[obesik]

Hello

I just want to buy this game if its CD-ROM version has full-speech but there are two contradictory reviews on the net.

AG says:
"Since the game predates the era of voice acting, if you’re a reader of reasonable speed I would imagine the average adventure fan will finish in 9-13 hours"

whereas A For says:
"Delphine Software, who also created a CD-ROM version of this title complete with digitized speech, sound effects, and music"

Is there anyone who has the CD-ROM version and tell us whether it is talkie or not?

http://www.adventuregamers.com/article/id,476
http://www.a-for-adventure.com/gamereview.php?id=60

[Gonchi]

I don't think so... I have the Kixx XL release on CD-Rom, but now I can't remember if it had speech or not. The manual doesn't say anything about speech, so I'll install it tonight and see.

Incidentally, why does everyone hate this game?

[Kurufinwe]

I'm dead certain that there never was a CD version of Cruise for a Corpse (apart from possible re-releases with the floppy version put on a CD). I've no idea where A for Adventure got their info from, but I'm sure they're mistaken.

[Risingson]

Nope, it has no voice. And well, I don't hate this game, but it's not one I've enjoyed specially.

[obesik]

I was about to buy the Kixx XL CD-ROM release but since it has no speech I changed my mind. Nevertheless, I will greatly appreciate Gonchi if you check your game just to be totally sure.

By the way, it also grasped my attention that this game disappointed many people. Besides some threads in this forum and the review of Quandary, there is not many people who fancy this game.

http://www.quandaryland.com/jsp/disp...e.jsp?index=18

Also, A For site sometimes gives misleading information. As far as I know there has never been a CD-ROM version of Eco Quest 2: Lost Secret of the Rainforest -though EQ1 has- ; however, according to A For CD-ROM of EQ2 has been released.

http://www.a-for-adventure.com/gamereview.php?id=20

[BenBeynon]

Originally Posted by Gonchi

Incidentally, why does everyone hate this game?

Well here's someone who didn't. Thought it was very enjoyable. Good story, impressive graphics etc. Not the easiest ride I ever had.....took about 10 months to complete!....very satisfying when I eventually finished it though.

Quandary's review is pretty much how I saw it. In fact, I'll have to dig it out and give it another go...assuming of course, that the floppies haven't disintegrated over the years!

[daikatana_]

It is a great game and I am not aware of any version with speech included. And I doubt there is any. Anyway, if you have a chance, buy the game...

[CrimsonBlue]

I loved the game, one of my favourite adventure games on the Amiga. I also enjoyed the music for some reason. Classic stuff.

[Risingson]

Hey. The bottle-neck playability, the lack of clues and many bugs, in my language, makes a game much worse than a "great game". The story is interesting, but the game, unplayable without a walkthrough. And specially those games SHOULD be played without a walkthrough.

[daikatana_]

Originally Posted by Risingson

Hey. The bottle-neck playability, the lack of clues and many bugs, in my language, makes a game much worse than a "great game". The story is interesting, but the game, unplayable without a walkthrough. And specially those games SHOULD be played without a walkthrough.

Well, if there is a walkthrough available, someone must have finished the game before you, and he didn't have a walkthrough, so it is not unplayable without walkthrough, is it?

[Risingson]

Are you asking this for real?

[CrimsonBlue]

The game is completely completable (haha) without a walkthrough. Just because you didn't manage to doesn't mean it isn't possible. There are a bunch of clues all the time. It uses one of the most common principles in adventure gaming - look everywhere, talk to everyone, and do everything, all of the time. As soon as you get a new subject on your dialogue tree, it's off to another round of questioning.

[daikatana_]

Originally Posted by Risingson

Are you asking this for real?

Actually yes, because I played this game like 2 years ago and I didn't need a walkthrough to finish it. And I really loved it. But it doesn't mean everyone has to like it too.

[Risingson]

Originally Posted by CrimsonBlue

It uses one of the most common principles in adventure gaming - look everywhere, talk to everyone, and do everything, all of the time.

If those were the principles of the adventure games, I would hate the genre. What makes this game worse, much worse than any Sierra or Lucas, or Westwood, or Divide by Zero games is that the basic principle of adventure games, like any other games, is the balance between challenge and rewards. This game has a big problem: the story meanders without going anywhere, and, just to make it more dificult, transforms the usual inventory puzzles into just "look at everything", so it becomes just "look at the closet to activate a conversation about the weather" thing. This is a very grave, very fatal error design. Adventure games are not supposed to be just "use everything with everything and look at everything". Not at all. Looking at things, interacting, you get clues that points you to the direction of what objects must be used with others. This is flexible, of course: things like Curse of Enchantia, where you have 26 different actions with no dialogue, could be valid in small doses because the game just starts blatantly absurd, as it happens with the Goblins games. But "Cruise for a Corpse" is a detective game, so, apart from a really gorgeous concept art, it should be focused on conversations, observation... and logic. The last part is the part that flaws all the game.

Of course you can finish the game (saying that it is unplayable means that you don't enjoy playing it, I thought this was a concept clear enough before entering this thread), but there could be a hundred ways that this game could be improved to be playable, to have puzzles that are not like those that nearly marred Gabriel Knight 2. Delphine made excellent games (Another World, Flashback, Alpha Waves) but didn't excel at all at adventure games.

[Risingson]

And if you like the way the games handles the conversation trees, this is something very usual in the hentai games. You end up just clicking. Click, click, click. Click everywhere. Click. Like "JB Harold in Murder Club".

[CrimsonBlue]

I thought all of Delphine's adventure games were excellent. Operation Stealth (or James Bond: Stealth Affair in the US, I think), Future Wars, and Cruise for a Corpse.

But you didn't like it, that's fine. Just don't accuse it for being unplayable without a walkthrough, 'cause that's what you said. And unplayable, not possible to play. It doesn't mean "I don't like it".

Anyway, no reason to continue this pointless discussion. The game apparently is marmite (that's what it's called?). You either love it, or hate it.

[daikatana_]

Originally Posted by Risingson

Delphine made excellent games (Another World, Flashback, Alpha Waves) but didn't excel at all at adventure games.

In my opinion, Delphine made excellent adventures and actually every game they made was excellent. Besides, Alpha Waves was made by Infogrames.

[Risingson]

Originally Posted by CrimsonBlue

But you didn't like it, that's fine. Just don't accuse it for being unplayable without a walkthrough, 'cause that's what you said. And unplayable, not possible to play. It doesn't mean "I don't like it".

Ok, it's playable as long as you enjoy adventure games for being a feast of clicking

And yes, Alpha Waves was made by infogrames. Oops.

EDIT: sorry for my harshness anyway. I always forget that I can't enter the board when I have a bad week at work.

[Kolzig]

Originally Posted by Risingson

Delphine made excellent games (Another World, Flashback, Alpha Waves) but didn't excel at all at adventure games.

Another World was Eric Chahi's project, Delphine only published it.
Flashback on the other hand was Delphine's own game, and a very good one.

[Risingson]

I think both games have their own designer, meaning "designer" as they are a work of mostly one man. Both of them worked in the game that was kind of sequel to both, "Heart of darkness".

As you all know.