WendyDarling wrote:

I just finished Nearwood and I'm so glad I got it but so sad that it's over.  I think it was the prettiest game I ever played.  The gameplay and storyline weren't great but they were okay and that's all that was needed with all that gorgeous scenery.   I would suspect that the CE would be worth it just to get wallpapers and screensavers.   It did sound like there would be a sequel, though.  Was the bonus about the parents?

Wendy, I agree.  I also think that Nearwood was the prettiest game I've ever played.  I, on the other hand, loved the gameplay and storyline.   

But I don't know how much you would have liked the collectibles - because there were 111 of them!    They were cute little Snoop-Sees, some of which were very well hidden - eg. dressed up in little outfits and blended in with the background - and you never knew if there was only 1 in a scene or up to 4 (which I loved as it made it so much more interesting than just looking for the single one you knew was there in every scene).  And the collectibles were worth collecting as for every 3 you collected you got a page in their book, which told their history and why they were there in Nearwood and how all the statues got to be there, etc.  That was really interesting and I'm really glad I got the CE to read that as everything in the game made a lot more sense.   

The bonus chapter takes place 3 months after the end of the main game and is in all new scenes, is long, is of the same high quality, and deals with the Weather Tower.  At the end you battle the Ice Guardian in an M3 where you can die if you don't beat him in time and you have to restart!  It's definitely in my top 3 games of all time.

Bummer, I'm really disappointed with Botanicula: Earthbound.    Oh, the gameplay is the same as the first one and there's heaps to do in each scene and it's just as beautiful.  And the HOPs are fantastic like last time and you have to think, not just look.  I only played 2 but they were amazing.  The first one had HOPs within it and so much interaction!  The second one had a lot less to do but you had to remember what each suitcase had inside (once you'd managed to open them, which was different for each one) as not all the objects you had to find were shown down the bottom and, as each item was found, a new one showed up and you had to remember where you'd seen it.

So the gameplay was fine - although I don't like the guy's voice this time around; I loved the original Scottish (?) accent until they changed it to an American (?) accent as so many people complained.    And the HOPs are great!  I did a couple of the puzzles and they seem to be a mix of insultingly easy and gotta think ones.  However, the collectibles - the same as last time - are now huge and just sitting out in the open where you can't help but stumble over them.    One of the things I loved about the first Botanica, and one of the reasons I got the CE, was the really well hidden collectibles.  But alas, I think too many people complained that they were too hard to see so, once again, it's been dumbed down for the masses (imho).

Achievements are just the usual gameplay ones and not using hints, etc. - nothing unusual or fun.  And the only other extras were the usual - bonus chapter, SG, wallpapers, screensavers, cutscenes and music.  So nothing exceptional there, either.  And you don't need the SG as the Hint's more than enough - you click on it, it shows a picture of where you need to go and names it, then you click on OK and it takes you straight there, whereupon you click on Hint again and it'll show you where you need to look.  There's also a jump map that shows not only where actions can be done but also where collectibles are to be found (not that you'll need to be told).

So it looks like I'll be getting it as an SE and not CE, unless I find out that the bonus chapter is really long and fantastic.  But I'll definitely be getting it, even if just for the HOPs! 

I'm enjoying Nightmare Cinema, maybe because of the morphs and collectibles, because there's not a lot of story going on yet.  There seems to be a morph in every scene, including HOs, so I just stop and stare when I enter something new.  It says I've played for 2 hrs 47 min and I'm 48% done but the story hasn't progressed since the first 15 minutes.  There's a baddie out there draining souls. 

I have finished Dark Angels- Masquerade ofShadows (many thanks to you, stuesue!)
I loved it!!! The graphics were wonderful and sharp, the music (oh, I really loved the music ) and the background noices were great. Much variety in the puzzles and HO-scenes .
Good length and story.

Some annoying glitches though: I had to restart the game once because it hang up and when I started it again all my progress was gone. Sometimes when I started there was a message about no sound found, then I had to quit and restart and then it functioned well.
But the most annoying thing was near the end there was a put things back HO-scene and I had one thing left and went out of the scene and when I got the back the object was gone!
Restart again!!!  Lucky I really liked it that much.

But over all a really fun game and highly recommended!!!

Hey, Anki, congrats!    I'd been wondering if you got it after you'd demoed it on GameHouse.  Dark Angels was a great game, wasn't it?  And at a very reasonable price.    I'm sorry you had so many problems playing it, though.    I can't remember having a single problem.

Did you see my post about the game that's replaced it on sale for the same price on the same site this week?  The Fog, another great game and one I'm playing atm!  If you haven't got it already you should check it out (it's available to demo on both BFG and GameHouse).