overrated/underated

[ad7venture]

Adventure gamers had a topic on over rated/under rated games that was interesting.  It was all over the map really.  Of course, there was one Last Express as under rated.  I was expecting more of those from the rabid real timers.  What seemed like the most over rated was Longest Journey.  Interesting because the Longest Journey is one of the only adventure games that showed a profit in a while ( at least I think it did) and the Last Express lost a bundle, but maybe that's what they were talking about.  I never did get around to playing Longest Journey and now I'm on Linux.   Siberia was another of the over rated and one of the last popular games to come out.  It's hard to picture Siberia as over rated because it wasn't that popular outside of the adventure game playing set and didn't even seem that popular inside the adventure playing set.  The rating that I remember weren't all that good.  I didn't see one mention of Myst, which used to be commonly called over rated.  I think there's so few left it ends up being a tough decision.  The most recently popular adventures seemed to get the most calls for over rated.  I think it's become a nostalgia thing anymore.  Even if I wasn't on Linux, I don't think I'd be interested in much that's coming out.  I find it hard to believe that I used to pay 40 dollars for an adventure game.  Sam and Max should be interesting because people will actually face their nostalgia.  If they changed the formula, people will complain.  If they don't change the formula, I wonder if people will find they can't go home again.  My guess is that Lucas arts did a pretty good study and found it wouldn't make a profit.  They're doing a better delivery scheme, now, though, so it should make some kind of profit no matter what.

[Erwin_Br]

If Lucas Arts were really that clever, they would've never started with their project. Instead, they finished it for 75% (or so) and called it quits. The massive attention and outrage this cancellation caused (also in the mainstream), makes me believe they haven't studied anything at all.

As for the upcoming Sam and Max, I don't think the gameplay really matters here. I don't think people are expecting some kind of resurrection of what they would describe as a classic point and click game (if that's what you mean with formula).

The only thing Tell Tale Games have to accomplish, is to hit that twisted humor the old game had. If they can come up with the same witty one-liners between Sam and Max, and the same crazy situations, they will succeed. Humor is something that will always work if you get it right (and that's VERY difficult). If I have to watch an old move that I've seen a hundred times before, it wouldn't be a drama or a thriller. It's going to be a comedy.

A pitfall for Tell Tale Games might be their episodic model. I still see a lot of opposition.

--Erwin

[ad7venture]

The only thing Tell Tale Games have to accomplish, is to hit that twisted humor the old game had.

I'm not sure, really.  I guess I'm not close to being a customer anyway.  I scratch my head at people going down the street with ipods and telephones in their ears, which are really the consumers of the day.  There were some funny scenes in the original, but I wouldn't have the same reaction to whack-a-rat I did then, or a lot of the puzzles.  Should be interesting, anyway.

A pitfall for Tell Tale Games might be their episodic model. I still see a lot of opposition.

People are a little more used to paying recurring fees than they used to be.  It wouldn't be a lot different than an online game if they added some kind of chat feature, but then I suppose someone would start shouting spoilers.   Recurring fees make a huge amount of sense from a business point of view.  I feel sorry for game companies.  They live or die by the last release.

[Erwin_Br]

I know. The episodic model works quite well in the mainstream. Look at Half-Life, for example. But adventure gamers have always been conservative, and I really see a lot of complaints about it.

But, as you said, it's going to be interesting to see how everyone reacts to this game.

--Erwin