I saw it in a shelf, looked at for a few minutes and decided against it (and from the looks of the stack of boxes, there is not too much demand for it)
I think the character designs were done by Larry Ahern, at least the Guybrush design
This. I'm sorry if I came across as maybe being sarcastic, Thiftweed Fancy Pants. Bill Tiller was pretty much in charge of the backgrounds (actually, he's credited on Curse as Lead Background Artist), which is also the reason why he gets so much love.
This. I'm sorry if I came across as maybe being sarcastic, Thiftweed Fancy Pants. Bill Tiller was pretty much in charge of the backgrounds (actually, he's credited on Curse as Lead Background Artist), which is also the reason why he gets so much love.
How do you know this? If he's credited, it's not in the credits. There is nothing about a "Lead Background Artist." That being said, if it is true, then I guess the similarities in character design are an amazing coincidence.
How do you know this? If he's credited, it's not in the credits. There is nothing about a "Lead Background Artist." That being said, if it is true, then I guess the similarities in character design are an amazing coincidence.
Edit: Hmm... Upon closer inspection, your credit screen is different than mine. Were there different versions of the credits? In the credits I saw, there is no such listing as "Lead Background Artist." The first image, however, pretty much closes the case though. I was just wondering how we knew he was the lead background artist.
Edit: Hmm... Upon closer inspection, your credit screen is different than mine. Were there different versions of the credits? In the credits I saw, there is no such listing as "Lead Background Artist." The first image, however, pretty much closes the case though. I was just wondering how we knew he was the lead background artist.
Those are the opening credits, you only looked at the closing credits at the end of the game.
According to adventuregamers.com, english versions of Ghost Pirates, Black Mirror and Gray Matter will come out next year from UK publisher Mamba Games.
No specific release date yet, but this answers the question of that it gets released before christmas.
So I wonder if that means all the characters will have English accents... that would be nice....
Although it would be cool of Dominic could have a small cameo.... It would have been funnier yet if he was a suspiciously familiar pirate in the corner of a bar or something like that.
With english releases of Ghost Pirates, The Whispered World, Black Mirror 2, Sam and Max Season 3, Runaway 3, Gray Matter, A New Beginning and Lost Horizon, it looks like 2010 will be an excellent year of adventuregaming!
Meanwhile, Simon the Sorcerer V (and the pain it brings to people) is waiting to be finally released in english, maybe in Q1 2010.
While you are waiting for Simon 5 you should play Everlight, from the same developers of Simon 4. It features another magic boy and the similarities with the Simon 4 gameplay are obvious. The fact that there are Simon in-jokes in Evrerlight leads me to believe that it could be of the same universe of the Simon games.
I played the German version of Simon V through to the end and it really seems that the developers are testing out a new engine rather than trying to produce a decent, memorable game. There are some returning characters from simon 2 and 4, which I liked, and you do get to play as one of them. Calypso only appears in the opening animation, which is a shame, maybe they are saving him for the next game.
The graphics and gameplay are definitely a step up from Simon 4, however the story is not great and it has a strange sense of humour. Also the areas are far too contained and mostly everything you need is just lying around or is easily obtained in a conversation. There is no MI2 style inter area traveling and the game parts seem episodic in nature. No offense telltale . The game is far too short and what is worse: the ending may signify the last in the Simon games even though the developers only now seem to have gotten their act together.
With everything been said I would like to see how well the game translates into English as there were some parts in the story exclusive to German speakers with no consideration of a translation. You can download the demo here http://www.simon-the-sorcerer-5.com/ which is about 1/5 of the game at least.
While you are waiting for Simon 5 you should play Everlight
Speaking of which, chapter 4 of TOMI reminded me of Everlight where you can switch between day and night anytime and see the different characters acting differently because of the curse (or whatever that was) that possesses them.
When I left the court and went to Club 41 with Grindstump suddenly being a barkeeper and utterly friendly to you, I had to think of that.
So I finished Ghost Pirates last night - and I'm sadly a bit disappointed after the credits rolled over my screen.
I will post the promised little review later this day (it's 3 p.m. in germany) -so stay tuned.
While you are waiting for Simon 5 you should play Everlight, from the same developers of Simon 4. It features another magic boy and the similarities with the Simon 4 gameplay are obvious. The fact that there are Simon in-jokes in Evrerlight leads me to believe that it could be of the same universe of the Simon games.
I did play Everlight, and it felt like kind of Simon lite. Which was weird. Same company, making another game about another boy that travels to another magical dimension, he is a little snarky also, and even looks a little like Simon.
So, your comments about the ending of Simon V awaken my curiosity, could you message me details?
So I finished Ghost Pirates last night - and I'm sadly a bit disappointed after the credits rolled over my screen.
I will post the promised little review later this day (it's 3 p.m. in germany) -so stay tuned.
Bernus, I finished it this morning. Looking forward to your review.
If there's one thing I can claim to be dissapointed in then it's the fact that you just cannot follow the storyline (or is it just me?) The prehistory including a dozen of characters is introduced to you within a two minutes intro sequence leaving you "Huh? What-the-what?" I was hoping that further explanation was to follow, but the plot just gets impervious and even more characters are stuffed into the story. That indeed was an unexpected letdown.
the atmosphere in chapter 2 is excellent. you are in a town that feels just like plunder island from mi 3 incl. music. it really feels like the spiritual follower to MI 3.
Without the intention to blow my own horn I wanted to say thanks for that compliment Bernus. Pedro and I really had fun there, paying tribute to the game we love so much. Awesome to hear you enjoyed it
see...this game is GREAT (tricky but a little bit short...). But (my opinion) you should speak german to understand the game in full. Ok..there is a trick to get subtitles in english but NOT in the cutscenes (and there are many! believe me! I love it).
Bill did a good job in drafting (but he did better in AVS), but ok.
Gameplay like a mixture of MI and DotT (and, of course, the "idea inventory" from AVS). Speakers not bad, but could be better (exept the cook). Papa is too harsh in voice, and Jane too girlie..
But: I finished this great game, hoping for a second part and thx for making the waiting easier to ToMI 5!
see...this game is GREAT (tricky but a little bit short...). But (my opinion) you should speak german to understand the game in full. Ok..there is a trick to get subtitles in english but NOT in the cutscenes (and there are many! believe me! I love it).
Bill did a good job in drafting (but he did better in AVS), but ok.
Gameplay like a mixture of MI and DotT (and, of course, the "idea inventory" from AVS). Speakers not bad, but could be better (exept the cook). Papa is too harsh in voice, and Jane too girlie..
But: I finished this great game, hoping for a second part and thx for making the waiting easier to ToMI 5!
Well, it will be released in English some months from now.
I agree with you though. GPOVI's writing / plot was a little poor; to me it looked like someone was a little too eager putting as many ideas as possible into this game, but apart from that I wasn't dissapointed at all (and we all know the publisher rushed them to get it ready).
I got what I expected: a beautiful gem of adventure gaming, gorgeous graphics, enchanting tunes and an overall gaming experience that I last felt about ten years ago. I'm more than glad someone carries on that torch of classic adventure gaming (not that I'm complaining about all the newer ones but I'm a 2D fan ;-))
GPOVI delivers a solid experience. The story is kept rather simple - but can get confusing because of the ammount of characters wich are thrown at you without further introduction.
The main problem with the story is, that it would have needed more time to unfold. GPOVI delivers a rather short experience with about 6-8 hours gametime and feels very rushed in point of storytelling (but this time you get a closed storyline). The characters dont get time to develope or change while playing - so they feel rather flat. The same problems with the locations. So when the finale starts you have this strange feeling, this journey was just way too short - for that kind of story.
I would have loved to explore some of this lovely locations more. But they all are with about 3-6 screens rather small in scope. Thats especailly sad in the second act where you explore this puerto pollo (plunder island) like location with Blue Belly. I really would have liked to spend more time there and explore more than those handfull of screens.
So in terms of Story you can say as a summary: Bill should have taken more time to tell.
The graphic in GPOVI is from the artistic perspective great. It's no MI 3 and it's no The Whispered World but the Art Direction of the backgrounds is still just lovely. Sadly as in AVS the graphicengine makes them look very unsharp in the game. The characters on the other hand are all unique and full of little details. There are even characters with a very short appearence but designed with so much detail, that Telltale should be embaressed with there fat and thin clone models.
Sadly from time to time there are some minor graphical bugs, specially in connection with moving 3D items in the backgrounds.
The videosequences suffer the same problem as AVS. They are unsharp and with this strange milkey filter. Thats even worse, because GPOVI tells a lot of story with videos (even too much).
The atmosphere is excellent. The music and the wonderful backgrounds make a perfect team and there are some moments where you realy have this MI3 feeling. Vooju Island feels like a combination of Blood Island and Monkey Island and the Island Mary Cay feels, as mentioned, very much like Plunder Island. So pure nostalgic. Even the score feels like it could have been in MI3.
But what about the puzzles?! Well first off GPOVI continues what Tiller started with AVS. Instead of taking most of the items you remember them in your inventory. But it makes nearly no differenz in terms of puzzledesign. The difficulty is not too hard and you shouldn't get stuck for too long. Even so some puzzles seem a bit far fetched. You dont get to carry too much (reminded) items in your inventory and it's most of the time very clear what to do.
Strangley there was one odd puzzle-design mistake in the game. In order to get an item you destroy an other item you just collected - the character even mentions that its been destroyed - nevertheless it is still in your inventory and even required (!!) to solve a following puzzle.
Luckily this happened just one time.
So in summary the puzzles aren't revolutionary and seem overall a bit outdated. Whispered World or Black Mirror 2 showed more variaty in this point.
Luckily i didn't stumple across major bugs (like those 2 deadends in AVS) - but often little bugs here and there. You just feel while playing - that this game could have needed some more polishing.
So all in all GPOVI again had a lot of potential but didn't succeed in fully using it. Some more polishing and a bit more time to tell the story and GPOVI could have been not just a slightly over average game but a realy good one. Nevertheless it was a nice short stay in the Azzurribean and a nice second game by AME. If they succeed in learning by there mistakes and little flaws I would like to return to this franchise in a GPOVI 2.
Does it have several graphical glitched and need patches to run, and have a bad save/load system like AVS did?
the game runs without patch - there isn't even a patch out till today here in germany. i suggest most of those minor graphical glitches will be fixed in the us-version.
because of the save/load-system - do you mean like in AVS where the unpatched saves didn't work with the patched version? if so like above, there is no patch out now. if you meant something different, i need further explanation.
the game runs without patch - there isn't even a patch out till today here in germany. i suggest most of those minor graphical glitches will be fixed in the us-version.
because of the save/load-system - do you mean like in AVS where the unpatched saves didn't work with the patched version? if so like above, there is no patch out now. if you meant something different, i need further explanation.
The game crashed at the "stadium" without the use of a patch. As for the Us version, I hope so, because I'll probably be getting it.
Minor glitches, how so? AVS had blatant flaws because the project leader rushed the team, sounds like he did it again. :rolleyes:
The game crashed at the "stadium" without the use of a patch. As for the Us version, I hope so, because I'll probably be getting it.
Minor glitches, how so? AVS had blatant flaws because the project leader rushed the team, sounds like he did it again. :rolleyes:
don't forget, that the original release here in germany should have been early 2010. so we all were stunned, when suddenly the game was announced to be released in october 2009. maybe dtp (the publisher) wanted to use the ongoing pirate-hype. but thats all speculation.
the stadium crash in AVS wasn't in the german version i think. there was just a possible dead-end which got fixed with a patch and the little mistake, that you could skip the slip froderick through the backdoor puzzle, if mona entered it before.
so it could very well be, that GPOVI has some new bugs / crashes in the us-version.
Does it have several graphical glitched and need patches to run, and have a bad save/load system like AVS did?
The save / load menu is equal to the one in AVS: saved games are given a date / time stamp. You cannot give them a name or overwrite them (if that's what you meant).
AVS had blatant flaws because the project leader rushed the team, sounds like he did it again. :rolleyes:
If by 'project leader' you mean 'publisher', then yes. I really don't get it... because they have no marketing strategy of their own, they're desperately trying to ride the wave of success that TMI created. Bill Tiller deserves better publishers.
The flaw where you use still need to use an item after you've destroyed it to solve a puzzle seems very revealing about the quality of the game. It sounds like it may have been rushed and unpolished. That's too bad. Maybe Bill should team up with TTG or some other game developers that could benefit from his expertise in creating great atmosphere and unique characters.
Ghost Pirates does sound like a very intriguing game, and well worth a look. In my opinion though, no adventure will ever top Monkey Island! And rightly so. It really set the standard way back in the 1990s. To this day, the atmosphere, humour and most importantly gameplay of the MI series, remains the best I have every played.
I've started playing the game now as well (I've finished chapter 1), and "rushed" is definetely the best word to describe almost every aspect of the game. The intro (which looks rather unfinished) leaves you more confused than anything else, at least story wise. You know what you have to do (because you're told after the intro), so the puzzles aren't the problem here (and they are good too)... but you're hardly knowing (or caring) why it has to be done. The first time I started the game I had a hard time to keep playing, because I simply didn't CARE. I've started a second time and pushed through, but it wasn't very gripping. Furthermore there seems to be some kind of elaborate back-story going on, but unfortunately it feels like they forgot to tell it... I'd say just adding a few pages of story to the manual would've done, but now you're constantly thinking "Did I miss something?", because the dialogues sound like some things are common knowledge. And concerning the dialogues: while the voice actors are well cast an do a great job, the writing itself isn't too funny... you'll definitely be disappointed if you expect a "Monkey Island"-level of humor. Tech-wise there's nothing too spectacular either. While Bill's background paintings are simply stunningly beautiful, the crappy engine and low resolution of them (1024x768) makes them quickly look all blurry on modern displays (plus the game offers only two resolutions to play in... 1024x768 and 1280x800, the latter one not even working with my 1920x1200-display). Character-animations vary, with some of them looking great, but transitions generally appearing too snappy. I can't say more about the story-flow, so I'll try to get through the rest of the game as well.
Comments
How do you know this? If he's credited, it's not in the credits. There is nothing about a "Lead Background Artist." That being said, if it is true, then I guess the similarities in character design are an amazing coincidence.
Also, from the opening credits:
Best game ever!
Edit: Hmm... Upon closer inspection, your credit screen is different than mine. Were there different versions of the credits? In the credits I saw, there is no such listing as "Lead Background Artist." The first image, however, pretty much closes the case though. I was just wondering how we knew he was the lead background artist.
No specific release date yet, but this answers the question of that it gets released before christmas.
SOURCE
Although it would be cool of Dominic could have a small cameo.... It would have been funnier yet if he was a suspiciously familiar pirate in the corner of a bar or something like that.
While you are waiting for Simon 5 you should play Everlight, from the same developers of Simon 4. It features another magic boy and the similarities with the Simon 4 gameplay are obvious. The fact that there are Simon in-jokes in Evrerlight leads me to believe that it could be of the same universe of the Simon games.
I played the German version of Simon V through to the end and it really seems that the developers are testing out a new engine rather than trying to produce a decent, memorable game. There are some returning characters from simon 2 and 4, which I liked, and you do get to play as one of them. Calypso only appears in the opening animation, which is a shame, maybe they are saving him for the next game.
The graphics and gameplay are definitely a step up from Simon 4, however the story is not great and it has a strange sense of humour. Also the areas are far too contained and mostly everything you need is just lying around or is easily obtained in a conversation. There is no MI2 style inter area traveling and the game parts seem episodic in nature. No offense telltale
With everything been said I would like to see how well the game translates into English as there were some parts in the story exclusive to German speakers with no consideration of a translation. You can download the demo here http://www.simon-the-sorcerer-5.com/ which is about 1/5 of the game at least.
Speaking of which, chapter 4 of TOMI reminded me of Everlight where you can switch between day and night anytime and see the different characters acting differently because of the curse (or whatever that was) that possesses them.
When I left the court and went to Club 41 with Grindstump suddenly being a barkeeper and utterly friendly to you, I had to think of that.
I will post the promised little review later this day (it's 3 p.m. in germany) -so stay tuned.
I did play Everlight, and it felt like kind of Simon lite. Which was weird. Same company, making another game about another boy that travels to another magical dimension, he is a little snarky also, and even looks a little like Simon.
So, your comments about the ending of Simon V awaken my curiosity, could you message me details?
Bernus, I finished it this morning. Looking forward to your review.
If there's one thing I can claim to be dissapointed in then it's the fact that you just cannot follow the storyline (or is it just me?) The prehistory including a dozen of characters is introduced to you within a two minutes intro sequence leaving you "Huh? What-the-what?" I was hoping that further explanation was to follow, but the plot just gets impervious and even more characters are stuffed into the story. That indeed was an unexpected letdown.
Without the intention to blow my own horn I wanted to say thanks for that compliment Bernus. Pedro and I really had fun there, paying tribute to the game we love so much. Awesome to hear you enjoyed it
Bill did a good job in drafting (but he did better in AVS), but ok.
Gameplay like a mixture of MI and DotT (and, of course, the "idea inventory" from AVS). Speakers not bad, but could be better (exept the cook). Papa is too harsh in voice, and Jane too girlie..
But: I finished this great game, hoping for a second part and thx for making the waiting easier to ToMI 5!
Well, it will be released in English some months from now.
I agree with you though. GPOVI's writing / plot was a little poor; to me it looked like someone was a little too eager putting as many ideas as possible into this game, but apart from that I wasn't dissapointed at all (and we all know the publisher rushed them to get it ready).
I got what I expected: a beautiful gem of adventure gaming, gorgeous graphics, enchanting tunes and an overall gaming experience that I last felt about ten years ago. I'm more than glad someone carries on that torch of classic adventure gaming (not that I'm complaining about all the newer ones but I'm a 2D fan ;-))
GPOVI delivers a solid experience. The story is kept rather simple - but can get confusing because of the ammount of characters wich are thrown at you without further introduction.
The main problem with the story is, that it would have needed more time to unfold. GPOVI delivers a rather short experience with about 6-8 hours gametime and feels very rushed in point of storytelling (but this time you get a closed storyline). The characters dont get time to develope or change while playing - so they feel rather flat. The same problems with the locations. So when the finale starts you have this strange feeling, this journey was just way too short - for that kind of story.
I would have loved to explore some of this lovely locations more. But they all are with about 3-6 screens rather small in scope. Thats especailly sad in the second act where you explore this puerto pollo (plunder island) like location with Blue Belly. I really would have liked to spend more time there and explore more than those handfull of screens.
So in terms of Story you can say as a summary: Bill should have taken more time to tell.
The graphic in GPOVI is from the artistic perspective great. It's no MI 3 and it's no The Whispered World but the Art Direction of the backgrounds is still just lovely. Sadly as in AVS the graphicengine makes them look very unsharp in the game. The characters on the other hand are all unique and full of little details. There are even characters with a very short appearence but designed with so much detail, that Telltale should be embaressed with there fat and thin clone models.
Sadly from time to time there are some minor graphical bugs, specially in connection with moving 3D items in the backgrounds.
The videosequences suffer the same problem as AVS. They are unsharp and with this strange milkey filter. Thats even worse, because GPOVI tells a lot of story with videos (even too much).
The atmosphere is excellent. The music and the wonderful backgrounds make a perfect team and there are some moments where you realy have this MI3 feeling. Vooju Island feels like a combination of Blood Island and Monkey Island and the Island Mary Cay feels, as mentioned, very much like Plunder Island. So pure nostalgic. Even the score feels like it could have been in MI3.
But what about the puzzles?! Well first off GPOVI continues what Tiller started with AVS. Instead of taking most of the items you remember them in your inventory. But it makes nearly no differenz in terms of puzzledesign. The difficulty is not too hard and you shouldn't get stuck for too long. Even so some puzzles seem a bit far fetched. You dont get to carry too much (reminded) items in your inventory and it's most of the time very clear what to do.
Strangley there was one odd puzzle-design mistake in the game. In order to get an item you destroy an other item you just collected - the character even mentions that its been destroyed - nevertheless it is still in your inventory and even required (!!) to solve a following puzzle.
Luckily this happened just one time.
So in summary the puzzles aren't revolutionary and seem overall a bit outdated. Whispered World or Black Mirror 2 showed more variaty in this point.
Luckily i didn't stumple across major bugs (like those 2 deadends in AVS) - but often little bugs here and there. You just feel while playing - that this game could have needed some more polishing.
So all in all GPOVI again had a lot of potential but didn't succeed in fully using it. Some more polishing and a bit more time to tell the story and GPOVI could have been not just a slightly over average game but a realy good one. Nevertheless it was a nice short stay in the Azzurribean and a nice second game by AME. If they succeed in learning by there mistakes and little flaws I would like to return to this franchise in a GPOVI 2.
the game runs without patch - there isn't even a patch out till today here in germany. i suggest most of those minor graphical glitches will be fixed in the us-version.
because of the save/load-system - do you mean like in AVS where the unpatched saves didn't work with the patched version? if so like above, there is no patch out now. if you meant something different, i need further explanation.
The game crashed at the "stadium" without the use of a patch. As for the Us version, I hope so, because I'll probably be getting it.
Minor glitches, how so? AVS had blatant flaws because the project leader rushed the team, sounds like he did it again. :rolleyes:
don't forget, that the original release here in germany should have been early 2010. so we all were stunned, when suddenly the game was announced to be released in october 2009. maybe dtp (the publisher) wanted to use the ongoing pirate-hype. but thats all speculation.
the stadium crash in AVS wasn't in the german version i think. there was just a possible dead-end which got fixed with a patch and the little mistake, that you could skip the slip froderick through the backdoor puzzle, if mona entered it before.
so it could very well be, that GPOVI has some new bugs / crashes in the us-version.
The save / load menu is equal to the one in AVS: saved games are given a date / time stamp. You cannot give them a name or overwrite them (if that's what you meant).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYT0u0skyb0
...and also demand they do PS3/PSN version.