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Full-motion video (FMV) adventure games
And it reminds me of this Indian song with suspiciously English-sounding lyrics.
Haha, too funny.
I’ve never heard of Darkstar before. Is it worth playing?
To the thread starter :
I wouldn’t say that the x-files game were the first and only attempt at FMV blockbuster. The FMV space sim Wing Commander IV cost about 10 million.
I don’t remember anymore, but I might have meant just FMV adventure games. And you’re right, WC4 must have had a sizeable budget. Maybe even WC3 could be considered, with a rumored budget of $4 million (a 1994 release).
And thanks for the suggestions.
Thanks for mentioning Black Dahlia and The 7th Guest. BD happens to be on my list, so that’s assuring. It’s not impossible I’ll pick up The 7th Guest, if I can find it on sale, since it’s not a high priority game for me - it seems a bit too puzzle-heavy for my taste, but I need to do some research to be sure
Duke: Thanks for the link, I look forward to reading it!
7th Guest goes on sale at GoG now and then, but its only 5.99 anytime
GoG also has the Tex Murphy series on sale this weekend
Thanks - I saw the sale, but decided to wait a bit due to my huge backlog of games, and a desire to play Tesla Effect first anyway.
No one has mentioned DarkStar: The Interactive Movie yet.
It’s a node-based science fiction game taking place on a space ship. The cast consists mainly of Mystery Science Theater 3000 people, with Clive Robertson as the lead, and Peter Graves as the narrator.
If they’d sell that as a digital DL I’d buy that in a heartbeat.
I’ve never heard of Darkstar before. Is it worth playing?
I’ve played the first couple of hours of it and liked it well enough, despite it being completely outside of my preferred AG genre. I’m not really a fan of Myst-like games where you’re pushing buttons on machines without really knowing what they’ll do, so I walkthrough’d part of it (using the extremely useful and surprisingly spoiler-free Strategy Guide that’s included in .pdf).
Alas, the game was too much outside of my comfort zone to my liking, so I never finished it. Was a bit surprised that it was rather serious, too. Had expected more camp from the Mystery Science Theater 3000 guys (but maybe that was yet to come).
Graves’ narration was awesome, though.
If they’d sell that as a digital DL I’d buy that in a heartbeat.
Their official website links here, where you can buy it as a digital download instead of a DVD boxset. 
The boxset is dirt cheap on Amazon, though.
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
i bought a digital download of darkstar when it came out, and more recently bought a boxed copy now sitting on my desk. Its a pretty special game and it has a wide variety of flaws.. but theres really nothing else quite like it.
Their official website links here, where you can buy it as a digital download instead of a DVD boxset.
The boxset is dirt cheap on Amazon, though.
Well damn…
To the thread starter :
I wouldn’t say that the x-files game were the first and only attempt at FMV blockbuster. The FMV space sim Wing Commander IV cost about 10 million.
I don’t remember anymore, but I might have meant just FMV adventure games. And you’re right, WC4 must have had a sizeable budget. Maybe even WC3 could be considered, with a rumored budget of $4 million (a 1994 release).
And thanks for the suggestions.
Phantasmagoria cost about 4-5 million If i remember correctly , most expensive roberto williams game she has ever done. Gabriel Knight 2 is about the same , most fmv games are expensive to produce at the time.
well, I went and bought Darkstar. First impression, it’s pretty impressive, despite the clunky UI. It definetly feels like a FMV game at its best and worst at the same time.
Phantasmagoria cost about 4-5 million If i remember correctly , most expensive roberto williams game she has ever done. Gabriel Knight 2 is about the same , most fmv games are expensive to produce at the time.
True. But, in my opinion, and I know I wasn’t clear about that, “a FMV blockbuster attempt” is about some specific elements being top notch - especially production quality, acting and/or “star power”. A fairly big budget is obviously important for most of these games in terms of achieving that, but not always the most important factor.
GK2 doesn’t feel like a “a FMV blockbuster attempt” to me. But it could have been from Sierra’s perspective, obviously. Haven’t seen it mentioned in interviews, as far as I recall. I haven’t played Phantasmagoria and WC3 + 4 so can’t comment on those in detail, but from video clips they’re all doing pretty well 
So… anyone got tips on that freaking Labyrinth on Darkstar? Easily the most frustrating maze I’ve ever encountered in any game.
Sorry Tomimt. I had to use the strategy guide that came with the game. Buy the way, didn’t your digital download include the strategy guide? It’s a well done one.
Did your download include the Strategy Guide? It’s a 10MB PDF file with a full walkthrough (including all death scenes) and it’s actually quite spoiler-free story-wise.
It has a map of the labyrinth, all the possible ways to die in it, and both ways out (an easy one and a hard one).
Invaluable info, I reckon.
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
Nah, this version came only with an art book (which is pretty nice), no guide as far I can see. Though I finally managed to get through that damn thing pretty much by accident. I wonder what they were thinking when they created that damn thing. Those long winded movement animations through the labyrinth make it pretty unbearable experience. Though I’d reckon that’s the reason why it’s also salted with means of suicide.
As TimovieMan said, the Strategy Guide is very good on info of the game and tells you how to get the 20+ ways to die in the game. Pretty good to replay those parts and watch.
Well, I managed to play through the Darkstar. What an experience. The UI and the navigation are horrible and the game kept crashing on me almost like a clockwork every half an hour. But I still went through it because it was just so damned intresting.
It’s filled with bad game design and a lot of the acting is questionable at best, but it pretty much makes it worth it by very nice design and pretty insane (or stupid depends really) plotline marinaded with metal music. It definetly is one of the more ambitious FMV games out there.
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