Rosa  Do you have any ID? A driver's license or something? Yes! I have a driver's license. It's... upstairs. In my desk drawer. Poor Rosa looks so pathetic here  But Jim is unmoved. Heh. Come on! This is New York. Who actually drives? True, but I still can't let you in unless you prove you live here. I have my apartment key. Will that do? Sorry, no. That could be any key. Well, let's go upstairs and see if it works. And leave the door unattended? Can't do it. Sorry.That's it. Rosa is getting pissed.  I wouldn't do that. Why? Are you going to stop me? Me? No. But I've got a cell phone in my pocket with 9-1-1 programmed in. All I have to do is hit "send" and the cops'll be here in five minutes. Are you serious? Totally serious. I don't believe this.I like the way this game shows its protagonist alternating between stroppy and screaming during its very first scene.  What can I do to prove that I live here? Hm. Well, can anyone in the bulding vouch for you? I'm not sure. I mean, I don't really know anybody here. How long have you lived here again? Be quiet. Not all of us are social butterflies. Okay. Whatever.Jim then finally proposes a solution.  Who is Niss... Nish...? Nish-an-tee. Nishanthi Sharma. She lives in 4F. You know, right NEXT DOOR to 4E? You really don't get out much, do you? Your point? Nothing. But I'm sure she could vouch for you. Great. Call her up. She's not here. Of course she isn't. So I gotta wait here all day for her? You might have to.THANKS FOR NOTHING JIM.  Rosa decides to sum up the situation, just to make things even more tense. So let me get this straight. You want me to go all the way to the park to look for a woman who MIGHT be there and IF she recognizes me, then, and only then, I'll be granted the privilege of entering my own home? That's pretty much it, yeah. This is really stupid. I'm not the one who forgot my ID. I'll be back. See you around. Jim goes back to smoking his cigarette, and Rosa heads off to Washington Square Park. As you can see, these games are fairly wordy.  We get a bit of a look at the "world map", so to speak. It is, of course, a map of a segment of Manhattan. The positions of the location blobs are intended to show quite literally where they are on the map. This is dropped in future games when Gilbert realises that maps where the majority of locations appear in close promixity while one appears further away look really stupid. Washington Square Day  It's been a while since I've been here. Still looks the same I guess. Foreshadowing  There is a sign here. "Please note! Dog walking park is closed until further notice." Hm. Rosa continues to go further into the park...  ...before suffering from a stress-induced headache. Now I'm getting a stress headache. I need to get home.This bodes well. It's nice to know our protagonist is such a competent, together individual. Flute By The Fountain  As Rosa nears the fountain, she hears the sounds of a flute. Presumably Nishanthi is here. Meanwhile a small dog is straining at his leash. Also pictured: Rosa looking like a complete dork as she stares gawkily at the player. He's wearing one of those extendable leashes.Rosa continues past the dog...  I recognize her from my building. Nishanthi... Sharma, was it?Excellent. Now to get Nishanthi to vouch for Rosa, and we'll be back home. What could go wrong?  Oh, how right you are, Rosa.  That's Nishanti Sharma. My next-door-neighbour, apparently. She's playing some sort of flute.No time like the present, girl. Let's go and speak to Nishanthi.  Excuse...Come on, Rosa....  God drat it, woman I can't just barge up to her. Not in front of all those people. They're all staring.Jesus Christ. Our first dialogue sequence is of our protagonist throwing a fit, and then the first puzzle is trying to convince her to overcome her fear of crowds. It's nice to have a protagonist I can relate to.  Let's try this again. Here I go. Hello? Um.... Uh... no. This is pretty sad, Rosa. I just need... to work myself up to it. Okay. You can do this. Right. Uh. Hahahaha, that portrait is just perfect  I love the way she's not even facing Nishanthi. Crap! Calm down. Need to calm down.And now she's having an anxiety attack. Right. This is it. Hi-. Uh. Can... ... drat it. This is NOT working. I can't do this. I just... can't.Sigh. One more try?  I can't do this. I just... can't. I'll just have to wait until she's finished. Or... I don't know. I can't do this with all those people staring at me.Okay, this is going nowhere. With Rosa clearly incapable of interrupting Nishanthi, and Nishanthi herself apparently failing to notice Rosa staring wide-eyed and slack-jawed straight at her, we'll need to solve an Adventure Game Puzzle in order to progress here.  The key here is the dog. He follows Rosa around wherever she walks. Gilbert actually speaks about this puzzle at length in his commentary, where he mentions that getting this puzzle to work right was the single most difficult part of designing this entire game. Not sure I understand why myself, but apparently it was difficult again even when he did the remake. I don't know, folks.  We lead him around this lightpost until his leash doesn't extend anymore and he barks, interrupting Nishanthi. That's right, Rosa. You were just outperformed by a dog. With that auspicious start, I'll end the first update here. Will Rosa finally get into her apartment? Will she manage to form a sentence and speak with Nishanthi? Can we play as the dog instead? Find out tomorrow! cmndstab fucked around with this message at 09:08 on Jun 27, 2014 |
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Oct 2, 2013 02:47
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A passive-aggressive protagonist is certainly kind of new, anyway.
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Oct 2, 2013 05:35
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I'm looking forward to this LP. Great job so far.
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Oct 2, 2013 06:30
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Glazius posted:A passive-aggressive protagonist is certainly kind of new, anyway. There's probably been plenty of passive-aggressive protagonists before, but only so it can be played for laughs, not because they clearly have some kind of social phobia I just love the idea of the game's first puzzle being to figure out how to make someone talk to you, because you're too awkward to talk to them first.Actually, Rosa will become somewhat less useless as the games progress, which is a nice evolution. The Gilded Age posted:I'm looking forward to this LP. Great job so far. Thanks  Next update should arrive later on today!
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Oct 2, 2013 09:01
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Time for continue this wacky ride in Asbergers Simulator X-treme!! Washington Square Park   I can't take you anywhere, can I?Last time, Rosa had almost strangled a dog in order to interrupt its master from playing the flute, because she was apparently incapable of doing it herself. Now to pluck the fruits of her dubious labour. Oh, it's you! The lady next door. Yeah. Hi. Rhonda, isn't it? No. Rosangela. Well, Rosangela. I hope my friend here hasn't been giving you any trouble.It's probably a bad sign that Nishanthi doesn't even know Rosa's name, since she's supposed to be vouching for her. At this point, Rosa has three options, to either compliment the dog, shrug off the trouble, or explain why she just tried to choke the poor thing. That's a... cute dog you've got.Rosa figures this kind of sentiment deserves a big toothy grin.  Hahahaha, Rosa is such a loving dork  Isn't he just! Normally he behaves, but he seems to have taken a shine to you. Oh. Great.If Rosa instead tries to shrug it off, she ends up being a doormat instead. Oh, no no. No trouble. Now don't go defending him. You'll just spoil him. Sorry.And if she tries to explain the situation: He... started following me. I'm not sure why. That's because he recognizes you. He's just being friendly. Right, Moti? Just being friendly, eh?At this point, the dog yaps a bit. See? Right.Of course, Rosa is still too awkward to actually continue the conversation, so Nishanthi takes the lead. Anyway, I don't think we've formally met. I'm Nishanthi. Rosangela. So you said. Oh. Right.Come on Rosa. Take the drat initiative. Um... Yes? Finally. Go ahead and ask. What are neighbors for? You know that building servicemen's strike? Yes. Jim Burdo is covering, isn't he? Yeah, that's the problem, see. He doesn't recognize me. Oh? Oh! So you need me to vouch for you? Yeah. I know this is pretty stupid... Don't worry about it. Moti is getting a little cranky anyway.Nishanthi is actually a pretty decent person, all told.  Thanks. Rosa, Nishanthi and Moti head out of Washington Park Square, though Moti seems a bit spooked as he trots past the dog park, letting out a bark.  Not one to be outdone in terms of causing a fuss, Rosa immediately suffers yet another stress-induced migraine, to the concern of Nishanthi. I'm fine. I just... need to get home. Alright. Let's keep walking.At this point, Nishanthi is probably wishing she had just kept playing her flute. Not Quite Right  Hello, Jim. Hey, Miss Sharma. Jim, this is Rosangela. She lives here. She does? Okay. Sorry about earlier. Had to be sure.At this point, Rosa has three choices of how to respond. Of course, all three choices involve her being a stroppy, whiny little jerk There's the angry response: Fantastic. You're sorry. I am, lady. The name is Rosangela. Will you remember me now? Or do I need to do a little dance as well? Hey, relax. I'm just doing my job.The sarcastic response: Well, now you're sure. And you must be SO proud of yourself. Well...And the passive-aggressive response: Oh, it was NO problem at all. Do you want anything else? Milk or orange juice, perhaps? Um...No matter which one you choose, Rosa makes sure she burns her bridges by finishing with a snappy: Never mind. Just get out of my way. Well. Here we are. Yes. Finally. That stupid kid... Well, perhaps. But try not to be too hard on him. We're all neighbors, after all. Yeah, I guess.Nishanthi is really nice, actually.  Moti is pretty cute, too. Nishanthi excuses herself, but not before extending an open invitation for Rosa to drop around. I'd best get this spoiled puppy fed. Feel free to drop in anytime you want.Rosa again has three options, a surprised response: Really? Yes, really.An uncertain response:  Sure, maybe... No maybes.And a polite response: I'll think about it. No thinking needed.None of which make her look particularly confident in herself. Rosa has serious self-image problems I think. I know we New Yorkers don't usually talk to our neighbors, but who cares? The city can be a lonely place, especially when you live alone. I've got Moti. Who do you have?Uh oh. A personal question. As usual, Rosa has three different ways to embarrass herself! She can get defensive: Look, I know what you're saying. But I don't need anyone to "look out" for me. I'm fine. Oh? I'm sure. No doubt.She can literally just give Nishanthi the silent treatment and say nothing at all: Oh look, now I've offended you. That's what I get for butting in. I'm sure you're fine.Or, my favourite, she can try to crack a really awkward joke!! Oh, I have three great room-mates. Oh? Yes, um. Their names are "me", "myself" and "I." ... Hahaha, even Nishanthi has no idea how to respond to Rosa here. Um... It's a joke... Yes, I get it. Very funny. I'm sure you're fine.Seriously, Nishanthi has the patience of a saint. She follows up with concern for Rosa. Although your episode in the park tells me otherwise. And your eyes... Well. Let's just say the offer stands. Sure. You go home, now. We'll see each other soon, Rosangela, I'm sure.I'm riding Rosa pretty hard here, but in fairness to her, she will get considerably less awkward as the game progresses. So I'm just going to enjoy it while it lasts  Before entering her apartment, Rosa has a rare moment of social awareness. Hey... Yes? Um... You can call me "Rosa", if you like. Rosangela is kind of a mouthful, you know? All right, Rosa. You have a good day now.This is actually a nice touch throughout the series that is played very straight. Whenever Rosa likes someone, she asks them to call her Rosa. For everyone else, it's Rosangela.  I like how Rosa finds the concept of someone being pleasant to her strange. Presumably she doesn't actually have any friends.  Rosa gazes at Nishanthi's door. Should she immediately visit? Yeah, she invited me to come over... But so soon? I just saw her. I can't just invite myself over now. Besides, I'm more eager to see my OWN home.At least she has that subtle little social nuance down pat. Alright, let's get Rosa into her apartment. Rosa's Theme  Rosa has a typically tiny New York apartment, which is presumably all that she can afford on a journalist salary. Other than this main kitchen/lounge, her bedroom is the only other room in the apartment (and we never see it). One interesting point on Rosa's apartment, when the game was in development, the lead artist simply disappeared a month or so before the game was to ship, leaving several of the locations unfinished. The most notable of them was Rosa's apartment, which is close enough, but left Gilbert unhappy. He pokes fun at it in a later game, which I'll point out at the time. Home. Thank God. I've never been so happy to see a 500 square foot room in my life. Unfortunately, Rosa's peace is immediately interrupted by her phone ringing.   This is Dr. Quentin, from Bellevue Hospital? Yes. I was your aunt's primary care physician. Did you receive my letter? Yes, I received it. I haven't had the time to come by, though... That's all right. I'm sure you're busy. However, should you find the time today, my entire schedule is free. I... sure. I'll keep that in mind. Thank you. Good day. I suppose I should just get it over with.This is the game's subtle push to tell you what to do next, but I do like how Rosa considers her physician literally clearing his schedule and booking an important appointment for her as a "bother". First though, let's take a bit of a look around the apartment.  Just some old book review clippings. My computer. It's a bit old, but it lets me access the internet and do my writing.Rosa's computer is a useful object in this game, but less so than in the third game where it becomes useful in almost every puzzle. In the fourth game the computer gets replaced with a mobile phone, which is a cool sign of moving times.  Just a trashcan filled with crumpled-up novel ideas.Rosa is a freelance journalist, as we will soon see, but she also has dreams of being a creative writer.  That leads to my bedroom. It's an oversized closet, but it suits me fine. This is the only living plant I own. I bought it two years ago. It's still living, despite my total lack of care.Total lack of care? Surely not, Rosa!  That's Griff, the P.I. Bear. I've had him for as long as I can remember. He's in horrible shape, but I don't have the heart to throw him away. ...I seriously love Rosa's adorable little dorky smile  There is a photo here of Rosa's (recently deceased) Auntie Lauren, from when Rosa was a child.  It's a photograph of Auntie Lauren and me.Rosa can look at the two of them individually: I look scared out of my mind. I don't remember when this picture was taken, but I look about four or five years old. Auntie Lauren. She took care of my after my parents died. For most of my life, Auntie was a vegetable, slowly rotting away in a hospital bed. I don't remember what she was like before that. This picture is all I have to go by.This probably explains why Rosa has absolutely no idea how to communicate with other human beings.  It's a pity that a quarter of Rosa's entire apartment is taken up with a kitchen she apparently never uses.  No. I open those curtains and a dozen windows can look directly in here. Those curtains stay shut and prying eyes stay OUT.In a stunning wave of character development, Rosa will actually slowly open the curtains further and further in subsequent games.  Rosa's computer is currently only useful for attempting some writing, but Rosa is not interested right now. *sigh* I am just feeling so uninspired today. Maybe tomorrow I'll feel up to it. But today...? It's just not happening.Alright, that's enough stalling. Time to go to Bellevue to chat with the psych.  Washington Square Park is no longer available to visit, but we'll be back later. Hospital Waiting Room  Rosa enters the hospital to flickering lights. This place is pretty run down. Bellevue has probably one of the better music tracks in the game, despite only being 40-odd seconds long.  Looks like a fusebox. Judging by the flickering lights, it must be broken. You need a key to open it.Rosa, of course, immediately scopes out the place. Just in case she feels like messing with the fuses later on. Spoiler alert: She will.  Clicking on pretty much anything has Rosa indignantly deny she's trying to steal something. Sounds like a guilty conscience to me.  It says that this floor is undergoing renovations. That explains a lot.This, again, is Gilbert's subtle dig at the artist who left this room clearly unfinished. A second artist cobbled together the back area and made it join together well enough to look like a midway-complete construction job.  Some small keys. One of them is labelled "F.B.", I assume that means fusebox.I love the way Rosa is looking the other direction, very discrete. Of course, Rosa still has her mind on that fusebox for whatever reason.  As usual, Rosa, the master of social nuances, launches into conversation with the security guard by immediately insulting his place of work.  Hey, old buildings. You know? Always got problems. If the plumbing ain't broken, the lights are on the blink. It's giving me a headache, let me tell you. Did you have contact with Lauren Blackwell while she as here? Nope, doesn't ring a bell. She was in temporary care? No. She was in long-term. That's a whole different floor. This is the floor for temp patients. I see.This dialogue is decent exposition, but a bit strange. Surely Rosa would know where her Aunt was staying, since she was apparently there was years. Also, that security guard looks dumb as gently caress. So what exactly happens here on the temporary ward? It's just that. Temporary. Most insurance plans only cover a two-week stay, so this floor is designed for a high turnover rate. That's why the doctor's offices are usually down here. They need to be on hand when new patients arrive. I'm here to see Dr. Quentin. Uh huh. Is he expecting you? I've got this letter right here. Okay. Looks legit. Go right in. His name's on the door. You can't miss it. Thanks. Rosa waddles on to Doc Quentin's room, primed and ready for the first of several plot dumps this game is going to throw at us. (continued next post...) cmndstab fucked around with this message at 09:12 on Jun 27, 2014 |
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Oct 2, 2013 16:45
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Hospital Clocks  Rosa knocks on the door... Come in. Doctor Quentin? Yes? I'm Rosangela Blackwell. Oh, hello. Come in. Come in. For some reason, Doc Quentin strikes this dramatic pose whenever he stands up. No idea here, folks. Throughout this conversation Rosa has a whole bunch of options of how to talk to the doctor. It doesn't matter which we choose, but each of them give a pretty good look into Rosa's psyche, so I'll go over all of them. Yes I did. Good. Good. My condolences on the loss of your mother.Wait a minute, mother? Surely the doctor would know that Lauren was Rosa's aunt? As far as I can tell, Nishanthi might be the only competent person in New York. Rosa has the option to get pissy, or try to correct the doctor smoothly. The first: You mean my aunt.And the second: Thanks. My... aunt... is at peace now. Where ever she is.Either way, the good doctor gets the message. Ah. Quite right. Quite right. So you wanted to talk to me about something? Yes. Yes I did. But before we get into that, how are you holding up?There are several dialogue forks in this conversation, though they all come back to the same point at the end. Rosa here can complain about her day: Just having a really bad morning. Oh? It's.. I'll get over it. Just some stuff I have to deal with.Give a paranoid response, complete with angry glare: I'm... fine. Why? Oh, no reason. Just asking questions. Goes with the job. Right.Or simply brush Quentin off completely. I'm fine. That's good to hear.Quentin quickly changes the subject. You received the ashes? Yes. I scattered them this morning. I imagine you must miss her.You know, as much as I'm dumping on Rosa here, this conversation would be plenty awkward enough with the pointless comments Quentin keeps coming up with. Three more options here. There's the honest response: To be honest, I'm not sure what to feel. It's not like I knew her. Or even remember her from... before. She's like a stranger. So why did you make it a point of visiting her all those years?The callous response: Not really. Oh? Nothing's really changed. Her body might have been alive, but her mind certainly wasn't. That's a... pretty severe attitude, wouldn't you say. Maybe. But if she weren't "alive", as you say... Why did you make it a point of visiting her all those years?And the pissy, petulant response: Why does it matter? There I go again. Asking too many questions. You're not a patient. You came at my request. Right. Auntie was the patient. And you made a point of visiting her for many years. If you'll indulge me one more time, could I ask you why?Rosa can provide a reason for visiting, or just tell the doctor to gently caress off. Habit: Habit, I guess. It was a place to go every week.Family: She was the only family I had. I guess I felt an obligation. Like I had to.And the angry option: I don't see why it's any business of yours. It's all right. Forget I asked. I wanted to come. I came. That's all.Quentin continues to ask really awkward questions by following up with: And now that you don't have to? I have to say, I don't blame Rosa for lashing out here. She literally scattered her aunt's ashes an hour ago and the doctor is asking retarded questions of her. Auntie's dead. Life goes on. So you'll just keep living, is that it? Yes. Keep writing your little book reviews in the paper, right?"Little book reviews?" What the gently caress is the matter with this guy? ... You know about those? It's hardly a secret. A number of the staff have read them, yes. I didn't think a West Village paper would interest anyone up here. I have to be honest, Miss Blackwell. I love the poo poo-eating grin he wears here as he seemingly deliberately pushes the buttons of Rosa's social phobia. Rosa has three ways to throw a tantrum about it. The deadpan response: Oh?The  response: That's... really creepy, Mr. Quentin.And the defensive response:  Why am I here? Their intentions were purely benign, I assure you. It was your aunt they were primarily interested in. They wanted to know more about her family, and you proved to be... shall we say, less than eager to comply? That's their problem. Indeed. It was your choice to make.Not satisfied having thoroughly creeped out and pissed off his dead patient's grieving niece, Quentin decides to be an even bigger prick.  And now that she's gone, I was hoping you'd be more forthcoming with me. Just an informal chat. We can discuss her condition. And yours too, of course.Wait, what does he mean, "yours too"? Wait. What do you mean by "my condition"? Hereditary dementia is my speciality, Miss Blackwell. And in my opinion, there is significant cause for concern.You have got to be loving kidding me. This is the worst psychiatrist I've ever seen. Sorry... did you say "hereditary"? Yes. Two generations. Your aunt, and your grandmother before her. My... grandmother? Yes. Patricia, I think her name was. Right? I never knew my grandmother. Auntie Lauren was it. There was nobody else. She couldn't exactly provide me with a family history. Oh, I see. I had no idea. I like Rosa more when she's yelling at someone who actually deserves it. Did anyone else come in to visit her, besides me? No. You are correct. I should have read the family history more carefully. I do apologize. I just assumed... Well, nevermind. It doesn't change the fact that you should be concerned as well. Go on. Patricia Blackwell suffered her mental collapse at the age of fifty-five. Lauren Blackwell underwent hers at the age of forty. What are you saying? No. I am saying that there is significant cause for concern.No, you were pretty much saying what Rosa thought you were saying, doc. You never could find out what was wrong with her, huh? No, we didn't. But she still remains a fascinating case. Fascinating? I don't understand. Forgive me. I speak from a purely professional perspective. I didn't know your aunt personally."HEY ROSA, SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR DEAD Seriously, gently caress this doctor. Neither did I. But... fascinating? It might come as a surprise, but yes. But she was practically catatonic. Rosa raises a good point here. She'd sometimes twitch or mumble something incoherent, but I wouldn't call that fascinating. Well, as you know, she wasn't exactly catatonic. We kept her sedated. Right... she had outbursts. Yes, and we had to sedate her heavily to keep her calm. Especially in preparation for your visits. What are you trying to say? Miss Blackwell, we are not a nursing home. We're not content to merely keep a patient comfortable. We are, after all, in the healing profession. We were trying to heal your aunt, and to do that we had to speak to her. Wait... you spoke to Auntie? We tried to. Did she answer back? After a fashion, yes. Another good point. Miss Blackwell, do you remember what brought your aunt here in the first place? Her screaming? Her hitting herself? I...I was only five years old at the time. But I kind of remember. In order to prevent her from doing harm to herself or to others, we were forced to sedate her. That's creepy as poo poo, and his stupid rear end smile is not helping matters. Her natural state, I am sorry to add. What did Auntie say? Nothing that made any sense. "Oh, and by the way, you're probably going to get the same disorder. Have a nice evening!" Pain? What kind of pain? It's difficult to say. But it was... immense. How immense? When we reduced her medication, the transformation was dramatic. Her eyes flew open. She thrashed. Her screams... well. We had to gag her, eventually. My God... I know.I seriously can't think of one good reason why the doctor is telling Rosa this now. Did she still... feel it... when she was sedated? We don't know. But there's no way of knowing. Twenty five years. I know. Poor Auntie.Finally having had enough of this horrifying conversation, Rosa decides to change the subject.  Hahaha, yes, Rosa. Unlike every other living person in history. Apparently, yes. How do you know about her? It was in your Aunt's case history when she was brought to us. Patricia Blackwell's symptoms were the same. Word for word. Patricia's case was severe, and she was young, but it was chalked up to being an ordinary case of dementia. Until... Until it struck her daughter. Until twenty five years later, when it struck her daughter. Yes. It seems impossible. Perhaps it's genetic, but we've detected no abnormality.This is just fantastic. So what should I do. Right now? Nothing. This type of thing is unprecedented. "Basically, you're screwed!  "I'll admit it, I'm being unfair to Doctor Quentin here. His animated portrait goes through several emotions, so he's not just grinning like an idiot non-stop. It's still there often enough to make it look like he's far happier about having this conversation than he should be. You couldn't find any other link between the two cases? None, aside from the family connection. And... a name. A name? What name? The documentation we had on your grandmother is minimal, but there was one interesting item noted. That's a rather odd symptom... Your Aunt, too, would cry out that name on occasion. Joey? Yes. Who's Joey? We've been wondering the same thing for twenty five years.So wait, let's get this straight. You've known about this all along, including the very high likelihood that Rosa is going to be affected by the same disorder, but waited until now to tell us? Jesus Christ. Is there anything else you need to tell me before I go? Your Aunt had some personal effects in storage. As the next-of-kin, you're the beneficiary. It's just a folder. Some documents, and so on. It's being sent to your address via messenger. Oh. Well, thanks for that. It is not problem at all. Good bye, Miss Blackwell. Oh, yeah, we'll get right on that. Quentin decides to drop one more creepy-rear end comment as Rosa leaves. I'm always happy to discuss my favourite patient. Sure. In a daze, Rosa stumbles back to the elevator to ponder this ludicrously awful news she has just been given. If nothing else, Bellevue has just guaranteed a new psychiatric patient for years to come!! We'll stop there after that plot dump and continue Rosa's slow plunge into hideous madness tomorrow. Your comments/questions/whatever are welcomed
cmndstab fucked around with this message at 09:10 on Jun 27, 2014 |
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Oct 2, 2013 16:52
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I've replaced all of the Youtube links with ListenOnRepeat links instead, since many of the tracks are quite short. Hopefully it will give a better auditory experience! Next update should arrive later on today.
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Oct 3, 2013 02:03
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So I don't know if it's early for speculation, but I'm going to guess that the "spooks" you mention in the thread title are directly linked to the "hereditary dementia" in a sort of causing it kind of way. This is going to turn into that awful Ghost Town movie except with a likeable protagonist instead of Ricky Gervais.
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Oct 3, 2013 13:27
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Assoonasitits posted:So I don't know if it's early for speculation, but I'm going to guess that the "spooks" you mention in the thread title are directly linked to the "hereditary dementia" in a sort of causing it kind of way. This is going to turn into that awful Ghost Town movie except with a likeable protagonist instead of Ricky Gervais. It's never too early for speculation as far as I'm concerned - I'd love to see a lot more of it  This thread could get boring real fast (not to mention image-heavy) if people refrain from commenting.The nominal spooks will be along within a couple of updates. Actually this game (and the second game for that matter) is pretty short, it will probably only be 12 updates or so. The third and fourth games will be longer. Alright, let's keep moving here. Blackwell Legacy basically puts you through three big plot dumps, then lets you focus on actually starting to solve puzzles. Gilbert has since expressed remorse that he didn't find a less wordy and intrusive way to reveal the backstory, but it is what it is. The good news is once these three plot dumps are over, the rest of the series gets the pacing pretty much spot on. And the plot dumps themselves are fairly well written, which helps matters. This update will cover the second (and shortest) of these plot dumps. Update 3 Rosa's Theme  Rosa arrives back in her apartment, her mind filled with concerned thoughts about her conversation with Doc Quentin.  Immediately, she notices an envelope which has arrived, containing her deceased Auntie Lauren's personal effects. Apparently this envelope had no trouble entering the building. Go figure.Hahaha, I love this Looks like it's from Bellevue. Not Quite Right Here comes the second plot dump, though it is done fairly well.  The envelope contains 25 pages of documents, mostly letters from Lauren's family. Rather than notate them, I will link the screenshots since the various handwriting/typewriting fonts add some flavour. There's a fair bit of text here but it's not too bad.  The first letter is from Lauren's mother, who is presumably the Patricia mentioned by Doctor Quentin. The doctor mentioned Patricia started showing signs of dementia at the age of 55, which is close to what you would expect to be her age around the time of this letter if her daughter was at college already.  The next letter is from Lauren's brother Jack. Unless there are multiple siblings, it's safe to assume Jack is Rosa's father. The little typo markers here are a charming touch.  This letter is a bit of filler, but nice.  Around a year after the previous letters, this one arrived, and it's clear that Patricia is starting to suffer the effects of early-onset dementia.  With a signoff like "Jacko" we can probably assume Lauren is the older sister.  Lauren apparently waited two months to check in with her mother, who is obviously still with it enough to pretend things are alright.  After visiting home, Lauren notices things are getting worse.  "Jack" now. Presumably he's grown up a bit. I guess having his mother slowly go crazy in front of him has forced that.  There's the first mention of 'Joey'. At this point I'm wondering if the doctors ever read this stuff.  Only six months after the first symptoms show up, Patricia is committed to an asylum.  This is all pretty stuff, actually. The next letter comes three years later, after Lauren has graduated, and with Jack about to start college himself.  Lauren was a smoker, apparently.  30 months later, Jack sends another letter, about how he's falling in love with Maria. Judging by the amazing red hair, it's safe to assume Maria became Rosa's mother.  Three more years pass before the next letter. Patricia has died, and Lauren has since become distant from her family.  Only a week later, another letter from Jack, who has been trying to contact Lauren. Hearing her talking with a "Joey" is obviously of great concern to Jack given what happened to his mother.  Several months later, Jack is at his wit's end and hires a private detective to follow Lauren around, and she is acting very strange indeed.  I'm torn between feeling bad for Jack here, and feeling bad for Rosa who is apparently predisposed to this same condition.  The next letter is from Lauren herself, which she either never sent or somehow got back. She tells Jack that she's fine, and that their mother wasn't truly crazy at all. Gotta say, Lauren had gorgeous handwriting.  This explains why Lauren has her own letter, Jack sent it back. He and Maria are now getting married and Lauren is invited.  Writing from his honeymoon (where he apparently still has his typewriter) Jack expresses his appreciation that Lauren made the wedding. This will actually be a minor plot point going forward. There are some pictures stuck to the back of this letter.We'll look at them soon.  Three years later, Jack writes to tell Lauren that he has had a daughter, Rosangela. These games were designed to be "in real time", so presumably Rosa is 30 years old at the time of this game.  This bittersweet message is immediately followed by...  A notification that Jack and Maria passed away five years into Rosa's life. Lauren, despite having remained distant from her family since their mother's death, agrees to take custody of Rosa. With that suitably depressing set of letters finished, we can piece together Rosa's history a bit. Around the age of five her Auntie Lauren took custody of her, which explains the photo of a scared young Rosa. Shortly afterwards, Lauren was hospitalised at Bellevue and kept sedated for the next 25 years. Somehow Rosa was able to support herself and survived. In later games it is hinted that the Blackwell family has a lot of money so I guess various guardians were hired to take care of her.  There are two pictures in the envelope as well. This is from Jack and Maria's wedding. Rosa can look at each of the three individually. That's definitely Auntie Lauren. She's looking at something off camera. I wonder what it was? I assume that's my mother. She sort of looks like me, I guess. Other than that, she's a total stranger. Is that my... dad? He looks so young. I always pictured my dad as being older.Judging by the dates of the letters, Jack was probably around 24 at this point. He and Maria are very cute together  The second picture gets no commentary from Rosa, but appears to be a photo of a young Jack and Lauren with a rather concerned looking Patricia. Presumably this photo is from the Thanksgiving that Jack mentioned in his letter, unless Lauren also came back for Christmas that year as well. Rosa's Theme  After that kind of eerie and depressing set of letters, Rosa's thoughts are again interrupted by her phone ringing. Voice: RosANGelina. Hi. Hi Bob.Voice: Thanks SO much for submitting your last review on time. For once. Yeah.Voice: I got a LITTLE assignment for you today. Assignment?Voice: Human interest, Blackwell. Suicide. A college girl named JoAnn Sherman. This guy sounds like a gigantic tool. That's awful, but -Voice: You know the Brittany House? The NYU dorm? Yes, but -Voice: Speak to some people on her floor. Get a word in with the roommate. Listen-Voice: Speak to the R.A., too. And hey, see if you can score a picture of the girl. But I don't do that stuff! I write book reviews.Voice: Versatility! Time to get out of your comfort zone. Jeremy's over at city hall covering that strike, so you're it. Get cracking. This is our first in-game indication that Rosa is a journalist, other than Quentin's mention of her "little book reviews". Rosa has previously only written book reviews, but it looks like it's time for her to cover a suicide story, because that's what you want rookie reporters doing  The name Jeremy will show up again in later games, but for now he's just a fellow newspaper staffer we don't know much about.  Is freelancing for that stupid paper even worth it? I guess it keeps me writing, but... Oh whatever. I'll just go over there and get it done. It's not like I don't have enough death in my life right now.Yeah, this is a pretty rough deal for poor Rosa to deal with.  Still, she makes peace with it fairly quickly. Perhaps it will help to keep her mind off the procession of terrible news she has received today. My old notepad should come in handy for this. Here we are introduced to one of the stable gimmicks of this series, the notepad. When Rosa receives clues, she will write them on her notepad. She can also combine clues together to receive new (or more specific) clues, which becomes one of the major puzzle mechanics. Gilbert has received a lot of praise for this gimmick, but he says he took the idea from one of the Discworld games. He was apparently never really happy with how the notepad system worked and would try to tweak it in the third game, but received enough complaints that he returned to original system in the fourth.  Here is an example of combining two clues together. We don't get a new clue, but we do get a comment from Rosa about their link. If two clues are unrelated entirely, Rosa will usually just give a standard "I don't see any link between those two clues" type of response. So combining JoAnn and Photograph: My boss asked me to find a photograph of JoAnn to put in the paper.While combining JoAnn's Suicide and Photograph gets us: That makes no sense.In general I will show you the interesting combinations, but leave out those which have no link at all.  Feeling like she could use a friend right now, Rosa decides to take Nishanthi up on her offer to drop in before embarking to Brittany hall. Come in! Nishanthi's Theme Nishanthi's theme is actually pretty decent. One of the better tracks in Legacy's soundtrack, anyway.  Come in. Come in. Don't mind the pooch. He's harmless.Yes, we've met Moti already, Nishanthi.  Periodically, Moti will decide he is hungry and Nishanthi will feed him a doggy biscuit. Moti is pretty drat cute  Rosa starts up a conversation with Nishanthi. I like how Rosa can barge in then immediately ask for permission to leave In order to make these dialogue sequences flow a bit better, I will try to combine the multiple options together when it makes sense to do so. It's not 100% faithful to the game, but it does give you a more rounded picture of things. I think this game was meant to be replayed several times to get a full picture of what's going on. In the later games, there are fewer instances of three dialogue choices where you can only choose one. So... Um. How are you. ... Oh, I'm just fine. Right Moti? Aren't we just fine? Moti barks in response to hearing his name. Seriously, I love this dog. I was just, you know, in the neighborhood... So I thought I'd drop by. ... Sure. Sure. Anytime. This is, um, a lovely place. Thank you! Not the biggest place, but fine for Moti and me.It's never really covered in-game in any of the four titles, but Nishanthi's backstory is supposed to be that she moved to New York as a young adult, eventually realised she had lost touch with her Indian heritage, is now trying to rediscover herself. All in all she's a very pleasant character, though underused throughout the series. Thanks again for helping me out earlier. I'd probably be sleeping in a hotel tonight if it weren't for you. Oh, you didn't hear? Ahahahahahahahahahaha. ... Really. It only lasted a few hours, according to the report on the radio. I suppose that's irony. I suppose so.Rosa tries to get to know Nishanthi a bit better. So you play the flute, huh? Yes, I play the flute. It's called a bansuri. What about you? Do you play an instrument? Me? No. I can hardly play the kazoo. Let's see. You strike me as being creatively inclined. Are you a painter? A writer? I knew it! Anything published? Nothing really. Aside from book reviews in the Village Eye. Village Eye? You mean that little paper they sell at the stand? You've read it? I've seen it around, but I've never actually read it. Perhaps I will, the next time I see it.Again, this becomes a minor plot point in a later game. This series is pretty good at tying things together from previous games.  Moti? He's spoiled rotten, but he'd good company. He's taken quite a shine to YOU, that's for sure. Heh. Yeah. Usually I'm not good with animals. You never had a childhood pet? A pet? No. I... had a teddy bear.Not just any teddy bear, Rosa, it's Griff, the P.I. Bear!! Hah. Well, you probably had the right idea. Moti's a little thing, but you wouldn't know it from the amount he eats. He's very... active, it seems. Yes, that probably explains it. See that box of biscuits? I buy a new one every two days.Maybe that's because you keep feeding him every drat minute?  Haha. Of course, Nishanthi doesn't seem that bothered by Moti's stomach, as she immediately follows that up with: Feel free to give him one, if you like.We'll take Nishanthi up on her offer soon, but Rosa is still busy making small talk. You have a very nice apartment. Thank you. A bit small, but that's New York for you. You seem very... friendly... with the people in this building. Well, I didn't grow up here. I didn't realize it was taboo to chat with neighbors. It's not taboo, exactly. It's just... Oh, I know. Just one of those unspoken things. I've found that most people are pretty friendly though, once you take the first step. People have their defences up, most of the time. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. Yeah, I do. Hahaha, no wonder people have their defences up around here. "What's with the wacky flute, sister?" It's a place to go, I suppose. I was walking there one day, and I had the bansuri with me, so I started playing. Next thing I knew I had a bunch of people around me. So I go there as often as I can now. It gets me out of this stuffy apartment, and I admit I like the attention. Plus Moti loves the dog run there. Well, he did until they closed it down. Why did they close down the dog run? It seemed OK to me. Nobody really knows. It started about a week ago. Dogs started howling, running around like maniacs, acting strange. That's a bit... weird. We saw Moti barking at the dog park earlier. They SAY it's some kind of high frequency wave that's caused by electric cables, or something. Some high pitched sound that the dogs can hear, but we can't. But I know better. You... know better? Definitely. I notice these things. I could tell that things weren't quite right. Something... in the air. It's not a high-pitched noise. That would only cause a dog pain. This was more than pain. The dogs were... scared. What was there to be scared of? I have no idea. But I know what I sensed. Me? You sensed it. Don't think I didn't notice. I didn't sense anything. Well, perhaps. Maybe I'm just spouting nonsense.Actually, my memory of it is the only thing Rosa sensed was an oncoming migraine. Could I try feeding the dog? Sure! Here, take one. I have plenty. Go ahead and feed him. He's always hungry. Let's give this a go! Hi, um... dog? His name is MOTI. Right. Moti. Rosa feeds the dog. I love the way she then bids the dog farewell afterwards  LET'S DO THAT AGAIN Sure! Here, take another. I have plenty.However, this time we pocket the doggy biscuit. Because this is an adventure game, and you always have to take anything not nailed down. Actually, unlike other adventure games, this one doesn't allow you to combine objects together. Now, on the surface, this is a good thing, as the "cram every single object together until it fits" puzzle mechanic is pretty painful. However, it does cause a problem later on when one particular object actually can (and must) be combined with another, without any warning. But we'll cover that later. Well, I'd better go. Take care, Rosa. Come back whenever you'd like. On that unusually pleasant note, we'll finish up for today. Tomorrow Rosa will go and play reporter at the Brittany hall dorm, and the day after that, our final plot dump will hit us and the game proper will finally begin! Again, I strongly encourage any comments, speculation or other input. These screenshot LPs can become horribly clogged up if nobody responds, and pretty boring if it's just one update after another, so the more discussion the better this thread is going to be
cmndstab fucked around with this message at 09:14 on Jun 27, 2014 |
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Oct 3, 2013 16:07
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Well, I haven't heard of these games before. Its nice to have a character who isn't a blank slate for once. Rosa has a lot more personalty than some other adventure protagonists.
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Oct 3, 2013 18:01
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I really like Rosa, she's a good unwitting protagonist. The more I read this, the more I think that Joey is a ghost who's been hassling women in Rosa's family and only bugs one when the last one dies.
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Oct 3, 2013 19:13
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I dunno. He could be a spy! I mean that title could means spies right? Also, is the dorm the famous Flatiron building? Cause if the R.A. is J. Jonah Jameson I am sold.
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Oct 3, 2013 20:53
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grandalt posted:Well, I haven't heard of these games before. Its nice to have a character who isn't a blank slate for once. Rosa has a lot more personalty than some other adventure protagonists. Assoonasitits posted:I really like Rosa, she's a good unwitting protagonist. The more I read this, the more I think that Joey is a ghost who's been hassling women in Rosa's family and only bugs one when the last one dies. Yeah, Rosa is well-written and for the most part avoids becoming a caricature, which I really appreciate. As for Joey - we're not far away from learning more about that, I promise! bunnyofdoom posted:I dunno. He could be a spy! I mean that title could means spies right? I'm afraid not, no. It's Brittany Hall, which is a real NYU dorm. Wherever possible, Gilbert did use real New York locations and usually travelled there to take a few reference photos to hand to his artists. Bellevue, for example, is a real hospital, and in fact the oldest hospital in the United States, though presumably Doc Quentin is only a fictional rear end in a top hat. Next update later on today.
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Oct 4, 2013 04:33
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It's good to see someone doing those games. As usual for games I've already played, I won't be saying too much. But, yeah, I liked the protagonist. She had plenty of personality.
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Oct 4, 2013 10:43
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Kaja Rainbow posted:It's good to see someone doing those games. As usual for games I've already played, I won't be saying too much. But, yeah, I liked the protagonist. She had plenty of personality. Plenty of personality disorders, perhaps  But seriously, I fully agree with you, this series is very much carried by the lead characters.Let's do this! Update 4 Time for Rosa to continue her quest of being the world's foremost rookie suicide reporter. Spoiler Alert: By the end of this update, a Big Thing is going to happen!!! Now, where were we?  Oh yes. On to Brittany hall. This sequence is primarily designed to introduce us to the notepad puzzle mechanic, and so using the notepad in various ways will be essential to getting past it.  I feel like hell and I have to interview college kids. Hopefully this won't take too long.Upon arriving, Rosa immediately has another one of her now-commonplace headaches. Of course, on any other day she would probably just write it off as stress, but after being told she is GENETICALLY PREDISPOSED TO EARLY-ONSET DEMENTIA, she is obviously concerned. Hospital Waiting Room  Sure thing. You're cleared. Go right in.Rosa decides to quickly duck out and speak with Doc Quentin instead.  This prick is still grinning like an idiot. Doctor Quentin? Oh, hello. Come in. Come in. Do you know anything about... headaches? It's hardly my specialty, but I know enough. Why? I've been getting them. Lots of them. Gee, I wonder what might have caused her some stress? Are they usually this bad? It varies. Over the counter pain medication and rest. That's all I'd suggest. Thanks. I guess I'll head out. Very well. Good bye, Miss Blackwell.Considering last time he told us we were likely to end up in a searingly painful medically-induced coma for decades on end, I guess Rosa is happy to get a null diagnosis this time around. NYU Theme  Okay, back to work. Rosa's boss told her to get a word in with the R.A., and here he is. Also, I have to say, this place's music is pretty drat cool. Probably the highlight of Legacy, though still only a poor cousin of tracks to come in the later games.  Rosa knocks on the R.A.'s door. Hi. I'm Rosangela Blackwell. Can I help you? Perhaps. Could I ask you a few questions? Oh. This is about JoAnn, isn't it? You know her? Well I am the R.A. for this floor. I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't know everybody. The campus police found her around 5am this morning.Rosa decides to cut straight to the chase.  Hm. Well, all right. But could you leave my name out of it?At this point, Rosa has the option to either agree, refuse, or to try to weasel out of committing either way. If she refuses, Adrian clams up: I don't think I can do that. Oh. Freedom of the Press and all? Something like that. Then I'm afraid I can't say anything. Sorry.If she agrees: That shouldn't be a problem. Good. JoAnn's parents have already asked the Dean to fire me. I don't know anyone else knowing who I am.And if she is evasive: I can't promise anything. That's up to the editor. Look, I'll level with you. My job is already on the line, thanks to this mess. I won't say a word unless I have your promise. I suppose I can give my editor a false name. That should be fine.Hilariously, it is revealed in the third game that the article is eventually published with Adrian's full name, so I guess Rosa was crossing her fingers behind her back or something here. Gilbert claims this was accidental and he forgot about Rosa promising to leave Adrian's name out, but I like to pretend it wasn't What do you want to know? Rosa gets to choose what to ask the R.A. from her notepad clues. Note that Adrian himself is now a clue too. The list of clues can get fairly long at times, though the game is pretty good about removing them when they are no longer relevant. Asking about JoAnn and her suicide: What can you tell me about JoAnn? What was she like? I never hung out with her socially, but she seemed nice enough. Nobody ever complained about her. She always had friends around her. She never had any trouble, as far as I know. Her... suicide... came as a total surprise. Can you tell me about JoAnn's suicide? She jumped off the roof. She died instantly. It was the middle of the night. There was... there was no way anyone could have stopped her. Make sure you print that.Adrian comes across as a bit of a creep here, but in fairness, I guess it would be a tough thing to be responsible for a young lady who goes on to kills herself.  Next, Rosa asks for a photo. A picture? No. Why would I? Just asking.Yeah, that would be just a bit too creepy. Rosa quickly changes the conversation. So how did you get to be the R.A. of this floor? What do you mean? Well, it's a girl's floor, and you, well... Aren't? Yes. Well, it's like this. Wait, what? In what Universe is Adrian a girl's name? Have I missed something here? Adrienne maybe? None of the girls have complained? Not yet. They seem to prefer it. This sort of thing happens quite frequently. You'd be surprised.I'm... not sure it does. Even Rosa can't help but tease him a bit further about it. They really thought you were a girl? Yes. Well, that's all for now. Thanks for helping out. Just remember to leave my name out of it.NO PROMISES, SUCKER!!!  Seriously, Rosa has the guiltiest drat conscience. I just wanted you to read them   You're such a delicate little flower, Rosa.  After walking past a handful of doors, Rosa finally comes across JoAnn's dorm. Obviously JoAnn won't be home, but perhaps her roommate Kelly can give her some goss?  Kelly looks like a real reputable character. Rosa has three options of how to introduce herself here, but they all amount to pretty much the same thing Hi. I'm Rosangela Blackwell. Am I supposed to know you? No, I'm with the Village Eye. The village what? The Village Eye. The newspaper. I've never heard of it.Three more choices here. Rosa can either defend her employer, shrug it off or simply move on. I like the first option the best. It's for sale in the stand just outside your dorm. You must have seen it. Well I haven't. What do you want?If Rosa chooses to shrug it off, she mumbles that it's just a small paper, and Kelly drills her with a deadpan "Yeah, I guessed that." I'd like to talk to you about your room-mate, if that's all right? Jesus Christ. I'm busy with midterms. I told the campus police everything. Do you have to bother me? Look... Why is that my problem?Kelly is obviously big on empathy. At this point, Rosa is given an entire smorgasbord of three-choice-dialogue forks, about four in a row. In the interest of keeping this flowing, I'll just present them as one continuous dialogue. So you and JoAnn weren't close? Brilliant deducation, Sherlock. Can you go away? I only want a few minutes. I don't care. I'm busy. I don't care what you want, and I could care less about JoAnn. Just. Go. I understand that this must be a difficult time for you. Difficult? Hell no. It's been great. You know how long I've been wanting my own room?Seriously, Kelly is a huge bitch. That last line is a pretty reprehensible thing to say on literally the day of your roommate's suicide. That's... pretty harsh. Yeah? So what? You have a problem with that? You don't care? Not even a little bit? Why the hell should I? And for that matter why should you? It must have been hard, living with someone you don't like. What, you're psychoanalyzing me now? What the hell do you know about it? You're really starting to piss me off.Mind you, I guess I'd be a bit pissy if some reporter came along and kept asking questions at a time like this too. Rosa can either backpedal, apologise, or remain steadfast. We'll go with the latter... Will you please calm down? Calm DOWN? Who the hell do you think you are? I just want to know a little bit about JoAnn. Look, my boss will kill me if I come back with nothing. Can't you help me out here? ...Somehow Rosa's dorky smile actually wins Kelly over here. Fine. You want to know about JoAnn? She's DEAD. She's still a huge bitch, though. Did JoAnn act... unusual before she died? Nope. Same ole JoAnn. Studied at her desk all day and slept all night, as usual. Quiet as a little mouse. At this point, we can speak to Kelly about our clues. JoAnn: Is there anything else you can tell me about JoAnn? No.JoAnn's Suicide: Do you have any thoughts on why JoAnn would kill herself? Nope. Just another kid who couldn't hack it.Photograph: Do you have a photograph of JoAnn that we could use for the newspaper? You want a what? Just a photograph. You'll get it right back. Yeah right. You think I'm giving you anything? Think again.Adrian: Can you tell me anything about Adrian? The R.A.? He's okay. He helps us when we need it, and keeps out of our way when we don't. That's the way it should be.Kelly: Can you tell me a little bit about yourself? Why do you want to know? Just background info for the paper. I don't think so. Suit yourself.JoAnn studied all day:  Yeah, sure. Whatever.JoAnn slept all night: JoAnn never had trouble sleeping? How should I know? You lived with her. Like I pay attention.Well, that was all thoroughly useless. Rosa decides to move on. Thanks for helping out. Yeah, sure. Whatever. Rosa heads back to Adrian. Now that she has a bunch more clues on her notepad, she has extra things she can speak with him about. Hi. It's me again. ... You have more questions, I imagine? Is that okay? I suppose so. What do you want to know?Kelly: What can you tell me about JoAnn's room-mate? Kelly? Have you met her? Yes. Quite a sight, huh? But don't judge her by that. She's the sharpest kid you'll ever meet. She gets straight A's on everything. Really? Yep. She's pre-med. Can you tell me anything else about Kelly? I... don't feel it's my place to say anything else. If you want to know more, you'll have to ask her.JoAnn studied all day:  I don't think she had any problems. But of course, the pressure can get to anybody.JoAnn slept all night: Do you know if JoAnn had any trouble sleeping? I'm afraid I wouldn't. Her room-mate, Kelly, never complained, but that's not surprising. why is that? Well, Kelly rarely spent the night in her room. She only comes here to study, as far as I've seen. Do you know where Kelly was sleeping? No. It's not my place to ask.The fact that Kelly rarely slept at home is then added to the notepad as a clue. Well, that's all for now. Thanks for helping out. Just remember to leave my name out of it.You can keep saying it Adrian, but it's not going to happen!!  Rosa heads back to confront Kelly about not sleeping at home often. So you've been sleeping somewhere else lately? Yeah, I've been at my boyfriend's. You've been following me, or something? No. No. Just confirming the information. Looks like Adrian's been talking. Now this puzzle shows off one of the inherent flaws in the notepad mechanic. You may have already made the logical leap here - how could Kelly know JoAnn slept all night if she was never there herself at night? Unfortunately, Rosa will not make that logical leap until you combine the clues in the notepad. It's a bit of a clunky system, and it does tend to lend itself to simply combining every new clue you receive with all the previous clues just in case something falls out. Still, it's effective enough for what it is. Waaait a minute. Something isn't right. If Kelly's been spending her nights somewhere else... How can she know if her room-mate was sleeping well or not? Hm. I think Kelly was lying to me. I've got no idea. Why don't you ask her?Actually, I'm not sure why Rosa didn't just do that to start with. Over to Kelly we go...  Your R.A. told me that you haven't been sleeping in your dorm. Yeah, so? You told me that JoAnn slept in her room every night. So? How would you know JoAnn slept here if you've been sleeping somewhere else? ...huh? Oh!  Did you lie to me? I didn't lie! I just... Oh screw it. You wanna talk? Fine. What do you want to know?In a fantastic display of Adventure Game Logic, Rosa is actually rewarded for snooping around behind Kelly's back and then confronting her about a tiny slip of the tongue. I think the idea is she respects Rosa a bit more now for actually having thought outside the square, or something. As a result, Kelly will now give somewhat more meaningful responses to the clues. So what was JoAnn really like? To be honest, there's nothing to say. She was studying political science, which is kind of cool I guess. But she was so... vanilla. Vanilla? You know, sweet but not much there? Just a typical college kid. Acted just like everybody else. She seemed proud of it.Presumably by "vanilla", Kelly actually means "didn't wear pyjama bottoms and tank tops with skulls on them." Did JoAnn act... unusual before she died? well, no. That sounds kind of important... What did she say? No idea. Couldn't understand her. She swore up and down that she wasn't doing it. She looked a bit scared, though. Scared. How so? Just scared. I didn't need the drama, so I've been sleeping at my boyfriend's place. So you weren't here when she... Killed herself? No. I wasn't here. Not that it would have made a difference. Are we done?The "Not that it would have made a difference" line is fairly well delivered, with an appropriate amount of guilt mixed in with Kelly's normal defiance. We have all the info we need, but Rosa has one more item she needs for her story.  Hm. All right. Just a sec. This was hers. It was on her desk. She won't be needing it anymore. JoAnn is the girl on the left. Thanks. And here it is. JoAnn is pictured with two friends and looking pretty happy. That's everything - Pulitzer prize, here we come!!  On her way out of Brittany hall, Rosa experiences yet another of her patented headaches. Presumably the stress involved in managing her notepad was too much. This is just getting worse. At least I have enough for the story now. I'd better get home. Not Quite Right  This is... getting bad.Geez, Rosa is a mess. I don't think she stopped for any pain medication on the way either. Hopefully she has some in her apartment.  Oh. My. God. This really hurts. Sleep. That's all I need. I'll just type up this story and get to bed. Shouldn't take that long.Rosa continues to suffer debilitating headaches. This day has really taken it's toll on her.  Rosa's computer now has the "Do Research" option, which she can use to look up information on her various clues. It's not very often useful, but we'll see it feature in a couple of puzzles. For now, however, Rosa simply writes the article. Right. No more interuptions.A quick fade to black, and then: Done. Article's finished. Picture is scanned. And I am DONE for the day. Going Insane  As Rosa walks to her room, however, the worst yet of the headaches wracks her. In the game, this is accompanied by a horror-esque organ screech. Notice the photograph starting to glow.  What... is... happening?Wave after wave of headaches continue to pile onto Rosa as she stumbles around the room, until...  The pain. It's gone! That was strange.After one final headache, the pain suddenly disappears entirely.  The music, despite being a pretty mediocre track, is actually handled pretty well here. It slowly dims as the pain goes away, only to slowly rise in volume again as Rosa approaches the glowing photograph. The photo... something is different about it. I almost don't want to look, but... Motherfucker, there's a goddamn ghost in the loving photo!!!  Rosa is appropriately aghast at what she has just seen, given the conversation she just had earlier with Doctor Quentin. She quickly tries to reassure herself. I did not just see that. I'm not going crazy. No. It's just the stress. That's all. Auntie's death, work, life... I just need a rest. That's all...Suddenly, Rosa hears a swirling sound from behind her. Hello Joey  Rosa approaches the swirling energy, and it seems to implode inside her head - and the form of a ghost is revealed to her. And finally, perhaps blessedly, Rosa simply blacks out entirely.  Why do they always do that?SORCERY IS AFOOT IN MANHATTAN! Join us again tomorrow when Rosa emerges from her stupor to find out just what the hell is going on here! cmndstab fucked around with this message at 09:16 on Jun 27, 2014 |
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Oct 4, 2013 13:14
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cmndstab posted:Plenty of personality disorders, perhaps
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Oct 4, 2013 14:32
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Adrian can be a girl name. For example, there's a woman who name is Adrian in the phoenix wright games. And yes, there's a person who thought she was a man. Its name that can be used for either gender.
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Oct 4, 2013 18:25
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grandalt posted:Adrian can be a girl name. For example, there's a woman who name is Adrian in the phoenix wright games. And yes, there's a person who thought she was a man. Its name that can be used for either gender. Generally it is spelled "Adrian" for boys and "Adrienne" for girls. This is by no means a hard-and-fast rule, but if you notice one spelling or the other you're generally not blamed for making assumptions about sex.
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Oct 4, 2013 21:25
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(Cecil Baldwin voice) "The city council announces the opening of a new dog park. They would like to remind everyone that dogs are not allowed in the dog park. People are not allowed in the dog park. It is possible you will see hooded figures in the dog park. Do not approach them. Do not approach the dog park." I'm really enjoying this so far. The pixel work is pretty good, even if the artist did drop it and run off halfway through the game. And of course the addition of Joey the Ghost Detective makes everything better.
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Oct 5, 2013 01:40
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grandalt posted:Adrian can be a girl name. For example, there's a woman who name is Adrian in the phoenix wright games. And yes, there's a person who thought she was a man. Its name that can be used for either gender. Well, there you go. Maybe it's a regional thing - here in Australia I don't think I've ever heard of a girl called Adrian. Assoonasitits posted:Generally it is spelled "Adrian" for boys and "Adrienne" for girls. This is by no means a hard-and-fast rule, but if you notice one spelling or the other you're generally not blamed for making assumptions about sex. I'd agree with you here except presumably they had to fill out some form to make him the R.A. I really can't help but wonder if Adrian is a reference to something? Perhaps Gilbert knew a guy who this happened to at NYU? Antemony posted:(Cecil Baldwin voice) "The city council announces the opening of a new dog park. They would like to remind everyone that dogs are not allowed in the dog park. People are not allowed in the dog park. It is possible you will see hooded figures in the dog park. Do not approach them. Do not approach the dog park."  These games, particularly the third and fourth, have some gorgeous pixel art. They really remind me of Fate of Atlantis and other such 90s Lucasarts games that are still fairly timeless. Also, I'm pretty sure it's never mentioned in-game, but Joey is indeed supposed to have been a private eye when he was alive. And yes, his addition is about to make this thread infinitely better Next update later today. cmndstab fucked around with this message at 03:22 on Oct 5, 2013 |
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Oct 5, 2013 03:20
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Gee, Joey, I wonder why every woman you ghost-slap in the face and then dramatically appear in front of faints when you do that. 
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Oct 5, 2013 12:02
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Assoonasitits posted:Gee, Joey, I wonder why every woman you ghost-slap in the face and then dramatically appear in front of faints when you do that. I get the impression he enjoys it more than he should do I love the animation in the sequence, with Rosa grabbing her head, then kind of opening up her hands to peer out at the ghost. It's really quite charming spritework.
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Oct 5, 2013 16:07
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Update 5 This one is going to be fairly long, but once it's finished the plot dumps will all be out of the way, and the purpose of the game (and subsequence games in the series) will finally be revealed to us. So let's get started! Hello Joey LAST TIME  Why do they always do that? Opening Menu So now Rosa is unconcious on the floor, with a ghost apparently floating around in her apartment. At this point I'm wondering if Rosa decided to bypass the over-the-counter medication for some home-grown poo poo.  Long time no see. How's tricks?The ghost floats around the apartment, checking out Rosa's meagre possessions. ... Right. Thought as much.Soon enough, he settles back down over Rosa.  Always sleeping. You're always sleeping and I'm always watching.That's.... pretty loving creepy.  At this point, Rosa finally starts to stir. Mrg. It's about time. Hey, naptime nellie! Wake up! What... *ahem* Shall we try this again? Rosa stands up, hears the ghost's voice, and turns around to find him floating there. Now that's not very polite. Go away! Believe me, I've tried. NO! You don't exist! Oh, yes I do. Look at me.The ghost gets pretty frustrated when Rosa start to deny his existence, but Rosa doesn't want to hear it. This is not happening. This is not happening. Oh brother. I am NOT going insane. There is nothing there. Could you- No! By this point, Rosa is having a full blown panic attack, and for once I can't even blame her. Listen- Get out of my head! There's nothing there. There's nothing there. There's nothing there... Could you- Shut up! Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!Finally, the ghost has had enough of this. No, YOU shut up. I've been watching you all day, sweetheart. You know who I am. No...Presumably he's been watching since Rosa scattered the ashes, judging by the similar swirl of energy. YES. I'm not going away. So there'd be no point in beating around the bush. Now say my name. No... drat you. You KNOW my name. Now say it.He's pretty drat intimidating during this sequence, floating right up behind her and raising his voice while Rosa cowers. You're... Yes? Good girl. You got it in one. Now turn around and look at me.And there it is confirmed. The famous Joey, whose voice falls back to controlled here. I... Don't worry. I won't bite. Couldn't even if I wanted to. Rosa finally summons up the courage to face Joey, who immediately flashes her a charming/seedy grin. She can react in one of three ways - accepting: You really exist? Oh yes. Live and in person. Although I'm not really alive. And I'm not sure if I can still call myself a "person" anymore.Unaccepting: You...can't be real. You're just a... stress induced hallucination. Yeah, sure. Think about your aunt and grandmother and say that again.And confrontational: Who are you, and what the hell do you want with me? Hah! You don't waste any time. You're a Blackwell, all right.Whichever you choose, Rosa then follows up with another pertinent question: So who ARE you? I'm Joey Mallone, and I'm the family spirit guide. Joey's smooth smirk falls onto Rosa's blank stare. Finally, she speaks up again. What? Think of me as the Blackwell legacy, darling. I'm passed down from one generation to the next, like a family heirloom. First your grandmother got stuck with me, then your aunt, and now you.Well, that confirms that theory. Joey "passes down" from one member of the family to the next when they die. Recall that in Jack's letter, he first noticed Lauren becoming distant shortly after Patricia died. So you're a ghost. Yep. You're a GHOST. The true gravity of this situation finally dawns on Rosa. Hey, you're sharp. Took your aunt and grandmother ages to work that out. So I'm not... going crazy? Nope. Ain't that grand? Where did you come from? That's a long long story, Dollface. And we've got more important things to do.It's a bit difficult to convey Joey's tone here without voice acting (which, it must be said, is excellent). He's menacing, but not altogether nasty or cold. At the risk of sounding cliched, he's fairly mysterious here. At this point, Rosa finally gets around to asking the million dollar question. Why have you been haunting my family? "Haunting?" Is that what I'm doing? That's a real ugly word.He actually sounds a bit hurt here. Answer me. Why are you here? You got me, sweetheart. I've been wondering "Why me?" and "Why your family?" since this whole gig started. Must be some kind of gift your family has. A gift? You're a medium. A medium with a direct connection with the spirit world. And I, my dear, have the unique pleasure of being that connection. I don't... Oh you will, babe. You will. It took your aunt a while, but she got the hang of it. Your grandmother never really caught on. By contrast, Joey is at his most chilling here. But that's something we can talk about later. You felt something today, didn't you? Felt something? Yeah. You felt sick to your stomach. I saw you. I've been feeling sick all day. And where did it START? ...Rosa can guess at the various places she's visited today. Let's retrace her steps backwards. That NYU dorm? No, no. That's tied in, maybe. But think further back. Nishanthi? It has something to do with Nishanthi? The old lady? No. Think harder. The hospital? Hell, I hope not. I don't want to go back THERE in a hurry. Think harder.This is an interesting comment - if Joey was haunting Lauren before she died, and Lauren spent 25 years in a medically-induced coma, presumably Joey has just been chilling around for those 25 years as well, which would explain why he hates the idea of going back to the hospital again so much. You mean... the dog run? Yeah. That's where we've got to go. What, right now? Yep. The sooner the better. But it's the middle of the night! So? You've just had a nice nap. You should be ready for action.Rosa is so adorably whiny here  Well, that's where you're wrong. If there's any reason behind this medium business, it's to take care of problems like your dog park. And we have to take care of them SOON.Rosa has various responses: Fine. We'll do it in the morning. No can do. We gotta go now. This is all too much. I've got to sleep on this. Sorry, kiddo. We gotta go now. We've got to go right now? Yes. What's the hurry? Let me put it another way. Do you want to end up like your aunt and grandmother? Wait..... what exactly is Joey implying with that last sentence? Was that... because of you? Did YOU do that? Not me, kid. Not me. I didn't make em that way, and I don't know what did. But do you really want to sit around here and find out? ...Joey actually comes across as genuine here. I can't believe this is happening. Believe it. Maybe I AM going crazy. Maybe I'd PREFER going crazy. Sorry, sugar. You're totally sane. Deal with it. Fine. Let's go. That's the spirit! Joey is altogether too happy about this little arrangement. With not much choice other than to follow, Rosa heads off to Washington Square Park.  Everybody just ignored you. Am I the only one who can see you? Yep. And hear me. So keep your voice low.There's an eerie windy noise in the background here. It's one that will be heard many times throughout this series.  This is the spot. Can you see it? I don't see anything. Can we go? This way.Joey starts floating off towards the entrance to the dog run. Hey, wait! Goes against the rules, whatever they are. Now look inside there. And look CLOSE. What am I supposed to see? Just wait. It'll come. Washington Square Night  Who is that? That's what we're here to find out. I'll talk to the spook. You can stay here. Okay.With that, Joey heads inside the dog run to speak with the ghost.  Why so down, beautiful?Despite Joey's endless charm, the ghost completely ignores him. Ah. I'm a bit out of practice. How should I handle this...Now it's Joey who has a few different choices. He can be firm: I want you to listen to me, girlie. Your tears won't win any sympathy from me. So tell me what the story is, so we can both get out of here.Be glib: Hey, buck up. It's only death. The worst part's over.Or be charming: Hey, don't be like that. If it's one thing I hate, it's seeing a pretty girl cry.All three of which make him look like a bit of an rear end in a top hat, but a charismatic rear end in a top hat nonetheless. The ghost doesn't respond, but does seem to notice Joey, quickly turning and floating away from him. Next up, Joey can let her be: It's all right. Take your time.Stay firm: Hey, I'm talking to ya.Or work the Joey charm: Leaving so soon? I thought we were getting along.Finally, the ghost responds.  They all run. So hard to hold on. It's me. They won't stop!Her voice sounds distant and echoey, not to mention panicked. Joey again chooses from three options. He can explain his business: We're here to help you. Help? Yeah. That's us. We're helpers.He can try to calm her down: Shhh. Relax. Slow down and tell me everything. I'm here to help.Or he can try to make sense of her words: Who won't stop, kid? Try and concentrate. Explain everything so we can help you.The ghost responds, but doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Help. Help. He wants me to help him. But I want to help THEM. Don't they know that? Help who? Can't. Can't. They run away. We won't run away. No. Suddenly, she gets angry and starts yelling.  Got into our head and poisoned us! Whatever happened, darling, it's over. You do know that, don't you? No! I'm poison! Stay away, or I'll poison you! Run away, like all the others!There's only one solution for this kind of hysteria - the Joey charm! He can choose to stand his grand: Not a chance. I'm staying right here. You're... You're HIM! He's the only one who won't go away!He can give it right back to her: Yeah. Keep talking like that, sister, and YOU'LL be doing the running. Now why don't you shut your yap and calm the hell down. YOU! Yeah? I know it's you!Or he can try out his hilarious smooth talking: You're beautiful when you're angry, has anyone told you? NO! You won't trap me again! Again? He made everyone go away. There is nobody else.Joey tries to ask the ghost who "HIM" is: Who? You're HIM! Now look. Darling. Sweetheart. Leave me! Hey- LEAVE!Finally, Joey just gives up. All right. Look, just... sit tight. We'll figure this out. And we'll be back.With that, Joey floats on out of the dog run, a beaten man. Ghost. Whatever.  Hahaha, I love this. Can't get a straightforward answer out of any of em. What just happened? What just happened is we've got an unstable spirit on our hands. Haunting that dog park over there. You wondered why the mutts don't like it here? That's the reason.Joey kind of snaps this answer back, presumably still pissed off at his unsuccessful attempt at smooth talking the ghost. Rosa, however, barely even notices. There's a ghost haunting the dog park. That's what I said. A ghost. Sure. I told you- No. I should go to bed. I really should go to bed.Finally, Rosa has had enough, and just dazedly walks off muttering to herself.  Joey, who has already established that he can't ever be far from her side, has no choice but to angrily follow her back home.  With Rosa collapsing asleep in bed, night turns to day. Legacy is actually only two days long, so we're around half way through this first game already! The second day has somewhat less text and more puzzles, but first we go through the final plot dump. (Continued next post...) cmndstab fucked around with this message at 09:17 on Jun 27, 2014 |
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Oct 5, 2013 16:49
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Rosa's Theme  What an... odd dream.Rosa wakes up groggy the next morning, assuming that Joey's appearance was just a horrible nightmare fueled by stress and her chat with Doc Quentin.  Unfortunately for her, Joey is waiting right outside her door for her. ... Oh. You're still here. Wouldn't be anywhere else. Has anybody told you that you snore?Hahahaha, Joey is such a jerk These two are a match made in heaven. I do NOT snore! Like a chainsaw, darling. I'd be a little hacked off, if I actually slept. If it bothers you so much, you can always leave. I wish I could, dear. I told you, I couldn't leave even if I wanted to. Have you been here all night? Where else am I gonna go? I can't leave your side. Doesn't matter if you're asleep or not.At this point, Rosa is starting to get pissed. So this is going to be my life from now on. Pretty much, yeah. You're going to follow me around for the rest of my life. That's how it works, as far as I can tell. Great. Just... great.Joey isn't about to let her do all the complaining, though.  You think I chose to be shackled to your family for the last forty years? Your grandmother refused to accept it, and look what happened to her. And Auntie? She... made a mistake.That's pretty drat ominous. Presumably that "mistake" is what left her insane and hospital-bound for the remainder of her life. What kind of mistake? Hey, what is this? Twenty questions? What's with the third-degree? Are you hiding something, Joey? Who me? I'm an open book. It's not my fault you can't read. What does that mean? It means zip it.Rosa doesn't want to drop it. I have a right to know. No, you WANT to know. There's a difference. I don't have to tell you squat. She's the only family I had. I want to know about her. We all want lots of things. Doesn't mean we get 'em. Look, this isn't easy, you know. My whole life has turned upside down. FINE.Rosa yells the last word through gritted teeth. I have to say, I am liking that these two are both giving as good as they're getting. This scene could be a hell of a lot more uncomfortable if Joey just browbeat a tearful Rosa into submission. But you could at least meet me halfway. You've accepted it, you say? So far, yes. You've only seen a taste of it. Are you ready to go all the way?I'm not sure I like where this is heading... What do you mean? Ready to see what's out there. Ready to see what this is all about.Rosa can either respond positively: Yes. Good. Maybe there's hope, after all.Incredulously: There's MORE? Oh yes.Or just continue being bitter about things: It's not like I have a choice, right? No. You don't. So what is it? I don't have to tell you. It's best if I show you. At this point, Joey undoes his tie. What exactly is he intending to show Rosa...? Now I'm really concerned about his "all the way" line Here. Take a hold of this. I can touch it? Yeah. The only part of me you CAN touch. Unfortunately. It... kinda tingles. What is it? The stuff of life. Or death. I've never quite worked it out.Joey is speaking about his tie here, but seriously, he could just as easily have pulled out his dick and this dialogue would work just as well.  Now you pull. Pull the tie? Yeah, pull! Okay...Hahahaha, I say again...... Inside Nodespace  Rosa yanks Joey's tie, and his spirit collides with her brain, knocking her flying through a portal into some kind of alternative dimension. Oh... my... God! Where have you taken me? Relax. Take your time. It's a lot to take in at once. What is this place? It's the doorway to infinity, darling. Out there, in the distance. This area is never given a proper name throughout the series, but apparently Gilbert always thought of it as being called "Nodespace". The gossamer threads that separate this world from the next. Whatever you want to call it, it's all out there. How did we get here? We're inside your head. You mean, I'm dreaming? Wait, you mean literally "literally"? Remember those headaches you had yesterday? Yeah... That was your power awakening. Or, to be more specific, it was this place. Forcing its way into your mind.Jesus Christ, no wonder Rosa was hurting so loving much. She's got a loving Universe stuck inside her goddamn head. So what does that mean? It means that you've got a spiritual waystation in your head. I'm not sure I like this.Hahaha, this is so beautifully understated. Well, like it or not, we're here. So what does this place actually DO? This is the closest the game comes to calling this area Nodespace. You bring spirits into this place, and then send them on their merry way. That's it? Well there's a bit more than that. I thought as much. You see, many ghosts aren't as lucid as myself. Most can barely tell you their own names, let alone tell you what's wrong. Near as I can figure, they have to come to terms with their... departure... before they can actually depart. You dig me so far? More games need a "You dig" or "You don't dig" option. If you choose the latter, Joey gives a condensed version: No. Can you explain it again? I'll put it more simply for you. The ghosts don't know they're dead. So we have to help them accept it. Once they accept their death, they are much more willing to move on. That's my job, see. I talk to the spooks. They trust me more because I'm one of them. You do the legwork. See?And so now, half way through the game, we finally come to the point of it. Rosa and Joey's purpose, it seems, is to help ghosts accept their death, and then send them on their way to the next plane of existence. Via Rosa's head. And Joey's magical tie.  Actually, she doesn't have that many. What about that ghost in the park. The one from last night. Why didn't we bring her here? First of all, I didn't think you were ready. And secondly, that ghost was too lost and confused. When a ghost is like that, I can't just force the tie into their hands. It won't work. Don't ask me why. They have to KNOW they are dead first. Your aunt called it being "spiritually ready."Next, Rosa asks a very pertinent question. What about you? Can you go through that hole and move on? I wish, darling. But I can't. I've tried before, but it just spits me back out. I'm stuck here, whether I like it or not.Joey sounds a bit drained in that last response, prompting Rosa to ask how he is. Are you okay, Joey? Me, I'm dandy. You don't look all right. Eh, it's just this place. I don't like it. Probably because I don't belong. Maybe someday, but not now.Rosa has only one more question for Joey.  How did that happen? Not sure. Near as your aunt and me figured, the tie is just an extension of whatever power brought us here. It's not a real physical tie. No more than I am a real physical person. But that makes no sense. Look, just accept it, dollface. Forget logic. For you, logic went out the window the day I appeared in your bedroom. There ain't no instruction manual for this. Your aunt and me just figured it out as we went along.So apparently Joey and Lauren were doing this all those years ago. At least until she went insane, I guess. I think I've learned enough. You sure? Yeah. All right. Let's get out of here. Rosa's Theme  Joey and Rosa step back out of Nodespace, and return to her apartment. Welcome back. Ugh. Take it easy. It's a little disorientating. I'm fine. So what now? Go back to the park and bring her to... that place? You got it.Rosa seems to be starting to accept this, which is probably a good thing since Joey does seem all that amenable to being held up. And how do we do that? There are three steps. First, we have to find out more about her. Second, we use that information to her through to her. Convince her that she's dead. And three, help her move on. How do we find out more about her? She could be anybody? Not necessarily. That picture you got? The one of the three girls? That blond girl is either the ghost in her park, or her twin sister. Apparently the ghost in the park looks like the middle girl in the photo. Note that the blonde girl is not JoAnn, so apparently two of the girls are dead. This all seems like a pretty drat big coincidence. You're sure? She's a dead ringer. No pun intended. That's... convenient. Don't look so surprised, darling. This type of things will happen more often than you think.Something else dawns on Rosa. Were you looking through my stuff? What else am I gonna do while you're sleeping?Hahaha, Joey is an rear end in a top hat The blond girl is dead. Looks like it. And this other girl, JoAnn. She's dead, too. Yep. What's going on? That, my dear, is out bread and butter.Alright, so we need to figure out what happened. Next order of business: How do we convince ghosts that they are actually dead? That's the tricky part. Near as I can figure, we need to remind the ghosts who they are. Joey delivers this line with all the snark you can imagine. So we need to do whatever we can to bring them back to themselves. And how do we do that? Usually by finding something that has personal significance to them. It could be an object, a piece of information, or even another person.Obviously, this kind of thing will form the primary source of puzzles throughout the series. So we need to know more about that ghost in the park. You're a writer, yeah? Think of this as the ultimate character study.Finally, Rosa asks about sending the spirits on their way. How do we help a ghost move on? I give one end to the spook, the other end to you. You pull the ghost in, and you send them on their way. You don't come in with me? No, sorry. That's your job.No wonder he felt out of place in Nodespace, he doesn't usually go there. I think I've heard enough. Yeah, let's get going.And with that massive sequence out of the way (at no point during this entire update was there an opportunity to save, move around, or do anything other than be railroaded through dialogue sequences), the setting is set, the leads are revealed, and the game "proper" begins. Of course, Legacy is fairly short, so we're already half way through this one. But the beauty of the episodic format is that subsequent games don't require such a large lead-in, and the leads have enough personality (not to mention as-of-yet unrevealed backstory) to keep things very interesting. Tomorrow we'll get started on saving some spooks!! cmndstab fucked around with this message at 09:19 on Jun 27, 2014 |
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Oct 5, 2013 17:02
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So since I'm such a dedicated LPer and all, I thought I'd undertake some hard-hitting journalism of my own regarding the use of Adrian as a girl's name. So I jumped onto thinkbabynames.com. http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/0/Adrian Apparently it's in the top 1000 girl's names in the US. Blow me down. Also, looking at that chart, it experienced a growth in popularity from 1960-1980, when Joey was mucking around with Patricia and Lauren. So perhaps the choice of the name "Adrian" was an inspired choice by Gilbert! More like though, he was just poking fun at a friend with that sequence of dialogue Should have the next update prepared later on today. In the interim, your comments/thoughts regarding Joey's appearance and the direction this game has taken are very welcome! cmndstab fucked around with this message at 07:43 on Oct 6, 2013 |
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Oct 6, 2013 07:35
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Not much in the way of discussion I see (I assume some people are actually reading this thread?) but let's push on with the updates anyway! Update 6 So now we've got the band together - Rosa and Joey are ready go out and chat up some ghosts! Before they do that, though, let's have a bit of a chat with Joey. Rosa's Theme Psst! Joey! What is it, dear? In Blackwell Legacy, Joey is really little more than a companion. Obviously he's integral to the story and will be with us every step of the way, but Rosa is the protagonist. She can speak with Joey and ask him questions, and he'll pipe up himself regularly, but other than a couple of scripted sequences (such as when he talked to the ghost in the dog run), he's really just along for the ride. This will change in later games, where Joey becomes a playable character in his own right who can be controlled at (almost) any time, and puzzles will require us to switch between the two characters at various times. What was Auntie Lauren like? What do you wanna know about her for? I just do. Can't you tell me anything? Hey, we've got lots to do. Ask me later.This is something that the game does pretty well. We've received a few massive plot dumps throughout the first day of the game, but for the remainder of the game backstory is doled out to us in bite-sized chunks. At this point, since he's only just finished meeting us, Joey doesn't have a lot to say, but he will open up about Lauren at several points throughout the game. What was my grandmother like? Her? We have to talk about her? What's wrong with her? Nothing. Forget it. Ask me later.Rosa can also ask about Patricia, but it is very obvious that Joey was not a fan in the slightest.  As I said earlier, Joey is really just an NPC that tags along. He'll often just float around the room and look at random things, hence Rosa's comment here. Huh? The way you float all over the room like that. You're making me dizzy. Pff. You sound like my mother. You're gonna just have to get used to it, babe.I guess it's not like she can do anything to stop him... Can you ever leave? Leave? What do you mean, leave? Leave! Get out of my apartment. Go somewhere else. What? Don't you like me? It's not that. It's just, well... what about privacy? Hahahaha. Somehow I don't think Rosa will be convinced by this And what about personal space? I'm a GHOST. It's not like I take up any space. You know what I mean. Sorry, darling. No can do. I told you, I can't travel far from my... hosts. I can go maybe thirty feet before something stops me. That must be annoying. Eh, it's not so bad now. This seems like a fairly insensitive thing to say, but realistically I guess he knew Lauren a hell of a lot better than Rosa did anyway. Speaking of being insensitive, Rosa decides to try her hand at it as well! How did you die? Excuse me? How did I DIE? Yeah. That's a bit of a personal question, isn't it? Is it? YES. Sorry.Next up, Rosa tries to figure out if Joey is actually useful in any capacity outside of his magical tie and casual witticisms.  Do? As a ghost. Any powers, or anything like that? What you see is what you get, dear. I can float through walls, as long as I'm still near you.Floating through walls is actually an extremely useful ability in terms of fact-gathering, especially as he can never be caught while doing it. But you can't touch anything? Not really."Not really?" What does that mean? Not really? Well, you remember that breeze you felt when I... manifested myself last night? Yeah. That's the extent of my physical presence. Everyone's a critic.If Rosa asks him to demonstrate it again, Joey sarcastically proclaims:  Again, while Joey's light breeze powers just add to his character in Legacy (I think he does use it once, but in a scripted sequence), they will actually become a part of the puzzle mechanics in later games.  Rosa can also speak to Joey about the clues on her notepad. I don't suppose you know anything about JoAnn, would you? Nope. No more than you. Judging by the picture, she knows that sob story in the park. But that's all. Why would JoAnn commit suicide? Who knows? Maybe she was in a hurry. That's not funny. Hahaha, I have to say, I'm very quickly warming to Joey here What do you think of Adrian? Adrian? Hah. His parents must have really hated him, to saddle him with THAT name. Joey... Still... to be sharing a floor with a bevy of young college ladies... Hm. Maybe he doesn't have it so bad.Again, we get a comment from Joey here about Adrian being a bad name for a man to have. Rosa asks about Kelly: What do you think of Kelly? That kid? I suppose once you get past all that metal... and the clothes, and the hair, and the nasty makeup... Hahahaha... ...MAYBE... Nah. Forget it.That's all we'll get out of Joey for now, so it's time to get on with the game. Before heading out, Rosa checks the photograph again.  And Joey too, I guess. It's funny. With Joey there, we almost look like a real family. So Auntie Lauren was a medium, as well. All this time, and I never knew... I can't believe Joey was around when Auntie Lauren was taking care of me.Looking at the photo closer, Rosa remarks: When I was a little girl, I'd try to talk to my younger self in this picture. I was trying to give myself advice about the future. It didn't work then, and I doubt it would work now. That's definitely Auntie Lauren. Even way back then, Joey was following her around. How did she manage it? Turns out Joey was also in this photo, confirming that Lauren was already dealing with Joey by the time of the wedding, like Jack expected.  And, yet again, Joey is in the photograph haunting Patricia, who looks pretty concerned about Joey's death glare. I have to wonder how a ghostly visage shows up in a photograph. Even if we accept all the stuff about a connection to the spirit world in Rosa's head and stuff it still seems a bit weird that a reproduced image would contain residual spiritual images that can only be seen by mediums. I guess we'll just accept it for now.  Continuing to stall for time, Rosa decides to check in with Nishanthi. Come in! Nishanthi's Theme  Come in. Come in.Upon entering, Moti immediately trots up to Joey.  You look a little... preoccupied. I'm fine.Rosa clearly sounds anything but fine here.  Displaying pretty sound judgement, Moti begins to bark up a storm at Joey. Oh jeez. In case you haven't noticed, some animals can sense me. Are you getting a good look, mutt? I'm sorry. He must be sick, or something. It's all right.Joey's response is to startle the poo poo out of Moti, sending the dog yelping and whining away. Rosa can attempt to talk to Joey here, but he quickly shuts her down. Jo- Shhh! You wanna start a riot? Keep your yap SHUT until we're alone.Joey actually has a different "shut the hell up" message for each location, though most of them boil down to this.  Rosa gets talking to Nishanthi, who can tell that something is clearly wrong. Yes? Could you tell me more about that? Well I'm not psychic or anything, if that's what you mean. I'm just observant. Anyone could tell something was wrong, if they kept their eyes open. Speaking of which... Care to tell me what's wrong? What do you mean? You look... ill at ease. Uncomfortable. Nishanthi is indeed pretty observant. Is everything alright? Say you're fine, kid. I'm... fine. Yep. Everything's just dandy. Just dandy. And could you stop looking at me? I mean, I know it's hard...Hahaha, Joey's such a wonderful rear end in a top hat Nishanthi can tell that Rosa is not right, but let's the subject drop. I see. Well, I'm here if you need me.Rosa quickly excuses herself and gets out of there before she makes things worse.  Dogs, cats, birds. Any dumb animal. So what does that make me? I dunno. A gerbil? You kinda look like a gerbil. Shut up.Hahaha, these two have some great back and forth. Washington Square Park  Don't worry. I'll do the talking.Time to get stuck into this. You can't really see in this screenshot, but the ghost is still skulking around in the background there.  No. Maybe.Let's see if Joey can work his way through this conversation a bit more smoothly than last time. He has three choices for approaching the ghost. He can tell her the truth: Can you tell me the last thing you remember? Candy. I was eating candy. Candy? Candy to make the Deacon go away. Ahh... I think I understand. Did it work? I don't hear him anymore. But he did something to me... I... they all go away.So this ghost obviously commited suicide, apparently because of someone called the Deacon. Joey tries the direct approach. Young lady, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you're dead. It's so quiet. I... Sweetheart, are you listening to me? They all go away. The Deacon made them go away. Listen, you don't have to worry about it anymore. Whatever it is. Just... let go. He haunts my dreams. He gets into my head. He poisoned me. He's trying to kill me. But you're... oh forget it. Joey is also able to quiz the ghost from Rosa's notepad. Are you friends with a girl named JoAnn? JoAnn... JoAnn... Beware JoAnn when her plan's unfurled. For she intends to take over the world. She had to go away. He drove her away. She didn't understand. Do you know why JoAnn killed herself? JoAnn? She can't be dead. She'd going to change the world. She's not dead. Even though she had to go away. They all had to go away. Because of the Deacon.The ghost recites the little poem about JoAnn in a very sing-song way, for some reason. Combined with the echoey voice it sounds pretty creepy. How about Adrian? Do you know him? Adrian the man. The man with the plan. Do you know Kelly? Kelly... Kelly... Crazy Kelly. Made of ice jelly. We all drove her away. But that was okay. It wasn't the Deacon's fault. It was hers. Do you recognize the girls in this picture? Oh. It's so hard to see. Maybe I need glasses. Hm. Worth a try.Joey decides to cut to the chase.  The Deacon is the Deacon. We called him and he came. He got into my head. He's scared. He's diseased. He's made me diseased, too. Now everyone goes away.Unfortunately, without anything more to go on, that's all the sense Joey is able to get out of the ghost. At this point there's nothing else to do but go away and try to figure out who the hell the Deacon might be. Look... just sit tight. We'll figure this out. And we'll be back. What, you don't like dogs? You know what I mean.Outside, Rosa is still creeped out about this. If you visit the ghost again, we get the following amusing exchange. She is so... strange! Don't you think she's strange? Not really. I think she's a choice bit of calico, myself. Maybe it's a ghost thing. Rosa's Theme  In general, Rosa has to return to her apartment to have any meaningful conversation with Joey, so I'll often return here between plot points to shoot the poo poo. No idea. Although he must be a pretty formidable fellow, considering what's been going on.This is a bit of an odd comment since we're not really sure "what's been going on." Nonetheless, he obviously has something to do with the ghost in the park. Rosa is also able to ask Joey about the two photographs he appears in (other than the Brooklyn bridge photo), and he'll open up a bit about Lauren and Patricia. Joey, you're in this photograph. So I am. That was Jack and Maria's wedding. My parents? Yeah. Why were you at the wedding? Because your aunt insisted on going, and I go where she goes. I could have talked her out of it, but she put her foot down. There are interesting emotions in this bit of dialogue. Joey comes across as still being annoyed that he was forced to attend the wedding, but his voice is also brighter when speaking about Lauren. It's pretty obvious that he misses her. You don't look very happy in this picture. That's because I wasn't. There was a spirit trapped in an alley, down in Chinatown. A little girl, five years old. Lost and confused and needing our help. But did your aunt want to solve the case? No. Going to the wedding was IMPORTANT, she said. More important. Can you imagine? I... don't know. Can you tell me anything else about the wedding? I don't know. There was music? The bride wore white? It was over thirty years ago. Just because I'm dead doesn't mean my memory is perfect.This bit of dialogue gives us pause to think - how much of a life can you have if you're doing this medium thing? Joey begrudged (and apparently still begrudges) Lauren attending her own brother's wedding. Asking about the photo with Patricia: Can you tell me anything about this picture, Joey? Ohh yeah. I remember this. This was taken about forty years ago. Your grandmother there insisted on it. So that's my grandmother? Yep. And that's my... dad? And Auntie Lauren? In the flesh. What were you doing in this picture? Being ignored, as usual. Real strong believer in denial, that woman. Do you remember anything else about that day? It was over forty years ago, doll. Stupid hair and ugly sweaters, that's all I remember.By contrast to Lauren, Joey is just sarcastic when speaking about Patricia. I get the impression they didn't get along well at all. Once last thing for this update - Rosa can head back to good old Doc Quentin and have another chat. Hospital Clocks  I was stuck here for twenty five years. Why'd you have to drag me back here, huh?Joey is not happy about coming back here. What was it like, staying here? Like? I was on a different floor, but it's all the same. Twenty-five friggin' years. Hovering over your aunt's shoulder. Staring at the ceiling. You wanna know how many cracks there were in that ceiling? Not really. Fifty four! Or maybe fifty five. I was never sure about that last one..The anger and frustration Joey feels about those 25 years are really evident here. How well did you know Dr. Quentin? That quack? He'd come into your aunt's room. Poke her. Prod her. Try to get her to speak. He didn't know from nothing. I'd just as soon never see him again. What was Auntie's condition like? She was a rotting vegetable, sweetheart. They kept her so drugged up that she could hardly move. Which is probably for the best, come to think of it. Without the drugs, she... wasn't pretty. But the doc told you all about that. You don't need to hear it again from me.Joey doesn't want to see Quentin again, but bad luck for him. Rosa heads in anyway.  Rosa can ask Quentin about Joey, or even try telling him straight out that she is being haunted by him. We'll go with the former first... Did my aunt and grandmother ever say anything... specific about Joey? No. Why? Have you learned anything? Oh, no... I was just wondering. Oh, real subtle.Have to agree with Joey here. Meanwhile, trying to tell Quentin directly does not go well. Doctor Quentin, I've got something to tell you... Hm? Yes? It's about Joey. Oh? Oh, no. This is the first time we've seen Joey's angry face. Yeah... Darling, you seem like a sweet kid. Don't ruin everything this early in the game. I... Hey! Whatever you think you're doing, stop right now.Joey moves in closer and closer as he starts raising his voice here.  He... Are you LISTENING? I just spent twenty five years in this dump. I'm not gassed up to do it again, you dig? You wanna be locked up in a padded cell with ME for company? Cuz that's what'll happen. He can be pretty drat intimidating when he wants to be. Um... Think about it.Joey scooches right up behind Rosa's ear and drops his voice to a low, menacing whisper for the final line. Rosa, wisely, decides to leave the topic alone. Yes, Miss Blackwell? Nevermind. Good girl. Keep your yap shut and we'll get on just fine.Joey is a pretty drat likeable character, but geez, he can be a real intimidating rear end in a top hat when he wants to be. We'll stop there, but tomorrow we'll head back to the Brittany hall dorms at NYU to see if we can get any more information! Who is the ghost at the park? Who is the Deacon? Why did Joey hate Patricia so much? Debate it today, tune in tomorrow! cmndstab fucked around with this message at 09:20 on Jun 27, 2014 |
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Oct 6, 2013 15:16
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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.
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Oct 6, 2013 16:28
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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).
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Oct 6, 2013 17:23
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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. This has taken a turn I wasn't expecting. At first I thought it was going to turn out that at some point between dumping our Aunt's ashes and getting back to the apartment that we'd somehow jumped into an alternate universe where nobody knew us. The doctor making a mistake about our Aunt (thinking she was our Mother) seemed to confirm this, but now that Joey has revealed himself I guess that's not where this is going anymore. Too early to start speculating on what happened to Lauren that caused her to flip out like Patricia?
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Oct 6, 2013 19:10
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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. Although, from what Joey's implying, it seems Lauren did attempt to do the job asked of her in some capacity... for some time. There's also enough emphasis on the brief Do's and Do Nots Joey gave that screwing up being a medium has some rather severe repercussions. Maybe she tried taking on some really vehement spirit and got poo poo wrecked, or she tried to ...I dunno.. force Joey to the other side? Actually, probably not; he seems to be more fond of her than her mom/Rosa's grandma so I bet it's more that she went in over her head at some point and wound up like a surviving protagonist in a Lovecraft story.
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Oct 6, 2013 19:19
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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. Great LP, though, keep on doing it. It's a shame text doesn't quite convey the great interplay between Rosa and Joey, but it does as well as it can. Although, I do still have to finish Resonance...
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Oct 6, 2013 19:20
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The smiling character portraits are the best. It's so hard to take them seriously, it's easily my favourite part of the dialogues.
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Oct 6, 2013 21:25
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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. Or, alternatively, he has a weakness in his hard-boiled soul for kiddie ghosts or something.
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Oct 6, 2013 23:29
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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. That's a real nice compliment, thanks! I have a theory which I think can explain Joey's anger towards Patricia, as revealed in his discussion about the wedding: he has some vested interest in helping ghosts that he learns about move on. Whether it's the fact that he can't move on and wants others to be at peace even though he can't or he is somehow harmed by them not moving on remains to be seen. I think it's the former, though, judging from the way he talked about the five-year-old girl.
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Oct 6, 2013 23:49
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Yeah, it's entirely possible that he just feels bad for the other ghosts and wants to help them move on. But it's not like they couldn't agree to come back and send her to the next life once the party was over. In fact, that might be what happened, except Lauren was too drunk or tired to want to deal with a soul passing through her head afterwards.
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Oct 6, 2013 23:58
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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. Granted, his situation is still pitiable given the fact that he alternatively was stuck to Patricia who denied he even existed or got stuck with Lauren with the 25 years in the asylum.
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Oct 7, 2013 03:31
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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.
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Oct 7, 2013 04:27
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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!
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Oct 7, 2013 06:09
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