[Len Green]

I believe in strict honesty. So firstly let me say that I am positively biased towards Diamonds in the Rough since I was closely connected to the game development, and afterwards wrote the very detailed walkthrough!

Having said that, to the review itself :-

The reviewer evidently did not enjoy the game all that much, finding it “dull” & “slow” & “disinteresting” … that much is perfectly obvious. There is nothing wrong in that… it is his prerogative. After all, liking or disliking a game is a very individual and subjective matter. I have disliked many games that some reviewers and oodles of players have raved about! And it is a fact that quite a number of other players have enjoyed DITR immensely as detailed on various Forums and other Reviews… simply “One man’s meat is another’s poison”.

However I do not agree with bringing in what I consider to be some completely fallacious arguments in order to justify the Reviewer’s dislike. That is both unnecessary as mentioned above. It is also IMHO extremely unfair & misleading to players who have as yet not played the game !!
I will describe five examples only, although there are maybe more :-

{1} DITR is not a lllooonnnggg game, but IMO it is absolutely impossible to complete it in anything like 5 hours. Between 10 hours & 15 hours is about the time the game takes to play properly, if without any external assistance. A glance at various Hint/Help Forums shows that players who do not wish to use the walkthrough (and who can fault them for that ?) have got stuck in several places, spent some hours trying to proceed, and in the end asked for help. Nowhere have I seen ANYBODY claim that they finished the game in anywhere less than a dozen hours… at the very least ! .
Of course, if the Reviewer used the walkthrough very extensively, he might have finished it in just about 5 hours… but in that case I feel that for the sake of probity he should have stressed the fact that he took some peeks at the walkthrough. [ Edit :- I see that he has now amended his time estimate to “under 10 hours” which is at least a tad more realistic! ]

{2} “The writing is also awkward in places, not flowing in a realistic way” ---------”.
Perhaps the Reviewer was thinking of “Beware of Greeks bearing dictionaries”
For his and others’ information, the full script was not translated but written originally only in excellent English. Alkis’ English is phenomenal for somebody whose mother tongue is Greek. In several decades of game playing (and testing etc.) I have come across quite a few developers born & bred in USA & UK whose English is far worse. After his initial excellent English writing, the texts underwent a very thorough checking more than once, and the few spelling and grammatical errors were corrected and so were the odd shortcomings in style.
The above quote is a generality without ‘proof’. I would respectfully request the Reviewer to list any places where he observed any “awkwardness in the writing” so that they can be eliminated(if necessary) in any further printing. I would also ask him to point out one more spelling mistake than the blatant one in his own Review itself… I think it will be difficult to find one more! I can easily confirm using my 72 saves which run right through the game!

{3} “The acting is fairly good for the most part, although it sometimes sounds a bit irregular, with stresses on the wrong words in sentences”. Oh come on now… how can you possibly say that? The professional (paid) voice acting is superb, better than any other of the very many Indie games I’ve played, and better even than very many large-budget ‘commercial’ games. Of the dozen or so characters, the four main protagonists (2 male & 2 female) are nothing less than superb !
Again if you would like to prove your point, please tell me where are the “irregularities” &/or “stresses on the wrong words in sentences”. As I said above, I have 72 saves and can quickly find them for future reference and even correction… if indeed needed ?!?

{4} “After the incredibly (and over) lengthy intro ------- “.
Says who ? The intros of many games have next to nothing to do with the following gameplay … this one is an integral part of it, outlining the whole raison d'être for the game itself and its thrilling story (which the narratives of many games don’t bother to do… incidentally, nor do the majority bother to supply a decent ending to the story &/or game !).

{5} “Leading up to a finale that comes as quite a surprise”.
Surely a very great understatement.
Everybody who has played the game has found it to be a a VERY GREAT and totally unexpected surprise!

[Jackal]

You're obviously very passionate about the game, Len, but other than your first point, which was already addressed long before you posted it, there really isn't anything here that falls outside of completely subjective disagreement.

Unless you're suggesting the reviewer was flat out lying to be unfavourably critical, he described his own experience, plain and simple, as a reviewer must. Your experience being different than his doesn't make either of your views a "fallacious argument". So why not just state your own without trying to discredit another? It's great to see differing views on a game. Vive la différence, and all that. But acting like the ultimate authority on points of personal difference weakens an argument, not strengthens it.

Incidentally, awkward writing needn't have anything to do with poor translation, unless you're suggesting that no native English speaker is incapable of it. I can assure you, nothing could be farther from the truth.

If Berian wants to detail his "proof" to your satisfaction, more power to him, but bear in mind this is a review, not an essay.

[AGA]

Like Jack said, most of that stuff comes down to opinion, that you're welcome to disagree with.

As for the writing and voice acting, I don't know if you're an English-speaking native, Len, but being one myself (as Alkis obviously isn't), they just don't sit right. This might be something you wouldn't feel unless you too were a native, I dunno.

[Len Green]

Oboy! I believe that I am a "native".

Born, bred, educated, London (England).

Studied at the Imperial College of Science (Royal College) South Kensington, just behind the Albert Hall!
B.Sc. Special Honours Physics with Subsidiary Maths + A.R.C.S. Diploma.
Additional qualifications in English language & literature.

Written several non-game articles for newspapers and magazines.

Pre-alpha, alpha, & beta tested around 40 Quest Adventure games and written about the same number of walkthroughs (including a big large-budget commercial well known German Company releasing their anticipated [English] game in August 2008).

I think my English is OK ... and my experience of voice acting and subtitles of every type of Adventure Game goes back over 20 years.
So on these subjects they are much more factual & comparative than merely subjective !

[Jackal]

Umm, no, they're not. In the slightest. Just means you're well qualified to discuss them subjectively. As are many others.

There's not anything remotely resembling a "fact" in dispute here, so really this discussion is a non-starter.

So, anyone else? Agree? Disagree? Care to share your experience with the game?

[nikolas]

Originally Posted by Jackal

So, anyone else? Agree? Disagree? Care to share your experience with the game?

Yup!

(Keep in mind, once more. I did music for DiTR)

Ok, first of all! Music Rocks in the Game! I think that it's the best feature of the game!

Ok kidding aside now.

My experience of the game(s developement) is as thus:

At the initial steps of the game, I found it rather indifferent. Alkis was not sharing anything from the story, so I was pretty much blind! So, in all effort, I sticked to creating music for the first part of the game. (with 2 themes in my head, but anyhow, let's not get technical here).

When the demo was due, for the first time I had something "complete" to try out! And it was a blast! The ending of the demo, hit me hard! Because until then there was no sign of anything wrong doing of DiTR, nor of special abilities! With the demo due for release, I asked Alkis a couple of days and I created a new track, especially for the ending of the demo (which is still in the game). This track gave direction to the rest of the music! 100%

After that I was bitting my nails to find out what's wrong with DiTR. I discussed it with my wife, we couldn't figure out anything, we met alkis, and still no word. Finally about 3 months ago, I got the final script and I finally knew what was going on! I was amazed! Everything fell into place. And kept on working.

(I've mentioned this elsewhere (other forum I believe), so...)

Once I got beta097 or so, the game was 98% complete (music in the ending missing). I played through (with the help of the walkthrough, around 4-5 hours I believe), didn't stop at all! Reaching decisive points in the game, made me wanting to reach the end! When I reached the end, I was pretty much stunned (being involved and all, of course. I'm not unbiased).

Following day, I went back to the game to capture the video of the ending and work on it. Curse me! I hadn't saved a single slot from around 1/2nd of the game! I was SO hooked up by the game that I forgot to save!

Either way, replayed, saved right before the ending and started the ending. At 5 minutes the screensaver came on and destroyed the video (!). I didn't even move the mouse!

The above are true (and I do think that the video with the screensaver is somewhere in my hard disk for any disbeliever).

Of course all the above are personal! I'm part of the team, I was also enjoying my music on the game, I was seeing my "appartment" being build! My own little brick on the game.

_________________________________

Judging from the above, I can safely say that I understand the reviewers opinion. At least as far as the dull/slow issue is concerned. At first the game could be rather slow, but once you get the hang of it, you are quickly taken inside that world.

The animation is indeed the weakest point, I won't dissagree there (although I got used to it, and got used to Jasons face after all! )

BGs and stillness, I actually think it's a personal choice that Alkis took. At least it worked great for me. Even if the beginning was somewhat slow paced, the BGs worked an unsteady feeling to me, only because of the unreal (or sureal) feeling they gave.

Voice acting, I found it good. Can't speak much about it. Same about English. I'm Greek, can't have much of an opinion on English.

It is a matter of choice really. I do think (and I've seen many people to agree), that once you get into the game, you do need to reach the ending, and this ending is hugely rewarding for most people.

The lengthy intro and outro thing. It really depends. Of course cinematics would create a much better intro, no doubt, but still the story, the voice acting, and everything involved, created a great intro and outro imo. The kind of intro that wants you to play the game, and an outro which leaves no questions asked, but many issues to discuss. It is not a silly sci-fi ending at all!

Anyways, that's all from me.

[Jackal]

Whoops, thread overlap!

I forgot there was an ongoing thread about the game in Adventure. Maybe that's the best place to share opinions and experiences with the game. This thread can be about specific comments relating to the review, if anyone else has any. (There's also the Comments section on the article itself.)

But great feedback, Nikolas. It's always neat to hear some behind-the-scenes stuff.