Bought this game ages ago but could never get it to run properly on my old computer. Bought a new laptop and was really looking forward to playing it after seeing some good reviews. Well, I have to say I found it a bit heavy going, so much so that I drifted away from it and replayed both Runaway 1&2. I`ve just got back to it and am on day 8 (although very little seems to have happened), and I`m beginning to wonder if this game is going to pick up. Does it get any better? How many days are there in the game? Am I wasting my time? From what I`ve seen I really can`t understand how it got such good reviews. What is it that I`m not seeing? :-)

mj2c,

I agree with you. I never finished the game, thought it was boring.

It will get better mj2c, in the beginning it's a bit slow. However it's an evolving story, just like a book, the first chapter is not the most intriguing. The farther you get, the better it'll be.

If memory recalls correctly i found the start very boring i.e the boring long intro before u even get to play. After the intro stoped i just exited the game uninstalled it as wanted to play somit else.

Should have given it a chance i suppose. Probs reinstall it at some point and just grin and bear the start till it gets to somit intereting.

Culpa is very story and conversation heavy. If you are not into that, it may seem long, but the story is excellent and watching it unfold is a rewarding experience.

Ana

I really enjoy story/dialogue games etc but didn't you think the intro was a bit too long as well and got bored before u even played it?

I have not played the retail version yet, but I was one of the testers of the game. Not sure what changes were made to the intro from my version to the retail so I do not know. I know that there were times it seemed a bit too heavy dialogued for me. I like inventory and puzzle, but I thought the games story was interesting and worth playing and I wanted to know what happened.

Ana

Ana is right, the game is a bit heavy on the dialogues. I think it served the purpose of telling the story of a future(?) world in which almost all people are much more consumed by image and trends rather than what's really happening in the world. In fact this game can be seen as an offspring of The Longest Journey. I know there are many gamers here who like these kind of involving stories, for all others there are the Myst games and there offspring!

Which makes it almost unforgiveable that the majority of the conversation wasn't captioned - so my interest always waned.

I re-started the game a few days ago however, and I have to agree with all the positive reviews for a change, it’s quite nice. I do have to play it in complete silence though because the voice is terribly hard to hear.

A caption patch sure would be nice

I absolutely loved the game, and found it involving and intriguing right from the start. Yes, it's dialogue intensive, but there are plenty of original and interesting puzzles to solve along the way, too. As the story evolved, I could hardly tear myself away from it, I wanted to know what happened next.

Looking forward very much to the sequel!

Hi, mj2c

I also dislike long dialogue,but this game happened to perk my interest...The game gets much better as you go along...

The characters were very KOOL & Upbeat
I think for me it was the day & night switching in the game that I enjoyed most..Cause things at night were kind of naughty

I didn't find this game dull in any way. Really looking forward to the sequel as well.

I didn't even get halfway thru before quitting. hated it! I personally don't care for alot of dialogue ( I prefer NONE actually ) so this soooo was not my cup of tea. I know a lot of gamers do like a lot of talking in a game, so I'm sure it's all about how your tastes run.

I loved this game from start to finish & really liked the way that the story slowly unravelled. I appreciated the relaxation in linearity of gameplay & am looking forward to replaying a different way round when I've got the time.

But I can see why this may not appeal to anyone that doesn't like a lot of dialogue and/or like a lot of 'puzzles' as it's quite story driven.

Yes, nice story and dialogue but the puzzles were really absurd. At some point you had to solve one in order to.. get into a store (at working hours)! Do you know any merchants in real life that they would put a puzzle at their store's entrance?!!

Thanks for the response everyone. You`ve convinced me to keep going for a bit longer. Some have mentioned that this is mainly a story led/conversation led game which is the sort of thing I normally lap up - Longest Journey (usually cited as an example of this) is a game I thoroughly enjoyed. A few of the things I don`t like are the fact that after a couple of conversations the day ends (how is that a plus gameway wise?) and also the rather silly "dressing Barby" at the end of every day - I`m a fella, I don`t dress dolls:-). The girly conversations with her friend in the cafe don`t seem to have a point either.

As I said, I`m now up to day 8, can anyone remember how many days the game takes so I have a rough idea how far into it I am?

Perhaps this a girls game <ducks> ;-)

The number of days vary based upon several aspects. The questioning of characters has an effect. If you are efficient and get the job done with two interviews instead of three you can cut the number of days. You can also skip the underground which may be the best part of the game. If you do several days are saved. For the walk through I wrote the game took 20 days. A replay skipping the underground it took 9 days. Another play being efficient with questioning took 15 days of game play. You can also avoid walking around the park which eats up a lot of time.

I love character/story driven games so for me this one is a gem. If you don't like conversations this is not a game for you. But if you do then this is in a class with TLJ. All depends upon what floats your boat.

Expect somewhere in the twenty day range if you poke into everything. I'd offer the circuit repair puzzle in the underground is one of the most unique and challenging puzzles in any game. The War Games computer puzzle was also original. The one requiring you to get the power to flow in the mine was very good. This game gets an overall A for puzzle construction, though the door in that store was a clunker.

I don't know if it is a girly game or not, as I haven't played the game...

I do know that many gamers, both men and women, complained about the very short days, the game has; the game seems to end every day around noon ore two PM in the afternoon or so, skipping to the talks with her friend in the café. The point of this is, I think, to have the main character go over the day with her friend, and just have her relax a little.

As for the Barbie Dressing, can't you just pretend it is an action figure, like Action Man or G.I. Joe you're dressing ?

Fair comment! but maybe it should be considered more as a game about a 'girl' & the dressing-up as a normal aspect of her daily life subtly reflecting the fashion of the time!

I thought the girly conversations gave more insight into Phoenix's personality & reinforced the social attitudes of the time. Also, earlier on in the game I found I got some hints by talking to her friend

I guess everyone has different tastes in adventure games. Culpa Innata was one of the best games I have played. I loved it. I thought it had a little bit of everything. I actually enjoyed the converstions. Hoping for a sequel.

Gail, the sequel is already in the works.

Ana

It took me three separate tries before I finally got going and went all the way through the game--which I enjoyed a lot! I didn't consider it the same quality as TLJ, which I loved despite all the conversations, but a very good game nonetheless.

Okay, I admit defeat, I just can`t go on with this one. Usually when someone praises a game that`s not to my liking I can at least see what it is they are driving at, but this one has got me completely stumped because for the life of me I can`t think of a single redeeming feature it has. I found it utterley tedious on a scale that I don`t think I`ve ever experienced in any game of any genre. What it seems to be is a very flimsy novella stretched out into a 500 page doorstopper, and that can mean only one thing - lot and lots and lots of padding. Hardly any puzzles. Lots of talking about very little. Dressing up, cafe chats. Padding. How this got an A+ on JA+ I`ll never know because this will never, in a millions years be the pinnacle of Adventure gaming. A+?!?!?! Nope.

Oh, and one more thing - did I mention the padding? ;-)

The fundamental flaw in "Culpa" is that there are too many interviews with too many people. Half-way (yes half-way) through the game all you have done is talk to a lot of people and solved a few puzzles. If "Culpa" were a novel, the first thing the editor would do is use the "blue pencil" to condense the interviews to one per person. The second thing would be to eliminate Sandy. There is no forward movement, no plot development. The game just hangs there. You really should not have to summon your grit to play an adventure game.

Isn't it fair to say that the developers of Culpa Innata were trying to to do something new? with the adventure genre ? Sometimes it fails, other times you succeed.