Fronzel Neekburm

Nemesis ruined Trek for me. Insurrection mauled me badly, but Nemesis had me in therapy for months. I'm very wary of new Trek.

No. I'm sorry, heck no.

Space Quest is a great series, it's a great comedy series when usually sci-fi doesn't delve into comedy. However, it doesn't qualify really as the "greatest sci-fi" of all time. To say that ignores the impact of Star Trek on our culture, Star Wars on our ability to be a freakin' nerd, 2001/2010 on our ability to dream beyond the universe, or for that matter, Twilight Zone for the ability to simply think of imagination.

What Space Quest is is comical, amusing, funny, irreverent and a bit foppish, but in no way can you objectively say it's the best sci-fi of all time. It's a lot of fun, but not THE BEST SCI-FI EVAR!!

Dat edge

Hey guys! Did I miss someth...
 
Oh.
 
 
 
*turns around and walks away*

Hey guys! Did I miss someth...
 
Oh.
 
 
 
*turns around and walks away*

Hey guys! Did I miss someth...
 
Oh.
 
 
 
*turns around and walks away*

Hey guys! Did I miss someth...
 
Oh.
 
 
 
*turns around and walks away*

Hey guys! Did I miss someth...
 
Oh.
 
 
 
*turns around and walks away*

I just wrote Scott to make sure the cliffhanger we had planned is still in there and just as infuriating as we had hoped it would be.
 
;)

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.

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.

That's probably because the guy two posts above yours designed a lot of the animations in TSL but had nothing to do with Moebius ;) 

I helped kickstart Moebius, largely to help the adventure game revival along. I haven't played Moebius yet but didn't really get a good impression of POS's stuff when I played TSL, so I will probably give Moebius a pass as well.

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.

I'm currently playing Moebius: Empire Rising. I like what I'm seeing so far, even if the 3D models exhibit some ugly flaws that harken back to The Silver Lining. Some of the acting is a little bit wooden as well. The story is very intriguing, though, and the puzzles are never too challenging because they just fit the narrative very well, so the minor gripes I've had with the game so far never become too detrimental to the experience. And most of them (i.e, Malachi's walking speed) are of the kind that could be resolved with a patch later on, which I hope happens - the game deserves as much.
 
In any case, those dismissive of Phoenix Online can rest assured that Moebius is substantially better than The Silver Lining, which I wasn't a huge fan of either. I haven't played Cognition, so that comparison is not for me to make.
 
Also, seeing as this game was brought up in the thread about feminism and political correctness in gaming, let me add that I've yet to get an offensive vibe out of that game. True, Malachi Rector is often such an asshole that you wonder whether his last name is spelled correctly. But he's an asshole to everyone he comes across, and the player is never asked to condone his behaviour. I presume the latter is vital to keep in mind for some of the more controversial puzzles that have been singled out in reviews. I personally dig the guy. It feels like I'm playing as Benedict Cumberbatch's interpretation of Sherlock Holmes, which I find to be a huge compliment. Gabriel Knight he ain't, but he's a good lead. Pete Toleman would love him. He should do a Let's Play.
 
So let the above serve as my recommendation. I must say that I'm still not sure if I would've paid the full price for the game, had I not been fortunate enough to win it in a giveaway, but now that I've tried it, I can say that I would definitely pay for a sequel. Now bring on Tesla Effect and don't delay it further, dammit!

I really like the new art revealed in the latest update. What do you all think?

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.

Frank Zappa said something similar in an infamous 1986 episode of Crossfire on the subject of censorship. I find myself agreeing with him here. He also often stated that he, in his songs, was a simple documentarist. He'd often find himself in the crosshairs of people who thought he treated women appallingly in his lyrics, but as he would bluntly put it, "women do fucking stupid things too". In the light of that (true) kind of equality, I think it's worth nothing that Larry Laffer is constantly made fun of in those games. He's not exactly a hero who gaineth a woman. He's a loser who is berated, tortured and laughed at for being completely out of step with reality. You could argue that the series would pretty much lose that subtext after the first three games. Certainly, I find the women in LSL5 to be objectified. But merely branding LSL as "sexist" and smugly submitting your review is, I think, a very black/white oversimplification of the issue.
 
Also, I think Gareth, Troels and Andrew have all covered what I think about this subject in a much more eloquent fashion than I ever could. I deplore the whole notion of censorship, but I would honestly prefer that over being subjected to the "opinions" of people who somehow find that freedom of speech is a licence to be an asshole. "Think before you talk" can go a long way without even coming close to the dreaded self-censorship.

Whenever I see this thread title, I think of this:
 

 
Also... money from undergarments?!?
I don't even...

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.

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.

Just for the record, I'm with Purple. Policital correctness can be the most dangerous form of bigotry out there and I'd advise peopel to be wary when courting its use. It's easy to fall into a holier-than-thou personality pit without realizing it, thinking that everything you're saying and doing is actually helping when in fact it's causing just as much damage. I'm not saying anybody here is doing that, by the way. But I see this everywhere.
 
I do think you're being a bit unfair and excessive though, drslash. You're painting a lot of things with the same broad-stroke brush. Just because a storyline has a cliche valiant heroic prince and an equally cliche helpless princess that needs rescuing from a tower doesn't mean that the storyline is automatically "thou gaineth a woman". Not everyone considers female helplessness and male heroism to be sexist or objectifying and demeaning to women. A lot of women might, but a lot of women also don't. It's not all about male superiority at all. It may have been maliciously used to that extent sometimes, and maybe it still is somewhere somehow and that's unfortunate because I think most of these cases are taken grossly out of context. I still don't believe it has anything to do with objectifying women and over-glorifying men. Believing that every single use of this "trope" is born from such negative and low intentions is evidence of the same narrow-mindedness you're accusing them of having.
 
Now, I'm all for variety and I'll be the first one to say that I hate cliches, but I also know that there's nothing wrong or destructive to society about them. If people like them (and people DO like them, men and women) they can enjoy them. Those that don't can look elsewhere. They can even make petitions for new kinds of stories. Variety IS the spice of life. But you don't need to attack the cliches or the cliche-lovers just for liking the mundane (or the "tried and true", as many would call it I'm sure. It's all about perspective). Sure, go after the people who ARE objectifying women and propagating inequality, but not everybody's doing it just because they like prince-saves-the-princess stories. It's not about "gaining a woman" anyway. That embellished and twisted description has always bothered me. It was always about finding true love, at least that's how I remember it as a kid.
 
I don't know what was so wrong with the 1950s anyway. According to my grandmother it was the greatest time to live in. Not near as much crime as nowadays, everything was clean, everyone was friendly and happy. Moreso than today, anyway. Of course I wasn't there so what do I know.....what do any of us know?
 
 
 
 
No offense, but it's also possible that some people are just too touchy and sensitive and are making mountains out of flat terrain. Not everybody has a problem with it. Just because a certain group of people do doesn't mean that everyone has to change their tastes and the things they enjoy for them. The mundane is popular because there's an audience for it. Deep down everybody still loves the rescue-the-woman "trope". That's why it's successful. That's why it's used so often. It's not indoctrination. At best it's pandering, and that's a whole other issue. But saying "we have too much of one thing and need more variety" is entirely different from saying "what exists is evil and needs to be replaced and anybody who enjoys it is contributing to a destructive society". This whole debate is remeniscent of violence in video games provoking school shootings and teen violence.

"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.

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

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