Transcript
Speaker: It's Quest Quest. The Adventure Game Podcast. Oh, how you doing, Jess? Ben. Co-host of Quest Quest, the adventure game podcast. Yes, yes, yes. That's me, Jess, the co-host of Quest Quest, the adventure game podcast.
Speaker: I'm doing great, Ben. I'm i'm just off of a a busy weekend and a long drive, so I'm bringing some of that long drive energy to the table tonight. And and not just the long drive it took us to log into our podcast recording platform.
Speaker: Oh, no? No, no, I drive all the way from Columbus, Ohio. Wow. How long is Columbus? Yeah, like three hours. It's not that bad.
Speaker: and But it's it's still three. what What were you doing in Columbus? Were you watching ah the Ohio State? You know, I love my Buckeyes. can't get enough of that Buckeye football. um No, i was I was there, Ben.
Speaker: I was officiating a human wedding. Whoa. Now I've officiated fish weddings. Yes. Which is pretty funny when you think about it. Like I bet you made a meal out of that wordplay. Oh yeah. I was a regular Jason Mraz.
Speaker: Mr. A to Z. Yeah. Wordplay. Uh, but, and everybody loved it. Um, uh, but, uh, so have have you, ever this is the first time you've ever done this time I've ever officiated a wedding. we Do any magic tricks?
Speaker: Well, I think that joining two people together in the eternal bond of matrimony is something of a magic trick itself. No, you didn't.
Speaker: No, I didn't. All right. You get me? you get me up there? What's your trick? What are you doing? I'm going to do the dirty ear coin. Oh, no. like To the bride or groom or both?
Speaker: any Anyone. anyone here's what's good Here's what's good. You get like the groom like as soon as the ceremony's starting everybody's like, okay, he's over it. And like now it's a serious wedding. And then during the vows, it's just like, I'm sorry, just a second. Then you reach behind the bride's ear.
Speaker: Is this your coin? You find the wedding ring. oh that's right. That's right. you That's the obvious one. Because you have the ring bearer come up.
Speaker: aha And first, the ring bearer shows all assembled ah when when he's, this it's let's say it's six-year-old boy. yes He holds open the box with a ring in it and he shows it like ah before he's about to come in. And ask him to turn around and confirm to the audience that we've never met before.
Speaker: And then he he closes it. Then he walks up To the the couple and the officiant. And then the officiant, who's doing magic tricks, opens up the ring bearer box. There's no ring in it.
Speaker: Oh, no. Oh, no. Bedlam. And then and that's when you do the dirty ear. Yeah. about this point like grandma is on the ground having and a heart attack and yeah it's yeah it's chaos at the wedding but then i your magical officiant um saves the day i i have to feel that there have been weddings where where the slight in he involved and slight slight of hand absolutely 100 like as you said that especially around the rings it just makes too much sense to have like you know produced some rings by a slight of hand and and but i wonder if that's legal though Like, I feel like if there's magic involved in your wedding, like that's grounds down the road. If you ever like, you know, like you need to annul it or something, you just say it's like, uh, my wedding was performed by a magician, a charlatan.
Speaker: Uh, that's only true. Magic comes from the power of Jesus Christ. That's true. But there are, you know, there are like the children's, um, You know, like the the the pastors who do like the the children's service and they might do like a magic trick or two.
Speaker: That's true. Someone told me I looked like a youth pastor at this event. And I think that was like the sickest burn ever. So so yeah what did you actually do as opposed to us talking about magic tricks? I mean, it was like a pretty straightforward thing. I talked about like how wonderful love is and then told the couple's story and then just sort of went through vows. There was, there was, I was trying not to goof it up. I wasn't asked in the capacity as a goofster.
Speaker: I was asked in the capacity of a sincere person who, uh, who loves love. So I decided not to bring the full like decaf Jedi experience. I did.
Speaker: You didn't do encourage people to like and subscribe. So you beans cam, the bean cam at any point. I will say, like, I got a lot of compliments afterwards, like a lot of people at the reception are like, you really did a great job. Now was I was, you know, performing the wedding for a dear friend of mine. So that was that was pretty fun. But afterwards, I got a lot of compliments. I got one person who said i looked like a youth pastor, not a compliment. a Second person who said I looked like john candy.
Speaker: Also, I don't think you don't. I don't. I mean, right. oh i'm a here I'm a portly gentleman. who yeah I think is probably what they were like, yeah, wanting to is like it's more just like an insult.
Speaker: Like we noticed your suit look tight. Yeah. yeah Yeah. I didn't enjoy that part. i was like, I love John Candy, but i don't think you're saying that for the right reason. And they thought they were giving you a compliment because everybody loves John Candy. That's right. Everyone and myself included. Yeah. Have you ever seen, i mean, this is a weird pull.
Speaker: Have you ever seen nothing but trouble? The Chevy chase to be more film that he has a supporting role in. No, I haven't. i And I've seen most of the John Candy you were.
Speaker: I knew you had. You've seen your Uncle Bucks. You've seen your. additional movie i can't think of a third cool cool runnings cool hand luke home home alone is he in home alone yeah he has a oh yeah he has a yeah he has like a piy little like bit part yeah po guy a van little cameo yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah there you go there you go but yeah no i mean and it space balls oh yeah space balls why can't i think of any other john candy film what's wrong it's sctv
Speaker: yeah you know that's a tv show yeah yeah yeah it's too bad he never made it onto uh maniac mansion the series you know i wouldn't be like maybe there is an episode where he makes a little makes a damn let me just throw this out there uh john candy is hoagie oh that'd be good yeah um well jess i'm you know I had a stomachache all day. no. Oh, no. And oh no you know what solved it?
Speaker: What? I made pork chops. and they They solved my stomachache. I've never had pork solve a stomachache. I've had pork cause a number of them, but never solved one. This was, I i made a like a crispy, like breaded pork chops. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: With, I mean, probably what made me feel better was I also sliced up and an apple. Do you know how upsetting it is? I went to the farmer's market this morning and they had apples at the farmer's market.
Speaker: Yeah. Were you like, how about them apples? No, i was I was like, no. Too early? it's Too soon? early. We can't possibly be at apples at the farmer's market time. And they're like, we just got them and they're they're delicious. and yeah And you want to know what?
Speaker: Exceptional apples. I was like, ooh, these are very high quality apples. Crisp and flavorful. There were pumpkins at our farmer's market when I was there just last week. It's pumpkin season, Ben.
Speaker: Probably were pumpkins maybe where you are. i did not see a pumpkin. Yeah. I've eaten like seven pumpkins since they hit the stands. Yeah. You and, and my understanding is, is that you eat a pumpkin, like you just bite right into it. Right. No, man, don't be silly. I microwave it and then scoop out the insides of the spoon.
Speaker: yeah And then you spit the you spit all the seeds out onto the floor. pepitas. Yes. um All over the floor. Yes. Just every like a normal person would. Yeah. I mean, I like how it smells like rotting.
Speaker: Hmm. Anyway, speaking of things that ah smell like rotting, what have you been playing? Oh, man, Ben, I Spent a little bit of time this week playing a game that I heard about on release. ah I heard about the original game and the sequel that I spent little bit more time with. But have you ever messed around at all with High on Life or High on Life 2?
Speaker: No. ah that's ah Isn't there like a like a connection? Isn't like the... like the Rick and Morty guy, he involved with the first one or something? I have no idea. It wouldn't surprise me because it- It has an irreverent sense of humor. It has a very, I mean, like if you have like pearls, prepare to clutch them.
Speaker: I am a very reverent person. Yes, i know. Yes, absolutely. I mean, it is you're going to have like a talking gun and Ben, it's going to say the F word and not the F word you're thinking of.
Speaker: Not like some other one, like not Frick. Now,
Speaker: So what is High on Life in High on Life 2? I mean, I've been playing High on Life 2. It's like a comedic sci-fi first-person shooter where you're playing an intergalactic bounty hunter. Everything is like psychedelic and crazy colors and you have weird like almost claymation looking guns that turn around and talk to you between scenes. You're a silent protagonist, so all the storylines playing out to your talking guns and stuff. There's this weird storyline about an evil alien pharmaceutical company that wants to harvest humanity and turn them into mass market pills so alien races can experience like the banality of humanity in the form of a pill.
Speaker: Uh, but it's kind of fun. You know, it's got like, it's like a lot of big shooters in that, you know, it kind of just does, you run from point A to the next waypoint and kill some things and then move on to the next waypoint and kill a few more things. But, uh, it's charming. It looks really good. Uh, the day glow colors and everything, uh, give it a lot of vibrance. Uh, it's, it's got a bit, I know that you're a big Borderlands guy. I think it has a little bit of that CNA. When you started talking about bounty hunters and I'm like, and now I'm kind of Googling it. I'm i'm just kind of like getting Borderlands. by Yeah. yes I mean, it's definitely ah very different aesthetic than them Borderlands. And I think ah like having only like dip my toe into a Rick and Morty kind of world,
Speaker: I think it has more of that sort of humor than maybe the the Borderlands humor. I will say it does something that I really enjoy. um When you're talking to a character, you it's a first person shooter, but occasionally you walk up to a character and you press your E key because that's what counts as like interactivity in ah in a first person shooter.
Speaker: and If you do what I do, which is I start talking to somebody and then because I can't control my impulses, I begin jumping around or just like start running around the room while they're giving exposition or doing other things instead of paying attention. And they have a nice thing that if you walk away from a character who's currently speaking to you, they will just stop mid-sentence and say something like, oh, well, fuck me then, I guess. What? walk off, which that's kind of funny the first five or six times you hear it, you know? I mean, five or six times is a it a pretty long time. Yeah. I mean, that got me about to where I was like, I think I've played enough of this.
Speaker: I'm looking it. There's a fun cast. Yeah. I actually didn't look at the cast. Who all is in? so so So which one? One or two? I was playing two.
Speaker: Okay. So in two... ah You have J.B. Smoove. You have Tim Robinson, Laura Silverman. uh you have ken marino we've talked about ken marino on this podcast before ken marino and i'm i'm not even reading everyone but uh thomas lennon also james urbaniac uh matt walsh from ucb yes um let's see here this one's this one's fun this one's just for me i don't think this means anything to you uh gigi gigi gigi how do you say that gigi
Speaker: Gigi. Oh, no. Gigi Edgley from Farscape. Oh, I was just like, huh? didn't even know that she did anything. ah And and and this is exciting.
Speaker: Richard kind. Oh, now we're talking. no I mean, pretty good. Pretty good cast here. We have Maurice LaMarche in here.
Speaker: Oh, yeah. A friend of the pod. Yeah. Friend of the pod. Like twice removed. Sure. But... All right. So it has a couple jokes that that you enjoyed. Yeah.
Speaker: And it was... The gameplay? Gameplay's pretty good. It's one of those games that... the shooting feels smooth. Like, and I was playing on easy settings. So I kind could just like run around feeling like a badass without a whole lot of challenges. So I'm looking for in a shooting game at this point, you know, it's standard first person shooter, but the, the combat feels pretty smooth. You got, you have like a rocket skateboard you can ride around on and do tricks and shoot people and like grind on things.
Speaker: According to Wikipedia, a new form of movement, the skateboard, can be used to aid both combat and puzzle solving. Would you say that's true? Did it aid you in combat and puzzle solving? it a Well, actually, I would say at my level of play, it made combat more difficult because now I'm moving and trying to shoot, whereas it was easier just to stand still and shoot. I guess if I were like skate strafing, it may have been better. But in terms of puzzle solving, I'm not sure what these puzzles they're talking about were.
Speaker: There were some little environmental puzzles like put, ah make an alien stand on a pressure plate so it'll open a door for you. But I mean, it's like that. I mean, that's that's a puzzle. I mean, and honestly, right there. It's puzzling to me that we don't see more of that in real life. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: we would if If we took care of most of life's ills by maneuvering people into pressure plates, I think life would be a lot easier. Ben, do you think if we were like an adventure game duo in one of those sorts of games where you know you have to maneuver two people or even like a Banjo-Kazooie situation, do you think that we would work well together in that context or or are we not the ideal pairing for something like that?
Speaker: Jess, when when you see a couple, do you go up and say which of you is the banjo and which is of you is the kazooie? Yeah, and I waggle my eyebrows on that. You know what I'm talking about.
Speaker: Would we work? Here's the thing. I feel that if, if we like anyone like for a video game duo, like works because I just kind of see myself as like, I have the tall guy abilities, but okay since we've hung out together, I know that you are as tall as I am.
Speaker: Almost. I think you're a tiny bit taller. Yeah. So I should have the tall guy abilities. Yeah. yeah yeah Yeah. But you know, you can also probably get the fast guy abilities.
Speaker: I'm not that fast. Probably faster than me. yeah we We haven't had a foot race yet. Yeah. We didn't do that last time you were in town. I didn't challenge you. kept asking and you just like kept changing the subject, which I thought was weird. was like, Ben, hey, there's like a park. You want there and have a quick foot race? And you're like, no, I'm good. don't know. It just seemed weird. Yeah.
Speaker: All right. Well, we'll do that next time. what would All right. So then I'm fast and tall. Those are my two abilities. What would your two abilities be? Obviously strength. I'm the bra for, for like, you know, when we come up ah ah to like a jar.
Speaker: Oh, I can smash the jar. Okay. Well, I was just saying like, you know, twist off the cover. I was smashed the jar. I'm more of a smashy guy. And also I think seduction. Oh, seduction. Yeah. That's what I was going to say.
Speaker: Yeah. I think probably like smashing things and seduction, which is also sometimes involves smashing things. Yeah. Like, I'd smash that. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker: I'm going to seduce it now. knowing who is the Banjo and who is the Kazooie. Who is the Banjo and who is the Tooie. Yes, who's the Tooie. Who is the Diddy Kong and who is the Dixie Kong? Who is the Donkey Kong and who is 64? Yeah.
Speaker: ah So please, if you have insights on this, what, what video game duo are Ben and I please write into quest quest podcast at gmail.com.
Speaker: Yeah. Which of us. No. um Ben, what have you been playing? Jess, as you may have seen, is is some of if if you follow me on social media or you saw me post this in the Discord, I have recently obtained... ah I am now the owner of a pinball machine.
Speaker: Oh. That's why I've been playing. i So my family has... a tradition for your 40th birthday. You get a pinball machine.
Speaker: When my dad was 40, he got a pinball machine. When my sister was 40, she got a pinball machine. When one of my brothers was 40, he got a pinball machine. Another one of my brothers got his accent. He wanted well he wanted an arcade cab. so Yeah, I mean, it's like the pinball game of arcade cabinets.
Speaker: good um and then And then it came to me, and I was accidentally added to that group chat. ah and They're like, do we know if Ben and like if ben is in a situation where he could take a pinball machine?
Speaker: And I like responded, shouldn't be on this ah text thread. But also, yes, I'm expecting a pinball. Ben, I have to say, this pinball machine is amazing. Yeah, so so this is really exciting. So they didn't tell me what it was. i was just given a date.
Speaker: It was, I was told that my ah sister and oldest brother would arrive yesterday with a professional pinball mover and installer.
Speaker: Oh man, this is amazing. um Who surprisingly I didn't know. And I know most pinball people in Chicago, but I didn't know this guy. And, um...
Speaker: So I was given a general year. i would say like 87 or 88. and um And so I had one solid guess.
Speaker: And ah based off of that, and i said I said to everybody, I was like, but it won't be taxi. Because i i don't I don't think, I think taxis a little will be a little too hard. It might be a little too expensive. I don't i don't think they'll, i most people don't like to part with their taxis. Taxi is a ah pretty popular a pinball game.
Speaker: Not associated with the popular television series, correct? Not associated with the popular television series. And lo and behold, yesterday, so my like before they the the guy arrived to dolly like mechanical dolly it up the like back deck steps. Salvador dolly it up. Yeah.
Speaker: Um... uh uh they were like so what's your guess and i said i'm absolutely sure it is the game cyclone and they look at me they go it's not cyclone i go well that's funny you know my next guess would have been like the other big game from that year was taxi but you didn't get me taxi and they look at me and they go we got you taxi and i was thrilled this taxi kicks ass uh taxi is I believe from 1988. It's an incredible, very fun, very difficult game, which is what I wanted. I like i was like, I want something, is if you get a ah pinball machine and if if if it's not particularly difficult, you can kind of
Speaker: burn yourself like you could see everything yeah yeah too much of a challenge for for this thing that costs you know that takes up a lot space and is expensive so i wanted something that would really challenge me that i would always have have to go back to because i i want to do better um and could you speak to the narrative of this game the narrative of taxi is that you're a taxi driver and you have to pick up uh mikhail gorbachev ah The pin bot, who's a character from another pinball machine.
Speaker: ah Dracula. um Lola, who is a legally distinct version of Marilyn Monroe, who definitely is just not the drawing of Marilyn Monroe that the earlier versions of Taxi had just changed.
Speaker: messily drawn into a brunette she looks like if stockard channing were going to a halloween party dressed as marilyn monroe but lost her wig yeah and then uh uh finally of course santa claus he's wearing like a double-breasted santa claus coat which is interesting and And so you ah you have to pick them all up. They each have a ah separate shot on the play field.
Speaker: When you pick all of them up, then you have to take this one other shot, which will give you... a big jackpot ah that accumulates over all their plays where you are not picking up every single a person into your cab and getting the jackpot, which it's it's it's such a pain in the ass. And it's generally something you have to do in one ball.
Speaker: You can sometimes carry over the passengers you pick up, but generally when you finish a ball, all of your your progress is wiped. So you have to pick up all five of of these people and then hit this narrow shot to get the jackpot in a limited amount of time.
Speaker: to to get it. It is, it's fast. It's very difficult. ah You have to have really high previs precision aim for some of the shots.
Speaker: It's, it's a lot of fun and it has it like beautiful art. It has art from the, this guy, ah Python Angelo, who was a very distinctive artist that worked for Williams. He did the art for Joust.
Speaker: and bubbles the arcade cabinets, but then he also did the the art for a bunch of other games that are quite beautiful. And he also, ah ah there is also a prototype of ah his of a game that he created in, i think, 1995 or six called Zingy Bingy, and it's sex-themed.
Speaker: oh that's what i call sex so that's good that's what he called sex um i'm not kidding and uh uh the ah the the flippers are penises oh and the fingers are boobs i that would hurt like to play pinball with like a ding dang dong He was, you know, he was just very, art are are you know, he was artistically inclined. Exactly. He was an artistically inclined gentleman.
Speaker: ah You know, i have to ask Ben, is it fair to say based on this back glass art, that Are you, as the taxi driver, you seem to be a Vietnam veteran?
Speaker: I guess so. Or maybe you're too old for that. He's gray in 1988. eighty eight No, no. I think that's because what? You'd be like 18 and you could be deployed in 1971. He seems to be wearing like a red beret yeah and a ah and a camouflage jacket.
Speaker: Yeah. and seems to have seen some things yeah well you know it's uh but but he's hardened enough that he can drive around the the the soviet premier one of the most powerful one of the most powerful people on the planet at that who's wearing a hammer and sickle tie Yeah, well, that's how people know. other like Are you telling me that there's something else distinctive and and identifiable about Mikhail Gorbachev? guess that's it. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't know who it was supposed to represent. Now, also, I appreciate that this this game recognizes the MIA POW movement as well, which a lot of a lot of games aren't brave enough to take a stance on. Yeah.
Speaker: he's got He's got three pins, m i a MIA POW pin, a taxi driver union pin, and I think a say no to drugs pin. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: No, I respect that this guy takes a stand on lots of things. but And, you know, despite his his opinions and and, you know, and his feelings about communism, you know, he will be a professional to Gorbachev.
Speaker: I really appreciate that the jackpot ah meter is basically the taxi meter. Like yes it is uses that for the scoreboard, which is a really nice feature.
Speaker: There's a lot of, the more I've been looking at it, and that's the the thing with any game that he worked on particularly, like, They're all very distinctive. He made this game that's not a lot of fun to play, but it is gorgeous, called ah Bad Cats.
Speaker: e And there might be people listening who are like, Ben, it is a lot of fun to play. it And to that I say, it's a game with incredible theme, really fun music, and a very fun a thing where you shoot a shot and it goes, meow, mi meow, meow, meow.
Speaker: And like that's obviously awesome. But as a game, it's not very fun to play. But, I mean, look at the art of Bad Cats. It's an absolutely gorgeous game. Like, and you know.
Speaker: Oh yeah. Is that just spelled like it sounds no Z's or anything like that? Bad cats. And like when it begins, you get a voice that goes, bad cats. Oh man, that is, mean, that's a good looking game. And I think you can kind get the vibe. This might be the same artist. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. He's a, he's a, he's an intro. He was, he he was a very interesting character. Yeah, there's like a full-blown like Bengal tiger in this suburban backyard. Yeah.
Speaker: That's one of the bad cats. That may be the worst cat. Yeah, there's all sorts of bad cats and bad cats. and they're They're up to no good, I want to tell you. But speaking of those up to no good, there's ah trouble going on.
Speaker: At the opera in the present day of 1993, the baddest cat of all, Eric, the Phantom, has returned. Wait, the Phantom of the Opera?
Speaker: In Return of the Phantom. a game. Now, this kind of a request quest. I believe somebody asked recently,
Speaker: if if we were going to to play this or some of the other like contemporaneous, like early mid non Sierra LucasArts games.
Speaker: and And initially we said no. And yeah, we we said absolutely not. Don't tell us what the fuck to do. it's bad for our metrics. This is terrible for our metrics.
Speaker: No one's going to give a shit. But guess what? I'm delighted. I had a huge grin on my face the entire time that I was playing this. this is This is a game that i really enjoyed. i also do not think is a particularly good game. I think it is fascinating game that I think a lot of people would really enjoy.
Speaker: No, it is. I think it is. It's a bit of... of a silly fun we should have done this in october well i mean it's so spooky i was scared the whole time i was too you know ben i want just up front i think this is something i need to establish i have never seen the phantom of the opera oh i saw it on broadway oh wow i heard it played there for a while yeah it was yeah i i i saw it there and you know uh it's pretty good i guess i had to read the wikipedia entry on fam of the opera just to see you know how much of this game was drawn directly from it and uh so so give me give me a a a short synopsis of phantom of the opera or return of the phantom well a return of the phantom jess what what happens in this game just briefly
Speaker: You are a police investigator who shows up to the Paris Opera House in the present day of the early Because. Let's restlessly say 1993 one point. Yeah. They just straight up said. That's right. Because there are strange things afoot. ah There is, there are mysterious notes appearing that seem to be from some kind of person claiming to be the fan of the opera. That's not possible. He died over a century ago.
Speaker: um and their chandelier falls and crushes a bunch of people and you're on the case but it seems like they kind of talked and they're like but not that many people were were killed well there's one hilarious woman that was about to be killed and we don't know many people in addition to her anyway ah yeah so you're on the case to to sniff around this opera house and um and exclusively this opera house Are you telling me you don't go anywhere else?
Speaker: This is a locked door mystery. Not by necessity, just by choice, apparently. its It's a locked door mystery where every sequence begins with the the character in charge saying, I told everyone to go home, and so everyone did.
Speaker: yeah now and then Ben said, don't worry about it, Inspector. None of them were guilty. made sure... Let me foreshadow, Ben. You don't go anywhere.
Speaker: Yeah. During the course of the game, ah you travel back in time and you become Raoul from... fandom of the opera so you go any when now it sounds like ben is just riffing right now yeah but he absolutely is not this is the twist of the game that i had no idea was coming like i'm 45 minutes in so we're we're spoiling this whole game you're shitting me we're we're spoiling this whole game for you so right now spoiler this whole game is going to we're going to ruin this whole game uh uh and and
Speaker: ah But ah ah you know what? Maybe go and check it out because I recommend this game. I really do. I think we'll talk about why. i This is by no means a good adventure game. It barely rises the level of an average adventure game. Yeah. yeah Like, it is not going to become your favorite adventure game.
Speaker: But there is stuff to appreciate here that is so of the moment it was created that There's definitely some ambition here. as Big ambition.
Speaker: Yeah, like trying to offer a more mature take on the genre. I mean, which is hilarious to think about. It's like, you know this is coming out like the same time as Gabriel Knight, which is also an investigation. Oh, my God. This is the same year as Gabriel Knight. Yes.
Speaker: And Myst.
Speaker: Missed what? Missed the mark? I'd say so. Yeah. um Yeah, this. Yeah. I mean, a lot of people say that's the big three for 1993, though. it goes missed Gabriel Knight and then Return of the Phantom.
Speaker: Yeah. um So anyway. All right. I'll spoil it now. So while you're investigating. this this phantom there so in the present day in 1993 you i like you just stumble upon this other woman named Christine who seems familiar who seems similar to Christine Day from the original Phantom of the Opera over a hundred years ago in a lot of ways it's like the new adventures of old Christine it's like it's it's so much like the new adventures of old Christine
Speaker: Um, and, uh, the... ah And everyone's like, well, there there can't be anything related to that, even though ah like somebody named the Phantom has been leaving notes and the chandelier fell and your name is Raul and her name is Christine.
Speaker: ah And someone stole the Phantom's mask and did all this. But anyway, ah Christine is murdered at one in the game. And then as you're investigating it, you are pushed uh uh uh from the catwalk by the phantom plummeting to the stage which probably should have killed you yeah but and when you come to it's 1885 or one or whatever and uh you're you're back in time and you're raul from the original fan of the opera christine is christine day from the original fan of the opera and then essentially the events of fan of the opera happen
Speaker: yeah um And you, as Raul, chase the phantom who's ah you know hypnotized Christine away ah into ah like the the sewers.
Speaker: Then you can confront like you can confront him you you free her you confront him. confront him. kidnaps her. you' ah You chase him and confront him again. You have a fight and you plummet from the the the chandelier with him.
Speaker: And now we're going to talk about the ending because I have to talk about the ending. We're going to talk about the ending early. I don't know if anyone's ever done an ending like this before. We're going to, this is what we'll really discuss first is this ridiculous ending.
Speaker: is So you and the Phantom come crashing down and then you come to again. Oh, epilogue.
Speaker: ah ah And then you come to and you're back in the present day and Christine and the owner of the theater are there. From 1993, and you're like the chandelier, the phantom, all this stuff that happened in the first half of the game, they're like, we don't know what you're talking about. Raul, are you okay? You must have hit your head.
Speaker: And so it is revealed that ah none of the events of the the game happened. And so they leave. And then just as they leave, you see the shadow of the phantom and the horrible, his horrible laugh.
Speaker: Maybe he was, maybe he survived. or I think the implication is is that back in time, you fixed the time. or I think he actually he says this.
Speaker: yeah You fixed the timeline back in time. um oh yeah yeah, because ah ah yeah you check in the The first half of the game, there's a ah book on the Phantom of the Opera that you read and it says that he vanished. And then when you read the same book at the end of the the game, it's that Raul and the Phantom plummeted to their death.
Speaker: Yes. And Raul was a hero. But again, the phantom. So the events of the game still happened. Um, or did they, and so did somehow the phantom survived?
Speaker: Yeah. Because once you come back to the present, the whole inciting incident of things like the original chandelier falling and killing some theater goers and, all the stuff that began in the present day in 1983 that didn't happen either passed away yeah no i mean you basically bootstrapped yourself to a better present day it's but a better present christine day is still around in how though how he died a century ago ben just saying i saw him also he's like in a musical he's not a real person
Speaker: Well, first off, this is based off of the novel and not absolutely not the musical. The novel is public domain. Yes, he is wearing a very different mask. And at no point does he mention the music of the night.
Speaker: Not once. Which is weird for him. Yeah, he usually loves the music of the night. from what Yeah, the mask is all wrong. It looks like if you've seen like that era of the WWE where the Undertaker has like a broken nose and has to wear a stylized face mask to wrestle in, that's what the Phantom is wearing here rather than the classic Android and android Lloyd Webber who is a character from Futurama. I am Android Lloyd Webber.
Speaker: ah i i composed cats memories out of memories. exceeded error error.
Speaker: Bad cats. exceeded error error
Speaker: wow guess android lloyd weber is now my favorite futurama character that may or may not exist i feel like i feel like android lloyd weber is a joke that already exists it has to exist like a thousand you're gonna google that's gonna like 14 000 results um it it google immediately uh corrected there uh
Speaker: It's not a porn act. No, somebody just on the Comedy Bang Bang Reddit just wrote, Andrew Lloyd Webber. Anyone think that will become a character? Well, that's basically the level of thought put into my joke. And honestly, that's probably of the better comments right now on the Comedy Bang Bang Reddit. So that's not so bad. Paul of Tompkins has a very funny Andrew Lloyd Webber character. Yes, I know. Yes, okay. And then I'm looking on Facebook.
Speaker: There's a band. all the best jokes are. There's a band called Android Lloyd Webber. And their last, let's, their last ah ah post on Facebook, we'll note, i was in 2019. All right, well, just in case, trademark, trademark, trademark.
Speaker: I've just mailed this episode to myself, making it legally mine. Um, but, uh, anyway, it's, uh, not,
Speaker: i it, it, it, it's one of those like kind of ridiculous twist endings. It also, and I didn't write it down, so I'm sorry. Maybe I can pull it up on a long play. It also throws a quote at you.
Speaker: Oh, it does. What is the, I'm pulling up a quote. It throws, Which is, tim there's a couple touches in this game, which are, like, very, to me, hilariously, like, ah being important.
Speaker: Yes. like There was a moment at the end where I was like, am i is that being played for laughs? And then the quote's like, no, you just witnessed, like, a very serious adventure game. Yeah.
Speaker: Here's a quote. There's no such thing as chance, semicolon. And what to us seems merest accident springs from the deepest source of destiny.
Speaker: Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller, 1759 to 1805. That doesn't even seem terribly apropos. I was trying to, like, i was just staring at it and just going like, what the fuck does this mean?
Speaker: but You might as well put that at the end of King's Quest six. I mean, it could just like, yeah, there, there was, I guess some deaths. And when, and when ah the shadow, now that I'm scrubbing over the the long play, when the shadow of ah the phantom appears behind Raul at the end, there's ah literally a a subtitle that appears at the bottom that says, or is he? Yes, yes, yes, yes. That's my favorite part. It literally has like the, the, or is he ending it? I mean, it is as much of the like,
Speaker: it was all a dream fake out. Yeah. this is You could possibly have the last, the ending has changed. You quickly thumb through the book once again, to make sure what kind of trick have the forces of destiny played on you realize now that you somehow managed to save the life of not only Christine day, but Christine Florent.
Speaker: And as for the phantom, he is gone forever. Or is he? yeah What's amazing too is like when you wake up, the dialogue is so It's basically everybody says like, my dear boy, we haven't had a phantom around here in over 100 years. Yeah. There's no phantom phantom.
Speaker: We don't have a phantom. We used to have a phantom, but he died in the 1880s. Yeah. like All right. Fine. there we Just one phantom. Yeah. 11 years after the Franco-Prussian war and you're going to bring up the phantom.
Speaker: Oh, Oh, man. Napoleon third. I'm realizing that I have to to put something away that I left out some foods I just had had the like, should I have to do this? So one second. All right.
Speaker: Ben, whatever you do, be sure to edit this part out. If you don't edit this part out, it'll stay in the episode and everyone will know that you had a food related break.
Speaker: You don't want that to happen. don't want people to judge you. Be sure to edit this out, Ben. i bet it would be easier to edit out if I'd left dead air here. But I've chosen not to.
Speaker: I've chosen to talk instead. I hope this ends up in the final episode. I'm to say something really funny now.
Speaker: Okay, I can't think of anything funny to say.
Speaker: But I'm still here, waiting on you to return. I'm looking your home right now.
Speaker: It's very warmly lit. It feels very cozy.
Speaker: I'm curious, you have a lot of things hanging on the wall. Are you a a command strip kind of guy, or are you more of like a nails in the wall kind of guy?
Speaker: As a homeowner, the privilege of being able to put nails in your own wall is really one of the best parts. I hope you're taking advantage of that.
Speaker: Wow, this is really taking a while.
Speaker: hope you haven't slipped and like spilled lasagna all over yourself. hope you're coming back. You're coming back. OK, now I act like haven't been talking.
Speaker: Hey, man, so silently sitting here. I'm so glad. um so glad i I remembered that was it pork chop time? No, no, no. It was just I rested some green beans with them. They came out so good. And I would have been so upset if I had to like if I discovered them.
Speaker: Mario, the worst. that's Unfortunately, city I got them within a couple hours. Anyway.
Speaker: All right. But anyway, i So yeah, that that ending is hilarious. It's really, like, it's ridiculous.
Speaker: um it's it's It's an enormous cliche. Yes, yes, yes, yes. And I think, you know, if you're if you're listening to this pod and you're like, I'm not going to play Return of the Phantom, so you do not care about that that that spoiler.
Speaker: Like, that's what the entire, that's the the tone of this game. Which is, The game takes itself, I think, deadly seriously.
Speaker: and it thinks it's way smarter than it is. oh it thinks it's very smart. And this is a B, this is a B movie of a game in a very entertaining way. It's, it's very clear that they do not. This is a micro pros adventure game. And it's clear that they do not have,
Speaker: the The resources that like a Sierra LucasArts might have, but they're going to try to make like they're trying to make as sophisticated and handsome looking a game as they possibly can.
Speaker: Yeah, to give this some historical context, it's Microprose's follow up to Rex Nebular, a game I can't imagine we will ever do an episode about. I actually played that when it released. I bought that in a store and under the promise from a gaming magazine that was like a mix of Space Quest and Leisure Suit Larry. And I said, why not?
Speaker: And I will say this game from I haven't played Rex Nebular in 30 plus years. As I remember it, this game was far more entertaining than Rex Nebular was, which was a big meh, big meh, forgettable.
Speaker: This one is at least is taking big swings. Rex Nebular is also a comedy, right? Well, I mean, it's supposed to be a comedy. yeah It is intended to be a comedy. Yeah. it's Again, I think this is like, I don't think there's a single thing in this that is intended to be funny. No, I don't. I was like, it's quite funny. Like,
Speaker: it's at that wonderful period like there's lots there's lots to enjoy about and lots of things that aren't unintentionally funny and not even in a mean way like this is bad just sort of like yeah this isn't quite working you have it's at that era where games are first starting to really play around with a lot of you know digitized actors and things like that and oftentimes you have weird lip syncing you have characters who are out of proportion with one another and like angles because they're all being filmed flat and digitized like that but then placed at angles and scenes like even the first bit with like the the ticket taker whatever in front of the theater is is a bizarre scene but uh
Speaker: By that same token, it has some really lovely rotoscoped animation. I think that like the walking animations look fantastic. And if you like walking animations, this game, ah it's it's a good thing. They spent so much time working on the walking animations because this whole game, as I said, takes place in a theater.
Speaker: ah Let's just say Raul got all of his steps in for that day. He does a lot of walking, slowly walking across screens, slowly walking. It's very clear.
Speaker: It is very clear. it is very clear that they ah realized that there was not a lot of game in this game.
Speaker: Yes. For instance, puzzles. there Yeah. hey The first hour has no... like bearre Like, the puzzles are just talk to people.
Speaker: Yes, or open door. Yeah, like, it's there's not really... like, ah ah puzzles, like, because I remember, like, playing it being like, am I supposed to do it? Like, things just kept progressing. You are picking up inventory?
Speaker: Which turns out to be completely useless in the first, like, chunk of the game. Yes. And not very useful in the last chunk of the game. ah But yeah, like, so the first half is there's no puzzling.
Speaker: And i i was like, they... absolutely had a freak out where they're like, there's no game in here. And we're like, we have to find ways to make this longer.
Speaker: And they came up with two. Yes. One, a tried and true solution to this problem. One of them is the tried and true, which is that they created a massive fuck you maze. Yes. Not quite of the Wayne's world caliber, no but yeah I mean, nothing that will ever beat that.
Speaker: but it's still a bad maze, which you can select easy or hard. And this is the only thing to my understanding that the difficulty option selects um easy it just gives you an easier maze and hard gives you a harder maze, which is very funny.
Speaker: finally, I think there might've been one other difference, but I'm not sure. um But ah yeah, so. I mean, Amaze, especially like two thirds through, like right before the ending, that's obviously, that's in a lot of games. That's that's the Space Quest five special. But I do think it's pretty novel to to like for them to be like, oh, this game needs to be like way longer. And somebody coming up with it's like, I've got an idea. What if the main character moved extremely slowly?
Speaker: And it's a game built around a lot of backtracking. Like if you've ever wanted to see a character slowly climb several flights of stairs with what is also a hilarious animation, he looks so defeated. Like his his shoulders are slouched as he walks up the staircase. He just looks like he'd rather be anywhere else. And it's like, oh, I've reached the the next the next flight of stairs. Oh, I need to go up one more floor. going have to come back down those in just a second once I speak to somebody. Yeah. I remember laughing when I realized it was going to show an animation of him going up all entire staircase. Yes. Instead of just us seeing three steps and then it just fading into the next screen. Because it takes forever. It takes so long. Because, I mean, it his yeah you aren't navigating them. You're literally just clicking, like, walk over here, basically. And then just sitting back and watching.
Speaker: It it's hilarious. And I mean, if the game really is. i mean, it's all set in this opera house. It's all just walking from one end of this opera house to the other back and forth a few times talking to a few people talking to the handful of characters there. Because once again, I have people only iterate.
Speaker: The, the stage, like the, the owner of the theater, both in the, the present day and the past are both like, I made sure everyone left.
Speaker: yeah And there's a ah point in the past where you get a ticket to, to the opera, like to watch it. um And you file, like you go up to a ticket window. No one else is there. There's no line. There's no one there. You just said, yeah.
Speaker: yeah And then you you walk to walk through the lobby up the stairs to your box, and there's no one in the lobby.
Speaker: oh there's a butler. Sorry. There's a butler in the lobby, ah or a butler, an usher, sorry, an usher in the lobby, and then um somebody that takes your ticket upstairs, but literally no one standing outside of the boxes, no one standing in the lobby, no one to watch it.
Speaker: When you sit down to watch the opera, you don't see anyone in attendance, but you hear applause. Yes, yes, yes. It's piped in through the Phantom's pipe or organ.
Speaker: It is like, it is this bizarre... um this bizarre thing that the the dialogue in the game is really, really, really funny. I have a couple things that I have selected ah from it.
Speaker: um I don't know if there's any anything for you, but it's like, so this is at the beginning of the game when you're discussing um the chandelier falling, the owner of the theater.
Speaker: Why? Why do you not see? This is precisely the same crime committed by the Phantom of the Opera in 1881. Someone is trying to make ah make us think that the Phantom has returned.
Speaker: Yeah. You know what? Return of the Phantom. Yeah. Got in there. That's branding. um Then... There is this dialogue that Raoul says to himself when he ah tumbles into the past. ah ah and And this just made me laugh so hard.
Speaker: What has happened to me? I've gone back in time somehow. And they say I'm Raoul de Chagny. This is bizarre. I must be dreaming. I'll pinch myself.
Speaker: Ouch. Well, I'm awake and I'm still here. Guess all I can do is work this thing out. Maybe catching the phantom is the key. All right.
Speaker: I'll go along with this. Whatever it is. Look out, Eric. That's the the name of the phantom. Look out, Eric. Monsieur, Phantom of the Opera. I've got your number.
Speaker: ah It's so good. It's just so good. And you know, that bit about pinching myself. Oh yeah. <unk> I'll pinch myself. Ouch. I guess like it that bit of dialogue in addition to just being and kind of, you know, inelegant, let's say. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: It also like answers a lot of questions that they anticipate the player has. Like, why would this guy play along and try to to to solve the Phantom of the Opera? Wouldn't he be a little more concerned about being in 1881? Like he like. That's how he's a lawman and they only care about solving mysteries and stopping madmen.
Speaker: Wouldn't he be like, I, you know, I kind of want to just go like pop my head outside and see what the world of 1881 looks like for a moment. Don't to see anything outside this opera house. Not in the least. Wander around the exactly the same, save a couple mild graphical. There's, oh my God, there's such a funny, this made me laugh so much.
Speaker: The.
Speaker: There's when you walk through the orchestra pit, there's, um you know, there's a, whatchamacallit, that holds the sheet music. Yes. And you look at it and it says, i they they're the the same ones. Like the design for these has not changed since the 19th century.
Speaker: And so, and then you go back in time. And so the scene fortunately gets to look exactly the same. And no one gets to be like, that's a 20th century music stand.
Speaker: Yes, we've already established. This is how they've always looked. It was established. It looks like that it over a hundred years ago. And there's an amazing bit when you travel to the past where you look at a lantern at one point and it says, this antique lantern is brand new.
Speaker: ah that was my favorite I have to go back to the pinching myself thing because it reminded it It summoned up a deep, deep adventure gaming memory. Ben, are you familiar at all with the Quest Probe adventure game series? No, no. like Okay, Quest Probe is a series of... Like a book? Yeah.
Speaker: it's No, it's licensed Marvel Comics adventure games by Scott Adams, not the Dilbert Scott Adams. rest in peace. Oh, yes. But we're talking about the other Scott Adams.
Speaker: In his game, The Hulk, ah which... Quest Probe featuring The Hulk. Quest Probe ah featuring The Hulk. There's this great scene at the beginning. You start out as Bruce Banner tied to a chair.
Speaker: and It's a graphic on your face. And then you like looking at a screenshot prompt. Yeah. And you type in bite lip. Oh, he says, I scream. scream.
Speaker: I'm the incredible Hulk TM. Now rope breaks hit return, please. that's ah That was what I thought. It's amazing. Ouch. I scream. I'm the incredible Hulk trademark. Now rope breaks.
Speaker: ah but ah is It isn't far past that level variety. I mean, it's just clear that the person who wrote this ambitious story loves history there's lots of interesting little historical details in this like was like what jess anyone uh from history show up well i mean are you uh a fan of art yeah i mean yeah yeah and you know ah late uh uh 19th century france a lot of really talented oh
Speaker: are be amazing worse name amazing i take god of the oh yeah Degas he's uh the the paintings of the the ballerinas yeah yeah I mean is his personal politics were abhorrent and horrible but of course but uh but uh you know he's one of those impressionists I guess um but well but why are you bringing up this completely irrelevant to the game uh thing Well, I mean, he appears. He is like painting a mural, I suppose, in the opera house in the past. And you actually get to meet Degas.
Speaker: Okay, well, that's cool. Like, does he, like, I mean, does it it explore, you know, like, if if you take a look at him on on Wikipedia, you know, he was supposedly like a, like a horrible misogynist and a virulent anti-Semite. Like, is that reflected in, in his character? Like as he shows up in this? Definitely not the latter. That doesn't come up, which is good. I don't know if that's a theme this game needed to tackle. it Yeah. i don't wear That might be little heavy for, maybe a little heavy for this game. The Phantom. Okay. Yeah.
Speaker: but but so But do they like glaze him then? Like do they they make him? Oh no, wouldn't say. I wouldn't want to celebrate someone who who holds such just such ah like important views. No, no, no. You don't have to worry about that. i don't think this game is really giving us like what I would think of as like an overly positive portrayal of Degas. Okay, well, that's good. So what what what do you like? So is he just like, oh, women, I hate him, but I am a great painter. No, well, not women so much, I guess. Women aren't really part of the story for a dead guy in this scene. um
Speaker: But, and definitely not hate. Like, don't know if you have this sound clip queued up, do you? What do you paint? Ballerinas. Young, female ballerinas.
Speaker: Plies, supple young female ballerinas. I have not seen any ballerinas around. I enjoy painting ballerinas, young, supple. It's very strange. Like, and I was Googling and, and, and like after, after that, I was just like, was he a ped, like, was he ah a pedophile? Like, is it like, because it's clear. That's what the game is going for that. it is trying to, and yeah,
Speaker: and And it's like, there's a lot of bad things about him. But that one I couldn't find collaborated by Wikipedia, at least. um and And some other stuff. like yeah Like, I was like, it's just like, what?
Speaker: You know, it would have been a great choice there. Oh, go ahead. Just not putting him in the game. No, because it, ah well, I mean, just, you know, you take it back in in time. Well, it's true. Like, does he, is he relevant to the plot at all? I'm sure he like gives you some advice or something.
Speaker: Does he what is this role? I was so he does absolutely. they say yeah it's it's It's absolutely i he is a character talk about comedy bang bang.
Speaker: ah He's Andy Daly's character Don DeMillo.
Speaker: that's that's That's who he is. like in if Listen, I'm not going to explain somebody else's joke. Look up dumb Don DeMillo. It's a very funny character. But essentially, it's the Degas character. It's like i like, like to paint the girls.
Speaker: Yes. And in the girls. Like, it is it is this bizarrely odd and concerning scene. And you're just like, why? like
Speaker: You know, Jess, I think you're onto something in that the game is trying to, you know, ah present itself as mature and in sophisticated. intellectual And so it's just like, okay, well, we'll have like this, this classy art character, but you know, we're not going to do it just, you know, like just to do it. We're going to make it edgy and make him suck.
Speaker: That's what I think. which he did Again, canonically. ah candding does suck yeah is is Do you say canonically if if it's someone as an actual person?
Speaker: Is there a canon of some of like their record of someone's life? Yes. Yes. What do you? Yeah. I mean, yes.
Speaker: Anyway. Yes. Okay, great. Yeah. But no, I mean, it
Speaker: it's such a bizarre choice and it is all in service of this idea that we are presenting you with like a literary adventure game that you even see it with things like and that kind of one of the things i appreciate most about it if i'm being completely honest it goes out of its way to kind of teach you some theater and opera terminology.
Speaker: Like you learn a lot about the different parts of a stage and catwalks and, you know, all the equipment that is used to stage a major production. And so the stagecraft that goes in bed, like it's playing with those ideas in a way that i think is actually kind of charming. And what I was thinking the whole time,
Speaker: And this is maybe a weird reach, and this could be just a product of I'm so Sierra brained at this point. I can't think through an adventure game in any other context.
Speaker: I was thinking how fun it would be to have a Lara Bo game in an opera house. Oh yeah, that would be a great, yeah I mean, Laura laura setting is perfect yeah in like a theater setting. Exactly. Would be such a obvious layup yeah for a third one, like mansion mystery, then museum mystery and then theater mystery. And then, yeah, like, I mean, yes, this game, you have an excuse to have a fun cast of characters. You have a ton of fun locations, places to hide stuff. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, we costumes. Costumes everywhere. There's costumes everywhere. Yeah. um like You could have fun with a classic theater um you know lore and people's superstitions and stuff like that.
Speaker: um You can you know make it FMV and shoot like and have your husband ah compose an opera. that's what that's what you want to do for something like this yeah you want if you could just like compose a quick opera to stage at the end of it you know that is that's kind of like the norm for these sorts of and that's why you know that's why this one comes up short it doesn't offer any original opera uh it it it teases it um but uh
Speaker: I mean, i think that's what... You know, this is something we were talking about last week with Kyrandia 2, right? Like, where... You know, to me, the greatest sin that Kyrandia 2, which I think is...
Speaker: inarguably the best Kyrandia game but I find the other two more interesting because they both reach really far in a way that the the second game doesn't it create it it has the crime of just being a competently made game how dare they yes um this is is is fascinating to me in the same way that the Kyrandia game like the one in three Kyrandias are in that it it reaches, it has a far reach. It has like, it, it wants to be the sophisticated like narrative and it in a very, because it's so earnest,
Speaker: this attempted sophistication gets to be really, really funny and entertaining. Yes. Um, you grade a little bit on ambition here at quest quest. yeah And this game is wildly ambitious far beyond It's, it's,
Speaker: what is it? It's grass extends beyond sure. Whatever that phrase is. Yeah. i mean, it is swinging for the fences and it's not getting out of the infield most of the time. No, I mean, it's, it's, it's a pop-up like it's caught.
Speaker: Not a runner at first after catching the pop-up. Yeah. like He left base and yeah, no, it, uh, yeah, this, it, but it's charming in the dumbest way. and I mean, there, there's some voice performances are really, really funny. Stilton strange. I have to I have to call out, of course, I always love in any of these games where they have ah a gay character.
Speaker: ah ah do You know, because they they're always written so delicately and sweetly.
Speaker: And but I mean, listen, you know, listen, the, the, the, the present day stage manager, ah Charles, um, uh, who's wearing a red ascot and they write, uh, parenthetical sniff at the end of his dialogue to indicate gayness.
Speaker: Um, is like, it is, it, I, Like, you know, it just makes me laugh because it's like, it's not done to be offensive. Like, it's not like he's not, you know, doing, it's just a someone was like, well,
Speaker: you know, it's a, it's a theater there. There's, there's often gay people around. So let's have a gay character. yeah He'll like, we'll have this kind of prissy guy the, the, the stage manager.
Speaker: And it's just, a it you know, it's like watching a, a pre-code movie where, you know, they couldn't possibly have a gay character, but they have a gay character. Yeah.
Speaker: Yes. Yes. Yes, I am Charles. And that was like his gay affectation is in inhaling through his nose nose intensely. Yes, I am Charles.
Speaker: like that checks out no no funny here is i mean it's not the scarecrow in tombstruck no that is that is a that is a mincing offensive stereotype that i i'm just kind of like all right fine whatever that's funny but uh something yeah I mean, as sometimes i just wonder, it's like, we need to differentiate our characters.
Speaker: What's an easy marker that this is a different guy than the guy who owns the theater. It's like, do you want to hear do an Italian accent? No. What can you do? and Yeah. I mean, yeah. um I so loved it. but Go ahead, please. I love Raul's character portrait with the pencil mustache and the purple bow tie.
Speaker: I think it's a it's a very, he looks like fucking Clark Gable or something. Like, it's such a funny, it's such just a funny drawing of someone.
Speaker: Because again, also, like, it uses these digitized actors, but only for for cut scenes. And they have very limited, like, animated, early animated GIF level ah motion. Yeah.
Speaker: And like the, the dialogue closeups are all just pixel art. Um, and everything looks kind of muddy and Amiga e which is interesting. It's not an Amiga game.
Speaker: No, but it has that brownish palette that we've come to associate with Amiga games. And maybe that's just because it's an old opera house and everything's brown and an old opera house. like It's very, it's like, were you intending on a 32 color version of this that you didn't have to change too much?
Speaker: Yeah, it definitely has that vibe. But I will say the palette switches up a little bit in the final scenes when you confront the Phantom and what I can only assume is like Shao Kahn's throne room from Mortal Kombat 2 with like bones and lava and all kinds. It gets really ridiculous there at the end. Like it it's like you've crossed over into the Netherrealm. Is there lava down there? i remember lava down there. There's like lots of redness. I mean, it's just a ridiculous... It does not seem like it is underneath this. Oh, there is like... yeah the there Is it blood? Is it lava? Is it... The... the Like...
Speaker: The coffin that like Christine or the sarcophagus that Christine is, is kept in is like kind of this like HR Giger. Like, yeah.
Speaker: I mean, is there HR Giger? There's skulls everywhere. There's like a bone throne at one point, I believe. Hashtag bone throne. Yeah. Hashtag bone throne.
Speaker: See if anyone's marketing a product called the Bone Throne, Ben, if you could, because I would like to also trademark that. Yeah. I'll just Google Bone Throne fun.
Speaker: what did What did you think of the back half of... Oh, no. but I'm sorry. Go ahead. What did you think of the back half of the game where there's there there are... So the first half of the game is literally like, walk here, talk to this person, pick up a couple of things that we've just kind of...
Speaker: okay like scattered across the screen because we know this genre involves picking up things but then like the the back i wouldn't even say half like the back third maybe even the back quarter has like a long tedious maze yes and then it has a couple puzzles that they were like uh i guess we should have puzzles It has a spider web that is so so powerful that a human adult can't manage to tear through it without the aid of a sword.
Speaker: There's the, the, the, uh, you have to spell the phantom's name. Yes. Yeah. You get, like you start getting into like some, what are the easiest to implement puzzles that will add one more room to this game? There is not.
Speaker: a mosaic puzzle that looked like it would be a mosaic puzzle i thought it would be sliding tiles and was like oh you gotta be ki but it's not it's much simpler is that it's just like a on a timer but can you die in the game did you did you know i didn't it keeps threatening to kill you you're in a room where you're doing a tile and fortunately it's rotating uh like so you just have to make the the phantom's mask and that is just where do you think he had that manufactured Oh, ah he made it himself. He's very skilled.
Speaker: but He does seem crafty. Yeah, he's crafty. um But like it throws a couple puzzles at you at the end. ah Like that are very like just like I guess we should have puzzles in here.
Speaker: Then there's like weird, like, did I understand this scene correctly? Like throughout this, uh, the game you're picking up like gliding gels. Like, you know, this is like ah a red gel to put over a stage light to create a red cast. Here's a yellow and here's a blue one.
Speaker: And there's, those are like a lot of what you're picking up in the first part of the game. You just found these scattered around. And I thought that there would be some sort of puzzle where you have to like, come or something yeah, it feels like it's going to be that. I mean, we've seen that in other games before. like When I was picking up those gels, I was putting together in my head, like, okay, well, I'll combine these two and we'll make this color. Yeah. because and And that way I'll be able to read like something that was written.
Speaker: Invisibly on the wall. It feels like it has to be where it's going. I was thinking like the curse of Monkey Island stage lighting puzzle. You know, it's like, oh, they're going to something like that only with color. It'll be, you know, that has to be where this is going.
Speaker: Am I like you eventually use it to convince a woman in the 1880s that you're actually from the future. It's just like you don't have and these these lighting gels here.
Speaker: So well that clearly I could not be from your time. So what it is is that in the future or in the present, you you pick up the gels. You go back in time.
Speaker: You don't have the gels anymore. So picking the gels up in the present day it serves no purpose. um ah Then when you pick up the gels again ah later on, then, yes, they're used as proofs.
Speaker: that you are from the future. And that's Well, well, future boy. it is literally, it's like, can you bring me three items from the future that you found? And it's just that you just wander around the the opera and pick up these three things, which aren't even particularly hidden.
Speaker: Like they're just kind of. There's literally in the middle of a floor. Yeah. Just like sitting there waiting to be found. It's such a strange game. It feels, do you think puzzles were removed from this? Do you think they never got around to putting in puzzles? Talking here, it
Speaker: It feels like... maybe they must've like run out of time or something. Yeah. Yeah. like it's like they were working on a design and then they finished building an opera house that the character could walk around and they're like, okay, I'm exhausted. One more month.
Speaker: Like that's what it feels like to me. Like it's like that they, they built out the opera house and they're like, okay, well then, you know, we'll have some other characters and stuff like that. I'm sorry. We'll get the numbers on Rex Nebula and we need to get this thing out quick. Yeah.
Speaker: um we don't have until quarter three anymore because it's just like there's there's it it just doesn't make sense no narratively it it game really was it it really feels like a game where they probably should have like It feels like there could easily be a lot more game here.
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, that would be, I think you could just do some like adventure game one on like one Oh one sort of stuff. Like I think yeah so if anything in there. Yeah.
Speaker: That's right. Yeah, I mean, there's there's items, there's locations, there's characters you could give things to. i mean, how hard is it to just have the, you know, the the stage manager guy say, Well, I'm not going to talk to you until you can bring me a cup of coffee.
Speaker: kind thing I mean, it's just like, it doesn't have to be fancy adventure game puzzles, but some sort of it really is the first 45 minutes to an hour is completely puzzle free.
Speaker: and it's only a two hour game but it's very it's kind of wild to think about it i mean we aren't even like puzzlement i think that long time listeners know ben and i like puzzles are usually the thing we like least about adventure games yeah it is it is absolutely bizarre it's a bizarre game but but That It's So Bizarre really is quite funny. Yes.
Speaker: um i But it is it is really, really, really, like, it it it is really, really funny.
Speaker: a Like, it's hard to recommend. Like, I think you have to be a sicko a little bit. Like, you have to be someone who's played every good adventure game.
Speaker: And now you're just like looking for something else. Like, I don't think you could give an earnest recommendation of this. I mean, i know there's somebody out there listening right now. It's like Return of the Phantom is my favorite game.
Speaker: It's the first adventure game I ever played. And we're on we're just here dunking on it. They're like, I named my son Raul. Yeah, specifically in reference to ruin Return of the Phantom. Not, yeah, not Phantom of the Opera. I hate that musical.
Speaker: Yeah, they're they're just like, I can't stand Android Lloyd Webber.
Speaker: Well, and it's also, it's like, it's it's similar to Robin Hood, which, you know, comes out around now too. i think yearre year, two years earlier. Like, you know, ah which it's like that that movie came out.
Speaker: And so it's just like, oh, well, everyone's into Robin Hood. Well, it's like, well, this this ah musical is ah ah quite, i ah is is quite pop you know,
Speaker: like quite popular and it's based on something that is public domain. There's a Phantom of the Opera pinball machine no from also based on the novel, I suspect. Yeah. It's also based on the novel. That's what I'm saying. It's like, there's, there's also a just came out.
Speaker: the last couple years there's a king kong pinball machine oh which is based on the novel yeah he can't be an ape in it that's the only thing he is a giant lizard in that version it you know it's an easy way to make something it's just like you know what this is actually public domain Yeah. I mean, nowadays you could have like King Kong, like wearing the Sherlock Holmes, deer stalker and having a pop and everything. And nobody can see you. You can be like, this is sure. I think the deer stalker might not might be.
Speaker: That could be because that's not established necessarily as part of the, the cannon, if you will. Yeah. Then yeah. How good would a cat's adventure game be? Oh, wonderful. Perfect. Cats is the only musical I've ever walked out of.
Speaker: wait wait Well, you know, we all walk out of it. mean, like before it was finished. With a song in your heart. Normally I enjoy them so much I pass out and have to be stretched out. you walk out of Cats?
Speaker: It was terrible, Ben. It was unbearable. You didn't it on Broadway? I saw a touring Broadway production of it. yeah they they they They put their junk there. yeah didn No, I mean, this is like, they they just came from like straight from Peoria. No, you gotta see it. I want to see the the production. It just ended its run, but you know, hopefully they'll, you know, tour it or something. the I want to see the original cut of the movie where the cat still had buttholes. But no, have you heard of the drag ball version?
Speaker: No, now you're... There's a version that was in New York recently called ah the Jellicle Ball. And it was a drag ball version of Cats. And everyone who's who saw it was like, this is... theyve They figured it out. they fixed That immediately fixes it for me. yeah and again Every problem with Cats.
Speaker: Yes, like the fact that it only has one song. It had several songs. I mean, it has several songs, only one that you would ever hear. They're Android.
Speaker: They're not. I saw cats on Broadway twice as a child and had a great time. I think it was from an era where we were just impressed with the idea that someone could maybe move in a cat-like way.
Speaker: And here in the 21st century, like I can just have AI generate that for me. This stuff. du dodoo Do, do. ah All right. Well, this has been our discussion of return of the phantom, a game that we both recommend, but yeah I spent, you know, about now we're talking about how flawed it is. Yes. but I mean, if you're listening to this podcast on the day of release, we are going to play it on adventure Tuesday tonight because like I knew right away playing it. I was like, Oh, we've got to stream this. This is so funny. This needs to reach a larger audience.
Speaker: Like I was, i when I played the back half of the game today, my, my boyfriend was, was watching and he was just having a blast watching it. Like, it's just, I think it's, again, i think it's because it takes itself so seriously and misses.
Speaker: It's not winking at any moment in the two hour run time. It is playing it straight down the middle in a kind of wonderful way. Yeah, it is.
Speaker: It is one big mess and a weirdly charming form. Yeah, we'll have to check out the other. um I do want to play Dragon's fear.
Speaker: yes, we'll have to. And I don't want to play Rex Nebular. Yeah. um Here we go. So Chris G, I have now found this is an email we received ah in ah June of June 27th.
Speaker: And Chris i asked it for us to play the Microprose games. Here we go. did we did it and we had a and i had a great time i played it like a lovely time playing this thank you uh for uh suggesting this we'll have to i mean i am now deeply curious about uh dragon sphere which i i think i've had for forever like just sitting on my do you know that this was like the lead programmer on this was brian reynolds the developer like the lead designer on civilization 2 and alpha century was trying to think why that name was familiar yeah i did not realize that like oh my gosh like a real all-timer strategy game designer like oh yeah corner swim yeah and Of course, he's about to make Civilization 2 one of the, you know, one of the most beloved, you know, DOS game. Well, it Civilization 2 DOS or was it? I think was still DOS, wasn't it? Because Civilization would have been like 90, 91, right?
Speaker: Surely it was still DOS. I'm going to. All right, hold on. It's 90. We can't get this wrong. We can't get this wrong. Dan is an avowed. Windows. Really? Windows game. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. um Oh, and that reminds me that the the game uh opens in such a funny way during the the opening cinematic it uh has credits in french oh i know which is so funny for a minute that i legally purchased the wrong version of it uh and was like oh no what a what a bummer and then haha to my surprise
Speaker: Yeah, it's just classy. I mean, again, that and the quote at the end is just, it's all you need to know about how seriously this game was taking itself. I mean, it is wanting you to be like, yes, finally, art that i can play.
Speaker: Just like the art of Degas, only in digital form. In pog form. All right. Well, it got us back in pog form. Well, thank you so much for joining us for another episode of quest quest, the adventure game podcast. i Email us a quest quest podcast at gmail.com rate and review. it helps people find the show and join us next week when
Speaker: we will be playing Space Quest 4.
Speaker: Okay, so Jess, you've obviously played Space Quest 4 a number of times. Yes. A number of times. Yes. Do you think the supercomputer is a maze, or do you understand how it's laid out?
Speaker: You know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah. I am not convinced its intent is to be amazed, but I have to tell you, I've probably played Space Quest 4 at least 20 times in my life, and I can't make heads or tails of that and never could.
