Characters' models (their bodies) are bad. Main character's limbs are too thin and shoulders too wide, resulting in weird animations when he is moving his arms. VO didn't really bother me, I thought it was acceptable. However, why can't we have a good p&c adventure game with budget and production values like Beyond or Heavy Rain? It sucks that years ago PC adventure games were one of the genres that wowed people when it comes to graphics, and yet nowadays we either have beautiful 2D games or awkward looking 3D games.
VO is better than Cognition. Of what I've played in the Beta chapters the game will be very good, but yes, visually it's mediocre. I don't know why she went with Phoenix Online because I don't think they're that talented. But they're a more well-known team in the genre that she's familiar with I suppose. Coming from Gray Matter though, which I believe is beautifully drawn, it's a bummer. I wish Cranberry Productions was still around and was making Moebius.
VO is better than Cognition. Of what I've played in the Beta chapters the game will be very good, but yes, visually it's mediocre. I don't know why she went with Phoenix Online because I don't think they're that talented.
Of course, no doubt about it. And you know, after watching that trailer, the game does look significantly better than Cognition did. Even playing it there is less discrepancy between foreground/background. Cognition was jarring like that. I would have absolutely preferred pixel art. That could have been really awesome, especially with a team capable of doing stuff like Paradise Lost: First Contact, or that indie game RIOT. Hell, if it was my money I would be doing my best to commission Cardboard Computer (Kentucky Route Zero) to develop it for me. Those guys have one a very unique vision and talent, as well as a great deal of interesting inspiration (specifically theatrical stage design).
Damnit, Steam's Autumn Sale is up. Lots of PnC games on sales. Looks like I'm going to have to buckle down for those 75% off Blackwell titles and 75% Resonance, 75% off Chains of Satinav, and some other stuff. Some good deals going on, go check out the sale if you haven't already!
I hadn't heard about this game, googled it and OMG, it's beautiful. I wish more games would use pixel art.
I see recent posts were about Toonstruck - anyone know a place where one can get the game? I always wanted to play it. I had a demo on a cover cd from a pc magazine long time ago, but it kept crashing on the very first screen.
So much hate for Deponia here, hahaha. I on the other hand had exactly the opposite feelings you have. It's one of my favorite series and made me feel super connected to the main characters. The ending was super heavy for me and made me respect the developers very much.
I concur. The Deponia trilogy is probably the strongest traditional adventure game I've played recently. Really good puzzles and exploration, especially in parts 2 and 3.
(The strongest non-traditional one being Kentucky Route Zero.)
I just read the article and was shocked about some of the authors reactions. I do not support misogyny, racism or paedophilia - but I perceived some of those scenes in a completely different way.
June (the girl) and her (white) boyfriend Goon are both very positive characters - which is important since nearly all other people on Deponia are cold, unfriendly or insane. Rufus gets beaten up and betrayed, not a few try to kill him. At the same time his behavior is just as bad as everyone else's: He met Goon in the 2nd game and made him suffer.
In Goodbye Deponia, June and Goon are a happy (and adorable) couple. You instantly like them because they are warm-hearted and content even though they have to live a life in poverty.
The problem: Rufus seperates them and makes them work for some disgusting people.
This whole scene (and maaaany other) really made me hate Rufus on a deep emotional level, but at the same time he is what makes me love these games so much: He mistreates everyone, even his friends, he never does the things I would do, he deserves to fail... but in the end I want to see him succeed. Why? Because he fights for his dreams and his love. Because he can sacrifice his own goals for the sake of the people he hates...
Back to the article: Rufus does not "sell" June. She only takes the job to rejoin with Goon. But I thought that this scene was pretty close to beeing racist (and I can fully understand you if you find it offensive). I just think you have to view the whole game in a differentiated way because it isn't as unambiguous as the RPS article presents it.
Interestingly enough, the scene's writer commented on the review. Here is what he said:
Poki said:
Most of the humor of Deponia is supposed to unfold by reflecting about you relating to Rufus goals while being confronted with the unrelateable effects he is causing trying to achieve them. The punchline is: He is too ignorant to see these effects, you are not. So playing him you are constantly in a field of tension, wanting him to fail and not fail at the same time.
Now to that scene:
I thought a lot about the sequence centering around June. If anything, there is an anti-racist statement in the setup of this puzzle. Rufus ability to inflict mayhem on innocent bystanders is completely colourblind. In fact nobody in this forum managed to see that Rufus does the very same thing to Goon, the white boyfriend of June, selling him to the burrito lady in a parallel puzzle just one level above. Nobody complained about his fate. So what do you imply here? Is it okay for white people to suffer under Rufus failures but not for coloured people? Do you think they should be treated differently? When I showed a first version of that chapter to my team some first felt the same way like you. Somebody even mentioned that we should maybe change her colour. I was offended by that thought. Because that would have been racist.
The topic of slavery is not describing the situation at all. June chooses to take the job to earn back an item she needs to rejoin with her boyfriend. She states that Rufus has sold her because he gets her first salary as a provision. She isnt forced to take the job. As I repeatedly said, the whole point of this scene is to make Rufus (and the player) uncomfortable. To reflect on the topic of responsibility . I understand youre allready feeling uncomfortable with this scene. Well done. Why not try to jump to the reflection part?
June is portraied as a positive, amidable but slightly naive character who chooses to ignore the warnings of her boyfriend who is telling her that letting Rufus into her life will most certainly lead to evil. This evil is the situation you [the author] are talking about.
And to your point how female characters are portraied in the game: the world of Deponia is inhabited by mostly strange characters, some of them just plain bizarre, some of them stupid, some of them crazy. There is a lot of stupid, crazy or bitter male characters but you are not talking about them. If anything there is a slighltly misballance in favour of female characters, because characters like Goal, Sgt Bambi and bitter Toni (btw: since when is being bitter a disrespectful feature for a character?) bear the morale superiority in most arguments.
Finally: Where did you get A crowd of white people jeering from? The audience of Junes dance solely consists of the deposite witch, who finds her show demeaning and states her pitty for the poor girl.
Partially, this could also be a linguistic problem: German humour. There was a pretty long discussion in the article's comment section about how we Germans can laugh about jokes that british people might find offensive (don't get this wrong, we do not laugh about black women dancing like monkeys). When I first read this thread I was suprised to see so much hate for Deponia and Daedalic in general. Every German gamer I know is absolutely convinced that Daedalic adventures are brilliant masterpieces When I played Chaos on Deponia for the first time I had to pause the game every now and then because I laughed so hard that my face started hurting lol. And all my friends feel the same way, Daedalic games are just hilarious^^
Wasn't the ending just spectacular that you didn't see it coming that Rufus would sacrifice himself for Goal? Man, I'm going to miss Rufus, but what a man he was at the end. Wanted to get Goal to Elysium even if he couldn't go himself. ;__;
I kinda knew that Rufus won't reach Elysium (he would get bored pretty fast up there ) but why did It have to end this way? D: All those people that never cared about leaving Deponia reached Elysium while he died trying. Poor Goal... she won't ever see him again ;__;
The first two Runaway games are a couple of my favorite adventure games from the 2000's. The puzzles are average, but the stories and characters are fantastic, in my opinion. Although there is one particular character in the games that is basically racist. It's an Asian guy with the exaggerated teeth and eyes. It's stupid, but looking past that they are not bad games. I also liked a lot of the humor.
The third game is ok. It was a disappointment for me because it's much shorter than the first two and I didn't think the story was as strong as it is in the previous games.
Yesterday has a great story, characters, average puzzles, and is way too short. I think I finished it in a few hours. And if I'm remembering right it ended out of nowhere. I recall thinking the game felt unfinished.
I think i might get the Runaway games for now then. I looking at negative reviews for Yesterday and they all seem to have in common an agreement on serious pacing issues, length and non-sensicle puzzles as main negatives. I can overlook the length as a complaint as its on sale but i can't stand adventure games with puzzles that are not logical or has disjointed pacing.
Yesterday is short. Not great, not terrible. The one thing I've taken away from playing Pendulo games is that their art style is the best thing they have going for them. The actual gameplay/story/puzzles are rarely very good. It's definitely the kind of game you want to buy on sale because there's no other time I'd say they're worth the asking price.
Just bought Gray Matter on Amazon. Gave it a little start before sleeping tonight and it looks to have a pretty original premise compared to stuff I've played in the past and the Jane Jensen name is a pretty good indication of a strong story, so we'll see where it goes.
Just bought Gray Matter on Amazon. Gave it a little start before sleeping tonight and it looks to have a pretty original premise compared to stuff I've played in the past and the Jane Jensen name is a pretty good indication of a strong story, so we'll see where it goes.
I played a bit of the first Runaway game, and the demo of the second. And I didn't like them at all. I didn't spend that much time with them, becauseI saw nothing that made me want to continue. Not the characters, not the art style, not the puzzles, not the story, nothing.
I think i might get the Runaway games for now then. I looking at negative reviews for Yesterday and they all seem to have in common an agreement on serious pacing issues, length and non-sensicle puzzles as main negatives. I can overlook the length as a complaint as its on sale but i can't stand adventure games with puzzles that are not logical or has disjointed pacing.
The runaway games were honestly so much fun, loved the artwork, the pacing and the interesting characters. I actually rebought all the Runaway games on Steam to replay them after the many years. Amazing games. One of my favorite series and so close to my heart. Real sad that their Day One game didn't get crowd funded and became shelved at least for now. http://www.lab.gamesplanet.com/dayone/
So I am about to purchase the TellTale Collection on Steam. I already own some of the games, but the deal is still worth it for me. Just wondering, is there any way I can sell, or give away the duplicate games?
So I am about to purchase the TellTale Collection on Steam. I already own some of the games, but the deal is still worth it for me. Just wondering, is there any way I can sell, or give away the duplicate games?
Is Gray Matter ever going to get a release on GOG or Steam? It got greenlit but I heard the publisher is bankrupt or something so I don't know what's going on.
Is Gray Matter ever going to get a release on GOG or Steam? It got greenlit but I heard the publisher is bankrupt or something so I don't know what's going on.
I just got an email with a link to my Broken Sword 5 "beta".
To anyone listing a beta as a crowdfunding reward, please release an actual beta during the actual beta period instead of a short demo a week before the final release. I like testing broken software! Not jokes!
But yeah, tablets are perfect for adventure, strategy and RPGs so I'm always wondering why there are so few good ones.
edit: First impressions:
Game seems to run at 720p with no resolution options. It still looks good on my monitor so I'm happy.
I'm surprised that the characters are sprites. I haven't followed the development of the game and I assumed that they were pasting 3D models over 2D backgrounds. It works pretty well regardless. I like how the lighting on your sprite changes when you walk into different areas.
As for the game, it's just like old times. Beautiful backgrounds, good music, lots of observational comments from George, etc.
I suggest switching to the classic controls if you're playing on a PC. There are a few too many clicks required with the new UI. It's clearly designed with tablets in mind.
So I'm like 5 hours into Gray Matter and I have to say this plot is very interesting for sure. It gets me thinking, creeped out, and needing more. I'm hooked. Jane Jensen did an awesome job on the story in this game. Holy hell, it's so good.
So a little upset at the TellTale Collection. None of the Mac games work on Mavericks. The system requirements on all the games through steam say something like 10.7 and up. But all the games crash immediately upon opening. When I went to Telltale's site the requirements say it only works up to 10.8.4 or something like that. Now I just spent 50$ on games I can't play. :/
So I'm like 5 hours into Gray Matter and I have to say this plot is very interesting for sure. It gets me thinking, creeped out, and needing more. I'm hooked. Jane Jensen did an awesome job on the story in this game. Holy hell, it's so good.
I loved Gray Matter, the story is genuinely interesting and the writing is in most parts, good. The only thing I hated was Sam's voice... huh. David is great though.
I don't remember puzzles (that alone isn't really a good thing for an adventure game - I still remember some of the puzzles from adventure games I played years ago) and humor, but the story itself was pretty meh. There were a lot of bad "WHAT?" moments. Also, the "great sacrifice" that was advertised in trailers was very easy to predict.
Also, even though technically the game had better graphics than its predecessor (BS3), IMHO it looked worse. Because it tried more realistic approach to characters, the game lost a lot of charm.
The Divinity: Original Sin alpha is probably early next week as well. It's not as well known on GAF as those others but Larian is a great RPG developer regardless.
Everything was weaker, controls were clunky, and of all the rotating nico english va's, BS4's had the worst. Mr_Zombie is also right about the realistic look not being a good thing for broken sword.
It sucks that years ago PC adventure games were one of the genres that wowed people when it comes to graphics, and yet nowadays we either have beautiful 2D games or awkward looking 3D games.
