Indigo Prophecy Gone Gold

[Evil Avatar]

Atari has announced (http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050907/nyw098.html) that Quantic Dream's (Omikron) new adventure game, Indigo Prophecy (Fahrenheit in Europe), has Gone Gold.

Atari, Inc. today announced that Indigo Prophecy, a suspense-filled adventure video game, has gone gold and development is complete. Known as Fahrenheit in Europe, Indigo Prophecy tells the story of a man whose destiny is irrevocably altered when he unwillingly commits a brutal murder. Through the use of branching storylines and multiple character perspectives, players embark on an immersive adventure on par with a Hollywood thriller. Indigo Prophecy is developed by Quantic Dream, and will be available for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, the Xbox video game system from Microsoft and personal computers running the Windows operating system in Europe on September 16 and in North America on September 20.

[DevDict]

Quite a few news posts today :).
Excellent news. If I won't buy Fable: The Lost Chapters for PC (Surprisingly I really like it), I'll buy Indigo Prophecy.

[fitbabits]

Sweet! There's a demo included with the recent OXM for those who would like to try before buying. I've yet to play it (just got my subscription copy yesterday - almost a week after it hit newsstands), but I'm eager to do so.

[Stormwatcher]

I really enjoyed the VERY SHORT demo. This game could do for advertures what Baldur's Gate did for RPGs.

BTW, I was really enjoying Fable TLC until I got to the worst sneaking mission ever in any game.

[Metal Jesus]

I played the OXM demo over the weekend several times and really, really enjoyed the game. It reminds me of the classic Sierra adventures like Gabriel Knight but modernized. I'm very tempted to pick this up.

[Cupelix]

I'm pacing back and forth waiting for this game. I just hope the "action sequences" are not so frequent, and that the game isn't as much about trail and error over and over in the same scene as the demo was.

[SlamDunk]

Demo was very good and refreshingly different. I'm glad there's still games being made that are original.

[Kefkataran]

It reminds me of the classic Sierra adventures like Gabriel Knight but modernized. I'm very tempted to pick this up.

If it's as good as a Gabriel Knight game, consider me sold. I'll definitely be checking this out. Is there a PC demo available?

[Mr.Green]

When you see 8 consecutive posts positive about something on EvAv, you know it has to be good.

[frederec]

If it's as good as a Gabriel Knight game, consider me sold. I'll definitely be checking this out. Is there a PC demo available?

Yes. I'm downloading it now. It's at http://www.atari.com/indigo/ For those of us without xboxes.

[Cupelix]

If it's as good as a Gabriel Knight game, consider me sold. I'll definitely be checking this out. Is there a PC demo available?
Yes, there was a PC demo that came out a few weeks ago. If you search for Fahrenheit in the EvAv news archive you should find it.

I'm not going to compare this to a Gabriel Knight game until I play more than the short demo. Certainly on the surface, this is a pretty new take on the adventure genre. Thematically, it seems similar to GK in the sense that it's modern world with supernatural elements. GK's shining points were always the stories however - it remains to be seen whether Indigo Prophecy's story will hold up over the course of the game.

[fitbabits]

I feel it only right and proper to admit to the following:

I've never played a Gabriel Knight game in my 37 years on this planet. I should probably be flailed for that.

[frederec]

I feel it only right and proper to admit to the following:

I've never played a Gabriel Knight game in my 37 years on this planet. I should probably be flailed for that.

Me too. I grew up playing the King's Quest games on someone else's computer. My family could never afford one. Could barely afford those, so I wasn't able to branch out.

[Worldcrafter]

As soon as this game comes stateside, I'm sold. This plus more Katamari plus Serenity == good month for entertainment.

[Kelegacy]

I feel it only right and proper to admit to the following:

I've never played a Gabriel Knight game in my 37 years on this planet. I should probably be flailed for that.

You should be shot, not flailed. Or maybe flayed and tossed in a crate of salt. You should start with the first game, Sins of the Fathers (my personal fav due to memories) but you'll have to get it to run under dos (using DosBox probably). I have never played the second, because I cant find a copy of it anywhere (and I should have my ankles broken for not playing the second) but the third is fantastic, and has some content in common with the Da Vinci code, revolving around the Bloodline of Christ...but also vampires. Excellent games.

[Reanimated]

The demo of this game pretty much sold me. Very awesome concept and great execution.

I found it to be a lot like Omikron (which I actually really liked) while playing it. I then later realized that Quantic Dream was the developer, and that pretty much erased any doubts I might have had left about buying it.

I thought QD had gone under, so I really hope this game does very well.

[Abash Alarmist]

Hell even when I was 10 I played through Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within.

Fucking awesome game.

[fitbabits]

You should be shot, not flailed. Or maybe flayed and tossed in a crate of salt. You should start with the first game, Sins of the Fathers (my personal fav due to memories) but you'll have to get it to run under dos (using DosBox probably). I have never played the second, because I cant find a copy of it anywhere (and I should have my ankles broken for not playing the second) but the third is fantastic, and has some content in common with the Da Vinci code, revolving around the Bloodline of Christ...but also vampires. Excellent games.

Dammit, I wrote flailed insted of flayed! That'll teach me for posting while in the office...

I shall hit the internet super-highway looking for all things GK-related right now. If you promise not to shoot me, I'll let you know if I ever come across the second in the series. :eek:

[Moatman]

The demo for this was quite short, but the potential is pretty damn amazing, I hope they make good use of it and, like was said above, it does not turn into trial and error the whole game. I loved the bits of omikron I played(really need to go back and finish that) but the little combat and first person shooter mini-games were...slightly disappointing compared to the adventure portion. Hopefully Quantic Dream learned from complaints and made this less frustrating. And the news last week of Omikron 2 in the works, I am quite excited!

[Cupelix]

GK2 is a bitch to find. I found it in an EB unopened in a totally banged up box for like $20 a few years ago. It should've been marked at about $5, but I knew it was worth the $20, so I snatched it without a second thought. As long as you can forgive the clock puzzle in GK2, and the Mustache puzzle in GK3, it's a fantastic series, with some of the best stories I ever found in an adventure game. I need to play through GK3 again...

[Moatman]

Oh dear, those 2 puzzles... At least now I know a good use for a cuckoo clock and how to get a free moped....gabe knight games were great though, gk2 is one of the very very few really good fmv games out there, even though the guy they used for gabe didn't quite do the character justice.

[Stormwatcher]

Back to Indigo Prophecy... Well, the thing I liked about the short demo is that it WASN'T trial and error at all. There were several valid ways of running away from the crime scene. Granted, there is a Best Way (tm), but you can try different approaches (just run away like hell, or clean up the whole scene and even chitchat with the patrons at the dinner, or anything between). It was actually hard to go wrong.

[Liquidize105]

It's funny, every time I play a freeform game with branching narrative I end up doing everything.

Deus Ex? I went through 95 percent of the content on my first run-through even though half of that was optional (which is what made it so enjoyable). The remaining 5% or so was too hidden.

[Cyrano]

Does anyone know a website that imports European games to the US? I'm not happy about buying the censored US version of Indigo Prophecy, but I can't afford to spend a huge amount of money on shipping. (If you don't know, the designers said in an interview (http://www.adventuregamers.com/article/id,554/) that they had to censor the sex in the game to get a rating that would allow them to sell the game in non-porn shops in the US. According to them, the original version shows nothing that you wouldn't see in an R-rated movie.)

Gabriel Knight 1 and 2 are great games, but 3 is a dog. Old Man Murray had a theory that Gabriel Knight 3 is an example of adventure games committing suicide (http://www.oldmanmurray.com/features/78.html). I remember discovering a dead body in GK3; it was supposed to be terrifying, but my wife and I nearly died laughing because the wound in the body was so badly drawn that it was an octagon. Bad, bad game.

[Kefkataran]

I'm glad to see I'm not the only GK-lover on here! Maybe we can get started screaming for a fourth game already?

3 was far from the high point as far as graphics or gameplay, but the story held up considerably. I'd love to see them make a fourth one with the graphics now available.

Checking out the Indigo Prophecy demo tomorrow night once I have this week's classwork out of the way.

[nonchalance]

(If you don't know, the designers said in an interview (http://www.adventuregamers.com/article/id,554/) that they had to censor the sex in the game to get a rating that would allow them to sell the game in non-porn shops in the US. According to them, the original version shows nothing that you wouldn't see in an R-rated movie.)

Well, so much for an Aussie release, then.
Fuck.

[Morrolan]

I'm super-pumped for this game. Euro reviews have all be stellar. The basic gist has been: the controls are a bit of a pain, but you won't care because the rest of the game is so awesome.

[mister_slim]

Demo was great fun. Some clever control metaphors, and excellent use of contextual actions. The flexible story looks really good. The visual design, camera work and editing is what really sucked me in, though.

[Danin]

I was actually really impressed with the in-game developer intro, I don't think I've ever seen anything like that done before. Quite clever indeed.

[dr_qwandry]

Reanimated you'll be happy to know that QD is in developement with Omikron 2

[Noman]

I consider Gabriel Knight 1, the best in the series. It has really great plot, writing and puzzles. The ending is excellent too. It works great on DOSBox (set the CPU cycles to 6500+)

Gabriel Knight 2 and 3 are pretty good games as well but the first one is almost perfect.

Coming back to topic, Indigo Prophecy demo was very impressive. I'll definitely buy this game. It's one of these demos, the download of which I can recommend to fans of other genres as well.

[fitbabits]

Does anyone know a website that imports European games to the US?

You can try HMV (http://www.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=225;6;42;-1&sku=391157) or Game (http://shop.game.net/ViewProduct.aspx?cat=10350&mid=326248), both of which I've ordered from and had zero problems with.

It's also available on Amazon's UK site (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0009WXQHS/ref=br_lf_vg_h__13/026-6611944-2223620).

[fitbabits]

Finally played the Xbox demo last night – AWESOME! This just jumped to the very top of my ‘must-have’ list! I think, though, I’ll get the PC version.

[Kelegacy]

I need to try this demo out now. I think console demos should come out more; it would give people a better chance to know if a game is for them instead of wasting dough on renting. If it is as interesting as some of you say it is, I'm sold.

[fitbabits]

I need to try this demo out now. I think console demos should come out more; it would give people a better chance to know if a game is for them instead of wasting dough on renting. If it is as interesting as some of you say it is, I'm sold.

Would we lie to you?? :eek:

[Nath5000]

I think that the US definetly got shafted and manipulated. Censorship sucks. This game is cinematic, like an interactive movie as I could tell from the demo. This game further proves that the ESRB is broken.
Fahrenheit as its called in Europe apparently has nudity, sex scenes, and one interactive sex scene. Translated to Indigo Prophecy, we get no nudity, sex scenes where characters keep their underwear on and fade to a black screen when things get "hot" and the interactive sex scene is eliminated altogether. I dont really care if you think that only pervs would want to see that stuff anyway or not, the fact of the matter is that the game has an artistic vision, and especially in a game so cinematic we are kept from seeing the true artistic vision of this game. Instead of a really f-ed up guy who deals with murder in his life mixed with his passionate or caring side or crude side depicted in the sex scenes we get just the f-ed up guy who deals with murder. I think thats a pretty big deal. This isnt a hot coffee sex scene that has no meaning whatsoever for the character that he can do whenever and go back to shooting cops and old people like in GTA this is a game where everything adds up to the way the designer thought you should see this character and his world.

I dont know if you played the demo, but the game is rated M for mature, basically made for people who are old enough to watch R rated movies. Movies which often involve sexual scenes no worse than what's in this game in europe, and sometimes even more graphic realistic violence. Why is the ESRB broken? Why is it that cases come up such as children shooting up schools due to games and people blaming games for their hate crimes, and why is that affecting SEX in games and not VIOLENCE in games?? I'll tell you why, people want to have something to bitch about, and in the meantime people like Jack Thompson and Hillary Clinton are just using these poor arguments against games in general to boost themself into a political and socially influential position of power and person greed. Sure some of those people might actually care about what children are exposed to, but the manner in which they are making their arguments are just plain stupid. Why go after a game like GTA:SA that has sex scenes, when it has plenty of violence. Why is sex and nudity, something un-violent, something that isnt a crime socially taboo when right next to it axe murders in full graphic goryness are slipping through the cracks. Rated R movies sometimes fall into the hands of Kids too, and they are exposed to the "adult" content including violence, but games are a New political issue and people like Jack Thompson and Hilary Clinton are attempting to twist the situation to their own personal benefit to get in favor of the un-educated public when it comes to the details on the situation.

Now this issue is sadly altering a game like Indigo Prophecy and forcing it to become a censored piece of art or art-form instead of what it is meant to be in the eyes of the designer. They had to change what the game is, because getting an AO rating is a marketing nightmare and a financial disaster. How then do R rated movies with violence and nudity survive out there in the general public? The ESRB should be taking notes. Is the sex really an integral part of the story in Indigo Prophecy? maybe not, but thats not really the issue. The issue is that we are being controlled. Someone somewhere (cough ESRB cough) is f-king up and we lose out. You should care if you dont. What if society flipped and violence was the social taboo according to the ESRB and games with nudity were allowed to be sold as a M rating but games with violence would be rated AO and halo3 wouldnt be financially feasible or marketable because of the death trap it is thrown into by a stupid company that is just meant to inform people what they are buying and not allow young people to get ahold of certain things? If halo3 was impossible for that fact, many of you who do not care now would care. Its the same situation just becuase you do not want nudity necessarily in your games doesnt mean that its any less important of an overall issue.
If I had a 10 year old kid right now, id rather let him watch a porn movie then watch a movie with a guy severing another guys head off and the same would go for a game, i probably wouldnt let my kid see either but I think that the violence is much worse of an influence and the real issue for children and not sex. Same goes for indigo prophecy, id rather let my kid play an AO Nude DOA volleyball game (if one existed) than let him or her ever play a game Mature game like indigo prophecy that depicts graphic stab murders and other graphic violence. What the hell is wrong with north america and sex in the media. Why would we rather let the violence slip through the cracks to our children than the un-violent natural issue of nudity and sex.

[Nath5000]

I just looked at atari's UK site and the uncensored original version of the game is rated for 15 year olds in the UK and yet that same version would not not get a Mature 17+ rating here but an Adults Only kiss of death...

[Kelegacy]

I just looked at atari's UK site and the uncensored original version of the game is rated for 15 year olds in the UK and yet that same version would not not get a Mature 17+ rating here but an Adults Only kiss of death...

I agree wholeheartedly with your previous post. In America you cant release a videogame, even if it's rated M for adults, that has blatent sex or boobies. I think this is due to the fact that the ignorant world is still seeing videogames as a children's medium. If people do their math, the same kids who started playing videogames 20 years ago are still playing them. Example: me. We grow up, we still play. I'm an adult and dont want to watch censored movies, the same way I dont want to play censored games. jRPGs back in the heyday (and still this happens) always switched pubs serving beer or spirits to pubs serving milk or juice. That pisses me off now. Movies that are R rated dont censor naked women, non-hardcore sex, or gory violence. Games that are M rated should be able to do the same things. By making GTA:SA an AO game, it would be like making Scarface, Goodfellas, or Sin City X-rated. Someone has to do something about blatantly out of line censorship before we all have to wear billowy grey suits and cant show skin other than our faces.

America: the home of the free, the brave, and the censored. Fuck it, I'll download or buy the PAL version and play it as it's meant to be played.

Also, tonight I'm going to have hardcore ass sex with a whore, in a well-lit window, in a personal act of defiance to our great stuffy, politican-ruined country.

[Nath5000]

lol well said Kelegacy

[Stormwatcher]

I hope we get the Euro version here.