LP Beach

What is this?

Chronomaster is a point 'n' click adventure game that was released in 1995 by DreamForge Intertainment. The plot was written by Roger Zelazny, an award-winning novelist of many works, which turned out to be his last project as he died before the game was completed.

In the world of Chronomaster, specialists have created a business in creating pocket universes for their own or other people's design. Someone has found a way to hack into these universes and putting them into temporal status. We take on the role of Rene Korda (Voiced by Ron Perlman), who was once a designer of these universes but has since retired. The retirement doesn't seem to last long as we are soon called up and hired to find out who is responsible for hacking into these universes.

This is a standard point 'n' click in most aspects, we also have a fancy ship with some neat functions. This is also another game from my youth that I remember fondly, even though I never completed it as I died a lot and ended up losing patience each time I tried to so.

Did I also mention that Brent Spiner plays a character in this game too?

LP details

This is going to be a VLP and I will be recording commentary as I record. The first videos commentary is a little sketchy as I'm suffering from a cold and its affecting my vocal cords, my time over the next couple of weeks is going to be severely limited and this was the only window that I had to start the LP.

As it stands right now, I'm aiming to upload one video a week. If you need to talk about anything not seen in the videos, please use the spoiler tags.

Let's Play: Chronomaster














Bonus Videos
(Additional Scenes & Dialogue - Urbs)
(Additional Scenes & Dialogue - Aurans)
(Additional Scenes & Dialogue - Fortuna)
(Additional Scenes & Dialogue - Cabal)
(Additional Scenes & Dialogue - Verdry)
(Additional Scenes & Dialogue - Dyce)

This video is the second part of Urbs. I've started to cut out traversing to various locations in this video as there Is no fast travel system once you're on the ground, some areas aren't so bad but there are a couple of times where we need to make a fairly long trek with nothing in between. There are different ways to approach some puzzles in this game, there are also some slight variances with the dialogue in some places which can range from helpful to generic. The more helpful ones can give you a hint into taking actions that cuts out some problem-solving time, in this case, they popped up during a practise run and not during any recording time.

There are also consequences for your dialogue choices in this game, but they're mostly someone reacting kindly to you, or negatively, or killing you. I'll start recording additional scenes and dialogue soon to show off the differences in speech and actions.

I forgot to update this thread with these screenshots. I thought that I would do it now before the next update which will be happening soon.

Encyclopedia Entries (Part 1) There are a lot of entries to go through in the PDA, I will start off with a big selection of the entries that I believe that we have seen already. I will post more with each update, either relevant to the update or additional ones that are added to give more lore to the game world.

Archives


Personal Log


Personnel File


Inventory (Urbs)


Ship Specifications

Welcome to Aurans, the place of a thousand and one quits. This is about the furthest that I got with the game originally as pretty much everything about this planet is absolute bullshit. Most of everything beyond this video is going to be new territory even for me. This recording went slightly more smoothly than I had anticipated, there's a couple of areas with cheap deaths that can trigger as there are no indications to danger zones. During the test playthrough, I was running in and out like a daredevil and nothing could touch me, during an attempted recording last night I was triggering everything in sight.

I will be recording additional footage soon, I'm still adjusting to my schedule getting back to normal at the moment. The screenshots that I'm going to include in this update will relate to what you see in the video, they mostly centre around religious holidays and celebrations. The first puzzle in this game is terrible as there aren't any hints unless you have read through the PDA and linked up some of the entries with some of the objects that you have picked up for it.

There were some audio drop-outs in the video that I posted, so I've re-recorded the episode. The previous links have been updated, the new link is here:

This video is the second and last part of Aurans. It's another romp of little to no hints through a maze, a couple of duels, a desert and a palace. I spent around half an hour making a map through the maze, only to discover that it wasn't necessary at all. There's going to be plenty for the bonus video of Aurans that will come at some point soon as there apparently different ways that we can tackle some of the puzzles, naturally I chose the easier pathways for this playthrough. This also includes Haring, which I visit at the end of this video and I discovered that a completely different scenario happens if we had visited at an earlier point in the game.

Rocket Baby Dolls wrote: Bonus Videos
(Additional Scenes & Dialogue - Urbs)

Here are the additional scenes and dialogue that I recorded for Urbs. Timestamps are included in the description.

Flattering Nizzim Rochtar, Bluffing Clia Trifit, Bluffing & Intimidating Statue, Bomb Countdown, Bypassing The Bomb, Insisting The Guard, Talking To The Guard Again, Using The Panel, Alternative Flag, Firing Squad, Alternative Tico Higgins Dialogue, Dusting For Prints, Saving The World and Alternative Council Dialogue.

Encyclopedia Entries - I thought that with this update I would include entries for the Mult-tool functions and for other technology in the Chronomaster universe. I've also included the report of Aurans underneath as well as the profiles of some of the people that we met.



Aurans Report



Character Profiles

Bonus Video: (Additional Scenes & Dialogue - Aurans)

Trying to solve the second Ketter Beast encounter was a nightmare, it took far too long and I eventually gave up. I managed to find the solution on a Dutch website at the eleventh hour of posting an update. Timestamps are in the video description:

Exploring Haring Before Aurans, Death On Haring, Bluffing, Threatening & Lies (To) The Djinn, Feeding The Wrong Fruit, Sinkholes & Rock Slides, Going For A Swim, The First Ketter Beast Encounter, A Terrible Way To Travel, Déjà vu, The Dark Web, This Drink Is Going Places, Fighting The Tough Guy, Advising The Cook, The Flute & The Spider, Another Unfriendly Spider, Talking To Dwistor A Second Time, Death To Dwistor, The Gift Of Water, Alternative Way To The Palace - Canteen, Alternative Way To The Palace - Whirlwind, Giving Money To The Vendors, Threatening The Man In The Bath, Electrocuting The Man In The Bath, Playing With Our Flute In The Bath, Stealing From The Treasury, Giving The Ruby To The Vendors, Entering The Guarded Corridor, Dealing With The Ketter Beast, Threatening The Woman In The Harem and Attacking Deter.

This is the first part of Fortuna. For the first time, it's a planet that is not in stasis we get a warm greeting and so far it seems to be fairly safe compared to the previous worlds that we visited.

Encyclopedia Entries - These entries all relate to Fortuna:

This is the second and final part of our adventure on Fortuna. This video features a lengthy conversation with a new and important character, this conversation drives the plot even further and changes a lot of things. I'm not going to spoil anything about this video. I'll work on additional scenes and dialogue over the next few days.

I think that I may have resolved the issues surrounding choppy videos. I wasn't having any issues during recording, the issues seem to arise during the encoding process. I've turned off some unnecessary settings and have set the encoding process to its normal settings instead of higher ones. As much as I want to upload high-quality videos, they may be slightly overkill for low-resolution adventure games.

I decided to install Kingdom O' Magic and play it for the first time as it seemed like an interesting prospect for a future LP... It's definitely a game of the '90s and I'm not sure whether to be wary of it or not.

Encyclopedia Entries - For this update, I've included a couple of miscellaneous entries, one relating to this update and a multi-tool function that I missed. I've kept this short as there is another journal entry and several new character entries.



Journal Entry


Characters

Bonus Video

(Additional Scenes & Dialogue - Fortuna)

Firstly, I'd like to point out that the last video shouldn't have ended up that way. We were supposed to win. The guide that I'm using didn't mention that you had to physically pass the particle decelerator to Milo, I only found this out from a Russian walkthrough which was very helpful in pointing out the use for several of the other items and gave me alternative ways to work around some puzzles. I will be starting the next video off with the correct sequence of events and we will go from there.

It was also very helpful in netting me 105,000 credits from two spins of the wheel and betting it all on the regatta tip.



Timestamps are included in the video description: Security Schmecurity, Changing The Odds, Departing From The Dealer, Declining The Beggar, The Dead Man's Hand, Folding, Cheating At Cards, Betting It All, Korda's Drinking Problem, Clearing The Dealer's Debts, Korda's Finest Performance, Breaking The Deal, Intimidating The Nervous Alien, Poking The Bomb, Paralysing The Nervous Alien & Arresting Milo (A Bad Ending).

As you're already aware, this video starts off with a correction from the last video. I didn't intend for it to be this short either, but this was due to the re-do and some further confusion further on into the game making the timings more awkward. I cut the recording of the last planet in the system as I didn't finish it and there was no natural position to cut the video during the footage that I recorded.

This video covers the initial exploration of three out of the four planets in the Cabal system. We meet some interesting characters and more potential ways to be killed by them and everything that surrounds them.

Encyclopedia Entries These entries relate to the Cabal system only. These also include journal entries and people we have met in this video.



Journal Entries



People

This is the second part of our trip to Cabal and to be honest and I've never been more thankful that there are guides. Cabal doesn't seem like a fun place to explore and try to make progress blindly, given the fact that we have limited magic makes this world seem like even more of a pain in the arse to get through. It will probably be more fun to explore this world again for the bonus footage.

Encyclopedia Entries - This update will focus on various different companies in the world of Chronomaster.



Journal Entries



People

Bonus Video (Additional Scenes & Dialogue - Cabal)

I spent a lot of time on this for only a handful of scenes, there are some scenes, refusing to contact Milo the second time didn't have any consequences and he left the same message as if you had contacted him. I had a feeling that as the game went on things wouldn't be as fleshed out as in the earlier parts of the game. Timestamps are in the video description:

Trigger warning, there is a scene involving Korda being hanged at 24 seconds in. Skip to the third scene if you want to avoid it.

Refusing The Witch, Hanged Man, Playing Cat & Mouse, Open Sesame, Lying To The Priest & Priestess, Refusing To Kneel, Stealing From The Altar, Only One Phoenix, Offering The Sprite Nothing, The Wrong Phrase, Agreeing With The King, Payment To The King, No Contact With Milo, Retreating From Avalon Greer, The Wrong Recipe.

Welcome to Verdry, a very strange looking planet with a lot of surreal characters. Some of the puzzles are very obtuse but the game seems to be slightly more helpful with Aurans with giving you clues. But still, there are a couple of strange puzzles to solve. Not to mention that most of this section of the game is taking up with a large and surreal maze which is an absolute pain in the arse to navigate through. The only guide that gives directions to navigate to various mazes throughout the maze is not accurate by quite a big margin. I recorded this video last night and spent an extra twenty minutes re-recording a couple of parts of navigating the maze as I got wildly lost. I've had bad luck with rushing out an update before playing back the recording before so I've held back on this update until now. The next part of Verdry will be a test of my patience and hopefully, it will be finished at some point over the weekend.

Encyclopedia Entries I believe that these are the last of the entries in the encyclopedia, there is only one remaining and I will save it until the end. These entries comprise of some random character entries, a business that I forgot in the last update, a random World and Roger Zelazny himself.



Journal Entry

Huzzah, finally this planet is now over and done with. It's not so bad once you know where to go, the problem is finding out where to go and it's a nightmare. It wouldn't be so bad if it was just a normal maze, but many of the routes transport you back to a previous room and from a different direction from what you left it. I've left footage of the directions to each room once, every room that I return too in this video I cut directly to entering the room that I was heading too. There is a direct route to the garden, but I cut that out as you can reach it via the Gemini\Picture rooms. This has been the worst part of the game by a country mile for me. Dyce is the final planet in this LP, let's hope that they can redeem themselves with this ending.

It's probably safe to say that I'm not expecting to have the bonus video up for Verdry within the next couple of days. I have a feeling that it's going to take me a couple of sessions to get it done, I'll probably start in a couple of days time.

Journal Entry



Character Entries

Bonus Video (Additional Scenes & Dialogue - Verdry)

Unfortunately, I didn't find a use for the empty medicine bottle or the travel guide to Jurgen. There does seem to be an alternative outcome or scenarios in the next world if you give Merriwind the dreamcatcher though, something which I will explore in the next bonus video. Timestamps are included in the video description.

Grabbing & Departing From Creeping Jenny, Shading Elder & Sage, Eating The Muffin, Visiting The Wrong Planetoid, No Contact With Milo (Part 1), Talking To The Strange Rotund Beast, Pleading & Demanding & Lying To Gemini, Agreeing With Merriwind, Talking To The Bees & Giving Them Pollen, Using The Mental First Aid Kit On The Gibberish Boy and Alternate Smallings Solutions.

I made more headway into Dyce than I originally thought that I would. My initial thoughts with this world are that it's taken some of the worse elements of the previous worlds and has sprinkled some of the better elements of them on top. The worse elements are that it's disjointed, hints are severely lacking and there's quite a vast difference of information in a variety of places. On the plus side, we meet a few colourful characters.

I've done a few LP's over the years and this is the first game that's I'm feeling ambivalent towards and it's not even over.

Journal Entries



Character Entries

This is the last video of the main LP, I won't spoil anything but you may already have an inkling of how some of it will turn out. I have some free time tomorrow so I will work on the additional Dyce material, depending on how I feel afterwards I may take a couple of extra steps to replay part of the game again to include a couple of extra additional scenes.

This game has been a little bittersweet to play through. There has been a lot of positives in this game. It's been an enjoyable trip down memory lane for the part that I did play in my youth and it feels good to finally complete it for the first time. Ron Perlman was excellent in the role of Korda, I enjoyed Brent Spiner as Milo but felt like he was under-used. The variety in the worlds with each having their own mechanic has been a nice touch, parts of the game felt well designed and thought out.

But some of the puzzles were needlessly difficult, there were plenty of stupid deaths, being punished for experimenting, the lack of hints in some areas was frustrating and don't even get me started on that fecking maze!

Thank you, everyone, for being a part of this LP. Despite the gripes, this has been enjoyable to play and I'm only saying this because of the three different guides that helped me through it. I'm going to try to get the last bonus video up tomorrow and when I do I will reveal the next LP that I will be starting at some point next week.

(Additional Scenes & Dialogue - Dyce)

This is the final video for this LP thread. I received a comment from someone called "cesium" on the eleventh video who said that Alachra and Avalon Greer re-appeared on Dyce if they hadn't have been previously arrested. That means that I didn't really need to go back and arrest him originally. It's very rare that I have a free afternoon and evening to myself, usually, it's about one or two times a month. Today is one of those days and I decided to replay the game from the original save on Fortuna before I decided to alter the timeline. I've tried to cover as many bases as possible but there are a few items that I didn't seem to find any use for, so I may have missed some things or there isn't any actual use for them. Timestamps are included in the video description:

Failing The Elevator Puzzle, Retreating & Bluffing Deter, The Wrong Control Configuration, Rejecting The Book Mobile, The Deadly Door, The Return Of Avalon Greer, Defeating Avalon Greer, Feeding Merrwind, Threatening & Bluffing Dwistor, The Third Ketter Beast Encounter, Alternative Bomb Choices, The Return Of Alachra, Meeting The Aliens, Refusing Selena, "Surrender" Alternative Ending, "Kill" Alternative Ending.

Next up will be, if all goes well, Grim Fandango - Remastered. It's been on the list for a while and It's something that I'm very much looking forward too.