Adventure Gamers - Forums

I’m not sure what you mean by test mode, Clubberella.  Maybe the game has incompatibilities with your operating system.  I bought my CE version of the game in Feb. of 2011 and the Windows version probably came out earlier than that.

Ook, ook, Becky! 

Clubberella,
I know several gamers who are unhappy with Windows 8 because so many of their older games won’t run on it.  I’m glad you’ve decided to hang in there with it anyway.

My fortune has been told. Ready for more.

My fortune has been told.

Very atmospheric so far. The creaking doors add a lot. It’s almost unsettling…

Graphics are creepy but not as good as they were in Angelica Weaver, imo. The HOGs are somehow more fun, though - always one item that gives me trouble.
Managed without hints so far, and planning to keep that up (I’m playing on the middle difficulty setting - “challenge” I believe that was).

chrissie - 23 October 2014 11:05 AM

I’m wondering whether I’m dead myself after my car-crash - I just can’t remember from playing before.

That thought has crossed my mind as well, especially after the ominous fortune telling. Maybe the hotel represents purgatory or something?

Lady Kestrel - 22 October 2014 09:50 PM

I finished the first section, and I don’t like my fortune very much.

What troubles me more is that I’m apparently in a place that no longer exists!

I have also finished the first section, and I’m playing the Match 3 instead of the HO simply because I find that it is much funnier. It however also takes much much much longer, which might be a small problem as I have almost forgot why I was searching the place or where I am in the story by the time I finally solve the M3, and it might destroy the pace of the story a bit.

Story-wise so far? I’m not really sure how I fell about it.
I think the problem is that it tries to hard to be scary or at least creepy. I mean horror works best when you build it up slowly, start with a perfectly normal setting, where perhaps things is just a slight bit off, where you can sense that things aren’t quite as they are suppose to be, but you can’t put your finger on exactly what is wrong. And then you build up slowly making things more and more off, until both the player/reader/viewer and the protagonist realise that something is completely wrong and that they are actually in grave danger.

But in this game it happens too fast, there is no slow build up, instead we are thrown into it directly from the start, immediately knowing that things are terribly wrong. I guess it is similar to the problem I also had in the last playthrough, where I also thought there was a leap in the narrative in the beginning of the game. Last time it ended up not bothering me too much, as the story picked up after that, so i’m hoping that it will also happen in this game.

TimovieMan - 23 October 2014 06:27 PM

Graphics are creepy but not as good as they were in Angelica Weaver, imo. The HOGs are somehow more fun, though - always one item that gives me trouble.

First, I think the graphics are as good, just quite different. It’s similar to discussing painters and their paintings. One may not be better than the other, but I appreciate the style more.

As for the hidden objects, this is probably the fourth time I’ve played the game. Although I haven’t played it in over two years. There have been one or two new hidden objects in every HO scene each time I played the game. So there is always one or two that I have trouble finding. HINT: (And this doesn’t require a spoiler.) There is no penalty for switching back and forth between HO and Match-3. You can do it as many times as you want during any scene. As long as you don’t use the Hint button, you will get credit for completing the screen.

Iznogood - 23 October 2014 06:45 PM

What troubles me more is that I’m apparently in a place that no longer exists!

I think you can be certain that the place still exists. But as it is with other ruins, think Pompeii for example, it exists in a different way than it once did.

I have also finished the first section, and I’m playing the Match 3 instead of the HO simply because I find that it is much funnier. It however also takes much much much longer…

I think you are short-changing yourself by not playing at least part of the hidden object scenes. They are all as creepy and decrepit as the environment as a whole. And I think they add purpose. As you progress, you will be finding items that can’t be used immediately, but can only be used in the concluding chapter. Plus, the Match-3 games become increasingly difficult as the game progresses.

Story-wise so far? I’m not really sure how I fell about it.
I think the problem is that it tries to hard to be scary or at least creepy. I mean horror works best when you build it up slowly, start with a perfectly normal setting, where perhaps things is just a slight bit off, where you can sense that things aren’t quite as they are suppose to be, but you can’t put your finger on exactly what is wrong. And then you build up slowly making things more and more off, until both the player/reader/viewer and the protagonist realise that something is completely wrong and that they are actually in grave danger.

But in this game it happens too fast, there is no slow build up, instead we are thrown into it directly from the start, immediately knowing that things are terribly wrong. I guess it is similar to the problem I also had in the last playthrough, where I also thought there was a leap in the narrative in the beginning of the game. Last time it ended up not bothering me too much, as the story picked up after that, so i’m hoping that it will also happen in this game.

I think that’s what happens when you play a casual game that is meant to be completed in around six hours. But then Scratches, which I loved, didn’t take very long at all before it let you know that something was really off regarding its environment.

I think a better comparison might be between a Stephen King short story and a Stephen King novel. It’s far easier to create the “build” you are looking for when you have 600+ pages to do it, as he did with The Shining. Far more difficult when he tried to do it with short story Children of the Corn.

     

For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.

rtrooney - 23 October 2014 07:35 PM

I think that’s what happens when you play a casual game that is meant to be completed in around six hours.

Sure, there might not be the time to build things up slowly, but the effect for me is the same regardless of the reason. I simply doesn’t find it as scary or creepy as I had hoped, though I still hope that it might happen later.

TimovieMan - 23 October 2014 06:27 PM

chrissie - 23 October 2014 11:05 AM

I’m wondering whether I’m dead myself after my car-crash - I just can’t remember from playing before.

That thought has crossed my mind as well, especially after the ominous fortune telling. Maybe the hotel represents purgatory or something?

I didn’t think of that myself, but… no, I don’t think that quite adds up. Things were spooky already before the crash, so I think it is more likely to just be a spooky place, but I guess we will have to wait and see.

Iz - I wasn’t trying to defend anything. And I totally understand what you’re saying. But, forgive the pun…it Iz what it Iz.

rtrooney - 23 October 2014 08:23 PM

Iz - I wasn’t trying to defend anything. And I totally understand what you’re saying. But, forgive the pun…it Iz what it Iz.

He he - Yeah I got what you meant, and I wasn’t as such criticizing the game, just commenting on it.

furgotten - 23 October 2014 09:06 PM

I don’t think this game is supposed to be really scary. It is very atmospheric and at the same time it is somewhat poking fun at itself. At least that is the way I took it.

Perhaps you are right, perhaps I was taking it too serious.

Yes, even the music, which I really like, is dramatically a bit over the top.  DUM dadadada-dum-dadada dum de da dee dum!