So here I was ready to put Wances and Gronzit into my Adventure Game Collage when it hit me: Surely under our definition of the Empty Vessel Game it would apply? With "Telltale Games" as a format in which seemingly any IP could be applied too, but is not an on going franchise of it's own? That's the definition we laid out for Musou so there's no reason why it wouldn't apply for 'Telltale's'
So it's on the list! But also since that post I've played one game from the other examples we laid out; Mystery Dungeon, LEGO and Musou included!
Wallace and Gromit Telltale
I got this one on sale for a pittance which set off alarm bells that maybe this was another one due to be delisted so I scooped it up, also I like had no clue it even existed until then either? I feel like typcialy you'd look at a combo like this and go "Ahhh, now that I think about it, it does make sense!" and like... No. lmao But pre *Walking Dead" Telltale's where kind of like that, feeling less like a calculated merging of mediums and stories and more, them dragging their cup on the jail bars and see who would come investigate.
But god yeah I forgot pre-*Walking Dead" Telltale was a whole thing, a collection of little hyjinxes to solve. I did play the Homestar game before this and noticing the structure similarities was interesting, like the classic 'Get Everyone Out of Your Fucking House' puzzle framing.
The uh, creative liberties tthhoo. Outside of Horris and Grandanzy, all the characters are original and end up sticking around for all four episodes in a very Simpsons-esque way. While they are like Old Ass British Cartoon authentic, complete with the racism, calling the Indian shopkeeper 'Mr.Panner' is fucking crazy lmao and the designs are very authetnic, everyone even has fake thumb prints on their models as if they were clay which is tops. Okay, but at least they got Wallece and Gromit correct, right? No lol I dunno if the context of staring in a game changes stuff, but something is off with Wallace here, it's not egregious or anything but he is kind of a different man who just embodies the same like character beats of: Inventor and Needs To Make Rent and Fuck That Dog That Does Everything For Me He's Not Shit. I guess is there anything more to the character then that? Maybe not but that's just my gut feeling.
Okay, but did they get the voice right? Also no. Okay, but the setting is the accurate right? Also no. But it does look incredibly like little English terrace house to a shocking degree, I really like it. What I'm getting at here is they made a lot of compromises to push this thing into the Taletelle format and we've not really seen that with the other Empty Vessel formats so far. Obvs there's a game which the story has to revolve around, mission and level structures and the like, but the narrative comforts typically to the source material and not the other way round, but when the structure is narrative based itself, even for a comedy title, something's got to give. The closest we've seen is the era of LEGO where characters where silent? But even then that eventually gave way too. It's interesting to think about, but also I can imagine it does make the choices around what to adapt with more controlling IP holders, to be more aggravating. But I think it's worth, there being multiple versions of a thing is Cool Actually.
Torneko no Daibōken: Fushigi no Dungeon
So having only brushed by the Pokemon games, I had no idea how like... Decades ahead of the curve the very first Mystery Dungeon was! If you didn't know, there isn't multiple dungeons with set story beats. Rather after a small tutorial dungeon, you're just given one task: Get a box and bring it to the surface. And that's it! The rest of the game revolves around getting the perfect run to achieve this as you don't keep your level between attempts like an early rougelike. Now... Hey lol it does mean the game is short, but this is also the Mystery Dungeon game I've enjoyed the most so far, so I think there's something to having a really simple objective like that, instead of having multiple. Which just has a feeling of struggling to do a thing, then you do it and then Oh now there's another thing which I have trouble keeping my motivation up in the face of that. They should experiment with structures for future games like this!
Also no bosses! They should stick to that cos Oh My God lmao
Chocobo's Dungeon 2
I actually forgot until writing this I did complete one other Mystery Dungeon game to the end and it's this one and I hate it.
Well astheticly and storywise it's actually very engaging. It's kind of wild to like know of this sub-series based on the character designs and then have it come colliding with late 90's era Square writing. The planet is dying and hope is gone and all we can do is make the best with our loved ones... ALSO LOOK AT THE LITTLE GUY! <3
But the problems I said above apply here, the struggle to finish these dungeons, especially the bosses are just not fun and when it's all over: There's another one lol but thinking about it, if this game really did revolve around the one dungeon instead of loads, would I be less sour? Honestly I reckon? Their'd be less bosses which would be a huge improvement lol in general your reward for a struggle being more struggling, and not even a meaningful upgrade for your PC, just sucks maann. Even the story stuff of cutscenes don't actually last to long either. The chicken boy deserves better.
LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
I'll probably go more into LEGO stuff when I finish the next game, but I had to write a little something for this now cos this was the playthrough that ruined this game. Rather this version of combining both titles. I never noticed as a kid, but as a grown ass adult I can see the seems in which something: Characters and Levels and that, is from the first game or the second. Unlocking the secret level of the first Lego Star Wars was what opened my eyes on it, like how quicker and bombastic playing as Vader was compared to how slow I remembered him and then I couldn't stop noticing it with the entire cast and it immediately made the game feel like a ROM hack lol so that kind of sucks!
Samurai Warriors 4-II
Having also played a bit of 5 before this too, man this sub series feels like a contractual obligation then something they want to do, despite the fact no one is forcing their asses to make these lol
I'm surprised how different Samurai does feel tho. Just stuff like the heavy attacks having their own combo string that propels you, feels like it informs so much of the map design and the moment to moment gameplay. I really do dig it! The switch to following characters instead of armies is also a neat change, considering how much more extra each PC is in this series. But I don't think I like it, there doesn't seem to be too much which decides what moments of a character's history we see in their campaigns and just leaves a feeling we're not only seeing a random part of their story, but even what we do see is fragmented and incoherent. It's like a narrative told through the Trivia section of a Wiki page. I'm with most people on this one just a feeling of "I wish this was better maaaaan"