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Loco Motive
126 Plays2 months ago
Ben and Jess talk about a game that came out THIS YEAR! Don't worry: it's just first impressions.
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.
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Transcript
Introduction and Game Announcement
00:00:23
Speaker
Hello, everybody. Hello. Hello. It's Quest Quest. Point click adventure game podcast the the one ah I'm Ben. And good golly Miss Molly. I'm Jess. Wow. Wow. What? What a show we have cooked up for you. um ah But ah and and we have we're today we're going to be talking this is this is a first for us. We're going to be talking about ah a brand new game brand spanking new. Yeah, you'll ah you'll spank this game. We're talking about locomotive which came out this year or
00:01:07
Speaker
Maybe I don't know when this comes out, uh, probably this year, but, or maybe a little bit last year, if this comes out in early 2025, I'm not sure what this will come out. Uh, anyway, in some year in the mid 2020s, this podcast was recorded and the game also came out. That's right. That's
Email from Todd: Gaming Memories
00:01:28
Speaker
right. Now, now, Jess, I actually, uh, uh, didn't mention this to you, but Uh, we have an email. We have an email, an email that no, I didn't because I said I didn't mention it. So I don't know why I said I didn't mention this and that's a
00:01:48
Speaker
Did you know that? I thought we agreed in the interest of transparency. We would read one another's emails as long as we are partnered in this podcast. Yeah, that's true. And and I'm the only one that has access to her but to our ah podcast email. All right. I design. ah So this is a email from our friend Todd. Let me turn on the tune. Oh, there it is. Take me to the lounge. Yeah. Take the email lounge. Welcome to the email lounge. You can become a member of the
00:02:37
Speaker
Hello, this is Todd. Average underscore June on Twitch. Firstly, I wanted to share how much I appreciate the podcast. helps It definitely helps make work hours a little more
00:03:17
Speaker
a Todd Pod, but it's an actual
00:04:08
Speaker
with other gamers. I mostly remember from my childhood thinking, we both like games. We should be friends. And then other kids mostly talking about which Mega Man weapon was effective against which robot. Well, I was thinking, we've got to do something about this banana guy. He seems pretty bad.
00:04:25
Speaker
even recently my office full of video game lovers asked which games I played and I said return to a return of the Obra Dinn Disco Elysium thinking they were recent popular hits hits and I just got strange looks anyway I love the pod and a fan of your streams as well Todd
00:04:49
Speaker
Thank you, Todd. let's Thank you very much, Todd. Absolutely. Everything about that. just ah Just wonderful. I want to work in an office where everyone has iPods. First of all, I think we can all agree on that. That would be a better world to live in. And yes, the loneliness of the adventure gamer, I think is a theme that we're bound to return to at various points in this adventure we're on together. So yeah, it is there's a lonely world out there for the person who is deeply invested in what happens next in Freddy Farkas frontier pharmacist.
00:05:22
Speaker
Yeah, uh, I loved, I love this
Nostalgia: iPods and Zunes
00:05:25
Speaker
email. I also, I, I responded to him. I was like, how did the battery, because I'm sure some of you are, are wondering at home, and how does, how do you have a functioning iPod battery in 2024? And it is, uh, uh, it is modded off of Etsy. And so it has a model. Wow.
00:05:47
Speaker
And Ben, if I could ask, I didn't see the visual with this. Are we talking nano or are we talking iPod? I'm not a iPod expert, but this is the one with the color screen. Oh, I could probably watch an episode of Family Guy on it.
00:06:07
Speaker
That's okay. That definitely gives me something to work with. Okay. It doesn't have a click. Well, I guess it's the big question. yeah It has, I mean, do don't they all have a wheel? I think eventually the iPod touch just became like an iPhone without, oh, day oh, yeah yeah. No, no. So it wasn't a touch. Okay. Good. Good. Because I think, I think that would be Wi-Fi enabled. Yeah. the Yeah. That would be Wi-Fi enabled. So, uh,
00:06:31
Speaker
I have a follow-up question for Todd that I'm not going to email. You'll just have to listen to it. are Is there anyone in your office with a Zune or is it just everyone? is it Does anyone have a Zune or a Zen ah or a MP3 CD player? yeah An MP3 CD player probably offers too many extra steps because then you have to have like something to burn CDs. and yeah That way you get mad these days. Yeah. yeah Now, Jess, did you have an iPod?
00:07:01
Speaker
I had an iPod. I had a series of iPod nanos. Like, I really liked the ah small form of of a good iPod nano. So I had two or three of those along the way until I eventually made the leap to iPhone. I had zens, which was creatives. Yes. We we love, we love creative. yeah have Top notch. ah And then I also had a Zune.
00:07:32
Speaker
and you want to know what, the Zoom was great. Did you use all of those great sharing features to share music with everyone else you knew who has Zoom? Uh, yeah. second In person with the zoom, I guess it'd be the, I never met another person with a zoom, not one. I didn't meet a single. I i just know had a wonderful, like for, especially for something made by Microsoft, it had an incredible UI. It looked great. It looked so sharp and so nice. Like I remember getting it and being like, wow, this is the future. The zoom is the future.
00:08:09
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it seemed cool in all the ways that like, like an iPod chose one direction you can be cool in, which is like the sleek, ultra modern look. And the zoom had a chunkiness that I thought was, was cool in its own right. Yeah. Well, you know, and that's, that's the whole like, you know, PC Mac thing, you know, yeah you just like the chunky. Yeah.
00:08:32
Speaker
I'm a real like John Hodgman. I think, you know, a lot of people out there more Justin Long's when it comes to you actually went to a Zoom store once. Have you ever been to a Zoom store? I didn't know that Zunes had a store. Zunes had a store or at least they had a store in a mall in Columbus, Ohio that I once visited. And I was like, oh, my God, I can't believe I'm in a Zoom store. Yeah, i that is It probably won. How long did zoom stores last? Yeah, I think they might have been rebranded. So boy, there's even like a Windows store. Yeah. You know what really helped it probably stay like an Xbox store. Yeah. If they had sold iPhones and I bought like a state open. Hey, their big mistake was selling zooms.
00:09:25
Speaker
Well, they they or maybe it should have become like a launch pad for like all other like they should have banded together with the zens and and other like other yeah like mp3 is it's like alternative mp3 options.
00:09:41
Speaker
ah Yeah, I mean, I Here's the thing though, like an Apple store sells like like did a Zune store just sells Zunes and Zune accessories. I think it sold Microsoft stuff. Okay.
Microsoft Retail Discussion and Xbox Branding
00:09:56
Speaker
And like Zune was just like for a brief moment, the branding of a broader Microsoft like retail location, which doesn't need to exist.
00:10:05
Speaker
in in the way that like they rebranded like games for Windows into Xbox. Yeah, and Windows or whatever it is now. Yes. I mean anything can be an Xbox. First of all, like oh brother. Yeah, this microphone I'm speaking into right now is an Xbox. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. I just have to subscribe. That must have been.
00:10:28
Speaker
Uh, that must have been a, uh, like, you know, I'm just kinda, I, you know, listen, everybody's joked on this, you know, this Xbox, whatever, like this, anything could be an Xbox ad campaign. All I could think about is, is like the, the, the ad pitch, uh, meeting for it. It's like.
00:10:49
Speaker
Uh, uh, like, you know, the Don Draper, uh, meeting for it, but yeah, I don't want to go, everybody's clammed on this and this is already coming out like two weeks from when we recorded. That's right. It's going to be like, it's already late now and then we're going to add more time and people are going to be like, what the fuck are they talking about?
00:11:07
Speaker
I just feel like if I could go to a Microsoft executive, I could quickly think of some things they would immediately disavow as being Xboxes. Like, I think there are a lot of things you could easily say is like, actually, that one's not an Xbox. um So, yeah, that I
Ben's Gaming Experiences: Dragon Quest III HD
00:11:21
Speaker
just don't know. I don't believe when they say, you know, anything could be an Xbox, but that's beside the point. Ben, what I want to know. Yes. Why have you been playing? Well, Jess, what I did. Yes.
00:11:35
Speaker
I've been playing, I've been playing, uh, uh, uh, other than this week's game, uh, which neither of us finished. And that wasn't the objective. We're just providing impressions first at home. These are impressions. and Um, uh, other than that, I, uh, play, have been playing Uh, dragon quest three HD. Wow. Tell me about that. Uh, so dragon quest three HD. It's very funny. Like, so first off, it is a short for hitting dragons. Yes. That's right. You figured out you figured out the code. Uh, so, uh, dragon quest three hitting dragons, uh, addition.
00:12:21
Speaker
ah is first off it's in like the octopath traveler a style where it has like the 2d sprites on a 3d world which i like i uh when i saw like trailers and stuff i've not played uh either of the octopaths traveler Um, but, uh, I, I looked at that and I was like, eh, I don't know. I don't know how that looks, but you know what? It looks really great. Uh, in this, like, this is a really beautiful looking game. It plays perfectly on a steam deck. Um, and, uh, what I really like about it is the dragon quest three came out like, first off, I, I'm not, I'm not a dragon questman.
00:13:08
Speaker
I've played, uh, half of dragon quest 11, which is the most recent one, I believe. And, uh, and it's not even that I quit playing, like I quit playing it out of lack of interest. It was just that I got like derailed. Uh, and then like, by the time I was rerailed, I was like, I had spent too long since I've played this.
00:13:32
Speaker
i don't I don't remember anything about this. Anyway, um so that's the only one I've really put any significant amount of time into. And Dragon Quest III was an NES game. ah They've remade it multiple times. Like, I think they made it on the SNES and they made it on the Game Boy. And I think, like, probably like I, you know, listen, I'm sure there are Dragon Quest heads out there who are like, don't forget, it was also remade here and here and here and here.
00:14:01
Speaker
And I don't know any of that. And I'm not even going to look at Wikipedia to to get an answer on that. I just absolutely not. That's there's not that kind of podcast. No. Now, Ben, I have to admit, I know very little about Dragon Quest. Am I correct in thinking that this is it also Dragon Warrior? Is this the same franchise? warrior Yes. Yes. yeah Okay. So this is also known as Dragon Warrior III in the United States of America. I believe that I have played the n NES version of some game in this series. Like I think that is the last time I touched this and I touched it like in 1987 or whenever that would have been the appropriate time to play it. OK, so I've had a probably a pre-release copy. I think it's my uncle who worked at Nintendo. Oh, yes. But your jungle, my jungle. Yes.
00:14:58
Speaker
I thought it was like a junky uncle. um Yeah. Well, he was also. Yeah, he was. He was. He was. It's not a great guy. He has a lot of problems. We don't have to get into his uncles. Various, you know, antisocial tendencies. ah So what's up, Tess? Tell me about your uncle. No, I mean, I don't remember. Is it a game like when when I think of this again, I have this was like it was something I rented with and took over to my best friend's house to play.
00:15:28
Speaker
on his idiots. Like I would show up with a rental in hand when I would go to spend the night with him. and Is there fighting a lot of slimes and Dragon Quest? that's I mean, that's in all of them. okay good good okay that's the way Dragon Quest is the one with a cute little blue slimes. Okay. That's all I think. Like if the only thing that pops to mind is, yeah, JRPG, early Final Fantasy sort of vibes and then slimes. So I'm glad that this is okay. I so now have a sense of what you're doing. Yeah. So, so what's so entertaining and compelling to me about playing this and I'm, I'm now.
00:16:03
Speaker
at the part of the game, which I assume is like the bulk of the game until the end, which is that I have to now get six orbs and there's a big map and I can just kind of wander around and there are various like dungeons and things. And I assume that the orbs are in various dungeons, you know, very, you know, that's what i want from my straight forward. But yeah, what I like about it is that.
00:16:27
Speaker
You know, for all of the gloss of this, uh, uh, hidden dragons edition released in 2024. It is very obviously a game made for the Nintendo. Yes. And, um, like it is, and, and like they, they've added I'm, and I, I don't have a basis of comparison. So again, dragon quest heads and dragon warriors.
00:16:56
Speaker
might all be like, no, Ben, this is actually much more sophisticated mirror than the original. um But like when I play it, it's just like, ah oh, this is like,
00:17:07
Speaker
a i RPG made for the and NES with really beautiful graphics and great music. ah But it's just you've got a party of four wandering around a massive world and you have pretty straightforward tasks and a lot of like just constant monster encounters. Uh, and I know that they've like added some stuff and like some of the stuff they've added has been like stuff I believe from earlier remakes and like they've added some other new stuff and blah, blah, blah. I, again, I don't know, but it's, it's a very enjoyable game, uh, uh, to me for it's absolute
00:17:50
Speaker
dungeon crawling simplicity. It's just, you got a big map. You got, you got some guys. Yeah. You wander around, you go up levels, you, you, you fight some dragons, you fight some bad guys, you go into the next one. That's it. That's all the game is like, there's a little plot bits and bobs here and there, but it's just, you know, it's whatever that's all you need. It's all you need. It is, it it is like, so I feel,
00:18:22
Speaker
so emotionally uninvolved with the game in a very pleasant way. like It's not asking very much of me. It was a great game to play when I was on a plane. um Not a lot of RP, but a decent bit of G, you're saying. Yeah, yeah yeah they they they're yeah exactly. that the the like I would say the RP is like kind of And then G. G, what a great game. Yeah, absolutely. No, no, that that sounds like good stuff. Now, were they able for the HD remake? Were they able to get the guy who does all the great font work for all the square? Oh, yeah. Oh,
00:19:12
Speaker
because i feel I feel like if you really want a modern version of this on on a modern platform, you want some mass sans serif. There's some guy at Square that's just like any time, anytime anytime they they like release in in the 21st century, a beloved 90s or 90s game and like in a slightly higher resolution, they're like, what's the most dogshit font?
00:19:40
Speaker
Isn't it crazy? Isn't it crazy how cheap a bad font makes a game look? Oh yeah. Well, I mean, especially when it's like we have this beautiful pixel perfect rendition of a game you loved, but you know what? We didn't convert over.
00:19:55
Speaker
It was really easy to do all that art, but to make letters in pixels, do you know how hard it is to make like an uppercase G out of pixels? They're like, here's here's a font we we grabbed from the default sans serif collection from Windows 3.1. Like this is actually going to be, I don't want to foreshadow, but this is like a minor complaint about the game we'll be talking about today for me. I was actually going to play about the font there too. Now, looking back, I wish I hadn't your brand on my font content here yeah crafty like a font anyway now the font looks fine in it good it is it like and
00:20:43
Speaker
the The thing with all of those other ones ah is apparently it's not especially difficult. I have been told ah to to to remedy that, but I'm not doing that. No, we've established what kind of gamers we are on this podcast. If you're on episode 10 and you don't know what kind of gamers we are.
Ben on Modding Games and Fallout: New Vegas
00:21:04
Speaker
I don't i'll know what I have for you. I'm a big baby. Big baby. I'm a big, I'm a large, I'm a large adult baby. I'm not yeah spending one second.
00:21:16
Speaker
uh, uh, changing a font in a game. It's, it's, you know, that's the worst, the worst thing. Jess, are you much, uh, uh, uh, Elder Scrollsman? I forget. I think we yeah yeah i haven't played the old classic ones, but starting with ones. Yeah. I started with oblivion and I played all of them through sets.
00:21:34
Speaker
Okay. So let's just say, is that just no way. No, it's a Morrowind. I did borrow wind. I forgot. I forgot. I always forget about Morrowind, but yeah, I did Morrowind and then oblivion. Yeah. It's not so impressive. Say I started with oblivion and played all the rest. I was like, I ram. Yeah. Um, but no, I also played Morrowind. Yes. Yes. Yes. But like, like elder scrolls fans, excuse me, we'll say to you, but Oh, you haven't really played.
00:22:00
Speaker
Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, unless you modded them. And I'll say, I've tried, but listen, once again, I'm a large adult child. Do you want me to go to a fucking website that looks like it was designed in 2005 and then download 500 files that all download at 50 kilobytes a second?
00:22:28
Speaker
Uh, and then have to slowly and painstakingly order them in a fucking folder. Uh, so they all load correctly. And then at the end, the game crashes anyway. Yeah. Well reading like a 46 step simple tutorial on how to do this. Yeah. I mean you, yeah. No, or you can download some sort of.
00:22:50
Speaker
very shady app that maybe will mod things out for you. I don't love that process either. I, if I mod things like I played file out in new Vegas several months ago, right? And I did like all the quality of life mods. I downloaded some sort of mod manager and did all those. I don't really want to change the game when I'm modding things. Like honestly, I'm sometimes even like, you know what? I don't need DLC. I want the game the way that the developers at George Washington intended it. That's right. The way they own god are heavenly yeah creator, ah created this game, ah divinely inspired. Yeah, that's, that's all I want. I say that right after from mentioning Morrowind, which has one of my favorite DLCs of all time, the Shivering Isles DLC. So our expansion, I suppose, as we called them back then, but no, I'm not a, I'm not a mods man either.
00:23:43
Speaker
All right. Well that like was a particularly long discussion that went in all sorts of directions about Dragon Quest hitting Dragons edition
Jess Returns to Overwatch
00:23:51
Speaker
Jess. What have you been playing? Oh man, I wish I was playing some sort of new game or a new remake of an old game, but instead You're not playing you're you didn't Reinstall World of Warcraft. Did you? Ben it's the next worst thing Overwatch. It's Overwatch, isn't it? It's Overwatch. It's over.
00:24:18
Speaker
It's because you started playing Marvel Rivals and then you said I want to play the real thing. That's that's what happened. It's basically what happened. Yes, exactly what happened. Yes, that's exactly what happened. So when I say basically, I mean, precisely, I i mean, first of all, I played some Marvel Rivals and I mean, it is just over. It's just Overwatch. I mean, it's just Overwatch. It's Overwatch only now.
00:24:45
Speaker
Genji looks like sidewalk. This is you might as well be talking about yeah I don't know, Dragon Quest to you. Yeah, no, this is this. i think I've never I have no I have no feelings about overwatch. The last game of that flavor I played was probably Team Fortress two. And I'm like in 2007 to be then I don't know if you know this about me, but I once upon a time in the overwatch one days was a severe overwatch head like
00:25:22
Speaker
I think I did know that I'm not joking when I say I have never said this out loud before. I have over 1000 hours in Overwatch. Yeah, no, it doesn't sound good when you say it out loud, is it? Please never divide that by 24 and like start to give me a sense of, you know, like how many days of my life that I've spent playing Overwatch. But this is a reality and It's not addictive to me in quite the same way that World of Warcraft is, but I have to say, as someone who doesn't play a lot of online cooperative type games, nothing in the world feels better than when an Overwatch team is actually syncing up. Like when you and now four other players that used to be five, they made a horrible mistake to go 5v5 instead of 6v6, but that's beside the point.
00:26:17
Speaker
When you and those four other players are syncing up, it is the most amazing feeling in all of gaming. You feel like you are the greatest gamer that's ever lived. And I'm competing at almost the lowest level possible in this game. I'm terrible at, you know, I'm terrible at this is not going to be a game. i yeah I, this is just funny to me. And I know I'm actually kind of an outlier in.
00:26:39
Speaker
Like, i I love Civilization. I love Civ. I play Civ. Like, the Civ VII is coming out. I'm buying that at release. Love Civ. um ah Civ VI is my most played game on Steam. How many hours do you think I have on it, Jess? Take a guess. 632. No. Lower. 147. Higher.
00:27:07
Speaker
243. two 247. Whoa, that's not bad. And that's funny because it's like when I talk to friends, they're like, Oh, yes, I have 1000 hours in Civ. You're like a noob to them. They're like, Yeah. So have you gotten past the tutorial yet? and I want to be clear. I have not gotten past the tutorial in Civ. It's really hard. Yeah. Moving those units around. 161 in Civ 5.
00:27:37
Speaker
ah I would be surprised if I had more, uh, maybe I had more incentive forages because that came out in college and, you know, the fuck are you doing then? You know? Yeah. I hate to say this, but I think there are characters in Overwatch because it keeps track by character. How many hours you have. I think there are characters in Overwatch that I've played more hours.
00:28:00
Speaker
than maybe almost any other game I've ever interacted with. Like just a single character. And then there's another one that's not far behind that. It's ah it' really tragic. What what characters? Let's hear this. Okay. My most played character is going to be... This is just for the people at home that know this. Yeah. It's Lucio. It's Lucio. He is a... DJ who kind of rollerblades around and plays music that can either speed up his teammates or heal them, alternatively. So he is a very cool DJ guy. So that is my main. Although lately, I've been playing a very exciting character. ah She's a newer addition to the game. She's a tank by the name of Juncker Queen. She's like,
00:28:48
Speaker
Is Overwatch 2 gone? Is it dead? I mean like ah officially or well like spiritually? Because you're talking about a new character in Overwatch and I know that they made a sequel and so I just wouldn't assume that they would be adding new characters. That's why I asked. Yeah, they brought over all the old characters to Overwatch 2 and have been adding new ones to that. Basically Overwatch 2 just replaces Oh, so when you can play Overwatch. You ok oh can't play Overwatch 1 anymore. It's gone. Blizzard just yanked it away and converted all your stuff into Overwatch 2. But yeah, the Juncker Queen is like an angry Mad Max Australian wastelander. I hesitate to use the word muscle mommy, but she's also not a must not not a muscle mommy. Never heard that phrase.
00:29:36
Speaker
Maybe I was made it up. Um, I mean, maybe like, I'm not going to Google that because I'm not interested. i've got some mark second singe That will do to like, if I'm looking at like any given website, like what it will, like the advertisements that will start to show. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. No, but yeah, I'm playing overwatch again. I'm not proud of it because overwatch too is like the grossest version of monetization and everything else that maybe I've ever seen in.
00:30:06
Speaker
any online game. And that's saying a lot. I mean, it is like, you know, how would you like $40 skin? Because we've got some ah for this first person shooter. Who? Yeah. Yeah. But it's a free to play game, you know, so that's, ah you know, it's a great deal in that regard. Don't play Overwatch kids. Don't do don't make the mistake. Basically, I should not interact with Blizzard.
00:30:32
Speaker
in any capacity. you should i you should chezz You should get an invite to Deadlock and see what you think about that if you're just playing this shit.
00:30:45
Speaker
I hated rivals. Let me say I hate it. No, let me walk that back. Let me walk that. Rivals is gorgeous. It is. Marvel Rivals is, you know, this, this, I think NetEase developed it. It's, you know, Overwatch with a Marvel, you know, coat of paint, but just barely. And Even the interface looks exactly like overwatch, but I don't care for it. It's a little too slow for me and the characters are a little too wacky. You know, I got to play like this. What what but what platforms is Marvel Rivals on? I think it's everything. I think it's I think it's PC, Xbox, PlayStation, probably not s switch. it It's cross platforming. OK, we should play around. um I think Ben, you'd be a great Captain America. Great.
00:31:36
Speaker
I played like three rounds on me. Yeah, I'm just going to play some more overwatch. Yeah. Yeah. I, you know. Yeah. Yeah.
00:31:47
Speaker
but Well, let's talk about a game that we both enjoyed and neither one of us is ashamed of
Discussion: New Game 'Locomotive'
00:31:54
Speaker
playing. Right. Yeah, not not a shame. We've been playing locomotive and all right. So to to set some boundaries on this. ah So ah this we're neither of us have completed this game. I would say we're both about I am about a third through.
00:32:14
Speaker
You're a little, um, I'm a little further than Jess. a third i Yeah. And then, um, this, uh, so, so we just essentially both have like kind of first impressions. Uh, uh, we'll, we'll talk about,
00:32:29
Speaker
uh the the the game um and i don't think uh like this will this will have spoilers in as much as like hearing anything about something like if if you like to to go in like completely super blind i don't want to know anything like we'll we will to be talking about a game but I don't think like this will contain we're we're not going to like we haven't even finished the game.
00:33:01
Speaker
I don't think we'll spoil much more than like the steam description. Yeah. what's the game you like yeah The steam to description describes it like any given review of the game like that that describes like the plot and the characters and like you know we'll talk about I'm sure a couple puzzles here and there um and in our opinion so far but but yeah so you know I guess on the the pepper scale like super mild but you know and This is this is you'll be okay. You'll be yeah, don't worry. Don't we will not ruin the game or you can just stop and you enjoyed our incredible discussion where I razzed Jess for playing overwatch. Yeah. And you know, if you're stopping early, can I encourage you? Go rate and review. but It's not that you have like 40 minutes on your hands. Go write a lengthy review of quest quest the adventure game podcast. ah So okay.
00:33:59
Speaker
Locomotive. Locomotive. So yes, I made it all the way up to the start ah a little bit into part three. How far, how far did you make it Jess? I made it halfway-ish into part two. little ah So a little bit less, but enough to get a vibe for the game and a vibe that I really dig. I think this is a game for folks who really love old school point and click adventure games. I think it is a very, ah very loving modern spin on the genre. This is this is right up my alley. I'm just going to put all my cards on the table.
00:34:40
Speaker
Your cards are entirely on the table, this is ah and and i'm trying to look up how many ah parts, there are. ah This is for a little background, this was originally and ah like a.
00:34:56
Speaker
a event Advent, what's that called? Adventrix. Adventrix. It was there's a jam. Jam 2020 proof of concept that you can still play on itch, it looks like, um and I have not.
00:35:21
Speaker
um Uh, but, uh, and then they expanded it into ah full a game, um, which is very impressive. Yeah. And if y'all don't know what this game is, I mean, the short version is explain it's a murder on a train, and which has never been done before. Uh, that's, I think that's yeah. Uh, but no, I mean, it's a murder on a train. It's a point and click adventure game. It is.
00:35:47
Speaker
very much leaning into the comedy, maybe more so even that it's leaning into the mystery elements of it. And it's quite lovely. Lush pixel art, I'm sure we'll talk more about that. But yeah, this is this is a classic train murder mystery I'm up.
00:36:02
Speaker
Yeah. And, um, oh, and I am going to, uh, all right. So this has, uh, six chapters. There we go. Okay. So you're probably getting toward the halfway mark. Yeah. I'm, I'm at about the the, the, the midway point on the game. Um, yeah. So it is now, now Jess, when we were talking before this, you kind of wanted to talk about like mystery games in, in, in general, is that correct?
00:36:28
Speaker
Yeah, I thought that, you know, ah something I was thinking about as I played this was the challenge of writing an adventure game in the mystery genre because On the one hand, there are a lot of those out there. You're going all the way back at least to the info com days. Yep. No, all the way up through your various Sherlock Holmes games, your Gabriel Knights of the world, your Tex Murphy's, uh, you know, lately I've been playing diamond. Yeah. Crimson diamond. You know, lately I've been playing you the gray matter, uh, game by Jane Jensen and a mystery game. It is sort of a miss it's mysterious. Um,
00:37:10
Speaker
that I mean black something being mysterious a mystery does not make well I guess it's it's purported I mean this is the problem it is a game that purports to be a mystery game where you're not really doing investigation you're not really deducting you're not really even meanfully gathering clues you're kind of just doing a point and click adventure against the backdrop of what seems to be a mystery story. In the case of gray matter. And I'm curious, yeah, what are the challenges? Do you think that this one feels like you're actually out there investigating? No, no, this is a adventure game, like a narrative adventure game, ah like set during a mystery. Yes, like, like something like
00:37:57
Speaker
Crimson Diamond, which I'm sure we'll, uh, we'll be talking about, uh, on a, on a future episode, because it was a wonderful game. Um, and, uh, which I highly recommend and I have finished it, uh, that I love, um, that is a mystery, uh, game because that game has, or like lower, lower either of the Laura Bose, which obviously Crimson Diamond goes a little bit too. Uh,
00:38:22
Speaker
Uh, but in Crimson Diamond, uh, you are expressly investigating. Uh, there are things that you can miss. You have to put.
00:38:34
Speaker
uh, like kinda pieces together to kind of solve things. You have like a ah little notepad where you are like, kind of like it it's keeping track of all the evidence. And then as you gain evidence, you are able to make more conclusions and, uh, like look deeper into the mystery specifically in Crimson diamond, but I believe this is part of the Lori bow games as well. Yeah.
00:39:01
Speaker
Like in Crimson Diamond, there's like, there's stuff that you could just straight up miss. And indeed I did on my play through, uh, which is exciting for me to go back and and play again. And I think that's by design, like it's by design. So I go back and there's a little more for me, like a little more meat on the bone. I feel like locomotive is a mystery game, like in the same sense that Sam and Max hit the road as a mystery game. It's like, yeah, you're, you're.
00:39:30
Speaker
like nominally trying to solve a mystery, but it's more of like a genre to hang a point and click adventure game on rather than, you know, a mystery that just happens to be a point and click adventure game. Yeah. Like, you know, there's I mean.
00:39:47
Speaker
I and and we'll hold it from this this ah podcast is like maybe that is a little too spoilery but it's like I have guesses as to like so you're on a train there's a rich old woman a whole bunch of like wealthy swells are in like the ballroom on the train and then ah the lights all go out and the woman's dead ah the rich old woman and now ah like The game starts out for grabs. Yeah. And, uh, uh, in the, the game begins you ultimately, and this is again, listed as one of the features, uh, like you ultimately take control of three different characters over the course of the game. You start out as her personal lawyer. Um, and, uh, but like later on, there's a mystery novelist and, uh, like another character that, that, uh, you, you control.
00:40:45
Speaker
Um, uh, but like, I, I have a theory as to like, you know, who did it, but like, that's not what the game is.
00:40:56
Speaker
you're not You're not like in the the first two parts of the game where you're her lawyer character, it's not like you have objectives and you you go around and you solve them, but it's not like your objective is to like kind of put these pieces together to figure out who killed her. It's just normal kind of adventure game stuff. Yeah. How do I get past this person to get access to a different train car? Oh, I've figured out what item I need to present him with that will make him move out of the way.
00:41:26
Speaker
So Jess, I didn't tell you this, but, um, uh, I ran into a very adventure game-y thing, uh, which is I soft locked myself. Really? Which is absolutely not intentional. It was a bug. Uh, sure. Uh, I soft locked myself. I, this was, but I like.
00:41:53
Speaker
I would have been actually farther by the time we we played this if it wasn't for that. I hard softlocked like I had to restart the game. um ah Fortunately, it wasn't too far, but what it was was ah at the, um so there's like a prologue ah ah sequence where you're the the lawyer, aforementioned lawyer character, you're kind of wandering around this train um And I like just went up because I wasn't quite sure. Uh, like what type of game this was. So I just interacted with everything and did everything, like everything I could, like I adventure game with the hell out of it. i picked Oh, absolutely. Every single thing I could, I exhausted every single dialogue, on every house, every single character that would talk to me. I did all of that. Um, and so I got like a whole, like I had a full inventory.
00:42:49
Speaker
And then I went to like the event, which ends the prologue, which is actually like the the moment where the old woman gets killed. And then, uh, and then the actual game begins part one begins and, um,
00:43:05
Speaker
Uh, so when I played it, uh, when I made it to part one, uh, like I just started wandering around and I'm like, what the fuck am I supposed to do? Like, and I talked to to everyone. I rubbed every inventory item on everything. I'm just like.
00:43:23
Speaker
I like, this is the start of a game and it's like an adventure game that came out in 2024. So I, I doubt that it's especially super difficult. Uh, at least this early, it's not going to to throw a puzzle. So it's like, like I don't understand what's going on. And then I did. Uh, and then, so I just like, and then the game also has like a hint line in it.
00:43:50
Speaker
Yeah, you can literally pick up a phone and call someone for a hit. Right. And try so like, yeah. And so I called the, the hint line and that wasn't help. And I'm just like, what the fuck? And so I go to, like, I go online to a walkthrough because I'm just like, all right, well I give up and I got to record a podcasting and like, this is ridiculous. And.
00:44:18
Speaker
Uh, the character that like, it's like, you know, um, uh, uh, talk to this character and he'll, uh, uh, get into this like, uh, uh, situation and he'll drop his keys and oh that character had already moved on to his next location. Ah, so he never dropped his keys.
00:44:46
Speaker
So I was just straight up locked out. I was just straight up like dead man walking. I had, which is a professional adventure game podcaster, right? Had to be rough on you. Yeah. I will. And I was like, I got to record a podcast soon. Like I got to hit like, you know, the the the clock is ticking. And so I restarted and then like I made, uh, took special care and and I didn't get soft lock. Thank God. And.
00:45:15
Speaker
Uh, but, but it, you know, uh, I, I was like, you know, if I saved a little earlier, like the worst part was it's like, ah since I wasn't far in the game, but I did have to like skip through like 50 cut scenes. Yes. Yes. I mean.
00:45:34
Speaker
This is something that i read about in some of the reviews i think that some of these these sorts of bugs are unheard of i've had a very smooth play through i haven't encountered any problems yet but i know this is something that reviewers pointed out and i imagine there's a good chance by the time our listeners are hearing this.
00:45:51
Speaker
I know they've patched the game at least once already it wouldn't surprise me if some of the stuff hasn't been. Addressed already but yeah that's that's come up elsewhere so ah but I haven't encountered anything of of the same top. um What do you think i mean we start this game as you said as. ah Arthur Ackerman, right? This is the old lady, Unterwald, a state attorney, right? He's in charge of drawing up her will, which apparently she's been frequently changing the way that murder victims in these situations often do, right before they meet there and tell me to miss out or whatever. Yeah. What do you think of Arthur as as an adventure game protagonist? He's the one I've spent the most time with.
00:46:37
Speaker
Yeah, he's funny. You know, he's good. it's I really like. weird Yeah, I really muscly good looking dweeb. Yeah, I really like. ah
00:46:49
Speaker
So. Here's a question. So he's a dweeb. Why are so many adventure game protagonist dweebs?
00:47:00
Speaker
I think because the most beloved adventure game protagonists, or maybe just the most beloved adventure game protagonist, Guybrush Three-Blood is a dweeb. And I think that so many people making modern adventure games are looking back to Guybrush and that sort of that sort of character works for them at some level. And this guy, I mean, this guy,
00:47:26
Speaker
has, I mean, yeah we say he's a dweeb, but if you see him in the game, he is a handsome, tuxedoed, you know, looking guy. He's, he's a cool, handsome man who's ultimately the world's biggest dork. He is, he has some of that Hermes Conrad. Yeah. Love bureaucracy. Right. Yes. And filing papers. And he meets an accountant at one point. I was just fascinated. Tell me about accounting.
00:47:50
Speaker
Yes, he just can't get enough of this guy's, you know, stories that he's reticently sharing about accounting. So this guy is, he's a very specific kind of dweeb. Um, but yeah, I would, I would say it all just goes back to, you know, a game that everyone who loves this genre loved famously stars a dweeb. Yeah. Because it's like, like Roger Wilco is a dweeb and he predates not high brush, but he's just hilarious. Definitely a dweeb. But it's like,
00:48:21
Speaker
There are, there are so many dweeb, uh, protagonists. Um, like there's, there's Guybrush and Roger Wilco and Larry and then like, and then you hard look at Bernard.
Adventure Game Protagonists and Pixel Art Style
00:48:35
Speaker
Yeah. And then you look at like, say Graham. Who's kind of like a cipher. There's not very much you can say about him.
00:48:44
Speaker
Not much there there. Yeah, there's sunny bonds. Not very much there. You know Bob and threadbare. He's just a little boy. ah I would say Gabriel Knight is ultimately a dweeb that isn't aware. He's a dweeb. He's he Gabriel Knight is is is fair like it's It's very funny because it's like, oh, he's like this sexy rapscallion. He like sleep. Yeah. Like he sleeps around and he's got messy hair and he's like, kind of, but he does. Like, like, I think the arc of the adventure game protagonist universe just bends towards greediness.
00:49:32
Speaker
And that's Arthur. I mean, and he's a good version of a dweeb. Like, I think that, I mean, with this sort of game, especially, I mean, it's a game more in the LucasArts style, which is to say it doesn't have a narrator. um yeah say The character addresses the audience exactly yeah as a sides. This also, we didn't mention this has a beautiful pixel art, which is funny. Like, you know, that, that is, that's the shorthand for, this is an adventure game.
00:50:01
Speaker
now Yeah, yes. It reminds me a lot of Sam and Max hit the road there like the close ups that you get occasionally of in in certain scenes and stuff remind me of some bits. Well, I'm hit the road. Well, yeah actually, you know, the game that this made me think of the most ah playing it um is it actually made me think a lot about ah return to Monkey Island.
00:50:22
Speaker
is that has a lot of yeah really great used for comedy effect, like close ups that look really nice. And they were all pretty funny. And then also a thing that I think returned to Monkey Island was the first to do. I love this. I know what you're doing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. ah But if if someone else did this first um mea culpa is that In Return to Monkey Island, i the subtitles on each of the hotspots are written in the voice of Guybrush's thoughts, which give you a little bit of an extra clue.
00:51:06
Speaker
Um, like, so like you look at, like, so you mouse over, uh, something and it, like, instead of saying like a book, it said like, it will be like, Oh, that book is way too long. I like, I, I'm just saying is like, it's, it's written within the point of view of the character.
00:51:26
Speaker
And it's clever. It's a little space for an extra joke. Yep. It's a little space for an extra hint. Yep. Yep. It was used beautifully in return to Monkey Island, maybe arguably one of my favorite things about return to Monkey Island. One of the most striking things when I started playing return to Monkey Island, I was like, wow, that is such a nice little thing. Yes. Why didn't someone come up with this 20 years earlier? yeah It's like, I wish. Yeah. i wish I wish that like, yeah, they adventure games had done this sooner unless they already did. And we both missed it. Um, yeah, absolutely. But no, I love those. Yeah. And they're really well done. I mean, I said earlier, I was going to bag on the font. Uh, the font gives me some real like.
00:52:10
Speaker
This is like a two point hospital style, Sam. And again, you have like a weird, just like sans serify font against a bunch of pixel already it is it is interesting. but The font doesn't bother me as much as, as it bothers you. But I mean, I can see, like, especially if you look at screenshots of like the, the, the itch, like the, the game jam original, uh, version, they did use like the Lucas arts, like pixel font or something that looked like that.
00:52:39
Speaker
Um, and the game's dripping with personality and then the font is not, know but but like the UI is kind of like in a more like kind of slick anti-aliased like kind of way. And so the fun fits in there.
00:52:55
Speaker
Uh, so I don't know. It doesn't, it doesn't bump me in the same way. It sounds like it's, it's, I mean, it doesn't buy me out much. It is the most nitpicky thing you could complain about in a, in a gorgeous looking game. and Let me, let me tell you the thing that like really strikes me in this game when I'm just like, Oh God, what a beautiful use of pixel art. And this is the most random little background detail.
00:53:18
Speaker
But because this is set in like, you know, the glamorous, ah you know, Orient Express style murder train scenario, murder, time murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder,
00:53:32
Speaker
ah do you remember that ah bradley cooper movie um midnight train
00:53:40
Speaker
Okay, quickly to Google, uh, you've also not won. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. Uh, so, uh, yeah, Google midnight youth train and muscle mommy. Yeah. 2008 starring Bradley Cooper, um, the midnight meat train. Um, that's our movie recommendation for the evening, but you're on a murder train and it's got that sort of glamorous murder train vibe to it.
00:54:08
Speaker
Sorry, but what I love about it is you have various characters who are smoking in the background of scenes and the pixel art of them excelling smoke and then it dissipating into the background around them.
00:54:25
Speaker
is like watching a series of like little varying shades of gray and white pixels slowly fade out against the background. It's just like, ah, this is beautiful. Like just what a nice use of pixel art. And yeah, the playing with opacity, playing with shadows and lighting and everything. This is just a gorgeous game. Yeah, it's it's so funny. Like with this, um,
00:54:49
Speaker
like this pixel art style. It's so funny that this is like a signifier of it's like, Oh, we're doing a game that's in the style of like, it's, it's like ah a point and click adventure of old. I will note.
00:55:04
Speaker
I've played this entirely on my couch with an Xbox gamepad. This is I played this as a console adventure game. um And it it was great. um But it's funny too, because you say that and then you think like, boy, return to Mikey Island got so much flack for not being in that style. Like like people. Yeah, there were like angry fans that it wasn't pixel art. Yeah. Yeah. But what i'm I like the the the the pixel art in this is like Uh, like would be impossible in 1992, you know, like not only in terms of like, I don't know, you know, if this has like more than 256 colors, like maybe it does. I don't know. But also it's like the it's high frame rate. There's a ton of animation, a lot of really great animation.
00:55:58
Speaker
Um, and, and also like, there's all of these like little like particle effects, like the rain, like the way that the rain smoothly hits and stuff like that. Like the game itself. Couldn't have been made then. Oh, like, I mean, I, mean like, I guess it could, uh, but not as it is, is what I'm saying.
00:56:20
Speaker
um Which is just really funny to me. It's like, it has to have all these signifiers, but at the same time, it's not like it is very much a modern game, like save, like, all right. So there was like this soft lock, but like, that wasn't like a soft lock in like Kings quest five, where you you didn't throw the boot at a rat. It was, uh, like it was a soft lock because of, uh, like just a glitch. Um,
00:56:49
Speaker
And, uh, so it's just very like, you know, this is, uh, uh, in order to, to let people know, this is an adventure game. This is like, it's gotta have that pixel look, but you know, now it's so much more, I mean, yeah, you look at the like steam shots on steam shots, screenshots on steam, um, shots on screen. Well, it is a steam train you're on. Um, so technically there are a conversation about it with an old woman.
00:57:18
Speaker
ah But yes, but you know, and we have the screenshots, you could easily look at and be like, Oh, this is just like old-fashioned pixel art sort of stuff. And then when you see the game actually in motion in play. Yes. They even have like cute little details. Like, you know, it's a lavishly decorated train. So they're chandeliers and so the rooms and stuff, yeah but they're always wobbling slightly to remind you of the motion of the train. What a nice little detail. yeah You know, that's good stuff. It's yeah. I don't know that I've seen a much prettier traditional pixel art game.
00:57:52
Speaker
Uh, yeah, I mean, it it looks, I wouldn't go that far. I mean, there's some really beautiful picks. Nope. This is the best. wouldn't go that well it's I mean I think we can agree it's the best I just would I can't I mean not as long as Hobbs Barrow is out there listen Ben we need this checked clear we right oh ah cut this cut i got edit got it edit this out ah this is non-sponsored content
00:58:24
Speaker
No, this is where I remind the listeners of the ethics policy of Quest Quest. At least one of us will play every game we review. Yeah. um i The ethics policies give us free games and i'll I'll say whatever you want. All right. yeah Now, or give us here. Let me put this out there. Give us your competitors games and we will say bad things about those. Yeah.
00:58:54
Speaker
We will accept anti-sponsorships. Maybe we could pioneer that in the podcasting world. ah We could be yes. Like what are what are like it's like ah we we we become like the first podcast like we get paid by Squarespace to do like anti Wix ads. Hey Jess. Hey Jess. I just went to a website ah made by Wix. It sucks shit.
00:59:22
Speaker
Hey, Ben, you know what I had for dinner tonight? What? Hello, fresh. Hey, you know what? It tasted like shit. You know what's good though? It's factor meals. Hey, Jess, I'm having an anxiety attack because a better health therapist just good told me it was that it's my fault, not my parents.
00:59:48
Speaker
um Who paid for that one? Your parents? yeah yeah that was spread to you by Why don't you just have a conversation with your parents, I suppose. I don't know. Promo code. Why
Game Design and Puzzles in 'Locomotive'
01:00:00
Speaker
not? ah
01:00:05
Speaker
now this is this is the new revenue stream meanwhile yeah quest quest ah podcast at gmail dot com if you want us to do any anti-sponsorship ah the cost five thousand dollars um or every game yeah now ah I will say one thing like I want to say I've really really been enjoying this I will say um I also appreciate, I think the the game is very well clued and even on like a couple, like there, there are a couple of things I've needed and not John, but there was, there's like one little puzzle in part two that, that, that stumped me a bit, but it was like a once, like I, you know, got the solution. I was like, they put the clues there. Yeah. there's a very well time should they
01:01:02
Speaker
it is definitely they make sure that if you talk to like, like any good adventure game, if you talk to everyone, and like, observe everything, yeah you can eventually math it out and all of the puzzles, so like, and not all of them, but like the the vast majority of them are like, this is the Uh, the style of adventure game that, that one is it's like inventory and dialogue puzzles, uh, just mash it together. Um, one thing I'll say that is my criticism so far, uh, uh, uh, getting to about midway through the game is that, um,
01:01:52
Speaker
There is like, it's a remarkably linear game, which is totally fine. I don't have a problem with that. You literally walk back and forth in a line. The entire yes as you go you up and down a train, yeah you're just running back and forth. Uh, but, uh, uh,
01:02:12
Speaker
Sometimes like you'll be given multiple objectives. It's like salt, like you have to figure out X, Y and Z, but it's not like, you know, say in any given Lucas arts game, like Lucas arts adventure games love to say like, all right, here's your like X, Y and Z. You can do that in any order. It is specifically you do like Y then z then x and you might have even the inventory and a germ in your mind of it's like okay well I have this thing and I know that okay like how do I and and the game isn't like that at least so far like the game is not like you know
01:03:09
Speaker
As I said, like any Lucas arts game, which gives you that, like, after like the first segment, you enter a big, like the three trials where it's just like, Oh, you have to write, you know, or the, the, the map pieces of monkey Island two or whatever. It's, it's a very specific order. You do it exactly as it is. And sometimes.
01:03:29
Speaker
Because you do have a lot of inventory items, which I do like about this game. actually Yes. You have a ton of inventory items and so many modern adventure games are light on inventory items because of the problem that I have, which is that I'm like, well, then it just becomes kind of confusing. You just, including I had a couple inventory items, at least so far that I haven't done anything with.
01:03:52
Speaker
Oh no, no, me too. And you know, I think it's interesting. Like I've had some cases where it's like, sure. You can just pick up this random thing that nobody would want to have. It's like, there's a lemon sitting on the bar. Sure. Grab a lemon and carry it around in your pocket. It's no problem. But another point in the game, I saw an inventory item that I really wanted to pick up right because I'd anticipated the puzzle that it seemed to be about, yeah but I needed to observe something before my character thought it was worth picking that item up.
01:04:21
Speaker
Um, which it kind of bounces back and forth. Some inventory items and some puzzles, you have to trigger the thing before your character will want to pick it up. Others. It's like, yeah, you can just amass everything. It's not nailed down. right Um, I wouldn't say it's consistent with it necessarily, but, uh, and that's, that's a, that's a mild irritation. um mean Again. Yeah. Because it's like, yeah, I play.
01:04:47
Speaker
adventure games, the way that I play them, the way that I've been trained to play them, which is just pick up every fucking thing and then yeah talk to everybody and then, you know, figure out how all those things match together. And then like, it's like that, the the game kind of is like, yeah, you can like pick up, you know, the lemon, uh, even though you have no purpose to, but then you like later, you know, look at,
01:05:14
Speaker
like uh uh you know another thing which yeah sure like we're both being vague because we don't want to spoil anything but yeah uh like the most inventory ass licking piece of inventory possible right yeah we're talking about the same thing and like yeah he looks at me he's like oh i don't like i i don't need that and i'm like i look at that i'm like i know you need You need that more than half the things you're carrying right now. Don't bullshit me. You need that. If you're going to just pick up every fucking thing and then be like, Oh, I don't know if I need that yet. Like, like, yeah, it's more useful than half the things you're carrying. It's more useful than a lemon. Yeah. Take that lemons. Yeah.
01:05:59
Speaker
Uh, yeah, but that's, that's kinda, that's kinda silly. Like the, yeah, there are tiny, there are tiny little things like that in the game, which, you know, uh, uh, kind of annoy me, but like, they're not. Like to be clear, this is a thoroughly enjoyable game. And I'm charmed way more about it than I am annoyed by these little, little picky details. I mean,
01:06:25
Speaker
ah Tell me if you agree with this. yeah You mentioned how well signposted most of the puzzles are. Again, if you're being an observant, you know, just like careful to click on everything sort of adventure player, you should get so far in the game as far as I've gone, the kind of clues you need. It's hard for me to say as like a Grognard of this genre, I feel like this is one that may be more so than others might be accessible to someone who hasn't played.
01:06:52
Speaker
a bunch of adventure games? I mean, would you say this feels like it's maybe newcomer friendly? Or is it? Is it so steeped in the nostalgia that like this is an impenetrable genre to anyone who's not already in it?
Accessibility and Voice Work in 'Locomotive'
01:07:04
Speaker
Oh, you're making a you're making a I will say Like, so the, the, the, the game has the thing that all like a lot of these, these modern ones have, which is like, it will give you hints. I will say that there was a puzzle and maybe I'm just a dummy. Um, but like there, there's a little sequence around the start of part three that I found, uh, uh, kind of like I, I was like.
01:07:33
Speaker
I had the the pieces. It's a very common adventure game thing where it's like I had all the pieces and I knew what I had to do, but I didn't know how to do it. Like I was just like, okay, I see what I have. And I know that the solution involves this and doing this. I just don't know.
01:07:57
Speaker
you know, like, I just don't know what you want. How how do you want me to do this. But I know that I have to do this, right? Why don't you just tell me what you want me to write? And and so the game has a couple of those two. And I don't know, I think like,
01:08:22
Speaker
I, I think the game is more accessible than telling someone it's like you should play Monkey Island. Having them play it and get like kind of confused or whatever like kind of frustrated. But I think it does like It is an adventure game. That's the first strike against it. Like it is an adventure game and an unapologetic, like that's actually the most entertaining thing about it. Like it's an unapologetic, uh, uh, adventure game and it, it looks great. And then another thing that we haven't talked about as much as I think that the, ah the, the voice work in it is extremely good. Excellent. Um, like, uh, music is very good is are all very, very funny. Mm-hmm.
01:09:12
Speaker
I think that it is accessible in as much as, um, like to, to people who like, it might be a good gateway drug in the sense that it is, it is pretty funny early on. And, um, it offers a lot of like.
01:09:36
Speaker
stuff for you to do without, uh, like being gated pretty early. Um, and it does kind of have a nice little click of difficulty up as it goes. Like the the earliest puzzles are all pretty. We're like, okay. Like someone says they need this. And then you look in your inventory and you have that and you're like,
01:10:04
Speaker
Here you go. And that's that like, um, that's my level of puzzling. Yeah. So my response to that would be, yeah.
01:10:20
Speaker
um I think it if if someone is interested in playing adventure games, but they're not like, but they're not interested in playing something made in the nineties.
01:10:34
Speaker
Uh, it, it might be worth giving a shot, especially because you can play it on a switch or you could play it on attack. Like it's got that Nani's juice without, you know, being full of like.
01:10:47
Speaker
constant callbacks to the games that everyone, you know, played the nice that inspired this one. Yeah. I think it's a good, a good mix in that regard. now I do. I mean, I feel like it's the sort of game. I mean, I guess the best review I could give of it is, uh, you know, if you look at the screenshots on steam, if you watch the trailer and you think,
01:11:08
Speaker
Oh, that looks pretty cute. You don't like it. Yeah, it's yeah it follows you on the promise it gives you. Absolutely. I mean, it is what it says on the 10. It is a charming, funny point and click adventure game with multiple protagonists and a fun little murder mystery driving the plot. Yeah.
01:11:27
Speaker
Yeah, that's good stuff. Yeah. That's it. It's like, you know, Loco motion. Yeah. Use code. Yeah. Ben gives it. How many bins out of 10? Oh, I get it. Our classic grading system we use in every episode. I haven't finished. I haven't finished. I will not. I will not.
01:11:57
Speaker
I will not wait until I finished. But it's not finished either. I'll give it a I'll give it a eight point nine. I'm not going to tell you out of how many. Wow. Maybe that's the highest score. Maybe it's a hundred point scale. You'll never know. Yeah. Oh, locomotive. I've been saying locomotion locomotion is a colleague Minogue song. Yeah.
01:12:27
Speaker
How how am I the gay one? And not like I didn't even know that. Anyway, I was going to say it's it's ah like a not particularly good like kind of modern ah remake of Chris Sawyer's transport ah transport tycoon deluxe. But it's also a Kylie Minogue song.
01:12:56
Speaker
I've just been informed.
01:13:02
Speaker
I mean, that yeah, I mean, this is this is cultural exchange. Yeah. All right. But yeah, Ben, what's up? Yeah. I mean, I guess I only had one more question in my notes and you can pass on this.
Conclusion and Call to Action
01:13:16
Speaker
Okay, pass. Okay. All right. Well, thank you for listening to. What's up?
01:13:25
Speaker
Let's say, and God forbid, I die say, Yeah, you were murdered. That is literally the question. Okay. What adventure game detective would you want trying to solve your murder?
01:13:38
Speaker
ah
01:13:41
Speaker
Adventure game detectives. Nancy Drew. Nancy Drew. Warnings at Waverly place. That's a good answer. I do. Do you just like that she would like at least not like stress herself out. like She'd take occasional breaks to like work in the snack bar and things like that. You wouldn't want to consume her every thought, right? Yeah. She's like a a teenager that has obviously the voice of someone in their 30s.
01:14:09
Speaker
ah Like, I mean, I know, like, I mean, you know, Bart Simpson is a, you know, like a 60 year old woman, like, that's fine, whatever. then i said My daughter so much to find out. really Like, when she was a young child, and she saw, she's like, I don't know how I feel about this, where she didn't believe it. She was doubtful when she saw Nancy Cartwright and she's like, that's not Bart.
01:14:31
Speaker
I was like, it sounds an awful lot like Bart, don't you think? Have you ever watched it? I mean, you, you must have be based off of this anecdote. It is very strange. Like if you watch like Dan Castaneda, uh, uh, like if you see him talk in Homer voice, it's not like video footage of him talking in it. Like he'll, he'll be talking in his normal voice, which is not too far. But then like he does the Homer voice and like you just,
01:14:59
Speaker
it It looks like someone in my head, it looks like he's being dubbed. Because I'm just like, that's not the voice. That voice actually comes out of a yellow, car a yellow man yeah not yeah the caroon man. Yeah. You know, like yeah it doesn't come out of ah a bald man sitting on Conan. Like ah it comes out of a yellow cartoon character. yeah And that was absolutely the filling. I think my daughter got when she first found out that Bart was not a 10 year old boy. Right.
01:15:28
Speaker
I mean, did you tell her it's like, this show is 37 years old or whatever. like This show is almost as old as me. yeah this this This show, I mean, it's it's younger than 37, but not too much. Yeah. Yeah. and Yeah. like this This show is multiple times your age, little girl. ah but But no, I mean, I think Nancy Drew is a good answer. I think Nancy Drew. I mean, I think she could solve your murder. Yeah, me too. Who do you think would probably be the murderer?
01:16:03
Speaker
greson um yeah ah who Who would you want to solve it? I don't know, Gabriel Knight? No, that's too obvious. Like my first instinct was Sam and Max because it would probably mean I've been killed in some absurd, but hilarious way. And I kind of like that idea. Like if I, you know, if I'm going to die, why should I guess the ideal way I'd want to die is impelled by pterodactyls beak so maybe it's lara bow maybe i need to get like the dagger of aman rah experience um because i feel like that feels like how i might go well i mean you are a professor so you you know you could fit into a lara bow type situation because that's true aren't there professors in both games i mean certainly there is an aman rah is there a professor in uh bequest yeah i think there is isn't there
01:16:55
Speaker
thing. Been a long time. It's been a long time. ah But no, I mean, yeah, maybe maybe larbo maybe how about bigby wolf from the wolf among us never played those I know I know your fan never played. Yeah, I mean, yeah, but I mean, the important thing is, I hope someone investigates our murders.
01:17:15
Speaker
Yeah, uh, folks, thank you for listening to quest quest, the adventure game podcast. Uh, you can, uh, please, please, please rate and review, uh, follow us on Twitch, PS underscore Garak and decaf Jedi. Uh, uh, send us an email, quest quest podcast at gmail dot.com. Uh, and, uh, join us next week.
01:17:41
Speaker
When ah we discuss Kylie Minogue's new adventure game, it's going to be amazing. It's brand new news to me. All right, let's go.