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 What is this? Sanitarium is a psychological horror point-and-click adventure video game that was developed by DreamForge Intertainment and originally released in 1998. We play as a man who becomes involved in a suspicious car accident and wakes up with no memory of who he is, where he is and how he got there. All we know is that we have woken up in a dilapidated sanitarium while an emergency is going on. The game is separated into different chapters, each having a different style and atmosphere. I don't want to go into too many details as there is a lot to discover and each chapter carries a distinct atmosphere that presents either the real world, the imaginary world, or a mix of both of the main protagonist. In many cases, it is unclear if the world is real or a product of the character's own imagination. LP Details This is going to be a VLP and I'll be recording commentary live as I play through the game. I'm going to aim to do at least one video a week, there won't be a strict schedule as a lot depends on my work rota and childcare. My aim right now is to record each chapter in its entirety, there are thirteen chapters so I'm planning thirteen videos but that may change as I've only played through and planned the first eight so far.  No spoilers, please! If you do need to talk spoilers then please use the appropriate spoiler tags.Lets' Play: Sanitarium              Bonus Videos: Gross 'Em Out Rocket Baby Dolls fucked around with this message at 11:05 on May 16, 2022 |
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Apr 10, 2022 23:41
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This game is good but I have opinions. This LP is going to be fun. I'm eagerly looking forward to watching more of it.
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Apr 11, 2022 00:42
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A game depicting mentally ill people from the late 90's... this should be good. *grabs popcorn*
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Apr 11, 2022 02:20
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Oh, it goes places.
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Apr 11, 2022 08:33
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I always thought this deserved more success than it got, it's p.cool game and it was a bit ahead of the curve in character writing IMO. Also it avoided the edginess of other horror games of the time (phantasmagoria, harvester)
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Apr 11, 2022 10:59
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This and Gorkiy 17 were my favourite games back when I was younger in-between Soldier Of Fortune.
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Apr 11, 2022 12:10
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I said it on the vid, but it was an LP of this very game that tilled the scale into me joining these forums.
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Apr 11, 2022 13:07
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The voice acting is... painful. The protagonist is already really grating on me just from that first video.
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Apr 11, 2022 16:49
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Oh man I played the demo of this game like 20+ years ago and the sounds are coming right back to me! Gonna be keen to follow this and see what I missed by never getting the full game
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Apr 11, 2022 23:03
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I think that I may have been a little ambitious with my plans to record one video per chapter, I originally planned to do an LP of this over a year ago and did most of the prep work then. I had it in my head that the second chapter could be wrapped up within forty-five minutes but after replaying it again tonight it's looking more likely to be around an hour long. I'll try to record a video on Friday and have something up over the weekend. By all means, if any of you have any thoughts and opinions about this game then feel free to share them. This is a psychological horror game and it deals with some sensitive subjects involving mental health and physical disabilities, but it is also a game from the 90s with the intent to inject some humour throughout it. This game was put up for various awards in 1998 and came second to Grim Fandango throughout, although it did tie with Grim Fandango for one award. Sanitarium was highly rated upon release apart from one prominent UK magazine whose reviewer thought that the game was satanic and silly, listed various horror games as being abominations and told people to *cough*get the game in a cheap sort of way*cough*. This game does have issues but it's unique and interesting, I want to say that it's original but I haven't delved too far into the horror genre as a whole. I played the demo when it first came out in my teens and it haunted me for a long time, it was on top of my wishlist for years.
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Apr 12, 2022 00:55
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Rocket Baby Dolls posted:I think that I may have been a little ambitious with my plans to record one video per chapter, I originally planned to do an LP of this over a year ago and did most of the prep work then. I had it in my head that the second chapter could be wrapped up within forty-five minutes but after replaying it again tonight it's looking more likely to be around an hour long. I'll try to record a video on Friday and have something up over the weekend. I started playing this game multiple times, but the main character's voice was so annoying I had to not talk to anyone or get pissed off.
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Apr 12, 2022 06:31
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Chapter 2 - The Innocent Abandoned Trigger warning - There is dialogue regarding child abuse in this video. This game does deal with many sensitive topics, but this one is a particularly heavy subject. Welcome to the town of Genet, which is inhabited by some rather interesting individuals. We learn a lot about the people who live here, we learn more about who is in charge of the place and we even manage to learn a little more about ourselves. This is chapter two in its entirety and it's a little over an hour long. I did try to cut the walking time down as much as I could as there were a couple of times when I had to return to a location in order to pick an item up that we couldn't pick up originally. There is an optional mini-game and a short action sequence which went on for a bit longer than intended, during my practice run things went smoothly but as usual, when it comes to the recording things don't sail as smoothly.
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Apr 15, 2022 19:33
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Max is kind of a dick to these kids. They might be ugly and mean, but that's not an excuse dude 
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Apr 15, 2022 20:00
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Slaan posted:Max is kind of a dick to these kids. They might be ugly and mean, but that's not an excuse dude I felt uncomfortable when the "face" topic came up, even more so when Max outright asked, "What happened to your face?"
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Apr 15, 2022 20:10
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Beating the tentacles and scarecrow in one go was really hard. For whatever reason, 90s adventure games really loved to put in action sequences and it's rarely any fun for me because it felt extremely janky and unpolished. Also, you can't have a computer that's too fast or too slow. The worst were the fighting sequences in Quest for Glory, although Full Throttle's sequences were pretty fun (probably because they didn't re-use the adventure game engine but used a different engine for combat). If this were like Diablo and I could cast fireballs or set up a flame wall or bait enemies or parry then it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe give Max a net or some rocks or something.
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Apr 16, 2022 04:06
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I don't know why, but I always really enjoy the general weirdness of Sanitarium, I still need to finish my own playthrough. I forgot how generally decent the kid VA is, it's way better than a lot of games. Yeah this chapter has some incredibly hosed things in it. DreadUnknown fucked around with this message at 09:03 on Apr 16, 2022 |
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Apr 16, 2022 08:34
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Was the solution to the tic-tac-toe game scrawled on the wooden door with the combination lock? I know tic-tac-toe is a no-win game if played correctly, so either it's random when you beat her or it's a very specific combination of moves to win and that "hint" makes me think it's the latter.
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Apr 18, 2022 03:04
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OneWingedDevil posted:Was the solution to the tic-tac-toe game scrawled on the wooden door with the combination lock? I know tic-tac-toe is a no-win game if played correctly, so either it's random when you beat her or it's a very specific combination of moves to win and that "hint" makes me think it's the latter. From checking some guides, apparently it's actually the opposite and the tic-tac-toe game is meant to be another hint for the lock: if you ask Maria about the lock, she'll say that the combination has to do with Jessie's losses at tic-tac-toe. If you win against her (I didn't see any mention of a particular strategy required, so I suppose it's just luck + not always starting the game at the same space like RBD was?), you can then talk to a couple of the other kids about it and find out that one of them has won against Jessie 4 times and the other won 5 times, and infer that the final number is your own 1 win. Also found out from the previous LP of this game on the Archive that there's a bit of optional dialogue in this chapter that wasn't covered in the video, I think? The shack that had the obituary article also has a dresser containing Carol's diary that you can read, apparently.
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Apr 18, 2022 04:35
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I was unable to complete this game for a long time after it came out, because it had always glitched out going into the next chapter. Years later (either due to the patch, or being on a new system) I was finally able to complete it. It's a very memorable game, managing to not quite be too serious, not quite too grim, and not quite too wildly bizarre. It is interesting to see how each segment ends up referencing the others; I never really re-played it after going through them all.
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Apr 18, 2022 05:48
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Zyxyz posted:From checking some guides, apparently it's actually the opposite and the tic-tac-toe game is meant to be another hint for the lock: if you ask Maria about the lock, she'll say that the combination has to do with Jessie's losses at tic-tac-toe. If you win against her (I didn't see any mention of a particular strategy required, so I suppose it's just luck + not always starting the game at the same space like RBD was?), you can then talk to a couple of the other kids about it and find out that one of them has won against Jessie 4 times and the other won 5 times, and infer that the final number is your own 1 win. I got lucky in my first game of tic-tac-toe in the practise session. There are guides and such for optimal strategies for playing it but as it wasn't essential to win I wasn't too fussed about it. I wasn't aware that it was another clue to the lock puzzle though. I apologise for missing the diary, that was an oversight on my part as i should have included it. I'm going to be as thorough as I can in this playthrough and I'm going to try my best not to miss too much dialogue either. I have already resigned myself to the fact that I will be missing some minor dialogue. Max's walking speed is painfully slow and I want to keep the pace of the game flowing as best as I can. I'll borrow the images of the diary from the SSLP page which can be found here if you want to read through it: https://lparchive.org/Sanitarium/    
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Apr 18, 2022 11:02
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I must say that I appreciate how the first code/lock in the game is "451." That's a tradition that started with System Shock!
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Apr 18, 2022 17:34
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Chapter 3 - The Courtyard and Chapel We have returned to the asylum and we are no closer to understanding how or why. But we are getting closer to understanding who we are a little more. We get to speak to some new friends as well as speak to some people who apparently know us well. This chapter has some bugs, I had to abandon a first attempt at recording this chapter as the game bugged out while interacting with an object, I've also experienced a bug with the music while solving a puzzle. During the re-recording I missed a short and optional cutscene, I shoehorned it in at the 10:19 mark as it's triggered by looking at part of the background. I tried to make it look as natural as I could but it is still fairly noticeable but hopefully not too detracting. I apologise for not including it naturally, I'm always happy to re-record but it does play tricks with my memory sometimes when I'm redoing sequences again.
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Apr 20, 2022 12:02
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"For the birds" means pointless or of no value. The reflection is of the gargoyle on the edge of the water.
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Apr 20, 2022 16:14
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Tiggum posted:"For the birds" means pointless or of no value. Now that you've mentioned it I can see it. But it's at a really odd angle and position in the water from the perspective that we are looking at it.
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Apr 20, 2022 18:07
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It's interesting how the Tower chapter really foreshadows the later sections of the game, and alludes to Morgan's prevalence in the narrative
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Apr 21, 2022 03:42
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sb hermit posted:It's interesting how the Tower chapter really foreshadows the later sections of the game, and alludes to Morgan's prevalence in the narrative There's a lot of it throughout the game, some are more subtle than others. You will see it again with the next area as there's been a smattering of hints towards it within the last couple of chapters. I completed a test run of the next chapter last night. It's going to be another long video but I think that I've managed to work out an efficient way to do it. One character is going to be a pain in the arse when it comes to navigation at times though.
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Apr 21, 2022 11:34
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GROSS 'EM OUT Gross 'Em Out: Gross 'Em Out
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Apr 23, 2022 22:39
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I'm like, 80% sure I played this game, because stretches of it seem really familiar. That said, the VA for Max is awful. Most of the other VAs are similarly grating. There's a few that aren't bad. Not a super big fan of the Indigenous orderly having that kind of stereotyped slow/stilted delivery of his lines, tho :\
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Apr 25, 2022 03:18
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Chapter 4 - The Circus of Fools In this video, Max goes through a change in identity and another location change. We arrive on an island inhabited by lots of fun-loving people... kind of. mercenarynuker posted:Not a super big fan of the Indigenous orderly having that kind of stereotyped slow/stilted delivery of his lines, tho :\ I did pick up on that and it is most likely deliberate, unfortunately, as the voice actor plays several characters in this game.
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Apr 25, 2022 13:37
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Wow. I didn't pick up on the fact that the characters in the previous chapter make a return in this one. Personalities are all over the map, though. The only consistent connection I saw was that it seems the orderlies are now running the carnival games.
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Apr 25, 2022 18:35
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sb hermit posted:Wow. I didn't pick up on the fact that the characters in the previous chapter make a return in this one. Personalities are all over the map, though. The only consistent connection I saw was that it seems the orderlies are now running the carnival games. Some of them are more difficult to make out than others but there are many characters who seem to be completely unrelated such as Baldini and Inferno. I believe that the one throwing the pies was Vera, the funhouse guy is Norman, the Irish lady is the cloaked lady and the "doppelganger" is possibly Crag, Preacher Bob is the clown on the beach and the guy with the fish is the clown with the fish in the stands. I'm not too sure about "Elvis" and the tutu man, possible the middle clown in the stands and Lefty? I think that Morgan may have been the tattooist.
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Apr 25, 2022 23:05
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mercenarynuker posted:Not a super big fan of the Indigenous orderly having that kind of stereotyped slow/stilted delivery of his lines, tho :\ Not that it makes it somehow better, but he's clearly meant to be imitating Chief Bromden from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, although Bromden is supposed to be heavily medicated (unlike this guy). There is kind of a hint as to why he is that way in terms of what the asylum actually is, which again doesn't really excuse it. I also always wondered if Preacher Bob is a reference to the Church of the SubGenius, or if it's just a likely coincidence from the sound of the name.
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Apr 26, 2022 05:09
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I'm looking forward to the next segment. I can appreciate why it was not included in this video.
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Apr 26, 2022 05:12
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Chapter Five - The Cave Welcome to the fifth chapter, which is a direct continuation of the fourth chapter. As you can see, if you know what you're doing it's very short. If you don't know what you're doing this level can be long and frustrating. Rocket Baby Dolls fucked around with this message at 10:34 on Apr 29, 2022 |
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Apr 27, 2022 17:55
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Chapter Six - The Mansion In this chapter, we are still in control of Sarah\Max but we are now back in the safety of our home. This chapter is pretty poignant for Max and I don't want to spoil anything by saying too much.
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Apr 29, 2022 10:42
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Chapter Seven - The Laboratory *siren* GORE WARNING *siren* Although it's not overly graphic, there's still some very visible gore from the 06:12 mark. Are we back in reality? If so, then reality is very surreal. We seem to be back inside the Sanitarium, but we are in another strange location with no idea how we got there. There's a really strange locking mechanism, because Adventure Game™, and a laboratory that isn't suspicious at all no siree! This is another relatively short update but it does provide more obscure lore about what is happening. The rain is loud and persistent even at the lowest settings, I've tried my best to speak over it but it does mean my pronunciations of some letters sound a little more prominent. The next chapter is going to be another long one, it's a pain in the arse to do and it's going to take the game to a whole other place. I've managed to get through a relatively painless test run, one of the puzzles does worry me but I've found a guide to make it as seamless as possible. Rocket Baby Dolls fucked around with this message at 14:46 on May 1, 2022 |
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May 1, 2022 14:43
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I had a lot more trouble with Iggy than this playthrough, probably because my computer was underpowered at the time. I had hoped that there was a more elegant strategy than "get right in there and button mash" but... what works is what works, right?
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May 1, 2022 17:47
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Personally, I wouldn't mind a treatment that turned me into a buff ogre as long as it got bandages off my face.
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May 1, 2022 17:49
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Chapter Eight - The Hive Dr Morgan, out friend and colleague for many years, has captured Max and injected him with an unknown substance. Has Max been sedated and is now dreaming? Is there a paranormal presence that has transported and transformed Max into a fictional character? Either way, Max's memories seems to be returning in a very surreal manner. sb hermit posted:I had a lot more trouble with Iggy than this playthrough, probably because my computer was underpowered at the time. I had hoped that there was a more elegant strategy than "get right in there and button mash" but... what works is what works, right? The original intention is time your movement in between each spit by moving in close and then moving out of the way again. But you walk so slowly it's almost impossible to do this perfectly. It's far more quicker to just get in there and hope for the best while mashing away. Even if you do "die" you just float back to the start and your health points return while Iggy's stays the same. Rocket Baby Dolls fucked around with this message at 13:40 on May 3, 2022 |
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May 3, 2022 13:34
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Saved from a nuclear blast by trapping oneself in a steel locker. I guess now we know where indiana jones got this inspiration
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May 4, 2022 02:55
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