ROSS'S GAME DUNGEON: NORMALITY

[Ross Scott]

Merry Game Dungeon!

This is a blog post. To read the original post, please click here »

[luvearlykyary]

A very Merry Christmas indeed!

Also, the guy reminds me of the professor from Nyet 3. Still watching the episode, one of the better ones from the last years. Seems a lot closer to the older Game Dungeons in style and choice of game.

[TunnelPicture]

At 20:09 the ball is called a space hopper, very similar to the one in Monkey Dust from 2003. The hopper is sentient in the series too. The only problem is that the game is from 1996 :/

[Steve the Pocket]

Paul's picture looks familiar to me too. The one detail I'm picturing being different in my head is that his mustache is downturned in the exact shape of a crescent moon, or that "boomerang" PS3 controller. And then later in the video for some reason my mind wandered to the webcomic Leftover Soup and I started seeing the character drawn in that artist's style, particularly in its early phase. I think we're witnessing a Mandela Effect spreading in real time.

[Rarefoil]

Wow, this is the very first Game Dungeon where I've fully played through the game before! (not counting Sonic Heroes, because c'mon that's too easy)

I first learned of this game via Yahtzee and Gabriel's LP of it (where they were a LOT LESS KIND to it than Ross), and I think if anything stuck out to me during it, was the music. Not necessarily in the "wow its so good way" more so in a "I think I want to learn more" way. This, and idle curiousity probably, led to me buying it on GOG (which included the soundtrack). And then buying the US CD on eBay impulsively. 

 

So, I have a lot of things to I want to say. Some of probably said in YouTube comments already, but hey, here its more easily seen.

 

1. The Music.

 

Ross, I think you kinda made a mistake picking the MT-32 as the music device here. See, while Normality does support it, when I did some poking around I found it to be pretty unoptimized. The instruments it picks are pretty good and I wouldn't say it sounds bad, but as you heard, there are obviously glitches that occur, there's weird sound balancing, and most if not all songs actually have notes that are completely outside the MT-32's range; you literally have to change what MIDI channels the MT-32 uses to hear them. 

I will hold this game up as an example of a game that supports both General MIDI and the MT-32 where the MT-32 was obviously nearing the end of its life and got the short end. In my opinion, the best music option would probably be a Roland Sound Canvas 55, but no one to my knowledge has done any recordings of it. And in case anyone's wondering, the GOG OST uses the AdLib version that's converted from the MIDI.

 

I was actually planning on doing a full General MIDI recording of the soundtrack and providing the recorded MIDI files from DOSBox (to maybe use with a RSC-55 in the future), and also doing a MT-32 recording with adjusted recorded MIDI files to try and get it to its best spot. With a forum post here after all was said and done. But, that was yet another project that I put on the back burner. Maybe after I wrap up my Gex music work. Or maybe someone else can do it before me.

 

Also, just for the record even Ross's MT-32's notes in this video sounded very off, or at least different even compared to what I hear using MUNT with Normality. That could just be down to me sticking to DOSBox and him using a 98 VM. (Also for the record (again), I'm not sure a Windows mode exists for this game. My US manual does mention that its "preset to run in two different modes" but it could just be referring to running it with Win95 in the background? Or in a window? I have no clue)

 

2. US vs UK

 

The reason why I'm even saying "US version" is because when this game was brought over from the UK, it got a completely new dub for the US, where famously Kent was voiced by Corey Feldman. The GOG version is the original UK dub, which created some confusion and disppointment for fans of the US dub. Hence me buying the US version... tho immediately after I learned that there is an fan-made tool that will mod the GOG version to have the US dub and it even adds some quality of life additions. Oops.

https://github.com/Twombs/Normality-Voices-Selection

 

Admittedly, I only played with the US voices because a) I had heard Yahtzee and Gab play the UK dub and wanted to make my playthrough as different as possible, b) Corey's performance was so over the top and stupidly 90s I found it kinda amusing, and c) I already had the US CD shipped to my house, might as well make the most of it. Definitely very much down to personal opinion which one someone would prefer these days. Also apparently, if you buy this game on Zoom, you get the option of both voices.

 

https://www.zoom-platform.com/product/normality

 

3. Multiple Paths

 

(this is definitely mentioned in the YouTube comments already)

 

My impression of the gameplay was actually that it was slightly above average for 90s adventure games, and that's probably because puzzles have multiple solutions. You don't have to use the screwdriver to free the mouse, the Sharkpoon also does that. And the scissors on the carpet. 

You don't actually have to throw shit on the technician, you can also just grab a clumb of dirt from outside. Or, take an plastic card and scrap the lump of beans off your wall and throw that. And if foggy memory serves, there might be an example in the sewers which may avoid the guitar getting trashed one time less (like one area is optional) but don't quote me on that.

In addition, it has a major branching path: you don't have to get caught and sent to the brainwashing jail. That only happens if you destroy all the evidence against you; if even one piece of evidence is left, they can still charge you and they don't figure out who you really are. You then go to a different section of the prision where you're interviewed on TV and have to avoid surveillance. I went with that option since the Yahtzee LP went with the brainwashing jail option. 

Now, of course I said slightly above average. There are still times I had to use a guide and there was still plenty of "dagnabit" moments. I just give it credit for not requiring me to scrap the beans off the wall and for letting me just grab some dirt off the ground. Refreshingly straightforward.

 

4. Q&A.

 

This is all off the top of my head, but I think I can answer some of the questions Ross had concerning the plot.

 

"Why does hosing down the machinary with a fire exthinguisher let me ride the conveyer belt?"

I think its implied that it clogs up/deactivates the functions that would have killed you otherwise riding on the conveyer belt? To be honest, I could just be making that off the top of my head and they don't actually say that.

 

"Are the fake people next to Heather cutouts or dead bodies?"

Cutouts. Either you can go to that room later in the game (though you have no need to) or you can move around in that room by doing some debug teleportation codes to see that.

 

"Why did the bouncer run away when you showed him the rat?"
He mentions in the conversation with him he's very afraid of rats.

 

"Why did getting all the mind control gizmos destroy the brainwashing jail?"

Something about it overloading the jail and causing an eternal feedback loop, since that jail is where the thoughts the gizmos take pass through, and the gizmos were absorbing the thoughts in that jail? Honestly that could be another thing the game just doesn't say and I'm just coming up with a theory.

 

"Why did the guards run out of the hallway when you turned off the lights?"
They're afraid of the dark.

 

"What happens when the thoughts go into the Mood Magnet?"

I believe the thoughts that are considered deviant are locked away for future reference and archiving, to determine what the deviant thoughts exactly are and why they happen (I believe its said that they use people like Kent to find new deviant thoughts), while the "normal" thoughts are either deleted or sent back. That's what I'm assuming from Saul's statement of "stores it for later inspection".

 

...Okay, despite how it looks, I'm not trying to defend this story. I put the gameplay slightly above average for your typical adventure game, but I put the story below average. Great Opportunities missed, there's still stuff that really could have gone into more detail, and the overal execution of basically everything could have been done so much better with better characterization and more thought. I just had answers so I said them.

 

And since I'm determined to share everything I know about this game in one fell swoop, for one last tibit, the FMV cutscenes were animated via motion-capture (if you couldn't tell) and gained some fame at the time for doing so at the time, being featured on a UK TV show Bad Influence.