Let's Play Rise of the Dragon

waiting...

DAY FIVE REDUX: HAPPY DAYS

I was hoping for some renraged reactions at the end of my previous update, but my attempt at trolling has failed epically. So dear viewers I will refrain in the future from such attempts, especially since your patronage is far too important to me.



Reloading a convenient save, we're back right outside Karyn's holding cell. Instead of going there, we'll check out the third and final door. Remember the 4th lock switch in the security room said "janitor"?



This is what that switch unlocks.



The first thing I do is open the top compartment and use the handle to cut off the power in the power box.



This will allow me to fiddle with the bottom compartment without getting electrocuted. Failure to do so would result in an unfortunate reminder from this update.



Right, now let's open up the circuitry with the conveniently place screwdriver and see if we can get anything useful.











Let's yank out the wires.





Now we have everything we need, so let's go into Karyn's room.

My God! Karyn! What have these bastards done to you?!





Didn't the description of the wires say they could be useful to disable a high voltage device?



So let's use them to get the current to bypass the collar entirely.



And this time the three connections come out without a hitch!



















Understatement of the century...



















I am NOT replaying the stupid arcade again. In the immortal words of Simon Pegg, "skip to the end."





Now notice how the ending will play out differently.



talk about delusions of grandeur!













The only resistance we're encountering is from a sniper holed up near the main entrance. He's got us pinned down.







Karyn could have been killed by that maniacal iguana! And for that matter, so could I!

The important thing is that Deng Hwang's drug cult has been broken up and his factory destroyed. Thanks to my plan, the citizens of Los Angeles are safe again.















The music at this point is a different tune from the usual (which was the main title theme I linked in the first post), a much more soothing and optimistic one, a subtle indication by the game that you have found the best ending.

Thank you for watching, and I hope I managed to convey how much I like this game and all the good things about it. There are so many little details in the game - notice that drug patch Deng Hwang has on while turning into Bahumat? he had another one when he semi-turned into dragon form and killed Johnny Qwong.

I will be taking a short diversion before doing a similar LP for Heart of China, another DGDS game with multiple paths and light C&C.

I still don't get why Blade couldn't pass the information on Reservoir attack date and time to the authorities...it's an action movie, but hey, c'mon. It's one man vs a whole gang?

RK47 said:

I still don't get why Blade couldn't pass the information on Reservoir attack date and time to the authorities

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Because their first question would be "what's your source?" And the Blade's answer would go something like "ah uh, erm, well, there's this prophecy that this old Chinese dude in one of the warehouse alleys told me about and he, erm, see, translated this message about this guy wjho is coming back for his revenge after being defeated by my namesake 5000 years ago..." You can guess how seriously they'll take him

If you're going to criticize the inability to convey information, I was more annoyed that you can't bring up Deng Hwang in your conversation with the mayor. That conversation goes the same regardless whether you have it before even knowing about Johnny Qwong or after having blown up the factory and Karyn's already been kidnapped. By then you have a solid mass of evidence against him - his involvement in the factory through the wiretapping, his outright admission about kidnapping Karyn in his message to you, his involvement in an attack against a frikkin military research facility.... you can't bring any of this up.

I like the story despite the little holes and despite its predictability in places. I mean, you can probably figure out that Deng Hwang is Bahumat around day 3 (in my LP; otherwise that could be as early as day 1 if you don't spread things out like I did), but it still all satisfyingly clicks together. I also have to admit I like the bad ending more than the good one - the lust for revenge that Blade gets makes his confrontation with Hwang much more interesting than "oops, wrong turn". It's also a pretty good example of an emotional death done right in a game - by this point Karyn's helped you several times, and if you went on the date with her you have a pretty good understanding of the relationship between Blade and her. Needless to say it's incomparably better than the Bioware-style "here's an NPC we'll kill 5 minutes in, you're supposed to feel bad about their death because we say so".

Did this remind anyone else of Jaesun's avatar?

I AM FAGAMUT I HAVE COME HERE TO SUCK DICK AND CHEW BUBBLEGUM AND I'M ALL OUTTA BUBBLEGUM

Finally, a romantic ending!

Looking forward to the Heart of China LP.

for finish¡ng this lp. Although I liked the bad ending much more. Also, if I recall correctly you don't even have to use your gun to kill Bahamut... Sorry, "Bahumat", if you're standing in the right place you can drop one bomb to kill him instantly . Reincarnation of the god of dragons?? My ass!

Excellent LP.

But overall - a massive incline of the Playground.

Bonus Update: The Making Of Rising of the Dragon

Guess what folks? I found the Rise of the Dragon hintbook! And just like the Heart of China one this has a very nice Making Of section that covers the history of the DGDS, including a reference to everyone's favorite Interactive Movie, David Wolf. There's also quite a bit of concept art and early pencil sketches, as well as one page in particular that will have ghostdog going hubba hubba! So here it is, for you viewing pleasure. Enjoy!















Sigh. Every time I see these "original paintings" I keep wishing that one day, somewhere, someone would unearth all of them and set out remaking the game with high-resolution scans. One can dream...

Is it possible to skip the arcade, like in Heart of China?

abnaxus said:

Is it possible to skip the arcade, like in Heart of China?

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You don't get the prompt to skip it at the very beginning like HOC, but if you fail it enough times you eventually get the option to "skip arcade" or "keep trying". Note that this only applies to the side-scrolling sections; the one at the Reservoir can't be skipped (though it can be avoided entirely by getting into DH's through Snake's ID instead of the hovercar)

Hey Sceptic, when can we expect your next LP and what game are you planning on doing?

EDIT. I believe I already told you this, but I'd really love you to do a Might and Magic game. At least one of the series. I've been reading up on some M&M LPs over at Something Awful and, well, I didn't really enjoy any of them for some reason.

Thanks for bumping this up Bee

Next LP will be either Eric The Unready or Conquests of the Longbow. Possibly both one after the other. First one because it's great and your Gateway LP is inspiring, second one because C&C BABY! As for when it's planned... let me tell you a short story. You may notice I've had "Location: Stonekeep" for like a whole week. Because that's when I installed the game. Haven't had time to start it yet. Sigh.

I'd love to do an M&M LP. But even doing one of the games requires more time than I can possibly dream of having at the moment. Professional life is not treating Sceptic well. TBH the main reason I picked Eric as next is because it'll take far less work than anything else.

Huh, I just returned after vacation and you already LP'ed Rise of the Dragon and started LPing Eric the Unready! You are quick, man.

I'm still in the Nepal, though.