The Journeyman Project 2: Buried In Time

 

Caught Somewhere In Time!

Finally the Journeyman Project 2: Buried In Time have been added to ScummVM and I at last can understand the whole trilogy. I played the other two games in the series back in... 2015? God dammit, that was a long time ago. I was gonna try the Sierra FMV-games like Phantasmagoria and The Beast Within, but some bugs stopped me from that so I tried this instead. My musings over Pegasus Prime you can find here and Legacy of Time you can find here and here. Story begins sometime after the events of the first game and Gage Blackwoods future self from 10 years forward appears in what the game calls a jumpsuit. He puts the present Gage in the suit and cloaks it while Agent 8 appears and apprehends him for breaking his house arrest for being put on trail for stealing historical artefacts and causing time ripples on his mission. But he got the idea that he will be constantly watched so he gets a jumpsuit from chief engineer Daughton (not the same actor from Legacy of Time) and gives it to the present-Gage that no one will check on. So the hunt goes to four different time periods. Chichen Itza in South America, an english castle in Normandy, Leonardo Da Vinci's workshop in Italy and a space station in the 23d century. Already better locals with both future and actual historical places.

Now, stupid me chose to play in Adventure mode which is harder with more puzzle, while I might have had more enjoyment out of the walkthrough mode, but hey, I solved the other two games so why wouldn't I be good at this as well? Well, maybe cause there is a lot of busy work and repeating actions to some of the puzzles. And you don't get Arthur until you solved parts of the space station, while under a timer due to no air as it is derelict. And that was the first problem. I knew I could find Arthur at the space station, but I end up in space without propulsion equipment, so back to Gage home, checked the other areas, but found a couple of items, but not much. Back in the home began checking even more, guess what? I missed a certain area where you could order things by punching in numbers... which you get from commercials from the TV when you watched the news. Every time you wanted them, and the cheese thing you need for the space station you gotta get for every visit, since it's one use only. And you gotta punch in the code every time. Why not just let me push it and then have it as a short hand in the menu from the replicator? Or maybe not have a one use item? Or I could have been good enough to just use one, but even the walkthroughs suggest jumping back to the beginning, forcing you to get another. 

So I used a couple of walkthroughs to get through the game. Doesn't help that I find the layout hard to navigate. Many areas looked the same, and, while innovative, things like the space station makes you walk in several directs since you are in zero gravity so it's walking on ceiling and all that. And I got lost in Da Vinci's workshop with more hidden ways around the courtyard. Another irritating thing is that you constantly have to switch between items and microchips that powers your suit with cloaking, translation or Arthur so that you can get the hints and such. Or even the damn menu for saving and restoring the game (thankfully ctrl+S works, but then you have to reset the items for use). So a bit cumbersome, and I should probably had used a numerical pad since that is easier than using the mouse pad. So the games have some issues I don't like. But the story is interesting. Finding hints of the person and trying to figure out who is the real culprit. I got that it had something to do with the art sale for the Louvre since it's fairly simple to see that the items corresponds with the time zones. And fairly early you get foot prints from a jump suit that leads you to an id that incriminates Agent 3, but then I knew that from the third game. That and I got a glimpse of the 3 on her suit in the castle.

Maybe should have been some internal logic puzzle that it was her other than when I found the last clue it was just a recording of her. And I gotta say I liked the final Chichen Itza as well since it was the precursor for the Shangri-La in Legacy of Time, but with mayan mythology instead of Buddha traditions. Well, captured by Agent 3 Arthur sacrifices himself to create a virus that sends him and Agent 3 into the temporal vortex. Meanwhile after regained freedom the news break that the Krynn ambassador has left the talks about time travels future after changing their stands from allowing everyone their own technology to wanting its dismantling. With that you get a code to their base where you recapture the items with the blueprints of the time travel technology. Agent 3 disclosed that she did it after being sent to the early 20th century observing mankinds atrocities like Auswitz, Hiroshima and so on, observing mankinds bloody past and feeling that only a couple of hundred of years can't undo our constant bloodlust. So she acted like the scientist who gave Soviet Russia the secret of the nuclear bomb since they also believed that if more had it it could uphold the terror balance. That was a bit naive of her we learn as when we get the items back and right before escaping the ambassador shows up and tells that the Krynn will use it to correct their forefathers mistake in not travel to the stars and become the first sentient space race. And they also began acting for abolishing time travel which tells me that they didn't intend to let any other race get the power as they promised Agent 3. You escape, future Gage is released and is awarded another medal while present-Gage is mindwiped and sent back. And the story continues in the third game.

As stated, it has some problems for me. Like the first game the jumps points are the same so you gotta redo puzzle after puzzle and in the game you are supposed too since you get clues you need to get later. But losing items and retrieving them to get back to that point is just tedious. But it's an interesting world, and Arthur heightens the whole experience. Not only do you actually learn stuff, but the references can be rather funny. But you misses him in several chunks of the game which leaves everything to your own grey cells, and I don't know if I get smarter or more stupid with age. Checking out the Walkthrough version, and guess what? No need for getting items through the replicator, no timer in the space station. But the puzzle is gone getting Arthur and basically most problems, might be boring in the long run. Now that this game is on ScummVM one can hope that in another 6 years we can get the third game as well so one can play it as intended.

Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (SNES)

Should have gone with Lufia 0.

Another German game cart that I had to patch so I could read the damn thing. Also another of the Clan of the Grey Wolfs reviews. I actually thought I had got Lufia I: Fortress of Doom since the cartridge just says Lufia, but when I checked it out Lufia I was never released in Europe. Which is sad, but at least doesn't confuse people since Lufia II is a prequel to I that ends where Lufia I starts. Why make it easy?

So the game follows Maxim, a boy travelling the world for adventure. Apparently he is a really strong human and he gathers a party of other strong individuals to stop the Sinistrals, four beings of evil that threatens destruction on the world due to the dual blades started ringing. One thing that the German original translation probably gets more correct than the english is that the Dual Blades actual name is Lufia... it's gotta be, otherwise the name has no purpose in the story, or maybe it's something in Lufia 1 cause the game ends with a to be continue after some dialog from someone named Lufia.

In reality the story is kinda bland and the dialog is really bad. It's very simplistic. The graphics on the other hand is really good, the intro sequence especially. That was my first hint that this might not be the first game since it looked too good. Music is also bland, except the sinistrals theme, it rules. Although I will probably remember the boss and battle themes for a while. Gameplay beyond the normal RPG is that you also have overworld items that work like Zelda-games for some puzzle solving, which is rather fun, but I found certain puzzles a bit of a stretch, but maybe I'm just impatient as an adult.

As noticed, I probably don't have much to say about it. It's just go to the next town, find the right person that opens up the nearest dungeon and after that return to the town to open up the road to the next town and so it goes on. Very walled in. I miss a map as well when you finally get a boat since it's rather easy getting lost on the high seas. I also think the language patch screwed with some of the graphics since the credit crawls was all white lines and name of equipments in the equipment screen would get strange. Beside the main quest you could also gather 8 dragon eggs for the dragon, which I didn't do since it would unlock a super boss that I don't really would like to fight. Then we had the ancient cave. A randomly generated 99 level cave where you start from level 1 and has to fight your way down to level 99. Now with save stats you take the pressure away and thank god for that since the last 20 levels are horrible with the damn MP stealing attacks or insta kill spells. 

It has it's charm, but I don't find it that interesting. Maybe not worth the 100 $ or € I paid for this.

Ys IX: Monstrum Nox

 

Breaking the Law, Breaking the Law!

So back in 2019 I got to play through Ys VIII during my summer break, and it was a perfect summer vacation game with people stranded on an island with some mysteries thrown in as they try to escape. And then Ys IX was announced and finally in 2021 came to Switch. And perfectly for my summer vacation that year so it was another perfect match. So it starts with Adol escaping from the prison in the city of Balduq, but while escaping he is stopped by this mysterious woman with artificial limbs that shots him with a gun that curses him into becoming the Crimson King, a Monstrum cursed to fight the embodiment of negative called the Lumes to cleanse the city so that not even more monsters are created. After using his new powers to end up in a waterway we flash back to 10 days before as Adol and Dogi "the Wallcrusher" arrives at Balduq and Adol promptly is arrested by the Romun soldiers and Hieroglyphic Knights for his previous adventures that have set the Romun Empire to investigate him. So at the prison Adol helps this old man against another prisoner and as thanks he gives you a fork that allows you to escape the prison after being investigated by the female inquisitor and who wants to move you to Romn, so that sparks the need to escape, and now we are back in the present with Adol back in the town. 

So you find this abandoned house and find Dogi that been laying low while Adol was in prison. Apparently Balduq was the capital of Gllia (which should be Gaul, which makes Balduq Paris or Lutetia if my knowledge of Asterix comics doesn't betray me) that was conquered by the Romun empire 8 years ago. Now, 6 months ago 5 monstrums appeared that started causing havoc, with one being the White cat that started stealing from the rich and giving to the poor Robin Hood style while the Feral Hawk picked fights with soldiers or strong people overall. This causes the people to fear them and the Romun Garrison and Hieroglyphic Knights to try to arrest them. So now Adol joins them and starts to unravel who they really are, cause apparently none of the others tried to even learn who the others where during these 6 months. First up is white cat that apparently is the adoptive daughter of the Pendleton family that are the richest family in Gllia that was one of the first to start trading with the Romuns, which make the Gllians hate them for betraying the country pretty much. Which the patriarch of the family don't care about. The company before all else and all potential competition is bought up... I get the sense it's some critique of the monopoly situation in an unregulated capitalistic market, especially when the White Cat after getting caught by Adol renounced her stealing ways and leave the family and start her own florist shop in the poor district. Meanwhile the older sister as thanks and seeing through the whole Monstrum facade gives you enough capital to establish a tavern in the abandoned house as a base of operations for Adol and Dogi.

The gameplay rounds is find a Monstrum, use its abilities to get into the prison and release some prisoners. The curse limits you to certain areas until you gathered enough crystals to open a portal to the Grimwald Nox that summons all Monstrums to one of two different fights, either a siege stage like the one in VIII or to destroy all crystals. Doing so open a new area and get you an entrance to the prison. First rescue is Park, the old man that helped you escape and he helps you out with information and rescue other prisoners. And after clearing that we jump back into the prison and... Adol??? Yes, apparently Adol is still in the prison where he goes around doing tasks for the corrupt soldiers that take missions from outside people, like the Monstrums. Helping you is Marius and Xavier, Xavier being a talking Roo at that. You don't level up and have to survive the traps in the prison to try to escape and find out whats going on. Prison Adol learns that the female inquisitor is actually a high ranking officer in the paranormal division that have been looking into Adol's activities, and later in the game he and Marius observe as the knight commander arrests the Romun commander for questioning his arrest of innocent people.

So that is the big mystery of the game, which is the true Adol and what happened here? Well, you find out that all the other Monstrums are adoptive children and that the leader of the Hieroglyphic knights are in league with an alchemist that have been alive for 500 years creating Homunculi's (lucky I had watched both Fullmetal Alchemist-series on Netflix to get the gist of that) of his comrades in the 100 years war between Britai and Gllia (meaning the 100 year war between England and France), Saint Rosvita and her champions. Saint Rosvita is pretty much Joan D'Arc. Apparently the war was a battle between the Nors gods Loki and Grimnir (Odin the Allfather pretty much) and the battle is Ragnarok that killed off all the gods and demigods that used to fight the Lemures in the Grimwald Nox. To compensate this loss the Alchemist made Homunculi's of his friends to fight in the Nox to avoid the destruction of the world. So that has been going on for 500 years, but some 15 years he disappeared which forced Apprilis, the clone of Rosvita, to give away the latest batch of Homunculi since she couldn't take care of them as well as fight the Lemures. So what has he been doing for these 15 years? He was busy creating the greatest homunculi to serve in the Nox and with that release the others from the curse of the Grimwald Nox. A homunculi based on Adol, the greatest adventurer of them all. So the Crimson King Adol is the homunculi and as he finds out and finds the imprisoned Adol that was betrayed by Marius that also was a homunculi (of the current Romun emperor no less) that was controlled by the knight's leader. Crimson King and the knight fight, and surprise, the knight is also a homunculi since he died in the invasion 8 years ago. He didn't know this and fought on to restore Gllia's independence and was in on the plan to create an homunculi army to match the legions of Romn. But the Crimson King malfunctions as well due to being insta-created so the Monstrum transfers his soul and powers into the real Adol so that they could fight angel Adol that have gone extermination mode on humanity since he correctly deduces that if the lemures is created by humans hate, greed, fear and what not, you gotta destroy the source, the whole city of Balduq and probably the whole world. And he killed the alchemist who tried to self-destruct him when he realised it was going out of hand. You defeat him and Adol is in a dream space where souls from Adols past arrives t help him destroy the Nox forever and release the Monstrum from their curse, but maybe doom the world int he future, but since we can't accept status quo Adol destroys the Nox and then leaves Balduq. With Romun legions chasing after you. 

So... it was a fun game. It was rather fun running around the city, managing the tavern and all that. But I would say VIII is actually better. Tighter group of people, more fun locals since it got rather boring looking at the same catacombs of the prison and the music was a bit better since it at least had some more songs that I remember. It could also be that this game calls back to the other games in the series a bit more without explaining who they are, and the emotional scene of the souls coming to aid Adol is a bit missed when you don't know who they are. I mean, VIII had the death of the captain. The closest was the death of Aprilis, but she shows up later as the clones are revealed. It was fine for what it was, but I would love Ys 3-7 so I can get the deal. Or Ys X.

A DnD Tale: Curse of Strahd - Dinner with a Vampire

Welcome to my Dinner!

The story continues where we ended, on the way to castle Ravenloft for dinner with the count. Arriving in the carriage to the courtyard they where sent in to the dining room by Rahadin, the elf being the second in command pretty much of the castle. It isn't dinner time, but they meet the count, Strahd IX, for some brunch and an invitation for the dinner at 18:00. They eat and are brought up to the guest room where they meet Escher, a dandy. While in the room they find a hidden escape route in the closet. They send Cygnus to the study in order to look if he can find any books that will help them, Katrina gets to sleep since she need the fireball spells and the other climbs the trap door and finds some witches that block their path, and then a room with cats that tell them to go back,

So they decide to go out the front door with Escher away showing Cygnus the study. They climb the tower and goes to the other tower and finds a crystal heart pulsating, forcing them to crawl to avoid getting knocked down. They go to the top and down to the lower areas and find the study... with Cygnus and Escher as well as the count going through the different books, talking about the counts family all the way back from the King and Queen of Barovia and down to the current count. So basically I lured them into thinking that the count is actually the ninth count Strahd. They begin suspecting the accountant since he is the only one that seems to like having control of the treasures in the castle. But it begins to be time for dinner so they head back to the guest room where their clothes have been cleaned and they are taken down to the dinner hall again.

During the dinner they ask why they are here and the count divulges that he have had a burglary and someone have stolen some artefacts from him. And apparently they came from the mayors house through a portal. Oops! And then they begin talking about Gertruda, the girl they have been looking for from the start. And who would know, the girl is here and brought into the dinner room by Rahadin. Apparently she ran away from her mother and Strahd invited her in. And then he casually Strahd mentions that he actually never invited Imeral or Hope to Barovia since someone stole the letter for the intended person. And here the mask falls and his eyes turn red and his teeth sharpens and he began stroking Gertruda's hair as he explains that he intends to turn her into a vampire at midnight during the full moon. As Cygnus tries to take Gertruda away from Strahd both disappear in smoke. Panicked they decide they have to destroy the heart since it must be something evil. They rush up the stair... or crawl to the top and begins attack the heart. As they do it ten flying halberds emerges from the walls and begins attacking them. Godfrey, the revenant has a bit of problem since he with the first attack with his sword usually does decent damage, and then I rolled a 1 and he drops his sword... twice in a row. One halberd also gets a 1 and splinters itself against the heart as it misses its intended target. So in three rounds they pretty much cleaned up the halberds and destroyed the heart, but not until Cygnus rolls a 1 on the Dex saving throw and rolls down the stairs.

So, right when they think they won 4 vampire spawns appear from the roof, which they destroy rather fast. Two is burnt by fire and one is destroyed with the sun sword Hope have been carrying. One rolled a 1 and fell down the stairs as well, so that one they where able to gang up on. And that was the end of that season. By forcing a time limit for a vampire transformation I actually have been able to make them act instead of wait and see. Shall be interesting to see where I place the actual ritual. Rather fun to trick them with the whole "is the count really that Strahd?" and they really doubted it. But next session, when ever that is will probably be the last since fights usually goes off rather fast. So then we can finally end this 4 year long campaign and maybe start another one.