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Casual Playthrough #9 - Mystery Case Files: Dire Grove

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Joined 2003-09-16

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I have reached the manager’s office.
The first thing I noticed about the game was how abruptly it starts. I made a second player just to be sure. There was no intro, no choices for difficulty, just a start with a diary page. Is the game that old? My tastes have obviously changed. I immediately got annoyed with the sparkles, it is very odd after playing so many games without contextual pointers. There are lots of HOGs, I’m pretty sure each scene repeated twice. I got stuck not realizing the barn was a garage. I did recall the swinging hook from my first playthrough.
With these playthroughs, I pay attention to the story and watch the cut scenes (usually skipped when I play by myself), especially with the FMV that I prefer to CGI. The story reminds me of Barrow Hill.

     

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rtrooney - 15 May 2015 06:20 PM

Please give me an example. I’m not noticing that, but that may be because I’m not sure exactly what you’re referring to.

It is partly phraseology and structure.
Clicking on the sign:
“An ornate sign above the entry denotes the structure as an inn.” That is the type of thing you would find in a text adventure where you cannot see the inn or the sign. Here both are visible.

“A lone woodpecker drills intently into a tree”. Same thing—the woodpecker is clearly visible.

“An old junker sits abandoned on the frozen ground”. Again, that fact is obvious looking at it.

I found it rather cool and impressive. Much better than just saying “an abandoned car” or such.

 

     
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I really hadn’t noticed that. I’m going to look around for more instances. That’s very interesting.

At the end of the game, looking through credits, there is nobody that rings a bell because he/she was a text adventure guru in a past life. So this must be some sort of “homage” to those games.

Good catch!

     

For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.

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I noticed on the options menu that you have a choice of “attitude”: Normal, Motivational, or Snarky. I selected snarky, and when I tried using the car jack on a padlock, I got “In Latin, you would be called Dorkus Mallorcus.” A typical motivational response is “I’m proud of you.” Normal is “Unfortunately, that doesn’t work.” I’ll stick with snarky, they’re more creative.

     

These days I go everywhere with a carpetbag containing a crowbar, a flashlight, a screwdriver, an oilcan, a ladder, a zipper tab, and a chihuahua.

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I entered (actually fell into) the office.

Furgotten,
I like the descriptions, too.

Colpet,
I bought the game in 2010 as soon as it was released for Macs. 

One of my least favorite things about the h.o. scenes is that all the objects are back in place when a scene is repeated and that some of the same items appear on the list again.  However, the story in this one is good, and I like the way it unfolds through the videos.  I do think it’s funny, however, that the main water line isn’t frozen.

Oh, and I love seeing Felix the Fish covered in ice as the game loads.  In at least one of the Drawn games he was shown with sparkly stars, and in another game, probably one of the Ravenhurst games, he looked scared.  It’s a shame, but they don’t seem to do that anymore.

     

Carpe chocolate.

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If I didn’t comment on it in the past….Lady K, your April showers and now May flowers look stunning.

     

For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.

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Thanks, Tim!  I use rubber stamps and clip art to modify my favorite yellow bird.  It’s a little known fact that Woodstock’s great-great grandmother was a kestrel. Wink

     

Carpe chocolate.

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Am I the only one who feels like this game reminds them of something else?

Guess which image is from the game and which is from The Blair Witch Project.
(Okay the cursor kinds of gives it away)

Being similar to / inspired by The Blair Witch Project is however not a bad thing, as it is a brilliant film, and one of the scariest I have ever seen. The game might not be in the same league as tBWP but it does manage to build up the same scary atmosphere and sense of being in real danger, and the first time the banshee appeared in the mirror it almost gave me a heart attack.  

It is also interesting that we are playing this simultaneous to the Scratches CP, as they are somewhat similar. The difference is that where scratches slowly builds up the creepy atmosphere, then Dire Grove throws it directly in our face from the very beginning when we find the first tape. Personally I think I would have preferred to have the tapes presented in a different order, so we get more of the backstory and none-scary bits before the scary stuff, but this also works.

rtrooney - 15 May 2015 06:20 PM

Another difference between this game and others we’ve played is the Hint button. In prior games if you didn’t know what to do next you could hit the Hint button. You would see directional arrows that would lead you to the next location. Not here! Not sure what to do next? Well good luck, because you’re on your own.

The main problem with this is that sometimes you need to revisit a scene, because a new HO screen has materialized out of the blue, and the game gives you no indication that this is the case. If we find a locked door but haven’t got a key yet, or similar, then at least we know that we need to return as soon as we find the key, but believing that we have already fully explored an area and solved all the puzzles there, only to have something new materialized, that is simply bad design.

But apart from that, then I quite like that there is little to no hand-holding, and we are left more to exploring things on our own, and think about where we might be able to use that hammer we just found.

rtrooney - 15 May 2015 06:20 PM

One thing that I’m not sure of are the puzzles/mini-games. I’m not finding a description of the puzzle objective. I’m solving them because I remember what I was supposed to do from the last time I played it. But if that wasn’t the case, I would be lost.

I have no real problem with that, in most cases it is fairly obvious what we have to do, and in the rest then you can usually deduce it by simply toying around.

Also from a storytelling perspective, it kind of makes sense. We find some kind of mysterious object with some moving parts, we have no idea what it is or what we are suppose to be doing with it, but by experimenting and logical deduction we are able to crack the code and solve the puzzle. Telling us the objective or the rules is kind of a fourth-wall-breaking-thing that doesn’t fit with the story.

BTW speaking of things that doesn’t fit the story:

I am fairly certain the they use the Celsius temperature scale in the UK, so why is an American thermometer hanging outside a British Inn? Pan


I have reached the managers office where we are suppose to stop, but I have a little confession to make Mini Frown Once I got to that point I though to myself, what’s the harm in just playing just a tiiiny little bit further just to see what is down those stairs .. and then a couple of hours later I thought .. well I have gone this far so I might just as well finish the game - In other words I couldn’t help myself, and have already finished the game Pan

But don’t worry, I will stay in this CP, and I might even restart the game, so I am on the same page as everyone else.

     

You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ

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Iznogood - 16 May 2015 07:38 AM

Am I the only one who feels like this game reminds them of something else?

My thoughts exactly. And then a cut to the view from beside her snapped me out of it. Like she had time to edit her tape. They should have stuck with a single camera angle since there’s only one camera and it was supposedly taped in one go…
It’s a common mistake in “found tape” movies (and coincidentally one that the Blair Witch Project completely avoided!).

As for TBWP, I didn’t find it all that scary, but I will concede that if you bought their marketing campaign (it was marketed as a REAL found tape, and they even payed people during the opening weekend to stand in busy lines for the film and to (loudly) talk about how it was real and they knew because they had a close relative who lived in the town where the film took place), then you would probably endure the worst death agony ever during it. Above all else, TBWP was clever in its approach and execution.

I am fairly certain the they use the Celsius temperature scale in the UK, so why is an American thermometer hanging outside a British Inn? Pan

I think it IS a Celsius thermometer as it only goes up to 80° (which in Fahrenheit would only be 26°C and could easily be exceeded on a sunny summer day in England), but they effed up on the degrees displayed, as 5°C isn’t even freezing, yet 5°F would be -15°C.

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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TimovieMan - 16 May 2015 08:14 AM

As for TBWP, I didn’t find it all that scary, but I will concede that if you bought their marketing campaign…

I did knew that it wasn’t real, but I still found it scary as hell, and normally so called scary movies don’t really scare me at all, there are a few exceptions though and this was one of them.

     

You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ

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Iznogood - 16 May 2015 09:14 AM

I did knew that it wasn’t real

I never thought you didn’t, I was talking in general.

I just always felt with TBWP that, if you thought it was real, you’d be scared out of your wits.

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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Joined 2004-01-06

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I installed the game yesterday and caught up.

I forgot how difficult it could be in places.
Since I have the CE version, I have the guide to consult.
Unlike modern games, you have to exit to the Main Menu to access the guide.

The CE version also has “morphing objects” which I could do without, since they have nothing to do with the story.

colpet - 15 May 2015 06:53 PM

There was no intro, no choices for difficulty, just a start with a diary page.

I saw the diary page, then the cut scene of driving through the snow and stopping.
I thought that cut scene was the intro.

The only “sparkles” I see are more like miniature snowball-storms.
They’re quite a bit more noticeable than the “sparkles” in more recent games.
They only seem to show up to denote hidden object scenes, so I don’t really mind them.

TimovieMan - 16 May 2015 08:14 AM

I think it IS a Celsius thermometer as it only goes up to 80° (which in Fahrenheit would only be 26°C and could easily be exceeded on a sunny summer day in England), but they effed up on the degrees displayed, as 5°C isn’t even freezing, yet 5°F would be -15°C.

That’s one weird thermometer.

An 80° maximum is too high for a Celsius thermometer—at least for one that’s intended to be an outdoor thermometer.

My outdoor thermometer only goes up to 50°C, which is 122°F.
80°C would be 176°F.

I think it is closer to being a Fahrenheit thermometer, though it really doesn’t match any type of outdoor thermometer.
The temperature makes more sense in Fahrenheit.

5° Celsius = 41° Fahrenheit (which wouldn’t sustain the snow).
But 5° Fahrenheit = -15° Celsius.

 

     
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Iznogood - 16 May 2015 07:38 AM

It is also interesting that we are playing this simultaneous to the Scratches CP, as they are somewhat similar. The difference is that where scratches slowly builds up the creepy atmosphere, then Dire Grove throws it directly in our face from the very beginning when we find the first tape. Personally I think I would have preferred to have the tapes presented in a different order, so we get more of the backstory and none-scary bits before the scary stuff, but this also works.

rtrooney - 15 May 2015 06:20 PM

Another difference between this game and others we’ve played is the Hint button. In prior games if you didn’t know what to do next you could hit the Hint button. You would see directional arrows that would lead you to the next location. Not here! Not sure what to do next? Well good luck, because you’re on your own.

The main problem with this is that sometimes you need to revisit a scene, because a new HO screen has materialized out of the blue, and the game gives you no indication that this is the case. If we find a locked door but haven’t got a key yet, or similar, then at least we know that we need to return as soon as we find the key, but believing that we have already fully explored an area and solved all the puzzles there, only to have something new materialized, that is simply bad design.

I kind of agree. But then there are things in Scratches that work that way as well. When you don’t know what to do, you start wandering and/or revisiting places you’ve been before hoping there might be something new. (Despite thinking that I had thoroughly scoured my bedroom, I return and find a bag next to the fireplace.) I don’t know how many times I visited the garage/chapel/crypt even though I hadn’t found anything that would help me to enter any of those locations. So it’s a bit “adventure-like” in that it requires constant exploration. Plus, we may have been spoiled by playing games that did tend to hand feed us.

     

For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.

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I finally got to the office. I couldn’t get that hook to swing far enough for love nor money. Finally succeeded with the rapid-fire approach.

Meanwhile, I spent some time browsing in the library. Some of the titles are rather juvenile, but I smiled when I clicked on They Call Me Scrud—“132 weeks on the best-seller list and I hear they’re making a movie.” Come to think of it, that response could easily have come from an old Infocom game, just like the descriptions Furgotten mentioned.

     

These days I go everywhere with a carpetbag containing a crowbar, a flashlight, a screwdriver, an oilcan, a ladder, a zipper tab, and a chihuahua.

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Reached the manager’s office. Took me almost three hours. Had a couple of instances where I had to go over every location just to see what’s changed or if there were any new HOGs. The HOGs themselves aren’t particularly easy either. And it took me a while to figure out how to get that valve down.

I started the game with the comments set to ‘snarky’ (since I love deadpan snarkers), but I changed it to normal after a while because I got sick of being insulted in ways that were nowhere near as funny as some good snarks should be. YMMV of course.

I’m loving the FMV. It’s so much nicer than watching some CGI. I just don’t get why they couldn’t make it more realistically filmed with the same camera. It’s edited like a professional movie with steadicam shots in it. Hardly the stuff of “found tapes”...

I’m also a bit puzzled by the insane game logic that’s been used to get in the manager’s office. So we locate the room above the office, take a sledge hammer to the floor to open a large hole, breaking the water pipes in the process, nearly flood the place before we shut down the water, stuff a mattress through our bulldozed hole so we can jump through and land safely when we could have simply used that sledge hammer to break down the flimsy locked door. Yay for excessive damage? Tongue

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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