Quote:
Originally Posted by numble
I might be spoilery, so I'll say Episode 3 does have a lot more violence and things in it, but it seems a lot of the limitations of this sort of humor is that the Telltale Engine doesn't seem as capable of providing the visual equivalent as often--like in the machinima short about interrogation and reality show, the violence occurs off-screen with sound effects. Doing this too often would highlight the limitations of their tools, so maybe that's the reason they don't do it as often.
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I don't think that's the reason. Fact is, Sam and Max is not nor has it ever been about gory bits. On the contrary, one of the main strengths has always been implicitness: violence is often implied but almost never shown directly, and for good reason. If we actually saw detailed footage of
a guy falling into a truck filled with razorblades and whatnot, it would be plain disgusting and not funny at all -especially if we'd have to listen to Max's snide comments while witnessing it. Sam and Max works by coming dangerously close to crossing the line, but only works because it doesn't actually do so; if it did it would just degenerate into mindless vulgarity.
There's a similar point to be made about the offensiveness that's being mentioned. A certain amount of rudeness is integral, but so is the fact that that rudeness is always cloaked in expensive verbosity and good style. If it were merely about offending they might as well stick in some four-letter words or various other forms of obscenity and profanity; thank god that's not the case.
Sorry for the rant guys, nothing personal. I just wanted to point out that Sam and Max is a piece of art performing a delicate balancing act, not just an exercise in excessive violence and offensiveness. I'm not accusing anyone here of holding the opposite, it's just something that needed to be said for the record at this point.