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Have you seen... this? It's Contradiction, an FMV adventure game!

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LurkerPrime

Member
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So, GAF. Let's talk about a game that blew GB-GAF's minds and captured my attention. It is a game out of time; an anachronism. It is... Contradiction, a Kickstarted FMV adventure game released a week or so ago for PC and iPad. It's made by by a fellow named Tim Follin and his developer, Baggy Cat.


In Contradiction, you play Detective Inspector Jenks (above), trying to solve a murder mystery in a small village, interviewing its people to learn (and solve) the murder that took place. There are many layers to unpeel and secrets to discover. Oh, yes.

The main hook of Contradiction is in the name: you'll gain info by interviewing the village's inhabitants, learning an interviewee's version of events, and occasionally stumbling upon two conflicting pieces of information; connect them, and you'll progress the case. There is also standard adventure game kleptomania and ask-x-about-y'ing. However, more than anything else, the reason to play this game is it's glorious FMV sequences - it's some real memorable stuff.

[This here would be a gif collage but I don't have anything so just use your imagination. It's really great stuff and you're quite impressed.]

If you're still not sure about it, watch Giant Bomb's Quick Look and then buy the game on Steam (~$10) or even iPad ($4.99). Oh, and GB actually has an unprecedented follow-up QL as well that will help you fall in love with the game, not to mention a premium (subscriber) feature about the game, if you're so inclined.

And regarding Giant Bomb's coverage of Contradiction: the developers (Baggy Cat & the actors) really embraced all the attention GB & its community have given it. Just check out Contradiction's subforum on GB to see all the neat behind-the-scenes stuff floating around there, from both the dev and its fans.
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So in review:
Contradiction is an open world adventure game with cutting-edge graphics presenting a multimedia experience unlike any other; forget video games, forget VR, forget everything - just hunker down, enjoy the gamefeel, and find the contradictions.
 
I have now seen this thread.

Very easy to see the actors had a lot of fun performing for this game. The characters take the story seriously, but it's definitely a laid back campy seriousness.
 
My review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmwKlWwkEvY

Easily a game of the year contender for me.
My hope is Tim and his peeps can work in a sequel. I am doing a developer sit down with him at some point just trying to figure out when. Can't wait to talk about some of the stuff that happened. I dig how self taught he is.

LOL at GB covering it. I wonder if they got tired of some of our emails about it to them.
 
game is hilarious and genuinely engaging and hits all the right notes without being coy about it

made by THE tim follin, no less
 
I'm going to admit right now that I have no idea who Tim Follin is. Someone linked this song in a different thread, which a Tim Follins worked on, and if they're the same person then Tim is a very multi-talented individual.
 
This game is incredible. The acting is so over-the-top with it's self-aware seriousness, but you can tell the actors are having a lot of fun. The contradiction systems seems really fun too.
 
Yes. Needs as much publicity as possible.

It starts off as "Oh god this is terrible" due to the weird interface and controls, then you get to the acting and it seems to be "oh god, this is so bad" then it's "Oh, so bad it's good" then when you realise and it clicks it's actually "Wow, this has me intrigued, it's characters are kinda interesting and the acting is great". It's not serious drama acting, but more on stage pantomime acting. It's campy and not too self-serious, it's fun and you can tell the actors had fun with it.

Ken said:
.m/

Why can't I make the horns ahhhm/
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Try using your other hand to hold the fingers in place. Take a moment before throwing out the horns like Jenks does.
 
LurkerPrime said:
I'm going to admit right now that I have no idea who Tim Follin is. Someone linked this song in a different thread, which a Tim Follins worked on, and if they're the same person then Tim is a very multi-talented individual.
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It is and yes he is. I am trying to roll up a developer interview with him right now to talk about the game but also his thoughts on the change in the music scene in games. When he was doing it full time it just didn't get the accolades it deserved. Hell my entire channel is about reviewing games with sound and music being just as important as GFX and obviously I am not the only one. I totally hope he returns to lay down some music for games soon.
 
Two of my favorite fmv games are under a killing moon and GK2. How does this compare? I'm completely familar with the genre as a whole so feel free to make comparisons to other games.
 
vocab said:
Two of my favorite fmv games are under a killing moon and GK2. How does this compare? I'm completely familar with the genre as a whole so feel free to make comparisons to other games.
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I draw some comparisons in my review

If you don't like youtube the breakdown I can give is:
Contradiction is more based around that one particular gameplay system(finding someones contradiction in their stories or in clues around the world). So it is both more fluid but also more contained than either of those games. Even though Tim bags on his programming skills the one nice thing is the game is fairly easy to understand across its hud and its loading is damn near instantaneous which does a lot for atmosphere. Honestly I feel the acting is way better in this than either of those two games even though Under a Killing Moon was one of my favorite FMV games and still is, its more just for the interesting world while Contradiction has taken that spot easily for actual atmosphere and acting.

As others have said Tim has been having issues getting the controls working super well but for me it was basically the asd keys for the most part which...didn't seem all that bad.
 
vocab said:
Two of my favorite fmv games are under a killing moon and GK2. How does this compare? I'm completely familar with the genre as a whole so feel free to make comparisons to other games.
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I haven't actually played many FMV games, so I'd recommend just watching the GB Quick Look. It's roughly the first hour of the game, and will totally sell you on it if you're into that sort of thing. It gets better the longer you play, far as I've seen.

The PC controls are whack though, so just be aware of that before diving in. The QL will outline the game's shortcomings.
Karak said:
It is and yes he is. I am trying to roll up a developer interview with him right now to talk about the game but also his thoughts on the change in the music scene in games. When he was doing it full time it just didn't get the accolades it deserved. Hell my entire channel is about reviewing games with sound and music being just as important as GFX and obviously I am not the only one.
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Very interesting. Thanks!

Multi-talented, then.
 
LurkerPrime said:
and then buy the game on Steam (~$10) or even iPad (no link or price for the latter, sorry).
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$4.99 here [iTunes link]

I saw both those GB QL's but must have missed that this one was also coming to iPad. It's great fun if you have (or have friends with) an Apple TV so that you can push the game to the big screen and all get in on it. It's also only a 635MB iPad download compared to 3GB on PC/Mac. Is that just down to compression?
 
Corpekata said:
It's been on Ipad since January. Nobody seems to have cared though.
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Tim told me in an email he didn't market it at all and Itunes is even worse than Steam obviously when it comes to discovery. Also an FMV on an iPad sounds about as awesome as a bag of pissed off cats. Also that was version 1 at first and Version 5 was the Steam version and now the updated Itunes one.
 
I forgot to add, the GB QL has some bad compression in-game that isn't normally there. They activated some sort of video option that caused it, which is why it looks so awful in some spots. The actual game looks much cleaner.
Fushichou187 said:
$4.99 here [iTunes link]

I saw both those GB QL's but must have missed that this one was also coming to iPad. It's great fun if you have (or have friends with) an Apple TV so that you can push the game to the big screen and all get in on it. It's also only a 635MB iPad download compared to 3GB on PC/Mac. Is that just down to compression?
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Good work on the link - I've added it to the OP.

And re: the size... No idea. It's probably just scaled-down assets due to the smaller screen.
 
Jeevesmeister said:
Have you seen this?
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The dude is amazing.
I love the way he basically combo smashes the liar by breaking down their lie right in front of them then sort of just sits back and watches them try to talk themselves out if it. Its such a great interplay.

Also the actor who playes James is fucking amazing. One or two off moments but I loved his back and forth for some reason.
 
Game is legit amazing.

A lot of the stuff GB laughs at is either terribly made or their own fiction around it.

This is genuinely charming and hilarious with or without GB.

The year of FMV is real!
 
The creator said the actor who played Jenks turned up wearing the hat on the first day of filming and that he didn't have it in the script.

That is hilarious.
 
vocab said:
Two of my favorite fmv games are under a killing moon and GK2. How does this compare? I'm completely familar with the genre as a whole so feel free to make comparisons to other games.
Click to expand...
Mentioned this in the adventure games thread but those are two of the touchstones I'd use, along with British murder mysteries and Phoenix Wright. Not as ambitious as those games and there's some interface issues on PC, but it's highly engaging and definitely captures that 90's FMV vibe.
 
I followed the same trajectory as the GB crew; started by finding it hilarious in a so bad it's good way but I've slowly come around to appreciate on it's own merits. 50-something% in and hugely enjoying the game!
 
I am going to get this game, when I get some money on my bank account. I have been watching the GB videos of it and it's pretty special game.
 
Just bought an iOS copy, I figured it'd play best on an iPad although I'm considering double dipping on PC as well

Game looks pretty amazing from the footage I've watched, I think I'll enjoy this one
 
Oh damn. Sudden warm fuzzies of Gabriel Knight 2. This looks pretty good - Just the right level of overacted to make it feel like it fell out of time from the 90s. Cheap, too. I'll be picking this up as soon as I can budget it in.
 
Looks superb. I wonder if they may go for a console version, it would fit my TV well. (I don't think that it would happen though). Porting this should not be hard, no?
 
The developer posted this yesterday, when asked about an Android port:
Android is a real possibility, I wanted to do it but I ran into video playback problems, but if I can pin down which tablets it works properly on and why then I'll be able to do it, it's certainly possible as the iPad version was created with Titanium Appcelerator, which also ports to Android. [...] an iPhone version is possible, but I'd have to seriously redesign the interface first!
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And about Linux:
I'm struggling with the Linux version because I need to install a fresh copy onto a PC to do it, I've tried running from a USB stick but the permissions are all screwed up so it doesn't work - theoretically it should be easy, I just need to get a laptop I can format and install it on, which I haven't got at the mo - penniless devs, can't even afford an old laptop... :) I'm trying to get it sorted though.
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About a console port:
I would definitely have to get a 'real' programmer in to do an xbox one or ps4 version and it'd have to be rewritten from scratch, so I doubt it'd be possible unfortunately. Might be worth contacting someone though, give them a big cut of the version they make etc.
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Source: http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/contradictionvg/forums/
 
Thanks to GiantBomb, I bought this on iPad over the weekend and have been enjoying playing through it! Currently stuck at 56% and trying to figure out what I'm missing.
 
The QL and its supplementary are both sensational. I look forward to watching the play date when I get a chance. That Tim, Emma and the devs at large have joined in at the GB forums is a glorious cherry on top.

Gaming at its merry best.
 
i am a fan of fmv's (loved tesla effect but then tex was my favorite of the fmv series).

Really happy we are getting more on the genre. Having it on my wishlist and will get it(you know when banks actually open transactions here in greece :P).

Interested about Her as well.
 
Watched the Giant Bomb play this game a few days ago. This scene made me laugh so much: https://youtu.be/4yUJ5qt7tIA?t=32m32s (Mobile users, 32m 30s). Some silly dialogue aside though (which makes the game better in my eyes, but I love FMVs in games) the game actually looks pretty interesting, as someone who likes the Phoenix Wright games. The actors could also be a lot worse, and the scenes are pretty well shot. I was pretty pleasantly surprised and will probably pick the game up soon.
 
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