Official Codex Discord Server

  1. 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.
    Dismiss Notice

Decline Dreamfall Chapters - Console Immersion Action Decline Kickstarter [Spoilers]

Discussion in 'Adventure Gaming' started by MaskedMan, Nov 1, 2012.

  1. Starwars Arcane

    Starwars
    Joined:
    Jan 31, 2007
    Messages:
    2,581
    Location:
    Sweden
    Are the two older games worth playing? I love adventure games and I tried the first one long ago, but I remember I couldn't shake the feeling that it had this "female cheeky character written by a dude who *kinda* struggles to write a female cheeky character". I can't remember any specifics at all, just reember a feeling of it being kinda... forced somehow. I'm thinking maybe I should've given the game more of a chance but there was something about the writing that put me off
     
    ^ Top  
  2. Bubbles I'm forever blowing

    Self-Ejected
    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2013
    Messages:
    7,817
    The character design and writing are generally pretty unnatural, yes. The second game is even worse than the first in that regard, so there's no point in skipping ahead either.
     
    ^ Top  
  3. buzz Arcane

    buzz
    Joined:
    Apr 1, 2012
    Messages:
    4,234
    10/10 would bury dick deep inside
     
    • Brofist Brofist x 1
    • Shit Shit x 1
    ^ Top  
  4. Crooked Bee (no longer) a wide-wandering bee Patron

    Crooked Bee
    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2010
    Messages:
    15,028
    Location:
    In quarantine
    Codex 2013 Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire MCA Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
    Okay, completed it.

    + Atmosphere, especially in some scenes.
    + Competent writing, if often clichéd/pretentious.
    + Performance was mostly good for me, and the game actually looks fine for its budget.
    - Linearity.
    - The writing was so cheesy at the beginning that I thought it wouldn't get better. It did, but still remained pretty cheesy. Not to mention that "Interlude" at the end of the episode, ugh.
    - Controls are worse than in Telltale's games (is that even possible?).
    - Do I even need to mention the "puzzles"? (I did LOL at the "pillow + broom + window" one though, it was so hilariously adventure gamey in the worst sense.)
    - Choices mostly don't seem to matter (see: Bioware/Telltale, again), but I guess it's technically too early to judge that fairly.
    +/- The "read mind/turn on the light" gimmick was very limited but at least it was somewhat novel/experimental. However, it completely disappeared after the prologue. It's disappointing they didn't do anything more/better with it.
    +/- You can explore the town, which is good and is a step up from Telltale's small locations. However, this is also made completely pointless because the game is linear and there's barely anything to do there outside of the pre-determined plot points/events. As a result, I soon got tired of running back and forth around the same essentially empty areas and the "exploration" became more of a chore.
    +/- There is some attention to detail (journal entries, items to examine, etc.), but my impression was that it got worse as the episode progressed. They must've been running out of development time.

    So I dunno, :3/5: I guess?
     
    • Brofist Brofist x 11
    ^ Top  
  5. Rean Instructor Patron

    Rean
    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2006
    Messages:
    1,865,730
    Location:
    Thors Branch Campus, Leeves
    Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy
    It absolutely should not have been made in the Unity engine. It just can't handle the all the textures and pretty graphics that Red Thread are throwing at it.
     
    ^ Top  
  6. tuluse Prestigious Gentleman Arcane

    tuluse
    Joined:
    Jul 20, 2008
    Messages:
    11,399
    Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Shadorwun: Hong Kong
    The Longest Journey is one of the better adventure games I've ever played.
     
    • Brofist Brofist x 3
    ^ Top  
  7. abnaxus Arcane Patron

    abnaxus
    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2010
    Messages:
    11,797
    Location:
    Fiernes
    The game has p. amusing easter eggs for those willing to look.

    [​IMG]
     
    • Brofist Brofist x 6
    ^ Top  
  8. Keshik Arcane

    Keshik
    Joined:
    Mar 22, 2012
    Messages:
    1,352
    Wish I could skip more dialogue, Zoe's inane banter with the robot irritated me a lot more than it should have. Seems like I blew through it, am in the interlude now. Yeah, it's a bit silly devoid of any context with later stuff.
     
    ^ Top  
  9. Whisky The Solution

    Whisky
    Joined:
    Feb 22, 2012
    Messages:
    8,555
    Location:
    Banjoville, British Columbia
    Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera
    The Longest Journey is really good, give it a try.

    You'll want to play Dreamfall after even though it is shitty.
     
    ^ Top  
  10. Cassidy Arcane

    Cassidy
    Joined:
    Sep 9, 2007
    Messages:
    7,321
    Location:
    Vault City
    Play The Longest Journey and pretend there was never any sequel to it.

    You won't regret skipping the console interactive movie spin offs.
     
    • Brofist Brofist x 3
    ^ Top  
  11. mibbles codex grandma Patron

    mibbles
    Joined:
    Jan 19, 2013
    Messages:
    375
    I regret backing this for $20. It's just like Dreamfall, except now with added Telltaleisms.

    This didn't stop me from playing through it twice. Had to make sure if it was as underwhelming as I first thought. :negative: It's not offensively bad, just... very, very lame. I found the constant talk of politics annoying and hamfisted.
     
    ^ Top  
  12. J_C One Bit Studio Patron Developer

    J_C
    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2010
    Messages:
    15,908
    Location:
    Hungary
    Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong
    What did you expect from a game called DREAMFALL CHAPTERS? The kickstarter pitch also hinted they type of this game.
     
    ^ Top  
  13. mibbles codex grandma Patron

    mibbles
    Joined:
    Jan 19, 2013
    Messages:
    375
    Did it? Goddammit! Guess I was too deep in the Kickstarter fever/not Codexian enough at the time to see shit for what it was.
     
    ^ Top  
  14. Copper Savant

    Copper
    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2014
    Messages:
    469
    It figures they never realised how much this sucked in Dreamfall either - "Look, a 3d Mercuria you can walk around! (Oh, but there's nothing to do there except run from plot point to plot point, and because everything had to be modelled rather than using painted scenes, everything is a bit more generic looking.)

    I don't think the Lucas Arts principles of puzzle design seen in Monkey Island 2 needed to be ruthlessly applied, but some of them are just common sense in terms of worldbuilding as well. How many times do you have to visit each island in MI2 to work on the different map piece puzzles? Or Chapter 2 of Grim Fandango, which is a personal favourite in terms of actually being in one location you can explore most of, with a great match between puzzles, theme and plot. Even shit like running across the bridge with the blimp and the music is something I'd do every so often for fun if I was getting frustrated at more aimless attempts at pushing things forward.
     
    ^ Top  
  15. J_C One Bit Studio Patron Developer

    J_C
    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2010
    Messages:
    15,908
    Location:
    Hungary
    Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong
    This! I'm playing Dramfall (the original) right now, and I hate the running back and forth.
     
    ^ Top  
  16. Copper Savant

    Copper
    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2014
    Messages:
    469
    Yeah, to be fair, it's probably the worst area in the game for that - although I found Casablanca to be a fiddly maze with the controls when I started, and was very disappointed with the Dark city not really being a real location, as opposed to a scene for dialogue and OMG TWIST! There were passable sections - Zoe's big infiltration scene, for one - although the lack of refinement of the core mechanics (at least for keyboard) meant they were a bit tedious. (As for April in the seweres with the orcs, that was a joke)
     
    ^ Top  
  17. Shadenuat Arcane

    Shadenuat
    Joined:
    Dec 9, 2011
    Messages:
    10,150
    Location:
    Russia
    Any ways to increase performance by tweaking something yet?
     
    ^ Top  
  18. abnaxus Arcane Patron

    abnaxus
    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2010
    Messages:
    11,797
    Location:
    Fiernes
    No. Unity gonna unity.
     
    ^ Top  
  19. Shadenuat Arcane

    Shadenuat
    Joined:
    Dec 9, 2011
    Messages:
    10,150
    Location:
    Russia
    wow
    that was... even worse than Broken Age. At least that one was long and had something to do.
    WHERE DID ALL THE MONEY GO
     
    ^ Top  
  20. evdk comrade troglodyte :M Patron

    evdk
    Joined:
    Mar 31, 2004
    Messages:
    11,286
    Location:
    Corona regni Bohemiae
    Codex 2012 Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign
    Sphincter says what?
     
    ^ Top  
  21. Levenmouth Savant

    Levenmouth
    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2014
    Messages:
    165
    Location:
    Port Customs
    Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire
    Oh wow, I just played through the first bit and I feel like I've just paid 20€ for some rather poorly written propaganda. This was just terrible. The main character actually called one of the candidates a "boring old white guy" or something to that effect. Immigrants in hijabs yay!, moderate boring old white guy booo!, journalist hipster boyfriend drinking "Cola Chai" yay!, evil police arresting someone booo! SERIOUSLY?! Good God, I deal with politics all day long as it is, where are my dreams and worlds of science and magic? Unless there is some clever twist coming, this is almost offensively two-dimensional.

    Show Spoiler
    Calling it now: I'm giving the developers too much credit.
     
    Last edited: Oct 27, 2014
    • Brofist Brofist x 2
    ^ Top  
  22. Copper Savant

    Copper
    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2014
    Messages:
    469
    Always been beating that drum - why do you think Casablanca was hipster heaven while America was a shithole (and Russia was just Movie Russia, I guess).
     
    ^ Top  
  23. abnaxus Arcane Patron

    abnaxus
    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2010
    Messages:
    11,797
    Location:
    Fiernes
    Asia seems to be doing well too, European currency is even Yuan.
     
    ^ Top  
  24. Copper Savant

    Copper
    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2014
    Messages:
    469
    Probably - he had some weird scenario for Japan, wealthy but decadent, a parody of itself for public consumption. So China being the big boy in terms of influence makes some sense too.
     
    ^ Top  
  25. Shadenuat Arcane

    Shadenuat
    Joined:
    Dec 9, 2011
    Messages:
    10,150
    Location:
    Russia
    Europe overdid with tolerance in Dreamfall's setting, only white europeans except Zoe and her boyfriend in the game are either punks or drug addicts.
     
    • Brofist Brofist x 2
    ^ Top  

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