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Blade Runner

CJY

Banned
i'm on a bit of a Blade runner buzz right now because I missed Blade Runner 2049 when it came out in 2017.

So I watched the original Director's Cut, then I watched 2049... It was really great. Loved every moment of it. I love the Blade Runner universe and it's cyberpunk aesthetic. Then I remembered a Blade Runner game came out in the 90s that was very highly regarded and decided to look into playing it.

Turns out it was developed by Westwood Studios and there is no chance of a version ever being remastered and released on modern platforms due to the source code going missing when (you guessed it), EA purchased Westwood Studios and folded the studio into their LA operations. EA also own the rights to the game too and possibly still hold the rights to produce any games in the franchise.

Of course, source code goes missing all the time, but it's a real fucking pain the butt how EA's greasy mitts seem to get in the way of so many potentially great things.

Yeah, this might seem like a stealth #FuckEA thread, that's cos it mostly is... FUCK EA.
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
The game isn't all that great to be honest. I mean, it's an average point and click adventure elevated by the IP, but you are not missing much.
 

ruvikx

Banned
This might be an unpopular opinion but I liked Blade Runner 2049 more than the original.

They're both good movies though.

2049 has an absolutely godawful ending. It was one of the best science-fiction movies I'd seen in years (decades probably)… until the ending delivered a stereotypical unhappy finale with nihilistic undertones common in so many B-tier trash heap movies with wannabe pretentious existential tales. All because the writers & makers enjoy sticking their fork in the audience eye & making their favorite characters endure a shit outcome. It had no message, no real meaning, nothing, except for "we're going to make this ending suck for K, just for shits & giggles".

And then they're surprised it flopped. Hint: That's because word of mouth was bad. If people leave the movie theatre in a bad mood & unhappy, they're not exactly going to recommend or rewatch the source of their misery.
 
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I never got to play it either, I wish I had back in the 90's when I had the opportunity. Westwood was a legendary studio. Would love a remastered re-release to check it out. So many great old adventure games that just plain don't get enough love.
 

Kadayi

Banned
2049 has an absolutely godawful ending. It was one of the best science-fiction movies I'd seen in years (decades probably)… until the ending delivered a stereotypical unhappy finale with nihilistic undertones common in so many B-tier trash heap movies with wannabe pretentious existential tales. All because the writers & makers enjoy sticking their fork in the audience eye & making their favorite characters endure a shit outcome. It had no message, no real meaning, nothing, except for "we're going to make this ending suck for K, just for shits & giggles".

And then they're surprised it flopped. Hint: That's because word of mouth was bad. If people leave the movie theatre in a bad mood & unhappy, they're not exactly going to recommend or rewatch the source of their misery.

It didn't really flop, it just didn't make the crazy bank that various ill-informed pundits predicted, which all seemed a bit bizarre given the original film for all the critical acclaim wasn't a box office hit either. I don't know why anyone expected 2049 to suddenly do mad blockbuster bank. As for this idea that the film didn't go down well with fans, crawl back under your bridge. The only person I've seen vocally complain about the film on the internet is Razorfist, and he was hating on it before it had even released because Ryan Gosling makes his jelly or something. It was a decent sequel, building on what had come before and adding its own twists. Perfect? No, but a lot better than it could have been. Given Ridley Scott's run of recent films when they talked about him making a sequel I was 'Not like this.Gif' but thankfully Scott was too busy so Villeneuve stepped in. Sure I don't disagree that the film is a little too ponderous for its own good at times, but visually it is stunning.
 

jadefire66

Member
I actually played and finished this game last week. Loved it. Worked without issues for me on Windows 7. But you gotta use a walkthrough otherwise it's very confusing.
 
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Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Snatcher is OK. Its worth playin and was surely a masterpiece back in the day. But in 2019 its really just notable for being an actually good Sega CD game.
 

eot

Banned
2049 has an absolutely godawful ending. It was one of the best science-fiction movies I'd seen in years (decades probably)… until the ending delivered a stereotypical unhappy finale with nihilistic undertones common in so many B-tier trash heap movies with wannabe pretentious existential tales. All because the writers & makers enjoy sticking their fork in the audience eye & making their favorite characters endure a shit outcome. It had no message, no real meaning, nothing, except for "we're going to make this ending suck for K, just for shits & giggles".
This is a great video essay on the movie, both in content and presentation. See if it changes your mind :)

 
Wow, that's awesome. I'll look into it.

It's still being tested in ScummVM (irrc) and it's actually not too difficult to get running without it. I played through the game earlier this year (and really enjoyed it). You can actually download it legally and run it on modern PC's using this patch.

Westwood's Blade Runner was an Adventure game way ahead of its time. It did away with inventory/lock & key puzzles and placed a heavy emphasis on crime scene investigation, deduction and narrative choice. IIRC there are ~12 endings to the game depending on the choices you make. I'd recommend reading through the manual before playing because there are a lot of systems going on in the game that aren't tutorialized and are far from self evident. Also there's a depth to the choices beyond navigating dialogue trees. (mild spoilers) For example, part-way through the game you get some evidence that could implicate you as a replicant sympathizer or worse. Up until this point it's routine to upload the info you gather to the computers back at the station. But doing so after you have the incriminating info causes a branch in the story where someone uses it against you. There are many examples of different choices like that, which you might not think would effect the outcome but actually do.

There's other cool touches like the ability to sabotage the VK test by messing w/ the calibration, the fact that certain clues are randomized and the game also randomizes which suspects are replicants so each playthrough is somewhat different. It's a game that benefits a lot from multiple playthroughs.

But yeah, great game. This is a cool video on all the different behind the scenes aspects of the game. Mostly focusing on the visuals.

 
They say this all the time. It happened with Final Fantasy 8, Kingdom Hearts, and Spyro.

They could easily do what they did if they really wanted to remaster it, or they could just remake it. I hope they don't make a 2049 game though.
 

ruvikx

Banned
Sure I don't disagree that the film is a little too ponderous for its own good at times, but visually it is stunning.

I loved that ponderousness. I loved the character building, world building & could imagine all the great places it could go. I also loved the shuttle sequence fight as well. As I already said, it was my favorite science fiction movie in years. But, when that ending hit it was one giant f-you from the writers, i.e. to those of us who thought his love for his holographic girlfriend Joi was real & would lead somewhere? "F-you, she's just a hologram & we'll deactivate her anyway, HA HA HA". Suck on that nihilism kiddies. You though K was Deckard's child? "F-you, that would be too happy & predictable, so let's leave him gravely wounded with an unknown fate, because that's totally satisfying! HA HA HA".

I don't enjoy that sort of ending.
 

Hudo

Gold Member
PSA for all the people who liked Blade Runner 2049 (which is one of my favourite movies ever): Denis Villeneuve, director of Blade Runner 2049, is currently working on a Dune movie! How fucking awesome is that?
 

klosos

Member
Westwoods Bladerunner is a underrated classic, during a decade of Lucasart / Sierra point and click games, Bladerunner still manages to stand out really. Not just by the way the game looks but because the game had i believe 12 diffrent endings.. I am still a proud owener of a big boxed version with stratagy guide.
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the films i think 1982 Bladerunner is amazing and in my top 3 films , Bladerunner 2049 apart from the cinematography is complete tat without nuance.
 

Aintitcool

Banned
Watch after the success of cyberpunk 2077 ea revive their blade runner license. BTW I miss the days when small time devs would spend years on movie license games. Now if you have a movie license old or new the games are rushed.
 
I remember playing the game and at the time it had some pretty cool things like branching storyline’s and really well drawn areas of play.
It’s a shame it’s been lost as a remake would certainly scratch the itch of the blade runner movie
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Blade Runner cyberpunk? Not really imho.

Replicants are biological, they have no cybernetic augmentation and their flesh-and-blood physicality is emphasized as a key element in every aspect. The VK test and Esper sequences are also both done in a way to emphasize the noir-ish detective angle as opposed to anything computer science related.

The plain fact is that BR predates the publication of Gibson's Neuromancer by 2 full years, which really was the birth of Cyberpunk as a distinct genre. Even if you want to push it back to Johnny Mnemonic you're still looking at publication within the same window as the production of Scott's movie.

Ironically, PKD's original 1968 novel is somewhat proto-cyberpunk, but stuff like Mercerism was all jettisoned in the adaptation, and the overall sentiment of the work changed greatly.
 
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Weilthain

Banned
The movie bores the shit out of me but I played that game so many times back when it was new. Multiple endings galore it was so good.
 
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