Live Your Life All Over Again (And Then Some): Let's Play Alter Ego!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Live Your Life All Over Again (And Then Some): Let's Play Alter Ego!

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WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

[img]http://lpix.org/2554611/6759-alter-ego-dos-front-cover[1].jpg[/img]

[img]http://lpix.org/2554612/24308-alter-ego-dos-screenshot-title-screen-male[1].gif[/img]

Alter Ego is a game released initially by Activision in 1986 for the Apple II, Commodore 64, and MS-DOS, later ported to browser-game format by an unknown developer, and even later released for iOS and Android (along with yet another browser version) by Choice of Games. It's a weird little thing, allowing the player to essentially live another person's life, from birth all the way until death; hence the name "Alter Ego." It was designed and written (seemingly in its entirety) by Dr. Peter J. Favaro, and the MS-DOS version (which we will be playing) was coded by William Kubeck and Kerry Shetline, per MobyGames (information on this title is bizarrely hard to find- it doesn't even have a Wikipedia page). It is completely unrelated to the point and click adventure game developed by bitComposer and released in 2010 by Viva Media, though that game does sound quite interesting.

Wait, why are you playing the old-rear end DOS version?

Well, firstly, the current browser version is non-free. The old one used to be free, but Choice of Games wants $5 for the currently available one, and I'm not entirely comfortable giving them money for a game that I'm pretty sure they don't actually have the rights to. I managed to find the old version on the Wayback Machine, but it's not actually functional, so the best free version available is now the ancient DOS one (I could, in theory, use the C64 or Apple II versions, but those emulators are a bit more of a pain to set up than DOSBox is). Also, it's a bit easier to take screenshots in DOSBox than to take screenshots of a text-based browser game, but that's not nearly as much of an issue.

Regardless of the version, however, I'm 99% sure the content is completely unchanged between versions. The UI is similar (if a touch clunkier and uglier) and a cursory look through the .vig files in the game directory reveals a lot of familiar-sounding events.

This seems tailor-made for goon participation.

You'd be correct on that.

So how's it gonna play out?

Every update, there will be a choice of some kind; it could be inconsequential or it could affect the Hypothetical Goon's entire life. This will, frankly, be as hidden from me as it is from y'all; this game is more than a little obtuse with its mechanics, but that honestly kind of suits the thing it's trying to simulate (you rarely know the specific consequences of a decision IRL). There's a branching event tree in the game that looks kind of like this (with variations in the layout, depending on the age you're at):

_{don't worry, I'll blow up images with text in them a bit so it's actually readable}

I will be choosing events from the tree myself, because there's no indication of what event you're getting beyond a simple icon showing a brain or a heart or something along those lines. However, once I've picked an event, it's up to you, the Something Awful goons, to determine how our hypothetical goonchild will react to it.

So, first off, do we wanna be male or female? In addition, what name would we like to have? There's no image for this choice because the male and female versions are actually separate games, in the manner of different Pokemon versions; the answer to this determines which one I'll be loading (I took the decision tree screencap from the male version, but we're not limited to that).

Thread Rules:

No untagged spoilers. Vague stuff is fine, "here's what happens in a particular event" should probably go under spoiler tags.

Don't be creepy. This game is overall worksafe, but there's a couple of "mature" events that drag us into some interesting territory, iirc. It shouldn't be a huge deal, but... just don't be creepy okay

Contents

#1 - Personality Quiz
#2 - Entering the World
#3 - Strange Object
#4 - Babby's First Ennui
#5 - TONIGHT, WE FEED
#6 - Mad Motor Skillz

WeedlordGoku69 fucked around with this message at 02:37 on Sep 8, 2016

# ? Sep 1, 2016 04:38

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# ? Apr 29, 2024 01:05

Hirayuki: Mar 28, 2010

Oh, excellent! I loved this game on C64 when I was a kid. For anyone who wants to play along, the DOS version of the male game is available from the Internet Archive's extensive software library.

# ? Sep 1, 2016 14:18

TheMcD: May 4, 2013; Monaca / Subject N 2024
---------
Despair will never let you down.
Malice will never disappoint you.

I played the male version a few times, had my fair share of stranger danger deaths and one glorious run that ended with a heart attack of excitement after making the game-winning catch at a seniors' softball game (or something to that effect), so I guess let's go for female. No opinion on the name.

TheMcD fucked around with this message at 17:40 on Sep 1, 2016

# ? Sep 1, 2016 17:36

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

Hirayuki posted:

Oh, excellent! I loved this game on C64 when I was a kid. For anyone who wants to play along, the DOS version of the male game is available from the Internet Archive's extensive software library.

gently caress, that reminds me I should probably add a spoiler policy to the OP. This game really isn't as fun when you know exactly what's gonna happen.

TheMcD posted:

I played the male version a few times, had my fair share of stranger danger deaths and one glorious run that ended with a heart attack of excitement after making the game-winning catch at a seniors' softball game (or something to that effect), so I guess let's go for female. No opinion on the name.

Please edit your post to add spoiler tags where I did.

# ? Sep 1, 2016 17:39

RBA Starblade: Apr 28, 2008; Going Home.

Games Idiot Court Jester

Let's be female and make a lot of poor life choices.

# ? Sep 1, 2016 17:40

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

So, uh... the female version is in the lead with 2 votes (as opposed to zero for male), and I've gotten no suggestions for the name.

Did I make a mistake picking this game to LP?

# ? Sep 2, 2016 05:40

POOL IS CLOSED: Jul 14, 2011; I'm just exploding with mackerel. This is the aji wo kutta of my discontent.; Pillbug

Female! And name her Maleficent.

# ? Sep 2, 2016 05:50

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

You know what, I'm just gonna keep this rolling so we're not waiting multiple days to pick a name. We're going female, with the name Maleficent. Update incoming; this'll be a relatively big one, the game drops you right into a personality quiz when you start.

WeedlordGoku69 fucked around with this message at 06:39 on Sep 2, 2016

# ? Sep 2, 2016 06:18

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

#1 - Personality Quiz

We'll be choosing our own personality for this LP, for maximum hilarity.

For simplicity's sake, I'm just going to post all the questions here in one go, rather than going page by page. This will be our first decision, if a bit of an out-of-the-ordinary one. I genuinely have no idea what these affect; the most obvious answer is your starting stats, but it might be a little deeper than that (this game is absolute coding wizardry from what I can tell).

Voting is now closed.

WeedlordGoku69 fucked around with this message at 19:31 on Sep 3, 2016

# ? Sep 2, 2016 06:41

Lockmat: Oct 2, 2005; Come on, let's go set some prostitutes on fire.; Grimey Drawer

1) false
2) false
3) false
4) true
5) true
6) false
7) true
8) false
9) true
10) true
11) true
12) true
13) false
14) true
15) true
16) false
17) true
18) true
19) true
20) false
21) true
22) false
23) false
24) false
25) true

I may or may not be basing these on my wife.

# ? Sep 2, 2016 13:46

RBA Starblade: Apr 28, 2008; Going Home.

Games Idiot Court Jester

1 F
2 T
3 F
4 T
5 F
6 T
7 T
8 F
9 T
10 F
11 F
12 T
13 T
14 F
15 T
16 T
17 T
18 T
19 F
20 T
21 F
22 F
23 T
24 T
25 T

Let's be a paranoid piece of poo poo. :v:

# ? Sep 2, 2016 13:52

Orbs: Apr 1, 2009; ~Liberation~

Sorry I missed the name/gender part, but I had no good ideas. Maleficent is certainly good enough.

1) false
2) false
3) false
4) true
5) false
6) true
7) true
8) false
9) true
10) false
11) true
12) true
13) true
14) false
15) true
16) false
17) true
18) true
19) false
20) true
21) true
22) false
23) false
24) true
25) true

# ? Sep 3, 2016 00:08

POOL IS CLOSED: Jul 14, 2011; I'm just exploding with mackerel. This is the aji wo kutta of my discontent.; Pillbug

Hell yeah I finally got to name something! :swoon:

I think this personality test actually has a pretty big influence on decision outcomes, but it's been many years since I tried this out and I might be confusing it with a similar title. It measures impulsiveness, depression, Machiavellian tendencies, and anxiety, I think?

1. F
2. F
3. T
4. T
5. T
6. T
7. F
8. T
9. T
10. T
11. T
12. T
13. T
14. F
15. T
16. F
17. T
18. F
19. T
20. F
21. T
22. T
23. T
24. T
25. F

# ? Sep 3, 2016 01:06

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

Voting closes in 20 minutes!

RedTonic posted:

I think this personality test actually has a pretty big influence on decision outcomes, but it's been many years since I tried this out and I might be confusing it with a similar title.

Yeah, I'm gonna be completely honest, I have no idea how this game works under-the-hood. I guess we'll see!

# ? Sep 3, 2016 05:42

jesus WEP: Oct 17, 2004

aw crap, i'm late to this thread

i always loved this game

1 F
2 T
3 F
4 T
5 F
6 T
7 T
8 F
9 F
10 F
11 F
12 T
13 T
14 F
15 T
16 T
17 T
18 T
19 F
20 F
21 F
22 F
23 T
24 T
25 T

# ? Sep 3, 2016 15:17

POOL IS CLOSED: Jul 14, 2011; I'm just exploding with mackerel. This is the aji wo kutta of my discontent.; Pillbug

Better late than never!

# ? Sep 3, 2016 15:46

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

St Evan Echoes posted:

aw crap, i'm late to this thread i always loved this game

You're good! I decided to wait until morning to tally it up just in case there were any stragglers, since this thread isn't drawing a ton of activity.

After a quick tally, the winning answers are as follows:

quote:

1) F
2) F
3) F
4) T
5) F
6) T
7) T
8) F
9) T
10) F
11) T
12) T
13) T
14) F
15) T
16) F
17) T
18) T
19) F
20) F
21) T
22) F
23) T
24) T
25) T

Update incoming.

# ? Sep 3, 2016 19:30

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

#2 - Entering the World

And with those answers, the game begins properly.

I think this screen is unique to the older versions of the game; we're going to be starting in Birth and Infancy, for the sake of showing off as much of the game as we can here. In addition, starting at birth means we have significantly less mechanics to worry about from the outset, with them instead being introduced gradually until adulthood; this'll give me a little more room to explain things (to the best of my knowledge) when a new feature pops up.

This is the only event available to us right now.

# ? Sep 3, 2016 19:50

TheMcD: May 4, 2013; Monaca / Subject N 2024
---------
Despair will never let you down.
Malice will never disappoint you.

Let's stay in a little longer. It's comfy in here.

# ? Sep 3, 2016 19:51

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

And it promptly takes us back to the initial decision.

# ? Sep 3, 2016 19:55

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

If I remember correctly, despite appearances, this actually isn't a but-thou-must choice!

e: In case this update's structure seems a little confusing: to try and move things along at a speedier clip, I'm just taking the first answer posted. If this thread starts getting more posts, I'll make it a vote again, but as it stands, making every choice a vote would be very, very slow.

WeedlordGoku69 fucked around with this message at 20:20 on Sep 3, 2016

# ? Sep 3, 2016 20:09

POOL IS CLOSED: Jul 14, 2011; I'm just exploding with mackerel. This is the aji wo kutta of my discontent.; Pillbug

Let's come out fightin'!

# ? Sep 3, 2016 21:03

Rappaport: Oct 2, 2013

Let's come out fighting :black101:

# ? Sep 3, 2016 21:04

POOL IS CLOSED: Jul 14, 2011; I'm just exploding with mackerel. This is the aji wo kutta of my discontent.; Pillbug

Rappaport posted:

Let's come out fighting

YEAH!

# ? Sep 3, 2016 21:05

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

Oh poo poo. :stare:

That doesn't sound good.

This is pretty good, though! $500 right off the bat, for doing precisely nothing except being born!

And here we are, at the meat of the game. Our current stats:

Jesus poo poo Maleficent is a rich baby. Also, Gentleness is at 1%. :lol:

# ? Sep 4, 2016 06:33

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

#3 - Strange Object

We're a baby, so we're gonna be doing baby things for a bit.

Relevant side note here: in these "select a mood/select an action" setups, if you pick an answer that doesn't make sense in the game's eyes (i.e. "determination/ignore object" here) it'll just tell you that doesn't make sense and to try again.

# ? Sep 4, 2016 08:05

IAmTheRad: Dec 11, 2009; Goddammit this Cello is way out of tune!

If I learned anything from Undertale, it's all about Determination

And being Determined, we must Grasp for it

# ? Sep 4, 2016 08:13

jesus WEP: Oct 17, 2004

gently caress this poo poo, cry in frustration

# ? Sep 4, 2016 11:24

POOL IS CLOSED: Jul 14, 2011; I'm just exploding with mackerel. This is the aji wo kutta of my discontent.; Pillbug

Seeing a thing fills us with determination!

To cry!

POOL IS CLOSED fucked around with this message at 18:37 on Sep 4, 2016

# ? Sep 4, 2016 15:40

JosephWongKS: Apr 4, 2009; by Nyc_Tattoo

Determination and Grasp.

# ? Sep 4, 2016 17:01

Rappaport: Oct 2, 2013

IAmTheRad posted:

If I learned anything from Undertale, it's all about Determination

And being Determined, we must Grasp for it

We are going to be bad rear end at life, and it begins right here :black101:

Determined grasp!

# ? Sep 4, 2016 17:03

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

IAmTheRad posted:

If I learned anything from Undertale, it's all about Determination

And being Determined, we must Grasp for it

# ? Sep 4, 2016 19:01

POOL IS CLOSED: Jul 14, 2011; I'm just exploding with mackerel. This is the aji wo kutta of my discontent.; Pillbug

Shake the poo poo out of it!

# ? Sep 4, 2016 19:02

jesus WEP: Oct 17, 2004

YELL

# ? Sep 4, 2016 19:04

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

RedTonic posted:

Shake the poo poo out of it!

Well, that went well.

I'm not going to do a full stat dump this time, because only two of our stats changed from this event- our Intellectual sphere went up to 60%, and our Confidence sphere went up to 45%.

# ? Sep 4, 2016 19:58