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 The Bunker is an FMV point-and-click adventure game, developed by Splendy Games and published by Wales Interactive in 2016. It features Adam Brown (from The Hobbit trilogy), Sarah Greene (from Penny Dreadful), and Grahame Fox (from Game of Thrones). In it, we play as John, the last survivor in a nuclear bunker in a post-apocalypse Britain. Scenes shift between the past and present, slowly revealing how he became the last survivor as he continues trying to survive now. Some of you might remember my Contradiction LP and the soft spot in my heart for FMV games, as bad as they can sometimes be. Wales Interactive is keeping the dream alive, having published a number of FMV games. I plan to go through several of them, comparing and contrasting, and since The Bunker is their first FMV game, that's where I'm starting. Unfortunately, this is on the bad end of the spectrum. Don't get me wrong: the actual acting on display is some of the best you'll find, it exclusively uses practical effects, and the whole thing was filmed on location in an actual British nuclear bunker. That's all fine for the FMV part, but as far as "point-and-click adventure game," there's barely a game here. David Cage would scoff at how little interactivity there is going on. Still, that just means you're better off watching this LP, right? So come join me as we explore the first of several modern FMV games. Thanks lofi for making this warning against the serious condition of sardine psychosis:  Episodes Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 and 4 Radiation Level 5 CirclMastr fucked around with this message at 15:36 on May 16, 2018 |
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Apr 18, 2018 15:51
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On the one hand, I hear you about wanting normalcy established. On the other hand, doing the routine even once was intensely boring and didn't tell us much about the character, outside of his meticulous obsession with routine. So it's good that it sped it up. .... okay oh man those little wooden figures are super creepy. And of course they're collectible. I'm enjoying this LP so far, as I wouldn't have the patience to play this movie.
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Apr 18, 2018 16:46
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why does this man sit pantsless on the toilet while he's eating, is his digestive system that hosed that it's merely a waterslide-esque throughput at this point?  If my google-fu hasn't led me astray, the 70mR that's "normal" is about a mammogram a day's worth of radiation floating around in the bunker 11,000+ days after the event that put them in there in the first place. That seems like a fuckton of radiation. A really nice touch is that he wrote as a child how much he hates sardines, and then a little later when you actually get a look at the food counts remaining for the adult version, it becomes apparent he's been eating everything but the sardines (hence why he's got over 12k of the sardines left and maybe 1k of literally all other canned food options). StrixNebulosa posted:On the one hand, I hear you about wanting normalcy established. I think what would've been nice is going through the routine another couple times, but having it interspersed with some flashbacks about what's being done and why and what it means (like, showing the dosimeter & hearing his mum writing down the info and commenting on it, or eating the vitamins and being reminded of how important dietary supplements are via a flashback to a bunker bulletin he heard when he was younger) to break up the monotony and give some context as well.
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Apr 18, 2018 21:36
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oldskool posted:A really nice touch is that he wrote as a child how much he hates sardines, and then a little later when you actually get a look at the food counts remaining for the adult version, it becomes apparent he's been eating everything but the sardines (hence why he's got over 12k of the sardines left and maybe 1k of literally all other canned food options). It's probably worth noting that none of the cans you can pick from are sardines. The other two selections possible are peas and carrots or peaches. I still say he should be eating more sardines now just so it's not all he has later.
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Apr 18, 2018 23:50
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CirclMastr posted:It's probably worth noting that none of the cans you can pick from are sardines. The other two selections possible are peas and carrots or peaches. I still say he should be eating more sardines now just so it's not all he has later. I mean I can't imagine a sardine-only diet, regardless of dietary supplement pills, is going to keep him in a liveable state for terribly long, at which point he can blame the drat sardines for killing him. Unrelated note, the game is currently 50% off on Steam!
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Apr 19, 2018 01:04
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I take full blame for introducing this to Circl.
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Apr 19, 2018 01:09
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oldskool posted:why does this man sit pantsless on the toilet while he's eating, is his digestive system that hosed that it's merely a waterslide-esque throughput at this point? For the pants, maybe his poopin' time lines up with his eatin' time? Maybe he just feels uncomfortable sitting anywhere else while eating, and it's weird to sit on the toilet with your pants on? As for the radiation, sure that's not exactly a small amount, but as far as I remember it tends to really make bad things more likely than without, and typically only when taken in very short bursts of large amounts. If that's 70mR per hour, as I think the standard is, then in a year he gets about the same amount of radiation as the victims of the atom bombs received to guarantee death, though this may come as a shock they took that radiation in a much shorter time. If it's per day, then it's rather substantially smaller, to the order of the maximum allowed by the US for their rad workers until almost the 60s. Back to per hour, that's also assuming 70mR is the amount getting through all of the shielding, universally, which given it's a bunker is unlikely since you could always get further down and therefor way safer because radiation has a tough time getting through most solid materials sturdier than, say paper. I almost wonder if the probe is measuring the surface, which 70mR would not be insubstantial but perfectly safe even just a couple meters down even without fancy bunker shielding. Or if it's just measuring what's in his body, which being a measurement of exposure would mean he's getting enough radiation to cancel out what his body is naturally processing out because biology is frikkin' amazing. Or possibly, it's because writers have a hard time with scale of units in any of a myriad of directions. I'm actually looking forward to future installments, for not being much of a "game" it still looks like it has a neat story.
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Apr 19, 2018 01:15
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It's a shame this wasn't just made into a movie, audio mixing aside it probably would have flowed more smoothly and been a better experience without shoehorning game-like interaction in. Still, color me intrigued.
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Apr 19, 2018 01:36
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Ignatius M. Meen posted:It's a shame this wasn't just made into a movie, audio mixing aside it probably would have flowed more smoothly and been a better experience without shoehorning game-like interaction in. Still, color me intrigued. I played it and it's not really hard, you tend to know where to go and what to do, so it actually makes you feel more invested and connected because of the interactions. I liked it a ton and it's a fantastic example of an FMV game. I think it really shines in that context, were it just a short film it'd have been good but not stood out the way I feel it does as a game.
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Apr 19, 2018 01:58
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thank you for lping this weird game that I didn't know if I wanted
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Apr 19, 2018 02:13
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Level 2 is where we hear a lot of background material and also replace a fuse. Exciting!
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Apr 26, 2018 16:15
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"They built this place in six weeks!" No wonder these places are awful. I... am not enjoying thinking about living in one of them. The horror in this is really effective, in its low-key way. Also this episode is much more interesting than the first one - more content, more to be horrified by, I like it!
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Apr 26, 2018 16:59
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Bishop is really being portrayed as an rear end in a top hat who doesn't want to do anything or let anyone know anything, but considering the bunker is still relatively safe (safe enough for at least one person to keep on living in it, anyway) kinda reinforces his belief that not doing anything regarding those maintenance issues was the right call. At the moment I almost feel bad for Bishop. Everyone is just  WE NEED TO DO THINGS and apparently Bishop (albeit by his own choice) is the only one who seems to be aware that there's nothing that can be done; they have what they have, when it's gone, it's gone and in general if any of these issues being brought up are genuine the bunker populace is hosed no matter what they do.
StupidSexyMothman fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Apr 26, 2018 |
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Apr 26, 2018 21:38
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oldskool posted:At the moment I almost feel bad for Bishop. Everyone is just Yeah, but try telling them that. There is no good way to sit a -ing person down and explain the situation without, y'know, breaking their morale so badly it becomes a problem in that direction - other people going "hey why are you so down", etc etc.
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Apr 26, 2018 21:41
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'Egg and chips' is fried egg and chips, I guess it's kind of a British thing but I never really thought about it before. Dip your chips in the egg yolk, lovely. e: also this vaguely reminds me of the bunker parts of Threads though their bunker didn't last nearly as long. Polsy fucked around with this message at 23:47 on Apr 26, 2018 |
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Apr 26, 2018 23:42
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I ran across this game a while back, with some minor editing it'd make a drat good tv movie but as a game it's lacking...
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Apr 29, 2018 08:05
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It's not exactly far off from a regular point and click adventure game. It's not like you're allowed to go off the beaten path of the puzzle in those either. The main character usually just has a funny remark if you try.
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May 1, 2018 00:58
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Level 3 and 4 is where we hear less background but do more maintenance, so all the people who liked the last episode for the fuse replacement and not the characters will really love this episode.
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May 2, 2018 14:28
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FFS John. The sardines comment and inventory count was so  . I guess in John's situation I wouldn't think too hard about my autumn years either.
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May 2, 2018 16:54
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A ladder fall worthy of any late night infomercial.
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May 2, 2018 17:02
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Watching through this, and the ambience in this game is so good. This place is awful and I love it. Helps that the music is so fitting! ... OH GOD the mask thing, gaahhh ....The nicest thing I can say about a potential axe murderer is that, so far, I am 100% convinced we're alone down here. There's just no way he'd miss the supplies like that. Thoughts: how the heck would you get anthrax into a nuclear bunker? Why would you bring anthrax into a nuclear bunker? Who on earth was England at war with? An axe murderer at least makes sense, because not enough supplies for everyone, and the weapons were on hand. And it's not like the dude in charge was amazing at keeping things secret. So how much cancer is this fellow going to get?
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May 2, 2018 17:20
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Here's a question, why was the suit on level 3 anyway? We saw it supposed to be in the locker in the commander's office.
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May 2, 2018 17:41
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John, your suit won't do you a lick of good if you don't have clean air to breathe. You just read about needing it before you went down too!
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May 2, 2018 17:41
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StrixNebulosa posted:Thoughts: how the heck would you get anthrax into a nuclear bunker? Why would you bring anthrax into a nuclear bunker? John's mum was a soviet spy. She was supposed to off key personnel to ensure mineshaft superiority, which is why she had the anthrax, but then she decided to finish everyone else off with an axe so her son could live.  alternatively, sardine psychosis. e:
lofi fucked around with this message at 18:12 on May 2, 2018 |
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May 2, 2018 17:44
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lofi posted:alternatively, sardine psychosis. This is more likely than an axe murderer hanging out in an irradiated area, subsisting off only rage for a decade. lofi posted:e:  This owns, did you make that?
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May 2, 2018 21:29
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Thanks! Yep, a lifetime of photoshop abuse comes in handy.
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May 2, 2018 22:13
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I think the idea was that anthrax had been deployed in airborne form as another wave post nukes, to finish people off. How or whether it then got into the bunker, no way to tell at the moment.
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May 3, 2018 05:06
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StrixNebulosa posted:....The nicest thing I can say about a potential axe murderer is that, so far, I am 100% convinced we're alone down here. There's just no way he'd miss the supplies like that. The axe murderer is unambiguously from a flashback, not the present day. Deathwind posted:Here's a question, why was the suit on level 3 anyway? We saw it supposed to be in the locker in the commander's office. Presumably Bishop, as the person in charge, gets his own suit while the plebs have to share the ones in storage. Ignatius M. Meen posted:John, your suit won't do you a lick of good if you don't have clean air to breathe. You just read about needing it before you went down too! Given that the Geiger counter only ticked on while the filter trap was open, I think the NBC suit was only required for the actual maintenance work and not to simply survive. I would imagine a 71% effective filter still removes enough to keep the air breathable, but has to be replaced before it becomes a long-term problem.
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May 3, 2018 14:12
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CirclMastr posted:Presumably Bishop, as the person in charge, gets his own suit while the plebs have to share the ones in storage. I think with the high engineering standards of this fine vault of her majesty, they did not have any suits in large numbers (read:none at all) and Bishop just made sure not to tell anybody. Considering how our protagonist can't even secure a simple ladder for maintenance this might be good thing. This is what happens when you fill your vaults only with government staff and bureaucrats with no handyman skills. OutofSight fucked around with this message at 18:00 on May 3, 2018 |
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May 3, 2018 14:48
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OutofSight posted:Considering how our protagonist can't even secure a simple ladder for maintenance this might be good thing. This is what happens hen you fill your vaults only with government staff and bureaucrats with no handyman skills. Our protagonist was born here and only has what handyman skills he was able to dig out of the bunker's maintenance manuals.
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May 3, 2018 15:24
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I've been interested in this since it came out but not enough to buy it, thanks for LPing it. Certainly seems interesting so far.
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May 3, 2018 15:58
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Deathwind posted:Our protagonist was born here and only has what handyman skills he was able to dig out of the bunker's maintenance manuals. I know that, but that does not make a better. He even seemed to be the only child in the bunker and was even before the sickness tutored only by his mother. I kind of wonder what these bunkers were for. You have them apparently stuffed with some military and civilian key personnel (and some influential blokes). They would have to survive 20-30 ears till the world outside was safe again. But then what? With this long isolation were there any plans or thoughts on raising children? Were there any resources or key people with skills and schooling material for rebuilding some society? Of course some strategists may have asked themselves the same questions, realised those bunkers full of hedge fond managers, politicians and armchair officers would be killed in a farming freak accident in 30 years and made off with half the (now missing) food supplies to some small island in the southern pacific. I admit my thoughts and ramblings are not really the focus for this neat FMV story, but still.. All fiction about the apocalypse and regression of society (nuclear war or zombie apocalypse) loves to make fun or is even utterly brutal about how useless your skills as web-developer or barista would be in these scenarios. Organisations like the "Desert Rangers" in "Wasteland" make believable survivors in these post-nuclear american "gun makes right" western settings, because they have the key skills and background to survive in the time of crisis. Those studs in the bunkers? The struggle feels real and very human, but would have not my hopes up for them even under better circumstances. OutofSight fucked around with this message at 18:41 on May 3, 2018 |
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May 3, 2018 18:05
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Sadly that's how these bunkers were set up back then, no real plans for much beyond surviving the initial blasts and a few years beyond. The only reason this bunker is holding on this well is the commander not telling the general population about the problems.
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May 3, 2018 18:54
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Deathwind posted:Sadly that's how these bunkers were set up back then, no real plans for much beyond surviving the initial blasts and a few years beyond. The only reason this bunker is holding on this well is the commander not telling the general population about the problems. Yes, exactly. Preparations for dealing with nuclear apocalypse have only ever been forestalling one's demise at best, and not for very long in a lot of cases. Just think about duck and cover drills. Because your school desk will definitely save you from a hydrogen bomb.
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May 4, 2018 02:19
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My understanding was that a good chunk of civil defence stuff was to stop people feeling so helpless, to at least give them something they could feel in control of. I came across an amazing uk pamphlet that suggests painting windows black (to stop the blinding light), while also having instructions on how to dispose of bodies. Our bunker seems a bit better, that at least seems good enough to maybe ride out fallout from a more distant strike. Threads should be mandatory watching before this game.
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May 5, 2018 10:42
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lofi posted:I came across an amazing uk pamphlet that suggests painting windows black (to stop the blinding light), while also having instructions on how to dispose of bodies. 
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May 5, 2018 17:36
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Aww, FMV games. I have a soft spot for the terrible things after Supergreatfriend's playthrough of MODE. I agree, the pacing is kind of fast. I'm not sure how long the game is, but I assume they needed to do a crash dump of info about the place, and the character(s). We hardly have breathing room to let current information settle in before through wrenches into the twist. I suppose they assumed players would get tired of the tedium, but surely that could be regulated by allowing the player to explore the surroundings, maybe give us tidbits about the main character? I don't know, I'm no game dev and these things are better decided when you have all the info already. The audio mixing I'm confused about. The voices were quiet at the start of Ep. 1, and I'm not sure if the sudden loud noises through the episodes were jump scares or further poor audio mixing. I do appreciate the automatic captions all the items have. I can't read other people's cursive for poo poo!  I can't wait to see what the hell is revealed to be why everyone died! What if there's ghosts?! Rad Ghosts?!!!!??!?11! Black Mold eating peoples' brains?!!
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May 5, 2018 18:51
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Fish Noise posted:A comic and film in response to those. Thanks, I know it, so powerful! Especially when you look at Raymond Briggs' other stuff, The Snowman and the like, he just completely changes gear. I'm not sure if WtWB is more depressing than threads or not. A better story, but smaller focus. There's also Barefoot Gen, though I've not read it yet, for an account based on actual experience. But it's manga so :suicude:
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May 5, 2018 18:56
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Radiation is now a concern, thanks to our incredibly inconvenient spill from the ladder. I'd also like to point out that early in this episode, there is an injury depicted that those of sensitive constitution might want to skip and might also mean this shouldn't be viewed at work.
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May 9, 2018 15:57
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Well, I guess I was wrong about those maps being non-functional  The map we were looking at was of central London:  The idea of Heathrow being hit and only causing seven thousand deaths is hilariously low, I think it must refer to a bunker located there. It seems to confirm that we're in (what remains of) London, the main target if you wanted to nuke the UK.
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May 9, 2018 16:51
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