|
 Anachronox is really really great.  What're you looking at me like that for? What? Not convinced? ::sighs, puts on glasses. Ineffectually rustles some papers that are clearly blank:: Anachronox is the 2001 brainchild of Tom Hall, one of the legendary founders of ID Software, creative force behind Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, Rise of the Triad, and the super awesome Commander Keen series. Based on a modified Quake II engine, Anachronox was produced by Ion Storm, the ill-fated John Romero studio eternally embarassed by Daikatana. Despite good reviews, Anachronox got largely overlooked and slipped into obscurity, then gradually became a bit of a cult hit. Anachronox is many things. It is a third-person sci-fi RPG, inspired by old school SNES RPGs like Chrono Chross and Final Fantasy (games which I never played myself, so I won't be able to draw comparisons), but with the more tedious RPG elements simplified so even a doofus like me can make sense of it. It blends a very noir style plot with major stakes, save-the-universe sci-fi, and sharp comedy. It is a hilariously written game, chock full of genuinely funny humor (not just “funny for a game” funny), where every character you come across has something worthwhile to say, even if it's just one line. It can be an extremely buggy mess, prone to animation glitches, falling through the world, and items resetting. It is also one of the most fun, engaging, entertaining, wonderful videogame experience I've had, and I'm going to try and push it on you! Anachronox was LPed before in 2007 in screenshot form. Being a game made up largely of text-based dialogue and somewhat repetitive combat, that's a good way to present the game. However, that would make you miss out on amusing cutscenes, excellent music, and cool battle animations, so I'm going with a commentated video format. To keep it digestable, I'll edit out long stretches of walking and zip through the battles when there's nothing new or interesting to see. Anachronox is currently available on GOG.com and Steam. The original CD version of Anachronox is notably buggy, and exponentially so on a modern system. This is why Joey Liaw, programmer on the Anachronox team, wrote a set of patches (in his spare time) that fixed some major issues with the game. The GOG version of Anachronox has these patches and more applied to it, making it reasonably stable to play. I assume the Steam version, which showed up later, is the same.                      davidspackage fucked around with this message at 20:14 on Oct 19, 2017 |
#
¿
Mar 23, 2017 22:38
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 02:46 |
|
|
|
|
#
¿
Mar 23, 2017 22:38
|
|
|
|
|
#
¿
Mar 23, 2017 22:38
|
|
|
Bobbin Threadbare posted:Yeah, I remember hearing that even the developers realize the game takes too long to get off the starting planet and getting the plot moving. It gets pretty awesome once you get through the first third, though. I never had much of a problem with this, but I'm also the type of player who exhausts all possible sidepaths before trying to make progress. So I can see how it would turn off other players.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 24, 2017 23:09
|
|
|
anilEhilated posted:Speaking of, how are you going to handle the different scenarios at the party split? That is a bit of a dick move by the game given the poor pacing and lack of replayability. Oh, I'll definitely cover all three possible options. It's a little annoying having to replay the preceding part every time, but all three are worth seeing.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 25, 2017 18:26
|
|
|
Stabbey_the_Clown posted:Question: have you done a test run of the game before launching this LP? Because I played the GoG version and I was unable to finish the game because the final boss was "bugged" - it moved too fast, getting far too many turns, so I was unable to do the thing I needed to do to win. It would really suck if you were unable to finish the LP because of that. Thanks, someone warned me for this in the Sandcastle. I tested it, and was able to complete the game. The game's pretty affected by processor speed, so you might have a better PC than me 
|
|
#
¿
Mar 26, 2017 08:17
|
|
|
 This is one to kind of get through because I'm a completionist; the combat tutorial. Unskippable and kind of tedious. If you find yourself getting bored, I have a link in the description (and an annotation) to jump past it. Combat concepts will be explained when they come up, anyway. Also, in the commentary for this one, I question whether Anachronox started out as a more hardcore RPG and got scaled back, or whether it was always going to be like this. I've since found out that it's the latter; it was always meant to be kind of a dressed-down RPG. Or at least, dressed down from what I'm used to seeing in RPGs, like picking how to distribute your stats, dealing with character classes, armor types, etc. Bobbin Threadbare posted:I think you can safely drop the annotation link after the first minute or so. It doesn't need to sit there the whole time. Yeah, you're right. Fixed that. davidspackage fucked around with this message at 20:35 on Mar 28, 2017 |
|
#
¿
Mar 27, 2017 21:21
|
|
|
In which Boots crosses more of Anachronox's colorful locale and finds the object of his latest 'case.'
|
|
#
¿
Mar 29, 2017 21:41
|
|
|
Stabbey_the_Clown posted:Will you be using the fast-forward button to speed up the game? It's something which quickly becomes very sanity-saving to speed up all the elevator animations, as well as combat. I looked at a few options to speed through the repetitive stuff, but I'm going to use short fade-overs to skip the frequent backtracking through areas already seen, and quick cuts to rush through the fights.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 30, 2017 06:18
|
|
|
Stabbey_the_Clown posted:I mean the actual in-game fast-forward button to save any remnants of YOUR sanity. Heh, I always use it when I'm playing just for myself, I just don't really want to use it on-camera.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 30, 2017 19:35
|
|
|
No April Fool's jokes from me, I didn't think to plan ahead. Plus I think I might have laryngitis. Anyway, Boots commits some crimes and meets a small, hairy man.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 1, 2017 21:52
|
|
|
Oops, I forgot to upload a video before I dropped off to sleep yesterday! In this episode, I look into what's beyond the previously closed-off areas, now that we've met Grumpos. davidspackage fucked around with this message at 21:39 on Apr 5, 2017 |
|
#
¿
Apr 5, 2017 20:15
|
|
|
Stabbey_the_Clown posted:I still have this game installed. I started a new character with it. It would probably help if someone could point me at one of the tricks to slow down my CPU so I could finish it this time, though. Maybe locking the framerate could work? I read that it helped people get past some notorious pitfalls (ie, the Lucko Coldwolf chase). My videocard's software gives this option, but it messes with Fraps when I try it.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 6, 2017 17:54
|
|
|
In today's episode, Boots commits terrible crimes, gets some back-up, and does some actual detective work.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 8, 2017 22:22
|
|
|
Yeah, the first fights as Boots alone are disproportionally hard if you don't use FatimaScreen and items. As soon as you have a buddy, fights are so much simpler.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 9, 2017 11:30
|
|
|
In the newly opened Anachronox Tours area, we meet an old buddy of Boots, and we go looking for something to please Eddie.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 12, 2017 22:43
|
|
|
Thank you, that's nice to hear! Boots and Grumpos enter the Junkyard, the first combat-heavy area. After the first two fights I start cutting them up, which I intend to do whenever I don't have some new enemy type, special attack or combat element to show off. Hope you guys feel this is a good compromise, but if you have other ideas on how to show (or not show) the fights, I'm interested to hear.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 16, 2017 21:58
|
|
|
Boots and Grumpos fight their way through strange alien tunnels. Lots of (truncated) combat ensues.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 20, 2017 21:14
|
|
|
We settle our affairs on Anachronox, bring an old friend out of retirement, and set off into the green yonder. davidspackage fucked around with this message at 21:49 on Apr 30, 2017 |
|
#
¿
Apr 25, 2017 19:14
|
|
|
A collection of reproduceable bugs and glitches.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 30, 2017 21:48
|
|
|
It may take a bit longer for the next video, by the way; I'm no longer flu-y but I've had to put in some extra time at work and help my brother tear up his new house. Watch this space!
|
|
#
¿
May 1, 2017 17:51
|
|
|
On we go to Sender Station... Station... to see if we can catch a ride to the planet of scientists, Sunder. This one's a bit more sloppy. After recording commentary and sitting down to edit, I realize it was still way too bloated with me stopping to talk to virtually every character on Sender Station. I excised a bunch of dialogue that was neither very funny nor informative, which resulted in a bunch of impromptu fadeovers in this and the next video. Oh well.
|
|
#
¿
May 8, 2017 22:27
|
|
|
Stabbey_the_Clown posted:Traderbots. That's really interesting to know, thanks!
|
|
#
¿
May 9, 2017 06:59
|
|
|
We finally find out why I'm picking up TACOs left and right, we get in touch with the Resistance on Sender Station, and we get some new duds.
|
|
#
¿
May 13, 2017 18:53
|
|
|
Stabbey_the_Clown posted:- I'm not sure that you can leave at this point. I tried and it won't let me. It says I still need credentials. Weird. If you go fight in the Routubes, do Grumpos and Boots wear their scientist outfits, or are they just suddenly in their normal gear again?
|
|
#
¿
May 13, 2017 21:14
|
|
|
Fwoderwick posted:There's so much in this LP that I flat out don't remember from my play through in the year 200X. I'm left wondering if it's the time difference or if I just didn't find half this stuff? Like if I understood it correctly, that you could simply buy two tickets to the next world, then maybe I did that rather than yammering one guy and playing cupid with another. Well, you can buy one ticket. You still need to swindle at least one scientist to get another. I've never played the demo, so I have no idea what was used for it. Democratus? Anyway, Today, we explore part of the Routubes, do a little bit of fighting, and settle affairs on Sender Station so we can leave for planet Sunder! Just noticed I made a mistake in the commentary during one of the fights: Windmill Dash doesn't do double Beat damage, I think it's more like quadruple damage.
|
|
#
¿
May 17, 2017 22:35
|
|
|
We arrive on the planet of science, and venture out in search of the doctor that Grumpos wants to hob nobs with.
|
|
#
¿
May 24, 2017 21:41
|
|
|
We meet who we came here for, but things take a turn for the worse!
|
|
#
¿
Jun 2, 2017 20:26
|
|
|
anilEhilated posted:Rho always felt like the least interesting character to me. I'm not sure why, they could've done a fair bit with the mad scientist archetype. She is kind of the straight man of the bunch. I like that, despite her constant technobabble, she's kind of sassy too, though.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 3, 2017 06:29
|
|
|
Salvaged from space, our growing team of heroes find themselves unfortunately saved by the obnoxious people of Democratus.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 7, 2017 21:52
|
|
|
Bobbin Threadbare posted:Which character is good with which Mistech is hinted at by their color scheme. The one they're bad at is the color across from them on the character wheel. Since Grumpos is white and in the middle, he isn't bad at any of them. The choice of colors makes me think of the 16 colors of old games. Obviously they all have to be distinct colors, but in this case I just think of the Commander Keen palette.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 8, 2017 18:31
|
|
|
We finish gathering together the Council's voting choices! I found out I've been muxing the MP4s for my recent videos at a lower bitrate than I intended, oops. Don't think it did any major harm to the videos though.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 12, 2017 19:22
|
|
|
Stabbey_the_Clown posted:And actually you're wrong on the pousse-cafe vote. In my playthrough it was NO. They did make a second graphic. I also got the same reaction to the vote from the hot-for-grumpos's Ally even though the council voted YES to forbid marriages. Huh, learned something new. I actually only realized that some of the answers are randomized when I started recording this bit and thought I'd try sequence breaking by using the answers from a previous play session.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 12, 2017 21:41
|
|
|
MaskedHuzzah warned me that my thread was about to drop off the page, so I'd better update or die. We finally meet the Democratus Council and get a mission. I've had a few setbacks and other lame excuses I'll elaborate on in the video after this, which is in the works. Sorry.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 19, 2017 20:30
|
|
|
Working on new episodes, but with no relation to that whatsoever, I'm uploading a Longplay version of an old game that was one of the first I Let's-Played, Phantasmagoria: a Puzzle of Flesh. Here's an introductory video where I also take a quick look at the FMV game genre.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 30, 2017 19:23
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 02:46 |
|
|
Guys, I'm sorry for being such a flake, but I'm going to close this thread for now and put the LP on indefinite hold. I first went on hiatus because of summer heat, but after that I was just really doubtful if this LP was working out. I feel like I'm not succeeding at making enjoyable videos about a game that's one of my favorites, and that just makes me feel like I'm just yelling into nothing. I may come back and pick it up later, but, well, don't hold your breath. The last drop is my brother moving in with me again last night on account of troubles at home, so I won't have any time for it anyway. Thanks for sticking with me so far and hopefully until later in this thread.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 6, 2017 19:27
|
|