Second part of the update is shorter. Let's eat free pizza!

Link here to view on You Tube.

edited 7th Nov '10 1:53:49 PM by BlackWolfe

I'm digging the stoner vibe Willy has when he wakes up. Must have some kind of Beamish Bong around there.

Also, I'm not getting the annotations when the video's embedded. Is this just a quirk of Youtube?

edited 7th Nov '10 10:51:40 AM by Deathonabun

Man, Gordon only lost his job and already the collections people are breathing down his neck? Something tells me Tiffany and Shiela have been draining the poor guy dry even before he got canned.

I noticed that, but was a little more concerned with the amount of time the sleepy, topless nine-year-old was on screen. Like one of the designers is Humbert Humbert or something.

About the annotations not showing up, I have no idea. They were working for me, but I'm logged into You Tube in another tab and that may have something to do with it. They're friggin' tiny though, and I was disappointed to see there's no fullscreen button. Going to add links to the videos themselves.

*DING* THERE'S THE JOKE I COULDN'T THINK OF! I knew it was downright bizarre that collections people were already calling, but I needed more.

I'm not certain what I dislike more about that photo's background: the fact that it makes Dana's hair harder to see, or the fact that it looks nothing like a pizza joint.

All in all, I think you're doing an excellent job, dood. I can see the annotations fine, and I think that it was a good decision. Best of luck for when Update #4 rolls around!

What A Swell Place To Work!

Let's Play

Part 4: Frog Jumping, Pizza, and a Vampire

So it turns out I'm unobservant and stupid. Willy Beamish has events set to take place at specific times of day. They are few and far between (this is the only one I can recall) and in order to force them to occur, there are buttons you can use to advance the time one minute (>) or one hour (>>).

Like a moron, I missed those buttons, so we get a three-part update instead of a two-part update as was planned. (I stopped recording while waiting for the event to trigger.)

In part one, we pick up shortly before we last left our heroes: at the Slice of Life pizzeria.

Direct link.

edited 12th Nov '10 9:16:14 AM by BlackWolfe

Here in Part 2, we explore a bit more, and experience yet another Have a Nice Death screen via Save Scumming.

Linky.

edited 10th Nov '10 8:30:57 AM by BlackWolfe

Reserved for Part 3. So naturally, I hit "Add Post" instead of editing this one. What a brilliant person I am today!

edited 10th Nov '10 8:33:05 AM by BlackWolfe

And, finally, The Babysitter From Hell (or at least Santa Carla, California).

The character portraits in this game freak me the hell out. Especially Dana.

At any rate, can't wait 'till we reach the tourists. I'd rather not spoil it for anyone, but it's...interesting.

The walking stereotypes tourists should be next update, IIRC.

Edit: Yep. While I work on the next update, have a bonus. Yet another Have a Nice Death sequence:

edited 11th Nov '10 9:56:20 AM by BlackWolfe

Does this mean you don't have the baseball card or the lottery card of the no smoking sign or anything?

edited 11th Nov '10 5:50:03 PM by Reecer6

O_o Huh? I have all three of those... Hell if I can remember who to give the lottery ticket to, though.

What A Swell Place To Work!

Let's Play

Part 5: Ninjas are Awesome! Stupid Event Triggers, Less So

This update features my attempt to deal with YET ANOTHER bullshit timed event trigger. This one's even worse.

Linky.

edited 12th Nov '10 9:18:25 AM by BlackWolfe

Part two, in which a timed event makes me its bitch because the trigger to avoid it makes no damned sense.

Linky.

edited 12th Nov '10 9:18:53 AM by BlackWolfe

Because the amount of time between the end of the last update (AAAAARGH) and the end of day is so short, here's update 5 1/2: The rest of day 3.

I only just found out this LB existed! I'm still back on Session 3. A few thoughts:

1) You cannot beat that frog. That frog just ate a fly through the TV set. It is an interdimensional frog! You haven't a chance!

2) I'm amazed Dana hasn't started plotting cruel tortures for these kids yet, after that diary incident.

3) You kids would still have a full dart set if you'd had the forethought to put the dartboard on a wall. 'grats on putting it next to your glassless windows.

4) WE LOVE YOU TOO SIERRA GAMES.

I thought that, since it was a dream, you had never really picked up almost ANY items, not just those 3. Sorry.

Also, the music for Willy's neighborhood is awesome, and West Frumpton's is too. Also, I've only watched the first part so far.

edited 12th Nov '10 3:17:40 PM by Reecer6

And just watched Session 4. Sorry for the long-windedness. Lots of thoughts is all.

1) What is with all these creepy porn-stache guys in Frumpton? If they check the sex offender registry would it just say "not here" and circle the Beamish house?

2) Now you've found a way to make a frog go into slow-mo time. We need a laser grid security system puzzle, stat!

3) "Time be time, mon" is actually a Rastafarian saying, apparently (in a phonetic accent). Things happen, time moves on, you can't slow it down or turn it back, just let it flow. Why it's in the middle of this game, I have no idea.

4) Remember, the train set is Gordon's way of staying mentally stable. In a world where his wife is more concerned with her beauty appointments than with the bills, his first daughter is following suit while being a complete selfish airhead, his younger son is a similarly selfish and well-spoiled bratty kid who may be mildly schizophrenic considering the boy keeps seeing the ghost of Gordon's dad, and his youngest daughter is... well, she's young enough she has an excuse, can't say anything there. Point is, his family's driving him crazy, he's the breadwinner, and he needs to keep this whole house of cards from toppling over on itself.

I can understand him wanting to indulge a bit. Maybe a lot. And obsessive attention to detail in the model train hobby might help him deal with all the things he can't keep a solid hold on in his own life.

Countdown to a reenactment of the penultimate act of The Shining in three days.

5) A vampire? Are you serious?

6) Gordon "I'm in debt up to my eyeballs" Freeman Beamish is responsible for that kitchen, and everything else about this house. And I thought the kitchen in my apartment was awesome (minus the terrible ventilation).

7) Where did the freaking maggots come from!?

8) ABRAKADABRA I AM A BAT!

9) Okay, that does it. This boy is definitely schizophrenic.

10) No worries on confusing Elbie for Alicia. Glasses'd characters are common enough, and bats aren't that uncommon. Plus, Elbie doesn't look like a bloodsucker from Lost Boys.

11) See? Totally hallucinating. Ignore the Or Is It finisher.

Also, to Reecer 6: I thought it was fairly obvious that the bit about the babysitter being a vampire was the (possible) fever-dream part. Everything from the maggots to when he blacked out. Nothing from before that was a dream. Just to clarify.

. . . And I'll just stick Session 5 here as well so I can get these thoughts out of the way.

1) The plumbers are on strike and you don't know what's wrong with the water... Kid, were you dropped when you were younger?

2) . . . Why haven't they kicked Tiffany out of the house yet? That level of stupid is beyond belief.

3) When someone offers you a job and says they'll pay you "obscene amounts of money," politely decline and run the fuck away.

4) But this English is different! It's English in a Japanese accent! That makes it Japanese! *starts gagging*

5) *sounds of wood striking bone*

6) Why was the grandpa carrying generic ninja equipment around what the hell

7) They know of Penn and Teller. Given, this was a '90s game, but I'm glad to see references to them here and there — so few people around here know who the hell those two are. Too bad the writers didn't pick up anything from them via osmosis.

8) "How am I going to get home?" "Ninjas." I wish you were joking, but I can already tell you aren't.

9) Poor BlackWolfe, expecting the designers of this game to have the forethought and design savvy to create two images of any location in the game for a day/night transition. I mean, who would do that? It's not like there's games based on fantasy series by famous British-Australian authors that do as much.

10) *watches little Willy get his ass beat once... twice... three times...* How on Earth were you supposed to know that that was how to advance the plot and not get a Game Over?

11) Seriously, an LA gangs reference mixed with West Side Story?

12) I thought that thing was a nightstick, not a spanner. Guess I was wrong. And once again, juvenile delinquency saves the day!

13) . . . They're all ninjas. They're... *sigh* I'm not even going to get into how nonsensical this is, but suffice to say I would have been fine if they'd actually dealt with this like actual ninjas.

14) . . . Did the family just teleport him overseas!? Where did they get the traditional Japanese house ensemble? and why is the dad still wearing his shoes indoors if they are!? AGHPFTGBLRGH

15) . . . I've got nothing. I'll wait 'til you next update.

Caught up now. Again, I hope the text dump isn't too much of an issue, I know it's probably overboard. I just tend towards running commentaries.

edited 12th Nov '10 4:24:14 PM by GoggleFox

Goggle Fox, you made me laugh so hard I can't breathe right now. You'll note that when the (shudder) ...ninjas... drop Willy off, they at least darken the screen to show it's nighttime. Also, they hyped up the backgrounds and characters being done by former Disney animators, WHO SHOULD KNOW BETTER.

Also, I'm glad you agree with me on Gordon's impending mental collapse. Unfortunately, we don't get to see that part of their lives, as there's only one more day in the story.

Reecer6: Goggle's got it right. Everything that happened that day up to the babysitter actually happened. The rest is fever dream. You'll note that despite him having it in every screen of that sequence, I don't currently have the hairspray.

Working on Update 6 right now, and I thought I'd run through that bit of dialogue with the tourist family again:

Willy: Help! Police! They're after me! Can't you people do anything besides take pictures?
Grandpa: What did he say?
Girl: He said the police are after him.
Grandpa: A pity. He seemed like such a nice boy.

And then the Cripes mangle you.

I have a question for you all:

I find that once Day 4 begins, it is impossible to get the custom T-shirt made. Despite supposedly not having enough, I was supposed to purchase a T-shirt on Day 2. The question is, do I try to win the contest without Gigi there, or do I roll back to Day 2 and get that shirt printed up before continuing the LP? If I'm being honest, I should do this without the Save Scumming, but this is a Sierra game, after all.

edited 12th Nov '10 11:08:55 PM by BlackWolfe

Great LP. I'm confused about the Madagascar joke though. Care to explain it?

"If I'm being honest, I should do this without Save Scumming"

Ahahahahaha that's a good one! No. Do what you have to in order to complete the game as needed. This being an old adventure game, having multiple saves wasn't just a precaution, it was a requirement.

Seriously, what's with all the implied pedorape in this game?

Oh, and save scum as much as you want.

I believe you mentioned that you don't know who to give the lottery ticket to. You give it to the owner of the golden bowl so you can grab some arbitrary item. Instead of, you know, keeping the ticket and go to buy the goddamn item yourself. Seriously.

edited 13th Nov '10 5:05:19 PM by Deathonabun

Madagascar is one of the most horrible places on Earth, with Everything Trying to Kill You. So it's just my little imagined revenge against the designers of this game.

& Turns out the problem isn't that it's day 4, but that I don't have enough goddamn money. If you buy the picture you need to make the T-shirt, you can't afford the T-shirt. WHAOGRIOGHFOIJREHAAAAATE! Gonna try something.

I was pretty sure it was someone at the Golden Bowl.

Anyway, coming soon to a forum near you, Session 6: The Jumping Frogs of Tootsweet County! Holy shit, it just occurred to me that how you win the competition could be a direct reference to the Mark Twain story.

edited 13th Nov '10 5:45:07 PM by BlackWolfe

Actually, Madagascar's a pretty cool place. They have no diseases and don't afraid of anything.

They have fish that will swim up your urine and lodge themselves in your penis, tiny little thorns that can embed themselves in your skin on the slightest breeze, and natives that still kill white people on sight because they presumably think they're some sort of demon.