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I was about to mention Phantasmat 2 and warn people against getting the CE. The Bonus Chapter is a waste of time. You may think it would be worth it because of its premise, but it ends up being pointless.
Great game overall though. It brings back the Phantasmat charm like the first game but with a new setting and story. 
Well worth the price when the SE is out.
Brink of Consciousness 2: The Lonely Heart Murders was release not to long ago, so you should check it out. I got it but it runs like crap on my computer. Its top quality stuff that my laptop is surely unable to run properly. 
I’ll have to wait until I figure out on getting a new pc.
Besides that, a new HP Lovecraft game is out called Dark Mysteries: the Soul Keeper. Its based on Lovecraft’s novel The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.Just got my copy and going to give it a run. I can’t wait.
After that, i’ll give Forbidden Secrets: Alien Town a try.
Stuart Bradley Newsom - Naughty Shinobi || Our Game: Shadow Over Isolation
I liked the original Phantasnat. Will certainly give the CE demo a try. But am unlikely to pull the trigger until the SE comes out.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
After playing a bit of the lovecraft HOG, I realize…..no one can probably pull of a proper Lovecraft story than BigFish Studios. Seriously, I would love to see a story attempted by the creators of MCF.
Stuart Bradley Newsom - Naughty Shinobi || Our Game: Shadow Over Isolation
I liked the original Phantasnat. Will certainly give the CE demo a try. But am unlikely to pull the trigger until the SE comes out.
Never mind, I’m thinking of the wrong game. Sorry~
I finished Madame Fate. The comments on BFG are quite old. Not surprising since the game came out in 2007. Most of the reviews are quite favorable. However, newer reviews are more in line with comments made by Monolith and myself. I.e. not so favorable.
Anyway, now I can delete it and forget about it.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
I played the CE demo of the new Phantasmat game. I watched all the cut scenes and went through all the dialogs. Not something I would normally do during a demo. As a result I timed out. I don’t know whether there is a cut-off point. If there is, I didn’t get that far. According to the task manager, I had completed about 20% of the game when I timed out, so this roughly translates into a five-hour game.
I don’t have the original Phantasmat loaded so I can’t look up who designed/produced it. But this game is not designed/produced by the same people who did the original. This is an ERS game, and it looks like it! To me, that’s a bit of a disappointment. The graphics are up to ERS standards. The lighting is often quite bright. Not something that one would expect after playing the original. It’s much easier to feel a sense of horror in a dark swamp than it is in a brightly lit Alpine villa.
It’s not terribly difficult to see which characters replace those in the original. The puzzles in the demo are standard ERS fare. Not particularly hard, but, at times, tedious.
I think players will need to play the new Phantasmat demo and judge the game for themselves. I will progbably spring for the SE But NOT because it is a sequel to the original. In terms of story, visuals and overall “feel” of the game it is a sequel in name only.
Again, my comments are based on playing the demo only. What happens in the final 80% of the game might result in a different interpretation, but I doubt it. 
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
I played the CE demo of the new Phantasmat game. I watched all the cut scenes and went through all the dialogs. Not something I would normally do during a demo. As a result I timed out. I don’t know whether there is a cut-off point. If there is, I didn’t get that far. According to the task manager, I had completed about 20% of the game when I timed out, so this roughly translates into a five-hour game.
I don’t have the original Phantasmat loaded so I can’t look up who designed/produced it. But this game is not designed/produced by the same people who did the original. This is an ERS game, and it looks like it! To me, that’s a bit of a disappointment. The graphics are up to ERS standards. The lighting is often quite bright. Not something that one would expect after playing the original. It’s much easier to feel a sense of horror in a dark swamp than it is in a brightly lit Alpine villa.
It’s not terribly difficult to see which characters replace those in the original. The puzzles in the demo are standard ERS fare. Not particularly hard, but, at times, tedious.
I think players will need to play the new Phantasmat demo and judge the game for themselves. I will progbably spring for the SE But NOT because it is a sequel to the original. In terms of story, visuals and overall “feel” of the game it is a sequel in name only.
Again, my comments are based on playing the demo only. What happens in the final 80% of the game might result in a different interpretation, but I doubt it.
Hmm, that’s too bad. Hopefully, the full game turns out better. Like you, I’ll probably pick it up when it goes SE.
I’m kind of over ERS. Their games are quality, but there’s very little different between each game. If you’ve played one ERS game, you’ve played them all.
I thought the only difference between the first game and second was the color tones and the setting. They both have the twist, the secluded setting, very lively environments (interaction and all), first person elements, host of characters that have similiar connections, a city that has fallen under some anomaly or disaster. I feel that Phantasmat wanted to be dark not in color and lighting but through story.
At some point I’m accidentally going to call the game Phantasm so i’m going to stop here. lol
Like I said before, the CE is pointless in terms of the bonus story.
I think the difference between the two is like Casper and Amityville Horror. Both ghost stories, both have some dark elements, but they both are on completely different spectrums of horror. Though I’m not saying this game is a week kiddy version.
Stuart Bradley Newsom - Naughty Shinobi || Our Game: Shadow Over Isolation
I recently played the fourth Women’s Murder Club: Little Black Lies. I’ve posted thoughts earlier about the first two games in the series. Despite good word of mouth, I didn’t think they were very good. The third game was a much different story and was much better. Thankfully, the fourth game continues to improve and is, I think, the best in the series as far as gameplay goes. The strength of the series has always been the plot, and this game is no different. A friend of one of the main characters is killed, and this sets off an investigation in a small town looking into a murder that took place 35 years earlier. A teenage follower of a local cult was killed, and the leader of the cult disappeared.
This is definitely a casual game, but it has an adventure-lite feel. There are well developed characters. And you actually have conversations with a dialogue tree, much like in an adventure game. All with full voice-acting, which is overall very good.
Multiple HOGs and puzzles are scattered about, along with the crime lab minigames, which are less laborious here than in previous games in the series.
Another nice thing is than when you beat the game, there are multiple little add-ons which you can complete. It’s very similar to a Collector’s Edition, but it’s included in the regular SE version. These include an epilogue, which has you taking the role of a murderer cleaning up after your crime. There is also a subgame where you can try to find every hidden object in the game.
Overall, I enjoyed it. The series definitely shows consistent improvement from each game to the next. For those who enjoyed the third game, I think you will like the latest as well.
Brink of Consciousness 2: The Lonely Heart Murders was release not to long ago, so you should check it out. I got it but it runs like crap on my computer. Its top quality stuff that my laptop is surely unable to run properly.
Besides that, a new HP Lovecraft game is out called Dark Mysteries: the Soul Keeper. Its based on Lovecraft’s novel The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.Just got my copy and going to give it a run.
After that, i’ll give Forbidden Secrets: Alien Town a try.
I downloaded the demo of the first-mentioned game. It looks REALLY good. It seems to be made for wide-screen and looks incredible on my monitor. There seems to be a fair amount of dialog…that adds nothing to the game’s progress. I stopped looking at the dialog trees about halfway through the demo and it didn’t impede progress one iota. You said the game didn’t run well on your system. So I don’t know if you got far enough to make a recommendation as to whether the CE is worth the extra expense. If you did, I would like to hear your thoughts.
The second game demo was also downloaded, but a trial run will have to wait for my next day off which, I think, is Tuesday. I’m not a huge fan of Lovecraft, but he has certainly influenced a great number of modern-day authors that I enjoy.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
I’ll into trying to get Brink 2 running so I can make a recommendation.
Stuart Bradley Newsom - Naughty Shinobi || Our Game: Shadow Over Isolation
So I played about 2 hours into Forbidden Secrets: Alien Town, and have officially dropped it. I really can’t put my finger on why I just couldn’t get into it; the graphics and presentation are extremely well done, and I really liked how a lot of the screens have interesting angles to the “camera” perspective (it gave things a somewhat more dramatic feel), but the game was just missing something. I’m not big into UFO and alien stuff, but I don’t really think that’s it. I’ll have to think on this more.
I just picked up Small Town Terrors: Livingston on sale, demoed for 20 minutes and felt so-so about it, but was intrigued by the first few puzzles which are pleasantly challenging. I’ll post my full thoughts after I finish.
Just Finished - Grim Tales: The Bride CE, Sacra Terra: Angelic Night CE
Currently Playing - Angelica Weaver: Catch Me If You Can
Casual Game Developer List
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AohuMgk8BGFTdExjM2s4eGdJRGZmcWJxMUNoUTlMZVE#gid=0
I was put off by the character dialogs in Alien Town. I.e. looping jesttures and no effort whatsoever to sync the facial movements to the spoken word. But that wasn’t enough to stop me from buying it. It is an Alawar game. I’ll see if I feel the same after I’ve finished it.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
I thought Alien Town’s polish and strong adventure elements made it work very well for me. Also I can’t deny those really sharp visuals and well done cg renders.
EDIT: So I upgraded to Windows 8 because I was absolutely ready for the move. Checked out Catch Me When you Can and finally got it working without lag or REALLY slow crap. Im pretty sure Brink 2 should work. Will get into that ASAP.
Stuart Bradley Newsom - Naughty Shinobi || Our Game: Shadow Over Isolation
I thought Alien Town’s polish and strong adventure elements made it work very well for me. Also I can’t deny those really sharp visuals and well done cg renders.
Oh, I completely agree. The production value on the game is probably the best I’ve seen so far, which is why I’m confused why I lost interest so quickly. I know the music was really annoying, so I turned that down pretty quick. Maybe it just wasn’t creepy enough for me, I don’t know, although I don’t only play creepy HOGs. Meh!! Maybe I’m broken! lol
Just Finished - Grim Tales: The Bride CE, Sacra Terra: Angelic Night CE
Currently Playing - Angelica Weaver: Catch Me If You Can
Casual Game Developer List
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AohuMgk8BGFTdExjM2s4eGdJRGZmcWJxMUNoUTlMZVE#gid=0
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