Donna: Avenger of Blood (warning! nudity! run for the hills!) - curr. ver. 1.5

[Eggie]

Holy my goodness, I remember this game being talked about when I was 15! This is incredible!
Downloading now

[an Urpney]

Bug Report:

Spoiler

I was able to enter CS headquaters without C's delicatessen - gate: clicked on the sensor with "walk" cursor and girls just went through the gate, door - clicked on the door with "walk" cursor.
Gamebreaker, as girls won't leave the building and without C's lockpick I can't enter Rightwell's office.
Might have something to do with skipping music puzzle.

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[Goldmund]

Eggie: very happy to be a part of your innocent childhood's background, Sir!

Urpney:

Spoiler

Haha, do you really have problems with hearing or are just lazy? You're right, it's the skipping that breaks it. Thanks for the bug report!
But wait, if you skipped the scrambler puzzle, the gate to the base should be open, so you can't "pass through" it? I see the problem with the base's door, but not the gate...

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edit:
Urpney, are you able to continue the game? If you send me your saved game,

Spoiler

I can give you the pickgun

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[steptoe]

I swear to God I started to make this game BEFORE Twilight, in 2001!

10 years for a game should get you an award 

[an Urpney]

It contains nudity, sexuality, drug use, smoking, lesbianism, violence, politics, metapsychical questions, and vampires...

I belive you forgot

Spoiler

GAY NAZIS!!!!111 And their little diaries.

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Urpney:

Spoiler

Haha, do you really have problems with hearing or are just lazy? You're right, it's the skipping that breaks it. Thanks for the bug report!
But wait, if you skipped the scrambler puzzle, the gate to the base should be open, so you can't "pass through" it? I see the problem with the base's door, but not the gate...

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edit:
Urpney, are you able to continue the game? If you send me your saved game,

Spoiler

I can give you the pickgun

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Lazy. And hate music puzzles ; ) You can call me "musically impaired".

Spoiler

The gate was still on it's place, visible and locked. As soon as I clicked on the sensor, girls just went through the gate in a ghostly manner : )

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If you need a save for testing, I have one, but after having a smoke I realized I missed something and loaded earlier save, took what I needed and infiltrated whole complex.
Czy Ernest to Poseł Wojtek Wierzejski? : )

My final thoughs.

Pros:
- Graphic style. Loved it!
- Gabriel Knight-esque moments (like repeating the same dream at the end of chapter, forest puzzle at the end etc.)
- Cypher Puzzles!
- Overall plot (with some minor details)
- Hint system!
- Something old polish gamers would call miodność. You probably know what I'm talking about : )

Cons:

Spoiler

Really, minor detalis.
- Relationship between Donna and Milena. It's just too fast - we have a "damsel in distress" situation, one meeting in a cafee and when they meet next time they just go to bed. They didn't really had time to meet each other so it looks more like a physical afection than love - which I belive wasn't your intention. The relationship lacks solid buildup.
- Villains motivations - we know they are nazis, so they want to rule the world, have strong military industry and eliminate everyone they find inferior. Why do they want to summon antient, dangerous but pretty useless demon? They have something to protect one person, but they have no means of controlling the thing, co what's the point?

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Overall, game of commertial quality ; ) Well done.

[Goldmund]

Urpney, dzięki! :-)

Thanks for your comments! I will reply to them soon, first have to remove some bugs, because...

pcgamer.com/2012/01/15/this-weeks-best-free-pc-games-31/   

Goodbye, bandwith.

[Lewis]

pcgamer.com/2012/01/15/this-weeks-best-free-pc-games-31/   

Goodbye, bandwith.

You're welcome. :-)

[buddha]

Well I'll be damned, I just can't believe it's here!!  Big congratz Goldmund on keeping at it and finishing this!

[Marquillin]

I maybe should have waited till more bugs were ironed out, as I usually do, but I got excited to play this.  Now I think this may be a game stopping bug, but I'm not sure as others have progressed further.

Spoiler

I have the Countrysons card from the safe and noticed that the heat from my hand made something appear beneath, so I tried my lighter on the card to heat it up further (hoping it would display the password to the website), she says she'll try it, the lighter clicks, but then the game locks up; I can move the cursor, but that's it.

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Am I on the wrong track here, or am I the only one who is getting this?  Besides having the music get killed by certain actions, it's the only bug so far, but how serious is it?

Otherwise, it's a very compelling game.

[an Urpney]

I've already beaten the game, so it's fully playable.
Never encountered the bug you described - do you use lighter from the hotel? Worked well for me.

Way to skip the bug:

Spoiler

hidden message: honour39

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[Goldmund]

Spoiler

I have the Countrysons card from the safe and noticed that the heat from my hand made something appear beneath, so I tried my lighter on the card to heat it up further (hoping it would display the password to the website), she says she'll try it, the lighter clicks, but then the game locks up; I can move the cursor, but that's it.

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It's "hide", not "spoiler" on these boards ;-)

You're the second person with the bug. If you have it, you will run into a more serious one a bit later. The problem is solved and the fixed game should be online in 2-3 hours. Sorry!

[Goldmund]

urpney, pls check private messages

[an Urpney]

Goldmund, check your mailbox : )

[Marquillin]

It's "hide", not "spoiler" on these boards ;-)

Thanks, the SMF help page here wasn't enlightening on that topic.

You're the second person with the bug. If you have it, you will run into a more serious one a bit later. The problem is solved and the fixed game should be online in 2-3 hours. Sorry!

Right, then my question is will old save games work in the new version, and if not, is this future more serious bug something that has a way around it (that won't spoil a puzzle or scene or general immersion too much).  Or (if old saves don't work) perhaps you could send me a save of my place in the game (more or less)?  I just don't really want to replay the game thus far again, not until some time has elapsed anyway

I've already beaten the game, so it's fully playable.
Never encountered the bug you described - do you use lighter from the hotel? Worked well for me.

Way to skip the bug:

Spoiler

hidden message: honour39

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.

Thanks for the code, at least I figured out how to get it correctly, so it doesn't feel like a cheat.  Yes, I used the hotel lighter.

[Goldmund]

The old saves will work.

The fixed version will be online in half an hour, I believe (uploading).

The second instance of the bug you have is game-stopping, I'm afraid, so better wait ;-)

EDIT:
The new bug-free (hopefully) version is up and kicking on the site.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

If I didn't already have a full beard this game would have made me grow one overnight.  Perhaps it will make me grow a double beard!

[Goldmund]

Urpney,

Spoiler

"- Relationship between Donna and Milena. It's just too fast - we have a "damsel in distress" situation, one meeting in a cafee and when they meet next time they just go to bed. They didn't really had time to meet each other so it looks more like a physical afection than love - which I belive wasn't your intention. The relationship lacks solid buildup."

Well I had no time in game to do proper wooing and courting. They started with physical attraction, sure... or promise of some forgetfulness in a shitty moment of their lives... or even, maybe some kind of a charm?... ;-)
Besides, I've heard there are some people nowadays that go to bed on their FIRST date, not second!! The times! The morals!

"- Villains motivations - we know they are nazis, so they want to rule the world, have strong military industry and eliminate everyone they find inferior. Why do they want to summon antient, dangerous but pretty useless demon? They have something to protect one person, but they have no means of controlling the thing, co what's the point?"

Well they were primarily pagans, not nazis -- as you gather from Mil's notes and other evidence, Romero created CS and influenced NCR on the way to fulfill his obsession. His obsession was not military power of his country (nazi reason) but changing the whole reality, breaking it open to bring back the universe of Something Great in place of indifference and relativism. But, of course, if I have to write all this, it means I have failed to make the game speak for itself... or rather Romero ;-)

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[an Urpney]

Goldmund

Spoiler

- All true, but from where I stand going to bed isn't the highest point of serious relationship (I know, that's just a personal opinion : ). Going to bed in their situation looks more like physical attraction combined with fear and maybe compensation after Christian's death for Donna. Just not serious enough for them to be willing to sacrifice themselves for each other.
Or that's just my moaning ; )

- For what I know of pagans, they treated their gods more pragmatic and instrumentally than modern monotheistic religions. More of preforming rituals to gain something, less of "love of god". I get it:
NCR - national socialistic party more interested in power than occult,
CS - messed up guys blindly following Romero with all his paganism, fascination in III Reich, maybe following patch of Thule brotherhood.
Romero himself - a self-proclaimed pagan priest.
Still, what's the point of summoning agressive demon he can't control and even protect himself and his lover (even when I gave him the necklace, demon didn't seem to be bothered)? He seems to know a lot about the ritual, and yet he makes basic mistakes.
Just saying Romero's desire for destruction and self-destruction could've been presented with little more depth, making him more interesting and belivable chatacter.

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[Goldmund]

Thank you for talking with me about that!

Spoiler

"Still, what's the point of summoning agressive demon he can't control and even protect himself and his lover (even when I gave him the necklace, demon didn't seem to be bothered)? He seems to know a lot about the ritual, and yet he makes basic mistakes.
Just saying Romero's desire for destruction and self-destruction could've been presented with little more depth, making him more interesting and belivable chatacter."

I was thinking whether not to make something different when he does have GB, but it seemed to me to work in this way, too -- it is love which is his destruction, as it clouded his mind. Donna asked Milena to "use" the necklace, to show it; JR forgot all about it seeing his loved one's head devoured ;-)

Romero is believeable to me in that somewhere inside I share his sentiments, that is: I understand that a person may be angry and dissilusioned with the world of No Great Ideas, No Symbols and believing the Magical Destruction to be a better fate, or at least: more glorious.
In constructing Romero I was often thinking about the leader of Death In June, Douglas Pearce. Gay Nazi making beautiful music -- here's something for you if you like paradoxes ;-) I've never felt disoriented whether I do have a moral right to enjoy music before ;-)

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[an Urpney]

Thank you for talking with me about that!

Glad to be of assistance ; ) Game's great and deserves feedback. Maybe you can some of this mumbling working on your next project ; )

Spoiler

"Still, what's the point of summoning agressive demon he can't control and even protect himself and his lover (even when I gave him the necklace, demon didn't seem to be bothered)? He seems to know a lot about the ritual, and yet he makes basic mistakes.
Just saying Romero's desire for destruction and self-destruction could've been presented with little more depth, making him more interesting and belivable chatacter."

I was thinking whether not to make something different when he does have GB, but it seemed to me to work in this way, too -- it is love which is his destruction, as it clouded his mind. Donna asked Milena to "use" the necklace, to show it; JR forgot all about it seeing his loved one's head devoured ;-)

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Spoiler

That makes sense, but still: GB on his head is pretty visible and the demon probably even touches it while chewing his head off. Romero shouldn't be surprised - he didn't prepare any protection for Ernest, so what did he expect?
Milena seen her loved one turn into flesh-eating monstrocity, witnessed two people heads beein' devoured and what's most important she - contrary to Romero and Ernest - wasn't even expecting to see anything supernatural.

Spoiler

Romero is believeable to me in that somewhere inside I share his sentiments, that is: I understand that a person may be angry and dissilusioned with the world of No Great Ideas, No Symbols and believing the Magical Destruction to be a better fate, or at least: more glorious.
In constructing Romero I was often thinking about the leader of Death In June, Douglas Pearce. Gay Nazi making beautiful music -- here's something for you if you like paradoxes ;-) I've never felt disoriented whether I do have a moral right to enjoy music before ;-)

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Spoiler

My point is, it's rather rare in the world to meet a man beeing evil just for the sake of beeing evil and wishing destruction. Most common examples: Hitler only wanted to make the world a better place and get rid of people who - in his messed up head - hurt him and his nation. Lenin wanted to build an utopian world. Bin Laden did what he belived God wanted him to do. None of them seen those deeds as evil.
Note that at one point Romero and his supporters gained enough social and political support to actually CHANGE something in the world and yet they still wanted to preform the ritual and send it all to hell.

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