Yea stusue!  Good for you.  I did pick up four games myself. Thank you very much!

Fudge, It may well have been my frame of mind but it just didn't grab me and I have I have played all the others.

Now for the bad news ...  

If anyone's thinking of getting Queen's Quest 2: Stories of Forgotten Past, I only recommend the SE and definitely not the CE.  It has the most amazing graphics but, imho, the entire game doesn't live up to the exciting demo, and definitely not the bonus game and extras.

The bonus chapter is a totally separate story that takes place a year after the end of the main game (which ends conclusively) and, although it's of the same high quality as the main game, is only just over 30 mins long and definitely not worth it.  Blink and you'll miss it.

It's also a HOS game and not a MG game.  There are 25 HOSs with hardly any interaction, nothing even remotely like a progressive interactive HOS.  There are a few interactions like putting an arrowhead on an arrow but mostly the interactions are simply clicking on something to move it out of the way.  It starts with lots of adventuring and inventory puzzles but by the end of the main game it just seemed to be HOS after HOS after HOS and I was so bored with them.  And I'd forgotten that there's an alternate M2 game to play, which you can't play in extras, which I always find odd.  How difficult can it be to allow you to play it once the game's over, as it's already there?



Then came the super short BG, then the extras.  You collect puzzle pieces throughout the game but, when you get to extras and there's like a billboard there with all your puzzle pieces below, all you do is click on each piece and it jumps into the jigsaw.  You don't even get to do the jigsaw puzzle yourself!!!!



And you only get to replay 8 HOSs and 8 MGs!  I hate it when developers do that!  And almost all the extras are locked until you buy the game, so you have no idea how many of anything there are.



And the puzzle pieces aren't even challenging to find!  Some of them blend in quite well with the background but most are easy to spot.  And the 15 figurines you collect are even easier to see.  And there aren't any collectibles in the BG.



As you can probably tell, I was really disappointed with the game by the time I'd finished, which was really unfortunate as the main game is really good, especially the 3rd chapter, my favourite (which was, of course, the shortest!  LOL).  However, there were a couple of things I liked about the CE ... the figurines are mythical figures, eg. a phoenix, unicorn, etc, and you can read about them in the extras.  You have a little book with pictures and some info about them.



You  also get some info about all the characters, which I found interesting as well as informative.  And when I read about the character in the last chapter of the main game I had a light bulb moment and it made more sense.



When I got to the end of the demo it was      so I used my free coupon.

By the end of the MG it was down to        because too many boring HOSs.

Which is what I'd give the SE.

By the end of the BG it was down to        because BG too short for a CE.

After I discovered you didn't do the jigsaw yourself it was down to   

Then I read all the character BIOs and figurine info and it went back up to   


 

Last edited by stusue (September 22, 2016 4:03 am)

oscar66 wrote:

What did you get CE wise Stusue?  I'm trying to decide if I should take advantage of the sale or wait for a CE plus sale.

Whatever you do, don't get Queen's Quest 2: Stories of Forgotten Past as a CE!  

So, I got:

Haunted Hotel: Silent Waters CE
Grim Tales: Crimson Hollow CE
Mystery of the Ancients: Mud Water Creek CE
Reflections of Life: Call of the Ancestors CE

However, the only one I'd recommend without hesitation is the first one, Haunted Hotel.  That's the one I was going to play on Monday as soon as I'd bought it, and I'll be playing it tomorrow.  I liked it so much that I didn't even fill in all the info after the demo and didn't jot down a single note.  I just knew I wanted it so no notation was necessary! 



This is what I posted here as a mini review for Haunted Hotel: Silent Waters CE:

    -  LOVED the creepy atmosphere
    -  3 different collectibles - morphs, emblem parts, objects in music room
    -  Challenging without BBTs and contextual icon changes
    -  Eg. being stumped, clicking everywhere but nothing, nothing, so click on Hint ...
         -  who would've thought to shine the torch in the dark corner to trigger a HOP?!
         -  I'd clicked on that dark corner so many times but no zoom, nothing!  ** big grin **
    -  The only reason I didn't get it on Saturday was that I wanted the extra punch for my punchcard
    -  But I've just read that it's "disappointingly short", so now I'm not so sure
    -  I just wish I knew what mode they played it in as, without all the usual help, I found it really challenging
    -  But, playing without all the help usually makes a game really long!
    -  I've got a free game coupon so I'll check the reviews first thing tomorrow and then decide
    -  So, a review ... hopefully ... tomorrow arvo for those of you over the big pond

Well, I didn't play it, although I did buy it, because I was kinda busy choosing all those SEs on Monday.  I decided that I'd get it, regardless of the reviewers who said that it was short as playing with all the help turned off would make it much longer, and I really liked it!

The other 3 had been on my possible list and I was ambivalent about getting them but I decided to go ahead.  I can't remember why I wasn't sure about them and why I decided to get them but I could let you know tomorrow if you want to know, as I could check my demo notes.  I do remember that I loved the challenge of Grim Tales but I didn't like the graphics and didn't know if I could put up with the huge task notepad that fills the screen every single time you get a new task.  But I think you could turn off all the help and I think that other reviewers said that it was really long with a long bonus chapter and I did like the game, apart from those 2 things.  But it's really late and I'm too tired to look for my notes right now so I'll check when I get up in the morning.



The 2 CEs due out this week (the surprise Tuesday CE wasn't mentioned in BFG's sneak peek post on Monday) are:

Dark Parables: The Thief and the Tinderbox Collector's Edition
Nevertales: Hidden Doorway Collector's Edition

and either might be a possible contender for using the sale code GAMECLUB tomorrow, as who knows what this weekend's sale might be?



I absolutely adored the last Dark Parables and it's in my top 5 fav games of all time, probably in my top 3, so I'm really looking forward to that one!  You can turn ALL the help off!


 

lilyr wrote:

Thanks for the review of  QUEEN'S QUEST 2 stusue.  Based on other reviews I was all set to get the CE.  I still might based on you saying you get a book explaining about the statues you collect during the game.  I guess that's only in the CE?

Lily   

I can't imagine the figurine book would be in the SE as they're collectibles and I can't see there being any collectibles in the SE.  But I can give you all the figurine info and the character bios if you want, although I can't give you the pictures that go with them.



These are the extras in the CE, apart from the short bonus chapter (although I've read about much shorter ones!):

  8  wallpapers  -  absolutely amazingly beautiful! but they don't offer my fav
  6  concept art
  5  music -  grandiose orchestral  -  can save
  ?  cutscenes
  8  HOPs  -  25 in the game  -  they're ok but not all that interesting
  8  MGs  -  more than 8 in the game
  ?  character bios
15  achievements

Collectibles:

34  puzzle pieces  -  neither easy nor difficult  -  jigsaw done automatically
15  figurines of mythical figures  -  eg. phoenix, unicorn  -  you get info  -  easy

I read all the reviews, too, but I realised that all the great reviews were all after only having played the demo, and I would have given the game 6 stars after the demo!  I can't remember one fantastic review after anyone had finished the game.  Maybe there are some now.



How I feel about the game has been influenced by the short bonus chapter and not being able to actually do the jigsaw puzzle with the puzzle pieces you collect (which I don't understand and find stupid), as well as too many HOSs, which I didn't find all that interesting as the game progressed as there were so few interesting interactions and there seemed to be less and less variety. 

I wrote at the start of the game that the HOSs were " highly creative and great variety".  Then a bit further on I wrote, "very few interactions in the normal HOPs - ie. not those when you're doing something - all those objects not seen are just hiding behind something - so just click and it's uncovered - really miss progressive HOPs, even though these are all great - or put-back-in-the-scene HOPs".  Then right near the end of the main game I wrote, "as the game progresses there seems to be more and more HOPs and now, near the end of the MG, it just seems to be HOP and HOP after HOP without any sort of adventure or gameplay and I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to be doing!" 

I'd forgotten about all the fun and creative HOSs at the beginning!  That's because by the end of the MG they're all either straight list with some objects hidden behind something else, or silhouettes, both with maybe 1 morphing object.  There's an alternative M2 game if you want but I totally forgot about that and so didn't even check it out.  I could have maybe saved myself some disappointment with all the HOSs when they'd lost all their creativity.

I've just looked at my notes and it seems that the minigames were really forgettable as I can't remember what they were like and I didn't make a single comment about them, apart from one huge missed opportunity for one in the bonus chapter.  I can't remember if they were good or not - I didn't write anything either way.  Oh, except one minigame in the bonus chapter that I wrote was "insultingly easy".  But I can't remember any of them being particularly challenging.



But the game itself is fun and isn't all that easy, even without being able to turn off any help (although I used touch so didn't have any contextual icon changes - it would be much easier if you play with the cursor and therefore have all the contextual icons).  It's a very different game and the idea of the 4 separate areas is also fun with the unexpected characters (which I can't tell you about because it would spoil the surprise).  And, as I said, the graphics are amazing.  And don't forget to click on all the little animals in the game ... in the scenes, the HOSs, even the main game page ... as they react to your clicks.  There are also some really fun LOL things that happen but I won't tell you about them because that would really spoil it for you. 



I just hope that, with my disappointment after such high hopes, anyone else who gets the game won't have the same high expectations I had and will then love the game more than I did.



I recommend the SE because:

  -  it's fun, the graphics are amazing, and it's different and very creative, albeit more so in the beginning.

I recommend the CE if:

  -  you don't mind how long the bonus chapter is
  -  you love collectibles
  -  you want the character bios and the figurine books
  -  you don't mind not being able to do the jigsaw puzzle at the end
  -  you don't mind only being able to replay 8 HOSs and 8 MGs
  -  you love HOSs and don't care about highly interactive ones
  -  you're not a big minigame lover
  -  you like fairly easy games without much challenge
  -  you like making potions - which you can't skip

But if you're going to get it for the same price as an SE then why not?


 

Last edited by stusue (September 21, 2016 7:02 pm)

lilyr wrote:

the CE would still cost a lot more than an SE.  I only get SEs with PCCs. 

Me, too, Lily!  That's how I look at it, as well!  

And you're more than welcome!  


ETA:  Oops, I forgot to add that I'll post all the character bios and figurine info for anyone who wants it.  I suggest you read at least the character bios as they add to the game, imho, especially explaining who one of the characters is in the last chapter!  When I read the bios after the game I went, Oh, well now it makes sense!



But maybe it was just me and my poor little brain and all you fishies will work it out all on your own.



However, in my defence, I was playing the last chapter around midnight!  The main game is quite long and definitely SE worthy!



So that's my excuse and I'm gonna stick with it!  LOL!


 

Last edited by stusue (September 23, 2016 4:07 pm)