Broken Sword 5 - The Serpent's Curse....

Maybe it's because it's been so long since I last played the original, back in the day(yea that long); That my more puzzle based investigation (as a serious(?) thing) expectations of 5 were truly trashed when seeing it in person. Something I've been wrestling with while playing this game from the start(here and here). Where I should have been embracing the absurd, comical and bizarre as a par for the course all the while. 

Everything I should be lauding as retro and a homage to the series are in my current gameplay view impediments to a better game-play experience. In playing I had to embrace the crazy and run with it, not asking too many questions(if at all), just to get through.

It seems that if your into and surviving the late game your part of the top 15% of players that make it.

Seeing the stats it's easy to see a bigger falloff in % of players as each story achi progresses early on than in late game(there's not that many players make it and those that do are 'committed' in more ways than one).

So I've finished the game. Spoiler waffle! I'm not surprised by the revelations at the end of the game, nor the 'bad guy' abilities. 

The story wraps up fairly quickly and with so much more coincidence and synchronicity it's really absurd... More than before. But then again my suspension of disbelief was well blown out of the water at that stage.

It's not the word puzzle mix and match that are the problem, they are the logical bumps in the road to be expected. But the journey of the adventure and the wacky ways of solving situations that I can't take seriously..... Then again I'm not really supposed to am I..... Is it because I'm older in real world life that I don't find the joy in the absurd shenanigans that I should be getting?! Each to their own and perspectives change with time.

It's again the absurd, when all else fails actions that 'do my head in' that lacking suspension of disbelief; That can be guessed by all the crap your carrying in your characters pockets. Broken biscuit with the cockroach with the paper clip stuck to his back to bridge an electrical connection .... But how did you stick a paper clip to his back.... With the jam from the lunchbox that you threw into the gears of a cable car mechanism.... Of course! OF COURSE!!!!!!!!

There is comedy in it, the little comment from Nico as you break the luchbox with the mechanism...

The inner monologue of George as he uses the cockroach Trevor.

The more absurd things get the more I think that a straight up investigation game would be better; Then I start thinking that if I did get a game more like that I'd be bored by the lack of absurd.

I'm not sure what I feel for the game and the ending. It's a game about the journey and in doing so should be taken slow. Very slow. The kind of slow where you start to forget what went before.

I don't regret having played it to the end; Overall it was worth it more than it wasn't. That said I can't see myself doing it again any time soon, even in a similar game...

Broken Sword 5 - The Serpent's Curse....

The more I play the more the game gets weird, wacky and 'out there'. The last time I posted I'd only scratched the surface on so many levels; Or so it feels. On the face of it, this game is a slow serious mystery puzzle solving story; But the more you play the more you find that those puzzles get strange and the resolutions weird if obvious and sometimes stereotypically corny in ways. Yea I get the franchise buffoonery 'take' of certain law enforcement... Some though are plain over the top crazy and bizarre. It's hard to explain in context and keep brief. If you can accept all the crazy then there's motivation to keep going(for the most part). I think I'm already too time invested that I have to push on, accept the crazy, embrace the skits and mow through. 

Some story elements are 'timeless', others 'obvious'.

At the end of what could be called the first act, your investigating a room with Nico..... The 'investigation' scene is the left hand side of a loft area.... For all the time you spend and as well lit as it is ... You don't notice the dead body on the right hand side of the room till you get prompted to walk over there. It's elements like that I just find sloppy design, never mind story telling.

Even a hint at believability is lacking in a lot of ways and for me the game suffers because of it. It's a fine line and very much a player subjective thing. There's a lot of weaving either side of that line and for me and my experiences with this game it's too much. A lot of which changes over the way some scenes play out. It can get confusing as to what they are going for..... serious..... silly.... dark humour or just being stupid.....

There's also a lot of co-coincidence and synchronicity never mind a slathering of serendipity.... At times it's a bit too much to take. Yea my suspension of disbelief is well shot and I've no idea whats next or how it's going to be done.... So I guess that's a good thing for the type of game?

That said some situations are mindbogglingly bizarre. Like disguising yourself as a dead man to dance with his distraught and drunk wife to get a key from her(while he's in a casket in the room).... 

Dancing to a song that's played via a musical card....(which you had to go and get). 

If that's not off the wall then the lead up to it is .... wax strips to take the fur off a stuffed dog to make a goatee and mustache disguise.... Never mind taking the flower from the dead man's lapel...

Yea, yea context is king but it's out there with the bizarre.

I guess I like my 'puzzles' a lot more grounded(Sherlock Holmes this is not). Then again the game is a game that takes all that with franchise nostalgia, 90's point and click in general and gives entertainment; I really shouldn't be complaining. I'm getting an experience for sure. Maybe more in the way of WTF is going to happen next(in the game as a game) rather than to solve the story and 'the case'.

If it's an item that's clickable, click it/pick it up and then 'read' all other information.... I've been bitten by a few scenes where it felt like I'd missed something. Click it, it 'will' be useful in the future!

Alasdair Beckett-King

The game is compelling(like I said I'm all in now) but there's a lack of overall fulfillment..... One mystery always leads to another and something bigger to solve/explain. The ending better be 'something' worth it. That said this is a game about the journey. A game to solve as you go with brains but not to think about too hard(no hope for me there). A lot of story and indeed puzzle resolutions are plain 'out there' for sure. Some are semi solvable by conversation after an 8 part clickable move along, with an end not really a resolution done for story and/or puzzle completion but for the sake of expedience(like some things were left on the cutting room floor). Time will tell where this game leads me....

Unlocking more achievements, the player stats(>28% or so from one to the next... So players seem to be hanging in if the game clicks with them(pun intended). Interesting and all fair enough.

Broken Sword 5 - The Serpent's Curse....

With Broken Sword 5 'free' on games with gold; I was nostalgia motivated to take a look. It tickled all the appropriate 90's member-berries of the original game I'd played way back when.

In looking up information about the 5th game I came across a review of it's recent release on the switch. The end result of the review had a/the CON of the animations being stiff. I had to laugh at that as it's the iconic art style, it's that 'stiff animation' that brings the most nostalgia. An art style and aesthetic that is the franchise. I wouldn't have listed it as a 'Con'.

This 5th game is all I expected in look, feel, animation, narration and story. Some things are 'bad but good' in an acquired taste kind of way. As I'm coming from the first game and have missed the rest(zeitgeist notwithstanding) I'm not sure that's all a good or bad thing for any other gamers when reading this. My nostalgic rose tinted glasses are strong. It's an 'old skool' game to take your time in, you'll need it.

Given a more non nostalgic devils advocate view, the dialogue is drawn out, the puzzles swing wildly from easy to wft hard(as in, how does that make sense) and the point and click 90's aesthetic is a bit thread bare this time round when viewed with a more modern eye. That said they are all exactly the same points I'd use as nostalgic positives that make the game and the franchise 'work'. 

Besides what are mysteries without brainpower application. These types of game are somewhat quirky. There are certain things that happen in a certain order. View or do X allows a conversation about Y, but miss something and you can leave a room wondering what next. But you'll not be left without a way forward, just frustration that you've not done something to click on something to talk about something to then move on.

Being an adult and not being pig headed I've turned to a guide twice so far(I've 'only' scratched the surface of the game late in the Paris 'act'). Good or bad it is what it is.

 

Once to figure out the neon sign rejig.

And the next time to figure out the shredder puzzle.

It was an item in the drawer in the previous room I'd missed; So I'd not gotten the Q-Tip collectible to make all the rest fall into place.

AH HAH! It was the Q-Tip in the drawer with the oil splash!! Of course of course!!

Nostalgia is nostalgia and very subjective. If I'd not gotten the game 'free' then I'd not have played it now. I recall having some good memories with the original in '96; then again that was a special time in PC's and gaming(from classroom logo to C64's, Spectrum ZX's, Atari ST's, Amiga's and all the game consoles in between, not to mention the PC technology boom). It all feeds into the nostalgia, subjective to say the least.

As near to the start of the game as I am it seems a large % of players don't make it that far.

It seems that 40-ish % drop off quick enough.

If you've played any of the previous games and liked it then you'll 'get' what this game is. It's a franchise crowd-pleaser. Maybe not the best in the franchise but it is what it is.

As a nostalgic gamer coming back to the fold I'm happy with what I've seen. Curiosity may make me play a lot or some more or it. Time will tell. There's an element of wanting to know how things pan out. The art seems to suggest a grater adventure and broader story ahead which could prove interesting...