Demos With Unrelated Storylines

[D.C.]

The storyline in the Space Quest 6 demo had nothing to do with the actual game. :) Are there any other games that had a demo like this? :)

[fov]

Freddy Pharkas is the only one I can think of right now.

I wish there were more like this. I'd like to sample games without having things given away. I recently played the Syberia 2 demo and found it disconcerting that they just plopped you down in the middle of something with no explanation (and apparently something in that demo gives away the answer to another puzzle, but of course I'm not sure what that is yet).

-emily

[WontonGoodsoup]

I wish there were more like this. I'd like to sample games without having things given away.

My thoughts exactly. The TLJ demo put you right in the middle of the game story. It kinda ruined it cause in playing the game i could see where the story was going to run right into the demo. And then you know what's going to happen at that particular point, whats the fun in that??

[Jake]

The Monkey Island 1 demo in the "passport to adventure" was similar to this. It used locations from the real game, but the puzzles you had to solve and the objective you were trying to reach were totally different from the regular game (in the Passport to Adventure demo you're trying to get a secret password to get the troll to let you go by)... Its kind of weird, but definitely gives you a feeling for what MI is like without spoiling the game's existing puzzles.

[D.C.]

My thoughts exactly. The TLJ demo put you right in the middle of the game story. It kinda ruined it cause in playing the game i could see where the story was going to run right into the demo. And then you know what's going to happen at that particular point, whats the fun in that??I thought TLJ demo was awesome. :) I agree that it sort of spoiled that part of the game though, but it convinced me to buy the game. :)

Jake: That's pretty cool. Is the demo on the net?

[Grey]

That's pretty cool. Is the demo on the net?


http://www.scummvm.org/demos.php

[Ninja Dodo]

Half Life and Warcraft 3 both had demos that weren't directly from the game. The Warcraft 3 demo had a story that was parallel to the full game and Half Life had a sort of mini-story that basically summed up what the whole game was about...

[guybrush_guy]

the grim fandango demo. you played a certin segment when you had to get the bird eggs but that barley said anything about the story lne

i know a lot of movies do that, you watch the comercials and the trailers but then you finaly see the movie and it's compleatly diffrent
the move vinella sky was like that. i did'nt want to see it at first becuase it looked like a romance. turns out it is'nt and it's one of my favorite movies.

[Dimensio]

I honestly don't know of a demo that I've played apart from CoMI and EfMI. Both demos featured simplified versions of puzzles found in the final game, though both were set so early on that there weren't any massive spoilers (apart from "the game starts in this fashion" spoilers).

I do remember going through hell to get the CoMI demo working on my computer (my old IBM P133's video chipset was obscure, and I had to locate an updated driver for it), but that's a side-issue.

[Huz]

The Passport to Adventure thing was great, and so was the Half-Life demo (I kept expecting the events of the demo to occur in the full game, but they never did!). The only other demo I can think of that was totally different to the full game was the demo for Hardwar, where you were given a couple of 'missions' to do - nothing like what would happen in the full game! I guess in games that run on scripts like SCUMM, without relying on voice acting and so on, producing a unique demo isn't too much trouble... well worth it though.

I do think it's a good idea for a demo to give an overall 'taste' of the full game though, rather than just chopping a bit out - especially a random part. The demo for TLJ was rubbish, for instance, because you were just on a ship for, erm, some reason, and the solution seemed to be to sink it?! Wot?! I never bothererd getting that game... :P

[D.C.]

The Space Quest 6 demo was an original demo and it was pretty much complete. :) Voice acting and all. :)

[spaceship789]

the grim fandango demo. you played a certin segment when you had to get the bird eggs but that barley said anything about the story lne
.
I liked the Grim demo.


the move vinella sky was like that. i did'nt want to see it at first becuase it looked like a romance. turns out it is'nt and it's one of my favorite movies.
The trailer to Vanilla Sky is amazing. Thorougly recommend downloading it. The highspeed cutting in the finale of the preview gives enough clues to allude that the whole is an alternate reality movie.

[JaG]

2 more:

Starcraft demo included precursor campaign

Also American McGee's Alice demo had one sequence not included in the final demo

[DomStLeger]

The Last Express demo, if I remember correctly, brings together some parts of the game and elements that are spread out in the full version. It gives you a taste of the gameplay and maybe one or two puzzles, but because it's taken from different parts of the game you never feel you know whats going to happen next or that you already know too much about the plot. I thought it was well done.

[Sky Warrior Bob]

On a semi-related note, I recently found a Sierra SneakPeaks 2 demo disk, with the Space Quest demo on it, and I do have a CD burner...

Although, I'd much prefer just making one burn & sending the disk to somebody who's willing to share the wealth.

Sky Warrior Bob

[D.C.]

I've got the demo in the Space Quest collection. :)

[Stinger]

Oh man, the Freddy Pharkas demo was the best ever. They even wrote a whole new theme song just for it. It did everything a demo is supposed to do without taking anything away from the retail game. Absolutely my favorite adventure demo ever.