Roderick

Spike VGA awards

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We must have it!

I do believe I have my share of embarrassing email correspondance as well with a select few game people.

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I don't want to seem overly negative... and I LOVE Tim Schafer... and I LOVE Psychonauts... BUT...........

Did anyone else find the gameplay trailer to be a bit... underwhelming? Are my own expectations just set too high? -- I have to admit I can't recall really impressed with a game trailer since that Gears of War one with "Mad World" playing...

The gameplay looked a bit... lame. I'm sure it's great in the game... but the graphics weren't great, either -- and, on the whole, it just didn't make me want to grab a controller and say "let me play!". (Of course I could probably say the same about a short gameplay segment from Psychonauts -- watching Raz jump up platforms isn't the most gripping thing in the universe... but we all know Psychonauts was much more than just that.)

The close up animated of Jack Black/Eddie Riggs looked sweeeeeet, I thought. Lots of great subtlety and expression... It's just a shame the lines themselves didn't make me laugh (or, it seems, the studio audience at the VGA awards).

I've watched it again and I wonder if it was just bad editing? Are supposed to laugh when you see the "nun demon" or when Jack Black talks about her looking like a nun? If it was the latter, it would have been much funnier if we'd seen the nun FIRST so we could relate to what he was saying. But even so... that was 10% nun and 90% demon -- how could he be possibly fooled in the first place? With no reasonable cause for the line, the line just becomes unfunny...

Same goes for the final line: "Kinda sexy though...". Something wasn't quite right. Was it Black's delivery? (A too "in your face" shot of the "nun", followed by an understated delivery?) Was it the editing? Was it the fact that the whole situation wasn't quite put into context?

I was kind of shocked that this finished trailer didn't actually make me laugh. I know Tim Schafer is funny. I know Jack Black is funny. I know the Double Fine team can create something funny... So what gives? (Am I the only one?)

I have zero doubt I will love the finished game, and I will definitely be purchasing it, but: Why so couldn't they have created a better trailer?

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I had the same reaction actually. I know in the back of my mind that this game is going to rule totally, but the trailer didn't yet manage to make me excited about the gameplay (whatever the gameplay will turn out to be). It also wasn't a funny trailer, but maybe the dialog wasn't written to induce extreme ROFLs.

That said though...

impressed with a game trailer since that Gears of War one with "Mad World" playing...

Plz. Don't say that. Oh man. That trailer was the worst disingenuous piece of shit ever. ;( ;( ;( Great trailer in terms of editing etc. but the music? Come on...

I guess it's a super subjective thing though.

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To quote myself from BRUTAL!:

Yeah, I’d agree that Tim’s games are generally difficult to adequately capture in a trailer; some of the humour and whatnot was hinted at, but clearly a decision was made to focus on the action — presumably as that’d appeal to the types watching Spike.

I’m also sure the game will visually get tidied up as it grows closer to release. While the action looks good, when it zooms close in some cracks do appear. Still, Psychonauts came on quite a bit in the visual department between early screenshots and actual final version; it went from looking ‘pretty good’ to ‘gorgeous’ IMO. I doubt Double Fine will disappoint.

One thing I have gotten the impression of from a lot of chatter during the past month or so is that the game is overwhelmingly unfinished, so I think it's a safe bet it'll move on from whatever we're seeing now during the next year of development.

Me? I don't think this'll turn out to be my first Schafer disappointment — particularly seeing as I'm generally into metal anyway. I guess we'll see!

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The action looked piss poor, the gameplay seemed to mirror the worst aspects of mid-late 90s gaming (something I would also say about psychonauts) and the jokes weren't funny (to be fair I've never really liked Schafer's comedy).

Fuck you all for your blind faith that you "know" the game is going to be great, as Schafer is making it. Stop being a bunch of yes men, you are usually justifiably critical about most games, be honest, voice your concerns about aspects of the game that look sub-par and they may be able to greatly improve them before release, sit there and worry about hurting your friend/demi-God's feelings and u let his game design slip into mediocrity

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Every game trailer looks like crap since I saw the Limbo of the Lost ending credits song thingy :fart:

Edited by elmuerte

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I'd argue that we haven't seen enough of the action to say anything quantifiable about it, Ginger. Despite being a gameplay trailer, the total amount of in-game action we saw came to less than 10 seconds.

I don't know how you can make assertions like the action looking "piss poor" and that it "seemed to mirror the worst aspects of mid-late 90s gaming" based on such a minuscule amount of footage. Seems more like the words of someone with a predisposition against Schafer to me!

It's not blind faith; it's making a prediction based on past evidence and intuition. While I get the impression you don't share this opinion, I actually loved Psychonauts on pretty much every level — including the gameplay.

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I don't even remember seeing any action. It can't of been very memorable. I did find the subdued humour in the trailer funny though. It had a Grim Fandango vibe about it (well, that one bit) and I looked upon it as one of those inane 'bits' which work in the full game but maybe not out of context.

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I'd argue that we haven't seen enough of the action to say anything quantifiable about it, Ginger. Despite being a gameplay trailer, the total amount of in-game action we saw came to less than 10 seconds.

I don't know how you can make assertions like the action looking "piss poor" and that it "seemed to mirror the worst aspects of mid-late 90s gaming" based on such a minuscule amount of footage. Seems more like the words of someone with a predisposition against Schafer to me!

It's not blind faith; it's making a prediction based on past evidence and intuition. While I get the impression you don't share this opinion, I actually loved Psychonauts on pretty much every level — including the gameplay.

Predictions have some margin of error built into them, you would never say "I know" this will occur in a prediction (that's what annoyed me)

The very fact that there is only about 10 seconds of gameplay included and that is all they could piece together seems to be very discouraging. The driving bits looked slow, boring and unresponsive (that boss fight reminded me of those horrible exploration sections from Mass effect) the riding on the animal bit seemed hideously similar to the driving, and in the brief bit of combat we saw the enemies seemed sluggish and dull as did the hero's attack. This is meant to be an action game, imagine how much awesome combat and giant bosses you could show in a 10 second GOW trailer and compare it to that, when compared to that I think little else can be used to describe than piss poor. If we see more and it looks good I'll happily change my mind and be thrilled to play an awesome game.

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* Cough. I may have sent very embarrassing emails to people over the years. I wish I could take some of them back.

I wish I could take back everything I ever said to anybody, pre-2006 ish. Social fail on an epic scale.

The BL trailer did not excite me, and I'm kinda sad because I think they could have done wayyy better. I mean, I know I'm gonna love Brutal Legend, but if that trailer was the first I'd ever heard of it, I'm not sure it would have really grabbed my attention. And it didn't make me laugh at all either, which was surprising to me.

Edited by Yufster

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I was underwhelmed by the new trailer since it seemed like they were trying far too hard to show off Jack Black. Every single (brief) shot had at least a noise from him, which seemed a little insecure and the kind of thing a publisher would demand.

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I actually liked the little Eddie monologue with the nun, it was totally Schaferish and reminiscent of Psychonauts' under-the-breath quips and remarks. The action was meh-ish at first glance, and it was a bit of a shame that three consecutive shots had a Jack Black WOOHOO in it, but at the same time I got really excited simply because it was Double fine showing me something.

I usually get irritated when journalists look upon something good or preview something that has a high likelihood of being great, but then out of some misguided sense of journalistic integrity make some contrived criticism or introduce some misplaced understatement (like 'well, let's see if they can tighten everything up' or whatever). This isn't really the same scenario, as the Brutal Legend trailer does lead to some doubts, but as far as our trust in Double fine / Schafer goes, it is totally justified. If an artist manages to produce spectacular work for decades and has never let you down, why be suspicious? Someone like that has earned the benefit of the doubt.

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it was a bit of a shame that three consecutive shots had a Jack Black WOOHOO in it

Yeah, that's what I was referring to, the nun part was fine. The action seemed very toned down compared to what I've seen before too. I guess it was just politically expedient to avoid showing too much gore.

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I liked the nun. The nun was funny. I don't see what I should doubt. I hate platformers and I loved Psychonauts. Doesn't seem likely that I wouldn't like this too.

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Does it help if I tell you that I knew absolutely nothing about the game?

Presumably you've also not seen Donnie Darko? Either one of those two things (having previously known a lot about the game, or having seen Donnie Darko) would probably noticeably lessen the impact of that trailer.

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Could you explain the Donnie Darko connection? I've seen it once a few years ago, but it didn't really stick (wasn't really too excited by it).

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I believe, although I'm not sure, that that song was featured in it?

Back on topic: It's quite shocking to see so many people feeling the same dissapointment... It's a tiny bit off-putting, but despite what Ginger says, I have zero doubt that this will be a good game when it's finished. (Sorry Ginger, but Schafer has managed create, not merely "good" games, not just "great" games, but games that I have LOVED - every single attempt, six times in a row. I have a lot of faith in him for good reason.)

It is very heartening, however, to hear that the game is still extremely unfinished... there's still a long way to go! :tup:

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Yes, the song was there. Just happened to watch the movie a couple of days ago.

I didn't like the trailer that much either but it was ok. And it didn't really lower my expectations at all. Good games have had

before as well.

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Ah, the Donnie Darko Gary Jules connection. I was thinking of Brutal Legend and not understanding how they fit together.

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I actually liked the little Eddie monologue with the nun,..

It was fine, the thing that I really didn't like was the facial expressions the character used (a little odd maybe). I hear Jack Black and instantly see in my head how much more awesome it would have been if it was actually JB and not the way the animator pictured it.

In conclusion:

Voice acting = :tup:

Character Expressions = :tmeh::tdown::tmeh:

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Good games have had
before as well.

What's amazing to me looking back at that trailer is how different the game must have been in 2002, yet at the same time how much of it was in place a full three years before its release. Some voicework for so many characters had already been done?

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Schafer has managed create, not merely "good" games, not just "great" games, but games that I have LOVED - every single attempt, six times in a row.

You mean four? I believe he designed only DOTT, Full Throttle, Grim Fandango and Psychonauts.

Anyway, I was also slightly disappointed by the trailer, but still have high hopes this will be an awesome game.

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