Little Big Adventure - Twinsen's Quest remake

[El Presidente]

I've been a very fervent believer for decades now that LBA2 is one of the greatest games of all times and I'll happily die on this hill. Far more people should be talking about LBA2.

Anyways, these remasters look hideous, they totally misunderstood how a Twinsen game should look/feel. I have zero hopes for these. The fact at some point they went out of their way to make Twinsen swarthier for no reason whatsoever, even though they seem to have rollbacked it, also speaks volumes.

 

[Terra]

I kinda lost track of what exactly got cancelled and continued development what with all the screwing about they did with the naming, but it seems the LBA 1 Remake got a new trailer and store pages




I think it looks pretty nice style wise in isometric as the trailer shows and why they never should have gone with the crap 3D free camera used in LBA 2.

 

[lightbane]

I see Twinsen is now black for good, while the bad guy is of course still white.

 

[RobotSquirrel]

why they never should have gone with the crap 3D free camera used in LBA 2.

you do know they're also remaking the second game as well right lol.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2352230/Twinsens_Little_Big_Adventure_2/

Personally I would've wanted the ability to switch between camera modes for both games. I see the appeal of both but always wondered what the game would've looked like if it was one or the other. Its not like it would've been that hard to add either, they already had the camera working for both games.

But the reason they went with the 3D camera was at the time to show real-time polygon drawing for environments - the problem was it backfired as most systems of the time couldn't run it cleanly which is why its a static jittery camera. The remaster would've made more sense if the entire point was to correct that limitation - but since its only done for one of the games I can only assume remaking Relentless was down to pure "we have to make money on this otherwise we close" mentality. I still say LBA3 would have been a better way to go, but their arguments were that no one even knew or cared about the first 2 games so remaking the first two for "new" audiences was the only way they could stay in business.

Lets be honest here though, this is going to fail. The original games still work for most people, motivating the old players to buy the remakes is going to be tough, motivating new players to try it is going to be tough as well. I don't have high hopes for this.

 

[MasterofThunder]

I've never heard of these games at all, despite their acclaim. What's so good about them?.

 

[RobotSquirrel]

I've never heard of these games at all, despite their acclaim. What's so good about them?.

The story is cool, lots of really nice puzzle adventure mechanics. Little easter eggs that surprise you (such as beating up kids, beating up your pregnant wife, beating up your pet, beating up the elderly, beating up... you get the idea).

 

[lightbane]

Trailer for the new game.



The MC is now black for sure when HE NEVER WAS in the OG games, the art style looks bad, and I see they introduce a new character, Twinsen's sister, also kidnapped by the bad guy. An attempt at padding the game, I guess.

 

[PlanHex]

Zoe is in the trailer and that is the whitest black guy since Michael Jackson, are you people blind?

 

[Morgoth]

It's called a tan.

Also, the new art looks rather predictable. Would prefer playing the DOSBox version.

 

[Infinitron]

How did the remake of Little Big Adventure - Twinsen’s Quest come to life, 30 years after the original? We talk about the creation of the studio, their ambitions and the challenges for this brand new version of the game that brings way more than just a fresh coat of paint!

 

[Terra]

I don't think anyone could make a better before and after video showcasing Twinsen's race swap than the developers have managed there... Or at least that's what I'd have said right after watching that video.

As it happens, there is currently a limited time demo for this available here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3021340/Little_Big_Adventure__Twinsens_Quest_Demo/

Gave it a quick run through (it's the whole of the Citadel Island until you get on the ferry), my thoughts below as someone the played and loved the original back in the day:

• Both in the in-game movies & gameplay Twinsen is leaning closer to tanned than outright black, wasn't as noticeable/bothersome as it is in the videos and imagery shown funnilly enough.
• New dodge roll added
• Gameplay feels smoother overall as the mood system has been streamlined away but there's still a little bit of clunkiness to it, maybe deliberate? Going from running>idle the animation and movement stops dead near-enough, will probably be caught & tuned
• Citadel Island is now one big scrolling area, interiors are still separate
• Enemy attack patterns/bullet spread etc recreated faithfully
• In-game movies don't show off the low poly look very well imo, things can look a bit rough in them.
• At regular distances the isometric & low poly combo look nice to my eye, it recreates Citadel Island and the interiors quite faithfully, I had no issue finding my way around from the very start of the demo to the end, everything is as it should with a couple of minor tweaks to add more detail here and there
• Docks crate puzzle is less of a ballache now as they have grab handles on the crates
• Some minor dialogue changes (not diversity-induced, just rewording of things from what I saw, some bits have been trimmed down or ommitted; I believe these were extended tutorial lines where the NPCs explain mechanics and callout a specific key etc). The ports of the original already had this to some extent.
• Everything is revoiced, couple of funny French accents (in a good way)
• Zoe has been replaced functionally by Luna upon reaching Twinsen's house, Zoe is referenced as being taken away (by FF goons) already.
• Sneaking seems to be removed in favour of a run/walk toggle. Can't sneak past the guard at the outpost right outside the Citadel doors for example, looks like he always sees/hears you, (but doesn't pursue). This could be a weird controller mapping issue though, as late on, after getting the magic ball, I noted the ball wasn't assigned to a button and I had to switch to keyboard to kill the yellow Groboclone at the docks & finish the demo.
• Hiding from the Groboclones in Twinsen's house seems to just a defined hotspot you are directed to goto now, so looking like stealth is deliberately gone

Overall seemed like a decent stab at a remake, for veterans I think it's going to be very easy to get through with the new streamlined gameplay, navigating challenging terrain (like say the back of twinsens house into the cave) are much easier & smoother now. Aside from the skin pigment issue, seemed to be a fairly faithful recreation with some additions so far. I wouldn't write it off, I enjoyed my quick blast through it.

 

[lightbane]

Watched the video. It's annoying how they're shamelessly trying to blackify Twinsen for no reason, while at the same time saying they'll be faithful to the original games. No idea about this new girl. At worst she's going to be a girlboss or something.

 

[Faarbaute]

The original LBA was a masterclass in game design. "Streamlined gameplay" yeah, ok. Makes me wonder who this remake is for, and what the point of it is. Hipsters?

If the gameplay wasn't to your liking, and you still really felt like you needed to consume this piece of content (original LBA), why not watch a Lets Play, or just read a synopsis online, instead.

Disgusting.

 

[Infinitron]

Oh, this is out:




https://af.gog.com/en/game/little_big_adventure_twinsens_quest?as=1649904300

 

[RobotSquirrel]

There's a demo, its 1GB.

Control scheme is absolutely terrible.
The UI is console trash. There is just one unified stance now and the game plays like its designed for consoles.
Rebinding keys is a pain in the ass and the default bindings make no sense.
There's a lot of Unity engine jank. Bugs Lots and lots of bugs.
The pre-rendered cutscenes make no sense at all, these could have been real-time rendered as they are basically rendered in engine anyway - so what the fuck is the point.
The music is nonexistent, I think its bugged.
The VA work is extremely low quality - gives me fan game vibes.
The art style is unpleasant, even more so when up close.
This doesn't feel like the work of a studio that's been around for 25 years, this feels like the work of students who've been making games for 2 years.
The price of the full release makes zero sense. Who the fuck is this game for?! - looks like the games a flop anyway. Only 356 players at peak during release. Classic neglecting wishlists before a big launch - very few conversions from wish lists to purchases.

 

[lightbane]

Entire game's walkthrough. Absolute terrible: there are typos and wrong voice lines in the first 20 minutes of the game's start, a forced tutorial (mandatory nowadays I suppose), it looks weird, and the new character is Twinsen's annoying little sister that exists solely to de-emphasise Sen's relationship with his girlfriend Zoe, no more posture modes, etc.

Very disappointing.