Old Grandma Hardcore

This blog is the chronicle of my experiences with Grandma, the video-game playing queen of her age-bracket and weight class. She will beat any PS2, XBox, GameCube, etc., console game put in front of her, just like she always has. These are her stories. She is absolutely real. She lives in Cleveland.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Grandma's Game Hunting: The Indigo Prophecy

In last night's Ask Grandma Hardcore; Ross asked the old lady the following question:

How would you feel about The Indigo Prophecy? I've just started it and I'm loving it. But the whole "track and field" thing might not be too good for the old RSI.

So, I followed the link and showed Grandma the site. The Indigo Prophecy (aka Fahrenheit, depending on where you are) has a decent fla
sh site with a trailer, some character bios, a storyline, etc.,.. Grandma noticed the graphics look somewhat like a cross between "the first Silent Hill and GTA III." The story seemed strange enough to grab her attention, and it had a couple decent reviews from a few of Grandma's favorite sources.

She loaded up the screenshot menu and found this: (click to make BIG)


Grandma exclaimed her confusion in no blunt terms. "He's depressed?? He has a depression meter? ...The fuck is that? Do you go around finding boxes of Paxil to cheer him up? .....Weird...."

So I don't know if this is going to happen. Ross, if you care to provide an explanation for the character's melancholy trip to the local shake stop, sans savvy Manhattan date, it would surely enlighten us. He doesn't have a ragged cut out Craigslist apartment directory for Queens, he isn't smoking any strange substances and he isn't killing any locals with a bat; which makes Grandma think he isn't an NYU student with a heavy paper due Friday and he isn't Michael Bloomberg.

She's intrigued.

Grandma will do some more game hunting this week for her next victim. We'll keep you posted on what we find.

--Updates on the way!--

16 Comments:

  • At 3:19 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    actually, the in game screen shot you see is afer the game has already started. That meter is actually a Stress meter. He went to the diner that night for unknown reasons, i'm assuming just cause he was up and hungry. Later though he wakes up and finds that he just killed someone, and carved runes into his forearm. Thats when his Stress meter drops like a rock. That's a screenshot from afterwards when youre trying to act all natural and not get aught.

    He's just had a bad night.

    From what i gather from the demo and the sotry, the Stress meter will hlp determine how your character responds in dialogue, and the like. When you speak, i believe your voice wont be as shaky when you got a decent stress rating and your less likely to be caught, or have someone notice that something is wrong.

    But yeah, i'm VERY excited about this game.

     
  • At 3:29 PM, Blogger CtrlAltDelete said…

    From what i gather from the demo and the sotry, the Stress meter will hlp determine how your character responds in dialogue, and the like. When you speak, i believe your voice wont be as shaky when you got a decent stress rating and your less likely to be caught, or have someone notice that something is wrong.

    Now that is cool! Thanks Stephen! This reminds me a lot of the time I was trying to play it straight after ritualistically murdering a stranger in a bathroom under a strange trance... But that was awhile ago- things change.

    I trust you though, man- we may check this thing out after all. The trailers did look good; and it sounds like it has a sound story. Now Grandma has an interesting gameplay trifecta.

     
  • At 4:33 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Don't forget the Katamari Damacy sequel is coming out tomorrow! It's called We Love Katamari.

     
  • At 6:05 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    This game is awesome. Played the demo back in July, and pre-ordered the game the same day. Its got a nice dark polish to it. Grandma should love it, since its shouldnt be too hard on the hands either.

    note: Im gettignthe pc version, for i covet my pc > ps2 and gc

     
  • At 6:34 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    yup, got mine paid for and ready to pick up at the local game store.

    I am seriously hoping this kicks a little life into the old skool Adventure genre... I miss my Adventure games. :(

     
  • At 6:45 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    oh yes, and i apologize for my horrendous typing habits... at least i don't use leet =P

     
  • At 9:42 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    If Grandma is in the market for a new game, I'd like to recommend Burnout 3: Takedown for PS2, if she hasn't experienced the car-crashing fun already. It has two main modes: race mode, in which you win mainly by knocking your opponents off the road, and crash mode, where you gain points by causing the biggest wreck you can. It had me cackling with delight on many occasions. There's also a new version out, Burnout: Revenge, but I haven't gotten to try it yet so I don't know if it's as good as Takedown.

     
  • At 10:52 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Finally replying!
    "Don't kill the lamb! Not until Halloween! [laughs]"
    I'll try to hold myself back, just because Grandma asked. ;)
    "I love bees! That was that Bungie thing, right? Ummm, then I think so. Explain what you mean by alternate reality."
    Yeah, ILB was the ARG advertising Halo 2. :) Explaining can be a bit tough, at least for a cramped comment-space. You might be better off checking places like ARGN and Unfiction out if you're interested. I'd definitely love to play an ARG with Grandma!
    (Psst, if you do decide to play, there's a new grassroots one starting up called Falling in Time that looks very promising)

     
  • At 11:44 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    ok, just found out that you might want to try and get a copy of this game from the UK.

    Apparently the ESRB threatened the designers with an AO rating if they didnt censor the game. so, since having an AO rating means that practically no store will carry the game, they changed it.

    I'm looking for a UK retailer now that's carrying it.

    If you do decide to go for the UK version, it's called "Fahrenheit" instead of "Indigo Prophecy"

     
  • At 12:30 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    ok, i found the easiest site to get it from is www.gogamer.com

    just search for Fahrenheit and it shows up as "Fahrenheit (IMPORT)"

     
  • At 3:26 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    For me, Fahrenheit is one of the most immerse games I've played since Thief. Because you're hammering the left and right keys, track-and-field style, for the "action" parts, you're adrenalin shoots up. Even when you aren't doing that, it's very tense: the other night I found myself running around my apartment screaming "where are my fucking keys?" while a progress bar crept towards zero, representing the patience of a policeman who wanted to get into my apartment.

    This was in the game, naturally.

     
  • At 7:29 AM, Blogger CtrlAltDelete said…

    ko-
    Grandma's checking out the sites now. I remember her getting into the "I Love Bees" Halo promotional, so she's discovering a whole new deal now- Thanks!


    Alright, so if we're going after this thing, you guys are all telling us the import would be better; and there is nothing I hate more than a censored version of anything. It would be like watching a David Mamet movie on TNT, it's just not the same. Grandma's worried about the regional codes on the UK imports and also to see how the PS2 or XBox versions differ.

    She's not too worried about the "track and field" type button mashing, similar styles of input have been on some of her favorite games, (Resident Evil 4 was the one she mentioned specifically, although it looks like Fahrenheit would be much more mashing intensive to 'build' a stat.)

    This week she's hunting all kinds of games this week; she doesn't want to be stuck until King Kong, Prince of Persia 3, Suffering: Ties That Bind, etc.,.. are available for her destruction pallette. A few that she wants to try are out now; but we'll publish the decision making process for everybody so you can see how she works :)

     
  • At 8:49 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    This game looks really fuckin weird. sort of a cross between bladerunner and sims. Ive got a better suggestion more worth grandmas time. Check out BURNOUT REVENGE! Get someone loose and put em into the FUCKING WALL! talk about road rage you are actually rewarded for crashes. And its for xbox so she can play it on live.

    BURNOUT REVENGE is addictive.... like crack.


    - Toxicsh0ck

     
  • At 9:54 AM, Blogger Collin said…

    I'm not fond of the fact that Indigo Prophecy was censored, but I'm also not willing to deal with importing so I'll be giving the US version a shot. I played the demo as well and it was very cool. I think you'll like it if you try it.

    Also, Burnout 3 is great. Darthsnugglebunny didn't mention my girlfriend's favorite mode of the game, Road Rage. In the single player version of Road Rage you are trying to take down as many opponents' cars as you can by running them into walls, other traffic or spinning them out. Pretty much any way possible. In multi-player split screen you are competing to be the first to take down 10 opponents or be the last to have your own car damage out. It's massive fun. Also, the only other cars you can hit without crashing are your opponents. I've had this game since release day and I've never considered trading it in. And now that the next one is out you should be able to get '3' cheap.

    Which leads to Burnout: Revenge. It's possibly a wee bit better than '3'. It's definitely different. The tracks are far more interesting and creative. You have the ability to blow up your car after you've crashed in order to try to take out your opponents. And you can now send traffic smaller than a semi or bus that is traveling in your direction flying. If you're going to be out shopping for games there's a good chance it will be on display. Give it a try.

     
  • At 1:23 AM, Anonymous World Of Warcraft Gold said…

    This version is slightly distinctive even so, offered the distinctive alignment of the cube WOW Gold. As such, there is certainly both a front and also a back section which ought to each and every be appropriately aligned with the two other vertical and side sections that connect to it. This gives the Sudoku Cube numerous diverse approaches to play Runescape Gold, from just focusing on one section, to attempting to finish each sides with the whole cube.

     
  • At 1:52 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    By things i obtain from your demonstration Diablo 3 Itemsand the sotry, the worries multi meter will probably hlp figure out how your own figure reacts inside conversation, etc. When you converse, i really believe your speech wont be seeing that unsure after you bought a reliable tension standing and also your less likely for being grabbed, or even have someoneBillig WoW Gold recognize that something is drastically wrong.

     

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