Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

Daedalic Deponia

LarryTyphoid

Scholar
Joined
Sep 16, 2021
Messages
2,233
Been playing this series lately on account of being very ill and having time to spare. I'm on Chaos on Deponia now. I've heard a lot about how these games are detested for the unlikable protagonist, and yeah, I can see that. I could see how some journo would get mad at the whole mind-swapping a woman thing, and I don't really care about that. But what's up with all the animal abuse played for comedy? Is this a German thing? I know some will probably call me a moralfag or something because of this, but I saw the "killing baby dolphins" puzzle signposted from miles away, hoping that my expectations would be subverted, and they were not. C'mon, that's not funny. That's like some 4chan newfag's first post on /b/.

I also feel that the second game steers way too far into the "lolso random" category of humor, what with the platypuses and dolphin training. Some of the dialogue sounds like the devs were trying to make Rufus into a meme or something. The animated cutscenes are also more numerous yet of a lower quality, reminding me of amateur Newgrounds animations at times.

Some of the hate towards the protagonist is also because of the puzzles. A lot of the puzzles are tuned to Rufus being a retard, like getting the gardener to move the rake, or feeding the homeless guy a shoe. The rake one in particular made me look up a guide and become more frustrated with how simple the solution was. Some of these were pretty funny and used the format of an adventure game to enhance the comedy, but at other times you just wish you were controlling a capable protagonist instead of a sped.
 

v1rus

Arcane
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
2,253
I just played the first one. IDK, I liked it. Not the best adventure game I ever played, not the worst.
 

LarryTyphoid

Scholar
Joined
Sep 16, 2021
Messages
2,233
The puzzle in Goodbye Deponia where you turn Guybrush Threepwood into a tranny was pretty odd.
 

lightbane

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
10,156
Is this a German thing?
I read somewhere that German's "humor" in adventure games is usually about making the game world a bizarre one, and MCs into complete psychos (sometimes independently of the former). The Mystery of the Druids is the best example as it has both.
 

Neuromancer

Augur
Joined
Jun 10, 2018
Messages
1,238
The Mystery of the Druids was written and marketed as a serious horror game, though.

The "humor" mostly just comes from the cringey dialogue and sometimes stupid behaviour of the characters, but was completely unintended.
 

Hagashager

Educated
Joined
Nov 24, 2022
Messages
492
I'm glad to know my lackluster opinion of Deponia wasn't just me being dense.

I found Rufus utterly unlikable- just a complete test of my patience. What's more, the other characters are also completely unlikable. Since Rufus's bit is that he's a lazy grifter, everyone treats him (and by extension the player) as a lazy grifter.

The setting had great potential that they butchered conpletely. The game's humor and theming have more in common with Ctrl+Alt+Del than anything meaningfully sci-fi. This could've been a halfway decent Mad-Max meets Monkey Island, or God-forbid something more thoughtful.

The puzzle that clued me into this being crap was the demolition puzzle where the location of the bombs is hinted by the hats of the demomen matching a vague silhouette of their homes.

The puzzle that killed it for me was breaking into the car. You're surrounded by garbage, heavy, sharp, easily movable garbage, you even have heavy garbage in your inventory, but no, the *only* way to break open the dead car is melting the lock with a concoction.
 

LarryTyphoid

Scholar
Joined
Sep 16, 2021
Messages
2,233
Since Rufus's bit is that he's a lazy grifter, everyone treats him (and by extension the player) as a lazy grifter.
It's more than that, really. In the first game, he's just a lazy grifter. People complained about him being unlikable, and so Daedalic doubled down and made him even more absurdly hateable in the sequels. The very first puzzle of Chaos on Deponia features Rufus torturing a pet bird and burning an old woman's house down, all while Doc in the foreground talks about how Rufus became a better person. Each game makes Rufus more and more unlikable, and it was intentionally made that way. Sometimes it's funny in an absurdist sense, like Rufus unintentionally feeding a bunch of orphans to a giant sewer monster, but most of the time it doesn't go far enough to be surreal like that and only ends up being stupid or merely mean-spirited. The sense of humor is so misanthropic that I don't know who would enjoy it.

In the first game, when Rufus has a crisis of conscience near the end, it's sort of believable because Rufus wasn't that bad; his worst sin is mooching off his ex-girlfriend. But when Rufus sacrifices his life at the end of Goodbye Deponia, it comes out of nowhere and contradicts his utterly selfish demeanor in the rest of that game. Daedalic could've made a pretty compelling story and protagonist if they had only dialed back on the misanthropy and stopped being afraid to be sincere.

The game's humor and theming have more in common with Ctrl+Alt+Del than anything meaningfully sci-fi.
This isn't the first comparison to shitty nerd-culture webcomics I've seen regarding Deponia. I think it has something to do with Rufus's character design.
 

Hagashager

Educated
Joined
Nov 24, 2022
Messages
492
Wow, reading those puzzles in the sequel was a rollercoaster. That just sounds stupid and makes me glad I stopped when I did.
 
Joined
Feb 28, 2011
Messages
4,099
Location
Chicago, IL, Kwa
I don’t know. I thought the games were fun enough (didn’t play Doomsday). Some stupid puzzles and the humor missed at least as much as it hit, but that’s generally the way of humorous games. Rufus’ personality never bothered me much either, but I can see how he would sour you on the series if you dislike him.

All that said, it’s only been a couple years since I played them and I can’t say I remember all that much about the puzzles, so I doubt they were very good.
 

AdamReith

Magister
Patron
Joined
Oct 21, 2019
Messages
2,109
Enjoy the Revolution! Another revolution around the sun that is.
Chaos on Deponia is up there with the greats in my opinion. The other games are an incredibly mixed bag but still worth playing if you enjoy adventure games.

Still the only game series I've played where forcing your way into a pedophile's home and molesting them was the solution to a puzzle.
 

Maxie

Wholesome Chungus
Patron
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Nov 13, 2021
Messages
6,752
Location
Grantham, UK
I cannot hate Deponia 3 too hard because despite being the most talky, it doesn't follow the big puzzle area - limp dick next chapter formula like the first two. Deponia 4 is fair to hate, it's hardly a fucking game, with one hot spot per screen more often than not.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom