Visual Novel Review: 80 Days

 When I was a kid, I loved Choose Your Own Adventure books. I loved exploring stories where I got to steer the plot, with varying degrees of success. The illustrations that would occur throughout the books was a nice touch too. Thankfully, there plenty of great examples of interactive fiction that are aimed at older audiences. Many video games have successfully adapted the Chose Your Own Adventure format to electronic form. Where I am going with all of this. Today, we're going to take a look at one of the best examples of interactive fiction I've seen in quite some time. We're taking a look at 80 Days.

80 Days is an adaption of Jules Vernes' classic novel Around the World in Eighty Days. Our story begins in 1872. Passepartout is a French valet recently hired by British gentlemen Phileas Fogg. Fogg has recently taken a bet from his gentlemen's club that he must make it around the world in no more than eighty days. Ah, but there is a twist. You see, this isn't out Victorian era. Rather, it is a steampunk alternate history. Passepartout and Fogg much make their way across this steampunk world using several strange, exotic, and sometimes mundane, modes of transportation. How will they accomplish this? What routes will they take? That's all up to you. The choice is yours, so choose wisely.

I was first introduced to Around the World in Eighty Days when I saw Disney's 2004 adaption starring Steve Coogan and Jackie Chan. I think it was that film which indirectly lead to my interest in steampunk. There actually wasn't that much in the way of steampunk in the film itself, though Fogg was a bumbling inventor, rather than a rich gentleman like in the novel. The film deviates a bit from the novel, often for comedy. Eventually, I did seek out the original novel, which is easily my favorite of Verne's work. So, when I saw this game, I knew I just had to buy it.

Now, let's briefly discuss terminology and classification. After mulling it over I decided to classify 80 Days as a video game, but me being me, I feel that's a bit too simple. More broadly, it falls under the umbrella of Interactive Fiction. As the name suggests, Interactive Fiction is any fictional narrative medium influenced by the choices of the reader/player. The exact degree of interactivity varies. On the high end, you have stuff like the Ace Attorney games; not only do you have different dialogue options, but you must collect evidence and call-out false statements in court. On the low end, you have certain types of Japanese Visual Novels, where the story is pretty linear, and the choices don't really matter, or are for purely aesthetic stuff.

 I would say there is a fair bit of genuine choice and strategizing involved in 80 Days. You have to determine the best route first and foremost. You are presented with options as soon as you arrive at a new city, but you can also quite new routs options by purchasing travel schedules. You also have to watch your budget. Different modes of transportation charge different rates. You also have to spend money on hotels if you stay overnight in a city. You do start off with money, and there are ways to gain more as you go. Each stop has a marketplace where items can be purchased and sold. How much each item sells for depends on where you are. Fortunately, the game does tell you where you can get the most for each item. The items are also important because they affect Fogg's health. Fogg takes health damage no matter what you travel in, but carrying certain items in your suitcase help negate this damage. You can also add to his health by attending to his needs before or during travel. You can also get money by going to the bank, but be careful, because Fogg isn't made out of money, and it will run out if you make too many bank trips. You can earn a bit of money by polishing shoes at hotels. Hey, small drops fill the bucket.

 You care the items with you in a suitcase, and you can purchase more if you run out of room. However, more suitcases will increase the cost of travel, and certain modes of travel limit the amount of luggage you can take with you. Fogg will provide commentary depending on what you choose to carry with you. For example, if you chose to bring a gun at the start, and then purchase another one, Fogg will inquire about just how many guns you think you'll need. If you sell the altimeter, Fogg will inquire about what you've done with his grandfather's altimeter. If you purchase a mirror, Fogg will remark about how it is occupying your attention quite a bit as of late.

Your choices have consequences beyond advancing the story. How you interact with Fogg determines how he will view you. Serve him well, and he will consider you a truly worthy companion that any gentleman would be lucky to have at his side. There are also several characters you have the option of romancing. Oh, and Passepartout is bisexual, so you can romance women or men without issue. Play your cards right, and you can even romance Fogg, but that takes a bit of skill.

 The artwork is very well done. You have a three-dimensional globe that tracks your progress. Your latest mode of transport, as well as famous buildings from the cities you visit, are represented as stylized black and white drawings set against color backdrops. The day-night cycle is also represented in shifts in background color. You get the text of the story when you are embarking on a new leg of your journey, when you arrive at your destination, and if you chose to stay the night in a city. And it is fairly substantial text; we're talking multiple paragraphs. Upon successfully completing the journey the route you took will be highlighted on the globe, and you'll get stats about how many places you visited.

 One of the biggest draws of 80 Days is the way that it explores steampunk outside of Europe. Many nations were able to successfully avoid colonization, or kicked out their colonizers. Each nation also has its own unique twist on steampunk technology. You can ride anhinga, a type of fast bird-like airship, in South America and the Caribbean. You can take a mechanical elephant through the mountains of Northern India. You can cross the Pacific Ocean in a steamship that can also turn into a submarine. You can even visit Haiti and see the unique steam-powered cyborg animals they utilize. Well, that and the automatons made out of wood and bone, which are powered by blood.

 Oh, and did I mention that Haiti is a major power in this world? Well, they are, though they're also secretive and highly protective of their steam-powered cyborg animals. In fact, it was Haiti, with assistance from France, that built the Panama Canal in the world of 80 Days. But that's not the only notable change. The Zulu have formed a federation in Southern Africa to resist British colonization. They've embraced steampunk technology thanks to the Artificers Guild, who we'll talk more about in a minute. They've kicked the British and Portuguese out of several parts of Southern Africa; though some areas of European settlement, such as the Orange Free State, still remain. Meanwhile, Madagascar has also managed to remain independent thanks to embracing steampunk technology. Madagascar is also a hotbed of Artificer activity. There also seem to be more gender equality than in our world’s Victorian era. We see numerous women as engineers, captains, and in positions of authority. True, some do mention having to deal with sexism, but its all very progressive given the time period.  

The Artificers Guild is an international organization of scientists, engineers, and inventors dedicated to spreading steampunk technology throughout the world. Their officially language is Turkish, as they claim to have been founded in Turkey, and their members wear bronze flowers. Officially, they're politically neutral, but they do have influence in pretty much all nations. Whether or not that's a good thing is up to you to decide. People of all nations, except the Austro-Hungarian empire, are allowed to join. As you can imagine, the nations of the world are sharply divided in their views of the Artificers.

There are also several secret locations that require you to do special things to find them. For example, there is a flying First Nations city in Canada named Kahwoka Othunwe. Go to either Calgary or Regina and looked for a Cree boy. If you help him, you'll get a mysterious device. After that, head to Toronto. Along the way some Lakota will find you and take you to Kahwoka Othunwe. However, if you're carrying whiskey the council will decide you a whiskey trader, and you'll have to escape on a gyrocopter. If you don't have whisky, you'll get to stay, and will be dropped off in Quebec City.

 Yeah, having certain items in your inventory affects how things go. Sometimes you are given items when chatting with other characters, but this can backfire on you. For example, can be given a copy of Communist Manifesto in Moscow. However, if you have it with you while you're in Vladivostok, you will be arrested and waste four days in prison. I learned that the hard way; I would have won that play-through if I hadn't gotten stuck in Vladivostok. Then again, you'll get arrested anyway if you stay overnight in Vladivostok. The Russians are paranoid about British travelers due to The Great Game. The only way to prevent this is to get travelers papers by stoping at Omsk. And even then, if you got involved in the demonstration in St. Petersburg, they won't mean anything. Personally, I don't find it worth the hassle. My advice, at the Trans-Siberian Railway all the way to Karimskaya. Then take the Trans-Manchurian Railway to either Pyongyang or Beijing, and from there get on a ship to Yokohama.

Another hidden location can be found if you chose you go around the North Pole. Yes, circumnavigating the pole is considered a valid route. Get far enough north and you'll join the crew or an ice walker. Be sure to get into their good graces, because eventually the walker will crash, and Fogg's health will take a serious hit. You need to keep him alive until you are rescued by members of Qausuittuq, a hidden city of Arctic indigenous peoples. Think kind of like Wakanda from Black Panther, but steampunk and the culture derives from the native peoples of the Arctic. You can explore a bit, but the council will decide you must stay in Qausuittuq forever, because of the whole secrecy thing. Thankfully, you can find an airship hanger, which will take you to either Winnipeg or Gastown (Vancouver).

Obviously, there are many different routes you can take. This creates quite a bit of replay potential. The wide variety of destinations, and the choices they present, also adds to the replay value. If you chose to follow the route of the original novel, the events will be fairly faithful to it, steampunk elements notwithstanding. Well, it will be depending on your choices. That said, there are some slight deviations. In the novel, when Fogg and Passepartout are in India they save a woman named Aodha from sati, aka Hindu wife burning. She joins them on the rest of their journey, and eventually becomes Fogg's love interest. In the game, however, she's the leader of an anti-British rebellion in India. As such, she stays in India.

If you go to Florida, you can encounter Michael Ardan from the novel From the Earth to the Moon also by Verne. You can go from a rocket ride, but if you do that Fogg will be killed, and potentially you too if you make the wrong choices. You can continue the journey alone, and you will win if you return to London. Of course, you'll also have to live with the guilt that Fogg died because of you. So you know, win some, lose some.

You'll encounter Inspector Fix in Singapore and Hong Kong. He'll try to convince you that Fogg is a criminal up to no good. Be careful about meeting him in the Hong Kong opium den, because next thing you know you'll be on a airship bound for Yokohama. Then you'll have to perform at a Japanese circus until Fogg finds you. Though, this is all faithful to the novel. Well, mostly. In the novel, Fogg didn't consider balloon travel to be trustworthy. Ironically, more than a few adaptions of the book have Passepartout and Fogg riding in a balloon on the cover. It is possible that the publishers get it confused with one of Verne's other novels, Five Weeks in a Balloon. Of you return to London via Lisbon you may encounter another British gentleman traveling around the world with his Prussian assistant. It makes for an amusing encounter.

 I'm not the only one who thinks 80 Days is amazing. It has won numerous awards. Frankly, it would be easier to list the awards this game hasn't won. And if you're curious about tips and tricks be sure to check out the game's wikia.

I've played 80 Day many times, and there's still plenty of achievements I'm chasing. This is an absolutely fantastic game and I can't recommend it enough. Download it today, you will be so glad that you did. 80 Days is available for Apple, Android, PC, Nintendo Switch, and is available on Steam.

Well, I think that's enough from me for now. I will see you guys next time.

The Audio File: Timestorm: Season 2

 I've been catching up with a lot of audio dramas now that they have their second seasons out in full. There really isn't much more for me to add here, so let's jump right to the point. We're taking a look at season two of Timestorm.

First, a brief recap. Timestorm follows a pair of twins from Newark, New Jersey named Alexa and Beni Ventura. They go on time travel adventures, usually throughout the history of Puerto Rico, to recover artifacts for their cousin Horacio and his A.I. friend Atabay. Horacio is halfway between life and death in a region outside of time and space called a Timestorm. This season, Alexa and Beni are going to take part in a multistage quest to recover the beat of three motherlands. Meanwhile, in the present day, they must uncover the identity of the mysterious author of the comic Take Back Time.

Timestorm wowed me with an amazing first season, and I was eagerly awaiting season two. I must say, it more than delivered, and the show just keeps getting better. In fact, I'd say this season was even better than the first, which was already pretty great in its own right. Waiting a week between episode was a new experience, as last time I listened after the season was completed in its entirety. Still, it wasn't like it was a great burden or anything, and the consistent quality kept me eager for more.

Last season, the main theme was about women in Puerto Rican history, especially those who have been largely forgotten by history. This season, the main theme is about how Puerto Rican culture is the result of the mixing of African, European, and Indigenous culture. To this end, most of the time travel adventures this season take place outside of Puerto Rico. We get to see Senegal in 1810 and Spain in 1852. Africa tends to get ignored in time travel media; especially ones aimed at kids. As such, I was very happy that Alexa and Beni visited early 19th Century Senegal, and that we got to explore the richness of Senegalese culture. Although, when I saw that it was 1810, I got worried. The Transatlantic Slave Trade was in full swing in 1810, and I knew things were going to get back to Puerto Rico eventually. Would these new characters be captured as slaves? Well, everyone gets through the episode okay but...well, actually, let's put a pin in that for right now.

We didn't explore Spain as in-depth in the episode where Alexa and Beni visit it. Granted, we do get to meet Francisco Oller, a famous Puerto Rican painter who studied in Spain. We also meet Frederico Madrazo, a famous Spanish portrait artist, and Francisco's teacher. Still, we probably didn't explore Spanish culture as much because it would have been redundant. Spain, arguably, left the biggest impact on what would be Puerto Rican culture. Spanish is the dominate language in Puerto Rico, after all. Still, as this season makes clear, Africans and Tainos made fairly significant contributions to Puerto Rican culture of their own.

Speaking of which, remember last time when I said that I hoped we'd get an episode centered around the Taino people? Well, this season granted my wish to me. Not only that, but Alexa and Beni visit the Taino in 1488, a good five years before the Spanish arrived on the island. This means we get to see the Taino in their pre-contact prime. Taino are the native people of Puerto Rico. You might not have heard of the Taino, but you've probably used words from their language. The words hammock, canoe, and hurricane all have their roots in the Taino language. Hurricane is derived from an epitaph for the Taino goddess of storms. I found that interesting, because the Maya people of Central America have a storm god named Huracan. Though it is probably just coincidence, as the Taino storm goddess' proper name is Guabancex.

I also recently learned a new word: Boricua. It means a person of Puerto Rican ancestry, but who does not necessarily live in Puerto Rico. It derives from the word the Taino used to refer to the island, Borikén. So anyway, Alexa and Beni get to meet Aguay, who went on to become a great cacique, a type of chief. In fact, he was cacique when Spanish explorers first arrived in Puerto Rico in 1493. His real name was Agueybana, but he had a brother by the same name, who also appears in the episode. Timestorm got around this by splitting the name. Agueybana I is called simply Aguey, while his brother Agueybana II is called Bana. Aguey recounts the creation story from Taino Mythology to Alexa and Beni. I always love when less well-known mythologies get featured. This also meant we got mention of the supreme earth goddess Atabay, namesake of a certain snarky A.I.

We even get a short bonus episode set 1510. Bana is now the main cacique, and the Taino are uncertain about what the coming of the Spanish will bring. This is shortly after Ponce de Leon has visited the island. Yes, he who sought the fountain of youth. Ah, so is that where the city of Ponce got its name from?  There's a disclaimer at the start that, though it involves real people, the events of the episode are fictional. I thought it was a nice touch, and very much appreciated.

We also get more development in the Ventura Twins' present day lives. For example, we learn that Datu, the owner of the Taino Comics & Games Store, is apparently Filipino. We know this because he meant that his grandma is from Manila. I always assumed he was Boricua like the rest of the cast, but I guess I was wrong. To be fair, Filipinos are often called, with varying degrees of seriousness, often call Latinos who got lost and wound up in Asia. About one out of five Tagalong words come from Spanish, they eat flan, they're devout Roman Catholics. I'm just saying, a case could be made, but I digress.

More importantly, we meet Josie. She is Datu's boss, even though I think he owns the store...the chain of command was a bit unclear. Whatever the exact pecking order, she is his superior. More importantly, she has a magical tapestry that can transport people to the other Taino Comics & Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico. There is a tapestry there connected to the store in Newark. How did Josie get this magical tapestry? Well, that's another thing we'll have to put a pin in for now.

We also learn the series is set in 2017. I always assumed there was no definitive date, but that works. That way, there series won't be impacted by any major world events, especially if the characters travel to the future at any point. Obviously, you don't want to make predictions, only to have them not turn out to happen. As of this writing, there is speculation about Puerto Rico finally becoming a state. Personally, I'm skeptical about this, given how many times it has been proposed, only for things to stay just as they have been, but you never know. Also, this explains why none of the characters make mention of things like wearing masks or social distancing.

We'll be getting into some potential spoilers in just a minute. For now, I'd like to talk about something I thought could have been done better. There's a mini episode where the twins are attending a music festival, which includes Afro-Puerto Rican music. So, Beni is playing on the drums and having a good time when some white guys walk up and say, basically, "that's sounds like slave music to me." And this really hurts Beni. Really now, that's the example of modern-day racism you're going to go with? Did the white boys perhaps return and call him doo-doo head while they were at it?

Every year at the high school I went to all the students had to watch a PSA video about stranger danger and how to not get molested on the Internet. It was a poorly made video from start to finish. It seemed to have been created under the assumption that kids of my generation has somehow never used the Internet before. Then there was the incredibly wooden acting, and the fact that they made the creepy adults so over the top they were basically saying "child molesters are so glaringly easy to spot you basically have to be trying to not notice them." Naturally, this elicited quite a few giggles from the students. The teachers naturally didn't take this well, and tried to shame everyone into behaving, to little effect. The point being, despite their good intentions, the crappy execution of the PSA video undermined the message. 

It is a disservice to your listeners to tackle topics like racism without fully committing to it. Do or do not, there is no try. Maybe that means writing uncomfortable scenes, but you know what else is uncomfortable, actual racism. You wouldn't even have to use any naughty words. You could just have the white boys pretend to be friendly, only for them to then say "Well, if you like black music so much, why don't you go back to Africa?!" I know it's a minor point, but it still bothered me. Especially in light of the stuff we're going to talk about in the spoiler section. I've lived in Louisiana my entire life, so I'm well aware of what actual racism looks like. I could help but think "Damn it, Dania! Real racist aren't that nice!" And if the issue is the actors feeling uncomfortable reading such lines, well, I charge three dollars per hour of production. No not really; I'd work for free if Timestorm actually offered me a role. In all seriousness, racism isn't a topic you can handle with kid gloves if you wanted to seriously tackle it.

On a much minor note, every episode ends with a reminder that Timestorm is produced on the traditional land of the Leni Lenape people. It didn't bother me,  but I feel there might be better ways to honor the native peoples of New Jersey. Perhaps have Alexa and Beni go back in time to visit the Lenape. The team has shown that they're more than capable of writing time travel episodes set outside of Puerto Rico. Our maybe have some Lenape characters in the present day. That would be good because it would show that Native Americans are a living breathing people and culture; not just a topic you read about in history books. I'm a big advocate of increased Native American representation in media.

Okay, now that we've got that out the way, it is time for the spoilers. If you don't want any of that, turn back now.

Last warning. You sure you want to continue?

Well okay, if everyone who wants off is gone, then let's dive into it.

Remember when I wondered if anyone the Ventura twins met in Senegal was going to get sold into slavery? Well, turns out I was right on the money with that one. Well, in one case anyway. Idrissa was captured and taken to Puerto Rico, where he was renamed Gabriel. Alexa and Beni meet him again in 1890. I don't think they said how old he was in 1810; my guess would be twenty-something, maybe late teens. If I'm right, then he'd be nearly 100 years old by 1890. Technically not impossible, but would still be rather unusual for a man who had to endure a life of hard physical labor. That would be especially true if he wound-up on a sugar plantation.

Sugar cane goes sour only one day after it is harvested. That means it has to be processed right away. The process of processing the sugar had a nasty tendency to result in hands getting chopped off. Oh, and it wasn't a question of maybe, this was a guarantee that someone would get maimed. As such, sugar plantation had large populations of slaves to supplement the workforce. That, and sugar was the oil of its day in terms of value. Sugar plantations were common across the Caribbean and Brazil. I bring this up because fourth-five percent of all slaves brought to the New World went to the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico. Fifty percent went to Brazil, and the remaining five percent went to the Untied States and the rest of mainland Latin America.

Idrissa has become a broken man from his life in bondage. The horror of slavery wasn't just the threat of physical violence. It was also the psychological horror that you could be taken from your loved ones at any moment, and that you would never see them again. Or perhaps you lost your loved ones because you were captured, stuffed onto a ship, and taken to a land you'd never even heard of before. Then, upon arrival, your captors do everything in their power to stamp out your culture, and force you to adopt their strange and alien culture.

And yet, despite all of this, Idrissa survived and started a family. But not just any family. Alexa and Beni do some research in the present day, and wouldn't you know it, Idrissa is their several times great-grandfather. If nothing else, they know his life's story, and thanks to time travel, he was able to pass on some of his traditional African culture to them. So, this means that even though he lost touch with his African roots, his culture will live on in future generations thanks to Alexa and Beni. In the end, the slavers lost, and Idrissa's struggles were not in vein. Though spare a thought for all the Idrissas who didn't get to have their stories told.

Alexa and Beni discovered this all partially thanks to an Ancestry.com type genealogy service. Strange that it wasn't actually the real thing. I'm pretty sure Ancestry does sponsorships, and that might help offset production costs. But I know that Timestorm is partially sponsored by The Corporation For Public Broadcasting, so maybe there are rules about that. Hmm, I guess that makes Timestorm is the closest thing to if PBS Kids were to make an audio drama. Molly of Denali doesn't count; because it was based on a pre-existing property. 

Speaking of family, now let's talk about Josie. Surprise! She's another long lost Ventura cousin. Also, Janelly finds out about what Alexa and Beni have been doing. Maybe this will means she and Datu will get to join the Venturas on future adventures. It would be nice to show that you don't have to be a blood relative of the Ventura family to have adventures. Now all we need is to get Sonya and Mr and Mrs. Ventura onboard, and the gang will all on the same page. Also, I now know what piraguas are. Sure, they sound like just a variation on snow cones/balls, but I'd still like to try them. Though, if I did have a magical tapestry that took me to San Juan and back again, I'd be making a beeline for the nearest mofongo restaurant. I haven't had any in years, and I still think about it often.

Well, I think that covers everything if importance. Season two of Timestorm builds upon the already excellent first season, and just keeps getting better. I can't wait to see what excitement and adventure future seasons bring. If you haven't listen to season one...you should probably do something about that, or else you'll be very confused. But if you have listened to season one, but have not listened to season two yet, do so today. You'll be glad that you did.

I think that's enough from me for now. I will see you guys next time.