Adventure Gamers - Forums

Iznogood - 29 July 2017 03:56 PM

I don’t really think it is a hard game to lead.
As I recall it is conveniently divided into chapters, and there are also no branching paths or anything like that, though there might be some things that you can discover earlier or later in the game, or possibly not discover at all? - It has been many years since I played it so I really can’t remember much of the gameplay, only the story and the graphics.

Anyway, I guess I could lead it!
(It would probably be harder/more embarrassing to drop out if I’m also leading it )
But if anyone else want to take a stab at it, you are more than welcome.

Thank you Iznogood - please be the leader! 

Yes, the game is conveniently divided but actually into 3 days (rather than chapters) but it’s quite a long game by modern standards so each day can take up to about 4-6 hours to complete as I understand.
Within each day I know there’s a quota of ‘mandates’ to resolve some easier & quicker than others so I was more thinking, when I said it might be difficult, to break the game down to less than 4-6 hours at a time (for the purposes of a play through) by promoting some of the mandates to be resolved before completing a day. But some I can’t be sure can’t be done in different orders? I think it would be difficult to break it down by using the mandates without starting off with spoilers so that’s why I thought it might be a challenging game to lead. But maybe it can go with just those very long days?

Anyway, please Iznogood, you said you love the game, so I think you should lead it!

rtrooney - 29 July 2017 04:54 PM

I’ve not played the game. But if the game consists of three days, and each day consists of about six hours of gameplay, and we shoot for two hours per week….then we’re looking at a nine-week game. We’ve played games that took longer than that. As long as everyone reports in with a progress report every week, we should be in good shape.

Of course, since I haven’t actually played the game, I could just be blowing smoke.

The problem Tim is that there’s no natural stopping points after 2 hours although there is the possibility as the game has a ‘real time’ clock that as far as I know you can only see when you make a save game - so that’s a possibility? i.e. you play until certain ‘real’ times each day & stop then regardless of you progress??? That could be different? 

It’s been a decade since I’ve last played it, but I really don’t think the game is that long. Probably 10-12 hours top. Especially if you’re playing it the way it’s meant to be played, i.e. with the time limit.

Kurufinwe - 29 July 2017 05:03 PM

It’s been a decade since I’ve last played it, but I really don’t think the game is that long. Probably 10-12 hours top. Especially if you’re playing it the way it’s meant to be played, i.e. with the time limit.

Was the game really intended to be played with the time limit or was that introduced just to try & attract essentially non-AG players as Broken Sword 3 & 4 tried to do?

chrissie - 29 July 2017 05:21 PM

Kurufinwe - 29 July 2017 05:03 PM

It’s been a decade since I’ve last played it, but I really don’t think the game is that long. Probably 10-12 hours top. Especially if you’re playing it the way it’s meant to be played, i.e. with the time limit.

Was the game really intended to be played with the time limit or was that introduced just to try & attract essentially non-AG players as Broken Sword 3 & 4 tried to do?

No, the time limit was always intended to be there, and the White Birds people were pretty excited about it when I talked to them about it back then. And they explicitly said that they put it there because AG players were always complaining that games were getting too easy!

Contrary to what the preview says, the time limit ended up being pretty lenient in the released game. I first played it without it, and ended up regretting it, because it just allows you to lose yourself in those tedious, endless conversation trees—whereas with the time limit you actually have to think about what you’re trying to accomplish. I remember replaying the game shortly afterwards with the time limit and thinking it played better that way. (Though, obviously, I already knew the solution to the mystery at that point; maybe it would have been more frustrating going blind with the time limit.)

Thank you for your reply Kurufinwe & the old links were interesting as were your comments!
Of course anyone taking part in the playthrough has the choice of ‘going timed’ if they wish & if anyone goes that path, provided the game wins, it could offer on posting players’ experiences a nice contrast between ‘hurrying’ & a more relaxed approach for those like me that don’t want to race against the clock. 

Iznogood - 29 July 2017 05:32 PM

Oh, and it definitely took me longer than 10-12 hours, but I also didn’t play with a time limit, and I generally like to take my time and explore everything and listen through all dialogue.

I’m guessing this game just based on the 1st day could take 16 -18 hours to complete on taking your time? 

The conversation has made me decide to replay the game, which I’m currently doing (sorry, the glacial pace of the CPs is really not for me), and it seems like there are two natural types of break points:

1) Time-based: Certain events happen at certain times. For instance, on day 1, the characters have lunch from 1:00 PM to 1:50, etc. However, there’s no guarantee that players will have done the same stuff during that time. Also, in “adventure” mode, you can’t see the clock, even though it’s still running and events still happen at certain times. So maybe that’s not ideal for those players. (In that mode, time just freezes when you reach the deadline.)

2) The mandates are very linear, and seem to be the way to go. Each mandate pretty much unlocks as you finish the previous one. (There are a few exceptions; for instance, mandate #4 unlocks as you complete #1, but that mandate is just “wait for the autopsy report”, so you can’t actually make any progress on it until time passes. Also, I think at times you might get two mandates in parallel, but you need to complete both to unlock the next one.)

Ultimately, this is a game structured around deadlines, even if there’s a mode that “hides” them by just freezing time when you reach them instead of punishing you. Those give you natural breakpoints.

I have Stinking Island on my laptop but it doesn’t work so I will vote Atlantis 2.