Adventure Gamers - Forums

Dag - 22 May 2013 06:26 AM

mo54 - 21 May 2013 08:45 PM

I have had more enjoyment from daedalic and other german and european game producers.

Same here! Give Daedalic Telltales voice actors, and BAM! You’ve got yourself a pretty awesome company

Edna & Harvey 3: Drogglejug’s Legacy
starring
Michael J Fox as Drogglejug
The girl who played Clemantine in The Walking Dead as Edna
and
The guy who played Max in Sam & Max as Harvey

Coming Soon… [/deepvoice]

Dag - 22 May 2013 10:00 AM

Just don’t hire Zifnab to be responsible for the casting, as he clearly would do his best to find the least suitable voices for the roles

So who would Mr. Dag cast as Drogglejug? I would get John Hurt or Ian McKellen, both would provide the subtle inflexions and variations in vocal tone needed for the role.

I actually did think Michael J Fox did the voice in BTTF (I only played 1 episode though). Even though when I think about it he would be too old to sound like that. Telltale made a great choice with that actor.

Dag - 22 May 2013 10:00 AM

And anyway, a good voice actor has more than one voice. Marty’s voice in Back to the Future wasn’t done by Michael J. Fox, it was done by A.J. Locascio, but I’m sure nobody could tell the difference, which just goes to show what a great voice actor A.J. Locascio is.

I’m not sure we can say that A.J. Locascio is a great voice actor. He’s just a random guy who happens to be able to do a great Marty McFly impersonation. He was not cast traditionally, he was specifically cast because Telltale found out he did a great impression.

It is definitely something to think about though in terms of future voice casting when a sound-alike is needed. Just open it up to everybody, experienced voice actors or not.

tomimt - 19 May 2013 03:56 PM

There’s a good Telltale interview at Rock, Paper, Shotgun: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/05/17/telltale-on-weird-experiments-revisiting-comedy/

It talks a lot about Telltale’s creative process and how they use internal prototypes when figuring out their next steps.

What is also evident is, that they are more and more moving away from adventuregames and trying to refine interactive fiction even further.

Pretty soon they won’t even have to pretend to be interested in adventure games anymore.

What’s sad is how a lot of the gaming press uncritically swallowed whole the self-serving Telltale PR talking point about how interactive movies and QTE-filled “games” are somehow “evolved” and the future of adventure games, and how adventure games with exploration and actual puzzles are supposedly a thing of the past. What’s also sad is how a lot of so-called adventure game fans bought into that lie as well.

And on the other side not all people enjoy an “interactive experience” without the intellect being engaged in problem-solving.

I don’t look at QTE games as adventure games, or an evolution of them. I look at it this way: All games have story + challenge. The type of challenge is what separates genres. Organising and planning is the challenge of a strategy game. Dodging bullets and shooting things is called a shooter. The challenge in an adventure game is the intellectual puzzle.

The QTE is closest to action. We should note however that a game is something that can be won or lost. If there is nothing to be overcome, no obstacle or death, no winning or losing, and if the interactive experience is really about choice and reacting to emotion, then it becomes something else, not a game.

I don’t think Telltale is anywhere near this yet. At the moment it’s something between an adventure game and an action game. And I can’t see an evolution happening, because unless the goal is removed the challenge has to remain, whatever that may be. What you might get is The Path, Dear Esther or Bientôt l’été, but I have not heard anyone say those are “evolved” adventure games.

JuntMonkey - 23 May 2013 10:50 PM

I’m not sure we can say that A.J. Locascio is a great voice actor. He’s just a random guy who happens to be able to do a great Marty McFly impersonation. He was not cast traditionally, he was specifically cast because Telltale found out he did a great impression.

It is definitely something to think about though in terms of future voice casting when a sound-alike is needed. Just open it up to everybody, experienced voice actors or not.

I think you’re somewhat understating the difficulty involved in actually performing a voice role for a game, impression or not.  He still emoted well and delivered a believable and dynamic performance—the fact that he could also do a decent Michael J. Fox impression was only the beginning.  He still had to be able to act in order to make it believable and capture the right rapport between Marty and Doc.  I’m not saying there aren’t better general voice actors out there, but he was definitely right for the role, however he was cast, and he did a good job with it.

Quest1 - 23 May 2013 11:25 PM

Pretty soon they won’t even have to pretend to be interested in adventure games anymore.

Why should they be interested in an arbitrarily narrow-minded, made-up concept just to appease the few vocal people who demand everything always be done exactly the same way?

What’s sad is how a lot of the gaming press uncritically swallowed whole the self-serving Telltale PR talking point about how interactive movies and QTE-filled “games” are somehow “evolved” and the future of adventure games, and how adventure games with exploration and actual puzzles are supposedly a thing of the past. What’s also sad is how a lot of so-called adventure game fans bought into that lie as well.

No, what’s sad is that some people are so insecure about their own opinions that as soon as they feel threatened they try to demean anyone who doesn’t share them. Especially if it means making asinine accusations just to make themselves feel better.

Seriously, give it a rest. Many, many people enjoyed The Walking Dead for what it is, and couldn’t give a rat’s ass about what it isn’t, let alone what it means for the future of this mythical adventure genre you’re hiding behind. If you’re incapable of celebrating diversity, at least stop trying to crap all over those who are.

Oscar - 24 May 2013 03:32 AM

And on the other side not all people enjoy an “interactive experience” without the intellect being engaged in problem-solving.

Of course. No game is beloved by everyone. That’s why it’s good that not all developers do the same thing.

Let’s all look on the positive side here. The Walking Dead is supposedly great. Tell Tales actual adventure games have all (in my opinion) been pretty bad, so that they’re moving on to other stuff that aren’t as adventure-y but is actually GREAT… is great! Blaming them for moving on to other stuff that they have much better success with than with traditional adventure games seems like a waste.

Well, I disagree.  I really liked Telltale’s more recent adventure games, (pre-BTTF) and I felt they were really hitting their stride with Tales of Monkey Island and Sam and Max season 3, so when the follow-up’s to those really good adventures were all-too-simplified Back to the Future and QTE-heavy Jurassic Park, I felt they’d regressed rather substantially. 

At least storytelling quality-wise they stepped up in TWD, but I HAD hoped they were sort of making the genre fit the game they were making, and not moving on ENTIRELY from the old-school, which it appears is the case.

There are still interesting things to be done with traditional adventure games without having to add quick-time events and action scenes to them, and Telltale were doing that pre-BTTF and JP. IMO Sam and Max Season 3 did far more interesting things with the genre in terms of mechanics than anything Daedelic has offered up, so, I am disappointed with their departure.

Would hope they one day get to make another season of Sam and Max. Unless they insist on throwing in QTE’s, in which case, just let them be!

I am in the camp that generally loves Telltale. I was a big fan of all the Sam and Max games and I really enjoyed ToMI. I thought Back to the Future was ok…but I liked it more from nostalgia than graphics or gameplay. I was disappointed with Jurassic Park, not because I don’t like QTE games or the concept, but because it wasn’t done well. If they had done better with the controls and the QTE elements then I would have probably enjoyed it. But Telltale really knocked it out of the park with The Walking Dead IMO. I can’t believe how much I cared for the characters and how into it was.

I love, love, love traditional adventures but that doesn’t mean that I can’t appreciate TWD for what it was and it doesn’t mean that I am some stupid git who fell for some idea that this is the future of all adventure games that was supposedly being sold to me. Here’s a funny thing about people…they have varied interests and don’t just like only one thing. Imagine that!