Episodic King's Quest The Odd Gentlemen.

[Broomie]

It's decent enough so far. It reminds me of Psychonauts in terms of gameplay and Psychonauts in one of the best games ever. It's got its adventure-y elements but there's plenty of QTE sequences too. I'm questioning a few design decisions here and there but so far it's been a nice experience and I can deal with some of the quirky humour.

What I don't like is the 'zaniness' of Graham. You could look at something and act like a kid with ADHD dizzy on lemonade. I don't mind the silliness of other stuff and the guards have made me laugh out loud a few times but it's just too over the top at times. I'd much prefer Graham to just be confused and inquisitive about the world around him rather than bouncing up and down like a lunatic. People have been comparing him to Guybrush Threepwood but I disagree because he only really acts goofy in Escape from Monkey Island and Tales. He acts more like Spongebob Squarepants than anyone else I can think of which is not how I ever imagined to describe Graham.

I really like the art and environments though. The music is also very nice and ambient with familiar melodies playing throughout.

Wallace Shawn and Christopher Lloyd are awesome. Perfect casting.

Yeah they're very good, I quite like the idea of him being the stand-in narrator. And the guards are very funny too and well cast. As I said Graham is annoying but nowhere near as annoying as Gwendolyn. I feel like I'm getting an audio commentary from Hannah Montana. Just shut up and let Christopher Lloyd tell the damn story.

Overall, I'm still playing it and it may sound like my opinion is a bit mixed so far but I'm sure I'll warm to it. I just wasn't prepared for how goofy it was going to be. It could end up being a good thing.

[rugged]

I just had a quick 15 minute play with my 6 year old son.
When he saw the dragon "dad we need a weapon"
I shuddered "we use our brain instead" (or the space key with no thought)
Then he got so excited when he saw the bow and arrow "look a weapon"
Me "it's not a weapon"
"ummm dad a bow and arrow is a weapon"

[Kaldire]

bt thats how i feel
if it just didnt hold the KQ name and didnt put up SIERRA then say OWNED and USED by activision at the startup

ok so using sierras name, though the company doesnt exist is ok how? idk like oh look ole school fans  a new sierra game!

ugh and how silly and lame the jokes are (they arent funny) and made for console kids it seems to be
but that aside if this wasnt kq  this game would be just decent
but since it is
ughh my head

i tried!
i wanted to like it but umm  the puzzles = platformer puzzles
lets move this over here  ok  shoot the rope arrow.. oops start over ughh etc
oh shoot those ropes on rocks

wait what shoot, why dont i seem to have a bow in my inv

[Kaldire]

anyone subscribe to this?

is that real?
hahahhaa

[Lambonius]

I have to say, as much as I think this game is way too easy, too childish, and has too many concessions to "modern" gamers (i.e. on-rails action sequences, QTE or not,) I do feel comfortable saying that this is the way I hope modern adventure games are treated from here on out.  I feel like TOG really did set out to create something that would blend those classic elements with modern ADHD gamer sensibilities, and for better or worse, that's exactly what they've done.  I'd like to see where this series goes, and hope that perhaps the subsequent episodes can bring back some of the more complex puzzle scenarios and more balanced tone.

If nothing else, if the rest of the episodes in the series are as long and have as much replayability as this one, TOG will have set a new standard for what episodic games should look and play like.

[Klytos]

I really don't get how they don't have the right to call their publishing arm Sierra Kaldire? Do you mean morally speaking they shouldn't?

I agree with you Lamb, I think this is a much better direction for AG than TellTale's work. Tone down the humour a notch and tone up the reality a little and I think it's pretty spot on.

[Kaldire]

heya klytos

yaya lol I meant morally, from an ole school sierra lover view this isnt a sierra game!

I mean they bought sierra they can do what they want, call it whatever etc
imo though this is NOT a sierra game, its activision
and well a few other companies but I dont want to get into that KS war some got into over stolen funds etc

I just meant that sierra as a team, doesnt exist, using that logo and such is just there for the ole school feel
like whoop a sierra game!
imo Im with bt,

if this game didnt have the name kq and wasnt sierra stamped, it would be decent
and I agree with you 100% on being better than telltales recent .. grr stuff, though game of thrones is a bit, pushing my edge there lol

to me  kq is very .. annoying, to many bad puns (and i love them but tooo many) as someone else said, the kid chiming in, like hanna montana .. ugh

idk again this felt more like a telltale advent with much better visuals, and more platformer minigames than a true point n click advent.

tone down the humor and up reality as you suggested and this game is def a nice one, but i cant get this kid stuff out of my head,
idk

Spoiler (hover to show)

though princess bride being one of my fav movies of course I loved the ending but meh

so yep I agree with both you and bt pretty much everyone here seems to have the same viewish on the game

im still on the fence, but after ep 1 i was left with this, man this is beautiful, but zzz really got on my nerves how simple the game was and how linear..and how droll the puns became

at least IQS made MEME's a bit harder to spot or take more knowhow to spot them
this game seems again made for a child console gen
"we going to be in a club?! what are your availabilities for sleepovers, whats your fav color" AHHHH
this is not the graham we all knew... idk

i stand by my demo plays and by the ep 1
this felt like a BEEFED up and far superior to a telltale game, more like Life is Strange(a very great game IMO that)
only take the serious stuff away and add jokes

if they only could find some middle ground of Life is strange, and telltales illusion of choice creation (yes telltale started that with JP) then the game might be just ok

idk

[Jerminator]

Okay I've been playing it. I am pleasantly surprised with the game. The puzzles are pretty straight forward. Definitely some hand holding but I think the level of puzzles are at a decent degree based on the style and base this game seems to try and reach. The humor and tone of the game, bleh really not what I would want. I don't totally ban it though because the charm and nostalgia seem to forgive all of that.

The art direction for the environment is really great, even better than great. A few times I paused and just admired the skill they took too capture the world. My complaint on the character models still applies. I totally disagree with the way everyone looks. The animations are fantastic, but I absolutely hate the direction here. I stopped a few times and tried to imagine a more realistic Graham in place of the one they went with and it made more sense with the environment to me. I get the slapstick writing perhaps calls for a simplistic childish character models, but again I just can't get over this.

I'm pretty far in I think but had to give it a rest for now. I went ahead and bought the complete game though. So score one for The Odd Gentlemen.

[Klytos]

Is it the body shapes you dislike? Like Whisper being out of proportion?

[Jerminator]

Yeah more or less Shawn. Whisper was a bit over the top, along with all of the knights with tiny heads, but not just that it's the shading they used for the texture on the models. Almost like pencil lines on a sketch. I get it's a style they are going for. I just don't like it. KQ games pretty much stuck to proportional shaded characters. Especially the lead characters.

I am enjoying it. So I'll just accept that that's the direction they took with it. I'm sure they had their reasons.

[Klytos]

Ah, cool. Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of that myself but I've put it down to the more whimsical style they've gone for.

I said this to Steve the other night, regardless of anything else, this is the first game I've bought on release day in about a decade. That's gotta mean something lol

[Kaldire]

i shall await a nice sale for this one

again its beautiful but not something id be ok with saying 40$ for ? months of episodes, they drive me nuts wondering whats next lol

[Baggins]

I have to say I found the puzzles to be about on par with KQ1 or KQ2 (with the lack of  a couple of moon logic puzzles, then again there are some moon logic puzzle solutions that act as sort of alternate solutions, easter eggs in the new game).

I've calculated that there are about 52 inventory items in the game. 40 or so if you count that many of them are alternate versions of the same item that get modified, and used as separate puzzle solutions, or for achievements. Its possible to get about 48 of the total items in a single play, but depending on the path you might only find 44-46 (and most can be 'used' in some way, for actual solutions or for extra diologue, or influence the plot). Since some items only show up if you choose non-violent approach, or do certain things at certain times, or make certain decisions. That's about the total number of puzzles not counting the action sequences, conversation puzzles, tile/jumping/board game puzzles, or the alternate puzzle solutions or virtue choices throughout the game.

The with all puzzles involved is about as large as KQ1-5 each (or about twice as many puzzles as KQ1 or KQ2, ande about the same as 4 and 5, and almost as many puzzles as KQ6's long path). It really is a fullsized game on part with the arliest of KQ games in size. With replayability it almost reaches the size of KQ6 (but has even more 'endings'). It is nice that hte story is largely stand alone, with a clear villain (who might come back later), and hints of an even greater villain behind the scenes.

I give the first game probably 8.5/10. But will have to wait until next chapter to see if it improves. I hope next story is a little more 'epic' in scope, heroic, world saving.

The story however is not as epic, its not about saving the country. It's a simple quest to win knighthood, and win a chance to become king. It suppose in some ways it puts it more into KQ2 camp, as there was no life threatening 'must save' Daventry aspect to that game, nor a 'must save Kolyma' aspect to that game's story either.

There are some exciting moments, and it does foreshadow something greater, but the ending of the first story is not super thrilling. But neither was KQ2, if you think about it (or the original KQ1's ending).

The exploration once you can explore was perhaps roughly the size of Land of Serenia, without the desert, and stripping out the linear later half of KQ5 (although the linear sections which are set at the beginning of the game are probably as big as KQ5's linear sections (with no 'maze'), but unfortunately onrails and lack of puzzles early. Then again its sort of like the linear sequence in KQ3, from the moment you get off the boat to the time you get into daventry, which had very few puzzles, until you reached the dragon. Mostly those 'climbing' arcade sequences, and cave mazes. Something this game does a bit too much of, 'cliff climbing', that can lead to death.

The puzzles were mixed. There were a couple I struggled on, but mainly because I was overthinking. But it was obvious once I listened to some dialogue I missed.

[Baggins]

Personally considering that each chapter  is about the size of an early KQ game, large and largely stand alone, I don't think $8-10 per chapter is really all that bad. I doubt that the playable epilogue you get with the complete edition will be a 'full sized' game in itself, but it sounds like a nice bonus to me.

Is it my favorite KQ game? Hardly, but I did have a lot of fun, and I'm still having a lot of fun, I've played through the first half of the game almost 6 different ways so far (just to catch the various choices, and side stories), with one 100% game so far. So replayability in this game is great, that right there I think adds to the value. These alternate paths really feel like they change things.

[Baggins]

Jerminator, ya the knights look weird. Most of the human characters look fairly normal though. The game has a kind of illustrated storybook feel to it or a graphic novel feel to it.

It's somewhere between realistic style of the later KQ games KQ4-6, and the truly cartoony aspects of KQ7 (which had a lot of disproportioned indiviudals), and the cartoony style of KQ1-3, including the original manual artwork of KQ1 PCJR (which I think of as 1970's Saturday Morning Graham).