Adventure Gamers - Forums

Okay, okay.  I’ll tone it down. 

I’ll give you “rubes;” I was being a sarcastic ass, as I’m often prone to be.  But how is the word “apologist” an insult?  Anyone who tries to justify something that many others view as wrong or bad is, by definition, an apologist.

Also, there’s no reason that my personal opinion of Telltale should at all be equated with any kind of “official” stance by Infamous Quests.  I’m just one person; our team is composed of over a dozen other people, some of whom are also Telltale fans (with whom I love to argue, by the way.)  If you want to write off our game because I said I think Telltale games are mediocre and that I don’t buy the arguments to the contrary, so be it.  If that’s the case, I’m not sure what I’d say to convince you otherwise, and I’m sorry you feel that way.

Lambonius - 19 April 2013 12:48 PM

I’ll give you “rubes;” I was being a sarcastic ass, as I’m often prone to be.  But how is the word “apologist” an insult?  Anyone who tries to justify something that many others view as wrong or bad is, by definition, an apologist.

You’re a smart guy, Lambonius. You know full well it’s a loaded statement. Someone’s an apologist when they defend something THEY know is wrong or bad; it’s simply disagreeing when… they simply disagree. Respect that, and we’re golden.

Back on topic, personally speaking I quite enjoy Telltale games. I don’t consider them instant classics (I think only one made our Top 100, if I recall, though Walking Dead will make the next update), but they’re far more enjoyable than a lot of other games I play.

Their impact on the genre is undeniable, even if it doesn’t appeal to everyone (ironic that today’s feature article is a postmortem of Myst, another game that was as indisputably influential as it was/is divisive). Where the genre is now vs. where it was when Telltale was formed is night and day. Of course they weren’t the lone reason; no one game or developer ever is, and no one has exalted Telltale the saviour that I’ve ever seen. But they were out there DOING, and satisfying a helluva lot of people in the process, and that alone warrants at least grudging admiration.

I find the “replay” argument extremely weak. You’d need to condemn 99.9% of all adventures for failing to provide a compelling narrative the second time through.

Hahah, yeah - Myst certainly divided people hard back 20 years ago.  I remember that argument around my high-school lunch table with my regular squadron of nerds!  People who grew up with that STILL have strong feelings on it.

After 20 years, I’m okay with saying I liked Myst.  It was very different at the time - and the videos that played in the books… creepy and cool at the time.

I do find a lot of replay value in many adventure games - but I’d say KQVI is one of the first I can remember that had a serious replay value and branching paths.

Wait, SQIII definitely had a lot of alternate solutions to puzzles too - I killed Arnoid inside of the Mog for YEARS before I knew about the pods on the cave ceiling!

Regardless, I enjoy replaying my old favorite games - just this morning, I got a hankering to boot up Super Metroid - which I could play just about anytime.

Bt

I’m not a fan… First i was happy they were bringing back Sam&Max; until i actually played it… Didn’t like it at all. Played one episode of Wallace&Gromit;, didn’t like that. Found it all a bit soulless and rushed. Tales of Monkey Island was a travesty if you ask me and the only reason i played it was of nostalgia… Took me a while to see how bad it really was.

I only played Walking Dead due to the high praise it was getting everywhere and its by far their best game. Had me hooked for 2 chapters completely, even though i really dislike the whole zombie apocalypse thing. I liked the fact they didn’t recycle as much as the other games so the episodic style didn’t really bug me as much as Sam&Max; for example. But after 2 episodes i got bored of it all, especially the emotional overload. Also i began to notice that my choices are more cosmetic than actually integral. But still it was a decent game (only one for me).

Blackthorne - 19 April 2013 01:23 PM

just this morning, I got a hankering to boot up Super Metroid - which I could play just about anytime.

Dammit!  Now I have a hankering to play Super Metroid!  Wait, that’s actually not a bad thing at all.

The thing I really dislike about Telltale’s games is the dialogue. Too long, and it’s not written or acted well enough for the wordiness to be entertaining or interesting. Sitting and clicking on dialogue options is the very worst of modern adventure game “gameplay”. The actual exploration (what little there is of it) and puzzle solving is not awful in the games I’ve played, but it’s hurt significantly by having to listen to mediocre actors deliver so many mediocre lines.

I also dislike their half-assed 3D which is presented like the games take place on a sitcom set.

Sam & Max Season 3 I thought was fairly solid though, played on PS3. The Max powers brought something fresh to the genre, and several of the episodes did cool and innovative things (the alternating film reels for example). Still has the dialogue problem.

Back to the Future I didn’t hate as much as most people because I love the franchise so much. Hearing Christopher Lloyd, a perfect Michael J. Fox sound-alike and a real Michael J. Fox cameo overrides the other issues those games have.

Modern adventure games really need to take lessons from Machinarium. You don’t have to bore the player with exposition to tell a story.

Lambonius - 19 April 2013 02:48 PM

Blackthorne - 19 April 2013 01:23 PM

just this morning, I got a hankering to boot up Super Metroid - which I could play just about anytime.

Dammit!  Now I have a hankering to play Super Metroid!  Wait, that’s actually not a bad thing at all.

This is crazy.. I just did a playthrough of super metroid.  lol!  Then I went right into gba zero mission (metroid 1 remake if anyone didnt know).  Nice to see other adventure game people supportive of great classic platformers Now if only someone could finish up a proper metroid 2 remake… (lol. hey, i can dream)

...In regard to telltale I have to say I loved back to the future and jurassic park.  Maybe its mostly nostalgia factor on how fun it was to revisit long lost beloved franchises but I really enjoyed both. I’ve no interest in any of the other game series nor the art styles they used.  The KQ one they were making looked horrible imo and I’m kinda glad thats not happening. 

final thought: I guess I should try walking dead since everyone loves it. heh, I just hate that its one of ‘those games’ that every playstation generation person praises who knows nothing about the history of adventure

Jackal - 19 April 2013 01:10 PM

Their impact on the genre is undeniable, even if it doesn’t appeal to everyone (ironic that today’s feature article is a postmortem of Myst, another game that was as indisputably influential as it was/is divisive).

The thing that most surprised me in the Myst talk was hearing Robyn Miller say that Myst was designed for non-gamers. 1) because Myst-like games have taken on this reputation of being super hard, and 2) because it reminded me of Telltale. I never would have put Myst and a Telltale game in the same category, but they share a similar goal: they both aim to create a story experience that anyone can enjoy, not only self-proclaimed gamers.

(And there’s a tendency to equate “anyone can enjoy it” with “we have to dumb this down so even the dumbest moron can get it.” That’s obviously not true in the case of Myst, a game that has a reputation of being hard, and I personally think it’s not true of Telltale either.)

That 9 million figure is current and comes directly from Robyn Miller.

Nah, don’t credit me.  Emily’s article, Emily’s research. But you can always rest assured that we won’t simply report made-up random numbers.