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AG Community Playthrough 68: Yoomurjak’s Ring
 

“So… what sort of game is this?”

Welcome one welcome all to the Yoomurjak’s Ring CPT. Whether or not you voted for it I hope you’ll consider joining us as we play through this rather extraordinary game.
Perhaps you’ve played it before, or perhaps (like me about 2 months ago) you’ve long been intrigued by the title, but know nothing else about the game.

The Game

“How dare you sir…!”

Yoomurjak’s Ring is a Hungarian language FMV game released in 2005 by Private Moon Studios – the people behind the AGON series of games. It has been available with English subtitles since 2009 and there is also an iphone/ipad version of the game knocking around too, although I believe that is a simplified version.

As is mentioned in the review from this site, the game was originally conceived as a tourist promotion for the Hungarian city of Eger, enabling people to tour around it virtually in a sort of pre-cursor to Google Streetview. However, this is not in any way the primary purpose of the game. The story and puzzles etc. are well thought out and not just tacked on. In fact, if you are hoping for a simple click through walk around a location with very little challenge you are going to be disappointed. This is definitely a “real game ” and the puzzles lean towards the difficult side of things with one or two being seriously involved towards the end.

Gameplay

You will be navigating your way around a series of (mostly) 360° environments – like Google Streetview. There is a context sensitive cursor which allows you to interact with the environment and an inventory.

All dialogue is in Hungarian with English subtitles. Where in game text is in Hungarian (some has been translated to English directly where it is and some not) hovering the mouse over the text (or inventory item) gives an English translation.

There is a cast of characters to meet and talk to but dialogue is not repeated in this game (i.e. you don’t get to ask the same question again). However, all dialogue is recorded in English in your notebook, sorted by day and conversation topic, so if you do accidentally miss something or need to refer back to it, it’s all there for you.

Playthrough Format

The game divides up neatly into 5 days and that is how we will divide things up. I should say that the first day is quite a lot shorter than the others, functioning more as an introduction to the gameworld, main characters and story. Rest assured there are some serious challenges coming, but we’re not going to be too taxed by anything on day 1. Because of this I’m going to suggest that when you install the game, you play through day 1 of the game in the first few days. No worries if you don’t manage it, it can be added to Day 2 quite easily when we get into the game “properly” in Section 1.

Summary

This is a great fun game with an ambitious story involving time travel, told in the setting of the beautiful and culturally rich city of Eger. We have a cast of characters to meet, challenges to overcome, a great mystery to solve and a fascinating place to explore. What more could an Adventure Gamer want?!

Section 0 – Setup and Introduction

Google Streetview: The Game?

Checklist:

1. Buy/Install the game;
2. Post here to tell us you’re in and ready to get cracking;
3. Play through the short Day 1.

You have until Monday 13 September when we’ll start properly with Section 1. (As it is short we can review this and start on Friday if everyone’s ready).

As the game starts we find Jonathan Hunt, a journalist from New York, travelling to visit the Hungarian city of Eger, partly to investigate his family heritage after the death of his Hungarian mother, and partly inspired by the letters found in a book given to him by his grandfather from a seemingly mad scientist from Eger. The letters were written to Jonathan’s great grandfather – Samuel Hunt, a name that might be familiar if you have played the AGON games.

Once you’re checked in at the hotel, it’s over to you. As mentioned, the first day is fairly short (although this will depend on how much exploring you decide to do). So let’s get a taste for the story and spend a little time navigating the world by playing through day 1. (If you don’t manage it by the deadline you can tack it onto section 1 next week, when we’ll be properly getting into the meat of the game.

Personally, I found the first 15 minutes of this game just a little bit confusing before I got the hang of it (YMMV) so if it’s helpful for you, here is a completely spoiler free guide to what sort of things you should be doing in the first few minutes to orient yourself quickly:

(Hidden just in case you don’t want to see any guidance at all – even the spoiler free kind. After all you’re more than capable of doing this for yourself and don’t need to be patronised by some idiot on the internet!)

1. Get used to the way this game navigates, both inside and out. There is nothing particularly difficult about it, just gauge how far you move when you click to move forward outside;

2. Inventory time. You start with the book and 2 letters. Glance through the three of them for sure but don’t worry about anything other than trying to get the general gist, we don’t really know who any of these people are or what relevance it might have and that’s fine at the moment. I may well post a simple summary of what’s there when we start section 1 if it helps people to get a handle on it;

3. Get a feel for the city and moving around it. You can walk around and explore a surprisingly large amount of it – it almost feels like an open world game at first. If you enjoy the exploring then by all means range around as far as you will for as long as you like and take in the city, but if you get lost or if it gets boring quickly, you have the option to fast travel. Also you do not need to go clicking through endless streets in the hope you’ll stumble upon somewhere you need to find. Locations will be added to your map as you go and you will be pointed to them, usually by someone you speak to.

This Introduction section ends when you wake up on Day 2.

Installed and ready. Will try to work through the first day some night this week.

I’ve played the game for a week or so back in 2016. It’s my kind of adventure since it’s about history (Turks and Hungarians fighting in the XVI century) and some supernatural stuff. However, it takes a lot of reading and learning, so one has to be fully concentrated all of the time. I got stuck in a wine cellar (in a game, not in the real life, unfortunately) the first time I’ve played the game and that was it.

I’ve been planning to come back to Yoomurjak’s Ring ever since, but it didn’t happen. Maybe I’ll take part in this playthrough, can’t promise anything (I mean with the US Open in its final week). And I haven’t played a single game since last April (almost a year and a half ago) so now I’m too rusty for such a challenging adventure like YR.
Anyway, this thread will sure come handy one shiny day when I install YR and start playing it for the second time.

Good luck, players!

millenia - 06 September 2021 02:38 PM

Installed and ready. Will try to work through the first day some night this week.

Cool, have fun in Eger! Have you ever played the game before?

zobraks - 06 September 2021 03:51 PM

I got stuck in a vine cellar (in a game, not in the real life, unfortunately) the first time I’ve played the game and that was it.

Aha, I bet I know what got you stuck - I was flummoxed by that same wine cellar for quite a while. It would be great to have you join with us if you can, or if not and you play it in a few months time, welcome back future Zobraks!

My hovercraft is full of eels!
translation: I istalled the game and I’m ready to play it!

I’m in Chrissie, for better or worse. I hope I would be able to work through the whole playthrough.

zobraks - 06 September 2021 03:51 PM

I got stuck in a vine cellar (in a game, not in the real life, unfortunately)

I have the game installed. I’ll have some time tonight to give it a spin. Quite curious!

Intense Degree, thanks for the neat introduction! I got the game as a gift about a month ago, glad to be playing it together with all of you. It sounds daunting and interesting.

zobraks - 07 September 2021 07:04 AM

My hovercraft is full of eels!
translation: I istalled the game and I’m ready to play it!

Ha! Fortunately the Hungarian/English translation in this game is better than Monty Python’s Hungarian Phrasebook!

Good to have you on board sir, although I always thought there was something fishy about you…  

And welcome chrissie and Vegetable Party, good to see this show’s getting on the road!

I love that sketch!

Btw, perhaps some of you would like to check this official guide before you start playing Yoomurjak’s Ring.

Thanks for the tip!

Just watched the intro: I like the atmosphere already. I also did a bit of wandering around, trying to get used to the controls.

Last evening I spent an hour traipsing through Eger (in search of a tourist bureau) and guess what happened: I got so nauseated that I almost threw up. And the rotation (btw it says “ratoation” in game settings) speed was set to “normal”!

Can’t recall having the vertigo the first time I’ve played the game. Must be my age.

This is my first time playing the game. I think I heard of the game already around the time it came out, but never got to actually playing it.

Now I played through the first day.

It’s always enjoyable to listen to other languages than English, though these people talk rather fast. It’s a bit hard to keep track on the subtitles and try to follow the faces too. Luckily the conversations are recorded in the notes in case I miss something.

The protagonist seems nice, a friendly looking fellow.

I also noticed getting slight sea-sickness when rotating the camera around a lot. Though I think I’ll try the fast rotation, it might actually make it better if it feels more responsive, now it “sails behind” a bit, which might cause the uneasy feeling.

I walked around a lot, I think I’ve checked up most of the places already. Found two scary older ladies staring at me from windows higher up and the funniest looking shoe rack.

I participated in a phone commercial and now I’m officially on the Hungarian grid.