Review: Broken Age

[@TheBeastlybret]

"Why do we exist?" "I don't wanna fork that" Fucking gold.

[@TheBadFred]

Instead fork me hard!

[@ImJakeFromStateFarm]

I don't wanna fork that

[@snark567]

ImKylin And thus a meme was born.

[@ucupumar]

snark567 I don't wanna fork that

[@ThePuggeh]

snark567 I don't wanna fork that

[@SpooksMcDoofus]

ImKylin Vella, please, don't ever go into GitHub. You'll get triggered pretty bad.

[@MillywiggZ]

ImKylin I don't wanna fork wee poes.

[@ArchHippy]

That knot puzzle... Imagine watching clouds with someone and describing what the clouds look like to you. Relaxing, right? Now imagine that after each description, they told you to walk home and check to see if the answer was right.

[@brodersami]

I actually found the knot puzzle pretty simple, you just start with a shape you can recognize (a cows udder-looking thing for me), ask for instructions, and then follow them. No need to go back and check after every step of the instructions. That said there were a large number of puzzles that really annoyed me and made little sense, but I still thought it was an overall enjoyable experience. Not great, but not outright terrible either.

[@matthewmaurer3212]

Bruh it’s literally a shape it’s super easy took me two tries cuz I just thought it was random the hardest part of the game is definitely the last puzzle because you have to know all the wires for hexipixels and understand that you have distract both parents and in which order you have to do it took me like 8 tries and a wiki walkthrough that I still screwed up

[@CheshireSnake]

The art style in this game blew me away, which is the biggest reason why I enjoyed this game.

[@scrustle]

How the hell do you misuse Jack Black? He's Jack Black! You hire him to play Jack Black. Double Fine already did that perfectly in Brutal Legend.

[@WednesdaysSerial]

Scrustle the way to misuse Jack Black is to cast him.

[@WarMomPT]

Ryan Jackson The thing is, Jack Black in Brutal Legend was...basically Jack Black. The game didn't even bother trying to dress up its all-star cast as characters. Sure, Riggs didn't have a physical resemblance to Black, but the association's there from his musical work, and he's right there in the pre-menu intro. Similarly the guy voiced by Kyle Gass looks just like Kyle Gass. The Guardian of Metal has Ozzy's face, hair, glasses, and everything. Lemmy's character is named after Lemmy. The second, minor character voiced by Rob Halford (doing a voice more like his normal one) is styled after Halford's fashion sense. There's a time to have people 'act' (e.g. Tim Curry as Doviculus) and a time to have it be blatant that it's actually so-and-so playing the character.

[@WednesdaysSerial]

NuclearBunny970 I think +Scrustle seems pretty cool :)

[@WarMomPT]

Ryan Jackson My bad; I wasn't really disagreeing, just brainfarting in the thread.

[@schijtdileahs8988]

Scrustle I always hated Jack Black, he's so unfunny to me, but he is and remains an icon to his fans and beyond, loads of value lost due to the way they forced these voices into the game just to have those shiny credits.

[@Joshimuz]

Bloody hell that thumbnail

[@Srewtheshadow]

Joshimuz I don't wanna fork that.

[@MrLCGO]

I don't think I can tap that.

[@galacticspecter4364]

You can't break those cuffs

[@Zanador]

You can't milk those

[@halfhalo33]

Galactic Specter Hey, I understood that reference.

[@Redem10]

I don't think I can tap that....I don't wanna fork that...you sure it's meant for children?

[@LordDucky1]

Redem10 A lot of kids' cartoons and films include a few jokes for the parents too!

[@ZUV617]

Redem10 Kind of, it's pretty lame humor.

[@Redem10]

treeghettox Well the one thing I got from this review is that I really should get that remastering of Grim Fandago

[@LordDucky1]

treeghettox Damn it, you've just given me a reason to hate Portal!

[@UAPQ]

treeghettox WHAT!? Different people laugh at different stuff!?

[@PencilCase6B]

I hate how reviewers dismiss the puzzles in this game as not good, while at the same time calling it "a game for kids". If it's for kids, why can't you solve the puzzles? I truly think the puzzles in this game are perfect. Each has the exact amount of clues hidden in the game, usually in conversations. Proper exploring gives you all you need to solve the puzzles, and the logical connections you need to make by yourself are fantastic because they are always grounded in the logic of the clues you are given. It seems many reviewers are just not good at solving puzzles, so they just decide the game is not good... Such a shame.

[@Krisgebis]

I think episode 1 was genuinly good. The puzzles were pretty easy, you traveled alot, the writing was good (I think both episodes are funny), and it had a great cliffhanger ending. Episode 2 is the problem, with more difficult puzzles (more obscure logic), reuse of location, and a general bad direction on the story. Overall I think it is a good game, but sadly it doesnt finish as strong as it begins.

[@jacobogarcia8111]

I actually liked the game, it's not Grim Fandango but it isn't as bad as George puts it. It's true most characters lack personality though, there are no Glottis or Salvador Limones. There are some abstruse puzzles, but not even close to the classical adventure games, and the one I had problems with was due to the interface. It's not a memorable game by any stretch, but I think is a decent one. The cliffhanger at the end of chapter 1 was great; I also liked the villains and its themes of genetical purity, even if it wasnt very developed. It reminded me of Strangers Wrath, a game I adore.

[@aqualitymagentachickenmask3298]

This just in, Bunnyhop does not want to fork Broken Age.

[@CloudCuckooCountry]

Daaaaaaamn, I did not even know Wil Wheaton, Jack Black, and Elijah Wood were even in this game. By the way, that wiring puzzle you were doing while you were talking about having to brute-force the puzzles does actually have a solution that you can work out logically, but the clue that you need to figure it out is in the stupidest location, so yeah.

[@Flowtail]

What is it?

[@GravelordNEETo]

You couldn't tell the MC was Elijah Wood? He's using his normal voice?

[@bearpuns5910]

Who would think that a dumbbutt portrait of Shay's family would contain the secret to powering his robot?

[@anormalguy8407]

@@bearpuns5910 i did. But i do have a problem with how tf she is supposed to know how the harp animation for the little robot works. pure chance?

[@Tleilaxu0]

With adventure game puzzles, I'm surprised that we rarely see games do what Myst did. Myst had a hint screen, with multiple, tiered hints for each area, so even though a lot of the puzzles were very obtuse on their own, you could "customize" the difficulty. For example, one puzzle was a maze, and the correct path through the maze was given to you in the form of a sequence of sounds (as in, one sound would mean North, one would mean West, etc). The first hint would just tell you to listen, the second hint would tell you what the puzzle is, the third hint would tell you which sound corresponded with which direction, and then the fourth hint would just outright give you the directions.

[@duplux]

I'm one of those people how used to play all the old lucasart adventure games, and I absolutely adored Broken Age. I profoundly disagree with your review.

[@christopherrapczynski204]

Tyler Garrett I haven't played it but the visuals and art are amazing, so there's something.

[@porchcollapse8612]

Yea, I really enjoyed it

[@terracannon876]

I think this might be the first of your reviews I don't agree with. I've had more of a tolerance for the failings of adventure puzzles than most, though, and I liked the writing in the first half of the game for what it was. It felt like it was trying to tell a fairy tale where characters have their roles, but the world went awry. That was why I didn't expect them to be super rounded or 3D. I also don't think it's a matter of lowered expectations either. I felt like the tone lent itself for that, and that's exactly what I got. I honestly can't speak for the second half or how the pay off is because I didn't even realize the second half had been released, though. For what it is, I'm glad the game was finished. It could have improvements, of course, but so many games are left unfinished that it's nice to see something completely step out of the starting gate. I agree about the unnecessary nature of the star-studded cast though. But I felt the nitpicking at the way the artist draws the mouths was unnecessary. Yes, opinions, but I'm not sure it belongs in a video that critiques things above that level of nitpicking.

[@ClydeLeeM]

Having experienced this game now, I really don't get George's view this game is aimed at "younger" audiences at all. It's entirely sardonic and mocking with it's overthetop cuteness that is really funny for nostalgic folks. This may just be ole grouchy no fun left in the bones George he jokes he is. But there is plenty to have been edged off by this game, but I think the target was somewhere else.

[@kushalneil6582]

+ClydeLeeM Thank God! I was almost beginning to think that nobody could see it.

[@blackknight8937]

I think Tim Schafer has gone the way of George Lucas. Like George, he became famous making something awesome, but people overlooked the fact that the worked as part of a much larger team. It's not like Tim 'created' Full Throttle or Monkey Island as such, he was just an important part of the team. Now he's being asked to do stuff he's no good at, like budget approriately, all based on his over-inflated reputation as the 'creator' of awesome things.

[@JPSimmsHM]

The reason Broken Age (and other nostalgiabait point-and-clicks) don't work is because of the current video game market. When you played your first PnC game way back when, more than likely you didn't have many other games to switch to, if any at all. You didn't have the option to alt-tab to Steam and see what else was on your backlog. The only choice you had was to brute through the puzzles because 1.) you didn't have anything else to do and 2.) you probably didn't have access to/know how to use the internet. That's why PnC fans (myself included) have barin-damage-like affection for older games, because we were basically Stockholm'd by them.

[@OldyAlbert]

JPSimmsHM Actually now they more playable then ever - if you stuck for too long you can just see the solution for that puzzle. In my childhood i often drop this games just because i'm stuck for too long. But now i'm playing games like Deponia and Blackwell series and loving it!

[@browsertab]

JPSimmsHM And that's why puzzle games no longer exist. Oh. Wait.

[@Maldito011316]

JPSimmsHM No. The reason Broken Age (and other nostalgiabait point-and-clicks) don't work it's because they're just… bad. Want to play a good "modern" point and click game? Go play Gemini Rue.

[@ericv00]

lestatv3 Didn't like Gemini Rue, and I wanted to like Gemini Rue. It started so strong. I DID like Primordia, though.

[@McShizzify]

JPSimmsHM The reason we liked them was for the fun, clever writing and humorous dialog trees. Alse we liked the logic for a lot of the games. Bullshit logic games like Discworld and Broken Age kill adventure games.

[@unvergebeneid]

So you basically don't like point-and-click adventure games. Isn't the beauty of Kickstarter that we can have games that a majority of gamers don't like but some really do?

[@dlakodlak]

Penny Lane I think George's point is that point 'n click adventure does not necessarily mean "blushit puzzles + story game"

[@unvergebeneid]

***** "Did you not hear him say" that some people love these games for the very things he despises? Such as, puzzles? Also, this being a matter of opinion was my whole point really. Just read my comment again without the assumption that I'm trying to attack anyone.

[@unvergebeneid]

***** Can't argue with the fact that KZbin is a pretty hostile place :/

[@koishikomeiji400]

3.3 MILLION DOLLARS

[@dlakodlak]

Koishi Komeiji Much more actually. They burned through 3.3m KS money during development of first Act.

[@KuroOnehalf]

Koishi Komeiji It's not that much money, really. Especially once you take into account kickstarter's cut and the money used for making and delivering rewards. Try looking into breakdowns of game budgets.

[@TheTundraTerror]

Kuro Onehalf Keep in mind that they asked for only $400k So, they managed to get more then what they thought they needed, but still pissed it all away.

[@KuroOnehalf]

It could be that they raised the scope of the game accordingly. I don't have any idea if that's what actually happened here since I don't care for Double Fine's games and don't follow them but I'm just saying that's a very common thing to do in game project fundraising campaigns.

[@Ephabia]

Kuro Onehalf That's precisely what happened, feature creep.

[@MetalSocks]

Man I dunno what they were going for with that "retro" mode, like if it's supposed to be some sort of tongue-in-cheek joke or for real, because all it looks like someone just took the pixilation filter from Sony Vegas and just went with it. It doesn't work well at all. Never before have I seen such a bad filter worse than those smudges you get off of a GBA emulator.

[@suejak1]

MetalSocks If you watch the documentary, it's literally just a hobby feature the programmer did in a day and threw in on the weekend for fun. It's not a real commercial feature.

[@makomk]

suejak1 Yeah, I think in the initial release, the retro mode was actually an easter egg that was quite well hidden.

[@hyperteleXii]

suejak1 If it's in the commercial release, it's a commercial feature.

[@suejak1]

***** It's actually hidden and sort of hard to activate. This is a hidden bonus graphics filter, not a commercial feature.

[@grimbonkers4179]

MetalSocks Nice bashing with nit picking. Got more Durr to share?

[@LucyPero]

When you began to talk about Grim Fandango I was like "Please don't say it sucks, please don't say it sucks, you'll DESTROY me.." I was so relieved when you said that it was one of your favorite games ever, because I feel the same way. Too bad Broken Age doesn't seem that good. I played the first act when it came out, and I loved the twist at the end. After watching this, I'm not sure if I want to continue playing now.

[@ShrikeGFX]

Matías Pierdoménico why do you care about what he thinks of the game if you 100% like it yourself ? ...

[@trackts]

A Adventure game without puzzles isn't just a Visual Novel?

[@willwarren]

trackts The Walking Dead..?

[@trackts]

Still a storyline branched by text based options... unless you consider the few QTEs game defining. I really like them but, that's what they are...

[@willwarren]

In the words of Tom Hanks in Cloud Atlas "You speak the true true"

[@Sinrus1]

I don't understand the complaint against characters being open about their emotions and motivations. What's wrong with a game not having subtlety with character motivations if the character is not meant to be subtle? I also didn't have a problem with the dialogue. Yah it wasn't emotionally charged but the setting didn't really ask for that (aside from maybe the girl in some parts where she was being threatened by the creature. Also in regards to adventure games puzzles they often had the answers to their questions built into the puzzle and highlighted by the puzzle's design in some way. If anything, the biggest block I would find when solving a puzzle was my own obsession with "it can't be solved." The exception I feel is the puzzle where you are the girl in the temple and you need to get a specific item from a specific place and the only clue you would have is to look at the shape of the indent and begin to explore the areas you already visited while inspecting all the rooms closely.

[@primroan5354]

I don't wanna fork that. This is how forced memes are made, George. Anyway, I never grew up with these sorts of games. So the whole thing is kinda lost on me. That said, Tim Schafer games, and uh... Tim Schafer... don't exactly have the best reputation. And it's mostly deserved. The whole voice acting thing is rapidly starting turn me off in video games. Unless they can justify it in the budget, getting these big names that require more and more money just doesn't seem like a sound investment. Good voice acting, sub par game (oh hey Bioware) That seems to be the way things are trending nowadays.

[@Steve3child]

Prim Roan "doesn't seem like a _sound_ investment" You son of a bitch

[@RaccoonRocket]

Prim Roan Tim said in the documentary that they didn't have to pay a lot for these celebrity voice actors because they wanted to be a part of the game. Elijah Wood is actually a big fan of adventure games and one of his tweets to Tim ended up landing him the job.

[@primroan5354]

***** www.gamesradar.com/why-do-we-keep-forgiving-double-fine/

[@primroan5354]

3.3 million dollars worth of laughable?

[@Tamacat388]

Prim Roan The article is a little off base but its true that Schafer is getting off a bit easy a lot of the time. I don't understand its complaints about Kickstarter though, projects going over budget, projects getting cancelled, not all promises being reached I mean...its like they're making _video games_ or something. That all sounds like standard practice. Most games have these issues the only difference is that this game sucks and the other games are underwhelming. But almost every game goes over budget and take longer to make than predicted, same with movies and books. Every Resident Evil game started out as something else before the project was completely scrapped and restarted well, every Resident Evil except 5 and 6 (fucking masterpieces those games). Those all cost more than 3.3 million I think even if you adjust for inflation. Links Awakening and Ocarina started as completely different games. Sometimes it works and you get a masterpiece like Shadow of the Colossus, also games started as a completely different game that went over budget, sometimes you get shit like a Daikatana or Broken Age. Point is, I don't think we should really blame the how, the main thing is that Schafer just made a bad game and it wouldn't be any less creepy, boring, or monotonous if it was made within its budget and delivered as the specific time. The only difference here is that we the consumers are the producers faced with budget problems and broken promises, we feel it in real time instead of hearing about it after the fact and thinking how cool it would be if the game was everything it apparently was in the beta. And now we are the ones asking we he used all of our money instead of imagining some old asshole or faceless corporation pestering the starving artist using up their money.

[@JaytleBee]

"We've got this two schools of developers right now. People who want to reinvent the adventure game and people who wanna repackage it. And I sometimes worry that'll play out as reminding people what adventure games are capable of vs reminding people why they stopped playing them in the 90s" - "Who Shot Guybrush Threepwood? (The Death of the Adventure Game)"

[@flamsauce9158]

So after 5 years, this video is finally being recommended to me?

[@ostingguitar]

"Or maybe that's just me" That's just you.

[@ShyGuyXXL]

I dunno about you but I thought the puzzles in Day of the Tentacle were pretty great.

[@averagefez]

The bed puzzle was annoying

[@DOSRetroGamer]

George just doesn't like puzzles at all but has a hard time admitting it

[@TeaNoSugar87]

Love the little jokey parts you've thrown into this one George. Bunnyhop has pretty quickly become my favourite channel!

[@Theheatseekergaming]

Yep. I just finished my review and pretty much came to the same conclusion. I spent more time in this game infuriated by the poorly designed puzzles than gratified by their solutions. I also thought I was special for using speed ramping to show the tedium but..guess not

[@Oveja_TV]

3.3 million dollars... for this?

[@davydluan5]

La Oveja And cocaine... And hookers... And chocolate covered dildos.

[@Fake1904]

La Oveja no, at least 4 million with all the non kickstarter donations and sales from part 1

[@abyzzwalker]

Dr. Thrax WTF!

[@grimbonkers4179]

La Oveja Dude you have no clue what games coast. 600.000$ of the 3.3m were backer rewards+shipping, 200.000$ for the documentation and there are kickstarter fees. About 2.4m is not much for so many talented people working 3 years on a project. And it's surely not to much for one of the best Adventures of the last 15 years.

[@gurriato]

Grim Bonkers And let's not forget the cost of paying shills. Do you have a monthly fee or was the payment up-front?

[@aNerdNamedJames]

[*sees the mouths*] "I don't want to fork that."

[@nekromorg]

The cloud people have normal names with a Apostrophe replacing one of the letters. ...is that supposed to be a joke? Is it supposed to be funny? Because I don't think anyone told Tim Schafer how fast something like that can get old. And honestly I can't even crack a smile about that. This isn't creative and these people made PSYCHONAUTS!

[@happydeathman]

Huh. I just realized that "SJW" has become every bit as much a vapid, meaningless insult as "PC."

[@happydeathman]

Golly. I feel like a Good German, ignoring the menacing scourge of the SJW. History will judge me harshly!

[@happydeathman]

Um...

[@remembertotakeshowerspleas355]

+Antichrist2000 "segregated pools" How clever of you...

[@Antiformed]

I don't understand why they linger on it and then explain it in detail. It really does feel like it was made for babies.

[@SilentTree12]

This is the Schafer that's directing Psychonauts 2. Shit.

[@cupriferouscatalyst3708]

+SilentTree It's also the same Schafer that directed Psychonauts 1.

[@SilentTree12]

Cupriferous Catalyst I don't know, that Schafer seems to have dwindled off.

[@draphking]

To be fair, Psychonauts is an actual platformer game and will have more gameplay than just clicking frantically at the background until something happens.

[@robin5433]

do you just think anything that doesn't paint women in their usual gender roles is "feminist anti gamer gate bullshit"

[@robin5433]

so are you just mad he made an attempt to be a good person or

[@jonathon-anderson]

There was no "double-headed crowdfunding campaign." There was only one kickstarter, and one round of crowdfunding. Double Fine funded the extra development time from their own budget (and, to some extent, with publisher involvement for retail release).

[@kylethej3775]

4:19 Uh I do. Actually if there were no puzzles I wouldn't even play those games

[@hennyzhi2261]

This remind me of the wilbur and orville story. They succeeded where ivy league graduates with all the money, talent, and press coverage failed. It was never about what they had, but rather why they were doing what they did that mattered. And it's that factor that makes people successful.

[@thesporkman]

It's disappointing that you would cherry pick the handful of moments when the game doesn't provide unique dialogue for random inventory interactions considering Broken Age is way better about this than almost any adventure game released in the nineties. There is a staggering amount of dialogue recorded in the game for completely random and nonsensical combinations. Also, if you "solved" any puzzle by brute force, then you're doing it wrong, and you only have yourself to blame. It's like you're complaining that you were firing at a random wall in a first-person shooter, and it took an hour for an enemy to walk into the path of your bullets. That's not the game's fault.

[@EthanRobertson]

This is why Telltale is doing so well, you don't have to suffer through awful puzzles to get to the next bit of story.

[@Sjonegaard]

Ethan Robertson QTEs on the other hand.

[@Sifer2]

Ethan Robertson I dunno at times the lack of puzzles leaves things feel less like a game, and more of a "Why didn't I just watch this on youtube it would have been the same thing" sort of deal. The problem is less with the puzzles, and more with the sometimes terrible logic of them. Or making you click on everything to find the right thing you need.

[@MrTrebleCleff]

Ethan Robertson And the ever present "X will remember that"

[@RaccoonRocket]

Ethan Robertson Why don't you watch a movie if you don't want to have to put in any effort to get to the next bit of story?

[@EvilTehHocks]

Ethan Robertson Nope, just awful writing... Most of the time at least, WD season 1 and Wolf among us were fine.

[@UltraWindow]

3.3 million dollars of I don't wanna fork that.

[@MrLCGO]

Also "I don't think I can tap that". Don't forget about that. Very essential for the game.

[@UltraWindow]

MrLCGO but heres the thing, i can always tap that if you know what im saying.

[@MrLCGO]

Ultra Window But the game can't and that my friend, is it's biggest problem.

[@iroxudont]

Your channel is a hidden gem. Fuck if forty thousand people already knew about it, they are not me.

[@AlquimistEd]

I don't think I can tap that.

[@USSMariner]

George, can we stop using "made for babies" as a euphemism for "this was made by idiots?"

[@8bit_pineapple]

I think this review is a little unfair. 3:30 I never found myself in a situation where I had to brute force puzzles and all items had unique dialogue/animations for interactions so long as the interaction made some sense, for instance 2:50, cutting your air hose without oxygen isn't required but at least they made it do something other than "I don't want to knife that". You'd only hear repeated dialogue by mindlessly using every item on every other item for no reason. I think allot of this review comes down to you being bad at puzzles, not liking adventure games in general and not liking the dialogue. Whether you like the dialogue just comes down to opinion, I quite liked the dialogue, it was witty aside from Will Wheatons lame jokes... which you apparently laughed at. The boy character is treated like a child but that is integral to the story, he was born and raised on a ship that never adjusted to him getting older. Perhaps they should have made him a little older to make it a little darker and more in-line with the female protagonist’s story where she is in a world where people willingly sacrifice their children willingly to a giant tentacle monster.

[@jacobogarcia8111]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who thinks the review is unfair and that he misses the point.

[@porchcollapse8612]

Agreed

[@MrTrebleCleff]

>Pendleton Ward >Elijah Wood >Jack Black >Will Wheaton Well that'll explain where the budget for this game went

[@DOSRetroGamer]

So Grim Fandango is one of your favourite games ever. Except for the puzzles. So actually, you don't really like the game itself. You like the characters, graphics, story etc. Which actually means you'd much prefer "Grim Fandango - the Movie". Am I right? I'd never claim a game whose gameplay I did not enjoy was "one of my favourite games ever".

[@xBINARYGODx]

+DOSRetroGamer I find it amusing that here is whole "class" of gamer (class? Perhaps I should say "demographic") that like an entertainment medium that has had on average both the worst stories and worst story telling (with never being able to be good at both at the same time), and who like it mostly for the stories. This is like enjoying books due to the reader agency... because of a small number that are choice-your-own-adventure's.

[@ProbablyNotARobot]

+BINARYGOD Games do have the advantage of putting you directly in the protagonists shoes. So there's that.

[@xBINARYGODx]

DefinitelyNotARobot yes they do! :-)

[@TheBrazilRules]

And that is exactly what he was criticizing about the game. That is why i never listen to reviews of people who don't like the genre of the game. It is equally dangerous as trusting a fanboy oppinon of a game.

[@fabulousknight1960]

JamesEarl Rustles It seems he who rustles...is rustled. The hunter...the hunted. The ruser...the rused.

[@adamvancleave9200]

A little thing about adventures: Sometimes the answer comes to you by paying more attention to the game world. Sometimes the answer expects you to know the mythology of the creators culture or the cultures the creator studied. Sometimes it's just raw logic but those are the rarest. Then there's those stupid obscure puns and "jokes". I think the adventure genre could use more alternate route puzzles really. I've only seen 2 modern adventures do those and at least one really old adventure game studio made tons of them.

[@sgamer-xc1bd]

Why wont game journalists learn that just because many old adventure games had bad puzzles, the solution is NOT to remove all puzzles from adventure games but rather to design better puzzles? Puzzles can also have multiple solutions like in the Quest for Glory series and Maniac Mansion. I don't see how removing the actual gameplay from a video game makes it a better experience, you'll only end up with interactive novels (ie modern adventure games). Why only adventure games are treated this way? You don't see reviewers crying how Super Mario Sunshine would've been a better game if it didn't have any platforming at all because Mario 64 and early 3D platformers had camera problems and floaty controls. You should point out to Day of the Tentacle&Riven rather than Grim Fandango/Lonest Journey/Gabriel Knight 3 when talking about adventure game puzzles, because as it is, what you're doing is akin to using the Bubsy games to discredit the platformer genre as a whole. And I wouldn't call Broken Age an "oldschool adventure game". Take a look at Thimbleweed Park instead, it looks a lot more promising even though they're working with a smaller budget.

[@kaitlyn__L]

i find it kind of sad and funny how everyone's biggest, most frustrating problem seems to be the sudden obtuse puzzles in act2, which are a direct result of people complaining they were too easy in act 1. sigh. i remember having to look up the solution to the absolute final one, since success depends on you doing something in one place that should, in the story, have absolutely no way of affecting what's going on in the other place. and it was the only puzzle which used a connection like that.

[@BladeNgames]

The final one was no problem for me. It was looking in the picture frame for obscure details as if I knew to look there...

[@E3AloeLi]

I love Broken Age, I played it as a kid and was fine with it. I’m an artist and I think the style isn’t for everyone. Stampy introduced me to it. I feel the explaination is for the kids

[@ramseyalzahrani2184]

i actually really enjoyed the game , and i wasnt trying to fork everything and i did the knot puzzle in 2 trys after getting the instructions from carol ,

[@porchcollapse8612]

ramsey parker same

[@toffeeFairy]

It seems that germany is the only place were somewhat good point and click games are still been made.

[@Kuschel_K]

***** in "edna & harvey the breakout" you could fork pretty much anything

[@urinstein1864]

Kim Janek It's not about the "can" but rather about the "want". And personally I don't wanna fork that.

[@FartMaster69]

***** Since they can't make such beautiful tanks anymore they have to focus their skilled workforce SOMEWHERE.

[@aNerdNamedJames]

***** Deponia 3 has the worst ending of any game ever, though

[@Ephabia]

aNerdNamedJames No. You may not like it, but if you're honest you can kinda get what they were going for. Maybe that didn't work for you but in a world where AAA games are left literally unfinished, that's not the worst ending ever. Or even the worst sucker punch for the player ending - look at NIER for that.

[@Kyrmana]

I liked it for how soothing it was, with the art and the VAs, but I agree. The puzzles in the 2nd part (can't remember the 1st) were very brute force.

[@edb1322]

I agree with a lot of what you said, but I found the game charming and endearing in many ways. Kiddish, yeah, I can agree with that, but I enjoyed the story for what it was. Some of the puzzles in Act 2 were completely ridiculous. They were as asinine as "go look at something in the other story for the solution to this puzzle," which made no sense to me. I know there's overlap between the two stories, but that's just unintuitive. Still, it's a game I didn't dislike as much as you, I think. It won't be on my game of the year list, but I thought it was fine, and I enjoyed it.

[@mommilph]

So much content lately! Not that I'm complaining.

[@kennethdunlop1493]

Vella sounds weirdly asleep through the whole game even though she's supposed to be hot-headed.

[@TheMrNovideos]

As someone who never played old adventure games as a kid, I think Broken Age is great. The puzzles are challenging, but never outright impossible. The knot puzzle wasn't that bad, but I admit the Hexipal puzzle was a little out there. I think the story, which George seemed to fail to mention at all, was great. I thought the voice acting was perfectly fine and the art was gorgeous. I enjoyed it immensely. Oh well, can't agree with every reviewer.

[@logitechpanasonic3]

I saw your podcast (GMR) over at Elder Geek's channel and I gotta say: your opinions and reviews are always so very interesting! gotta love this channel!

[@dibujante]

I agree with some of your points but I strongly disagree with your argument about basic gameplay. While an innovation on basic gameplay would have been interesting (it *has* been done - see Quest for Glory. It needs to be done more. This is beside the point), what Tim Schafer promised was a classic adventure game. He delivered one, gameplay-wise. You praise Pillars of Eternity for its retro gameplay *in this very review*, and condemn Broken Age for the same. It seems like that boils down mostly to your preference of classic Bioware RPGs and your dispreference of adventure games. I can't really agree with that specific argument.

[@RoboHoundGames]

To be fair, Will Wheaton sucks in everything.

[@SammEater]

+RoboHoundGames Damn Weasley, Cpt. Picard should have saved us from that disaster.

[@Joobin345]

SHUT UP WESLEY

[@bearpuns5910]

Including Twitter

[@ollow_is_sad5373]

As a person who loved Broken Age as a kid, years later it now gives me alot of nostalgia. I think that's good. I played it with my mom recently, after years of wanting actually get the game, and the both of us really enjoyed it and felt nostalgia for it in our own respective ways :)) I feel alot of hiraeth for the world and game, helps me cope. Broken Age was and still is one of my favorite point-and-click games made.

[@BladedEdge123]

I'm genuinely impressed with the range of opinions on this game. Everyone agrees at least that the puzzles suck..like its an adventure game, they always suck, right? Like every adventure game I've ever beat I did, from the very first screen, with a walk-through handy for when I got stuck specifically because I find "try objects 1-10 on hot spots A-W to be tedious busy work which I detest. The range of opinions though is on the story. Some people are saying they really enjoyed it. Some people, like here, take exception to some massive part on it (The review over on RockPaperShotgun makes it seem like the story is absolute and complete trash down to the very last detail). Yet..people still like it and love it. The range of acceptance is from 10/10 to -10/10, I've yet to see a genuine consensus..expect again that puzzles in adventure games tend to suck, which is not a problem unique to this game

[@spastheghost]

This game really flew over your head.

[@ClunytheScourge1]

The reviewer has succumbed to the need to be overly-critical and angry just for its own sake because he thinks it makes a more entertaining review video. This review is pretty joyless. He cannot enjoy the bright, cheerful art-style because it's "for kids" - as though adults can only enjoy the gritty-brown of realism. He seems confused about what his objections to the gameplay are - he thinks it's for a younger audience and then has difficulty with the puzzles? (Which are all logical and clever). And "who thought this knot puzzle was a good idea?" - that's the best puzzle in the game. Broken Age is a good game - 4 Clunestars out of 5.

[@jacobogarcia8111]

Dam right man, damn right

[@discobanco]

I personally really enjoyed this game, the story, the music, all the art in it, the voice acting... many things, even the puzzles made much more sense than in other graphic adventures. If someone doesn't like graphic adventures I get it though.

[@maxwellhill4754]

Primordia: the best point and click adventure I have ever enjoyed

[@jessechuff]

I've heard a lot of acclaim for this game so I'm still going to try it out. Hopefully I enjoy it more than you did, haha.

[@Jackald]

Personally I prefer Ben There, Dan That and Time Gentlemen, Please. It's a much more honest attempt at going back to this kind of gameplay style, and it lacks the level of hipster pretention that this game has. Ben There, Dan That and Time Gentlemen, Please have just the right amount of charm, comedy, and frustrating but funny puzzles, hidden messages and hints, and unique fun scenarios to make an entertaining game, and i'd wholeheartedly recommend giving them a try.

[@SammEater]

I can't believe how I was so hyped this, act 2 felt so lackluster, everything that the story was setting up feels like it was dropped. Also, that ending... is that even an ending? The story just stops halfway through the story.

[@Alianger]

That's a bit hyperbolic about classic adventure puzzles, but oh fucking well!

[@kupo1705]

I don't really understand why they made such a big deal out of the 'old school adventure game' thing. There's still plenty of adventure games being made, and there's more variety than ever.

[@bradyzee1607]

Am I the only person who's never had a very hard time with puzzles in old adventure games? There's some exceptions, sure, but I played through plenty King's and Space Quest and never had a difficult time. I can think of a few situations where I ended up having to google for the answer, but more often than not I figured it out on my own. This game was like baby's first Adventure game puzzles. (and I know there wasn't google when these kinds of games were popular, I didn't play them until a few years ago)

[@SuperZez]

Huh. Yahtzee had the exact opposite complaint about the puzzles, saying they were too blindingly obvious.

[@crispwhite9068]

Dear George and anyone else willing to answer. I didn't grow up with these games, I am barely 20 years old. My first adventure game was telltale's walking dead, and I think it's considered more of an interactive movie if I'm not mistaken. I'm currently playing To The Moon, which I'm not sure if it falls in the category. So besides this honest review being a good example of a few do not's in the genre. What are other things to know to avoid when designing a point and click adventure game? What are some good modern games that follow through?

[@jacobogarcia8111]

Don't listen to him, adventure games have its quirks, but are great in general. Try Grim Fandango if you havent yet

[@crispwhite9068]

+Jacobo García thank you

[@RnW154]

Ending was brilliant! really happy i stumbled across your channel

[@BrainSeepsOut]

I think Pillars of Eternity is a bigger Kickstarter project than some point and click game with a bunch of really expensive voiceactors.

[@GhostCarnival]

At risk of sounding like a douchebag (too late) I'm glad I did not participate in this kickstarter. I wasn't sure what to think of this game for a long time. I know enjoyed watching certain personalities play it, but there was this nagging feeling in the back of my mind the whole time that you seemed to put into words better than I was. All I can say is... 'meh'. Anyway, thanks for the upload. Quite helpful and informative, as ever. Pleasant to listen to as well.

[@greilthelegendaryhero252]

this game was on sale for dirt cheap so I looked it up here. save me 4 bucks cause I don't wanna fork that

[@bretthicksomega]

I appreciate your honesty on this game. Others will be like "artsy fartsy, look who made it, oh look at the voice actors", but not you, you did a great review here.

[@bozzie_]

Brett Hicks It's what happens when you actually have a journalism degree and have a semblance of objectivity compared to all the San Fran games media outlets that are so far up his ass they can taste the caviar Schaefer burnt 3.3 million dollars on.

[@bretthicksomega]

I always am baffled by the budgets of these games, and the shit that comes out.... give me 3.3 million... Ill make you 15 great games....

[@Hunterwolf0815]

Hm. I grew up playing the LucasArts games, and I adored Broken Age. I dunno, I like 10 minute proccess-of-elimination puzzles where you have to get out pen and paper and all that. It only really wasnt appropriate in the finale, which tried to seem super urgent, but still made you do long-winded backtracks and puzzlechains. You raise really good points that people that spend a lot of time with the genre might not see anymore, like the uber-expository dialog, but on the other hand it does seem like you didn't want to be this games' audience rather than it actually wasn't. Staples can be super dumb and uncessessary, and its worth critqiuing them, but things like "I cant do that" responses have always been a part of adventure games. Maybe next time, try not to use everything on everything. You dont actually have to do that to solve the game. (I know you only showed that in the video for comedy purposes, and are actually refering to other parts of the game. Still though. I always skipped the responses.) Also, unlike in the 90s, today everyone has an easy access to a walkthrough, so getting really hopelessly stuck is not a problem anymore. After Act 1 a lot of responses demanded getting-stuck-worthy puzzles, and Tim Schafer talks about that in the documentary. Do people really not like adventure games? I do, even with all the parts that arent that great in them, like the older TellTale Games like Sam & Max, or the ones from Deadalic like Deponia. They don't have nearly as big of an audience as, say, the newer TellTale Games series, but still big enough to keep making em.

[@amirattoun4429]

Wow. I'm impressed. This was an excellent video - Pleasant voice and intelligent observations. Subscribed!

[@EmperorOfLols]

But isn't this what the backers wanted? Didn't Schafer pitched the Kickstart to give them a game "JUST like the old ones, warts and all"?

[@VitoVitonerLanci]

I haven't completed the game yet (5+ hrs in and currently playing act 2) and I still don't know if I like it or not. I've been a Schafer fan since Lucas Arts' days and I was really looking forward to an old style AG. I was hoping for something on the scale of a Grim Fandango. Up to where I am in the game, it looks like it is not the case. The only thing I can already say I do not fully like are the puzzles: some of them were too easy, some were fairly easy but boring to solve due to backtracking (I'm looking at you, elevators puzzle! You know the feeling "I know what I have to do, but goddamn this game"?) and some are in the "Layton department" IYKWIM. I don't like those. Never liked those. I want to see how the game ends before saying anything else, but my sensation is that I was expexting a 10 and I got an 8. 8 is good, but it's not a 10. Or maybe I'm just too old for this shit and my memories about old AG are better than the actual games.

[@marcusrakentine]

I can imagine the developers watching this video, with their initial reaction being angry, and then coming to the realization that George just picked there game apart.

[@Gorfinhofin]

3:00 Oh hey, so I wasn't the only one getting that visual glitch. Also, I thought the knot puzzle was neat. I'm surprised so many people had problems with it.

[@mrbungle3310]

I liked the interesting story and dynamic with blending the both sides,i was suprised

[@mulvi747]

Would love to hear your thoughts on Grim Fandango. Just a thought, if you would be into that.

[@OldyAlbert]

Deponia trilogy and other Daedalic adventure games is quite fun, but yeah you still need to use walkthrough now and then. And i like Blackwell series. My point is - this games was never gone. You just have to look. And Schafer's team is not even a primary place to do that.

[@WarMomPT]

Damn, this is a bitter pill to swallow. I've been a fan of Schafer's since Psychonauts and I'm on the cusp of backtracking through his older stuff for a while now. Was looking forward to this and I heard that Act 1 was actually quite good. Similarly, I've liked adventure games for the writing and world exploration more than the puzzles. I feel like quite a few adventure games without puzzles or just with easy puzzles should be made. Even The Cat Lady (A sale just passed. This is totally not a shoehorned plug for a game I really like) has a few instances of Adventure Game Logic towards the end. Thing is...if you take the puzzles out or tweak the main control schemes and interfaces of adventure games, what are you left with? Games like Gone Home or David Cage's stuff, mostly. A few titles get it right like The Walking Dead; even though the 'successful' attempts change the interface and controls away from older point-and-clicks, Broken Age has, honestly? Kind of outstayed its welcome.

[@SunBunz]

This game is free on PS4 and Vita. (for Plus members)

[@SpartanWolf222]

Guessing George's next video will focus on the Pyschonauts 2 kickstarter with a review of Double Fine's previous crowdfunded games and their mismanagement of the budget. After those games, I am genuinely worried that P2 might not get funded, or more worried that fans will blindly give into another dream project for them.

[@FancyTophatDude]

Isn't the explanatory tone of the writing something you find in almost every point amd click game?

[@jacobogarcia8111]

that's it, that's what was bugging me. George must have played this game while undergoing depression, or he doesnt like the genre at all, because adv games comments need to be self explanatory on many occassions. The game is not perfect, but the way he treated it as garbage? No way, it is a pretty decent game, I'll give it an 8 at least

[@porchcollapse8612]

Jacobo García agreed

[@Darren.G]

The only thing that now interests me about this game is the story behind it now. I had added to my cart....and that's where it'll stay...just in case I have a child over the next couple years.......... Are there any short documentaries about this, or the crowd funding a game subject?

[@cupriferouscatalyst3708]

Sounds like Grim Fandango, to be honest. And I loved that.

[@unevenprankster]

The title of the game says it all. The era of adventure games is broken.

[@unevenprankster]

*Age

[@werewolfofoblivion7287]

LOL, ask Daedalic or Wadjet Eye. Adventures may be kinda niche but they're not broken.

[@unevenprankster]

Looking at it now, games got much better now. Still tho.

[@wretneck]

call me a bad commentor, but I wanna know who that girl (character) was at 6:00... I wanna play that game/see that production. anyway, on topic of point-and-click adventures- I knew the genre before, but forgot its marque for a long time, if you said "point and click adventure" I probably would have thought Amnesia: The Dark Descent; which to this day a lot of people credit it for, except "adventure" is "horror". I played that game 5 times before I told myself I need to play other games, but what I loved about that game was how hands-on the experience was. Instead of clicking around and waiting for videos, you were running through the danger, exploring the uneasy world, and solving the puzzles by grabbing and picking up items. What I find to believe is games that are more hands-on and in the action these days, and all you have to do is adapt it. In a way the Telltale games do that (sort of) with The Walking Dead, Fables: A Wolf Among Us, Game Of Thrones, etc. not sure if quick time events do it, but I did feel it with the stealth parts of the Walking Dead and the choices changing the story really built an experience.

[@mortified0]

I forgot the cardinal rule of a Bunnyhop video. Never enter expecting positivity/

[@Neverhoodian]

JESUS H CHRIST That AI...THING is "Teletubbies" level of nightmare fuel.

[@NicoGonzalezEstevez]

Alright... took it off my wishlist. thanks.

[@Slouworker]

Nico Gonzalez If like proper, non-casual bullshit adventure games then play it.

[@HighwayMule]

Obviously adv game puzzles are meant to bestow a smug feeling of intellectual superiority when you manage to solve one without alt-tabbing for a walkthrough. And the knot puzzle was one of the better ones, actually. Agree about the rest.