Adventure Gamers - Forums

This has to be the first in a long time, that I have literally laughed out loud at an adventure game.

I have only just started episode 2, but so far I’m absolutely loving it especially the witty dialogue and of course this goat puzzle.

Due to some positive comments, I just picked up BS5 and played through the first episode in two days, and now I’m at the beginning of the second one… The game is definitely better than I expected, not perfect, but good. Even the character models, my biggest “fear” while seeing the preview material, are not bad at all, with some great and fluid animation, THOUGH - there’s still some discrepancy between their look and the old voices - every time George speaks, I just can’t relate with the new look and I’m imagining old models. Somehow, even 3D models in BS3 had more life&charm; to it. I’m glad the game managed to change my opinion about models looking sucky, but the fact remains that I’d still rate them “worst” when compared to all 4 previous games.

Backgrounds are, for the most part, breathtaking, perhaps a little bit on the colorful side, but definitely deserving the highest praise. If only they toned down the palette slightly to avoid that “casual”, “children coloring book” feel to it (just look at this screen (even though I thought the puzzle is OK), I’d rate them amongst the best 2D works so far - for example, the whole Spanish hacienda part is toned down slightly to the dominant yellow-brownish palette and looks absolutely magnificent! This and this is ART, IMO. It’s only ashame there’s not more of small background animations, for example in this screen it’s only the eagle, or chimes in front of the house, while the trees stand perfectly still. I know it’s a budget issue and question of time constraint, but seeing for example this Black Mirror scene and spotting the tree on the left waving slightly on the wind, it’s easy to conclude such small things can significantly boost the atmosphere.

As for the puzzles, there were already some great ones - I though that the Aladdin puzzle presented a welcomed “out of the box thinking” change of pace. Also, the whole fireplace/painting puzzle in Spain is wonderful! (it’s just that I needed a first level hint… is it me or you can’t deduce whether they’re barefooted or not simply by looking at the photo, at least not until you right-click the statues?). As for the goat, it was nice, but I couldn’t help but thinking that it was able to even match the original goat puzzle if they only hadn’t spoon-fed the players once you send the goat to a pile of apples, George makes it clear you shouldn’t be interacting with it - it could have been the biggest trolling goat of all time though, I was still significantly stuck here.

My other minor gripes are the slowness when you need to wait for characters to finish their routine, and the fact that you can’t walk while inspecting your inventory - I hate not being able to do that! But on the other hand, the game is greatly optimized! (seriously, Daedalic should pay great sum of money to Revolution optimization/loading times team). Also, I love how they managed to repeat the same historical vibe & mystery as in Cirle of Blood story, and I’m loving where it’s taking me so far, though I hate the fact that like in the best mystery movie traditions the plot seems so overwhelming and complicated to follow with precise.

diego - 21 April 2014 03:14 PM

Also, the whole fireplace/painting puzzle in Spain is wonderful! (it’s just that I needed a first level hint… is it me or you can’t deduce whether they’re barefooted or not simply by looking at the photo, at least not until you right-click the statues?)

You don’t need to know that at least not from the photo, only if they are wearing a hat or not, which you can tell from the photo, and which colour should be respectively left or right which can be seen in the notes from the priest, and the barefooted or not can then be deduced from the two statues being identical (except colour).

I’m pretty happy to say that I got through the whole Castell del Sants part, without using a single hint.

BTW: Shouldn’t you be playing The Pandora Directive instead, to catch up with the Community Playthrough?

Diego, the proportions of your screenshots look all wrong to me. Is that what you see when you play the game?

Here’s the same scene on my computer. I played in windowed mode. But that shouldn’t change the proportions, right?

Karlok - 21 April 2014 05:06 PM

Diego, the proportions of your screenshots look all wrong to me. Is that what you see when you play the game?

Yeah I also noticed that, I believe it is because he is playing on a 4/3 monitor and uses fullscreen mode 1 which distorts the 16/9 images. On mode 2 it instead adds black bars below and above the picture, and on mode 3 (which I use myself) it instead crops the images.

Iznogood - 21 April 2014 04:26 PM

diego - 21 April 2014 03:14 PM

Also, the whole fireplace/painting puzzle in Spain is wonderful! (it’s just that I needed a first level hint… is it me or you can’t deduce whether they’re barefooted or not simply by looking at the photo, at least not until you right-click the statues?)

You don’t need to know that at least not from the photo, only if they are wearing a hat or not, which you can tell from the photo, and which colour should be respectively left or right which can be seen in the notes from the priest, and the barefooted or not can then be deduced from the two statues being identical (except colour).

Yes, but I still felt like they could represent the barefooted/sandals difference slightly more detectable, thus presenting players various ways to solve that puzzle.

Iznogood - 21 April 2014 04:26 PM

BTW: Shouldn’t you be playing The Pandora Directive instead, to catch up with the Community Playthrough?

I’ll try, really! I promise not to start another game beside BS5 & TPD.

BTW, I have a feeling the background artist have mastered their job better and better as the game progressed - another amazing scene:

and if this was “Match that screen!” thread, I’d say it reminds me of TWW:

Iznogood - 21 April 2014 05:17 PM

Karlok - 21 April 2014 05:06 PM

Diego, the proportions of your screenshots look all wrong to me. Is that what you see when you play the game?

Yeah I also noticed that, I believe it is because he is playing on a 4/3 monitor and uses fullscreen mode 1 which distorts the 16/9 images. On mode 2 it instead adds black bars below and above the picture, and on mode 3 (which I use myself) it instead crops the images.

Indeed - it is because in this mode I haven’t experienced any of the flickering, and I don’t actually mind bigger character models.

diego - 21 April 2014 05:19 PM

Indeed - it is because in this mode I haven’t experienced any of the flickering, and I don’t actually mind bigger character models.

Flickering? Haven’t experienced any.
Bigger character models?  Nico has become positively anorexic!

Karlok - 21 April 2014 05:47 PM

Nico has become positively anorexic!

Haven’t you heard it’s the latest fashion?

Iznogood - 21 April 2014 02:18 PM

This has to be the first in a long time, that I have literally laughed out loud at an adventure game.

How about, while in the flower shop, when George asks about some inventory object:

George: Why do I need it?
Fleur: Do you want the long or the short story?
George: Short.
Fleur: Because you do.

Oh, for crying out loud, here, I changed the resolution!

Happy? (Nico sure looks happy! And fat!)

Can we move on with the discussion? (and I’ll revert to the old resolution, tehehe…)

Finally finished the game. Excellent, and I’m totally glad I backed. Just wishes I backed for more money. It is definitely my third favorite in the series (first, second, this one, third (by a hair) and then the fourth, which I actually did enjoy). Nothing I could probably add to the conversation, other than this:

By far, my favorite joke in the game is right in the beginning. As George, if you look at the stained glass at the cafe, George says, “I always was a sucker for Parisian stained glass.” But if you look at it as Nico, she mentions how only tourists seem to really love Parisian stained glass. Hilarious!