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| 4 MAR 2007 at 7:35pm |
Lucien21Guild Master
Posts : 4876
Joined: 9 JUL 2003
Location: 0
Status : Offline | Possibly the more comedic case based structure of Sam & max might fit episodic better. Like small cartoons.
My preferable option would be for an epic TLJ game, but this might work.
Dreamfall swapped worlds between chapters.
Maybe that would be the way to split it. Each new chapter tells it from another perspective.
Or maybe it is going to go for smaller interconnected stories.
Who know.
Dear Diary, My teenage angst bullsh*t now has a bodycount.
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| 4 MAR 2007 at 7:37pm |
Lucien21Guild Master
Posts : 4876
Joined: 9 JUL 2003
Location: 0
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Petter_Holmberg (4 MAR 2007 6:54pm)
Originally Posted By Betje (4 MAR 2007 4:38pm)
Originally Posted By Brad Newsom (4 MAR 2007 9:39am)
In my modest opinion Sam&Max has the right approach: the episodes are self-contained and at the same time they build on each other, with many NPCs returning; even some organic parts of the inventory are the same. 8-) The humor is great in small doses and I'm already looking forward to the next episode, but I would probably get tired of that particular brand of one-liners and the same type of puzzles after ten hours or so in the traditional format.
I haven't played them yet (except for a demo) but they indeed look like they are doing a lot of things right. A review of the third episode that I read this week was critical to the way they are reusing the same kind of gameplay over and over. But there's a good chance they will introduce changes in coming episodes to make it feel fresh, so I'm not that worried.
I think they have been critical for using the same locations.
Each episode has the office, street, SYbill and Bosco locations as well as the locations for the episode specific stuff.
Episode 4 has been good so far with it lampooning US politics and set in the White House.
Max for president
Dear Diary, My teenage angst bullsh*t now has a bodycount.
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| 5 MAR 2007 at 3:50pm |
MichalNGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 7058
Joined: 14 SEP 2003
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Lucien21 (4 MAR 2007 4:26pm)
I guess we can agree to disagree.
I don't even think we disagree, we're just talking about different things.
I forgot my sig.
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| 5 MAR 2007 at 5:06pm |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By Lucien21 (4 MAR 2007 7:37pm)
I think they have been critical for using the same locations.
Each episode has the office, street, SYbill and Bosco locations as well as the locations for the episode specific stuff.
Episode 4 has been good so far with it lampooning US politics and set in the White House.
Max for president
Yeah, that was a better description of it. Makes it look like they are making it a bit too easy for themselves. This was a review of episode 3 though, by your description it sounds like episode 4 might be different.
Btw, any chance that the episodes will eventually be put together into one big game? Once complete, I think that would be a good way of catching some of the people that dislike episodic games or people like me who didn't keep up with the releases and might just as well wait for the whole thing to be finished, all at a very low production cost.
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| 5 MAR 2007 at 9:13pm |
JenniferMillerSorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 232
Joined: 16 OCT 2002
Status : Online | Okay, I'm a little late in getting to this dance. This is what happens when Okami eats my life.)
The way I read this press release was that "reamfall Chapters" was going to be an episodic spin off of TLJ/Dreamfall, a la Uru Online. I can't imagine they would ditch a standalone sequel to Dreamfall in favor of episodic content.
Jennifer 8-)
I am Sirrus. AND I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!!!&&&&Visit me on MySpace!&&[url]http://www.myspace.com/BonoGirl79[/url]
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| 5 MAR 2007 at 11:59pm |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By Petter_Holmberg (5 MAR 2007 5:06pm)
Yeah, that was a better description of it. Makes it look like they are making it a bit too easy for themselves. This was a review of episode 3 though, by your description it sounds like episode 4 might be different.
No, episode 4 is no different in that respect. Same basic locations, same kind of puzzles and gameplay too. If you've played the Tex Murphy series you know what I mean. Each new case starts with Tex in his apartment, and then he goes visit his friends across the street, talks to them, gets back to those familiar locations later for more info or some item he needs. The Tex gameplay is always the same too, a good variety of puzzles, but in all games more or less the same variety... there's always the torn letter, message or photo you have to put together, always some timed hide-and-seek action... I'd be overjoyed if a new Tex adventure saw the light of day, it would be like meeting an old friend. But the format, the structure or whatever it's called would be predictable. And feel comfortable.
BTW, Episode 4 was the best so far. Content-wise.
Btw, any chance that the episodes will eventually be put together into one big game? Once complete, I think that would be a good way of catching some of the people that dislike episodic games or people like me who didn't keep up with the releases and might just as well wait for the whole thing to be finished, all at a very low production cost.
If you mean, will they change the content, I hope not. Don't think they will. I don't see why anyone would dislike the S&M episodic format, they're just shorter than normal games, that's all.
PS: Likewise, I don't see what good an episodic sequel to Dreamfall would do. For the player, I mean. You're immersed in a complex epic story and all of a sudden it ends with a cliffhanger...? Got to wait a couple of months? Yuck.
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| 6 MAR 2007 at 3:55am |
| Deleted User | You have a good point about feeling comfortable there. To better illustrate what the reviewer complained about, I've translated that part of the review:
"There are undoubtley many gameplay elements that repeat themselves again and again. Visit Sybil every time, visit Bosco every time and then go to the indoor set that is new for every episode. Drive a little, shoot a little and solve a few puzzles. It is very difficult to avoid feeling that it gets a little repetitive. What if Telltale suddenly had introduced not only one but two or maybe three new areas, or in some other way experimented a little more. Like taking the duo out on a walk along nightly, street-light lit surroundings in the city... or more mini-games... dared to show some innovation. I'm afraid to death that this will become like a good but worn out record, stuck in the same track over and over again. That all six episodes are already completed and cloned like cheaply dipped candles. I can't say enough how much I would like to be proven wrong."
I can see his point, and I would tend to agree with him even if I see your point as well. A healthy dose of repeated elements that you can identify the series by should be mixed with innovation to keep things interesting, that would be the ideal in my opinion. I guess so far they have used more or less the same skeleton for all episodes and mainly just replaced the sights and sounds.
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| 6 MAR 2007 at 1:18pm |
KarstenSorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 347
Joined: 23 SEP 2006
Location: DK
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By JenniferMiller (5 MAR 2007 9:12pm)
Okay, I'm a little late in getting to this dance. (This is what happens when Okami eats my life.)
The way I read this press release was that "reamfall Chapters" was going to be an episodic spin off of TLJ/Dreamfall, a la Uru Online. I can't imagine they would ditch a standalone sequel to Dreamfall in favor of episodic content.
Jennifer 8-)
If you close read Ragnar's blog (and his answers to the comments) he is clearly saying that Dremfall:
Chapters will be delivered in installments, and that these installments will be delivered through episodic content. And this episodic content only will be available for online download. (much as the Shivah, and the Blackwell Legacy is now).
And I can certainly understand why they want to go this way. It cuts out the publishers, it cuts out the need for storage space, and it can give Funcom a financial boost, making sure the company has a
stable & steady income, making sure that the developers get paid.
My main concern about this is (still) that not all parts of the world have stable reliable broad band internet connections. In the Southern parts of Europe, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and possibly
other countries as well, they don't have this as well as they don't have this in some small towns
in the U.S. or in Asia or in South America.
What has me worried too, is how Ragnar talks about Xbox Live, and how it is now possible to be able to have downloadable content on the xbox 360 via Xbox Live. For some reason, this has got me a bit concerned....
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| 6 MAR 2007 at 3:00pm |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By Petter_Holmberg (6 MAR 2007 3:55am)
I can see his point, and I would tend to agree with him even if I see your point as well.
I can certainly see his point too. I was a bit annoyed when Episode Two again started with visits to Sybil and Bosco and clicking on stuff in the office for the most part triggered the same comments as in Episode One. (Dear old Tex always found something new to say!) If the voiceacting, topical parody, wacky humor and some of the puzzles weren't so good, I'd be disappointed. But I've also grown very fond of the returning characters and I wonder if being forced to wait four or five weeks for a new episode doesn't add a lot to the enjoyment. It will be interesting to see if people who play all episodes in a row when Season One is available in stores, will be less positive about the game as a whole.
A healthy dose of repeated elements that you can identify the series by should be mixed with innovation to keep things interesting, that would be the ideal in my opinion. I guess so far they have used more or less the same skeleton for all episodes and mainly just replaced the sights and sounds.
Just replaced the sights and sounds?? You really should play the game first before judging it.
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