"Telltale plays it safe"
DISCLAIMER: In case you're coming into this topic thinking this is going to be about me saying Telltale is evil and bad and stupid, that's not the case at all.
Quoted from Deathspank writer Sean Howard's blog-
This is one of the most profound things in regard to Telltale I have read, and I find myself unable to disagree with any of it. Hayden thought it might be a good discussion topic, and yes I'm saying he thought of it so that I avoid any responsibility
, so I thought what the hell. I agree with him; this is an important discussion to be had.
Allow me to add something of my own to this. Recently, due to fears about the reboot of King's Quest, a member of the Telltale company had this to say-
Maybe, maybe maybe. Bah. Visions, goals, and missions. Don't tell me about missions. I've heard about missions and changes and innovations and goals and visions since Telltale started to lower their standards. You know what happens, IMO, when they start talking about goals and visions and missions? The people who make the games come to the people who don't make the games, the fans, and say, "We need a change." And then the people who run the company sit around and change and change and change and talk about visions and goals and innovation, and what has happened to the fans and the adventure gamers? WE ARE LEFT IN THE DIRT. WE ARE SLAPPED IN THE FACE. So, don't talk to me about visions and goals. A post like this, full with an attitude that is afraid to take risks and test their boundaries, is exactly what Sean is talking about and exactly why I agree with him. They aren't saying they have the fans in mind. All they are saying is that whether or not the gameplay will treat us with intelligence instead of babying us is up to the visions and goals of the company. Is Telltale too safe? Should it be counted alongside Lucasarts just because it has done Sam and Max and Monkey Island? Is that enough? Are they not living up to their full potential or are they wasting the talent they have at their company? Are they not taking enough risks? Can we no longer expect to be treated with intelligent, difficult gameplay that rewards the gamer for their troubles? I'm interested in what you think.
Discuss.
Quoted from Deathspank writer Sean Howard's blog-
I got into a little trouble on Twitter for being a little bit negative concerning Telltale Games' new announcements. I was even called an "intellectual bully", which is a pretty cool thing to be called in my opinion. And admittedly, having worked on DeathSpank puts me within the Telltale sphere somewhat - at least to the point that it could be considered unprofessional to be critical of them. Heck, as one of the few companies that still makes adventure games, they could be potential employers one day. I think I applied there once a few years ago.
Anyway, my comment was basically that I heard a rumor that Telltale was announcing a bunch of games and that one of them could be Maniac Mansion 3. Maniac Mansion is a game that I hold VERY dear to my heart - so much so that I think Day of the Tentacle was a terrible sequel (great game, terrible sequel). And the idea of Telltale taking it over just filled me with dread. And I said as much.
After the announcements came out, I watched the GiantBomb quicklook for their upcoming Jurassic Park game. If you haven't seen it, it is pretty obvious they took more than a little bit of inspiration from Heavy Rain - which I like to joke is a sequel to Dragon's Lair. Anyway, some people asked why I hated Telltale. I don't. I thought I'd take a moment to express the true extent of my feelings towards them.
Telltale deserves a lot of praise. They are largely the only company that has managed to make episodic gaming work, and in no small way, have made adventure games a viable genre now. But to what extent? For the most part, Telltale is still the only company doing episodic gaming and they are still the only company making a profit off adventure games. What Telltale does is good for Telltale, but that success doesn't seem to translate to the industry at large. But that's okay. Good for them, I say.
What I take umbrage of is that the games they create are completely mediocre. That's not to say they are bad. No, bad is a different sort of thing. Mediocre means that they simple exist. They aren't too hard or too easy. They aren't too witty or too dull. They aren't too pretty or too ugly. They aren't too hot or too cold. Some people call this balanced. I call it tepid. Lukewarm. Benign. Uneventful. Boring.
Telltale plays it safe. They acquire really big properties with a high nostalgia value - most of their properties are from the 80s. I mean, Jurassic Park and Back to the Future? The create tepid games that don't push the envelope or do anything exception or exciting. The most that can be said is that they haven't actually screwed up the properties. And that is generally an accomplishment. But something like Sam & Max was built on being a little bit dangerous and subversive. The Telltale games feel lighter than the Saturday morning Fox cartoon.
Telltale has been called the new Lucasarts, but that's a bullshit comparison. The only reason they get that comparison is because Telltale has taken over two classic Lucasarts properties (Sam & Max and Monkey Island). Lucasarts was great because they created their own properties. People are getting confused. They are so thirsty for the heyday of Lucasarts that, finding no water, they drink the sand.
It's not that I hate Telltale. It's just that I think they are capable of so very much more than they are delivering. There's a lot of talent at the company. Hell, they've got a lot of Lucasarts talent there. But every game that comes out just plays it too safe. There's too many missed opportunities.
The first two Monkey Island games feature a very different Guybrush than what showed up in the later games. Telltale didn't screw up his character. That happened during the jump from LeChuck's Revenge to Curse of Monkey Island. Guybrush went from a mischievous, often cruel imp to a completely naive doormat who exists mainly to have funny things explained to him rather than be funny himself. Telltale had the opportunity to give Guybrush his bite back. They could've created that air of subversive satire and wit that permeated the first two games. But they didn't. They took the blandest version of Guybrush and made him even more bland. Then they made safe jokes about monkeys and grog, forgetting that the original jokes used those things to tell a different joke. They didn't just point and go, "look! monkey! Ha ha!"
Humor is incredibly difficult to do. When I come up with a good one liner, that's usually the end result of having thought up a thousand terrible ones. Some of humor is using your personal compass to recognize when something is funny, but mostly, it's about coming up with a hundred different things and trying to find the best one. Telltale seems like they stop at the first halfway funny joke they come up with. They could go further. They could press on. They could, but they don't. They stop at good enough. Maybe the breakneck episodic release schedule does given them the time to be perfectionists, but maybe that just means they should let the schedule suffer and not their games.
I think Telltale is capable are far more than they are putting out. I don't hate them. I can't hate them. I'm disappointed. They've got so much talent behind their walls, and this is the best they can do? I don't believe that for a second. They SHOULD be the next Lucasarts. They could be BETTER than the next Lucasarts! The could be, but they aren't. And what frustrates me so very much about Telltale is that it seems like they aren't even trying. Puzzle Agent is the only one that seemed like they bothered, and even that didn't go far enough. They are announcing new games based on old properties, and there's very little evidence that they are making better games because of it.
Telltale is a company that has it within their power to be great. And I desperately hope that one day they realize that. Until that day, stay the hell away from Maniac Mansion. Taking a great property doesn't make you great. If you had an ounce of decency, you'd put in the effort to be great first. That way, when you actually got a hold of a great property, you can do it justice.
This is one of the most profound things in regard to Telltale I have read, and I find myself unable to disagree with any of it. Hayden thought it might be a good discussion topic, and yes I'm saying he thought of it so that I avoid any responsibility
, so I thought what the hell. I agree with him; this is an important discussion to be had.Allow me to add something of my own to this. Recently, due to fears about the reboot of King's Quest, a member of the Telltale company had this to say-
This is a disheartening diatribe. I, for one, grew up with all the quest series. I have fantastic memories of playing through them with my best friend.
Now I have the chance to continue the series-- it's some sort of inadvertent dream job that I can't believe I landed in.
I want to do this series justice. But I also want to make it fun and accessible to a wide range of players- introduce a new generation to them.
Maybe that means incorporating puzzle complexity into the actual difficulty settings so that our hardcore Sierra ex-pats will have the option to play it old school. Maybe it means finding a new strategy to art and production so we can deliver huge environments like the original games. Maybe it means toggling fail events for the casual gamers.
Whatever the case, I wouldn't want to compromise the series. That said, I also have to play for the home team-- Telltale has vision, goals, and missions that I have to consider.
Ultimately, something I really fight for since being hired at Telltale is integrity of vision. And trust me, I am a demanding fan of this license.
Maybe, maybe maybe. Bah. Visions, goals, and missions. Don't tell me about missions. I've heard about missions and changes and innovations and goals and visions since Telltale started to lower their standards. You know what happens, IMO, when they start talking about goals and visions and missions? The people who make the games come to the people who don't make the games, the fans, and say, "We need a change." And then the people who run the company sit around and change and change and change and talk about visions and goals and innovation, and what has happened to the fans and the adventure gamers? WE ARE LEFT IN THE DIRT. WE ARE SLAPPED IN THE FACE. So, don't talk to me about visions and goals. A post like this, full with an attitude that is afraid to take risks and test their boundaries, is exactly what Sean is talking about and exactly why I agree with him. They aren't saying they have the fans in mind. All they are saying is that whether or not the gameplay will treat us with intelligence instead of babying us is up to the visions and goals of the company. Is Telltale too safe? Should it be counted alongside Lucasarts just because it has done Sam and Max and Monkey Island? Is that enough? Are they not living up to their full potential or are they wasting the talent they have at their company? Are they not taking enough risks? Can we no longer expect to be treated with intelligent, difficult gameplay that rewards the gamer for their troubles? I'm interested in what you think.
Discuss.
Sign in to comment in this discussion.
Comments
Also, while I agree that Telltale do 'play safe,' they are my favourite video game developers and I enjoy their games.
I don't really think it's that Telltale's not trying. Adventure games are a niche market and generally agreed by most people to be a dead genre. The fact that Telltale would deal almost exclusively in adventure games proves that they're not interested solely in making money like certain other gaming companies. (I won't give any names, but I'm sure you know which ones I mean.
At the same time, though, Telltale obviously doesn't want to go bankrupt, and so some creative compromising has to be done. One of the things about the classic adventure games is its difficulty. If you weren't putting all of your thought in the game, you couldn't be expected to win. Even the old LucasArts games, which were impossible to lose, had plenty of puzzles one could easily get stuck on. If Telltale were to bring the difficulty of adventure gaming's past back in full force, most people would complain it was too hard shortly into the first episode, go "Fuck this game!", and never give it a second thought. Most people want games that let them shoot and punch, not games that make them think. It's sad, but it's true.
So Telltale is left with the dilemma of how to take a genre defined by its enthusiasts and make a wide profit off of it, which leads to some unusual decisions. Why do you think almost every Telltale game has been licensed? Pre-existing names by definition get more attention than new ones. Telltale wouldn't be able to hook new consumers with an original property. This also means making things more accessible: easier-to-solve puzzles, easier-to-understand writing. Also note the graphics. Telltale's graphics are great, especially considering how small a company they are, but for an adventure game 3D graphics are also kind of restrictive compared to the things you can cram in using 2D. The Telltale Tool can do 2D graphics too, as evidenced by Puzzle Agent and Hector. Why don't they use 2D more often? Because tons of people judge games by their graphics, of course. Hell, they've been willing to do cross-promotions with Team Fortress 2 for the sake of sales.
I'm not trying to bash or defend what Telltale is doing here, just point out that, even if we don't like what they do, they at least have sensible reasons for it. I'm just thankful someone is trying to keep adventure gaming alive.
In a certain regard Telltale has to play it safe. Sam & Max and MI are very beloved franchises. So beloved they border on religious. Any huge misstep and Telltale would of been tarred and feathered long before acquiring and reviving many of these franchises. In a way continuing a Franchise with a large fanbase is much harder and riskier then a original idea that has no preconceived notions attached to it. Sam & Max Hit the Road was a a fun game for its time, but IMO Telltale have propelled Sam & Max to a much higher level of quality then it has ever had. Great Stories, great Voice Acting and Music and some hilarious situations and dialog. Notice I said ‘Great’ not Mediocre.
While I can find faults with their games, and any game for that matter, I’m glad to have at least one company making games in a genre that I love and not messing up the franchises in the process. No small task. Telltale Could have just as easily ruined MI or Sam&Max and they didn’t IMO. I attribute some of that to them ‘playing it safe’ .. I’m sure the whole process is a juggling act. Pushing the franchise further while remaining somewhat safe. Like all changes it will both anger some people and make others delighted.
Sean’s evidence for Mediocre is mostly tied to the episodic format Telltale uses. Graphics not ‘too pretty or not to Ugly’ is tied to the size of the downloads while the scope of locations and size of a episodes virtual space is limited by the same factors. As far as not too witty. I think a certain nostalgia has set in for those old LucasArts games. They were a mixed bag as well. Some very witty and enjoyable puzzles/dialog and some very stupid and bland/dull puzzles/jokes. The same kind of mix I find in Telltales’ games. Telltale so far maintains a high level of quality overall I think.
If anyone has seen my posts I’m usually highly critical of Telltale, but mainly because I feel that only through critique can their products get better. With that said I feel they should find ways to address some of the issues people have with them. For one I think they should create Hard Modes for their episodes that rearrange some of the puzzles. That should satisfy the hardcore crowd who feel the games are dumbed down while still providing easy accessibility to newcomers or morons. They play games too you know.
In the end Sean Howard complains about TellTale playing it safe then goes on to say how no other company has been able to make adventure games successful like TellTale has. Maybe he has answered his own questions there. I would like to see TellTale be a little more risky sure and from the recent announcement of games I feel they are doing that. Then again just trying to tackle many of these franchises is risky and as far as introducing new elements into them it has to be incrementally done otherwise the fanbase would scream foul and I feel Telltale has done well in that regard.
IMO if they do just as much justice to Maniac Mansion that they did with Sam&Max I'd prefer that to no game at all. Maniac mansion had its moments, but I think its held up a little too high on a pedestal. Even the original developers saw it as a flawed game. The concept to me was the winning formula. With that I wouldn't mind just seeing a game made with no tie to the franchise, but in the same vein as Maniac Mansion.
kindda like manic mansion
play it safe I guess?.......and buy Bill and Ted.
This has become most apparent in BttF. I normally play every episode on day one, and yet I have "Get Tannen" sitting unplayed on my hard drive. BttF should be ripe ground for mind-bending puzzles and exotic locales, yet I can already see that we're going to get neither. I've heard that Get Tannen is actually EASIER than the first ep, and I don't even see how that's possible.
I *love* Telltale to death, but when I realized that I couldn't disagree with Sean Howard's criticisms, I also realized that I'm more a fan of Telltale's writers, musicians and artists than the games themselves. There's not a single game from them I dislike, and some that I do indeed love, but the gameplay is not the strongest suit.
Airing of grievances aside: There's a distinct irony in a Deathspank writer giving lessons on humor.
I'm starting to become weary of the "Telltale Formula". I'm glad they are doing something different with Jurassic Park with "heavily inspired by Heavy Rain" gameplay. I wonder if there will be even more drastic changes for The Walking Dead. I do think they should offer difficulty levels, but I know that their release schedule is pretty aggressive, but it's something that they need to seriously look into.
You can't aim for the average (masses) if you want to make greatness.
I think that's where the "play it safe" mentaility comes in, and the fact that they just want to run a company that makes games for a living. And who knows, maybe the adventure game genre IS their safest place to be? Maybe Telltale just wants to be that little café in the corner of a small town that just wants to make the ends meet? I guess that's good for them, and the customers who don't really ask for much, but it certainly isn't enough for me.
It's odd, Telltale made a new Monkey Island game, three seasons of Sam and Max, a season of Wallace and Grommit, they're making BTTF and Jurassic Park and King's Quest. Look at that list! It's insane! They have the licenses to be the best game company EVER, yet they rarely get any higher that mediocre! They have the ingredients to make gold, but barely manages to make bronze.
But as a student of business, I can't really blame them. They saw a niche (adventure gaming) and exploited that, to develop a core base. Then, as sales were starting to plateau, they had to broaden themselves a bit. The only ways of doing that would be to make games in other genres (which would be expensive, as they would have to hire lots of new talent, as well as do lots of market research), or to make adventure games appeal to the masses. Given the main gripe with adventrue games, and the reason for their decline was the difficulty, and the obscurity of the puzzles, the best way to do that was/is to dumb the games down (at least in terms of difficulty).
I'm gonna say it right here and now - this delusional idea that the reason adventure gaming isn't as big today as it once was is because of difficulty will be the second death of adventure gaming. Gamers don't like to be insulted, they like to be challenged. Obscure titles enjoys great success all the time. It's the quality that is missing.
THIS. ALL OF THIS. I'd also like to repeat something else I've had to say on the matter.
I'm not sure what more I can say.
What a great article.
Although...
I'm not denying that Guybrush's mischievous side was toned down as the series progressed, but he was always very naive, particularly in SMI. I didn't think he was any weaker or blander of a character in TOMI than he was in the original games.
They are innovators. But this have to be negotiated between market and the studios developement. They are just trying to do their best, at the limits but within their bounderies.
In a company whose profits incereased of 90%, won't you take the chance to build something bigger? If not now, when?
I appreciate they doing different things. They just need to be more careful about bugs, difficulty and support (languages, patches, system requirements, etc.)
Telltale games are nothing like LucasArts, they never were. It does not matter if the same people are working there, the games are not at the same level.
That way you can both please the newbies and the more hardcore adventure game players.
Sure, it would take some more time to produce episodes, but then you would at least make more people happy in both camps.
Still, I think "The Devil's Playhouse" was a masterpiece, and it was edgy and innovative "enough" for me. Thematically I loved "Tales of Monkey Island" more, but it needed 2 episodes to find its stride. Now, BTTF is another thing altogether, and I fully agree that the first 2 episodes suggest a lot of wasted potential for the license. It's "nice", and as a BTTF-fan I can settle with "nice", but right now I don't nearly have the feeling I had when waiting for the next S&M or ToMI episode.
I was hoping that the announcement for the 5 new games contained something that'd get me really excited, but it doesn't. Strangely though, since at least "King's Quest" should be able to do that! But it really looks like right now I'm still unsure of what to expect from the marriage of a difficult and merciless adventure game franchise with Telltale...
Oh and halo and gears of war.
this leads to the 2nd downfall of adventure games only it sucks more since it is being brought down by Horrible console shooters and console noobs not good revolutionary PC shooters like doom or quake/unreal.
Oh and the end of the world in 2012 it is one of the thing the mayans said would happen.
Episodic keeps schedules tight, and with a bigger workload, even though there's more staff than there ever was, I reckon content will suffer in the long-run.
I wish to be proven wrong however
It's true that this is basically what every Telltale game is built on, and the visuals, dialogue and humour aren't enough anymore to lift the episodes out of mediocrity. Not to mention that 'BttF' has the worst humour and dialogue so far. I played the whole way through Episode 1 and found it mildly fun and entertaining, and I seriously hoped that things would improve after this. But, come Episode 2, I found all of the same problems that I experienced in the first one:
Dialogue simply wasn't funny, and Marty's commentary of his surrounding wasn't funny. Now, usually, with Telltale's games, I have gone through each of them clicking on everything (multiple times), trying random combinations and exhausting all dialogue options. I have had absolutely no desire or incentive to do this in 'Back to the Future', because the writing is just so dull.
Gameplay was easier than ever - all I was doing was clicking around; I could almost solve puzzles by accident. I found myself simply going through the motions; solving similar puzzles to what I've solved in the past, passing them in the same manner, and passing them with more ease. I was so bored - there was nothing to keep me entertained. In all honesty, the voice acting was the most enjoyable thing about it (which you'd hope would be the case, seeing as how there's almost more cinematics than actual gameplay).
The easiness and simplicity of Telltale's puzzles is becoming something that is really damaging their games, and I don't think that it is something that can be solved simply by having a 'hard version' and an 'easy version' (I hate that crap anyway; I want everyone to play the same damned game so that we can discuss the same things afterward). It's something that has to be solved in a different way. See, there are three reasons why Telltale's games are so easy:
- The puzzles are never spread over more than three environments/locations. Heck, sometimes they are only spread over one. When all of your resources and means of solving the current puzzle are right there in the room, then it's only a matter of freaking time and random clicking before you solve it.
- The interface is crap. I'm just going to say it, it's rubbish. One-click is no way to play an adventure game. In all other adventure games, you had at least three actions to choose from, and you had to use all of to progress through the game. It wasn't just clicking on random objects before you stumble upon the solution. You had to think; you had to work; you had to sit there at the screen and actually ponder what you had to do to solve this brain-teaser.
- There's usually no item-combining. Telltale's most challenging game to date has been 'Tales of Monkey Island', and this was because the option of combining items resulted in there being three factors involved in passing a puzzle, as opposed to just two - 'use correct inventory item on correct environment item'. But, seeing as how this is not present in the rest of Telltale's games, they suffer greatly.
Also, these three reasons that I've mentioned above are also what are damaging Telltale in other areas - depth and exploration. You know what was so great about all of the old LucasArts and Sierra games? There was a large interface to experiment with, there were multiple items to use on each other (and most of the time they'd trigger a really funny response), and there were vast, open locations to explore. You'd have to travel far and wide to collect the correct items to solve a single puzzle, you'd have to select one of 3, 6 or 9 interface options in order to get your proverbial hands on that item. Sure, it caused you to fail a lot of the time, but with the cleverly written dialogue and jokes you were rewarded anyway - with something entertaining. Also, this all caused the player to feel so much happier and fulfilled when they found the solution. The whole thing was a rewarding experience. With Telltale's games, most of the time, I'm just going through the motions and doing things with ease.
But I believe that all of these problems stem from one single issue - the schedule in that Telltale work. One-episode-per-month development causes so many problems. I've said this before, and I'll say it again (and again if needed), Telltale's work schedule and distribution method is so restrictive. Firstly, there's no time to make a non-linear game. I'd imagine development would be so full on, that only a limited amount of dialogue would be able to be written, which also sort of rules out the possibility of a more sophisticated & wider interface (which spawns more dialogue and character actions). Also, it wouldn't allow the developers to make any more than just a few locations - so exploration is a no-go. So, basically, this tight, hectic schedule really kills a lot of what made/makes adventure games great. Either Telltale has to actually give themselves time by working on a bi-monthly release schedule, or switch to full-lengthed games.
You won't be proven wrong because you're absolutely right. Telltale are digging themselves a hole, they've taken on too many projects, they'll manage to finish them, but they'll probably be even more watered-down, more linear, with probably even less substance and depth than ever before.
Yes, this was also the one part that I disagreed with. I actually thought that lots of great, funny, smart-ass comments came from Guybrush's mouth throughout the course of 'Tales...'. We saw it right from the beginning:
Nipperkin: "You remind me of me when I was your age."
Guybrush: "When was that, about ten minutes ago?"
Sean Howard's post seems to be giving way too much precedence to writing and story. Makes sense since he's a writer. He is saying that Telltale "plays it safe" with the tone of its games, neutering characters who used to have an "edge", not going far enough with humor. While I think that these may certainly be factors, I feel like he's barking up the wrong tree. Telltale, and every other company, needs to get gameplay, exploration, and probably graphics right before they should be worrying all that much about the writing.
Well, to be honest, every LucasArts adventure game was one of their most successfull games, so that doesn't say much.
As for gameplay, what everyone else is saying really. Although if seperate difficulty levels were to be made, I think even the easy level needs to be harder than what we have now, the puzzles are downright insulting sometimes IMHO.
Now, while i'd love for them to ramp up the difficulty, has anyone else noticed that the general intellect of gamers has somewhat spiralled down the plughole since the internet? I blame easy access to walkthroughs. Why spend hours, weeks, months, trying to work out the logic of one puzzle when you can just go check a walkthrough? And there lies the temptation to look again as soon as you get even faintly stuck.
I find it in myself, where once I had no choice but to struggle on, calling in friends and family to pixel hunt or try to reason out some obscure train of logic, nowadays? I can't immediately solve a puzzle, I go online. It's terrible, but when the temptation exists, we adventure gamers get lazy.
I think the ease of tt's games is a testament to that. Gamers got lazy, gamers got stupid. We simply cannot be bothered with Sierra level what the hell were you smoking level difficulty these days.
While it's a shame they seem to be going the easier and easier route, almost literally holding your hand through the process (BTTF, i'm looking at you), It seems to be the general way of things.
I don't want difficult, I just want to have to work my brain for more than 30 seconds to figure the puzzle out.
That said, I never really did play adventure games for the puzzles. It was for the humour and the story.
Telltale mostly delivers on those fronts, least, from what I have played. All seasons of Sam and Max were great fun, Tales was a blast and even the Wallace and Gromit games weren't bad. I've enjoyed every TT game i've played, just some more so than others but aren't there points in all games that are weaker than the rest?
As for Guybrush being dumbed down? I think that's rubbish. He was always this young, niave little wannabe. Even when he became successful, nobody paid him any mind. He was a loser, and that's why we loved him. I never felt any real shift in his character and believe me, i'm an OBSESSIVE MI fan. Tales felt about right, there was a degree of snarky bile and somewhat hilarious disregard for others.
Sam and Max took a lot more risks than the Lucasarts version ever had. They had more freedom to make the kind of jokes they wanted to make, without that whole "must be kid friendly!" rubbish. If anything, the Sam and Max telltale gave us were far closer to their comic book versions than the Lucasarts ones ever were. They got to keep their guns for one!
I dunno, Telltale's S&M felt more... free. Less sanitised and restricted.
I do agree about the formula getting stale though. With less "larger than life" characters to hold the story, you end up noticing the flaws a lot more. Marty may be a good character, but he hardly has the screen presence of Sam and Max right?
By trying to appeal to a larger market and bring in more casual gamers, the games start to struggle. But it's business isn't it?
And we know Telltale do listen to their fans. So come on Telltale, give us a little more credit in terms of puzzles. We may be lazy these days, but we're not imbeciles. I think we're capable of solving somewhat more complex puzzles without too much more brain work.
I disagree about the graphics though. I really like the graphics in the Telltale games - true they're not bleeding edge or anything but they are cute and appealing.
This guys rant I feel makes a few valid points and Telltale could stand to listen a bit but overall I think TTG does decent work worthy of my coin.
I'd say most important are setting up better puzzles and the length of each episode seems to be getting shorter to me... (I played BTTF last)
However I would say consider this: Tales of Monkey Island. They could have screwed it up a LOT and they successfully didn't. There are a lot of people it could have been screwed over by way worse but Telltale I feel did a good job not screwing it up and I feel their epis do no disrespect to this beloved series. I don't mean they merely "didn't screw it up." they did a decent job!
So while I think TTG could stand to read this rant I also feel it is maybe a tad harsh as well. But it makes a few good points still.
cu1: And what's your job?
cu2: Oh, i'm a game designer.
cu1: Interesting, which company?
cu2: I'm working for TellTale.
cu1: Oh, uhm, i'm sorry. I can speak slower if you want me to?
:
I know a lot of people are talking about games getting dumbed down and quality being sacrificed and certain aspects being restricted... well, that is what I think of when I think of Telltale's Sam and Max series. I really think that if they want to convince people to buy their Sam and Max games, they need to change one thing...
...they need to redub the voices of Sam and Max, so that they're voiced by Bill Farmer and Nick Jameson, the original voices of Sam and Max in Sam and Max Hit the Road. These are names that people trust when it comes to voice acting, and I believe they were promised the roles in Sam and Max: Freelance Police, and they voiced the characters and recorded the lines of dialogue in that game until the day it was cancelled... March 3, 2004... *sniff*
It saddens me that they haven't been invited back to do the roles in any of the sixteen episodes... however, from some of the posts I've seen on this forum, I know that they've been impersonated by the current actors in episode 305, The City That Dares Not Sleep... and I feel that it's very disrespectful. It's like a big old slap in the face to people who were raised on the original Hit the Road voices and wanted to hear them again.
I know that Telltale wants to spend as little money as possible for their games, and I know that they feel that the actors they hire should be the only choices, but I think they should take a risk and make a redub anyway. After all, they dubbed over Adam Harrington's LeChuck voice with Earl Boen's... so they can dub over Nowlin and Kasten with Farmer and Jameson. Sometimes in business, you have to spend money to make money!
And if they don't redub all of them this year, they should at least redub season 1. (And maybe satisfy the people who didn't like Chaikin's Max voice in Culture Shock.)
And with that, I get off the soapbox, and leave it for other posters to stand on...
I'm sorry, but changing voices isn't going to convince the masses to buy a game - it is an important part, but it's hardly the decision-making aspect of games.