Who has it Who has it Who has it??

I'm stalking my office mailbox looking for that telltale sign of a white InteractCD box. People think I'm a whacko. Wait until I get my husband's binoculars out of my purse to stalk the mailman......

I'm going to see if my order came in today

inferno

Just got my greeeeedy hands on it! I'll give first impressions in a little bit.

It's been 42 minutes, where are you action? (tapping foot impatiently)

I should be getting mine game tomorrow Friday, always three days. No more or less. Can't wait to get it.
Richard

Just picked up mine.

Loading it up

inferno

Enjoy it Inferno, kjos and action.

Ana

Looks nice --- nuts!!! I'm confused already.
inferno

-----------------------------------------------

OK -- I'm back in business it seems --- lovely voices. Phoenix is beautiful

--- Hey!!! She looks just like me....


(well, me 20 years ago)


--- with lots of makeup


--- and rubber pants (who can work in those things)


--- ok too much info here!

heeheeheeee

inferno

Hi

"and rubber pants (who can work in those things)"

Rubber pants ????

Can't wait to see that !!

Cheers.

Mad

Mine arrived in the mail today. Started playing an hour ago. It looks terrific! The puzzles so far are just right, not too hard, but they make you think. I don't want to stop, but morning comes too soon.

LOL nicki! Had to leave work early to fill in for a softball game. I tried to explain that I couldn't make it because of a VERY important meeting but was still forced to go.

I love the game! Still getting the feel for it. I only got to play for about 2 hours yesterday.

AWESOME graphics. The story has already got me sucked in. I got in a fight with a bobby pin but I prevailed. In fact, I have to ditch you all to play right now!

Ha! Well, I suspected you were having too much fun with it to let us know how you liked it. Have fun and -sniff- some of us that don't have the game yet will just have to watch and wait.

I ordered mine yesterday from interact..

Hope I get it tuesday

WOW....I just ordered this game...Got an E:mail just now from dave it was shipped today...

I'm jealous. (Insert pouting and whining here)

some people are so lucky lol

ACKKKKKKKKKK

I got it...I got it today

I will let you know about it later...

Ohhhhhhhhhhh I'm so Happy :ghost2:

MaG Love the Ghosts

So how many of you think the graphics are awesome? personally I think they are very lackluster by regular game standards, but not necessarily adventure game standards. The art direction isn't very good.

The screen space and travel time is very badly designed i.e. running through massive open spaces with nothing in them with screens that stretch/pan that increase travel time and tedium especially for backtracking. This game has really made me outright feel the presence of "unnecessary screens" far more than any other. It's one thing to establish world size and scope but oiiiiii. The camera angles are also awful dating back to pre-2000's adventure games, there is a 180 degree rule that is broken frequently (google it) which makes navigating very disorienting as it often looks like you've been travelling in opposite facing directions because of the angles.

The premise is very intriguing but the whole design of the game makes me feel like I'm playing an early 2.5D adventure all over again where I memorise the screens and hotspots from bad angles/placement rather than move naturally.

I have to have some sympathy because of the lower budget of art and adventure games in general, but the very simple design issues that could have been solved regardless of budget irk me. Over the years I've seen the various adventure game sites treat games with promise with kid gloves and fawning to encourage them but gloss over many issues like this. It is this overall lack of polish that keep the genre inaccessible to new players, in the doldrums, and only for the fuddy duddies like us that grew up with them and love them enough to put up with their flaws

So yes I think this game is a bit overrated so far

Rant on the bobby pin issue since I already did in the hints forum accidentally.

Mine just arrived, and I can't wait to load it up.

Fathamburger, I can't comment on the graphics as I haven't seen them yet, but my commentary wouldn't be worth much, as I play very old pixellated DOS games and enjoy them thoroughly. But I'm sure others will chime in.

I love pixelly DOS games though. I still think many of them look better than adventures today especially Culpa i.e. the hand painted work in Sierra games like Kings Quest. I'm also currently loving the Blackwell series.

Just because something is 3D doesn't mean it's automagically better

Metamorphium has written a very helpful review of Culpa Innata here in the Boomer Reviews forum. Check it out.

Fathamburger -- I've been thinking about what you said above. How exactly are you defining "art direction"? And why do you think that newbies to the adventure genre would even notice "polish" or a lack of it?

As long as there is a good story line .It is nice to get good art and every body as differant appianions on what is good art any way.as long as there is a good story to keep me interested I will perserveer .Mine is still in the post and we keep getting post strikes so hope fully I may get it for christmas lol

I just started the game and after waiting for this game for so long; it was worth the wait and for once this is an adventure game that I will replay. I love that it is nonlinear which adds to the challenge. The graphics aren't the strongest point but that hasn't bothered me. I agree with the review that the lip synching so far has been excellent. It will be interesting to see what more of us have to say after playing it for a while. I think I will end up playing it more than 20 hours since it takes me awhile to get unstuck once stuck.

I'm done with work, fixing to load the game up again!

I love it. First game in a while I'm sure I'll play to the end.

I do agree that the running around in huge screens is annoying. They've done very well with double clicking on certain things to inspect and not have to walk over to the item to save some time. It would have been nice to be able to do that instead of running around towards the arrows and confusing myself not being sure where I'm going. That's my only criticism so far, though. The graphics aren't as sharp as I've seen, but the close-ups of the faces are wonderful. I'm actually looking into their eyes and listening to what they're saying. For me that says alot because I'm itchy with my right-click to skip dialogue most of the time.
The game does remind me of TLJ in a good way. That's the only other game in a while I remember finishing and I feel the same way about this one. It's not perfect, but it's perfectly enjoyable to me!

Hi BOOmers :ghost1:

I am 1/2 hour into the game...Just taking my time learning the interface & stuff...Took me awhile to find the elevators..

Great game in my book...Graphics are A-OK
Music is not boring..Well so far so good

I got mine yesterday too!! Been waiting a long time for this one!! Have to finish Evil Under the Sun first though before I start this one!!!

Hope it is good as I think it will be, Thanks everybody for your inputs!!!


Nan

Well basically art direction means something that is aesthetically pleasing regardless of method or form. For example World of Warcraft despite lower tech graphics is more aesthetically pleasing in cartoony abstract way than more realistic and higher tech games like Everquest 2.

When I say lack of polish, a lot of that goes into what I described above but since I gather most of you shy away from the mainstream type games, they have far more polish in design etc (and budget ). Since I generally play everything, I'm going with pure love for the adventure genre right now. Sam and Max and Dreamfall are probably the best ways to describe polish curently, but the main thing is that the majority of adventure games are archaic in design and production value and that's what many people see when they try one who are used to mainstream games. It's a dying genre not necessarily because of all those things though, it is a dying genre because it is appealing mainly to an aging playerbase that remembers them in their heyday, and a genre that is not growing or appealing to new players.

Adventure games are basically amateur hour nowadays, but as I mentioned Blackwell above.. Dave Gilbert could technically be considered an amateur but his games are far tighter and more polished than most of the Myst clone [blip] that makes it to the shelf

Hi Fathamburger

Whilst I respect that you are entitled to your opinion I have to say I totally disagree with you on a lot of counts.
Mainly :
Who plays adventure games, who might be encouraged to play adventure games, how polished adventure games actually are.... that old chestnut "the adventure genre is dead or dying" .... and .... your new "wannabe" chestnut "adventure games are basically amateur hour nowadays".

I too enjoyed the "Glory Days of Adventure" but I am also enjoying very many of the games on offer today

And I will welcome more of them

Cheers.

Mad

I guess it's good to be me, because I can play the games while being ignorant of what is good or bad graphics. I would not even think of criticising the graphics in Culpa, in fact the only thing I can remember from playing was how unbelievably clear their faces and expressions were. The rest was more than adequate to keep this gamer happy and content.

Posted by fathamburger:



Ouch. I can't even begin to formulate a response to that except to say that this comes across as a clone statement from any number of gaming sites that cater to those that think the world only revolves around shooters.

I'm sorry you can't relax and enjoy the game for what it is and instead just see what it is not. You are missing out on some simple pleasures.

Ana

I also agree with Mad, & Ana...

The graphics are beautiful...You can see the expressions in the eyes very well..

As far as I am concerned we came along way since the adventure games of years gone by..

I am totally happy with this game ,and a lot of the others..

Great work to the developers of this game

Good or bad graphics are opinions, not facts. I like a lot of so-called "bad" or "poor" graphics because I like that style. Case in point, the old style of pixelated graphics are fine with me!

Well it just arrived from Strat 1st and now sits on the pc desk daring me to install it. But I resist!, fearing the oft maligned graphics and it's reported inferiority to F.P.S. games. It is merely another issue of the dying Adventure genre afterall. Though resistance is futile I continue to wait for what I don't know.

I've only played for a few minutes but the graphics are beautiful. I'm very curious to know how the earliest intro in the game ties in to the rest of the story line, and I see great intrigue ahead.

I also enjoyed the timelines/wall info in the first building where events of past history were outlined; I found them to be quite believable.

And, it's really neat to see so many familiar names in the game manual!!

Well I guess I've been spoiled by Heavenly Sword cutscenes and TF2 facial animations etc I actually like that touch though, the faces are lifeless but the lipsync is pretty cool, I can't tell if it's scripted or generated by reading the waveform (the latter likely, and is pretty impressive). I can't really fault the lack of facial animation though since their minimum spec was targeted to be very low.

I Can't enjoy the game because it's badly designed, bugs or not ,see hint section I probably will finish it eventually though, but Sam and Max seems to be carrying the torch single handedly nowadays. Either way I don't think this game deserves the glowing reviews at all. *For an adventure game* Syberia, Still Life/Post Mortem etc yes but this is nowhere in their league so far like the reviews seem to have indicated. JA is especially guilty of over reviewing some adventures which would have been lackluster "back in the day" to try and encourage the genre along but Culpa's praise so far seems really ridiculous even by their standards.

Syberia wasn't that good. I finished both 1 and 2 and found both to be quiet boring.
As for culpa, it does worth the good reviews it gets. When you first start it you'll probably hate it. But after playing for 20-40 min you will really get into it. The story line has these awesome twists that you would never expect. If you would advance in the game, you'd know what I mean.

The only downsides of culpa are crash and movement bugs (That most are already fixed with the new patch) and the graphics. Let's face it, they're out dated. The facial expression are ok but the rest could really use an improvement. But the good story line makes up for all flaws.

I also find the interface is very interesting...So much to do with the GPS system...Not a bore at all for me..

The game is Vast in territory..I love the halogen TV..

I also think Phoenix...Is amazingly smart..She makes a good cop.

As far as Sam & Max..I have played the cartoon style game..
Thats what I think of the graphics <cartoon>

The graphics in this Culpa game is realistic...

I give culpa three which is Great in my book. :ghost1:

Hi Fathamburger --

I agree with you that "Art Direction" is a rather amorphous term.

I disagree with this, however:



At GameBoomers we frequently see new adventure gamers who are just beginning to enjoy gaming and the adventure genre. Often these are not gamers who played the classic adventures and then have gone on to other genres. Often these are gamers who are starting out by first playing a recently released adventure, which they enjoy for its strong story, strong characters, or immersive environments.

The lack of combat or other kinds of explicit violence in adventure games is often a calling card for these new gamers. It's not unusual for these gamers to hail from the vast, relatively untapped hordes of "older" gamers, including the Baby Boomers.

As for new adventure gamers who don't enjoy a game because of its lack of "polish" -- you may have seen that, but I haven't. Usually when I talk to someone who has drifted away from the genre without ever getting "hooked," I hear two complaints.

Either they couldn't get the game to play glitch-free on their computer and don't want the hassle of tweaking it (in this case, in my experience, they are usually trying to install games on their laptops). Or they think that the puzzles are too hard and too obscure. The first problem is a problem for all PC games, not just adventures. The second problem is one that I think should be addressed, either through in-game hint systems or varying difficulty levels -- and I'm seeing more adventure games using one or the other.

It's impossible to think that the adventure genre is dying when dozens of adventures are released every year. At this time of year, adventures seem to be releasing every week. The problem is keeping up with all the releases, not lamenting that there aren't any new games.

The problem with adventure games today is that there are no big companies that want to make them. Most companies that make adventure games are small ones that you only get to know through the game. If EA games or Eidos would make adventure game, for example, it would be awesome.

Most big companies aim for other genre such as FPS or strategy. Adventure games today are not that good tbh. When was the last time you saw a breathtaking graphics in a quest game?

The Adventure Company is the only well known company for adventure games (at least for me) and they are ok. But thats the problem, they are just ok. Today's FPS games are simply amazing (Bioshock, Half life 2 etc). There are no amazing adventure games anymore, just ok ones.

Sinotek, I'm sorry you haven't found any amazing adventure games. I assure you, I have.

What makes a game "amazing" is different for every player. I am lucky in that I have 2 kids that love gaming and so I see and sometimes play many different genres with them on many different platforms.

One is not inherently better than the other. To each their own. Sometimes, my own is Keepsake on the PC, while at others, it's Baldur's Gate 2 on the PS2 or Hero's on the Box.

I also have to take issue with the statement by Fathamburger that there are no new Adventure game players. I started playing adventure games for the first time 3 years ago and came over to Adventure games from the Xbox and the PS2. I don't think I'm alone in this.

However, as interesting as this debate has become, it has wandered rather a long way from the topic :witch:

Yeah and again, Keepsake's graphics is pretty bad (And yeah I know it was at 2006, but still). Thats the main problem. All companies can make good story lines, but the problem is the way they execute them.

I very much disagree with you - Keepsake is one game that did just about everything right. But as the mods have indicated, this is getting off topic, and I'm only contributing to that and will stop there.
I haven't seen Culpa yet, but it will be interesting to see a game that sparks such feeling, whether positive or negative.

well if anything, you guys do give hope that aging graphics isn't necessarily a turn off to everyone

Hope is good! We're happy to give hope.

(I know, I'm still off-topic.)

If Culpa Innata had been developed by Electronic Arts for a more general market, and had full 3D amazingly photorealistic graphics with lots of extra animations, etc. --

Would it also have a WASD control scheme that would alienate the point-and-click adventure gamers?
Would it require a better, faster computer than most of us have, and would there be more glitches to deal with?
Would the puzzles need to be "simplified" for the general audience?
Would the dialogs have been shortened, and the plot "simplified" for the general audience?
Despite all of this, would the action/arcade gamers be attracted to its more leisurely-paced gaming style and thought-provoking themes?

I have mine too, but I'm still playing Wintersonne. <-- me too slow... Now you guys are making me want to abandon Wintersonne and just install Culpa Innata instead. !

Fathambeurger/ aging graphics is a GOOD thing. It means I don't have to plunk down $400 for a better graphics card spend $ on games instead. (The Awakened ran like a snail on this beast) It means that the budget for making those amazing graphics could go towards better voice acting and more time developing story and puzzles.

EA can pull off a decent quest game if they'll dedicate themselves to it. Yes, it would require a better PC but thats how everything is today. You gotta move on with the time. It won't take long before all adventure games will require a better PC.
BTW I know people who hate quest/adventure games but they loved Dreamfall. Why? because it had a good visual to it and an amazing story line. Most adventure games have an average graphics with good story lines. That is a shame because it makes the game less attractive to some. That is the major flaw in adventure games today. Most gamers see the not so attractive graphics and they get turned off by it. To some (like you Becky) graphics is not a factor. But to some gamers (Like me) it is.

P.S: Sorry for going off topic again, but I had to reply to Becky .

It's okay, sinotek, I'm going off topic too (well sort of).

I think the conversation here does logically lead to Dreamfall, which I think is the best recent example of a game trying to bridge these issues. If anyone is interested, we can join the Dreamfall thread here.

Please let one of the aging old players give his 2 cents.
If these younger players had older Windows 95 computers and
could play the older classic they would see how we progressed
from reading the conversation to organ music,and little square
people .
Then Myst and Gabriel Knight,7th Guest.
We seen the Adventure game evolve to what it is today.
The games were so few we played them over and over waiting
for the next one to come out.
We learned to appreciate all kinds.
It wasn't good or bad it was a ADVENTURE GAME.You took it for what it was...................

Very Well Said...Thank You.. ron.etti

Hi

Naughtily off topic still .... .... but ....


"It wasn't good or bad it was a ADVENTURE GAME.You took it for what it was"

I so agree !!

[And good, bad or ugly, and despite their ancient graphics, some of those old adventure games STILL knock the spots off some of what we are offered as adventure games today ]

Cheers.

Mad

Well, I just got to load my copy (which came yesterday) Do you load the patch just in case or what?

Bubba, yes, I would load the patch. It fixes things that may make your gameplay more enjoyable.

Happy gaming!

Ana

Would it be a spoiler to ask what types of puzzles people have encountered so far? Just curious.

Thanks!



------

Inventory puzzles, pattern analysis, image reconstruction (using a computer), dialog-based, code-breaking. There may be other kinds, but this is what I remember.

The Hexadecimal puzzle which i still can't figure out. I had to use Mag's walkthrough to solve it .

Thanks, guys!

Any sliders? Not that I dislike them or anything, just curious.

I'm glad to hear everyone's first impressions. I probably won't get this one for awhile. Have a bunch of others that need to be played first.

-----

Jess, I don't remember any sliders, but it's been quite awhile since I played it.

Noooooo

We hate sliders Well not hate really, just we aren't friends at the moment really.

No sliders, timed mazes (mazes at all) Nice thing when you make the game you can stay away from every puzzle type that you don;t like as a gamer heh heh

Laura: Rats! And I was sooo disappointed I didn't find timed maze filled with slider puzzles which you'd solve while having to deflect randomly shot laser beams.

Maybe an idea for Culpa 2? Or maybe you can make minimalistic puzzle design. Like for example having a crypt and a key lying next to it. You take the key and unlock the crypt to find a next key-with-crypt scene? Or am I being needlessly cryptic?

There better be a 2nd Culpa! So many stuff left unanswered. Even if there will be tons of timed mazes puzzles, I'd still play it!

I haven't got the game yet but sounds like something I am going to love! Just have to wait for backdated payrise to put in a bulk order to get up-to-date with all the recent releases!!

I am itching to reply to your post of 30th October Fathamburger - I disagree with so much that you have said but am aware that it is off topic. It would be great if you could start a new thread about your thoughts on the current AG scene so we can all get stuck in properly!

I'm enjoying the game a lot. The graphics ARE very nice, but as was said above, it really doesn't matter how juicy the graphics are. The substance has to show through.
It does.
I don't feel like I'm there, but it hasn't let me down.
I've already had 3 different kinds of puzzles, well, 4 if I count locating/figuring out stuff; there were no mazes, and I haven't even gotten to the nightclub yet.

just got my copy today .Really enjoy playing it .Starts a little slow .Then as you get into the story it gets you.The puzzals .What I have done arn t to hard and go with the story .Don t know if the puzzals will get harder later on .Every thing seems to follow as you go on with the investigation .I love these sort of games .No work done and I burnt the tea lol