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Really as you said, they should have just wiped Dorothy out when it started asking why shouldn't I just start killing people. When something asks that question it almost always going to get as its answer "Because I didn't think of that yet."
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Nov 7, 2016 01:15
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So I'm curious about your last comment on the "two more stages for two more discs" and I'm not sure if it was asked before; How long is this game? I was about to comment on the mass info dump on Dorothy myself, but if we're already halfway through the game, it almost seems justified.
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Nov 7, 2016 06:36
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Digital Jello posted:So I'm curious about your last comment on the "two more stages for two more discs" and I'm not sure if it was asked before; How long is this game? I was about to comment on the mass info dump on Dorothy myself, but if we're already halfway through the game, it almost seems justified. The back of the box claims that the game is 50 hours long, but that's one of the most damnable lies ever told. The actual length of the game is more like six hours, including cutscene time.
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Nov 7, 2016 08:24
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Random thing I always liked: other horror games of the time started off in the weird mansion and progressed to the shiny labs, but this one does it in reverse. The next stage is a departure from the norm in a big way as well. It's fairly unique in a way.
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Nov 7, 2016 19:24
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Update 12: Booking In Welcome back. Last time we explored Rion’s house and found a recording from Rion’s father explaining the exact details of the plot. Armed with this knowledge we must now visit the Babylon Hotel in order to retrieve Lilia and hopefully put an end to Dorothy’s madness.  Since we’re on disk two now the title screen has changed from a surly Rion to a vacant Lilia. Anyhow, let’s cut to the chase and get started with stage three.     One good thing about rain-soaked dystopias is the steady market for futuristic anoraks.  Our next destination - the Babylon Hotel. Music: Galerians - Hotel Theme 1  The Babylon Hotel is slightly different from the first two stages. Combat and exploration are kept to a minimum, and there are actual NPCs we can talk to. The focus is more on investigation and following a chain of events to their conclusion.  Our first port of call is the front desk, where we meet the manager and porter of this fine establishment. They must have a guest list, so asking them if Lilia is around seems like a good idea.   : Welcome to the Babylon Hotel. A room for one? : Is there a girl by the name of Lilia staying here?: Lilia? There’s no one by that name staying here. Your room is number 302. Figures. Lilia would have been caught a long time ago if she booked herself in under her own name. Guess we’ll have to search the whole place if we want to find her.   The Babylon Hotel is a very small stage. At the moment we have access to two more floors via the lift at the back, as well as a couple of side rooms on the ground floor.    The first is a rather grimy bathroom. There’s nothing in here and the room itself is never relevant.    The second contains the stage’s only save point.   There are also some stairs leading down into the basement, but they’re cordoned off for the time being.  A psychic reading gives us an image of the workman who blocked them. We’ll have to keep an eye out for him for when we inevitably need to go down there.   The lift gives us access to the top two floors. We could go to Rion’s room right now and begin the next phase of the plot, but we might as well explore the rest of the hotel first. Maybe bug some of the other guests too.   The second floor has a simple layout, a long, decaying corridor with guestrooms on either side.   First up, what on earth is the deal with room 204? It looks like the entrance to a fallout shelter.   It doesn’t look like we’ll be getting in there easily, so let’s check out the rest. Room 203 looks more normal, and a reading reveals it’s occupied. The door is also unlocked, and going in triggers a brief in-game scene.  Is that…a nuclear bomb?   Rion hesitantly approaches the occupant, who is busy drilling / soldering / doing something engineer-y.   : I’m very busy right now! I’m gonna change the world, ya know!! Rion wisely decides to leave the deranged man to his own devices.   We have more rooms to explore, but halfway down the hall we encounter some kind of tech-punk grandfather clock.  The time is 3:35.   Room 205 is unoccupied, with the key behind the front desk.   Ditto room 202.   Room 206 is occupied, seemingly by someone of a religious persuasion. It’s also unlocked, so let’s pay him a visit.   : Welcome to my parish! I shall pray for your soul. : Oh, but first, a donation! : A small donation! Anything will be fine…  : You…you do have money about you?! : Argh! Rion twists out of the creepy priest’s grasp and backs out of the door.  Okay, so we have an insane engineer and a possibly child-molesting priest as our first two guests. Let’s hope the next one will actually be a decent human being.   A reading reveals the room belongs to the maintenance guy, but he seems to be out right now.    The third floor shares the same layout as the second.   Room 304 seems to contain a dancing girl, if you get my meaning.   : I don’t know anymore! I just don’t know!! It looks like she’s having a bad time. Probably best to leave her be for now.   It’s heartening to know that NRA membership is still going strong even in the grim dark cyberpunk future of the twenty sixth century.    : Hey! You can’t just waltz in here! You got a death wish or somethin’?! : Wait a minute! Could you help me? I’m looking for someone. : Ha! You want my advice? Get out of here if you know what’s good for you, kid! As much of an rear end in a top hat as the guy is I guess I can’t fault him for telling the creepy-looking blonde kid who just barged into his room to get the hell out. Hell, compared to the other guests the guy is almost normal.   Room 305 is another empty room. Room 302 is Rion’s room and going in will advance the plot, so we’re skipping it for now.   Hmm. No indication about who this guy might be or what his deal is. Guess the only way to find out is to pay him a visit.  …Or not, since the guy is either out or just likes his privacy.   The last room is also empty and irrelevant for the time being. So, in short, this hotel contains a fairly ordinary manager and porter, an insane man fiddling with some kind of atomic device, a priest who is entirely too interested in young boys, a maintenance man, a depressed prostitute, an alcoholic gun nut and a mysterious stranger. It sounds like the setup to a Monty Python sketch.  Anyway, let’s enter Rion’s room and kickstart this stage’s plotline.   : Lilia, where are you? Why won’t you call for me?  Rion’s musings are interrupted when the phone starts to ring.  Such a futuristic design.  : This is the front desk. Please dial ‘9’ for assistance.: Okay, thank you.    Suddenly Lilia’s doll begins to spark, causing Rion to lose hold of it.  The scene briefly shifts to…the porter?  : Lilia! Rion’s plea goes unanswered. But the next scene transition reveals he has bigger things to worry about.    A young woman enters the hotel with an entourage of Enhanced Rabbits.   The revolving doors swing shut and lock themselves behind her.     : There’s no escaping now, is there? Hmph. Well, this can’t be good! Dorothy appears to have tracked us to the hotel, and her goon squad contains at least one Galerian. Things are really starting to heat up!
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Nov 12, 2016 16:18
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Okay, now we know the city IS inhabited and relatively normal. Still very little actual worldbuilding about the AI running things. I like the creepy building and the combat-less section though. Interesting set of flatmates.
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Nov 12, 2016 18:18
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When that phone started ringing in the cutscene, I was really hoping Rion would raise the doll to his ear and say "Hello?"
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Nov 12, 2016 19:01
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Man Dancer posted:When that phone started ringing in the cutscene, I was really hoping Rion would raise the doll to his ear and say "Hello?" I was oddly imagining that too, Scream-style.
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Nov 12, 2016 19:21
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I do appreciate when games give you a lull in the action. And it's not constant combatcombatcombat
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Nov 13, 2016 03:45
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Ah, good old futuristic boob window fashion design.
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Nov 13, 2016 11:30
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Update 13: Black Market Welcome back. Last time we checked into the Babylon Hotel and met some of the other guests before a group of Dorothy’s goons showed up to spoil the party.  Rion’s room is pretty spartan, but there are a few points of interest.  A complimentary Recovery Capsule near the phone, for one.   The room also has a bathroom, and it looks like something’s taped to the mirror.  If you remember from last update room 306 was the one with the mystery man who wouldn’t answer the door. It seems he has left us a message. We better go check that out.   An in-game scene plays when we enter. It’s hard to convey in screenshots, but the other man moves in a nervous, twitchy fashion.   : What are you doing here?: I’m looking for someone. : And you are…?: Rion. Rion Steiner. : Well, you look okay I guess… : I do have to contact someone first… Rion turns and leaves. Hopefully this middleman can help us find some clue as to Lilia’s whereabouts.   We have to go down to the lobby to advance the plot, but before that it’s in our best interests to turn around and revisit the middleman’s room.   Doing so lets us grab these consumables.     The ground floor is very quiet. Even the background music is gone.   The manager and the porter have vanished. Disconcerting, but perhaps their absence will let us snag some room keys and look at the guest list.    …This doesn’t bode well. I suppose we should open the door and see where the trail leads.   Inside we find the manager’s body, mutilated and stuffed into a sink. There’s nothing we can do for him now, but perhaps a psychometric reading will tell us something about how it happened.   : Can I kill him now?: No. Wait until we find Lilia. So, it appears the porter is a sleeper agent sent to keep watch over the hotel. From the dialogue it seems that Dorothy suspected Lilia was in the hotel, but didn’t know for sure until Rion checked in. Assuming the porter is also a Galerian, our job just got ten times more difficult.   The back of the room contains some lockers we can’t get into and a Recovery Capsule on the table.  There’s also this circuit breaker. We could flip it now, but all it does is turn off the lights and shut down the lift. It’s something to remember for later though.   Leaving triggers a brief scene of the porter screaming and freaking out in front of the grandfather clock on the second floor. Music: Galerians - Hotel Theme 1  Outside we see that the middleman from upstairs is down here waiting for us. But first, let’s check behind the front desk.   Unfortunately the intruders have taken the keys and guest list.  At least this guy is here. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll put us in touch with an information broker or something.  : You’ll find what you’re looking for in room 204. Knock like this to get in. The man knocks on thin air, his fist somehow making a rapping sound. It’s hard to express in words, but the sequence is something like rap, rap-rap-rap, rap.   Room 204 is the one that looks like a bomb shelter.   This is one of the more annoying parts of the stage. You have to knock on the door in precisely the right way or it won’t open. Do it too fast or too slow or mess up the sequence and you’ll have to start over. You can talk to the guy in the lobby if you forget how it goes and he’ll repeat it for you, but it’s still irritating. But when you get it right…  :…Come on in. : You’re new around here, huh?  : Heh. You’re so young. Yet you’re hooked, aint’cha?:…How did you know? : Your face. It’s…wasted. : You know, you remind me of someone. Yeah, one of my best customers. : So, what’ll it be? I just scored some skip. Some Appolinar? Welp! It looks like we accidentally managed to get ourselves in contact with a drug dealer. Good going, Rion! On a more serious note, this scene has several implications for the plot. First, as far as I can tell this is the moment we find out that Nalcon, Red, Skip and the other PPECs we’ve been using are actually fiercely addictive and destructive to the body. Second, it confirms that these chemicals are actually fairly widespread, although presumably they only give psychic abilities to Galerians and anyone who lived through Dr. Lem’s experiments.     We didn’t set out to meet a drug dealer, but since we’re here we might as well help ourselves to his stock. The Skip, Nalcon and Red are nice, but Appolinar is a very special drug that appears nowhere else in the game.  The description says that it increases AP, but what it really does is fill up your entire AP bar to maximum, effectively allowing you to Short on command. It’s a very situational item, but it’s incredibly useful for the final stage of the game.  : I’ll put it on yer tab. Just be ready to pay up later!We can also talk to the dealer. Thankfully he’s a very understanding and progressive drug lord and chooses not to break our legs for being broke just yet.  Trying to leave triggers another conversation.  : You wanna try something new? Knowing you, you’ll get addicted.  The world’s most generous drug dealer proceeds to furnish us with some D-Felon, the third and final activated PPEC in the game. Our inventory is full, so Rion injects it right away.   Aside from this lovely gift, we can also talk to the dealer again to get a feel for where to go next.  : He takes care of the plumbing, and he knows a lot about this old hotel.  We have to follow the dealer’s advice to advance the plot.   You need to check the door several times before you get an answer. Annoyingly nothing in the game indicates that this is the case.   : Alright already! What do you want?: I want to ask you something.Rion immediately enters without waiting for an answer, triggering a new cutscene.  : What do you want?: What are you doing?: Fixing the pipes! This slummy hotel is still using steam heating. : City power is ridiculously expensive, and besides, supply is very limited.  The scene ends kind of abruptly, but whatever, let’s hear what the repairman has to say about Lilia.  : I dunno if her name is Lilia, but there’s a girl staying in room 304.Having visited room 304 before, we already know that the girl staying there isn’t Lilia. There’s a slim possibility she might know something, however, so it might be worth paying her another visit.   There are two Recovery Capsules in the repairman’s room. Our inventory is full, but while there aren’t many combat encounters in this stage the ones that do exist are pretty tough so it’s good to keep these items in mind for later.     An Enhanced Rabbit greets us as we step out onto the third floor. He proves surprisingly difficult to subdue.   : What do you want? It’s too late for apologies! I’d rather die, I tell you!!: Huh? : Oh! I’m sorry. I thought you were someone else! : How did you get in here?: The door was open.: Oh… Well, you’d better get out of here. This is no place for kids. : I’m looking for someone - a girl named Lilia.: Hmm… Don’t know anyone by that name. Rion leaves, but as with the middleman, there’s a good reason to go back inside.  That being a vial of Nalcon on the back table.  Re-entering and exiting also causes the porter to appear in the corridor outside.  I have a bit of a problem with this little scene. We know from reading the manager / desk clerk’s body that the porter is the one who killed him. Rion, being the player character, must also know this, along with the fact that the porter is in league with Rita, who explicitly mentions they are searching for Lilia. The guy is a murderer and directly opposed to Rion’s objective, yet Rion doesn’t react even when he is literally within arms reach. Trouble is, reading the body isn’t necessary to advance the plot. It’s a bonus scene with no triggers attached to it. But it contains such an important piece of information it feels incredibly clumsy for the game to simply not take the fact that you viewed it into account. We’ll deal with room 301 next time. Things are about to take a dark turn, and not everyone is going to make it through the night.
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Nov 20, 2016 18:18
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I don't think "Things are going to take a dark turn" will make the person stuffed halfway into a sink feel better about their death being even less notable 
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Nov 21, 2016 02:02
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I like this hotel level, it seems cool. I too would like to undergo a surgical procedure that allows me to gain psychic powers from the equivalent of cocaine.
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Nov 21, 2016 02:18
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That drug dealer scene is surreal. "yeah dude it's cool take like 5 free drugs including this weird new one I got. You look like a trustworthy 12-year-old" Man this game. EagerSleeper posted:I too would like to undergo a surgical procedure that allows me to gain psychic powers from the equivalent of cocaine. Anime Snowflame.
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Nov 21, 2016 06:59
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Oh sweet. Didn't know this was running. I first heard of Galerians from Rory Frances's comic essay over on Mammon Machine ZEAL. (Warning, potential spoilers.) I tried looking it up, but the old retsupurae was completely unwatchable. This format does a lot more justice to the game's interesting ideas, while sparing us the more tedious bits. Interested to see how this all ends.
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Nov 21, 2016 08:21
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Section Z posted:I don't think "Things are going to take a dark turn" will make the person stuffed halfway into a sink feel better about their death being even less notable Trust me, things are about to get much bloodier. 
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Nov 21, 2016 11:41
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Update 14: One by One Welcome back. Last time we discovered the corpse of the desk clerk and met the world’s nicest drug dealer. We also encountered the setup to the world’s most obvious ambush, but the gravity of a nearby plothole sucked away all of Rion’s reasoning so he can’t really be blamed for falling for it.   The porter told us to go to room 301. Since it’s clearly a trap I make sure to equip our shiny new D-Felon power before entering.  Two Enhanced Rabbits pounce as soon as we set foot inside. This is a very tough fight due to the cramped confines of the room, and you are guaranteed to take at least one hit before you’re in a position to fight back.  Thankfully, D-Felon is absolutely perfect for engaging multiple targets in close quarters. The mere act of charging it up causes all nearby enemies to stumble and clutch their heads in pain, effectively paralysing them.  Releasing R1 once the wheel is fully charged results in Rion lifting and psychically choke-slamming everyone nearby. The damage is about the same as a fully charged blast of Nalcon, but the paralysis effect makes it easily the most powerful ability in the game.   After taking out the Rabbits we’re free to examine the table for an important-looking note.     So, Lilia was in this room until quite recently, but was forced deeper into hiding after her constant messages allowed the Galerians to home in on her. It’s annoying that we just missed her, but at least we’re getting warmer.   The porter is gone, but right now that’s not important. Now that we know Lilia was staying in room 301 we have a new line of inquiry we can pursue. Let’s bug the guests some more!  Huh. Looks like she’s not here anymore.   Maybe she went downstairs. Might as well check the bathroom before we go, I don’t think I showed off what was in there earlier. Like most of the game’s bathrooms the ones in the hotel don’t have much in them, but the guests tend to shove their belongings in there so they’re at least interesting to look at.  ...Oh. drat it.   Maybe because you left her at the mercy of a man you knew to be a psychotic murderer?  Just in case there was any doubt, a reading reveals the porter did it.  Things are taking a turn for the worse, but we have to keep going. The game kind of stops telling you where to go at this point, but the next place we want to visit is room 303.   Room 303 is the gun nut’s room. A machinegun probably won’t help him if a Galerian comes calling, but it’s better protection than any of the other guests have.  : I’m supposed to contact room 205. Tell them room 303 sent you. They’ll understand… It’s not exactly helping us find Lilia, but…we might as well, I guess?   We arrive to find the room empty, but as soon as we enter the phone starts to ring.    Well, that was unenlightening.   The room contains some supplies, so our trip wasn’t completely wasted.  Leaving triggers an ambush against two Enhanced Rabbits. As always, they are deadly in cramped conditions.  Thankfully, so is D-Felon.  I suppose we’d better go back and tell Mr. Machinegun his contact has bailed on him.   …I have a bad feeling about this.   Jesus.    The porter claims his third victim.   Again, the game isn’t clear on where to go next. The actual next step is to visit the creepy priest on the second floor. We get another in-game cutscene as we enter.  : Ah, you have returned with my donation! : I shall pray for your soul… : Do you keep the money in your…pockets?  : Please, the donation! I must have the donation! Where is the money?! Rion and the priest grapple for a few seconds before Rion manages to make a break for the door.  As much as I’d love to never visit the creepy priest ever again, the game requires us to go back in and speak to him again in order to advance the plot.   : It spans our vast universe. It makes plants flower…and trees bear fruit. That energy can fulfil your dreams. Fine, just so long as that energy doesn’t involve molesting young boys.   This guy just keeps getting creepier. Let’s just go to room 202. Even if it’s another ambush it’ll at least get us away from here.    Oh look, an Enhanced Rabbit lying in wait. What a surprise. At least there’s only one this time.    …You know what? This is probably for the best.  You get a pass for this one, Rainheart.  The number of guests left alive is rapidly dwindling, and we’re no closer to finding out where Lilia is. Who can we turn to in this darkest hour?   If you answered ‘the crazy guy with the nuclear device’, congratulations! You’re right!  : Too many people have already applied… : That girl you’re looking for might be there too. Everyone seems to want in on my plan!Somehow I doubt that, but whatever, let’s check it out.   Guess what? It’s another ambush! This time however it’s actually a really tough fight.  Three Enhanced Rabbits in such a tiny room make it impossible to avoid taking multiple hits. No matter how quickly you try to run or how you try to slip by, you will be stunlocked and lose about half your HP in the opening two seconds of the fight.   If you can survive that, and still have some D-Felon left, you can take them all out reasonably quickly, especially if you take some Skip beforehand. If you don’t have any D-Felon then you’ll be in for a rough time, especially since the door is locked until you kill all the Rabbits.  You guys know the drill by now. Time to check and see how the latest guest has been gruesomely murdered.  Uh…I’m not even sure what to make of this one. Looks like he was…strapped to a rocket and then strung up? Well, it’s probably the way he would have wanted it at least.  C’mon, Rion. You really have no excuse for not knowing this.  See? It’s right there in the drat reading! It occurs to me that this stage would be much better if you couldn’t read the dead bodies. If this stage was structured a little more coherently, with a solid trail that took you from one guest to the next, with an invisible killer slowly offing them one by one it would make for a really suspenseful and nail-biting experience. Instead we have a disjointed series of events that just make the main character look stupid.   My random musings on how this stage could be improved aside, it’s time to finally confront the killer. Rainheart appears in front of the grandfather clock once you survive the previous ambush. Talking to him triggers the next line of plot.   The clock whirrs as its hands are forcibly realigned to 2:55.     Five to three. The same time that was prominently displayed on both Rion’s parents bodies.   : You killed Birdman, didn’t you? : I am Rainheart. Now it’s your turn to die! : So it was you who killed everyone!    Rainheart uses his pyrokinesis to summon a wall of flames that rushes towards Rion.  : Aaaarrrgghh!! : NO!! : So what if I killed them? It’s my mother who you should be scared of.  : We must obey… YOU must obey what she says…(I’m pretty sure this next line is supposed to be in Rainheart’s head and not said out loud)  : STOP IT. IT’S TIME FOR YOUR MEDICINE… : No…! I’m sorry…! I won’t do it again…! No, no medicine, it’s only 2:50!   Rainheart’s eyes glow red, and he warps up through the ceiling.   : Lilia! I heard you! I heard your voice! Where are you? Call out to me!: I felt the sadness in Rainheart’s soul. Please come to me, Rion. : Lilia! The cutscene ends, but we’re done for this update. It’s unfortunate that the narrative kind of falls apart here, but it does give more credence to the theory that the latter half of the game was kind of a rush job. Whether that’s the case or not we’re fairly close to the end of the stage and probably only three or four updates away from the end of the game. Until next time.
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Nov 27, 2016 21:21
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I take it D-Felon is the rarer of the three powers? Paralyzing Vader choke seems crazy good.
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Nov 27, 2016 21:41
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SSNeoman posted:I take it D-Felon is the rarer of the three powers? Paralyzing Vader choke seems crazy good. Yes, and you can only find it in this stage and the final one. I don't think any enemies are immune to it either, although it's not great against bosses.
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Nov 27, 2016 21:57
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It's basically the one you'll want to use against every standard enemy in the game and, yes, there are no enemies who are immune to it. It's arguably the best weapon in the game, but it's balanced by the fact that it's in painfully limited supply compared to the other meds. Nalcon and Red are still what you'll want to use for bosses in general though.
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Nov 27, 2016 22:25
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Scintilla posted:Update 14: One by One Dammit Rion, it's step-flick-pivot! If you can't get the basic dance steps right, how will you win a dance-off against three jive-stepping motherfuckers?
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Nov 28, 2016 12:22
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The rabbits do look unreasonably fabulous.
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Nov 28, 2016 12:31
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Update 15: Rainfall Welcome back. This update is longer than I anticipated, but that just means more content. Let’s dive right in.   Rainheart warped through the ceiling, so logic dictates that he should be on the third floor.     We arrive in time to see Rainheart vanish into room 305. Tighten your seatbelts, because it’s time to throw down. Music: Galerians - Rainheart’s Theme  : I won’t fail this time, Mother! Rainheart lowers himself to the ground, then it’s time to fight!  Rainheart is actually a fairly simple opponent to beat. He moves slowly enough that you can usually get off at least one attack even at Lv. 1, and he doesn’t have nearly the same amount of stamina that Birdman had. He does occasionally teleport, but not enough that it’s a real issue.  Rainheart’s basic attack is a shove that he uses right after teleporting. It’s fairly powerful and knocks you across the room, but he tends to pause for a bit after doing it which can let you get in a quick attack once Rion gets back up.  The fight isn't too tough, but there is one ground rule that, if broken, will make your life miserable. That rule is simply to never attack Rainheart with Red.    If you do, Rainheart will take control of the flames and send them back at you in a tremendous explosion so huge I couldn't .gif it. Both the initial explosion and the fireballs deal damage, with the flames lingering for several seconds to make it hard to move around.  Stick to Nalcon and this won’t happen. I didn’t have any D-Felon left, but that’s ineffective too. Nalcon is the only way to take Rainheart down.  Of course, Rainheart has more tricks up his sleeve. When you’ve depleted some of his health he’ll occasionally summon two charred zombies to fight you. They’re slow, die in one hit and their only attack is a lunge that causes them to disintegrate regardless of whether they hit you or not, but in the cramped confines of the boss arena they’re one more thing to worry about.   Eventually Rainheart will start using his pyrokinesis even if you don’t use Red on him. You can interrupt him while he’s charging, but only if you’re quick. As an aside, the flames will also kill any zombies that wander into them.     Overall Rainheart isn’t too tough and goes down fairly quickly if you keep pounding him, with his death triggering another cutscene.     Mortally wounded, Rainheart’s psychic powers draw Rion into his memories.  : Please…don’t tell Mother…don’t tell her I failed! She’ll scream at me, then make me take that horrible medicine. I hate it! : Mother just wants you to get stronger! You must take your medicine. : But it turns me into a monster! It’s destroying my true self!: It’s already three o’clock. It’s time for your medicine. : No! It’s only two fifty! It’s not time yet!!  : Argh! Lem injects the PPEC, and the scene slowly fades back to reality.  : You’re wrong…I’m not the killer! There’s a beast lurking in my mind. It makes me look like the killer…but I didn’t do it! It wasn’t me…you’ve got to believe me…  : You mustn’t tell her…please…don’t tell Mother I failed… Rainheart dies, and the cutscene ends. He led a tragic life, but at least the monster inside him can’t hurt anyone else now.     Killing Rainheart causes the maintenance man to finally finish his work downstairs.  : Oh, it’s you again.: What are you doing?: Are you blind? I’m checking out the hotel blueprints! : They demolished the old hotel to build this one, but they kept the same crummy old plumbing. This place shares a boiler with that abandoned restaurant next door. Ugh, I really hate this building.: So…I could get to that restaurant by going through the boiler room? : I suppose so! But why bother? It’s out of business, so there’s nothing there now.: Okay. Thanks. A locked up, run down old restaurant accessible through the hotel’s basement? Sounds like the perfect hiding place to me.  Sure enough, it’s our next destination. Before that, though, you might be wondering what happened to the two other guests still unaccounted for - the drug dealer and his middleman. Well…     They’re both dead. Out of the original guests only the maintenance man manages to survive.    The boiler room is a small area without much in it.   It contains an elevator that’ll take us to the restaurant, but it doesn’t seem to be functioning.  A reading reveals we’ll need to finally flip that circuit breaker in order to access it.  The magic of editing lets us warp back there instantly.     Flipping the switch cuts the power, so naturally all the lights go out.  It also causes two Arabesques to spawn in the boiler room.  We could fight them, but why bother? There’s just enough room to dodge past them and we aren’t coming through this part of the stage again anyway.    We find ourselves in the kitchen of the old restaurant.  It’s a pretty small area, with only four rooms to explore.  One of these is a run down old bathroom. Unlike most bathrooms in the game there are actually some items inside.   We’ll be needing both of these very soon.  Heading back into the kitchen causes another Arabesque to spawn. Like the ones in the boiler, it’s easiest to just run past it. Going through the door triggers a long-awaited reunion.    : Lilia!: Rion!   : My father’s dead, isn’t he? I called for him, but there’s no reply.: You look so tired. Have they hurt you? Meanwhile, Rita has discovered Rainheart’s body.  : I’ve been secretly moving from place to place over the past month. But don’t worry. I’m okay. : I’ve heard your voice in my mind so many times. : I can feel your suffering. When you feel pain, I feel it too.: I’m sorry I took so long. Your voice helped me so much. : Congratulations, Rion. : Who’re you?!: Rita. I’ve come to bash her brains in.: Are you a Galerian too? : Mother fears the virus program hidden in Lilia’s mind. Mother can’t even sleep at night. You humans are such fools. Our fate lies solely in Mother’s hands. : Now I shall avenge my dear brother! See, Rainheart wasn’t too bright, but he was my pride and joy. He was gentle as could be. Don’t you see? He was the only brother I had left… :…and that is why I’m going to make sure you die a slow and extremely painful death!  Rita uses psychokinesis to hurl furniture at Rion and Lilia. : Lilia! : Don’t worry. I know I can disrupt her psychokinesis with my power! : Argh! You little punk!  Unfortunately while the virus program may interfere with psychic powers, it does nothing to stop an enemy from picking up a table with their bare hands and decking you in the head with it.  : Lilia! Music: Galerians - Rita’s Theme  The cutscene ends, and now it’s time for a boss fight against Rita.  Rita is a bitch to fight. The very first thing she does is hop on a table and levitate it, putting herself out of reach of all our attacks. She spends around 90% of the battle like this, so chances to actually deal damage to her are extremely limited.  Her basic attack is to fly around and try to ram into you. She moves quickly and the attack has a slightly wonky hitbox, but there's plenty of room to evade so it's not a massive pain.  After three or four passes Rita will land and become vulnerable to attack. You’d better act fast though, since she only stays on the ground for about a second before summoning another table.   One way to maximise the amount of damage you can do is to use Red, then quickly switch to Nalcon and use its rapid-fire secondary ability to hit her multiple times while she’s stunned. Don’t bother charging the Nalcon up to full, she’ll recover before you can do it.  Clever players may think to try and stunlock her with this method. Unfortunately this won’t work, as Rita will quickly use her psychokinesis to surround herself with spinning bits of furniture. The whirling barricade renders Rita untouchable, at least until she drops it by using its components as projectile weapons.  Like all of this game’s boss fights this battle has a number of stages. Once you’ve damaged Rita a little she’ll start summoning other tables during her attack runs. They float in the air for a while, but once Rita lands…  They hurtle down to smash Rion in the face. They don’t all come down at once, and if you’re in motion they probably won’t hit, but they cut down on the already narrow window you have to attack Rita before she levitates herself again.  Just to make things more irritating, the arena has two screens. And yes, Rita does have a not infrequent habit of landing in the one you aren’t on.  After taking even more damage Rita will pull out another trick. Instead of her usual dive-bombing she’ll more often hover in the air and chuck stuff at you, sometimes one at a time, sometimes all at once as seen above. Once she’s run out of stuff to throw she’ll either summon more or execute a quick kamikaze attack. This also forces her to land, but she'll hop on another table immediately so there's no window to hit her.    Things get pretty hectic towards the end! There’s no doubting that Rita is one of the game’s tougher bosses. She doesn’t have any truly damaging attacks, but the never-ending barrage of furniture coupled with only being vulnerable for a very limited period of time mean she’s very capable of grinding you down to nothing.   Eventually though, after using up nearly all our resources, Rita finally bites it. The cutscene following her defeat is one of the longest in the game, and a prime opportunity to sample the wonderfully bad voice acting.  : You’re a worthy opponent, Rion. : With this, I’ll be able to crush you. : No! You’re too weak! If you inject yourself-: Mother told me the moment of Shorting feels oh so good.: Rita, you’ve gone insane! : We’re all slowly but surely going mad. You just haven’t realised it yet.: No!!   Rita injects the PPEC and Shorts.  : Aaaahh!! She then picks up Rion and smashes him back against the wall.   : AAAAAAAAHHH!!!   Lilia wakes up just as Rita loses control. : Rita, no! Don’t kill Rion!! The energy overwhelms everything, turning the world pure white.   When the light fades, the world has been replaced with a snowy dreamscape.   Rita materialises out of the gloom, followed swiftly by Rion. : Are you alright?: Don’t worry about me…I don’t like myself anyway. Oh, I hate this power that I possess! : This is the moment I’ve been waiting for. I’ve always wanted the end to come…but I never could die. : What a beautiful snow. It’s like…having a terrifying and wonderful vision. : I’ve never felt such tranquility before. Can you feel what I’m feeling right at this moment? : If Mother is God…why would she inflict you with such a cruel fate? Where did your true self go? You are now nothing but an empty vessel, pretending to be human… : It’s too bad we’ll never meet again.  : Rion, please…destroy me. My head aches so much…please, it hurts so bad! I just…can’t…stand it anymore… : Rion, don’t do it!: Lilia…it’s the only way. She’s decided she wants to die now.: Yeah, but…: Please…just…do it… : I can’t stand it any longer either. Please…forgive me.: No!   We return to the real world as Rita collapses. : *Sobs* : Lilia…please don’t cry.: Rion…where did you get such power?: I was experimented on in the hospital. They used various PPECs on me. : Don’t…believe it… : Huh?: What is it?: Oh…it’s, uh, nothing.  While Rion broods over Rita’s corpse, the scene shifts to the streets outside.  : Those kids who had been injected with the PPEC now live in fear of Dorothy, the Mother Computer.  : But here’s the good part. She lives in fear of the virus program. And that is where I come in. : They all live where the networks converge - in the Mushroom Tower, high above Michelangelo City. I must destroy Dorothy. Nothing can stop me now… : Not even the dark city night that fills my heart with fear.  And so we move on to the final disk. The Babylon Hotel was a neat idea, but weighed down by plot holes and a nonsensical midsection that probably resulted in a lot of players wandering around wondering what to do. Rainheart and Rita were interesting characters, but I can’t help but feel they would have had a greater impact if there had been more time to get to know them. Having most of their fleshing-out occur right as they’re about to die really limited things. The stilted dialogue didn't help much either, although that can be chalked up to poor translation / localisation. Regardless, we found Lilia, which means we can finally put a stop to all this. Join me next time as we infiltrate the Mushroom Tower and end Dorothy's madness once and for all.
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Dec 5, 2016 18:07
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A lot of this game feels like it has good ideas that needed more time. It's got a solid core of dark and miserable to it, but everything feels like it needs more development. E: Also, 'We told the computer about God and that effectively we were God since we created it so it had to obey us no matter how nonsensical it seemed' is one of my favorite triggers for 'You idiots how did you cause the AI to go homicidal'. It can't top the original System Shock's 'A corrupt middle-manager with no idea what the gently caress he was doing strong-armed/paid an idiot hacker to disable the 'ethical constraints' on the station AI so he could erase some evidence of embezzlement', though. That one is actually completely, totally believable. Night10194 fucked around with this message at 18:49 on Dec 5, 2016 |
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Dec 5, 2016 18:46
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Rion's voice actor actually seems okay. But Rita's voice acting is legit some of The Worst.
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Dec 5, 2016 23:59
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This definitely has the hallmarks of "Too much plot not enough time or budget"
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Dec 6, 2016 00:35
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Figures as usual, some of the most dangerous enemies are the most ridiculous. Rita, gone too soon to win the hardcore championship belt.
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Dec 6, 2016 05:21
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VagueRant posted:Rion's voice actor actually seems okay. Rita is pure crap. You can tell her VA just plain didn't give a poo poo. The maintenance guy has the best voice. It's got exactly the sort of raspy, 'had enough of this crap' tone you'd expect from a schlubby plumber who hates his job and just wants to get it over with. Robindaybird posted:This definitely has the hallmarks of "Too much plot not enough time or budget" The last level is an absolute testament to this.
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Dec 7, 2016 23:13
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Night10194 posted:A lot of this game feels like it has good ideas that needed more time. It's got a solid core of dark and miserable to it, but everything feels like it needs more development. This is a perfect way to describe this game, and why it seems so interesting to me.
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Dec 8, 2016 00:26
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EagerSleeper posted:This is a perfect way to describe this game, and why it seems so interesting to me. I finally put my finger on what's so unsettling in this game, and it's hinted at with the hospital, developed more in Rion's house, and driven home by the hotel. No-one else can tell anything is wrong. And none of the adult characters so far see anything wrong with their actions. Rion is trying to avenge his parents, save the one kindly voice he can hear in his head, stop a crazy psycho AI, etc, but no-one gives a drat. And even the people who should've given a drat, his parents, still decided to implant programs into their son's brain while independently, their closest neighboring family did the same to their daughter. The workers at the hospital understood Rion was dangerous, but they have no goddamn problem doing any of what they're doing. They're told they're engineering weird poo poo to do dangerous labor, or for military experiments, and they just shrug and get back to it. They're pretty obviously hurting stuff that looks like children, but they don't care; they're perfectly willing to shoot the kid with lasers or shoot him up with crazy chemicals. Then you get to the hotel and meet people who aren't in on any of these crazy conspiracies, and they're still a bunch of desperate madmen, criminals, and drug dealers, none of whom give a poo poo about what's going on and more importantly, don't even realize something's wrong as people around them get picked off by something horrifying. If it's intentional, this sort of universal ennui is a really neat, unsettling atmosphere.
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Dec 8, 2016 00:37
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Night10194 posted:A lot of this game feels like it has good ideas that needed more time. It's got a solid core of dark and miserable to it, but everything feels like it needs more development. Well, the computer was about to go homicidal before they told it that. The issue was in their programming from the beginning, not anything added latter. In fact, the god thing gave them time to do stuff against the computer, they just wasted it by not killing the computer then instead of putting viruses into kids brains. And there appear to be hints that Dorothy took steps against that virus
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Dec 8, 2016 01:22
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grandalt posted:Well, the computer was about to go homicidal before they told it that. The issue was in their programming from the beginning, not anything added latter. In fact, the god thing gave them time to do stuff against the computer, they just wasted it by not killing the computer then instead of putting viruses into kids brains. And there appear to be hints that Dorothy took steps against that virus I still legit don't see where they needed the children for this. Or even if they did, why they waited so long.
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Dec 8, 2016 01:34
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So, just an aside, but how do you pronounce the kid's name? Is it a misspelling of 'Ryan' or does it rhyme with 'Leon' like it sorta looks like?
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Dec 9, 2016 05:44
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Astrofig posted:So, just an aside, but how do you pronounce the kid's name? Is it a misspelling of 'Ryan' or does it rhyme with 'Leon' like it sorta looks like? You can hear them say it in the videos, but if it's written exactly as RI-O-N in the Japanese text then yes, it would be pronounced like Leon.
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Dec 9, 2016 06:11
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Update 16: Tower of the Goddess Welcome to the penultimate update of this Let’s Play.  Since we’ve reached disk three the main menu has changed once again.  Let’s load this thing and get going.   The rocket train drops Rion and Lilia off at a station near the Mushroom Tower.   The ominous structure overlooks the entire city.    : R…Rion! It appears the guards were expecting us.  : Rrrrargh!!  Unfortunately for them, Rion has Cutscene Competence and OHKOs the three riot guards.   : INTRUDER AT BEAGLE GATE. INTRUDER AT BEAGLE GATE.  : INITIATING PRIME-3 SECURITY LEVEL. The final stage of the game takes place in the Mushroom Tower, Dorothy’s base of operations. It’s a very short level, and we’ll be getting through most of it in this update. There is background music, but it’s not on the OST.  The first thing you’ll notice is that Lilia is with us. We can’t interact with her, but she will follow us as we move around the area.    The ground floor of the tower is a circular room with some kind of pedestal in the middle.  The pedestal is surrounded by four lamps, none of which are currently lit.    Some of the bulbous pods around the walls are open, and will dispense various restoratives and PPECs. You can use each one twice before they run dry, which is great if you struggled against Rita.  In order to advance the stage, you need to examine one of the strange openings on the walls.   Rion strides up to the opening while Lilia examines the central pedestal.  : How does this Shooter work? There are no switches or anything. It’s probably the only way to get to the other rooms…: Rion! : Lilia!  Lilia teleports away. Not good!    Rabbits are also not good! But with D-Felon we can at least deal with them.  Man, I will never get tired of doing that.   Killing the Rabbits results in one of the lamps lighting up. Interesting, but it doesn’t really get us anywhere. For now we need to find Lilia, and to do that we have to examine the Shooter again.  Psychometry hasn’t failed us yet, so let’s see what it tells us here.   The orbs above the Shooter change colour when we examine them. Also… : Rion…? Rion! Can you hear me?: Lilia! Where are you?: I don’t know…but the same lights as those on that Shooter are here. They’re probably our key to the other rooms! Let me try it…  Our perspective switches, and we now find ourselves in control of Lilia. This room contains one of the Mushroom Tower’s two save points, and is the centrepiece for the main gimmick of the stage.  Examining any of the lights causes them to turn off. We need to turn the lights off in the order they appeared in Rion’s reading, which in this case is Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Red.  Once you do that the cyan panel in the middle will glow and a cutscene will trigger.    A segment of the tower lifts and begins to rotate itself, realigning its elevator tubes.  After several twists it snaps shut again.  The game boots us back to Rion after the cutscene. The Shooter, or elevator, is active now, so let’s hop on in.   We arrive in a smaller room with three more inactive Shooters. There’s clearly another puzzle here, but before we can do anything another very brief cutscene is triggered.     Surprise! It’s an upgraded armoured trooper. Aside from the swanky yellow paintjob and slightly streamlined look these guys are pretty much the same as the ones we fought back in the first stage. The only real difference is that they have more health.  That being said, fighting three of them at once is pretty tough. This is the point where I would normally bust out the Appolinar we picked up last stage and simply explode their heads, but, uh, I seem to have run out of Delmetor.  Fortunately, armoured troopers are just as vulnerable to D-Felon as any other regular enemy. Get them all bunched up together and you can stunlock them into oblivion.   When they’re all dead we get a scene of another light coming on downstairs.   Reading one of the inactive Shooters gives us another set of colours. It also asks us if we want to switch to Lilia, so let’s do that.  We resume control of Lilia, and immediately there’s a problem. The sequence above the Shooter was Light Blue, Purple, Red, Green, Yellow, but there’s no corresponding yellow light for Lilia to interact with. Instead we have a dark blue light. There’s no way for us to enter the sequence we were given.  We can switch back to Rion by interacting with the central pad.  And here we come to the main gimmick of the level. Every floor after the first will have multiple Shooters that display different coloured sequences when Rion reads them, only one of which Lilia can actually input. The rest are decoys meant only to waste your time. This tedious memory game takes up most of the level, turning the final stage into a glorified puzzle.   Here are the sequences for the remaining Shooters. Knowing what colours Lilia has available, we can tell that the second of two is the one we want.   Entering the sequence is simple enough, but when we deactivate the second colour…   Suddenly, Birdman out of goddamn nowhere! : Aaahh!!  : So, the program Mother fears is hidden behind that pretty face of yours?: Who are you?!: Heh, heh, heh…does it really matter? You’re going to die anyway! : Oh…my head aches…Who is sending out that powerful telepathic force? : It hurts, doesn’t it? It’ll end soon. The moment of death feels so good… : You’re not real. You’re just a psycho-illusion! If I just…close my mind…you’ll disappear.  Lilia banishes the illusory Birdman and falls to her knees.  : I feel the presence of Galerians in this tower…and they’re very powerful. Ominous! But we can’t turn back now.   Activating the sequence triggers another scene of the tower realigning. It’s the exact same cutscene as before, so I won’t bother linking to it again.    The next floor pits us against three Arabesques.  They go down much more easily than the troopers, mostly because they’re faster so it’s less of a hassle to get them all bunched up for a D-Felon pummelling.  Right on cue, the third lantern lights up. We’re getting close now.     As on the first floor, there are also some dispensers giving out PPECs and recovery capsules. No Delmetor, though, which is starting to make me nervous.    Here are the three sequences for this floor. Now, which one is the correct one?  The third one, by the look of things. Once again, however, trying to input the sequence leads to a cutscene.  : Rainheart! How is this possible? I saw you die!: They’re gonna make me take even stronger medicine. It’s your fault. It’s all your fault! : No, no! Don’t play games with me! Rainheart’s dead. This is just an illusion. A psycho-illusion to try and confuse me and throw me off course! : I know what I’ll do. I’ll scan to find out who’s behind this! : Don’t come any closer to Mother! Stay away!!   : Was that…me? How could that be possible…? How indeed? I’m sure we’ll find out sooner rather than later, but the implications are disturbing.  The next floor throws something entirely new at us in the four-legged Arabasque. These guys are, in a word, pathetic. They’re fast and take forever to kill, but deal pitiful damage and lack the ability to spit acid.  They also have no defence against D-Felon.  Their deaths trigger the last lamp, leaving us free to examine the Shooters.     The colours match the second sequence, so let’s have Lilia enter it. Thankfully this is the last time we’ll have to do this. As usual, we get a cutscene for doing so. No prizes for guessing who shows up this time.  : Rita? So, after Rainheart comes you? : You can’t fool me anymore. I know that you too are only a psycho-illusion. : Rion, wait! Don’t go any further! You’ll be killed!: You’re not real, and I’m not going to listen to you.: Rion, Mother is very frightening. She will surely kill you too.  : Goodbye, Rita. First Birdman, then Rainheart, now Rita. Illusions or not, they aren’t going to stop Rion and Lilia from reaching the top of the tower.    The central panel glows, and the tower realigns. But this time something different happens when we step into the Shooter.  Instead of going up a floor, Rion is transported to where Lilia is.  : Lilia! : Rion! Now is our only chance to reach the top!    The teleporter activates, transporting Rion and Lilia into the heart of Dorothy’s domain. What trials and terrors await us here, in the very centre of the Mother Computer’s power? Find out next time, in the final update of this LP.
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Dec 10, 2016 20:50
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 This game has pulled me in, I'm ready for the batshit insanity that is likely coming.
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Dec 10, 2016 21:29
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Wow, they really ran out of budget for level design hard, didn't they? At least there's plenty of lovely D-Felon.
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Dec 10, 2016 21:36
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The opening stage of the sequel, ASH, has you play these last few areas. It's a lot more action-oriented though, as ASH is more of a third-person shooter with RPG elements than an RE clone.Night10194 posted:A lot of this game feels like it has good ideas that needed more time. It's got a solid core of dark and miserable to it, but everything feels like it needs more development. The CGI movie feels a bit less rushed, despite being the exact same plot, direction, basically everything. Though that may be because it's easier to forgive these flaws in a 50-minute non-interactive movie than a (at the time) $40 game.
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Dec 10, 2016 22:04
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Choke slam, the update  Only Kane and the Undertaker can stop Rion at psychic Wrestlemania.
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Dec 11, 2016 04:36
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I'm going to try and have the final update ready by Monday. There's not much actual content left, but the game does have a New Game+ mode that deserves some brief attention.
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Dec 11, 2016 09:14
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