Let's Play... Simon the Sorcerer 3D

[der_ketzer]

The demo is in German, of course.

[Darth Marsden]

Oh well. Us English speakers still get the gist of it at least.

Basically the opening cutscene from the demo takes about a fifth as long as the actual game, which takes almost 8 minutes from hitting New Game to actually being able to first control Simon. When I said I was getting Daikatana flashbacks, I wasn't kidding (I did say I was getting Daikatana flashbacks, right?).

[Darth Marsden]

Right. Let's defeat that robot thing!

That robot's totally preventing us from getting that key!

IT MUST DIE.


And here we are inside the chamber again. Now as you can see, the robot's in the center there, and it'll follow you around as you move around the room, constantly blocking off the key. Aside from that, it does absolutely nothing, and if you walk too close to it, Simon simply backs away. I forgot to shoot him doing this, so you'll have to accept this image taken from someone else's Let's Play (hope OreWaUsoop doesn't mind):




I've wandered around the chamber a little here to get a better angle of the laser beam. It's a bit hard to tell thanks to the poor camera, but if you move round then the robot will follow you and move directly into the path of this beam. This may factor into how we defeat it. Possibly. Maybe.

Anyway. Simon's standing right in front of something, so let's have a look at it.


Oh, it looks like there's space for something, does it? Gee, I wonder what we have that could possibly fit in there.


Oh right, THE ONLY THINGS WE'RE CARRYING. How did that slip my mind?

You can see the inventory thing in the top right, by the way. The blue jewel's what's currently selected, which is handy, since I'm using it and all.


Rinse and repeat...


And here's what we're doing, in case you hadn't guessed. We've just the green gem to go, so...


...there we go. Now we just need to make the robot enter the area where all four beams cross...


...like so...







...is it odd that I feel kind of sorry for it now?


That's our Simon! He's definitely got his priorities straight.


...so, let's take the key and get out of here.

And now, because nobody asked for it, here's the inventory screen!



As you can see, it's a bit empty at the moment. Now the way the game's explained things so far, you'd think that you had to come to this sreen every time you want to select an item from your inventory. You actually don't - there's a button that lets you cycle through your inventory items one at a time, and that's what I used to select the gems, because otherwise it'd take twice as long.

You'll notice I haven't told you what the keyboard command for that is. There's a reason for that, and we'll get to it in a bit.

Anyway. You'll also notice three tabs at the top of the book here. Disk contains the Save/Load features and lets you quit to the main menu (which you can also do by pressing Esc - trust me, it'll take you a while to get used to bringing up your inventory so you can save), and the Opt tab contains the options. I won't go into great detail about those, since they're fairly standard, if a bit basic. Worth noting though that the maximum resolution is 1024x768. Joy.

Right. That's that discussed. Let's open that blasted door.


There we go. Now, onwards!


Ah, it's another one of those plates. It's got an Egyptian symbol on it, according to Simon. If you look closely at it you can tell it's an Ankh, which means absolutely nothing, but it's vaguely mystical and that's good enough for this game.


Oh, piss off, woman.


So this she-devil explains that these things on the floor are LIFE PADS. Basically, if you die, you'll be resurrected on the nearest one of these.

...uh, why is she telling me this now?


This is, I feel, one of the few genuinely funny lines in this entire game. Treasure it folks, we won't get another for quite some time.


So, that done, we head on dow-


PISS. THE. FUCK. OFF.

This is another one of those lines without audible dialogue, by the wa- Wait, SPRINT? Why would I need to sprint down a large corridor?





...you can see what's coming, can't you.




...not uh, not quite on the same level, are they.

Especially not when you have to contend with a wall right in front of you as soon as the game lets you control Simon again...



...a corridor so dark you can't tell what's in it...



...and a dead end that you'll need to SLOWLY turn around and run out of.



So for the first couple of tries, this will happen.




...and so, on the bloody, splattered corpse of our main protagonist, I think we'll end this particular segment.

[Syd]

Knowing how incredibly massive of a jerkwad Simon could be in Simon 2, and how he's apparently managed to become even less likable in Simon 3D, there's something strangely satisfying about seeing him as a bloodstain on the ground.

[Darth Marsden]

...and we're back. Again.

So after about a dozen tries, I finally make it into the doorway you're supposed to go into:



This leads to...


...a giant room full of pillars. But how do we get across with no jump button?


Oh just die already.



...



So anyway, it looks like it's time for another tutorial. What are we going to learn this time?


Huh. That... that seems a little weird. If she's saying this to Simon, then that means she's telling him how to see things through his own eyes... which he does already. Surely this should be directed at us - the players - rather than Simon.



...well, never mind then.

This fourth-wall breaking is getting rather annoying, actually. It's hard to get at all invested in the world when the lead character, the one we're controlling, in staggeringly genre-savvy. This is far from the first, or indeed the last, time he'll say things like this, and while the odd comment can work, this is very much overkill.

Anyway. All the clueless bint's really telling us is how to use First-Person mode. By holding down the TAB key, we see through Simon's eyes, rather than whatever atrocious camera angle the game's currently using. You can't move while holding it down.

Apparently, we can see stuff we wouldn't normally be able to, such as in this room, but so far as I can tell, this is the only time we ever actually need to use it, so basically YOU WILL NEVER ACTUALLY NEED TO USE THIS TO FINISH THE GAME, and the only times you may want to use it are when you want to take a closer look at a random sign or whatever (and even then you probably won't be able to make it out due to the poor graphics).

All right then, let's at least give it a try.





Yes, that path is only visible when you use the LOOK key, so you'll have to carefully make your way across while constantly checking to make sure on it. This will not get old at all.








...are we having fun yet?






...ugh. Next.


Oh yes, that's MUCH better.





Oh, here we go. Time for a final round of GUESS THE BUTTON!

Since it's the last round, we've got two keys for you to guess here. Going back to earlier, I mentioned there was a button that let you cycle through your inventory items one at a time. I want you to guess that key.

AND!

I want you to guess the button for CROUCH.

Just to be fair, here's a reminder of the keys identified so far:

USE - Ctrl / Enter
USE SELECTED INVENTORY ITEM - Alt
LOOK - Tab
WALK - Shift (OK, I forgot to mention that, but you could probably have guessed it)
SPRINT - Caps Lock (Forgot to mention that as well. Oops)
EXAMINE - X

So, remember: I want you to guess what the keyboard commands for CYCLE INVENTORY ITEMS and CROUCH are. Go!



...

...

...

...

...

Times up!

Are you ready?

OK. We'll go with CROUCH first. What did you guess?

Well, if you said it was C, then...



I know, right? But the ACTUAL button to crouch is...



Which, y'know, is KIND of understandable. But, see, this is why I got you guess CYCLE INVENTORY as well, and no matter what you thought it was before, you can probably tell what it's going to be now, can't you.



...yup. So CROUCH is Z, and CYCLE INVENTORY is C.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who sees the failure of logic in this choice. Please.


Anyway. Don't let the eye see me, huh? OK, well, that shouldn't be a problem.


Oh. That... that might be an issue.

Well, actually, it's not. The eye does a look-left-look-right movement every 6 seconds or so, and as long as crawl around and make sure you're behind one of the bits of cover you can see dotted around while it does that, then you're fine.

Unfortunately, I'm just so damned awesome that I aced this section on my first try, so I don't have any images of me failing miserably. Fortunately, that guy on YouTube is nowhere near as cool as me, so here's what happens when you do get spotted:



See inside that big white circle? That's a fireball the eye shoots at you. If it hits you, you just fade out of existance and re-emerge back where the Fairy Gitmother (heh) was just talking to you.

Anyway, back to me being awesome:


Here I am crouching (it goes to a First-Person viewpoint when you do this, presumably so the developers wouldn't have to make a crawling animation, the lazy buggers) and waiting until the eye does its sweep.


Having finished the sweep, the eye's clear for a few seoconds, so I crawl over to the switch.


...and use it. It opens a gate on the other side of the room, which I now need to get to.


...like so...


...and boom! Done. Seriously - I rock.


And here lies a big ol' door. Could this, finally, be the way outside?


IT IS!



...and that'll do for this part. Next time, I bitch about being outside. A lot.

[Secret Fawful]

Heh, I like Simon in Simon 2.

[WarpSpeed]

I'm just now catching up on things after a busy holiday season, so I started reading this from the top today, and I thought I'd write another message to bump more segments to the next page.

First of all, the images look the right size to me, close to the same size that St. Eddie is using. You're not making the forums widen the message boxes, which is good.

I like your comments so far, but I think you're putting in too many images. There are a lot of places where you could just put in a couple, and we'd get the idea. If there are this many images in just the opening segment, we're going to have to look at an awful lot to get through the game! You can always add a "Be thankful I'm not showing you all this" comment, as St. Eddie does from time to time.

Overall, looking good!

[Darth Marsden]

Too many images, check. I'll try and cut back a bit.

[Darth Marsden]

...and we're back.

As I'm sure you recall, we're outside now. So let me give you a basic rundown of what there is in this area via the magic of a text overlay:



As you can probably guess, Simon is currently in the middle of that circle in the middle of the screen, having just left the temple/pyramid/whatever. Off in the various directions I've indicated are the main items of interest. There's also a phone box (a RED phone box) off to the lower right, but since it's broken and can't be used (YET), I'm not going to show it.

To start, we should probably head over to the temple priest guy on the left.



...and here he is.

I'm going to sum up the incredibly long and boring conversation you have with him. Be thankful, it goes on for a while. Everyone in this game (except for Simon) takes FOREVER to say their lines, which is irritating if you've got subtitles on and can read rather quickly. Like me.

Basically, the rejoining process worked, but in order to finish it, you need to eat a fruit from the Sacred Tree. Until you do so, Simon will occasionally turn translucent for a second.



...like so.

So you need to eat a Peach from that Sacred Tree. The game explains that the tree absorbs souls who have died and essentially distills them into peaches filled with 'life energy', and that's what you need to complete the joining process.

BUT (there's always a but).

Before you go out and grab one, you're given this warning about not waiting for one to fall on its own:



I want you to remember that. REMEMBER IT WELL.

The guy also gives you a letter from Calypso, who was the other wizard from the opening cutscene - the one with the staff and Simon's soul. He's from the previous two games, and the game makes no attempt to hide this, which would probably be a bit confusing for new players. You had to rescue him from the villain Sordid in the first game, and he did bugger all in the second game aside from having a hot granddaughter (who was actually fairly hot since that was when the series was still 2D) for Simon to unsubtly lust after in a very unfomfortable manner.

...sorry, got a bit sidetracked there.

Simon automaticaly reads the letter, which triggers another long and boring cutscene. I'll summarize it for you. I'm too good to you people, I really am.



"Dear Simon,

Blah blah blah.

Come to Poliganis and meet me ASAP so I can explain what's going on.

Blah blah blah.

Also, there's a hot chick here you'll probably want to meet. Well, I say hot, but you'll have to rely on fan-art to establish that because she looks like someone tried to made a sex doll out of painted blocks of polystyrene.

Blah blah blah.

Love, Calypso."

So there you go. There's a few other things we need to do here, so we might as well get them over with. Let's head to the top of the pyramid thing first.




I'll skip over this guy's dialogue as well.

Actually, I'll pretty much be skipping over EVERYONE'S dialogue, since (as already stated) they take forever to get to the point. So you'll be seeing me doing a lot of summarizing from this point on. Good? Bad? Whatever. It's my Let's Play, and I'll do it however I want. So there.

The guy up there is the Keeper of the Soul Bell. Every time someone dies untimely, he rings the bell to guide souls to the Spirit Tree. He's been doing this for seven years and he's bloody knackered, pretty much running solely on caffeine. A bit like me then, ba-dum tish.

But we don't want anything to do with him (yet). So we're just gonna nick the telescope in the bottom left there. BECAUSE WE CAN.

(OK, Simon actually just tries to use it, but he barely touches it and it comes loose. so he figures 'what the hell')



We now have two new inventory items. The lens, which fell out the minute we pick up the telescope, and the main body of the scope itself. One of these will be used in a reasonable manner. The other... well, you'll see.

We're gonna head over to the buildings now. Remember them? They were on the right side of the earlier picture.



Oh no, sorry. We have to go through a pointless bit of corridor first. FOR NO GOOD REASON. This is an ill omen.



Anyway. There's a bunch of buildings here. You can go in one, but it's basically a barn, and we've no use for it yet so I won't bother showing it until the time comes. The only other building we can enter... we can't enter JUST yet. So let's head to the back corner of this area, where we find...



...uh. What's this guy doing?

He won't respond if you just try to talk to him. In fact, the only way to get him to talk to you is to actually enter the pool of water he's standing in, at which point he asks...



More summarizing!

The guy's name is Judas - nicely subtle there, game - and he's in this pool of water (actually the Pool of Punishment™) because he took a peach from the Sacred Tree and ate it. Remember earlier when I told you to, well, remember something?

Do you remember what that was?



So that means that in taking that peach, he inadvertently took the life of an innocent. Wow. This takes on a whole new meaning, doesn't it?

And does the game focus on this point at all?

Nope.

*sigh*

He tells us that he wants us to take his Chakara away from him (to remove future temptation or some bollocks), and that he left it under his bed in his house. We can now enter said house - the game wouldn't let us before - and retrieve said item, so let's do that.





...yes, those are indeed naughty magazines. You have to pick them up to get the Chakara.

Actually, at this point I seem to recall the original unpatched version of the game having a glitch that stopped you from progressing at this point. I think it stopped you from crouching? I can't find any reference to it on the net, but I swear I am NOT making this up. It happened the very first time I played this game, years ago. Honest!

Anyway. Not only do we now have some adult magazines (featuring Nuns, no less!), but we've also found the Chakara. Simon promptly shows it to us.



That's not a Chakara! It's a... a...



Yes, that's it. A kite. Honestly, who are they trying to fool here? Right, so let's go and commit the most horrible crime possibl-



*groan*

Long story short, she tells you how to use the kite. You equip it in the 'In-Hand' position and then use it. You'll go to a First-Person mode, from which you'll need to aim it and use it like you would an actual weapon. Only you can't use the mouse. And the movement keys are awkward to use. And there's no crosshair. Hmm.

Apparently using it can let you grab items from a distance. You really won't use it all that much though, so chances are by the time you'll actually need to use it again (which doesn't happen for a couple of hours) you'll have forgotten all about it. Wonderful.

Anyway. That's all she say-



...is she actively telling you to do what I think she's telling you to do?



Why do I have to keep reminding people of this? EATING A PEACH EARLY KILLS SOMEONE. I don't care how light-hearted and brightly coloured your game is, this is not something I want to do!

But, naturally, the game won't let me progress until I do, so here we go.







...and having taken but ONE BITE of the thing, he promptly throws it away.



Oh no, I'm sure NOTHING bad will come of this.








...look it up.

And how does Simon celebrate his rejoining?



...by buying a can of Croca Cola. Party time!



Anyway, it's time to leave. We talk to the priest guy (who doesn't say anything important) and then head for the gate. The guard there (who you can JUST see behind Simon's head) now lets us out and into the big wide world.

And I do mean BIG.

...but we'll leave that 'til next time.

[der_ketzer]

The LP is now at the point where I just gave up on the game because I couldn't take this bullshit any more and because there was no more room in my hose. The game made me kill too many people...

[Darth Marsden]

I'm gonna have to start a count of all the felonies Simon commits. Theft is the least serious.

[flesk]

Originally Posted by Darth Marsden

Too many images, check. I'll try and cut back a bit.

Overall I think you've found a good balance, but it was a bit much with the hidden path and those death scenes.

I'm enjoying this immensely, but seeing this makes me glad I never actually played the game. Teen me must have had pretty good taste for not picking this up back then, even with the limited number of games I had any interest in at the time and despite being a big fan of the two first installments in the series.

EDIT: Wait, this came out two years after Escape from Monkey Island!? EfMI might not hold up too well graphics wise, but it still looks a lot better than this atrocity.

[WarpSpeed]

Are you sure you're not playing as the bad guy in this game?

Ah well, this latest installment does a better job of only showing the interesting/important images, thanks!

[Alcoremortis]

Originally Posted by flesk

EDIT: Wait, this came out two years after Escape from Monkey Island!? EfMI might not hold up too well graphics wise, but it still looks a lot better than this atrocity.

Hell, Escape looks positively gorgeous compared to this.

[GuruGuru214]

Oh god, you're right. After staring at a series of Simon 3D screenshots, Escape looks fucking beautiful.

[Alcoremortis]

I think it's because of all the detail. There were no truly barren scenes in Escape. Maybe you couldn't interact with all the stuff, but there was always tons of things in the background to look at. It's one of the things that I don't think got enough credit in the game.

By today's standards, it hasn't aged well, but I remember starting up the game after playing those early 3D Harry Potter games and being completely blown away by how pretty it was in comparison.

[Darth Marsden]

Time to completely and utterly blow your minds.

Simon the Sorcerer 3D is made with the NDL NetImmerse 3D engine.

Would you like to see some other games that used the NDL NetImmerse engine?

Freedom Force vs the Third Reich:


Oddworld: Munch's Odyssey:


Call of Cthulhu - Dark Corners of the Earth:


...and my personal favourite, and the one that's really makes everyone go "WHAT?", fucking Morrowind:


And for comparison's sake, here's Simon 3D again:


...doesn't quite hold up, does it?

[GuruGuru214]

dafuq?

You really weren't kidding about the programmers being lazy.

[Alcoremortis]

Yeah... Normally I don't really complain about graphics, but this is definitely a case of not going the full mile.

[Darth Marsden]

It's a combination of the developers' lack of experience with 3D and the fact that the game apparently went gold two years before it actually came out in 2002. Had it come out in 2000...

...well, it would still look awful.