#Dr Potan (Dog Island) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

winter-doggo · 3 years ago

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Well this got more attention than I expected it to. So under the read more, I'll put explanations for everything!

Looking back at this, yeah, some things could've been handled a little better in this iceberg, but in the end it's just a bit of fun, innit

1 - The peak

Petz Dogz/Catz 2 - game by the same devs released later the same year. It reuses most of THE DOG Island's code with some improvements and a different, shorter story.

Oliver - Name of the save file used in TheDogzLife's (now known as Dogfish) walkthrough from 2009. Back then, it was known enough that some people erroneously considered it the player's canon name. This is one I definitely should have categorised lower, since these days the Game Grumps are the better known youtubers who played this game.

Potan's girlfriend - The character Dr. Potan failed to cure. (I remember once seeing a version of the game that only ever referred to her as a "best friend", even in the cutscene after Deflungi, but I've struggled to find info on this?)

2- The surface

Special Grapes - one of many quest items able to be found well before you encounter the quest it's used for. I consider Special Grapes the most notable example, an easy find from the first time you enter Treely Woods, despite being for a quest you get in Snow Village.

Enemy Accessories - Stunning enemies has a low chance to give you a unique accessory, specific to the enemy type/area.

Collector's Hats - Giving every item asked for by an item collector gives you unique hats for each category.

Grand Sniff Master - The highest level you can reach. This gives you the full 10 hearts. Talk to Tao after you've become a sniff master to get this.

Ancient Grove has every flower - Self-explanatory. Every flower is always available in the ancient grove, and each one is always in the exact same spot.

3 - Beneath the surface

Minigame NPCs - Some minigame opponents are NPCs, such as Goliath, Ohlala and Boris.

Your dad was on the island first - The game sometimes implies that your dad, absent for the entire game, was on the island before you. Some dogs remark that you look a lot like someone they once met who came from Puroro town, as does the Ancient Monster. After the credits, a scene plays that shows your dad returning home, where he says he got lost but was helped by Petasi.

JP minor differences - The Japanese version, THE DOG ISLAND ひとつの花の物語 (The Search for the One Flower), has various minor differences from the international version released after it. These include a removed idle animation, music flowing in and out of some cutscenes differently, the order of the breed select being completely different, the final cutscene and credits being skippable (they're unskippable in the international release), a wii remote battery warning at 2 bars and, inexplicably, marginally faster load times.

Red Cobras always face you - unlike other types of cobra, which always turn clockwise, the red cobras from the post-anc road ruins will always turn in whichever direction is closer to you.

Water crocodile on land - Crocodiles in Zoomy Lake are capable of climbing onto some surfaces. The anc road crocodile can also do this, and does less damage when on land.

Snake Patrol - if a sleeping snake is awoken, but you leave its sight range before the waking animation finishes, the snake will begin to randomly "patrol" like polar bears and buffalo do.

Enemy Special Attacks - enemies can sometimes attack with a special animation that does more damage. They are accompanied by the sound of your dog yelping repeatedly. The ancient monster, besides its own special attack, also has another attack that doesn't fit this criteria but is still unique - if you manage to leave its sight range, it will begin slamming its foot on the floor. If it does this 3 times without being interrupted, it will suddenly jump and roar, which will hit you regardless of where you are in the room and deal 3 hearts of damage.

4 - Getting deeper

Enemy damage variation - Some enemies of the same type do different amounts of damage to each other. Boars in Green Meadows do half a heart, but boars in Hoya Plains do a full heart. Bats prior to anc road do half a heart, vs 1.5 hearts in anc road. Crocodiles in Zoomy do 1 heart, Chiro does 2 hearts, and Anc Road does between 2.5 on land and 3 in water. (anc road croc occasionally does different numbers though, which is a pain to test. basically, it hurte a lot)

Handwoven Bag increases inventory space - the item "Handwoven Bag", which can be gotten from a letter from your mother, will give you an extra row of inventory space.

Dry Valley Nest - there's a nest in the northeast of Dry Valley that's guarded by a vulture and yellow cobra. Despite being guarded, there's nothing here.

Bug & Fish Setups - whenever you enter an area, the game determines the bug setup and fish setup used. These decide what kinds of bugs and fish you can find. This is important because some bugs or fish are exclusive to some setups, meaning you can randomly be unable to catch a bug or fish without reloading the area. (This mostly applies to bugs. Most fish will be catchable regardless of setup, just at different rates. StrategyWiki has an in-depth page on bugs, and I made a spreadsheet containing every area's possible fish - I didn't get around to doing all the fish odds but I may someday.)

Moon Day Gift - a letter from your sibling late in the game asks for a Yellowtail Kingfish for Moon Day. If you send one, then your sibling will send a gift in return. If it is a brother, they send a black swallowtail. If it is a sister, they send a flower accessory.

Falling Blocks w/o penguin - the falling blocks in East Chilly Field are actually always the same. The penguin will pick a random path, however all of them are there at all times, meaning if you can memorise the path you can get to the other side without ever barking at the penguin.

Amalia's Bells - Amalia's bells are unique to her and, unlike every other accessory, cannot be found anywhere or worn by the player.

5 - the bottom

Ancs are fairies - In the Japanese version, Ancs are referred to as ようせい (fairies)

Giving Henry's Painting to Rohme - if you have Henry's painting, and you refuse to give it to Hans (say no when asked), you will be able to give it to Le Palpa Rohme instead, who says he will display it in the restaurant.

PAL Minigame Timer - The timer for racing and sledding minigames in the PAL version of the game does not properly count time, but not in the way you'd expect. A good explanation is here.

Fastest Gold Watch Route - the Gold Watch, much like Special Grapes, can be obtained before the quest that calls for it. What's special about the Golden Watch, however, is that you can deliver it to Noble before the quest marker ever appears. This is also interesting because Noble is not even the quest-giver. This is used in the speedrun route!

Bark effective on Ancient Monster - It is actually possible to bark at the Ancient Monster. When the ancient monster cannot see you and is slamming its foot on the ground, you can bark at it and it will have a different stunned animation. You cannot truly damage it this way, however.

Disrespecting Ohlala's passion - similar to Henry's painting, it's an alternative choice in a quest line compared to the obvious answer. If you ever suggest Henry to Ohlala in the circus questline, then he will say "Oh, you must be kidding! Henry is a strolling artistic genius, not a (dancer/singer/muscleman)! Forget it. I'm disappointed in you!" Unlike selecting the option "I don't know", this completely locks the questline. If you talk to him again he will only say "I hate people who disrespect my passion!"

6 - the abyss

Meat-based Health Bar - a trailer for the game shows many differences to the final version, including a health bar where, instead of hearts, it is represented by a chunk of meat. The art for this has not been left over in the files. Some other differences include the player having actual lines and a different item finding system.

Unused food items - there are around 100 unused items in the files that represent various meals and foods, including cake, drinks, steak, etc.

Rune Cave - Unused area. A much more expanded upon version of Rune Caverns. I made a video about it here.

Ratisraf - dog that only appears in Chiro caves after talking to Tao, but before talking to Alice for the key, and at no other time. Quite possibly the least well known NPC

Sibling collapsed before festival - An early version of the Puroro town segment can be found in the game's files, fully translated, and is actually also shown in the trailer mentioned earlier. The player's mother is referred to as "Maw", and usually helps Enzo deliver milk. You do so in her place to 3 characters - Ornelo, Hugo and Gloria - because she is busy looking after the player's sibling. A big change from the final game is that the player's sibling collapses before the festival, instead of during it. The conversation with Dr. Hill and Maw is different, more bluntly implying that your sibling will die without intervention and your father is gone. I copied all the translated lines I found about this here.

Outside of the iceberg, there are a few other unused lines I found this way, including one I found referring to an old version of the postman delivery system and internal names for all the characters (I can't remember where I found them, but some I noted down were Alex as the "pilosopher", Amalia as the "sister of pilosopher", Bill as the "ex-bully", Henry as the "hunter of the wandering", and Wilbur as the "HeatBall maniac").

Thanks for reading all this, and hopefully you learned something new ^^ have a nice day, fellow dog game fans!

THE DOG Island iceberg! The recent popular post about this game reminded me that me and a friend worked on this a while back, so today I finally put our ideas onto an image.

If anyone wants anything explained, just ask! This is my first time making an iceberg so maybe some things couldve been categorised better or I missed something, but hopefully it's interesting to people anyway

thanks to remo who had the idea in the first place and contributed a bunch

#the dog island

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