Southpark Stick of truth. A game of the show done right.

[Autumnflame]

Minor spoilers may occur.

Whether or not you like south park.
I think we can all agree that this game is the closest a tv show or movie to game has ever come to matching the source material.

The graphics are spot on inline with the show no awkward visuals. half the time you'd swear you were watching the tv show and not playing a game.

The game was faithful to the cannon and previous show episodes to set up the story and characters.

at no time did i feel like i was in a imitated southpark world. I felt i was there with all the characters acting accordingly.

I think a lot of devs needs to look at how to translate their works as well as Matt and Trey have
I'd love to see more games be as true to the material.

 

[Rylot]

That's something I've admired about Matt and Trey; they've done a lot of different stuff with South Park over the years but whether it's a musical movie or a rhyming Christmas Special they do it well. Granted some of their earlier games fell kinda flat, but when the price drops a little (and I recoup some money after Dark Souls II) I'll pick this one up.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

From what little I've seen it does look like it's staying true to the show. Like it or not.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

half the time you'd swear you were watching the tv show and not playing a game.

And that's why it fails as a true game within the medium. It's something we shouldn't be appraising nor aspiring.

I dunno, (haven't played it) but if he means that the aesthetics, graphics, animations and movement mimic the TV show exactly and the HUD is minimalist so it doesn't get in the way (while remaining functional) then that's actually a good thing since you want the adaption to be similar to the source material.

If however it plays like 'watching the TV show' because they cut to cinematic cutscenes every 5 seconds and railroads you into watching the setpieces with minimal actual input, then that's what we should be discouraging.

 

[alphamalet]

half the time you'd swear you were watching the tv show and not playing a game.

And that's why it fails as a true game within the medium. It's something we shouldn't be appraising nor aspiring.

This! This guy gets it!

It's time we stop devaluing games by trying to make them "cinematic", and it's time we stop slighting games by saying playing it is as if "you were watching [a] tv show and not paying a game." Buried in the statement is the notion that games are somehow inferior to that of a more traditional art form, and by disregarding the gaminess (gameplay) of games, they begin to become something more. That thought process does nothing to further the medium.

 

[EHKOS]

I hate Southpark (at least I try to) because imo it's toxic for mental health. But I've been playing the game and I really like it. It's done very well, and if I had to compare it to something, I'd probably go with a Paper Mario title. I've been having a lot of fun with it, and with what few episodes I have watched of the show, it's spot on.

I don't even know why I got it, but I feel like playing more after about 3 hours in last night. The only thing is it kind of needs more Cartman, he's really the whole reason I watched the show anyway.

It's just funny, it's so crude but I can't shake my head and call it immature. Even with a dedicated fart button. I suppose Obsidian is working it's magic, maybe I just like the atmosphere of the same studio that made New Vegas and KotOR II.

 

[RJ 17]

Granted some of their earlier games fell kinda flat.

Just for the record, this is the first and only game that Matt and Trey actually wrote themselves. They've had nothing to do with any of the other South Park games. I'd say it's the fact that they were actually directly involved with this one that's making it so successful.

 

[otakon17]

I hate Southpark (at least I try to) because imo it's toxic for mental health. But I've been playing the game and I really like it. It's done very well, and if I had to compare it to something, I'd probably go with a Paper Mario title. I've been having a lot of fun with it, and with what few episodes I have watched of the show, it's spot on.

I don't even know why I got it, but I feel like playing more after about 3 hours in last night. The only thing is it kind of needs more Cartman, he's really the whole reason I watched the show anyway.

It's just funny, it's so crude but I can't shake my head and call it immature. Even with a dedicated fart button. I suppose Obsidian is working it's magic, maybe I just like the atmosphere of the same studio that made New Vegas and KotOR II.

Okay this is a testament to just how enjoyable this game is. I was talking with an online buddy saying that no non-fans of the show would like this game. And lo and behold YOU pop up.

OT: This is one of the best adaptations of some other form of media to a game I've seen to date. It was worth the $48 dollars and worth the wait. Can't wait to play again as a Ginger Jew.

 

[jetriot]

I am really enjoying it thus far. I don't think they could have possibly done a South Park game any better. Also I don't think it is overly cut-sceney... at least not any more than this type of game needs to be.

 

[Angelblaze]

half the time you'd swear you were watching the tv show and not playing a game.

And that's why it fails as a true game within the medium. It's something we shouldn't be appraising nor aspiring.

This! This guy gets it!

It's time we stop devaluing games by trying to make them "cinematic", and it's time we stop slighting games by saying playing it is as if "you were watching [a] tv show and not paying a game." Buried in the statement is the notion that games are somehow inferior to that of a more traditional art form, and by disregarding the gaminess (gameplay) of games, they begin to become something more. That thought process does nothing to further the medium.

Difference is that this game isn't a game that pops up out of nowhere with no following, it's a game based on a tv show with an ICONIC LOOK, STYLE AND FEEL that has been around for well over a decade and a half. It should look like you are watching the show because that's the look they are -clearly- going for - they are after all:

Putting you in as a character in the storyline.
Inserting characters from the original fiction
Keeping that same level of South Park 'gross' humor/satire.


Also, there really is nothing to 'get' as neither you nor him are the judges of what passes as a 'game'. What passes as a 'game' depends on who is playing it and their experience of what they find fun, interactive and enjoyable. 'Cinematic' alone is not an insult to the game industry or games as a whole but a mere term, a word we use to describe something we consider to be similar to movies/tv.

Tl;dr You wouldn't expect a Spongebob game to look like Inception now would you?

 

[BrotherRool]

This! This guy gets it!

It's time we stop devaluing games by trying to make them "cinematic", and it's time we stop slighting games by saying playing it is as if "you were watching [a] tv show and not paying a game." Buried in the statement is the notion that games are somehow inferior to that of a more traditional art form, and by disregarding the gaminess (gameplay) of games, they begin to become something more. That thought process does nothing to further the medium.

Devaluing everything else a game does except it's gameplay is still slighting games though. It's devaluing the artistic product of years of work by multiple people who are working in collaboration to make something that isn't any one of it's parts but is more than the sum of them. It's okay to like different things, but when you tell people that the things they like are 'slighting videgames' and somehow wrong, what good is that doing for the world?

Gamespace is huge. It's not a progression of previous mediums, it's a whole extra dimension. If paintings work in two dimensions, sculptures work in three, silent film works in four dimensions, film with audio works in five dimensions (up, down, left, right, time, 'sound'), videogames are six dimensional because they have a 'change' axis too where the same point in time and space still has a different thing happening because the player moved left instead of right.

But what this means is that there are more possibilities not less. So when you're saying a game should only have narrative focus, you're needlessly restricting the awesomeness of videogames. But equally when you're saying that games shouldn't have a narrative focus if they want one, you're taking this absolutely cool and enormous design space and you're making it smaller and taking away some of the great things it can do.

Of which South Park: The Stick Of Truth is a fine example.

 

[Zipa]

It is an amazing game, one of the best examples of licensed work done right. Though I would imagine that Stone and Parker were very heavily involved.

 

[otakon17]

It is an amazing game, one of the best examples of licensed work done right. Though I would imagine that Stone and Parker were very heavily involved.

They were, they did the script and story and most of the voices. It's as authentic as possible.

 

[Zipa]

It is an amazing game, one of the best examples of licensed work done right. Though I would imagine that Stone and Parker were very heavily involved.

They were, they did the script and story and most of the voices. It's as authentic as possible.

Makes sense I guess, I read somewhere (probably reddit) that they were sick of shitty South Park games.

 

[BrotherRool]

It is an amazing game, one of the best examples of licensed work done right. Though I would imagine that Stone and Parker were very heavily involved.

They were, they did the script and story and most of the voices. It's as authentic as possible.

Is there an interview anywhere that goes into a lot of detail on the scripting process? I'm really curious about exactly how much of everything they wrote and what the creative process behind it was.

 

[tstilwell]

I have been playing video games since pretty much the beginning and I have watched this debate go on and on: this is a game and this shouldn't be a game, this isn't what games should be aspiring to, yada yada yada. The bottom line is this: this is an entertainment medium and I enjoyed playing SP: SoT. I had fun. I was entertained. Mission accomplished, case closed.