Adventure Gamers - Forums

I’m a bit late coming to the Resonance party (we got it in a pack with the Blackwell series, Botanicula & others, and left Resonance till last), but just wanted to add my voice to all those others praising the game - no surprise to see Fien as one of them as I think we generally have pretty similar tastes. I think in terms of puzzle design, Resonance’s are probably the best I’ve ever seen - and that includes those from the so-called “Golden Age of Adventures”. We just played “Overseer” beforehand (getting ready for the new Tex Murphy) and there’s no doubt for me that the Resonance puzzles are so much better integrated. With Overseer, it was the classic case of “Ah, I see a puzzle coming…”. I hardly had that feeling with Resonance once - the puzzles fitted in nearly perfectly with the game situations - and that’s extremely difficult for an adventure game. The range of puzzles, use of multi-characters, and the innovations with short & long term memory were all very impressive - the game avoided all the typical adventure game traps of either solutions being too obvious, trial and error combining everything with everything, or pointless abstract logic puzzles.

The story and writing was, I felt, of v good quality overall though with some flaws. As has been commented, it wasn’t possible to go so in-depth into all the characters (an inevitable disadvantage of having 4 main characters) but I felt they got the general feel over well. As Fien & imm8#2 (among others) have commented, it was possible to see that Ed would turn against the rest of the group - there were definite indicators that one group member would betray the others, and Ed had clear motivation for it. Also, while Bennet and Ray were early on clear suspects (Bennet thanks to the note, Ray due to following the group at the hospital), Ed wasn’t…and in whodunnits you should always be most suspicious of those who are not focussed on as main suspects . However, despite guessing that Ed would probably be the turncoat, the crucial scene in the vault was still a massive shock. That he would murder Anna (the character portrayed most sympathetically) in cold blood was not something I’d considered happening, yet was actually eminently logical and foreseeable if you’d fully worked out & followed through on Ed’s motivations.

Voice acting was also v. good (like all Wadjet Games productions), though some of Anna’s Spanish pronunciation was a bit out I think - no surprise to see that the actor playing Uncle Javi was Spanish-speaking (presumably) whereas Anna’s actress wasn’t. One minor flaw (according to my Japanese wife) is that some of the Japanese used by Reno in the final scene at the Eleven Foundation hideout was incorrect. The phrases and word endings used a couple of times would (apparantly) only be used by a male person, not a female. Graphically Resonance was Ok, but it didn’t quite have the atmosphere that Gemini Rue managed (despite its retro graphics) to create. That’s one aspect where Gemini Rue’s better for me, but overall, thanks to its puzzle design, Resonance just about betters it for me.

So for me definitely Game of the Year and indeed goes into my Top 10 adventures of all time I think. Will definitely go through it again with the commentary & looking to whatever Vince Twelve produces next - though hopefully it won’t take 5 years . Indeed, with the quality of this, Gemini Rue, and Dave Gilbert’s Blackwell games, I’ll be looking for anything new Wadjet Games release - they’ve definitely gone to No 1 publishers at the moment for me. (sorry for the post length )

Fien - 26 January 2013 07:58 AM

Hi Davey! Nice to see you again.

Thanks Fien. I always drop in on a regular basis, but only actually write something when I’ve got something to say

A couple of other things with Resonance. It’s not the longest game in the world. We finished it in ca. 10 days or so, which considering the fact that we didn’t use a walkthrough at all (apart from once early-ish on when still getting to grips with the STM/LTM system), isn’t that long. But that’s not a criticism - I think there’s a danger that a very long game looses its focus at times & you forget where you actually are/ what happened before. This is a criticism of the Tex games for me, especially Pandora Directive, although I know it’s got a lot of other strengths.

Fien - 26 January 2013 07:58 AM

Check out Primordia at Wadjet , if you haven’t already. For me, it’s not in the same league as Resonance, but definitely a good game.

Good point. I’ve read about it but had forgotten that it’s also Wadjet. Concept sounds interesting with similarities to Machinarium & Beneath a Steel Sky. But initially we’ve got the 2nd part of Cognition coming - another impressive new game. Found the first part very enjoyable even if it did have a few flaws.

Fien - 26 January 2013 07:58 AM

PS: How did you like Botanicula?

Think we’re getting a bit off-topic there . Very enjoyable, but a slightly different experience as we played it (like Machinarium) with our now-just-five years old son. But those games are super for small children as there’s no writing & the animation & music are so well done. Obviously Botanicula’s not got the same emotional depth as something like Resonance or Gemini Rue (or GK, Longest Journey or Last Express for that matter) but taken on its own merits, it’s a fantastic game. The creativity, animation, & music are great. And I was sceptical before playing Machinarium as I didn’t believe an adventure without speech could be so much fun - I’d always believed the story/plot are of ultimate precedence. Still do actually, but Machinarium proved to me there are other types of adventures I can also enjoy. Never tried Riven, but maybe I should - Myst rather put me off that who sub-category. It’s really not my thing.

Fien - 27 January 2013 05:33 AM

Yeah, must be nice to play Botanicula with a young child. I gave the game as a present to two teenage girls. They said they liked it but found it too difficult. Huh? Oh well… at least I tried. 

Both Botanicula and Resonance would be in my top ten if there was any room left, but the cut-throat competition (I just had to add GK2 after the community playthrough ) forces me to put Resonance in my top twenty and Botanicula in my top twenty-five. Or I could simply put all the best games I enjoyed most in my ever-growing top ten. 

Yep, he had (still has - he regularly replays them!) a lot of fun with Machinarium & Botanicula though obviously we had to help with the tougher bits

Do you actually have a Top-10 written on the forum anywhere? I’d be interested to know what games I haven’t played from it. I seem to remember you being a Bad Mojo fan, but we had problems getting that to run on Windows 7

Fien - 28 January 2013 06:13 AM

My top twenty is not cast in stone. Here’s the latest version.

PS: Have you played Callahan’s? We’re starting a new community playthrough this week.

Nope, but don’t have a copy either. Is it downloadable anywhere (e.g. GOG)? The only Legends adventure I ever played was the Death Gate one v. early in my PC Adventure days, and I can’t say I was that impressed. Curse of Monkey Island & GK2 (both of which I played fairly soon after) seemed to me SOOOO much better. Part of the problem is probably a 1st person issue - with very rare exceptions, I’m not keen. 3rd person appeals to me a lot more.

Thanks for the table. I’ve actually played exactly half of your top 20 - more from the second 20 than the first, interestingly enough. The Discworlds I never tried as I found Terry Pratchett totally unfunny when I tried one (The colour of Magic?) 20+ years ago. You’d recommend giving Riven a try then . Is it important at all to have played/finished Myst?

DaveyB - 28 January 2013 06:48 AM

The Discworlds I never tried as I found Terry Pratchett totally unfunny when I tried one (The colour of Magic?) 20+ years ago.

That might be a mistake. I disliked his early books like The Colour of Magic too but loved the Discworld games. I’m not a great fan of the books but from the couple I’ve read he gets much better.

Zifnab - 28 January 2013 07:57 AM

DaveyB - 28 January 2013 06:48 AM

The Discworlds I never tried as I found Terry Pratchett totally unfunny when I tried one (The colour of Magic?) 20+ years ago.

That might be a mistake. I disliked his early books like The Colour of Magic too but loved the Discworld games. I’m not a great fan of the books but from the couple I’ve read he gets much better.

Nah… The Colour of Magic (and the Light Fantastic) was always one of my favourites. I believe the most rescent Discworld Novels (Say Unseen Academics or I Shall wear Midnight for example) are much more mature/adult in style, much less humorous, with much greater depth in the characters presented however (Nutt in UA is the perfect example). If you didn’t found funny its first novels then it’s probably not your style.
My personal favorites are Wyrd Sisters, Small Gods, Colour of Magic/The Light Fantastic and Reaper Man. Also liked Unseen Academics, Mort, Faust/Eric and Thief of Time.

DaveyB - 28 January 2013 06:48 AM

You’d recommend giving Riven a try then .

Best game of all time!!!

EDIT: You should also have in mind that many of the Discworld game jokes come straight from the novels (especially in Disc 1&2 where Rincewind is the hero and the world a more “Pratchet” one than Noir). Noir might be more of your style than the first two.

Yeah, funnily enough I just never liked anything with Rincewind in it. I say that because I thought he’s so great in the game. Been a while since I’ve read Pratchett but I remember Small Gods being easily my favourite.

And that’s how a thread turns from Resonance to Rincewind.
I loved Rincewind. In the first 3 novels. I think that he was overused in his last 2 stories (Interesting Times,The Last Continent). Pratchet himself admited that he was actually tired of him and wrote so many stories around him because of the popularity Rincewind gained from the game’s success. So I guess you are right. He was great in the game.

Dag - 28 January 2013 09:37 AM

The Discworld books aren’t written in a particular order, that is, they all have independent stories

That is not entirely true. While each book has its own story, there are certain events that happen chronologically to either the world or the main characters (Rincewind, the Witches, Death, etc) and are presented throughout the books. They are better understood if read in the correct order.