Getting Ready to Rumble . . .

After much delay, I finally have completed moving most of the original blog to this one. Just below this post is the saga of the death of the old computer. 


Although I had started blogging Ghost in the Sheet, that game was so rudely interrupted by my hardware problems that I decided to start over later. Eventually I'll get back to Ghost and I'll move it's existing blogs when I do, but soon I'll be starting some major games that have been in development for, literally, years.


First up will be the esteemed Jane Jensen, creator of the legendary Gabriel Knight series, games that defined adventuring. I have acquired a copy of her brand new Gray Matter. That'll start as soon as I get two lengthy Kirkus books done.


After that we should get to my two most eagerly anticipated games: The Last Crown, scheduled to come out at Eastertime, according to Jonathan Boakes' blog. And then, surely Bracken Tor will be upon us!


I'm also replaying the Carol Reed games, and have acquired Blue Madonna, the latest. That will wait for a short gap in the bigger adventures though. I love the Carol Reed games, but they really do cater to a slim audience (of which I am a good representative), and they don't take too long to play.


After all that, I'll do Avadon, which is an RPG. Don't know how well that will blog, but I'll try it. Avadon is already out, but Jeff Vogel made the text too small for my aging eyes. On the Spiderweb forum Jeff says that he's going to fix that for the Mac version after he gets the Windows version done, so I'll wait for that one.


And, more news: I have acquired an old IBM thinkpad loaded with Windows 98SE, for which I have numerous older adventures. The idea is to play them under their native system. So, I may be blogging some older stuff, too. Hey, I never even finished all the Myst games. Somehow, life kinda intervened.


But you no can rush it.

The Phoenix Rises from the Ashes! Coolness!

(First published December 17, 2010)

I have acquired my brand new 21-inch iMac desktop 'puter. It is a thing of great beauty. It has 8 gigs of RAM and a 2T hard drive. (I also acquired an iPod classic, which fortunately cost considerably less than 400 monies.) As I'm making more money from Kirkus, I ought to be able to pay Dad back in about six months. Am alllmost halfway there already.

It arrived, I unboxed it, and of course the first thing it asked me to do was to download all my data from my time capsule. That took all night, 12 hours, but when I got up the next morning, there was my old 'puter right there on the new 'puter! It copied and installed my wallpaper. I didn't have to reload the printer software--it just worked. It even saved my progress in a stupid little match-three game I had going. Everything. No data lost at all, and I only had to click one button.

But the coolest thing is that instead of having my Windows XP on Bootcamp, now I have it in a virtual machine. I got VM Fusion instead of Parallels because it had a $30 rebate, and the two are virtually identical in what they do. This thing loaded the XP program easily. It uses the Mac mouse (the new, spiffy magic mouse, with just a flat smooth surface that scrolls up, down and sideways). I can drag and drop stuff between the Mac and the XP window. I can have it go full screen, or run in a window. I can take "snapshots" and reload those if I want to undo some problem. I can just minimize the whole XP window and surf on my Mac while stuff loads.

The only problem is that two of my older games have bad color depth. But they run fine. Newer games look perfect.

I'll have to start Ghost in the Sheet all over again, but here's something fun. I can play the game in an XP floating window, and have this blog open to write as I play! Hah! (Addendum: no, I can't. The game captures the cursor. Might as well run it in full screen, then.)

First though, I have a copy of the Lemony Snickett's A Series of Unfortunate Events game. I've had it for years and insist that I will play it because I adore Tim Curry's voice work. He narrates the game, brilliantly, just as he read the books, brilliantly--the kid actors are another story, alas. It would never load on my former bootcamp XP. However, it loads on Fusion (although with lousy color in the animations--the rest of the scenery is fine--it's just that the Beaudelaire children glow even with the brightness turned down). I tried playing it on my Dad's HP laptop with Vista and it seemed to run fine, but it turns out that it left out whole areas, and stopped cold when I was about halfway through. I won't know if the problem is in the disc, or if it was incompatibility with Vista until I get to that point.

It isn't the type of game I really like much. You have to use the keyboard and the mouse, and it's a bit of a shooter, jumper style thing like the Harry Potter games. But I've had so many false starts with it on the laptop that I'm now pretty good at the combat. I should be able to zip through to the halfway mark in a day or two. [Edit: I got through it! I think there may be something wrong with the disc at that point, because the background color looked unstable, but the game let me into the tunnel where it had frozen on the Vista laptop even after reloading. So I can probably finish! Hooray!]

But you cannot revert to an earlier saved game. The game saves at set points, and that's where you start. If you missed anything, too bad. Lousy game design. However, I did miss something, so I just reverted to an earlier snapshot on my virtual machine!

I am loving this. I don't have to restart the whole 'puter and have my Mac unavailable to me while I'm in Windows. Now I have both running right on the same screen.

And Fusion even gives you a free one-year subscription to McAfee security.

So I'm set! Let the games begin! Again! (Um, after two more Kirkus books and Lemony Snickett)

Tragedy Strikes

(First published November 18, 2010)

It isn't the hard drive.

It's the whole 'puter.

It is dead.

It won't even power on. It's lonely little round light comes on, but no Mac tone, and the little light goes out in a few seconds.

It was a wonderful 'puter. It got me through four tough years.

Alas. Sad. Mourn.

Next Wednesday I'll have the $$$ to get a new 'puter. Can order it right from the Apple website. As I'll have to do that the day before Thanksgiving, I certainly won't get it until the following week.

But perhaps I'll get back to Ghost in the Sheet.

More 'puter troubles

(First published November 10, 2010)


Alas, we again are on hiatus. The brand new 1tb hard drive put into the 'puter only seven months ago has crashed. The people who put it in for me are still in business but are not doing repairs anymore, so I have to find another tekkie.

I'm told the drive has a two-year warranty, so I should be OK there. Wonder if I can get 'em to pay the labor?

Ergo, no cute animal photos. I may continue with Ghost in the Sheet, as I was able to download it again from Big Fish and I'm gonna have to start over anyway. I like that download feature, a lot. May be better than owning the CD, as it turns out.

Anyway, until the 'puter comes back, I'm stuck on the awful HP laptop.

Lord but I hope I get the 'puter back before Bracken Tor is released!

Black Circle (3): Endgame

(First published October 18, 2010)

Oh dear, I am speedy. Yup, I was at the endgame, or just a few steps from it, anyway.

I am mad at myself for looking at a hint before trying all of my items at one point. I just assumed I didn't have the item, but you never know that in these games. Mostly, though, I got through it without actual hints--I think I only looked at two or three. I did look at locations several more times, though. It does get tedious when you don't know where you need to go, although often just finding an inventory item will help clue you in to that. Aha! There's what I need to get into that thing! And off you go.

There is some suspense at the end, but it isn't like you could get killed, or anything. (Is it? Heh.)

Lovely graphics, as always. Except for the wallpaper. Carol said she chose that stuff. Ouch.

There was one weird thing. At one location in the woods there indeed is a circle of black stones. One would think that would have something to do with the title of the game. But we never do anything with it at all. We can't even look at it closely. I presume "black circle" referred to the cult that was operating in the game. Anyway, that was strange.

So, I have no excuse now but to finish the Kirkus books. Well, get 'em done, and then maybe I can find something else to play while waiting for Braken Tor!

The next question is, when is Mikael Nyqvist getting his next game out? Sure hope this isn't the end of the series. This one seemed shorter to me, but it probably wasn't. Had I played all day as I did with the other one, I'm sure it would be about the same length.

And again, it has a much better ending than the earlier games. Didn't just stop. The music added a nice touch of suspense too. Ya never knew when the bad guy was gonna turn up behind you when you were in certain locations.

So, fun as usual, and pretty. Not too challenging, just most enjoyable--for women of a certain age.

Black Circle (2), Having Fun

(First published October 17, 2010)

And I'm having fun with Black Circle. I'm pretty far into the game. Could be approaching the endgame already, but I still have quite few inventory items that are unused, so maybe not.

It's a typical Carol Reed mystery, although Mikael had a bit more fun with this one. First, he himself appears in the game as a transvestite (I recognized him from an earlier game). That had to be fun.

Also, he had Jonas showing around attendees at an adventure game convention who wanted to visit sites used in games in Norrköping. However, Jonas doesn't play those games, because they're just for women. Actually I'd imagine that's true. No doubt I fit the demographic perfectly, too.

But I progress. Finding the janitor's notebook was quite a challenge. Plus, it was only by accident that I found a key I needed. Sometimes I do get lucky. I'd grabbed the contraband buried in the floor, but aaaaalmost missed the key!

I must say that I'm getting rather sick of derelict buildings, though.

Interesting for an American to see all of these Swedish apartments, too. All of them seem extremely small, especially the bedrooms and kitchens. The views are nice, but the only place I wouldn't mind owning is the house in Time Stand Still. At least it had a modern bathroom, much nicer than mine, actually. Plus, they're always, always messy. Guess there's just not enough room to stash stuff. I'm not accusing--my place usually is every bit as bad. I do wonder how Mikael convinces his friends to leave their apartments in their natural state when he photographs them, however.

Anyway, I have explored the possible bad guy's house and retrieved keys of many colors (wait, wasn't that the last game?). I'm ready to go exploring the mine and perhaps enter the sanctum sanctorum of the cult.

Till tomorrow!


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Black Circle (1), and Why Not?

(First published October 16, 2010)

Well why not start Black Circle? So what if I just finished another Carol Reed game. I like Carol Reed games.

I decided, though, to stop playing at a reasonable hour. I've made good progress, although I'm sure I'm not a quarter of the way through the game yet.

This time I had no idea what the game was going to be about--or at least, what the mystery is. Didn't look up any reviews. I do worry about poor Carol though. She's always doing work for her neighbors, and never seems to get paid. Maybe she sells her dollhouses?

An interesting note--in the last game, I noticed that two wall clocks were missing their hands. That little mystery never got solved. Now I see the same thing in this game. It's becoming a theme. I'm really curious as to why these handless clocks are all over the place in these games.

At any rate, I got a fairly good start. The Nyqvists are pretty good at moving their games along. The few times I wondered where to go next were solved by looking at the hint book, but not getting any hints. It's most helpful just to know where to go.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure that the kid I'm looking for is the murder victim spotted by Carol's neighbor. Now I'm learning about a weird cult that operated out of a foundery. Wandering around that, I marvel at how Mikael Nyqvist is able to find all these derelict buildings, presumably around Norrköping. I mean, there seem to be dozens of them.

Slowly gathering inventory items right now. So far, except for keys, none of them has been useful, but that's normal in these games. Eventually they will all come in handy.

I note that we've returned to the old Tower, which was used in an earlier game--one of the first two, as I recall. Plus, we're back to the library to do online research.

I saved at the point where Bigge, the crazy janitor, wants his cell phone back, and I have to get him out of the way before I can break into the railroad building. But I still don't have the item I need to get his phone. If only I still had that boat hook from the last game--that would work.

Well, I'll look tomorrow. Until then, it's back to Kirkus books. At least these last two aren't due until November 1st, so I can play for a few hours a day without feeling guilty.

Till tomorrow!


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The Colour of Murder (2): Well, That was Fun

(First published October 15, 2010)

It was indeed, lotsa fun. Finished my extra-zippy review for Kirkus, and had the whole day free to mess around.

Didn't expect to play the rest of the entire game, but I did. And that was with reading to Dad for an hour, and fixing him a very nice dinner, too.

Probably wouldn't have finished but for the in-game hint system, which is pretty good. I forgot about it for about half the game, but it works pretty well to just give you hints if you want them without revealing the solution unless you want that too. I only needed one or two actual solutions. Did almost all of it on my own. Yet, the Nyqvists always have some tricky puzzles, and this game was no exception.

Plus, this is the best game yet. Finally they produced a really finished game, without just stopping at some point and telling you the solution to the mystery. This one allows you to figure out the solution, or at least the culprit. Then there's a very nice cutscene to end the game.

That sports club I remembered must have been from East Side Story. The missing kid in this has a membership to a paintball club, but that turns out to be completely derelict (although not quite as bad as the Station Hotel).

Also, I finally found the little stepladder I needed to get to high places, and later to climb over stuff. I remember now--one of the ways the Nyqvists add length to their games is to have almost all necessary inventory items placed in some location other than where they're needed. But it allows us to wander about and see more of Norrköping, which is fine with me. Half the enjoyment of their games is the scenery.

I was pleased to see that there weren't any action sequences in this one, as there was in East Side Story. That kind of thing just doesn't fit with these games.

So I just played all afternoon, opened up new locations and explored, found items and figured stuff out. Finally it all came together nicely. Plus, that hunka-hunka Swedish gardner, Jonas, is back. Serious scenery right there.

I'm continually impressed with the Nyqvists' devotion to these games. This one was planned out extremely well.

Most enjoyable.

Now then, should I read another Kirkus book, or should I play Black Circle tomorrow?

The Colour of Murder (1): Starting Over

(First published October 15, 2010)


It's time to get back to my old friend, Carol Reed!

I had started this game months and months ago, but my hard disc crashed and I lost everything I had on the XP side of my Mac. Among the lost stuff were the first three Carol Reed mysteries from my old reviewing days at Four Fat Chicks. One of their folks had reviewed the first two, and sent me all three so I could play them and review the third game: Time Stand Still. After I finished them all, I sent the games back, but kept them loaded on the 'puter.

The crash took care of that. I saved almost all my stuff on the Mac side because it was pretty obvious that something bad was happening inside the 'puter, so I dragged it all to my Time Capsule. But the XP stuff was un-back-up-able.

I had bought a copy of The Color of Murder and had started playing it. Once the 'puter was fixed I tried loading it again from the CD. But alas, somehow I'd scratched it, and despite about a dozen attempts on two different computers, it would never fully load. I'm poor. I can't just start throwing around $$$ to replace copies of stuff.

But I then found out that Big Fish Games had everything for cheap except the second game, Hope Springs Eternal. So I was able to get new downloads of Remedy, Time Stand Still, The Color of Murder, and the new one, Black Circle. Yay!

To the game:

I really like these games. Primitive, absolutely. But gorgeous. I doubt I'll ever have the cash to do it, but I'd like to visit Norrköping (and Polperro, also). I don't care that the actors are amateurs. As I said in my review of Time Stand Still, these people are the Nyqvist's friends. They ought to be amateurs. It actually adds a sweet quality to the game.

So out I go to Carol's allotment. What is an "allotment," anyway? They seem to have them in European countries. Do people buy, or are they assigned, little plots of land for gardens in the outskirts of towns? Seems so, because Carol just has a shed there. Her garden doesn't seem to be doing very well this year. But we have a new case from her allotment neighbor.

Off we go to the first apartment. I note that the clock on the kitchen wall is missing its hands. I find clues. I find a closet that has an item I can't reach.

Now here's something I don't like. Carol can't reach on top of the shelf in the closet, but right there in the kitchen are perfectly good, solid chairs that could be moved to the closet and stood upon. But no, we have to find some obscure inventory item in some other location and cart it back here to get to the shelf. Humph.

Anyway, I go to the kid's workplace and to a theater. There I find a puzzle that I stumped me in my first try at this game. This time I figure it out and get a key. That gets me into another place, where I turn on the lights in another closet. There I find another door which has a puzzle the Nyqvists have used before: a punch pad with discolored numbers. You should be able to tell which numbers have been punched a lot, and work out the code from that. Maybe not, though, because this time I can't work it out. Perhaps there's a code hidden somewhere, but for now, I'm locked out.

However, I find another location that gets me to the murder victim's apartment. I have his key, thanks to my intrepid puzzle-solving. And in there I find several things: a color-coded box that I'll just bet has something to do with the title of the game. Don't have the code for that yet. His wall clock is also missing its hands, and he's into clock repair. I find a key in a green vase-like thingy that I'll need a paper clip or magnet so I can fish it out. Alas, there are no refrigerator magnets to use, as in an earlier game (I keep hoping they'll recycle some of their puzzles). I do find a tall refrigerator, however, and I need something to stand on for that, too. So eventually I'll find a folding thingy, portable, that I can use to climb up stuff. So far, nothing.

I find the guy's boat. Find a boat hook on that, which you'd think you could use to fish something down from a tall place, but nope.

Something strange: I remember clearly when I played the game last time, I got to a sports club and found clues there. Haven't found that yet, although I've progressed further in the game this time than I did then. Must go back to the first apartment and look around a bit more. I did find the kid's membership card, but the game didn't add the location to it's map. Maybe I need to manipulate the card a bit more.

All these locations will have to be scoured a bit better, frankly. I just kinda zoomed along in the game at first, really glad to get back to it! But I figured that was enough for a very busy day.

Tomorrow! Back to the colors!


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