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Update, with more podcasting! Episode 11: Whateverwheel I thought the fact that the King gives you a pawn is a pretty cute nod to the rules of actual chess. CuddleCryptid fucked around with this message at 05:44 on Sep 28, 2016 |
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Sep 28, 2016 04:46
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Call me Robespierre because we're cutting off people's heads in this update. Episode 12: Game Of Thrones
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Sep 29, 2016 04:21
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Actually, I think the game still looks pretty good for being a 2000 era game; seeing it again is like seeing an old friend. I mean, it has color, you can tell what's going on, controls aren't too hard... maybe it is the nostalgia talking, but whenever I am reminded of this game I want to play it (unlike Madness Returns, which I only played through once, and that was enough). And while I like you always like it when a monster has greater meaning and symbolism- and that not a lot of that is found here, as Carroll wasn't really trying to be symbolic of much of anything with his Alice stories- I don't really know what greater symbolism would do for this game. Sometimes a fish who spits lava is just a fish who spits lava, and that's all right.
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Sep 29, 2016 17:24
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DreamShipWrecked posted:God damned boojums. I love the use of colour (or rather lack of colour) in this area. It's actually one of the least interesting areas to play, but it's visually pretty neat. I wouldn't call this a horror game at all. And the thing about the mental illness angle is that because it's a heavily stylised metaphor based on an existing story, you can basically interpret it however you want. There's obviously an underlying story intended by the writers but, for example, you're free to interpret the boojums however you like. In reality they almost certainly exist in this form because they were designed to be a fun challenging for the player that fits the game's overall style and has a name that comes from the books, but that doesn't have to be all they are, you can fit them into the overall theme however you like. Unrelated, I just want to say that I love the way Alice stands when she's talking to people, and whenever I play or watch this game I find myself afterwards mimicking her, shoulders back, hands crossed behind me. For anyone who didn't figure out what was going to happen ahead of time, you kind of gave it away there. That discussion probably could have waited till after it actually happened. Re: weapons, I found the ice staff way more useful than the croquet mallet in chessboard land. The ropes are probably vines, like Tarzan swings from. resurgam40 posted:it has color, you can tell what's going on resurgam40 posted:Sometimes a fish who spits lava is just a fish who spits lava, and that's all right.
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Sep 29, 2016 17:44
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Re: Monsters, I certainly agree that the game doesn't really *need* to be symbolic, but it helps. That being said, the themed monsters and areas are absolutely better, the Looking Glass Land is better designed than the tiny world and all of that. I hate Boojums more due to their knock back than anything. Alice is half a platformer, after all, and the Boojums are the only creatures with a significant knockback. Add to it that it has a large AoE cone and they can fly and they become really annoying. Plus they tend to show up in especially platformy areas. Alice has some cool animations that I going to show off in the weapons video. She can actually slowly walk as well, in a very prim but sassy way. I honestly didn't remember that the White Queen lost her head when first recording, I thought that the pawn was just a clever pun. After all, you need a pawn when your queen is captured. So I left it in as a joke. It didn't really add up to anything shocking, since she came back to live minutes later.
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Sep 29, 2016 18:33
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I had always assumed that a Pawn could only the promoted to a Queen since that was the common practice in Chess. 
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Sep 29, 2016 20:10
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Chimera-gui posted:I had always assumed that a Pawn could only the promoted to a Queen since that was the common practice in Chess. Well, you aren't wrong, if you are going to charge it all the way over then you may as well make it something good. After all, you can't just leave the pawn dead in the water but two queens would absolutely rock people's worlds.
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Sep 29, 2016 20:38
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This update is a reflection of your soul. Episode 13: House Of Mirrors This is one I remembered having trouble with. There's something to be said for abject cowardice. I'm taking tomorrow off, so we'll see the end of the level next week!
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Sep 30, 2016 04:41
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One thing I like about this game is that pretty much every weapon you get tends to be better than the previous one so you spend some time with almost every weapon throughout the game. i.e. Vorpal Blade < Croquet Mallet < Ice Wand < Jacks.
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Sep 30, 2016 05:51
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The game you play with jacks is called "jacks". You throw an increasing number of them in the air and have to catch them on the back of your hand. These days you can get plastic ones but you used to use bones. It's actually a bit odd that Alice has the modern style ones in this game, but the bone ones don't really look like viable weapons, so...  Also, it's interesting that the cat advises you to never play alone, because it's actually perfectly safe to do so. You can't hurt yourself with the jacks.
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Sep 30, 2016 17:02
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Tiggum posted:The game you play with jacks is called "jacks". You throw an increasing number of them in the air and have to catch them on the back of your hand. These days you can get plastic ones but you used to use bones. It's actually a bit odd that Alice has the modern style ones in this game, but the bone ones don't really look like viable weapons, so... Neither are playing cards, anything is dangerous if you throw it hard enough  I have the feeling that they may have intended it to have friendly fire originally but took it out. It's a similar phrase to the dice ("take care not to play when you're alone, the fiends lack loyalty and their idea of nutrition can be quite disturbing") and Jack In The Box ("Jack's a friend but he has a temper, perhaps best to let him play my himself..."). It might have been cut when too many people were getting swarmed. When I played jacks as a kid we would bounce the ball and try to pick them up off the ground, maybe it's just different styling CuddleCryptid fucked around with this message at 17:11 on Sep 30, 2016 |
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Sep 30, 2016 17:09
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I believe that the Automatons are Insane Children that were basically roboticized by the Mad Hatter who himself has become so obsessed with time that he's turned himself into a clockwork cyborg in order to make himself presumably more efficient.
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Sep 30, 2016 17:45
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DreamShipWrecked posted:When I played jacks as a kid we would bounce the ball and try to pick them up off the ground, maybe it's just different styling
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Sep 30, 2016 18:02
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I believe that what the Automatons are shooting at you are their actual fists, which detach and are replaceable because of course they are. And the ghost-things are called...Phantasmagoria? I think? It was around here when I was playing for the first time that I concluded that I really, really like the soundtrack of this game. I'd already heard my favorite track back in the school, and my second favorite track is still a ways off yet (the one Commissar mega posted a little while ago), but the track in both this level and the one after easily take third and fourth. They're just so... schizophrenic.
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Sep 30, 2016 18:28
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I never realized how much I liked the soundtrack until I listened to it outside of the game. It blends so well into the background that it just works it's way in, but it isn't until you hear it alone that you realize how amazing it really is.
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Sep 30, 2016 18:41
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Update! With some actual plot! Episode 13: Tweedle Deedle Dumb
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Oct 4, 2016 05:15
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Chimera-gui posted:I believe that the Automatons are Insane Children that were basically roboticized by the Mad Hatter who himself has become so obsessed with time that he's turned himself into a clockwork cyborg in order to make himself presumably more efficient.
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Oct 4, 2016 08:28
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Accordion Man posted:The Mad Hatter has also became the personification of the Asylum warden as well. It's not really brought up in the game itself but its brought up in the manual that came with the game, which had a section dedicated to having an in-universe journal of Dr. Wilson, Alice's doctor at the asylum. The Tweedles also became personfications of the Warden's lovely nephews that would always torment Alice. Man, that was such a neat little book; it was sort of a mini novel that came in the game box, as was the wont of 2000s era games*, and it offered some real, chilling insight into the way Alice lived and dealt (or rather didn't deal) with her issues in the asylum; had some really great drawings. While it isn't essential for understanding the story or anything, it offers some great parallels to the things we've seen already or are going to see, but given how games are sold now, I don't know how it could be shared here save through  ; my own copy is long gone somewhere, lost between houses. The actual stuff on how to play the game came on a little card, as I recall.*Well, I say "wont", but the only other game I know of that did a similar thing was Clive Barker's Undying, that other severely underrated game made in 2000 that you probably found in a bargain bin somewhere. It took the form of a diary of the elder Covenant child, providing a description of the family and how creepy and off-putting they were even before the whole "getting cursed and becoming undead monstrosities" thing.
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Oct 4, 2016 13:39
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Are you going to show off the other powerup of the game? It apparently first appears in the forest though you're more likely to find it here.
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Oct 4, 2016 20:29
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resurgam40 posted:Man, that was such a neat little book; it was sort of a mini novel that came in the game box, as was the wont of 2000s era games*, and it offered some real, chilling insight into the way Alice lived and dealt (or rather didn't deal) with her issues in the asylum; had some really great drawings. While it isn't essential for understanding the story or anything, it offers some great parallels to the things we've seen already or are going to see, but given how games are sold now, I don't know how it could be shared here save through Unfortunately I do not have a physical copy either but I may be able to piece a good amount of it together off various wikis, I'm going to see what I can do. If anyone has a source on the full book please PM or tweet @dreamshipwreck. Chimera-gui posted:Are you going to show off the other powerup of the game? It apparently first appears in the forest though you're more likely to find it here. When I get to it, they are very rare though. For good reason, the rage vials make you stronger but the other thing just skips content. CuddleCryptid fucked around with this message at 20:51 on Oct 4, 2016 |
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Oct 4, 2016 20:46
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I actually have two copies of the manual, because I have two boxed copies, one is the original box with Alice wielding the Vorpal Blade and the other is the censored re-release with the ice wand.
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Oct 5, 2016 02:05
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Update! Episode 15: Stopped Clock Accordion Man posted:I actually have two copies of the manual, because I have two boxed copies, one is the original box with Alice wielding the Vorpal Blade and the other is the censored re-release with the ice wand. Jealous! I will be podcasting it off an internet script, but I wish that I had the artbook just for my own keeping.
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Oct 5, 2016 03:16
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Holy poo poo I never thought I'd hear (sequel spoilers, just being paranoid)Dr Bumby referred to as the "good" doctor. Madness Returns kicks that in the rear end.
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Oct 5, 2016 12:36
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BioEnchanted posted:Holy poo poo I never thought I'd hear (sequel spoilers, just being paranoid)Dr Bumby referred to as the "good" doctor. Madness Returns kicks that in the rear end. That was a mistake on my part, he doesn't show up until the sequel. The doctor that actually tries to help her was Dr. Heironymous Q. Wilson.
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Oct 5, 2016 13:31
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DreamShipWrecked posted:When I get to it, they are very rare though. For good reason, the rage vials make you stronger but the other thing just skips content. The cat's exact line (according to Wikiquote) is "Time to jump in Time to jump through time. I'm dizzy."
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Oct 5, 2016 18:05
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Tiggum posted:I'm not sure what you're referring to here. You have the watch now, which isn't so much rare as limited in use, and the only other power-up I can remember is one I never found particularly useful (although it is cool). If it allows you to skip content that's interesting. The one I was referring to is the Darkened Looking Glass, which turns you invisible. The other other one just makes platforming harder imo.
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Oct 5, 2016 18:22
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DreamShipWrecked posted:The one I was referring to is the Darkened Looking Glass, which turns you invisible. The other other one just makes platforming harder imo. I was talking about the Grasshopper Tea.
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Oct 5, 2016 22:24
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Update! Episode 16: Eye For An Eye Chimera-gui posted:I was talking about the Grasshopper Tea. I'm not a huge fan, the platforming is already rough so throwing myself into a wall is kind of hard when on that. CuddleCryptid fucked around with this message at 05:21 on Oct 6, 2016 |
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Oct 6, 2016 05:17
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You mention American McGee's works and ask if he's done anything other than Alice and Grimm. If you don't count his work on Doom and Quake (they aren't American McGee productions), then he also did "Bad Day L.A." and "Akaneiro: Demon Hunters," which is like goth Little Red Riding Hood in demon-infested Japan. He also owns a gaming company that makes mobile games. The guy's had a pretty interesting (read: hosed up) life. When he was a teenager, his mom sold his house and moved without telling him. He literally came home to an empty house with nothing in it but his own personal belongings. He later found out that she sold the house to pay for her lover's sex change. Seems kinda crazy but then she named her son "American" so...
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Oct 6, 2016 06:28
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And here I thought that it was just a nickname... Interesting on the other two counts though, I will have to check those games out. I had heard that he dove into mobile gaming but wasn't sure if it was 100%.
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Oct 6, 2016 13:44
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Oh yeah, that right there is the good poo poo, when you meet Jabberwocky for the first time. His voice is just so good, as mean and nasty as you would imagine the personification of survivors guilt to be. A really cool thing about his appearance- it's obviously it's own thing, but you can clearly see influences to the original illustration by John Tenniel, which was the first visualization of the Jabberwocky and has pretty well defined every image of it since. And humpty Dumpty, as I recall, was actually in Through The Looking Glass too. Funny, somehow I remember a guide that told me I had to jump on top of him in order to get the Blunderbuss, which somehow makes the brick appear, but that could be something dreamed or whatever.
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Oct 6, 2016 17:26
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I really like the small details that they changed in him. The heat-shrunken wings, furnace power source, even the deus ex machina of Gryphon coming out of nowhere. Because if Alice actually killed the Jabberwock then she might be cured, but by driving it away for now it shows her whittling down her fears bit by bit rather than a fake "three seconds and trauma repaired" thing.
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Oct 6, 2016 17:58
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resurgam40 posted:Oh yeah, that right there is the good poo poo, when you meet Jabberwocky for the first time. His voice is just so good, as mean and nasty as you would imagine the personification of survivors guilt to be.
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Oct 6, 2016 18:11
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I like one about halfway through when she fell in the lava, it sounds like the actress stubbed her toe and clipped the mic.
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Oct 6, 2016 18:28
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Just a short little clip tonight to show off each other weapons, now that we have them all! Bonus Video: Weapons I have god mode on so you can't see the drain, but the Blunderbuss uses up your entire mana bar when you fire it. Which is why I wanted to show it off, because I won't be using it for a looooong time in-game
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Oct 7, 2016 00:21
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DreamShipWrecked posted:And here I thought that it was just a nickname... According to him, his mom was either going to name him "Obnard," or "American" after she was inspired by a friend who named her son "America." So all things considered I guess it could have been worse? Also his mom was a major hippy, which might explain some things.
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Oct 7, 2016 06:02
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Audiobook update! Episode 17: Journal (Part 1) For the next couple episodes I will be reading the journal of the good doctor Wilson as we plow through these mazes.
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Oct 11, 2016 05:10
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I remember that late into Nidoking's Psychonauts LP, there was a debate of the ethics of using psychic powers for psychiatric care. Given how horrible the 'treatments' being described in that journal, which is supposed to be based on actual medical practices of the time, sound I'm starting to see why some of folks involved in that discussion were concerned about that sort of thing even when it's in the hands of someone actually trained to help others. 
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Oct 11, 2016 07:47
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Chimera-gui posted:I remember that late into Nidoking's Psychonauts LP, there was a debate of the ethics of using psychic powers for psychiatric care. Given how horrible the 'treatments' being described in that journal, which is supposed to be based on actual medical practices of the time, sound I'm starting to see why some of folks involved in that discussion were concerned about that sort of thing even when it's in the hands of someone actually trained to help others. What do you mean by psychic powers? Like Psychonauts-style therapy?
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Oct 11, 2016 20:35
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Yeah, Raz nearly gets an asylum patient killed in their own mental world do to a poor understanding of the problem and his own lack of proper training as a Psychonaut. So there was a reason to be concerned about morally unscrupulous psychics doing unimaginable mental damage to innocent people. But I had always assumed that the actual Psychonauts would work to prevent that kind of crap since it would hurt their own reputation. Chimera-gui fucked around with this message at 20:56 on Oct 11, 2016 |
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Oct 11, 2016 20:52
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