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awesome indie games: the DeFoe adventure tetralogy
UncleSporky
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I've seen this in a few topics here every once in a while, particularly back when we had the 1213 thread a year ago. I finally played this series for the first time and I have to say, it's really spectacular.
The DeFoe tetralogy (also known as Chzo Mythos) is a set of four horror adventure games in the style of classic Sierra/LucasArts. The graphics aren't fantastic, although they are charming and classic-feeling, and the writing more than makes up for them. In fact, I prefer getting creeped out from good writing moreso than seeing a ghost pop out and try to make you jump (although there's some of that too!).
The puzzles are relatively easy (relative to the old classics). There aren't very many inventory items in any of the games. I consider that a good thing, since there aren't so many "guess the item" puzzles and you can experience the full story more cohesively, rather than getting stuck for a few days. Oh, and one other note: you can die in all of these games (IIRC) so be sure to save often.
It's important to play them in order. Unfortunately the four games are named unintuitively and also take place at wildly different times.
5 Days (recent past) -> 7 Days (far future) -> Trilby's Notes (after 5 Days) -> 6 Days (future)
5 Days a Stranger
The most classic-feeling of all the games. Also the simplest in terms of presentation, but it's still great. Definitely a Maniac Mansion vibe from this one. As a standard ghost/murder mystery, the author probably didn't intend for the story to grow as much as it did in later games.
Control is pretty simple, just look/use/talk and an inventory. Great sound effects, but the music was borrowed from RPG Maker.
7 Days a Skeptic
A lot like the previous game only in space. Similar themes and style, better UI. You'll probably wonder how the hell this futuristic game is connected to the previous one, and I recommend you play it to find out. Not sure what else to say, it's a solid part of the series but it only gets better from here.
Trilby's Notes
The goriest of all the games, and starting to get a lot more serious. The story is told in first person through Trilby's notes (shocker) in a sort of noir style. It also feels very inspired by Eternal Darkness, in that there's a Cthulean horror and scenes played from other characters' points of view. It's also a lot more story driven and because of this is more linear, but this is a good thing because the writing is awesome. The music and sound effects are also great and really creepy.
This one plays more like the old King's Quests, moving with the arrow keys and typing out commands. Consequently there's at least one annoying "guess the verb" puzzle, but it usually works as well as the previous games.
This game is my favorite, I think.
6 Days a Sacrifice
Lots of story in this one, which ties together everything in all the previous games. It's also the most cryptic and weird, mixing events in the future and past together leading up to the climax, which I think is ultimately satisfying despite being odd as hell. Very linear because it's so story-driven.
The controls go back to the style of the second one which is probably for the best.
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You can download all the games here, along with 1213 which has a similarly creepy story but plays like Flashback/Out of This World.
The DeFoe tetralogy (also known as Chzo Mythos) is a set of four horror adventure games in the style of classic Sierra/LucasArts. The graphics aren't fantastic, although they are charming and classic-feeling, and the writing more than makes up for them. In fact, I prefer getting creeped out from good writing moreso than seeing a ghost pop out and try to make you jump (although there's some of that too!).
The puzzles are relatively easy (relative to the old classics). There aren't very many inventory items in any of the games. I consider that a good thing, since there aren't so many "guess the item" puzzles and you can experience the full story more cohesively, rather than getting stuck for a few days. Oh, and one other note: you can die in all of these games (IIRC) so be sure to save often.
It's important to play them in order. Unfortunately the four games are named unintuitively and also take place at wildly different times.
5 Days (recent past) -> 7 Days (far future) -> Trilby's Notes (after 5 Days) -> 6 Days (future)
5 Days a Stranger
The most classic-feeling of all the games. Also the simplest in terms of presentation, but it's still great. Definitely a Maniac Mansion vibe from this one. As a standard ghost/murder mystery, the author probably didn't intend for the story to grow as much as it did in later games.
Control is pretty simple, just look/use/talk and an inventory. Great sound effects, but the music was borrowed from RPG Maker.
7 Days a Skeptic
A lot like the previous game only in space. Similar themes and style, better UI. You'll probably wonder how the hell this futuristic game is connected to the previous one, and I recommend you play it to find out. Not sure what else to say, it's a solid part of the series but it only gets better from here.
Trilby's Notes
The goriest of all the games, and starting to get a lot more serious. The story is told in first person through Trilby's notes (shocker) in a sort of noir style. It also feels very inspired by Eternal Darkness, in that there's a Cthulean horror and scenes played from other characters' points of view. It's also a lot more story driven and because of this is more linear, but this is a good thing because the writing is awesome. The music and sound effects are also great and really creepy.
This one plays more like the old King's Quests, moving with the arrow keys and typing out commands. Consequently there's at least one annoying "guess the verb" puzzle, but it usually works as well as the previous games.
This game is my favorite, I think.
6 Days a Sacrifice
Lots of story in this one, which ties together everything in all the previous games. It's also the most cryptic and weird, mixing events in the future and past together leading up to the climax, which I think is ultimately satisfying despite being odd as hell. Very linear because it's so story-driven.
The controls go back to the style of the second one which is probably for the best.
---
You can download all the games here, along with 1213 which has a similarly creepy story but plays like Flashback/Out of This World.
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-Louis C.K.
Anyway, most of the deaths are based on timing, yes, but the antagonists aren`t exactly fast. You always have at least 10-15 seconds to do something, even if it´s just running away, and none of them felt "cheap" to me.
There are points when you can die, but most of them are pretty obvious.
Plot spoilers:
A question though, is there a shortcut to cycle through the action buttons?
PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
I got stuck on the final boss of episode 2. He was a real pain to beat. I need to go back and play it again, because I really liked it. The DeFoe series is very similar.
猿も木から落ちる
Where are you stuck?
downloading now
In the first game you can use the F1-4 keys to cycle. The other games are designed a bit better.
But I didn't make them!
Although they have inspired me hard enough to look into the system he used to make them...
I was totally stuck trying to do anything at all, but then glanced at a FAQ that told me just the right book to get the map out of.
And then I swore.
And then I decided maybe I'm just not patient enough for this game.
猿も木から落ちる
5 Days a Stranger is by far the worst when it comes to weird puzzles and pixel hunts, but it improves as time goes on. By 6DaS, there is almost never a point where you don't know what to do.
Also the controls suck. He had a great thing going on with 7DaS, why'd he have to go and ruin it?
Trilby was certainly my least favorite, because of the text parser. Sorry, I don't want to waste time on a puzzle because I got a word wrong (and it happened a few times). I just used a walkthrough and watched the story develop. If I were you, I'd stop after Trilby's Notes.
Also, we should turn this into an indie adventure game thread, because there are quite a few good ones out there. One I just finished and really liked was Reactor 9. It's about a prison inmate who has to shut down a reactor during a meltdown. Straightforward with logical puzzles, which I liked. Also multiple endings.
Then there is Beneath a Steel Sky, which was a commercial game that was released for free a little while ago. I think it requires SCUMMVM to use.
Beneath a Steel Sky has some issues as a game (I think it is abrupt in some parts - almost unfinished) but is a great adventure. It's up there with the old Sierra and Lucas titles. A little more mature of a subject than most of the Lucas titles, less frustrating than some of Sierra's (you can die, I think. But I think they give you fair warning) but funny and interesting.
edit: Indie game "Emily Enough" entertained me. Goofy, at times, but the music alone is worth it.
The official AGS website has a good search feature. It allows you to go based on ratings, length and awards.
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/
And by the way, the commentary is text-only. The action stops, and the writer appears in the upper-right corner and explains what he intended with this-and-that or he clarifies what's going on or sometimes he's just saying things like 'it'd be nice if I'd (...), but oh well.' It was worth those five bucks, at the very least.
I'm pretty sure you have an infinite supply of them until a certain point in the game when it's part of a puzzle.
Otherwise, I love the tetralogy and I have changed my pants on multiple occasions. It went so far that I thought he was walking around in my flat at night. Damn you excellent writing!
I really don't know what I'm supposed to be doing here aside from investigate the house. Am I missing something really obvious here or am I just a dmubass?
Right. I was curious whether Yahtzee explains that in his commentary or somewhere.
Check near the bottom.
I kind of disregarded them at first, but I think I will have a look later.