[mgeorge]

Being new to this genre, I personally liked Culpa, but I by no means found it a perfect game. I did a review on it here on this site with my observations from the point of someone who's never played Grim Fandango, TLJ, or any of the classics.

It seems to be one of those games some really like and others don't, so it's really all subjective. I for one liked talking to Sandra pretty much every evening. I found her input gave me more insight into the way the average citizens would think relating to the gameworld and she gave me clues at times to things I wasn't sure of. Yes, she was annoying, but I think she was supposed to be that way. I wish the devs had fleshed out her personality a bit more, (as well as Phoenix), but all in all found her an interesting, albeit very shallow person.

I found the beginning of the game very good, which got me hooked, but I agree the middle section of it tended to get bogged down with to many conversations, but just as I started to get a bit bored, things picked up with the

Spoiler:

renovator

aspect of the game, and I found the last third of the game very exciting.

I'm playing Tunguska now and think I'm nearing the end. If I had to pick which game I liked better, at this point I would have to say Culpa, mostly because I found the atmosphere and story a bit more interesting. While some of the puzzles in Culpa were to cryptic for me, Tunguskas were even worse in in certain parts of the game. Veterans of AG's seem to like these types of puzzles, however if something doesn't make sense, why include it?

[Keregioz]

Originally Posted by Drunken Irishman

Then how do you explain the phenomenon of Monkey Island?

It's really sad, I know, but there are people out there that don't like monkey island.

[Kazmajik]

If you like something, end of story. No one can convince you that you're wrong for what you like. No matter how great something is, be it a film, book, or game, there will always be someone out there to trash it. One of my favorite games has gotten generally poor reviews, but that didn't stop me from enjoying it and continuing to enjoy it to this day.
It would be a boring world if there was total consensus on everything.

As far as Culpla Innata standing the test of time, well, we'll have to wait and see about that. Just because it didn't do it for me is no reason for those who enjoyed it to not place it high on their lists and anxiously await the sequel. I won't be one of them, but I'll be here, reading what people have to say about it. And if they make improvements, maybe I'll pick up a copy of the sequel if I can't find anything else I'd rather play.

[Drunken Irishman]

Originally Posted by Keregioz

It's really sad, I know, but there are people out there that don't like monkey island.

But still, Monkey Island is pretty much universally loved by the internet and adventure gamers. For example, when I type any other adventure game title into google a la "Gabriel Knight or Simon the Sorcerer sucks" then I find topic/reviews/articles in where people think like that. But when I typed "Monkey Island sucks" I couldn't find anything. Yes, people said bad words about Escape, but not a single negative remark about Monkey Island 1. If that ain't a phenomenon then I don't know what is.

[Kazmajik]

So if I say that Culpa Innata sucks, this thread will now become part of future Google history?

[Drunken Irishman]

Theoretically yes, but right now I couldn't find you.

On the other hand, I just found a review of The Secret of Monkey Island in justadventure which gave it a C. So there goes my theory. But it just said that "the game wasn't my taste" rather than using constructive criticism ("sux" expressed with intelligently sounding sentences) to discuss the faults that SOMI might have.

[Mikekelly]

Secret of Monkey Island Review:

So why didn't I like it more? Perhaps it's my innate bias against third-person inventory fests. Perhaps it's the exhausting amount of to-ing and fro-ing in the game's final third. Perhaps it's the fairly juvenile humor level.

Mostly, however, it's just that this game lacked that ineffable "you must play me" quality that the best games have. Throughout my 20 hours playing the game, I never really cared one way or another what happened. It all seemed terribly trivial.

Yep so even SOMI has some not so glowing reviews. I myself loved that game - and found it to be quite fun.

So - no game is loved by EVERYBODY. I also found similar comments for TLJ and GK too.

Myst has some critics too - so will Culpa Innata have a fan base of people who really liked it and replay the game again and again? The answer is yes. I've played it twice and the game was fabulous twice.

In some ways I actually enjoyed it more the second time around.

[BKnight]

I've finished Culpa Innata recently and with an HDI of 81. So, I'm a Disciple. Goodie. I have to say that the Turkish team have done a really good job with this game. The Latin title was a nice touch and it intrigued me from the very start. When I come to think about it, Original Sin wouldn't have intrigued me as much as the current title. Also, I liked the pessimistic and yet quite real future look of the game. The graphics were nice, although at times they seemed a bit over-dued and cubist (i.e. Bogdanov's office) The music didn't fancy me much, but it was ok to set the mood. And now to the main point of the game: if in other games you have to read tons of notes, diaries, reports, mails and so on in this one your patience is put at test with gallons of dialogs. Well, I thought that in the context of this game this feature was the most realistic one. I mean, you are investigating a murder, right? No CSI here, please. Just old-fashioned witness and accomplices interviews. The designers also thought it would be cool for the heroine to have (some sort of) a private life, so in the evenings you can hang out with your friend, at the cafe, or visit some of the night-clubs.
I thought at first, like in many other Sci-Fi societies, during the course of time, the main hero/heroine will see how rotten and imperfect his/her society is and eventually help bring it down. Admit it, this is the usual routine (and the best, I think).Well, if this will be case with the World Union that remains to be seen, because the ending has TO BE CONTINUED written all over it.
More to follow...
PS edit: I simply loved the Married with Children reference.