From the hour I've played, despite my getting stuck at some places, I am REALLY loving this.
You guys did very well with this. Some unique ideas I have never seen in custom stories, perfect scare pacing, wonderful voice acting (Rigi you know you're my hero), clever mechanic usage and small attention to detail in the environment.
It's just an enjoyable ride. Not flawless, but I'm loving it so far despite the grammatical issues, mapping hitches and
Spoiler below!
a bit of confusion as to why it's dated so recently in history. The part that confuses me is there is no proper electricity running through the entire estate, at least so far, but a proper freezer and tiled bathroom/plumbing.
Despite those little tidbits, I'm not lying when I say I look forward to finishing this. Well done guys. :]
(05-01-2012, 10:42 AM)Cryaotic Wrote: From the hour I've played, despite my getting stuck at some places, I am REALLY loving this.
You guys did very well with this. Some unique ideas I have never seen in custom stories, perfect scare pacing, wonderful voice acting (Rigi you know you're my hero), clever mechanic usage and small attention to detail in the environment.
It's just an enjoyable ride. Not flawless, but I'm loving it so far despite the grammatical issues, mapping hitches and
Spoiler below!
a bit of confusion as to why it's dated so recently in history. The part that confuses me is there is no proper electricity running through the entire estate, at least so far, but a proper freezer and tiled bathroom/plumbing.
Despite those little tidbits, I'm not lying when I say I look forward to finishing this. Well done guys. :]
Thank you and I'm delighted that you noticed those small details!
Now, to answer some of your concerns with some intresting facts about the castle and Benjamin (major spoilers):
Spoiler below!
The year is 1952 and Benjamin and Melinda had recently moved in to the castle. Benjamin was a nice guy that loved the old castle, but he also believed that making life easier is a good thing. As the handy man he was, he decided to change the old big wardrobe into a modern toilet. He wanted to preserve the old atmosphere in the castle, therefore he didn't want to renovate anything else. However, it was said and done, and the timing couldn't be better. The newly installed water system, that supported the whole village with fresh water, was situated not far beneath the castle. So therefore there was no problem drawing water pipes to the house. While he was drawing these water pipes underground he though that he could easily install a freezer aswell. One more important thing that makes life easier. This was of course before he went "unnormal" and started using it to other purposes...
There is actually another survival note that explains why the whole water system is there, but I haven't seen anyone found it yet. (It is quite tricky though)
Amazing work, guys! To me, this is textbook to what a Custom Story should play like. Nothing that seriously tweaks with the core experience but boasts clever and interesting features that keep the player entertained. To me, there was a perfect balance between Story and Gameplay. The notes and backstory didn't go overboard, but instead was subtle and efficient and got the job done. The scares, encounters and puzzles were all near-perfect in my opinion and the whole atmosphere was also well done.
My biggest complaint is the ending, which I felt was a bit rushed. Not to spoil anything, but I felt that the whole escape could've been more elaborate. Having said that, the outro tied the whole story back together and gave it a sense of closure that I again thought was nicely accomplished. I would have made it a tad longer as well, maybe putting in a few more rooms or puzzles. Despite those few things though, this Custom Story was simply stunning. Poisonous easily ranks in my top 5 for all-time greatest Custom Stories. You guys really outdid yourselves! I give Poisonous a rating of 9/10.
(05-07-2012, 03:39 AM)I ZapZap I Wrote: Amazing work, guys! To me, this is textbook to what a Custom Story should play like. Nothing that seriously tweaks with the core experience but boasts clever and interesting features that keep the player entertained. To me, there was a perfect balance between Story and Gameplay. The notes and backstory didn't go overboard, but instead was subtle and efficient and got the job done. The scares, encounters and puzzles were all near-perfect in my opinion and the whole atmosphere was also well done.
My biggest complaint is the ending, which I felt was a bit rushed. Not to spoil anything, but I felt that the whole escape could've been more elaborate. Having said that, the outro tied the whole story back together and gave it a sense of closure that I again thought was nicely accomplished. I would have made it a tad longer as well, maybe putting in a few more rooms or puzzles. Despite those few things though, this Custom Story was simply stunning. Poisonous easily ranks in my top 5 for all-time greatest Custom Stories. You guys really outdid yourselves! I give Poisonous a rating of 9/10.
Once the upload is complete, I'll update this response with my playthrough if you want to give it a watch. I had a great time with it!
Thanks for the great feedback and I'm glad that you liked it!
I've watched the first part of your playthrough and I'm eager for more!
Review Time!
I really enjoyed this! The puzzles were very clever and well made. The mapping was also very nice and well thought out. Aside from a few errors in the notes, the story was engaging and easy to follow. Voice acting was good (Rigi!). My only big problem was the 3rd (cellar) map, it was extremely laggy, but I'm assuming that's from the sheer epicness of the map design (or perhaps the 40+ steam particle effects in the engine room?). Plenty of good original scares, nice atmosphere.
(05-07-2012, 05:43 PM)andyrockin123 Wrote: Review Time!
I really enjoyed this! The puzzles were very clever and well made. The mapping was also very nice and well thought out. Aside from a few errors in the notes, the story was engaging and easy to follow. Voice acting was good (Rigi!). My only big problem was the 3rd (cellar) map, it was extremely laggy, but I'm assuming that's from the sheer epicness of the map design (or perhaps the 40+ steam particle effects in the engine room?). Plenty of good original scares, nice atmosphere.
Overall, 8/10, very well done.
Thank you and I'm glad you liked it!
The third cellar is laggy because off two detailed floors (which contains many particle system and so on) were situated on top of each other. With only one floor it would most probably have worked, but the construction with two floors is not so performance freindly. Of course this depends on the computers performance aswell and those of us that beta-tested the map didn't experience any lag at that map (so we didn't know until we got some feedback). However, if we will make another cs this problem will be given careful consideration!