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Hey guys, let's talk about some favorite games from my childhood. Mostly, let's talk about a little developer called Dynamix. Dynamix was around for most of the 80s, through the 90s, up until the early 2000s. They started out as an independent studio, putting out a few games that I've been assured were pretty decent (of their earliest work I only played the space tank-sim Stellar 7). This brought them to the attention of well known adventure game magnates and player character murderer's extraordinaire, Sierra, who bought them out in 1990. Today I bring you a fun little game that came out that same year (reports vary, but my best info is that it was developed before the buy-out and published not long after), Rise of the Dragon. A point and click adventure game set in the grim darkness of the far flung future year 2053 (the setting is basically Blade Runner), featuring hard on his luck ex-cop turned private detective William 'Blade' Hunter, who's been hired by the mayor of Far Future Los Angeles for an off the books investigation. This game was my first experience with something that we take for granted nowadays, but that I found revolutionary at the time. Voice acting (barely, only in the opening). Music, in my vidyas, even if that music wasn't exactly the greatest for those of us without sound cards, it was still there, and i later found out that if you did have an appropriate soundcard, was actually really good (the Sega CD version was even a little better in this regard if you don't mind an excess of synth and rhythm tracks, it version even had full voice acting, but it had... other issues). Have a seat, enjoy this fine opening video uploaded to Youtube by some kind person, and enjoy the ride. And for a while, that was it. Okay, there were other games, just nothing relevant to this discussion. Then 1991 came around. Good year for Dynamix. They put out the Adventures of Willy Beamish, another adventure game that a lot of people seem to like, even if it wasn't to my tastes. Nova 9, a sequel to the deep space tank-sim Stellar 7. And Heart of China, which is, spirtually, the sequel to Rise of the Dragon. Like Rise, Heart is a point and click adventure game featuring a down on his luck protagonist. Instead of ex-cop turned PI William 'Blade' Hunter, Heart features World War I flying ace turned businessman Jake 'Lucky' Masters. Because all the best adventure protagonists have silly nicknames. Rather than Rise's 2050s future LA setting, Heart takes us to 1930s Hong Kong, then deep into... well, the heart of China. AND BEYOND! Table of Contents:  Part 1: That’s ‘Detective’ Horrible Mutant Flesh Beast Part 2: Ancient Hobo Wisdom Part 3: Pharmaceutical Companies Hate This One Trick! Part 4: Just Sleep it Off Part 5: Sudden Genre Shift Part 5 video: Blade VS. The Snake Part 6: The Final Push Part 6 video: Blade VS. Bahumat Part 7: And the Rest  Part 1: Making Your Way in the World Today Part 2: Stupid American Season! Part 3: The Only Time We Actually Spend in China Part 3 video - Tank Combat Part 4: Catmando Part 5: Major National Capital or Backwater Village? You Decide! Part 6: If I Ever Get Outta Here, That's What I'm Gonna Do Part 7: The Limitless Depths of Lucky's Stupidity Part 8: If You've Got a Date in Constantinople, She'll be Waiting in Istanbul Part 9: Murder on the Orient Express Part 10: That's All She Wrote I apologize to anybody who actually watched those terrible quality videos, they really were kind of an afterthought. Truthkeeper fucked around with this message at 08:18 on Oct 18, 2018 |
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Aug 4, 2018 07:34
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Part 1: That’s ‘Detective’ Horrible Mutant Flesh Beast Our story actually starts, as all the best stories do, in a lovely apartment.  My dorm room in college was bigger than this. My room in the lovely apartment I got with some friends when I got sick of living on campus was bigger than this. Probably about as messy though. I guess it’s a great view, aside from the frequent helicopter flybys. Our hero, as mentioned briefly in my overly wordy intro to the game, is ex-LAPD cop turned private detective William ‘Blade’ Hunter. I don’t know how you go about getting a nickname like blade in a way that doesn’t involve… well, blades. Then again, just as the setting is pretty much Blade Runner, Blade is at least similar to Rick Deckard, so maybe I shouldn’t overthink the reference. As this is a point and click adventure game (though not technically a Sierra point and click adventure game, although they owned Dynamix by the time this came out, there’s only a few ways to die horribly, and they all make sense), inventory management to solve puzzles is going to be pretty common. Blade’s inventory, naturally, is accessed via the button in the bottom right corner with Blade’s silhouette on it (left click to just open the inventory, right click to access Blade’s body to equip items).  Our hero is in his tighty-whities, and also possibly some kind of horrible mutant flesh beast. FIRST PUZZLE: For the love of God, get this man some clothes!  Blade interacts with the world around him with the mouse (what kind of Neanderthal plays point and click games with a joystick, why is that even an option?). Left clicking picks up objects that can be picked up and otherwise handles the job of interacting with stuff. Right clicking brings up descriptions, sometimes from a generic narrator, sometimes from Blade himself. I feel like it would have been better if it was just the omniscient narrator, or just Blade.  The clothes on the floor can be picked up and placed in Blade’s inventory, and should immediately be applied to Blade’s person, sparing us from looking at his horrible diseased body any further (not pictured, Blade is briefly animated to show him tucking his shirt in). The coat hanging in the back can be likewise picked up and equipped.   I don’t know if the coat is actually necessary, I just think it looks good. I make Blade wear it everywhere, even sitting in his own apartment in late July in LA. Speaking of, take note of the date and time in the upper right hand corner. Time management is an important aspect of the game, public buildings close at night, people are found in different places. If you gently caress around for three days (time passes every time you interact with an object, and slowly over real time as well), the villains will win while Blade was busy spending three days getting dressed or whatever (cutscenes will be played to helpfully inform the player that the bad guys are progressing in their plans). At the same time, sometimes you need to be somewhere at a certain time, and it’s too early. The two red buttons in the inventory labeled > and >> will advance time by one minute and one hour, respectively. So, Blade has woken up just after noon after a presumed night of heavy drinking, took too long getting dressed, and this isn’t Leisure Suit Larry so he isn’t allowed to use the bathroom. Clearly, the correct way to start the morning is checking his answering machine, because meals are for people who aren’t adventure game protagonists! The computer-looking thing in the back, behind the stack of papers and beer cans, is Blade’s phone.   It’s the future, you can tell because everything’s gone to poo poo. (The leaky faucet has a sound effect so that you’ll remember how annoying leaky faucets are, in the PC speaker days, I could just turn on the faucet and leave it on all game to solve that problem, but with real sound effects the running water has an even more annoying sound effect)  I love how they predicted in 1990 that by 2053 we would be using video phones the size of 90s computers but would regress to rotary dials. I don’t know anybody who still had a rotary phone in 1990. The keyboard suggests that it’s just a regular computer that also serves as a phone, except the only thing you can do with it is listen to messages and receive faxes. It’s more like glorified video email than a phone really.  Ooh, a message from the mayor, sounds important. Should probably check that, after getting lunch, maybe hit up the bookstore and the local… I would be absolutely terrible at adventure game protagonisting.  I realize this is serious business, but I feel like I’m in a 1980s Apple commercial.  …all were horribly disfigured like my… (gulp) … my poor daughter. This infection is spreading, whatever it is…. You’ve got to find out what’s causing this! I suggest you start at the Pleasure Dome. It’s where my daughter was last seen. Look for someone called “The Jake”. He was one of Chandra’s friends. Not that I’d call any of the slime that hangs out there a “friend”! I’m sending you a vid-transmission hardcopy of my daughter… It’s not pretty, but you might need it. I don’t need to remind you that this investigation is strictly unofficial. I don’t want a word of this leaked to the press. And yet he reminds us. Good luck.Chandra you’ll recall as the girl buying drugs in the intro video. Cute girl, with a bit of a silly future haircut. She… didn’t look like that anymore after she died. The picture, and other items I pick up in this section, will be at the end of the post. So, kids dying horribly and being mutated in the process. Gotta investigate what’s going on, and keep it under wraps. The mayor recommended starting my investigation at the Pleasure Dome, which sounds like the best possible place in the world! But first, Blade has more messages to listen to.  Spam, spam, glorious spam. Still, you can tell it’s the future, they have hovercars. There’s a third message. What else we got?  Welp, Blade’s in trouble.  We did have a date! Or did that happen to slip your mind? You bag of toxic waste! And don’t forget that you left your keys at my place! I should just flush ‘em! I’ll be at the Bureau of Records early… in case you happen to roll out of bed before noon!Woman knows him well. He did not roll out of bed before noon. Alright, Blade has two quests: solve the mystery of the dead teenagers, and make amends with his really pissed off girlfriend. Also, fun fact, this is your first chance to kinda, but not really screw yourself if you don’t examine everything. There’s an important item here you can’t see, but need later.   You’re not screwed without it, but you need it get the best ending, and it’s inconvenient not to have it a couple other times. Alright, got dressed, checked voicemail, ready to go adventuring? Well, this is a detective story, and what does every good American detective need?  Of course you gotta have a gun.  If Blade has any other useful detective gear, I bet they’re in the cabinet. The locked cabinet. And Karyn has his keys, assuming she didn’t actually try to flush them (who the hell flushes keys? How does that even work?) Alright, time to head out to business.  Yep, sure is a hallway alright. Elevator, light, door to Blade’s apartment. Locked door to Blade’s apartment. The lock is opened with his ID card. Which I left in the phone. Honest mistake, I’m sure. But how will I ever get back into the apartment? Well, remember, Blade lives in a shithole apartment. You see that pipe running along the ceiling on the left side of the screen, with the big obvious valve?    Good thing Blade doesn’t have anything worth stealing. I’d say this is a great safety net for people who don’t examine everything and accidentally lock themselves out… except that the only way to find this is to try randomly clicking on everything. Alright, back inside, grab the ID card. I also put the gun back under the pillow, because I’m actually better off not having it for now. Back out to the hallway, and I’ll pop in the elevator and actually go outside! The elevator also goes to the roof, but that’s not helpful right now.  Leaving the apartment building takes us directly to the local subway station. Oh, excuse me, the Em-way. I’m not allowed to examine the man who appears to be bleeding out in the middle of the station, only the map.  The Em-way map is conveniently labeled with places Blade knows about. It certainly couldn’t just be that he knows where places are and which stations are closest, that would be silly. Karyn said she was going into work early, presumably she’s still there. The Pleasure Dome can wait for now. For now, to City Hall, and the Bureau of Records!   My journey leads me to the street leading to city hall, populated by a flower seller and a bum. Clearly, one of these people is going to have information critical to my investigation. You there, with the hooch, tell me everything you know!  This is clearly going to be an informative conversation.  We’re all DOOMED! Have you got a screw loose or what? Bahumat his risen again! I’ve seen him! What the hell are you talking about? Five thousand years he’s waited… You’ve been drinking too much of that rotgut!And he hasn’t even offered a drink to Blade! Terribly rude host. We’re all doomed! DOOMED!Right, got it, a frequently occurring Final Fantasy summon has been waiting five thousand years to doom us all. Speaking of Final Fantasy, there’s a woman selling flowers here.   We offer the finest selection of organically-grown flowers in the city. My name is Blissful Harmony. You can call me Bliss.I think I’m going to call you Filthy Hippy. How can I help you find greater harmony in your life? I’m kind of in a dutch with my girlfriend for missing a date, so…I’ve never heard the phrase “in a dutch” before. Do they not have doghouses in the future? I see. I thought I detected anxiety in your aura… it’s quite orange. May I suggest a bouquet of roses and a kind apology for your lady friend. Technically speaking, I only need the kind apology to progress. But I’m going for the good ending, and that means dropping some cash on roses. An excellent choice sir. I’m sure that these flowers will help you reforge the spiritual bond with your loved one. Now if you will give me your card so I can charge your account…Blade’s ID doubles as a credit card, in addition to a door key and a few other features. You’d think at this point they’d dispense with formalities and just microchip people, but certain groups take issue with that idea for various reasons. Uh, how much is this going to cost me? Two hundred dollars, plus tax. But how can you put a price tag on love? May I have your card sir?$200 may or may not be a lot of money. We haven’t been told enough about this future world to know what inflation has been like. I cheerfully drag the card out of my inventory and over to Filthy Hippy.  That looks suspiciously like just one rose. May you attain happiness and spiritual fulfillment in this life-cycle. Goodbye.Right then, got roses, practiced my contrite face and apologies, onward to city hall!  It’s a nice touch of world building that future LA is full of corporations and such that Blade knows by name if I choose to examine them, but doesn’t feel the need to tell me what they are. It’s annoying though, because I want to know what they are. What’s a CWG, and why do they need their name spelled out in neon on a skyscraper?  Actually entering city hall, I’m presented with four options. Karyn’s at the Bureau of Records, on the left. The man who hired me, the mayor, is probably in his office, maybe I should talk to him, get some more info. There’s LAPD headquarters, but cops are never helpful in detective stories until the end. And there’s a receptionist. She’s not really an option, as she’s going to waylay me no matter where I try to go.  It’s pretty much exactly what it sounds like.  It goes without saying that flirting back is bad, given that Blade’s girlfriend is in the building. Anything else is good. I wanna see the mayor.  The mayor is in a meeting and can’t be disturbed. Is there anything else I can do for you, ya big stud…? I mean, as long as it’s nothing kinky… Not that kinky is all bad…Maybe she has a thing for disturbing lumps of flesh coming out of guys’ shoulders? Still, really probably should get in and see the mayor since I’m here anyway.  Blade, I’m only the receptionist. I’d let you see him if I could. But as I already told you, he’s in an important meeting and cannot be disturbed. There’s some corporate bigwig from DH Enterprises here to bid for the city’s water contracts or something. Tell you what Blade, come back later and I’ll see what I can do for you, but I can’t make any promises.drat and blast. Still, that’s a good bit of information to keep in mind for much later. I missed this the first few times I played since I always tried to go to the Bureau first, which just prompts more flirting and jealousy from Jenni before she let’ Blade by.  Clearly, the Bureau of Records is full of busy people doing busy government employee things. They’re totally not playing Minesweeper. Karyn, you’ll recall from her scary video message, is the brunette.  She’s just as scary in person.  I had a really special time sitting at home watching Rambo 12 in my brand-new evening dress.How appropriate, she kinda looks like Stallone in that first shot. Where the hell were you? Out drunk in one of those god-awful Pleasure Domes again? You could have at least called! You’d better have a darn good excuse for standing me up, Blade!Yeah, there’s no defending Blade here. He doesn’t have an excuse, so if you don’t apologize, all you can do is double down on being an rear end in a top hat.   Looks a lot better when she smiles. Best as I can tell, as long as you give her the roses, she forgives you, but demands Blade take her out tonight instead. If you didn’t bring the roses, she still takes the apology, but not as well, and doesn’t suggest going out tonight.  How about picking me up at 7:30 for dinner at L’Etoile?I’d personally avoid restaurants whose names are random French words (The Star, if you were curious), but you crazy kids do you.  Taking her out isn’t required, but again, better ending. Suggesting burgers, beer, and ball gets Blade called a techno-dweeb. Here are the keys you left with me, Blade. Thanks, Karyn You’re welcome, Blade. Come back later if you need me to check out anything else for you.This is an odd way to indicate that Karyn run check city records and the internet to research certain items for Blade. It’s pretty hit or miss which ones she can do, and she doesn’t respond to any of my current inventory. NEXT TIME: Blade’s got a date tonight! Oh, and also something about investigating the mayor’s dead dog or something? My inventory thus far:         
Truthkeeper fucked around with this message at 02:05 on Aug 17, 2018 |
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Aug 4, 2018 07:36
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Part 2: Ancient Hobo Wisdom Well, at least Blade has his keys now. Specifically, his cabinet keys, as we’ve already established that his door opens via omnipotent ID card.    Blade keeps his various detective tools in the cabinet.  And a super-expensive candy bar. Alright, Blade’s made good with his girl, time to see about that issue with the mayor’s dead daughter. Alright then, back over to the future-subway.  Finally time to go to the Pleasure Dome. Great. What the gently caress’s a Pleasure Dome?  Ah. Well, that answers that question. In more detail, the Dome is part bar, part casino, part strip club, and probably part several other things.    The door is guarded by these two future-garbed dudes. This is why I didn’t actually bring the gun, I’d have to check it at the door. And then bribe the guards to get a claim check so I can get it back, hence the candy bar. I’d rather not give up perfectly good super-expensive chocolate. And there’s nobody here who I might need to shoot, surely a place like the Pleasure Dome is full of nothing but the nicest and most reputable people.  Okay, we got poker, we got scantily clad dancers, we got a bar (the bar sign flickers on and off, I caught the screenshot while it was off. Well I’m looking for information, clearly, the bar is the place to go.  See, perfectly normal and safe individuals. I’m looking for a man called “The Jake”, and I’m sure everybody here will be more than happy to help me. You there, gentle biker chap…  Right then. Well, there’s a bartender, bartenders have to give you information you ask for, it’s a union rule or something.  Who you calling wimp, you rhinocerous?Swear that’s not my typo, the game spelled it that way.  Huh, just a slight widening of the eyes, but I totally believe Blade’s life is in danger. Have I mentioned that the art in this game is very good, despite the graphical limitations? I mean, I’d like to order a drink. Don’ have anythin’ for cops here. I’m not a police officer anymore. Don’ matta! Ya still smell like pig, mon!Huh, Karyn accused Blade of missing their date because he was getting tanked at the Pleasure Dome, but he can’t get a drink here. Wonder what he was really doing.  Well, I certainly know what I’d like to say, but let’s keep this professional and get the info I’m looking for. Mebbe I have, an mebbe I haven’t. What’s it to ya? I have some business with him. Like hell! I’m sure he’ll want to hear what I have to say. I don’ think he’ll care to listen to anythin’ ya tell him… but if you wantafind him, ask the guy in th green coat at th’ end of my bar.The writers clearly can’t decide how Mujalambo’s accent works, again, that’s not from my transcription. Still, I got the information from Muja I wanted. And there’s only one guy in green, and he is at the end of the bar (far away from Blade’s scary new biker friend). Of the remaining patrons at the bar, the brown haired guy is stoned out o fhis gourd and completely unhelpful, the blonde is… overly friendly, and can lead to a game over if Blade thinks with the wrong head. Alright, let’s go see Mr. Green.  Bit of an odd choice of insult. I don’t think Blade’s kissed up to anybody but his girlfriend so far. I’m not sure he actually knows how the process works.  Again, keeping this professional. Insulting him back won’t help, and it’s best not to go blabbing about murders when the mayor wants this under wraps.  Yeah? What you want him for? You look might uptown to this scrub boy! Again, keeping this professional, but lowkey. Yeah? Who might this “friend” be? The Jake, he got LOTS of friends.Well mysterious stranger who is certainly not The Jake clearly cares about his friends enough that he’s still paying attention to this conversation. As long as I don’t go blabbing about the fact that she’s been murdered, I’m sure mentioning the girl’s name isn’t a bad idea.  Chandi? What about her? You’re crazy! Get outta my sight!Okay, that didn’t go as well as might be preferred. Actually, this always happens unless you piss him off. Jake needs to see some evidence. Good thing the mayor gave me some.  Oh my god, Chandi!  Well, now I’ve got his complete, undivided attention, and a private place to talk about this. Why does this random guy have his own office (Private booth? Converted bathroom?) in the Dome anyway? Name’s Willard Jakeston, people call me The Jake. Chandi thought it up… Holy mother, what happened to her?! I mean, what could have done this?! She was… Dammit! Effin… stupid!Watch it there Jake, you’re getting close to dropping some words that would get this game a higher rating if it had come out years later. Actually, I’m pretty sure the on-screen drug use would have already assured that, along with a few other things. I told her! Told her that Chen was… The polite thing to do would be to sympathize with the poor guy, but I’m here for information. Still, I’ll just ask nicely, no sense pushing yet, even though he dropped a name we know from the intro is very important. Look man, you don’t wanna mess with this! This has some big-time flatliners behind it! Just leave it alone!Nope, can’t do that. I’m an adventure game protagonist.  Time to put some pressure on him. Don’t you hear? Whatever she got herself into?, it’s deep and bad… REAL bad! Alright man! You didn’t hear anything from me…Yes yes, I know how anonymous informants work. ... She was hangin’ with a big-league pumper named Chen. Remember bub, you didn’t hear nothin’ from The Jake! Anything else? Bub, you are truly unreal! You want my head to end up in a wonton factory? Alright, check out 554 Wallaby Street, #798. And Hunter! She was a nice kid… this guy turns out to be involved, you toast him for me. O.K.? I’ll be around if you find anything out.Huh, that’s an interesting point. When Blade fingers the person who murdered Chandra, does the mayor intend to send in the cops, which will bring this murder into the press, or expect Blade to handle Chen for him? I hope not, I’m too lazy to head back and get my gun before checking this place out.  Time to go visit Mr. Lu.  Huh. Unexpected letterboxed cutscene.       Nah, nothing ominous about that conversation at all.  Clearly, Chen’s apartment building is nicer than Blade’s. And he feels safe enough to leave his front door open while he… lies writhing on the floor? Maybe some kind of aerobic exercise?  Yeah, I’m sure this is perfectly normal, probably great for your core. I’ll have to ask him about it…  Wow that’s a lot of patches. Having problems quitting smoking, huh?  Um…  Well, good news Jake! I think this counts as suitably toasted.  Sure we just watched the flesh melt off his bones, but where did it go? Ah well, Chen’s dead, so no interrogation. Guess I’ll just have to tear his place apart until I find some evidence, then present it to the mayor as a fait…   Oh gently caress. Right, good neighborhood, good police response. I’d better bail. But first…  Chen’s phone is much nicer than Blade’s. But the mechanics are more or less the same.  Including that his ID is in it. Taking the ID and running like hell.  And by running like hell I mean just back to the subway station. Then turn around and go back.  Police work fast in the future. Or more likely, they came, took the body, then took off for lunch. Since I have Chen’s ID, I can just pop right in. Except that this prompts yet another cutscene (this one is time based, always happens at this time).     Well, this probably doesn’t mean anything. I’m sure whatever they’re up to is perfectly safe for everybody ever.  Yep, body’s gone, nothing else changed. They even left his game show on the big screen TV.  Popped the ID back into the phone so I can check Chen’s messages. People who receive incriminating voicemails don’t bother deleting them, right?  There’s just one. No idea who Deng Hwang could possibly be, we certainly have never heard of this man before.  But clearly he is the god of good dragons from several D&D settings! He must be trustworthy!  Your irresponsible actions have brought unwarranted attention to our production operation. The girl you killed was the daughter of a powerful man. He will seek to avenge himself upon us! I am sending my personal representative to discuss the matter with you. Goodbye, Brother Lu!Well, clearly this means absolutely nothing and is completely unrelated to anything. Grab the ID again, then time to check out the rest of the apartment. You know where criminals always keep their most incriminating evidence?  drat right it’s the bathroom. Don’t believe me?  Check THIS out.  Okay, Blade doesn’t know what it is. Gonna need more info later. In the meantime, there’s only one other room in this apartment. But who ever heard of keeping incriminating stuff in the bedroom?  Another giant TV, big bed, big obvious statue that clearly has nothing hidden behind it. Big obvious eye on the statue.  Even Blade noticed the eye. I poke the dragon in the eye.  Well poo poo. Never could have possibly seen this coming.  This right here is a puzzle with multiple solutions, which I always enjoy in my adventure games. Blade has a pocket full of bombs. I could totally just blow the lock, although that would get the cops called again, so I would have to empty the safe and run. Or, I could just put in the combination. I have no idea how I could possibly find a four digit number relevant to Chen Lu. Nope, no clues at all. It’s totally not 0772. Why the hell would anybody arrange to have their SSN, phone number, and gun permit number all end in the same four numbers? That kind of thing doesn’t happen by coincidence. And that being the case, why would you make that the combination to your safe where you keep…  A candy bar and a piece of paper. Well, we already established that chocolate is worth its weight in gold. Maybe the paper has bank account numbers or something… SPOILER: It does not. But that’s enough fapping about solving the case, Blade’s got a hot date tonight.             And this is why I play the PC version and not the Sega CD version, this scene was cut from the latter. Also, they applied a goofy green filter to everything to make it look more futuristic or something. So, having just spent the evening (and night) with Karyn, claiming he’s leaving early to get back to work, only to start the next day at noon, again, Blade’s first course of action… is to go bug Karyn at work. You’ll recall she offered to examine stuff for him to help in the investigation (so offhandedly that I assume she does this for him all the time)  Oh boy howdy do I! Let’s start with Chen’s ID. Maybe I can find out his address or phone number or social security number or something. I’ll run this card through the computer and see what information the databank has on this character… here it comes now… Okay, your ID can pull up a list of your known accomplices. That’s handy for people investigating you.   Chen is known to be associated with these two guys. Those are pretty unique appearances, I’m sure I’ll recognize them if I ever see either one. Too bad I haven’t so far.  The patch is obviously next. I haven’t any idea what this patch has been doped with, but I can have the lab boys analyze it for you. It won’t be ready until tomorrow though.You’re a drone in the Bureau of Records. How do you have access to lab boys, or the authority to tell them to examine things? Next up I tried Chen’s Chinese Calligraphy. I’m afraid I don’t recognize the script of the Chinese calligraphy. It looks like an archaic dialect of Mandarin Chinese.Mandarin is a spoken language. I’m fairly certain there’s only one script. Okay, traditional vs. simplified, my point is that individual dialects don’t have their own alphabets. Why don’t you take it to one of the old scholars down in Chinatown? I’m sure someone will be able to decipher it.Because last time I was in Chinatown I watch a man melt to death and then stole all his poo poo? Yeah, definitely not going back there. Now, if I was a person who knew Chinese, where would I be?  Did I mention there’s an alley behind the flower shop? (No longer a flower shop though, Filthy Hippy decided selling flowers was evil. Not because capitalism, because flowers feel pain or some poo poo).  Clearly, having popped into a dark alley, the correct path is to continue down another alley.  At this point, crawling into an abandoned building with a keep out sign is probably not the worst decision Blade could make.  See, I found a guy. I bet he’s going to be able to answer all my questions!  And he already knows who Blade is. That’s not creepy at all.  I am called Chang Li. It is most gratifying to finally make your acquaintance. Have I mentioned that, even though this game is running on pure Yellow Peril, all the Chinese guys speak perfectly fluent English? It’s quite nice. How do you know who I am? A man can learn a great many things if he knows how to listen.Clearly a man of great wisdom. Told you he was gonna be a big help. What else have you heard? Many things, William Hunter. I have learned about the tragic death of a young girl who was the daughter of a powerful man in the government. It is also known by my humble self, and others, that you are investigating this affair.Great job keeping a lid on things Blade. Actually, I blame the mayor, since I’ve been controlling Blade and know he only told The Jake. What others? Those you wish you ill. Celestial signs indicate a time of great change in this world, William Hunter. Has he been hanging out with Filthy Hippy? Saturn in retrograde will soon be occluded by the moon in the constellation of Draco, the dragon! Events of great pitch and movement are afoot!I don’t know enough about astronomy or astrology to know how crazy this actually sounds. The old order shall be destroyed, and the new shall take it’s place! You alone can challenge the evil Bahumat and prevent ascendency of the Dark One. YOU are the chosen one.Welp, so much for helpful. Clearly we are dealing with an escaped mental patient here. Chosen? By whom? What for? Old man, just what in the HELL are you running off at the mouth about?!Thank you for asking the questions I want to ask Blade. Please to stop asking so many questions and let me finish.We’ve already established that Change speaks fluent English, clearly his grammar here is on purpose, or he’s flustered by Blade’s interruptions, or he’s been off his meds too long. Signs, portents, omens, sheep entrails, and fortune cookies have all foretold the coming battle with the Dark One.Well, as long as the fortune cookies agreed with the rest. They also predict that a hero will arise to combat him.  These are all good responses, though only 2 and 3 can progress. What do you mean? The minions of the Dark One have eliminated all my other candidates. Oh. Well, Blade is the hero by process of elimination. Nothing to worry about here. But please let me offer my humble assistance to aid you. Well, Karyn did tell me to get an old Chinese man to help me. If something goes wrong, I can blame her.  Hmm... Intriguing!  Fine, but what the hell does it mean? I cannot fathom it completely, but I can tell you that Bahumat was an evil warlord magician who came to power in the latter part of the seventh century on the Chinese calendar. This translate to roughly 3000 B.C. on your Julian calendar. The ancient scrolls say he used the power of evil to transform himself into a Dragon to terrorize his enemies. His ultimate goal was to restore chaos and rule the world in darkness! Bahumat and his minions destroyed many cities and killed and enslaved thousands of people!A warlord murdered thousands! He must be the most evil person in history! Thousands, can you imagine? What happened to him? Not to interrupt please. I’m coming to it! According to legend, he was finally overcome by the power of a white magician named “Gin-Su”, which means “Knife” in your language. Unfortunately, “Knife” was critically injured in the battle, and it was the last act of his departing soul to summon all the powers of light to banish Bahumat to the nether-world for 5,000 years. The date on this piece of paper translates to August 3, 2053, on your calendar. As for the name “Hollywood”, it is completely unfamiliar to me.I prefer to believe that this means Hollywood is an archaic dead institution now. Or as established, Chang is nuts. So Bahumat is gone forever, right?Blade, we already established that you’re a prophecied hero who’s going to do battle with Bahumat, stop trying to get out of it. Alternatively, stop humoring the crazy man. Not precisely. There is a prophecy foretelling his return.    Sounds like a lot of baloney to me!I agree Blade. Please not to judge things you do not understand. What you believe at this juncture is irrelevant. Time will prove the truth of what I have spoken to you. Now I must render you what aid I can.I suppose you have mystic artifacts, or spells, or some such? Here are ancient talismans of protection and good fortune to carry on your person at all times.     Well, the bulletproof vest is clearly proof that he’s incredibly wise. Another of these seemingly useless items is critical for beating the game. One is useless, another I’m not sure about. Take a guess which is which. Thanks for all your help, Chang Li. Good luck on quest, William Hunter. Please to remember, fate of millions rides on your shoulders. Goodbye.NEXT TIME: More investigation. And Blade is never taking that bulletproof vest off. NEW ITEMS:        
Truthkeeper fucked around with this message at 06:10 on Aug 24, 2018 |
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Aug 5, 2018 09:09
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I'm glad that there's a Sears in this future, or at least a Sears sale rack.
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Aug 5, 2018 15:47
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To be fair, in 1990, Sears was still doing pretty well, nobody could have imagined the online shopping boom back then. My guess is that in this timeline, Sears was bought out by Amazon and the sales rack is a constant prime sale on cheap clothes.
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Aug 5, 2018 20:37
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I prefer to think the old man knows Hollywood exists and is just being sardonic.
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Aug 6, 2018 05:18
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marshmallow creep posted:I prefer to think the old man knows Hollywood exists and is just being sardonic. It's the most likely answer, yeah, and at least as funny as my theory that Hollywood has faded into the mists of time as a horrible memory.
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Aug 7, 2018 04:19
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I think you duplicated the image of him giving us the vest at the end.
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Aug 10, 2018 02:57
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Part 3: Pharmaceutical Companies Hate This One Trick! That vest is never coming off. Well, having just been given some strange new items, and already being near city hall anyway, seems like the logical course is to pop over and talk to Karyn. Maybe her ability to access government records can somehow tell me how not worrying and being happy will help me solve this case. Might as well stop and talk to Filthy Hippy, she did do so much to help Blade make up with Karyn. It wouldn’t hurt to buy more flowers anyway, seeing as I’m bugging her at work to help me out with poo poo again.   I’m sorry sir. We no longer carry flowers. What?! This is a flower shop! I can no longer bring myself to kill helpless plants simply for human vanity. It brings disharmony to the universe. Never mind!Right. Filthy Hippy is a hippy, and also filthy. Enough of this, to the town hall!  Karyn’s still hard at work, and totally not playing Minesweeper.   Blade is probably enough of a cad to skip straight to business, but I see no reason to at least pretend that I’m bugging her at work for reasons beyond needing her to do something for me. Not much Will. That lab report you wanted isn’t ready yet, so you’ll have to come back later. Is there anything else you wanted me to look at?Well, Karyn saw right through me. I’ve got four new items from Chang, and I don’t think she has a response to the bulletproof vest (I also completely forgot to check). But I can at least see what see knows about books, fortune cookies, and rocks.   You are an idiot Blade, woman’s got you pegged. I know it’s a book! I was hoping you could tell me something about it. What can I tell you, Blade? Have you read it? It looks like a kids book. Fair enough. What about my cookie?  Well that’s just mean. What’s the message mean? Don’t know. Some kind of code maybe?Gee, thanks Karyn. Have anything useful to say about this shiny rock?    Don’t worry Blade, I don’t think Culex is in this game. (The rock was indeed completely useless) Well, I’m out of reasons to bug Karyn, might as well go do some actual work.  Our conversation with Chang Li added a new location to the map. But checking out Chen’s ID earlier got me the name Jonny Qwong (I may or may not have mistyped that as Jonny Quest twice) and his address. The scrap of paper said the event at the reservoir isn’t until August 3, gives me a couple days until I need to worry about that. So let’s go check out Mr. Qwong.   Yeah, sure, it’s a big luxurious townhouse with armed guards (and an electric fence). But the racist graffiti and drunken bums will really bring down the property value when he goes to resell it.  A deep look at the future of the industry as seen by developers in 1990, or just a cheap joke? You decide! Naturally, with the high security, there’s no possible way I can get into Qwong’s house. And really, why would I want to? All I know about this Jonny Qwong guy is that he’s a known associate of a drug dealer. That’s really not enough to prompt breaking and entering. Sneaking into the sewer near his house, on the other hand, is fair game.  I’m sure it’s fine, you worry too much. Go back to your cheap whiskey and dreams of 3D environments. Seriously though, I’m pretty sure this place has more opportunities for a game over than anywhere until the end game. I’ll show them off later.  That rat’s big, sure, but I wouldn’t call it dog sized. Small cat at best.  The only thing to interact with is the wiring on the left side.  Oh. Well. I guess if the lock is impossible to pick and bulletproof, I’ll just turn around and go home.  I certainly don’t have anything else in my inventory that could possibly open a locked cabinet, after all.   And that’s how we do things in gritty noir grimdark future LA.  Conveniently, some helpful person left a diagram on the lid of the box telling me exactly where to put the leads from my wiring kit to tap Jonny’s phone. I can only assume this happens to him on a weekly basis or something.   My wire testing kid doesn’t say anything about being able to be used to tap phones, but apparently it can do that.  That rats take notice of Blade over time. It’s bad to stay down here too long.  Just have to attach the color coded leads according to the diagram. The meters on the top left measure voltage, you obviously don’t want to be touching anything when the voltage swings into the red.  Voila! Attaching three alligator clips somehow magically copies Jonny’s phone messages to Blade’s phone.  Back at Blade’s apartment, one of Jonny’s calls has already been picked up.  And so we have a name to go with our bad guy at last. Well, a name besides the one the crazy old Chinese man gave us, Bahumat. I have received some unsettling news concerning a possible disruption in our production schedule. We, the player, know about this from being privy to that earlier MEANWHILE segment at the factory. There must be no further delays, Brother Qwong! I want you to personally continue checking on progress down at our warehouse. You will resolve this situation quickly. Good day.Huh, well, that was… not exactly, enlightening, more like the opposite…   I’m pretty sure this one, like before, is time based (16:00 on August 1, if you weren’t paying attention), it’s just a coincidence I picked up Deng’s message about it right before seeing it.  Hey, that’s really good progress! Good on you lab tech guy…            Oh. Well. Jonny’s not really a very good boss, although that trick with the red eyes is kinda cool.  The time for fun and games has ended. It’s time to carry some insurance (I’m actually pretty sure it’s safe to take the gun with you anywhere except the Pleasure Dome, and even that’s fine if you don’t mind giving the bouncers a Fisto bar so you can get it back. There are a couple times when you don’t want to have it equipped though.).  I suppose there’s always nonlethal measures of protection. But that’s for pussies (and not useful until much later in the game). I’m not actually sure if the first aid kit is useful at all, but I’ll grab it anyway. So, they’re damning the safeties and ramping up production at the production facility. Which is… in a warehouse. Somewhere. No possible way for Blade to figure out where that is to do something about it. I supposed the meta-gaming answer to this would be to go everywhere and look at everything to see what’s changed, and I think that’s the intended course of action. Then again…  If I’m already meta-gaming, I know drat well where to go already.  The warehouse next to Chang Li’s alley is suddenly an available location. It’s difficult to even notice unless you already know to go there, or just wave the mouse over everything everywhere.  There are three things to look at here, this truck, a door behind the textbox, and an electrical meter. I can’t do anything with the truck, unfortunately. Wonder what’s behind the door.  Huh. Doesn’t look familiar at all.  Yes Blade, thank you for your keen insight.  This looks important.  It is!  You are so right Blade. If only you were carrying something that could cause that kind of trouble  Yeah, like that.         Well, that went better than we ever could have hoped for. And nothing bad ever happened from blowing up a massive stockpile of chemicals, right? This is going to be totally okay for the environment, and the city of Los Angeles and its millions of people.  Back at Blade’s apartment, Jonny’s got another message. Does anybody ever actually answer their phones in this universe, or have phones turned into glorified message sending devices… huh, I guess they were actually kind of prescient about that.  I have just learned that our downtown warehouse was destroyed by the former police officer William Hunter.drat right it was, what you gonna go about it? Your security precautions were clearly inadequate, Brother. Please come to our factory headquarters on the northern outskirts of the city to discuss this matter immediately. Good day.You might think that the message told me how to get to Deng’s headquarters. And you’d be wrong, it appeared on the map after his first message, I just can’t get in until later. I’m not sure why he needed to tell Jonny where his headquarters was, which it seems like Jonny should already know, if it wasn’t a narrative device so Blade would also know. Seems kinda pointless. Also, Jonny gon’ die.      Note, if you will, the patch on his hand. Looks familiar.       So. That’s… totally a thing. You might recall we met Snake once before. Leaving Chen’s apartment. While Chen was dying horribly. Not sure if there’s a connection there or not, could just be coincidence. NEXT TIME: Blade vs. Snek! Inventory roundup:    Only a couple new items, this update was mostly using stuff up Truthkeeper fucked around with this message at 03:52 on Aug 17, 2018 |
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Aug 16, 2018 23:58
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Just popping in to say that I’ve never heard of this game before and so am enjoying the play through so far!
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Aug 17, 2018 15:12
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It's a sad thing, but this game (and Dynamix's other point and clicks) wasn't marketed very well after Sierra picked them up, it seems, so they've been mostly forgotten. That's one of the reasons I wanted to LP the game.
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Aug 17, 2018 20:57
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Looks to be a fairly good game of its type, through since you know what you are doing it seems shorter than it probably is.
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Aug 18, 2018 04:35
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I hope there's an option to hit all of these NPCs with the Giggle Spray
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Aug 18, 2018 19:28
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grandalt posted:Looks to be a fairly good game of its type, through since you know what you are doing it seems shorter than it probably is. Even allowing for the fact that I can play it 90% from memory, this is a very short game compared to other point and clicks from the same time period. Definitely doesn't have the depth of a King's Quest or Secret of Monkey Island. DeathChicken posted:I hope there's an option to hit all of these NPCs with the Giggle Spray You know, I'm glad you asked, because that made me try it on a few people I haven't already tried it on, and I finally found one who reacts to it. Now I've got another Game Over I didn't know about for when I post a list of them later. I'll have to keep trying, see if there are others.
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Aug 18, 2018 21:00
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Just saw this LP. Just wanted to say that old man is the best "wisest old prophecy man" I have ever seen...he gives you some random magic crap AND a bulletproof vest.
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Aug 18, 2018 22:46
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I really wanted to like Rise of the Dragon, because I love cyberpunk stuff, but man is the writing just so ... there. It really lets itself down, I think. Still a fun ride, though, if you are okay with the really pulpy experience. Glad you're LPing an obscure game, those are always fun to show off.
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Aug 18, 2018 23:04
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My sister and I played this game when we were kids but we never got very far in it. Pretty sure we found all of the ways to die in the sewer bit in this update, multiple times.
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Aug 19, 2018 01:43
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:Just saw this LP. What do you wanna bet this is the second protagonist he's tried to give this mission to.
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Aug 19, 2018 03:41
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Just Sleep it Off Alright, the game is afoot! Our adversary, who we now know to be noted industrialist Deng Hwang, has ordered a hit on Blade and everybody connected to him. Clearly, there’s only one thing to do in this situation!  And that’s to get a good night’s sleep. Blade refuses to stay up past 1AM, and just falls down wherever he happens to be at that time. Doing this will get you robbed in your sleep, although I don’t believe you can lose game-critical items this way.  Still, ideally you should have Blade crash in his own bed at the end of the night (he gives you a warning at 23:59 that he needs to get to bed in the next hour or so). I mean, super-ideally, you have him sleep in Karyn’s bed the first night and his own the rest of the time, you know what I mean. The next day at noon (because Blade desperately needs those 11 hours of beauty sleep), it’s time to get back on the case.  By which I mean bug Karyn at work again. I have that lab report you wanted.You might recall I handed the drug patch I found in Chen’s apartment off to Karyn, with no idea what she would do with it, and it turned out she had access to a lab that could analyze it for us.  I think any answer here works, but let’s put the best possible words in Blade’s mouth No problem, loverboy. Here’s the tape.      There are so many things wrong with this, starting from the part where red blood cells don’t have DNA. But let’s not let science get in the way of a good sci-fi plot, this stuff looks dangerous! Safe bet that this right here is what killed Chandra Vincenzi (I’m less sure about Chen Lu, sci-fi mutagens generally don’t involve turning into the Wicked Witch of the West). And we’ve seen one other person using the patches…  Wouldn’t hurt to know more about the man who wants Blade dead. Hmmm… This is very unusual… there’s a sleeper gate attached to this file. If anyone tries to access the information contained inside the file, it will set off an alarm and wipe the system! I can try to bypass it, but if it doesn’t work, we could be in a very unhealthy situation! You can’t scare me with your techno-babble Karyn, just open the drat file. Besides, it’s a government computer, nobody cares what happens to those. And when did this turn into a bad 80s movie about hackers, I was just asking her to look up records, which she has access to because that’s her literal job. If you say so Blade. Here goes… What little information there is in the computer about this guy is almost two years old. No birth date, SID number, or address… Hell! There’s not even a physical description of the guy! His name appears in connection with some Fed investigations concerning the Chinese Mafia and a break-in at a military genetic research facility in Los Alamos.Well, that explains the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles level mutating drugs. In the course of this incident, they killed 20 people and burned the place to the ground! There’s no mention of anything being stolen, and all other details are classified. Now what the hell does the Chinese Mafia want with a genetic research facility? Something very strange is going on here.I told you already, Ninja Turtles. There’s no way I can get any more information without tripping some heavy security, so I’m going to wipe all record of this trace.Make sure you reverse the polarity of the neutron flow while you’re at it. Then I’m going to get back to work and pretend none of this ever happened. You’d better get out of here, Blade. I’ll see you later.Well, I found out some poo poo on Deng Hwang and got the details on the drugs. This is some pretty heavy poo poo, way above Blade’s paygrade. More importantly, we know who killed Chandra (Chen Lu), know how it was done (he sold her the patch, presumably told her it was one of those party drugs the kids are into these days), and we don’t even have to plug him, because Snake did it for us. Job’s done, time to go see the mayor and get paid. Actually getting to the mayor required talking my way past Jenni the flirty secretary again, which I seem to have missed screenshotting. The gist of the conversation is that Blade got in by threatening to release information that would be detrimental to the mayor’s re-election campaign. This is actually the first opportunity you can do this, it’s impossible to see Vincenzi until you get the MTZ tape. He spends all the first day in meetings with a man high-up in DH Enterprises, but I’m sure that isn’t related to anything.  Now, there are three ways you can handle the mayor. There’s the bad way, where you gently caress up and get sent to jail. There’s the okay way, where you make it through the conversation. And there’s the good way. I’m doing it the good way. You’re drat right it is! And I’m sick and tired of being given the runaround by your people! You’re the effin’ jerk who hired me for this gig, and then you treat me like I’m radioactive when I try to get in touch with you! It would not be appropriate for me to be seen publicly in your company, Mr. Hunter. I only hired you because there is no one else who knows the scum of this city like you do! Yeah, and a lot of it’s in this building! Let’s drop all pretenses. I pulled you up from the gutter, and if you don’t do this the way I tell you to, you’ll end up right back there! Or worse. The trick to this conversation is proper application of leverage. Try to come on heavy to early, bad. Cave easily, bad. This is the appropriate time to tell him why we’re here though. I have information that indicates your daughter may have been involved with a member of the Chinese Mafia. And likely a drug addict to boot! If you have any information of that nature, I strongly suggest you leave it in my possession. Releasing it could prove detrimental to your health! I want you to tell me everything you’ve discovered, Mr. Hunter! It’s not the right moment to try and push. Wait for it… Chandi was hangin’ ‘round a China Mafioso name o’ Chen Lu. It seems he gave her some bad juice. Bad with a capital ‘B’. It was laced with some exotic virus that scrambles your genes. It’s all on this tape.Giving him the tape is a gamble, but he is the client. Gotta tell him everything. Also, you know, he’s got a metaphorical gun to Blade’s head. Do you have any leads on this “Chen Lu”? I found what was left of him on the floor of his apartment. Since he died the same way Chandi did, it seems likely that the Chinese Mafia is somehow involved with this MTZ. You haven’t done anything to tick them off lately, have you? No.Well, that seems believable. Somehow, I’m not reassured. I can’t trust the police to deal with this situation effectively, Mr. Hunter, so I’d like you to follow up on it further. I want you to find out who is ultimately responsible for this MTZ operation.Deng Hwang, we know that already, but just flat out saying it isn’t an option. Also, technically, Blade doesn’t know that because he isn’t privy to the cutscenes like we are. And then I want you to shut down the operation. Permanently.Yeah. Sure. I’ll just storm what’s probably a heavily fortified operation with my loving pistol.  Now. Now is the time to push, if you’ve played nice up to this point, and tell him to gently caress off now, when the mayor knows he’s being unreasonable. Don’t be so hasty to take an extreme position, Mr. Hunter! I’m sure we can work something out. I’ve been busting my rear end for you, nosing around some seriously fatal mobbers, and all I get for my trouble is a lotta flak from you. How ‘bout a little cooperation here?! I don’t like being left hung out to dry! Official help is, of course, out of the question. But I can give you a security pass which will allow you to get some increased firepower from the police armory. I don’t think I like the way you phrased that. Nevertheless, it is an accurate statement. Take it as you wish. Goodbye.And that’s the way to actually get something from the mayor. Now to wander on over to LAPD headquarters, conveniently in the same building.  Not gonna be a problem.  Wow. Eddie went and got fat in the future. And got a really bad haircut. And I can’t tell if that’s a Hitler mustache or a really unfortunate shadow under his nose. And he probably forgot how to play the guitar. Then again, he looks drat good considering he must be pushing 100. But I’ll show him my pass anyway.  Well Blade’s a pretty impressive civilian.  Now we’re talking! Blade’s now equipped with a police-issued .457 caliber rifle which claims to be able to fire 1000 rounds/minute. But I can’t click my mouse button that fast. Those of you paying attention might have noticed that I’ve never needed the pistol so far. As long as you talk right and get the rifle, you technically never need the pistol. So, what’s the first thing I’m going to do now that I’ve got the most powerful gun in all the land? Naturally, I’m going to take it to a place I’m not allowed to have it, because I forgot I needed to meet up with The Jake before coming here.   Sten and Arris are technically good at their jobs, but they will screw you by refusing to give you a claim ticket for your guns unless you bribe Sten with a Fisto bar. There are two in the entire game, in case you screw up and come here unarmed twice. Luckily, you only ever need to come here twice. Let’s go see what Mr. Jakeston has to say.  Can’t talk now though. We need to meet somewhere safe. I’ll give you a call. Now get outta here before someone sees us talkin’!Well that was uninformative.  Get my guns back. I can shove the pistol back under Blade’s pillow anytime, not sure if I can hang the rifle back up in the armory if I want to avoid bringing it here. MEANWHILE!     Well gently caress.  And so, Blade arrived home to another message from Deng Hwang.       This. This is perfectly fine. Nothing wrong here. Nope. Alright, luckily there’s a tried an established method for dealing with troubling information from Deng Hwang. NEXT TIME: Actually getting around to Blade. vs. Snek, along with sudden genre shift! Inventory roundup:    
Truthkeeper fucked around with this message at 09:53 on Aug 21, 2018 |
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Aug 20, 2018 01:36
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...a VCR tape?? I mean, DVD hadn't come out yet, but CDs were becoming common and laserdiscs were around. Laaaazy, Dynamix.
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Aug 20, 2018 07:06
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Sudden Genre Shift The next morning (well, afternoon, Blade still isn’t aware of times between 1 AM and noon) begins with our expected message from The Jake. Not sure why the phone system uses Blade’s real name, but The Jake’s nickname. Maybe because Blade is still a semi-professional with a job whereas The Jake apparently lives at the Dome and his job is… professional informant, maybe?  Well poo poo, he looks loving terrified. Also, yes, I knew that already Jake, I’ve been waiting for you to call me to tell me where to meet because apparently just telling me what you have to say on the phone is too loving difficult. Word on the street is that some very lethal dudes are stalkin’ a P.I. who’s been nosin’ around too much! Unless you want to end up very dead, meet me at the warehouse at 8:30 tonight.The warehouse. Because there’s only one warehouse in all of LA, right? Also, that kinda seems like the last possible place I’d want to go back to, considering that Blade was seen running the gently caress away after blowing the place up before. Still, got all afternoon before meeting up with Jake, should probably go check on Karyn. That guy probably had a very harsh conversation with her and she might need to be calmed down. Sure Deng made a lot of noise about having kidnapped her, but you can’t take everything the villain says at face value, right?  See, she’s fine. This is maybe not the ideal opener for that, but some normalcy from Blade will probably help her get over…  Oh dear Karyn’s grown a beard, and developed a need to wear glasses. Well, Blade seems like an open sort of guy, I’m sure he can adjust… What? Really? Huh. The voices only Ican hear have interjected that this guy probably isn’t Karyn at all, but is the guy filling in for her after she’s mysteriously gone missing because Deng Hwang probably really did kidnap her. Damned inconvenient, that.  Blade I am sure that at some point in your career somebody has already called you that. Ah well, I’m already in the city hall area, might as well kill some time until Jake gets here. But then around 8:00…  Again? For fucks sake!              Oh. Well. gently caress. This is totally a thing that is happening. Blowing up the factory seems to have only delayed them a day. Also, take note that Deng is lying through his teeth here. He's already sent his goons to pump the poo poo into the water supply. Everybody in LA is hosed unless somebody does something. And that somebody is Blade, because the mayor is loving useless. HORRIBLE DILEMMA! Do I go to my meeting with The Jake, or go stop these guys at the reservoir? gently caress it, I’ve got an appointment, saving a major American city comes second to talking to informants.  Especially because this is a thing that is happening! drat it Jake, this wouldn’t have happened if you had just talked to me any of the last time we’ve met, or on the loving phone!  He does now. After this poo poo, I own his rear end. Time for SUDDEN GENRE SHIFT!  Dynamix decided this segment of the game would be best handled by turning it into a sidescrolling shooter. This is why I bother getting the rifle, this sucks hard with Blade’s pistol. Despite the fact that we’re in a small clearing between some buildings and Blade and Snake were close enough to talk, all of a sudden there’s a long stretch of ground to cover, with pitfalls, toxic waste, and lasers to bypass. And a couple dozen goons. Get the gist through my commentary below, or watch the poo poo-quality video I recorded with DOSBox. Blade has access to three weapons, and always pulls out the best he has on him for these segments. The fact that the bombs are an option is interesting, I’ve never tried showing up with no gun at all, and I don’t think I want to try it. The rifle will take out most goons in 1-2 shots, and with the bulletproof vest Blade can take a fair amount of punishment. Also, the controls are pretty bad. Regardless of trying to use keyboard or mouse controls, controlling Blade is a mess. Maybe the joystick controls work better, but I wouldn’t want to try and test it.  Stepping in toxic waste will instantly kill him though. Luckily, Blade has super jumping powers, allowing him to easily clear the spilled waste by leaping thirty feet into the air. There is an anti-frustration feature, in that the game will let you auto-win if you fail five times in a row. But I’m too stubborn for that. (I totally used it against the final boss as a kid, never managed to beat him for real until high school)  The toxic gas isn’t an auto-kill like the waste, but it will sap your health.  A laser-aided homeless murdering device! They really did know the future!  The electric trap is insultingly easy.  As you might have noticed if you did watch the video, Snake is immune to bullets. Instead, I have to close into melee with him, at which point Blade will cheerfully switch to using his rifle as a club. Also note the Fisto logo. Not sure if it’s poorly maintained advertising or if we’re fighting outside a candybar factory. In a modern game I would demand the ability to grab the fallen O and smack him with it.  There, that wasn’t so tough. Okay, yes, I’m a loving wimp and fought him on middle difficulty, I admit it. I don’t have to impress you guys with my mad 1990s action game skillz.  … YOU LITERALLY COULD HAVE TOLD ME THAT ON THE PHONE! Regardless, Snake’s ID card is the real reward for going through this, besides the visceral pleasure of shooting a bunch of guys and beating the poo poo out of Deng’s enforcer. Incidentally, had I chosen to go deal with the reservoir first and then come back to meet Jake…    Blade is a better friend than The Jake deserves, but definitely the friend he needs to save his dumb rear end. Should probably deal with those guys over at the reservoir now that this situation is handled.  This section is also a genre shift, but to a static shooter. Blade’s too stupid to understand the concept of cover, so you have to shoot them before they shoot you. If you’re paying close attention to the timestamps, you’ll notice I recorded this in the same run where I grabbed the shot of The Dead Jake.  Much like the sidescrolling part, this is made ridiculously easier by having the rifle and the bulletproof vest. Remember that I technically never needed to go see Chang Li. Nothing in the game ever told me where to find him, he was entirely missable. Which would make this difficult, yes, but would make an upcoming section impossible. More on that later.  I like that this guy falls off the building when I shoot him. It’s a nice touch. Also, I took like twice as many hits in the other run where I did this after saving Jake. Did I mention I’m not great at the action gamey parts?  My reward for shooting these guys, besides, again, visceral pleasures and saving millions of people, is this fancy hovercar. Technically speaking, this is an either/or situation. You need either Snake’s ID or the hovercar to reach the endgame, and having either negates the need for the other entirely. The hovercar is nice because you can take it anywhere, saving a click to get to the EM-way station when traveling between areas. But mostly this is a catch to be able to beat the game if you lose track of time or gently caress up and don’t get to the warehouse in time to save Jake. And again!     Oh. Well. poo poo. Yeah, I saved the black guy and the city, I guess I probably better get on with saving the girl and beating the big bad.  Now is the appropriate time to go to Deng Hwang’s evil factory. Presumably the factory is evil. I dunno, maybe he makes baby toys or something and I’m just being judgmental. Now, there are two, count them, two ways into the factory. I can take the EM-way there and go in through the front door like a normal person. There’s heavy security, but I’ve got Snake’s ID which is enough to get right in. Because Blade and Snake look so much alike that you can’t tell their photo IDs apart, right? Or, alternatively, I can take the hovercar, land on the roof, and take the elevator to the lobby. Because this highly secure facility has no security on the roof in a world where flying cars are a thing. Both of these options are really dumb. I took the hovercar because I like the hovercar.  This is really the only time you need to use the hovercar after getting it, and again, only if you didn’t fight The Snake. Kind of a waste.  Taking the elevator from the roof takes us to this absolutely fantastic lobby, guarded by a single deadly receptionist! NEXT TIME: Blade vs. a single deadly receptionist. Oh yeah, and saving Karyn. Oh, yeah, and Deng Hwang is there. Inventory roundup: 
Truthkeeper fucked around with this message at 10:23 on Aug 23, 2018 |
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Aug 23, 2018 10:19
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I consider this game a kind of a flawed gem; it's way too doofy and badly written to be called a classic. But remember this was like 1990, and this game had video capture, interstitial cut scenes, and no text parser. It almost tried to do too much, with the sidescroller/pop up shooter gameplay detracting (which is odd because they also published Stellar 7 the same year which had much tighter controls).
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Aug 24, 2018 08:24
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Scaramouche posted:I consider this game a kind of a flawed gem; it's way too doofy and badly written to be called a classic. But remember this was like 1990, and this game had video capture, interstitial cut scenes, and no text parser. It almost tried to do too much, with the sidescroller/pop up shooter gameplay detracting (which is odd because they also published Stellar 7 the same year which had much tighter controls). I got this game originally in a pack with Stellar 7 and Heart of China. Stellar 7 definitely controlled well, but I was absolute poo poo at it as a kid.
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Aug 24, 2018 23:04
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The Final Push Last time, we ended faced with our most dangerous adversary yet, a single receptionist!  Yes, thank you for that keen insight Blade. Seriously though, this is the lead-in to one of the most dangerous bits of the game. We are at the end of a point and click adventure game folks, and the game wants us to be fully aware of it. This game is only tangentially related to Sierra, but it feels like some of their games from the same era. In that we are about to enter into a long sequence of events, screwing up even one of which will almost immediately result in a game over. Much like getting into the building, there are multiple ways to get past the receptionist. Let’s try talking it out.   One of these options absolutely will not work. Let’s try the sneaky approach. Name’s Louis Lewis, darlin’! I’m with the A10 Service Repair & Maintenance Company. I’m sorry, Mr. Lewis… Call me Louis, you pretty little thing! ... But I don’t have a record of any maintenance appointment. Well somebody sure screwed up! You can’t let those microspoolers go too long or they’ll overload the interface grid, and I don’t have to tell you what THAT means.No, please don’t make him tell you, he hasn’t thought that far ahead. What DOES that mean? Well, your interface grid is basically the heart of your data control structure. Say it gets overloaded, shorts out, then BOOM! Your whole network is shot.I can honestly see the average end user falling for this scam now, and people were a lot less computer savvy in 1990. Sounds serious! I’m just glad I got here in time! I’ll have to verify this, Louis. Nothing personal. It’s standard operating procedure to call and verify these things. I’m sorry sir. There is no maintenance schedule listed for the microspoolers. You’d better leave.Staying more than a few seconds after this prompts a game over. The same game over that can happen about thirty times in here. It’ll be on the list with the other game overs. So okay, that isn’t one of the ways to get in. But Blade could use his ability to charm ladies to talk his way past her, as opposed to his lack of ability to lie. If he had said she reminded him of someone or asked her not to check up on his story, he would have flirted shamelessly and asked her to dinner. Which would make her immediately forget all about standard operating procedures and her job, because all women immediately fall apart at the sight of an apparently attractive man. So, I could do that to get in, sure. Yes, I think he’s some kind of hideous mutant, but the women in this game clearly have some Disney-esque ability to see past that to the beautiful heart within. Or maybe I’m just never going to let up on the artwork from those first thirty seconds of gameplay.  But there was at least one person who wanted to see me actually use this poo poo, so we’re going the more direct route. And frankly, doing it this way makes more sense.  Blade, I’m sure in the future, aerosol can technology has improved to the point where they can hold a lot more than our current cans do, but will you please refrain from spraying that poo poo everywhere!  This is, as far as I’ve been able to find, the only time in the game when this stuff is useful (I would have loved it being an available weapon in the shooter sections)   I would love to give Dynamix credit that the typo here is a joke about her being high as balls, but I think it really is just a typo. Just a little joy juice. Mmmm... I like it! Hey darlin’! Think you could let me in the security room to do a little sabotage? Sssuurrrre! Go ahead! Whheeee! Blade, you need to take more responsibility when you’re drugging people in order to make them do things for you.  Getting past the receptionist, either through Blade’s masculine wiles or chemical warfare, gets you into the security room. This room is an rear end in a top hat, coded by an rear end in a top hat, by assholes, for assholes. Also, I don’t like it. Everything from here on in is timed. The receptionist will either figure out that Blade wasn’t trustworthy or recover from being drugged quickly and will call security. The goal is to slow that down as much as possible and make our way further into Deng’s headquarters.  We do that by futzing with the security console here. The goal is to disable the security system, which will allow changing the other settings, following by turning off the high voltage forcefield, unlocking the holding cell and the janitor’s closet, and locking the breakroom. You have to do all of those things before the receptionist recovers, and you have no chance to go back if you forgot one. And the security system requires either an ID (which we don’t have one that works here), or a password override. Now, one might assume that this means we’re screwed. Because where the hell would Blade have learned the password from? Did I mention this was programmed by assholes? loving clever assholes, to be certain, but assholes nonetheless. And God help you if you have a poor memory and don’t have anything to write this down on, because there is not nearly enough time to keep going back and looking at the cookie.  Meanwhile, this is happening.  I screwed this up so many times even though I supposedly know exactly what I’m doing.    If I had grabbed all my shots in advance before starting the LP, I totally would have used Blade's trollface here for Blade’s dialogue instead of the shadowy credits face.     With the forcefield down, this hallway is now available. Now, the door with the complicated lock mechanism on it sure looks important, and I’m sure those stairs surrounded by golden statues go somewhere, but I’m way too interested in this janitor’s closet to pay them any attention. Once again, the game provides you with everything you need, but there’s no way to know it’s there, or that you need it. The screwdriver is first. You can save a click by not even picking it up, since you only need it in this room.    Meanwhile, this is happening. The time crunch is real.  The next thing to do is open the two boxes in back here. Turn off the power first, then use the screwdriver on the circuit breaker.  Now that the wires are exposed, we grab a big ol’ handful and yank them out! This doesn’t do anything, and you don’t need them to progress technically, but they are critical in the next room. Speaking of the next room…  Oh my, this could be an issue. Please help me, Blade!Uh, yeah, sure, I’ll get right on that. What the hell even is this thing?  Ah. That sounds bad. Well, good thing I inherently know exactly how to solve this!  And this is why we got the wires. Can’t save Karyn without them. gently caress if I know what Blade’s doing with them, or how he knew to do it though.  Once the wires are hooked up to… whatever Blade stuck them do, you can remove these three plugs from the collar to save Karyn.    Yay, happy reunion, joyous kiss, yadda yadda, you guys know you’re still in enemy territory, right?  Because I’m pretty sure the guards aren’t going to just throw up their hands and let you go just because you got her out of the machine.  You know, there are times when I think multiple artists with wildly different art styles worked on this game.   I’d say the way the guards aren’t coming from.  Yeah, what he said.   Huh. You know, it never occurred to me until this playthrough the Sierra ripped off this entire ending in Dagger of Amon Ra. Except that game’s ending was even more bullshit.        Well poo poo piss gently caress oval office. This looks bad. There’s only one thing that can save Blade and Karyn now. If you guessed “Another sudden genre shift”, you get a cookie. [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7lDptFhxNM Like before, you can watch my lovely DOSBox video[/url] or follow the screenshots for the highlights.  I have no idea where Karyn is during all this, and it’s probably best not to worry about it. This arcade sequence, as Dynamix prefers to call them, goes pretty much like the first one. Jump pits, dodge traps, get into shootouts with grunts. I probably should dodge bullets, but that’s what bulletproof vests are for, right? Because that’s totally how they work, you can just keep getting shot in the same spot over and over again no problem. This time, there’s only one trap, and that trap is FIRE! The first few fire traps can be bypassed with clever timing and studying their patterns. Or you can skip that poo poo and shoot the big obvious red valve to shut it down  This one doesn’t have a big red valve, but you can just drop down to the lower level and continue ignoring it.  I shot this guy like four times in the legs to no effect. Hitboxes are weird yo.  Now, after fun times with Snake the Bulletproof man in the last shooter part, one could be forgiven for thinking the same might apply to the fuckmothering dragon. Nope! He is totally vulnerable to bullets, whereas I didn’t seem to be able to engage in melee with him. Ran into a fun bug while trying where I fell through the floor and turned invisible briefly, it’s in the video.  In the end, I shot Bahumat a bunch of times until he died, sprayed green blood everywhere, and turned into a dead Chinese guy again. Also, at some point I finally started spelling his name right. I blame Final Fantasy and D&D for making me see it as Bahamut for so long.  Why he’s naked is anybody’s guess.       This time is the very last Meanwhile, I promise. But I also lie, because we’ll be seeing this same one again in a bit.       Trying to blame this on the Mayor is a little harsh. I’m not sure about how much of what was going on he was really aware of. We know that his daughter was a victim of circumstance, not a specific target, so they weren’t retaliating against him like Blade suggested last time he and the mayor talked.  On the other hand, the first day, when you can’t get in to see him no matter what? He spends that whole day in a meeting. With Deng Hwang (or at least a representative from his company). There’s clearly something shady going on there.     Satisfying, but how often to you get to take a swing at the mayor of a major American city like that while surrounded by All Of The Police?    Into the sunset? It’s ten o’clock at night, that sun is loving gone! Probably even funnier if you get here in the morning, but I’m not sure how doable that is.  They really wanted to make this a series. Kinda wish they’d pulled it off.  So, that’s the ending folks! It’s satisfying, saved the girl, shot the bad guy a bunch of times, punched the mayor, got to walk off into the not-sunset with his girl, it’s all good! And yet, I wonder…  NEXT TIME: That’s it, the game’s over. Except for the alternate ending. And the game overs. And maybe some other amusing tidbits. The Last Inventory Roundup:  I never actually put the screwdriver in my inventory, but I could have, and I did pick it up and use it, so I’m counting it. 
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Aug 26, 2018 07:19
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As assholish as that section is, I do appreciate how sensible the danger of it is. Sudden genre shifts aside, the game was very logical and coherent in terms of what was going on, even if it was really short.
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Aug 26, 2018 11:00
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Yeah, it feels (at least in LP format) like it could have been played in about as much time as it would take to watch a movie with the exact same plot.
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Aug 26, 2018 15:08
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Yeah, this game always felt a bit clunky to me... I much prefer its successor, "Heart of China", mainly because it looks a lot nicer, but length-wise, it may even be shorter than this one, if anything.
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Aug 26, 2018 20:28
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Keldulas posted:As assholish as that section is, I do appreciate how sensible the danger of it is. Sudden genre shifts aside, the game was very logical and coherent in terms of what was going on, even if it was really short. This is true, the whole sequence, while it fills me with rage, is logically consistent, nothing happens that I would actually call dumb (other than Blade's sudden electrical engineering aptitude to be able to shut down the machine Karyn was hooked up to). Any game over you get in this ending feels earned. marshmallow creep posted:Yeah, it feels (at least in LP format) like it could have been played in about as much time as it would take to watch a movie with the exact same plot. Probably less, allowing for the fact that I can do the whole thing from memory. I feel like I spent more time taking screenshots than i did playing the game (many repeated attempts on the arcade sequences notwithstanding). To a person playing for the first time, who has to actually explore and figure out how stuff works, and look at all the descriptions of stuff that I kinda regret not including after the first few, it probably feels like a longer, more fleshed out game. ivantod posted:Yeah, this game always felt a bit clunky to me... I much prefer its successor, "Heart of China", mainly because it looks a lot nicer, but length-wise, it may even be shorter than this one, if anything. Heart of China is definitely the superior game in a lot of ways. But gently caress the tank driving sequence. gently caress it to heck.
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Aug 26, 2018 23:35
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marshmallow creep posted:Yeah, it feels (at least in LP format) like it could have been played in about as much time as it would take to watch a movie with the exact same plot. Actually, this prompted me to go and have a look on Youtube... a typical longplay of this game lasts about 1:30h, so I guess you're right. This is actually surprisingly short, especially compared to today's games. A typical longplay of Heart of China seems to run about 2:20h so I guess my memory was wrong, it IS a bit longer that Rise of the Dragon after all. It just feels really short I guess. And yes, that tank driving sequence is loving stupid.
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Aug 27, 2018 18:58
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Man, I loved Heart of China back in the day - great to see another game in that kind of series! (you WERE able to skip the tank sequence in HoC, right? I'm not mis-remembering that?)
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Aug 27, 2018 19:57
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Bacter posted:(you WERE able to skip the tank sequence in HoC, right? I'm not mis-remembering that?) I'm pretty sure that it was the same deal as here, after you fail a few times the game lets you skip it if you want. So I had a look and it turns out that there was only ever one LP of Heart of China on SA, way back in 2008 (!), never archived and long since lost to the ravages of time (or waffleimages). Considering that this game is almost done, it almost seems like a natural thing for this thread to do would be to gently slide into playing Heart of China!  Heart of China was definitely one of my favourites at the time (I seem to recall that it came on something like 8 floppy disks if I'm not wrong), but from this perspective, its flaws are a lot more obvious--although it still looks great, especially considering that it runs in 320x200 resolution!
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Aug 27, 2018 20:09
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Bacter posted:Man, I loved Heart of China back in the day - great to see another game in that kind of series! (you WERE able to skip the tank sequence in HoC, right? I'm not mis-remembering that?) ivantod posted:I'm pretty sure that it was the same deal as here, after you fail a few times the game lets you skip it if you want. God knows I never would have gotten any further into the game otherwise. Given that this was a couple years after Stellar 7, which had much smoother tank driving controls, you'd think they could have just reused the mechanics. Then again, I was loving terrible at Stellar 7 as a kid, so that wouldn't have helped me very much. ivantod posted:So I had a look and it turns out that there was only ever one LP of Heart of China on SA, way back in 2008 (!), never archived and long since lost to the ravages of time (or waffleimages). Considering that this game is almost done, it almost seems like a natural thing for this thread to do would be to gently slide into playing Heart of China! That's pretty much the whole reason I did this LP. I went to read the old RotD LP from 2008 I saw in the archives, saw that the images were dead, and was filled with deadly purpose. Or possibly gas. Deadly purposeful gas! HoC is definitely the superior game in a lot of ways, and I'm definitely thinking about LPing it. But I might do somemthing else in between as a palate cleanser. Somebody over in the request thread requested NEO Scavenger, and that also filled me with deadly purpose. Then again, the two games are different enough that I might do both simultaneously, each one acting as a break from the other. Of course, that's all for later, because there's still one more update to come here. I'd have it posted already, but there's one last game over I'm certain exists, but I don't seem to be able to actually make it happen.
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Aug 27, 2018 22:04
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And the Rest Just a few highlights here. I never did have any luck hunting down the soundtrack for the PC version of the game. I was very impressed with it on this playthrough, when I actually took advantage of DOSBox's ability to emulate a Soundblaster and played that music instead of the PC speaker variety. Although even the PC speaker music was pretty impressive. Sadly, the best I have to share is the Sega CD soundtrack, which is still alright. Maybe better in a few places, but a little heavy on the synth stings and rhythm backbeats for my tastes. Still, better to have than nothing, and I really like this version of the intro theme. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgVKV7nkATM&list=PLfd3SY7ln9aCZY40OXHjqMtb14OkBuXG1 Also, you'll notice here that the Sega CD version tints the whole game green. I have no idea why, but it looks a little silly. Game Over Let’s talk about all the ways things can go wrong for Blade. I mentioned before that Sierra bought Dynamix right around the time this game was released. So it isn’t REALLY a Sierra adventure game, but it kinda is. And that’s clearly the feeling they were going for. This game is more King’s Quest than Secret of Monkey Island, if you know what I mean. What I mean is that there’s lots of game overs. Most of them are easy to see coming and you deserve them if they happen to you. Game Over 1: Public indecency This one is the easiest to get, you can get it with a mere three clicks after the game starts. Simply leave Blade’s apartment without getting dressed. You get one warning that you should probably put on some clothes first, so if you leave anyway, it’s totally your own fault.    Interestingly, it’s impossible to leave the apartment with Blade’s clothes, but not his coat. He absolutely will not leave while dressed but uncoated. If you pick up the coat but don’t put it on, he’ll automatically put it on for you. Game Over 2: People don’t like guns in their face When stopped entering the Pleasure Dome, try to shoot either of the bouncers, or use Napent spray on them     I tried this in a bunch of places I expected this to happen in (I’m particularly surprised I can walk all over City Hall pointing guns at cops, Karyn, Jenni the receptionist, and even the mayor and nothing happens). As far as I can tell, this is the only time somebody reacts if Blade points his gun at them. Game Over 3: Drugs are bad, mmmkay? Use Chen’s drug patch on Blade     This one is actually fully animated with foam bubbling up out of Blade’s mouth through the whole description until he transforms. Obviously, you only have a small window to do this in, after getting the patch and before giving it to Karyn to have analyzed. And you’d have to be a complete moron to actually do this. Or I supposed hold onto it until you see Deng using them, and thinking it’ll give you sweet dragon powers like him. Game Over 4: All the rats Take too long tapping Jonny Qwong’s phone   I mentioned earlier that I wasn’t sure the if first aid kit actually does anything. What I’ve heard since then, but haven’t confirmed, is that it lets you survive a little longer here. Still, sewer rats man. It’s very easy to gently caress this up if you don’t know what you’re doing, although the game is very clear that you should tap the phone if you right click it, and the diagram isn’t that hard to figure out. In fact, loving up the actual act of applying the wire tap is more likely to lead to the next game over… Game Over 5: I ordered my flesh beast steak medium rare, not well done Clip a lead onto a hot wire while tapping Jonny’s phone, OR, touch the electric fence around his house   I actually never tried touching the fence until this run, so I discovered that one by accident. I frequently hosed up the phone tap as a kid until I figured out to watch the meters. Game Over 6: Guns don’t kill people, cartoon characters kill people Get shot too many times in the shootout at the Hollywood Reservoir      This also included an amusing quip from Blade because I forgot to bring a gun, but it caught me off guard and I missed getting a screenshot of it. It takes actual work to gently caress this up if you have the rifle (and so can oneshot the chumps) and the bulletproof vest (so you can take 10 shots to the center of mass without dying). Wouldn’t want to try it with just the pistol and no vest though. This is also an automatic lead-in to the bad ending (which I’ll get to in a bit). Game Over 7: Security! We’ve got an intruder here! Screw up anywhere while infiltrating Deng Hwang’s headquarters, either by tipping off the receptionist or taking too long in the timed segment   Still think this whole area was designed by assholes, for assholes, but it’s logical, makes sense, and you can figure it out through trial and error. Game Over 8: Bahumat Wins! Flawless Victory! Get killed by Bahumat during the second arcade sequence and choose not to try again   I wasn’t originally aware of this one, but I saw the second screen online some where and played around until I realized that you had to specifically be killed by Bahumat, not his minions or traps. Turns out fighting a dragon in melee combat is stupid Blade! Honorable Mention: Getting busted          I was so sure for years that anything that got you arrested was also a game over, to the point I never actually bothered waiting out the cut scenes and just reloaded. Turns out that getting arrested for anything other than public nudity just means a day in the tank before being bailed out by the mayor. The only ways I’ve found that lead to an arrest are staying too long in Chen’s apartment after he dies while the cops are on the way or being too mouthy with the mayor. Honorable Mention 2: Infidelity is bad Cheat on Karyn with this girl(?) from the Pleasure Dome         Blade can shamelessly flirt with Jenni and the receptionist at DH enterprises, but this is his only opportunity to actually cheat on Karyn. Taking Candi up on her offer of course naturally leads to Karyn spawning in from out of nowhere to catch Blade in preparation to get it on. This doesn’t actually cause a game over, but it’s impossible to sway Karyn back after this, and no Karyn means no checking records on stuff like Chen’s ID card. So if this happens before you’ve done that and gotten Jonny Qwong’s address, you’re poo poo out of luck. As the game points out, you have to reload and be a better person. Honorable Mention 3: The one that got away Walk off the edge of the roof of Blade’s apartment building. This one would be a straight up game over… except that I can’t trigger it. I’m certain I remember hitting it while paying years ago, and I’ve seen video of a guy getting it in the Sega CD version. I don’t know if it wasn’t in the PC version at all and I’m just crazy, or if it was originally in the game but removed in a later release, or if I’m just crazy. Lots o’ Luck Joy Juice DeathChicken was curious about how many people I could use the Napent persona defense spray/giggle spray/joy juice on. That made me curious, so I ran around trying to use it on everybody, naturally. Sadly, didn’t get many responses. Unsurprisingly, most of the people you can use it on are in the Pleasure Dome.            Oddly, Blade does have dialogue indicating that he thinks it would be a bad idea to use the Napent, pretty much identical to when he thinks he shouldn’t shoot somebody. But unlike the gun dialogue, which he says pretty much any time you try to use your gun in a place where you can’t use it, this one only triggers in a few odd places, such as the subway and a few empty hallways.  Yes I was trying to spray the cop. It’s also interesting to note that the game pays attention to where you are to keep this message grammatically correct. “Down here” for underground areas, “Up here” for rooftops, “In here” and “Out here” for indoor and outdoor areas. It’s a nice touch that a lot of games wouldn’t have bothered with now, let alone back then. Bad Ending Even in 1990, multiple endings weren’t a new concept (the earliest use of them I can think of is Wizardry 4 from 1987). This game has three, of which we’ve seen one, and another is honestly not that different. And then there’s this one.            It’s… an ending. You’re not supposed to like bad endings, but much like the good endings, it does nothing to explain why Deng is doing any of this poo poo, and why anybody would help him do it. I don’t think it’s for the money, Deng seemed pretty intent on transforming/killing all of LA even if he was paid off. They never really explained what he and the mayor were up to either, beyond the implication that Vincenzi was aware of what Deng was up to, but not that it was related to his daughter’s death. Good Ending Now, you might think that we already saw the good ending last update. Blade saved the girl, shot the dragon, punched the mayor, walked off with his girl into the late-night sunset. All was well, right? Well, I find this version a bit more narratively satisfying. It’s clearly not the intended ending, and it requires loving up a puzzle, I just think it makes for a better story.  Blade’s an ex-cop turned private detective. He knows a couple things about wiring so he can set up phone taps, but he’s not an electrician, or an engineer, or really qualified to work with electronics in any way. The hell does he know about circumventing complicated death traps?  Regardless of whether you try to pull plugs without using the wires to… do whatever Blade did in the other timeline, or if you just take too long and time runs out, the result is the same.         This leads to Blade evolving from noir detective to ACTION HERO! Well, more action hero than he already was.      The arcade sequence and fight with Deng remain the same. Mostly, the post-fight ending is also the same, differing only when Blade exits the building alone (well, him and the sniper he threw through the door).         Sure, this is sad and depressing and overall bad. But I feel like it’s written better than the good version. And Blade punching the mayor makes a lot more sense in this one. The other good ending Actually found this one just on a whim, didn't expect it to have an ending cutscene. After stopping Deng Hwang's forces from poisoning the reservoir, waste time until Karyn dies. This should be the worst ending short of the one where Bahumat wins. It involves completely skipping the endgame. But I actually really like it.  I'm advancing time right here in Deng's lobby, but it seems to work anywhere after saving the reservoir, before trying to bypass the receptionist.  You'll recall the machine Karyn was hooked up to had a timer. Oddly enough, that timer is 30 seconds when you go in to save her, but lasts nearly an hour here. In the end, she dies exactly the same way, but without Blade there to cradle the body.               Narratively, this is clearly the worst ending. But Blade threatening the mayor (and possibly killing him with a second shot offscreen, I guess it's open to interpretation) and Deng Hwang surviving to be the villain in a potential sequel is a pretty enjoyable take on things. And that’s a wrap folks. It’s a decent little game, not as short as I made it look if you haven’t spent the past twenty-five years committing it to memory, and well worth playing if it ever falls into your hands. It’s available on GOG if you feel like taking a look, and runs decently (if a little sluggish) in DOSBox. Some years ago there was a guy trying to make a SCUMMVM fork for it, but I think that project collapsed. I regret that I pretty much speed-ran my way through this LP, in retrospect I wish I’d taken more time, gotten some of the more fun descriptions and the conversations that you don’t need to progress  But wait.... THERE'S MORE!
Truthkeeper fucked around with this message at 05:06 on Sep 17, 2018 |
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Aug 28, 2018 23:16
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Neat. Thanks for showing this game off. I am looking forward to Heart of China.
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Aug 29, 2018 03:40
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I guess that drug is supposed to be turning people into dragons, but they look more like giant frogs
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Aug 29, 2018 05:34
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I think as a culture we're too obsessed with the Hero's Journey esp the bit about killing an important character off around the climax, it can be done well but the other nine times out of ten it feels shoehorned and pointless.
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Aug 29, 2018 06:45
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tomanton posted:I think as a culture we're too obsessed with the Hero's Journey esp the bit about killing an important character off around the climax, it can be done well but the other nine times out of ten it feels shoehorned and pointless. I feel like the story is more poignant if somebody dies. Karyn's death works mostly because I love blade's action hero montage afterward, but for story purposes, The Jake's death would work... if he and Blade has actually talked to each other more than twice. I feel like the game didn't do anything to earn that scene of Blade crying over Jake's body and swearing vengeance for him. I kept wondering why throughout this entire game my brain kept insisting on calling Blade "Jake" even when there was another guy named Jake in the game. Cut to my starting work on Heart of China "Oh, right, this was the one with the protagonist named Jake, even though he goes by his real name even less than Blade".
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Aug 29, 2018 06:57
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Making Your Way in the World Today Incidentally, as it takes place in, you know, China, I’d be curious if anybody who actually knows Chinese would weigh in on the large amount of it we’re going to be seeing. I’ve often wondered if it was actually accurate, or they just slapped on some random kanji and called it a day. This game never had any releases on later systems like Rise of the Dragon did, which is a terrible shame. On the plus side, that means no ugly green Sega CD version. Once again, I’m ripping off somebody else’s perfectly good Youtube upload of the intro. The text is a bit hard to read, if you don’t want to strain yourself, then please enjoy my fine summary below https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WRDx4kZPWI  They say you’re screwed when you’re trapped between a rock and a hard place. It’s the truth. In my case, the rock was an old curmudgeon with millions of dollars, and the hard place was… look, I’m no good at metaphors, okay. Name’s Jake Masters. Call me Lucky, everybody does. Cause I ask them to, just like I’m asking you. Flew a fighter plane in the war, made a name for myself. But wars don’t last forever, and a man has to be able to make a living when he gets out. Flying was the only thing I was ever any good at, and I’ll always be more at home in the air than on the ground. So I started a company, Airborn Import. There are always people who want paper umbrellas and silk dresses from China, and they’re willing to pay good money for the privilege. Good enough to keep me, and a handful of pilots under me, in the air. Then my business partner skipped town. He took my secretary with him. And all the cash in the safe. If I ever meet him again, I got a bullet with his name on it. You have any idea how hard it is to write on a bullet? Leaves me in the lurch, but the situation’s salvageable, as long as the bank doesn’t call my loan due, or sell it to someone who will. Then Lomax happened to me.         There was this girl, you see. Kate Lomax, daddy’s a rich industrialist with his thumb in fifty pies, daughter’s willful and stubborn, and she took off for the Chinese interior. She studied nursing and devoted her life to tying bandages and such. It’s not an uncommon story. But the girl’s pretty, so the story goes. Too pretty. She catches the attention of a local warlord, Li Deng, and he sends his goons to kidnap the dame so he can marry her. Story makes its way back to Daddy Lomax, he decides he needs somebody to go and rescue his daughter. He buys my loan, offers me the ol’ carrot and stick. And to make sure I knew what would happen if I refuse, he sent one of his grunts to my house.    Well, my boat more like. Living on water’s preferable to land, and a drat sight cheaper besides, but one grenade later, and I’m homeless, and all of a sudden EA’s deal is looking better and better. If I save the girl for him, I get 200 large. Enough to save the business with a little extra on top. Even gave me $10,000 upfront for supplies, bribes, whatever. But he’s gonna take off $20,000 for every day it takes me. I can’t afford to screw this up. He suggested that I meet up with, get this, an honest to God ninja who hangs out at one of the local bars, name of Zhao Chi. He made it abundantly clear how many pieces I’ll be cut into and how many places those pieces will be tossed in in if anything happens to his daughter.      The initial driving force of the story is an unscrupulous businessman named EA. It’s really too easy, insert your own joke here. http://lpix.org/3216999/hoc_026.png On first glance, this game is pretty similar to Rise of the Dragon. Lot less gray, certainly, in fact most people will tell you that Heart of China is much prettier, because it is. This game is built in the same engine as Dragon, but the artwork is a lot better. There are a couple differences to note. Looking carefully, you might notice that there’s no date/time indicator in this game. Any passage of time is strictly story based (and also important, since as noted above, Lucky loses 20 grand for every day that passes).  Second thing to note, our protagonist starts with his clothes on this time. This is good, since any clothes he wasn’t wearing are probably gone forever now. Also, he isn’t some hideously misshapen blob. It’s actually kind of easy to see where women might be attracted to this protagonist, he’s got that 80s action movie hero look to him. Also, this game lets you start with the gun in your inventory, and you never have to worry about hiding it so cyborg bouncers don’t steal it from you or try to extort candy bars from you. In fact, you can even use it on this very first screen, if you’re a horrible person.      I might be a horrible person. So, if you either watched the intro or read my summary, you know that Lucky’s only lead is to meet up with this ninja that EA knows, Zhao Chi. Lucky has no idea where to find this person. If only there was a place where lots of people congregate.  Yeah, this is a start.     A stray piece of garbage was blowing about in the wind. Obviously this is critically important for my quest! Still, I’ve gotta find this guy Chi. I’m in town now at least, there are lots of people here, maybe one of them is Chi. Something something all rook same. If only there was some place I could go, some place lots of people go to, where the proprietor knows everybody.  Nah, that’s not it. I need a place where the owner talks to lots of people, everybody knows him and each other. I wanna go where everybody knows your name.  And they’re always glad you came.  Well, it’s certainly not Cheers, but maybe I’ll find something here anyway.  Well that's ominous! Probably not important, I’m sure it can wait a century or so before someone deals with it.  Let’s see, we’ve got Ho the bartender, he’s surely a wealth of useful information.  We’ve got a ho’ on the bar. She’s surely… well, she’s got great gams.  THIS MAN! I’ve seen enough questionable movies to know that the lame old drunk guy is always the most awesome person in the room, this surely must be Zhao Chi himself! Excuse me, sir!  Okay, clearly not. Maybe Chi happens to like hookers?     This is actually a horrible, horrible idea. I think the devs must have some kind of issue with prostitution and turns out so badly.   Okay, maybe talk to the most likely person to be able to help me. To the Ho!  It’s good to maintain a rapport with your local bartender. Also, this conversation is a minefield, it’s very easy to screw up and cause a delay that will lose Lucky money.  And if you’re going to bug him at work, the polite thing to do is to buy something while you’re there.  Ho no serve scotch to Lucky. Ho remember last time Lucky get drunk, still having to buy new table, new chair, new… Fine, Ho, I get the picture. Something else maybe Ho can do for Lucky? Let’s just double check that point… Does that refusal apply to just scotch or all liquor in general? Master Lucky, please to not put Ho in difficult position. Not want to refuse to serve old friend, but also not want to clean up afterwards. Alright, Ho. Can perhaps help Lucky in other way? Perhaps. I’m looking for somebody. You ask right man. Ho know everybody. Who you look for? There are two important things to remember here. 1) Ho is our friend, and we don’t want to lie to him. 2) Even in the 1930s, everybody hates EA. So let’s maybe not lie to Ho or mention EA, like, at all. No. No see.Well, I mean, he’s a ninja, right? Isn’t that the point?  Offering him a bribe here is technically faster, but gets the same end result. Trying to get tough with Ho, who is, again, our friend, would not be wise. Yes, but… Where can I find him? Do not know. No see for long time. We should not be rude to our friend, or accuse him of lying. Which he is, because Ho is a bad friend. Maybe, but no think so. Does he… No know where he is. No talk make me know either. Amazing. Everywhere you turn, somebody’s hitting you up for some moola. So what’s your price? No understand.I’m not sure if there’s a cultural barrier here or if Ho is playing obtuse really loving hard. Seems like if he wanted that badly to get rid of Lucky, the smart thing to do would have been to offer to give Chi a message the next time he sees him. What do you want, a Benjamin Franklin? Benjamin Franklin? Yeah, a hundred bucks.I know American money is good everywhere for everything nowadays, but was that really the case in the 30s? Would this bartender in British-owned Hong Kong be able to buy poo poo with American currency? Also, that’s a hell of a generous bribe. Google tells me that’s around $1800 today. And if the money’s worth anything in 1930s Hong Kong, it probably has a lot more purchasing power than in Depression America. Money no make difference. No see. Understand? Let me get this straight. You’re going to turn down this money… No see Zhao Chi! … and you’re going to refuse to help me. Please, I say no see!Lucky, either the poor guy is telling the truth, or he has very good reason to lie to you. Either way, putting the screws to him is not helping.  In fact, it may have just made things so much worse.  Don’t know what that guy with the blindfold think’s he’s going to do. Who asked for your two-bits? This is between me and Ho, and if you have a problem with that… Problem? Yeah, a problem. Want me to spell it out for you? Spell it out? These are all terrible things to say in this situation. Lucky is clearly a man who does not know the meaning of deescalate. In this case, the first option, while still bad, is the best one. Mister Ho, he annoyed too. We don’t like when somebody bother Mr. Ho.See, these guys know how to treat their bartender. Well Mr. Ho bothered me first. I just wanted an answer to a simple question. He already told you, he no see Zhao Chi. Maybe if you don’t listen to him, you listen to us. It stands to reason that insulting these guys any further would be a terrible idea, right? Zhao Chi very private man. Do not look for him. If he want you, he will find. Yeah, well give him a message for me, will ya? Tell him if he wants to repay his favor to Lomax, find me. That’s Jake Masters. “Lucky”. Understand? I tell him. And tell him quick. I’m sort of on a deadline here, pal. I tell him when I tell him. Oh, is that right? Well buster, let me add something then…     I find it interesting to note that Chi only steps in like this if Lucky starts the fight. If the goons kick the poo poo out of Lucky which they will in any other path this conversation takes, he gets unceremoniously thrown out and has to wait a day. Oh, sorry, uh, pleased to finally meet you. Boy you’re a hard man to see. A Ninja may make himself invisible.A ninja may do many strange and bizarre things before this game is done. That wasn’t what I meant… oh, yeah, right. Right. Right. Anyway, the name’s Jake Masters. Everyone calls me Lucky. What you want Jake Masters? Lucky. We see about that. How succinctly put while still getting all the relevant details across. I should have just used that shot to sum up the intro, I’m sure everybody would get the story from that. You not talk about Nurse Kate?Sure, there’s only one nurse in China, right? Sure, she’s a nurse. Kate Lomax. Nurse Kate very good to my people. Like to help. What is wrong? Well she was kidnapped by some warlord, uh, Li Dink… Di Lenk… something like that.This rescue is truly off to an incredible start led by the greatest hero of these times. Li Deng. Yeah, that’s the clown we’re dealing with. Against so-called clown, you need army, not Chi. The first option is, again, clearly a terrible idea. Either of the remaining two can get us through here… but the third one is funnier, because Lucky’s kinda dumb. For instance? Truly the greatest examples of military underdog victories! That work well. Greeks surprise Torjans, sack Troy, capture Helen. Exactly. I mean, why couldn’t we do the same thing.Odysseus, he ain’t. I do not think Li Deng fall for wooden-horse trick, but you on right track. Yeah, I mean, when you think about it, a giant wooden horse is pretty darn silly. Me and you… we’re obviously both pretty sharp cookies. We can come up with something better than that! Sharp cookies. I like that. I like cookies. Chi help.The other option would have involved Lucky making up stories about the time he was shot down behind German lines and had to fight his way back to freedomland until Chi get tired of the bullshit and agreed to help to shut him up. Great. Well, uh, do you need to go home and get your toothbrush or something? Actually, Nina always ready for action.Oh good, then Lucky can borrow Chi’s toothbrush. And his spare underwear. And everything else. By the way, what wages for this job?Didn’t we just establish that you’re doing this because you owe EA Lomax a favor and you want to help his daughter anyway because she’s been so helpful to your people? How about five grand? And all Chi can eat? Yeah, sure. A scrawny guy like you probably only eats birdseed. You be surprised. So, anyway, how we get all the way to Chengdu?Google Maps tells me it’s around 1500 miles. As a kid, I was stupid enough to not realize that China’s kinda big. No problem. I’ve got my own plane. I like that they even had him spell it wrong to establish that he knows nothing of this technosorcery. Yeah, why? That big problem. I no travel in ARROW-PLANE. Only birds can fly. Nonsense! Come on, be serious, airplanes have been around since… uh…Lucky, I’m pretty sure they were invented in your lifetime, and they are the thing you’re entire life is built around. Well, tell me you haven’t seen on in the sky before. Maybe yes, but sometimes eyes play tricks on rest of Chi. Good grief, are you going to tell me you’re backing out now?! Chi no back out. Chi just no get in ARROW-PLANE.I ain’t gettin’ on no ARROW-PLANE Hannibal. Oh for crying in the beer!  Our hero is an idiot and his sidekick is afraid of ARROW-PLANES. Truly the thing great rescues are made of. Is it too late to get Mutt Williams and Short Round? NEXT TIME: Lucky needs to figure out how to explain aeronautical physics to the ninja. Presumably he is burned as a witch afterward. Can’t possibly imagine how he could ever manage something so amazing. Inventory Roundup:    
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Aug 29, 2018 09:32
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Thus far this is like Rise of the Dragon except all of the characters have been eating paint chips
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Aug 29, 2018 15:56
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I had this as a kid but never got very far so I'm interested in seeing where it goes.
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Aug 29, 2018 18:23
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