Oh boy! So Ms. Gray has been accused of MURDER (that’s us, the protagonist!) and we must see if we really did it or not! Now you finally get to see what HER house is like after seeing the weird houses of her family and no surprise, it’s also full of weird locks and puzzles. Every day must be an adventure to get the coffee creamer.
I’m also periodically being haunted by the murder victim which is awesome. Not sarcasm! I love the scares! This is really fun so far!
I swear to god if Purolator pulls this I will be VERY annoyed.
I quit when I got tired but so far I’m intrigued to find out if I really shanked a guy. And why.
Well it’s been so long I forgot I was in the middle of this game. Fortunately I had sort of left a note of where I left off? Except I think I’m missing something in the middle because I definitely did rescue John Gray between now and the last post.
Either way, Thomas Gray continued to be up to no good with his obsession with his adopted sister.
I did what I did best which was set fire to shit and that solved the problem.
I also found this:
It’s named Screamy and I love it. I apologize for not capturing a picture of the squid ‘Deep Curse’
So then I did the bonus chapter where we discover murder and arson may be solved with a hug? Except, of course, then I unlocked the secret room where he was like ‘surprise! I built a bomb! HAHA’
So Thomas… I’m sorry you’re not the best representation of mental illness the media has to offer. It does not seem to be very pleasant.
Setting up the next game, The Final Suspect, I discover that the game after it, Threads of Destiny, is NOT available for purchase! No idea why.
But thankfully over on the Hidden Object Games Wiki (which has been invaluable for me knowing what order to play these in), users Fuufou, Omega-003, and Angel998 have all worked together to give me a detailed summary to reference so I know what I’ll be missing. Thank you, brave soldiers.
This session was aborted early on account of migraine (unrelated, existing medical issue) so it may be a little coloured in review by the pain/nausea I was going through.
So I mentioned previously that game technology was going to start leaping ahead and it has but I’m not sure I like how it has. Instead of a single room view I now have to swish back and forth to look around which is hard to remember to do and has glitched out on me at least once. Also the ‘repair the item!’ mechanic is still ongoing, this time with added ‘unlock the features in the hidden object section before you can click the hidden objects!’ which made me fussy but again, I was in a lot of pain.
The art’s really nice, as usual. And I like seeing the protagonist puzzle out the crime.
As for the motive of the villain in this, if he talked like this before he was put away I’m surprised he lasted that long before they tried to find him professional help.
I dig that this is a reunion episode game with… Brandon Gray absent with a ‘see you some other time!’ note.
But John Gray’s here and he IS in peril.
Hi, John Gray. I’m using my psychic powers to sense you’re about to have a really sucky evening as usual.Here we go, back in the pit/dungeon where he deserves.
The bonus chapter! I was wondering what it would address and guessed sort of right that it would be the family story of the Maxwells and the sudden appearance of the magic amulet near the end of the original game.
I undid MANY deaths and uh, may have prevented an entire life. Yet somehow the guy’s son still happened? I don’t know. Time wimey travel.
The important thing is that a bunch of zombies only SORT of looked like they were going to eat me and I saw a minotaur that actually looked like part cow part man.
Those are the proportions of a bull, my friend. Also deeply unsettling
So! Now I’m back in chronological order and I’m on The Vengeance! The plot is my nephew who is not Brandon Gray (DESPITE A PHOTO) but James MCGRAY ( who is… part of the same family! Also I am somehow also a Gray, despite my sister Luisa marrying John Gray?) has murdered (so they say) his sister Elizabeth.
Also there’s a third branch of the family now, the Maxwells. So let that be clear, this family bush is the Grays, McGrays, and the Maxwells. No O’Maxwells yet. I shouldn’t be so harsh, I actually name things like I was built to do the opposite. Hurling boulders at glass houses.
Pleasantly surprised that this doll doesn’t have razor sharp teeth and chitter for my bloodSee? This is NOT James. This is Brandon. Or does everyone’s parents look like Luisa?These were actually used for a decent character backstory moment which is more than most evil ferrets are used for.
Most important: This was a fun game. It wasn’t as all out ‘constant creep out moments’ as Bloody Mary but definitely was a ghost story unlike The Stone Queen which was a straight adventure story.
The scenery art is really good and the hidden object sections are looking excellent. Genuinely fun to see how they’re put together. I especially liked Elizabeth McGray’s character design too.
We finally get it confirmed that the protagonist’s deal is that she’s psychometric and not only that, kind of famous for it! Which is cool. She’s certainly done enough interesting things.
The end of this game with Elizabeth manifesting alive was very satisfying. I look forward to playing the bonus chapter soon.
We’re in 2014 now, gamewise? So game tech is gonna start leaping forward pretty soon. Unfortunately there’s that one game that just straight up got zapped from existence so I won’t be able to play that one.
I was so relieved when I found what I was actually going to be shooting from my crossbow to stop the dogs. I wasn’t really signing up to impale puppies.
In the last bit capitalism has led to mystical elemental creatures you must defeat in various ways to get at their precious precious power cores. Petals. They were petals. I really liked the design of the ice wolf and I totally did not snap a screenshot of that, sorry. But a wolf made of crystal ice is pretty.
I DID get a screen capture of the last one but first let’s talk about how this game was mostly an adventure game and not a horror game like the others I’ve played in the series at all (and the one that followed it, Bloody Mary, which as I’ve said I played out of order by accident).
So you know. Adventure! Magic! Love!
AND THEN THERE WAS THIS THING.
JESUS CHRIST NO
I had to wind it up to make… to make that jaw open and the teeth were QUITE THE SURPRISE and the eyes sure as hell weren’t looking at me before. The thing in its mouth is a motorcycle amulet which opened a locker that had been closed since the start of the game. I assume the doll ate the previous owner holy crap.
Okay so the final elemental beast was fire! Specifically a phoenix! And the phoenix had a DELICIOUS surprise inside! The horrifically calcified body of the villain!
I did not know what magic awaited within its glowing formI just kind of watch this happen. I assume with popcorn.A job well done, I say. Well that’s it for all the problems in this game!
Oh also with great delight I got to say the words ‘I have upgraded my goblin’.
So the bonus chapter wasn’t as easy to infer the use of tools as the main game and it turned out a lot of my frustration joke guesses were… what I was supposed to use! Huh. The hammer was VERY useful. And in a surprise twist, ice turned out to be the answer, not fire.
So the plot for the bonus chapter is as Brandon Gray (my nephew, son of John Gray off in a dungeon somewhere and Luisa my sister probably horrifically cursed somehow right now) embraced his true love, her EVIL BROTHER came and kidnapped her and Brandon was all ‘we have to save her! I guess you can help!’ and then I never see him again.
Not even at the end of the game after I’ve saved everyone.
RIP Brandon Gray, your bloodline was fucking cursed.
‘Well I guess I’ll just log on for a bit and do a few things while I screw around’ I said before hyperfocusing for fifty minutes and neglecting all the people I had previously been speaking to. Augh.
It’s sort of disappointing how this one hits the sweet spot of not exactly easy but engaging puzzles that keep me going from moment to moment that’s pretty much not there in Bloody Mary which I played out of order by accident. I felt like I didn’t know wtf I was meant to do for most of Bloody Mary, even though I loved the visuals.
Anyway, this is a fantasy love story too!
I may have had a little too much ‘what will WORK’ on this little molerat goblin who wanted to be warmed up that at some point after trying fire failed, I pulled a scalpel on him.
‘That won’t do anything’
YES IT WILL. Just not what you want it to do.
Anyway the true monster isn’t the woman turning a town to stone, it’s capitalism. As always.
Still not done. But probably soon.
I’m intrigued by the (human) servant who lives in the water tower with an evil clown claw machine and I’m hoping that gets elaborated on before the end of the game. I forgot to take a screencap before the cave in.
Okay so it turned out I’d skipped ahead by accident (Stone Queen comes before Bloody Mary!) so I went back and this is interesting! It’s way more fantasy than horror than the other ones.
Actually, I was so involved in the gameplay and figuring out where things go I didn’t even really dick around/take screencaps to make jokes about. I am pleased to see that my nephew Brandon is alive and well except for the mortal wounding but apparently I just didn’t see him again until now after I saved him from Volo(s?)!
What kind of auntie am I? Jeez. Luisa might be in another crystal ball and I didn’t even check on her. Is John Gray in a dungeon? Do I know? No. I failed them. I failed them all.
Anyway so Brandon’s performing a Snow White routine in a crystal coffin and I’ve got a little goblin servant now and I’ve been hanging out with trolls and ogres. The puzzles are relatively easy to solve but I keep missing items I’m meant to pick up, like I swear my eyes don’t register them until I hit the hint thing and it’s like ‘there was a coin there???’
The puzzles are relatively interesting. I like the story telling format that will come later in Bloody Mary and they’re not as frustrating/why? as in the first two. There was actually an interesting rpg style one. (For the record, I did skip to the end of that one but I played halfway through it but I’ve been having spacing out issues lately so I just moved along. I did like it though and in normal circumstances would have played to the end).
The plot is pretty strong in this game, focusing on a corrupt mayor and a strange girl beneath the earth. Name of this strange town where people are being turned to stone by the Stone Queen: Stoneville.
And I’m done! And I just realized I was supposed to do The Stone Queen! Not Bloody Mary! Heck!
I wish I’d managed to get a screencap of the multiple times I literally blew up a monster, or any of the times I used a chipmunk as my servant (at one point stranding him in an aquarium) but the time has passed. The moment has passed. We have to move on with our lives. The explosions were lovely.
This had a lot of really good spooky incidentals. I am hoping Stone Queen explains some of my ‘wait we’re doing this now?’ vis a vis the protagonist’s situation. I’m led to believe skipping an installment can cause that confusion.
Also, one of the games just isn’t available for purchase anymore so I’ll be having to face that reality eventually anyway. C’est la vie.
Also another bonus chapter giving closure. I appreciate those. Perhaps the REAL monster all along was classism!
I’ve got a new relative, Jackie! She called her auntie for help. I assume I’m the same person as in previous games and this is Brandon’s little sister and that somewhere John Gray is in a dungeon.
So right off the bat, this game is haunted as hell. Stuff keeps moving, the protagonist is finally noticing and commenting on the creepy shit:
Not a fan of the playacting graveyard.FINALLY we notice there’s a human skull on the premises. That head on a post back in The Wishes was driving me nuts.
So everywhere I go there’s haunted children trying to fuck my shit up. I’m so happy.
I wonder if the games are ever going to do anything about the fact that I have ghosts of twin murdered sisters that gave me a single clue once in The Bride?
(I’m not doing so great with story progression in this one, I keep having to ask for help)
Fun side tangent about Bloody Mary: In school around third grade I had a classmate swear her cousin had been murdered by Bloody Mary and I spent a fair bit of time confused between ‘but that’s literally impossible’ and ‘but why would someone lie about something like that?’ because I was 8 and not horrible and jaded by then.
Anyway, nothing about demon possession back then but that was Canadian Bloody Mary, not Russian Bloody Mary who I assume is much tougher.
Also the kids have been murdering the teachers and I have NOT been checking to see if they’re okay beyond ‘I hear some moaning’.
There’s achievements in this game and it does scratch that little ‘I done good’ itch in my head when it praises me for finishing a puzzle under a minute um, clicking on a meerkat. Yes. Keep praising me. PRAISE ME MORE. I am the best player ever.
