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I didn’t choose the clown life, the clown life chose me.

The Whispered World: Special Edition, a charming, hand-drawn adventure of the boy-clown Sadwick and his caterpillar pal Spot, is available on GOG.com for $15.99 (20% off the full price until 9:59 AM GMT on 13 May 2014.

Sadwick is a twelve-year old with a melancholic vein. He not only dislikes the circus, where he lives with his brother and grandpa, and his normal life, where he cannot travel and explore the world, but also, he’s just been told in a prophetic dream that the world is coming to an end, and it’s his fault. And even though Sadwick is not happy with the way things are going for him, he is not going to let the world just end without a fight. This sad clown will travel through four game acts, with his caterpillar friend Spot, to the King’s Castle in Corona to prevent the beautiful but perilous world of Silentia from sliding into destruction.

This is just the beginning of an engaging and emotional dreamlike game starring this uncommon but sympathetic pair trying to save everything that exists. The graphics are suited for a fairy-tale: absolutely stunning hand-drawn scenery and animated cartoon characters. Subtle humor, usually coming from Sadwick’s cynical comments, strange encounters, otherworldly locations, and imaginative riddles guarantees an unforgettable adventure.

New in the Special Edition is the developers' commentary featuring Jan 'Poki' Müller-Michaelis and Marco Hüllen, as well as the in-game orchestral soundtrack, unlockable achievements, an alternate ending, and re-polished graphics in some scenes. The Whispered World: Special Edition is an enchanted point-and click with twists and turns to hold you occupied for days. The game won “Best Story” and “Best Youth Game” at the 2009 German Game Developer Awards and is an excellent adventure game for all ages.

Important notice!
Owners of the previous version of The Whispered World will receive this update for FREE. Please check your accounts for new installers and additional goodies!

Immerse yourself in a world of adventure in The Whispered World: Special Edition for $15.99 (a 20% discount) before 9:59 AM GMT on 13 May 2014.
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etb: Wait, something is messed up with the quotes.
Sorry, my fault. Post fixed.

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Ghorpm: Eh... is it a discussion about exact meaning of words?
No, I will try to avoid that and focus on intended meaning (especially as words don't have exact meanings).

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Ghorpm: First of all they did hurt their own image.
...
But it does leave a very bad impression.
If your claim is that "decision hurts their own image" (or "does leave a very bad impression") therefore "decision is shitty", that logic doesn't really hold. The problem with it is that your "decision hurts their own image" is only in the eye of a given beholder. In my eye, a price increase does not hurt anyone's image (in and of itself -- in a given context, such as a CEO saying "poor people suck" and with the price increase clearly intended to cut poor people off rather than just a strategy to increase total profits, my view of that price increase would be quite different). Because "decision hurts their own image" is relative to the viewer's own opinion, so is the "decision is shitty" conclusion. So in effect you are not making an objective argument about the value of the decision, but just elaborating on your subjective opinion.

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Ghorpm: Splitting Edna & Harvey games and in practice significantly increasing their prices, giving some questionable new content so it may seem that doubling the price of relatively old game is justifiable
I believe you are assuming the absurd here when there is a more logical explanation. In English there is a saying: "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down" I believe the more likely explanation is that Daedalic wished to increase the base price, and Daedalic knew some people wouldn't like this (like medicine), so Daedalic is doing what it can (without too much effort) to make the change more palatable to its potential customers (adding some sugar). (The sugar doesn't "justify" the medicine -- just makes it go down easier, at least for some people.) I don't believe that Daedalic actually thinks that "sugar" is equal in value to the price difference, nor do I believe that Daedalic expects its potential customers to think that. Rather Daedalic simply believes that it is better for its profits for the game to have that new price (even if it frequently sells for less than that due to sales), so it was going to make the change with or without the sugar, but with the sugar was deemed better.

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Ghorpm: For years they were neglecting their game, instead of fixing it they were providing save game files so that you could skip problematic moments.
OK, that's got me laughing. (As if adventure games weren't bad enough already!)

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Ghorpm: And now they double the price and give some questionable new content. If that's not a shitty move, well, what is?
How about releasing patches that introduce bugs or harm gameplay (without appropriate warning, especially if it's a "live patch" system so going back to the old version isn't even an option)? Suing their customers for no valid reason? Making a promise (that people make purchase decisions on) and then going back on that? (Note that a common element in all of these is actual harm to someone.)

Would you have been happier if they had just doubled the price and not added the new content? It seems to me that would be objectively a "worse" thing to do (even if still not "bad" in a moral sense), yet it would have undercut your argument.

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MIK0: But right now, the process of marking file as updated is done manually. But randomly.
True. (The patent-pending "GOG True Random Number Generator".)

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MIK0: It should be done in a more consistent way otherwise is useless
Not entirely useless, but useless for many cases. (It's still useful in the case where you see there's an update and you decide to get and use {or download+backup} that update right away. It's not useful if you want a reliable answer to the question "is my copy of game X up to date?". From a GOG PR perspective it's useful as a "look at us, we're so great because we're updating lots of your games" tool.)

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MIK0: who will benefit from something you can't rely on if you still have to check every news and every thread of the forum to find out if something is changed?
If you are about to play game X (say for the first time or after not having played it for a while), and since you know you can't trust GOG's system to tell you if your game X is up-to-date, you could just redownload/reinstall it. Maybe if enough people adopt that practice it would increase the load on GOG's servers enough that they would prioritize the issue. (It'd be even harder on GOG's servers if its users decide to redownload everything before each time they backup their hard drive -- there's no way to know if you're backing up the latest stuff if you don't redownload first.)
Post edited May 07, 2014 by TheJadedOne
Is the new alternate ending the same of the Deponia Easter egg?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLVDWdAzqaU
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TheJadedOne: If your claim is that "decision hurts their own image" (or "does leave a very bad impression") therefore "decision is shitty", that logic doesn't really hold. The problem with it is that your "decision hurts their own image" is only in the eye of a given beholder. In my eye, a price increase does not hurt anyone's image (in and of itself -- in a given context, such as a CEO saying "poor people suck" and with the price increase clearly intended to cut poor people off rather than just a strategy to increase total profits, my view of that price increase would be quite different).
I think that it's always subjective. Even in your example - people who think likewise won't have any problem with this CEO. There might be even others who don't agree with him but will praise him for being honest and that he had a courage so say what he thought and blah, blah, blah... so yeah the matter of someone's image is pretty much always subjective.

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TheJadedOne: So in effect you are not making an objective argument about the value of the decision, but just elaborating on your subjective opinion.
Yes, exactly! And I never ever claimed otherwise! :D From the very beginning I intended it as my personal opinion, I've never wanted it to be treated as universal truth. I think I participated in at least two threads about that matter and I said many times that I don't want to convince anyone who has different opinion. I do understand others' point of view and I fully respect it. So yeah, if this discussion was to prove that my statements are subjective then it was a waste of time because I never denied it. Furthermore - I really doubt a true objective argument can be made here. Simply because none of us has access to actual data about this case: who made this decision? What was his/her motivations? Who influenced this decision? Etc. etc. We can only discuss how we see it... we may all be wrong and that's why (let me repeat it once more) my reaction is not based on this event only. I would have never said anything bad about them if that had been the first time. You can check older threads - I was indeed trying to defend them. But enough is enough, I ran out of excuses ;)

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TheJadedOne: I believe you are assuming the absurd here when there is a more logical explanation. In English there is a saying: "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down" I believe the more likely explanation is that Daedalic wished to increase the base price, and Daedalic knew some people wouldn't like this (like medicine), so Daedalic is doing what it can (without too much effort) to make the change more palatable to its potential customers (adding some sugar). (The sugar doesn't "justify" the medicine -- just makes it go down easier, at least for some people.) I don't believe that Daedalic actually thinks that "sugar" is equal in value to the price difference, nor do I believe that Daedalic expects its potential customers to think that. Rather Daedalic simply believes that it is better for its profits for the game to have that new price (even if it frequently sells for less than that due to sales), so it was going to make the change with or without the sugar, but with the sugar was deemed better.
Nope, your assumption is wrong :) I think just like you, I may even add that I couldn't have said it better! But the problem is the way they are trying to give us this sugar: If they for example had said something like: "We are sorry but for some reasons that we cannot share with you we have to increase the price of the game. But we want to at least try to make it up for you so we will update our game. We do know that's not much but that's all we could do now, we humbly ask you to understand us" THAT for sure would have been this proverbial sugar to sweeten the deal. But in the current situation? For me (highly subjective once again!) they are just adding insult to injury - because just like you said: they didn't even put too much effort...






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Ghorpm: For years they were neglecting their game, instead of fixing it they were providing save game files so that you could skip problematic moments.
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TheJadedOne: OK, that's got me laughing. (As if adventure games weren't bad enough already!)
Very subjective :P I do like adventure games a lot :)


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Ghorpm: And now they double the price and give some questionable new content. If that's not a shitty move, well, what is?
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TheJadedOne: How about releasing patches that introduce bugs or harm gameplay (without appropriate warning, especially if it's a "live patch" system so going back to the old version isn't even an option)? Suing their customers for no valid reason? Making a promise (that people make purchase decisions on) and then going back on that? (Note that a common element in all of these is actual harm to someone.)

Would you have been happier if they had just doubled the price and not added the new content? It seems to me that would be objectively a "worse" thing to do (even if still not "bad" in a moral sense), yet it would have undercut your argument.
That was a rhetorical question to which, by the definition, you were not supposed to give any answer ;) I could have come up with a dozen or so examples of shitty moves by myself, but thanks for your effort ;) The fact that there are a lot of worse possible situations hardly make this one any less shitty, you know. So I don't think it would anyhow undercut my argument.
I have the game on Steam, so fyi for steam users- you get the special edition as well.

edit- and I see it was covered in the thread, cool ^^
Post edited May 08, 2014 by cmdr_flashheart
And the most important point hasn't been addressed yet; Have the game-breaking bugs been fixed?
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Grargar: And the most important point hasn't been addressed yet; Have the game-breaking bugs been fixed?
Oh? There were any of those?
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etb: Oh? There were any of those?
Yes, Momo1991 was unlucky enough to encounter them in both the Steam and the GOG version of the game. The temporary solution? Save files issued by Daedalic.
How come the GOG version of The Whispered World: Special Edition doesn't have the FLAC soundtrack included as the Steam version has both FLAC and mp3 versions, can anyone confirm? I guess its time for Judas to get to work as GOG usually has more extras for games then other places and shouldn't lag behind in this case. :)
Post edited May 09, 2014 by stg83
Nice!
And thanks for the free update!
(however, while they were at it they could've re-record chadwick's dialogue, it is still the worst thing about the game!)
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stg83: How come the GOG version of The Whispered World: Special Edition doesn't have the FLAC soundtrack included as the Steam version has both FLAC and mp3 versions, can anyone confirm? I guess its time for Judas to get to work as GOG usually has more extras for games then other places and shouldn't lag behind in this case. :)
It's a monopoly thing. Steam and companies make deals to push out other providers, we call this a "free market". So when Daedlic releases content to other providers, they release it piecemeal, at lower quality, or not at all, thus keeping Steam as the primary source for content.

Wonderful, isn't it?

As a personal observation, all the fanfare around GOG when I found it all centred on the lack of DRM, across the board pricing, and extras. Steam isn't going to implement across the board pricing or pull the DRM, so they introduce content. Now from their perspective, and apparently from a hell of a lot of companies perspectives, extras are now worth including at an extra cost since people obviously want them. Pity about the DRM/regional pricing/etc but you know, baby steps.