Amber: Journeys Beyond

[AndreaDraco83]

I'm finally playing Amber and I find it beautiful! :)

The only problem is that, sometimes, especially when reading documents, the Virtual PC has problem reading the CD, so I've to take it off, reinsert, press ESC on an error message and then I can play it just fine :P

Only a question: I haven't found an option for subtitles, so I'm guessing that... there isn't one. I understand perfectly the written texts and quite good the spoken English, but how much spoken dialogue there is in the game? 'cause I don't wanna miss anything :D

[rtrooney]

I'll bite. Loved the game. How didyou get it to play on an XP machine? I've been told it couldn't be done.

And there are no subtitles

[Fien]

I'll bite. Loved the game. How didyou get it to play on an XP machine? I've been told it couldn't be done.


The answer is to be found in his post. Don't you know what Virtual PC is?? It's not like it hasn't been discussed before on these forums...

[kadji-kun]

The answer is to be found in his post. Don't you know what Virtual PC is?? It's not like it hasn't been discussed before on these forums...

Used VPC myself, was happy until the next time I started it up, the graphics were messing up and the sound was becoming crippled. THere are a lot of compatibility problems. Thus, its best just to use Dosbox with the D-Fend 2 frontend.

But since I hated VPC, I didnt use even Dosbox to play it. All I did was install VDM sound and ran the game. perfect like the bright blue sky.

[AndreaDraco83]

I tried to use VDM but it didn't work, so I have to use Virtual PC.

By the way, I'm halfway through the game and I love it :D

[Fien]

You can play Amber in DOSbox? I thought it was a Win95 game.

[The Mutajon]

Hey AndreaD - I also played the game on VPC recently and enjoyed it very much. There isn't a lot of dialogue at all (which is actually too bad...) and most of it is fairly understandable ('cept for the talking bees...:pan: ).

All 'n all it's a wonderful game - its only down side on my view is being too short...

[AndreaDraco83]

I put a big spoiler to tell you where I'm in the game.

I just finished the quest for releasing Maggie by make her understanding that her husband is dead. I found it very touching and moving, so I'm willing to forgive some camp in the FMV. I loved the time puzzle but I admit I used a walkthrough for the telegram puzzle (I hate those kind of "games")

At the moment, I think that Amber: Journeys Beyond is one of the most deep game I've ever played: you totally sunk into it, and it grows stronger at any new finding. Foremost, it's really moving, at least to me.

[The Mutajon]

Yup, couldn't agree more - strong atmosphere (that sucks you right in) and touching stories are probably the best features in the game (as its graphics is good but nothing too fancy and its puzzles are mostly too easy...).

As for your progress:
I also thought the time puzzle was pretty neat. (Unlike you I did enjoy solving the telegram puzzle). Like I said, I agree that the story is very moving (and sad, though there is a happy ending where Maggie unites with her husband in the afterlife). Let us (me) know what you think about the ending and the entire game when you'll finish it...

[AndreaDraco83]

I certainly will ;)

[rtrooney]

The answer is to be found in his post. Don't you know what Virtual PC is?? It's not like it hasn't been discussed before on these forums...And my answer is that Amber was deemed unplayable on any post-Win95 machine regardless of emulation software. Aparently something has changed.

[Fien]

And my answer is that Amber was deemed unplayable on any post-Win95 machine regardless of emulation software.

Deemed unplayable by whom?
Check out AG's technical problems forum.
Check out Steve's XP Games Corner at Quandary.

[rtrooney]

By the gurus on this forum. If you look at past Amber threads I think you will find that was the general perception.

[Dale Baldwin]

'Was' being the key word.

Now let's drop this particular subject, shall we?

[ozzie]

Maybe it works better under VirtualBox, who knows.
It's the Quicktime dependency that makes it impossible to run on modern operating systems.

I should also try that out soon. Got the pretty rare german version some time ago.

[Veovis]

It's the Quicktime dependency that makes it impossible to run on modern operating systems.

Uhh, what do you base this on? I don't think you're right. I've played other games that use Quick Time 2.5 in XP. The problem with games like Amber and XP instead lies in the particular version of Macromedia developing software they were created with.

And whoever it was who claimed it's possible to play Amber in DosBox is speaking rubbish.:) It's a Windows 95 only game. No DOS version included.

Ohh, great game by the way. among my top ten adventures.

[ozzie]

Really?
Can you tell me how you're doing this? ;)

I remember Safecracker (the original), designed for Windows 95 with Quicktime.
I had even problems playing it under 98! :crazy:

Two days ago I installed Quest for Glory 5 under XP...worked fine, except for the cutscenes, which it skipped, because it needed Quicktime 3.

[Melanie68]

Tech discussions belong in the Hints and Technical tips forum. Lets keep the discussion to the gameplay, etc. involved with the game.

[Heidi]

I am so glad that people are still being able to play this game. It is one of my Top 5 favorite games of all time. So few of these 'ghost' story games get the atmosphere down right. Either not enough suspense or too much horror. Now that I know people are getting it to run under XP, I might see if I can get a copy off eBay and play it again. I love the part where the writing appears on the bathroom mirror! Chills, chills, chills!

[Terramax]

Darn, I so wanna get my copy running now I've read some of these comments.

Shame Dosbox and I aren't on speaking terms at the moment. I'll have to try this Virtual PC and VPC things out when I get the time.

[The Mutajon]

Virtual PC = VPC ;)

[rtrooney]

Tech discussions belong in the Hints and Technical tips forum. Lets keep the discussion to the gameplay, etc. involved with the game.When it comes to this particular game, separating tech from gameplay is a difficult proposition.