Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island - First feedback

[tastebud]

hi, the game came out here in Germany couple of days ago to literally no fanfare at all (sort of disappointing) and of course i picked it up the first day. For those who are not familiar with it its made by the guys who did A Vampyre Story: http://www.ghostpirates-game.de/ (can click english top right corner)

I'm two hours into the game and here are some initial impressions:

+ like with vampyre story the biggest plus here is obviously the graphics. beautiful oldschool handdrawn backgrounds and some of the best character animations i can remember in an adventure game. you can tell the devs put a lot of love into the characters
+ atmosphere - fans of monkey island 2's dark setting (graveyard etc) will like this (so far), nice music
+ riddles seem about medium difficulty which i like as i dont have to look for walkthroughs constantly
+ fun characters / interesting interaction between the three playable characters (a little bit like in day of the tentacle)
+ looks like it has quite a big scope of locations to explore

- dialogue - some of the jokes are hit/miss.
- story progression - i was really confused by the intro. it moves very fast and tries to tell a lot with not enough time and you're just thrown into the game. its sort of like if in monkey island 1 you would start out on monkey island with a 30 second intro saying "go defeat lechuck", you'd be like "huh? what ?"

Overall looks like a great adventure with some flaws. I'll update this post as i progress in the game.

[jannar85]

Thanks. Too bad it has the same flaws as AVS.. :(

[Tramponline]

Cheers tastebud. Thanks a lot for the info.
Keep us informed! Your feedback is highly appreciated...

I'm thinking about buying the game - however not sure yet.
Even if it's just to show a little support for Autumn Moon Entertainment, who's first game I truly enjoyed all the way (even in spite of, or rather especially because of the protagonist's lengthy and witty dia-/monologues ;-)

However if Ghost Pirates is just 'nice' and not really ass-kicking funny I'll probably resort to patience and obtain it once it's cheaper.

Did you order your copy from DTP tastebud?

[cristane]

Any news about the English release?
I really liked AVS, and I like the trailer for this one, so I'll be buying it the day it comes out.

[tastebud]

Cheers tastebud. Thanks a lot for the info.
Keep us informed! Your feedback is highly appreciated...

I'm thinking about buying the game - however not sure yet.
Even if it's just to show a little support for Autumn Moon Entertainment, who's first game I truly enjoyed all the way (even in spite of, or rather especially because of the protagonist's lengthy and witty dia-/monologues ;-)

However if Ghost Pirates is just 'nice' and not really ass-kicking funny I'll probably resort to patience and obtain it once it's cheaper.

Did you order your copy from DTP tastebud?

i definately got it because of supporting autumn moon as well. the game is definately not "ass kicking funny" its mostly chuckle material. BUT again its a highly enjoyable experience so far because you can tell a lot of effort was put into the atmosphere and environements. those of you who liked Vampyre Story should definately get this. those of you who didnt (for whatever reason) should still take a look because the characters are completely different from the one in AVS.

i ordered the game from amazon.de

[Erwin_Br]

I will definitely buy the English version when it's out.

[Phaid]

Thank you for sharing your impressions, the game's definitely on my radar.
I enjoyed A Vampyre Story despite its shortcomings, it seems GPoVI suffers from the same flaws however.

[glenbeckles]

Thanks for the link. I've been trying to find out about Ghost Pirates, my nephew is very interested and I'm thinking of getting it for him for Xmas if it's out by then, English version that is. I might buy one for myself lol

[Christian IV]

I have quite liked what i have seen in the production phase, there certainly is a game reinassance going on in Germany these days.. And Europe in general. Thanks for posting about this.

[Thello]

Was somebody else responsible for the writing in this one? I couldn't stomach a Vampyre Story's humor.

[tastebud]

Was somebody else responsible for the writing in this one? I couldn't stomach a Vampyre Story's humor.

i don't know exactly who is responsible, but the dialogues definately seem very similar (i.e. more miss than hit humour). currently i think telltale games have the sharpest writers of any adventure game crew out there at the moment, but their graphics are horrible. if they would collaborate on a project that would be awesome, Autumn Moon provides the artwork and telltale does the writing, that'd be a dream project.

[tastebud]

My final Review:

i have just beaten the game and here are some final/updated impressions (since apparently i cant edit my original posting #1 anymore):

all the original points are still valid excpet for the point "big scope of locations to explore" - there were a lot of interesting locations (each character has their unique locations to explore) however the game is pretty short.

the ending is as abrupt as the intro.

nice music

one of the main characters in the game (papa doc) is now one of my favorite adventure game characters however, this is a combination of the character design and the german voice actor (not sure how the english version will end up).

overall i give it 3.5/5. it is a good adventure game with awesome artwork (i especially like the darker artwork in many locations, perfect setting for those dark winter nights and christmas :) ) that i wish tales of monkey island would use. if some of the negatives mentioned would have been ironed out it would be an easy 4.5/5. still highly recommended for those who liked vampyre story and a "check it out" for those who are interested.

[Twizman]

Sounds and looks awesome from screens, I love atmosphere and dark cool looking art :)

[cristane]

Any idea about an English-language downloadable release for this game? I see the review is up on the website. Thanks guys :)

[ZeframCochrane]

I've just started playing the game myself, and here's my own impressions.
Warning: Rant mode=ON - The following should not be interpreted as destructive criticism, but rather as me pointing out some flaws of what seems like an otherwise fine game. In fact, what bugs me the most when this sort of thing happens (*ahem*boakes*ahem*) is that the game designers seem to fully possess the talent to address them! It's a bit like writing a beautiful poem... and hiding it under a rock!! The hard part is done (writing the poem), why not address properly the (comparatively easy) issue of where to display it??

So, here goes.


- story progression - i was really confused by the intro. it moves very fast and tries to tell a lot with not enough time and you're just thrown into the game.

Oh, so true. I also find it a bit of a shame that you get shown so many characters right at the start.
What I find entertaining in this kind of AG is the rewarding feeling I get when I find a new character. It's a small detail, but getting shown do many characters right at the start kinda ruins it for me.

And another thing. Your mileage may vary on this. Although it's not a major issue (like story, graphics, or music) it would stand to reason that a point-and-click game... would have a properly implemented point and click engine!! Have you noticed how the animation of a character taking a step in a certain direction cycles if you click repeatedly on a location? The very first thing I try out when I get control of a character after the beginning cutscene of a point and click game is checking if double click will cause running. I want running on double click. I need it. Imagine my disappointment when I discovered not only that the character will not run on double click... but that doing so reveals a bug! :frusty:

Notice that since I've only just started, my observations could be premature. I'll correct them if they turn out to be wrong as I progress in the game. :)

[Drawken]

So far "Ghost Pirates" to me, has been really dull.
The opening song: WHAT were they singing? I understand they ARE pirates, but using proper diction and being in sync with each other wouldn't have hurt.
The intro was confusing and not very exciting. In the intro I wasn't impressed with how the voice acting was portrayed either. When there are characters on the ship and a character in a distant rowboat yelling at each other, their voices do not have the proper projection, they just sound like they're having a casual conversation. It ruins any sense of immersion. I really don't like the voice acting of the Vooju guy.
There have been very few times I have laughed at any of the jokes. They're just not funny. (I actually enjoyed the humor of "A Vampyre Story". What's that about?) Maybe it's the voice acting or HOW they are portrayed. I dunno. What I mean is that sometimes the lines lag, either waiting for the 1st sound file to stop playing (which can be a few seconds after they have stopped saying their line), or waiting for the animation of the character to finish. The pacing is off most of the time. This is also a problem when interacting with objects.
One of the most important thing about an adventure game is that it can be easily navigated, but I find the navigation to be tedious.
Everything seems to take a little longer than it should. (Perhaps it's my graphics card?) From the characters only being able to walk (no running), transitions to a new next location, the conversations, and when interacting with objects. What makes this more frustrating is you can't skip ANYTHING. You have to watch all the animation and listen to every bit of dialog.
The only upside to this game are the backgrounds and the music. I also enjoy figuring out the puzzles.
Would I recommend this game to anyone? Probably not.

[dmeps]

What's the point of having the subtitles option if the opening scene isn't subtitled? It's either you subtitle everything for those who wants to play it in English but hasn't such a great ear, or for hearing-impaired, or you don't tease the folks at all?..