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 Who are you?! What is this?! Hello everyone, my name's Ragthyme and I'm here bringing you the very first installment of the very memorable and much-loved Tex Murphy series. Tex Murphy is, for those of you who haven't had the pleasure, a series focused around an old-school detective solving cases in a far future (see: about 18 years from now) where WWIII has already happened, and despite the good ol' US of A surviving nuclear Armageddon, at least half of the population is made up of hideous, lovable mutants. The games themselves consistently offer intriguing, and often suspenseful, stories and never take themselves too seriously. Also it's straight to FMV after the second game, and good FMV games are a gem like no other. The History Behind Mean Streets Released in 1989 to the Commodore 64 and MS-DOS platforms, Mean Streets is the origin of the clever-yet-clumsy (and asserted handsomely rugged) gumshoe, Tex Murphy. Initially developed by Access Software as another flight simulator game similar to the studio's previous release, Echelon, a decision was made early in production to include adventure elements and a story that drew from the established tropes of 1940's and 50's film noir while mixing in sci-fi inspiration from the movie Blade Runner: two of Access Software founder, finance executive, and future FMV superstar Chris Jones' favorite things. As production went forward the flight simulator aspects were shrunk down in favor of developing more story-based elements. Upon release, this design choice is reflected after just a few moments in Murphy's speeder: a futuristic flying car in the style of... well... pretty much any flying car in sci-fi media, only this one operates like a flight sim mini-game of sorts, is easy to control, and its controls and entire existence can be forgotten after inputting some navigation coordinates and pressing "A" to enable the autopilot. What set Mean Streets apart in the eyes of consumers in 1989 was that it, like Echelon, showcased Access Software's patented RealSound technology. In an age where sound cards were too expensive for the majority of consumers, RealSound allowed standard small PC speakers to produce comparatively astounding high quality symphonic music and voices at a time where a few little beeps and boops were as good as it got. What's more is that the games Access produced that used RealSound were able to be run on the majority of home computers, and this allowed a vast number of consumers to get a taste of the height of digitalized sound long before sound cards became affordable. Click here to revel in complete auditory bliss. The technological innovations showcased by Mean Streets didn't stop with the audio either, as it was the first widely popular game to fully support VGA graphics. Unlike other games attempting to be pioneers in the display standard, Mean Streets supported the popular predecessors of VGA; users could select between VGA, EGA, CGA, and Hercules graphics modes thanks to real-time quantization and dithering, making Mean Streets accessible to consumers on a level that was previously unheard of by providing both audio and visual capabilities that were likewise unheard of within the wide majority of personal budgets. For its time, Mean Streets was a technological marvel, and while by today's standards it's certainly outdated, it maintains a retro look that's far from out of style. Yes, but is there anything we actually need to know before the game starts? Everything you need to know can be found in the manual for the game, which the Unofficial Tex Murphy Website provides here. You can read about the story up until the start of the game, our initial leads, and topics of interest. Summary: The gist of it is that Tex was hired by one Miss Sylvia Linsky, the daughter of a recently deceased professor by the name of Carl Linsky. Carl's death was ruled a suicide by police as a witness reported seeing him jump from the Golden Gate Bridge into the water below. Miss Linsky is not convinced, and gives you $10,000 in advance to investigate, promising more if Tex can find evidence that Carl was murdered like she believes. What's the "low down" on how this LP will operate? Despite how amazing RealSound made Mean Street's audio in 1989, there are not very many persistent background sounds apart from the speeder's engine or Tex's footsteps (in fact, the only music is the little ditty that plays for the opening screen). This, combined with the fact that Mean Streets is itself not a FMV like most of its successors and the majority of play time is spent travelling between various points of interest, makes Mean Streets best done as an SSLP. Personally, when I watch an LP, I prefer video, since I feel it's easier to be engaged by the events of the game if they unfold in front of me in real time with entertaining and informative commentary. In fact, I hope to go on and LP the other Tex Murphy games after Mean Streets, most of which will be more suited to the VLP style. However, Mean Streets is just not at all entertaining VLP material, so an SSLP it is! This is a mystery game, and mysteries need solving! When Mean Streets was originally released, the manual came with a few "Detective Information Charts" or DICs to help the player get started with their investigation. You can find one here if you like. I won't be using it though, since it doesn't provide any space to record information about other people we'll encounter, and it's utterly boring to look at, like some sort of legal form. Everyone knows detectives are above the law! In lieu of the DIC, I'll be keeping a little to-do list beginning with the first update. That way, there won't be any need to review all of the previous updates just to remember what we've accomplished and have yet to accomplish in the LP. SPOILER POLICY Don't discuss parts of Mean Street's story that haven't occurred in the LP yet & that you know will happen. The story is the meat of the game, and uncovering the mystery at its heart is the driving force behind it. I understand that this game has been out for a long rear end time, but there are a ton of people that have not played it; so many, in fact, that I'm confident that the people I'm addressing this to (those who could ruin the mystery) are a very niche group. With that said, honest speculation is welcomed! I prefer to play adventure games before watching them, where can I find this one? Both Steam and GOG have the full Tex Murphy experience on offer, and during sales you can often find them bundled up into one discounted package! I fully recommend trying them out, and if you're an old fan for whom this thread brings back pleasant memories, I particularly recommend checking out Tesla Effect since it is the most recent release (2014) and sales from its purchase have an impact on whether or not we'll see any more of Murphy in the future. Alternatively, both Mean Streets and Martian Memorandum (the second game) are free to play on archive.org. Ragthyme fucked around with this message at 07:40 on Jul 22, 2015 |
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Jul 12, 2015 20:34
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Update 1 - Intro/The Officer       (In case you missed this in the OP)  Something that fascinates me in older games is the options menu, so let's take a quick look at that.  Sound quality is, of course, on High. There is no other option when you are blessed with RealSound. Fight level I'm leaving on Medium, because I can't be arsed to change it. The fighting sections are easy enough as they are, but there's no reason not to play on Easy if you're not as hardboiled a detective as me.  Alright, that's enough. The game begins now!    As the game starts, we see Tex leaving his office/home in the Ritz after his meeting with Miss Linsky.   The game is kind enough to remind us of who we are and what we're doing.  And with that, we're put right in the driver's seat of Tex's speeder! As we're now in the game proper, it only serves to take a moment for a driving lesson.  Since Tex will spend the grand majority of his time during this mission in his car, these controls are the most important. Well, half of them are, since none of the manual speeder controls are vital when you have autopilot.  Having enough of the controls, we're alerted to an incoming message. Faxes are how we get information from our secretary, Vanessa, and our informant, Lee Chin, but more on them later.   Alright, so more of the story from the manual, thank you. Future fax messages will just about always be ones we request from Vanessa or Lee Chin, and will contain either a name or navigation code that we need for our investigation.  Alright, NOW the game starts. The manual gave us four starting leads: Steve Clements, the officer in charge of the Linsky case; John Richards, the medical examiner; Delores Linsky, Carl's fiancée; and Carl's office at USC. We're free to explore any of them as we please, and ask/search for information about Carl's death and the key terms the manual provided, though not everyone has something to say on every topic. We could also call Vanessa or Lee Chin about the key terms, but we've been in this speeder long enough already, so let's see what kind of headway Clements made in his investigation.      : "How's the force treating you, Steve?" : "I'm fine, but you didn't come here to talk about me.": "Fair enough. What can you tell me about Carl Linsky?": "Why are you interested in him? Oh, I get it, his daughter wasn't happy with our investigation. She's knocking the hell out of cops over a simple suicide. Well, she's wasting your time and her money. We've got a witness, named Bash Dagot, who saw him jump off the bridge. He even left a suicide note." (He hands me the copy.) The note reads, 'Sylvia, I'm too tired and too sick of living. Please forgive me -- Dad.' "How much more proof does that girl need?" : "Bash Dagot?" : "I'm afraid the nicest thing I can say about Dagot is that he is the ultimate low life scumbag. You'll find him past the mission district. Use (NC 4657).": "One more thing, Clements, what's with all the Law and Order propaganda around the office?" : "A lot of the police officers think the Law & Order Party is just what this city needs. But that outfit scares me.": "Take care of yourself, Clements."Exit back to the speeder  Right! So that's one lead down and another picked up. For convenience, this is our to-do list at the moment:
In addition, allow me to clarify that during the questioning segments, I nitpick the most relevant responses the character has to give so that the scene reads smoothly. What this means is most characters have additional dialogue that isn't relevant to the story. I'd be fine leaving it as an incentive to play the game yourselves, but if anyone suggests that I go back to a certain person and ask them about a key term we come across later in the LP, I have no issue satisfying your curiosity or simply confirming that the character does not have a line when asked about the subject. Ragthyme fucked around with this message at 03:43 on Jul 23, 2015 |
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Jul 12, 2015 20:36
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I heard about this series and I'm always up for a mystery game. I think we should search Carl Linsky's office at USC. You never know what evidence you might find there.
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Jul 12, 2015 22:09
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Go visit the low-life scumbag.
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Jul 13, 2015 02:51
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I'd say talk to the medical examiner, John Richards. See if anything about the body stands out as unusual enough to suggest murder.
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Jul 13, 2015 17:11
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Update 2 - Our First False Lead/The Witness & The Examiner To start out this update, let's check out the navigation screen! I get to see it a lot, so it oughta come up at least once here.  As you can see, Tex and his initial leads are concentrated in the near vicinity of San Francisco, but as the game progresses, we'll soon have to travel all the way to areas like Los Angeles or Los Vegas to check in on a lead or two. The game also allows you to freely move the location marker, but you can't land anywhere important without the proper navigation code. The only places that permit landing without a NC are Bounty Hunting areas, but to find them you have to approximate coordinates and all you get out of it is money you won't need unless you go out of your way to lose it all. Anyway, let's skip ahead to Carl Linsky's office at USC, and see if he left any clues behind...   Nope. Nothing here. If there was anything here, we'd know being a top-notch PI and all. It's all junk. This is something we'll come across a couple of times throughout our investigation: false leads. At best, they just waste our time because we still had to fly over to check it out, and at worst they're an excuse for a terrible pun. Luckily that was not the case here. Stop two is to question notorious Low-Life Scumbag, Bash Dagot, who has apparently made a career out of the title.  Unfortunately, by the time we arrive, he has already rallied an army of tanned clones. This is one of Mean Streets' Action sequences, and it's about as simple as it looks. Tex must walk from one side of the screen to the other without being gunned down. The only quirk is that you can't hit anything past cover (those stacked boxes in the background) while crouched. You also have limited ammo, but it's such an absurd amount that I've never even come close to needing the additional ammo pickups that can be found by searching. After clearing two screens of endlessly spawning dudes, we manage to reach the man himself.      : "You Bash Dagot?" : "My time's valuable. I don't give anything for free.": "I hear you witnessed Carl Linsky's suicide." : "Stick it, fish face!"Dagot is the first character we come across that'll refuse to give us any information unless we either bribe or intimidate him. Since Dagot's already shown himself as a bit of a coward and a pushover by hiding behind all those guys from earlier, it's safe to assume we'll be able to take care of him ourselves. (This is a pretty rare occurrence, since you can count on one hand the number of people Tex can get the better of in a one on one fight in this game.) : "If that's how you want to do this..."Intimidation: No time for diplomacy, I threaten to bash and crack heads if I don't get the right information!  I slam my fist into his soft flabby stomach and he buckles over. I then catch his chin with a solid haymaker that sends him staggering back against the wall.  : "OK, OK thats enough. I'll talk.": "Yea, I saw the old grizzer jump, but the whole incident was outrageously bizzaro. The old geek walks by like Dawn of the Dead. Then when he was about 30 feet past me, he climbs over the barrier and nose dives into the bay. The amped old buzzard didn't even hesitate."(It's at this point I realize how hard it is to make a coherent conversation out of flinging random words at someone and hoping they catch onto something.) : "Alright. Now I'm going to read out this list of key phrases, and you're going to leap in when you've got something nice to say."I start from the top, and it isn't long before the guy's eyes glaze over, clearly conveying his intent to be as uncooperative as possible. I've nearly checked off everything when the subject turns to Law and Order, unsurprisingly something Dagot seemed to have crossed several times in a number of ways. : "That's the goon squad, political party that wants to force the freaks out of town.": "I see. We're done here, Dagot. Stay out of trouble."So now we know Linsky was out of his gourd when he jumped from the bridge and that Law and Order AKA Goon Squad is a political powerhouse set on purging San Francisco of mutants. There isn't much else we gained apart from that though, so let's stop by the M.E.'s office and see if we can get anything more concrete than a hostile witness testimony.      : "What's your opinion on the nature of Carl Linsky's death?".png) : "Tell you about Linsky's death? Nothing odd about this one. He jumped off the bridge, massive shock when he hit, lungs filled with water, dead as a rock. I'll send you a copy of the Autopsy report.": "I'll keep an eye out for that fax. Thanks, doc."As far as questioning goes, that was our most straightforward segment yet. We still haven't gotten any extra leads, but maybe the autopsy will give us a clue on what pushed Carl over the edge. A few minutes of aimlessly sitting around in our speeder later, and the long awaited fax finally comes through:   Neat! And with that, we've reached the end of Update 2. While we didn't manage to come across any additional leads this time, we have managed to cross off quite a few while uncovering some spooky intrigue in the process. Here's our amended to-do list, looking rather anemic:
Feel free to keep suggesting what we should do first after the next update when we build up more leads. Right now, I think it's pretty obvious we're going to be doing what's left over here in the meantime. Next Time: The mystery continues... 
Ragthyme fucked around with this message at 03:48 on Jul 23, 2015 |
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Jul 14, 2015 05:40
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Uh, hooray us? I suppose we'll talk to our secretary first and then see Carl's fiancée.
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Jul 14, 2015 07:23
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...I'd say the hole in Mr. Suicide Puppet's brain is worth following up on.
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Jul 14, 2015 21:15
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Update 2½ - Info Dump I figured why not get this out of the way in a smaller update & solve the bottleneck issue we've gotten ourselves into at the same time. Calling our secretary won't do much for us outside of the early game, but doing so opens up some important leads (which we desperately need), and clues us in on what some of those terms the manual gave us actually mean.   Vanessa isn't much for conversation and anything we ask her will either get us a stock "Can't help you there" voice clip or a fax message. So, to avoid a lot of redundant/cringe-worthy back-and-forth, I'll just clearly label the faxes she sent us. MTC Corp:   Law and Order:  Robert Knott:  Frank Schimming:  Those last two faxes are, of course, ones I took the liberty of asking for since they were names that came up in some of the previous faxes, and are probably important in some way. Unfortunately, Vanessa has limited connections, so she won't be much help to us if we want to find someone who doesn't want to be found, like Robert Knott. For situations like these, we have to turn to our informant, Lee Chin.  By the way, neither of these two characters appear in any other Tex Murphy game apart from Mean Streets, for whatever reason. The idea of Tex having a secretary is a little odd to me as someone coming from the later games.  Whenever we try to gather information about a lead through Lee Chin, it costs us. The actual amount varies depending on how "high-profile" the subject is, but we'll find means to foot the bill as we continue our investigation. However, even Lee Chin can't pinpoint Robert Knott at the moment. Fortunately, it turns out she can give us more information about another of the names mentioned in the descriptions Vanessa sent us. J. Saint Gideon:  Not sure why we'd ever need to go there! Alright, now we've gotten everything we need to get from Vanessa & Lee Chin for now, and we've got some actual choices back again (hooray):
Ragthyme fucked around with this message at 03:51 on Jul 23, 2015 |
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Jul 15, 2015 00:18
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Glazius posted:...I'd say the hole in Mr. Suicide Puppet's brain is worth following up on. I'd say so too, but if I ask John Richards anything that isn't a person's full name, he acts like he has nothing to say about it.
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Jul 15, 2015 00:25
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I'd say Tex should pay a visit to J. Saint Gideon. With a name like that, he can only be one of two things. The civilian alter-ego of a superhero, or a criminal mastermind. Either way, it should make for an interesting visit.
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Jul 15, 2015 00:59
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I think that the immediate need is to know more about the stiff, so questioning the fiancé Delores Lightbody should hopefully give us insight.
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Jul 15, 2015 06:27
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Question Frank Schimming, since it gives us an excuse to go to Gideon Enterprises and look around.
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Jul 15, 2015 21:40
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Update 3 - Beauty & The Businessmen After hitting nothing but brick walls in the last full update it's time we got more answers and less intrigue, so let's start off this time by visiting one of the people closest to Carl: his fiancée.    : "...Did you know Carl Linsky?": "I see. Do you know anything about an insurance policy on Mr. Linsky before his death?": "His daughter, Sylvia Linsky, correct?": "Do you know where I can find Peter Dull?": "Thank you for your time, Miss Lightbody."Flee So, Carl had insurance taken out before his mysterious suicide that was meant to go entirely to Miss Linsky. Although we could have visited her at any point before this, now that we actually have a reason to, I'm going to state it and make it an option for later: We can go question Sylvia Linsky whenever. "Whenever" of course, not being this update, because we've got two other people to question about Carl Linsky and whatever "top secret" activities he participated in before his death.      : "I'm here investigating the recent death of a scientist by the name of Carl Linsky." : "I don't recall the name, but if he wanted to talk with me, that would have been impossible. I've been away the past few weeks.": "What can you tell me about your business, Gideon Enterprises?": "I founded Gideon in 1997 and nurtured it for over 30 years. It was stolen out from under me by Frank Schimming.": "What about its subsidiary, MTC Corp?": "I set up the MTC to help improve the management skills of my executives. Schimming never liked the idea, which is why I'm surprised it still exists. I've heard there is something unusual going on at MTC. If there is, I'm sure Schimming is behind it. That man is dangerous.": "And how do you see yourself, Mr.Gideon?": "I feel I've been quite successful in life. Before I was in the business world, I was head of British intelligence. After that I founded Gideon and developed new ways of helping the government. Schimming sees Gideon as just a business. I looked at the company as an institution, protecting our way of life.": "You've mentioned Schimming an awful lot.": "Schimming forced me out of my own company. He's ruthless and totally unethical. He'll pay for that someday..."Although we came here to learn more about any association Carl might have had with Gideon Enterprises, it seems we ended up learning about Frank Schimming instead. That, and grandpa J. Saint Gideon used to be a super spy and Michael J. Fox was/is the president. Granted, the last two maybe aren't very important at the moment. After hearing so much about Schimming, it's only fair that we take the time to follow up on the accusations that Gideon made and talk to him ourselves.     : "I'm investigating the death of Carl Linsky, if you'd like to tell me what you know." : "Linsky? Oh, the old scientist who committed suicide. I understand he had done some work for MTC Corporation, which is our Management Training Center. The personnel department could have told you that." : "Is there anything you can tell me about MTC Corp?" : "MTC is our Management Training Center. New employees, that show potential, are sent there to acquire corporate decision making abilities. I personally think it's a waste of time. A manager either has the skills, or he doesn't." : "I understand you replaced J. Saint Gideon as President of MTC Corps' parent company, Gideon Enterprises.": "I replaced Mr. Gideon as President a year ago. He was a senile old man in his eighties, filled with insane ideas. He has lost the drive to run the company in a profitable manner and had to go.": "Gideon himself doesn't seem to agree with your management style, Mr.Schimming." : "I know how to get ahead in business, and I'm not afraid to take chances. If you're finished asking me questions, I can get back to work."I think we're done here. With that, we have confirmation that Linsky was working for MTC Corp/Gideon Enterprises at some point before his death. We also have confirmation that Frank Schimming is a soulless corporate lizard wearing a human skin, and that it's possible to go an entire update without hitting a single false lead (don't get used to it). As usual, here's our updated to-do list:
Next Time: One man's garbage is another man's evidence... 
Ragthyme fucked around with this message at 03:54 on Jul 23, 2015 |
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Jul 17, 2015 02:54
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Search the apartment, that might give us some ideas of things to look for when we're following up at Gideon or with Carl's daughter.
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Jul 17, 2015 06:48
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Wowwie. Like a lot of people, I got into this series with Under A Killing Moon (I still have the novel!) so it's a bit surprising to see just how fantastic this game looks for 1989. But then, it's weird to think of it now but the Tex Murphy games through Overseer were pretty cutting-edge technologically. I think Overseer was the first game to be released on DVD. The box had a flashing LED to call attention to that, too, I think, heh.
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Jul 17, 2015 07:06
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Search the apartment, maybe there's something there that will show he wasn't suicidal or that the note wasn't genuine.
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Jul 17, 2015 11:38
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Just because I want to be contrary, I suggest we talk to Peter Dull. He could shed some light on the whole insurance thing, maybe it could tell us if Carl was expecting trouble. *Edit* Oh and I didn't get introduced to the series until Tesla Effect. I haven't gotten around to tracking down the other games, because I wasn't really aware that there were other games. Once I have some more time I might have to go investigate the series. 
Sazero fucked around with this message at 17:14 on Jul 17, 2015 |
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Jul 17, 2015 17:12
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I'm thinking we leave no stone unturned at this point. Search the Apartment
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Jul 17, 2015 17:28
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I know it's not going to be pleasant, but we have to question Sylvia Linsky about that insurance policy. It's too much of a potential motive to be left for later.
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Jul 17, 2015 22:36
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Update 4 - In Which We Ransack the Former Home of a Dead Man The consensus was that we ought to search Carl's home, and search his home we shall. Looking at things is pretty image heavy, so we'll have to push everything else to next time. Searching a location in Mean Streets is similar to any other adventure game in principle, though Access Software greatly simplified gameplay by introducing their "tree search system" mechanic. This is pretty much what everyone hoped to do when we were given the option to investigate Carl Linsky's office at USC at the beginning of the LP.   Yes. Quaint. There's a personal bar and everything. Another interesting part of searching locations in Mean Streets is that we actually get to move Tex around in the area that we're searching.  Turning to face the small side table at the entrance, we come across the first "zone" of Carl's apartment that we can search. Pressing enter is how we engage the interaction menu. It's not possible to both move Tex and search at the same time.  The interaction menu lists all the items in a zone we can interact with, but we can sometimes reveal more options by looking around. All interact-able items are grouped together in specific locations (zones) within the main area, so we never need to worry about being pixel-perfect when searching.  Using the "tree search system" to interact with the environment is simplistic: the up and down arrow keys are for selecting an item, and the left and right arrow keys are for selecting the action you want to perform on the item. Here, we just turned the lights on. It doesn't do much of anything, but I like to imagine that the fact the lights in the background changed to reflect our choice was pretty cool back in 1989.  A PI must be thorough in his investigation. This means employing all five senses whenever given the opportunity.  If we look closer at the fax machine, we get a sub-menu that reveals there is a message waiting in the tray.  Sounds like the professor wasn't so enamored with Delores after all. The name Sandra Larsen might be worth following up on if she knew Carl personally, though.  Moving down to the bar, we can see a door on the other side of the counter, as well as some whiskey.  Of course, Tex can't see or interact with the cabinet until we have him look at the bar itself.  Instead of more booze, Carl seemed to think a shoe box would be a good thing to store in his bar. Maybe it's where he keeps his really good stuff.  No. Just more papers. What a nerd.  And papers full of gibberish too. Thanks but no thanks "S.F.", we don't even know what a "nexus" is.  More importantly, there's whiskey in this bottle, and the only guy that was drinking it is now six feet under.  Waste not, want not. There are moral choices in later Tex Murphy games, after a fashion, but Mean Streets isn't that sophisticated, and everyone knows detectives are above the law. Carl won't miss it.  Now, what's over here in Carl's "living room"?  We're on an important potential-murder case, not a "where did that one chess piece get to, I swore they were all here a minute ago" case.  Well, this note here isn't suspicious at all.  Now we're searching Linsky's office! The guy had an awfully small house.  He also decided the best place to hide his desk key was on the chair next to the locked desk.  If we look at the display case, we're told we'll need a tool we don't have to get whatever's inside. If we try opening the case regardless, it'll set off an alarm and we won't be able to leave the location until we find the switch to turn it off. That's annoying, so we won't be doing that.  The only thing in the display case is a very expensive Getting items like these is optional, and the only way for Tex to get more money without having to resort to Bounty Hunting.  Instead of looking at things we can't afford, let's do some real PI work and dig through the garbage.  This must be the lab Delores suspected Carl kept running off to. Fortunately, the navigation code is included, so we can go there right away if we want to.  There may be other whales in the sea, but Delores is the largest and most beautiful. As a side note, I'm picking up every note/item we find that isn't nailed down. There isn't much of a reason to, but we can and will pawn it all later.  Since we found that desk key on Carl's chair, we can open his desk and rummage through it. After picking up the digital tape from inside the desk, we look at the grade sheet, presumably for one of Carl's students at USC.  With a name like that, success will eventually come to him in one form or another.   Fortunately, there's an audio cassette player right on the desk. Unfortunately, this is a terrible song.  The last zone we can search just houses a cabinet and a painting.  With items like these, you have to select "open" to open the book to the marked page, of course. This presents a bit of an issue if you, say, picked up the book and put it in your inventory before opening it, however. In this case, it's not that much of an issue, but later on it can put the game in an unwinnable state.  Combinations are pretty convenient in Mean Streets. You don't have to memorize them yourself, as long as Tex sees the combination, he'll know how to open the thing it corresponds to without any input from the player needed.  Also in this cabinet is a key to a filing cabinet. We didn't see any filing cabinets while searching Linsky's place, but we better take it anyway. Always take everything.  Quality art.  Naturally, behind the painting is Carl's safe. Nobody ever looks behind paintings, you know?  And inside the safe is a sizable portion of what's now Sylvia's inheritance, I suppose. I doubt she'll miss it, especially if we use it to prove her father was murdered so she can get her $1,000,000.  After pillaging the safe, there's nothing more for us to do in Carl's place other than survey the chaos we've wrought. Actually... no, one more thing.  Yes, yes it is. Searching Carl's apartment proved fruitful. Notably, we found evidence that Carl and Delores' relationship wasn't as ideal as Miss Lightbody made it out to be; Carl received a threatening letter from a former student; a mysterious "S.F" sent Carl a list of jumbled words, and Carl really does have a secret scientist lab. We can't follow up on all of them right away, but the ones we can follow up on have been added to the list below:
Next Time: Any one, two, or three of a number of things... 
Ragthyme fucked around with this message at 04:11 on Jul 23, 2015 |
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Jul 19, 2015 04:57
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Ragthyme posted:
I think you meant Sandra Larsen.
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Jul 19, 2015 23:26
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Blazing Wiener is the only option.
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Jul 20, 2015 02:36
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When are we going to play Stonewall Dragon Pong? Anyway, we should talk to the mad scientist's beautiful daughter at our earliest convenience.
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Jul 20, 2015 03:28
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You've got to question the jilted ex-lover. Broads are nothin' but trouble, especially on these mean streets.
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Jul 20, 2015 04:49
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Seyser Koze posted:Blazing Wiener is the only option.
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Jul 20, 2015 05:05
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Question Sandra and go back and see Delores. If she knew Linsky was breaking up with her, that could be motive.
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Jul 20, 2015 09:24
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whitehelm posted:I think you meant Sandra Larsen. Fixed. Thanks for pointing that out, not sure how it slipped by.
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Jul 20, 2015 10:39
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neongrey posted:Wowwie. Like a lot of people, I got into this series with Under A Killing Moon (I still have the novel!) so it's a bit surprising to see just how fantastic this game looks for 1989. But then, it's weird to think of it now but the Tex Murphy games through Overseer were pretty cutting-edge technologically. I think Overseer was the first game to be released on DVD. The box had a flashing LED to call attention to that, too, I think, heh. In fact the game could look even better if the screenshots were posted in the correct aspect ratio... Here is an example screenshot as posted here:  And here is how it should really look like:  This is an old game that ran in 320x200 resolution. If you look carefully you will see that the aspect ratio of that resolution is 16:10; however back in the day everybody had ordinary 4:3 CRT monitors. Therefore the correct way of displaying this game is to scale the screenshots to that aspect ratio. Normally, the easiest way to do this is to simply do nearest neighbour resize from 320x200 to 640x400 and then normal resize to 640x480. Obviously this introduces a minimal amount of blur, but it is not really noticeable. The CRT screens of the day actually had rectangular pixels (1:1.2), hence the 1:1 pixel ratio does not yield a correct aspect ratio of these images. I have deliberately picked this screenshot because you can easily see that in the 4:3 version the thing on the left is actually circular and the human head looks much nicer proportioned.
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Jul 20, 2015 19:04
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neongrey posted:Wowwie. Like a lot of people, I got into this series with Under A Killing Moon (I still have the novel!) so it's a bit surprising to see just how fantastic this game looks for 1989. Even more incredible? How this game sounds. See, Access Software was ahead of the technological curve in a few ways, but one of them was RealSound (I think that was the name of it?) It made this game have digitized voice and sound effects come out of the PC speaker. It was a really revolutionary attention to detail considering the hardware. Granted Lee's "No Deal" and "They're in my head, THEY"RE IN MY HEAD" sound awful today, but you have to remember they somehow pulled this off without a sound card. Even Tex's footsteps when in the adventure section have different sounds for his left and right steps to give it a less monotone effect.
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Jul 20, 2015 19:55
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Sylvia Linsky still has to explain herself and the million dollar policy. We can search Carl Linsky's Lab after that.
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Jul 20, 2015 20:52
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ivantod posted:In fact the game could look even better if the screenshots were posted in the correct aspect ratio... Thank you for pointing this out. I've attempted to correct the aspect ratio issue in all of the previous updates, and, assuming I've succeeded, I'll be factoring it into all of the future updates as well. EDIT: In addition, I've decided to include snippets of the more memorable audio clips, such as the ones slowbeef mentioned, in order to better show everyone what has so far mostly just been talked about. You can find the "They're in my head" clip in the previous update if you're curious and prone to dangerous thoughts like: "Really, how bad could it be?" Ragthyme fucked around with this message at 05:36 on Jul 21, 2015 |
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Jul 21, 2015 04:22
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slowbeef posted:Even more incredible? How this game sounds. Yeah, but Ragthyme had already touched on that-- the sound is fantastic, no question. But this game is ahead of its time graphically too and I thought it worth mentioning. I remember reading a gaming magazine back in the day; one of the letters was 'so I saw this picture of a gorgeous blonde woman in Mean Streets and I was wondering how they did that. Did they draw it?' and the response was 'nope, it's digitized'. Easy to take for granted that this wasn't trivial to do at the time, let alone for a game like this. Mean Streets was honestly a technical marvel on pretty much every level. Shame that even Tesla Effect feels antique now-- loved it, though.
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Jul 21, 2015 04:32
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Ragthyme posted:Thank you for pointing this out. I've attempted to correct the aspect ratio issue in all of the previous updates, and, assuming I've succeeded, I'll be factoring it into all of the future updates as well. Wow, that was super fast, thanks! Yeah it looks a lot better now in my opinion. Sometimes you don't even realise, but then when you convert the screenshots into proper aspect ratio it can be amazing how much better they look! ivantod fucked around with this message at 19:36 on Jul 21, 2015 |
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Jul 21, 2015 06:03
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Update 5 - Blaze Wiener/Dangerous Dames In the last update, we thoroughly pillaged Carl Linsky's former home, stuffing our trench coat pockets with a lot of paper and alcohol. Now that we actually have items, it pays to take a moment to look at our inventory screen and the load of  The inventory screen allows us to refer back to any documents we pick up, and sell items to the pawn shop. Items sold to the pawn shop can still be bought back if it turns out you've sold something you need to complete the game, but you have to pay double the item's worth. Given there are "treasures" in the game (like the statue in Linsky's home) with no other purpose apart from being something to sell for thousands of $$$, the pawn shop isn't likely to put us in the poor house. Far more insidious is the fact that we can't do anything with our inventory other than ogle it or sell it. Anyway, back to the present, Tex hadn't spent half a second back in his speeder before this message was faxed through:  Maybe Wiener somehow caught on that we're after him. Impotent threats do seem to be his M.O. after reading that letter he sent Carl. Speaking of Blaze Wiener, we have no idea where he is since he neglected to write down a return address. Luckily, we've got connections for when our detective skills aren't enough to find a quick solution on our own. That is... we have a connection, and she has all the connections.    I swear this is totally a real person's name, and not a prank call  Blaze doesn't seem to be a hot commodity, so Lee doesn't charge us very much for her assistance. Either that or she's starting to pity us, because we're clearly just making up names at this point to try and generate leads.  Lee has enough of a heart to point us in a direction after taking our money, instead of calling us out. Although I suppose if Tex continues chasing imaginary people/obvious aliases, he'll continually have to resort to paying for advice, so it makes the most sense for her to play along. Regardless, it looks like we're paying another visit to local scumlord, Bash Dagot.  Why are so many men willing to give their lives to keep us from Blazing Wiener?  The intro screen(s) for a character play every time you go to talk to that person and provide a nice transition between the questioning segment and the rest of the game. However, it strikes me as too redundant to post each screen out individually again, so I attempted this slightly sped up version in the hopes of saving a little space from images we've already seen. But let's cut to the chase. : "Where's Blaze Wiener, Dagot?" As usual, it's time to bash Dagot. Intimidation: No time for diplomacy, I threaten to bash and crack heads if I don't get the right information! I slam my fist into his soft flabby stomach and he buckles over. I then catch his chin with a solid haymaker that sends him staggering back against the wall. : "OK, OK thats enough. I'll talk.": "Blaze is a groundskeeper for the Giants at Candlestick Park. Use (NC 1715)."He exists  Not long after, we're right over the stadium in question. There are a few noticeable landmarks in Mean Streets that you can see as you fly around, Candlestick Park and the Golden Gate bridge being the most recognizable. The navigation code for the stadium has us landing right in the middle of it, which is pretty cool albeit a little frustrating if you try to do so manually.  As we silently exit without saying another word. Now back to the actual case. We've got a lot of catching up to do after wasting all that time chasing after Wiener. First thing, we're paying a visit to our employer, Sylvia Linsky, because it's time she came clean about her real motivations for hiring us.    I'm afraid of how she feels if she has the same reaction to us arriving as I do for a really good sandwich. : "I've made some progress in your father's case, but tell me your thoughts on Carl Linsky one more time." : "He was happy at USC. Then he took a leave of absence to do some consulting work, and his whole personality changed. I'm sure he was in some sort of trouble. Because of this, I don't believe he committed suicide!": "And the insurance money has nothing to do with it?" : "What? You're thinking I might have killed my father for the insurance money, aren't you? I'm not going to deny that I could use 1,000,000 dollars. But I honestly believe that my father was murdered, and if he was, I'm entitled to the money. But if you investigate his death, and you're convinced it is a suicide, I'll accept your findings.": "Alright, alright. I believe you. Now, about the case, I found a letter from a Sandra Larsen at your father's home; can you tell me anything about her?": "My father had taken her out several times. I was glad to see him with someone other than that pig, Delores. When Delores found out, she was fit to be roasted.": "So, the affair hasn't been a secret for awhile. Thanks, Sylvia.": "My past has been a little wild, Tex. I just have this thing about men. But I think a man like you would be enough to settle me down. Maybe when this case is over, you and I could explore that possibility."Flee So, we can't pin anything on Sylvia - at least not yet. To be fair, you'd think that if she was the murderer (assuming there is a murderer), she would've chosen a less elaborate scheme than goading her father to jump off a bridge. Or at least a method that's less easily ruled a suicide. But we have enough time for theories later; now is the time for action! Specifically the action of questioning Sandra Larsen, Carl's then-lover, now ex-lover. First things first, we have to find out where Miss Larsen is. Since she's likely not in hiding or an irate groundskeeper, we can probably just have Vanessa pull out the phone-book for us.    Alright! And we didn't have to pay anyone this time.  ...Apparently Sandra lives in a bar. As in this is her actual residence. Why else would it be listed as her address?  : "Miss Larsen? I'm investigating Carl Linsky's recent passing. I know you were close, and any information you could provide would be helpful." : "Carl and I started dating about two months ago. I was heart broken when I heard about his death.": "Did you know Carl had another ongoing relationship with Delores Lightbody at the same time?": "Delores was Carl Linsky's girlfriend, but he had grown tired of her. Carl started dating me, and said he was going to call their engagement off. Carl was worried about telling her because she had quite a temper.": "I see. On a different topic, I understand Carl had taken on a job for MTC Corp not too long ago. What can you tell me about the company?": "It's supposed to be a Management Training Center for employees of Gideon, but I suspect there's more to it than that. They've hired a number of top scientists. I don't know what they've been doing, but I'm sure they're not management consultants.": "Thanks, Sandra. Take care.": "I'm doing fine now, but Carl's death is still a shock..."And that concludes this update. We had a few fishy leads this time around, one of which lead to an actual fish, but the less said about that the better. We also came across some clues & intrigue, but nothing concrete; I think the most we can say at this point is that Carl had a good deal of trouble coming to him sooner or later from somebody, but was the threat alone reason enough for him to jump off the deep end? Hopefully the next lead(s) we pursue will give us more insight. Speaking of our leads, the list has been trimmed down:
Once again, thanks ivantod & Pierzak for pointing out that the screenshots were initially not in the proper aspect ratio. I agree that the effort was well-placed, seeing how the images look far better than they did initially, which is incredible when I was already impressed when they were displayed incorrectly. Ragthyme fucked around with this message at 04:42 on Jul 23, 2015 |
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Jul 22, 2015 06:55
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The new images look like poo poo, if you really want a proper aspect ratio fix the scaling. Nearest neighbor is for integers only.
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Jul 22, 2015 11:43
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Yeah, I think Peter Dull is overdue for a grilling. Maybe he can also get us some leads on some new high-rises so we can live somewhere more classy with good views of the urban sprawl below.
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Jul 22, 2015 13:21
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I can never resist a good opportunity to rifle through business secrets and super labs. But just to be thorough, let's introduce ourselves to Peter Dull. And then
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Jul 22, 2015 14:19
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Pierzak posted:The new images look like poo poo, if you really want a proper aspect ratio fix the scaling. Nearest neighbor is for integers only. I'm sorry you feel that way, but I believe in equal opportunity among scaling algorithms. Regardless, if I'm given reason to believe the result will be a noticeable overall improvement like the recent change, then I suppose I'll have to correct everything right away. This is, again, only for a case where more than just your viewing experience is improved. However, if it disgusts you in particular enough, I could take the time to make a "proper" fixed version of the previous updates if you feel you're missing out on the LP because of the improper scaling. It just won't be done in a single night and I'd need what you'd consider to be the proper method.
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Jul 22, 2015 15:53
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