[cardician]

So I got Scratches last night and have already played through it. Just thought I'd post my thoughts, even though there is already an excellent review of the game.

Overall, I thought the game did a very good job of presenting a good spooky atmosphere throughout. The story was interesting, albeit quite simple. Most of the puzzles weren't too bad, though a few were pretty obscure. The 15 hour playtime of the review is not very accurate, unless of course you spend literally hours on each puzzle. Some of the obscure ones may take a bit, but I still managed to beat the game in one night (granted it was a pretty long night, but still maybe eight hours at most).

My biggest complaint with the game is that the story creates more questions than it answers. That kind of thing really ticks me off. I like resolution and completion. I like all the puzzles and holes in the plot to be wrapped up and filled. I don't believe that happened very well at all. As the ending cinematic played, I was still wondering what and why a lot of stuff had happened in the game. They do end it in such a way as to leave open the possibility for a sequel though, so perhaps that has a little something to do with it. But some of the things that occur during the game I had no idea by the end of the game why they had happened.

Really thats my biggest gripe. Overall I'd say its a good game, and I don't even tend to like first person adventure games. For only $20, its really not too shabby. And for a game created by three guys, its rather inspiring. I'm open for questions and hints if anyone wants them.

[Snatcher42]

As the topic says, massive spoilers, so leave now if you haven't finished the game!

Ok, I stayed up all night completing Scratches (finished right now, just shy of 6am) and I wanted to discuss your takes on the ending. Here's mine:

James and Catherine's son, Robin, turned out to be some sort of freak. So as to avoid the shame of this, Catherine and Dr. Milton locked Robin up in the lair beneath the house and faked his death. James believed his son to be dead and was too engrossed with his African occult obsession to realize the truth until it was too late. That occured when at some point, presumably while visiting or bringing food to her son, Catherine got her throat "ripped" open by the increasingly feral child. Mr. Blackwood found his dead wife and learned the truth of the deception. He and Dr. Milton tried to continue the ruse, but the strain was too great on James' heart and he died a few years later (it is he in the crypt). That left Dr. Milton to take care of Robin, which he did for many years until the strain on his psyche was just too much and he either ran away or fell victim to the grown boy's cannibalism (which do you think it was?).

That's how I see it, at least. The most telling documents are the notes in the locked desk drawer in the study, and Milton's last journal in the living room. Do you guys have anything to add, subtract, or modify?

This premise reminds me in many ways of the classic Stewart Gordon film, Castle Freak. Also shades of HP Lovecraft and House by the Cemetery by Lucio Fulci (both of whom are thanked in the credits).

Now, I have a question about the whole African tribe / mask / evil spirit thing. Was that just a red herring? Was it merely James' obsession and all only in his head? Or did the "curse" have something to do with Robin's condition? It seems like a lot of this game was misdirection. It stands in contrast to the otherwise similar Dark Fall, where everything was connected.

BTW, loved the game. It actually scared me two or three times - an extraordinary thing given my diet of horror flicks. Moments I recall vividly include the second dream where you open the door and see the mask, and the glimpse of Robin through the boiler shortly thereafter. Yikes!

Thanks for reading, and interested to hear what you think!

[bysmitty]

I just finished the game about 10 minutes ago and had to rush online to discuss the ending too. Thx for starting the thread for me. I think your take on it is spot on Snatcher, though James's knowledge of Robin's fate was never really fleshed out. My take on that is that he always knew all along that his son was alive and still in the house; he just chose to believe him dead. I don’t think it was ever explained along with whatever happened to Dr. Milton. I would have like to stuble onto an extra body or something (damn, that sound really morbid) to give Milton's story some closure.

As for the African Tribe and the mask... I personally think that it had nothing to do with the events that unfolded at the house. I think this mainly since we never really experienced any paranormal events during our stay there. Also, James never gave use much knowledge of "the curse" and the only evidence he presented was what happened to his son. If Agustin meant this to be a true haunted house story he could have added many more 'events' that would have pointed to the supernatural. Really, the only thing that didn't take place in the realm of believability was the sequence where the mask appeared behind us, which was clearly a dream sequence anyways. I think the African story was more presented to scare the player as he or she is uncovering all these clues and to give motive for James's madness. I don't think it had any effect on the house though.

How about our protagonist's reaction to finding Robin? I guess I was surprised he just up and left since, really, Robin is the true victim in all of this. The boy was born disfigured, is locked away in the basement for his entire life, and is eventually abandoned and forced to fend for himself. I'm kinda' torn that Michael just left him there to continue his miserable life instead of telling the authorities or trying to get some help to him. I know at this stage Robin is beyond all form of help but I would have preferred some kind of different reaction since, as the story is told, he is the victim.

All things considered though; Fantastic game! There goes my entire Saturday down the tubes and I don't regret a moment of it. The graphics were beautiful, the engine was solid (though I had one crash to the desktop), the music was fitting, and the atmosphere was so thick, you could jab it with a stick. Most of all, the story was gripping, rich, and had me guessing until the final minutes. Bravo Agustin!

Now, if you don't mind, I have to go have nightmares about crawling around in furnaces.

...bysmitty

edit: Also, while I'm ranting on about this game, I want to take a second and applaud the intangibles. Things like a real live jewel case with full printed inserts! A full length pc game with beautiful graphics that was able to ship on ONE SINGLE CD instead of swapping in and out CDs for a half hour to install and then finding the game is eating up 4 gigs of disk space. And something that I really appreciate... a game that doesn't require the CD to play making it easy as pie to jump in and out of the game as mood fits (though I never had the urge to jump out from start to finish ). Even down to the developer's note in the manual that they deliberately made the game as unobtrusive to the system as possible. I can't being to describe what an accomplishment it is to create a game that installs to the game directory, a few .dlls to the system folder, and a very minor registry edit for the uninstaller. In the day and age where putting a music CD into your computer installs files deep within your system, Necleosys should get an award for being so thoughtful in their programming.

[bysmitty]

So I got Scratches last night and have already played through it. Just thought I'd post my thoughts, even though there is already an excellent review of the game.

Overall, I thought the game did a very good job of presenting a good spooky atmosphere throughout. The story was interesting, albeit quite simple. Most of the puzzles weren't too bad, though a few were pretty obscure. The 15 hour playtime of the review is not very accurate, unless of course you spend literally hours on each puzzle. Some of the obscure ones may take a bit, but I still managed to beat the game in one night (granted it was a pretty long night, but still maybe eight hours at most).

My biggest complaint with the game is that the story creates more questions than it answers. That kind of thing really ticks me off. I like resolution and completion. I like all the puzzles and holes in the plot to be wrapped up and filled. I don't believe that happened very well at all. As the ending cinematic played, I was still wondering what and why a lot of stuff had happened in the game. They do end it in such a way as to leave open the possibility for a sequel though, so perhaps that has a little something to do with it. But some of the things that occur during the game I had no idea by the end of the game why they had happened.

Really thats my biggest gripe. Overall I'd say its a good game, and I don't even tend to like first person adventure games. For only $20, its really not too shabby. And for a game created by three guys, its rather inspiring. I'm open for questions and hints if anyone wants them.

Darn, we got two Scratches ending threads at once. Anyways, look to this thread for Snatcher's take on the ending and my own. (Good call on the merge mods) I know that there wasn't much in the way of definitive resolutions but I have a feeling that Agustin did that on purpose to get us bums online discussing the ending. I agree, I would say about 8 hours of game play with only one really obscure puzzle. Thank god for Matgro's walkthrough or I would have never figured out the numeric combination to the box in the desk. Great game, I have never been filled with such video game dread as having to crawl into that claustrophobic furnace.

...bysmitty

[Snatcher42]

Agree with everything you said, bysmitty, expect James' knowledge of events. If he knew all along, why would Dr. Milton be talking so secretively to Catherine in the note in the locked desk drawer? He even basically warns Catherine not to let James ever find out, probably assuming his mental state is fragile enough already (as the African obsession illustrates).

Oh and, re: finding another body... I suspect that the bones on Robin's table may be all that remains of Dr. Milton.

My only gripe with the game was that I had to resort to a walkthrough a few times because I had missed picking up some very basic items (e.g. paint can lid, etc.). The house is large and detailed, so it's easy to miss something small and keep wandering in circles thinking you haven't understood some important clue.

Robin's appearance at the end reminded me of the description of those tribes-people... and given that this a Lovecraft inspired story and that it's mentioned in the African notes, I wonder if incest and inbreeding was a subtext here. Or even if the curse was a metaphor for that, a la House of Usher. Very interesting game!

[rtrooney]

I knew I might find a spoiler, obviously, because of the thread title, but was more looking at how people might view the ending than anything else.

Was looking forward to buying/playing the game. But if there is such an unsatisfactory/unresolved conclusion to same, as there has been in several other AGs, I'm not sure I want to spend the bucks.

That's too bad, because I was looking forward to it. And the local Best Buy just got the shipment.

[Snatcher42]

I think it's an excellent ending. It makes ya think. Any loose ends are deliberate, and not due to sloppy writing/design. I recommend the game, rtrooney - it's fun, beautiful, and very very scary.

[bysmitty]

Originally Posted by Snatcher42

I think it's an excellent ending. It makes ya think. Any loose ends are deliberate, and not due to sloppy writing/design. I recommend the game, rtrooney - it's fun, beautiful, and very very scary.

Ditto.

...bysmitty

[AssaultPenguin00]

I too finished Scratches over the weekend. What a game! I'm a huge Boakes fan so I was glad to see a game of the same nature pulled off so well (not to mention with Boakes himself as a featured actor).

My theory, although extremely similar, differs slightly. I think James is still alive. In the master bedroom safe there was a note from the bank explaining how the loan for the 2nd floor had gone through. At the bottom of the notice was the bank's phone number. If you called the number, you could pretend to be a few of the other characters found within Scratches and get a little bit of information from the bank's phone operator. Through this, you learn that Jame's account is still active.

In the secret room, it is very obvious that someone is still feeding poor Robin due to the amount of blood and food scraps leading from the window. I think that James felt that his son was evil apon birth and maybe wanted to abandon the child. Perhaps he though that Robin was dead, but the note found in the desk makes it very clear that Catherine and Dr. Milton were up to something. Saving the child is the only think I can think of explaining that.

I agree with you that Catherine must have been killed by the child. I think the African tribe was just a distraction as bysmitty had said. By doing the math, Robin would have been about a year old when James began to hear the scratches and began suspecting the curse was growing. This would account for that as he would have been more and more active as the years went by if he survived. James must have learned the truth about the child when Catherine was killed.

This raises three questions. Who does the body in the crypt belong to, where is James now if he is alive, and what happened to Dr. Milton? Is it possible that James (who was already on the brink of insanity) went mad and killed Dr. Milton for the secret he had been keeping and that is who is in Catherine's tomb?

[Snatcher42]

Yeah, I've thought about that bank conversation also. But I'm not sure. If James had wanted to kill the child and Catherine and Dr. Milton had hidden him to keep him alive, why would James start feeding and taking care of Robin now? It seems more likely that if anyone is still around, it's Milton. But I don't know why he would have disappeared then. Also, the body in the crypt is too decomposed to be the Dr, I think.

On Gameboomers someone asked, "Who was dropping the raw meat through the window to the underground lair to feed Robin?" I said, "I assume that was Dr. Milton's "job" until his disappearance/death. What year was that supposed to be again? Because the eviction notice Michael gets tells us that the game takes place in 1976 - probably only a year or two later. Robin could have possibly survived this long on bits of Milton's body, as well as animals he snatched as they passed by the window. Still, though, you're right - that issue is a bit foggy. Hunger was probably a big motivation for Robin to start clawing his way out (the titular "scratches" sound)."

[AssaultPenguin00]

I agree it's a bit foggy. :p

The bank conversation is pretty solid proof that James is still alive though. No one else would be able to access his account. The events in Africa began in either 1959 or 1960. Robin was born in 61. James and Catherine both died (at least Catherine died for a fact) in 1963. Like you said, Michael arrives in 1976. That leaves 13 years that the house stood vacant. While I truly doubt that James would have killed Milton regardless of what happened, 13 years would have been plenty of time for the body to end up in that shape. But, like I said, I really doubt he murdered the doctor.

I also remembered evidence that counters my idea of Robin causing noises to give James the feeling the house was haunted. In one of the letters (or maybe a diary.. I forget where) Dr. Milton mentions that he has been hearing the scratches that James was talking about and he too feels that something is not right. If Milton knew of Robin, what caused him to write this? Now he may have written this on a whim, not realizing that Robin was the cause of them.. but it still adds yet another piece to the puzzle.

As to James all of a sudden taking care of the child, he was very traumatized as is. I think if he found his son to still be alive, he would do anything to protect him. Who knows, perhaps none of them knew that Robin had survived.

I swear this game is going to give me an aneurism by time I figure out the plot. :p

[Snatcher42]

But remember, Milton stayed on in the house (presumably as Robin's caretaker) for five years or so after James' death. He writes in his last journal that the scratching sounds are coming "from down there", and he dreads to think what Robin may be doing. He probably met his end when he went to go check on the boy.

I don't think the bank conversation is solid proof. First of all, the bank person says it in haste and may have meant something else. Second, at this point the game is trying really hard to make us believe that James is alive, so it could just be more misdirection on the developers part. That phone call isn't even essential to completing the game.

I also don't think James heard the same scratches that Milton did. James was probably just mad. Milton heard Robin digging his way out, which I think only began later.

One other suspect we've been failing to mention is the maid. They say she went back to Italy, but no one really knows this for sure. Could she perhaps be involved somehow? (I don't believe so myself... just throwing that out there).

[AssaultPenguin00]

Ah yes, I forgot that Milton stayed as the caretaker for years after. That does make a lot of sense with the bank teller, I suppose it was just wishful thinking on my part. As for the maid, it seems she quickly abbandoned the place as soon as she could. In her letter, she expressed true fear for what was going on, it's very unlikely she knew of any of the actual events or she would have left much much sooner. I suppose Milton eventually succumbing to Robin while he took care of him is our only reasonable answer.

[Snatcher42]

You do have a point though... even if Milton hung around for 5 years, that's still about 8 years Robin had to fend for himself. A couple of years I can understand, but 8? Maybe we are missing something after all...

EDIT: http://www.scratchesmystery.com/ has been updated with some dates:
1963 - The Blackwoods die
1964 - Milton moves into the house
1970 - Milton disappears
1976 - Michael arrives

Sooo... 6 years. Hmm...

[AssaultPenguin00]

Hopefully within the next few weeks many more will have completed the game that can shed a bit more light on the matter. After going over the clues a few times, I must say, I'm stumped at about 10% of the storyline. It's been quite a while since we've had a game that envelops you in a mystery as well as Scratches has. Bravo to Nucleosis.

[cardician]

I'm sorry guys, but I totally disagree with your opinions about the story. Granted, the disfigured being in the basement was Robin, but the rest I think you're completely wrong about. The game not having anything to do with the African mask? Are you kidding?! That was no red herring, the entire game was based on it. Did you not complete the game the same way I did? By dispelling the evil demon haunting the mask? What was that? Just thrown in for an amusing aside? No, I don't think so. Did you actually read any of the journals and stuff? Like those found in the church? Everything happened because James stole the mask and didn't keep up the ceremony to keep the demon at bay. The demon came back and took possession of his son. Hence why he was so disfigured. Evil has a way of doing that.

Obviously James is still alive too, because if you look, someone was still feeding the thing. Who else would it be? And finally, the thing escapes in the end, so why the heck would the main character need to report him to the police. The being, or Robin, whatever, is now out and about in the world to roam and feed on humanity.

But seriously, I'm blown away that multiple people would play this game and think the African mask actually had nothing to do with the game. The entire game revolved around it and all the events that transpired did so because of the evil permeating the mask.

I mean, if what you guys say is true, and it was all just a big red herring, then the entire game is pointless and has no real meat to it. The game creators couldn't figure out how to actually develop a game around their story, so they created puzzles based around one story, and a plot based around another. Does that really make sense or seem like what they did? Lets hope not.

[Snatcher42]

Right, your basically saying what I suggested earlier: "Or did the "curse" have something to do with Robin's condition?" However, I don't think it's as clearly definite as you believe. James thought the curse was at fault, but does that make it so? There's no evidence in the game that proves it. Yeah, we go about "banishing the evil", but the results are rather anti-climactic. Staring us right in the face the whole time is evidence that developers were deliberately going for ambiguity here:



I still lean toward the belief that nothing truly supernatural was going on. But that doesn't make the Africa stuff extraneous. It illustrates exactly what mental state the characters must have been in for these events to transpire. It's more disturbing to think that these horrors took place without supernatural influence... born only from the darkness of the human soul.

[mrktool]

My take was that robin was born disfigured so catherine and dr milton faked his death and kept him in the basement. james knew nothing of it so when he heard the scratches and noises robin was making he thought it was the mask he bought back which just happened to have a hole evil story behind it, so it all made sense to him (and michael).

then one day robin killed catherine and james burried her and found out about robin. eventually james died of a heart attack and dr milton was left to care for robin who eventually got eaten by robin.

the bit that is hard to make sense of is how robin then fended for himself locked in a cell for years. Im assuming people are thinking that for years he's been digging this hole and just as you find him at the end he's finally got to the surface and escaped to be free. Well i thought maybe what if he dug his way out years ago in hunger, and that he climbes out every night to hunt for animals to eat and that's why you only hear scratching at night, cuz he's clawing his way in and out the hole at night cuz it's the only time to hunt and not be seen. if that's the case then it would explain how he lived all those years alone, and why there was fresh meat down there.

[Falci]

Thanks to you guys I could understand more of the end.

But I admit I should have had the patience of reading more the journals and notes through the game.

On other observations... I loved the game, but I had a few constant bugs that bothered me a lot.

-Pressing ESC during game would reset it to the Got Game Title animation in some very frequent ocasions making F5/F7 the only way to save/load the game on lot's of parts.

-The game would randonly crash, locking up... making me have to crtl+alt+del it and then come back a lot.

any of you had the same problems?

As to the story, I belive Milton is alive. He disappeared for some reason and decided to come back when discovered about Micheal buying and moving into the mansion (I belive that's why Michael get's the "Outahere" note on the last day...).

Milton probably doesn't care much about Robin anymore, but got concerned about someone releasing him accidentally. He is the owner of all James stuff, so he is certainly the one messing up with the account.

As... for the mask... it's a mistery element. Does it have any influence on the disgrace that fell upon the ones in that house? It's up to each of us to decide.

[AssaultPenguin00]

I did experience some crashes as well; they were rare though. Maybe a few video card issues, but still.. the game is damn well put together for a team of 3.