Will Telltale ever make a "nice" game again?
Two minutes into TWAU, and I'm getting an earful of potty-mouthed profanity from the Woodsman that would make Linda Blair blush.
As weird as this sounds, I'm starting to miss the days of BACK TO THE FUTURE, where I didn't have to worry about mind-numbing violence and f-bombs exploding in my face every time I turned a corner. Now, with Telltale prepping GAME OF THRONES (and working on the remainder of season 2 of THE WALKING DEAD in addition to TWAU), I can't help but wonder if Telltale has decided that "dark and nasty" is their company mantra now.
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Rated M for "Mature".
Source: http://www.esrb.org/ratings/synopsis.jsp?Certificate=10004100&Title=
If you don't like foul language, you picked the wrong game. I don't think this is Telltale deciding to be "dark and nasty", they are picking more mature themes and franchises to work with. Some of us who play their games happen to be adults
With Game of Thrones will come wieners too. Lots of wieners.
Flooooppy, non-erect, weeeeeiiiiiiiiners!
I do have to agree here, though. While I'm not averse to darker material (hell, I've made quite a bit myself), it's almost surreal thinking that the same people who were making games out of Homestar Runner and Wallace and Gromit not too long ago have gone on to...this.
Although that's the least of my issues with Telltale's new direction right now.
Todd Mcfarlane's SPAWN featured plenty of violence and foul language too, but you won't meet many people these days who are willing to describe it as "mature".
Blood-spattering mayhem and punctuating every sentence with a "fuck" or a "shit" isn't mature, it's an adolescent child's perception of what maturity is supposed to be. Don't get me wrong, I get the gist of TWAU; it's Grimm's fairy tales for a grittier crowd. Preferably the kind who love movies like SEVEN. I can understand how some folks can get into that, but speaking personally, it doesn't strike me as being anything really original or exciting. That's why I think this game just isn't for me. There's just something innately silly about writers who think putting characters from children's stories into a "grown-up" film noir environment is breaking new ground. It's like watching a teenager trying to act tough by getting his hands on his Dad's gun and threatening the neighbour's dog.
I guess I've just had my fill of characters who are always trying to look and sound "badass". (Or, at the very least, stories that try to strive for a tone that's "badass.")
They started out with friendly content... nobody panics...
But when they branch out to mature... then everybody loses their minds!
Seems to be the direction games in general are moving. I just realized that, of the many great games I got this year, nearly every one was rated M. The Last of Us, Bioshock: Infinite, TWD and TWAU, Saints Row IV... the only major non-M game was Rayman Legends. I don't care either way, personally, but it made me feel bad for the kids who are cursed with observant parents.
Which is exactly why this post is ridiculous: Telltale isn't friendly at all.
Because dong jokes are friendly.
well, look at the content of the IP. Fables is a Noir story. those are never nice...friendly and warm. Walking dead, borderlands....game of thrones. Say what you will about what you "miss" ask tell tale if they miss the razor thin profits and the under whelming fanbase of just loyal fanboys? I think the companies grown what, 5 times in size now since walking dead?
Judging from all the downvotes I've been getting, I've struck a nerve...
Eh, don't flatter yourself.
You haven't struck anything until the insults start flying.
Agreed, no boobs, that'd be totally gay n stuff!
This isn't about friendly or unfriendly, noir or whimsy, mature or not mature. It's about weak writing hiding (like a sheep in wolf's clothing) among otherwise strong writing.
I have read the Fables comic since it began many years ago, and I will say that there is far more cursing in the game. The comics paint with swearing to enahnce the mood, set the tone, and even occasionally lighten the mood. In other words, they swear like most normal people. They don't, however, swear up a tirade in just about every single scene. I get it. Someone things a frog in sweatpants is funny. Funnier? British accent. Funnier? Lots of swearing. One problem: None of that is actually funny--it's absurd. The movie Ted is absurd and has many funny parts (in my opinion) but also many stupid parts.
Absurd does not equal funny. Swearing doesn't equal dramatic. Unfortunately, swearing in this instance is a ploy to try and convince you that the story is real and gritty and important but it ultimately undermines it. Swearing in the comic was handled artfully. This is just ham-handed and grimace-inducing. It lessens the impact of the narrative and cheapens the experience. Mature doesn't equal the number of swears per minute (spm); it equals difficult, gray areas, with dire consequences. That and paying a mortgage, but that's no fun.
Also, enough with the "red headed guy is the killer and TellTale can't believe we figured it out" self-congratulatory tripe. Comic readers already know who the red-headed guy is, and it would ruin the story is he were the killer
Well, that's not that hard to imagine. Everybody (except Mr. Rogers - he is Jesus) has a swearing, boob-loving, floppy-weiner imagining side to them. Same goes for the TT devs. Really, after doing so many relatively safe games I think this is their way of finally letting loose. Although, they should be careful, because too much grimdark material becomes stale after a while and needs comedy to help balance it all out.
I don't know about you, but I swear way more than Bigby or the Woodsman when I'm with my friends - so I'd say the game reflects the real world (in terms of swearing) A-OK.
Why not? Their dark and nasty stuff is their most popular stuff, and if they enjoy making it then they've found their niche.
Maybe it's just me but I didn't notice that much swearing except from the Woodsman, and for him it fits his character.
I 100% agree! I loved their more lighthearted and kiddy games. That's not to say I haven't enjoyed the M Rated games they have made (TWAU is my fave Telltale game) But I can't help but hope for a new game that maybe doesn't have vulgar language. I'm not really a fan, I can put up with it, but it gets old really fast. Like really fast.
It's actually completely harmless in context (it was part of a song). I just love this picture.
Not everybody, just Robert Morgan and the 4 people that gave him thumbs up.
The argument against excessive swearing I can get behind, but the point of putting a frog with a British accent in sweatpants wasn't to be funny or absurd. It was "What would Mr. Toad from the Wind in the Willows look like as a building superintendent?" It's no sillier than "What would the Big Bad Wolf look like as a modern day sheriff?" or "What would Snow White look like as a town mayor?"
Also, not sure who you think the red-headed guy is from the comics, but he's only listed in the credits as "Cabbie" so unless the comic book character you're thinking of is also a cab driver, I would heed your own caution on self-congratulation.
Grow up.
Mr. Rogers can't do any wrong. He wouldn't do any wrong.
He and the people that agree with him (myself) were passive-aggressively insulted in the very post he was responding too lol.
I think there's a place for heavy handed "grittiness" and light-hearted games. I'm not sure why he would attract so much hate for expressing that he misses the latter side of Telltale.
Remind me again, who's the one complaining about an M-rated game using profanity?
I never heard of telltale before there walking Dead series and now wolf among us, Games they have made are marketing to the adult gamers which seem to be a good move with their games being more well known, I am not saying I didn't like there older for light games. They are really good, they never attracted my attention enough to play them before there other games peaked my interest.
Let's rephrase that.
"You haven't really pissed anyone off until they become actively aggressive."
I can assure you that without the downvote button, people who would've done so would just walk away instead of voicing their discontent.
Lol, probably so.
Or else a bunch of people just disagree with you. Whichever.
I can take gritty noir and I can take light-hearted whimsy without complaint, just so long as these things are done well. I don't care for either of them done badly. The quality of the content interests me, the number of times they say 'fuck' does not.
I believe I've seen Robert Morgan protest taking the Lord's name in vain elsewhere on the board. Nothing wrong with that, if its your belief system, but based upon it I suspect his social circles are a little more sensitive to dirty words, violence and sex than most.
Cuz that's mature.
Cheapens the experience? It's a video game, not Shakespeare. They have a small window of opportunity to define a character for their audience; to make each one unique and memorable. I've heard worse language walking past a playground. They're just words and taking offense is a choice.
Of the Telltale games I own, the only "nice" game by your definition is "Back to the Future".
I miss Max.
i think that telltale's gameplay style, which has more of an interactive story feel than real gameplay is better suited for these kinds of games, not that they got to have violence but the darker grittier story with hard decisions to make, thats what makes these games different and interesting. and thats what i love about them too. if you want to have a decision based game you have to make it hard to choose in some situations and you wont get the same suspense in comedy games. i really liked their version of sam and max too but they weren't story based, they were more point and click games and heavier on puzzles. and i really love old school point and clicks but this is something most people hadn't seen before and like i said the thing that made them special was the darker grittier story with harder decisions to make. and people liked it, so i don't think they'll get back to doing the games that sold less.
Then this is the wrong place for him to be hanging out.
oh and remember when this happened
yeah getting shredded apart into dust and then haveing your main chracter stabbed to death is really family friendly.
and back to the future got really dark from episode 3 on wards should mention that to.
Just play Rayman . Though it has some punching in the face , hope that doesn't hurt your feelings
Just Kidding
I have no problem with nudity/violence/profanity as long as it makes sense . For example in Spartacus they make no sense and I hate them but in Louie and Dexter they're completely fine .
TWAU has no problem in that case IMO .
I wasn't turned off by the swearing. Just like in real life, some characters swear more than others, Example: Toad and Woody. Bigby almost always had an option in dialogue not to swear, and sometimes even made a point to stop people from swearing, for example the word bitch.
I can understand to a point where you're coming from. Some games will swear to try and feel edgy and it comes across very immature and ignorant. I didn't feel that way about TWAU. A game series which I love how they handle swearing is the Metal Gear Solid series. The series doesn't swear a huge amount. And because of this, when a character does swear, it comes across with more emotion and has more impact to the player. People who played MGS4 may remember a Laughing Octopus seen where she goes, "It's all so fucking hysterical!" That line has much more impact because up to that point, we haven't heard much profanity.
During human history, we have always had profanity. Looking back in history there's profanity back then, that today wouldn't be a be deal to say. But those words have always been replaced by something. There is scientific evidence that humans benefit from having profanity because it can help people describe frustration, danger, etc. So when profanity becomes common speech, it's normal and beneficial for another word to take its place. So for the people that go, "Oh it's just a word, who cares?" You should care, because making it common practice takes away from the impact of the words your saying.
Actually. Shit, this post was a mistake. I misunderstood the post. My bad.
By the title I assumed the thread would be about how Telltale's more recent games TWD and TWAU are much darker the previous game in terms of the fact that there is a lot of death of suffering in the worlds of these games. I do enjoy TWD and TWAU very much but I hope that they still continue to make comedic games along the lines of Back to the Future and Tales of Monkey Island which highlight Telltales sense of humor. Most people know Telltale from TWD and I think it would be great for newer players to see that Telltale can do more than write brilliant yet depressing stories.
In regard to profanity I don't mind the amount of profanity in this game, I would be annoyed however if they unnecessarily swore at every sentence but the swearing in the game really only occurs if the characters are upset.
If you don't agree with the content they put in their games now look back at what they did in the Poker night games and sam and Max
You seem to forget Telltale was much darker in their humor than their drama.......