Adventure Gamers - Forums

Make room at that table for me!  I’m looking forward to this.

OK, here we go. I might be missing some previous questions. If so, please hang on—I’ll be going through the last five(!!) pages to see if I missed anything.

First, a few remarks about the three major puzzles in the last day:

- The greenhouse puzzle. I sorta liked this one, although I agree its solution is obscure. The rationale behind it is that the small lake or pool originated with the drain system in the greenhouse. So, all the water flow goes from the greenhouse into that pool. This isn’t explained anywhere, but I waged the closeness of the pool to the greenhouse and the fact that apparently it does “nothing” would give players a hint as to what may happen later. Thus, the key is flushed down the drain system but the idea is that first you must ensure there are no obstructions (ie: the fallen pot).

- The blocks puzzle. You seem to have figured out everything about this one, but I admit it would have been better if the blocks could be manipulated somehow (as in drawing the player’s attention to them). I also agree the combination lock of the small chest is poorly implemented. These were simply budget constrains, as the engine didn’t provide a mechanism to manipulate “patches” of images—even less a more sophisticated system where you could rotate cubes.

- The garden puzzle. My favorite one in the entire game, and actually the first one that was ever conceived. Much of the design was built around this puzzle. I think it’s very well implemented as all the clues are provided to figure it out. Yes, it’s supposed to be devious, but it’s also supposed to be the major puzzle in the game. Unfortunately, many players wrote it off as a blatant pixel hunt because not only the hotspot was badly placed (it’s a few pixels away from the tip of the tower’s shadow), but it wasn’t clear which part of the shovel icon was supposed to interact with the spot. Only the center of the icon will work, which is rather unintuitive. So you could say it’s a good puzzle marred by technical problems.

About those three mysterious details from the first teaser released in 2003: They’re the newspaper (which was pretty much used “as is” in the final game), the stroller, and African mask (which is also nearly the same). All these three elements foreshadow all the big twists in the game

Also: I agree the design relied on way too many key puzzles. Even though we have way more doors in Asylum, there are virtually no keys to be used (disregard the interactive teaser which didn’t feature final game content).

More about the ending and things you have never heard before soon!

Boy, do I want to see/hear/read more! The final fate of all the main characters is of particular interest. We know Robin and Catherine. But Jack, Milton and the maid are great unknowns. At least by me. Although I have expressed my thoughts. Pulling up my seat at the table as well.

Whoa, I can’t seem to post this treasure trove of Scratches secrets. I may have to cut the reply in two…

OK, moar things!

What follows are long, rambling thoughts about the ending inside a monumental spoiler tag—

[spoiler]- Those of you who’ve been around might’ve heard that the story of Scratches was inspired by a dream that I had. Well, the dream is basically the complete ending sequence: I remember going down to some kind of basement with dusty walls and muddy ground. It was a large room with certain corners deeply covered in shadows, the main feature being a rotting wooden table and a chair. I could discern remnants of some ungodly meal on this table, when something comes out of the shadows: a strange, white humanoid figure stumbling in the darkness and looking for me. As the dream was ending, the creature opened its mouth to reveal sharp, glittering fangs. Too much Lovecraft for sure! I may have dreamed this when I was… heck, 10 years old maybe. I know that for a fact because the dream happened before we moved to a different house. The hazy vision stuck with me for another ten years until I started devising the story, which initially was going to be a novel.[/spoiler]

- The whole story was constructed after this ending. It’s always amazing to know where your story leads, so I knew very well that everything I was designing and writing had this common goal in mind. At first the story was going to be mostly about the family with the hidden secret. The African theme is a latter addition.

- You correctly figured out that the meat packing invoice in the attic is a hint that Milton left the house in a hurry, surely tormented by the hulking presence lurking beneath the house, yet couldn’t abandon Robin to his death (remember: he could never stand putting Robin out of his misery). What he did is pay a company to deliver raw meat to the house indefinitely. That pool of blood in the last scene—the lair—is supposed to be the remnants of that meal.

[spoiler]- I always planned to have a sequence were a truck is seen from the attic and you can listen to sounds in the garden, which of course is the meat packing company delivering the meat. This didn’t make it to the original game. I tried to include this scene in the Director’s Cut edition as well, but still couldn’t make it. Publisher was pressuring us to finish the game as quickly as possible [/spoiler]

- The supernatural vs. scientific tension is a major feature of the game. I think it’s the reason why the story has remained embedded in people’s mind. This duality allows you to believe what you want as the entire plot can be explained both by mystical phenomenons or cold hard facts. It’s interesting, however, to see how people have been going back and forth between each explanation as more details about the story were brought to light—case in point, the infamous Thalidomide bottle. Fans of this twist should get ready for similar mind-blowing nuances in the story of Asylum

- Speaking of which, I see that many of you are leaning towards the rational explanation of the occurrences in Blackwood Manor. Which begs the question, what do you think about the final, evocative image in the game?

http://i.imgur.com/8w8BMmF.png

- And that’s not even the final, final sequence! It seems that you missed a little detail since you discussed whether Michael left the door unlocked or not. This video comes after the credits sequence:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/CrtZcBoTL3g

[spoiler]There’s no room for doubt, Michael did leave the door unlocked. Curiously, Robin was this close to clutching his way out of the hidden, earthly prison. This is another thing about the story that rubbed some people the wrong way, but was fully intentional: Michael’s foray into Blackwood Manor is as inconsequential as it gets. His presence doesn’t (seem to) change anything. When he stumbles into Robin, he can’t help but make a desperate run for his car and leave the place. Leaving the door opened may have saved Robin one or two days, but that’s all. For all intents and purposes, Michael was a mere spectator.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]- Actually, Michael’s final encounter with a “horror” and sudden escape is a pure Lovecraftian ending. Randy Sluganski of Just Adventure+ famously stated that it was the first conclusion to a game that truly felt like something out of a Lovecraft story (*blushes*). That may be a tad too much, but it was my honest intention—many short horror tales (certainly all of Lovecraft’s) are precisely structured like this: a constant buildup until that final, shocking revelation and a sudden ending. This goes against the norm in games were the protagonist is a “hero” that achieves something at least, but Michael was just a pawn in the grand scheme of things. Many players were disappointed with this abrupt finale, wondering what happens next (which gave birth to the Director’s Cut edition), but many others loved it. I don’t think I would change many things about the game, as its flaws became part of its character, but I would never, ever touch that final sequence—it’s the only possible conclusion to the story.[/spoiler]

- By the way, did you notice Robin’s expression? What do you think about it? Oh, and did you happen to look at his… eyes?

Coming soon, thoughts about the originally planned ending, alternate ending, and sequels that never were… Wait, WHAT?!

PS: I had to tag as spoilers each and every one of those paragraphs. Is that still necessary?

Crap, I may have broken the forum. Can’t seem to post images (apparently it’s an issue with the CDN).

Wow!  I missed seeing that reflected face at the end.

Just want to say something ...  I couldn’t participate in this Community Playthrough, I missed it : (  (although I voted for Scratches in several opportunities, every chance I had).

Anyway ... I really enjoyed this game since the first time I played it several years ago, and I’ll play it again on any of these days, I know.

Finally I would say that it’s great to have Agustin Cordes here sharing all this information, It’s really awesome!

I’m starting to get really annoyed that I can’t seem to find any time at all to play the third day…

Really itching to finish the tale (and actually read these last spoiler-filled pages)...