| 29 OCT 2002 at 1:23am |
bleepnikPrivate Detective
Posts : 544
Joined: 13 OCT 2002
Location: US
Status : Offline | Part 1 of 3: Technical Overview
My system configuration:
Athlon 1800xp, 512mb ram
ATI Radeon 8500
Creative Labs Soundblaster Live! Value
WinXP Pro
Getting Morpheus to run on my computer was a bit of a challenge. Let's see...
Major points:
- Quicktime 3 setup starts automatically, after the game has finished installing itself. Since I had Quicktime 6 installed, I hit Cancel. (Yes yes, I've heard plenty about different versions of QT not playing nicely with each other, but well, I had to find out the hard way.) Of course, I quickly found out that I wasn't supposed to do that; the game wouldn't play. I then re-ran just the QT3 setup, and installed it to a different directory from the one in which I have QT6 installed. Morpheus didn't like that either. It only started without errors after I uninstalled QT6.
- When I finally got the game up and running, I almost immediately encountered both sound and video problems. I managed to watch the introduction to the game, but upon clicking on my very first zoomable spot (I am *too* allowed to make up words), my screen went all white (and no, it wasn't because there's ice everywhere -- which there is, by the way), and the zoomable spot appeared in patches as I clicked on areas of it. Very aesthetically unappealing, I must say. Given the high production value of the first few seconds of the game, I assumed I was not meant to see it this way; but I digress.
- My first attempt to resolve the matter involved going off to hunt for a patch. It exists, and will update the game to version 1.05, I believe. Unfortunately, it did nothing to solve my problem. on't forget, the sound was off doing its own thing as well, at this point. Basically, speech was completely unintelligible. Even I, who am rather adept at deciphering what is broadcasted on the PA system of a NYC subway station, could make nothing of it.
So, I thought I'd give the video a bit of a break, and deal with the sound. I tried my standard remedy: turn down hardware acceleration from Full to Basic in the dxdiag panel. oing so did a phenomenal amount of nothing at all.
- My second attempt was more successful; I left the hardware acceleration at Basic, and ran the game in Win95 compatibility mode (default settings, whatever they are.) Doing so worked wonders -- video and sound were both fixed.
Once I got the game running properly, by the way, I encountered no other problems. Not once did it freeze, crash to the desktop, or otherwise misbehave.
Minor points:
- No option given for a full installation.
- No options given for program group location and whether or not I wanted a desktop icon created.
Other random point:
- I had to set my colour depth to 8- or 16-bit before running Morpheus.
"Wait, it's not all bad" points:
- When I first launched Morpheus, I was given the option of having my resolution set to 640x480, 800x600, or leaving it unchanged. Nicer still was the option to never be asked that question again once I'd made my selection.
- Morpheus offers the player some nifty options to improve its performance:
- Transitions can be turned off. Should you choose to leave them on, you can still skip through them by simply hitting Escape. That key works for skipping cutscenes as well.
- You may choose between a small or large game window.
- High-resolution panoramas can be turned on/off.
OK, that takes care of installing and running the game. Moving right along, then, let's talk about the technical aspects of the rest of the game. Relax, I've only one point to make here. In my admittedly limited experience, when a game requires a cd other than the one currently in the drive, it prompts the player for it. Morpheus, however, rudely interrupted me routinely with an error message stating "No disk in drive," followed by the options "Try Again," "Cancel," and "Continue." Upon inserting disc 2 on the first of many such occasions, I clicked on "Try Again," since the appropriate disc was now in the drive. The game, apparently, disagreed with me. I then clicked on "Continue," at which point I finally got the prompt I should've initially gotten to insert disc 2. As if that behaviour weren't odd enough, it abruptly stopped presenting me with the error message half-way through the game, and continued from that point with only the "proper" prompt. Of course, that's the great thing about PC games, isn't it? Regardless of genre, getting them to run properly is always an adventure. (Pa-rum-pum *ching*!)
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| 29 OCT 2002 at 1:27am |
bleepnikPrivate Detective
Posts : 544
Joined: 13 OCT 2002
Location: US
Status : Offline | Part 2 of 3: Presentation
Interface. Morpheus is a point-n-click adventure, played from the first-person perspective. Your mouse is used for navigation and inventory control. Movement in Morpheus is like that in The 7th Guest; you move from one "node" to another, and are able to pan 360 degrees while standing at a node. Note that these nodes, like in T7G, exist on a pre-existing path. Free movement is not possible. This is a (very) minor irritation at times, because you occasionally have to take "the scenic route" to get from one point in a room to another.
Your cursor changes when some sort of action is possible; you get the usual magnifying lens to take a closer look at things, a hand to manipulate an object in some way, a microphone to listen to a narrative, and an arrow to indicate you can proceed in a particular direction. "Hotspots" are rather generous; this was a welcome change for the most part, and I never had to go on a pixel-hunt. I found it frustrating only when I was facing, for example, northwest - very obviously *not* north - and I'd see an arrow and click, only to be taken back the way from which I'd just come. One last note about navigation: the manual says to drag with your mouse to pan. In case it's not apparent (it wasn't to me), be sure to *click* and drag, or you'll go nowhere very quickly. As well, go easy on that drag. Go too fast, and you'll think you're actually on a ship, and sailing on very turbulent waters.
There is no inventory, per se. Should you encounter an object you need, you pick it up and your "default" cursor changes to that object. While this does make it apparent that you need to find where that object must be used, it doesn't give anything else away. Indeed, I didn't feel in the least spoon-fed by the game. Once you've used the object, your cursor returns to its default state. I haven't seen this mechanism used before; I liked it. Note that there are plenty of objects at which you can look more closely, you just can't pick them up and keep them. Take notes. They'll come in handy.
You can save whenever you want, which is great. Further, saving a game in Morpheus is like saving a file in any other application. You just choose the location, give it a name, and save. Each saved game is about 2K in size, so feel free to save as seldom or frequently as you like. Note that if you use your program shortcut to launch Morpheus, you will be prompted for disc 1 (I guess a new game automatically begins.) This can be annoying if you've got disc 2 or 3 in the drive, and know that you'll have to reinsert it in a moment anyway. To avoid this, just double-click your saved game file to launch the game instead of its shortcut (you know, like double-clicking a .doc file to launch MS Word.) After the initial splash screen, your game will continue from the point at which you last saved it.
Graphics.- Like T7G, Morpheus uses a combination of FMV and 3D that I thought worked very well. The worlds are beautiful; water and fire are rendered magnificently. Objects do have that overly polished, too clean look that's common in 3D graphics, but it is, after all, a brand new ship.
- The acting is not bad, but a bit on the melodramatic side, I thought.
Sound.- I loved it! OK, that's not very helpful. The music is creepy, atmospheric, suspenseful, and made the game nice 'n' scary. I only found it repetitive in one small - very small - part of the game.
- The voice-acting is OK. Some of the actors were better than others. The only thing that truly bugged me is that when letters are read to you, they are read at a snail's pace. I understand pausing for effect, but this went far beyond that. Some of those pauses would make William Shatner proud.
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| 29 OCT 2002 at 1:31am |
bleepnikPrivate Detective
Posts : 544
Joined: 13 OCT 2002
Location: US
Status : Offline | Part 3 of 3: Gameplay and Final Thoughts
"You begin your adventure as an Arctic Explorer, separated from your companions while trying to resolve the legacy of your father, who disappeared on the polar ice cap thirty years earlier. With nothing more than a cryptic mention of Herculania as your guide, you have become lost in an arctic blizzard. At the end of your physical limits, you lie unconscious, drifting between strange and foreboding dreams. A shadow appears out of the arctic mists... the ship Herculania. But does this seeming oasis mean salvation, or damnation?"
Your adventure, if you haven't already guessed, begins on the ship Herculania. Feel free to waggle that mouse around your screen; there are things to be seen where you least expect them. Don't forget to take notes.
Morpheus is the most difficult adventure I've played thus far, but I'm proud to say that I consulted a walkthrough less frequently than I have before. Looks like I might finally be awakening those adventure gaming cells! I found the puzzles to be quite logical for most of the game. Near its end, I felt the developers ran out of creative steam; the puzzles no longer made any sort of sense to me within the context of the game world, and I had to consult a walkthrough for an entire section.
I encountered none of the game elements dreaded by many of the adventurers I know: timed puzzles, arcade sequences, death, mazes, dead ends and slider puzzles (am I missing any?)
The game took me about 15 or so hours in two sessions to complete (the first of which was 12 hours long, when I'd only meant to play for about an hour before going to sleep.) It would've taken longer had I not been so impatient with the puzzles
Final Thoughts
Morpheus must be owned - or at least played - by every adventurer. Wait, no, OK, not every adventurer. You now know, if you didn't before, that the game contains a mystery, waiting for you to solve it. It is thrilling, scary, beautiful and challenging. If the subject matter appeals to you, playing Morpheus is a no-brainer.
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| 29 OCT 2002 at 3:39am |
mszvPrivate Detective
Posts : 751
Joined: 12 OCT 2002
Status : Online | Hi,
Morpheus is an older game. It came out in 1997 or 1998. In 1998, no games, as far as I know, had full installs. The spate of huge hard drives is very recent.
I like the game a lot, I'm playing it now. I think the visuals, while older, hold up fairly well. I was worried about how this older game would play on my new WinXP notebook (wanted to play it on that instead of my WinME desktop), but the install went well, and the game is playing fine. I am going to see if I can increase the screen size, thanks.
Morpheus is hard to find. Athough not impossibly difficult to find, like Celtica, it's not "in print". I had to order my copy from half.com, the part of ebay where you don't have to bid. If anyone has a copy, and they don't want it, they probably won't have a hard time finding someone to sell it to, or they can trade for other games.
Good review. Thanks.
Regards, mszv
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| 29 OCT 2002 at 3:49am |
bleepnikPrivate Detective
Posts : 544
Joined: 13 OCT 2002
Location: US
Status : Offline | Hey mszv, thanks for your additional thoughts and comments. Muchly appreciated
.gita
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| 29 OCT 2002 at 7:49am |
MichalNGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 7058
Joined: 14 SEP 2003
Status : Online | I like half.com. The prices are usually pretty competitive, you don't have to wait until the auction ends and there are no snipers Of course the selection isn't quite as wide as eBay proper. Then again there's still way more than I can consume
I forgot my sig.
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| 3 NOV 2002 at 7:18pm |
LagavulinPrivate Detective
Posts : 475
Joined: 21 OCT 2002
Status : Online |
I can not agree with you more!!!!!!!!!
MORPHEUS is one of the the best adv games I have ever played(and I have played lots). The puzzels are excellent, and the feeling when you play it is ........, well if you adv players out there havent played it yet, go out there on the net and search for it!!
P.S Thanks for the info on "running the game in Win XP" because I have bought the game again!
FOR THE MOMENT I AM PLAYING ON MY Win 7&&&&Recently Played&& ark Fall Lost Souls,Outcry,SH vs A Lupin,Tales of Monkey Island,Still Life 2,Sinking Island,Pandora Directive (RP),The Lost Crown
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| 3 NOV 2002 at 8:14pm |
bleepnikPrivate Detective
Posts : 544
Joined: 13 OCT 2002
Location: US
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Lagavulin (3 NOV 2002 7:18pm)
P.S Thanks for the info on "running the game in Win XP" because I have bought the game again!
You're most welcome, thanks for sharing your thoughts on the game! Note that there are people who've had no problems running the game on XP, so YMMV
.gita
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| 26 NOV 2002 at 11:59am |
LagavulinPrivate Detective
Posts : 475
Joined: 21 OCT 2002
Status : Online | ??? ???
justG(or anyone who can help me)!!!!!!!!PLEASE
(hunt for a patch. It exists, and will update the game to version 1.05, I believe.)
Where did you find the PATCH for Morpheus
I have been looking on the net without any luck.
I would be most greatfull!!!!!!!!
FOR THE MOMENT I AM PLAYING ON MY Win 7&&&&Recently Played&& ark Fall Lost Souls,Outcry,SH vs A Lupin,Tales of Monkey Island,Still Life 2,Sinking Island,Pandora Directive (RP),The Lost Crown
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| 26 NOV 2002 at 2:04pm |
bleepnikPrivate Detective
Posts : 544
Joined: 13 OCT 2002
Location: US
Status : Offline | Here ya go:
@ Tiscali Giochi
@ Ludus
It's the same file, just two different links in case you're not able to get through to one. Hope it works out for ya, drop me a line if you're not able to get it.
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| 26 NOV 2002 at 5:26pm |
LagavulinPrivate Detective
Posts : 475
Joined: 21 OCT 2002
Status : Online | and :'(
Thanks for your reply, but I am afraid the links did not work. At Ludus the download page was just blank, and the other gave me the answer "Your not allowed".
Any suggestions???
FOR THE MOMENT I AM PLAYING ON MY Win 7&&&&Recently Played&& ark Fall Lost Souls,Outcry,SH vs A Lupin,Tales of Monkey Island,Still Life 2,Sinking Island,Pandora Directive (RP),The Lost Crown
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