The Neverhood?

[Shwoo]

Has anyone else heard of this game? It was the first game I finished, as well as my first fandom. I remember the fandom was more OC-happy than this one. You could go entire fics without a canon character in sight.

I was nine when I first played it. It was released in the mid-90's. It's a point and click claymation game, where you play Klaymen, some klay guy who wakes up with no idea where he is or what he is. You find out what happened in the Neverhood as he does. And all the characters speak like Delightful Children.

[aracthedragon]

*jumps a mile* Holy cow! You know about the Neverhood? Wow, I never knew anyone else who knew about the Neverhood, let alone liked it. Clanker just went up about a million points on the awesome scale. ;D

I love Hoborg. I think he's so cute. Who's your favorite character?

[Shwoo]

You also jumped up the awesome scale!

My favourite character is Klaymen, I think. Even though he only has one line in the good ending, I find him fascinating. What is he really thinking? Willie's good too.

I was always too scared to watch the bad ending where Klaymen puts on the crown. And the ending where he jumps down the drain. I was a wimp with that kind of thing.

I also used to beat the game in 45 minutes by using the fastforward cheat, and light the fuse on the TNT guy, then go and read the Hall of Records.

I've wanted to dicuss the game with someone who isn't a family member for ages.

[aracthedragon]

Klaymen fascinates me, too. I always wonder what he thought when he first woke up. Was he like, "Hmm...I think I'll go for a walk" or "Where am I?" or "It's up to me to save the Neverhood!" And I love Willie's voice. He's so amusing.

Heh, when I first saw the drain, I thought, "Oh c'mon, Klaymen won't die if he jumps down there. That would be so lame." So I clicked on the drain, and the next thing I knew, it was game over. And my brother pointed and laughed.

And when I first got to the ending, I had no idea what to do. I sat there for like fifteen minutes, wondering, "Uh, is something supposed to happen?" ;D

Dude, have you ever been patient enough to read all of the Hall of Records? I still have yet to read all of it.

clanker said:

I've wanted to dicuss the game with someone who isn't a family member for ages.

*Laughs* Same here.

[Shwoo]

Klaymen fascinates me, too. I always wonder what he thought when he first woke up. Was he like, "Hmm...I think I'll go for a walk" or "Where am I?" or "It's up to me to save the Neverhood!" And I love Willie's voice. He's so amusing.

Aw, now I want to write a first person novelisation of the game. Klaymen needs more fanfics. Or a fanfic.

It took me ages to find the animation where Willy drops a flowerpot on your head. It's only part of the game I don't have memorised. Other than the Hall of Records.

Heh, when I first saw the drain, I thought, "Oh c'mon, Klaymen won't die if he jumps down there. That would be so lame." So I clicked on the drain, and the next thing I knew, it was game over. And my brother pointed and laughed.

Ooh! I have a story about the drain! So my mum, who was the one playing it seriously the first time round, got up to the drain and observed that you die if you jump in. She told my sister, who told me while I was exploring the cannon area. I'd just solved the bridge puzzle, but I didn't realise what it did.

My sister: Mum found out the place where you can die.
Me: But how is it clearly marked? (Approaches the bridge, it's seemingly gone)
My sister: That's how it's cleary marked.
Me: (Freaks out and restarts the game, thinking I broke it)

I felt stupid when I figured out what had happened, but I kept away from the drain. Which is hard, because you need to approach it to get to the lakewall buggy, but I managed.

And when I first got to the ending, I had no idea what to do. I sat there for like fifteen minutes, wondering, "Uh, is something supposed to happen?" ;D

I remember doing something like that too. I thought that it'd frozen, but Klaymen was blinking, so I didn't get it. Eventually my mum told me what to do.

Dude, have you ever been patient enough to read all of the Hall of Records? I still have yet to read all of it.

Yeah, lots of times. I used to keep a save file at the start of each section, so I could get to whichever one I wanted quickly. But now I just look it up online.
I thought that Ogdilla, Bert Bert and Numeron's stories were pretty boring, but I enjoyed the rest. Especially Ottoborg and Arven.

How old were you when you got the game?

[aracthedragon]

Ha! I just replayed the whole game, and it only took me an hour and a half! I still got it! *dances*

Aw, now I want to write a first person novelisation of the game. Klaymen needs more fanfics. Or a fanfic.

*blushes* I actually started to write a Neverhood fanfic, but it only got to be about a page long. Did you notice that Hoborg only made guy Neverhoodians? (I don't know if they're officially called Neverhoodians, but that's what I call them Well, my story was about how Hoborg makes the first girl Neverhoodian and, like, Klaymen falls for her. And I swear to god, she's not a Mary Sue. Swear to god. Yeah, I don't know why I'm telling you about this and embarassing myself...

I remember doing something like that too. I thought that it'd frozen, but Klaymen was blinking, so I didn't get it. Eventually my mum told me what to do.

My brother told me what to do, which got me mad. See, my mom bought that game for me and I wanted to beat it before anyone else did. But my brother stole it without me knowing and beat the game in, like, a day, since he's such a video game junkie. I didn't realize it until he whispered in my ear at the end part, "Click on Klaymen's head."

"What? Why?"

"Just do it. You'll win the game."

At this point I got really mad. "Did you beat the game already?!"

"Dude, dude, calm down, it's all good. Just click on Klaymen's head."

I glared at him, but did as I was told. And, you know, the bad ending happened, and I was left all like, "What the hell just happened?!?!"

And my brother pointed and laughed. Again.

My favorite story in the Hall of Records is Hoborg's. I especially love that carving that shows Hoborg giving Robot Bill a teddy bear. So cute.

How old were you when you got the game?

I got it about, maybe, two years ago? So about sixteen, seventeen. But I actually was introduced to the game when I was nine. I went to this store where you can play games on computers, and one of them was the Neverhood. I played it with my brother for about fifteen minutes (we got up to the part where we fed the TNT dummy to the crab monster) and I was absolutely fascinated by it. I've always had a thing for clay animation. Unfortunately, it was for PC, and I only had a Mac.

Years and years later, when I finally got a PC, I suddenly remembered it. I managed to download it off the internet, but it was a faulty game. You know that part with the purple, glowing symbols, and you have to put them in a special order? Well, whenever I would complete that puzzle, the game would suddenly quit. My mom, who was all into the game at this point as well, went on EBay and managed to get a used copy. And I've been a fan ever since.

Well, that was my little story about how I got introduced to one of the coolest PC games ever. How did you find out about the Neverhood?

PS: Sorry it took so long to reply. I had finals all this week!

[Shwoo]

aracthedragon said:

*blushes* I actually started to write a Neverhood fanfic, but it only got to be about a page long. Did you notice that Hoborg only made guy Neverhoodians? (I don't know if they're officially called Neverhoodians, but that's what I call them Well, my story was about how Hoborg makes the first girl Neverhoodian and, like, Klaymen falls for her. And I swear to god, she's not a Mary Sue. Swear to god. Yeah, I don't know why I'm telling you about this and embarassing myself...

In the fandom, they were called 'Hoodians, and Ottoborg's sons, who made very popular OCs, were called Hoop Heads.
I don't think I ever tried to write a fanfic. I had a few Neverhood dreams, though.

I glared at him, but did as I was told. And, you know, the bad ending happened, and I was left all like, "What the hell just happened?!?!"

And my brother pointed and laughed. Again.

If my sister had done that to me, I would've hated her forever. I think at that age, it would've given me nightmares. It'd be the kind of thing she'd do, but she's not very good at games.

My favorite story in the Hall of Records is Hoborg's. I especially love that carving that shows Hoborg giving Robot Bill a teddy bear. So cute.

My favourite story is Father's... no, it's really Arven's. It also contains the only story that I know is a rip off of a published story. The story is about the planet inhabited by blue Ynts, and it's very similar to the first half of the story Big Klaus and Little Klaus by Hans Christian Anderson.

Well, that was my little story about how I got introduced to one of the coolest PC games ever. How did you find out about the Neverhood?

Ooh, storytime!

Okay, I first heard of it when I was eight. I was in the bath, and my mum came in and told me that she'd downloaded a demo of a game "Where you knock down doors," and stuff.

So I got out and watched her play for a while. She'd got out of the first room, but she was stuck in the second room with the flytrap. In the demo, you can't go down to the postbox, and she had no clue how to get out.

After watching for a while, I said "Why don't you put the flytrap below him? It would break his fall."
I meant to put it behind him and press the button on the door, but my mum thought that I meant to put it under the ring that opened the door.

So she solved the puzzle, I acted like I'd meant that all along, and Klaymen went outside. And there the demo ended.

A few weeks later, I figured out that my mum really wanted the game. She was going to by me a computer game, and told me that I could anything I liked, as long as it was the Neverhood. I disregarded this helpful advice and got Treasure Mountain.

Then mum got it for her birthday in February 1998.

I have wanted to tell that story for ages.


So... What's your least favourite puzzle? When I first played the game, it was the puzzle at the end with the keys. I didn't realise that you could use the projector to illuminate the the solution, so I thought you had to guess.
Then I hated the sliding puzzled we'd christened the H Puzzle. Eventually, I developed a strategy for it.
Now I hate the puzzle with the glowing symbols. I think it's because I have to write them down quickly, or something.

[aracthedragon]

In the fandom, they were called 'Hoodians, and Ottoborg's sons, who made very popular OCs, were called Hoop Heads.

'Hoodians, huh? I like Neverhoodians better. Hoop Heads is a cute name, too, and I am actually surprised that they were popular OCs. Me personally, I'd prefer to be a 'Hoodian than a Hoop Head.

I don't think I ever tried to write a fanfic. I had a few Neverhood dreams, though.

Ooh, dreams? Do tell!

My favourite story is Father's... no, it's really Arven's.

I've never read Arven's story. His is the very last one, right? By that point, I'm so impatient to just get the disk and head all the way back to the beginning of the Hall of Records, that I'm in no real mood to sit and read a story. But do you think you can point me in the direction of a website that has all the stories from the Hall of Records? I mean, if you know any...

So... What's your least favourite puzzle? When I first played the game, it was the puzzle at the end with the keys. I didn't realise that you could use the projector to illuminate the the solution, so I thought you had to guess.

Oh man, I loved that puzzle, because I figured it out all by myself! For almost all the other puzzles, I had to go online and look up a Neverhood walkthrough on how to figure them out.

Then I hated the sliding puzzled we'd christened the H Puzzle. Eventually, I developed a strategy for it.

I hated it so much at first, too. One time, it took me an hour to solve it. But I've done it so many times now that I can do it in about ten minutes, five if I'm lucky.

Now I hate the puzzle with the glowing symbols. I think it's because I have to write them down quickly, or something.

Oh, I've always hated that puzzle, for basically the same reasons! It's so tedious and annoying. And when you're inputting the symbols, you have to pay such close attention and if you miss one you have to start all over again and it's especially bad when you mess up on the last one and ARGH! OK, I'm getting aggravated just thinking about that one.

The mouse one annoyed me for the longest time, until I went online and found a very easy to use diagram.

But other than that, most of the puzzles aren't so bad, if not enjoyable.

So, as mentioned earlier, I wasn't really able to figure out the Neverhood myself, except for a few puzzles. What about you? Did you figure all the stuff out, or did you get help?

[Shwoo]

aracthedragon said:

Ooh, dreams? Do tell!

Okay!

The first three dreams I had when I was nine. I don't remember any of them very well.

First, I had a dream that the TNT room had a long corrider with rooms all through it. There was a dynamite worm, which exploded.

Then I dreamed that I got to go to the Neverhood, but I decided that I didn't want to stay. This was because of the Weasels (crab monsters), and also the T-Rexes. Because we all know how common they are in the Neverhood.

Then I dreamed that I was playing a version that was after Klaymen revived Hoborg. There were 'Hoodians all over the place, and the trees were dropping their leaves, because it was autumn.

I later had a strange dream about climbing up the Hall of Records. There was weird stuff at the top.

Recently, as in this year, I had another dream that was apparently the sequel to the freaky Hall of Records one. That's what I was thinking in my dream, anyway. I had the Neverhood Map, which was some add-on or another, but it didn't work on the computer. So I put both of the computers we have next to each other, and then it worked. I don't remember what it did. For some reason, this was set in the house that I moved out of five years ago.

My sister told me about a dream she had years ago. She says that she pressed the non-exisistant pink button on the teleporter, and went to an area with a lot of totem poles. They all said "Willie's in trouble, Willie's in trouble..." so she picked up the fishing rod that was lying on the ground, ran to the edge of the world using the arrow keys, and reeled Willie, who'd been falling off the edge, back in.


The was a gi-huge-ic post. Maybe I should split it up into two.

[Shwoo]

aracthedragon said:

I've never read Arven's story. His is the very last one, right? By that point, I'm so impatient to just get the disk and head all the way back to the beginning of the Hall of Records, that I'm in no real mood to sit and read a story. But do you think you can point me in the direction of a website that has all the stories from the Hall of Records? I mean, if you know any...

Here you go. There's also a faq on gamefaqs, but I like Doodles' format better. By the way, I didn't read it in the game while playing. If that makes sense.
I think that Alpa Famalpa could be the KND universe the way Numbuh One describes it in ARCHIVE.

The mouse one annoyed me for the longest time, until I went online and found a very easy to use diagram.

About that... There's a much easier way. The mouse's nose always points to the hole you should go through next. We didn't need the diagram my mum drew after that.

So, as mentioned earlier, I wasn't really able to figure out the Neverhood myself, except for a few puzzles. What about you? Did you figure all the stuff out, or did you get help?

I honestly don't remember. I don't think I figured many of them out, except for the really obvious ones. And the ring puzzle in the second room, like I said, but that was an accident. I think that mostly, I'd puzzle over the problem for a while, then my mum would tell me the answer.

Do you still solve the matching puzzle?