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Did anyone else find it a little...easy?

DemonJKellDemonJKell
edited July 2009 in Tales of Monkey Island
I'm of two minds about this really. On the one hand, even with hints turned off from the beginning, there wasn't a point where I was significantly stuck, so I breezed through the game (please excuse the pun).

On the other hand, one thing that meant is that the puzzles were all logical, and the game never descended to the level of "guess the designers' psychosis". Which is odd, because some of the puzzles were a little strange...

Maybe the game needs more red herrings?

Comments

  • SHODANFreemanSHODANFreeman
    edited July 2009
    Well, they did say they're not in the business of defeating the player anymore.
  • smashingsmashing
    edited July 2009
    I have yet come across a ridiculously hard MI game yet. And given that there will be quite a lot of new players playing their first MI game with the newest rendition of the game (especially with the upcoming release for WiiWare), I think the difficulty is a great way to attuned them to the weird logic of MI. For instance, I find the creation of root beer right at the beginning is really a great way to inform the players how literal the jokes could be.

    Was a little bit sad that it was that easy to sail off the island without more demeaning tasks though. Hmmm... I might be wrong, but I think this is the fastest MI game to leave the starting island.
  • Foodie_MonsterFoodie_Monster
    edited July 2009
    The games puzzles were all pretty easy, honestly. The only one that was kind of like "click everything until something happens" was the (Spoiler Alert) Cannon on the Narwhal to break the Glass Unicorns to get the Blowhorn thing. I literally walked around everywhere until I went on the Narwhal and realized I had yet to fire the cannon, and never for a second expected *that* to be the solution.

    But honestly, that was the only puzzle I had any sort of "problems" with. All of the rest were on the easy side... especially compared to Secret of Monkey Island (Grog Puzzle, anyone?).
  • hamziehamzie
    edited July 2009
    i agree it was easy even with 0 hint frequency

    i guess the hardest for me was the ship one.. didnt take me that long to figure out

    Having said that.. people are still asking for hints in the hint thread
  • KaldireKaldire
    edited July 2009
    same stuff with strongbad ep 1 and sam n max.. just wait.. once the team sets in and hones .. it will be pure awesome..

    and yes only one spot even half stumped me.. and that only for a bit
  • FrogacudaFrogacuda
    edited July 2009
    Well it is the first Chapter. The first scene is pretty much a tutorial even. Maybe they're just trying to get people acclimated. If subsequent chapters get harder, then I think it's fine.
  • ZethosZethos
    edited July 2009
    The game was a little too easy to me and I had hints off. I wouldnt mind a little bit more of a challenge in the episodes to come.
  • DemonJKellDemonJKell
    edited July 2009
    hamzie wrote: »
    Having said that.. people are still asking for hints in the hint thread

    And I don't mean to imply anything about them doing so. While I was playing Sam and Max episodes, I used walkthroughs quite a bit, if only to get me past the annoying parts to the amusing parts more quickly. :)

    I guess it just felt to me like it needed more substance, to go with the flavor. (Which, incidentally, I feel Telltale nailed near perfectly.) Hopefully this feeling will go away as more episodes are released...
  • AthanaseyAthanasey
    edited July 2009
    I found the game relatively easy and got through it without hints. But at the same time I loved every minute of it.

    I definitely found the other Monkey Island games much harder. But then again, it was 9 years ago that I played the last one and well I was 9 years younger. So maybe the puzzles were the same.

    Hopefully they will get a little harder as the series goes on.

    I do wish that when you set the hints to the lowest level you get no hints. I really didn't want Guybrush hinting that the idol puzzle had something to do with the weather vane...
  • thanatos56thanatos56
    edited July 2009
    Yeah, it was fairly easy, but think about it, the opening part of the other MI games are pretty easy too. I only hope that the next games start at the same difficulty that this one ended on, and keeps on moving higher.
  • IgnatiusIgnatius
    edited July 2009
    Pale Man wrote: »
    Well, they did say they're not in the business of defeating the player anymore.

    Yeah, but i dont want to defeat the game so easily either. Just when they reach the "defeating the player" level, we will let them know.

    Im hoping to have, in the middle of the series, a very well stocked inventory. That would spice up things a little bit.
  • jamiehavokjamiehavok
    edited July 2009
    i didnt actually find it that easy - in all; honesty im not that good at adventure games - even though i enjoy them - i was determined to finish it with hints off and no walkthroughs and i did ... but must have taken about 10 hours lol from being stuck for about an hour 3 times, so i think its about right!
  • SkuldSkuld
    edited July 2009
    Athanasey wrote: »
    I do wish that when you set the hints to the lowest level you get no hints. I really didn't want Guybrush hinting that the idol puzzle had something to do with the weather vane...

    Uh as far as I know, turning the hints down to the lowest (no black colored bar visible), they are completely turned off.
  • WinterSnowblindWinterSnowblind
    edited July 2009
    DemonJKell wrote: »
    On the other hand, one thing that meant is that the puzzles were all logical, and the game never descended to the level of "guess the designers' psychosis". Which is odd, because some of the puzzles were a little strange...

    There was another topic about this, and that's pretty much what I said.. All the puzzles actually involved thinking logically about what you have to do, rather than just trying everything and everything else to see if something happened.

    I prefer this style a lot, as it feels you're actually solving the puzzles instead of randomly making things happen.
  • jamiehavokjamiehavok
    edited July 2009
    i didnt get the map puzzles can someone explain these to me? - i just walked in a random direction and eventually solved it through trial and error! it didnt seem to relate to the direction on the map at all.
  • SkuldSkuld
    edited July 2009
    jamiehavok wrote: »
    i didnt get the map puzzles can someone explain these to me? - i just walked in a random direction and eventually solved it through trial and error! it didnt seem to relate to the direction on the map at all.

    What? But you at least
    used the map on the well
    , didn't you? I think it's not possible unless you do that.

    The solution is
    as I stated, using the map on the well at first, and then corresponding to the map, you follow the way from where the animal sounds come. For example if there's a monkey on the map first, you follow the way where you can hear monkeys. If there's birds on the map, you follow the way from which bird sounds are heard.
  • jamiehavokjamiehavok
    edited July 2009
    Skuld wrote: »
    What? But you at least
    used the map on the well
    , didn't you? I think it's not possible unless you do that.

    The solution is
    as I stated, using the map on the well at first, and then corresponding to the map, you follow the way from where the animal sounds come. For example if there's a monkey on the map first, you follow the way where you can hear monkeys. If there's birds on the map, you follow the way from which bird sounds are heard.

    oh right well i thought it might have been something to do with the animals but i couldnt tell where specific animal noises were coming from - i mean if i only have stereo speakers how am i supposed to know? oh well next time i play it ill have another look and see if its more obvious.
  • SkuldSkuld
    edited July 2009
    jamiehavok wrote: »
    oh right well i thought it might have been something to do with the animals but i couldnt tell where specific animal noises were coming from - i mean if i only have stereo speakers how am i supposed to know? oh well next time i play it ill have another look and see if its more obvious.

    You simply approach one of the possible paths and then you'll hear only one specific animal sound. I have stereo speakers too ;)
  • jamiehavokjamiehavok
    edited July 2009
    Skuld wrote: »
    You simply approach one of the possible paths and then you'll hear only one specific animal sound. I have stereo speakers too ;)

    ah right that makes sense now - thanks
  • Lemonhead86Lemonhead86
    edited July 2009
    It was pretty easy with the exception of only 1 or 2 things, but thats fine for a first episode, as long as there is a little progression in difficulty in the other episodes I will be happy.
  • der Truthahnder Truthahn
    edited July 2009
    First I have to say that I´m a adventure-noob...in every adventure I played, I needed some hints ......but not in launch of the screaming narwhal .....so I also think that it´s too easy if someone like me can play it without hints :D
  • AzureAzure
    edited July 2009
    I like to think I am older and cleverer now..;D
  • 18141814
    edited July 2009
    I think, to be fair, the game has to be fairly easy these days.

    Though being a point and click fan i know that everything and everyone has to be looked at and interrogated until there's no more to be said or looked at. A lot of people new to the platform might get stuck not knowing how to find a bottle of root-beer, in a completely bizarre place, but you just look there because you've learned things are in crazy places in these games.

    Having said that, the original MI had all the different actions which made puzzles slightly more difficult, the difference between "pull" and "use" was the difference between progress and confusion
  • hamziehamzie
    edited July 2009
    Here is how i see it

    It is episode 1.. it'll get harder from here
    And i guess it wasnt all thaaaaaaaaaaat easy when you see it as a whole since so many people are asking for hints - Not that you need any

    those guys just arent trying.. as soon as they get stuck.. they ask
  • guitarsareboringguitarsareboring
    edited July 2009
    I did find it fairly straightforward but it was enjoyable for it. I didn't feel frustrated at any point and rarely adopted the 'try everything with everything' technique.

    I think (and hope) it'll get more difficult as the series progresses but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it won't stray into 'monkey wrench' territory or the silly way to defeat LeChuck at the end of Escape.
  • Jonasb78Jonasb78
    edited July 2009
    I also agree that it was too easy. I can only hope that this is done to ease new gamers into to the mind of a crazy monkey, and up the ante in the next episodes... on the other hand it didn't stop me (and allot more people) to manage the first MI when I was 12 years old, and English aint my mother tongue either! (and trust me I ain't no genius either :p)

    So again... yes I have voiced my concern of this earlier... people ain't stupid! Stop dumbing down the games these days...

    If you want 5 year old's should be able to play it and finish before they go to bed (exaggeration), then increase the amount of help one can get. But please don't make easier just to make it suit a broader audience such as today's impatient kids.
  • WinckleWinckle
    edited July 2009
    I agree too, the game was easy even with hint frequency on 0. I got stuck for an hour for the stupid fire to come but in the end, you don't have real problem to advance in the game.
  • jeditribblejeditribble
    edited July 2009
    I thought it was ok actually - I didn't really get stuck anywhere except once right at the end, and that's because I wasn't paying attention.

    Part of that's probably because I'd already picked up everything and certainly couldn't help trying to fire the cannon the first chance I got. :D

    But even though I didn't get stuck, there seemed to be enough game to go around and think about to not make me breeze through it. So I certainly didn't get bored with the game, and I never really liked illogical puzzles in adventure games anyway.

    I guess they could make the puzzles harder, but make sure that there are some additional hints around that you find by exploring, meaning that if you roam around you should get some extra help if you need it. That only works when your puzzle isn't in a confined space though - I personally always find the ones that are (like the doctor's hut and the ending on the ship) less enjoyable anyway.

    I thought the most obvious and slightly tedious puzzles were the map puzzles, but a lot of people seem to be asking about them. I guess if you haven't played SMI, they're less obvious.
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