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Spirits keep their secrets too.

The Blackwell Bundle, a fantastic collection of four old-school point-and-click investigative adventures with a supernatural twist, is available on GOG.com 60% off until Thursday, October 11 at 10:59 GMT.

Meet Rosangela Blackwell, a New York writer/detective, as she takes on four mystery-packed cases in the company of her pale and transparent partner, Joe Mallone. "Pale and transparent? What's up with that?"--you might ask. Well, don't be alarmed, but Mr. Mallone died in 1930s. Luckily for him Mrs. Blackwell proves to be a medium and not only does she see the poor old chap, but also can easily communicate with him. Much to her own dismay--at first--as Joe turns out to be quite irritating for someone without a pulse. They, however, share one common passion: meddling in the many mysteries of the city that never sleeps.

In The Blackwell Bundle we follow the exploits of the unlikely detective duo as they investigate four cases balancing on the edge between crime and paranormal happenings. In the first chapter of our story, The Blackwell Legacy, we witness the beginning of an unwitting partnership, as Rosa Blackwell learns about her psychic heritage, meets the ghost of Joe Mallone, and stops a series of mysterious suicides. Blackwell Unbound acts as a prequel to the series and tells the story of Rosa's grandmother, Lauren Blackwell, who preceded her granddaughter as Joe's medium mystery-solving partner. Back in our times Blackwell Convergence pits Rosa and Joe against a tortured soul of a murdering lunatic, that's been haunting the Big Apple for decades. Finally, Blackwell Deception puts our detectives in harm's way as a sinister villain manipulates them for his own dark purposes. All of the stories feature top-notch writing, remarkable voice-acting, classic pixel-art graphics, and a multitude restless spirits.

Let Joe Mallone lead you and Rosa into the unknown realm of spirits roaming the ever-busy streets of New York in The Blackwell Bundle, 60% off--that's only $5.99 for the next 24 hours!
Hopefully, everyone on this site now has Blackwell.
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kalirion: Don't know what your problem was with Gemini Rue's voice acting - I've liked it in all the Wadjet titles I've played.
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StingingVelvet: I thought it was fucking terrible, so I played with written dialogue instead. Maybe that was just me.
I wasn't keen on the voice of... was he called The Director? I thought a lot of the other voice acting was 'ok'.
Ah, hopefully there will be new life in the blackwell series game forum on GOG.
Post edited October 11, 2012 by Senteria
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Senteria: Ah, hopefully there will be new life in the blackwell series game forum on GOG.
I wouldn't count on it. Resonance was on sale aaaaand nothing. Even people who requested a gift didn't post a line (*evil glare*). Individual game boards really need an overhaul and inter-board traffic. Out of the forums I watch, only Inquisitor is consistently active.
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Senteria: Ah, hopefully there will be new life in the blackwell series game forum on GOG.
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Starmaker: I wouldn't count on it. Resonance was on sale aaaaand nothing. Even people who requested a gift didn't post a line (*evil glare*). Individual game boards really need an overhaul and inter-board traffic. Out of the forums I watch, only Inquisitor is consistently active.
The age of wonders community is pretty active too.
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Senteria: Ah, hopefully there will be new life in the blackwell series game forum on GOG.
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Starmaker: I wouldn't count on it. Resonance was on sale aaaaand nothing. Even people who requested a gift didn't post a line (*evil glare*). Individual game boards really need an overhaul and inter-board traffic. Out of the forums I watch, only Inquisitor is consistently active.
Frankly, I'm not surprised. There's not a whole lot to talk about when it comes to adventure games. There are no strategies, tactics, different lines of approach, etc. and they have no mods, extra content, or the like. It's like reading books to me. I don't want other people to be able to spoil it, and once I'm done I may comment on a particular game every now and again, but it's really something people should experience for themselves. Other than asking for the occasional hint, I don't see the purpose for an adventure game forum that focuses only on one title.
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mistermumbles: Frankly, I'm not surprised. There's not a whole lot to talk about when it comes to adventure games.
I wrote 20 pages about a single adventure game. I had to cut a half because it was stupid in retrospect, but if it was on a forum I'd have posted the whole thing and, if anyone made a mistake of replying, 20 pages more of rebuttals, insults, and admissions of stupidity. I understand why people in general might not be interested in talking about adventure games, but I can't be the only one who is.
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mistermumbles: Frankly, I'm not surprised. There's not a whole lot to talk about when it comes to adventure games.
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Starmaker: I wrote 20 pages about a single adventure game.
I didn't understand. What was the context ?
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Starmaker: I wrote 20 pages about a single adventure game.
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Telika: I didn't understand. What was the context ?
???
Senteria: The Blackwell forum is nearly dead.
Me: So true, Resonance's is dead too, what a shame.
mistermumbles: Not surprising, there's not really much to talk about except hint requests and tech issues.
Me: Not true! I found 20 pages' worth of things to talk about in a single adventure game. If the adventure forums were more lively and attracted more of this sort of people, there'd be good old endless flame wars to which I'd have happily contributed.
No, I mean, what was the context in which, or for which, those 20 pages were written ?
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Telika: No, I mean, what was the context in which, or for which, those 20 pages were written ?
Trolling a dev via PM, trying to get him to admit he's wrong about setting and characters' motivations in his own game. He's being a good sport about it, while I feel compelled to do something useful in between rants, so I ended up having a huge backlog of yet-unmailed "compelling arguments".
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Telika: No, I mean, what was the context in which, or for which, those 20 pages were written ?
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Starmaker: Trolling a dev via PM, trying to get him to admit he's wrong about setting and characters' motivations in his own game. He's being a good sport about it, while I feel compelled to do something useful in between rants, so I ended up having a huge backlog of yet-unmailed "compelling arguments".
Okay, this made me laugh. (I hope it wasn't poor Dave Gilbert)

But in a way, I've got the impression that such adventure game discussions are more similar to discussions about novels and movies than about games. Gameplay-wise there isn't much to say (apart from exchanging hints about puzzles, and walkthroughs tend to kill this a bit). Not much strategies to exchange. You can digress about the plot itself, and the universe itself, which is done a bit less for other game genres. So, it's more about "story" discussions.

This may conciliate your both points of views. Not much to debate at a gameplay level (which is what these subforums are mostly used for), but sometimes a lot to say on a litterary level (even though adventure games meet too seldom the writing quality required for that).

I'd expect adventure games forums to have basically the size and level of activity of sums of threads discussing plots points only in other (decently written) games...
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Telika: Okay, this made me laugh. (I hope it wasn't poor Dave Gilbert)
Dave Gilbert is next (I hope).

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Telika: But in a way, I've got the impression that such adventure game discussions are more similar to discussions about novels and movies than about games.
Adventure games provide much more meat for discussion because of the obviousness of choices and consequences. Noninteractive stories are subject to varying interpretations, "let's agree to disagree", that sort of thing. In adventure games, what-ifs are hardcoded, nowhere else can nerdrage flow more freely.

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Telika: Not much to debate at a gameplay level (which is what these subforums are mostly used for), but sometimes a lot to say on a litterary level (even though adventure games meet too seldom the writing quality required for that).
Over at "...or games just SUCK" thread, I had a discussion with Fenixp about the relative merits of RPGs and adventures. While I feel that the adventure game framework is superior to that of an RPG (<insert compelling arguments>), the actual games the RPG genre offers are usually enjoyable and the average adventure is unplayable drivel. That game is of course an exception. Sweet, sweet exception.
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Starmaker: Adventure games provide much more meat for discussion because of the obviousness of choices and consequences. Noninteractive stories are subject to varying interpretations, "let's agree to disagree", that sort of thing. In adventure games, what-ifs are hardcoded, nowhere else can nerdrage flow more freely.
It's pretty rare that adventure games present actual "what if" branchings, though. They're more like "what if i hadn't thought of using the screwdriver on the calendar in the oven", not really explorations of alternate line of events. I don't think their linearity is much different from a novel's. If that's what you mean.

As far as I know, adventure games are not plants with ramifications. They're just stems with short thorns.
Yeah, stupid me forgot to buy and left it for the next day just to find out the promotion was over by then. Screw it, I'll just buy it full price, it was on my wishlist anyway.