This is easily the most unique game I've played in a long, long time. In the beginning, when you get your first quest from a brother to rip the heart out of the sister, I had to stop and think about what I was going to do for awhile. I like how the game doesn't say "you can't progress until you do this quest." It's "It's your choice to do this quest, there are consequences either way."
So right now I'm on Cycle 9, I finished the mine extraction task and now have the Pangolin task. I have the first heart of the green/silver sister unlocked, and the second heart of the violet/amber sister. My memory bulbs are all about half full, and I have over a hundred gold/silver nerva but under 30 of the rest of the colors' nerva.
Am I doing okay? Still possible to beat the game?
Also, having trouble finding hearts with attack glyphs. The only one I have right now is Ritual (the triangle shockwave one). I took a look into the Pangolin's chamber, and it doesn't look like it's going to be very easy to hurt him with it. Where can I find more attacks?
I just picked this game up and it gives that "Myst" feeling all over again.
I did find something strange in the "twisp" garden once. On the edge of the garden there was a green figure that bore strong resemblance to the Patriarch brother. It wasn't a exact likeness, but a simple drawing almost like a stick man.
How happy is the blameless vestal's lot! The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;
---- Alexander Pope
I just got this (yay Steam release!) and started playing.
For some reason it felt like a good idea to enable the console and cheat. I still don't understand the game that well, but since I've now seen things I maybe shouldn't have seen yet, what I say may or may not be laced with spoilers.
Is the world not really supposed to contain enough color to fill all four hearts of all of the sisters? I went around rapidly unlocking and filling all of the sisters, not even visiting any side nodes, and the way their fourth-heart speech all seems to be the same, I get the idea you shouldn't be able to do that for more than one sister.
So there are wandering sisters I missed? I may have to go try to find them too.
I know I'm ruining the game for myself by exploring it in this way, but: now that I've done that, have I just broken the game and bypassed all of the challenges? It sounds like much of the success or failure feedback you get from the game is sutble and related to your color inventory, so by cheating I won't see some critical gameplay elements. That's not a problem with the game and this is not a complaint, but is it indeed true? Or are there some things I can still experience and play with, with such an overpowered cheating character?
I mean, clearly I should not have been able to contain enough color to enter a sister's camera obscura mode and fill all four hearts rapid fire without leaving the mode. I was intended to have to make multiple trips and refill, and interesting gameplay things were supposed to happen in that process. Can I still go back and pretend I need to collect color from those nodes and can I still experience those interesting gameplay things? Or are those areas now sequence-broken?
mspencer on
MEMBER OF THE PARANOIA GM GUILD
XBL Michael Spencer || Wii 6007 6812 1605 7315 || PSN MichaelSpencerJr || Steam Michael_Spencer || Ham NOØK QRZ || My last known GPS coordinates: FindU or APRS.fi (Car antenna feed line busted -- no ham radio for me X__X )
The meat of the game, to me, is exploring the world itself, and finding out the story at your own leisure. The gameplay is meant to be cripplingly difficult, which the developers addressed by giving us the console option. There's as much Color as you can make. It all depends on how you use it, how well your Trees in the Gardens are made, et. al.
You miss out on dialogue from the sisters if you give more than 50 color at a time.
The main reason I'm asking is that I'm trying to absorb the game in an unusual way, like the way a tvtropes.com fan would rewatch a favorite movie and see tropes everywhere.
For people who have played the game straight: what are the various kinds of failure I should be watching for and trying to experience? What are the many things you can do wrong that have negative effects on your chances for success? If I asked a huge question that begs for a multi-paragraph answer, you don't really have to answer me and I apologize.
I've barely seen any of the game properly before deciding to cheat, so all I'm aware of are: you can fail to refill your hearts and die in the void; you can cast a glyph incorrectly, or cast the wrong glyph for the situation; and there was some combat with some flying owl things. It sounds like there's more complexity with those owls than I was previously aware of.
If it's an easy list to type out, what are some of the major kinds of challenge, major opportunities for failure, that I should watch for?
Edit: wait, some of those hearts require something like 800 color to fill. Should even those be done less-than-50 at a time?
mspencer on
MEMBER OF THE PARANOIA GM GUILD
XBL Michael Spencer || Wii 6007 6812 1605 7315 || PSN MichaelSpencerJr || Steam Michael_Spencer || Ham NOØK QRZ || My last known GPS coordinates: FindU or APRS.fi (Car antenna feed line busted -- no ham radio for me X__X )
2. Don't fill up every Heart a Sister has, only enough for them to 1. open up their Chambers and 2. give you a Glyph. After that, a Brother will come after you and kill you before you're ready to fight it.
3. Don't waste Color. The Brothers will get pissed at that, too.
4. Take advantage of the little firefly bugs, too, because they can give you a lot of Color.
5. Never build trees of a Sister's color in her garden that she likes, because apparently that can have consequences.
Again, because I've jumped ahead by cheating, I don't know what I may or may not be spoiling. There could even be ending spoilers, although I doubt it.
First, thank you VERY much for that. Second, do you think that should be spoilered?
Third: that's weird, as I said I filled up every heart on every sister and never received any glyphs nor even saw any brothers. Is that part of the sequence-breaking I was worried about? The game never planned for impossible things happening, because some of those hearts should have required me to fill partially, exit, get more color, come back and resume, and those refills were when the game would throw these things at me. Right?
Many of the levels seem to contain bottomless pits. I know in the airship sister's area, I tried to climb past the sister into the ship when I couldn't find any other exits. I apparently got knocked back (due to a physics bug or directed action by the sister) and fell off of the level and ended up back in the void. That's generally true, that I can fall or jump anywhere and the worst that'll happen is I'll exit to the void. Right?
mspencer on
MEMBER OF THE PARANOIA GM GUILD
XBL Michael Spencer || Wii 6007 6812 1605 7315 || PSN MichaelSpencerJr || Steam Michael_Spencer || Ham NOØK QRZ || My last known GPS coordinates: FindU or APRS.fi (Car antenna feed line busted -- no ham radio for me X__X )
The worst that will happen is either you hit the Void or find a secret level (which ultimately will only contain easter eggs only, there are no "secret Sisters").
Yeah, you are partially sequence-breaking if you receive no dialogue and no Glyphs and haven't seen the Brothers. You have to take this stuff a step at a time.
I was getting dialogue but no glyphs. So yeah I'll definitely have to start over. Maybe cheat more softly: fill hearts gradually, go explore the other areas, but just skip over some of the color-farming.
Wait I should ask, not assume: those events where you're going around looking for life-preserving color -- are those parts of the game full of challenges? Or do they start to get repetitive and feel like farming -- things I could likely skip by cheating?
mspencer on
MEMBER OF THE PARANOIA GM GUILD
XBL Michael Spencer || Wii 6007 6812 1605 7315 || PSN MichaelSpencerJr || Steam Michael_Spencer || Ham NOØK QRZ || My last known GPS coordinates: FindU or APRS.fi (Car antenna feed line busted -- no ham radio for me X__X )
You should do every Quest given to you, even if you don't really need its Color. This helps you get more of that precious, amazing dialogue that this game has and allows you to understand the world a little more.
I've been busy so I haven't spent too much more time with the game. Still:
1) This cheating approach really isn't working at all. I think I'll just use cheats as a last-resort death prevention measure.
2) I had been entertaining thoughts that this game seemed like it already had most of the ingredients of a fascinating and weird h-game. :-P
3) I had missed a couple sisters at the top of the map. WTF @ Yani? o_O That effectively torpedoes #2.
4) Are you ever supposed to be able to enter the chamber that's immediately north from the nameless sister's chamber? I thought I had unlocked every location via cheating, but I can't enter that location.
5) The game was rated 12+ in Germany? What ratings did it get elsewhere?
mspencer on
MEMBER OF THE PARANOIA GM GUILD
XBL Michael Spencer || Wii 6007 6812 1605 7315 || PSN MichaelSpencerJr || Steam Michael_Spencer || Ham NOØK QRZ || My last known GPS coordinates: FindU or APRS.fi (Car antenna feed line busted -- no ham radio for me X__X )
The chamber above you opens up much later... just keep playing. H-game? Like... horror game or hentai game? The nudity of the Sisters is actually a metaphor for the game -- much the same that the Brothers (i.e., masculinity) are portrayed as horrific and malevolent.
It got 16+ in Britain, I believe. As well as in Russia, its home country.
is there a summary of this game handy? like, a spoilerful walkthrough that explains the whole game? because it sounds really interesting but it also sounds like I'd get frustrated and stop playing within 10 minutes if I actually bought it.
I'd love a guide like that as well. I know it somewhat spoils how a player goes about absorbing a game, but I think it'd be neat to be told how to play the game perfectly, what strategies to use -- and then to be told about the kinds of mistakes and opportunities for failure.
Plus a list of the place names and where to find the easter egg level parts would be pretty cool. :-)
Yes I meant hentai-game, and no I'm not serious. It just felt like a funny thought -- how much more distracting for the player would it be if the process of filling a sister's hearts was . . . modified? (Sister behavior spoiler)
It even seems like it would fit in with one of the bits of emotional feedback in the game: the sisters understand that by giving them what they need you are damaging the realm even more -- but when you force them to accept color into their hearts by using a glyph they can't block, part of them needs and craves that color.
Seriously, don't do this, it would ruin the game and many of the industry-changing things it might accomplish -- but it's fun to think about.
mspencer on
MEMBER OF THE PARANOIA GM GUILD
XBL Michael Spencer || Wii 6007 6812 1605 7315 || PSN MichaelSpencerJr || Steam Michael_Spencer || Ham NOØK QRZ || My last known GPS coordinates: FindU or APRS.fi (Car antenna feed line busted -- no ham radio for me X__X )
is there a summary of this game handy? like, a spoilerful walkthrough that explains the whole game? because it sounds really interesting but it also sounds like I'd get frustrated and stop playing within 10 minutes if I actually bought it.
I can give you a rundown without spoilers... that should be enough to help you without wasting your money, if you want.
I feel if more industry leaders took notice of this game they would completely change their methodology of making videogames.
So I just died the first time from running out of color in the Void. I can't think of anything to do different though. I pumped so much color into the Nameless sister just to get out of her zone, and my garden seemed to peter out after a few cycles.
From what I've seen from my own play, plus from reading about other peoples' experiences, that's completely typical. You should try again and see how you do if you don't fill the sister's hearts so quickly, and take longer to build up some color. You may need to wait for the garden yield to disappear and then re-seed the garden.
Also keep lots of saves.
mspencer on
MEMBER OF THE PARANOIA GM GUILD
XBL Michael Spencer || Wii 6007 6812 1605 7315 || PSN MichaelSpencerJr || Steam Michael_Spencer || Ham NOØK QRZ || My last known GPS coordinates: FindU or APRS.fi (Car antenna feed line busted -- no ham radio for me X__X )
So I just died the first time from running out of color in the Void. I can't think of anything to do different though. I pumped so much color into the Nameless sister just to get out of her zone, and my garden seemed to peter out after a few cycles.
There's your problem right there. You'll die if you put a sister's color before your own. You don't have to give her all the color in one cycle, you know. Feed her what you can spare, use the rest to hold you over till the next cycle. Maybe plant another tree if you find enough.
At the early stage of the game moreso than the rest, you need to focus on surviving more than progression.
You only need to max the Nameless sister's Hearts and then open one Heart of both the Sister to the right and to the left of the Nameless sister before the end of Cycle 11. You have tons of time to utilize both Nameless' Garden and the two Mines for tons and tons of color.
That is, if you choose to play the game as it's meant to be played. Once you crack open the Mines, you will have a TON of color at your disposal.
My computer won't even run this game, I'm sure of it, but fuck it, I'm buying it now to support creativity, ESPECIALLY from the guys who did Pathologic, and maybe one day I'll actually be able to run it.
I just got this game for Christmas and I can't wait to find out what all the crazy you guys have been talking about. I haven't read much of this thread to avoid spoiling anything, but I'm really looking forward to playing it. I just hope I don't get to frustrated as the one theme I see is that it's tough.
Also, are there any patches out I should download now?
Cronus on
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
No patches out, there aren't many major issues. The only one is that if you have an ATI 4000/5000 series card, disable antialiasing, as it makes important color veins invisible.
No patches out, there aren't many major issues. The only one is that if you have an ATI 4000/5000 series card, disable antialiasing, as it makes important color veins invisible.
Will do, thanks. Man I wish Nvidia had DX11 cards out when I build my box. ATI always has weird issues like this.
Cronus on
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
I feel like a five year old PC could still run this game. It's not very demanding.
I wasn't planning on getting this because I was worried about it playing, but I grabbed it for the sale price when I was getting Machinarium. My computer is pretty shitty and the game plays fine. It's a little bit choppy in the movement, but not enough to ruin it.
METAzraeL on
dream a little dream or you could live a little dream
sleep forever if you wish to be a dreamer
2Cronus: No patches yet, but if you have the Steam version you may have encountered a bug with small stuttering before you pick a flower up, for example - it should be fixed right now, as the installed was a bit incorrectly configured by ND.
Also... Why would you need DX-11 videocards - there are almost no games that take full adantage of it, at the moment.
The LxR on
How happy is the blameless vestal's lot! The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;
---- Alexander Pope
2Cronus: No patches yet, but if you have the Steam version you may have encountered a bug with small stuttering before you pick a flower up, for example - it should be fixed right now, as the installed was a bit incorrectly configured by ND.
Also... Why would you need DX-11 videocards - there are almost no games that take full adantage of it, at the moment.
I just built this computer and wanted it to last a long time. The benchmarks of ATIs DX11 cards were impressive and they were fairly inexpensive and very power conservative. So I picked up two 5770s in order to secure myself at high settings for some time to come. And I didn't need to buy a new power supply with the 5770s using so little.
But counting the color bug in Void, which I haven't seen since I haven't played it yet I've seen two bugs caused by ATIs cards. One in Borderlands and one in Windows. Nvidias drivers are always far superior to ATIs. Of course part of that is that Nvidia will auto fix errors that the game developers make, which can make those bugs take a long time to track down.
Cronus on
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
I don't think the Void is the case - we're a far too small and unknown studio (YET! ) to take our game into consideration. But I think you're right - I used to own cards of both ATI and nVidia and nVidia's drivers always seemed better in all terms.
The LxR on
How happy is the blameless vestal's lot! The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;
---- Alexander Pope
Posts
edit: Nevermind, started popping up.
Am I doing okay? Still possible to beat the game?
Also, having trouble finding hearts with attack glyphs. The only one I have right now is Ritual (the triangle shockwave one). I took a look into the Pangolin's chamber, and it doesn't look like it's going to be very easy to hurt him with it. Where can I find more attacks?
I did find something strange in the "twisp" garden once. On the edge of the garden there was a green figure that bore strong resemblance to the Patriarch brother. It wasn't a exact likeness, but a simple drawing almost like a stick man.
Anyone spot this or other "stick" brothers?
God news everyone!
The Void is now on Steam!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/37000
Can OP update the title of the topic?
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;
---- Alexander Pope
Map with the location of every Sister and their colors, including the wandering Sisters, with the extra of mines and gardens marked on the map.
For some reason it felt like a good idea to enable the console and cheat. I still don't understand the game that well, but since I've now seen things I maybe shouldn't have seen yet, what I say may or may not be laced with spoilers.
So there are wandering sisters I missed? I may have to go try to find them too.
I know I'm ruining the game for myself by exploring it in this way, but: now that I've done that, have I just broken the game and bypassed all of the challenges? It sounds like much of the success or failure feedback you get from the game is sutble and related to your color inventory, so by cheating I won't see some critical gameplay elements. That's not a problem with the game and this is not a complaint, but is it indeed true? Or are there some things I can still experience and play with, with such an overpowered cheating character?
I mean, clearly I should not have been able to contain enough color to enter a sister's camera obscura mode and fill all four hearts rapid fire without leaving the mode. I was intended to have to make multiple trips and refill, and interesting gameplay things were supposed to happen in that process. Can I still go back and pretend I need to collect color from those nodes and can I still experience those interesting gameplay things? Or are those areas now sequence-broken?
XBL Michael Spencer || Wii 6007 6812 1605 7315 || PSN MichaelSpencerJr || Steam Michael_Spencer || Ham NOØK
QRZ || My last known GPS coordinates: FindU or APRS.fi (Car antenna feed line busted -- no ham radio for me X__X )
You miss out on dialogue from the sisters if you give more than 50 color at a time.
Back into spoiler mode:
For people who have played the game straight: what are the various kinds of failure I should be watching for and trying to experience? What are the many things you can do wrong that have negative effects on your chances for success? If I asked a huge question that begs for a multi-paragraph answer, you don't really have to answer me and I apologize.
I've barely seen any of the game properly before deciding to cheat, so all I'm aware of are: you can fail to refill your hearts and die in the void; you can cast a glyph incorrectly, or cast the wrong glyph for the situation; and there was some combat with some flying owl things. It sounds like there's more complexity with those owls than I was previously aware of.
If it's an easy list to type out, what are some of the major kinds of challenge, major opportunities for failure, that I should watch for?
Edit: wait, some of those hearts require something like 800 color to fill. Should even those be done less-than-50 at a time?
XBL Michael Spencer || Wii 6007 6812 1605 7315 || PSN MichaelSpencerJr || Steam Michael_Spencer || Ham NOØK
QRZ || My last known GPS coordinates: FindU or APRS.fi (Car antenna feed line busted -- no ham radio for me X__X )
2. Don't fill up every Heart a Sister has, only enough for them to 1. open up their Chambers and 2. give you a Glyph. After that, a Brother will come after you and kill you before you're ready to fight it.
3. Don't waste Color. The Brothers will get pissed at that, too.
4. Take advantage of the little firefly bugs, too, because they can give you a lot of Color.
5. Never build trees of a Sister's color in her garden that she likes, because apparently that can have consequences.
Third: that's weird, as I said I filled up every heart on every sister and never received any glyphs nor even saw any brothers. Is that part of the sequence-breaking I was worried about? The game never planned for impossible things happening, because some of those hearts should have required me to fill partially, exit, get more color, come back and resume, and those refills were when the game would throw these things at me. Right?
Many of the levels seem to contain bottomless pits. I know in the airship sister's area, I tried to climb past the sister into the ship when I couldn't find any other exits. I apparently got knocked back (due to a physics bug or directed action by the sister) and fell off of the level and ended up back in the void. That's generally true, that I can fall or jump anywhere and the worst that'll happen is I'll exit to the void. Right?
XBL Michael Spencer || Wii 6007 6812 1605 7315 || PSN MichaelSpencerJr || Steam Michael_Spencer || Ham NOØK
QRZ || My last known GPS coordinates: FindU or APRS.fi (Car antenna feed line busted -- no ham radio for me X__X )
Yeah, you are partially sequence-breaking if you receive no dialogue and no Glyphs and haven't seen the Brothers. You have to take this stuff a step at a time.
Wait I should ask, not assume: those events where you're going around looking for life-preserving color -- are those parts of the game full of challenges? Or do they start to get repetitive and feel like farming -- things I could likely skip by cheating?
XBL Michael Spencer || Wii 6007 6812 1605 7315 || PSN MichaelSpencerJr || Steam Michael_Spencer || Ham NOØK
QRZ || My last known GPS coordinates: FindU or APRS.fi (Car antenna feed line busted -- no ham radio for me X__X )
1) This cheating approach really isn't working at all. I think I'll just use cheats as a last-resort death prevention measure.
2) I had been entertaining thoughts that this game seemed like it already had most of the ingredients of a fascinating and weird h-game. :-P
3) I had missed a couple sisters at the top of the map. WTF @ Yani? o_O That effectively torpedoes #2.
4) Are you ever supposed to be able to enter the chamber that's immediately north from the nameless sister's chamber? I thought I had unlocked every location via cheating, but I can't enter that location.
5) The game was rated 12+ in Germany? What ratings did it get elsewhere?
XBL Michael Spencer || Wii 6007 6812 1605 7315 || PSN MichaelSpencerJr || Steam Michael_Spencer || Ham NOØK
QRZ || My last known GPS coordinates: FindU or APRS.fi (Car antenna feed line busted -- no ham radio for me X__X )
It got 16+ in Britain, I believe. As well as in Russia, its home country.
Plus a list of the place names and where to find the easter egg level parts would be pretty cool. :-)
Yes I meant hentai-game, and no I'm not serious. It just felt like a funny thought -- how much more distracting for the player would it be if the process of filling a sister's hearts was . . . modified? (Sister behavior spoiler)
XBL Michael Spencer || Wii 6007 6812 1605 7315 || PSN MichaelSpencerJr || Steam Michael_Spencer || Ham NOØK
QRZ || My last known GPS coordinates: FindU or APRS.fi (Car antenna feed line busted -- no ham radio for me X__X )
I can give you a rundown without spoilers... that should be enough to help you without wasting your money, if you want.
I feel if more industry leaders took notice of this game they would completely change their methodology of making videogames.
only $9.99
Also keep lots of saves.
XBL Michael Spencer || Wii 6007 6812 1605 7315 || PSN MichaelSpencerJr || Steam Michael_Spencer || Ham NOØK
QRZ || My last known GPS coordinates: FindU or APRS.fi (Car antenna feed line busted -- no ham radio for me X__X )
£1 /= $1
There's your problem right there. You'll die if you put a sister's color before your own. You don't have to give her all the color in one cycle, you know. Feed her what you can spare, use the rest to hold you over till the next cycle. Maybe plant another tree if you find enough.
At the early stage of the game moreso than the rest, you need to focus on surviving more than progression.
That is, if you choose to play the game as it's meant to be played.
Also, are there any patches out I should download now?
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
Will do, thanks. Man I wish Nvidia had DX11 cards out when I build my box. ATI always has weird issues like this.
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
dream a little dream or you could live a little dream
sleep forever if you wish to be a dreamer
Also... Why would you need DX-11 videocards - there are almost no games that take full adantage of it, at the moment.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;
---- Alexander Pope
I just built this computer and wanted it to last a long time. The benchmarks of ATIs DX11 cards were impressive and they were fairly inexpensive and very power conservative. So I picked up two 5770s in order to secure myself at high settings for some time to come. And I didn't need to buy a new power supply with the 5770s using so little.
But counting the color bug in Void, which I haven't seen since I haven't played it yet I've seen two bugs caused by ATIs cards. One in Borderlands and one in Windows. Nvidias drivers are always far superior to ATIs. Of course part of that is that Nvidia will auto fix errors that the game developers make, which can make those bugs take a long time to track down.
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;
---- Alexander Pope