The Cave Review
- Thread starter Nasrin
- Start date
I think that's exactly what the reviewer meant be tedious. It isn't the puzzles or the leaps in logic, it's the inherent flaw in character choice that basically forces the player to repeat previous sections just so they can experience one new section. In puzzle games it gets a little bit more tedious if you remember doing those puzzles, so it's less "How exactly am I supposed to solve this?" and more "Didn't I already do this? Fine, I guess I have to do it again) I haven't played the game yet, but perhaps a way to make replaying other sections fun would be if the intermediate caverns switched up, or if during each character's personal area there were different solutions available to you depending on the other members in the party.rhodo said:
Anyways, the game looks interesting, although I'll wait for a price drop before picking it up.
There is a simple solution for the problem, just don't go with 3 all new characters each time, but go with 2 new characters and 1 repeat character.
So first time it's 3 new characters (total played 3).
Second time it's 2 new characters and 1 repeat character. (total played 5).
Third time it's 2 new characters and 1 repeat character. (total played 7).
then instead of it being mostly a rehash on the 3rd playthrough, you just have some repeat sections on y our second and 3rd (it's broken up much better that way.
Also, as mentioned above, wait a bit between playthroughs to increase the enjoyment. Combining both methods should enable 3 enjoyable playthroughs of the game.
So first time it's 3 new characters (total played 3).
Second time it's 2 new characters and 1 repeat character. (total played 5).
Third time it's 2 new characters and 1 repeat character. (total played 7).
then instead of it being mostly a rehash on the 3rd playthrough, you just have some repeat sections on y our second and 3rd (it's broken up much better that way.
Also, as mentioned above, wait a bit between playthroughs to increase the enjoyment. Combining both methods should enable 3 enjoyable playthroughs of the game.
Way I did it was:
1st - New, New, New
A week+ of hiatus
2nd - New, New, New
3rd - Knight, Repeat, Repeat
7.7 hours played.
The Knight's is the closest puzzle, so I just saved him for my 3rd "playthrough." Then stopped after I completed his area. Obviously, this method is not for completionists and cheevo hunters
Another bit of advice: in my opinion, seeing both endings is in no way worth 5 playthroughs to see each character's good and bad. Just YouTube it, unless you want to torture yourself for achievements.
Really liked the game though. Despite it repeatedly frustrating me with its back-tracking and repeated corridor walking that could have been eliminated by having a "rally to me" button (that wouldn't work if it led to an exploit in the current situation). The time traveler's puzzle was awesome! It was really nifty. I'm happy with myself too for not looking anything up. Felt special cause I'd seen multiple exclamations of exasperation with the TT's puzzle on various forums. Go me!
1st - New, New, New
A week+ of hiatus
2nd - New, New, New
3rd - Knight, Repeat, Repeat
7.7 hours played.
The Knight's is the closest puzzle, so I just saved him for my 3rd "playthrough." Then stopped after I completed his area. Obviously, this method is not for completionists and cheevo hunters
Another bit of advice: in my opinion, seeing both endings is in no way worth 5 playthroughs to see each character's good and bad. Just YouTube it, unless you want to torture yourself for achievements.
Really liked the game though. Despite it repeatedly frustrating me with its back-tracking and repeated corridor walking that could have been eliminated by having a "rally to me" button (that wouldn't work if it led to an exploit in the current situation). The time traveler's puzzle was awesome! It was really nifty. I'm happy with myself too for not looking anything up
. Felt special cause I'd seen multiple exclamations of exasperation with the TT's puzzle on various forums. Go me!
Replaying the exact same puzzles isn't something you see in adventure games, though. It's clear they considered all 7 characters to be an essential part of the full game experience and finishing the game required you to play through identical puzzles three times, with two of the same characters twice. I don't like the word "flawed" to describe games but I would not hesitate to use it for The Cave.rhodo said:
From my perspective, this game really exists for it's writing and nothing else. There's just not enough at work in the minute to minute gameplay, from the generally simple puzzles to the simplistic platforming to the general environment navigtion, to recommend it. It's thoroughly average and rather derivative unless you get grabbed by the writing, voice acting and humour the game provides. It's just a good thing that those aspects are pretty noteworthy.
It's also important to note that the tedium doesn't just come in the form of repeat puzzles on repeat playthroughs, it also comes from having to traverse some/many areas three times in each playthrough because you have to manually control each character.Blood Brain Barrier said:
I didn't find that much of a problem since you didn't have to move ALL characters to the same spot all the time (unlike say, Lost Vikings) and when you did the game automatically pulled the other two to the screen. And most of the puzzles were possible with one or two characters.StriderShinryu said:
And really, traversing areas many times is part of this type of game, the multi-character platformer. If you did have to move two other characters exactly the same way everytime you did something that would be a problem but I didn't find I had to do that a lot.
I think they did well with the game, it's the redoing puzzles I disliked. And REALLY disliked, since I rarely replay games.
This game was good, and by no means great. I definitely enjoyed it and even did a lets play of it on my YouTube channel. However, I ran into a gamebreaking glitch. At the very end, I opened the employees only door with the key, went through, and the game crashed. I started it back up, on the side where I unlocked it from, without the key, and the door was locked. The key never respawned and the shopkeeper never gave me a new one. I had to replay through the entire game just to finish my original playthrough. Solid game on first playthrough but I really wouldn't consider it ever again.