once there's an english version of Unwritten Tales I'll be sure to give it a go. Perry Rhodan was good, especially impressive in that I got into the game very easily despite never having even heard of the comics it's based on before, but not amongst my very favourites. everyone has their own tastes

I'm really lost about the graphical complaints though, looks fine for me (playing in 1280x1024 and not even with settings at max). have you checked your settings? there's a config.exe in the game directory that's easy to miss, or maybe it doesn't look quite as good in higher resolutions?
it honestly wouldn't surprise me for the graphics to be outdated though considering how long it's been in development. take a look at Dragon Age for example, BioWare spent so long working on it that by the time it was ready for release the graphics were rather behind the times, but updating them would've meant having to do a lot more work and delay the release only to potentially run into the same again so they released it anyway and despite the graphics (which are good, just not quite up to some other recent games) it was a huge, huge hit.
graphics aren't the biggest thing, game and story are. if a game has all three then that's great, but if I have to chose just one or two, graphics will be lowest priority

but like I said, GM's graphics look fine to me

Well... Awkward.

I'm both glad that you guys are playing the game, and sad that most of you are playing a pirated version.

So let me just get this straight: I will not let it ruin my "Gray Matter Day" and just stick with the gladness if you intend to buy the retail game when it's out in your region.

I can understand (to an extent) that people having waited for this game for way too long want to play it in as soon as they can, and hence I would not resent them/you to do so... if you please don't pass out on buying it if you were intending too.

Support adventure games, support a possible GM2, and give reasons to the publishers of such games to invest decent budgets in order to deliver the best games possible in terms of quality and creativity.

Sorry I hope it doesn't sound preachy, I'm really asking nicely as far as I'm concerned, but see we all, Jane, us and the other outsourcers, worked pretty hard on getting this game out, and it was for you people, seriously, no one will earn golden jetskis on this one...

And while it has its flaws as some of you as well as the reviews are pointing out, believe me when I say that it wasn't a given that this game was even finished at all, and we really did our best in the given conditions.

So please don't give the industry a reason to dis the game genre that you love, and support it by buying honestly as well as voicing your criticism and praises.

Oh, and have fun, I hope you love the game.

(please don't answer "I will/won't buy it", that's not the point ;) )

edit: just want to say by the way that this is my own thoughts on the matter, and I'm not speaking for wizabox or dtp. :)

I admit it, I play an illegal copy of the game. Yesterday morning when
I saw it available I hardly couldnt believe my eyes. There it was, a game I´ve been waiting for for so long, I almost gave up hope for it. I struggled with my consience for about 30 seconds before I pushed the download button.
I simply couldnt wait.
Will I buy it?
Yes.
Yes I will.
Like I bought all the other games Jane created, several copies of each and everyone of them.
I just couldnt wait any longer, right or wrong.

I don't get this complaining about graphics at all. It's true that animations aren't that good, but I think graphics are good. The backgrounds are really beautiful and they fit to the game nicely, and overall atmosphere is great. The mystic gothic art direction is great as well. Character models are okay, it's only animations that are below average. After years of development changes and troubles, it's unrealistic to expect amazing graphics like those games that have been created from the beginning to the end in same production team. I have played AAA-titles on consoles (Uncharted 2, Assassin's Creed 2 etc) and surely Gray Matter graphics are technically very very old fashioned when compared to those, but I still think it's beautiful game.

Yeah, I'm at a loss on these graphic whiners too. Animations are a bit stiff but I don't really care. The 2D pre-rendered art is beautiful. So much more inspired than say, Telltale Game's 3D Tales of Monkey Island engine (which I just think has a horrifically ugly art syle) where every character is literally a copy/paste of the same 3D model.

They have my money, i want to play right now. It's pretty straightforward.

Well Book of Unwritten Tales may have smoother dialogue but I fail to see how that really matters. What makes or breaks an adventure game imho is the storyline. How is the actual plot of Unwritten Tales versus Gray Matter?

people who have a problem with the pirated version are missing the point.

(before i start this mini-rant id like to clarify i dotn have it, wont be buying it either, and will probably leave this thread in a bit to avoid spoilers, as i dont plan to play it until i have completed the GK games, at which point if it is available and i enjoyed GK i will definitely pay for it)

dtp have seemingly gone out of their way to make it hard for US jensen fans to play this game, there is no way to buy it online, or to import it without waiting weeks. so when people leak it on the web and that becomes their only option, what can you expect.

die hard jensen fans are not going to let themselves play this game without eventually giving the developer the money they deserve, that would make no logical sense.

i know if something like shenmue 3 was coming out, and leaked 2 weeks before the official release i would grab it without thinking. i would then probably buy as many copies as i could sensible afford when it was available properly, because i would want a shenmue 4.

most people are in a similar position here with jane jensen, nobody wants her to stop making games.

Exactly.... I mean, if you want to hate me for not buying "Gray Matter" on Steam, I totally understand. Oh wait.

Does anyone know where that pirated PAL version that's been floating around the internet comes from? That has to be out somewhere then. Or is it in fact the German version, which was only in German according to Amazon.de?

Official warning from Adventure Gamers:

I'll remind everyone that Adventure Gamers official policy states that we have "a zero tolerance policy on pirated software. Any messages soliciting or promoting warez will be immediately deleted and posting priveledges will be revoked."

This is not a debate, argument, or invitation to discussion at all. Don't like it? Doesn't matter. Those who have already admitted to downloading an illegal version of the game will face sanctions of some kind to be determined by us. Anyone else who does so from this point on will face a permanent ban.

On a personal note, I certainly believe that some of you have already pre-ordered or will certainly later order the game legally, and I do at least applaud that. Anyone else should just be ashamed of themselves.

when will a community playthrough happen for this? is it usually somehting done with games most epople have already played before? because i will play all the GKs soon and try and get involved with the playthrough if its in the pipeline.

The way community playthroughs usually work is that someone "leads" the playthrough who knows the game inside and out...in kind of a retrospective-host manner. Right now I doubt many of us have even seen the game yet and who knows how long till the US even gets a legit release....but I guess it's up to the crowd. Seems to me this would work best in a few months when everyone can play along.

just finished the game and it is a work of art. I think I missed some of the bonus points in a couple of chapters though but I'm not sure if getting them all unlocks anything

Spoiler:

the post credits scene: is this a sequel hook I see before me? dare I hope?

Finished too, dead tired but couldn't leave it waiting for tomorrow.

It's simply the best adventure game of the decade. 5/5

The game only had two flaws: the clumsy animations and at least at one point I managed to do an action that I got a clue for afterwards.

Spoiler:

I pushed the professor about the affair with Sherry before hearing the phone conversation

And those are hardly flaws in a superb adventure like this.

I think the game was a bit on the easier side but clearly felt more like a game than most of the recent adventures that have been closer to super easy. The puzzles were much more fun and the characters and dialogue is just on the different level than most of the adventures I've played in years.

Bot protagonists are great and all the relationships in the game are just juicy. Jane has a great sense of humour that doesn't spoil a "serious game". And there is enough suspense to make the game exciting but it never turns into horror (I dislike most horror games because honestly they are just too scary for me to play).

I managed to get almost all of the bonus points, missed a few in two chapters I think. No idea if they matter in anything.

it did feel easier than, for example, the Gabriel Knight games, but it's hard to say whether that's because it is easier or I'm just better at puzzles than I was several years ago. it's certainly not as easy as Alter-Ego for example
there's a few places I was stuck for a while but only one where I was tempted to find a walkthrough (big surprise, there aren't any yet :P I managed to figure it out on my own anyway)

Spoiler:

the "enter the name of the mage" bit. I tried Mephistopheles, Houdini, even Harry bloody Potter before thinking to try Lewis Caroll

the story kept me guessing nicely too

Spoiler:

at first I was sure Malik was a plant from Linkweller, and then when evidence started supporting this theory I couldn't decide whether he was a red herring or not for a while. I was also convinced that there were two ghosts, one who had killed Laura (this after seeing the photo) and Laura herself, but that Styles was unknowingly feeding the wrong ghost. when Laura's message began "IM" I was expecting it to eventually reveal "IMNOTALONE". then I suspected Helena, the only Lamb who didn't seem to have an agenda or any evidence against her so of course she became my top suspect. until there was evidence against her of course :P it wasn't until Styles flashback to the student in his office that I became sure it was Angela (could just notice the scottish accent behind the voice distortion) but even then I wasn't sure she was behind everything.
I loved how the ending also left you not entirely sure just how much of the goings on were down to Angela and how much was Laura. after all, the message "IMPOSTER" proves Laura was there
and then the page from the book, Bride of Frankenstien... sequel to the story Sam has been reading. subtle hint at a Gray Matter sequel? I hope so

What's required to complete the bonus percentages? for example, in chapter 1?

Quick thoughts:

1) Graphically, yes, not groundbreaking. It doesn't matter. The backgrounds are fantastic. The models are a little stiff and bland and the animations not impressive. A few graphical glitches so far were a little ugly, like Sam getting on the bike. Yuck.

2) Love the cut scenes. Awesome art style. The ending cut scene for Chapter 1 dispenses any concern that it's not a Jane Jensen quality game.

3) Like the music but wish there was more so far. A tad repetitive, even how good it is.

4) The game runs great on my machine, very fluid and fast which can't be said for all adventures.

5) It lacks a little polish overall for a game that has been in development so long. Nothing game breaking but just a little.

6) Puzzles do seem easy overall and I can see how the whole magic thing was probably hoped to be better than it is.

Just nitpicks.

Why's that depressing? I don't blame people for getting the game early, I can barely wait myself! Not only that, but I live in Italy where the game (like all games) will only be released in Italian, which I am not fluent in. When it's available to buy in English (and completed), I will order it online. As long as these people BUY the game when it's available, I personally have no problem with their practices. Downloading illegally & not buying, however... I disapprove.

What's really depressing is the anticlimactic reaction so far.

Any idea if it will be released on Steam? I'm buying many of my games there nowadays and wish more adventures were distributed there. I refuse to pirate it so will wait either way.

German magazine GameStar gives it a 77/100, criticizing the graphics, the puzzles and the very beginning of the game in particular. I myself would have to add that at least the first chapter made me despise the protagonist. On top of bad voice-acting (German version in particular) she delivers lines that would rather suit a teenage goth girl than a woman. And I'd have to agree with Phod that the game lacks overall polish.

This isn't the right forum to ask for help, but if you post your progress bars I may be able to help.

What about the positive points? Why people always focus so much on the negative side of things...

You can download it via Amazon right now, and it's in English.

well she IS an ex-goth college-age woman so that's not really unexpected. I actually liked how both she and Styles showed their flaws from the start and became more likeable as we get to know them, all too often games feature characters that are either too squeaky clean or too far the opposite with no middle ground or character development. this being a Jane Jensen game though, character development should not come as a surprise. just look at how much of a jerk Gabriel Knight was in the early parts of the first game

on an unconnected note I'd just like to add how much I enjoyed some of the subtle (and some not so subtle) in-jokes. looked at the towel in Sam's bag? keeping that in mind what time did the second event take place?

Spoiler:

look at the clock in the pool

I moved the few hint/help requests to a new thread in the Hint forum.

Can people post their system specs along with how the game runs on their computers?

My Pentium 4 w/ 64 MB GeForce Ti4200 probably won't cut it...:(

Positive points included the "professional speakers" (I can't stand the German protagonist voice), great story that takes its time to develop and solid atmosphere. I have to agree that after a while I began feeling drawn into the story and the game overall, even though I still wouldn't say this is the best adventure in decades.

Tried playing it on my Macbook Pro (2,4GHz, 8600M GT), it doesn't handle the highest settings very well (which is ridiculous), my tower with a 2,4GHz and a 9800GTX+ runs it very well except for the two-seconds-loading screens between each scene (which could have been avoided using simple precaching, I imagine).

Thanks :)

I guess 77/100 is not bad. How is that magazine with AG?

can someone please provide a link to this amazon download - i cant find it anywhere, only an order of the boxed copy.

@jamiehavok

Hannes is just talking bull. The game can't be downloaded yet.

ok as i suspected, thanks.

Seems to me Gray Matter has seen some of the most mindbogglingly incompetent marketing practices in the history of computer games. Actually makes me a little bit angry considering the anticipation and possible sales. It's depressing. Glad the game seems to live up to expectations though.

Longest Journey 79, Amnesia 80, Lost Horizon 87; I'd say they don't disfavor adventures, and Gray Matter is above average yet not quite there.

I'd also say their reviews might be a bit byassed. I haven't played Lost Horizon yet but I very much doubt it's better than TLJ.

Well they are 10 years apart, thats a lot. The review team might not even be the same.

Honestly it's a great game. I just finished it. The graphics are fine (honestly i don't understand what's to bitch about, it's an adventure game, not Crysis), I haven't noticed any bugs, or crashes to desktop so in that aspect it's quite polished.

The game starts off a bit slow (althou i was immediately hooked and that's not an easy thing to do) but once the story starts kicking in it's great.

To be honest the puzzles are easy, maybe even a bit too easy. I don't mind since i'm more story oriented, and nothing pisses me off more than being stuck for a long time. I'm not much of a puzzle gamer, so if i get stuck i use a walkthrough, but here i had no problems. I just asked on a forum for help twice and even then it was more pixel hunting then anything else (can be avoided with the use of the space key). There's also a lot of help in the game itself. Locations are lit up if you still need to do something with them and pressing the "P" key brings up the progress bar. So yeah, maybe a tad to easy.

I know some people were really hyped about this game. I wasn't paying much attention so i had no expectations about the game whatsoever and i enjoyed it a lot. I have some pacing issues with the game but that's for some other discussion.

I'd give the game 8/10 looking at it as a story-driven adventure game.

EDIT: It could have been 2 chapters longer i just thought... for story sake... Took me 9 hours to finish and i'm not the most able person in adventure games...

I am very much agreeing with rayvio about everything in this thread really, I even like gnomes ;).

The characters were a definite upside. But nowadays I have noticed that I often like characters that other people seem to dislike. I hate the goody-two-shoes they feed to us and I always try to remind people about Gabriel Knight and his behaviour. And Gabriel Knight is a fantastic character. Sam and Styles are both very well fleshed characters that feel real and their chemistry is great. They work so well that I chuckled several times just to one word or a tone of voice when they said something.

In-jokes and jokes in general were just super. And it didn't cheapen the overall plot or mystery at all. The game wasn't a comedy.

---

And seriously, Lost Horizon 87pts? The game was very average in every aspect. Only thing better than average was the overall smoothness, which is nice but hardly gamebreaking. Gray Matter or TLJ are imo 90+ games no matter how you look at them. I consider Gray Matter better than Dreamfall, Still Life or Culpa Innata which are the only adventures I've given 4,5/5 or 9/10 after 2000. (Noir and TLJ are 5/5 and 10/10 and from 1999)

Gray Matter can be legally downloaded at
http://gamerunlimited.gamesplanet.co...r-2194-14.html

Price: 39.95 euros.

My first impression of the game is not altogether positive, I'm sorry to say. That contrived intro in the cheap graphic style of the now so popular casuals! And those non-descript descriptions come straight out of the adverage cookie-cutter adventure: "someone must read a lot" and "the fireplace hasn't been used in ages". The Gabriel Knight games grabbed me from the start, this one doesn't. But it's a Jane Jensen game, so I'm waiting for the story to kick in. :)

Thanks! I've been looking for a digital distro site to purchase this legitimately since yesterday. Downloading now!

Ok, here my impressions of chapter 1 and most of chapter 2:

+ love the art style of the movie sequences
+ amazing soundtrack, and I love both vocal songs I heard so far
+ nice background graphics
+ good voice acting
+ interesting story
+ original magic system/puzzles

- chapter 1 is very slow, lots of people will get turned off because of this chapter
- lots of static backgrounds, need more animations to make them alive
- average character animations, and Sam's walk is un-natural
- subtitle box takes too much room, sometimes even blocking the characters performing important actions
- delay in hotspot descriptions
- Sam only runs for a few steps and then return to normal walking
- magic system is a bit out there, I'm still getting used to it