I've finished playing Broken Age surprisingly fast; partly because it's quite short, partly because I got tired of it.
I don't like when something is released in parts (episodes, etc.), Therefore I've played Broken Age after Act 2 has been released and I've played Act 1 just before I've started Act 2.
I'm going to link to gamezebo.com here, because they were fast at producing oh so much needed walkthrough of Broken Age Act 2.
Let me start by saying this: I loved Act 1 of the game. Story is good, featuring a girl Vella that is about to be sacrificed to a giant monster and a boy called Shay that is stuck in a never-ending routine on a spaceship in deep space.
Illustrations didn't scare me off, but I have to admit environments look better than characters.
Act 1 has everything a quest needs to succeed: good story, original characters and puzzles that do not make you sick. Instead, puzzles in Act 1 felt organic and I didn't have to resort to walkthrough at all; it's safe to say I hadn't run so few circles in a quest before. AND solutions didn't feel too obvious. A win by my book.
I'm not going to spoil your fun and talk about story evolution here. Let's say that by the time you reach the end of Act 1 you're used to certain degree of logical integrity in the game.
If I could separate Act 1 from Act 2, I'd say Broken Age Act 1 is a very good game. Worth playing and paying for.
But then Act 2 starts and... logical integrity disappears into thin air.
I know why can happen; after all, developers were working on Act 1 and Act 2 separately and most probably ran out of money somewhere along the ending of Act 1.
Nevertheless, it's a shame that positive impressions from a good game are ruined by sloppy and rushed Act 2. I grew to hate Act 2 in part because of striking contrast between parts of what was meant to be a single product, in part because of onerous puzzles. Most of the time you'll be playing Act 2 you'll be swearing at puzzles or repeating something over and over again trying to hit the right answer.
It seems that developers wanted to increase play time somehow and the only way of doing it without going over budget was to artificially increase the difficulty of puzzles. Really, they didn't have to be so tiresome, repetitive and illogical. Tiny portions of story left in Act 2 drown in puzzles, making you wonder was it even meant to be fun. A bit of spoilers here: do not expect lots of new locations in Act 2. You'll mostly revisit old locations, but with a new character.
Broken Age Act 2 offers very little story and answers to all the questions asked in Act 2 go mainly unanswered or answered with "we wanted to do it, don't ask us why [we don't know too]". Solution to the main conflict of the game introduced in Act 2 (big surprise!) is rushed and childish to the extent of being comical.
If you don't have a budget, don't go for something epic. Simple, but well thought-out things are more satisfying.
If I haven't played Act 1 and if I didn't like it so much, I would drop Act 2. It has no positive value as standalone game and it wouldn't survive as a standalone game with such combination of story/characters/puzzles. I wanted to know how it would end, but was left with a feeling of being tricked into wasting my time.
I used gamezebo walkthrough of Act 2 extensively, but guess what? Some puzzles change randomly so you don't have an escape route, you have to suffer through them. It was tiresome even knowing what I had to do; I have no idea how people would struggle with them without knowing what the goal is - a thing that a walkthrough provides you. There is just not enough story content to cover for that lack of fun gameplay. A fail by my book.
A verdict?
Broken Age is a good game ruined by artificial division into 2 acts. Was it a money struggle or something else? I have mo idea, but project managers had messed up.
It would probably turn out much better if developers invested more into story of Act 2 instead of covering lack of playtime with puzzles. Or they could have just added 30 minutes of playtime to Act 1 (using less puzzles) and finished the game in one act, one solid piece.
For people who had waited for release of Act 2 it must be even greater disappointment.
Yet, project as a whole is a good attempt to make something original.
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