BTTF Ep. 5 OUTATIME Discussion & BTTF Game Review

[sn939]

My personal solution with regards to the situation with Doc is this-

We roughly have 3 Doc's in the context of the Game.

Original Doc: The one who's been through all the events of the movies. He never returned to 1986 and instead spent his time travelling in his train. On one trip, he discovers the duplicated Delorean in 2025, repairs it, and starts using it again. He goes to 1931, ends up being arrested as Carl Sagan, the speakeasy arsonist. His Delorean goes back to 1986 due to the auto-retrieval feature. Marty later comes back to save him and he goes through the events of Episodes 1 and 2, before he is erased because his younger self hooks up with Edna, creating the Citizen Brown timeline. This Doc doesn't remember meeting Marty in 1931 (a point which is clearly stated in Episode 2) and gained his inspiration from watching Frankenstien.

FCB Doc: This Doc is the older version of the young Emmett whose lived through the events of 1931 in Episodes 1 and 2 and who hooked up with Edna and later turned Hill Valley into a police state. He remembers meeting Marty in 1931. However, in the FCB timeline NONE of the events from the movies happened and this Doc doesn't know anything about time travel until 'our' Marty shows him the Delorean. He's the Doc whom we follow in Episodes 3, 4 and the early part of 5. He uses the Delorean of the Original Doc, which he repaired. Later, he is run over by Edna and fades from existence the moment young Emmett chooses to become a scientist free from Edna's influence, erasing his timeline.

New Doc: This Doc is the older version of the young Emmett who's lived through ALL the games 1931 events from all episodes. He remembers meeting Marty (as he had the newspaper clipping with him). He is largely the same as Original Doc in that he experianced the events of the movies; however, unlike Original Doc, he didn't gain inspiration from Frankenstien but instead was motivated by seeing lighting strike in Episode 4. He had a much better relationship with his father and so his estate is still intact in 1986 and he is a much more respected figure in Hill Valley. He, Clara and the family also live in Hill Valley. His Delorean is either the new timeline's version of the Delorean used by the previous 2 Doc's, or its an entirely new Delorean he constructed while in 1986. This Doc apparently never experianced the events of Episodes 1 and 2 and is surprised by Marty's presence in 1931. However, seeing as he remembers what happened at the Expo 55 years ago from his POV, he probably remembers 'Carl Sagan' and figures out that an alternate version of him was involved somehow.

[docbrown2015]

I have a small question about the ending of ep. 5. when Doc was saying to Marty about the Airheart-brown school Marty laughed, and Doc asked why it was funny and Marty said he'll tell him later? why was Marty laughing?

[Shadowknight1]

Because of the fact that he made Doc's relationship with his father better and improving his overall timeline.

[docbrown2015]

Originally Posted by Shadowknight1

Because of the fact that he made Doc's relationship with his father better and improving his overall timeline.

oh okay, i thought i missed something. i love ep. 5

[leon101]

Personally, I like all of them. I just now started playing through ep 5, and I found a somewhat funny bug. Did anyone else witness this?

So, you know that one puzzle where you have to get the dirt on Edna. Well, I got done doing that, and she ran with Parker chasing after her. I then went back to do the phone in the house of the future. The choice of getting Edna on the phone was still there. I decided to choose it thinking, "What will happen, since she got chased off." Much to my surprise, she got on the phone... only her character modal wasn't there. It was just her voice, X D . Well, at least I got to try the other choices I missed earlier.

[Veganzombie]

Originally Posted by sn939

This Doc apparently never experianced the events of Episodes 1 and 2 and is surprised by Marty's presence in 1931. However, seeing as he remembers what happened at the Expo 55 years ago from his POV, he probably remembers 'Carl Sagan' and figures out that an alternate version of him was involved somehow.

No, I don't think so, I think this Doc would have experienced the events of 1931. Without the event of 1931 in which the Doc was caught and got locked up for the speakeasy fire, nothing else in the game could have happened.

For one thing, if the Doc never went back to 1931 in the first place, then Marty wouldn't have gone back to 1931 to save him in which case, Marty would have never befriended the young Emmett Brown and the Doc couldn't have fixed his relationship with his father.

As far as I'm certain, this is more or less what happened in the final version of event....

1) The event of the movies played out as it did but the Doc never made the connection between Marty and the young man he befriended in 1931.

2) The Doc goes back to 1931 to make a present for Marty but got jailed for the speakeasy fire. Marty to the rescue (events of Ep. 1/2) and befriends a young Emmett Brown.

3) As far as the Doc is concern, after the rescue, everything was fine and he heads back to 1986. He still has not made the connection between the Marty of 1931 and the Marty of 1986 (even through he was right there and told Marty to befriend his younger self!).

This Doc Brown doesn't know the existence of Citizen Brown. As far as he is concern, as a young man, he dated Edna for two months or so, he never went to see Frankenstein and he had a good relationship with his father. The young man he befriended who helped him catch Kid Tannen disappeared for two months only to reappeared on the day of the science fair (events of Ep. 5).

4) Later (in 1986) he accepts the Key to the City and opens the newspaper clipping from 1931 like he promised. Finally the Doc makes the connection and heads back to 1931 to help Marty.

The main problem with this explaination is Marty. As far as this timeline is concern, there is a Marty McFly that exists who landed safe and sound with Doc Brown, in 1986 after the events of Ep 1/2 but because the events of ep. 5 needed to happen in order for this timeline exist at all, this 1986 Marty would have been phase out of existence but we never got to see it on screen (much like the goody two-shoes Marty would have phase out of existence along with the entire Citizen Brown timeline).

The thing I'm unhappy about is it was the stolen DeLorean that got phased out of time and not the Doc Brown's one. The DeLorean that crashed is the same DeLorean that Marty took with him from Ep. 1 so if it's accepted that this Marty, the one we've been playing is the correct version of Marty, then the DeLorean that should be phase out of existence after the crash should have been the one Doc Brown came in on.

[Michael J Fox is Canadian]

Originally Posted by Veganzombie

No, I don't think so, I think this Doc would have experienced the events of 1931. Without the event of 1931 in which the Doc was caught and got locked up for the speakeasy fire, nothing else in the game could have happened.

For one thing, if the Doc never went back to 1931 in the first place, then Marty wouldn't have gone back to 1931 to save him in which case, Marty would have never befriended the young Emmett Brown and the Doc couldn't have fixed his relationship with his father.

As far as I'm certain, this is more or less what happened in the final version of event....

1) The event of the movies played out as it did but the Doc never made the connection between Marty and the young man he befriended in 1931.

2) The Doc goes back to 1931 to make a present for Marty but got jailed for the speakeasy fire. Marty to the rescue (events of Ep. 1/2) and befriends a young Emmett Brown.

3) As far as the Doc is concern, after the rescue, everything was fine and he heads back to 1986. He still has not made the connection between the Marty of 1931 and the Marty of 1986 (even through he was right there and told Marty to befriend his younger self!).

This Doc Brown doesn't know the existence of Citizen Brown. As far as he is concern, as a young man, he dated Edna for two months or so, he never went to see Frankenstein and he had a good relationship with his father. The young man he befriended who helped him catch Kid Tannen disappeared for two months only to reappeared on the day of the science fair (events of Ep. 5).

4) Later (in 1986) he accepts the Key to the City and opens the newspaper clipping from 1931 like he promised. Finally the Doc makes the connection and heads back to 1931 to help Marty.

The main problem with this explaination is Marty. As far as this timeline is concern, there is a Marty McFly that exists who landed safe and sound with Doc Brown, in 1986 after the events of Ep 1/2 but because the events of ep. 5 needed to happen in order for this timeline exist at all, this 1986 Marty would have been phase out of existence but we never got to see it on screen (much like the goody two-shoes Marty would have phase out of existence along with the entire Citizen Brown timeline).

The thing I'm unhappy about is it was the stolen DeLorean that got phased out of time and not the Doc Brown's one. The DeLorean that crashed is the same DeLorean that Marty took with him from Ep. 1 so if it's accepted that this Marty, the one we've been playing is the correct version of Marty, then the DeLorean that should be phase out of existence after the crash should have been the one Doc Brown came in on.

Doc not only tells marty he did originally go to 1931 but WHY (the mcfly scrapbook!)
Minor correction; from Emmets perspective marty disappears for two months TWICE in 1931; he first meets him in June for episodes 1 and the first half of 2, the second half of episode 2 is in August and episode 4-5 takes place in October.



The automatic retreival system sends the delorean through time near the end.

[Veganzombie]

Originally Posted by Michael J Fox is Canadian

The automatic retreival system sends the delorean through time near the end.

It's hard to accept this as the explaination because Doc Brown clearly said that the crashed DeLorean disappeared because it was unstable in time. Secondly if it was retreived, where/when did it get retrieved to?

If it was retreived the same way it was from Ep1, then wherever it is now, there are still two copies of the DeLorean somewhere in that timeline.

I actually think that the writers did an excellent job in holding the story together and I can't think of any paradoxes I can poke at except this one thing. I really feel that it was the wrong DeLorean that got phase out of time.

[jaspertailor]

Yes, You are right the new game is bit of easy as compared to old part. They should make it more difficult and adventurous to make it more popular and interesting. I also seen all the part of movie they can also get idea from the movies it is very nice movie directed by Steven Spielberg.

[russell19831983]

Originally Posted by MrCyberFreak99

I just restarted and got through the glasshouse.

the glasshouse annoyed the hell out of me the first time i played it, i did a lot of things and got evidence that edna was the arsonist, then went looking for doc, found out where he was and entered the glasshouse just to be trapped, i now know it was cause your not meant to do it in that order, your meant to free young emmett first then get evidence against edna to move the story along, doing it backwards creates the bug, which is probably why it wasn't noticed. There should be some way for the bug to not be created again, the developers could simply close down the future exhibit till you've released young emmett. That makes sense

[russell19831983]

Originally Posted by MusicallyInspired

How is it not the same Doc? At the end he gave Marty that McFly History book and mentioned the whole reason he went back to 1931 in the first place was to find more information about his grandmother. So he must remember everything.

its not the same doc anymore, him making up with his father creates a new doc, your logic is flawed, how exactly does he remember everything?

the fact is he lives in 1986 now and he was giving marty a present, he was creating a mcfly family tree, but left out sylvia because she was going by trixie, which he never knew, so he went to 1931 and coincidentally met marty, its unknown whether there is a marty in 1986 who never went back, seems logical there would be if doc never got stranded in 1931 in the first place and marty had to rescue him

[russell19831983]

Originally Posted by Datadog

LOVED that ending.

Actually, that ending seemed like something they'd do in a parody of "Back of the Future," but if you guys could actually make a sensible story out of what I just saw in the last two minutes before credits, I'd be behind you 100%.

The rest of the game was really fun and very well done. The closing chase, especially.

My chief complaint is that these last three episodes all feel mismanaged in terms of pacing. Where episode 4 begins is where episode 3 should have ended, and where episode 5 begins is where episode 4 should have ended. I sometimes like cliffhangers, but I much more enjoy the feeling of a complete plot per episode. "Citizen Brown" should have been all 1986, "Double Visions" should have been all 1931 Expo, and "OUTATIME" should have been all chase (and include a trip into the future as the synopsis had been promising for months.)

My other complaint is difficulty blah blah blah linearity blah blah blah - just go back to the old formula already. Opening puzzle, three puzzles, mid-game puzzle, three puzzles, ending puzzle. It was formulaic but it felt so much more rewarding. Want it back now.

Third complaint: do serious beta-testing next time. The fact that doing the "Dirt on Edna" puzzle first can break the game in the glass house was ridiculous. Especially since Edna's puzzle can be easily solved first.

End of complaints:

You people did an amazing job of recapturing the magic of "Back to the Future." All the twists, turns, and awkward reveals are there, and you even eventually escaped the fan-service long enough to bring some new elements into the franchise.

The music was exceptionally good this time around. Something about it felt familiar, yet new. Maybe it was new music, or maybe it was just put into a new context. Either way, I felt something listening to it.

The voice acting was fantastic as usual. Michael J Fox was an awesome addition to the episode. Somehow after waiting two months, I found myself particularly attached to these characters. Within the first couple minutes, I was already excited to see what Artie was up to this time (he was sitting behind a table. Good for him!)

Beautiful work on the cinematics. The composition, the placement, the direction - I can see where all the real work went into.

If I could request anything for a later "Back to the Future" game that I was really hoping for from Telltale, it's this: I want to use time travel to solve puzzles. Just like in "Day of the Tentacle" or "ChronoTrigger," give me multiple time periods that I can jump back and forth to so I can play with the space-time continuum. Hopefully this will become more feasible in the second season.

the whole dirt on edna puzzle should have been made impossible to do, disabling the house of the future so you can't get the plant should have been done, its silly to let you do one thing so you run into a bug, which is what i did the first time i played it

[-Anna-]

I just finished BTTF. /notes thoughts <3

To begin, I thought the stylised characters mixed with mature dialogue was an awkward combination. (Later in the series I grew to accept this style.)

I thought the story was very interesting. I especially loved how the game explored a cheesy 1930s gangster environment and later a totalitarian '1984' (George Orwell) inspired environment. Adding references like the 'Ministry of Tourism' (Ministry of Truth) in the game was cute. :P

The characters were memorable and the voice acting was well done. Marty's voice actor felt very genuine.

The puzzles mostly felt obvious and easy. I think having the ability to combine inventory items would have increased the complexity.

The invisible walls were excessive and annoying. Examine Marty's home in episode 3 for example. Having Marty unable to walk down the street was understandable. But having Marty unable to walk on the lawn? Ridiculous. I felt like I was pushing Marty along a path instead of exploring an environment.

I think that's all I have to say. Overall, the game was an enjoyable experience and I will be looking forward to the next series if made. c:

[nakano]

This was the first Telltale Games I have played through and I think the series was overall very good. I liked the puzzle system where you're easily able to get hints if you get stuck. The only time, I resorted to youtube was in episode 4 where Emmett's "reputation card" had to be created. I knew what was the idea, but didn't like that puzzle. I had no use for the goal system.

Other comments:
- Moving with the mouse was a little difficult. I would have preferred a more classical moving system. This why, I decided to use keyboard for moving and not playing from couch with TV screen.
- While playing episode 1 & 2 I got blue screen near the endings (Win7/GoG), I had no issue with later episodes.
- The episode 5 has a game stopping bug in the glass room. I was able to walk through a wall and got stuck there. Had to continue from the last autosave position (lucky that there is autosave system as I hadn't saved during the process)
- In addition, if you take an item from the police booth after the police man is gone, "empty" person speaks to you.