The Last Resort : a reason for direct control (SPOILER!)

Diduz

I've played the review copy of The Last Resort.
I was critical of the direct control scheme in Fright, I wanted it to be more justified in the game design.
I think it's time to be more constructive and say that The Last Resort offers one effective envolving implementation of the direct control in the last scene.
Manouvering the rubber ring with Gromit inside wouldn't have been as engrossing in point'n'click. The thing I liked the most in the final confrontation is that the gameplay FEELS action-oriented but it's not. I mean, the arcade control makes the adventure elements more coherent with the pace of the story, WITHOUT compromising the puzzle-oriented design.
If that's what Telltale is looking for, I am starting to get it, but finding the right way to implement this kind of idea in every episode will be hard.

langley

Thanks for noticing! That was definitely what we were trying for, so I'm glad it worked for you in this episode.

azza29

Point and click always seemed like a relic from the days of 2D gaming, clicking on the ground in S&M and SBCG4AP and then waiting for them to move was just tedious, it's far more engrossing having direct control over the characters.

werpu

Actually the control scheme W&G is using is not novel either, lots of adventure games especially in the console area use it. The main issue is it works out really well with gamepads, especially if you dedicate the second analog stick to the camera movement, the main issue is that lots of PC gamers dont have a gamepad, especially adventure gamers which are more conservative to control schemes than the rest.

My personal opinion is just like with Grim Fandango and Monkey Island 4 and a bunch of console games, that this control scheme works best with a dual analog stick gamepad period and is awkward with everything else.

Nowadays I almost revert instantly to a gamepad once I am faced with a third person view!
Kudos to the telltale people that they could pull off this control scheme in a mouse centric manner and still keep it usable, there have been many attempts where it utterly failed, but it still is more usable once you plug a gamepad in!

Diduz

werpu wrote: »

My personal opinion is just like with Grim Fandango and Monkey Island 4 and a bunch of console games, that this control scheme works best with a dual analog stick gamepad period and is awkward with everything else.

You're right, but I also think that direct control can be managed with a keyboard if there is an option to choose character-relative controls (instead of camera-relative ones).
When I played Monkey 4 on PC and PS2, I noticed that the Dual Shock was perfect to control Guybrush with camera-relative controls, probably because you can adjust your direction more quickly with a stick. I got no PC joypad at the time, so on PC I had to use the keyboard to steer mr. Threepwood. Because of the sudden camera angle shifts, I kept moving Guybrush in the wrong direction when angles changed. Choosing character-relative controls solved the issue for me.
Telltale already managed to improve the Grim and Monkey 4 interface by allowing the selection of hotspots without forcing us to move near them.
IMHO, if they really want to follow this route, what they need to do now is:

1) Implementing character-relative controls for those who want to play with a keyboard with more ease;

2) Broaden the range of supported gamepads. If they really want to ask PC adventure gamers to buy a joypad, they cannot think everybody will spend money for expensive Xbox Controllers and Dual Action Logitech"s" just to play their games. These controllers are very expensive outside USA, but in Italy you can buy similar but cheaper controllers for 13 euros, while the XBOX USB Pad and the Dual Action are sold at 35 euros each!

Alternatively, make an effort to program two different kinds of camera angles to allow the classic point & click on the PC.
You may improve the direct control as you want, but it will NEVER be as intuitive as point'n'click is on the PC.

Of course, if you want to change the whole gameplay in the direction I was talking about when I started this thread, well... that's a different matter. But still, you'll need to remember point 1) and 2).

Armakuni

Action sequences have often been controlled by the keyboard in adventure games.

At least it could easily be an option, I see no problem clicking to speed up or speed down.

Anyway, all I'm saying is this particular point is not a good one for only allowing direct control.