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Old 01-22-2006, 12:50 PM   #14
After a brisk nap
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Day 1

OK, I played Day 1. Some general comments on the game first.

5DAS has been released in many different versions. Later editions improved the interface, added sound effects and music, and other little Easter Eggs. The version off Yahtzee's website is the most up-to-date. I'm playing the SE, with a "director's commentary". To get it, donate $5 or more to Yahtzee. If you like the game, it's well worth it.

The graphics are quite simple, but to my mind adequate. The characters and the animation is really pretty good, in an early-LucasArts kind of way. The backgrounds, however, are relatively boring. All the rooms are based on the same basic template, and it shows. No variation in perspective or composition. It makes the graphics seem more primitive than they really are, more AGI than VGA. Some animation in the driving screen would have made a big difference. However, the title screen is suitably dramatic.

The interface is annoying, even in its present, improved version. AGS comes with a standard interface that is less clumsy than this, so I don't understand the design thinking that went into it. Of course, you have to experiment in order to improve, but in my opinion it should have been abandoned during development.


OK, so playing the game...

The best thing about the intro is that it's so short. I really respect a setup that doesn't waste time, but just gets down to the business of actually playing the game. Some games (both commercial and home-made) are made in the belief that the longer the cut-scene at the start, the better. Yahtzee here shows that he's an effective storyteller, laying out the bare necessities of the backstory in a short voiceover.

I like that we only see Trilby in shadows and silhouette at this point. Along with his mask, this means we've already started to get to know him by the time we see his face. (By the way, his face mask in reminiscent of Rorschack in Watchmen. In the commentary, Yahtzee mentions that he was inspired by League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, another comic by Alan Moore, so I don't think this was a coincidence.) Once we do get to see him, though... what's up with that hair cut?!

The atmospheric sound effects are one of the great elements of this game. They are extremely creepy. I think that dramatically speaking, it would have worked better if they appeared later in the game (and I think they do get more pronounced), but the creaky footsteps already in the first room definitely help set the horror tone. Players accustomed to modern commercial games may feel a bit put off by the lack of spoken voices. I find that you get used to it quickly, but then I play a lot of old games and home-made games.

Day 1 is slow. Some might find it dull... and, well, it would be hard to argue with them. There is very little to do, but you have to walk around the whole house and property. Also, the rooms are so sparse that it's difficult to imagine how there can be five days' worth of gameplay in this house. I think this serves a couple of purposes:
  1. The player gets to explore most of the setting where 5DAS takes place, and can move around with confidence for the rest of the game.
  2. Starting out with mundane gameplay creates a slow build-up in the horror stakes.
I'm not sure it pays off, though. Especially when finding all the different inhabitants of the house is so unreasonably difficult. It took me about half an hour to play through Day 1 (with the commentary on, but admittedly rushing through the conversations), but I remember the first time I played it I must have walked around the house a dozen times before I located that miserable little kid.

This brings me to a pet peeve: disappearing characters. Given the layout of the house, the way characters suddenly are nowhere to be found (AJ after he runs away, Philip after you talk to him in the room with the fireplace) stretches my suspension of disbelief. There's no way they would be able to evade me as I walk through all the rooms! It makes puzzles about finding people seem unfair. A Virtual Theatre-like system to keep track of each character's whereabouts at all times would be greatly appreciated here.

I don't find any of the other characters at all appealing so far. Trilby is the only one who is remotely likeable.

What about the story? The "people stuck inside a haunted house" concept has been done a thousand times, but I prefer to think of it as "classic" rather than cliché. Yahtzee includes tributes to a number of well-known instances, like the "Day X" intertitles inspired by The Shining (and still remarkably effective here). I think in the end 5DAS is a competent telling of this well-worn story, but we can discuss that when the game is over.

The cut-scene just before the first breakpoint uses a hoary old horror-film device: the scary scene that turns out to be a nightmare, but I was not expecting it when I first played, and it startled me quite a bit. The high point of the first playable segment. Fortunately, there'll be more scares in the rest of the game.

Things to do in Day 1:
  • Pick up and read the newspaper
  • Turn on the television
  • Read the article you get from Philip
  • Look at the doors
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Last edited by After a brisk nap; 01-22-2006 at 03:19 PM.
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