Would you settle for something other than FMV?

I'll throw you a curve. Because of constraints, I'm not sure the emphasis should be on Unity, since I heard it may have restricted movement, or visuals/graphics for that matter. I think the emphasis should be on toppling Pandora. Mediocre, retro graphics for the win!

No, I would not want anything but FMV at this point. I feel the only things that should be improved on for the next Tex game is

1) In game graphics. I don't have a beef with them personally, but I am SICK and TIRED of reading review after review where they rip the title to shreds because of this. Almost no one is complaining about the FMV. That isn't broke....let's not break it. And I hate to say it, but if we want new players, they want the shiny slick pretty graphics. Give it to them. :p

And

2) Better game design/puzzles. Again I don't have a huge beef, I skipped many of the puzzles. Can't say I liked getting killed so much though. I think it was a good job overall, but it didn't hit it out of the ballpark. The translator initiation was one that falls under that category.

All said with love.

Jen wrote:No, I would not want anything but FMV at this point. I feel the only things that should be improved on for the next Tex game is

1) In game graphics. I don't have a beef with them personally, but I am SICK and TIRED of reading review after review where they rip the title to shreds because of this. Almost no one is complaining about the FMV. That isn't broke....let's not break it. And I hate to say it, but if we want new players, they want the shiny slick pretty graphics. Give it to them. :p

I have to agree on this. Although the graphics could have certainly done with a render and polish, they were by no means awful. They portrayed the environment that they needed to. I'm sure that if Big Finish had more development time for this title, they would have looked better. It's just a shame that graphics are such a major incentives for gamers to pick up a title today. With or without improved graphics, Tex Murphy games are both playable and engrossing. To this day, despite the graphical innovations, the best GTA game is GTA2 followed by Chinatown Wars.

2) Better game design/puzzles. Again I don't have a huge beef, I skipped many of the puzzles. Can't say I liked getting killed so much though. I think it was a good job overall, but it didn't hit it out of the ballpark. The translator initiation was one that falls under that category.

Puzzles were good, just need some more innovative moments in the game too. I'd like to see them incorporate an interrogation mechanic, a bit like L.A Noire or just more crime scene involvement. More hands on with the forensic side of things, maybe a bit more action in places but obviously not too far in that direction either. The puzzles didn't bother me as such but some of them started to feel the same-old-same-old. Within the one chapter we have a Baseball Card value puzzle and a Sudoku puzzle, both of which the solution essentially requires a similar logic.

A Tex Murphy game without Chris Jones in person would not be a true Tex Murphy game in my opinion. I love FMV; it is so much more immersive than rendered graphics. Look what they did to Moebius - pretty pathetic graphics, though the story wasn't all that bad .

I could only see a non-FMV game having FMV anyway, just in a more limited capacity. I too cannot see a Tex Murphy game without Chris Jones acting, so FMV is a must in that respect. However, an older PI could reflect on his past cases in FMV scenes (the present) and allow players to play a 3D game with 3D characters (the past). But, they'd have to be some pretty darn good 3D characters because they're helping the story to move forward in ways that pure environment exploration alone cannot do. Just think of all the mid-case conversations and ask-abouts, and it gives you an idea of how developed those character models need to be so that they're not detractors from the overall story.

Hammerhead

Personally I feel tesla effect would have been a great time to introduce a new character into the series that could be a spin off for tex in case chris Jones was not able to continue with the role. We would have got to meet & like the character so the transition wouldn't been so upsetting.
Instead of smart alex tex could have had a partner like a sherlock holmes & watson!

FMV - yeah baby all the way, wouldn't be tex murphy without it.

Graphics - well cubase stated the next game would have the better quality there.

I wish someone would come along & offer them funding like has happened with other games.

the puzzels - this game they were trying to introduce new players to the world of tex so maybe thats what they had in mind with the easier puzzels, hell I always cheat on the puzzels but I did manage to do all at the swamp house.

I would settle for more books written by Aaron Conners. Don't forget he's got a huge role in this and Tex wasn't awesome until he showed up for UAKM. Heck, if TE had never been made, I would've been OK with a book alone.

But yes, Chris Jones is what makes the Tex games truly great, whether he wants to admit it or not. It's that simple. Put him in front of a camera, and it's just magic. But Chris is older than he appears to be, so there's a time limit before he finally retires.

His voice is magical too. ♥ I'd accept more radio theater. I would also accept a Tex game designed to be more like 3 Cards or Rita James. Sure. Why not?

Jen wrote: 1) In game graphics. I don't have a beef with them personally, but I am SICK and TIRED of reading review after review where they rip the title to shreds because of this. Almost no one is complaining about the FMV. That isn't broke....let's not break it. And I hate to say it, but if we want new players, they want the shiny slick pretty graphics. Give it to them. :p

Yes, it's quite unfair considering how little the game cost to make. Other engines like Unreal and Source cost more to use. And how much processing power should you need for a $20 adventure game?

That being said... there are some parts of the game that are imperfect and I wish were different. In particular, the mountains clipping out the trees at Sessen is pretty terrible


Come on.

I could endure 3d rendured characters but wouldn't be happy about it.

The FMV is what makes stand out from the slew of other games. If they lose their uniqueness, I don't know how they'd compete against the other games.

What I did get enough of was true exploration in the game. I din't get to discover clues. Felt like all the story was revealed in the cut scenes. I didn't get to investigate anything. I solved puzzles to advance in the game but that wasn't the same.

No.

-Fred

If you asked me a few years ago I would have said "Yes! Anything to bring Tex back!" I'd have settled for a text adventure.

But now I feel like BFG did it and did it right. I'm no longer desperate for closure at all, and if Tesla is the end, I'm much happier with that than Overseer. So I'm less inclined to "settle".

But honestly, I think FMV is cheaper than trying to do it with 3D characters. Character models and animations are already an obvious weak point for BFG where shooting FMV is probably a lot faster and less labor intensive than hand animating models, at least when we're talking about hours of cutnscenes. Now maybe if we're talking about a smaller episodic release or something less reliant on cut scenes that equation might tilt a bit but it's very obvious to me that in Tesla Effect's case it was only because of the choice to use FMV that they were able to do so much on such a limited budget.

I'm all for this guy!

https://scontent-a-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hph ... 4978_o.jpg

joliet_jane wrote:Yes, it's quite unfair considering how little the game cost to make. Other engines like Unreal and Source cost more to use. And how much processing power should you need for a $20 adventure game?

I wouldn't blame the engine. Unity's a very good engine. I wouldn't entirely blame the budget either. Look at what Dreamfall Chapters is doing with the same exact engine, in the same genre, and only a 70% or so higher budget:


More pics

The reason for the graphics being how they are is 1) BFG wanting to maintain high performance on low-end hardware 2) BFG wanting all levels to be a single unified area without loading and 3) BFG's artists simply not being all that proficient with modern graphics techniques.

It's perfectly fair to criticize the quality of the art in the game. It doesn't mean the game isn't great, but it's still a fair observation.

BOOTY!!!! Where you been man? Good to see ya!

Let's just stick with reason one and two eh? The first two are true, and the 3rd one...well, that's just your opinion man, and a kinda harsh one if I do say so myself. I've spent time with all 3 of them and they busted a hump to get this thing out.

Jen wrote: and the 3rd one...well, that's just your opinion man, and a kinda harsh one if I do say so myself. I've spent time with all 3 of them and they busted a hump to get this thing out.

They certainly worked very hard, and probably at below market value for game development, and I'll love them forever just for pulling this game off. So don't get me wrong. I don't think they're lazy and I don't think they're untalented, and I'm extremely grateful for the work they've done.

But there are a lot of things in the art that are just plain rough. Objects that are massively out of scale (a business card the size of an iPad, gloves the size of dinner plates, etc), textures that are mis-aligned, objects that lack normal maps, or have improperly applied effects... These are not budget issues, or engine issues, or technical issues, they're just art issues.

These guys haven't worked on a 3D games since like... the Xbox 1 days, and I think they're used to doing things in a way that doesn't really take advantage of this engine.