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fov - 16 April 2014 02:30 PM

It’s silly to suggest that if only Jane had chosen another team, she would have ended up with a totally different game. She only raised $435k (a fraction of the budget for her previous adventures) and her design was ambitious. She stated in a post that was quoted a few pages back that Phoenix volunteered a lot of their time to get the game finished. If it weren’t for Phoenix Online this game would not exist.

Exactly.

     

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Unfortunately, the graphics are important if, as Jane Jensen is attempting to do here, you’re telling a story visually as well as through dialogue. We’re supposed to engage with the characters and understand what they’re thinking - this can be communicated through facial animation, body language and physical interaction, all of which is attempted but struggles and fails because of the ugly, awkward character models - is Malachi supposed to be a hunchback with pipecleaner arms? - and their movement.

The backgrounds vary from passable to an utter shambles - I’m baffled by the dodgy resolution of some of them.

The story is fine and developing nicely, although the homo-erotic subtext is coming across as laughable because of the dire animation.

     

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fov - 16 April 2014 02:30 PM

It’s silly to suggest that if only Jane had chosen another team, she would have ended up with a totally different game. She only raised $435k (a fraction of the budget for her previous adventures) and her design was ambitious. She stated in a post that was quoted a few pages back that Phoenix volunteered a lot of their time to get the game finished. If it weren’t for Phoenix Online this game would not exist.

This is tunnel vision. There is a thousand alternate universes a Jane Jensen could have decided to go with, including ones we can’t conceive. The idea that this is the best result and the only possible development team she could have used is obviously silly.

     

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Yeah, but until we unlock the secrets of Quantum mechanics, that’s a moot point.

     

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noknowncure - 16 April 2014 03:32 PM

Yeah, but until we unlock the secrets of Quantum mechanics, that’s a moot point.

No it’s not. The defensiveness is bizarre, as if we should be so incredibly thankful to POS for delivering us a Jane Jensen game that has become a laughing stock, as if there was no other way in 2014 a game could turn out better for the same budget. She clearly made a bad decision to outsource development to them.

     

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RockNFknRoll - 16 April 2014 03:53 PM
noknowncure - 16 April 2014 03:32 PM

Yeah, but until we unlock the secrets of Quantum mechanics, that’s a moot point.

No it’s not.

Yes it is. Do you not understand what a moot point is?!

We can discuss it, but not put it into practice; it’s moot. Unless you’ve stumbled across an inter-dimensional key in your contrary little life.

 

     
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RockNFknRoll - 16 April 2014 03:28 PM
fov - 16 April 2014 02:30 PM

It’s silly to suggest that if only Jane had chosen another team, she would have ended up with a totally different game. She only raised $435k (a fraction of the budget for her previous adventures) and her design was ambitious. She stated in a post that was quoted a few pages back that Phoenix volunteered a lot of their time to get the game finished. If it weren’t for Phoenix Online this game would not exist.

This is tunnel vision. There is a thousand alternate universes a Jane Jensen could have decided to go with, including ones we can’t conceive. The idea that this is the best result and the only possible development team she could have used is obviously silly.

And in each and everyone of those thousand alternate universes, she would still have had to make some compromises given the budget that she had.

All I can say is thank god that she chose to compromise on the character models and animations (assuming that this wasn’t a deliberately choice on her part), and not on something more important!

     

You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ

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aaroncarney - 16 April 2014 01:27 PM

I kind of think the bad reviews are due to the team that Jane Jensen has chosen (POS). Not very experienced and I would still say quite amateur. I really hope some day soon Jane gets behind a successful studio to bring her stories to life.

Couldn’t agree more. The problem is that Phoenix Online Studios has never been any good. To the contrary, their stuff has always been pretty cringe-worthy. Even next to other “fan games,” their past work looked bad in comparison. If this quality of product is the best the adventure game community can come up with, then you can start preparing the funeral rites now for the genre. Thankfully, there are probably much better options out there. Pretending otherwise and endlessly making excuses for POS helps no one. Always better to be honest.

In the future, Jane ought to aim higher and work with a decent developer, if possible. I hate to see her reputation take a hit by her being associated with shoddy work. Jane Jensen is a great talent and deserves better.

     
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Iznogood - 16 April 2014 04:12 PM

And in each and everyone of those thousand alternate universes, she would still have had to make some compromises given the budget that she had.

Well there could be a universe, where adventure games are considered AAA games and have a 100 million dollar budgets.  Wink

     

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FrasierCrane - 16 April 2014 04:21 PM
Iznogood - 16 April 2014 04:12 PM

And in each and everyone of those thousand alternate universes, she would still have had to make some compromises given the budget that she had.

Well there could be a universe, where adventure games are considered AAA games and have a 100 million dollar budgets.  Wink

Quantum theory tells us there is an infinite number of those. Tough luck we’re in the wrong universe, eh?

     

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The graphics have never really phased me. Sure they arent great, but its not why i play adventures. I wasnt happy with the story for a bunch of reasons… and i just dont think “the moebius theory” worked for the game. Cant blame that on pos.

     
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RockNFknRoll - 16 April 2014 03:53 PM
noknowncure - 16 April 2014 03:32 PM

Yeah, but until we unlock the secrets of Quantum mechanics, that’s a moot point.

No it’s not. The defensiveness is bizarre, as if we should be so incredibly thankful to POS for delivering us a Jane Jensen game that has become a laughing stock, as if there was no other way in 2014 a game could turn out better for the same budget. She clearly made a bad decision to outsource development to them.

RockNFknRoll, it does seem like some want to make excuses for and defend bad work. You’ve hit the nail on the head. I always appreciate honest voices like yours on forums like this one.

To suggest that such-and-such developer would have been worse than even Phoenix Online is a low blow. Perhaps no one really knows exactly how much better a game would have been, but at some point you have to look at a developer’s lousy track record and say, “hmm, maybe we shouldn’t go with them again.”

     
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OrionO - 16 April 2014 04:19 PM

Couldn’t agree more. The problem is that Phoenix Online Studios has never been any good. To the contrary, their stuff has always been pretty cringe-worthy. Even next to other “fan games,” their past work looked bad in comparison. If this quality of product is the best the adventure game community can come up with, then you can start preparing the funeral rites now for the genre. Thankfully, there are probably much better options out there. Pretending otherwise and endlessly making excuses for POS helps no one. Always better to be honest.

Ice cold.

But i am optimisitc about Witness, Dreamfall and PnCs like Tex and BS5 to lead the genre.

If jane wants to stick to PoS, well its her choice, she will be forgotten and
her niche fanbase will get even smaller. Good luck to her.

     
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UruBoo - 16 April 2014 01:04 PM

Come one, guys! Stop degradating a game that we, adventure gamers, want more than anything. WE WANT ADVENTURE GAMES! If it is not as everyone expected, give us a brake! I don’t care if the animation is not top notch, I just want a new AG and have fun with it. You gotta be more lighter on the reviews, guys. Jane Jensen deserves more respect for all that she did to us. And I will buy the game anyway, dispise the criticism you are all putting into it. That is the way you want adventure games come back as they were in the 90’s???

No, we do not want adventure games, we want *good* adventure games.
Being lighter on the reviews lowers the bar. We’re not here to celebrate mediocrity, we want to celebrate actual quality, so if criticism is due, we should criticize. In doing so, we stand a chance of seeing the mean quality improve over time and THAT’s what we want…

I’m not a backer either, and I haven’t played the game, but from what I’ve seen so far, the character animations are indeed iffy (not that I find that overly important in an adventure game - story is still the most important aspect for me).
Should that be criticized? Hell yes! That way, they’ll improve on them the next time. But that can only happen if the criticism is worded constructively. Tell them what worked and what didn’t, and how you feel that it could have been improved. Do that, and I’m sure they’ll listen.

What we must NOT do is unleashing this flood of destructive criticism, since that serves absolutely no one…

     

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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Well said.

     

“Going on means going far - Going far means returning”

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