Roderick

Nondescript Adventure Gaming Topique

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(Ebay would obviously be cheating)

 

Ha, that makes me laugh, as I'm the same way. There's no fun in just looking on eBay and buying it, fuck that. You have to find something for sale in the real world and have that sudden jolt of surprise and wonder when you stumble across it.

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I don't know, as someone who continuously has his full 100 saved searches going for rare CDs, games, and books, there's a thrill ebay gives on finding something that is not just rare but super rare, and then getting a deal. Regular stores just don't have that long lost item you have always wanted.

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I can dig that, since in my fifteen years of scouring the land for a single copy of Sanitarium, I came up with zilch. The jewelcase edition you had might've been the rerelease they did in the States, which wasn't available here.

 

I know. As time went on, my quest became more and more piffling and I a weird old milquetoast collector.

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I'd be interested in knowing what you think of Sanitarium now. Am I crazy or did it really just fall off the deep end after the first two chapters? And it's weird because all of the chapters are like self contained little games. It's almost like a different team did each chapter.

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Played for two hours now, first impressions after fifteen years!

 

I like it! The graphics are still really good and atmospheric. I LOVE how each environment is a single screen, and all the interiors are see-through as you step into them. There are so many gorgeous details, like flying leaflets in the wind, cans kicking around, crows. This game (at least these first parts) was made with tons of love, it really shows.

 

You walk just a little too slowly, that gets tedious, especially when the backtracking begins. Having said that, the puzzles are refined. There's not a lot of inventory management. So far, the game seems to understand that exploring the environments is its own reward here. I'm tremendously stuck already through. I've wired up jumper cables to a generator, but I can't seem to electrocute anything yet. I think I'm supposed to fish a cross out of a river, but see no way how. It's fun being stuck again, after the incredible easiness of Broken Sword.

 

So yeah, I'm totally impressed. So far this is a great time and it's holding up. Also, more than a little freaky. I forgot about the deformed kids with twin mouths and roots for legs.

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It's funny how Phoenix Studios has become Sierra all of the sudden, they have the Gabriel Knight 20th Anniversary edition, Quest for Infamy, the Silver Lining and Jane Jensen pretty much gets all her games published by them now.

 

Speaking of the Gabriel Knight remake.... I'm not sure I can play it, I remember GB as a guy solving paranormal mysteries, but I'm not sure I can stand him now.

 

I couldn't make it through the first conversation with Grace, he's just.... sleazy? And what bothers me is that game feels like he's not a sleaze ball to laugh at, like LSL, but a sleaze ball we should laugh WITH. Then again, maybe when I eventually play the LSL 1 remake, I'll find out I can't Larry Laffer either. 

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Synth, I finished Sanitarium and I thought it held up pretty well throughout. In terms of puzzle design and exploration it stays strong. It has a very distinct 'American halloween' vibe to it, but that's OK. The ending is lame of course, but overall I enjoyed it a lot. After years, this is still a fun and unique adventure, especially because of the intuitive controls.

 

Then I went on and finished The Dark Eye: Chains of Satinav, an unutterably charming game that reminded me, in tone, surprisingly, of the Kyrandia series! Notably the first one, which was largely serious. Chains of Satinav has the same vibe of being in a very European, quaint fantasy world where you meet idiosyncratic characters. It's less funny (The Dark Eye is a serious world), but there's so much imagination strewn about. The puzzles are also deftly designed, and with the exception of a few that took the game a bit into the doldrums, I had a blast.

 

This is the second Daedalic game featuring a female companion that you have no choice but lie to, after Deponia. Is this a theme? There's no doubt it's an effective story point, I always feel like a huge jerk and it creates a lot of tension.

 

Bask in how nice this looks:

 

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Deponia is their main humor adventure game, so maybe you won't enjoy their humor, but the Chains of Satinav Rodi mentioned is from them too and I can vouch for it. 

 

Their quality is usually good, so far only one of their games is just simply "so-so", A New Beginning, and even though I despise the main character of The Whispered World, it's pretty good despite the main character.

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So far I've only played this one and Deponia, and was both times very impressed. These games come straight from the Lucasarts point & click lineage and I think they're well designed and anything but paint-by-numbers. They have insane amounts of puzzles and especially Deponia is not always very logical, but if like me you find that enticing (and would rather have this than, say, a puzzle-light adventure like Broken Age), Daedalic games are fantastic.

 

I also quite enjoy the voice acting across these two games. They spend a lot of effort on it, and it shows!

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I love The Dark Eye! It really is just so fucking pretty.

 

I'm also a fan of Deponia, but I can definitely see why someone would be put off pretty much immediately.

 

The rest of their games (that I've played) are pretty decent depending on tastes, but I couldn't recommend them all sight unseen.

 

Main problem I have is with the English dubs (ESPECIALLY with the infamous The Whispered World), but it does feel like they're getting better as they go along.

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They have insane amounts of puzzles and especially Deponia is not always very logical, but if like me you find that enticing (and would rather have this than, say, a puzzle-light adventure like Broken Age), Daedalic games are fantastic.

 

Ha!  I couldn't agree more.  I think I'll give The Dark Eye a shot.

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I was always sort of interested in Chains of Satinav, I wasn't sure of the quality.

 

I've only played Whispered World and Deponia and they both are often a bit bad on puzzle design, but I didn't really have an issue with Rufus like most people did (besides his constant reminders that he's a jerk, a bit overdone). The main thing that really hurt Whispered World for me was just that awful Sadwick voice for the English version. I can't even remember the game without thinking of that whining tone.

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