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The Gene Machine is a 1996 adventure game from Divide By Zero. It is so good that it bankrupted the company and they never worked on another videogame, and it stars an rear end in a top hat. Not literally, though, which is good because otherwise the talking cat would probably lick him. That's the game's joke, by the way, so don't judge me. I always think jokes about rimjobs are in bad taste.  Part 1: gently caress the poor Part 2: The aristocats Part 3: Friendship Part 4: L'amour Part 4: The game's high point corn in the bible fucked around with this message at 22:22 on Aug 27, 2015 |
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Aug 17, 2015 01:17
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Part 1: gently caress the poor Our story begins on an island. This screenshot looks terrible because they used mpeg compression for this even though it is a static shot of an island and therefore does not, and indeed cannot, move. Worry not -- the regular backgrounds look better.   That's some beautiful 90's dithering right there. The animation was supposed to be this game's selling point -- none of Divide By Zero's previous games had featured anything like it, and they brought in outside artists especially to work on the hand-drawn animation scenes. And they are terrible.   Somehow, the cat found a boat and rode it to London. Sure. His name is 73, though that won't come up for a bit. He isn't our protagonist, but we're still stuck with him for the moment. He is a bit of a special cat, though. For one thing, he can walk on two legs:   "Piers Fetherstonehaugh, gentleman and hero, is due to return from the Americas, having completed a secret mission of the utmost importance to the British Empire." If anyone can help me, this man can.The cat's animation is... not good. For example:  However, it is miles ahead of what we get whenever our poor animators are forced to draw real humans, which unfortunately is most of the time. Here's Lord Featherstonehaugh, in all his glory:   This green and pleasant land! Heart of the British Empire! After three months trailing around America followed by a couple of weeks on a steamer in a third class cabin, it's good to be home, isn't it Mossop?Mossop is Fetherstonehaugh's servant, who he treats like garbage. Though perhaps it is warranted, as Mossop is not so much a man as some kind of inhuman horror made real.  He looks weird, is all I'm saying. Actually, here's a close-up from later in the game:  What the hell happened to your eyes, Mossop?  It's good to be back on dry land, sir. Well, you seem to have regained some of your colour, old chap. You can't keep a good man down, sir! Just try keeping your meals down for now, Mossop. We're nearly home.    In a sudden artistic shift, the game transitions from the cel animation to traditional sprites. This game's sprite-based graphics are still not the best, but you can definitely tell their artists were far more experienced with the medium. Ah, London! The hub of polite society! The very cornerstone of civilisation, eh Mossop? America's all very well but I wouldn't like to live there. I can't as help feel that there's something missing... Not enough dregs of society. No beggars, no urchins, no common street tarts and drunken ne'er-do wells. No wonder you felt out of place there. Give them time. They'll have their own poor one day.One of the main themes of this game is that Featherstonehaugh hates the poor. He hates them a lot. But America is so BIG! How will they ever be able to manage all those people? Don't be too disparaging of the Americans. They could be very useful allies in a war someday.The other is that he makes a lot of references to things that will happen in the future. These are like jokes, except that really they aren't when you think about it. Hail a carriage and let's go home, Mossop. There's bound to be one in the street, sir.Mossop wanders off, and we're finally given control of our hero. The Gene Machine tries to combine the late-90's single cursor style of adventure game with the older verb-based style, to mixed success. For example, take this "Brat":  The only thing we can do with her is look at her, so clicking her will do this automatically. That young upstart could do with a lesson in good manners. Looking after her must be a momentous task.For objects or characters that can be interacted with in more ways than one, clicking them brings up a menu, like so:  Looking will always trigger an observation from the Lordship, the mouth initiates a dialog tree, and the hand would give the newsboy an item if we had anything to give him. In this case, since he is selling papers, we could give him money to buy one, but Featherstonehaugh refuses to remove the money from his wallet in order to pay him. That sounds like a joke, but as you will see it is actually a terrible, terrible puzzle. More on that later, though.  Charming. Mossop has hailed a cab, so it's directly to the house for some well-earned (?) rest.  I need to relax a little before I make my report to the Queen. But you're not due to report in for a week, sir! Better make it a large drink then, what? Lord "No peripheral vision" they call me  I can't believe it! Nor can I, sir! I don't believe you cannot pronounce my name properly! It's FANSHAWE! But it's a talking cat, sir! It speaks ENGLISH!  It's perfectly simple. F - silent E - A - silent T - silent H - silent E - silent R - S - silent T - silent O - N - swap the N and the S - silent E - H - A - U - G - H. HAWE. Faaannnssshhaaawwe.The game very carefully keeps you from hearing his name pronounced so as to not ruin this gag. There's some clever writing in here, and it's a shame that they never went on to make anything else. Well, that's not entirely true. Divide By Zero does do something, these days, but it has nothing to do with videogames. More on that later. I'm terribly sorry, Mister... Fanshawe. Very well, but don't let it happen again. What do you want? I'm desperately in need of help from a renowned gentleman such as yourself. Oh, you want a JOB! Well, I'm sorry, but I already have Mossop here, for my manservant, and I'm happy with his work. But if you can cook anything other than bangers and mash, and manage to take a boat trip without shouting your lunch at the fishes every five minutes, you might be in with a chance. Oh no, Mister Fanshawe! I'm not looking for work! That's typical of the youth of today, Mossop. They think the world owes them a living. Too true, sir... You misunderstand me, sir. I am here to implore you to undertake a mission. What is this mission? It is very stupid. Please be prepared for this game's ridiculous plot, and some "puzzles," next time. Good day! corn in the bible fucked around with this message at 01:23 on Aug 17, 2015 |
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Aug 17, 2015 01:18
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I played this game as a kid. In German, so the name thing made zero sense. I remember absolutely nothing about it, apparently. Didn't know there were hand-drawn animations. Didn't remember the cat either, though somehow i DO remember Mossop's "But it's a talking cat, Sir!". Well, when we're not in horror-cutscene land, the pixel graphics do kinda look nice.
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Aug 17, 2015 01:30
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HenryEx posted:I played this game as a kid. In German, so the name thing made zero sense. The pixel art is that late-90s era style where they had high resolutions to work with, but didn't really adapt to fit it. Lots of flat colors, etc. The pixel artists are actually still in the industry, from what I could find out. One of them works for Ubisoft! The animators seem to have never worked on any other game, before or after, though since game studios usually brought in traditional animators to work on their games in this period that's not really surprising. The studios that actually specialized in animation for computer games tended to get hired by big firms like Sierra and Lucasarts.
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Aug 17, 2015 02:01
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Oh this is going to be a ride, I can tell already 
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Aug 17, 2015 02:03
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Aug 17, 2015 13:41
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My friend owned this game. We never finished it and the only things I remember are some of the places you visit, but I definitely don't remember the bad animations.
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Aug 17, 2015 16:53
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Part 2: The aristocats The talking cat has some sort of secret mission. This time, we'll find out what exactly it is he wants us to do, ok?  As a gentleman, I am obliged to hear your story. But make it brief, or Mossop, as a manservant, will be obliged to throw you out of my house.Fanshawe and Mossop are the closest of friends. Very well, Mister Fanshawe. Thank you. My story begins thousands of miles away, on a remote tropical island in uncharted waters. There, deep within a mountain, lies the diabolic laboratory of Doctor Dinsey. Who's Doctor Dinsey?Doctor Dinsey. Is the villain's name a Walt Disney joke, or just some horrible coincidence? Either way, I don't really see how that's appropriate to the setting at all, but whatever. That's what we're stuck with. He's an evil, twisted genius who has discovered the satanic secret of combining two different species to make a new creature altogether. He has a decide that he calls the Gene Machine. The two original creatures are completely destroyed, and the resulting animal is... so different, so strange... See, like, why not go with a Moreau name? Or, hell, just straight up make him Doctor Moreau, because it's not like we don't end up meeting a bunch of fictional characters from real books in this game.   No Fucks Fanshawe, that's what they call me Maybe this Doctor could combine Mossop with a fish, to get him some fish legs. You don't understand, Mister Fanshawe! Doctor Dinsey intends to create an army of horrific creatures which he can use to take over the world! This all seems a bit far-fetched to me. He took a normal alley cat and combined it with a human being to make me!That explains why his proportions are almost as hosed up as the regular people in this world, I guess. I was his seventy-third experiment. That's my name, Seventy-Three. So you have all the sentience and intelligence of a man, but also the agility and suppleness of a cat? Yes, Mister Fanshawe. Washing myself has a whole new meaning to me now.  wait for it   You know, I think this is just some sort of confidence trick to extort money out of God-fearing fellows. You're probably just some... hirsute boy... with a... tail. Mossop, throw him out. No! Wait!If you leave, the game won't have a plot! There is no-one else brave enough to conquer Doctor Dinsey! Oh, I'm sure there's lots of gullible people around who'd be only too happy to help you. But they don't have your reputation, Mister Fanshawe. I'm sorry I bothered you. I thought you were the bravest adventurer in the world. The newspapers must have it wrong. Ralph Kingpeace is, like Dinsey, an original character created for this game. We'll get to meet him later. He's a douche. Kingpeace! I wouldn't believe anything that rogue says!  The most damning insult a man can give  This Ralph guy is clearly a fucker. If he saved the world, he'd probably keep it for himself.He probably doesn't even make his servant sleep in a filthy basement, the bastard. You give me no choice. Help me, Mister Fanshawe, or I will have to ask Mister Kingpeace. Well, we can't have that, can we? I'll inform Queen Victoria about the situation, and we'll have the Royal navy sort this out in short order. I'm afraid it's not as simple as that. If a Naval task force was assembled, he'd go to ground and disappear until he was too powerful to stop. We'll find someone else to help, then. Who else would believe my story, Mister Fanshawe? They'd think it was a trick, like you did. You'll have to do it alone.How is anyone having trouble believing the literal talking cat? You must get to Dinsey Island and defeat the Doctor and his mutant army. Where is this island? Er... the area is uncharted, so I don't know. You'll have to find it first. But while I was there, I heard the Doctor talking about the only other man who knew the location of the island. A seafarer called Captain Nematode, who shares Dinsey's hatred of the world's governments.So, our eventual goal will be to find Captain Nemo -- I mean, Nematode -- and get to Dinsey's island. This dialog sure has gone on a long time, hasn't it? Then we must charter a ship and find this Captain... Nematode. Mossop, what funds do we have left after our American trip? Not enough to charter a ship and her crew, sir. In fact, barely enough to feed us for a week.Of course. Yes. The wealthy adventurer who is friends with the Queen is also broke.   Who knows, sir, there might be a mad doctor just around the corner we could battle...  I don't go to him. I go to that nice young Doctor Crippen.Sometimes... sometimes I really like the dialog in this game. But I promise, actual gameplay will happen someday. Anyway, we really do have next to no funds, sir. Then I will have to raise the necessary funds myself.We need to get eight thousand pounds, somehow. That's our first real objective; the island itself will come later. Unfortunately, while we do regain control of Farnshawe at this point, doing so involves more talking. Or fortunately, depending on what you like in adventure games:  So we can have Farnshawe move around the place fairly freely, and of course as an adventure game protagonist he knows to take everything that's not actually nailed down. That newspaper on the couch, for example:  I must have words with Mossop. A gentleman cannot be expected to tidy up after himself in this day and age!Charming. There is also a cigar case on the table, which Farnshawe helpfully points out "can hold things." Good. There is nothing else to do in this room except talk to 73, who has nothing of use to add, and Mossop, who we need some information from before proceeding. I need to find people of dubious reputation. Why on Earth do you want to do that, sir? A fine, upstanding gentleman like yourself shouldn't be involved with people of that kind. If I am to obtain the necessary funds to charter a steamship, I must resort to nefarious methods. And since I am a decent, God-fearing Englishman, I have no natural penchant for criminal activities. You're born of common stock, Mossop; you must know of a den of iniquity somewhere.Classism Fanshawe, that's what they call me. I think the place you're looking for is the Crab and Sailor. It's a Public House, sir.Oh. I guess Mossop actually did know where the criminals hang out. Maybe I'm the rear end in a top hat? It's in Whitechapel, sir. One of the most dangerous, flea-ridden mudholes in the British Empire. It's renowned for being voted "Place Least Likely to Host the Great Exhibition of 1851." I have nothing more to say to you.No, he's still the rear end in a top hat. Good to know. Whitechapel is in the East End, and by the 19th century had become known for its generally poor, working-class inhabitants, many of whom were immigrants. It is also, of course, where Jack the Ripper plied his trade, but I am sure that's just a coincidence. Like many adventure games of this era, The Gene Machine has a map-based travel system, and we can't go anywhere without first being told about it by someone else. We'll need to visit Whitechapel, and talking to Mossop about his criminal friends is the only way to get there. There's more stuff to take from the house, but I think I'll end this update with a "puzzle." Some of you may have noticed that there's a letter lying in front of the door to Farnshawe's house.  Farnshawe gazes lovingly at Mossop's rear end. Perhaps there is more to their relationship than master and servant after all?  You can choose to look at the letter, or to search it. Looking at it, which is the thing you do in real life when you read a letter, does nothing. Searching it makes him open the envelope. That, too, can be looked at, but again nothing will happen unless you again manually attempt to search the Open Envelope, which separates it from its envelope and finally lets you read the drat thing. This repeated searching is a constant problem, and it makes no sense anyway -- why wouldn't he just take the letter out of the envelope the first time? Why even make the player do that? It's especially aggravating with objects you need to give to another character, since it's easy to try giving someone something and not realize it didn't work because you had to open the thing first. Roberta Williams would be proud. This must be from my beloved Mirabella! I recognize the scent -- Venus Flytrap, if I'm not mistaken. "Dear Piers, or should I say, Gutless Unchivalrous Bag of Maggot-ridden Offal!!! How dare you go off to America without me! I had to use my OWN allowance for WEEKS! You'd better get your deceitful hide round to my house IMMEDIATELY or you can kiss your engagement goodbye! And you'd better have brought me a jolly expensive present too." Our goals so far: get some cash, save the world, and get Farnshawe some lovin'. See you next time. corn in the bible fucked around with this message at 20:21 on Aug 17, 2015 |
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Aug 17, 2015 20:19
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What the hell is this dialog  Mossop is probably a Disney spy, being Possom spelt backwards.
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Aug 17, 2015 20:38
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Yeap, still don't remember any of the animated cutscenes, but the whole hand-tucking talking animation and the bend-down-to-pick-up i immediately recognized. By now i'm convinced that the version i played just cut out all the animated scenes, and i'd wager i was better off for it. Looking forward to seeing some of the more and disgusting/bizarre puzzles again. The apple cider, the vitriol, the diamond ring, the punch card... so many hazy and scattered memories, and the only constant that links them together is the massive dickery of Fanshawe in every single puzzle tying them together
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Aug 17, 2015 21:05
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HenryEx posted:Yeap, still don't remember any of the animated cutscenes, but the whole hand-tucking talking animation and the bend-down-to-pick-up i immediately recognized. The most common bootleg releases all strip the animation files out, so it was probably that you were a filthy, filthy pirate.
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Aug 17, 2015 21:48
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corn in the bible posted:The most common bootleg releases all strip the animation files out, so it was probably that you were a filthy, filthy pirate. It's funny you would say that, 'cause this is one of the very few games where i still own the whole box and all.   Man, recommended specs for this were a 60+ MHz processor. That game came out a long rear end time ago.
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Aug 17, 2015 22:08
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HenryEx posted:It's funny you would say that, 'cause this is one of the very few games where i still own the whole box and all.
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Aug 17, 2015 22:38
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SelenicMartian posted:Oh, that's not so bad. I have a legit copy of Maabus. I've got a copy of Gadget 
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Aug 17, 2015 22:55
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Part 3: Friendship Lord Featherstonehaugh needs to raise some money. He is the hero of an adventure game, so that will involve stealing everything in the world. Though I guess it isn't really stealing if it's from your own house, whatever. Hmmm. Maybe I could sell some of my more antique possessions...There's nothing to do in Fanshawe's room. The only reason to come in here is that there's a key lying on the counter for literally no reason. The game even admits it!  Is that a puzzle? Does it count as a puzzle when the way you unlock something is to just go to another room and hey, there's the key just sitting there?  Mossop's room is in the basement, because of course it is in the basement. So, THIS is how he chooses to live? Two chairs AND a bed? I'm paying him far too much.Fanshawe steals Mossop's syrup of figs, which was popularly used as a laxative during this period. He also takes a bottle of whiskey: I'm sure Mossop won't mind me borrowing this. After all, I provided the wages that PAID for it.There's nothing else of importance in Mossop's room. We can examine a few things to see what Fanshawe has to say about them, but it's not required.  Victorian William Riker is an rear end in a top hat. The final room in Fansawe's house is his study. That's where the key we found earlier is used, but first we need to grab this nondescript "artifact" from an area of the room you can't see unless you manually move Fanshawe over to the left until the screen moves over.  He doesn't say anything when you pick it up, either. If you do not pick this up you cannot complete the game. Here's a good idea, though:  If you click something locked, one of the options in the menu is to unlock it. Pick that, and Fanshawe automatically selects the correct key and opens it for you. That's a really good thing! Keys in adventure games are always a huge hassle, especially if you end up with a bunch of them, but this more or less solves the problem of having to try every key with a lock to know if you can open it. On the other hand, you cannot manually use a key on a lock, which is stupid. Two steps forward, one step back.  This is the Deed of Property to this house! It's worth thousands of pounds!Every bit helps. That's all we need to do here for now, but there's other optional stuff to check out. For example, while Mossop follows Fanshawe around London, 73 will be staying here. So we might as well see what he has to say, since we're here:  I don't know, Mister Fanshawe. I've never been in a house before. Well, when and if you feel the urge, go outside. Or in Mossop's room. Stay off the furniture.Travel around London is pretty simple. Using one of the taxi cabs around London brings up a map, and locations we've unlocked can be traveled to freely. It marks the ones we haven't visited, but not whether we've gotten everything from a location, so the utility of this feature is limited. We're going back to the train station, to finally buy that drat newspaper.  Now, we couldn't buy a paper from the newsboy before, because we had no money. We have not picked up any money, either. The solution is to search Fanshawe's wallet, over and over, until he no longer has anything in it. The last thing he finds will be some money.   You cannot skip this animation. Note that there's no explanation of what he finds, either. You have to know to check your inventory and then just... figure it out yourself. Whatever. Now we can finally buy that paper:  If you remember, Fanshawe's girlfriend is pissed at him, and that's where we need to go next. Sometimes there's dialog with the cab driver during transit, though.  Here, you'll never guess who I had in the back of my cab yesterday! Not if I sit here silently, staring out of the window and pretending not to hear you, no.See, Fanshawe might not know that the cabbie is poor, but he probably is. And poor people are worthless, so what can you do?  Do you mind if I wait here, sir? I know Miss Mirabella is your betrothed, but... but.. But what, Mossop? Well, she scares me, sir. Nonsense, Mossop. She's just strong-willed, with a mind of her own. She knows what she wants, and she's going to... make ME get it for her... ...Actually, wait for me here, Mossop. THANK you, sir!"Bros before Hos" Fanshawe, that's what they call me. More next time.
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Aug 19, 2015 19:03
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I remember playing this game, but that's pretty much all I remember about it.quote:
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Aug 19, 2015 22:22
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Well, this sure is an adventure game alright. Bold move in casting the protagonist as even more of a dick then usual, because Goddamn, even by classist Victorian standards this guy comes across as a douche. And do you mean the artifact can be missed and render the game entirely unwinnable? I'm assuming that's the case given this does look like a thoroughly subpar adventure game.
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Aug 20, 2015 11:55
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So what's the tone of the game supposed to be...? Because for all the uncanny valley art and cat hygiene, the doctor joke was pretty good and - is this the legendary German humor?
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Aug 20, 2015 12:04
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corn in the bible posted:
As much of an rear end in a top hat Victorian William Riker is, dialogue like this genuinely amuses me. If you're going to be an rear end in a top hat, at least be a funny rear end in a top hat!
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Aug 20, 2015 12:37
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anilEhilated posted:So what's the tone of the game supposed to be...? Because for all the uncanny valley art and cat hygiene, the doctor joke was pretty good and - is this the legendary German humor? They had tried to make comedy games before, which is how we got the "classic" Innocent Until Caught series. Then they trued to go hilariously serious by making the Orion Conspiracy, which is notable for the fact that every character says gently caress at least fifty times. The Gene Machine, for all its problems, is absolutely the best thing they ever did and I agree, it has some really funny moments. There's a bit coming up which actually made me laugh out loud, and it wouldn't have worked if Fanshawe wasn't such a stuck-up rear end in a top hat. It's just a shame that the actual game part of this game is really very bad... But it isn't German humor, since, you know, it's made by British people. So there's that.
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Aug 20, 2015 13:30
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I just assumed that the only way this could've got a German version was if it came out in it originally. I am reasonably confident it was still less offensive than the game.
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Aug 20, 2015 19:32
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Don't germans translate games and media pretty often though? Dubbing over things like games and tv series seemed pretty common the few times I've been there. But my god, I remember only weird, shattered fragments of this game. I didn't really recognise it at first, but it's all coming back now.
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Aug 20, 2015 23:16
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Part 4: L'amour Mirabella isn't in her house, but you can't find her until you enter her house and find out that she's gone.  Is Mirabella here? Who? Miss Mirabella, your mistress. Is she here? I'm not Mirabella, I'm Gertrude. I know that.comedy, joke, lol There's a strange girl in the garden. So she's in the garden. Excellent. Thank you, Gertrude.What was the point of that? Mirabella is, indeed, in the garden, but why did the developers put her there? Why have a pointless bit character who's solely there to tell us that?    How did that last one even happen? Fun fact: the founders of Divide By Zero currently run a successful animation technology company. If you have seen a British children's show, they probably worked on it! So I guess everything worked out for them, though I can't help thinking it's a shame that the people who made this ridiculous thing are now stuck working on whatever the gently caress Peppa Pig is. Mirabella! My darling! It's about time!We can see that Mirabella is attractive because her mouth is completely rectangular. I sent that letter a WEEK ago! But I have only just returned from America, my sweet. I came as soon as I could. Piers, if you REALLY loved me you would have got here sooner. I've had a simply AWFUL time with the wedding invitations, I had to write them all out myself. It's a good job the diamond on the engagement ring was SO SMALL otherwise the added weight on my hand would have made the task even more unbearable.Victorian Deanna Troi is an rear end in a top hat. Er... exactly how many people have you invited, my little poppet? Well, so far there's thirty, plus three, that's thirty three... thirty-eight... forty-one... forty seven... ah... one thousand and eighteen. Fanshawe is so flabbergasted by this that he continues to smile cheerfully because they didn't want to draw any more talking animations. But they're people we SHOULD know, Piers. It's typical of you to try to stifle my chances of becoming someone IMPORTANT! I go to the trouble of inviting Dukes and Earls and people who MEAN something in society and YOU want to spoil it for me, as usual. Sometimes I wonder WHY I'm marrying you at all!Isn't Fanshawe literally friends with the Queen of England? I would think being buddies with Victoria would be pretty good for your social standing, regardless of who else bothers to show up. At this point the cutscene is over, and we can leave, but of course we need to talk to her again in order to progress.  I was wondering, my darling... Could I possibly?... If you wouldn't mind... Just to help out, you understand... About your engagement ring, my dear... Yes, Piers, about my so-called engagement ring. Do you realize the jewel is so small, I can hardly even tell I've got it on! #firstworldproblems #justvictorianthings Asking what will make her happy just lets us know that she wants tea. We don't have any tea to give her, though. Maybe Gertrude can get us a cup of tea?  ...oh. Can you make Mirabella a cup of tea? Who's Mirabella? She's your mistress... Oh, never mind. Just make a cup of tea, will you? Yes, Ma'am.Fanshawe's hatred of the poor might be justified in this case, especially since she doesn't actually give us any tea.  We found some catnip. I hope 73 appreciates this little drug run Lord Featherstonehaugh did for him. Hell, maybe he'll even... help Fanshawe out, you know... down there. But probably not, because his crotch has vanished.  We could give 73 the catnip right now, but it's easier to go deal with Whitechapel first. It is, as Mossop told us way back when, a den of scum and villainy.     Oh. All of Whitechapel smells like that. Are you sure you want to come here, Sir? I mean, it's not exactly the sort of place a fine Gentleman like yourself would normally frequent... It's perfectly alright, Mossop. Besides, it's good to see how the other half live, sometimes. Even if it is the lower half.So Fanshawe wants to learn more about the "lower half." That fine gentleman in the background seems like a good place to start. Let's see what Jonathan T. Ripper has to say: Is there anywhere at all DECENT here in Whitechapel? No, they're all cesspits of sin, depravity, and debauchery. Don't you like debauchery, then? Certainly not!  It's high time someone took a stand. Do you think I should do something about it, then? Of course! Strike a blow for the normal, decent people of the world! I wish you the best of luck! THANK you, sir... And good day to you! Fanshawe and Ripper, friends 4ever
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Aug 23, 2015 05:03
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SubNat posted:Don't germans translate games and media pretty often though? Dubbing over things like games and tv series seemed pretty common the few times I've been there. As far as I know, this game was only ever released in English and German. But you're right that Germany has a huge dubbing industry -- they're the only place you can get the entire run of Baywatch on DVD, for example, and it's all dubbed into German.
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Aug 23, 2015 21:16
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corn in the bible posted:As far as I know, this game was only ever released in English and German. But you're right that Germany has a huge dubbing industry -- they're the only place you can get the entire run of Baywatch on DVD, for example, and it's all dubbed into German.
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Aug 23, 2015 21:41
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Oh this game. For many years a symbol of rage and frustration to me - my parents bought it as a birthday present for me, only for us to discover the minimum specs of a 486 with 4 megs of RAM were filthy lies and the game wouldn't even start. Then, much later, we upgraded and I finally got to play it (with the same box we saw upthread - my copy had the animations in it from what I recall). It was a massive disappointment. I remember for some strange reason one of the major UK computer magazines of the 90s - PC Review - really threw its weight behind promoting Gene Machine. Dev diaries, a big review, a multi-issue walkthrough, the works. Divide By Zero must have bought a lot of ad space.
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Aug 23, 2015 23:29
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Part 5: the game's high point When we left off, Fanshawe was asking Jack the Ripper to murder all the hookers in London. There's not much else we can do in Whitechapel right now, but I do need to grab one other thing.  Whitechapel has two main locations. To the left is a brothel, and to the right is this pub:  As Mossop said, there's a few criminals hanging out, but we can't talk to them yet. Fanshawe doesn't actually have anything for them to do. What we actually need to do is talk to the misshapen laborer at the bar.   I'm an engineer, truth be told. Say, guvnor, do me a favour and give me something to wipe me 'ands on. All this grease is getting on my blinkin' dinner.Fanshawe, as a proper Victorian gentleman, always has a handkerchief on him. We give it to the worker, and he cleans himself off before returning it:  As any adventure game aficionado can probably figure out, we did all that so we could get a greasy rag. Oil was very rare in Victorian England, so of course this is the only place in the world we can find it. The bartender claims to sell beer, but offering money to him doesn't seem to do anything.  Offering money for services: a barter system. Sure. Whatever. Downstairs are a couple of unsavory people, by which of course I mean Chinese people.  I daren't open my mouth in front of him, for fear that he may steal my tongue.Fanshawe will happily speak to serial killers, but something about this other gentleman is simply too off-putting for our hero. What could it be? Speaking of forgers, there's one of those, too. What is your particular line of work? I'm a forger, mate. I take documents and change 'em to read how the client WANTS 'em to read. I do not wish to continue this conversation.Now, one might assume from that dialog that Fanshawe is put off by talking to criminals, but actually it's just that he doesn't need anything forged at the moment. After all, he might be a criminal, but at least he's not foreign. Let's go to the whorehouse.   I'm fully aware of the important mission you're on, my love. It's so important that once you've accomplished it you'll roll over and go to sleep. No, it's nothing like that... Don't play innocent with me, sonny jim! I eat men like you for breakfast! Show me your membership card, or clear off out of it!You don't understand! Somehow, getting into the brothel will save England! Oh, forget it. Let's just go home.  73 has found a mouse! He's too distracted to talk to us, and we can't do anything with the mouse, either. But we do have one thing that cats like even more than mice... Leave the mouse alone, dear boy. Try this instead. I believe cats quite like it.  Do you get it, do you get the joke Oh wow, man! Cosmic! I feel... groovy...(the joke is weed) While Seventy-Three is otherwise engaged, I shall save that poor mouse from a long, protracted death. Fanshawe puts the mouse into his voluminous pocket. I will, no joke, buy an avatar for whoever figures out what it is for. No cheating! Next time, we'll be visiting the Science Academy. See you then. corn in the bible fucked around with this message at 22:25 on Aug 27, 2015 |
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Aug 27, 2015 22:21
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corn in the bible posted:Fanshawe puts the mouse into his voluminous pocket. I will, no joke, buy an avatar for whoever figures out what it is for. No cheating! Use it to scare off the "ruffians", who drop a membership badge?
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Aug 27, 2015 22:34
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corn in the bible posted:Fanshawe puts the mouse into his voluminous pocket. I will, no joke, buy an avatar for whoever figures out what it is for. No cheating! I.. i honestly don't remember. I DO remember that worker's everlasting butter bread and i seem to remember copious amounts of spitting going on in that bar. And that when you finally get to order a drink, he won't even pour you a beer, 'cause it's not a real working man's drink or something. The casual racism against Chinese was lost on 13-year old me. Hyperman1992 posted:Use it to scare off the "ruffians", who drop a membership badge?
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Aug 27, 2015 23:18
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It's probably for scaring someone, so if it's not those ungodly foreign savages, then probably... I'm going to guess you need to scare a prostitute in the brothel. Probably so you can steal her underwear or something.
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Aug 27, 2015 23:29
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We cannot actually use the mouse yet, but only because Fanshawe says IT IS NOT TIME TO DO THAT YET if you try. The bastard.
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Aug 27, 2015 23:36
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corn in the bible posted:
Either to scare the classic Elephant for some ungodly reason that might come that would lead to gypsies or circus. Possibly to prove to be a big brave man to some lass to be a big man / get in lass's knickers... For professional informational gathering reasons.
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Aug 27, 2015 23:49
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Everyone knows womenfolk are afraid of mice. I say we use it on our beloved betrothed to terrify the everliving poo poo out of her. Not sure why, though. Oooh, or we give to the Ripper so he can practice with a microscope we'll need later. edit: Or we could use it to simulate a rat plague in the pub, clearing it of life and helping ourselves to drinks and/or documents. Such a versatile thing, mice. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 16:06 on Aug 28, 2015 |
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Aug 28, 2015 16:03
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The mouse is probably some stupid adventure game logic, like putting it into a sewer pipe to fetch us a key.
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Aug 28, 2015 16:38
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anilEhilated posted:Everyone knows womenfolk are afraid of mice. I say we use it on our beloved betrothed to terrify the everliving poo poo out of her. ding ding ding  women hate mice, its common knowledge. but why do this? corn in the bible fucked around with this message at 16:55 on Aug 28, 2015 |
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Aug 28, 2015 16:52
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What the actual gently caress, that's a trope from eighties cartoons or something. Now I'm kinda disappointed they didn't go with the simulated plague option.
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Aug 28, 2015 17:23
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Aw, I was hoping for something where we like, scare some hookers with the rat so we can steal some expensive-looking but fake jewelry from them, then give that to our fiancée in exchange for the real ring so we can pawn that for cash. That seemed to be the way the game was going.
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Aug 28, 2015 20:14
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Hyper Crab Tank posted:Aw, I was hoping for something where we like, scare some hookers with the rat so we can steal some expensive-looking but fake jewelry from them, then give that to our fiancée in exchange for the real ring so we can pawn that for cash. That seemed to be the way the game was going. Nope, we're just gonna use a mouse to outright steal it. Ah, l'amour~
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Aug 28, 2015 20:28
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Wait, how do you use a mouse to steal the ring? Scaring, I understand, but does it bite off her finger or something?
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Aug 28, 2015 20:46
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I'm really digging the half-finished crayon drawing aesthetic of the game's daylight backdrops and scenery.
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Aug 28, 2015 21:03
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