Trial and error in adventure games is fine, but this is a puzzle game which explicitly punishes you for experimenting by reducing your rank. If the scoring system encourages first time solutions then you should be able to solve the puzzles first time, without entering a trial solution to work out what the rules mean.
Even if you enjoy that it still wouldn't excuse the puzzle with the maze to get to the lightbulb, where a totally missing rule means there are several alternate solutions.
I agree that the easy jigsaws were a shame - allowing the pieces to be rotated would have reduced the problem of too much of it solving itself by accident.
Reduces your rank compared to whom?
But in all seriousness, I do understand where you're coming from, and yes, I screwed up my first attempt at the brain puzzle too by not filling in all the boxes. c'est la vie.
also:
I liked the snap in feature of the jigsaws, but I totally agree some rotation would have been a good feature (I don't mind when I get things by accident, but I'd like to think I'd done it myself without the 'oops' factor.)
Some of the puzzles appeared to have more than one solution (ones that come to mind are the last carrier birds one and the 3 dining couples one), which teed me off that I had to go change my answer to the specific one they wanted.
What do you think is an alternative solution to the dining couples puzzle? I think it's definitely unique. But I think the number of people who have had this sort of problem strongly supports having the rules on the same page as the puzzle. I think people can handle a smaller font size!
What do you think is an alternative solution to the dining couples puzzle? I think it's definitely unique. But I think the number of people who have had this sort of problem strongly supports having the rules on the same page as the puzzle. I think people can handle a smaller font size!
Finished the game now. After my previous praise now some minor criticisms:
The ending was too anticlimactic for my taste, especially if it's not certain that we'll get more episodes. The final puzzles were very easy, too. Would have expected some "boss puzzle" at the end.
The widescreen format could have been used better. In some puzzles, it would have been possible to display the rules and the actual puzzle at the same time.
I also second the suggestions regarding the user interface. Especially I'd like to be able to scroll through the puzzle files using the mouse wheel. Actually, I'm always frustrated when there's scrolling to do and the mouse wheel is not supported properly... reminds me of cruddy Flash homepages.
Nevertheless, a good start for the Telltale pilot program. I keep looking forward to new episodes. Oh, and fantastic music of course. Did Jared compose the main theme? There were three people mentioned in the credits, if I recall correctly.
Liked:
- the story, the characters, the puzzles, the music, the game over all
- I liked that in the puzzles the parts snap into place when they are at the right spot
- No time based puzzles
- the mouse curser expands and shows clickable objects in a small radius
- the "how"-notes
disliked:
- The Ending. Many will disagree with me on that but I think if the scene in the office was cut or placed after the credits it would have fitted the style of the cartoons in a much better way.
features I would like to see:
- gaphic quality controls (even if there are not many special effects the game would have been much better if I had a chance to get a descent framerate)
- a puzzle counter that showed the total number of puzzles (so I could be sure that I did not miss any)
- Maybe a little thingie that told me the number of puzzles available in a location at this moment when I hover about it on the map
- turning puzzle pieces
- (more) puzzles without a fixed correct solution // randomized puzzles that still work. --> this would make it harder to create a walkthrough but some puzzles just had the potential for that. e.g. the hydraulics puzzle or the log-&-snowmobil puzzles.
- I liked that the first snow mobile puzzle had 2 solutions in the same map (The N and the S) and that this was hinted at in the "how"-note.
- different amounts of money for the puzzles (maybe depending on the difficulty).
Now I've finished the episode and my earlier feelings of boredom stayed a long way away for the remaining over half of the game. Some of the puzzles got me racking my brain, especially the birds on a clothesline thing. I'm sure my ears were spewing smoke as I tried to visualize it without pen & paper.
The story was great after it got going and it felt somehow refreshingly different. Probably because of it's surprising grimness and many things with the baddies that made them mysterious and scary, like them avoiding direct interaction with Nelson.
The gnomes looked appropriately creepy too and the Penderecki-ish music multiplied the effect. Especially for me as that guy's music is to blame for my most frightening and distressing film experience (Inland Empire, I'm looking at you).
I also liked not having a manual save function as there isn't easy way to savescum perfect scores on every puzzle like in Layton and the end result actually reflects the player's skill with the puzzles.
Ramble ramble, I enjoyed the game and would definitely buy an episode 2 as I expect it to be even better.
Finished it. It was a nice ride, and I loved how mysterious and twisted it was. Some puzzles nearly killed me, while some were a breeze.
I really didn't like the ending, though.
Cutting off in the middle of the suspense? What did those gnomes want? What happens to the villagers? I don't like when stories leave stuff to your imagination, it feels like they just couldn't finish it up by themselves. I totally expected Nelson to go all like "man... I can't sit around being boring here, I GOTTA SAVE THE WORLD DESPITE BEING ONLY A PUZZLE AGENT" and doing heroics and stuff, but he seemed to be perfectly happy where he was, and then the credits rolled... It's obvious they're gonna leave the "Scoggins storyline" where it ended, since there isn't enough there to fill up an entire sequel.
Finished it. It was a nice ride, and I loved how mysterious and twisted it was. Some puzzles nearly killed me, while some were a breeze.
I really didn't like the ending, though.
Cutting off in the middle of the suspense? What did those gnomes want? What happens to the villagers? I don't like when stories leave stuff to your imagination, it feels like they just couldn't finish it up by themselves. I totally expected Nelson to go all like "man... I can't sit around being boring here, I GOTTA SAVE THE WORLD DESPITE BEING ONLY A PUZZLE AGENT" and doing heroics and stuff, but then the credits rolled...
Maybe I just didn't want it to end...
All the Grickle animations end like that.
I wouldnt want Nelson to become some hero bent on saving the world (I hate characters like that) but I will like to see him on a new asignment.
Loved the story, artwork, voice acting but the puzzles were a let down. everything was top notch but it felt like there were too many jigsaw puzzles and they were way too easy and felt like a watered down layton despite the more grown up story/atmosphere.
The dinner plate puzzle comes to mind-the food snapped into place wayy to easily and it just took a bit of mindless shifting around to get most of them in place. I remember a similar puzzle in Professor Layton2 where u had to pack luggage into a suitcase which was alot more fun and rewarding because you had to do it all yourself.
Also, I would love to have seen more text based puzzles where you have to hunt for that killer word or phrase that gives the game away.
All in all, i thoroughly enjoyed Puzzle agent and would most definately buy a full season but if the difficulty isnt cranked up a few notches I would be hugely disappointed. Bearing in mind the difficulty is part of Laytons appeal, I'm surprised telltale didnt throw in a few mindf***s
All the Grickle animations end like that.
I wouldnt want Nelson to become some hero bent on saving the world (I hate characters like that) but I will like to see him on a new asignment.
Hate characters like that? I dunno, if I were him I'd be dying to find out what actually happened, at least.
Hate characters like that? I dunno, if I were him I'd be dying to find out what actually happened, at least.
Haven't seen any Grickle animations, though.
Heres the one Puzzle agent is based of: The hidden people
As for wanting him to try and save the world: Why would you want him to go from an unique interesting character to a generic hero?
Generic hero? What do you want to call him when he was ready to leave the hotel but stayed because he suspected that the sheriff planned something?
It was either curiosity or his will to make things right, the same stuff that could've fueled his return to Scoggins before the credits rolled.
But it's NOT his personality I want to get at; maybe it was the incident at the lake that made him not wanting to return to Scoggins at all. It's my own curiosity alone.
Sure, it's cool with all the mysterious stuff, but I just think it seems like the writer's never had a plan for what was going on from the beginning. And I honestly hate it when stories do that.
Well, I basically got the game for the 50% discount deal, so I really can't complain about my value for money (I *got* money to play it ), but I do kind of agree with the critisim given.
The "snap" puzzles can hardly be failed at all, since they semi-solve themselves after fiddling about. Aside from that selecting the piece you wanted is a pain, especially in the final where I kept getting the statue instead of what I desired instead.
Then there were a few bad descriptions (yes, mind-wave puzzle I look at your empty boxes), but everyone else already mentioned those too.
Also, with a scoring system like this I really feel a "summary" was missing at the endgame. Like perfect puzzles (x/47) etc. etc. You know what I mean. I think it would be a nice addition.
Also the scrolling issue. With the case files and journal, I often found the files flipped back after releasing the mouse, which made it a little hard to read/find what I was looking for. It also was pretty unclear if re-doing a puzzle would have any effect (apperently it doesn't, since the extra money wasn't added to the amount listed on the top), making me pretty hesitant to try and solve one in that screen.
All in all, it was good, but if it's turned into a full season, I would probably not get it full-price, like Sam & Max or ToMI, but wait for a discount action.
Just finished it and liked it a lot. People seem to agree that the game's atmosphere was really dense, and I have to agree. Graham's minimalistic, yet wonderful art style, Jared's music (although it wasn't just him, of course), the great voice acting... it all blended together perfectly. I especially liked those few scenes, where there were actual 3D camera moves through the 2D artwork... obviously the TTT lends itself to 2D as well.
But there were some minor issues with the visuals as well, especially with the framerate. I know that the Grickle cartoons are drawn at a relatively low framerate, which is fine for the character animation. But then when I see a silk smooth camera-move in one moment, and then Nelson takes off on his snowmobile at just one frame per second... well, a little more consistency would be in order, I'd say.
Regarding the puzzles I've gotta admit that I've never played Professor Layton before, so for me it was nice to have puzzles that were different from the usual adventure game logic. Still, I felt that there were too few different types of puzzles in the game... too many variations of jigsaws and "rotate the tiles", so if PA should get picked up for a whole season, I'd prefer more variety of puzzles.
Storywise it felt like a good TV movie, with its slow pace and minimalistic way to tell the story, and that's not bad at all, since I like those types of movies! Plus I felt comfortable with the ending. I have the strong feeling that (again, if a season should be made) we hadn't seen the last of the Hidden People... and the foreman they took with them. A couple of things stayed unanswered... like the astronaut dream at the beginning, or the reason, why the foreman was locked away from the Hidden People. Why do I get the feeling, that Telltale actually WANTS this to be continued?
Altogether I think this was a great start for the pilot project, and definitely worth a shot for more episodes. The only fear I have, with the types of puzzles being already repeated in one episode, is that you guys might run out of ideas to bring fresh puzzle ideas into the other episodes as well... but we'll see.
Just finished puzzle agent and my only complaint is the rather abrupt ending that begs for a more complete series. The pilot program is a cool idea, and I sincerely hope that this will be made into a full 5 episode series,and hopefully we may come to see nelson as more of a hero over the course of the series. The Grickle-infused artwork was awesome and kept me interested up until the end, and the framerate is constantly great, especially on my computer on which i had to run the penal zone on window screen and the lowest possible resolution.
As far as the puzzles go, they were very interesting if not a tad bit repetitive. I have a feeling that if the series progresses they will have more developed puzzles with more variety. As you progress through the game, the diffuculty ramps up, but not so much so as to be a turn-off to anyone my age (14). The only puzzles i had an issue with was the twister puzzles, such as the one with the tapeworm. I often had to reset my puzzle which thoroughly prolonged the process and the crow puzzle truly made me scream at my laptop. The hint system was good, but often when I unlocked the third hint it would seem like a throwaway as to the answer of the puzzle. It sometimes felt handholding, but toward the end of the game I got a hang of the system, and i hardly ever had to use a hint toward the end.
The story was a amazing cross between Fargo and The X-files, and i thought the two men in the diner was a nice nod to the opening scene of Fargo, in which william H. Macy enters the seedy diner to meet the two men with often-conflicting opinions. As for the supernatural side, it left us with so many unanswered questions, which is why I would throughly recommend this to telltale to PLEASE renew to get a whole season. I think the amount of people on the waiting thread on the night of puzzle agent's release was answer enough to whether or not they should continue the series.
All in all, puzzle agent is a short but sweet point and click'em'up game, that thoroughly deserves to get a full season. If nothing else, I would love to see the gnomes again.
The foreman was still missing! I mean, wasn't attempting to find him a good chunk of the plot? I also would kind of like to know why that on Hidden Person threw the piece of the last puzzle back to him.
I loved the game, though, and would dish out more money if they made it a series.
I just finished it, and I have a mixed opinion. I'll tackle the negatives first, so that there's nothing but good to say after it. :P Oh, and expect spoilers in this post.
First, there's the ending. Now, I'm all for unanswered questions. They add an air of mystery to the story, and I like that. But the thing is that here, all of the questions were unanswered. What was Lobb's involvement? What was with the sheriff? What was with Glori? What was with the town's entire population, for that matter? Why was the foreman locked up? What on earth was that part in the spaceship about? None of these things were really explained, and that made the ending just feel rushed and far too sudden.
Second, there's the puzzles. Some of them were truly inspired and really made me think. A good example of this would be the puzzle with the key in the fish. However, many of them were repetitive and overly simplistic. How many "turn the tile" puzzles does the game need? The jigsaw-type puzzles might have been okay if it wasn't for the fact that the pieces just locked into place when they got near the right spot, which made it so I often put the pieces together purely on accident. If more Puzzle Agent episodes are made, there needs to be concentration on brain-teasers, less focus on back-of-the-cereal-box puzzles.
And now, on to the good points.
For starters, you really nailed the atmosphere, Telltale. It really felt like I was playing through a Grickle cartoon. It was the perfect mix of humor and creepiness that make's Graham's work so special. The Hidden People really managed to freak me out, and their surprise appearances during puzzles made me jump out of my chair. The townspeople were also excellent, particularly the Sheriff. I wasn't paying much attention to the credits (too busy thinking about what the crap just happened), but whoever voiced him did a wonderful job. The same goes for the rest of the cast, as well.
Next is the story, which, up until the lackluster ending, truly had me dying to know what would happen next. I really couldn't wait to find out what was happening with the Hidden People, the sheriff, Glori, etc.. It was great to see how such a simple assignment turned into a huge mystery for Agent Tethers.
Overall, I'd give Puzzle Agent a 7/10. If Telltale decides to make another Puzzle Agent game which improves on the issues mentioned above, I'll be happy to join Nelson on another investigation. Well, okay, I'll probably still join him even if they don't, since it was overall a good experience, but preorder it I may not.
I just beat it. I think its the most polished, funny, and loveable telltale game yet. And just because the story is so fun, and so Twin Peaks like, I have to say this might be owning this on the iphone as well, just to play again. You'll see my money again thats for sure haha. Cheers Telltale, this pilot is successful in my opinion.
The foreman was still missing! I mean, wasn't attempting to find him a good chunk of the plot? I also would kind of like to know why that on Hidden Person threw the piece of the last puzzle back to him.
I loved the game, though, and would dish out more money if they made it a series.
I don't know about the foreman, but that Hidden Person probably threw it back because they couldn't figure out the puzzle, and were also blocked from Isaac(the foreman).
I don't know about the foreman, but that Hidden Person probably threw it back because they couldn't figure out the puzzle, and were also blocked from Isaac(the foreman).
How stupid was that eraser puzzle! Why was that one of the final three puzzles? Why was it even there!
Your theory on the Hidden People makes sense. I never thought of it that way. I assummed one of the hidden people was a traitor.
YES! it's great!
we need more. much more puzzle agent.
theres only a few issues i see:
1. (BIGGEST IMPROVEMENT YOU COULD MAKE) for every puzzle and ruleset have 5 different possible scenarios with the same outcome. not a million, just around 3-5 for every puzzle. i understand that many of the answers derived from the puzzles are rooted in the game world and the answer can't be changed during regular gameplay, but some of the puzzles could easily be randomized within given rules. perhaps the important story puzzles can also be played with randomly generated rules during free play after beating the game, as getting a specific answer is much less important when taken out of context. i really do love the atmosphere in the game, and have already found myself giving it a second playthrough, but now i know all the answers to the puzzles and the trying to figure it out portion is gone. it would do so much for lasting potential to be able to play through the game a second time and not have the exact same puzzle experience, and after you beat the game, the free puzzle play would still be able appeal to the casual gamer. i will absolutely buy this game again for my iphone when it comes out, i know it's alot to ask, but perhaps it could even be done to mystery of scoggins with an update instead of just on future games. many times the resources required for an update just don't generate the same numbers, however i feel a little randomized puzzle play would shoot puzzle agent way over the top. I know that I'd personally be recommending it to way more friends than i am now if replayability was increased.
2. in future episodes perhaps slightly less linear gameplay will be introduced, in the sam and max series the tasks can be handled in pretty much whatever order you please, in puzzle agent you are much more guided. i do like how cinematic the whole game feels, but if we could explore a little more instead of always HAVING to go somewhere i may find myself spending more time in the game world.
that said, puzzle agent is an extremely promising new series and any comments i've i'd hope serve only to help the series reach its full potential.
I think it's an amazing game. I like the music for it, and the puzzles.
I love the voices too, nice job with them!
I would love a full season of this game.
My only complaint with the game is that the rules to some of the puzzles are not clear enough. (Admittedly, I have this problem with some of the puzzles in Professor Layton games too.) There were many times where I'd be stuck working on a puzzle and take a look on the forums or hints and have a "so THAT'S what the wanted me to do" moment. I'd solve it really quickly after that. The arm wrestling, football players and moving platforms puzzles were the ones I had the most trouble with the rules. (For some reason I thought I was supposed to move the green circles.) Other than that, the game was fantastic. Especially the graphics and presentation. The 2D characters and scenery look so much better than what I'm used to seeing in Telltale games. Also, it's so freaky when
the gnomes steal your puzzle pieces, especially the first time
. Overall, I'd give the game a B+. Please go ahead and make more Puzzle Agent games, and feel free to add harder and more complex puzzles. I could really use the challenge.
I really liked the game, but the puzzles were uneven. Some were quite challenging while others were practically non-existent (jigsaw puzzles, rotating puzzles).
I loved wasting (virtual) taxpayer's money, but I have a suggestion: Make it based on the time used and the current parameters.
After finishing the game the total can be posted into a TOP AGENT board (Where we can look in awe at how bad we really are playing the game and how out of this world some agents are)
A few improvements/suggestions:
a) I agree with the *randomize* idea. That will add re-playability. Of course not all puzzles should be randomized (specially if the puzzle is critical to the story)
b) Snap-Jigsaw puzzles should be re-designed. While picking a piece (to move it out) I locked pieces by accident and solved a large part of the puzzle.
c) Notepad tool: where you can scribe, doodle, take notes and so on (I can find it particularly useful for those snowmobile puzzles)
d) Less gum, harder to find. An optional use for gum: 1 piece for more detailed instructions.
Then there were a few bad descriptions (yes, mind-wave puzzle I look at your empty boxes), but everyone else already mentioned those too.
I don't know why everyone keeps naming this puzzle as an example of bad descriptions. The first rule of the puzzle is: Drag an arrow in each of the highlighted areas....
Loved the game only things I would have prefered is if you could draw over the top of the puzzles like in Layton and one other thing that was mentioned before, there were a few puzzles like the one at the end where you had to arrange the junk in the furnace so no pieces where overlapping, It would be a good idea for these pieces to be on the side of the puzzle instead of just being all jumbled on top of each other.
I have to admit I wasn't too excited for Puzzle Agent, but since it was a Telltale Game I bought it and I LOVED this episode. Telltale, you HAVE to make a season out of this! I look forward to other pilot episodes. The only problem I had with the game was with some instructions, as other people already said (On the Hot Hawks puzzle, the first hint is "You don't have to use every bird", but that's a RULE, not a hint). I loved the rest, though, so I want a full season of this.
Am I the only one who laughed when I heard the monkey sound that plays while the TTG logo is being shown when you launch the game?
I don't know why everyone keeps naming this puzzle as an example of bad descriptions. The first rule of the puzzle is: Drag an arrow in each of the highlighted areas....
Comments
Reduces your rank compared to whom?
But in all seriousness, I do understand where you're coming from, and yes, I screwed up my first attempt at the brain puzzle too by not filling in all the boxes. c'est la vie.
also:
I liked the snap in feature of the jigsaws, but I totally agree some rotation would have been a good feature (I don't mind when I get things by accident, but I'd like to think I'd done it myself without the 'oops' factor.)
What do you think is an alternative solution to the dining couples puzzle? I think it's definitely unique. But I think the number of people who have had this sort of problem strongly supports having the rules on the same page as the puzzle. I think people can handle a smaller font size!
But can we handle THE TRUTH?
sorry, had to be said
The ending was too anticlimactic for my taste, especially if it's not certain that we'll get more episodes. The final puzzles were very easy, too. Would have expected some "boss puzzle" at the end.
The widescreen format could have been used better. In some puzzles, it would have been possible to display the rules and the actual puzzle at the same time.
I also second the suggestions regarding the user interface. Especially I'd like to be able to scroll through the puzzle files using the mouse wheel. Actually, I'm always frustrated when there's scrolling to do and the mouse wheel is not supported properly... reminds me of cruddy Flash homepages.
Nevertheless, a good start for the Telltale pilot program. I keep looking forward to new episodes. Oh, and fantastic music of course. Did Jared compose the main theme? There were three people mentioned in the credits, if I recall correctly.
There's one tune available here: http://www.telltalegames.com/puzzleagent
click on the tape recorder.
Damn. Talk about your audio teaser.
Liked:
- the story, the characters, the puzzles, the music, the game over all
- I liked that in the puzzles the parts snap into place when they are at the right spot
- No time based puzzles
- the mouse curser expands and shows clickable objects in a small radius
- the "how"-notes
disliked:
- The Ending. Many will disagree with me on that but I think if the scene in the office was cut or placed after the credits it would have fitted the style of the cartoons in a much better way.
features I would like to see:
- gaphic quality controls (even if there are not many special effects the game would have been much better if I had a chance to get a descent framerate)
- a puzzle counter that showed the total number of puzzles (so I could be sure that I did not miss any)
- Maybe a little thingie that told me the number of puzzles available in a location at this moment when I hover about it on the map
- turning puzzle pieces
- (more) puzzles without a fixed correct solution // randomized puzzles that still work. --> this would make it harder to create a walkthrough but some puzzles just had the potential for that. e.g. the hydraulics puzzle or the log-&-snowmobil puzzles.
- I liked that the first snow mobile puzzle had 2 solutions in the same map (The N and the S) and that this was hinted at in the "how"-note.
- different amounts of money for the puzzles (maybe depending on the difficulty).
The story was great after it got going and it felt somehow refreshingly different. Probably because of it's surprising grimness and many things with the baddies that made them mysterious and scary, like them avoiding direct interaction with Nelson.
The gnomes looked appropriately creepy too and the Penderecki-ish music multiplied the effect. Especially for me as that guy's music is to blame for my most frightening and distressing film experience (Inland Empire, I'm looking at you).
I also liked not having a manual save function as there isn't easy way to savescum perfect scores on every puzzle like in Layton and the end result actually reflects the player's skill with the puzzles.
Ramble ramble, I enjoyed the game and would definitely buy an episode 2 as I expect it to be even better.
I really didn't like the ending, though.
Maybe I just didn't want it to end...
All the Grickle animations end like that.
I wouldnt want Nelson to become some hero bent on saving the world (I hate characters like that) but I will like to see him on a new asignment.
The dinner plate puzzle comes to mind-the food snapped into place wayy to easily and it just took a bit of mindless shifting around to get most of them in place. I remember a similar puzzle in Professor Layton2 where u had to pack luggage into a suitcase which was alot more fun and rewarding because you had to do it all yourself.
Also, I would love to have seen more text based puzzles where you have to hunt for that killer word or phrase that gives the game away.
All in all, i thoroughly enjoyed Puzzle agent and would most definately buy a full season but if the difficulty isnt cranked up a few notches I would be hugely disappointed. Bearing in mind the difficulty is part of Laytons appeal, I'm surprised telltale didnt throw in a few mindf***s
Haven't seen any Grickle animations, though.
As for wanting him to try and save the world: Why would you want him to go from an unique interesting character to a generic hero?
It was either curiosity or his will to make things right, the same stuff that could've fueled his return to Scoggins before the credits rolled.
But it's NOT his personality I want to get at; maybe it was the incident at the lake that made him not wanting to return to Scoggins at all. It's my own curiosity alone.
Sure, it's cool with all the mysterious stuff, but I just think it seems like the writer's never had a plan for what was going on from the beginning. And I honestly hate it when stories do that.
The ending was good. Precisely because it's something you wouldn't expect in a video game.
Then let's agree to disagree.
The "snap" puzzles can hardly be failed at all, since they semi-solve themselves after fiddling about. Aside from that selecting the piece you wanted is a pain, especially in the final where I kept getting the statue instead of what I desired instead.
Then there were a few bad descriptions (yes, mind-wave puzzle I look at your empty boxes), but everyone else already mentioned those too.
Also, with a scoring system like this I really feel a "summary" was missing at the endgame. Like perfect puzzles (x/47) etc. etc. You know what I mean. I think it would be a nice addition.
Also the scrolling issue. With the case files and journal, I often found the files flipped back after releasing the mouse, which made it a little hard to read/find what I was looking for. It also was pretty unclear if re-doing a puzzle would have any effect (apperently it doesn't, since the extra money wasn't added to the amount listed on the top), making me pretty hesitant to try and solve one in that screen.
All in all, it was good, but if it's turned into a full season, I would probably not get it full-price, like Sam & Max or ToMI, but wait for a discount action.
But there were some minor issues with the visuals as well, especially with the framerate. I know that the Grickle cartoons are drawn at a relatively low framerate, which is fine for the character animation. But then when I see a silk smooth camera-move in one moment, and then Nelson takes off on his snowmobile at just one frame per second... well, a little more consistency would be in order, I'd say.
Regarding the puzzles I've gotta admit that I've never played Professor Layton before, so for me it was nice to have puzzles that were different from the usual adventure game logic. Still, I felt that there were too few different types of puzzles in the game... too many variations of jigsaws and "rotate the tiles", so if PA should get picked up for a whole season, I'd prefer more variety of puzzles.
Storywise it felt like a good TV movie, with its slow pace and minimalistic way to tell the story, and that's not bad at all, since I like those types of movies! Plus I felt comfortable with the ending. I have the strong feeling that (again, if a season should be made) we hadn't seen the last of the Hidden People... and the foreman they took with them. A couple of things stayed unanswered... like the astronaut dream at the beginning, or the reason, why the foreman was locked away from the Hidden People. Why do I get the feeling, that Telltale actually WANTS this to be continued?
Altogether I think this was a great start for the pilot project, and definitely worth a shot for more episodes. The only fear I have, with the types of puzzles being already repeated in one episode, is that you guys might run out of ideas to bring fresh puzzle ideas into the other episodes as well... but we'll see.
Great job!
As far as the puzzles go, they were very interesting if not a tad bit repetitive. I have a feeling that if the series progresses they will have more developed puzzles with more variety. As you progress through the game, the diffuculty ramps up, but not so much so as to be a turn-off to anyone my age (14). The only puzzles i had an issue with was the twister puzzles, such as the one with the tapeworm. I often had to reset my puzzle which thoroughly prolonged the process and the crow puzzle truly made me scream at my laptop. The hint system was good, but often when I unlocked the third hint it would seem like a throwaway as to the answer of the puzzle. It sometimes felt handholding, but toward the end of the game I got a hang of the system, and i hardly ever had to use a hint toward the end.
The story was a amazing cross between Fargo and The X-files, and i thought the two men in the diner was a nice nod to the opening scene of Fargo, in which william H. Macy enters the seedy diner to meet the two men with often-conflicting opinions. As for the supernatural side, it left us with so many unanswered questions, which is why I would throughly recommend this to telltale to PLEASE renew to get a whole season. I think the amount of people on the waiting thread on the night of puzzle agent's release was answer enough to whether or not they should continue the series.
All in all, puzzle agent is a short but sweet point and click'em'up game, that thoroughly deserves to get a full season. If nothing else, I would love to see the gnomes again.
First, there's the ending. Now, I'm all for unanswered questions. They add an air of mystery to the story, and I like that. But the thing is that here, all of the questions were unanswered. What was Lobb's involvement? What was with the sheriff? What was with Glori? What was with the town's entire population, for that matter? Why was the foreman locked up? What on earth was that part in the spaceship about? None of these things were really explained, and that made the ending just feel rushed and far too sudden.
Second, there's the puzzles. Some of them were truly inspired and really made me think. A good example of this would be the puzzle with the key in the fish. However, many of them were repetitive and overly simplistic. How many "turn the tile" puzzles does the game need? The jigsaw-type puzzles might have been okay if it wasn't for the fact that the pieces just locked into place when they got near the right spot, which made it so I often put the pieces together purely on accident. If more Puzzle Agent episodes are made, there needs to be concentration on brain-teasers, less focus on back-of-the-cereal-box puzzles.
And now, on to the good points.
For starters, you really nailed the atmosphere, Telltale. It really felt like I was playing through a Grickle cartoon. It was the perfect mix of humor and creepiness that make's Graham's work so special. The Hidden People really managed to freak me out, and their surprise appearances during puzzles made me jump out of my chair. The townspeople were also excellent, particularly the Sheriff. I wasn't paying much attention to the credits (too busy thinking about what the crap just happened), but whoever voiced him did a wonderful job. The same goes for the rest of the cast, as well.
Next is the story, which, up until the lackluster ending, truly had me dying to know what would happen next. I really couldn't wait to find out what was happening with the Hidden People, the sheriff, Glori, etc.. It was great to see how such a simple assignment turned into a huge mystery for Agent Tethers.
Overall, I'd give Puzzle Agent a 7/10. If Telltale decides to make another Puzzle Agent game which improves on the issues mentioned above, I'll be happy to join Nelson on another investigation. Well, okay, I'll probably still join him even if they don't, since it was overall a good experience, but preorder it I may not.
How stupid was that eraser puzzle! Why was that one of the final three puzzles? Why was it even there!
Your theory on the Hidden People makes sense. I never thought of it that way. I assummed one of the hidden people was a traitor.
we need more. much more puzzle agent.
theres only a few issues i see:
1. (BIGGEST IMPROVEMENT YOU COULD MAKE) for every puzzle and ruleset have 5 different possible scenarios with the same outcome. not a million, just around 3-5 for every puzzle. i understand that many of the answers derived from the puzzles are rooted in the game world and the answer can't be changed during regular gameplay, but some of the puzzles could easily be randomized within given rules. perhaps the important story puzzles can also be played with randomly generated rules during free play after beating the game, as getting a specific answer is much less important when taken out of context. i really do love the atmosphere in the game, and have already found myself giving it a second playthrough, but now i know all the answers to the puzzles and the trying to figure it out portion is gone. it would do so much for lasting potential to be able to play through the game a second time and not have the exact same puzzle experience, and after you beat the game, the free puzzle play would still be able appeal to the casual gamer. i will absolutely buy this game again for my iphone when it comes out, i know it's alot to ask, but perhaps it could even be done to mystery of scoggins with an update instead of just on future games. many times the resources required for an update just don't generate the same numbers, however i feel a little randomized puzzle play would shoot puzzle agent way over the top. I know that I'd personally be recommending it to way more friends than i am now if replayability was increased.
2. in future episodes perhaps slightly less linear gameplay will be introduced, in the sam and max series the tasks can be handled in pretty much whatever order you please, in puzzle agent you are much more guided. i do like how cinematic the whole game feels, but if we could explore a little more instead of always HAVING to go somewhere i may find myself spending more time in the game world.
that said, puzzle agent is an extremely promising new series and any comments i've i'd hope serve only to help the series reach its full potential.
I love the voices too, nice job with them!
I would love a full season of this game.
I loved wasting (virtual) taxpayer's money, but I have a suggestion: Make it based on the time used and the current parameters.
After finishing the game the total can be posted into a TOP AGENT board (Where we can look in awe at how bad we really are playing the game and how out of this world some agents are)
A few improvements/suggestions:
a) I agree with the *randomize* idea. That will add re-playability. Of course not all puzzles should be randomized (specially if the puzzle is critical to the story)
b) Snap-Jigsaw puzzles should be re-designed. While picking a piece (to move it out) I locked pieces by accident and solved a large part of the puzzle.
c) Notepad tool: where you can scribe, doodle, take notes and so on (I can find it particularly useful for those snowmobile puzzles)
d) Less gum, harder to find. An optional use for gum: 1 piece for more detailed instructions.
I don't know why everyone keeps naming this puzzle as an example of bad descriptions. The first rule of the puzzle is: Drag an arrow in each of the highlighted areas....
Am I the only one who laughed when I heard the monkey sound that plays while the TTG logo is being shown when you launch the game?
Goes to show how illogical that rule is.