This is the thread for LucasArts alumni/DoubleFine/Telltale games: Psychonauts, Costume Quest, Brutal Legend, Deathspank, Sam and Max, etc.

But I wonder if the reason it didn't click is the protagonist. I never found Raz (was that his name?) that interesting. I liked the drama with his dad, and the way the final boss ties to his own neuroses more than some made-up external threat. They wrote some slick stuff in the story. But the noble boy with a heart of gold thing didn't do it for me. He's too Luke Skywalker, and maybe a maverick would've worked better?

That said, they got many things right - Peter McDonnell's music when you're wandering around the camp really sticks with me, and the camp's great - I took the time to find all 16 things in the scavenger hunt, just because it was so much fun to explore the place.

It doesn't really get impressive until you get through the semi-disguised training mode.

The game really kicks in beginning with Lungfishopolis.

What game protagonist is interesting? Leon from Resident Evil 4 is one of the least interesting characters in the history of video gaming. Most video game protagonists are relatively empty tough-guy vessels. I think Raz compares pretty explicitly with Jak from the original Jak & Daxter, or perhaps Ratchet from R&C -- two relatively-annoying cartoon characters who recede into the background in favor of the more entertaining Clank, or Daxter, or every other character in Psychonauts, or...

To take another example, in Dreamfall, I liked April Ryan but hated the new character, whazzername. The game got better for me every time it switched over to April's perspective. But again, you had to spend a lot of time alone with them, listening to them talk about stuff.

Tim Schafer's Double Fine Studios (originator of the double-plus awesome Psychonauts) has joined up with Vivendi to publish a title. The property, as yet unnamed, will be published under the Sierra Entertainment label.

From the article: "Said an atypically straight Tim Schafer, president and CEO of Double Fine Productions, 'The Sierra team has been awesome to work with. Everyone we've met brings experience from a small developer background, so they know where we're coming from and what we have to do to make a great game. Combine a developer-friendly attitude, support for innovation, major-publisher status with a worldwide scope and you have a perfect match for Double Fine.'"

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=10802

now distro'd by Steam, and marked down for $10 for PC/PS2

I hate using the joystick for steering but I'll admit that's a personal choice. It does piss me off that every time I come out of saving I fuck up and go into my satchel! That habit will fade I hope.

I have completed the first training missions and was nearly finished the sharpshooter when, wouldn't you know it, I was killed at the very last minute! After that I thought "Well why not buy that arrowhead divining thingy and spend a few minutes doing that." Two hours people, two hours following vibrations and a piercing tone. That is how much I was enjoying the look and feel of this game!

I don't much enjoy the aiming and the floaty bear things freak me out (I was seriously knackered though which prob didn't help). The script is okay, was dead happy to hear Invader Zim again though (Richard Steven Horvitz) even without his wee robot buddy. I like the way that there is movement among the other characters and that they react differently at different points in the game. Tonight I have to go out (damn you social life) but I'll try to get some more in soon.

man, what a great game. it was one of those where i really had to go do something else (like sleep) but i just had to see what the next level looked like and once i got there, god DAMN it if i didn't have to play through it. wash rinse repeat.

aw shit, missed this

Tho the theatre / Napoleon levels are bumming me out slightly. Fuck a jumping puzzle. ESPECIALLY fuck a "must run max speed and jump at JUST THE RIGHT TIME else you fall to ground and must start over" puzzle.

http://www.telltalegames.com/samandmax

This drove me insane. It gets harder from there, but that one "jump from the tree to the roof and to the other roof" part of Napoleon really was the single most frustrating part of the game.

They should make games like that easier, for those of us who want to "appreciate" them.

Poor hand-eye coordination dur

Yeah, the circus tent was insane. But part of it was psychological. My first time to the top, I was so worried about screwing up that I kept freezing. Once I got to the top, I actually fell all the way back down again - and boy, THAT felt good - but on the way back up, it went by much more quickly. You've gotta relax. Be the ball.

SPOILER!!!

Does anyone have a hint for where I'm meant to go to when I reach the top of the asylum? There are two locked doors and stuff...

psychonauts advice: don't watch the intro movie right away. it's like half an hour long and not that good. play past the warzone area at least, then start a new game to watch the intro.

some of the early levels are kinda nbd, but the mid to late levels are so awesome

it's really a rare example where it really IS worth slogging through the mediocre 5-hour tutorial to get to the wackadoo stuff in the second half of the game

I'm having fun but I don't think I've ever had the 3d-jumping-puzzle skills required for this game

the design and characterisation is lovely tho and yes I missed the voice of Invader Zim too

This is such a wonderful game in its writing and art direction and level design (even with pretty mediocre platforming mechanics), but the meat circus has to be one of the most frustrating final levels I can think of.

they fixed that one annoying jump in computer versions.

Yeah, I played it with those pc revisions, but I still found that level pretty thoroughly irritating. I'm not that invested in 3d platformers, though, and was mostly posting through this for the writing and level design, so that probably informed my frustration.

*playing through this, I mean

still in Basic Braining. hating the rotating log tunnel. resorted to watching a youtube in case there was one crazy trick, guy playing just breezed on through like it ain't no thing :(

tbf I am mainly playing (at least this level) with just the arrow keys as I'm on a laptop and touchpadding is too slow, but I'm also p. uncoordinated at all two-handed games so it's prob not going to go much better even if I hook a mouse/controller up

psychonauts is 100% a pad game, definitely get one. besides the analog control you'll later use more buttons for the different powers you get

I still haven't beaten the goddamned Meat Circus :( On the PS2, it was That Jump; on subsequent playthroughs I either trailed off before getting that far (the asylum tower is pretty tiresome) or, latest attempt, got stuck on the horrible Little Oly/save-the-bunny section of the Meat Circus.

I never got past the save the bunny thing either. Still think it might be my favorite game.

about to get started on thimbleweed park!

please let us know what you think, very curious about this game

I'm about two hours in and really enjoying it. I'm not a big gamer anymore, and was a huge Lucasarts fan as a kid, so I'm probably not best placed to critique this. But so far it's a lot of fun. Certainly way more enjoyable than Broken Age.

i spent most of the weekend playing thru it, just finished. it was pretty good but not nearly as good as it could have been with more focused writing imo, it kind of just abandons the twin peaks/x-files premise after the first act and becomes pretty slapdash by the end.

Psychonauts is free today on Humble Store:

https://www.humblebundle.com/store/psychonauts

As mentioned elsewhere, Grim Fandango(my personal fave Lucasarts game) is free today at GOG:

Is that a...
❄️G❄️I❄️V❄️E❄️A❄️W❄️A❄️Y❄️?!

The legendary and ridiculously delightful GRIM FANDANGO is FREE
Still pretty much the best adventure game you'll play in 2017

Just hit "Get It Free" on the front page, you can keep it where your heart used to be... 💀 pic.twitter.com/3SxSmfagY7

— ❄️GOG.com❄️ (@GOGcom) December 13, 2017

Double Fine bought by Microsoft.

Glad they have stability that they probably need. A little sad that the indie dream has died

being bought or funded by one of the big pubs IS the indie dream in 2019

all too true