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Point & Click Adventure Thread 2018 - This Is The Year!
- Thread starter TripleSun
- Start date
Vampire On Titus
Member
You can get a centered behind-the-back camera in dreamfall chapters if you click in the stick. At least you could in the final cut version I played. It switched back to over-the-shoulder after cut scenes so you'd have to sort of keep switching back but it is an option.
You should try it out. Dreamfall Chapters was great sucks for a fan of the series to miss out on it.
Fuz
Banned
I only tried the first one and I couldn't. You give me great news, gonna check it.
Alter_Fridge
Member
Is this LucasArts long rumoured unreleased game?
Also, https://www.pcgamer.com/full-throttle-remastered-is-free-on-gog-right-now/
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frogmeetsdog
Member
NAIRI - Tower of Shirin
New first person Point n Click adventure for PC and Switch from a small Kickstarter campaign. Haven’t played it yet but reviews are fairly positive. Puzzle difficulty apparently isn’t too high at first but seems to ramp up during the last third of the game.
Regarding playing time I read/heard anything from 2 - 10 hours. One reviewer says he needed 8-10 hours but as he calls himself an adventure game novice it’s probably shorter for veterans. Also no voice acting. Most reviews mainly criticize the cliffhanger ending and afaik there’s a second part planned - But guess that’s hinging on how well sales will go.
All in all it looks like a nice little adventure game for at least one or two rainy evenings - Couldn’t find a negative review so far and one probably can’t go too wrong with the price tag of €/$ 9,99.
New first person Point n Click adventure for PC and Switch from a small Kickstarter campaign. Haven’t played it yet but reviews are fairly positive. Puzzle difficulty apparently isn’t too high at first but seems to ramp up during the last third of the game.
Regarding playing time I read/heard anything from 2 - 10 hours. One reviewer says he needed 8-10 hours but as he calls himself an adventure game novice it’s probably shorter for veterans. Also no voice acting. Most reviews mainly criticize the cliffhanger ending and afaik there’s a second part planned - But guess that’s hinging on how well sales will go.
All in all it looks like a nice little adventure game for at least one or two rainy evenings - Couldn’t find a negative review so far and one probably can’t go too wrong with the price tag of €/$ 9,99.
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Madit_Games
Neo Member
Hey, guys! It's good to see point&click adventures are still appreciated!
I wanted to share with you a game I've been developing for the past few years, it's called "The Hand of Glory!"
If you're interested, I just published a demo so you can try it and see if it's to your taste! You can find it on Steam, Indiexpo or Kartridge!
I wanted to share with you a game I've been developing for the past few years, it's called "The Hand of Glory!"
If you're interested, I just published a demo so you can try it and see if it's to your taste! You can find it on Steam, Indiexpo or Kartridge!
frogmeetsdog
Member
Read an opinion piece about PnCs dying (again) because apparently they "don‘t evolve". Couldn‘t agree less with the article. Sure, the hype of 2012, 2013 is gone but mainly thanks to indies and crowdfunding there are always a few great games every year and I don’t see that changing anytime soon, even if some publishers have left the building or won‘t touch the genre anymore..
Besides, when was the last time Shooters, RPGs or sports games like FIFA really "evolved" (aside from updated graphics and maybe improved controls that is)? Yet nonetheless they keep selling like hot potatoes. All in all a negligible piece but at least I found a few interesting PnC mentions in the comments I‘ve never heard of before:
- The Sexy Brutale (2017)
- Neofeud (2017)
- STASIS (2015)
Especially the first one sounds pretty interesting - Groundhog Day meets Murder Mystery meets Point‘n‘Click. Its reviews on steam are very positive (for Neofeud positive, STASIS mostly positive). I‘m pretty sure to give at least the first one a try soon and maybe at least one of the titles is to the liking of you guys as well - If you haven‘t heard of them so far that is
Besides, when was the last time Shooters, RPGs or sports games like FIFA really "evolved" (aside from updated graphics and maybe improved controls that is)? Yet nonetheless they keep selling like hot potatoes. All in all a negligible piece but at least I found a few interesting PnC mentions in the comments I‘ve never heard of before:
- The Sexy Brutale (2017)
- Neofeud (2017)
- STASIS (2015)
Especially the first one sounds pretty interesting - Groundhog Day meets Murder Mystery meets Point‘n‘Click. Its reviews on steam are very positive (for Neofeud positive, STASIS mostly positive). I‘m pretty sure to give at least the first one a try soon and maybe at least one of the titles is to the liking of you guys as well - If you haven‘t heard of them so far that is
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frogmeetsdog
Member
Don‘t fret, same boat. By the time you looked you were probably two days too late already. Tried to score the free offer on Saturday but it already was at € 14.99 again. The article mentioned to grab it before Saturday so I suppose after Friday we were already out of luck anyway :/
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Fuz
Banned
They're dying since the '90s.
Airola
Member
He thinks the games don't evolve and he thinks that's a bad thing, but the way I see it is that it's perfectly fine for PnC "not evolving" if it means they at the very least don't continue to devolve.
I really really REALLY loved The Sexy Brutale. There is something really satisfying "unlocking" more details about what happens during the day to the map. I have to warn you though that if you are expecting to be able to explore the full mansion all the time you probably will be disappointed when you notice the explorable area in each "mission" is always a smaller part of the full mansion you can't get out of. There are still always plenty of rooms to explore and my experience with the game was 5/5 enjoyment. Would buy a sequel in a heartbeat.
Alter_Fridge
Member
Alter_Fridge
Member
I'd been considering Sexy Brutale for a while. Did you get the console or PC version?
Alter_Fridge
Member
Airola
Member
Vampire On Titus
Member
Dumpster juice article, tbh. It's essentially claims adventure games haven't evolved because Syberia 3 sucked and had poor design... Then goes on to list a bunch of games in the genre that incorporated fresh & new ideas. Not only does the article fail to establish its premise but the author actually refutes their own argument. Even within the realm of traditional design there's countless examples of adventure games where the puzzles are well integrated into the narrative (seemingly the core complaint). But I guess if one retro-revived KS game fails to deliver it means doom & gloom for the whole genre. Give me a break.
Adventure games have constantly been evolving. From various command schemes, control schemes, the episodic format, the rise of branching narrative, etc. It's certainly less stagnant than plenty of other genres like military shooters and fighting games. Fighting games are a great comparison: They died (as much as any other "dead" genre), they came back and they've been mostly using the same core mechanics for decades. Yet rarely do people talk about them in the same way. When Soul Caliber V came out in 2012 the "new" mechanic was super moves for christ sakes. The examples the article musters up for story-telling innovation in other genre's are all old as dirt. Audio logs? Those were fresh in 2007. Interactive cut-scenes? The Sega CD is 22 years ago. "Written diaries?" Are you kidding me? Those weren't even new when Resident Evil used them in 1996. How can this writer, in one breath, criticize adventure games for their legacy mechanics yet praise other genre's for decades old "innovation."
The Longest Journey / Dreamfall franchise is the perfect distillation of this point. Track the evolution in design from The Longest Journey -> Dreamfall: The Longest Journey -> Dreamfall Chapters and tell me there's been no progression. Playing the series is like a panoramic view of all the popularized changes the genre has been through.
Also, as a quick addendum... I don't like how the author fails to mention that adventure games are basically the only genre where story telling isn't massively limited by the core mechanics. You don't need a narrative built around shooting 1000 guys or jumping over 1000 gaps. All you need is character interaction and some form of problem solving. Which are basically elements of every story ever. That's why adventure games are the most versatile genre for story in games and why they'll never actually die.
Especially the first one sounds pretty interesting - Groundhog Day meets Murder Mystery meets Point‘n‘Click. Its reviews on steam are very positive (for Neofeud positive, STASIS mostly positive). I‘m pretty sure to give at least the first one a try soon and maybe at least one of the titles is to the liking of you guys as well - If you haven‘t heard of them so far that is
If you're interested in STASIS the developers have another game within the same universe called CAYNE and it's available for free. Also there upcoming game Beautiful Desolation is well worth keeping an eye on.
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Fuz
Banned
Fuz
Banned
Yeah, for the worst.
Vampire On Titus
Member
Vampire On Titus
Member
Some adventure game numbers from the Playstation 4 leaks that just happened:
Armikrog - 16,000
The Walking Dead: The Final Season - 35,800
Life is Strange 2 - 68,100
What Remains of Edith Finch - 63,600
The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series Collection - 77,600
Oxenfree - 94,200
Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders - 102,000
The Talos Principle - 122,000
2064: Read Only Memories - 141,000
Syberia III - 165,000
Batman: The Enemy Within - 272,000
Firewatch - 338,000
Life is Strange: Before the Storm - 437,000
The Wolf Among Us - 481,000
Tales from the Borderlands - 2,440,000
Detroit: Become Human - 2,440,000
Heavy Rain - 3,580,000
Beyond: Two Souls - 4,340,000
Until Dawn - 8,060,000
The numbers use trophy data so they're not perfect. But it seems as though they're largely accurate. If anything they may be slightly low-balled.
Armikrog - 16,000
The Walking Dead: The Final Season - 35,800
Life is Strange 2 - 68,100
What Remains of Edith Finch - 63,600
The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series Collection - 77,600
Oxenfree - 94,200
Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders - 102,000
The Talos Principle - 122,000
2064: Read Only Memories - 141,000
Syberia III - 165,000
Batman: The Enemy Within - 272,000
Firewatch - 338,000
Life is Strange: Before the Storm - 437,000
The Wolf Among Us - 481,000
Tales from the Borderlands - 2,440,000
Detroit: Become Human - 2,440,000
Heavy Rain - 3,580,000
Beyond: Two Souls - 4,340,000
Until Dawn - 8,060,000
The numbers use trophy data so they're not perfect. But it seems as though they're largely accurate. If anything they may be slightly low-balled.
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Fuz
Banned
I will, but I doubt it will be as good as TLJ. TLJ is one of my favourite adventures ever, that's why I said they went backwards.
TripleSun
Member
It was announced back in early 2017. It's from the Kathy Rain studio and The Samaritan Paradox developer. Loved both games so has been on my wishlist for a while now. Thought it was going to release sometime in 2018, but now it's Q2 2019, but that's not too much longer of a wait.
frogmeetsdog
Member
Couldn't agree more! Those pieces appear once every few years at least. Was mainly interested in what this guy based his opinion on. As you said, his main reason was that Syberia 3 was bad, his whole reasoning is one of the worst for "PnCs are dead" that I ever read, just a really bad piece. But still glad I read the comments below it mentioning games like Sexy Brutale. And luckily most posters let the author have it anyway
It's the third game in the OP
Been looking forward to it since I read this thread and a preview. The premise sounds very intriguing.Same here, Point'n'Click adventures are perfectly fine and are working for decades as they are. Why change a winning formula ...
And as I already mentioned above, when was the last time sport games like FIFA, First Person shooters or other yearly churned out assembly line games like Assassin's Creed have "evolved"? Rather the opposite is true, besides some improvements in visuals and controls they're usually standing still completely and yet they still keep selling year in, year out
The only reason Point'n'Clicks aren't that "in" anymore is that most younger players prefer multiplayer and faster games with more action at the moment. In their heyday in the 80s and early 90s PCs just didn't have the power for those games and the gaming crowd was completely different back then as usually mostly "nerds" had access to PC gaming. They weren't the mass products they are now.
But PnCs will never die, I'm reading that BS for nearly 20 years now.
frogmeetsdog
Member
Played all three Journey/Dreamfall games and while I agree that there absolutely was evolution (a similar one to King's Quest 6/7 vs KQ 8 or Broken Sword 1/2 vs part 3), for me personally it was rather a negative one though - I love the first title, the other two, not so much.
Couldn't get myself to play beyond chapter 2 of Deamfall Chapters, the world and puzzle design just felt empty to me somehow and while I'm aware that's a hot button issue in some discussion forums for me TLJ will always be vastly superior to Dreamfall, the second part. Imo the successors just evolved in the wrong direction, especially part 2 with its fighting scenes and severly toned down puzzle difficulty.
But this is also understandable, especially from a business standpoint of the 2000s - Back then everybody wanted to get into 3D and didn't see many potential sales with the classic Point'n'Click model anymore.
This started with Grim Fandango, King's Quest 8 or Broken Sword 3 and 4. All of those games had predecessors (or in the case of GF spiritual predecessors) that were classic 2D adventures with a point'n'click system and all of them (d)evolved into 3D games, often with fighting, toned down or even lacking any puzzle difficulty and a lot of other action-adventure elements. It wasn't until a few years later that publishers rediscovered there was still a lot of demand for those classic PnC adventure games.
And thanks for the tip with CAYNE, gonna look into it.
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Vampire On Titus
Member
frogmeetsdog
When did you play Dreamfall Chapters? I ask because the episodes started being released in 2014 and the game was in development for a very long time. But in 2017 Red Thread Games released a "final cut" version with tons of improvements. Reworked puzzles, improved graphics, improved hub areas and a new map system (among other changes). That's the version I played. I've since seen LP's of the older game and the difference is significant.TLJ is is my favorite in the series as well. In large part because it tells the most coherent story, un-tethered to established lore. Also because I like April better than Zoe. Despite that, Dreamfall Chapters: Final Cut is one of my favorite adventure games as well. I'd consider it a must play for fans of the series because of how it wraps up some long standing threads & brings back fan favorite characters. There's honestly some really beautiful moments in that game. Especially in the 4th and 5th chapters.
I rank the series TLJ -> DFC -> DF: TLJ as far as how I enjoy them. The point of that post wasn't to make a claim about the quality of the games. It was just a correction for the claim that the genre has remained stagnant. If that were true, as the author claims, you shouldn't be able to see all these changes. Especially not in a single series.
Whether or not you enjoy those changes is a whole different discussion. For me personally, I enjoy both the classic and modern approach. And I'm glad that there's plenty of both to go around. Yeah, the "newer" games have easier puzzles (in general) but that's what I'm in the mood for sometimes. Plus, when failing a puzzle could be punished by a devastating narrative branch for my character, I don't always want them to be so unforgiving. I'm still salty about fucking up that cage puzzle in The Council and getting the story branch where I had to be rescued by my most hated character lol.
H
hariseldon
Unconfirmed Member
Sexy Brutale sooooo looked like something I'd enjoy but for some reason I just bounced right off it. It's a shame really
Vampire On Titus
Member
I really want to see some solid footage of this game. There are some early screens they released but judging by the teaser trailer alone they've come a long way since then. If the environment art is on par with the stuff in that trailer (even assuming it's lower res) I will be extremely happy.
Also was watching some interesting presentations from this year's Adventure X:
I always enjoy Dave Gilbert's very down to earth behind the scenes presentations. Just finished it and am about to watch Ragnar's.
ThatStupidLion
Member
impressed with firewatch numbers.
TripleSun
Member
Finally played Firewatch the other day and that was really fun. Really wanted it to last longer, the world sucked me in. Looking forward to Campo's next title.
ThatStupidLion
Member
how much interactivity and adventuring is there? versus say...interactive walking narrative? i've never played, heard great thigns initially but then mixed later on.
TripleSun
Member
It's basically a walking simulator but the world is beautiful and the story was really good. You basically have a map and trek back and forth finding different areas progressing the story while talking to someone on a walkie talkie. I loved how you got sucked in to feel totally isolated. I cannot talk about the whole community but on Steam it is Very/Overwhemingly Positive review wise, so I would say lots of people liked it. Playthrough is like 4-5 hours. Only complaint for me was I wish it was longer, I didn't want it to end. The ending is probably why it got some mixed reactions but if you think about what actually happened (I was aided by some youtube videos making me think about the ending and liked it more after that)
petran79
Banned
Interesting opinion about FMV games:
http://www.gameboomers.com/interviews/anima/conspiraciesII.htm
There was a stretch of time where it looked as though developers were abandoning full motion video (FMV) in adventure games. Do you think the FMV format is staging a comeback? Is it easier to work with FMV now than it was in 2003?
FMV was, and is, always difficult to work with. In our times, when high definition video is already on our TV screens, things are even tougher. Remember that, apart from designing full 3D environments and 3D action figures, puzzles etc., you have also to put in live people’s actions - which have to be staged and blended in with your graphics as nicely as possible - all in high definition too! I think that big companies promote the idea that FMV games are obsolete and outdated on purpose, not because they really are, but because they have a high cost and longer development time. Maybe it's time they co-operated with teams like ours in order to explore once again this fascinating game genre which gives the opportunity for "big" things to happen. Don’t forget, that you have to stage a small Hollywood set in order to make the cut scenes, you need very expensive equipment, lighting, cameras, hardware and software to make the blue/green screen compositing, actors, sets, makeup artists, directors, editors, audio technicians and a lot of other people to work with. So it is really more profitable and less time-consuming for the big companies to present the FMV genre as outdated and obsolete in order not to make them.
Also adventures – as a genre – are mind games, not just graphics, shooting and reflexes. I think that today it is very much “in fashion” to do “easy” things which don't require thinking – one acts on instinct only – and I believe that this is the main reason that adventure sales and the adventure genre are so low over the last decade. But still, there are a lot of people that love great stories, excellent plots, and mind sharpening puzzles and still want to play this kind of game.
How was designing Lethal Networks different than directing a film?
Directing video scenes for a video game is quite similar to directing a film. It involves the exact same principles. You have your actors moving, talking or placed in the same manner as you would do it in a film. All things have to be very carefully designed in order for the scenes to be realistic. The main difference is that, since you're shooting on blue/green screen (apart from some on location scenes), you have some directing limitations in order not to increase your budget. For example, you can't do a 360 free moving shoot around the actors with a steady cam since blue screen studio has to be only 180 degrees in order to light it properly. Also hand-held shooting involves foreground and background matching, a very difficult and expensive technique. So we did some of these, but not as much as we would have liked to.
How was filming the game different than filming a movie?
I think it isn’t different at all, since you have to deal with everything as if you were filming a movie. It involves all kinds of people that are used when making a film, like a director, editors, lighters, audio technicians, makeup artists, wardrobe and (above all and the most demanding) blue and green screen staging, lighting and directing.
Things get even tougher when you have to shoot 2 or 3 different aspects of the same scene leading into other cut scenes in-game.
http://www.gameboomers.com/interviews/anima/conspiraciesII.htm
There was a stretch of time where it looked as though developers were abandoning full motion video (FMV) in adventure games. Do you think the FMV format is staging a comeback? Is it easier to work with FMV now than it was in 2003?
FMV was, and is, always difficult to work with. In our times, when high definition video is already on our TV screens, things are even tougher. Remember that, apart from designing full 3D environments and 3D action figures, puzzles etc., you have also to put in live people’s actions - which have to be staged and blended in with your graphics as nicely as possible - all in high definition too! I think that big companies promote the idea that FMV games are obsolete and outdated on purpose, not because they really are, but because they have a high cost and longer development time. Maybe it's time they co-operated with teams like ours in order to explore once again this fascinating game genre which gives the opportunity for "big" things to happen. Don’t forget, that you have to stage a small Hollywood set in order to make the cut scenes, you need very expensive equipment, lighting, cameras, hardware and software to make the blue/green screen compositing, actors, sets, makeup artists, directors, editors, audio technicians and a lot of other people to work with. So it is really more profitable and less time-consuming for the big companies to present the FMV genre as outdated and obsolete in order not to make them.
Also adventures – as a genre – are mind games, not just graphics, shooting and reflexes. I think that today it is very much “in fashion” to do “easy” things which don't require thinking – one acts on instinct only – and I believe that this is the main reason that adventure sales and the adventure genre are so low over the last decade. But still, there are a lot of people that love great stories, excellent plots, and mind sharpening puzzles and still want to play this kind of game.
How was designing Lethal Networks different than directing a film?
Directing video scenes for a video game is quite similar to directing a film. It involves the exact same principles. You have your actors moving, talking or placed in the same manner as you would do it in a film. All things have to be very carefully designed in order for the scenes to be realistic. The main difference is that, since you're shooting on blue/green screen (apart from some on location scenes), you have some directing limitations in order not to increase your budget. For example, you can't do a 360 free moving shoot around the actors with a steady cam since blue screen studio has to be only 180 degrees in order to light it properly. Also hand-held shooting involves foreground and background matching, a very difficult and expensive technique. So we did some of these, but not as much as we would have liked to.
How was filming the game different than filming a movie?
I think it isn’t different at all, since you have to deal with everything as if you were filming a movie. It involves all kinds of people that are used when making a film, like a director, editors, lighters, audio technicians, makeup artists, wardrobe and (above all and the most demanding) blue and green screen staging, lighting and directing.
Things get even tougher when you have to shoot 2 or 3 different aspects of the same scene leading into other cut scenes in-game.
frogmeetsdog
Member
Didn’t know about the revamp. Gotta check it out sometimes. Didn’t exactly hate Chapters mind you, just lost interest after the second chapter and never picked it up again. At the very least it was far superior to DF:TLJ. Means, I also agree with your ranking of the Dramfall/Journey games.
And I’m aware your main point was that the genre doesn’t stand still as the author claimed. He should have known better (or - considering the quality of his biased and badly thought out piece - should he?) that today you can play everything from interactive movie games (like Heavy Rain or a lot of the Telltale titles) to challenging classic PnC adventures to everything in the middle.
Just wanted to add my 2 cents, especially that I wasn’t too fond of the era where every publisher/dev thought they had to water down the successors to their succesful classics with first person, 3D, fighting elements and a lack of puzzles. Don’t mind the variety we have now but 10, 15 years ago you had to use a microscope to find a good adventure game in the vein of the classics.
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frogmeetsdog
Member
A
Alter_Fridge
Played Nelly Cootalot (The Fowl Fleet) btw. The game’s funny, a little on the easy side though but still entertaining. Apart from the protagonists being female and both using classic PnC mechanics it doesn‘t have all too much in common with Anna’s Quest though. Personally I enjoyed the latter quite a bit more and I suppose according to our "deal" you have to check out AQ now too
frogmeetsdog
Member
Interesting Interview with Bill Tiller, lead background artist for the Curse of Monkey Island, founder of Autumn Moon Entertainment and creator of Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island and A Vampyre Story, one of my most favorite adventures of the 2000’s drought years.
Just fired it up again a few days ago, 10 years after my last playthrough (luckily was able to dig out my old hard box version of the game). The game doesn’t work on Windows 7 - 10 without a tiny bit of tweaking (alas, changing compatibility mode doesn’t help one bit) but luckily I found a solution in a forum, a small programm named dgvoodoo 2, which emulates older GPUs or something in that vein. Game works like a charm after that, even the cutscenes. Apparently also works for other older titles with similar incompatibility issues.
Despite a few flaws the game is still absolutely amazing - Nearly all negative reviews on Steam are from people who couldn’t get the game to run, luckily with dgvoodoo that isn’t an issue anymore.
You can see throughout A Vampyre Story that a lot of the people from the Curse of Monkey Island team were behind the title and it’s such a pity that they had to cancel development of part 2 due to financial issues.
They just made the mistakes of not using Steam immediately after release and on top of that had the bad luck to release the game just when the 2008 financial crisis started (besides PnCs not having the best time back then anyway). With a bit of better timing and if the devs would’ve been able to release part 2 in 2009/2010 to solve that unsatisfying cliffhanger ending I’m pretty certain the game(s) would be considered classics nowadays. As is unfortunately it’s nearly forgotten.
Anyway, fell in love with the title all over again. Yes it has some shortcomings, the already mentioned cliffhanger of course, some small bugs and glitches, no autosave, rather slow walking of the main character and a pretty annoying control scheme. I’m glad the game got a hotspot function, option to skip dialogue (I’m a fast reader and I hate it when games don’t offer this) and fast travel from screen to screen.
BUT the first two are done with the keyboard instead of the mouse (with tab and space) which is rather annoying compared to other games where you can easily use the mouse for this. Fast travel is done with the right mouse button but that one also opens the inventory, meaning usually both happens when you leave the screen. There are older games which solved this much more elegantly.
But technical issues aside, A Vampyre story is clearly one of the highlights of the 2000s PnC era. The puzzles are challenging but rarely illogical, the story and characters are very entertaining and the whole humor of the game often is just outright hilarious. Also the visuals are very amazing for a game that got released in 2008.
In another dimension or timeline this game probably received its second part and is considered one of the big classics by now. But in our world unfortunately even a prologue couldn‘t reach its funding goal on Kickstarter.
If by any chance some of you haven‘t heard of or played this game by now and are yearning to play games similar to The Curse of Monkey Island - by all means - give it a shot If you need support with how to implement dgvoodoo just shoot me a message - But it’s easy as pie.
Just fired it up again a few days ago, 10 years after my last playthrough (luckily was able to dig out my old hard box version of the game). The game doesn’t work on Windows 7 - 10 without a tiny bit of tweaking (alas, changing compatibility mode doesn’t help one bit) but luckily I found a solution in a forum, a small programm named dgvoodoo 2, which emulates older GPUs or something in that vein. Game works like a charm after that, even the cutscenes. Apparently also works for other older titles with similar incompatibility issues.
Despite a few flaws the game is still absolutely amazing - Nearly all negative reviews on Steam are from people who couldn’t get the game to run, luckily with dgvoodoo that isn’t an issue anymore.
You can see throughout A Vampyre Story that a lot of the people from the Curse of Monkey Island team were behind the title and it’s such a pity that they had to cancel development of part 2 due to financial issues.
They just made the mistakes of not using Steam immediately after release and on top of that had the bad luck to release the game just when the 2008 financial crisis started (besides PnCs not having the best time back then anyway). With a bit of better timing and if the devs would’ve been able to release part 2 in 2009/2010 to solve that unsatisfying cliffhanger ending I’m pretty certain the game(s) would be considered classics nowadays. As is unfortunately it’s nearly forgotten.
Anyway, fell in love with the title all over again. Yes it has some shortcomings, the already mentioned cliffhanger of course, some small bugs and glitches, no autosave, rather slow walking of the main character and a pretty annoying control scheme. I’m glad the game got a hotspot function, option to skip dialogue (I’m a fast reader and I hate it when games don’t offer this) and fast travel from screen to screen.
BUT the first two are done with the keyboard instead of the mouse (with tab and space) which is rather annoying compared to other games where you can easily use the mouse for this. Fast travel is done with the right mouse button but that one also opens the inventory, meaning usually both happens when you leave the screen. There are older games which solved this much more elegantly.
But technical issues aside, A Vampyre story is clearly one of the highlights of the 2000s PnC era. The puzzles are challenging but rarely illogical, the story and characters are very entertaining and the whole humor of the game often is just outright hilarious. Also the visuals are very amazing for a game that got released in 2008.
In another dimension or timeline this game probably received its second part and is considered one of the big classics by now. But in our world unfortunately even a prologue couldn‘t reach its funding goal on Kickstarter.
If by any chance some of you haven‘t heard of or played this game by now and are yearning to play games similar to The Curse of Monkey Island - by all means - give it a shot
If you need support with how to implement dgvoodoo just shoot me a message - But it’s easy as pie.
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frogmeetsdog
Member
Also great the first quarter of 2019 is near now - If there won‘t be any more hiccups or delays we‘ll at the very least be blessed with Gibbous - A Cthulhu Adventure, Trüberbrook and A Mage‘s Initiation (last one already has a release date with 30th January 2019).
When searching for Blacksad, Google still says release is in December 2018 but Q1 or Q2 2019 for that one probably is more realistic too.
Can‘t wait for those titles. They all look amazing in their own rights.
When searching for Blacksad, Google still says release is in December 2018 but Q1 or Q2 2019 for that one probably is more realistic too.
Can‘t wait for those titles. They all look amazing in their own rights.
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Vampire On Titus
Member
It's an era I'm not too familiar with. Although I did get into adventure games around this time (around 2006-ish), my entry into the genre was the mini renaissance they had on the DS. Phoenix Wright, Trace Memory, Hotel Dusk, etc.
From what I have played it's very grim. I still enjoyed Dreamfall TLJ overall but the combat and stealth are half baked at best, garbage tier at worst. I've also played Gabriel Knight 3, briefly. I couldn't keep playing for more than 40 minutes or so. One of the worst jumps to 3D I've played. I can't believe how they decided to design the camera & controls. Awful beyond words. It needs to be experienced to be believed.
I'm gonna hit another title of this era fairly soon since I recently got into the Broken Sword games. I started BS1 a while back but couldn't get into it, got up to the goat puzzle and called it quits. Gave it another shot recently and it really clicked this time. Fairly early in to BS2 now and i'm really enjoying it as well. All I know about BS3 is apparently there's a lot of box puzzles? Not too sure about that one but we'll see.
Fuz
Banned
True, but apart from the 3D the game itself is (mostly) great and the story is amazing. WIsh they made a remake out of it... in 2D.
You can skip BS3 and BS4, they're trash. The first is fantastic and the second is morethan decent.
Btw, not a fan of Bill Tiller and his team, as I said often I detest Curse. Played both Vampire and Vooju and found them quite mediocre.
frogmeetsdog
Member
Yeah, lots and lots of crate puzzles and terrible camera angles at times. Like a lot of those successors to the classics of that time the traditional puzzle design has been completely eschewed, iirc there isn't even an inventory. Just many crates to move around, a few environmental puzzles and plenty of jumping and climbing
If you like the first two I'd rather continue with the 5th part of the series which - after a successful Kickstarter campaign - returned to the roots of the first two (imo the first one is quite a bit better than the second - which also was rather short - but both beat 3 and 4). Btw, also just replayed these three about a month ago. Brought back some great memories
frogmeetsdog
Member
Agreed about BS3 and 4 being rather skippable. I wouldn't call them trash though, they're just completely different than the first two and influenced by an era where everybody had been crowing on for years about 2D games being dead in the water, especially in traditional PnC adventures - 3D was all the hype back then and even though BS3 & 4 aren't my cup of tea either, the games certainly had their audience.
At least there are quite a few positive reviews out there that welcomed the gameplay changes. Most probably mainly by folks which wouldn't touch traditional Point'n'Click games though.
And wow, after DotT, Curse of Monkey Island is one of my favorite PnCs, at least in my top 3. And Vooju is ok, nothing special, I adore A Vampyre Story though.
But going by our discussions in this thread I think by now it's pretty much established that we've got very, very different tastes. A few weeks after I registered here I thought the opposite but despite us both mostly preferring traditional style Point'n'Click adventures - barring a few exceptions (eg Indy, DotT, Memoria and (I think) King's Quest VI) - that's pretty much where the similarities end.
You usually have very strong opinions about what you like and dislike in your adventure games, already starting with the visuals. I like a good story/interactive movie adventure once in a while, enjoyed nearly the entire Daedalic (PnC) catalogue a lot, liked the new Larry (despite some of its flaws) and of course love Curse of MI to bits.
On the other hand, for example, I never clicked that much with Unavowed, like with most of Wadjet Eye's stuff I don't think it's bad but also don't get the huge love for the game(s). Crimes & Punishment wasn't for me either etc. etc. I'm on the other side of the aisle than you with most of the mentioned titles and probably quite a bunch more. Of course there's nothing wrong with that, would be boring if we all liked the same things after all.
But by now I'm more surprised when we both agree about an adventure game than the other way around
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frogmeetsdog
Member
Read this post again and realised that I‘ve missed a few excellent points the first time around, the fighting games analogy is brilliant for one, destroying his audio logs and diary "arguments" with decade old examples was very astute as well. Despite me (too) often having to read and hear about this alleged "failed evolution in PnCs“ argument so far I’ve rarely read a keener counter analysis. You basically eviscerated what he wrote point by point and thus should probably be allowed to write a counter opinion on their site as a reply to his dumpster juice article. It would certainly put the author’s piece with all the lousy points he made to shame.
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Vampire On Titus
Member
frogmeetsdog
thanks for the kind words dude.lol I just noticed that the dude in the comments of that article talking up NeoFeud is actually the developer for that game.
out here hustling in these comment section streets.
frogmeetsdog
Member
(Relatively) new PnC adventure (November 2018) that flew not only under my but apparently also under everybody elses radar:
Nelson and the Magic Cauldron
The game has English and German subs and is fully voiced.
Keep in mind that I've got not much idea about the game or its (puzzle) quality. Not a single review out there and the very few steam impressions don't really help much either, only just found a Youtube video with a bit of gameplay and the mention of one guy on Steam that the game apparently is only a few hours long - Probably because it's just from from a single guy who created everything itself despite the music which he created a successful Kickstarter for (€ 2.600 at a € 2.000 goal) because he's - in his words - unmusical. His initial Kickstarter for the whole game apparently had failed but he continued with developement nonetheless.
Youtube gameplay video:
Voice acting - at least for English - sounds rather amateurish but that it's available at all (in two languages) stilll is quite a feat for a single dev without a lot of budget. Maybe one of you guys is interested in the game, may give it a shot myself down the line. From the little I've seen/read about the game it's at least a laudable (first?) effort at a Point'n'Click adventure from a young developer.
Nelson and the Magic Cauldron
The game has English and German subs and is fully voiced.
Keep in mind that I've got not much idea about the game or its (puzzle) quality. Not a single review out there and the very few steam impressions don't really help much either, only just found a Youtube video with a bit of gameplay and the mention of one guy on Steam that the game apparently is only a few hours long - Probably because it's just from from a single guy who created everything itself despite the music which he created a successful Kickstarter for (€ 2.600 at a € 2.000 goal) because he's - in his words - unmusical. His initial Kickstarter for the whole game apparently had failed but he continued with developement nonetheless.
Youtube gameplay video:
Voice acting - at least for English - sounds rather amateurish but that it's available at all (in two languages) stilll is quite a feat for a single dev without a lot of budget. Maybe one of you guys is interested in the game, may give it a shot myself down the line. From the little I've seen/read about the game it's at least a laudable (first?) effort at a Point'n'Click adventure from a young developer.
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KingHenrik30
Member
What are some of the best console PnC games? Across all systems.
Alter_Fridge
Member
Why do some people not like Curse? In 1997 those hand drawn graphics were just extraordinary. I don't know how you couldn't help fall in love. Puzzles were difficult but not too much moon logic