• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

The Talos Principle |OT| It's Serious Puzzling, Sam (PS4 port out now!)

Aquillion

Member
Unless you're like me and (early spoiler)
look at the tower the first chance you get
...since then you have to play through the entire game (or start at a very early save) again. I'll probably play through the whole thing again to be safe if I try for that one.
That's just for one achievement. You still qualify for any ending at any time (it even creates an autosave that will never be deleted once you qualify for two of the three endings, and qualifying for the third is just a matter of grabbing more collectables from there.)
 

epmode

Member
Just completed this, and I can't believe how good it is. I also can't believe that I had barely heard anything about the game before playing it. How is this not more widely loved?

PC exclusives are usually under the radar on GAF. PC exclusives coming to consoles don't generate much interest either.

I agree with you though! I blind bought this because I had to see how Croteam would handle a puzzle game.
 

lt519

Member
The expansion is indeed excellent. Bring your A-game.

The expansion almost eclipses the base game. It has the best puzzles and areas by far. I loved that the area hubs were puzzles themselves and the forum humor was up my alley as a NeoGAF user. I think I spent as much time in the expansion as I did in the base game. After playing most of The Witness, I can say this game with its DLC is by far the better game.
 
The expansion almost eclipses the base game. It has the best puzzles and areas by far. I loved that the area hubs were puzzles themselves and the forum humor was up my alley as a NeoGAF user. I think I spent as much time in the expansion as I did in the base game. After playing most of The Witness, I can say this game with its DLC is by far the better game.

It's a solid expansion, I agree. The only thing that bothers me are the stars.
Some of them feel a bit far-fetched and some of them require very precisive placement of objects. The base game did alot better on that part.
 

zer0das

Banned
I wish I finished this game sooner, so I could have put it in my game of the year list. I was in a bitter "these puzzles are too obtuse" stage which I eventually overcame. I'm not sure which felt more like gut punch when playing, Ori or this. I suppose I feel strangely at peace after contemplating what death means to me for a few days.

The DLC is hard, I solved 3 puzzles without too much effort and now my brain is exploding.

I also laughed out loud when I found out you needed every damn star for the other ending. I got 10 and finished one gray area and felt pretty good about myself, then they're like, hey, we've got another 25 of those for you! Buncha jerks.

Edit: Okay, 20 (I think).
 
I wish I finished this game sooner, so I could have put it in my game of the year list. I was in a bitter "these puzzles are too obtuse" stage which I eventually overcame. I'm not sure which felt more like gut punch when playing, Ori or this. I suppose I feel strangely at peace after contemplating what death means to me for a few days.

The DLC is hard, I solved 3 puzzles without too much effort and now my brain is exploding.

I also laughed out loud when I found out you needed every damn star for the other ending. I got 10 and finished one gray area and felt pretty good about myself, then they're like, hey, we've got another 25 of those for you! Buncha jerks.

It definitely is a large game. I believe it took me 40 hours to 100% complete the base game. Now I'm 10 hours in with the DLC and only need a couple stars and robots.
 
I just bought this game from amazon for $32 shipped. Should arrive tomorrow. I've been looking forward to playing this for quite some time.

Anything I should know/expect going in?
 

trikster40

Member
I'm loving it. Bought it a few months back, The Witness finally got me in a puzzle mode and I'm liking this more than that.

Go in blind, read everything, and just enjoy it. Everything is pretty easy to figure out once you learn the rules. The stars are definitely harder and require more outside-the-box thinking.
 

Nameless

Member
Yeah I started this Christmas morning and it shot into my top 4 for the year. Incredible game that does a superb job of teaching the player how to think about its concepts. Even the tougher puzzles feel like play more than a chore.

$29.88 on Amazon right now. Do yourself the favor!
 
Yeah I started this Christmas morning and it shot into my top 4 for the year. Incredible game that does a superb job of teaching the player how to think about its concepts. Even the tougher puzzles feel like play more than a chore.

$29.88 on Amazon right now. Do yourself the favor!

Everytime this thread get's pushed I feel good cause more people discovered this game.

I feel the very same.

Same here, I bring up this game on every thread on every chance I get and have been stanning Croteam since I played it. This is a true masterpiece.

Welp that does it...

I'm really pumped now. So this is a gem huh? It's gunna be super hard splitting my time between this and the Division Beta, AND the Following Dying Light DLC. Good grief what have I done!?
 

Cormano

Member
I just bought this game from amazon for $32 shipped. Should arrive tomorrow. I've been looking forward to playing this for quite some time.

Anything I should know/expect going in?

I got mine when it was on sale at walmart for $19.99, best $20 bucks well spent.

Enjoy, try to avoid guides, once you complete the game go back and use guides to see everything that you've missed.
 

Durante

Member
I recently started playing this and its even better than I imagined.

And in addition to being a great game, it's also a great PC game.
Those option screens are a thing of beauty.
 
Welp that does it...

I'm really pumped now. So this is a gem huh? It's gunna be super hard splitting my time between this and the Division Beta, AND the Following Dying Light DLC. Good grief what have I done!?

Holy shit good luck managing time to play all these lol but yeah, TP is a terrific experience. As the Cormano above me said, avoid guides and if you get stuck on any puzzle go do something else in the game. If you like Portal I see no way you're not going to like this.
 

Sciz

Member
Everytime this thread get's pushed I feel good cause more people discovered this game.

It took a while, but it finally edged out my SS3 OT for total posts. That one started out faster, but Talos has had great word of mouth over time.

Really curious to see if SS4 picks up any Talos fans who only know Croteam for their puzzle design, which is not a state of affairs I expected to see a year and a half ago.

I recently started playing this and its even better than I imagined.

Personally, I've put it on my list of things to play when I get done with the other dozen or so things on that list ;)
You're a busy, busy man, Durante.
 

Blizzard

Banned
Need to satisfy my craving for puzzles after finishing The Witness. Is Talos' worth it?
On this page alone you'll see some praise about it. Talos is probably my favorite first-person puzzle game since the Portal games, though it's not focused on humor.

Talos has more of a story than The Witness, and I probably like Talos more for that reason. Talos still has lots of puzzles though.

The Witness is a high-quality "pure" puzzle game in my opinion.
 
Still one of my favourite games of all time and I love seeing others saying they want to check it out. It's really worth it and go in as blind as possible. Amazing game. If you played The Witness and want a puzzle game on the same level or higher, The Talos Principle is definitely the game to scratch that itch.
 
I got mine when it was on sale at walmart for $19.99, best $20 bucks well spent.

Enjoy, try to avoid guides, once you complete the game go back and use guides to see everything that you've missed.

Will do!... or won't do... whichever. Haha

Holy shit good luck managing time to play all these lol but yeah, TP is a terrific experience. As the Cormano above me said, avoid guides and if you get stuck on any puzzle go do something else in the game. If you like Portal I see no way you're not going to like this.

Yea i'll manage i'm sure, but holy crap did I like the Portals. I'm excited.
 
I bought this just after xmas, and I played for thirty minutes or so. I thought it was excellent, however I ended up with crazy motion sickness, something I never suffer from.

Is this a common problem on PS4? i would love to play more but I don't want to end up feeling physically sick as a result. Is there a workaround?
 

Blizzard

Banned
I bought this just after xmas, and I played for thirty minutes or so. I thought it was excellent, however I ended up with crazy motion sickness, something I never suffer from.

Is this a common problem on PS4? i would love to play more but I don't want to end up feeling physically sick as a result. Is there a workaround?
A few people do get motion sickness from it, and I'm not sure why. On PC the game has some motion sickness options, but I don't know what it has on PS4.

Making sure framerate is solid (60, not varying, turn down settings if needed) and the FOV is big enough would be where I would start looking.
 

Roxas

Member
I bought this just after xmas, and I played for thirty minutes or so. I thought it was excellent, however I ended up with crazy motion sickness, something I never suffer from.

Is this a common problem on PS4? i would love to play more but I don't want to end up feeling physically sick as a result. Is there a workaround?

Try playing the game in third person mode, see if that helps
 
A few people do get motion sickness from it, and I'm not sure why. On PC the game has some motion sickness options, but I don't know what it has on PS4.

Making sure framerate is solid (60, not varying, turn down settings if needed) and the FOV is big enough would be where I would start looking.

Ok, i'll put it on later and have a browse for FOV options. Hopefully something is there - console games are always light on options compared to PC though, obviously.

Thanks for the tip.
 
On this page alone you'll see some praise about it. Talos is probably my favorite first-person puzzle game since the Portal games, though it's not focused on humor.

Talos has more of a story than The Witness, and I probably like Talos more for that reason. Talos still has lots of puzzles though.

The Witness is a high-quality "pure" puzzle game in my opinion.

Will check it out then! Thanks ;)
 

Micerider

Member
Finished the main game today too (on PS4) : I must say, this is one of the best games I played during the last few years.

Not only does it make an excellent showing as a puzzle game (looks simple at first, but the design keeps astonishing you and pushes often enough a "think outside of the box" mindset that led to a few "eureka" moments for me) but it also does an excellent job with it's scenario and writting.

The "philosophical" part is far from being pompous or over-bearing, it's actually cleverly distilled through the game, documented and, while not revolutionnary in it's topic, drives your mind to think of the problematic outside of the game context. I was even pleansantly surprised that the game does not hesitate to challenge you on your interpretation/stance on the topic without adopting a moralizing attitude (well...in a way...but that's part of the plan).

I really liked the music as well. It has it's charms graphically but it's not the most striking art direction either.

It comes high on my puzzle game list, probably on par (if not better) than the likes of Antichamber, Portal 2 and The Swapper (whose writer...also wrote for Talos bytw).

Good job Croteam, you got me out of left wing there, never expected this kind of product from the "Serious Sam house" but I'd surely encourage you in that direction.

A must play, it would have been in my GoTY list if I had played it earlier, and rather close to the top 3.

I won't start the DLC yet to avoid burning out on it but I'm really looking forward to it already.
 
Thanks again folks - third person mode did the trick, i've been playing non-stop for nearly three hours without a hint of sickness. It's a wonderful game.
 
Is there any news from Croteam on a possible sequel?
It's a bit saddening when you realize this might be a one-of-a-kind experience.
 
Is there any news from Croteam on a possible sequel?
It's a bit saddening when you realize this might be a one-of-a-kind experience.

The sequel is definitely happening and will be the next game Croteam release after Serious Sam 4 apparently. No exact date but rest assured it will come eventually thankfully.
 
I couldn't believe how much I loved this game and I only got it thinking of a good puzzle game for a change. It's easily one the best games I played in 2015 if not the best. Happy that more people are discovering this.
 
How does this game stack up against the Witness?
I'd say they are comparable in terms of enjoyment. The Witness is more polished and has more puzzle variety while Talos Principle has way more stuff surrounding the puzzles that is interesting to dig into. The Witness feels seriously lacking in that regard.

I'd recommend both
 
How does this game stack up against the Witness?

I haven't really played The Witness very long, but it's a game built up around solving maze puzzles.

Talos on the other hand , dependable on the level, gives you max 5 tools (a box, a fan, ...) that you need to combine to solve an environmental puzzle.

If you like, you could watch the first level of the game to get an idea how it works.
It's very simple so it doesn't really spoil anything.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMyHLlOiBe4
 
Welp that does it...

I'm really pumped now. So this is a gem huh?

For me, yes, indeed. 2014 GOTY without a doubt, but hey, I can understand people doesn't like Talos. I mean, it's "just" a puzzle game. But what it's undeniable is that the game is made with love and tons of details (and... easter eggs!)

I recently started playing this and its even better than I imagined.

And in addition to being a great game, it's also a great PC game.
Those option screens are a thing of beauty.

I know, right. Options menu is awesome. Lots of graphics options to play around with. And now, supporting Vulkan beta. I have to try that API when it goes out of beta.

Man, there's even a button to literally get rid of motion sickness if someone around here is sensible to that!

Is there any news from Croteam on a possible sequel?
It's a bit saddening when you realize this might be a one-of-a-kind experience.

Well, although I'd love and crave for more Talos, I'd say there isn't really space for a sequel. Time will tell, anyway.

Guys, don't miss the DLC. It is really well designed, well implemented in the game's lore and mood, and hard as balls. Oh, and I really love the OST, it just brings you directly into the game.
 

Sciz

Member
This makes my day!
Do you have a source for this?

There's no formal announcement, just offhand comments from Croteam staff in forum posts and interviews about doing Talos 2 after Serious Sam 4. Given that they're very much a "when it's done" sort of studio, don't expect it for a while.
 

eshwaaz

Member
Love seeing the glowing impressions here.

I've had this since Xmas, but held off on starting it since I was already playing several other games.

Then, The Witness came out, and I got caught up in the excitement and started that.

Now, I still really want to start Talos, but I've hit multiple walls in The Witness, leaving me frustrated. I've not made any significant progress in my last 3 sessions.

I still really want to start Talos, but don't want two puzzlers going at once. Great problem to have, I suppose, but Witness is starting to feel like work.

Must... persevere...
 
Love seeing the glowing impressions here.

I've had this since Xmas, but held off on starting it since I was already playing several other games.

Then, The Witness came out, and I got caught up in the excitement and started that.

Now, I still really want to start Talos, but I've hit multiple walls in The Witness, leaving me frustrated. I've not made any significant progress in my last 3 sessions.

I still really want to start Talos, but don't want two puzzlers going at once. Great problem to have, I suppose, but Witness is starting to feel like work.

Must... persevere...

Talos is way less obtuse than The Witness.
 

Walpurgis

Banned
This game looks so damn good. I'm surprised at how small this thread is. I'm still waiting for it to reach a reasonable price on PS4 though. It's $60 in Canada. :(

Seriously though, this should be on PS+. Not just because I'm cheap but it seems like not a lot of people have played it.
 
I'm at the
gray sigils
of the DLC and holy cow at the difficulty spike. Only managed to solve one of them, but I'm gonna give it a rest for today and get some sleep.
 

saturnine

Member
How does this game stack up against the Witness?

I was mildly disappointed by the Witness and decided to check the Talos Principle because of some comments recommending the game. It's really good.

The Witness is better when it comes to puzzles. You always know if you're missing a key to the solution, so you never get that "am I missing one of the elements of this puzzle or am I just stupid?" moment.

But Talos is a lot stronger as a whole. There are fewer puzzle, but this is a good thing afaic. I was absolutely fed up by the end of the Witness, way too many puzzles.

The "narration" is miles better. The Witness was pretty fucking artsy fartsy. That's not to say Talos doesn't take itself seriously, but it was a lot more human than the navel gazing of Blow's game. (And you can pick up an audio log without having to stand around doing nothing for several minutes to listen to it. Funny that.)
 

lt519

Member
This game looks so damn good. I'm surprised at how small this thread is. I'm still waiting for it to reach a reasonable price on PS4 though. It's $60 in Canada. :(

I got it for $20 during the holiday sales, was an unbelievable deal.

I've given The Witness a more thorough play through and I still rank Talos Principle above it. There's just something way more pleasing about doing a puzzle in a three dimensional space instead of on a panel (and yes I did around 60 + puzzles in The Witness). The stars (optional) in Talos Principle are just as obscure as some of The Witness puzzles (required) so they both lose points there but The Witness more so. In the end the Talos Principles story and mechanics were just more fun. The Talos Principle was way more memorable of an experience. Reading the logs, uncovering the mystery of what was going on. The Witness just didn't have anything cohesive holding it together.

I also thought The Talos Principle was a much harder game. Some of the later puzzles in the base game and most of Road to Gehenna are really difficult.

Really happy to see that people are getting that puzzle game itch after The Witness and giving this a try.

I'm at the
gray sigils
of the DLC and holy cow at the difficulty spike. Only managed to solve one of them, but I'm gonna give it a rest for today and get some sleep.

It gets brutal. I spent hours on some stars and ended up giving up. I was able to get enough for the Platinum but I don't think I'll get them all.
 
My PS4 copy is arriving today. Has anyone in this thread been playing it on PS4? How's the port?

It runs well - I've not got the PC version to compare it to, but it runs pretty smoothly (odd frame hitches but they're infrequent). As noted above, I had trouble with motion sickness the first time I attempted to play it, thanks to the advice of a couple of posters above I found third person mode in the settings and adjusted the colour a bit and got rid of the sickness altogether.

Once I got over that hurdle I found it very hard to put down.
 

ZQQLANDER

Member
Seeing this thread reminded me about an experience I had with my brother several months back involving the Talos Principle. We were working together on getting the star in level C3, but whatever we tried wouldn't work and we refused to look at a solution. We finally were able to figured out how to nab the star by stealing a crucial piece of equipment from another level. In order to do that however we had to tip toe across the wooden enclosure of the level to a point where we could jump out with the equipment in hand. Low and behold, we looked up the solution following our success and realized we made it much more difficult than it had to be. Lol, such a blast though. Solving these puzzles felt very fulfilling and I can't wait to dive into the DLC.
 

Sciz

Member
The Witness is better when it comes to puzzles. You always know if you're missing a key to the solution, so you never get that "am I missing one of the elements of this puzzle or am I just stupid?" moment.

Eh? Talos tells you exactly what items are needed the moment you step into a puzzle.
 

lt519

Member
Seeing this thread reminded me about an experience I had with my brother several months back involving the Talos Principle. We were working together on getting the star in level C3, but whatever we tried wouldn't work and we refused to look at a solution. We finally were able to figured out how to nab the star by stealing a crucial piece of equipment from another level. In order to do that however we had to tip toe across the wooden enclosure of the level to a point where we could jump out with the equipment in hand. Low and behold, we looked up the solution following our success and realized we made it much more difficult than it had to be. Lol, such a blast though. Solving these puzzles felt very fulfilling and I can't wait to dive into the DLC.

You should see the speed runners for this game, they abuse the geometry like no other. Over half the stars you can just jump around and get. Amazing Games Done Quick had a guy do 100% run in under an hour...makes me want to cry, I probably spent 40 hours on it haha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ThLvVVyufs
 
Top Bottom