Together Retro: FMV Frenzy

[Exhuminator]

Maybe we should forgo the voting if people are going to be passive aggressive about the results every month.

That would just lead to people being aggressively passive instead.

[Key-Glyph]

Hey guys, check this out! I just beat the game Installing Windows 95 on a Modern Computer and was rewarded with an FMV of Weezer singing Buddy Holly!



Seriously though, after struggling to get Win95 fully functional on VMware, I moved on to VirtualBox. So far so good. And what a perfect example of the power and ubiquity this month's topic once commanded that an OS released smack dab in the middle of the 1990s had to come with FMVs baked in.

This was actually a new discovery for me, by the way. I had no idea these clips existed on my hard drive back then. Is this news to the rest of you too?

And it's also an interesting choice of source material. The video is an anachronistic mashup of Happy Days footage with the then-just-famous alternative rock band, a kind of retro-leaning retro (the show) meets retro-leaning-modern (the band) meets impressive contemporary special effects (the footage combination), all of which is then wrapped up in the envelope of hyper-future video viewing on your personal computer. It's like popculture-ception or something.

There's one other FMV included: Edie Brickell's Good Times. I think that one's included for the chillzone factor.

[BogusMeatFactory]

It is not in any way unfortunate that I do not have the time to jump on playing video games right out of the gate for the month. I have the delightful privilege of taking care of a 3 month old, a 3 year old full time, working part time and volunteering what little free time I have to helping others.

If you like shooting gallery games akin to virtua cop or time crisis, you literally can not go wrong with any of the fmv shooting games. This includes crime patrol 1 and 2, space pirates, mad dog mccree 1 and 2, the bounty hunter, who shot Johnny rock and Gallagher's shooting gallery. They are fun and fulfilling because they are light gun shooting games, but they are also cheesy and filled with a childlike wonder. They encapsulate the feeling of the birth of film. It is rough and the people making the games don't have a full grasp of the medium.

If you like adventure games that are full of wit and whimsy, play Return to Zork, Toonstruck and Zork Grand Inquisitor. They are fun, engaging with less obtuse puzzles and a moderate level of decent acting.

If you want adventure games that are serious and mysterious, play myst, riven, Zork nemesis and Gabriel knight 2. All have great acting, fascinating world building and a lot of fun, mind bending puzzles that utilize systems and mechanics in fun and unique ways.

If you want, so bad it's good, you play Night Trap, Ripper, Privateer 2: The Darkening, Supreme Warrior, A Fork in the Tale, Corpse Killer, Slam City with Scottie Pippin and on and on. These games usually feature a known actor chewing up the scene to no end and it is glorious. Gameplay isn't unplayable (except for supreme warrior) but the charm is in the shmaltz.

That's a start for people who are actually interested in enjoying the month.

[crazythink4]

Crazythink4 - Played realMyst.

Just a minor correction. I started to play realMyst, but stopped after about 15 minutes to go back to the original Myst in my entirety, so it's probably better to say I played Myst instead.

I talked a lot about realMyst, so I suppose it wasn't entirely clear. Sorry about that!

[Key-Glyph]

Holy shnips, I've got Silent Steel running. I can't believe it. I've wanted to play this game in full from the first moment I spun its Windows pack-in demo disc. If only Baby Key could have known we would finally do it!



Just to explain the basics of how this game plays, you watch events play out in glorious first-person footage in between what I'll call decision points. Decision points present you with three dialog options in reaction to what's going on. When you mouse over the text you hear the protagonist's voice read out the line in full, giving you the opportunity to assess how the tone and delivery hit before you commit. Then you make your selection and the footage rolls along.



I've only played at most ten minutes of this, so time will tell if I'm ever given direct actions as choices (e.g. "fire the missiles"). For now, all I can do is tell people what to do and trust that they won't disobey me or muck things up. This interests me too, because it's almost more a game of discerning motives and judging character than straight-up doing. It's probably not a game about being a hero, but about being a good leader.

[Gunstar Green]

Privateer 2: The Darkening

More people should at least watch the FMV for this one on Youtube, I'm not sure I'd put anyone through the agony of actually playing it as it's a buggy, unbalanced mess. The video segments however are a disasterpiece of bizarre and awful sci-fi and full of big name actors.

[noiseredux]

Hey guys, check this out! I just beat the game Installing Windows 95 on a Modern Computer and was rewarded with an FMV of Weezer singing Buddy Holly!

One of my absolute favorite bands.

[Ack]

Ok, I've posted my thoughts on Phantasmagoria in the Games Beaten 2018 thread.

In the meantime, I'm continuing on with Toonstruck. I'm currently seeking the twelve items that will make the Cutifier work so I can reverse the effects of the Melevofier. I also have a mallet game to win so I can get a bottle of wine and take it to the Big Bad Wolf. Oh, and I need to find a plunger, because I have some fish to flush.

[marurun]

OK, so, I'm seeing some negativity, here. If folks could refrain from jabbing each other in the ribs it would be appreciated. Do not try to invalidate or subvert each others' preferences or participation status in this thread. I have posted in this thread and I am not playing any FMV titles this month. I am interested in what others are typing about what they're playing, and I am interested in generalized discussion. So if you can't be nice to someone, don't say anything to or about them. And no subtle jabs or digs at each other, capisce?

[BogusMeatFactory]

Ok, I've posted my thoughts on Phantasmagoria in the Games Beaten 2018 thread.

In the meantime, I'm continuing on with Toonstruck. I'm currently seeking the twelve items that will make the Cutifier work so I can reverse the effects of the Melevofier. I also have a mallet game to win so I can get a bottle of wine and take it to the Big Bad Wolf. Oh, and I need to find a plunger, because I have some fish to flush.

It is nice to have a game that is playful and absurd isn't it? It is the exact opposite of phantasmagoria and it is delightful. It is so thick with films of the style it is crazy.

Speaking of which, FMV plays heavily into the transition of video games from being arcade driven in play styles to a film style. Gaming had two paths to take during this time. Using fmv or doing 3d. FMV was able to convey emotion easier by using real actors and the nuance of human body language and tone, but it lacked something 3D had in spades and that was the flexibility of using a camera in 3d space and portraying the fantastical more easily.

I think games like metal gear solid definitely had a hand in portraying the cinematic easier with 3d elements over full motion Video and took games into the narrative movie style more smoothly.

It is so fascinating!