I finished the main part of Phantasmat: The Dread of Oakville Collector's Edition.  Still have the bonus chapter and extras to play.

I thought the game was rather easy.  Compared to the previous Phantasmat that Eipix did, this one felt creepier, yet the storyline wasn't as good.  And the ending left me confused.  I couldn't remember even meeting one of the characters that I had rescued/saved/whatever from the evil forces.

One of the strong points of the very first Phantasmat was the development of the three characters and the way their backstory was slowly revealed, and the way you learn little by little just what the heck happened in the past and how long it takes before it's apparent that these three charcaters are already dead.  And each of the characters were memorable.

It seems nowadays that developers are catering to those who don't want to read taxt or listen to dialogue or take too long to finish a puzzle.  So there's not much story and the characters are cardboard and one-dimensional and tend to blend together.  It doesn't help that developers are using employees as the basis for the artwork for their characters, it just contributes to that dejâ vu feeling.

 

lilyr wrote:

Why do DEVs keep passing series around?  Why can't they keep with a series? (especially if they've done a good job with prior episodes).

With Phantasmat, the original programmers formed  new company and now make different types of games.  ERS made the next one, and I thought it was just a watered down verseion of the story from the first one, and it didn't really have a creepy vibe at all.  I was glad to hear that ERS was no longer doing them. 

Eipex's efforts aren't bad.  Their first one did have a decent story and a neat twist at the end, but it wasn't spooky/creepy.  This last one did have a spoky/creepy feel to it, but you didn't spend enough time with any of teh characters to know or care about them.  And I thought the 'bad guy' bordered on ludicrous.
 

Games I've finished since my last list on 09/24

Brink of Conciousness: Dorian Gray Syndrome CE (9/24) ( A++)
PuppetShow: Souls of the Innocent (9/27)  (B+)
Awakening: The Dreamless Castle (10/02)  (A-)
Strange Cases: The Lighthouse Mystery (10/05)  (C)
True Fear: Forsaken Souls CE (10/11)  (A+)
Magic Encyclopedia: Moon Light (10/17)  (C)
Committed: Mystery at Shady Pines (10/20)  (B)
Elixir of Immortality (10/23)  (B)
Fear for Sale: Mystery of McInroy Manor (10/26)  (B-)
Dark Tales: Edgar Allan Poe's Murders in the Rue Morge (10/31)  (B)
Antique Road Trip USA (10/31/15)  (B-)

Anyone getting any games in the BOGO?  I'm going to wait until tomorrow and hope it's a BPM and the code still works.  If neither of those happen, will just get them on Wednesday, since stusue posted it was a 65% off sale. 

I'm even for October.  I bought one game and played it.  I played several more games but they were games I'd played before so I don't count them.

Oscar, you have to look at the main BFG page, not the PC page, to find out about Bonus Punch days.  Don't know why they don't advertise it on every page.
I just used the "Fright" code and got the CEs of the two TMs that came out, Weather Lord and Incredible Dracula.  When I play a HOPA I'm usually tired of the game by the end of the SE part, with a TM I always want to play more, so I figured these would be of more value to me.  I have one more GCC left, I don't know if I want to buy another one or two and save my CS coupons or just use them and not spend any more money.  I'll have to go see which SEs I want and what it adds up to.