[Merricat]

That's hilarious--my partner, Will, is younger than me, and he has become resigned to accomplishing AG tasks that I am too inept to do myself, even when it's 4 am and I'm waking him up two hours before he has to go into work. Not that I do that more than once or twice a year; I do have some compassion.

[Steve Ince]

If I woke June up at 4am for anything less than the house burning down I'd no longer have to worry about a little clumsiness.

[Merricat]

Fortunately for me, Will is a very patient man. And he's rather used to me by now, having put up with me for a decade. He doesn't play adventure games, except when I require help.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by Risingson

It's funny that this is cyclical: during the 80's most of adventure games (or proto adventure games) had some arcade parts in them: in Knight Lore, Alchemist, The Great Escape and so on you used objects and jumped or shooted when necessary, and in the first modern adventures there were still some arcade parts in them, as if it was too risky to avoid all the classic elements in gaming (the fightings in Indy3, the movement problems in king's quest, the flights in Mean Streets...). There was a time that someone decided that dead-ends, arcade parts, sudden deaths and such were mostly annoying and were avoided.

And that's why it surprised me when some of those elements came back in the last years, and magazines excused the arcade parts in Fahrenheit or Dreamfall (now that I mention it: I had to uninstall this game a few days ago for being that cheesy and unchallenging - meaning boring) as being part of the future of adventure games. So, at the end, it is just like everything: trends, fashions.

I remember stating all that, too, in some of my posts here at AG some years back. My silly theory is that whoever decided that dead-ends, arcade parts, sudden deaths and such were mostly annoying and were to be avoided probably sucked so bad at dealing with those and rather than practice and get better he declared that they're dumb. ROFL!!

< ducks just in time to miss that iron pan Merricat throws at him >

Anyway, I find it ironic and intriguing how many of today's various games incorporate adventure game-like challenges similar to the very first adventure games - that is, a combination of intellectual or witty solving, some sleuthing, some action, maybe even combat.

[Merricat]

Oooh, you're absolutely right--I certainly won't throw anything at you for that. I only complain about things that I can't do, or do extremely well. And no, I will not practice; I'd rather grouse about it, and wait for bellybutton rings to come back into vogue.

[Lucifiel]

Okay, having just finished Delaware no. 3: what a letdown.

The game's atmosphere is a huge improvement from the previous 2 games and it's a lot spookier and even more twisted. The story is a lot more interesting and for the first time, you get to play as Kelly and this time, the cast is even more varied.

But. The developers still have not done anything about that very awkward navigation system which I suppose they throw in, to add more complexity. To make matters worse, some of the screens look almost similar, thus navigating around the amusement park becomes even more complicated and extremely confusing. :/

Surely, it would simply take a quick remapping of the entire layout to make things better? Also, if they had cut down on the number of screens by maybe 1 to 2 or even 3, they could allocate the resources to creating more interesting puzzles which would add value to the game. It's not just the number of screens which matters but also the story and enjoyment factor too.

Also, the final puzzle was really confusing. I mean, what the heck? The maps were absolutely blurry and kinda hard to "see". Plus, clicking on the "wrong" map will reset the entire puzzle and there's no input of any sort: you just have to figure it out yourself. It wouldn't have been such a dizzying trip if the maps weren't all over the place: so if you click on the wrong map, I heard that the game might even lock you out. (Edit: On a second look, it seems that 'cos there's no feedback being offered during the map puzzle, so players might think they're being locked out of the game.)

Ah well, too bad. I absolutely won't get the next game for sure if it's going to follow the exact same formula though things are just starting to heat up. The developers had about 2 to 3 years to improve things but they didn't seize the moment at all.