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 What is this Game? Ghosthunter is an action/horror/comedy game about a cop called Lazarus Jones (Rob Paulsen) who is called in with his partner Anna Steele (Nan MacNamara) to investigate a mysterious murder - Professor Brook has been accused of killing multiple students, but he has disappeared, so it is up to Lazarus and Anna to find out what really happened and if necessary, bring Professor Brook in. Unfortunately, things don't go according to plan... Ghosthunter was released in 2003, Published by SCEE and made by Cambridge Studios, the minds behind Primal and the Medievil series among others. It's a fairly fun third person shooter, although the primary draw is in the writing - while Lazarus is a terrible idiot with moments of funny dialog, the show is stolen from the very first video by the AI, and the main villain, the undead noble, Lord Hawksmoor, voiced by Shakespearean actor and Dumbledore, Michael Gambon, who is having a lot of fun with the role. Visually the game is pretty good with a strong aesthetic and cool monster designs, although a major flaw I found is that the game gets very hard towards the back half - I may resort to an infinite health cheat to get through the last levels but I'll try to play fair as far as I possibly can. Make no bones about it though - if I find myself failing to progress, I will start cheating, but only that one cheat will be necessary. I'll let the game supply me with the ammo that it deigns to give, and hell, I may even get though it without needing the health code at all but I'm not too proud to make use of the tool if needed. Reception on Release Ghosthunter received middling reviews, generally in the 60% area, but I personally had a lot of fun when I first beat this game a couple of years ago. Spoiler policy This game has fairly interesting plot elements, so please don't discuss things that we haven't explicitly seen yet. If it is in one of the posted videos, it will become fair game but until then let the game tell it's story in it's own time. Videos                      
BioEnchanted fucked around with this message at 13:49 on May 14, 2017 |
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Feb 22, 2017 06:23
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 Lazarus Jones: The Primary character and lead dumbass, Lazarus accidentally releases hundreds of ghosts from containment and makes a huge mess, then his partner gets stolen by the lead ghost. Whoops. Lazarus has a (completely unearned) cocky streak that can get a little annoying in the early parts of the game, but we'll see how he plays out. (Voice: Rob Paulsen)  Anna Steele: The Lazarus's long suffering partner. Despite the game trying to make out that she's tough stuff mostly kind of happens to her, which is a shame. (Voice: Nan MacNamara)  Hawkmoor: A long dead lord who is apparently trying to use a young woman (The girl in the intro initially, then Anna when that falls through) to make himself alive and in the flesh again. Not very well developed but very well written (or at least sold) dialog-wise. (Voice: Michael Gambon)  AI: A mysterious AI, Loyal to the missing Professor Brook. Enlists Lazarus' aid in recapturing all the ghosts that his foolishness unleashed. Takes no poo poo, and is awesome.  Paw: The patriarch of the Hillbilly clan. A stern but loving father with a distrust of strangers and a large amount of hatred for Madame DeMontford, who has kidnapped his daughter. Initially he and his sons fight against Lazarus using astral projections due to thinking he's in league with DeMontford (Voice: Andre Sogliuzzo)  Billy Boy: Paw's younger son, somewhat highly strung but a good shot with a rifle. (Voice: Fred Tatasciore)  Junior: Paw's elder son, the dumbest of the three but not a bad kid.  Madame DeMontford: A somewhat unhinged widow. After the loss of her son to Old Croc, she grew resentful of Oakville and started to think that they put their daughter in danger on purpose in order to lure her son to his death. (Latest Vid Revelation:)Shot herself shortly afterwards. Her ghost murdered every child in Oakville to avenge her son, and enslaved their souls to protect her mansion. (Voice: Jane Hamilton)  Hillbilly Child (Deceased): A young girl who was being menaced by Old Croc one day. David DeMontford attempted to rescue her, but failed. (Voice: Kim Mai Guest)  David DeMontford: The son of Lady DeMontford. A pillar of the community, and the best citizen that Oakville ever had. Died trying to rescue the Hillbilly girl from the menacing Old Croc. His mother didn't take it too well... David and Old Croc have since merged into the Swamp Phantom, and endlessly fight in a ghastly physical metaphor for their living days.  Freddie Fortesque: A soldier who lived, and died, in the 1930s. He was set to guard the Dagger of Poseidon, but his Captain had other ideas. (Voice: Michael Cochrane)  Captain Kraken: A well meaning man who was disturbed at the thought of being on the same boat as the cursed Dagger of Poseidon. Feuded with Freddie constantly until the curse of the dagger warped his mind, causing him to commit a mutiny. He and Freddie killed each other in the Melee. As his crew were killed along side him, they joined with him and formed the ectoplasmic titan known as the Beast.  Electric Guardian: A cop formerly known as Frank Agglin, he was driven to madness by the influence of Lord Hawksmoor and murdered his wife in front of his daughter. It is implied that that was only the start of a spree killing that got him convicted and sent to death row. The shock of the Electric Chair killed what was left of Agglin, so all that remains is the pain of what he has lost, his former life all but forgotten as he seeks only to inflict pain upon others as Hawksmoor's Pet. (Voice: Andre Sogliuzzo)  Professor Richmond (Alias: Professor Brooke): An ex-military researcher for a project that was intended to weaponise Ghosts but never properly got off the ground. For unknown reasons he now has been fighting them for years, with Hawksmoor serving as his nemesis. Fairly resentful at his AI clone replacing him with Lazarus without consulting him. (Voice: Joe Morton) BioEnchanted fucked around with this message at 18:03 on May 3, 2017 |
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Feb 22, 2017 06:24
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Ground floor. Always wanted to see this game in more detail, glad to see you showing it off.
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Feb 22, 2017 18:34
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Well, I can already tell this is going to be fantastic   I think the implication in the bathroom is that Lazarus can't see ghosts unless Astral is inhabiting him. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 19:47 on Feb 22, 2017 |
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Feb 22, 2017 19:30
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I'm not getting any audio on your 'Better quality' Video.
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Feb 22, 2017 23:25
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berryjon posted:I'm not getting any audio on your 'Better quality' Video. Played fine when I just checked, but if anyone else has this problem and it's with the video, and you know roughly what's causing it, let me know and I'll see what I can do.
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Feb 22, 2017 23:39
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I've been waiting for a proper LP of this game for a while now. Can barely remember it anymore beyond that it was pretty amusing dialog wise, and it seems my memory wasn't faulty in that regard. Lookin forward to seein more vids!
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Feb 23, 2017 01:13
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By the way, on the update schedule - there won't be one, the videos will be going up as they are made and as I have time to upload/record them. On the days that I work, I work 12 hour shifts, so will be in no mood to record, but with frequent pairs of days off as "weekends". Also, unlike my previous LPs of Dog's Life and Haunted Mansion (Where I recorded half of the footage for the former in a day), this game is actually quite challenging, so playing ahead will be more important for me. I currently have 3 vids worth of gameplay recorded, and on my practice file I'm two areas/videos ahead of the recordings, so I can know how to solve puzzles and work out strats for hard fights (And they do get hard, at the end of the area that will be covered in video 5 I had my first death due to a really tricky fight). The next video is almost ready though, I am working the coming three day weekend so it will be uploaded and posted on Monday.
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Feb 23, 2017 21:23
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Sweet,an LP of Extreme Ghostbusters:The Game! I was hoping someone would play this at some point.
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Feb 23, 2017 22:06
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Here's the new update: The start of the swamp: The Swamp Graveyard Welcome to Louisiana. It's time to meet the locals! By the way if any issues come up with the videos let me know. i'm using the same process I used for Dog's Life so it should consistently go without incident as those did, but if something changes it'll be good to know earlier rather than later. Also, something to mention: I really like the music in this game. The game is trying to be atmospheric but also knows that it is a goofy action more in the House of the Dead of Resident Evil 4 vein so the music is actiony but in a minor key. Mysterious but ferocious It sounds like "Oh, god I'm fighting creatures beyond the phsyical plane that I can't understand  ... Well, if I can't comprehend them, then LET'S RIP EM APART!  "
BioEnchanted fucked around with this message at 09:27 on Feb 27, 2017 |
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Feb 27, 2017 09:15
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Another day off, another update: Welcome to the pleasant mining community of Oakville: Enjoy your stay! The residents are really friendly. They won't want you to leave... I just felt I'd add - this LP is giving me that fantastic feeling of "Oh, that was in this game!" as I am hit with flashbacks of the cooler parts that come later that I had forgotten about since my last playthrough. Love that feeling... BioEnchanted fucked around with this message at 18:33 on Mar 3, 2017 |
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Mar 3, 2017 16:24
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Figured I'd get the Bayou out of the way. The next 5 videos however will all be much more varied in types of gameplay/environments, so get hype for that. After this point the Swamp soon gets awesome. 
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Mar 5, 2017 18:05
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This looks interesting so far.
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Mar 6, 2017 03:54
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It's an interesting setup, but man does the gameplay get in your way. I kinda like the capture boomerang/grenade and how it makes you pick and choose your primary target. The orbs being physical sucks though, especially if you're in a bad spot. What do you do if you completely run out of ammo?
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Mar 6, 2017 05:33
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The Handgun has infinite ammo so you can use that to knock ghost energy out of the enemies if worst comes to worst.
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Mar 6, 2017 05:34
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It's time for a more interesting level - this one has *~two puzzles~* to play with. YAY! Far fewer enemies too. This is the game giving us a short break from too much combat, while saving the true ordeal for later.
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Mar 9, 2017 19:34
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We explore the Hilbilly Stronghold, AKA the Shanty Town. A big fight and lots of plot await us!
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Mar 14, 2017 09:50
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We tear back the veil and begin to look into the true face of the DeMontford family. Apparently it's no accident her name contains the word DeMon :P
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Mar 18, 2017 08:35
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Just how long is this game? It seems to be running for a while now, and we're still dealing with the first objective and finding The Professor.
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Mar 18, 2017 16:02
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berryjon posted:Just how long is this game? It seems to be running for a while now, and we're still dealing with the first objective and finding The Professor. We are reaching the end of the swamp now. We only have the second "layer" of the mansion and a boss to go, so 2 more swamp videos, then a brief jaunt back to the school/hub before the second main area. There are 5 main non-school areas that I can recall, some short, some long. Also, to be fair the plot of each area can be fairly intricate, the swamp alone has had a few interesting twists on the usual narrative thus far. Also I find they do interesting things with the length. each area feels distinct from every other, even within the same level there is a distinction between sub-areas. The next video's mansion has the same layout as this one, but it has enough differences, and plot clarification, to keep things interesting. BioEnchanted fucked around with this message at 16:31 on Mar 18, 2017 |
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Mar 18, 2017 16:24
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I'm really enjoying your commentary so far. It's very clear that you like this game, and I tend to get excited alongside someone when they're talking about something they love, so this whole thing is just super fun overall. You're right that this game really does it's job well at setting off a sense of unease about everything. It's not jump-scare horror, but given that everything seems "off", it still manages to be a little creepy, even if it's not "traditional" horror. I'm excited to see the ending of this level, so please keep it up!
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Mar 18, 2017 20:04
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I don't normally do next day updates, but I'm working until Wednesday, so here: This may be the actually scariest part of the game, or at least the most atmospheric. Either way it contains one of my favourite visuals so far. BioEnchanted fucked around with this message at 19:17 on Mar 19, 2017 |
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Mar 19, 2017 18:54
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On the final video of the Swamp, mateo360 joins me as we introduce ourselves to the first boss... The Swamp Phantom.
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Mar 25, 2017 13:25
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We begin to explore the New School and meet new foes, and a new friend.
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Mar 29, 2017 19:45
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We finish the New School and get a lot of backstory on our principle characters. Lots of dialog and plenty of jokes.
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Apr 2, 2017 18:23
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Update: My Roxio is having problems that reinstalling hasn't fixed this time, so while I have 2 other videos that just need editing any after that may have a delay, unless the issue can be resolved before a upload the last recorded one. Currently working with Corel customer service to figure things out.
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Apr 5, 2017 13:44
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New episode: We begin the second "proper" level of the game, the Ghost Ship. This one will not be nearly as long as the Swamp, we will clear this in a brisk 4 videos, but it's an interesting level in it's own right. By the way, does anyone have any insights about the game, characters or level design, or comments or criticisms of the game so far?
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Apr 6, 2017 18:58
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Certain parts of the game could be better crafted, but the characters shine through quite well.
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Apr 6, 2017 19:16
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I'm really enjoying the voice acting and the character design. In contrast, the mostly-bare rooms you progress through seem boring even for the time. They could clearly do better, like with the decorated rooms in the mansion. I'm enjoying the LP regardless.
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Apr 10, 2017 06:07
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The gameplay itself is pretty much the same as any 3rd person shooter. I'm enjoying you taking us on this Magical Haunting tour with our pal Troll-Bot 9000, but there's not really much meat on the game itself. You run around from plot-dump to plot-dump it seems.
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Apr 10, 2017 16:00
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We explore a slow but relatively interesting part of the Ghost Ship, with a somewhat unique challenge and context for the feud between Captain Kraken and Freddie Fortesque.
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Apr 11, 2017 22:09
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I love a good ghost ship. While everyone has heard of The Flying Dutchman, my favorite is still the Mary Celeste. It's still a mystery what happened, and with so many plausible explications, it's a great topic to just sit and talk about your own pet theory. The ocean is to be feared though, even today with all our tech and knowledge. At least a dozen ships go missing every year, and at least one or two just are gone, no warning or hints to what happened. 
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Apr 12, 2017 01:46
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In which we explore the depths of the Ghost Ship, and begin preparations to bring the fight to the Beast once and for all...
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Apr 15, 2017 20:33
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I gotta admit, I wasn't expecting our partner to go "he's an idiot, just send me instead". Too bad it didn't work.
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Apr 16, 2017 03:00
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That ballroom was so pretty when it was first shown through our lady Astral; I loved seeing it so much, it seemed like a wonderful set piece, especially for PS2. I'm excited to see more of it during the, what I assume is, the boss battle with Kraken.
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Apr 16, 2017 14:51
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We finally have our showdown with Captain Kraken, wrap up the Ghost Ship and get our first glimpse of level 3! I love this level transition, probably my favourite one in the game. I have actually recorded the entire game at this point, so all that's needed now is to edit and upload the final recorded videos over the next few weeks!
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Apr 20, 2017 07:19
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I love the attitude here: "gently caress it, i just cleared out a ghost ship and killed Captain Cthulhu! Point me to the next wacky adventure crime computer, no time for banter!"
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Apr 21, 2017 01:19
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In this video we begin exploring the third level, the Prison Island known as Devil's Scar (I screwed up and called it Devil's Tear in the commentary) This is where the plots start feeling a little off, likely due to the game starting to run out of time or money, as the prison has two major characters but they have literally nothing to do with each other. Both parts are well told and fully explored but they could have tied things together better. The story in the swamp is the most cohesive, but even the boat's characters were all relevant to each other, even if the events surrounding the boss himself were a little rushed.
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Apr 25, 2017 16:26
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We investigate the Prison interior and conclude the story of the prisoner nicknamed "Houdini", while moving on to the chilling tale of an unrelated inmate... Also a pretty neat puzzle shows up.
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Apr 28, 2017 23:45
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Figured I'd release this one a bit sooner cause I like the storytelling in this section of the prison. In this video we conclude the main Prison level and finally get some closure on a plot point. Enjoy
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Apr 30, 2017 14:58
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