|
marshmallow creep posted:Vivern: "We just wanted our freedom but we were betrayed." Everyone else passed on the obvious suicide mission.
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2022 14:30
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 27, 2024 18:12 |
|
|
A couple of possibly fun bits of trivia: While only the least likely line of dialogue gets you kelp from the seahorses, and there are many ways to miss it, if they leave without giving it to you, you can wait around for a while or leave the screen and return later, and they'll come back. At that point, anything you say that doesn't immediately offend them will give them an opening to give you the kelp. This was a particularly frustrating puzzle for me back in the day because I'd read a review that said that if you didn't get the kelp, you were screwed, and there was no chance to save between being on the boat and that conversation. I reloaded so many times searching for the correct option, afraid to end the conversation (the correct option) because the review had warned me not to do that. I have no idea how I ever figured out that there was a second chance, easier than the first. The music loop that plays in Kouppa's house is a very short phrase from Simon & Garfunkel's "59th Street Bridge" song, reversed. Specifically, the line and a half "You move too fast, you've got to make the morning last." As far as I know, the only item you can leave behind in the Land of Mists that you'll need later is the blanket. Every other item that you need from there is required to leave the area in the first place. You can't even go back into the city at that point. You can just go back down the mountain. Interestingly, the lever for the elevator is there the first time you enter, and if you're so inclined, you can ride it down, but Quickthorpe will take one look around and nope himself back up. It's one of those things that gives me the feeling that this game was scoped something like Torin's Passage - originally developed to be part of a longer series, setting up sequel hooks as it goes and ultimately having even some of the originally planned content cut. Some of the useless items are too elaborate to have been thrown in there just to take up inventory space. It reminds me of parts of Kingdom O' Magic where you could do things that were irrelevant to the active quest, only there's no other quest in this game for them to be part of. And the parts of the story that are relevant are often skippable. You can bypass Ishmael's room entirely, go straight to the gorgon's room, and whip out your spear without even talking to her, and proceed with the quest that way. These are just some of the complaints that led me to hate this game so much when I played it the first time, but what kind of design makes the action you want to take always the last one in the cycle? Walk should be the first option for a path, not the last. If you're holding an item, using it should be the default option. Taking things out of the inventory will be the reason you opened the inventory almost every time. The earliest implementations I'm aware of featuring selectable actions for a cursor either had lists of actions or icons representing the actions, with the right-click cycle being a convenience feature rather than the only way to interact with things. The game's content is serviceable if you choose to interact with it in the ways it wants you to, but it makes that interaction inherently painful every step of the way.
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2022 16:47
|
|
|
I got the joke about holding your breath for 10 minutes. I'm not sure what the hairpin in the pillow represents exactly, but either it could be a discreet lover or the captain puts his hair up when indoors or cleaning himself. So I guess it would be embarrassing if he couldn't manage his hair without it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2022 19:33
|
|
|
Nidoking posted:A couple of possibly fun bits of trivia: I read that you can return later but I wasn't sure on the time frame. I did a couple of short test run but it really wasn't long enough to trigger it. The guides that I've read for this game don't express how to achieve the kelp on the first try, they pretty much say good luck and return later to try again. I probably should have expressed this more in the video but I didn't really think about it at the time. Who discovered the Simon & Garfunkel loop? I didn't really explore any further than the wooden tower on the return to the Land of Mist. I had already picked up the blanket and didn't feel the need to walk around and explore the region again. One thing that I did notice was the boat being docked in the city again after returning from the tower. I was expecting more with Ishmael, especially after we discovered his identity. I even mapped out how to return to his room after defeating the gorgon but he didn't have any new dialogue for us. I completely agree with what you said about the verb functions in the game world, they really aren't intuitive. The inventory is the most frustrating part of the game for me, I'm not sure whether it's down to limitations within the game engine or laziness. I'm having a good time with the game with a guide and I have another save file where I'm exploring extensively. But I haven't had the luxury of going into it old-school and experiencing it blind, from what I've experienced even with this level of help I can't even imagine the levels of frustration. This game is out to punish you for doing some basic adventure gaming. marshmallow creep posted:Vivern: "We just wanted our freedom but we were betrayed." By popular demand posted:Everyone else passed on the obvious suicide mission. There's this and he's also had it drilled it into him that these creatures are evil and must die so he's people can be saved. sb hermit posted:I got the joke about holding your breath for 10 minutes. I did a quick search online but I don't really know what to actually search for. I typed in some key words but got nothing in return. This seems like a really specific implication but I have no idea what they were aiming for. Rocket Baby Dolls fucked around with this message at 00:32 on Aug 13, 2022 |
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2022 00:25
|
|
|
Rocket Baby Dolls posted:Who discovered the Simon & Garfunkel loop? When I LPed this game years ago, I got curious and reversed the audio just to see if it made any sense. I made a gimmick of ham-handing the lyrics of the song into the commentary for that part just to spring the surprise at the end. Looking back, through both your LP and mine, the game definitely has its charm. I suppose I was predisposed not to think much of the humor when one of the front and center dialogue options for the first two people he meets is "Let's get naked and go swimming." It left a bad first impression that made lines like Mickey Dee's and Chernobyl stand out a lot more than the really good ones like "Remember who?" I still don't particularly like it all that much, but I guess I don't hate it as much as I used to. Still, there's a chapter left and at least one ending before you form a final opinion.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2022 00:57
|
|
|
One curious thing I noticed - after blatantly stealing the Star Trek transporter sound effect a few episodes back, Vivern’s room sounds like it has the hum of the TNG warp core in the background, interspersed with various TNG-y beeps and boops.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2022 02:51
|
|
|
I've just completed a test run of the final chapter and it will be fairly short compared to the others. The version that I'm playing will contain the original ending and I'm not sure how I feel about it as it's very... unpredictable. I'll talk more about it when I post the video. I'm not sure where I can get hold of the European release but I will see what I can do while I'm recording more for the death reel. Zaroff posted:One curious thing I noticed - after blatantly stealing the Star Trek transporter sound effect a few episodes back, Vivern’s room sounds like it has the hum of the TNG warp core in the background, interspersed with various TNG-y beeps and boops. I thought that I heard them too but during the recording, I was too distracted to take notice at the time.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2022 23:02
|
|
|
 This video is the finale of Fable! In this video, Quickthorpe explores the Land Of Shadows to find the last gem and then returns to face Ismael before putting an end to all of this madness. Bonus Videos It turns out that I did have the North American release and, thankfully, I was able to use my save files to capture the alternate ending with ease: Alternate North American Ending On another note, I've replayed the Land Of Mists and I've been unable to find any death scenes.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2022 13:56
|
|
|
The original ending is weirdly high effort for such a left field "gently caress you" to the player. Quickthorpe presses the button, inherits cosmic power and then... ends up in a prison cell with only a diet of maggots while the narrator mocks him? The NA ending seems low effort in comparison but at least it seems to follow from the events that came before it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2022 14:56
|
|
|
Hmm I do remember reading in a gaming magazine that the original ending rightly pissed people off so the devs rushed to make a different one and this short no voice acting thing seems to confirm it. The article made the original ending sound as if Quickthorp was hallucinating the entire game and in the end sobering up.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2022 14:57
|
|
|
By popular demand posted:Hmm I do remember reading in a gaming magazine that the original ending rightly pissed people off so the devs rushed to make a different one and this short no voice acting thing seems to confirm it. There is definitely something going on with his eyes at the end. I suppose if there plan was for there to be a sequel that picked up from the original ending with Quickthorpe having been gaslighted into thinking he was always a psycho rather than a hero so he doesn't use the powers he got from the machine then their choice makes some sense, but the writers haven't earned the kind of respect from their players that that would require. Maybe if they'd shown the NA ending (with a little more effort) and then had the original ending as a kind of secret bonus ending that you got for completing an optional objective to tease a sequel it would have gone over better, but I dunno.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2022 15:08
|
|
|
I'm back in the Land Of Shadows with trawling for death sequences. I'm having to stop hear as I'm heading out for the rest of the day and night but i've noticed a few things along the way: There seems to be a bugged death sequence with Khor, if you approach him with a weapon he gives you two warnings before he announces that he is going to spear you. But he does that flash of animation and nothing else happens apart from the game soft locks like Quickthorpe has actually been killed. I'm going to leave this out for now. If you offer a gold coin to the legless sailor he will tell you a short story. You can enter the Ogre's cave via the well and before you see him leave. But he isn't there to be and neither is the key under the pillow. I didn't try to talk to the siren before but you can and you are able to survive the conversation. You can cover the meat in the engine gunk and then feed it to the shark. It doesn't affect the shark in any way though. If you're quick enough you can click on Quickthorpe's girlfriend before she goes back inside:  
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2022 15:10
|
|
|
The original ending is very left field and with the talk earlier of obviously cut content and with the amount of unusable items, my thoughts are that this wasn't the ending that they originally intended. There's a very good chance that development had to be cut short and the ending was just tacked on because they ran out of time and/or money.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2022 15:52
|
|
|
The ending feels much more like a special game over. If you told me that they had a team working on cinematics while the rest of the team was working on the game, and then they suddenly had to be done and A) hadn't put in the conditions for the special game over and B) hadn't made any other cinematics but the game over, and just slapped the game over onto the end, I'd believe you.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2022 17:02
|
|
|
I was definitely expecting a fake out of some kind but not like that.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2022 17:43
|
|
|
The real problem I have is that the revised ending doesn't really add anything. Nothing really gets resolved either way, unless there was a lot more between-the-lines reading that I was meant to do. The whole quest comes across as completely pointless, in the traditional "Why are we collecting the Sacred Thingies from the places where they're protected, when if we just don't do that, the bad guys can't possibly get what they want, because the Sacred Thingies are protected?" way. If Quickthorpe really suspects what's going on, he has to have done so long before the end of the quest, so it really seems like he could just toss the stuff he's got into the lava, go back home, and rest secure that nobody will be happy. While the original ending doesn't make any of that any less true, it does come out and say that there was never a quest anyway, so it ultimately doesn't matter. I feel like if that comes too out of left field for you, it means you haven't been paying attention to the game up to that point. The whole thing's been pretty mean-spirited, with plenty of crude humor, so the idea that actually, Quickthorpe's been paying for it the whole time, just fits. Maybe I'm just too used to other stories where you turn the page and the narrator pretty literally says "Welp, I'm done telling this story. Buy more of my books!" to be too fazed by how irreverent it all is.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2022 21:20
|
|
|
The story is a little complicated as it really is easy to miss plot points if you don't speak to people directly, something that should be automatic. You're also able to miss plot points because a major character is hidden in a drat maze! I agree with Nidoking that the quest is pretty much pointless. Ismael is dieing, Quickthorpe would have achieved more if he just stayed at home. But we've got to remember the quest was given by the village priest who was working for Ismael. We were working for the baddies the entire time! Vivern revealed to us that Ismael had betrayed her and her friends which ultimately lead to them being turned into beasts. They knew that Ismael wanted the key to gain the Mecubarz' power and were guarding the gems so he couldn't achieve it. Initially, Ismael tries to convince us that giving him the jewels is in our best interest but he is betrayed by Vivern. This is all confirmed by Ismael when we revisit him. The quest is ultimately pointless as there is no winning scenario. We give Ismael what he wants and he kills us, we defeat him and we get that ending. I'm starting to think that what marshmallow creep said is correct and thinking that Nidoking was right in a sequel being planned. All we see is Quickthorpe entering the machine while wearing a headset and all of a sudden he's in jail. Is that actually Quickthorpe waking up in reality or is he experiencing a simulated world through the headset?
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2022 22:47
|
|
|
Rocket Baby Dolls posted:Is that actually Quickthorpe waking up in reality or is he experiencing a simulated world through the headset? This is close to what I was thinking was going on. Some kind of simulation or Westworld style play world which is why the language was all over the place. Not a very good simulation obviously, but all of that just lent itself to the humour of the game.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2022 23:16
|
|
|
I would have been much MUCH more receptive to the original ending if there was more foreshadowing of it in the game. As it is, I agree that it's completely out of left field and the NA ending seems like the most anyone could do while spending the least amount of money on new animation and writing. In fact, if I were the publisher and I was given the original game, I would have taken the source code and written the NA ending at a budget that would keep the bean counters happy becsuse they would save money on returns AND not having to hire extra security to manage irate customers.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2022 00:14
|
|
|
I mean, now that the game's finished I reckon it's fair to post the Truncated version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAJiCERMxfI
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2022 01:59
|
|
|
incredible shitpost energy
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2022 02:39
|
|
|
Okay, going back to the first episode, they do say in the introduction that this whole story is in the head of a very sick man. "It's a fable, in a way."
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2022 04:00
|
|
|
ok, sure. but it's ridiculous if that was literally the only hint.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2022 04:31
|
|
|
marshmallow creep posted:Okay, going back to the first episode, they do say in the introduction that this whole story is in the head of a very sick man. "It's a fable, in a way."  I had forgotten about that part.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2022 07:48
|
|
|
CapitanGarlic posted:I mean, now that the game's finished I reckon it's fair to post the Truncated version I wasn't sure what to expect. After a minute or so I was expecting all of the chosen lines to make it sound like a Carry On film.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2022 08:56
|
|
|
sb hermit posted:ok, sure. but it's ridiculous if that was literally the only hint. I feel it's said breathlessly quick, in a "don't even worry about that" kind of way, only to then become the entirety of the ending. Like, we know we are playing a story. It's a video game. But we still want a resolution to the things in the story instead of someone snapping the book shut and chunking it at us.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2022 20:39
|
|
|
Bonus Videos Death Reel I'd like to think that I've been thorough with this as these are all the encounters with death that I could find in the game. This video will be the last update of this LP. Thank you, everyone, for being part of this in any capacity. I really enjoyed Fable, but this is from the perspective of someone who went into this using a guide and with helpful discussion in the thread. If I went into this completely blind I'm sure that my opinion of the game would be very different. I'm planning to LP The Space Bar next and it's a game that I've been wanting to do for a very long time, it's just that I've never been sure if I could actually do it. To be honest, I'm still not entirely sure now but I want to attempt it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2022 23:12
|
|
|
marshmallow creep posted:I feel it's said breathlessly quick, in a "don't even worry about that" kind of way, only to then become the entirety of the ending. I completely agree. I feel that if it wasn't for the intro and ending (and, of course, the terrible action system), it may have been a relatively servicable adventure game. But the way those parts were written were designed to make someone want to throw the computer against a wall. Of course 90s minitowers were at least 20-30 pounds so you may end up with more than just a dent in the drywall or wood paneling. The alternative would be to chuck an 80 pound CRT which people could barely lift, much less throw.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2022 23:38
|
|
|
Rocket Baby Dolls posted:Bonus Videos I like how all the bystanders to the various deaths (like the shark death or the river death) don't react when someone perishes right in front of them.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2022 23:44
|
|
|
Thank you very much for this LP! It's an interesting adventure game with some real effort and world building, but it could have used a little bit more polish. If I had paid $60 in 1996 dollars for this game, I would probably not be happy. But your LP has made the experience quite entertaining.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2022 23:49
|
|
|
sb hermit posted:I like how all the bystanders to the various deaths (like the shark death or the river death) don't react when someone perishes right in front of them. The captain got his money and told Quickthorpe which way to go and that's the way that Quickthorpe went. They probably didn't even know that the shark was there.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2022 23:54
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 27, 2024 18:12 |
|
|
Thank you for the LP.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2022 00:15
|
|