[bigjko]

Originally Posted by AudioSoldier

Spoiler:

There's another minigame where you need to slink away from two Rat Creatures while they are arguing.

Spoiler:

I wouldn't exactly consider that a mini-game. No more than, say, the beaver puzzle in Grim Fandango (bad example, because that was a horrible puzzle.)

I thought the sneaking thing was a touch of genius, really. Really well integrated. Took maybe a little bit too long, but still very enjoyable.

As for Ted's big brother. It was pretty obvious that you were supposed to use the same tactic, but the game makes it a bit more fresh, because now it doesn't really help you if he just rams the tree. You have to be more creative to get the apples. IMO, it would've been better if the two moments had been a little bit more apart from each other. But the game's length doesn't really allow that, eh?

Not trying to find excuses for the game, or anything. Just my lovely, little opinion.

[paulb263]

Originally Posted by AudioSoldier

Well, I finished the game this minute. I should have my review ready by the end of the day, and I'll post it on here before submitting it to IGO.

Oh, and yes, Bone was far too short.

I finished bone aswell, and agree with the above. I am disapointed in this game as i had high hopes for this game and had been looking forward to it since first reading about it on AG. The puzzles (if you can call them that) are way too easy, the action sequences are pointless and annoying, and the game is just too short, and thats before i even get to the glitches, the game is full of bug, could these have not been ironed out before release?. However having said that there were parts of the game that i enjoyed (mainly the banter between the bones) and i found the characters to be quite endearing. This does at least show potential for future bone games and hopefully in the forthcoming episodes the designers will make the puzzles a bit more difficult and cut out the action sequences. Overall though i would give Bone 5/10.

[jaap]

As I already wrote in the other Bone-thread (http://forums.adventuregamers.com/sh...postcount=217), I totally agree with the fact that it's too easy and to short.

There was one puzzle ik kind of liked:

Spoiler:

Were you play hide and seek with the possum kids as Phone Bone. It took me a while to figure out how it worked. However, I expected that the last two possums had top arrive at the same moment, but that was not the case. Otherwise the puzzle would have been harder, but also more fun

Jaap

[Tramboi]

I have to say the music is great, and the interface is the perfect mix of real time 3D rendering and old school point'n'click.
Multiple conversations is really well done too.
Character graphics could have easily been better, if only on powerful PCs, just by throwing more geometry, or avoiding the nasty Gouraud artifacts...
And the story is great, of course, just like the comics! Ted is awesome too
I definitely recommend this short piece of game, the Bone world is charming and Telltale really kept the spirit.
I definitely will buy the second one. Now the technology is stable, they will be able to focus on assets and story!

[bigjko]

This is weird. Take a look at this screenshot. Why does it have shadows? I don't recall having shadows in my version..

EDIT: In fact, everything looks loads better in pretty much every screenshot.

[a-side]

Originally Posted by bigjko

This is weird. Take a look at this screenshot. Why does it have shadows? I don't recall having shadows in my version..

EDIT: In fact, everything looks loads better in pretty much every screenshot.

Are there some graphic options in the menu ?

[jp-30]

Originally Posted by a-side

Are there some graphic options in the menu ?

No, only antialiasing on/off.

[cy007]

Originally Posted by bigjko

This is weird. Take a look at this screenshot. Why does it have shadows? I don't recall having shadows in my version..

EDIT: In fact, everything looks loads better in pretty much every screenshot.

Just anti-aliasing really. Forcing the game to run in a non-native resolution of your LCD moniter doesn't help a lot either. Try running it on a 15" CRT and you'd know what I mean. About the shadows, sorry, have no idea. Perhaps it's a bug?

edit: Maybe someone should e-mail Telltale about this? Who knows? They might give us a satisfactory response regarding this.

[Udvarnoky]

Huh. Good question about the shadows - I missed them too. The only thing I could think of is file size limitations. If that's the case, I hope Telltale releases a second version of the game with all the bells and whistles (options for shadows, options for different resolution, etc.) at whatever file size it takes so that people who don't mind the download can have that available.

[CrimsonBlue]

Finished Bone five minutes ago. And I regret buying it. It wasn't worth the two hours I spent on it. The game hardly had any proper puzzles, and the few we had were way too simple. The two action-sequences really killed the fun and was just simply annoying. If they couldn't implement this with proper controls, they shouldn't have included it at all. The story was too broken up to make any sense for anyone who haven't read the book, and the game as a whole was more like a tour of the book instead of a proper game. And I haven't even started with the bugs!

From me, this game gets a 4/10, simply because it had great music, and some of the voice-overs were great. Makes me wonder if the whole episode-system is worth it. If Out From Boneville is anything to go by I will not buy the next episode - even if adventure-games are far and in between I still have some of my pride left to avoid bad games. I have a little more hope for the Sam & Max episodes, because then they'll have more creative freedom, and maybe instead of making a limited budget 3D cartoon of Sam & Max we'll actually have some decent gameplay.

Terribly terribly disappointing.

[squarejawhero]

On dialup, so this is my only visit to the forums til next week.

Just to say, the further you get, the better it gets. It's the "charm factor" more than the game itself, which is middling at best. And Thorns model and animation is horrendous.

[bigjko]

Originally Posted by squarejawhero

And Thorns model and animation is horrendous.

Seconded. Thorn is probably the weakest of all the characters in the game. Which is a shame, 'cause I hear she's awesome in the book. Here, she just sounds and looks creepy.

I think TellTale is talented, yet their debut game just lacks polish. For example, the music is awesome. Yet its implementation is horrible. Sometimes when the dialogue is trying to convey something horrific or exciting, the music is completely out of key. It's because there's always the same background music playing in each scene, no matter what's going on. I don't know if it's MIDI or not, but if it is then it would've benefited greatly from a similar system to the old SCUMM games. Where the music often gradually changed into something else, even in the same scenes (i.e MI2, on the way to the Voodoo lady's cabin.)

And I really wished they'd have released a bigger version for those brave enough to download so much, because I have a nagging feeling there was stuff cut out for sake of filesize (shadows missing, polygons on Bone noses, and where're the cinematics from the trailer, like Bone yelling "Hello?!" in the caves)

[CrimsonBlue]

Originally Posted by squarejawhero

Just to say, the further you get, the better it gets.

I wouldn't say that. In fact, I'd go as far as saying the impression you get from the demo is very representative of how you'll like the rest of the game. Both the best and the worst part. The game was flat and boring, and had no tension when needed, no timing in the jokes, and Thorn was a terrible character overall, and was nowhere near as good as in the books. And how can they use the same ****ing puzzle twice in a game THIS short??? Not to mention the action-sequence.

[fov]

Originally Posted by CrimsonBlue

And how can they use the same ****ing puzzle twice in a game THIS short???

Are you talking about Hide & Seek? That was my feeling initially, but when I realized that they'd turned it around and had Phoney doing the hiding the second time I thought it was pretty clever. I really enjoyed figuring out how to get the possum kids to find me (there's a method to how they jump around, based on what you tell them), and thought Phoney's responses were classic.

If they'd used the same exact puzzle (Fone looking for them, then Phoney looking for them) I would have been annoyed, but as it was I thought it was a nice variation on a theme.

[jaap]

Originally Posted by fov

Are you talking about Hide & Seek?

Maybe he means the puzzles involving Ted's brother.

I liked the second hide and seek with Phoney as well!

Jaap

[Ninth]

Originally Posted by fov

Are you talking about Hide & Seek? That was my feeling initially, but when I realized that they'd turned it around and had Phoney doing the hiding the second time I thought it was pretty clever. I really enjoyed figuring out how to get the possum kids to find me (there's a method to how they jump around, based on what you tell them), and thought Phoney's responses were classic.

If they'd used the same exact puzzle (Fone looking for them, then Phoney looking for them) I would have been annoyed, but as it was I thought it was a nice variation on a theme.

Even if it's a bit different, having two similar puzzles in a 2-3 hours game seem a bit strange. I wouldn't mind it in a longer game, where it wouldn't be at the detriment of other puzzles, but if I know they're going to be very few of them (and a bunch ot them mini games), I at least would want them to be very different from one another.

[Fop]

The two Hide & Seek puzzles aren't similar at all, but yeah, I think he meant the puzzles with Ted's big brother.

[CrimsonBlue]

Yup, that's the puzzle I meant. I hadn't even thought about the hide&seek puzzle, but that too is a bit too similar to have in a 2 hour game.

And while the puzzle wasn't really annoying, the worst part was repeating the incredibly tedious locust-run, but with the rat creatures instead. Why? I thought former LucasArts employees would know better than to put repeating obstacles in a game just to make it longer.

[The Seed]

Well on the plus side, it is probably the funniest adventure game to come out this century. Honestly, I can't think of anything adventure games wise in the last few years that has been funnier than Bone.

[fov]

Originally Posted by Fop

The two Hide & Seek puzzles aren't similar at all, but yeah, I think he meant the puzzles with Ted's big brother.

Ah. Clearly that didn't bother me, because even after I read this I had to think (hard!) about what puzzle you meant.