Quantum Conundrum, from Kim Swift of Portal fame

ClockworkHouse wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:

I've made it through maybe 1/3 of the reverse gravity area, so I'm pretty close to the end. It's great as far as I'm concerned, and I'm having a blast. I'm not sure what all the complaints were about for a $15 game. People's expectations must have been a bit too high.

Because it's a game from one of the designers of Portal with a similar setup. The expectation is for the Portal lightning to strike twice.

The way I see it, the way the game is presented, and the game it appears to be (haven't played it), I don't think the portal go-to comparison is unfair.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

So I have a question. I'd really like to play this game, but on the console side I sold my 360 and now only have a Wii. I do, however, have a new non-Retina 13" MacBook Pro: 2.4 GHz i5, 8 GB RAM, and an Intel HD 3000 graphics chip. I can't parse PC specs worth a damn, so what're the odds that my laptop will run this game smoothly at low settings? I don't mind if it's not the prettiest game around, but I'd at least like a steady framerate. Any thoughts?

From I've read, it's unreal engine, but none of the settings are available in the menu so you have to have to tinker with config files to change anything but brightness. With that intel GPU I'd stay away though if you want a good time.

Scratched wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:

I've made it through maybe 1/3 of the reverse gravity area, so I'm pretty close to the end. It's great as far as I'm concerned, and I'm having a blast. I'm not sure what all the complaints were about for a $15 game. People's expectations must have been a bit too high.

Because it's a game from one of the designers of Portal with a similar setup. The expectation is for the Portal lightning to strike twice.

The way I see it, the way the game is presented, and the game it appears to be (haven't played it), I don't think the portal go-to comparison is unfair.

Not only is the comparison fair, the game so strongly evokes a Portal feeling, it's inevitable.

Scratched wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

So I have a question. I'd really like to play this game, but on the console side I sold my 360 and now only have a Wii. I do, however, have a new non-Retina 13" MacBook Pro: 2.4 GHz i5, 8 GB RAM, and an Intel HD 3000 graphics chip. I can't parse PC specs worth a damn, so what're the odds that my laptop will run this game smoothly at low settings? I don't mind if it's not the prettiest game around, but I'd at least like a steady framerate. Any thoughts?

From I've read, it's unreal engine, but none of the settings are available in the menu so you have to have to tinker with config files to change anything but brightness. With that intel GPU I'd stay away though if you want a good time.

Yeah, not messing with config files, it runs okay on my M11x R2 but I have to keep the resolution low when I plug it into the TV. It doesn't seem to be optimized particularly well. I would be wary trying it with integrated graphics. I have a slower i5 chip in the M11x and when it defaulted to using the integrated graphics initially, the menus were running at about 9 fps. I didn't check to see how it would run in the actual game, but I'd assume it's even slower.

I figured as much. Thanks, guys!

I finished at around 6.5 hours according to Steam. That does include a couple of instances where I left the game running while I was doing something else. I would guess my actual playing time was under 6 hours for the whole game. I'd like to think that I'll try to beat all the time and shift goals but some of them are insane. I'll at least go through ever map without dying.

Mantid wrote:
iaintgotnopants wrote:

If anybody gets to the "Beginning of the End" puzzle and figures out the room with the big rotating thing, let me know. I stared at the room for like 20 minutes and could not figure out what to do.

Spoiler:

Use the reverse gravity to keep the safe on the tractor belt as it spins around. Once it's off the rotating thing on the same side as you, jump on the safe and reverse gravity to get on tractor belt when it's near the top of the rotating thing. Slow time and run across to the platform.

I figured this out first try when I started playing today. I think it was just at the point where I had been playing too long to think straight last night.

I don't know if anyone else is finding this game as frustrating as me.

I'm on "Mind the Gap", where you need to "double bounce" to get me and a safe high enough to reach the top area. I finally got that aspect figured out where I can do it consistently, but now I need to fling myself and the safes over the gap twice.

I got it right the first time - but lost the safes to the lasers. Now every time I try to repeat those steps, I wind up getting flung short either the first or the second time across and I need to start all over again. I've got no clue why this is happening.

Tscott wrote:

I don't know if anyone else is finding this game as frustrating as me.

There were certainly a few times I found the game very frustrating. Most of them were related to platforming rather than any puzzle or dimension. Really held the game back from greatness, imo.

Tscott wrote:

I don't know if anyone else is finding this game as frustrating as me.

I'm on "Mind the Gap", where you need to "double bounce" to get me and a safe high enough to reach the top area. I finally got that aspect figured out where I can do it consistently, but now I need to fling myself and the safes over the gap twice.

I got it right the first time - but lost the safes to the lasers. Now every time I try to repeat those steps, I wind up getting flung short either the first or the second time across and I need to start all over again. I've got no clue why this is happening.

Yeah I got bound up on this part too. Try jumping while on the safe in the air. I found that makes it a little more consistent.

I didn't end up being all that frustrated. It's a bit more frustrating with a controller when you are platforming because you can't look around as quickly.

The one puzzle that annoyed me was towards the end.

Spoiler:

You have to bring a safe with you into this room so that you can jump up on a wooden platform. There is no indication that you need to do this, and the door locks behind you when you enter the room. I spent a long time in there trying to figure it out. I opened up the door above, tried throwing books up there, and jumped around forever trying to get up. It was a stupid puzzle because you have to restart at the last checkpoint which puts you pretty far back.

carrotpanic wrote:
Tscott wrote:

I don't know if anyone else is finding this game as frustrating as me.

I'm on "Mind the Gap", where you need to "double bounce" to get me and a safe high enough to reach the top area. I finally got that aspect figured out where I can do it consistently, but now I need to fling myself and the safes over the gap twice.

I got it right the first time - but lost the safes to the lasers. Now every time I try to repeat those steps, I wind up getting flung short either the first or the second time across and I need to start all over again. I've got no clue why this is happening.

Yeah I got bound up on this part too. Try jumping while on the safe in the air. I found that makes it a little more consistent.

Thanks. I got it rather quickly when I came back to it after taking a break. I think what was happening is that pressing forward when being flung like that somehow loses momentum instead of gaining it. Yet when I press jump and then forward, I was able to get the distance I needed. And the same thing was happening in the next couple of rooms, but I managed to get by them without too much trouble.

Finally started this tonight but didn't get very far. I think I've seen one room that was in the PAX East build but that appears to have been a special demo or something since the next room or two were new to me. So far I like it, but hearing about the platforming is a little worrisome.

I'm not sure what FOV I should be using. Sitting at my desk with a 16:10 monitor. The default of 85 felt a little weird, but 90 didn't feel much better. I think part of the problem is that the player avatar is shorter than normal for a first-person game, which makes sense as you're 10 years old. However, I feel like a 6 year old between the camera and FOV.

Oh, and in a fit of temporary OCD, I decided to take screenshots of all the book covers, because they made me smile.

Scratched wrote:

From I've read, it's unreal engine, but none of the settings are available in the menu so you have to have to tinker with config files to change anything but brightness.

Yet it has the ability to change FOV. That's usually something you have to change in the .ini files.

Finally finished the game, anyone care to explain the ending? Some general spoilery comments:

Spoiler:

So, John de Lancie trapped himself in the pocket dimension...who couldn't see that coming, but for what reason? Now you're trapped there and he's out but the castle has fallen apart...why'd they set it up so deliberately for a sequel? Seemed really abrupt and not well told after several hours of de Lancie just saying the same thing over and over again (I'm here but I don't know why I'm here...hmm this is weird, k solve the next puzzle!). I really liked the environments and some of the puzzles were neat, but it didn't really come together for me. Despite having the season pass I think I'll skip the dlc.

carrotpanic wrote:

Despite having the season pass I think I'll skip the dlc.

I've tried to play the DLC a couple of times but the first puzzle is so terribly designed that I don't even want to look up the solution to move on. And, I loved the main game (although, you're right that the ending was pretty stupid).

iaintgotnopants wrote:
carrotpanic wrote:

Despite having the season pass I think I'll skip the dlc.

I've tried to play the DLC a couple of times but the first puzzle is so terribly designed that I don't even want to look up the solution to move on. And, I loved the main game (although, you're right that the ending was pretty stupid).

Yeah, the first level of the DLC seemed to be designed around all the elements I hated in the main game and , as far as I could tell, dropped everything I enjoyed.

I just finished playing through the main story and the game ended up being a big misfire, in my opinion. I loved the concept and the feel of the world but it quickly degenerated into platforming death traps which didn't give me the sense of a puzzle game. Especially as I'm in the shoes of a 10/12 year old and he's getting vaporized, dunked in radioactive goo, etc. If it's really obvious what I need to do and the only thing preventing me from doing it is jump height, an extremely narrow timing window, etc then I'm not really being rewarded for knowing what to do but punished because my execution is somehow lacking. Pipes and random crap knocking you off when you're sine wave surfing caused me a great deal of frustration, as did one puzzle where furniture is forming steps but if you're a little too slow you can't get to the next higher piece and are doomed to fail (the feeling was timing of <.5s which isn't a lot of wiggle room).

Listening to Q (John de Lancie) give onerous exposition wasn't winning me over or making me feel better about the game. So much unmet potential, I wish Kim Swift had this idea and Valve or someone else with a similar pedigree had developed it.

I liked the twitchy puzzles in Portal and Portal 2 but those were primarily based around moving shots while zipping through the air and what not.

silentsod wrote:

I loved the concept and the feel of the world but it quickly degenerated into platforming death traps which didn't give me the sense of a puzzle game.

I agree. I can live with a bit of platforming in my puzzle game, but this felt like it was 80% platforming and 20% puzzle. It was satisfying to solve a puzzle, but frustrating to be unable to execute my solution. I sometimes even doubted that my solution was correct, because I didn't believe that the designers would have made it so difficult to execute - at one point I even looked up a solution to see if I should keep trying or if I was completely wrong. I was correct, but the platforming with the narrow field of view was holding me back.

silentsod wrote:

Listening to Q (John de Lancie) give onerous exposition wasn't winning me over or making me feel better about the game.

This didn't really bother me. It was never really laugh out loud funny, but I got a few chuckles and smirks. I don't really expect a lot of story in a game like this, so I wasn't too disappointed by the ending. Perhaps if there'd been cake...

Agreed, pretty much across the board.

BushPilot wrote:

I don't really expect a lot of story in a game like this, so I wasn't too disappointed by the ending. Perhaps if there'd been cake...

With the exception that I found the ending highly disappointing. For all the parallels they invited to Portal in the months leading up to the game, the ending was the most anti-climatic thing I could have asked for. If you're going to follow the Portal formula so closely, at least let me meet the character behind the snarky voice that has been commenting on my performance this whole time. Apparently the best they could come up with "oops, the end".

So I just started playing this yesterday (yup, totally LTTP, I know, I blame the pile), and although I've only played 30min of it, it's been enjoyable so far. I see some of the reactions here have been lukewarm, so I guess I'll wait and see. I'm actually a big trekkie, so hearing John de Lancie's voice slap a huge grin on my face (and I'd totally forgotten he did voicing for this game, so I was surprised). I'll have to see if the game holds up in the long run, since I only got a small sample so far.

Anyone else still playing?

Eleima wrote:

So I just started playing this yesterday (yup, totally LTTP, I know, I blame the pile), and although I've only played 30min of it, it's been enjoyable so far. I see some of the reactions here have been lukewarm, so I guess I'll wait and see. I'm actually a big trekkie, so hearing John de Lancie's voice slap a huge grin on my face (and I'd totally forgotten he did voicing for this game, so I was surprised). I'll have to see if the game holds up in the long run, since I only got a small sample so far.

Anyone else still playing? :D

I never made it all the way through this game... I should really get back to it.

I got frustrated with it when it turned into a 3D platformer. I didn't like the actual puzzles that well, and then it turned into a test of dexterity, and I just stopped playing.

Not a fan.

AP Erebus wrote:

I never made it all the way through this game... I should really get back to it.

Same here. My interest petered out around the second wing of the mansion. It just didn't hold my attention nearly as well as Portal 2.

Hum... Interesting to have your feedback, thanks gang!!

My initial enthusiasm has been somewhat tempered by my own stupidity (I clicked "new game" instead of "continue game"), so we'll see how long I last. Coming from a game like Dishonored in which I had a myriad of slots to save my game... Yeah, never been a fan of the checkpoint and autosave system.

I really enjoyed this one, definitely more than I enjoyed Portal 2. The puzzles were more interesting, the characters were less obnoxious, and I didn't feel like the developers were holding my hand for a carefully guided fieldtrip through the content.

I enjoyed it. I only remember getting stuck at one point for 30 minutes to an hour, but I can't remember why. I never went back to it to play the DLC, though. I should get on that. I liked Portal and Portal 2 better, but Quantum Conundrum was nice and refreshing.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

I never went back to it to play the DLC, though. I should get on that. I liked Portal and Portal 2 better, but Quantum Conundrum was nice and refreshing.

I liked the game much more than most people but the first puzzle in the DLC was so frustratingly bad that I didn't even bother playing the rest of it.

iaintgotnopants wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:

I never went back to it to play the DLC, though. I should get on that. I liked Portal and Portal 2 better, but Quantum Conundrum was nice and refreshing.

I liked the game much more than most people but the first puzzle in the DLC was so frustratingly bad that I didn't even bother playing the rest of it.

Ha! Well, I guess that's something I can remove from my virtual pile.