Some Pros (that I've worked out from other people):
One Pro is that you get the best game possible because Telltale can solicit pre-orders for entire seasons of when the first episode is released, which gives them huge amounts of knowledge and data concerning how many people are going to be playing and paying for a game. It also pays them and allows them to continue devloping the product.
This business model has clearly been crucial for Telltale's survival and, hopefully, their success, considering they must have been entering a market with product lines that had been cancelled a couple of times (Sam and Max) and they produce the kind of game that has a niche fanbase. If they couldn't keep the finances flowing the way that episodic gaming enables they probably wouldn't be able to make games period.
Udvarnoky, I should probably clarify a bit. I agree that Telltale is doing a pretty good job at polishing the games, but I expect there to be immense pressure to hit the very tight release schedule and the lack of room to delay the release means that you can't really take any risks but rather have to play it safe, if you know what I mean. This is not a big gripe or complaint, rather stating what seems pretty probable to me from a developer point of view.
About the audio quality, if I'd have to guess is that they've been working on improving the audio quality a lot, but not having the option to increase file size means that it took them as long as 3 episodic game seasons to find a good solution. The solution obviously wasn't very simple, otherwise they would've definitely fixed it the first time many forum goers reported the problem in Sam & Max season 1.
About the temptation of trying episodes earlier, this thread is called 'who actually likes episodic gaming'. I listed the cons that take away from the experience for me. I like playing the whole season through, and the temptation to try it beforehand is a con to me. I'm not saying it's ultimately bad. Hell, I think the episodic format is a superb business model. If I were at the other end, creating the games I would definitely support it and see that the pros heavily outweigh the cons. But that doesn't change the fact that I don't like the aspect I listed.
Episodic games are very good for the adventure games genre as a whole, it has introduced the genre to a lot of gamers. I love Telltale for what they've done. I've bought all seasons save for Strong Bad. But still, at heart I love full length games more. Sorry that we don't agree.
EDIT:
By the way, I agree with you on the AVS thing. The Telltale method would be better than a case of running out of funding halfway through the game. It was kind of off-topic, the rant I wrote about it. I was just so very, very frustrated when it ended all of the sudden.
I like episodic gaming because I finish most of the games I pay bucket loads of money for in just a couple of days while I can finish an episode in that amount of time for just over 8 bucks and still haven't even touched the whole game or season at that point. Plus the fun of the game lasts longer.
Yes but you generally end up visiting less venues overall.
Yes, that I agree. Though after seeing where TOMI is going with its story, with a new island every episode, I think future games will have less recycled content.
Well, if you don't like Telltale's episodic adventure games, just don't buy them. And don't flame on the adventure game fans who don't let some small inconveniences and impatience stop them from playing the games. Telltale hasn't failed us yet, and I doubt that they will in the future.
Btw does anyone knows the reason why you can't buy single episodes like in series before anymore?
Yeah, it's the same reason they aren't calling them "episodes" this time. Tales of Monkey Island is more of a single big epic game, with one story, but released in 5 parts. If you just bought one of the middle chapters it'd be like watching the middle 20 minutes of a movie.
ToMI really isn't an "episodic" game in the same sense as other Telltale games. It is in terms of release and the way they're developing it, but it's really just Monkey Island 5.
Yeah, it's the same reason they aren't calling them "episodes" this time. Tales of Monkey Island is more of a single big epic game, with one story, but released in 5 parts. If you just bought one of the middle chapters it'd be like watching the middle 20 minutes of a movie.
ToMI really isn't an "episodic" game in the same sense as other Telltale games. It is in terms of release and the way they're developing it, but it's really just Monkey Island 5.
Is this more your interpretation or do you have some official information about this - a link?
It's not the reason they're calling them Chapters(that's just a series staple), but SOMEWHERE in the pre-release forum it's been said that their goal for Tales was to make it more of a larger-scope story overall without the individual episodes being so stand-alone. I can't find it right now, but I can at least corroborate the claim.
Anyway, back to your original question, it's actually because on the outset people were confused by the episodic structure. They preferred simplicity, which apparently Telltale took as writing off the individual episode purchases until later in the season.
Is this more your interpretation or do you have some official information about this - a link?
Well they haven't outright said that that's the reason they aren't selling them separately (in fact they haven't even confirmed that they won't sell them separately) so I'm connecting the dots myself there, but they have said many times that the episodes are going to be a single epic story this time and not episodic stories. Just read some interviews with Grossman. Or hell, play the game (the ending makes it obvious).
But yeah, like Rather Dashing said, it's possible that they're just waiting.
It doesn't seem to be communicated this well, as quite some sites are also wondering about this step.
I guess i said this in antoher thread already but in my opinion there a series which work pretty well as they are, like the small adventures in Wallace&Grommit but then there are series where i much more would appreciate one more complex story instead of the smaller chunks, Sam&Max could benefit a lot from this as well. Glad they took this direction with MI.
As for the buying procedure, the only thing i found weird is that it seemed that you only were able to upgrade from one episode to the season, instead from any number.
As a fan of the Sam & Max comics, I liked the episodic thing, but I think people who only knew Hit the Road were hungrier for a longer story. I think with the surreal, chaotic nature of the series expecting a long attention span might be inappropriate. But if they wanted to go that way, I'd be fine with it.
I don't, it just seems like a good way to rinse the wallets of 1990's Adventure fans.
I don't understand this at all.. It was all discussed in the Monkey Island forum yesterday, but again. If this was released as a normal - one big game, chances are it would be priced as such, instead of being just $35. So how are we losing money?
It also gives the developers more funds to work on the next parts, while we're still enjoying the previous ones. And again, if it were released as one stand alone game, chances are it would be around 6-8 hours total, which is the standard for games like this, instead of being 4-6 hours per episode.
Yes, it means we have to wait for the next parts, but that creates a great forum atmosphere, and in the long run, we're getting a much better game. I honestly don't understand the complaints here, at all, you just sound totally ignorant and annoyed that they're doing something different from normal.
I was somewhat skeptic about the idea when I first heard of episodic gaming, and it took me a little while to adjust, but I gave it a chance and now I love it.
It's usually quite a bit easier than a long adventure game, as there are fewer things you are able to try. But on the other hand, there is still many hours of gameplay. Sometimes, challenging puzzles that may go over your head are still thrown in.
I actually beat Full Throttle in less hours of gameplay than it's taken me to complete some of the Sam & Max episodes (comparing only games that I used no hints for). But then again, everyone's different. I personally found Full Throttle to be fairly straightforward and don't remember there being any puzzles I really got stuck on for a long time. But sometimes a Sam & Max puzzle will just catch me off guard! But my point is, even though single episodes are usually easier than larger adventure games it doesn't mean they won't provide you with as much gameplay!
Episodic gaming is a new and creative take on adventure gaming. I think that by introducing this new style of gaming, Telltale are succeeding wonderfully in bringing back a classic genre and giving it an original twist to attract attention, and perhaps even introduce the adventure genre to an additional new audience too.
And hey, here's a thought. If you don't like episodic games, stop buying them. 'Tis that simple. (you'd never believe it, eh?)
Here are some of the extra pros I promised a while ago. (I think it was yesterday, I'm not sure).
First, though; a lot of people have criticised the OP for complaining about Episodic games in the forums of an Episodic Game company. Please bear in mind that there are exceptionally few adventure games on the market, right now; so few, in fact, that you're forced to play games that have a format you don't like if you're genuinely hungry for more of the genre.
Anybody who was a fan of the of "Sam & Max Hit the Road", for example, are note likely to ever see a game in the S&M (anybody else tend to think of "Sadism and masochism" when you type that?) franchise from another publisher, so if you really want to "get a fix" it's the TellTale version or nothing. Same goes for Monkey Island, now.
More Pros;
[After they're all released] you can play a the episodes of any order (much like you can with a DVD box set, if you so wanted).
Each episode can simply be uninstalled when you're done with it.
You can burn each episode to disk or store them (the setup file) on an external drive.
Developers can 'test the market' with one episode better than they could with a demo (people can download a demo but not everybody will pay for the full episode).
This won't be to everybody's taste but some people like the anticipation that comes with knowing there's another episode to come.
The revenue generated by one episode can help pay for further episodes; you don't have to worry about production being halted because of a lack of funding because it's being continually purchased while it's still being made.
You can do just about anything in an episodic game that you'd do in a "feature" game (seriously, is that what we're going to call full length games from now on?). (Somebody pointed out that you can't use items found in early episodes in later episodes, however I'd like to point out that, if an item from episode 1 and needed in a later one then it'll be brought back for you to pick up and use.
I'd also like to bring your attention to the very first TTG blog entry. Here Brendan Ferguson explains that situations where you need an item near the end of the game that you should have picked up at the start of the game (ie, something that has been possible to pick up from the start of the game) is something that TTG is trying to avoid).
It's good for people who have trouble tearing themselves away from a game so that they can better attend to their other responsibilities. (Some people have 'Addictive personalities'. My brother is especially bad for this).
The opportunity for suspense through 'Cliff-hangers' you couldn't get before episodic games. (Not without waiting for, perhaps, a year or more between each one).
I still think there are even more pros then this and (if I was to go back) I think I could easily pick holes in most, if not all, of the cons listed (but I really can't be bothered).
Udvarnoky, I should probably clarify a bit. I agree that Telltale is doing a pretty good job at polishing the games, but I expect there to be immense pressure to hit the very tight release schedule and the lack of room to delay the release means that you can't really take any risks but rather have to play it safe, if you know what I mean. This is not a big gripe or complaint, rather stating what seems pretty probable to me from a developer point of view.
"Immense pressure to hit the very tight release schedule" sounds like something that's probably true of any game developer except I guess Blizzard or something. Again, Telltale's development cycles are short, but their methods and their game sizes are reflective of it. It's probably quite true that putting out their games is a crazy undertaking. But that's how the games industry is in general, based on the slight exposure I've had to it. Constant compromise and racing against impossible schedules are simply part of the deal - that you're a little bit closer to Telltale and therefore maybe hear specific things from them about stuff that they have to forfeit doesn't mean that similar struggles aren't true everywhere else.
It sounds suspiciously like you're using the fact that they put out games on a monthly basis to make assumptions about how "safe" they have play things, at least compared to other studios who aren't in some improbably sweetheart situation. At the end of the day, the verdict that you make is based on the game, without whatever knowledge you have of the realities of their production processes shaping your judgment (either for better or for worse).
I'm posting this without having read any of the previous posts - once I saw the big bold sentences I thought this was probably an argument! But I think I'll share my thoughts as a contribution anyway
When I first heard that TTG had got the licence for Sam And Max, and they were doing it episodically, I was very, very skeptic. I waited until season one was out to get it, at retail, because I didn't like the idea of episodic gaming.
However, I do actually think the episodic gaming concept works very well. Personally, when I was a kid, I played my games to death. I had SOMI from pretty much when it came out on the Atari ST and I played it constantly I just loved it, and pretty much every game I had that I grew attached to, I'd play to death. But now I live a different life style, I have a job, I have bills to pay, and I have a fianceé who lives with me in my house. I don't have as much time to dedicate to gaming as I used to. Don't get me wrong, since I got Fallout 3 I've played it a hell of a lot! But if this were 10 years earlier I would have completed it a few times now, making different choices and getting new experiences out of the game.
Now as an adult I can come home from work, and instead of shunning away Christina, we can both sit and play a game that she enjoys too, and we don't do it for hours on end. At the end of the day, a "season" of a game in retail costs about the same as a full retail game, it lasts roughly as long, and you get the same enjoyment out of it. It's just chopped up into chapters for you, so it's easier to digest, which is much better for me personally as a working man.
Another good thing about the episodic gaming, which I am warming to, is how you're essentially forced into waiting a month before you can continue the story, which for the more epic stories (like ToMI, I'm promised ) means I can go back and play the one part to death, take it all in, and build up excitement for the next episode. Making what could be a 3 day frantic play through of a great game last several months can only really be a good thing!
However, I would like TTG to do a few "full" games from time to time. I don't know if it would work as a downloadable game though, as obviously downloading a 1gb+ game at once can be a pain for some people, myself included. But I like my DVD cases on my shelf.. I'm that kind of person!
ToMI is the second series I'm downloading as it happens, the first being Wallace and Gromit on XBLA, and I must say, I should have done it this way sooner!
Some Cons:
1. Lots of waiting, ton's of waiting, monthly waiting. You have to wait between each episode, plus the initial time after announcement.
Can you tell me how much longer we would have had to wait if they decided to make Tales of Monkey Island a full retail game? How many full retail games are announced then released a month later? Speculate how much waiting from announcement to retail a full game would have taken. Please answer these.
Bottem line, waiting is a party of every single game ever made ever, and should not be a con, do you expect a game to be made instantly without any work, ever?
2. You can't buy the whole thing at once (until it's all released of course), you have no other option but to wait a month for the next one. You cannot play the whole thing at once neither. You are given no choice, but to wait.
Waiting again....see above. If you don't mind waiting for a full retail game, then you shouldn't mind waiting till all 5 are out and get them at once, just ignore the developing community (a major pro!), since thats what you want to do anyway.
3. Episodic games either end too abruptly and/or don't flow smoothly onto the next one. This may be an opinion based con, but sometimes it is very true.
This is opinion. Personally, I love the cliffhanger at the end of the first episode, all the fun discussion on the forums, I want to see more of that. You claim you like discussion, so there you go.
4. Puzzle Items in one episode don't/won't/cannot compliment puzzles/other items from another episode. For example, in "The Dig" you pick up a "Jaw Bone" very early in the game, and it doesn't get used until quite near the end. This is an adventure puzzle technique that just cannot be done in episodes.
Wrong, did you play ToMI? You got a locket in it that you won't use till the next episode(or maybe later). Maybe this is why you had to buy all episodes at once...idk
5. I'm sitting at a PC, ready to immediately waste time. I'm not sat at a TV, waiting for a timed schedule.
I do not understand this one at all. I think it means you sit at your computer and wait for the next episode... What do you do when a full retail game does this? Mass effect for instance, it is not complete, killzone 2..etc. The problem of having to wait for a story arc to finish is NOT exclusive to episodic games.
6. Just guessing, but the script is probably made up as they go along (Lost Syndrome, let's hope there is never a writers strike)
Yup, just guessing, doesn't count
7. Storage. Each episode is Stand-alone, meaning for one season you're effectively downloading and storing the same game data 5/6 times over. And in 5/6 different locations.
On the other side, you can delete episodes individually as well, can you delete the first one and still play the others.
I'll do one pro:
Monkey Island is back thanks to episodic gaming. The format has alot of potential outside of TT as well, another thread should be started about that one. Before you bring up valve again...yea, they failed at it, they have acknowledged it, but I think the future is bright for episodic games in general. What I think it boils down to is that you are really really impatient, and I am sorry, wish you could enjoy it as much as the rest of the MI community does.
I noticed you dropped price from your cons, making some progress.
Udvarnoky, the point I was trying to make was that delaying the release a bit is much more acceptable with a full length game than with a single episode. But yeah, there's a lot of pressure with all games close to the finish line.
As many others with limited time due to family, work etc, I love that episodic games like TTG deliver can be finished before my life distracts me. I have a shelf full of 1/2 finished games.
Some Cons:
1. Lots of waiting, ton's of waiting, monthly waiting. You have to wait between each episode, plus the initial time after announcement.
Name another "full" game you like. Look back to when it was announced. Then look at when it was released. Was it within a month? Probably not. Was Tales of Monkey Island? Yes. Yes it was. So that kinda becomes a moot point.
So you have to wait month by month for more of the whole story/game? Hmm.. sounds like what it is - episodes. Keeping your interest for a longer period of time. Well.. probably not your interest
2. You can't buy the whole thing at once (until it's all released of course), you have no other option but to wait a month for the next one. You cannot play the whole thing at once neither. You are given no choice, but to wait.
Call me pedantic but yes you CAN buy the whole thing at once. Before the whole season is done. It's called pre-ordering. Mostly for those of us that are fans of a particular series. You can't play the whole thing at once when it's first released but that just shows up your impatience and/or maniacal rabidness to have it all, whatever it is, right. now. In all honesty I hate having to wait as well but that's an issue that I personally have to deal with and I'm guessing it's not a problem for a lot of people. As always the majority of people have the vote. Your opinion is not really going to change anything in Telltale's world.
"3. Episodic games either end too abruptly and/or don't flow smoothly onto the next one. This may be an opinion based con, but sometimes it is very true."
"4. Puzzle Items in one episode don't/won't/cannot compliment puzzles/other items from another episode. For example, in "The Dig" you pick up a "Jaw Bone" very early in the game, and it doesn't get used until quite near the end. This is an adventure puzzle technique that just cannot be done in episodes."
Point 3 and point 4 I would have sort of agreed with until ToMI came out. It didn't end too abruptly for me, partly because they did a good job of "ending" it, plus there's items to use in the next episode (I hope). However I do think that even tho the episodes were a bit short in both seasons of Sam and Max they did flow pretty well between episodes and seasons. I'm pretty sure (99%) that ToMI will as well from what I can see so far.
5. I'm sitting at a PC, ready to immediately waste time. I'm not sat at a TV, waiting for a timed schedule.
Took me a while to get what you meant here but yeah I see your point. It's expected that we're able to play a game all the way through at a pc as soon as it's installed. It's expected that we have to wait for TV shows week by week. And this is just a mix of the two. IMO for story driven adventure games this works surprisingly well. Also with both TV and PC you can watch and do other things while waiting.
6. Just guessing, but the script is probably made up as they go along (Lost Syndrome, let's hope there is never a writers strike)
No. Just no. The full script is probably still being worked on and tweaked when the first episode is released but I have no doubt that Telltale knows what the overall story will be and what each episode is likley to entail before they've even announced a series. Might be a weak point in my argument but they do have the titles for each episode in ToMI and episode one was indeed about launching the screaming narwhal Of course this is just me guessing as well but it makes a lot more sense to me than your guess did
7. Storage. Each episode is Stand-alone, meaning for one season you're effectively downloading and storing the same game data 5/6 times over. And in 5/6 different locations.
Take roughly 188mb. Multiply it by 5. That's just under a Gb. Even with save games. That's less than a lot of full games. They're all arranged in essentially the same location c:/Program Files/Telltale Games/{insert series name} admittedly in 5 or 6 different folders (on WinXP in my case) unless you have the habit of changing it to random folders when you install. Oh and there's the folder in My Documents with your saves. Seems like a scraping the barrel kind of Con to me.
I do understand that you're trying to say about the same information being installed on your pc but unless you have a 2Gb hard drive it's not really an issue. Even then you can just uninstall each episode as and when you need to
To answer your original title - I like episodic gaming
I don't have much time to play either, but I like coming back to the same game and same story time after time, to see what's up next. It's also really fun to me to think about a certain puzzle I'm stuck with while doing something else. I don't feel the urge to finish a game.
I like episodic games, because they're cheap and they (usually) don't cause excruciatingly long loading times. You can finish them in a few hours and that'll leave you wanting - nay - craving the next one. I didn't really like "Grimm" though; I didn't find it that funny and I didn't really like all that jumping; it's not my thing.
This, just as 2D vs 3D has so much to do with preference and personal taste that I don't expect many to change their opinion about the issue, no matter what people say. The only reason I'd expect people to start liking either is by trying some really good games of the style out that they didn't have tried before.
Comments
If you don't like episodic games, f**k off and go find some other forums, we don't want you here.
One Pro is that you get the best game possible because Telltale can solicit pre-orders for entire seasons of when the first episode is released, which gives them huge amounts of knowledge and data concerning how many people are going to be playing and paying for a game. It also pays them and allows them to continue devloping the product.
This business model has clearly been crucial for Telltale's survival and, hopefully, their success, considering they must have been entering a market with product lines that had been cancelled a couple of times (Sam and Max) and they produce the kind of game that has a niche fanbase. If they couldn't keep the finances flowing the way that episodic gaming enables they probably wouldn't be able to make games period.
About the audio quality, if I'd have to guess is that they've been working on improving the audio quality a lot, but not having the option to increase file size means that it took them as long as 3 episodic game seasons to find a good solution. The solution obviously wasn't very simple, otherwise they would've definitely fixed it the first time many forum goers reported the problem in Sam & Max season 1.
About the temptation of trying episodes earlier, this thread is called 'who actually likes episodic gaming'. I listed the cons that take away from the experience for me. I like playing the whole season through, and the temptation to try it beforehand is a con to me. I'm not saying it's ultimately bad. Hell, I think the episodic format is a superb business model. If I were at the other end, creating the games I would definitely support it and see that the pros heavily outweigh the cons. But that doesn't change the fact that I don't like the aspect I listed.
Episodic games are very good for the adventure games genre as a whole, it has introduced the genre to a lot of gamers. I love Telltale for what they've done. I've bought all seasons save for Strong Bad. But still, at heart I love full length games more. Sorry that we don't agree.
EDIT:
By the way, I agree with you on the AVS thing. The Telltale method would be better than a case of running out of funding halfway through the game. It was kind of off-topic, the rant I wrote about it. I was just so very, very frustrated when it ended all of the sudden.
At least when Telltale does it. I have been burned by a lot of other episodic series that never get finished.
Yes, that I agree. Though after seeing where TOMI is going with its story, with a new island every episode, I think future games will have less recycled content.
Yeah, it's the same reason they aren't calling them "episodes" this time. Tales of Monkey Island is more of a single big epic game, with one story, but released in 5 parts. If you just bought one of the middle chapters it'd be like watching the middle 20 minutes of a movie.
ToMI really isn't an "episodic" game in the same sense as other Telltale games. It is in terms of release and the way they're developing it, but it's really just Monkey Island 5.
Anyway, back to your original question, it's actually because on the outset people were confused by the episodic structure. They preferred simplicity, which apparently Telltale took as writing off the individual episode purchases until later in the season.
And for that, I *do* have a link.
http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=153078#post153078
But yeah, like Rather Dashing said, it's possible that they're just waiting.
Ah okay, thanks!
It doesn't seem to be communicated this well, as quite some sites are also wondering about this step.
I guess i said this in antoher thread already but in my opinion there a series which work pretty well as they are, like the small adventures in Wallace&Grommit but then there are series where i much more would appreciate one more complex story instead of the smaller chunks, Sam&Max could benefit a lot from this as well. Glad they took this direction with MI.
As for the buying procedure, the only thing i found weird is that it seemed that you only were able to upgrade from one episode to the season, instead from any number.
I don't understand this at all.. It was all discussed in the Monkey Island forum yesterday, but again. If this was released as a normal - one big game, chances are it would be priced as such, instead of being just $35. So how are we losing money?
It also gives the developers more funds to work on the next parts, while we're still enjoying the previous ones. And again, if it were released as one stand alone game, chances are it would be around 6-8 hours total, which is the standard for games like this, instead of being 4-6 hours per episode.
Yes, it means we have to wait for the next parts, but that creates a great forum atmosphere, and in the long run, we're getting a much better game. I honestly don't understand the complaints here, at all, you just sound totally ignorant and annoyed that they're doing something different from normal.
The biggest issue with episodic games for me is the limited scope of each episode.
This makes them much easier and often less involving.
In non-episodic adventure games, you have a bigger world, more inventory items, more things to try out.
Tales of Monkey Island's gonna have a new island in each episode, I think.
It's usually quite a bit easier than a long adventure game, as there are fewer things you are able to try. But on the other hand, there is still many hours of gameplay. Sometimes, challenging puzzles that may go over your head are still thrown in.
I actually beat Full Throttle in less hours of gameplay than it's taken me to complete some of the Sam & Max episodes (comparing only games that I used no hints for). But then again, everyone's different. I personally found Full Throttle to be fairly straightforward and don't remember there being any puzzles I really got stuck on for a long time. But sometimes a Sam & Max puzzle will just catch me off guard! But my point is, even though single episodes are usually easier than larger adventure games it doesn't mean they won't provide you with as much gameplay!
Episodic gaming is a new and creative take on adventure gaming. I think that by introducing this new style of gaming, Telltale are succeeding wonderfully in bringing back a classic genre and giving it an original twist to attract attention, and perhaps even introduce the adventure genre to an additional new audience too.
And hey, here's a thought. If you don't like episodic games, stop buying them. 'Tis that simple. (you'd never believe it, eh?)
First, though; a lot of people have criticised the OP for complaining about Episodic games in the forums of an Episodic Game company. Please bear in mind that there are exceptionally few adventure games on the market, right now; so few, in fact, that you're forced to play games that have a format you don't like if you're genuinely hungry for more of the genre.
Anybody who was a fan of the of "Sam & Max Hit the Road", for example, are note likely to ever see a game in the S&M (anybody else tend to think of "Sadism and masochism" when you type that?) franchise from another publisher, so if you really want to "get a fix" it's the TellTale version or nothing. Same goes for Monkey Island, now.
I'd also like to bring your attention to the very first TTG blog entry. Here Brendan Ferguson explains that situations where you need an item near the end of the game that you should have picked up at the start of the game (ie, something that has been possible to pick up from the start of the game) is something that TTG is trying to avoid).
I still think there are even more pros then this and (if I was to go back) I think I could easily pick holes in most, if not all, of the cons listed (but I really can't be bothered).
"Immense pressure to hit the very tight release schedule" sounds like something that's probably true of any game developer except I guess Blizzard or something. Again, Telltale's development cycles are short, but their methods and their game sizes are reflective of it. It's probably quite true that putting out their games is a crazy undertaking. But that's how the games industry is in general, based on the slight exposure I've had to it. Constant compromise and racing against impossible schedules are simply part of the deal - that you're a little bit closer to Telltale and therefore maybe hear specific things from them about stuff that they have to forfeit doesn't mean that similar struggles aren't true everywhere else.
It sounds suspiciously like you're using the fact that they put out games on a monthly basis to make assumptions about how "safe" they have play things, at least compared to other studios who aren't in some improbably sweetheart situation. At the end of the day, the verdict that you make is based on the game, without whatever knowledge you have of the realities of their production processes shaping your judgment (either for better or for worse).
Come on, now.
When I first heard that TTG had got the licence for Sam And Max, and they were doing it episodically, I was very, very skeptic. I waited until season one was out to get it, at retail, because I didn't like the idea of episodic gaming.
However, I do actually think the episodic gaming concept works very well. Personally, when I was a kid, I played my games to death. I had SOMI from pretty much when it came out on the Atari ST and I played it constantly I just loved it, and pretty much every game I had that I grew attached to, I'd play to death. But now I live a different life style, I have a job, I have bills to pay, and I have a fianceé who lives with me in my house. I don't have as much time to dedicate to gaming as I used to. Don't get me wrong, since I got Fallout 3 I've played it a hell of a lot! But if this were 10 years earlier I would have completed it a few times now, making different choices and getting new experiences out of the game.
Now as an adult I can come home from work, and instead of shunning away Christina, we can both sit and play a game that she enjoys too, and we don't do it for hours on end. At the end of the day, a "season" of a game in retail costs about the same as a full retail game, it lasts roughly as long, and you get the same enjoyment out of it. It's just chopped up into chapters for you, so it's easier to digest, which is much better for me personally as a working man.
Another good thing about the episodic gaming, which I am warming to, is how you're essentially forced into waiting a month before you can continue the story, which for the more epic stories (like ToMI, I'm promised
However, I would like TTG to do a few "full" games from time to time. I don't know if it would work as a downloadable game though, as obviously downloading a 1gb+ game at once can be a pain for some people, myself included. But I like my DVD cases on my shelf.. I'm that kind of person!
ToMI is the second series I'm downloading as it happens, the first being Wallace and Gromit on XBLA, and I must say, I should have done it this way sooner!
Can you tell me how much longer we would have had to wait if they decided to make Tales of Monkey Island a full retail game? How many full retail games are announced then released a month later? Speculate how much waiting from announcement to retail a full game would have taken. Please answer these.
Bottem line, waiting is a party of every single game ever made ever, and should not be a con, do you expect a game to be made instantly without any work, ever?
Waiting again....see above. If you don't mind waiting for a full retail game, then you shouldn't mind waiting till all 5 are out and get them at once, just ignore the developing community (a major pro!), since thats what you want to do anyway.
This is opinion. Personally, I love the cliffhanger at the end of the first episode, all the fun discussion on the forums, I want to see more of that. You claim you like discussion, so there you go.
Wrong, did you play ToMI? You got a locket in it that you won't use till the next episode(or maybe later). Maybe this is why you had to buy all episodes at once...idk
I do not understand this one at all. I think it means you sit at your computer and wait for the next episode... What do you do when a full retail game does this? Mass effect for instance, it is not complete, killzone 2..etc. The problem of having to wait for a story arc to finish is NOT exclusive to episodic games.
Yup, just guessing, doesn't count
On the other side, you can delete episodes individually as well, can you delete the first one and still play the others.
I'll do one pro:
Monkey Island is back thanks to episodic gaming. The format has alot of potential outside of TT as well, another thread should be started about that one. Before you bring up valve again...yea, they failed at it, they have acknowledged it, but I think the future is bright for episodic games in general. What I think it boils down to is that you are really really impatient, and I am sorry, wish you could enjoy it as much as the rest of the MI community does.
I noticed you dropped price from your cons, making some progress.
Name another "full" game you like. Look back to when it was announced. Then look at when it was released. Was it within a month? Probably not. Was Tales of Monkey Island? Yes. Yes it was. So that kinda becomes a moot point.
So you have to wait month by month for more of the whole story/game? Hmm.. sounds like what it is - episodes. Keeping your interest for a longer period of time. Well.. probably not your interest
Call me pedantic but yes you CAN buy the whole thing at once. Before the whole season is done. It's called pre-ordering. Mostly for those of us that are fans of a particular series. You can't play the whole thing at once when it's first released but that just shows up your impatience and/or maniacal rabidness to have it all, whatever it is, right. now. In all honesty I hate having to wait as well but that's an issue that I personally have to deal with and I'm guessing it's not a problem for a lot of people. As always the majority of people have the vote. Your opinion is not really going to change anything in Telltale's world.
Point 3 and point 4 I would have sort of agreed with until ToMI came out. It didn't end too abruptly for me, partly because they did a good job of "ending" it, plus there's items to use in the next episode (I hope). However I do think that even tho the episodes were a bit short in both seasons of Sam and Max they did flow pretty well between episodes and seasons. I'm pretty sure (99%) that ToMI will as well from what I can see so far.
Took me a while to get what you meant here but yeah I see your point. It's expected that we're able to play a game all the way through at a pc as soon as it's installed. It's expected that we have to wait for TV shows week by week. And this is just a mix of the two. IMO for story driven adventure games this works surprisingly well. Also with both TV and PC you can watch and do other things while waiting.
No. Just no. The full script is probably still being worked on and tweaked when the first episode is released but I have no doubt that Telltale knows what the overall story will be and what each episode is likley to entail before they've even announced a series. Might be a weak point in my argument but they do have the titles for each episode in ToMI and episode one was indeed about launching the screaming narwhal
Take roughly 188mb. Multiply it by 5. That's just under a Gb. Even with save games. That's less than a lot of full games. They're all arranged in essentially the same location c:/Program Files/Telltale Games/{insert series name} admittedly in 5 or 6 different folders (on WinXP in my case) unless you have the habit of changing it to random folders when you install. Oh and there's the folder in My Documents with your saves. Seems like a scraping the barrel kind of Con to me.
I do understand that you're trying to say about the same information being installed on your pc but unless you have a 2Gb hard drive it's not really an issue. Even then you can just uninstall each episode as and when you need to
To answer your original title - I like episodic gaming
SHUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNN
But not really.
I like episodic games, because they're cheap and they (usually) don't cause excruciatingly long loading times. You can finish them in a few hours and that'll leave you wanting - nay - craving the next one. I didn't really like "Grimm" though; I didn't find it that funny and I didn't really like all that jumping; it's not my thing.
SEMICOLON
ok...