Adventure Gamers - Forums

I am having a pretty good time with it so far. Better than I thought after reading the Rock Paper Shotgun review/wot-i-think, as the kind of thing the author complains about usually annoys me a lot. But so far the review doesn’t really match my experiences with the game. I think the puzzles have been fair so far, and I genuinely want to find out more about this world. I love the presentation, not only does it look great, but the music is brilliant.

I don’t expect it to be my GOTY in the genre (that, I think, would be Chains of Satinav). But unless it changes a lot, I am pretty certain I will complete & enjoy the whole game.

Alright, final impressions. I’ll start with the highs:

I found the narrative concept and game world very interesting and cohesive. Everything feels very well thought out from a fictional standpoint: man fading into legend, the hierarchy of machines based on their wisdom, the different types of robots etc. This of course leads into the stellar visual design, which is very Giger meets Art Nouveau—each scene is a pleasure to look at. My only complaint about the visuals is that it would look far better in HD. The music is appropriately ominous and brooding, and accompanies the graphics to great effect. No piece stood out to me as memorable or catchy, but nor was it supposed to, I guess.

The characters are another high-point. Each robot has a unique personality, with a good mix of quirky and serious robots. Their single-minded functions really work in an adventure game setting.

Now for the things that, in my opinion, could’ve been better:

I found the puzzles quite enjoyable overall, but I was stopped dead in my tracks several times because I completely missed certain objects/hotspots—Scraper’s arm, Primer’s medal and most annoyingly, the car engine in the Underworks. If you click anywhere else on the cars, Horatio states that they’ve been stripped of their parts—but no, there’s a tiny hotspot in there that’s vital to progressing. It’s frustrating because these pixel-hunting issues could easily be solved by drawing more attention to objects in a variety of ways. How about if the medal glimmered, Scraper’s arm sparked, or the lights on the car subtly flickered? The challenge shouldn’t be in finding these items, it should be in how you use them.

Another thing I mostly enjoyed was the writing—it didn’t fall into the trap of being overly expositional and it very rarely felt forced. The exception to me was, as I mentioned in a previous post, the self-referential stuff. The whole “this is an adventure game! *wink wink*” approach is so tired and completely unnecessary. I found Crispin to be funny at times, but the whole “I’m just a sidekick” and “Another locked door” stuff really let him down.

My final critism was perfectly reflected in Rock Paper Shotgun’s review—and it’s that the story, while satisfying, is extremely downbeat and doesn’t really pick up until the final 20 minutes of the game, leaving everything that came before feeling like a string of menial busy work. It’s a problem that a lot of very traditional adventure games have and unfortunately it’s still a problem here in Primordia.

Overall I really enjoyed the game and would recommend it on the fiction and visual design alone, but it sticks too closely to some of the not-so-great adventure game staples and just falls short of its potential.

Finished it yesterday. After my harsh words the other day towards the game, I must say that, after I got used to Horatio’s voice, it was a really enjoyable game. I really loved all the robots (especially Crispin). They had great depth, their own stories and unique characteristics. The graphics improve a lot in the second half of the game in Metropol. That applies to riddles too, who get slightly harder, but fair. I also liked the fact that you could solve many puzzles with more ways than one. I must admit that I haven’t met any problems with “hotspots” like the ones mentioned (f.e. when the Factor’s door was open, it was clear both visually and from the “tink” metalic sound that something small and metalic fall from the inside) Loved the game’s atmosphere. Not as tense as Resonance, but moody with many spot on humour moments (again: great job with Crispin). Great ending too. Perhaps not the game of the year (I still think Resonance is much better), but a great, solid game nevertheless.

I managed to see 7 endings. Even though I couldn’t get to the most happy ending (because it turned out that I killed Gamma or I don’t know. But all I did was damaging one or two of the monitors and that was it. he was no longer active. in the walkthrough I saw later on, I can clearly see that after destroying the third monitor Gamma starts begging for mercy… and after that you get your self the decoder needed for the good finale. I still don’t know where I went wrong). Anyways, I read that there are 11 endings, so care to spare some info on the other four if you know something (so far I got 1. the semi good finale without giving the virus to metromind 2. the mediocre finale with you getting your powercore but forgetting clarity’s head 3. joining metromind 4. get killed by scraper 5. destroying Metropol 6. Jumping from the tower 7. and of course the very happy ending)

also big admiration for the puzzle with the kiosk. though i couldn’t get to the end of it. couldn’t get from REDLIEN to ART but thanks to the multisolution system that wasn’t an obstacle.

As for the puzzle with Gamma, you can use you energy detector to spot Gamma’s hiding place and then proceed to destroy the other monitors.

I finished the game last night and enjoyed it quite a bit. The exchanges between Crispin and Horatio worked for me and the puzzles ranged from okay to good and it’s always nice to have several possible solutions. I also liked the setting, and don’t mind that many of the topics that were touched upon didn’t receive a lot of exposition. The game provides you enough information to give you a feeling of the world and a sense of how things ended up the way they did, without forcing things down your throat.

The thing that could have been improved upon are the characters, I guess. The problem I have with them is that they come and go too fast and that there is too little interaction. The relationship between Horatio and Crispin works, but I didn’t feel the same about the one between Horatio and Charity. It needed more fleshing out.

It isn’t my favourite adventure this year, but more than good enough to recommend it to people looking for some classic adventuring.

Primordia was absolutely fantastic. Everything came together: impressive art style, amazing AMAZING soundtrack, great characters, believable and interesting world/backstory, solid puzzles. I agree with a couple gripes: I missed some of the same hotspots that others did and I agree that shouldn’t be part of the game is figuring out what hotspots you missed. I think the backstory could be used for other games as well. It doled out the tidbits at a great pace and quantity, offering just enough to be intriguing but not over doing it.

I loved Horatio and Crispin and thought the voice acting was top notch across the board. I concede the complaints that Crispin’s dialogue could be a tad too self-referential but I still think it was well done. Sorry, I loved the “do you hear that clicking sound?” line.

I’d say this is close with The Walking Dead for my adventure game of the year.

Something odd happened yesterday. I had been playing Beneath a Steel Sky and Primordia for the past few months, and coincidentally I finished them both within a few hours of each other.

Significantly more coincidental however, were the eerily similar endings of the two games. Seeing those so close to each other felt very strange, almost as if the universe was trying to tell me something…

In any case, I loved Primordia for its amazing art direction (gorgeous backgrounds, haunting soundtrack) and the fascinating universe that Wormwood Studios created. I can’t stress enough how much I enjoyed the lore and mythology surrounding the game.

Now I gotta try for the “good” ending, but that will have to wait as I apparently ran out of save slots during the last few hours of the game.

As promised, I just played the “good ending” of Primordia.

Wow, for all its indie/low-budget rough edges this game is simply unforgettable. I come away very satisfied with the overall experience and I loved the two endings I got, especially that last one. Now I want a new game set in the same universe.

AstroChicken - 13 May 2013 11:05 AM

As promised, I just played the “good ending” of Primordia.

Wow, for all its indie/low-budget rough edges this game is simply unforgettable. I come away very satisfied with the overall experience and I loved the two endings I got, especially that last one. Now I want a new game set in the same universe.

I agree, it’s a great game and they created a very interesting world and lore, it would a waste not to set up a new game in the same universe.

Hope it sells well, music, characters, writing, the endings and overall experience sold me. Exactly my kind of thing, hope regained +1 in this genre.

just started this.. for some reason its not at all what i expected.. and so far.. its great! I love the art and the retro-sierra feel it has. Really glad iv finally gotten around to trying it.

EDIT: aaa!! i love this game!
EDIT2: wow. i do not understand why this game doesnt get more praise. Lore, atmosphere, humor.. this game is awesome. Its a reminder that when it comes to adventure games, i simply cannot trust critic averages like metacritic.
EDIT3: just finished. This is one of my new favs. So good…