
Day of the Tentacle - doppp
https://www.filfre.net/2019/06/day-of-the-tentacle/
======
theli0nheart
This is one of my favorite games from my childhood. If you haven't ever played
it, you owe it to yourself to purchase the remastered version [1] and play it
through (it's only $3.79). It's incredibly entertaining and witty. I doubt
this game will ever get stale.

[1]:
[https://www.gog.com/game/day_of_the_tentacle_remastered](https://www.gog.com/game/day_of_the_tentacle_remastered)

~~~
Svip
It's not necessary to have played Maniac Mansion beforehand? I'll admit this
has been my main hesitation. I remember when Monkey Island III was big in the
late 90s, I was hesitant because I hadn't played the two games that came
before it.

I ended up doing it anyway at the time, but later I would play all three, and
the third one really benefits - in my view anyway - from having played the
first two ones, even though they can all stand on their own. So I wonder
whether Day of the Tentacle is similar?

~~~
okket
You don't need to have played or know anything about Maniac Mansion to enjoy
Day of the Tentacle. I would not even recommend to play MM first, because MM
is stupendously hard and frustrating compared to DotT. Play it after.

BTW: In the version of DotT I played in the 90s there was a funny easter egg:
A computer in the game was running a playable version of Maniac Mansion. I
don't know if this is part of the remastered version though.

~~~
Timberwolf
Remastered has it too. Steam version even has achievements for doing things
that require you to get a small way through the original.

Agree on not needing to play Maniac Mansion first, too. I came to the original
having no idea that MM even existed. The characters and story are great even
if you don't know the references.

------
scandinavegan
> One of the few negative things I can say about Day of the Tentacle is that
> it’s more fun than it is truly innovative; it doesn’t break any new formal
> or thematic ground

The time travel aspect and that you control three characters in the past,
present, and future, where things you do in the past affect the future was
truly innovative to me. I realize now that it's not as magical design or
programming wise as it appears. It's not that hard to have something done in
one room affect something in another room in the game, but as a player having
to think across time as well as space was really cool.

The article goes on to talk about the time travel, so it's not ignored, but it
seems that I found it more innovative than the author.

~~~
coroxout
I think the site author comes from an interactive fiction background, so I
suppose there were text adventures that did switchable playable characters and
time travel before DotT [1], but I don't know of a graphic adventure that beat
DotT to it. I found the interaction between the 3 timezones pretty innovative
as a kid too and think he does the game a disservice here.

It also opens the game up in terms of how many puzzles you can be thinking
about at once; if you're stuck in a traditional 1-protagonist game you might
only have one or two things you think you need to do next, at least in a
pretty linear game, but now you always have at least 3 things to work out at
once...

[1] I'm not a big IF buff, but I guess Infocom's "Suspended" (1983) is a
classic game where you can control different "characters" at once, and I
really loved "T-Zero" (1991), where you also open up 3 different timezones you
can travel between at will, and changes in the past affect the present/future
in a slightly DOTT-esque manner - although it's a very different game.

Suspended:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspended_(video_game)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspended_\(video_game\))

T-Zero:
[https://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=u8qqrwutdugkexpr](https://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=u8qqrwutdugkexpr)
or reviewed on filfre.net here: [https://www.filfre.net/2017/12/the-text-
adventures-of-1991/](https://www.filfre.net/2017/12/the-text-adventures-
of-1991/)

~~~
ilikehurdles
Chrono Trigger was a really good old SNES RPG that had gameplay centered
around time travel, where actions in one timeline affected outcomes in
another. Not an adventure game, but it's something that your comment reminded
me of.

~~~
needle0
Much less known than Chrono Trigger, but the Game Boy RPG SaGa 3 (known in the
west as Final Fantasy Legend III) was a case of Square's attempt at time
travel in RPGs that came before CT. It had a lot of thematic elements in
common, eg. actions in the past affecting the future, objects that appear in
all time eras, separate dimensions that exist outside of the regular time
continuum, etc. Unlike CT or DoTT, the eras were only decades apart, so you
could also run into the same person as a kid and an adult. The same team at
Square did not work on it, but it should have at least had some influence on
CT.

------
NamTaf
Probably my favourite LA adventure game, though Sam & Max really does give it
a run for its money. I played it at what I suspect was a very formative time
of my pre-teens, and I think it did a lot to shape not only my humour, but
also my understanding that games could be challenging yet satisfying in how
they deliver a story through puzzles and obstacles. I think it struck a very
good balance between a hand-holding push-over and being so challenging that
you needed to dig out a cheat guide every few minutes. That's largely a credit
to its story-telling and design, and I think I was just getting to the age
where I was able to appreciate that.

~~~
tomlong
I'm 35 years old and had a similar experience. What you said about it shaping
your humour really struck a chord with me (particularly Sam & Max). Maybe
because it was the first LA game I played, but I think DoTT is the best, but
it led to me playing all the rest.

I got the talkie on CD-ROM for a christmas present one year. I struggled with
a lot of it, but my Dad before giving me the present removed the hint/solve
book from the box and watched us (me and my younger brother) play and try and
figure everything out and just gave us enough of a hint at the right times to
make it feel like a really satisfying experience.

I'll RTFA after work.

------
akavel
To people considering buying it, given so much praise here and in the article,
I would like to just ask you to take note of the following quote:

 _> "Of course, there’s no accounting for taste. If you loathe cartoons,
perhaps you might not like this game. If you prefer more serious plots or more
rigorously cerebral puzzles, perhaps you won’t love it. [...] It remains at
the end of the day a slapstick cartoon comedy"_

Personally, this caveat did apply so much to me. I bought and played the game,
all way to the end, trying to give it a chance, but in my case, I found it
plain boring. If you like slapstick, that's probably your gold nugget indeed,
based on the glowing reviews. Me, I don't; I need at least some substance (?).
I loved Loom, I enjoyed The Monkey Island (esp. the 1st one in the series), as
well as the Indiana Jones games. I found amusement in their lightheartedness
and casual humour. I liked Grim Fandango too. But DoTT fits the same place in
my mind with Psychonauts: I plainly don't get why so many people are so stoked
about them. To me, they're both just _super_ boring.

~~~
chillydawg
I think it's probably to do with the fact that many of us here played it when
it was first out and were either kids or much younger than we were now. My
memory of that game is amazing, but I highly doubt I'd pick it up off the
shelf today as my tastes have changed.

~~~
PeterisP
I replayed it (the remastered version) some 20 years after initially playing
it. It was still amazing.

------
leibnitz27
One of the things that's interesting to me is the resources available at the
time - in terms of help.

With a game like this now (Say, the excellent Thimbleweed Park - you played
it, right?), if you get truly, epically stuck, there's a walk-through no more
than a few clicks away. And you'll probably admit defeat and go there after a
few hours.

When I picked DoTT up (a few seconds after release ;) ), no such thing. You
were in it alone. Maybe there was a magazine write in for hints, and if you
were lucky you knew a guy on a BBS, but other than that, you were on your own.
That made the puzzles _so_ much sweeter when you got them.

~~~
theli0nheart
> _When I picked DoTT up (a few seconds after release ;) ), no such thing. You
> were in it alone. Maybe there was a magazine write in for hints, and if you
> were lucky you knew a guy on a BBS, but other than that, you were on your
> own. That made the puzzles so much sweeter when you got them._

Completely agree. Unlike today, there was really no alternative to really
thinking "deep" and trying to figure something out on your own. If push really
came to shove, you went to the local bookstore and hopefully they had a
magazine or guide available. I miss those times. :)

~~~
jandrese
The flipside is of course that some of those games were near impossible
without some kind of hint. The old Hitchhiker's Guide game is the one that
comes to mind for me. I read all of the books multiple times as a kid but
never got more than halfway through the game. It was just plain cruel to the
player.

~~~
theli0nheart
> _The flipside is of course that some of those games were near impossible
> without some kind of hint._

This is true, but it made winning all the more satisfying. :)

Myst comes to mind as another game which was a beast to figure out. Once you
did though, you felt like a god.

------
crazygringo
Another commenter linked to the remastered (hi-res) version for desktop, but
it's also available for iPad for $4.99... and if tablets aren't the perfect
medium for original point-and-click adventure games then I don't know what is:

[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/day-of-the-tentacle-
remaster...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/day-of-the-tentacle-
remastered/id1114170869?mt=8)

~~~
baxtr
Nice. Any clue if other games are also available like Monkey Islands, Maniac
Mansion, etc?

~~~
bjconlan
A little more 'evolved' (not scumm) but 'Grim Fandango' was also recently
updated (well in the last few years) for newer platforms. Ron Gilbert & Co's
Thimbleweed Park perhaps deserves a mention here too .

------
aidenn0
While Loom will always have a special place in my heart, DotT is possibly the
best all-around adventure game from my childhood; particularly considering
that the LA games have aged far better than most of the others.

~~~
protomyth
The funny thing about Loom for me is that I remember the situation and people
that were playing the game more than the actual game's story. It was a blast
playing after school with a group that argued and explored together. I'm not
even sure we finished the thing.

~~~
aidenn0
Loom just clicked with me for some reason. It was the first adventure game I
completed 100% on my own, and I did so fairly quickly.

The other adventure games I had played to that point I was only able to finish
by playing in parallel with several friends and when one of us got stuck, we
would help each other. Hero's Quest was the first game I completed in this
manner (we were stuck on King's Quest until someone downloaded a hint guide
from a BBS; that game was primarily difficult because how easy it was to get
in an unwinnable state).

------
sebastianconcpt
I had unforgettable fun with this game. I think only 2 games provided me with
so much laugh, this one and The Curse of Monkey Island

~~~
Dirlewanger
Yup, hate how Curse of Monkey Island is almost always forgotten when talking
about the series because Gilbert wasn't involved. The game is incredibly
beautiful, voice talent flawless and impeccably casted. I wish they had
created other adventure games with that iteration of the SCUMM engine.

~~~
kristiandupont
I loved CoMI as much as the first two games. It seemed to ignore the basic
premise of the story which was a hard pill to swallow (still is), but apart
from that I found the humor, graphics and everything else to be at least on
par.

------
Maro
Sam & Max, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, floppy disks and dreaming of
one day getting a huge 17" CRT monitor on a Pentium, that was my early teenage
years.

~~~
agildehaus
The Dig was one of my favorites. Conceived by Spielberg with a script by Orson
Scott Card of all people.

~~~
jaredlightman
I've got the CD-ROM version of that kicking around somewhere. I'm surprised
they haven't made a movie of it or all the other old LucasArts properties.

If they can make a movie about The Magic 8-Ball...

------
Chazprime
Man, this takes me back. For me, the two pinnacles of my childhood PC gaming
were easily _Monkey Island 2_ and _Day of the Tentacle_. I was so thrilled
when Ron Gilbert announced his Kickstarter for _Thimbleweed Park_. Hopefully
Disney one day sells him back the rights to Monkey Island, I'd love a true
sequel by its creator.

~~~
coroxout
I'd love that too - although I have to say I didn't really like the endings to
MI2 or Thimbleweed Park, so I might love it even more if RG writes everything
except the ending...

~~~
Chazprime
Yeah, the MI2 ending was definitely bizarre, but for me it was an off-the-wall
way that made me really interested to see what happens next... Kind of like
the ending of _Nightmare on Elm Street 2_.

Apparently Ron had a final chapter in mind for _Monkey Island_ , but with
Disney/Lucas owning the rights, we'll probably never see it. I'm guessing the
last chapter might do a bit of retconning on the final moments of Part 2, but
no one outside of Ron apparently knows how it ends. :(

------
mr-ron
This game captured a magical point in gaming where me my brother and my mother
were playing on our PC, and my cousin and uncle were playing on another at the
same time, keeping each other up to date on progress.

We all were blocked at the same point until my uncle found the puzzle where
you have to close a door to get the keys, and as soon as he found it he phoned
my mom and we all progressed.

That type of puzzle discovery hasn't happened since. Amazing game and amazing
memory.

~~~
lr4444lr
The key action to getting Ben Franklin his thunderstorm was a bit too much,
no?

~~~
mr-ron
No the keys were given to the masked man in the present day, who was breaking
into the car. He gives you the crowbar for the keys.

~~~
leshokunin
I believe he meant the action needed to trigger the rain.

~~~
mr-ron
To trigger the rain you needed the whole setup: gold, vinegar, and oil. The
puzzle we were stumped at had nothing to do with that.

~~~
Forbo
I thought you needed to wash the carriage? That was a bit obscure for me as a
kid.

~~~
scandinavegan
Speaking of obscure, getting Washington to cut down the cherry tree by
painting the fruit red got me stuck as a kid in Sweden. I hadn't heard the
cherry tree myth (and now only through the game) and even if they gave hints
in the dialogue, I didn't get those either. I don't even remember if I got
past it or if I gave up.

I replayed the remastered game a couple of years ago on PS4 with my daughter
who was seven years old, and this time the only thing I was stuck on was the
cat puzzle with the squeaky mattresses. I read a blog post just now about that
puzzle, and it's special because you use the Use verb on two different things
outside of your inventory. You usually go inventory->world or
inventory->inventory, but here it's world->world. So I had to look up that one
solution in the whole game.

Playing as an adult, it's much easier to keep in mind what clues you have and
what the open puzzles are. As a kid, I would just start using everything with
everything else, and the hints from failed interactions wouldn't clue me in.
Now I see they make a really god job at telling you why things don't work and
what you should try instead.

I was pleasantly surprised that my daughter thought the game was hilarious. I
expected her to get bored quickly, but we played through it all together.

------
johnramsden
Also one of my favorite games. Such interesting characters and puzzles.

Another gem from this era is Grim Fandango, which also has a recently
remastered version.

------
jammygit
This game taught me that humour and story can be conveyed extremely
effectively through player choices. It was eye opening (and hilariously
satisfying).

The strong coherence between story, time, and gameplay was really really
striking

------
kerouanton
I still love all those games, and play them from time to time using ScummVM
[1], which I installed on my PC and Mac. Back at the time, I bought them in
boxed editions and was so thrilled to get them! I still have those original
games as part of my greatest 80's collection items. The SCUMM engine is also
very interesting to look at, internally.

[1|: [https://www.scummvm.org/](https://www.scummvm.org/)

------
protomyth
_One of the few negative things I can say about Day of the Tentacle is that
it’s more fun than it is truly innovative; it doesn’t break any new formal or
thematic ground_

So, friggin what. I dearly wish more game designers (and not a few critics)
would remember that a lot of these games are meant to be fun. I don't want
some message or insight or innovation all the time. I often want to sit down
and spend some time having fun and unwinding. Its not a negative, its like the
comfort of an old book that I've decided to reread.

Plus, fun and funny are damn tough to get right. Its so much easier to do
drama than comedy because a so-so drama is still ok, but a so-so comedy is
just bad.

------
pier25
I have so many good memories of playing this game with friends back in the
90s. I played it again recently with my teenager nephews and they loved it.
The humor still works and the puzzles are challenging.

------
BuckRogers
I spent my childhood and formative years playing adventure games. While I
played more Maniac Mansion than the sequel, this is one of the best.

------
FTA
Site seems down...archive link:
[https://web.archive.org/web/20190610020009/https://www.filfr...](https://web.archive.org/web/20190610020009/https://www.filfre.net/2019/06/day-
of-the-tentacle/)

------
Perlizo
Is this the one that contains that easter egg where you can play a full other
game within the game?

~~~
0xADEADBEE
That's it. You can get to a terminal and play Maniac Mansion pretty early on
in Day of the Tentacle.

~~~
ido
...As the article explicitly mentioned?

------
onemoresoop
Favorite game of mine too. I remember when I was a 14 year old playing this
game.

------
amelius
For anyone wondering what the (remastered) game looks like:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW283uY3sLI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW283uY3sLI)

------
MobileVet
My best friend and I played Maniac Mansion and DotT for hours. So funny and
great puzzles. Thanks for the memories buddy, you are missed, RIP

------
tus87
Yet to play this one. Recently played Full Throttle and it was great. I guess
I have to go back and replay Maniac Mansion since the 90s?

~~~
chimpburger
Just play Day of the Tentacle. I've been playing games since the Atari days.
Day of the Tentacle is one of the greatest games of all time.

