Coyote
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2009
- Messages
- 1,149
Played Act 2 last night. My mostly spoiler-free take:
The puzzles in Shay's section are weak, about what you'd expect following Act 1 despite a feeble attempt to mix things up with the knot puzzle. They mostly consist of wandering around talking to people and following up on the obvious hints they give in dialogue. The one notable exception is the puzzle that requires you to switch to Vella, as it's pretty much the only time before the endgame when there's something on the screen hinting at the solution to a puzzle without the game pasting a giant, blinking "PUZZLE SOLUTION HERE" marquee on it.
Where Shay's section does excel is in implementing unique reactions to item combinations/using items on various things in the environment. Half of my entertainment came from actively avoiding the solution to each puzzle so that I could see what people had to say about trying out my inventory in various places. Even when the puzzles are weak, this kind of attention to detail can add a lot to an adventure game, and the amount of effort they put into implementing even responses that most players will never see (because, for example, an item is used in a puzzle right next to where you found it) is downright impressive.
Vella's section is the reverse. It has better puzzles, though only slightly; there's more variety, but not really any more challenge. OTOH, Vella's section is much more lacking in unique reactions compared to Shay's. Even with about half the number of inventory items and smaller number of things in the environment with which to interact, Vella delivers generic "this item won't work here" lines far more often than Shay ever does.
Then there's the endgame. This has by far the most engaging puzzles in the entire game because it finally takes off the training wheels and leaves the player to figure things out on his own. I especially liked the final hexipal puzzle in Shay's section:
However, the final puzzles are also implemented in a somewhat tedious way; more of the player's time is spent on the unchallenging process of getting pieces into place than on figuring out what to do in the first place. The rewiring itself is essentially a mixture of memorization and match-the-symbol, neither of which make for compelling puzzles, and the way the puzzle resets just makes the player do the same things over again without presenting any new obstacles. Nevertheless, if the puzzles had been on the level of this part throughout the entire game, I would be able to recommend it without reservation.
As for the overall game, I'll just leave it at this: the primary thing that Broken Age has going for it IMO is its sense of humor. As much as Schafer has declined in other ways, his games still do that "blending the absurd and mundane" type of humor better than anything else I've played since the LucasArts days, and depending on how much that factored into your enjoyment of his previous games, it might be worth playing for that alone. Aside from that, though, you'd be better off looking elsewhere if you want something resembling the classics BA was originally pitched as a successor to.
Edit: Eliminated some longwindedness.
The puzzles in Shay's section are weak, about what you'd expect following Act 1 despite a feeble attempt to mix things up with the knot puzzle. They mostly consist of wandering around talking to people and following up on the obvious hints they give in dialogue. The one notable exception is the puzzle that requires you to switch to Vella, as it's pretty much the only time before the endgame when there's something on the screen hinting at the solution to a puzzle without the game pasting a giant, blinking "PUZZLE SOLUTION HERE" marquee on it.
Where Shay's section does excel is in implementing unique reactions to item combinations/using items on various things in the environment. Half of my entertainment came from actively avoiding the solution to each puzzle so that I could see what people had to say about trying out my inventory in various places. Even when the puzzles are weak, this kind of attention to detail can add a lot to an adventure game, and the amount of effort they put into implementing even responses that most players will never see (because, for example, an item is used in a puzzle right next to where you found it) is downright impressive.
Vella's section is the reverse. It has better puzzles, though only slightly; there's more variety, but not really any more challenge. OTOH, Vella's section is much more lacking in unique reactions compared to Shay's. Even with about half the number of inventory items and smaller number of things in the environment with which to interact, Vella delivers generic "this item won't work here" lines far more often than Shay ever does.
Then there's the endgame. This has by far the most engaging puzzles in the entire game because it finally takes off the training wheels and leaves the player to figure things out on his own. I especially liked the final hexipal puzzle in Shay's section:
A) Rather than being presented with a solution/hint in the immediate environment, you have to think back to something you saw earlier in the game.
B) You have to realize that the hexigal's flashlight-waving motion could be repurposed for swinging the mallet.
C) Using the burn marks to figure out how to configure the wires is surprisingly subtle for Broken Age, and AFAIK Vella doesn't remark on it in any way.
Of course, it turns out that if you let Vella's part of the final puzzle reset, the hexigal is restored to working, flashlight-swinging order, largely negating A and C. But at least it made for a great puzzle at the time.
B) You have to realize that the hexigal's flashlight-waving motion could be repurposed for swinging the mallet.
C) Using the burn marks to figure out how to configure the wires is surprisingly subtle for Broken Age, and AFAIK Vella doesn't remark on it in any way.
Of course, it turns out that if you let Vella's part of the final puzzle reset, the hexigal is restored to working, flashlight-swinging order, largely negating A and C. But at least it made for a great puzzle at the time.
However, the final puzzles are also implemented in a somewhat tedious way; more of the player's time is spent on the unchallenging process of getting pieces into place than on figuring out what to do in the first place. The rewiring itself is essentially a mixture of memorization and match-the-symbol, neither of which make for compelling puzzles, and the way the puzzle resets just makes the player do the same things over again without presenting any new obstacles. Nevertheless, if the puzzles had been on the level of this part throughout the entire game, I would be able to recommend it without reservation.
As for the overall game, I'll just leave it at this: the primary thing that Broken Age has going for it IMO is its sense of humor. As much as Schafer has declined in other ways, his games still do that "blending the absurd and mundane" type of humor better than anything else I've played since the LucasArts days, and depending on how much that factored into your enjoyment of his previous games, it might be worth playing for that alone. Aside from that, though, you'd be better off looking elsewhere if you want something resembling the classics BA was originally pitched as a successor to.
Edit: Eliminated some longwindedness.
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