Chefelf.com Night Life: TheJBurger - Viewing Profile

Sorry if this has been posted already.

A guy who goes by the name 'DeceasedCrab' on youtube decided to "Let's play" Art of Theft. I don't think he's known too much, but he does some pretty entertaining playthroughs of some freeware, and some old and obscure games. I don't know most of them, but he did go through Cave Story and Nifflas' games. Just thought I'd let you know!

Yes, I'm sorry--it's that time again to senselessly bump up old threads that should remain dead and buried.

During the holiday break I finally rummaged up the sanity, or lack thereof, to complete this game for the first time (I KNOW, I'M CRAZY!). I attempted it once before, but failed, but I think that was before the gameplay months were cut down to five.

Now I know Yahtzee isn't going to go back to this game or complete it, but I'm gonna post my comments anyway for the Yahtzee in the parallel universe where he did eventually complete this game.

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Firstly, I always loved the core of this game, and it works well... for about a month. After the first month the gameplay becomes a repetitive chore and after about 2-3 months, it's exceedingly tiresome to play through the game.
My suggestions:
- Create a pre-programmed schedule option, so the player can set up a schedule and watch it play out for those boring weeks at a time where they would've just done the same thing.
- Shorten the game time by a month. I was able to complete every mission, get every upgrade, and max out all my strength, intelligence, and charisma by November, so the removal of that month wouldn't hurt the game too much. Besides, once I reached that, the game was pointless and I basically just slept until Yahtzee 25th.
- Add a new gameplay element for the second half to add variety to the mundane cycle of work.

Other suggestions/comments:
- The missions were probably the most fun part of the game, to see your avatar carry out tasks based on your personality. Another mission could be included based on your avatar's career path. E.g. At a specific time in your avatar's life, a crisis will reach the ship, which will be different depending on your character. For engineer, it could be a turbine malfunction, and the player must fix it. For soldier, it could be a security breach, and the player must fight off the enemy. For doctor, it could be a deadly virus, and the player must cure it.
- An experience stat might be nice to help the player see his work progress. I don't know how it could be implemented into the gameplay though.
- All if not most books are pointless. And trying to get Intelligence or strength raised by MORAL and LEGAL means is pointless.

- On a whole, the first portion of the game is fun, but once you max out everything and get stuck in your routine (about 1-2 months in) the game becomes boring. But still, I like the game a lot as a unique experience among AGS games, and a fun venture to spend away the hours.

There are definitely a lot of AGS games out there besides Yahtzee's that are worthy of playing. Here are my recommendations, with roughly my most favorite at the top.

Pleughburg - An oldie, but good. From 2001, it's one of the first classic full-length AGS game with some of the best music there is. Don't let the somewhat ugly graphics turn you off.

Duty & Beyond - A very high quality adventure that concentrates on epic quests with gargantuan amounts of inventory items. It's old-skool adventure at its finest.

Automation - One of my personal favorites; a short, yet high quality game that features excellent design, graphics, and animation.

Reactor 09 - Another one of Bernie's excellent games. It's not the best game in the world, but everything in it is so high quality it's worth checking out.

Apprentice 1 (deluxe) and Apprentice 2 - These games probably have some of the best puzzle design I've seen out of any AGS games, and the animation is particularly good.

TilTOR - Not an adventure game, but a puzzle game made with AGS. Great style, polish, music, and execution here. Only complaint is that it's a tad too long and you will need help for the later levels.

Interesting to see my screenshot somehow made its way to the Fullyramblomatic forums. Though you could've just took your own, ya know!

Also, did you guys manage to unlock the space level? I'm still trying to figure out how.