Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
213,684
edits
m (cleanup categories) |
m (added Category:Zehn Adventures using HotCat) |
||
(11 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown) | |||
Line 2:
[[File:Loom_Cover_Art_9884.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|
'''''Loom''''' is an epic fantasy [[Adventure Game]], released by [[
However, eventually the Weavers discover that their numbers are dwindling and their seed is barren (probably due to inbreeding), and Lady [[Prophetic Name|Cygna]] Threadbare decides to take it upon herself to plant a thread of her creation into the Loom and, inadvertently, draws an unforeseen infant out of it, whom she surrenders to an old serving woman's care as she is banished from the village, as well as the mortal world, by [[Ascend to
The planting of the gray thread has thrown the entire pattern of the Loom into chaos, and the Loom-child, named Bobbin by his caretaker, grows up shunned by the rest of his village. On his seventeenth birthday, as the Guild's rulers are about to reach a consensus on what to do with Bobbin, a swan appears in the village and transforms everyone but Bobbin into a swan. Hetchel tells him that the pattern is about to fall apart and he'll have to join the swans before it's too late. From thereon Bobbin sets out on a voyage into the world outside Loom Island, with grave consequences...
Line 16:
The challenge of the puzzles was mostly in figuring out which drafts to use and how: Some drafts could also be played backwards for the reverse effect. Unusually for an adventure game, the game also boasted three difficulty levels which would change the interface of the Distaff: the highest difficulty level required players to play all the notes by ear.
[[Digital Distribution|The CD version is available for purchase off of Steam.]]
{{tropelist}}▼
▲{{tropelist}}
* [[Adaptation Dye Job]]: In the versions of the game with the original (voiceless) dialogue, Fleece the shepherdess has blue eyes. In the rewritten PC talkie CD, she has green eyes.
* [[All There in the Manual]]: some versions of the game [[Feelies|came shipped with an audio casette]] containing a thirty-minute audio drama that tells the game's backstory.
* [[Animorphism]]: At the beginning of the game, the protagonist's foster mother and the village elders get transformed into swans.▼
* [[Ambiguous Gender]]: Chaos, the ultimate [[Big Bad]] of the game, is an undead demonic [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] with no clear gender. Not even the game's developers were sure: in the original release of the game Chaos is referred to arbitrarily as "he" by other characters, but it became "she" in the later talkie upgrade.
▲* [[Animorphism]]: At the beginning of the game, the protagonist's foster mother and the village elders get transformed into swans.
* [[Apocalypse Maiden]]
* [[Ascend to
** [[Stealth Pun]]: What's the last musical spell you use in the game? {{spoiler|The swan song
* [[Back
* [[Bigger
* [[Black Comedy]]: The haunting music and [[Crapsack World]] setting obscure some of the humor in what is ultimately a very funny game.
* [[Boring but Practical]]
* [[Brown Note]]: It is said to be death to look upon the face of the [[In the Hood|perpetually hooded]] Weavers. {{spoiler|Turns out, it's true
* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: The Scythe the Glassmakers are sharpening to protect them in case Bishop Mandible attacks them.
* [[Convection, Schmonvection]]: The city of the Blacksmiths, the Forge, is a castle protected by a moat filled with molten metal (and the drawbridge seems to be made of iron). Nobody feels any kind of discomfort when crossing it. Then there is Hetchel who {{spoiler|flies into a furnace through one of its pipes to retrieve Bobbin's distaff}}. She comments that she "must not singe the feathers" but otherwise seems to be unharmed.
* [[Crystal Ball]]: Spheres of Scrying, which give the gazer a glimpse into their future with little to no context.
* [[Domed Hometown]]: The Guild of Glass Makers.
* [[Doomed Hometown]]: Weaver Island, as well as
* [[Dream Melody]]: C' - F - G - C.
* [[Dummied Out]]: An early screenshot showed a room in the Glassmakers' City with three giant sandglasses, two of which had run out and were sealed up; the last one was open at the top and a worker was pouring sand into it to keep it running. The three sandglasses of course represent
** The existence of a puzzle can be deduced:
* [[Evil Is Hammy]]: Bishop Mandible and Chaos.
* [[Evil Is Not a Toy]]: Bishop Mandible attempts to summon Chaos from the realm of the dead.
* [[The Faceless]]:
** The Weavers generally remain hooded due to the danger in removing their hoods. When one character tries to unhood the protagonist, the scene [[Gory Discretion Shot|suddenly cuts to somewhere else]] (and in the highest difficulty level, is obscured by a flash of light) and the player sees [[Nothing Is Scarier]].
{{quote|
** Bishop Mandible complains that he can't do his important work with all this ''screaming'' distracting him. Cob did ''not'' go quietly.
** [[The Blank]]: Implied by Bobbin.
{{quote|
'''Bobbin''': If you fear Nothing, then you'd better not touch me.
* [[Fractured Fairy Tale]]: The game has a very dark but ultimately cathartic story that uses fairy tale tropes in very unusual ways.
* [[Gainax Ending]]: Even with the [[Left Hanging]] stuff, the ending makes some sense until
* [[The Grim Reaper]]: The game implies that our image for the Grim Reaper comes from
* [[Hidden Elf Village]]: The Guild of Weavers.
* [[If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him]]: The Glassmakers are afraid to use the Great Scythe because it will turn them as evil as their enemy.
Line 60:
* [[Magic Music]]: Every spell (or "draft") in the game is composed of four notes on the C-major scale, which Bobbin must "spin" with his distaff.
* [[Meaningful Name]]: Lady Cygna. "Cygnus" is Latin for swan.
** Also, a bobbin is a component of a sewing machine around which thread is wound, and the briefly-seen elders of the weavers' guild are named after the Fates of Greek myth, who wove threads corresponding to mortals' lives.
* [[Messianic Archetype]]: Bobbin was miraculously born from the Loom itself, {{spoiler|and can resurrect people
* [[Now Do It Again Backwards]]
** It's implied that Bobbin is the first to figure out that this is possible: the manual makes no mention of reversing drafts, and Bobbin is genuinely surprised when he finds out it's possible.
* [[Our Dragons Are Different]]: The game's dragon is female, afraid of fire, loves mutton and speaks with a Cockney accent.
* [[Planet of Hats]]: Each guild is this, having the traits of their chosen craft as their distinguishing characteristics.
* [[Public Domain Soundtrack]]: All the music in the game is from Tchaikovsky's ''[[Swan Lake]]''.
* [[Rewarded
* [[Shout-Out]]:
** Several PC games after ''Loom'', made by [[
** The ''[[Space Quest]]'' series has a rather nasty [[Take That]] aimed at the game: the game features a [[Game Within a Game]] called ''Boom'', which satirizes the simplified interface of ''Loom'' by having no interface or interactivity at all.
** The home of the Glass Makers evokes imagery of the Emerald City from ''[[The Wizard of Oz (
* [[Sinister Minister]]: Bishop Mandible.
* [[Songs in the Key of Lock]]: All of the drafts are [[Magic Music]] spells that Bobbin uses to solve puzzles, but Opening especially qualifies as a literal, universal example. It's the first draft Bobbin learns and the notes are always E-C-E-D.
* [[Stable Time Loop]]:
* [[Swans-a-Swimming]]: Swans play an important role in this game.
* [[Theme Naming]]: All guild members have names related to their professions, such as Threadbare, Goodmold, or Nailbender.
* [[Unwinnable]]: If you didn't write down the notes for the drafts or don't consult a walkthrough, you'll get stuck and need to revert to an earlier point.
* [[Updated Rerelease]]: The CD version, which featured a full CD-quality talkie soundtrack, although [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks|much of the previous versions' dialogue, animations, portraits and music were cut]] to fit the whole thing on one disc. Notably, the abbreviated talkie version's script was edited by [[Orson Scott Card]].
* [[Voice of the Legion]]: Chaos talks like this.
* [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?]]: Beautifully subverted with the Dyeing draft. Bobbin '''really''' hates how he can only make objects green, but it helps him save a flock of sheep later.
* [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?]]: The dragon is afraid of fire, despite being its [[Breath Weapon]].
* [[Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?]]: Averted. Mandible doesn't kill Bobbin because he needs Bobbin to demonstrate the Opening Draft, and Chaos doesn't kill Bobbin because he needs Bobbin to demonstrate how the Loom works.
Line 88:
{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:The Nineties]]
[[Category:Adventure Game]]
[[Category:Fantasy Video Games]]
[[Category:Loom]]▼
[[Category:Video Game]]
[[Category:Loom (video game)]]
[[Category:Apple Macintosh]]
[[Category:Amiga]]
[[Category:Atari ST]]
[[Category:Microsoft Windows]]
[[Category:Steam]]
[[Category:GOG.com]]
[[Category:Lucas Arts]]
[[Category:Zehn Adventures]]
|