The Talos Principle II

[hitbyambulance]

gameplay trailer:

[Lordnine]

Day one purchase for me. The Talos Principle was excellent!

[Blackhawk]

Egads.

I played the first one, then played it again in VR. It's hard to believe that these come from the same guys who make Serious Sam.

[coopasonic]

Day one purchase for me. The Talos Principle was excellent!

100% except possibly the day one part depending what I have going on.

[hitbyambulance]

It's hard to believe that these come from the same guys who make Serious Sam.

it's completely opposite in tone from their main moneymaker franchise (Serious Sam - goofy and absurd, over-the-top, hyperviolent, gory twitch shooter vs The Talos Princliple - meditative, reflective, philosophical, even literary at times leisurely-paced puzzler)

it also demonstrates aptly the devs are huge 'serious' sci-fi fans

(they did slip in a Serious Sam 4 cinematic an aside where Sam mentions Philip K. Dick is his favorite author)

both series benefit greatly from one of the star characters - the environment. Croteam does a masterful job of rendering landscapes and infusing them with real sensation and feeling. Serious Sam made me want to visit Egypt and Talos Principle, the eastern Mediterranean.

[coopasonic]

The time has arrived and it turns out it is a Day 1 purchase for me.

[Zaxxon]

How the fuck did I miss this? I was about to say day 1 for me, and now I need to play TP1 to get ready, then I see this is an old thread and it's out!?

[Blackhawk]

Ooh, out already? On the list it goes.

[Isgrimnur]

The first one is on Game Pass for anyone late to the party.

[Carpet_pissr]

The first one is on Game Pass for anyone late to the party.

I've owned it for years, meaning to play it, and I don't think I even got so far as to install it. I think maybe because it took me a while to realize that puzzle games are not really my thing. Especially on PC, for some reason (I really liked The Room and its sequel on iOS for instance) Hell, I never even finished the first Portal (got stuck on a later level I think, and just never went back). I WILL finish Portal, one day, though.

I'm circling Jan 2, 2030 on my calendar now!

[Zaxxon]

And of course, unlike the first one, this one isn't on MacOS or Switch (my two current systems).

[Isgrimnur]

[Zaxxon]

In this case, agreed!

[Blackhawk]

For those thinking about the first one, unless you completely hate the style of gameplay (it's a first person puzzler - think Portal, but with a completely different type of problem solving), and it's an all-time favorite. It's an amazing game.

Hopefully the sequel lives up to it.

[Zaxxon]

So, how is it? I can't play it yet, so I rely on yOOr AARs!

[coopasonic]

So, how is it? I can't play it yet, so I rely on yOOr AARs!

I'm a little ways into act 2 and it's a shit ton of puzzles with a lot of philosophy sprinkled throughout. A lot of the mechanics in the puzzles are borrowed from the first game. I find the story relatively uninteresting. I'm here for the puzzles but I find myself needing to take breaks as I get a sort of puzzle fatigue. 24 puzzles, story break, 3 puzzles, story break, 24 more puzzles. It just feels like an endless stream of puzzles with the complexity ramping up slowly. Solving the puzzles is satisfying and some of them can be frustrating. I guess it just feels a little repetitive.

[Blackhawk]

How are the environments compared to the first? Is it still the quasi-Greek island theme, or is it more varied?

[Carpet_pissr]

So, how is it? I can't play it yet, so I rely on yOOr AARs!

I'm a little ways into act 2 and it's a shit ton of puzzles with a lot of philosophy sprinkled throughout. A lot of the mechanics in the puzzles are borrowed from the first game. I find the story relatively uninteresting. I'm here for the puzzles but I find myself needing to take breaks as I get a sort of puzzle fatigue. 24 puzzles, story break, 3 puzzles, story break, 24 more puzzles. It just feels like an endless stream of puzzles with the complexity ramping up slowly. Solving the puzzles is satisfying and some of them can be frustrating. I guess it just feels a little repetitive.

Hmm, not thrilled to hear that. I love me some philosophy, but back to back puzzles sounds a bit much. I think I am more of an adventure game puzzle enjoyer, than a dedicated puzzler...enjoyer.

Steam says that these are the top rated PUZZLE category games, and there are some weird ones included in this genre IMO (ordered by TOP RANKED)

Spoiler:

Portal 2 (in library, unplayed)
Inscryption (on wishlist) Is this not a deckbuilder/card game?
Stray (on wishlist)
The Room 4 (have not played this one, but played and enjoyed the first two on iOS)
Tomb Raider ?!??!?
It Takes Two (have this on Gamepass I think, also would not consider this in the puzzle genre)
Portal (never quite finished)
Resident Evil 2 (??!)
The Room (excellent game)
Baba is You
Plants vs Zombies GOTY (Love this game, LURV it, but is it a "puzzle" game? More strategy in my mind, or even tower defense)
Papers, Please
Ori and Will o Wisps
The Room Three (series is dominating the genre!)
Teardown (never heard of this, looks like great fun, but again, would not consider this PUZZLE)
The Room Two (played, loved)
Agent A (also great, played on iOS)
Rusty Lake: Roots (these have always gotten rave reviews, but I have never "gotten" them, I guess. Definitely PUZZLE, though...just not...fun...to me)
a few more titles, then
Outer Wilds (?!?)
Then a few more, THEN we get TALOS PRINCIPLE (the first)

OK this list is broken...or Steam's categorization is absolute garbage...a few more down and I see JEDI: FALLEN ORDER. Come on!!!!

[Zaxxon]

My background material today...

Anyone need a recap of 1 and Gehenna?



How about a chat with the devs?

[hitbyambulance]

Hmm, not thrilled to hear that. I love me some philosophy, but back to back puzzles sounds a bit much. I think I am more of an adventure game puzzle enjoyer, than a dedicated puzzler...enjoyer.

yeah, the first Talos Principle is totaally like that. it is a pretty chill and nicely-rendered environment to play the puzzles in, however.

Steam says that these are the top rated PUZZLE category games, and there are some weird ones included in this genre IMO (ordered by TOP RANKED)

Tomb Raider ?!??!?

maybe they mean the actually puzzley ones - Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, and Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris

Baba is You

this is really good but can get very very tricky/tough - you will get a challenge from this one with the extra hard optional rooms. (Talos Principle also has 'star' challenges that tend to not be obvious or easy as well)

[Blackhawk]

Steam says that these are the top rated PUZZLE category games, and there are some weird ones included in this genre IMO (ordered by TOP RANKED)

Tomb Raider ?!??!?

maybe they mean the actually puzzley ones - Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, and Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris

If they're going by tags for their categories, then it's all player-submitted. This is same system that defines Counter Strike as a strategy game, survival game, and sandbox game, Serious Sam as an adventure game, and every game where you can choose your weapon as an RPG.

[Carpet_pissr]

OK, that explains everything, sheesh. I will definitely be paying less attention to genre tags in the future, then, gah.

[Blackhawk]

OK, that explains everything, sheesh. I will definitely be paying less attention to genre tags in the future, then, gah.

My son tells that that, for a while, Dark Souls was listed as an anime dating sim. And I recall that there was a Barbie Game that was listed as psychological horror (which may have been accurate...)

[Zaxxon]

Fired up TP1 this morning on the Switch. Still awesome.

[Blackhawk]

I replayed it a year or two ago in VR (the VR port is very, very well done - Croteam is a big supporter of the medium.)

[Scraper]

The first one is on Game Pass for anyone late to the party.

It's on PS Plus Premium as well.

[coopasonic]

So, how is it? I can't play it yet, so I rely on yOOr AARs!

I'm a little ways into act 2 and it's a shit ton of puzzles with a lot of philosophy sprinkled throughout. A lot of the mechanics in the puzzles are borrowed from the first game. I find the story relatively uninteresting. I'm here for the puzzles but I find myself needing to take breaks as I get a sort of puzzle fatigue. 24 puzzles, story break, 3 puzzles, story break, 24 more puzzles. It just feels like an endless stream of puzzles with the complexity ramping up slowly. Solving the puzzles is satisfying and some of them can be frustrating. I guess it just feels a little repetitive.

I'm going to revise my impression here a little. I think the puzzle fatigue came from the early puzzles being too easy so just felt like a grind. The second half of the game gets progressively more challenging and it didn't feel so grindy. I'm not quite done yet, but I'm pretty sure I'm getting close. The new stuff is starting to burn my brain more and more. Story-wise things have improved as well.

[coopasonic]

...and done. The final area was the most interesting. It's been a while since I play the first game, but the later puzzles in this one seemed more complex than I remember. I did manage to make it through without searching up any solutions, however the game does give you some flexibility. In each area you need to complete 8 puzzles, but each area has 10 puzzles (technically 11 but the last one doesn't count for the 8). There are also items you can find that let you mark a puzzle as solved without solving it, though they are pretty rare. I only found 2 (and used 1). There are also mandatory puzzles like the final area and a central area in the main progression of the game.

At the end, you are given an opportunity to go finish all the extra puzzles, if you skip it and finish the game, when you reload you are taken back to that last chance so you can still finish those other puzzles you skipped or missed.

[Lordnine]

I love that the "are frogs people?" discussion is now banned. Great call back to the first game.

So many great little references and hidden things to find. I loved the "Stanley Parable" style upgrade you can buy early on.

[Lordnine]

...and done.

How in the world did you finish this in 2 days? Hah. Maybe I am just an idiot and slow or reading a lot more of the text but I am 14 hours in and only about to enter the Borg Pyramid for the 2nd time. It looks like there are 3 more areas to go?

I am really enjoying it though. I think the puzzles might actually be a little easier than the first game, but they are also a lot more varied with more mechanics.

My only real complaint is that I miss Alexandra's diaries. She gave a lot of heart to the original game and while the new characters are good, they don’t quite measure up to the emotion of her original story.

[Isgrimnur]

...and done.

How in the world did you finish this in 2 days?

Artist's rendition:

Spoiler:

[coopasonic]

...and done.

How in the world did you finish this in 2 days?

Artist's rendition:

Spoiler:

Perhaps 2-3 times a year do I give up sleep for gaming.

The actual answer is:
1) I am a bit obsessive when its comes to gaming
2) I didn't find the story/lore in the game very interesting so skipped/sped through most of it
3) My kids are both teens that have little need for Dad so there are few distractions

[Carpet_pissr]

3) is a veneer/screen IMO, and perfectly normal of course. Teens very much need Dad.

Will they act like and maybe even say they don’t need Dad (and Mom)?

‘Course they will! They’re teens! It’s what they do.

I personally have/had to fight my initial instincts of withdrawal when my kids hit that teen phase…it was pretty jarring to have the little kids that doted on you and depended on you for so much, turn into seeming sociopaths overnight.

[Blackhawk]

3) is a veneer/screen IMO, and perfectly normal of course. Teens very much need Dad.

True, and even young adults need their parents, but the degree shifts dramatically from pre-teens. They need advice, availability, and some degree of oversight. But they no longer require the same kind of constant awareness and hands-on management that they did just a few years before - and that's what interferes with gaming.

[Blackhawk]

...and done.

How in the world did you finish this in 2 days?

Artist's rendition:

Spoiler:

Neophyte. Any experienced gamer knows that food and gaming can overlap by about 90% (the remaining 10% is prep - and it can be reduced to 5% or less with proper food choices.) The true masters can make the overlap almost seamless.