Adventure Gamers - Forums

millenia - 28 June 2013 10:27 AM

In a way it could also be an experience to play the old one first and then compare it to the enhanced version. I was completely unaware of this indiegogo project. I actually intentionally stay away from these crowdfunding sites for a longer periods of time. There are always so many interesting projects and I have so little money… Also, I don’t think I’ll be purchasing the enhanced version full price anyway, so my wait might be quite long. (Though I have that 300 other games to play meanwhile.)

You could well be right - plus it could be seen as a rather large (10+ hours) paid for demo

As to the new purchase price I doubt that it will break the bank. The Indiegogo price for a DRM free download was $9 (£4.71 to me) and I doubt that it will be a great deal more when it goes on general sale plus, this time, Jan and Lukas will get the money directly - I hope - after the debacle of the original release.

Heh, checking my Steam list today I actually noticed that Machinarium, Portal and Journey Down were also already installed. I’ve been thinking about these same games earlier too.

Now if I just had a moment to focus on adventures. I’ve been just scrolling forums and idling in WoW because my kids constantly interrupt me. I need my peace and quiet to immerse into adventure game worlds.

First game finally finished, A Vampyre Story, yay. Well, I finished it on Monday night already but didn’t remember to update it here.

AVS was a nice game, pretty with good music and characters. The humour was really stupid but you kinda got use to it and it started to work. I gave it 3.5/5

The Secret World offered me a 5 day trial for free so I think I’ll try it out a bit just to see if I want to buy it from the summer sales. Starting another MMO surely does not do any good completing my list but one must seize the opportunities . Updating my MMOs to the original post also.

Woah, I’m tired. Been busy with The Secret World which I’ve enjoyed a lot even though the first questing area is full of zombies. I managed to finish up The Testament of Sherlock Holmes though and it was a rather enjoyable game too. I was wondering if I’d give it 3.5 or 4 and after a while ended up being generous.

There was a lot of good stuff and clear improvements compared to the earlier games. But there were some flaws too. The story didn’t really tie together seamlessly, which was my main concern. But it was still a good one and I definitely had fun playing the game. I felt I liked this better than Jack the Ripper but not sure about The Awakened, it’s been so long since I played it. The game looked nice and it took me over 10 hours to finish.

If I wasn’t allocating “stars” here, I think I would give both AVS and Holmes 3.75 (4-).

Finished Drawn - The Painted Tower. It was rather casual (this wasn’t a surprise though) with mostly easy puzzles. A few puzzles took a while but I managed to play the entire game rather nicely without any kinds of hints or skipping, very suitable for beginners in adventure or casual/hog mix/whatever kind of games.

If I had a real grasp of how casual it was (I don’t mean it as an insult) I could have played it a lot earlier. A few hours during daytime and having to stop to feed or scold my kids wouldn’t have mattered so much . I usually don’t play adventures when my kids are up/home because it easily ruins my focus and immersion.

I had half a dozen crashes during the playthrough but the game saves automatically pretty much after each step so it was only a mild annoyance. Didn’t even bother trying to fix it.

The story is nice, the visuals beautiful and the gameplay mostly fun. But I wasn’t terribly awed, so I’ll give another solid 3.5

I have the sequel waiting but I think I’ll try to clear the rest of my summer list before touching any sequels. I will surely play it though.

I found Drawn: Dark Flight to be even more haunting than the first, and lest I forget far more challenging. I haven’t played Trail of Shadows since I’m still hoping to find a retail collector’s edition. Probably never going to happen but who knows what Big Fish is apt to do.

On second thought I just happened to notice the magnitude of your list so forget what I said. 

No need to forget, I’ll play it sooner or later. I’ve heard a lot of good things about it, that’s why I had bought it already before I played the first game.

Well, Secret World servers were down a bit so I got To the Moon finished. Initially I thought that I probably would not like it as much as it was hyped but I kinda have to admit, that even without much gameplay I can’t really give it anything but 5/5. I’m a sucker for love stories and the way it was mixed up with scifi and a mystery even, great stuff. I even liked the stupid humour in it. “I hate your carrot cake!” 

It also looked pretty in its own way, then again I’m used to these old school JRPG graphics. The score was of course beautiful. I wish I could visit River’s head at some point, a very touching character, though doing things differently could make the experience worse, you never know.

People have joked about it being an inception romance though I don’t really agree with that notion, people have messed around other people’s heads in sci-fi forever. At some point I did get some vibes though: [spoiler]I wondered for a moment if there was another layer and we really were in the memories of one of the doctors.[/spoiler]

millenia - 11 July 2013 06:33 PM

At some point I did get some vibes though: [spoiler]I wondered for a moment if there was another layer and we really were in the memories of one of the doctors.[/spoiler]

You’re not the only one who got vibes like that. I think it was an intentional hook for future episodes in that universe…

So, approximately how much of the 4 hours and 30 minutes were spent crying?

Nah, not that much, I certainly teared up several times but wasn’t bawling or anything .

millenia - 11 July 2013 06:33 PM

At some point I did get some vibes though: [spoiler]I wondered for a moment if there was another layer and we really were in the memories of one of the doctors.[/spoiler]

That was kind of the whole point with the ending, that dr. Rosalene was dying herself, and everything that had happened in the game was not real but a manipulated memory in itself, that it was all Rosalene’s dying wish and that Johnny and River perhaps never really existed. That it was really a dream in a dream and possibly a dream in a dream in a dream in a dream in ... At least that was how i interpreted the ending.

Iznogood - 12 July 2013 11:20 AM

That was kind of the whole point with the ending, that dr. Rosalene was dying herself, and everything that had happened in the game was not real but a manipulated memory in itself, that it was all Rosalene’s dying wish and that Johnny and River perhaps never really existed. That it was really a dream in a dream and possibly a dream in a dream in a dream in a dream in ... At least that was how i interpreted the ending.

I think it’s possible but I thought it’s more likely just playing with us. Neil’s painkillers really spelled out “to be continued…” to me. But the whole game is filled with double meanings and coincidences so everyone can keep their own interpretation and that’s the beauty of it.

I think you are both overlooking or ignoring the significance of the red flashing of the screen at the end, the pills only had a supporting role in this, it is the flashes the changes everything.

Also whenever you in sci-fi has a theme like this where you create false realities, they almost always end up with multiple layers of constructed or false realities, where you can never be sure which layer is real, or if there even is a real layer, or as i like to call it dream in dream stories. It is a relative common theme in sci-fi.

When i played “To The Moon” i quite early recognized the theme, because i have seen or read it many times before, so i was basically just waiting for the screen to flash at the end, telling us there where more layers. But i agree that it was done subtle, and that the ending is open for interpretations.

I just love endings like this, where it is to a large degree left up to the player/reader/viewer to interpret the ending for themselves.

Edit: And it was Eva’s pills, not Neil’s, given as part of her cancer treatment.