I've thought the same thing for a while now. Others have mentioned Broken Sword 5 but I also love the look of Wadjet Eye's adventure games.
Those are some classy pixels.
Yeah the Wadjet Eye games look great.
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Moebius discussion thread- Jane Jensen's newest game releasing April 15th on PC
- Thread starter Tizoc
- Start date
Yeah the Wadjet Eye games look great.
It looks like the beta didn't have the parts he views as sexism in it, which is what sent him off into angry mode. Without that, he'd probably have just said it was mediocre looking at his views on everything else about the game, but angry mode made him slam even the slightly bad parts.
USGamer rated it highly as a counter-point:
http://www.usgamer.net/articles/moebius-empire-rising-pc-review-lets-go-round-again
This sounds like you might have you monitor set higher than 60 hz, is that so? There's a bug that makes walking animation look far weirder and uglier than it really is when the game is run @ 120 Hz.
Haunted
Member
PyrionFlax is good people, just a simple dude from the UK.
Terra_Ex
Member
Definitely not, I'm the same way. Deception and Epiphany especially have really nailed a style that I love. I tend to not enjoy the games that blend 3D models with static backgrounds as much, Cognition was an exception as I quite liked that. Broken Sword (originals) is another style I enjoy, the new one just about gets away with the models against backdrops as well. Looking at the Inner World screenshots, it just looks too "clean" for my tastes, I get that that's the style they're going for but I much prefer the nuance and attention to detail you can see in that Epiphany screenshot.
On the topic of this game, those early reviews are definitely concerning, I was looking forward to picking this up after enjoying Cognition but I think I'll wait for some more GAF impressions.
nope set to 60hz.. btw. i dont mean jerkiness of the animation or anything.
it really feels like the main character is on strings. movement of his legs etc.
hard to explain with my limited english vocabulary i guess you'll understand if you see.
Messofanego
Banned
It's funny you say that when the game is set in a world of garbage.
There's a lot of attention to detail in The Inner World too, but I guess if you can't gel with the art, not much I can convince you on.
Terra_Ex
Member
Haha, an unlucky choice of words on my part then. I'm planning to give it a go at some point, but I always gravitate strongly towards stuff that looks like the old Amiga point and clicks (beneath a steel sky,monkey island, etc) over everything else. Spent so many years playing them as a kid I fell in love with the style.It's funny you say that when the game is set in a world of garbage.
There's a lot of attention to detail in The Inner World too, but I guess if you can't gel with the art, not much I can convince you on.
indigo-cyclops
Member
I just knew this game was going to get knocked technically. I totally agree it's a mess. The style just never clicked but I will most definitely play and finish and go from there. I think it's both money and skill. Jane has a professional relationship with the team, they come cheap and her status probably helped lower their costs. However, technically and artistically they are not very good, or interesting.
I always felt there were so many routes to go, and a Jane Jensen game in a pixel art style would have been absolutely fantastic. Gray Matter is her best looking game but it had a much larger budget. The atmosphere in that game is just so damn good.
Joseph Merrick
Member
What worries me is that it's pretty obvious Gabriel knight remake will have the same atrocious animations as Moebius and Cognition, you can just tell from the trailers. They all move in an awkwardly slow motion
yeah. phoenix just have really really bad animators. and artists. lol. and probably other bad positions. or more probably they just do everything too cheaply, too little time scheduled or whatever. no idea, but it's always like this in everything they do.
no, it's really good.
The issue was that Broken Sword 3 & 4 aren't particularly good IMO, so I was wary about Broken Sword 5.
I actually have a big back log of point and click games - I'm midway through Chains of Satinav and The Night Of The Rabbit, have all the Deponias to play (and Memoria), and have just pre-ordered Blackwell Epiphany - so I will refrain for now. Perhaps when all the episodes are out.
I haven't even finished Broken Age yet...
Messofanego
Banned
Heads up, the second concluding half of Broken Sword 5 comes out in 10 minutes!!! All episodes out! http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=108360309#post108360309
I kind of hate you right now. I will not buy it until I at least finish Moebius!
I WILL NOT.
Yeah, I'm running at 120Hz. I guess that must be the case because legs are flopping about and looks like knees are bending inwards sometimes.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Wow, I saw that the game is getting ravaged in reviews. Not sure if I'll get to it any time soon unfortunately.
Dunno, played a lot of P&C Adventures and the only thing I liked was the style and atmosphere at times. Story was so-so while the ending was simply terrible. Characters were "meh" and not interesting at all. Puzzles...forgettable and way too easy.
perfect free
Member
That particular puzzle...
took me a few tries because I didn't realize you were supposed to click to lean when David almost bites it climbing the rope. Why I even need to direct an ex-special forces guy on the crucial minutiae of climbing a rope and tactical leaning action is, I guess, another question altogether. You can also click on the coffee table without the rope and watch him try to shimmy his way up, fail spectacularly (apparently the table is greased), and fall to his death. I laughed pretty hard at that.
Completely agree with your thoughts on the plot/character interaction thus far, too.
That was exactly what I did! What I hadn't realised is that
you had to join the skipping ropes together. Seriously? Why not just use both of them if it's not long enough? Ah, adventure games.
Since that post I've completed another couple of chapters. The game's still okay? I guess? It's not really holding my interest much - I could have easily finished it by now, but it's a bit of a chore to play from a technical perspective so I haven't made much headway.
I've 550 points or so out of 680 (I think) so I'm thinking the game will be over soon. It feels a LOT shorter than GK or Grey Matter but then again maybe it's because the "puzzles" are so damn obvious.
As much as I love Jensen, the game is a mess, even ignoring the technical aspects (why are the cutscenes so blurry by the way?). The premise is no dumber than a Dan Brown novel, and might have worked if it were better developed, but as it is it's almost insulting. I especially like the top-secret government agency no one has ever heard about which has an office in the middle of NYC, complete with reception desk and prominent logo. Actually there's a webpage about it which is immediately wiped out the second the protagonist tries to access it - it's like Jensen is writing a bad TV movie circa 1995 when no one understood how the Internet worked anyway.
And Good Lord, whoever thought it would be a good idea to stop the main character from picking stuff up until he needs it needs to be bitchslapped. I suppose they'd claim it makes the game more realistic, but later in the game you're forced to TAKE A FRIGGING AIR TRIP to buy an item that should be readily available in any convenience store in the world.
The GK remake is being animated by the same people and the voice acting is in the hands of the same studio that did Moebius so I have zero hopes for that one. I don't care how poor the quality of the original recordings are, there's no way they'd be worse than what we're getting.
Overall, it's sad, because with the reviews Moebius is getting, it's unlikely to sell to many people who haven't backed it in the first place. The GK remake probably won't fare any better, and that will kill any chances of GK4 being made in the near future. In fact, I'd be surprised if Pikerton Road makes another game before being shut down.
As much as I love Jensen, the game is a mess, even ignoring the technical aspects (why are the cutscenes so blurry by the way?). The premise is no dumber than a Dan Brown novel, and might have worked if it were better developed, but as it is it's almost insulting. I especially like the top-secret government agency no one has ever heard about which has an office in the middle of NYC, complete with reception desk and prominent logo. Actually there's a webpage about it which is immediately wiped out the second the protagonist tries to access it - it's like Jensen is writing a bad TV movie circa 1995 when no one understood how the Internet worked anyway.
And Good Lord, whoever thought it would be a good idea to stop the main character from picking stuff up until he needs it needs to be bitchslapped. I suppose they'd claim it makes the game more realistic, but later in the game you're forced to TAKE A FRIGGING AIR TRIP to buy an item that should be readily available in any convenience store in the world.
The GK remake is being animated by the same people and the voice acting is in the hands of the same studio that did Moebius so I have zero hopes for that one. I don't care how poor the quality of the original recordings are, there's no way they'd be worse than what we're getting.
Overall, it's sad, because with the reviews Moebius is getting, it's unlikely to sell to many people who haven't backed it in the first place. The GK remake probably won't fare any better, and that will kill any chances of GK4 being made in the near future. In fact, I'd be surprised if Pikerton Road makes another game before being shut down.
Joseph Merrick
Member
it's too bad. but then, the quality just isn't there. the novelty will wear off pretty quickly. the new gabriel knight looks super bad to me, way worse than moebius.
it's pretty crazy how inconsistent the graphics are in moebius. the quality on the backgrounds especially. some are pretty crisp and ok looking, some are just completely at a different way lower resolution and look stretched and terrible.
it's pretty crazy how inconsistent the graphics are in moebius. the quality on the backgrounds especially. some are pretty crisp and ok looking, some are just completely at a different way lower resolution and look stretched and terrible.
perfect free
Member
Malachi even makes a smarmy comment about this at one point. "I don't need these scissors right now, BUT THEY'RE RIGHT HERE IN CASE I JUST HAPPEN TO NEED THEM LATER. YUP. HERE THEY ARE." (paraphrasing, but you know) Seriously, just let me pick all the items up, if for no other reason than to make me consider a larger list of applicable inventory items for these mostly brain-dead puzzles you're having me solve.
I'm enjoying the game in spite of the silly puzzles and and the extremely spotty writing and the crazy animations (at one point I saw someone experiencing what looked like a highly-caffeinated grand mal seizure as they floated frictionlessly by Rector's Antiques), but it's obvious this is a mediocre product at the very best. I do kind of dig the music, though; the voice acting is pretty okay, at least for the main characters; and it's fun to make Malachi cast a disdainful eye on his surroundings and smack talk nearly everything you have him examine. And I can't imagine things are going to get so offensively bad that I won't want to finish the game... but at the same time part of the reason I want to finish it is to see how ridiculous it does get. Can't imagine that was Jane Jensen's intention.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
I almost feel like I'm being burned by my nostalgia now. I wonder how the Tex Murphy game will turn out.
Judging by the demo, Tex Murphy still has great cut-scenes and interesting puzzles (well, at least bar the first puzzle in the demo, which is finding and picking up 5 wooden planks). In-game things do look pretty bad (early PS2-era graphics maybe?), but FMVs are great; and in HD.
I've only played two chapters of Moebius (well, I played the first chapter from the final game + the second chapter from the demo) and right now the game is rather so-so. I won't comment on the story, since it's still the beginning of the game (although the premise sounds a little absurd, and as tmarques mentioned, a webpage being literally deleted from the Internet while Rector is reading it is silly, to say the least; I suppose in this world deleting files from the servers also automatically triggers page reload :lol).
The intro-comic is amateurish: art is bad, pacing is bad, story is laughable (suddenly, a lion out of nowhere, eating Malachi's mother... WHAT?!). Also, it's 2014, would it really be asking too much for an interactive comic book with voice acting? Max Payne was released 13 years ago; MGS Digital Graphic novels were released 8 years ago. A static mute comic panels just doesn't cut it nowadays.
Technically, the game is a mess. :/ Backgrounds are pretty, although a little cartoony here and there. Characters models range from acceptable to really bad. They should go into more cartoony style, because the "realistic" style doesn't really work here. Most characters are ugly (especially around mouth area - those teeth), characters' proportions are all over the place (everybody's hands are freaking huge; Malachi's head was much bigger than Dante Cardolo's head; Malachi's legs and arms are so thing as if he haven't eat anything for months) and I would really love to slap Malachi so he stopped hunching.
Animation is another story. I wish I had redeemed the Steam code for the game so I could do screenshots. There were a lot of times when someones face bugged out in chapter 1: eyes going places, mouth not moving naturally. The way Rector walks is also "great". Not to mention all that clipping - first dialogue with Gretchen (the very beginning of the game) and you can already see Malachi's arm sinking into his torso. It really looks so fucking amateurish it's ridiculous. I'm not asking for Beyond: Two Souls level of character's models and animations, but c'mon; even Telltales episodic games that run on an years old engine manage to look and animate better (and I'm not even talking about their new stuff - TWD or The Wolf Among Us; even Tales of Monkey Island looks much better).
Right now puzzles are very easy. Not being able to pick up things before you find them useful doesn't bother me (at least not now), but I wish things wouldn't be so obvious. The analyzing stuff is something I don't think I fully understand. Analyzing people seems like a bonus activity, because a) it's easy (you can't even do it wrong, because there are so few options that even by hit and miss you will choose the right set), b) it doesn't seem to affect anything. Comparing people to historical characters is weird; at first I tried reading all the descriptions and rule characters out based on that. Then, when working on Bianca Cardolo's case I simply started to cross out women based on the amount of matches, without even reading most of the descriptions, and it worked. So... what's the point of all that historical stuff then? I wish for something like Le Serpent Rouge from GK3, but reading opinions here I know that there's nothing like that in the game.
One thing I like about this game is Malachi's character. Yes, he's an unlikable asshole, but that's what I like about him. He's a loner, doesn't play around, cuts straight to the point, is obsessed with his job, doesn't care about people and is a snob that knows his value. And the way his thoughts are presented during cut-scenes is a great idea; seems very natural. Maybe I will grow tired of the character later, but right now I'm enjoying it.
Oh, and music is great. But that's a given.
I think it's too early to give a full opinion on the game, but I must say I expected better from Jane. With the receptions this game is getting, even among adventure games fans, I really fear that this and GK1 remake will be the only games we will get from Pikerton Road. I wish Jane Jensen partnered with a better studio than Pheonix Online
firehawk12
Subete no aware
They supposedly have another game other than GK1 don't they? At least that was the original CSG concept.
I wonder if they just stretched too much... but I don't know what else they could do at this point. I had no idea that this was a Pheonix Studios joint as well - I'm going to imagine it plays/looks like Cognition then?
I wonder if they just stretched too much... but I don't know what else they could do at this point. I had no idea that this was a Pheonix Studios joint as well - I'm going to imagine it plays/looks like Cognition then?
I won't even need spoiler tags because nothing happens plot-wise. The main characters get separated and placed at different ends of a maze. You bring them together, one at a time - a task made even more annoying by the fact that the game takes its sweet time giving you back your cursor when you enter a new screen - and then you have to help them leave the maze. And then the characters go "screw you guys, we're going home" without even admitting they are in love.
Ok, I guess I'll need a spoiler tag here:
The senator who's supposed to be the next president of the US and kick off a new era of prosperity (lol) flies all the way to Qatar (lol) to meet his bride-to-be for the very first time. Except no one asked her her opinion on the matter, but I guess you can't fight the MOEBIUS cycle (lol). The sad part is we never find out whether he knows or not that she's already carrying the illegitimate child of the French president (double lol). We are also left wondering why "they" (no, we never discover who "they" are or why "they" do what "they" do) didn't just kill her on the spot instead of flying her all the way to Qatar. You know, like they did with the woman they mistook her for at the beginning of the game.
There's not even any puzzles while doing this. OK, there's one 'puzzle', but all you need to do is pick up an item along the way or backtrack if you miss it. The whole sequence is just mindlessly clicking on exits for half an hour (felt more like an hour). When I thought it was finally over you take control of the other character and do that shit once again but in the opposite direction.
perfect free
Member
I got stuck at the end of chapter 5 because (lol)
Gosh, Helene is so inspiring.
God. Now that I've finished it I agree. The interaction between Malachi and (late chapter 6 spoiler)
And the lame gotchas in the final chapter like
served only to add aggravation. And my God, don't even get me started on the "animation" or "modeling" in those final cutscenes. Horrendous.
Well...
Granted, given the endurance test of getting to that ending I was rooting for them to do quite a bit more. 
(Actually, scratch that. Not with the art team they've got...)
I didn't notice that Helene flung off her glove in a rage after I confronted her about her sister boinking the butler, thus causing me to miss the obvious fact that the only thing required for her forgiveness was simply picking the glove up and giving it back to her.
God. Now that I've finished it I agree. The interaction between Malachi and (late chapter 6 spoiler)
Carter was beyond ridiculous. Pinning Carter to the pool table with those dead-twig arms? Really? Swallowing the SIM card in super slow motion? Really?!
"lol you didn't lock the door behind you so you're dead now lolol"
Well...
not in so many words, but the "call me Kye" bit and the lingering shot of them holding hands, I mean...
(Actually, scratch that. Not with the art team they've got...)Ok so I've finished the game and... I liked it. It might be because I went in with low expectations after all those negative comments and reviews, but I think it's a decent adventure game. Nothing to sing prises about, but also not as bad as people painted it.
Of course, I expected better from Jane Jensen, both in storytelling and puzzles. There were only few decent puzzles (I liked the cryptography stuff) and a lot of obvious get this, use it on that. I remember Grey Matter also didn't have any hard puzzles (apart from the magic tricks). Maybe after the infamous cat mustache puzzle from GK3 Jane just doesn't want to do any abstract puzzles anymore.
What I think hurt the game a lot is that there wasn't a single moment (or there were very few of those) where you were allowed to do a couple of things at once. You were always limited to a single task, which made the game extremely linear and solving puzzles even more obvious since there were always a highly limited set of rooms you could access and items you could interact with.
The whole chapter 7 part was awful indeed. To all video game developers, mazes are rarely funny. Doing maze puzzles twice (
) is double unfunny. Thankfully, it wasn't timed nor was there a constant threat in the maze (yes Beast Within, I'm looking at you), so it could get worse.
The backtracking to pick up items didn't bothered me that much. It eclipsed in the "get VIP badge" part (
) and wasn't as irritating in later parts of the game. Yes, there is this stupid part where you have to fly from DC to NY just to buy a single item, but I blame it more on adventure games logic (being limited to a set of locations).
Story wise the game is just ok. The concept of moebius could be interesting, but I think it has been underdeveloped and rushed in the game. It needs a huge suspension of disbelief but at the same time the game doesn't provide enough information to make you believe that it could work. Jane Jensen's other games also have weird stories (
,
), but at the same time they were cleverly mixing history, myths and fiction to the point that it worked. There were nothing like it here. Even history characters that were mentioned (Paramedes, Benedict de Mont Froi) doesn't exist (or at least I couldn't find anything on them).
Modelling and animations are awful, but after a while I simply get used to it and tried not to notice it (unless it was in your face). It's a shame, because looking at character artworks and various concept arts, the game could look so much better with good 3D artists.
Of course, I expected better from Jane Jensen, both in storytelling and puzzles. There were only few decent puzzles (I liked the cryptography stuff) and a lot of obvious get this, use it on that. I remember Grey Matter also didn't have any hard puzzles (apart from the magic tricks). Maybe after the infamous cat mustache puzzle from GK3 Jane just doesn't want to do any abstract puzzles anymore.
What I think hurt the game a lot is that there wasn't a single moment (or there were very few of those) where you were allowed to do a couple of things at once. You were always limited to a single task, which made the game extremely linear and solving puzzles even more obvious since there were always a highly limited set of rooms you could access and items you could interact with.
The whole chapter 7 part was awful indeed. To all video game developers, mazes are rarely funny. Doing maze puzzles twice (
the third part was with a map, so that doesn't count
The backtracking to pick up items didn't bothered me that much. It eclipsed in the "get VIP badge" part (
first you had to return to Malachi's apartment to pick up coins; then to pick up mp3 player; then to pick up scissors
Story wise the game is just ok. The concept of moebius could be interesting, but I think it has been underdeveloped and rushed in the game. It needs a huge suspension of disbelief but at the same time the game doesn't provide enough information to make you believe that it could work. Jane Jensen's other games also have weird stories (
King Ludwig II being a warewolf
a vampire kidnapping a bloodline descendant of Jesus
Captain Walker being gay is really obvious. The talk with Gretchen and him parting with his parents in college because they were not content with "the way he wants to live his life" were the biggest hints. Not to mention, the whole bromance with Malachi, especially considering Rector's attitude towards people in general.
Modelling and animations are awful, but after a while I simply get used to it and tried not to notice it (unless it was in your face). It's a shame, because looking at character artworks and various concept arts, the game could look so much better with good 3D artists.
Beautifully Shaped Monsters
Member
I did enjoy it, but...
Graphic was kinda awful. Final maze felt a bit phoned in (ok, final chapter was terrible). Puzzles were generally weak (makes me sad when I think of some of the puzzles in GK) and the game was pretty misogynistic in my opinion.
Graphic was kinda awful. Final maze felt a bit phoned in (ok, final chapter was terrible). Puzzles were generally weak (makes me sad when I think of some of the puzzles in GK) and the game was pretty misogynistic in my opinion.