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Day of the Tentacle

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Re: Day of the Tentacle

#51

Post by perakojotgenije »

okket wrote: post #37
Svip wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not necessary to have played Maniac Mansion beforehand? I'll admit this has been my main hesitation. I remember when Monkey Island III was big in the late 90s, I was hesitant because I hadn't played the two games that came before it. I ended up doing it anyway at the time, but later I would play all three, and the third one really benefits - in my view anyway - from having played the first two ones, even though…

You don't need to have played or know anything about Maniac Mansion to enjoy Day of the Tentacle. I would not even recommend to play MM first, because MM is stupendously hard and frustrating compared to DotT. Play it after. BTW: In the version of DotT I played in the 90s there was a funny easter egg: A computer in the game was running a playable version of Maniac Mansion. I don't know if this is part of the remastere…

It is

Re: Day of the Tentacle

#52

Post by scandinavegan »

Forbo wrote: post #23
mr-ron wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To trigger the rain you needed the whole setup: gold, vinegar, and oil. The puzzle we were stumped at had nothing to do with that.

I thought you needed to wash the carriage? That was a bit obscure for me as a kid.

Speaking of obscure, getting Washington to cut down the cherry tree by painting the fruit red got me stuck as a kid in Sweden. I hadn't heard the cherry tree myth (and now only through the game) and even if they gave hints in the dialogue, I didn't get those either. I don't even remember if I got past it or if I gave up.

I replayed the remastered game a couple of years ago on PS4 with my daughter who was seven years old, and this time the only thing I was stuck on was the cat puzzle with the squeaky mattresses. I read a blog post just now about that puzzle, and it's special because you use the Use verb on two different things outside of your inventory. You usually go inventory->world or inventory->inventory, but here it's world->world. So I had to look up that one solution in the whole game.

Playing as an adult, it's much easier to keep in mind what clues you have and what the open puzzles are. As a kid, I would just start using everything with everything else, and the hints from failed interactions wouldn't clue me in. Now I see they make a really god job at telling you why things don't work and what you should try instead.

I was pleasantly surprised that my daughter thought the game was hilarious. I expected her to get bored quickly, but we played through it all together.

Re: Day of the Tentacle

#53

Post by scandinavegan »

mr-ron wrote: post #10

This game captured a magical point in gaming where me my brother and my mother were playing on our PC, and my cousin and uncle were playing on another at the same time, keeping each other up to date on progress. We all were blocked at the same point until my uncle found the puzzle where you have to close a door to get the keys, and as soon as he found it he phoned my mom and we all progressed. That type of puzzle dis…

I had the same experience with a friend and Simon the Sorcerer. We would play separately and call each other to compare progress. I was happy when I beat him with about 30 minutes. I need to replay that game with my kids.

Walkthroughs in text today are OK because you can read until the first mention of something you haven't done to get unstuck, but nothing beats a real person giving you appropriate hints. Also, there's the Universal Hint System [1] that gives you more and more detailed hints when you're stuck, but I haven't used it in a real situation. I looked up a puzzle now that I was stuck on in Day of the Tentacle, but couldn't find it.

Shigero Miyamoto has talked about this about The Legend of Zelda. They purposely added secret stuff in that game with absolutely no hints, almost impossible to find for a single player, to encourage people to talk about the game in school and elsewhere. You could only find the secrets when discussing the game with others, which was what they intended. Imagine getting a hint at school and having to wait until you can run home and test it; that way you're thinking about the game all day!

[1] http://www.uhs-hints.com/

Re: Day of the Tentacle

#54

Post by scandinavegan »

> One of the few negative things I can say about Day of the Tentacle is that it’s more fun than it is truly innovative; it doesn’t break any new formal or thematic ground

The time travel aspect and that you control three characters in the past, present, and future, where things you do in the past affect the future was truly innovative to me. I realize now that it's not as magical design or programming wise as it appears. It's not that hard to have something done in one room affect something in another room in the game, but as a player having to think across time as well as space was really cool.

The article goes on to talk about the time travel, so it's not ignored, but it seems that I found it more innovative than the author.

Re: Day of the Tentacle

#55

Post by animal531 »

Svip wrote: post #27
theli0nheart wrote: post #6

This is one of my favorite games from my childhood. If you haven't ever played it, you owe it to yourself to purchase the remastered version [1] and play it through (it's only $3.79). It's incredibly entertaining and witty. I doubt this game will ever get stale. [1]: https://www.gog.com/game/day_of_the_tentacle_remastered

It's not necessary to have played Maniac Mansion beforehand? I'll admit this has been my main hesitation. I remember when Monkey Island III was big in the late 90s, I was hesitant because I hadn't played the two games that came before it. I ended up doing it anyway at the time, but later I would play all three, and the third one really benefits - in my view anyway - from having played the first two ones, even though…

If anything the biggest hindrance is to be American. It has quite a few topical jokes and puzzles that didn't make sense to me when I first played it.

Re: Day of the Tentacle

#56

Post by isostatic »

NamTaf wrote: post #4

Probably my favourite LA adventure game, though Sam & Max really does give it a run for its money. I played it at what I suspect was a very formative time of my pre-teens, and I think it did a lot to shape not only my humour, but also my understanding that games could be challenging yet satisfying in how they deliver a story through puzzles and obstacles. I think it struck a very good balance between a hand-holding p…

So much of my U.S. knowlege came from things like DotT and Sam&Max -- from balls of twine to Washington's dislike of Cherry Trees.

Re: Day of the Tentacle

#57

Post by hyperman1 »

animal531 wrote: post #55
Svip wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not necessary to have played Maniac Mansion beforehand? I'll admit this has been my main hesitation. I remember when Monkey Island III was big in the late 90s, I was hesitant because I hadn't played the two games that came before it. I ended up doing it anyway at the time, but later I would play all three, and the third one really benefits - in my view anyway - from having played the first two ones, even though…

If anything the biggest hindrance is to be American. It has quite a few topical jokes and puzzles that didn't make sense to me when I first played it.

The whole George Washington/ Cherry tree thing was strange to me. I felt there was some joke going on there, but no idea why he wanted to 'cut the sucker down'. Today you'd just google it, of course.

Re: Day of the Tentacle

#58

Post by toyg »

crazygringo wrote: post #11

Another commenter linked to the remastered (hi-res) version for desktop, but it's also available for iPad for $4.99... and if tablets aren't the perfect medium for original point-and-click adventure games then I don't know what is: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/day-of-the-tentacle-remaster...

I wonder if it will last. A lot of games got ported to iOS at one point or the other, then fell by the wayside with OS updates. This happened even to big titles like Lego Harry Potter.

Re: Day of the Tentacle

#60

Post by rkthkr »

theli0nheart wrote: post #6

This is one of my favorite games from my childhood. If you haven't ever played it, you owe it to yourself to purchase the remastered version [1] and play it through (it's only $3.79). It's incredibly entertaining and witty. I doubt this game will ever get stale. [1]: https://www.gog.com/game/day_of_the_tentacle_remastered

Thanks for the link! Just bought me a copy, and it supports Linux! I played this as a teenager and just the intro brings back some fond memories.
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