[tangent][/rant]You know what I'd like to see? I don't care who makes it. I want to see The Four Map Pieces on a grander scale, perhaps 5 islands over 2 chapters. I want to see island exploring with map views, which at no point did Ghost Pirates have. I also want to see an island open up gradually, like Plunder Island. About half the amount of main plot characters of Ghost Pirates/double the average amount MI has would also be nice. Is all this too much to ask? I can't be the only one![/rant][/tangent]
I thought the voice acting was ok but nothing special. I didn't find anything grotesque but Starling's bosom was certainly distracting. I don't think anything can be taken away from the artwork, though. Sure, it wasn't as breath-taking as I'd have expected it to have been if it were done like a HD movie but for what it is, very nice. For me, particularly the game's facsimiles of Puerto Pollo and Technochtitlan.
Like Spadge said a few hours ago (and many others including me said before the German version was released), Bill Tiller is an artist, not a writer. I'm tempted to say he should stick to his strength and leave writing well alone but if he did that, I doubt this game would exist.
I finally got my hands on the game myself. The humor is way off, the puzzles are a bit too random and the story is quite a mess. This may sound silly, but the game feels A LOT like a sequel. You are introduced to a lot of new characters in the first 5 minutes and they all have some crazy backstory.
Heck, near the end there is a huge cutscene that tells some pretty major events that led to the current situation in the game. And those events would have made a better game, because they are basically the first game that didn't happen. If you catch my drift. It's almost like they planned making a game about Flint, Papa Doc and I'Xel fighting some bad vooju.. evil, but then decided to just make the sequel of that story.
Then perhaps Bill should focus on making a prequel to the game instead of a sequel (which he mentioned he would like to make one day).
[tangent][/rant]You know what I'd like to see? I don't care who makes it. I want to see The Four Map Pieces on a grander scale, perhaps 5 islands over 2 chapters. I want to see island exploring with map views, which at no point did Ghost Pirates have. I also want to see an island open up gradually, like Plunder Island. About half the amount of main plot characters of Ghost Pirates/double the average amount MI has would also be nice. Is all this too much to ask? I can't be the only one![/rant][/tangent]
Believe me, you are absolutely not the only one. I'd love to see an adventure game of this scale, even if it were to take several years of waiting on our part, I wouldn't mind. Maybe Ron Gilbert's next project (after Deathspank), yes? I just hope that if a Monkey Island game of this caliber were to go into the works, that they wouldn't call it 'Monkey Island Forever'.
Then perhaps Bill should focus on making a prequel to the game instead of a sequel (which he mentioned he would like to make one day).
Wow, thanks for that link, it's an really interesting and enlightening read. Answered some of my quesions and explained most of the game's flaws.
About the prequel thing... Yeah, I'd love that.
Wow, thanks for that link, it's an really interesting and enlightening read. Answered some of my questions and explained most of the game's flaws.
About the prequel thing... Yeah, I'd love that.
No problem. It is quite an informative interview, Bill Tiller is a very honest guy.
I've just registered and bought the game at amazon after reading this thread.
I just can't resist any adventure game now after Tomi has re-awakened my desire for them.:D
Should arrive next week sometime.
I finally got my hands on the game myself. The humor is way off, the puzzles are abit too random and the story is quite a mess. This may sound silly, but the game feels ALOT like a sequel. You are introdused to alot of new characters in the first 5 minutes and they all have some crazy backstory.
Heck, near the end there is a huge cutscene that tells some pretty major events that led to the current situation in the game. And those events would have made a better game, because they are basicly the first game that didn't happen. If you catch my drift. It's almost like they planned making a game about Flint, Papa Doc and I'Xel fighting some bad vooju.. evil, but then desided to just make the sequel of that story. Pretty crazy. But Bill Tiller is not a writer, he's an artist.
(...)
Oh, and then there is the Charade Puzzle, who I hate with all my heart and think it's the worstly designed puzzle ever.
Agreed on both counts.
I wrote a mini-rant about the Charades puzzle on Mixnmojo's forums, which I'll append here:
This is a stupendously bad puzzle. In fact, hands down, it's the worst puzzle in the entire game. All the other puzzles are pretty fair, really, but this one is godawful.
So at one point in Act 2 of the game, you're controlling Blue Belly the cook, and you need to ask a smuggler some questions. The problem is, you're a ghost, so you can't just TALK to him. Instead, you have to possess the dead body of his accomplice and mime the questions to him.
You perform this miming by clicking a series of buttons in succession. The buttons are illustrated with pictures, which correspond to gestures. However, they don't have text TELLING you what they mean, so you have to go solely by the icons. This makes the choice of buttons largely a matter of interpreting the art--and it's not easy!
You have to ask three questions. The second is by far the worst, so I'll focus on it. For this second round, in which you're asking where the smuggler's hideout is, there are four components. In each section of the second question, you choose one of four buttons, thus stringing a four-part mimicry together.
In the first round, you select buttons choosing one of four beginning words (which seem--but can't be proven--to correspond to "Show", "Tell", "Lead", and "Where"). Next, you advance to choosing a pronoun. In this the choices are: a pirate pointing at himself, and the face of the body you're possessing (both of which could mean "Me"), plus the face of the smuggler, and a pirate pointing at another pirate (both of which could mean "You").
In the third part, you have four buttons representing a means of displaying or revealing the location of the hideout (an X on a map, coordinates on a map, a spyglass, and a pirate asking "Where is it?") And in the final part, you have four icons representing possible types of hideouts, whether in houses, in caves, or behind secret passages.
(Did I mention we don't KNOW where the hideout is yet?)
So you're left stringing together a series of buttons whose meaning you can't be sure of, and multiples of which frequently appear to mean the same thing, in an effort to create a question which you don't know the proper way to phrase. Brute forcing it is looking pretty optimal at this point, right?
It gets better. In the first and third questions you ask, if you string together a NEARLY correct sentence, you get a unique response from the smuggler, telling you you're on the right track. Plus, both of those questions have a far more limited set of buttons from which to choose.
But in the second question, there are NO hints when you get it NEARLY right. This means you have to be lucky enough to GUESS the ONE right combination. Out of a possible 256 button combinations.
Also, whenever you enter an incorrect combination, you see your character acting out the charades in an ultra-slow animation, after which the smuggler says some variant of "I don't know what you're talking about." Then the dead body you're possessing shrugs its shoulders--oh so slowly--to express its frustration, after which you start again. It takes about a minute per attempt, all told.
Put simply, given the number of possible options, and the time it takes you to input each one, this puzzle is a combination lock which it could take you HOURS to brute force.
And I forgot to tell you that once you've started this puzzle, you can't leave it. You can't walk away from the charades game and solve other puzzles, or bring up the menu bar to save and quit. All you can do is keep searching for the right combination. Or hit ALT+TAB and check GameFAQs.
Which makes it all the more remarkable that, according to the recent Mixnmojo interview, this was Bill Tiller's favorite puzzle:
Q: "Do you have a favorite scene, character or puzzle from Ghost Pirates?"
A: "(...) I like the coconut plantation puzzle with Papa Doc, the charades mini game with Blue Belly, and the ballroom puzzle with Jane Starling and Grimjaw."
How on earth could he enjoy this abomination of a puzzle? It's an incarnation of everything that's wrong with the adventure genre.
Perhaps, though, since he *knew* the right answer all along, it was obvious to him? Regardless, this is horrible design.
And yes, the backstory seems very interesting and it's a shame they didn't fully explain it in the game. In better hands, it could have made for a very epic intro sequence.
@ATMachine: (I'm not quoting all that) Look at the way the smuggler responds to each component. If you get it right, he will nod. If you get it wrong, he'll shake his head (or as near to it as an insane man portrayed in an adventure game can).
It's the swordfight with Greenbeard that I hate the most. It's basically a three-round rock-paper-scissors. He changes what he plays every time, so it really is random! I've certainly noticed no pattern to it, and I've looked at everything I can think of from what he did last time to what Jane did last time.
@tbm1986:
You missed the pattern. Greenbeard has three different combinations and then starts over. So after you've noticed that he repeats these three combinations you can predict the next combination. Then you can try what sword figure beats another sword figure (if Jane looses with her figure she makes a comment and if Greenbeard looses with his figure he makes a comment). So after a while you know how the rock-paper-scissors principle works for the sword figures and you can predict which is Greenbeards next combination.
@tbm1986:
You missed the pattern. Greenbeard has three different combinations and then starts over. So after you've noticed that he repeats these three combinations you can predict the next combination. Then you can try what sword figure beats another sword figure (if Jane looses with her figure she makes a comment and if Greenbeard looses with his figure he makes a comment). So after a while you know how the rock-paper-scissors principle works for the sword figures and you can predict which is Greenbeards next combination.
Thanks
I'll try that when I have another run through. Now's a good a time as any...
It's funny to see that some people think the charade is easier and some think the swordfight is easier.
To me the charade felt easier.
After I have chosen the icons to build a questions I just looked at the reactions of the right guy. For each chosen icon he either shaked his head or nodded. So if you have built a question with 4 icons you got 4 reactions. So you know exactly which icon was right and which was wrong and you only have to alter the wrong ones. This way you get the right icon combination for a question pretty quick - even if you have no idea what to ask or what the icons are supposed to mean (just as tbm1986 has already explained).
It's funny to see that some people think the charade is easier and some think the swordfight is easier.
To me the charade felt easier.
After I have chosen the icons to build a questions I just looked at the reactions of the right guy. For each chosen icon he either shaked his head or nodded. So if you have built a question with 4 icons you got 4 reactions. So you know exactly which icon was right and which was wrong and you only have to alter the wrong ones. This way you get the right icon combination for a question pretty quick - even if you have no idea what to ask or what the icons are supposed to mean (just as tbm1986 has already explained).
phew !why didn't I notice that?
I'll try it out on a second replay.
I loved the game apart from the fact that the cut scenes either froze or ran slow on my computer.
I would certainly buy a ghost pirates 2.
Okay, I'm stuck. I think I'm at the end. Its the bit where
Papa Doc is fighting Zimbi, and she's throwing spells at me, which Papa Doc shoots back, but at random directions! Am I supposed to change to a different character or something?
Okay, I'm stuck. I think I'm at the end. Its the bit where
Papa Doc is fighting Zimbi, and she's throwing spells at me, which Papa Doc shoots back, but at random directions! Am I supposed to change to a different character or something?
It's not random. You need to place Papa Doc in a place where he can deflect the spell into a rock that can fall onto Zimbi. This will cause her to move forward. Do this until she falls off the edge.
It's not random. You need to place Papa Doc in a place where he can deflect the spell into a rock that can fall onto Zimbi. This will cause her to move forward. Do this until she falls off the edge.
Yeah, I've kept trying to do that, but its not working.
I have some issue with the sound during the cutscenes. In some of them the sound is off every two seconds, so you here all cuted.
The rest of the game plays fine, is someone else having this issue?
I have some issue with the sound during the cutscenes. In some of them the sound is off every two seconds, so you here all cuted.
The rest of the game plays fine, is someone else having this issue?
Yup. My guess is they need more memory than can be moved quick enough from pagefile to RAM. Just a guess, though.
Yeah, the publicity is really only the publisher's fault. The Autumn Moon team have worked very hard to put this game out, and you shouldn't punish them because their publisher sucks.
To me the promotion should be indicative of the developer's talents. So yes, the bad promotion is their fault. If I don't like the look of it I'm not going to buy it. Maybe if there was a demo...
To me the promotion should be indicative of the developer's talents. So yes, the bad promotion is their fault. If I don't like the look of it I'm not going to buy it. Maybe if there was a demo...
It's possible that the promotion is contractually performed by the distributor, and not the developer. For example, ghost-pirates.com was registered by the distributor, DTP Entertainment AG.
Given that Autumn Moon seems to operate on a bit of a shoestring budget, I don't think they have the ability to fund a promotional campaign by themselves anyway.
To me the promotion should be indicative of the developer's talents. So yes, the bad promotion is their fault. If I don't like the look of it I'm not going to buy it. Maybe if there was a demo...
Clearly, then, Ico, Psychonauts, Grim Fandango, Okami, God Hand, Viewtiful Joe, Beyond Good and Evil, and a billion other highly acclaimed games must suck, because of their promotion.
Does the inverse work too? I remember Driv3r selling a lot, and having a lot of promotion. Does that mean it's awesome? What about books like Twilight, do those rock your socks too?
Clearly, then, Ico, Psychonauts, Grim Fandango, Okami, God Hand, Viewtiful Joe, Beyond Good and Evil, and a billion other highly acclaimed games must suck, because of their promotion.
Does the inverse work too? I remember Driv3r selling a lot, and having a lot of promotion. Does that mean it's awesome? What about books like Twilight, do those rock your socks too?
[sarcasm]Are the Star Wars games awesome too? OMGZ![/sarcasm]
Ok I didn't like the films in the first place and then LucasArts laid out the red carpet for it while simultaneously shunting their adventure game franchises (most importantly MI) out, so hopefully that explains why I'm so sour regarding SW.
Clearly, then, Ico, Psychonauts, Grim Fandango, Okami, God Hand, Viewtiful Joe, Beyond Good and Evil, and a billion other highly acclaimed games must suck, because of their promotion.
Actually, I never liked most of those games and the others I've never heard of.
Does the inverse work too? I remember Driv3r selling a lot, and having a lot of promotion. Does that mean it's awesome? What about books like Twilight, do those rock your socks too?
Don't be a jerk. I never said that more promotion makes a game good. I said bad promotion (not less promotion) doesn't make me want to buy it. And I didn't like what I saw. Like I said if there was a demo I'd try it.
Does the inverse work too? I remember Driv3r selling a lot, and having a lot of promotion.
I actually liked Driv3r, the on foot camera and controls were awkward and the game could of used some extra polish, but the story, the cast, the music and the atmosphere was brilliant.
To me the promotion should be indicative of the developer's talents.
Unfortunately, developers don't deal with promotion the vast majority of the time; that's the responsibility of the publisher/distributor. Just look at the general idiocy surrounding Gray Matter, a game most old-school adventure fans KNOW will be brilliant (Jane Jensen has not yet disappointed me and, going by what little I've heard from beta testers, she's not about to start).
Yes, it's sad but it's still how most people will think. People won't buy a game with bad promotion unless they get further information another way. And what else I've heard doesn't impress me. Plus, unlike Jane Jensen, Bill Tiller isn't a master storyteller for which I could forgive bad promotion. Seriously, would it really have been so difficult and time/money consuming to create a demo? I guess so.
Just beat the game, it was great, props to Bill Tiller. I agree with a previous poster though, the charades thing was horribly confusing and terrible. The walkthrough made that part clear, and I could kind of see where they were going, but it wasn't entirely sensical.
Complaint 2: Occasionally, certain conversations were hard to hear and sound like they were in the background. I assume some kind of fault with the voice directionality in those areas.
While I made it through most of the game pretty easy, I would occasionally get stuck when it was clear what I should do next, but HOW to do it was unclear. Especially when I had to talk to characters after I found something and new dialog would be there despite no indication I should retalk to them, or the worst was when I got this chair idea, spoke to a character, and then the idea was gone. I thought it was a glitch at first till I worked it out.
But overall, it was a great game that definitely is perfect for anyone who loves adventure games. Now I'm just eagerly awaiting Mr. Tiller to finish the Vampyre Story Sequel
Given the amount of people who seem to be waiting on the digital version of Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island, I figured I'd ask Mamba Games, the UK publisher, if they had any kind of status they were at liberty to share on that front. Here's what they got back to me with:
Thank you for your email. The download should be available from our site within the next 3 weeks, or if you order off the website we will ship direct to you.
Okay, I admit it, I downloaded the game to try it out before buying. But it seems that the "verb coin" doesn't work on my PC. I try and hold the button, and it shows up just for a split second before it disappears again. Is this well-known problem? If I can't be sure if the game works on my computer, I'm not so sure I want to buy it.
The English version of Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island has been released on another digital distribution channel, this time The Adventure Shop US at a price of $29.99. Technically speaking, this is the first time the game has been officially published in the US, although it has been available worldwide for some time now. Avast!
Comments
I thought the voice acting was ok but nothing special. I didn't find anything grotesque but Starling's bosom was certainly distracting. I don't think anything can be taken away from the artwork, though. Sure, it wasn't as breath-taking as I'd have expected it to have been if it were done like a HD movie but for what it is, very nice. For me, particularly the game's facsimiles of Puerto Pollo and Technochtitlan.
Like Spadge said a few hours ago (and many others including me said before the German version was released), Bill Tiller is an artist, not a writer. I'm tempted to say he should stick to his strength and leave writing well alone but if he did that, I doubt this game would exist.
Nice to see you here too, caring for the Ghost Pirates gamers elsewhere on the web!
Then perhaps Bill should focus on making a prequel to the game instead of a sequel (which he mentioned he would like to make one day).
Believe me, you are absolutely not the only one. I'd love to see an adventure game of this scale, even if it were to take several years of waiting on our part, I wouldn't mind. Maybe Ron Gilbert's next project (after Deathspank), yes? I just hope that if a Monkey Island game of this caliber were to go into the works, that they wouldn't call it 'Monkey Island Forever'.
Wow, thanks for that link, it's an really interesting and enlightening read. Answered some of my quesions and explained most of the game's flaws.
About the prequel thing... Yeah, I'd love that.
No problem. It is quite an informative interview, Bill Tiller is a very honest guy.
I just can't resist any adventure game now after Tomi has re-awakened my desire for them.:D
Should arrive next week sometime.
I wrote a mini-rant about the Charades puzzle on Mixnmojo's forums, which I'll append here:
And yes, the backstory seems very interesting and it's a shame they didn't fully explain it in the game. In better hands, it could have made for a very epic intro sequence.
It's the swordfight with Greenbeard that I hate the most. It's basically a three-round rock-paper-scissors. He changes what he plays every time, so it really is random! I've certainly noticed no pattern to it, and I've looked at everything I can think of from what he did last time to what Jane did last time.
You missed the pattern. Greenbeard has three different combinations and then starts over. So after you've noticed that he repeats these three combinations you can predict the next combination. Then you can try what sword figure beats another sword figure (if Jane looses with her figure she makes a comment and if Greenbeard looses with his figure he makes a comment). So after a while you know how the rock-paper-scissors principle works for the sword figures and you can predict which is Greenbeards next combination.
Thanks
I'll try that when I have another run through. Now's a good a time as any...
To me the charade felt easier.
phew !why didn't I notice that?
I'll try it out on a second replay.
I loved the game apart from the fact that the cut scenes either froze or ran slow on my computer.
I would certainly buy a ghost pirates 2.
To be more precise, Amazon UK.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002WTBQZ0/ref=s9_simh_gw_p63_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=15VHT2K8VFAMNJ3DSW35&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467198433&pf_rd_i=468294
At Game UK also:
http://www.game.co.uk/Games/PC-Games/Ghost-Pirates-Of-Vooju-Island/~r346488/
Or at ebay:
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=m38&_nkw=vooju&_sacat=See-All-Categories
Yeah, I've kept trying to do that, but its not working.
The rest of the game plays fine, is someone else having this issue?
Walkthrough for the game, near the end are pics of where you should position yourself
http://www.gameboomers.com/wtcheats/pcGg/GhostPirates/ghostpiratesofvoojuisland.htm
Yup. My guess is they need more memory than can be moved quick enough from pagefile to RAM. Just a guess, though.
Given that Autumn Moon seems to operate on a bit of a shoestring budget, I don't think they have the ability to fund a promotional campaign by themselves anyway.
Clearly, then, Ico, Psychonauts, Grim Fandango, Okami, God Hand, Viewtiful Joe, Beyond Good and Evil, and a billion other highly acclaimed games must suck, because of their promotion.
Does the inverse work too? I remember Driv3r selling a lot, and having a lot of promotion. Does that mean it's awesome? What about books like Twilight, do those rock your socks too?
[sarcasm]Are the Star Wars games awesome too? OMGZ![/sarcasm]
Ok I didn't like the films in the first place and then LucasArts laid out the red carpet for it while simultaneously shunting their adventure game franchises (most importantly MI) out, so hopefully that explains why I'm so sour regarding SW.
Actually, I never liked most of those games and the others I've never heard of.
Don't be a jerk. I never said that more promotion makes a game good. I said bad promotion (not less promotion) doesn't make me want to buy it. And I didn't like what I saw. Like I said if there was a demo I'd try it.
I actually liked Driv3r, the on foot camera and controls were awkward and the game could of used some extra polish, but the story, the cast, the music and the atmosphere was brilliant.
Unfortunately, developers don't deal with promotion the vast majority of the time; that's the responsibility of the publisher/distributor. Just look at the general idiocy surrounding Gray Matter, a game most old-school adventure fans KNOW will be brilliant (Jane Jensen has not yet disappointed me and, going by what little I've heard from beta testers, she's not about to start).
Complaint 2: Occasionally, certain conversations were hard to hear and sound like they were in the background. I assume some kind of fault with the voice directionality in those areas.
While I made it through most of the game pretty easy, I would occasionally get stuck when it was clear what I should do next, but HOW to do it was unclear. Especially when I had to talk to characters after I found something and new dialog would be there despite no indication I should retalk to them, or the worst was when I got this chair idea, spoke to a character, and then the idea was gone. I thought it was a glitch at first till I worked it out.
But overall, it was a great game that definitely is perfect for anyone who loves adventure games. Now I'm just eagerly awaiting Mr. Tiller to finish the Vampyre Story Sequel
http://us-adventureshop.gamesplanet.com/pc-games/buy-download-Ghost-Pirates-of-Vooju-Island.html?affiliate=AG