After this was mentioned in a thread elsewhere in the forum, I have started replaying it. Rudo, the head, has a piece of sage advice for Edwina, our heroine, after she discovers the laboratory of the town's former botanist:

"You don't want to know what the Ouphe did to her. Suffice it to say, I gave up knitting."

That's such a great line, I can't help repeating it for anyone who remembers the game and maybe for people who haven't played.

Why don't more recently established casual developers pay attention to the exceptional qualities of a few older games and pay more attention to their own characterizations and scripting?

Loved both the Margrave games. They were so distinctive.

I agree, 8dog. I loved Margrave: Blacksmith's Daughter. All I put in my Notes was, "One of the best of the genre that I have played." Such a helpful critique. Also, Severed Heart is not bad, though not as exceptional as Blacksmith. Both are worth replaying, and I have them marked to do just that.

Loved your quote from the game! I often wonder if other players appreciate good writing or just play for the action? As a person who enjoys writing, I really notice when someone has cared enough to go beyond the clichés.

The thing about so many of the older Casuals is that they are very simple, indeed, sometimes not consisting of much more than Find-the-Object experiences, and very short on storyline, character development and certainly on dialogue. What older games would you recommend? I can't remember when each game came out, and only log them in my Notes by the date I played them. I'm not sure I could say exactly what order they were issued.

Looking at the "older" titles on my List, though, I probably would not replay many of them because they simply aren't engaging enough ~ although I enjoyed them at the time. Unless a game stands out for really strong characters or writing, it will tend to lose its glow as the genre improves. The Amaranthine Voyage series is like that (its best games in the series came later); I wouldn't replay the early ones. Same with Otherworld.

Alex Hunter: Lord of the Mind is one of the few games from years ago that I would replay now.
There are some good games in Awakening's early pickings as there are in Christmas Stories.
Twilight Phenomenon: City of Cyan is a good older game.
All of the Shiver games are good, regardless of when issued.
The Rite of Passage games are uneven, but among the older ones, Child of the Forest is engaging.

I've been curious, Reenie. You seem to be able remember a lot of details about the games you've played. I've played a lot of games, but couldn't tell you much about any of them except for perhaps the ones I've played recently. Do you take notes?

Yes, I do keep a list of casual games I play, Sparkle. There are so many that, years ago, I twice bought a casual game to play that I later realized I had already bought and played it (this was in the early 2000's, when I got them all on CDs from the game store, not as on-line downloads from BF). Even after joining BF, I did this again, purchasing the game from BF when I already had it on disk. So, I needed to create a spreadsheet to keep track. There are more than 400 games on it now.

Since I play my games on my PC, it is a quick click away to the spreadsheet after finishing, and takes far less time to do this that it does for a game to load itself. Each time I play a game, I enter the name and date, and when I've finished, I add a few words to indicate if I liked it (or not) and why. If it is really good, its text gets highlighted in green, second best in red. If it was awful, I change the type color to a gray. Highlighting lets me find a particular game if I want to make a comment on this forum ~ or avoid buying a dog in the casual lineup.

The list saves me time with games issued in a series. After playing a few that were disappointing and weren't improving, I wasn't as likely to make that mistake again; I pass over new games offered in that series unless I hear someone comment positively on them later. On the other hand, it is useful when a casual game is so good that I wanted to replay it. I have replayed at least a dozen.

That's quite a system, Reenie. All my games have been BFG downloads, so I always check my purchase history before I buy a game - usually to see if I already have the CE. And I have yet to replay any games.

I don't think you can rePurchase the same game from BF, so you really don't need to check your Purchase History. How do I know this? You guessed it: I tried to buy a game I already owned at BF.

I still keep the list as a way to remind myself which series are dependably good, to add a game that was just issued that I think I might like to play later, and to be able to answer questions on the Forum about the games that come up. It is much easier to review my List, being specially highlighted to show the best/favorite games, than it is to scroll through what is now a LONG list of my Purchased Games.

The Big Fish game system will allow you to purchase both the CE and the SE of the same game, though, as some dismayed customers have discovered. If that ever happens, they will give you a free game code, I believe.

That's what I meant, Marian. I recently found that I neglected to check and had bought both versions of the same game.

I can see where that would be pretty easy to do, Sparkle.