Thanks for that, I will keep noodling on it.
The camera stays on one person. The other tries to stay in frame. If you’re the ‘other’ and you fall out of frame, you lose control. Either player can select a character on the d pad to center the camera on that person and take control. I can’t help but think that split screen would’ve been the better option. It’s a pretty weird way to implement couch co-op.
Completed my first game with the Scientist, Knight and Time Traveler and had a great time. Only had to get a puzzle hint once. Considering an unprecedented instant replay with different characters now. How much repetition am I likely to experience?
Sleeping dog question
There was a dog sleeping in front of a house, before the time travel puzzle that I didn’t manage to deal with. Was that just an optional puzzle?
No - mostly;
Minor spoiler
The sleeping dog is part of the Twins playthrough, if it is the same one I am thinking of
So I played through two times; The first play through as the knight, the monk, and the adventurer; The second as the twins, the scientist and the time traveler.
I really enjoyed the game, the atmosphere is great, the stories are, well, what is the word for a dark version of whimsical? The puzzles were not too tricky - at least compared to adventure games of yore, although a few required a bit of lateral thinking. All puzzle areas seem to be self-contained, so don’t bother carrying items through the entire game (I carried the crowbar and postcard through the entire game on the first play play through – making some things more frustrating than they should have been at times).
I encountered one game breaking bug during the Twins section, but an exit of the game and reload of the area reset far enough back to redo the section.
Broken game circumstance
When pushing the package of china from the attic, if you push the box against the study door, it will be stuck… and cannot be pulled to the left - and toward where it should actually go
Also, I think one puzzle in the time traveler section was poorly telegraphed. (The same section JoshL is currently noodling over);
Otherwise, so far so good. I have some thoughts and questions about the fates and story lines of the characters, but will save them for another post.
Finished my first playthrough. I really liked it, especially the whimsy, humor and visuals. I’m a sucker for Ron Gilbert’s writing, and there’s a lot of that dry, self conscious humor here. The actual gameplay reminded me of a mix between Trine and Maniac Mansion, while the story and structure was more reminiscent of Psychonauts.
I don’t know if I’ll be playing through it by myself again, but if I manage to get a couple of buddies over I’ll definitely consider it.
Also, I didn’t really have a problem with any of the ladders or spelunking in the cave - mostly because I came at it from an adventure game point of view. I’ve totally grown out of that genre, so the mix with platforming stuff was a welcoming change of pace and agency. I can totally see how it could be considered slow and repetitive compared to something like Trine, though.
Ok, so I finally got frustrated enough on the Time Traveler puzzle to look up the solution, and I’m glad I did. Because I was actually doing the exact right thing, I just wasn’t pushing the buttons in the exact right way. I am pretty annoyed at that puzzle, but I’m pushing on.
If you’re stuck on the Time Traveler puzzle, I urge you to read this spoiler, which is hardly a spoiler at all, really:
hardly a spoiler at all
It’s not enough just to push the rock to the side and stand in the way of it rolling back down. You have to keep pushing it and simultaneously switch characters. On the xbox controller, this means pushing x and d-pad up simultaneously (and possibly left/right on the l-stick too, not sure, but that’s the way I did it).
That got me too until I discovered the same thing (PC version).
This wasn’t a problem for me, because I was under the impression that they explored the same set of controls and mechanics when you had to operate multiple levers. It wasn’t before towards the end of the game that I discovered how you didn’t actually have to keep holding the button pressed before switching guys. So yeah, something isn’t telegraphed right in that regard.
I think the part where I was stuck the longest was at the Twin’s puzzle. You know, because of me not having them in my party and all.
I feel stupid sometimes.
That bothered me too. It was the only “for a character you don’t have with you” puzzle that I got close enough to that I could interact with it to some extent without actually being able to engage with it. All the other puzzles intended for characters I didn’t have were inaccessible, I believe.
Why in the world would they tack on such a dumb “choose your ending” mechanic? I think I’ll pass on doing five runs, especially since it would mean doing one character three(!) times.
I found what was obviously the Knight’s puzzle when going through with the Time Traverler, Monk, and Twins. I was sort of hoping the Cave would re-construct itself to eliminate the areas for the characters you’re not using. Oh well.
Dude, spoilers. Sort of.
Anyway, I finished the Monk’s puzzle. The art direction in the area is great (as it is in the Twin’s), but the puzzles are… meh. There’s one very, very old puzzle that you’ve seen a million times before, and that was the one they felt the need to put a sign with a URL giving the answer.
Still, I am determined to finish it, probably with all the characters (it depends if I have the discipline to take a character I’ve already taken the second time through). I’m too much of a Ron Gilbert/Double Fine fanboy not to.
Ron Gilbert has left Double Fine.
I always got the impression that the arrangement was temporary, that Tim initially let Ron use Doublefine space while he put his game together and then just brought him into the company officially. Also Ron seems like the kind of guy who has his own way of doing things and would probably like to run his own shop. But that’s all just opinion stuff, I don’t know any inside info.
Yeah, it sounds like it was amicable and not unexpected. I think a lot of fans are disappointed that the “dream team” of Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer only produced The Cave.
And I am going off memory of interviews and articles again but I don’t think Tim had much involvement in The Cave’s creation. But yeah, it would have been cool to have a new Gilbert/Schafer game. I wonder if Ron had any involvement in the kickstarter game?
According to people that watched the Kickstarter exclusive documentary videos he wasn’t involved much.
Basically Tim did bounce some design ideas at him and wanted to know his opinion of them.
That was all.