Time for a new community playthrough?
 

It's been over half a year since the last community playthrough and, since adventure releases seem to be a bit slow at the moment, I was wondering if now wouldn't be a good time for a new one. So I'm starting this thread to collect ideas and see if people are interested.

What is community playthrough, you ask? Well, we pick a game, divide it into sections, play it bit by bit following a schedule and discuss it as we go. See the previous playthroughs (Beneath a Steel Sky, 5 Days a Stranger, Gabriel Knight and Conquests of the Longbow) to see how it works.

What's absolutely necessary for a good playthrough?

• A dedicated person to chair it. That means someone who'll play the game in advance to determine the sections and schedule, and will keep the discussion active and lively. Depending on the game, I could do it, but it's great if someone wants to step in.
• A game suited to the playthough format. Obviously, it's got to be worth discussing. It should also be fairly linear, so that it can be divided into successive sections (so no DotT or MI2).
• Participants. Duh. The playthrough won't work if there's nobody playing. So that means people who actually have the game at hand and are willing to take part. That's precisely why I'm starting this thread, to see if we can find enough people interested in a game. Also, having a couple of people discovering the game for the first time is great, so if you have a game you haven't started yet and would like to play alongside others, now's you time to speak up.

So that's it! Now, we need suggestions! Here are my thoughts on the matter. Flight of the Amazon Queen is available for free, and is reasonably linear (as far as I remember), but it's not a terribly interesting game (or even very good), and we've already played several 3rd person games from the early 90s, so I wouldn't be against a change of style. Faust, Sanitarium and The Last Express would be perfectly suited for a playthrough, but I'm not sure enough people have them (speak up if you're interested!). Dreamfall and Fahrenheit would be perfectly suited too, but they're probably too fresh for many people to replay them now (but speak up if you're interested!), and TLJ is far too long. GK3 might be a nice choice (and I haven't played it in ages), as well as GK2 (we'd probably have to divide the chapters in two, but I think that's feasible). Or maybe some people would like a first-person game for a change (even if you think you don't like them, maybe it's time to give them another try)? I've already mentioned Faust and TLE; the Tex Murphy games could work too; so might some of the Myst games (but that would mean force-linearising them); and while Obsidian is always great to play, I'm afraid too few of us actually own it.

I'm sure there are many others possibilities. So, anyone interested? :)

Of the various games that come to mind for a playthrough, GK3 would probably be the most suitable. The many timeblocks make the game easily dividable into playthrough segments, and there are a number of hidden segments which can be discovered and discussed by the community - which was also very interesting during the Longbow playthrough.

Funny, I juuuust recently installed GK3 on our Linux box to see if it works. Works fine, but we played it just last year, too recent. And perhaps we should do something that is free to download? I saw a link to Freddy Pharkas somewhere... not sure if it was legal though.

Does it have to be a PC adventure? I mean, hypothetically speaking, could it be an old console game which is not an adventure? I mean, it's not like I have time for running a playthrough, but for certain games I could make the time, if you know what I mean.

But never mind- nobody would want to join in. ;(

I'll be contrary and pick GK2 because I don't have GK3. I could find it on eBay I'm sure so if that's what you pick... :)


Edit: I just put a bid in for GK3 on eBay. :P

What do you mean, like Street Fighter? :))



But seriously... I think it should be something anyone hasn't played yet or at least not everyone. Almost everyone already played GKs and in my opinion it would be much more fun if we'd play something for the first time.


What about for example The Journeyman Project series?

I wouldn't mind TLE, Sanitarium, or really any of the other classic games I haven't played/finished yet (that includes GK2 and 3, BTW). If it turns out that this doesn't work with games that aren't freely available, I guess we'll have to turn to Underground playthroughs again.

Sure, we could to that, but it would be a different thing, I think. What kind of game are you thinking of? I don't see much to discuss about Level 3 of Prince of Persia.

Hey! What about Amber: Journeys Beyond?

What do you think about "Cruise for the Corpse". It is free and it runs on XP.

How about playing through the whole of Yahtzee's X days a Something series? Every game is divided in days so it's easily divided, it's free, it's really good, and the story is complex enough that there's loads to discuss.

We did 5 Days a Stranger already. (Too lazy to link.) In terms of Underground games, I'd rather do something completely different. Maybe a comedy game. The problem is finding a game that is long enough.

Hmmm... Duty and Beyond, maybe? But let's do one thing at a time. If we can get a playthrough going on a commercial game, we can do an Underground game after that.

Cruise for a Corpse hasn't ever been released as freeware, has it?

See Kuru's first post for the 5 days a Stranger playthrough link. :)

No, it hasn't (and the company's dead now).

(oh, and Cruise for a Corpse sucks :P)

Hmm.. I'd want to participate in a playtrough, it sounds really interesting and fun, but I didn't like GK3 when I tried it, and I can't get Sanitarium to work, Dreamfalls sneaking sequences scare me, and I just watched my bf play through Farenheit..

(Oh and Tex Murphy; I've played through the last one, we're supposed to play through Pandoras directive, and I have under a killing moon, but I don't know if I'll be able to play it)

The others I don't have, and I don't really have the money to buy them..
Hmm.. Maybe I should just make a list of the games I do own, and see if anyone wants to playthrough them.. I've just not been able to start them for some reason..

In Memoriam
The Secret of the Nautilus
Post Mortem
Martin Mystere
Amerzone
Runaway
Full Throttle (don't know if I can get this one to work)
Secret of the silver earring

So any of these I can play, and I could try to get hold of others too, if you decide to playthrough a game I'm really interested in, but I'm not that fond of buying games I don't know if I'll like..

I like the idea of a 1st person game (no surprise there :) ). I think Faust would be a good one - lots of meaty discussion potential in its story line.

Actually, I was thinking specifically of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. And believe me, there's a lot to discuss. The problem, of course, is that most people here wouldn't even have access to this game without illegal emulation. So I'd be talking with myself most of the time.

I'd play Faust again. :)

There's Out of Order (I'm a sucker for that game but it may be hard to break up into sections). But like you said, do a commercial game first then an underground.

Faust sounds good :)

I'd love to do a Faust playthrough too, but four's not exactly a crowd. More takers? (or different suggestions)