I'm current playing Syberia on a tablet PC (HP TC1100, circa 2003). The game works very well with it, but maybe I'm missing something with the controls (a pen that can replicate a mouse, yes, even right-clicks). I can't for the life of me find a way to skip or jump certain scenes. I mean sometimes I had to go back and forth between 2 locations, separated with 6 scenes and trust me, it gets very tiresome. Running helps a little, but it is still a huge pain.

Is there any key shortcut to jump to the destination to save time? Sure the landscapes are gorgeous, but it is a pain not to be able to skip them.

Also, another annoyance is the mindbogglingly idiotic move they made that caused the ESC key to trigger the "goodbye" option for the "next" conversation piece. For instance, when you approach the rectors, even before you speak, they start a massive tirade. I had to restore the game, and I wanted to skip it. Well, if I made the unfortunate error of hitting ESC when the last dude was still speaking, then my next response would be "goodbye'" and here we go again. It would have been better if the ESC skipped the *current* conversation piece, unless the dialog menu is already showing, in which case ESC quits the conversation.

That's my rant.

Artaxerxes

The walking between locations has annoyed a few people. There is no way to skip to a new location I'm afraid. I found that this became less of a problem later on, as the locations became more constrained, so there were less screens to walk through. Syberia 2 also suffers less from this (in my opinion).

I'd advise against skipping any of the conversations, they all have significance. I'm afraid even one of the phone calls from your mother provides a vital clue in the game. I can't remember having any issues with pressing esc though. Perhaps I just got lucky.

I've never had a problem with the controls or any of the issues that the OP lists - perhaps they are to do with playing the game on a tablet? i've always played the game on a PC with a mouse.