Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

Let's Play KGB!

Tintin

Arbiter
Joined
Jun 28, 2005
Messages
1,480
Wyrmlord said:
This is a really really dark game. Playing it further, I just feel disgust and horror. Listening to the story of how the fat butcher found pictures of his daughter in compromising positions - that is wicked stuff. So many messed up elements.

I don't think I have ever felt that way whilst playing a game. And I also think it is a bad thing. Games are supposed to make you feel enjoyment, make you entertained. Not nauseate and repluse you.

It's not for the light-hearted, and I find it repulsive as well. However I can't say that it affected my enjoyment of the game.

Also note that the theme of things changes drastically towards the end which will have many people going WTF. Just a warning.
 

Tintin

Arbiter
Joined
Jun 28, 2005
Messages
1,480
Oh and if you want to know why I haven't updated recently it's because I was in the middle of writing a huge update post and firefox crashed and destroyed all of it.

When my motivation returns, I'll post again.
 

asper

Arcane
Joined
Nov 14, 2007
Messages
2,207
Project: Eternity
Backup your update posts; copy them to an editor while writing and save...

Anyway, I'm playing this myself now. Excellent game, very dark and disturbing. Thank you for making me aware of it!
 

Starwars

Arcane
Joined
Jan 31, 2007
Messages
2,829
Location
Sweden
Excellent thread. Always been one of those games I've been interested in but never got around to actually playing. It looks very well made, though I will also say that I in no way want to go back to the "haha you hit a dead end because of a decision you made 5 years ago, now start over!" type of gaming.
It is realistic of course but going through shit again, repeating stuff... ugh, fuck that.

Great LP though. We need more dark, disturbing and horrific games.
 

asper

Arcane
Joined
Nov 14, 2007
Messages
2,207
Project: Eternity
Hey, that kind of gameplay actually makes the game last much longer. If you cannot make mistakes like that, like say in Monkey Island, you finish the game much quicker. Repeating isn't much of a chore in KGB, there are a ton of dialogue options to try out, and it all goes rather fast if you've played through it before.

I think it's excellently done in KGB, because you get a hint as to what you did wrong when you die.
 

Tintin

Arbiter
Joined
Jun 28, 2005
Messages
1,480
UPDATE (by the way from now on I'll only update after a few posts after mine. Otherwise it's like I'm LPing to myself :cool: )

Okay it strikes me that nothing make sense without some background information.

Department 7 is the KGB office in Leningrad. I belong to Department P which is in Moscow, the purpose of Department P is to investigate corruption in other departments, so everyone hates me and Department P as you'll see later. The whole reason I'm even doing this case is, of course, because Golistin, from way back in the first mission, was a former KGB officer so it's a case of potential corruption.

I'm carrying some cool gear. Camera, microphone, recorded, headphones, etc.

Also, I have files on all the officers at Department 7. Most of them seem clean. The people listed are Chapkin, Agabekov, and Kusnetsov. Agabekov is apparently clean but Chapkin and Kusnetsov are under suspicion.

Mission is to go to Ladoga Park and follow up on my case. Also, meet my regional controller at 7pm to report.

Okay back to the game.

So the coded message in the last post said, "flick your lights 3 times then call back".

So I do that and call back the number/

1.png

11.png

12.png


Right, so I have a secret admirer. Anyways, the guy tells me to check up on Agabekov, even though he's apparently "clean" by Department P standards.

I go to the lobby.

kgbprg_000.png

kgbprg_002.png


Kay so I go to Department 7.

kgbprg_004.png


I have to drop all my files before I enter the building, or else they kick me out when they find them (apparently they don't like finding files about how corrupt they might be).

They take me up to see Kusnetsov (he's one of the people under suspicion of corruption).

kgbprg_006.png

kgbprg_007.png


If you are anything less than respectful to this guy, you get kicked out. I ask him if I can speak with his officers.

kgbprg_008.png

kgbprg_010.png


Nice chap. So now I go and see Agabekov. This guy has a perfect record, but the guy on phone said to check him out.

kgbprg_012.png


So I ask him about his fellow officers. Any suspicions?

kgbprg_013.png


I tell him he has a good record.

kgbprg_014.png


I start looking around his office. The pointer tells me there's something in his trash can I pick up. But I can't go looking through his garbage while he's there.

It took me a while to figure out to do here. Basically you go into the next room.

Then you call him up.

kgbprg_016.png


You tell him that you have secret information about a visitor from Moscow, aka ME and that you'll meet him in front of the building. He jumps at this chance and leaves his office.

kgbprg_017.png


...it was just a cigar.

Anyways there isn't anything else to do here so I leave and go to Ladoga Park to intercept the meeting foreshadowed in the previous chapter.

kgbprg_022.png


This part you have to play through at least once to know what to do. Basically the guy comes and sits down on the bench. So you have to first plant the microphone on the bench, press record, and then hide.

kgbprg_025.png


...and then...

kgbprg_026.png


Yeah that's Romeo from Moscow.

kgbprg_027.png

kgbprg_028.png


You can follow either one . If you follow Romeo, he just goes back to Moscow, so instead follow blond dude.

kgbprg_031.png


Some guy comes up. You recognize him from your files - it's Chapkin from Department 7. So this proves there's some corruption going on here.

kgbprg_033.png


I'm guessing "K" is Kusnetsov.

kgbprg_036.png


Again, follow either one. Chapkin just goes back to Department 7, so instead follow blond dude.

kgbprg_038.png



So, pull out the camera and zoom in.

kgbprg_039.png


But you can't exactly go in while he's in there, so you have to wait for him to:

kgbprg_041.png


Kay now go inside.

kgbprg_042.png


pr0n lol

Again this is a part where you really have to play through a few times before you know what to do. Basically, there are three sections of the warehouse. The front, middle, and the office. People always are in the office. And the blond dude stays in the front. So you can only hide in the middle, but you can't go outside through the front door. So what you have to do is unlock the skylight,

kgbprg_043.png


then unlock the skylight in the next door bar.

kgbprg_044.png

kgbprg_046.png


Then, you have to open the window in the bar washroom so you can keep getting in without the barman being suspicious. And now, you have a way to get into the warehouse and out without anyone seeing.

Okay back to the middle room.

kgbprg_047.png


Into the office:

kgbprg_048.png


I plant the microphone on the table.

Back to the middle room and hide.

kgbprg_050.png


Okay, now nothing's happening at the moment so I pull out my previous tape and listen to the conversation that I recorded back at Ladoga Park.

kgbprg_051.png

kgbprg_052.png

kgbprg_053.png

kgbprg_054.png


They exchange items and say goodbye. Also warns him about a snooper (me). That's the end of the tape.

Okay, somebody's coming back into the warehouse.

kgbprg_064.png

kgbprg_065.png


They go into the office. I record the conversation.

Blond dude comes out, but fat guy stays in the office. Someone else comes:
kgbprg_067.png

kgbprg_068.png

kgbprg_071.png


Goes into the office and has a conversation. I record it again.

Then he comes outside:

kgbprg_074.png


That's the game giving you a hint.

Now if you follow the new guy, you'll miss anything new that happens here. So what you do is press record, then hide the device somewhere so it keeps recording while you're gone. Then you go out the skylight onto the street and follow the new guy.

kgbprg_076.png

kgbprg_077.png

kgbprg_078.png

kgbprg_079.png

kgbprg_080.png


TO BE CONTINUED...
 

Wyrmlord

Arcane
Joined
Feb 3, 2008
Messages
28,886
Yeah, the game is really getting exciting. It's like watching some sort of really good book-movie or something. Perhaps it is more fun watched than played.

I don't think many games truly capture the elaborate thrill of espionage, of painstakingly planting bugs and microphones, and removing clues of your own trail from enemies.

This could have been an inspiration for an entire set of games. I doubt developers would have considered it feasible to make a game as hard as KGB, but atleast the idea of a time-based police procedural, where you have to be careful in your investigation and actions, has so much potential for so many games. I would settle for less, if the game can atleast do that much.

What luck that I stumbled upon this game. It's somewhat unknown even among many retrogamers. It's not mentioned in lists of classic games. It just happened that I was browsing Abandonia and thought that a game named KGB can't possibly be bad.
 

Tintin

Arbiter
Joined
Jun 28, 2005
Messages
1,480
Yeah, it's flows a lot better when you read the LP because I basically remember what to do somewhat. Whereas when I first played this thing, trust me, it took a LONG time for me to figure out these things. Of course then again I was a kid...

Another thing about it is that you really have to have decent memory or take notes because there's a lot of strange Russian names to remember (and are important later) and various plot points that the game doesn't hand-hold you through....you either remember vital clues yourself or you don't...
 

Talby

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 15, 2008
Messages
5,507
Codex USB, 2014
I'm loving this game. I consider it the closest adventure game equivalent to Platform Hell. (Well, except for THHGTTG)
 

Wyrmlord

Arcane
Joined
Feb 3, 2008
Messages
28,886
Though it's a wonder...

why did Golitisin give the tape to his sister who later gave it to you, thus unveiling the whole KGB corruption he was a part of?
 

Talby

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 15, 2008
Messages
5,507
Codex USB, 2014
I am now a little bit further than this LP. I keep running out of time and missing the contact... but if I go to him before I've collected enough evidence, he kills me. Jerk.
 

Tintin

Arbiter
Joined
Jun 28, 2005
Messages
1,480
Talby said:
I am now a little bit further than this LP. I keep running out of time and missing the contact... but if I go to him before I've collected enough evidence, he kills me. Jerk.

Ouch. Might have to reload to when you have enough time to do everything.

why did Golitisin give the tape to his sister who later gave it to you, thus unveiling the whole KGB corruption he was a part of?

Who knows. To save his skin if something went wrong?
 

dragonfk

Erudite
Joined
Jun 19, 2007
Messages
2,487
Damn, wish I had this game back in the days of my 386...

Great LP material and great job from both of you, TinTin and Wyrmlord.
 

Tintin

Arbiter
Joined
Jun 28, 2005
Messages
1,480
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG UPDATE:

Okay this part is all about connecting clues and lots of speech. Bear with me.

So we're following this welldressed guy who was at the warehouse.

kgbprg_003.png


He waits around. Then

kgbprg_006.png


They speak for a while and then

kgbprg_007.png


So Agabekov was the guy that is "clean" according to my files, but who was under suspicion by the guys on the telephone. It appears he's obviously connected somehow in all this.

Anyways they finish speaking. I follow the well dressed guy. (Agebkov just goes back to Department 7)

kgbprg_011.png


He returns to the warehouse and goes inside.

So I sneak back into the warehouse and hide just in time before he leaves.

kgbprg_016.png

kgbprg_018.png


And then he leaves. I pick up my tape recorder which I had left there. it has lots of new recordings.

It's almost 7 o'clock, which is when I'm supposed to meet my secret contact "Cut Throat" according to my phone call. There's nothing more to learn here. I pick up my recorder and head back to my hotel.

kgbprg_023.png


Now it's time to listen to all the recordings I've made. This is a bit confusing in LP form but try to follow along.

The first recording is the conversation between the blond dude and the fat guy right after I got into the warehouse from Ladoga Park.

kgbprg_024.png

kgbprg_028.png


This guy named Yakuchev comes up in the convo as some sort of intermediary between Moscow and Leningrad.

Okay that's the end of that convo. The next conversation happens between the welldressed man in the office after he arrived the first time.

kgbprg_033.png


So the blond dude at the front of the warehouse was named Savchenko. The fat dude's name was Mechuliav since we heard him called that back at the warehouse.

They continue talking:

kgbprg_035.png

kgbprg_036.png


They talk some more.

kgbprg_040.png

kgbprg_041.png


He was going to see Mr. X....we followed him and saw him meeting Agabekov. Connect the dots.

The next recording is the one right after he met Agabekov.

kgbprg_046.png

kgbprg_048.png

kgbprg_051.png

kgbprg_053.png


So we've learned a bunch of information here.....

And now we have to meet the contact. Basically, this is like a barrier from going any further. If you didn't figure out all of this information he's going to ask you, you die and must figure out what you did wrong or didn't discover.

So i wait around.

Then my secret contact appears. This is not my KGB contact. This is the guy who called me on the phone, I don't know who he is or who he represents.

kgbprg_054.png


I show him my ID

kgbprg_056.png

kgbprg_061.png

kgbprg_063.png

kgbprg_064.png

kgbprg_065.png

kgbprg_066.png

kgbprg_067.png

kgbprg_068.png


And that's the Q&A. If you didn't figure out all of those things, you die (he kills you).

Well, this is deep stuff.

I ask him about Kusnetsov and Chapkin being involved in corruption (since they were the ones mentioned in the KGB articles, not Agabekov)

kgbprg_073.png


I ask him why he's so obsessed with Agabekov.

kgbprg_079.png


Anyways so that's basically the end of this conversation. What I learn is that there is some organization who is also involved here who are telling me to monitor Agabekov. I'm leaving out a lot of speech because there is quite a bit of text in these interactions.

Cut-Throat leaves. I head upstairs. Now I have to meet my actual controller from the KGB.

kgbprg_091.png


At 7:30

kgbprg_002.png

kgbprg_003.png

kgbprg_004.png


I look at the body.

kgbprg_008.png

kgbprg_011.png


So I call the number on the guys hand.

kgbprg_014.png


If you say too much, he'll recognize you're not his friend.

kgbprg_015.png


Basically I'm pretending to be the unconscious guy.

kgbprg_017.png


So I'm guessing this is his accomplice, and he's coming up.

kgbprg_018.png


Kay. First, hide the body in the washroom.

kgbprg_021.png


Turn off the lights.

kgbprg_022.png


Put on the guys clothes.

kgbprg_023.png


And then the plan falls into place..

kgbprg_024.png

kgbprg_026.png

kgbprg_027.png

kgbprg_028.png

kgbprg_031.png


This is choices & consequencezzz. Do you want to divulge your secret contact to your KGB officer or not? I've always been against authority so I don't tell him about it.

kgbprg_033.png

kgbprg_034.png

kgbprg_037.png


So do you see what's going on here?

Secret contact Cut-Throat tells me Kusnetsov's involvement is meaningless and that I have to focus on Agabekov and a wider conspiracy going on here involving broader corruption in the Soviet Union.

My KGB contact tells me Agabekov's involvement is meaningless and that the focus is Kusnetsov and the video tape scandal.

Who to believe?

Dude wakes up. He asks where Viktor is.

kgbprg_040.png


Savinkov tells him to divulge what they were doing. He lies so Savinkov breaks his fingers.

kgbprg_044.png


There was a man.

kgbprg_046.png


Savinkov is going to take him away. He gives me my orders.

kgbprg_048.png


Right, the dead guy in the bathroom. Almost forget.

Now this is a nice piece of spy work coming up. Took a while to figure out, too.

First, you drag the body across the hall. There's a room occupied by a drunk who's sleeping it off.

kgbprg_057.png


There's a beer bottle on the bed being hugged by the sleeping guy. You take the beer bottle and sprinkle beer all over the dead body.

You can't heave him over the window because there's homeless people down there and you cause a ruckus. So go down.

kgbprg_065.png

kgbprg_066.png


Can't force them out. Instead, give them the beer bottle.

kgbprg_070.png


Now you can't drag a body around. Luckily the night porter has a wheelchair for use. But I can't just take it. So I have to distract him.

I lie that someone's making noise upstairs.

kgbprg_053.png


Steal the wheelchair.

kgbprg_054.png


Put the body in the wheelchair.

kgbprg_073.png


Move it along to the canal. Police!

kgbprg_074.png

kgbprg_075.png

kgbprg_076.png

kgbprg_077.png


And they leave! I shove him into the canal.

Done. Back to the hotel room to wait for Savinkov.

kgbprg_080.png
 

Talby

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 15, 2008
Messages
5,507
Codex USB, 2014
I'm in a spot of bother with this bit. The guy never seems to wake up after Savinkov knocks him out. Is there something special you have to do?
 

Wyrmlord

Arcane
Joined
Feb 3, 2008
Messages
28,886
"Unfortunately, he lost his life, after I tried to relieve him of his gun."

The man is dead, Talby.
 

Tintin

Arbiter
Joined
Jun 28, 2005
Messages
1,480
Talby said:
I'm in a spot of bother with this bit. The guy never seems to wake up after Savinkov knocks him out. Is there something special you have to do?

Not that I know of. He should wake up after (or during) you've talked to Savinkov about what you've done that day. I'm guessing it's a bug.
 

Tintin

Arbiter
Joined
Jun 28, 2005
Messages
1,480
UPDATE;

So I have disposed of the body.

I wait for Savinkov the controller to return.

kgbprg_000.png


Knock knock.

kgbprg_002.png



Good job, he says. I ask for my orders.

kgbprg_004.png


And be here at 7AM the next morning.

Alright, onwards to the hotel Sverneynad....whatever it's called.

kgbprg_008.png


I go into the bar and talk to an American.

kgbprg_010.png

kgbprg_011.png

kgbprg_012.png

kgbprg_013.png

kgbprg_014.png

kgbprg_015.png

kgbprg_016.png

kgbprg_017.png

kgbprg_018.png


LOLZ

Okay I talk to the girl (prostitute) by the counter.

kgbprg_019.png

kgbprg_020.png


I'm offended. But as a hooker working this hotel she might know something about how the rooms are used.

kgbprg_021.png

kgbprg_022.png


Tamara walks into the bar.

kgbprg_026.png

kgbprg_029.png


She tells me to get lost.

That's so uncool.

So I'm standing around lost for what to do, when all of a sudden..

kgbprg_031.png


Look who's entered the room. Some blonde woman and.....Greenberg! If you don't remember, that's the guy who was in the room with my back in Moscow, the American with whom I escaped.

I try to go talk to him, but before I do, the woman on the right intercepts me.

kgbprg_032.png


I tell her she's mistaking me for someone else.

kgbprg_034.png


kgbprg_035.png


I tell her that I'd like to speak with Greenberg myself.

kgbprg_037.png


She tells me that I can't speak with Greenberg for security reasons, and that she'll relay my messages to him.

She says she's a CIA agent and so is Greenberg, working together on the same case I am (the nasty videos). She's willing to answer questions but she doesn't really tell me anything I don't know already. I ask her about "New Birth" (cut throat wanted me to find out what that was), but all she knows is that it's some fringe KGB group.

Finally I ask her for Western money. She gives me $50.

So I go back in the bar. Although Wallace told me not to speak with Greenberg......I go over to him anyways.

kgbprg_041.png


Well it certainly doesn't seem like Greenberg asked Wallace to talk to me on his behalf. I ask what their relationship is.

kgbprg_042.png

kgbprg_042b.png


So Greenberg doesn't even know her....yet she's supposed to speak on his behalf? Right, so we've established that there's something fishy about this Wallace person, and that she wanted to keep me from contacting Greenberg.

kgbprg_043.png

kgbprg_044.png

kgbprg_045.png

kgbprg_046.png

kgbprg_048.png


You have to pick up the subtle clues here. First obviously this is hinting that Savinkov might not be entirely truthful. But he also says "The day he offers you his cigars is when you can trust him"........remember back to Department 7, when we found a crushed cigar in Agabekov's trash..?

I ask him if there's anything else he wants to know.

kgbprg_049.png


Now I ask him some questions. The only thing he has an idea of is what "New Birth" is.

kgbprg_051.png


kgbprg_055.png


And then he's out. Now I have the cash so I go back to Tamara.

kgbprg_056.png


So we go up to her room. There's nothing suspicious there. But this is the room mentioned by the killer. So this hooker must be involved somehow.

kgbprg_057.png

kgbprg_058.png


So she doesn't know anything about the assassins. So I ask if she uses any other rooms.

kgbprg_061.png


So I go to that floor.

Into room 416.

kgbprg_065.png


Find an ashtray. Look around. Nothing suspicious. Until I get to the mirror.

kgbprg_066.png


I break the mirror with the ashtray.

kgbprg_067.png


Recording room. And some pictures of Chapkin and Kusnetsov.

I leave.

kgbprg_069.png


Whatever. Back to my hotel, the game is telling me I'm in need of a long sleep.

kgbprg_070.png


Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....and then.

kgbprg_072.png


kgbprg_073.png


Comrade Chapkin (Department 7, the guy we saw meeting the blond dude at Ladoga Park early on, connected with Kusnetsov) is pointing a gun at me.

kgbprg_074.png

kgbprg_075.png

kgbprg_076.png


So I have a few options here. I can try and fight and die. I can try and weasel out with words and die. Or I can say "I'm ready to talk"

Now to me this is the most awesome scene in the game. Maybe it's somewhat cheap but come on!

Remember way back when you got your tape recorder? One of the nifty features was it had voice-activated playback, set to respond to the word "Talk". So....I tell Chapkin I'm ready to "Talk" and...

kgbprg_078.png


And he goes down.

I search him. He has a syringe on him. Weird writing on it.

I inject him with the syringe.

kgbprg_080.png


I ask him what's in the syringe.

kgbprg_083.png


Well this is convenient.

I ask him who Viktor Matsnev is (the guy who's taking care of the transport of the ships according to my earlier recorded conversations)

kgbprg_081.png

kgbprg_082.png


He tells me a bunch of stuff about what's going to happen. Chapkin and Kusnetsov are involved in the video tape scandal, but they don't seem to be deep in the whole Soviet corruption aspect like Cut-Throat was talking about. They seem to just be cheap criminals who want quick money. So Cut-Throat seems to have been right about that...their involvement is shallow. I also get the details of the shipment of crack/videos.

And then he dies.

kgbprg_086.png


TO BE CONTINUED.
 

Tintin

Arbiter
Joined
Jun 28, 2005
Messages
1,480
Don't be afraid to throw a comment between updates, lurkers :wink:
 

Talby

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 15, 2008
Messages
5,507
Codex USB, 2014
That trick with the tape recorder is awesome. Straight out of a really good spy novel. I just wish I could get the bloody game to work so I could continue.
 

Tintin

Arbiter
Joined
Jun 28, 2005
Messages
1,480
Where'd you get it from?

There are two versions on the net. One is an unauthorized beta version and one is a rip from the commercial version. The beta version is buggy as hell.
 

Tigranes

Arcane
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
10,350
Brilliant part you played through Tintin - I think the game is at its best when you're figuring out the hotel / bodies stuff, and in the conversations with Savinkov, Chapkin and Cut-Throat.

Also, I dont' know if you did this, but you can keep saving up tiny bits of US dollar throughout the game, and use it here (and I think in one other place later).
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom