Adventure Gamers - Forums

Alright, by now most of us have reached the nexus. That means we find ourselves on an alien planet, have now entered the main structure, but also lost Brink after a nasty fall.

It’s now time to venture further into this planet, so go forth, explore and try to find out what happened to the aliens who lived here, and try to find a way back home!

You now have until Monday, December 27th to reach the following location:

Do some spoilery things on this location and stop after the conversation/cutscene with Maggie.


This will be the longest section of the game, and also the one with the hardest puzzles. I never had any issues with the alien turtle, but it’s infamous, and there’s also turning the power on, the planetarium puzzle, etc.

If you get stuck at any point in this section, don’t hesitate to ask for a little assistance!!!


I was going to ask what your thoughts were on the characters, locations, graphics, music, voice acting etc., but you’ve already made good points discussing that.

That said: who found the Terminator 2 reference so far? (Robert Patrick, the voice actor for Boston Low, is well known for playing the T-1000 Terminator in T2: Judgment Day)
If you like that reference, this section holds an even bigger one. Let’s see who finds that.

In my personal opinion, the section we’re going to play now holds some of the prettiest locations in video gaming, and the lighting in the graphics is just perfect. Coupled with the highly atmospheric music, this game really stands out in that department. And the cutscenes are simply stunning…

A bit of random The Dig development trivia:

Back when Brian Moriarty was leading The Dig, there were four astronauts instead of three. There’s even cover art depicting all four:

The fourth astronaut was a Japanese man named Toshi Olema. Apparently, he was a business man who joined the mission as a favour for being the primary backer of the project.
He would have been the first person to die on the alien planet, after falling through the encrusted layer of a steaming lake, and gruesomely melting in the acid lake below, in full view of the other team members!!!
That would then have been the catalyst for the breaking of the fellowship, and everyone going their separate way on the planet...

Note that in that version, Robbins would’ve been called Judith instead of Maggie, and would have had long blonde hair…


This was all changed when Sean Clark took over.

They really wanted to kill a foreigner on the team, eh?

As for liking the characters… I don’t really recall much from the later game so I’m basing my opinion on the first part we played.

I like Boston, even though he was being a bit of an ass with Maggie in the beginning. To me it didn’t spell out being completely intentional, rather seemed to be some kind of lack of social graces. I think he isn’t too much of an American action hero, even though he is that archetype.

Maggie so far is okay. She’s smart, but I’m not having many feelings to any directions yet.

And I don’t think Brink is like a Bond villain. I actually liked him, before he immediately started waving his dick around on the new planet.

I think Brink has a “stereotypical” German vibe. His tendency towards more literal thinking, his directness, a lacking sense of humour and irony, certain social graces.
There are certain prejudices involved, but also real cultural differences. I believe there’s no word in German for smalltalk.

Maggie seems like a typical 90s “emancipated” character. What I mean is: disconnected from the struggle to abolish (or even reform) the patriarchy. The 90s TV/movie feminist was generally not that involved in this type of conflict, but had more or less cut herself (themselves) loose from the old ties that bind. It was a hyper-individualist interpretation of emancipation. She literally goes her own way.

Excuse me for going dark, but I wish they’d remake that game and replace Toshi with Elon Musk.

That’s a really good point. I would’ve missed it, too focused on the environment and the mystery. All I need is a bag of popcorn.

Second point: that might’ve been fun! Could’ve worked, as well: it’s an ideal opportunity to write a career defining book. You’re literally the only one with access to the inner workings of your source material.

Maybe there’s something to be said for the characters not getting that much extra story and background. There seems to be a great sense of mystery in this game and I feel the whole might be greater than the sum of its parts.

Jdawg445 - 18 December 2021 07:41 AM

Vegetable Party - 18 December 2021 06:33 AM

That’s a really good point. I would’ve missed it, too focused on the environment and the mystery. All I need is a bag of popcorn.

Second point: that might’ve been fun! Could’ve worked, as well: it’s an ideal opportunity to write a career defining book. You’re literally the only one with access to the inner workings of your source material.

Maybe there’s something to be said for the characters not getting that much extra story and background. There seems to be a great sense of mystery in this game and I feel the whole might be greater than the sum of its parts.

 

Yeah if it seems like I’m nitpicking its bc i think the game is close to a masterpiece, but falls just short in the character department. I think the story itself is great minus one huge info dump that will come in the third part of our playthrough. The devs really do create the atmosphere of an alien world in pixel graphics. This is one of the best alien worlds I’ve ever seen in a video games to this day.  the game does such a wonderful job of creating atmosphere and even tension because you think there could be danger lurking around every corner. Even though it’s mostly a very peaceful and tranquil game, but the mood just keeps it right on that edge if you know what I mean. If the character development was just a bit better, they could have had a masterpiece

I can see this game being a masterpiece if the following issues noted in the 3 star review this site gave it were addressed:

The Bad:
Very outdated VGA gameplay graphics
Mediocre voice acting
Cheesy dialogue at important points in the game
Too many ridiculously complicated puzzles

To me it’s more of a cult game than anything, I’d love to see a remaster that addressed these issues and the cardboard thin characters to make the game a masterpiece like Broken Sword or Syberia.

I have reached the check point and I am ready to move on.

Jdawg445 - 18 December 2021 12:03 PM

Got to the stopping pt again. The game is really quick when you know what your doing.

I know. I have replayed the game over a dozen times, and if I rush through the game, I can pretty much finish it in a bit more than three hours, with leasurely playthroughs being around 5 hours.

In going through the game to find good stopping points, I cleared the first part in 45 minutes, the second in 2-and-a-half hours, and the final part in just over an hour-and-a-half…

Back in the 90s, there were two spots that halted my progress completely, turning my playthrough in one that spanned a couple of months.
A warning to the new players: both those spots were in the current section…

My wife did the turtle puzzle (her first time) and nailed it, only needed one tiny hint. She is in the medical field though so it was easier for her lol.

There’s also a hint nearby to help you in-game.

Jdawg445 - 18 December 2021 12:03 PM

Got to the stopping pt again. The game is really quick when you know what your doing. My wife did the turtle puzzle (her first time) and nailed it, only needed one tiny hint. She is in the medical field though so it was easier for her lol.

Well kudos to her and to you for dodging that puzzle bullet.

I’m kind of looking forward to this puzzle, it sounds interesting.