Difficulty of episode 4
I finally got around to playing episode 4 the other day and it was a lot of fun but still felt a little short. What I really want to talk about is the difficulty. I still found this game way too easy. I was wondering what everyone else thought about it. I saw another thread that said they thought the last puzzle was difficult at all. I think the difficulty has been improving but we need more rope.
(I will explain)
The game feels claustrophobic. I expect that I will need something from Bosco and Sybil in every episode so that kills 2 puzzles. If I see something new I almost always will use it. (Hugh Bliss)
I don't have enough places to visit since we never return to any of the locations in previous episodes. The inventory never gets large enough either. This makes the puzzles very easy to figure out. Give players more rope so they can hang themselves.
(I will explain)
The game feels claustrophobic. I expect that I will need something from Bosco and Sybil in every episode so that kills 2 puzzles. If I see something new I almost always will use it. (Hugh Bliss)
I don't have enough places to visit since we never return to any of the locations in previous episodes. The inventory never gets large enough either. This makes the puzzles very easy to figure out. Give players more rope so they can hang themselves.
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Comments
I don't think it was much longer then the other episodes. It is a step in the right direction for difficulty but still not difficult enough in my opinion
For example, I didn't know that I would need
Then there was the various
In the episodes before it, I kind of knew how to solve the puzzles before I even got to the puzzles because of how obvious the solution was (particularly with Episode 2 in making Max cry during the audition and what to do with Whizzer on Embarrasing Idol).
I belive that you are the first one I heard about, that think that they should reuse MORE scenes...
I think 2 minor hints needed in a short adventure episode is pitching the difficulty just about right. Especially since they weren't the only puzzles that gave me pause for thought - just the only ones I gave into hinting for.
"You mean that back room?"
"Actually, I was thinking of the kitchen, but your idea works."
Giving people more rope to hang themselves sounds like a bad idea. They could get arrested and/or sued for doing such. Altho, if you use too much rope.. you'll ultimately fail at hanging yourself, since you'll hit the floor/ground. In which case everyone gets a good laugh.
(/offtopic)
But, yeah, the puzzles in this episode were a lot more involving than those in previous episodes - they usually weren't just a simple case of 'use item x on person y', they often required us to use a combination of item-placement, dialogue options and interacting with other objects in the environment to solve them.
I think the difficulty in #4 was balanced well enough. Just keep it about this long, keep it fresh, and keep the writing funny. May I also suggest getting more higher-end S&M merchandise like the stuffed animals? That's a good way to increase revenue while not increasing the price of the game itself.
It was the first place I checked too... but just to read them... and it took me forever to figure out to go back and grab what I needed.
I thought this episode felt longer because
I agree. But what I liked about the writing in Ep. 4 is that it actually felt like how they recently described Sam & Max to Joystiq. "A lot of things happen in a hurry, and then they end."
But these aren't supposed to be long games... You said yourself, you had fun. That is the ultimate reason why I play adventure games and it tends to be the final arbiter in whether I deem a game a success or not.
I did the same thing. In fact, I've done that with every episode. But I personally go and check them out because I want to see what funny posters they have up, not because I think there's a puzzle. I'm not saying that's why you went and looked necessarily. For me, they've made the environments places that I want to have fun exploring and if I happen to pick up something that I may use later, that's cool too. I know when I picked up that poster, I had no clue what I would use it for until much later.
There's been a lot of begging for more inventory but I think at times you can have too much. If I'm stuck in a game, I end up trying everything with everything just to get myself going again. It pulls me out of the experience. Kheops' games follow different rules with that, in that inventory is the star, but it can even happen there with me.
This latest episode more than lives up to the old Lucas arts adventures in my opinion.
BINGO! Players *should* get stuck in adventure games, the puzzles are supposed to be the challenge in these games and the games really do lose much of their appeal if you hardly have to use your brain at all.
You should get stuck on puzzles and have to think hard for some time before you finally get it.. the feeling you get when you finally solve a puzzle you've been stuck on for hours if not days is really great!
I think you're a good company but your philosophy when it comes to difficulty levels (make them dead easy so people never get stuck) is pretty bad (in my opinion).
Some people get stuck.