53 replies to this topic

[Japofran]

I love the interface, the sound is cool, and the game is pretty scary. Only thing, I don't like the way Trilby walks.

[Sean]

I've started playing it, pretty good so far bit confusing though. Been a long time since I played 5DAS. A "flashback" summary would have been appreciated. Ah well. Also, I can't find a place I am suppoused to go to but it seems like it's location should be glaringly obvious. I need a map

[Juni Ori]

Aristharus, on Jun 27 2006, 09:12 PM, said:

Parsers are cool, I'd wish more games would use them. You can't click randomly around to progress in the game with a parser.

And I download and tried the game.. It feels pretty damn good so far.

True, you have to guess what's the synonym the game maker was thinking of instead of the word that you clearly have already logically concluded...

[Japofran]

Well that depends on how well crafted the game is. If it's good the game should understand many synonyms, if it was programmed in a hurry it won't. For now I have but tried the beginning, so I can't tell.

Anyway if someone doesn't remember about 5DS this would be the perfect excuse to replay such great game. I myself might be doing just that when I get to this.

[DeathDude]

Well just beat the game today, thought it turned out well all around. As for recognizing synonyms think it does a good job with quite a bit of recognization of words that are used, not exactly easy to put a wide range but thought the game did a good job.

[Aristharus]

Exactly, I didn't have any problems (at least yet) with choosing the correct words. Of course a badly made parser is horrible, so if you're too lazy to make it good, it's better to stick with a mouse interface, but still, it never beats a good parser.

Or maybe it's just that I grew up around classic Sierra adventures old enough to have parsers. Space Quests, Police Quests, Leisure Suit Larry.. Well, at least LSL2.. Man, those were good games.

[Stroggy]

I had a problem finding the correct command for the following action:

[slight spoiler]






In the flashback where you have to slide the painting under the door it clearly says that there is a wide gap underneath the door. Thus I tried a variety of words and combinations in order to push the painting though the gap, until it dawned on me to simply push the painting under the door.

[/slight spoiler]

[DeathDude]

Yeah think for that one I used myself use painting under door or something with the word use in that capacity.

[Aristharus]

I got that one right with the first try, without looking at the door or noticing a gap. I think I just wrote "Slide painting under door" and it worked. But you're right, in that situation there should be more ways to do it, and at least it should recognize "gap".

[Blood-Pigggy]

This has taken a step backwards, there's a reason people decided to have point and click instead, just annoying.

[Stroggy]

Now parsers aren't a bad thing, intrinsically.
It is just that the parsers doesn't add anything in this case.
Whereas the parser could make it easier to do things that would otherwise be difficult to implement using simply 4 pictographic commands (such as, for example, "remove the shoelaces from the shoe and tie them into a knot")
However, in this case I have not yet encountered any problem that could not simply have been approached by using a point-and-click/4 commands interface.

At first I thought perhaps it would add something extra to the narrative as you would be able to examine things in a way that wasn't possible before. However, this is not the case. When issuing a command that does not fit the immediate context (search corpse, move corpse, taste mystery meat) it just gives you either the standard reply or a variation of "I don't understand that", which is a shame as a parser would allow - and indeed encourages - such variation.

I am reminded of what Al Lowe said about Leisure Suit Larry :

Quote

Since Mark Crowe’s background graphics were so detailed (especially for the state of the graphics art back then), I ended up adding hundreds of "look at that thing" messages. To keep the player interested, I tried to make the messages that gave clues clear and to make the rest humorous.

[Japofran]

I like parsers myself. Most people may prefer point and click buth then again most people has made Windows almost the only OS around.

[Blood-Pigggy]

Parsers are good, but the thing is that most people don't know how to put them in their games properly, which is why they should be left alone, flops like the Lurking Horror or other nonsense are proof of that.

[RyGuy]

I need help. If you haven't played yet, DON'T READ THE WHITE WRITING!

spoiler said:

I'm in the first flashy thing and I just opened up the office door. I have the pliers from the bar and I can't open the safe or the door that was nailed shut with boards. I need a walkthrough for times like these.

Edit by Tom:
Fixed your spoiler

[DeathDude]

Spoilers

spoiler said:

There's nothing you need in the office, so head back to the dining room and the pliers are too weak to take down the boards on the right, but the body hanging on the left you can take down, use pliers on nails and then you'll be able to enter the bathroom

Edit:
Fixed yours too.