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Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2020 7:10 pm
by ThornBrain
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Graveyard Keeper is a unique, darkly humorous spin on Harvest Moon-like simulation games, except here you're farming corpses! You're a poor, beardy schmuck who gets tagged by a truck and wakes up in the Dark Ages. A shrouded figure names you the new graveyard keeper, so now it's your duty to clean up the graveyard, chop up an infinite supply of corpses for some handy giblets, and schmooze with the local eccentrics for their stuff. With any luck, and a whole lot of grinding, you'll be able to get home to your lover someday.

The LP:
This is a straightforward playthrough showing off the grand majority of the game but not trying to unlock everything; there's a lot of superfluous stuff you don't need to finish the story, or are even likely to use. I'm also not playing the DLC because the developers barely finished the main game, I'm not giving them more money.
I'm joined on co-commentary by Skippy Granola and YamiNoSenshi, both fellow fans of Harvest Moon, and Skippy is also familiar with Graveyard Keeper.

Content Warning: death, murder, internal organs aplenty, and a dark sense of humor about all of it.
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Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2020 9:07 pm
by Salted Grump
Ah, the game where you're encouraged to work yourself to the bone and cannibalize your fellow man.

Reminds me of retail.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2020 9:42 pm
by Tenebrais
Ah, Graveyard Keeper! It's a lot of fun, I spent hours on it. It's a pretty unique take on the homesteading genre, between the dark comedy tone and the more adventure game-like story progression. It's a shame they didn't really manage to clean up properly after clearly biting off more than they could chew conceptually.

A little touch: The symbols for the days of the week are the alchemical symbols of the planets, which also give their names to the days of the week (via saxon gods in English). In order it's Sun > Sunday, Venus > Frigga > Friday, Jupiter > Thor > Thursday, Mercury > Wodan > Wednesday, Mars > Tiw > Tuesday, Moon > Monday.
Yes, the week runs in reverse. And Saturn is missing...

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2020 12:15 am
by JamieTheD
Salted Grump wrote:
Sun Jul 19, 2020 9:07 pm
Ah, the game where you're encouraged to work yourself to the bone and cannibalize your fellow man.

Reminds me of retail.
I dunno, I haven't seen somebody who walks straight up to a three ball flail and picks it up while looking directly at one of the large notices with halloween severed hands saying "Please do not touch the weapons, ask a member of staff to show you them."

Oh, wait, that's pretty much just me, isn't it?

Anyway, yeah, looking forward to seeing where this train goes, ohh boy!

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2020 12:23 am
by Commander Keene
I can just picture this game ending with the most literal interpretation of "going home" possible; you get sent back to your own time/world/whatever, but you, y'know, just got hit by a fucking truck, so you're just dead.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2020 11:30 am
by azren
Very much looking forward to when Horadric gives us a quest reward of his cube and staff!

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2020 9:01 pm
by LPFinale
The game starting with a half-full graveyard already always worried me about how on earth you were meant to take care of the infinite flood of bodies coming in. Like, at some point, you're gonna run out of space, yeah? There's clearly expansions, but I have no idea whether those are feasible to meet before bodies start getting chucked unsanitarily.

Also, kinda curious how huge The Town is if we have someone dying every single day.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2020 3:40 am
by ThornBrain
It's semi-relevant to point out that I'll also be LPing Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town in the future (Skippy and Yami in tow), and I have an open poll on my Patreon to decide who I marry, so feel free to also vote if you're an enthusiast of the non-corpse kind of harvesting.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2020 3:57 am
by White Coke
LPFinale wrote:
Tue Jul 21, 2020 9:01 pm
The game starting with a half-full graveyard already always worried me about how on earth you were meant to take care of the infinite flood of bodies coming in. Like, at some point, you're gonna run out of space, yeah? There's clearly expansions, but I have no idea whether those are feasible to meet before bodies start getting chucked unsanitarily.

Also, kinda curious how huge The Town is if we have someone dying every single day.
Historically when a graveyard ran out of space they would exhume old corpses to make space for the recently deceased and put the bones of the previous occupant into an ossuary.

And preindustrial towns were complete death traps with people constantly dying, so much so that most of them had negative growth rates but for the constant immigration of peasants.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 7:00 pm
by ThornBrain
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White Coke wrote:
Fri Jul 24, 2020 3:57 am
Historically when a graveyard ran out of space they would exhume old corpses to make space for the recently deceased and put the bones of the previous occupant into an ossuary.
Pretty sure an ossuary is not the local drinking water, but here we are.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2020 12:52 pm
by azren
Apparently "sard" as a verb for sex appears at least in the 1500's; there are attributions to Sir David Lyndsay (Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis), John Florio (Worlde of Wordes), and Thomas Nash (Nashes Lenten Stuffe). So it seems to be British and Scottish.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2020 7:01 pm
by ThornBrain
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Video games have taught me that abandoned mines have both ghosts and treasure in them. This one teaches that "abandoned" just means "it's mine now".

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2020 9:00 am
by Commander Keene
Well, Clotho there is neither witch nor fairy princess, if her name is anything to go off of; she's one of the Moirae, a triune of Greek goddesses responsible for fate. Specifically, she was responsible for spinning the thread of human lives, whereas her sisters Lachesis and Atropos were responsible for measuring and cutting the threads.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 6:56 pm
by Kacie
Dig is a dig at Diogenes.

I've enjoyed the LP to the point where I picked up this game and have started playing along. ...some of these mechanics are obscure, to say the least.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2020 7:02 pm
by ThornBrain
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Oh look- normal farming!

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2020 8:17 pm
by Carpator Diei
Yeah, that character name is definitely not great; I'm actually not sure how much benefit of the doubt I'd give the developers there, considering that Russia apparently does have a sizeable Romani population. Though going by the 'Baron' part, I'm guessing that it's probably a reference to the Johann Strauss II operetta of the same name.

By the way, vegetarian lasagna with spinach and porcini is extremely tasty :3:

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2020 7:00 pm
by ThornBrain
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Doing a lot of unsavory stuff beneath the church this week.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2020 2:41 am
by Kibayasu
I'm totally not the first one to say this but after hearing this game described and then finally seeing it its a lot more... "jaunty" is probably too strong a word but its still pretty jaunty.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2020 4:05 am
by TuxedoTed
This game is pretty compelling in a weird, quietly sorta melancholy way. I can't wait to see everything that's going on behind the scenes.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2020 7:00 pm
by ThornBrain
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This already-deadpan-dark-comedy game takes a turn.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2020 8:44 pm
by Carpator Diei
While this game seems janky as hell sometimes, I really like how it keeps expanding the things you get to do. The hapless protagonist was already a one-man production chain for everything from foodstuffs over masonry to advanced alchemical potions, now there's this new twist and we still haven't even seen the Town yet.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2020 10:53 pm
by azren
Man, this is another game where your videos make me want to play it, but I know better. Just like Sekiro, I know that I will be absolute garbage at this game.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2020 10:45 am
by Carpator Diei
azren wrote:
Sun Aug 23, 2020 10:53 pm
Man, this is another game where your videos make me want to play it, but I know better. Just like Sekiro, I know that I will be absolute garbage at this game.
Is it even possible to actually fail in this game, though? If death just teleports you back to bed, and there's no time limit, it seems like the worst that could happen if you screw up is that you have to grind more until you get whatever you need to progress.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2020 2:40 am
by Kacie
Do you simply plop the zombie down wherever you want it working?

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2020 1:18 pm
by TuxedoTed
Ok wow, that was a twist I did not expect. Late-stage capitalism, ho!

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2020 2:30 pm
by azren
Carpator Diei wrote:
Mon Aug 24, 2020 10:45 am
Is it even possible to actually fail in this game, though? If death just teleports you back to bed, and there's no time limit, it seems like the worst that could happen if you screw up is that you have to grind more until you get whatever you need to progress.
I just have a hell of a time any time I feel constrained by a time limit, and while there doesn't seem to be any sort of overall timer, I think I'd still have problems with it.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2020 6:03 pm
by Tylana
One point on the game being more chill is crops don't need watering, never rot, never wither. As long as you try to keep your progress among people faintly parallel is more relaxing that like, Stardew and stuff in my opinion.

But. you know you best. On PC I think you can also mod in like, speed potions that last for hours so you can run around faster.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2020 6:28 pm
by azren
Well, that's true. I might give it a shot at some point, who knows.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2020 4:01 am
by Kibayasu
I wonder what you can do to spice up witch burnings. Stadium seating? Scented wood? Contests for who gets to light the flame?

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2020 2:12 am
by JamieTheD
Get some nice green flames with copper powder or something. I forget how you do it, but that would be interesting. Crimson especially. "LET THE FLAMES OF HELL CONSUME YOU IN RETRIBUTION!" sorta deal.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2020 7:02 pm
by ThornBrain
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This week we descend into the dungeon and clear out the grand majority of it, mostly because I wish we didn't have to.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2020 9:51 pm
by Carpator Diei
Is there no way to expand your inventory space? This seems like the sort of game that would let you cobble together a bag of holding at some point (probably made from human leather and gold-star hemp thread).

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2020 12:21 am
by ThornBrain
Not that I could find. It's about as much space as you'll ever need, really, and the things I drop to make more space aren't things I miss when it comes down to it.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2020 3:21 am
by Kibayasu
"Not a particularly thought out game" seconds before it deliberately takes away your main income source. Yep.

Also I don't know what it is about it but I can't stand Clotho's talking sound.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2020 7:32 am
by White Coke
Bones were used as decorations in churches because the bodies needed to stay on holy ground and using them as decorations was an alternative to sticking them in an ossuary.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2020 4:46 pm
by Salted Grump
IIRC, Isn't there a church in Poland where the interior made entirely of human bones?

Okay, a quick google points out it's an ossuary as part of a larger church, and it's Czech.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedlec_Ossuary

Honestly kinda cool, in a rather macabre way.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2020 7:03 pm
by ThornBrain
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Koukol is expecting you

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2020 8:55 pm
by azren
Man, these fetch/trading quests are getting really convoluted at this point.

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2020 5:09 am
by Kibayasu
Alchemy having no logic and bad results providing only minor clues to what you actually need to do is at least thematic!

Re: Graveyard Keeper - Not Even Death Can Stop You Working

Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2020 5:26 am
by Quackles
Reading this thread seems like a grave decision. :V: