Indigo Prophecy - Prepare for Dissapointment

V

Virtua

Guest
I really liked Indigo Prophecy. The mystery, the interesting characters, the unique dynamic of playing the killer/investigator, it all drew me in. But I was fooled. I didn't see it coming. Indigo Prophecy falls apart so fast that you'll hardly know what happened.

In less than an hour of gameplay, your character transforms from an average Joe with an unveiling backstory who finds himself at the giving end of a stabbing into an undead Neo clone making love to the woman not days ago investigating him for murder in a subway car. Yes, those are spoilers, but since the story makes no sense, it doesn't really matter.

At right about the same time, the game transforms from a clever evolution of classic adventure games to a button mashing/simon says game. It's a real shame that Indigo Prophecy wasn't given more time to fulfill it's potential.

On the plus side, there is more good than bad. It's only the last few hours' sloppy wrapping up of the story which ruins things. You can enjoy the multiple perspectives, well written dialog, and the developed and believable characters for about 75% of the game.

On the mechanical side, sometimes the controls just don't act naturally. Whenever a camera angle shifts, your character seems to want to turn around and start walking another direction. It's tough to explain, but not as tough as moving your characters where they need to be in the timed sequences.

I can't speak for other versions, but on PS2 there were numerous times when the audio would skip and stutter while the game froze, and also when the incorrect lines of dialog would be played, out of sync, or on top of the character's actual dialog. For such a story heavy game, these audio glitches were only effective in destroying the illusion of reality.

Using the right stick for dialog selection and interaction with the environment is far preferable to menus and just watching animations. Indigo Prophecy looks great, with lots of detail and good animation that communicated emotion very well.

Scoring Indigo Prophecy is difficult because of the split in quality.

I can, however, ruthlessly give it a 5/10 for wasted potential, and say play it if you get the chance, for $10 or less.
 
I think you're too harsh on some of the Simon Says parts. They never really tricked you into thinking the game would be anything else, they just didn't end up balancing some of the detective parts with the action scenes very well.

And yeah, the story did kinda start falling apart after the old carnival scene, but I think it maintained a decent atmosphere, even if it borrowed a little too liberally from Matrix and such.

It's one of a kind, that's for sure, and given that there's not many games we have to compare it to, I'd probably rate it a bit higher just for the attempt. For the record, I never really experienced problems with the controls on the PC version, but I never played the PS2 version, either.

I understand where you're coming from as far as your reasons for disliking the game, but I think you graded it lower because you liked it and then it went south a bit.
 
I personally think the game is great, and yeah once it gets closer to the end the story drops off and the game feels unfinished. It's engaging and it's pretty damn unique.

That said, It's at least an 8/10.
 
Well, say you're eating a delicious prime rib, but there's dog shit in the middle. When you finish with the meal, what will you remember?

I don't see how you can excuse the ending of that game.I felt generous with the 5.
 
The PC version (non-us) by the name of Fahrenheit supposidly had some scenes that weren't in the US releases...I think they contained nudity which is why they were cut, but I'm just going by memory here.

Also when the chick comes to your apartment, did you blow your opportunity?
 
yes, the pc version and the european versions called Farenheit did contain more sexual scenes and nudity.

They still contain the game-breaking final hours, though, so they fail as well.

I didn't get his wife in bed the first time, but as with many scenes I reloaded and did them properly to see most all of the scenes that I could. It made a lot more sense than the female cop sexing up what is basically an animated corpse later on. That scene still boggles my mind.
 
jer: amen, brother, I thought I was alone, since everything I've read about the game online was praise, praise, and more praise.

I can not remember the last time that a demo had impressed me as much as Indigo Prophecy one did. I can also not remember the last time I was so massively dissapointed with everything else to come. Awful, awful, awful, awful, awful story development. The worst I've seen since Magna Cum Laude.
 
I agree wholeheartedly with jer and MC; it depresses me that this game actually won awards. I wouldn't say it was really that great even before the last part; at the very beginning I was definitely enjoying it, but by the time I was halfway through I thought it was very much a mixed bag. I encountered other glitches besides the audio stuff, there were a number of "questionable" design decisions, and I didn't think the dialogue or graphics (on the PS2 at least) were anything special. The last act was still a surprise though, and the knife in the heart for the game.
 
To be fair, the game was planned as episodic, and made single release very shortly before deadlines. The ending was thrown together very haphazardly.

Although if that was their original concept in any way, shape or form, the game was still doomed to end up crappy, just in a more drawn out and expensive way.
 
jer: The episodic plan may help shed light on WHY the game sucked so bad, but I'm afraid that it does not excuse the awful nature of the game itself. I'm quite open to developers having chances to make up for their mistakes, and that good faith prevents me from bad mouthing the developers. I believe they are capable of delivering a game with a well written and well executed plot. However, Indigo Prophecy (or Farenheit) was about as far from the above as you could get.

I will also say this: Tim Schafer had an excellent quote regarding brevity as a "must" in video game writing, and how most of the information delivered about characters has to come from something other than dialogue, since "three little senteces wouldn't qualify for a monologue in a book, but in a game it can distract from proper world interaction." (Paraphrased) The developers of Indigo Prophecy have a couple of things to learn in that regard. Long dialogue best left to the "pros."
 
I think you did an excellent and fair (although slightly harsh) review. I completely agree. Your 5.0 score is accurate given your lost potential explanation.

The first half of the game was excellent with the second half to last quarter of the gameing being a "WTF where did this come from we ran out of time and tried to wrap it up ASAP" moment.

EDIT:
I enjoyed Still Life 50 times more than Indigo Prophecy. While being a more traditional adventure game it is clearly a more solid gaming experience. Both story wise and gameplay/puzzle wise.
 
I personally thought it was a very solid game and I agree with calamity for the most part and even though some parts didn't make sense it was the best story-driven game (besides God of War) I've ever played

even if carla slept with a "dead" guy
 
[quote name='Foo228']I personally thought it was a very solid game and I agree with calamity for the most part and even though some parts didn't make sense it was the best story-driven game (besides God of War) I've ever played

even if carla slept with a "dead" guy[/quote]Play more games. :D Not that they story was bad, it had potential and was entertaining. If you're looking for story then here's some games to check out.

-Breakdown (Xbox-Push through the goofy controls. One of the best stories on a video game).

-Still Life (Xbox/PC - Released around teh same time as Indigo Prophecy and has a WAY better story. Easily one of the best with a cliffhanger ending that makes you crave a sequel).

-Oddworld Strangers Wrath (Xbox - Not only a great story and experience it has some of the most original gameplay to date for a third person adventure game).

-ICO (PS2 - The story and game in general is very artsy but good).

-Shadow of the Colossus (PS2 - Not only a great game but if you do some thinking and put ICO and SotC together you come up with some AMAZING possbilities. In both games nothing is s.p.e.l.l.e.d. out for you, some creative thinking is involved).

-Beyond Good & Evil (GC/PS2/PC? - The story is much more addult than it's graphics and art style).

-Condemned (360/PC - Another great story and another cliffhanger-ish ending. Luckily there is a second one on the way *PHEW*).

-Tomb Raider Legend (All - Yes even this game has a great story. Would make a great action adventure/sci-fi movie with or without the franchise name).

Alright that's my quick list off the top of my head. I think all of the above are better than IP and are equal or greater than God of War (I'm not huge into greek mythology).
 
Jeez, and I just thought good story's were hard to come by haha

I'll try and check out that tomb raider, condemned, and oddworld...I've tried Sotc and it was alright, just stopped because I couldn't figure out the third colossus (story wasn't great imo)
 
[quote name='Foo228']Jeez, and I just thought good story's were hard to come by haha

I'll try and check out that tomb raider, condemned, and oddworld...I've tried Sotc and it was alright, just stopped because I couldn't figure out the third colossus (story wasn't great imo)[/quote]Oh man you only made it to the third one? :( If you could at LEAST make it to the 5th or 6th one (can't remember right now but it's the first of the flying ones :ZOMG!:). Yeah the story on that one is artsy like I said but...

Both Tomb Raider and Condemned are cheap and pretty short as well as being AA-AAA games. Strangers Wrath is one of my top ten best games of last gen and pretty much no one bought it (awesome story and even awesomer gameplay).

Oh and good stories ARE hard to come by in video games. I just happen to play a LOT of games over the course of every gen and am able to find most of the better ones within that time period. Oh and I COMPLETELY forgot about Eternal Darkness is you hace a GC or a Wii. Awesome, awesome, awesome.
 
I played the XBox and PC versions of Indigo Prophecy and didn't have any freezing, stuttering, or wrong audio.

I loved the game up until the end, but I'm willing to forgive the train wreck of an ending just because the game sucked me in.

On the mechanical side, sometimes the controls just don't act naturally. Whenever a camera angle shifts, your character seems to want to turn around and start walking another direction. It's tough to explain, but not as tough as moving your characters where they need to be in the timed sequences.
Click to expand...

It's not tough to explain. When the camera changes perspectives, the controls change to match that perspective. Some games do it, some don't. This one, unfortunately, does. The walking/running controls are pretty bad.

I'd give it an 8/10 for the XBox version. The ending didn't make the whole experience bad for me.
 
I loved the game despite the crazy ending. It totally drew me in and I loved every moment of it. Can't wait for Heavy Rain. I was disappointed that there was no Heavy Rain news at E3.
 
[quote name='Will D Thrill']Play more games. :D Not that they story was bad, it had potential and was entertaining. If you're looking for story then here's some games to check out.

-Breakdown (Xbox-Push through the goofy controls. One of the best stories on a video game).

-Still Life (Xbox/PC - Released around teh same time as Indigo Prophecy and has a WAY better story. Easily one of the best with a cliffhanger ending that makes you crave a sequel).

-Oddworld Strangers Wrath (Xbox - Not only a great story and experience it has some of the most original gameplay to date for a third person adventure game).

-ICO (PS2 - The story and game in general is very artsy but good).

-Shadow of the Colossus (PS2 - Not only a great game but if you do some thinking and put ICO and SotC together you come up with some AMAZING possbilities. In both games nothing is s.p.e.l.l.e.d. out for you, some creative thinking is involved).

-Beyond Good & Evil (GC/PS2/PC? - The story is much more addult than it's graphics and art style).

-Condemned (360/PC - Another great story and another cliffhanger-ish ending. Luckily there is a second one on the way *PHEW*).

-Tomb Raider Legend (All - Yes even this game has a great story. Would make a great action adventure/sci-fi movie with or without the franchise name).

Alright that's my quick list off the top of my head. I think all of the above are better than IP and are equal or greater than God of War (I'm not huge into greek mythology).[/quote]

Great list, I am gonna bookmark this thread so I can get these later on. Too poor now.
 
[quote name='dtarasev']Great list, I am gonna bookmark this thread so I can get these later on. Too poor now.[/quote]They are all VERY cheap BTW. Some may be hard to find.
 
Will D Thrill.. I've played and enjoyed all of those games except Still Life. Good taste! Especially in Breakdown. That's one of my favorite last gen games. The immersion and unsettling plot were like nothing I've experienced since the first MGS.
 
If the game had ended about halfway through, it would be just about my favorite game ever. I like to think that the game ended with Carla and all the cops busting in on Lucas in his apartment that first time, right before the action sequence where we discover he can do backflips 100 feet into the air. That was just silly.
 
I was very disappointed with this game too. I quit playing after his apartment started falling apart.

I did replay the shower scene with that chick a few times though.
 
I enjoyed the game until i lost like 5 times trying to fight the guy on top of the roof. That just pissed me off, so I stopped playing, plus I had no idea what the fuck was going on anymore.

A game I would suggest with a great story is Dreamfall. I was totally blown away by it, I wasn't expecting much but came away satisfied. I loved the enviorments and characters. The only complaints I had with it was the animation wasn't that great and the battle system was crap(you only have to fight 2 or 3 times though).
 
I just started playing Still Life for XBOX and I love it. I'm on chapter 3 and the game is just so much fun. The story just sucks you in. No complaints so far.

Thanks for the tip on Dreamfall. I'm going to check that one out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top