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 What is this? Nightlong: Union City Conspiracy is a cyberpunk-themed adventure game that takes place in the futuristic Union City in the year 2099. We take the role of Joshua Reev, an investigator who is summoned by an old friend to help him with a matter of major political importance. A group of terrorists are threatening the city and the reporter who was investigating this group has vanished. It's up to us to investigate the group, the disappearance and quite likely save the day. This game is a point and click adventure game that was released in 1998 for the PC and the Amiga and was developed by Trecision, an Italian developer who released a string of games within a ten year period. There isn't a lot of dialogue between characters and most of the game is narrated by Joshua. This is also a game that I played upon release and haven't touched in over twenty years so this is going to be interesting to return to. LP details As usual, this is going to be a video LP and I'll be doing commentary live. Due to my working schedule, I'll be updating as and when I can, there will be at least one update a week but there will most likely be more. I'm in no rush to finish the game but due to the length of the game, I'm expecting this LP to only be five or six updates long. Let's Play: Nightlong: Union City Conspiracy       
Rocket Baby Dolls fucked around with this message at 13:56 on Feb 17, 2022 |
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Feb 4, 2022 12:21
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That sure is some voice acting on our protagonist. I remember this game vaguely, I think I might have played a demo way back when, should be interesting to see the whole thing. e: It's also nice to see that it's one of those very nineties visions of future where they could imagine flying cars but not cell phones. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 15:14 on Feb 4, 2022 |
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Feb 4, 2022 15:01
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Holy poo poo. It is Nightlong.  Probably the most obscure advenure game i ever got my hands on. GOG never distributed a digital version and my old CD ROM got lost during some move years ago. A shame because Nightlong is quite competent in its visual design and puzzles.
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Feb 4, 2022 15:51
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anilEhilated posted:That sure is some voice acting on our protagonist. I remember this game vaguely, I think I might have played a demo way back when, should be interesting to see the whole thing. Hand scanners to buy a subway ticket, electronic signatures to open doors, hover cars and... dinky little keys to open safes and mail boxes. OutofSight posted:Holy poo poo. It is Nightlong. I remember buying this game upon release and enjoying it at the time. I only completed it once despite numerous attempts. But it wasn't because it was too hard, there was a certain point in the game where it crashed all but that one time. If you can get hold of another copy you can run it with no problems with ScummVM.
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Feb 4, 2022 23:15
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Welcome to Rotmall! I'm not sure what time it is but it's definitely after 8 pm so we still have all night long. We enable a homeless guy in an effort to gather information, we also visit a liquor store that's not allowed to sell liquor and a closed club that, for some reason, can't keep the doors locked until opening time. I was hoping to have an update yesterday but for some reason, the processing was stuck on 95% and after 30+ hours I decided to just delete the video and upload it again. The same message about a delay in processing popped up and everything just stalled again, yet when I tried to upload a random video in a game folder it processed almost instantaneously while this one was still hanging. There must have been an issue with the original encoding as I re-encoded it and it's gone through without any issue. Despite how well this game works with ScummVM, there are still some issues. There was some dialogue stuttering in the intro video and there is some more in this one. There are also issues with some of the cutscenes cutting short the final line of dialogue. I saw that these were issues before I started this LP but read that it was patched, I probably should have tested things further before I started. I might switch to the latest daily build of ScummVM before the next update to see how the game runs.
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Feb 8, 2022 00:34
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Weird, I watched that update yesterday with no issues at all.
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Feb 8, 2022 00:40
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berryjon posted:Weird, I watched that update yesterday with no issues at all. That update was live? It was stuck on pending until processed on my end. That's interesting, thank you for letting me know.
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Feb 8, 2022 00:55
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In this video, Joshua navigates his way through an abandoned subway, visits the worlds worst zoo and then abandons someone who he has just seriously electrocuted. This update is a little earlier than usual but I have a busy day ahead and tonight I'll be laughing at a Welshman. Rocket Baby Dolls fucked around with this message at 11:59 on Feb 9, 2022 |
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Feb 9, 2022 11:41
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Somehow the underground levels are what i remember most of the game. Some slick cyberpunk decay going on. I need those massive rotor blades in the old subway station for my home decor.
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Feb 9, 2022 17:43
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This video is, almost, the end of the underground and zoo section. Joshua explores a lot of new rooms, solves several more puzzles, steals more items that aren't nailed down and then renders another person unconscious. I knew that this section was going to be long and thought that I could fit it into two videos and I kinda did. What follows after this video is nine and a half minutes of cut scenes and a massive plot dump, I had a decision of whether to add it to the end of this video or make it the start of the next update, I decided to make it part of the next update to keep the length of this one down. I usually aim for the half-hour mark with recording but I'm not strict with it because sometimes there's a natural conclusion to a chapter and it makes sense to end a video wherever it happens to end, this one was a bit of a quandary. OutofSight posted:Somehow the underground levels are what i remember most of the game. Some slick cyberpunk decay going on. The underground part of the game and the zoo are the parts that I remember the most, the section after this video has me drawing a complete blank though.
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Feb 11, 2022 23:48
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... How do you miss him being hooked up to a monitor like that?!? That should have been the first thing he would have noticed! Also, that's 1 probable KIA, and 2 WIA so far in this section. You, uh, might want to practice your explanations for when this all blows up.
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Feb 12, 2022 04:32
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I appreciate it when a game lets you force the protagonist to touch fire. Josh really likes electrocuting people.
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Feb 12, 2022 06:15
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In this video, Joshua finds out who is standing behind the door and has a ten-minute chat with them, then proceeds to go and have fun in a virtual amusement park. I'm in two minds about re-recording this episode, my youngest is staying with me for a few nights so while recording this the lights were down low and I was misreading my notes and my voice was instinctively lowered and it shows in the recording. I restarted recording this video several times due to some early errors, there are a couple of minor ones in this video but nothing too horrendous. If the volume of my commentary is an issue for anyone let me know and I'll try again tomorrow. There is another long cutscene at the end of this video but I decided to chop it in half. I decided to check the coin situation again after recording: It was a half silver that we picked up and it was three coins for two skulls, but we somehow ended up with six coins. Hypocrisy posted:I appreciate it when a game lets you force the protagonist to touch fire. You may find some enjoyment in this update. I was hoping for a third-occasion but we can't win them all. Rocket Baby Dolls fucked around with this message at 23:51 on Feb 13, 2022 |
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Feb 13, 2022 23:48
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This is the final part of the cyberspace section and the penultimate video of this LP. It's already been established that Joshua has a bit of a skewed view of women and this video doesn't really help with that impression at all. I do have a lot of fondness for this game but I'm not fond of its lack of clues for solving puzzles, I'm less of a fan of the times in this game where it gives you the clue to solving a puzzle straight after you have just solved it. I will most likely be recording and uploading the final video for this LP within the next couple of days.
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Feb 15, 2022 23:45
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Rocket Baby Dolls posted:
It's a really strange phrasing but I distinctly remember him saying that he received three credits. The writing in this game is really bad. They should have just done away with half-credits and just multiplied everything by 2.
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Feb 16, 2022 06:32
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Rocket Baby Dolls posted:
Josh really feels like some horny teenager playing a d&d module. Bald guy with scars and a nice jacket, trying to hit on all the ladies, feels like everyone is treating him like trash and the world is lucky that he's around to fix this mess. Also, it must be boring as heck to be the secretary doing work in VR. It's crazy technology if you can still be affected by poison, much less derive pleasure from eating chocolates. I guess it's true... you die in the game, you die in real life. Funny enough, this is the second adventure game I've seen where you are a handsome rogue who needs to outwit a female secretary, and flirting was considered a possible option. It was Rise of the Dragon by Sierra Dynamix. It, too, had a bit of a dystopian future kind of look as well.
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Feb 16, 2022 06:43
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I can’t believe the mega corporation in this cyber punk ish future was actually the bad guy all along. That VR section was definitely a strange bit. One of those things that makes you wonder if they had a horror theme park just lying around and wanted to use it or needed to stretch out the game a bit and came up with it on the fly.
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Feb 16, 2022 09:07
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I think one of the artists really wanted to do a horror theme park. I mean, we've seen a nightclub, a zoo, a theme park, and an office building. To be honest, some of them were pretty inspired. I get the feeling that someone was just given orders to do whatever 3D environment they wanted to make, and they would somehow fashion a story that includes all of it. Kinda reminds me of Sanitarium, another adventure game whose settings are as disjointed as this one.
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Feb 16, 2022 09:35
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sb hermit posted:Kinda reminds me of Sanitarium, another adventure game whose settings are as disjointed as this one. Sanitarium at least had a reason for it. You were playing as someone who was in a car accident and experienced serious head trauma. Each level alternated between the guy slipping in and out of reality. I'm actually planning to LP this game after I've finished Freelancer. Rocket Baby Dolls fucked around with this message at 09:58 on Feb 16, 2022 |
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Feb 16, 2022 09:55
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This is why you keep your work e-mails professional Martens.
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Feb 17, 2022 02:02
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In the finale of Nightlong, Joshua gets more people killed and finds some porn. Also, saves the day or something or other... I said it in the video, but the final puzzle is bullshit. I get that adventure games are about puzzles and logic but the inclusion of a cypher as the final puzzle of the game doesn't sit right with me. Especially as most of the puzzle-solving has been picking up objects and using said objects with other things, or each other, combined with a few minor logic puzzles thrown into the mix. The logic behind solving the final puzzle can be found here: https://www.gameboomers.com/wtcheats/pcNn/nightlong.html https://www.uhs-hints.com/uhsweb/hints/nightlon/1654.php Thank you, everyone, for joining me on this very short LP. I still have a backlog of adventure games to play which probably didn't help with starting a year-long space sim LP randomly, I'll get back on track after it's finished. The next LP that I'm going to start up after this one is another megathread, I'm planning to play through the Broken Sword series, all five games, I'm even thinking about playing a very well made fan game too.
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Feb 17, 2022 14:07
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Well, that was something alright. The math cypher/substitute could have been made a little less obtuse, but I have a head for numbers so I could parse it pretty easy. Even then, it still took me a few minutes with a pad and paper to figure it out before checking the actual solution. 90's gameplay for you. The game also felt really rushed in the last couple of updates, and I can see plot-threads being raised and badly dropped. Now I'm wondering what the development cycle on this was like.
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Feb 17, 2022 15:55
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berryjon posted:Well, that was something alright. The math cypher/substitute could have been made a little less obtuse, but I have a head for numbers so I could parse it pretty easy. Even then, it still took me a few minutes with a pad and paper to figure it out before checking the actual solution. 90's gameplay for you. I don't have a problem with cypher puzzles in general, some games are centred around these kinds of logic puzzles for progression. This game really wasn't centred around these kinds of puzzles and it was shoved in right at the end, it reminds me of The Feeble Files which was very much a standard adventure game until it threw you into a scientific experiment. Part of me thought that I should have made an attempt to solve it during live play. But overall I didn't think that would have been entertaining to watch me bumbling about trying to explain everything for several minutes, I decided to just give the means to solve it and just move the plot forward. I'm glad that you were able to sit down and figure it out for yourself, I was doubting that I had shown enough of the puzzle. This game is a bit of an anomaly, Trecision were an Italian company that developed a number of adventure games over the years with little fanfare. Nightlong was picked up by and co-developed with Team 17 and I can only guess that a lot of the design decisions were made by their new partners in exchange for marketing and publishing the game. Fun Fact: This is the only game to ever be officially recommended by (Syfy) The Sci-Fi Channel.
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Feb 17, 2022 23:15
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I was surprised that the last update was the last update and the conclusion certainly felt rushed. Oh well, it was a fun ride.
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Feb 18, 2022 04:25
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I thought he was finally going to take off those sunglasses in the end but no... he was only adjusting them.
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Feb 18, 2022 19:11
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sb hermit posted:I thought he was finally going to take off those sunglasses in the end but no... he was only adjusting them. I thought he took them off right before driving straight towards the sun.
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Feb 19, 2022 09:19
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sb hermit posted:I thought he was finally going to take off those sunglasses in the end but no... he was only adjusting them. It was the "Master Chief pulls off his helmet just as the camera pulls past the hull" ending. Unfortunately... Thesaya posted:I thought he took them off right before driving straight towards the sun. This happened and Joshua now has permanent eye damage. The End.
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Feb 20, 2022 22:11
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Interesting. I always thought the creepy amusement park was from another game, but it really was a level here. I still think most of the game has some solid "combine these items to progress" puzzles, only at the end it gets outlandish with stuff like the balloon. Just don't ask me how i solved the cypher. Probably searched for a solution online then, too. Kibayasu posted:This happened and Joshua now has permanent eye damage. The End. With that big scar over one eye... Joshua probably has some cyber-eyes already. Fits his "cool guy" (envisioned by a horny teenager) aesthetic
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Feb 20, 2022 23:35
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