Hi gang

I need to vent here and hope I don't catch a beating for it but here goes..

Lately I am getting a little annoyed at the prices for some of the "games" that are being offered. I say "games" because I feel paying $30.00 - $40.00 and even $50.00 for a game full of a lot of Dialogue Trees and little "game" is getting my PO'd needle to pin the meter !

The last few games I played, most recently - Next Big Thing - is what is prompting me to display my dismay here since all I remember doing in this game was clicking through repetitive dialogue trees with the same characters to a point where I was afraid to click on someone to get a clue or to progress onward.

Now I see a bunch of "games" like Captain Morgane at $40.00 - Yesterday at $30.00 - L.A. Noir at $50.00 - and a few others topping the $30.00 price tag and, frankly, I don't feel like spending a lot of money to click through line after line of this. I'm not a frugal person by far - but I counted over $150.00 just playing a few of these games - that's a whole month's worth a gas for my boat I would have been on instead of getting frustrated.

If we could pay $19.99 for games from Carol Reed or the Last Half of Darkness series with real puzzling, a few lines of talk here and there, and all the good stuff that makes Adventure Gaming fun, then what is all that $$ going for? Does it cost that much money to program the same dialogue loops into a game? I don't think so!

This is just my venting and my opinion. I realize you can't please everyone and some of these games are a lot of fun if that's what you like but after 3 or 4 of these in a row - I am plum dialogued out!

Yea, I know, shut up already. Ok - I got it out - not all of it, but enough to bring my PO'd needle on lower side of the red line.

So - I will see you all around -- after I play the 2 Pahalika games I've been saving for times like this.

Personally, I enjoy dialog in games if it helps develop the characters (though sometimes even I think there's too much). Dialog can be expensive because it costs a lot to translate it into other languages and to pay actors to voice it.

I can see why you'd hesitate to spend money for games with a lot of dialog if you don't happen to enjoy dialog trees and long conversations. If you can figure out in advance that a game has lots of dialog, then you can avoid buying it.

That may mean waiting for a few reviews to be posted (here and at other sites) and reading them carefully to see descriptions of the dialogs, story, and characters (if a game is story-heavy with lots of characters, it's going to have more dialogs).

Sometimes you can find a reviewer with similar tastes to yours, and that may tell you a lot. Reader/gamer reviews here or on places like Amazon can also help.

When in doubt, you could post here and ask if a game you're considering has a lot of dialog.

A little less chatter, more real info bestowed in the dialog trees (kinda surprising stuff you didn't really know) and more puzzles! Talk can be cheap, especially when it's thrown in just to make the game seem longer. Been there and bored to death by it.

Sometimes I like dialogue, sometimes I don't, but I don't like paying big bucks for a game. I just don't have that kind of money to throw away these days. So, I read reviews, and if it costs over $20 generally wait for the price to come down. I did pay a little extra for The Book of Unwritten Tales, but generally I don't pay much for games these days.

I feel for you, Sureshot - at the moment I sort of can spend all I would like on games but I realize that when I start driving I'm going to have to partition my wallet like so much for buying games/computer stuff and so much for gas money as I won't be able to spend as much as I'd like on games. This is sort of the reason I'm buying all the games I think I'd like now so that when I start driving it won't hurt my wallet for when I see a game I'd like to play at the coffee shop but having spent all my money on gas.

I'm in Paradise when I'm playing a game that I have to use my Gray Matter to play. I get that Sinking Island feeling when I pay $40.00 to $50.00 for a so-called Next Big Thing game that is really just a click fest on dialogue trees, especially the lines that repeat over and over and you get nothing out of them and lead nowhere. They are as boring as Yesterday's news and I wish there was a way for us to inspire a New Beginning for the Adventure gaming community.

But seriously - I just wonder what we are getting for that kind of money compared to paying $19.99 for some really great games - you know the ones I mean. These are the games that make me come back for more not the ones I clued in above.

Thank you all for listening to my rant!

Nice mash-up.

sureshot, I understand your rant! Even in the UK where games usually cost quite a lot more than in the US, $40.00 - $50.00 seems excessive! I've just recieved Captain Morgane from Amazon UK for £13.47 - very cheap!

I enjoy dialogue in games especially when it gives you an idea of the characters' personality & helps to progress the game - not everyone's cup of tea I know! Reviews don't always reflect the amount of dialogue you can expect - perhaps all games should offer a free demo first?

I loved all the games you mentioned in your entertaining & clever composition but I guess they weren't for you!

Sureshot, while I can't agree with you on disliking those games, I have to admit I love your word mash-up.

Personally, I love games with lots of dialogue. I'm a story/detail nut, so I enjoy games that include all of these things. It's why games like TLJ and the GK series are among my favorites.

If these games aren't for you, however, I can understand you being upset that you spent money on them. Do you like first person games? I'm generally not a fan aside from the rare exception, such as Return to Zork, but I know a good majority of those games tend to have very little dialogue and a lot of puzzles. These may be more up your alley, perhaps? And as others have said, maybe wait for reviews of the games you may be interested in to see if they are actually something you want to try or not.

Well ! - thank you for the Mashup cudos. Those are a few of the ones I played and which prompted this thread. Actually - I never finished Sinking Island, I gave up on that one. Every time I came across a character - the icons of all the other characters would show up and I knew I had the ask the same set of questions over and over.

Becky, I am presently working on the first Pahalika game and I have Revelations up next which you mentioned in your very nice Editorial and so far - it looks like they are going to be a winners for me.

I really have no preference to first or third person games. I think I'm borderline BAAGS 5! What I need in a game though is a good puzzle game - light on the un-necessary talk with an emphasis on solving puzzles and mysteries.

I spend a lot of time just trying to find a game I haven't seen yet or heard of because there just is not much out there these days, so when I find one new, old or ancient, I get excited about getting it and playing it. If it's a real heavy dialogue game ..... well, that's why I'm here, ranting away.

I try to get demo's if available - not all games have them. Reviews are very good starting points, especially the reviewers on GB who all do a great job. Eventually, I will buy these games anyway, if for nothing else, than to comply with my BAAGS instincts.

High level of BAAGS! All becomes clear!

Got me Becky !

I figure if I get everything - there will be a few good ones in there.

chrissie - that's about $22.00 if my calc is right - sounds like a deal - I hope you enjoy that one - Just wondering - is that the same Capt. Morgane who was in So Blonde?

Certainly very cheap for a new game on Amazon UK sureshot! Thank you, I've only played for a short while so far but yes! it is a spin off from So Blonde & is the very same Captain Morgane!

Thank you chrissie - enjoy the game !

I, too, saw Captain Morgane at Amazon UK with the attractive price tag - and I, too, bought it !!

Well it should be cheap, since it requires the same online activation as a downloaded game and you only get 5 activations. This was reported by Vic in a ***recent thread***.

Jenny100, the UK price for the download of Captain Morgane from TAS is £24.99!!!

Either way, you're still limited by the activation requirement, just like you are with the download. Of course this won't matter to people who never replay or trade games.

I sincerely hope these games are worth the ever increasing price tag on them! So far, to me, I am disappointed in them! NOooo! Really ?

I know a lot of you folks don't mind or even like the dialogue stuff, but I feel that for the prices of some of these games, that some thought went into the game's puzzling - sleuthing - and actual game play and less into the fruitless type dialogue trees I see in a lot of them.

Thing is, I HAVE to get it and I HAVE to play it, so I'll wait til the price drops like a rock (which I'm sure it will), and then I might have a little less to complain about.

I suppose the solution for a game with limited activations is to never uninstall it - just delete the saves and start over ??
Not what a lot of folk will want to do !!

It will be gone if your hard drive fails.
The hard drive is the part of the computer with the shortest life span.

Now I'm getting curious:

Is this the solution for games with limited activations?

What if the person who has the game in question wants to sell/trade it?

Can/does anyone have any other solutions to getting around these 5 activations?

Are these activations bond to the particular computer only or to the person who bought it?

As I asked this last question, in order to activate the game, does the person have to register?

What if the person deletes the game, reformats the HDD, or reinstalls/upgrades their OS and then reinstalls the game?

Here we do not sell or trade games that need activations.

If you want more activations - contact the seller and see if they will send you more. Just be sure you have proof of purchase.

The activations are for the person that bought the game.

Yes - you have to register at the place you bought the download from.

The last question is answered above. You can install using one of your 5 activations.

I dont think any adventure games deserved to be sold for that much in the last 3 years. Heavy rain was the only one i liked.

I switched to rpg...Better story, better npcs, better graphics...

We need to ask more from these *Adventure games milk cows*

"Originally Posted By: Mad
I suppose the solution for a game with limited activations is to never uninstall it - just delete the saves and start over ??"

It will be gone if your hard drive fails.
The hard drive is the part of the computer with the shortest life span.

I have a large capacity external drive onto which any download I want to keep is copied.

But, apart from that, unless "burning a copy for storage" is allowed, a person could be just plain stymied ??

None of these methods free a person from the constraints of "activation codes" of course !!