I will check out the Queens Garden game.

I have been kind of quiet here of late because I've been playing Nancy Drew games. I replayed three and played one for the first time.

Oh, and I also replayed Lost Lands: The Four Horsemen CE.

I am playing Legendary Tales: Cataclysm and LOVING it. I know this game will displace one of the Top 20 already on my list. It features realistic and beautifully rendered artwork, plus no purple smoke or Amusement Park graphics. The voices are well done, distinctive and not prone to melodrama, making the characters feel like real people. In fact, nothing breaks the wall of this alternate world. The variety of locales is appropriate to the subject (an island volcano eruption) as is the accoutrement in the HO scenes (you won't find a soccer ball or a mini-scooter in any of the HOs). As for the mini-games, they are challenging, often completely original in design and relevant to the story and its theme. The only thing I haven't liked is a couple of puzzles that were timed. I can't tolerate that and had to skip them.

I don't think I have ever seen a timed puzzle in a Five BN HOPA game, Reenie. I will have to check this out and see for myself. Great news that you are loving the game, though! I am eager to play it.

Sounds good Reenie! I bought the game last week along with the first game, Stolen Life. Did you play that one?

Yes, I did play Stolen Life last year, and my notes say, "Best game in a long time." I already have replayed it.

I'm downloading both games right now. (Not sure when exactly I'll play them but this will keep them on my radar.)

Really liking this game - which so far is running perfectly - so will definitely get more from the series

Good to hear! I believer there are 12 games in that series so far, so you have a lot to choose from .

No technical problems and you ilke the game too - great news, Mad!

I downloaded the demo of Chimeras, Mark of Death after reading this - I agree; it's not bad.

I finished the bonus game today and I think I'll play another from this series next

[Hope you enjoy the game as much as I did, Tally Ho, if you get it.]

Sounds good, Mad!

Yes !!

Thanks, Marian.

I am thinking it might be the "Cherished Serpent" one this time

I am wrapping up a replay of Macabre Mysteries: Curse of the Nightingale. I think it was issued in 2014. It is a lot like the Parables series (I'd say the HO scenes are identical). Your quest is to figure out who set fire to a theater, with resulting fatalities. There is a LOT to do, many scenes to explore, no horrible dark scenes or shocking surprises, nothing gruesome, no combat or timed puzzles. It comes with a good map that expands as you open up more locations. The background music is not annoying.

Sometimes, it is a challenge to figure out what a given mini-game is about, and the Hint system does not cover the puzzles. With a couple of the minis, part of the puzzle was figuring out what the #!!#@& you were supposed to do. ha ha As for exploring the theater and solving its mysteries, there is a lot of running hither and yon.

The important thing about this game is the sheer number of HO scenes, sometimes more than one in a given scene. You had better enjoy that aspect of game play if you buy this game. The objects often are very well disguised and not particularly representative, by color or size, of the object you are seeking. It is almost as if they didn't want you to find the stuff. :-)

It is a good, long game, but I doubt I'll replay it. The HO scenes became a pain near the end.

I have been playing Faircroft's Antiques: Treasure of Treffenburg which is mostly just a straight HOG game with some jigsaw type mini's in it. I've played 6 chapters of 19 (I believe) without any glitches yet. Fingers crossed.

I also started an old game called Spirit Walkers: Curse of the Cypress Witch and so far I am enjoying it. It's different and I like the puzzles that I've encountered to this point.

I have finally finished the Amaranthine Voyage series. Yay!

I don't have Spirit Walkers but it sounds like one I might want to pick up. I am glad you aren't having any glitches with Faircroft's Antiques!

Congratulations on finishing the entire Amaranthine Voyage series. That's quite an undertaking.

So your Faircroft's Antiques game played without the hiccups I got with "Faircroft's Antiques : The Heir of Glen Kinnoch (Collector's Edition)", oldbroad ??

Glad to hear it

Interestingly, at this site Orchid Games the Spirit Walkers game you mention is said to not be playable on modern machines however it appears to be readily available from Big Fish

If you look at the bottom of that Orchid Games page, you can see that the game does not officially support Windows 10. That does not mean that it won't run on that OS, though, at least for some people. It's always best to try it for yourself.

I just started the Lost Lands: The Golden Curse CE. This will be my second playthrough. I don't remember all that much of it and it is pretty much like playing a new game.

I'm only a third of the way through Mad so we'll see but some reviewers mentioned a certain spot that they could not continue from but I got past that one without any problem. I had already bought all 3 games prior to you stating that you had trouble. I don't know if you were playing in your new Win 10 or Win 7 but I decided to try Win 7 figuring that maybe the problem was Win 10.

Regarding the Spirit Walkers game, I am playing that in Windows 10. So far, so good!

Also Mad, as I discussed earlier, there are apparently games that use Flash that are still available on Big Fish and they don't state that they use Flash and won't work if you don't have Flash so...

Oldbroad, I found a replacement for Flash Player called Lightspark. You can download it here. Apparently you can use it to play games that require Flash Player. It's free software and I know a couple of people who have already been using it with no issues, even though they are continuing to tweak it. It might be worth checking out now or in the future.

I haven't tried it out yet on our Windows 10 computer, but I plan to do so at some point. I still have Adobe Flash Player on my Windows 7.

Thanks for that info Marian. I may look into it but probably on my Win 7. I am eager to hear how it goes on your Win 10 computer. My back end is so sore from all the kicking of it I do!

Though, looking at those "issues" on the linked page, it sounds like it might be too complicated for me to deal with.

It is still being bug tested. However, the person I know who is using it is having no issues at all with the casual games she has tried.

Some of those issues have to do with seeing if it works with Linux and Ubuntu as well, issues that a Windows user would certainly not have to concern themself with.

I just finished Spirit Walkers: Curse of the Cypress Witch. I have the SE version and it only took me about 4 hours to play without skipping any puzzles but I think it was a good game. Puzzles not super easy but obviously doable since I was able to do them . I only had one issue. Not a glitch or anything. For most of the game you are reading the story and clicking continue to move along. Right near the end there was something I was trying to read that left the screen before I could finish it. (A complaint I posted about recently in Reenie's quibble post.) Fortunately, Arglefumph has a video walkthrough so I was able to read it. Not much to miss but still!

Oh, looks like there is only a SE version; no CE.

Marian, regarding that flash thing, it sounds like it doesn't want to work with Firefox which is what I use. That's what I was talking about. So, it is not a program that is installed? Do you have to have an internet connection while playing a game that uses it?

I have Firefox too. They are working on it so that it will work with Firefox for everyone, I believe. I don't think it requires the internet while playing a game. I will let you know when I find out more about it.

So Mad - yes I did buy that game, and yes I like it. Will likely do more of the series.

Also, after Reenie's mention of Macabre Mysteries... I have downloaded the demo. Haven't tried it yet.
I'm resilient though, can stand a plethora of hidden object scenes. We'll see.