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Some quick questions. Please answer when you have finished the game - Printable Version +- Frictional Games Forum (read-only) (https://www.frictionalgames.com/forum) +-- Forum: Penumbra: Overture, Black Plague & Requiem (https://www.frictionalgames.com/forum/forum-5.html) +--- Forum: General Discussion (https://www.frictionalgames.com/forum/forum-20.html) +--- Thread: Some quick questions. Please answer when you have finished the game (/thread-1585.html) |
RE: Some quick questions. Please answer when you have finished the game - Jeanne-Kamikaze - 07-03-2008 Quote:1) What puzzles did you like the best? Why did you like them? The one where you had to set the gasoline can on fire to raise the fire alarm and get the door open; I liked that one because it was a non-standard way of passing to the next room. The one about the medical band and low heart rate. Same reason as the one above. The one where you had to walk below the lights for the dogs not to attack you was pretty cool too. It was very original and the whole idea of light-shunning dogs was relieving. The computer puzzle was pretty good too. The final hive tests. Those were awesome. They made me think out of the box and each of them took me a few tries to complete. Quote:2) What puzzles were the hardest to solve? Why were they so hard and what kind of solutions did you try before finding the correct one? Yeah looking for the entrance to the Examination Room was hard. I actually went in there ahead of time and had no problem finding it at first, but looking for it when being persecuted by an infected, with a blurry vision and the creepy music was just very time consuming; I spent like eight minutes running around, turning around corners hiding in the darkness then recharging the flashlight and off again into a sprint. I loved that part of the game though. The whole blurry vision + hearing yourself walking + the music and the infected running after you felt just like in the movies. It was really sweet, so I didn't mind taking so long to find that door. More comments on question 4. I didn't like the steam-emitting squared cells on the floor one. Not that it was hard, but it was rather unrealistic. Too game-ish. Apart from that, all the other puzzles were fine. I found the one where you had to use the debris to blow up the steam pipe in the Chemical room entrance a bit hard, not because it was hard in itself, but because I wasn't really used to using debris as a tool; I was used to the hammer and iron pike in Penumbra - Overture, so it took me a while to think about it. Quote:3) How did you find the pacing in the game? Were there any particularly slow moments or some moments where too many things happened? I think the pacing in the game is extremely well designed. Slow paced for the general part, and then fast paced when you're being attacked or persecuted. The music has been very carefully thought off to fulfill that idea. There were both slow moments and ones where too many things happened, but I don't think that's negative at all. It's part of the game dynamics. You don't really want a constant pace in a horror game. You want slow, "What's the light over there?" moments, and rapid, "Lets get the hell out of here!" ones. Quote:4) How did you like the variation of events and gameplay elements? Could there have been more diversity or should there be more focus on the gameplay? I think I can't make more emphasis on the being chased after part of the game. It was just like in the movies. For example, say I wanted to go to the Chemical Room. Well, eventually I'd find an infected, he'd come after me, and I'd run around like hell and go into the very first door I encounter. Same thing happened with the dobermans in Penumbra - Overture. This whole setting improves the game dynamics and the gameplay entirely. It's not like other games where it's room1, room2, room3; if you find room3 before going to room2, then you have to go back because room3 is locked. Not in Penumbra. Usually you can go to one room or another as you will; there isn't a predefined order. Eventually you'll find yourself missing a tool which you must get in another room, and then you'll have to find that other room where that particular tool is. This "free will" idea is a very important aspect of the game. The dogs and infected chasing you around added to it, since I ran away and threw myself into the very first door I found. The gameplay is fine. I think you should focus on modeling more enemy characters; only dobermans, spiders, worms, and infected guys so far. Perhaps you want more diversity of infected type of characters. Quote:5) How did you like the characters in the game? Was their voices fitting? Was the voice acting good? What character did you like best / worst? The voices suited the characters pretty well in general. I didn't like Philip's though. Perhaps I'm mistaken and it was not Philip talking, but when Amabel spoke on the video chat, there was this voice making comments on what she was saying, and it was not Clearance's. I think it was rather slow. It sounded like he was not a native English speaker, and he was trying to make sense out of what he was saying. The tone was fine, it's just the speed that was rather slow. Amabel's voice was rather calm. Not that we want her to scream, but perhaps we want a more whispering and quivering voice, as if she were both afraid of what was outside her room and trying not to be spotted. Quote:6) How did you like the ending? What I liked about the ending in Penumbra - Black Plague is that the message you get in the beginning of the story is the message you write at the end. I like this story scheme in general. I think the endings look like they were put pretty roughly and in a hurry, though, especially Penumbra - Overture's. On their own, the endings themselves are a bit lame (no offense), but since this is a series, the next game completes the previous one, so you don't really need a strong ending. What I mean is, the ending of Penumbra - Overture would have totally sucked if there wasn't a Penumbra - Black Plague. Black Plague's ending is a bit more satisfying, but I think it would have been pretty weak if it would have been the last in the series. Other comments: I think the flashlight batteries should last longer, and that there should be a smaller amount of batteries in the game. I ended up with 18 batteries in my inventory, and I had to keep replacing them too often. Perhaps you want half the amount of batteries, but that last twice as longer. It was both a bit tedious to replace the batteries so often and unrealistic, in my opinion. RE: Some quick questions. Please answer when you have finished the game - Jeanne-Kamikaze - 07-03-2008 I forgot; About the gameplay, I think you should work on player-made barricades. In the entire game, the only time I can remember of building a successful barricade was in the Chemical Labs, when I got chased by the two infected, in the room where Substance 65 was, but that barricade was part of the "puzzle"; it was not a player designed barricade. I would have liked to build more barricades along the game. Once I was being chased by an infected and I tried dragging a barrel in front of the door; he would get in and kill me. Then I tried with two barrels; same thing. Finally I went into the room, ignored the barrels, and instead I held the door tight; after 30 seconds of playing "lets see who pushes stronger", he kicked his way in and I had to throw a metal box at him then run away. Perhaps you want to add some scripting into constructing door barricades for future games. RE: Some quick questions. Please answer when you have finished the game - Jeanne-Kamikaze - 07-03-2008 Especially if we don't have guns to beat the crap out of those infected. If our only way to survive is running away, at least let the player build successful barricades on any door he chooses to. RE: Some quick questions. Please answer when you have finished the game - sybesis - 07-06-2008 1) What puzzles did you like the best? Why did you like them? Spoiler below!
2) What puzzles where the hardest to solve? Why where they so hard and what kind of solutions did you try before finding the correct one? Spoiler below!
3) How did you find the pacing in the game? Where there any particularly slow moments or some moments where too many things happened? Spoiler below!
4) How did you like the variation of events and gameplay elements? Could there have been more diversity or should there be more focus on the gameplay? Spoiler below!
5) How did you like the characters in the game? Was their voices fitting? Was the voice acting good? What character did you like best / worst? Spoiler below!
6) How did you like the ending? Spoiler below!
RE: Some quick questions. Please answer when you have finished the game - GrizzlyGar88 - 07-21-2008 1) What puzzles did you like the best? Why did you like them? Spoiler below!
2) What puzzles where the hardest to solve? Why where they so hard and what kind of solutions did you try before finding the correct one? Spoiler below!
3) How did you find the pacing in the game? Where there any particularly slow moments or some moments where too many things happened? Spoiler below!
4) How did you like the variation of events and gameplay elements? Could there have been more diversity or should there be more focus on the gameplay? Spoiler below!
5) How did you like the characters in the game? Was their voices fitting? Was the voice acting good? What character did you like best / worst? Spoiler below!
6) How did you like the ending? Spoiler below!
RE: Some quick questions. Please answer when you have finished the game - Ultimate Carl - 07-24-2008 For reference, I played Overture about a week before this one, and I played both on Hard with all of the frills (glowing items, hints, etc.) turned off. I also played by myself, at night, with the lights out. ![]() 1) What puzzles did you like the best? Why did you like them? Spoiler below!
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Overall, great games. I'm loving them, and really looking forward to the next. I'd especially love if after you finished 3, if you went back and redid 1 and 2 with updated graphics, and all of the experience and feedback you've gained, and release all three together in one, huge game. I'd buy it. Hell, I'd buy it for $60. Maybe more. RE: Some quick questions. Please answer when you have finished the game - slapnutz - 07-29-2008 **SPOILERS BELOW** Below are some questions that we would like you to answer in order to make our upcoming games as good as possible: 1) What puzzles did you like the best? Why did you like them? Pretty much any puzzle that was physics based i.e. stacking things or blocking or bridging things. Also liked ones where fire was invovled. 2) What puzzles where the hardest to solve? Why where they so hard and what kind of solutions did you try before finding the correct one? The computer card one. I usualy dont read between the lines properly when experiencing an immersive physics and atmospheric world. Looking at notes and such just reminds me that its a game and takes away from the immersion. 3) How did you find the pacing in the game? Where there any particularly slow moments or some moments where too many things happened? Not sure if it applies but I found the "running away from spiders hatchlings in caves" a bit anoying. Mostly because of the change in pace. Not too bad though. 4) How did you like the variation of events and gameplay elements? Could there have been more diversity or should there be more focus on the gameplay? Whilts I can understand the "crazy dream sequence" purpose of driving the personal progression, it began to feel a bit to supernatural. Once again, not a deal breaker though. 5) How did you like the characters in the game? Was their voices fitting? Was the voice acting good? What character did you like best / worst? Clarence was great. At first I was a bit hesitant but he ended up really enjoyable. Great voice acting too. Didnt like the calmness in the female doctors voice. Thats about it. 6) How did you like the ending? It wasnt a happy ending which is always not as easy to appreciate since we're usually spoilt with happily ever afters. Nevertheless it was logical and doing anything would endup leaving holes. The explaination of the evil/infection could be slightly clearer. Personal note: I'd love to see more puzzles of trapping enemies. Also have situations that have multiple routes and methods for trapping them. It just gives a great sense of satisfaction we are able to neutralise the threat by using our cunning and outwitting them... rather than constantly running away. RE: Some quick questions. Please answer when you have finished the game - Cerberuser - 08-17-2008 Thomas Wrote:1) What puzzles did you like the best? Why did you like them? My favourite puzzle was finding all chemicals... I really like searching all drawers and throwing objects around to see if there are important things under or behind them, so having a puzzle that forces you to do so until you found them all is great. It was an insult when the statistics said I only found 18/20 notes... which ones could be missing? Are there 2 known hard ones? Thomas Wrote:2) What puzzles where the hardest to solve? Why where they so hard and what kind of solutions did you try before finding the correct one? The puzzle where you put the gasoline on fire at the beginning of the game was hard, because I tried to get the substance out of the barrel at first. I even managed to knock the barrel down but the substance didn't come out ![]() The first trial at the end of the game was hard, because I thought the "I am not approaching it correctly" message was meant for that place where the voice talks to you, where you start on that tower. And that you had limited time to find something. I thought the prison was just the "punishment" for not finding it, and that you had to escape everytime to try again. Turned out it's the opposite ![]() The least fun puzzle was the gas leakage in the chemical room. I tried attaching that pipe multiple times but it keps saying it doesn't work (something to do with a safety lid in a turn against the wall or so) but after trying again and again it finally worked. Thomas Wrote:3) How did you find the pacing in the game? Where there any particularly slow moments or some moments where too many things happened? There was a place where there were too many notes & computers with text files in a row. Normally I'm always happy when I find a note in the game, because they talk about the story, but at that place it became too much. I was happy some files were corrupt ![]() Thomas Wrote:4) How did you like the variation of events and gameplay elements? Could there have been more diversity or should there be more focus on the gameplay? I think there is a chase scene lacking. Just one, though. There were some but they are completely different compared to the ones of Overture. The chase scenes in Black Plague were always set up in the central area of corridors (you know, where maps are hanging) so it was just run until you go through the next "Loading..." door. Thomas Wrote:5) How did you like the characters in the game? Was their voices fitting? Was the voice acting good? What character did you like best / worst? At first I thought Clarence's voice was out of place and made the direction of the game more towards comedy in comparision to the very serious tone of Overture. After a while I got used to it though, and started to like his personality (each time he suggests Philip should find his mind tricks funny) Thomas Wrote:6) How did you like the ending? Good, I like it when there are such twists in the continuity so the end is connected to the start. Thomas Wrote:Thats all folks! Thanks to all who participate! And thanks to you too for creating this game :O ![]() One last note though: The start of Black Plague made me think you finally stayed away from the repititive use of the "one central place with corridors where you have to sneak and the puzzles built in rooms accessible through these doors" formula, but that wasn't the case. Such formula also has it's advantages (the sequence after collecting substance 65 or so where Clarence makes Philip lose sanity while the flashlight wielding infected are chasing him wouldn't be possible without the player knowing and being familiar with the layout already beforehand, for example) but it's overused right now. some quick answers - Kindren - 08-24-2008 I actually found this game while searching through Gamefaqs upcoming titles on the PC. I had never heard of it before, but I am glad I found it, it was an amazing couple of games. 1) What puzzles did you like the best? Why did you like them? Spoiler below!
2) What puzzles where the hardest to solve? Why where they so hard and what kind of solutions did you try before finding the correct one? Spoiler below!
3) How did you find the pacing in the game? Where there any particularly slow moments or some moments where too many things happened? Spoiler below!
4) How did you like the variation of events and gameplay elements? Could there have been more diversity or should there be more focus on the gameplay? I actually really liked the events that took place in this game. Sometimes the events were more frustrating than interesting (case and point the kennel area) but they all really worked together to make a really creepy and amazing atmosphere. My only complaint would be the monsters that patrol the hallways. I found that as soon as you heard the moan or whatever you knew there was a monster, and then it was easy to evade or even run right past them (I was playing on hard too, so running past them shouldn't have been so easy), and that I feel kinda took away from the creepiness of the game. A few monsters in the hall way would be alright, but it seemed like there were a lot of them in this game. Spoiler below!
5) How did you like the characters in the game? Was their voices fitting? Was the voice acting good? What character did you like best / worst? The voice acting was amazing! When I first heard the voice of Clarence I thought he was kinda annoying and I went "ugh, I am gonna have to live with this voice?!" but he grows on you. You kinda just love to hate his talking, which I think is exactly what you were going for. I also loved hearing Amabel's voice. After playing around in this place for so long, having a nice softer voice and someone to work toward felt like you were actually getting something done. I would say the only part that bugged me in the area was that voice that got onto the loud speaker once in awhile... It never really seemed to contribute to anything to the atmosphere. 6) How did you like the ending? Spoiler below!
needless to say, I will be telling just about every person I know about these games. These are probably some of the best horror games I have ever played. RE: Some quick questions. Please answer when you have finished the game - dreadi - 08-26-2008 1. The ones that incorporated the physics engine. It felt like I'm really interacting with the environment... 2. But then again there were a few puzzles where It wasn't completely clear if I was supposed to use something from my inventory or try to use the game's physics. Other than that nothing really hard. 3. Pacing was very good until the end which is a bit of a smack in the face. 4. I really liked the concept that Clarence could alter Philip's vision but it could have been implemented with a heavier hand. You could make the player feel truely paranoid if he can never be sure what he sees is real but now that factor was used so seldom that it didn't affect the overall mood too much. I'd have to say I didn't like the "infection" sequence or the tests at the end. The environments weren't very well designed and the puzzles were too abstract. The fact that everything works logically in the middle of the madness worked to make Penumbra more creepy. 5. Overall it was good. Red's lunacy and Swanson's surreal light-heartedness worked to build up the mood greatly. Clarence didn't quite work for me though because of both his voice and the dialogue. He simply wasn't very creepy. 6. Gameplay-wise it was the worst part of the game but as far as the story goes it fit together with the rest of the plot. The twist right at the end was great. |