Let's go on a Whale's Voyage! -- Blow it all up! -- Done!

[Azira]

:is tuned:

 

[Fowyr]

I wonder how gameplay it is. Interesting character generation not always equal with interesting game.
See Megatraveller for instance.
*grabs popcorn and waits*

 

[Crooked Bee]

An all-male party, oh my...

I'm writing a short bio for every character, and I've always been bad at "creative writing", so this may take some time...

 

[Crooked Bee]

bump

 

[Crooked Bee]

bump

 

[Crooked Bee]

This is it, dear readers, the goddess of chance and random rolls has decided on who has and who has not made it into the final party. First of all, thanks to all of you who volunteered! Truth be told, there were more of you than I expected (), and the competition was pretty high.
One more thing. If this party turns out to be subpar, or if I fail and get stuck in the game and have to start anew, I'll be sure to choose other people for the next party, so those who haven't made it in this time should simply wait a bit for this party to fall dead. Also, you will all be given priority in making a team for Whale's Voyage II, provided we get that far.

1: Intro



Neo Software and the Matrix present...



...Whale's Voyage, the next-gen CD Edition...



...coded by a bunch of presumably German folks...



...and designed by Germans as well, oh my.



Cyber-Brick-Board? You must mean Cyber-Bill-Board, right?



Oh, a brick-board indeed.
The writing is barely legible, but that SS Whale thingie looks kinda cheap...



Naturally, we are low on money and have to go for the cheapest option available. *Sigh*



Surprisingly enough, our new space ship doesn't look half bad. Too bad it has leaks and stuff.

"Hey, Mike! Look at this!" John shouted to his friend. "There's some sort of liquid running out of the wall!"
"This ship really is a pile of rust!" replied his chum in horror.
"Looks like machine oil, kids," announced Frank, dipping his finger in the viscous, dark-brown liquid and testing it against his tongue.
"Ugh! It's oil from the hyperdrives," he confirmed, spitting out the trial drop disgustedly.
"Keep out of the hold unless you want another nasty shock," came a voice from the aft end of the ship. It was Sven, the fourth in the party.

To understand why these four are so agitated, we need to look a little further into the past - when they scraped together what little money they had, to buy themselves an impressive but remarkably cheap second-hand spaceship, a freighter to be precise. But as they later realised, their purchase was not quite the bargain they thought.

And now the helpless crew are marooned in a ship which is falling apart, at the end of the galaxy in a distant star system far beyond Earth. They are drifting in orbit around the planet Castra, as they can't afford the price of fuel ...

X-treme space travel!
With that, the next-gen cutscene ends. Fair enough.

And the the (un)lucky space adventurers are...

1. Grotley the Bounty Hunter
Race: Human



Not much is known about Grotley's parents. From the little we know, his father was involved in some kind of shady dealings on Castra, a planet known for its technological advancement and a high crime rate. By no means a big fish, he is said to have been shot dead in a particularly violent police raid on one of the less important illegal trade outposts. With her husband gone missing and the entire Castra police after her, Grotley's mother, a Cosmic League officer gone rogue, fled to Earth with her only child but soon, for unknown reasons, abandoned him and disappeared without a trace; of her further fate we have no notice. From that moment on, little Grotley had to share a room with three brothers and four sisters, who had been adopted, too; the children had no choice but to care for themselves. His childhood spent on the street, Grotley soon found himself naturally attracted to the nearby Bounty Hunter Guild, spending more and more time there each year. He seemed to have finally found a home, harsh yet welcoming, that he had long been deprived of. During the time spent training in the Guild, Grotley's natural intelligence received but modest development, and his inborn psionic capabilities were, alas, completely gone. He has, however, grown very strong, quick and skilful, with intelligence, though underdeveloped, still distinguishing him among his fellow bounty hunters. He has a passion for pulp mystery novels and is usually credited with being the author of "Love: The Vampire's Craft", an anonymous bestseller book in the popular "Playground" series -- a rumour which, given his profession, he understandably denies. All in all, we can safely say that, his bookworm tendency being probably his only weakness, Grotley is a really badass and lovable Duke Nukem look-alike.

2. Kingcomrade the Monk
Race: Human



The only thing we know for certain about Kingcomrade's parents is that his mother, rumoured to have been a Russian spy, really liked wearing a kepi and his father was an illegal dealer on Castra. Kingcomrade's early years were spent on Earth, first on a ranch far from the cities, where little Kingcomrade learned a lot of things useful in the wilderness, and then in a Cybertech Mental School, where he was said to be particularly intent on mastering obscure but highly powerful psionic techniques from the Arkana of Mind Copulation. Having graduated from the Cybertech School, Kingcomrade -- in a move which surprised many -- declined an invitation to join the Psi Science Institute, describing the Institute in his reply as too "elite", a derogatory word for him, and "filled with a false pretense to superiority", and joining instead a much more "plain" community of Aranian warrior monks. "I don't want to let my natural strength go to waste," he said, no doubt referring to the notable absence of physical training at the Institute, "nor spend my time among those high-brow douche bags; I am intelligent enough as I am". Even back then, Kingcomrade was known for never acknowledging anyone's superiority and distinctly lacking what a certain ancient philosopher termed the "pathos of distance"; among the monks, however, there was a hearsay -- which may, of course, have been libel -- that Kingcomrade's natural intelligence wasn't as high as he wanted others to believe and that he was secretly afraid of that fact being revealed should he join the Institute. In any case, he found the Aranian Monastic School, the place of the fabled R.P.G. Codex, much to his liking. Many of his days were spent studying the Codex, and many scribbles were made on its margins, mostly of general nature, not directly related to the subjects that the Codex was supposed to cover. It is said even that his very name has become a trope among followers of the Codex. We haven't been able to ascertain the exact character of that trope; it has, we must confess, always eluded our grasp and seemed so indefinite as to have no specific meaning at all.

3. Mrowaksu the Biochemist
Race: Half-alien



Himself a half-breed -- born, unexplainedly, of an alien father and a human mother of Japanese origin -- Mrowaksu was even as a child interested in mixtures, hybrids, cross-breeds, and concoctions. Naturally intelligent and skilful, he chose the most natural path for a person of his interests, attending first Nagikamura Gakko, a Japanese school providing a basic education centred on chemistry, and then deepening and widening his knowledge of biochemistry at the Tokyo University. Given his high intelligence, it comes as no surprise that Mrowaksu has always been a weird and reclusive one, living for the most part in the world of his imagination. It is reported that he has named the most powerful chemical compound, one that he likes mixing with all others with miraculous results, "Rance"; that he always takes a signed photo of his idol, the legendary chemist and musician Sapkowski, with him; and that he has a strange liking to all things well-polished. It said that, just like his old friend Grotley, Mrowaksu undertook to write a novel, on the topic of violence and cross-breeding, for the "Playground" book series, but, unlike Grotley, abandoned it half-way, citing "the inability of general populace to read more than two sentences at a time" as the main reason and moving on to, as he likes to say, "more pressing matters of reading and breeding". Ever busy and ever dream-like, yet highly ingenious and courageous in the face of danger, Mrowaksu brings to our party not only his cool alien looks, but, most importantly, his outstanding knowledge of all substances poisonous and acidic.

4. Korenzel the Psionician
Race: Human



Korenzel's past is shrouded in mystery. Aggressive, always on alert, keeping his distance, and ready to put his powerful psionic abilities to use on the slightest pretext, Korenzel was widely feared both at the Cybertech Mental School and the Psi Institute. Capricious and slightly childish yet intelligent and diligent, he achieved so perfect a mastery of the obscurest psionic arts as to eventually create his own personal army of phantom soldiers, each differently named; that army has ever since been a favourite plaything of his. In moments of xenophobia, he is said to send his army to battle the no less substanceless alien forces; naturally, in the world of his own creation, the army always prevails, no matter the losses, and the aliens lie slain. Obsessed with ancient ideals of nobility and chivalry, Korenzel, according to a witness, never fails to salute the imaginary fallen soldiers, commemorating their deeds and achievements in a special notebook he's always carrying in a side pocket of his jacket. It was rumoured that as a child Korenzel dreamt of becoming an army officer, but his all too frail constitution and below average health prevented that from happening, and now he is intent on recreating an army career for himself, even if an illusionary one. Slightly paranoid yet noble in his own way, Korenzel is so mentally powerful as to be truly indispensible to our party's progress.



(The bios were written in a hurry, so don't pay too much attention to them; they're just for a bit of LARPing no LP can do without. And they are of course purely fictional. )

 

[spekkio]

All I can post ATM is:



Enjoy your sausage fest...

 

[Azira]

An all-male party, oh my...

That sounds deligthfully homo-erotic.

 

[Crooked Bee]

sausage fest

Yay for gay elf alien romances!

(Looks like this is now a Bioware-inspired LP.)

 

[MMXI]

2. Then I'll create a list of those who have volunteered for profession A and randomly choose three of them; among those three, I'll see who he is fit for the profession and who is not given the inborn stats. If there's more than one fit, I'll again choose randomly.

What the fuck is this shit? There was a reason why I chose the General Primary School instead of the Nagikamura Gakko and that was to not be too specialised. Now it turns out that I should have been all retarded about it and chosen the streamlined route instead. You've basically rewarded dumbfuckery. I hope it helps you sleep at night.

 

[Crooked Bee]

oh these 2011 newfags...

2. Then I'll create a list of those who have volunteered for profession A and randomly choose three of them; among those three, I'll see who he is fit for the profession and who is not given the inborn stats. If there's more than one fit, I'll again choose randomly.

What the fuck is this shit? There was a reason why I chose the General Primary School instead of the Nagikamura Gakko and that was to not be too specialised. Now it turns out that I should have been all retarded about it and chosen the streamlined route instead.

who he is fit for the profession and who is not given the inborn stats

the inborn stats

Like, you know, the stats at birth.

I'd love it if everyone who volunteered could get a place in the starting party, but alas. :/

 

[MMXI]

Stop bitching and start playing.

 

[grotsnik]

'Tis a fine crew!

 

[lightbane]

Stop bitching and start playing.

 

[korenzel]

I'm surprised I actually made it, what with the majority of heavily mutated transhumans you had available.
Let's see if avoiding genetic diseases is really worth having only half the health of the rest of the crew.

 

[Crooked Bee]

I'm surprised I actually made it, what with the majority of heavily mutated transhumans you had available.
Let's see if avoiding genetic diseases is really worth having only half the health of the rest of the crew.

Your health isn't too bad for a Psionician, actually; Orgasm, your main competitor, had half your HP. As for diseases, yeah, we'll see. This being a totally blind LP, I have no real clue about the gameplay mechanics yet.

'Tis a fine crew!

Indeed, grotsnik-sama; you're in, after all.

Stop bitching and start playing.

Oh I will, I surely will. Some day.

 

[Johannes]

But Mrowaksu kinda looks like a girl, doesn't he?

 

[Crooked Bee]

But Mrowaksu kinda looks like a girl, doesn't he?

Just what are you implying, I wonder?

No, really, that's supposed to be a half-alien boy. Here's what a girl looks like:



Basically, like Liara T'Soni, only red.

EDIT. Gramma fail, lol.

 

[Crooked Bee]

2: Interface basics

So yeah, dear readers, we've created a real crew of BROs. And as soon as we're done with the character creation, our spaceship's interface appears.

It's pretty simple, really. Given that this game is no less of a space trading sim than an aR-Pee-Gee, the first option we're presented with is to Buy wares. Next to it is, surprisingly enough, an option to Sell wares.
Did I ever tell you I fail at trade sims? Well, now is as good a time as any. I fail at trade sims, I really do. This LP does, for realz, have a bright future ahead of it.

We can also choose to Equip Whale, our leak-ey spacecraft.

Alternatively, we can Select destination planet and start Whale.

OR we can Use glider or beam down. What is a glider, you ask? In the manual -- which, oh the wonder of wonders, is translated differently from the actual game -- a glider is called a "Scoutcraft".

~~Land Scoutcraft or Beam Down
This option has a double function: If you have bought a scoutcraft in the "SHIP'S SUPPLIES" menu, this option takes you into a new menu which allows you to fly across the planet's surface.
If you have not yet bought a scoutcraft, activating this menu operates a Teleporter which beams the crew down to the selected planet.

Finally, there is an option to Call up somebody.

~~Phone
This icon allows you to phone people you have got to know during the game.

Sounds cool. Too bad you can't call up random strangers, but oh well.
Let's have a look at the Buy menu first.

~~Buy goods
If you select this sub-menu, contact is made with a trader on the currently selected planet, shown at top left.

There is an extensive range of goods to trade during the game. In this selection from the menu, the trader you have contacted will offer some of these goods for sale to your crew. The prices for the various goods vary from planet to planet and may change in the course of the game. The name and price of the product currently selected will be shown on the display monitor at top right in exactly the same way as the Whale's remaining free capacity. Pressing the Fire button (or the Return key) will cause the goods to be bought.

A cybernegro appears and offers us some wares. Be sure to notice the amount of credits we have. No credits, that's right, nil, zero.
We can buy computer parts, food, infusions, perfume, machine parts, cybernetic parts, reactor parts, brain implants...

...contraceptives, textiles, opticals, water, power supplies...

...latex, sound receivers, bauxit, medicine supplies, blood surrogate, wine surrogate, light weapons, heavy weapons, ammunition and...

...computer games! They certainly will have those in 2291, I mean, why wouldn't they? It's tons of fun. I wonder, however, just how, uhm, streamlined they are going to be.
But anyways. Some things are already sold out. Everything is in tons. And it looks like our Whale can carry 4000 tons max. Oh-kay.

Pressing the Sell button next...

~~Sell goods
This allows goods that have been bought previously to be sold to the planet you are currently in contact with. Needless to say, there is not much profit when buying goods then selling them back to the same planet in the same move.

(Hmm, so does that mean prices change even on the same planet?)

...we see, quite predictably, that we nothing to sell. My, aren't we broke.

Now let's proceed to the Equip Whale menu.

~~Ship's Supplies
Once you have sufficient money, you can equip the Whale with additional "extras", which could be very useful in the event of a confrontation with other ships (see SPACE BATTLE below). Fuel for the ship can also be bought from this menu, to enable you to fly on to another planet.

Here we can repair, buy, and sell our ship's equipment. The equipment we can buy is planet-dependent: there are five "extras" (=pieces of equipment) for sale on each planet.

There are 5 different extras per planet. If you want to buy a scoutcraft, for example, you must first find a planet offering them. You should also go carefully with your fuel reserves, because it may well happen that there is no fuel on the planet you are making for.
Extras can be bought, sold or repaired. This is arranged by selecting one of the two icons at the far left. The text window will now indicate whether you are intending to buy or sell. You can now select one of the extras. An extra can only be repaired if you already have it and the planet you are in contact with sells the item and thus is able to repair.

We're currently on a planet called Castra, and here are the local extras. First comes a weird device called Economy Scanner, pictured above.

Then there's an Extra Engine being sold for whopping $375004, as well as: a Bottom Gun for $321570, a Firepower Ex.1 for $81103...

...a Planet Glider for $200445...

Additionally, this menu allows you to buy a small scoutcraft with which you can fly over the surface of a number of planets to prospect for mineral resources.

(Planet scanning!? That certainly brings some unpleasant memories...)

...as well as, of course, fuel (of which we have none at the moment, by the way).

Fuel for the ship can also be bought from this menu, to enable you to fly on to another planet.

If the red box is positioned over the "Refuel" icon, the text window will display the price for one unit of fuel. The number of units you need for a particular voyage will depend not only on the distance to your destination, but also, of course, on the weight of the goods you are carrying. The number of units of fuel required for the voyage can be found on the Star Map (see below).

Clicking on the "Refuel" icon produces a display containing the following information:
- MAXIMUM: 20000 tells you the capacity of the fuel tank.
- YOU HAVE: 00000 tells you how much fuel you have in the tank at present.
- PURCHASE: 9483 tells you the maximum amount of fuel you can buy before you fill the tank or run out of money. (In this case it is limited by the money available.)

If you now press the Fire button (or the Return key) a maximum of 5000 units will be bought. If this is done for the above example, the following figures will now appear:
- MAXIMUM: 20000
- YOU HAVE: 5000
- PURCHASE: 4483
If you press the Fire button again, you will not be able to buy 5000 units, as you only have 4483 credits left.

Okay, I guess that does it. Now we can move on the exploration interface!


We don't have a glider yet, so choosing the "Use glider or beam down" simply teleports us down on Castra. Here's some info about the planet:

And here's a more extended description from the manual:

~~Castra
Castra was once the most technically advanced planet in this solar system. Over the years, however, more and more traders settlet here. The result was that the pressure of competition increased to such an extent that many traders could only keep their heads above water by adopting illegal methods for at least part of the time. After a short time the economy on Castra totally collapsed.

This period of great confusion was exploited by the criminal world. More and more shady types settled on Castra, and soon the once flourishing metropolis had been transformed into a den of crime and corruption. Only after decades was it possible to restore some order and regain Castra's reputation as a technological trading planet. But it is still plagued by a very high crime rate.

And so beam down we do!

Stay tuned...

And then there were four.

Top left is an automap, too small to make any difference. Pen & grid paper FTW! Under the automap are two spaces reserved, according to the manual, "for extras purchased during the game". Top right are a temperature and an oxygen indicator. Beneath them is a picture of the planet we're currently exploring (what for, I wonder?).
And then shit gets real.

The first thing we notice is that the exploration/combat interface and controls are terribad. And when I say "terribad", I mean TERRIBAD!!.
Why is it terribad? Well, in order to access the bottom part of the screen, the one with character stats, abilities, and stuff, you must press "Fire (= Return or Space) + the down arrow". I repeat, a fucking Fire button plus a freaking down arrow! And there are no hotkeys or anything!! :godimsomadtheyremovedthissmiley: You can't access your abilities, nor your inventory -- hell, you can't even attack anyone! -- without first pressing "Fire + down", then scrolling to the character whose abilities you want to use, then pressing Fire again, then scrolling to whichever ability you want to use, and then pressing Fire to finally fuckin' use it! To make things even worse, the "general abilities" and "offensive/special abilities" menus are separated from each other!! On top of that, to add insult to injury, you DON'T EVEN TARGET YOUR OPPONENTS OR NPCS AUTOMATICALLY!! So that, in order to use an ability or simply attack someone, you must first switch to the bottom interface, then open the general ability menu and choose the "Target" command, then close the ability menu, then scroll over to the attack/special ability menu and open it, and finally choose the offensive ability!
You think that ends here? No way! The ground combat in this game ISN'T TURN-BASED!! Which means it amounts to "push Fire+down -- wait until the interface responds and the enemy hits you a couple of times already -- perform all the operations described above, all the while taking a beating from your enemies who apparently have a MUCH BETTER combat interface -- rinse and repeat -- oh, you want to use another character's ability? -- sure, just exit this character's attack ability menu, open the general ability menu of the character of your choice, choose the Target command, close the ability menu, open the attack ability menu, choose the desired ability -- easy peasy, isn't it?"

Looks like bad console-to-PC ports didn't begin only recently.
But anywayz. Let's put all the complaints aside and see just what commands we have here. First we open Grotley's general ability menu which is done by selecting the panel with his name and pressing Space.

Nothing there at the moment apart from the Examine this position command. We select it:

Fair enough.
Grotley's combat/special abilities (which we access by pressing the strangely-looking symbol to the right of his name) are Attack selected opponent and Take up trail:

We ask Grotley to Take up trail:

Fair enough.
Pressing the next square -- the blue one -- displays Grotley's experience:

It looks like experience levels in this game are described in words, not numbers. "You are sleepy" = you're level 1. "To become almost awake" = to reach level 2. Weird.
Pressing the area with the Health and Mental Energy bars gives us an overview of Grotley's stats:

And pressing Grotley's portrait makes him say just three words:

Laconic.
The only interesting menu at the moment seems to be the attack/special ability one. So let's check it out for the other characters.

Kingcomrade the Monk can not only attack, but also Hypnotize selected opponent; that costs 9 mana Mental energy points.

Mrowaksu the Biochemist can Identify an essence.

And Korenzel the Psionician can Check honesty of selected opponent. Does that mean NPCs can lie to you in this game? We'll see.

In case you wonder what those L, C, S, and J buttons to the left of the character names are, they are called Duty icons. Yup, you can assign different duties to the characters in your party.

~~Duty icons
Each of the four characters has a Duty Icon, which identifies the job allocated to him within the crew. The following duties can be assigned:

L ... Leader: The Leader of the group always goes ahead. This means that he is the first to be caught in any traps that have not been spotted beforehand.

S ... Scout: If this duty has been selected for a character, he will keep a look-out for traps and warn the group when he finds one.

C ... Closer: If this duty is assigned to a member of the crew, he will close every door after the crew has gone through. The advantage of this is that it makes things difficult for pursuers and while they are busy re-opening the door, valuable time is gained.

T ... Targeter: A character for whom this duty has been selected takes aim at the person standing in front of him, which means that "Select" does not have to be selected for this character in the event of an attack. However, the automatic targeting is not obvious - that is, the enemy will not be aware of it.

J ... Joker: A character charged with this duty will try to keep up the morale of the crew by telling jokes. If the crew's morale is high, they will not be intimidated so easily in battle.

M ... Merchant: A crew member with this duty is responsible for the crew's budget. This results in the number of credits available being shown on screen.

W ... Weigher: The Weigher shows the weight each character is currently carrying in the text window next to the character's name.

U ... User: If this duty has been selected, the present temperature and the current oxygen content of the air will be shown in the top right-hand corner of the screen.

Special demands are made of each character according to the duty he has been assigned. For example, the Leader should have a strong personality to enable him to keep the crew under control and improve morale. A Scout, on the other hand, has to look out for traps and should therefore have had training in this particular area.

Some of those duties, like Closer or Joker, sure look exotic. Too exotic, maybe? It is a mystery for now! Also, note the Targeter duty: it allows you to get rid of having to Target a foe before attacking, BUT only for one character. Gosh. And what the hell is that about an enemy being "aware" or "not aware" of being targeted? Is this game really that complex?
By default, Grotley is our Leader, Kingcomrade our Closer, Mrowaksu our Scout, and Korenzel our Joker.

There is one further symbol, which cannot be selected but will be displayed during the course of the game:

D ... Dead: This character is dead. He can only be brought back into the game if he is brought back to life - either by a magician or a doctor or by using one of the "Healing Devices" which can be found in a number of cities.

We make Grotley a Targeter (so that we could waste a little less time on messing around with the annoying interface)...

...Kingcomrade our Leader P)...

...and Mrowaksu a Weighter...

...so that the overall weight each character is carrying is now displayed:

It seems we ain't carrying anything! Surprise, surprise.
First thing we do as we start exploring is bump into a nearby glass case!

We're off to a good start!

Next time: some exploration, combat, and quest-solving, yay!

EDIT. Oh, and pressing that leftmost icon teleports you right back to the Whale, instantly. You can even use that to escape from combat! Handy.

 

[MMXI]

...contraceptives...

2256 tons of condoms? Surely that's not enough for a party of four!

The first thing we notice is that the exploration/combat interface and controls are terribad. And when I say "terribad", I mean TERRIBAD!!.

We don't give a flying fuck. There is a reason why people read LPs instead of playing the games for themselves.

Next time: some exploration, combat, and quest-solving, yay!

MORE!

 

[Johannes]

Stuck with no fuel, no cargo, no equipment, in a hive of scum and villainy? What was the purpose of this trip anyway?

 

[Crooked Bee]

Stuck with no fuel, no cargo, no equipment, in a hive of scum and villainy? What was the purpose of this trip anyway?

...contraceptives...

2256 tons of condoms? Surely that's not enough for a party of four!

But that's for business, not for personal use! ... Or is it? We should ask the guys about that.

We don't give a flying fuck. There is a reason why people read LPs instead of playing the games for themselves.

You're oh so smug and x-treme, dear Droog-kun.

 

[dextermorgan]

Looks very interesting so far. Keeping my butthurt over being dropped in check. Barely. Damn love-hate relationships.

 

[Crooked Bee]

butthurt

Ah, don't be.

 

[lightbane]

Seems interesting but hard to play with that inane interface, luckily you're the one doing the lp