• Log In | Sign Up

  • News
  • Reviews
  • Top Games
  • Search
  • New Releases
  • Daily Deals
  • Forums

Adventure Gamers - Forums

Welcome to Adventure Gamers. Please Sign In or Join Now to post.

You are here: HomeForum Home → Gaming → Adventure → Thread

Post Marker Legend:

  • New Topic New posts
  • Old Topic No new posts

Currently online

Support us, by purchasing through these affiliate links

   

Community Playthrough #28: Gray Matter

Avatar

Total Posts: 3933

Joined 2011-03-14

PM

In many ways I believe this should have been the best chapter so far - but for me sadly it wasn’t.

I think that the reason is, that for the first time in this game, I felt aimless and confused without any sense of what I had to do next or why I was doing the things I did, just clicking on whatever location had a golden glow and solving whatever puzzle presented itself.

In all fairness, part of it was probably my own fault, as I was unable to complete any sub-investigations in a single thread, and therefore ended up with too many balls in the air at the same time. Had I for example been able to finish the “Ghost Hunt” before leaving the manner, or had the Daedalus puzzle not required that we return to the manner, then I might not have gotten so lost.

This was also the first chapter where I had to use a walkthrough - Twice no less. The first time is not something I’m proud of and I should really have been able to solve it, but I was simply to fixated on the Harry Potter and Hogwarts angle, to see the obvious answer to the ‘Mage’s name’. But the 2nd one - Seriously we have to [spoiler]call Charles’s mother to confirm that he is a hunk! And didn’t Helana already tell us this? As a qualified guess perhaps, but still![/spoiler]

Some random thoughts:

Seriously? - That is your explanation for using the male pronoun: You don’t like the person so (s)he just has to be a man!
It is not like you Sam to suddenly express feelings of misandry!

Bummer!
Well perhaps Sam has at least learnt that she shouldn’t just throw baseless accusations around, especially since she knew Malik was taking part in the experiments behind Linkweller’s back and would risk getting fired if he found out.

Would it really hurt to give it a try - Or at least not treat them as pure shit?

Now what does that remind me of

Nope - that is not it.

That was what it reminded me off, it is always good when there is a red thread from one CP to the next, otherwise people would think we just vote on whatever game we feel like playing, but no, there is an overall plan behind this Wink

     

You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ

Avatar

Total Posts: 3200

Joined 2007-01-04

PM

And by the way, how awesome is it that it actually got a console release? I mean, the only other (non-remake) I can think of off the top of my head is Dreamfall.

Dreamfall is for the original Xbox while Gray Matter is for the Xbox 360.

Original Xboxes can be had for 40-50 dollars and adventure games for 5-10 dollars each so this could be a fun toy for someone - Dreamfall on your big screen TV.

Although the original Xbox does not have a huge library of adventure games it does have a few - the best of them being Dreamfall.

Heart

     

I enjoy playing adventure games on my Alienware M17 r4 and my Nintendo Switch OLED.

Avatar

Total Posts: 3933

Joined 2011-03-14

PM

Mikekelly - 23 July 2014 07:00 AM

Dreamfall on your big screen TV.

My computer screen is bigger than my big screen TV, at least relative given the distance I’m sitting from them - Also don’t really see the point of Xbox / Dreamfall promotions in this thread.

     

You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ

Total Posts: 117

Joined 2013-08-31

PM

I fire my PC thru my 82” HD set sometimes, did it with Gray Matter and it was glorious.

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 1573

Joined 2003-09-10

PM

I’m way behind—got stuck in Chapter Four for a while, but now I’m progressing in Chapter Five.

It’s strange that Styles seems to wear that mask (according to the cut scenes) in the isolation tank and in bed while asleep. That got me thinking about masks. Partly that ties into Sam’s fake identity, but also the idea of what people hide from one another in the course of the game.

The interface graphic on the top left when Sam is the player character has a mask with an open mouth and green eyes. At first I thought it was a theatrical mask, but it doesn’t look anything like the comedy/tragedy masks I’m used to seeing. I’m at a standstill as to what Sam’s mask might mean. When we’re playing Sam, the graphic also shows symbols from a deck of cards.

When playing Styles, the graphic on the top left shows brain scans instead of playing cards, and the Phantom of the Opera-like mask he always wears. At least, I think it’s his mask. The slider for the save-game menu has two miniature masks, back-to-back (or perhaps it’s two faces back-to-back rather than two masks).

I agree with Styles when he criticizes Sam’s version of the odd events he sent her to investigate. An unknown conspirator renting a helicopter and then painting the track to match a small experiment going on in a basement that hardly anyone knows about is almost impossible to believe. Speculation that that’s what happened isn’t helpful.

I’ve been reading an interactive version of Frankenstein, since there are references to the novel in the game (Sam is reading it, for example). I may be stretching this a tad, but Victor Frankenstein is intriguingly similar to Styles, including an extraordinary isolation from the world for two years while running experiments with the goal of bringing the dead back to life. Frankenstein uses body parts from several different individuals and the “science” of electricity to create a sort of conglomerated monster, who turns out to be much different than he expected. Styles hooks up several individuals via electrical machine, and the result of this symbiosis is also not at all what he expected.

Too much of a stretch?

Hi Abbie!  Laughing

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 932

Joined 2004-03-23

PM

I think (in addition to what you talked about) in the case of Sam, the masks represent the theatrical side of magic shows (and Sam wants to be a stage magician) - in other words, the theatrics you do to misdirect the trick etc. But of course in general in the game it has to do with hidden identities, the “secretiveness” of Styles, and the stuff you talk about.

Mikekelly - 23 July 2014 07:00 AM

Dreamfall is for the original Xbox while Gray Matter is for the Xbox 360.

Original Xboxes can be had for 40-50 dollars and adventure games for 5-10 dollars each so this could be a fun toy for someone - Dreamfall on your big screen TV.

Yep. But of course the 360 is backward compatible (of course, I have the original Box, too…)

Well, I also have Dreamfall on the XBox, and in my opinion it’s not really so special since the graphics are still fairly simple Tongue It doesn’t really benefit so much from the big screen Content

Iznogood - 23 July 2014 07:25 AM

Also don’t really see the point of Xbox / Dreamfall promotions in this thread.

Well, I was just talking about the fact that it’s a great thing that this game did get an XBox release, since very few AGs do. And I think it’s such a great game that it deserved that release, too, even if the interface is a bit quirky…(Besides, I wanted to see if anyone else is playing on the XBox Grin Guess not)

Aanyway, back to the gameplay!

Iznogood - 23 July 2014 06:45 AM

Would it really hurt to give it a try - Or at least not treat them as pure shit?

I think this is part of the game - after she’s been in the streets for most of her life, living with people who deceit for a living, she has serious trust issues and a part of the game is her learning to actually trust people, stay put and, you know, make friends instead of treating (at least rich) people, well, the way she does.

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 5813

Joined 2012-03-24

PM

Iznogood - 23 July 2014 06:45 AM

In many ways I believe this should have been the best chapter so far - but for me sadly it wasn’t.

I think that the reason is, that for the first time in this game, I felt aimless and confused without any sense of what I had to do next or why I was doing the things I did, just clicking on whatever location had a golden glow and solving whatever puzzle presented itself.

I haven’t finished the Chapter yet & have now left that for another day! I was so engrossed in the game by the end of Chapter 5 I was expecting greater things but felt a little disappointed as like you Izno I didn’t have any sense of how to progress & so far to do so has been trial & error so I’m glad someone else feels the same way! The content within the chapter so far is interesting but it’s just not flowing for me!

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 6584

Joined 2007-07-22

PM

I hear your concerns Izno & chrissie, but I’m thinking positively about it - aren’t we a little “spoiled” when it comes to “you should go there”, “you should do that next”...? Tongue I mean, take a look at the mid-section of Monkey Island 1 or 2 - after your goals are clearly stated at the beginning, what you’re left with is a huge island(s) to explore, without much direct nudges as what locations and in what order you should explore. Similarly, in chapter 6, you’re familiar with the “main” objectives and locations, but now there’s really a more “freedom” to it - travel around the city, snoop around, see what happens…

I’m not saying it works always, and I’m only at the beginning of the chapter so I don’t know if it will hold up, but so far I’m not really against this sudden change in having your objectives “blurred”, while having access to all of the previous locations.

     

Recently finished: Four Last Things 4/5, Edna & Harvey: The Breakout 5/5, Chains of Satinav 3,95/5, A Vampyre Story 88, Sam Peters 3/5, Broken Sword 1 4,5/5, Broken Sword 2 4,3/5, Broken Sword 3 85, Broken Sword 5 81, Gray Matter 4/5\nCurrently playing: Broken Sword 4, Keepsake (Let\‘s Play), Callahan\‘s Crosstime Saloon (post-Community Playthrough)\nLooking forward to: A Playwright’s Tale

Avatar

Total Posts: 3933

Joined 2011-03-14

PM

diego - 23 July 2014 03:29 PM

I hear your concerns Izno & chrissie, but I’m thinking positively about it - aren’t we a little “spoiled” when it comes to “you should go there”, “you should do that next”...? Tongue

Perhaps we are spoiled by modern games, but that is not really the problem as I see it.

If we use my 2nd walkthrough moment as an example:

Iznogood - 23 July 2014 06:45 AM

But the 2nd one - Seriously we have to [spoiler]call Charles’s mother to confirm that he is a hunk! And didn’t Helana already tell us this? As a qualified guess perhaps, but still![/spoiler]

The problem is that the objective is not only blurred it is completely invisible, the game doesn’t tell us or in any way hint at that it should be necessary to confirm what Charles just said to us. All we do know is that we have to accomplish something in this general area, that is somehow connected to our investigation, and for a long time I thought that what I had to accomplish in this area was something completely different. If we knew the objective then it would actually be a very easy puzzle to solve, but the actual puzzle here is what the objective is.

Then lets compare it to a more traditional scenario. During our adventure we come across some large ruby that we need to get, in order to do that we first have to slap a wizard with a large fish so he drops a wand, which we must then use to create a fatamorgana of a mermaid that will distract a fisherman so we can steal his fishing rod, to which we attach the bubblegum that we got from the small child by… The wizard, the fisherman, the small child and the bogeyman might all be in completely different areas, and we might not even know why we need the ruby, or that we needed it at all before we stumbled upon the cave where it is hidden. But there is still a very clear objective of getting the ruby.

We can always discuss which is worst puzzle design, but neither is really a very good. Now in all fairness to Gray Matter I chose the worst example, and it wasn’t before this chapter that I couldn’t easily figure out what I had to accomplish simply by following the breadcrumbs.

     

You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ

Avatar

Total Posts: 2978

Joined 2012-03-09

PM

Just a small note.
I recently read an interview from the well-known author Terry Pratchet. There was a part that reminded me some of our previous discussions.

Q:What is the appeal of science fiction for storytelling?

A:We like the idea of “What if?” Because even back to Neanderthals you had to be inquisitive and think about the future being different from what it is now, otherwise you’d be toast. All the time the human race asks “What if?” Sooner or later it happens that someone will say that’s the future. We make these things up, it gives us a vocabulary of ideas for the world being not exactly like it is now.

And perhaps that’s exactly the situation with GM about the possibilities of some kind of afterlife, or the human brain, etc…

 

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 3200

Joined 2007-01-04

PM

All we do know is that we have to accomplish something in this general area, that is somehow connected to our investigation, and for a long time I thought that what I had to accomplish in this area was something completely different. If we knew the objective then it would actually be a very easy puzzle to solve, but the actual puzzle here is what the objective is.

As I play chapter 6, there are times I don’t have a clear idea of what I really should be doing next, this game does not hold your hand like others do - you are much more free to explore - but eventually if you don’t accomplish everything needed you won’t be allowed to move on to the next chapter which can be frustrating.

I do find this chapter interesting, and overall I am enjoying this chapter’s playthrough.

  Heart

     

I enjoy playing adventure games on my Alienware M17 r4 and my Nintendo Switch OLED.

Avatar

Total Posts: 932

Joined 2004-03-23

PM

Does anyone know if Timmons Park is a made-up place?

Anyways, I’m behind everyone as usual, but not to worry. I really like this second David chapter, there are lots of these JJ trademark “research(ish)” puzzles. I mean, first the computer thing (that makes sense if you just notice the report file from Sam in the computer) and then the hypno part. I really like puzzles like that, instead of the rather artificial obstacles puzzles usually are.

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 2978

Joined 2012-03-09

PM

UPtimist - 24 July 2014 01:29 PM

Does anyone know if Timmons Park is a made-up place?

No idea. There is a Timmons Park in USA though. In…Oxford Street (Greenvile, South Carolina)

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 8998

Joined 2004-01-05

PM

Finished chapter 6. What the hell happened at the end?!?!? To be continued…

It was good to get some resolution on the students back stories and Sam’s plan to uncover the possible game was nice. Could Helena and Mephistopheles really be in cahoots? Game does a good job of at the end of a Sam chapter making me think it’s all a set up and at the end of a Styles chapter making me think it’s all a ghost story…
Magic tricks continue to mostly be a missed opportunity of interesting gameplay.

Iznogood - 23 July 2014 06:45 AM

I think that the reason is, that for the first time in this game, I felt aimless and confused without any sense of what I had to do next or why I was doing the things I did, just clicking on whatever location had a golden glow and solving whatever puzzle presented itself.

 

The whole game kind of felt like this to me so I didn’t really notice a big difference here.

I also used a walkthrough for the LEWISCARROLL puzzle,or to be more precise, I stumbled into a walkthrough. I googles“Mage in Alice in wonderland” and the walkthrough showed up… seems like people get the same idea in this puzzle Smile
I didn’t use one for the Mom call but mostly by chance because I was thinking of calling Eddie for other stuff and noticed that name in there.

 

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 3200

Joined 2007-01-04

PM

It was good to get some resolution on the students back stories and Sam’s plan to uncover the possible game was nice.

I agree - chapter 6 was a fun chapter because of this. I wanted more detail here and chapter 6 delivered the goods.

The more I play Sam the more I like her as a playable character - sadly, after this game was completed by me on my first playthrough I was hoping for a GM 2 - but I do know that this is very unlikely.

I’ll just have to enjoy this 2nd playthrough for me to it’s fullest. This is a game I’d even play a third time!

  Heart

     

I enjoy playing adventure games on my Alienware M17 r4 and my Nintendo Switch OLED.

You are here: HomeForum Home → Gaming → Adventure → Thread

Welcome to the Adventure Gamers forums!

Back to the top