Together Retro: FMV Frenzy

[Exhuminator]

It seems like the main pitch of that ad, is how often that game is going to kill you.

[Ack]

I had slightly raised expectations due to the fact that it features Rob Schneider

Your first mistake.

Granted, this came out when his career was on the up and up, before he started doing all the "Rob Schneider is a ..." movies. And at least it ain't Chris Kattan.

[BogusMeatFactory]

So ... I think I found our official poster for this month ... which also happens to be an advertisement for the game I started last night:

And while the large print may not be wrong in a general sense ... it's definitely not accurate in regards to A Fork in the Tale. This game is just not that good. I had slightly raised expectations due to the fact that it features Rob Schneider as the voice of the main character, but yeah it's very problematic. First the good! The acting isn't half bad. It's not half good either, but it gets the point across. Unfortunately I'd never have known the main voice-over was Rob Schneider. Granted he's a lot younger in this game, but even despite a brief homage to his 'Richmeister the copy room guy' character I don't think I would have recognized his voice at all. Come to think of it, I should challenge my wife to see if she can pick him out. She has an uncanny ability to recognize actors on the basis of their voice alone. The other interesting thing that this game has going for it is the plot which involves traveling between parallel worlds, those being our own modern world (of the 1990's) and one peopled by medieval knights and wizards.

So far so good. Everything is cheesy and fairly low budget, but man ... I'm an old school Doctor Who fan; I can handle cheesy and low budget . I even had a pretty good chuckle out of the fact that the main 'castle' I encountered is pretty clearly someone's Southern California estate. But things really start to fall apart when it comes to the gameplay. Everything is quicktime events, and even that's okay, at least on the surface. It's the way they're implemented that becomes incredibly tedious. Many of these events require you to quickly click on a set of choices which sometimes represent directional inputs, sometimes they represent things to do or say. And often these inputs must be entered in series before you can 'progress' to the next scene. The trouble is that you're not given any indication of the 'correct' choices, and if you fail at any given step you need to start the entire sequence over again (meaning you watch the same short clips over and over again until you finally get it 'right').

Imagine playing a game of Simon where it doesn't give you any lighted sequence to follow; you just start pushing buttons and it tells you if you're right or wrong. If you're wrong you repeat the part that you've memorized over (and over) again until you finally get it right. That's A Fork in the Tale.

Even that wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the jarring transitions between clips. Oh God the transitions. THE TRANSITIONS. Which is to say there aren't any. It's just these short clips jammed together, often without much in the way of rhyme or reason. It's very jarring and herky jerky to the point where you sometimes feel like there's not any connection at all between clips, like you're watching some kind of post modern art exhibit, or the video portion of a Skinny Puppy concert (except you know ... with less impaled eyeballs & junk). It just lends a total discombobulated feeling to the game, a pervasive sense of disorientation.

I feel your pain buddy

So yeah, I'm still on disc 1 ... out of 5. I know I've roasted this game fairly thoroughly, but I'm not done with it quite yet (I'm too stubborn for that!). I'm kinda curious to see where the plot leads (spoiler alert: I'm pretty sure it leads to disappointment). But sheesh I tell ya guys ... I'm not sure I'm going to make it through this thing.

OH MAN YA GOTTA STICK WITH IT!!! I've played and beaten a fork in the tale and put the bulk of my play through up on YouTube. Things get a little crazier with a spell system and a dialog system that is used to solve puzzles. Don't get me wrong, the game is bad, but the game starts to have much larger branching paths and events that don't keep you tied down to doing the same thing over and over again.

The only time I had a real frustrating time was doing an arena fight with a bad guy who was taken captive by some forest Amazonians. It was definitely a pain!

Just wait for the spell giving vagina monster though... that is a treat!!!!

[Stark]

Oh man this "live actors" thing is killin' me!!!

Now that I think of it, some old WRPG dungeon-crawlers have FMV characters. Hmmm.....

Stonekeep

Little late to the party on this response, but Stonekeep warrants it. It's a great game! Play it.

[nullPointer]

It seems like the main pitch of that ad, is how often that game is going to kill you.

The funny part about this is that there's no Game Over screen. You'll definitely wish that there were, mind, but if you think this game will grant you any means of sweet release, think again.

I had slightly raised expectations due to the fact that it features Rob Schneider

Your first mistake.

Granted, this came out when his career was on the up and up, before he started doing all the "Rob Schneider is a ..." movies. And at least it ain't Chris Kattan.

Ha, yes I forgot to mention that most of the humor tends to fall flat. And I'm a guy that laughs at just about anything ... so the bar is really pretty low. Some of the jokes manage to hit their mark, but likewise some of the best laughs in A Fork in the Tale come from the things that are unintentionally funny.

OH MAN YA GOTTA STICK WITH IT!!! I've played and beaten a fork in the tale and put the bulk of my play through up on YouTube. Things get a little crazier with a spell system and a dialog system that is used to solve puzzles. Don't get me wrong, the game is bad, but the game starts to have much larger branching paths and events that don't keep you tied down to doing the same thing over and over again.

The only time I had a real frustrating time was doing an arena fight with a bad guy who was taken captive by some forest Amazonians. It was definitely a pain!

Just wait for the spell giving vagina monster though... that is a treat!!!!

I tell ya man, your enthusiasm for stuff like this makes the effort seem worth it. Like I said I'm not through with it yet, but if I do manage to complete the journey I'm going to be ready for some seriously quality game time, lol. I caught myself daydreaming about Castlevania during my drive to work ...

[BogusMeatFactory]

Yeah null, the joy of the game relies on the wtf of events. The, "Oh that's clearly some Californian estate," moments keep coming and if you ever just get too flustered... just get a guide and you'll be fine. Get stuck in the fight scene (which is what the demo is for the gsme from that ad...and it sucks.) there are walkthroughs.

My only tip for you is to WRITE DOWN THE SPELLS. The game does not retain the hand motions for spells so you gotta write them down for reference.

Also... how stupid is the crazy mystic in the cellar? That voice is so weird!!!!

[nullPointer]

Also... how stupid is the crazy mystic in the cellar? That voice is so weird!!!!

LOL, I know right!? That dude might be one of my favorite parts in the game at this point just because he's sooo far over the top. Like I'm not even sure whether it's intentional or whether he's just overcompensating for poor acting ability. This is kind of how I picture Alan Moore in real life FWIW.

Thanks for the tips Bogus!

[BogusMeatFactory]

Also... how stupid is the crazy mystic in the cellar? That voice is so weird!!!!

LOL, I know right!? That dude might be one of my favorite parts in the game at this point just because he's sooo far over the top. Like I'm not even sure whether it's intentional or whether he's just overcompensating for poor acting ability. This kind of how I picture Alan Moore in real life FWIW.

Thanks for the tips Bogus!

DUDE I THOUGHT THE SAME ALAN MOORE THOUGHT!!

[Stark]

If I find the time I think I'll do Pandora Directive. I played Under A Killing Moon, but never the sequels. Wish me luck on finding time!

[BogusMeatFactory]

If I find the time I think I'll do Pandora Directive. I played Under A Killing Moon, but never the sequels. Wish me luck on finding time!

Under A Killing Moon is great, the sequels not so much. Pandora directive really bit me in the but with its morality system. Picking certain dialog choices and doing certain in game decisions affect your ending and can predetermine what ending you get from the very first dialog option. It is.... frustrating. Plus the game emphasizes a lot more with dangerous real time puzzles, laser mazes and time limits that are insanely frustrating considering that your window is small amidst a large area with lots of multistep puzzles.

If you do it, go in with a guide right away... it leaves you little room for error between getting the best ending and all the bad endings.