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Telltale: love ‘em or hate ‘em?
Chris Jones of AGS fame (and all the indies who made games with it) did more for the genre than TTG.
Who was it from Telltale who got up at that awards show and said they were dedicating an award to the creator of Adventure? I couldn’t believe it when I read that. As if they had been single-mindedly trying to revive the genre and were now claiming to be the heirs of the classic adventure gaming legacy. I thought TWD was a fine, though cheaply and emotionally manipulative, game that benefitted from a hugely popular tv show, but I don’t see it as the future of adventure gaming.
Well they did bring adventure games back to the eyes of larger public. The other smaller devs really didn’t manage to breach the wall as efficiently as Telltale did. You don’t have to like them, but they did help to make adventure games a legitime genre in the eyes of the public again.
Not a fan of Telltale, but neither do I hate them. I haven’t played The Walking Dead, but their previous titles have just been mediocre at best. In general their games are completely bland and uninteresting. I don’t understand why some people seem to like them as much as they do.
I think the only thing that bothers me about The Walking Dead is the quick time events. I’m getting old and I can’t bash my fingers randomly on keys like I used to, and I think it’s really out of place in a game where you’re supposed to think and make decisions. I know it’s a trend that’s leaked into almost every single game now, but I’d wish it’d just go away.
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I’d like to express my feelings about Telltale via this colorful Disney gif.
My favourite Telltale series is actually Wallace & Grommit. Quite underrated. There was a poll some months ago on favourite developers from the last 10 years. For me, the top 3 would be Telltale, Wadget Eye and Amanita (not necessarily in that order). Have only played one game of Frogwares, which was decent, and none of the German publishers and a couple from Pendulo and none of the horror games (Boakes/Clark etc). But apart from these I cant really think of any other developers off the top of my head. For those who dont like Telltale, I’d be interested in knowing who you DO like from the last 10 yrs. Daedalic? Frogwares? King Art? Boakes or Clark?
One nice feature of Telltale is that they did get episodic games right, not many developers can say that (and many tried).
One nice feature of Telltale is that they did get episodic games right, not many developers can say that (and many tried).
They did? Two-hour, five-room episodes that play themselves is “getting it right” now??
For those who dont like Telltale, I’d be interested in knowing who you DO like from the last 10 yrs. Daedalic? Frogwares? King Art? Boakes or Clark?
I love Daedalic. All the games I’ve played from them I’ve either enjoyed or loved.
One nice feature of Telltale is that they did get episodic games right, not many developers can say that (and many tried).
They did? Two-hour, five-room episodes that play themselves is “getting it right” now??
Yes. That’s exactly what they do.
They did? Two-hour, five-room episodes that play themselves is “getting it right” now??
An episode length of about 3-6 hours is just perfect for me. Many of Wadget Eye’s & Amanita’s games also fall into that length and that’s just the ideal length to play over a weekend or two and complete one episode. Then you can put it aside until you get some time again to start another episode.
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They did? Two-hour, five-room episodes that play themselves is “getting it right” now??
Rethinking a bit the question, what Telltale games did you actually play? Because if only Sam and Max Season 1 it might fit that trolling a bit because it does use the same locations a lot (although it’s funny and kind of like a sitcom in the structure).
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They did? Two-hour, five-room episodes that play themselves is “getting it right” now??
Rethinking a bit the question, what Telltale games did you actually play? Because if only Sam and Max Season 1 it might fit that trolling a bit because it does use the same locations a lot (although it’s funny and kind of like a sitcom in the structure).
The ones I spent money on were Sam & Max Seasons 1-3, Tales of Monkey Island, Back to the Future, and The Walking Dead.
Of all of them, I think Tales most hit the sweet spot between the old school style and the more cinematic approach. I think it’s their best game, by far, and really FELT like Monkey Island.
I was incredibly turned off by Back to the Future, so much so that I haven’t even finished it. I think I got about part way through Episode 4 before my brain literally started bleeding out of my ears because of how bad it was.
Walking Dead was a decent story, but ultimately failed to impress me. It would have been far more interesting from a gameplay standpoint if there were actually multiple paths through the game, rather than the illusion of choice that it actually provided. It really solidified the idea in my mind that their games have been becoming increasingly cheap cash-ins, where the most important aspect of their game design philosophy seems to be keeping production costs down.
The ones I spent money on were Sam & Max Seasons 1-3, Tales of Monkey Island, Back to the Future, and The Walking Dead.
Of all of them, I think Tales most hit the sweet spot between the old school style and the more cinematic approach. I think it’s their best game, by far, and really FELT like Monkey Island.
I was incredibly turned off by Back to the Future, so much so that I haven’t even finished it. I think I got about part way through Episode 4 before my brain literally started bleeding out of my ears because of how bad it was.
Walking Dead was a decent story, but ultimately failed to impress me. It would have been far more interesting from a gameplay standpoint if there were actually multiple paths through the game, rather than the illusion of choice that it actually provided. It really solidified the idea in my mind that their games have been becoming increasingly cheap cash-ins, where the most important aspect of their game design philosophy seems to be keeping production costs down.
In my case the only game I didn’t like at all was Jurassic Park, I think it was a really failed experiment, and because of that I still have not played Back to the Future (although the structure seems to be very different).
The Walking Dead is the latest recurring controversial topic, I’m the love it camp. You might not like it course but I don’t think you can call cheap cash-in (see Activision’s Walking Dead for that…) There’s obviously a lot of care and thought in the overall story.
For me Sam and Max improved throughout the seasons. The first season was funny but kind of repetitive, in the second and third seasons they were more ambitious with the story giving more variety to the environments and creating better characters. They probably started having more budget. Tales was even better in my opinion.
The episode structure works for them because they actually stick with the release schedule (unlike most episodic games) and it works like a Tv show in those 5-6 months. I actually think most of their games are better enjoyed playing like that instead of waiting for the end playing it all together.
The Walking Dead is the latest recurring controversial topic, I’m the love it camp. You might not like it course but I don’t think you can call cheap cash-in (see Activision’s Walking Dead for that…) There’s obviously a lot of care and thought in the overall story.
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The episode structure works for them because they actually stick with the release schedule (unlike most episodic games) and it works like a Tv show in those 5-6 months. I actually think most of their games are better enjoyed playing like that instead of waiting for the end playing it all together.
Don’t get me wrong—Telltale is very good at what they do. The problem is that what they do isn’t very good.
There were some obvious areas Walking Dead could have been improved, like the aforementioned use of true branching story-lines. Now, we’re not talking endless possibilities, but something along the lines of Fate of Atlantis, where there would actually have been unique places to go or story paths through the game that ultimately ended up in the same place. That would have made the much-praised “weighty choices” actually feel like they were having a substantial effect on your version of the story. As it was, that illusion is completely broken on the second playthrough, when you realize that almost everything stays exactly the same all the way through, barring a few minor character differences, which ultimately only boil down to a few different dialogues and slight differences to the way certain scenes unfold (without really affecting their conclusion.)
The fact that such obvious improvements to the depth of the game were ignored tells me that they don’t care about quality. They care about making the game quickly first and foremost. Just look at how buggy every single one of their releases has been. They’ve hired some pretty good writers; I’ll give them that. But as game designers, they’re utterly mediocre.
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