...for our God hath returned.

Wipe yourself down, then go buy a copy. $12!

...for our God hath returned.

Wipe yourself down, then go buy a copy. $12!

Buy it from GOG. It's DRM free.

P.S. with a swarm of retro and remastered adventure games recently, I could easily write a huge post about this topic and why if you care about adventure games you should be concerned. Or would that make Korny cranky?

P.S. with a swarm of retro and remastered adventure games recently, I could easily write a huge post about this topic and why if you care about adventure games you should be concerned. Or would that make Korny cranky?

I'd actually like to read that. I don't give a shit about adventure games as I never played them growing up, but I find them interesting.

Unless you really have never played Full Throttle (and don't want to download the adandonware version and run it in SCUMMVM), I'd suggest trying Kathy Rain instead. The main character is a biker chick after all. It's about as easy as Full throttle, but the story is far better and more complex. Plus, it hasn't made any money yet and could use the support. It was really worth the money.

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Or would that make Korny cranky?

Do eeet!

Unless you really have never played Full Throttle (and don't want to download the adandonware version and run it in SCUMMVM)

Never heard of any of that, although I think I've seen the SCUMM acronym once or twice. But in my case, I only played it twice before, never beat it. The first time I got it was in a bundle disc--I remember because it had some Star Wars game that I wasn't remotely interested in, but my former best friend loved it. Anyway, when I installed it on my computer, there was video, but no sound. No matter what I tried, nothing happened. So I had to put subtitles on and use my imagination. On his computer, it was the opposite; no video, but the audio was blasting nice and sexy!

(Oh, and before anyone tells me what I could've/should've done installation or troubleshooting wise, let me remind you all that I was seven at the time. It was a miracle I was inside playing computer games back then.)

One day my friend invites me to his parent's work office with over 75 computers(think old school Dilbert-esque uniformity—all that dial-up!) and decided to try it out there. On computer 29, we finally got a blue-sky LucasArts logo and a beast of a revving motorcycle engine. We played all the way up to Crowley's murder, but then we had to leave. And I forgot the damn thing in Computer 29.

sigh...at least someone else got a piece of the glory.

FF twenty-x years, and I'm enjoying the most rockin' freaking game ever, and one of its documentaries put two and two together--and I had a fangasm! Expedited shipping later, I tried it on this hunk o' junk I've got now. As you can guess, it was too advanced for it. Not even Windows 8 Compat Mode. So technically, I still haven't finished it! Played until 4 this morning getting to the Mink Farm. So yeah, that's one reason I was so excited to see this come back--I can finally play it now!

I'd suggest trying Kathy Rain instead too. The main character is a biker chick after all. It's about as easy as Full throttle, but the story is far better and more complex. Plus, it hasn't made any money yet and could use the support. It was really worth the money.

FTFY. Don't see any reason why we can't have both. ;-) But I'll check it out! Thanks for the suggestion.

Unless you really have never played Full Throttle (and don't want to download the adandonware version and run it in SCUMMVM)

Never heard of any of that, although I think I've seen the SCUMM acronym once or twice. But in my case, I only played it twice before, never beat it. The first time I got it was in a bundle disc--I remember because it had some Star Wars game that I wasn't remotely interested in, but my former best friend loved it. Anyway, when I installed it on my computer, there was video, but no sound. No matter what I tried, nothing happened. So I had to put subtitles on and use my imagination. On his computer, it was the opposite; no video, but the audio was blasting nice and sexy!

(Oh, and before anyone tells me what I could've/should've done installation or troubleshooting wise, let me remind you all that I was seven at the time. It was a miracle I was inside playing computer games back then.)

One day my friend invites me to his parent's work office with over 75 computers(think old school Dilbert-esque uniformity—all that dial-up!) and decided to try it out there. On computer 29, we finally got a blue-sky LucasArts logo and a beast of a revving motorcycle engine. We played all the way up to Crowley's murder, but then we had to leave. And I forgot the damn thing in Computer 29.

sigh...at least someone else got a piece of the glory.

FF twenty-x years, and I'm enjoying the most rockin' freaking game ever, and one of its documentaries put two and two together--and I had a fangasm! Expedited shipping later, I tried it on this hunk o' junk I've got now. As you can guess, it was too advanced for it. Not even Windows 8 Compat Mode. So technically, I still haven't finished it! Played until 4 this morning getting to the Mink Farm. So yeah, that's one reason I was so excited to see this come back--I can finally play it now!

I'd suggest trying Kathy Rain instead too. The main character is a biker chick after all. It's about as easy as Full throttle, but the story is far better and more complex. Plus, it hasn't made any money yet and could use the support. It was really worth the money.

FTFY. Don't see any reason why we can't have both. ;-) But I'll check it out! Thanks for the suggestion.

I mean, you can! Don't pass up Full Throttle, but also don't pass up the NEW adventure games out there :-)

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I mean, you can! Don't pass up Full Throttle, but also don't pass up the NEW adventure games out there :-)

What do you think about Thimbleweed Park? Again, I've never played any adventure games, and I'm not quite sure I want to, but the tone of Thimbleweed Park makes me interested.

I mean, you can! Don't pass up Full Throttle, but also don't pass up the NEW adventure games out there :-)

What do you think about Thimbleweed Park?, and I'm not quite sure I want to, but the tone of Thimbleweed Park makes me interested.

Long review short:

-Thematizes the worst retro adventure game conventions rather than moving past them.
-Goes overboard on the references, and the writing is trying too hard.
-Wacky post modern ending which is not really that clever and instead just abandons the story.
-Character switching system and co-operative puzzles make no sense in the game world.
-Mixes and matches retro elements and modern improvements in a hypocritical (or just misguided if you are charitable) way.
-A cool world and setup which is somewhat fun to explore
-Good voice acting

Again, I've never played any adventure games

If you have played Heavy Rain, Beyond Two Souls, Gone Home, Sherlock Holmes Crime and Punishments, Life is Strange, or Until Dawn, then you have played an adventure game. The genre is awesome, but is suffering the most from developers who refuse to innovate and bring it forward. I guess a post about that is coming soon.

-Thematizes the worst retro adventure game conventions rather than moving past them.

Care to explain that? We talking about pixel hunting and stupid item combinations for puzzle solutions or something else?

If you have played Heavy Rain, Beyond Two Souls, Gone Home, Sherlock Holmes Crime and Punishments, Life is Strange, or Until Dawn, then you have played an adventure game. The genre is awesome, but is suffering the most from developers who refuse to innovate and bring it forward. I guess a post about that is coming soon.

I guess I hadn't really thought about that. I do love Life is Strange and Until Dawn, and I suppose Tales from the Borderlands touches some of that stuff too. I just never played the old-school style adventure games that everyone seems to love.

I did download the demo for Kathy Rain and am enjoying it enough that I'll probably make the purchase, so there's that.

While you're reviewing games, any update on Dishonored?

While you're reviewing games, any update on Dishonored?

It's literally next on my list, but I haven't had the time to play it yet. I cheated a bit by playing thimbleweed park first, but only because Dishonored seems like a much longer game. Thimbleweed took me 10 hrs 16 mins according to the final save.

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-Thematizes the worst retro adventure game conventions rather than moving past them.

Care to explain that? We talking about pixel hunting and stupid item combinations for puzzle solutions or something else?

To fully explain that would get into spoiler territory, but the non spoiler version is essentially that they joke and wink about things like you mentioned, yet the game is full of them and no attempt is made to make it better or less frustrating by eliminating these outdated design decisions.

In fact, there's a blog post about how Ron Gilbert considers editing the config file to reveal hotspots on a key press 'cheating'. Meanwhile, every modern point and click lets you do this out of the box because that simply makes these games better.

It's like the Simpsons hit and Run making a joke about colect-a-thons being shitty, all the while actually being a shitty colect-a-thon. Funny, but that doesn't change the fact that you are still making your players do this thing you think is so shitty.

ENDING SPOILERS

You are playing a game within a game, which the characters become aware of by noticing all these little adventure game conventions and how they don't make sense.

-Thematizes the worst retro adventure game conventions rather than moving past them.

Care to explain that? We talking about pixel hunting and stupid item combinations for puzzle solutions or something else?

To fully explain that would get into spoiler territory, but the non spoiler version is essentially that they joke and wink about things like you mentioned, yet the game is full of them and no attempt is made to make it better or less frustrating by eliminating these outdated design decisions.

In fact, there's a blog post about how Ron Gilbert considers editing the config file to reveal hotspots on a key press 'cheating'. Meanwhile, every modern point and click lets you do this out of the box because that simply makes these games better.

It's like the Simpsons hit and Run making a joke about colect-a-thons being shitty, all the while actually being a shitty colect-a-thon. Funny, but that doesn't change the fact that you are still making your players do this thing you think is so shitty.

ENDING SPOILERS

You are playing a game within a game, which the characters become aware of by noticing all these little adventure game conventions and how they don't make sense.

Man, that sucks. I'm really enjoying Kathy Rain quite a bit, and I suspect that now I've had my taste of point and click adventures that I'll want some more. Thimbleweed Park looked neat on atmosphere alone, but that resolution sounds dumb.

Man, that sucks. I'm really enjoying Kathy Rain quite a bit, and I suspect that now I've had my taste of point and click adventures that I'll want some more.

If you like Kathy Rain and point and click, then anything from Wadjeteye would suit you. They are created in the same program (adventure game studio), and the voices for Kathy Rain were even directed by Dave Gilbert, who owns Wadjeteye. The following are pretty similar in tone and structure:

-Genini Rue
-Blackwell Series
-Resonance
-Shardlight
-Technobabylon

Similar games from other companies with a bit more humor, but still mostly serious:

-Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
-Broken Sword 1, 2, and 5
-Beneath a Steel Sky
-The Dig
-Dreamfall
-Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
-Blade Runner
-Syberia
-Memoria
-A New Beginning
-Full Throttle
-Runaway: Road Adventure
-Silence
-Kyrandia Series

And of course the comedic ones:

-Day of the Tentacle
-King's Quest series
-Sam and Max Hit the Road
-The Next Big Thing
-Deponia
-Money Island Series
-Flight of the Amazon Queen
-Simon the Sorcerer

Too many to list, but try some of the Wadjeteye ones first and move on from there if you keep liking them.

Wow, that's quite a list. Thanks! I'll definitely check some of those out.

I've already got a headache from the trailer. :(

I've already got a headache from the trailer. :(

That is not the original game music. Either they used something else for the trailer, or they changed the music for the remaster.

If this isn't your jam,

then the game isn't for you. It is part of the whole aesthetic.

If this isn't your jam,

then the game isn't for you. It is part of the whole aesthetic.

Yeah, I know. I was just being a cranky old man. ;) (It's not my jam. I didn't ever play the original game because it's not my jam. ;) )

(It's not my jam. I didn't ever play the original game because it's not my jam. ;) )

:-(

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Wow. I didn't expect that to get deep. Beautiful quote.

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gotthold_Ephraim_Lessing

"This player investment shit has got to stop" - Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

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I'm buying you a crooked little wooden cane. The one you have to bend all the way over to use.

"You lil' idjit kids turn down that coldsarndit devil rock music rassum-frassum!!"

I suspect that I never got into Full Throttle for the same reason as Claude. I think I have good taste in music (I can name a dozen bands that do the Gone Jackals better than the Gone Jackals). I'm sure it's a good game, and the music is significant in that an actual band performed it for a game at that time. Not to piss on anyone's childhood nostalgia, but musically it never was all that.

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I'm woefully inexperienced with console platformers and their expansion into 3-D space. That's reflected to this day in my jumping (in)ability.

Saw a great talk a while back that included some of the pioneers who did amazing things with 8-bit. I'm not immune to nostalgia either--especially for some of the music from Dark Castle and Prince of Persia.

I've always felt a little guilty about not getting into Full Throttle. It was praised as cutting edge, but the biker story with a rock soundtrack didn't appeal to me. Truth be told, I probably didn't have any hardware that would run it at that time. Never played any of the Monkey Island games either. I suck.

Besides, he has a point. Stuff's massively changed over the past 22 years. Every time I hear that "Increased Chances" Song I just sit there and go "What the hell is this!?"

I guess my computer was trying to warn me all those years ago by not installing the sound...

Full throttle was kind of weird in that it was advanced in terms of graphics, sound, and animation, however it was extremely easy and some of the puzzle design and scenario elements were weak. Consider that I was ten years old and finished it with no hints at all in three days. Other adventure games took considerably longer.

In that sense it has more in common with games like Snatcher which were functionally visual novels. The puzzles were more complicated, but only slightly so. It's almost essentially a pure story experience interrupted by a couple shitty puzzles. Not that it's bad, it's just different than other Lucasarts affairs.

I picked this up yesterday. Not too deep into it, but it's excellent so far. As someone with thoughts about the adventure genre and modern adventure games, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on it, if you've played it. My only real complaint is that it seems a bit on the easy side, but again, I'm not too far into it, so I'm hoping that changes at least a little.

And for a good idea of what the game actually is, Giant Bomb's Quick Look shows it off very well. It does spoil the first two puzzles, but I only watched the tutorial part, turned it off, and bought the game.

I'm really enjoying Kathy Rain quite a bit

The developer of Kathy Rain recently announced their next project:

http://www.whispersofamachine.com

Out in 2018.

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Awesome. I'll definitely play it.