Countdown 2: The Soul

The Good
First review of the year and I managed to speak about an indie game, an adventure one, a free one and last but not least a text parser one. A weird start for a FPS fan girl. Well, let's begin 2009 with the next installment in the Chzo Mythos and with the next countdown. If you've noted that I'm trying to stay logical and I'm taking on me when I want to review MoH: Pacific Assault or anything else I've played, you're a champion.

Anyway back to the game... to the book... well, to the interactive story where you have to type a command. I'll begin with the beginning.

In order to satisfy players until the release of the last game in the Chzo Mythos, Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw did three games introducing this awaited sequel known as 6 Days A Sacrifice. And well, he just wrote interactive adventure stories... You know, the kind of game where you have to type the command after reading. No graphics, no soundtrack, just a text parser, a story and the download of a reader software like WinFrotz.

If this introduction seems familiar to you, that's probably because you've read my review about The Body, the first countdown to be released and relating the making of a minor item of 6DAS, the Frehorn's Blade. Anyway, this is the second installment concerning The Soul and then, without surprise, it will be the The Mind. Why without surprise? If you're familiar with the Chzo Mythos, you already know that for making the famous bridge for bringing a pain elemental called Chzo, a guide (in this case, Trilby from 5 Days a Stranger and from Trilby's Notes) has to destroy the Body, the Soul and the Mind of the Bridgekeeper (John DeFoe, a murderous spirit, the one behind all the murders of 5DAS and 7 Days A Skeptic).

So, now, we're leaving the 18th century for the 22th, in 2189, precisely the year when 6DAS occurs. You're Delia Reneaux. You were depressed and you turned your mind to a new religion, called Optimology. But you've been introduced in a sect, founded by Jack Frehorn in the 18th century, called the Order of Blessed Agonies with the pain as a central element. Purification can only happen through the pain for the cultists. And you, you believed in them. Two weeks ago, you've gone through a trial. You killed Jason, your boyfriend. You're now truly a cultist... in theory. Because you're full of regrets. Because you can't forgive you for what you've done. And this stranger in front of you is proposing you to steal a blade and to reward you by putting you in a safehouse, far away from this mad sect.

Well, as you can see, this story is setting your future adventure in 6DAS by introducing a stranger who vanished in the air and dressed in red. This man, you'll find who he is in the last chapter of the Chzo Mythos. Also, you'll be wandering around some locals in construction, in fact, it will be the environment of the future game.

But back to the gameplay. I've already told you that it was a text parser. So, bless Trilby's Notes for having train me to it. And bless Yahtzee to have pointed to WinFrotz, a software who is also adapted to AZERTY keyboards.

As you may know, I had difficulties to finish the first countdown because I couldn't understand how to move. The Soul was my savior. Indeed, in this game, you have to move a lot. So, that's how I've understood that for moving, I had to type "walk + cardinal point or up/down". But it's also a weakness of the game: the majority of your actions is moving. Just a few "take object". And believe me, when you begin to see southeastern appearing, I was going into panic mode: me and the cardinal points other than north, south, west, east in English, we're not friends.

Anyway, you just have to type simple commands and it's not as annoying as in Trilby's Notes, with the AGS Engine set for QWERTY users.

Also, remember, the first lines Frehorn wrote were about the characters of 5DAS. In this countdown, you'll find the "middle" of the story: AJ's murder, the others' reaction to it and well, the why Trilby was chosen to kill Philip Harty. Yahtzee remains logical in this story. As I've played the countdowns after 6DAS, I do know understand why I found a page about Trilby taken from nowhere and speaking about the first part of Trilby's Notes.

The Bad
As much as you have to type simple commands, the fact is that some aren't possible. Use the verb "use" like you did in Trilby's Notes and you'll get a "I don't recognize the verb". Use anything else behind "walk" like "walk to door" and you'll get a "You can't see anything like that". Do the same thing with "open door" and you'll get the same message. Try to "speak with + name" and you'll get the same error message. So, good luck to find a similar action when you're not English native speaker. Well, with the Body, I learn that "hit" or "put" can replace "use". I learn with the Soul that if you want to speak with someone, you have to type "touch + name". I was trying the word "hit" first but I got:"Violence isn't always needed". I didn't want to slap the stranger but for using the blade on a character in The Body, I had to write "hit". Not my fault if the word came first in my mind.

So, yes, I didn't like the fact that it wasn't indicated clearly not to use "use" or to write a direction with "walk" or "go" or for interacting with a character, you had to type "touch".

What is following will be familiar but I couldn't review the game without it, especially if you didn't read the review about the Body.

I hate also the fact that you can't scrollback directly. You had to switch between the "play" mode and "scrollback" mode. It was perhaps because I've downloaded WinFrotz... But Yahtzee was mentioning it and linked to a mirror site for download.

Also, I had a problem. Sometimes after submitting my command, or some parts of text weren't visible (so, you need to switch to "scrollback" mode where everything is in order and written) or you had previous text parasiting everything. You couldn't read clearly your story, you didn't know if you command will be taken in count, so the only thing I could do it was to press enter until I found a normal screen. I don't know why this was happening but it was very frustrating because after that, you needed to switch to the "scrollback" mode for reminding you where you had stopped before this cleaning process. The first time it happened, I was freaking out thinking that I've done something wrong. When it happened in the Mind, I was freaking out because I knew that I would have problems to remember the good direction. Sometimes, I'm stupid you know. I forgot the fact that I could switch to scrollback mode. By chance, once I was reminded of it, I didn't freak out anymore in the last countdown.

The Bottom Line
Like I've pointed, this game has no graphics or no soundtrack. WinFrotz is only proposing your text in white on a blue background, reminding me of "Fatal Error System". It's not really bad, you know. You can read well and it's not really hurting. Though I prefer the black text on white background like in the "scrollback" mode.

Only play it if you're interested in the Chzo Mythos or if you want to know more about the prophecy. You can enjoy yourself with this one, because there is no difficulty in it (well, if hitting the stranger wasn't working, why not touching it? - As you can see, it's pretty quick to find the command). My only real grief is about the fact that your main command will be "walk" and well, it's boring at the end. But this countdown is probably the most interesting for 6DAS because of the year and the place: after all, it's the setting of 6DAS. Also, the stranger here will play an important part in 6DAS.

Anyway, I only recommend it to fans of text parsers or to curious people about the Chzo Mythos. The others will avoid it.