the Penny Arcade game

JakeJake Telltale Alumni
edited May 2008 in General Chat
Has anyone been playing the Penny Arcade game? I'm a few hours in and enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. I usually can't stand turn-based games, but the combat system they have has kept me on my toes and decidedly un-bored. Also I have been beating up mimes and collecting hobo meat--always a plus. And, not surprisingly, the writing and story are fun, especially, I imagine, if you like the comics. It's always nice to play a game that really wants to entertain me, instead of beat me over the head with how bad-ass it's trying to be.

I feel like I should say more, but that's all really. Wondering if anyone else has checked it out, and what they thought?

Comments

  • ShauntronShauntron Telltale Alumni
    edited May 2008
    I got the demo, and i'm definitely going to buy the full game soon. Throughout the comics, I occasionally suspect that wonderful mythologies are just waiting to erupt from Jerry Holkins' cranium. So i'm glad he's finally had his chance to guide his existing characters in this fashion.
  • SquinkySquinky Telltale Alumni
    edited May 2008
    It's fun. The humour's a bit hit-or-miss for me, and I'm not really a PA fan, but I love the visual style and comparatively non-punitive gameplay.
  • EmilyEmily Telltale Alumni
    edited May 2008
    I'm playing it, and I'm loving it. I skip rather quickly through some of the dialogue (I always do that in text games, so it's not really specific to this one), but the combat has been fun for me and I'm engaged in the story. I've put in about 5 hours and am afraid I'm nearing the end...

    I really enjoy turn-based combat, but I don't get too much exposure to it since I usually stick to adventure games. It's nice to have an RPG other than Final Fantasy to play. :D
  • edited May 2008
    I played it, and I greatly enjoyed it! So far, my major complaints are the price ($80 for four six-hour episodes?! Telltale offers much better value for money!) and the DRM (online activation required forever).

    About the game itself, I have relatively few complaints. It looks great, it plays smoothly, the humor in the dialogue is fantastic. The gameplay is a bit straightforward and there isn't much adventuring (as in: exploration, puzzling, et cetera) to do, but it's fun nonetheless.
    Emily wrote: »
    I skip rather quickly through some of the dialogue
    :eek: That's the best part!
  • EmilyEmily Telltale Alumni
    edited May 2008
    Soultaker wrote: »
    :eek: That's the best part!

    It's funny, but at some points it starts to feel long-winded...
  • JakeJake Telltale Alumni
    edited May 2008
    Emily wrote: »
    It's funny, but at some points it starts to feel long-winded...

    You've successfully summed up Penny Arcade.
  • MelMel
    edited May 2008
    I played through the tutorial. I've never played a turn-based combat game before (I've not really played any hard-core combat game before).

    The atmosphere is great, the comic style is cool. I love the 1920's setting too. The
    rake[
    is a funny weapon.

    It's a little stressful because there are
    so many fruit fuckers coming at you
    and I find it hard to block (which I suck at) and attack them. It got even more confusing when you have
    three people to control
    and lots of
    fruit fuckers (oddly enough, I enjoy writing that)
    to get. I did it, but probably not very good.

    The little bit I played, I have to agree the dialogue gets quite long (but at least they give you the option of skipping through it).
  • edited May 2008
    I liked the game, can't wait for episode 2.

    You know, it's funny. But I really do like Penny Arcade, and yet... it's never really been hilarious to me. Sure, there's a grin now and then, but I don't find myself laughing constantly. It's the same for the game. I really like the game. Actually, I'm kindof fond of their story arc. But it's never really been "OMG that's hilarious."
  • edited May 2008
    I love Penny Arcade and I'll be purchasing this game pretty soon. I played through the demo and I really liked the narrator and combat system. I especially like how you only have to purchase one license and you can play it on Linux, Windows, and Mac. ;) I was kinda sad however that there was no voice acting for the actual characters.
    I am also kinda disappointed with the price. $20 seems like a bit much for any episodic game that isn't Half Life 2. :P
  • JakeJake Telltale Alumni
    edited May 2008
    dg10050 wrote: »
    I was kinda sad however that there was no voice acting for the actual characters.

    It would have been a daring choice at this point to cast voices for Gabe and Tycho. Based on the hit or miss voice reads of the narrator I think they made the right choice to not go overboard with voice in the game.
  • edited May 2008
    Jake wrote: »
    It would have been a daring choice at this point to cast voices for Gabe and Tycho. Based on the hit or miss voice reads of the narrator I think they made the right choice to not go overboard with voice in the game.

    Yeah, that's what I ended up realizing. It would have been awful if they had chosen voice actors that sucked at the part. I do love the narrator though (both his lines and his accent). It makes you forget the fact that none of the characters are speaking. :P
  • edited May 2008
    I finished it last night, and overall I liked it. (But apparently I missed a ton of spare parts somewhere, and I only got half of the achievements. I usually couldn't care less about the achievements in games, but I'm actually tempted to go back through just to get the rest).

    The combat and collection stretch things out and keep you engaged, but there's hardly ever so much of it to be tedious. It's just complicated enough to keep you involved, without going ridiculously overboard. The combat is a little too reliant on mini-games for my taste (and I could never pull off the one for Gabe). And with all the blocks, items, counter-attacks, resistances and so on, I felt like it kept flipping between having to wait forever for something to happen, and feeling like there was too much going on and I had no control. But once you learn that unlike the Final Fantasy games, there's a near-infinite supply of items, so you should use them frequently, it's pretty fun.

    I'll definitely check out episode 2, at least.
    Jake wrote: »
    It would have been a daring choice at this point to cast voices for Gabe and Tycho. Based on the hit or miss voice reads of the narrator I think they made the right choice to not go overboard with voice in the game.
    Yeah, that was definitely a wise choice. For one thing, they avoided the problems with casting "official" voices for characters that wouldn't jibe with what people imagined. And also, most of the lines would only work in print, and having to hear those voiced would've gotten super-tedious. Being long-winded and overwrought is Tycho's whole schtick.
  • edited May 2008
    Played the demo, loved it. The dialogue kept reminding me of a (much) more lewd Sam and Max.

    I still prefer CAD to PA, though. Say what you will about Tim Buckley, but he cracks me up.

    (Speaking of CAD, I demand a Chef Brian game.)
  • edited May 2008
    Maratanos wrote: »
    I really like the game. Actually, I'm kindof fond of their story arc. But it's never really been "OMG that's hilarious."
    Well, I laughed out loud when I first used an orange and one of the FF's started violating it while the others watched. I also loved a lot of the dialogue, for example when it is mentioned that Ann has a crane, to which she adds that "every young lady should have one"; or when you are refused entrance to Pelican Bay with your family ticket because you don't look to be family, which is solved by mentioning that "our family carries lots of guns, and we can punch people really hard" (or something to that effect). Crude, yes, but delivered in a funny way, in my opinion.

    In fact, I found the dialogue surprisingly lightfooted, considering that it's written by the same guy that writes the news posts for Penny Arcade, which often tend to drag on and be a bit too wordy for my taste.
  • edited May 2008
    Nerd Ho!
  • edited May 2008
    i picked it up on friday evening and had it finished the next day. i really like it. it isn't really a rpg-adventure though. the adventure elements are limited to the pointing and clicking in my opinion. i am a huge rpg fan, so this still works for me. also, i was suprised about the amount of violence. some of the overkill-animations remind me of the good, old fallout splattery-stuff.
    the price may prove to become a little problem however. it's not that i can't or don't want to afford 20$ per episode, but i am not sure if your average casual gamer will pay roughly 80$ for all four episodes and they may end up with only the die hard fans buying everything...but, we'll see.

    oh yeah, what about these archivments, are they console-only?
  • edited May 2008
    Yes, console only (tho I dunno why seeing as Valve had the achievements in PC version) as I've done 3 man team up attacks many times and no notification of the "All Together Now" achievement.
  • edited May 2008
    I downloaded and gave the demo a try. It was actually pretty good, and I thought the story was absolutely funny. I thought it was going to be a standard turn based RPG, but really it combines real time with turn based, much like the Mario RPG games or even more comparable Shadow Hearts.
  • edited May 2008
    Oh the game is out? I'll buy it on wednesday and return with a verdict. :)
  • edited May 2008
    Does anyone have a save file from right after
    the fortune teller machine
    ? I have a bug that causes it not to show up, making the game unplayable from that point.
  • MelMel
    edited May 2008
    Time for a potentially dumb question. For those of you who have played through quite a bit: How often is there combat? I've never played an RPG before and I've only played through the tutorial on this game. I found even in the tutorial that the combat just came and came and it was stressful on one hand and kind of repetitive as well. I basically just got rid of fruit fuckers, talked a little, went along the street and battled more of them. Granted, that was just the tutorial, but is that all there is? It's probably a really ignorant question as I don't really know any better.

    I have nothing against combat. If combat (or stealth) pops up in an adventure game, I like it as it's something a little exciting to do. But it's nice when it's over and you have some time to relax and explore. I liked the game, but I'm afraid it'll get tedious for me and I won't finish it. Maybe an RPG isn't for me, possibly. Sorry for this long and slightly angsty post. :p
  • edited May 2008
    Mel wrote: »
    Time for a potentially dumb question. For those of you who have played through quite a bit: How often is there combat? I've never played an RPG before and I've only played through the tutorial on this game. I found even in the tutorial that the combat just came and came and it was stressful on one hand and kind of repetitive as well. I basically just got rid of fruit fuckers, talked a little, went along the street and battled more of them. Granted, that was just the tutorial, but is that all there is? It's probably a really ignorant question as I don't really know any better.

    I have nothing against combat. If combat (or stealth) pops up in an adventure game, I like it as it's something a little exciting to do. But it's nice when it's over and you have some time to relax and explore. I liked the game, but I'm afraid it'll get tedious for me and I won't finish it. Maybe an RPG isn't for me, possibly. Sorry for this long and slightly angsty post. :p

    Combat never seems to slow down from there, as I played all the way through the demo and the combat was pretty frequent. However, I enjoyed it because the battle system was so well done, kind of like a cross between games like Shadow Hearts, Final Fantasy, and the Mario RPG games.
  • edited May 2008
    there's quite a lot combat in there, but it get's more interesting. you'll get some new special attacks, items and other enemies. you ever wanted to know what color clowns bleed?
    also, some combat is optional, like when you want to find all parts for your weapons or do all side-quests...but still it's the main aspect of the game, besides the story.
  • edited May 2008
    And unless you do something story wise to cause a new set of enemies to spawn, once you defeat an enemy group, it'll never reappear again.
  • JaiJai
    edited May 2008
    I was thoroughly entertained. The combat system isn't perfect (As people have already mentioned, it feels like you swing between having to wait to do anything and having to try to do four things at the same time), the dialogue seems especially long-winded when you replay through the game (Since there isn't an especially fast way to skip through it. But I really liked it the first time through) . . . and I absolutely loved the cutscenes (Especially the soul-sucking one). Could've used another one in-between the introductory raking cutscene and the slum lord cutscene, though, that's a pretty long stretch. And, for an RPG, you really don't have a lot of options for trying to upgrade your party members (And, of course, your party roster is set in stone). Still. Thoroughly entertaining.
  • edited May 2008
    You get what you pay for. At a $20 price tag, you can't expect something to rival Final Fantasy.
  • edited May 2008
    Cept it does add up to $80 when all four episodes come out, which is a bit more than a Final Fantasy game.

    I've not played it myself yet, but I'm not really a fan of PA.
  • edited May 2008
    I downloaded the demo, and I must say I wasn't impressed at all.

    First, I found out I still hate turn-based combat (It's been ages since the last time I played an RPG). But I already expected that, I thought I would forgive those parts for the adventure elements and funny storyline.
    Anyway, it turns out I found the comedy to be meh at best, and the only adventure elements where 'click to move' and the dialog trees, which, if you don't find funny, are pretty worthless.
  • edited May 2008
    I played the demo and bought the game soon afterward...wound up finishing it on that same say but I enjoyed all of it. I can't wait for episode 2. I found the combat pretty fun and the writing was funny as well.


    I kind of did the same with the Sam and Max games. Played episode 4 of season 1 and bought all of Season 1 in one of the bundles. Kudos to TTG for making Sam and Max fun. Now all I have to do is save money for Season 2.
  • edited May 2008
    ShaggE wrote: »
    Does anyone have a save file from right after
    the fortune teller machine
    ? I have a bug that causes it not to show up, making the game unplayable from that point.

    Hey, sorry for the ugly question, but with this bug, it has to be asked.

    Did you, in fact, pirate the game?

    Because sources tell me that the number one best way to get this bug is to do so.
  • edited May 2008
    ^ I was hesitant about asking for just that reason. :p
    Nope, it's legit. But, I redownloaded it, and it works fine now. So no worries. :D
  • edited May 2008
    Yeah, if they released a bundle for all four episodes, I'll buy that instead. That way it's cheaper. Same thing I did for Sam & Max seasons 1 and 2. :p
  • edited May 2008
    btw, i read something about the drm/copy protection of this game and it was mentioned that you only have a limited number of activations. i read all terms of use, but i couldn't find anything about this. it's not like i am planning an installation on several dozen machine during the next week..but i am a bit curious how limited it is..
  • edited May 2008
    Huh? That's weird... and annoying.
  • edited May 2008
    wisp wrote: »
    btw, i read something about the drm/copy protection of this game and it was mentioned that you only have a limited number of activations. i read all terms of use, but i couldn't find anything about this. it's not like i am planning an installation on several dozen machine during the next week..but i am a bit curious how limited it is..

    Yeah. Sorry. Terms of Use != License Agreement.

    You can probably view the EULA from the demo copy, but in any case, it says that you're limited to 3 installs at a time, although they make it very clear that it's easy to get more if you email them.
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