Dark & Eerie Games Thread 1

Jeannie, I'm amazed that you were able to stop in at all!  I hope everything goes / is going smoothly with your move!

I had to look up what a chook is (chicken)  I'd love to hear that!

My parents have two cats, and my sis has two, as well.  I'm not allowed to have any pets here, so I have to content myself with loving on theirs and stopping by Friends of Felines (who adopt out cats and NEVER put them down like the Humane Society does!)  They also run a thrift shop to support the cats -- very neat, and all at the same place.  You can take the kitties out of their cages to love on them, and they have three rooms where the cats aren't caged at all.  They rotate the kitties so that no cat is ever caged for long.

What a wonderful place! Yes, I deal with several rescue organisations where they actually rescue cats from so called cat shelters - that put down 1000s of cats a year!! They claim there is simply no demand for them. But it's all about money. I personally have rehomed over 100 cats in the last 5 years.

I first got a cat 15+ years ago because I was not allowed pets in my unit and I figured cats were easier to hide than dogs!

Is chook a Aussie word then? I thought it might be.

When I looked up "chook" the definition said it was Aussie slang, so I'm guessing it's an Aussie word, yes

What you're doing with re-homing cats is AWESOME, Justie!

Not much going on with me. You all seem much busier than I am, but yet I still do not seem to have time to get anything done. 

Glad you popped in Jeannie... awesome with the kitty rescue JTF... 


I hope everyone had a great holiday! 

I'm finally in the bonus section of Fate's Carnival.... it's just a terrific game. You guys have me interested in the Alex Hunter game though. I didn't see it at BF though. I don't stop by there very often anymore. I'll have to look it up!

Esme, good to see you!

The Alex Hunter game thread (here) can be found HERE, and you can buy the game at:
Alawar as Platinum Edition /
Big Fish as Standard Edition only
GameHouse as Platinum Edition /
iWin as Platinum Edition /

And don't forget to add: the Big Fish standard edition has all the extras of a CE, so I am betting it's actually the same as the higher priced games on the other sites.

That's happened with a couple of other games I know of, where the same game is sold as different editions at different sites.

Yes, there are four or five. 

Let's see, there's Abyss: The Wraiths of Eden, Dark Arcana: The Carnival, Alex Hunter: Lord of the Mind, Questerium: Sinister Trinity, Apothecarium: Renaissance of Evil.

I know there are more, but I can't remember...   I should make a new post with this info so I don't lose it!  Anyone remember other games that were released as SE-onlys at Big Fish, but WITH bonus content?

I bought Dreamscapes Sandman PE at GH, but BF only had the SE. Did it include the extras? It had the eye critters, didn't it?

GH had only Dreamland Extended Edition - don't know what BFG's SE is like.

And there was weirdness about the various editions of Golden Trails too. I shall remind myself to look into these when I get up, right now I'd better get some sleep.

Happy day everyone!!

Justie

JustTheFacts, BFG has the extended version of Dreamland. It was added on later and I caught it when I was reading CCC.
Hooray for you and kitty adoptions!!!!!!
Also, Congrats on your 500th Review!!!!!

 

Way to go on your cat rescue/rehousing work, JTF!!!   
I have 3 precious felines myself, along with a darling dog; all rescues. What would my life be like without them?!?

I'll make an official thread sometime, but for now, Indie Gala has some nice bundle deals:  http://www.indiegala.com/  If you scroll down, you'll see bundles for Syberia and Still Life, among others, for as little as $2.99 per bundle!

I am very much the same - my cats are my life. They have often caused me many difficulties with landlords and neighbours (where I live in this corner of australia, cats are seen as vermin!), and the money they've cost me!, but I wouldn't last a week without them.

genkicoll wrote:I'll make an official thread sometime, but for now, Indie Gala has some nice bundle deals:  http://www.indiegala.com/  If you scroll down, you'll see bundles for Syberia and Still Life, among others, for as little as $2.99 per bundle!

Fantastic prices but you play the games via your -ahem- Steam account, right? 
Sadly, it's a "no" for me.

I think I figured out what the story was with the Golden Trails games.

I bought GT1 from Shockwave, and they sold as a standard edition the game complete with extras - wallpapers etc. (remember all GT games come with achievements, collectibles and replayable HOs.). GH and BF both released a SE only, that did not include the extras.

GT2 from Shockwave did not give extras, GH offered SE only (no extras) and BF released both CE & SE.

GT3 GH released both PE (extras) & SE, BF only SE (no extras).

You'd think they'd make some kind of standardised system wouldn't you?

I couldn't figure out why BF didn't opt for the CE of GT3.

The only reason I could come up with was it's basically a straight hidden object game & nobody wants to play those anymore....except me.   

I'm waiting on SpinTop or PopCap or whoever they are to release another game. They haven't had one out for awhile, I'm starting to get worried.

I never even heard of Golden Trails! Yes, sometimes I like HOs too, lol.
Which do you recommend as their best for demo'ing?

I am attempting to finish games that I started and then got distracted.
Finished Greed: The MadScientist.  
Now I am playing Dark Sisterhood:  The Initiation.  Despite it not being full
screen and some of the impossible HO's,   I am really enjoying it.   A definite D & E.
Temperature is going to drop and I have no work for the next 3 days,  so I should
keep putting dents in my unplayed games list.   

All of the Golden Trails games have gotten rave reviews from those who enjoy straight HOG's.  I believe the first one had CE extras at SE price.  I've only played the demo of the first one thus far

R-Mom, I enjoyed all 3 of them. The first is like a western with a sheriff, bandits, etc. The second is about pirates & treasure. The third's storyline has to do with the Knights Templar (I think).

luvtoread, I tried Dark Sisterhood and I didn't know what I was doing, I was so confused. I'll have to look at the screenshots to make sure it's the same game.
I'm still playing Mystery of Sargasso Sea. I definitely like logic puzzles better than chore-based puzzles and this one has a lot of logic puzzles. I'm also using the old noggin to figure things out, like where to go next (the map's no help at all in the hot spot dept.) and what to use when I get there (whole bunch of stuff in inventory).
This game is very good, only needs a little polishing & a proofreader.
Kudos to the developer, Germanicus Head Games!

I loved them all as well! I think the third one was the most complex of the 3, and had more difficult puzzles, such as they were. Yes, it is a sort-of Knights Templar game. The first one had the best characters, though!

They all have a special magic to them - HOGs by Awem, always a good recommendation.

Are the Golden Trails games the cowboy ones? I think I gave those a pass for some reason.   Maybe because they were straight HOGs? Or I'm just not into cowboy stuff? I don't remember now.

Golden Trails 1 is a western mystery story where the sheriff is sent to a sleepy little town for a rest after too long in the city. A bank robbery has taken place the night before he gets there, so the rest of the game is a whodunit. That is the only western.

The game is an exceptionally good HOG (I don't usually like them) with unique gameplay.

You have the map, and a choice of locations, but there is no 'adventure' to the game. There are some puzzles (easy).

The big differences from most HOGs are:

The items are shown as pictures, although you can hover a cursor to get the name.
There are hidden puzzles and inventory items you must find in the scenes, but they're indicated.
Each finished scene brings up a conclusions page which gives you info on where the story is going.
Within each scene, bandits pop up and you can shoot them for extra points. And at the end of the chapter there is a shooting game where even if you miss all of the bandits, you still get to move on - but the bandits are quite slow - even my 85yr old mum manages her share of them! And she's frightened of the (pc) mouse!

I just love these games! I could go on all day about them.

Beautifully and professionally put together too. And the sheriff's voice? Brilliant!

Thanks for the info on the Golden Trails games. I will definitely demo them!
I like some HO games a lot; for instance I'm very partial to the Mortimer Beckett series which I still enjoy replaying from time to time. And I even like Pure Hidden - you can't get more HO-intensive than that, lol.

I have more of a problem with HOs (and lots of 'em) stuck into HOPA games. When there's an actual story that I'm trying to follow, I find (most) HO scenes to be boring and to slow down the play. They break up the immersion of the storyline because something very tense and dramatic may be going on (like maybe I'm trying to put out a fire or save a child) but meanwhile I'm searching for feathers or trying to break a piggy bank for get coins which I won't be needing.    And they inevitably come fast and furiously as the game nears its end which feels like punishment to me by then, lol.  

lol

I like HOPs in HOPA games, and I like a fair few of them. Although, they are best if they have different types of HOPs, and sometimes weird way for them to be shown - like without gravity, or like the multiples from Madame Fate.

I like them because they are easy and relaxing, and the more difficult and intense the game, the happier I am to see another HOP! I am not good with puzzles, and have to strain to complete even simple ones, so the better the quality of the game, the more rest I need between puzzles and adventure action, some of which I'm good at, but sometimes I most definitely am not.

And it all comes back to that 'play it in one sitting' for me. If I can't get through it in 4-5 hours, I'm gonna be in trouble.

I won't be staying up tomorrow, but I wanted to remind y'all that if you want to ring in the New Year together, I can turn the shoutbox on.

The shoutbox would be at the top of the main GGG page (under the banner, of course,) and you could instant message in that box to your heart's content.

If anyone wants it on tomorrow, just holler!