The thing is Crosmando, that "old school adventure" is not a genre, it's a decades worth of games, so it can be designed pretty much in anyway, even in Lucasfilm standards. But what was always noticeable in Lucas games was, that they all tried to be more cinematic than Sierra games for an example. And they always tried to streamline the UI's, by removing unnecessary things.

The puzzles can be easy or difficult or something in between, it really doesn't matter, as there's no real genre mold, despite some people want to belive so by sticking pixelated graphics and 5 verb commands in the game. That doesn't make a game "old school", it makes it retro.

Well the game looks great from what I have seen so far, I am glad we got another adventure game from Tim Shcafer after Grim Fandango.

What the hell is wrong with you man? Do you expect anyone to take you seriously when you're dropping the name-calling antics of an average 8-year old every second paragraph? "Kotaku-reading hipsters". Lol.

I'll provide you an example of how you could have articulated yourself to actually be an asset to the discussion. This guy makes many of the same broad points by clear argument that you try to convey by obnoxious insults (copied from http://www.doublefine.com/forums/viewthread/12089/ for those not in the inner circle of adventure backers):

As I'm sure your mother has pointed out, why can't you be more like ...

KuroShiro @ DF Action Forums:
My issues with BA revolve entirely around its game-play and design. Firstly, the interface itself is clunky and unpleasant to use, mainly due to the one-button only interaction system. Accessing the inventory and using items is clumsy, particularly if using a touchpad. There’s really no reason for it to be like this, other than making concessions to design for tablets. Would it be that hard (on computers, at least) to switch right click to examine on inventory items, and make left click simply pick up, so there’s no need for the drag-and-drop? Secondly, the one-button interface also makes movement a bit irritating, particularly in parts of the cloud colony area where clicking a hotspot by mistake means dropping through the clouds. Basically I wish there was a verb-coin, but I realize that probably won’t happen because of tablets (grumblegrumble), so I hope DF can at least make a few concessions to usability on PC/mac.

Secondly, and this is more of a personal critique leading into a general one, I don’t really get the sense that this game was made for someone like me, a long-time lover of classic adventure games. This is a bit disappointing, given the initial pitch of the project was to create a classic point-n-click adventure game. By this I mean that the focus of the game does not appear to be on puzzles, or exploration, or even really gameplay as such, but on pure storytelling. I mean, the puzzles in this game are preposterously easy; I more often felt a feeling of shock at how simple it was to accomplish certain goals (like getting the cloud shoes, for example) than I did a feeling of accomplishment for solving a difficult puzzle. Basically, it felt more like The Walking Dead than Day of the Tentacle, and while that is not an *inherently* bad thing (well, it is to me, but I’m trying to be objective here), if the goal was to make a classic point-n-click adventure game, then it is a problem. I really hope that DF will make an effort in act 2 to make this more of a game than an interactive storybook, at least if that is their goal. To be fair, they will probably be more financially and critically successful following the course they are currently on, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

One thing that I do think is objectively an issue from any perspective though is that the game world, while very pleasant and atmospheric, feels empty compared to most games in the genre. I found myself constantly looking for more things to do, and surprised by how little content was contained on each screen. Something I feel is illustrative of this **warning, very minor spoilers ahead**, after Shay ‘breaks’ the missions and can eventually go back to the mission rooms, all my adventure-game instincts told me that there would be more puzzles to solve back in there, at least in the train room. But no, all you could do was grab a couple items and repeat the previous content. **no more spoilers** This made me feel like portions of gameplay were excised in favor of something else (possibly just getting the game out the door) which is always a sad feeling to have playing an adventure game. I strongly hope that DF will make an effort to add more depth to the game world in act II, hell, maybe even going back to act I and touching up the world a bit and making it more involved. I think Shay’s section especially could use some more content.

And another try, since I posted this in the wrong thread at first...

http://www.pcgames.de/Broken-Age-PC-257065/Tests/Broken-Age-im-Test-1105098/
Test in German, 76%.
Short summary: Nice atmosphere, many crazy ideas, great music, but puzzles are very simple, the story is quite short, and a lot of characters are not that interesting or unimportant.
Even shorter summary: Nice, but not great.

I think basically, this test reiterates the opinions voiced in this thread; the main difference in perception seems to arise from the fact that people value the various aspects differently.
Since I did not back the game (and won't buy it for now), I can only comment on the graphics. While I do like some cartoony styles (for example, I think Bastion looks great and I also liked the style of the MI2 special edition), I'm not a great fan of the "childrens' book" style of DF.

LOL

Having never played Broken Age, I can see Crosmandos point (I would choose my words a bit differently though lol). If the Kickstarter promised an oldschool adventure, and BA isn't like that, then the product promised wasn't delivered. Two points though:

1) Kickstarter isn't a preorder system which means you might get crap, or nothing. Or a casual game with "feelings" and "art" and whatever.

2) Broken Age can still be a good game, not just the one some people expected. This probably happens/will happen with about every Kickstarter game. You can't please everyone.

This complaint kind of reminds me of Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs:

Story is good, atmosphere is good, graphics etc.. It's just nothing like The Dark Descent. There's not many puzzles and the ones there are, are very simple. No inventory. Just a couple of easy sneaking parts where you have to avoid the monsters. You just walk around and learn about the story.

From what I played so far I agree 100% with this view.

On top of that, the game bored me to tears. Literally. I was yawning and had tears in my eyes. My wife fell asleep while watching me play. I sincerely hope it gets better farther in the story. I can get past the graphical style, which I dislike, but there better be something interesting under that.

The "sad" thing is I'm happy I pledged to this, no matter if it gets better or not. I mean, this kickstarter made possible many other kickstarters. It had a snowball effect and I'm happy I was part of that.

Time to post my own views on the game after finishing it last night. Took me 4 hours start to finish, solving all puzzles myself and generally clicking on everything possible.

[SPOILER ALERT]

I felt that jumping directly from Vella’s house to the Maiden’s Feast itself was glaring omission. This made the entire “Part I” of Vella’s story consist of a whopping three screens. The start with the tree & view, the house, the feast. Puzzle count 0, 1, 2 for those screens respectively. That’s it. Three screens and three puzzles, none of them hard, onwards to the cloud colony within 12 minutes of starting the game.

I guess we might still return to Sugar Bunting in Act II (at least we have to find out whether Mog Chothra actually eats the place or not), so maybe the explore-my-hometown part gets postponed to last, but if those art assets are there for that anyway, why not use them to flesh out the first part a bit more? It all just went by too fast.

Shay’s act made a better impression, having the first and easiest puzzle in the game required for breaking out of your routine was the right way to approach the design, and the whole spaceship opens up very naturally as you progress through the act. Marek was great, his tone of voice and appearance alone sold him as a possibly nebulous character, but not so much as to convince me that he’s actually a bad guy. Basically, the fine line between tension and trust was done perfectly with Marek. I wish I’d seen more of the “Dad” computer, maybe playing the Mom and Dad computers off one another a little bit. This is only hinted at in a little bit of the dialogue, where it could have been an entire story point including a couple of puzzles. Hope this happens in Act II.

Anyway, I’ll abstain from being too judgmental about the game until I’ve played the whole thing. I definitely see how Act II would be able to “knock it up a notch” over Act I. But I’m definitely left with the impression that Act II needs to do just that, or the whole experience would fall just a little too flat due to what I perceive as content cutting and streamlining.

I’d still say that this very much is shaping up to be a game that leaves a lasting impression on me though, like those great games of yore. Maybe that’s what “old-school adventure” is really all about?
That's such an important point to make I'm disappointed more people aren't making it. Sure, you're entitled to, say, liking the new Broken Sword more than Broken Age, but don't forget that the new Broken Sword highly likely wouldn't have become a reality without the DF Kickstarter to start this whole thing off.

i loved it:)
The only downside is now have to wait to play the rest...

I've played through Broken Age Act 1, I enjoyed it and I definitely didn't feel that my money was wasted. Combined with the documentary I even think I got more than my money's worth out of it. I really liked the story, the art style and the setting. The music was great and the voiceovers quite nice too, for the most part.

That being said, I can also relate to the criticism now, in moderation. The actual gameplay in Broken Age could have been better. Not because it doesn't cater to any preconceived opinions about what constitutes a "classic adventure game", but because it doesn't feel that rewarding.

I don't think the problem is that the puzzles are too easy (they are very easy, but I don't mind that so much), it's rather that there are too few of them. If you're in search for a very helpful item and expect a puzzle, a character just gives it to you. That's not an easy puzzle, it's the absence of a puzzle. You are introduced to a lot of interesting rooms and setups and you expect they will be full of puzzles and items, but they aren't. You just walk through them. And I think one reason why the existing puzzles are considered too easy is because there are so few items that most of the time it's pretty clear what they are for and because there are so few problems that you hardly have the option of not solving them as soon as they present themselves.

I think what made LucasArts adventures like MI2 or DOTT great was not the difficulty of the puzzles, but the abundance of them. You were always working on several puzzles at the same time. Broken Age tries to emulate that to some extent, which is great, but due to the small number of puzzles and items, it doesn't really manage to hide its linearity. In order to get that sense of achievement that's part of the fun in games, you don't need to agonize over super hard puzzles, but you need to feel like you're working on something on your own, in your own time and order, you need the illusion of a certain freedom. And that illusion is rather weak in Broken Age. It feels more like you're being lead or even pushed from one puzzle to the next, in order to keep the story going.

The second thing I missed is rewarding exploration. There are very few hotspots in Broken Age, and the few there are either play an essential role in the puzzles or feel a bit careless in that clicking on them doesn't always add that much to the setting and often doesn't even lead to particulary funny comments. Some lines are used for several hotspots at the same time (e.g. lots of clickable bird nests with eggs, same text for all of them), and all in all there is few variety and much repetition in the comments. In that regard I feel Broken Age is closer to Discworld's "That doesn't work!" than to the Golden Age LucasArts tradition continued in Time Gentlemen Please! where it's a lot of fun to click on each and every hotspot and you can get a good laugh out of many of them. You get that in Broken Age, too, but not that often.

I guess it all comes down to lack of time, and despite these two points of criticism I still think Broken Age is a very nice game, and I'm looking forward to playing Act 2. It's just that I think it could have been an even better point-and-click adventure with more attention to detail. I felt the same way about The Cave, but in the end, although I kind of like both, I have to say Broken Age is by far the more interesting and more enjoyable game and I recommend everyone to play it before judging it.

I finished the game once , its alright as a adventure game for beginners aka people just starting into the adventure series or those looking to have a adventure game with no headaches attached (lol anyone remember the monkey island 2 puzzle where you had guess what the hand said to get the correct winning number :D or monkey kombat).

People have already said a lot about the plot , [lel that train mission] yep its decent enough to stick around and wait for act 2. lovely game art/graphics/music.

Where i was let down
- like everyone i was expecting a massive old school scumm based adventure game with the classic inventory and verbs :( , sword fights, ship battles and what not sigh.........
- massive brain freezing yet funny puzzles that let you be satisfied after finishing them
- a better longer game where you can spend a lot more time than just 3-4 hours

also note that i have heard from the forums that act 2 is the better part of the game filled with good puzzles etc , so waiting out for it.

...a better pixel mode would have been good than the current way of doing it........

i wasn't really expecting a epic game to be honest , just seeing that documentary was worth it , hope you all watch it when it comes out as a whole

I didn't expect that...