A Change in the Weather
Andrew Plotkin
Platform: Z-code?
Rating: 6.6
Total Votes: 30
Std. Dev.: +- 1.8
Average Playtime: Between 2 and 6 hours
Genre: Puzzle-fest / Fantasy / Slice of Life / Surreal / Seasonal
Rate this
Audience Comments:4/04/07 04:23 AM
Beautiful little game, challenging but fun to play.
Rating:8
3/21/07 08:33 PM
Rating:5
7/15/06 02:06 PM
Excellent writing, mood and implementation. Most prominently though, this game is fiendishly hard. Way too hard for a puzzle-weakling like me. I wouldn't call the game *unfair*, but it does require frequent saving and reloading (well the second half at least). If that's your thing, add on a couple of points to the rating.
Rating:7
2/12/05 07:58 AM
Rating:8
1/25/05 04:36 AM
Plotkin hones his considerable descriptive talents here. While lacking the philosophical dimension of some of his other games, it's tighter, less sprawling than the likes of _So Far_. And the game world is simply beautiful, vividly rendered and brought to life by the changing details over the course of time (not to mention one of the cutest NPCs in IF). The central puzzle, while challenging, is certainly fair; there's no need to play 'read-the-author's-mind' here. If you desperately hate time limits, you might want to leave before it gets dark, but it's worth downloading for the scenery alone.
Rating:9
12/05/04 08:02 AM
Nice scenery, lovely writing, a handful of puzzles that were simple but satisfying, and an unholy fang-toothed dominatrix of a time limit.
Rating:6
10/31/04 04:30 AM
Good atmosphere. Difficult because difficult to represent to oneself exactly what is going on (with the flows of water, and the directions of the paths). It is bad not being very good in english with this one.
Rating:6
3/27/04 09:36 PM
Very, very, very difficult. Beautiful writing, though.
Rating:9
3/12/04 05:23 PM
Rating:3
3/01/04 06:07 AM
Beautiful. Small, but lushly constructed, with extremely effective use of pacing to enhance mood. Highly recommended.
Rating:8
1/23/04 08:46 AM
Way, way, way too hard for humans. A really adorable fox is in there, and some good description of your surroundings. But not for the faint of heart.
Rating:6
1/02/04 05:55 AM
Rating:5
7/16/03 05:40 PM
-cruel-
The writing is wonderful, the scenery is beautiful, and I couldn't appreciate it because of the incredibly tight-timing puzzle. The continual restarts sapped the magic for me.
Rating:6
7/17/06 09:05 PM
Rating:5
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Extremely demanding string of time-driven puzzles makes this game virtually impossible to complete without a walkthrough. A shame, since otherwise it's a nice, well-developed example of how to build tension through descriptions.
Rating:6
7/12/03 12:23 PM
Extraordinarily unfair. Well-written, but still, inordinately unforgiving. -DJW
Rating:6
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Beautifully described, and nicely abrupt switch from languid explore-the-hillside to frenetic stave-off-the-approaching menace; the puzzle in the second half is highly cruel, but not arbitrary or unfair.
Rating:9
9/27/03 07:45 PM
Unreasonably difficult, though with a good sense of time passing.
Rating:5
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Extremly time sensitive and difficult, but beautifully rendered. Non-default responses for almost everything I could think of.
Rating:8
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Rating:6
7/11/03 03:06 PM
Rating:1
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Rating:8
7/10/03 12:10 PM
I never clicked with this game; the puzzles were too feindish for me. Maybe hints would have helped (I had a walkthrough), but maybe not. Good writing, and the poster-child for well-done changing room descriptions.
Rating:6
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Very atmospheric. The change in mood epitomizes, for me, what all great IF should attempt to emulate.
Rating:7
7/10/03 12:10 PM
A small game, which is good, since you'll be starting over a lot. The hard work does have its rewards but you may not feel up to it.
Rating:7
9/09/03 11:31 AM
This is a great piece, although sometimes non-intuitive. Very effective at setting a scene, and mood. Note that "2 to 6 hours" is with a complete walkthrough.
Rating:7
8/11/03 08:49 AM
Beautiful prose - perhaps the best-written IF game - but forget about the big puzzle.
Rating:8
7/10/03 12:10 PM
Scenic in a grab-you-by-the-throat fashion; also contains the cutest NPC ever.
Rating:9
7/12/03 01:24 AM
Evilly difficult, but very evocative. Keep a walkthrough nearby.
Rating:8
7/10/03 12:10 PM
So many cruel timing puzzles.
Rating:6
| |