What I'm Doing Here

Because I enjoy adventure games, I decided to start this blog and record my fun and frustrations as I play various adventures and some RPGs. I try not to spoil the games, so you can read and play, or play and read. I'm also reviewing some games, as I used to do in the past for Four Fat Chicks. I hope I'll spark your interest in playing, or at least entertain you with my musings. Please note that my musings are only speculations. You, or the game designer, may disagree with my opinions. At the end of each entry is a link to the next entry about that game, and you'll find a list of beginning links to the right, just under my cat's photo. Feel free to comment and play along! Enjoy!

Thursday, October 2, 2014

East Side Story 1: Back to Carol


After doing the latest Carol Reed I noticed that I've got a gap in my games: I'm missing numbers 4 and 5, Time Stand Still and this one, East Side Story. Although I've played Time Stand Still a couple of times, it seems that I don't actually own the copy any longer (the game was lent to me back when I was reviewing for Four Fat Chicks and I returned it. I had it loaded on an old computer, but lost it when my power supply crashed. I'll have to buy the game on Big Fish sometime. It's cheap.) But I do somehow own East Side Story. After zooming through the game last night I was still in the mood for Carol Reed and I haven't played this game for years. It's like new! So here goes!

First, this is still early in the series, and there is no in-game hint system. I grabbed the Walkthrough from Gameboomers and opened that on the Mac side of my computer. Then I opened the game under my Virtual XP machine. I can just switch from full screen to a window to access the WT without closing my virtual machine. However, if I want to play the game in full screen, I do have to save and close the game to access the WT. It's easy enough. I imagine I could just play the game in a window, but the icons in this game are kinda teensy, so that save and quit solution works just fine. Anyway, I want to immerse myself in the game and I can't do that with just a window.

The mystery starts with a letter from Carol's boyfriend Jonas. I hope this isn't all we see of him in this game. Can't remember:


A letter form Jonas. Nice pic!


So far I've been doing fairly well. I remember a few things--such as the skateboard park. Also, as this is early in the series, Carol hasn't yet put up that awful wallpaper in her apartment (it was still there in Bosch's Damnation). So that's a bit of a relief. However, the controls aren't as easy as they later became, so this game can be a bit of a challenge. You really have to look at every node. I only had trouble in the first apartment we examine. There was a puzzle there that will frustrate many players (oh you bet I looked at the WT! This is a replay I'm doing, after all).


The Skateboard Arena

A view into Carol's living room

So far I've found quite a few things. I've learned stuff from the library (a feature these games used to use often) and I've found missing stuff in the River Park--a nice section of Norrköping near the Industrial Park. I almost feel as though I could go to the town and find my way around!

The sepia-toned shot we get before entering every location

I have investigated several locations and come up with more locations, which is the way we advance through these games. I left off outside an old railway station, trying to find a way into the place. I will find the time to get back to it tomorrow!  Till then!


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