Zeusthecat

Don't do it!! Harvest Moon is an amazing game and is one of my favorites of all time (I even gave an honorable mention to Magical Melody on the Favorite Game thread). And yeah, Farmville does not deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Harvest Moon.

Finished Resident Evil 5. I really enjoyed it but the story was unbearably stupid. This is the first Resident Evil I've played since the first one and this series has gotten fucking weird. Apparently Wesker is agent Smith from The Matrix. The game was definitely more funny than it was scary. Gameplay-wise this game was awesome though. The weapon and inventory system really clicked for me and most of the people I played with online were cool. I actually really liked some of the boss fights too. I normally hate boss fights but this game had a few good ones and they weren't overly frustrating. I've started a second playthrough to continue leveling up weapons and fucking up zombies. This is definitely one of the better co-op games I've played.

These are good life goals to have. My goal is to become close friends with a millionaire and then they will just give me lots of money because of how cool I am. If that doesn't work then hopefully this whole career thing gets me there.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll be quick to use hints for this one. I haven't made any progress just yet either; I got sidetracked finishing Resident Evil 5. I'll get some time in today and see how it goes.

Finished Maniac Mansion today. It was a cool fucking game.

So moving this right along, I am now starting Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders So far I have watched the intro scene and am right at the beginning (looking pretty cool so far). As with Maniac Mansion I would love to know how to avoid getting into an un-winnable state so feel free to post a few tips in that regard. And once again I plan to push through as much as I can without using hints (except of course for any hints related to getting into an un-winnable state).

Thanks for the exhaustive rundown, I'll eventually go back through and try the various paths especially considering how quickly it can be done with that upfront knowledge. I'm also glad others are getting some vicarious enjoyment out of this, I am having a blast and this is the next best thing to playing this game with someone else watching over my shoulder.

Maniac Mansion completed! Total play time was about 9.5 hours. Probably would have been several hours longer or more had I not used some of the hints you guys provided. I was happy to see that the assumptions I made about the last batch of hints was correct. Pool water made the plant grow which enabled me to reach the observatory. I used the dimes to move the telescope to a position where I could see the small text on the wall. That password got me into the safe where I found an envelope with a quarter. Since I missed out on the stamp (I only knew this thanks to the hints that were provided) I ignored the envelope and knew I needed to focus on the quarter. After that I went back to the living room and immediately found that I could 'open' the radio (again, thanks for the hint on the missing item in that room) and get the vacuum tube. I used that to fix the radio device thingy and saw that I could use that to call the meteor police using the number on the wanted poster. I reloaded my save from there after seeing that they expected the lab door to be open. Thanks to the hint about turning the power off, I came to the conclusion that that was the obvious way to fix the live wires up in the attic. Sure enough I was able to use the tools to fix them once the power was off. From there, my first thought was to try the arcades. I quickly discovered that the meteor arcade showed a list of high scores. I wrote them all down but none of those numbers ended up working on the lab door. After a couple minutes the game showed me a scene where the mad scientist dude was playing the arcade. So I promptly went back and saw there was a new high score on that machine. I wrote that number down and it ended up being the correct password for the lab door. The rest was easy. I called the meteor police to take the meteor, picked up the badge, and used the badge to get past the purple tentacle. Then in the next room that dickface scientist dude started the self destruct sequence. After quickly trying a few things I saw I could use that key card on the door and turned off the machine. Then the scientist dude stopped the self destruct sequence and apologized for everything. I guess the moral of the story is that I was a tuna head. Overall I thought this was a good game and I am very glad that I didn't skip it. The puzzles seemed pretty smart and logical for the most part and I do feel that I might have been able to eventually figure it all out had I spent as much time trying different things as I did in Monkey Island 2. Again, thanks for all the help and for recommending this game. Now I just need to obtain Zak Mckracken and I'll move on to that.

Awesome, this should get me further. I'm guessing, pool water in the jar, then use that on the plant, somehow that will get me to the hatch or give me another item... I haven't been quite as thorough with the living room. I got the key from the chandelier after using that tape and figured I was done with that room after I couldn't pick up the broken chandelier or interact with the couch or windows. Oh, wait... maybe I can get a vacuum tube from that radio to fix that other thing with Bernard. I haven't really bothered with that radio yet. Hmmmmm....

Sweet, thanks for the clarifications. As for the plant, I have tried several things on him and had him drink the Pepsi. I did notice the hatch above him earlier too. I'm guessing there is an item I don't have yet. Regarding the jar (and sponge), I have previously tried using it on the slime in the reactor room, the dried purple slime, and the slime in the pool. Every time I try to use it Dave becomes a little bitch and says it's too gross. It seems like the water faucets are the only other thing that I can use the jar on. But maybe that whole 'shutting off the power' thing will open up another possibility. If you are referring to the loose panel, I already got the item behind that early on (don't remember which item though). If there is something else though I will go back and look again. I swear I've scanned every pixel in that room though.

Last night I finally decided to start clicking on those spoiler tags. I feel pretty good about the progress I made on my own but at this point I'd rather not stay stuck for too long. The spoiler that ended up helping me move forward was the one about the grate out front. I'm glad I clicked on that one because after it had failed to 'open' previously I dismissed it. Turned out I needed to 'pull' it. Once I got down there I used the sponge on the developer fluid and drained the pool so I could get the glowing key and the radio. From the radio, I got that second set of batteries and put those in the flashlight; I'm still not sure what I need the flashlight for at this point since all of the lights are on in all the rooms. I found that the glowing key unlocked the two padlocks on the dungeon door and now it looks like I need to locate the password for the inner door. Finally, I put the developer fluid in the developer tray where I assume I will develop a picture. From here, I don't see a clear way to move forward. 1. It doesn't look like I have anything in my inventory that will work in the microwave besides the jar of water. 2. Still stuck. I haven't found anything that would work as a magnifying glass and don't have anything in my inventory for it. 3. I may have missed something here. I don't have anything in my inventory that has a stamp but I have sure as hell been looking for one.

I try to stay positive about it so I like to think that the crickets are eating all the smaller bugs. But the crickets are fucking annoying so those salamanders sound like a good idea. But then I'll have a salamander problem and I'll need to get some birds that eat salamanders. At that point I should be set because I already have cats that will eat the birds. I feel like the Citizen Kane of cricket killers.

I've been pondering that for two months now. I even put a towel under our door thinking they might be squeezing under it but I'm still fucking seeing them. Already killed 6 or 7 tonight. Constant cricket chirping in my ears. It won't stop. I'll kill every last one of them. I swear.

Every night I smash around 8-10 crickets on my kitchen floor. When the crickets first started showing up a couple months ago I found it challenging to smash them because they move fast and jump around. I'm pretty fucking good at it now though.

Fair point Argobot. I still feel there is a little bit of a difference because of the fact that with books everyone reads the exact same words and with movies everyone sees and hears the exact same thing. The fact that this isn't quite the case for video games just makes it register a little differently in my brain than the other two mediums. I see where you're coming from though especially considering the fact that the overarching narrative in a game will be the same for everyone. You've made a strong enough point that I don't feel I can argue against despite the fact that I see it a little differently. Well played. And yeah, I realize I am basically repeating what Twig said but I was already in the middle of writing it when his post came in so yeah. I liked the movie. Please don't tell anyone.

How did this site know I was really Bridget Fonda with a mustache?

I have felt the same way in the past where I thought I was burnt out on this game but it becomes amazingly fresh again after taking a couple months off. I've probably burnt out on Minecraft 4 or 5 times by now but every time I come back after taking a break I get sucked right back in. Not sure when you last played but they have added a shitload of stuff in the last year that is totally worth checking out.

You make a great point. To further enhance both of our points, I would add that almost every single example of a movie being made into a game or a game being made into a movie has turned out terrible compared to the original version. This ties into my point that games trying to tell the same type of story as a movie will rarely (if ever) be as good. I think this also ties into your point that games tell stories in a completely unique way that films can't replicate. I'm glad Super Mario Bros was brought up because that is such a perfect fucking example of how a good game experience just does not translate to film. I think I also struggle with the term 'story' as we are using it here to refer to what games do. To me games provide more of an experience (or maybe some better word than that) than a story. When I think of a story I think of a static thing that is well defined where things happen in a prescribed way. While there is some semblance of a 'story' in games where things happen in a prescribed way on the grand scale I feel that the interactive nature makes it something a little bit different. The fact that you can see or do things that other people won't necessarily see or do makes it a different thing in my mind.

Yeah, I pretty much did say that but I didn't mean for it to come out that way. To clarify, I don't think games can tell good stories in the same way as books or movies but I definitely do think great stories can be born out of gameplay that are wholly different from the types of stories in those other mediums. I pretty much agree with what you (Argobot) said in your previous post about well implemented mechanics going a long way towards making a story better. But if a game story tries to follow the same structure as a book or movie I don't think it would be as good as the book or movie version would be.

I mostly agree with this but I generally tend to lean a little bit more towards I Saw Dasein's perspective in regards to narrative versus gameplay. While some games are more about the story I think the fact that we are calling them 'games' kind of does imply that that is what it is first and foremost. I personally don't have much of an issue with the way games tell stories. If I want a particularly deep or meaningful story there are books and movies that deliver on that front. Video games with stories have to walk a fine line where they need to provide enough interaction to be a 'game' while also trying to make sure that the interaction that is there fits within the context of the narrative and restricts the player enough so that the story still works. Too much interaction (i.e. game-y stuff) and the narrative suffers. Too little interaction and it is like a series of cutscenes. Because of these considerations I just don't expect as much from a video game story as I would from a book or movie because I would rather have stronger gameplay that negatively impacts the story than a stronger story that negatively impacts the gameplay. I'm sure there are some games that do all this shit right but hell, even Bioshock had all that game-y stuff that, in some cases, probably held the story back just a little bit.

I haven't been here long and already wish I could delete some of my stupid posts. It all seems fine in the heat of the moment and then later I find myself wondering what the fuck I was thinking. Actually, now that I think about it, this happens with almost every single post including this one. Fuck, I'm going to regret this.

Oh yeah, I don't think I mentioned in any of my other posts that I am still looking for a vacuum tube (I think?) so Bernard can fix the radio. I am experiencing similar confusion. I've come to the conclusion that several of the areas (the pool and the room with the easel to name a couple) don't come into play with the combination of characters I have.

Well said. I think my mindset is very similar to what Nick described on the cast about how kids are more tolerant of the boring shit in a game. For some reason I still have a very high tolerance for that kind of stuff and it just doesn't bother me that much. I guess you could say I am a man with a baby brain. But I still like to think that repetitive actions can mean something and add to a game if done right.

It is interesting how often narrative differs from reality. In my life narrative I am engaging in the same activities over and over for years. Then maybe a few things happen and the process repeats. From that perspective I don't mind a game that has a narrative where the protagonist engages in the same activities over and over. I like it because it is more reflective of life in general. But that's just me and I could be retarded.

I definitely missed the package. I saw it delivered but just assumed it was a random story moment and continued on with whatever I was doing. Oops.