Adventure Gamers - Forums

Intense Degree - 01 September 2014 07:25 AM

Firstly, there are a HUGE number of empty backgrounds with no interaction possible. Beautiful? Absolutely, but if you need to constantly walk through pointless backgrounds (from a gameplay perspective) to get from one place to another that is (to my mind) bad game design.

It wouldn’t have been bad if double-clicking an exit immediately brought you to the next screen instead of having to watch Kate run (or better: racewalk) over there first…

Maybe just me, but I think it still would be. For instance the…

Teh Spoilarz:
part where you give Momo the Mammoth drawing in the attic and then you watch him run to near the cave, via quite a few jumps. You then have to run the whole way there to find him. Even if you could have teleported to exits it would still take a ridiculous amount of time to get there.

Admittedly the scenery is breathtaking, but you walk through sooooo many different empty screens just to get to him. You also do not know (unless playing a version with the perma-icons over interactable spots) whether each scene needs exploring or if there is nothing there.

It is the same in the factory where you walk through any number of empty screens trying to get the right feet for Oscar. Or really from any location to another!

Even with teleporting to exits I think it would go beyond annoying to poor game design.

In the spirit of friendly discussion and personal opinion, I shall respectfully disagree.

mart - 01 September 2014 10:32 AM

After the visit to the notary, there are various options the player may choose: visit the church, the factory with the assembly line, or the mansion (spoilers) There’s no need for backtracking like in some games (and there are enough clues - verbal or otherwise) that indicate how to proceed.

With respect, I think you may have misunderstood what I meant because my points are rather more petty that that!

For instance, If I want to go from the fountain to the train station I have to spend time walking down a path with nothing interactive on the screen at all. When heading to the cave from the gate I go through 2 or 3 screens (didn’t count exactly) which once again have no interaction at all. Even when walking from the notary to the church there is a screen with nothing to interact with and there are more around the church.

In the factory, from the door, I go left under the office to get to the forklift again through a non-interactive screen. There are certainly more examples of this in pretty much every major area.

I have nothing against becoming immersed in and exploring a world but my problem is that there is nothing to “explore” on these screens save a pretty background with my eyes!

When there are so many screens with nothing to interact with it feels like I spend more time walking through (admittedly beautiful) emptiness than playing the game and that is what, in my opinion, feels like poor or bad game design.

As I have said, that is only my opinion and I am pleased that others think differently and enjoy those scenes more than I do.

I’m actually in the middle of both views here. I don’t mind the “empty” screens as they are beautiful to watch and add to the flavour and atmosphere of the game.
I just think we lose far too much time by having to watch Kate run (slowly) across them to reach the next one.

Mart suggests (and in hindsight this is mostly correct) that all the outlying locations are more or less self-contained (negating the need for backtracking), but the average player doesn’t know this and can easily overlook something (and consequently think he needs to explore elsewhere first).

That’s why I would like a “double-click to exit” fast-travel option. You can still visit all those beautiful screens, but if you’re only passing through, then you just need to see them for a second.
Making you skip them automatically after the first time would make you miss them, and that would hurt the game, imo…

Even though I must admit I haven’t actually started the game yet, then I agree with mart on this.

When I played Syberia for the first (and only) time, then I initially felt like Intense, that this game had a lot of empty screens and could really use a fast travel option, but then it grew on me and I realised that there is a very good reason for these empty screens apart from just showing some beautiful backgrounds.

Syberia is in many ways not a normal Adventure Game and it doesn’t tell its story through dialogue and words like normal games does, or at least not to the same degree. Instead it is a much more visual and metaphorical story, and the emptiness of the whole game is actually an important part of the story, though you have to look at it more metaphorical or symbolic and connect the dots yourself, as the game will never write its points in big flaming letters to make sure everybody understands it.

It is in fact quite similar and connected, to what Timovieman in a previous post described as Kate exhibiting bi-polar behaviour - It is all part of the story that is being told.

Of course, this is all from memory of my previous playthrough, I might fell a bit different when I actually start playing it.

Sefir - 27 August 2014 07:27 AM

It’s time!!!

You have until the 3rd of September to finish the first chapter of the game. Up to the point when you watch the cinematic that leaves you from Valadilene, that is.

I probably won’t be done leading the casual playthrough until September 3, so I’m going to be behind schedule from the get go. It’s been a long time, but I’ve played the game before so I hope to be able to catch up quickly.

Syberia is in many ways not a normal Adventure Game and it doesn’t tell its story through dialogue and words like normal games does, or at least not to the same degree. Instead it is a much more visual and metaphorical story, and the emptiness of the whole game is actually an important part of the story, though you have to look at it more metaphorical or symbolic and connect the dots yourself, as the game will never write its points in big flaming letters to make sure everybody understands it.

Syberia proves one point most well - a picture is worth a thousand words. I felt the emptiness of that factory when I traveled across it - the game can be bleak at times - and this bleakness adds to the tale we are a part of.

Screenshots you say…

Disclaimer - because I am playing this on Android (lunchtime gaming is the way forward!) I have the perma-icons messing up the view on every screen. Therefore I have cheated and nabbed a screenshot online.

Although this screen doesn’t necessarily show a breathtaking view or even a human character, there is something about the grief and total desolation in the posture of the automaton on top of the tomb that sums up two of the main themes of the game for me, beautiful sadness and emotionally human automatons.

The best. Syberia has the best intro, no matter what you think of the game. It doesn’t wait, it doesn’t explain, it’s short - it grabs you from the beginning. What the hell did I just see? They’re human, but look like robots. They’re robots, but look like human.

Although this screen doesn’t necessarily show a breathtaking view or even a human character, there is something about the grief and total desolation in the posture of the automaton on top of the tomb that sums up two of the main themes of the game for me, beautiful sadness and emotionally human automatons.

Syberia’s chapter 1 is a great intro chapter - we get a feeling for this “beautiful sadness” and the emotionally human automations. The chapter served to draw us into this world - and this game - like “The Longest Journey” is one of the most beautiful adventure games ever released.