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What game have you just finished?

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Origami - 11 November 2020 12:43 AM
Tantei KID - 03 November 2020 05:39 AM

Paradise Killer (...) There’s never truly an “Aha!” moment where the whole thing clicks in your mind after a bit of thinking.

Purely looking at the plot, is it worth a playthrough?

Just finished it as well. I kinda went into the trial still being befuddled ... afterwards I’d claim I got everything right and sorted out, but I agree, it never quite clicked during the investigation itself, and it’s a shame there isn’t a bit more detecting and puzzling (there’s maybe 3 puzzles or so in the game, the rest is just finding evidence and talking to people).

As for the plot ... the plot is too basic to be interesting. Leadership of an organisation gets killed, there’s a bunch of suspects, figure out what happened.
But. The characters involved - not to put a too fine point to it, but there’s a skeleton ex-assassins-turned-barkeep inviting you to drink. There’s a goat-headed idol ex-soldier you can have sex with. It’s a completely bizarre cast that really makes you want to get to know them.

And then there’s the world you are thrown in, which, if possible is even more bizarre. And again, I found myself really wanting to figure out how it all works, what happened to the previous Paradises, and so on. I wish there was more lore in the game, but even still it was pretty good.

My personal main criticism would be that the world you run through is - yes, unique, but the skill in “mapping” it just isn’t there. It’s on the level of a pre-2010 console game or something. This game should have looked 145% nicer in 2020. And there’s some choices about the map design that are just bleh; for example a super-long corridor to the prison island that’s just plain dull to navigate (and, yes, there’s quick travel, but it costs a finite resource, which is a stupid decision if I have ever seen one (there’s plenty to travel a lot but it’s not like you know that at the start of the game)).

     
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Pyoro-2 - 14 November 2020 11:23 AM

My personal main criticism would be that the world you run through is - yes, unique, but the skill in “mapping” it just isn’t there. It’s on the level of a pre-2010 console game or something. This game should have looked 145% nicer in 2020. And there’s some choices about the map design that are just bleh; for example a super-long corridor to the prison island that’s just plain dull to navigate (and, yes, there’s quick travel, but it costs a finite resource, which is a stupid decision if I have ever seen one (there’s plenty to travel a lot but it’s not like you know that at the start of the game)).

I didn’t like the map design either. A lot of verticality, but it’s not reflected in the crude and cramped map menu, so it can be very hard to navigate and find your way through the island, especially w/o the movement power-ups. I suppose it’a also to encourage exploring the island more thoroughly, but I hated having to take two staircases, cross half the island, jump here and there and then up the elevator to move from character A and B, with just a few collectibles/currency to be found between, but no narrative necessary to have such a distance between them. I wish the island design had been more integrated into the plot, instead of just ‘let’s hide a piece of evidence here’ around the corner or all the way up or down this significant place.

As for the plot, I liked the world-building and the characters of Paradise Killer too, but if you just look at the core mystery plot, it’s pretty basic (though interesting to see it as an experiment in open-world detective games, as how do you create a plot where people can also miss pieces of evidence/testimony?).

     

“Rationality, that was it. No esoteric mumbo jumbo could fool that fellow. Lord, no! His two feet were planted solidly on God’s good earth” - Ellery Queen, The Lamp of God

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Finished my replay of Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars last week.
Took me a while to get to actually writing about it. Tongue
This’ll more or less be a crosspost from my final comments in the CPT thread.


Having replayed Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars, I consider it a mixed bag, just like I did twenty years ago.
The game does a piss-poor job at drawing me in, lacking believable motivation, lacking a good reason for Nico to be George’s “go-to” person, trying too hard and failing to be funny early on, and having several moments where what’s being told contradicts what we see in the game which just rubs me the wrong way.
The game does get better as it progresses, with the bits in Ireland, Syria and Spain being highlights (especially Syria), but the parts inbetween in Paris still drop the ball for me.
And I never got the importance of Nico, nor understood how they suddenly become a couple near the end. It just doesn’t work for me. That, and the entire ending section feels rushed. There’s just too much going on in cutscenes.

It also irks me that every time we find a hidden room and solve the location’s big mystery, I instinctively think “Yay, a secret chamber to investigate!” but am immediately greeted with “Back at Nico’s apartment…”. It’s like the game purposely keeps the interesting bits from you.

But, the game shines in the sections in Ireland, Syria and Spain, and the comedy mixes better with the serious parts in those bits. And everything does have that certain Indiana Jones-like appeal that screams “adventure”.
That, and the game still looks and sounds great after all these years, so I definitely get the game’s lingering popularity.

I just don’t consider it to be anywhere near its perceived “all-time great classic” status…


Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars - 3/5

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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Finished Ace Attorney, Dual Destinies. What a great game. Loved every minute of it. Thank goodness there’s DLC to play now. I have one more Ace Attorney game to play after that too, so I’ll be busy with that one too. One of my best IOS games period.

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I enjoy playing adventure games on my Alienware M17 r4 and my Nintendo Switch OLED.

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Adv_Lvr - 18 November 2020 09:01 PM

Finished Ace Attorney, Dual Destinies. What a great game. Loved every minute of it. Thank goodness there’s DLC to play now. I have one more Ace Attorney game to play after that too, so I’ll be busy with that one too. One of my best IOS games period.

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Dual Destinies has been the weakest Ace Attorney game for me, but still thoroughly enjoyed it. Spirit of Justice is the superior game imo.

     

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Joined 2019-05-03

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Murder By Numbers
... had a bit of a wonky Internet connection, so I did actually finish it, despite making me want to murder its developers (since the Internet is stupid these days: I’m joking, of course).

So this is essentially a murder mystery visual novel with number puzzles; or more precisely, one specific type of number puzzle, where you fill in the rows and columns according to the number next to it.
... after I figured out the “system” behind it, it consisted solely of counting squares. Endless, endless repetitive “fill in safe squares thus creating further safe squares that you then further fill in” ... basically a scripted bot could have done this. It actually made me wonder whether you really can describe this as a “puzzle”. If you write down the mathematical rules behind it and just hand them to someone who has no clue, they can solve every single “puzzle” in the game.

It was absolutely awful.

Worse, 90% of the puzzles are barely motivated. Open the door? Do a number puzzle!

******* ***** ********!

The story I thought started okay; actually feeling a bit like a murder mystery. Then the writer somehow assumed you’d be incredibly invested in the “quirky sidekick flying bot”, and that you’d find some issues related to that at least interesting ...
That was already incredibly cringey and awful.

And then the finale happened, which was thoroughly stupid and even more cringey than everything before.  Just to add insult to injury, it finished off with sequel bait.

Overall; starts okay, and I suppose if you like these sort of puzzles more than life itself, it certainly delivers, but the story goes in pretty stupid directions and the gameplay pretty quickly becomes an absolutely awful chore.

     
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Dual Destinies has been the weakest Ace Attorney game for me, but still thoroughly enjoyed it. Spirit of Justice is the superior game imo.

I am playing Spirit of Justice next. I’ve heard so much good about the game. Should be amazing.

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I enjoy playing adventure games on my Alienware M17 r4 and my Nintendo Switch OLED.

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Joined 2015-07-01

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I just tried out a new beginning and wow that is the worst voice acting I have heard since early ps1 Japanese dubs. Plus the game crashed on me at the end of the prologue, it is like fate just knew not to subjugate me to that awfulness. It was part of a bundle, so no harm no foul. A very quick uninstall.

     

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Joined 2014-12-25

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Hand of Glory. That cliffhanger was mean, but fortunately the last part is going to be released in 12 days, so I won’t have to wait too long to find out what happens next.

     
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Now I too have finished Paradise Killer. I spent well over 20 hours in this bizarre, surreal world with its quirky characters and enjoyed almost every moment of it. The trial section at the end felt a bit rushed, but it was still ok I think. And the important part was the journey to get there, finding as many secrets and facts as possible to reach the solution to the mysteries.

The only really negative thing I have to say is that this is the first game ever to have given me (very slight) motion sickness. Only during the first hour or so though.

Highly recommended! 4/5.

     
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Joined 2005-07-07

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Forgot to mention that I played Oneiros between Observation and Paradise Killer. Decent game but not that memorable. I’d take one star off from the review here at AG. 3/5.

     
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Joined 2015-07-01

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I just tried the last horizon demo, and thought it was fun but the puzzle design left a lot to be desired. Does anyone know if the puzzles get better. I was enjoying the broken sword/indiana jones vibes the game gives off, even if it is a shameless knock off. The demo was super long took an hr and a half to beat. Has anyone played this?

     
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Jdawg445 - 24 November 2020 02:56 PM

I just tried the last horizon demo, and thought it was fun but the puzzle design left a lot to be desired. Does anyone know if the puzzles get better. I was enjoying the broken sword/indiana jones vibes the game gives off, even if it is a shameless knock off. The demo was super long took an hr and a half to beat. Has anyone played this?

Did you mean Lost Horizon? As in this game?


That’s a solid Indiana Jones clone that I enjoyed very much. More than Broken Sword even, but I’m not the biggest Broken Sword fan… Grin

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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TimovieMan - 25 November 2020 01:45 PM
Jdawg445 - 24 November 2020 02:56 PM

I just tried the last horizon demo, and thought it was fun but the puzzle design left a lot to be desired. Does anyone know if the puzzles get better. I was enjoying the broken sword/indiana jones vibes the game gives off, even if it is a shameless knock off. The demo was super long took an hr and a half to beat. Has anyone played this?

Did you mean Lost Horizon? As in this game?

Presumably he does, but there is a game called Last Horizon too. It’s not an adventure game though.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/394220/Last_Horizon/

Somehow I happen to have that too, can’t remember how I ever got it, but I haven’t ever played it.

     
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yes sorry, meant lost horizon. That is good to hear, I think I will pick it up. But the puzzle involving getting flies, to attract a bat, to get a wallet. was very out of place in this type of game That is why I was asking does the puzzles get some better. Although the other two or three main puzzles in the first chapter all made sense at least in the vain of an indiana jones game.

     

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