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Anachronox: How can a game that's so interesting...

belgurdo

Banned
...be so damn boring?

I found this in a bargain bin recently (trying to start a library of PC games ever since I got my new machine) and have been playing it for about three days. Although the story and characters are pretty well thought out (Sly seems to be the antithesis of the "generic avatar hero that can do everything" cliche that permeates most RPGs) the rest of the game is a time sink.

The developers must have been big on those "click everything" adventure games because 90% of my time has been spent having to complete tasks in really roundabout ways and travelling back and forth across the same areas dozens of times. (I think it took me about three hours to get off the first planet because they send you on a ton of fetch quests and you have to round up your party, etc.) Battles are really slow too, since everything takes at least 10 seconds to cycle through their animations/react/die/etc. I heard that you don't even start getting spells until about 15 hours into the game...surely there's a way to speed up that process, isn't it? Loving this game otherwise though (I'm finding Deus Ex to be better though-similar stuff from the same guys but much more concise)
 
you are dead to me.

seriously guy, remember that its an old game, with ye olde game mechanics and its pretty much outdated now. its by no means a bad game, i really like it, and in fact only completed it again recently, but its past its time.

the rest of the game is a doozy, from the script to the music to the 'feeling'.

i envy you though, Anachronox and Deus ex for the first time... wow (although too many years too late to really be blown by them)
 
I actually like to treat Anachronox as an adventure game and I do believe it was inspired by such elements. Unfortunately, the battle system, though it has some good ideas, is underdeveloped. It might be due to the limitations of the Quake 2 engine or something, I don't know. However, the story and characters and atmosphere are golden, which are what is ultimately important in an ADVENTURE game. Its still one of my favorite games of all time for that alone. But even back when it WAS released, it was released past its prime. People had move onto Half-Life and so on, the Quake 2 engine was old and busted and Anachronox simply suffered from having a development cycle that was too long. Hell, there were actually supposed to be a couple extra planets to go to, IIRC, but it had to be cut in order to get the game out. It also sets up for a sequel that we'll never see. :(

Oh man, I want a new Anachonox so bad, now. Done with today's technology. But it won't EVVVEEERRR happen. :(
 
Anachronox is so fantastic. The battle system blows, but oh man, this makes me want to play through it again on new hardware...it's still a pretty game, Quake 2 engine or not.

The ending makes me so sad we'll never see a sequel, though :(
 
"The district of south ananchronox is not responsible for deaths or injuries resulting from plate transitions. Please standby." :)

All the base game mechanics suck in Anachronox. The setting, dialogue, storyboard, and characters are fantastic, which is what makes the game enjoyable, if not great. :)
 
It really was a better adventure game than an RPG, or at least the first dozen hours. I quit at around the point you start having to collect all those colored beetles for spells. Pretty much ended the love affair then and there.

Man, those characters and situations were awesome in the early going though. The sequence with your party being stranded in space on the cruiser was pretty damned memorable. I'd love to re-install and play it with some uber-cheat to bypass all the crappy battles.

Oh and exxy said it, the Quake 2 engine has never looked or performed better. It was my TNT2 card's last hurrah I think!
 
I really enjoyed the game. It is too bad the console port never worked out, I think it would have shined on the consoles.
 
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