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intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Wed Oct 24, 2018 9:19 am

I mentioned this over on Twitter last night, but this week I finally finished getting my boxed copy of Loom complete.
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A couple of years ago I lucked into the boxed copy from a donation I was beyond fortunate to receive. The box is freaking mint. And all of the paperwork is inside it. (And there is a lot.)
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Just a small sampling of the contents.

The only thing you sometimes find in the paperwork with adventure games like this are old hand-written notes here and there. And honestly I don't find those to be a problem; I actually enjoy seeing them. Those notes take me back to a time when I would have done the same - not thinking one iota of "holy shit, in 30 years this game will be worth something!" Back to a time when you just really wanted to finish a game you were deeply devoted to.
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I love finding notes (pun not intended) in these old manuals.

Anyway, I I had everything except for the highly coveted cassette tape. The Loom package is a lot like one of the better Infocom titles that came with "feelies". Loom goes all out with multiple pamphlets and books, the tape and even a special plastic viewer to help you read secret clues in some of the paperwork.

I've been on a search for that tape for a couple of years now. I've seen a few wise men on Ebay trying to sell the thing (CIB) for over $400. I mean, really? Really? That being said the games are no longer listed so maybe they actually sold. But I can't believe that. I imagine they finally just took them down and put the games back into a plastic bag and on a shelf somewhere.
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I didn't want to play Loom all the way through until I'd found the entire package. I'm a dork like that. Oh, I've played the game don't get me wrong. But I wasn't All In. Not being in any crazy rush, I knew I was going to wait until that day came along when I finally found the danged tape, which I'm almost afraid to play now! Hah. I do have a cassette player, but will likely clean the head before I give it a go.
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Anyway, this long journey has finally come to an end. Feels really good.

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McTrinsic

Posted Thu Oct 25, 2018 10:26 am

Awesome!

Any chance to upload these asmp3s somewhere?

Would be really cool to listen to those.

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intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Thu Oct 25, 2018 11:02 am

Someone has posted the "audio drama" to YouTube.

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LambdaCalculus
New Jersey, USA

Posted Mon Oct 29, 2018 6:59 am

This is one game I seriously would love to have another physical version of. I felt so bamboozled because the disk version, which we got for PC, Amiga, Atari ST, and Mac, is far superior to the later PC CD release (note: the FM Towns and PC Engine CD ports are *not* the same as the PC CD release!)

Why bamboozled? Years ago, I bought a copy of the DOS version secondhand from a shop in NYC, and the box was very clearly labeled to be the floppy disk version, with EGA graphics and all. The box was also re-shrinkwrapped, as was most of the merchandise at this shop. But when I later opened the box to check out the contents, I found that someone instead slipped the CD version into the box! I initially accepted it at first, but finding out later that the dialogue was severely cut from the disk version, and with tons of weird technical choices made, such as having ALL of the music and dialogue on one very large audio track on the disk, which causes tons of skips, stutters, and pauses while the CD is accessing all of it, really did spoil a lot of the experience of such a beautiful game. The CD version also didn't come with a manual or the cassette tape, but the audio drama was included on a second CD, and about one of the few pluses is that the spoken dialogue in the game featured all of the actors from the drama reprising their roles.

One of my good friends, Anatoly "DOS Nostalgia" Shashkin, did a very comprehensive video about the differences between the original disk version of Loom and the CD version, which is available to view on YouTube.





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