OK, I finished the game. What happened? I thought one thing happened to me, then I'm talking? I really feel stupid!
Thanks,
eastnc

I too have finished the game. I felt the only obscure clue part was the one using the mirror. No reference was given for that solution..I thought it was very off course. The end of the game was perplexing and could have been done much better than it was. Not quite as satisfying as I would have thought it could have been. On the whole I would suggest the game and I did enjoy it but was disappointed in the way the end was handled. looking forward to more games though.

Hi eastnc I edited your topic to include possible spoilers.
I think I know what you're talking about, but it happens really fast.
SPOILER...
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You are stumbling backwards very quickly, and the door closes between you and the other.

I just started Scratches and I have to say that I am quite underwhelmed. I know we do a lot of wandering around in adventure games but it's usually to pick up clues and tackle puzzle. So far I've wandered from the attic to the basement and am BORED. Hopefully, this picks up soon otherwise this will be heading to the garbage bin.

tuesday next

I'm nearly done with Scratches and am thoroughly enjoying it. I found myself completely involved and, unlike TuesdayNext, not at all bored. (No offence.. different strokes...) but I have been struck with an odd thought. As an English teacher for over thirty years, I couldn't help but wonder how many young American gamers have never seen a bicycle tire generator and have no idea what a 'dynamo' is?

I dont know what a dynamo is either, and I'm not a young american. Is a bicycle tire generator the same thing as a pump? for flat tires?

I finished it this morning and really enjoyed it. I was creeped out by the music more than anything. It really made the atmosphere. I would have liked a more clear cut ending, but trying to guess what actually happened to all the characters involved was fun, also.

Jean

I finished this the other day and really enjoyed it. I was so happy to finally have a scary game to play. I do have to say that it wasn't the scariest game I've ever played as others have stated. (This is not a bad thing, I just thought I'd mention it.) The music was perfect, and really added to the suspense. The voice acting was also great.

Really, the only complaint I have about the game (other than how long it took to finally be released! ) was the fact that it was so very hard to see things. My screen was so dark, and for some reason I couldn't make it brighter by tinkering with the monitor controls. I'm pretty sure I missed out on some things because of this, especially at the end when I found the source of the noises. I also didn't really see what happened in the dream when I went into the room with the pilfered mask. What exactly happened when I turned around and went back out the door. I heard the sinister music, but saw nothing due to the how dark the screen was.

I look forward to any future games that Nucleosys plans to put out. Hopefully since Scratches seems to be doing so well, they will now have the means to make more games without that long delay that Scratches seemed to suffer.

Dawn :kiss:

Rael mentioned that: you can control the camera speed and brightness via F9 and F12 respectively.

Maybe that will help on replays. It's a great game.

Haze, I had an old Schwinn bike that had a dynamo light on it. I remember if you coasted too long how the light would dim. It certainly kept you peddling in the dark. My son knew what it was and does (he's 16) but just not the name of it.

Ana

Hey All

I was very disappointed with the ending of this game.........Scary and then nothing it ends.It was almost like the writer of the game didn't know how to end it..What gives with that.

Who was that guy in the basement.I guess it was nutty: Mr. Black wood. The BEST part of this game was the sounds effects through out the game.That was the BEST part of the game.The Gamma was much too dark for half blind people like me I had to put my glasses on several times to see that the cables from the bike to the battery was connected..Oh Well...Maybe Keepsake will be a great game for me.


Darleen

I remember that my son had to create a science project using a dynamo generator and a bicycle
the harder you peddled the bright the lamp bulb would burn which was attached to it.

--- The games brightness can be controlled by utilitizing the f9 and f12 keys as stated in the manual -- which is on the CD. --- For all of you who having finished the game but are having trouble seeing things ---> Try playing the game in the dark --> the screen will be much brighter.

Spoiler Alert
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Mr. Blackwood died and is hanging out in the Crypt --- So who was that thing in the basement? --- here a hint --- New Jersey has one, and he was born 300 hundred years ago --- his mother's name was "Leeds" --- now, unlike the "Strange Child" born to Mrs. Leeds in Jersey, this one has no wings -- no head shaped like a horse --- and no wings or cloven feet... So, again a ask --- well then who is he?? And I answer, it's 20 odd years later --- I guess he got tired of waiting for the good Doctor to drop his raw meat through the grating --- probabkly never tasted as sweet as his mother's neck any way... now can you guess?

Nickie is correct, Michael quickly stumbles out past the heavy door to saftey... Leaving whatever it was to remain ... alone.

inferno

No Fair, Inferno! No Fair! First I play Scratches and perceive it as a subtle , rather grown up and thought-provoking game. This means I can't sleep because I'm thinking about it. Then you bring up "Mrs. Leeds" and New Jersey as though that should make sense even though I had not neard of Mrs. Leeds and haven't been in New Jersey for 30 years. Finally, Sue seems to provide a an answer to you with "CYE", which doesn't help me at all. All in all, it took a long night of 'Googling" to sort out your references; I got little sleep; and my first hour English class had to deal with aging, weary, surliness. "Ain't gamin' a wonderful thang?"

Ahhhhh my dear sweet The Haze --- but now after your google search ---> surely you now know the secret of what HP Lovecraftian Horror walks silently alone along the lonely halls of Blackwood Manor and that it might have very well been a distant cousin of the "Leed's Child" sans winged arm, hoofed feet and equine head. ---- You know, this reminds me of something that actually happened to my dearest cousins and I one snowy night when we were lost in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. (Where some say that after 200 years of urban legend, The Leed's Child still rides the night sky....) If anything --- just think of the papers you could assign to your English class....and the comparisons you could make between The Leed's Child --- his real name --- and the Scratches Abhoration.

inferno

Good Morning; I Thought I'd add more 'stuff' to this thread. First, I have a question. Can someone tell me: what are the orange circular things which appear in the lower right center of the screen during the credits. They're seen through a rain-smeared window. Next, am I the only one who thought it was really clever that H. P. Lovecraft got his name in the credits. Finally, for Inferno and others who follow her train of thought; Hornung, Doyle and Dickens (All considered Victorian writers!) often used "Old Scratch" as a euphemism for ........" Is that pertinent?

I just finished it. I don't understand - if "I" made the magical amulet and used it on that mask - why is there still a 'demon'? running around in the basement? And I assume that hole to the outside yard it dug (that was the scratching noises we heard?) means that it escaped to the outside world thru it and is roaming around somewhere? Does this mean there will be another game where it/he/she shows up later, like a sequel? with its further "adventures"? What do you think?
Love, Betty Lou :kiss:

I enjoyed this game but found the ending unsatisfactory. What really irritated me was the very un-English way of posting letters. Personally I would have been out of that house on foot if necessary.

So is the ghoulie the disappeared doctor or James Blackwood? The skelly in James' crypt could be anyone.
And who was feeding the ghoulie?

And in the boiler to that other secret room, the shadow I saw did not look like this ghoulie we see at the end, it looked like a young man about 25 or 30 years old - who was THAT?
Love, Betty Lou
So many questions, who has all the answers, please?

What if... the small coffin in the Crypt (the one with the R beneath it) was actually empty?

Thanks Mag. That does tie it together and the speculations are probably all correct. Did not think along those lines. Now for some more reading (a Nora Roberts trilogy) and maybe replay the game in a day or two. Good storyline. This is one of Jonathon Boakes' haunting stories, isn't it? My memory is slipping a bit now and then.
Love, Betty Lou :kiss:

I was disappointed too!

Likes: The colouring of the game / Music and voice acting. The creepy feeling in the *SPOILER* baby's room.

Dislikes: Being alone all of the time, the monotony of walking up and down those stairs, and thinking it was going to be scary BUT IT WASN'T. I jumped once when the *SPOILER* figure passed in front of the furnace window but the MASK didn't scare me at all... I actually laughed because it was pretty pathetic looking with the combination of the music. Like it was trying too hard to be be scary.

I wanted so bad to meet Jerry, or the Electrician... or SOMEONE other than rotten guy in the basement for 2 seconds at the end.

OH WELL.... maybe they'll create a sequel and listen to us for ways to improve it.

I posted this on JA in regards to the scare factor and thought it appropriate for the current direction of this thread:

Lola, I thought your comment about laughing at the mask was funny. For me, it creeped me out. But then some people get creeped out from blood and gore and seeing someone pulling their intestines across the floor. While they jump and close their eyes, I laugh thinking its comical.

Different strokes.

I think the game makes more sense if you pay attention to the notes that the main character wrote to himself, about writing his new book. At least that was my take on it, and made me think the game was very cleverly done.

I somehow completely missed the 'turn' the storyline took and I DID read all the letters and notes etc. but did not pick up on how the African stuff fit with the supposedly dead baby becoming what it is/was....will have to replay the game and pay more attention to all those notes. One question it poses for me is - Did 'mom' and 'dad' and 'doctor' think this was the curse visited on James for stealing all that African stuff? Just call me confused!
Love, Betty Lou