[Jackal]

Originally Posted by Ariel Type

But you pointed out in your review "no story or character support" as "cons" for the game (dedicating several paragraphs to this "problem").

They're listed in the Cons section for two reasons. One, because the absence of those is a deal breaker right off the bat for many people. Had it just been this reason, I'd have probably added an "if that matters to you" sort of qualifier. (Not all pros and cons are applicable to everyone, after all.) But the more important reason is because the game does not make up for the lack of those things adequately, not because they aren't there at all. There's only so much a point-form list can say. (That's what the rest of the review is for. )

No, but it lowers the demand for expectations.

In some areas, maybe. Not in quality of gameplay. True, no one would expect the likes of Dreamfall for a 10-spot. But I doubt anyone would think having a lousy time for ONLY $10 is good value. There are lots of used games for that price that would be much better value than this one if someone had money burning a hole in their pocket.

And, again, it was mentioned several times as a reason for Samorost being a 4.5 star games - "because for that low price you can get such a quality".

Samorost got its rating on the basis of being a great game. The only relevance of its price was that it balanced out the short length. Obviously if it cost more people would have expected a longer game, and rightfully so. But it didn't get a high grade because it was cheap.

Again, there's obviously only one factor for your criticizm - "it's not fun to play", which is very subjective factor, mind you.

No, there are obviously all the same factors I listed in the review. I get that you disagree, but I'm afraid that doesn't somehow categorically eliminate them. You played the game and liked it, so I'm obviously not going to convince you to like it less, nor would I want to. Seriously, I'm glad you're speaking up for your positive experience of the game, as gamers NEVER unanimously agree with each other. But I'm quite confident that the majority of players would be disappointed in the game for some or all of the reasons I outlined, and nothing you've said makes me think differently.

It is as repeatative as any other adventure - you collect items, give them to different characters, use them on environment, solve logical puzzles and play arcades, and you call this "very repeatative gameplay"? Then what game is not repeatative?

If you want to grossly generalize, you can make everything sound like everything else. That gets us nowhere. It all comes down to the execution, and Full Pipe was more repetitive than most games. Heck, it didn't even have you keep collecting all different items, but some of the same ones over and over. Yawn. Again, if that didn't bother you, lucky you.

Both items you needed in that location are presented on the background. If there is a need for a hint, there's always one somewhere.

There are generally clues to what illogical thing is required next somewhere, yes. There's a difference between being nonsensical and unclued. Finding out what you need to do without having any rational reason for it is very unrewarding. You still don't feel like you're solving an actual "puzzle", but have simply identified what the developers want you to do.

If the game is half-priced or shareware, it should always be taking into consideration.

It always is. But a game will never be graded UP because it's cheap. That suggests it's better than it is.

"We're not about to start knocking off points for things it never tried to achieve", remember?

And we didn't. Full Pipe was judged on the merits of being a Samorost/Goblins style of puzzle-adventure and found to be a poor one.

Really, AT, you seem to want to convince me (or others) that bias is clouding my judgement unfairly against this game, even while you're disproving that very point by demonstrating how I don't discriminate against this sort of game. At some point, I trust you'll reach the conclusion that I just didn't find this game much good. The bottom line is that not all games are created equal, and there are many games better than this one.