I played 100% of The Talos Principle 2 and here's what I think
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- Опубліковано 9 лис 2023
- Was The Talos Principle 2 worth the 9 year wait? Is it worthy of taking up ten times the amount of disk space as the first? I mean yeah, I think so.
Overall pretty good stuff, and I'm really looking forward to what they do next!
Frogs are people too.
#minnow #talosprinciple2 #review
"...they still try to make me read, which is unforgivable" wow okay
in an interview for Talos 2, the devs stated they purposely selected easier to mid-level puzzles for the base game and hinted at DLC for the harder puzzles. So, there you go. :)
Oh sweet! I remember them saying that in interviews before release too, so im definitely excited to see what they cook up
I dont find them harder id say most of the midrange puzzles in this game are as hard if not harder than the end game puzzles in the first game… still dlc may just be a good adition idk
@@MagicZ_YTthere's no way TP2s mid level puzzles are harder than TP1s end game puzzles
Yeah, I’m looking forward to some harder puzzles in the DLC. TP2’s puzzles just felt a bit too easy.
@@CobaltTS right
Crisscross conondrum took me 3 days and like 40-50 mins combined
Tp2 was a breeze (love the game tho)
I just completed a 100% run in 37hrs, and the thing that stuck out for me was how much they ramped up the philosophy. To me, that's what made TTP1 so unique, the philosophy. Getting more and getting deeper with those topics was a joy.
Dang, I'm really shocked while reading some comments...
I had a blast playing the first one and the dlc, it is really a gem and one of my favorite game, but this sequel... oh boy did I love it way more...
I played 100% of the game, read everything, found everything (or almost?), glitched out of many puzzles, maps, outbounds, took dozen of photos, felt like shit when confronted to some philosophical questions...
I had fun running in all these places, admiring the level design, the textures, the idea behind the creation of some puzzles or maps, listening to musics, following animals, etc...
I absolutely loved the story, and the choices I could make to change the ending
I had no problems solving puzzles as most of them were not hard, but hard wasn't the goal, it was the biggest criticism of the first one actually
I think it took me 40+ hours for my first playthrough, as I was reading, searching, and admiring everything even if it wasn't productive
The only thing I'm mad about, is the lack of easter eggs, except that, a chief kiss
I'm really all in on this one, and I can't wait for a DLC, and I've heard from a guy from Croteam that a thrid one could be made if this one does great as it was seen as trilogy !
Completely agree. I really liked the first game a lot, but this one was just so much better. Absolutely gorgeous music and visuals, some very tough philosophical questions, and even the puzzles were better imo, since almost every puzzle felt very focussed and to the point. I often found myself admiring the solution of a puzzle after solving it, because it almost always required a completely unique idea from all the others, which may not be insanely hard to find, but is still quite beautiful.
@NAMEhzj yeah, the puzzle mechanics are a huge leap forward. From that aspect, and generally, this game feels like the Portal 2 of the series. A sequel that did way more than I had possibly imagined
When I found the red room from Twin Peaks I lost my marbles. That was basically the first Easter egg I found lmao
I played not only for puzzles, but for the story too. And I think its a great sequel of the original game, where you struggled about internal existence, now you struggle upon CIVILIZATIONAL EXISTENCE. Puzzles where easeier than in 1st part though, but sill great.
Feel the same about unrealized potential of the mechanisms, also there is rare time there u see reuse of them in other locations
Just finished the first game after 2 and I have to disagree with difficulty. TTP2 took me 37 hours to 100% and TTP1 took 10…
Its about overall puzle count and THERE GIANTS OPEN SPACES (where u must hold WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW for about 8 hours :^)) @@jacobescarcida6697
I'm sure there will be DLC with more puzzles and among them will be some tough.
@@jacobescarcida6697 27 hours of exploration maybe? Im 39 hours in and i haven't finished the golden gates yet. I love looking at the sceneries and talking to people, but most puzzles just took 2 minutes to solve
@@jacobescarcida6697It's hard to say. I'd be willing to bet that whichever game people play second will seem easier because of the practice they'd have racked up on the first.
I miss environments of Roman Empire, Ancient Egypt and Middle ages from Talos I
I thought it was a great game, even though I couldn't be bothered getting all the stars. My main complaint was that I really enjoyed the Utopia/ Dystopia mechanic, and they only really used it once at the end of the game. I felt that had a lot more protentional.
The puzzles I really didn’t like are what I call the “hide-and-seek” puzzles.
Like where they hide a connector or something in a really obscure place and the only way to “solve the puzzle” is to stumble across it because there are no other clues that tell you it’s there.
Spittin facts. Those were the very last puzzles I finished because I got tired of repeatedly running around the map. Not even satisfying to find, just a relief
@@MinnowStream “not even satisfying. Just a relief”
Exactly!
Omg! The most obscure had to be the Pandora puzzle where she had no target. Like… where was that ever set up anywhere in the game?
😂
Still enjoyed the game though.
@@Fogmeister I liked that Pandora puzzle because it did a good job of leading you to the solution: you see the string of connectors leading out from the statue to another puzzle, so you investigate that puzzle. Eventually you see the energy gate outside of the puzzle, and activate it, finding a driller. Then you know there's a copper wall somewhere out in the world, and then behind it is an activator, this world's new mechanic. It makes a lot of sense to use this world's Pandora puzzle as an exploration of that new mechanic. The one that got me was South 1 because I failed to notice the isolated connector on top of that hill, but I can see how that one can be understood.
As someone who is decent but not great at puzzle games, the difficulty was perfect for me. I could sit down and knock out a bunch of puzzles at once and feel like I was earning the story beats and still feel very smart, and then there were a few stumpers here and there that, when I did finally solve them, made me feel like a genius.
I only used Prometheus sparks on the second to last golden puzzle. They were great to have in my back pocket through the game, gave me more confidence when I knew I COULD just skip past however many puzzles I might need to - I never did need to right up until the end there. Maybe that speaks to the idea that the puzzles could be a bit harder. I don't disagree with that, actually.
Honestly, I was there for the story at least as much as the puzzles. I sometimes found some of the more confrontational dialogue to be unsatisfying, with very black-and-white questions and not quite the options I wanted to truly express my own takes on the philosophy of the game... And I will admit the philosophy holds some pretty basic takes on the themes they're tackling, for my taste.
But the character-driven stuff was awesome. Wish there was more of it, but it was awesome.
I never finished the original Talos Principle, I'll admit, and this has made me want to go back and take another crack at it for sure. I fully expect the first game might be better, but I did really enjoy this game overall. Again, it fell a little flat in places, but I think I agree as well that it was VERY solid. Loved the visuals, even though they were hell for my computer to deal with :P The architecture was truly wild, on all marks.
Ayy love to hear it!
I strongly agree with your opinion here. With so many new puzzle tools, it just never felt like we fully realized the potential here. We started with basics, worked up to intermediate, and then kind of fizzled out. Chasing the sprite was indeed stupid and even the late game puzzles still felt short. Like there was only one mechanic to work out to win instead of layers.
I’m definitely hoping for DLC akin to the excellent Road to Gehenna from the first game. The puzzles there were incredibly fun and really pushed the creativity and mastery of the limited puzzle tools to the max.
I've only recently started playing TTP2, but so far, I actually felt like most of the puzzles here are more difficult than in the first game. In the first, past a certain point where I had a decent understanding of the mechanics, a lot of the puzzles felt very easy to me, with there being only a handful of puzzles that I really struggled with. Compared to that, even though I've not played it for a long time yet, I've encountered a whole bunch of puzzles that felt tricky for me in TTP2, and the baseline for them also felt more difficult to me.
Gotta say that's a crazy fast clear time for 100%, nice job
Probably didn't read 😂
It took me 48 hours to 100% and get the best ending.
@MiTaReX I did in about 45 hours but I did cheat on a couple star ones that didn't make sense to me. The ones with pictures that weren't maps... that were apparently random unseen stone structures.... so if I didn't cheat I'd probably be around 48 too.... I just didn't want to run around those giant open maps without any idea of what I'm looking for
46 hrs for me to 100% so I noticed that too lol
I think the game missed what Portal and the first opus achieved: you don't solve puzzles to solve puzzles, you solve puzzles to break the story - at least the one GladOS or Elohim feeds you. It was also a core principle of the first game, but, in this one, you are force-fed puzzles and they do NOT contribute to the storyline. If I had to summarize the game it would be EPIC but EXHAUSTING.
I agree. The bridge puzzles are annoying.
I also didn't enjoy Talos 2 as much as the originals. Then I went back and replayed The Talos Principle and The Road to Gehenna and now I'm having my second crack at Talos 2 and this time I'm loving it. For starters, there are easter eggs which have been added; but, more than that, it just seems that there's a whole lot more to explore than I found on my first play through. The first will always be a classic but this is much more than I first took it for.
Wait they added Talos 2 Easter eggs since November 2023?
I thought i enjoyed the first game more.
These were exactly my thoughts..
There's so many new components to the puzzles, and old components that weren't used, that it leaves u wanting more..
They didn't develop the new components to its full potential like they did on the 1st game.. But regardless it was still a great game
I imagine the map designing and the dialogues with other people, it took them a lot of time that it probably was used in making puzzles on the 1st game, which is why it felt more "polished" before
I really can't wait to see what they'll do with future DLCs
THANK YOU! I 100% agree, except for the tetronimoes. The bridge puzzles were easier, but the tetronimo jigsaws were just trial and error and could take frustratingly long if you didn't stumble upon the correct solution from the first try. Those weren't good puzzles.
Ok and scrapping the mines, turrets and recording mechanics was also a step up from the first game, and the newly introduced mechanics were fine, but they could've been explored better, indeed.
I think the new mechanics are amazing, but do agree they have a lot more to do with combining them. Can't wait for the DLC!!
I felt like the puzzles were too easy. I think there were only ~10 which I truly found amazing; the last gold doors were great. The rest followed too much of an obvious scenario. I didn't have enough of this "ok now I am genuinely confused" feeling.
The ending was weak compared to TTP1; overall I felt like midgame was a grind and plot was not worth it. But all in all 8/10 very good game, glad I played it.
Out of the things I adored is the brutalistic archtecture.
Btw cheers from another Witness lover
Also, I so agree with sigils > bridges which never require any effort to solve - it was a waste of time. Following flying energy star puzzles are even worse in that regard. Someone said the most difficult puzzles are deliberately being left for the DLC so the promised land is yet ahead of us.
Witness fans rise up! But yeah haha, i definitely agree. I just recently played the dlc for the first game which was solid, so im hoping you’re right for the dlc here. I feel like they could make something fantastic with it
Sounds about right. I dislike how many story systems exist in this, though. In the first game there were terminals and brief conversations with Milton (also Gehenna social media system but that replaces the other two, it isn't in the whole time). In this game there's terminals, your adventuring crew, an entire side thing with Gehenna-esque text based stories, which would be cool if i were ever in the mood for them the two times you can do them, and social media things to respond to. It feels like a lot more, especially when the ending you get is entirely based on whatever you decide AT THE END. It makes the ending achievements easier to get, I guess, but it feels odd to make your choices not matter in the end, since you can be pro-megastructure the whole time and then just destroy it anyway. I wish they'd dropped one form of story deliverance and replaced it with more of another.
Exactly... also my opinion. Puzzles could have been more difficult / more out of the box.
In fact I expected that, so .. in the first puzzle I had the solution using the other puzzle for a beam to that first puzzle. These puzzles were opposite of one another. The actual solution was way easier than I thought.
Those bomb things / the time recordings and more could hev been in the game too.
But, anyways... love this game. 100% advice to play this.
At this moment I am solving (more or less) those last puzzles / 2 in every place. With the golden sprice? Stars? It's just great, I hoped it could go on longer.
i kinda miss all the easter eggs , the first one had a ton
Just finished Talos 2, and as someone who only spent a few hours in Talos 1 and is a puzzle game normie, I loved the puzzles. They always kept me engaged, and so from my perspective this game was an absolute joy to play all the way through. I guess it comes down to personal preference, and I can definitely understand someone being disappointed at the lack of difficulty coming from Talos 1. I can only hope they'll deliver some soul crushingly difficult puzzles (like what I hear Road to Gehenna has) in future DLC.
EDIT: Just wanted to mention too, I thought the ongoing narrative was great, kept me engaged and thinking throughout the entire run[
The first one was a more profound experience. I expected the story to be deeper and the game to contain more "out of the box" puzzles.
I think the secret and golden puzzles were just right for me and also West-3 was a super cool area where the new mechanic it tries to introduce isn’t a tool but deconstructing your assumptions. Honestly I think I’ll struggle in the DLC but we’ll see this weekend
I play the occasional puzzle game, and I'm not really looking to get properly vexed, so I thought the puzzle difficulty was just fine. A few of these puzzles did cause me stop in my tracks, the one where you aim the jammer at the fan completely caught me off guard and it took a while for me to catch on with what they wanted me to do on Automatic Doors. I'm also rather tired of adjusting finnicky laser beam paths.
Oddly enough, even though the Golden Puzzles were more difficult, it felt more like it was just a question of applying the tricks I'd already learned throughout the game.
My only problem with the game is that the graphics were too damn good, I didn't expect that my supercomputer would struggle compared to the last game, but I can understand why they had to make a beautiful game. In terms of pros and cons I think the text and the dialogue was the best part. The philosophical meanderings made me really think, way more than the puzzles did! It's like a Metaphysics essay with some puzzle games to tie it all together all expressed in the form of art. I wish we could have explored the megastructure more. Imagine if the three lazer zones were all interconnected like in the utopia/dystopia area and you had to solve puzzles in all dimensions with lazers going everywhere and all sorts of moving platforms. But apart from that I am very happy with the game. It has moved me and changed my life.
I agree a lot with the puzzle,
I liked them a lot, but the big change with Talos I, interacting with a lot. ofcharacter was charming to me.
I think visiting new Jerusalem and discussing with it citizen (especially seeing evolution trhough the course of the game) was the part I enjoyed the most.
Honestly same feelings towards the sequel. Also, I don’t know if I feel guilty or a genius or both for cheesing some puzzles by sneaking items and boxes outside.. oh boy the last world u can sneak everything in it.. I managed to cheese 4-5 gold puzzles cuz I know which worlds I can sneak objects in. Come on they couldn’t make puzzle borders any more indent
I'm a little bit skeptical whether you could add more difficulty while keeping it fair. And by that I mean don't just add difficulty by requiring the player to keep track of more things in their head. The thing that I really like about the puzzle designs here are that even the most difficult puzzles rely on clever observations, rather than combinatoric complexity. There was only one puzzle that felt unfair in that regard, which was Alternator. I stumbled upon a working solution, but it involved the interference mechanic working in a way that didn't make sense to me. It's possible that that was an unintended solution, and there's a more satisfying one that I missed.
My least favorite type of puzzle games are the ones where they just say "here's 20 identically colored puzzle pieces, now figure out how they go together." I felt like the expert-level sigil puzzles in TP1 were like that, though it's possible I was just missing an observation that would allow me to break down the problem rather than just trying random things like a human crypto miner. Anyway, the puzzles here seemed like they were just on the edge of reasonable cleverness, but maybe Stephen Lavelle would beg to differ.
I fully agree. The puzzles didn't seem hard, but they did feel clever, which is the best balance I feel.
Yeah. Alternator was a strange one. The mechanics of crossing beams is never properly introduced in TTP1 or TTP2. So each time you end up with some interaction that you can't make sense of. I should take my time and do some experimenting to make sense of it.
You are missing not necessarily an observation, but rather a branch of mathematics that deals with tiling and symmetry. It's unrealistic to ask one person to come up with it on their own, but there is a systematized way to think about tetrominos. I'm just letting you know in case you're curious. Generally speaking, whenever there's an obscure problem, like tying knots or cutting paper snowflakes, there's a branch of mathematics that has literature on it.
I struggled on some other puzzles, but got Alternator in a few minutes! Everyone thinks differently.
I love the second installment, though struggled on reading the texts (voice actors would have improved the philosophical mumbojumbo) and the hidden blue sparkly orbs (searching them is not my cup of tea). My main problem is the compass, because its just to bad to see anything on it. Sure, as a couch gamer I can use the windows magnifying tool, but a scaled version would help me very much. I still hope, that will be patched up.
Mostly every puzzle I found plausible and entertaining. Maybe a DLC will fill the landscape (which would be radical cool). My most best Talos-memory is the "Road To Gehenna"-learning curve. In that I felt really clever. ;D
In Conclusion: I find the second game more approachable than the first one, especially because of the team characters (Melville is the best). The first one though taught me to explore level bounderies and hidden spots more. But I'm addicted anyway, so let's just hope for more puzzles! 😁
Well said! Totally agree and also excited to see if the dlc is like road to gehenna because that was solid
I'm playing through the game right now and I completely agree with you. While the game is still very good I liked the first one more.
No kidding about the puzzles being easier, I nearly beat it without getting the "Spend more than 20 minutes on a single puzzle" achievement (I hit the finish button a split second after it popped up on one of the last golden puzzles), easily my biggest problem with the game. Later I went back to tTP1 and didn't even need to leave the Greek area to find a more difficult puzzle.
Have to disagree about the puzzle quality, the difficulty curve being lower is more than fine in exchange for taking out stuff like bombs or replays that really slowed down the first game too much. There was also a much greater sense of verticality across the game’s puzzles, which made solving ones like Switcheroo feel very satisfying.
I liked the game, but:
- At some levels I get very tired of running here and there looking for a blue shining thing made for getting a star
- In some areas I have 40FPS on low-mid settings. My laptop doesn't match the minimum requirements but I don't think it's impossible to make similar graphics with 90FPS+
- Yeah, there are lots of text, and at some point I started skipping some of the texts
- I didn't see a raising difficulty curve. Like a puzzle in one area is difficult and tricky and another can be solved in 2 minutes. There's one golden puzzle I remember which takes like 2 minutes to solve.
I did talos principle two month ago and soon finished with talos principle 2. I really don't understand how someone could prefer the one except nostalgia. The 1 ending felt strange, the game way too short I didn't expect to finish it in a few hours and the puzzle were as easy as in the 2. The story is so much better in the 2 and much more mechanics etc...
Easy win for Talos Principle 2 IMO.
Largely agreed. Loved all the puzzles and mechanics but I wanted just a bit more of a challenge and a fleshing out of the new mechanics. Hopefully a DLC on the way like the first game.
Agree - there are more gizmos on TP2 but your understanding of them is more superficial than in TP1...then the Recorder has been removed (best eureka moment I had on TP1).
TP1 was more challenging - but that's probably because I don't play games much (puzzles or whatever)...many concepts learned from TP1 are exported to TP2 but maybe Croateam opted for accessibility winking at the wider audience (who would be put off by the Recorder?). Another minus point? The philosophycal chatter - if I want to study philosophy there's plenty of books out there...here they are practically forcing it down your throat (and if I don't click an answer I'm stuck).
I also went through and got 100% with every single puzzle variant, plus all the remnants of the past and the 24 sparks, although i think the game glitched and didn`t count one of them, as i ended on 23, without as far as i recall, having used one.
But that aside, it was great to have 61 additional puzzles to dig into alongside the main ones, solely for really challenging myself again.
Thanks for sharing! I agree - I have really enjoyed this game for sure, it is beautiful and fun and interesting. However, you can't beat the first. The puzzles were more interesting, challenging, and the variety was ranging. But the mystery, the compactness, the easter eggs, etc, etc (I could go on) of the first one - it is one of my top 5 favorite games of all time. Maybe even top 3. Again, still loved this one but it just didn't have the same quiet pull that the first had. Is flipping beautiful though, the scale of everything!!!
Also yes - my username/tag is a reference to the first game LOL!!
Here's the thing, I agree with most of the things you said but I think Talos 2 was better. It's like Portal series, first one was mindblowing and second one was huge improvement. Puzzle difficulty was in great balance, it starts as simple then goes harder but not hard enough. Easier than Talos 1? No, it just has a better difficulty curve so some puzzles was really easy but in general it wasn't an easy game, but not hard either. Easier than Gehenna? Definitely. So I hope DLC would be harder and it explains what we saw in all stars clip. I like the story and narrative of the game actually I like most of it except those fucking blue balls (sprite) shit. As a long time Assassin's Creed fan who has spent some time to catching flying papers I hated it.
It was great but I felt it was waaay too linear. I remember in Portal 2 when at first we thought it would be a linear puzzle game and then we went to the other side of the walls and it because chaotic and amazing. I waited for that moment but it never came. Personally, I also enjoyed the first one more, but the amazing visuals in the 2 make up for it.
What is that robot in the thumbnail? Is it from something?
For me it's up there with Link to the past as Greatest game ever!
I completely agree with all these points.
I honestly liked almost every puzzle in this game except for the 8 last ones and one star. That star was basically just walk behind a random corner that looks like it was a wall but actually isn't and get an item. It would probably have been less annoying if there wasn't a level in that world that had that item and made it look like you somehow had to smuggle that item from that level (which afaik you can't). The last 8 puzzles though were even worse. They were easy to solve but at the same time extremely tedious and at least while I played them also extremely buggy and full of possible softlocks. But all of that would have been fine if it weren't for the fact that any time you softlocked and had to reset, or accidentally fell off somewhere and died you had to start all 8 puzzles over again from the beginning.
Other than those though I really enjoyed all of the puzzles even if 95% of them were relatively easy (especially if you just replayed and finally finished talos 1 in the leadup to this game releasing)
I know exactly what star you’re talkin about, i spent way too long running around looking for that! Also definitely agree about playing the first game prior - I went back to play the dlc right before and I think that made it quite a but easier, but still good stuff
Yeah, this star is bs. The only realistic way you can know about that pocket - if you walked close to that wall with an activator in your hands inside of this puzzle. It is literally impossible to know that there is a way visually, if you are not going directly for it
There's two stars I felt were a little BS. Both were due to hidden items. One was a hidden Driller outside a puzzle. The other was a hidden Connector inside a puzzle behind what I swear was an actual wall when I solved the puzzle previously.
At least none of them seemed to require precision parkour skills like a few from TTP1 !
The first game’s way better (mines aside). The atmosphere, the music, breaking outside the level for stars tying into the final decision of the plot, etc. the sequel had really cool puzzle ideas but it never developed them past the medium difficulty stage. Some of the gold puzzles like the mule and hollow were obnoxious, not fun to figure out either. The NPCs wouldn’t shut up, which was annoying.
Since i have an old PC the i did not like switch to unreal engine haha, i feel like croteams own engine looks just as beautiful while being much more optimized and unbloated. Other than that great review.
I think I hate it lol. Compared to the first game anyways. The philosophical musings and debates have become preachy messages. The insanely deep and challenging puzzles have become shallow, gimmicky bores. The clever and concise landscapes have become vast, yet pretty, tedious slogs to walk through.
Less thinking, more walking. Less learning, more listening. Less soul, but more accessible...
Yeah I couldnt help but thinking the entire time that big fans of the first would be disappointed which is a big shame. I’m hoping they go wild with the dlc or next game if they stick yo the trilogy plan
havent completed it yet its good but feels a little empty puzels are really really easy though :( there seems to be no dificulty curve so far, the tallos principle and gehenah was a master piece so was expecting not a lot, the game is stunning looking though if a little samely :)
The sprite chases were awful. Needed an autorun for outside the puzzle rooms, too large to just be casually walking around. W3 was kind of disappointing. For the final world it just had the same basic puzzles, nothing really difficult about them at all. It felt like there was a good balance overall, though. I really enjoyed the npc dialogue but yeah, text dumps felt a bit superfluous alongside those.
There actually is an auto run option in the settings
I really enjoyed TP2, and I had my fill when the credits rolled.
I did feel the reading was overdone halfway through I skipped it all
It annoyed me how huge the worlds were, i ended up downloading a mod to run twice as fast. I thought how the puzzles were lined up in the first game were much better and how elohim were the only one speaking to you instead of 20 different npcs. Puzzles were mostly great but it feels barely scratched the surface before rushing you into a new gigantic island with a new tool and 2-4 extremely easy puzzles.
Can't see myself replaying
My main gripe was the story, I kinda just wanted to play the puzzles, listening to the dialogue got a bit boring.
I also 100% the game. My first playthrough was 30h, of which the vast majority was spent exploring the worlds, reading the log entries and speaking with everyone.
I really liked the visual design of all territories, and the story for me felt very enticing. I loved the world and the characters a lot, and I was nto expecting that, as in the first game I was all about the puzzle gameplay. I like the story in TTP1, but it was secondary for me.
I really like the new mechanics introduced in TTP2 with RGB Converter, Inverter, Swapper, Activator and White Combo being my favourites. Bombs, turrets and recorder being gone is great. I think the puzzles do an exceptional job of teaching the new mechanics, and the puzzle difficulty is fine for the vast majority of people. To me the game felt very easy as well, but it's hard to quantify it objectively, I'd say it is about on par with Talos 1 (just that this time around I was much, much more experienced puzzle gamer), and it certainly is more difficult than Portal. I see a lot of puzzle enthusiasts complaining about it being too easy, but expecting, say, Baba Is You or Abomination 2 level of difficulty is delusional. What the hardcore crowd needs, is workshop support and custom campaigns, because the potential for crazy mindbending puzzles certainly is there.
Stars are a massive downgrade though. I was fine with Sphynx and Pandora stars, but Prometheus ones were by far the weakest part of the game. A shame, because stars were a highlight of the first game for me.
Overall, TTP2 has different emphasis than TTP1. TTP1 was 70% puzzle gameplay, 20% exploration and 10% story, while TTP2 for me was more of a 55% exploration, 30% story and 15% puzzle gameplay.
Yup, id say you put it very well, i agree!
I agree with turrets and bombs - I'm not going to miss that "arcade" side of the game nor having to repeat "Labirynth" because I'm using a mouse instead of a pro gamepad - but ditching the Recorder is a big mistake as it helps expanding our brains - it was the best eureka moment and it's a pity others like yourself didn't appreciate it as once you understand it makes it easier to find a solution (think of it like duplicating your tools for a few minutes). I hope the Recorder is going to make a come back (in a developer version) and maybe give an extra solution to the audience.
@@stefanogortaldi3156 The recorders certainly aren't coming back - there's an interview somewhere (I can't find it to hand) where the devs suggested that the recorders were one of the biggest pieces of negative feedback for the first game in terms of mechanics - it *really* wasn't liked.
Even in the steam forums, the devs have been pretty clear why they removed it; going under THE LAW on the steam community, one of the devs said "We hear you guys, replay is gone! Even I was not fan of the replay puzzles" - that's how badly received they were. People have even said they've bought the game on the basis that the recorder mechanic hadn't come back, it pissed them off that much. People have also said they literally gave up on TTP1 because of that mechanic specifically.
If you look around the communities for the sequel, there are a tiny - and I do mean tiny - handful of people who miss them, and almost everyone else has breathed a huge sigh of relief that the role of 'multiple bodies required' was replaced in the sequel with something more polished, and less abstract.
People shouldn't be scared of abstract concept and Croateam shouldn't compromise in this way - I mean, the introduction of the flames to buy the solution to some puzzles?
I've nearly finished TP2 - 2 stars left - not as engaging or challenging as TP1 - even the stars aren't that challenging...some of them (the Prometeus) are basically about finding the blue flame and chase it - so it's basically exploring the area but very little stimulation for the brain - other stars are just a repeat of the same concepts or finding the hidden tool in some corner again not much brain activity except wandering around in a systematic way.
In my opinion the best sequel to TP1 was The Witness - the variety of puzzles (eg. the audio puzzles also hated by many) was a step forward from TP1 (yes The Witness is that good) and in my view it was heavily influenced by TP1. TP2 only remarkable point is the graphics...
I think I'll have a go at the 3d version of TP1 - I tend to forget the solutions after a while...
The original game was better in almost every way. Much better story, better music, overall better puzzles (though Talos 2 is better in terms of accessibility--it's much more conscientiously structured), and the world is way less of a pain in the ass to get around.
In some respects, the second game could not have been as good as the first game, and I knew that before it was even officially announced. The fact that the first game is set in a simulation allows for a level of immersion not possible in most games, where everything that happens (including glitches!) is explainable in terms of the lore and every ending is simultaneously a canon ending. So of course they couldn't have replicated that in a game set in the real world, but at the same time, eliminating death traps from puzzles while leaving death in other places was an absolutely baffling decision to me--you want to cut across this map while you're going through the tortuous paths pixel hunting for the thing you need for a star? Nuh-uh! Deep water, you drown and get a loading screen! And in terms of the lore, well, here's how the death is explained: it's a video game; pretend the death didn't happen and try again. 😊
Also, the science fiction aspect was worse to me as well. The first game was harder science fiction--pandemics, computer simulations, hydroelectric dams, even androids are much more plausible than the hand-wavy technology at the center of the sequel's story, and that hurt the sense of immersion for me as well. Again, it felt more like a typical video game.
And this is gonna probably be an unpopular opinion, but the recorder mechanic in the first game blew my mind. It added a whole new dimension to the gameplay by effectively doubling the tools you have to work with, while also requiring you to think harder and plan out how you were going to use those extra tools. The clone mechanic they replaced it with almost completely eliminated that aspect of the recorder. I agree with a lot of people that the recorder could have been handled better--the PC version's fast-forward functionality is not mentioned in-game and requires you to dig through menus and map a key, and is not in the console versions at all, and that's a huge thing in terms of making the recorder less tedious to use. But they could have made that better in the sequel rather than removing that type of puzzle and that type of thought process altogether.
In general, most of the new mechanics (driller, gravshifter) were kind of one-dimensional in terms of gameplay compared to the old-fashioned jammer and especially compared to connectors.
There are certainly things that the sequel improved though: connectors are much, much better. Being able to keep connections wasn't well-documented in the PC version and wasn't even available on console, and being able to drop specific connections is also a huge quality-of-life improvement. Being able to reset completed puzzles was also great for people like me who like to test alternative solutions or just screw around inside puzzles. And the bridge puzzles, while still terrible, weren't as bad as the tetromino puzzles in the original game. But yeah, overall the first game is like a 9.5 out of 10 for me, while the sequel was like an 8.
Lost puzzles feels like normal ones, but they cut it and called them bonus, doesn't add anything I think
I prefered the first game too, it had more easter egg secret things and even the hub felt like a puzzle in itself, you had to sneak out cubes and connector to activates in between puzzles, in the 2nd game you have like only 3 or 4 different statue to get stars.. and a lot of walking in the hub that's it, no secret no surprise
The game is definitely good but not as good as first one and I feel like it would need a DLC that combines every mechanic we learned ! (the rewards from having all stars seems to hint to a mysterious DLC I think)
Dude same about the blue orb, sometime it goes fast everywhere and I lose it, and since there's no indication on the UI on where it is, I have to look around everywhere, just not fun at all, they should just reset it if you can't follow it for a certain amount of time..
And yeah overall, game felt too easy, each area felt like a tutorial because they introduce you to the new mechanics, there were a few ones where I was stuck but I always found a solution because you can only have that much interaction with 3-4 tools at a time
(Also how did you get the volvy easter egg? lol)
For sure! Im keeping my fingers crossed for the dlc being something greater. Also volvy is mine, and mine alone. I would never out my boy like that lol
The lost puzzles aren't a bonus. They're a way for people who are stumped by a puzzle or two from the normal set to collect 8 solutions necessary to unlock the bridge. A supplement or alternative to that spark or whatever it was called. Just a way for more prople to complete the game with as little frustrationas possible.
Yea, I think I agree.
The only thing I can say bad about this game is the size of it (70gb vs 5gb the first one) and how it basically ask you to install it in a SSD disk or you are fked, like. the first game was fine, no need to ask for a specific type of harddrive for the 2nd. I was able to play it ok, but if you alt+tab oh boy, you are in a world of pain
Your opinion sounds much more on the mixed side of things rather than a firm thumbs up to me.
Definitely a thumbs up if you’re new to puzzle games or dont mind them being a medium difficulty, but if you’re looking for a challenge or loved the first game and wanted a step up, then this probably wont do you too well. But yeah personally its more mixed because although there were a ton if parts I liked, I still came out feeling that they could have made it soo much better. Its the potential that made it feel lesser to me, but with that tossed aside I liked it a lot if that makes any sense haha
100% in 20 hours? Did you even enjoy the game or just rushed through it? 😅 I'm at the gold puzzles now with ~80 hours already
I didnt think I was rushing at the time but after seeing other people talk about it I guess I might of haha. I was only really there for the puzzles and main story though, so I got what I came for and thats alright with me. Im not huge into exploring lore in game, so although Im sure I could have spent way more time there talking to everyone, for my play style it was great and I definitely enjoyed it! I love hearing that others are getting a ton more out of the game though because that means there will be some banger youtube videos going over the coolest parts and making sense of it all for me
I HATED the sigil jigsaws and even I think the bridge builders are a pointless waste of time. It got almost interesting at one point but quickly went back to just 'put all the pieces down and don't go too far left or right else you'll miss the end'
20 hours to 100%? My wife and I have been playing together and after 20 hours we’re not even 50% through the main story 😅
Great review, but the second one is defo better, sorry. Hahaaaa! [exits through window]
the game was TERRIBLY, STUPIDLY easy compared to ttp1, it's crazy that they assume you know all the mechanics from ttp1 but they *didn't* assume that you were good enough to beat it. I get that it increases accessibility but god it's such a disappointment for people within the puzzle game niche. the story was too intrusive and didn't mix well with the gameplay, none of the mechanics were fully explored, the maps were too big and annoying to navigate, and the star hunt was unbearable. jfjekfn I'm so sad that I lifted my expectations so high only to get (as aliensrock put it perfectly) an AAA puzzle game.
IKR? I felt like being treated as a child, every time the other bots congratulated me. Is this is what kids are like these days? Requiring praises for easy tasks?
@@eitantal726 so true! sorry for the late reply. It felt... demeaning, like my intelligence was disrespected. and again, I wouldn't have had a problem with this if the first game didn't prepare me for much harder puzzles! I thought this was supposed to be a sequel!
I gotta disagree. I'm loving the experience of being in the real world and interacting with other people. I love exploring like an archeologist and seeing what previous civilizations have created. The puzzles were just as good in the first. Overall, I think they made things way better.
TP1 and TP2 have a relationship like the one between Portal 1 and Portal 2. Portal 1 was a solid puzzle game with a minimal story, Portal 2 was a large story game punctuated with puzzles.
Maybe having a good combination of mechanics is alone enough to create a hit puzzle game but the tendency to flesh out the world and justify things in the efforts to make a sequel results in a loss of focus.
CroTeam's decision to develop TP2 on the latest, greatest version of Unreal Engine gives off the message that they wanted the sequel to tower over TP1 and I definitely believe it does.
2:32??? What is that robot? I have 100% completion in the game and never seen it
I love that lil fella. If you dont remember and did all if the stars then it must have been a flame or something but not sure tbh, i was too caught up in watching the lil guy
@@MinnowStreamYeah, that lil guys definitely for a flame
I got around 2/3 of the flames so yeah might have been one of the ones I've missed
Dont get how you feel this game makes you read too much compared to the first one when the only interaction outside of puzzles was reading in the first one.
I think the blue sparks are to force you to explore the map
I do think the puzzles are easier but its sort if humilliating when you do get stumped because the solution was so obvious. Its good that it doesn't feel unfair, but it makes it clear im really stupid.😂 Esp because thats when the NPCs chirp up."you did really well with that", "that looked hard", "heres your participation award".
Who’s the brobot in the thumbnail?
You have more comments on this video than you have subscribers. That's impressive.
Yeah you could say im sort of a big deal. You could also say that half the comments so far are just me replying to people, but i mean we dont have to share that part haha
That was fast
Why does this have 10k views? dontatmedontheartme
Less than 20 hours to get 100% on the game is pretty remarkable...i am definitely more of an explorer and easily wasted many hours with dialogue and running around and im at 35...but still even to be completely efficient i dont think theres any way i wouldve shaved 15 hours off my time...i dont think anyone is smart enough to average 4-5 minutes a puzzle including all star puzzles...lost puzzles and ESPECIALLY the gold puzzles.. I might have been able to shave off like 6-7 hours...a smarter person maybe around 8-11 hours...but 15?! Nah i call cap...you defo got some "help".
Not sure how to help ya there haha, but from everything I’m seeing there definitely seems to be way more than puzzles and the main story which is great
@@MinnowStream yeah I mean sure there are the game achievements which you could start knocking out...like artifacts...logs and all that shit...but I've taken that into account...your 100 % included everything up to even the gold puzzles...and from your screenshot you completed all of that in just under 20 hours in your first walkthrough? Come on buddy...this is a safe space...did you get some help from the interwebs? Was it really your first walkthrough? You could tell me...I promise I won't tell anyone. I mean I could be wrong about this and just making an ass of myself...but am I? 🙂
Wtf how did you complete this game in under 20 hours blind? Did you skip all the talking and reading or are you a genius who just figured out EVERY SINGLE PUZZLE without a struggle
Amazing game EXCEPT the godawful endless WEF endorsed preachiness. We get it. We're bad people. Sigh.
The little I remember the special puzzles in 1 were very interesting, if I am remembering correctly, basically a harder way of solving the main puzzles. the star puzzles here were horrible. The story was also annoying, it should of been audio that played as you solved puzzles.
They also seemed to just give up. I never finished the game since the lead up to the epilogue has you go talk to 2 people to ask them to join you. You say some generic identical thing to both characters, they say some identical boiler plate thing back. Why am I going on a level spanning 10 minute quest to find 2 NPC if there is no gameplay and no story to be told?
They also just do a shit job of introducing the story. They give you 30 minutes plus of exposition before the game begins, pretty much guaranteeing people start slamming skip.
I think some of the cohesion and good special puzzles, as well as the story were sacrificed to have a big dramatic world with big dramatic cut scenes. It's really a movie and a game randomly chopped up and interweaved. Both parts are lessened and watered down because of this.
The puzzles are good, it is the rest of the game that gets in the way of these puzzles.
In fact, as I remember it at the time I found the puzzles of 1 to be too easy and simplistic while 2 seemed about right. This could easily be more of a consequence of my skill than of the puzzles themselves.
I agree the game did feel a little easy and the reward for all stars was pitiful (maybe it's like a sequel tease or something). That being said I think the story was LEAGUES better than the first one because all of the philosophical questions were grounded in an actual real world question with different people contemplating different options. Instead of being all hypothetical they're questioning actual actions they can choose to take in the future so overall I liked the game a lot. Some of the doors were pretty tough
SPOILERS
I don't think byron has to become mayor based on achievements, I would be curious if other people got different results. Seems like most people would side with byron 90% of the time.
I got bryon too but ive seen some wacky stuff in other peoples videos, so it seems like somethin is goin on. Im also curious there
I liked star chase and I think it's a fun and good addition to the game. It's some kind of short break from puzzles. Mostly I like it for the soundtrack.
*Refuses to read short passages in a story-based philosophy game*
*Asks for audience to comment*
Hears sarcastic comment bait
Proceeds to comment
Damn… I am forth times slower than you on my 100% completion than you. Those cognitive barriers are so irritating. Or perhaps you just watched the solutions on UA-cam to make the video quicker... In any case, the game is a blast, and I am glad that I lived up to the moment to play it.
I'm just going to repost a comment:
"The difficulty of the game stays the same for the rest of the game. There are 2-3 relatively challenging puzzles, but nothing that would take more than 15-20 minutes to solve. The vast majority of puzzles are solvable between 30 seconds and 5 minutes, some will take 5-10 minutes, but that is not necessarily an indication of an increase in difficulty as it almost always just means that the level is slightly longer.
Star puzzle fail to capture the ingenuity of the first game as well and it all boils down to finding locations. There's not an ounce of reasoning involved outside of that single task.
The difficulty of the 8 normal puzzles and 2 lost puzzles in each area is arbitrary and often the 8th puzzle would feel as easy as the first puzzle and the relatively hardest puzzle could be the 4th or the 5th. There were lost puzzles, later into the game that I solved in under a minute.
In my opinion, this game feels like a tutorial for a harder DLC. It is a massive letdown on the puzzle side, as the puzzle are not only easy, but also lack creativity in their solution.
Why did croteam try to appeal to normies who don't even have the capacity to appreciate this genre of games, idk? It's unlikely that it will become popular outside of the puzzle game community which already filtered the idiots out to some degree.
"
What's solid about the puzzles in this game? Pandora puzzles are atrocious connector search puzzles at time ( looking at you S3 ).
Sphinx puzzles are always : Find a location and do the equivalent of turning a switch or inputting a pattern
I believe there's nothing to say about Prometheus puzzles.
Baba is you = Bean and nothingness >> Talos 1 Gehenna => Taiji, Witness, Talos 1> Portal 2, Talos 2 > Portal 1.
both difficulty and quality.
Yeah i pretty much agree at least from a puzzle game perspective that they reallly pulled a lot of punches. I do hope any dlc they make is a big step up in difficulty because i know from the first that they can, and they have a lot of tools now to make some real head scratchers, but i guess we’ll see. And yeah i have noo idea what they were doing with the stars. I do still think its a solid game for people new to the genre and looking for an introduction, but its a good question asking how many people its actually appealing to there. I’ll be very curious to see which direction they go next
i agree, i got the "take 20minutes to solve a puzzle" only on my second to last gold door
@@carstenschipmann6878 that one took me longest too
That was the first door I did, and I thought I was in for a wild ride finishing the others!
One thing I'm glad of in the second one is the complete absence of the Mines. I got so frustrated in the first game with how many times you had to sneak past these exploding things that sucked all of the enjoyment out of the puzzle they were in... I mean, I wanted the game for relaxing brain-teasers not high stress out-running explosives. While I did enjoy the story of the second one, I feel it got in the way a bit... The number of times you were forced into conversations, often pointless ones, was infuriating, then you had people chattering away in your ear... I mean, at the start, after the intro "tutorial" puzzles, you then had like a minimum 30 minutes of story exposition, cutscenes and wandering around looking for things before you got to any actual puzzles. Then there was the not-so-subtle religious symbolism being shoved down your throat... I mean, it existed in the first game, but it was subtle there, in the second one they're beating you over the head with it.
Is this game going to be some reddit atheism pandering? Or is the writing actually good?
I personally find puzzles very difficult, I spent 40+ hours on the game (without gold puzzles and stuff) and I think there are more than enough content. I think puzzled in TLP2 is much harder than in first game, and disagree with crowd screams asking for diffuculty spike for DLC
I would suggest getting a real job now you have sucked up productive time in a game. Most never played the first one so the did not wait 9 years they had zero anticipation or mental struggle waiting like you. yes in 2023 Unreal 5 graphics its worth the $30.00 asking price in 2023. Whine less.
Not sure why you’re on about lol, but the game is definitely worth it
It's unfair to criticize the stars. They don't unlock anything, they're just achievements. It's your fault that you wasted time on something you didn't want.
I also disagree on too many mechanics. I loved that the game felt fresh and didn't repeat same thing over and over like Talos 1 did. I feel Talos 2 is infinitely more polished and the puzzles seem medium difficulty and of consistent size/length. I liked that.
You definitely spent more than 20 hours on 100% the game. Dont mislead
I'm just over halfway through the game at about 10 hours. How fast you complete the game will be governed by how quickly you can solve the puzzles. Don't out yourself.
@@kevinwilcox6943 halfway through- meaning the basic puzzles? All the optional content will take you more than that.
Although this game is definitely easier than the first, it’s certainly not possible to get 100% completion in 20 hours on your first playthrough
@@user-gs9dz9rd1h it certainly is feasable if you dont read all the terminals, or play the text adventures in the city.
@@user-gs9dz9rd1h
You have no idea what you're talking about.
I have solved all the main puzzles, all the lost puzzles, and nearly every star in the first six zones. I have been playing the game for about 9 hours.
I guess to clarify when I say 100% I mean all of the puzzles (trackable game progress), and not the dialogue or story routes. I also showed my time at the beginning and feel like its going to end up being pretty average for people especially if they’ve played the first
А я пробежал за 80 часов и то звёзды смотрел в yuotube
During the first half of the game, the puzzles are brilliant! There's the "aha!" moment when you figure it out and it feels great. Later on, many of the puzzles become tedious. It's no longer some clever solution you have to figure out, but instead a ton of time consuming steps you have to do in a gigantic area. This is exactly what they did with Portal 2 and why the original was a much better game.
I think it's a huge challenge to crank out a ton of puzzles and so developers just resort to making something time consuming, with many steps, in order to make it "unique". This is especially true once you get to areas where you change the direction of gravity. The very first time they introduce that in the game, it is epic. But then later on there is a whole section dedicated to gravity shifting puzzles and there is nothing clever about the puzzles, it's just a real pain to get through them.
The story is boring as hell. It takes aspects of the Bible and other mythology and combines it with sci-fi. The dialogue is horrible. I think most gamers just love crap tons of dialogue no matter how crappy it is, so it's going to get a ton of praise for that, but most of the lines are just "I'm 12 and this is deep" kind of stuff... Like "do we really have free will?" and the like. The robot characters are all really boring and too similar to each other.
The attempts at humor are absolutely cringeworthy. I don't know what it is about game devs but it seems like they ALL have the same exact corny sense of humor. You can see the exact same style of joke in almost every game. For example there is one point in the game when one of the robots says "I bet [the main character] is like 'ooooooo more difficult puzzles yayyyyyy!'". It's just so fucking lame...
The music is horribly bland and repetitive. I found myself muting the music AND voice volume more often than not. The sound effects are often very grating (for example connecters and jammers, when active, are annoying).
The graphics are absolutely gorgeous in many areas. There was one area in particular with teal colored water, some sandy areas and mountains, and giant statues that was truly breathtaking. I ended up standing on top of a small mountain and just looking at the graphics for a while. This game has possibly the most beautiful graphics I've ever seen. Each area has it's own unique style but yet there is still a cohesion to it overall. The graphics are easily a 10/10.
Some of the areas are unnecessarily large. So you end up having to do bit of "exploring" which I personally can't stand. But it's not THAT bad. Once you get the hang of the compass it's pretty straightforward. You can just look at the compass and see where the puzzles and other key locations are. You can also hold shift to run at a ridiculously fast speed.
I really wish they stripped away the fluff from the dialogue and also removed some of the boring, tedious puzzles and just kept the really good stuff. I still think it's a very good game overall. I give it an 8.5 / 10.