Comments on: Penny Arcade Adventures: Episode Two Demo

By: Morph

Morph — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 09:33:45 +0000

Enjoyed the first one a lot. The best things about it were probably the design and setting, and it was genuinley funny. The combat was JRPGish but the timing twists made it more fun, except my keyboard’s sticky space bar kind of made some of them a bit harder than they should be. A few niggles in the gameplay but a fairly solid game and worth the money, considering I was inspired enough to play it twice.

Played through a bit of Ep 2. More of the same of course but nothing wrong in that.

By: gnome

gnome — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 09:09:52 +0000

I found the first episode incredibly polished, rather funny, good looking and with an enjoyable story, but what I really loved about it was the design and the mechanics. The timed turn-based combat was ace as were the exploration/light-adventure bits. Episode 2 (judging by the demo) seems slightly improved, though I’d rather have one full game on a disc than some episodes…

By: matte_k

matte_k — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:10:01 +0000

Enjoyed the first one, not a great game by any means, but a worthwhile investment for an afternoon or two- the writing and art direction is good, comic timing is excellent, and the plot just gets more absurd the further in you get. Nice to see they’ve added a few new features in the second episode, lots of unlockable stuff, different combat moves and items, but generally maintaining the standard set by the first.

On a side note, more games in this steampunkish setting would be a boon-anyone remember The Chaos Engine?

By: jalf

jalf — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:58:58 +0000

it gets to that FF situation in the harder fights where it’s like spinning plates, you’re constantly resurrecting players while trying to find an opportunity to get a good hit in.

What? I don’t think I died more than a couple of times in my first playthrough, and not once on the final boss. Block his blows, and pile up the damage, and you’re done. (Played it again yesterday because I lost the savegame, and didn’t want to start with a new character in ep2, and didn’t die once)

The battles aren’t really hard, are they?

As ShaunCG says, counters are tricky to pull off, but I don’t think there’s a problem with that. Would be silly if you could constantly counter enemy blows.

By: ShaunCG

ShaunCG — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:51:58 +0000

I loved it, though as Okami points out at the top the final boss was much harder than any other enemy (even at the top level) and whilst I had few problems with blocks, executing successful counters was near-impossible with the majority of foes.

By: jonfitt

jonfitt — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:24:28 +0000

It was ok, the adventuring was basic, and the battling was fby and large fun. it gets to that FF situation in the harder fights where it’s like spinning plates, you’re constantly resurrecting players while trying to find an opportunity to get a good hit in.

It doesn’t take long to finish, I’d wait until you have an afternoon respite from the season’s onslaught. Perhaps Christmas Eve before heading out to the pub.

By: Bobsy

Bobsy — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:41:12 +0000

Oh, and as before, the 300mb demo is in fact the whole thing, unlockable at any time using magic codes and things.

By: jalf

jalf — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:53:03 +0000

I really enjoyed the first game as well. As said, the non-combat parts were pretty basic, but the combat worked well imo, and the art style and plot were lovely.

And of course, plenty of PA humour. I’d say yes, play it. It can be done in an afternoon, and it’s enjoyable.

By: Bobsy

Bobsy — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:52:04 +0000

PA:otRSPoD is stylish, very stylish. In both visuals and dialogue (obviously, considering where it’s come from) but also music, it’s a real treat. People who hate Penny Arcade (with the same ridiculous vehemence you see people hating Barack Obama with) will inevitably dislike it.

But yeah, stylish to a degree you don’t often see these days. It’s a delicious confection – fancy, sweet-tasting and extremely enjoyable, but not especially filling and probably not good for you in the long term.

By: Dexton

Dexton — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 09:47:23 +0000

I didn’t like the combat much at first, but once I got the hang of it I really started to enjoy the first episode.

The writing and humor is classic Penny Arcade, if you don’t like the comics you will not like the game. If you do like the comics and can get the hang of the combat then it’s definitley worth a few quid and a few hours of your week.

Not sure if I will play the second though, lots of other good games around I would rather play right now.

By: MrDeVil_909

MrDeVil_909 — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 08:58:34 +0000

First game was an enjoyable romp and I’m expecting the same thing from the next one. Anyone enjoying a super deep experience is setting themselves up for disappointment, the game is fun in one of it’s most fundamental forms.

The complaints about combat are bizarre to me, I wonder if people were playing the same game. A lot of people struggled, but I think I lost 2 battles in total. And there is no fail state so it is irrelevant.

I’m buying it on Greenhouse so PA and Hothead get the biggest possible slice.

By: Lars Westergren

Lars Westergren — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 06:45:17 +0000

First game was ok, but there was very little adventure for something branded an action-adventure. There was maybe two or three puzzles in the whole main questline which didn’t consist of “kill everything that keeps attacking you until the key object you are searching for drops”.

Combat was servicable, but too JRPGish for my taste and had little strategy since you can’t (for instance) position yourself. So it is usually only came down to figuring out which attack a specific enemy type was vulnerable to. The two main boss fights were the only ones a bit challenging, for those you HAD to make perfect combos, time debuffing/healing item usage with the boss special attacks, etc.

Graphics, sound, and in game animations pretty nice. The constant jokes usually worth a chuckle, with one or two laugh out loud moments.

I ordered second game and downloaded it yesterday, just got to finish Dead Space first.