I loved episode 1. Episode 2 seemed a little forced, but 3 brought back the enjoyment I had in 1. I think now that I am used to how the games play, I go through them a bit quicker. I look forward to playing episode 4 next week.

I may have been a bit unclear in my previous post. I do think that every episode is good entertainment and I'd reccomend them to many ofmy friends. Along with Indigo Prophecy, I think the Sam & Max episode is the best thing to happen for adventure games in a long time.
I made this thread not because I felt decieved in any way, but because episodic content is where much of the innovation in modern game development is at and TellTale Games are undoubtedly the most successful pioneers in this field - I believe a lot can be deduced from looking at Sam & Max, so why not start a debate?

All I know is that if/when they cancel Sam and Max I will cancel my subscription to GameTap.

About Indigo Prophecy.. there was no ending. It's not that the last twenty percent was horrible (is "horrible" even the right word to describe that insanity-written finish?), it's just that the rest of the game was so good that the build up couldn't have possibly been done correctly to do the rest of the game any justice. Instead the creator tried to pull a major shock value moment on us, but failed to estimated the correct amount of "WHOA I DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING" that gamers are able to handle in that sort of game. As a result the game exploded in our faces to the extent that we had no choice but scream and whine about how our minds were hurting from not being able to understand what just unfolded. Why they chose to go for the completely bizarre route and delve into the cheesy B sci-fi novel storylines I have no idea, but some sort of transition between the two parts of the game could have gone a long way towards helping the overall feedback the game got. I loved the entire game (even the ending) but it had some flaws that need to be ironed out before a sequel is ever made.

On the topic of Sam and Max, I don't think that the quality of the games are going down any. I will admit that I had the most fun in the first episode (besides the British Bosco in the second), but after completing the third episode last night I realized that the entertainment isn't on the recession because of anything TellTale has done. Instead, I think the first episode is considered the best one of the current four because it's the first Sam and Max game gamers have played in many years. Think about it: We all knew for quite some time that the series was being revived. We knew it was going to be in episodic format, we knew it would be on Gametap, et cetra. All the fine gritty details were known, and what else could we do but squeal with delight knowing that one of our favorite point-and-click adventures was finally going to get the "series" status that it should have had long ago? Once the first episode had been released though we all had our lust for an insane rabbit filled so there was no more burning desire. Sure, we wanted to play more because the first one was fun.. but it wasn't to the same magnitude. I would assume that if any of the other episodes had been released first then it would be considered the best instead of the current Episode One.

Tip top.

I have to use my psychic gift somehow when evil doers aren't doing evil, Poppin.

I couldn't agree more. We haven't got too much good writing in gaming, all I can think of off the top of my head is the Thief series, which makes it such a pity that they went bonkers with Indigo Prophecys ending. I want someone, just anyone, to make another game with that engine - it's a magnificant control scheme they thought up and I could really see myself getting lost in many a game, when faced with such engaging interaction.

I think Vrikk may have a good insight and I definetly think that episode one was that much better because I had never seen anything like it, since I never played the original (I wasn't very informed back then). I still think episode two and three aren't as good as the first one, they're worth my time and maybe even more money than I've payed, but it's as if the first episode has been saturated with humor from months and months of development, which makes it that much better.

I do think the recurrent events, going to bosco's, watching TV, Sybils changing carrer, is some of the best stuff in there and I have to agree that British Bosco steals the show in episode two.

I plan on buying the entire game once they finish the package, and I can get it all at once. As much as I like Sam and Max and want to see it succeed, I do not like episodic gaming. I'll support them in their second round of selling the game.

Firefly had bad episodes?!

I'll go get the tar and feathers.

Liar.

Edit: The video was kind of fun, though.

That's not unique to Firefly, that's just life on the Gooj side. You could say oogaba, haterade, Iraq, or about 10 other things and get the same effect.

Oh it's not derailed, just detoured.

Episodic gaming! Blah blah blah!

Back when Firefly was all the rage, we had many, many threads about it. Invariably they would devolve into discussions of who the hottest character was. Eventually, you'd just see one word posts like that, as people would quickly skip to the inevitable endgame of the thread.

It's much funnier when I explain it. Really.

I've put some hours into episode four and I think it's pretty much quelled the fire of disillusion which episode three had ignited in and, in turn, promted me to make this very thread. It's good - certainly better than episode three, with my eyes. I'll probably have a little more to say when I'm actually done with it.

Telltale's looking for some feedback, so you might want to head over to this survey.