Ross's Game Dungeon: SiN

Ross descends into a world of SiN.
You can buy SiN here if you're interested:
af.gog.com/game/sin_gold?as=1...
Link to SiN soundtrack files from Zak Belica (updated to include more 44khz original tracks!):
mega.nz/file/evICDDhJ#L6bWURW...
Link to FAKK2 soundtrack files from Zak Belica:
mega.nz/file/PrIXSQAK#8L_tyTE...
accursedfarms.com

[@Civvie11]

Heck yeah I am down for an hour-long Ross SiN video.

[@TheDeviant88]

I've wanted to hear Ross's perspective for so long. Now if only someone would cover John Saul's Blackstone Chronicles the video game... P.s, Love your videos too Civvie!

[@annekarice1587]

My 2 fave KZbinrs

[@mileator]

God man, I love it when you two hang out. For me, i go visit the penitentiary, then I teleport to the dungeon on the moon

[@Exigentable]

Civvie get back to work. IM CALLING KATIE

[@xsjado1air]

make... make a crossover episode!!!!!

[@wuba556]

I love the idea of a “brawny-80s style action dude” suddenly having to learn water treatment process engineering on the spot like UHHHHHHHHHHH

[@joeylawn36111]

In "Wages of SiN", Blade shows off his computer hacking skills.

[@predcon1]

Dolph Lundgren has a Masters degree in chemical engineering, can't be too far-fetched, right?

[@517342]

Would have been even better if the whole thing going wrong was the intended outcome and he finally uses his brawn to just smash the thing and it works.

[@SHDW-nf2ki]

Its one of the simpliest and best writing tricks What skills does your character NOT have and how can you force them to use them

[@joeylawn36111]

@@SHDW-nf2ki Like a certain theoretical physicist who must become a non-theoretical asskick-icist.... 😉

[@thecuza9716]

In the end, they truly did out-Valve Valve. They didn't even make Episode 2, let alone 3.

[@INFILTR8US]

I am one of the few people who really liked Emergence ha ha ha

[@Lucifronz]

Genuine shame too. It looked promising.

[@GruePoo]

I can't explain how complicated and difficult this game was to make in 97-98 in 18 months. We barely slept. Watching it back is blowing my mind. Understand that whatever you think about it, the 14 people working on it put their heart and soul into it. It's a time of game development that will likely never be seen again.

[@Isaacfess]

Wow, thanks for the insight!

[@CommanderShepard341]

We still technically have those kind of games, they're just mainly on the indie game scene

[@smashedatoms]

Thank you for the post and story. This sort of thing demands to be preserved and it’s rad as heck you came on to KZbin comments and gave this information. For me, I remember playing the demo at lan parties and all the anticipation we had for the retail launch which we played madly on release. SiN was a good time for us and I still remember it now and think of the game fondly. Thank you for making something rad!

[@bojanbebervovk]

Thank you for the timeless childhood memories.

[@guyincognito7188]

you say, while Ross has a segment in the video likening the development to the current industry standard practices :p I guess the difference is you chose the crunch, or it sounds that way from how you talk, whereas nowadays the crunch is chosen for you

[@rainer1224]

i love how ross now just assumes his audience gets attacked by dogs on a regular basis

[@beepmoo8771]

We don't?

[@RoninCatholic]

@@beepmoo8771 Some of us face more attacks from rats.

[@boneman-calciumenjoyer8290]

Why are you implying, that daily dog attacks aren't normal?

[@plapbandit]

@@boneman-calciumenjoyer8290 The daily dog attacks are ENTIRELY normal. Return to your homes.

[@boneman-calciumenjoyer8290]

@@plapbandit I would, but I'm currently in the process of being mauled by a pack of dogs.

[@Accursed_Farms]

An anonymous fan reached out and submitted more 44khz SiN tracks! The soundtrack link has been updated to include those.

[@AddictedToRock123]

can anyone help me please with the intro track? i've found everything i loved except the intro track. Much love for a helping hand. Which one is it?

[@Accursed_Farms]

@@AddictedToRock123 It's possible it's not there and only the 22khz copy from the game exists, this is a very patchwork salvation effort.

[@MadMaxBLD]

How is it that these fan-submitted tracks include stereo versions of the same tracks that you got from Zak, but were mono?

[@KairuHakubi]

@@MadMaxBLD I mean.. think about it. maybe there's a reason it was anonymous.

[@MadMaxBLD]

@@KairuHakubi Oohh. I like that. Conspiracy hat on!

[@DeadPollo]

Progress made by this game in Quake Engine: - driving vehicles - open spaces - wobbling boobs.

[@tgreaux5027]

I believe the technical term is "Jiggle Physics" lol

[@pentelegomenon1175]

my only correction is that wobbling boobs wasn't first and in all caps.

[@fishperson5390]

It's funny how jiggle physics it's used for loads of things like hair, cloth etc but everyone (me included) immediately think boobs

[@glitchedoom]

The Iron Maidens in Quake II had some jiggle. You know, if you're into that kinda thing.

[@TayTayMakesBeats]

@@tgreaux5027 There's a notable difference between jiggle and wobble.

[@AkosJaccik]

"Let's poison the water supply to turn tens of thousands of people into mutant slaves _...as a diversion._ " Y'know, I like this woman.

[@aegismagusangelteeth]

there's a reason why oppose rhymes w dispose amirite LOL

[@TrueUniduck]

Ross... I stop focusing on what you're saying for literally twenty seconds and then I look back and you're talking about the ninja turtles.

[@Accursed_Farms]

You knew the risks.

[@Firguy]

Not only did the Ninja Turtles jack him but Stockman had to keep working for Shredder and he eventually got mutated into a fly before he eventually ended up getting eaten by a giant spider.

[@valletas]

@@Accursed_Farms "But it was worth the rissssk i assure you" Samuel hayden doom 2016

[@burmecian123]

He had it worse in the 03 cartoon. Every time he failed shredder, they would literally remove parts of his body. Until he was eventually a head with little spider legs, and then a brain in a jar. Later it the show, he straight up just wanted to die. Shit was so crazy for a fox kids cartoon that I second guessed myself on if the was just some sort of fever dream and googled it to make sure.

[@Accursed_Farms]

@@burmecian123 That's legit horror, I may have to force myself to watch more TMNT.

[@francistheodorecatte]

there's only one answer to Ross' insane productivity this year: the mold has replaced his neurons with a web of a mycelium-like structure that's 250% more efficient and does not require sleep for consistent performance.

[@chaosvolt]

We are The Mycus.

[@rottenpoet6675]

And generate food for his body

[@jaybee7892]

Did Ross have another mold problem? Or are we still making jokes about the mold from years ago? Because either of those is fascinating in its own way 😂

[@hcolider2817]

@@chaosvolt didn't expect to see a reference to cataclysm in here. Too bad some of the people running the project have something seriously wrong with them, to the point that it's literally damaging the outcome of the project. Maybe it's just me, but maybe they should have realized that the older versions of cataclysm were popular because it was actually a game, rather than a simulationist experience?

[@chaosvolt]

@@hcolider2817 And didn't expect to see someone get the reference over here. Long story on that I know all too well. As far as that goes, there's always the Bright Nights fork at least.

[@Pan_Z]

"He didn't take out a restraining order against me, meaning I didn't try hard enough" -- Ross, Paragon of Perseverance, Scott

[@Zorpike]

52:06 His ex?! ...I can honestly see Ross accidentally dating a supervillainess without realizing it. He'd just assume the mutant experiments and sniper towers were her hobbies.

[@jcdenton2187]

I thought it was funny he specified "from the neck up"

[@timbackman5915]

Well, he DOES live in eastern Europe. 🤪

[@sorrenblitz805]

​@@timbackman5915 isn't he still married to Magda?

[@dontspikemydrink9382]

he is ​@@sorrenblitz805

[@OnafetsEnovap]

@@timbackman5915 Right in the heart of City 17. :)

[@voidmayonnaise]

“I’m being nice and stretching it for you.” - Ross

[@dansmith1661]

Where is the ring?

[@rongusta11]

Wide Putin?

[@EpicSauceWithChicken]

void mayo my DUDEEEEE

[@krodmandoon3479]

That's what she said!

[@duuqnd]

John Carmack would absolutely cause the singularity as a programming exercise.

[@MinscFromBaldursGate92]

John Carnack is the real Mr. Fantastic.

[@KingLich451]

@LabRat Knatz hahaha he has

[@noahfessenden6478]

@@KingLich451 A Carmack to surpass John Carmack!

[@ZigealFaust]

@@MinscFromBaldursGate92 I never thought of this and now I can't unthink it. Dude will post a tweet about how he uses aerodynamic equations to get a bullseye with his crossbow then in the next go into the dangers of using a quad-number system.

[@pegasusactua2985]

Resident of The Binding Between Space and Time That Holds Our Reality Together John Carmack, would totally do that.

[@IxodesPersulcatus]

*-They're HOLDING my DAUGHTER HOSTAGE!* -Where is she? *-EYE! DON'T! NO!*

[@KrinkelsNG]

Man I had it out for Elexis Sinclaire. 17 year old me wasn't ready for that.

[@Marcusianery]

A lot of us had it out for Elexis.

[@lucky_342]

Never thought I'd see Madness Combat again, let alone finding the original animator's channel commenting on Ross' latest video. Just want to say I appreciate your work since I was 9 or 10, and that I wish you all the best. Happy new year!

[@handlessuck589]

Don't forget that Krinkels once made a looping animation of a clown beating his dick over Jesus' head. Then he made a sequel to said video where said clown cannibalizes Jesus. *You will never live this down. Mr. Jolly >:D*

[@flaturiah]

Ed Parker (50:07) will be turning 10 this year :)

[@AmalekIsComing]

coomer

[@Deadener]

"Me and the composer are the only people on this planet who have the soundtrack to this game in their possession, because I personally wrote him after the game's launch and got it just before he was walked out the door. Anyway, here you go..." How the fuck are you so legendary?

[@k96man]

Persistence

[@Hectonkhyres]

You know the whole oncoming apocalypse mentioned at length? Ross sold the world to the dark powers. Search your feelings. You know this to be true.

[@OfficialDJSoru]

@@k96man And a lot of luck. Knowing mine, I'd usually just get ignored by whoever I send anything or even blocked.

[@Geezer-yf8hv]

Walked out the door? I know nothing of this game and creator, please give some details!

[@Doomroar]

The guy is just build different

[@wizardom]

8:10 Renaming the exe file into "quake2" for something to work is the most 90's game thing ever.

[@MadMaxBLD]

It works because Nvidia has a different game profile in its drivers for Quake 2 than for Sin. The Sin profile has no OpenGL extension limit and that breaks Sin completely; it won't launch at all. You can either force the Quake 2 profile (by renaming the file) or edit the Sin profile and add an extension limit.

[@coolen]

Same thing with Stubbs the Zombie, if it's broken just rename the exe to "CoD2SP" and it works just fine

[@bit_sean8001]

It's still the best way to get source ports to work on Steam tbh

[@seanbordenkircher7854]

@@coolen Stubbs is legendary, thank you for reminding me of it's existence.

[@Sideswipe-gr6kj]

Just had this happen to Soldier of Fortune. Had to rename the exe to mohaa.

[@pentelegomenon1175]

"He also said this level of control was only for episode 1, and episode 2 he was gonna have carte blanche with the music, and Blade was gonna talk a lot more." Call me crazy but I think Zak Belica and maybe some others at Ritual Entertainment were getting rolled. The idea of "saving up cool ideas for later episodes" only makes sense in the mind of a naive artist, an actual business person would only say that if they were making an empty promise.

[@weneedaladder8384]

I can believe an exec would want a "safe" first episode to see if there's still interest in the game and then letting the devs actually do the game properly if the fan base is there. It's an obviously flawed system, because you won't attract the audience you actually want, but most executives I've met have no idea what's actually going on and just have these insane ideas they latch onto because they can't trust people to just do the jobs they were hired for.

[@unimpartialobserver]

Belica sounds like a really cool guy, if he went to so much effort to get a fan a good copy of the soundtrack.

[@No0dz]

As an actual water resources engineer (though not currently working on water treatment), I really appreciate how the game didn’t dumb down the complexities of operating a non automated water treatment plant. I can only assume the bad guys disabled the SCADA system, you know, just to spite Blade

[@red_cosplay]

In the anime, JC is literally named John C. Armack.

[@Web720]

@EL AUTENTICO yes.

[@-Zakhiel-]

@EL AUTENTICO Did you watch the video? ^^'

[@dansmith1661]

@EL AUTENTICO Japan has anime adaptations for tons of games and not the shitty CGI ones that Hollyweird does. There are a dozen fighting games with several movies in the 90s and even Ninja Gaiden.

[@chillhour6155]

I still have the DVD, it's not bad

[@bobobsen]

@@dansmith1661 goddamnit japan

[@Wannabe_Baby]

The second the bad guy appeared, I knew we were in for a discussion about those jiggle physics.

[@od4361]

Having read this with a somewhat basic understanding of SiN's plot before watching the video was hilarious

[@MrMortull]

To be fair, it's pretty *good* jiggle physics. Apart from when she slapped her minion, looks to me like the sudden momentum shift confused her boobs.

[@gestaltengine6369]

How easy it could've been for Ross to put those boobs as the thumbnail

[@1r0zz]

Frankly, i think the code for those physics (probably "canned" animation tho) is half the game script...

[@od4361]

@@1r0zz Not surprising, Half Life did that too with the Assassins, you just don't get to see it because they always shoot you.

[@00110000]

No awards!? Fine. I'll do it myself. *_Audiophilia_* Great soundtrack that MAKES the atmosphere *_Engine of Destruction_* Quake 2 engine pushed to the max *_Moral Dilemma_* Most confusing civilian-casualty feedback

[@monk864]

Okay thank you, I was so confused thinking that I missed them.

[@lpj2216]

you miss "death by parking lot"

[@5even5eals]

6:25 The game was totally spot-on. At the rate we see more and more older franchises get revived nowadays, we're bound to see Barney Miller's reboot closer to 2037.

[@psychodrummer1567]

Does it mean that one of the cast is going to end up in a reboot of "Firefly"?

[@picahudsoniaunflocked5426]

starring Chris Pratt as "Fish"...

[@s3dchr]

"Revived"? You mean disrespectfully poked with a stick and turned into a disgusting zombie?

[@PoliPantev]

​​@@s3dchryes, preferably released in unfinished state, some shitty hdr filter and a battlepass

[@VincentTheBadGuy]

Where it's turned into a serious, stonefaced drama.

[@GoodVolition]

You shouldn't have angered the parking lot.

[@doomyboi]

It's the forgotten cousin of the Gazebo.

[@demilung]

This is how the world ends...

[@EthanBolli]

"It's the Suit's putting their hands in the soup thinking they're chefs." Ross so perfectly sums up modern game development

[@sorrenblitz805]

That's what happens when something becomes an industry. You lose everything about the thing that made it grow into an industry.

[@RootVegetabIe]

​@@sorrenblitz805You might have a point if the independant scene wasn't absolutely thriving.

[@Dennis-nc3vw]

It sounds too much like "The suits putting their hands on the suit"

[@suparockr]

Awards: Deadliest parking lot User Hostile Interface Out Valve'd Valve (in that it only made it to episode 1 before cancelling the sequels)

[@marscaleb]

Yeah where were the awards? The awards are my favorite piece!

[@miaouew]

Best 90s titties

[@johnathanegbert9277]

Not to mention the whole "22 valves" thing!

[@deltarno7502]

I like how Ross looks at old games, but I love how he will track down the people involved and contact them. It's gotta be nice to have fans contact them after so long.

[@phoebeaurum7113]

It's something AVGN never did although I can't imagine anyone from LJN would have picked up.

[@swat37]

@@phoebeaurum7113 Their nuts are so numb they can't don't even notice the phone vibrating under them.

[@arkle519]

​@@phoebeaurum7113back in '07, it might have been either much better, or actually much worse

[@NavnikBHSilver]

subliminal messaging by making a terrible level involving lots of valves: "you hate valves, you hate valves, play sin, not a game made by valve"

[@jp5394]

Instead making you side with Valve even more

[@thecuza9716]

Subliminal my ass. At 35:36 there's a sign on the wall that says "Do not play with Valve." The E is superscript just like in Valve's logo.

[@user-rm1jp6hf5h]

"I hate valve puzzles"

[@Saneek0215]

@@user-rm1jp6hf5h * proceed engaging with valve puzzle *

[@TheMaabusAdmiral]

Ah, a new game dungeon. Now things are starting to make sense. More later.

[@JamesTobiasStewart]

Always good to see you again Admiral, hope you had a Merry Christmas with your family.

[@TheMaabusAdmiral]

@@JamesTobiasStewart The Admiral is currently in Ft Myers, Florida enjoying some sunshine

[@JamesTobiasStewart]

@@TheMaabusAdmiral Enjoy it Admiral, I figure you've earned it.

[@Jeffyd133]

@@TheMaabusAdmiral obviously spending time with your family before the island blows up to start off 2021 right.

[@narclump6143]

Oh there you are.

[@markusweber3613]

Fun fact: "death by parking lot" also occurs in Cyberpunk 2077. Now I know where they got it from...

[@livingcorpse5664]

Today I learned Ross dated an evil corp lady.

[@TheHalogen131]

Somehow it doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

[@demizson576]

Elexis in SiN Episodes was modeled after a ... well, model, named Bianca Beauchamp. - But I seriously doubt Ross dated her.

[@immortaluglyfish2724]

Lucky bastard.

[@Conservative4]

From the neck up, anyway.

[@valkarion9]

I wish we had more games or movies where the protagonist is unironically called John Blade.

[@517342]

I remember that the Ubersoldier games had a German protagonist called Karl Stolz. As a German that name sounds exactly like a German version of the stereotypical power hero kind of name.

[@TheBUGjr]

ROSS! So many game dungeons! You're a machine, man. Way to finish 2020 strong 😎

[@orangypteco8858]

No Freeman's mind though, makes me sad u.u

[@orangypteco8858]

@Eduardo Lipshitz never thought about it that way, makes me feel a bit more happy. Still I get thaf many people love the game dungeons, I do too, but you gotta understand its kind of frustrating that FM gets 2 episodes every couple of months at best while GD get a consistent flow. Though I will concede that FMs take much longer to make.

[@Accursed_Farms]

@@orangypteco8858 It's coming, I swear.

[@yoshimario473]

@@Accursed_Farms Hey, just don't overwork yourself on Freeman's Mind, I can't speak for everyone but I enjoy all your content, and I began with freeman's mind. Been pretty nice having so much content, even if it is just game dungeon.

[@BlackMasterRoshi]

@@orangypteco8858 i kinda prefer the game dungeons at this point, even though i originally came for Freeman's mind. I wonder if there's any chance of a Cummander Keen or Kings Quest dungeon.

[@vahlok1426]

The tragedy of SiN Episodes is something that feels like a fan game maker's dream, to make the sequels that never were.

[@marscaleb]

I'm disappointed that you didn't mention how in that opening section, if you fail to kill all the dudes shooting rockets at you, the helicopter crashes and you start the first level from a different location. I mean dropping the billboard into the first level is cool, but this actually impacts the gameplay to a reasonable degree. Ross, you better mention this when you get to your follow-up video. Which at the current rate will coincide with the year SiN takes places, so, bonus.

[@michaelbuehler3897]

*"I can see my life is going to be easier if I murder everyone like I'm in a slasher film."* - Ross Scott

[@Uberpanik]

Spoken like a true Gamer!

[@niliq]

The funny part is you don't actually have to murder everyone in that level; you can get away with sneaking through most of it. I think you might have to kill the secretary and one guy in the locker room where you steal a uniform and access card, but that's it. BUT! The path you need to take to actually do that is not intuitive at all, and teenage me only figured it out because I looked up a walkthrough on the only recently created GameFaqs with a 56k modem.

[@olucaspc]

31:30 dude this is (almost) the EXACT map Half Life 1 has, Im tripping seeing the water dam, helicopter and water monster

[@zafelrede4884]

Yea it gave me a very eery feel of deja vu. Did they know half life was going to have that level?

[@breakkid144]

I don't know why but I am always floored with Ross's stories about he just casually contacts composers or programmers and aks " hey, can I have some of your music?" and they just say: "yes". maybe it is because I have a tendency to be a bit starstruck, but I would be too nervous to even think about doing that.

[@niliq]

So in that underground base with the infinitely spawning bad guys, they only actually start spawning infinitely if someone manages to set off the alarm; they stop coming if you disable the alarm from one of the computer consoles.

[@jf6785]

"JC is like a cartoon John Carmack" How has it taken me 20 years to put these things together?

[@Kenshiro3rd]

Wondering that myself...

[@Kris-ck2md]

I took a quick look at the comments before watching the video, and this made me think Ross had made a wisecrack about Carmack being alternate-reality JC Denton. The weird thing is that both seem equally possible.

[@MadMaxBLD]

Ritual modeled the JC character on John Carmack.

[@kettenfaust]

You mean like John R. (omero) Blade? Hm yeah, I wonder.

[@KingLich451]

@@kettenfaust oh snap

[@TheRogueWolf]

"'Chips-A-Whore'. I dunno, the packaging looks more like 'Whoreos' to me." Just a little throwaway joke that had me laughing out loud.

[@KaiserMattTygore927]

I was thinking of Whoredrox but Whoreos are pretty good too.

[@ShogunMongol]

10:24

[@LabMatt]

51:05 Man, you rarely see deaths like this in anime nowadays. That's nostalgic.

[@valettashepard909]

“Mind, blown!” While he explodes some guy’s head with a headshot. I love little touches like this.

[@013wolfwarrior]

You know a game is dead in the water when it announces itself as episodic

[@MadMaxBLD]

Well, Sin Episodes was the very first one to try it, so...

[@W4iteFlame]

But usually there are at least Episode Two...

[@Guymanbot97]

I still don't know why the episodic is still used in gaming.

[@KairuHakubi]

@@Guymanbot97 People are pretty demanding now about game length being worth the money, so it's a way to excuse yourself pre-emptively. like yeah this is short, but there's more coming! It's not an inherently bad idea at all, especially since so many games have issues with... wanting to make a longrunning series, but.. gaming is just not set up for that. old games become impossible to play, or unpleasant to play if you didn't play them when they came out because your sensibilities have changed. and they take so damn long to come out.

[@bilateralrope8643]

@@KairuHakubi The problem with episodic gaming is that so many attempts at it have failed to produce all the episodes. Usually because they run out of money, but sometimes there is no clear reason. Or the game takes a nosedive in quality in later episodes. So you get people deciding to wait until all the episodes are out before they touch them, which only makes it harder for the first episode to fund the second. How many companies managed to make the episodic format work ? Valve could have had it working. They definitely had the money to make episode 3, and it would have been profitable. But they didn't. Telltale had it working for a while. Until they fell apart.

[@n00bleaker19]

"Anyway, I realized SiN and Ninja Turtles have a lot in common." -Ross (2020)

[@Shushkin]

I have to admit, that is good warehouse music. You can feel the existential dread in it. Exactly like working in a warehouse.

[@ChucksSEADnDEAD]

"Don't forget to loot my corpse, BLADE!"

[@bacondingo]

'Make it look like an accident, BLADE'

[@robertnewman4854]

"April O'Neil was an accessory too"... Ross REALLY channeled Gordon on that one.

[@sorrenblitz805]

I mean she does drive around in a stolen vehicle that she helped steal that makes her an accessory to the Grand Theft Auto they committed if not fully culpable because like do our laws apply to four anthropomorphic turtles? Can they be arrested?

[@thacobell4700]

Baxter was probably little Thaco's first complex character in media. Down on his luck guy who gets taken advantage of, and victimized, by the one person willing to reach out to him, and THEN demonized by the heroes. Only to later become an actual monster. One of the classic tragedies of children's media. Seeing that at such an early age, his arc still sticks in my head to this day. Probably why I appreciate villains and "villains" like him to this day.

[@KairuHakubi]

It was really interesting finding out that this small-time guy was pretty important in the old comics (and the good tv series), was a successful and flat-out evil scientist, was april's boss, and was just randomly a black dude without any issue being made of it, because some people are just black. I'm not sure which is a better concept really: that a guy invented very impractical and silly pest-control robots and they got co-opted by a local crime lord who dresses like a hardware store threw up, or that a guy working in a real-ass lab decided to patent a desirable invention and then _use it to break into banks to make him some money on the side to fund more inventions._ Like they are both pretty neat. Either way, turning into a fly and turning into a cyborg are also both pretty neat.

[@thacobell4700]

@@KairuHakubi I'd love to see a movie or series with the full on goofiness of a saturday morning cartoon (crazy inventions, villains, etc.) but with actual writing behind it.

[@SheerSniper7]

It's a whole new level of irony that they tried to out-valve Valve, only to have their last title be made in the Source engine

[@DukeNukem2417]

The joys of multiverse theory, Ross: somewhere out there, there WAS a nine-episode SiN Emergence game released. Now all you have to do is figure out how to get to that universe/reality and you're set!

[@night1hal1]

"He's like a wild cartoon version of John Carmack. More on that later." One does not simply "more on that later" John Carmack.

[@TheDunko1]

"More on that later" is probably a reasonable RGD drinking game, like it doesn't happen SO often that you'll end up extremely sick, but it could keep one on their toes for a few of the episodes.

[@ZigealFaust]

@@TheDunko1 More on that later/we'll come back to that/I'll talk about that in a minute could be a very fun/dangerous drinking game to his reviews. I'm down.

[@BlueMageDaisen]

*Smashes open crate revealing a nest of a dozen or so murder rats* Blade: "Score!"

[@adenowirus]

"...to settle"

[@esper6119]

he knows what he likes,

[@shogun2215]

SiN couldn't have launched at a worse time honestly. No matter how good the game could have been, there was no way it would've competed with Half-Life. The fact it was a broken, poorly written mess just killed it dead all things considered.

[@R3GARnator]

Makes me want to see Ross do No One Lives Forever. That was all about doing stealth good while still over the top.

[@tavi9598]

Oh man, No One Lives Forever is a perfect candidate for the Game Dungeon. I hope Ross does it some day.

[@sonofhades57]

I lost it at "Whoreos." EDIT: I lost it again at "this was written before Cyberpunk 2077."

[@osiris4457]

"This game is for adolescents" Hey, I liked latex-clad ladies when the game was released and absolutely nothing changed since then.

[@MrFillzor]

A visionary

[@PredatoryQQmber]

Luckily, the men of culture are still hard at work in gaming even today: kzbin.info/www/bejne/foC5k4mfgsZlpKs :]

[@somebonehead]

@@PredatoryQQmber Anime DansGame

[@ils4844]

@@PredatoryQQmber She looks like Nemissa from Devil Summoner Soul Hackers lol. Both Aigis and DSSH were published by Atlus though so I kinda get it.

[@pentelegomenon1175]

@Skitalets no need, when you're a grownup you can buy as much candy as you want, any time you want.

[@lolrus5555]

Anyone else come back to this video after seeing the end of the Phantom Fury trailer? After seeing Ross lament how Blade was left to dry with SiN 2, it's nice to see that the SiN series and its main character might have a chance at a comeback.

[@AlastorL5]

6:23 I like how Blade's "damn!" line happened right after the Barney Miller line, it makes it sound like the skinhead really hurt his feelings

[@KayX291]

meanwhile in Wages of Sin, Blade says "The Return of Barney Miller!" on kill.

[@zulubunsen9067]

Fun fact about the weird capitalization of the movie title "eXistenZ": the lower case part in the middle, "isten" means god in Hungarian. One of the producers was Hungarian.

[@pentelegomenon1175]

So the Hungarian name of the movie is eX-godZ? lol

[@intrinia2832]

Sarah Connor: Listen John! We have to kill him or else he will go on to create enemy AI! * points gun at John Carmack*

[@magmos6346]

I could actually see him doing that. You know there's a much darker alternate timeline where he kills us all.

[@Irondrone4]

You assume that John Carmack can be killed?

[@kato1kalin]

@@magmos6346 so battle star galactica?

[@chocoman45]

Carmack would chokehold Sarah Connor into unconsciousness, dismantle the t-800 and then tuck John Connor into bed.

[@Wireball]

@@Irondrone4 I hear John Carmack doesn't even sleep on a bed.

[@Phe0niz]

I just wanna appreciate how Ross edits the resolution of these games for convenience of the viewer every time it's an issue on his end.

[@demilung]

"he took a lot of acid... It paid off"

[@whyjay9959]

Maybe 2030's television is so bad pretty much everyone watch the older stuff.

[@falguard]

Or maybe 2030's television is so creatively bankrupt, they just remake older stuff.

[@JohnBromin]

Nah I'm from 2035 and I can confirm that there was just a really popular remake series around 2028 that they were referencing

[@thacobell4700]

@@falguard What's the difference? :D

[@georgehannaford8014]

I mean it's 2020 and hollywood just keeps remaking stuff from 20 years ago already

[@fonesrphunny7242]

In 2030 all broadcasting services have been consolidated into one. Through lobbyists possession of old film material has been made illegal and raids were conducted to confiscate everything. Luckily VHS tapes were overlooked, because almost nobody remembered them. Now copies of these tapes are sold on a black market and all the posters with movie references are hints on how to get there. Law enforcement did get trained to spot this, but only with popular movies. That's why all the references come from ancient shows which are forgotten. So, you can either pay a steep price on the black market, or you pay a steep price for the privilege of watching terrible soaps that consist of 95% advertising.

[@jaydamalley3398]

_"You can buy SiN on GOG here..."_ Nope, already got it!

[@Kenshiro3rd]

Same... on both GOG & Steam... and a physical big boxed copy too!

[@niggacockball7995]

@Mr VT too low, im also buying it for the 10th time because my wallet still not empty

[@Ganguenge]

Nope, dont need it

[@eccentriastes6273]

31:26 "A dam impressive view..." Oh no, the Freeman persona is taking over.

[@adamsfusion]

11:30 This is due to the vertex animations being pre-computed and stored in the model data. Storing the needed floating point precision necessary to make the models not do that would have been prohibitively expensive, especially in the times of relatively limited memory. ID chose to round off those values to the lower integer. (Computer words are cheap in comparison) Nowadays we use skeletal animations which calculate those precisions in real time or at model load, avoiding the need to ship expensive amounts of data on the model itself and generating it when it's needed.

[@HansAlRachid]

"Police cars casually getting blown up." That is just about the best way to describe that scene I've ever heard.

[@UltimatePerfection]

6:40 That game literally predicted rebooting every single old show under the sun. Think about it - they still remember Barney Miller. Either the protagonist is into old stuff or it got rebooted somewhat recently, say, in 2030?

[@KairuHakubi]

oh god, that makes total sense fuck, the world needs the wisdom of barney miller today more than ever. they tackled the dirty ass-end of a lot of issues.

[@z-beeblebrox]

There will 100% be a gritty, serialized Netflix reboot of Barney Miller sometime between now and the 2030s

[@rickrollerdude]

This, fucking this!! (I only ventured down here to point this out If I didn't find someone else's comment first)

[@LevinQGame]

R.I.P Abe Vigoda.

[@Selvares]

as someone who works in a warehouse, the music at 27:00 is actually very fitting. captures the depressive vague feeling of having done very much wrong with your life.

[@Mindofklink]

Holy crap, I thought I was the only one who remembered that SiN Episodes was supposed to be 9 episodes split into 3 "seasons" at 3 eps a piece. SiN Episodes is also memorable to me for the Personal Challenge System, where the game would change certain conditions based on how well or poorly you played. Example, if you performed too many headshots, the game would start throwing enemies with helmets. Do too well and the ammo and heath pickups would reduce. It was a nice system and pre-dates the AI director in Left 4 Dead. I did read up that initially, every developer who used Source that contributed features would have those features rolled out to everyone. Example, Half Life 2 originally didn't have multiple materials on meshes that could produce different sounds. It's why cars in the game didn't have any windows and if they did, they would all make the metallic sound. Ritual with SiN Episodes, fixed that and it was rolled out and updated to Half Life 2 and other Source games. Makes me think their Personal Challenge System was modified by Turtle Rock for L4D. Funny you mentioned that you contacted Zak Belica. I did too but didn't get anything from him. I did manage to purchase (when it was available for a brief period of time) the official SiN Episodes soundtrack. If you'd like I can rip and upload the album for everyone to share, since I don't think it exists officially anymore. Great video, Ross! Love me some SiN and like you said, the potential for it with SiN Episodes stings hard.

[@bullhammer59]

I'd love to hear the intro music to the first game in CD quality, you have to rip it!

[@Kyntteri]

Talking about mature themes in this. You could find your way in a secret room in the mansion, where you could get to the secret security cam showing you Elexis Sinclaire herself, in a bath, rubbing one out and moan. It was also possible to noclip to the location.

[@KairuHakubi]

God those were the days. Imagine where we'd be without janet jackson ruining everything by wearing a stripper pasty and upsetting the football-watching normies.

[@macdeus2601]

I don't think anything about this game was mature.

[@-nobody.-.]

@@macdeus2601 Because everybody knows teens are the biggest jerkers.

[@powerbeard5653]

@@macdeus2601 we get it, you're a big grown adult who's too mature for polygonal women. wow.

[@Tuikkal]

And let's not forget that BDSM gear under her bed.

[@SkacikPL]

"Wobbly" models in SIN are not result of rounding off floating points for vertex positions like PS1 did. IDTech up til Doom3/Quake 4 used Vertex based animations (same as eg super mario on N64) which as opposed to skeletal based animation meant you head to manually move all involved vertices around to animate them. The major caveat was that in Quake 2 it was hard capped at 10 keyframes per second, giving it very little resolution to work with - hence visible artifacting. Quake 3 version of engine supported higher values for keyframing and thus animations were much more stable.

[@MadMaxBLD]

This. Quake 1 didn't have interpolation on its animations, so you could see the models being animated at a low framerate. There were no wobbly vertices, but when interpolation was added to Quake, it caused the wobbliness.

[@KairuHakubi]

fascinating. you never think about this stuff, it looks like someone just did some papercraft and now those pieces just have to move and maybe stretch at the joints, but there's actual math going on every second.

[@berthold64]

>manually moved individual vertices to animate that sounds painful

[@SkacikPL]

@LabRat Knatz I actually have a personal project which sort of capitalizes on this kind of aesthetic: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lXnYiqx8hNCsn9E

[@marscaleb]

I'm not buying it. If it was an issue with framerate then there would be no reason for the vertices to move apart form each other. if two vertices were a certain distance apart in both frames, why would they not be the same distance between each other when their positions were interpolated? But if the animation had a keyframe where those vertices were not the same distance apart from each other, it would wobble as it interpolates between those positions. The wobbling suggests a lack of precision in the data files that the renderer is compensating for. But this wouldn't be resolved with higher framerates. Now you are right in that it isn't the same problem that the PS1 had; the PS1 had model snapping because it could never render a vertex into a none-whole value. And Quake II is wobbling, not snapping.

[@SignumImperativ]

Ah, the late 90s, when games were obligated by law to have industrial soundtracks.

[@jamesbrooks9321]

dude sent you high quality audio tracks, talk about someone who loves what they do and wants it to be enjoyed by others this is the kind of humanity that AAA gaming just doesn't have

[@zalseon4746]

I think we can all agree that the 90's and early 00's did something to the brains of composers that MUST be studied.

[@pentelegomenon1175]

I'm more interested in what made their brains the way that they were before that.

[@varvarvarvarvarvar]

Sampler CDs

[@Androrac]

I can't believe ross didn't comment how you have to shoot down a helicopter on top of a dam, just like in half-life

[@XFGHL78E]

That dam even have a very similar design to the HL one, like with the tower and bridge. Except it is shorter.

[@adenowirus]

@@XFGHL78E Aren't both of them just based on the Hoover Dam?

[@IriomoteYamaneko]

Goldeneye and Ocarina of Time were huge influences on game dev in the late 90s to the point where there's advice in books from the time to just copy Zelda. There are definitely some things that smell like Goldeneye in this one, like the stealth segments, list of objectives, and NPCs you're supposed to spare. And it wouldn't surprise me if dams were on the brain industry-wide simply because it was the first level.

[@sintua]

Fun Fact: eXistenZ had those odd capitalizations because Cronenberg's insane, AND for a diagetic reason! The IPs of the world all had strange spellings and capitalizations as a way of establishing unique "branding" and copyright.

[@GruePoo]

Activision mandated that we released it before Half Life. No matter what. They decided it was ready when it wasn't. Borderline criminal.

[@justaguy8104]

Perhaps it’s a combination of nostalgia for this era of gaming and Ross’s way with reviews, but I’d say you all put together a fairly cool product in spite of Activision doing what all these damn corpos do (trying to crush everything good into a fine paste of gold). Would be awesome to see what fine tuning and additions you all had in mind.

[@MelvinDukowski]

This game both looks amazing and like shit at the same time

[@asgrahim9164]

Which makes it the perfect kind of game for the Game Dungeon.

[@saturn21207]

Schrodinger's Graphics The lighting is good enough to make up for the low texture and model quality. But you can't blame them for that, cause it's the 90's.

[@BlackburnBigdragon]

Not only is the writing for teens, the voice acting is SO damn 90's teen and tween aimed voice acting. It seems that almost every male voice has that "EXTREME!!!!" style of talking where it sounds like they're trying to hold in a large dump. If you watch ANY station break during any kid shows at the time, and watch almost any toy commercial at the time, I garuntee that the narrator will be talking in this same voice inflection. This game just PUMPS that 90's "EXTREME!!!!" thing at you at 1000 mph. Even the names like, John Blade, and Hardcorp. are absolutely 90's junk that sounds like it was written by an "EXTREME!!!" skateboarder.

[@TiroDvD]

Yes, nothing was exempt: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mWqogYuFq8hnl5Y

[@IsmailofeRegime]

Yeah playing this game I can absolutely see why Half-Life nearly obliterated it from the public eye. But nowadays the cheesy 90s... everything is kinda endearing and helps make up for the wonky gameplay.

[@Tony_Cardoza]

Or like gamesack calls it, "Tude"

[@b0gster]

I haven't played this game when it came out as I didn't have a powerful enough PC. I watched this video, played and finished the game, and then watched the video again, and I have to say, no nostalgia involved, this game is freaking awesome! I agree with everything you've said, and probably enjoyed the game even more than you. Secret tip: In Sinclair's mansion, if you get the hidden key and open the janitor's closet, you can find a security cam filming Elexis rubbing her boobs in the jacuzzi. It's not explicit, just goofy.

[@StabbeyTheClown]

Oh man, SiN. The helicopter and bank level was the demo, and I played that a bunch before getting the full version. - I think there was actually a training level or so where you could walk around Hardcorps HQ a little. It at least had a target range to practice shooting, and even a sniper target range. - In the Helicopter level, to minimize Hardcorps casualties, you need to destroy the entrance to the bank where all those rockets are coming from and blowing up cop cars. - If you or the helicopter takes too much damage from the rockets, you start the next level on the ground outside the bank and need to go in a side entrance, which is a much tougher fight. - In the Jungle level, there's a second optional branching path to the Geothermal plant, which you can blow up and it starts releasing lava everywhere, and you return back to the first jungle level and where there was water before, now it's all lava. It was really cool. The first time I played, I thought that is why the ATV bike level had lava and broken bridges. No, it turns out those bridges are broken even if you skipped the plant. SiN really was painful because there's so much heart, so much ambition, and so much potential which it ALMOST lived up to, but not quite.

[@MahDryBread]

I didn't know I was going to learn about Ninja Turtles today, but Game Dungeon episodes are full of surprises!

[@Pensive_Scarlet]

"April O'neil was an accessory, too." Smart commentary on sexism via crime terminology pun, as well! Nothing is more egalitarian than meaningful word play.

[@MinscFromBaldursGate92]

The 2003 TMNT series was pretty good.

[@dansmith1661]

21:50 holy sheit. I didn't realize how strong they were.

[@throwplate]

Why do you feel the need to leave such an empty comment on every game dungeon? Helpful or well written comments should be at the top, not your verified-checkmark's shameless plastering of his stupid metrosexual profile picture and username to draw attention to your stupid channel

[@patathatapon]

@@throwplate I feel like your complaint has more to do with the check mark than anything else. I can think of very few times a top comment has been either of those things, even on Ross's videos which tend to have a bit less of the usual herd mentality.

[@grip7777]

Man, games like these are kind of what I miss about old games. It's kind of surreal in a good way, like the messiah-episode, and it makes it unclear what to expect from the next level. Modern games usually have a concept and stick with it, and it's usually because people feel like it disrupts the flow of gameplay, while I feel like it's usually a (nice?) change of pace, except for the forced stealth-secions.

[@ils4844]

Yeah, we need more games that're "ambitious" and "different" like SiN and Messiah I think. However you'd describe it. Sorta just getting tired of the same games with serious plots and repeating gameplay styles I think.

[@FalkFlak]

True. Old games mixed a lot of game mechanisms together where modern gamer stick to their concept. That being said: nevertheless game design has massively improved since then and most old games had major issues.

[@Noobshire]

SiN came in an era when devs at least tried new things - Omikron: Nomad Soul, SiN, Half Life, Unreal, System Shock 2, etc, etc. Halcion days indeed.

[@Spikeelsucko]

thanks, now that you've spoken the True Name of the Abyssal Software, you've awoken David Cage and he now walks the earth sowing madness and pain once again.

[@heavenorhell2024]

Omikron..., that game was damn immersive for that time

[@mattonthemoon225]

I remember 90s reviews: "Sin is the Half Life n 1 competitor". haha such a great period. Unreal, SS2 ... even Turok 2 was superior to Sin LOL

[@IsmailofeRegime]

@@heavenorhell2024 Omikron seems like the sort of game Ross will eventually review. There's definitely enough to talk about between the weirdness, ambition, and wonky gameplay.

[@gcullen576]

I want Ross to play Limbo of the Lost. It's absolute insanity and I feel like Ross's style of screaming at crazy things and explaining why they're crazy would be a welcome addition to the Game Dungeon. Also to see how much Ross recognizes from other games since LotL is a frankenstein's monster stitched from other games

[@Ghashrael]

"we're going to outvalve Valve". I laughed alot, that was great Ross.

[@EngineerLume]

The cutscenes in this game have extreme Playstation 1 Spider-Man vibes.

[@yureinobbie68]

Huge thanks to you and Zak Belica for sharing these tunes. I hope his other employers didn't stifle his talent like that

[@CommanderShepard341]

When Final Fantasy 15 was near releasing, they delayed the game from September to November because they wanted to integrate the day one patch into the game without having players download it. Then when it came out in November finally, it had a day one patch anyway. You can't escape the curses of modern game development

[@KopperNeoman]

Day one patches aren't a curse of lazy modern game development, they're a curse of the logistical limitations if retail copies. They've existed since patches have existed: they used to come on floppies.

[@StygianEmperor]

oh my god. fucking suits were why he didn't talk in the source engine episode. i shoulda known

[@larynx46]

"It's that special blend of 'totally awesome' and 'stupid.'" Nice.

[@tommyrotts]

44:46 "Check it out! They one-shotted me in the back of the head here while I was admiring the fossilized alien skeleton" This is one of my favorite sentences

[@Notthross]

Thank you so much for this video! For YEARS I have tried to figure out what game my middle brother had let me play as a wee child so many years ago, and that first level brought it all back. As a slightly creepy story, as a young teenager, I had found a trimmed bamboo shoot on the side of the road and used it as a sword, as young boys often do. After a while, I noticed that it had SiN's logo etched onto it. I still knew of the game back then and its logo, but had no idea it was the game I was searching for. Looking back, it feels as though the Universe was trying to tell me. If only I had listened. I still have that shoot somewhere... Now I just need to find that one game I played back on DOS with a silver guy running down a wireframe path dodging obstacles...

[@Notthross]

Hey! Two years later and I found it! It's The Lawnmower Man! Never would have been able to guess that name . . .

[@TheTrueChuster]

If Civvie was alive, he would be proud of ye, son.

[@gestaltengine6369]

RIP in peace

[@ryanm.8720]

@@gestaltengine6369 Yes, rest in peace in peace.

[@johnivanoplimo5172]

Wait... so who the hell have I been watching for the past year?!

[@genuineculter5640]

@@johnivanoplimo5172 The timelines are crossing, don’t worry about it.

[@Ghashrael]

"This shot looks more than a little bit like my ex.... from the neck up anyway" Sick burn.

[@thepinkplushie]

I dunno, those proportions seem lethal

[@KingLich451]

@@thepinkplushie hahah

[@ShadowoftheMask]

Is that even a burn? "Ah yes, my ex had face of super model" Sounds more of humble brag? ;P

[@ElvenMans]

@@ShadowoftheMask She looks hella bossy tho, maybe that's what he meant 😄

[@drspazphd]

Hey Ross, long time subscriber and fan. I'm at my parents for the holidays and my mom heard your voice from the other room and said you sound like a character from the muppets.

[@conjunctionprawns3330]

Wait til she sees his face.

[@unimpartialobserver]

Did she say she was already afraid of Muppets?

[@cepheik2605]

That breakdown of the Turtlevan's origin was not something I knew we needed, but probably something we deserved