toblix Posted January 17, 2005 So, I finally bought Moment of Silence, the game everybody's talking about, and I haven't gotten far(the airport), but I have some questions, and since you're all experienced adventure players, I guess at least one of you'd be able to answer them: 1. Why does the voice acting suck so much? 2. Is the game this boring all the way through, or does it get slightly exciting as the game progresses? Are all the puzzles as idiotic? I mean, I've been told that the plane leaves terminal B, but I can't ask the ticket woman about it. WHY? 3. Why in the Hell did this game get so great reviews? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ryam BaCo Posted January 17, 2005 i only played the demo. i liked the (german) voices but absolutely hated the fact that the mousecursor doesn't change to something "visible" when you're going to an entrance or a new screen. i don't remind the game as THAT boring but it also wasn't exciting enough for me to buy it. the moment of silence seemed to be an average, replaceable adventure to me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Redwall Posted January 17, 2005 Adventure game reviews are terrible... 1. If the reviewer doesn't like adventures (which, sadly, is often the case) they either a) give it a terrible review because they don't like adventures or give it a good review because they don't know what's a good adventure and what isn't and don't want to piss adventure gamers (or the developers and publishers off) 2. If the reviewer likes adventures, then they know adventure games are rare and need huge sales to become a viable genre again and give all but the worst games good reviews Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Salka Posted January 17, 2005 Adventure game reviews are terrible... I agree, and that's what annoys me in particular about Adventure Game websites. Each game gets a 70% bonus rating simply for being in the adventure genre. It's fucking ridiculous. If they really want to 'save' the adventure genre, tolerating the most shitty of shit games isn't helping any. It's just making people think that all adventure games are that crap. i only played the demo. i liked the (german) voices but absolutely hated the fact that the mousecursor doesn't change to something "visible" when you're going to an entrance or a new screen. Yeah, that would bug me as well. God, I am beginning to loathe adventure games. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Duncan Posted January 17, 2005 Yeah, I played the English demo and didn't enjoy it at all. Then the game came out and people were saying "Oh, it's just that one section in the game that isn't any good. The rest is awesome!" Which to me always sounded a little suspicious. I'm not surprised to hear now that the demo kinda was representative of the whole game (poorly translated, overlong dialogue, frustrating puzzles, confusing design...) It sounds like the story is the game's only saving grace (is that true, toblix?), but I'm still not sure if I want to play it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SiN Posted January 17, 2005 Adventure game reviews are terrible...1. If the reviewer doesn't like adventures (which, sadly, is often the case) they either a) give it a terrible review because they don't like adventures or give it a good review because they don't know what's a good adventure and what isn't and don't want to piss adventure gamers (or the developers and publishers off) 2. If the reviewer likes adventures, then they know adventure games are rare and need huge sales to become a viable genre again and give all but the worst games good reviews not true. PC Gamer UK, Issue 143. The Moment of Silence scores a 48% by John Walker, who is one hell of an adventure game fan. the reviews concluding paragraph has the rather excellent line, "A kind word to finish: Um, it's better than Myst. But then so's typhoid" I don't understand why everyone insists that every published magazine MUST be the devil ... its simply not the case. SiN Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
toblix Posted January 17, 2005 Only it's not better than Myst, but that's a discussion for another day. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SiN Posted January 18, 2005 Only it's not better than Myst, but that's a discussion for another day. thats beside the point. the point is that the review was objective, and not biased towards anyone/thing for cash reasons or whatever other nonsense reasons were posted. SiN Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Salka Posted January 18, 2005 Yeah, but that's one review. I've read more that fit Duncan's description than I have like the PC Gamer one, unfortunately. I hated Syberia too. It was boring, dull... nothing innovative about it, nothing new or surprising. Man, it made me hate adventure games, and pretty much everything else in the world too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Duncan Posted January 18, 2005 Yeah, I'm not a Syberia fan either, for the reasons you mentioned. Also irritating were the reviews saying that the character of Kate Walker was this amazing, wonderful paragon of realistic, believable characterisation not seen since April Ryan. Which drove me nuts. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chris Posted January 18, 2005 I too dislike Syberia. EDIT: And yet, as Jake can attest, I have a Syberia poster on my wall. I only have a couple adventure game posters, which is why I put it up. If anyone asks about it, I just say "Ah, Syberia is an adventure game. Let me tell you about some good, entirely unrelated, adventure games." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Duncan Posted January 18, 2005 Syberia did have kickass art direction, though. I would totally put up a Syberia poster if I had one. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chris Posted January 18, 2005 Yeah, I admit it's a pretty cool poster. It's a big marble staircase leading up to a big marble building flanked by huge mammoth statues. I don't remember what part of the game it's from, but it looks nice. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Duncan Posted January 18, 2005 I think that's the outside of the library/college/museum place. Where you get that interminable and inaudible lecture about mammoths. Oh God, I am so ashamed I remembered that. At least I don't remember what it was called. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chris Posted January 18, 2005 Oh, yeah. So how about that Moment of Silence? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Intrepid Homoludens Posted January 18, 2005 Wow. You peepz seriously need to post all this at AdventureGamers. Or even better, JustAdventure+. Talk about giving asskicking where asskicking is due. And while we're at it, tell me. What exactly do you all think is missing from adventure games today that, if added, would make you interested in playing them again? Is it just graphics? Should there be other technology that could be tapped into, like artificial intelligence, 3D sound puzzles, etc.? Should typical 'adventure-y' puzzles be thrown out and new, innovative challenges be conceived? What about how they're marketed? Should more adventure games be made for consoles (partly for the mothers of those 13-year-old Xbox whores who hate violence but would still wanna game)? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lailoken Posted January 18, 2005 well i think it would be interesting to introduce puzzles of the same complexity as in some of the good adventure game into a more "open" game. so there are more options to solve a puzzle than just the one. also true nonlinearity would be nice. for instance in rpg, there never are those realy deep puzzles as in for instance dott. how about that? or an actiongame, or a survival horror game... anything could be better if it would challenge the player to a greater extent. but obviously all the other elements from the classic adventure games would be welcom additions to other genres, like a real sense of humour, selfdeprecating even. i think the possibilities are endless and i am astonished that there has yet to be a single game that does it well if at all! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hermes Posted January 18, 2005 Ahh what adventure games need: Some adult themes Prince of Persia 3 - The sands of intellectual death (POP3 - TSID). In this game, because the prince has fucked so much with objectivitism in POP2-TWW (you know all this logically impossible time-shit), Ayn Rand has descended from whatever paralel dimension she resides in currently - and sweared to bring down the prince with whatever means possible. We will find the prince - having gone through this whole goth-period all young men must pass through - in a new personality-situation - grown older and more mature: After all the disillusion of POP2 he has started on university, where he studies Philosophy - with the aim of interlectually justifying why he is such selfish prick. Currently he uses glasses and wears rather trendy second-hand designers clothes. He realilizes that his arse is on wire when suddenly he has to face Ayn Rand whose paralel meta-logic expresses a far higher level of intelligentsia than the prince has managed to reach through his 2 years in university. He must then escape through the enormous university buildings of Cambridge, all the while dodging devious physical puzzles based on the problems of the humane sciences, for example the really stunning but deadly habitus-trap where Bordieau (being on Ayn's side because of some inexplainable plot-holes) waits at the end armed with his deadly education of french sociology. Prickhead Fuckshit, the lead-designer at ubisoft montreal, says that the team decided to focus on the issues that were found wanting in the previous two installments of this great series. That is, intellectual mumbo-jumbo. They hope, by this change of focus, to make the game-experience truly complete. "This is not a action-adventure game anymore" says Fuckshit, "it's a pure text-parser adventure-game based on the world of the humane sciences. This is what we are doing in front of the whole gaming world - we're re-inventing adventure games. We are really excited about this - and we are sure our fans will think so too when they see the great intellectual animations we made of the prince - we used our 2000 individual drawings to make this possible, and Ayn Rand is such a great character for being the adversary". We here at Fuckspot.com are certainly excited by the great work and innovative ideas we have seen so far. Stay tuned for more previews and screenshot. ----- Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lailoken Posted January 18, 2005 are you taking a piss? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Salka Posted January 18, 2005 Back in the olde days, Adventure Games were great. But other genres seemed to evolve and Adventure Games got left behind. Today, adventure games are pretty much the same as they ever were, except for the graphics. After playing a game like San Andreas (I don't even like this game) or say, Crimson Skies (xbox) even, playing an adventure game in comparison to pretty much any new release game is a stilted and frustrating experience. Coming straight off the involving, adrenaline-filled, exciting experience of Half-Life 2 and on to Syberia or The Longest Journey... man, walking Kate Archer through fifteen screens of beautifully rendered snow-backgrounds just is not cool, and is not exciting. I don't care how good the story may have been, because I can read a book with a good story any time I want. Books don't even have pixel-hunting puzzles. As well as this, very few non-LucasArts adventure games that I've played seem to have gotten the formula quite right. I've found myself infuriated many times with ridiculous puzzles and inane solutions. But my real problem with the genre as a whole is that it refuses to move on and become something better, and I partly blame the die-hard Adventure Fans. The amount of times I've heard people say, "Grim would be so much better, if only it had a point-and-click interface!" It seems like if the Adventure Genre branches off from the original approved formula of 1990, it's no longer an Adventure Game. Or it is, but it would have been so much better if it had a Point and Click interface and a blocky GUI! I mean, as for point and click interfaces... I think it is far more natural and involving to control a game using either a keyboard or, preferably, a joystick. What annoys me most about Adventure Games is that I continue to defend them and they continue to let me down and make an ass of me in front of my friends. Motherfuckers!!! are you taking a piss? No, he's being perfectly serious. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lailoken Posted January 18, 2005 yeah, as much as i love playing the classics, if a friend was going to introduce me to the genre now, i would not be interested. obviously the humour is timeless but apart from that the only redeeming feature is the nostalgia! only because nobody seems to be able to take adventure to the next level doesn't mean it's not possible or (even worse) bad (evil?) to do so! damn Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hermes Posted January 18, 2005 are you taking a piss? No seriously, I'm a writes for the great and illustrious gaming-site fuckspot.com. And this game is really coming - I tell you it's coming... I hope fuckspot is not an existing website - if it is - please don't go there.... EDIT: whoa, at fuckspot.com you can get a SECRET BACKDOOR ACCESS.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Duncan Posted January 18, 2005 Not to play down the importance of technology, but what I want at this point is an adventure game that's actually well written. Adventure games used to be a hell of a lot more fun, and now you always play someone incredibly bland who says incredibly bland things while you solve uninteresting puzzles and a half-hearted plot hangs in the background. But that's okay, because it's 2D, point-and-click, and the graphics look great! I haven't played a really well-written game since... probably Gabriel Knight 3. One of the most recent games I played was Sherlock Holmes: Silver Earring, which was atrocious on so many levels. It feels like standards have been lowered to the point where all you need for critical acclaim is a point-and-click interface and prerendered graphics. You don't need writing and you don't need energy anymore. I want the genre to progress in interface and puzzle design as much as anyone (by which I mean: as much as you guys) but I think it won't matter at all if there's no inspiration behind it. If you look back at Lucasarts and to a lesser extent Sierra, they were actually being creative. Not just in puzzle and game design, but in story as well. Today it just doesn't seem to matter so much. You can totally phone it in, and the audience will be so glad for evidence against claims of a 'dying genre' that they'll say Sherlock Holmes: Silver Earring is 'not so bad!'. That, and it wouldn't kill the genre to be funny again. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Redwall Posted January 18, 2005 Various developers have tried to advance adventure gamers. Like Broken Sword 3, which brilliantly advanced the adventure genre with... Crates. Anyway, we can hope for Dreamfall or something. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
