Kind of disappointed...
I´m a big fan of everything that Telltale´s made and especially Sam&Max. But I don´t know what to think about these two episodes. Sure, they look great, the gameplay is harder and more advanced but something´s missing. There´s too little of the psychotic Max ("the total annihilation of the godless Belgians", "is this the end of little Maxie?"), the dialog isn´t as razorsharp as in the two last seasons. I sure hope that this will change in the upcoming episodes.
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Do tell more.
1) click something you know is unimportant, 2) sam says something, 3) max says something witty in response.
It felt like there were a million of these items in season 1, in settings such as their office.
Your speculation is always nice to read, but I wish you didn't keep stating it as facts.
Which is... a bit weird, I guess?
I think that just comes down to the simple platitude, "You cant please everyone all of the time, so you have to please some people most of the time".
Meh. I just say, make something you're proud of and see if people like it or not. Pleasing the masses isn't worth a damn if you have to make something you dislike for that.
you had to use a walkthrough for the WAllace & Grommit Episodes? I think they were noticeably easier than Tomb Of Sammun-Mak.
I am also quite pleased with the fact that I don't need a walkthrough to complete the episodes in this season but still get the feeling that I accomplished something because some of the puzzles are not too obvious.
Probably because I am not too much a fan of golf...
Aside from that, don't think I needed one.
I think not hearing a single new musical/lyrical song (yet) disappoints me. I always looked forward to those...
Episode one was good. It was getting back into the swing of things and introducing the new at the same time. Episode two, however, felt a bit too different in both good and bad. Good: I loved it's way of telling the story (jumping back and forth between reels to get the whole picture). Bad: death scenes (one of the main reasons why I never got into the Space Quest series). Also, it seemed like the story was cut short. For example, I probably wouldn't want to wander a desert to find the temple (I mean, what's there to do in a desert than just wander?), but I don't know... Maybe old black and white serials/films/etc cut to important scenes quickly like that too?
I just find this season... interesting, so far. There's a great chance this will not be my favorite...
I dunno ... the deaths are funny in both, but Sammun-Mak's deaths weren't reliant upon the player having a recent save in order for the "do over" to be painless. So they felt more like pure jokes to me, without the Sierra-esque baggage. I think I would only be bothered if Telltale had gone past homage into actual "Oh, guess what! You died for real. Hope your last save wasn't made several, precious hours-of-your-life ago ... !" That said, "death-hunting" wasn't exactly at the top of my list of things to do in my first playthrough, so ... *shrug*
My limited experience with these types of films tells me "yes." This happens a lot.
On a different note -- great to see you around here again, Breakman! Sammun-Mak turned out to be one of my personal favorites, so I find it difficult to commiserate with your disappointment, I'm afraid. I do hope you'll enjoy the next episodes more, though. There's still more than half the season to go, after all!
Of course, there was still the squirrelly interface for walking around that drives me bonkers so I guess I had at least one source of frustration and difficulty.
If it had been that Sam and Max weren't just watching the story unfold, but actually inhabiting their ancestors and experiencing it for themselves I think it would have worked out better. Instead of Sammeth and Maximus
Of course, I'm the anal-over-analyzer type, so I'm probably the only person bothered by this kind of narrative nitpickiness!
I didn't like 201,202 or 101,102,103 at all though, so it is a better start. That being said, I was expecting it to be to the quality of Monkey Island in terms of puzzles, and I just haven't seen that.
Get the person who did MI Ep 4 to do a Sam and Max episode, that episode had the best puzzles ever.
It's just a different Sam & Max adventure. It was just to shake things up a bit. Stop harping on it.
What, so we're not entitled to a little criticism of the game? It was allright, but it wasn't perfect.
Criticisms' one thing, but when everyone jumps in and finds everything they didn't like about the game, and then stretch it out so that goes on for 5 scrolls; then that's when it comes to "Tear the game down".
It's only 2 scrolls long
And to be fair, a scroll is only about 2 posts most of the time.
This is what I thought was going on at first, but after playing through the rest of the game and thinking about it, I'm ... not sure. It almost feels like a bit of both were going on at the same time, but ... maybe not? I don't really know. Like you said, going with Option 1 (they relived it!) presents problems due to what looks like some weird instances of selective amnesia. Option 2 (body possession!) makes more sense overall, but there's little-to-nothing in the episode itself to support this. I end up wanting to say "all of the above," if only because it's never really explained. I kind of wish it was, even if Sam & Max by nature doesn't necessitate a tight and logically-consistent plot.
Aside from that, the jumbled timeline worked pretty well for me from both a puzzle and storytelling perspective.
Hey, I resemble that remark!
110% agreed.
Wait, what is this referring to? who are you talking to? and what does this have to do with being disappointed? im confused
Yes- I totally agree. I think the writing is great in the current season (and the storytelling possibly better). But there is less back and forth between Sam and Max. Previously, I would be amused by them talking to each other as much as I would be amused solving the puzzles and progressing the story. There was a real sense of their friendship and it was truly delightful.
Season 3 is probably less random, and this is both a good and a bad thing.
You look at 201 and you see a giant singing robot that sings popular songs, and a "Torture me Elmer" doll, you know what I mean.
LOVE
Presentation - film grain, directing, general art-style.
More locations per-episode than any other TT game.
The story overall (up to now).
Skunkape (and the toilet humour that went with the whole of The Penal Zone).
Return of the map.
Soundtrack.
DISLIKE
The dialogue doesn't seem quite as funny/random, particularly in episode 2. This could just be due to the setting though.
I feel like every character plays a big role in the game and pop up everywhere you go. In older adventure games (sorry!) there were a lot of characters that would only stay in one place (like a kiosk, bridge etc) and would simply provide you with a short exchange of dialogue and maybe an item.
A lot less inventory items and less clickable but useless scenery items.
The mole-people and their screechy voices (I guess they'll be in every episode. Shame. I'll get used to them).
I think that's one of the downside of voiced games. Every character needs a different voice, so you tend to have less very minor characters because you'd need to give them their own voice (and in some cases get an actor just for them), and of course you can't go as wild with the amount of dialogue as you would if it was only text.
I think when you write a game and you know it's going to be voiced, you kind of adapt your writing to that, if I'm making sense.
Of course in this specific case there might also be the same thing with models. Re-using models rather than creating new ones probably takes less room.
That and its annoying having to switch to Sam in order to reposition Max if something you want to cast on isn't in view.
Everything.
That's right, I have no complaints whatsoever. 'The Penal Zone' and 'The Tomb of Sammun-Mak' are my two favourite Sam & Max episodes yet. They even outdo 'Chariot of the Dogs', which I thought was an absolute classic. I dunno, I just really like the whole feel of season 3 so far. It's hard to put my finger on the reason; whether it's the writing, the locations, the characters, the storyline, the deeper plot, the glimpses of darkness (end of episode 2), the puzzles, the psychic powers or the brilliant interface and gameplay, I don't know, but I've never enjoyed playing Sam & Max as much as I have in The Devil's Playhouse. I really hope that Telltale continues whatever it is their doing to make this season so great because I'm loving it.
I don't think they will, I suspect the powers will be all wrapped up and explained by the end of the season.
Just kidding, that's the worst ending possible