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Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent |OT| of "click here if you like Professor Layton"

Dragmire

Member
Still waiting for this on WiiWare. And before anyone rolls their eyes at that (because I know some people think it's dumb), sometimes you just want certain games on certain formats and 'playing it right now' isn't a big issue. I wanna play it on my TV with a Wii Remote. Hopefully we'll see it this Monday.
 

Wizpig

Member
Dragmire said:
Still waiting for this on WiiWare. And before anyone rolls their eyes at that (because I know some people think it's dumb), sometimes you just want certain games on certain formats and 'playing it right now' isn't a big issue. I wanna play it on my TV with a Wii Remote. Hopefully we'll see it this Monday.
It's not dumb, i just don't like the idea because of Wii SD.
But if you feel like the game will be cooler on Wii, you made the right decision about waiting.
 

the-iek

Member
iPhone version released in New Zealand today and should be online elsewhere in a few hours. Can anyone clear the question if there are retina graphics?
 

Jake

Member
the-iek said:
iPhone version released in New Zealand today and should be online elsewhere in a few hours. Can anyone clear the question if there are retina graphics?

I don't know if the current iPhone SKU has high res business for the iPhone 4 or not, because I'm lame. I'll try and remember to check.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
the-iek said:
iPhone version released in New Zealand today and should be online elsewhere in a few hours. Can anyone clear the question if there are retina graphics?
Alleluia! :D
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
runs really well on my iPhone 4. doesn't look like it's at native res, which is a bit of a shame, but it performs pretty much perfectly so far and the simple colours and art don't draw attention to it. it's really cool to be playing a game of this scale on the iPhone.
 

protonion

Member
Finally played it on my 3gs. Good game, but it's not Layton.

The "arrange the pieces" puzzles are poorly designed. As you randomly move them, the pieces stick with the each other and the puzzle is solved with little effort. They could program it so that the pieces stick in the correct place on the board. That would be better I think.

Also in some puzzles where the rules are in the puzzle screen (like the fish and key puzzle) the letters are hard to read.

Most of the puzzles are very good. Story and characters are OK.
Must buy for all the puzzle lovers and Layton fans!
 

Wizpig

Member
protonion said:
The "arrange the pieces" puzzles are poorly designed. As you randomly move them, the pieces stick with the each other and the puzzle is solved with little effort. They could program it so that the pieces stick in the correct place on the board. That would be better I think.
!
Yep, this is one of my major complaints with the game.
 

Jake

Member
iPhone version is 99 cents for a week. Also, a version with higher res not blurry textures is in the app store submission queue now, so that issue should be less lame in the near future.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
Jake said:
iPhone version is 99 cents for a week. Also, a version with higher res not blurry textures is in the app store submission queue now, so that issue should be less lame in the near future.
:) great to hear about the up-res.
 

SmokyDave

Member
I have this on iPhone and I'm really looking forward to getting into it. One thing though, is there any reason to buy the PC version if I have the iPhone version? Is the iPhone version content complete? It seems to be too cheap in comparison to the PC version.
 

Drakken

Member
Just finished it. Definitely enjoyed it - quirky characters, neat animation, and an interesting story. Its main problem is that too many of the puzzles are samey. Also the ones where you have to arrange pieces to fit together are kind of silly, since you end up just moving pieces around till they click together. Some of the puzzles could be explained better as well.

The
gnomes
are the stuff of nightmares. Honestly, every time
they turned their eyes to look at you...
 
I just beat it I think, I watched the credits roll at least.

Was that the real ending? There was such buildup and I was really getting into the story, characters, and then just like that it's over with no explanation. What a letdown to an otherwise amazing game.

If that was the real ending then is there some kind of sequel in the works?
 

WEGGLES

Member
RuneFactoryFanboy said:
I just beat it I think, I watched the credits roll at least.

Was that the real ending? There was such buildup and I was really getting into the story, characters, and then just like that it's over with no explanation. What a letdown to an otherwise amazing game.

If that was the real ending then is there some kind of sequel in the works?
Came here to post this.

Did I spend too much taxpayer money to get the "real" end.

It really seems like a "you dun fucked up" ending to a game with multiple endings...
 
RuneFactoryFanboy said:
If that was the real ending then is there some kind of sequel in the works?
Puzzle Agent was part of Telltales "pilot-program", meaning they release an episode and see if there's enough interest to warrant a follow-up. So we could get a sequel, they haven't let us know yet.
 

Celine

Member
Crescendo170 said:
Puzzle Agent was part of Telltales "pilot-program", meaning they release an episode and see if there's enough interest to warrant a follow-up. So we could get a sequel, but they haven't said anything about it.
Have they said anything about the others initiatives in the program ?
Seems after PA they went silent on it.
Kind of understandable with the Universal deal.
 
Celine said:
Have they said anything about the others initiatives in the program ?
Seems after PA they went silent on it.
Kind of understandable with the Universal deal.
I think I remember hearing that Poker Night at the Inventory is part of the Pilot Program.
 

Jake

Member
Poker Night technically is, and we have some other stuff bubbling on back burners like we always do. It's rare that there isn't a weird side project going on, just in the last year we've started actually finishing and shipping them.
 
Jake said:
Poker Night technically is, and we have some other stuff bubbling on back burners like we always do. It's rare that there isn't a weird side project going on, just in the last year we've started actually finishing and shipping them.

Please make Poker Night a series with new characters every "episode".
 

Wizpig

Member
I too think that between Puzzle Agent and Poker Night i'd choose Poker Night... but i really want online matches!
 

duckroll

Member
Got the game as part of the Indies Story Pack. I remember playing the demo way back and not really digging it. Played a bit of the full game today, still not completely digging it. It's obviously a Layton clone, it just lacks the actual quality of what makes Layton great. The characters aren't really interesting, the story seems silly and dull, and the puzzles are pretty weak so far. Pretty average game which I wouldn't really care for if it wasn't 5 bucks with 4 other games.
 

Firehead

Member
Ugh... got the game during the sale and I'm unable to get passed the second puzzle, due to some graphical bug; the map appears over the logs I'm supposed to place and there's no way to complete it.
 

ArjanN

Member
duckroll said:
Got the game as part of the Indies Story Pack. I remember playing the demo way back and not really digging it. Played a bit of the full game today, still not completely digging it. It's obviously a Layton clone, it just lacks the actual quality of what makes Layton great. The characters aren't really interesting, the story seems silly and dull, and the puzzles are pretty weak so far. Pretty average game which I wouldn't really care for if it wasn't 5 bucks with 4 other games.

Hmm. I kind of felt the opposite about the story and characters, I think the Twin Peaks vibe in Puzzle Agent is a lot more interesting. The puzzles are also (slightly) more integrated in the story than with Layton. I would have preferred an actual adventure game with this setting though.
 

ismaboof

Member
I'm really, really digging this game. The puzzles and explanations aren't always crystal clear, but the story, characters, and general atmosphere are really interesting. One of the best $1 games I ever bought (5% for 5 games via steam sale). I'm about 100 minutes in.
 

Nedjoe

Neo Member
Finished this today and I enjoyed it so much. The music, voice acting and creepy atmosphere were all amazing. As people have said some of the puzzles' rules were a little hard to grasp but it didn't bother me too much in the long run. I reaaaaally hope the series continues in some fashion.
 

duckroll

Member
Finished it yesterday. Felt like a total waste of time honestly. Can't complain too much at the insane price I got it for though. Decent time waster. Story was completely inconclusive, none of the story hooks expanded into plot points, and even the central mystery wasn't solved. Piss poor conclusion. Puzzles were average at best. Interface wasn't great. The only thing I actually liked about the game was the twist in some of the puzzles in the later half of the game. It was effective in what it wanted to invoke in terms of presentation, but again, it ultimately amounted to nothing.

Disappointing game, do not recommend except for the most hardcore puzzle fans.
 

Brak

Member
I grabbed this during the Steam sale and finished it over the course of a couple days. Liked it quite a bit, although, as others have said, the puzzles aren't that tricky other than deciphering the wording sometimes. Ultimately, the puzzles aren't what makes Layton good though, so it didn't bother me. And the game succeeds quite handily in the same ways that Layton succeeds: Artstyle, Music, Characters, Atmosphere. This game reminded me a lot of Twin Peaks, which is a very good thing. I assume that most of the people who are enjoying the game are Lynch fans, and Duckroll probably isn't. As far as plot points left hanging, questions left unanswered, and the abrupt ending, it didn't really bother me because I like little mysteries in my fiction and I am cautiously optimistic that there will be further episodes. Here's the short recommend (more of a review) that I threw up on Steam:

"Think Professor Layton meets Twin Peaks. You play Nelson Tethers, FBI Agent, who is dispatched to a small town to investigate a disturbance in their eraser factory. This game lifts Layton's point & click adventure with non-sequitur puzzles almost entirely, right down to a town full of puzzle obsessed residents. Even for those who like Layton (like me), nobody gets that excited to solve a sliding block puzzle, so don't get too excited about the gameplay. Where the game shines, much like Layton, is in its presentation. Puzzle Agent has a beautiful pastel artstyle, a haunting soundtrack, and a bizarre story that is very reminiscent of Twin Peaks. Like all good point & click adventure games, Puzzle Agent sets you in a story with interesting characters you want to talk to, and locales you want to explore. Any David Lynch fan will appreciate the way it blends comedy of the absurd with dark and disturbing themes. The game is short (4 hours), but certainly worth $5 for adventure fans."

Also: Those gnomes really creeped me the fuck out.
 

duckroll

Member
graywolf323 said:
odd Steam just pushed an update for the game today, was almost 150MB

wonder what that was?

You can check you know. :)

http://store.steampowered.com/news/4718/

Updates to Puzzle Agent have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Fixes
Render Layer Issues on NVidia 400 Series Video Cards – Fixes the graphics bug that blocked players at the first snowmobile puzzle.
Text Not Displaying on Non-English OS: Fixes issue that caused all in-game text to disappear if the game was running on an OS set to any language but English.

Rules Updates
Two puzzles— Maw of Madness and Hydraulic Headache – had additional rules text added that clarifies the requirements of the puzzles.

Puzzle Updates

Room Key Confusion: In the original version, the “NINE” text was much bigger and vertically-oriented. In this updated version it appears smaller, and is horizontal. The essence of the puzzle is still the same, but the changes make it more straightforward to figure out.
Cut Your Losses: In the original version, the goal was to draw a line connecting all the players that intersected with every pane of glass. In the updated version, the goal is identical to the first football puzzle: Draw a line connecting all the players that avoids every pane of glass.
 
I just finished the game, thought it was a pleasant game. I loved the atmosphere and odd characters.

However I must say some of the obscure puzzle designs were a bit unclear on the rules and some just felt absurd. However the puzzles did get better and more enjoyable to solve as I progressed into the game. I loved the optional bug puzzles. The log/snowmobile ones were also a nice. It was just in the beginning it didn't feel as satisfying.

Of the terrible puzzles I would like to mention the map part with those elfs towards the lake and those fit the pieces together puzzles. How satisfying is it making something fit a certain space when you just add them together until they click. Those could have been avoided.
 
Rules Updates
Two puzzles— Maw of Madness and Hydraulic Headache – had additional rules text added that clarifies the requirements of the puzzles.

Stump and I were complaining about the rules text for Hydraulic Headache in the Give & Get Sale thread. A pleasant surprise it was actually changed.

Cut Your Losses: In the original version, the goal was to draw a line connecting all the players that intersected with every pane of glass. In the updated version, the goal is identical to the first football puzzle: Draw a line connecting all the players that avoids every pane of glass.

This is odd though. Is a football team's breaking windows for revenge considered too violent or condoning vandalism or something?

Er. Aren't there absolutely massive spoilers for specific puzzles in those patch notes?

Yes. Yes there are.
 
someguyinahat said:
This is odd though. Is a football team's breaking windows for revenge considered too violent or condoning vandalism or something?
I sort of remember there being two solutions to that one, one that was more aligned with the solution of the first puzzle of that kind. I eventually found the other solution, but was still a bit miffed that the first one didn't count as well.
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Hm, posted a review of this a couple days ago, had a fun time with it. I dunno Duckroll, I personally loved the presentation and story, and it made up for the lackluster puzzling for me. It felt like the writers knew when to lay stuff out and when to let us draw our own conclusions or confused inferences (I like not knowing exactly what was going on in that factory, lends a whole weird air to everything)

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=24645025&postcount=411
 

Brak

Member
The_Technomancer said:
Hm, posted a review of this a couple days ago, had a fun time with it. I dunno Duckroll, I personally loved the presentation and story, and it made up for the lackluster puzzling for me. It felt like the writers knew when to lay stuff out and when to let us draw our own conclusions or confused inferences (I like not knowing exactly what was going on in that factory, lends a whole weird air to everything)

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=24645025&postcount=411
That's a great review and basically mirrors my own thoughts (no wonder I think it's good :p), especially in regards to the fantastic voice acting.
 

Jake

Member
Buttonbasher said:
I sort of remember there being two solutions to that one, one that was more aligned with the solution of the first puzzle of that kind. I eventually found the other solution, but was still a bit miffed that the first one didn't count as well.
Yeah that puzzle shipped with enough technically valid but not supported solutions that it was just re-done fir the update.
 

Celine

Member
Completed it just before starting BTTF.
Fantastic presentation and music, with an interesting atmophere.
Too bad the puzzle portion is weak and has some interface problem.

Will buy a sequel if done.
 

jgkspsx

Member
Got this in the Steam bundle, was inspired by the weather to actually finish it. I love everything about the game besides the gameplay.

The puzzles were OK, and different enough from most of Layton's puzzles, that I didn't feel burned out on them. Seemed like too much reuse of certain puzzles, though. No real increase in challenge throughout the game, but I guess the last Layton was the same way. Mostly, though, the unskippable "puzzle results" stuff, while very funny the first time, got really old by the 35th time. Basically, I suspect I'd have liked it more if it were a normal adventure game. Still, can't complain for the price.

The story, voice acting, writing, music/sounds, and more than anything the art really blew me away. I would not have finished the game if I weren't so hooked on the storytelling. My favorite parts of the game:
stovepipe and last gear. Aaaaah!

I've spent the rest of the evening checking out the grickle youtube channel (even darker than the game - mostly scored with Penderecki!!) and assorted cartoons. Will definitely pick up his book. BTW, the inclusion of the (spoilers at link if you're less than halfway through) campground on the game map is just awesome.
 
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