Mastodawn

Getting pretty fed up with Gobliins 6. I'm in level 9 and have no fucking clue what to do to make any kind of progress. I check guides and you need to add salt to the bath water. I did things in another order and now the bath water is no longer selectable. So I'm screwed? Tried all other things, even made a checklist of what others do in videos, but nope.

This is just great. I don't feel like redoing this entire level.

Maybe it's time for me to start admiring the Gobliins series from a distance and find a new avatar?

😔

Made some progress after getting the game to run on CrossOver instead of ScummVM and using someone else's savegame to skip level 9. I first wanted to give up but the game is too close to my heart...

Anyway, after a few head scratches and guide peeks, I reached the swiss mines (lvl11). Onwards!

Level 12. How shall I describe it.
Perhaps best with this:
WTF??

This is Gob2 all over again
It took me 15 years to finish that one

Tried to make some more progress on level 12 yesterday evening but after more than an hour of fiddling around and consulting a guide I found out I had to place a duck somewhere and attach a mushroom with a weird wire onto it to blow it up in order to float it and reach higher places.

Again. WTF.
I think I'm gonna throw in the towel.

Brute forcing most of my way through lvl12 with a guide, the #gobliins quest continues as I tried quitting 3 times but somehow can't. Lvl13 is much more manageable and has a bit more "logical" puzzles plus only the Prince Buffoon to interact with the world. Better! Still not good, but better.
I guess I'm cursed to play this game.

I hereby officially resign. lvl14: putting salt on a hole? throwing a rubber duck at a bell? Sure; what else?

Two more levels and the game is done but I still have time. Again, it took me 15 years to actually finish gob2 + gob3.

I'm more than done with those moon logic puzzles.

It pains me to write a mediocre review for Gob6 but I can't lie.
https://jefklakscodex.com/games/pc/gobliins-6/
I had fun. But I also didn't.

Gobliins 6: More Prince Buffooning After 34 Years! | Jefklak's Codex

Gobliins 6: More Prince Buffooning After 34 Years!. It finally happened. After 34 years and thanks to the success of 2023’s Gobliiins 5, Pierre Gilhodes released a direct successor to Gobliins 2: The Prince Buffoon, one of the games that heavily influenced how I think and feel about gaming. Just take a look around at this Codex: its gracefully stolen pixel art mostly stems from Gob2. Needless to say, I was stoked when I finally received my Steam key. We knew what to expect: more Adventure Game Studio-esque Gobliins in the same vein as 2023’s Gob5, but this time, with Fingus and Winkle. The question is: did it deliver? Via Jefklak's Codex

I actually never played the original so guess what the plan is...
So far the main gameplay mechanic is pretty abysmal lol; I'm glad they threw most of that in the bin and I'm surprised they actually financed a successor.

The more you look at the Gob1 scenes, the more you notice ideas and assets returning in Gob2/3. See that locked cage up there? Check. Drawers used to climb? Check. Wizard's homes to inspect? Check. Elixirs that do stuff? Check. Catching a flying thing in/on a big tree? Check.

Wait a minute, the goblins are the elves now?
Anyway, I'm done with the game, it's over quickly and yes I used Universal Hint System. Otherwise I would never have stepped on a shark that looked like it died in a moat but instead serves as a cab to the last level...

@jefklak oh wow, I'm surprised you never played the first game. Yeah, it's got some interesting ideas but it's really rough. I think the health meter kills my enjoyment of the game since all the fun stuff comes from getting hit

@MichaelKlamerus For some reason my dad bought Gob2 and we then moved on to 3 but never bothered to look back?
Since it's from 1991 it's hard not to compare it to the far far (far) superior Monkey 2; on all accounts.

@MichaelKlamerus I did play Gob4 when it came out and after an hour asked for a refund 🤣 What a disgrace
Monkey 4 vibes

IrgndSonDepp Mar 17

@jefklak there are a few games out there where it's really surprising that they ever had the chance to iterate. 😅
And some of the sequels then turned out really well. I wish dev teams nowadays could still get away with a "starter" project. 😩

Mr Creosote Mar 16

@jefklak It's too bad! As noted before, I really like the duo from Gob2. They seem to have a lot of personality (in spite of not having any at all). Also, the whole concept of an experimental puzzle game where the failure animations are basically the reward (rather than successful completion and progress) isn't all that bad. But it seems this one is beyond the tipping point. Your screenshots are extremely cluttered. How to *ever* find any solution with such a huge search space?

@mr_creosote Beyond the tipping point is very well put; it didn't really occur to me until I compared the screenshots from gob5 & gob6. I found gob5 to be much more manageable but yes Fingus & Winkle are more entertaining.
I can't find anything besides praise for this game on Facebook/Steam but I guess they all come from the Gob Cultists. Perhaps I'm no longer one of them and should consider a site redesign haha/ouch.

Wesley Werner Mar 16

@jefklak great review, it's an enjoyable read. It sucks to hear about those pain points with the game; the one where you have to pick up random items to be used in later levels, would drive me nuts! It breaks Ron Gilbert's "backwards puzzle" rule of his "Why Adventure Games Suck" article.

Ramón Wilhelm Mar 17

@jefklak Gobliiins 6 feels so unfinished. The menu is frustrating and there are many unhandled events (no reaction if you use items on characters, hotspots and objects).