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Have you started recording 4 yet? When do you think the first video will be released?
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Nov 18, 2018 22:23
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| # ? Apr 30, 2024 10:27 |
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We recorded the first session of 4 not too long ago, and I'm editing it now. Like I said, I want to spread the videos I've got over the holiday season as best I can, since it's likely to be difficult to schedule recordings for the next few months. At the current pace, it's going to be a very long series, so I'm hoping I can resolve some of the technical issues for the next recording and make the pickle-hunting a little more bearable.
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Nov 19, 2018 00:26
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Here it is: The final game in the series, which came out 16 years later. The creators have learned from their mistakes, and have found a whole host of new, inventive mistakes to make in their place. The graphics are... different, the puzzles are... also different but similar in all the wrong ways, the sound is..., and the game mechanics are a significant improvement over the first game while maintaining that vital selection of minor annoyances that make you wish you were playing almost anything else after a while. As for the story, we won't be getting to that for a good while, but I'm sure it will disappoint. Oh, and the technology has somehow become even worse. Poor The Splash is playing in a tiny window centered in a tiny window. I'll hopefully find a way to fix that for the next session, but for now, everything is made of tiny pickles. I apologize to everyone for the parts that are my fault and leave it to all of you to determine what those are. Part 1-1: "Please don't make me take the gherkin out of the bird." Polsy Youtube
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Dec 1, 2018 17:45
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I never played this game. I don't regret that decision.
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Dec 1, 2018 19:42
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Gobliiins Co-Op: “I can’t tell if you’re serious or not”
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Dec 1, 2018 22:41
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Oh god, will every scene have something like that bird screeching along? This will drive me insane.
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Dec 2, 2018 00:13
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VodeAndreas posted:Oh god, will every scene have something like that bird screeching along? This will drive me insane. Something like it, yes. Not all of them are as awful in the audio department, but I don't believe that any of them add anything of value to the game. Allow me to further explain the Cromartie High School reference I made in the video, since The Splash and I continued that discussion after the recording ended. Cromartie High School is one of the most consistently funny manga series I've ever read. Most of the chapters are only six pages long, all of them end with a gag, and most of them land solidly. So, when the anime came out to great reviews, I was really excited. I brought the first DVD to my brother's place to show him what I swore would be the funniest thing he'd ever seen. It was utter garbage. Not just by comparison to the manga, but as a standalone product. Most of the first disc consisted of a single joke: "Read the manga version." I attempted to stick with it until the second disc. At this point, the format leans heavily on long sequences of dialogue, rather than snappy visual gags like Freddy Mercury doing random things. That's not a problem for the manga version, since word balloons can fill most of the page without a problem. The anime version didn't seem to understand how long stretches of setup can bolster a punchline, so the producers decided to animate random stuff like Bo~bobo-style nose hairs or UFOs while the characters are talking. It's not funny at all, and distracts from the content that feeds the actual humor. It reminds me painfully of the period around eighth grade, when I hadn't yet learned the difference between "funny" and "random". This game appears to have been designed by people with the same sense of non-humor.
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Dec 2, 2018 00:52
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There is one thing I can say for Gobliiins 4: I don't recall it ever being entirely unclear what general objective you're trying to accomplish. Whether it's "feed the herbivorous plant" or "reach the far end of the tunnel" or "don't be eaten by the giant monster" or "just give the computer the three-finger salute and quit playing the game", you have a clear goal, and it's only the specifics that boggle the mind. Moving house, for example, is an ordeal because there's no inventory of what items, precisely, you're being asked to move. It's not too hard to puzzle out, since there are only two doors and two characters, but we're still early in the game yet. For now, the problem remains that some things are too small to be seen. We will be wishing for that problem soon, possibly by the end of the next session. Part 1-2: "Take that, game! I've solved your second-screen mystery puzzle!" Polsy Youtube
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Dec 18, 2018 02:56
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I'm honestly impressed with how unpleasant this game looks.
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Dec 27, 2018 23:43
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The early days of 3d games were grim, visual wise.
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Dec 28, 2018 00:01
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sweet geek swag posted:The early days of 3d games were grim, visual wise. That's true, but I don't think it's really relevant to this game. For comparison, Alone in the Dark came out in the same year as Gobliins 2. For further comparison, the PS3/XBox 360 Alone in the Dark came out a year before Gobliiins 4. So did Tomb Raider: Underworld. Other releases in 2009: The PC version of Mirror's Edge; The Wii remake of Dead Rising; Braid; inFAMOUS; that 3D Ghostbusters game; Bayonetta; Demon's Souls; and to give an example within the same genre, Tales of Monkey Island. 3D graphics were old enough to vote when this came out, depending on exactly when you define the "first" 3D graphics to be. That said, I don't fault the game for its graphical style. It pretty much is a 3D version of the first game. It just didn't manage to do anything impressive or fun with that.
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Dec 28, 2018 02:11
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Wait, this was 2009? Wow okay yeah, this must have been a deliberate choice then. This game came out 2 years after Mass Effect.
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Dec 28, 2018 21:40
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I was thinking the same thing. "This looks decent for an early 3d title. Wait, this came out in 2009?!" I'm also impressed by a password based save system in a 2009 game.
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Dec 29, 2018 07:21
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We finally have our full cast, so the puzzles will involve more complicated interactions between the characters. So far, the most interaction we've had has been Tchoup placing an object somewhere for Stucco to punch or jump on - the stepladder is a persistent example of this, but with magic in the mix, there will be many more opportunities for one character to set up something for another character to do. Not only that, but thanks to the ability to have multiple characters active at once, we have timing puzzles! As befits a linear game, we'll start out with simple versions of everything, then build on it as the game proceeds. We're not far now from getting to the beginning of the game's actual plot! Part 1-3: "Man, I love that this level is just making skeletons vomit. That's the whole level." Polsy Youtube
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Jan 5, 2019 18:28
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I like The Dig but that bone puzzle can go in the garbage.
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Jan 6, 2019 03:23
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I hate puzzles where understanding what you need to do isn't sufficient to complete the puzzle and you need to perform some sort of specific detail, like arranging the bones in The Dig or the puzzle in Myst Revelations where you have to get the timing EXACTLY right or it doesn't register - and then there's a puzzle in the same game where you have to manipulate the controls very quickly, which I don't particularly hate because at least everything is in integers and you just have to be fast, not accurate. None of this exactly 2.65 seconds garbage. Most of the simultaneity puzzles in this series just require figuring out in which order you need to perform the actions, and the timing has to be fairly fast, but not exact. I respect that.
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Jan 6, 2019 14:41
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Nidoking posted:or the puzzle in Myst Revelations where you have to get the timing EXACTLY right or it doesn't register - and then there's a puzzle in the same game where you have to manipulate the controls very quickly, which I don't particularly hate because at least everything is in integers and you just have to be fast, not accurate. The only one I recall giving me trouble in Revelations was the vibrating rock elevator.
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Jan 6, 2019 17:09
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mateo360 posted:The only one I recall giving me trouble in Revelations was the vibrating rock elevator. That one just required figuring out the correct order to set the four positions and then doing it quickly, before the puzzle resets. I'm thinking of the monkey speech horn, where I had the right idea but couldn't solve the puzzle, so I had to look up the answer. It turned out that while I was trying to just do long and short noises, like Morse code, it needs to be exactly the right duration to work.
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Jan 6, 2019 17:43
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Nidoking posted:I hate puzzles where understanding what you need to do isn't sufficient to complete the puzzle and you need to perform some sort of specific detail, like arranging the bones in The Dig or the puzzle in Myst Revelations where you have to get the timing EXACTLY right or it doesn't register - and then there's a puzzle in the same game where you have to manipulate the controls very quickly, which I don't particularly hate because at least everything is in integers and you just have to be fast, not accurate. None of this exactly 2.65 seconds garbage. Most of the simultaneity puzzles in this series just require figuring out in which order you need to perform the actions, and the timing has to be fairly fast, but not exact. I respect that. I haven't played Myst Revelations, but is there any indication that you ARE technically doing what you're supposed to do but that your timing is off? The greatest video game puzzles are the ones where you have a motivation and know both the end goal and what obstacle is in your way, and the solution makes you feel smart because you thought of some weird logic that the developers also thought about, instead of just clicking everywhere on the screen for something to pick up and then trying everything in your inventory on every hotspot.
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Jan 6, 2019 20:51
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kjetting posted:I haven't played Myst Revelations, but is there any indication that you ARE technically doing what you're supposed to do but that your timing is off? The indication is that nothing happens, instead of the monkeys doing what you want them to do.
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Jan 7, 2019 00:35
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I still have a lot of catching up to do, I started watching this playthrough a couple of years ago before I took a break from the forums. I'm glad that it's still ongoing as this was another series from my younger years that I was absolutely terrible at. I remember owning Gobliiins on the Atari ST and getting nowhere. I've caught up with Gobliins 2 these last two weeks and have just started watching the third game in action. I can't wait to reach the fourth game as I didn't know it existed until now.
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Jan 12, 2019 20:07
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We recorded more of the game last night. There were several opportunities over the course of that time when I could reasonably have called an end to the enterprise and had plenty to work with. I elected not to utilize any of them. Meanwhile, I've also begun my solo odyssey through the game, and it's considerably shorter. Possibly too short, but I tried to cover as many of the offhand things you can do as possible. and make sense of the puzzles where sense is to be made. I think we can all be glad there's no health bar in this game. Part 1: Detective Tchoup gathers his friends Polsy Youtube
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Jan 18, 2019 03:00
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In any sensible world, a king who has asked for a favor would let the guards know that honored guests are coming and tell them to be prepared. He would certainly try to make it easier for the people who will be performing that favor to get into the castle. In the world of Gobliiins 4, however, sense takes a back seat to more opportunities for puzzles. Frankly, I think this scene is too simple. While it can be annoying to shuttle characters back and forth across the moat, there's a lot more that could be done with requiring specific pairs of characters at once. Instead, you just need to push a rock, set up the ladder, and then show the letter to each guard, finally having whichever two characters are convenient rouse both guards at once. I don't think you even need to pick up the stick along the way, although the game will undoubtedly stop you from leaving without it. Part 2-1: "So the one thing we haven't figured out is how to also get Stucco to the other side. And also everything else." Polsy Youtube
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Jan 31, 2019 02:07
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Finally, we've reached the beginning of the game. We've gone to great lengths to round up our entire party and respond to the king's summons, and he can finally tell us what the actual objective of the game is. That is, once he cheers up enough to say anything at all. Kings in this series just don't seem to be in control of their mental states. Or their libraries. Part 2-2: "I apologize to any feet people that may be watching this video." Polsy Youtube
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Feb 11, 2019 01:46
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If only there had been something in your inventory that makes small writing appear larger.
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Feb 11, 2019 19:18
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kjetting posted:If only there had been something in your inventory that makes small writing appear larger. She'll realize this about halfway through the next video.
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Feb 12, 2019 00:55
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It's not a real adventure game unless you're systematically rubbing your entire inventory against everything on the screen just in case.
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Feb 12, 2019 08:33
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So, now that we have a quest, we need to start gathering information, beginning in Riri's bedroom. The problem is that there's a lot of information to gather, and it's not entirely clear what any of it means or how to find it. Also unclear is why any of this information exists to be found in the first place. Basically, Riri left on a journey and doesn't seem to want to be followed, but he's left clues to how to follow him scattered around the room. It's like he's saying "Ha ha, Batman! You'll never find my secret passage out of this room! But, if you WERE to happen to look for it, the first digit of the combination is seven." That, or maybe "Dear Mom and Dad: I'm running away from home because you don't love me. If you really do love me, then you'll be able to solve the puzzles to find where I'm hiding. The answers are all the things I've told you I did at school." It doesn't help that some of the things you have to do in this room are complete nonsense. Part 2-3: "Use stick plus bear's navel is probably the way that somebody has died in the past." Polsy Youtube
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Feb 24, 2019 01:42
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Part of me wants to apologize for how long this room drags on. But that's this game. There's a lot to do, and some of it is really counterintuitive. There are several elements that are used for their own puzzles, but then have to be combined in different ways to solve other puzzles. At least the clues are numbered and their use is fairly obvious once you get all the pieces. It's just poking at everything, with every character, and with every item, over and over until it all falls into place. Part 2-4: "Don't worry. At this pace, we'll have this done... probably by about four in the morning." Polsy Youtube
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Mar 10, 2019 22:45
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There are times when, even if you know the solutions to all of the puzzles and can plot out the shortest route to complete them, you still have to do the same thing multiple times. There are a few of those here, but I also haven't bothered to plot out a shortest route. I'm considerably less familiar with this game than the preceding ones, so I get confused and forget things. I don't think that slows things down particularly, but it's probably annoying. It's also a much more authentic Gobliiins 4 experience. Part 2: Riri ranran Polsy Youtube Trying out just posting the full-sized image this time. Let me know if you've got a preference between full-sized and half-sized images for the solo videos.
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Mar 27, 2019 01:43
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You should stick with full size so we can really appreciate that "learning to use Blender" aesthetic.
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Apr 4, 2019 01:21
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We're now hot on the trail of the escaped aardvark, a trail which begins in his secret escape tunnel. It's pretty elaborate for a structure that one might expect to be more functional, and it seems a bit too complicated to navigate to be useful in an emergency. But he may have set things up this way to throw his pursuers off his trail. Or he may want them to follow him. We still don't know what his intentions are. Part 3-1: "There's something wrong with this old man. I'm sending him back. Get a new one." Polsy Youtube
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May 10, 2019 01:01
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We've made it to the Transworm Express station, which could probably be seen as a statement about the state of modern public transportation if anything in this game appeared to have any meaning beyond fitting into a puzzle. The only employee doesn't seem interested in doing his job, everything is in disrepair, and the worm himself is in a sorry state. Riri must have been REALLY unhappy at the palace if he braved this route. Part 3-2: "Get in there. Get in your hell pit." Polsy Youtube
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May 21, 2019 01:42
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At last, we have a means of transportation! Is what I would love to say, but our worm has already broken down and stranded us on a mechanical chameleon that doesn't even work, in the middle of the sea of mud. We're going to have to catch some evil carrots to get to the lettuce we need to proceed. Have I mentioned that this game ramps up the weirdness quite a bit from even the standard set by the earlier games? Part 3-3: "All right, let's do it! Let's put - let's just... pea everywhere." Polsy Youtube
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May 30, 2019 00:27
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I will say this for Shadwin's cave in the first game - while you had to repeat the process of loading the cannon and firing it many, many, many, many times, at least you were accomplishing different things each time, and there was no need to restock the matchbox - true, you could only carry one cannonball at a time, but that was the inherent limitation of the game. There is no reason to make the player catch three carrots. There is absolutely no reason to limit the number of peas that fit in a bucket, especially when there's no additional puzzle to solve to get more peas. The hairs ran out in Goblins 3, but at least you had to solve a puzzle to find more! At least Vern is a cute worm.  Part 3: Hey, Vern! It's Gobliiins! Polsy Youtube
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Jun 13, 2019 02:06
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Whoops. I didn't realize quite how long it had been. It's been an interesting couple of months, what with my recording equipment failing on me (I sent it back to the manufacturer, and they've mailed it back to me without a reply - I'm assuming there will be some paper in the package that explains their findings, but it would be nice to know what to expect, exactly), and scheduling difficulties with The Splash. Fortunately, we found the time for another recording session, but the new setup I've had to use to work around the hardware problems caused other technical difficulties, and then I accidentally put in the wrong password and jumped a level too far ahead. We got it sorted out, though, and then got off on a tangent discussing Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. I barely managed to get to the recap of last session when we had to fiddle with more setup, but the rest was a bit too funny not to use. So here's another bonus look behind the scenes of what we talk about when we're not expecting the rest of the world to listen in, in a video whose first line will leave you wondering how I could possibly not have used that for the title quote. Bonus video: "If I ever die, make sure no one eats my sandwiches." Polsy Youtube Additional bonus viewing of note: The Jojo theme piano medley I used to test the audio before we started recording So This is Basically Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, which is still good because I promise the parts I misquoted weren't the funniest parts. The list of alternate titles for each part really stands out, although I still stand by John Dies at the End for part one and Joe vs. the Volcano for part two. The best thing is to watch it as someone who isn't an expert on Jojo, then get into the series and realize that every last part of that video is completely serious.
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Aug 17, 2019 02:09
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We're finally back in business, and right back into the hunt for magic lettuce. It's guarded by a gigantic vegetarian monster with bad eyesight. The absurdity is just going to keep growing, and we're only about halfway through the game. Part 4-1: "This has to be the only game where I want to do something, but I don't actually know if I want it to work or not." Polsy Youtube
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Aug 24, 2019 21:59
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So we've been eaten by a giant lettuce monster, but not to worry. This, too, is the path Riri took. We'll just have to dentist our way out. Part 4-2: "(unintelligible whining)" Polsy Youtube
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Sep 13, 2019 00:11
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I kept yelling "use the magnet on the nail!" at my monitor, and then it turned out to not even do anything. In the old games it would've at least had a funny failure animation.
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Sep 13, 2019 00:49
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We've finally been noticed! No, the LP hasn't suddenly experienced a surge in popularity or anything like that, but our characters have been featured on the front page of... "Gobliiins" the newspaper. It's an interesting enough gimmick, I suppose, but they don't really do anything meaningful with it. There's so much possibility in a setup like this for things like interactions between panels, or manipulating the sequence of events by moving forward and backward in the time represented by the panels. Instead, they just split the level into smaller chunks that take too long to move between for no actual benefit. Part 4-3: "Is this the level?" Polsy Youtube
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Sep 22, 2019 00:53
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