Preserving adventure video game history one pixel at a time.
Playthroughs of classic adventure games with commentary. Sierra, Lucasarts and other classic games included.
In Which Our Hero finds out about his future and learns just how badly he pissed off Baba Yaga.
Back in Magda's wagon, Marcus further questions the gypsies about their freewheeling lifestyle and shapeshifting abilities. Then he gives Magda some gold and initiates the fortune-telling, a very long cut scene that reveals several clues about what's going on (although in a somewhat less-than-helpful way.) This is basically the setup for the next three fortune-telling sessions, which are far more specific.
Next video, Marcus carouses with the gypsies and is given the opportunity to bust his best moves with a gypsy hottie, at Davy's insistence. He wakes up on the ground and hung over, but ready for action. Good thing to: because he goes south, gives Bonehead the hat, and comes face to face with an old friend.
It seems things have changed very little: Baba Yaga has Marcus dead to rights, but instead of killing him sends him on a quest for some....
Pie.
I guess we'll be able to add chef to Marcus' list of abilities.
In Which Our Hero burns down a building and meets the gypsies. Is nice!
It is a beautiful Mordavian morning. The sun is out, the birds are singing, the Burgomeister is jolly, and the evil monastery is still standing. But not for long...
After doing Marcus' morning routine, we break into the monastery and find the Bad Place Domovoi that the Hotel's Domovoi told us about last night. With an application of Dr. Cranium's Rehydration Solution the Domovoi comes back to life and (presumably) gets the hell out of Dodge. Which is good, because Marcus is feeling a little left out of the action. So he takes a torch to the monastery and burns the building down.
We quietly slip out of town with no one the wiser (actually, we tell Dmitri about the evil inside and that it had to be done), and make our way to the gypsy camp where we meet Davy and Magda, the fortuneteller. The gypsies tell Marcus a little about themselves and the valley, most of which we already knew but it's helping to put some things in context for the last part of the game.
More importantly, she tells Marcus how to free the Rusalka so we can finally get Piotyr off our ass about it.
The second video is almost a cut scene unto itself (as the fortune-telling well be next video) so there's relatively little in the way of commentary there.
Next time: Marcus' fortune is read, and we come face to face with our oldest enemy.
In Which Our Hero pledges to help save an innocent man and teaches the Burgomeister what it means to be a Hero.
Picking up where we left off, we walk into the Burgomeister's office and pump him for information about this gypsy business. It seems that the gypsy was just wandering outside of town and happened to be there when people were looking for Igor. So naturally, they brought him in, locked him up and want to burn him. Reason is lost on the mob so unless someone can prove the gypsy's innocence - figure out what happened to Igor - this guy's going to burn for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The second video covers Marcus telling the Burgomeister about finding Piotyr's sword, the battle with the wraith and the ghost in the town square. It turns out that Piotyr was suspected of abandoning Dmitri's grandmother and this sword proves he didn't, that he was killed in battle instead. Dmitri is impressed, so much so that he gives Marcus Piotyr's Paladin shield as well (woohoo!) and tells Marcus that his faith in Heroes and Paladins is restored.
All in a day's work!
The rest of the video is Marcus' morning routine, talking to Olga, looking for Igor, and finally going to Nikolai and telling him about the ghost we saw in the forest. Before we can stop him, he runs off to find her.
In Which Our Hero helps a ghost come to terms with her death and learns of a crime that has been committed - maybe.
This is where things really start to take off. We open the first video with Marcus addressing some various ghostly undead issues: first, it's back to the female ghost in the forest, whom Marcus finally convinces she's a ghost. We then return and learn her name: Anna. As if we didn't realize it already. This is Nikolai's lost love, who perished after being out at dusk. Seemingly on an errand for Dr. Cranium, but who's counting?
Then Marcus heads to another wraith barrow where he does battle with the vicious undead and is triumphant. Another wraith horde to add to the stack. It's too bad Marcus can only buy candy and sandwiches with his loot. Maybe he should look into the deed on Borgov Castle...
Back to town and the inn, where Marcus has a quick meal, a good night's sleep and wakes up for the second video.
There is a lot of dialogue in this one and not a lot of commentary, mostly because I wanted you guys to enjoy it. As I pointed out in the commentary, this is the start of the events that lead to the endgame of Shadows of Darkness. We're through learning about the town and this series of events will lead us to our final confrontation. But enough about that: this is something to be savored.
Marcus rolls out of bed, heads downstairs, noshes a bit and walks out to Mordavia's fine morning. The birds are singing, the sun is shining, and there's a lynch mob ready to tie a gypsy to the stake and burn him.
What?
It seems that Igor the gravedigger's gone missing. And the mob caught a gypsy outside of town. Naturally, gypsies are werewolves and eat people so this gypsy was brought into town for questioning as he is clearly related to Igor's disappearance. Or is he?
Looks like Marcus is going to have his work cut out for him.
Personal note: this is one of my favorite scenes in the series because it combines so many great elements of gothic fiction: the paranoid mob, the slightly supernatural, the disappearance of someone familiar and the terrible things that linger just beneath the surface of common folk. So yeah, enjoy.
