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Broken Age |OT| A Double Fine Adventure! [iPad/Ouya Act One out now]

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D

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
I absolutely love the game as well.

While it does feel a tad short, I'm Ok with the steady pace at which things move forward. Standing around for an hour uncertain of what to do just isn't something I want to partake in any longer.

There's certainly more content here than, say, Full Throttle, for instance.
 
B

bigwinnerx

Member
I think the minimalist nature of the spaces lends to it feeling shorter.

Just thinking back on Sam and Max or DOTT and how busy those screens were between Snuckeys, museums, offices, parks, maps, the screens were very, very busy with items. Broken Age looks and feels more minimalistic, so, the answers to the puzzles pop out a lot quicker. It does feel more Full Throttle than the others in that respect.

Note, I finished Shay and I've talked to the guru, the Vella scenes do get a little busier.
 
SEGAvangelist

SEGAvangelist

Gold Member
Just finished the Vella half late last night. Shay will be tonight. So far I'm happy with the game, but it is a bit easy. Hopefully Act II brings more interesting puzzles. The writing is stellar, so far, though. This is definitely more Full Throttle and less Day of the Tentacle.
 
C

CarbonRevenge

Banned
My favorite part of Shays little thing is the Ice Cream Avalanche stuff. Made my day when I played it for the first time yesterday.

Kind of sad i'm a slacker backer and didn't get any soundtrack access. It means I probably have to separately buy the Steam edition with it or wait till the DF Bandcamp page gets the soundtrack added.
 
F

Fireblend

Banned
Only got to play it a little bit yesterday as it took more than expected to download, but I'm loving it so far. I really hope this gets the stellar reviews it deserves.
 
K

kerotan_eater

Banned
Hi everyone,

I'm just curious, how long is Act 1? I'm going to buy it anyway, but I am simply curious. Sorry if this has been asked before, I don't really want to go through this thread.
 
K

Kabuki Quantum Lover

Member
Played a bit of it before going to bed. Got up to the cloud area. This game is visually stunning. I'm super impressed. I'm glad I stopped watching the behind-the-scenes stuff because I didn't want anything spoiled. The gameplay is adventure shenanigans, which is exactly what I paid for. I want to get back into it after work.
 
B

bigwinnerx

Member
After I stopped, I did go back and watch a couple doc videos I hadn't yet watched, I guess the last 3 or so. Was going to wait until the Bluray, but, was cool to see some of the voice actors do their work after having played the game.
 
Z

Zweisy1

Member
Im pretty damn impressed with what Double Fine did here. So much better than I expected actually.. Really enjoying the writing, art and music, the puzzles are pretty well designed too even though they're definitely on the easy side.

If the second part keeps the quality up this might rank up there with Day of the Tentacle for me.. already like it better than Full Throttle for example.

Really proud to have my name in the credits of such an excellent game.
 
Haunted

Haunted

Member
There's just solid logic to the puzzles, and that's hugely important. And it's not that brand of silly adventure game logic, either.

I feel that they've also done a fine job subtly hinting at some of the puzzle solutions throughout the game's incidental and item dialogue, which only the best designed adventure games manage to do.

Once or twice I noticed that it was a bit heavy-handed, but usually it managed that balance just fine.

i.e. subtle:
upon using the fruit on yourself, Vella eats it, spits out the core and remarks "what a large pit" as a seemingly throwaway comment. But the word "pit" is in the player's mind now and when the Riddle of Yorn comes along, this should direct the thoughts into the right direction. Subtle, not too obvious, yet very deliberate.

i.e. heavy handed:
Vella's final ladder puzzle, clicking on the ladder in the inventory, she says "I'd really like to stab this in this thing's mouth" or something along those lines. That't just too direct, basically straight-up telling you what to do.
 
Z

zroid

Banned
put in about two hours this morning and really enjoying it. pretty sure i've heard almost every possible dialogue so far because i don't want to miss a thing, since it's all so good. that includes offering whatever item to whoever. :p


I tend to get really annoyed with the puzzles in a lot of adventure games, but I haven't felt that way so far in this game. it made me really, really dislike Machinarium, for example. and besides, some of the hints are hilarious!
 
P

Peff

Member
Haunted said:
There's just solid logic to the puzzles, and that's hugely important. And it's not that brand of silly adventure game logic, either.

I feel that they've also done a fine job subtly hinting at some of the puzzle solutions throughout the game's incidental and item dialogue, which only the best designed adventure games manage to do.

Once or twice I noticed that it was a bit heavy-handed, but usually it managed that balance just fine.

i.e. subtle:
upon using the fruit on yourself, Vella eats it, spits out the core and remarks "what a large pit" as a seemingly throwaway comment. But the word "pit" is in the player's mind now and when the Riddle of Yorn comes along, this should direct the thoughts into the right direction. Subtle, not too obvious, yet very deliberate.
Click to expand...

Does it really matter when
the riddle itself goes on and on to the point where the only way you couldn't possibly get it is if you don't know there are peaches in the first place? There is more than a fair share of other puzzles where they really go too far with the hints as well: the tree choking up after every line, Shay shouting what he needs to complete the space suit to himself, the teleporters flat out telling you how the head shrinking works, the other sacrifices telling Vella what they want... you can even solve one without knowing it exists at all (throwing Gus off the branch).
 
B

Berordn

Member
LiK said:
Nope, it's linear but there's a lot of optional dialogue. Man, just let some chatter play by and it was hilarious.
Click to expand...

There's actually a lot of bonus dialogue if you backtrack to "completed" areas with items from later in the game, especially in Vella's story. Going back to Meriloft with certain smelly items evokes a reaction from a few.
 
N

neos

Member
I've completed Shay's part and i'm 1 hour into Vella's.
This game is a thing of beauty,bravo Double Fine.
Just met
m'ggie
, i love her voice, just perfectly fitting.

Nu bugs to point at, the game looked well polished to me.
 
F

Five

Banned
neos said:
Just met
m'ggie
, i love her voice, just perfectly fitting.
Click to expand...

I thought the same. She and Vella's sister had really cute voices that made me d'aww. When
M'ggie
mentioned that she'd
get off the clouds if she could
, the first thing I tried to do after
lowering the ladder
was go back to her and see if she'd want to come with me.
 
E

epmode

Member
I've only played for a little bit but I'm disappointed that the UI and game design is so obviously aimed at tablets versus PCs. Having to move the mouse into a corner and press a button to bring up the inventory screen, single clicks on everything, only a single interaction type (as opposed to LOOK/USE), etc.

The voice acting is great, of course.
 
R

Remachinate

Member
Played through it all in one sitting last night and loved it. It's a lot like Machinarium in that the puzzles aren't terribly difficult, and are really there to keep the player busy while admiring the fantastic visuals and world design. Extremely satisfied with the first act as a backer.
 
F

Five

Banned
epmode said:
I've only played for a little bit but I'm disappointed that the UI and game design is so obviously aimed at tablets versus PCs. Having to move the mouse into a corner and press a button to bring up the inventory screen, single clicks on everything, only a single interaction type (as opposed to LOOK/USE), etc.
Click to expand...

For what it's worth, I remapped most of the controls to my mouse, which turned out to be a fantastic experience. Open Inventory was on right click and skip cutscene was on middle mouse. I played the game reclined in a comfortable chair with my mouse on my knee, and it was quite a joy.

As far as look/use, most of the game is click on something in the environment to look, drag something from the inventory to use. Only a few things actually conflated the two, I thought.
 
L

LiK

Member
Berordn said:
There's actually a lot of bonus dialogue if you backtrack to "completed" areas with items from later in the game, especially in Vella's story. Going back to Meriloft with certain smelly items evokes a reaction from a few.
Click to expand...

I'm probably gonna do more revisits during a replay before Act 2 comes out.
 
O

Ogni-XR21

Member
epmode said:
I've only played for a little bit but I'm disappointed that the UI and game design is so obviously aimed at tablets versus PCs. Having to move the mouse into a corner and press a button to bring up the inventory screen, single clicks on everything, only a single interaction type (as opposed to LOOK/USE), etc.

The voice acting is great, of course.
Click to expand...

This can easily be avoided by remapping 'opening the inventory' to the right mouse button.
 
G

Gazoinks

Member
Just finished it, loved every second of it. I can see why some people wouldn't like the low difficulty, but I didn't really mind. It let me experience the story without the pacing grinding to a halt while I stared at the same screen for an hour. But I'm not a huge puzzle game person. :p

It looked and sounded gorgeous, I really love the art. Great VA too, and excellent use of an all-star voice cast without it becoming "name the actor".

The moment-to-moment writing was really good, and I'm really looking forward to seeing where the story goes. Lot of mysteries to clear up, especially on Shay's side.
Clever that they had the two switch places at the end, since it'll allow them to reuse assets without it feeling lazy. I'm curious what Mom's reaction to Vella will be.
 
F

Five

Banned
For story in Act II, does anyone else think that
Steel Bunting created Mog Chothra? I feel like Shay will be discovering the roots of Bossa Nova during his terrestrial visit. Then again, the Dead Eye God seems to share origins with Shay on some level, but wasn't from Steel Bunting.
 
G

Gazoinks

Member
abe_bly said:
For story in Act II, does anyone else think that
Steel Bunting created Mog Chothra? I feel like Shay will be discovering the roots of Bossa Nova during his terrestrial visit. Then again, the Dead Eye God seems to share origins with Shay on some level, but wasn't from Steel Bunting.
Click to expand...

I think one thing to keep in mind, is that we don't really know what Mog Chothra's real purpose is. He was gobbling up the maidens, but only once Merrick showed up. What was Mog doing before then, when Merrick wasn't around?

Also, the guards of the Pyramid mention a ragnarok-ish prophecy about a battle against multiple Mogs. Something to keep in mind.
 
F

Five

Banned
Gazoinks said:
I think one thing to keep in mind, is that we don't really know what Mog Chothra's real purpose is. He was gobbling up the maidens, but only once Merrick showed up. What was Mog doing before then, when Merrick wasn't around?

Also, the guards of the Pyramid mention a ragnarok-ish prophecy about a battle against multiple Mogs. Something to keep in mind.
Click to expand...

Well there are fourteen years between Mog's visits. Marek was pretty insistent on leaving one of the maidens behind at each place. Maybe he was trying to get someone like Vella to break the tradition and revolt. Then again, would any of the maiden-nabbing have occurred if not for Marek? Hmmm.

I also wonder how the implications that Mom was once a sacrifice girl play into the narrative. Maybe Bossa Nova harvests maidens and one of them becomes the new Mom? But then there's the question of where Shay actually came from, who the father is. Eh, I should probably just wait for Act II.
 
Y

yarden24

Member
abe_bly said:
Well there are fourteen years between Mog's visits. Marek was pretty insistent on leaving one of the maidens behind at each place. Maybe he was trying to get someone like Vella to break the tradition and revolt. Then again, would any of the maiden-nabbing have occurred if not for Marek? Hmmm.

I also wonder how the implications that Mom was once a sacrifice girl play into the narrative. Maybe Bossa Nova harvests maidens and one of them becomes the new Mom? But then there's the question of where Shay actually came from, who the father is. Eh, I should probably just wait for Act II.
Click to expand...

dont forget that maidens were taken from the cloud colony before shay met marek so i assume marek did the maiden picking before that...

I assume the maidens are in cryosleep so they can repopulate a world with shay when he is older?
 
B

BearPawB

Banned
What a game! End game spoilers/thoughts below!

I honestly did not see that ending coming. I probably should have. But it was absolutely beautifully done. Act 2 can't come soon enough

Thought there was one bullshit puzzle sort of. I had no idea you could get a peach. You can beat the area/get super far without needing the peach. Reading this thread someone mentioned fruit, I realized what i missed. And ah! The peach pit must be the answer. So i got the fruit, tried giving it to the lumberjack, he ate it. So i went back to get more. This time i ate it myself! No pit. Third time, and a lot of wasted time later, i finally just gave the peach to the blind kids and that did it. Maybe i am an idiot. But that fruit was obscure.


Not that it ruined the game in the slightest. Every other moment was magical.
 
V

VandalD

Member
yarden24 said:
dont forget that maidens were taken from the cloud colony before shay met marek so i assume marek did the maiden picking before that...

I assume the maidens are in cryosleep so they can repopulate a world with shay when he is older?
Click to expand...
Marek didn't do it at all that we know of. The first rescue mission was where Shay took the maidens from Meriloft and the girl who gives you the shoes is left behind, or at least it can be assumed so. Then the second rescue mission is the one where Vella gets away and possibly causes the lockdown on the ship by getting away and kicking the boom arm tentacle. Third mission is, of course, in Shellmound, which ends with Shay seeing a giant red eye as Vella puts a hole in the ship.
 
F

Five

Banned
yarden24 said:
I assume the maidens are in cryosleep so they can repopulate a world with shay when he is older?
Click to expand...

The thought had crossed my mind, but I didn't know how dark the game was planning to get. That sort of plot seems pretty dark to me.

BearPawB said:
What a game! End game spoilers/thoughts below!
Click to expand...

Something I'm noticing about the game is that people are getting stuck in different parts, which is great. I found the item you were missing by accident while searching for golden eggs, and initially thought it was part of the solution to the
bird knocking the ladder off
puzzle. Meanwhile, I never noticed the
driftwood in Shellmound
, presumably because its hotspot abutted some nearby features so I didn't notice my cursor changed.
 
G

Gazoinks

Member
VandalD said:
Marek didn't do it at all that we know of. The first rescue mission was where Shay took the maidens from Meriloft and the girl who gives you the shoes is left behind, or at least it can be assumed so. Then the second rescue mission is the one where Vella gets away and possibly causes the lockdown on the ship by getting away and kicking the boom arm tentacle. Third mission is, of course, in Shellmound, which ends with Shay seeing a giant red eye as Vella puts a hole in the ship.
Click to expand...

Which brings up the question of why one is left behind each time. And what are the "enemy ships" Marek was talking about? Are those completely imaginary?
 
V

VandalD

Member
Gazoinks said:
Which brings up the question of why one is left behind each time. And what are the "enemy ships" Marek was talking about? Are those completely imaginary?
Click to expand...
I was thinking that maybe the ship in the first mission was just one of the birds. No way of knowing why Marek wants one left behind, but he doesn't want it so much that he forces Shay to do otherwise, unless you count the first mission.

I only just put it together that Steel Bunting is just the old name of Sugar Bunting, back from when they were warriors. Not sure why that didn't sink in the first time. DEG did land about 300 years ago. Also, it's unknown whether mom made Prima Doom off limits because of DEG being there, or because that's a known ship crash site. Actually, maybe mom really is a sacrifice girl from 300+ years ago, and possibly the one who crashed DEG into what's now Shellmound.
 
Vert boil

Vert boil

Member
Just played through Vella and completed Act One. Ooooooh!

The only minor issue was her
climbing behind the ladder instead of being in front of it
.

Curtis having such a large head is really creepy. Reminds me of Frank Sidebottom.

Only gripe is with Vella's voice and Alex. Understandable why he's in there but he stuck out, even considering 300 years in stasis.
As for Vella, I didn't think the voice and character matched each other at all. Didn't stop me really enjoying Act 1.
 
N

neos

Member
I just stared at the title screen and listened to the theme for 10 minutes. Mesmerizing.
Props to the audio team.
Connel and Camden and whoever have done this has nailed it 100%.
 
W

Woenix Phright

Neo Member
Anyone know what I should do next? I didn't get a key from Humble Bundle, neither in widgets or Claim Past Purchases. Can't seem to get in contact with Humble Bundle either. i had them resend my keys but it wasn't there either.
 
J

jett

D-Member
That was super cute and charming. Dat cliffhanger. All in all it took about four hours and it was easy for a game of this sort, or rather, logical. :p Tim said he wanted to do away with the crazy out there stuff and he did. Enjoyed my time, bring on part 2.
 
R

Randdalf

Member
epmode said:
I've only played for a little bit but I'm disappointed that the UI and game design is so obviously aimed at tablets versus PCs. Having to move the mouse into a corner and press a button to bring up the inventory screen, single clicks on everything, only a single interaction type (as opposed to LOOK/USE), etc.

The voice acting is great, of course.
Click to expand...

I think the single interaction type makes sense to be honest. It confers several benefits on both the developer and the user. Multiple interaction types adds loads of additional dialogue requirements and makes the game more a task of finding the right interaction to use.
 
P

petethepanda

Member
Just finished, 3:41. Pretty great so far.

It really did find a perfect spot for the break narratively, but at the same time it wasn't a terribly satisfying ending in execution. Maybe if it had at least a bit more dialogue or something it would have felt more like an ending (like Walking Dead or Alan Wake) and not an abrupt stop.

The lack of sound effects in key moments, especially towards the end, kind of took away a lot of the "oomph" from literal and figurative impact of major beats.
 
M

megalowho

Member
Lol, the spoon.

I guess it's everyone's first impression, but whoa this game is beautiful. Feels almost surreal to be playing this - a new Tim Schafer point and click, the campaign and the documentaries, and well, the fact that it's so surreal. I want more of everything so far but I can respect how tight it flows, about an hour and a half in and I don't want to put it down. Bravo so far, Double Fine.

Also, Peter McConnell is a legend - amazing soundtrack, as usual.
 
C

celebi23

Member
So
I just woke up the Dead Eye God (Shay??!) and kinda don't know what to do next. I've got the stool, sprayed the maidens in the chum, sprayed Vella in shellmound's spray thing and I'm stumped
. Where should I be looking next?
 
MulderWasTaken

MulderWasTaken

Member
celebi23 said:
So
I just woke up the Dead Eye God (Shay??!) and kinda don't know what to do next. I've got the stool, sprayed the maidens in the chum, sprayed Vella in shellmound's spray thing and I'm stumped
. Where should I be looking next?
Click to expand...
Check on the Mayor.
You need something from him
.
 
L

Lunzio

Member
celebi23 said:
So
I just woke up the Dead Eye God (Shay??!) and kinda don't know what to do next. I've got the stool, sprayed the maidens in the chum, sprayed Vella in shellmound's spray thing and I'm stumped
. Where should I be looking next?
Click to expand...

IF I'm guessing correctly, you still need to help set up the sand castles for the Maiden's Feast? The "mayor" needs some help with keeping his molds together. There may be something in your past that you can turn to. But don't bother asking Curtis for help.
 
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