| 5 AUG 2007 at 1:16pm |
PoyntenklikSorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 201
Joined: 25 AUG 2005
Status : Online | First thing I do when entering a new room is click on nothing, but walk around it as thoroughly as I can to see what areas I can go to. I'll run my mouse over every square millimetre to see if there are any hidden passages lurking, and to see what areas are hotspots. All this without clicking on anything yet. If I immediately notice a puzzle set up in the room, particularly if it looks like a slider puzzle or something which my instinct tells me could be tricky, I'll invariably save right there and then just in case I mess up and the puzzle doesn't reset itself. At least then, I can load the game and start the puzzle from it's natural default setting. The other thing is, if I know I need an item such as a key or a book or green one eyed popcorn spitting frog, and I see it as soon as I walk into a new room or area, where a lot of people might immediately go and pick it up, I will tend to see it and then leave it until I've checked out the whole room first.
When it comes to inventory items, I am very happy to try every item on every other item several times to see if anything combines. Usually this is when I'm stuck, but I may do it even when I'm not. If I had a cat, a ball and a pencil, not only will I take the cat and click it over the ball, I will also take the ball and click it over the cat, just in case doing it in a different order might be the catalyst ( no pun intended ) to make something happen.
When saving games, I try not to overwrite an earlier saved game if possible. That way, I can load an earlier game to replay a part of it or go look at something like a clue I forgot that may not be available in the current game.
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| 5 AUG 2007 at 1:32pm |
BlountSorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 271
Joined: 19 APR 2006
Status : Offline | Well in adventure games im pretty straightforward, first I walk around every screen/room, picking up every object I can, until there are no more locations to explore and items to get.
Then I start "looking/reading/examining" most of the items I picked up to get some more info. After that I go solving the puzzles. As a last resort I also use this method:
Originally Posted By Poyntenklik (5 AUG 2007 1:16pm)
When it comes to inventory items, I am very happy to try every item on every other item several times to see if anything combines.
only if im really stuck.
Regarding savegames, most of the time I use only one and overwrite it always, but I only do that in adventure games, since in most of them, you cant lose.
Currently Playing: Dracula Origins&&&&Check out my Videogame Music Covers!! http://www.youtube.com/user/SixStringsGeek
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| 5 AUG 2007 at 2:17pm |
ShanyGuild Master
Posts : 3313
Joined: 19 JUN 2003
Status : Online | For me it depends on the type of adventure game.
If it's a 3rd person game in a 2D environment I go around through all of the rooms in a location, picking up any items I can, but avoid solving puzzles (including locked doors) until I feel like I've done everything I can.
In most other types of adventures - 1st person with node-based exploration, fully 3D games - I will prefer to do everything in a location including solving puzzles before moving forward, I feel that exploration in these games is much more difficult (either the areas are really big, or it's hard to find your way around them) so I prefer to make progress without having to return to a previous location.
When I get to a room full of doors, I will usually try to open the ones I know the least about first. If I know nothing about them I'll just try to open the one closest to me.
With savegames I usually give my saves a random name and hope that I'll remember it when I load it. If I'm really into a game I'll give the saves a name that reflects what's going on at the time (so if I'm near a place in the game where you can die, my savegame might be called 'aaaaah!' or something similar ).
I normally try to keep around 10 saves, but if a game looks like it has a lot of deaths and no 'retry' option, I'll save as many times as possible.
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| 5 AUG 2007 at 2:31pm |
ValGuild Master
Posts : 3467
Joined: 2 OCT 2002
Location: US
Status : Offline | Ah, yes, forgot about puzzles and saving games. I save as many unique saves as possible, overwriting only when nothing much has happened. Save right before all puzzles. Save in numerics like 01, 02, etc. Coincidentally, hubby (Aya) saves the same way! Although if there are Acts or other such divisions in a game, he'll do a special save called Act II or something like that.
Inventory items - if I'm stuck, I'll start combining items no matter how crazy the combo seems. I've been surprised with what I considered insane item combinations.
We can be heroes, just for one day.
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| 5 AUG 2007 at 5:46pm |
InlandAZGuild Master
Posts : 5586
Joined: 4 MAY 2007
Status : Offline | Beer in the left hand, Mouse in the right? :
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| 5 AUG 2007 at 6:02pm |
HelenGuild Master
Posts : 3436
Joined: 12 OCT 2002
Location: US
Status : Offline | Mine is snack in left, mouse in right.
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| 5 AUG 2007 at 6:13pm |
TaioPrivate Detective
Posts : 557
Joined: 3 FEB 2007
Status : Offline | When saving a game I usually name them "afohidejknqoddsm", "sssssssssspp", "fqoiwej", or something like that, hitting keys randomly. Not very useful, but it saves a lot of time
However I almost always overwrite them, except in those moments that I believe it might fall a piano in my head soon. But when I finish the game there are like 4 or 5 different saves only.
www.youtube.com/user/Taioo
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| 5 AUG 2007 at 6:57pm |
Jenny100Guild Master
Posts : 3510
Joined: 12 OCT 2002
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Valadmin (5 AUG 2007 12:13pm)
How do you choose what to do when you enter a new area of a game (a new room, hallway, outdoor area)?
I look for hotspots, scrubbing the screen in the most likely-looking areas first. I try to investigate areas fully before leaving them. This doesn't always work when a game has hotspots that can't be detected at all until they are triggered. But sometimes I can find inactive hotspots that may be used later.
When you have a hallway full of doors how do you choose which one you go to first, next, etc.
I'd usually go to the one closest to me. Or sometimes I'll choose a direction or hotspot that looks like it won't lead too far away from my starting point. So if I have a choice between exploring a room and going down the hall, I'll explore the room first because I'd expect the hall to lead to new areas. Sometimes this doesn't work out though. For example, if I go into a room and see I can go out the window or through a secret door, I'll go back in the hall to find out whether or not there's a locked door at the end of it.
As for saving, it depends on the game, its save system, its stability, and whether it tends to throw unwelcome surprises at you. In stable games where my character never goes belly up or falls in a hole, I may play a long time between saves, saving only after complex puzzles or in areas I want to revisit later. In unstable games or where my character is accident prone, I save a lot more frequently, sometimes alternating between two or three saves in case the game crashes while saving and corrupts the current save. When given the opportunity to name the save, how often I save affects how I name it. A save I wanted to revisit would get an appropriate name. If I'm alternating between frequent saves, I might call them junk1 and junk2 (or possibly expletives if I was annoyed with the game).
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| 5 AUG 2007 at 11:21pm |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | At night because I feel guity if I 'waste' time during the day playing when there is so much work for me to do.
With the lights off so I can immerse myself in the screen.
And I fiddle and touch and pick up and pull and press every item, button and lever I can. Then later on I discover (usually from w/t because I'm stuck) that I altered some vital piece of machinery with all the fiddling and the whole puzzle is stuffed up. :
It's not a sensible method and I don't recommend it but it's how I tackled Myst and the habit seems to have stuck. Press the button and see what happens..... nothing.... well press this one.... [smiley=rofl.gif]
I usually draw maps and take copious notes, especially numbers, symbols etc, most of which turn out to be useless.
I label my save games according to where they are, or maybe the day of the week if I'm saving heavily and I fill up ALL the available save slots and then start over.
And if the game bores me I give up. This is meant to be fun.
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| 6 AUG 2007 at 2:12am |
jalexSchattenjger
Posts : 2503
Joined: 5 MAR 2003
Status : Offline | I usually start by walking around and trying to find any clues I can to give me an idea as to what I need to do and get a feel for the story. Then I start picking up things and examining everything I can and reading any notes or letters I find. After that if can see how to solve a puzzle I will go to it and try to solve it. If everything has gone well I figure that something new has opened up so I check everything there the same way once I find it.
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| 6 AUG 2007 at 2:59am |
AndromusGuild Master
Posts : 5538
Joined: 6 NOV 2002
Status : Offline | Entering a new area or room I generally take things in order, starting with whatever is closest. If there are things that are the same distance apart, like say doors on both sides of a hallway or paths branching in different directions, I often look for any feature that might make one more interesting to explore than the other. I like to look over smaller areas first, also. I may peek into multiple rooms or areas to see if they have any other exits, then go back and explore the smaller areas or rooms that don't connect with anything but the one entrance/exit. If I feel a route is taking me too far from the branching point, I'll go back and see if there's something shorter or smaller to explore first.
If there's someone to talk to I wait until I've looked at everything else in the room to do so, as that sometimes adds extra dialogue choices,(and hopefully saves me one extra conversation). If there's something that looks really, really important, I usually save that until last as well, not wanting to trigger anything important until I've had a chance too look over everything else.
Save games: I am a save weenie, no matter what genre I'm playing. Even in adventure games where one doesn't usually get killed, I save fairly often. I figure no matter how stable the game, you never know what might cause it to crash. And I hate having to make up any amount of progress. I generally don't keep a lot of extra saves around when playing adventures, though. No more than one screen's worth, whatever that might be.
If puzzles have elements that can be fiddled around with or adjusted in some way I generally hunker down in front of them and don't move until I've solved it -- I hate moving on from an unfinished puzzle. Of course, this presents a big problem if I need information or an inventory item from somewhere else to solve it! I've wasted more time than I'd care to admit doing that.
I'm a lazy note taker. Although I'm very precise when I do take notes, copying down copious reams of (often useless) information in those cases much of the time, I'd rather try to memorize whatever I need to know if the game isn't going to throw too much information at me.
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| 6 AUG 2007 at 3:01am |
IviniaGuild Master
Posts : 4459
Joined: 7 JUN 2003
Location: US
Status : Offline | When presented with multiple choices, I start from the left and fully explore that area, then back up to the first spot and do the same with the next. If one of those paths leads me to a whole new location (like if I were in a building and the path was taking me to some other building) then I would stop and make sure I have done everything in the current location before moving on.
I ALWAYS play in the dark...doesn't everyone?
Like Caroline, I'll jot down notes - most of which are useless.
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| 6 AUG 2007 at 5:57pm |
SkyeSorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 348
Joined: 20 OCT 2002
Status : Online | I generally search each room I enter thoroughly. If there are doors in the room I will open them all to see where they lead but won't leave the room just yet.
I will pick up everything that I can as I go along and (like Caroline) fiddle with knobs, dials and other thing that look fiddleable.
As for which door I choose to pass through when presented with multiple doors, I usually use the right hand rule; similar to what I do when confronted with a maze.
I make lots of notes on stuff that I read and copy down every instance of numbers, dates, strangly obvious arrangements of symbols and shapes . . . the usual stuff . . . in case it comes in useful later.
Skye
Indie Developer of Scavenger Hunter&&The Replayable Adventure Game!&&- 4,446 scenes, 5,796 overlays,&&- First Indie Adventure Game&& To Use A.I. Randomizer Technology,&&- 7 years in the making!!! RELEASED !!!&&&&Order yours now at:&&[url]http://www.Sagewood-Software.ca[/url]
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| 6 AUG 2007 at 7:42pm |
AyaGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 7277
Joined: 16 OCT 2002
Status : Offline | left to right on a new screen... try to find obscure hotspots before dealing with the prominent ones... if there are different cursors for look and use/take, look first... whatever looks like it may trigger smth, like dialog or cutscene, is left for last... cover one level fully first, if there are stairs, unless the stairs obviously lead to a one room area... small doors before big doors... that's about it i think
i try not to "click everything on everything" in order to progress... if i progress without knowing what i'm doing or the logic behind what i did, i consider it the same as progressing with a walkthrough (just without the walkthrough stigma!)
as for saves, i save A LOT! i hate games with limited saveslots (and absolutely despise the moronic idea of saving points instead of regular saving [smiley=furious.gif])... i don't overwrite much... i have games that i reached 100 saves! (all this is mainly due to trauma inflicted by old sierra and icom games! :)
You have gotten the attention of the mysterious lady. She turns to face you. Her face is devoid of any flesh. You are frozen with horror as she begins ripping your body into a bloody mess.
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| 6 AUG 2007 at 9:13pm |
alkis21Schattenjger
Posts : 2112
Joined: 23 OCT 2002
Location: GR
Status : Offline | Pretty much what Aya said, plus I like taking plenty of notes and I even draw a rough map or two.
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| 8 AUG 2007 at 5:45am |
SharonBSorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 310
Joined: 24 JUL 2007
Location: US, Delaware
Status : Offline | HOW DO YOU PLAY YOUR GAMES?? With great difficulty. My biggest problem is that I can't concentrate on one game. I'm constantly being drawn to plug in another game and give that one a try. Right now I'm trying very hard to finish Under a Killing Moon. However, I started playing Anachronox, and then saw some messages about Moon and started playing that. I want to go back to Anachronox because it is a very enjoyable game and I would like to finish it. I have sooo many unfinished games. I start a new one and then for some reason end up playing one I've already completed. Sigh.. Am I the only one with this game ADD??
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| 8 AUG 2007 at 12:15pm |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | No. I get distracted from games and when I haven't played a game for a few days, find it hard to resume.
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| 8 AUG 2007 at 8:00pm |
SharonBSorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 310
Joined: 24 JUL 2007
Location: US, Delaware
Status : Offline | Thanks Caroline. I'm buying a new gamepad now so my next game will probably be Dreamfall, or maybe Alone in the Dark 4. I understand my new gamepad can be customized easily for FPS games. Maybe I'll plug both in and see what happens. Or I could see if it works with Anachronox. That would be really cool! Then I could start that game all over again and play with my gamepad and probably finish it!
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| 20 AUG 2007 at 6:11pm |
JehaneSpace Cadet
Posts : 128
Joined: 15 MAY 2007
Status : Online | My gameplay usually stays the same, at least with adventures. When entering a new area, I try to find every hotspot, pick up everything that's not nailed to the ground, talk to everybody until there's nothing more to talk about. If there are more rooms than just one, I make sure I've searched the first room thoroughly and talked to everybody (if anybody is present at all) before turning to the next room. It still happens that I miss something if it's very small or difficult to detect (I hate pixelhunting....).
With puzzles, I give them a try first time I encounter them even if I don't have everything it takes to solve the puzzle - I just give it a try to see if I have all the requirements it takes to solve the puzzle. If I can't solve it straight away, I keep wandering around, doing a second, even more thorough investigation in case I have missed something, then go back to the puzzle. If I still can't solve it, I'll keep trying until it's solved or my nerves are too shot; in case of the latter, I'll consult a walkthrough. But before doing so, I'll try everything that comes to my mind, even if it seems ridiculous (combining stuff from the inventory with hotspots, combining stuff from the inventory with stuff from the inventory...). Sometimes it also helps to take a break, let the mind rest and try to tackle the problem again after the break.
With some games, I found it very helpful to take detailled notes - especially with the more complex ones. I write down everything that could be an important clue, especially when talking to other characters. Occasionally, I'll draw maps, make little sketches of symbols and other important stuff I see (usually in books that pop up during the game and that I can't take with me). Sometimes I also jot down notes regarding the characters - who are they, what's important about them; I'll take down ideas that come to my mind and that could be important to solving the game.
For me, there are two crucial situations in which I save a game: First, my character could be in mortal danger. Second, I've just solved an especially hard puzzle. Also, I usually save a game when a chapter is finished resp. I'm ready to tackle the next chapter. How often I save also depends on how many slots the game provides; I was pretty pissed when I discovered that Loch Ness, Dracula and Necronomicon each only provided eight slots - that's pretty ridiculous, especially in a horror adventure. And I hesitate to overwrite a savegame just in case I do something wrong and have to use an earlier savegame - which wouldn't exist anymore if I overwrite it. A game that was pure luxury as far as slots for savegames were concerned was GK3 - I played the game 3 times, saved a lot (especially during the 2nd half of the game) and never had to overwrite a savegame. Not once.
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