Quick Look: Penny Arcade Adventures: Episode 3

Wait, Zeboyd is making this? Awesome, loved Breath of Death and Cthulhu Saves the World.

On risk-reward: that was a huge part of Zeboyd's previous games, managing MP usage and balancing it with HP gain. The battle system itself wasn't that interesting but the context of having to choose which attacks to use and when made playing for the long haul much more important than any individual fight. The opposite sort of looks to be in effect here.

Also: holy crap, that is some great 16-bit music.

Played through the first game, then my computer crashed and I lost it so never got around to playnig the second. Watching this definetly got me interested in playng it though, and even reminded me that I need to play more of Chtulu Saves the World.

@Skyfire543 said:

This looks pretty cool as an FF 6 clone.

Too bad I have no interest in Penny Arcade.

Knowledge of Penny Arcade is 100% optional. You'll get a couple of in-jokes, but having played the first two and watched this, almost NOTHING that they're saying ties into PA directly.

"You now have the ability to add a second class to your charaters!"

Well, I guess it's not out yet....

this is amazing! I wish more companies made old school rpgs like this!

@Undeadpool: Sweet. Maybe I'll pick it up on my PC then.

Perhaps this is a petty criticism, but even considering the game's intended style, the lack of meaningful battle sound effects is lame. Would it really have been that difficult to do unique sounds for the attacks that plays during the animation? I.e. a sound for Tycho's gun, some swooshes for melee attacks, etc

That's some real Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga movement going on there. Looks great.

@FreedomTown said:

Hey, a goofy looking indie-game that looks exactly like at least 4 other goofy looking indie retro RPG games I can think of off the top of my head.

Let us see if Ryan is as negative with this one as he is with aactual good games. Oh no? What a surprise..he is "really excitied" about this game.Hmmmm

So Gears clones that are actually decent? You rag on the entire QL. Indie-reto-RPG clones? You somehow are "really excited" for......interesting.

Only you could think the "writing" of this game is outstanding. 8 year olds might find it humerous I suppose.

Something appears to be bunching your panties, considering that you've made this sort of comment multiple times in a short span.

Here's a hint: If you don't enjoy something, maybe you should avoid it. Getting involved just to sit around and whine tends to make you look silly.

@G0rd0nFr33m4n said:

Ummm in the first 2 games there was no voice work Ryan.... none..... at all...... ever...... sorry but i hate it when people "remember" stuff that never happened!

THE ONLY time they have spoken was in that Telltale poker game and it was only one of them. It was ok at best....

Yeah, the original games had no spoken dialogue, although there was some brief narration at the beginning of the game. And maybe at the end.

I was like wait I've seen that crab before. http://www.penny-arcade.com/2012/03/29/karapyss-the-crabomancer oooh. Derp me.

16 bit JRPGs are perfection in video game form. Needless to say I am very excited for this game!

@steevl said:

@G0rd0nFr33m4n said:

Ummm in the first 2 games there was no voice work Ryan.... none..... at all...... ever...... sorry but i hate it when people "remember" stuff that never happened!

THE ONLY time they have spoken was in that Telltale poker game and it was only one of them. It was ok at best....

Yeah, the original games had no spoken dialogue, although there was some brief narration at the beginning of the game. And maybe at the end.

Alright I'll give you that, but we both know that's not what Ryan is talking about. Although I will say this, it is a testament to how well the first two games were written that Ryan would mistakenly think that it was spoken dialogue. They were really funny and the dialogue did flow nicely.

Sweet mother of Christ, I'm sick of the lag on video streaming.

Yes, I have the downstream to handle HD video streaming. No, I'm not downloading anything.

This has been happening since the move, at least.

@cavemantom: Yeah, I had the same issue on and off since they moved (they're not on Amazon anymore by the looks of things - seem to be running off CBSi's servers)

I generally find that downloading the videos before watching them - or if using firefox, downloading and watching while I download - is a far better experience. Heck, when using VLC, you can correct the sync issues they sometimes have.

Most definitely was not expecting 47 minutes of this. And it had me smiling pretty much the entire time. Also, I need to actually finish the first two like right now.

I know it's a little weird of a critique, but I think they captured the 16 bit RPG thing a little TOO well... Like they're even doing some of the bad things because "they're RPG things so deal with it."

I SPOKE TOO FUCKING SOON MOTHERFUCKING DREW SCANLON KILLING IT

ohmygod this actually exists!?

Patrick and Ryan's misunderstanding of the Defend mechanic reminds me so much of how the stumbled through Chrono Trigger.

Had no idea this was coming out. I never finished the second episode, it bored me to death. Also, I had things to do. This looks pretty swell I must say. Perhaps I'll finish Episode 2 just to get at this.

endurance run of this

Lol is this made with RPG maker?

The first two were bad, so they stopped. Maybe this'll turn out better.

Hah, I love the dig at RPG minigames at the beginning of the wharf area.

The music in this game is fucking ridiculously awesome.

God DAMNIT Ryan! I don't want to stare at the intro screen for that long. Every God Damned TIME! Jesus Fucking Christ! Every Time! Fuck!

love you...... <3

This game rewards you with music whilst in battle. The song changes as the battle goes on and has some epic sounds. The longer your battles, the more music you get to hear.

so stoned.

@silleevaillee said:

Writing = Awesome. But still FUCK turn based battle systems. If I wanted to play chess I would play chess.

What? That's not how you play chess, at all.

@FreedomTown said:

Hey, a goofy looking indie-game that looks exactly like at least 4 other goofy looking indie retro RPG games I can think of off the top of my head.

Let us see if Ryan is as negative with this one as he is with aactual good games. Oh no? What a surprise..he is "really excitied" about this game.Hmmmm

So Gears clones that are actually decent? You rag on the entire QL. Indie-reto-RPG clones? You somehow are "really excited" for......interesting.

Only you could think the "writing" of this game is outstanding. 8 year olds might find it humerous I suppose.

Poor troll. I guess now we know what the effects of eating a bowl of steaming shit for breakfast every morning are.

@plague88: heheheheheheeheheheheheheh

I hope there are more animations in the final release. Reading out non dialog pieces of text for actions is a bit lame. Otherwise, looks great.

Going to buy this because I love Zeboyd Games.

Looks good & will definitely pick this up to go with the collection of the other two games though my favorite is still this studio's previous work (Cthulhu Saves the World). Dialogue/writing seems quite funny in this.

...Where is the PC from the first games? has that been abandoned, I'll wait and see.

I mean I know that the character couldn't be transferred from one engine to the other but I'm missing the PC.

This game looks awesome. The writing is great, and I loved Zeboyd's other two games (especially Cthulhu), so will be getting this for sure. I like this art style better than the first two PA games, so that's a plus.
 
The fact that it's only 8-10 hours is fantastic, too. I love RPGs, but why do they all have to be so damn long? I just don't have nearly as much time these days as an adult. Hey companies, more shorter RPGs, please!!!

That music in the opening area is fucking amazing.

This is making me want to go plow through the first 2 games again, perhaps complete the couple of achievements I'm missing (although the optional ones in the 1st game were stupid hard).

I also am missing the player-character, but I will live.

Also I stopped watching about 20 minutes in because I had already decided I am buying this and didn't want to spoil it further for myself. Wheee!

@bkbroiler said:

Hah, I love the dig at RPG minigames at the beginning of the wharf area.

If I'm not mistaken, it's even a dig at the first PA game.

@Undeadpool said:

@bkbroiler said:

Hah, I love the dig at RPG minigames at the beginning of the wharf area.

If I'm not mistaken, it's even a dig at the first PA game.

Oh, nice. I've always wanted to play them and I'm not sure why I haven't gotten around to it.

Endurance Run Flashback!

Is anyone else bothered by the massive disconnect between the pretty much spot on SNES-style pixel art and the modern, budget Steam game sounding music?

I was never interested in the Penny Arcade games before but now... I'm intrigued. Also, the music is perfect for the time era they're emulating.

Couldn't watch for more than like 5 or 10 minutes. a) I'm going to play this at some point and I don't want to ruin all the jokes. b) Ryan reading every text bubble killed it.

Totally into it, could use some more Ultimate damage.

wtf why does ryan open anne's magic menu every goddamned time?!?!? IT"S ALWAYS THE SAME STUFF IN THERE.

A wild Scanlon appears! I reckon Mute-ineer would be a boss character. I refuse to believe so luscious a pun would've escaped Tycho.

@tescovee said:

Also the way it currently is to get community Indie games on XBL: gui will bury it.

Bing to the left. Easy peasy. The current dash is basically Netflix, so if you know the name of what you want you're fine. I do realise you're talking about discoverability, but I think the simple fact of how large the PA fanbase is will prove the dashboard to be absolutely no obstacle in turning a profit.

@jakob187 said:

As for this game, I have a feeling that the humor will fall flat without voicework.

O_o;

You know the comic doesn't have voicework, right? I mean... it doesn't for me. ;)

Again, there's no reason to believe it will be a barrier to success, because it simply isn't part of the existing formula. A lot of people outright rejected the voice choice for Poker Night. Shall never be able to satisfy people in that regard, which itself distracts from the humour.

Looks pretty awesome. Not gonna lie I'm homer for these types of games though

Loved the first two and had no idea it was already coming! Excited for next week now.

This game almost intrigues me, but I'm guessing the fact that I really hate Penny Arcade is a clear indicator that I shouldn't bother, especially if it is the writing that is being considered a selling point to the game.

*Yawn*