Great episode guys... quite a few laugh-out-loud moments, some incredibly bizarre plotting and i really did have to think quite a bit to solve some puzzles.
This is actually the first episode I've played completely within one sitting, and I only needed Max's hints once or twice when I was really stumped
I'm lucky I had a few hours today to play. Took me about 5 hrs to complete, and I did wander around doing a lot of pointless talking exploring dialogue trees and all that, and handing random objects to random people just to see what'd happen
Pity we never get to go back and tell Flint what happened, he's probably very disappointed he never helped us out that much.
And no Sybil or Jimmy or Lincoln or female Stinky! I miss those guys, and it's only been a month since 203...
Now there's a month to kill before the gripping Season finale
[Maybe 301 will explain why we need the Boxing Betty control in September, even though 301's likely release date is November (going by 201's release date, not any actual inside knowledge)]
It's usually a good sign when a game gets me laughing out loud at some point.
But 204 got me going straight away with the "Use all our skills as detectives" gag. ^_^
I wish a new sam and max episode was released every day ... *sigh*
It's filled with so much sam and max goodness, truly a tribute to the original!
LucasArts are FOOLS!
I truly hope TellTale doesn't run into any financial problems any time soon, as I hope to keep playing their Sam and Max series for years to come!
Can't wait to have, say, 4 or 5 seasons of Sam and Max, sitting down and playing through them all, end to end in some sort of apple pie, ice cream, lasagna, beer, cigarettes and computer game extravaganza!
Anyway Telltale, I just have to say that you guys really topped yourselves. The humor in this episode was great and far superior to previous episodes. I kind of preferred the lack of a mini game and how you made this episode a direct continuation of the last. I was glad to see the back of the "wonder around the main street for clues" formula. Anyway this episode made me laugh so hard and had such a great plot. You guys (and girls) have really lived up to expectations of a new brand of Sam & Max games. Fantastic work!
I knew you could do it, Telltale; the perfect time travel episode! Deliciously mocking more hallmarks of time travel classics than you can shake a stick at, and milking them for all the hilarious plot twists and bizarre revelations in there. Not to mention the things you've done with the revisited locations and characters, and the references galore (that deniable Hit the Road reference is epic!).
Anyway Telltale, I just have to say that you guys really topped yourselves.
We say that so often it loses all meaning . Still right, though. It's staggering to think of what this trend means for Season Three, though I'm sure at this point people won't mind too much if the season three episodes are all 'only' as good as 204. That reminds me: with controllable Max and time travel checked off, we need to come up with a new wish list... The sky's the limit now!
I have to say I didn't think things could get much better after Night of the Raving Dead, but Telltale have proved me wrong!
Best bits:
-Day of the Tentacle-like time travel puzzles (did the volcano/cork thing remind anyone else of putting the hamster in the freezer?)
-Screwing up the continuity of the entire series and either ignoring the changes or somehow sorting everything out again (zombie hand spray, Max's new personality, Sam inventing Bluster Blaster)
-Self mocking gags (Past Sam and Old Sam's "memoirs", packed closet in the future, still only exploring that one street in the far future)
-Finding out the birthdays of Sam, Max and Bosco.
-SUGGESTIVE AI VOICE!!!
Also, if Sam and Max don't return to the neighbourhood in Eppy 5, then
Stinky and Leonard will still be tied up.
My only disappointment in this episode was the lack of Flint after the intro section. It doesn't look like he'll return for Eppy 5, but then again he did suprise us in Stuttgart...
Oh god. Future Max wearing Geordi's VISOR. Cracks me up.
It was especially amusing when Past Sam was hanging about in the spaceship and is muttering about things like he usually does when the player manipulates him:
"I can't shoot my future self!"
"That doesn't need to be screwed."
[Maybe 301 will explain why we need the Boxing Betty control in September, even though 301's likely release date is November (going by 201's release date, not any actual inside knowledge)]
I thought about it too because of the date (06/09/2008 european standard), I hope it mean's the 301 will be in september.
I really like the joke about the fact that Sam&Max had to live the last year one more time !
I really like the joke about the fact that Sam&Max had to live the last year one more time !
If you realy want to break your mind, think about this.
According to this episode, we've been following the adventures of "future" Sam & Max ever since mid episode 102.
These Sam & Max then went all through these adventure, all up untill the point where they go back to the Embarresin Idols finali.
After wich they'll be stuck going all through the same adventures AGAIN.
Repeat.
Also...
From where did the Sam & Max scolding the "past" Sam & Max come from? The ones we followed to the end of the episode. The "future" Sam & Max were stuck in the loop mentioned earlier on. They couldn't just skip going back in time or the "past" Sam & Max wouldn't be in the future in the first place.
Of course, this is all just logical thinking.
And this being Sam & Max we're talking about, logic doesn't realy apply
Doesn't Dr. Michio Kaku have a similar scenario is one of his thesis writings about how a time traveling man can be his own father AND murderer of his own father if the conditions are right causing the man to theoretically never have been born but still exist in a perpetual historical loop paradox?
I won't bother with the hidden spoiler text since, well, this is entire thread of spoilers.
This was, hands down, the best episode of the entire series so far. A bunch of quickie thoughts:
-No driving mini-game was a blessing for me. I've never been crazy about them.
-I thought for SURE that the way to break Mama Bosco's heart would be to go into the bathroom and put the toilet seat up. (Although, I'm curious why, when clicking on the toilet, we suddenly got a view from the toilet of Sam. The felt important and it confused me for a bit.)
-I had a hell of a time figuring out how to steal the Tar Cake recipe before I realized I had the DNA sampler thing.
-The closet full of stuff! Funny thing, I had the EXACT same reaction as Sam at the EXACT same time. We both shouted "Whoa!" at the same time. But it does bring the question: is poor Leonard trapped among that whole mess?
-There were a few times that I JUST realized the solution to a puzzle when Max suddenly pipes up a clue. I kept shouting "I know, Max! Geez!"
-Agent Bosco absolutely cracked me up. The fact that he was talking politely like Superball AND still calling me "fool" had me rolling.
-As soon as the chicken and the egg puzzle came up, I immediately thought "Featherly. It's gotta be Featherly." I even knew he'd be at the beginning of time before he was pointed out.
-Mama Bosco didn't say a single "Mm-hm!" that I recall. I guess Bosco didn't know his mama as well as his disguise let on.
-A break from Sybil and Abe was nice, to be honest. I love the characters, but not every single episode.
-Not enough Flint! Come on, we were promised to team up with him (their way of "solving" mysteries was the best joke of the game) and we made it as far as the intro. That made me sad.
-The very much uncluttered office in the future made me wish that the cluttered office in the present would go back to that a little. It's not that I don't like all the mementos of previous games, but I think it's getting a little out of hand.
But still, overall, this was the best episode that Telltale has put out yet. The time traveling stuff was possibly just as good as Day of the Tentacle's time traveling puzzles (not as many as DotT, but that was a full game, not a short, episodic game). Some of the puzzles were a little tough for me at some points, but not impossible tough. And the ending, my god, the ending. I'm very curious to see how Telltale is going to top themselves after this season, because the whole season has been gold.
If you realy want to break your mind, think about this.
According to this episode, we've been following the adventures of "future" Sam & Max ever since mid episode 102.
These Sam & Max then went all through these adventure, all up untill the point where they go back to the Embarresin Idols finali.
After wich they'll be stuck going all through the same adventures AGAIN.
Repeat.
Also...
From where did the Sam & Max scolding the "past" Sam & Max come from? The ones we followed to the end of the episode. The "future" Sam & Max were stuck in the loop mentioned earlier on. They couldn't just skip going back in time or the "past" Sam & Max wouldn't be in the future in the first place.
Of course, this is all just logical thinking.
And this being Sam & Max we're talking about, logic doesn't realy apply
Sure ! I guess, on this level, we can't logical thinking because something impossible is not logical ! Time travel (in the past, at least) is not possible ! So, all we can do, it's trying to do a explanation. It's like the explanation in "Back to the Future II" about original 1985 and alternative 1985 ! When you try to do your own explanation, the film logical is not logical. For instance, the fact that Biff give almanach to young Biff in 1955 : alternative Marty is in Switzerland but the original Marty can't no longer live or, at least, remember the original past because he does'nt live in it ! Another one : when Old Biff taking back the Delorean in 2015, in the movie, it's in the original 2015. But, a few time later, Doc explains that if you go to the future from an alternative version of the past, you will go to an alternative version of the future. So, in this case, Biff had to go back to an alternative 2015, not the original he's left and Doc&Marty can't take the Delorean back to the 1985 and, in fact, disappeared with the original 2015... Do someone follow me :eek::rolleyes:
I guess, sometimes, like Reese said in a episode of "Malcolm in the Middle", you must "turn off your brain" !!! Try an explanation of the script of Chariots of the Dogs can give headache ! The best is not to try to understand all the complexity of the weird creators of this game !!!;)
Great game, Telltale. Have been quietly playing through Seasons 1 and 2 and this, and Season 2 has really been full of laughs and entertainment.
Question:
anyone thought of whether girl Stinky could be the manifestation of the Shambling Corporate Presence? Since she did say in 203 that she had worked with elves before and in 204 we learn she's become head of a global conglomerate in Stinkycorp.
A very funny and mind bending episode, but I was disappointed that the game ended when it did. I actually exclaimed "is that it?" out loud.
A couple of puzzles had me stumped for a while. It wasn't until later that I figured out how I'd got past Sam to
forget why he needed the recording contract.
And I'm still not 100% sure if
the cork in the volcano was supposed to be related to the older Pedro's death.
I'd have to replay it to be sure.
One nice thing about this episode is that more than any other episode it really helped if you had played all the prior episodes. If you jumped into this one without playing the others you would be really confused.
-I thought for SURE that the way to break Mama Bosco's heart would be to go into the bathroom and put the toilet seat up. (Although, I'm curious why, when clicking on the toilet, we suddenly got a view from the toilet of Sam. The felt important and it confused me for a bit.)
I think that was just playing up the fear of public toilets (especially Bosco's) which Sam seems to have in these games.
Definitely the best episode yet, and in many ways, one of the most brilliant games I've ever played. I love the way the way the episodes connect to each other this season. I can't wait to see the conclusion.
And by the way, I want to start a religion claiming that the creation of the universe was brought on by a flying sombrero racing through time and self-destructing. Much more plausible and interesting than that tedious Big Bang-theory.
There's a lot of mentions of demonic contracts throughout the last few episodes: Jurgen had a contract to extract souls from bodies (and failed to meet his quota since Sam and Max de-zombified themselves); the mariachis had a contract to ship said souls to Hell; and Grandpa Stinky proudly displays the contract whereby he sold his soul to Satan.
To glom on others' train of thought, maybe granddaughter Stinky is really Satan and took over running the restaurant after she cashed in on her contract with the original proprietor?
There's a lot of mentions of demonic contracts throughout the last few episodes: Jurgen had a contract to extract souls from bodies (and failed to meet his quota since Sam and Max de-zombified themselves); the mariachis had a contract to ship said souls to Hell; and Grandpa Stinky proudly displays the contract whereby he sold his soul to Satan.
To glom on others' train of thought, maybe granddaughter Stinky is really Satan and took over running the restaurant after she cashed in on her contract with the original proprietor?
You, sir, are most likely right. It's all starting to make sense.:D
And by the way, I want to start a religion claiming that the creation of the universe was brought on by a flying sombrero racing through time and self-destructing. Much more plausible and interesting than that tedious Big Bang-theory.
Claiming? But that's really how it happened! It also involved Reginald VelJohnson on a pogo stick, but that's a discussion for another time.
-Day of the Tentacle-like time travel puzzles (did the volcano/cork thing remind anyone else of putting the hamster in the freezer?)
Whilst I did this, I failed to see what effect it had on the time continuum. Perhaps I did it too early in the game. Can somebody explain to me what the point of it was (putting the cork in the future volcano)?
Overall I thought the game was great. Bosco in man-cow guise shouting "Moo-fo!" had me in stitches. As did the Banang joke and the bit where Sam & Max were left stranded by their past incarnations.
the banang joke is the best joke in the entire Sam & Max series
Banaaaang
The episode was chock-full of the best jokes so far.
I think I laughed most at the beginning with the "we should use all of our detective power" joke, the Banang gag, and all mentioned above. The best thing, though, was Past Sam walking around and randomly commenting on things. "I can't shoot Future Me!"
Oh, and having Future Sam as Davros was a nice touch, guys.
Whilst I did this, I failed to see what effect it had on the time continuum. Perhaps I did it too early in the game. Can somebody explain to me what the point of it was (putting the cork in the future volcano)?
It stopped the Mariachi man's obituary being ruined on the billboard.
It stopped the Mariachi man's obituary being ruined on the billboard.
Thanks, that explains it. I didn't notice the obituary was there until after I'd put the cork in the Volcano, and I did this way before the encounter with the Mariachis.
I have to agree with the rest of you that this has been one Hell (so to speak, lol) of a game.
To the guy who claimed that Past Sam and Max die with the sombrero-U.F.O:
If you go back to them before the episode is over, you will see that they take the elevator back to their own time bofe the saucer crashes into the beginning of time (Still doesn't explain what they will do there without the contract though).
Funny that we know the birthdays of our main characters now.
Here's to hoping that Season 3 begins on Agent Superball's birthday!
(Still doesn't explain what they will do there without the contract though).
When they first refuse to give it to you, present Sam & Max mention they've solved that case, twice. A somewhat problematic statement in its own right if you think about it too much*, but that just goes to show...
*You can get the most paradoxical part out of the way if Past Sam & Max lay low until they can become Present Sam & Max, but even then how can they remember solving that case twice? You'll have to use the classic standby that by being "out of the time-stream" or somesuch, their memory isn't updated when history gets changed. A view which actually has some merit, for otherwise how would Bosco know he wasn't a cow all along?
That was a brilliantly funny episode! And it had me stumped for a bit in a couple of places, a nice change from the ease of most of the previous episodes.
And Max's final comment about seeing Sam in Hell if this doesn't work should prove to be deliciously ironic.
-i really liked the creativity that was put into all the time traveling areas....especially the beginning of the universe and some of the lines were great, like Sam making Bluster Blaster.
-i thought the intro was great....but i thought it would have been funny if Telltale had made a previously on Sam and Max type thing, but totally made up everything that happened.
-the time line now becomes pretty confusing...but it's best not to think about it too hard cuz according to the ending of the last episode Max should still be a zombie.
-my only real problem with the game was the icon for the game itself... it looks alright, but not really anything like the others and i think the splash1's avatar would have made a better icon.
All in all its a good episode and i cant wait for the season finale!
They might use the "previously on..." gag in the next episode. It's the finale so it would make sense to summarize the whole season (incorrectly) when it starts.
Comments
This is actually the first episode I've played completely within one sitting, and I only needed Max's hints once or twice when I was really stumped
I'm lucky I had a few hours today to play. Took me about 5 hrs to complete, and I did wander around doing a lot of pointless talking exploring dialogue trees and all that, and handing random objects to random people just to see what'd happen
Pity we never get to go back and tell Flint what happened, he's probably very disappointed he never helped us out that much.
And no Sybil or Jimmy or Lincoln or female Stinky! I miss those guys, and it's only been a month since 203...
Now there's a month to kill before the gripping Season finale
[Maybe 301 will explain why we need the Boxing Betty control in September, even though 301's likely release date is November (going by 201's release date, not any actual inside knowledge)]
But 204 got me going straight away with the "Use all our skills as detectives" gag. ^_^
It's filled with so much sam and max goodness, truly a tribute to the original!
LucasArts are FOOLS!
I truly hope TellTale doesn't run into any financial problems any time soon, as I hope to keep playing their Sam and Max series for years to come!
Can't wait to have, say, 4 or 5 seasons of Sam and Max, sitting down and playing through them all, end to end in some sort of apple pie, ice cream, lasagna, beer, cigarettes and computer game extravaganza!
- R
Here's to 205 *clink*!:)
Dude! That's what made it so good! It shook up the formula we are all so used to and gave us something brand new.
I have to say I didn't think things could get much better after Night of the Raving Dead, but Telltale have proved me wrong!
Best bits:
-Day of the Tentacle-like time travel puzzles (did the volcano/cork thing remind anyone else of putting the hamster in the freezer?)
-Screwing up the continuity of the entire series and either ignoring the changes or somehow sorting everything out again (zombie hand spray, Max's new personality, Sam inventing Bluster Blaster)
-Self mocking gags (Past Sam and Old Sam's "memoirs", packed closet in the future, still only exploring that one street in the far future)
-Finding out the birthdays of Sam, Max and Bosco.
-SUGGESTIVE AI VOICE!!!
Also, if Sam and Max don't return to the neighbourhood in Eppy 5, then
My only disappointment in this episode was the lack of Flint after the intro section.
It was especially amusing when Past Sam was hanging about in the spaceship and is muttering about things like he usually does when the player manipulates him:
"I can't shoot my future self!"
"That doesn't need to be screwed."
I thought about it too because of the date (06/09/2008 european standard), I hope it mean's the 301 will be in september.
I really like the joke about the fact that Sam&Max had to live the last year one more time !
Seeing nerdy Little Sam was great as well.
Nha pointless listing all the cool stuff, the whole episode is full of great ideas.
If you realy want to break your mind, think about this.
These Sam & Max then went all through these adventure, all up untill the point where they go back to the Embarresin Idols finali.
After wich they'll be stuck going all through the same adventures AGAIN.
Repeat.
Also...
Of course, this is all just logical thinking.
And this being Sam & Max we're talking about, logic doesn't realy apply
This was, hands down, the best episode of the entire series so far. A bunch of quickie thoughts:
-No driving mini-game was a blessing for me. I've never been crazy about them.
-I thought for SURE that the way to break Mama Bosco's heart would be to go into the bathroom and put the toilet seat up. (Although, I'm curious why, when clicking on the toilet, we suddenly got a view from the toilet of Sam. The felt important and it confused me for a bit.)
-I had a hell of a time figuring out how to steal the Tar Cake recipe before I realized I had the DNA sampler thing.
-The closet full of stuff! Funny thing, I had the EXACT same reaction as Sam at the EXACT same time. We both shouted "Whoa!" at the same time. But it does bring the question: is poor Leonard trapped among that whole mess?
-There were a few times that I JUST realized the solution to a puzzle when Max suddenly pipes up a clue. I kept shouting "I know, Max! Geez!"
-Agent Bosco absolutely cracked me up. The fact that he was talking politely like Superball AND still calling me "fool" had me rolling.
-As soon as the chicken and the egg puzzle came up, I immediately thought "Featherly. It's gotta be Featherly." I even knew he'd be at the beginning of time before he was pointed out.
-Mama Bosco didn't say a single "Mm-hm!" that I recall. I guess Bosco didn't know his mama as well as his disguise let on.
-A break from Sybil and Abe was nice, to be honest. I love the characters, but not every single episode.
-Not enough Flint! Come on, we were promised to team up with him (their way of "solving" mysteries was the best joke of the game) and we made it as far as the intro. That made me sad.
-The very much uncluttered office in the future made me wish that the cluttered office in the present would go back to that a little. It's not that I don't like all the mementos of previous games, but I think it's getting a little out of hand.
But still, overall, this was the best episode that Telltale has put out yet. The time traveling stuff was possibly just as good as Day of the Tentacle's time traveling puzzles (not as many as DotT, but that was a full game, not a short, episodic game). Some of the puzzles were a little tough for me at some points, but not impossible tough. And the ending, my god, the ending. I'm very curious to see how Telltale is going to top themselves after this season, because the whole season has been gold.
Sure ! I guess, on this level, we can't logical thinking because something impossible is not logical ! Time travel (in the past, at least) is not possible ! So, all we can do, it's trying to do a explanation. It's like the explanation in "Back to the Future II" about original 1985 and alternative 1985 ! When you try to do your own explanation, the film logical is not logical. For instance, the fact that Biff give almanach to young Biff in 1955 : alternative Marty is in Switzerland but the original Marty can't no longer live or, at least, remember the original past because he does'nt live in it ! Another one : when Old Biff taking back the Delorean in 2015, in the movie, it's in the original 2015. But, a few time later, Doc explains that if you go to the future from an alternative version of the past, you will go to an alternative version of the future. So, in this case, Biff had to go back to an alternative 2015, not the original he's left and Doc&Marty can't take the Delorean back to the 1985 and, in fact, disappeared with the original 2015... Do someone follow me
I guess, sometimes, like Reese said in a episode of "Malcolm in the Middle", you must "turn off your brain" !!! Try an explanation of the script of Chariots of the Dogs can give headache ! The best is not to try to understand all the complexity of the weird creators of this game !!!;)
Question:
A couple of puzzles had me stumped for a while. It wasn't until later that I figured out how I'd got past Sam to
One nice thing about this episode is that more than any other episode it really helped if you had played all the prior episodes. If you jumped into this one without playing the others you would be really confused.
I think that was just playing up the fear of public toilets (especially Bosco's) which Sam seems to have in these games.
Also, I loved the clever reference to La Bamba. And I have a feeling that we'll see something more of the old Stinky (maybe he
"This is not my beautiful house!" had me laughing out loud!
And by the way, I want to start a religion claiming that the creation of the universe was brought on by a flying sombrero racing through time and self-destructing. Much more plausible and interesting than that tedious Big Bang-theory.
and that's a very strange picture tabacco
To glom on others' train of thought, maybe granddaughter Stinky is really Satan and took over running the restaurant after she cashed in on her contract with the original proprietor?
You, sir, are most likely right. It's all starting to make sense.:D
Claiming? But that's really how it happened! It also involved Reginald VelJohnson on a pogo stick, but that's a discussion for another time.
Whilst I did this, I failed to see what effect it had on the time continuum. Perhaps I did it too early in the game. Can somebody explain to me what the point of it was (putting the cork in the future volcano)?
Overall I thought the game was great. Bosco in man-cow guise shouting "Moo-fo!" had me in stitches. As did the Banang joke and the bit where Sam & Max were left stranded by their past incarnations.
Banaaaang
The episode was chock-full of the best jokes so far.
I think I laughed most at the beginning with the "we should use all of our detective power" joke, the Banang gag, and all mentioned above. The best thing, though, was Past Sam walking around and randomly commenting on things. "I can't shoot Future Me!"
Oh, and having Future Sam as Davros was a nice touch, guys.
It stopped the Mariachi man's obituary being ruined on the billboard.
Thanks, that explains it. I didn't notice the obituary was there until after I'd put the cork in the Volcano, and I did this way before the encounter with the Mariachis.
To the guy who claimed that Past Sam and Max die with the sombrero-U.F.O:
If you go back to them before the episode is over, you will see that they take the elevator back to their own time bofe the saucer crashes into the beginning of time (Still doesn't explain what they will do there without the contract though).
Funny that we know the birthdays of our main characters now.
Here's to hoping that Season 3 begins on Agent Superball's birthday!
(did anybody say.... Birthday?)
Kord
*You can get the most paradoxical part out of the way if Past Sam & Max lay low until they can become Present Sam & Max, but even then how can they remember solving that case twice? You'll have to use the classic standby that by being "out of the time-stream" or somesuch, their memory isn't updated when history gets changed. A view which actually has some merit, for otherwise how would Bosco know he wasn't a cow all along?
And Max's final comment about seeing Sam in Hell if this doesn't work should prove to be deliciously ironic.
-i really liked the creativity that was put into all the time traveling areas....especially the beginning of the universe and some of the lines were great, like Sam making Bluster Blaster.
-i thought the intro was great....but i thought it would have been funny if Telltale had made a previously on Sam and Max type thing, but totally made up everything that happened.
-the time line now becomes pretty confusing...but it's best not to think about it too hard cuz according to the ending of the last episode Max should still be a zombie.
-my only real problem with the game was the icon for the game itself... it looks alright, but not really anything like the others and i think the splash1's avatar would have made a better icon.
All in all its a good episode and i cant wait for the season finale!