| 22 DEC 2008 at 4:13am |
MushmeloIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 2
Joined: 22 DEC 2008
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Andromus (21 DEC 2008 1:44am)
To my mind, at least, there's something of a difference. Syberia at least had some resolution in Kate meeting up with Hans, which was her main goal for that part of the story. I didn't mind seeing the story continued in another game as a result. A Vampyre Story just stops off without resolving anything half as satisfying as that.
I just finished playing Vampyre Story and was also a bit surprised by how abrupt the ending was. I felt like it could have ended it better just by changing it a little bit, as there was a bit of resolution in having Mona accept that she's a vampire, and collecting everything she needs for her new (free) lifestyle. Instead of Shrowdy possessing the fortune teller (who has apparently completely changed her mind about what Mona should do without Mona questioning it!), couldn't they have Mona start off on her journey to Paris and show Shrowdy fly by ominously? Maybe that's a bit cliche, but it wouldn't have felt so slap-dash.
I still enjoyed playing the game, though I felt like my compulsive walkthrough-checking was more justified than usual considering some of the weirder things I was supposed to notice. (Getting out of the gravedigger's office felt like a lot of completely random actions. Also, that was a chimney on the side of the dress shop?) Having said that, I felt pretty proud of myself for solving the beaker puzzle without help.
The game also managed to amuse me more than I thought it would. I'd never played a LucasArts adventure--my adventure-loving comes from King's Quest, Quest for Glory, Laura Bow, and Gabriel Knight--and I usually don't laugh at jokes in general. I also thought Mona was the cutest thing ever. Unlike Lucien21, I thought her pronunciation of the word "Froderick" was adorable! As for the graphics, while I felt the cinematics could have used some work, I thought the handpainted backgrounds combined with 3D were beautiful. I don't know why, but I feel that game figures look best in 3D, while I find handpainted scenery more beautiful, so this was a good combination for me.
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| 30 DEC 2008 at 1:53pm |
avatar_58Private Detective
Posts : 403
Joined: 27 MAY 2008
Status : Online | So I finished it this morning. On the whole it was a pretty fun game. It was quite the game it was hyped to be, but it's hard to hold that against it.
The graphics were excellent, especially seeing an adventure game that bothered to show seperate animations for actions and grabbing items. Nothing worse than playing a modern adventure and seeing the character mime everything. Mona actually picked up objects and used them differently, not just a canned 'lift arm' thing that seems to be common with todays adventures.
Voice acting wasn't the best but it wasn't terrible either. The complaints here would be more aimed at the writing. Mona's voice is a little high at first, but you get used to it since it suits her character's personality. The characters themselves are memorable for the most part, especially Froderick. The humour I found was hit and miss, but once you realized this wasn't going to be lucasarts grade it doesn't matter. The game doesn't take itself seriously which is what you want in a cartoon adventure.
The puzzles were mostly pretty logical save for one longer sequence at the beginning of the game. It involves some logic that gets lost along the way if you 'accidentally' solve a portion of it (like I did). I also ended up needing a hint because the inventory system had a bit of an issue with one particular puzzle.
Spoiler AlertHow was I supposed to know I needed green snot to warm the stove if the snot did NOT show up previously in my inventory? I noticed it left the beaker but I assumed this was some sort of bug. A simple "I might need this beaker" would have helped me realize it was useful, as well as showing the green snot earlier in my inventory rather than waiting for the colours to change.
I kind of wish they'd finished it as one game though, it didn't really 'end'. I would hope the next one isn't too far off. Thing is they probably should have put 'Vol 1' on the box to indicate it's a multi-part game in case thats a deal breaker for some folks.
Anyway overall I liked it and recommend it. It's nice to play games with actual personality compared to the more 'generic' feeling adventures of late like Tunguska or Overclocked.
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| 7 JAN 2009 at 1:49am |
Goddess of All Things MagicalSchattenjger
Posts : 1565
Joined: 27 MAY 2003
Status : Online | Well, I just got The Vampyre Story for Xmas from one of my sons, bless his heart. I have just started it and I love, love, love it! Wow! It hails back to the day of excellent, colorful graphics and intriguing charcters with thousands of expressions. Great opening to the game too with a big musical score-my speakers were vibrating.
I'm so happy these guys have come together again to deliver this game to us. May there be many more from Autumn Moon!
Can't wait to play on!!!
&&&&Listening to XM Radio Starbucks Cafe Channel 45&&[IMG]http://img227.echo.cx/img227/8458/dancelikenooneiswatching6ld.png[/IMG]
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| 14 JAN 2009 at 6:20pm |
alkis21Schattenjger
Posts : 2112
Joined: 23 OCT 2002
Location: GR
Status : Offline | I just finished the game (and reading this thread). I'm surprised by how many people entered this thread without having completed it yet despite the spoilers warning in the title. So I'm going to warn them once more: If you haven't completed it, STOP READING NOW as I'm going to include spoilers in my comments without a tag (the title should be enough).
Unlike Andromus, I [highlight]absolutely adored[/highlight] A Vampyre Story. It had everything I want to in a game and as soon as I decide to update my Top 50, it will be the first commercial game in more than 10 years that enters my 20 favorite titles of all time (#16). If it weren't for the beaker puzzle and the bugs and if I agreed with having grades in reviews, I'd say it was an A+ game (I'd still give it an A).
The cartoon graphics were very beautiful, the music & sound engineering very appropriate for the theme (my favorite score was the one used in the credits), the interface was perfect, the puzzles inventory based and of adequate difficulty (something I'm missing in most recent games), the voice acting of most characters was good and the humor... I haven't laughed out loud so many times since Discworld Noir!
In a modern world where many adventure game developers don't even bother to provide gamers with an Examine icon, A Vampyre Story not only lets you examine, use, talk to or "fly to" hundreds of hotspots, the variety of the responses is amazing! The reason it took me so long to finish it was because I wanted to hear them all, so I made sure to use all icons (and Froderick!) on all hotspots upon entering a screen, leaving the actions that could potentially solve a puzzle last. No "this doesn't work" comebacks; even ridiculous actions such as "Talk to oven" has hilarious responses. By the way, that wasn't a random example. Remember to talk to the oven in the kitchen! And try to take a baton! Basically, try anything! Come on, this game has "Santa was here" graffiti on the inside of chimney and a tombstone with a "Here I sit, broken hearted..." inscription! It's priceless!
Froderick adds so much to the game, he's very reminiscent of Arthur of the Journeyman Project series. He completes Mona beautifully as he is smart and has "been around", while she is somewhat naive and ignorant in many ways. I love the way they continuously tease each other. I fell in love with Mona, she's the most feminine character I've ever seen in a game, the way she moves is so elegant. I simply melt when she walks, looks at her nails, claps... And when she bites I want to take a razor and slice myself to pieces until I have only two dimensions so that I enter her world and become her eternal mortal servant, tuck her into her coffin and all.
The puzzles were a pleasant surprise for me, some of them gave me much trouble. I got stuck for a long time in the castle because I didn't think about using the nuts in the nut cracking device to get a lubricant, and even more time in the village because it didn't occur to me to use the blanket to warm up the bucket. But both of these puzzles made sense in the AVS world so I blame myself. I *LOVED* getting rid of the gargoyle by curing Edgar Raven's constipation [smiley=laughing.gif], scumming the ghost into believing the sun was up and fooling the constable by dressing Froderick up as a little girl! Most of the puzzles were funny or smart or both and apart from the beakers none of them felt out of place.
I'm so happy I finally found a game I loved after so many years. Can't wait for AVS2!
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| 14 JAN 2009 at 7:12pm |
loobilooPrivate Detective
Posts : 598
Joined: 3 APR 2008
Location: UK
Status : Offline | I really loved the game too but can't disagree with criticisms about the bugs & it finishing in 'mid- flow'.
One of the more subtle features of the game, which hasn't been mentioned, was when using the space bar to travel to a place faster - Mona suddenly disappeared from one place & then reappeared in another as you might expect a vampire to do - I thought the effect was excellent!
I can't agree with the comments that Syberia falls into the same category of 'half-finished games.
Kate Walker's 'quest' was to track down the owner of a toy factory which she eventually did & so therefore the game was completed! Wanting more story to continue beyond that is not the same as only getting half of it to start with!
In Vampyre Story Mona wants to get to Paris to be an opera singer & the game ends with quite a long way to go before she achieves that - if she does at all! The game should have been marketed as Vampyre Story Part 1 - okay I would not have been so keen to buy it as there are no guarantees with AGs that the rest of it is ever going to turn up! In my mind this should have been thought about in the first place & designed so that the game was 'whole' as far as it got!
As to The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, it was highly publicised that all three films were shot back-to-back so it was a sure bet that the series would be completed!
[smiley=smiley.gif]
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| 17 JAN 2009 at 4:12pm |
Goddess of All Things MagicalSchattenjger
Posts : 1565
Joined: 27 MAY 2003
Status : Online | Okay Alkis, I finished The Vampyre Story. And like you, I absolutely adored it. It was all that I had been waiting and waiting and waiting for. It is a testament to our old school adventure games-beautiful artwork dripping with luscious color. I enjoyed the bat tranformations to access areas and do tasks, and all of the puzzles. Already wish Chapter 2 was in the works.
I don't think we will be forgetting the names of Mona, Frodrick, and Shrowdy...
&&&&Listening to XM Radio Starbucks Cafe Channel 45&&[IMG]http://img227.echo.cx/img227/8458/dancelikenooneiswatching6ld.png[/IMG]
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| 18 JAN 2009 at 11:06pm |
Erwin_BrPrivate Detective
Posts : 455
Joined: 7 NOV 2002
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Spiritogre (20 DEC 2008 2:52pm)
Yeah well you know I'm that graphics wh*re and won't pay much for games with outdated technology simply because there are millions of old games who cost less or a for free who have the same technology and are as good. So it seems to me like a waste to spend much money on such a game. I could buy a better game with current technology or a few old games who are similar to the new game...
Technology doesn't say anything. It's about what you DO with it, as an artist. I could let my 5 year old nephew create graphics in the highest resolution with the maximum amount of polygons possible. Does that create better artwork than Bill Tiller's? Of course not! The amount of pixels or polygons doesn't say anything about the quality of the artwork.
[url=http://justadventure.com/IndependentDevs/BadTiming/index.html][img]http://erbserv.emptyhouse.net/public/images/bt-forumbanner.gif[/img][/url]
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| 20 JAN 2009 at 12:46am |
DangerousDaveIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 54
Joined: 31 MAR 2008
Status : Online | was kinda put off by the less than stellar reviews..(PCG gave it 47%) but I think I will pick this up at some point..
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| 25 JAN 2009 at 12:09pm |
| Deleted User | I loved everything about the game, except for a few places where the off-colour jokes came across as really infantile, and although mostly funny, eventually I found myself skipping through the dialogue with the handy space bar.
The puzzles were nice, I personally didn't come across any dead ends. Puzzlewise, my only bitch would be the sugar into the diet drink.
I have no idea whatsoever what is meant by "bugs and technical glitches" as I did not (unpatched) experience any.
Graphics are lovely, music is nice. Her voice did sometimes grate, but not all the time.
My biggest complaint would be the "unfinished" ending. I find it a bit of an unfair gimmick to leave it on such a cliffhanger to sell the next installment; and it does make me feel as if I paid full price for an unfinished game.
Still, for the enjoyment I had out of it, I don't regret that I got the game.
EDIT: Oh, and my other gripe was that she "remembered" some stuff and then had to go all the way back to pick the stupid item up, when she could simply have put it in her inventory initially, and over and done with.
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| 26 JAN 2009 at 3:08am |
DarleenIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 54
Joined: 19 SEP 2007
Status : Online | I just adored this game....
The acting & voices were superb...Mona is a REAL Gem...
Froderick is a GAS !!!
What a game.... Very Good Indeed..
///*_*\\\
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| 27 JAN 2009 at 12:25am |
DangerousDaveIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 54
Joined: 31 MAR 2008
Status : Online | I'm struggling to enjoy this..I've got to the bit where I got the collar from the cat. It's just soooo slow paced and almost boring. And Frodrick is more annoying than jarjar binks. Hate how he insists on saying utterly unfunny remarks at every single little thing you do. Doesnt he ever shut up! cannot stand the guy. Monkey Island was funny, this aint.
Still, I will probs stick with it for a bit longer.
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| 15 FEB 2009 at 9:08am |
ThrenjenIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 11
Joined: 14 FEB 2009
Status : Online | My hubby and I just finished this game, and we really enjoyed it. Somehow though the second half took it down from a five star to maybe... a three. We ran into the stadium bug and sat there a long time trying to solve it until we realized it was broken. I installed the patch at some point when we were playing in town, but clearly we had already somehow instigated the line leading into the stadium, and managed to get in without the music.
It also dropped in rating because it did end so abruptly. Although as a whole the game wasn't ridiculously short or anything, so I guess I shouldn't have been THAT disappointed.
My husband and I were very excited to be able to make it to the end of a game without using a walkthrough, but unfortunately we got stuck trying to get the frozen key. We used the bucket of stew and it froze and somehow we were just too stupid to do the obvious adventure game thing and try clicking all of our inventory items on it... le sigh. After that we also had to cheat when we got stuck in the stadium, which was pretty annoying since it wasn't really our fault =/
Still a fun game. Very humorous. I loved the insult slinging fight, it went on for several minutes without repeating! I'll definitely be playing the sequel.
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| 15 FEB 2009 at 10:05am |
| Deleted User | Heh. I also enjoyed the insults. I sat back and let it play through right until it started at the first lot of insults again. What an amazing list of insults!
What happens with the stadium bug?
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| 15 FEB 2009 at 10:25pm |
ThrenjenIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 11
Joined: 14 FEB 2009
Status : Online | Somehow you can instigate the chain to get into the stadium and play the song for the boys, without even knowing about the song.
We spoke with the prostitute and had a new line of dialogue about getting into the stadium to play the song. This was before we had gotten into the dress shop at all! So neither of us had any clue what we were talking about. We then opened the door to the dress shop, but didn't get IN to the dress shop, all we did was get the baby dress which you can do from the door. Then we used the baby dress on the constable, and got into the stadium, without any knowledge of the song or that item in our inventory. And when you're in the stadium, it doesn't let you back out again until you complete the song! She just repeatedly says she won't leave til she hears the song. So it's a dead end.
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| 18 FEB 2009 at 6:23pm |
JKingSchattenjger
Posts : 2350
Joined: 4 MAY 2008
Location: 0
Status : Offline | I've now finished this game myself, and while my opinion isn't particularly dissimilar from what has been mentioned above, I feel I should write about it regardless.
From an artistic standpoint, the game is great. The backgrounds and characters are brightly dark; the voice acting, though sometimes irritating, is mostly amusing and nearly always well-delivered; the interface, in the same vein as SCUMM v7, is intuitive; the humour, while indeed sometimes infantile, is nevertheless light and complimentary of the game's style.
I sympathise with those whom couldn't stand Mona, and as a francophone myself I found her exaggerated accent a little too much. Still, her naïvetée is adorable, and I must admit that the banter between her and Froderick is convincing. What's more, I have no glaring complaints about the acting for the minor characters, save perhaps the gypsy, who was at times quite difficult to make out, I must say. The iron maiden and the gargoyle were, I think, standout examples of well-executed voice acting.
Puzzle-wise I would say that the game was sometimes obtuse, but not unfair. Playing together with my girlfriend, she and I were never stuck for very long and we had no need or inclination to consult a walkthrough. That said, I doubt I could have finished it on my own without taking considerably longer:
Spoiler AlertIn particular, the whole puzzle with the beakers was maddening. The beakers end up in your inventory, yet you cannot combine them with the coloured drinks from your inventory; it took me a while to realise you had to do it at the screen where they were left. Likewise, the sugar randomly isn't in your inventory, even though there is no good reason why it couldn't be.Nevertheless, the problems were varied, and their solutions mostly rewarding and sometimes quite funny. The combination lock really appealed to the Mystophile in me, too!
I agree the ending was abrupt, and more importantly unsatisfying. It would seem to me, judging from this game and Dreamfall before it, that cliffhangers aren't really suitable to interactive entertainment. When you play a game, you want to feel like you've accomplished something, and A Vampyre Story didn't give me much of a sense of accomplishment. Had the game been just a little longer, e.g. had we gone to see this mad doctor and (perhaps?) escaped from him at the end and get on the road to Paris, I would have felt satisfied. As Mushmelo suggested, to see Shrowdy chasing after Mona would have been fine, but to see your character walk into a trap as a reward to finishing the game is a slap in the face.
You can't kill someone in a studio.
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| 18 FEB 2009 at 6:44pm |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By JKing (18 FEB 2009 6:23pm)
I agree the ending was abrupt, and more importantly unsatisfying. It would seem to me, judging from this game and Dreamfall before it, that cliffhangers aren't really suitable to interactive entertainment. When you play a game, you want to feel like you've accomplished something, and A Vampyre Story didn't give me much of a sense of accomplishment. Had the game been just a little longer, e.g. had we gone to see this mad doctor and (perhaps?) escaped from him at the end and get on the road to Paris, I would have felt satisfied. As Mushmelo suggested, to see Shrowdy chasing after Mona would have been fine, [highlight]but to see your character walk into a trap as a reward to finishing the game is a slap in the face[/highlight].
Yes, it is exactly that, that made it feel to me like a cheap trap to buy the next game in the series.
Nice review, btw.
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| 18 FEB 2009 at 7:55pm |
Taurnil MithrandirJourneyman
Posts : 1093
Joined: 13 AUG 2006
Status : Online | I don't know but I'm still afraid to buy it. Is it true that in spite of the patch installment it has glitches and dead ends yet?
....set the controls for the heart of the sun....
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| 1 MAR 2009 at 4:40am |
Lady MedusaIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 1
Joined: 1 MAR 2009
Status : Online | After patching and fiddling and finally getting the game to work, I was enjoying it...until it crashed and I lost about an hour's worth of progress. Now, I know I should have been saving more often that I was, but still, losing all of that work just crushed my spirit, and I haven't returned to the game since.
I do want to replay it and finish it, though. Like I said, I was enjoying it until the crash. The graphics were lovely, and the characters were fun. I especially liked Froderick and the Iron Maiden.
There were some subtitle misspellings that annoyed me, and I HATED the whole "remembering" thing - such a waste of time with the animations back and forth between the object locations. The puzzles were challenging but not frustratingly obtuse.
Getting my doctorate in cold hard rockin' it.
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| 1 MAR 2009 at 7:29am |
Taurnil MithrandirJourneyman
Posts : 1093
Joined: 13 AUG 2006
Status : Online | A lot of crashes indeed. Really discouraging its purchase for me for the time being.
....set the controls for the heart of the sun....
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| 1 MAR 2009 at 7:36am |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By whitneygh (1 MAR 2009 4:40am)
After patching and fiddling and finally getting the game to work, I was enjoying it...until it crashed and I lost about an hour's worth of progress. Now, I know I should have been saving more often that I was, but still, losing all of that work just crushed my spirit, and I haven't returned to the game since.
I do want to replay it and finish it, though. Like I said, I was enjoying it until the crash. The graphics were lovely, and the characters were fun. I especially liked Froderick and the Iron Maiden.
There were some subtitle misspellings that annoyed me, and I HATED the whole "remembering" thing - such a waste of time with the animations back and forth between the object locations. The puzzles were challenging but not frustratingly obtuse.
Well, just a small suggestion: (besides: save often!) Now that you know what to do, you'll find you can flash through the part you have already done, by skipping trough the dialogues, and also the walking animations by double clicking on your character's destination.
"
Misspellings? Do you mean/English vs US spellings, or did you find more glaring typo's than that? I also hated the "remember" thing.
Interestingly, (despite all my Mass Effect woes) this game ran flawlessly for me from the word go, and I didn't even patch it... :-?
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