After 14 years of waiting for The Dig [spoilers]

oldhat · Post by **oldhat** » Thu May 07, 2009 1:50 am

I saw a copy on eBay, pounced and eagerly awaited it in the mail.

...only to find out the game sucks, IMO.

I mean, man, this story is slooooow. There's no real adventure, no action. It feels like walking around solving half-baked Myst puzzles (blech) using a clumsy interface it wasn't designed for.

I did not and would never have got the message about the green crystal from the museum display, because the low res animation made it look like a circle or a blob or something. Also, having to hold down the button for the light bridge. Maybe I'm just dumb but those were a couple of give me a break moments.

Also, the gaping plot holes. Like Maggie (who is a really unlikeable character) suddenly disappearing and not explaining (and Low never asking) how she got to the library.

Monkey Island and Fate of Atlantis set the bar so high, I guess I was bound to be disappointed.

Don't get me wrong, the art is great and the voice acting is good (although I keep thinking "T-1000, T-1000, T-1000..."). But the game's just not very fun.

Oh well.

Oh yeah, the turtle puzzle. That's entertainment.

MusicallyInspired · Post by **MusicallyInspired** » Thu May 07, 2009 3:19 am

*shrug* To each his own, I guess. I loved it. Turtle puzzle is annoying but other than that I really liked it.

Tinhead Ned · Post by **Tinhead Ned** » Thu May 07, 2009 9:58 am

I agree. The Dig was a definite low point.

Longcat · Post by **Longcat** » Thu May 07, 2009 3:22 pm

Well. I think it has it's charm. You shouldn't really compare it to the other LucasArts titles. But to each his own:)

clone2727 · Post by **clone2727** » Thu May 07, 2009 7:25 pm

MusicallyInspired wrote:I loved it. Turtle puzzle is annoying but other than that I really liked it.

That sums up my feelings too

superfighter · Post by **superfighter** » Fri May 08, 2009 3:12 pm

it seems really out of place when compared to monkey island and sam and max, but it showed that lucasarts had the talent to make really serious adventure games, i agree with the turtle puzzle though many sleepless nights with that one:D

Mataku · Post by **Mataku** » Fri May 08, 2009 4:01 pm

I only liked the game near the end, where the plot was becoming more clear, but overall, I would never play it again.

DCDayDreamer · Post by **DCDayDreamer** » Fri May 08, 2009 10:14 pm

The game had Spielberg written all over it, Close Encounters was just as slow but in cinematic format and almost twenty years previously - you are either into SCI-FI classics or not!.

DrMcCoy · Post by **DrMcCoy** » Sat May 09, 2009 12:11 am

DCDayDreamer wrote:The game had Spielberg written all over it

Since I absolutely abhor Spielberg (that idiot hack butchered too many SF classics, in my eyes), but loved The Dig, I beg to differ.

DCDayDreamer · Post by **DCDayDreamer** » Sat May 09, 2009 12:12 pm

DrMcCoy wrote:
DCDayDreamer wrote:The game had Spielberg written all over it
Since I absolutely abhor Spielberg (that idiot hack butchered too many SF classics, in my eyes), but loved The Dig, I beg to differ.

I loved The Dig too but in my opinion it had the drawn out cinematic elements that Spielberg uses, it dampened the game a bit for me, and don't get me started on what he did to War Of The Worlds (probably my favourite SCI-FI story of all time ruined).

Bluddy · Post by **Bluddy** » Sat May 09, 2009 8:00 pm

Yep it was crap. In general, Sierra was much better with serious games (GK series). While Grim Fandango was good, in general Lucasarts just wasn't that great at breaking out of the crazy funny game genre.

Post by **eriktorbjorn** » Sun May 10, 2009 7:05 am

Bluddy wrote:Yep it was crap. In general, Sierra was much better with serious games (GK series). While Grim Fandango was good, in general Lucasarts just wasn't that great at breaking out of the crazy funny game genre.

My recollection of The Dig is that it looks pretty, it sounds good, and the basic story isn't bad. But the characters talks to much, even when no one else is around. I too liked Gabriel Knight 1 better than The Dig. On the other hand, I liked The Dig better than Phantasmagoria, and I never got into Lighthouse (which I plan to give another chance one of these days). And Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis was a pretty good game, even though it was mostly serious.

Nikioko · Post by **Nikioko** » Mon May 11, 2009 2:46 pm

Well, I would rate The Dig as "solid" and definetely better than Full Throttle. But there are better Sci Fi-Adventures around. Since I dislike the Sierra style of a thousand deaths and a hundred dead-ends, I didn't play the Space Quest games. But I liked The Momentof Silence and The Longest Journey (for instances) and BASS, of course. Goin' Downtown is a bit short and not quite my style of a game, but Perry Rhodan was awesome, though consuming my resources.

MetalSnake · Post by **MetalSnake** » Mon May 11, 2009 7:47 pm

Nikioko wrote:Well, I would rate The Dig as "solid" and definetely better than Full Throttle.

What? I think The Dig was quite ok, but Full Throttle was one of my favorites!

Nikioko wrote: but Perry Rhodan was awesome, though consuming my resources.

Perry Rhodan? There is an Adventure game about Perry Rhodan? oO Tell me more!

flexikon · Post by **flexikon** » Mon May 11, 2009 7:55 pm

Haha all the talking! Maybe it's just a fetish of mine, but I try to steer clear of most games without any voices, cause for me it's ALL about the atmosphere in games and getting sucked into the story.

Allthough "The dig" went kinda slow indeed, I found myself enjoying the whole sci-fi genre a lot more when I reached a higher age. The puzzles were too hard for me as a kid, but the whole crystal thing and the turtle puzzle were no problem for me now, allthough I had a short AAAARGH moment when I wasn't able to put the canister in the shell when I just KNEW it had to be in that turtle! AAARGH!

Apart from that I never really anjoyed sci-fi to begin with, but the Dig definetly turned me around. Maybe I'm not that much of a critic anyway. As long as it sucks...me in the story, and there's aboslutely no lacking of atmosphere in that game! had me wiggling on the edge of my chair for hours...