Lost Lands: Redemption Collector's Edition

*contains spoilers* I was so disappointed in this sequel. The Lost Lands series is my favorite HOP series of all time, so you can understand how bitterly disappointed I must feel to say so. CONS: (1) Susan's makeup design in the later half of the game is disastrous. She looks like a frozen raccoon. I couldn't even recognize it was her in the game's cover art. I'm pleased that details such as frost on the lashes and other such weather/setting-related detail was added, but honestly she looks so bad it's distracting. Do female characters need to look pretty? Absolutely not, but the design the game developers went with was overkill. (2) You made Jim, a grown a** man, into a whiny baby who blames his mother for everything. I understand its importance to the plot line, the whole redemption arc, and also character development, but he was pathetic. (3) Uri's appearance, while lovely, made no sense at all time-wise. It's been decades in the lost lands, if not hundreds of years, since Maaron was first introduced (and we know he is long lived due to his magic) but even Folnur got old and turned grey from one game to the next. Uri still being alive, and his appearance mostly unchanged, after all that time is highly unlikely. (4) The length of time required to complete almost half of the mini-games was ridiculous and excessive. I'm sure I'm not the only person who simply plays these games for FUN, not to devote 15 minutes to a mini-game that takes over one-hundred moves to solve. I can understand having one or two such mini-games, but nearly half of them took so much time they were nearly unsolvable. I can appreciate the developers trying to make the mini-games more difficult since this is game number seven, and I'm sure it's difficult not to have some HOPs be repetitive, but this was frustrating and took away from my enjoyment of the game immensely. (5) Different characters/voice-actors pronounce words differently, like Maaron's Tar-SAS versus Buldan's TAR-sus. It's not a big deal, but it is noticeable enough to make me think the voice actors didn't collaborate over pronunciation. PROS: No glitches, no spelling errors in the captions, great graphics, voice actors match the characters really well, flow of the game makes sense plot-wise, etc. Due mostly to the frustration caused by the amount of time needed to complete the mini-games, I would not recommend buying this game. If you want to play games in this series, I highly recommend all the others except this one and the fourth one, The Wanderer, mostly because its plot makes no sense and I really didn't like any of the characters.

This game is a perfect example of "be careful what you wish for". I was so disappointed when the audio didn't work, but now that they've fixed it, I almost wish they hadn't. The disappointment of not being able to play the game was better than the rage-inducing frustration caused by this game. I honestly have no idea how this game has so many positive reviews. I'll admit up front that I'm not a hardcore gamer. I play casually as time permits. Having said that, I very much enjoy puzzle games and don't typically have any problems with them (and that includes all of Five-BN's other games). This game, however, was simply infuriating. frozenFire782's review is right about the mini-games, and that's what makes this game infuriating. I played it for 90 minutes (the first 70 minutes of my 2.7 hour "playtime" was the initial time spent trying to get it to work and then diagnosing the audio issue), and 80-90% of that time I was miserable. As much as it pains me, I do not plan on finishing this game. Simply put, the mini-games are rage-inducing. They are not logic-based; they are trial-and-error. For example, the first mini-game you will encounter is the typical "Hey, you have to climb out of this hole using these handholds, but some of them (read: all except for one per step) are loose and you'll fall all the way back to the bottom when you grab them". That one will probably take at least 50 tries unless you're extremely lucky. Another mini-game has you placing "memories" (pieces of a picture) around a room. It begins great, with just enough of the picture giving you an indication where the piece belongs, but then they throw in several pieces which have absolutely no indication where they belong. They don't match anything at all in the room, so you spend 15 minutes per piece, picking the piece up, moving it a millimeter to the side, placing it down, seeing that's not the correct placement, and then repeating this several hundred times until the gods take pity on you (or you finally give up and skip it). The puzzle on which I finally had enough was one in which you have to string together extension cords to power four or five lights from one generator. As soon as you connect a plug (either from a light or from a power strip) to a power strip, you can't move the power strip, so to move it even a tiny bit, you have to unplug everything from it. The cords are so short that there is exactly one solution, and you will be very thankful that the strategy guide has the answer (unless, like me, you finally say "enough is enough" and stop playing). I don't know why Five-BN decided to take such a radically different route with this game, but this one is far different than all of their past games -- 1) complete trial-and-error mini-games rather than logic-based, 2) mini-games that take 15+ minutes each instead of a few minutes, 3) they removed profiles so you can't have multiple people playing the game (each with their own progress), and 4) the used a new engine (which is what caused the no-audio problem on Windows 7). I'm sure I would have found many more differences if I had decided to play longer, but it's not worth the frustration. I play games for fun, and this one just wasn't fun.

В этой части самые конченные головоломки из всей серии. Не то чтобы они сложные, просто нудные до зубовного скрежета.

I've played all the prior games and sometimes skip puzzles I find tedious or just can't figure out. But this one is the first I won't recommend. Some of the puzzles are so badly described that you can't figure out what they want without going to the strategy guide. For example a potion making puzzle tells you to use the weights and bowls to figure out your portions. There is a clue telling you the colors and proportions. But you can't pick up the bottles. I went to the guide that gives you the solution. Unfortunately the solution requires you to weigh everything out in that order, which bears no resemblance to the order on the instructions. I spent close to ten minutes trying to figure out why the damn bottles couldn't be picked up. Just skipped it. The gong puzzle is fine except for two lines, then there's no combo that works. Sigh. Off to the guide, feeling like a stupid loser again. Picture of solution, first two steps as I did, third one doesn't even match the game. The picture literally tells me to hit a paddle that isn't even there. Skip. Moving garbage near the start of the game? Magnet will pick up pieces but not move some of them. But after skipping the solution clearly showed at least one of the immovable ones moved. One of the HO minigames has "Bat" as an item to find. After clicking on a baseball bat multiple times, then looking for an animal type bat, I gave up and selected hint. It went straight for a golf club. I don't know if the original team is farming stuff out but I'm really not impressed. Too bad, I liked this series.

This game had some of the more annoying and tedious puzzles I've encountered in awhile for a HOG. You will definitely want to reference the strategy guide and walkthrough videos throughout playing the game unless you choose to skip most of the puzzles. Everything else in the game was alright with the expected high quality cutscenes and work put into a story that spans across the series. With the puzzles being as annoying as they were, I can't recommend the game at this time.

クリアしました。シリーズで購入しているので定番の安心内容ですが、少しボリューム不足です。また全体的に簡単なパズルですが面倒臭いだけのパズルが幾つかありました。

Noticed I had this game unplayed on my list. Since I played the others in the series a while back, figured I should deal with it. It seems the Lost Lands have calmed down a bit since your last visit. Sometimes you still go there to… relax? Unfortunately, it appears that calm is threatened by events on Earth. Some people have stumbled upon an ancient artifact related to an old wound. It appears the god of magic of the Lost Lands was killed long ago on Earth. And his heart has now been discovered… rather dramatically. You need to retrieve it before calamity ensues. HO scenes are fun, minigames challenging, and the plot engaging. Recommend in the bundle, just for ease of purchase.

This game is a perfect example of "be careful what you wish for". I was so disappointed when the audio didn't work, but now that they've fixed it, I almost wish they hadn't. The disappointment of not being able to play the game was better than the rage-inducing frustration caused by this game. I honestly have no idea how this game has so many positive reviews. I'll admit up front that I'm not a hardcore gamer. I play casually as time permits. Having said that, I very much enjoy puzzle games and don't typically have any problems with them (and that includes all of Five-BN's other games). This game, however, was simply infuriating. frozenFire782's review is right about the mini-games, and that's what makes this game infuriating. I played it for 90 minutes (the first 70 minutes of my 2.7 hour "playtime" was the initial time spent trying to get it to work and then diagnosing the audio issue), and 80-90% of that time I was miserable. As much as it pains me, I do not plan on finishing this game. Simply put, the mini-games are rage-inducing. They are not logic-based; they are trial-and-error. For example, the first mini-game you will encounter is the typical "Hey, you have to climb out of this hole using these handholds, but some of them (read: all except for one per step) are loose and you'll fall all the way back to the bottom when you grab them". That one will probably take at least 50 tries unless you're extremely lucky. Another mini-game has you placing "memories" (pieces of a picture) around a room. It begins great, with just enough of the picture giving you an indication where the piece belongs, but then they throw in several pieces which have absolutely no indication where they belong. They don't match anything at all in the room, so you spend 15 minutes per piece, picking the piece up, moving it a millimeter to the side, placing it down, seeing that's not the correct placement, and then repeating this several hundred times until the gods take pity on you (or you finally give up and skip it). The puzzle on which I finally had enough was one in which you have to string together extension cords to power four or five lights from one generator. As soon as you connect a plug (either from a light or from a power strip) to a power strip, you can't move the power strip, so to move it even a tiny bit, you have to unplug everything from it. The cords are so short that there is exactly one solution, and you will be very thankful that the strategy guide has the answer (unless, like me, you finally say "enough is enough" and stop playing). I don't know why Five-BN decided to take such a radically different route with this game, but this one is far different than all of their past games -- 1) complete trial-and-error mini-games rather than logic-based, 2) mini-games that take 15+ minutes each instead of a few minutes, 3) they removed profiles so you can't have multiple people playing the game (each with their own progress), and 4) the used a new engine (which is what caused the no-audio problem on Windows 7). I'm sure I would have found many more differences if I had decided to play longer, but it's not worth the frustration. I play games for fun, and this one just wasn't fun.

I love these HO games and have enjoyed playing the Lost Land series though this one could be very irritating at times. Some of the puzzles make no intelligent sense to start with and go on far too long. One of the mini games was moving boards which, once I figured out what to do, took well over 100 moves to complete. That was from the included strategy guide which in this case I had to follow. I know these games aren't supposed to be easy but some of these go too far. On the plus side I think the game looks way better graphically and was fantastic to see another Lost Lands adventure. I do recommend it but buy it on sale. I think many will resort to skipping some of the mini games as they are too frustrating and long winded.

good game. i like it