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The shooting parts are probably the achilles heel of the game. The story and it’s themes are probably the biggest draw, followed by atmosphere; especially the way all elements blend together.

Has anyone caught any references?

i haven’t played/started this portion yet, no

I finally finished the clinic part and started the Azriel one. I’m probably thinking too much into the game as I spent hell lot of time playing and replaying in an attempt to find the optimal route to organize the escape, get the gun, get the girl and leave no trace while there was only one linear solution. In fact I found it rather strange that after we had been warned to keep our mouth shut and to avoid cameras (Giselle specifically asked us to stay out of sight) suddenly everybody stopped giving a damn about what we say and where we go, Giselle included.

As for the gun puzzle, it was clear what we have to do as soon as I saw the blueprint of air ducts, but I expected it to be more complex rather than giving food in exchange for a screwdriver which I thought to be an alternative solution, so I just ran around with Epsilon Five trying to get the gun using her and improvised tools instead of just leaving her at the dining room. I also got stuck for a while on the machine puzzle, because I can’t count to 5 as it seems

All in all, I think the major quest could’ve been better designed, but at least the puzzles felt varied and logical, except for that random guy just standing there in the gym, pushing huge shelves full of weight plates left and right on our order. Oh, and shooting got so unnecessarily overcomplicated that I forgot what and when should I press by the time I started a new session. I still don’t see any references to the capitalized letters as well. I guess D and L could mean Daniel, Azriel’s brother, as that might be easily him, but I’ve no idea what ASD could mean.

Played a bit as Azriel and I already like it better despite it’s more or less the same location. After hours of not kicking we suddenly have plenty of things to kick - and it’s not just random kicking, but puzzle solving kicking! I even literally kicked someone’s ass)) I’m also enjoying checking every name and interesting word in the database - it is pretty solid and also used for solving puzzles. Unlike box pushing, now that’s getting old quickly.

I’m not sure why Boryokudans suddenly stopped hunting Azriel down and even let him inside their building without much trouble. I’m also a bit confused as I encountered several characters from the Cowboy Bebop animated series - are they supposed to be just fan references, or are they are part of this universe? Anyway, now I have 3 or 4 quests to solve which is more than I could’ve asked. Go Azriel, kick your way.

chrissie - 20 May 2022 01:43 PM

Sorry, you don’t say what the major quest was but if it was to do with the gun puzzle I think the random guy was quite significant to progressing …. especially if you’d seen the blueprint of the air ducts…..okay I see what you’re saying but I don’t see anything wrong with filling in the gaps!
EDIT: I’m not sure the guy was so random as I have a recollection of meeting him?

Yes, of course, sorry for the confusion. I was thinking of the gun puzzle/quest - I learned it right after Azriel woke up, even before he went to the shooting range, and then spent the rest of the chapter figuring it out. As for the “random guy”, it’s just the way I put it I mean, some very shady man approaches us, tells that he will be waiting for us at the gym, and that’s basically what he does: standing there doing nothing until we ask him to move the shelves. I’m generally against puzzles that “activate” only after you learn something new, but in this case I wouldn’t mind if the guy refused to randomly move shelves before we have a reason to, adding a touch of realism.

i am sorry for being late, tonight i will get over with that part, i will post something by tmrw

That’s cool!

I will wait for that, I want to engage with a couple of ideas and questions and give some thoughts and impressions I had replaying this section of the game.

About the reference: I think the Cowboy Bebop cameo is there as an acknowledgement of inspiration and I think it wants to point out a thematic similarity.

Boryokudan might be a nod to the 1974 movie The Yakuza, but it’s probably more inspired by the 80s US sci-fi awe and fear of Japanese culture and economic development through high-tech industry. I think it’s part of a broader and pretty interesting cultural construct by the name of Techno-Orientalism.

Azriel is a Biblical name and the Archangel Azrael is part of all Abrahamic religions. Odin is Nordic, but I’m not very familiar with it. I think his status is similar to a god like Zeus. Both have connotations with Death.

chrissie - 21 May 2022 04:22 AM

Aah, I hadn’t tried asking the guy to move the shelves beforehand so no, why would you until you realise that there are vents behind them.

I saw vents on other levels and wanted to check if those are open or hiding something. BTW aren’t there a bit too many air ducts for such small rooms? The walls are probably thin as paper.

Another `enigma’ is that there are cameras everywhere which no-one seems to be watching most of the time as Charlie removes the vent covers, accesses the women’s section etc but on first getting into the maintenance area Giselle says “Don’t walk in the room or the camera will see you” which doesn’t seem to see anything later.

This is exactly what confused me and made me play in a “stealth mode” for a while before I realised that nobody cares. It’s not like everyone is trying to escape from this camp/clinic even after their memories get erased, steal things, draw maps, form bands, etc. At the same time, there’s often someone watching us from behind the glass near elevators.

Vegetable Party - 21 May 2022 11:47 AM

About the reference: I think the Cowboy Bebop cameo is there as an acknowledgement of inspiration and I think it wants to point out a thematic similarity.

I just didn’t expect to see such straight-up references in such a serious game. I didn’t even think about the Bebop inspiration, but it seems like you are right, the developer acknowledges it in his postmortem:

I took inspiration from the anime Cowboy Bebop, regarding its strong color choices—particularly from the episode “Ballad of Fallen Angels.” I was striving to capture the entire feel of Cowboy Bebop, not just in the aesthetic. The resulting colors were a darkish blue for the land, and a beige-purple for the skies.

He also writes how he “started the game (then known as Boryokudan Rue) as a senior in high school, and finished it during my third year in college”, which is very impressive.

Azriel is a Biblical name and the Archangel Azrael is part of all Abrahamic religions. Odin is Nordic, but I’m not very familiar with it. I think his status is similar to a god like Zeus. Both have connotations with Death.

I think Odin associates more with power and war victories rather than death, it’s kind of “Kick or Die” conflicting name.

Doom - 21 May 2022 02:05 PM

I think Odin associates more with power and war victories rather than death, it’s kind of “Kick or Die” conflicting name.

Nice, thanks!

The Cowboy Bebop cameo wasn’t very subtle, but there’s something to say for an honest homage.

Looking forward to some more impressions and ideas! Has everyone caught up? This is the longest section of the playthrough.

Alright, we’ll start with the new section on Thursday. If you haven’t caught up, no problem and feel free to ask questions!

I think there is an explanation for the video surveillance conundrum. I base this mostly on my first time playing the game and watching a playthrough on youtube before this CPT and I’m not 100% sure - it would also be a major spoiler, so we’ll see if it makes sense after the next section.

Has anyone played Snatcher, by Hideo Kojima? I’m curious about it; it seems like it predates a lot of sci-fi adventure games and was one of the first games to translate the Blade Runner universe to video games.

Ok, I finished this section. Enjoyed it quite a lot, there were plenty of things to do, kick and investigate. Maybe a bit too many “find the right apartment” quests for one chapter, but all of them were justified by the plot and even had some variety in “entering approaches”. I found some more references to Sierra and LucasArts games, smartly placed and funny. Also enjoyed solving many little puzzles using terminals. Not quite Gabriel Knight 3, but still entertaining stuff.