End of Ages is a very good game. It has its problems, yet holds up well. With Win7 64bit there were no problems to report. Just install and play. No need to do any extra configuring. The graphics are still quite good (in options you may need slide the settings up to max). Personally, I very much dislike the move away from fmv of earlier games but its tolerable. Overall, I was impressed how good it still looks. The gameplay in this one allows from slideshow to free movement thanks to the 3d engine. I have always been disappoint in this as Riven (for example) looks better and is still just a fun if not more so. There are also various bugs such as the tablet creatures becoming stuck along with the tablet or even just the tablet. Also, the writing done on the tablet can be very picky causing you to redraw over and over again until its just right. There are no tutorials on what you need to put on the tablet, what to even do with it, or even what its for, so be prepared to be confused - it does take a while to learn what it can AND can't do. Some of the puzzles were too much work for me, I really dislike the one puzzle where you have to go all over the place to gather into needed for it. And a few other puzzles I would have never tried the solution. Another puzzle I tried everything including the actual answer but nothing got the result - it wasn't until looking up what the answer was that prompted another try where it finally worked. And yet another one I actually did have the answer but didn't know it. Other puzzles I completed without even doing them as intended. And one whole age I completed in two hours or so (which is less time than I spent on being stuck on just one puzzle listed above that I had no working solution for). You will be puzzled with this puzzle game. Even for 2012 its still a fun game. The story line is ok. I obviously don't like the story direction with Myst V and Uru so they will never receive higher scores than the first three Myst games [imo] - that and the lack of fmv, and the change to an 3d engine which just doesn't offer the incredible look of the earlier games. The ending also isn't as good. So I recommend if your looking into Myst like games. It has its problems but holds up well enough to enjoy.
So this review is based off of playing the game Riven in 2012. It does not work as well as it once did. PC played on includes Win8 64bit release preview. This gog.com version requires compatibility mode settings for Win xp or earlier to be able save the game and to view animations which are a must or you'll never make it through the game as the animations are required to play much of it. Also, there are frequent game lockups that have one exit CTRL-ALT-DEL and sign out the Windows user then sign back in. The view is 640x480 so its grainy and blocky yet quite good really for its age. You'll have to play in 640x480 fullscreen or with today's screen sizes it'll be so small you'd have to be a few inches from the screen to see anything. For the controls its mouse only. No keyboard in this one. Just LOTS of clicking. Click left, click right, click here and there, etc. That said the game is as fun as it was when it came out. (Besides the problems noted above which can cause lots of starting back at the beginning until the lesson is learned. Which also btw, isn't so bad as the more you explore the easier and faster you know what to do of which is mostly just exploring.) The game starts out with FMV that sets up everything. Your released and off you go exploring. In a flash you can travel much of the game and just keep figuring out how things work together to open up new areas. Without remembering anything from first playing Riven when it was released it didn't take long to get most of the game figured out. Its really not all that hard. Two of the later puzzles will require some thinking time if you want to or just look it up. So the game is actually not very long, the puzzles not that difficult (And how I do hate difficult puzzles!), fun if its your sort of game, and works barely well enough to play through with plenty of lockup exits included. I found it worth it - just barely.
LoL1 - This game is quite good despite numerous things such as the dated graphics, bad and limited inventory system, having to run out of room carrying around items makes selling them for the much helpful supplies annoying, and more. The worst point is that you need to rank up one character in rogue or you may find yourself not completing the game. LoL2 - I tried playing but do not like it at all... The inventory system is worse than LoL1. They make the hud move out from the other pieces and then collapse back in. Its a pain moving them all out and in. You can use a keyboard shortcut to bring out the inventory for instance, yet the way its done is so annoying. On top of that your character physically changes at times so you may get stuck often. You will find it aggravating. It also ruins the game if you ask me. If you read the FAQs then you'll find out you can get SERIOUSLY stuck later in the game by getting rid of items in your inventory that you didn't know you needed to complete the game and so you may never complete the game. I had to really change the controls around to be able to be only half-way happy with them. Unfortunately, the mouse CANNOT be used to control the weapon even though it lets you bind it.
If your on win7 64 you may need to change compatibility to win98 (if the game crashes like it did for me). The gog install doesn't add to windows game folder correctly (I fixed the broken registry items and all was fine). The game starts with a new case to solve and soon you'll be on your way. The ingame graphics are a nice step up from the earlier Tex games. But, I found the controls to be a big step back [at first] and then a slight step back after a while of adjustment. I mainly use a combination of keyboard & mouse + a lot of shift. The movement overlay is interesting, but too slow and cumbersome. The ingame video cutscenes are not going to fill your whole screen on today's monitors and resolutions, but its still good enough. The puzzles range from easy to brain racking. If you just want to get through the game in a timely fashion - I skipped and finished many from using 911. At least one requires ALT+F to skip. Sometimes you have no idea what your supposed to do so you might be running around in circles and may never notice something. I'm sure some have the patience and nothing else to do to spend time doing that and not look into the ingame hints section. There are a few times where the hints section does not help. It doesn't move onto the next step. So a faq in the internet might be needed. The game is fairly long. I didn't time it but it has to be at lest 10 hours if cheating the entire time. I probably about spent 15 or so. For a while you really don't have to save often but later on there are certain points where you better. Overall, I liked it enough to say if you like these kind of games and can deal with the feel of old games on modern PCs, then you will like this one. I liked it enough to keep at it to the very end.
This game was a pain back then and its even worse today. From horrible save points to save files constantly being overwritten, your 1st "weapon" [a ball] that can barely hit a target (which you must use btw), getting hurt from running into things (even worse since you have limited lives then you have to start over at the very bloody beginning), and even more. It truly is relentless and a major pain to play. It'll give you frustration like you've never known! There's nothing like all the 5 star reviews, "my fav childhood game" bah! That's not why you give a game 5 stars! If your the type that can't even muster to finish a 10 hour game (which I've finished a 90 hour game before) then this game is DEFINITELY NOT for you. I'm not even finishing this one! Its too frikin frustrating! Lasers will come out of my eye balls first!
