Let's Play Sierra Games - The Adventures of Willy Beamish.

[Tawmis]

All right.

Codename: Iceman gets a really, really, really bad rap.

But I'd rather play Codename: Iceman - BLINDFOLDED - than play Willy Beamish ever again.

This game tested my patience and my nerves.

I just finished playing it. Going to splice it all together.

Probably spent well over 4 weeks off and on, with this game.

Saw "The End" (as in the bad way) well over 100 times. Without even remotely exaggerating.

This game... is... horrid.

It's just above Lighthouse.

Seriously.

In my commentary when I get to that, I will try to not be so scowling.

[notbobsmith]

Yeah, I really disliked this one too. I'm not sure if I would call the puzzles worse than "Iceman", but it is pretty bad. But the characters are annoying. The plot is uninteresting. And the humor falls flat.

[Tawmis]

Yeah, I really disliked this one too. I'm not sure if I would call the puzzles worse than "Iceman", but it is pretty bad. But the characters are annoying. The plot is uninteresting. And the humor falls flat.

The thing with Codename: Iceman is... the story is at least far more interesting.
The graphics are (to me) far better.
I enjoyed the music far more in Codename: Iceman.

Codename: Iceman really just has two sore points for me - the sub (which is the thing with everyone) and the bottle game (which, you can technically just ignore if you go get it in the ocean). Where as, Beamish... it was everywhere and all throughout.

And the game just goes side ways sometimes - first few days, seems like a normal kid life - but then the babysitter turns into a vampire bat?

What?

And your sister wrecks the car, but you don't go click on it? Visit her? See if she's OK?

And the game punishes you throughout, being late for dinner and such - and the "bad kid meter" goes up... but nothing counteracts it... like why doesn't feeding the dog or taking the dog for a walk or playing with your sister all "help" with the meter?

[notbobsmith]

I don't remember the car crash for some reason.

Dynamix games did like their clocks. Rise of the Dragon ran on a timer too. Wait too long and events will happen without you.

One odd thing with the "bad kid meter" was the model train set in the attic that belonged to the dad. If you play with it and break something, the meter goes up. The best way to avoid this is to simply not touch it. So a game element was added. Designers, artists, and programmers put it in. And yet it serves no purpose. There is no reward and only a penalty for using it.

[Tawmis]

I don't remember the car crash for some reason.

Dynamix games did like their clocks. Rise of the Dragon ran on a timer too. Wait too long and events will happen without you.

One odd thing with the "bad kid meter" was the model train set in the attic that belonged to the dad. If you play with it and break something, the meter goes up. The best way to avoid this is to simply not touch it. So a game element was added. Designers, artists, and programmers put it in. And yet it serves no purpose. There is no reward and only a penalty for using it.

Meter also went up if you were late to dinner. I had it go up because Willy was in his younger sister's room while the mom was trying to read to her and spent too long in there. So stupid.

There was also a timer in Heart of China (several events would end in your death if you didn't do something).

[Tawmis]

At last, four hours of me bumbling, badly, through The Adventures of Willy Beamish....

[Tawmis]

[notbobsmith]

Just finished your video. I was not a fan of Willy Beamish. I never played it when it came out, only after it was available on GOG. I went through my posts from when I played it. The game itself was frustrating, as you pointed out. Lots of places where you have a few seconds to get out of a situation, try something, fail, and do over again. And lots of red herrings you end up having to try. I can only image how much more frustrating this must have been when playing on 1992 hardware. Load times must have been more of a pain than now.

A few comments:

6:20 I looked at a walkthrough. Apparently, tucking you sister in a night will lower the meter.

7:20 I've played games from Sierra, Lucasarts, and Tsunami, and for some reason Dynamix games have the most baffling difficult interface out of all of them. I probably mentioned before how everyone who has ever played Rise of the Dragon has left without their clothes on. And figuring out how to dress is not obvious either.

~12:00 I think Willy's mom being "hot" might be a reference to movies where the guy can be average/schlubby but the woman is almost always smoking hot.

~23:00 The only place where I got stuck is the mansion near the end. I needed to put the tablecloth near the suit of armor, not click on it. <groan>

26:45 I never saw The Lost Boys, so I didn't catch the reference. The whole sequence is odd. And it ends up being all a dream, I guess? A vampire is abit out of the blue, but then Willy does talk to the ghost of his grandfather.

43:00 Was that Moxie May?

~45:00 I remember using the hairspray on the bat-babysitter. Looking at a walkthrough, I guess the fire ants are a red herring.

47:00 Again, from a walkthough, the hypnotism phrase is in the manual. I'm not sure what "Hoopa Coiler Agamemnon" is supposed to mean. Seems like a missed opportunity for a joke. One of the incorrect phrases mentions Lorem ipsum which is actually kind of funny.

57:00 It is kind of odd that the solution to the problem is the fact that you just so happen to have a winning lottery ticket.

I'm still puzzled that the factory turns sewage into artificial sweetener, but nothing is really done with it. It's not a secret so there's no point where it is revealed and people are horrified, and as a joke they don't really do anything with it. It just... is. Kind of like this game.

[Tawmis]

I was not a fan of Willy Beamish.

We are aligned.

As I said in the video, I'd probably never play this game again.

Other than, when I want to do "Walk Through Videos" rather than "Play Through Videos" - but for the Walk Through Videos, I'd be using a walk through so it's actually useful.

The game itself was frustrating, as you pointed out. Lots of places where you have a few seconds to get out of a situation, try something, fail, and do over again. And lots of red herrings you end up having to try. I can only image how much more frustrating this must have been when playing on 1992 hardware.

I felt like the fire ants on the security guard was the solution - and it actually did something... but doesn't actually work.
So there were times, like that, where I was looking at things in my inventory I hadn't used yet, to try and use.
Same thing with the "gang" - I tried to throw the fire ants at them, but it doesn't even do anything, but return to the bottom left screen.

6:20 I looked at a walkthrough. Apparently, tucking you sister in a night will lower the meter.

Ah, I don't even know when that opportunity appeared? Unless I missed it in my play through.

Still feel like feeding the dog and walking the dog should also lower it, as should the time you play with your sister in the backyard.

7:20 I've played games from Sierra, Lucasarts, and Tsunami, and for some reason Dynamix games have the most baffling difficult interface out of all of them. I probably mentioned before how everyone who has ever played Rise of the Dragon has left without their clothes on. And figuring out how to dress is not obvious either.

Yeah, I am not a fan of the interface - or even, what one might call a lack of an interface.
The fact that there isn't responses to items trying to be used is also frustrating... because, like the whole putting the frog on the hopscoth needs to be on a very specific spot... dialogue would help... like the time I wasted trying to give the man near the fountain my money... or when I tried to throw the fire ants at the gang... how hard would it have been to put up a window, "That doesn't work like that" or something?

~23:00 The only place where I got stuck is the mansion near the end. I needed to put the tablecloth near the suit of armor, not click on it. <groan>

Yeah that had me also. Well, first couple of times, I thought I was just clicking in the wrong place (again, similar to trying to put the frog on the hop scotch thing) - so I tried a few times clicking around the hand. Then when I got the blanket, I thought I had to wrap it AROUND the glove, and then he threw it on the floor?!? And HOW does a blanket silence armor collapsing like that? That's.... that's not even possible.

26:45 I never saw The Lost Boys, so I didn't catch the reference. The whole sequence is odd. And it ends up being all a dream, I guess? A vampire is abit out of the blue, but then Willy does talk to the ghost of his grandfather.

You've never seen LOST BOYS?!?!??!

I highly recommend it. Great vampire movie. Very fun too.

And yeah, I can't imagine it's a dream, or else why would the game end when she carries you away? I feel like you'd just wake up.

43:00 Was that Moxie May?

Hahahahahhaha! I had not caught that that she made it in the recording. Yes, that was her, then Penny Lane barking in the background.

~45:00 I remember using the hairspray on the bat-babysitter. Looking at a walkthrough, I guess the fire ants are a red herring.

?!?!? When do you use the hair spray on the bat-babysitter? I had thought it was going to be hairspray + a lighter (because that was a big thing in the 80s)...

47:00 Again, from a walkthough, the hypnotism phrase is in the manual. I'm not sure what "Hoopa Coiler Agamemnon" is supposed to mean.

OK, so that's on me for not reading the manual.

57:00 It is kind of odd that the solution to the problem is the fact that you just so happen to have a winning lottery ticket.

Yes. Freaking stupid. Because there's time Willy reaches "The End" and things don't go well and indicate you're essentially homeless ... but you would have won 40 million still because that Lotto ticket is gotten pretty early on...

I'm still puzzled that the factory turns sewage into artificial sweetener, but nothing is really done with it. It's not a secret so there's no point where it is revealed and people are horrified, and as a joke they don't really do anything with it. It just... is. Kind of like this game.

That's this game for ya, as you said....

[notbobsmith]

26:45 I never saw The Lost Boys, so I didn't catch the reference. The whole sequence is odd. And it ends up being all a dream, I guess? A vampire is abit out of the blue, but then Willy does talk to the ghost of his grandfather.

You've never seen LOST BOYS?!?!??!

I highly recommend it. Great vampire movie. Very fun too.

And yeah, I can't imagine it's a dream, or else why would the game end when she carries you away? I feel like you'd just wake up.

I think when it's over Willy wakes up sick in bed, so I guess it was supposed to be a fever dream. (29:55 in your video). Unless the vampire made him sick somehow. Dream or no, the whole sequence is strange and comes out of nowhere.

~45:00 I remember using the hairspray on the bat-babysitter. Looking at a walkthrough, I guess the fire ants are a red herring.

?!?!? When do you use the hair spray on the bat-babysitter? I had thought it was going to be hairspray + a lighter (because that was a big thing in the 80s)...

I seem to remember spraying her as she chases you. I buys time. I suppose it's another red herring. The spray helps, but doesn't actually defeat her.

[Tawmis]

I think when it's over Willy wakes up sick in bed, so I guess it was supposed to be a fever dream. (29:55 in your video). Unless the vampire made him sick somehow. Dream or no, the whole sequence is strange and comes out of nowhere.

Yeah, I remember the parents saying he had a fever dream or whatever... but I also took that as dialogue that the notion that the baby sitter being a vampire was too ludicrous and the parents just think Willy got sick.

Because if we go with the fever dream - does that mean that entire sequence from the baby sitter's arrival to when he wakes up is all a dream? That there was never a babysitter? He'd fallen asleep the night before and the entire thing from the baby sitter's arrival to him waking up was a dream?

As you said, just... comes out of nowhere.

I seem to remember spraying her as she chases you. I buys time. I suppose it's another red herring. The spray helps, but doesn't actually defeat her.

Ah, makes sense. I was thinking I'd find a lighter somewhere and burn it using the hair spray.

[Rath Darkblade]

I'm late to this thread (as usual) ...

Tawm, you have far greater patience than I do. I never finished this game (or any other Dynamix game), but I remember playing this one when I was in school. Boy, was it ever frustrating. I remember getting through the first day after dying a few times, at which point I thought "You know what? This is boring, it's not funny, Willy's sister is a brat and everyone is out to get him. Let's play something else."

Did you feel that way too? Just wondering.

[Tawmis]

I'm late to this thread (as usual) ...

Tawm, you have far greater patience than I do. I never finished this game (or any other Dynamix game), but I remember playing this one when I was in school. Boy, was it ever frustrating. I remember getting through the first day after dying a few times, at which point I thought "You know what? This is boring, it's not funny, Willy's sister is a brat and everyone is out to get him. Let's play something else."

Did you feel that way too? Just wondering.

Hah, yes. I express quite a bit of frustration (and lack of enjoyment) in my commentary video.

[notbobsmith]

Same here. It was never on my radar when it came out. I only played it after GOG released it as part of my "Choose My Next Adventure" as one of the games I'd never played. I pretty much forced my way through it.