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BioEnchanted
Aug 9, 2011

He plays for the dreamers that forgot how to dream, and the lovers that forgot how to love.


Welcome to my new Let's Play, of the PS2 game based on the movie, The Spiderwick Chronicles

What is this Game?

The game follows the plot of the 10-year old adventure movie Spiderwick Chronicles, in which a woman moves into a newly inherited home to get away from a bad breakup with her children's father. You play as 4 characters over the course of the game: Twins Jared and Simon, their sister Mallory, and Thimbletack the Brownie, as they explore the area around the Spiderwick Estate and learn more about the magical world that exists alongside their natural world.

There are a variety of colourful creatures and characters and the world has a very distinct feel that made me fall in love with the game.

Why LP it?

This game doesn't just retell the movie, it expands on it in every way - the locations are fleshed out and there are a lot of creatures to learn about that help add a little history to the areas of the wood. There are a lot of upgrades to seek out, and some amusing minigames and also some neat transport options, and while the world is small it feels very full of stuff so is a pleasure to explore.

Format of the LP

I will be fully exploring this game and intending to get 100% of the things done that can be done. The field guide will be completed with every creature logged and every fairy caught, and the game world will be a better place for it. But lets not get ahead of ourselves. I'm going to lay down a basic ground rule - DO NOT POST SPOILERS IN THIS THREAD. A lot of people haven't seen the movie and will not know where the plot goes, and there are some nice surprises. This goes for plot and gameplay spoilers - let the videos show it first.

Videos:

Part 1: - Introducing the House
Part 2 - Introducing Thimbletack, as he gives to us things we lack!
Part 3 - The End of the Beginning
Part 4 - The Forest Proper
Part 5 - Simon's Quest
Part 6 - Faries and Farenheit
Part 7 - Sidequests in The Deep Woods
Part 8 - The Tunnels
Part 9 - Thimbletack's Remaining Errands
Part 10 - Raiding the Quarry
Part 11 - Rounding up most of the Sidequests.
Part 12 - Final Boss
Part 13 - 100% Complete

Arthur's Completed Journal

BioEnchanted fucked around with this message at 21:11 on Aug 2, 2018

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BioEnchanted
Aug 9, 2011

He plays for the dreamers that forgot how to dream, and the lovers that forgot how to love.
*Reserved Post*

GirlCalledBob
Jul 17, 2013
I remember being really impressed with the level of world-building and interesting details in the books, though I never saw the film. I wonder if this game takes up some of the book details that the film had to cut out...

GamesAreSupernice
Jan 3, 2014

Oh, whoa! Check out the Viewing Globe, shorty!
dude you are kicking my rear end in the analytical/informative commentary department, you've really become more eloquent quickly

also the wooden bat's description was loving hilarious to me

fractalairduct
Sep 26, 2015

I, Giorno Giovanna, have a dream!

This reminds me a lot of the game based off of game based on the A Series of Unfortunate Events movie with Jim Carrey as Olaf. It's around the same era so it has a similar visual feel; and just like this the game had a lot more time to breathe and explore the settings than the movie did.

BioEnchanted
Aug 9, 2011

He plays for the dreamers that forgot how to dream, and the lovers that forgot how to love.
Part 2 - Introducing Thimbletack, as he gives to us things we lack!

We check the walls but on our approaches, we are beset by countless roaches!

Thesaya
May 17, 2011

I am a Plant.
I don't know how far ahead you've recorded, but in my opinion the music volume is a bit too high. It was especially evident during the Thimbletack section but in general it does drown out the rest of the game audio a bit.

BioEnchanted
Aug 9, 2011

He plays for the dreamers that forgot how to dream, and the lovers that forgot how to love.
I haven't recorded part 3 yet so thanks, I'll try to find the in-game option to turn the music down a bit.

BioEnchanted
Aug 9, 2011

He plays for the dreamers that forgot how to dream, and the lovers that forgot how to love.
Part 3's cutscene may have erred on the side of too loud, but I didn't realise how powerful audacity's boosting tool was and didn't want to boost the entire audio track.

Part 3 - The End of the Beginning

We finally start truly exploring and find a major set of mechanics, my personal favourite aspect of this game.

Samovar
Jun 4, 2011

When I want to relax, I read an essay by Engels. When I want something more serious, I read Corto Maltese.


Looking forward to another staggeringly obscure game.

BioEnchanted
Aug 9, 2011

He plays for the dreamers that forgot how to dream, and the lovers that forgot how to love.
Part 4 - The Forest Proper

I have trouble working out how to say it in the latest video so I'll elaborate: the world of the Spiderwick game made me realise how curated a game world normally is compared to how natural the world of Spiderwick feels. For example Ocarina Of Time's Hyrule Field - it's supposed to be a wildland, the meadow between all civilization, the one place barely touched - but while there is a clear path, which makes sense as the main thoroughfare, it's not a complete one, and considering how even the grass is in height, it feels like someone is mowing the entire field each day, but not bothering to maintain the paths, which results in it feeling very "gamey", very "Trying to be natural but you know it really isn't" - you can see the velvet ropes on the sides of the attraction.

However Spiderwick is carefully laid out, certainly, but it is also incredibly wild and overgrown. It feels untouched, like an actual forest even though the ease of navigating it gives it away. It has a kind of heightened reality as it feels realistically neglected, but simultaneously it feels comfortable because you always know exactly where you are within that realistic setting. It's a hard thing to get across.

In summary: It's like it's a real place, but an idealised version of it.

Chimera-gui
Mar 20, 2014
Interestingly enough, Thimbletack becoming a boggart is based on actual mythology as some helpful household sprites such as brownies are believed to turn into malevolent boggarts if offended or ill-treated.

it's also interesting that while Thimbletack speaks in rhyme as a brownie, he doesn't do it as a boggart.

Chimera-gui fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Jun 1, 2018

Thesaya
May 17, 2011

I am a Plant.
Just so you know, it's pronounced "cockatriss" :)

BioEnchanted
Aug 9, 2011

He plays for the dreamers that forgot how to dream, and the lovers that forgot how to love.
Part 5 - Simon's Quest

We finally see why Simon is my personal favourite character in the game, after a few minutes of being a bit annoyed with him. An awful lot happens in this part!

GamesAreSupernice
Jan 3, 2014

Oh, whoa! Check out the Viewing Globe, shorty!
This fairy mechanic is absurd, whoever made the game clearly missed the memo that collectibles are supposed to be bland, useless, and not incentivize the player to collect them through gameplay variety or unique rewards

BioEnchanted
Aug 9, 2011

He plays for the dreamers that forgot how to dream, and the lovers that forgot how to love.
Part 6 - Faries and Farenheit

In which we put the plot on hold for 20 minutes to do SIDEQUESTS! Then get back on track. Interesting things happen today, including a mini-boss.

fractalairduct
Sep 26, 2015

I, Giorno Giovanna, have a dream!

But... phoenixes don't lay eggs. They're reborn out of the ashes of their past life.

Lord_Magmar
Feb 24, 2015

"Welcome to pound town, Slifer slacker!"


fractalairduct posted:

But... phoenixes don't lay eggs. They're reborn out of the ashes of their past life.

They do both, that's how you get more than one pheonix.

Glazius
Jul 22, 2007

Hail all those who are able,
any mouse can,
any mouse will,
but the Guard prevail.

Clapping Larry
I appreciate these kids' willingness to cut the Lovecraftian knot in the traditional manner, even if ultimately it didn't work. That is one potent book.

Aesculus
Mar 22, 2013

I think I bought this for the PC for around 5 bucks from the bargain bin when I was around 10 or something. It corrupted and gave me all sorts of glitches and graphical artifacts though so I never got through it. Interesting to see how it holds up today.

Can I make a suggestion to turn up the brightness/gamma for the game a bit? It's a little hard to see some of the details on my monitor.

BioEnchanted
Aug 9, 2011

He plays for the dreamers that forgot how to dream, and the lovers that forgot how to love.
Part 7 - Sidequests in The Deep Woods

We do some optional stuff but it's very nice to get it done because of the reward we get. On top of that, we see a new area and explore it fairly thoroughly, despite me missing a couple of things that I'll need to go back for later. We also find my personal favourite fairy. I never use it, but it's cool that it's there.

Also Aesculus, I will try to bump the brightness for the next video without blowing it out completely.

BioEnchanted
Aug 9, 2011

He plays for the dreamers that forgot how to dream, and the lovers that forgot how to love.
Just figured I'd update you as it's been a couple of weeks - I've recorded and edited the next part, it's not going to take much longer. Just to let you all know I'll try to bump the brightness a tad, but not too much as it seems to only be Aesculus who is having the issues seeing it and I don't want to blow it out for everyone else.

BioEnchanted
Aug 9, 2011

He plays for the dreamers that forgot how to dream, and the lovers that forgot how to love.
Part 8 - The Tunnels

This part has a really cute puzzle that makes interesting use of the fairy mechanic and I like that.

GamesAreSupernice
Jan 3, 2014

Oh, whoa! Check out the Viewing Globe, shorty!

BioEnchanted posted:

Part 8 - The Tunnels

This part has a really cute puzzle that makes interesting use of the fairy mechanic and I like that.

so are there more puzzles like that later?

BioEnchanted
Aug 9, 2011

He plays for the dreamers that forgot how to dream, and the lovers that forgot how to love.
Unfortunately no, that's the only puzzle like that in the game, which is a shame.

GamesAreSupernice
Jan 3, 2014

Oh, whoa! Check out the Viewing Globe, shorty!

BioEnchanted posted:

Unfortunately no, that's the only puzzle like that in the game, which is a shame.

That's weird. Why would they only try it once? It seems like the game was meant for it.

Lord_Magmar
Feb 24, 2015

"Welcome to pound town, Slifer slacker!"


GamesAreSupernice posted:

That's weird. Why would they only try it once? It seems like the game was meant for it.

Because honestly there’s not much of the story actually left. The movie already truncated the books somewhat heavily and the game is only slightly better.

GamesAreSupernice
Jan 3, 2014

Oh, whoa! Check out the Viewing Globe, shorty!

Lord_Magmar posted:

Because honestly there’s not much of the story actually left. The movie already truncated the books somewhat heavily and the game is only slightly better.

Well, one is better than none.

BioEnchanted
Aug 9, 2011

He plays for the dreamers that forgot how to dream, and the lovers that forgot how to love.
Part 9 - Thimbletack's Remaining Errands

In this video we find an interesting use for Thimbletack's scurry, and see some new scenery behind the walls!

BioEnchanted
Aug 9, 2011

He plays for the dreamers that forgot how to dream, and the lovers that forgot how to love.
Part 10 - Raiding the Quarry

Today we raid the Quarry, clear out the Goblins there once and for all and retrieve our page to summon the Griffin!

GamesAreSupernice
Jan 3, 2014

Oh, whoa! Check out the Viewing Globe, shorty!

BioEnchanted posted:

Part 9 - Thimbletack's Remaining Errands

In this video we find an interesting use for Thimbletack's scurry, and see some new scenery behind the walls!

"I need to shift my weight in the air."

Whatever you need to tell yourself to make defying physics less terrifying, Thimbletack

BioEnchanted
Aug 9, 2011

He plays for the dreamers that forgot how to dream, and the lovers that forgot how to love.
Part 11 - Rounding up most of the Sidequests.

We complete the vast majority of the sidequests! The stuff we could do but haven't yet (ie 1 fairy and 2 cockroaches) will probably come later in a heavily edited format, maybe as part of a different session.

Chimera-gui
Mar 20, 2014
I like how Hogsqueal is presented as a decent guy despite the fact that his species are predators.

BioEnchanted
Aug 9, 2011

He plays for the dreamers that forgot how to dream, and the lovers that forgot how to love.

Chimera-gui posted:

I like how Hogsqueal is presented as a decent guy despite the fact that his species are predators.

To be fair, so are we in a way. Can't get pissy at him for eating a robin while we are chowing down on a burger.

Chimera-gui
Mar 20, 2014
That doesn't stop predatory animals in fiction from being caste as villains. Even in settings with predators as protagonists like Lion King, you get hyenas, jackels, vultures, cobras, and crocodiles as villains.

Chimera-gui fucked around with this message at 02:39 on Jul 30, 2018

BioEnchanted
Aug 9, 2011

He plays for the dreamers that forgot how to dream, and the lovers that forgot how to love.
Part 12 - Final Boss

We fight the final boss, but we aren't quite done. We still have a very tiny number of sidequests to round things out, so that video will be coming soon!

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BioEnchanted
Aug 9, 2011

He plays for the dreamers that forgot how to dream, and the lovers that forgot how to love.
Part 13 - 100% Complete

The final episode of the game - we have officially done everything. This post will be edited with a link to a second video (sans-commentary) of my going through the pages of the journal to show off all the art and descriptions. Some of them are interesting

Arthur's Completed Journal

If anyone has any final thoughts I'd love to hear them. I'll probably do my normal thing of leaving it for a couple of weeks before requesting Archival.

BioEnchanted fucked around with this message at 21:12 on Aug 2, 2018

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