Playdate: Tender Loving Care (04/14/2017)

Kathyrin took advantage of Michael when she had sex with him in order to control him. She abused her position as a therapist when she did that.

The actress playing the nurse.

I ... I ... bought the game.

Yep, this goes places. Haven't seen all the endings (although that's pretty easy as everything is video files sitting in a folder) but the one I got was full on bad 90s psychological thriller.

Some of it is kinda unpleasant though. As the guys said, the game is trying to cash cheques without that kind of money in the bank.

Rewatching this episode and just realized that the etch a sketch wasn't two furries humping. It's a furry cat laying across the lap of the other furry thing and getting spanked.

If that etch a sketch was from when the daughter was alive then it might suggest abuse. It becomes more plausible when you take into account how much of an asshole the father is.

Skip nudity? Why, I never!

I am pretty sure this is the precursor to some of the Jackbox Party Games.

@pillclinton: I think he's saying to skip to the nudity.

Are we sure this isn't the origin story of Micheal Bolton? Man, what a downgrade, huh. Going from having your very own office to sharing a cubicle. Shame about his loss of perfect vision, too. Poor Micheal...

@blacklagoon: From the game's title screen, I thought the game was going to have Capt. Lockley from B5 season 5. But you're right, she has a definite Talia vibe going on.

You guys should try Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller sometime. I remember liking it a lot as a kid, but I bet it is terrible.

Loved this.

Again, this is the best.

This game... I was actually astounded by how downright terrible it is. I imagine John Hurt realized this, but considering his fee I think he probably thought not many people would see it anyway. This game throws together mental health, erotica and horror in a completely insane combination that just doesn't work on any level.

Supposedly the quizzes (though only John Hurt's questions, not the other ones) influence three things: 1) Which ending you get, 2) Which variation of the key scenes you get, and 3) How much nudity you see (including some scenes cutting off early or going longer).

So I wonder: Is there a story variation where Mike isn't an asshole (and this is all GBE's fault) or is always like this? And was that sex scene at the end already at max nudity? Because it seemed like the guys weren't always picking the horniest answers, but that scene was maybe one second away from showing it.

The daughter's age disparity Dan brought up in the doctor's office reminded me of Silent Hill 2 and a little of Silent Hill 3. It was attempt to mess with the player's chronology and create the sense of delusion within the character.

Of course Tender Loving Care is not sophisticated enough to do that and it might be a continuity mistake in the writing. I know that somebody brought this up but this interactive movie reminds me of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.

The actress who plays Katherine, Beth Tegarden passed away in 2014.

C'mon, friendo. The game's handling of the material *is* pretty stupid.

I once did two runthroughs of the game, one where I answered naturally, and one where I answered the opposite of that (including horny answers). The big difference sexwise was that in (***spoiler alert***) later sex scenes, more was shown - the scenes would be extended to show breasts etc. where they'd just cut away before that in my normal playthrough. (I don't remember what, if any, differences there were to the scene we just saw, unfortunately.) There are other differences to how scenes run depending on certain questions - like, if you answer "no" to "Are girls smarter than boys?", Kathryn acts more deferent in the following scene, or (in a bizarre choice) if you answer questions about kids positively, you get to see more of the auto accident with the dead, bloodied child. The character behavior was largely the same, though. A few choice lines might be present or not present depending on the guys' answers, but I don't think there's a version where Mike's not a jerk.

I assume that would have been Crystal Dynamics' Off-World Interceptor. They ended up hiring two comedians to MST3K the games FMV sequences in the final game.

This thing straddles, so many lines.

• I have seen worse acting & line delivery in FMV games. The acting, while dinner theater level, is better than 90% of FMV games.
• They story is in need of revision, and they are telling the story poorly and delivering "the mystery" poorly. I cannot say I can see what this story is trying to say at all. Yet, I have seens worse.
• I have seen worse erotica in games, again this game is probably 90% better than most erotic games. It is painfully bad for teasing; its attempts at naughty glances down blouses come off as comical. The lines of dialogue with innuendo are delivered without innuendo.
• The players point of view is a HUGE mistake. The player being an acknowledged character among the characters sometimes, but sometimes not, screws up the game!
• The substance of the gameplay or interaction for the player is the tests, right? Yet, I think they are not tieing-back enough, your answers, do not pay off. Second there are too few clues to find and not spot to put clues together.

The problem seems to be how "almost" competent it is in some parts. Instead of laughing at how bad it is, we are left thinking it could have been better if they tweaked it or took another take. While everything is better than most FMV games it lacks any charm they could form from it being a total laughable disaster. The POV problems and the lack of clue finding and solving what is going on makes for a game without a game to be played.

What they game needed:

1. Who the player is is totally unsatisfactory. The other actors "should not" break the 4th wall to talk to YOU in this story. "Who are you talking too? Why are you there? How is it you are seeing this from this vantage point?," as questions come up constantly.
2. The story needed work, but not even having seen half of it it hard to say 'what' work. I can't imagine what story they are trying to tell or the point of the story. The character motivations are all over the place from scene to scene, and not in a plot twist way.
3. A game like this needs clues to find and putting together. That lack of clues to find if frustrating, there is so little interactivity. The game needs gameplay from two sources ONE: clues to find, arrange and solve. TWO: The psychological tests you take should pay off with things you see. (Until Dawn used such testes to mess with you....they pay off.)
4. Some erotic parts are actually okay. However, the game is bad at teasing or titillation, only when it goes full monty does it work. The game needs some in between-in scene of teasing sexyness. Again the point of view of the payer being so messed up makes some encounter they wanted to be sexy not sexy at all.

Welcome to the Penis Farm where the grass is green and the girls are pretty oh won't you stick in the ho e ole yeah e yeah

This game has zero redeeming qualities. This game actually bothers me. The guys made it funny at least.

What format are the video files in? I'm kind of tempted to buy this solely to see how much variety there is in there based on your choices.

EDIT: Never mind. I bought the game and saw that they're in .webm format. I watched the remaining videos. Pretty interesting. I'm not sure if I'll play the game to see how it analyzes me, but I think I got my money's worth from watching the remaining videos and the alternative paths.

Yeah. And the circumstances surrounding her death do not sound good at all.

Yes, @vinny you are correct. Videos like this ARE the reason I'm a premium member. Can't wait for part 3, really funny stuff!

Oh god I lost it at the farm question on the test.

Kylo Ren origins

The stereoscopic images are very easy for me. You just have to have good control at slowly crossing your eyes.

I am looking forward to the ending. This nonsense has brought me joy. What can I say, work sucks right now.

The beastcast should come up with their own softcore erotica based on TLC for next time. Actually they should do it for every game they play.

@homeslice: Where is the info on what happened? I don't see anything on her IMDB.

Lol, either I was really damn tired last night, or they changed the video notes. Because I could have sworn on me mum it said skip the nudity. Well, now it's more my speeeeeeeeeeed. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Why does the white line above the game feed bug me so much?

I kinda like Baron Munchausen....anyone else?

Any details on these circumstances? Google isn't showing me shit.

I clicked on this video because of the thumbnail, psychoanalyze me

@gyoru said:

My favorite part was when John Hurt broke character.

I super appreciate the Sneaker Pimps reference, @vinny.

@bezerker285: Those are two pretty different topics and it's funny how far some language has come in a short time. There were many terms widely used for trans people only a few years ago I can think of that now I think would be frowned upon by most.

Also I would say Alex is probably the most sensitive. I think Vinny maybe has taken some from him and Dan on the topic.

Personally, I feel like @monthly that having some kind of warning is silly. You could put that before man most fiction that has anything to do with the subject. Or any videogame with violence in it. I have Depression and Anxiety and say that. Personally I think the East guys are overly sensitive discussing stuff like this and prefacing it but I know some are more sensitive to it.

Yeah really. I hope everyone who is in shock here goes into the FMVinny archives or checks out any number of old FMV games. Many were done by kind of low rent movie makers and actors but this is still better than lots of what you would see. Also, released in 98, later too though than many in the hey day of FMV.

Alex's "10 percent happier" joke was perfect and underrated.

This has been hilarious, the three of them have been on fire with their jokes for this one.

@bezerker285: I think you're maybe referring to some of the stuff with Naoto in the P4 ER, as well as Thomas in Deadly Premonition, but I think Vinny's just being more responsible regarding that stuff over the last few years. Having worked closely with Alex for a few years now at GBEast, who has a more personal connection with mental health issues as someone who has had experience in regards to his own problems.

I think it just comes down to Vinny learning more about other people and their experiences in life, and having himself try to be more considerate regarding such topics.

They can litter the whole website with warnings as long as it doesn't cut into the video production. If I don't need the warning I don't just click past it and it doesn't impact me to such an extent I have to play around at starting a weird left/alt-right conversation in the comments section about it.

I think it's safe to expect all of these FMV games to be terrible about everything they depict but I'll take the heads-up all the same.

My favorite parts of this are when Dan "bachelor in film" Ryckert takes issue with the scenes' editing. DAN YOU SHOULD MAKE A SHORT FILM I BET IT'D BE NEAT

Edit: This whole damn thing is a great highlight of how POORLY mental illness was portrayed in the 90's. Very uncomfortable and funny in a "what in the fuck!" kind of way. I'm glad they're keeping this series going, it is fascinatingly bad.

Is it time to hug my shame boy again?

Oh jesus christ are they gonna use the handicapped kid to recreate the accident? That's exactly the sort of fucked up thing I can see this game doing.

christ that bird story

This is by far the weirdest TellTale game yet!!

Interesting video, glad they didn't shy away from doing something weird like this.

also lol I know you guys were trying to not hurt some feelings with the adam and eve thing but c'mon