and a fabulous job of bringing in zany secondary characters
I agree. Perhaps it really wasn't that longer, but it certainly had something FoB lacked: depth. Everything seemed more lively here, and with that incredibly fun investigative sequence (plenty of dialogue and gameplay options, no bugs or design perplexities) the experience seemed a lot more satisfying. Still far from the puzzles of S&M and the replay value of SBCG4AP, though (scores and extras - also think of the upgradable DeSoto in Time&Space - were a great idea; i'm missing it in W&G).
I agree, though there's one thing that buged me for this episode but nothing really, I'm saying that usually that's always Wallace who makes the mistake witch he did in FoB but not in LR is wasn't his fault. But the episode was great!!!
To our playtesters and most of us in the office, it felt like a much longer episode. When I replayed it recently it took me 2.5 hours and that was knowing all the puzzle solutions. I can't imagine I would have finished it in 3 hours the first time through.
I'm sorry but these games are too easy and too short imo, I hope the new money island game is harder, or has a difficult option, I havent played a new game of this type in years but they were much harder in the past. I even replayed all the money island games at christmas and even knowing many of the hints it took a lot longer even taking into account that its 4 episodes for wallis and gromit, or 5 for MI. Its a shame because parts were good, but the idea of puzzles is they are meant to get you thinking not be obvious right from the start, fair enough put some easy ones in but I felt like this was all too easy I reckon I could have completed the whole lot in one night!!! I will be extremely disappointed if I can complete the money island episodes in a few hours!! In fact I will be happier replaying the old games if thats the case.
Alright, having played both EP 1 and EP 2 I'll add a few of my thoughts to the topic.
Being an oldschool adventuregamer, I know how the past was and I know some of the content that is around nowadays.
When i first started with EP 1 of Wallace & Gromit, I thought i had a really good day as i didnt seem to run stuck anywhere and when i say stuck. I mean the times you wander around and dont have a clue what to do next. Trying various things and getting really creative in order to find the solution.
But the more i played I realized that the level of difficult was way easier then for example telltales Sam and Max . Oh I might add I never play with hints on, so it wasnt that either.
As ann mentioned some of the content from the past was really hard, but one of many reasons for that was that back then you had a full game with loads of environments. Meaning once you got really stuck, you might end up scanning every zone and really "breaking it down" in order to find what you need to solve your problem. At least thats what i did sometimes.
But anyways, that doesnt mean that the episodes cant be difficult. I ran into trouble and got stuck in some of the Sam and Max episodes and had to use the brain and go creative.
However with Wallace and Gromit so far, things have been to obvious. At least i feel so, almost like i was one step ahead of the game.
Either way i enjoyed both episode 1 and 2, and went ":(" when i saw the episode was over. So it was still fun, but i wouldnt mind an even harder mode or something similar hehe.
I've already said what I think about difficulty and depth in W&G, but I'd like to present a different point of view.
My girlfriend isn't into adventure gaming at all, but she enjoys a good story and fun characters. Therefore, using the coupons from previous purchases, I've given her both Dangeresque 3 and Ice Station Santa: she found them really entertaining, but could never solve a single puzzle on her own, and kept playing with the walkthrough by her side.
Pre-ordering ToMI granted me another free coupon, and so I've decided to let her try W&G (she's keen on England, a real British wanna-be ^^, and she already loved the shorts): I thought that perhaps this time she could have made it without constantly checking web sites of hints. Well, she's smarter than me in almost everything we do (even though she lacks the essential virtue of the adventure gamer: patience ), but she completely misses the obviousness we're talking about: to her even the puzzle in the very first sequence of TLR - yes, the opening credits one - wouldn't have been clear without the right hint from Wallace. Many of the features that Telltale introduced in this game (the simple schemes with what needs to be gathered, for istance) are essential for a novice like her, who often finds herself wondering what to do next. Again, it's not a matter of wit: to make an example, I've played with her a hard-core puzzle-based game like In Memoriam, and she had no problem solving the majority of those puzzles, often even before I could make out what the heck they were about.
I knew that Telltale was making an attempt to approach the casual gamer, especially with the broader audience that W&G could reach: now I understand why. I hope they'll succeed in finding the right balance to please both the experienced adventure gamer and the impatient beginner: I can assure you that, for now, she's happy without having to use any walkthrough.
I just finished "Muzzled!" in 2 hours and 15 minutes (including the credits at the end) with all hints turned off. - For most puzzles the solution seemed so obvious to me that I did not even have to think twice what to do next, but instinctively took the right actions.
W&G really is a great game, but not very challenging I would say.
Having complained about the short time to complete the episodes before, I re-played the original "Secret of Monkey Island" yesterday. - It took me about 4 hours to complete the first two acts and I guess it will probably take me another 2 hours to finish the game, so that would be 6 hours overall.
For Wallace & Gromit, even if you could complete all 4 episodes in 2 hours each, that would be 8 hours of gameplay already. Therefore I have to admit that the overall time to complete W&G is not really as short as I had expected: I just over-estimated the time required to complete one of the old games as an experiences adventure gamer. - Ok, I still remembered the solution to several of the riddles from 20 years ago, but on the other hand side I noticed that I had to spend much of the time just walking from A to B, which also extends the gameplay but is not really fun.
I've already said what I think about difficulty and depth in W&G, but I'd like to present a different point of view.
My girlfriend isn't into adventure gaming at all, but she enjoys a good story and fun characters. Therefore, using the coupons from previous purchases, I've given her both Dangeresque 3 and Ice Station Santa: she found them really entertaining, but could never solve a single puzzle on her own, and kept playing with the walkthrough by her side.
Pre-ordering ToMI granted me another free coupon, and so I've decided to let her try W&G (she's keen on England, a real British wanna-be ^^, and she already loved the shorts): I thought that perhaps this time she could have made it without constantly checking web sites of hints. Well, she's smarter than me in almost everything we do (even though she lacks the essential virtue of the adventure gamer: patience ), but she completely misses the obviousness we're talking about: to her even the puzzle in the very first sequence of TLR - yes, the opening credits one - wouldn't have been clear without the right hint from Wallace. Many of the features that Telltale introduced in this game (the simple schemes with what needs to be gathered, for istance) are essential for a novice like her, who often finds herself wondering what to do next. Again, it's not a matter of wit: to make an example, I've played with her a hard-core puzzle-based game like In Memoriam, and she had no problem solving the majority of those puzzles, often even before I could make out what the heck they were about.
I knew that Telltale was making an attempt to approach the casual gamer, especially with the broader audience that W&G could reach: now I understand why. I hope they'll succeed in finding the right balance to please both the experienced adventure gamer and the impatient beginner: I can assure you that, for now, she's happy without having to use any walkthrough.
Comments
I agree. Perhaps it really wasn't that longer, but it certainly had something FoB lacked: depth. Everything seemed more lively here, and with that incredibly fun investigative sequence (plenty of dialogue and gameplay options, no bugs or design perplexities) the experience seemed a lot more satisfying. Still far from the puzzles of S&M and the replay value of SBCG4AP, though (scores and extras - also think of the upgradable DeSoto in Time&Space - were a great idea; i'm missing it in W&G).
I'm sorry but these games are too easy and too short imo, I hope the new money island game is harder, or has a difficult option, I havent played a new game of this type in years but they were much harder in the past. I even replayed all the money island games at christmas and even knowing many of the hints it took a lot longer even taking into account that its 4 episodes for wallis and gromit, or 5 for MI. Its a shame because parts were good, but the idea of puzzles is they are meant to get you thinking not be obvious right from the start, fair enough put some easy ones in but I felt like this was all too easy I reckon I could have completed the whole lot in one night!!! I will be extremely disappointed if I can complete the money island episodes in a few hours!! In fact I will be happier replaying the old games if thats the case.
Being an oldschool adventuregamer, I know how the past was and I know some of the content that is around nowadays.
When i first started with EP 1 of Wallace & Gromit, I thought i had a really good day as i didnt seem to run stuck anywhere and when i say stuck. I mean the times you wander around and dont have a clue what to do next. Trying various things and getting really creative in order to find the solution.
But the more i played I realized that the level of difficult was way easier then for example telltales Sam and Max . Oh I might add I never play with hints on, so it wasnt that either.
As ann mentioned some of the content from the past was really hard, but one of many reasons for that was that back then you had a full game with loads of environments. Meaning once you got really stuck, you might end up scanning every zone and really "breaking it down" in order to find what you need to solve your problem. At least thats what i did sometimes.
But anyways, that doesnt mean that the episodes cant be difficult. I ran into trouble and got stuck in some of the Sam and Max episodes and had to use the brain and go creative.
However with Wallace and Gromit so far, things have been to obvious. At least i feel so, almost like i was one step ahead of the game.
Either way i enjoyed both episode 1 and 2, and went ":(" when i saw the episode was over. So it was still fun, but i wouldnt mind an even harder mode or something similar hehe.
My girlfriend isn't into adventure gaming at all, but she enjoys a good story and fun characters. Therefore, using the coupons from previous purchases, I've given her both Dangeresque 3 and Ice Station Santa: she found them really entertaining, but could never solve a single puzzle on her own, and kept playing with the walkthrough by her side.
Pre-ordering ToMI granted me another free coupon, and so I've decided to let her try W&G (she's keen on England, a real British wanna-be ^^, and she already loved the shorts): I thought that perhaps this time she could have made it without constantly checking web sites of hints. Well, she's smarter than me in almost everything we do (even though she lacks the essential virtue of the adventure gamer: patience
I knew that Telltale was making an attempt to approach the casual gamer, especially with the broader audience that W&G could reach: now I understand why. I hope they'll succeed in finding the right balance to please both the experienced adventure gamer and the impatient beginner: I can assure you that, for now, she's happy without having to use any walkthrough.
W&G really is a great game, but not very challenging I would say.
Lol
For Wallace & Gromit, even if you could complete all 4 episodes in 2 hours each, that would be 8 hours of gameplay already. Therefore I have to admit that the overall time to complete W&G is not really as short as I had expected: I just over-estimated the time required to complete one of the old games as an experiences adventure gamer. - Ok, I still remembered the solution to several of the riddles from 20 years ago, but on the other hand side I noticed that I had to spend much of the time just walking from A to B, which also extends the gameplay but is not really fun.
Oh my brother...Testify!