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Loom
Jan 18, 2010 14:29:07 GMT -5
Post by Discoalucard on Jan 18, 2010 14:29:07 GMT -5
www.hardcoregaming101.net/loom/loom.htmThis is Lucasarts' fourth adventure game. I don't think there are many left to cover except The Dig and Grim Fandango. I always liked this one when I was a kid, even though it is quite short. What I didn't know was how much content was cut from the PC CD version to fit all of the voices. It's too bad this is the version on Steam and not the FM Towns version which, while it lacks voices, still has the VGA graphics and CD music, while containing all of the original content. I guess there's rumors floating around that this will be Telltale's next game too, perhaps finishing up some of the proposed sequels.
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Loom
Jan 18, 2010 17:31:44 GMT -5
Post by blackdrazon on Jan 18, 2010 17:31:44 GMT -5
Having never played this game before, Loom was definitely the pleasant surprise of the Steam re-release. It's too bad to hear it lost so much.
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Loom
Jan 18, 2010 17:49:19 GMT -5
Post by Ganelon on Jan 18, 2010 17:49:19 GMT -5
So the FM Towns version is the only one with close-ups? It's a cheap game there so may be worth it for those who have the computer.
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Loom
Jan 18, 2010 18:42:17 GMT -5
Post by Discoalucard on Jan 18, 2010 18:42:17 GMT -5
It's the only version with the 256 color close-ups. The rest of the versions (bar the IBM PC) have them but only in 16 colors.
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Loom
Jan 19, 2010 1:21:42 GMT -5
Post by Weasel on Jan 19, 2010 1:21:42 GMT -5
I actually owned the PC EGA version of Loom. There are three things notable about it:
1. Most (all?) versions of the game contained the Book of Drafts, a book containing descriptions of every draft in the game (not all of them have the notes filled in, though, leaving a blank space for you to write them in as you play).
2. The game also includes a cassette tape containing the prologue, fully voiced of course. The fans have provided this in MP3 format with a full transcript.
3. The PC EGA version also included an extra floppy disk that contained the Roland Upgrade, adding an extra data file to the game that allows the game to be played with the Roland MT-32 MIDI processor. When the game is played in Roland mode, rather than beginning straight away with the introduction sequence, the game instead begins with the Swan Lake Overture, played through the Roland, with "OVERTURE" displayed on the screen. When it ends, the introduction sequence begins properly. Playing the game in Roland mode otherwise doesn't seem to add any more musical cues, but it certainly makes it sound more dramatic and quite a bit nicer than the AdLib MIDI.
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Loom
Jan 19, 2010 13:15:55 GMT -5
Post by Gendo Ikari on Jan 19, 2010 13:15:55 GMT -5
The less conventional of Lucasarts classic adventures, and probably for the same reason the least popular - and the first Monkey Island game, a few months later, must have overshadowed it.
Since there's such a detailed description of the interface, some additional details. - Simple interactions with an object or character is performed by clicking on it and then on the picture in the corner of the screen, or with a double-click. - The game has three difficulty levels. I don't remember what happened with the intermediate, but the hardest level gives no graphical cues of the drafts - the player has to guess them by the sounds only.
As usual with Sotenga the article delves sometimes too much in plot details (not that there is that much to begin), but never to the level of the Indy adventures article - and the jab in Space Quest IV is great, never noticed it; I also never realized the loss of content of the PC CD version.
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Loom
Jan 19, 2010 16:16:54 GMT -5
Post by jorpho on Jan 19, 2010 16:16:54 GMT -5
For a while, I wondered if at the very end of the game it was possible to cast Heal on Hetchel's feather before Chaos makes it disappear, but since there's never been anything on the Internet written to that effect, I guess not. - The game has three difficulty levels. I don't remember what happened with the intermediate, but the hardest level gives no graphical cues of the drafts - the player has to guess them by the sounds only. Intermediate gives graphical cues, while Beginner spells out the notes explicitly as text. (I remember going through the highest difficulty with this little musical telephone toy to get the notes right.)
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Loom
Jan 19, 2010 19:02:52 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2010 19:02:52 GMT -5
Oh, fudge! I forgot to mention the three difficulty levels in the article; yet for some reason, they're not present in the FM Towns version, or at least I didn't encounter them when I played on the emulator. Maybe you need some sort of code to bring up the difficulty in that one? I'm not sure, but if DA can add a brief mention on the difficulty, that would be a good thing.
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Loom
Mar 19, 2010 1:06:02 GMT -5
Post by wyrdwad on Mar 19, 2010 1:06:02 GMT -5
Somehow missed this article until just now, so please forgive the insane lateness of this comment. (:
Loom is one of my favorite games from my childhood, and I'm glad to see it so thoroughly analyzed here. Very, very nice article!
I have one note, though:
This isn't entirely true... at least, not for the 256-color DOS CD version. Yes, the drafts are randomized per play... but rather than being TRULY randomized, the game just picks from like, 4 or 5 different possible tables (for ALL the drafts) at the start of play. So if you wrote down all the drafts your first time through, and noticed that the first one you learn is different the next time around, you can just restart the game and try again. After 3 or 4 or 5 restarts, you should eventually hit the draft table that was used during your first playthrough - and once you've confirmed that the first draft is the same, you'll find that ALL the drafts are the same.
This is what I did on all 3 or 4 playthroughs of Loom, so I can personally attest to this being the case. I wrote down EVERY DRAFT in the included booklet when I started playing the game, and wasn't about to let that info go to waste, so every time I replayed the game, I made sure the drafts were all exactly the same as they had been before. (:
-Tom
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Loom
Mar 19, 2010 1:29:58 GMT -5
Post by ReyVGM on Mar 19, 2010 1:29:58 GMT -5
"This is Lucasarts' fourth adventure game. I don't think there are many left to cover except The Dig and Grim Fandango. "
Did you already cover Labyrinth for PC, C64, MSX and others? Apparently that was Lucasarts very first adventure type game.
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Loom
Mar 19, 2010 9:54:12 GMT -5
Post by syntheticgerbil on Mar 19, 2010 9:54:12 GMT -5
2. The game also includes a cassette tape containing the prologue, fully voiced of course. The fans have provided this in MP3 format with a full transcript. I should add there's also a CD version of the prologue that came with earlier CD boxed versions. It's very rare now, but not impossible to find. lucasarts.vintagegaming.org/image.php?imageid=184#Loom%20Audio%20DramaThe biggest problem with this early CD version is that it's hard to find a good one, since many of them were pressed still labeled "audio CD" but they were just the game again. Weirdly enough, there is a number on the inside of the spindle for the audio CDs that distinguish a defective copy from a working copy. Looks like a bad batch was sent off. I can go track down this number at the Mixnmojo.com forums if anyone is interested. I lucked out and got a loose working audio CD for cheap on Ebay which I tihnk just original came in a paper sleeve, but I've seen a promotional slim jewel case version limited to 1000 pop up on Ebay a few times and go for over 100 bucks. I've heard rumors this a more polished version of the audio drama, but I have yet to see or hear proof. lucasarts.vintagegaming.org/index.php?do=item&itemid=252&gameid=5#Loom%20Limited%20Edition%20Audio%20DramaHere's how that looks if anyone is interested. I hope those facts are useful to anyone tracking down the audio drama, because it's sort of important to the game that you listen to it before playing. Oh, fudge! I forgot to mention the three difficulty levels in the article; yet for some reason, they're not present in the FM Towns version, or at least I didn't encounter them when I played on the emulator. Maybe you need some sort of code to bring up the difficulty in that one? I'm not sure, but if DA can add a brief mention on the difficulty, that would be a good thing. Also on this topic it might be worth noting the manuals all say you get a special animation for playing the game on the hardest difficulty. From what I've heard talking to other LucasArts fanatics is that this just the animation when Cobb looks into Bobbin's hood. I think what happened is, since I've never played the 16 color version my whole life, you will always see this animation no matter what difficulty you play in the CD or (I think) FM-Towns version. At least... according to this page: www.mixnmojo.com/features/read.php?article=loom&page=3
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Loom
Sept 14, 2013 12:50:37 GMT -5
Post by drpepperfan on Sept 14, 2013 12:50:37 GMT -5
Replaying this game again, it sure frustrates me with it's ending. Especially now that I know about the planned sequels that had to be dropped. It's such a rushed ending, so many plotlines left unfinished. I hold out a tiny fragment of hope it could be Kickstarted, but it's a pretty empty hope. Sadly, this will most likely forever remain a standalone game. Sigh.
One odd thing though. While playing, I felt Cobb's death was different from how I used to remember it. I had memory of it being that Cobb tried to take his hood off, then it cut away to the bishop outside wondering what the noise was, and then it cut back to Bobbin. I honestly don't know if it's just my childhood memories being completeley wrong, but I really remembered that happening. Weird.
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Loom
Sept 14, 2013 17:26:41 GMT -5
Post by TheChosen on Sept 14, 2013 17:26:41 GMT -5
You're not wrong. I remember thats how it happened, at least in the EGA version.
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Loom
Sept 14, 2013 18:34:02 GMT -5
Post by drpepperfan on Sept 14, 2013 18:34:02 GMT -5
You're not wrong. I remember thats how it happened, at least in the EGA version. Wow, weird. Good to hear it wasn't just me though. The version I had was in my childhood Lucasarts classics collection, which had their first 5 games (Monkey Island, Loom, Maniac Mansion, Zak McKracken and Indiana Jones) in EGA. ON FLOPPY WOW (I didn't think I was that old, but wow I played Monkey Island on a floppy disc as a kid). Any idea why? My only guesses at the moment are that the EGA couldn't handle the cool animation of the scene, or that it was censorship of some kind.
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Loom
Sept 14, 2013 19:46:37 GMT -5
Post by Weasel on Sept 14, 2013 19:46:37 GMT -5
My dad used to own the boxed version of the game; he even paid the extra (handling fee?) to get the Roland Upgrade disk, which not only allowed the game to support Roland MT-32, but also added an "overture" to the game (it plays the overture to Swan Lake every time the game boots up, with "OVERTURE" written to the screen - it can be skipped, but it will ONLY play if the game is set to play out the Roland!).
[edit] Actually, shit, looks like this thread's old enough that I forgot I said that earlier. Oh well.
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