The Omega Stone Revisited

The Omega Stone

(The Adventure Company)

I have read three glowing reviews of The Omega Stone and just finished the game myself a few days ago.

Let me say at the beginning that I enjoyed playing this game (with some reservations) and everything I have read in the reviews is true but….

We waited for The Omega Stone with bated breath, we knew the reputation of the people who were responsible for the prequel we played and loved, the game most of us know as TROS. This game was good it had quality; class and a certain shine abut it. The same goes for TOS.

The story was interesting and nothing was given away too early in the game. The sound effects were excellent and were not overdone at any place. There were times when the game turned into sheer delight and took my breath away.

Most of the game was pure eye candy and very enjoyable and I would not hesitate to buy any game from the same company again, it was truly a great gaming experience.

When I write a review I try to tell as it is and recount the gaming experience in its totality, if I do this there is always someone who misunderstands and thinks that I am trying to badmouth a game they love. This is far from the truth. If we do not say truly what we think of a game, what we like and dislike, how would the game developers know what we expect, like, dislike in an adventure game?

It is obvious that a lot of research, artistry, hard work and great care were invested into this game. Nobody can deny that this game was made with expertise and love of adventure and yet there were things in it that I thought detracted from they enjoyment of the game play.

The story was fragmented and some of the fragments were unfinished. For example what happened to the young people at Stonehenge? Why the elaborate plot to drive a nervous Troy to distraction? I could really see no point to this story line.

We were treated to a lot of obscure sounding letters that were hard to get hold of but were not really a lot of help.

Let us look at the mazes. Now I personally like mazes, I love to find my way and feel satisfaction when I get through one but I do not relish a game with one maze after another however well they are done especially when I have to traverse them over and over again. There is a point when I start thinking that this is just a ploy the stretch the game.

The next thing I found tiresome was the inventory, we collected things we would never use. The inventory went around and around like a carousel, it was hard to keep track of what we collected and even harder to organize the items. There was too much useless junk there.

We spent a long time underground just trying to find things and that was depressing in a way.


I like puzzles that make you think not just make you walk back and force, I considered having to walk back for the second helping of the horse crystals even with pixel hunting.

I found the end abrupt, I would have liked to see the meteorite blasted out of it dangerous orbit into space. On the other hand Giles after many obscure letters became rather verbose at the end and kept repeating himself.

I usually replay a game right after I finish it. I find that when I am not driven by the curiosity for the story and my mind is no overly occupied by the puzzles I have an opportunity to discover details I did not see the first time around enjoy the eye candy and relive the interesting parts. I had walked so much back and force in this game that somehow I did not feel like doing it again…

I played this game with

Windows XP
1600 MHz Intel Pentium 4
8 KB Primary Memory Cache
256 KB Secondary Memory Cache
Nvidia GeForce4 Ti 4300 Display Adapter
VIA AC'97 Enhanced Audio Controller (WDM)
Logitech USB Marble Mouse

Very interesting review. I haven't loaded this one up yet. This gives me more things to look for when I do start playing it.

Is there any way (short of using a walkthrough) to reduce the back-and-forthing?

I do not think so Becky, you have to take several trips just to get the letters.

You will have to traverse the mazes several times to collect stuff and since you do not know what you will need and what you will not you have to collect everything.

Once you found one thing in one maze you will have to go back and use it in the previous maze.

While figuring out the potions for the alchemy puzzle you will have to distract a person by taking side trips.

Well, this review settles it for me. I'm going to uninstall Omega Stone off my PC and since I've already sold my copy, I won't be finishing the game.

It's a disappointment really because I too looked forward to this game due to the enjoyment I got from ROTS. I've written one message about this game already on the main discussion forum and my feelings haven't changed. The Toblers, in my opinion, let their zest for mysterious historical sites get the better of them and assumed that "more is better" regarding the number of times one must traverse each site. I also hate (and I mean hate) the cumbersome inventory. I hope all future game designers learn that deleting inventory items after you've used them is the only way to go.

I've obtained another copy of Dark Fall and I'm replaying this wonderful, all-in-one-site, game. The weight of the Omega Stone was too much for me.

I finished Omega Stone not long ago and I feel the same way as Lasanidine about both its problems and its good points. It's certainly worth playing, but wasn't really as much fun or as immersive as ROTS.

I wrote a very positive review myself. But I have been thinking about the habit of writing reviews and posting them while I am still happy with the game. I think I will delay at least a day for the thrill of finishing to pass, along with the rosy glow and see if any reservations pop up. I still agree with what I initially wrote - but I would say that the inability to get rid of cumbersome inventory items was a problem. But I re-played ROTS and found the same problem if not worse. I sat there trying to ditch stars into the basket for the longest time and finaly gave up. So I know I was momentarily irritated and then it passed.

Truth is I haven't played any game (even the ones I adored the most) that didn't have their share of flaws here and there. But I have thought after reading your comments Lasanidine - that there are things I overlook that might be significant in someone elses decision about where to spend scant dollars for games.

Again a slight delay in posting would allow me the time to settle in and think more about the game, including the little irritants that my mind had forgotten.

Lasanadine, I may not always agree with you - but you always make me think and in particular review things in my mind. I adore that about your thoughts and writings. Easy to love you for that.

Laura

Thank you so much Laura, this is indeed a compliment from a person who is so good at writing reviews as you are.