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Post by neo_juice on Aug 17, 2019 17:01:18 GMT
I played it when I was younger and remember it being really fun. I wish there were more free online multiplayer games that aren't mmos.
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Post by Jinxtengu on Sept 25, 2019 2:47:57 GMT
I recently Played BADMOJO for the first time and it was amazing. I should write a review of it sometime. It's one of the only games iv'e seen with FMV where it totally worked to the advantage of the game. bad mojo is a masterpiece of gaming in my opinion.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2020 19:39:43 GMT
I've just finished playing Turgor / Tension. This is a Russian game made in late 2000s by Ice Pick Lodge, a company known for their another stylish and arguably artsy game Mor.Utopia / Pathologic (the first name is its Russian release) and its recent Unity remake. I used to have mixed feelings about this studio - while I always liked how atmoshperic is the original Pathologic, liked the plot that was definitely worth a good book or two - that game was terribly balanced and nearly impossible to play without a walkthrough, mainly because of the constantly creeping time limit (which also clashed badly with enjoying the magnificent surroundings of that game). I'm always critical of the attempts "the artsy games" make to open people's eyes, because I feel this is no small feat and whoever is behind including this idea in their game simply must know what they are willing to say and what reactions it will invoke. In other words, this is lots, lots of responsibility on that person's shoulders. I'm not against it, quite the opposite - but for me it must be perfected. Anime references alone are not enough. I still think that the old Pathologic pulled this off, despite being quite cryptic. But the new one... I don't know how huge the hype is currently in the West regarding Pathologic 2, I imagine it's present at least in some form due to the events happening in our world (the game's main theme coincidentally is fighting the pandemic). I'd say it could have been relevant to the current events if we had real pandemic instead of mass brainwashing, this is a completely different disaster. But I think that in both cases the original game is much more relevant anyway. Because the new one is abominable. I haven't played it myself, but I watched a full Russian playthrough (if you have 12+ GB of RAM, you can run the game without problems). Via simple comparison, I'd say that they've made an action movie out of a decent novel. It's very pretty (aside from the young male citizens looking like drunk hipsters, they even carry coffee beans lol) and it is atmospheric, at times much more than the original. The core gameplay is more streamlined (except the timer is even more annoying and detrimental to the impression here). One part of the game, namely The Kin, I consider vastly improved too. But the plot... there's too many holes and inconsistencies, especially with the Inquisitor, as many people pointed out. But the worst part is that they've damaged the philosophy, the main strength of that game. The original Mor made you think about lots of things you are normally forced to forget about - the fate of the world, our role and place in the cosmic order, ethics, our degree of influence on events - and most importantly, who or what entity controls our actions and decisions. The meta-gaming part is nearly gone in Pathologic 2, instead the only thing that's left of it is the reminder that you are a pawn, you play your role. The end. Oh, there are also death punishments that carry over to previous saves, but they contribute as much to self-development as beatdowns. Instead of being philosophy-in-a-game a la Deus Ex, it turned into odious, didactic piece of entertainment with only slight remnants of its predecessor. The story is pretty dramatic, but it is also rushed and full of second-rate psychologizing. Granted, there's a lot of truth in the thought that the best way to fight the disease is to suffer through it - but this is a double-edged sword and is very dangerous if people start to apply this sort of thinking to every situation. In the original, you are left with lots of questions after playing, with only some of them answered. With this, you feel like walking out of a movie theatre after watching a good action movie with a badly executed artsy twist. The game aggressively tries to enlighten, but only ends up insulting you. Some of the dialogue is great despite the length, but overall it's way too concise and sometimes feels completely unnatural. In my opinion, they should have simply removed all the introspective stuff from the game and just made it a pandemic simulator, instead of keeping the former in such a crippled form. Or they could've preserved the old complexity in all its glory, which is a much better variant - but evidently they needed high sales, so this is what happened... Not a big surprise. I think it might have a lot to do with completely different people being behind the new project. The game is also unfinished, as only one of the three protagonists is playable - and the missing parts might never come, as the company's public blog went dead shortly after the game's release.
But enough about that. I was going to talk about Turgor. In this game, I think they simply nailed it. When you read it's a date sim/survival/resource management game it sounds weird, and not it a good way. And it does have its problems - complex and frantic gameplay because of the time limit, randomized events and strategy elements. But here, it either was thought out and has a good reason behind it, or simply feels natural. I know many people are reluctant to play it - the endings are just poems with some scenery tinted in different colors depending on the finale of your choice, there are some glitches, the combat is clumsy. But despite all this, it's so organic! It's also breathtaking, aurally and visually. It's the cure, the answer to everything. The simple idea that our life needs to be full of colours - that our souls need some kind of "fuel" to make true life out of grey existence, especially in this age of spiritual darkness - that idea is priceless. And it doesn't just state it, almost every aspect of this idea is covered by the dialogue and narrative. I felt deeply involved in the process of Breakthrough, I almost felt the soul's exaltation from The Void. The greatest part about it is that you are free to make up your own mind regarding what this process means to you. You can choose. Without this, the game would've felt banal and terrible. Fortunately, this is not the case with Turgor. On one hand, according to the lore the soul cannot move laterally, only up and down - but on the other hand, it can have many different outcomes on the person's life or even the fate of the world - depending on the colours you choose and bring with you to the Surface. It's a really amazing feeling, near the end you feel that there's no mistake about it, you are going to ascend, and at the same time you know it's also the right way.
The game's elements can definitely have multiple interpretations, and while I do recommend watching a walkthrough or reading through some tips before playing - understanding both the lore and the gameplay on your own can take a lot of time and effort - many people will still find their understanding of what it's all about, who are the Sisters, the Brothers, the Colours. For me the most important thing is that the game delivers this information tastefully, without chastizing or patronizing manner. I really can't explain well enough, the game is a very personal experience - and it only does you good to project the events of this game onto your life. A rare case. This game has a lot of power in it to greatly inspire people, doubly so if you are artistically inclined.
I love this game, I'm very glad that it exists. Unfortunately, it's not very well known even in Russia, and western public was deceived by Atari, because they decided to make a different version of this game for the foreign market. It's known as The Void, and while it has certain interesting quirks about it, the situation here is very similar to Pathologic 2 in that they made the game more action-oriented, concise in a bad way, removed some gameplay elements and the dialogue became absolutely bland. I've heard that if you want to play the original Turgor in English, your only option is a subtitle patch. But if you think you can manage to get it, don't hesitate! Fill your Hearts with colour, grow Nerva, and ascend...
...Not meaning to brag or anything, but on my first playthrough I was able to reach the most difficult ending (resurrecting the Nameless Sister and ascending together with her). I think I was lucky at some points, the Colour was very generous to me:
If you want some gameplay tips, contact me and I'll try to help you!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2020 9:14:17 GMT
Apparently this thread on the official Ice Pick Lodge forums has a link on the working English patch for the original Turgor, but there's no guarantee whether it works or not. I remember that the classic Pathologic had a fairly weak English translation and voice acting, which definitely affected the game's reception in the west... So with The Void, they simply decided to rewrite (meaning dumb down) the dialogue instead of having to translate the original text badly. Hopefully the patch works for anyone who feels brave enough to try it, and I hope not much was lost in translation. Just remember that you need to apply it to the original Russian version of Turgor, not The Void! Of course, physically the game is hard to come by, but... You know what to do
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Post by Jinxtengu on Aug 10, 2020 2:17:56 GMT
I've not played Turgor. It seems like it has some interesting ideas and is worth checking out. Thanks for pointing out that the westernisation contains weaker writing, and for posting a link to the patch, to remedy said writing.
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