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Let's play Вивисектор aka Вивисектор: Зверь Внутри aka Vivisector: Beast Inside aka Vivisector: Beast Within aka Vivisector: Creatures of Dr. Moreau aka Duke Nukem: Endangered Species. SPRING BREAK!   The wedgie-giving lion redefining chainmail bikini on the cover of the 2005 CIS release is not the main character. He's on the 2002 Apocalypse Now-ish wallpaper. It looks like an ad for a razor company (with a side business in ear transplants).  Read, if you've never heard of it Vivisector is a 2005 Ukrainian first-person shooter combining some elements of Serious Sam and Half-Life, and a dose of pre-BioShock philosophising on ethics. It was developed by Action Forms, previously responsible for such classics as dinosaur-hunting sims Carnivores 1 and 2, a being-hosed-by-a-yeti sim Carnivores: Ice Age, and a Quake-styled FPS Chasm: The Rift. I've played them, so I might mention them in the LP. I barely touched their only post-Vivisector release, Cryostasis: The Sleep of Reason. The Archive has two LPs of that. Vivisector's unique feature is the ability to rip huge chunks of flesh out of cyborg animals. In Ukraine no one can hear PETA scream. May it stay so. Read, if you've heard it's poo poo Vivisector is a 2005 Ukrainian first-person shooter combining some elements of Serious Sam and Half-Life, and a dose of pre-BioShock philosophising on ethics. Guess, how well THAT goes. The very first chapter is stupidly annoying. Those who pull through are met with shady weapon balance (and that's after a patch improving it), iffy AI, buggy physics, and questionable design decisions. Also, at the time of its release Vivisector ran about as well as Cryostasis did, putting most PCs to their knees with its CPU-dependent graphical gimmicks. It works much better now, offers a variety of settings, and occasionally manages to be fun, but, just in case, keep your story cliché counters calibrated and ready.  No direct spoilers but feel free to make guesses, what will come next.Read, if you can't Russian I happen to have the Russian CIS retail jewel case pictured above, which is not surprising for someone from Russia. However, it turned out that a mostly complete script for the English-language release is already on the disc. Some file-renaming magic allowed me to create a build that combines the original Russian dub with the beta English text in the interface and the subtitles. It's playable and beatable, I did it twice this year alone  ... Duke Nukem: Endangered Species? In 2000 CE 3D Realms commissioned Action Forms to make a cheap hunting shooter, which was supposed to feature Duke, open-air levels, animals and guns. It was apparently cancelled in 2001, but it's very likely some of the DN:ES work was used in Vivisector. Perhaps, DNF should have been given to these guys as well. Anyway, according to the manual it's February 1987. A squad of Navy SEALs gears up to rescue a different squad of Navy SEALs from the island of  Playlist CHAPTER 1 aka Knee-Deep In The Cat  1A 1B 2A 2B 3A 3B 3C 4A 4BCHAPTER 2 aka Ram's Maw  5A 5B 5C 6A 6B 7A 7B 8A 8B 9A 9BCHAPTER 3 aka Farewell to Wolves  10A 10B 11A 11B 12A 12B 13A 13BCHAPTER 4 aka The Stronghold of Dr. Brain  14A 14B 14C 15A 15B
SelenicMartian fucked around with this message at 21:05 on Oct 6, 2014 |
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Sep 6, 2014 23:07
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More shooting! 2A 2B
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Sep 6, 2014 23:08
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As I said in the castle, this game is on my pile of "weird games that I want to play sometime". I also have a huge softspot for strange games from eastern Europe, so this is totally my poo poo. Also, it's interesting that the voice guy had something to do with Planet Alcatraz, which is indeed a notorious game that everybody should check out at some point Oh, btw 
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Sep 7, 2014 00:45
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Holy poo poo that second cage trap. I'm dying over here. It seems pretty clear that there is in fact nothing sinister going on here at all. The animals are clearly just meant to be mobile appliances. The dogs are batteries, and the tigers (leopards? the texture isn't great so it's hard to tell) are camp stoves. If the soldiers hadn't come in and spooked all the critters nobody probably would have even been hurt! But no, you had to come in and ruin the next generation of camp equipment for everyone. Edit: Okay my theory kind of falls apart with the appearance of the grenadillas. But that just means the evil cyber people weren't thinking hard enough about the proper applications of their technology. Crigit fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Sep 7, 2014 |
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Sep 7, 2014 00:45
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Well, its not more jet fighters, but I'll take it. You've proven quite capable of making an entertaining LP and so far this seems like it'll be grand. Also, unlike some, I'm not the type to get all goony about accents, but you're Russian?!  [edit] It amuses me this Russian game uses American guns, are the characters meant to be Americans too? Galaga Galaxian fucked around with this message at 01:23 on Sep 7, 2014 |
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Sep 7, 2014 00:51
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Seeing the 1C logo come up always lets you know that you're in for a ride. A Russian ride.
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Sep 7, 2014 01:43
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Galaga Galaxian posted:[edit] It amuses me this Russian game uses American guns, are the characters meant to be Americans too? With names such as Kurt and Liam and DOGSTONE I would imagine this is the case. Its funny how much of the UI partly reminds me of Stalker. Especially the top half is very reminiscent about it. Also, my biggest question for the 1B video is: How on Earth is the plane really supposed to pick you up? Fulton system? 
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Sep 7, 2014 02:40
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Never before have I seen a game more worthy of the E: Also I just love the lack of lack of reloads ever. Teledahn fucked around with this message at 03:31 on Sep 7, 2014 |
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Sep 7, 2014 03:26
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Seeing as I've never owned a PC that didn't splutter a lung trying to run a Newgrounds flash game (never mind a game that gave PCs in it's time a hassle to run), even if I HAD heard of this, I wouldn't have dared played it. It seems interesting though, in a "how many different tropes that don't work together can you spot" kind of way. Looking forward for the inevitable batshit insane plot twists these sorts of games tend to harbour. Also I concur to this:Tin Tim posted:I also have a huge softspot for strange games from eastern Europe, so this is totally my poo poo.
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Sep 7, 2014 04:55
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Like a lot of people here, quirky East-European games scratch an itch for me. I also have a guilty love of late 90's/early 2000's off brand FPSs (hello bottomless magazines), so this is a double whammy. I loved Kurt's dopey emotionless stare as he watched the plane go down. Just as good are all the pokemon rejects. Electenas and Flamuars? More please!
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Sep 7, 2014 06:42
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chitoryu12 posted:Seeing the 1C logo come up always lets you know that you're in for a ride. 1C are legitimately one of my favorite publishers around. The games they present are always buggy, have terrible VA and translation and sometimes just end for no reason. I don't mean the game crashes, I mean the game just ends with no explanation as to why. And it is designed that way. But every time I play one of them I have a good time. I'm not sure if it is because of the quirky nature of the games or if it is the fact that the games they help make just don't get made anymore. Almost all of their games have some really great ideas, but pretty awful execution.
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Sep 7, 2014 09:01
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evilmiera posted:1C are legitimately one of my favorite publishers around. The games they present are always buggy, have terrible VA and translation and sometimes just end for no reason. I don't mean the game crashes, I mean the game just ends with no explanation as to why. And it is designed that way. 1C publishes a ton of really unique games (though many are buggy messes), but a lot of them are also really distinctively Russian. Lots of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic tones and moral ambiguity. And I guess real-time and turn-based strategy games are really popular in Eastern Europe.
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Sep 7, 2014 09:30
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Are you going to use any cheats? I heard this is a game with an unlimited ammo cheat.
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Sep 7, 2014 09:49
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Please tell me cybergoats are going to be a thing later on. I'm another one of those who were originally interested in the game but eventually decided against playing it - in my case it was because I stumbled upon the Russian version (via a friend of a friend and what I imagine must be an international lovely game smuggling ring) and I have this thing where I can't stand being exposed to that particular language for too long. Not even electric hyenas could overcome that.
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Sep 7, 2014 10:12
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This is really interesting and neat! SelenicMartian, thanks for doing this LP because its cool to see a game like this that I would have never known about otherwise. The cyborg animals idea coupled with all the flaws make this an interesting watch. Speaking of flaws, I think you're doing a good job showing off the game by demonstrating things like wandering off into the vast wilderness and showing the cutscene crashing the game. I like your commentary as well - you provide a good amount of information without being too wordy, and I appreciate you mentioning things like the cyborg animal names (which are hilarious, by the way) and the whole backstory of Goblin. It would be great to hear more like that, and about how a game like this came to exist. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the LP! Also, thanks for mentioned Planet Alcatraz in the LPArchives because I think I'll check that out as well.
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Sep 7, 2014 16:54
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evilmiera posted:1C are legitimately one of my favorite publishers around. The games they present are always buggy, have terrible VA and translation and sometimes just end for no reason. I don't mean the game crashes, I mean the game just ends with no explanation as to why. And it is designed that way.  I really wish 1C would have more comercial success, so that they could localize a few games that may only recoup the costs after a good while. There are so many nifty games from eastern Europe that we'll never see, because the market is too weak to justify the costs. I'd be so drat happy if they'd localize the sequel to Planet Alcatraz!
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Sep 7, 2014 17:16
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Tin Tim posted:
I'd love to see a list of what games these guys are helping publish lately. I don't read Russian, so the main page isn't much help.
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Sep 7, 2014 17:28
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Speaking of Lord of the Rings and Russia, from the Hot Modron art thread over at TG:atomicgeek posted:This article has Soviet-era Russian illustrations of Lord of the Rings in sort of Byzantine style. More galleries here, too.
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Sep 7, 2014 18:24
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evilmiera posted:I'd love to see a list of what games these guys are helping publish lately. I don't read Russian, so the main page isn't much help.
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Sep 7, 2014 18:26
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I have this game, and it, along with Scorpion Disfigured (which I honestly put on the Request List as a bit of a troll... Much like whoever put 3D Lemmings on there) are... Odd, to say the least. I don't know if it's the translation issues, I don't know if it's "quirky" design, but yeah... They're a very different experience. Also, Grenadillas are about when I said "gently caress this." So I'm looking forward to see what other hilariously bad Moreaus we're going to see here. 
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Sep 7, 2014 19:11
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Those graphics! Environment, models and lighting look like something from the turn of the century, but then there's the fuzzy fur of the gorillas and hounds.
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Sep 7, 2014 21:43
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3A 3B 3C The second video has a six-minute fight  Also, Electrennas are truly majestic creatures  
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Sep 9, 2014 05:09
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Who the hell would have ever thought that massive 6 minute fight was a good idea!?
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Sep 9, 2014 05:54
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Night10194 posted:Who the hell would have ever thought that massive 6 minute fight was a good idea!? Who the hell would have ever thought that replacing a gorilla's right arm with a grenade launcher was a good idea?
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Sep 9, 2014 06:01
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David D. Davidson posted:Who the hell would have ever thought that replacing a gorilla's right arm with a grenade launcher was a good idea? What? The Grendilla is like 80% more effective at annoying the poo poo out of Kurt than the Electryena. The Grenadilla is sound and excellent science.
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Sep 9, 2014 06:08
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So are all those Russian actors who do movie/TV dubs as wooden(?) sounding in those, or are they just seriously phoning it in for this game?
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Sep 9, 2014 06:39
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Night10194 posted:Who the hell would have ever thought that massive 6 minute fight was a good idea!? I can see why it would be incredibly aggravating on the harder difficulties but on more sane ones it didn't seem that bad. Even the much better designed arena/gauntlet fights of Serious Sam aren't something I'd voluntarily play on its harder difficulties. A boss having a charge attack that you can't dodge and takes away 1/4 of your health in a single hit is bullshit though.
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Sep 9, 2014 07:09
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Galaga Galaxian posted:So are all those Russian actors who do movie/TV dubs as wooden(?) sounding in those, or are they just seriously phoning it in for this game? Mind, you don't really need that much voice variation to get a point across in Russian, since the word order can be changed almost freely to add subtext. Kibayasu posted:A boss having a charge attack that you can't dodge and takes away 1/4 of your health in a single hit is bullshit though.
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Sep 9, 2014 07:18
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Holy poo poo lmao, I completely lost it when the Rhino came charging. Good poo poo! I mean, awful boss fight yeah, but still real funny. And I felt kinda bad for the tank bear. He just waddled around a shot rockets into the air. I could almost hear him go "eeend myyy paaain". Also, I actually take the arena fight over the countless tiny spawns that they throw at you the rest of the time. Dunno, maybe it's because I enjoy Serious Sam? At least long fights like that are frantic and challenge you over a period of time. The other encounters are just short bursts of action followed by more walking on this lovingly crafted but empty island. And as much as I like this game for being batshit, that "spawn poo poo behind you" design route is gettin real annoying. It's funny that you bring up Chasm! It was a game that I played a lot when I was younger because it took a real long while until I could beat it. It was pretty hard for the time. Especially one certain encounter where a chainsaw boss chased you through a small corridor and you had to quickly figure out how to get away from it without dying in five seconds. I still remember that when I think off the game. With that said though, it also had some nice features for its time and at least a not so common plot. Now that I know that Action Forms is behind it, I can see a lot of design similarities between both games.
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Sep 9, 2014 17:43
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Ah yes, and now the boxart starts to make perfect sense. Why General Dougstone wanted us to eliminate this Dr. Morcroft. Why we've survived where others have failed. And why I specifically called these animals Moreaus. I suppose I should call them Morcrofts, but come on, changing the second syllable and adding a third isn't going to hide the good doctor's "inspiration"! Dr. Morcroft was ejected from England. It will come as no surprise to learn it was through vivisection, and it's very easy to argue this isn't really a spoiler. Vivisection is experimentation on animals, and what have we been fighting for the majority of the game? Hrrrrrrmmmm... I haven't read Wells' "The Island of Dr. Moreau" in some time, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn Dr. Morcroft is paraphrasing something his clone had said. As to the Rhino boss, that's such an amazingly counter-intuitive strategy, and I think it's successful more because of bad AI code than anything else. It's kind of sad when the only way to beat the very first boss of the game is to get right in its god-drat face and exploit AI.
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Sep 9, 2014 20:06
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From looking at screenshots, I'm guessing that they're accomplishing the fur by stacking shells on top of each other for depth/parallax? I see the technique used here and there in PS2-era games, most famously Shadow of the Colossus. Sorry if you mentioned it already, I just really like this realtime fur technique.
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Sep 9, 2014 21:25
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Battalions, transpanthers, and bombears. These just keep getting better and better!
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Sep 10, 2014 07:20
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Did Geop work on this game? I swear these are names that he would think up.
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Sep 10, 2014 07:22
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I picked up this game somewhere in my mid-teens and loved it to bits. Not surprised at all by the fact that it doesn't hold up! Had a lot of fun with it back in the day though. Never did finish it, I remember a massive valley with lots of exploding things stopping me. Thanks for tackling this game and I hope to see the subpar ending 
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Sep 10, 2014 08:56
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The chapter ends in ludicrous gibs. 4A 4B A side shot of an attacking Flameuar reveals it probably tries to take a poo poo every time it uses the flamer 
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Sep 11, 2014 03:52
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No more freaky Dr. Moreau beasts? I'm sad. Now what do I have to look forward to? The names for them were amazing. Did the developers give them english portmaneaus for names or did you give them them yourself? And if it's the latter, what are the original language puns like?
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Sep 11, 2014 07:52
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These all are the "original language" puns  Here's the manual page 
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Sep 11, 2014 08:24
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Taking "Transpanther" as my new Tumblr URL.
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Sep 11, 2014 12:39
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"Hey I got an idea! Let's make a game where you fight hordes of horribly engineered animals on a weird island. We can market and theme the whole game around this!" "Hmm, that sounds good but let's only do that for the first chapter and then do something else." 
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Sep 11, 2014 18:50
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This game is what you get if Turok and Farcry merged together. Without the robo-animals, it's just a poor man's Farcry.
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Sep 12, 2014 20:45
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