Let's Play Heart of China

Deus Ex Machina alert!



Desu Ex Macihna overdose.

Awesome job, keep it up.

lightbane said:

And this one is a textbook example of PURE RAGE!!

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Just wait until I post the last update... this one's nothing.

Whats your next project ? Though I can understand if you decide to take a break first. 2 quality LPs in a row is tough work, not that I would know.

Bonus Update: Alternate Endings

So we saw how things turn out if Lucky manages to both make a deal with Lomax and get on good terms with Kate on the Orient Express. What if one of these things fails? What if both fail? Some endings play out quite differently, as you will soon see.



ALTERNATE ENDING 1

First, let's take the same situation as the previous walkthrough, but only up to the Orient Express. So we've made a deal with Lomax, but things on the train are going to get a bit... messier.





I'll once again play as Lucky, but taking an altogether different path through the dialog.



Yeah.

BLA BLA BLA BLA.

BLA BLA BLA.

That fact is I saved your life? Why? I don't know. Men who treat women like playthings deserve to dangle from chains!



Hey, this sounds like it'll go in a fun direction!

Right!

How do you know?

It never ceases to amaze me how gullible some men take women to be. It's insulting!



This one's rather obvious.

Really. For instance...

Cow.

Well, I never!

That's probably your problem.

Drop dead, you human wart!

Oh yeah!



Anyway at this point the cutscene plays as before, with the notable absence of the toast, your first (if you missed the wart bit, that is) indication that things did not go well.











Screw this, I'm not replaying the stupid arcade. Good thing the skip option is here!



Notice the complete absence of the kiss.



And the heart is still frozen as we arrive in Paris.





Princess! Thank God, you're safe!







I'm not paying up now, Masters! And as for our deal, we'll discuss certain adjustments later, understand?!

Now, daddy, he did save me. You should honor your agreement.

Yeah, daddy, so where's your honor?

Watch the mouth, Masters. You'll get your money. I'll have a check delivered to your hotel room.

Let's go home, princess.



Yeah, sure, just don't interrupt this time, babe. See I was on the verge of certain death, when . . .





And that's it. Lucky ends up filthy rich, but Chi is dead for good (or never contacts Lucky again) and Lucky has learned nothing from his mistakes in Istanbul.



ALTERNATE ENDING 2

For the next ones we're gonna have to go back quite a way, specifically to the Officers' Club in Istanbul.



It is possible to "normally" mess up the deal with Lomax (and there are many ways to do so), but the path I'll pick is much funnier.



Pleasure is having a dame do your laundry.

Yes. Would patron like other pleasure?



I have an idea! Let's get completely drunk right before we try and negociate with one of the most cunning businessmen on the planet!

Here you are, sir.



May I bring something else, sir?



Here you are, sir.



Sir, maybe would like to go into dining room. Food very good!

Who's hungry? I'm not. Are you hungry? You go in there, and I'll take over behind the bar.

No, but thank you for the offer, sir. Hoji must stay and tend to patrons.



I think you should slow down, sir... smell roses, savor life, sip cherry fizz.

Who asked you to think? Just pour the booze, bub.

Please, sir, allow Hoji to bring a little something to eat first. Istanbul scotch very, very strong.

Okay. What do you have?

Could bring hot bowl of soup to bar.

That sounds good. You wouldn't have chicken noodle, would ya?

No, but have wonderful cream of yak privates soup. Special Kathmandu import.

That's very funny.

No joke. We only place in town to offer Kathmandu Ama's gourmet soups.

Yep, she's everywhere.

Well ballyhoo for you, I don't want any of that slop!!! Now get me another drink!!!

Please, sir, maybe...

I said I wanted a drink!

Yes, sir. Here you are. Please sip, take time.



Hoji very sorry, sir, but boss say not to give you any more drink.

Whhhy not? I'mm gist fine.

Perhaps I may phone for Checker Camel to take where you stay.

I said I wuz fine, now breengk me 'nother dreengk!!

Must refuse alcohol. Maybe like cherry fizzy instead?



Well, we're drunk enough. Things with Lomax should be just peachy.

Here you are, sir.



Is this the operation...ator? I wanna make a call to Honnng Kongy. He he he.

The name? Uhhh... I thinkgk you knew... thought...

Uhhh... Lummick... Lemmeck... Lubbock. Somethink' like that.

Lomax? Yeah, that's it. it's LOMAX!!!

Sorrrry. Just got a lill' excited there... Hold on to what?... Oh, surrre I can hold.

The following conversation is even funnier if you do it without having sent the telegram from Kathmandu.



HI YA, BOSS! HOW YA DOIN'? Hiccup. I MISSS YOU!

Masters, have you been drinking?! Where the hell are you? Where's Kate?! Let me talk to her!

We're in Issstan... something or other... and she's out shoppin' I guess.

You know how they are. Shop, shop, shop. Shop 'til ya drop. La la la.



Here's another one for your Funny Portrait collection.

And you let her traipse off alone while you go and get stinking drunk!! I'm going to kill you.



Pretty much all the replies are funny, but I couldn't resist the rhyme in this one.

If you touch her, Masters, you're not going to see Father's Day!



That SOB hung up on me! He's a dead man when I find him.

We really need some Heart of China portraits at the 'dex.



You don't say.



That should sober him up.





Now, remember that we waited until rescuing Lucky to try and go for the train? Thing is, you can't get on it straight away and avoid Istanbul altogether because the ticket seller will be on his break. BUT, Kate can go by herself after Lucky's been captured...





How much is a one-way ticket to Paris?

That would be 1150 sheckels or $400 dollars American for you and your party.

My party?

Mademoiselle is aware, of course, that it is against company policy to sell tickets to unaccompanied women.

I can, however, allow you to purchase a cabin for you and your...?

Um, my uncle.

Ah, of course. How nice. That will be $400 if you wish to purchase a ticket, mademoiselle.



Ever wondered what the point of Lucky giving Kate money was? This is the point. Kate can just purchase the ticket here and there.





Merci beaucoup, mademoiselle. The train leves in two hours. Give your ticket to the conductor when you are ready to board.

Thank you.

You are welcome, mademoiselle. Have a pleasant journey.

Should she decided to do so, the following sequence kicks in immediately:







Please...

just one more... chance....

That's all I ask....

Someone...

PLEASE!...

I can...

UGHHHHH!

(gulp)... change... I can....

Help me.

This is a subtle breaking of the fourth wall. The "someone" is pretty much you, the player. You can just go back to doing the usual stuff in Istanbul and rescuing Lucky... or you can get Kate to get onto the train, granting an unusual game over. So unusual in fact that the official hintbook (written by Dynamix) counts it as an alternate ending. And if they do, I sure as hell can.







Remember the branching when both Lucky and Kate get on the train? That's why it's there.







Oh, you're too kind.



Yes, that is correct. But, unfortunately for Mr. Masters, he was unable to save himself from himself.



Mr Masters makes rabbits look discreet.





Let's just say I think he has bitten off more than he cares to chew.







Congratulations, you've saved Kate but utterly failed to save yourself. You suck.



ALTERNATE ENDING 3



Alternatively, you can decide (as Kate) that Lucky deserves another chance. She still has the ticket in hand (which means we won't need to buy it later on), but otherwise Istanbul proceeds as usual.











Time to save Lucky.





And here you have the opportunity to do things a little bit differently, though as far as I can tell it makes no difference in the end.

For the time being, keep your mouth closed.

What?

You heard me. I'm not interested in talking with you right now.

Great.

You asked.



Last time we picked option 2. Let's be a sneaky Lucky this time.

Yes, nice man. What do you want?

Tell Miss Grumpy, thanks for saving me.

Miss Grumpy, Kat-treen, the nice man . . .

I heard.

The nice man? Did you put him up to that?

Who me? I've been dangling in chains up until recently, remember?

Yes, but it just seems that things always fall in place for you.

So, I'm lucky.

Haha. Well, okay, we'll leave it at that... for now.

We should probably go find Chi and head on out of here.

You're right.

Once again things proceed as usual.







This time we've got the ticket already (remember the whole "you and your party" thing? you can't just buy a single for Kate alone) so let's hop on.





You'll immediately notice that the heart is all warm and red, thanks to Lucky and Kate having somewhat made up (if only a little) when with Hakim. Unfortunately as far as I can tell this has no effect whatsoever on the conversation and its outcomes.



We've already seen Lucky's POV, so let's try Kate's this time.



The beginning of the conversation plays out exactly the same, except you're facing Lucky since it's all through Kate's eyes.



Yeah.

Have you ever travelled by train before?

No, strictly foot and wings.

Oh.. how are we going to let my father know what happened?

At the next stop, I'll send a telegram.

Okay. Thank you.

I wish you would stop drinking.

Yeah, well we don't always get our wishes, do we?

I can't tell you how sorry I am about... Chi. I know you two were close friends.

He was my... friend. OH, SCREW THIS!

Please!

You know, you're really something...

You sit there, shooting the breeze, pretending like nothing's wrong...

But I can tell what's going on here... the way you're looking at me...

I mean, my best friend in the world just...

Look at you what way?

Don't play dumb with me, sister.

I can tell you're all steamed up about what happened in Istanbul.



Notice how none of the available options are what Kate would've said had we been playing this scene as Lucky.

What?

Did you have a good time romping with the Nabob's daughter?

Uh, well... yeah...

I mean, we both did. It was probably a mistake and all, mind you...

but, in these situations, I always make sure a good time is had by all!



I had a good time.

You don't fool me, Lucky. I know what's going on here.

How do you know I didn't have a good time?



Kate's actually dead on in her appraisal of Lucky, as a sharp observer would have noticed throughout the game.

I'm not lonely!

Yes, you are.

Who the hell do you think you are?

I know who I am. We both know who you are. And we both know that you're afraid of that person.

You're weird!

So sad!

However, the sharp observer would have also noticed that telling this to Lucky outright would just result in denial. That's kinda the whole point of being in denial.



As before, no toast and no kissing.



Which means that the heart is frozen as we reach Paris. Since we also failed to make a deal with Lomax, this is NOT going to be a nice ending.



Princess! Thank God, you're safe!







Right, a deal is a deal, and you didn't deliver on time. The planes are mine.

WHAT?!!! You got your daughter, now give me the cash!

Sorry, Masters, no dice!

Daddy look out!











At least the game is nice enough to tell you exactly how and why you suck.











Of course I'm really not going to end it like this!



ALTERNATE ENDING 4

Backtracking to the Express conversation, once again as Kate.



I had a good time.

You don't fool me, Lucky. I know what's going on here.

How do you know I didn't have a good time?



Nope, this is not what you think it is. Kate is far more clever than this.

What?

You heard me. If you want to romp, let's romp.

I... I don't know. I'm feeling a little light-headed all of a sudden.

Maybe I had too much to drink.

And maybe you care more than you sometimes show... or that we are able to see.

Well, I do.... I mean, I'm not that bad of a guy.

No, you're not.

Thanks.

Just be yourself, Lucky. That's all anyone wants. That's all I want.

Really?

Here, I better whisper. I don't want anyone to hear this!

Spspspspspspsp.

Holy cow! You're kidding?!

No, I'm not.



Here, here.

All's well!





Yeah sure whatever. Die in a fire.



Thanks!









And we're there! Last stop and last ending!



Princess! Thank God, you're safe!







Right, a deal is a deal, and you didn`t deliver on time. The planes are mine.

WHAT?!!! You got your daughter, now give me the cash!

Sorry, Masters, no dice!

Father, you're not going to manipulate my future husband like you do your customers. I simply won't stand for it!



I'll do as I please, thank you very much.

Obviously, you've already DONE as you please!



Notice Lomax's bodyguard, the same one who punched Lucky in the previous ending?



Yeah, he's not gonna do much this time. And the cops seem to be enjoying restraining him FAR too much...

Yeah, okay.

Princess, please! Okay, I'll put a check in the mail to Mr. Masters. We'll talk tomorrow, okay princess?!

The deal is that Lucky doesn't get as much out of Lomax as if you make a deal, but who cares? You get the money, you get the girl AND you get to punch him in the face!





What can I say?

I mean, I feel the same way.



Must be room service.

THE DOOR IS OPEN!





Oh my god!





We Ninja's bend but do not break.

You're something else, Chi! And what a surprise!

You think I let you put check in mail...

or jelly-filled?

Check, maybe, but jelly-filled? Never!

To good friends.

And great lucky.

Ya got that right, partner.







Dynamix considers this the next best ending, but if you ask me, it is the best.



AND ANOTHER THING...

As a final farewell I will leave you with the making of pages scanned from the official hintbook, which give some interesting inside information into how the game was made.

















Thanks for watching, and I hope you all had a good time!

Now we are lucky if we get one ending that makes sense ...

Thanks for finishing the lp, it was awesome These pics could become awesome avatars, too bad that's not going to happen

Now, if you're interested on doing another lp, a proper codexian lp would be one about the spellcasting 101 games or whatever these were called

That was a really fascinating "making of".

They didn't even have the photoshoops back then


I think there was an elegant hacker purity to making games that's since been lost.

The one and only truly codexian ending.

This game looks absolutely beautiful.

A totally awesome LP.

You know how they are. Shop, shop, shop. Shop 'til ya drop. La la la.

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Drakron said:

Now we are lucky if we get one ending that makes sense ...

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Or any real ending at all.... most are just cliffhangers because they're already got 2 sequels planned. There was a certain purity to Dynamix games thanks to most of them being self-contained like this. No sequelitis, no retarded endings, just a sinle enjoyable experience. Not all their games were good obviously (see David Wolf) but then even the bad ones had a certain charm.

LusciousPear said:

That was a really fascinating "making of".

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I loved Sierra's and Dynamix's habit of including these in their hint books around this time (Conquests of the Longbow has one too). Some of it is too much like an ad for the game, but there's lots of fun information in it (such as on the tricks they used to hide Greenwood's pregnancy). It's also fun to see how some of the storyboard scenes ended up slightly differently (like Lucky and Chi escaping the sewers).

lightbane said:

if you're interested on doing another lp, a proper codexian lp would be one about the spellcasting 101 games or whatever these were called

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101 and 201 are good fun, 101 is great. But right now I need a break, and if I do a Legend game it'll probably be Eric The Unready. The puns in that one...

asper said:

This game looks absolutely beautiful.

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It really is. I was impressed with how well it has aged. And the technique they used to insert the actors into the scanned paintings looks flawless, a remarkable achivement IMO.

Crooked Bee said:

A totally awesome LP.

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lightbane said:

Thanks for finishing the lp, it was awesome

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spekkio said:

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Thanks glad you all enjoyed it.

This was amazing, thanks for covering the game so thoroughly!

I'd almost forgot about Tong. Tenacious dude.

'cor Chi didn't die, but it's kind of weird how his appearing seems to depend on Lucky scoring.

This was an awesome LP

This topic reminds me of why I only read Sceptic's LPs.

Georgian police sim, Battle for LA, secret agent game, now this. Always something different to the table.

Also, the days of crappy graphics meant that live action images were often the best option. Somehow, they work better than late 1990s and early 2000s 3D. I wish they continued this trend of hiring real life people, videotaping them or photographing them, and putting the painted background behind them inside the game. Works beautifully.

Wyrmlord said:

This topic reminds me of why I only read Sceptic's LPs.

Georgian police sim, Battle for LA, secret agent game, now this. Always something different to the table.

Also, the days of crappy graphics meant that live action images were often the best option. Somehow, they work better than late 1990s and early 2000s 3D. I wish they continued this trend of hiring real life people, videotaping them or photographing them, and putting the painted background behind them inside the game. Works beautifully.

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Great job Sceptic, this was both a fun game to follow and an excellent LP!

Reminds me of the classic Hollywood adventure movies:

If anyone is interested in the soundtrack, here it is:
http://www.queststudios.com/quest/hoc.html

GarfunkeL said:

If anyone is interested in the soundtrack, here it is:
http://www.queststudios.com/quest/hoc.html

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I don't recommend this much, it might be preferable to look on youtube for MT-32 recordings of the soundtrack. The GM conversions on this link are terrible - I don't entirely blame the people who did it, as the game relies heavily on custom effects and sounds (it uploads stuff to the MT-32 at just about every single track) and these are impossible to transcribe to GM.

The game's soundtrack is awesome though. Dynamix were generally very good at these (see BAK, Rise of the Dragon, Sid & Al's Incredible Toons...)

And yeah, the homage to the typical 80's adventure movies is all over the game. I think it's one reason the game has aged so well, the same reason the movies have aged so well: they're just pure distilled fun, without any pretentions at being more, but also extremely well done and, well, just fun.

Donaroriak said:

This was amazing, thanks for covering the game so thoroughly!

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Brother None said:

This was an awesome LP

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Wyrmlord said:

This topic reminds me of why I only read Sceptic's LPs.

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anus_pounder said:

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GarfunkeL said:

Great job Sceptic, this was both a fun game to follow and an excellent LP!

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Thanks bros, you've no idea how much this means to me

Due to heavy commitments IRL I'm taking a break from LPing, but I'll get back to it once things settle down.

Just showing my love to the game and the LP. Too bad I did not know about back in the day when I used to play adventure games like a rabid maniac, would have loved it to bits.

Sceptic said:

That's it. I'm out of here!

(BTW if anyone here reads Chinese, I'm curious whether they just strung together a bunch of characters, or whether there's some inside joke that only Chinese readers would get)

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You probably already know this and probably didn't really care, but anyway: Wu's comments are pretty much pure gibberish. In fact, these aren't even real Chinese characters; they're just radicals, which can form Chinese characters when combined but don't have any meaning of their own.

Monstrous Bat said:

You probably already know this and probably didn't really care, but anyway: Wu's comments are pretty much pure gibberish. In fact, these aren't even real Chinese characters; they're just radicals, which can form Chinese characters when combined but don't have any meaning of their own.

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Actually I did not know and I very much cared, spent two decades wondering about this. Thanks for delurking to finally clear this up, you're a bro

I would love to see a retrospective video with a Dynamix (or even better, Legend Entertainment/Infocom) developer one of these days.

J_C, please oblige.

ugh, hate it when a classic lp images go away. Annoying.

What do you mean? the images all load fine for me.

http://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/x361/sceptic1/Heart of China LP/Tkate.png
http://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/x361/sceptic1/Heart of China LP/Hintbook02.jpg
http://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/x361/sceptic1/Heart of China LP/hoc_717.png

there are prob more.