Syberia 2 is utterly gorgeous.

[Terry Penrod]

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What can I say after only playing a few minutes of the brand new Syberia 2 demo from Microids except that it is without a doubt the most beautifully rendered game ever made.

This thing is a masterful work of art that looks and sounds as good or better than any classic PC adventure game to date - and that is saying a whole lot. Everything from the elegantly icey, animated opening titles to the fully realized, snowbound Russian environment and weather effects to Kate Walker's 3D character model and voice-over are sheer perfection. But when her new, little baby polar bear tagalong buddy started following and made no less than two dozen unique, lovingy captured animated moves that felt precisely true to life (and very endearing), did I realize the amount of talent, artistry and hard work that went into just a simple set of transistional screens through the woodlands as Kate approaches a hideaway chateau in the misty mountains just as her mother calls her on the cell phone from New York.

In under five brief minutes, I can see that Benoît Sokal has set a new standard of creative excellence in interactive games that genuinely achieves high art in every aspect. He is both author and designer as well as art director and project team leader to the single finest piece of playable digital art ever produced on any system for any audience to date.

Frankly, I could not care less if the game has a single puzzle or if the plot even works. I would happily pay full price simply to walk through his astonishing game world, listen to the wonderful, original symphonic musical score, marvel at the subtle, multilayered ambient sound effects and watch Kate stroll along endlessly. It is the closest thing we have to a fine painting in full motion - and better yet, it is an interactive one that encompasses a richly detailed set of human and other very inventive characters who feel so real it is scary. The Syberia games have depth and complexity but such a clean, simple world and intuitiveness that the entire experience is a seamless joy to play.

IMO, Syberia 2 has already won Best PC GOTY and then some. If they gave out 6 stars for game quality this "mere sequel" deserves 7.

Cheers, Terry

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[Bruenor]

Wow, all that praise from a demo. Must be good, though I know that it's not my thing. Glad to hear your enjoying it.

Mara, Chylde, Gaim and a few others are playing it/want to play it, so I'm sure this is good news for them.

[Mara]

Yep, definitely good news! :):

[Dan Speziale]

I never played the first one. Is it necessary to enjoy this demo? I might pick it up anyway, since I've heard only great things about it.

[Circlebreaker]

I might have to try it out. I'm usually not such a fan of adventure games, but Benoit Sokal is a brilliant artist, and with the good things I keep hearing about the games I feel like I'm definitely missing something by not checking them out.

[Terry Penrod]

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CUT & PASTE FROM ANOTHER GAME FORUM:

I am grabbing Syberia 2 at Gamestop the very next time I'm near there and will be playing it as soon as posible. But in the meantime, www.JustAdventure.com posted a stunningly positive review of the sequel with a rare A+ rating and a note that if they could give a game a higher rating, they would in this case.

NOTE: Their reviews are right on the money 99% of the time and this one is by a particular reviewer I trust who shares the same taste in games and knows at least as much or more about the genre than I do. So when he / they rate a game that high, you can be sure it is as good as it gets.

Cheers, Terry

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[Jagndeke]

Whelp. guess I'll go DL the demo and have a look see for myself.

I've been playing Far Cry throughout the day today and the quality of graphics in FC are spoiling me rotten. Your description of the graphics in S2 has me itching to see just how good they are in comparison to FC.

[Terry Penrod]

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Just remember Jag that this is a classic style, story-driven PC adventure game with integrated puzzles / situations to solve and with no combat. Also please note that my comments are more to do with the artistic concept and artful execution of the design elements than the pure high-tech wizardry of the game programming. The overall effect is brilliant though.

Cheers, Terry

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[Chylde Roland]

I'd have to agree with you, Terry. I've been playing this game for a week now (off and on) and am loving every minute of it. I can't wait to see what's around the next bend in each area. I'm also finding that I'm really taking my time with it, and enjoying the puzzles and the amazing work of art that the game really is. I have yet to find a voice actor that is bad, every scene and every location is gorgeous, and it's all tied together with a cohesive and very believeable storyline.

I'm very impressed that a game of this calibre was released in what many consider to be a dying genre. My only hope is that Sokal continues developing this kind of game in the future, even though S2 is supposed to close out the story of Hans and Kate. I'd like to see what else he may set his mind to do.

[Terry Penrod]

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Well, after playing the demo and reading the first reviews, I had to have Syberia 2. So I went ahead and made a special trip to Gamestop last night and grabbed a copy. But being the PC game addict I am, I also decided to shop around a bit and quickly had no less than 5 in my bag including S2, Broken Sword 3, Gothic 2, Beyond Good & Evil and Mafia. Of course I still need to finish Max Payne and a few other AAA action titles along with several huge RPGs. So now the stack is even higher and every one of them is a really good PC game.

Almost bought Greyhawk / ToEE but am still a bit leary about all the reported bugs. Has anyone here played it all the way through with the latest official patch applied? Does it fix most or all the major bugs and is the game fully playable or not?

Cheers, Terry

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[Cap'n]

Let me know what you think of Broken Sword 3, Terry. I bought it recently and wish I could return it. Love adventure games (Syberia was excelent even though I never finished it. Lack of time.), but BS3 seemed to be sorely lacking. Besides the fact they continue to use Starforge copy protection which is spastic at best (causes my machine to wait 5mins before the game will actually load), the game just seems to be a mess. Maybe I need to give it more time, but I got a bad feeling about it.

[Jagndeke]

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But being the PC game addict I am, I also decided to shop around a bit and quickly had no less than 5 in my bag including... Gothic 2.

Gothic 2 is, in my opinion, an amazing game. I loved every minute of it. I hope you played Gothic 1 first as the it is tied in very nicely to the second game. You will find quite a few G1 areas are included in G2. Some people may think this was a ploy on the developers part to add filler and make a larger overall second game. However, the manner in which it was done was completely suitable and tied in perfectly.

Hope you enjoy it.

[Gaim Mastr]

RE: Syberia II

Thanks for the info !!

I'm really wanting this game and will be picking up a copy soon. :yes:




RE: Temple of Elemental Evil

Professional Reviews (http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/589356.asp)

And when you've finished with those worthless things, check out my own review (http://www.gamersmultiverse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1466) of the game. Which lead to this discussion (http://www.gamersmultiverse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1471&page=1&pp=20&highlight=ToEE).

Before the first patch was released, we had this bug list (http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=324169). After that patch we STILL have this bug list (http://www.co8.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=647).

The ToEE fiasco is right up there with (if not surpasses) the Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor fiasco. Sadly, both are official D&D titles.

One of Troika's programmers had worked on the second patch through his Christmas vacation, and without any promise of payment from Atari. A few months later, Atari had said that the second patch would be released this April 19th. It's now April 27th and no word from Atari other than "it exists".

But if you're a true masochist and decide to buy the game anyways, you may want to make reference of my ToEE hex editing thread (http://www.gamersmultiverse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1350&highlight=ToEE).

As much as I support game publishers, developers and financial backers, ToEE is a dud. But, the implementation of turn-based combat system was very well done. Hopefully we haven't seen the last of that little piece of engineering feat.

[Terry Penrod]

'

Much thanks for all the info GM.

Think I'll wait and see if they release the new patch as promised and then (assuming they do) read the player comments about it before bothering with the game. I love D&D CRPGs and turn-based combat like Fallout 1 & 2. Also enjoyed Arcanum quite a bit. But life is just too short to fool with bug-ridden games when there are so many good, well coded ones around.

Am just starting Arx Fatalis with the final patch right now and it was a bit awkward at first. But once you get the hang of the magic casting system and slightly sluggish movement / combat controls, it really gets good. Of course, at this stage, the graphics seem dated and it is pretty dark / claustrophobic. However, the story is terrific so far and I'm lovng it.

Cheers, Terry

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[Terry Penrod]

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Let me know what you think of Broken Sword 3, Terry. I bought it recently and wish I could return it. Love adventure games (Syberia was excelent even though I never finished it. Lack of time.), but BS3 seemed to be sorely lacking. Besides the fact they continue to use Starforge copy protection which is spastic at best (causes my machine to wait 5mins before the game will actually load), the game just seems to be a mess. Maybe I need to give it more time, but I got a bad feeling about it.


It will be a while before I get around to playing BS3 Cap'n but I've heard pretty good things about the game. Never read of any technical problems with it though and will just have to keep my fingers crossed.

Cheers, Terry

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[Terry Penrod]

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Gothic 2 is, in my opinion, an amazing game. I loved every minute of it. I hope you played Gothic 1 first as the it is tied in very nicely to the second game. You will find quite a few G1 areas are included in G2. Some people may think this was a ploy on the developers part to add filler and make a larger overall second game. However, the manner in which it was done was completely suitable and tied in perfectly.

Hope you enjoy it.


I intended to buy them both at once but Gamestop was out of the original game. Am going to check online next but yes, I do plan to play them in the proper order.

Cheers, Terry

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[Terry Penrod]

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I'd have to agree with you, Terry. I've been playing this game for a week now (off and on) and am loving every minute of it. I can't wait to see what's around the next bend in each area. I'm also finding that I'm really taking my time with it, and enjoying the puzzles and the amazing work of art that the game really is. I have yet to find a voice actor that is bad, every scene and every location is gorgeous, and it's all tied together with a cohesive and very believeable storyline.

I'm very impressed that a game of this calibre was released in what many consider to be a dying genre. My only hope is that Sokal continues developing this kind of game in the future, even though S2 is supposed to close out the story of Hans and Kate. I'd like to see what else he may set his mind to do.


I agree that it is a real work of art but am not too disappointed that Syberia 2 will complete the story.

What Sokal might do though is create all new adventures for our intrepid Kate Walker. She is the most well-rounded female character to come along in quite a while and ranks up there with Grace Nakimura and April Ryan as the best female PC adventure game leads ever. WAY better than Laura Croft IMO because she reacts so realisitically on every level, grows emotionally, has flaws and relies mostly on her wits to get by instead of super human acrobatics and ridiculously cartoonish combat skills.

One thing's for sure though, no matter what Sokal does next, I will watch with great interest.

Cheers, Terry

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[Terry Penrod]

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FYI:

Just in case anyone missed them, here is a link to a whole bunch of beeyooteeful screen shots from Syberia 2:

http://www.ggmania.com/full.php3?show=5641

Cheers, Terry

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[Gaim Mastr]

uh-hem........ here's another place (http://www.3dgamers.com/screenshots/games/syberia2/) to check out some great Syberia II screenshots.

:wink:

[Impresario]

Sokol has said in interviews that we can expect the further adventures of Kate Walker but the Hans saga ends with Syberia II. Terry you're right that she is one of the better female protagonists - I just wish that someone for once would call her Kate instead of kate Walker. It's like a mantra Kate Walker, Kate Walker, Kate Walker...grrr getting on my nerves heh. I agree that Grace Nakimura is cool. I'm jonesing for a GKIV...I wonder if it'll ever happen - GKIII was an extraordinary adventure game.

[Terry Penrod]

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Sokol has said in interviews that we can expect the further adventures of Kate Walker but the Hans saga ends with Syberia II. Terry you're right that she is one of the better female protagonists - I just wish that someone for once would call her Kate instead of kate Walker. It's like a mantra Kate Walker, Kate Walker, Kate Walker...grrr getting on my nerves heh. I agree that Grace Nakimura is cool. I'm jonesing for a GKIV...I wonder if it'll ever happen - GKIII was an extraordinary adventure game.


Unfortunately, given the direction that Sierra and their parent companies have taken in recent years and the fact that Jane Jensen just signed a VERY long-term contract with Dreamcatcher / TAC to create a fresh, new, non-Gabriel Knight PC adventure game series - the likelihood we will ever see GK4 looks rather dim.

To add even more credence to that negative opinion, a couple of years ago, a number of ardent fans including myself answered Jane Jensen's call for public support for GK4 on the official Sierra Adventure Game forums and followed it up with a very supportive personal e-mails to her (also at her invitation). But there just was not a large enough active community to impress the beancounters upstairs and nothing ever came of that little grass roots movement.

A real shame too because IMO, the GK franchise is the pinnacle of "realistic" classic-style PC adventure games and the proprietary 3D engine used in the third and final game showed a great deal of promise. An even better high-res version could easily exist by now - along with at least one more gripping episode.

Cheers, Terry

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