Exhuminator wrote:One of Elkin's rules for this TR theme is that the FMV must have live actors (as in actual real humans) in it. In that regard I don't think Cannon Fodder or Street Fighter II: The Interactive Movie match the criteria. However 1995's Street Fighter: The Movie features live actor FMV during its intro, as well as digitized live actors as the combative sprites.
Ack wrote:Ha, no worries, Sevin. It's always good to see you. Even if you're playing as a Belgian kickboxer for the UN posing as an all-American bad ass.
I'm still puttering along with Under a Killing Moon, and I still think it's good.
But I took a break from UaKM tonight to put an hour into Stonekeep. I was thinking "Stonekeep could be a nice segue from FMV into FPDC". Unfortunately my hour long experience with Stonekeep wasn't much fun at all. It has some shortsighted design aspects that got on my nerves quickly. Stonekeep is probably a grower, and maybe after three or five hours it starts to become fun, I don't know. I can tell you though, that the first two King's Fields and both Ultima Underworlds predate Stonekeep, and they are much better FPDCs. However the FMV I did manage to see in Stonekeep was charmingly cheesy, so mission accomplished there Interplay.
I was staring down at a topographic map of Riven, with a control station that would display some sort of watery shape whenever I hit a button corresponding to a shape I had seen in the power plant, but no discernable landmarks stuck out from my vantage point. I rode the elevator down and looked at the liquid mass over the L-shaped island that I had left up, noting that it didn't dissolve the instant I stepped away from the controls. Examining it from the ground, I learned nothing, so instead I traveled back up the elevator to explore, and behold, a walkway had now appeared to a red structure that I previously could not reach.
Inside, I found a rotatable map which let me examine each of the pieces of map in greater detail. I looked over the pieces, but the only thing that stood out was the mound of a dome that I had seen off to my left. The dome appeared in a square of the grid...and I recalled that Gehn's power plant was meant to to power his manufactured linking books, one of which I had seen in a dome on the island with his workshop. I decided I needed to note the locations of the domes in each island. I also examined the grid lines and noted the were red. Perhaps this corresponded to the color of the small stones I used on the great dome? I went to test my theory, but alas, while I marked all the locations of the domes, the grid lines remained red, so I still had no idea of the necessary colors.
Outside, I find another spinning dome exactly where the map said it would be. Looking it over, it appears the gold circular symbol is different from the dome on the island with Gehn's workshop. I decide it's a good idea to start recording these as a precaution. Moving around to the other side of the area, I find another device looking at the dome, though it's cocked to the side. Instead of giving me an accurate reading, itl looks at an angle. I decide instead of trying to accurately hit the gold symbol, I'll just rapidly tap the button until it works. My plan works, and the dome opens.
I head over to the opened dome and find the same setup as the last dome. Instead of turning away, I review my notes from Gehn's workshop. He had listed a combination of five numbers, four of which I could translate. There are 20 notches on the bar. Since there seems to be no symbol for 0, I decide the bar stops on one. I queue up the sliders to the four numbers I know and then manually test starting from 11...and I get lucky on the first try. I note the 11 as the dome opens further to reveal a linking book. Upon examination, the linking book does not work. I record the symbol on the exterior of the book and then head back towards the tram.
There is a door on the other side of the tram, so I board, spin it around, and exit to gain access. Inside I find an elevator which leads to a passageway where a woman runs from me. The woman heads down a passage to a new tram, while a different direction leads to a chair. I sit in it, hit a button to spin around and face a large window underwater, and then manipulate a lever to show a security camera. I assume it's a security camera because it focuses on a single room. Another button shows me the lake at the village. I manipulate the camera and discover a shadow shaped like a fish. Gehn had mentioned one of the wooden eyes in the lake... I record the fish symbol and assign it to the number on the eye I found in Gehn's lab, since that was the one he seemed to be referencing.
Another lever brings up another circular viewing port, surrounded by the eye symbols on the domes. When I tap an eye, a light activated. Going through them, the lights make different colors, which match most of the ones from the colored bits I had seen in the power plant! Eventually a red light activated over the window, which calls a large whale-like creature. I've heard the sound this makes with the wooden eyes, so I write down my discovery with the corresponding number. I also note one light is busted.
Now I find myself in conundrum: either the lights tie in to those circular symbols which appear as gold on the domes, or the lights correspond in a circle based on the pipes from the power plant. Since red is the light at the L-shaped island, I record everything in a circle from there and also denote the circular symbols and what colors correspond. Two ways of thinking, but I don't want to screw myself by only bringing the wrong one. I make my notes and leave the room.
The passage that the woman had escaped down had a trm, which I now take to the forested island. This takes me to a place I have not been, an elevator which reveals itself to be hidden in large totem in the forest. Taking the elevator higher, I find a catwalk in the trees. This leads me to another spinning dome; I open it using the same sort of device as the others and note the symbol. I then use the combination to find another unpowered linking book inside. Continuing along, I find a chair which raises me into the air to observe the village...and the execution pit where prisoners can be fed to fish. The other lever closes the pit. I'm guessing Gehn likes to watch. Sick bastard.
With the pit closed, it becomes time to investigate. I head down through the fish totem and head to the cage with the submersible. The lever to bring the chains down is still working, and I quickly learn I can ride them up to a jail. I lower a ladder and enter the jail cell. A grate in the floor stands out to me, so I pry it open and find a lever within that opens a secret door.
Inside the secret passge, I eventually find the end, which opens aout to the ocean. There is a small stick that looks like a lever, but when I interact with it, I discovered it is a light. This illuminates another light, and I move down the passageway, lighting as I go. Once done, I turn around and find a hidden door in the wall that I had not previously noticed.
Inside, I find a room with the symbol for the rebels, as well as animal designs on rocks. This must be what the eyes are for, so I again go through my notes. I activate the stones for the animals, though I go through the circle at least three times to try and find the frog. Eventually I guess, and...nothing happens. No changes at all. I decide to reset and discover I can only fix the stones in the order I activated them...so not only are the symbols important, but so is the order. This time I activate them in the order based on the numerals associated with each eye in my notes. Voila! A panel slides open, with a linking book inside. I use it to access the rebels' hideout.
It's quite a hideout, a large, organic city that sits on the far side of a lake. I cannot access the city, so I turn around, and a rebel shoots me with a blowdart. When I awaken, I am in a cell inside the city. A Rivenese woman enters and hands me two books, speaking in a language I do not understand but saying the word "decide" in English. I look over the books and realize one is my prison book! The other is a journal from Catherine with a note for me. I have trouble reading her handwriting, but diagrams provide clues, including the combination for the trapdoor I saw on the very first machine I examined in Riven. "Star fissure" appears in her notes nearby, and I suspect that this is how to open access to it. Since everything seems to hinge on the fissure being the way out, I am glad I did not try too hard to open it! I record the combination. The woman returns, this time with a linking book. I use it to return to Riven.
Now I return to the power plant island, both to find the spinng dome here and access the machine that requires colored bits. While I can return to the dome itself, it takes me some minutes of retracing my steps to gain access to the smaller dome. When I finally do, it is purely by accident; I activate a button under the moving catwalk section I had moved earlier, and I realize it will likely crush me. Instead, it lowers me into the floor, and I find the spinning dome. I shut it off, record the symbol, and note the non-working book inside. Finally, I rush back upstairs to work out the colored stone press puzzle.
I start by using the colored bits based on the circular device and then lower the press. Nothing happens. I change tactics and go based on the symbols I saw on the domes on each island and the colored lights that we're associated with them. As I couldn't tell whether there was an orange or yellow light, one light was broken(which I assume was purple), and there is an extra color. I try the variations and activate the press. Nada. I question whether I recorded a piece of information incorrectly and decide not to be deterred as I pack it in for the night.
A quick thought: the rebels are headquartered in another world in a linking book. If Riven dies... won't they be spared? I am unsure if the linking books contain the actual worlds or merely connect to them, so if Riven dies, they may simply be cut off. Or a linking book to their area might be brought to Atrius, which would enable him to bring them to his world, since linking books of various worlds can apparently be pulled in and out of other worlds without consequence. It may be possible to at least save quite a few of the people of Riven in this manner.
Yesterday I spent all evening trying to beat Shinobi X. I managed it, but it was a toughie.
Stage 9 is pretty infamous for it's difficulty, although I didn't actually find the missile corridor segment that bad - I had a much harder time on the boats in stage 7. The final boss fight was an utter jerk though - it took me a long time to figure out the pattern for dodging the blue bird attack he uses.
Today I started my other FMV game for the month: Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger for 3DO.
I'm still relatively early on (if you know the game, I just beat Flash in a head to head on the VR station and moved to the third solar system) but I'm enjoying it well enough so far. The controls take a bit of getting used to due to the PC keyboard layout being transposed to the 3DO's limited buttons - I've had to remember commands like L +B = auto pilot to next section, L+R = thusters, L+A or L+C swaps weapons, Start + B disables the annoying hud, Start + up on the d-pad is command to attack, but start plus left is call for help - there's lots of obtuse combos like that.
Still, it's decent enough so far. The difficulty took a big upward swing in the 2nd solar system though, so I can see this getting really tough.
I'm a fool. After struggling with the press for multiple attempts, I realized the missing piece of the equation: a white button would appear whenever I lowered the press, and I hadn't touched it. Once I realized what was wrong, I returned to my notes and got the machine to rumble awake. I then made yet another mistake, raising the press before trying a linking book. Eventually, I activated the machine properly and left it clamped shut. This proved to be all I needed to activate the book, and I was able to travel to Gehn's new age.
I arrived and once again found myself trapped in a cage. This time it was Gehn who found me. He wanted about how he had changed, how he was better now; his writings had shown otherwise, and as he blamed everyone around him and put on apologetic airs, I realized his level of sociopathy was intense. I waited for him to finish, and when he took the prison book, he studied it and then told me to try it.
The books in Myst had operated as prisons: one person comes out when one goes in, and if Gehn thought the book was safe, he'd surely go. I took the chance and entered the book. Blackness enveloped me, and for a moment I thought I had made a mistake. And then Gehn opened the book, prepared himself, and touched the page...and I was free, with him as my prisoner. I opened the book to see if the faux world inside had changed, but it had not. I closed it again; Gehn would have seen me looking, at it may well be the last thing he ever sees.
Since I was now free of the cage, I explored the new workshop. Gehn lives plainly enough, but I found evidence of yet another book, as well as a furnace which seemed to power the linking books here to the islands of Riven. The front door was locked, so I chose instead to climb down to Gehn's living quarters. Here I found his personal effects, a music box, some kind of holographic video player, and Gehn's new journal. Upon reading it, I understood that I had made the right choice in imprisoning him.
I climbed back up and used the linking book for the one place I had not been: the fifth island of Riven, a tiny square hardly worth noticing. As I arrived, I discovered it was Gehn's personal prison, and Catherine was inside. She acted as if Gehn might still be watching but told me I could find a way to release her in Gehn's things. I checked the device that seemed to control and jail and was surprised to find it made the same musical notes as the small music box on Gehn's bedside table. I went back, wrote down the order of notes, and returned to input the code.
Success! The bars lifted, and Catherine was free. I showed her the prison book, and she was elated to learn Gehn was now my prisoner. She broke the machine that controlled the jail and then ran off to help her people, telling me to open the Star Fissure before vanishing down the steps. I follow a minute later and use the network of linking books to return to the power plant island.
I do not know how many loyalists Gehn had, but they were still earning their keep. Bridges were up, elevators repositioned, whatever could be done to slow me down. Yet not once did I encounter anyone, even as I finally reached where it had all began. The device over the Star Fissure was still powered, and I used the code from Catherine's journal to open the hatch below.
And then...nothing. I lowered the machine and looked into Oblivion, but nothing happened. I raised it fully. Still nothing. I went back and read through what I could understand of Catherine's journal. And then I examined the machine closely and realized there was some kind of peg in the way that stopped the machine from sliding all the way down. With it removed, I could now lower the machine completely. The glass over the Star Fissure cracked and shattered, and the machine was sucked into oblivion.
Suddenly, Atrius appeared to find out if I was successful. Catherine surprised him, and the two were reunited. My suspicion about the Rivenese people being able to enter the rebels' book proved true: Catherine had given them word, and the village was evacuated. She now had the book which would save them all. The happy couple thanked me and returned to their world, and the linking book fell into the Star Fissure. A moment later, I fell with it into the void. Yet it was bright, full of distant stars, and as I fell, I was overcome with peace; Riven was gone, but her people were safe. The day was saved, and with a little luck, I was now on my way home.
Well, if you haven't surmised yet, I have beaten Riven. Unfortunately, I think this means my participation in this month's TR is over, as I am heading out to LA in a couple of days and will not be returning until April 30.
I had a lot of fun though. Phantasmagoria, Toonstruck, and Riven offered me a variety of takes on the point and click genre, and I appreciate each one. The FMV work in each one also made them feel like interactive movies in many ways, or an interactive cartoon in the case of Toonstruck, so I think the moniker is apt.
Good choice for this month, Elkin. I enjoyed myself.
