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Beneath A Steel Sky
0 Playsin 11 hours
Wait a minute that sky wasn't that steel at all. What the heck???
Quest Quest podcast is Ben Vigeant and Jess Morrissette.
Editing by Ben Vigeant
Show art by Kevin "WilcoWeb" Wallace
Watch us on Twitch!
Ben: https://www.twitch.tv/ps_garak
Jess: https://www.twitch.tv/decafjedi
Give us a review, they help people find this show! Unless you hated it, in which case, don't.
Talk with us on Discord!
https://discord.gg/ve9fqjgPp2
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Quest Podcast & Streaming
00:00:31
Speaker
Hello and be vigilant, my friends. It's Quest Quest. The Adventure Game Podcast. Folks, I'm Jess. I'm Ben.
00:00:42
Speaker
We are podcast hosts and you are listening to our podcast right now. I stream as PS underscore Garrick. Let's let's do it old. You know, let's do it old, old, old time. Let's yeah let's treat this like it's November of 2024.
00:00:59
Speaker
I also stream as PS underscore Garrick. Yeah. And, uh, and now we're going to talk about streaming PS underscore Garrick. What do you like most about it?
00:01:13
Speaker
I mean, honestly, what do I like most about streaming? I mean, I think we did a full episode about this. Yeah. Did we? And honestly, it wasn't a popular episode. I'm looking at our numbers right now. So we really shouldn't. What's popular that we talk about sometimes like Quest for Glory 1?
Dominic's Monkey Island Revelations
00:01:27
Speaker
what's What's popular is we have the voice of Guy Bruce Freepwood. And we surprise folks, he's here tonight. Dominic, come on in. Hey guys, it's me. Dominic, it's good to have have you again. How are you? how what What have you been up to since the last time we talked?
00:01:45
Speaker
Oh, this to ah you said you were here with some exciting news about the future of the Monkey Island series. Yeah. What is it?
00:01:58
Speaker
Dominic. ah Are you here to confirm Monkey Island six? Yeah. hey And it's gonna be FMV. what Who's starring?
00:02:12
Speaker
am. We're gonna use, you know, the technology that they used in the Irishman to make everybody look younger. Uh-huh.
00:02:26
Speaker
To make me look like Guybers 3. Now, does this project use AI? No. Lots of it. I get feels like, heard that.
00:02:40
Speaker
I heard that slick Ronnie Gilbert wrote the entire script and Claude.
00:02:48
Speaker
Well, Dominic, it was great to have you here folks. You heard here first monkey Island and that's spelled a I s L a N is coming soon. Exclusively to Xbox.
00:03:04
Speaker
It's going to be a Zune original. right, I've got to go. I'm getting on my motorcycle. No, wait, wait, wait. No, come back. I have a couple more questions. You're trying to actively drive away listeners with my annoying voice. Why are you doing this?
00:03:21
Speaker
right I see everybody pushing the stop button and the unsubscribe button. Why are you doing this? Don't do that. Don't do that. Listeners, listeners, look.
Party Tips and Sweet Treats
00:03:31
Speaker
Dominic, get the fuck out of here.
00:03:33
Speaker
This is terrible. This is the worst radio that we've ever done. This is worse than our Star Trek episode that no one listens to. Oh, man, that one's terrible. ah But you know what, Ben?
00:03:46
Speaker
i couldn't be happier to be here right now. how about you? I'm great. Jess, we have important business to get to. Important business, you say. So it was at the time of the record, this last last Sunday was Easter Sunday.
00:04:01
Speaker
Yes. And I see that you've been snacking on Dunkin' Donuts jelly beans. Yes. I've seen these.
00:04:12
Speaker
And you said we were talking before the record. Said that you got these on deep discount. Deep discount. I have to assume that that's where these normally live.
00:04:24
Speaker
Like, because there are good jelly beans. Yes. Those don't, like, I would, you know, going to the CVS or the Walgreens or or wherever,
00:04:40
Speaker
Like those seem to be the ones that like, if I were looking at the remainder shelf of jelly beans, if they were like $2, I would still be like, no, I don't need that.
00:04:55
Speaker
Yeah, i mean, these were down to 75 cents, which for like shit. and I mean, we're talking about a 12 ounce bag. That's nearly a pound of the old JB's. ah That's nearly an LB of the JB's. That's essentially free.
00:05:08
Speaker
ah Like if you look at inflation. That's right. Actually, i it would have cost me money to leave them there if I understand economics correctly. Yeah. um But... I'll tell you, quality-wise, they're on par with a jelly belly in terms of, like, consistency and all that sort stuff. Here's the problem.
00:05:27
Speaker
They are, and this is going to sound strange for a jelly bean, too sweet. And i'm not like in a cool, like, too sweet kind of way. Yeah. ah More in just like a, like the French vanilla one is similar to, like, a marshmallow-flavored jelly belly, and it's just too much sugar.
00:05:49
Speaker
For even red jelly bean. It's probably the same amount. It just has probably has just a too sweet. Yeah. Flavor profile. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Now, I think you and I are simpatico on this.
00:06:02
Speaker
You, if I remember correctly, agree that it's hard to beat a Sour Patch Kid jelly bean. Those are, those are, I, ah I only limited myself to one bag of those. I did too. did too. I loved it And yeah, and those like the Sour Patch Kid jelly jelly beans, there used to be a Smucker's Sour Jelly Bean. and With the name like Smucker's.
00:06:38
Speaker
Were so fucking good. Yeah. Did you have a big Easter meal? Yeah.
Easter Brunch Planning
00:06:44
Speaker
Dr. Boris? I did. Thank you, first of all. Thank you. I traveled to Indianapolis and spent time with my in-laws. And we had kind of what would consider a very standard Easter dinner. We had some ham. had some mashed potatoes. had some peas.
00:07:07
Speaker
We had some rolls. And we had some parsnips and carrots that had been roasted. This is amazing. is yeah this is a classic but yeah and then like a cornbread casserole oh so it was a pretty good easter dinner i haven't had an easter ham in a
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Review
00:07:24
Speaker
long time i haven't made a ham and by like made a ham i mean like went to the store and heated up and a ham in the oven like because it's like i don't think like by the time you get a ham it's you know you're not most of the work's been done yeah
00:07:41
Speaker
You're cutting it straight off the pig or anything typically. But ah I did a and I've been doing this now for like well over a decade. I did an Easter brunch and I made ah two quiches and I made the crust.
00:07:57
Speaker
Oh, wow. There you go. I'm not. i man I love a good quiche. i these are this is the second time I've made quiches. The last time I made quiches.
00:08:11
Speaker
last Easter, which I have a little bit of a problem with like cooking to entertain, which is that you're not supposed to ever cook like to entertain and have that be the first time you make something.
00:08:27
Speaker
Right. But it's like a lot of those recipes are like things I'm not going to make for myself. e yeah and also yeah you make yourself a few quiches just like to hang out and eat on your own i mean that's uh that's too indulgent and also like there it's fun yes like to make you know it's it's fun to do that so i made two quiches and i also made ah like uh monkey bread and some pull-apart style monkey bread it was a pull-apart because last year i made cinnamon buns and those are good but here's a little this is ah a little party hosting tip i've i've discovered over many years uh everyone play the ben's party tips uh theme place sure um
00:09:24
Speaker
Well, we didn't have any emails this week, so. yeah but If you just wrap this up and email it to me, we can make this official. Okay. Dear Ben and Jess, Ben's party tip, if you're cooking to entertain, is if you're making like a sweet thing,
00:09:43
Speaker
You always, people will always meet eat more of something that is portioned small. Yes. And like, so I made like these cinnamon buns and cinnamon buns and pull apart monkey bread, like cinnamon monkey bread are essentially the same thing.
00:10:05
Speaker
Essentially, like, looking at the very end of it, like, I was like, these are the same as the cinnamon buns, except that they are, like, you know, about a, like, about an inch each.
00:10:21
Speaker
And...
00:10:25
Speaker
But they're still rolled in butter and then rolled in brown sugar and cinnamon. And I didn't have any monkey bread at the end of it.
00:10:37
Speaker
And I had a couple cinnamon buns at the last, ah like the end of last time. And it's because, and I've had this happen with other like times I've, I've made like, ah if I made a cake or if I made like a big thing is that people will, will, will be like, Oh, that's, that's too much.
00:10:59
Speaker
That's too sweet. That's too much. But yeah. People may not eat one big cinnamon bun, but they'll absolutely eat the equivalent and more of pull-apart monkey bun.
00:11:12
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. That's my my entertaining, is is is portion it out, make the same amount, just portion it out into small little things, and you will not be taking anything home. Because I fucking hate having all that shit left here.
00:11:28
Speaker
I don't like leftovers in general unless it's the kind of dish that improves as a leftover like a chili or, you know, a a proper lasagna. You know, I think there are a few select dishes that get better.
00:11:40
Speaker
Soups. Leftover. like soups Soups are good. A lot of sauces. I don't mind a leftover. I'm happy to have a leftover, especially if someone lives by himself, like, you know, going to have leftovers. Yeah.
00:11:54
Speaker
But, um, like, you know, if I'm entertaining, I don't want to have a lot of, I don't want to have a lot of leftovers. Um, that said, I had a little bit of quiche left and, uh, that found a happy home.
00:12:08
Speaker
Uh, yeah, I mean, quiche for breakfast the second day is a really nice indulgence. It's yeah. Uh, speaking of entertaining Ben, uh, what have you been playing?
Aesthetics in Classic Adventure Games
00:12:24
Speaker
Well, Jess, you know, we recently had on Gilbert to interview him. to e interview him And game,
00:12:35
Speaker
ah his his game from last year old
00:12:49
Speaker
And you know what? I'm going to say it It's a pretty good game. I've really been enjoying myself. It is actually, like, even if I'm enjoying an adventure game, like...
00:13:12
Speaker
to get to a point where I'm i'm like, it's tough for me to put down. And actually, had like, you know, this past weekend when I was playing Old Skies and like I had other shit I had to do, like clean the house because I was about to have couple you know a couple dozen people here uh uh for brunch and uh i was like i'm gonna have to stop playing this but i want to know what happens next that was like that's good feeling you know it was a good feeling i really i just really am an enjoying it i love
00:13:51
Speaker
And I talked a little ah little bit about this when we interviewed him. I love the kind of non quote unquote non traditional adventure name look.
00:14:05
Speaker
And by that I mean, you know, as I said, when we spoke with him, there's kind of a specific aesthetic of like handsome pixel art, which obviously I love.
00:14:22
Speaker
that is like kind of what an indie adventure game generally, like what what people expect yeah them like, you know, for it.
00:14:33
Speaker
And so, and I think it's always a little bit of a risk to not do that. i think I think if you're not doing that, like ah you know people might be like, no i you know i i want to see I want to see a chunky pixel.
00:14:50
Speaker
And I think it just looks great. But of course, like you know it's it's done by Ben Chandler. But anyway, yeah, I don't know. Old Skies. Everybody knows about that game. If you're listening to this, you know about that game. And you've heard about it. And you heard it was pretty good. i mean It's the prequel to No Man's Sky. Yes, it ends with you getting into the No Man's Sky mobile.
00:15:15
Speaker
Do you ever play that, Jess? No.
00:15:19
Speaker
It's fine. Here's the problem. No, Here's the problem with No Man's Sky is that every now and again, like I get into it and I'm like, oh, this is fine.
00:15:32
Speaker
But then like, they're like, we're coming out with this enormous content patch. And I'm like, oh, I guess I'll wait for that. And then I just like, they've added so, so much to it. And at this point, I'm just like, all right, you you could be done now. You've made like, think I've even this on the podcast already.
00:15:53
Speaker
Sean Murray, it's okay. It's okay. You made your point.
00:16:02
Speaker
You know, it came out, yeah I believe now, 10 years ago. think it was a 2016 game. Maybe I'm wrong. And people were disappointed. wasn't, you know, like what was promised.
00:16:17
Speaker
Now there's just so much shit. It's fun.
00:16:30
Speaker
as I call it in France. Whatever whatever the the other, there was like this little like motorcycle game they made before No Man's Go. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember that.
00:16:41
Speaker
It had like a guy in like an Evel Knievel-y kind of costume. You it like little Evel Knievel-y. I remember playing a Beatlet thing? I think it was like a downloadable, like, you know, like eShop type game.
00:16:54
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh boy, yeah. Boy, weird, vague memories of this now. Like, um, what was it called?
00:17:07
Speaker
Joe Danger. Oh, Joe Danger. And it was on iOS, but it was also on PlayStation 3, which is where played. So yeah, you know, get back to work on... I think they've already announced... i i think their next game sounds... Like I... Like they've...
00:17:34
Speaker
like been announced it's like light no fire or something i don't that's why i've been playing uh old skies good game what's up how about you Ben, I'm 90% sure I haven't talked about this already on the podcast. Eagle-eared listeners can correct me if they would like to.
00:18:01
Speaker
But I have been tinkering around lately in Marvel's Spider-Man 2. This is going to be from the Insomniac Games PlayStation 5 Spider-Man series that those games have now all been ported over to PC.
00:18:20
Speaker
I'm playing the PC version of this.
00:18:24
Speaker
It brings together both Peter Parker Spider-Man and Miles Morales Spider-Man on a big adventure in New York City. New York City. You really are the most devious bastard in New York City. Can we just do Matt Berry voices for the rest of this episode? I mean, we've lost a lot of listeners. We really want to just keep pushing it Yes. Yeah, i mean, yeah, we've already like worn out our welcome and we're just getting started. But, you know,
00:18:58
Speaker
Normally, that sort of triple A game, you know, the giant open world, unlock parts of the city, climb a tower to fill in your map, kind of. An Assassin's Creed-Em-Up.
00:19:12
Speaker
An Assassin's Creed-Em-Up, a Far Cry-Em-Up, you know. An Ubi sophomore. Yeah, it definitely has Ubi vibes to it. I mean... And the others in the series did too. But I have to say, I find them really charming. I think what's wrapped around them in terms of story and character and some slightly different twists on the familiar Spider-Man storylines. I mean, it's good stuff. I find them super charming. Miles Morales is an amazing character and they've really like nailed his portrayal.
00:19:42
Speaker
in in these games. It's good stuff. I mean, but it's web-slinging. We've been doing that since, like, the PS1, right? I mean, it's... There's something satisfying about Spider-Man game.
00:19:53
Speaker
I don't think I've ever played a Spider-Man. You know... They all have a similar DNA about them. These play incredibly smoothly and they look great. I will say. People went crazy through this game. I remember. Yeah, Like this was like, I remember this game was quite the big deal Yeah. And it's recreation of New York is super charming. Like there's something to be said about just like dropping down the middle of Washington Square or something like that. You know, just be like, oh my God, this is really, it's like the restaurant I like is right over there. um you know You know what else takes place in New York? What?
00:20:31
Speaker
Old Skies. what old skis you know what else takes place in New York? What? Gangs of New York. Wow. Really? Yeah. It'd be pretty funny in Amsterdam though, right?
00:20:44
Speaker
Yeah, it would be. Yeah, it really would be. Yeah. Maybe they should explore that in the sequel. What if Marty, you know, pulled a fast one and was just like, you know, uh, hey, I made a movie. It's called Gangs of New... I'm giving him a Jay Leno. I made this whole movie. made this whole movie. You see this Gangs of New York?
00:21:03
Speaker
We're being a couple of goofsters tonight. And I feel like our subject matter deserves a little better than some classic Ben and Jess goof them ups.
00:21:15
Speaker
Oh, yeah? Yeah. Yeah. I'm tired of you disrespecting this game we're about to talk about.
Muppets Take Manhattan Memories
00:21:23
Speaker
Uh, that's right. this With your little jokes and your comedy bits and your voices, uh, it gets exhausting, Ben.
00:21:34
Speaker
Have you heard of this? It's, uh, it's called, uh, beneath a steel, steel sky. Really? Mike Tasson. Tell me more. i'm doing Jay Leno.
00:21:47
Speaker
Okay. Here, here, let me get ready for you. I'll imagine Jay Leno now. Okay. Start manifesting, Jay Leno. Okay. you know people like ah You know, people know. i'm i'm i'm I'm quite the impressionist. That's the number. ah ah
00:22:07
Speaker
He's well known for his comedy and his charity work and his foundation. Bill Clinton? Yeah, there it was. Yeah, I can tell you felt my pain.
00:22:23
Speaker
Yeah. And I was referring, of course, to the great Saturday Night Live comedian. bill marie um now but anyway we're speaking
00:22:39
Speaker
you remember uh in uh uh muppets take manhattan those those muppets that yes that's exactly what i was going for the weird business frogs that kermit hooks up with after he hooks up with like what is it they're they're like bill gill and something think lil yeah bill g and li yeah it's been a minute yeah
00:23:06
Speaker
i how do you feel about muppets take manhattan ben i re-watched muppets take manhattan ah maybe a month or two ago and i don't think i'd seen it in probably 30 years And I did not realize the extent to which every single moment of that film was etched onto my brain. Every line of dialogue was like, I must have watched it a million times. as a kid I can't even remember it being a movie. I watched a million times as a kid, like their movies are as like, I watched back to the future and Ferris Bueller's day off and some movies like that, like a zillion times. I expect to know every single moment of those. It shocked me when,
00:23:50
Speaker
Muppets Take Manhattan held no surprises for me 30 years later. It was like, you saw Ramon Rivers who were just like, there she is. There she is. Here comes the makeup scene. The makeup counter scene. People is people. ah Like all that. Muppet babies. All that. Like, let me tell you though, Ben. That's a good song. Mama, da da, boop boop, chihuahua. Yeah. But I had...
00:24:14
Speaker
Also a very profound experience watching Muppets take Manhattan this time, which is as a kid, when but when Kermit suffers amnesia and he ends up with the business frogs.
00:24:25
Speaker
So stressful. it Very stressful. as get me as a child It did it again as an adult. As an adult, you're like, oh no, Kermit. i know it's like all all the stuffing's been knocked loose in his felt head and like he's not like what if he's not okay and i'm starting things like what if he has cte uh you know he may never be the same he meant for years the extent of these injuries and but don't worry jess one day he'll he'll return and he'll make a close friend his name is walter
00:24:59
Speaker
yeah and Walter will forever be entered into the Muppets canon and he'll absolutely be celebrated and and loved forever. and for the new face of the muppets and Walter be there be there.
00:25:13
Speaker
uh, like surely, surely, surely, gets smacked in the head again walter will be there and like surely
00:25:23
Speaker
We'll see more Walter in the years and years to come, and we can share Walter with the coming generations. Ben, this is let's let's take this off stream for a second. Everybody stop listening, if you haven't already. yeah I think they have. Okay, Ben, this is just between you and me, Ben.
00:25:46
Speaker
We need to commission someone to make a short clip of the Muppet Babies' with Walter inserted as a small baby to go viral on the internet. We we we need to...
00:25:59
Speaker
we We need to retcon Walter into the entire Muppet canon. We have to put Walter not only in Muppet Babies, but we have to put Walter in all of the movies. we have to he has to He has to be singing Cabin Fever in Muppet Treasure Island. yeah ah he has He's now a member of Emmett Otter's Jug Band.
00:26:22
Speaker
He has to be dancing to It's a Big House. Yeah. He's a fraggle. He's a fraggle. He's in. He's a doozer and a fraggle. You add ah ah ah you add him into the 1950s ads that Jim Henson did yeah like kind of embryonic Kermit.
00:26:45
Speaker
Yes. Because here's the thing, Jess. Forrest Gump technology now. Is real. You can just pull it right off the shelf.
00:26:56
Speaker
Yeah. Like, yeah, no, it's all I see. Digitally insert someone into. My TikTok is nothing but like chubby kids, like snapping their finger and turning into like an exact AI replica of Kim Kardashian.
00:27:10
Speaker
If we can do that on TikTok, surely we can insert. Is that what TikTok is now? TikTok's all AI now I think it's just like AI stuff it's like all these weird like and i don't i don't really check TikTok as much anymore I but but for some this is like real grandpa hours but I do check I still will check like Facebook and that's an AI sewer that's it like just a sewer of like I i saw it today this made me laugh so hard I follow like
00:27:48
Speaker
my hometown like their like ah hometown like historical society because they'll post like ah like all sorts of interesting ephemera from my hometown and today they posted a ah like a flyer for an event that looked like the normal like kind of like fucking garbage like that some dirty water brown No, it was like bright rainbow colors, but like it really, i don't know. it just looked like fucking crap. But what was interesting about it was that it also had on it
00:28:30
Speaker
the Like it was like, you know, the ah like this downtown festival thing they're doing. And ah it had the wrong date on it because of course it did like it, you know, hallucinated the date or whatever.
00:28:45
Speaker
And on the top, it just said everything else is accurate, but it is not in 2020. It's it's this year. And it's just like, can't you can't fix that? Got it. You fixed it, bro.
00:28:56
Speaker
You fixed it. Well, get call out here's the thing, Ben. Well, Ben, so you're saying you'd like them to destroy a little more of the environment to fix this mistake. Oh, yeah. They're they're trying to. That's right. they're They're trying to conserve our water and use the. Yeah. Use the bare minimum of AI to create these flyers.
00:29:17
Speaker
Just enough. Just to smidge them. Anyway, so as you were saying about like the disastrous effects of industry on the environment, which is something that like, I think I care about clearly a little more than you, but i think if I can just make this connection, it reminds me a lot of a game I was recently playing for in the podcast. What the fuck we talking about games on this. I'm leaving.
00:29:50
Speaker
I wish we could get Dominate back. Hey, it's me. I don't know who I am.
00:29:59
Speaker
i don't know. I'm having a crisis. I'm having a crisis. I don't know who I'm an impression of. I don't know. don't know who I am. man.
00:30:11
Speaker
You do an amazing impression of nobody in particular. let me get let me Let me get one. Let me get one. Hello. Hello.
00:30:23
Speaker
My name's Hope. Help me. My name's Jacob. man.
00:30:30
Speaker
oh man
00:30:35
Speaker
whats He was so close to landing. was so close to landing the plane on that. Okay. Anyway, anyway, beneath a still sky, 1994 revolution software.
Beneath a Steel Sky Overview
00:30:50
Speaker
It's a collab between Charles Cecil and one Dave Gibbons of Watchmen fame. Yeah.
00:30:59
Speaker
Watchmen fame. Did you now Ben? You weren't like a comic book guy, were you? No, I never was, but i had i did read i did read Watchmen.
00:31:12
Speaker
Yeah, that's why you dress as Rorschach every Halloween still. Yeah. Should you give us his famous catchphrase in the Rorschach voice? Yeah.
00:31:24
Speaker
It's Rorschach in time. Yeah.
00:31:29
Speaker
Nailed it. But then givens, I mean, comic book legend, uh, Charles Cecil will go on, at this point, uh, revolution software at our, least lure of the temptress. You've, you've played that, right?
00:31:41
Speaker
You did that. I have not. No, I've heard only bad things. Um, i've heard only bad things um And then comes Beneath a Still Sky. And then, of course, that's followed up by a Broken Sword, a game that we've talked about on here already. And a game that is, of course, much beloved in adventure gaming circles. But Beneath a Still Sky. Yes, I don't know what you're saying. i Lure of the Tempest a 92% Format.
00:32:09
Speaker
Let me tell you something, Ben. I spend a lot of time reading old game magazines. And you know what? If the editors of the of Amiga format want to at me, they're welcome to. But that magazine in particular is trash.
00:32:24
Speaker
They are just a bunch of Amiga boosters. They aren't Amigas to good gaming. They are Amigas to Commodore. Wow. Yeah. take that Commodore.
00:32:37
Speaker
yeah but, ah but I'm keeping up with Commodore and if I catch them, they're going to regret it. The, uh, like, so, so beneath a steel sky, it is a and all, all, all know, we, we received an email, ah like a couple months ago, I believe, uh, asking if we were gonna, so, so here we are, we're talking about it.
00:33:02
Speaker
It's a request quest. This is, Yeah. It is one, I suppose. And um this is I think this is the definition of a cult classic, right? Like in adventure gaming circles. This is very much one that, you know, I wouldn't say it's an obscure gem, but maybe it's not the first game a lot of adventure gamers are introduced to. But it's one that's beloved by a lot of the folks who end up playing it.
00:33:27
Speaker
this is This is the one, i this is what like kind of got them notice, I would yeah i would say, perhaps. And then um i and then ah the ah beneath, it or and then Broken Sword is is what ah like kind of broke it open.
00:33:50
Speaker
But, you know, this is so my first question for you, Jess, is like you asked me if I'm like a ah comic book, a comic book guy. and Yeah, not. But I really like you know I am familiar with with Dave Gibbons and I am familiar. Like, i you know, i really enjoyed Watchmen when I read it.
00:34:11
Speaker
um I think there there was like a ah moment in the early aughts. I don't know if like a ah new trade paperback came out or something where everybody was really like where there was a real re-interest in Watchmen. and I read it then.
00:34:27
Speaker
And I would say like a resurgence of Alan Moore in general, like a killing joke was like hot again for a minute. yeah the bat The Joker Batman graphic novel. So I think we had a little moment where it's like as graphic novels went um a little more mainstream,
00:34:45
Speaker
Alan Moore was one. I mean, those those comics have been print nonstop since they came out for that reason. You know they have that crossover appeal of mature storytelling. um And i mean, i was I was very much like a by the numbers, give me just straight up superhero action. I was a diehard comic book guy, but...
00:35:05
Speaker
Watchmen as a kid wasn't my favorite, but Dave Gibbons' art was something that really stuck with me. And essentially at this game, I think that's what gets people in the door is this promise that we have watchman's Dave Gibbons, who has hand drawn all of our backgrounds that would later be painted and digitized. He's helped with character design. He's helped structure this story.
00:35:33
Speaker
He is all over this thing. And, I will say it's one of the game's strengths. Something that you really notice is compared to a lot of the Sierra and Lucas arts games at the time, which is what this game was sort of trying to compete with. I think it was going for that sort of big budget vibe on a much smaller budget.
00:35:52
Speaker
Um, The sort of perspective and framing that you get from Dave Gibbons is background art is really striking right away. doesn't look like the flat kind of two deep type perspectives that a lot of CRM Lucas arts games were, were offering us at the time.
00:36:09
Speaker
Now, my my my question for you is, so you asked me if am a comic book guy My question for you is, are you a cyberpunk guy? Because this is all like cyberpunk stuff.
00:36:27
Speaker
I mean, it was like reading snow crash. Yeah. I mean, William Gibson, like where, you know, where are you? I think I talked about, yeah, I think I described this in our like pre-show chat. I think I said, this is sort of like cyberpunk's greatest hits. It's kind of a mix of all kinds of different cyberpunk tropes crammed into one of me.
00:36:47
Speaker
Like, I will say by the mid-90s, I'd read a little bit of William Gibson. i had I was a fan of Blade Runner from the time I was pretty young. I caught it on cable at some point and kind of got low-key obsessed with Blade Runner. But I wouldn't say I was exactly a cyberpunk God, like even today, um that that sort of genre. Did you play that game, the Cyberpunk game? The new one, 2077? Yeah, yeah, by CD Projekt Red. I played a few hours of it, um and it was fun. It was one of those games, you know, we talked about AAA games earlier. i kind of got into it, and it started to feel like overwhelmingly big, and I just drifted away from it and to something else. But, I mean...
00:37:37
Speaker
I enjoy those settings. I think those settings are fascinating when they really think through the politics of these worlds rather than just copying like the Blade Runner aesthetic. Like, you know, it's it's rainy all the time. There's sort of the techno Orientalism elements and all that sort of thing you see in so much of this cyberpunk. It's just like warmed over Blade Runner.
00:38:00
Speaker
When it's done thoughtfully and the politics of these societies is thought through in a meaningful way. i think it can be quite interesting as a storyboard for telling interesting tales. And I think that beneath a still sky adds enough wrinkles that for me, it's a pretty compelling cyberpunk setting.
00:38:22
Speaker
How about you? what what What's your cyberpunk take? I, I am not, you know, uh, I never really got into, um like, I didn't read any of the the the big cyberpunk novels. Yeah. i like, the the one that I read by, like, that group of guys was The Difference Engine, which was, like, like a Victorian alt history. Yeah.
00:38:53
Speaker
Yeah. You know, which was funny. I remember really enjoying that book. Um, but, which was, I think like one of the first or the first, like, you know, steampunk thing. Yeah. Um, but, uh,
00:39:09
Speaker
Like, you know, i've i've I've seen Blade Runner. It's been a minute, but I've seen Blade Runner, and, you know, Blade Runner's are great. And, um like, i'm not I'm not against It it is it's It's just not a um like it it was just not a thing I ever got into.
00:39:31
Speaker
This made me think of like playing it and I'm sure, know, I'll have to look this up. I'm sure they like, it it did make me think of like the only other like big cyberpunk adventure game that I've played is, ah you know, once again, Technobablon, which is, you know, which is also very much in this,
00:39:53
Speaker
Yeah. yeah I mean, there was a brief moment in time where I had played dynamics as rise of the dragon, but had not yet seen blade runner, which that's a weird world to live in since it is like the most ham fisted blade runner ripoff. man You literally play somebody called a blade hunter.
00:40:15
Speaker
in that game is what your protagonist's job is. So there was a brief moment where i was like, wow, this cyberpunk thing in this game is kind of wild. And then it's like, oh, no, it's just ripping off ah a much more. mean, there are a lot of people out there who would argue Blade Runner is an even bigger influence on the genre than Rise of the Dragon.
00:40:32
Speaker
Mm-hmm. I think they could be right. I think a lot them could be on to something. Yeah, they they could be correct. But this cyberpunk society has some neat twists. I think the most interesting thing to me is the way that it flips some of our...
00:40:50
Speaker
Cyberpunk expectations like immediately on their head with the organization of Union City. Right. Because as opposed to the kind cyberpunk expectations where we expect to see like the poor downtrodden on some sort of surface level where it's grimy and wet and rainy and all the time and stuff like that. um And Beneath a Still Sky.
00:41:13
Speaker
the tenements and the factories and everything like that are up in the high rises with the assumption that all this pollution is going to rise up where it makes little more sense. Uh, yeah, it does. It's like, yeah, in a world where everything is like filthy industry, uh,
00:41:28
Speaker
Way up high is where it's going to be at its nastiest. You save the stuff near the earth with good, clean, filtered air for the rich and powerful and and make the very poor live up in the tenements in the sky. It's a it's a relief twist it's a reverse Jetsons, which is not the Flintstones. Yeah. yeah i'm looking at oh Actually, I'm looking up reverse Jetsons on Urban Dictionary right now, Ben. And you're going have to issue an apology at the end of this episode. I'll get working on that.
00:41:56
Speaker
Jane, get me off this crazy thing. um But, you know, and i I think that is a neat aspect of this. But also, is it really upside down if this game is set in Australia? Ben, your thoughts?
00:42:14
Speaker
ah But um now, mean... i yeah i mean You know, this this game also does does something which I think a lot of really, ah you know, one of, one of ah something that's always welcome and always fun in a lot of ah adventure games, which is ah you have a sidekick.
00:42:41
Speaker
Mm-hmm. And a sidekick who has, like, special puzzle powers Puzzle powers. And that's always like, so you walk into a room and and say you have like this ornery robot, which is always fun.
00:42:57
Speaker
i like an ornery robot. Yeah. I mean, this this is a tradition that goes back to your Floyd's of of Infocom days. And, ah like, you know, he's crabby and he doesn't necessarily want to do what you tell him to.
00:43:14
Speaker
Um, and, and actually hold on, uh, like, uh, you know, you're, you're, you're solving puzzles with him. It's always fun to have a ah sidekick that has his own like set of actions.
00:43:28
Speaker
What is the plot of beneath a steel
Union City and Character Dynamics
00:43:31
Speaker
sky? I realized it because I felt I had a moment of like, Oh, I think we're we're getting a little ahead. Yeah. Before we talk about our sidekick, Joey, um the plot of beneath a steel sky, you are ah Robert Foster, a a protagonist here with a mysterious past. You, as a child, crash into what's called the gap in this futuristic world, which is essentially ah the Australian outback. And you're found there ah by a ah group of Aboriginal people.
00:44:09
Speaker
who take you in and you join their community. You're named Robert Foster because they found Foster's beer can near the crash site.
00:44:21
Speaker
So that becomes your always love a the gods must be crazy style. Yes. Absolutely. that's I think that's what we're dealing with here. Absolutely. um And you you you grow to adulthood living amongst your adopted family until um some ah some thugs, some some very Nazi-coded thugs, I would argue, or least Judge Dredd-coded thugs from Union City show up ah to take you into custody, killing people.
00:44:54
Speaker
All of your, uh, your family in the process, uh, they throw you onto a helicopter to take you back to the city. Helicopter crashes. This is your second big chopper crash of your life at this point. I don't get in a helicopter. Yeah. You walk away from this one again, but now you're being hunted down. Uh, uh, all these government thugs are calling you overmen, uh, uh, and trying to bring you into custody for some nefarious purpose. Ben, does that about sum up the the premise?
00:45:26
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, that's exactly it. And so you're brought into a Union City, which is one of, like, as we were talking about, like, this kind of reverse Jetsons situation.
00:45:41
Speaker
And it is, like... ah like you know, in the the fiction of the game, one of a couple like massive ah like corporate mega cities, like city states across Australia, which, you know, it has like rivalries with other corporate city states, which like you'll hear probably discussion of over the course of the game.
00:46:13
Speaker
And ah Union City is controlled by, of course, an all powerful like mega a i you know, supercomputer called Link.
00:46:29
Speaker
Um, which, i like is in the tradition of all of that, like of, of, uh, cyberpunk aesthetics, like, you know, ah deeply sinister and also a little bit analog. Um, yes, yes, yes. Yeah. All that. Absolutely. And was at the head of another fun cyberpunk dystopian ah trope of a giant, uncaring, bureaucratic state, like bureaucratic, like a Brazil, the movie type situation.
00:47:06
Speaker
yeah Where, yeah, there's an absurd bureaucracy. you have to have certain clearances to to move between the floors of this megacity.
00:47:18
Speaker
um and i you know, like, you know, we we we currently live in in the reality where fucking dorks that loved all of this shit as a kid, ah it like, didn't understand the the message of this.
00:47:37
Speaker
Where are all the stories about a good AI running a society? They they they were just like, they they saw Blade Runner and all this shit and read like you know all those books and were just like, oh, so this is good. like The bad guys are the good guys in this, right? like This all sounds cool. And it's just like, no um you know this This game did make me think a lot about ah Brazil, ah which is a movie I rather like. um Terry Gilliam's Brazil.
00:48:05
Speaker
Because... It does have that, like... Because Brazil also, ah like, uses... you know, you have this mega bureaucracy, which is... And people live in these, like,
00:48:22
Speaker
i city-states that are controlled by faulty and crappy technology, which is controlled by, like, the enforcement arm are all, like...
00:48:37
Speaker
Nazi coded fascists and all of like the people living in comfort are like portrayed much as like at one point in the game, you get down to like the lowest level and meet like, uh, this, this woman from the the upper like classes and she's like portrayed kind of similarly to, uh, the mother, uh, Brazil, like this, you know, obnoxious, uh,
00:49:06
Speaker
decadent you know vacuous person with a annoying little dog that you yes uh um like in the charming adventure game you just knock it into ah water the dog's okay everyone don't worry.
00:49:25
Speaker
Yeah. <unk> But yeah, like I, I really enjoyed myself ah playing this and we, when when you and I were talking ah about this before, ah before we started recording, you said to me and I, I agreed um the you liked this ah a little more than a broken sword.
00:49:54
Speaker
I think I do. I think to me, it's a little more interesting than Broken Sword, which is kind of a meandering road trip of ah of a game at some level. And I do think, know, we talked about this their Broken Sword episode.
00:50:08
Speaker
There's the writing is very good in Broken Sword, but there's probably too much of it. it The game drags lot. I feel like if that game were 25% shorter, it would be twice as good. um This game this is exactly...
00:50:24
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's tighter. It's still not like a pulse pounding like yeah you're powering through this at high speed. We talked about the drifter last week. It's not moving forward at the at the pace of the drifter by stretching the imagination. But it's a much tighter story and design, I think than broken store, which again, broken sword perfectly fine. yeah But I think i I found this one more interesting. Yeah, I found this more interesting. I don't know, actually, because I'm the one that said tighter. I don't know. Like, this is a shorter game.
00:50:54
Speaker
i don't know necessarily tighter just because there's a fair amount of backtracking in this game, which is so... Which you could get very annoying. yeah Like, I think... um you Since you spend the entire game um in Union City and ah like yeah the the game begins with you just on that upper level and then you slowly get access further and further down as you play.
00:51:32
Speaker
You know, actually, is is Torrin's Passage based on Beneath a Steel Sky? A game where you have a sidekick that has powers and you go lower and into lower and lower levels of of a world?
00:51:47
Speaker
Think about it. Anyway, is Torrin's Passage cyberpunk? yeah Yeah. Think about it. Readers, contact us and let us know.
00:51:59
Speaker
Quest Quest podcast at gmail.com. But, um you know, like most of my problems with the game were kind of like 1994 adventure game design problems.
Game Mechanics and Joey's Role
00:52:15
Speaker
ah adventure game design problems And like, especially because this was their second game, I believe. Yeah. um And ah like, so i there, there's backtracking and then also Joey follows you.
00:52:38
Speaker
And instead of doing what a game like today would do, which would be, Joey, your little robot who's on like a little tread, like just you walk into a new scene and then he just shows up behind you.
00:52:53
Speaker
ah You have to wait for him to arrive behind you. and that takes a little while And like he kind of moves slowly because he's on a little pink tread.
00:53:05
Speaker
and then also some of the characters move around from scene to scene. and this is a thing That I know why they did this, because it's cool.
00:53:17
Speaker
Yes. You do this to add some immersion, and you do this to make it feel a little bit more like a world. But it's annoying. Yeah, this is one of the features of the engine they use for this, the virtual theater engine. One of the big one of the big features that was originally developed for Allura the Temptress was something that we take for granted in a lot of games nowadays. Like you play Skyrim, it's like, yeah, it's no surprise. The blacksmith hammers swords in the afternoon, maybe he hits the pub later in the evening and goes to bed in his house later that night.
00:53:52
Speaker
The virtual theater engine was trying to do some of that. And apparently in lure the temptress, it could really easily soft block you. You situations. Yeah. There are a lot of notorious soft blocks as I understand in that one where NPCs would get trapped places. I think there were even cases where like NPCs might stand in front of a door trapping you inside of something. It didn't work great. So I think they toned it down for beneath the still skies. I understand it.
00:54:17
Speaker
but And it's still kind of annoying. it can still be annoying times, so I think it was worse in their first attempt at implementing this. it's And, like, I understand. I understand why you would do this. I also understand, like, why it's so cool. Like, you you do it because, you know, youre you're you're you're you're adding, like, a simulation element to the game.
00:54:41
Speaker
Yeah, and it keeps NPCs from just filling like furniture or any other hotspot you might click on. I get the the impetus behind it. There's like this annoying, like the annoying boss of the like this like pipe factory, this guy lamb.
00:54:59
Speaker
you have to catch him. you have to know ilam you have to catch him like as he's like kind of on his, his rounds up and down like floors.
00:55:13
Speaker
And the thing is, is that like sometimes he'll like, you'll try to talk to him. but like he'll kind of be standing in the wrong position.
00:55:26
Speaker
And so like, you'll say like, Hey, lamb. And then like, you'll kind of walk into, because every time you start to talk to someone, your guy will walk into like whatever is assigned, I guess, in the virtual theater engine as, you know, where, um,
00:55:47
Speaker
you know, where dialogue is. And so like, you know, both like kind of walk over to your space where you're supposed to talk. And like, sometimes like he'll be caught on something or something. And so you'll just say, Hey, lamb. And then like, he'll like stop and pause and then just keep moving. And that's annoying. We're like, know this is meant to be a puzzle. Like it's worth noting for the listeners, you know, this isn't like the challenge of interacting with this lamb guy who's walking around in a beaver fur coat or whatever, right in his factory. This is just a choice to try to make this feel more immersive. He's doing his job and you have to like track him down on this little rotation and talk to him. but yeah, had implementation's a little rough on it. But as I understand, it's an improvement over all lure of the temptress. So like when I was playing today, like, uh, uh, like there was a scene where like, I like, I'm trying to exit and I can't exit. And I'm like, why? And then it's just like, Joey was just stopped in front of a door. I don't like walk out of the way and then wait for Joey to follow me to get out of the way of the door. Then walk all the way back over to the door. Everybody is like, you move kind of slowly and Joey moves even slower, you know?
00:57:03
Speaker
And it sounds like, you know, isn't like a major problem. It really isn't. It's just annoying. Yeah, it's just a little thing. It's not, it doesn't, one of those things where it's like a constant thing.
00:57:18
Speaker
you know, annoyance in the game. But, you know, I do feel like we should loop back. I want come back. You'd mentioned Joey, our sidekick before. I think he's an interesting concept in that Joey starts out as, starts out the game as your robot sidekick, but you're carrying him around as a circuit board. His personality is loaded onto a circuit board.
00:57:40
Speaker
that Then you insert into different robotic bodies throughout the course of the game. Like he starts out, you put him into a robot vacuum cleaner body, which he's none too happy about. He'll use you a hard time about this.
00:57:53
Speaker
And you saw some puzzles like that. And later you throw him into the body of a welding bot so he can use his welding gun. to uh to help you out along the way but this is kind of ah a neat way to do this joey's going to take multiple forms uh throughout the game and throughout it he's he's a wise cracking sidekick and ben i wrote this down furiously on a piece of paper before the podcast began because it hit me like a bolt of lightning and i want to get your feedback on this this game set in australia
00:58:24
Speaker
Is Joey a kangaroo joke? Probably because you're carrying them around in your pocket the whole time. Oh, wow.
00:58:36
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. has to be right. That's not coincidence that I have. Just unlocked the secret of Beneath a Still Sky, right? Go on the internet and search, has anyone ever thought of this idea before? Colon.
00:58:52
Speaker
Is Joey from Beneath a Still Sky kangaroo You know, that that seems to me, like, because it's kind of like a pun name, and this is a game that hails from the United Kingdom, where they like things like that.
00:59:10
Speaker
Oh, they love those puns. So I think with the evidence presented in front of me, gavel, gavel, gavel. Yeah, I mean, look at that, Ben. don't know how well you can see that, but it says, is Joey a kangaroo joke?
00:59:25
Speaker
Holy shit. I know change everything that changes It changes. I mean, already Robert's name is a joke based on a Australian brand of beer.
00:59:37
Speaker
Uh, so it's not such a stretch to think that Joey is also a joke because he's a circuit board you carry in your pocket. Like a kangaroo might carry its Joey.
00:59:48
Speaker
That's so, I can't believe it. And I'm Googling right now beneath a steel sky, Joey kangaroo. Uh-huh. And I've not seen, i've not seen anyone.
01:00:02
Speaker
i can't be the first person to think this. Can I? i mean, there are people who love this game who've played it Like dozens of times. like No way. My dear friend, the Space Quest historian, loves this game.
01:00:15
Speaker
And I can't imagine I stumbled upon, you know, hidden lore that that only me, Charles Cecil, and Dave Gibbons know. And probably Alan Moore because he probably cast some sort of like witchcraft spell. He probably cast a spell to put it in the game.
01:00:31
Speaker
Yeah. Now... Yeah. Um... i really i really enjoyed this. the um
01:00:45
Speaker
You know, the the the the world... i you know like And this is... It just makes me think that I should probably try to get into you know some of the classic cyberpunk stuff I should probably read. you know...
01:01:01
Speaker
ah you know, like neuromancer or whatever. Yeah. Like, because, i you know, every time I've, I've ah like, you know, interfaced with some sort of media with it, um I always have like a good time.
01:01:20
Speaker
um And this was no exception. I, you know, I really love this. I think it was also, we talked about this last week with the drifter.
01:01:32
Speaker
And sometimes this I feel it it it this tips a little far, maybe. um But it it keeps it light.
01:01:44
Speaker
Yeah. um this This game has some very silly... Some like downright very silly scenes in it. ums There's like a ah scene in this game where you enter a courtroom and ah like the the courts in the the game are, or like in Union City, are a game, like run like a game show.
01:02:13
Speaker
Kangaroo court. All now you're overplaying your hand. Yeah, that's right. Now you're overplaying your hand. I cheated by earlier. Yeah, just, no, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. We've done two games set in Australia in a row. I've just, I'm getting desperate.
01:02:32
Speaker
um And Wallaby. Very good. ah Now, did...
01:02:44
Speaker
i what and And I think also like kind of a staple of this kind of game or or this this kind of media is that there's a sequence where you enter kind of like a cyberspace.
01:02:59
Speaker
You got jack in. where you Yeah, you jack in And so this has that. And I thought those sequences where you're in like link space or whatever it's called. i think I thought those were really neat.
01:03:12
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. what What was fun about those is that like your, all of your inventory was replaced with like a file, like computer verbs.
01:03:24
Speaker
Yes. Like decrypt and like ah ah extract and like all the like various computer commands were your verbs. I thought that was, I just thought that was fun. And then you always have like in this, you, it,
01:03:41
Speaker
often is like a big blue, strange, fantastical space that you have to like cross through. thought they did a very good job of that. That's always a fun thing in any type of like similar in um like Technobablon has a like has sequences where you're in whatever the cyberspace in that is called. Or like at the end of Space Quest 4.
01:04:09
Speaker
A Cyberpunk classic. Never played that game. ah now We should talk about it sometime, though. I don't think we will. Now, um you know, though, that is funny.
01:04:21
Speaker
What this, what the the art style of this made me think of, which was this game kind of in my mind did look to me like ah like parts of Space Quest five and think maybe i'm just thinking that because it's like space quest 5 has ah comic book style yes absolutely and ah like no doubt that mark crow is familiar with with dave gibbons's work i would be shocked i would think so yeah that would be bet as well shocked um but also like
01:05:02
Speaker
they're They're both the scan-in art style of that heavy line a kind of alt-comic style. So it's like the the the sequences in Space Quest V that made me think the most of...
01:05:24
Speaker
or that I thought the most of playing beneath a steel sky was like, was i like Clorax five, like the planet, like the, the dusty. oh no. The one where you have your trauma.
01:05:36
Speaker
ah we are like, yeah. The guy's spinning on you. lugiga Yeah. ugi guy Yeah. No, that guy looks very similar to the art in this game, which is to say there're it's working 256 colors.
01:05:54
Speaker
And nearly all of them are some shade of brown and orange and tan and things like that. Like a lot of this game has ah a rusty palette, I would say. And I imagine, too, part of that is and you can tell this is a game that while it released for DOS in 256 colors, ah you feel like a lot of the art was made to be ready to also release at 32 colors on the Amiga. Oh, well, I mean, yeah, I'm i'm pretty sure that the Amiga was the main. Yeah, that's right. that's That's what you're aiming for. And I feel like a lot of the art is optimized for that. I will say, you know, it looks great in 32 colors. Look at screenshots.
01:06:34
Speaker
It's not a significant downgrade to go to 32 colors. in fact, there's some of the scenes that are actually a little bit more, I think, atmospheric with the with a slightly smaller palette. So this is definitely designed with the Amiga in mind.
01:06:49
Speaker
But yeah, it looks great at 32 or 256. I think again, know, Dave Gibbons, his backgrounds are, are top notch. It's ah it's really a fully realized world in that area somewhere. I liked it less. I think than you did though.
01:07:03
Speaker
We talked about this a little bit before the stream as well.
Voice Acting and Accessibility of Beneath a Steel Sky
01:07:07
Speaker
I didn't care that much for the voice acting. I found that I enjoyed this more acting without voices. Um, And I will say I liked Joey.
01:07:16
Speaker
I liked the performance that we get for Joey, our robot sidekick. um I think my beef with it, and there's I'm going to tell you, Ben, had I not just played the Drifter the week before, I don't think I would have this beef. Okay, wait.
01:07:33
Speaker
Yeah? Hi, it's me, the Drifter. Do you remember your name, the Drifter? ah a Drifty Drifterman. remember death i thought i had been painted into a corner it was mick come on it was mick but coming on that game anyway but yeah coming off of that game i think that the fact that the voiced version of beneath the still sky largely features actors with british and american accents for a game that is set in australia
01:08:05
Speaker
I kept thinking it's like, boy, if Robert sounded like Mick, I think that would give this whole game so much more personality. Um, now Robert is a little bit more of a silly protagonist at times, maybe than, than, uh, Mick was, but I do wish we had a little bit more to tie it to that Australian setting. For me, that would have really helped with the immersion. i help the lesters Isn't that enough? Yeah, know. That's right. That's right. We had the fosters and that's, and you know,
01:08:33
Speaker
ah his sidekick could be a kangaroo reference it's possible uh you feel like your ears do like you're doubting this more as time goes on here going back so people uh uh viewers of my twitch stream ps underscore gerek know that a thing that i uh kind of fixate on when i'm playing yes uh adventure games is seeing if the voice actors hit all caps yeah if the dialogue on screen is in all caps does their performance reflect that choice of all caps
01:09:18
Speaker
Now, so this doesn't at all. Never, ever. Never, ever. But this game deploys all caps way more because it is like co-designed by a comic book person.
01:09:34
Speaker
Yes. And so it's, it deploys all caps like a comic book would. Yeah. Just for emphasis of keywords sometimes. Yeah. Yeah.
01:09:45
Speaker
Not and someone is raising their tone necessarily. Right. And so honestly, I kind of thought that was neat because I don't, I don't know about that many other adventure games that do that where we'll have like the, like a comic book style of all caps or emphasis. Yeah.
01:10:04
Speaker
um Like I, I can't think of that many others that, you know, it's funny. It's a sign that Ben, we are too aware of one another's preferences and, uh, and approach to gaming that as I was playing this, I thought to myself, Ben is going to note this use of all caps. Oh yeah. And whether or not the voice actors are hated. And I was thinking, and I hadn't thought about it in terms of it's using this more like comics might use a bolded term, uh, to, uh, to drive home just,
01:10:37
Speaker
more Less maybe emphasis in speech and more just words they want to pop off the page. And in that context, actually, that is a clever way of going about this. I think that that makes a lot of sense here. and Yeah, maybe that's Dave Gibbons' influence at play.
01:10:54
Speaker
And, uh, yeah, no, I like, that's how I, because I was like, oh, they're not hitting the all caps. And then i was like, oh, it's because it's, it's in a, like a comic book style. It's a different all caps. This has ah a sequel, which came out.
01:11:10
Speaker
six years ago yes is it beyond a still sky it is uh i believe that is it let me double check still sky and after all these years still steelkying after all these years um I think it is beyond the size steel sky. That looks... It seems to me that...
01:11:38
Speaker
um like it It seems to me that it got kind of a mixed reception. Yeah. But I am curious about it. I think it looks neat. like The screenshots I'm looking at like do have a little bit of the look of a...
01:11:56
Speaker
like a lower budget 3D game. And it looks like at least at launch, it had some, some bugs. I'm seeing like people complaining about like crashing and stuff like that. It's now six years later, five or six years later. So hopefully that's been resolved. I, I enjoyed this enough that I would ah like, I'm intrigued.
01:12:23
Speaker
I,
01:12:25
Speaker
that it like That the reaction to Beyond a Steel Sky was not like absolute revulsion, but instead like, eh, with some people enjoying it.
01:12:39
Speaker
um i'm I'm intrigued to to check out the the sequel. i'm i'm like I wouldn't be shocked if I played, you know, kind of shrugged. but Yeah. Yeah.
01:12:51
Speaker
I mean, it still has like, you know, just looking at screenshots of it, I would agree. of has a little bit of that low budget 3d vibe. Um, but you know, it has an interesting color palette, some kind of cool character designs. It looks like it has a cool look. And apparently, um, uh, uh, Dave Gibbons, uh, came back.
01:13:12
Speaker
Oh, okay, good. and You know, he also came back when they did a special edition, a remaster of this game for iOS and some other platforms a few years back when they remastered Beneath a Still Sky. believe he came back and did some animated cut scenes for that version, if I'm not mistaken. interesting.
01:13:29
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't look at... Like, you know, because you can just get this for free legally. Like yeah it was, it was freeware, which is fascinating. This is, this is a freeware, is a freeware game.
01:13:46
Speaker
As of like 2003, I think, which meant that very quickly it was reverse engineered and added to ScumVM. This is a game you can acquire right now, free of charge, played on ScumVM, runs beautifully.
01:13:58
Speaker
ah so in that sense, I mean, it makes it very accessible. It's a good yeah a good excuse for it to be at maybe a lot of people's, well, their first adventure games they might played, I suspect. Yeah. Yeah.
01:14:10
Speaker
um so yeah that's one of the other cool things about this is that it is easily accessible and easily played on literally like anything that scum vn you know runs on or most which is anything which is you know like your toaster yeah um but yeah uh so uh yeah do you have anything else to say about beneath a steel sky You know again, I think something, one thing that I would just mention briefly here at the end, you know, we, we framed this game as a 1994 game.
01:14:43
Speaker
i think it's worth noting that 1994, an adventure game that tried to engage with serious themes at any level. And while this one has a good bit levity mixed in, it's trying to tell something of a, you know, more complex cyberpunk story.
01:14:58
Speaker
That's still a relatively novel thing in 1994. You know, this is a world where you get, you know, epic fantasy adventures you get comedy games you get slapstick you know but in graphic adventure and certainly infocom had its share of serious themes stuff in the graphic adventure realm know this is uh this is an early foray into an attempt at some more serious storytelling i think it uh think it lands the i think it lands it pretty well here yeah this is uh this is ah a good game in fact i'm gonna call it a good old game hmm
01:15:34
Speaker
Maybe i should make a website yeah called that. Like good old games. Oh, man, that's good. and maybe to make a little money on the side, you could put some malware in the downloads. Ooh, good mal games.
01:15:53
Speaker
that Well, yeah, I mean, that I feel like good and mal are basically antonyms. That's going mess up SEO. what Yeah, I mean, what if it was like steam with two E's?
01:16:08
Speaker
All all right, we're done um we're done. We're done. We're done. We're done here. yeah You'll never work again in this town.
01:16:20
Speaker
And this town is Union City. Yeah. All right down cyberpunk cyberpunk.
01:16:31
Speaker
All right. Uh, thank you so much for listening to quest quest, the adventure game podcast. This episode was a 10 out of 10. Yeah. I give this, uh, episode, uh, five steals out of a steel sky. Wow.
01:16:46
Speaker
Uh, now, uh, uh, be sure to give us a five star review. Send us an email. We haven't gotten an email in a while. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know what's wrong. Send us an email.
01:16:57
Speaker
Tell us your thoughts about Beneath the Still Sky and why we're wrong about why it's even better than we said. don't know this game has mega fans out there. You know what? Actually, one more question for you.
01:17:08
Speaker
Jess, You initially weren't into this. Why was that? Because I was captured pretty quickly and you were like, I don't think I'm, I like this. We were talking about it earlier this week.
01:17:19
Speaker
I was like, Ooh, little, a little, a little pot. Yeah. Yeah. I think it took me a few minutes to get into it. I think that i like when I reported in the thinking it was mid, i was probably like a half hour into this game, which is probably what, like a five hour game.
01:17:37
Speaker
Would you say? i mean five, you know, with with judicious usage of a walkthrough. Yeah. I think you you get to like 10 to 12 without it.
01:17:54
Speaker
Yeah, maybe so. Yeah, I mean, it I think I was early on and it felt like it was a little slow coming together for me. Like I wasn't quite sure. i mean, it has a pretty dramatic opening, but once the game actually began,
01:18:08
Speaker
it It felt a little, I don't know. It took it took me a minute. Yeah, and I think I had get used to it. stuff Like, I wasn't sure, is this going to be a yuck-em-up or is it going to be, you know, something little more serious? And the answer is a little bit both. I mean, it splits the difference between a very wry, know, sarcastic wit and and a pretty serious story along with it. So, yeah, I think for me,
01:18:35
Speaker
I just was not quite getting the tone. And once I figured out what it was going for, it was easier to just say, like, kick back and enjoy the ride. So, yeah, my initial apprehension faded as I dialed into what they were trying to do.
01:18:49
Speaker
Cool. All right. Well, that was my last question. i already sent the email. Send a five-star, et cetera. And, of course, e of Of course.
01:19:02
Speaker
Of course. Please. I'm begging you. I'm pleading with you. m
01:19:12
Speaker
To join us next time when we talk about Space Quest Force.
01:19:35
Speaker
All right, so here's a question for you Jess. Yes? are Do you think that there are more than two Time Rippers?
01:19:46
Speaker
Because we only see two Time Rippers.
01:19:51
Speaker
This is a great question. Yeah. I mean, I'm thinking about this. Do we only ever see two on screen at once? Yeah, there's there's Roger Jr.,
01:20:04
Speaker
And his buddy. His buddy who tackles somebody. Yeah. um I mean, the answer, Ben, is they're infinite time rippers across the multiverse.