Freddi Fish 1 - Won!

Written by Michael

In our last meeting, we came across Mrs. Halibut, who is concerned because her daughter Gabby is stuck inside this cave.  But before we can do anything, she tries to go in after Gabby, and gets caught in the small opening.

Freddi Fish 1 - Sending Out an S.O.S.

Written by Michael

Not unexpectedly, this was a quick game to solve.  But that doesn’t mean it was bad.  I enjoyed the little bit of time I spent in this game world.  Let me share that with you now.

I head a screen west from Luther’s tree, and begin to explore.  As is the case in nearly all the screens, the pathways are marked with posted signs.  Most of the arrow signs are blank, but some have icons, like the one we saw last time with Grandma’s face on it.  This screen has all blank ones.  

I click around all the items on the screen, looking for something I need, but I just get the cute animations.  I’ll be doing this on every screen, even if I don’t mention it, and many of them will give me a smile.  But for now, I’ll keep going west.

Discussion Point - Disco Elysium

 Written by Morpheus Kitami

One of the most beloved RPGs of the last decade is Disco Elysium. A game in which you play a cop who wakes up in a dingy hotel room with no memory of anything, and he has a murder to solve. What follows is a very strange game set in an alternative Earth with its own strange history, countries and technologies, before you even get to the actual game itself. You have twenty stats, who each talk to you based on how much you use it and how much you put points into these stats. All in all, a very unique and memorable game.

As with everything people praise, there is pushback. The most interesting of these arguments, is that Disco Elysium can't be one of the best RPGs because it's actually an adventure game. (Or the more extreme cousin, a CYOA) Some say this, stating that despite the game having stat checks, not having combat disqualifies the game from being a RPG. Others because the gameplay, despite having stat checks, is mostly following an adventure game template. Use an item on something, in this case selecting equipment to give yourself an edge in certain stats, and most of the game is a dialog puzzle. Things which usually aren't thought of as RPG gameplay, more as adventure gameplay.

Most of the time, this argument comes from RPG players, and usually people who seem to view calling a game an adventure game an insult. But despite this, the idea is intriguing, and doesn't seem like it's been discussed much by people who actually like adventure games. So, is Disco Elysium an adventure game? Should we cover it a thousand years in the future when we get to 2019? Feel free to bring up its spiritual predecessor, Planescape Torment, as well, since that often gets hit with some of the same arguments.

Game 165: Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds (1994) - Introduction

Written by Michael

We haven’t played a game from Humongous Entertainment in a little while, since Ilmari played 1993’s Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon.  While he tackled the first three of their games covered by the blog, I’m happy to settle in for a new series of theirs.

Much like Ilmari in 2018, I also had no exposure to Humongous Entertainment.  I might have heard something about Ron Gilbert making children’s games, but when I was 14, I would have thumbed my nose at the thought, since I had very clearly outgrown such childish endeavors.  Only now, with the wonder of adolescence but a speck in the rear-view mirror, can I truly appreciate this experience.

Judgment Rites – History Lesson, pt. 1

 by Will Moczarski

Disclaimer: Because this is an episode with a lot of attention to detail (and because work and life are just crazy right now) I've decided to split the post in half, you know, to let you know I'm still alive and all. 

The third mission is called No Man's Land, and it really feels like a proper Star Trek episode. It begins – as it so often does – with a routine mission that is suddenly interrupted by a distress call. The Enterprise is on its way to Omega Corvus to probe some radiation clouds. However, the fact that Kirk is expecting an uneventful mission in his log entry is nothing if not the first giveaway sign that all hell will break loose. Yes, we will even be dragged into a World War, no less.