Video series on Interactive Fiction (Episode 3: Counterfeit Monkey)

I have played three times and this game is a bit “try and error”
I think the game is awesome, if you get involved you can play it for a long time trying a lot of options.
The video is very impressive with all that flashes that illustrate very fine your review.
Thanks a lot.

  • Jade
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I completed it twice; one took me 81 days (as the video illustrates) because of a silly last minute delay and the second was much faster, with more calculated trading. :laughing:

I started a third one, attempting to go through the poles, but I haven’t proceeded much.

Thank you for the kind comment!

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Another brilliant production.

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First of all, let me say that I’m loving this series, so please keep it up.

However:

  1. In English, the city in Germany is pronounced “Myoo-nick” (Munich) or you can use the German pronunciation “Moon-hen” (Munchen).
  2. I counted at least seven uses of the word “master” to describe Fogg’s status. In both the book and game, Fogg is the employer of Passepourtout, not his “master,” even if a valet (or butler) was referred to as a “servant.” Furthermore, Passepourtout is himself a well-traveled explorer already, meaning he is a man of some status, hardly a “working-class laborer”.
  3. Passepourtout means “skeleton key” in French rather than the more literal “key that opens every door.”
  4. Not really sure making fun of French accents is all that funny.

Can’t wait to see the next installment!

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I always read it as a respectful tongue-in-cheek term of affection, like a nickname, since Fogg is “in charge” of the entire mission and calling the shots even though the PC is the one carrying out his wishes and keeping him safe. Like I might deferentially say “All right, Chief, what’s next?” or “All right Boss, what’s next?” even if that person were not actually my superior.

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Um…while you could make an argument that the language should be updated, it is consistent with Verne’s novel, in which Passepartout (note Verne’s and inkle’s spelling, btw) consistently refers to Fogg as his “master” and no variant of “employer” appears even once for their relationship.

Thank you all so much for watching! And for all the comments!

I’m not sure, but I have the impression I picked up “master” from the game’s text. I may be wrong.

As far as “Munich” is concerned, I expect myself to unintentionally butcher many more words in future episodes. I had a tough time with the word “valet,” too; I was never sure how to pronounce it, even after googling the British and American accents. That’s part of not being a native English-speaker.

Does speaking in French count as “French accent?” :innocent: But, I see your point. The question is probably how funny is relying on clichés. I hope I don’t do it too much.

Again, thanks everyone for the support! I really enjoy the process of making the vids—and it puts me in a mindset of playing more IF.

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As far as I know, the German pronunciation of München does not resemble “moon-hen” very much. :smiley: German “u” is indeed pronounced as English “oo”, but München is written with a “ü”, which is a sound that is hard to transcribe in English but is certainly not the “oo”. Meanwhile the “ch” is pronounced like the “ch” in Scottish “loch”.

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Actually (also as far as I know, but Wikipedia agrees with me), in the case of München, the “ch” is pronounced more like “sch”, but a bit different. It’s difficult to give an English equivalent since according to Wikipedia, only 5% of languages has this sound. Apparetly it’s a bit like UK English “hue”?

See Near-close near-front rounded vowel - Wikipedia for the “ü” Voiceless palatal fricative - Wikipedia for the “ch” of "München.

And this audio file for the whole pronunciation the whole word. (Really, Wikipedia is great! :smiley:)

(I guess it’s enough of off-topic for now.)

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The advice I got for German “ü” (if you’re American) (this was singing class) was to make with your lips like you’re going to say “oo”, but sneakily say “ee” instead.

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Appreciate you taking my mild criticism with good spirits! I fully understand what it’s like being a non-native speaker of a language, so don’t stress too much about pronunciation issues. And god knows nobody can write German words in English phonetics :stuck_out_tongue:

If I may, I recommend watching the last two seasons of Downton Abbey, in which a very British lord similar to Fogg hires himself a valet not too unlike Passeportout, an older man almost his own age, in order to get the spirit of what that relationship was like.

After going to Gutenberg and scanning the text of the original book, I do indeed see that there are 132 mentions of the word “master” (all of which, as far as I can tell, refer to Fogg) and zero of “employer,” so I stand fully corrected in this matter!

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And what about the game or the video itself?

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Hello everyone,

It took me ages, but here is the 3rd episode, on Counterfeit Monkey:

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It is cool, I was waiting for anothes video ansd furthermore it is about a game that I have finished short time ago.
A very, very funny, well done video about this gigant top notch game. I like the background program so much and the references to the game I have played a couple month ago. Furthermore I have undestood all you speaking quite well (I am from spain).

  • Jade.
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Lovely podcast! I’ve never played the game, though, so who is the “monkey”? The player?

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Haha, no. It’s a location, actually a bar named “The Counterfeit Monkey.”

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It’s “a game of word manipulation”. With a letter remover you might be able to turn Counterfeit Monkey into counterfeit money, like the money on the cover art. I’ve not finished the game so don’t know whether this is a spoiler or not! I want to play it again now… and will watch the video afterwards.

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I think when you examine the letter remover, it says something about not functioning with very large things. I haven’t tried the specific removal though.

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I won’t have time for a while to play the game, and I’ve lost my map and notes… so peeked at the story file

The garish sign is part of counterfeit-monkey-exterior. It is a sign. The description is "In the picture, a villainous man threatens a cage full of tiny primates with a primitive Victorian letter-remover. In the background is an enormous bag of cash."
	The printed name of the garish sign is "sign".

Check waving the letter-remover at garish sign when the current setting of the letter-remover is "k":
	say "We try to K-remove the monkey on the sign, but at this distance and in this wind, it's a difficult bit of targeting, and we fail." instead.

Check waving the letter-remover at the counterfeit-monkey-exterior when the current setting of the letter-remover is "k":
	say "Turning the entire pub into a heap of fake bills would be spectacular, but would not really advance our cause." instead.
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wow, I haven’t actually read the story file. You just got me hooked.

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