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The DeathSpank |OT| (XBLA/PSN)
- Thread starter Shard
- Start date
Keyser Soze
Member
I just bought it too (without demoing... I'M A CRAZY!). Eek, it's 1GB in size, and my net speed is not all that great.
*twiddles thumbs*
*twiddles thumbs*
LocoMrPollock
Banned
For me, I would just rather play the many other great action rpgs out there. The game really doesn't seem to bring anything new to the genre at all.
But what really killed it for me are the graphics. I'm just really not feeling the art style or color palete at all. And the view is weird and just feels off. The combat wasn't really doing it for me either.
The voice for the main character was also a little obnoxious for my tastes, but the writing did seem solid.
But what really killed it for me are the graphics. I'm just really not feeling the art style or color palete at all. And the view is weird and just feels off. The combat wasn't really doing it for me either.
The voice for the main character was also a little obnoxious for my tastes, but the writing did seem solid.
taku
Member
I really don't get how people can hate on this art style. It's kind of like merging cartoon network and torchlight and adding a animal crossing perspective to it. Also, I think the voices are solid, not incredible but they do work for me!
This is an XBLA/PSN game for crying out loud. I didn't think twice about buying it, nor did I even touch the demo.
This is an XBLA/PSN game for crying out loud. I didn't think twice about buying it, nor did I even touch the demo.
There are a lot of side-quests with keys for rewards, so you'll be able to open locked chests before you know it.tjohn86 said:
WickedLaharl
Member
no new game +? 
can you at least carry on looting or what have you after the main game is finished?
can you at least carry on looting or what have you after the main game is finished?
I have a bunch of keys now and can't find any chests. Figure the chests at the starting of the game can not be any good loot wise.
Good game so far. I actually love the voice overs. DeathSpank has a The Tick kinda feel to him. Feels like some crazy cartoon I'd watch when I was younger.
Good game so far. I actually love the voice overs. DeathSpank has a The Tick kinda feel to him. Feels like some crazy cartoon I'd watch when I was younger.
BaronLundi
Member
sdornan said:
I had exactly the same problem. What level are you ?
For the swamp those damn red exploding oozes are terrible. Range weapons are the way to go. Aim at the little red offsprings to make them explode and damage the big ones. It's a bit of pain.
Otherwise the giants still cause me trouble and I'm level 14. You can avoid them though, go to the west and enter the enchanted forests (stay on the path and avoid the lvl20 unicorns. Further down the path you can find more accessible stuff to do.
Otherwise the giants still cause me trouble and I'm level 14. You can avoid them though, go to the west and enter the enchanted forests (stay on the path and avoid the lvl20 unicorns. Further down the path you can find more accessible stuff to do.
Atomski said:
So far (lvl 15 here) the golden chests have pretty crappy rewards anyway.
Just got to the first town last night, loving the game, hope its as long as the world map makes it look.
I'm getting into the melee stuff now I've worked out that blocking is essential, I wish there was a bit more depth to the ranged stuff, I haven't even seen a replacement for my starting crossbow yet (maybe that comes later?). Story seems really well done as well, typical Gilbert twists and turns that works so brilliantly in games.
I love the adventuring stuff too, it's definitely 'point and click lite' but it works really well in context, my only gripe is that reading the conversation choices kinda spoils Deathspanks delivery, I think Bioware's approach of giving you general idea of what you're going to say works a lot better.
I'm getting into the melee stuff now I've worked out that blocking is essential, I wish there was a bit more depth to the ranged stuff, I haven't even seen a replacement for my starting crossbow yet (maybe that comes later?). Story seems really well done as well, typical Gilbert twists and turns that works so brilliantly in games.
I love the adventuring stuff too, it's definitely 'point and click lite' but it works really well in context, my only gripe is that reading the conversation choices kinda spoils Deathspanks delivery, I think Bioware's approach of giving you general idea of what you're going to say works a lot better.
That was a conscious decision made to enhance "teh funny". I originally had a rather long dissertation here on the nature of dialogue trees, but I think I'm the only one who would care. Long story short, the dialogue choices themselves are part of the joke. "Intent" dialogue choices just cover for lazy writing. Don't even get me started on Mass Effect's dialogue "trees".Ghost said:
Salz01
Member
Played the game last night for a few hours. It has that certain cartoon charm and wit that has been lacking in lots of other games. Its easy to pick up, play and kill stoopid chickens. I love it. I hope its a long quest and some good loot. Ive barely scratched the surface and already hope they are planning some DLC or sequel for it. The art style just pops out to me and grabs my attention. Very colorful. Need more like this please.
Sqorgar said:
I'm really enjoying this game, and I'm even managing to tolerate the humor without skipping the dialog, but by criticizing Mass Effect you have gone too far.
How are Mass Effect's "intent" dialog choices "lazy writing" when the full dialog that is actually spoken by the characters is presumably written by the dialog writers as well?
I wish every RPG had Mass Effect style dialog trees and intent dialog choices...
Salz01
Member
I smell a thread derail here. But, the Mass Effect Dialog trees are a bit over hyped. Pick the top one for a 'good alignment response' pick the bottom one for a 'bad alignment response'. You dont even have to put too much thought into what they are saying if you just care about picking up paragon or renegade points, you pick either top or bottom.
Dialog choice are suppose to represent exactly what you want, so the responses and following dialogue needs to be much more interesting.xbhaskarx said:
I really do hate Mass Effect dialogue when it really screws up. Especially Alpha Protocol. The choices where it's like "That's enough!" which sounds like trying to negotiate, but you actually pull out a gun and shoot the guy in the face after saying it. It is the worst way to do dialogue.
Diseased Yak
Gold Member
Only played about 45 minutes of this last night (PSN version) but so far I love it! The graphics are great, I love how the world scrolls off into the back ground.
The humor is top notch as well. I lol'd at this early exchange with the witch:
"What is my favorite color?"
"Plaid"
"Ok, that was a lucky guess... What number am I thinking of?"
"Plaid"
"Ok, this is getting eerie..."
The humor is top notch as well. I lol'd at this early exchange with the witch:
"What is my favorite color?"
"Plaid"
"Ok, that was a lucky guess... What number am I thinking of?"
"Plaid"
"Ok, this is getting eerie..."
Salz01 said:
Okay, but the problem there is tying the choices to paragon and renegade points, so that people are always picking one or the other.
If people had reason to choose different types of responses in different situations, having certain types of choices all in the same area of the tree would make navigation easier.
Discotheque
Banned
Morality system is the bane of RPGs. It's made convos way too simple now. I want old-style conversations. Reading is good.
Oh yeah. The humor in here is spot-on. Some really funny lines. Worth the 15 I think.
Oh yeah. The humor in here is spot-on. Some really funny lines. Worth the 15 I think.
Diseased Yak
Gold Member
Is there a way to compare a newly attained armor piece or weapon with what you have equipped? Sucks having to scroll over and look at each without a side-by-side comparison, unless there is one and I just missed it.
Well, it's Sean, but yeah. And the way he tells the story makes me sound totally pathetic. In my version of the story, I look like Fabio... but more manly.Sectus said:
It's lazy writing because the choices don't matter. If you were to write out the three options, you'd end up with choices like:xbhaskarx said:
"I don't think I'm going to do that."
"I'm not going to do that."
"No way am I going to do that."
And that's assuming that the actual dialogue even remotely resembles the intent you chose. More often than not, I had the impression that the resulting dialogue fit better with one of the intents that I didn't select. Sometimes, the character would say something that is completely opposite of what I selected, which was distracting and annoying.
Mass Effect has less choice than most dialogue trees, but they hide it behind intent selections so you don't realize that all the options lead to the same dialogue. If they removed the selections completely (and outside of a few points in the game, they might as well), you'd be looking at ten minute cut scenes with at most one interactive choice - which usually boils down to goody-goody, bland, or douchebag. In very rare cases, if you put your points into charm or intimidate, you can select SUPER goody-goody or TOTAL douchebag.
I also hate the "investigate" trees. I much prefer having dialogue choices there than a bland menu of things to ask about. Having actual dialogue choices gives you more context to why you are asking about something and how important it is to the character. Would you rather see "investigate" -> "stories" or would you rather choose "Regale me with more glorious tales of yore, decrepit octogenarian!"?
Mass Effect is a good game. I enjoyed it greatly, despite its flaws. I just started Mass Effect 2 last week. But the dialogue system is just a fancy way of taking away interactivity while pretending to give you more.
SlasherJPC
Banned
Only played about 20 minunte but damn did it have me laughing! The bit about you telling the witch you survived the desert cracked me up.:lol
Liberty4all
Banned
How is co-op in the game?
Sqorgar said:
I can totally see where you're coming from, the intent system (your descriptor is much better than mine so I'm stealing it) definitely allows Bioware to hide the some pretty shallow dialog trees, but I don't think it prevents anyone from creating a deep set of conversations.
My problem with the traditional system, as I'm sure you've heard a million times, is that I see a line on screen, it makes me laugh, then I select it, and I hear the character say it. It kinda feels like when you hear a funny joke and the guy next you laughs then immediately repeats it, it hurts the momentum of the conversation, and in the lengthy conversations the character starts to feel like an annoying parrot rather than my avatar.
So I don't think the real strength of the intent system is masking the lack of depth, its in keeping the player engaged after they've made a decision, without doing away with the players voice, which would especially be a shame in this case because there's some really great voice work in DeathSpank.
For example, my favourite conversation so far was with the Taco lady in the first town you get to, we had a great totally irrelevant chat about her life, would it have been so bad if instead of seeing the full set of dialogue I saw:
Buy a Taco
Taco Stand
Orphans
Leave
Then after the first taco stand branch
Buy a taco
University
Orphans
Leave
and so on.
Think maybe I would be (very) interested in that dissertation you had written
Danne-Danger
Member
*NVM
Ghost Rider
Member
loving the game so far and the loot whore in me is happy too
No, of course not. In general, it's pretty difficult to write interesting, interactive dialogue for a character that isn't really that interesting - like a spy or a space marine. If the character isn't going to say something interesting or funny every time they are given the chance, the intent system (or the attitude system used in Alpha Protocol) gives the player a way to control the conversation without having to choose from a menu of boring items.Ghost said:
I think there is a better way. With DeathSpank, I tried to give DeathSpank an opinion on everything, especially the person he is talking to. I think the trap most dialogue writers fall into is that the usual purpose of a dialogue is to get information, so they usually end up just asking for it. Guybrush can be a ruthless, cruel character in the first two games, but in the later parts of the series, he just becomes a bland straight man who goes around asking "Hey, whatcha doing?" DeathSpank makes assumptions (usually wrong) about what's going on. He'd start a conversation saying something like, "Oh, I see you like squirrels. I'm more of a marsupial man myself." which then leads into the discussion of squirrels.
I think the same thing can be done with straight characters as well. With the intent system, you just pick what your character is going to ask and then the character delivers the opinion. When the dialogue options are explicit, you can not only choose HOW something is asked, but you also get insight into how the character sees the situation. Think of the four options as what the character is thinking about saying. Even if you don't select an option, it still builds his character.
That's my problem with Day of the Tentacle's dialogue. It's the approach they originally wanted for DeathSpank, where you get around 1-2 lines of dialogue per dialogue choice. If the player talks at all, it should be the player's choice what is said. I fought for a more Monkey Island / Grim Fandango approach of between 4-5 lines per choice. Rather than choosing the sentence to say, you are choosing the conversation to have. That way, the choice is the start of the joke rather than the punchline. Most of the time, anyway.
I'm actually a little irritated because there's this line with Ms. Heybenstance where DeathSpank confuses magic seal for enchanted circus seal, but they cut the joke that came after it. It's a good line and EVERYBODY chooses it, but your reward for picking the weird option is just "Not that kind of seal. I don't even know why I bother." In their defense, Ms. Heybenstance had the burden of both the plot set up and a complex quest, so that sequence was already running way too long as it is.
It would've worked, but it wouldn't have been as funny (I think). I'd need to dig out the dialogue file, but I think there's a comment like, "I see you can read" which leads to the university discussion. I think the conversation flows a little better because it doesn't just jump to the university topic from out of nowhere. It comes up (un)naturally. Of course, I was told that she'd actually be reading something in game, which didn't end up being the case.
goldsoundz
Member
Played the demo last night and ended up buying it. I'm about two and a half hours in and the only gripe I have about this game so far is that "selling" items is a hassle. It definitely seems like a great value, as I've hardly uncovered any of the world map.
I see it a lot like a magic trick. Most magic tricks will absolutely floor you, but when you find out how they work, they make you feel so stupid that you didn't notice. The most impressive magic I've ever seen has the lamest, most mundane, most obvious solution that you'll ever see. Sometimes, learning the trick spoils the effect, but you just have to make a effort to either overlook it or to appreciate it on a different level. Just remember, nobody loves magic more than magicians - and they know how all the tricks are done.AwRy108 said:
I can ruin everything you love about videogames, if you listen to me long enough. But in doing so, I'd show you why I love videogames.
Most definitely. If they only gave a short form of the dialogue choice, I wouldn't know what funny dialogue I am going to say.Sqorgar said:
Example
NPC: You fight like a dairy farmer.
Dialogue choice: Cow
Player: How appropriate, you fight like a cow.
I probably wouldn't pick that dialogue choice based off 'Cow', but I would pick it if I had the whole thing. Much more funny.