Gemini Rue

[Ilyich]

Just finished it - great game! Enthralling plot, superb atmospheric backgrounds, tense, engrossing and well-paced gameplay, it sucks you right in! I enjoyed it a lot, probably one of the best adventure games in recent years, along with the Blackwell games.

Thanks, Joshua, hope to see more of your games in the future (and preferably set in the future - I loved the Cowboy Bebob/Bladerunner vibe)!

And thanks to Dave, for helping it get released in such a well-polished state. Wish you both the best of luck with the sales and future projects! Cheers!

[BluWacky]

WOW  :o, What an amazing game  :o. I'm really enjoying it a lot, excellent work   , congratulations!!, and what a narrative, it's fantastic

By the way, I think I found a nasty bug

Spoiler

In the maintenance room, where Giselle is, if You try to walk through the left door (not try to open it, try to pass through the door walking), You pass to the other screen when I think You are not suppossed to because it looks like if the story jumps to the point of what I suppose it would happen there when You're able to open the door with characters there and well.., oh and soon after that if You walk some more the game just crashes, altough I think that's a normal consequence of the other problem

[close]

PS: Sorry, I can't find how to put a spoiler tag  , although I think that what I've just written doesn't contain spoilers

I had exactly the same problem, and unfortunately decided to save shortly after the game autosaved during the cutscene that followed.  So now I have to restart the game, alas.  Very irritating bug.

Other than a couple of typos it's been a pretty enjoyable, polished experience thus far - aside from said game breaking bug!

[Snarky]

I spent the best part of the day playing Gemini Rue, and I must congratulate Joshua on having created a game that is surely a future classic. I don't think I've ever played an AGS game that is so ambitious: in story, length, size, graphics, music, gameplay, voice acting... and so successful in its ambition.

Certainly, it is not entirely without flaws. While the graphics were stylish and appealing, I often felt like I had to squint to make out important details in the sketchy, scratchy (not to mention low-resolution; 320x200 is enough for many games, but in this style I felt like many things barely showed up) environments. There were a couple of quite frustrating pixel hunts (shard and ramp), and the reuse of room templates was quite jarring in some screen transitions (which seemed less like a shift to a new room than like some of the furniture suddenly jumped around).

The UI was more fiddly than it perhaps needed to be (having to combine mouse and keyboard controls for crate movement seemed unnecessary, for example), and not all the supporting voice actors were as good as the main cast. I think also that having played a good few Wadjet Eye games, I'm starting to become a little too familiar with David's repertory company of voice actors.

I have to admit that I was a little bit skeptical of the story based on early press. Both the "hard-boiled detective with a dark past investigates in rainy cyberpunk world" and "guy wakes up with no memory in futuristic brainwashing-prison" sounded like over-familiar clichés. And yes, they are hardly original, and yes, I could see where the story was going very early on. Still, it's presented with enough confidence and enough texture (dropping in just enough unexplained or underexplained background info) that the environments come alive and seem real, and fortunately it was not overly reliant on the shock value of its twist(s).

I particularly appreciated that Azriel's investigation was long enough and complicated enough, with numerous steps, leads, and suspects before its conclusion, to feel like a real case rather than just an adventure game obstacle. Though it seemed like an amazing coincidence that all the people involved lived essentially on the same block. 

While I can understand why Blade Runner and Beneath a Steel Sky are the first things people compare it to, I'd say that Cowboy Bebop and particularly Portal are more evident in its DNA. (Seriously, the Director and GLaDOS should be dating.) There are also striking similarities with Dollhouse, though I assume those are coincidental, since the game was already in production when the show first aired.

So what's next for JBurger games? Are you thinking of more games in the same universe? I for one would certainly be in line for a sequel!

[ALPHATT]

The game looks amazing, I'm interested if you're gonna have any alternative payment methods other than plimus. It applies the VAT of the respective country you're in. A) It doesn't even make sense, since I doubt every country actually collects their respective tax from them, doubt they have representation in every damn country in Europe. B) The VAT is 25% in hungary, and that makes my game $3.75 more expensive and while I appreciate that it's not a lot, there's a principal involved. If there are no plans for a steam or other non-plimus release I'll just get it there, but for example if I wanted to to get the $25 limited edition, there would've been a 25% surcharge on it for me. Sorry for the above complaint, I really like how the game looks but I had to get that off my chest and I've had some problems registering on the wadjeteye forum.

[TheJBurger]

While I can understand why Blade Runner and Beneath a Steel Sky are the first things people compare it to, I'd say that Cowboy Bebop and particularly Portal are more evident in its DNA. (Seriously, the Director and GLaDOS should be dating.) There are also striking similarities with Dollhouse, though I assume those are coincidental, since the game was already in production when the show first aired.

I'm glad you picked this up, because Cowboy Bebop and Portal are the two main inspirations, with everything else being secondary. I also haven't played the Blade Runner game (or Snatcher) so any references to Blade Runner lie solely within the film context. (And I haven't seen Dollhouse, btw)

So what's next for JBurger games? Are you thinking of more games in the same universe? I for one would certainly be in line for a sequel!

Spoiler

I don't know if making games in the same universe would justify their existence - this universe kind of solely exists for these two characters, and so to create parallel story lines might not be as respectful to that, at least in my opinion.

[close]

[Dualnames]

I found the game totally inspired by Cowboy Bebop,  it's so apparent that there are two easter eggs

[TheJBurger]

I found the game totally inspired by Cowboy Bebop,  it's so apparent that there are two easter eggs

4, actually. 

[Snarky]

How do you trigger those?

I'll be replaying for the commentary, so it'd also be nice to know about other easter eggs, cool death scenes, optional dialogs, branching paths (I didn't get the impression that there are any, apart from backup solutions if you fail certain puzzles?), interesting alternative solutions to puzzles and that sort of thing.

Not really an easter egg, but I liked the in-joke where Azriel tries to pass off AGS community members as Boryokudan references. The game feels so professional that it'd otherwise be easy to think of it as too aloof for the forums and all that. I don't mind saying that Gemini Rue (BTW, like many reviewers are saying, the original name really was better) and its nearly universally positive critical reception fills me with a sense of community pride.

Oh, and on the subject of jokes, I love that the settlement on Barracus has named its cities after Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Way to aim high, guys! It really communicates their downbeat, defeated attitude.

Spoiler

I don't know if making games in the same universe would justify their existence - this universe kind of solely exists for these two characters, and so to create parallel story lines might not be as respectful to that, at least in my opinion.

[close]

Fair enough. I was thinking that maybe during development you had ideas for other adventures in the universe, maybe a sequel with the same characters - or some of the supporting characters. But if you'd rather do something separate, that's fine with me!

[ALPHATT]

can i get a y/n on my question : D

[voh]

Just finished it and while it's already been one of my most looked-forward-to games, it's fulfilled that promise nicely!

Want more! And while I understand that you're a little careful with overexploiting your GR universe, I see more than enough options to either make a straight sequel to it (i.e., the quest for the original memories) or something just set in the same universe but not connected directly to this game's characters.

I just want more 

That's all.

[Sughly]

Just finished it as well. Really, really great job, very impressive! Anything I'd say has been said before, so I'll just leave it at that 8). With that said though, the music really gave the game something special - it could easily make or break a game, and it really helped make this one. Well done! Glad I got the CD version so I'll be able to proudly display it on my shelf and replay it in years to come.

[Nathan Allen Pinard]

Just finished it as well. Really, really great job, very impressive! Anything I'd say has been said before, so I'll just leave it at that 8). With that said though, the music really gave the game something special - it could easily make or break a game, and it really helped make this one. Well done! Glad I got the CD version so I'll be able to proudly display it on my shelf and replay it in years to come.

Thank you for your comments on the music!

[voh]

Agreed on the music, I can't wait for my SE to arrive either, partly because of that

It'll probably end up being part of the soundtrack of one of the many pen&paper RPGs I play

[Kristof]

I've played only the demo so far, I liked the atmosphere very much. Congrats!

[Dave Gilbert]

The game looks amazing, I'm interested if you're gonna have any alternative payment methods other than plimus. It applies the VAT of the respective country you're in. A) It doesn't even make sense, since I doubt every country actually collects their respective tax from them, doubt they have representation in every damn country in Europe. B) The VAT is 25% in hungary, and that makes my game $3.75 more expensive and while I appreciate that it's not a lot, there's a principal involved. If there are no plans for a steam or other non-plimus release I'll just get it there, but for example if I wanted to to get the $25 limited edition, there would've been a 25% surcharge on it for me. Sorry for the above complaint, I really like how the game looks but I had to get that off my chest and I've had some problems registering on the wadjeteye forum.

Hi Alphatt,

Regarding registering, did you include the underscores/dashes when you entered the captcha code?  That seems to confuse a lot of people.  We had to add that because the forum was overloaded with spam, but we're in the midst of updating that now so we can remove that horrible captcha.

Regarding VAT, check out this thread here: http://www.wadjeteyegames.com/forum/index.php?topic=887.0

[qptain Nemo]

I'd like to join people congratulating JBurger on releasing this. Very well done, one of the most pleasant game experiences of the last time. I'll be honest: I wouldn't call it mindblowing, but i enjoyed it thoroughfully and by all means appreciate it and look forward to your future projects, JBurger.
I found it very pleasing in visual and audial senses, great job, Nathan, especially that track that plays when they come to

Spoiler

weather tower

[close]

Obviously in terms of atmosphere too. Really liked a lot of design decisions such as multiple solutions to certain things.

Spoiler

being able to fail to convince the lobby manager and ask your partner to do that for you entirely? brilliant!

[close]

Really liked the main story twist (and particulary OMG SPOILER the director's explanation END OF HORRIBLE SPOILER) and the way two stories connected. But my only problem is that while the whole story's composition is very good, it feels unexciting at times and some parts feel a bit empty story-wise because protagonists chase some simple goals without much feeling of global progress. And it's not even a real critisism, since 1. relaxed, slow, engrossing parts add to the experience and 2. i have no idea how would i fix it. So I'm not even saying it's necessarily bad, BaSS was actually full of such parts too and I enjoyed it deeply, and in no way i'm implying that sense of importance it necessity for a good story, but you know, just sharing how i felt in the hope that you may find it interesting and/or useful. It's just felt for me that the story is good, but it's not enough of it to fill in such length.

But then again, I really appreciate a game made entirely of sincere attempts to make a good game, not corrupted by any typical game design faults stemming from laziness and lack of care. So you deserve every buck and every praise you get from this game and I wish you to make more and that all possible good things come to you!

[Cryxo]

I just finished the game myself and I am blown away. The narrative is simply and truly stunning. It makes a game that is exciting and thrilling to play and more or less satisfying. That is a true achievement considering many triple A games out there these days are simply not satisfying to play or finish. The mood is perfect and I caught onto the whole Cowboy Bebop and Portal thing as well. To think that one man can design a game to this standard is quite astonishing. I can't wait for my CD copy with the soundtrack to arrive now now!

I have one question though, it may sound a bit daft but what was the underlying inspiration behind the philosophy in Sayuri's speech at the end?

Congratulations and I do hope you do extremely well out of this game.

[Takyon]

I just can't get the demo to work. It loads but very glitchy and slowly. I can hear the sound of the next scene while the LOADING screen is still displayed.

Anyone else have trouble running it on windows 7?

[Peder 🚀]

J.H: I had trouble with the full game on Windows 7. Same issue.
Are you using a laptop? Try setting the battery settings to high performance, did the trick for me..
Appearantly you can also set the colors to 16bit and run in window mode... But the first solution is much easier and crazy enough works .

[TheJBurger]

How do you trigger those?

I'll be replaying for the commentary, so it'd also be nice to know about other easter eggs, cool death scenes, optional dialogs, branching paths (I didn't get the impression that there are any, apart from backup solutions if you fail certain puzzles?), interesting alternative solutions to puzzles and that sort of thing.

Spoiler

There are 4 "official" easter eggs - 1 is in the first scene with Azriel, the other 3 are in the investigation scene with Azriel (where you can swap characters with Delta-Six).

Optional dialogs: you can try asking people about the 'escaped prisoner' which might turn up something.

Branching paths: not really, as you mentioned, but there are slightly different versions of the ending depending on things you do/say in the last scene.

I've probably said too much! 

[close]

I have one question though, it may sound a bit daft but what was the underlying inspiration behind the philosophy in Sayuri's speech at the end?

Spoiler

Personal experience / cliched movie endings.

[close]