May 2017 Playthrough - Syberia

[GrayGhost81]

I'm more with Pam than Rich on the walkthrough question, which should surprise no one who follows us. I get zero enjoyment out of "what the hell am I supposed to do?" scenarios and this game, so far, is full of them.

I'm trying to use the walkthough as more of an "on rails" guide, and then interacting with everything else once the main steps are done to get more of the story context that Rich mentioned.

I agree that the graphics are great (I'm playing on PC) and the voice acting is well done.

As always, it is nice to be playing a game that has been in my consciousness seemingly forever. To me this is the ultimate bargain bin xbox game. I remember there was a copy at my local Rite-Aid for years when I lived in NJ. It's cool to be actually experiencing the game now. I may fire up to Xbox and DS versions too so I can add to the discussion about the version differences.

[Crabmaster2000]

I wont be able to start until next week, but I always approach adventure games as "if I need a walkthrough it's not a well made or fun game". I don't mind getting stuck or asking a friend for a second set of eyes on a particular puzzle/screen though. Using a walkthrough on an adventure game is akin to the newer Mario games when they give you the Gold Items that let you God-Mode through the level. Why play the game if you're not enjoying it enough to learn the design and improve your skills?

[GrayGhost81]

I wont be able to start until next week, but I always approach adventure games as "if I need a walkthrough it's not a well made or fun game". I don't mind getting stuck or asking a friend for a second set of eyes on a particular puzzle/screen though. Using a walkthrough on an adventure game is akin to the newer Mario games when they give you the Gold Items that let you God-Mode through the level. Why play the game if you're not enjoying it enough to learn the design and improve your skills?

This sentiment seems like a continuation of the Child of Light discussion. For myself, I have no interest whatsoever in "improving my skills," especially in the point and click adventure game genre. All I want to do is cruise through the game and enjoy the story with minimal fristration. It's just a different mindset, and I would just be repeating a lot of what I said in the CoL thread if I elaborated further.

[Addicted]

I'm also running behind on starting this game. I'll try to start this weekend as time has been scarce and my article takes priority.

[Crabmaster2000]

I wont be able to start until next week, but I always approach adventure games as "if I need a walkthrough it's not a well made or fun game". I don't mind getting stuck or asking a friend for a second set of eyes on a particular puzzle/screen though. Using a walkthrough on an adventure game is akin to the newer Mario games when they give you the Gold Items that let you God-Mode through the level. Why play the game if you're not enjoying it enough to learn the design and improve your skills?

This sentiment seems like a continuation of the Child of Light discussion. For myself, I have no interest whatsoever in "improving my skills," especially in the point and click adventure game genre. All I want to do is cruise through the game and enjoy the story with minimal fristration. It's just a different mindset, and I would just be repeating a lot of what I said in the CoL thread if I elaborated further.

I view RPGs and Adventure games as very similar skill sets. Basically you just need patience in both genres and then neither becomes challenging.

I completely understand someone putting the Konami code into something like Contra to ease the learning curve considerably. With most RPGs and Adventure games where they typically only ask the player to "pay attention" it seems silly to me to cheat your way through.

[singlebanana]

And to reiterate, I'm not saying to not use a walkthrough, I'm just saying to give it a good ole college try first.  My main point is that a part of the narrative of the game is solving a mystery, so if you as the active participant in this narrative are not willing to take the time to solve the mystery, then you're pretty much selling the experience short.  To me, that's a shame.  Again, I have zero issues with walkthroughs, but not even bothering to struggle a little to get to a solution takes out the designer's intent and disregards all of the work they put into their puzzle designs and the game overall. Hell, if the characters in Scooby Doo didn't work hard to find clues, we would have been pretty damn bored with 3 minute episodes as kids.  

[Crabmaster2000]

And to reiterate, I'm not saying to not use a walkthrough, I'm just saying to give it a good ole college try first.  My main point is that a part of the narrative of the game is solving a mystery, so if you as the active participant in this narrative are not willing to take the time to solve the mystery, then you're pretty much selling the experience short.  To me, that's a shame.  Again, I have zero issues with walkthroughs, but not even bothering to struggle a little to get to a solution takes out the designer's intent and disregards all of the work they put into their puzzle designs and the game overall. Hell, if the characters in Scooby Doo didn't work hard to find clues, we would have been pretty damn bored with 3 minute episodes as kids. 

This is what I was trying to get across, but probably didnt do a great job. If you're playing a puzzle game and don't enjoy being puzzled, I guess I just don't get it

[Pam]

When it comes to adventure games, there are all kinds of draws. The story is usually a big one. Sometimes humour. There's an exploration element, which for me is a draw when there are cool things to discover, but a turn-off if it just means me getting lost or not knowing my objective. Puzzles are another factor but there are lots of different kinds of puzzles. There are logic-based puzzles which have a set of rules they play by, like sliding block puzzles (I hate these) or sequence/math/logic puzzles (I love these). Inventory puzzles which may make sense... or may not. Sometimes the solutions are logical, sometimes it gets to the point of just trying to combine every single item. There are conversation puzzles. There are some adventure game puzzles which I really think I would never figure out on my own because my brain just doesn't work that way.

I'm totally willing to trial and error my way through Insult Swordfighting because it's entertaining and funny. Whereas I don't think I would have ever figured out that Gabriel Knight needed to make himself a mustache out of cat fur and maple syrup in order to impersonate this friend (who doesn't even have a mustache) without cheating.

[singlebanana]

That's a good point and of course Syberia falls mainly under that inventory puzzle category (from what I have seen so far).  The thing about this game is that there are very limited things to interact with; most screens have nothing and those that do typically only have one or two.  Also, this interactive things are easily spotted by simply mousing over an area with a decent sized magnifying glass cursor. I'm finding that if I explore everywhere (which so far the areas aren't what I would call "vast"), I'm finding all the items I need. Sure, sometimes I have to do a little backtracking, but nothing has felt excessive or overly annoying so far.  I guess time will be the biggest tell as to whether what I deem "fair" puzzle play holds up, since I am still early in the game.

[douglie007]

Other issues with the DS version if anyone cares lol, they removed some puzzles, so I remember what I need to do and it won't let me, I moved on and I didn't have to do what I was trying for... worst part is they left the dialog referencing the missing puzzles

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[singlebanana]

Adjusted the first checkpoint to have us finishing the errands and leaving town by train. I think it's just a cleaner checkpoint.

[Addicted]

I installed it on Saturday and I feel like I'm getting close to the first checkpoint. The slow walk speed is getting to me. I know I can speed up Kate by double clicking but it still seems slow.

[singlebanana]

I installed it on Saturday and I feel like I'm getting close to the first checkpoint. The slow walk speed is getting to me. I know I can speed up Kate by double clicking but it still seems slow.

Interesting. There is simply a run button you can hold down on the XBox version.  It's really nice.

My only complaints so far about movements are (1) that sometimes it's annoying to find the proper edge of the screen to be able to move to the next one, and (2) the way the direction you are going can reverse from screen to screen and thus the orientation can make you accidentally go right back to the screen you came from.  Other than these issues, I haven't run into any major issues with the controls. However, I do think that having to do an action to walk up and down stairs is silly.

[Crabmaster2000]

Convention is over. Should be able to join in the Syber-fun tonight!

[douglie007]

So I think I came to a part of the DS game where the puzzle is broken.  Or they removed it, I can't get her to find anything at the school, I have talked to everyone and searched everywhere to move on, I did look online for help but the reviews I found never made it passed the first area, and no walkthrough for the DS... I think I took a game I really liked and ruined it by trying to play the worst port ever.

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