Out with the Old, In with the New

I've been playing "The Veil of Mystery : Seven Little Gnomes" but have finally given up

The story was OK but the in-game controls were inconsistent. I was repeatedly having to go back and search places again because of this and eventually got way too fed up of doing so !!

So I uninstalled the game and moved on to "Haunted Hotel : The Evil Inside" instead - and am VERY much enjoying it

I'm glad you are enjoying it, Mad! I don't believe that I have played that one. Uh-oh.

I am finally playing MCF: 13th Skull. I've had the game on disc, since it came out but never played it. I started it last night and today I am asking myself why, why, why, did I want to play this game. It is hard!! I like it though so far.

Oh, I really liked that game, oldbroad! But I agree with you that it was quite difficult in spots.

I think The 13th Skull is the best of the MCF games!

I loved the humor in that game, Drac.

Me too, Marian! Just a great all around casual game.

I'm just glad that some of the puzzles don't need to be solved immediately in order to move forward. I've got two at the moment that are on hold, but still able to do a bunch of other stuff. I already have 11 hours in the game and it looks like a lot more to go.

The Veil of Mystery: Seven Little Gnomes, i love this game, but it has bugs, i brought it from viva media, my coins disappear.

I liked the game too, family, but the controls were very buggy

mined is on pc, a disc. the coins disappear, i skip the fish pond puzzle will not take as the bedroom code, i didn't know there are objects, and gnome to collect.

Me, too, Drac. It was terrific. It is dotted with difficult puzzles, but I like games like that.

I do too Reenie, but lately the casuals I've been playing are on the easy side while I try to focus on some adventure games. That "why, why, why" is my lame type of joking.

You, Family, and Oldbroad got me started replaying.

I grew up in New Orleans. One of the first good things I noticed about 13th Skull is that somebody bothered with a bit of research. It's probably not coincidental that the dog is a Chihuahua and the bag of coffee in the refrigerator has a label reading "chicory." Sure, the sandwich would have been a poor-boy; labeling it a sub was an editorial choice for clarity. There are plenty of departures from verisimilitude; enough is maintained to give the characters and environment depth.

As a child I went on a couple of picnics with a local historian and family, one to a derelict plantation house, another to a fort. The ostensible purpose was treasure hunting; really it was to have a picnic and entertain us. The legends of treasure from various sources did exist.

That's interesting info, 8dognight.

I get that, oldbroad. I make the same sorts of comments when I offer a mini-review.

Well, I'm at the part where I'm looking for the 13th Skull. No luck so far.

I finished my Haunted Hotel game in record time (for me, anyway) because it was so enjoyable - and now I've started on The Legacy : Forgotten Gate

And as it, too, is also shaping up to be a real goodie, I will probably take myself off to Big Fish later to buy the sequel

Good luck, oldbroad!

Nice to hear how much you enjoyed the Haunted Hotel game, Mad. Today is a buy-one-get-one-free day on Big Fish, so a good day for new purchases.

Thanks very much for that info, Marian I will away and get to it forthwith

Yes, proceed there with dispatch!

Been an' gone an' done it !!

Have fun Mad!

Thanks Marian. I'm about ready to consult the walkthrough (unless you have any hints for that puzzle above the casket with the 4 coins on chains). I can't figure it out.

Thanks, oldbroad, and good luck. !!

If 13th Skull had fewer ugly HOs, it would be an all time favorite of mine.

Look carefully at the newspaper articles. They also show care in detail. In New Orleans the Bee was a broadsheet then paper of record, not started until 1827 but who cares. That was the actual masthead. Also read the hilarious articles in the paper next to Cooter's mailbox. That paper probably existed, too. I didn't check. I knew about the Bee so I looked up publication dates.

Across the board the delivery of standard issue casual adventure lines on the order of "if you find my X, I will help you with Y" is remarkably polished. Cooter and his wife work as over the top caricatures with a hair--a greasy hair--of pathos. Even the little girl, Magnolia, sounds natural once past the opening cutscene. The woman who owns the bar and the nebbishy librarian sparkle with individuality. Mary Lee is believable and oddly familiar. Major and minor characters without exception are all skilled enough to create immersion, that illusive willing suspension of disbelief.

I wish BFG would spring for more games with human actors. Seems to me an Arriflex or whatever people use nowadays, sound equipment, some talented drama students, and a few bored retired actors would fit the bill. They wouldn't need to speak unaccented English. Even before the break-up of the Eastern Bloc, promising films came out of Eastern Europe. There must be plenty of young people looking for experience who will work cheap. The actors speak directly to the camera, meaning directly to the audience/player, so setting up shots isn't complicated.

I liked the acting in Mystery Case Files: Shadow Lake, too.

Nevosoft, which I gather is based in Russia, had fabulous voice acting in Vampireville. Maybe they can do a game with live actors.

Pipe dreams, I guess, like putting on a show in the barn.

Well, this puzzle has kind of ruined this game for me. I used the 3 available hints which did not tell me to do anything different than what I was already trying to do, so I moved on to the walkthrough, which did explain what I was trying to accomplish, however, I found it impossible to pull the chains down far enough for them to reveal what needed to be revealed. I was only able to get one of them and had to "skip" the puzzle. I feel this was poor puzzle design, but I suppose that is just my opinion that maybe I am stating out of disappointment and 5 hours or so (on just this puzzle) of frustration.

I accomplished everything else up to this point with no help at all.

Well, I think you did very well. I don't remember the puzzle you are describing as it's been too long since I played the game, though.

Thanks Marian! You're always so supportive and always make me feel better!

Just speaking the truth, oldbroad.

I finished the first "Legacy" game - which I SO liked. And have now started the second. And am very happy to find it is in exactly the same style

Lovely !!

So I know I will enjoy this one too !!

That's great Mad. I do have both of those games in my "to be played" pile.

I finished MCF: 13th Skull today and am going back to my adventure games for now.

That's great, oldbroad

Also .. a confirmation .. I am finding the 2nd "Legacy" game just as good as the 1st !!

Finished the second one now, too, and think both were excellent. Will certainly re-play them at some time

Glad you enjoyed those games. So what's next on the agenda then Mad?

I started Angelica Weaver: Catch Me When You Can last night.

I've started "Secrets of the Dark : Mystery of the Ancestral Estate" which is a totally different concept AND needs more thinking about

As I recall, all the Secrets of the Dark games have that extra twist. It keeps things interesting.

I hope you enjoy Angelica Weaver, oldbroad.

Oh, good, because I discovered another in the series that I hadn't played - so bought it in the latest sale !!

Thanks, Marian

Thanks Marian. I can't say I'm smitten with Angelica Weaver. I don't particularly care for the way she talks. I don't like the way she nods her head when you pick something up. I didn't care too much for the "follow the footprints" puzzle. I did it but I thought it went on a little longer than it needed to. There is a puzzle where you stack up a bunch of items to climb up to a window that nobody in their right mind would ever climb on (which I'm okay with) but, I guess it's a physics puzzle which I don't care for and I "skipped" it after only a short time, which is something I rarely do. It just felt like a senseless waste of my time. But I'll finish the game, of course.

I guess someday I'll find out about the "extra twist" in the Secrets of the Dark games. I have them in my vast library. I do hope you're enjoying yourself Mad.

I remember when the game came out that some people said they didn't like the way Angelica nodded; I rather liked it. I do remember that footsteps puzzle and I didn't make it through without hints. And yes, of course you will finish the game.

I didn't use any hints for the footprint puzzle but was happy to see it didn't throw me back to the beginning of the puzzle when I clicked on a wrong footstep.

I just finished the game. All in all, I liked it. I can't even say anything bad about the physics puzzle. It may be a good puzzle; just not my thing. Had I been in a different frame of mind, maybe I would have spent more time on it or maybe looked at the walkthrough to see the order of the items and then at least tried longer to solve the puzzle, while only having to deal with moving the items but not moving them AND trying to figure out the order.

The way Angelica talked and the head nodding probably wouldn't have fazed me except the way you (Marian) said "I hope you enjoy Angelica Weaver, oldbroad." made me start analyzing the game. The one thing I did not like though, was that they kept saying Cicero, Chicago. No! No! No! Cicero is a suburb of Chicago; it is not Chicago!!!