[tastebud]

http://www.gamershell.com/news_51748.html

one possible link

checking it out now.

english/german

[TezChi]

Awesome! Thank you, I've been waiting for this.

[tastebud]

i'm playing it right now. i'm stuck in the first room hehhee. you can definately sense the same mechanics as the sherlock holmes games. eventhough those grabbed me right away, this one i'm not so certain yet; i've only played 5 minutes though

[mosdl]

Is it me or can't you save during the demo?

[TezChi]

Just got the demo. I have only played it for a little while (not tried saving yet) but its really good thus far!

Also, a small question. Does the demo only display in 4:3 for anyone else, or is my setup somehow? I have a 19" 16: 9 Monitor, but the demo will only display in boxed 4:3 with black bars at the sides. I cant see anything to make it display on the full screen. Anyone else have this issue?

[DustyShinigami]

Originally Posted by TezChi

Also, a small question. Does the demo only display in 4:3 for anyone else, or is my setup somehow? I have a 19" 16: 9 Monitor, but the demo will only display in boxed 4:3 with black bars at the sides. I cant see anything to make it display on the full screen. Anyone else have this issue?

Yep, me too. I'm running it with a 15" monitor at 1024x768 and i've still got those black bars at the sides.

[kadji-kun]

Originally Posted by TezChi

Just got the demo. I have only played it for a little while (not tried saving yet) but its really good thus far!

Also, a small question. Does the demo only display in 4:3 for anyone else, or is my setup somehow? I have a 19" 16: 9 Monitor, but the demo will only display in boxed 4:3 with black bars at the sides. I cant see anything to make it display on the full screen. Anyone else have this issue?

Your expecting that from a prerendered game?

[heodox]

Originally Posted by TezChi

Just got the demo. I have only played it for a little while (not tried saving yet) but its really good thus far!

Also, a small question. Does the demo only display in 4:3 for anyone else, or is my setup somehow? I have a 19" 16: 9 Monitor, but the demo will only display in boxed 4:3 with black bars at the sides. I cant see anything to make it display on the full screen. Anyone else have this issue?

go to the options and select the next lower 4:3 resolution and your monitor will probably strech the image for you, of course the image will be a little strange but i'll take that over those black boxes any day.

[youfightlikeadairyfarmer]

Finally! I can't find the game anywhere but now I can try it before I go and order it.

[MoonBird]

What the heck... I downloaded the demo, and when I try to run the exe-file, absolutely nothing happens... It starts in processes and shuts down right away. Pity... anyone else had same problem?

EDIT: Package Size: 74 Mb. No wonder it doesn't work
Download failed during the night, i think. Well, new try

[TezChi]

Originally Posted by heodox

go to the options and select the next lower 4:3 resolution and your monitor will probably strech the image for you, of course the image will be a little strange but i'll take that over those black boxes any day.

Thanks a lot, that works perfectly. For some reason, the game had automatically set itself to 1440x900 (might be like this at default), I put it down one to 1280x1024 and it fills the whole screen now. Cheers!

[MoonBird]

Originally Posted by tastebud

you can definately sense the same mechanics as the sherlock holmes games"

Yes, unfortunately that's the case - because it actually wrecks this game: Hotspots do not have names (and what's even worse: there's only one action to one hotspot...) and inventory is simply awful to use. Also you have to examine and read all kind of news articles and papers... not my cup of tea (or blood ), not at all.

[luisjoseromero]

I just tried the demo for Dracula Origin. My first impression when I saw the falling rose petals was: This might be the one. My first impression when I heard the first line of spoken dialogue was: Those poor petals were gloriously falling in vain.

From the moment I saw Van Helsing SPEAKING OUT LOUD the contents of his vampire book like it was some sort of Barney's playhouse song on learning how to tie your shoelaces, all the excitement I had expected from the opening screen was completely lost. And I was Sad. Sad that the artists who worked on the game had their work tainted on by such horrible dialogue.

"Here you go, you kill the vampire with the stake and use the cross to push them away", imagine that being told to you by your first grade teacher on a Monday morning with the rest of the class. Now switch the teacher for some hard boiled and jaded supernatural investigator and the children for inanimate laboratory implements. He's talking to himself. Or perhaps he's teaching the flasks and the test tubes like they were his tea party friends. It's the impression I got when I saw the intro.

It obviously went downhill from there. I saw excerpts from newspaper articles and a letter adressed to Mr Helsing written with EXCLAMATION MARKS on it. What the hell? Am I supposed to be convinced into feeling intrigued? Or perhaps pleaded to? Or is there some switch that "turns" it on or off thanks to that magical incantation of a symbol? Like "yeah, you're supposed to feel scared now, I'm in Dracula's Castle!<-Look, an exclamation mark!<- Look, another one!<- Oh anothe... sorry"

The obviously horrendous acting is thus completely unnecessary to cite. It's so prevalent in so many of today's adventure games that I feel it's a waste of anything that can be wasted. I didn't continue playing because it's a rule that if you're not hooked from the get go, it's best just to let go.

The sad reflection upon this is that the talent that could have fueled this kind of game is being more lucratively spent on games like Bioshock and Mass Effect. Even GTA IV. We're desperately clinging to the only designers left from the glory days of Sierra and Lucasarts to make this pain endurable.

[Cactusgod]

I tend to disagree. The acting is, of course, a bit on the bad side, theres no question there. However, the words being spoken out loud doesn't bother me or ruin the feeling. I tend to feel that we're hearing the words from within his head, despite whether or not he's actually reading out loud, but thats just me. It doesnt really matter much as far as I'm concerned.

As for the letters...I feel like you're being way too critical about the exclamation points and such. I think that the type of writing and use of exclamation points is a bit more consistent with the way people used to write letters back in the day. My ex girlfriend's mom used to write letters with oddly placed exclamation points all the time. I realllly don't feel like it pulls away from the suspense at all.

[TezChi]

I also disagree. Mina's voice wasn't as good, but I didn't mind Van Helsing's. I know it isn't the best acting ever, but it shouln't put you off the entire expereince. I hadn't noticed anything with the letters either, lol.

I Don't know, I suppose it just boils down to personal taste. I personally thought it was very good, and I'll be picking up the full game this Friday (damn UK Release Dates! )

[luisjoseromero]

It wasn't just the fact that he was speaking out loud, I also said he was reciting the ways to kill a vampire like some sort of step by step tutorial for the player (ergo the Barney reference), which was too evident, instead of introducing the player to it in a more surreptitious manner, as if he weren't aware of the player's presence, like it should be.

Also the fact that there were exclamation points on several of the documents
belies the ability to convey emotion with involved metaphors. Exclamation points can be abused as a cheap method to try to convey a serious matter. It doesn't matter if some people during that era were barely able to write, the point is the particular person writing the letter read by us should be more involved, in this case Mr Harker, and also the newspaper reporters.

Picture Huckleberry Finn. Even though the character had a poor level of literacy, Mark Twain knew that wasn't an excuse to write cheaply, so he made Huck into a great poet when writing his prose, which was evident even with all the intentional gramatical errors. He made him into a great prose writer because we would be the ones reading the whole thing.

That doesn't mean we must turn every character that lays ink on paper into Lord Byron, but we must make every character who writes letters that we will read into Lord Byrons when possible, literacy levels notwithstading.

[Merricat]

I tend to agree regarding the silliness of exclamation points--rather like dotting your lowercase i with a heart. They are very useful in email and forum posts, however, since there is no tone of voice or facial expression to help provide clues/context.
No, really! It's overkill! I am entirely sincere!

[Henke]

At first I thought the game felt a little stiff and uninteresting but after a while it got rather good actually. Great atmosphere and fun puzzles. Of all the demos I've tried recently this ranks among the best. Although come to think of it I have only played Jack Keane and Overclocked "recently". I'm still not sure which of the games I should invest my money in (if any).