The Book of Unwritten Tales!

Yep, found out tonight the English version was released. I was reminiscing about first-time experiences and why I can't find that feeling any more in modern games (e.g. Gothic -> Skyrim, The Longest Journey -> every modern adventure game) and it got 4,5/5 at AdventureGamers, so I went for it. I can never keep my attention on one game for more than a week. I mean .

Well, the quality is of the game is excellent, so it deserves the attention. The voice acting is probably the best I've ever heard in an adventure game, especially for a translation from a German game. Really very good! The graphics, characters, story and puzzles are of similar quality. This one comes recommended if you at all like point-and-click adventure games.

A follow-up, the so called "The Beast Chronicles" (I translate the German "Vieh" with "Beast" - this strange being in the game is meant !) were release only a few weeks ago.

Alrik Fassbauer said:

A follow-up, the so called "The Beast Chronicles" (I translate the German "Vieh" with "Beast" - this strange being in the game is meant !) were release only a few weeks ago.

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Vieh is not a word I know, is it proper German? Seems like its meaning is more like cattle. Anyway, interesting. Except that I need to concentrate on one game for once. I was only just getting into Skyrim, damn it, when I started remembering The Longest Journey and got this itch.

I think I need to put all my time into this game now for maximum effect. The story seems worth it.

Thaurin said:

Vieh is not a word I know, is it proper German? Seems like its meaning is more like cattle.

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Yeas, "Vieh" normlly means "Cattle", but it can be translated as "Beast" as well. "Vieh" is a very much derogating word. If someone doesn't like our home dog or cat at all, and wants to express disgust, then he or she uses the word "Vieh".
The variant (mostly in dialect) of "Viech" is even more derogating.
(With the "ch" pronounced much like in "Chipmunks".)
Compared to "Viech" the word "Vieh" is almost neutral in intention.

"Vieh" can also be used - similar to "Beast" as a neutral means to describe an animal you don't know anything about. Which looks very … "alien" to you. Like the "Vieh" of the game does.

But normally, "Vieh" indeed means just "Cattle".

http://dict.leo.org/ende?lp=ende&la...pe=relaxed&sectHdr=on&spellToler=&search=vieh

Ah, similar to Dutch "vee" then, but with extra meanings attached to it that we don't. Sorry, I'm kinda into languages. Explanations like this give a really great insight into a country and its people.

Now that we're talking about originally German adventure games, The Whispered World is 75% down on Steam again. I missed it last time, so I bought it immediately. Argh, at the one hand I feel good that I was able to get so many great games for a low price, but that's exactly what they want! Now I have way more games than I'll ever be able to play! Maddening!

I think I'll just give up social life and maybe my job.

Thaurin said:

Ah, similar to Dutch "vee" then, but with extra meanings attached to it that we don't. Sorry, I'm kinda into languages. Explanations like this give a really great insight into a country and its people.
….

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Then I guess I'm excused when I say that we have the same word in Norwegian: "fe", which … suprise, surprise … means "cattle", but is often used as an insult. Especially the form "fehode" (cattle head).

pibbur, who think that quite a lot of animals can be used as insults: pigs, dogs, apes, sheep… But as far as he knows, not cats.

Thaurin said:

Ah, similar to Dutch "vee" then, but with extra meanings attached to it that we don't.

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The insulting part is really rather slang or informal language.

Now that we're talking about originally German adventure games, The Whispered World is 75% down on Steam again.

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This, and the book of unwritten tales, both actualy won several prizes here in Germany ! Best games etc. …

pibbur0x2a said:

Then I guess I'm excused when I say that we have the same word in Norwegian: "fe", which … suprise, surprise … means "cattle", but is often used as an insult. Especially the form "fehode" (cattle head).

pibbur, who think that quite a lot of animals can be used as insults: pigs, dogs, apes, sheep… But as far as he knows, not cats.

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Yes, yes. I think, Art Spielberg's "Maus" is most grim example of that.

pibbur0x2a said:

Then I guess I'm excused when I say that we have the same word in Norwegian: "fe", which … suprise, surprise … means "cattle", but is often used as an insult. Especially the form "fehode" (cattle head).

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Ah, Germanic languages… a Norwegian friend enjoys the word "ananas", basically the same in all major languages except English. (It's pineapple.)

I already kind of forgot the exact pronunciation already of some Norwegian letters, but I'm sure "fe" is very similar. I should pick it up again. A year longer and I would be able to speak it, I'm sure. (Nowegian, not "fe" )

But "vee" in Dutch isn't really that common as an insult. I guess it could be used.

Alrik Fassbauer said:

This, and the book of unwritten tales, both actualy won several prizes here in Germany ! Best games etc. …

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Yes, yes. They are both very good, probably the best in recent years. Although for some reason the adventure genre picked up immensely at some point in the past few years and very many high-quality adventures have been released.

I'm kind of tempted to get Lost Horizon, too. It's 33% down on Steam, costing 20 euro, and it a kind of clichéd Indiana Jones type of adventure. Too many offers, I have to unplug the internet.

But The Book of Unwritten Tales is the clear winner of them all!

Lost Horizon also won several prizes ...

And ... Your impression seems to be right : I haven't played it yet, but Lost Horizon appears indeed to be kind of an cliché Indy Jones adventure ...

Not that I mind that, not at all. There are just too many adventure games on my HD now. Glad I bought The Whispered World, too.

Is it me, or is The Book of Unwritten Tales a bit on the easy side? That is, so far I have not really been stuck yet. And I usually do get stuck and run to the walkthrough like a little girl.

I think that was indeed one point of criticism : That it is a bit too easy.
I heard they "fixed" that with the Vieh Chroniken.

Not that I care. I've grown too impatient to run into difficult or illogical puzzles, although many consider that the meat of an adventure game--being stuck. I just thought that maybe, maybe, my adventuring skills had gone up.

Oh, by the way: the English version is apparently called The Critter Chronicles.

This thread reminds me that all the mentioned games are still on my to-buy-list.

Lost Horizon is by the Tunguska guys, if I'm not mistaken. I enjoyed Secret Files: Tunguska quite a bit, but their games generally have a tendency for the adventure mainstream, I guess. That's not bad per se, especially because they got the interface right at first try, but in a low budget genre like adventures I generally prefer more experimental titles. And then I curse because compromises had to be made somewhere.

As a rule the better German adventures receive an expensive loca here. So if your German is stable enough for gaming, consider to choose the German original instead of a translation of unknown quality.

Gorath said:

As a rule the better German adventures receive an expensive loca here. So if your German is stable enough for gaming, consider to choose the German original instead of a translation of unknown quality.

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Yeah, but the English translation of The Book of Unwritten Tales is really very good. I love the accent of the little gnome guy. He's too funny. The writing has also been consistently good so far. I would probably understand 70%-90% of the German version with some concentration, though. Maybe not some of the more obscure references and jokes. I played the demo in German.

As for The Whispered World, I've seen complaints about the protagonist's voice, but it's a subjective thing. I'm quite okay with it.

Lost Horizon tries to look like a big production with a high budget, but the mediocre character animation betrays it. I'm still enjoying the demo, though, and I'm REALLY tempted to fall for this 33% discount. Sigh. But hang on, this is ALSO a German release? Seems like most of the good adventure games come from Germany these days!

(I also want the 50% discounted L.A. Noire. I think I'm lost to gluttony. )

Thaurin said:

Lost Horizon tries to look like a big production with a high budget, but the mediocre character animation betrays it.

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No, it's nearly impossible an adventure made in Germany has a big budget. Even 1M EUR per platform would be unlikely. Okay, the Tunguska games made a lot of money, probably due to solid to good sales over a long time in combination with direct market access by publisher Deep Silver. So If one adventure has a chance for actually having a solid budget it's the new game from this studio. But I dont really believe it. The known budgets for adventure games are usually in the 6 digits in EUR, often not even high 6 digits.
So it's not really mediocre animations, it's a lot of other stuff which looks better than it should when taking into account the budget. That's no surprise though. These guys have a talent for creating atmospheric graphics.

I'm still enjoying the demo, though, and I'm REALLY tempted to fall for this 33% discount. Sigh. But hang on, this is ALSO a German release? Seems like most of the good adventure games come from Germany these days!

(I also want the 50% discounted L.A. Noire. I think I'm lost to gluttony. )

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Yes, ca. 3/4th of all interesting adventures worldwide are either made by a German language team or funded to a significant part by a German based publisher. That's no surprise though because Germany has always been the world's most important market for adventures because the sales numbers used to be comparatively high and the average sales price higher than in other countries.
L.A. Noire is a special case. It's quite probable this game had a bigger budget than all other adventures released in that year combined.

Gorath said:

No, it's nearly impossible an adventure made in Germany has a big budget. Even 1M EUR per platform would be unlikely.

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It's a shame; I would really like to see a good adventure game with a BioWare-sized budget one day! Mass Effect-quality cinematics, but with a more traditional adventure game attached to it. Lose the rest of the RPG elements and shooting and you're almost there already, some would say.

That's no surprise though. These guys have a talent for creating atmospheric graphics.

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Yes, there are some really good 2D backgrounds in the demo. I'll be sure to pick Lost Horizon up at one point, but for now I chose L.A. Noire first. Big budget has won. :/

Yes, ca. 3/4th of all interesting adventures worldwide are either made by a German language team or funded to a significant part by a German based publisher.

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Any fantastic German adventure games for which there is no translated version yet that I have missed? I have yet to test my grasp of the German language with a game.

Thaurin said:

It's a shame; I would really like to see a good adventure game with a BioWare-sized budget one day! Mass Effect-quality cinematics, but with a more traditional adventure game attached to it. Lose the rest of the RPG elements and shooting and you're almost there already, some would say.

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That won't happen. With Germany as seemingly the only really funcioning Adventure games market left in the world, this market alone just isn't able to give back the needed revenue.

Any fantastic German adventure games for which there is no translated version yet that I have missed? I have yet to test my grasp of the German language with a game.

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Hm, depends. There is quite a lot of stuff that's either translated into German language or was madfe in it in the irst place, so I don't know whether it is available in English, too.

- A Brawe New World - with Captain Brawe as an inept anti-hero
- do you know the Simon The Sorcerer games ? Especially the first two are imho an "must-have" ! The third game is kind of forgettable (although it still has a good humour in it), I haven't played the games 4 & 5 yet
- Tales Of Monkey Island are English in origin (made by Tell-Tale Games)
- Monkey Island pecial edition is also out there
- and new Sam & Max adventures !
- "Satinav's Chains" is an adventure game taking place in Aventuria - it's currently in the works
- stay away from "Everlight" !
- similar things are said by the press abbout The Westerner 2 - don't know how the nglish title is, because The Westerner 1 was sold in English speaking territories under the name of "Wanted"
- take the Ankh Trilogy if you still haven't got it yet !
- Jack Keane is from the same makers (Deck 13) - it's said to be very good as well, although I personall found the "starting puzzle" a bit too hard
- So Blonde is also said to be good, but I haven't played it yet
- the Black Mirror triology is said to be very dark
- Gray Matter is by Jane Jnsen, and it's said to be quite good as well
- The Ghost Pirates Of Vooju Island is nice, too. I've played it through
- A Vampyre Story is similar nice - same maker like the above game
- Haunted was released this year - is still on my "buying list"
- not sure about Ceville. Very cynical but fun (or because of that). You play a baddie who must save the world because an even more greater baddie has taken over it - began it, but found the riddles so-so
- not sure about Mata Hari either. Bought it only a few days ago, haven't installed it yet
- Clever & Smart - A Movie Adventure is seemingly one of the few ones which have multiplayer built in - the game is based on this : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mort_&_Phil

It's a little bit too much for me, I still haven't bought all of them …

Edit : A few additions :

- there are a few Sherlock Holmes adventures out there ... I don't know anything about them
- there's a small series called "Testament Of Sin" + Thee Tree Of Life", if I recall correctly
- and then there's Gobliiiins 4, too

Oh! Clever & Smart was a comic I read a lot when I was younger! Loved it, but it was called Paling & Ko in Dutch. They have an adventure game out? Must have!

Anyway, I know the classics, obvisously. How many of those are German, really? I mean, Telltale is obviously American. I thought The Black Mirror series was US, but apparently it's Czech. Gets some good word of mouth, though.

Ah, too many games. (Psst: Human Revolution 50% off at Steam, don't tell anyone! )

I thank that Sherlock Holmes: Tree of Life and Testament of Sin are actually casual games or socalled HOGS, Hidden object games. There's actually a new game on the way, a new Sherlock Holmes game, on the way. This will be a full-fledged adventure game called the The testament of Sherlock Holmes. They also made SH games like SH versus Arsene Lupin, SH: Awakening and a couple of more SH games.

Also, let me remind you that L.A. Noire now is out for the pc...

And then, there's the FBI: Confidential games made by a polish firm...

Thaurin said:

Oh! Clever & Smart was a comic I read a lot when I was younger! Loved it, but it was called Paling & Ko in Dutch. They have an adventure game out? Must have!

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THere appear to be several ones out there, actually, but only one has been translated into German language so far. All others are still in Spanish language.

aries100 said:

I thank that Sherlock Holmes: Tree of Life and Testament of Sin are actually casual games or socalled HOGS, Hidden object games.

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Hm, strange. Here, they a) weren't marketed as Sherlock Holmes games, because there is no Sherlock Holmes in them, but instead a female protagonist, as it appears to me, and b) they were marketed as adventure games.

But ... on the other hand Hidden Object Games are indeed flooding the Casual Games market, that's true.

By the way, "Testament Of Sin" doesn't run on all DVD drives. I happen to have one where it doesn't run on (it's a burner, actually). The game DVD appears as empty. In another drive (in my second, "office PC"), the game DVD appears as normal.
If you are interested, then I can write down the DVD drive's model number here.
And I don't know if this affects the international releases, too.