Trine 4 is by FAR the best Trine game!

[Vazeyo]

Hey there.
I am relatively new and inexperienced in the Tine "universe", so to speak. I just heard recently about this platformer series and decided to play it through around March 2020 for the first time (blind). Of course in chronological order.
I had "seen" various problems with the different Trine games and all were slightly different in its nature.

The first Trine had too few types of opponents. They were almost always skeletons, different types of skeletons, but still skeletons and that was boring.
The gameplay was quite sluggish, especially with the magician Amadeus.
And anyway, all of the first three Trines had a launcher that was another step between me and playing the game. Very annoying.

The second Trine was much better than the first, but still not perfect.
It was necessary to gain experience in order to buy the right skills to get ahead. As a developer, you couldn't design puzzles with the guarantee of knowing that you already had certain skills. As a result, I did not buy certain skills and had previously bought unnecessary skills for certain puzzles and therefore did not get ahead, which is why I had to replay certain levels and search for as much experience as possible, just to earn several skill points in order to advance. From my previous experience of the first trine, I never saw experience as something that MUST be collected. It looked more like Super Mario coins, which you CAN collect, but you don't have to. (I have always collected all the experience I could see, even in the first Trine, but apparently that was not enough to serve as a buffer in case you buy wrong skills, in the second Trine)
Collectible experience was much worse to see than in the previous Trine game.
Once again the gameplay with Amadeus was a bit sluggish.
Levers were often difficult to see in the background, which is why I occasionally overlooked them.

The third Trine, although not a complete disaster, was not really well thought out either. (Although I personally don't consider the change of the perspective from 2,5D to 3D as really bad as others do)
Although you had to gain experience here to get ahead, it was much better telegraphed on the world map. (It was also a good change to have a level selection apart from a boring list, as in Trine 1/2)
There is no skill tree, but instead certain levels that you had to play to get new skills, which was not really fun, to be honest.
The controls, especially of Zoya and Amadeus, were very uncomfortable in 3D. (So, yes, the change of perspective was an issue, but not generally a bad idea. I mean nobody complained about the change from 2D to 3D with Super Mario right?)

To Long, didn´t Read?

And that brings me to the fourth Trine. It eliminates almost all negative aspects of its predecessors!
There are enough types of opponents with different attacks. Mini bosses are no longer boring "giant goblins", but rather interesting side antagonists.
The control of Amadeus is no longer so fiddly, with a cursor, especially with the control on a controller, the control is much more comfortable.
There is no annoying launcher between me and playing the game!
The level section menu looks beautiful and is the perfect combination between a boring list and a world map, which you can travel in!
Levers are now activated, also with a sound, when you stand in them, which makes them no longer difficult to recognize!
The most impressive thing about the fourth trine is that you no longer need experience to advance and instead can gain two types of experience, but you don't have to gain both! Fights are unavoidable and for them you get SEPARATE experience for which you are guaranteed the skills to advance! It was a very simple and elegant solution. Well done Frozenbyte! Even if that could have come earlier.
And of course there are many more improvements. Especially when it comes to the background story. I have always wondered how old Amadeus is and then at some point it is mentioned that his hair has been colored white due to an experiment!

All in all, Trine 4 solves all the problems I had with its predecessors. It is not without reason that I am willing to play it through 100%, which I haven´t done with its predecessors. Trine 4 is a masterpiece and a great achievement by Frozenbyte! It is a pity that not more people have heard of this excellent successor!

[SCORP10N2000]

No Trine 2(with DLC) is!

[Vazeyo]

Originally posted by SCORP10N2000:

No Trine 2(with DLC) is!

No! Trine 4 (with no DLC) is!

[riddLedSKL]

Trine 2 is the best. !

[Vazeyo]

Originally posted by riddLedskuLL:

Trine 2 is the best. !

Trine 4 is the best. !

[SCORP10N2000]

Originally posted by RCP:

Originally posted by riddLedskuLL:

Trine 2 is the best. !

Trine 4 is the best. !

No 2 ^^

[Vazeyo]

Originally posted by SCORP10N2000:

Originally posted by RCP:

Trine 4 is the best. !

No 2 ^^

No 4 ^^

(Read the thread, dude :D)

[Terepin]

Originally posted by RCP:

Originally posted by SCORP10N2000:

No Trine 2(with DLC) is!

No! Trine 4 (with no DLC) is!

No! Trine 4 (with EP) will be!

[Bullwark]

They're all great.

Trine 1:
+ more sinister and darker atmo than the other titles (!!!)
- controls (edge detection)

Trine 2:
+ introduced co-op; combat variety
- but also this strange comical narrative

Trine 3:
+ 2.5 D; winter atmo
- 2.5 D; unconclusive story

Trine 4;
+ controls and puzzles
- combatstages; liked it when was more "open"


Overall I enojed the controls of Trine 4 the most. For games to come I would love a more serious approach. More dark fantasy flair. A more sinister mix of Trine 1 + 3.
The older I got the more I felt that upcoming titles aimed at a younger audience. And I don't care about fluffy animals.

[Vazeyo]

Originally posted by Bullwark:

They're all great.

Trine 1:
+ more sinister and darker atmo than the other titles (!!!)
- controls (edge detection)

Trine 2:
+ introduced co-op; combat variety
- but also this strange comical narrative

Trine 3:
+ 2.5 D; winter atmo
- 2.5 D; unconclusive story

Trine 4;
+ controls and puzzles
- combatstages; liked it when was more "open"


Overall I enojed the controls of Trine 4 the most. For games to come I would love a more serious approach. More dark fantasy flair. A more sinister mix of Trine 1 + 3.
The older I got the more I felt that upcoming titles aimed at a younger audience. And I don't care about fluffy animals.

Thank you for a finally serious respond.
I personally think that Trine 4 was actually very dark, regarding nightmares. Don´t you think? ^^
In my opinion by far the darkest Trine, not from the specticals but from the theme perspective.

[Bullwark]

I give you that. In terms of story and philosophical meaning T4 was indeed darker. But not delivered that way. Like I said: fluffy animals..;)
Storywise T1 was...well...after 1min of gameplay I knew how it would end :), but the atmo itself had the most serious approach.

For me it's a certain atmosphere that draws me in first. When I'm immersed I am open for the story content.
And in T4 this was a bit "off" for my perception. A bit boring. A bit too nice. A bit casual...but I guess that happens when you want to reach a broad audience to form up your playerbase.

[Vazeyo]

Originally posted by Bullwark:

For me it's a certain atmosphere that draws me in first. When I'm immersed I am open for the story content.

Same! Personally speaking, I got really invested in the story of Trine 4 because I - somehow - cared for Selius, the (Nightmare)Prince. I wanted to help him and overcome his problems. ^^