[AFGNCAAP]

Sorry for seemingly neglecting the playthrough. I've been having not only (predictably) busy offline life, but also (what I hadn't predicted) constant problems with the game. It began well enough, then started random crashes which were gradually becoming more and more frequent, eventually forcing me to save and reload every two minutes. Following the advice from one of the threads either here or on GOG, I ran it in a windowed mode, which eliminated the crashes. But then I encountered a game-stopping bug, apparently similar to the one stepurhan mentioned but in a different chapter, so just to be on a safe side, I've replayed everything from the beginning with the patch applied. Argh. Serves me right for questioning the bugginess of the game a couple of years ago.

But I am glad to see the discussion is going strong even after this brief introductory chapter. So, about The Tower Cell...

Believe nothing you hear, and only one-half that you see.
Edgar Allan Poe, The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether

What the...?The above quote, taken from one of the earliest examples of mental-asylum-based fiction, could be a motto for the game, as is evident from wild theorizing of the first-time players among us. For indeed: if our anonymous, faceless character isn't crazy, then how do we know that the other patients are, and who is in on the conspiracy that put him in this haunting place? And if he is insane, what else is also a part of his delusion? Either way, it seems we can't take anything for granted. But that, as Ozzie noted, this shouldn't stop us from enjoying the ride. Whatever is "real", we can always try to decipher the metaphors behind things we witness. And whatever the metaphor, we can always enjoy the clever way the stories overlap. Which brings me to...

Foreshadowing. Actually, from the start, one of my secretive plans regarding the playthrough was to list all the tiny connections between chapters we manage to find, including those subtle enough to be possibly accidental. However, because there are quite a few (though nowhere as dense as in the first chapter), I was taking notes intending to try to summarise them when we reach the foreshadowed part, if everyone's okay with that.

That's not to say you are not allowed to point them out whenever you see it fitting -- that's what the spoiler tags are for, after all. (And I fully intend to steal Step's and Fantasy's observations when applicable). I just want to avoid having big parts of the discussion being in whitespace if we almost definitely get back to them anyway.

I am hearing voices. It's a very interesting debate about acting, which I expect to get only more divisive in later stages.

Originally Posted by cbman

Sorry if i'm labouring a point but a question for those who criticize the voice acting for not sounding 'authentic' (by which I presume they mean naturalistic): would you make the same criticism if you went to see a performance of Shakespeare? Or indeed in one of those period dramas where the characters all talk ever so properly and in that strange stilted manner employed in such things. The realism there is zero but it gets accepted because its accepted as the style for that type of drama.

These are excellent points. I am reminded of the discussions about the way characters talked in The Village (I mean the Shyamalan's movie rather than a latter part of Sanitaium), which I thought was lovely and suited the context (even more so after one of the reveals), but everybody else lambasted.

That said, while I am certain much of the voicework here that rubs people the wrong way is due to very intentional writing and direction (like the "Diagnosis: crazy!" bit which I believe was supposed to grate, by contrast with all the gloom and insanity around; in the next chapter there'll be a very similar moment where our hero, amidst the very grim environment, will do something very childlike and laugh), the talent of the actors are also nowhere near, say, Blackstone Chronicles, comparable because also had a cast of characters with a loose grip on reality. As much as it pains me to admit it, because I remember pretty much loving Sanitarium's acting back when I originally played it.

Other things I'd like to reply to:

Originally Posted by harald

And in addition to that, you can't look at something more than once - as soon as you've used the look option, the "smart cursor" changes permanently into a hand. A minor thing, sure, and possibly one that won't affect the game (since you apparently can't skip a line of text that the game thinks you haven't heard yet ), but it irritates me.

Originally Posted by Jelena

Hrm, that's strange. I can look at things more than once. I'm playing the game on my trusty old Win95/98 machine, so there are no patches or XP issues that might have caused that problem for you.

No, I believe harald's right. You can only look more than once at hotspots that are not pickable/usable objects.

Originally Posted by harald

It looks like Prisoner of Ice. Which looked bad, I seem to remember.

Prisoner of Ice had infamously "squished" character models, but rather outstanding backgrounds (which made the characters all the uglier). Anyway, I love the look of both those games. I wonder if you'll be more keen on the graphics after you see all the varied environments in the game (although the tower was one of my favourites, so perhaps you won't).

How come I always have so much to say in these threads?

Oh come on. Playthroughs are not fun if we restrain from being talkative.

Originally Posted by Intense Degree

I agree with others that the control scheme and graphics will take a bit of getting used to for me. It kind of has the feel of direct control (although it isn't really) and an isometric screen (which it definitely isn't)

Interesting. Can you explain why it isn't both of those things? Because to me it's clearly direct control movement despite employing only a mouse (and I actually used it in at least one conversation as an example that mouse-based interface and direct control aren't mutually exclusive). Telltale has started using basically the same method recently (just with left click) as an alternative to keyboard and gamepad, and I had no doubt it is direct control, as well. And I have no idea why you wouldn't call the view isometric.


Finally, welcome to the new inmates members: aimless, AnneS, TheLongestJourney -- hope you all stick around.