Comments on: Editorial: A Torrid Love Affair with Telltale Games

By: Mel

Mel — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 22:50:38 +0000

I’ve also tried my hand at a Telltale game and was initially caught up in it, but put it down for too long to remember quite where I left off. The prospect of having to start over again has kept me away but maybe not forever.

By: Ethos

Ethos — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 18:16:13 +0000

@Lusipurr – great comment. It’s why I feel that currently the most artistically powerful games are the ones that use actual game mechanics and pacing to convey a narrative or artistic statement, rather than trying to do it with callow writing or flashy cutscenes.

By: SiliconNooB

SiliconNooB — Sat, 13 Dec 2014 20:58:09 +0000

I buy a lot of Telltale products because I tend to be sucked in by the premise of them, and I tend to enjoy the first episode or two, but after that the lack of engaging gameplay starts to wear on me and I become bored.

By: Java

Java — Sat, 13 Dec 2014 13:06:09 +0000

Pardon the typos, the coffee has not kicked in, yet.

By: Java

Java — Sat, 13 Dec 2014 13:04:27 +0000

That’s fair! I have to admit that also am not what I would call a fan of Doctor Who, which I find terrifically campy. I will watch it if there is nothing else to watch, but I’m not about to ascribe some perceived armchair philosophies to the show as I have seen some do. It is meant to be entertaining, and for that, I suppose, depth is not always entirely necessary, though I will never deem it unwelcome. There are some days where I will allow the most fabricated versions of depth to fly simply because the story is entertaining.

Like you, I don’t expect devs to be deep, but I do expect effort, even if it is sophomoric, and that is only in cases where you are handing me a game where I am arguably suppose to care what happens to care about the characters. If I’m not engaged in any way to our heroes and villains, then I see no point in having them and would be probably get as much enjoyment out of the game as I would playing generic zombie shooter 2000, which is to say I would return it from whence it came.

By: Lusipurr

Lusipurr — Sat, 13 Dec 2014 02:18:57 +0000

I wish I had something nice to say about Telltale Games projects, but I don’t. They aren’t actively bad, but at the same time, I don’t find them narratively creative, artistically innovative, or particularly ‘fun’–the three things which I value most about video games on the whole. I understand that they butter a lot of scones–but they’re not my scones.

I am not sure what it is particularly that rubs me the wrong way. To a large degree, it’s like Doctor Who, which you also mention. I just don’t like it. I do like some Sci-Fi, but I think Doctor Who is pretty poor both from writing and acting angles. Lots of people love it to death, but I can’t really see why. Lots of people love American Football to death. I can’t figure that out either.

Maybe there is a sense that these are mass-produced culture which is attempting to masquerade as being something more sophisticated and deep. Yet, when one has had much (indeed, near-constant) experience with actual, tremendously challenging depth, then the ersatz ‘depth’ which is served up as part of mass-culture repulses, rather than delights. Maybe there’s a hint of that in their games.

As a rule I don’t find many games particularly deep. The developers simply don’t have the aesthetic and literary experience necessary to pull that sort of thing off, as a rule. They’re game developers, not Herman Melville. They have a different skill set. So, usually, attempts to do that sort of thing fall short and, consequently, games tend to be better if they don’t put on airs by trying. Better to successfully make a fun, light game than to produce a ‘deep’ game which is a sophormoric imitation of the sublime at best.