For what it's worth- I guess the lack of real, up-front notification of the status of the game(s) bugs me. I understand the notion that I paid for 2 episodes and got 2 episodes. If I had paid for the whole game and only got two episodes I could have claimed injustice. That I got what I paid for... I guess I can't complain, but... There was definitely supposed to be more. And not in book form. I can't customize the appearance of the protagonist of a book/comic or hit a button at the right moment to make a literary character pull off a critical hit. I love the idea of having the story finished, but I'm disappointed that it isn't going to be finished just how it was started.
The real rub, like I stated at the beginning, was that there is no official front-page coverage of the death of this game. There was plenty of word about the game in development, release dates, sequels, sales, etc. but when the project was dying you had to come to the forums to get news. And the official announcement that there would be no episode 3 happened, it happened on various news sites- there was no mention on the official website. Not even a blurb. Not at HotHead, not at Penny-Arcade.
One way or another, it'd mean a lot to the fan community (if not their customers) to have an official, front page update and/or commentary about what happened here and why they (didn't) respond the way they did. They don't owe us a thing, but it seems like they should offer the same amount of honesty and communication they demand from the industry and community they've used to build themselves up.
I don't think I'm going to bother reading the end of the saga. The series being canceled is a big letdown, the fact that Holkins got our hopes up and left us with no status update is a big letdown. Honestly, I think PA could've handled this a hell of a lot better. It's been ruined for me, and Krahulik and Holkins are, in my opinion, better off just letting it die.
I don't think I'm going to bother reading the end of the saga. The series being canceled is a big letdown, the fact that Holkins got our hopes up and left us with no status update is a big letdown. Honestly, I think PA could've handled this a hell of a lot better. It's been ruined for me, and Krahulik and Holkins are, in my opinion, better off just letting it die.
Yeah it's totally their fault that legal document forbid them from talking about it. I also like how you use their last names like they somehow lost the privileged of you using their first names. How will they sleep with your disapproval at game deal gone south?!
Honestly the games were pretty awful.
Like I could probably recreate them 1:1 in flash awful.I only played them for the story which was worth the price paid.
King Riptor on
I have a podcast now. It's about video games and anime!Find it here.
Honestly the games were pretty awful.
Like I could probably recreate them 1:1 in flash awful.I only played them for the story which was worth the price paid.
Woah, woah, woah, hold on there cowboy! Those two "awful" games gave me the feeling of what I can only describe as euphoria of beating my first platformer or RPG. So what you call "awful," I call "gold." I played through them each at least thrice! My point is that's a matter of opinion and you be trollin' our PA: Episode forum!
A legal document forbid them to talk about their own game?
I must have missed that newsflash
Technically it's not "their own game," it's a game using their ip that was made in concurrance with another company, under a contract. Said contract may have prevented Gabe and Tycho from talking about it.
A legal document forbid them to talk about their own game?
I must have missed that newsflash
Technically it's not "their own game," it's a game using their ip that was made in concurrance with another company, under a contract. Said contract may have prevented Gabe and Tycho from talking about it.
But could they have talked about that contract? INFINITE LOOP etc
Honestly the games were pretty awful.
Like I could probably recreate them 1:1 in flash awful.I only played them for the story which was worth the price paid.
Woah, woah, woah, hold on there cowboy! Those two "awful" games gave me the feeling of what I can only describe as euphoria of beating my first platformer or RPG. So what you call "awful," I call "gold." I played through them each at least thrice! My point is that's a matter of opinion and you be trollin' our PA: Episode forum!
That makes me sad for you.
One because The Rain slick games are not platformers and two because beating these games is not a task I would deem difficult for any skill level.
King Riptor on
I have a podcast now. It's about video games and anime!Find it here.
I was looking for information on OTRSPOD when Google led me to this thread. So the series is kaput?
Meh, I can deal with that, I don't expect an apparently unsuccessful series to be continued for my sake. However, add my voice those criticizing the fact that effectively nothing has been done to communicate this to the fanbase at large. It's some major hypocritical BS on Mike and Jerry's parts.
I was looking for information on OTRSPOD when Google led me to this thread. So the series is kaput?
Meh, I can deal with that, I don't expect an apparently unsuccessful series to be continued for my sake. However, add my voice those criticizing the fact that effectively nothing has been done to communicate this to the fanbase at large. It's some major hypocritical BS on Mike and Jerry's parts.
It's funny, I was going back and reading their original comic strips and they used to mock things of a similar vein constantly. I'm still not sure why there's never been an official post on the front page. No explanation, no details if they can't provide them, just a simple, "this game has been canceled, we'll be doing a comic strip to wrap things up". Seems very odd to me, unless you were at PAX or come to these forums, you have no idea, which is literally millions of people.
Seems very odd to me, unless you were at PAX or come to these forums, you have no idea, which is literally millions of people.
To be fair, if "millions of people" were actually buying this game, they probably would have made the last 2 episodes.
Clearly not enough people cared (which is too bad, because it's like cramming as much content as a year's worth of strips into a few hours).
What you do have is about 3 million uniques visiting PA daily and those who are interested or may potentially be interested have no idea of finding out. I know many people, including myself were waiting for all episodes to come out before purchasing them as a whole. I realize that this was to the detriment of the game, but it also appears that my concerns in waiting were founded. Regardless, it's really hypocritical of these guys to do the same thing they mock. I'm sure they're sad and possibly a little embarrassed, but they're doing their fanbase a huge disservice.
Maybe if there had been more information released on a regular basis, not just in the canceling of the series, they wouldn't be in the same situation. I've never understood their huge aversion to self-promotion, particularly because I know they wouldn't whore themselves out as others do.
What gets me is that the two episodes that have come out seem very low on production values. Can we all agree those of us that bought the titles did so because they wanted to support PA, and enjoyed the concept/story?
The engine and gameplay do in fact look like they could be replicated easily enough. If the story is being written to completion, why couldn't the fan community of indie developers finish the game as a labor of love?
Several of my friends and coworkers were interested in the series, as I was. I was the only one to buy it (excluding those who got it as a gift from me). The others told me to wait and buy the whole series as a whole, in case they decided not to finish it.
So, my friends had better foresight than me.
Anyway, I'll be making my own episodic games soon, and I won't pull any dick moves like finding out I'm making thousands of dollars profit instead of millions and claim that I'm "working for free"
Posts
This is more or less exactly how I feel.
Yeah it's totally their fault that legal document forbid them from talking about it. I also like how you use their last names like they somehow lost the privileged of you using their first names. How will they sleep with your disapproval at game deal gone south?!
Honestly the games were pretty awful.
Like I could probably recreate them 1:1 in flash awful.I only played them for the story which was worth the price paid.
Woah, woah, woah, hold on there cowboy! Those two "awful" games gave me the feeling of what I can only describe as euphoria of beating my first platformer or RPG. So what you call "awful," I call "gold." I played through them each at least thrice! My point is that's a matter of opinion and you be trollin' our PA: Episode forum!
I must have missed that newsflash
Technically it's not "their own game," it's a game using their ip that was made in concurrance with another company, under a contract. Said contract may have prevented Gabe and Tycho from talking about it.
But could they have talked about that contract? INFINITE LOOP etc
That makes me sad for you.
One because The Rain slick games are not platformers and two because beating these games is not a task I would deem difficult for any skill level.
I'd hope he found it difficult since he felt " Euphoria " at beating it. Either that or he uses ecstasy
You're right. My mistake. He simply lumped RPGs and platformers together for some reason.
Are you like twelve?
Meh, I can deal with that, I don't expect an apparently unsuccessful series to be continued for my sake. However, add my voice those criticizing the fact that effectively nothing has been done to communicate this to the fanbase at large. It's some major hypocritical BS on Mike and Jerry's parts.
It's funny, I was going back and reading their original comic strips and they used to mock things of a similar vein constantly. I'm still not sure why there's never been an official post on the front page. No explanation, no details if they can't provide them, just a simple, "this game has been canceled, we'll be doing a comic strip to wrap things up". Seems very odd to me, unless you were at PAX or come to these forums, you have no idea, which is literally millions of people.
To be fair, if "millions of people" were actually buying this game, they probably would have made the last 2 episodes.
Clearly not enough people cared (which is too bad, because it's like cramming as much content as a year's worth of strips into a few hours).
What you do have is about 3 million uniques visiting PA daily and those who are interested or may potentially be interested have no idea of finding out. I know many people, including myself were waiting for all episodes to come out before purchasing them as a whole. I realize that this was to the detriment of the game, but it also appears that my concerns in waiting were founded. Regardless, it's really hypocritical of these guys to do the same thing they mock. I'm sure they're sad and possibly a little embarrassed, but they're doing their fanbase a huge disservice.
Maybe if there had been more information released on a regular basis, not just in the canceling of the series, they wouldn't be in the same situation. I've never understood their huge aversion to self-promotion, particularly because I know they wouldn't whore themselves out as others do.
The engine and gameplay do in fact look like they could be replicated easily enough. If the story is being written to completion, why couldn't the fan community of indie developers finish the game as a labor of love?
I'd like to be able to point and say
Games > Lawyers
But Tube, isn't that how they got you to work the forums?
OOOOOOOoooooooooooooohhhhh.
So, my friends had better foresight than me.
Anyway, I'll be making my own episodic games soon, and I won't pull any dick moves like finding out I'm making thousands of dollars profit instead of millions and claim that I'm "working for free"