Tex Murphy Tex Murphy: Tesla Effect

[DoomIhlVaria]

Pretty sure that option just means it's a 2K transfer, I don't think it's native 2k video, which doesn't even exist on bluray yet. I could be wrong though.

It's native 2k video. See https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/texmurphy/tex-murphy-project-fedora/posts/760549 The Tex Murphy games often have one special feature that is supposed to be some kind of technological first. Like I think Oversee was supposed to be the first to use DVD for video or one of their early games had a crazy hack for producing proper audio using the PC speaker and no sound card.

 

[DalekFlay]

Pretty sure that option just means it's a 2K transfer, I don't think it's native 2k video, which doesn't even exist on bluray yet. I could be wrong though.

It's native 2k video. See https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/texmurphy/tex-murphy-project-fedora/posts/760549 The Tex Murphy games often have one special feature that is supposed to be some kind of technological first. Like I think Oversee was supposed to be the first to use DVD for video or one of their early games had a crazy hack for producing proper audio using the PC speaker and no sound card.

Wow, crazy. It's pretty compressed so I'm not sure how much it really benefits from such a resolution, but it's neat anyway.

 

[DoomIhlVaria]

Pretty sure that option just means it's a 2K transfer, I don't think it's native 2k video, which doesn't even exist on bluray yet. I could be wrong though.

It's native 2k video. See https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/texmurphy/tex-murphy-project-fedora/posts/760549 The Tex Murphy games often have one special feature that is supposed to be some kind of technological first. Like I think Oversee was supposed to be the first to use DVD for video or one of their early games had a crazy hack for producing proper audio using the PC speaker and no sound card.

Wow, crazy. It's pretty compressed so I'm not sure how much it really benefits from such a resolution, but it's neat anyway.

It really helps that the camera stays fixed in nearly every shot. And very little moves in most shots. Most scenes have completely static CG backgrounds. Motion that limited can tolerate much lower bitrates and still look good compared to a similarly compressed TV show or something. And it's still 13GB or so of video. That would buy several hours of solid 1080p video with x264 (what pirates usually use). I have no clue how Bink Video (what this game uses to encode its video) stacks up against that though. But as I said, it looks crisp as hell and on a screen with higher than 1080p resolution. The change is very noticeable compared to a 1080p Bluray.

 

[DalekFlay]

It really helps that the camera stays fixed in nearly every shot. And very little moves in most shots. Most scenes have completely static CG backgrounds. Motion that limited can tolerate much lower bitrates and still look good compared to a similarly compressed TV show or something. And it's still 13GB or so of video. That would buy several hours of solid 1080p video with x264 (what pirates usually use). I have no clue how Bink Video (what this game uses to encode its video) stacks up against that though. But as I said, it looks crisp as hell and on a screen with higher than 1080p resolution. The change is very noticeable compared to a 1080p Bluray.

Yeah, downscaled to 1920x1200 it looks pretty damn good, but only when static. Movement and dark areas really show the compression. I wouldn't compare it to bluray, but maybe at true 2k the added detail makes up for the noise.

 

[Trash]

Is this thing even selling at all? Can't find it anywhere in the top sellers list at steam and at metacritic there seems to be hardly any interest from our much lauded professional gaming media.

 

[DalekFlay]

Is this thing even selling at all? Can't find it anywhere in the top sellers list at steam and at metacritic there seems to be hardly any interest from our much lauded professional gaming media.

I honestly think most media types are writing it off because of FMV. Watch the Giant Bomb quicklook, they pretty much treat it as a freak of nature and laugh at it.

Funny thing is it's basically Gone Home with actual gameplay.

 

[evdk]

Is this thing even selling at all? Can't find it anywhere in the top sellers list at steam and at metacritic there seems to be hardly any interest from our much lauded professional gaming media.

I honestly think most media types are writing it off because of FMV. Watch the Giant Bomb quicklook, they pretty much treat it as a freak of nature and laugh at it.

Funny thing is it's basically Gone Home with actual gameplay.

Yeah, but Real Games(TM) don't have gameplay, so there goes the award baiting.

 

[Boleskine]

Destructoid

The humor doesn't always work and the puzzle design is still rooted in the series' 1990s adventure game roots, meaning it feels archaic in spots, but there are some welcome concessions to modern design with the flashlight and hint system.

Damn that infernal 90s style of gameplay that doesn't tell the player exactly what to do! Modern design = hand-holding.

IGN

I can only recall three instances where I actually faced a potentially story-altering decision. The whole setup really made me appreciate the elegance and subtlety of similar mechanics in games like The Walking Dead.

This is funny for a number of reasons. One, TWD basically spoils what will happen later by telling you, "XX will remember that." There is literally NO SUBTLETY in TWD's conversation mechanics. Two, Tex Murphy actually branches into different endings, whereas in TWD your actions only affect minor things along the way to the same ending.

...

I don't put much stock into what places like IGN have to say about adventure games, but looking at these reviews its astonishing how much these guys miss the point, and how spoiled they are by having their hand held at every moment in modern AAA games.

 

[DalekFlay]

I don't put much stock into what places like IGN have to say about adventure games, but looking at these reviews its astonishing how much these guys miss the point, and how spoiled they are by having their hand held at every moment in modern AAA games.

Watching gameplay videos from game journalists the past few years really told me all I ever needed to know. They all suck at playing games, and get super frustrated at the most minor of challenges. Why anyone would trust their opinions is beyond me.

 

[Boleskine]

Watching gameplay videos from game journalists the past few years really told me all I ever needed to know. They all suck at playing games, and get super frustrated at the most minor of challenges. Why anyone would trust their opinions is beyond me.

I agree with you, but I have to point out that none of these people are journalists. They're amateur critics who don't understand the things they critique or plants for studios like Microsoft. Most of them are in the industry because gamers have low standards and will listen to any moron who claims to have exclusive information on something. Few of them seem to actually understand games, and there's not much to understand, which makes it more pathetic. Many personalities simply jumped on the bandwagon early on with social media and youtube channels. Since they don't actually seem to care about the integrity of what they do, they don't have any qualms with accepting gift baskets in exchange for 9/10 reviews, and they don't put any thought or effort into writing about things for which their opinion wasn't predetermined.

The entire gaming press is a joke, and that conclusion doesn't have anything to do with the Tex Murphy reviews.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

I hope we have more old successful kickstarters and games, and they keep going to the point PC games will branch out of consolised games, and the likes of IGN wouldn't even have to say anything about these games...

 

[tuluse]

Watching gameplay videos from game journalists the past few years really told me all I ever needed to know. They all suck at playing games, and get super frustrated at the most minor of challenges. Why anyone would trust their opinions is beyond me.

I have discovered something in my monitoring of game journalists the past couple years.

The situation is impossible for them to do a good job. The time constraints are so heavy on them, they have to be able to finish a game in a matter of days (like 4 or less, ideally less). They only have a couple of weeks between getting the advance copy and the release date. When you take into account the time to write, and the fact that you have to replay some sections to try different things (and yes they do actually still do this to a limited degree).

This is why you see high scores given to shallow easy to learn games. They have to be able to pick up how to play it very quickly, finish it, and write the review. It all happens so fast they don't notice the lack of depth. In a week or two they're on to the next game.

 

[DalekFlay]

I have discovered something in my monitoring of game journalists the past couple years.

The situation is impossible for them to do a good job. The time constraints are so heavy on them, they have to be able to finish a game in a matter of days (like 4 or less, ideally less). They only have a couple of weeks between getting the advance copy and the release date. When you take into account the time to write, and the fact that you have to replay some sections to try different things (and yes they do actually still do this to a limited degree).

This is why you see high scores given to shallow easy to learn games. They have to be able to pick up how to play it very quickly, finish it, and write the review. It all happens so fast they don't notice the lack of depth. In a week or two they're on to the next game.

There's truth in what you're saying, for sure. However even if we limit this to media types who don't really review, like TotalBiscuit or Giant Bomb, they have the same priorities. And they suck at games in general, no matter the circumstances. The Giant Bomb guys frequently, as in almost every video, die during tutorials, get lost in linear levels, and so on and so forth. It's pretty damning.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I love the titles of the comic books. "Citizen Candy Cane", "Murder, my Sweet" :D

 

[Deleted member 7219]

I'm on day 9, humour seems to have tempered somewhat. I laughed a lot in the first couple of hours, one of the times I remember is when meeting the doctor for the first time and saying "NOW you walk in! A couple of seconds ago it was like Fantasia in here!", haven't had many big chuckles since then.

One of my favourite Tex Murphy moments is when you try (and fail) to run away from the guy with the gun in the clock tower in Overseer, I hope to see something like that soon.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Day 9

Spoiler

Anyone know how to get past that proximity bomb to recharge the mech battery? I've tried YouTube walkthroughs but they all seem to have done it in casual mode, thus bypassing it.

Edit:

Spoiler

Never mind, found the part I was missing. Now I am stuck on the fucking satellite power puzzle and I have no idea how to solve it. Frustrating.

 

[DalekFlay]

It does seem a little less funny than Under a Killing Moon for sure. It's about on par with what I remember of the other two, but I haven't played those in a long time.

 

[DoomIhlVaria]

Day 9

Spoiler

Anyone know how to get past that proximity bomb to recharge the mech battery? I've tried YouTube walkthroughs but they all seem to have done it in casual mode, thus bypassing it.

Edit:

Spoiler

Never mind, found the part I was missing. Now I am stuck on the fucking satellite power puzzle and I have no idea how to solve it. Frustrating.

Spoiler

You need to line up the right color pairs. The buttons on the left move the two columns of colors independently. The buttons on the right change the colors of the bottom row only. I recommend just setting up some random color pairs and then cycling through the set and seeing which pairs go green on the right. Then you just need to flip through each row of each column and set things up so that they'll be in the right column when you finish flipping through. It really helps to bust out the pen and paper for this one.

 

[DalekFlay]

http://patrickklepek.tumblr.com/

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Day 9

Spoiler

Anyone know how to get past that proximity bomb to recharge the mech battery? I've tried YouTube walkthroughs but they all seem to have done it in casual mode, thus bypassing it.

Edit:

Spoiler

Never mind, found the part I was missing. Now I am stuck on the fucking satellite power puzzle and I have no idea how to solve it. Frustrating.

Spoiler

You need to line up the right color pairs. The buttons on the left move the two columns of colors independently. The buttons on the right change the colors of the bottom row only. I recommend just setting up some random color pairs and then cycling through the set and seeing which pairs go green on the right. Then you just need to flip through each row of each column and set things up so that they'll be in the right column when you finish flipping through. It really helps to bust out the pen and paper for this one.

I managed to figure it out in the end, but thanks.

Spoiler

Stuck on the spirit radio now. These puzzles are tough.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Just completed the game.

Took me around 13 hours.

Absolutely loved it. It did feel a bit too short, I'd have liked it to have been as long as UAKM or TPD but I realise they were on a tight budget. They definitely spent it wisely. The quality of the production, from everything from the direction, to the camerawork, the acting (especially from the main bad guy), the costumes, the music, everything surpassed my expectations. My main criticism was the length, I'd have liked an extra 5 hours put in the middle to maybe put a bit more desperation in the whole thing - at no point did I think Tex was in danger for his life.

Spoiler

I chose Taylor because Jodi Russell is absolutely gorgeous, but I think I'll stay loyal to Chelsee on the second playthrough and see if she turns up at all.

I really hope this does well enough to merit another Tex Murphy game, they've made an absolute cracker here.

P.S. Holly Graham romance for next game?

 

[DalekFlay]

Was Under a Killing Moon really 20+ hours? I don't remember it being that long. Hard to really say though, since I could finish it with my eyes closed at this point.

 

[bertram_tung]

Finished. Dunno how many hours I spent since I got the GOG one, not Steam. I think probably around 15.

Loved the game, but I'm disappointed with my ending because I wanted the best one, and I think I might have gotten one of the worst ones (Petrified Forest). I'm not really big on replaying adventure games so soon after but I really want that good ending. I did get Hard Boiled rating which was the top score though, so that's nice. Although I suspect there is a hidden "perfect" score too.

 

[DeepOcean]

Watching gameplay videos from game journalists the past few years really told me all I ever needed to know. They all suck at playing games, and get super frustrated at the most minor of challenges. Why anyone would trust their opinions is beyond me.

I agree with you, but I have to point out that none of these people are journalists. They're amateur critics who don't understand the things they critique or plants for studios like Microsoft. Most of them are in the industry because gamers have low standards and will listen to any moron who claims to have exclusive information on something. Few of them seem to actually understand games, and there's not much to understand, which makes it more pathetic. Many personalities simply jumped on the bandwagon early on with social media and youtube channels. Since they don't actually seem to care about the integrity of what they do, they don't have any qualms with accepting gift baskets in exchange for 9/10 reviews, and they don't put any thought or effort into writing about things for which their opinion wasn't predetermined.

The entire gaming press is a joke, and that conclusion doesn't have anything to do with the Tex Murphy reviews.

I think people like the format, they like to see the game on action while some guy with a good voice and skill to not make them utterly bored give details about the game. The problem is that as it is a new thing, youtube right now is filled with retards with only one objective... to get views at any cost. They exploit the system to make money, review games they dispise to make money, review games that they have zero experience with it's genre and shit on them or grosly exaggerate their qualities to just make money, pretend they know more than they actually know and create a fake youtube personality to make money.

There is no incentive for them to take a time with a game and develop some taste because the only thing they worry about is the amount of views. I would only trust the opinion of a youtuber on Tex Murphy only if he was an adventure game fan that had some experience with the genre's characteristics, but it is hard to get that experience if you have a huge pile of games waiting for you to make money from. The way the system works benefit mercenary retards like TB and others but the format is great even if I can't say the same thing of the most people that are exploiting it.

 

[Angthoron]

Bros, are the response tones nailed down at all, like 1st being nice, second being snarky, third being mean? I'm really a bit confused with the dialogue system, sadly - kinda hate this "One key word" approach to it, and while the dialogue itself is entertaining every time so I don't actually need to feel bothered, I'd actually like to know if there's any specific way to know what I'm doing before Tex actually speaks.

Like, is "Turn the tables" a "mean Tex" option, or what? I mean, I don't mind replaying each dialogue option, but I'd rather do it on a separate playthrough.