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A unique casual indie game from Mountains and Annapurna Interactive is now available on GOG.COM. The main protagonist of Florence seems a little stuck in her everyday routine, consisting of work, sleep, and social media activities.

Then one day, she meets a cello player named Krish. Suddenly her life changes completely…
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rob.liefeld: Bought it, played it, wrote a quick review on it.
Check the store page ;)
Good review - very informative without spoiling anything.
Post edited February 14, 2020 by MarkoH01
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OHMYGODJCABOMB: And I'm tired of rejected games that have a lot more votes on the community wishlist than this one.

Since when should I have less rights to express my opinion than DerBesserwisser?
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firstpastthepost: You have the right to express your opinion. You don't have the right to avoid consequences or criticism for doing so though.
Obligatory xkcd
Just wanted to take the time to SHIT all over the whiners in this thread not wanting a game that's not for them be sold to all the others gogers who are the audience for this one.

Have a very shitty day. :)

ps: 5€, it's less than a sandwich, FFS, you take way less than half an hour to eat it. How much of a cheapskate can you be?
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zgrillo2004: game looks like it was made for SJWs
I actually get what you're saying but "SJWs" is too overused and unspecific these days.
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zgrillo2004: game looks like it was made for SJWs
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tfishell: I actually get what you're saying but "SJWs" is too overused and unspecific these days.
Didn't you know? If there's a love story in it it's for SJWs.

Final Fantasy 7 was the biggest SJW game that's ever been made. :)
Please be kind to each other while posting.

While the individual posts haven't quite crossed the line, the tone of the thread as a whole looks to be going toward the hostile side of conversation.

Edit: To hopefully help clarify, I want to let people talk, but I'd like to head off the personal attacks that I'm kind of expecting to turn up if the thread continues on its current trajectory.
Post edited February 15, 2020 by Bookwyrm627
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Lodium: hmm, the art style seamed a bit simplistic from the screenshots alone
allthough this does not have to be a negative
the price also seamed a little steep for a 30 min game
can Anyone that have played it give some impressions?
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rob.liefeld: Bought it, played it, wrote a quick review on it.
Check the store page ;)
Thank you wery much
Thank you for another nice game.

I like the story.
I like the art.
I like the low price.
And I even like short games.
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Tarhiel: I still have it in my backlog, so I would assume it will be released here as well.

I haven´t played it yet, but based on Steam reviews so far, people are happy with how it turned out.
It took them long time to develop it, one of the games with longest "inDev" status here.
GOG is now more careful with who they allow on board in InDev - usually that game is not far from release.
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nightcraw1er.488: Well, it was removed completely:
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/removal_of_wolcen_lords_of_mayhem/page1

That’s not to say that there might not be a full release here at some point, though I suspect the whole business has soured sellers and customers alike so would not hold out hope.
Well, that has slipped my mind :/
I really do hope game will appear here once it is more polished.
OST:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA9D771MDOQ



0:00 - 01 Florence
2:03 - 02 Adult Life
3:32 - 03 Memories
6:05 - 04 Music
7:53 - 05 Crash
10:08 - 06 First Dates
11:50 - 07 Dreams
13:19 - 08 Inspirations
15:54 - 09 Exploration
17:43 - 10 Groceries
20:12 - 11 Moving In
22:07 - 12 Happy Together
24:15 - 13 Routine
25:49 - 14 Erosion
27:48 - 15 Fight
30:03 - 16 Drifting
31:31 - 17 Moving Out
33:38 - 18 Fragments
35:04 - 19 Let Go
37:37 - 20 Wake up / Moving On
Post edited February 15, 2020 by i_hope_you_rot
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BreOl72: It's simply so, that in the case of these two games, both - GOG and the Publishers - had an interest to release these games here.
Tl;dr: low number of wishlist votes != automatic rejection.
Here's the problem: many of us are trying to figure out why GOG's "interest" varies so much AMONG the releases that publishers are willing to bring here.

There is a pattern of GOG having interest in low wishlist vote games that their publishers want to bring here, like this release and Sally Face, where the wishlist votes were literally in the single digits...WHILE, at the same time, GOG is not having interest in higher wishlist vote games that publishers also did (apparently) want to bring here, like Agony Unrated.

While you, and others, are quite correct that low wishlist votes should not preclude a game from coming here, it seems to me that priority should go to games with high wishlist votes that the publishers are willing to bring here. But I'd be fine even without "priority"...I just want to see some of the big rejected games not be rejected particularly in light of what other games do get accepted.

Another way of looking at it is:
If Florence, Sally Face, Kunai are accepted here, cool, but let's also have Agony Unrated, Fall of the Dungeon Guardians, and we should've had Grimoire many months earlier too. The problem is that the former sort of games are getting consistently accepted while the latter (adult-only games and dungeon crawlers) are getting consistently rejected. Until those latter games start getting accepted, I assume there will be confusion and backlash from customers due to what can only be perceived as a double standard. Another howler was when Legends of Amberland got rejected apparently for having too simplistic graphics without shadows, around the same time Reventure got released here. Given that we keep seeing this type of pattern, it's no wonder there are people complaining in new release threads. We don't want to hear that our RPGs are "too niche" while niche indie games that aren't RPGs keep getting accepted.
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rjbuffchix: If Florence, Sally Face, Kunai are accepted here, cool, but let's also have Agony Unrated, Fall of the Dungeon Guardians, and we should've had Grimoire many months earlier too. The problem is that the former sort of games are getting consistently accepted while the latter (adult-only games and dungeon crawlers) are getting consistently rejected.
I think what GOG aims to do is to provide a range of games that deliver unique playing experience or are notable in some way or another. Even when it comes to classic releases here, they usually fall into these categories: either "good" or "unique".

There isn't much point in overflowing the store with many generic games that contain essentially the same game mechanics as the games that are already here (plus that look like cheap effort like Legends of Amberland). I don't want to reopen the whole Grimoire debate, but in all fairness that game just screams of low programming quality, so it's not at all clear to me that GOG was wrong in not bringing it here initially. Yes, Florence may not be a very popular type of game, but it seems to me quite original, and I think that this quality weighs a lot.
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ReynardFox: When GOG has ignorantly rejected games that are literally top-of-their-genre in the past, and now seems to accept as many hyper-niche indie games of dubious quality as they can... yeah, I feel hard done by.
That is true. GOG originally rejected Tanglewood as a standard Mega Drive game in the still of The Lion King is considered "too niche". GOG eventually reversed their decision but it begs a question if they consider Tanglewood "niche" where do they draw the line?

I think looking at this logically if a thirty minute niche game like Florence GOG should be releasing more two/three plus hour hidden object games.
high rated
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rjbuffchix: Here's the problem: many of us are trying to figure out why GOG's "interest" varies so much AMONG the releases that publishers are willing to bring here.
There is a pattern of GOG having interest in low wishlist vote games that their publishers want to bring here, like this release and Sally Face, where the wishlist votes were literally in the single digits...WHILE, at the same time, GOG is not having interest in higher wishlist vote games that publishers also did (apparently) want to bring here, like Agony Unrated.
I can't speak for GOG, but I think I may have a hunch what makes them favour some games over others:

- games that are day one releases (like Florence), will be favoured over an already two years old game (Agony).
- games that are older, but generally bugfree (like Sally Face), will be favoured over a game that was bug-ridden at release and apparently still has problems with this (Agony).
- games with some new and/or interesting setting and/or mechanics (Florence) will be favoured over a game with a bland gameplay and broken gamemechanics (Agony).
- games that can be offered to all customers (Florence/Sally Face), might be favoured over a game which probably can't be sold to parts of their customers due to excessive violence (Agony unrated).
The last point is the least probable, since there are enough games in the store already, which can't be bought by certain customers (in Germany/Australia/China/etc.), due to regional restrictions.

Btw: here's an excerpt of a review text for Agony - see, whether you can find reasons, why GOG may have decided against a release:

Torture, orgies and infanticide.
Agony breaks some taboos in his portrayal of hell.
However, the game mechanics and technique also break in the process.
[...]
(The game) surpasses (its spiritual predecessors in art) in the details of his cruelties - but neglects playability and an interesting story.

Without sense and reason
You're a damned soul with no memory. Other people in hell recognize you and describe your deeds during your lifetime as disgusting.
But that is not really believable. This is not so much because of the claims themselves, but rather because of the way they are presented to us.
The few slides and monologues are presented with an irritating pathos. The damned may find countless synonyms to describe their tortures, but emotions like fear or desperation that are to be expected in hell never resonate.
Even the identification with the main character is hardly possible.
In the already thin main plot there is only very little information about her that would give us a better picture. She wants to escape from hell - that's all we know.
Her own soul does not reflect the events. She shows no fear, does not panic. No gasping, no heartbeat, no emotion. This apathy slowly transfers to you as player. After a while, you just don't know why you are struggling through all that blood and mesentery.
This is especially unfortunate, as you'll encounter interesting demons with their own personalities and rivalries among themselves. Apart from numerous documents and a few cryptic sequences they form something like a background story, at least in the beginning, which however is largely unimportant for your soul.
That's what nipped-in-the-bud potential looks like.

Stumbling through the afterlife
Bodies as empty shells. Ironically, this formulation also literally fits the game mechanics.
[...]
Agony buys this plus on athmosphere with a frustrating control, though.
As a human your basic speed is very slow. In principle not bad, if you wouldn't get stuck again and again at not visible edges and corners.
Also jump passages seem inaccurate and you rush into the depth, although you estimate distances correctly.
Annoying, because checkpoints are very irregularly distributed and you can sometimes lose a good 20 minutes of play time due to a tiny mistake.

A hell of a lot of mistakes
Except for rare exceptional scenes, you can't defend yourself against enemies; instead, you must evade them. These stealth passages usually take place in labyrinths, which give you enough freedom of movement. The monsters' routes seem random, but since you can hold your breath or throw a torch as a distraction, escaping them is relatively easy.
Running away is only useful, though, if there is a narrow passageway to the next room nearby. Without that, the creature will most likely catch up to you.
Of course a horror title needs a high degree of difficulty to convey a feeling of risk and inferiority.
But in Agony some scenes simply seem unfair because of sloppy programming.
At one point for example you are supposed to push a demon over a cliff. No matter how careful you are, the beast can still catch you while you're doing that.
[...]
...there's no cure to protect you against faulty scripted events.
What is disguised as puzzles in Agony, are actually rather boring search and collection tasks.
In order to open gates, you search labyrinths for hearts, skulls or other body parts. These end up in a bowl as an offering. Or you have to draw a sign on a tablet in blood, which is hidden somewhere in the surrounding area.
The game uses these tasks over and over again, with script errors appearing here as well.
Sometimes key events are not triggered and you have to restart an entire section.
In combination with the rather leisurely game speed Agony therefore becomes a test of patience.
[...]
But all this hypnotizing, disgusting nightmare has no deeper meaning for our protagonist.
In the end, Agony seems like a strange art installation that has been given no context.

The target group for agony is probably relatively narrow.
And even if you are a horror fan, you have to bite your way through an unfinished game.
I don't usually mind bumping into a few small inconsistencies, but we are talking about real game blockers that hinder the progress of the game.
Madmind Studio is working on patches right now, but even in our tested version (1.02) there were still major bugs.

Nevertheless: a gripping story with interesting characters will still be missing, but is something, which a good horror game actually needs.
The emotional level is missing, which creates a bridge to the player.
As it is, I feel more like a visitor in a gallery, staring at a framed picture on a white wall: I'm at a distance.
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FYI: most of the [...] describe the violent tortures and hellish nightmares contained in the game.
And it sure looks like that's all the game relies on, and what a certain subset of users are looking for.

The reviews on Steam are also pretty telling.
Mind you - the game got mainly bought by people who knew what they were getting into.

And most of the positive reviews are only full of praise about the level of depicted violence and gore.

Now, I don't know about you - but I look for a little bit more in a game.

As the reviewer wrote: The target group for Agony is probably relatively narrow.
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igrok: There isn't much point in overflowing the store with many generic games that contain essentially the same game mechanics as the games that are already here (plus that look like cheap effort like Legends of Amberland).
By that logic, we "should" only have a fraction of the rogue-like/rogue-lite games here...btw, I am a fan of that genre, so I am glad that's not the case. But it goes toward my point that it seems GOG plays favorites in picking games from genres. And while I know you are speaking on a "mechanical" level, if we go out further to a meta-level, I think it's certainly possible GOG could also get flooded with too many "unique, artistic" indies even though they may have different mechanics within them.