I'm only an hour in to the first episode but Cognition is really rough. The models and animation are poor, I've already seen a lot of glitches and the UI is very clearly aimed at tablets.
I'm pretty good at excusing all of that if the game is good so it's not a dealbreaker but they could have gotten much better results with less money. See: Wadjet Eye's pixel-heavy adventure games. Ah well, I'll keep going.
I'm only an hour in to the first episode but Cognition is really rough. The models and animation are poor, I've already seen a lot of glitches and the UI is very clearly aimed at tablets.
I'm pretty good at excusing all of that if the game is good so it's not a dealbreaker but they could have gotten much better results with less money. See: Wadjet Eye's pixel-heavy adventure games. Ah well, I'll keep going.
Yeah, the animation was always iffy but the story gets reaaaaal good later on. I'm cracking at the seams that I can't play the final episode yet. It's amazing and hard on the body.
I've never encountered any glitches in Cognition but I keep hearing about them.
Anyway, I noticed they were having some sales to coincide with the latest episode release and noticed this thing called The Silver Lining? I recall hearing something about a Kings' Quest based game, but I don't think I ever bothered following it.
Is it any good? I mean it's free so I grabbed it anyway, 4 episodes, but should I download them? I have no previous experience/nostalgia with them KQ games so that's not a factor for me.
Lots of graphics glitches. There are all sorts of problems with character models clipping through themselves and nearby objects but that's nothing compared to the way your character can clip through the environment as she walks around the area. She tends to get stuck when this happens and it takes ~10 seconds for the game to fix itself. I've even had a few cases where my own character model disappears entirely and I have to leave the screen and come back to fix it.
I even had a weird case where the game thought I was in the middle of a cutscene even though it was clearly gameplay. It went away after I clicked Skip Cutscene but yeeesh.
I'm still playing though! If nothing else, it's interesting and I like the music.
In related news, it's too bad that Jane Jensen's Kickstarted game is being developed by the same guys in what looks like the same style. Aside from the background art, I'm not a fan.
Final episode of Raven comes out in about 12 hours or so. Episode 2 was a bit flat but I'm still looking forward to seeing how it ends. RPS has their review up in which they say the third episode isn't as good as the first but isn't as bad as the second.
After that I'll get started on Cognition. By the way, in case anyone didn't already know... the developers of Cognition are giving a fairly generous discount for the game on Steam if you bought any of the episodes elsewhere in a bundle. And it has been in a lot of bundles and I think all bundle buyers are getting Steam keys. 25% first week discount + 25% discount for every episode you own and it stacks. I got the game for 75% off after buying the first 2 episodes in a Groupees bundle for a few dollars.
Starting Raven now but getting weird GPU heat. I never usually go above 65-ish. Locked to 60 fps heat never stops rising. It went from 54C to 74C before I even got through the first conversation.
Really weird.
Edit: went to low graphics settings and windowed mode and now it doesn't go past 55C. No drop in fidelity, what do the graphics options actually do?
Nevermind, lighting gets warmer on medium and high, but GPU heat consistently rises on anything but low. No problems in any other game.
No, that's not the problem. The problem is that the The Longest Journey is comically overstuffed with trivial dialogue. I played through a ton of adventure games in my day but I could never finish TLJ. The visuals, art direction and plot are all great but man... that dialogue is literally too much.
Anyone have a completion time for Chapter 3 of The Raven? Might not be able to get to it tonight, so just wondering. Chapter 1 was good and beefy, but I didn't like how short Chapter 2 was. I'm just wondering if anyone by chance sees this post. Thanks.
Anyone have a completion time for Chapter 3 of The Raven? Might not be able to get to it tonight, so just wondering. Chapter 1 was good and beefy, but I didn't like how short Chapter 2 was. I'm just wondering if anyone by chance sees this post. Thanks.
I have both Cognition Episode 1 and The Raven - Legacy of a Master Thief. Starting one would mean playing through the whole series, so...which series should I start?
I have both Cognition Episode 1 and The Raven - Legacy of a Master Thief. Starting one would mean playing through the whole series, so...which series should I start?
Haven't played Cognition but the quality of Raven dips after chapter 1. Still, I think Raven will be the shorter game overall so might as well get that out of the way first.
I have both Cognition Episode 1 and The Raven - Legacy of a Master Thief. Starting one would mean playing through the whole series, so...which series should I start?
First things first, the game is quite buggy. This has actually been the case since episode 1 and the forums are littered with complaints about all sorts of game breaking bugs. Unfortunately, the developers haven't been very diligent with patching them. In fact, the game has only had one patch which is pitiful given the amount of issues the game has. All I can say is that you should save very often, especially in chapter 3 which is the least polished of the lot. At times your character can disappear or objects you need to interact with disappear/teleport or cameras can get stuck. Without spoilers, I'll mention that there's one puzzle in the ship's cargo hold involving a rope. I ran into a game breaking bug there due to bad pathfinding or collision detection. I'd recommend having a couple of hard saves over there because I had to kill the game from the task manager and restart it to get past the issue.
Anyway the chapter itself was better than chapter 2 and it lasted me a little over 3 hours. One disappointing aspect was that the entire chapter takes place in reused areas. I was hoping they would move on from the museum back to Europe or anywhere really but what you get is places you've already seen. Another annoyance was having to check each object upto 3 times to get all the relevant information. I'm not sure how this was better than just getting it all in one click. All it meant was that I kept checking everything twice or thrice and wasting time on repeated dialog pauses.
Still, on the whole it was a decent game. A little too easy given that every puzzle has a solution within 3-4 rooms but that's not a bad thing. The worst part about adventure games is getting stuck and then finding out some completely improbable and unimaginable solution later so at least they removed that. The highlight was definitely the atmosphere in the first half of the game and the music throughout. The voice acting was quite decent too given how bad it can get in localized adventure games. I'm happy with the 13 hours I got for $20.
Story spoiler -
Having
Zellner
be the Raven was kind of cliched. It's one of those stories where you can't look too deep into it otherwise I'm sure you'd find inconsistencies with what you were doing in the first half of the game. Most of the characters were cliched to be honest but I'll admit I was still surprised with the twist at the end of chapter 2 (Patricia Mayers being in on it with Adil).
So I finally beat Chapter 4 of Cognition and that was such a thrilling and gut-wrenching journey. Loved it a lot. Sure the models were clunky, glitchy and all, but the story was something else. I was always on the edge of my seat. Love these guys, can't wait for Moebius.
Chapter 4 ending spoilers
I felt sad when Cordelia died, but I was able to deal with it, but when Reed said she was quitting and she had that small chat with John, I was like hahah good pals, but then I saw his grave and everything changed.. Had he died before that day and she was just imagining that conversation? Tears started dropping down my face. I'm not even sure why. I guess I was attached to John as a character, but damn that was seriously sad. Will miss him
Any recommendations for what to play this weekend? Maybe something that's flown under the radar?
Played Gone Home last week and really loved it. The Raven and Erica Reed are in my back-catalogue, but would prefer something more low key. Heard good things about To The Moon (although not really a P'n'C game)?
So I finally beat Chapter 4 of Cognition and that was such a thrilling and gut-wrenching journey. Loved it a lot. Sure the models were clunky, glitchy and all, but the story was something else. I was always on the edge of my seat. Love these guys, can't wait for Moebius.
This was the most painful thing, because the artwork was downright beautiful, when they showed those comic book cut scenes, its a shame the translation to an actual model was so jarring and ugly.
I'm really excited for The Inner World, thinking about buying, but the question is: Should I be? Are those guys well known? I don't know much about point'n'click adventures
Usually being interested is enough to me, and the price is good, but I spent a lot of money this on games this month already, so if I'm gonna buy this I needs to be something I want to play right now.
Usually being interested is enough to me, and the price is good, but I spent a lot of money this on games this month already, so if I'm gonna buy this I needs to be something I want to play right now.
I did a Google search on it to try and learn more and came upon a walkthrough which looked short so I'm guessing the game isn't very long. I don't know if that's a pro or con for you (personally, it's a pro) but that's something to consider. The game looks fantastic, though!
I did a Google search on it to try and learn more and came upon a walkthrough which looked short so I'm guessing the game isn't very long. I don't know if that's a pro or con for you (personally, it's a pro) but that's something to consider. The game looks fantastic, though!
Just some thoughts for when I finished the Raven last night.
Chapter 3 end spoilers
Really did not expect the Swiss guy to be the Raven. I mean I'm sure people who play enough of these sorts of games could have suspected him at times, but I never did. Wow. What a good ending. Chapter 3 was so much better than 2. I didn't mind the reused environments as much as other people, because it was a different perspective. Also, that letter the Raven sent to the Inspector, wow. He knew the Raven wasn't dead and that he would never catch him, so when he closed his eyes finally, I knew he would move on finally and not drain his life.
Chapter 3 was like 4 hours, so yeah like a the middle on play lengths compared to 1 and 2. Since 1 took me like 7 hours and chapter 2 was like .....3? Forgot. But yeah, seriously enjoyed this game. One of the best PnC games lately by far.
Also, not related to The Raven but wasn't the Secret Files: Sam Peters game supposed to come out the other day? Don't know where to buy it and the site is no help.
I'm really excited for The Inner World, thinking about buying, but the question is: Should I be? Are those guys well known? I don't know much about point'n'click adventures
Oh man, I was browsing in my GAME (UK) store the other day, and I saw a copy of it. Don't often see current adventure games on the shelves. Seemed real pretty. This is a new German studio.
It doesn't seem to suffer the translation issues in Daedalic games and just from the trailer alone, the voice acting seems pretty darn good. RPS were pretty positive on it. I might have to grab this now.
Since the beans was spilled in a recent interview (and on this forum!) I figured it would be a good time to announce on this thread that Blackwell Epiphany is going to be the final Blackwell game. My reasons are many, but they all boil down to "It is just time." Suffice to say, we are putting all our effort into making this installment the best installment yet and giving it the sendoff it deserves.
Yep, although I wouldn't hold my breath on expecting technical competence. I'm going to hold off on buying the game unless it turns out like The Walking Dead where playing the episodes as they released and then participating in the continuing discussion was a big part of the overall experience.
FYI, Wadjet Eye is a developer and a publisher. Although they've published quite a few games, the Blackwell series is the only thing they've made from scratch*. It bears mentioning that Wadjet Eye is a lot more hands on than other publishers, often reworking the original code/art and providing assistance with voice acting.
*not counting The Shivah and a bunch of freeware, which were all released before Blackwell
Yup. WJE somehow managed to make a great series out of what sounds like a terrible idea, but it's all in the execution. I always thought Epiphany would be the final game anyways...
It's a shame to see it end. Blackwell is easily the best series to come from Wadjet Eye.
I'm interested as hell in Dave Gilbert's next project though.
FYI, Wadjet Eye is a developer and a publisher. Although they've published quite a few games, the Blackwell series is the only thing they've made from scratch*. It bears mentioning that Wadjet Eye is a lot more hands on than other publishers, often reworking the original code/art and providing assistance with voice acting.
*not counting The Shivah and a bunch of freeware, which were all released before Blackwell
I can't praise Wadjet Eye enough. They've written some great games, published some great games and when i've contacted them they have been... great? I've enjoyed pretty much everything they've released and it's a shame to see Blackwell draw to a close but i am really excited to see what they do next.
It also seems that i have just under two weeks to finish Chaos on Deponia which i only started the other day despite buying it ages ago.
How's the quality of the packaging? I've recently bough physical versions of Deponia (published by Lace Mamba) and Chaos on Deponia (published by mergegames), and the difference in quality is substantial: Deponia comes in a cardboard outter case, and the plastic case inside is sturdy, the Soundtrack comes in an audio CD and the manual is printed in color; Chaos on Deponia comes in a flimsy plastic box, has no printed manual, the soundtrack is included in the game DVD as files...even the print of the disc doesn't seem as good as the Lace Mamba-published game. Anyway, I wasn't impressed with it (especially with a better edition to compare directly), and am afraid all mergegames-published games will be sub-par versions...which sucks seeing that I like to have physical versions of all my adventure games.
So, what is your impression of the packaging and extras? How many of the extras are physical? Thanks!
By the way, my copy of Chaos on Deponia came with a Steam key; if anyone's interested I would be willing to trade it for another adventure on game on Steam.
