As far as I can tell, if you aren't interested in game art, soundtrack music and whatever else is attached, the only difference between the SE and CE versions of a BF game is the "bonus" game at the end. Or is there something else I'm not noticing? Just wondering.

Sometimes it morphing items or collectibles, but mostly it's an extra chapter.

There is at least one additional difference and sometimes more. All CEs contain an integrated strategy guide. Other differences can include the CEs containing a Secret Room to unlock at the end, a Souvenir Hunt, a jigsaw puzzle, developer diary, making-of videos, etc., etc.

And, for the content Marian describes, I prefer to buy CE editions

But I can happily live without any morphings, collectables or achievements etc etc etc

And I have noticed a few games lately where you can turn off achievement notifications - I am hoping that this will be an option in all CEs in the future. Nice to have a choice!

I get what you are saying, Marian. Many people love and participate with everything that comes with the game, but I have lost interest in the "Fill-the-Shelves-with-Collected-Souvenirs" feature because collecting the hidden morphing thingies, or any other Collectibles, distracts me from the game itself. I have re-worked some of the puzzles or replayed mini-games at the end of a story, but they aren't why I buy Casual Games and I don't do this anymore. I don't look at the artwork/screensavers nor have I downloaded any soundtrack stuff. I would happily pay extra for a longer game or a bonus game, but not for these sorts of extras.

Yep, Mad, I usually went for the CE, too, every time! Now, I'm starting to wonder if the extra cost is worth it to me, due to how I play these games. Sometimes, the Bonus game is a wonderful addition, either a prologue or a substantial further chapter that explains more about the characters and conflicts. Yay! Other times, though, it is very short or even unrelated to the original story line and feels like a throwaway. As for having a Strategy Guide, I used to feel it was necessary, but that is less important than it used to be. The Guides certainly are comprehensive and thorough, but casual games usually are not so difficult that you need one (and you can look it up on line, anyway, if need be). Even when you do feel the need for some help with a pesky puzzle, many of the Guides don't clarify the object of an obscure puzzle and give you a hint for how to tackle it yourself. Instead, the Guide either types out a step-by-step Solution or shows a screen capture of the puzzle completely solved already! If you aren't going to solve the puzzle yourself, aren't you just as well off hitting the Skip button?

Hmmmm, I guess I answered my own original question! ha ha I love these games. Just the thing for a little break in the day. And the fact that each of us can choose just as much as we want and no more is yet another thing to like about them.

The nice thing about SEs is that you can use your punch card codes on them if you are a Game Club member.

On the other hand, I remember when CEs first started and months would go by before there was a sale on them; now, it's rare to go more than two weeks without a CE sale where you can pick one up for the same price of an SE, either through a 1-day sale for Game Club members, a one-day sale like today, or a weekend buy-one-get-one-free sale. CEs have become much more accessible than they used to be, which is nice for folks on a budget or those who just aren't sure what they are getting with any given CE (how long is the bonus game? etc.).

I agree with you that they are just the thing for a little break in the day. Being able to play a half an hour here or there during the course of a day has helped save my sanity at times.

I buy CE's on sale because I like having the strategy guide and bonus play. I don't really care for much of the rest of the extras. One thing I disagree with you about Reenie is this: "If you aren't going to solve the puzzle yourself, aren't you just as well off hitting the Skip button? wink"

I would rather solve the puzzle with the help of the strategy guide and maybe be able to see/learn how it works so the next time there is a like puzzle I may be able to solve it myself. If you use the skip button, you don't see/experience the solving at all, if that makes sense.

Yes, Marian, I think many of us are ecstatic to have the option to turn of those Pop-Ups!

I do remember there weren't always CEs, and it was fun to see the genre expanded. I jumped right on them. But lately, it seems like most of the "expansion" consists of some kind of distracting busy work. Wouldn't it be great if they spent that programming energy expanding the game itself?

I agree, OldBroad, that I want to solve the mini-games myself! I think we see this similarly, but my point wasn't clearly expressed: I was trying to say that I would prefer puzzle help to be an explanation of a puzzle's intent or a nudge toward how to approach and solve it myself, rather than giving me the entire long string of "moves" that spell out the whole process (or even worse, simply showing only the final solution ~ without any idea of how you get there!). Teach me Strategy, don't give me an Answer. If all the Strategy Guide is providing is the answer, that is what I mean when I say you might as well Skip the puzzle, for all you've learned.

I get that Reenie. I agree that would be better.

Reenie, the guides are designed strictly for answers, not tips and tricks. The only time that a solution is shown without an explanation is when the puzzle is random (impossible to give steps) or it is a jigsaw type puzzle. Otherwise, solutions are given. Most puzzles have reset buttons so looking at the steps shown in the guide and doing a few will give you an idea of the concept of the puzzle. YOu can then reset and do it yourself.

Ana

I prefer SE's with nearly all games now.
I've regretted buying CE's because of extra popups and slide-ins that appear whenever you happen to click a "collectable" object. Even when games appear to have the ability to turn these and other "announcements" off, this often doesn't work and you get them anyway.

One of the worst "features" is "Tasks" which exist in SE's as well as CE's. Despite having the option to turn them off, these interruptions usually show up anyway, proclaiming the obvious, blocking your view of the screen, and making you wait several seconds until the &@%n things fade away.

The built-in strategy guides in CE's are not searchable, making them less useful than online guides. It's hardly worth buying a CE for them.

The Bonus game is rarely as good as the main game -- hardly worth twice the price by itself. When the story in the main game is truncated, with the story actually finished in the bonus game, the game is is not worth buying at all.

Sometimes CE's allow you to replay puzzles, or offer extra puzzles of the same "type" found in the game, but not the same exact puzzles. But it's very annoying if the game limits your being able to play these puzzles because you haven't found all the "collectables" and then doesn't let you go back into the game to collect the ones you missed without replaying everything. Essentially you're expected to replay the entire game with walkthrough in hand so you don't miss any "collectables" or you don't get access to all the bonus puzzles.

I've been replaying some older games, from no later than 2013, and it's amazing how much fewer interruptions there used to be, even with CE's. When did they get the idea that blocking the screen with popups and slide-ins was a good idea? The proliferation of unwanted screen-blocking garbage is why I don't buy certain series anymore.

I've never bought a CE version as I never wanted any of the things that it provides as extras. This includes the bonus game as I do find many of the casual games too long and with several I can't wait to get them finished so i can go on to something new. I know many people would prefer them to be longer but I often get to a point in the game where it feels that the story progression is being "spun out" and it is just thinly disguised repetition of what has gone before.

I didn't know that some CE's gave you more puzzles to solve. I'd quite like that, though it wouldn't be worth the extra cost just for that.

Jenny 100, I totally agree with you, in every respect (down to the part about not being able to play any "extras" unless you found every single shell or empty bottle ~ and if you missed one, and can't go back for it, you're done anyway). I'd say the Bonus Game is really worth it about 25% of the time. As for the extra of having a Game Guide, if it can only offer me a "Solution" to a puzzle, I'm not sure how that is supposed to help me begin to solve it. So, there just isn't a compelling reason for me to pay the extra for a CE anymore. Until the game designers sort out some of this, I'm switching to SE versions. Yes, we can buy CEs for a discount at the periodic sales, but SEs also are discounted in those sales. :-)

The Strategy Guide (or a walkthrough on the Internet) can be useful if you don't know what to do next and for whatever reason the Hint is sending you in circles, or saying "nothing to do here." Usually this happens when I have to type in a code I don't have the information for (or think I don't have the information for) and the Hint keeps pointing me at the puzzle that's unsolvable due to lack of clues. You don't need the guide in the game though -- it's often easier to find the point where you're stuck by using an online walkthrough and not the built-in Strategy Guide. Not all games open the Strategy Guide at the point where you're at, and some start you at the beginning each time you open them.

For figuring out how to solve a puzzle, you can check Big Fish forums. On the webpages for the individual games there is a "Get game tips" link that takes you to their forum for the game. For example the ***Cannons in swamp explanations compiled*** topic for MCF: 13th Skull at Big Fish. Sometimes YouTube playthroughs can show how to solve a puzzle, though I've seen cases where the YouTube player gives up and skips it.


Some do it, but not all of them.
The Dark Parables: Curse of Briar Rose CE gave you 20 ball-rolling puzzles -- which I was happy with because I like that type. The other Dark Parables games generally give you something to do (other than the bonus game) after you finish the main game, but it's usually hidden object related -- for example, re-entering various scenes of the game to find 5 candles, then 10 statuettes, then 15 shadows, etc. Some of the Dark Parables games let you go back to find items you missed.

Exactly, Jenny100. The specific game forums on BF are helpful to me, too, and are where I go, even though there is a Game Guide included in CE versions ~ because I don't want a straight "Solution." I want to work it out myself.

I remember the early days of gaming, when we bought games in a box, with a CD (or even floppies, in the earliest days!) and a printed Guide. The Guide didn't blurt out the direct answer, but was configured in a series of hints in an increasingly revealing spectrum that allowed you to work out the Solution with the least prompting.

And I treasured the "Hints" accessible through sites like GB. You could get that nudge you needed, not an answer. And you retained the thrill of accomplishment that came with solving things. Of course, that only works with the relatively few "Adventure" games; with the plethora of Casual games, it is difficult to imagine a Moderator being able to keep up with Hints for all of them. Hence, going to the BF forums for that.

When I first joined the BFG Club, I only bought SE's. I would wait until a CE became an SE before buying. Now that there are frequent BO/GO or 65% off sales, I buy mostly CE's. I find that many are worth the CE designation due to the extent of the Bonus Game. I'm not one to replay puzzles, HOS, etc. But I'm sure those who may not be able to afford too many games are happy to have the option to be able to take advantage of such extras. And I think we have to remember that not all casual gamers are in the same age group. I could see that maybe younger players might be more interested in Achievements, Collections, and such. Developers have to weigh many factors when it comes to pleasing everyone.

That's a really good point, Sparkle - and, as we know, it's impossible to please everyone. Just to reinforce what you said, I have seen folks post on Big Fish that they have played through a game 2 or 3 times in order to try to get all of the achievements.

It's up to those people if they want to do that, but why limit the accessibility of any of the "extras" to those people? Shouldn't anyone who purchased the game be able to access the extras, and not required to replay the game or spend 20 minutes staring at each section of each screen waiting to see if some tiny object "morphs"?

And why force pop-ups and slide-ins on people who don't want them? It seems like the only way to avoid being subjected to them is to play a game that's old enough that it never had them in the first place.

Choice is good.
They are not giving me choice.

I am hopeful that the developers will implement more choices in the future.

I would be very happy to see that happen, Marian

Especially working choices and not just dummy listings in the game options that have no effect.