Hello again everyone!

Let us take a brief look at another batch of (instant) death scenes, which are quite common in the so-called 'cinematic platformer' games like "Prince of Persia", "Another World", "Flashback" or "Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee" to name a few well known ones.

[pictures 'gameover 12 & 5']
Conrad's main enemy, the morphs, are shape shifters--as seen in picture number 16 (FtB_16_L1_morph.jpg).
And they form their biggest threat either in greater numbers or even individually when they approach you in their semi-liquid slime form. Because any physical contact means instant death in a rather gruesome way!

[picture 'gameover 6']
Electrocution by charged floor panels is actually common in the predecessor "Flashback", too. In "Fade to Black" we first encountered this environmental hazard in the hidden passageway near the kitchen--compare picture number 19 (FtB_19_L1_jump_exclip.jpg).

[picture 'gameover 8']
'Spike' is a new enemy type that repeatedly appear from level 3 on. When this enemy is triggered by our presence, by our aiming or shooting at him, 'Spike' charges towards us like a running rugby or american football player. His hand-to-hand attack drains more than one third of our health (/shield energy), which result technically not in an instant death but at most at his third blow. oh, and if we are lucky to hide behind a certain door or obstacle which he can not circumvent, he continues to curse Conrad verbally.

[picture 'gameover 9']
This crawler creature that hangs down from one of the ceilings is the main obstacle of level 3, which is a mining facility on an asteroid. (We need to take advantage of a mining drill to get rid of the crawler, since he is immune to all of our weapons.)

See you for a final set of death scene animations and the resolve of Conrad's flight attempt!

Kind regards,
foxgog

[Edit:]
An error with the forum software caused my posts to disappear three times in a row. Sorry, for the subsequent double / triple posting. I am editing the contents for the following update(s).

Hello!

Here comes the third and mostly final batch of (instant) death scene animations in "Fade to Black".

[pictures 'gameover 10']
This one shows both the devastating effect of radiation overdosis, as well as the disintegration by a red energy column or pillar--an environmental hazard that can appear triggered by a (hidden floor panel) switch or encountered as a moving barrier within some hallways or jumping-puzzle rooms.

[picture 'gameover 11']
The 'golem' is a new enemy in level 5, an ancient temple ruin where we learn of the origin of the morphs and what they have done to another ancient civilization. Initially, the 'golem' is a non-movable statute like a stone guardian. Later on, they get 'activated' and start to follow you literally everywhere on the map of level 5. By shooting at the 'golem' a couple of times it falls for some seconds into a sleep state from which it awakes when Conrad is again in line of sight.
As far as I know, the 'golems' are indestructable. Individually, they are merely an annoyance. In groups however they become really dangerous, especially, since the game throws rays that temporarily stun or paralyze our hero!

[picture 'gameover 13']
Here we can see an automatic defence drone gone rogue on the rebels' space station. It is equipped with motion sensors and reacts immediately when our dear hero does the tiniest of movements (including the simple act of reloading his gun!). It fires a continuous burst of energy projectiles causing its target to disintegrate.
This threat is effectively introduced in the game with an accompanying death of a helpful rebel crew mate, who tries to warn us about the motion detection.

[picture 'gameover 14']
Gameover scene 14 depicts the stereotypical space tentacle creature in later levels onboard of a vessel of the morphs. It features one of the longer pre-rendered death cut scenes.

[picture 'gameover 15']
Near the game's end we actual get to pilot two small spacecrafts (unlike the shuttle in which we flee together with our strange helper John O'Connor from 'New-Alcatraz'), the first one can be seen here and is awfully similar to the submarine shuttle from the TV show "Sea Quest DSV".
While piloting any of the two crafts everything can destroy the tiny ship's hull, wall or object collisions, enemy crafts firing at us, weird creatures, flame bursts and electric discharges...


More details on the final part of level 1 and our hero's flight from 'New-Alcatraz' in my upcoming report.

Kind regards,
foxgog

Just the old "new page will take a while to show up" issue. So if your post should be the first on a new page and it doesn't show up, save it in the off chance it really was lost, but just go do something else for a while and check back later, should show up by then... In triplicate, in this case...

At least I'm not the only one still in '96 though :p
Three Challenge Isle scenarios down, fourth may take a restart though, likely running out of turns, and definitely will unless I rush in headfirst and lose units I can't afford to lose. But let's see.

Hello Cavalary!

Indeed, it correlated with the generation of a new page for my initial post attempt. Curiously, the new page was visible in the bottom list on the first page reload, but disappeared shortly after while browsing in another tab.

Anyway, thank you for the clarification and advise!

Usually, I do copy the text before posting or even write it in the notepad first, while waiting for the 10 minutes window to pass. And, I could still make use of the additional double post by editing new content into it.

Actually, I am returning once more to '96 to report on the course of my recently completed playthrough of "Fade to Black"--I have given up on finishing the challenges in "Wipeout 2097". In the meantime, I was playing a couple of other games from '97, '98 and '99, already. On some of those I intend to post somthing but definitely in less detail than on my 'current' game. ;-)

Kind regards,
foxgog

*nods* That's how it happens.

And I'm done! Made a save with 4 turns left on that battle and tried a few times to optimize movement and just manage to grab that last castle, albeit with loads of enemy units left all around, then started the last one, first started poorly, restarted and went all out, rather carelessly, since I didn't need to be able to continue, and it worked. Can finally list me with something completed! :D

That's impressive, congrats!

Wow! Never expected it's actually do-able! :D
Congratulations!

Challenge Isle, you mean? Frankly, I had more trouble with the fourth continent of the original campaign. Granted, with a few exceptions in the original campaign the goal was clearly fully wiping the enemy, while here I think I only did that in the first scenario, may be doable in the second with some luck, but past that I highly doubt it. But winning doesn't require wiping, so you have to decide what's good enough, and do your best to train your units on that. And be careful with research, changing as needed after each scenario. And then during the battles of course use every trick you learned in the original campaign because you'll need it.

Hello again fellow time travellers!

I know that I am quite late with my updates, but real life got in between...

Meanwhile, I sorted and organized a whole lot of screenshots for my pick of the year 1996, namely "Fade to Black".
Although I already moved on to other games from the subsequent years (and some of GOG.com's recent releases), I intend to continue posting more pictures from Conrad's fight against the morphs.

[pictures 26 & 27]
We meet the not so friendly chief of security in his office at the penitentiary facility 'New-Alcatraz' and collect the hangar code required for our attempt to flee from there. Of course, he tries to trick us and had even prepared a small ambush for us, but our hero expected it by now.

[picture 28]
Conrad is lucky enough to dodge a rocket shot at him by a morph in the corridor, before he successfully opens the hangar doors and reaches the 'escape' shuttle!

[pictures 29 & 30]
The Level 01 ending sequence showing that the morphs are not keen on letting Conrad and the stranger John O'Connor get away like this.
Just in time before our improvised 'escape' vessel gets pulverized someone/something called 'Shadow' teleports us both to safety! (Looking back after completion of the game, I am wondering why the resistance was not able to 'beam' us out earlier from within the facility, considering that our shuttle did not made a lot of distance, and the many times we get teleported around over huge distances later on in the game.)

Now, that our hero, Conrad, is finally free again he has nothing else to do but to join the resistance...

See you in a few moments again!

Kind regards,
foxgog

Hello again!

Let us see 'who' is this 'Shadow' who rescued Conrad and John on the last moment:

[pictures 31, 32 & 33]
Meet 'Mandragore' the last human resistance against the invasion of the morphs, formed 8 years ago and stationed on their hidden headquarter base called 'Shadow' orbiting a currently unknown planet.
Sarah Smith is the daughter of the founder of the resistance, and prompts us both with our first mission:
Rescue professor Bergstein - "he may be our only hope" (seems a little bit familiar...)

[picture 34]
In order to do so we have to split up (of course, this is game logic!) and search through two different areas of 'complex D321 on an asteroid.
Upon arrival we receive some more details about what to do when we find this professor.

[picture 35]
A random collection of new threats in this second level. The really nasty ones here are the mechanical spider bots, because getting to close to these means instant death. (Compare death scene animation in 'gameover4_spider.jpg' in my former posts.)

Next, we seek out this professor!

Kind regards,
foxgog

Hello once more!

Ready to find professor Bergstein?

[picture 36]
Why splitting up the team, if we (Conrad) still have to do the job of the other one (John O'Connor) before being able to start work on our task? Well, after having shut down the generator, we are being told the obvious:
Professor Bergstein is "very likely in the Research Lab" of Complex D321--who would not have guessed this, I mean, he is a scientist, afterall!

[picture 37]
Luckily, the old professor Bergstein does not require any proof of us that we are actually with the resistance 'Mandragore'.

[pictures 38 & 39]
Do you remember, what I mentioned earlier about the game being quite innovative for its time?
Unfortunately, not all innovation is for the better! And here we see the typical reason why "escort missions" in video games are such an annoyance:
The professor is not only old, but also uses a crane for supporting each of his footsteps--it takes an eternity for him to cross a single room, which our hero passes through with only three wide walking or running steps!
And, to top it all, he asks us to "slow down" whenever we are two steps ahead / away from him. Oh, did I forget, he stopps and keeps standing in position each time he complains to us! That is why we have not only to slow down, but actually return to pick him up again every single time.
The only positives are: the 'escort mission' comes quite early on and does not get reused in the game!

[picture 40]
After inserting the computer virus (which the professor was able to develop back in his cell) into the machine room (with the generator), we have to return to the same teleporter plattform to where we brought professor Bergstein some moments ago, but this time on a time limit.

In this level 02 our poor Conrad literally had to run in circles, and multiple times, crossing the same rooms and corrodors over and over again. The new scenery objects and textures aside, the design of the second level's architecture was severely lacking. (The quality dropped rappidly after the multi-floored first level!)

Of course, we leave a trace of destruction on our way out.

Upcoming, some impressions of the third level, which introduces a couple of gameplay elements that will return later on in the game.

Kind regards,
foxgog

Hello another time!

Welcome back on Conrad's journey to save mankind from the threat of the morphs.

[picture 41]
As soon as he arrives in level 03, we recognize the environment as a mine shaft! Well done, level designer--it's not very innovative, but serviceable. And, yes, the first couple of levels are heavily front loaded with information dumps in form of radio messages. (Should our hero not receive his mission briefings before he arrives on site?)
Well, for the readers concern, Conrad is now in a mining facility on Mars in order to retrieve the coordinates of an orbital station where the morphs keep their 'secret weapon'.

[pictures 42 & 43]
Level 03 introduces a mono rail cart that is our key to bypass the majority of this level's otherwise locked doors, and rooms filled with radiation (slowly depleting our hero's health / shield energy, luckily there is no total radiation dose considered--recharging our personal shield is sufficient to get rid of the radiation damage) which gets more common on the alien structure levels later on.
Furthermore, you can see the main obstacle of this level--the crawler hanging down from the roof--and how to get rid of it by powering up a motorized tunnel digging equipment!

[picture 44]
Sarah is happy to locate the orbital station of the morphs near Venus by means of the found documents on Mars, and sends Conrad there to investigate. She explicitly asks him to "keep radio silence", which is kind of amusing for Conrad (the player) is not capable to do any radio calls, at all. He is only receiving pre-recorded voice messages of the others!

[picture 45]
Again they ('Shadow' / the resistance) is teleporting poor Conrad far and wide through our solar system! Beginning of Level 04
At this point, I hope the player has made good use of the temporary quick save system, because our hero gets attacked from angles immediately upon his arrival--a pattern especially for the late game. And if he is very unlucky, the nearby morph turns into the slime form and is homing in on Conrad's position. (Beware, getting touched this way equals instant and totally unavoidable death, since we can not aim downwards nor harm the approaching blob with any of our equipment!)
The low level geometry aside, the developers did a good job in presenting the morph's vessels and stations as different and alien as possible. Almost every wall texture is animated either with a wobbling or movement pattern giving the impression of an organic fluid or living structure. And even some scenery objects such as these 'things' on the ground are animated! (Fans of the original "Flashback" can also recognize the familar color scheme and bubble theme in the morph's levels.)

In our final update for 'today', we see the conclusion of level 04 and meet some new friends!

Kind regards,
foxgog

Hello time travellers!

One more report for 'today':

[picture 46]
Without a choice, Conrad is all by himself on the morph's orbital station around Venus in order to find out as much as possible about their 'secret weapon'. Nice, even general objects to interact with, such as containers and terminals or switches, have a different appearance. (Nowadays, the containers here remind me of those in "Elderscrolls IV: Oblivion", the fleshly ones when the player entered one of the oblivion gates.)
The major thing of interest in this level however, is the 'Field Scanner', which reveals otherwise invisible pressure sensitive floor panels! The seemingly empty bridge is the first room where its usage is necessary, since the active floor panel switches are moving along the bridge's surface and therefore, can not be memorized by simple trial and error!
(At times the game is really effective in introducing a new gameplay element in a kind of 'disguised tutorial' manner, before expecting the player to be familiarized with the respective mechanic.)

[picture 47]
When finally able to cross the aforementioned bridge, Conrad is rewarded not only with another panoramic view but also with a new friend--a floating head who represents an ancient race called the 'Ageer'. 'Ageer' speaks of himself collectively as his people the 'Ageer', and wants to join the resistance against the morphs.

[picture 48]
'Ageer' sends us to Pluto, the home world of the ancient 'Ageer'. So, Conrad continues his sightseeing tour in our solar system, this time in a small whale- or shark-like spaceship!

[picture 49 & 50]
Conrad leaves the huge orbital station of the morphs and is heading to Pluto (no pun intended;-)) to find the 'Oracle'. This marks the end of level 04.
(Maybe, you have guessed it by now, the names, titles and descriptions within the game are not too creative.)
Small comment: we are going to see this huge 'orbital station' again, soon. And it is impressive how Conrad is able to travel really long distances in such a tiny spacecraft!

What actually is the 'Oracle', and how will it help us against the morphs are among the things that we can learn in my subsequent reports!
Ok, see you on another day again, for more impressions from "Fade to Black".

Kind regards,
foxgog

Hello time travellers!

This time thanks to 'Ageer' our hero Conrad is meeting the 'Oracle' which is supposed to give us something powerful against the morphs.

[picture 51]
Introduction video for Level 5, we are lending on a strange planetoid where we discover the temple of the 'Oracle'.
From these point of views our tiny spacecraft looks even more like a shark, complete with its painted jaw!

[picture 52]
Here is a random collection of main tasks in level 5. Soon Conrad will find out what it is about the 'lifeless' stone golem(s).
And there are three 'bigger' puzzles to solve:
- Where are all the colored gems and what are they for?
- What is the right combination in order to open the door on the right? (Any wrong attempt is an instant death--see the floor panel frame?!)
- What is the correct path to be received by the 'Oracle', and what does it want from Conrad?

[picture 53]
Luckily, there are a lot of hints to be found thorughout this level. Some of them are rather explicit.

[pictures 54 & 55]
Following the correct path, and the 'Oracle' asks for an offering. Upon returning to the inner chambers of the temple, our new friend 'Ageer' reveals what we could offer. (By the way, 'Ageer' floats over the solution for the aforementioned path to meet the 'Oracle'.)
The corresponding birds can be found upstairs. But we need to use a cumbersome game mechanic to trap and capture a bird. Simply shooting it will just kill it--unfortunately, 'Ageer' did not mentioned it must be alive to be acceptable... a lot of looping around in this level, again. (Do you remember hint #3 on the former picture? The walls in the bird room illustrate the evolution of the morphs. Another solution to a puzzle not included in picture 52.)
Finally, the 'Oracle' is revealing to Conrad the purpose of the colored gems and in which order they need to be used in order to "invoke the powers of the Pyramid"!

In a few minutes we will solve the remaining temple puzzles and find this 'Pyramid'!

Kind regards,
foxgog

Hello again!

Let us continue with Conrad's search for the 'Pyramid'.

[pictures 56 & 57]
Throughout the entire temple complex we have to avoid multiple golems, since we entered the sanctuary and therefore re-animated the golems. (Compare instant death scene #11: gameover11_golem.jpg)
Hint #4 mentions something that a dying golem leaves behind, which in turn becomes a gift for someone else. But how to kill a stone golem--Conrad's gun and all currently available ammunition types are ineffective! Well, we can lure the golem in one of the existing traps and set it off, intentionally.
The 'golem eye' then serves as a gift for the strange 'woman from the lake' (Upps..., that was from a different story. But the inspiration is obvious!).
Interestingly, the water in the basin is actually not animated in realtime, rather the tiny wall texture of its interior is animated ingame to give the illusion of a water distortion--clever.
The reward is the door code to the 'Pyramid'.

[picture 58]
After having collected all colored gems and placing them in the right order on the pedestals, the huge 'Pyramid' appears.

[pictures 59 & 60]
Then a long pre-rendered cut scene tells us the history of the ancient 'Ageer' and their encounter with the morphs.
So, the 'Ageer' originally were from Pluto, welcomed the morphs as guests, but were deceived and conquered by the morphs!
Thus, the 'Ageer' forsake their physical body and gathered all their knowledge in the 'Pyramid'. Which was captured by the morphs.
However, our hero Conrad unknowingly assisted in releasing it from the morphs clutches, when he defeated their master brain on the morphs' home planet (see the events of "Flashback", the prequel).
And the 'Ageer' hid the 'Pyramid' from the morphs in the temple of the 'Oracle'.

Now, with the ultimate power against the morphs in our hero's hand...
wait, does the game only have five levels?!
No, that would be too short, it has 13 levels. That is why the game immediately demonstrates to the player that we should not feel save!
Guess who appears in this very moment?

Kind regards,
foxgog