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  What is The Portopia Serial Murder Case? Well… it’s a 1985 Detective Visual Novel Game akin to Phoenix Wright, Umineko, Dangan Ronpa, Zero Escape, etc. Written by Yuji Horii (the creator of Dragon Quest) and released by Square Enix, The Portopia Serial Murder Case takes us to the investigation of a nameless detective and his assistant, Yasu, as they uncover the mysteries lurking underneath the case. From a gameplay standpoint, it’s more or less the same as Phoenix Wright/Dangan Ronpa, except in a different format. You examine things, interrogate possible culprits, and make deductions based on evidence-at-hand. Maze and pixel hunt not optional, of course. How are you going to do this? Screenshot LP. Like last time, UltraViolence/UltraVariant will be joining me (In his OUTDOOR voice, of course) as we go rambo on possible suspects, force our assistant to fetch coffee, and point the finger at the true culprit. And possibly rescue a damsel in distress, probably.  Characters Part 1: The Murder Scene Part 2: Closed Room, Rigor Mortis, and Evidence, Evidence, Evidence Interlude - The History Channel ~ feat. orenronen Part 3: Japan - 1985 Edition Interlude - orenronen ~ Bonus Material Part 4: Arrested Part 5: DEAD Part 6: There’s a Reason Why the Game Has the Words ‘Serial Murder’ In Them. Interlude - The Portopia Manual + Other Stuff Part 7: Aneurysm Time Part 8: Case Closed, Bitch Variant_Eris fucked around with this message at 04:10 on Apr 12, 2015 |
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Jan 1, 2015 20:29
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Characters Tyrell Badd  “This lollipop...is really good…” The main character -a nameless, mute, detective in the non-LP version of this game. At the thread’s bequest, he was rechristened as Tyrell Badd, the grizzled, badd(rear end) detective from Ace Attorney Investigations. As the boss of Yasu, he acts as one-half of the player’s actions, commanding Yasu around as he sits back with a chilled, candy flavored-mocha. That sounds incredibly disgusting. That sounds incredibly amazing. About as amazing as Baldrick’s mud-flavored coffee. Stop. Actions include, but not withstanding: eating candy, investigating the crime scene, being nagged by prosecutors, and pausing dramatically in the middle of sentences. Yasuhiko Mano  “I’m your subordinate, Yasuhiko Mano. Please call me [Yasu]...” Yasuhiko Mano, or Yasu, as he’s known by his friends, is our nameless detective’s assistant, and is the one who does all the menial slave labor executed by the player. Despite being a serious man in a very serious case, he can crack a joke or two when the moment arises. He also has very spiky hair. Did I mention that? Well, he also has very spiky hair. I think I’ve seen him in Papa Roach. Kouzou Yamakawa  “I WILL CLEAN UP MY OWN BLOOD WITH THE POWER OF MANNNKKKKKKKIIIIIINNNNDDDD!!!” Kouzou is the murder victim of the case (Yes, you heard that right. Murder. Not suicide. Murder). He owns a loan company, and has two subordinates: Fumie - His secretary, and Komiya - His security guard. He’s also a snappy dresser and killed an unnamed subordinate over poker money, because it would be funnier that way. Also he can use his bald head as a mirror if the need arises. Also, we’re going to make him the hammiest person in the case, more or less because he’s dead. Death Took a knife stab to the throat. Died almost instantaneously. Rest in Paraguay. Fumie Sawaki  “[Insert Name Here] Fumie.” Fumie Sawaki is the secretary of Kouzou’s loan-shark enterprise. As the person in charge of the paperwork, she is responsible for accounting, customer service, and breaking people’s bones via shady methods. Along with Komiya, she is one of the two people who discovered the body. And one of the three who violated the body. Rokurou Komiya  “It wasn’t me! I didn’t kill no one!” The elderly security guard of Kouzou’s mansion. Despite being supposedly competent at his job, he is in fact incompetent at his job. Actions include getting drunk, going off to get drunk, and getting drunk. This man knows how to live life. Discovered the body with Fumie. Toshi  “Sucker!” The redheaded And today we learn Eris has a vendetta against gingers. Hirata “He runs a store.” Mr. Hirata is the father of Yukiko, and the type of guy who usually racks up too many debts and gets his kidney’s punctured by your local loan shark. Owes Kouzou enough yen to buy the solar system and a cup of joe. Yukiko  “He said he was going to Kyoto… That’s all I know.” The daughter of Mr. Hirata. As a high school student, she’s expected to get good grades, an unhealthy lifestyle, and all the clothing she can grab. And is probably knocked up a year from now. Kawamura “This guy’s had six convictions. Apparently, quite a few companies have been driven to bankruptcy, thanks to his con games and the like.” A man who once duked it out with Kouzou. Okoi  “I’m going to tell you something, detective, because I think you’re so handsome…” A stripper/dancer of the Shingeki Theater. As an individual who has connections to both Kouzou and Kawamura, she may be able to shed some light on the case. She can shed light onto MY case. Variant_Eris fucked around with this message at 23:27 on Apr 12, 2015 |
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Jan 1, 2015 20:29
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Reserved also.
Variant_Eris fucked around with this message at 23:57 on Jan 1, 2015 |
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Jan 1, 2015 20:30
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Part 1: The Murder Scene The game opens up with a bunch of police sirens. That is the most you’ll hear from this game, since there’s no music.  Well, nothing left for it, I suppose. Time to solve a murder. You cannot convince me that is not a pixelated Jackie Chan.  : “We’re now in Hanakuma, the suburb of Kobe City where the incident took place. How shall we get started on the investigation?”Kobe is in this?  : “With a donut and a cup of coffee, preferably. But anyways…” We’re going to see this menu for the rest of the game. Like Phoenix Wright, we have a multiple array of options to choose from, some minor, some major. From top to bottom, we have… Move: Move to another location. Ask: Interrogate someone or nearby populace. Investigate Someone: Look up the profile/alibi of possible suspects. Show item: Present evidence to a suspect. Look for someone: Search the area for a missing suspect. Call out: Used mainly in the Police Interrogation Room. Brings in a suspect for interrogation. Arrest: Take a wild guess. Order a pizza: You order a pizza.  Pressing B on the controller nets up Menu: Part 2 - The Revenge of the Menu. Unlike Menu: Part 1 - The Menu Strikes Back, we have a few noteworthy items here. Investigate Thing: Examine objects from a list, or manually. Evidence: List of evidence we’ve taken over the course of the investigation. Hit: Dislocate a suspect’s jaw. Perfect for getting information. So this dude is essentially the opposite of good-cop/bad-cop. Take: Take evidence. Theorize: Theories about the culprit, and whether or not a suspect could have done the deed. Dial Phone: I’m sure you can figure this one out. Close Case: Not a viable option right now, but doing so at an “appropriate” time only re-opens the case later and labels us as an idiot.  First, let’s investigate the possible suspects in the murder, starting with the victim, Kouzou. Can we hit the nearby people? That would make this game 1000x better.  From there, we can choose to read up on his job, personal life, and alibi. Of course, since the guy’s dead, he doesn’t really have an alibi. : “Give me the details.”Job He was the president of Yamakin Loans. Though he didn’t have a wife or any children, he did have a nephew named Toshiyaki, or [Toshi] for short. With that, we can read up on Toshi’s profile, since he could have a possible motive for murdering his uncle. Personal Life He hadn’t quite earned a criminal record yet, but he seems to have been involved with some very vicious activity. Many people felt bitter towards him. : “Okay...what about his alibi?”: “Kouzou is the murder victim in this case. He probably doesn’t need an alibi. Especially considering the fact that he’s dead.” : “Alright, Kouzou is the victim. Now, who’s this “Fumie” person? Sounds like some kind of marshmallow brand.”: “We’re Japanese.”: "Oh...right. So who is she?”Job She was Kouzou’s personal assistant for his business. She discovered the body along with Mr. Komiya. : “She’s the culprit.”: “Let me finish, boss.”Personal Life After graduating from junior college, she started working for Kouzou. It’s been two years since then. Since we don’t have the time of death, we can’t ask Fumie for her Alibi. In order to do that, we need to investigate the crime scene first.  But first...Mr. Komiya’s profile. Job He’s the security guard at Kouzou’s mansion. In addition, he was one of the primary discoverers of the dead body. If only he had the Cannibalism perk from Fallout. Personal Life He’s been the security guard since about five years ago. He has no relatives, and is a live-in at the mansion. : "He's the culprit!”: “Boss, we’ve barely started the investigation.”We’ll save Toshi’s profile for later. He isn’t that important.  For now, let’s interrogate the nearby populace. : “Boss! I’ve learned that a man named [Mr. Hirata] has not been seen since the very day of the murder.: “...Who’s he?”Job He runs a store. Personal Life He’s been a greengrocer forever, but competing with the supermarket can be quite difficult these days. : "He's the culprit": "..." We can try to find Mr. Hirata, but it’s a futile effort. He won’t appear until later in the game. He ded  We can also hit Yasu. What? He didn’t bring our coffee in the allotted time, dammit! I like he how doesn’t care you’re smacking him. He’s just sending you on a guilt trip.  Amusingly enough, we can try to take the suburb.  As you can surmise, trying to take an entire suburb can be a tiny bit problematic. Believe to achieve, yo. We’ll save the theories and phone dialing for later. For now, we have a crime scene to investigate.  Yamakawa Mansion’s study is the scene of the crime, so let’s go there.  Nice 8-bit mansion you have here, Kouzou. The hedges are looking well-spruced. ...I think I made this on MS Paint once.  Huh...there’s no blood. Despite the fact that the guy was stabbed in the neck. Maybe the forensics guy cleaned it up? Aren’t they supposed to use WHITE chalk outlines?  Kouzou, with the last of his strength, cleaned up his blood because he’s too drat manly to die. : "Anyways..." : “The body’s been turned over for autopsy. The report puts the time of death at about 9 P. M. on the night of the 17th."Now we can start getting alibis from the suspects. Kind of pointless, as we’ll discover at the end, but it’ll still aids us in eliminating/arresting suspects.  : “Tell me about the cause of death.”: “One stab to the neck with a knife. Death was nearly instantaneous. ...Poor bastard.”A suicide would be a classic closure to a murder mystery. But I’ll tell you right now that it isn’t the solution. Yes, because stabbing yourself in the neck is one of the leading suicides in this country. In a classic murder mystery? Haven't I told you about Carr’s novel “The Hollow Man”, and how the victim died of hemorrhage? ...Uh...  : "I’m assuming that the murder weapon was a katana?”: “The weapon was found gripped by the corpse’s right hand. It’s also possible he took a stab at it himself, so to say.” Van Dine’s Rule #12: There must be but one culprit, no matter how many murders are committed. The culprit may, of course, have a minor helper or co-plotter; but the entire onus must rest on one pair of shoulders: the entire indignation of the reader must be permitted to concentrate on a single black nature.How do you know this stuff. I’m a mystery buff? I thought the “Hollow Man” reference explained it? Who reads books anymore? The books section of the forum? Yeah, that’s what nerds are for, UltraViolence. Anyways, for next time, vote for a name and portrait for our nameless detective. Variant_Eris fucked around with this message at 02:21 on Jan 3, 2015 |
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Jan 2, 2015 00:46
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I think I'm still scarred enough to name our detective Nancy Drew  
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Jan 2, 2015 01:09
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Detective Tyrell Badd
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Jan 2, 2015 01:21
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Variant_Eris posted:Aren’t they supposed to use WHITE chalk outlines? Well, it's odd, actually. There are other versions of this game that have a white outline instead (edit: and blood too!):  Version differences extend beyond this, too. I'd second Tyrell Badd. Smilefires fucked around with this message at 03:04 on Jan 2, 2015 |
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Jan 2, 2015 03:00
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Smilefires posted:Well, it's odd, actually. There are other versions of this game that have a white outline instead (edit: and blood too!): E for everyone? E for everyone. I find it interesting that the NES version got black chalk and the other version didn't. Rating/gore issue in Japan? Variant_Eris fucked around with this message at 03:49 on Jan 2, 2015 |
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Jan 2, 2015 03:34
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Detective Stanford Rimbuald
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Jan 2, 2015 03:39
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So here’s some historical stuff. Portopia Serial Murder Case (or, if you prefer, “Pōtopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken”) is not, in fact, a 1985 game, nor was it published by Square Enix. The game first appeared in 1983 on the PC-6001. It wasn’t technically Horii’s first game but for all intents and purposes it can be considered that. He did both the writing and the programming on it. The game was published by Enix, where Horii would later invent the modern JRPG formula with Dragon Quest, and was the first of Horii’s trilogy of mysteries, followed by Hokkaido Serial Murder Case and Karuizawa Abduction Notice. The former also got a port to the Famicom a couple of years later, but the third remains available only on early Japanese computers and cellphones. The original version of Portopia featured a parser interface, which was popular in Japanese adventure games at the time. Heavily influenced by Scott Adams and the early works of Sierra On-Line, it featured a large image covering most of the screen with a couple lines of text beneath it and a two word parser. I’ll give its parser one thing, though - it uses the Japanese word order and asks for the commands in a “noun verb” pattern. Many other Japanese games of the era kept the English “verb noun” input which breaks any resemblance to actual Japanese grammar. The second Horii mystery game, Hokkaido Serial Murder Case, replaced the parser with the menu system we all know and love, and was one of the earliest games to do so. Not the first (that award goes to Microcabin’s far more obscure Eiyuu Densestu Saga), but definitely the one that influenced others to follow. Parsers were gone from Japanese adventures within a year. The game’s Famicom port was handled by Chunsoft (who will later reimagine the Japanese adventure game format with its Sound Novel series). They took the menu system introduced by Hokkaido and put it to use in the earlier game, and so demonstrated how an adventure game could even be playable on a home console. Portopia was the first Famicom adventure game, but it certainly wasn’t the last — Nintendo itself followed with a few odd titles in later years. The original version of Portopia begins with a few screens of introduction missing in the remake:  Boss! I am your subordinate, Yasuhiko Mano. Please call me Yasu. Let me tell you about the case we’re facing. The victim’s name is Kouzou Yamakawa. He’s the CEO of a loan company. The person who discovered the body is Kouzou’s assistant, Fumie Sawaki. Kouzou did not show up at the company, so she came by to check on him this morning and found him dead. Here, let’s hear what happened from Fumie herself.  When I got there, the door to his study was locked. So I asked Mr. Komiya, the caretaker, to come over and he knocked down the door. And when we came in, Mr. Yamakawa was…… But then I noticed there was a key in the door’s lock. Mr. Komiya seemed to notice as well, and after hastily checking the window he said, “The room was locked from the inside so it must be suicide.” Then, I called the police. Yasu: Mr. Komiya told us the same story, so it doesn’t look like she’s lying. So… what’s really behind this case?  …Which brings us to the game, which starts more or less the same way. Some things seemed to have changed between versions, such as giving Kouzou’s company’s a name and Komiya’s profession (I checked the Japanese Famicom version to make sure it’s not a translation issue). I’m not sure why. You’ll also notice this version of the game has the entire text in Katakana, which makes it very taxing to read. There’s a reason for that — early Japanese computers implemented language the same way many other countries around the world did - by replacing some of the extended ASCII character set in the computer’s ROM (usually the characters used to draw ASCII tables) with localised characters. There’s space for only one of the Japanese syllabaries in there, and Katakana was chosen over Hiragana. Its square characters are much easier to render in low resolution, after all. The Famicom version adds Hiragana to the mix, and while there’s still no Kanji to be found it makes the game much easier to read through. One final thing - the PC-6001 adventure game graphics of the era were not bitmaps, but were displayed with a series of drawing commands. Fans of American adventure games from the era will recognize the technique. The computer was slow — a scene took about 20 seconds to render — and so, since flood fills were the slowest of the drawing commands, the game offers an option to sacrifice color for speed. This is what it looks like:  …I’d almost say it looks better that way. orenronen fucked around with this message at 12:20 on Jan 2, 2015 |
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Jan 2, 2015 12:11
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I guess I was already spoilered about the ending of this game from that one joke in Dangan Ronpa but I'm still curious what it is like.
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Jan 2, 2015 14:50
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orenronen posted:The original version of Portopia featured a parser interface, which was popular in Japanese adventure games at the time. Heavily influenced by Scott Adams and the early works of Sierra On-Line, it featured a large image covering most of the screen with a couple lines of text beneath it and a two word parser. I’ll give its parser one thing, though - it uses the Japanese word order and asks for the commands in a “noun verb” pattern. Many other Japanese games of the era kept the English “verb noun” input which breaks any resemblance to actual Japanese grammar. From what I understand, the original Portopia was Horii's interpretation of all the western adventure games he'd read about in magazines but never actually played, so it's less of an imitation and more of an attempt at recreating or reverse-engineering those systems based purely on other peoples' descriptions.
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Jan 2, 2015 15:23
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PaletteSwappedNinja posted:From what I understand, the original Portopia was Horii's interpretation of all the western adventure games he'd read about in magazines but never actually played, so it's less of an imitation and more of an attempt at recreating or reverse-engineering those systems based purely on other peoples' descriptions. I have a somewhat hard time believing that. Portopia was released June 1983, at a time when Japanese games (especially ones by single developers) were developed in spans of weeks, not months. Japan got its introduction to adventure games around April of 1982 (you can read about that here in an article that, full disclosure, I helped research), and Microcabin's "homage" to Sierra's Mystery House came out soon after. By 1983 parser adventures mimicking the early Sierra model were numerous, and Portopia looks far too much like all of them to imagine Horii hadn't played some personally before coming up with his own.
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Jan 2, 2015 17:21
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Ooh, always nice to see an old classic brought out. Looking forward to future installments.
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Jan 2, 2015 20:27
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orenronen posted:I have a somewhat hard time believing that. Portopia was released June 1983, at a time when Japanese games (especially ones by single developers) were developed in spans of weeks, not months. Japan got its introduction to adventure games around April of 1982 (you can read about that here in an article that, full disclosure, I helped research), and Microcabin's "homage" to Sierra's Mystery House came out soon after. By 1983 parser adventures mimicking the early Sierra model were numerous, and Portopia looks far too much like all of them to imagine Horii hadn't played some personally before coming up with his own. From what I've read, Portopia was the first Visual Novel ever, but since I wasn't able to confirm the info's accuracy, I left it out of the intro. Also, it probably would've been helpful to get that mobile intro. Kind of irritating to play it first-time blind without knowing what the hell's going on. Glazius posted:Ooh, always nice to see an old classic brought out. Looking forward to future installments. Thanks. Nice to see that you're enjoying this so far.
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Jan 2, 2015 20:41
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Updated second post with character information on Yasu and Kouzou.
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Jan 2, 2015 21:38
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An LP of one of the most iconic Japanese adventure games? Count me in. I've also been spoiled on the ending but I'm interested in seeing how we actually come to that conclusion. With regards to our detective's name and portrait, I'll go with Tyrell Badd as well.
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Jan 2, 2015 21:55
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Variant_Eris posted:Also, it probably would've been helpful to get that mobile intro. Kind of irritating to play it first-time blind without knowing what the hell's going on. I don't know for sure, but my guess is that they probably moved the same information to the manual. Hell, I don't think this is one of the expensive Famicom games. Next time I'm at Super Potato I'll check if they have a boxed copy and see for myself. And no, Portopia may have been the very first adventure game on a home console, but it's a port and by the time it was published the Japanese computer game market was already flooded with all kinds of adventure games.
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Jan 3, 2015 00:39
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Yasu looks really smug in the PC-6001 version and I like it. Hey Boss, this guy got killed.
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Jan 3, 2015 01:27
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Waffleman_ posted:Yasu looks really smug in the PC-6001 version and I like it. Come to think of it, Yasu looks like Megaman Juno. orenronen posted:Hell, I don't think this is one of the expensive Famicom games. Next time I'm at Super Potato I'll check if they have a boxed copy and see for myself. If you could get back to me on that, it'd be great. I was wondering about that myself, but unfortunately, I can read as much Japanese as a university professor can decipher Cthulhu. Variant_Eris fucked around with this message at 02:35 on Jan 3, 2015 |
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Jan 3, 2015 01:50
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Ooh! I love adventure games. And detective games. This looks like it'll be fun. And learning about adventure games in Japan is cool too. Sign me up for this LP.
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Jan 3, 2015 03:35
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So I'm not exactly the patient type, and since I had plans in Tokyo yesterday anyway I decided to go into the city a couple of hours early and go through the retro game shops in Akihabara. I couldn't find a boxed copy of Portopia. Famicom games are mostly sold as loose cartridges, and it seems the Japanese, by and large, started valuing keeping an entire package starting with the Super Famicom. I did spot a perfect boxed copy of the game's sequel for about $35, but we'll see about that. What I did find is a copy of the strategy guide:  Not an official one, mind you. This one was published by Family Computer Magazine, and like most strategy guides of the day, is a tiny pamphlet-like book. Japanese strategy guides of that era are interesting -- screenshots were hard to acquire, and so the editors tried to keep them to the required minimum, instead relying on some elaborate hand-drawn illustrations. This one, being a story game, reimagines the entire cast as cartoon characters. The bulk of the guide is written as a sort of narrative retelling the story of the game while highlighting the keywords you need to choose in the game's menus. The few parts that require maps (the game's mazes) are charmingly drawn.   Yasu's cartoon self is the most prominent in the book, appearing on almost every page, but our nameless detective was also given a face, and so was the viction (that's Kouzou at the bottom, with the green suit). No promises (because, as has been proven with my own latest attempt at an LP, my free time is limited these days), but I'll try to translate relevant parts of the book as we advance in the story.
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Jan 4, 2015 05:58
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Aw, Boss is so cute with his magnifying glass! "I'm gonna detect!" 
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Jan 4, 2015 06:00
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Voting is now closed. Tyrell Badd has won by an absurd margin. The Character's section has been updated with his information. Expect the update to be Animated Reviewer posted:Ooh! I love adventure games. And detective games. This looks like it'll be fun. And learning about adventure games in Japan is cool too. Sign me up for this LP. It's a fun game, but there are a few problems with it. To be more specific, the pixel-hunt and text-sound effect begin to rattle your brain with a massive migraine, especially once you get 1/2 of the way into the game. orenronen posted:No promises (because, as has been proven with my own latest attempt at an LP, my free time is limited these days), but I'll try to translate relevant parts of the book as we advance in the story. That's fine, take your time. I'll post this stuff along with the updates as UltraViolence and I go along. Variant_Eris fucked around with this message at 01:58 on Jan 6, 2015 |
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Jan 4, 2015 06:24
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Part 2: Closed Room, Rigor Mortis, and Evidence, Evidence, EvidenceSSNeoman posted:Detective Tyrell Badd  : “Anyways…..let’s get started…..”: “Uh, boss? Did you just...change…? And is that a cigarette in your mouth…?”: “It’s not boss…..It’s Badd. Tyrell Badd.”We know everything about the crime scene at this point, but let’s investigate the door anyways. Can we hit the dead body. I’m not going to deign that with a response. : “When the dead body was discovered, the door had been locked.”: “Nice, cut and clean, huh…?”: “Seems that way, boss-”: “-Badd….is fine.”: “...Boss Badd. The witnesses (Fumie and Komiya) claim that the door was locked after they knocked it down. Apparently, when they turned to look, the key was in the lock.”: “The way I see it…. there are two possibilities.”: “Oh…?”: “Either they’re telling the truth….or they’re lying….”One only tells the truth during the day, and the other only tells the truth at night. Now, which is Ik and which is Uk. But only one is the USA. Yes. : “...” Let’s take the knife. I’m sure Kouzou won’t object, being dead and all. : “The [knife] used in the killing was returned from the crime lab, and it’s been in my possession.”: “Why didn’t you…. tell me about this earlier?”: <shrugs> On that note, it’s time to search every nook and cranny for clues. The magnifying glass, in this instance, allows us to investigate the room manually, picking up evidence that Badd or Yasu might not notice immediately. In other words, it’s basically the ‘examine’ function from Phoenix Wright, condensed into a somewhat grating format. “Examine Crotch”  I believe the outline needs no explanation, as Kouzou’s body was found lying here. Dead, of course. I’m still kind of baffled that there’s not a drop of blood around the area. Either strangulation, or Mr. Clean has turned into Hitman 47. I have no idea what you’re talking about. Play more Hitman and watch more cleaning supplies commercials.  So instead, let’s investigate the photo over here. At least, it looks like a photo. : “There’s a [matchbox] under the ashtray.” : “That’s an….ashtray….? Funny…. looked more like….. one of those cigarillo cases…. I saw the other day….Anyways, go ahead….and take the drat matchbox….”  Despite looking like a photo, the object turned out to be an ashtray. Fancy that. It’s like asking a bear the difference between a chestnut and a cherry tomato, and expecting a civil conversation to ensue. You seem to know that from personal experience. Yeah...since your brain represents the cherry tomato, right? I hate you.  Although relatively unimportant, there’s something in one of the books here. : “Look! One of the books has a hole carved out of the pages. Inside, there is a [key]! I wonder what this key is for. I’ll hold on to this.” Finally, we can snag Kouzou’s photo in the bottom-right corner of the drawer. It’s a drab bit of 8-bit furniture, varnished with a sheened polish. From this, it can be determined that Kouzou has never heard of Raymond & Flanigan’s.  With the room fully pillaged, we are free to move on to the mansion’s living room. Hopefully, Kouzou won’t be too peeved that we robbed his home. This is reminding me of the last time I played Pathfinder.  Kouzou also needs to take a trip to the Dollar Store. That painting is oh-so incredibly tacky. The Grinch died to make that couch. “Then the Grinch came in And was simmered in two His gore was designed To a couch for Sue.” Jesus Christ.  We can actually take down the painting, but doing so right now is completely pointless. For now, let’s investigate the bottom-right patch of floor underneath the table.  If there’s one thing to be hated about in this game, it’s the pixel hunts. The game gives no indication that there’s evidence in the room, forcing the player to comb the entire place over in order to make progress. It’s utter bullshit, but thankfully, the game only pulls it a few times around the mansion.  : “I bet yours is running out of oil. Want it, boss?”: “No thanks… I have my own light….”: “Well then, I’ll hold on to this as a piece of evidence.” Now that we have all the evidence we need, let’s head back outside. There’s nothing left in this poorly-furnitured excuse of a mansion.  After another pixel-hunt, we find a ring near the bottom-right corner of the mansion’s front door. Worst comes to worst, we can pawn it off to the nearest, unsuspecting sod. “Note: suspect went to Jared’s” Yes...Yes. The killer went to Jared’s to get a nice lovely blood-diamond to go with the flesh-rending clothes he changed out of. Don’t judge people for their lifestyle, man. I will judge. Something Awful Guidelines posted:We here on the Something Awful Forums are very elitist and strict assholes. : “Oh? I found someone’s [ring] on the doorstep.”: “Take it….”:“Well then, I’ll hold on to this as a piece of evidence.”For the rest of the game, Yasu will utter that line for every piece of evidence we take.  Welp, that’s it for the crime scene. I suppose it’s about time we introduced the Witness Committee to Yasu’s fist.  Welcome to the Police Station. This is going to be our main hub for the rest of the game, as well as the place where we can call witnesses and examine evidence in further detail. “Call Out” is used to bring in a witness. We’ll be asking Fumie a couple of questions first. Where is the “Abuse Prisoners” option? It’s the one I’ll be using on you soon. I will enjoy it. And we have fulfilled our disturbing quota for the day. I hope you’re happy.  But before we can haul her rear end in, Yasu stops us with a report. Apparently, Hirata decided to take a hike to Kyoto. Gee, I wonder why…  Anyways, I suppose it’s time to make someone cry. After all, Detective Tyrell Badd is only doing his job.  : “...Name…?”: “[Insert Name Here] Fumie.” : “Well then, Ms. [Insert Name Here], I’d like you to tell us what you know about Kouzou…”: “We worked together at the office, but about his private life, I don’t think I can help you…” Next, let’s ask about her alibi. I’m sure nothing will come of it. : “Where were you around 9 P. M. on the 17th?” Is “English conversation school” even a thing? It sounds like a roundabout way of saying “English College-Level course”. I like how she dyed one single hair in her bangs. It was a shaving accident.  Let’s see if her alibi holds up. Welcome to The Game of Life. You get three chances to determine whether or not Fumie’s alibi is plausible, and the first two don’t count. This is a game show now? Nope. Two more guesses. Deal or no deal? Nope. One more guess. (“Investigate Someone” can be used to determine a suspect’s alibi.) : “I’ve been able to confirm that Fumie had indeed been present at her English classes on the night of the murder.” Let’s traumatize her even further by presenting the murder weapon. Or we can propose to her with the ring. We don’t need more Femme Fatales than necessary. : “Take a look at this knife, please.”: “So Mr. Yamakawa was killed using this… My, how scary…”If I learned that someone was going to murder me, I’d run away as fast as I could, screaming into the night air.  We can attempt to take her photo and clothes, but doing the latter will only glean a horrified response from Yasu. I’d rather we do that. So we’ll take her photo. : “”Click!” Okay, I have taken [Fumie’s photo]. I’ll hold on to this.” We can also attempt to hit her. Unfortunately, Yasu’s a pansy and can’t be bothered to hit a woman.  Choosing to “Investigate Thing” in the Police Station allows us to analyze evidence in further detail. With the exception of the photos, every piece of evidence in the game can be examined. So, in order: Matchbox It says, “Pal 117-3149”. Knife The weapon was found gripped by the corpse’s right hand. It’s also possible he took a stab at it himself, so to say. Sigh. Ring It’s a cheap-looking ring. I wonder who dropped it…  Since Mr. Hirata is missing, and we’re saving Toshi or Yukiko for later, we’ll wrap things up with Mr. Komiya.  : “Name…?”: “Komiya. I didn’t kill no one.”: “Just...Komiya…?”: “Yes. Is there some sort of issue with my name? I didn’t kill no one.”: “No...Just expected more...”: “My Father… He was a very lazy man. I didn’t kill no one.” Same thing with Komiya. Alibi goes first, then Kouzou comes next. : “Where were you around 9 P. M. on the 17th?”: “It wasn’t me! I didn’t kill no one!”: “...Yasu… Make him talk…”Since Komiya will respond like this to every question we ask him, we have no alternative… “Arrest”  It’s time to slap the hell out of an old man. ...Oh. : “All right, talk!”POW! BONK! : “Okay, okay! I’ll talk! The night of the incident, the truth is, I snuck out secretly and… I went out for a drink. And worse, I’d forgotten to lock the front door… I…, I… That’s all! I didn’t do it! It’s the truth! Believe me! I didn’t kill no one!” Hopefully, Komiya won’t go into a nervous breakdown anymore. Let’s see what he has to say about Kouzou. : “I’d like you...to tell us-”: “I’d like you to tell us what you know about Kouzou…”: “It’s true that lots of people hated that man. But sir, I’m grateful to him. He gave an old man like me a job!” Komiya also has a confirmed alibi. Unfortunately, we won’t be seeing his head on a platter anytime soon. We can still arrest him, though, right? No, we can’t. Unless he’s been caught red-handed, we can’t arrest him.  Since he doesn’t have anything to say about evidence, all that’s left is to snap his photo and make him strip. Iiiiiii...hm… I’m sure you fantasize about this kind of stuff all the time. Indeed. It usually involves you, too.  What. What. What? WHAT!? Take that shirt off.  I...no. That’s it. This conversation is over. : “Strip….princess….”: “Hey, Stop that!”: “We made him take all his clothes off, and did a full search, but didn’t discover anything on him.”Well, that was a waste of time. Let’s go to a bar and get drunk. Theorize Kouzou Was Kouzou under enough distress as for him to take his own life…? Perhaps this case is a homicide, after all. Mr. Komiya If Kouzou were to die, Mr. Komiya would be left without a job. There doesn’t seem to be a motive for him to kill Kouzou. Fumie It doesn’t seem like there was a motive for Fumie to kill Kouzou. For next time, decide on our course of action: 1) Investigate Toshi 2) Investigate Yukiko 3) Look into “Pal 117-3149” Variant_Eris fucked around with this message at 16:41 on Jan 17, 2015 |
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Jan 12, 2015 00:17
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English Conversation classes are indeed a thing, and is what the vast majority of English classes outside the public school system are called in Japan. I believe they're called that way to contrast with the way English is taught in schools, where they're doing nothing but rote-learning grammatical rules and preparing for exams. Students usually come out of high school knowing next to none actual practical English despite learning the language for almost 10 years, which got the system a deserved bad rep. The private facilities try to capitalise on that by offering very liberal "grammar is not that important let's just speak" English education that's all about daily conversation and not at all about reading or writing. For a variety of reasons that also doesn't tend to work, and many Japanese people pay lots of money to take English conversation classes that doesn't make them any better in English, conversation or the combination of the two.
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Jan 12, 2015 02:32
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It's possible the lack of blood might be a censorship thing. I don't know if Nintendo of Japan was as strict as Nintendo of America when it came to these things. I say we investigate the matchbook.
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Jan 12, 2015 02:37
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Investigate Yukiko followed by Our serial number pal
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Jan 12, 2015 03:51
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Investigate Toshi. Language learning is hard when most of the class experience you get is just new grammar to play with and promptly forget. I'm trying to start up a conversation club where I am to fill that need. Hopefully it won't be a waste of time!
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Jan 12, 2015 03:52
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I'm having a really hard time following what you're actually doing in the update between the dozen non sequiturs and your inconsistent formatting of what's happening in the game and what you're adding.
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Jan 12, 2015 06:39
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Smilefires posted:Language learning is hard when most of the class experience you get is just new grammar to play with and promptly forget. Especially when your Spanish teacher only speaks in Spanish and you have to clobber your way through the whole course. Variant_Eris fucked around with this message at 21:29 on Feb 11, 2015 |
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Jan 12, 2015 20:27
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So is that a phone number on the matchbox? I don't know what phone numbers are like in Japan.
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Jan 13, 2015 02:23
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Part 3: Japan - 1985 Edition The thread has spoken. We’re going with the matchbox.  “117-3149” is actually a number we can enter in the “Dial Phone” menu. Messing around results in a new area in which we can explore. But can we order a pizza? I’d rather get takeout, actually.  But before we go on with the case, there are a few tricks you can do with the phone. Dialing 000 000 0000 for example…  : “Do you know what? I think Toshi did it.”...tells you the most likely suspect at the time. It’s a quick and cheat way of narrowing down possible murderers. Now if you dial in 110…  ...we get yelled at by our very own Police Department. It’s a shame that Yasu took the brunt of the blow, but it is no one’s fault but his own that he dialed the number. Can’t tell if “sob” or “SOB”. That’s clearly a lower-case “b”. Can it, you Sob.  Anyhow, let’s get down to it, shall we? Entering the matchbox’s phone number results in a few beeps, followed by someone picking up the phone. I was really hoping “8675309” would be an Easter Egg number.  Namely, the Pal hostess bar. Kind of a weird name for a bar, but there have been worse.  Much worse. Oh hell, I would totally go to that.  Trying to ask about Kouzou results in a puzzled response and a hang up on the other end. For now, let’s just get their address. : “Would you mind telling us your address?” : “Real...specific…” With that, Shinkaichi has been opened up for investigation. Let’s mosey on down to get a drink, shall we? Too bad I’m the DD.  Like everything else in the game, Shinkaichi looks like a toddler’s MS Paint masterpiece. And...Is that a strip club…? COOL! Let’s go!  Entering the uncouth institution results in Yasu being overwhelmed by his male hormones. I’m pretty sure this game didn’t get the Nintendo Seal of Approval back then. : “Go wild, kid…”: “You mean I can really go? Gladly!Wow, this is amazing! It’s out of this world! Oh, my! Oh man, that was good!” : “...I...what did I watch…?”Okay, this is territory even I wouldn’t go into.  Interrogating a nearby citizen reveals the Pal Bar’s location. Kouzou’s photo also elicits a small reaction from our fellow bystander, but it’s nothing that adds to the case. Moving on...  For the record, a hostess bar is a location in which guys try to pick up women by buying them drinks. So a normal bar. Ahahahahahaha! Shut your filthy mouth. Ahahahahaha! Gonna gut you. So far, Shinkaichi is about as appealing as a skunk’s odor.  We can attempt to start a bar fight, but unfortunately, Yasu rejects our notion and calls us a ridiculous sociopath.  Investigating the barman reveals that he doesn’t look like a liar. Unfortunately, anything we ask him only results in a negative response.  Instead, we need to show him Kouzou’s photo in order to elicit an informative response. : “Take a look... at this photograph, please…” : “Oh, this guy! Some time ago, this guy had a big fight here with [Mr. Kawamura].”: “Sorry to say it… but he won’t be coming around for drinks anymore… he’s dead.”: “What? He’s been killed?” Now that the barman has mentioned Mr. Kawamura, we can prod him for more details. : “Can you tell me what you know about Mr. Kawamura?”: “Now that you mention it, he hasn’t come around here recently.” Unfortunately, that’s all we can do at the moment. Investigating Kawamura and the bar sets up an event flag that’ll allow us to progress later on, so it was well worth our time here. “Hit rock bottom” That was an awful joke. Good.  While we’re in the area, let’s investigate the sign quickly. : “The name [Okoi] Yuuhi is on display. Looks like she’s a dancer here.”Okoi gets put on the list of people we can haul in the interrogation room. However, since she has no connection to the case, we can’t pull her in.  Rather, let’s investigate her personal life and occupation. We can save her alibi for later when it becomes relevant. Fun fact, “Shingeki” means “New drama” and is a Japanese retelling and performance of Western plays at the turn of the 20th century. Congratulations! That is the first actual fact you have contributed to the case! I’d like to thank Google search and Wikipedia. Job Okoi Yuuhi is a well-known stripper. Oh, good. Personal Life She claims to have once been in the famous Takarazuka dance troupe, but whether that’s true is unknown.  Now that the bar’s done with, we have Toshi and Yukiko left to investigate. Since I flipped tails, we’re going with Yukiko to wrap this update up. This ain’t no Pokemon card game, watchyoo doing flipping coins? Let’s look at Yukiko’s profile first. Job Yukiko is Mr. Hirata’s only daughter. She’s in her junior year in high school. Personal Life At one time she’d been what we’d call a “juvenile delinquent”, but now she’s back in school, more serious about her studies. If you recall, Mr. Hirata is the missing man in this case, so it was nice of her to lend us a hand as to his whereabouts. Anyways, let’s call her out, shall we?  : “Name…?”: “Your subordinate just introduced me…?”: “Name…?”: *sigh* “Hirata Yukiko.” Let’s start from the top and make our way down. Oh hey, wasn’t she in Sailor Moon? I’d just like to say that I hate you for making that reference. SHE IS THE ONE NAMED SAILOR MOON Why am I friends with you again…? : “Where were you around 9 P. M. on the 17th?”: Me? Why are you asking me such a thing? I mean, I was at home, but…” Since her father owed a lot of money to Kouzou, it’s possible that she might be the culprit. However, let’s see what she has to say about the bald loan-shark first. : “I’d like you to tell us what you know about Kouzou…”: “All I know is that my old man borrowed money from this guy.” Let’s wrap it up by asking about Mr. Hirata. Hopefully, it won’t be any of that “oh, my dad couldn’t have done it!” bullshit. : “I’d like you to tell us what you know about Mr. Hirata…”: “He said he was going to Kyoto… That’s all I know.”: “She’s lying… hit her, Yasu…” Yukiko disappears, never to be seen again...until we haul her back in the interrogation room. Typical. Hit a girl and she’ll come crawling back.  Anyways, let’s see if her alibi holds up. : “It’s highly doubtful that she was lying when she said that she was at home.”: “Doubtful… but still possible…”Welp, her alibi is incriminating at worst, and suspicious at least. Theorize Yukiko Her father was being harassed, but would she go so far as to kill because of that? Variant_Eris fucked around with this message at 20:56 on Jan 24, 2015 |
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Jan 20, 2015 02:34
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So now that we got to use the telephone, do you actually have a list of the easter eggs that can be accessed through it (there are a few)? Do you want one? What simply got translated as a "hostess bar" is actually a "snack bar", which *is* technically a hostess bar but a much lighter version than what most weeaboos imagine when the hear the term. It's basically a regular bar with female bartenders that flirt with the customers more than usual.
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Jan 20, 2015 02:46
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orenronen posted:So now that we got to use the telephone, do you actually have a list of the easter eggs that can be accessed through it (there are a few)? Do you want one? Sure, why not? I have a few easter eggs on hand, but it wouldn't hurt to check with a list.
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Jan 20, 2015 02:55
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So is that the type of bar where you pay money for women to hang out with you?
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Jan 20, 2015 02:55
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orenronen posted:English Conversation classes are indeed a thing, and is what the vast majority of English classes outside the public school system are called in Japan. If this isn't too off-topic, out of curiosity, why don't those work? Are the conversations not frequent enough for the immersion to kick in or do the students just 'cheat' and start speaking in Japanese with each other when the teacher is not paying attention? I ask because the topic interests me a bit. I can attest to schools in foreign countries teaching very lovely English--it's honestly less like learning a language and more like putting together a bad puzzle. I remember moving to Canada as a kid and being all "UMM...UM...I studied English before shouldn't I know how to say hello right now?" until I learned the language mostly through osmosis. The ESL program we had set up was frankly pretty useless in terms of actually learning anything and I picked up things mostly from talking and reading fiction books.
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Jan 20, 2015 03:04
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SSNeoman posted:So is that the type of bar where you pay money for women to hang out with you? ...I'm so lonely.
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Jan 20, 2015 03:36
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Huh. I wonder where this lead is going to take us.
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Jan 22, 2015 03:27
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Part 4: Arrested We haul in Toshi, because we need to advance with the plot sooner or later. First off, let’s investigate his profile: Job He’s unemployed. He lives alone near the harbor. This man is edgy. Personal Life It looks like he’s been arrested once before, on charges of assault. He’d often pester Kouzou for money and idle his life away. As we learned in the first update, Toshi is Kouzou’s nephew. Between the update title and the fact that his uncle is dead, we don’t have high hopes for him...  Let’s see what he has to say about his money-grubbing uncle, first. : "No boss, you’re not asking him for his name this time… I’d like you to tell us what you know about Kouzou…”: “I’d say he was a nice uncle to have around. He was always giving me spending cash. Sucker!” Let’s check his alibi next. : “Let’s see, at that time, I was in my apartment.”Arrest him.  For now, let’s look into his alibi. We’ll hold off investigating his home until later. : “So...does his alibi hold up…?”: “His story was that he was alone in his apartment, but I’ve not been able to find someone to confirm that.”Gee, maybe because he was alone?  Let’s see what the theory section has to say about Toshi. Out of all the suspects in the case, he is the one who will gain the most from killing his uncle. Just in case you’re wondering, Mr. Hirata has the best motive for murder, since he owes Kouzou a lot of money. Anyways… Theorize If Kouzou were to die, Toshi would be left with an enormous inheritance… Could this perhaps have been a motive…? I’d kill a man for money, so sure.  For now, let’s head down to the Kobe Harbor and poke around. Maybe we’ll find something that’ll relate to Toshi’s alibi. In proportion to location, Toshi’s Apt is located right near the harbor.  What he said. Time to Let’s ride the Ferris Wheel!  : “Boss, there was a person who witnessed seeing Toshi at the harbor on the 17th, just after 9 o’ clock.”: “So...he lied…”There’s nothing else we can do here, so let’s scrounge through the apt next.  We’re only here to pick up one item.  Said item is on his desk. There’s nothing in the drawers or on the windows, so we can ignore those objects. : “It’s difficult to read this writing…SOF TNI AEV R E… What??? What the heck could this mean?” The puzzle here is quite simple, unless you have a malnutritioned cherry tomato for a brain. If you read each word as a column, instead of a row, you get… A headache?  ...Star One Five. In itself, it’s useless. However, if you dial it in the phone…  ...you get a response from one of Toshi’s associates. Groovy. : “Ah, hello. Toshi can’t make it today, so he’s asked me to go in his place.”: “All right. We’ll be waitin’ for you.”Slam! That isn’t suspicious or anything. : “I just went with my gut there, but what’s this about anyway…?”: “Let’s...find out…”Toshi is definitely not involved in any illegal activities whatsoever.  Looks like our contact has arrived. Unfortunately for him, 8-bit graphics have rendered his flesh a soulless husk of a man. Kinda like you.  ?You’ve gone and killed us. We are both dead. r.i.p.  The hell have you been smoking, Yasu? He’s still a faceless blob of red. : “You guys are totally not suspicious at all. Especially that guy with the scruffy beard. Bullet-riddled trenchcoats are totally the fashion in today’s society. You must be the guy on the phone. Here’s the [package]. And say hi to Toshiyuki for me, will ya?”: “Wait, about this…”: "It’s yours now. See ya. Weirdos. It’s like they’re detectives or something…” : “Just...accept it…”With that, the package is now in our inventory. Unfortunately, we can’t examine it right now, so let’s head back to the police station. “Arrest package”  Whatever is in it, I don’t think it’s going to be a Barbie Doll Dreamhouse. : “Narcotics! Boss!”: “Let’s… arrest him…”Toshi has done goofed.  : “What now…?”: <Shows package> “Take...a look…”: “......!” Showing both the package and the memo is necessary to get a confession out of him. : “Take a look at this Memo, please.”: “Oh, this? It’s just a doodle.”: “And I’m Dr. John Watson…we’ve already solved your little puzzle...” Finally, we have to ask about his alibi again. Only, this time, there’s a different response. : “I told you, I was in my apartment!”: “That’s a lie! There are people who say they saw you at the harbor.”: “Whatever. They must have mistaken someone else for me.”: “Hit him...Yasu…” Since Toshi isn’t willing to talk, we’ll have to belt him one. Did….did he turn into the last airbender? : “All right, talk!”POW! BONK! : “Ok, I’ll talk. That night, I went to the harbor to make a deal on some drugs. That’s why I made up that lie about being in my apartment. The one who killed my uncle wasn’t me.”Are you happy now? Go ahead and arrest me for the drugs.” HIT ‘EM AGAIN!  Although arresting Toshi feels completely pointless, it allows us to advance to the next portion of the game.  One down, a lot more to go… : “So Toshi wasn’t the murderer after all. Well, it looks like we’re now back to square one.”Theorize Toshi He has already been eliminated as suspect in our investigation of Kouzou’s murder. Variant_Eris fucked around with this message at 22:49 on Feb 5, 2015 |
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Jan 27, 2015 23:30
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