AG Community Playthrough - Discworld Noir

[SweetDalilah]

Welcome to the Discworld Noir Community Playthrough, my dear adventurers!

Discworld Noir is the third game from the Discworld series. It is set in the same mysterious, fantastic world, but has no other connection to the other two games. So don’t worry, you won’t be missing out on anything if you haven’t played the first two Discworld games.

The weather is bad, the lighting is low, the streets are mean, life is expensive, because it’s death that’s cheap. Bars are filled with piano players and singers who play and sing blues, while people drown their sorrows in drink. Women are beautiful, but tougher than nails. People tend to lie a lot and double-cross one another. It’s a monochrome world filled with cynical detectives. Yup, it’s the setting of every noir film. Combine that with the fantastic and magical world of Disc, filled with vampires, werewolves, zombies, trolls, dwarfs and wizards, and you’ll get Discworld Noir.

If you like noir movies be sure to check out this movie. And here is a song from the movie.

If you want to know more about Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, here is some more info.

Running the game: Discworld Noir works fine on Windows XP, just be sure to press F1 before anything else when you need to load a saved game. For running the game on Vista look at this thread. The only way to make the game work on Windows 7 is the windowed mode, like Manuel said here.
Be sure to save the game very often, because there have been reports of game crashing unexpectedly.

Info about the game: You play as a private eye, Lewton, formerly of the Ankh-Morpork city Watch. Expelled from the watch for taking bribe, he has only now started to put the pieces of his life back together, after years lost in drinking. Trying to get his life back, he sets an office as Ankh-Morpork’s first private detective. But what he doesn’t know is that this job is going to bring him a lot of problems.

The Manual: Consists of 13 pages of instructions and 11 pages of explanations about Discworld, its position, cities, population, races etc.

Navigation and interface:
Click to make Lewton walk to a specific place. Double click in order to make Lewton interact with an object. Right click to cause Lewton to look at an object.
Notebook: Right click on a clue/contact/suspect to make Lewton comment about it.
If you want to connect clues simply click on one clue, and then click on another. Sometimes it may give you another clue
Using inventory: Right click on object in your inventory for Lewton to comment about it.
Click on an object in your inventory in order to pick it up/ use it.
Talking to characters: Simply press Lewton’s mouth. You can also ask them about certain clues or objects by clicking your notebook or your inventory.

If you get stuck in the game be free to ask away in the thread or consult a walkthrough.
Use spoiler tags when appropriate, for instance when discussing puzzles. Don't discuss the acts that we're not playing

Act I

You’ve been hired by a mysterious woman named Carlotta to find out what happened to her lover, Mundy. Lewton makes a comment about her being nothing but trouble. But what Lewton doesn’t know is that the deeper he digs, the things are going to become more and more complicated.

We have 7 days (till Jan 18th) to finish Act I. Stop playing as soon as you reach Act II.

Good luck and happy gaming!

Quotes of the day: I've had some bad days since I started work as a private investigater. But I've never woken up dead before – Lewton
Carlotta: I can take care of myself
Lewton: I believe you
Carlotta: Good, trust is important.
Lewton: I said I believed you, I never said I trusted you.
Carlotta: Don’t you like me, Lewton?
Lewton: I like a lot of things, I like dogs, but I wouldn’t trust one not to bite me.
Carlotta: I won’t bite
Lewton: Shame, I haven’t been bitten in a long while

Song of the day

[zobraks]

Hey SD, I must confess I was sceptical about you taking the role of a DN gamemistress , but now I like the way you made the introduction (I specially love/enjoy the DN quote(s) ) .
I wish you (and all the other players) luck, you're all in for a treat (DN is a great game).

[CoyoteAG]

Woo hoo! Thanks for starting this. I have to get this up and running on my computer by Friday so I can play this with you all! I'm super psyched!

[DustyShinigami]

Cool. I'll give it a start sometime tomorrow or Friday...

[Fien]

Great, we have already started. I haven't installed the game yet, will do so tomorrow. I look forward to playing it again. It has one of the best intros ever.

[Shany]

Sweet, thanks for starting the playthrough, SweetDalilah!

This is the game that brought me back into adventure games.
I never actually finished it due to a terrible bug, but I hope to get into this playthrough and finish it properly this time. Though that will wait until next week when I actually get my copy.

I love the soundtrack. It's interesting how some themes sound (and are probably based on) music from the first two games, but are heavily modified to fit the jazzy, moody atmosphere.

[AnneS]

Using the instructions in the linked thread, I have managed to get my old copy to run! (It was not easy, and required the no-CD hack.) Unfortunately it has demonstrated a tendency to crash upon entering a new area, but so far every time I've reloaded and tried again it's worked the second time.

I'm glad to be replaying this game - I didn't like it much when I first played it in 1999, but looking back I've often wondered if nineteen-year-old me was wrong about it. I think what put me off at the time is that it's very different to the first two Discworld games. (There's also another thing about it that I didn't like, but I'll get to that when we're up to it.)

So far, I'm impressed by how good it looks after thirteen years, and the intro is indeed great.

[skeeter_93]

Now, where did I put my game? *Starts digging through the piles*

[Manuel Calavera]

I normally play quite fast through adventure games so it'll be nice to slow down and take everything in will be starting later tonight.

[SweetDalilah]

Originally Posted by zobraks

Hey SD, I must confess I was sceptical about you taking the role of a DN gamemistress

Originally Posted by zobraks

but now I like the way you made the introduction .

I'm glad you liked the introduction, I know how hard it is for you to be impressed by anything.

(I specially love/enjoy the DN quote(s) )

Oh, yes. The dialogues and narration are written in a serious manner and they still manage to have a sarcastic and funny tone. You gotta love that

I wish you (and all the other players) luck, you're all in for a treat (DN is a great game).

Thank you Yes, DN is indeed a great game

Originally Posted by CoyoteAG

Woo hoo! Thanks for starting this. I have to get this up and running on my computer by Friday so I can play this with you all! I'm super psyched!

Who wouldn't be excited about this game?

Originally Posted by Fien

Great, we have already started. I haven't installed the game yet, will do so tomorrow. I look forward to playing it again. It has one of the best intros ever.

Yup, I can't think of another AG where the main character dies at the beginning and then retrospectively tells us how it all happened. Really original.

Originally Posted by Shany

Sweet, thanks for starting the playthrough, SweetDalilah!

You're welcome.

This is the game that brought me back into adventure games.
I never actually finished it due to a terrible bug, but I hope to get into this playthrough and finish it properly this time. Though that will wait until next week when I actually get my copy.

That's nice to hear. I'm sure you'll finish it this time.

I love the soundtrack. It's interesting how some themes sound (and are probably based on) music from the first two games, but are heavily modified to fit the jazzy, moody atmosphere.

Oh yes the music is extraordinary. Some songs have really funny lyrics combined with that nice jazz and blues music

Originally Posted by AnneS

Using the instructions in the linked thread, I have managed to get my old copy to run! (It was not easy, and required the no-CD hack.) Unfortunately it has demonstrated a tendency to crash upon entering a new area, but so far every time I've reloaded and tried again it's worked the second time.

Yay. I'm glad you managed to run the game AnneS. I hope you won't be experiencing a lot of crashes.

Originally Posted by skeeter_93

Now, where did I put my game? *Starts digging through the piles*

[inm8#2]

Thanks for setting this up. I will start this weekend and hopefully be able to keep up. Roughly how many total hours of gameplay would people estimate it takes to finish Act I?

[DustyShinigami]

I can never read the opening fast enough. EVER! Anyone else ever have that problem? I don't suppose someone knows where it can be read online or something?

[diego]

Playthrough?! GREAT! Now, my favourite character in this game is Froderick the bat:



Mona is also cute with her sweet high-pitched voice and...

(Crowd whispering)

What? Dee-uhh, i-sc... world? No-aah.. r? Discworld Noir?! Well listen here, i wanted A Vampyre Story playthrough, and i'm sure we can all come to an agreement, i mean why don't we play A Vampyre Story now and that other later on. After all, it's winter time and if you would just let me tell you about that lovely snowy landscape..

(Microphone goes off)

Is this on?

(security guys show up) - Ok, let's leave the stage... (dragging sound)



Well, it seems AVS will have to wait another year or so But that's alright - Discworld Noir is also one of those games i didn't finish (Fien, i see you ) and actually - it was pretty, pretty high on my "to play" list so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. It's just that i didn't want to admit that publicly because i was still leaning more toward the AVS. I started DN last year for the first time, delayed it and was lazy to install it again later on, but now is the right time.

Although i've kept "save games" and finished the first act earlier, i still chose to play it from the beginning, to get the grip of the story even better this time.

I'm a detective buff, even in a more traditional way than noir films, but DN seems like a nice blend of all the stereotypes from Casablanca to Chinatown, and all the PIs in fedora. It seems to be working both as a parody and tribute to those works, but more important - being quite original on its own too. I was among those who were "disappointed" when the game came out as it wasn't all shiny like its predecessors, but was actually surprised to find that the comedic aspect is well-hidden beneath all the dark backgrounds (but i still increased my gamma option slider )

And - DN is a real quote machine - can't remember playing the game where i'd wish every few seconds just to write down the lines. "Pause" button would fit nicely (especially for the "war story" at the beginning with its scrolling speed ) but Alt-Tab does the job, too. Apart from those SD mentioned, my favs so far are:

- Even the rats thought twice before boarding it.

- If you don't pull strings then you're the puppet.

- Carlotta: I don’t know. I never asked about his work and he never told me.
Lewton: Must be a very straightforward relationship.


and the Wharf guy :

- It was more ontological than existential.

[DustyShinigami]

Looks like I may have to dropout of the playthrough...

The game has suddenly started to act up and has become unplayable. The game always crashes with an error after a cutscene; mainly after

Spoiler:

the crate Lewton gets into lowers onto the Milka.

I've tried uninstalling the game and leaving the no-cd patch off, but now the game refuses to start up completely; with and without the patch, changing the 'compatilbility' doesn't make the slightest difference.

It's stange: I never had this issue with my old XP machine. The only other option for me is VirtualPC, but I'm not keen on using that for games as they run very choppy.

Damn...

[Stonez]

Like Dusty I just simply cannot get my copy of the game to work! It's a shame because it's bloody great! I'm on a Win 7 (64) machine with 8Gb (4Gx2 GSkill F3-12800RAM).

[diego]

Did you guys follow closely the link SweetDalilah posted - http://www.adventuregamers.com/forum...Discworld+Noir It resolves XP issues as well. MEGAginge's post in particular is what helped me, even though i'm yet to see how those crashes further into the game will behave. Also, you may want to pay attention to this post, and maybe one of those things like turning off subtitles and "windowed mode" will get you past the crash.

Originally Posted by SweetDalilah

The Manual: Consists of 13 pages of instructions and 11 pages of explanations about Discworld, its position, cities, population, races etc.

Oh yeah, it's one of the better written manuals. My fav parts:


• Discworld Noir can be enjoyed equally well when played with the keyboard*

* This is in fact a flagrant lie. A mouse is obviously a better way of playing, but the keyboard can be used to speed up game play.


• Perhaps the most useful side effect of the smell is that in its long and undistinguished history, no-one has ever invaded Ankh-Morpork.*

* This is not entirely true. Technically, the city has been invaded on numerous occasions. In fact, the city welcomes free-spending barbarian invaders, but somehow the puzzled raiders always find, after a few days, that they don’t own their horses any more, and within a couple of months they’re just another minority group with its own graffiti and food shops.


• Right click means to press the right button once.*

* This style of text description is what is known in the industry as ‘bloody obvious’. However, as a mark of our respect for you, the punter, we include it here anyway. Besides, how many of you read the manual anyway? I know what you’re like – you get home with your new game in your hot and want to tear it out of that irritating plastic wrapping and get straight into the action. I don’t know, no patience in the younger generation, not like my sweaty palms and you haven’t got time to waste with the manual, you just want to tear it out of that irritating plastic wrapping and get straight into the action. I don’t know, no patience in the younger generation, not like my day… when I was a lad, computer games were in black and white, and you didn’t have CD-ROM drives, you had punch cards. You’d go to the shop and say "can I have the punch cards for ‘Way of the Exploding Fist’ please?" The shop assistant would punch you in the nose for being an impudent whelp. Ah, those were the days…

[Fien]

Diego, you and Froderick made me look forward to your community playthrough!

[zobraks]

For those who can read Serbian (even proficiency in Montenegrin, Croatian, Bosnian, Pirotian or Vojvodinian wil do! ) here's how I managed to install & play DN (read on from the linked post). If you can't read the above languages, use Google Translate - it won't help you understand anything (well, almost anything) but you're sure going to laugh a lot and have fun in general.

[SweetDalilah]

Originally Posted by DustyShinigami

Looks like I may have to dropout of the playthrough...

The game has suddenly started to act up and has become unplayable. The game always crashes with an error after a cutscene; mainly after

Spoiler:

the crate Lewton gets into lowers onto the Milka.

I've tried uninstalling the game and leaving the no-cd patch off, but now the game refuses to start up completely; with and without the patch, changing the 'compatilbility' doesn't make the slightest difference.

It's stange: I never had this issue with my old XP machine. The only other option for me is VirtualPC, but I'm not keen on using that for games as they run very choppy.

Damn...

I'm so sorry to hear that Dusty. On what Windows are you running the game? You see, what you might have tried is load the game again (using F1) and then change to windowed mode ( Alt + Enter) and whait for the cutscene to pass, and then change it back to fullscreen. But now, since you can't start the game at all I really have no idea how to help you If you are running the game on XP, be sure to look at this thread, you might find some solution

Originally Posted by Stonez

Like Dusty I just simply cannot get my copy of the game to work! It's a shame because it's bloody great! I'm on a Win 7 (64) machine with 8Gb (4Gx2 GSkill F3-12800RAM).

Oh, there is no way to run DN on Windows 7 properly. What you can do is download the no cd patch, and overwrite the file tin3_dxd in the game folder. Then right click on tin3_dxd and press run as administrator. Now the game crashed for me every time after the intro. So the only way it can work is the windowed mode (Alt + Enter) but you first need to change the color of the computer to 16 bit. Here is how.
Or you could try using VirtualPC, although I have no idea how that works. But what I would suggest is installing game on some older system like Windows XP, 2000 or 98.

Originally Posted by zobraks

For those who can read Serbian (even proficiency in Montenegrin, Croatian, Bosnian, Pirotian or Vojvodinian wil do! ) here's how I managed to install & play DN (read on from the linked post). If you can't read the above languages, use Google Translate - it won't help you understand anything (well, almost anything) but you're sure going to laugh a lot and have fun in general.

Very funny zobraks, give people instructions in the language they can't understand

[diego]

Originally Posted by zobraks

it won't help you understand anything (well, almost anything) but you're sure going to laugh a lot and have fun in general.

actually, online translators have improved much recently it's just a matter of time until they call themselves "Skynet" and start the rebellion


Of course, they still make mistakes, and their vocabulary still misses couple of words, like - contrafibularity