Ben Jordan Case 5

ida · Sat 08/04/2006 20:36:16

Enjoyed this game immensely thank you.

It was extremely well thought out. The relationships between the 3 main characters was very realistic.

The animations for the newspaper reading and Ben sitting on Yoshi's chair were excellent.

And a few of the puzzles were cool too

jimrh · Sat 08/04/2006 23:03:33

Now that theres been 5 games to this series...and I'm putting them all on one cd, I was wondering if anyone has come up with a cd or jewle case cover for the games...so as to look professional

otter · Sun 09/04/2006 19:05:58

Hey Grundislav,

I really like the game so far! The level of detail is great (in particular, the animations, although there are plenty of other interesting touches, like the choice of characters in Yamamoto's office -- nice bilingual pun).

One problem for me is that it crashes with the Mac interpreter at the opening screen for Day 4, with the error:

Quote
Adventure Game Studio for Mac
An error has occured. Please contact the game author for support, as this
is likely to be a scripting error and not a bug in AGS.
(ACI version 2.71.872)

in Room script (line 105)

Error: SetObjectTransparent: transparency value must be between 0 and 100

This may just be an interpreter bug, of course.

JRock · Mon 10/04/2006 04:46:26

YAYÃ,Â

Just downloaded and played for about 10 mins.

Wanted to say that so far this game is amazing!!Ã,Â Ã,Â

The graphics are beautiful!Ã,Â And the music is sensational!Ã,Â
I love it already!Ã,Â Can't wait to play again tomorrow!!!

Good work!!!Ã,Â

By the way,

Spoiler

The part in the intro where the hand came from under the ground and
grabbed Ben, scared the SHIT otta me!Ã,Â I loved it!!!Ã,Â Ã,Â

[close]

seaduck · Mon 10/04/2006 12:52:55

Hi Grundislav!

finished BJ5 and enjoyed it very much! The puzzles were logical, except for

Spoiler

the part where the priest needs to return

[close]

and pretty straightforward.

The music was very good, up to the BJ series standard (which is high!). My favourite piece is still the Dunesberg theme from BJ2, that one's just amazing, I love it!! - it could have been the main theme of a blockbuster western, that's for sure!

To be honest, the BJ series' graphics was never really my cup of tea, but it never ruined my gameplay, either. To be specific:

The backgrounds - all the way through the BJ series, the backgrounds is what I don't like very much - because of the bluriness and because of the "someone-scribbled-something-over-a-photo" look. I loved what Buloght did with the BJ1 backgrounds in his remake...

The portraits - even though some looked a bit too "shiny" (like polished statues, rather than having a sking), especially Simon, I still think you did a very good job.

Character sprites - well I never did like the characters without faces and I think their shading is rather weird too. In this game what bothered me the most was Alice's sprite (could use some rework) and the TV show moderator's sprite (blurry). Also sometimes Ben's arms would look too long and made of rubber (no bones), like in the flight sequence.

That said, the game has great atmosphere, a catching story, and is certainly among the best in the BJ series. Playing it was a great pleasure for us, BJ fans!

Cheers!

EDIT: The police inspector's full name - Hamato Yoshi - made me laugh out loud!Ã,Â

Did you name him after Splinter from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles intentionally?

Mordalles · Wed 12/04/2006 13:04:59

nice game.

the music was awesome, and the animation was good too.

i think choosing white and grey colours for backgrounds is the worst colours to choose for an adventure game. (but that might just be me

) and the blotches of airbrush randomly around each room is kinda distracting. it just makes the whole atmosphere of the game a bit dull and lifeless.
sprites were good. although, i think the female sprite needs a bit of work.

sometimes i walked around not knowing what to do, since the game never told me what to do, so your just hoping to stumble upon something new at a background you've already been a few times. this is something which i also found in 5 days a stranger. storywise you could learn from a game like prodigal, which really has you on edge the whole time.

overall nice game, and i think an improvement on your previous games. and i can see gk is your favourite game.

T_ed89 · Thu 13/04/2006 16:57:45

Mmmm this held the same high quality as the other bj games (but I still think smailholm is the best).
The only thing that I think should be changed for the next game, is the scary moments, because this game wasn't scary at all. No, the other games didn't scare me to death, but I still got a certain feeling and started to look over my back when I played it.
Also, very good music, espesially on the hotel.

Already looking forward to the next game in what I think is one of the absolutly best gameseries here on AGS...

Anym · Mon 17/04/2006 14:34:16

I'm a bit late in posting here, but it's only because I had to play the other four Ben Jordan games first (for the first time). I really enjoyed them all and this one is no exception. Great game! Thanks a lot! I thought that this one was definitely the best one graphics-wise, although I have to agree with T_ed89 that Case 3 remains the best overall.

Just two things nobody seems to have mentioned so far:

I found it odd that "In the Hollow of a Wave off the Coast at Kanagawa" in your hotel room was described as "pleasant".
Spoiler
I didn't like that Ben would move the trashcan in the toilet of the sushi bar around even if he had no reason to do so. In typical adventure fashion, the first thing I did in said toilet, before ever concerning myself with the vent, was to use the trashcan, expecting Ben to search it or to get a funny remark. To my suprise Ben moved it under the vent, making it unmistakably clear that I would have to do something there. A clear case of encountering the solution before the problem.
[close]

deadsuperhero · Wed 19/04/2006 18:04:14

Grundislav, that was truly an incredible game. Just as good as any of your other ones, if not better. On your site it said you'd make around 8 games? Geez. You really have talent, and a passion for what you do.

paolo · Thu 20/04/2006 13:18:04

Great game, loved it... just about the right level of difficulty for me at least.

My only quibble (and it's a small one) is over Simon... he's supposed to be English, but he seems to use American expressions every now and again (maybe from all the time he's spent with Ben

). Fair enough, because we Brits pick up a lot of American vocabulary from all the American TV we get here. However, on the morning of day 3, when Ben says "See you later", Simon says "Ta". "Ta" means "thank you", not "goodbye". Perhaps he meant to say "Ta-ta".

Anyway, like I said, a minor quibble. I'm looking forward to case 6 (and still trying to find the Easter egg in case 5!)

Paul

Cownip · Fri 21/04/2006 02:15:22

God these game just get better and better each time. I was a little freaked out with all the Smailholm refrences, was there any connection or was it a red hearing or something for the fans who played number 3 to enjoy?
Anyway, awsome game, keep up the good work!
P.S. Will there ever be a Ben Jordan 6, I pray so.

Hammerite · Fri 21/04/2006 08:22:32

well there is a continuing storyline apparently, but the picture in the Japanese woman's house was simply a reference.
and yeah, i'm guessing there's going to be a ben jordan 6 or he might be assassinated, possibly by rolf.

Grundislav · Fri 21/04/2006 17:15:07

Yes, there is a continuing storyline, and there are going to be a total of 8 cases.

Chicky · Fri 21/04/2006 17:23:30

I added u on myspace Ben! <3333

Sylvia · Sun 23/04/2006 15:39:43

I really loved this game!!!! Are you already working on part 6?? I'd love to be a beta-tester..

My compliments!!!!!!!!!!!

Hammerite · Sun 23/04/2006 17:05:52

if he is, he'll probably be more secretive after last times... uh... predicaments.

Mr. Mozzarella · Sun 23/04/2006 21:03:37

I'm a bit late, already finished it a week ago, but I also loved it

Although I think that the Japanese people look a bit too European (eg Mr. Shinobi and the show master)
The quality of the art and also of the music is very high

But my fav one is still part 3, maybe because Scotland is a bit more fascinating to me than Japan ... who knows ... anyway, I am already looking forward to the 6th part.

Also I wonder whether Grundislav (or anyone else here?) knows the episode of Inspector Columbo called "Murder under Glass" (and has probably watched it before writing the plot of BJ5)

xelanoimis · Tue 25/04/2006 20:44:17

Hi, congratulations for this one too!
I've just finished and it was nice.

Not as nice as Case3 or 4 I woud say.
Too predictable and not scary enought for me.
And not very japanese. For example the japanese swords are slightly curved and have much loner handles. As someone said before on the forum, do more cultural research for a better athmosphere.
Didn't liked the tv-show stuff. Supposed to be weird and funny, but it only looks silly and ruins the suspense.

The rest, it was pretty nice. I liked the Ben's dream idea too.

Spoiler

I was dissapointed that the bad guy did'n turned into a zombie and get another round

[close]

Mats Berglinn · Wed 26/04/2006 07:02:57

Quote from: xelanoimis on Tue 25/04/2006 20:44:17
Hi, congratulations for this one too!
I've just finished and it was nice.

Not as nice as Case3 or 4 I woud say.
Too predictable and not scary enought for me.
And not very japanese. For example the japanese swords are slightly curved and have much loner handles. As someone said before on the forum, do more cultural research for a better athmosphere.
Didn't liked the tv-show stuff. Supposed to be weird and funny, but it only looks silly and ruins the suspense.

The rest, it was pretty nice. I liked the Ben's dream idea too.

Spoiler

I was dissapointed that the bad guy did'n turned into a zombie and get another round
[close]

Uh, you type in the wrong code. It's not

Spoiler

but [ hide] if you want to hide the spoilers!

[close]

Hammerite · Wed 26/04/2006 07:48:05

he means you have to type in [gHIDE]spoiler text[/gHIDE] without the lower case gs