Sam & Max The Devil's Playhouse: The Tomb of Sammun-Mak Discussion!

[Flyingman356]

This "reel" system solved the problem of being stuck and getting really bored. If you do get stuck, you can go and try another reel, which I thought was a very good system. I got stuck a few times in The Penal Zone and I didn't want to continue, but this completely solved that.

[Hatley]

I. Love. The. Ventriloquism! Great job on it Telltale!

[Hassat Hunter]

Originally Posted by ShaggE

I do believe that TT has broken the "Episode 2 is the weakest" chain for S&M.

True.

But I hope they break the chain with increasing bug volumes. 301 already had plenty compared to MI (IMO) and 302 adds on top of that a lot .

[KeyMaster]

Originally Posted by Hassat Hunter

True.

But I hope they break the chain with increasing bug volumes. 301 already had plenty compared to MI (IMO) and 302 adds on top of that a lot .

Indeed, I find that graphical errors run amok especially when it comes to lighting on character models, they certainly do break any immersion that may be going on

On a side note: I think it would be a great collector's item if the TT crew were to sell the projector from this episode as an actual working one. While yes the old reel to reel format has gone the way of the dinosaurs I think it would be cool if they were to make a modern digital projector out of it that when turned on the reels on top would rotate. Possibly some optional sound effects of an actual reel to reel projector mayhaps?

[Jake]

Originally Posted by ShaggE

EDIT: Almost forgot... HUGE missed opportunity: When "T-H-E-M" is spelled out, I was shocked (simply shocked!) that there wasn't a high-pitched scream in the distance.

... there wasn't?

[JedExodus]

Originally Posted by Jake

... there wasn't?

Your own high-pitched screams don't count

[Pantagruel's Friend]

Finished the episode last night. Or rather, this morning. First off, I think it's easily the most atmospheric game Telltale's ever done. The train reel was just like playing a part in Murder on the Orient Express - very engaging. Of course, this heavily builds on Jared's excellent music, too - while this episode doesn't have the kind of "hit" song as many earlier episodes, the tracks are blending in really really well with the graphics and the story.

I really liked the reels as a gameplay element - it was always a strong point in Telltale's games that they're striving to avoid linear story development, and The Tomb of Sammun Mak excels in this aspect, too.

The difficulty felt pretty much the same as other Sam and Max games - there were no mind boggling puzzles, but as a result, the gameplay and the story progression was quite fluent, and while I was looking for clues once in a while, the game provided me with plenty of entertainment - especially the psychic ventriloquism power.

The characters were great, just great - Kringle and Papierwaite were spot on, I've always liked Jurgen so it was nice to see his backstory, and I really don't understand what people have against baby Amelia. And of course, the subtly different Sameth and Maximus are a very easy-to-like duo.

The ending was a shocker, for sure. What happened to Sameth and Maximus felt a bit rushed to me, to be honest, but the ending for Sam and Max was very well done.

All in all, The Tomb of Sammun Mak is a great episode, it's a definite step forward after The Penal Zone - the third season of the Freelance Police's episodic adventures is turning out to be something grand. Well done!

Originally Posted by Harald B

I think story-wise this is the most engrossing, can't-put-it-down one yet.

Hear hear. Planned to turn in early last night, after a quick fix of Sameth and Maximus, and then was just blinking while the credits were rolling and the clock said 1AM

[tbm1986]

Originally Posted by Pantagruel's Friend

I think it's easily the most atmospheric game Telltale's ever done.

I think TMI 104 and 105 could give this episode a run for its money for atmosphere. Trapped on an island in the dead of night when all the local inhabitants would sooner put your head on a spike as look at you, followed by a very Disney-like main character death and a predictable ending with a very shocking twist. Cue next episode, complete silence apart from a dog digging at your grave, slow zoom-out, followed by a feeling of helpnessness, the fight felt very real (like you were being thrown about by LeChuck not Guybrush) and the final scene at the crossroads was something really inspired.

Originally Posted by Pantagruel's Friend

The characters were great, just great - Kringle and Papierwaite were spot on, I've always liked Jurgen so it was nice to see his backstory, and I really don't understand what people have against baby Amelia. And of course, the subtly different Sameth and Maximus are a very easy-to-like duo.

I agree. The lines and acting could not have been more fitting. The characters really felt memorable. To try to nail Sameth and Maximus vs Sam and Max down, Sameth was more dramatic and aggressive at times, while Maximus was less psychopathic more cowardly. Great 'tache and clothes!


I'm glad you enjoyed it as much as I did and felt the ending was rushed.

[LikaLaruku]

Oh man, I really loved the character designs & costumes for Sammus, Cringle, & Jurgen!

So...if Sammus & Maximus never had kids, what plothole did Sam & Max pop out of? XD

[jaden551]

Originally Posted by Pantagruel's Friend

The ending was a shocker, for sure. What happened to Sameth and Maximus felt a bit rushed to me, to be honest, but the ending for Sam and Max was very well done.

Isn't the point that the it was to find out why they were dead and then they just quickly get wiped out to say it wasn't that impressive. Kinda like the battle of the somme.

[sfox]

Just finished the episode...
I didn't like it as much as The Penal Zone (best episode of all so far imo). Maybe it's because Skunkape was such a cool villain and Paperwaite felt really lacking in comparison. It was interesting to see how Jurgen became a vampire and it was neat how they fit Santa Claus in there though..

[Flyingman356]

Papierwaite wasn't meant to be a cool villain, he was meant to be a secret villain who you don't suspect will be a villain. That's like criticizing a steak for not tasting like chicken.

[boo]

I think the lack of new characters hurt what was an otherwise stellar episode. The mole people... frankly, if this is the last I see of them, I would not miss them. They were used well (especially the elderly woman with the comic strip) but it's time to put 'em to bed. Kringle and the Elves and Jurgen worked because they aren't yet so overexposed. I think you guys really dropped the ball by not bringing in a race of cat people to interact with Sam in place of the moles. How can you do Egypt without cats? Especially when one of your protagonists is a dog.

Add me to the list of those that got emotional at the end.

[LeBart]

Finished it seconds ago ! Very surprising structure (I wasn't quite sure I was playing the game right at the beginning, skipping to the end and all), Telltale shows yet again huge talent and creativity.

It was shorter than The Penal Zone for me, and I think we lose a tiny bit of that Twilight Zone ambiance, so Penal Zone is still my favorite Sam and Max episode so far !

[Pantagruel's Friend]

Originally Posted by tbm1986

I think TMI 104 and 105 could give this episode a run for its money for atmosphere.

Never saw the greatness in Tales Ep4, but you're right about Ep5 - very different atmosphere, but also excellent.

Originally Posted by tbm1986

I'm glad you enjoyed it as much as I did and felt the ending was rushed.

Originally Posted by jaden551

Isn't the point that the it was to find out why they were dead and then they just quickly get wiped out to say it wasn't that impressive. Kinda like the battle of the somme.

My trouble with that scene is that it turns a quite comical / satirical story into cold drama in a matter of seconds. Some dramatic build-up would have done a lot of good. The final scene was much better constructed - and the pinch of humour didn't hurt, either.

[Sam & Gromit]

I LOVE the new episode! The reel system was an awesome and interesting idea, and the game was more challenging than the previous one (mainly due to the lack of forecasting powers). One of the best Sam and Max episodes ever, if not THE best.
I just hope that the "Monkey Island-ish" reuse of character models won't become a regular thing of this season. It was okay for this one, but shouldn't happen too often.
(It kinda fits the moles to all be based on the same model, so they didn't bother me that much. And "The making of Jurgen" was actually ingenious. The least good it was used for Kringle and his elves. Looking like Santa and his elves though not really being related to them felt ... strange, even if the game made jokes of that itself...)

Further comments:
- I got a bug right after getting the ventriloquist dummy (in eqypt). I tried right away to use it, and the game half-froze on me. Max could still look around, but no persons were sparkling, no persons could be chosen, and even clicking on the Sam icon in the top corner did nothing. (And as always in Max mode, the game menues weren't accessible.)
- A smaller, but reoccuring bug:
When a dialogue cutscene starts right after Sam hit Max into the air, the video usually started with Sam talking to an empty space. Then Max suddenly appeared there (not walked there, but just popped up). Another psychic power? XD
- Noticed that the right bird guardian had Skunk'ape's voice (just slightly changed)?
- In this season, most of the time Max (and Maximus) seems... less agressive than in previous seasons. Too "normal" - except for his not-so-normal psychic powers, of course. But the old Max was psychic even without special powers.
In general Sam and Max both seem to have forgotten that they love violence. Yeah, it is supposed to be an adventure game and not a fighting game, but it does feel akward sometimes when even little girls can block the main character's way that easily and Sam and Max don't even try to pull a fight or just push them away.
- Like someone here mentioned before: The moles are funny here, but I start to feel that we have seen enough of them. Less moles in upcoming episodes, please!

[HappyCoincidence]

Well first off, I have to say this might be Telltale's best episode yet. The homage to silent films, with a turn of the 20th century feel (for atmosphere, it doesn't get much better than 1901 Straight & Narrow with jazzy ragtime or the Lawrence-of-Arabia-ish tomb music ) hit all the right notes. And I usually hate the ancient Egypt level in a game (Sonic 3 being a slight exception). It was also nice to switch up the 4-act formula for a change and use clues and foreshadowing from the future.

There were plenty of references that went into the plot and atmosphere, but what film was the main influence? I got a Peter Lorre vibe from Papierwaite, and the whole story (train trip to Egypt, uncovering ancient tomb) seemed familiar, but I can't put my finger on it.

Yeah, and also at the end, why did the protection spell turn them into skeletons? Just because? Or did I miss something?

[StrongBrush1]

Originally Posted by HappyCoincidence

Yeah, and also at the end, why did the protection spell turn them into skeletons? Just because? Or did I miss something?

The Curse placed upon the chest is a curse of death. Since the duo was hit with the curse, they were killed.

[light_rises]

Okay, time to put my scattered musings in one place:

I loved it. This might actually be one of my favorite Sam & Max episodes, period. A chunk of that has to do with personal appeal, sure -- the late 19th/early 20th Century is an era I find innately fascinating/cool, and I always enjoy learning more about the family history of characters I love. Execution is key, however, and I don’t think I could be more pleased with how both of these elements turned out. The silent film allusions were great, and as others have mentioned, Sammun-Mak is up to its ears in atmosphere. Ye Olde Straight & Narrow is one of the most beautifully realized environments I’ve seen in a Telltale game. I wished more than a few times that I could stroll a little farther down the street.

For me, the puzzles were a step up from The Penal Zone, in large part due to how the reel-hopping was a factor in gathering clues. I’m still something of a newbie when it comes to adventure games, but one thing I’m learning (especially after playing Sammun-Mak) is that my favorites tend to include the necessity of doing something in a certain place and/or time that will affect what’s going on elsewhere. Besides that, I’d say the integration of puzzles with story comes close to rivaling Lair of the Leviathan. That, along with the atmosphere, is a huge part of what made the experience so absorbing. My usual routine is to take a couple days to finish an episode, but I was a) too into the story, and b) wanted way too badly to finish so I could hop online to see what everyone else was saying to stick with that.

I don’t seem to mind the character re-use as much as others. I only want their appearances -- whether completely new to us or not -- to have a real purpose and place in the story and/or puzzles. That doesn’t seem to be a problem here, though I can see where some are coming from with Kringle.

But back to the characters in general ... great fun. I loved Baby Amelia’s remodel; she now has something of a Kewpie doll-esque, uncanny valley look that’s a bit unnerving, yet somehow works. And her voice was awesome. Jurgen was splendid as usual -- backstory FTW! The thuggish elves, Kringle, Papierwaite ... they all held some welcome suprises. And I really enjoyed the molemen for most of the game. It wasn’t just Harry and some random, stock characters who happened to live under Sam and Max’s building. They each had distinct personalities, something resembling a fleshed-out cultural background (satirical though it was), and were uniformly well-written and entertaining for the most part.

Pretty much everyone has mentioned the best funny moments already. A number of my favorites came from abusing using the pyschic ventriloquism on Sameth. I also found Sameth’s initial (overdramatic) responses to Maximus getting zapped with the Holstein Hex, as well as trying to use your inventory on the latter in the aftermath, absolutely priceless.

A very minor criticism: the Easter Egg hunter in me wished there was more inconsequential fallout from using the ventriloquism on everyone and everything in sight. More havoc -- incidental to the story or not -- should have ensued from such power, darnit!

The tone Sammun-Mak’s final two scenes adopted were something of a pleasant surprise, although the first of them was mostly hampered by pacing issues. For example, I think just having a longer, awkward moment of shared silence amongst the mole family after Nefertiti accidentally zaps Sameth and Maximus with the Protection Curse and before they stroll out of the boiler room as if nothing had happened would have helped. And Pantagruel’s Friend may be onto something with his suggestion of having more build-up to the drama. Something still went right there, though, since I was stunned by how sad I was at Sameth and Maximus’ deaths, foregone conclusion or not.

Heck, I had figured from the start that the discovery of a brain-napped Max was a forgone conclusion as far as this episode’s cliffhanger, but ... oh God, that scene. Perfect. In pace, in tone, in “oh-lord-this-creeped-the-living-hell-out-of-me,” just perfect. As I mentioned elsewhere, this reminds me strongly of the part in “Bad Day on the Moon” where Sam realizes Max didn’t make it through the gate to the Dark Side of the Moon. There’s a rare slither of pathos at work here -- but also a touch of dark humor to remind us that this is still Sam & Max, after all.

So congratulations, Telltale. On both a marvelous game overall, and a cliffhanger which manages to be even more infuriating than the one that was actually a complete surprise!

Originally Posted by StrongBrush1

The Curse placed upon the chest is a curse of death. Since the duo was hit with the curse, they were killed.

Yup. There’s even foreshadowing to this, if you dare to have Sameth and Maximus touch the Toybox the very first chance they can. Which is, of course, after Grandpa Mole has activated the Protection Curse.

[Royalist_Scum]

Hello,
I bought the series on PSN. Played the first ep and loved it - how do I play the second episode???

Please help! I've been waiting all month for the release and I can't download it...

Cheers,