The Gamer's Quarter

[parkbench]

[dessgeega]

i just like it for the ending.

i just played through episode one of sam & max. i like the getting-ten-thousand-dollars puzzle. there are some pretty good one-liners. i'll probably play the rest.

at gdc i saw the telltale games people talk about how episodic content is like a sandwich-of-the-month club: each month subscribers expect a full sandwich, not just a bun or a slice of tomato (that form a complete sandwich once you receive them all, is where this is going). i like that approach to episode development.
_________________

[dessgeega]

"if you want to prove to me you're TYPE OF PERSON QUALIFIED TO BE IN THIS AREA, you're going to need to show me a QUEST ITEM 1, QUEST ITEM 2, and a QUEST ITEM 3."

i finished episode two.
_________________

[Cycle]

Yes, the Sam and Max episodes really are very... VERY traditional adventure games, which is why I was a little dissapointed with them. I was expecting something NEW AND EXCITING, instead I got your average adventure game with some sharp writing and fun characters.

Which is still good. The small size of each episode helps lots, too.

Anyway, since Faust: Seven Games of the Soul won't work, I decided to play The Last Express instead.

HOT DAMN, this game is amazing. The interface and moving around can be pretty damn confusing at times (especially when first starting), but once you get the hang of things it's just so much fun walking around, getting to know the characters, listening in on conversations and snooping around... it's just PRETTY WOW. I've no idea what I'm supposed to be doing, and I respect the game for that. You find the dead body of your friend, have a couple minor clues, and off you go! Figure it out! I'm spending most of my time getting to know the deal with all the characters. So yeah, amazing stuff.
_________________

[Harveyjames]

[sediment]

Keep in mind, as I say this, I haven't played Monkey Island 2; simply 1, 3, and 4.

4 is horrible. The only really endearing facet of it, to me, was a part where you're rafting through a time-bending swamp and encounter yourself.

I feel Monkey Island 3 is roughly on par with the first game, though in certain respects some of the puzzles feel more like Leisure Suit Larry puzzles, if anyone knows what I mean? Perhaps what I like most about the third game is how full of style and charm it is. You really get to see Guybrush as the gawky, weird-looking fellow everyone describes him as; the VGA full-screen cinematics from the first game had him looking really quite cute, and possibly more appropriate filling the role of the Quest for Glory/Hero's Quest protagonist. It's a small issue, but for me, it meant a lot.

The ship-to-ship combat element was also pretty amusing.
_________________

[dessgeega]

[dessgeega]

finished episode three.

these games are so contrived, but they get away with it by being SELF-AWARE WACKY COMEDY ROMPS, much like secret of monkey island, day of the tentacle, and, say, the original sam & max. i do appreciate that everything is controlled with a single click, meaning that as soon as you click an object in the game you're told whether (and how) you can interact with or take it.* and that the episodic nature of the games means they're small enough that they stay focused. i've never been able to make much progress in the original sam & max.

* what riven does particularly well, incidentally, is let you know what parts of the environment you can interact with and how. everything you can interact with is a button, lever or handle.
_________________

[sediment]

...hey, anyone here played Dreamweb?

dess' mentioning interactivity reminded me of it like a slap in the face. Dreamweb is short and somewhat interesting if you haven't seen Taxi Driver a million times, but one of the things that I thought was really neat about it (when it came out) is that you can pick up practically anything you can find.

Not all of it is useful. But sometimes there are multiple items you can use to solve the typical adventure game puzzles in it, which was a really nice touch to me! Sort of like Beyond Zork - you'd always face the same puzzles, but how and when you resolved them was entirely up to you.
...of course, Beyond Zork was a little more creative in the differences in the "hows".
_________________

[Cycle]

Man, that game had such a fucking awesome atmosphere. Seriously! If you like atmosphers, play Dreamweb. I mean, if you like dark, nightmareish atmospheres. IT TOTALLY HAS A SEX SCENE TOO, right before you blow the guys brains out.

And yeah, I love how you could pick up every possible item. Was it hard or easy? I can't really remember. All I remember was how dark, depressing and wonderful the atmosphere was.
_________________

[Cycle]

[Deceth]

I know this is a bit random, but I love the birds in your sig LOL!
_________________
I'm currently developing my first multiplayer game. Please try it out and leave me some feedback. IT'S FREE!
BattleCity Classic - Build, defend and attack cities in an endless quest for control and dominance!

[sediment]

Dreamweb's initial stuff was kind of hard, for me, since it's a little different from most adventure game puzzle logic, but after that I fell into it somewhat easily and the rest of the game got to be a bit easier.

Only game I've ever played where a hotel room bloodbath is approached as a puzzle!
_________________

[dessgeega]

finished episode four. american political humor is eh. but i really appreciate that i havn't had to go to a walkthrough at all so far.
_________________

[Harveyjames]

I'm just reading the SA Let's Play thread for Blade Runner. It's brlliant. How come we don't do stuff like that?

[Cycle]

yeah someone should do one for daikatana
_________________

[dessgeega]

[Cycle]

Yeah, Bladerunner is interesting since there is some choice-making and randomness in the game.

Finished the last express! The last disc wasn't too great, too many puzzles silly puzzles, not enough messing around with characters. Still, great game.
_________________

[Dracko]

[Harveyjames]

What's great about it is that the guy making the thread throws open a lot of the story-altering decisions to the readers, like 'the cook is attacking with his butcher knife! What do we do? a.) shoot him b.) don't shoot him and keep our gun trained on him, maybe he will submit c.) lower our gun and talk to him d.) fisticuffs.' So it's really like the whole forum is playing the game together.

[Harveyjames]

[dessgeega]

i finished episode five of sam & max, which is full of self-aware jokes about videogames and the internet. my favorite thing is the save point, probably because it's fully functional. and that other part which i'm not spoiling but you know if you've played it. anyway, on to the conclusion.
_________________

[Cycle]

BotageL is taking suggestions for a Deus Ex playthrough:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7iJs8izEDw

I should play the other Sam & Max episodes. I only played the first three.
_________________

[dessgeega]

i finished the last episode of sam & max season one.

the whole thing felt - like most sierra and lucasarts adventure games, i guess - like a bunch of solutions in search of puzzles. here's an object i can steal from my neighbor! i'm not sure why i'd want it yet, but if they're so attached to it clearly i should nab it. and look, a conveniently-placed object i can use to distract them! it feels backwards - like i'm racking up inventory items and then searching for the puzzles they solve.

that said, the puzzles are often clever, and usually well-clued. i didn't have to consult an outside source to figure out how to pass a single puzzle, and that speaks well for the game's puzzle design.

the game is also really useful about cutting away irrelevant details. especially on sequences that the player will likely end up seeing many times, a quick cut or a pithy line of dialogue makes experimenting much less repetitive. characters' dialogue, as they repeat it, is gradually whittled to just the most relevent information, but there are enough responses that the characters don't feel wooden.

"for a traditional point-and-click puzzle adventure game, it's pretty good" is a back-handed compliment, but it means a lot considering i can rarely stand that kind of game.
_________________

[Dracko]

[dessgeega]

my slut's been trying to convince me to get a gametap subscription for a while now. i finally got one (it's 99 cents for the first month) to check out season two of sam & max, and while i was at it i downloaded return to mysterious island (which i've been meaning to try since reading this review by zarf). i'm interested in uru online, but i just don't think i'll have the time to explore it.
_________________

[daphaknee]

zak and wiki is fucking amazing its everything a wii game should be and man its clever and MAN IT MAKES ME FEEL SO SMART

and when i stand still for a long time i start eating a candy bar

oh and every time it introduces a character it says their favorite food and my captains favorite food is "all"

[parkbench]

beat myst today. it was...interesting. but underwhelming. moving onto riven shortly.

i had screenshots, but they look ugly and dithered and weird, i donno why.
_________________
ich bin aber eine mensch maschine

[dessgeega]

you should have skipped myst and gone directly to riven.
_________________

[Shapermc]

I've still never finished riven because it's so obtuse.
_________________
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

[dessgeega]

you're obtuse.
_________________

[Harveyjames]

You're acute.

Acute pain in my rear!! :O

[Cycle]

WHOA WHOA, let's not go saying things we could regret.

Yeah, Riven pretty much fixes everything wrong with Myst. Or rather, they learned lots from Myst. Some of the puzzles were even recycled somewhat, but made a million times better. I love the original Myst, mainly because I loved the hub island and accessing the others, but some of the puzzles really are pretty stupid and a couple ages way too gamey. On the other hand, some were great. Channelwood was probably my favourite age (after Myst itself), because it actually felt like I was getting around with primitve, alien technology.

Riven was pretty obtuse at times, but I never really felt cheated. It all made sense if I really thought about it.

The bead puzzle could have been handeled better, though.
_________________

[Cycle]

The new PCPP hit the stands today! Make sure to check it out for the BLISTERINGLY AWESOME Maniac Mansion article! Feedback wanted! Also, write-in and tell them how awesome it is so they give me more work!
_________________

[Harveyjames]

What's PCPP?

[sediment]

pocket calculator pension plan?

seriously though, i am curious as well.
_________________

[Worm]

Hitman counts, right?
_________________

Exit stage left, exit stage right, there is no place to run, all the fuses in the exit signs have been BURNT OUT

[Redeye]

Schizm could have been great, but it was lame instead.

Kind of a budget game that was years behind its time.

The drivel at the end was maddening.

I'd like to have multiple paths and solutions and maybe even a choice of characters like in Maniac Mansion.

The Longest Journey was better. Pretty easy and fast paced.
I had fun with it.

Anachronox was great, and there is a cheat code to skip combat except boss fights.
I advise doing so except for when you want to play with special effects.

Except for combat and inventory/etc. its mostly an adventure game.
_________________
I felt sheer anarchic joy when I ran over my first pedestrian.

[Dracko]

In light of the announcement that David Fincher is poised to direct the adaptation of the hard sci-fi novel Rendezvous with Rama (and quite possibly the excellent French comic Le Tueur), I'm curious to know if the Rama adventure game was any good? It's my understanding Arthur C. Clarke actually worked on it, too!
_________________
"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[sediment]

Clarke is sort of a narrator for it, as I recall. He shows up ingame, in full FMV glory. I watched a "making of" segment on it from a PCGamer disc I had, way back when it was just coming out.

I haven't played it myself. It looked kind of okayish. The PCGamer review was middling at best.
_________________

[Harveyjames]

The pre-release hype made it sound like you were actually going to commune with an alien entity that lived in your PC.

[ApM]

[Redeye]

[Dracko]

Wadjet Eye Games have released a demo for their upcoming Blackwell Convergence. It seems they're attempting multiple solutions to a same puzzle now. Should be interesting.
_________________
"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[Cycle]

Ok, so I'm going to scan my Maniac Mansion article for you guys, if you want a copy, PM me and I'll send you a link (eventually). It's uh... it's not my best work! It's pretty much me rambling on about how much I love Maniac Mansion for two pages, but it's pretty good for something I had to throw together in like one night. I spotted one typo though
_________________

[parkbench]

Cycle I am fascinated by people with passion! Send me, send me. Or I'll just pm you, okay.
_________________
ich bin aber eine mensch maschine

[Cycle]

Ok, I sent it to a bunch of you and MAN, do I wish I hadn't! I just re-read it and it feels so rushed and sloppy! Maybe it's just because I know it was rushed, though.

NEW THREAD PURPOSE: Tell Cycle he is actually a brilliant writer and also very handsome.

Also, I just bought Shenmue 2 for Xbox because I recall enjoying the first at my friends house. I hope it's good! And I guess it counts as an adventure?

Basically I wanted a game that I could walk around aimlessly in. I'm also trying to get Fahrenheit, which I was supposed to play eons ago.

I also bought the Xbox Oddworld because it always looked interesting and very pretty! Basically, I'm grabbing everything that I'd want to play that's on the 360 compatability list. Which is 5 games.
_________________

[ryan]

I was actually going to respond to your PM with "handsome name!" Does that count? No fibs, either!
_________________
Come to me, Mordel. We shall depart.

[Cycle]

I guess that counts! I hope you like it!
_________________

[daphaknee]

YOUR ARTICLE IS FINE WIHT ME i never read the articles anyway i just look at hte pictures and say yeah i liked that game who reads magaazines anymore cycle no one cares