Finish Your Games Challenge » Finish your games challenge

TiramaSue · May 29, 2014 11:01 pm

I've finished 2 chapters of European Mystery: The Face of Envy Collector's Edition.

Midnight Castle recently had an update, so I'm not finishing as many paid games as you. But I'm only devoting 15 minutes or so to ART, most of which involves buying and selling some things at auction, and the same amount of time for AK, unless I level up and have more energy to use.

oscar66 · May 29, 2014 11:45 pm

I finished up Alex Hunter Lord of the Mind. It was another winner. A really enjoyable game. Lots of things to do and some different stuff going on.
quite long, it took me at least 6 hours to play everything including the bonus chapter and the secret room (which was about 20 mins and I'm not really sure what the purpose was)
So far I have played an even dozen games this month. I think I can make it a lucky thirteen, I just have to figure out what will be next.

Glad to hear all is going well with you meg. And I had my honeymoon before the wedding too. It's always nice to start with dessert first! lol Have fun. And you certainly went on a shopping spree.

Do you like The Face of Envy T.? I like the added bit from the first carried over with the box you create things in,

It is disappointing to read your review Stusue (not the review itself) but that the new Elephant game is a bit of a waa waa. And I do agree with Tirama's post. You do regularly see all of those complaints. I always get a kick out of those where people see to have skipped thru and complain it's not long enough. Or the ones who say I tried the demo for 10 minutes and skipped 3 puzzles. It was just so easy. No buy. Best to test drive for yourself. Despite kicking tires there are always disappointments.

I am torn on what to play next. I must say, quite proudly, that I did finish 3 games this month that I bought in mid 2012! So that is a good thing. I may pick out another oldie. Maybe Margrave The Blacksmiths Daughter or Mystery Stories Mountain of Madness. Anyone played those?

stusue · May 30, 2014 2:44 am

oscar66 wrote:
So far I have played an even dozen games this month. I think I can make it a lucky thirteen, I just have to figure out what will be next.

Wow, you've done better than me this month! I should start counting all the demos I do and review...

Glad to hear all is going well with you meg. And I had my honeymoon before the wedding too. It's always nice to start with dessert first! lol Have fun. And you certainly went on a shopping spree.

You, too? I'm surrounded by little hussies! Just don't ask about my life...

It is disappointing to read your review Stusue (not the review itself) but that the new Elephant game is a bit of a waa waa. And I do agree with Tirama's post. You do regularly see all of those complaints. I always get a kick out of those where people see to have skipped thru and complain it's not long enough. Or the ones who say I tried the demo for 10 minutes and skipped 3 puzzles. It was just so easy. No buy. Best to test drive for yourself. Despite kicking tires there are always disappointments.

I liked the one where someone said that they skipped all the puzzles in the demo because they were taking too long and then said what a load of rubbish the game was as it was so easy and so a no buy for them! Or you read one review where the person says that there are just way too many HOSs for them so a no buy. Then the next person says that they wish there were more HOSs so a no buy for them.

I am torn on what to play next. I must say, quite proudly, that I did finish 3 games this month that I bought in mid 2012! So that is a good thing. I may pick out another oldie. Maybe Margrave The Blacksmiths Daughter or Mystery Stories Mountain of Madness. Anyone played those?

Sorry, can't help you there, Oscar. I have both but haven't played them yet. I've been dying to play the Margrave one but want to replay the second one and then play the third one before playing the fourth one. I really have to bump those up my list as I loved the second one!

stusue · May 30, 2014 2:52 am

Anki and Sunshine, and anyone else who may be interested, GameHouse has finally released the next lot of games they're planning to release in the next three weeks. There are a few Mac games that are being released that were released for PC YEARS ago!

Whispered Legends - Tales of Middleport is today's game and I'm downloading it as I type. I'm going to play it today and see how I go. But I'm hoping to go stuff myself at the Chinese buffet for lunch today but I should still get it finished before dark, which is really late these days! It sure is taking its own sweet time! Hopefully that means it's a nice loooong game with plenty of special effects, etc, that up the MBs.

GameHouse wrote:
Games Currently Expected to be Released in the Next Three Weeks:

Whispered Legends - Tales of Middleport ... Hidden Object
Hidden Memories of a Bright Summer (PC only with Mac version to follow) ... Hidden Object
Egyptian Settlement ... Time Management
Royal Jigsaw 3 (Mac and PC) ... Jigsaw
Big City Adventure(TM) - Rio de Janeiro ... Hidden Object
Viking Saga - Epic Adventure ... Time Management
Tales of the Orient - The Rising Sun ... Hidden Object
Mana Crusher (Mac and PC) ... Match 3
Save the Prince (Mac and PC) ... Time Management
Statue of Liberty - The Lost Symbol (Mac and PC) ... Hidden Object
Eternal Journey - New Atlantis Platinum Edition for Mac (PC version released 8-24-2012) ... Hidden Object
House of 1,000 Doors - Family Secrets for Mac (PC version released 3/2012) ... Hidden Object
Evil Pumpkin ... Hidden Object
Amber's Tales - The Isle of Dead Ships Standard Edition
Book of Magic 2 in 1 Pack ... Hidden Object
Build-a-lot Mysteries 2 ... Sim/Tycoon
Claire's Garden Studio ... Time Management
Doctor Life ... Time Management
Fable of Dwarfs (Mac and PC) ... Time Management
Gourmet Chef Challenge - Around the World (Mac and PC) ... Hidden Object
Jane Angel 2 - Fallen Heaven (standard edition) ... Hidden Object
Witch's Pranks Platinum Edition for Mac ... Hidden Object
Antique Shop - Book of Souls for Mac ... Hidden Object
Aquascapes for Mac ... Hidden Object
Eternal Journey - New Atlantis for Mac (PC version released 9/2012) ... Hidden Object
Love Alchemy – A Heart in Winter (PC...Mac version already available)

stusue · May 30, 2014 3:18 am

TiramaSue wrote:
stusue - some of the people playing Elephant Games free to play games have been very vocal about things being too difficult and I think the devs have decided that everybody wants things easy peasy whether they're buying a game or playing a social game.

In the past, people have asked to be able to skip dialogue, have the hint button fill instantly, be able to skip the cut scenes, be able to skip the mini games, be able to skip the HO scenes. However, the game better not be too short.

They want achievements but complain if the achievements are for doing something you have to do to progress in the story OR if the achievements are based on performance (so many objects in so many seconds).

People want a jump map because they don't want to walk back and forth but will complain it they get something for their inventory that gets used in the next scene.

If I were a game developer, I think I'd be considering a career change.

LOL!!!! Love that last sentence!

Is it an Elephant FTP game, the one where they've cut one quest down that used to take heaps and heaps of time and stuff to complete and now you can do it in no time at all? I read about that and thought how totally unfair that was. And isn't the whole aim of FTP games is to make things take forever so that people BUY upgrades so they don't have to wait? If so, why on earth would they make quests quicker and easier to obtain????

And I agree 100% with everything you said. You certainly can't please everyone but you don't have to make everything super easy to please those people and alienate those who prefer more challenge in their games, as they'll stop buying them. I like the way ERS sometimes has 2 levels of challenge in their puzzles. Both are normally pretty easy but I really appreciate the effort and I love the way you can play on easy until the last move, then change to hard and play that until the last move, then swap back to easy, and so on. If I really love a minigame that has 2 levels I can keep on playing it for as long as I like!

Developers seem to be putting fewer and fewer extras in their CEs now and people seem to be noticing. How many games have you seen lately with morphing objects? The latest game from Elephant only has 12 collectibles, that are just stuck in the scene and easily spotted. That's it. I don't know if you do anything with them at the end but they just seem to be shown in your Collectibles Room and that's it. You get a sentence or two with some information about each canopic jar you collect but I think that's it. And I doubt the info will really mean anything to anyone who hasn't studied canopic jars and Egyptian religion.

I think Collector's Editions may have reached their peak and, if things continue on as they are, and people stop buying them, we may get lucky and get some good SEs rather than mediocre, same ol' same ol' CEs. However, lots of people still love them and buy them - which is fine. And you still get more than you used to in CEs. However, I think people are getting sick and tired of the cookie-cutter games Elephant's releasing now. Apart from Grim Tales: The Vengeance CE, the other 3 games they've released since 10 April - Haunted Hotel: Ancient Bane CE, Royal Detective: Queen of Shadows CE and Surface: Reel Life CE - have all been given much lower star ratings than Elephant normally gets and a much lower recommendation than normal (one whole star and a 20-30% difference in recommendatons)!

Speaking of which, my game's downloaded - an SE - so I'm off to play! Have a great day everyone, once you're awake and up and about. We've finally got some sunshine here so I might take the long bike route to the Chinese restaurant, down along the river, rather than just going straight up my street to the restaurant at the corner!

sunshinej · May 30, 2014 5:35 am

I finished Fatal Passion: Art Prison. I really enjoyed this one. I almost wished I shelled out the extra money for the CE just so I can continue on with it.

I'm counting Gardens, Inc. From Rags to Riches done. Out of 50 levels I have 2 brass - 26 silver - 22 gold.

I just received a beta after not receiving one for a long, long time. It is Weird Park: Final Show. I haven't played any of the Weird Parks yet so I am not going to be doing the beta. With this week's Catch of the Week Weird Park: Scary Tales makes me think that this Weird Park: Final Show will be out before too long.

oscar66 · May 30, 2014 8:38 am

Sun-is there a reason you haven't played the weird park games? If not definitely try them. They are both very good imo.

TiramaSue · May 30, 2014 9:45 am

stusue wrote:
Is it an Elephant FTP game, the one where they've cut one quest down that used to take heaps and heaps of time and stuff to complete and now you can do it in no time at all? I read about that and thought how totally unfair that was. And isn't the whole aim of FTP games is to make things take forever so that people BUY upgrades so they don't have to wait? If so, why on earth would they make quests quicker and easier to obtain????

Yes, the game was Midnight Castle, one of the Elephant's two free to play games. The game originally called for you to do the Bow Figurine (requiring objecyts from 281 HO scenes and over 30,000 coins) 6 times and then another update came out requiring more of the same before it was changed because people called it "cruel" "sadistic" "soul-sucking" "reducing people to tears" "mind-numbing" among other things. I think the devs changed things because this over the top language was scaring newcomers off.

But get this: there were some people who were able to complete the entire update in less than one day because between updates they play and play and play (we're talking people playing 12+ hours) and stockpiling inventory. They'll have several games going and deliberately keep all games but one at lower levels. They call these lower level games their feeder games and use them to send gifts each day to their upper level game.

Then other players come down with a severe case of Keeping-Up-With-The-Joneses and start complaining that they're being forced to spend real money to advance. People who can only play for an hour or two complain that it's "not fair" that tasks take so long and that they can't advance so quickly. (Wonder if they woukd think it "fair" at work if somebody only showed up for an hour or two yet drew the same pay check?)

The latest complaint is the Daily Quests are too hard. They want a skip or decline button that will bring in a new DQ if the one they get can't be completed with the stuff in their inventory.

Oh, and it's boring playing the same HO scenes over and over to earn coins. Geeze Louise, what exactly do people expect to play in a HOG? Of course, if they didn't blow tens of thousands of coins playing the fortune wheel trying to get multiples of the better stuff they wouldn't be short of coins.

Sadly, it's the same handful of people complaining over and over again no matter which free to play game they're playing. One of the most vocal is the same person who told me "Too bad, so sad. That's gaming life" when I voiced displeasure about having to pay diamonds to bypass a known bug (which has since been fixed) in BoomZap's ART.

I think I need a break once again from the BF forums even if it means I miss a chance to trade for a new pet egg or miss entering a contest to win an egg or some other goodie. All the negativity is a downer and the complainers make it so unpleasant for those that disagree with them about making things easier.

TiramaSue · May 30, 2014 10:37 am

Oscar - I played the Margrave game. It's good, but I didn't like the change they made to the dream cards. It's a long game.

I'm enjoying European Mystery: The Face of Envy Collector's Edition but so far I'm finding it somewhat easy. It's probably a good example of what games have become thanks to the complaints. There's 4 chapters and there were only 5 HO scenes in the first two chapters. I think there's only 10 HO scenes in the entire game (not counting bonus chapter). And, of course, you only play each HO scene once.

sunshinej · May 30, 2014 10:39 am

oscar66 wrote:
Sun-is there a reason you haven't played the weird park games? If not definitely try them. They are both very good imo.

oscar...I just haven't got around to them yet. I do have both of them though. I am in the middle of Where Angels Cry or is it When Angels Cry, but after that might as well start doing Weird Tales.

Tirama...That sounds awful at the Midnight Castle forum. Whenever anyone got too whiny here at home there would always be someone who would say "Would you like some cheese with your whine?" Usually after hearing that the whiner usually would laugh it off and stop whining. I am including myself on being whiny on occasion among others in my family.

Last edited by sunshinej (May 30, 2014 10:45 am)

Index
» Archives
» Finish your games challenge - 2014

May 29, 2014 11:01 pm #1651

Re: Finish your games challenge - 2014

May 29, 2014 11:45 pm #1652

Re: Finish your games challenge - 2014

May 30, 2014 2:44 am #1653

Re: Finish your games challenge - 2014

oscar66 wrote:

May 30, 2014 2:52 am #1654

Re: Finish your games challenge - 2014

GameHouse wrote:

May 30, 2014 3:18 am #1655

Re: Finish your games challenge - 2014

TiramaSue wrote:

May 30, 2014 5:35 am #1656

Re: Finish your games challenge - 2014

May 30, 2014 8:38 am #1657

Re: Finish your games challenge - 2014

May 30, 2014 9:45 am #1658

Re: Finish your games challenge - 2014

stusue wrote:

May 30, 2014 10:37 am #1659

Re: Finish your games challenge - 2014

May 30, 2014 10:39 am #1660

Re: Finish your games challenge - 2014

oscar66 wrote:

Index
» Archives
» Finish your games challenge - 2014

Board footera