-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Point & Click Adventure Thread 2018 - This Is The Year!
- Thread starter TripleSun
- Start date
frogmeetsdog
Member
Good idea
The game is really one of the best the golden Lucas Arts era has to offer. Long before others came up with it the game already offers different story branches and different solutions to different puzzles.You can choose three paths (action, wits and another one) with various puzzle solutions and outcomes to the story.
It's a real shame they never followed through with a predecessor.
frogmeetsdog
Member
Gibbous is nearly done and is (or at least was 5 days ago) looking for Beta Testers:
-----
Beta Testing!
Can't wait for Gibbous? Can't wait until it releases, and want to give a helping hand squashing bugs to a small team sustaining itself mostly on caffeine, enthusiasm, and way too little sleep? Now's your chance to beta test Gibbous. Please send an e-mail with the subject "HAIL CTHULHU!" to liviu at reea dot net if you want in!
Fair warning: this time there will be a LOT of the game that you'll be testing. We're still discussing exactly how much of it, but there's the possibility that it might be in its entirety (minus the very, very last scene, maybe). If that's cool with you, drop us a line and be like a Starship Trooper - enroll in the first line of defense against those pesky bugs.
-----
I'm so glad this game is nearly done, very excited for it. Still on the fence about asking to join the beta though. One the one hand I'd love to play it already, on the other hand I want to experience everything, even the last scene. Besides, beta testing is rather for discovering bugs than for enjoying the game. Hmm, hard decision
-----
Beta Testing!
Can't wait for Gibbous? Can't wait until it releases, and want to give a helping hand squashing bugs to a small team sustaining itself mostly on caffeine, enthusiasm, and way too little sleep? Now's your chance to beta test Gibbous. Please send an e-mail with the subject "HAIL CTHULHU!" to liviu at reea dot net if you want in!
Fair warning: this time there will be a LOT of the game that you'll be testing. We're still discussing exactly how much of it, but there's the possibility that it might be in its entirety (minus the very, very last scene, maybe). If that's cool with you, drop us a line and be like a Starship Trooper - enroll in the first line of defense against those pesky bugs.
-----
I'm so glad this game is nearly done, very excited for it. Still on the fence about asking to join the beta though. One the one hand I'd love to play it already, on the other hand I want to experience everything, even the last scene. Besides, beta testing is rather for discovering bugs than for enjoying the game. Hmm, hard decision
Last edited:
frogmeetsdog
Member
Same here. When I discovered it at first - drawing from former experiences - I didn't think there'd be much to a fanmade DoTT sequel. But to my delighted surprise I was extremely impressed by what those fans have done with it.
I've played quite a few fan made games in my day but RoTT is in an entirely different league. The love to detail, the graphics, voiceacting and attention to puzzles that went into this game - If one wouldn't know, you could never guess this to be a fan-made game.
I love it but alas I'm on the same page as you. Completing the whole game for free is probably much too big a task for a few fans in their spare time with no money and no legal rights on top of it. It's already a bit of miracle they made this stellar ~3hr long prologue with no money from the ground up. (And now potential C & D's are always looming)
Even though, as you said, the Prologue itself is amazing and by far the best free, fanmade game I've ever played. Heck, it even beats a lot of adventures I paid for over the years.
Last edited:
frogmeetsdog
Member
(Unfortunately) that's entirely true - The working title was Indiana Jones an the Iron Phoenix.
Alas, the project ended up in development hell
Vampire On Titus
Member
Oof, alright guys it's next on the list lol.
Gonna watch through the trilogy and cap it off with Fate afterward.
Gonna watch through the trilogy and cap it off with Fate afterward.
RAIDEN1
Member
To this day I still can't quite believe that LucasArts never thought about bringing a proper point and click Star Wars game for release....they've covered most of the other genre's in gaming over the years yet never have they gone for a fate-of-atlantis like release in the Star Wars setting....which would have been awesome...yet we will never get one, unless some fan developed it like the day of the tentacle sequel..
Vampire On Titus
Member
Back in the day there was actually a corporate mandate that they couldn't make Star Wars adventure games. Not entirely sure of the thinking behind that decision but if you watch the LucasArts GDC retrospective from a year or two ago they mention it. The inevitable result was they couldn't rely on Star Wars and were forced to create all the memorable & unique worlds we love. So in the end i'd say things worked out for the better.
---
New Twin Mirror gameplay:
They're showing off some cool new exploration and puzzling mechanics. Pretty clear inspiration from the modern adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. You bounce back and forth between the real world and your "mind palace" to recreate your lost memories. Pretty cool mechanic and I could see them doing a lot with it.
The voice actor is getting flamed in the comments. Personally I don't think he's that bad but they do give him a lot of tutorial-esque clunky dialogue in this video. I'm gonna chalk that up to it being the first 10 minutes and wanting to explain the new mechanics. It's not Heavy Rain tier or anything.
---
New Twin Mirror gameplay:
They're showing off some cool new exploration and puzzling mechanics. Pretty clear inspiration from the modern adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. You bounce back and forth between the real world and your "mind palace" to recreate your lost memories. Pretty cool mechanic and I could see them doing a lot with it.
The voice actor is getting flamed in the comments. Personally I don't think he's that bad but they do give him a lot of tutorial-esque clunky dialogue in this video. I'm gonna chalk that up to it being the first 10 minutes and wanting to explain the new mechanics. It's not Heavy Rain tier or anything.
WaterAstro
Member
Oh nice, people playing Unavowed. Beat it a while back. It's really cool lore and story stemming from the Blackwell series, and it's pretty awesome for multiple playthroughs.
Vampire On Titus
Member
Yeah I'm likely to do a second run of Unavowed soon. My adventure GOTY so far. Beating out Unforeseen Incidents and Detroit. I have high hopes for Life Is Strange 2, though.
But anyways, I've started playing Fate Of Atlantis and it's very easy to see why it's a classic so far. Really captures the charm of Indiana Jones right off the back with that intro. If I recall correctly this is the first LucasArts "talkie" and considering that the VA is surprisingly good. Indy, Sophia and Kerner are all very good. A lot of the secondary characters are noticeably worse but the principle cast carries it.
I'm already getting a sense of the multiple paths/ solutions to puzzles. I suppose you could have told Sophia to leave once you found the manuscript? I obviously decided to keep her around because she's been a great character so far. 2nd best Indy girl behind Marion. I just finished the part where you trick Trottier out of his ancient stone. I ended up dressing as Nur-Ab-Sal and scaring him. I'm wondering how you would have done it with the seance? I tried that route up until he asks how many fingers he's holding up and couldn't see any other option than a blind guess.
Anyways fantastic game so far and I'm sure it has many more great moments ahead. Looking forward to it.
But anyways, I've started playing Fate Of Atlantis and it's very easy to see why it's a classic so far. Really captures the charm of Indiana Jones right off the back with that intro. If I recall correctly this is the first LucasArts "talkie" and considering that the VA is surprisingly good. Indy, Sophia and Kerner are all very good. A lot of the secondary characters are noticeably worse but the principle cast carries it.
I'm already getting a sense of the multiple paths/ solutions to puzzles. I suppose you could have told Sophia to leave once you found the manuscript? I obviously decided to keep her around because she's been a great character so far. 2nd best Indy girl behind Marion. I just finished the part where you trick Trottier out of his ancient stone. I ended up dressing as Nur-Ab-Sal and scaring him. I'm wondering how you would have done it with the seance? I tried that route up until he asks how many fingers he's holding up and couldn't see any other option than a blind guess.
Anyways fantastic game so far and I'm sure it has many more great moments ahead. Looking forward to it.
Mr Underhill
Member
Hey frogmeetsdog. We were just as excited, when Don, one of our three main voice actors, posted this yesterday:
"I’ve missed some messages and outreach. I apologize.
I spent sat and sun in the hospital, having lost motor control in my right side and in severe pain. I’ve somehow damaged my spine and a nerve cluster and am seeing a surgeon.
If I don’t get back to you quickly, this is why. I may be out of commission for a bit. I apologize."
There was a huge recording session scheduled this week. Obviously our first concern is with Don's health - he's a human dynamo of a dude who just can't stop writing, directing, and acting, and I have the feeling this somehow stems from overworking himself. It sadly means recording and the beta are delayed indefinitely. We all wish him well - he was actually here in Romania 2 years ago and we became best of friends - and we'll have to wait and see how things go. Hoping he has an easy recovery and it's nothing too serious
E: we might still do the beta without his voices in; trouble is, there are pretty plot-important cutscenes that we can't put in the game until we have his lines, and that might freakin' ruin the experience for folks. Pondering this.
Last edited:
Vampire On Titus
Member
So sorry to hear that
Mr Underhill
. I hope he gets well soon and can continue his acting.
Mr Underhill
. I hope he gets well soon and can continue his acting.
ThatStupidLion
Member
Just catching up - FoA is one of the classics ive never played or boguht for some reason and now im itching to get into it! I know what games on my horizon!!!
Ive heard a lot about wadjeteye games before but alas have never gone hands on. I hope to change that soon as well! This threads got me itching.
Happy to hear TWP sold well on switch - im reay to pick that up too
Ive heard a lot about wadjeteye games before but alas have never gone hands on. I hope to change that soon as well! This threads got me itching.
Happy to hear TWP sold well on switch - im reay to pick that up too
Last edited:
Vampire On Titus
Member
Interesting preview for the upcoming Lamplight City. This one's showing a lot of promise. The developer, Grundislav Games, also made A Golden Wake & Shardlight. I didn't much care for A Golden Wake but I really enjoyed Shardlight. Lamplight City looks to be another step up in quality imo.
frogmeetsdog
Member
Hey frogmeetsdog. We were just as excited, when Don, one of our three main voice actors, posted this yesterday:
"I’ve missed some messages and outreach. I apologize.
I spent sat and sun in the hospital, having lost motor control in my right side and in severe pain. I’ve somehow damaged my spine and a nerve cluster and am seeing a surgeon.
If I don’t get back to you quickly, this is why. I may be out of commission for a bit. I apologize."
There was a huge recording session scheduled this week. Obviously our first concern is with Don's health - he's a human dynamo of a dude who just can't stop writing, directing, and acting, and I have the feeling this somehow stems from overworking himself. It sadly means recording and the beta are delayed indefinitely. We all wish him well - he was actually here in Romania 2 years ago and we became best of friends - and we'll have to wait and see how things go. Hoping he has an easy recovery and it's nothing too serious
E: we might still do the beta without his voices in; trouble is, there are pretty plot-important cutscenes that we can't put in the game until we have his lines, and that might freakin' ruin the experience for folks. Pondering this.
Sorry to hear this - Sounds very serious
Hope you can work this out, very excited for the game but his hopeful recovery is priority number 1 of course.
Wish him and you guys all the best and hope to still be able to play Gibbous one day soon!
Vampire On Titus
Member
Vampire On Titus
Member
Just completed Fate Of Atlantis! What a game!!! So many great moments throughout and a SPECTACULAR ending. One of the most satisfying finishes to a video game ever. Loved the chemistry between Indie and Sophia. Their banter alone makes this game a classic. Next time I'll probably choose the route without her, just to see what it's like, but I almost cant imagine Fate Of Atlantis without her presence. Many of the moments are right up there with the films.
There's so much variety in terms of environment and gameplay. It really does feel like a globe-trotting adventure. It's honestly kind of crazy how well they convey the sense that you, as the player, are finding your way to Atlantis. It really highlights one of my favorite aspects of adventure games. The gameplay is tailored to the narrative rather than the other way round like with every other genre. So one second you're haggling between vendors for food in lieu of foreign currency, then the next you're riding across the desert in a hot air balloon in search of a nazi dig site. Or surveying the land for hidden stone tablets. Or stealthily hijacking a nazi submarine (the submarine section is fucking aweeesome). You get to do so many different, cool ass things, that you would just never do in another genre with a more strictly defined gameplay loop.
The only bad things I could mention are just the minor character's lackluster VA and there's a few spots of fairly egregious pixel hunting. That arrowhead on the bookshelf at the University in particular comes to mind. It's literally one differently colored pixel on a shelf. None of it ever caused me to get stuck but it still could have been better.
Other than that there's really nothing I didn't like. Total classic and I managed to complete the game without ever using a walkthrough so that was very satisfying. Glad I was shamed into playing this sooner rather than later.
(Not sure what the "Indy Quotient" was but apparently I got 613 out of 618.)
There's so much variety in terms of environment and gameplay. It really does feel like a globe-trotting adventure. It's honestly kind of crazy how well they convey the sense that you, as the player, are finding your way to Atlantis. It really highlights one of my favorite aspects of adventure games. The gameplay is tailored to the narrative rather than the other way round like with every other genre. So one second you're haggling between vendors for food in lieu of foreign currency, then the next you're riding across the desert in a hot air balloon in search of a nazi dig site. Or surveying the land for hidden stone tablets. Or stealthily hijacking a nazi submarine (the submarine section is fucking aweeesome). You get to do so many different, cool ass things, that you would just never do in another genre with a more strictly defined gameplay loop.
The only bad things I could mention are just the minor character's lackluster VA and there's a few spots of fairly egregious pixel hunting. That arrowhead on the bookshelf at the University in particular comes to mind. It's literally one differently colored pixel on a shelf. None of it ever caused me to get stuck but it still could have been better.
Other than that there's really nothing I didn't like. Total classic and I managed to complete the game without ever using a walkthrough so that was very satisfying. Glad I was shamed into playing this sooner rather than later.
(Not sure what the "Indy Quotient" was but apparently I got 613 out of 618.)
Fuz
Banned
Watching playthroughs with offcenter camera is kind of annoying, but doesn't make me feel ill. It's just my brain doesn't seem to adjust to the fact that the character is not moving straight ahead in the center. You should watch me trying to play with a shoulder camera and trying to get on a bridge for a laugh
Unfortunately, I don't enjoy watching playthroughs. :\
But I'm grumpy and I enjoy bitching about it.
Last edited:
frogmeetsdog
Member
Even though I didn‘t find anything about the game back when i searched every title from the OP, I just discovered by accident (through browsing the Toucharcade Forums) that Drawn Down by Studio Hazy has been released.
So far, it seems as if only for MacOS (Link) and iOS (Link) though:
This is one of the biggest under the radar releases I’ve ever seen. Other than this one App Store link (and this thread) I couldn’t any other info about the game through a Google search, the MacOS link is from the TouchArcade forums. Other than that no articles, no previews, reviews, nothing. Not even Studio Hazy, the devs after all, mention the game on their website. Very weird.
That’s why I got no idea if there’s a PC release planned. It looks af if they wanted to avoid every bit of publicity for this game. Anyway, still bought the iOS version for € 3,49. Hope it’s better than their PR
So far, it seems as if only for MacOS (Link) and iOS (Link) though:
This is one of the biggest under the radar releases I’ve ever seen. Other than this one App Store link (and this thread) I couldn’t any other info about the game through a Google search, the MacOS link is from the TouchArcade forums. Other than that no articles, no previews, reviews, nothing. Not even Studio Hazy, the devs after all, mention the game on their website. Very weird.
That’s why I got no idea if there’s a PC release planned. It looks af if they wanted to avoid every bit of publicity for this game. Anyway, still bought the iOS version for € 3,49. Hope it’s better than their PR
frogmeetsdog
Member
Glad you liked the game
One classic every Point’n’Click fan should have at least played once in their life - But same as with me and King’s Quest 6, better late(r) than never Anyhow, there is a total of 1000 Indy Quotient points. One gets IQ points for different actions, puzzle solving etc (similar to most of the Sierra games, points in PnCs weren’t too uncommon back then) and with all the different paths it’d be impossible to get nearly all of them on your first playthrough.
You got 613 from your current playthrough and 618 total. Seeing that 5 points apparently already were counted for another playthrough, maybe you reloaded somewhere at the beginning to take a different path?
And btw, until today I’ve never could bring myself to play through the game without Sophia despite having completed it at least four times within the last 10 years. The interactions between those two are just priceless
Same as you I can’t imagine the game without both of them (and their bickering)
Last edited:
frogmeetsdog
Member
PnC books?
ThatStupidLion
Member
gog has some back to school sales going right now - just picked up(again) the Kyrandia series, havent played Malcoms revenge though.
Kathy rain is on sale for 3$ too. im thinking about that - any impressions?
Kathy rain is on sale for 3$ too. im thinking about that - any impressions?
Last edited:
Fuz
Banned
It's more than decent. Worth the 3$ for sure.
TripleSun
Member
Yeah I think I preordered mine in like April just so i could order and forget about it haha, he said he got more orders than expected so it might take longer for others but at least they're shipping out now. shipping info will be given and all which is nice since its overseas
Last edited:
Vampire On Titus
Member
Kathy Rain is very good. You'll like it if you're into Gabriel Knight, The Blackwell Series or just detective stories in general. Well worth 3 dollars.
I know the dev is working on some new sci-fi game but I hope it gets a sequel one day.
frogmeetsdog
Member
The guy who has created Drawn Down said he’s is in the process of porting the game to Windows atm.
The game isn’t too long, I needed about 3 - 3 1/2 hours to complete it but the time spent was pretty good. Neatly balanced puzzles and interesting story setting about 20 years in the future.
All in all I enjoyed it, hope some of you guys will give it a whirl when it’s available for PC. Dev is already thinking about a sequel and some further sales probably wouldn’t hurt in that regard
The game isn’t too long, I needed about 3 - 3 1/2 hours to complete it but the time spent was pretty good. Neatly balanced puzzles and interesting story setting about 20 years in the future.
All in all I enjoyed it, hope some of you guys will give it a whirl when it’s available for PC. Dev is already thinking about a sequel and some further sales probably wouldn’t hurt in that regard
TripleSun
Member
Not sure if you guys heard but maybe a month or so ago Wadjet Eye announced their new game and today it seems the Kickstarter is up. Art by Ben Chandler and on the story staff is Richard Cobbett who you might know from Fallen London and Sunless Sea etc. I love everything about this new project. It's a text based RPG and coming from a fan of Fallen London this is right up my alley. So many big names on this project I absolutely can't wait. 8min video which includes early development footage if you are interested https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/753131002/nighthawks-the-vampire-rpg-0
frogmeetsdog
Member
Same here. I like Wadjet Eye a lot (my favorite is still their published title Primordia, followed by Technobabylon, Shardlight and Blackwell) but this game isn‘t exactly up my alley. The trailer reminds me a lot of the Sorcery! series from mobile (Only more polished). Textbased, story mainly depending on choices with some RPG elements.
The game itself looks great though but alas I‘m also not the biggest fan of the genre.
ThatStupidLion
Member
By text based i was thinking itd be like the old sierra games... this just feels more like a high end visual novel. Not my jam unfortunately
Domisto
Member
This was released last year, if you don't mind firing up an Amiga emulator. Not played it myself.
https://www.arananet.net/retrowars/en/index.html
frogmeetsdog
Member
Stumbled upon your metacritic reviews by accident yesterday (pretty sure they are yours anyway, unless there’s another Fuz who loves Ron Gilbert, Thimbleweed Park and rated Unavowed with a 10
).Very impressive collection of reviews and gotta say I agree with you on a lot of those. Obviously not on Unavowed which most people seemed to have enjoyed more than me but I think it’s great you’re also aware of Denuvo. I also absolutely abhor this expensive, intrusive and unnecessary form of DRM and at least some smaller publishers that payed a small fortune for Denuvo’s "protection" removed it pretty soon again.
Also especially agree about Blades of the Shogun. Daedalic has had a lot of hit and miss lately - with miss having the upper hand - but this game is an absolute gem. Love that they took onto publishing the revival of this long forgotten genre with such care. Even though they’ve quit the adventure genre you still gotta puzzle and use clever tactics a lot to get through BotS’ levels. I’m a big fan of most stealth games, RTS not so much, but would rather describe the game as stealth-puzzle cross anyway.
After them leaving the adventure genre, at least I’d love to see more of games like this instead of hollow games like Silence (Whispered World 2). Like for you, that one was very disappointing for me. In hindsight all the changes they made compared to the very enjoyable first part already were a pretty big sign that Daedalic didn’t think much of classic adventures anymore.
Last edited:
Fuz
Banned
Yeah, that's me
Blade of the Shogun is a REALLY great game in my opinion. Great art style, great (underused) setting and characters, and the gameplay is amazing: verything works beautifully.
And yes, I don't support Denuvo and DRMs. They do nothing against piracy and harm only the legit consumers.
Blade of the Shogun is a REALLY great game in my opinion. Great art style, great (underused) setting and characters, and the gameplay is amazing: verything works beautifully.
And yes, I don't support Denuvo and DRMs. They do nothing against piracy and harm only the legit consumers.
Last edited:
AeonGaidenRaiden
Member
Nobody mentioned new LSL trailer?
Vampire On Titus
Member
Fuz
coming on hot!!! Talk that shit, Fuz!!!Personally I think the game looks alright but I never played the old Larry games so I don't have nostalgia invested in the character. I wish the animation -- as far as actual character movement -- was more on point. Adventure games get too much of a pass for having character stand there in an idle sprite and deliver lines with no motion. Bring some acting and performance (through movement) to the table. Especially in a comedy like this, you want the characters to be lively.
A lot of the best games this year are guilty of this. Unavowed & Unforeseen Incidents. Unforeseen Incidents, especially, really lacked in terms of animation. At least bust out a higher standard in the highly dramatic scenes. We've got games like LiS2 and Truberbrook excelling in these categories. I'll also mention
Mr Underhill
's Gibbous among those names. In the face of games like that really going the extra mile to bring the performances to life... it looks pretty weak to just have characters standing stiff delivering their lines.Just a little ramble about that particular aspect, though. The game as a whole looks pretty good to me and I'll be keeping my eye on it. It does feel like they should have put some more exciting scenes in the trailer but it's not out until December so I'll watch the rest of the preview material before making a concrete judgement.
frogmeetsdog
Member
You guys heard about this game (3 Minutes to Midnight)? Slated for mid 2019, relatively unused setting (40s) and the previews I read sound pretty promising.
Definitely rooting for Scarecrow Studio and this game’s success. They only want to focus on classic 2D Point’n’Click adventures after all and more of those certainly can’t hurt
frogmeetsdog
Member
Lol, sorry to have tortured you with another flash game just hours after the Larry Trailer
I agree, the visuals aren’t its strongest point, also not the biggest fan of this particular style. Prefer handdrawn like Curse of Monkey Island or Gibbous myself. But then again, graphics in PnCs are rarely anything to write home about and we also play a lot of 90s looking pixel stuff
If the puzzles/story are good I‘m certainly looking forward to give it a whirl.
Just out of curiosity, what other (adventure) games - besides the new LSL - come to your mind with animated flash style?
Last edited:
Fuz
Banned
Deponia, for example. Unforeseen Incidents too. I'm sure I can think a ton if I put my mind to it, but I didn't have my morning cofee yet
Those "compartmentalized" animations are really cheap and off-putting to my eyes.
frogmeetsdog
Member
Deponia, for example. Unforeseen Incidents too. I'm sure I can think a ton if I put my mind to it, but I didn't have my morning cofee yet
Those "compartmentalized" animations are really cheap and off-putting to my eyes.
Wouldn’t it be midday coffe soon?
Hmm, isn’ Deponia hand drawn? Already read in another thread that you don’t like the game though. In my experience it’s pretty polarizing, people either love or hate it, have hardly ever seen any middle ground. But usually this stems from the humor and/or especially the main character of Rufus: Just read a guy a few days ago - in a comment under a review of The Night of the Rabbit (which I’ve just completed for the first time last weekend) - who said "he hated Deponia’s main character so much he can’t describe it in words"
Certainly not the first time I’ve read stuff like that. I really like the Deponia series though, especially the puzzles. And yeah, Rufus is definitely a self involved jerk and moron but that never bothered me. Well, people are different after all, makes the world go round
Still, are you sure Deponia is animated Flash? The game doesn’t look at all like 3 Minutes to Midnight for example.
Btw - if you’d be so kind to tell me, Sensei - how do you do the rofl emoticon?
Last edited:
frogmeetsdog
Member
Has any of you guys played Black Mirror from 2004? Just read an opinion a few days ago that this game revived the then comatose adventure genre in the early 2000s (not really sure about that but at least was the commenters point of view). Haven’t played the game so far and certainly won’t mind paying the 3 Euros for it. Still would be interested how you guys liked it (if you’ve ever played it) before. Or is the 2017 remake the better investment?
Last edited: