Unkillable Cat
LEST WE FORGET
- Joined
- May 13, 2009
- Messages
- 27,243
Played and finished this.
I could share my thoughts on this game with you, but it's pretty much all been said already. With one notable exception: The game lying to you.
I'm not talking about the plot here, I'm talking game design.
The game actually has a dead-end scenario where your only hope is to Restore or Restart: When you need to cool down a certain computer before you can interact with it fully.
"Pfft, no problem", most of you think, just call that number you called a minute ago to turn the fan back on. Except you would be amazed what kind of stupid shit can come up in your life that makes you forget a 4-digit number in less than a minute. Really. If you think your memory is solid, I can guarantee you that it isn't. Stop fooling yourselves.
So if you don't happen to have that number (it's random each game BTW) you find that you're trapped in a room because you can't go back (because *reasons*) because none of the other characters can get to the room with the fan service number, and you can't open the trap door to allow the other characters to get in and advance the game.
But here's where it gets even worse. The game has an Autosave feature... and if you're the type of player that relies on your Autosave instead of making manual saves, well guess what last dick move the game has in store for you: It autosaves the minute you enter the room past the fan. That you can't get out of. And you won't like how far back your last manual save was.
To paraphrase one of Thimbleweed Park's protagonists: *Beep* you, Ron Gilbert.
Some of you might think that I'm being harsh on Gilbert here. especially since it's my fault I got stuck there. No. The super-duper easy way to overcome this deathtrap is to make the fan a two-way doorway, not one-way. Then this becomes a non-issue. But I get the feeling this was designed like this purposefully because to some sad losers Adventure Game Puzzles need to have Meaning, and if you can just waltz back and forth past that fan, then the whole "Disable the Fan"-puzzle becomes irrelevant.
So yeah, a game that makes a promise right at the start that it's designed NEVER to have a dead end, that you can ALWAYS find a way out, that you NEVER should need to restore (unless the game tells you to save first) throws a walking dead-scenario at you right towards the end if you aren't careful.
I want to say I'm done here, but there's one further thing: Note how I don't mention the Thimbleweed Park character by name? That's intentional.
Ron Gilbert is a household name in Adventure Gaming circles because he created good adventure games with memorable characters. Because their efforts, and your involvement, felt like it had meaning to the story. Even The Cave leaves you with good and memorable impressions of the protagonists, despite other shortcomings of the game. Thimbleweed Park does the exact opposite. It creates two-dimensional character archetypes with potential that could grow and become memorable as the game progressed, but then throws it all away because stupid meta-plot twist and bullshit reasons. None of it goes anywhere. I see no reason to even mention the characters of Thimbleweed Park by name because of this.
Was Gilbert trying to prove that Adventure Games were not dead and were still relevant? If so, he failed abysmally, because Thimbleweed Park proves the exact opposite: Adventure Games are dead. Again. Thanks, Ron.
I could share my thoughts on this game with you, but it's pretty much all been said already. With one notable exception: The game lying to you.
I'm not talking about the plot here, I'm talking game design.
The game actually has a dead-end scenario where your only hope is to Restore or Restart: When you need to cool down a certain computer before you can interact with it fully.
"Pfft, no problem", most of you think, just call that number you called a minute ago to turn the fan back on. Except you would be amazed what kind of stupid shit can come up in your life that makes you forget a 4-digit number in less than a minute. Really. If you think your memory is solid, I can guarantee you that it isn't. Stop fooling yourselves.
So if you don't happen to have that number (it's random each game BTW) you find that you're trapped in a room because you can't go back (because *reasons*) because none of the other characters can get to the room with the fan service number, and you can't open the trap door to allow the other characters to get in and advance the game.
But here's where it gets even worse. The game has an Autosave feature... and if you're the type of player that relies on your Autosave instead of making manual saves, well guess what last dick move the game has in store for you: It autosaves the minute you enter the room past the fan. That you can't get out of. And you won't like how far back your last manual save was.
To paraphrase one of Thimbleweed Park's protagonists: *Beep* you, Ron Gilbert.
Some of you might think that I'm being harsh on Gilbert here. especially since it's my fault I got stuck there. No. The super-duper easy way to overcome this deathtrap is to make the fan a two-way doorway, not one-way. Then this becomes a non-issue. But I get the feeling this was designed like this purposefully because to some sad losers Adventure Game Puzzles need to have Meaning, and if you can just waltz back and forth past that fan, then the whole "Disable the Fan"-puzzle becomes irrelevant.
So yeah, a game that makes a promise right at the start that it's designed NEVER to have a dead end, that you can ALWAYS find a way out, that you NEVER should need to restore (unless the game tells you to save first) throws a walking dead-scenario at you right towards the end if you aren't careful.
I want to say I'm done here, but there's one further thing: Note how I don't mention the Thimbleweed Park character by name? That's intentional.
Ron Gilbert is a household name in Adventure Gaming circles because he created good adventure games with memorable characters. Because their efforts, and your involvement, felt like it had meaning to the story. Even The Cave leaves you with good and memorable impressions of the protagonists, despite other shortcomings of the game. Thimbleweed Park does the exact opposite. It creates two-dimensional character archetypes with potential that could grow and become memorable as the game progressed, but then throws it all away because stupid meta-plot twist and bullshit reasons. None of it goes anywhere. I see no reason to even mention the characters of Thimbleweed Park by name because of this.
Was Gilbert trying to prove that Adventure Games were not dead and were still relevant? If so, he failed abysmally, because Thimbleweed Park proves the exact opposite: Adventure Games are dead. Again. Thanks, Ron.