Loom - ADG Episode 320
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 8 июл 2024
- Who needs a wizard when you have a musician? ...who only plays four-note melodies? :P
Today on Ancient DOS Games, Gemini's taking a look at Loom, an atypical adventure game developed and published by Lucasfilm Games (before they became Lucasarts) originally in 1990 and then given a CD remake in 1992.
Unlike most adventure titles which rely on finding lots of items, this one instead relies on figuring out musical "drafts" each of which are made up of four notes. The way this all plays out is very interesting and if you've never played the game yourself, only seeing screenshots or having watched it being played, you really aren't going to understand this thing's nuances or why it's as interesting as it is... despite its story being the weakest link in the whole experience. :P
------------------------------------------
Additional Information and Corrections:
* To purchase a digital download of the remake from GOG, follow this link: www.gog.com/en/game/loom/?pp=...
* Or if you'd rather get it on Steam, follow this link instead: store.steampowered.com/app/32...
------------------------------------------
Pixelmusement Website: www.pixelships.com
ADG on Pixelmusement: www.pixelships.com/adg
Alphabetical Index of ADG Episodes: www.pixelships.com/adg/index2....
Kris' Patreon Page: / kasick
@Pixelmusement on Twitter: / pixelmusement
------------------------------------------
Chapters:
00:00 Title and Intro
02:10 Game Stats
05:58 Story
09:59 Gameplay
16:00 Remake
19:04 Overall
20:04 DOSBox Configuration
22:26 Credits 
Игры
I played Loom for the first time in 2016 when I was kind of homeless. It has a comforting vibe to me. Nothing stressful -- just pleasant EGA pixel art and medium to easy puzzles.
Wonderful and unique game. Been living in my head since I was 11.
For the record, probably the BEST way to play this - if you're willing to do a little digging - is by running the *FM Towns* version in ScummVM. That gives you upgraded VGA-style graphics, but while keeping the original script and MIDI music of the EGA release. Either way, I'm definitely in the camp that says you should avoid the talkie CD-ROM version.
This is why I looked for the FM Towns version for playing this game. It's the best of both worlds if you can look past some of the inaccuracies of the redone graphics.
I have mixed feelings about the FM Towns version. The EGA version has the technical shortcoming that any sound effect will stop the music. The FM Towns version takes it too far in the other direction: The music just never stops. Since it doesn't add any new music (just alternate recordings of the same one), I find it a bit grating after a while. It also makes it harder for me to hear the drafts.
So overall, I still prefer the EGA version. (And now ScummVM even allows you to replace the MIDI music with a recording of Swan Lake, if you have one.)
If you want to dig even deeper, there's also the TurboGrafx-16 version that graphically sits somewhere between the EGA and FM Towns versions. It runs in ScummVM too, but extracting the data files from the CD can be a little tricky. There are some other versions that ScummVM also supports, but they're not that different from the EGA version I believe. The only ones of those that I have is the 16-color Macintosh version, which does add a high-resolution font.
The VGA talkie version is... fine, but it's one I rarely find myself returning to. It's not even a matter of nostalgia, because it was actually the first version I ever played, back when it was the hard-to-find version. I like that it exists, because some of the changes are interesting. But I don't like that it's now the only easily available version.
"Grass green...I hate that colour!" A quote from the legendary Bobbin Threadbare. The weird thing is I've played Loom like 5 times and never finished it, yet I keep going back to it.
the story problem is that the design document for loom was for it to become a trilogy. This is the prime example of a slow intro being the only release in a trilogy-trap.
Its like when lords of the ring the 2 towers (2002) was not being made, leaging the first LOTR movie as a dull introduction cliffhanger, because an Indiana Jones movie by the same producer that released roughly at the same time was just way more famous.
Basically, the same design philosophy Star Wars had, and in retrospect, if the original release of Star Wars WASN'T super-popular, it too would've ended up with obscure, never-explained references and a ton of missing lore. :P
@@Pixelmusement There isn't a sequel, but there is a *seagull* ...that we get to see again.
@@Pixelmusement Star wars was not intended as a trilogy. Lucas wanted to bring back the feeling of old sci-fi and swashbuckler serials he watched as kid, that's why the original story is open ended, it basically emulates a 12 episode serial.
Of course the movie which predicted to be a flop became a mega hit instead, which made it possible for Lucas to make his own mega serial, he originally planned 12 movies, which the prequel trilogy and the sequel trilogy was part of, plus another trilogy about the beginning of the Jedi (or something like that? I'm not sure...)
But the production hell around _Empire_ and _Jedi_ , made him to backpedal, he tied up the loose ends, and he was done with it for a decade, when advancements in computer technology plus the success of stuff like the Zahn-trilogy book made him to reconsider to do the prequels.
It was the same with _Back to the Future_ . That too, weren't intended as a trilogy, but the first film was successful that the producers decided to do it. Marty's flaw (being provoked by called a coward) don't exist in the first film.
I bought and played a budget release back in 1995 (no audio cassette). Absolutely loved it! The teen me thought it was like an interactive animated movie, but made as a proper game. The puzzles were a breeze to solve but applying the drafts to different situations, and particularly reversing them, I thought it was neat.
I replayed the game a little while ago, about 20 years later and it was a bit strange, I basically hadn't forgotten anything and I felt I didn't get as much out of the replay as I expected. It's still a beautiful game.
Some Additions:
-The Music is from the Ballet "Swanlake" by Tschaikovsky
-The 3 elders weaving fate seem to be the Norns from Germanic religion
-The fatherless birth is a reference to Jesus
-I always saw the game as a socialist message: You have to divide the World in half, to save it from evil, it has Russian music, the bad guy (Chaos) looks like the Statue of Liberty and there is a Bluecollar (Crafts) vs Whitecollar (Church) vipe.
No, they are definitely the Greek Fates.
Loom is a special game. It was one of the first games I played on CD and I remember being blown away by the music.
One of the main characters of the Finnish epic of the Kalevala is Vainomoinen who is a powerful wizard who uses song to cast his spells. At one point he needs travels to the lands of the dead to figure out the words to a song to craft a boat. At another point he getting into a singing contest and the very earth begins consuming his opponent. He mainly sings but does also play a harp.
For even older exaples of you might go with the blowing of the horns to destroy the wall in the bible or the harpies from the oddessy though those are both one off effects not magic systems based on music.
There are almost certainly other ancient examples of magic music.
*Väinämöinen
Friend had this when it came out (only kid in the neighborhood that had a PC in 1990). It was quite a detour for two 5th graders used to Nintendo.
``Who needs a wizard when you have a musician?`` - why not both, both is good! - to quote a classic... There is a series of fantasy books by Alan Dean Foster titled "Spellsinger" which revolves around the protagonist being able to perform magic by playing musical instruments or singing. The story is completely different than in this game though, so it's just a little bit of trivia related to using music for casting. Funny thing there is a tribe called Weavers but they're actual spiders. The TLDR version of the story is that a modern student/part time musician get transported to a fairy-tale like but deeply troubled world inhabited by various anthropomorphic talking animals (humans are just one of many present species), and originally to help defend against an insectoid invasion. :)
Both the EGA and FM Towns versions are the definitive versions of the game
This was classic LucasArts at its best: not afraid to experiment even if failing in the end. Not that Loom is a failure by any stretch, but fans continue to hang over the two planned sequels which never got past the concept stage. The Monkey Island phenomenon launched before the end of that same year and there was no going back after that.
Ah, Loom! The remake--I've only played that version, that I recall--is one of my favourite games! ^_^
I'll admit... I've never really had a problem with the story. It feels nicely fairy-tale-esque, to me. But then, I don't have a point of comparison with the original execution of the tale. And in any case, each to their own! *shrugs*
I am somewhat fascinated by the differences between the versions now, having not heard of them before! I might want to watch a let's play of the EGA version someday to see what I've been missing...
I will say, the music in the remake is just beautiful! As is the visual art! *_*
And either way, I do love having a point-and-click adventure centred entirely around magic, and an unusual and interesting form of magic too, at that! ^_^
Speaking of which, I suppose that my take on the whole "music-and-weaving" thing is that, in their setting, the threads of which the world is made are threads of music, and thus by weaving music on their distaffs, the Weavers weave the fabric of the world itself.
Is that the original intent? I have no idea! That's just my headcanon! ^_^
Anyway, an excellent review Gemini, and thank you for it! ^_^
Enjoy your time off, Gemini! I hope that it proves restful, restorative, and simply enjoyable for you! And thank you so much for your thoroughly enjoyable videos! ^_^
Okay so when I was listening to all the crap about Weavers and the magical destiny-controlling Loom and the one boy with a special fate that is being kept secret, the thought going through my head was "this all sounds familiar."
See, years back a youtuber named Dominic Noble reviewed a book and movie called Wanted. And the movie specifically added in a whole thing about a magic loom that tells a secret society who to assassinate.
I now wonder if maybe the creators of the movie were inspired by this game (the original comic had no loom).
Not impossible... :o
The idea of fate being represented by threads or a loom is common to several ancient mythologies. The intro story had characters actually named after the Greek variants of The Fates.
As advertised in the bar in Monkey Island : D
Thanks to you for making such good content, without ADG, and all your other shows, you won't really be on youtube...
You deserve the best, Great job all these years!!!
See you in the new year!
My copy of Loom on CD came with the audio drama on a separate disc.
OK, so that's something I could've been a little more clear about is that some regions and releases got the audio drama on CD, but the North American DOS release of the remake was not one of them. I also believe the FM Towns original also put the audio drama onto a CD. :B
@@Pixelmusementmine is a North American DOS release. I have a complete boxed copy. Purchased it new around mid to late 1990s.
@@Digitoxin1 Interesting. Late 1990s means it's not the remake, but that it's also on CD and in North America is definitely not expected... :o
@@Pixelmusement it is the VGA "talkie" version with all of the audio in a single audio track
The file dates on the disc are from 1992
The FM Towns release of Loom is the true remaster. Look at its graphics !
Grew up with Loom™ in the LucasArts Mac Game Pack and it was wild to hear a fresh perspective and about other versions. Great vid 👍
Other random revelations I had while watching this:
ONE - "So THIS is what that 'I'm Bobbin, are you my mother?' line in Monkey Island was referencing!"
TWO - "I wonder if this in some way inspired the Ocarina of Time?"
On the second point, that's incredibly doubtful. Nintendo is surprisingly "closed off" from outside influences when it comes to designing their games, even more-so the further back you go, and Link to the Past already had an ocarina, though renamed to "flute" outside of Japan while STILL looking like an ocarina. :P
@@Pixelmusement True, in fact this is something I dislike about Nintendo's design, in a lot of ways Nintendo gives off this feel of "if we didn't think of it, then its never existed" in their designs. It's one reason I dropped off the Zelda wagon after awhile, as I just kept finding they felt bad to play compared to their competition.
I've only ever played the CD version, in fact this is the first ever time I've heard of the EGA version. So I have no idea what the problem is, and my nostalgia will probably convince me that there isn't one.
The main issue is there's much more dialogue in the original EGA release so things make a bit more sense there by comparison, plus it came with an audio drama on a cassette tape to provide the backstory, though I've since learned some copies of the remake seem to have included the audio drama on a separate CD, though not all copies do and certainly not the current digital releases on GOG or Steam. :P
The other way to play this game is via a collection Lucasarts put out which also included Maniac Manson, Zak McCracken And The Alien Mindbenders, Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, and Secret of Monkey Island. That's how I played it, though I barely played it compared to the others in that collection.
The "LucasArts Classic Adventures" collection. I still have mine too.
Even with the very reduced color palette of the original, this game looks fantastic. That is pure pixel-art.
What a game. One of the first adventures I played, together with Quest for Glory.
Great vid Kris. I bought this on some GOG sale and still gotta play it… have been meaning to check it out since it first piqued my curiosity in the 90s lol.
So this was the game that pirate from Monkey Island was pitching to Guybrush back in the original Monkey Island? I assumed they should've remastered it to make the joke work again in the Monkey Island remaster, but after finally hearing about it for myself, I can understand why they didn't. Doesn't excuse GOG and Steam re-releasing only the CD version with the manual for the original game, though.
Ask me about Loom
Thanks for your wonderful videos, I've been watching religiously for about a decade.
Really important work you're doing, especially for archival purposes.
Great video on a beautiful game, though I'm surprised you didn't mention the iconic "Ask Me About Loom" reference from Monkey Island.
Because I haven't yet covered Monkey Island... also, I already made that reference in my last video when giving everyone a hint about what I was going to be covering next! ;)
When I was a teenager one of my neighbours had Loom and Monkey Island on CD-ROM. We only played Monkey Island.
I love this game. I know it is not the best made game out there, and I know it is too short. There is just something about it. It has a heart and soul.
And YES GoG and Steam need to put the original game up.
I'm pretty sure the mouse cursor was always flickering... Even when running on original hardware...
I love you man, hope you doing great
I'm not actually, but I'm keeping things together as best I can!
@@Pixelmusement Damn, that's saddening. I hope you rest and recover through December (and I don't mean that in the sense of "mr. youtuber get yourself together and make videos", but in general - I hope you'll do well in your personal life, whatever you might be fighting against).
@@Pixelmusement Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
Played the remake a few years ago. Wasn't aware of the remake issues (aside from the audio drama that I had to watch online). I might revisit this someday but with the original instead.
It always frustrated me how the talkie version is indeed limited compared to the other versions... particularly since the voice acting is good, amazingly good for the time and pretty good even for modern-day voice acting (we have professionals now but not all games get that treatment...) Doubly so with the audio drama prequel.
Really, what this game needs is extended voice acting to fill in the full script for the original version, the mix of the FM Towns version but with some tweaks... and of course the two sequels that were planned but never came. (That's of course why the game ended on such an odd note... it was set up as the first in a planned trilogy)
It's not a bad candidate for a remaster, it's very short and not hard yes but Full Throttle got a remaster and it's also noted for being short and not overly hard...
I had to cjeck out the game that sponsored a pirate in Monkey Island
Nice hat.
9:35 Silmarilion
So you're the one we should ask about Loom?
Yes! :D
Played this game after buying it from GOG then tried it on my Atari St and well it's a game I feel was rushed on the ending
Just one quick note ... the word _distaff_ is pronounced DISS-taff, not DIE-staff :)
Tell that to the voice talent for the game; they all pronounce it DIE-STAFF, thus why I said it that way. :P
Music and magic linked together? Read the Kalevala (book of Finnish myth and legends) as the best example.
-I get up early
-Pixelmusement just uploaded minutes ago
-The Game of my Childhood gets finally reviewed
Awesome.
Do you plan to do more Lucasfilm Games ?
I've covered quite a few up to this point! Several of the Star Wars games as well as some of their adventures, with my coverage of "The Dig" perhaps being one of my more controversial opinions regarding their games. :P
@@PixelmusementWill you do Sam and Max Hit the Road?
@@killerb2099 He already did
BTW: Not only can you use the channel search feature here on RUclips to see if I've covered a specific game or not, but I link to the following page on my website in the video description of every ADG video which is an alphabetized list of every game ever covered! www.pixelships.com/adg/index2.html
I t'ain't heard o' this one I haven't. I just started playing Patrician today though and as a child I built a simple loom and wove some beautiful scarves
Fascinating game. Unlike you, I absolutely advocate it *especially* in modern times.
But I also advocate buying the things you like. Just that modernity is all about screwing us over and glorify corpos.
I never said not to play the game. I explicitly pointed out that if you're going to buy it nowadays I don't see the harm in also sourcing a less legit EGA copy after the purchase and then playing that one instead. :B
The DIE-staff?! 🤨
I know it's TECHNICALLY pronounced DISS-TAFF except the actual voiceovers in the game pronounce it DIE-STAFF thus why I also did so. :P
BTW: Your reply got blocked by RUclips because the way you shortened "voice actor" got converted into a hyperlink. RUclips automatically does that to any text which consists of letters with a period followed by more letters with no spaces. :P
@@Pixelmusement they're still doing that?! Thanx for the heads-up.
I remember seeing ads for this game in magazines and stuff at the time, never played it though.
This vid game vid came 7 minutes ago, but the vid game came ages ago.
since when vga was something different than 640x480, not 320x200, u sure they are not used. or original hardware and versions, or mister dos core. what is a promise. nope, a note, a bill, thus money.
The VGA standard has multiple resolutions supported, primarily for sake of backwards compatibility. This includes 320x200, 640x200, 640x350, 640x480, and also technically 720x400 but only as a text mode. Every mode is capable of 16 colours while 320x200 is the only one designed to be capable of 256 colours, with the palette entries supporting 6-bits per colour channel in all modes. However, the VGA is HIGHLY programmable, thus it's possible to get non-standard resolutions out of it though at the cost of sometimes not working right on target hardware, with the most common unsupported 256-colour resolutions to work right being 320x240, 320x400, and 360x480.
I dont dare to use name of vga for anything other than proper 640x480@@Pixelmusement
Grass green, I hate that color!
One wonders how the Draft of Dyeing even creates other colours... :P