Constructive Criticism concerning season 1
I just finished Bright Side of the Moon a while back and thought I would thrown in some constructive criticism about what I think would improve the next season.
*SPOILERS*
1. Fix length trial and error puzzles
There is almost nothing more annoying than a lengthy trial and error puzzles. Typically these work well but a couple had way too much talking and cut scenes that they became frustrating. For me the biggest one was the finale to The Bright Side of the Moon. The constant change from each of the four sections was frustrating not because I couldn't figure it out but because of how long it took to go through each one. I eventually just broke down and looked up the solution because I didn't feel like wasting my time trying to figure it out. This also happened to me in the Midtown Cowboys puzzle which while funny became aggravating when it took me about fifteen trials to get the solution.
2. Change comments
For me it was annoying to have the first few episodes with the comments of everything to be exactaly the same. Perhaps in the future you could make the line different every episode or perhaps change the items that are selectable for comments.
3. Rename file names
This is something simple and small but for me it is annoying to have the episodes listed out of order in the program files because Windows sorts by filename. Perhaps if you could name the beginning of each file as Sam and Max-Episode X-Title of Episode. It's a small thing but to my organized mind it is really annoying. (In fact so much I went back and renamed them all!
)
Other than that keep up the good work. I loved season 1 and am anticipating season 2.
*SPOILERS*
1. Fix length trial and error puzzles
There is almost nothing more annoying than a lengthy trial and error puzzles. Typically these work well but a couple had way too much talking and cut scenes that they became frustrating. For me the biggest one was the finale to The Bright Side of the Moon. The constant change from each of the four sections was frustrating not because I couldn't figure it out but because of how long it took to go through each one. I eventually just broke down and looked up the solution because I didn't feel like wasting my time trying to figure it out. This also happened to me in the Midtown Cowboys puzzle which while funny became aggravating when it took me about fifteen trials to get the solution.
2. Change comments
For me it was annoying to have the first few episodes with the comments of everything to be exactaly the same. Perhaps in the future you could make the line different every episode or perhaps change the items that are selectable for comments.
3. Rename file names
This is something simple and small but for me it is annoying to have the episodes listed out of order in the program files because Windows sorts by filename. Perhaps if you could name the beginning of each file as Sam and Max-Episode X-Title of Episode. It's a small thing but to my organized mind it is really annoying. (In fact so much I went back and renamed them all!
)Other than that keep up the good work. I loved season 1 and am anticipating season 2.
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Comments
I don't think having different comments for the items in each episode is important, and I think it's messed up that lots of professional reviewers complained about that as if it's a serious flaw. Nobody's forcing you to click them again... If it actually were one long game, you wouldn't expect to get new comments every 4 hours or so. It's not exactly a productive use of your time. That should be considered purely extra.
I too, think the casino should have ppl. It made the leisure suit larry games lively and I don't think ppl would mind seein same character models with different textures and such in the background. However, would having npcs slow up the game? I can see that bein a problem for ppl on old computers.
I think a good example would be Year 1 in Grim Fandango--it's basically devoid of NPCs, and the only ones around are necessary for puzzles. But then you step outside and there's the festival going on...which you can't see in its entirety, but what you do see, along with the music and sound effects, combine to give the impression that you're standing not far away from a large crowd of people.
I think something like that might be a little gentler on the budget (maybe? I could always be wrong) than rendering a bunch of characters and voice casting a few/all of them.
This would add some more entertainment value to additional minor NPCs, whose inclusion I agree would be fantastic. Anything that gives more atmosphere to the locations. Now I wonder if it would be too much to ask for more locations... even if the price of the games increases slightly :eek: It can be a bit tedious having only two locations to explore, one of which you've seen every episode so far already, and it also makes the puzzles rather one-dimensional. I'd be interested to know if anyone else would be willing to pay more for larger episodes.
Offcourse it takes more time and more money, But hope that Sam & max and the other games can earn enough money for telltale to expand, and the sam & max game with them.
I for one would gladly pay more for larger episode or my all time favorite (a full game) More locations in each episode or another system to link parts togther. So they could reuse the locations again,, with new items npc and such. other than the city block/street.
Yepp! They don't need to say much.. just be there.. The cars in episode 4 was a nice addition to the game
Actually, the right mouse button is also used to look or describe (whatever sounds more accurate) things in your inventory box. Like you said, it would be if telltale intergrated to people and othing things other than skipping dialogue and describing things in the inventory box. However, I think file size is the culprit behind the missing function; telltale once said they wanted to make the file small enough for ppl on small connections to dl the episodes. I think having descriptions of everything in the game would increase the file size by 2.
Hmm, good point, although I doubt it would be double the size of the game - the MOST it could do is double the number of sound files, and they're only a fraction of the total game size. Besides, I'd say even on a slow connection, a file has to be pretty huge to become an 'impossible' download - just leave the computer running for a bit!
2. Sometimes there can be more than one solution to a problem. For instance in the last episode I wanted to put the unicorn in the moon-boot-trace and heat it up that way. It wasn't under the rocket engine but it was close to it. I thought that it should have worked but it didn't, instead I had to travel back to earth and the microwave - have more than one solution to problems.
3. More locations and characters, you don't have to make a big deal out of each one. Get em in let em do their thing get em out sort of. Let there be a wacky messenger, some crazy guy on the sidewalk that doesn't progress the story but add athmosphere... heck in the last episode I didn't even get to see how they got to the moon! I expected some major rocket launch show but you just ditched them their with their car.... hmmm...
Not bad overall though! I really like the 3d-graphics and the look you've created. Keep up the good work!
That's the joke :P They just drove to the moon. That DeSoto can pretty much get them anywhere they need to go, even if it breaks the laws of physics and common sense to do so
Not really sure about this. The game needs limitations to make it challenging, besides, I'd rather have three puzzles than one puzzle with three solutions.
I wasn't keen on getting to the moon in the Desoto either. Suspension of disbelief is one thing, but that seemed too much, even as a joke. I would have liked to end up at a launch-pad having to find a way to sneak onto a rocket or steal a shuttle, for example. It might still have been a bit unbelievable when it came to travelling back and forth between Earth and the moon, but less so than getting there in a car!
(Edit: sounded unintentionally lippy before - sorry!)
because the only puzzle in the first act was getting the unicorn to turn red
......and before you all go saying that the spoon globe and lunar puzzles were in the first act...... in my mind they were not, because the first act is the puzzles to get into some place (ex the Ep. 2 audition, getting into reality 2.0, etc.) and every other episode had had 2 first act puzzles, episode 6 only had one.... which was kinda dissappointing
but..... the episode did have anough over all puzzles, the first act only had one, but the second act had 3, the third act had 4, and the final act also had 3 smaller puzzles connected into one big one..... so, it is a trade off
the car was broken in episode 5 and it would have been funny if it still was in episode 6..... even though they still use it to get to the moon, they should have had an explosion or something, to throw the broken car back and forth between the 2 places
overall i still loved the episode...... but those are my 2 cents
i mean the bosco got a new disguise/ Sybil gots a new job and Bosco's hight prices for a new crapy object we're really fun at first but it get old fast. I would really have enjoyed at least one épisode without one of them ( I think would have been the good one, russian bosco's wasn't really funny.)
2) In ep 3, during the car chasse scene ,Sam refuse to shoot the mobster because"it would harly be sporting", same thing with the green max in ep 6. That doesn't seem to be really in character, i mean: In the comics, S&m didn't hesitate to push an angry mob in lava, and in hit the road they freeze conroy bumpus and drown him as a sacrifice.
as for the going on "the monn thing", it would have been funier I you saw fire comming from the exaust pipe aof the dessoto.
Just to be pedantic, Conroy Bumpus didn't drown, because he was then donated to the circus, still in his block of ice. Still pretty cruel, but that's what made it funny!
At first I thought, "How'd they get there?", then I got it.
Funny "haha", not funny "ho ho". Or maybe the other way around. I'm not quite sure.