Adventure Gamers - Forums

Karlok - 06 September 2016 02:38 PM

I finished it, but resorted to cheating. In spite of the frustrating bugs (photos!), some long loading times even in the middle of the game, no manual saves, and my non-existing sense of direction, I liked Obduction a lot. The story was interesting, most of the puzzles were either easy or doable, and the gameworld is very beautiful and immersive. I agree with Kurufinwe that some areas are unnecessarily huge. Impressive, atmospheric, but still too big. And I could have done without the many annoying Backer Rewards. Bad idea.

Nice details, for instance: [tiny spoiler alert]: I watched Farley’s hologram at her house twice, didn’t know what to make of it, but after finding the audio tape I listened to her hologram a third time and now everything made perfect sense.   Another example: You can have a look at all the chambers in the list. The acting is fine too. Robyn Miller is a better actor than his brother was in previous games.

This is one Kickstarter project I’m glad I backed. Four out of five stars.

Karlok, did you see both endings?. (Actually, 3 endings if you count the one you die)

About the chambers, I have to say I didn’t crack the numerical system but got lucky instead with different tries…

I’m still waiting for the Mac version. Will there still be one, or has it died already?

Karlok - 07 September 2016 07:49 AM

I complained about the lack of manual saves, but now it turns out I was wrong.  Since nobody corrected me, I assume I’m not the only one who didn’t know you can copy your current position (load game, press down arrow) and continue playing the original saved game.

Ah, I didn’t know that. Still should have been simpler

br305893 - 07 September 2016 09:50 PM

tsa - 07 September 2016 07:34 PM

I’m still waiting for the Mac version. Will there still be one, or has it died already?

I got my Mac key back when the PC version was released.

The Mac version is available for backers for not for sale until they fix the problems. VR version will also come later

I’m now 11 hours into the game (I’m taking my time) and enjoying it a lot. I ended up printing a hardcopy of the various in-game maps, and that has completely changed the experience for me. I’m having fun now, and not getting lost. (Seriously, the whole in-game photo interface is so awful…)

Also, I’ve finally figured out the full logic behind the Villein numbering system. I feel dumb for not getting it earlier. It’s very elegant, actually.

(On the other hand, don’t get me started on that rotating-concrete-hedge-maze puzzle on the Villein world. I thought that’d never end.)

Kurufinwe - 08 September 2016 10:10 AM

(On the other hand, don’t get me started on that rotating-concrete-hedge-maze puzzle on the Villein world. I thought that’d never end.)

You didn’t enjoy having to teleport back and forth a hundred times just to push a button?

wilco - 08 September 2016 01:43 PM

Kurufinwe - 08 September 2016 10:10 AM

(On the other hand, don’t get me started on that rotating-concrete-hedge-maze puzzle on the Villein world. I thought that’d never end.)

You didn’t enjoy having to teleport back and forth a hundred times just to push a button?

The sad thing is, the puzzle is actually pretty clever. But between all the walking back and forth and the loading times (even with a pretty fast computer and the game installed on an SSD), this was tedious.

Karlok - 07 September 2016 07:49 AM

I complained about the lack of manual saves, but now it turns out I was wrong.  Since nobody corrected me, I assume I’m not the only one who didn’t know you can copy your current position (load game, press down arrow) and continue playing the original saved game.

You can turn off all backer reward related content in the settings too, so that’s two of your negatives gone I guess.

And I’m done. Brilliant game. I really wish I had printed the maps sooner (that would have prevented most of my early frustrations), but once I did that I had a lot of fun—even with those back-and-forth puzzles on Maray (the Villein world).

The individual puzzles were fun (blowing stuff up while riding a mini-train is everything I want from life), but I especially loved those Riven-like moments when you figure something out not on a micro level (some individual puzzle), but on a macro level: how the world works, what its logic is. Something as small as realizing that each tree is at the centre of each world, or as huge as understanding what the purpose of the whole thing was, filled me with joy.

The story-telling left a bit to be desired, especially regarding what was going on with those guys on the Villein world (maybe I missed something because I wasn’t looking in the right direction?), and the Mofang world was a disappointment, but overall I loved the game.

It’s ironic that two of the Kickstarters I backed only out of a weird sense of duty (Obduction and BS5) turned out to be great, while so many of the games I was more enthusiastic about (Broken Age, Moebius, Dreamfall Chapters, Tesla Effect—and let’s not even mention Hero-U) were disappointments.

Also, this has made me want to replay the unfairly-maligned Myst V. While the story and characters were awful (Ugh, Yeesha and the magical apes…), I remember the puzzle design being very similar to Obduction’s (including some clever teleportation puzzles).

Karlok - 08 September 2016 04:53 PM

The first negative is still firmly in place too. It’s a real convoluted way to save your game, which is one reason it came too late for me. And why didn’t Cyan simply tell people about it instead of letting them discover it for themselves.

http://support.cyan.com/kb_article.php?ref=5259-IAFK-6596
Don’t know why they chose to do it that way.
It’s weird and unintuitive.
Is that really the best they could come up with for a save system?
Is it due to some limitation of the game engine they used for Obduction?

Kurufinwe - 09 September 2016 04:36 PM

Also, this has made me want to replay the unfairly-maligned Myst V. While the story and characters were awful (Ugh, Yeesha and the magical apes…), I remember the puzzle design being very similar to Obduction’s (including some clever teleportation puzzles).

FWIW, I take that back. I’m almost done replaying Myst V, and the puzzle design is almost as wretched as the writing. Terrible game.

Around 15 hours played and I’m completely stuck. I never use a walkthrough in games I enjoy this much, but I’m wondering if I’ll ever make it on my own. Amazed by how quickly some people here managed to complete Obduction.

With Riven and all other Cyan games (apart from THAT age in URU) I’ve always had confidence in the developer not creating unfair puzzles. There have always been possible to have another look, go through the notes and eventually find the solution to even the hardest puzzles. With Obduction I’m beginning to feel the same as with THAT age in URU. I’ve visited and thoroughly explored two vast worlds and made a short stop at a third. There are several machines I know I have to get working but find no clues as to how (or, for that matter, why some machines behave as they do). And the only clue I have to work with right now I have given up making anything of. The obvious solution didn’t work and I’m out of ideas…

I like my games hard but the lack of feedback from this one is making the experience a bit frustrating.

Well, well. Will be away from home for a few days. Hopefully the breakthrough comes next weekend!:) Still really love the game so far!