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  Heavy stuff in this thread. Read the OP   The Cat Lady is an adventure game developed by Remigiusz Michalski surrounding the life of Susan Ashworth. But that's not even the half of it. To start, let's get one thing straight: this is a dark game. It deals with death, suicide, crippling depression, disease, insanity, and other mental disorders of all kinds in a way that is tasteful but brutal. Let me repeat that, this game is very, very dark. It will make you uncomfortable. It will make you want to skip parts of it. It will bring you down. There is no shame in taking a break from it. It is a highly emotional game that deals with highly emotional topics. Being upset by it is natural, it means that you're human. And more to the point, it means that it is working. Therefore, I am putting a trigger warning on this thread. This isn't some kind of Tumblrette bullshit, I am serious. If you have issues regarding suicide or depression, then I recommend that you either stay away or take it slow. This can be a very cathartic game. But it can also dredge up some nasty feelings that you might not want to deal with, believe me. So take this warning to heart. Of course, things get a bit more silly as we go along. It turns out that there isn't quite as much reverence to be had when doing it in this format. This will be a subtitled VLP, and sometimes a quiet one at that. This is a game that runs on atmosphere, so my chattering overtop of it is not always helpful. We will be showing off all the endings, The movement and everything might seem a bit shaky, that is because the engine that the game runs on is pretty simplistic in the motions that it allows. The best parts of the game comes from the tone, writing, music, and art surrounding the work. And man, what a work it is. Rules 1. No spoilers for plot points that haven't happened yet. There's quite a few good twists that I don't want spoiled. Also, if you discuss a major point that just happened in a recent video then please spoiler-tag it. 2. I expect that this will make some people hot under the collar at times. That's fine, but if things start getting stupid then I will not hesitate to close the thread until cooler heads prevail. If you want to have a fight then do it in PMs. I will try to update every weekend with one or two videos, but no guarantee. Episode 1: A Field of Barley Episode 2: Tell Us About Yourself, Liz Episode 3: Tell Us About Your Family Episode 4: Sheila Episode 5: What's up, Doc? Episode 6: Cats and Coffee Episode 7: Miss Mitzi Episode 8: Miss Mitzi's Misfortunate Motivations Episode 9: Lab Safety Failure Episode 10: How Did She Make It To 40? Episode 11: The Terrorists Did It Episode 12: Stairs! Episode 13: Legend Of The Cat Lady Episode 14: Choice Links for anyone that wants to support the indie dev that made the game! http://www.thecatlady.co.uk/ (direct) http://store.steampowered.com/app/253110/ CuddleCryptid fucked around with this message at 03:46 on Oct 30, 2014 |
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May 25, 2014 19:00
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Characters Susan Ashworth  The main protagonist of the story, Susan lives alone apart from the stray cats that she takes care of. And she’s okay with that, because she doesn’t enjoy the company of others much. Clinically depressed, she commits suicide at the start of the story and wakes up in a field of barley in a surreal afterlife. Afterwards, she gets a strange request from an old woman. Is given the task of killing five "parasites" in exchange for her life back. To facilitate this she is also given immortality... for a price. Old Woman/Queen Of Maggots  And old woman that Susan finds in the Afterlife. Some form of Old God that controls part of the Afterlife. Is able to bring Susan back from the dead and give her actual immortality, so her powers are real. Trades a life for a life to accomplish this. Speaks in a German accent. Mitzi Hunt  Upbeat, dark-color sporting girl that comes to stay with Susan. Broke into Susan's apartment to save her life at the start. Has cancer, wants to do one thing before she dies: find a certain person in Susan's building. The best character. CuddleCryptid fucked around with this message at 05:45 on Jun 15, 2014 |
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May 25, 2014 19:01
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Clayren posted:If someone is likely to become suicidal or have PTSD from something they read or view on the internet they really should not be viewing the internet, or at least not The Something Awful Comedy Forums™. We're all big boys here. There is some bad stuff on the internet, but the Cat Lady deals with some pretty hosed Up poo poo. Most of the stuff on the Forum is pretty lighthearted, hence all the warnings. Just don't want people to be surprised. E. It won't make people literally suicidal of course, that is hyperbole. But it can pluck some pretty nasty strings in some people.
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May 25, 2014 20:23
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Pierzak posted:I wanted to watch this LP. Now I won't. I'm gonna go buy the game and finish it first instead. Avalible on Desura and Steam! 
CuddleCryptid fucked around with this message at 22:28 on May 25, 2014 |
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May 25, 2014 22:14
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OwlFancier posted:The game is probably... not on quite the same level as anything else on the LP subforum. The closest thing I know of to compare it to is Corpse Party, and even then it's quite different still. I would compare it to Cart Life, or some of those despair simulators that are popular in Russia. Pathologic by Ice Pick Lodge is a good comparison in that sense, it really isn't a fun game or a happy one. It is cathartic though. It is kind of hard to describe. It has a few moments of genuine humor. But a large amount of it is just bad and not fun to play. Not in a mechanic sense, it is just something you don't want to watch. E. And yet I am LPing it and making you all watch 
CuddleCryptid fucked around with this message at 01:16 on May 26, 2014 |
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May 26, 2014 00:44
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Two posts for the start. Episode 2: Tell Us About Yourself, Liz Filling in some more about the dev Essentially he's based the character of Susan off the real-life struggles that his friends have had to overcome their own depression. While this helps make the dialogue so convincing, I will point out a few moments later in the video that are basically copy-pasted from the lives of these people, including one part that is a poem written by one of them during a low point.
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May 26, 2014 05:31
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Fat Samurai posted:I decided long ago to LP Pathologic, but to ease my suffering I decided to write the bloody thing entirely, at my own pace, and then post it little by little. You poor mad bastard. It's a great game but god drat is it both wordy and unpleasant, and next to impossible to complete unless you use a guide.
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May 26, 2014 15:50
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I should expand on the conditions for the Special Ending. There's a list of eight conditions that you have to fulfill. One is kind of impossible to do without save scumming or using a walkthrough because it relies on you not doing what you always do in every adventure game: Look at everything you walk past. This prevents you from getting the non-canon choice on the first playthough, so I think that is at least partially intentional, although it has thematic elements that will be explained later. The other seven are all based around Susan preserving life, standing up for herself and showing self worth as a result, listening to others, being self-sacrificing in a positive way, and in other ways being a decent human being. The first condition is that you have to stand up to the Queen Of Maggots when she offers you the choice. It's obvious that you have to do what she says, but Susan demands that she is a free, living person and refuses to accept that it is the only real way. The game railroads you into it in the end anyways, the game must go on, but that act of rebellion even in the face of eternal despair shows that she really believes in herself despite her previous actions. This is hammered home by the other options, where she tiredly resigns herself to following the QoM's instructions in a beaten-down tone. Essentially she has to exhibit signs of recovery: self-worth, positive self-sacrifice, making the effort to interact with the world instead of shutting yourself out, and so on. Depression makes you want to shut out the world, she has to show that she is actively trying to interact with it in a positive way.
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May 27, 2014 02:12
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Getsuya posted:I don't know if this was the creator's intent, but both the deer and the hanging tree with what look like human faces may be symbols from Dante's Inferno. In the circle of Hell dedicated to those who committed violence, people who hurt animals were turned into deer and forced to run forever from the snapping jaws of the Hellhounds. They ran through a forest made of trees that were the souls of suicides. In life the suicides destroyed their own bodies, so in death they are trapped forever, immobile, to be tormented and disfigured by the wild running animals that snap off their branches and tear their bark. That is actually really cool, and it seems like too much of a match to be coincidence. Nice catch!
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May 27, 2014 04:40
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Third episode is up! Episode 3: Tell Us Aboout Your Family This one is a lot of sitting around and talking, we are still in the intro stages of the game where it slowly establishes Susan's character. We still have a couple of videos until we get to the bloodshed and murder. Will have the other half of this up today or tomorrow.
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May 31, 2014 17:45
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Five posted:The video is private Son of a bitch. Alright, NOW it's up. VVVV Should be fixed. CuddleCryptid fucked around with this message at 19:33 on May 31, 2014 |
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May 31, 2014 18:45
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StrangeAeon posted:I hadn't explored all of the options yet. That's pretty Technically we are using the Happy Family option because that makes me feel better inside. But ultimately I don't believe it makes any difference other than during that one conversation. And there's plenty more possible choices, I do like how the flow together (like how the dad and mom both committing suicide makes one flow right into the other with the same story.) Well, not "like", but still, it's a nice detail. VVVV Blurg, I didn't even notice. I think it's because we loaded into a talky section without any movement controls, so it didn't go keyboard-exclusive like normal. Sorry, all. CuddleCryptid fucked around with this message at 22:59 on May 31, 2014 |
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May 31, 2014 21:33
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Since we've had so many  for the last video, let's do three today and just get right to the weird bits for this week.Episode 4: Sheila Episode 5: What's up, Doc? StrangeAeon posted:Despite what the object is described as, the cables at the top make me think it's supposed to represent a spider, or a tick. A parasitic tick. Which in turn, makes me think the situation is more a result of Susan's brush with the Queen of Maggots than a real-world analogue. Good observation! It's called the Spider's Heart SilverWingedSeraph posted:This game is trippy and sort of depressing, but this LP makes it look interesting enough that I might have to buy it and check it out. It is a very cool game, and I do encourage everyone to buy it if you like the LP just to support the developer. I will put a link to the store pages in the OP. However, I wouldn't feel obligated to actually *play* it if you watch the LP all the way though. The controls are a lot more rough than it seems just watching the videos, and it can be kind of a mess. By no means am I saying that you can't play it, of course, just noting that watching is more fun then playing at times. CuddleCryptid fucked around with this message at 03:08 on Jun 1, 2014 |
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Jun 1, 2014 02:37
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resurgam40 posted:(incidentally, it is a crime you didn't choose the "They call me the cat lady" option when it came up. A crime, I say! For shame! ) I prefer to think of her as without a superhero name. Because she's not a hero... she's a silent guardian, a watchful protector... a
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Jun 1, 2014 04:18
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curiousCat posted:Did you [plan to] mention That there's a way to leave without killing the doctor and that there is a second weapon you can make? Watch the rest of Episode 5. It's all in there.
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Jun 1, 2014 07:29
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Arelon posted:I almost stopped watching at the beginning of the first video because of the graphics, but now I'm glad I didn't. The visuals are actually really nice when you get used to them, and at least so far I've loved the voice acting and the music too. One of the problems that the game has is that the first part of the story is very slow and very chatty, and I imagine that it turns a lot of people off from it. From a visual standpoint the game looks identical to any other "horror adventure game", which may be why it isn't as popular as it probably should be. Not to say that the game should start rolling in the gore right off the bat, establishing Susan as a character was important. But we had almost forty five minutes of video here that was just you sitting in a room and talking to the doctor. It was recursive as we went through the dialogue tree, but many gamers are impatient and would get turned off by that. E. I mean, even the whole trippy part in the field of barley was "walk here, walk there, walk here, look at this, walk here, sit and chat with the Old Woman for half an hour" Also, link to the song during That Part. CuddleCryptid fucked around with this message at 16:30 on Jun 1, 2014 |
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Jun 1, 2014 16:25
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ultrafilter posted:What happens if you drink the red stuff? Nothing, she just notes that she is already on enough drugs and drinking it would probably kill her.
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Jun 1, 2014 18:05
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the Gaffe posted:The medical paper said Ann was a heroin addict, and was prescribed Methadone (not Methamphetamine) for the withdrawals, which is probably why there was confusion. It's interesting to note Ann's choice to stay at the hospital on her own will, though. It's true that Methadone is given to heroin junkies to help with the withdrawals, but what also tends to happen is those junkies end up becoming addicted to the actual Methadone, which does give a high on its own. So some true addicts will bounce back and forth between these drugs, never truly being free from the addiction. Ann probably comes and goes when it's time to switch to Methadone, which is easier to get when you're given a prescription for it. Yeah, in my research for this episode I was reading up on Methadone and got the wires crossed in my head. Dammit, I'm a chemist, I academically know how to make meth, I should know the difference between them. And that is a good point with the rest. Ann is very clearly addicted to something that the nurses are giving her, which turns out to be the Methadone (crazy spider heart fever dreams nonwithstanding). She desperately wants the heroin again, but seems relatively content to settle for second best as long as it makes her high.
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Jun 2, 2014 03:23
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SilverWingedSeraph posted:Well I went and bought the game because these last two videos really piqued my interest. I just write it off as "if I am going to go up against a murderous psychopath I want an actual weapon." I may have to go back and get footage of the mace you can make with the saw blade because that really is less "improvised weapon" and more "post apocalyptic roleplayer". Seriously, it's a saw blade attacked to a pole by a bolt and topped with a creepy doll head. E. Anyone interested in trying the game for themselves or supporting the dev, it's on sale for a weekly deal on Steam. VVVV Huh, I must just be misremembering things or reading it wrong. The mace needs to be put together in a very specific order, so you can get a lot of "You can't use that" notes while putting it together. CuddleCryptid fucked around with this message at 23:22 on Jun 2, 2014 |
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Jun 2, 2014 22:06
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Glazius posted:Man, choose-your-own-one-liner takes a lot out of the drama of a situation. There's a few of these moments in the game and every single one of them is amazing. They completely kill the drama, of course, but that just makes them even more hilarious. General chat, this set is going to be a couple days late, I have stuff going on this weekend that isn't conductive to the macabre so it'll be up Tuesday or Wednesday at the earliest. VVVV Glad you liked it!  I am surprised you made it through the apartment without breaking down on your first run, that involves quite a bit of luck.
CuddleCryptid fucked around with this message at 16:23 on Jun 8, 2014 |
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Jun 8, 2014 07:49
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Kytrarewn posted:Is the door that's lit up the right door or the answer to your query? Our role is to make Susan stronger, yes, but that doesn't jive *completely* with the Otherworld's citizens. They are trying to help in their own cruel roundabout way but they also demand compliance and servitude so it is a mixed hat. Ultimately Crow wants you to pick the preachy door, which is why the right door shows up lit (the questions causes the "wrong" door to light up)
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Jun 8, 2014 16:21
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Mercury_Storm posted:So is there a way to not die to the "parasites" or do you always end up blowing out a candle and killing someone to move the plot forward? There is a situation later where you can skip a candle by doing a psuedo-stealth section correctly to avoid a parasite who otherwise kills you, as well as something in the end. That being said it is impossible to go through the game by only blowing out that one candle, you are forced by plot to do it other times.
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Jun 8, 2014 23:15
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Also, I partially lied. Here's the first part of the set Episode 6: Cats and Coffee
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Jun 9, 2014 05:41
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grimlock_master posted:Indeed it is. It is an assertation of control over her life. Yeah, the blue bar is less "good person" and more "Feels good about herself". And frankly I always feel better after telling someone to gently caress off.
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Jun 9, 2014 23:24
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Rabbi Raccoon posted:So if the red bar fills is it a game over? Or is it just another way to end the chapter? Zellus posted:The latter. You get a Steam achievement if you fill the blue bar, but I think that's about it. This is correct, I guess I didn't communicate that well. Susan flips her poo poo if you fill up the red bar, but other than that the game is unchanged. resurgam40 posted:I'd be kinda odd if it were, given that "everything sucking" seems to be the way Susan's life has been for a while. Yeah, I equate the game turning adventure game logic on its head to pitfalls of depression, where little things can really set you off. You'll look at a random object because that is what you do in adventure games and it will bring up a bad memory and stress Susan out. As much of a pain as it is getting through this entire sequence without a walkthrough, it's kind of well done in a metaphorical sense. I just wish it wasn't such a bitch to play. The way that this breaks down somewhat is that avoiding some of the stressors involves having pre-knowledge of things like the electrical meter being out or the milk being off. You wouldn't use coffee whitener when you have milk, after all. Luckily you have to gently caress up at every single opportunity in order to fill the red bar, with the pivotal ones being do you blow up the burger and tell the guy across the hall to gently caress off. So it's kind of weird to think of it as a big metaphor when things are like that, but I suppose if you want to torture it then you can say that they represent the things in life that can go wrong suddenly just to gently caress with you. And yes, that's the same poem that opened up the chapter, from the Director's depressed friend. It's just showing off the second, somewhat more upbeat half. Cool story, bro. CuddleCryptid fucked around with this message at 02:39 on Jun 10, 2014 |
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Jun 10, 2014 02:34
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big duck equals goose posted:Well, I mean, it's true, I can't claim those statements as facts, but I feel very strongly that they are accurate and will stick with them. Eh, while that is true, quite a few of the themes are universal to that specific kind of mental disorder, which is also one of the most common mental disorder. So it strikes chords in enough people to justify its existence. It's kind of a hit-or-miss thing, you either sympathize with it enough to overlook the flaws or you don't and it looks awful. The ending is retarded, I know. It's definitely a low point The gameplay is poo poo, though, I will agree with that. Also everyone stop putting spoilers in the thread thanks. CuddleCryptid fucked around with this message at 04:16 on Jun 10, 2014 |
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Jun 10, 2014 04:12
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It seems like the dev really wanted to make a game about the "quiet bits" but knew that it would be played by pretty much no one. The game already is largely unknown even with the violent bits in it. The Parasites is the framing for making the game exciting while the talky bits are for making it meaningful. E. The gory bit are very much Silent Hill-y, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But the flow is pretty rough, I will agree with that. Again, I think it's because it would be more depressing or boring without those gory cathartic bits. They are what set apart The Cat Lady from things like Cart Life, where there is nothing but awful, sad things happening all the time. CuddleCryptid fucked around with this message at 18:13 on Jun 10, 2014 |
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Jun 10, 2014 18:10
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BottledBodhisvata posted:I rather liked that. The Queen may not even know what she is. Like any fairy tale creature, she's crafty, and may pretend to know a lot more than what she does. For all we know, she's utterly powerless, just like Susan is. Well, we know she has -some- power, she did make Susan immortal after all
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Jun 10, 2014 21:00
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Not to spoil too much, but it is a mixed bag as far as the explanation goes. Some of it makes sense, with the deer and crows (the animal, not the Crow) but some things are left unexplained. The Queen of Maggots gets an explanation that makes very little sense, but an explanation nonetheless. Unfortunately it is explained in a way that I honestly thought the QoM was Teacup until I thought about it. Still, I implore you all to bear in mind that it is an indie dev working alone in a lovely gameplay engine trying to make this. The MST3K mantra can come in handy with some of the things in the game
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Jun 10, 2014 21:42
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Update! Episode 7: Miss Mitzi I know how much you guys like talky sections.
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Jun 15, 2014 04:31
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Rabbi Raccoon posted:Something happened on your computer around the 8 minute mark. I must know what it is. No idea. It binged then nothing happened, so I rolled with it. I didnt think anyone would notice.
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Jun 15, 2014 04:50
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You can post it in the thread, that is fine, but please wait until the LP is finished to do so.
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Jun 15, 2014 15:37
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Update 2! Episode 8: Miss Mitzi's Misfortunate Motivations
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Jun 16, 2014 00:28
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ModernMajorGeneral posted:Not to defend encouraging people to commit suicide at all, but that was a weird way to conclude the suicide forum discussion. Eh, I think it's mostly there to show the depth of how much control the Eye of Adam has over his victims. Not only is he controlling them to kill themselves, it's so complete that he's dictating every action they do on the way out. Idunn posted:I haven't played ahead or anything, I'm just following this LP. I'll respect your wishes of course, I hope this doesn't seem argumentative. Oh no, it's fine, I just ask that you wait because I want people to experience the game for what it is, which is more difficult if every update we have Joe Goon posting his thesis about what's wrong with the game. After it's over, poo poo, rail on it all you want. We're already halfway through it anyways. Also, you are all right, Mitzi is the Best Character.
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Jun 16, 2014 18:47
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Kytrarewn posted:The toilet bleach to which they refer isn't NaClO(aq.) but instead HCl(aq.). Interestingly , the instructions for making deadly H2S(g) have been obscured through the requirement for an ammonia containing compound. That is true, mixing the two ingredients just gets you a solution of chloroamines that will probably give you cancer in the long run but won't instantly kill you. I drew the comparison to SH3 for that reason, they deliberately gently caress up the chemistry (I imagine) in order to prevent some dumbass from trying it himself. There is was generic "bathroom detergent", here it's fertilizer. I assume they are shooting for Cl2(g), just obscured it intentionally. There are bleaches that contain some sulfur, the reducing bleaches that they use in some organic materials industries, that would liberate H2S in the presence of acid (again, not ammonia). However, its pretty obvious that they mean household sodium hypochlorite. E. Video probs up Sunday CuddleCryptid fucked around with this message at 05:17 on Jun 21, 2014 |
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Jun 18, 2014 03:24
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Now that the forums are slowly unfucking themselves, I can post this update from two days ago! I've been holding onto it until things fixed themsevles and just put it up two hours ago in a "screw it" motion, so I claim responsibility for saving the forums. Episode 9: Lab Safety Failure CuddleCryptid fucked around with this message at 23:17 on Jul 10, 2014 |
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Jun 26, 2014 02:15
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Yeah, the game has its ups and downs and this is certainly a down part. It'll get better, somewhat. I'd say "it's all downhill from here" but it's more of several upwards bumps on a gradual downward incline. Rabbi Raccoon posted:Mitzi's cancer gets cured with the power of friendship, doesn't it? No.... at least not canonically Mercury_Storm posted:Yeah good lord, just about everything the game had to offer in that episode was an embarrassment. I guess I'm only watching this to see how bad it gets now. More of handwaving "why doesn't she just call the loving police"
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Jun 26, 2014 03:29
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Mercury_Storm posted:Susan could have just said "If I call the police I'll never be able to 'properly' deal with the parasites" or something. Seems like the game has given up all pretenses of you not having to kill them now anyways, even going as far as to put mystical fog preventing you from going home (that clears up after you kill all monsters, like in some action-horror game). If I wanted to be gracious, I would say that it is showing what a black mark getting mental help can be once it goes on record. No one will believe anything you say anymore because hey, you're clinically insane, right? So gently caress you! Now, if you want to be forgiving, that's an individual thing.
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Jun 26, 2014 06:31
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Kytrarewn posted:Moving past the police call, I'm unsure why CookingMama treated the corpses with noxious chemicals when she was planning to subsequently eat them? That whole setpiece would make a lot more sense for TaxidermistShrink who might hope to cure the corpses for the sake of his artwork. I assume that they are cutting the larger parts of the people out to dine on then dissolving the rest in the bathtubs. Can't get much meat out of a face, after all
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Jun 29, 2014 19:19
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Sigh, I know. I really only have time on the weekends and this past holiday weekend was hectic. I think I have a full night free tonight, however, so I am at least going to get footage and hopefully all the post-processing done
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Jul 7, 2014 16:03
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