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Contains dark fantasy overtones.

<span class="bold">Tender Loving Care</span>, a psychological thriller about the dramatic repercussions of a family tragedy, is now available DRM-free on GOG.com with a 75% launch discount.

Dealing with the death of a child is no easy matter. The Overtons turn to Dr. Turner (2-time Oscar nominee John Hurt) who suggests they hire a live-in nurse. Seduction, dangerous fantasies, and dark secrets will start tearing them apart and you, as a curious observer, will get to explore and evaluate the drama while watching it unfold in high-quality FMV. Just careful not to let it get to you...

The 75% discount will last until July 06, 1PM UTC.

Watch the trailer.
Post edited July 03, 2017 by maladr0Id
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Siegor: Wait, does that mean what we do in the game doesn't alter the story in anyway?
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WildHobgoblin: There's been some guy digging through the source code (which, apparently, comes with the game or something?) trying to figure out the algorithm, and your answers to the TATs and the questions do alter the story, however, there is a random element as well, apparently it's stronger towards the end - at least that's what said guy claimed.

The "alters the story"-thing has a problem, though - yes, according to what you pick you will get a slightly different story, and there are seven (some say, eight) different endings as well, but you'll never know why you get this or that ending, this or that scene. Makes replaying a bit chore-y, to me at least. Also makes talking about the game a bit tricky, since person A might act crazy in one scene in your playthrough, but appear totally reasonable in mine.
Thanks for the infos, so with bad luck you might get the same ending with totally different choices?
I'll come back to you when I have more questions about soft-porn games.
Post edited June 29, 2017 by Klumpen0815
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fronzelneekburm: Also, this game does some interesting things with what it shows and how it is shown. Yeah, there's titties aplenty and the whole thing has a bit of a made-for-cable softcore porn vibe, but this game actually makes you take a step back and question your own voyeurism.

It has a very unique, very clinical visual style. It deals with some mature subject matter that isn't too often touched upon - certainly not in video games.

It's a fascinating relic from a bygone era, it works on all sorts of different levels and it has one of the greatest actors ever in it. Seriously, you - and all the rest of you naysayers :P - should give it a try!
Re: earlier comment - so mushy pixels don't get you all hot and bothered, I take it ;)

Well, the game didn't make me ponder my voyeurism much.
On the other hand, it does actually have a plot, too, but sometimes it felt like all the sex nonsense almost detracted from that. If you read all the documents available they provide a decent bit of interesting context/subtext that I'd have liked to see explored more (there are a couple of fun dots to connect), but it feels that's pretty much pushed aside by the game really really wanting you to face your inner pervert. Can't say more without spoilers, but I guess you know what I mean?
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Klumpen0815: Thanks for the infos, so with bad luck you might get the same ending with totally different choices?
I'll come back to you when I have more questions about soft-porn games.
I believe that's possible, yes. The ending I got didn't feel particularly tailored to my choices - I also peaked at what some of the others might entail, and it seems it's kind of impossible to say why the game would go for this one rather than that one.
I'm trying to do a second run picking answers pretty much opposed to what I'd naturally choose and see what happens.
Apparently there's twice as much FMV footage in there than what you will see in a single playthrough.
Yes, feel free to direct all your soft-porn game questions to me :)
Rot13-spoiler:
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Pretty interesting, actually.

Also, not so much a spoiler as possibly helpful advice - it has been said that the game will adjust its level of explicit content to your comfort level, determined by your input. Actually, you should probably play it, now that it's confirmed to work on XP :P
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WildHobgoblin: Actually, you should probably play it, now that it's confirmed to work on XP :P
I most definitely will, it's John Hurt after all.
There is one big issue I'm having with the game so far and that is that the gog version looks really, really, REALLY AWFUL.

There is already a thread underway in the TLC-subforum, urging gog to replace those videos with the far superior DVD videos. Let's hope they'll do that.
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WildHobgoblin: Actually, you should probably play it, now that it's confirmed to work on XP :P
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Klumpen0815: I most definitely will, it's John Hurt after all.
Cool. Hit me up once you finished, since you'll be one of the five people who actually played it rather than dump it on the backlog ;) I need to play "spot the loony" with you!
So that makes at least two games on gog featuring the late John Hurt now, the other one being Privateer 2. Nice.
I am shocked to see this 20-year-old relic of 90s FMV adventure gaming hitting the digital shelves of GOG. Shockingly pleased that is. I spoke about wanting it on GOG more than once. I myself have very fond memories of it as a teenager (and not just because of the buxom blonde beauty of Beth Tegarden, however lo-res the video was from back in the day). Ambitious approach to a game for the time; Aftermath Media, the developer, bandied the term "interactive movie" about quite a bit. The narrative is mostly linear (the cost of all those FMV sequences adds up and they probably didn't want to waste them) though how you, the voyeur, answered a battery of psychological tests after each chapter influences the ultimate ending. Gameplay is very light, even for an adventure game. No puzzles or anything to solve--the takeaway in Tender Loving Care is the story, mood, exploring the environs and snooping in their private lives, the nuanced acting in veteran stage legend John Hurt (his co-stars are B-movie C-list actors), and the novelty of the psychological evaluations. Not for every taste; the writing and acting of the game is definitely not sophisticated (aside from Hurt) but I enjoyed TLC despite its flaws and silly soap opera setups.

Unfortunately both John Hurt (who was my favorite actor of all time) and Beth Tegarden are now passed away. I still have the original CDs to this game I bought in a Software Etc. $1.75 is well worth the price of nostalgia and convenience in obtaining a DD copy of this game.

Aftermath Media are still around, in whatever moribund form. You can still visit their delightfully lo-tech website which has changed little since it first went online. If GoG also released P.O.V. that'd be impressive, except that game sort of sucked, even by the modest standards of the FMV adventure game genre.
high rated
I tested the game in Wine very briefly this morning and reported back.

Tonight I had more time to poke around. The entire game runs in a web browser, and it's a Chrome variant. Run the game as "TLC.exe --disable-gpu" in Wine and it works A-OK.

New position: Works in Wine with very small user intervention.
I'll pick it up but first I'll see today's deals :)
Some people wrote in their reviews on Steam, that the results of the psychological test were not shown at the end of the game. I think seeing the results is the most interesting thing of this game. So, can anyone already tell, if this is true?
Post edited June 30, 2017 by Silverhawk170485
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incognoscente: The entire game runs in a web browser, and it's a Chrome variant. Run the game as "TLC.exe --disable-gpu" in Wine and it works A-OK.

New position: Works in Wine with very small user intervention.
Good news. :) Thanks for testing!

I've never heard about this game, but it seems to be quite weird. Looks like I've to try it out, now that I know it runs on my system, most likely.
Post edited June 30, 2017 by eiii
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Silverhawk170485: Some people wrote in their reviews on Steam, that the results of the psychological test were not shown at the end of the game. I think seeing the results is the most interesting thing of this game. So, can anyone already tell, if this is true?
If you watch the end credits it will bump you back to the main screen where you can access your psych-profile again. Just don't exit out of it (it'll reset you to last save point).
You can access your psych-profile during each chapter (it changes all the time in response to your last answers), but be aware that it is mostly an example of the Barnum effect in action with little insight to be had ("always tries to see the good in people" "has a lot of empathy" - this sort of thing).
I also thought this element was very intriguing when I purchased, but in truth this is one of the weaker aspects of the game.
this is so good so far... fond memories of Phantasmagoria come crushing my soul! :D
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incognoscente: I tested the game in Wine very briefly this morning and reported back.

Tonight I had more time to poke around. The entire game runs in a web browser, and it's a Chrome variant. Run the game as "TLC.exe --disable-gpu" in Wine and it works A-OK.

New position: Works in Wine with very small user intervention.
Hey, thanks for the hint.

I managed to do it.
Also worked with editing the "command" to ...Care.lnk --disable-gpu

The video quality is quite bad indeed, they obviously didn't use the DVD version or compressed it down a lot for iOS and I really hope this will be fixed.
https://www.gog.com/forum/tender_loving_care/video_quality
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Venita: snip
Is there any chance we'll get the DVD quality videos some people here seem to have in their physical collection?
Post edited June 30, 2017 by Klumpen0815