I have the crown from the attic and I've been trying to figure out the runes to put on it, then put it on the snowman. But I cannot work it out. I've seen Bat-son's scratches on the wall and I even looked back at the runes in the original game. All I get is "nope." What am I missing?
Nvm I figured it out but idk why that set of runes was correct over some of the other ones I tried.
for the life of me on the web version i haven't been able to find a way to get the sacrifice for the deer to appear. Originally thought it would be the girl from the crash but she's non-existent after taking her downstairs. Then I thought it was supposed to be the webbed guy in the basement but realized it's not after completing his music selection side-quest. Tried going back in the forest to see if maybe there's something i missed, only for the rudolph discovery to re-trigger and then hard-lock me out of re-entering without the son, whose dialogue wouldn't re-do the second part of that event.Seen in other comments something about a cab driver, but he hasn't appeared for me. Gone through every option i could think of, so I'm thinking I've probably encountered a glitch. Partly because when I click down in inventory for tasks/hints the character says i should have everything i need for the resurrection but when i click on the chalice it says i need blood of the sacrifice.
If you check the map in the basement, you're able to speak with Carol about the sacrifice. Not that you need to check the map, but there is a spider icon showing that the player can speak with her. I guess you already figured that out, though!
ok, if that's the solution then i think i definitely encountered a bug, and I'm not just talking about the spiders (which technically aren't even bugs, but i digress). Whenever i talked to Carol after getting the girl to her the only dialogue i got was about having a girl's night and them having a less transaction-based relationship, nothing about a sacrifice.
I tried recreating the issue, but everything worked as expected:
Waited for the girl to crash outside the house, brought her to Carol
Made it to 10PM, got Bat-Son to help place Rudolph on altar
Went to the kitchen and took the empty wine glass
Headed to the basement, spoke to Carol, and was given blood for the ritual regardless of which item slot the glass was in
Used blood on Rudolph at the altar
Triggered 11PM and game continued as normal
I also tried completing the Don sidequest before speaking with Carol, and she still offered to fill the glass. Is there anything I did differently that you can think of?
Wanna say upfront that I appreciate your thoroughness and dedication to your craft for taking the time bothering with this, and i hope it isn't too frustrating that i'm a bit uncertain on the order i did things as i was kinda just poking around everywhere and seeing as much as i could find. If i had to guess i think the most likely thing that screwed things up for me is that as far as i recall when i went to the kitchen and saw the sparkles over the cabinet i went through two interactions before they disappeared, picking up the chalice and making the fried rat (the 1st one, i believe) . I may have not talked to carol again until after I'd completed the feeding rat mission(s). Also, and i don't know if this would affect things at all, but i know i probably took longer than most people to exorcise the toilet phantoms. I didn't realize i needed to get the hairpin blessed and died once for that, and then gave up for a bit when i got it blessed and still couldn't kill them cause i was pressing "enter" instead of "z". I only came back to them after either completing half or all of the rat feeding quests. Hope this helps.
I anticipated people completely forgetting the toilet phantom until the very end of the game, so I wouldn't expect that to affect anything at 11PM, but thanks for the info. When I get some time, I'll take another look.
okay I finished it. Are there any secrets you want to hint at that I might be missing? I did see how
- spoilers -
-
there was a slight new game plus scene if you restart. didn't play too much into it though because seemed to legit be repeating. I found the 2nd rat with your help and got Don to play music, thought that was a really cool extra feature and way to fit a sound test in the game.
If you make a third one, I really like the concept of it being tropical or something. one of my favorite environments is beach/aquatic environments lol. Assuming that's what she was implying at the end. Though it also sounded like they could just be heading into the city itself, which would *also* be cool as a world building thing.
I do wonder how supernatural the rest of Batty's world is, halloween town or what?
Thanks for the feedback! Definitely makes me happy to see people being so enthusiastic about the series.
There are a couple of hidden things in BZ2. There's only one guaranteed phantom encounter on each playthrough - the toilet one. Two additional phantoms appear at 11PM. There are six in total, so you'd need to replay at least three times to see them all (they are randomized upon starting a new game, so simply reloading a 10PM save would not work). If you found the mailbox letter and called the "ICB Hint Hotline," the mascot will tell you something else that relates to the phantom encounters. This letter is different when playing with a completed playthrough, for the record. Batty also comments on most four letter curse word combinations when using the phone, and I put a self cameo in the game if the player dials my name.
Also, the character "Don" in the basement is actually based on a real person that plays in a band where I live. He also coincidentally worked at the arcade which was "featured" in BZ1. Just a little "behind the scenes" trivia. His band is called Squander, and they are awesome:
I don't want to reveal too much about the future of the series, but originally I had considered XOXO XMAS as a simple "reskin" of the first game's art assets but with a new story. If you check the original game's page you can still see a Christmas post I made two years ago with a picture of Batty wearing an early version of her Christmas outfit. This was roughly when I had started the idea for a holiday spinoff, and during that time I was already planning a more "ambitious" sequel taking place in a totally different environment. Needless to say, the Christmas game evolved into a much more critical entry, but the ideas I had already written for Batty in a new environment are still being worked on for the third chapter. As of now, I only have three games planned.
Here are a couple of "prototype" screens I mocked up for that original version of XOXO XMAS, if you're interested. Clearly the final game became a wildly different beast:
Liking all the extra hints of character development and the past we get from this. Accidentally stumbled into finding out that there are two different victims lol. Still putting in the effort to use the cab driver he seems like a worse person than the girl.
can I get a hint on where I'm supposed to get a 2nd mouse? I've looked everywhere, even the shed and wandered back out into the woods, and just can't find a spot. I'm afraid to grab the shovel until I get this done.
welp i got ate by a bear. and haven't saved in a bit. for a bit it didn't seem like there would be any game overs lol, but guess i'm out of the tutorial now and should actually care about saving.
gotta say i like this start. i played the demo and much of this is the same, but you fleshed out the intro more than I was expecting, instead of just straight porting the demo.
game feels darker than the first one, with Batty being willing to straight up murder a dude. this isn't a complaint, just an observation.
Yeah, the demo only covered the majority of 9PM, so there was quite a bit more added to the full game. I'm not a huge fan of the "early access" model, so when I release a demo, it really is just a sample of the final product that I don't intend to update beyond that.
As for the game being "darker," Batty would tell you that she had absolutely nothing to do with killing that guy!
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I'm stuck.
SPOILERS!
I have the crown from the attic and I've been trying to figure out the runes to put on it, then put it on the snowman. But I cannot work it out. I've seen Bat-son's scratches on the wall and I even looked back at the runes in the original game. All I get is "nope." What am I missing?
Nvm I figured it out but idk why that set of runes was correct over some of the other ones I tried.
for the life of me on the web version i haven't been able to find a way to get the sacrifice for the deer to appear. Originally thought it would be the girl from the crash but she's non-existent after taking her downstairs. Then I thought it was supposed to be the webbed guy in the basement but realized it's not after completing his music selection side-quest. Tried going back in the forest to see if maybe there's something i missed, only for the rudolph discovery to re-trigger and then hard-lock me out of re-entering without the son, whose dialogue wouldn't re-do the second part of that event.Seen in other comments something about a cab driver, but he hasn't appeared for me. Gone through every option i could think of, so I'm thinking I've probably encountered a glitch. Partly because when I click down in inventory for tasks/hints the character says i should have everything i need for the resurrection but when i click on the chalice it says i need blood of the sacrifice.
If you check the map in the basement, you're able to speak with Carol about the sacrifice. Not that you need to check the map, but there is a spider icon showing that the player can speak with her. I guess you already figured that out, though!
ok, if that's the solution then i think i definitely encountered a bug, and I'm not just talking about the spiders (which technically aren't even bugs, but i digress). Whenever i talked to Carol after getting the girl to her the only dialogue i got was about having a girl's night and them having a less transaction-based relationship, nothing about a sacrifice.
I tried recreating the issue, but everything worked as expected:
I also tried completing the Don sidequest before speaking with Carol, and she still offered to fill the glass. Is there anything I did differently that you can think of?
Wanna say upfront that I appreciate your thoroughness and dedication to your craft for taking the time bothering with this, and i hope it isn't too frustrating that i'm a bit uncertain on the order i did things as i was kinda just poking around everywhere and seeing as much as i could find. If i had to guess i think the most likely thing that screwed things up for me is that as far as i recall when i went to the kitchen and saw the sparkles over the cabinet i went through two interactions before they disappeared, picking up the chalice and making the fried rat (the 1st one, i believe) . I may have not talked to carol again until after I'd completed the feeding rat mission(s). Also, and i don't know if this would affect things at all, but i know i probably took longer than most people to exorcise the toilet phantoms. I didn't realize i needed to get the hairpin blessed and died once for that, and then gave up for a bit when i got it blessed and still couldn't kill them cause i was pressing "enter" instead of "z". I only came back to them after either completing half or all of the rat feeding quests. Hope this helps.
I anticipated people completely forgetting the toilet phantom until the very end of the game, so I wouldn't expect that to affect anything at 11PM, but thanks for the info. When I get some time, I'll take another look.
okay I finished it. Are there any secrets you want to hint at that I might be missing? I did see how
- spoilers -
-
there was a slight new game plus scene if you restart. didn't play too much into it though because seemed to legit be repeating. I found the 2nd rat with your help and got Don to play music, thought that was a really cool extra feature and way to fit a sound test in the game.
If you make a third one, I really like the concept of it being tropical or something. one of my favorite environments is beach/aquatic environments lol. Assuming that's what she was implying at the end. Though it also sounded like they could just be heading into the city itself, which would *also* be cool as a world building thing.
I do wonder how supernatural the rest of Batty's world is, halloween town or what?
-spoilers-
-
-
Thanks for the feedback! Definitely makes me happy to see people being so enthusiastic about the series.
There are a couple of hidden things in BZ2. There's only one guaranteed phantom encounter on each playthrough - the toilet one. Two additional phantoms appear at 11PM. There are six in total, so you'd need to replay at least three times to see them all (they are randomized upon starting a new game, so simply reloading a 10PM save would not work). If you found the mailbox letter and called the "ICB Hint Hotline," the mascot will tell you something else that relates to the phantom encounters. This letter is different when playing with a completed playthrough, for the record. Batty also comments on most four letter curse word combinations when using the phone, and I put a self cameo in the game if the player dials my name.
Also, the character "Don" in the basement is actually based on a real person that plays in a band where I live. He also coincidentally worked at the arcade which was "featured" in BZ1. Just a little "behind the scenes" trivia. His band is called Squander, and they are awesome:
The Western Nightmare Continues... | Squander
-RAMBLING AHEAD-
I don't want to reveal too much about the future of the series, but originally I had considered XOXO XMAS as a simple "reskin" of the first game's art assets but with a new story. If you check the original game's page you can still see a Christmas post I made two years ago with a picture of Batty wearing an early version of her Christmas outfit. This was roughly when I had started the idea for a holiday spinoff, and during that time I was already planning a more "ambitious" sequel taking place in a totally different environment. Needless to say, the Christmas game evolved into a much more critical entry, but the ideas I had already written for Batty in a new environment are still being worked on for the third chapter. As of now, I only have three games planned.
Here are a couple of "prototype" screens I mocked up for that original version of XOXO XMAS, if you're interested. Clearly the final game became a wildly different beast:
Liking all the extra hints of character development and the past we get from this. Accidentally stumbled into finding out that there are two different victims lol. Still putting in the effort to use the cab driver he seems like a worse person than the girl.
can I get a hint on where I'm supposed to get a 2nd mouse? I've looked everywhere, even the shed and wandered back out into the woods, and just can't find a spot. I'm afraid to grab the shovel until I get this done.
***SPOILER ALERT for anyone not wanting to know***
Both spots are in the house. B1 and 2F. If you want a more obvious hint, let me know!
I didn't expect many people to discover the second victim right away, but cool to know that you did! She even existed in the demo.
It was so cool to see somebody cosplaying as Batty and enjoying the demo for the second game. Thanks a bunch, Peepo!
welp i got ate by a bear. and haven't saved in a bit. for a bit it didn't seem like there would be any game overs lol, but guess i'm out of the tutorial now and should actually care about saving.
gotta say i like this start. i played the demo and much of this is the same, but you fleshed out the intro more than I was expecting, instead of just straight porting the demo.
game feels darker than the first one, with Batty being willing to straight up murder a dude. this isn't a complaint, just an observation.
also nice to see batty still sleeps nude lol
Yeah, the demo only covered the majority of 9PM, so there was quite a bit more added to the full game. I'm not a huge fan of the "early access" model, so when I release a demo, it really is just a sample of the final product that I don't intend to update beyond that.
As for the game being "darker," Batty would tell you that she had absolutely nothing to do with killing that guy!
Been waiting for this.
I was working constantly to get it finished, but didn't quite hit the original Christmas release plan. Hopefully it'll be worth the wait for you!
just picked this up so hyped to play!!
Thanks so much for the support! I definitely tried to make something special with this one.