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Bacter posted:Alright, finished adding captions to the first video. Perfect. They really help. Much appreciated! My vote: Café Ankh. I don't like to drop a line of investigation before it's exhausted, even at the behest of a Scary Troll.
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Nov 28, 2013 14:07
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Café Ankh, maybe we will find out more about Therma before we meet her!
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Nov 28, 2013 19:49
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Chiming in to say I appreciate the switch to VLP (full voice-acting goodness!), and that the Café Ankh does seem like the best next destination. And that the best reading order for the Discworld books is the one in which they were released.
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Nov 29, 2013 01:48
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Pretty much no way to play this legit it seems.
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Dec 2, 2013 00:32
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Was Discworld 2 about 25-50% "hey we've got Eric Idle, let's make Monty Python jokes" or was it just the musical number (which oozed Eric Idle from every pore) and rock candy bit (those who played it know what I mean) pushing out all other memories of the game?
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Dec 2, 2013 01:38
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Bruceski posted:Was Discworld 2 about 25-50% "hey we've got Eric Idle, let's make Monty Python jokes" or was it just the musical number (which oozed Eric Idle from every pore) and rock candy bit (those who played it know what I mean) pushing out all other memories of the game? By my recollection it was not heavy on Monty Python references. Plenty of references in general, mind.
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Dec 2, 2013 01:58
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Tenebrais posted:By my recollection it was not heavy on Monty Python references. Plenty of references in general, mind. Fair enough. Those two were very heavy-handed (the musical number more in tone than in direct reference). A note for references in THIS game, the dwarf Al-Khali is a reference to Peter Cairo from the Maltese Falcon, played by Peter Lorre; a man whose voice and large basset-hound eyes (though not relevant here) make him or any reference to him immediately recognizable.
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Dec 2, 2013 03:30
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Excellently spotted! I've actually not played the other Discworld games through - I've only seen them (partly) LP'd. They did get good reviews, but honestly every review I've read just says "Simon the Sorcerer! Only less so!" In other news: hi! Finals are over! Back to REGULAR SCHEDULES, SUCKERS.  Things really start to get mysterious. We decided to follow the Cafe Ankh, and I agree that that's the most sensible choice at this juncture. You'll meet two of my favorite characters in the game, and get dredged through some of Lewton's UNSAVORY BACKSTORY. Captions for the youtube coming soon, and SSLP version on the way if I can find a text dump! Bacter fucked around with this message at 07:37 on Dec 8, 2013 |
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Dec 8, 2013 07:35
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In Discworld news, I just finished Unseen Academicals[/b], and I feel exactly about Andy how I did about the psycho guy in [i]Snuff. It seems like "dangerous violent bully psychopath" is sort of the go-to villain when the story doesn't need one, and whatever. I don't follow sports, but I did really like his description of the shove. Struck a cord. I like most all of his recent stuff though, so who knows. Any reviews on Raising Steam? Also guys: SPECIAL GUEST next episode! Bacter fucked around with this message at 07:50 on Dec 8, 2013 |
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Dec 8, 2013 07:39
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Bacter posted:Excellently spotted! After all the bitter melodramatic monologuing from Lawton at the Cafe, the "I forget" line nearly made me choke from laughing.
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Dec 8, 2013 07:57
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Bacter posted:In Discworld news, I just finished Unseen Academicals[/b], and I feel exactly about Andy how I did about the psycho guy in Snuff. It seems like "dangerous violent bully psychopath" is sort of the go-to villain when the story doesn't need one, and whatever. I just finished reading Raising Steam. It definitely seemed a bit unpolished to me, but I liked it much better than Snuff or [i]Unseen Academicals. The moral lessons continue to be fairly heavy-handed and unsubtle though, but again I didn't feel like they were as bad as in Snuff. The other thing that really started to grate on me was the way it seemed like Pratchett was going out of his way to reference as many as his older books as he could. I'm not sure why it bothered me, it just seemed kind of out of place. On the whole though, it was an enjoyable read. Certainly not his best work, but definitely better than some of his more recent releases.
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Dec 8, 2013 08:05
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SWMadness posted:After all the bitter melodramatic monologuing from Lawton at the Cafe, the "I forget" line nearly made me choke from laughing. You've got to be willing to throw it all away for a perfectly timed punchline.
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Dec 8, 2013 08:05
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A few interesting things about this episode (and the previous). Firstly there's the von Überwalds. As well as the clues dropped in the game so far, people familiar with the books may recall that a certain captain of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch's full name is Delphine Angua von Überwald. There have also been a few noir references. Malachite looking for Therma is fairly similar to Moose Malloy looking for Velma Valento, who worked at a nightclub in Farewell, My Lovely. This is not where the similarities end, but it's about all we've got so far. Count von Überwald is similar to General Sternwood from The Big Sleep. And of course "Play it again, Sam" the famous misquote from Casablanca. Bacter posted:Any reviews on Raising Steam? In short, I found it pretty boring. If you're interested in more detail as to why, I wrote a full review on Goodreads.
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Dec 8, 2013 14:07
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God, I love this game so. It's been too long since I played it. Can't wait for the next update, Bacter! 
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Dec 8, 2013 14:13
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Who does the voice of the butler? He sounds very familiar to me for some reason.
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Dec 8, 2013 18:54
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Unpolished is a pretty good word for Raising Steam. It shares with the other more recent books in the series a rushed quality as well, like Sir Pratchett has enough ideas for another dozen novels but not enough time left( ) to use all of them, resulting in books that shove in all of the important characters at the expense of the focus his earlier novels had. Poor Moist, despite ostensibly being the main character in Raising Steam, spends much of the book working under the guest stars and only has a few shining moments of Moist-ness, which were what made his books so engrossing to begin with. It's entertaining, but lacking in much of the genius that drew me to the series.
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Dec 8, 2013 19:20
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This is about the best praise I could give the character of Lewton, but I really wish he was in some genuine books for Discworld. Pratchett commented once that Vimes and the watch were actually difficult to cope with, because any concept involving crime basically became a watch book - and Lewton is a good way around that. Lewton's story is a good bit darker than most of the watch books, and Ankh-Morpork is just MADE for noir. Not only that, but the guard books openly acknowledge that there is a good bit going on that the watch can't monitor - they have plainclothes police for that reason, but Lewton LIVES in that world. Plus, I just really, really, really like his character. He's SO hard-boiled! I don't know how much Pratchett was involved in the dialogue, but it must have been a lot. MUST have been. The one real criticism I had about Unseen Academicals is that I didn't much care about the new characters. The point of this mystery is to show off a different side of Ankh-Morpork, for sure, but it's done through Lewton. We spend time in his head, and I just love every moment of it.
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Dec 9, 2013 04:13
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Bacter posted:This is about the best praise I could give the character of Lewton, but I really wish he was in some genuine books for Discworld. Reading through the Watch books, at first I kept expecting him to pop up in some way, but it didn't take too long before I realized he wouldn't. Admittedly, I haven't got through them all yet due to a lack of reading time, and haven't read enough Diskworld in general to know how much continuity is respected. However, it seems to me that you'd have a hard time coming up with a proper 'origin' for him. If that really matters at all in the books. Due to events in the books he would have been around before Carrot arrived on the scene. Unfortunately, unless it's in a book I haven't yet got to, there is no mention of anyone like him. It's not like the books shy away from mentioning the few old members either. Which are all now dead. While that in itself is really not important, everything describing recent pre-Carrot times makes it sound like really dark times for the Watch is. They seemed to only really exist in name, just stayed out of everyone's way, and never had any hope, drive, or enthusiasm. I have a hard time imagining someone so hard-boiled and motivated(?) as Lewton existing in such a environment without rubbing off on the other guys. In at least some way. Though as I said, I haven't read enough of the books to know the policy on making those kind of changes to the narrative. All of that said though, I do very much agree with you. With how seedy Ankh-Morpork can be, he would be a great vehicle to see another angle of it. Doesn't hurt that noir is something I also enjoy though.
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Dec 9, 2013 05:33
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BoltR posted:Admittedly, I haven't got through them all yet due to a lack of reading time, and haven't read enough Diskworld in general to know how much continuity is respected. There are a few continuity errors that happen in the series, but because the books for the most part are self-contained and stand well on their own, it doesn't actually matter. The biggest continuity shift is just in the general tone of the setting in the early books like Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic versus the later ones.
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Dec 9, 2013 05:53
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Incidentally, The Color of Magic was referenced by Lewton, when he said the last time someone from the Counterweight Continent (which is sort of Discworld's far East Asia) came to Ankh-Morpork, he almost burned the city down. That person was Twoflower, a tourist, and by introducing the shopkeepers of Ankh-Morpork to the concept of insurance, he opened the floodgates for them to all try and commit insurance fraud at once and burn down their shops.
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Dec 9, 2013 06:00
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SWMadness posted:There are a few continuity errors that happen in the series, but because the books for the most part are self-contained and stand well on their own, it doesn't actually matter. The biggest continuity shift is just in the general tone of the setting in the early books like Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic versus the later ones.
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Dec 9, 2013 06:26
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BoltR posted:Reading through the Watch books, at first I kept expecting him to pop up in some way, but it didn't take too long before I realized he wouldn't. There's no Lewton in the books. Basically, thanks to events in the books he could only be pre-Carrot but thanks to elements of Lewton's own backstory he could only be post-Carrot. Narrative physicists haven't found a third option yet, so Lewton is just for this game.
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Dec 9, 2013 09:49
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He could introduce Lewton now thanks to Thief of Time, though. I'm a bit surprised Terry hasn't really done a genuine out-of-place alternate dimension character. It was hinted at once in Jingo! with the DisOrganizer, but it would have been fun to read, I think. But sadly I think with his illness that it'd be too hard for him now
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Dec 9, 2013 10:15
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Dr. Buttass posted:There's no Lewton in the books. Basically, thanks to events in the books he could only be pre-Carrot but thanks to elements of Lewton's own backstory he could only be post-Carrot. Narrative physicists haven't found a third option yet, so Lewton is just for this game. All continuity errors are the result of the time monks messing poo poo up to keep the universe from being destroyed. This also somehow explains why trolls used to turn to immobile stone in sunlight but now are able to keep to the same daylight hours as everyone else.
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Dec 9, 2013 10:56
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Tiggum posted:This also somehow explains why trolls used to turn to immobile stone in sunlight but now are able to keep to the same daylight hours as everyone else. The explanation for this is actually given in Men At Arms, I think. One of the mid-era Watch books, anyway - they don't turn to stone, their heat-sensitive brain isn't used to the temperature shock of sunrise and locks up. Alchemists in Ankh-Morpork start selling a barrier cream that helps them cool down.
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Dec 9, 2013 11:00
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Tiggum posted:A few interesting things about this episode (and the previous). Firstly there's the von Überwalds. As well as the clues dropped in the game so far, people familiar with the books may recall that a certain captain of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch's full name is Delphine Angua von Überwald. Oh man, that is a good review! I recommend reading it. Keep them noir references coming! I'm planning on doing a bit of a noir information thing here, because with a little cursory research I'm finding a bunch of cool stuff about the genre I'd like to get into! Confused Llama posted:Who does the voice of the butler? He sounds very familiar to me for some reason. The game is surprisingly cagey about the voices. It's, um, either Rob Brydon, Robert Llewellyn, or Nigel Planer! They're all just credit with a few main characters' voices then just "other voices". Bacter fucked around with this message at 23:48 on Dec 9, 2013 |
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Dec 9, 2013 23:46
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Loxbourne posted:The explanation for this is actually given in Men At Arms, I think. One of the mid-era Watch books, anyway - they don't turn to stone, their heat-sensitive brain isn't used to the temperature shock of sunrise and locks up. Alchemists in Ankh-Morpork start selling a barrier cream that helps them cool down. Which is also why trolls and dwarfs don't get along. Dwarfs hate it when they go out mining and the ore-bearing rock stands up and boxes their ears, and trolls hate having their nap interrupted because someone is trying to steal their nervous system.
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Dec 9, 2013 23:53
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Bacter posted:The game is surprisingly cagey about the voices. It's, um, either Rob Brydon, Robert Llewellyn, or Nigel Planer! They're all just credit with a few main characters' voices then just "other voices". It's Robert Llewellyn, you can hear it really clearly if you know his voice.
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Dec 10, 2013 14:33
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This game got very The Big Sleep in this video.
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Dec 10, 2013 20:52
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Bacter posted:
Welcome back to LP land! Did you manage to finish the subtitles on this ep in the end? I was taking a look at the video just now and they're rather wonky. If you're not done yet I'll wait for that, otherwise I'll plough on through! Thanks again for doing them 
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Dec 10, 2013 22:21
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No, they're coming tonight! Sorry for the delay - I was doing a bit of filming for the Baldur's Gate LP I'm doing with Mzbundifund!
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Dec 10, 2013 22:37
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This is probably one of my favorite games of all time, and I have never been able to play it or get it working. Now I see it's getting an LP on Something Awful, and said LP is being done by you Bacter? Christmas has actually come early for me. I cannot wait to begin reading, I just stumbled across this and I needed to say this before I began.
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Dec 11, 2013 23:21
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I got this game about when it was new, and I never managed to finish it. In fact, you've already made it further than I ever got. Heh. So just, thanks for doing this and giving me a chance to see yet another game I never finished.
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Dec 11, 2013 23:37
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Oh my gosh that butler is terrific. I've got to agree with you that Pratchett must have had a lot to do with the writing in this game. The tone is pretty much perfect.
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Dec 12, 2013 00:57
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Tenebrais posted:It's Robert Llewellyn, you can hear it really clearly if you know his voice. Plus, he's the only one of the three that I know can do a fairly solid Ronnie Corbett (the second closest match, but sadly not doing any voices in this game). Still, this is pretty fun so far, and I definitely look forward to the next part, Bacter!
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Dec 12, 2013 20:34
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Just caught back up this thread. I like the shift to VLP, though there's at least one confused Youtube commentator asking "where's episode 1?" I missed the Discworld MUD discussion, but wow - haven't thought of that game in years. I think I was High Priest of Fish when I left, although that could be because there were only three priests of Fish on the entire server. It was fun, although priests had a ridiculously unbalanced shield spell that let them tank pretty much any fight in the game. Regarding Raising Steam, I agree with Calamitous_Justice, it feels like it's about two drafts away from done. There's also a shift to much smaller scenes and a less involved plot that made me pretty  about poor Sir Terry.I think the reason Dodger was better was because he'd probably had it sitting in a desk drawer for years, and the reason why The Long Earth books are better is because the co-author can do some of the heavy lifting on editing. I did read somewhere that his daughter Rhianna (who wrote the Overlord games, and the recent Tomb Raider reboot) may be taking on some ownership of the Discworld, so maybe she'll co-author the next one, which might help. (The writing for the Overlord games does have a pretty Discworld feel to it - write what you know, I guess.)
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Dec 14, 2013 13:27
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Kloro posted:The writing for the Overlord games does have a pretty Discworld feel to it - write what you know, I guess. I played Overlord before reading the Discworld series, and looking back, the Minions are basically evil Nac Mac Feegles. It was always hilarious just having them bumrush an area and thrash the hell out of it and its occupants.
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Dec 14, 2013 13:34
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Sorry about the delay - I've gotten 90% done with the subtitles for the video, only to have some catastrophe or another wipe them out, but I want to get the subtitles down for this episode before moving on! I did manage to play a little of the discworld MUD - it looked fun enough, and I wandered around with a few other fresh-faced newbies. I got the sense of great age and effort by some of the players in there, and, like was mentioned here, the idea that I could never, ever, ever catch up. Still, the descriptions were fun!
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Dec 15, 2013 06:55
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Kloro posted:I think the reason Dodger was better was because he'd probably had it sitting in a desk drawer for years, and the reason why The Long Earth books are better is because the co-author can do some of the heavy lifting on editing. I did read somewhere that his daughter Rhianna (who wrote the Overlord games, and the recent Tomb Raider reboot) may be taking on some ownership of the Discworld, so maybe she'll co-author the next one, which might help. (The writing for the Overlord games does have a pretty Discworld feel to it - write what you know, I guess.) Officially speaking, this is the status of Discworld re: Rhianna Pratchett's involvement: She has been groomed, somewhat, to take over the series once her father is either too dead or too senile to write it himself. Pratchett intends to leave her the rights to the series when he dies, that she may have the opportunity to do so. She has not, to my knowledge, made an official statement as to whether or not she intends to actually do so, and may prefer to let the series die with her father.
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Dec 15, 2013 12:19
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It'd probably be the most merciful thing to do to the series. I played Overlord, I don' have too much trust in his daughter's writing sklls.
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