[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by samIamsad

And all of this worked? Sounds great!!!

Well, I assumed it would work as far as the consequences of each of my decisions are concerned, that whatever little things I do or don't do will affect how the next character - police officer Carla - would be able to assess the scene soon after Lucas departs that scene.

[BerserkerTails]

I did everything you did, Intrepid... My question now is "Is there anything we overlooked"? I'm curious to see if there's something that we haven't done. Some hidden way of getting out of the diner, or getting away from it...

[samIamsad]

I still can't imagine what the interface and controls are exactly like. Especially while performing certain actions in the game. Gotta get the demo! O brother, were art thou?

edit: I've just read in a preview, that there's a public phone in the restaurant. Tried it?

[James]

Look forward to downloading this when home from work today (hopefully to find new dvd drive and hard disk)

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by BerserkerTails

I did everything you did, Intrepid... My question now is "Is there anything we overlooked"? I'm curious to see if there's something that we haven't done. Some hidden way of getting out of the diner, or getting away from it...

You can do a crapload of things, as fov testified in the other thread. Thing is that it looks like most everything you choose to do may have consequences for the next character. Remember, though, that Lucas (and the other playable characters) has a sanity meter and it's your responsibility to keep him as sane as possible (if it drops to unacceptable levels he'll go crazy and might even kill himself). To keep his sanity at high stable levels you have to do things that make him feel better, such as cleaning up the murder scene as thoroughly as possible. Then go back out, sit down in your booth and eat and drink (a brief cutscene with a clue will play if you examine a certain object on the table), and that will make him feel even better. You could also choose to pay or not pay your bill. Going to the jukebox and playing a song will improve his sanity even more. The catch, however, is that the longer you stay in the diner, the more witnesses will remember you when it's time for them to talk to the police later. Do not speak to anyone there, as it may lower the sanity bar. So it's a matter of trying to figure out the sweet spot between keeping Lucas sane and keeping him from getting captured.

[The Seed]

Can anyone tell me if this requires a graphics card that supports Pixel Shading, because well...mine doesn't. I can't find the System requirements anywhere.

[squarejawhero]

Great stuff, very complex despite it's initial simplistic feel. I've been using my Saitek P2500 and the tension's ratched up even further by the rumble feature replicating a heartbeat! Graphics are good enough for me, despite being basic for this day'n'age as they're about believability over realism, and it works well. Very impressed by the Manhattan intro. Got my settings all on high with AA and AF on 2X and 4X with all effects, and it's textures are real nice.

My only issues are character relative control (AGAIN) not being configurable and that, as usual, a games developer has completely ignored how visual direction works. A flipped camera angle here and there with this control system can be very, very annoying. I think I might have to write that article for Develop after all as I don't know how to press on it any further any other way!

Yet, despite these grumbles, I will buy this game. The sheer plethora of things to do in this short scene showcases some real forward thinking. It feels like an adventure game too, reminding me of a Delphine title. Actually, it also puts me in mind of gaming classic Flashback, but only stylistically.

Voiceovers and music are fantastic too.

[eriq]

OH MY GOD. This is just SHEER *&!@ING BRILLIANCE AT WORK! These guys have come up with something totally new and exciting. The controls and the way they make you feel like you're "interacting" with the world (reminiscent of battling creatures in "God of War"), the moody blue tinted graphics, the style, the sound, the narration, the cinematic flair... everything. And that introduction with the rose petals and the slowly opening shot of the main character surrounded by water. VISUAL EXCELLENCE!!

This was just lots of fun to play.

I do hope that there is inventory based interaction of some sort. The choose your own adventure type gameplay might seem a little restricting? What does everyone think? It reminds me of Shadow of Destiny quite a bit.

Also, did everyone catch the "Making Of". This was a real production!

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Wow, rather intriguing. After playing the demo again (for the umpteenth time ) I noticed something. After leaving the diner I went around the corner and peeked through the windows just as the split screen appeared showing the cop getting up from his seat and heading to the toilets. In the lefthand screen, through the foggy windows, I could see the cop walking through the diner and moments later running out and announcing the crime, just exactly as in the righthand screen. The same scene viewed simultaneously from different angles. I just thought it was kinda cool.

[squarejawhero]

Yes, the splitscreen takes place at different times... I've been down through to the subway, and the tramp scene and the cop played at the same time split down the middle. It's very, very clever.

Any pretence to "choose your own adventure" doesn't work. There's simply too many possibilities, which will lead off to the next section and affect play in different ways. Perhaps using the condom machine does something later?

I've spoken to everyone, watched the television... just so much interaction. It's like an adventure but you carry out the actions yourself. I also enjoyed that by being in the diner, the cop sticks around.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

I used the pay phone and Lucas tried calling his brother, but got an answering machine instead. Then I tried upping Lucas' sanity by using the jukebox but he ran out of change. I think it works the opposit way, too - put on music, but you won't have change left for the pay phone.

[bigjko]

The more things you use at the diner, will ultimately lead to it being easier for the detective to discover who you are. Fingerprints, tracing that call to your brother, and whatnot.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

That's what I mean, the last thing you'd want is to linger at the scene of your crime, but doing certain things there (like drinking something cold or listening to music) would calm you down so you handle the situation better.

[smashing]

Geesh! Could someone at least have the decency to put a BIG *SPOILER* WARNING ON THE TOPIC TITLE!? All these discussion on what Lucas can do have successfully put me off big time to even try the demo. And to think that I'd spend the last 5 hours trying to download it! Think I should just delete it...

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Don't worry, it's really a very short demo, and actually is more of an introduction into the world of the game and story. Interestingly, David Cage himself makes an 'appearance' in the diner (in his computer animated counterpart) to introduce the story to you.

Take my word for it, you may have been spoiled, but your fun playing the demo will not be spoiled.

[smashing]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

Don't worry, it's really a very short demo, and actually is more of an introduction into the world of the game and story. Interestingly, David Cage himself makes an 'appearance' in the diner (in his computer animated counterpart) to introduce the story to you.

Take my word for it, you may have been spoiled, but your fun playing the demo will not be spoiled.

Nah! The whole mood's spoilt right now. I think I shall just ask my bro to play it for me, while I watch.

[Mimus]

Originally Posted by The Seed

Can anyone tell me if this requires a graphics card that supports Pixel Shading, because well...mine doesn't. I can't find the System requirements anywhere.

I didn't see whether anyone had already answered this, but here are the system requirements from the readme file (so you should be fine without a card that supports pixel shaders):

1. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
==================================
Operating System: Windows® 98SE/Me/2000/XP
Processor: Pentium® III 800 MHz or faster
Memory: 256 MB RAM
Hard Disk Space: 510 MB Free
Video: 32 MB Hardware T&L-compatible video card*
Sound: Windows® 98SE/Me/2000/XP-compatible sound card
DirectX®: DirectX® version 9.0c (included) or higher

*32 MB video cards with no support of hardware T&L, such as the Nvidia Riva TNT or any Intel integrated video card, are not supported.

Fahrenheit requires that DirectX 9.0c be installed on your computer.

[squarejawhero]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

Don't worry, it's really a very short demo, and actually is more of an introduction into the world of the game and story. Interestingly, David Cage himself makes an 'appearance' in the diner (in his computer animated counterpart) to introduce the story to you.

Take my word for it, you may have been spoiled, but your fun playing the demo will not be spoiled.

I wonder how many people are going to go "who the hell is that?"

[Lucien21]

It was an odd way to start the game and I kept waiting for him to say "Welcome to the Twighlight ZOne"

[Lucien21]

Oh forgot to say.

Downloaded demo first thing this morning and was late to work because I was too busy playing it.


Played it with a PS2 controller attached to my PC which honestly is the best solution. You have to map the action controls to the right thumb stick so that you move with the left analogue stick and perform the actions with the right. The bottons used for cameras and bashing for the actiony sequences.

I can't imagine trying the keyboard in this one.

Only played it for a short time so not tried many variations apart from getting caught red handed with the knife in hand standing over the body.

Second time I hid the knife an body and washed up the blood, took a piss, and legged it out the back down and into the subway.

Fascinated by the novelty of so many choices. They have done a good job of giving the impression of freedom.

Graphics were not bad but not out of this world.

Traditional adventure fans will probably hate it for the action, but I think it is a breath of fresh air. A new way to tell a story with situational problems rather than the usual puzzles.

Looks like a winner to me.