Someone said it right when they said that the way to play Silence is after a long, hard day, bundled up by the fire, with a cup of hot tea. It's a charming, sometimes funny, sometimes tearful game about a brother and a sister that end up in a magical world. After the Whispered World, the focus seems to have shifted from mere beauty and puzzles to the presentation of a game as a whole. Gone is the irritating voice actoring and a lack of an interesting plot. Silence starts off with a gripping opening and presents you with characters you actually care for. I fell in love with Remie right away and her little quips and gestures. Her actress is great. The acting in general is light years ahead of the first game's. The animation, especially Remie's, is pretty good too, especially for such a small studio. The soundtrack is one of the best parts. I found myself listening to it again and again. The setting is quite beautiful. New projection technology was used to create the most 2D looking 3D scenes I've ever laid eyes on. Passing through certain spots felt like stepping inside a painting. The puzzles are what you might describe as being on the casual side, but I see that as a benefit. If Silence's puzzles were harder, I feel they would've gotten in the way of the game's pacing. The game is not without flaws. Some of the dialogue is strange in a few places and overall, the plot could have been done better. Various people have also mentioned that the game is too short for the asking price. Well, length does not equal having a good time. The Whispered World was a lot longer, with a lot more puzzles, but I never got to play it past the opening scene because boredom set in and I had better things to do. I played Silence all the way through and enjoyed it a lot more. We put so much value in the length of games these days that we don't really notice what good value really is. Silence is a precious little gem in a market full of filler gameplay sludge. I think it's worth it.
This is a great soundtrack with some very emotional and beautiful pieces. I heard the music for the game and had to buy it. It's not perfect, but as a whole I think it's definitely a great collection of tracks. Have listened to it at least a few times. Definitely recommend it.
Who is the lady? What happened to her? Hold on.. Who is the dead man? Why is the dead man talking? Do the two of them know each other? What's the Process? What's a Passive Function and how do you activate it? What's Memory and how does it work? Who is Sybil? Who are all the other dead people? Who are the Camerata? Why did they want Red dead? But most importantly: Why should I care? Hot on the heels of Bastion's success comes Transistor, a game which takes the minimalist narrative style of Bastion and cranks it up to 11, so that during the first three hours you understand nothing. I imagine this was done for two reasons. One, because I suspect that the writer, Greg Kasavin, has fallen in love with dramatic, cryptic narration. Two, because the plot is actually incredibly simple and the dramatic, cryptic narration helps stretch the story across 7 hours and to make it look deep and complex. Here is that entire complex plot, revealed in the last few hours of the game: A terrorist group activates a cyber program that goes out of control and starts destroying everything. That's it. Other trivial details, such as why Red was chosen for assassination, are negligible. Both because they are introduced anticlimactically via info-cards and because.. what does it matter? Ico made players fall in love with its characters by conveying their emotions through animation. Transistor opts out of even this. So what are we left with? Environments are beautifully illustrated by Supergiant Games veteran, Jen Zee. Composer Darren Korb creates another wonderful soundtrack, hauntingly sung by Ashley Barrett. The combat mechanics, if you can understand how they work, are interesting in that they allow you to combine abilities in numerous ways. But in abandoning characters that speak to each other in clear human language, Transistor sacrifices characters to love, a story to understand, and a game that feels like a waste of time. Dear reader, go play Bastion.
A lot of reviews have covered similar ground, so I'll try to stick to points I haven't seen. Here are things I wish I knew before spending lots of money: - Story starts really well but becomes generic and derivative very quickly. This is nowhere near the storytelling of Planescape: Torment, or even Baulder's Gate. There's lots and lots of text, but a lot of it is pseudo medieval fantasy speak with little actual substance. - Only the first 5 or so enemies of every enemy type give you XP for killing them. This design choice was made by devs to discourage XP farming and use alternate means of passing through dungeons. However, lots of enemies are unavoidable and if you want to explore, you have to fight everything. There are a LOT of enemies to fight. I spent close to 30 hours fighting for no XP because I couldn't avoid the monsters. - Max character level is 12, which means that you'll only get to have a few of the very long list of character upgrades available. - Know that many attack spells effect allies (i.e. friendly fire), especially spells for early levels. Lots of spells are cast on spots on the ground, rather than the target itself. That means you have to predict where your target will be in 2-3 seconds. And a target standing still one moment is likely to move. Combine that with ally damaging spells, and you get a very ugly picture. - The Stronghold is almost a complete waste of cash. Devs clearly did not want you to become overpowering by using the Stronghold. However, you're asked to spend 50% of all coins you'll ever earn in game to buy all of its upgrades. That fooled me into thinking there would be a payoff. But there's very little, if no benefit at all. - Environments are beautiful, however. And lots of dialogue, especially for the mainquest, is voiced and voiced well. - Overall, Pillars is closer to an improved version of Icewind Dale than a Baldur's Gate equal. And you will not fall in love with your teammates in Pillars like you did in Baulder's Gate.
"Dreamfall Chapters: Book 1" has a very weak beginning, a strong middle, and a mixed bag of gameplay mechanics, one of which keeps giving you spoilers. If it wasn't for Europolis, a fantastic cyberpunk city that feels incredibly alive, "Book 1" would have sunk The Longest Journey series. Firstly, the game opens with a spoilers ridden text intro that I recommend you skip (press SPACE). TLJ saga then continues exactly where it ended in "Dreamfall," with a very touching 40 second cutscene. My heart was pumping until the actual game started and the dialog was plagued by weak, cliche writing. "You have light inside you. Focus on the light and ignore the darkness." Followed by a trip to Arcadia, where everyone uses this melodramatic, Hollywood version of "LOTR" fake Medieval fantasy speech. What's worse, the game kept telling me when a dialog choice I picked affected the plot. One bit that could have been a real surprise in Book 1 is spoiled at the very start of the game! I don't know why the game developers chose this spoilers ridden approach. I was ready to quit playing 2 hours in, when suddenly I reached Europolis and the storytelling quality made a 180 degree turn. Characters came to life. Dialog dropped all cheesy overtones - became believable and funny, like it was in "TLJ." Zoe, for the first time since her introduction to this series, recieved actual personality and depth. The cyberpunk city of Propast was immersive and buzzed with life. It got me hooked. Gameplay wise, object selection interface is the best it's ever been. Usable objects simply become "highlighted" and interactive when you're nearby. Hearing Zoe's thoughts for every "choice" prevents you from misunderstanding it. It's true that puzzles are nowhere near as challenging as they were in "TLJ," but then, let's be honest, "The Longest Journey" isn't hailed as a masterpiece because of its puzzles. In the end, it took me 10 hours to complete "Book 1." It is a worthy addition to the series.
