• Log In | Sign Up

  • News
  • Reviews
  • Top Games
  • Search
  • New Releases
  • Daily Deals
  • Forums

Adventure Gamers - Forums

Welcome to Adventure Gamers. Please Sign In or Join Now to post.

You are here: HomeForum Home → Gaming → Adventure → Thread

Post Marker Legend:

  • New Topic New posts
  • Old Topic No new posts

Currently online

Becky

Support us, by purchasing through these affiliate links

   

Encodya

Avatar

Total Posts: 416

Joined 2018-03-07

PM

Chrissie, I’m happy for you and your Sharingan eagle eye but I’m positive that 99.9 percent of the gaming world would agree that these are pixel hunts (spoiler for two item locations).

Nothing wrong with my monitor lol.

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 5813

Joined 2012-03-24

PM

PlanetX - 31 January 2021 05:57 PM

Chrissie, I’m happy for you and your Sharingan eagle eye but I’m positive that 99.9 percent of the gaming world would agree that these are pixel hunts (spoiler for two item locations).

Nothing wrong with my monitor lol.

Sharingan eagle eye? Please explain! So 99.9 of the gaming world never played a traditional adventure game in their life & agree that there are 2 pixel hunts in the game? I’m as thick as 2 short planks when it comes to pixel hunts but I found them…....

If you’re playing the game, treat it as a traditional adventure (which it is) & check every area, look at & interact with everything move your characters out of the way to make sure you don’t miss anything behind them. All items are easy to see & pick-up - it’s a lovely game.

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 8720

Joined 2012-01-02

PM

actually, i ve been meaning to bring this up for a while, so as flat and plain as much i can; Hotspot-revealer has ruined a bit of the immersion of the adventuring experience, or the immersi(ty)  of exploring every bit of the locations, and really absorbing the knowledge of the whole area

but that doesnt mean i myself avoid the the Hotspot-revealer if available, bc a game designed 100% with it, is played too differently than if it hadnt, of course without it, the designer must create (also)intense rooms with more hotspots to deal with, maybe every spot can be interactive as atKQ6, and it’d be nice if having different comments for various inventories interactions. and more than one line description.

however and i think hotspot-revealer is favoring the designer than it is doing much of anything for the player. the designer with Hotspot-revlear make less dialogue/description, artwork’ work….etc, which concerns more days of work and more budget to be spent.
and sometimes having it could make the designer get away with a game like Willy Morgan, where there is a very little number of hotspot interactions, to the extent of each room having almost one purpose, except for one or two like the barn (the table and the horse) and another i guess.

however back the subject Encodya is doing well for me without the revealer, and i also i love it when i am stuck and the IT IS bc of something i ve missed, it gets me on my toes visiting every location again and again.

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 1619

Joined 2015-07-01

PM

I just watched the trailer, only ever seen the screenshots before this and saw the game features a parody of trump. This is another reason this is a no go for me. Im not a trump fan at all, but i find it to be too on the nose for my taste, unless it’s a spoof like Spaceballs was a spoof of Star Wars, but i doubt the game is that. Otherwise it comes off as lazy writing and being hit over the head with a hammer with nothing subtle about it, well at least to me.

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 5813

Joined 2012-03-24

PM

This is a reply from the developers on the Steam forum in response to the suggestion that the game included a parody of Trump:

“please be aware that there is no “politics” in ENCODYA and as also stated at the beginning of the game in the disclaimer.

We simply mock a stereotypical politician, in our case German, small, big belly and long moustaches, which has no reference to the real world whatsoever.
Additionally, the name ‘Rumpf’ might remember someone else, however ‘Rumpf’ is just a German noun and means ‘hull’ and, when you might have seen our trailer, a ship will have a central role in ENCODYA.

With ENCODYA, chief developer Nicola simply wanted to describe a fictional politician which, together with big corporations who run the megapolis, is controlling the people of Neo Berlin. That’s simply it, no politics, truth, hidden or obvious agenda, just a game and science- cyberpunk- fiction.”

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 5813

Joined 2012-03-24

PM

Advie - 31 January 2021 07:21 PM

actually, i ve been meaning to bring this up for a while, so as flat and plain i can; Hotspot-revealer has ruined the a bit of the immersion of the adventuring experience, or immersi(ty)  of exploring every bit of the locations, really absorbing the knowledge of the whole area

Yes, I agree & since the introduction of that facility has that perhaps led to players being ‘lazy’? or if starting to play games post that feature expectant of that kind of help & disappointed when it doesn’t work properly as it didn’t in this game?

I think it’s a nice facility - your thoughts on it Advie benefiting the developers are interesting. 

PlanetX I would like to ask you if you would have been so critical of the perceived ‘pixel-hunting’ if the hot-spot revealer had worked properly?

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 1619

Joined 2015-07-01

PM

chrissie - 01 February 2021 07:37 AM

This is a reply from the developers on the Steam forum in response to the suggestion that the game included a parody of Trump:

“please be aware that there is no “politics” in ENCODYA and as also stated at the beginning of the game in the disclaimer.

We simply mock a stereotypical politician, in our case German, small, big belly and long moustaches, which has no reference to the real world whatsoever.
Additionally, the name ‘Rumpf’ might remember someone else, however ‘Rumpf’ is just a German noun and means ‘hull’ and, when you might have seen our trailer, a ship will have a central role in ENCODYA.

With ENCODYA, chief developer Nicola simply wanted to describe a fictional politician which, together with big corporations who run the megapolis, is controlling the people of Neo Berlin. That’s simply it, no politics, truth, hidden or obvious agenda, just a game and science- cyberpunk- fiction.”

If you really believe that than I got a piece of land I want to sell you on the moon. I don’t blame the developers for trying to cover themselves now because they’re getting called out for it on Steam in at least three or four different topics that I’ve seen so far. But it’s obviously a parody which would be fine if this game was a satire like Leisure Suit Larry, but it is not.

For the record I would also call it out if the game featured a character named Barack Hussein who was obviously a parody of Barack Obama. same thing to me which is really low-hanging fruit

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 416

Joined 2018-03-07

PM

For most games I play with hotspot highlight, I never use it. Last time I can remember doing so was The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 when I was stuck because of a glitch. I probably played like 20~25 adventure games last year, from old to new, and never used a highlight once.

But most adventure games don’t expect you to notice a thin light blue line on a massive zoomed out screen that’s also mostly light blue. They don’t put intentional pixel hunts in their games so it’s almost never an issue for me. It’s like Tim Schafer mentioned during the DFA documentary, they never tried to have pixel hunts in their games. They were design oversights and it shows because most classic LA games barely have any. If they do at all.

Thing is, Chrissie, even if you didn’t personally have an issue with these things. You should still be able to look at the examples and understand what I mean.

Even Advie mentioned the pixel-hunting in his first post. It just didn’t bother him. Now he’s saying he enjoys the aspect of getting stuck and going to every location again and again. That’s a fine opinion to have if that’s your taste. But don’t pretend like its not a part of this game at all.

For me, personally, If I’m stuck in an adventure game I’d rather it be because of a challenge in lateral thinking rather than happening to miss a small object similarly colored to the backdrop several screens back.

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 1619

Joined 2015-07-01

PM

PlanetX - 01 February 2021 11:46 AM

For most games I play with hotspot highlight, I never use it. Last time I can remember doing so was The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 when I was stuck because of a glitch. I probably played like 20~25 adventure games last year, from old to new, and never used a highlight once.

But most adventure games don’t expect you to notice a thin light blue line on a massive zoomed out screen that’s also mostly light blue. They don’t put intentional pixel hunts in their games so it’s almost never an issue for me. It’s like Tim Schafer mentioned during the DFA documentary, they never tried to have pixel hunts in their games. They were design oversights and it shows because most classic LA games barely have any. If they do at all.

Thing is, Chrissie, even if you didn’t personally have an issue with these things. You should still be able to look at the examples and understand what I mean.

Even Advie mentioned the pixel-hunting in his first post. It just didn’t bother him. Now he’s saying he enjoys the aspect of getting stuck and going to every location again and again. That’s a fine opinion to have if that’s your taste. But don’t pretend like its not a part of this game at all.

For me, personally, If I’m stuck in an adventure game I’d rather it be because of a challenge in lateral thinking rather than happening to miss a small object similarly colored to the backdrop several screens back.

It depends for me, if I can easily see them than I dont but if I cant than I do. For instance in the raven certain hotspots dont even show up unless the character is at a certain spot on the screen, so a hot spot location is invaluable. I like you play adventure games for the puzzles and story, there is a reason I ignore hidden object games with a passion, bc they dont test the brain but the eye, nothing wrong with loving hidden object games, but they are not for everyone.

another example of something like this is death scenes or action scenes in adventure games, some like it, and some loathe it, but we dont pretend that they are not there. For instance I love the small action scenes in blade runner, but I would completely understand if for some players that is an instant no go bc of them.

Last example, most folks by this point know I love the broken sword series, I think the first game is pretty much perfect for the most part. But even I admit how they handled death was poorly done, the mechanic didnt show up until pretty far in the game, with no clue it might happen. The first time I believe is at hotel where if you try and walk out with the manuscript the two thugs will steal it and kill you. That was a poor decision if you ask me, bc there is not hint of a failure state before that happens.

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 5813

Joined 2012-03-24

PM

I’m delighted to see Encodya get such a good review + an extremely favourable score.  Thumbs Up

From the review: “Hotspots are often easy to miss and characters, vehicles and passing people can get in the way”

PlanetX - 01 February 2021 11:46 AM

For most games I play with hotspot highlight, I never use it….......
Thing is, Chrissie, even if you didn’t personally have an issue with these things. You should still be able to look at the examples and understand what I mean.

Yes, I do understand & agree with what you’ve said & the review but I stay strong that there were only a few items you couldn’t find which you could have if you’d been a little more patient but failing that the main flaw was that the hotspot highlighter failed. What’s the point of having one btw if you can find everything?  Laughing
Someone mentioned Broken Sword 1 - it took me forever to find one of the hotspots in one location as it was so near to another so had to keep searching ....no hotspot highlighter in that game but found it eventually.    Smile

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 8720

Joined 2012-01-02

PM

btw, the new update V1.8 has fixed the mouse lagging issue.
yeah i am still playing it, or i mean i put it on hold since a while back.

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 7432

Joined 2013-08-26

PM

PlanetX - 31 January 2021 09:02 AM

The pixel hunting is actually really annoying me in this game. 99% of the time I’ve had any trouble with the puzzles it’s because of missing some intentionally obscured object, not lateral thinking. Reminds me of early Pendulo games that seemed to revel in pixel hunts rather than regarding them as an unintentional design flaw of some earlier adventure games.

Easy mode is basically worthless, too. All the hints are suggestions you would have already considered if you’re stuck enough to want a hint. Easy mode let’s you use hotspot highlight but it’s less of a highlight and more like a dim glow. A brief dim glow. Also it only highlights objects you can pick up instead of all interactables (like every other game on the planet). So if an object you need is in a trash can, a box, or whatever else it won’t highlight it.

I agree one hundred percent. I’ve had my share of pixelhunting over the years and I hate it in this game. The hightlighting is very annoying too. Am still in the first part. I never noticed the bloody stick and when I tried the antenna and other objects to get the keys the only option was “give X to electrician”, which made me believe stealing his keys was the wrong way to go about it. In my despair I finally went for a walkthrough. Gggggrrrr… I will continue playing for now, but games should be either interesting or fun and I’m not so sure I will finish Encodya.

Jdawg445 - 31 January 2021 08:18 PM

I just watched the trailer, only ever seen the screenshots before this and saw the game features a parody of trump. This is another reason this is a no go for me. Im not a trump fan at all, but i find it to be too on the nose for my taste, unless it’s a spoof like Spaceballs was a spoof of Star Wars, but i doubt the game is that. Otherwise it comes off as lazy writing and being hit over the head with a hammer with nothing subtle about it, well at least to me.

I’m no Trump fan and it doesn’t bother me. But if it was not an intentional parody, as the devs claim, it was pretty stupid to call their “German stereotypical politician” Rumpf. Dev: I’d like to point out that Rumpf in German means “hull” and, as you can notice from the trailer, a ship will have a central role in ENCODYA.

That does not cut any ice. First of all, the player comes across a Rumpf poster very early in the game, no ships to be seen anywhere. And although I speak German I did not associate Rumpf here with a ship’s hull. The first meaning of Rumpf is the human trunk, torso. Secondly, the game is aimed at English-speaking players, the voice acting is in English, not in German. So why not choose an English word if you want to get the asscociation with a ship across. And then there’s the “no real world politics” disclaimer. Was it there from the start, did the devs feel they’d need one…?

     

See you around, wolf. Nerissa

Avatar

Total Posts: 1619

Joined 2015-07-01

PM

Karlok - 13 February 2021 12:48 PM
PlanetX - 31 January 2021 09:02 AM

The pixel hunting is actually really annoying me in this game. 99% of the time I’ve had any trouble with the puzzles it’s because of missing some intentionally obscured object, not lateral thinking. Reminds me of early Pendulo games that seemed to revel in pixel hunts rather than regarding them as an unintentional design flaw of some earlier adventure games.

Easy mode is basically worthless, too. All the hints are suggestions you would have already considered if you’re stuck enough to want a hint. Easy mode let’s you use hotspot highlight but it’s less of a highlight and more like a dim glow. A brief dim glow. Also it only highlights objects you can pick up instead of all interactables (like every other game on the planet). So if an object you need is in a trash can, a box, or whatever else it won’t highlight it.

I agree one hundred percent. I’ve had my share of pixelhunting over the years and I hate it in this game. The hightlighting is very annoying too. Am still in the first part. I never noticed the bloody stick and when I tried the antenna and other objects to get the keys the only option was “give X to electrician”, which made me believe stealing his keys was the wrong way to go about it. In my despair I finally went for a walkthrough. Gggggrrrr… I will continue playing for now, but games should be either interesting or fun and I’m not so sure I will finish Encodya.

Jdawg445 - 31 January 2021 08:18 PM

I just watched the trailer, only ever seen the screenshots before this and saw the game features a parody of trump. This is another reason this is a no go for me. Im not a trump fan at all, but i find it to be too on the nose for my taste, unless it’s a spoof like Spaceballs was a spoof of Star Wars, but i doubt the game is that. Otherwise it comes off as lazy writing and being hit over the head with a hammer with nothing subtle about it, well at least to me.

I’m no Trump fan and it doesn’t bother me. But if it was not an intentional parody, as the devs claim, it was pretty stupid to call their “German stereotypical politician” Rumpf. Dev: I’d like to point out that Rumpf in German means “hull” and, as you can notice from the trailer, a ship will have a central role in ENCODYA.

That does not cut any ice. First of all, the player comes across a Rumpf poster very early in the game, no ships to be seen anywhere. And although I speak German I did not associate Rumpf here with a ship’s hull. The first meaning of Rumpf is the human trunk, torso. Secondly, the game is aimed at English-speaking players, the voice acting is in English, not in German. So why not choose an English word if you want to get the asscociation with a ship across. And then there’s the “no real world politics” disclaimer. Was it there from the start, did the devs feel they’d need one…?

Lol thank you. The only reason you would need a disclaimer is because one of the devs or play testers had to point out the fact that this is a trump parody. Spin zone incoming.

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 1353

Joined 2017-09-18

PM

Just started playing and it’s not off to a good start. It reminds me of the time after the “golden age” of Sierra and Lucasarts where devs thought they could make a ton of money making lazy copycat 3rd person adventures without putting in the effort or understanding that Sierra and Lucasarts made which elevated their games to classics. Well, at least it looks lovely. I’ll play another half hour before I consider a refund.

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 1619

Joined 2015-07-01

PM

Luhr28 - 13 February 2021 10:30 PM

Just started playing and it’s not off to a good start. It reminds me of the time after the “golden age” of Sierra and Lucasarts where devs thought they could make a ton of money making lazy copycat 3rd person adventures without putting in the effort or understanding that Sierra and Lucasarts made which elevated their games to classics. Well, at least it looks lovely. I’ll play another half hour before I consider a refund.

I think so many modern devs have no idea what made adventure games great, they got the basic fundamentals down but not the creative part to elevate the material. Or sometimes they get lucky in one aspect or another.

Like that other team that is making saint kotar, they keep calling it a gabriel knight type game, which it clearly is not.

     

You are here: HomeForum Home → Gaming → Adventure → Thread

Welcome to the Adventure Gamers forums!

Back to the top