Fronzel Neekburm

Due to the lack of a "general feedback"-thread, I'll just post this here, since it's somewhat related to the topic. I noticed this sentence in the latest Kickstarter update. Just a note to any dev who might (not) be reading this: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do not try to hamfistedly ram the wish for more down our throats by ending SpaceVenture on some shitty cliffhanger! We already have the Space Quest series conclude on a non-ending that resolves nothing at all, we don't need to repeat that past mistake. If the game is good, the player will automatically crave for more.

While I was never that interested in the Outcast reboot (there's already an overwhelming lack in creativity and original thought over at the big studios, so let's keep the constant rebooting/-imagining/-gurgitating limited to those, please!), I never would have expected that something with the Outlast nametag attached to it could fail this spectacularly. Any ideas as to why this didn't connect with the intended audience?

Not just with the mentality of adventure games, but with games in general.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Lost Alpha You'll need a somewhat high level of tolerance to bugs, but boy, does it pay off! Even in its current, glitchy state, I highly recommend you give this a try.

Actually, I was trying to mock the tone of faux outrage the SJWs so love to adopt. Since I utterly failed to implicitly get my point across, I‘ll just quote a comment I read on Cracked the other day, which sums up my sentiments perfectly: I'll also leave this video of Stephen Fry going toe to toe with some fundamentalist fuckwit who is apparently responsible for the introduction of the recent anti-gay legislature in Russia. Now, there's an example to follow! Why don't the virtual do-gooders get off their blogging asses and antagonise the actual bad guys, instead of whining over percieved "patronising sexism" in freaking Moebius (to name just one example)? And that is a real question this time.

I also have to stress that I did enjoy Moebius a great deal. The same goes for Phoenix‘ previous effort Cognition (even though I haven't finished that one yet). They both have their flaws - and those are severe enough to prevent these games from attaining widespread appeal - but to me they felt like the gaming equivalent to a fun B-movie. One of the things that work really well about Moebius is how Jane Jensen clearly relishes in doing all those things you‘d never get away with once the big studios are involved (naming your main character Malachi Rectum, having him be a condescending bastard to everyone, the sexual tension between the two male leads). All that doesn‘t matter with Moebius, it doesn‘t need mass-market appeal. That‘s what‘s great about it. Moebius was also one of the more pleasant backer experiences I had and I‘d be inclined to support them again, were it not for the fact that I basically swore off Kickstarter altogether. That being said, I‘m quite apprehensive about GK20 for the exact same reason I was convinced Moebius was going to (and does!) work: GK20 has that whole „It needs to be successful for there to be a GK4“-stigma attached to it. I have absolutely zero confidence that the technical polish Frede hopes for is going to happen. I remember when the first Moebius Alpha was released, they urged backers not to post videos of it on youtube, due to the unfinished nature of the build. Funny thing is, all the stuff that people complained about because it felt unfinished in the Alpha was pretty much identical to how it appears in the final game. Gameplay-wise, there were some debates, but technically, everyone agreed that the animations are garbage. And still, they didn‘t change it. Maybe they could, you know, hire a certain spacequest.net forum user to do the animations for them... Just as a side note: Phoenix Online Studios ought to change their name: That POS abbreviation is quite unhelpful. edit: Another concern I forgot to bring up: Mark my words, when GK20 comes out, it‘s going to raise all sorts of hell among the SJWs. I'm willing to bet money that there will be a ton of reviews that will contain words like „racist“ or „stereotype“. And I don‘t think they will have Dr John to suddenly be a white guy and have his sanctuary somehow not be draped with manflesh. So, have your popcorn ready when that shitstorm hits.

The Silver Lining Since PurpleTentacle developed a deep hatred towards Phoenix over this game, I was curious to see how it compares to Moebius on a purely cosmetic level. I'm still recovering from the shock of finding out that both the protagonist's walking animation and the facial animations in The Silver Lining are somehow far superior to the ones in Moebius. If this is what constitutes "atrocious, amateurish dreck", I dread to see PurpleTentacle's verdict on Moebius.

It's very much out of character and that's only there because people on the backer forums complained about how unlikeable Malachi is. Some of more harebrained gameplay elements of Moebius - such as not being able to pick up objects until you trigger certain events, forcing you then to backtrack - were apparently put in at the behest of some backers (who either seemed eager to play their version of a Jane Jensen game, rather than an actual Jane Jensen game, or disliked Moebius because it wasn't a carbon copy of Gabriel Knight, or were simply butthurt over the fact that the Pinkertons went with Phoenix as their dev team). The amount of negativity, if not outright hostility, towards Moebius on that forum was staggering. In any case, I'm glad I held onto all the beta builds. Comparing these to the finished version makes for a brilliant case study in how a game gets changed during development in order to appeal to a wider audience.

Obviously, or else he wouldn't have ended up in video game "journalism". He certainly did his best trying to come off as one. "Moebius appears to hold contempt for both men and women, which it exhibits in alternating sequences of patronising sexism." The guy certainly knows how to talk the talk. On a related note, here's a recent article written by Jane Jensen on the subject of why she likes to use hot males as her protagonists (only to be accused of - the pinnacle of stupidity - trans-phobia in the comment section). Why can't I - a caucasian male - ever randomly pull the victim card like that? Being excluded like that causes me hurt and upset! Oh, well... at least I still have this picture of patronising sexism from Moebius to cheer me up:

If you can believe it, some of Malachi's dialogue has been toned down from the mind-blowing dickishness he displayed in the beta version.

SpacePope guesses correctly, as far as I'm concerned. :)

The PC clown brigade claims another victim. Seriously, whenever I read anything by those litcrit wannabes, it makes my blood boil. Funny they'd want to sacrifice a game like Moebius on their altar. You'd think a game written by a woman and featuring a snarky gay dandy as its protagonist would at least get some sympathy points.

Since this thread only came about by derailing the Ace Hardway thread, I think it‘s only fair if I derail this thread by stating that via the now-released Moebius, I got hold of The Silver Lining as well (which Phoenix Online Studios offer for free on their store). I‘m genuinely curious whether it really is as irredeemably awful as PurpleTentacle made it out to be.

Whenever I see this thread title, I think of this: Also... money from undergarments?!? I don't even...

Insisting that your offices be located in Frisco and having some fairly high-profile celebrity voice actors might have had something to do with that. The artwork in Lilly Looking Through is absolutely amazing, though I wish the game itself had a little more meat to the bone. As it is, it feels more like a flash animation than a proper adventure game. Still, considering the tiny budget, they did a great job.

At least that cold war shit is getting fashionable again! Here, have a look at one of my all-time favourites of civil defense idiocy: Our cities must fight!

Always count on Star Trek as a shining beacon to an enlightened future - by getting rid of of PC altogether. "In our century, we've learned not to fear words." - Beautiful! Unfortunately, in our century, we seem to be steering in the polar opposite direction.

That, the music and the audacity to further piss off Toys-R-Us by adding their giraffe mascot to the Droids-B-Us storefront.

At least the VGA version of SQ1 - which Scott apparently hates - tried very hard to liven things up. Besides, SQ1 and 2 aren't exactly the fan favourites from the series. Why would SpaceVenture want to compete with what many consider the worst of the bunch? I hope SV turns out more SQ3/4 than SQ1/2. This being the two guys' big comeback after 20 years, I'd hope that SV will live up to the best of their work, not their worst. Since the PC debate is already well underway in another thread, I'll just add that as far as that Eurogamer review is concerned, I'm with PurpleTentacle . What good are gaming journalists if they are more concerned about a game being in line with their sociopolitical school of thought than about the game being any good?

Sadly enough, that wouldn't be the first time somebody asked for a Sierra-related Kickstopper campaign.

I'll be blunt (it's not like I'm capable of being anything else): All the locations so far have been extremely dull, uninteresting and utterly unappealing. The pipes scene video should serve as a pretty good example. I challenge anyone to make this room interesting! Seriously, I'm willing to bet money that not even Josh Mandel could come up with funny replies for this room. The demo rubbed me the wrong way for exactly the same reason. The rooms don't look like cool places you('d want to) explore, but seeem to serve no other purpose than being thinly veiled, crappy puzzles. The absurd thing is that the graphics don't even look half-bad. It's just that the locations themselves couldn't be any more bland and uninteresting.

"Broken Age". Hoo boy, if the depth and complexity of "Phantasmagoria" completely overwhelmed you, this might be the right game for you... Good production value, though. You'll get the most joy out of it if you see "Broken Age" as a nice animated feature in which you can occasionally click on stuff.

If my pledge makes me eligible to receive all the episodes, then I wouldn't really mind at all. On the other hand, if I should only get one third/fourth/fifth/... of what is planned (and have to cough up more money for upcoming episodes), colour me displeased.

"The Real Texas" is one of the more recent games that attempted to bring back the ole parser. When the game failed to understand my "fuck vending machine" command, I uninstalled it immediately. If you're going to include a parser, you're bound to deliver the goods.

Indeed. I thought the "King's Quest" was being objected to, not the number.