Point & Click Adventure Thread 2017 - Pixels Walk With Me

RetroMG · Sep 24, 2018

thelongestj said:
Forgotton Anne is coming to Switch next year. Did anyone play this?

I did, and I enjoyed it, although I don't know that I'd call it a point and click adventure. It plays more like Limbo or Inside, but with a heavier emphasis on puzzles. (But not like, "Use wrench on banana" puzzles. More like "Figure out the order these switches need to be flipped to get the machine working" puzzles.) It's got a good story, a neat world and lovable characters, though. I recommend it, and I'd totally play a sequel in the same world.

Thanks for the rest of the recommendations, I'll check a bunch of those out.

Also, seconding the recommendation on Darkside Detective, and yes, please go back season 2.

thelongestj · Sep 24, 2018

RetroMG said:
I did, and I enjoyed it, although I don't know that I'd call it a point and click adventure. It plays more like Limbo or Inside, but with a heavier emphasis on puzzles. (But not like, "Use wrench on banana" puzzles. More like "Figure out the order these switches need to be flipped to get the machine working" puzzles.) It's got a good story, a neat world and lovable characters, though. I recommend it, and I'd totally play a sequel in the same world.

Thanks for the rest of the recommendations, I'll check a bunch of those out.

Also, seconding the recommendation on Darkside Detective, and yes, please go back season 2.

Yes, i didn't think it was point and click, but Adventure Gamers reviewed it so I thought that would make it close enough, but that definitely sounds like the kind of puzzles that will be more enjoyable in handheld mode than on the laptop.

More upcoming adventures: Sumatra by Cloak and Dagger Games (Legend of Hand, Football Game) just got a steam page.

You are Yandi, a villager who works for the Pandang Logging Company deep in the Sumatran jungle. Your journey begins when a dramatic accident leaves you stranded and alone in the jungle. You must survive, you must find help - you must escape! But who knows what you might come across in the process?

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I like the monkeys.

Chestbridge · Sep 24, 2018

thelongestj said:
More upcoming adventures: Sumatra by Cloak and Dagger Games (Legend of Hand, Football Game) just got a steam page.

You are Yandi, a villager who works for the Pandang Logging Company deep in the Sumatran jungle. Your journey begins when a dramatic accident leaves you stranded and alone in the jungle. You must survive, you must find help - you must escape! But who knows what you might come across in the process?

Man, this looked eerily familiar to me until I realized I've already played their free older version / demo that came out three years ago under the title Pendek. That version was insanely fun, looking forward to this expanded / remade one.

shoptroll · Sep 24, 2018

I think those are bears, not monkeys?

Anyways.... Some more thoughts on Lamplight City now that I'm through the first case and maybe 50-60% of the second one:

I think the Adventure Gamers review is incredibly accurate although I would score it higher (I think their writer bounced hard off it). It's a slow burn with a lot of listening to dialog and working through dialog trees. That said, this is very much a game where you will start with a couple loose ends to start pulling and once you start tugging on them you unravel more things to pull on. It's a bit addicting to keep chipping away at each case piece by piece and very satisfying when you get what feels like a real break in the case. As a game that definitely has some Holmesian overtures it really does feel like you're playing the role of a detective.

Unfortunately, this does come at the expense of pacing as you spend a lot of time clicking on a dialog tree option and then listen to the NPC go on for another 2-3 minutes in many case. Plus you have a narrator which, while tightly integrated into the plot of the game, means you're also doing a lot of clicking things to hear a description. Arriving directly in the wake of Unavowed I found this a bit jarring as I had really gotten used to the "hover on hotspot for description" methodology that game employed. Having to go back to the older method felt surprisingly out of place to me.

The lack of an inventory and "real" puzzles is going to be a turn-off for some I expect. That said, I personally haven't been wanting for a proper inventory as clues, topics of inquiry, and evidence are brought up fairly organically and I've never felt like there's really a time when I'd prefer to manually present something to an NPC other than for gag purposes (which would be totally out of character for the game). This does help with the game flow at least and I think the game would be a lot more cumbersome if you had to go into the inventory each time to present something to an NPC instead of showing up in the dialog tree as a point of inquiry.

If there's any tangible benefit of the amount of chatter from the NPCs it's that there's some really strong world building going on. This is a world, or at least a city, I want to know more about as I continue to play and that feeds into wanting to exhaust all the dialog trees just to know more about the city and the inhabitants within. I don't think the game is breaking any new ground (it's Steampunk New Orleans in case the trailer and copious amount of Gabriel Knight homages weren't a hint) but it's very well thought out and quite deliberate and feels like a real place that doesn't shy away from real problems like class and racial strife or worker's rights that you would expect to find in this setting.

It's an interesting game, and it would be a shame if it fails to connect with an audience. I don't think it's as polished as Unavowed was, but I'm enjoying it and I'd love to see Francisco take another stab at this style of adventure.

thelongestj · Sep 24, 2018

Chestbridge said:
Man, this looked eerily familiar to me until I realized I've already played their free older version / demo that came out three years ago under the title Pendek. That version was insanely fun, looking forward to this expanded / remade one.

Yes, I forgot to mention that. Cool that you've played it.

shoptroll said:
I think those are bears, not monkeys?

Yes, you're right, after looking for bears in Sumatra I see that they are supposed to be sun bears.

Thanks for your write-up on Lamplight City. I wanted to rush out and get it, but this is confirming my decision that waiting for a sale is probably best. I was doing well not adding to my backlog this year, but then summer sales happened and now I need to catch up.

thelongestj · Oct 1, 2018

In case anyone wants to feel disappointed: I just stumbled across this collection of screenshots of The Devil's Men. On the bright side you can look at the other albums and find some other gorgeous looking games you've never heard of before that do exist.

shoptroll · Oct 4, 2018

Got a Kickstarter update today for Mage's Initiation: release is now targeting early 2019 (mostly due to trying to find an open release window so they can get more review attention), there's a new beta going live, the game is now available for wishlisting on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/270610/Mages_Initiation_Reign_of_the_Elements/

thelongestj said:
In case anyone wants to feel disappointed: I just stumbled across this collection of screenshots of The Devil's Men. On the bright side you can look at the other albums and find some other gorgeous looking games you've never heard of before that do exist.

Ooof that hurts. Also, there was a Wayne's World point & click? That's almost as weird a mix as the Beavis & Butthead game.

Wapcaplet · Oct 4, 2018

Mark Darin, former Telltaler and creator of the Nick Bounty series, just launched a Kickstarter for a new Nick Bounty game.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pinheadgames/nick-bounty-and-the-dame-with-the-blue-chewed-shoe

shoptroll · Oct 5, 2018

Quest for Infamy is on sale this weekend at Steam for $5. One of the project leads has been struggling with kidney disease for years and is getting a transplant from his wife later this year and while parts of the Internet have been rallying to help ease the financial burden of the operation. So every bit helps. I had the fortune of meeting the team at PAX East a few years ago and they're a wonderful group. The game is a little rough around the edges as it was their first commercial project (the VA in particular) but it's an ambitious and wonderful homage to the Quest for Glory games, and its worth checking out just to see how sprawling an AGS game can be.

Deleted member 36345 · Oct 6, 2018

I'd like to announce that after replaying it almost yearly since its release, I finally can't stand listening to Gabriel Knight's narrator anymore

Wapcaplet · Oct 6, 2018

Steam page is up for Lorelai, from the creator of The Cat Lady and Downfall.

Mivey · Oct 6, 2018

Wapcaplet said:
Steam page is up for Lorelai, from the creator of The Cat Lady and Downfall.

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Interesting art style, combining a 3D background, with the hand-drawn characters. It looks okay in this still image, but I wonder how it holds up in motion. In the trailer she is mostly just standing still, only a few brief glimpses of her moving.
Stylistic choices aside, the production values in this one look to be incredible. I hope the dev isn't spending more on this than it has a chance of recuperating.

AncientReptileBrain · Oct 7, 2018

i didn't realise until the fourth case in Lamplight City that there could be more than one suspect. I fucked up every case to this point, and it's completely ruined my motivation to keep playing. :(

Tizoc · Oct 7, 2018

ant colony said:
I'd like to announce that after replaying it almost yearly since its release, I finally can't stand listening to Gabriel Knight's narrator anymore

You can mute the narrator thru options
I personally like her presentation :)

Tizoc · Oct 7, 2018

Wapcaplet said:
Mark Darin, former Telltaler and creator of the Nick Bounty series, just launched a Kickstarter for a new Nick Bounty game.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pinheadgames/nick-bounty-and-the-dame-with-the-blue-chewed-shoe

Game's already reached its goal! Maybe consider making a thread for it to bring more attention to it?
edit: of interest is this part at the end of the Stretch goal section

If funding exceeds $60,000 I pledge to reach out to reach out to my former Telltale colleagues who also recently lost their jobs and offer contract work where I can.

shoptroll · Oct 9, 2018

New game by Amanita announced for 2019:

Waffle-Stomper · Oct 10, 2018

that looks so good.
I'm a sucker for anything amanita design

Tizoc · Oct 10, 2018

Darkside Detective 2 just reached 100% funding :)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/spookydoorway/the-darkside-detective-season-2

Feel free to back to get more stretch goals reached.

thelongestj · Oct 13, 2018

Congrats to Darkside Detective 2 for getting funded. It's been a great year for getting back into backing adventure game kickstarters. I'm bummed that neither The Sundew or Cross Code got funded, because those were the two that seemed the most interesting to me, but between DD2, Backbone, Sol705 and Truberbrook and K'NOSSOS it's been a good year.

In other news, Whispers of a Machine is getting closer to being finished and they hired Ivan Ulyanov (worked on many Wadjet Eye Games titles) to do the portraits.

Let's hope it releases early 2019 to start the year off right.

SweetSark · Oct 13, 2018

thelongestj said:
In other news, Whispers of a Machine is getting closer to being finished and they hired Ivan Ulyanov (worked on many Wadjet Eye Games titles) to do the portraits.

Let's hope it releases early 2019 to start the year off right.

As always, I love the pixel portraits in these games.
Ishe the same one who made the portraits in Unavowed?

Xagarath · Oct 13, 2018

thelongestj said:
In other news, Whispers of a Machine is getting closer to being finished and they hired Ivan Ulyanov (worked on many Wadjet Eye Games titles) to do the portraits.

Let's hope it releases early 2019 to start the year off right.

I've got fairly high hopes for this one - the concept's good, and Kathy Rain is one of my favourites of the modern P&Cs.

ja2ke · Oct 13, 2018

Tizoc said:
Game's already reached its goal! Maybe consider making a thread for it to bring more attention to it?
edit: of interest is this part at the end of the Stretch goal section

From the sounds of the latest update, he's already contracted two ex telltale concept artists to do visual development for the game, which isn't pretty encouraging!

shoptroll · Oct 13, 2018

SweetSark said:
Ishe the same one who made the portraits in Unavowed?

I believe Ivan was credited as the portrait artist on Unavowed.

SwitchedOff · Oct 13, 2018

shoptroll said:
New game by Amanita announced for 2019:

Wow, love the look of that - Amanita Design's games are always so brilliant.

Tizoc · Oct 13, 2018

sir_crocodile I think you once mentioned how the FM Towns ver. of Loom, or a specific ver. of Loom had an ingame menu to see all your drafts. I am playing the FM Towns ver. buuuut I don't see anything resembling that :X

Mivey · Oct 13, 2018

Tizoc said:
sir_crocodile I think you once mentioned how the FM Towns ver. of Loom, or a specific ver. of Loom had an ingame menu to see all your drafts. I am playing the FM Towns ver. buuuut I don't see anything resembling that :X

I think the manual had those, don't think any version of Loom had it ingame. though you could only use drafts once you actually heard them (and were advanced enough in the story to hit the right notes).

Tizoc · Oct 13, 2018

Mivey said:
I think the manual had those, don't think any version of Loom had it ingame. though you could only use drafts once you actually heard them (and were advanced enough in the story to hit the right notes).

Ah I see, thanks for clearing it up.

sir_crocodile · Oct 14, 2018

Tizoc said:
sir_crocodile I think you once mentioned how the FM Towns ver. of Loom, or a specific ver. of Loom had an ingame menu to see all your drafts. I am playing the FM Towns ver. buuuut I don't see anything resembling that :X

I have no memory of this tizzy. Just checked all my era/gaf posts(you made me have to log back into gaf lol :P ) and it would appear I never said anything like that.

Found this in the old place:

sir_crocodile said:
tizoc said:

EDIT: BTW could someone post about the differences in the OG Floppy Versions of Loom and its lter releases?
There are other versions with minor differences, but for the main three:

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

EGA IBM compatible floppy has closeups, obviously as the original it has the full dialogue, 16-colour EGA graphics. The only version Brian Moriarty worked on, so everything is as he intended.

FM-TOWNS version has a digital soundtrack, 256-colour VGA graphics (although it is a slightly different version then the PC-CD one), the closeups and all of the original dialogue. No voice acting. One slight bit of censored blood, 2 mins of music is missing at the beginning.

PC-CD version scrapped the character closeups because they couldn't lip sync to the added voice acting and scrapped loads of dialogue because they wouldn't have been able to fit the full Loom dialogue on the cd as it was stored as redbook audio. Has 256-colour VGA graphics. Couple of new bits. See more here: http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=802320

So basically you can make arguments over whether the floppy(the game as intended by the dev) or the FM TOWNS version(better graphics, sound, practically no lost content) is the best, but the PC-CD version is undoubtedly the worst. Sadly it's also the only one available to purchase digitally. :/

That's about as deep I got into the differences.

Tizoc · Oct 14, 2018

sir_crocodile said:
I have no memory of this tizzy. Just checked all my era/gaf posts(you made me have to log back into gaf lol :P ) and it would appear I never said anything like that.

Found this in the old place:

That's about as deep I got into the differences.

Yeah my apologies, i misremembered

So i guess for loom it helps to have an extra notepad saved foe the threads :p

Mivey · Oct 14, 2018

Tizoc said:
Yeah my apologies, i misremembered

So i guess for loom it helps to have an extra notepad saved foe the threads :p

I just made dozens of save files via scumm and just loaded it up to hear each spell again

sir_crocodile · Oct 14, 2018

I used a pen and paper back in the day lol. The version of loom I bought didn't come with the book of patterns anyway

Tizoc · Oct 16, 2018

Nice.

F-Pina · Oct 17, 2018

Hey guys. We announced last week we are putting our 2 Detective Case and Clown Bot games on the Nintendo Switch.
Going to get some cool pointing controls to work alongside the touchscreen AND the typical analogue controls. I always think it is good to provide all the possible control options instead of keeping only the old-school P'n'C style.

I have no idea when we will release but sometime next year, I guess :)

http://nerdmonkeys.pt/2018/10/09/detective-case-clown-bot-in-the-nintendo-switch/

dummmyy · Oct 17, 2018

F-Pina said:
Hey guys. We announced last week we are putting our 2 Detective Case and Clown Bot games on the Nintendo Switch.
Going to get some cool pointing controls to work alongside the touchscreen AND the typical analogue controls. I always think it is good to provide all the possible control options instead of keeping only the old-school P'n'C style.

I have no idea when we will release but sometime next year, I guess :)

http://nerdmonkeys.pt/2018/10/09/detective-case-clown-bot-in-the-nintendo-switch/

Awesome! Congrats!!

Oinone · Oct 22, 2018

Finally played Whispered World 2 - Silence. I'm a huge Daedalic fan and was really hyped, when the game was announced. Love the first one too (although it's not flawless).
But when I heard, how much the gameplay was reduced to a simple Telltale style, it climbed down the ladder in my To Do list.
Sadly I found it even worse than expected. The gameplay is just far to simple for my taste, even with all helps deactivated. There's not even an inventory! It felt more like clicking at the hotspots in the right order than really solving a puzzle by thinking. It does have those moments, and that's when the fun showed, but far too short and simple. The rest is wachting cutscenes and using the mouse (or gamepad...) to help the character balancing. They could have left out the flying through clouds stuff as well. Just ugh.
And making decisions? It's absolutely irrelevant, nothing changes. (Despite the one at the end of the game, of course.) Could have left that out as well.
The story can't compensate that. It doesn't really fit as a sequel to the first game. (Suddenly war? Suddenly a sister? The father gone? Excuse me?) And the new things added throughout the game stay unsolved as well. For example what was the deal with Kyra and her hair?
Additionally the game is a bit too short and the loading time too long.
But it looks absolutely gorgeous. Every scene wants to make you stop and just watch the screen for 5 minutes. And Spot is soooo cute!
It's a shame, they tried to be Telltale-ish, I love their classic adventures so much.

Mivey · Oct 22, 2018

Sounds like Silence is exactly what I expected seeing the trailer and first gameplay bits. Can't say I'm sad either, Daedalic has just gotten too big for PnC games to fund them, so trying to fill the hole that Telltale is leaving is probably a smart idea.

AgainstTheCurrent · Oct 23, 2018

It's such a shame because the first game is so fucking good.

Between Syberia 3, Dreamfall Chapters, and Whispered World 2 there sure are a lot of shite sequels to great games in the genre lately.

Oinone · Oct 23, 2018

AgainstTheCurrent said:
Between Syberia 3, Dreamfall Chapters, and Whispered World 2 there sure are a lot of shite sequels to great games in the genre lately.

I wouldn't even consider Dreamfall a good sequel to Longest Journey to begin with. :/ And let's not forget the new Black Mirror game, that's meant to be quite shitty. *sigh*

AgainstTheCurrent · Oct 23, 2018

Dreamfall was ok. Not a patch on TLJ but I enjoyed it for what it was.

Mivey · Oct 23, 2018

I feel Dreamfall and Chapters are very much its own thing within the larger TLJ universe. It doesn't help that Red Thread promised a return to point and click in their Kickstarter, but it did turn out pretty quickly to be bullshit, it was "just" a sequel to Dreamfall.
The biggest issue of Chapters is the dumb pacing. So much time spent on the first two chapters (or were they called Acts?), and so little on the remainder, where most of the actual plot occurred, but essentially on fast-forward as the game rushed from plot point to point. The final chapter was almost comical how bad this made the storytelling feel. It literally resolves most of the problems by hand waiving. It's amazing how this happens to such an experienced team. Guess in their split from Funcom they left all the good producers behind.

thelongestj · Oct 26, 2018

AgainstTheCurrent said:
It's such a shame because the first game is so fucking good.

Between Syberia 3, Dreamfall Chapters, and Whispered World 2 there sure are a lot of shite sequels to great games in the genre lately.

Well I really like Syberia I and II, but I stayed away from Syberia 3, from the reviews and the jank. Maybe it will be patched to be okay some day, but I guess that won't fix the story, plus II was a great ending anyway.

Dreamfall Chapters on the other hand, I did play. Obviously this series means a lot to me (see avatar), so I was pretty crushed with how Chapters turned out. A lot of that comes from numerous crashes in the beginning that i think we're fixed in the final cut version. It also turned out way more Telltale like than I thought would happen from the kickstarter. Maybe in a few years time I'll replay it and enjoy it then.

In terms of sequels with potential. Tormentum II was just announced https://vimeo.com/296870653

i never played the original, but I might pick it up some day if it's on sale for cheap. The same studio also has another game Tsioque coming out on November 7th. Did anyone play the demo? Any good?

Also coming out the day before is The Shapeshifting Detective:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/898650/The_Shapeshifting_Detective/

I played The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker on the Switch. I liked the actors, but I didn't really like the format. I will wait for some more impressions, but it's hard to say no to more FMV.

In terms of deals on the Switch, Goetia is now ridiculously cheap < $2 USD. I assume it is worth it at that price.

AgainstTheCurrent · Oct 26, 2018

The Adventures of Dog Mendonça & Pizzaboy is £3 on Steam.

No idea what it is, but it was cheap and trailer looked ok, so I bit.

Tizoc · Oct 27, 2018

This adventure game, which lets you enter the world of books such as Gilgamesh and Pantagruel

Can be had for as little as USD 1 in this groupees bundle

https://groupees.com/bab45

thelongestj · Oct 27, 2018

AgainstTheCurrent said:
The Adventures of Dog Mendonça & Pizzaboy is £3 on Steam.

No idea what it is, but it was cheap and trailer looked ok, so I bit.

I backed the game on kickstarter because I liked the graphics, the story and puzzles are okay, but overall I was happy with it.

Tizoc said:
This adventure game, which lets you enter the world of books such as Gilgamesh and Pantagruel

Can be had for as little as USD 1 in this groupees bundle

https://groupees.com/bab45

I enjoyed Tales quite a lot. The book switching mechanic is cumbersome, but it is cool seeing all the different settings with that great pixel art. Definitely recommended at that price.

F-Pina · Oct 27, 2018

AgainstTheCurrent said:
The Adventures of Dog Mendonça & Pizzaboy is £3 on Steam.

No idea what it is, but it was cheap and trailer looked ok, so I bit.

It is based on a comic book created by a good friend of mine. Only played the demo and don't have a more in depth opinion but the art was exactly like the books which is always awesome to see. Made the cool dudes of Okam Studio in Buenos Aires :)

Cecil · Nov 1, 2018

A friendly reminder that you can get Full Throttle Remastered for $1, with both DRM free download and Steam key, right now.

https://www.humblebundle.com/games/day-of-the-devs-2018

Oinone · Nov 1, 2018

I'm more a fan of the original pixel style than the smoothed comic one of the remastered, same goes for Day of the Tantacle. I don't really know why, cause I love comic style in other games like Daedalic's for example. Maybe it's a bit of nostalgia? And I have a heart for pixel art as well.
Well Full Throttel is not really one of my favorites. The biker gang setting wasn't mine and some puzzles where a bit exhausting. Like the fight on the bikes, the crash race with the cars or finding the right spot to kick against for the secret passage.
But still a decent game.

sir_crocodile · Nov 1, 2018

Oinone said:
I'm more a fan of the original pixel style than the smoothed comic one of the remastered, same goes for Day of the Tantacle. I don't really know why, cause I love comic style in other games like Daedalic's for example. Maybe it's a bit of nostalgia? And I have a heart for pixel art as well.
Well Full Throttel is not really one of my favorites. The biker gang setting wasn't mine and some puzzles where a bit exhausting. Like the fight on the bikes, the crash race with the cars or finding the right spot to kick against for the secret passage.
But still a decent game.

FT remastered comes with the feature to switch to the original sound/graphics. So does DoTT, although that one isn't perfect (you need a tool to get the original SFX).

Both remasters suffer from a poor graphical makeover, I assume the budgets weren't very high. They look like they were vectorised and then had additional detail added. Characters don't feel like they live in the same world as the backgrounds.

FT was not a great game to begin with. A large chunk of the game was cut off (you were supposed to be able to go in the cavefishes hideout for one), and some of the puzzles are absolutely dire. Lovely aesthetic and va though.

shoptroll · Nov 1, 2018

sir_crocodile said:
FT was not a great game to begin with. A large chunk of the game was cut off (you were supposed to be able to go in the cavefishes hideout for one), and some of the puzzles are absolutely dire. Lovely aesthetic and va though.

That sure sounds like a Tim Schafer game. And I say that as someone who likes Grim Fandango and his other games.

sir_crocodile · Nov 1, 2018

shoptroll said:
That sure sounds like a Tim Schafer game. And I say that as someone who likes Grim Fandango and his other games.

Yep. Hallmarks of his P&C games seems to be trying to do too much, awful gameplay/puzzles, beautiful presentation, great voice casting and superb story & dialogue. Only one that doesn't fit that mold is DoTT, which is probably due to Grossman co-directing.

Man I wish they'd do a game together again

Point & Click Adventure Thread 2017 - Pixels Walk With Me

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