BTTF "Directed" gameplay
TTG have gone on record to say that the game will more more directed (i.e linear) than many of their other games. I'm sure it will make it even more cinematic and more engaging for players new to genre but I have to say its worrying me slightly that it will be too easy.
If puzzles and solutions are contained to the screen/set/location they are in, is this not Escape The Room territory?
What does everything think? Does more directed = more hand holding? Do you think this will make the game shorter for seasoned adventurers?
If puzzles and solutions are contained to the screen/set/location they are in, is this not Escape The Room territory?
What does everything think? Does more directed = more hand holding? Do you think this will make the game shorter for seasoned adventurers?
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In the worst case scenario, it will probably play like an interactive movie, even so it will be good...kind of like a BTTF 4 which is something we all want to see
But that's not necessarily what this statement is about, at least not exclusively.
Firstly, we still do not know exactly how big one setting will be in the BTTF game, and it's the wandering BETWEEN settings that could be quite ennerving in the Sam&Max games. If we get Doc's Lab as a setting, would we also be able to step outside within the same setting? If Lone Pine Mall is a setting, will we be able to step into one of the shops?
Secondly, it would be a rather OK concept being able to change between settings, but having puzzles that would be solvable within a single setting. This way, you could choose which puzzle to solve first, it would still be more "directed", and you would not loose that much of an adventure feeling.
Thirdly, "more directed" does not necessarily mean that there is nothing to explore or that the puzzles are all easy. This might just mean that there are stronger hints as to what area you should visit next.
I'm a big fan of the idea that we'd get a map of Hill Valley and explore different areas of the town - and I wonder if this statement rules this out or not.
Do you have an example of what you would regard as a best adventure game in history that is particularly linear?
Look at Sam and Max: The Devil's Playhouse. Telltale was definitely hoping for a lot of people to play it, and they adjusted the game accordingly. You'll probably notice that the puzzles in TDP were generally easier than those in the first two seasons. (The Penal Zone was probably the worst offender, with them plain feeding you most of the answers.) That doesn't make The Devil's Playhouse bad (it was great!), but it had to suffer a change so the general public could handle it.
Now, Back to the Future is a big license. Almost everybody's seen the movies, and the few who don't still know the name. People who've never heard of Telltale before (and still don't, in a way) have started talking about "that new Back to the Future game." Realistically, when BttF comes out it's probably going to bring in even more newcomers (not just to Telltale, but adventure gaming as a whole) than The Devil's Playhouse did. Unfortunately, that probably means making things even more accessible for newcomers. It sucks to hear, but if Telltale continues to make games that exclusively cater to their established fanbase, they'll never reach beyond their established fanbase.
I hope the whole game isn't reduced to just "You're stuck in an area, solve a puzzle to go to the next area, repeat." Some watering down is necessary for newcomers, but being new isn't the same as being stupid. I'm sorry to be blunt, but if somebody needs things simplified that much to enjoy Telltale, then they were never meant to be a fan. Still, the Telltale Team is made up of some pretty smart people, so I'm sure they know what they're doing.
And if you think any toning-down for newcomers at all is an inherently bad thing, just remember this: the LucasArts classics that Telltale has modelled their own games after were themselves toned-down versions of the adventure genre for people who couldn't handle the Infocom/Sierra style of "Everything that doesn't help you will either kill you or place you in an unwinnable situation."
LucasArts, however, got the perfect formula. If you ask me, I'd rather spend 3 months trying to solve a game, banging my head on the keyboard, than solving it in three hours (like the Sam and Max episodes from season 3).
However, those 3 hours I spent on any given Telltale episode were top notch. It's quality over quantity.
Sure, it was fun to figure out I had to use sugar water in a jar to trap fireflies and use scissors to poke holes in the lid so I can use the whole thing as a lantern in the lighthouse (MI3)... took me 4 months (not kidding) and it was extremely satisfying!! Dude, I figured that out! Me! All by myself! I feel smart! But nowadays people don't have that much time on their hands and Telltale is (probably) aiming to make you feel smart in a shorter period of time.
If you ask me, they did it nicely.
Well, this sums it up. I think the biggest difference that happened in gaming (and by that, adventure gaming) industry when you look back and today are - puzzles. And i think the puzzles are the key to adventure game recognition nowadays.
In those days, it was fun being stuck. No internet, no walkthroughs, and adventure game developers were practically racing to who will make more ingenious puzzles.
Then, phenonema called fast internet and casual games happened. Now, it's really interesting how that two are contradictory but still directly proportional because when you think of it - wouldn't developers wanted to make smaller and easier games back when potential buyer had only 1kb/s of download?
Now, mass produtions happened and every genre is influented in a way. Asking of Telltale to make the game for die-hard traditional adventure purists would be too much, but i'm sure they'll make their well-balanced level of inspiring puzzles and difficulty.
When I was but a very small child, and my parents played with my older brother in Space Quest 2, they've played through somewhere basically 90% of the game, and got stuck (right before leaving Labion to Vohaul's fotress). Big time. Only years later, when I had grown up, we learned that it was because they didn't check the lockers in the second room in the whole game (one you can visit only once, basically).
What I want to say is this: I like old games (as I do new ones). Play them all the time (well, free time, if I have some). I respect them, but I'm not one of those who remembers those times when the sky was brighter and the grass was greener, and unicorns were jumping around our lands when everyone was happy and wishes for them to return. Games, and the adventure genre, was evolving. And it still is. Maybe something is not like we would've wanted it to be, but personally, I'm glad that the times of dead ends and puzzles so ridiculously 'ingeniously' complicated and convoluted that you can't imagine what the hell the designer was thinking and where's the logic have passed.
I remember playing 'The Abbey' some time ago (a german adventure game, I think the USA release name is different... as always
For example, one of that cases what the first Monkey Island or the Carmen San Diego. Great games, and the feeling of accomplishment when you solved something difficult was one of the best sensations I remember from my childhood.
And now... Well, it's kinda dissapointing what games kids enjoy today... I don't think I could call my aunt or my dad to help me kill a thousand of prostitutes in the GTA games, right?
I just hope that TT waits a bit longer to open the Hint sub-forum, that way, people would have to use their nogging a bit.
Nah, they'd just flood the main BTTF forum with hint request threads. :P
GV: Cosa ci potete dire del gameplay? Come sarà impostato il gioco?
TTG: Considerato il pubblico a cui si rivolge, che non è solo quello degli appassionati di avventure grafiche ma tutti coloro che hanno amato il film (e sono tanti, e non sono tutti videogiocatori!), abbiamo optato per un approccio piuttosto casual, ponendo l'accento sull'interazione tra i personaggi, risoluzione di enigmi all'interno della medesima location (non alla Sam & Max, per intenderci) e alcuni spezzoni di azione.
TRANSLATION:
GV: What can you tell us about gameplay? How will the game be?
TTG: Considering the target, that's not only the Graphic Adventure's fans but also all the ones who loved the movie (and they are a LOT and not everyone Videogame players!), we choosed for a casual approach, putting the accent on the interaction between characters, puzzles inside the same location (not like Sam&Max) and some action element.
Full interview (In Italian) here:
http://www.gamesvillage.it/piattaforma/all/articolo/45676/back-to-the-future---intervista-esclusiva.html
What do you think?
I don't see this as any sort of departure from the games Telltale have been delivering. As long as the puzzles fit the story and are fun, that's preferable to convoluted illogical game-stoppers.
However...Marty did bring a 2015 hoverboard back to 1955 and 1885 to 'solve' some problems.
This last interview made me a bit nervous.
This is like the second adventure game that I want to be difficult. I want to be stuck in this game for a long time since yeah...it's BttF. I don't want to be finished with it too soon. =(
I do like the part about action elements.
Just saying. =/
That's interesting, thanks. I can't say it's eased any fears though.
I'm sure I'll still enjoy it as long as you can't beat an episode in an hour.
Yeah, that's a soup with many ingredients which might not really fit together. If "interaction between characters" means story without gameplay, "puzzles inside the same location" means more linearity and "action elements" means poorly-integrated sequences like in "Dreamfall", then we're up for something extremely boring.
But hey, what if "interaction between characters" means dialogue-based puzzles or even non-linear conversations? What if "puzzles inside the same location" means bigger locations and essentially more gameplay without tedious location-swapping? What if "action elements" means more and better direct character control, more tension in the game, slightly more action-adventure feeling, including collectables?
Now, only thing I'm affraid of (cauz I'm sure every aspect of the game will be awesome) is the fact that it's going to be "casual" and very easy, thus very short.
Also, I'm quite convinced that episodic gaming is still so young that we can't really know what genres "fit it".
I was thinking more along the lines of anything too non-linear not fitting, or hiding things in a small number of large locations. Considering the amount of time these games have to be made in, the idea of devoting resources to some sort of ancillary element that does not provide a singular, focused experience is a hindrance to the overall product, moreso than in any other type of game. I dare anyone to prove me wrong, I'd love to enjoy Back to the Future, but the attitude they are expressing is very difficult to assemble into something that is an actually good, fun to play game.
THAT part I must agree on. TTG is still good for surprises, though - we'll wait and see.
If the writing is clever, whatever how you have to solve the puzzles.
The writing will really be the key element in those games. Even before the gameplay.
Before being a "great game" it has to be a "great story" and true to the original BTTF.
Then they simplified the gameplay, probably the random item-pick up that doesn't really suit "a movie", and added some action parts.
I don't care if it's a lame adventure game as long as it's a good BTTF game, and it sure looks like it will be ...
Rest assured, I never forget the writing. My university degree in literature is not faked, believe me. I am so ennerved how abysmal the writing is in most games these days, and it's the major reason why I'm here.
Still, there is the danger that game designers become so entangled in their writing that they actually forget to add a game. This is a particular danger for the BTTF game, I think. I already named "Dreamfall" in my post. That was the key "game" experience I've had where the writing was brilliant, but the game was just plain forgotten.
I do care about whether it's a lame adventure game or not, I really, really do. Because only the combination of story and gameplay make for something special. It might be "Telltale", but it sure also is "-Games".
Wasn't the titular Tomb of Sammun-Mak just one very large area? I wouldn't mind something like that, though maybe even bigger.
This is what bothers me the most about Telltale games, and about adventure games in general over the last decade. The first adventure game that I remember being particularly egregious about making you sit through too much dialogue was Longest Journey. I fully expect to be semi-charmed with BTTF but also really annoyed at long non-interactive portions (mindlessly clicking on a dialogue option every 30 seconds doesn't count as interactive).
Going from point A to point B doesn't really count as interactive, also. That was one of the main Dreamfall problems.
That said, "The Longest Journey" is still my all-time favourite adventure game. Yes, there were very long "story" sequences, but a LOT of puzzles as well. It was linear - but able to veil that pretty good.
And adventure games are hardly mainstream these days.
The only thing that can really be a problem, is the graphics and the actual animation, in my opinion.
uncharted
OK, I was thinking more
"An adventure game is a computer-based game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge"
As opposed to:
"With the decline of the adventure game genre from mainstream popularity, the use of the term (and the hybrid term "action-adventure") has been more liberal. It is not uncommon for gamers to apply the term "adventure" or "action adventure" to describe the genre of fiction to which a game belongs, and not the gameplay itself, sometimes to the dismay of adventure game purists."
The Uncharted games are action games with an adventure narrative. (And are two of my favourite games of all time to be fair)
Bad Mojo
Although it's clearly very subjective, I don't think Id be alone in not rating Bad Mojo as "one of best adventure game in history"...
I wanted to name that one. But it's debatable whether it's truly an adventure game or a visual novel.
To be honest......I don't really care if BttF: The Game 'sucks' as a game.
However, an awesome gameplay that makes the game even better is ofcourse welcome.
But I am actually looking forward to these games as a continuation of the movies and return of characters. Ergo I am really looking forward to the story, script, atmosphere and the locations you get to visit.
I just hope the puzzles are fun even though they'll be 'easy'. How is it fun if it's too easy you ask?
Well it can be fun because of execution and payoff. Say you change something in one era and you see the consequences of it in a different one.
But I hope for the sake of people that are not big fans of the franchise that the puzzles will deliver.