Beneath a Steel Sky - ADG Episode 297

[@AndrewTJackson]

I don't know if it's because I'm a South African, so very influenced by British humour, or if its just me, but i have the exact opposite opinion to you. I REALLY enjoyed this game and its tone and story. The interface norms definitely are different to Sierra's, but it makes logical sense to me - maybe because I played Broken Sword before this game. Thank you for you video! ♥

[@TheJamieRamone]

The linguistic inconsistency is the brit's passive-agressive way of getting back at americans for the "monkey wrench" puzzle in Monkey Island 2. They call those things spanners. No one got passed that puzzle in Britain without a walkthru.

[@jasonblalock4429]

The reason the graphics are so nice is that they were drawn by Dave Gibbons, an excellent comic artist probably best known for doing the art in Watchmen. And yeah, he's definitely the best thing about this. It comes so close to greatness, but there are just too many issues.

[@FOIL_FRESH]

rant about sound: So the talkie dos version runs in a (as far as i have read) special memory mode that (I assume) wipes out whatever sound card mixer TSR's settings and in turn, uses it's own volume controls. my suspicion is that the master volume level is zero'd out and the in-game options only control the wave-out and FM volumes. I kinda confirmed this by running BASS in windows 98, alt-tabbing, changing volumes in the windows sound mixer to bump back up the master volume along with wave and fm/midi. Only then could I hear the music and speech properly at a listenable volume, louder than any way possible in dos. But... the resulting problem is that the game just breaks and crashes in anything other than DOS when changing scenes. So, with this "fix", it's unplayable. You just get a black screen full of errors, probably due to the special memory management going on. If one happens to have a naturally loud sound card then that's great news. But! Most cards default levels aren't loud at all! I had to deal with so much line hiss and noise when playing this as I needed to amplify to get a decent level. Oh, and, you can't have speech AND MT-32/Midi at the same time on the DOS version. Wowee. SCUMMvm is definitely the way to play this game if you prefer wavetable.

[@thejoin4687]

A good illustration of the jarring tonal shifts is the first big dramatic moment, when Reich gets killed. It gets really tense with Reich about to shoot us down, when Linc suddenly and intriguingly takes aim and then slices Reich in two. At which our protagonist quips, "Well, Reich seemed pretty CUT UP about it."

[@XanthinZarda]

You ever get the feeling a piece of media was translated from another language before yours, and then get shocked when you find out it was developed in your native tongue? This is one of those times.

[@dontomaso11]

Here is a bit of info about the "real" creator of BaSS, Dave Cummins (he did music, story and design and was apparently a bit of a character). He disappeared from the earth and then in the following link people, old colleges and friends tried to track him down, and eventually found out he died in 2008. It's an interesting thread to read. rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/the-search-for-beneath-a-steel-skys-creator-dave-cummins-rip.76043/page-3 And here is a link to Dave Cummins old band from the 70s :) soundcloud.com/theoriginalredshift

[@dontomaso11]

Btw, can recommend the song "dead or alive" :)

[@dontomaso11]

And an interesting quote from Charles Cecil. "As I have often said, Dave was a troubled genius - he may have been pretty damning of me, and we didn’t always see eye to eye, but I totally respect - and now miss - his intelligence and talent."

[@Vebinz]

It's probably the "Secret of Monkey Island" influence, which made almost every maker of such games include quirky humor in it.

[@TheoDGoodman]

Raising a very interesting point about a possible softlock with the light bulb, although there's no way to progress from the first stage without first getting the light bulb

[@FritzCopyCat]

Thanks for the tips of the CPU cycles and Sound Blaster mixer; I was struggling to get things working properly in DOSBox-X.

[@Alianger]

the music is great, not really done justice by adlib

[@DanielMonteiroNit]

Whats great is that, these days, you can play in airplane infotainment systems! Played a while ago, when returning home to Lisbon from Rio de Janeiro :)

[@BSzili]

Even though I really like this game, I can't help but get weirded out sometimes by the inconsistent tone. It's hard to explain without any spoilers, but in one moment you find an important character's dead body, in the next one you get to see Foster's funny sweaters. That's not to say the humor doesn't work in the game at all, Joey's sarcastic remarks fit the mood, but sometimes it just gets too goofy.

[@aaronmarko]

Yeah tbh I always felt like the humor in the game never really fit the tone of it from what I was expecting which was a dark cyberpunk/post-apocalyptic game. And I suppose some of that's there still but it definitely feels deflated by everybody constantly cracking wise.

[@Pixelmusement]

That's actually an easy point of confusion is that: This game does NOT take place in a post-apocalyptic world, just one that's been taken over by mega-corps, thus "dystopian" fits the bill more accurately, or to be even more precise, it's like it's on the fringe of an actual dystopia. :B

[@FairyRat]

It's called dark humor.

[@Zivilin]

I absolutely loved the humour of this game. It is so wacky and the puns are almost unlimited in quantity, which i love. 🤣

[@akiradkcn]

@@FairyRat yeah

[@PlayStationPaul]

When the iron bar was attached to the wall it was a rail, when it's removed it's no longer a rail, just an iron bar, until it becomes his makeshift crowbar. I guess that was the thinking behind that first puzzle.

[@pinguino3554]

Nice to see a Graphic adventure (now: point and click ad adventure) in the main section. 😀

[@F0r3v3rT0m0rr0w]

I had this game as a kid ... but i could NEVER finish it because it would always crash around the point with the two cops and the death scan at the start of the game. I dont know why i just never could finish it. I was so happy when i played through it for free on gog later. I still love this game.

[@gillnosowitz2795]

I'm so glad I found your channel again. I have no idea when YT deleted my subscription, but i missed finding games I never tried when i was a kid. I have a request for "Dragon Lore" I remember it actually scaring me as a kid, then when I'd get the nerve to play it, I'd get stuck and eventually got so sick of being stuck, bought the guide book, only to find out my CD was messed up and an event would never trigger, meaning I could never progress. I used to play mega race and the journeyman project series too, but Dragon Lore almost has a mystique about it because all the enemy art is spikey, scary and evil, and when _I_ finally had the courage to stand up to it, the game didn't, and I've never got it working since (though I never tried too hard tbh).

[@Pixelmusement]

Please eMail me if you have requests so that I can track them properly as I can't do that with KZbin comments! :P

[@WarthogRacer]

There was a version on SUSE Linux. That's how I discovered BSS.

[@panutalus]

I recall that the spoken dialogue inconsistence was because they had to redo the voice acting. First time they hired theater actors but later were unhappy with the results so then they decided to hire actual voice actors which is what you hear in the game.

[@Pixelmusement]

That still doesn't quite explain the discrepancies. It's more like the in-game script was adjusted AFTER the voice acting was already done. :P

[@et_andersson]

@@Pixelmusement My guess is that you were running the game with "English (US)" subtitles, rather than "English (International)". I haven't compared them much myself, but I know at least one scene is pretty different. If you talk to the guy outside of Burke's Bio Surgery with the international subtitles you get: How can I get out of the City? Have you thought about DEFECATION? Don't you mean DEFECTION? What? Isn't that what I SAID? I asked you about LEAVING the City... / ...not BODILY PROCESSES. You're not making SENSE! / ...and anyway, you CAN'T leave the City. / There's a RESTRICTION on travel. With the US subtitles, you get How can I get out of the City? WHY? Aren't you HAPPY here? I want to get back to the GAP... Are you SERIOUS? Oh, yes. I've seen ENOUGH of this city... / ...MORE than enough. Listen, I don't want to DEPRESS you... / ...but you can't CHANGE your DESTINY... / ...at least, not without official SANCTION. As for why they're different, your guess is as good as mine. I played with the international subtitles, and I don't remember seeing any major differences compared to the spoken lines. It's been many years, though.

[@Pixelmusement]

@@et_andersson I was playing with international. I even demonstrate one of the many vocal-to-text discrepancies early in the video! :P

[@et_andersson]

@@Pixelmusement Strange. Does changing to US make any difference at all? (If not, you should be able to select either in ScummVM and compare there.) I know it does for me since I tried it before posting, but I also noticed that I have to select Spanish to get Swedish subtitles and Swedish to get what I assume are Spanish, so at least some releases appear to have slightly buggy installers...

[@wraithcadmus]

The Amiga version was massive, as it comes on *15* floppies, 0-13 (yes they used a 0-indexing) and separate boot disk, plus your own disk for saves. As such it was very hard to play without a second drive, as most scenes needed data from two disks. One thing that confused the heck out of me at the time was guides talking about entering the courthouse and watching the trial of Hobbins, but that wasn't in the Amiga version and I always assumed it was cut from that version, but I've never seen it in any other version. Was it ever present? To set your mind at ease you can't get soft-locked as you enter the subway. You _have_ to take the light bulb from the power plant to use the C4 to blow the panel open and activate the elevator out of the Industrial level, so it's guaranteed to be in your inventory from that point, and you can't re-insert the bulb due the socket being exploded.

[@petman515]

I have the game but never got around to playing it yet . One thing to keep in mind is that often guides are made from late but not final builds of the game so you do find weird changes or dropped quests and events.

[@wraithcadmus]

@@petman515 That was the other theory I had, because the guides appeared very soon after release (the next month's magazines).

[@Pixelmusement]

Yes, the courtroom scene is present in the version I'm playing; it does exist. I almost put a clip of it in the video but couldn't find a good spot for it. :P

[@miaowminx]

While I really enjoyed BASS when I first played it around 15 years ago, the same interface problems you mentioned undermined a lot of that when I replayed it a couple of years ago on my PS Vita using ScummVM. (I did still like the mix of humor and seriousness, though; amusement at unexpected weird bits is what kept me from giving up on it entirely that time.)

[@TheDutchGhost]

I get you regarding the tonal dissonance in the writing. I think what appeals to me the most is the setting itself and the secret of Linc itself which is pretty disturbing. I kind of had the same feeling with Beyond a Steel Sky as well. Edit: one explanation that fans of the game have suggested is that Linc has been mentally manipulating the population of Union City.

[@Spacemutiny]

I actually remember this game being very easy to get through it’s one of the least challenging adventure games I’ve ever played

[@UrsaFrank]

13:28 To be fair to this puzzle, the robot does say the button is jammed. Meaning the button is stuck and cant be pressed

[@Pixelmusement]

Right, but that could be because both buttons need to be pressed simultaneously; It's not clear that the problem is deeper than that. :P

[@UrsaFrank]

@@Pixelmusement Could it be a lost in translation problem? I'm British and to me a button being jammed means the button is stuck (up or down) due to a physical problem with the button itself. For example, if you bought a cheap game pad and when pressing a button it got caught under the plastic shell of the pad and isnt coming back up, I would understand that as being "jammed". I'm not sure if the phrase is used differently in America but that could be it

[@Pixelmusement]

@@UrsaFrank But how does a WRENCH fix that? Because that's what you use to "loosen" the button so you can press it in this game, when that doesn't make any sense at all! :P

[@OisEucalypt]

@@Pixelmusement I've uh... used a wrench to loosen buttons on jammed equipment when I didn't have pliers. More than once. Probable more than a dozen times in my career. I blame this game :D

[@OvermannOnline]

@@OisEucalypt Just a little percussive maintenance :)

[@NaoPb]

Ah, a classic. I'll be trying out the DOS version on one of my older machines. Last time I was looking for it, I couldn't find it. But I see things have changed.

[@notreallyme23]

I love this game with its quirks and all. I don't care about its modern sequel, though.

[@kertaspaper94]

Did a quick Google search of this, apparently this game got a sequel called "Beyond A Steel Sky"

[@Pixelmusement]

Yep! Already have a link to it in the video description! ;)

[@zirkoni42]

You should set sbmixer=false in DOSBox to fix the SFX volume issue.

[@Pixelmusement]

Tested that just now and am very surprised that worked! So... I tried checking to see what the game was doing to the SB mixer levels... it was dropping digitized effects down to a mere 12%! D:

[@Kriswixx]

SCUMM games were the best! There were a few popular ones like Monkey island, but there are these gems. Thanks for the upload. the dig,, full throttle, indian jones atlantis, and my fav Maniac mantion. This one takes me back. thanks! rock on. --wixx

[@Pixelmusement]

While this game was supported by ScummVM early in ScummVM's life, this game does not use SCUMM itself, rather an engine called the "V T System". Not entirely certain what other games use it... I think Teen Agent MIGHT be one of them, but I'm not certain.

[@StormkeeperPU]

@@Pixelmusement I believe that Broken Sword 1 & 2 likely used it, because they were also developed by Revolution Software!

[@wraithcadmus]

@@Pixelmusement Lure of the Temptress was the first Virtual Theatre game I believe.

[@joe--cool]

@@wraithcadmus Exactly. That's also where the code for the semi-intelligent character movement comes from. NPCs in that game went about their lives over multiple screens during their daily routine. And got stuck a lot more often that in later games.

[@nat2r]

Can it, Foster.

[@BBHood217]

I know it's for emphasis and they're not actually doing it, but I imagined that the characters were RANDOMLY shouting their WORDS for no REASON. The voice acting has brought that to an end though, what with hearing them just speaking normally.

[@OisEucalypt]

A classic. Had it on CD in the mid 90s but could not pass the first room as it would crash as soon as I took any action. It took until a decade later when I was able to run it, I think in a VM, and play through it. BE VIGILANT!

[@aaronmarko]

I know the puzzles in this game are...not great but to be fair, I don't think there are many point and click adventure games I've ever finished without a walkthrough. But I feel like the quality does hold up here even if it's probably not one I'd recommend to people new to the genre even if it is available for free on GOG.

[@fernandopenalva2680]

Zakk Mckracken and the alien Mindbenders please. 😝

[@rayceeya8659]

Dude! I wonder if the Blackwell games borrowed the name "Joey". They both involve switching back and forth between two characters. They're both in a similar style. Is Joey, the ghost in Blackwell, the Robot in this game? That would be pretty cool.

[@aaronbuffalo7769]

i am running through this again also, great game

[@Alianger]

couldve used more playtesting for sure. never tried the re-release though very british humour? it's a dystopian setting!

[@boscopit]

Fantastic game

[@gaetanramos7903]

Oi that's one of my favorite retro games! Have you played the 2011 reboot? Graphics are beautiful honestly but I find the scenario kinda cheesy, especially in the end. This one is really good tho.

[@LevitatingCups]

Discworld noir.

[@lilwyvern4]

The thing I NOTICED about this game through all your FOOTAGE was its curious TENDENCY to capitalize AT LEAST two random WORDS per SENTENCE. I can't really FATHOM why they DID that. Even the VOICE acting didn't seem to SYNC up with IT.

[@Pixelmusement]

They were trying to indicate where emphasis should be in the dialogue, but it's definitely overemphasized to a massive degree. :P

[@Eshaktaar]

It's doing a comic thing where the text in speech bubbles usually has CERTAIN words EMPHASIZED. The game's prologue comic does it as well (the paper version, that is) but with bold text instead.

[@DieWeltIstSchlecht]

May I respectfully ask not to enable age verifications on your reviews like you did on your last video? I wasn't able to watch it, so I looked up the LGR video to see what it was about. And I realised it's not Mortal Kombat 10 levels but very mild gore compared to many games from today. I think your reaction is overkill. But maybe I'm missing something, if that's the case I really would like to know. I definitely don't want your channel to get a strike or something! I enjoy your content too much and don't want your channel to get into trouble. The thing is, I don't want to send Google a copy of my id, and I don't want to give them my credit card information either. Maybe I'm oldschool, but I'm very cautious with my personal information on the net, and I think they have enough already.

[@Pixelmusement]

When I first started using KZbin the system was incredibly ambiguous as to how and when the usage of the age gate was required since there were no rating systems in place for content, so I erred on the side of caution, especially given how easy it is to have your channel wiped from existence. Nowadays, there's a whole rating system in place but it's strictly for determining if ad revenue can be applied or not and it's STILL ambiguous about when the age gate should be applied. I have been contacted multiple times by parents who have children who watch my show, as they appreciate that the age gate and content warnings are in place. The whole thing with giving KZbin an ID to view mature content is a recent requirement by the EU and is NOT limited just to KZbin but ANY online service serving mature content to EU citizens. For the moment, given that I'm only barely able to make ends meet, it's more important to me to keep my channel in full working condition than skirt the line of what's allowed or not.

[@DieWeltIstSchlecht]

@@Pixelmusement Thank you, that clears things up! I'll have to pass on those then, but since it's rare I can live with that! The last thing I want is your channel to close down! Your videos are always a highlight, so I had to ask! And I can't wait to see what you think of Steel Sky, we really enjoyed it long ago on the Amiga (with the very little English we spoke back then), though I haven't touched it since then. Maybe after this video I'm in the mood again :) And again, thank you for your explanation, I can absolutely get behind your reasoning!

[@lasskinn474]

did you do bloodnet already or is it too adult for the shows scope? somehow b a s s reminds me of it, although it's not like it at all

[@Pixelmusement]

I haven't covered that game nor do I know anything about it. In terms of an adult game, whether it shows up on the show at any point really does depend on what the focus of the game is. It's never been requested either so it's probably not going to show up anytime soon. :P

[@lasskinn474]

@@Pixelmusement it's a cyberpunk vampire adventure(point and click adventure game look) game with tactical combat set in near future nyc, complete with cyberspace jacking(you go into cyberspace like this), companions, rpg elements, rpg style gear setup and stuff. it's quite ambitious game for what it is but has couple of flaws. few people talk about it but it's not like it was a low profile game by some indie publisher, it's a microprose game.

[@fisk0]

I personally don't find the tone that inconsistent, if you've ever watched Mad Max, Hardware, Death Machine or a Paul Verhoeven movie, it's obvious that their mix of black comedy, graphic violence and political commentary is what the game is going for. It may not always nail it, but that's definitely the goal.

[@lasskinn474]

it's an easy game to get stuck in, but the atmosphere is fun.

[@tasospodcast8832]

A decent (and zainy) Adventure game, but not in par with the Sierra/Lucasarts masterpieces of the era.

[@kosemekars]

Virgin should have made more adventure games

[@poeterritory]

I could never get into this game. Sort of glad I didn't bother now.