Sorry, Walking Dead fans!

[Fierce Deity]

The nightmare has been revealed.

FPS + crap = crap with guns in it

It seems like nothing is going to change for Telltale Games. Maybe if Cesar still worked for them, he could ask them the question, "Why not make games that don't suck?"

And did I read that main menu right? Did it say "Download Content"? Wow. Just, wow.

[wilco64256]

Well I don't think this game is even being marketed as a point and click adventure is it?  I think it's deliberately designed to be something different.

[KatieHal]

I don't know, I don't think it looks that bad. The gameplay shown didn't look 'adventure'-like, what you needed to do was fairly clear in all cases, but it was more than just a QTE as well.

[Lambonius]

I don't think I can ever play another Telltale game without first waiting to hear about its reception among fans (of adventure games.)  I just hope they don't make King's Quest's anus bleed TOO badly.

[Fierce Deity]

It still reminds me of Jurassic Park, and how badly they screwed that up. It may not be a full on QTE, but I think it was trying to blend too much together. Picking up a shotgun shell, that's fine. Picking up the shotgun, makes the shotgun shell a little more useful. Reloading, but then dropping the shell. Really? Butterfingers much? Then as soon as you load up the shotgun successfully, the search cursor becomes an aiming reticle? Who does Telltale think they are appealing to? Call of Duty fans? They've already isolated their adventure fans and can't seem to adapt to any other genre, so who's left?

[MikPal]

Sorry, but I'm not seeing the FPS-aspect from this video, though the extreme linearity I can see. Sure, there's a POV shot where the cursor is used as a reticle, but I wouldn't go as far as calling it a first person shooter. Old Police Quest games had same kind of scenarios, where you would use the cursor to aim.

And if it is their way of trying to get Call of Duty-fans to try their adventure games, so what? Wouldn't it be good that people have an avenue to discover something from the past that will be new to them?

[Datadog]

Looks like "Jurassic Park" with walking characters now and, if I'm not mistaken, inventory. But not an FPS, that's for sure. There's a first-person perspective at some point, and the guy does shoot something, but it really looks like a "use shell on gun" puzzle mixed in with a "pick up the bullet again" quick-time event just to keep you focused. The first-person perspective simply looks like an art direction choice.

I think Telltale is trying to get into the business of making point-n-click interactive movies. Not that I hated "Jurassic Park" because, for what it is, I did think it was an exciting experience. But as a true adventure game, all the exploration is lost here when the two items you need to solve the puzzle are right next to your hands. Then again, it would probably seem less like the TV show if solving this puzzle required you to pop the trunk with a spatula to get the gun, and trade a piece of cheese to a squirrel in exchange for the bullet.

I'll probably check this game out at some point. I do like their story-telling more than anything and this preview does have me hooked. But I feel compelled to watch the series first before starting.

[Cez]

Chris makes a great point. The Walking Dead doesn't quite fit the adventure genre we all love. It's all about killing zombies, and well, surviving, and talking to people and working through stuff. I was personally feeling tense through that whole thing with the bullet and the gun, and dropping the bullet and ahhh! Seems like it would be great to play it.

I actually quite liked that presentation. It hooked me. It looks beautiful, it seems fun, and it's not on rails. Looks like they may be now closer to the whole "Heavy Rain" thing they wanted to do with JP.

I personally find that video very exciting. They definitely learned a thing or two from JP, and they listened to people.

But one thing's for sure. Telltale seems to be moving away more and more from pure adventure games. The bigger these franchises they are working on become, the more they'll move away from it.

as for King's Quest.... I've heard a thing or two, but I can't tell much

[Blackthorne]

More modern gaming crap.

Hand holding, telling you where to go and what to do.... "Press "A" here!"..... look here.... Look around to find your way out of the car.


Gamers are uckingfay idiots.

Shame on game makers for pandering to this.


Bt

[Fierce Deity]

Sorry, but I'm not seeing the FPS-aspect from this video, though the extreme linearity I can see. Sure, there's a POV shot where the cursor is used as a reticle, but I wouldn't go as far as calling it a first person shooter. Old Police Quest games had same kind of scenarios, where you would use the cursor to aim.

And if it is their way of trying to get Call of Duty-fans to try their adventure games, so what? Wouldn't it be good that people have an avenue to discover something from the past that will be new to them?

I'm not saying that they are turning it into a FPS, I'm just saying that they are using an FPS-esque aspect. Shooting a shotgun at a zombie in first-person, is my definition of FPS. I'm not saying that Telltale is on the verge of making online multiplayer, and releasing map packs as DLC (although they did have "Download Content" on their main menu). Just a strict definition of what FPS stands for, a first-person shooter. Also, they aren't going to appeal to CoD fans, I said that sarcastically. But if a CoD fan were to pick it up, it would be on his own accord, it does not have anything to do with his demographic.

Pray tell, what could a gamer discover from The Walking Dead Video Game that would be something from the "past"? Like I had said, it's not an adventure game, and like Cesar said, it's closer to Heavy Rain. So if anything, it's inspired by a fresh new concept. The players would have to discover something from the "present" that would be new to them, not the "past".

In which case, more power to them, but if their core fans were turned away, I'm just asking, who's left to support the development of these games, the temporary fans? They make a Back to the Future game to satiate a BttF fan's appetite. Then they work on Jurrasic Park to try to bring together the fans of a movie series long since dispersed. Now they are hopping on a brand new band wagon, for a series that is still new today. I'm less interested in the game, and more interested in how it will do after release.

[KatieHal]

Bt: Yes there's direction, but this is the opening scene. Having some tutorial notes in the first scene like this happens in MOST games now. Those messages peter out as the gameplay goes on, even in this video. I'm certainly not going to fault them for including some tutorial.

As for the FPS-style section, it was brief, and that viewpoint works well for that moment--it puts in that character's panicked, time-is-running-out-oh-crap-oh-crap perspective and it works. Then it gets out of that and moves on to the third person perspective again.

Since TTG is continuing to make games of this style, I have to imagine that they are gaining more fans than they are losing them. A good chunk of that has to be due to the popular franchises they're working with, yes, but if the model wasn't working, they wouldn't keep doing it.

[Lambonius]

as for King's Quest.... I've heard a thing or two, but I can't tell much

Much?  Or anything? 

Also, why mention it at all if not to just twist the knife?  lol

[Blackthorne]

I just hate game tutorials.  They're so lame.  I know they're common now, but it doesn't mean I have to like them.


Yeah, I suppose they're gaining more fans.  I guess I would rather make and release a game I was proud of, and sell less copies, than make another generic piece of crap and sell a ton.


Bt

[wilco64256]

Much?  Or anything? 

Also, why mention it at all if not to just twist the knife?  lol

Yes we've heard things.  Not many things but a few things.  Interesting things to be sure, but not things we can share.

*twists knife*

[Lambonius]

Much?  Or anything? 

Also, why mention it at all if not to just twist the knife?  lol

Yes we've heard things.  Not many things but a few things.  Interesting things to be sure, but not things we can share.

*twists knife*

Answer me this, then:  Are those things more likely to make me bristle with uncontrollable rage or uncontrollable sexual arousal?

[KatieHal]

I thought for you those two things were the same! 

[wilco64256]

Answer me this, then:  Are those things more likely to make me bristle with uncontrollable rage or uncontrollable sexual arousal?

If I thought that anything I said to you would have either of those effects on you I wouldn't be able to sleep for a week.

[Fierce Deity]

The FPS-style was creative, I'll give it that. I just hope that the use of that style is few and far between. The rest of the gameplay was more or less like Jurassic Park. I do see a bit of improvement from Jurassic Park to Walking Dead. I hope they just continue inching their way back to point & click. Clearly, Jurassic Park and Walking Dead are more action-oriented and may need that "oh-crap-oh-crap" action sequences and QTEs, but when it comes to King's Quest, they should know who the game is going to appeal to. I don't know how I would react to a King's Quest game that was filled with QTEs.

On a side note, has anybody actually played through Jurassic Park completely and think it was a pretty decent game? I've been dissuaded by the whole thing since I saw the first gameplay video, and coincidentally, I feel the same way about The Walking Dead. But was it a decent experience considering what it was (a QTE marathon)?

[Lambonius]

Regardless of how I feel about the gameplay--I have to say I think this game looks considerably uglier in motion than it did in the still screenshots we saw a while ago.  Telltale really needs to just take one for the team and get a new engine--it's starting to look painfully dated.

[KatieHal]

Of note, this came up in an email amongst the team, I do wish they'd gone for a B&W game to fully emulate the comic. That would've been awesome. Challenging to do, of course, but that's one reason it would've been awesome.