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Thimbleweed Park - a Ron Gilbert game |OT| Thirty-scumm years of adventures

So is this legit? How does it compare to the lukewarm (imho) The Cave and Broken Age?

While not perfect, it's far better then both those games imo.

I'm still thinking about my opinion of the story (hard to talk about without spoilers), but there's no doubt the puzzles are top notch. I didn't need a single hint to complete it, but at the same time I didn't find it easy, and all the puzzles were logical, which is pretty much the perfect balance for me.

Also Ransome is great

Have just downloaded the backer gog version (although seem to have a steam key as well?). Excited to relive my youth.

Does anybody know how far into the storyline the phone book answerphone recordings become available?

If you do the right stuff, around 15 mins in. Could take much longer depending on how you play I guess.
 

Boem

Member
Voice Overs - Broken Age had pretty great voice overs. Thimbleweed almost makes me want to disable them. NPC's are often better then the cast though.

To add to this (and yes, I agree that Double Fine obviously had access to a higher class of voice actors due to their connections, like getting Elijah Wood and Jack Black to work for them for peanuts), I agree that some of the voice actors...aren't great. I haven't played too much of it so far - about 1 hour/1,5 hours. Some of the characters sound a bit too much like amateurs doing a voice - I'm pretty sure getting a speaking part wasn't a backer reward but it almost sounds like that. Especially the first character you meet and the male detective (Rey?).

On the other hand, I really like the female detective (Reyes), to the point of me playing almost exclusively as her when I need to choose between the two of them, and Ransome is just perfection. But yeah, the voices are a mixed bag so far, although I haven't seen the majority of the game yet.

Really loving it though! Some good old school fun, and I'm enjoying the writing a lot more than some of Ron's other projects like Deathspank, which wasn't to my tastes at all.

Compared to those other two games: The Cave was a very special experience for me. I can see it not being satisfying to people who wanted another Monkey Island, but as a multiplayer adventure game (I don't agree that it's a platformer) it was just excellent, and some of the most fun I had in years at that point. Really satisfying to explore the world with 2 friends and work on those puzzles together. The big drawback for me there was that the multiple character/replay stuff wasn't entirely satisfying, with having to replay many of the same sections if you wanted to see all the stories (especially since the characters didn't add up to a perfect 9, and you were forced to replay some of the characters you had already used if you wanted to see it all). But apart from that, a great experience. Thimbleweed definitely works better as a solo experience though, and it's closer to what many fans (including me) have been waiting for for years.

Too early for me to compare it to Broken Age. I personally really loved it, even though the story beats in the second part didn't entirely hit it for me. Juuust a bit too much repetition in environments and characters, and I didn't like how the game world was more a collection of set pieces rather than a cohesive whole. But I loved the look and feel of that game, and the puzzles in the second part are some of my favorites in the entire genre. But I need to finish Thimbleweed to be able to compare them. But it's very good so far.
 

halfbeast

Banned
I'm not that far yet.
Have to look for the map. And some other stuff.


Any tips of what all to do?
Should I start combining stuff? (can you even do that?)
Or trying to give everything I have to everyone?

But I pretty sure I missed an item or a way you can go.

not sure where you're stuck, best to just exhaust every dialogue with every NPC, that should at least trigger some of the flashbacks (which is more for story than progression). maybe you're overthinking things, many times I had an "oh, OF COURSE!"-moment when figuring out the solution after many failed attempts.

It's better then The Cave, in the sense that Ron Gilbert is obviously more comfortable with this type of gameplay, then platforming.

I'm still not that far into Thimbleweed, those who have played it longer and even beat it might correct me, But based on what I played:

Graphics: Well, that depends of what you like the most. Both games excel with their own styles, with Thimbleweeds great pixel graphics, and Broken Age's great handdrawn paintings.

Puzzles: Broken Age easies you into it, and gradually gets more difficult, and as such ended up being a too easy to begin with. Thimbleweed lets you loose with lots of objectives, characters and inventory items from the get go.

Voice Overs - Broken Age had pretty great voice overs. Thimbleweed almost makes me want to disable them. NPC's are often better then the cast though.

Dialogues - So far, Broken Age wins this, with really funny dialogues with a great flow. Thimbleweed has a lot of great dialogues, but also a lot of very cringe worthy, and takes references to other adventure games too far. I hope it easies up on this.

Story: Haven't beaten Thimbleweed, but I think it will win this. So far att pretty great mystery, that creates a great atmosphere. Broken Age started well, but got a bit messy towards the end.

Interface: Well, pretty self explanatory from pics from the games. I'm one of those who feels like the verb interface is a bit unneccessary and just adds extra clicks, but the game delivered what it promised here.

I agree with this, although I liked The Cave with its narrative and some of the puzzles/humor, the gameplay got tedious especially with those non-character-specific sections, which were more busywork than puzzles.

Thimbleweed Park is rough at the beginning, but gets much better as you work your way through the game. I do love some of the kevin sorbo "disappointed"-voice over quirks, where everyone got the same line (a satisfying "ah" after a drink) but one of them howled like they just dropped some very potent acid.
 

Corpekata

Banned
The only thing I'm disliking is that there's really no reason for these characters to be "working together" with some exceptions. Some puzzles require you get an item with Character X and give it to Character Y who could have either no connection at all to each other or even directly antagonistic ones.

I mean, I like the actual puzzle design, but it feels kind of odd story wise. It made sense in scenarios like Maniac Mansion, but here Ransome has no reason to help Ray and Reyes.
 

Bookman

Member
Hey guys I'm kind of stuck (in the beginning embarrassley enough)

how do I get past the water so I can get to A street. I understand that I have to get the tool and maybe get a tube from the police office and change it but how do I obtain the tool
 

halfbeast

Banned
Hey guys I'm kind of stuck (in the beginning embarrassley enough)

how do I get past the water so I can get to A street. I understand that I have to get the tool and maybe get a tube from the police office and change it but how do I obtain the tool

let me put it that way, to solve it, you probably
don't want to get a cupcake.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
I've been looking for 5c for like two hours
 

BluWacky

Member
Great game so far, made it to part 3.
Can you get a second map for the other agent to fast-travel?

Yes - as per the ending cutscene of chapter 2, the Sheriff returns all the maps to the Quickie Pal as there's no longer any point in hiding them from you.
 
Ah. I'd trashed an important item. It feels so good to be able to play the rest of the game now haha

Yeah, I read somewhere that all important items regenerate or something, but I've not seen it as I've only ever tossed one item as a test (the plastic six pack holder), and it was a useless item anyway.

Yes - as per the ending cutscene of chapter 2, the Sheriff returns all the maps to the Quickie Pal as there's no longer any point in hiding them from you.

That's interesting as
I'd already made copies of the map in the newspaper building. Guess there are a few alternative solutions.
 

Erekiddo

Member
My biggest problem with this game, and games like it, is how muddled the pacing becomes once you introduce more characters. There's many simultaneous puzzles going on right now for me with no clear indication of which one I should knock out first.

At the moment:

- I have a dead
battery which I need to charge
, but haven't seen anywhere I can do so.

- I need a tube to put into the
clock-in machine outside the factory
, yet haven't seen one that size.

- I managed to get the
watch
and
tools
, and even though I know how to stop the
radio in the jail cell via the radio station shut off, I have no music to replace.

- No idea how to find the missing
joke book page.

- No idea how to get into the
safe with a fingerprint scanner on it. I thought I was clever in refilling the fingerprint powder with soot, as I was going to use it on something Chuck had touched and use another piece of sticky tape on it, then put that on the scanner, but I haven't found anything else for me to dust
. I feel my thought process on this one is correct.

- No idea how to get through the
woods. I was thinking it had something to do with the muddy water, and following footprints, but no leads just yet.

- No leads on how to get a
voided check to the lawyer.
. I showed him the
stub
, but it wasn't good enough.

- I found a
pizza flyer
but have no idea where that location it references is.

I feel pretty smart having solved everything up to this point on my own, but goddamn there's a lot going on.
 
Right now you should be able to do 2, 4, 6 and 7.

7 should be obvious, but maybe that's because I'm old. Have you ever used a
cheque
in real life?
 
This is probably going to be my favorite P&C adventure game. I've not finished it though.
The puzzles are amazing, the dialogue is great, the graphics are charming, the soundtrack is wonderful, I love the characters, this game is long and the story is so interesting.
It's Twin Peaks + X-Files.
This is a classic.
 
Fate of Atlantis is still my favourite. This is defo a top ten game though. Puzzle wise it is the best P&C game ever. The balance of difficulty while maintaining clear logic is super difficult, and this game does it better then any I've played in the last thirty years.
 

mekakitsune

Neo Member
question i'm stuck
i have blood from the corpse on toilet paper but I can't put it in the BloodTron 3000, is there something i'm missing? The thimblecon hasn't started yet either i'm not at a loss what to do to progress the story
 

Erekiddo

Member
question i'm stuck
i have blood from the corpse on toilet paper but I can't put it in the BloodTron 3000, is there something i'm missing? The thimblecon hasn't started yet either i'm not at a loss what to do to progress the story

It can't be wet.
 

Conezays

Member
Around 9 hours in and my impression of the game has definitely improved a lot from the (IMO) rough opening. Reyes' VO in the beginning just doesn't come across great; it does improve though. The puzzles, animation, and setting are strong though. I think it is a little confusing how you can access items/areas/conversations that you cannot see to completion until later acts; I was scratching my head for awhile at a few puzzles only to finish an act and realise I couldn't complete that puzzle yet, etc. Maybe that's partially due to Hard mode? Not sure. Regardless, quite enjoying it.
 

mattiewheels

And then the LORD David Bowie saith to his Son, Jonny Depp: 'Go, and spread my image amongst the cosmos. For every living thing is in anguish and only the LIGHT shall give them reprieve.'
Man. I'm really starting to love how ambitious this game is. You can tell he's had a lot of interesting ideas about adventure design piling up since the 90s. I like how big and realized the world feels, and how intricate things start to get around the third part. The last game I thought really did some different stuff was Dropsy, I guess it had a similar open world feel, but this feels so ambitious, and I hope the investigation stuff turns out to be more involved than I fear it'll be.
 

Maxpacker

Member
With Reshade crt shader: (click for full size or it doesnt look right)

QaVWJOS.jpg


4qGf3Dv.jpg
 
Does the end of the spooky forest path have anything to do with the main storyline quests? It felt optional.

There are three "routes" through the forest path. There's one goes to the
thimbleberries
that you've no doubt already found and is story progression related, one that uses the
navigators head
that is just an optional easter egg for MI fans, and a third one that leads somewhere else and is also story progression related.

From your earlier list post I think you should have easy access to what you need to be able to get to the end of that third route.
 

IlGialloMondadori

Gold Member
Fate of Atlantis is still my favourite. This is defo a top ten game though. Puzzle wise it is the best P&C game ever. The balance of difficulty while maintaining clear logic is super difficult, and this game does it better then any I've played in the last thirty years.
Agreed. Pacing is super good, logic is good. It's a certified classic.
 

Nitty_Grimes

Made a crappy phPBB forum once ... once.
When you're in the sewer and it says on the wall in emergency call Rempler, do you literally call that number or?

Thanks in advance.
 
This game is great. I don't think point n clicks have the same weight these days but if this released back in the prime days it would be a 9+/10 game.
 
When you're in the sewer and it says on the wall in emergency call Rempler, do you literally call that number or?

Thanks in advance.

I don't remember seeing that at all, so it might be nothing or it might be an alternate puzzle solution.

What happens when you call the number?
 

Randam

Member
The only thing I'm disliking is that there's really no reason for these characters to be "working together" with some exceptions. Some puzzles require you get an item with Character X and give it to Character Y who could have either no connection at all to each other or even directly antagonistic ones.

I mean, I like the actual puzzle design, but it feels kind of odd story wise. It made sense in scenarios like Maniac Mansion, but here Ransome has no reason to help Ray and Reyes.

qft.

starting to notice it more and more.
put a tube into a maschine with Dolores, so Ray could use it.
walked right across the area, just to do that.
why whould Delores do that?

and you can't even talk to the other characters, when you are at the same place.
 
Loving it so far, though I've been stuck where I am for a while now...

Right now I feel like I need to do one of the following to progress:

-Find Chuck's finger prints to get into his safe, presumably to get the design for the tube needed to get into the factory

-Decode the will. Tried Delores computer, but she says she needs a more powerful programming language. In Chuck's journal it mentions a programming language book in his library, but Delores refuses to use the BookTron 3000("I don't need a book right now.")

-Find a theremin record to play on the radio so Willie can fix Reyes' watch.
A vague hint to one of these would be helpful.
 
Are there deadends in this game? I've always prefered the LucasArts adventures where you can't get stuck or die (except for Indy 3 and 4 since those were pretty much adventure/action hybrids).
 

Boem

Member
Are there deadends in this game? I've always prefered the LucasArts adventures where you can't get stuck or die (except for Indy 3 and 4 since those were pretty much adventure/action hybrids).

No. Ron Gilbert has always spoken out about his preference for the 'no dead ends' approach (which I agree with a lot), and this game has the same approach. They even joke about it at one point in the game.

So you can freely explore and try whatever you want without having to worry about screwing it all up for yourself or having to manage a million save games.
 

Isotropy

Member
No. Ron Gilbert has always spoken out about his preference for the 'no dead ends' approach (which I agree with a lot), and this game has the same approach. They even joke about it at one point in the game.

So you can freely explore and try whatever you want without having to worry about screwing it all up for yourself or having to manage a million save games.

Spoilers for early game, which I've watched a bit of and have a question about:

Early on, it looks to be possible for Ray to be killed? Which contradicts the game's line about no failure states. I'm guessing she reappears later somehow, but does that mean playing through a big chunk of the game as Reyes instead if you screw up with Ray? Her voice acting is so much better...
 
Loving it so far, though I've been stuck where I am for a while now...

Right now I feel like I need to do one of the following to progress:

-Find Chuck's finger prints to get into his safe, presumably to get the design for the tube needed to get into the factory

-Decode the will. Tried Delores computer, but she says she needs a more powerful programming language. In Chuck's journal it mentions a programming language book in his library, but Delores refuses to use the BookTron 3000("I don't need a book right now.")

-Find a theremin record to play on the radio so Willie can fix Reyes' watch.
A vague hint to one of these would be helpful.

2 is doable right now, and is deceptively easy. You're not on the right track with where you're looking.

Are there deadends in this game? I've always prefered the LucasArts adventures where you can't get stuck or die (except for Indy 3 and 4 since those were pretty much adventure/action hybrids).

No deadends by design (always possible there's a bug though).

Interesting to note that maniac mansion and zak mckracken didn't have deadends by design, but because lucasfilm had very few people testing the games back then. This was less of an issue by the time Monkey Island came out.

Spoilers for early game, which I've watched a bit of and have a question about:

Early on, it looks to be possible for Ray to be killed? Which contradicts the game's line about no failure states. I'm guessing she reappears later somehow, but does that mean playing through a big chunk of the game as Reyes instead if you screw up with Ray? Her voice acting is so much better...

There is a point in the game where an agent gets kidnapped if that's what you're talking about. I think it's random which one it happens to. I tend to play as much of the game as is possible as Ransome or Delores anyway
 

Harmen

Member
Surprised so many people dislike Broken Age (or found it average). I played it inbetween Grim Fandango, the original Broken Sword, and Days of the Tentacle and Broken Age was probably my second favourite after Grim Fandango (mostly missed out on adventure games when I was young).

Anyways, good to see people are liking this one, totally unexpected game I really want to play. Is there a release date for android?
 
Spoilers for early game, which I've watched a bit of and have a question about:

Early on, it looks to be possible for Ray to be killed? Which contradicts the game's line about no failure states. I'm guessing she reappears later somehow, but does that mean playing through a big chunk of the game as Reyes instead if you screw up with Ray? Her voice acting is so much better...

That is quickly resolved and is only a very short bit in the game (and is not character-exclusive).

I'm in Act Four now and both the game and production quality really opens up in Act Three. It does get off to a shaky start voice-acting-wise, as I think both Ray and Reyes' voices are pretty terrible. But most of the rest of the cast is fine to great.
 

Boem

Member
Spoilers for early game, which I've watched a bit of and have a question about:

Early on, it looks to be possible for Ray to be killed? Which contradicts the game's line about no failure states. I'm guessing she reappears later somehow, but does that mean playing through a big chunk of the game as Reyes instead if you screw up with Ray? Her voice acting is so much better...

Don't worry about it. That's all part of it and it's not screwing up, it's supposed to happen. If you continue on from that point everything will become clear.

Slight spoiler:
She returns later in the game (pretty quickly for me actually), and you can play as her again.

Edit: Yeah what Joe said.
 
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