Seriously? Wow, you are really catching up on the classics - First Fate, now StS. Simon is a must play of the 90s era imho, alas a little short though, especially part 1. Never played anything after 2 though, reading mixed about the successors.
Btw, are some games from the 2018 thread that got delayed deliberately missing in the OP? I could think of Mage‘s Initiation, Lorelai, Asylum Sencape, The Poisoned Pawn: A Tex Murphy Adventure or The Last Crown: Blackenrock for example (Or 3 Minutes to Midnight, that was from one of my posts though). Any particular reason you left those out or did you just want a shorter original thread?
Seriously? Wow, you are really catching up on the classics - First Fate, now StS. Simon is a must play of the 90s era imho, alas a little short though, especially part 1. Never played anything after 2 though, reading mixed about the successors.
There was Broken Sword, too. Although I had played it previously I never completed it before last year. Also, King's Quest VI and Gabriel Knight II. I actually made a GK2 drinking game that I've been playing on the weekends with some friends as an excuse to show them all the insane moments in that game. They now love the game as well.
Btw, are some games from the 2018 thread that got delayed deliberately missing in the OP? I could think of Mage‘s Initiation, Lorelai, Asylum Sencape, The Poisoned Pawn: A Tex Murphy Adventure or The Last Crown: Blackenrock for example (Or 3 Minutes to Midnight, that was from one of my posts though). Any particular reason you left those out or did you just want a shorter original thread?
There's a limit on 10 media embeds per post. So I just selected the games that I thought looked the most promising for the year. I left 5 spaces open on the second post in case of some big announcements. There were some other games like Jengo, Roki, Crowns and Pawns, Du Lac & Fey: Dance Of Death, and FoxTail that may release in 2019 but it's uncertain.
There's also a bunch more trailers that have been posted since. Some games I hadn't heard of and look really cool, especially the trailer for Night Call that Ssilentz
put up. So feel free to link to anything you feel I might have overlooked.
Yep, and i tried it a little without looking at spoilers or achievements and quickly got a Steam achievement, "Procastinator", for doing my best to avoid a certain thing apparently.
There's a limit on 10 media embeds per post. So I just selected the games that I thought looked the most promising for the year. I left 5 spaces open on the second post in case of some big announcements. There were some other games like Jengo, Roki, Crowns and Pawns, Du Lac & Fey: Dance Of Death, and FoxTail that may release in 2019 but it's uncertain.
There's also a bunch more trailers that have been posted since. Some games I hadn't heard of and look really cool, especially the trailer for Night Call that Ssilentz
put up. So feel free to link to anything you feel I might have overlooked.
Ok good to know. Just so you know, was just curious, I think you did an amazing job here. Especially the newcomer section was a great idea!
And TWD Ep 3? Haven‘t played it so far either? Think I might give it a whirl tomorrow, story of the first two parts was better than New Frontier, puzzles were as always non existent and guess that won’t change ... But still wonder what Skybound has done with it.
I mostly agree with the others. Kathy Rain is good, I definitely enjoyed it. But wouldn’t put it up with the greats - Puzzles are fairly easy (with the exception of one environmental puzzle) and there’s a lot of driving around between locations, always just to take care of a single task there, which isn’t exactly my cup of tea either.
Also, the ending was a bit lackluster imho. I’d give it 7.5 out of 10 - Nice game but I can think of a lot of PnC’s I’ve enjoyed more.
No worries frogmeetsdog
, I know there's no ill intent in any question you'd ask. Thanks for the props.
I did play TWD Ep 3 and I began writing up some impressions for it but got busy. To keep it brief it's a very strong episode with peripheral inconsistencies. It contains one of the strongest scenes in the entire series yet it fumbles some moments -- in particular with James. I generally don't think they do enough to make his philosophy compelling. So the scenes where he's extolling it at length ring hallow for me.
Aside from that the plot continues to pick up in some big ways. All the tension and life or death drama that makes TWD great. I have some concerns about how this will all wrap up in episode 4. It feels like there should be at least two more but we'll see.
Crazy twitter thread showing off AI Neural Net upscaling. The results on nearly all of these are incredible and this user has upscaled a lot of adventure game environment art and such. This up-res of the Lord of the Dead from KQ6 is absolutely nuts. Can hardly believe no human touch ups were involved. Getting those visuals in game would be so cool.
Ok, some reviews for Mage's Initiation are in and the majority is rather mediocre. The consensus reads that the game is rather easy and has quite a few shortcomings, especially regarding its RPG elements. They seem to be heavily underutilized or even useless. One reviewer mentioned that when it came to puzzles it didn't make a whole lot of difference which class he had chosen.
Similar seems to go for spells and upgrades: Apparently it's not too hard to finish the game by just spamming the basic spell throughout. Most reviewers seem to agree that fights are getting pretty tedious because of this.
RPG elements in Point'n'Clickers are pretty rare and probably not too easy to pull off. But if a dev goes that route, at least they should be a bit challenging or entertaining. Boring repetition doesn't sound like the best concept.
On the other hand the game's puzzles were mostly well received, described between "solid" or "hitting that sweet spot where they were neither too difficult or nonsensical, nor so easy that it would feel like the game was actively guiding me along a linear path" . But in the same breath the latter guy also says most puzzles aren't very hard while doubting that "point & click veterans will find themselves stuck too often".
All of what I've read so far makes me rather feel torn about this title. On one hand, the PnC/RPG hybrid idea sounds pretty interesting in theory but the RPG part seems to be seriously lacking here. The different classes seem to be underutilized as well. Rather easy puzzles can be a pro or a con depending on one's preferences in an adventure.
Guess I'll give the demo a shot first, even though it's about 5 years old and hard to say how much has changed since then. Considering the devs needed nearly 10 years to finish Mage's Initiation the majority of the first reviews don't sound too hot - Often reviewers aren't the biggest fans of old school titles though.
I'll probably still get the game within the nearish future because at least the Point'n'Click part of the game doesn't sound too bad - but not this week after all. if you're still interested, below are some screenshots of review summaries for the game:
I just completed Simon The Sorcerer. Really good game and I'd say it's just shy of being up there with some of my favorite oldschool classics. There was one really frustrating puzzle that makes absolutely no sense to me. I got hemmed up on it for a long time but after that it was smooth sailing. One crummy puzzle in an entire game is no big deal. Still, this was one of those puzzles that annoyed me even more after I found the solution. There are more logical solutions that the game artificially blocks you from pursuing. That's always a bummer.
There are other minor flaws that didn't frustrate me but were noticeable. An odd pixel hunt here and there in a game that mostly avoids it. Two or three awkward timed puzzle sequences. There's even one where Simon gives you bad advice sometimes as you're bounced out of the room. "If only I were a real wizard." That made me think I needed to progress the plot further when in reality I already had what I needed. Too many fetch quests in general.
The game world overall was the best part of it. It was a lot of fun to explore around listening to the various catchy tunes on the soundtrack. Nearly every character in the game is memorable and even when their interactions aren't laugh out loud funny, they're still endearing. There's also a good balance between the open exploration -- with multiple concurrent threads -- and self-contained sequences that allow for more focused puzzle solving. Let's you still feel some sense of accomplishment while you're continuing to amass more quests and items elsewhere in the game.
With a few rough edges smoothed out and a stronger ending (you never meet Calypso wtf) Simon would be up there with some of the better LucasArts games imo. The strong VA and thoroughly polished pixel art nearly get it there. As it stands it's still a really good game that's well worth playing for adventure fans. Especially the ones that like a healthy challenge.
So basically I had figured out I needed to bribe the dwarfs with beer. The solution obviously involved distracting the barkeep and taking some beer while he's looking for ingredients. But Simon won't do anything that makes sense. He won't pick up the empty bottles scattered around in the dwarf's cavern. "Why pick them up? They're empty..." So I can fill them, jackass. Then I found the bucket, which is emptied after using it on the magic beans. I thought "this must be it!" But for no reason whatsoever Simon refuses to fill it with beer. At that point I was totally lost.
The actual solution is to use a lump of bee's wax on the beer barrel. Which plugs up its tap. This makes the bartender believe the barrel is empty (even though he picks it up and would be able to notice it's full immediately), which then prompts him to take the barrel outside. It also prompts him to hand you a voucher for free beer. Which only happens because you need two inventory items to bribe two guards.
Took a little break from the game after that one lol. Still a lot of fun but fuck that puzzle.
I just completed Simon The Sorcerer. Really good game and I'd say it's just shy of being up there with some of my favorite oldschool classics. There was one really frustrating puzzle that makes absolutely no sense to me. I got hemmed up on it for a long time but after that it was smooth sailing. One crummy puzzle in an entire game is no big deal. Still, this was one of those puzzles that annoyed me even more after I found the solution. There are more logical solutions that the game artificially blocks you from pursuing. That's always a bummer.
There are other minor flaws that didn't frustrate me but were noticeable. An odd pixel hunt here and there in a game that mostly avoids it. Two or three awkward timed puzzle sequences. There's even one where Simon gives you bad advice sometimes as you're bounced out of the room. "If only I were a real wizard." That made me think I needed to progress the plot further when in reality I already had what I needed. Too many fetch quests in general.
The game world overall was the best part of it. It was a lot of fun to explore around listening to the various catchy tunes on the soundtrack. Nearly every character in the game is memorable and even when their interactions aren't laugh out loud funny, they're still endearing. There's also a good balance between the open exploration -- with multiple concurrent threads -- and self-contained sequences that allow for more focused puzzle solving. Let's you still feel some sense of accomplishment while you're continuing to amass more quests and items elsewhere in the game.
With a few rough edges smoothed out and a stronger ending (you never meet Calypso wtf) Simon would be up there with some of the better LucasArts games imo. The strong VA and thoroughly polished pixel art nearly get it there. As it stands it's still a really good game that's well worth playing for adventure fans. Especially the ones that like a healthy challenge.
So basically I had figured out I needed to bribe the dwarfs with beer. The solution obviously involved distracting the barkeep and taking some beer while he's looking for ingredients. But Simon won't do anything that makes sense. He won't pick up the empty bottles scattered around in the dwarf's cavern. "Why pick them up? They're empty..." So I can fill them, jackass. Then I found the bucket, which is emptied after using it on the magic beans. I thought "this must be it!" But for no reason whatsoever Simon refuses to fill it with beer. At that point I was totally lost.
The actual solution is to use a lump of bee's wax on the beer barrel. Which plugs up its tap. This makes the bartender believe the barrel is empty (even though he picks it up and would be able to notice it's full immediately), which then prompts him to take the barrel outside. It also prompts him to hand you a voucher for free beer. Which only happens because you need two inventory items to bribe two guards.
Took a little break from the game after that one lol. Still a lot of fun but fuck that puzzle.
I agree about the game world being the best part and a few puzzles being rather obscure. Also got stuck on a certain puzzle rather long on my first playthrough, I even think it was the same as yours cause I remember it taking place in the bar (was quite a few moons ago that I’ve played the game for the first time).
What I also didn’t like so much were the long ways in-game which mostly seemed to be there to artificially stretch the still not too long playing time. Part 2 improved on those points and also on the interface which is much more convenient than in the predecessor. Iirc I preferred the second part a bit over the first and while I also agree that the game(s) are a slight bit below the best Lucas Arts titles (and Sierras KQ VI) they’re still one of the greater 90s classic adventures.
I’d definitely recommend to play the second part - Especially after you enjoyed 1. There are some improvements, especially with gameplay and mechanics without losing the charm of the first. I also don’t remember being stuck on a nonsensical puzzle with that one.
Guess the fact that I forgot a lot of the puzzles also shows that for me the games aren‘t absolutely on par with DotT or the Monkey Island series for example. I‘ve replayed those into oblivion and probably even in 20 years would still be able to speedrun through them. Still, quite a few people I know regard StS 1 & 2 right up there with the greatest classics and while I don’t agree 100% they’re both still very enjoyable titles imho.
Pity everything after 2 seem to be rather forgettable. I won‘t touch 3D but just remembered that I‘ve played the beginning of part 5 quite a while ago. The game is from a completely different developer (same as 4) and I don’t remember much despite Simon suddenly talking with an American accent and having lost interest pretty quickly, mostly due to a very silly story. Just saw that the game isn‘t even available for download or in English anymore. Just two German hard copies offered on Amazon.
No worries frogmeetsdog
, I know there's no ill intent in any question you'd ask. Thanks for the props.
I did play TWD Ep 3 and I began writing up some impressions for it but got busy. To keep it brief it's a very strong episode with peripheral inconsistencies. It contains one of the strongest scenes in the entire series yet it fumbles some moments -- in particular with James. I generally don't think they do enough to make his philosophy compelling. So the scenes where he's extolling it at length ring hallow for me.
Aside from that the plot continues to pick up in some big ways. All the tension and life or death drama that makes TWD great. I have some concerns about how this will all wrap up in episode 4. It feels like there should be at least two more but we'll see.
Completely agree about what you sayed about James and his philosophy. The scene in the barn was completely pointless.
I lost interest in the episode about halway through. The QTE before the boat really annoyed me, it seems Skybound has an even worse knack for those than Telltale. I also noticed that there was even less interaction than usual, very long dialogue scenes, at most interrupted by the occesional key command to remind you that you don’t watch a movie. What I played so far had the fewest share of "actual game" of any Telltale title I can remember while story and decisions also haven‘t left much of an impression so far.
I have no idea how much of the people who did the first two parts were hired to continue with the third but with Telltale‘s titles I have hardly ever lost interest during the episode. Their games never had much gameplay and in reality ones decisions lacked impact but the stories had always managed to grip and keep me entertained until the end.
With what I‘ve played so far I was rather annoyed or bored though which isn‘t a good sign for a game mostly depending on its story. I‘m still planning to play the rest but I’ll really have to force myself to do it. Not too impressed with Skybound‘s approach up until now but at least going by your comment it sounds like the game and its story may improve further in. So far there’s definitely room for that.
I haven’t played it yet but going only by reviews and comments the consensus about the game seems to be so-so. Especially the RPG part catches a lot of flack for being useless and monotonous. Puzzle difficulty apparently not all too high.
I’m still going to get it within the near future so I can judge for myself although after what I’ve read I’m not in that much in a hurry anymore as I thought I’d be pre-release. But I’m definitely going to report my impressions as soon as I’ve given it a shot.
The stealth sequence was a big miss. Conceptually it's a clever idea but the execution was real bad. Unnecessarily difficult gameplay that comes down to rote memorization. Odd choices like limiting your camera movement, so you cant get a good look at all the zombies you're supposed to hide behind. A part of the game that should last 30 seconds ends up being several minutes long because of poor design.
It was announced that the original team from TTG was rehired by Skybound to finish the series. So these are genuine mistakes on the part of the original devs. But I liked everything in the episode after you get on the boat. I'm assuming you didn't get up to that yet, so I won't go into too much detail. But there's some big choices and some startling consequences (at least for me). As well as a particular stand-out scene that's the exact kind of thing you want from TWD's final season.
This season, so far, has hit a lot more than it has missed for me. But one thing holding it back from reaching Season 1 heights is the setting. The progression in TWD 1's story was punctuated by the survivors literally progressing through various different locales. Hershals Farm, The Motor Inn, St. John's Dairy, The Train, Savannah house, Crawford, etc. There's little excursions here and there in TFS but it's 90% boarding school and the surround forrest. Which simply isn't as interesting imo.
I get that one of the ideas of TFS is that Clem and AJ are "done running." But I was hoping with this rescue mission that we'd finally get a change of scenery. Which, we do at the very end. But not before they try to cram in some Breakfast Club-esque "teen misfits" bonding scene. It feels out of place with the imminent threat at hand. We're at the point where the plot should be full speed but the writers are still taking their sweet time.
That's where my worry comes in. Thinking of all the things they'd have to do in order to give this season -- and this series -- a satisfying conclusion... I almost can't imagine it all happening in one episode. Will we ever see Lilly's settlement? Get to see the whisperers? Find out what really happened to Clem & AJ at McCaroll Ranch?
I'm hoping for a 4+ hour final episode because it feels like there's still so much ground to cover and I desperately want the game to finish strong.
Now THIS looks interesting! An adventure game about unlocking a foreign language of an unknown land and piecing together the past. Comes from the makers of other games like 80 Days and Sorcery! They make such wonderful text based/choose your own adventure stories that I know this will be great. It seems like their biggest project yet.
Love me a good adventure game. Subbing to this thread!
That's all I played last year was Action/Adventure/RPG blend, and Adventure games/PnC in between those. So much so they were my #1 and #2 genres on the PlayStation year end results.
Still have Yesterday's Origins, Oxenfree, Thimbleweed Park, and Life is Strange in my backlog, as well as possibly Broken Age if I decide to start it. Still on the fence with that one.
I haven’t played it yet but going only by reviews and comments the consensus about the game seems to be so-so. Especially the RPG part catches a lot of flack for being useless and monotonous. Puzzle difficulty apparently not all too high.
I’m still going to get it within the near future so I can judge for myself although after what I’ve read I’m not in that much in a hurry anymore as I thought I’d be pre-release. But I’m definitely going to report my impressions as soon as I’ve given it a shot.
That really sucks because a new game inspired by Quest For Glory is something that should have been awesome, and they had been working on that game for many years, sure, sometimes development time doesn't mean anything(Duke Nukem Forever) but still, you'd think they would have made something great.
But it seems to be worse than another game inspired by Quest For Glory, the game Heroine's Quest: The Herald Of Ragnarok:
Which has the bonus of being inspired by Norse mythology and being FREE, i would have hoped that Mage's Initiation would have been at least equal or better, but apparently, reading the reviews and how the games are like, the free game is better.
RPG elements in Point'n'Clickers are pretty rare and probably not too easy to pull off. But if a dev goes that route, at least they should be a bit challenging or entertaining.
If you're looking for something along those lines, you may want to try Hero-U. I can't recommend it enough, it's a really good game and a true work of love.
Edit: I also quite liked Quest for Infamy (ad the aforementioned Heroine's Quest).
silentstorm
I started with Mage’s Initiation yesterday and I’m not too far in yet. But so far I gotta agree with most reviews that the RPG part really leaves a lot to be desired. Fights always go by the same pattern which grows tedious pretty quickly. The game’s world is really something else though. Quite a big fantasy world with lots of odd, funny and unique characters - In this aspect the game can easily keep up with a good RPG (or PnC) and also the puzzles, while not so hard up until now, are cleverly implemented so far.
All in all the universe of Mage‘s Initiation is very intriguing and I can’t wait to explore more of it. Just hope the monotonous fights won’t detract me further from what otherwise seems to be shaping up as a fun adventure. Certainly gonna write some more impressions after having tackled more of it.
—
Also, after it has been released on iOS I finished Detective Gallo today. The game is also much better than I’d been hoping for. The story is odd, goofy and funny but nothing to write home about. But same can be said about a lot of classic "cartoony" adventures. What really impressed me though were the puzzles. As did the game’s length and the professional English and Italian voiceovers - Especially considering they only got 15k crowdfunding, just a few Dollars more than they’d asked for.
The world isn’t all too big but there are still plenty of items and environmental objects to interact with which doesn’t make the game all too easy. Most puzzles are logical yet rarely on the nose and quite often, after I already thought to be stuck, the solution suddenly came to me. Imo it always makes for a great adventure when after having completed a puzzle you think to yourself, “that makes perfect sense, how did this escape me before?"
Anyway, as I said, was positively surprised by the game - The devs did a great job with comparably very little money. For guys like me, who like comical, cartoony classic Point’n’click adventures - in the vein of most Lucas Arts titles - Detective Gallo is definitely a game to consider. Most reviews also seem to agree with this.
Even though Fuz is trying to forget the dark times in the 80s when gallo meant cool in Italy I can wholeheartedly recommend Detective Gallo
Shame about the fights, but still considering getting the game, and you saying that the setting is great makes me less wary of buying the game, also, now i am interested in Detective Gallo, thanks for that!
Oh yeah, i bought She and the Light Bearer recently, the game just looks really charming so it seemed worth buying.
Mage's Initiation receives a 4 out of 5 stars on Adventure Gamers. Might be relevant to anyone still weighing their options. For niche genre's like adventure games I tend to prefer the specialist sites and fan impressions. I can recall games like Shardlight and Primordia being significantly under rated in the press. Obviously no outlet is ever perfect and I don't agree with every review Adventure Gamers has written, but even the opinions I disagree with tend to be better informed.
It seems like the review agrees the RPG elements are the weak link but the game still succeeds as an adventure.
Yeah, it's like shmups, fans of a genre are far more likely to understand what makes a good game in said genre and are more likely to appreciate them, whereas people who aren't adventure game fans may not be into the style even if they like games based around a story.
Maybe it's because the games tend to have puzzles or the way of moving feels different compared to RPG's or Visual Novels?
Cool looking new indie game announced: Born Punk. Another cyberpunk adventure game for pramod
to add to the list as well . There's an ongoing crowdfund campaign for Born Punk which has reached its first goal within 24 hours, apparently. With several more stretch goals possible. There's also a demo available. I checked it out and enjoyed what I played of it. It gave me a bit of a Technobabylon vibe, which is certainly a good thing.
I already like the protagonist and there's an ample amount of observational flavor text that expands on the world and characterization. Struck the right balance of informative and charming. Which is my jam. VA has some ups and downs but was mostly consistent. I like the proposed commitment to multiple different puzzle solutions, the outcomes of which possibly triggering different narrative branches. It's a lot easier said than done but at least they're going for it.
There's actually a lot of cool little systems they're proposing which aren't mind-blowingly innovative individually, but taken on the whole are nonetheless very cool. In any case it's another game I'll be keeping my eye on. The demo made me wish there was more already. They're shooting for a release a year out from now.
Looks like Daedalic are announcing 6 new games (Not all PnC games) in the coming weeks. That's quite a bit. Hoping one of them is a serious adventure game like what they did with the Dark Eye series. Really enjoyed those.
I'm always rooting for Daedalic, despite not really liking their output (that I know). Although to be fair I haven't played Deponia which is their most popular series. Last year's State Of Mind didn't hit for me. I had heard somewhere that they were moving away from adventure games. I'm glad to hear otherwise. If nothing else Daedalic always produces some great artwork. So i'm looking forward to that no matter what.
Looks like Daedalic are announcing 6 new games (Not all PnC games) in the coming weeks. That's quite a bit. Hoping one of them is a serious adventure game like what they did with the Dark Eye series. Really enjoyed those.
I'm always rooting for Daedalic, despite not really liking their output (that I know). Although to be fair I haven't played Deponia which is their most popular series. Last year's State Of Mind didn't hit for me. I had heard somewhere that they were moving away from adventure games. I'm glad to hear otherwise. If nothing else Daedalic always produces some great artwork. So i'm looking forward to that no matter what.
A new adventure game by Daedalic would be awesome. They announced in February 2018 that they're getting out of the PnC adventure business though because "games of this type wouldn't be profitable anymore".
They also canceled their already half finished PnC game The Devil's Man out of the same reason.
I read quite a few interviews (in German) where Daedalic claimed that due to them being owned by a bigger company now (Bastei Lübbe) they have to look at the numbers much more than ever before and they've concluded that there's just too little money to be made with PnC adventures.
Probably because their last narrative adventure Pillars of the Earth bombed pretty badly, the more traditional Point'n'Clickers The Night of the Rabbit and the last (fourth) Deponia stayed widely under expectations too (unfortunately, I especially enjoyed the latter two a lot). Even in Germany, which always was their home market and by far the most profitable one for PnC adventures in general.
Because of all of this I doubt one of those six games is going to be a traditional Point and Click adventure, especially after the supposed cancellation of The Devil's Man. Would be amazing if they did a 180 in this question though.
Any of you guys ever played Hero-U? The little review stuff out there sounds rather positive but I've really gotten used to Voice Acting over the years
Also, just read about SpaceVenture for the first time. The game sounds amazing in theory, created by two Space Quest legends. They apparently had a falling out during their time with Sierra but reconciled for this game. By now it's already a near record-breaking seven years in the making after a successful KS campaign though - With lots of postponements (initial planned release date was 2013!) and some behind the scenes drama. Still, they're posting regular updates again and there seems to be progress.
Hope this game will see the end of the tunnel some day, maybe even this year (they're apparently starting their second beta soon). Reading about its history I won't count on anything but most of their trailers and posted in-game material look pretty neat.
Looks like some ex-TTG devs are getting together to form a new studio. Here's hoping they can incorporate some fresh ideas and I'd like to see a new IP. Also, take the example of other studios that have been doing the episodic adventure formula better than late TTG. Don't be so criminally adverse to throwing in some puzzle solving. The game's are better for it.
I completely agree - But after reading the article it rather sounds that they want to go in a different direction. They talk a lot about Bandersnatch and bringing different media types, especially TV, Film and games closer together. For me their statements left the impression that they are rather interested in making some kind of interactive FMV game with wider branching choices instead of throwing a few more puzzles at a Telltale formula adventure.
lol If nothing comes from this new studio but some weird throwback FMV game than I am somehow still cool with that. Weird that something as gimmicky as Bandersnatch is considered something to strive for but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
I prefer my FMV games to be budget and a little weird, though. Gonna get around to Shapeshifting Detective eventually.
The article I read said "The games will cover a variety of genres, including RPGs, roguelikes and classic adventure experiences." so hopefully at least one is a PnC, but I can understand their predicament especially since their recent PnCs didnt do so well. I played their RPG Blackguards too and it was very mediocre.
Did you play the sequel and if so how was it? I didn't hate the first game but it just felt the RNG was way too unfair. I'm waiting to see what they announce for their RPG though
Ok, so I played through about half of Mage‘s Initiation now.
Gotta say so far I agree with most reviews out there, with the 6/10s as with the 8/10s. It just hinges on one’s personal taste whichever you lean more to but the arguments I‘ve read for and against the game were mostly the same anyway - No matter if they came from an all-gaming website or one specializing in PnCs.
Pro:
- Definitely the game world and the story. It’s very well written, containing mostly interesting quests.
Pro or Con (depending on one‘s preferences):
- Not much puzzle challenge. One review captured this pretty well by saying that usually the difficulty doesn‘t lie in how to find out how to solve a puzzle but rather where to find the object(s) you need for it.
Con:
- Old school or not (no hotspot function), I’m not the biggest fan of the pixel hunting sometimes.
- Like already mentioned, boring and repetitive fighting system. Mana is totally useless as it only slowly recovers to a certain degree meaning mostly you’re running around screens and can only spam the basic spell unless you wanna waste one Mana potion after the other. For that your coin and looted potions are too rare anyway though.
- Which also means that most new spells you learn are extremely underutilized.
- Coins are rather scarce too, which can also be a bit of a downer, especially considering that you need them for a lot of stuff (certain quests, getting some sidequests, gem repair, items ...)
—
All in all it‘s a decent game but nothing groundbreaking. As there are very few contenders in the adventure/RPG genre it‘s a no-brainer for anybody who likes the Quest for Glory games. Otherwise the game is still fun if you can overlook the rather annoying, repetitive combat and the mostly missing puzzle challenge.
I‘m pretty certain the usage of the freeware development tool Adventure Game Studio (same as Wadjet Eye uses) held the game back in a way, probably having quite a few limitations when it comes to a decent fighting system.
I‘m still going to finish the game but not planning to replay it with another mage class (from what I’ve read (and saw in-game) the differences aren‘t too big anyway).
And even though the combat is definitely the weakest point, I personally wouldn‘t mind for the puzzle challenge to increase a bit for the second half either.
Speaking of easy puzzles, just watched this interview with the Trüberbrook creators:
Unfortunately it is in German but basically they say (edit: besides explaining how they created the visuals) that their focus is to mainstream the game puzzlewise to appeal to the mass market and that their utmost priority is story (over challenge). Nothing wrong with that but hope they don‘t go too much Telltale and too little Lucas Arts.
At least I’m definitely expecting Gibbous to scratch that LA itch. On Kickstarter they cited the following influences (among others) for their game after all
The trailers look amazing too, hope the title will see the light of day soon.
Fuz
Probably going to take your advice and pick up Hero-U next. Didn’t the missing voice over bother you and as I want to play something with some brain teasers this time, how is the puzzle challenge?
If there's a genre I was never s fan of is traditional adventure games..... point and click, MYST style etc.... My brother liked playing these in the 80s and 90s. I found it more fun watching him play than playing it myself.
I don't know how much they've progressed, but back then, your whole quest could come to a halt if you didn't find the right hotspot or type in the right text command.
I preferred turn based RPGs as you could do more, battle, and progress was more about forging ahead or figuring it out with grid paper (no auto-maps back then). Pretty hard for an RPG to grind to a halt as you'd eventually figure it out or grind at it.
StreetsofBeige
It could be worth your while to check out the recommendations section from the first page. It was written explicitly for people who are curious about adventure games but want to avoid anything with obtuse or unfair puzzles.
frogmeetsdog
We'll just have to see how far they intend to go in terms of "streamlining." If they're saying those comments in relation to the old 90's classics, then that's to be expected. My guess is that it will more or less be in line with the current indie design standard. About 4-8 screens per area, self contained puzzles, fairly limited inventory and mostly sensible logic. Enough variables to turn you off from brute forcing as a first resort but not enough to be frustrating for less seasoned players.
I just played Toonstruck for the first time.
And it's really, really good. There are some very good puzzles in there (except the "cutifier piece hunt", hated that because you don't know if you have done everything or overlooked something). Christopher Lloyd is amazing but due to the limitations of the time, the overimposed real character looks kinda weird and lower res than the rest of the cast and colorful backgrounds. Good animations, great characters, funny dialogues and some very cool cutscenes. This must have been costed a lot at the time, shame it didn't had the success it deserved.
Fuz
Probably going to take your advice and pick up Hero-U next. Didn’t the missing voice over bother you and as I want to play something with some brain teasers this time, how is the puzzle challenge?
I don't really care for voiceover. Puzzles are overall good, but it's something different from a P&C adventure. It's more a "school simulator". The first hour or so might be kinda boring, you have to follow class schedules and don't have much time to explore and do things.
I just played Toonstruck for the first time.
And it's really, really good. There are some very good puzzles in there (except the "cutifier piece hunt", hated that because you don't know if you have done everything or overlooked something). Christopher Lloyd is amazing but due to the limitations of the time, the overimposed real character looks kinda weird and lower res than the rest of the cast and colorful backgrounds. Good animations, great characters, funny dialogues and some very cool cutscenes. This must have been costed a lot at the time, shame it didn't had the success it deserved.
