syntheticgerbil

Oh wow. I guess Steve has no loyal podcast fans at all. This is maybe just a step worse than no one replying. Also maybe I'll dig this thread up in two years and add a post, since I seem to be one of the few that can correctly use the search function.

That's Ryan Jones again right? They look grumpy but it's very well executed and I am in awe.

I'm sorry to admit I don't know anything about Texas Hold'em either.

Haha, awesome. That made me smile.

Haha, I think all of that was made up for the sake of that headline.

I sent a bit more earlier on, but they didn't get read, so I stopped. I think I was asking the wrong questions. I'm not going to repost them here though, even though they are still in my sent folder. Is this thread made in hopes they'll now answer your questions?

I like that it's trying to be closer to the cover art, but I feel like this sort of still looks very strange. Also I'm really not fond of Maniac Mansion. I have to force myself to play it. It tends to be really hard to know what to do, even though it's incredibly short, and it has like the worst design of any LucasArts adventure ever, except possible Zak McKracken, Last Crusade, or maybe Labyrinth (haven't played that one), although the first two have good sections.

Funny you say that, because I don't think it strays that much in terms of their flavor and design, but the puzzle you cite is definitely more with them in line of keeping the game realistic with the setting it is it. The Full Throttle puzzles tend to be more cruel or heavy handed like Monkey Island 2, just way less inventory crazy. A lot of it works similar in a way to the construction of the two Indiana Jones adventures in terms of flow, like using fists and bringing action more suitably into an adventure game. But eh, I never had a problem with action sequences, but I know some people get upset about it. And to Patters, about the "yanks" comment... I'll concede that the first Broken Sword is above average and works as an adventure very well in terms of everything except some of the set ups, motivations, and a few puzzles, but I really feel like I have very good reason why none of the other Revolution adventures really work. I don't know if I should really get into it, but I've played Broken Sword 1 and 2, Lure of the Temptress, and Beneath a Steel Sky twice or more each. I stopped after Broken Sword 3. I had started with the first game, known to me as "Circle of Blood," felt that is was a good game, so I started checking out the rest of the adventures by the company only to be disappointed over and over. It's really not about the "Britishness" of the games for me. Actually that would kind of be a selling point in a way, considering half the junk I like in terms of art, music, movies, comics, or whatever seems to be done by Brits. I guess the bigger problem is the games just seem to have no sense of urgency or vivid characterization (outside of 1 or 2 per game) that makes the game's narrative flow. I think Beneath a Steel Sky is the perfect example of this problem. It starts out big, with a long sprawling introduction, making you think you are really in for some fun in a Blade Runner type setting, and then you end up doing a few domestic things and some light tasks until you realize you're already in the third act of the game. Everything except Broken Sword 1 and 3 seems to follow this. Shortness doesn't ruin a game for me, but they just feel so uninvolved. Broken Sword 3 just had a myriad of it's own problems that I would have to try hard to remember since it's been a while since I finished that. Then following behind all of this, Charles Cecil tends to get a bit pompous in interviews. But this is all kind of off tracks since no Revolution games are as bad as Syberia, Longest Journey, or any of the mediocre new ones being released. I'm wondering if the Director's Cuts of both Broken Sword 1 and BaSS mend many of the problems. If I'm not mistaken, doesn't Broken Sword's DC go into more about the motivation for both George and Nico? I still probably wouldn't recommend any for a start for a person that's "adventure game lite." Nerdy Questions: 1) Anyone notice on Broken Sword that there seems to have been a different animation team doing almost all of the really great cutscenes? The intro, ending, and ferrari scene are the major ones I remember off the top of my head. The way the characters are drawn and how they move are much more skilled and different than the actual in game animation and many of the smaller cutscenes. Whoever this team was, none of the skill or nuances was used in the Broken Sword 2 animations. 2) Can someone tell me if there is suppose to be a back insert to the PC CD-Rom version of Willy Beamish's jewelcase? It's bugging me...

http://www.slidetoplay.com/story/earthworm-jim-hands-on-and-video So Earthworm Jim is getting an HD facelift and word is it will include all the extra levels from previous versions. The video featured in the link sounds awful though. There's all this noise happening all at once with that dreadful music. They also took the time to rerecord Doug TenNapel doing Jim without Doug TenNapel. Now it just sounds like some bro hanging out during Miller Time. And those screams are just a distorted mess! Why would they do that if it seems they rerecorded the voices because of audio clarity?! I'm hoping at least maybe the console versions of this remake will have the CD music from the Sega CD and PC releases. Besides the awful new sound effects, I guess I'm feeling negative towards this remake just because Gameloft is behind it. I get the feeling they'll find some way to fuck it up but I can't be sure. That said, I'm tremendously glad it's not suffering from a "reimagining" the way Secret of Monkey Island was. That would be a crime.

Haha, long ago, I e-mailed Doug TenNapel looking for tips on finishing Earthworm Jim 3D and his reply was instructions on throwing the game in the trash. It is pretty bad. I never did beat it. I also didn't realize until after e-mailed Doug TenNapel that the original team is only responsible for 1 and 2.

How come this never became an emoticon? He's kind of Harrison Ford type dashing. I remember one review he did where he was speaking about when he went to Europe. The women were all over this sexy American.

Hello, does anyone here live in Russia and maybe would be willing to have me ship Samorost 2 to your house and then pay you to ship it to me in the United States? I think it also works with surrounding European Countries. http://www.ozon.ru/context/detail/id/4182855/ Ozon won't ship to the US, even after I went through all that work with Google translate. I also can't seem to persuade anyone, including the publisher or creator to ship me the Russian DVD Box set. I would really just like to get my hands on that sketchbook this release comes with. From talking to the creator at Amanita, it seems to only exist in the Russian version. Sad times.

Any new Russian Thumbs since my last post? I'm still having no luck at the Machinarium forums.

Adventure game types fighting people?! All I get are the images of gangly and pale book nerds and old single women, myself included somewhere in that spectrum. I guess that would make a pretty hilarious game though.

YES! (I've never actually seen this movie outside of repeated viewings of the box cover. I'm hoping that counts for something.) Also that sucks Murdoc. I actually checked that list to see if I had any duplicates from junk I'm supposed to sell out of the closet on Ebay, but I don't.

It all makes sense now!

Syberia is awful. I wanted to give up so bad. I still can't believe all the hype and praise it got. All the puzzles were so half assed. Character design, story, backgrounds, and motivation were either completely missing or just incredibly bland. My theory is a lot of adventure game males at the time just wanted to fuck the main character. That's all I've got. I really just don't understand one bit, even with the bleakness you use as the game's defining characteristic juv3nal. If there's one game that majorly made me feel a disconnect with the adventure game community and what was generally accepted as a great adventure game, Syberia was it. Longest Journey doesn't even come close. I guess if I want to play an adventure game that makes me ask what am I doing here and what is all this shit, I would rather play The Neverhood.

Thunderpeel! Where did you go? Also I have not watched anything new lately outside of Dinner for Shmucks, which is funny enough. Also I have started watching old Simpsons on DVD and just remembered how much I used to love this show. The old episodes make me feel all warm inside. The plan is to stop at Season 7.

Guess I beat Earthworm Jim HD (for the most part). I was coming in with misgivings since there were already two cases of plagiarized artwork and just bad Korean/Chinese outsourced art from Gameloft, but it's Gameloft, so what do you expect? My theory is Ubisoft named the "worse games" division Gameloft so that they could keep putting out cheap shit and not have to take any guff for it. Besides that the Windows 95 version is still the best you're going to get, there's a lot to like in the HD version here. A lot of the animation ranges from spot on to just piss poor from animators not knowing what they are doing or how to even draw these characters. This is kind of inexcusable, because what should have happened is the team should have been supplied with this awesome SEGA book in the 90s that extensively covers Earthworm Jim animations frame by frame, concept art, character drawing tips, and general animation tips. In fact it was even scanned and put up earlier this year: http://slappypictures.blogspot.com/2010/03/making-of-earthworm-jim.html This stuff is amazing for me to see as an animator. Very helpful tips in here that can be applied to any character. But anyway, the complete game is intact in HD except for the secret level and the Special Edition exclusive which is a shame. The biggest problem is while the audio I was complaining about earlier seems to have been rerecorded to match the original game now, it's still missing sounds and the music is just absolutely terrible. It sounds like rerecorded MIDI sequences of the Genesis version. Did this team even know CD Audio exists for every level in two previous versions? That was the best audio, I don't know why it wasn't used. It would have saved whoever's time to make crappy renditions of the old songs with computer farts. To be fair some of the new "reimagined songs" don't sound that bad, but it's in half and half territory. I think the HD game handles like a charm though. They even ironed out the problems with the Tube Race level. I've heard people complain in other places about how bad this game handles, but I had no problems with it. Maybe this is because for a few years when I was really young I was beating Earthworm Jim ten times a year out of boredom, but I was not frustrated one bit. Almost all secrets and tips for certain bosses and levels are there as well. The reason I haven't really finished this is there are three kind of uninspired levels added that are kind of like New Junk City mixed with the ISO 9000 level of EWJ2. There's also really stupid bosses on each level. They are separate but I can't seem to beat Keyboard Cat (Really, it's in there. Erghhh. TenNapel seemed to be disappointed with this most in the remake besides not being asked to help, the plagiarism, and it being outsourced to China). What makes the game worth the ten bucks I think is just the multiplayer truly. There's fifteen added levels that I was having a blast playing with people online. This all kind of put a smile on my face. It kind of works like four swords where you have to balance greed with cooperation. I really couldn't believe the amount of levels given to this. The part that really made me most angry was a trophy that required you to beat the game on "original" mode (normal mode in the original game, but actually easier than that) without losing a life. It's not like I was ever able to do this before. There's this one idiotic part where you battle the chicken and almost always have to lose a life somewhere right after that that trips me up. Finally I was able to get this trophy, but I don't think I've ever encountered one this impossible so far (Only have 10 PS3 games though). Companies that put in trophies/achievements like this are really mean spirited. Sure it doesn't bother most people, but it's super stressful for people like me that feel obligated to 100% all crap or they will feel this nagging inside their heads. Luckily a few games lately seem to be giving me 100% achievements for just beating the game like I normally would if I were actually playing the game well. Isn't that achievement enough? Those are the best.

I have beaten Earthworm Jim HD and Metal Gear MSX version! I'm putting my EWJ HD experience in the other thread, but I will say I enjoyed the Metal Gear MSX version much more than the NES one I played long ago. It still amazes me how much of the earlier games plays more like an adventure in a way. The biggest problem is just knowing when to call people on codec and that there's almost no way to know when to call Jennifer to get the rocket launcher or the compass. I'm now starting Metal Gear 2 in my free time, and we'll see how well that works out. It's already looking to iron out some of the first games problems, having a large step up in better graphics, music, and animations. Strangest thing is it seems like it's going to be exactly the same game as Metal Gear Solid, except 2D. I'm having Deja Vu already climbing into a vent, landing in a tank room, and talking to Master Millar.

Ah that makes sense. Yeah they'll probably all have their personalities intact, I would think. I really can't speak for how the Penny Arcade 20 something guy will act, but I'm sure the rest will be funny and outrageous in their own special ways. Considering I'm only really a fan of Sam and Max out of these for a super long time now, I think I'm trying to cover up an empty sadness that might be appearing from Max appearing in a crossover game.

I think what sold the game was basically the art, animation, and... mystery? I really don't know why Revolution is so praised. I really dislike every single one of their adventures I've played besides Broken Sword to some extent, except the first Broken Sword. But even the first Broken Sword isn't good enough for me to own a copy. They all seem to suffer from really uneven narratives or just jumping from linear place to linear place. But I suppose there's a lot worse adventures out there at the same time, which I guess is the saving grace of almost every average or mediocre adventure. I refuse to play any more Revolution adventures after forcing myself to finish the trainwreck of the third Broken Sword game. This kind of reminds of one time when I was a much nicer teenager and was somewhat more polite where I had spoke about how ugly, boring, lamely designed, and disappointing Gilbert Goodmate was on the AdventureGamers forums based on the demo I finished and some guy really got onto me for being so down on the game and claiming I was the type who prevented good adventures from being made and that I should not be so critical of a small company for trying. Guh.

Except that's impossible in crossover games. How can a character live up to it's full potential if at least a few are going to be stripped from the environment in which they exist in? It's like hoping a crossover comic is going to be amazing. Although I have known of some guys to ejaculate in their pants for Infinite Crisis. These types of people should be kept in dark basements and not allowed to breed though.

Fuck yeah, e-reader! Those Mario Advance 4 levels were fucking awesome!

I guess I should note I'm not serious and don't actually expect a Super Smash Bros. clone.