Why are these episodes so damn easy?

[XuGator]

What is the audience for these games? I think my 7 year old brother would beat this with no problems

Hopefully Telltale makes some more difficult puzzles. I mean - we have to wait for months between episdoes, lets at least make each episode somewhat challenging.

I think I spent less than an hour total on episode 2.

[thatdude98]

Originally Posted by XuGator

What is the audience for these games? I think my 7 year old brother would beat this with no problems

Hopefully Telltale makes some more difficult puzzles. I mean - we have to wait for months between episdoes, lets at least make each episode somewhat challenging.

I think I spent less than an hour total on episode 2.

Well, some of us aren't gifted with the talent of adventure gaming. Took me 2 days. I wanted to enjoy it. Plus, just because it was easy to you doesn't mean it's easy to others.

[XuGator]

I just think they could create this a lot more difficult. I mean....we all have a month to play and most people are finished within a couple of days at the most

[Rather Dashing]

Originally Posted by XuGator

What is the audience for these games? I think my 7 year old brother would beat this with no problems

I beat Secret as a five year-old. I know a ten year-old that got through Secret without hints or help in about a week. The Monkey Island games have never been particularly difficult really, a few really unfair puzzles aside. LucasArts was never exactly Infocom.

Hopefully Telltale makes some more difficult puzzles. I mean - we have to wait for months between episdoes

A month. Singular.

Originally Posted by XuGator

I just think they could create this a lot more difficult. I mean....we all have a month to play and most people are finished within a couple of days at the most

That seems like oblong logic. We have a week between TV episodes, but neither we nor the producers of the show are expected to stretch that episode's content across the entirety of the week. It's a thing that you get once a month because that's the release schedule that makes sense, not because it's supposed to "last" you that long.

All the same, I would always like to see well-devised puzzles. A stupid puzzle that is difficult only by the virtue that it is completely obtuse and indecipherable is not fun. Neither is a puzzle that simply involves locating a minuscule bauble of indeterminable worth. I used to believe that it did, simply because the amount of time it wasted was larger, but in the end it goes against the idea of a puzzle in the first place.

Still, Telltale's games are getting to the point where they feel like they bend over backwards to get the player to the correct solution, and puzzles sometimes even seem to solve themselves. The best puzzles are always the ones that have more logical complexity.

[Marty]

I think it's impossible to finish the game under an hour if you aren't skipping through all the dialogue and cutscenes.
Let's say each episode is about 3 hours to play (for those who aren't leet adventurers), that would mean that the whole season would take around 15 hours to complete. That's pretty impressive and much longer than the traditional adventure game.

Also, some puzzles are easy but I'm ok with that, they don't seem too outrageous and make sense most of the time. But what I wouldn't mind seeing are Myst style puzzles. That would slow people down

[Woodsyblue]

I personally didn't find them too easy, especially manning-up and going no hints. You don't want them to be too hard anyway, that's when they stop being fun.

Originally Posted by Marty

I think it's impossible to finish the game under an hour if you aren't skipping through all the dialogue and cutscenes.
Let's say each episode is about 3 hours to play (for those who aren't leet adventurers), that would mean that the whole season would take around 25 hours to complete. That's pretty impressive and much longer than the traditional game.

Um, your math is off a bit. If each episode took 3 hours then the whole season would take around 15 hours. I'd give each episode an average of 3 and a half hours to complete which would average the season out to about 17–18 hours.

Also, the episodes should get gradually harder from here on out.

[Marty]

oops, fixed

[pilouuuu]

If we consider each episode as chapters of a single game, as TT seems to be designing it, then it would be logical that the game gets progressively harder as next episodes arrive.

And I'm glad we have inventory combination as it's one thing that was missing from Sam & Max games.

I think TT is making a good job, especially as most puzzles are fairly logical, something you can't tell about most adventure games.

And no pixel hunting here, which is great. As least the difficulty is real and not because of bad design.

[darknessofheart]

People should stop making threads like these. Just because you found it easy, does not mean others have. Kind of an indirect insult to other people who take longer to figure out the puzzles. They're easy because you figure out puzzles easily, there you go. And less than an hour? Wow, take some time to enjoy the game. There's no way you beat it in less than an hour without skipping over dozens of great lines, jokes, and dialogue.

[JLFL]

Maybe i'm just bad at adventure games but I thought chapter two was pretty challenging without a walkthrough and i'm 17.

[brian.shapiro]

Originally Posted by darknessofheart

People should stop making threads like these. Just because you found it easy, does not mean others have. Kind of an indirect insult to other people who take longer to figure out the puzzles. They're easy because you figure out puzzles easily, there you go. And less than an hour? Wow, take some time to enjoy the game. There's no way you beat it in less than an hour without skipping over dozens of great lines, jokes, and dialogue.

Compared to earlier Monkey Island games I think the puzzles are easier, I think. Whether you're good at solving puzzles or not.

[Melancton]

I think they're easy, but maybe I've just gotten better at adventure games. Most people complaining about the difficulty are probably adventure game vets.

[darknessofheart]

Originally Posted by brian.shapiro

Compared to earlier Monkey Island games I think the puzzles are easier, I think. Whether you're good at solving puzzles or not.

I don't know, it all goes back to just how keen you can be in solving puzzles. I found some of these puzzles to be much harder than in past games, and many of the puzzles in past games to be easy. I think everyone has a knack for certain puzzles and have a cord with other puzzles.

Also remember, the last game came out over eight years ago. You are now eight years older and wiser. That could be a major reason why these puzzles appear easier than the other ones in past games. We were all much younger when the other four games came out.

[turingmachine604]

Eh, both episodes have been a lot easier than the hardest Sam and Max episodes, so, personally, I think the difficulty should be raised a bit. (Unless Telltale is purposefully making them easier since Monkey Island is more well known franchise and would attract a wider audience).

Also, I don't think it's insulting to say it's easy. The game has a hint system for people who have difficulty solving the puzzles. However, if people, like the OP and myself, are finding the game with hints turned off too easy, then something should be done about it. This also wouldn't effect people who find it hard already, because, once again, they have the hint system to help them.

[darknessofheart]

Originally Posted by turingmachine604

Eh, both episodes have been a lot easier than the hardest Sam and Max episodes, so, personally, I think the difficulty should be raised a bit. (Unless Telltale is purposefully making them easier since Monkey Island is more well known franchise and would attract a wider audience).

Also, I don't think it's insulting to say it's easy. The game has a hint system for people who have difficulty solving the puzzles. However, if people, like the OP and myself, are finding the game with hints turned off too easy, then something should be done about it. This also wouldn't effect people who find it hard already, because, once again, they have the hint system to help them.

I really don't think Telltale is purposely making it easy though. There seems to be a lot of people who have had a hard time with the game, so it doesn't seem to be all that big of a problem.

[spiffy_the_dog]

I think the problem is Telltale's default setting of "hints" to "sometimes" - people often don't realize that having this setting means characters will more often then not blatantly point the player in the right direction.

If you find the episodes too easy with the hints turned off, I suggest pulling out some old-school point-and-clickers. Preferably Sierra ones where you die all the time and have to reset all the time because you constantly miss some item from half a game ago.

[Jazzy]

Originally Posted by spiffy_the_dog

I think the problem is Telltale's default setting of "hints" to "sometimes" - people often don't realize that having this setting means characters will more often then not blatantly point the player in the right direction.

If you find the episodes too easy with the hints turned off, I suggest pulling out some old-school point-and-clickers. Preferably Sierra ones where you die all the time and have to reset all the time because you constantly miss some item from half a game ago.

This.

Took me 4-5 hours to complete the game with the hints turned all the way to the left (lowest), and that to my mind is a decent length for an episode.

When I heard that many people had only taken 2 hours to finish it though I started to wonder if maybe I had just taken too long to solve the puzzles, until I realised that most of them had not changed the hints from default at all.

[Idi0tic]

Yeah, i agree, the game is a lil' too easy.

I understand that Telltale wanted to make this game friendly for the more "casual gamer" but it is just to easy. I mean, i am no hardcore gamer but i would prefer the game more challenging. I remember Curse of Monkey Island having two difficulty settings. Perhaps Telltale could introduce this idea back into the game?

[prizna]

I for some reason could not find the bucket.

[spiffy_the_dog]

Originally Posted by Idi0tic

I understand that Telltale wanted to make this game friendly for the more "casual gamer" but it is just to easy. I mean, i am no hardcore gamer but i would prefer the game more challenging. I remember Curse of Monkey Island having two difficulty settings. Perhaps Telltale could introduce this idea back into the game?

Turning the hints off effectively creates a "hard" difficulty setting.

Also, MI2's and MI3's "easy" difficulty setting was essentially the same game but with many of the puzzles pre-solved or cut out. I never saw the point of that. If I wanted an adventure game with LESS puzzles, I might just as well watch a cartoon while wiggling a mouse in one hand.