Posted on: July 24, 2019
CharlieLima79
Possesseur vérifiéJeux: 638 Avis: 149
Funny, flawed games/interactive novels
In my early teens, I was curious about the ‘Spellcasting’ games. The problem was that my parents would definitely not buy them for me, and none of my friends had them. With all three games on GOG, I finally got the chance to play these coveted games -- in naughty mode naturally. But even then, I found the ‘Spellcasting’ games to be disappointing. The biggest problem with ‘Spellcasting’ is the time constraint it puts on the players. Part of the fun of adventure games is exploring, and trying different things to solve puzzles. In ‘Spellcasting’, each turn you take -- whether it’s walking, talking, sitting, looking, etc. -- takes up 5 in-game minutes. It’s frustrating that reading a sign, playing a music note, and engaging in dalliance with a woman all take the same amount of time. This critical design flaw sucks the fun out of adventuring. Some would argue that ‘Spellcasting’ are interactive novels. Even then, the time-consuming turns and time constraints only interrupt your enjoyment of the witty writing and humour. Instead of checking out what designer Steve Meretzky has to say about a person, object or location, you’d feel compelled to rush to get things done. I suppose you can just examine all the details on your first go, run out of time, and restore your game to complete your quests; but, that’s no way to play/read a game/interactive novel! Although ‘101’ is my favourite of the three games, it seems like a collection of non-cohesive puzzles. One in particular is unnecessarily protracted with 80 parts to it. Puzzles in ‘201’ and ‘301’ often require prescience of what the problems will be, so you must manage your time properly and obtain the needed objects beforehand. It’s as if nobody had told Meretzky that these puzzles make no sense. Perhaps my expectation were unrealistically high, but ‘Spellcasting’ is not what I thought it would be. I like some parts of it, but the bad put the series in a negative light. Maybe it’s for the best that we never got ‘401’.
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