[Avnon]

We should make a pact not to buy it

We love you Al Loweeeee

[Mattsius]

Originally Posted by fov

The use of the Larry name on a game that just as easily could have stood on its own is exactly what bugs me about the concept of this game

I feel exactly the same. Usually a spin off has a different name than the original product. By using the Larry name they are totally destroying a good franchise. I seriously hope that the game won't do good enough to entitle a sequel, but it doesn't look good.

Originally Posted by Igor

And about mediocre reviews... take a look at the scores that previous Larry games got. So, i wouldn't take that as a bad sign.

Yes, the previous Larry games mostly didn't get very high scores, but you if you read the actual reviews you can get a good view on what kind of a game it is. And this game isn't a Larry game, that's for sure.

[joostp]

EDIT: Nevermind. I probably misinterpreted Mattsius' reply.

[Jackal]

Considering the last LSL game was ALSO not an adventure, there's an awful lot of hand-wringing over this one.

Originally Posted by fov

The use of the Larry name on a game that just as easily could have stood on its own is exactly what bugs me about the concept of this game (I won't be playing it so I can't speak to the game itself).

I dunno about that, Emily. Name recognition is supposed to be pervasive. Using the brand is supposed to grab the attention of people that have "heard of" Leisure Suit Larry, even if they knowing nothing about it. It's just about making people take notice, not making a connection. I understand it as a marketing strategy, even if I don't like it. Why use LSL for a Casino game? Al Lowe was involved in that one, I believe.

Anyway, I know why some people are upset. But as someone else said, this isn't LSL8, so I can personally overlook the "not a Larry game" aspect. I'll probably pick up the game once it hits the bargain bin.

[fov]

I won't pretend the history of how the "old" Sierra became the "new" Sierra doesn't color my opinion here. It absolutely does. In my mind, the old management had the right to do any spin-offs they pleased... and they did, too. Larry's Casino wasn't the first LSL spin-off. The Laffler Utilities came out years earlier. The early Hoyle's games had characters from Quest games in them, too. There was something very endearing about these spin-offs... I think, because they were not replacements for the adventures (which were still the main thrust of the franchises). Instead, they were fun little diversions that tided us over until the next Quest serving was ready.

This time around it just feels dirty to me... having nothing to do with the sex in the game. I'm not surprised Vivendi used the franchise this way - they've been doing this stuff for years. But just because I understand why they did it doesn't mean I have to agree with it or like it, and it certainly doesn't mean I have to buy their (stupid) game.

emily

ps Yes, this is a case of "I already hate your game." I have hated it since the first press release came out. At least I'm consistent in my hatred.

[Jackal]

Actually, Emily, you should stop beating around the bush. Tell us what you REALLY think of the idea.

I do understand people's strong feelings on the matter, and I know the context is much different than before (although there were no more Larry adventures that followed Casino, but no one knew that at the time). I was just addressing the argument that MCL would have sold fine even without the Larry brand. Hard to say if that's true.

We never did get any kind of follow up about Lowe's involvement, did we? One day he was "in negotiations" to come on board, and then.... ffffft. Nothing. Ever.

[fov]

Originally Posted by Jackal

We never did get any kind of follow up about Lowe's involvement, did we? One day he was "in negotiations" to come on board, and then.... ffffft. Nothing. Ever.

Al Lowe's "negotiations" with Vivendi. Essentially they kept stringing him along, then he finally heard from one of the MCL team telling him it was way too late for his help.

As for whether the game would sell as well without the LSL name - of course, we'll never know. I think the press would have been more favorable because there wouldn't be the comparisons. But it probably will sell better this way - because some LSL fans will buy it out of curiosity / loyality / ignorance - whether or not those LSL fans like it doesn't make a difference, because the sale was made. Which is exactly why I think Vivendi did this. Which is exactly why I hate their game.

Off to channel this passion into something a tad more productive... like making Ramen noodles...

emily

[LeisureSuitedLooney]

Well, I've been playing it for 2 days now, and I am so far, really enjoying it. You collect inventory, you help out characters you meet, who, in turn, give you items for other characters, and dialogue is both ironic and creatively off-the-wall. In those respects it is very much an adventure game. And even the "mini-games" are reminiscent of the many arcade sequences found in the Larry series. And, as is the tradition, Larry seems to always just miss barely miss out on his chance to score...which is sometimes a good thing...

The conversation "game" that has everyone so offended, is absolutely hilarious, and very open-ended. Even after you successfullt navigate through a conversation, you always have the option to return to the beginning point, and see what the other responses were. His pick-up lines always made me smile. Also, Larry Sr. has a pretty interesting role in the game, as the built-in hint system...so his voice can be heard at any given time, by picking up any of the games phones. His hair has a white streak, though. Yikes!

Is the game done in the "classic" style? No, although there is a particularly funny joke about the older adventure games on Larry's computer in his dorm room. But even though it's done in a different way, it still feels like the humor of the previous games was left intact. My point being, bickering about not buying new adventure games because they're in 3D, or the gameplay is set up differently, or there's a new character...those things pale in comparison to the opportunity to support the genre. This gameworld is in direct opposition to the lifeless, mechanical Myst-clone gameworlds, with it's bright colors, and lively situations.

THIS is the kind of adventure game we should be pulling for. And while it may not be perfect, it would be a shame if the developers weren't allowed to learn from their mistakes when making the next game. And that can only happen if we play what they give us, then provide feedback. And while I have my own gripes about the game here and there, I'm also going to let 'em know what they got right, in the hope that it encourages them to make another adventure game.

[LeChimp]

LSLooney, I'm just wondering, is the gameplay "move to area, do mini game, go to another area, do another mini game" over and over. Or is there other stuff you do aside from mini games and the conversation thing?

[Jackal]

Originally Posted by fov

Essentially they kept stringing him along, then he finally heard from one of the MCL team telling him it was way too late for his help.

From the sounds of that email, it would appear it was ALREADY too late for Al's involvement long before they started negotiations with him. So the whole thing makes no sense. But then with all the internal shakeups at Vivendi, that should come as no surprise.

I still don't think the Larry fans will help sell the game so much as the many people that have just heard the name somewhere, and take a closer look.

Browsing the isle and seeing Polyester Pete = complete indifference.
Browsing and seeing Leisure Suit Larry = "Hey, I've heard that name before. What's that one about?"

(Followed by "It's about boobies!!" )

That's the theory, anyway.

[Burns11]

Originally Posted by LeChimp

LSLooney, I'm just wondering, is the gameplay "move to area, do mini game, go to another area, do another mini game" over and over. Or is there other stuff you do aside from mini games and the conversation thing?

The gameplay (aside from wandering around finding stuff) basically goes by the girl. Usually you start off with dialogue, then you move on to jump through hoops to try and score (be it playing a game, jumping on a trampoline, or what have you). Pretty much everything is a minigame though, usually involving some sort of button pressing fest, but there are a few exceptions (playing quarters, picture taking, to name a few).

The games are fun...for a while. About halfway through it becomes tedium rather than fun. The good news is that you can skip games with collectable tokens, the bad news is that those are also used to buy things (usually involving seeing more nudity whenever you want) and you particularly won't be able to buy something at the end (nudity related).

The game is REALLY funny at times, really funny. Though at others it gets goofy, like everytime you use the "use" button without having something to use, you fart, it gets old very quickly (didn't they do that on a Beavis and Butthead game?).

I'm not so sure I would say "run out and buy it", but it's worth a rental at the very least (it's also not terribly long), maybe even worth the price of the PC version since you can skip games.

[Krazy]

Originally Posted by Burns11

The gameplay (aside from wandering around finding stuff) basically goes by the girl. Usually you start off with dialogue, then you move on to jump through hoops to try and score (be it playing a game, jumping on a trampoline, or what have you). Pretty much everything is a minigame though, usually involving some sort of button pressing fest, but there are a few exceptions (playing quarters, picture taking, to name a few).

The games are fun...for a while. About halfway through it becomes tedium rather than fun. The good news is that you can skip games with collectable tokens, the bad news is that those are also used to buy things (usually involving seeing more nudity whenever you want) and you particularly won't be able to buy something at the end (nudity related).

The game is REALLY funny at times, really funny. Though at others it gets goofy, like everytime you use the "use" button without having something to use, you fart, it gets old very quickly (didn't they do that on a Beavis and Butthead game?).

I'm not so sure I would say "run out and buy it", but it's worth a rental at the very least (it's also not terribly long), maybe even worth the price of the PC version since you can skip games.

I remember lots of farts in LSL7, epecially that gigantic bean dip fart

[JHousequake]

Originally Posted by Burns11

The game is REALLY funny at times, really funny. Though at others it gets goofy, like everytime you use the "use" button without having something to use, you fart...

:eek:


Ahem, hey Jackal you're theory is pretty much accurate and would explain why the brief interest in reviving Space Quest was diffused and replaced with this. You've got a familiar name and you've got sex so you've got interest from kids who remember their cousin or older brother talking about the game and the great thing about that is they wouldn’t know the history of Sierra. Hell, they probably wouldn’t even know what an ‘adventure game' is so all the game needs is sex for it to deliver. That’s just business; http://www.iht.com/articles/540026.html

The attitude just seems smug to me.

[Kolorabi]

Originally Posted by bigjko

I'll just say this.

Wait for the demo.

Amen.

I'm still looking forward to this game. So what if it isn't a "real" adventure game, it still sounds like fun. If I like the demo, and if it continues to get decent review scores, I'll definitely buy it.

It's no wonder noone dares to do anything new in this industry... gamers are some of the most conservative people around (and being conservative is NOT GOOD FOR YOU ).

[LeisureSuitedLooney]

Originally Posted by LeChimp

LSLooney, I'm just wondering, is the gameplay "move to area, do mini game, go to another area, do another mini game" over and over. Or is there other stuff you do aside from mini games and the conversation thing?

well, Burns11 pretty much described it above. I will say this, though: It has gameplay elements from LSL2, LSL5, and LSL7, all mixed together. From 2 and 5, it borrows the "gameshow" element, although the minigames have the feel of the "game competition" elements from previous titles(ie, the Liar's Dice game from 7, or collecting the "gifts" in LSL6). The biggest game, I feel, is the conversation guidance, as it is used everywhere with the main characters. The nice thing about it is that it lets you go back to retry the conversation, so you can feel free to try the more bizarre "bad conversation" icons.

As with Larry 7, at least as far as I've managed to get (which is not far, I like to play my games slowly, to take in the details and try experimenting a bit), you can impress the girls, which leads to a near-encounter for Larry, that ends with each girl leaving something behind for Larry to add to inventory. I've only seen a few girls though, so it may get different as you progress further.

There are references to previous games, and even other Al Lowe products, like Freddy Pharkas. My favorite part of the game so far, is guiding Larry's conversation with an intellectual girl, so that he makes up a poem on the spot, to woo her. I replayed that one several times, just to hear the different poems he'd come up with, lol.

[Burns11]

Originally Posted by LeisureSuitedLooney

As with Larry 7, at least as far as I've managed to get (which is not far, I like to play my games slowly, to take in the details and try experimenting a bit), you can impress the girls, which leads to a near-encounter for Larry, that ends with each girl leaving something behind for Larry to add to inventory. I've only seen a few girls though, so it may get different as you progress further.

Nope, same the whole game, just with different girls.

Originally Posted by LeisureSuitedLooney

There are references to previous games, and even other Al Lowe products, like Freddy Pharkas. My favorite part of the game so far, is guiding Larry's conversation with an intellectual girl, so that he makes up a poem on the spot, to woo her. I replayed that one several times, just to hear the different poems he'd come up with, lol.

Wait a couple more girls and you won't even hear the conversations because guiding the sperm is so difficult. I don't think I even know what the good conversations might have been for half the girls. It would have been nice if they'd slow down the scrolling and removed the unnecissary obstacles when you redo the conversations.

Originally Posted by Krazy

I remember lots of farts in LSL7, epecially that gigantic bean dip fart

Bad thing is, there's no joke attached. It's kind of funny for maybe a second. It counts the number of farts and time played, I'll have to check those to give you an idea of how many you hear during the game and how annoying it becomes.

Edit: Checked the numbers. 9 hours 7 minutes and 1208 farts.

[Krazy]

Originally Posted by Burns11

Nope, same the whole game, just with different girls.

Wait a couple more girls and you won't even hear the conversations because guiding the sperm is so difficult. I don't think I even know what the good conversations might have been for half the girls. It would have been nice if they'd slow down the scrolling and removed the unnecissary obstacles when you redo the conversations.

Bad thing is, there's no joke attached. It's kind of funny for maybe a second. It counts the number of farts and time played, I'll have to check those to give you an idea of how many you hear during the game and how annoying it becomes.

Edit: Checked the numbers. 9 hours 7 minutes and 1208 farts.

Woah, that's alot of farts.

[Skinkie]

Originally Posted by Krazy

Woah, that's alot of farts.

I'm curious as to whether he found himself asphixiated after that.

[ADVENTURE-RAIDER]

Originally Posted by nordic_guy

Even though the review did mostly go on about the negative, it did get a decent score. However, it's clear that this is anything but an adventure game, and since I never really hooked up with Larry in his previous games, or am interested in puzzle games, I'll give this one a pass.
Looks like it will only be interesting to those who is willing to pay full price for a video game to occasionally see half-naked girls and hear sex-jokes. And even those who do may be turned off by (what is explained as) tedious puzzles.

I learned not to trust reviews. A lot of times I red bad reviews about games and then found myself enjoying that game! On the other side a lot of times the reviews are great and I hated the game! I guess its all a matter of taste and opinion.

[Mattsius]

Originally Posted by ADVENTURE-RAIDER

I learned not to trust reviews. A lot of times I red bad reviews about games and then found myself enjoying that game! On the other side a lot of times the reviews are great and I hated the game! I guess its all a matter of taste and opinion.

You're of course right about reviews being at least to a certain extent subjective. If you read many reviews and compare them to each other you often get a quite good view on the game though.