If you think of it, let me know, please. I vaguely recall seeing one as well when I began navigating my way through BFG's whimsically alphabetized and categorized pc adventure index then trying and buying various games. At the time, I had no idea how important that option was.

The good things about complaints like those in this thread are twofold. First, developers and possibly BFG producers may read and heed as with the increasingly successful ability to play without unwanted sparkles. Second, I can username search and find games particular people liked whose standards may be similar to mine.

I just ignore all such things as morphing objects, collectables and achievements etc etc - unless they are absolutely necessary to move the game forward, which is hardly ever the case.

For me they are nothing more than annoying distractions

8dog, you are so right. The way BF groups its games genres is meaningless to someone who wants to search for a particular type of game (puzzle, adventure or HOG). I wrote to them once, and they blew me off. It is BF's way of drawing people in, I suppose.

I stopped playing games wherein you did not have the option to turn off pop-ups and sparkles. You have to download the Trial first, to find out if the game is going to annoy you, but then you can bail and it costs nothing. It cuts down on the number of games severely, but I enjoy the few that are left.

Well, usually, it's fairly obvious on a screen which items are morphs or collectables etc so by ignoring them I can play and enjoy the game MY way

Mad, that was the first thing I tried. "Fairly obvious" says it all.

I get those banners by mistake fairly often. Then--wham--there are two banners in rapid (or should I say vapid) fire succession obliterating the far left quarter of the screen and accompanied by a mood blasting fanfare of music. It is hard to be sure in many cases that what is clicked on is not an ordinary object in the game. I have to play by a combination of search and avoid. I admire games that trick me with clever hot spots or more than one object to retrieve as I am likely to leave one behind then wonder why I am stymied. Padding with morphs and collectibles is not all that terrible per se although I could argue that it is in terms of story construction. What is terrible is the way their retrieval is trumpeted outside of narrative flow. Search and avoid is a method that irks me because one fairly large area of the screen becomes a blank spot removed from all else. Playing with a "just ignore it" mentality crowbars away a big chunk of enjoyment because for me clicking before thinking tends to be a good thing (and therefore one reason I do not play games I can die in on a regular basis with a single ill-considered click) and because that mentality spoils the exploration of new areas.

"Fairly obvious."

"Search and avoid is a method that irks me because one fairly large area of the screen becomes a blank spot removed from all else. Playing with a "just ignore it" mentality crowbars away a big chunk of enjoyment because for me clicking before thinking tends to be a good thing ..."

Just goes to show how different we all are, 8dognight !!

I find the "things to ignore" are (for me, anyway) pretty obvious so I can ignore them and quite happily play on through the game

Clicking before thinking, however, isn't something I tend to do at all

Interesting discussion. The pops ups don't bother me if they quickly go away. Though I wish I were able to just play and not be in the back of my mind be thinking about them. It can be a distraction to just enjoying a HOP scene because I am worried about not getting the morphing scene or getting 5 objects within 5 seconds. This is more my issue than the developer's issue I think because I want to get all the achievements.

Yeah, that comes into it for me, sometimes. Can't help it. A-Type Personality here. ha ha So I would prefer that they not pop up, and not be part of the game. It does "break the fourth wall," as people say when it happens in films.

Yep, I absolutely loved the first three Amaranthine Voyage games that I played, but I just went to try the "Orb of Purity," and found it riddled with pop-ups. I swear, there was a pop-up every two minutes! "Oh boy, you found a thing, or you were so clever at that HOG, Yippee - you put a piece into a whatever." Sadly, I did not even finish the Trial game, and won't be buying it. I sure hope the game designers get the message. If they can provide customization of the difficulty and sparkles and all that other stuff, surely they can give you the option to TURN OFF POP-UPS. Pleeeeze.

I am playing the final installment of Off The Record and will try to not be so determined to get every achievement. I will see how long that last.