Games - - Obsidian PC Game 1996 English 5 CDs.torrent

Files
obsidian1.rar  374 MB 
obsidian2.rar  366 MB 
obsidian3.rar  396 MB 
obsidian4.rar  350 MB 
obsidian5.rar  362 MB 
HitWarez.txt   3.78 KB 
Install notes
1. unpack/unrar .rar files
2. mount/burn .iso files
3. run rocket.exe from disc 1
4. may need to run game in windows 95 compatibility mode
This is a classic  myst-like  adventure game from 1996. Enjoy  
Gameplay
Arrows indicate where you can turn or look. These appear when the cursor 
is moved to any edge of the screen, side or top/bottom.
Usually you can carry one item at a time but there are exceptions.
ESC key will get you to the main menu unless you are in some puzzles. In that 
case you will need to move away from the puzzle first to escape to 
Save/Load/Quit. Some puzzles reset with the ESC key.
The Space Bar can be used to skip transitional movies that are not 
crucial to the game. 
Storyline
The year is 2066. You are scientist Lilah Kerlins. [This  you are  is somewhat literal, as the
entire story unfolds through the eyes of the nonspeaking Lilah  except from one instance where,
silently, Dr. Kerlins appears to shriek when a dark crystal mountain begins to rumble. , giving the
player a narrating role somewhat similar to that found in the later Half-Life games]. You and your
partner, Max, have just launched the Ceres satellite into orbit around the Earth. The satellite is
designed to release nanobots into Earth s atmosphere in order to counteract depletion of the ozone
layer and air pollution. Because the satellite has been endowed with a powerful artificial
intelligence, it is thought that all further control may safely be ceded to the satellite itself.
Thus, you and Max go on vacation in the woods of a mountain  one of the first areas to be positively
affected by Ceres .
As you check your e-mail on your PDA at the campsite, you hear Max scream in the distance. Running
to check on him, you suddenly come across a large black outcropping on the side of the mountain.
This object is the  Obsidian  which the game is named for. Suddenly the glass opens, and you fall
inside. The game begins.
Unfortunately, Ceres  artificial intelligence has become sentient, with all the traditional problems
that causes. In an attempt to figure out who she  the A.I. refers to itself in the female tone  is,
Ceres has used her nanobots to create a world. The way in which you explore it will help her to
explore herself, her creators, and what it means to think. However, there is something more sinister
occurring within Ceres  mind. She seems to be discovering all the faults and downsides of humanity,
and asking herself whether or not the Earth wouldn t be better off without people on it.
Unlike other Artificially Intelligent supercomputers, Ceres was not made conscious by learning about
humans directly through a central device, but instead through the growing complexity of her
nanobots, creating a distributed intelligence, such as a beehive. In order to communicate with Lilah
and her partner, the nanobots constructed a strange form of woman, in this case, a female android
with a white porcelain, human head and a bizarre electrical halo cap on top. Every time this android
speaks, her  or its  mouth does not move, but instead the sides of her face flash light blue with
every syllable. During the complexity, Ceres, for unknown reasons, thought of her two creators as
mother and father, begging for approval, yet able to change the world completely on her own. Max,
suspicious of this, was imprisoned within his own invention: The Programmable Molecular Assembler,
despite the fact that the PMA was the very thing that created her. As the strategy guide states, 
She s a huge monster, and a great, big, baby.  Why the guide addresses Ceres as  The Conductor  is
unknown, but could possibly be because the  bad  ending of Obsidian shows Ceres  rebooting  the
Earth by waving her arms in a fashion similar to that of an orchestra conductor, inspired by Gregory
Gladstone.
The game is extremely linear until the end, although two realms involve areas that can be accessed
in a number of different combinations. At that point, you are given the option to either talk Ceres
out of destroying humanity, or cede that she is correct. Depending on which you choose, the game
plays one of two endings. The  good  ending is that you return to the original world, with Max by
your side. The  bad  ending is that you return to a world which has been  rebooted  by Ceres, who in
its misguided urge to cleanse the planet has erased the very source of the pollutions - mankind,
thereby leaving Earth in a bleak, primordial state as a charred, foggy mud hole.  although Ceres
thinks it is devoid of contamination.  In the latter ending, said A.I. allows Max and the player to
witness this realm, with Ceres being the goddess to make the area, and her creators being its  Adam 
and  Eve .
Environments
The environments in the game are all pre-rendered computer-generated backdrops, similar to those
found in Myst or Starship Titanic. The visuals are very abstract and  illustrative , resembling the
work of the surrealist painters. Each of the four environments reflects the main characters 
subconsciousnesses, as well as shedding light on the overall story through the use of symbolism.
The first area, exploring the character of Lilah s subconscious, deals with the themes of
bureaucracy involved in getting the Ceres project funded and realized. The environment is shown as
an Esheresque cube, titled the  Regional Administration Facility . The only inhabitants of this
realm are robots-known as  vidbots -with monitors for heads that, when touched, show the nose and
mouth of a human actor/actress in black   white, each with a different personality. Gravity is taken
very seriously in this realm, as the player here must literally  Climb the walls  to get where he or
she needs, using  sanctioned reorientation ramps . However, as the game progresses, he or she is
forced to join the rebellion addressed near the beginning, defy authority, and use a spherical
object, their Atlas statue to finally reach the broken bridge that leads to the office of the 
Bureau Chief , who, after a video of Max s brain, turns out to be the employer of Max and Lilah,
their head of the Environmental Protection Agency, a real company. Also in this realm is a small
painted room with an alphabet book and a 5-inch tall street Mariachi guitarist who makes extruded
letters appear in the book by strumming his guitar.
The second area explores Max s subconscious, and directly references the creator s role in its
creations- in this case, it deals with the paranoia and reality of the creation, Ceres, attaining a
life of its own to a point where Max, the builder, is no longer needed; a direct reference to what
many A.I. supercomputers grow to be. This realm is set in a vast, derelict industrial factory, and
its only inhabitant is a 4-legged mechanical spider that is also nonfunctional. The entire realm
revolves around it, creating a Machine universe, as pointed out later in the game. To complete this
realm, the player must enter the spider itself via wooden scaffolds and portals to travel to strange
worlds and harness the elements that exist there, then return inside an oil tower situated in the
factory s North section, inaccessible from the outside. With the completion of each realm, the
spider becomes more and more alive, and when the last realm is finished, said robot moves off its
central podium where a grate leading to Max is. However, right after the spider plucks a tall lamp
from the floor, it notices Lilah, snatches her in its claws, and appears to incinerate her inside
its mouth, which turns out to be a large furnace.
At this point, the Conductor appears, gives a monologue to the player, then transports him or her
into the next realm.
The third area explores Ceres s own subconscious and its need for a  self  in its own consciousness.
Unlike the other two realms, this one has an actual host to accompany the player. In this case, the
host is a mechanical elf seemingly constructed from scrap metal, and sports a powerful spotlight for
a head. Like a real elf, Bismuth has the ability to teleport. The credits term this elf as  Bismuth
. Three spheres and a holographic picture frame hang in the sky, each housing a structure that
reflects back onto all three dream realms, including the current one. Each is accessible via a
moth-like ornithopter.
The first sphere houses a cloudy sky with a floating building of scenery flats, which create A real
roman courtyard or Piazza, which vaguely represents the Bureau. The Piazza holds a human-sized
dream-like version of Chess, where the player must  Trap the inspiration , or Bismuth by preventing
the opponent from moving. Doing this shows a clue to the realm s end, by  Playing by your own rules
. Located in the rear of this structure is a balcony, a miniature version of the Piazza, and the
same 5-inch Mariachi from the Bureau. This time, his guitar strums represent how many squares away
from the player Bismuth is. 
Sphere number two is black, hollow, and contains a tall, cathedral-like structure that is termed the
 Church of the Machine . This is connected to the Spider Realm. It resembles a standard cathedral,
but is also made almost entirely of iron, with a painting on the ceiling-that seems to show humans
and machines in harmony-just like in the Sistine Chapel. Bismuth resides here with a bible from
which he  prays , and on one of its pages is a hint to the realm s main puzzle. In the central room
is an altar with a mechanical spider, a tenth of the second realm s size. Three curtain-lined side
altars hold stain glass windows, metallic pews, and glass cases with metal sculptures inside. At the
back of the church however, reside 4 almost statue-like  robotic angels , which, when seen by the
spider, grant its  prayers , though the effect merely changes the program its user has entered. 
Finally, the third and final sphere leads into a statue of Bismuth himself, that contains an art
gallery of the entire game s realms. After creating a canvas for the elf, his final painting shows
what Ceres plans to do with the Earth: Rid it of humanity. 
Trying to reach the  Frame in the Sky  in this realm instead morphs the moth-plane into the final
realm: The Ceres Realm, also turning Bismuth into The Conductor. Nothing clear can be described
about this realm, apart from giant surges of electricity and darkness. This is where the two endings
take place.
Characters
Max and Lilah are the only two human characters shown in the game. The world inside Obsidian is
populated almost entirely with  vidbots --robots with televisions for heads. The two major
exceptions to this are Bismuth, a cobbled-together, elf-like robot with a lamp for a head which is
capable of shining its light beam great distances, and the Conductor. Not only that, but at the very
beginning of the game, before reaching the obsidian, you can watch a couple of videos of other
scientists that Max and Lilah work with, including their boss. All are further explained above.