[After a brisk nap]

A few months ago, we organized playthroughs of Beneath a Steel Sky and 5 Days a Stranger, giving people an opportunity to play the game "together" and talk about it step by step. Then we tried it for Gabriel Knight, and it sort of collapsed.

It is time to revive the idea.

Originally Posted by Kurufinwe

One of the problems with GK was that it was just so huge, and I think it didn't encourage people to (re)play it. I mean, it takes at least 30 minutes before you get out of the bookshop. So we probably need a game that's shorter, or at least that can be divided into smaller parts. And a game that quite a few people have, or can gain access to easily. Maybe we should start a suggestion thread, see if someone's interested in something.

Spoiler:

Longbow, Longbow, Longbow!!!!

Actually, Conquests of the Longbow might be a great choice. (Apart from the fact that it's one of my favorites.) One of the problems when we're doing playthroughs of commercial games is how to make sure everyone who wants to participate has a copy of the game. That's why BASS (which is now freeware) worked so well. And Conquests can be downloaded from Christy Marx's website.

Longbow, Longbow, Longbow!!!

[Melanie68]

I got this off of eBay. I have a feeling it would be good for me to play it with others.

[After a brisk nap]

Also, Conquests is divided into days, creating natural breakpoints. It's not too long, and it has lots of fun stuff to discuss (including multiple solutions to many puzzles).

[Lee in Limbo]

Hmmn.

*downloads*

[MoriartyL]

Count me in! [After a brisk nap rethinks his proposal]

[Jeysie]

Can I put in a vote for the next playthrough after the Longbow one, then? I've been thinking I'd love to do a really in-depth discussion of Sanitarium... while the gameplay itself is basic, if there's any story that could lend itself to some good debate, it's that one.

Plus I think I still have some WAVs lurking around that I pulled out from the game's audio files that were never used in the actual game itself...

Peace & Luv, Liz

[Kurufinwe]

Ooh, Longbow'd be great! I love this game. Definitely count me in if we're doing this one. And Sanitarium is also a big yes from me. Faust would also be perfectly suited to the playthrough format.

OK, so, supposing we do Longbow next, who'd be chairing the playthrough?

[VoodooFX]

Interesting dilemma here. I've personally never heard the news about this game being released as freeware. And I doubt the author has the right to offer it for download, just because she wrote and designed it.

I'm gonna leave the link for the time being. If any of the other mods know more about this, they should act accordingly.

[Melanie68]

This has come up before - look at my post (#9) and fov's (#10)

http://forums.adventuregamers.com/sh...ad.php?t=12081

I don't know if that still stands.

[VoodooFX]

It's good enough for me. Who am I to question 'Emsy the Wise' ?

Maybe I'll try it myself, I doubt my original floppies still work.

[colpet]

What are the puzzles like? There were only 2 small reviews I saw and they mentioned arcade mini games and having to keep up your score.
From Moby games:

This game is set in medieval England. You play as Robin Hood. Your objective is to free King Richard from the French by raising money for his ransome. There are many different endings depending on the score you get. The game uses a mouse interface. There are arcade sequences built into the story, but their difficulty can be adjusted, or they can be completely turned off.

[Kurufinwe]

Originally Posted by colpet

What are the puzzles like? There were only 2 small reviews I saw and they mentioned arcade mini games and having to keep up your score.

It's mostly your typical Sierra inventory puzzles. Except that there's (almost) nothing far fetched about them; the puzzles are logical, and not too hard. There's also quite a fair amount of riddles. And there are a few action sequences from time to time, but you can set the difficulty or even skip them. There's quite a lot of (non-branching) dialogue; I know you're not too keen on that, but it's really well written, and it serves the story.

EDIT: Oh, and the ending doesn't really depend on your score. Rather, both of them depend on some of the decisions you make. For instance, let's say you meet a man on the road, and you'd like his clothes as a disguise. Well, you can take your bow out and basically rob him, or you can find a way maybe to convince him to help you willingly, or strike a deal with him, etc. And that affects the ending. How well you solve certain puzzles also has an influence (for instance, if you manage to do successfully a certain puzzle, you'll gain more money for the king's ransom than if you had found a less satisfactory solution, or if you had failed; and how much money you manage to raise may have an influence on the ending).

[Karmillo]

Oh good I can join in this time