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Overboard discussion Thread
@karlok: interesting haircut, great game.
What’s a Flathead woman to do? Good thing Lucy understood that building a beehive to hide her eccentric skull would make her look like the demonologist from Gabriel Knight 2. So she chose a hairdo that proudly shows off her levelheadedness. Good for you, Lucy!
But really, Overboard isn’t a bad game and I don’t really want to be a buzzkill. I completely understand what it is that Karlok and Adv_Lvr enjoy so much about this one, it’s just not for me.
Okay, I get that. But…
I think that in this instance it works better in concept than execution. For me, this idea would really be great in the context of a broader narrative, where you can go chapter by chapter, choosing to replay a specific chapter in order to change the particulars of all the following chapters. If you reach a dead end in, say, chapter 7, you can identify why and then go back to, say, chapter 4 and correct that reason why. However, that correction might alter something crucial in chapter 6, which would present a ‘dead end’ later on. So you keep on replaying chapters until you’ve figured out exactly what needs to be where in order to reach the end.
...what’s the difference between Overboard and your ideal execution of the concept? Overboard doesn’t have chapters but it’s a very short game, you can finish it in 15 minutes or even less when you use the “fast replay” button (or whatever it’s called) to skip parts you don’t want to change.
Butter my buns and call me a biscuit! - Agent A
The difference is that in my ideal execution (as ideal as I can come up with anyway) the motivation and reward for solving the game is that you get to move forward in a much larger story, which will hopefully be more interesting than the one in Overboard. I get that Overboard’s brevity and compact story are part of its charm, but I got bored with it pretty quickly. I need the motivation of a progressing narrative to keep me hooked in adventure games. I didn’t quite feel like this was a logic puzzle game (where I’m fine if there is no story), and I didn’t quite feel like it was an adventure game either. It reminded me of a more intelligent and macabre version of your typical Tokimeki Memorial style dating sim, where you choose a dialogue option and hope for the best. If you don’t get the best you were hoping for, you go back and try again. The only difference is that Overboard also throws in the added challenges of time and place. There’s nothing wrong with the game, but it’s not my type of game.
Also, since you never know exactly what reaction characters will have to your choices, it isn’t until you’ve really narrowed down what works and what doesn’t that you can start puzzling it all together. That’s too much trial and error busy work for my liking.
After all, I could be replaying A New Beginning.
By the way, I once played a game called Midnight Nowhere that was worse than all the games Luhr mentioned combined.
Player, purveyor, and propagator of smart toys and games for all ages.
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The difference is that in my ideal execution (as ideal as I can come up with anyway) the motivation and reward for solving the game is that you get to move forward in a much larger story, which will hopefully be more interesting than the one in Overboard.
Larger, more interesting story.
That’s it.
Right.
I get it.
Butter my buns and call me a biscuit! - Agent A
So based on what I’ve said about the game so far and why it didn’t click with me, do you think it’s possible that I just didn’t give it enough time? Is there a lot more to the story than I’m seeing from my three play throughs? Or is it just a case of different floats for different boats?
Player, purveyor, and propagator of smart toys and games for all ages.
Facebook.com/weplayfaves
IG @weplayfaves
So based on what I’ve said about the game so far and why it didn’t click with me, do you think it’s possible that I just didn’t give it enough time? Is there a lot more to the story than I’m seeing from my three play throughs? Or is it just a case of different floats for different boats?
There is a WHOLE LOT more to the story. If you are stuck, there are plenty of walk throughs avaliable for you to use.
I kept getting more story with each play through, and I did over 20 of them.
I enjoy playing adventure games on my Alienware M17 r4 and my Nintendo Switch OLED.
So based on what I’ve said about the game so far and why it didn’t click with me, do you think it’s possible that I just didn’t give it enough time?
No, you know what you like and dislike. People rarely change their mind if they continue playing a game they’re not really interested in for whatever reason. But we are not good at explaining why. I always enjoy snooping, eavesdropping, following people around. Why? Don’t know. 
Overboard has plenty of that.
Another reason I’d advise against giving it another chance: You and I like very different games. Hardly any exceptions. Which is fine of course, I just find it funny sometimes. You hated A New Beginning, I thought it was okay. Not great, but not bad either. So I predict that The Last Express (one of my top games, lots of snooping) will at best be an okay game for you.
Butter my buns and call me a biscuit! - Agent A
In terms of gameplay, I mostly agree with the Baron - this game is too repetitive for me, as well. I have managed to reach freedom, and also framed Clarissa. Now, every time I want to try something different, I have to go through the same scenes over and over again. So, I have become very bored with many of the game’s scenes. Yes, you can speed them up with the replay button, but still, there’s just too much stuff that happens identically in every playthrough I’m currently going through. I will keep playing, though, at least for a few additional playthroughs.
I like the idea of the game, and I love the writing and characters. The text is consistently, at least, entertaining, and there are some great sentences and bits of wisdom in there. As for the characters, it’s hard to say who’s my favorite! They all have distinct “voices”, and were written in a very charming way. One character was kind of boring to me, but then I learned something else, and now he’s interesting as well.
@Baron_Blubba
As Adv_Lvr wrote, there’s more to the story. I don’t think I’ll spoil it for you if I say that some things you begin to view in a considerably different light, after several playthroughs. So, apart from trying new lines of dialogue and different approaches, this also makes the game feel fresher in the long run. I quite like this narrative “trick”, there’s this small, confined area, which objectively remains the same, but is different in the mind of the player, narratively speaking.
However, given that the story (characters, writing) was not your cup of tea so far, I do doubt you’ll (significantly) change your mind. If I hadn’t liked the writing so much, I would have stopped playing long ago (although, this basically applies to every adventure game, in my case).
Some games can grow on you over time. I’m playing Yesterday Origins for the third time and I’m really enjoying this playthru. The first time I played it I thought it was just OK.
I enjoy playing adventure games on my Alienware M17 r4 and my Nintendo Switch OLED.
Some games can grow on you over time. I’m playing Yesterday Origins for the third time and I’m really enjoying this playthru. The first time I played it I thought it was just OK.
Which is totally different from forcing yourself to continue playing a game just because other people like it.
BTW the reverse is also true. Here’s how I feel about replaying Sierra’s Quest games I loved so much back then. 
Butter my buns and call me a biscuit! - Agent A
Some games can grow on you over time. I’m playing Yesterday Origins for the third time and I’m really enjoying this playthru. The first time I played it I thought it was just OK.
Which is totally different from forcing yourself to continue playing a game just because other people like it.
BTW the reverse is also true. Here’s how I feel about replaying Sierra’s Quest games I loved so much back then.
I’ve started watching, reading, playing lots of things where I stopped after a little bit, but people whose opinions I trust and who know my tastes have told me to keep going, I’ll start really digging it. Sometimes they are right and I do, and sometimes they are wrong and I don’t.
The reverse is certainly also true when it comes to replaying games. I’ve played The Longest Journey thrice. Loved it the first two times, not so much *at all* the third time.
Player, purveyor, and propagator of smart toys and games for all ages.
Facebook.com/weplayfaves
IG @weplayfaves
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