The MONKEY ISLAND and other Adventure Games thread

[John Crichton 4]

Curse of Monkey Island has achieved full classic status, and is considered the best in the series by more than a few people.

I did enjoy most of Escape for a long time too (up until the last parts), but I tried to play it after Tales wrapped up and I just couldn't. Everything about it was off. Tales really is classic MI in every way.

[King Mark 3,631]

Wake me up when they make games for current generation consoles

K.M.who wonders why LucasArts games are always behind 10 years in the graphics department

[Jay 37,352]

I finally just ordered the Tales From Monkey Island DVD, as I now have a computer fast enough to play it.

Can't wait to play it; Though I kinda want to play the first 4 games through again first. Where I'll find time to do that I have no idea.

[John Crichton 4]

All the recent Monkey Island releases are on the XBox and PS online stores, as well as the current Sam & Max series. You can even get them for the iPad.

On a related note, Telltale is looking for customer input on their upcoming Back to the Future series. I can say from the experience of doing several of these for previous releases that they really do listen to the results and feedback. It's give a nice glimpse into what storyline ideas they're throwing around too. Survey here:

http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/326027/qteu2

[John Crichton 4]

http://jwfan.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5314&view=findpost&p=648517

[Quintus 5,399]

I usually find those surveys a chore, but I actually quite enjoyed filling out that one

Loved the 1968 idea!

[Charlie Brigden 7]

I usually find those surveys a chore, but I actually quite enjoyed filling out that one

Loved the 1968 idea!

That was my favourite too. Hope that one gets made.

[Marian Schedenig 8,192]

I picked 1968 as my favourite, too. And I voted Silvestri's scores the most important element of the series.

[Quintus 5,399]

I went for the chemistry and relationship between Marty and the Doc, then the Delorean and then Silvestri's music.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

K.M.who wonders why LucasArts games are always behind 10 years in the graphics department

That's a bit eccesive. TFU was correct.

[King Mark 3,631]

I was talking about releasing Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings for the PS2 in the era of the PS3 and xbox 360 .I also remember KotoR sucking badly in the graphics department compared to other RPG's at the time. Same with the really old games like X-Wing and TIE Fighter compared to Wing Commander that came out around the same time.

Monkey Island is a bit like that too. Most of it is for the Wii or DS or whatever.

[Marian Schedenig 8,192]

The first three Monkey Island games were cutting edge in all departments, including graphics and audio, when they came out. The remake seems to be top, too - unless you're complaining that the nicely drawn HD graphics are lacking 3D, which would be beside the point.

In general, LucasArts games like the point & click adventures and the X-Wing series used to be first rate from both technical and gaming standpoints, until they somewhat jumped the shark with the release of TPM (the movie) and for a long time seemed to concentrate on just milking the Star Wars franchise as much as they could.

[King Mark 3,631]

Sorry I didn't realize people still played "point and click' 2D games

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Well that's what The Secret Of Monkey Island is.

[King Mark 3,631]

There's nothing like getting stuck in one of these games and staring at the same frame for a few hours

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Don't forget the looped music

[Marian Schedenig 8,192]

Sorry I didn't realize people still played "point and click' 2D games

Next thing they'll say is that people still listen to orchestral music. Ha!

I wonder why John Williams is always 100 years behind in the music department.

Same with the really old games like X-Wing and TIE Fighter compared to Wing Commander that came out around the same time.

I missed this before.

The first Wing Commander came out in 1990 and was a great game with fake 3D graphics that worked very well at the time, although the main innovation about it was the cinematic feel and dynamic storyline with lots of cut scenes. The essentially 2D graphics get problematic when you get too close to other ships, but at that time you weren't used to being able to do that, so it was no problem (it can get annoying when you play the game today). Also, the programming was a bit behind the times; the main version was written for MS DOS PCs, but they didn't use the system clock in the game loop, making the game run too fast on newer hardware and making it unplayable on later generation systems without hacks.

X-Wing came out in 1993 and featured real 3D by use of flat-shaded polygons, at a time when WC2 was still using the same 2D system the original WC started. They upgraded to fancy textured 3D and real movie footage with Hollywood stars plus an orchestral score by 1994, when TIE Fighter only upgraded XW's original graphics engine by using goraud shading, but at that time they had lost a lot of ground in the actual gaming area, which TF had nearly perfected (the only notable thing missing compared to X-Wing Alliance was rudder support).

Both series feature great music engines, by the way, during a time when technology was advanced enough to handle music interactively during the game loop but not yet sufficient to play actual sampled music (which would throw interactive music back to the stone ages for a few years). The X-Wing series used LucasArts' famous iMuse engine, which got its best workout in Monkey Island 2 - to this day the most accomplished use of interactive game music I've encountered.

[Quintus 5,399]

People who only play games with impressive graphics are bad judges of quality and are in no position to criticise those who look for good gameplay over all else.

[King Mark 3,631]

Both graphics and gameplay are important. In RPG's and FPS beautiful and detailed environments/character models are essential. Videogames are like a work in progress, we always look forward to playing something that feels more real and alive than the previous game.

I have great memories of games I played 15 years ago ,but unlike some of you I don't go back and play them again for nostalgia sake

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I play old games once in awhile. It's fun and brings back good memories. But I'm with KM in that graphics are important to a certain degree. They're never a deciding factor for me though.

[King Mark 3,631]

Well, when I was a PC gamer I was always looking out for the games that were the most cutting edge and trying to run them on my PC. I'd get pissed off when I had to turn off some effects because the game was too slow..etc..

Now with the console as long as it's current generation it's all right, I look less at the details. As much as I'd like to play the older Final Fantasy games, PS1 and PS2 is too far behind and even the best gameplay couldn't make up for the outdated graphics.

BTW Darksiders is great. Couldn't put down the controller last night.

[Marian Schedenig 8,192]

Both graphics and gameplay are important. In RPG's and FPS beautiful and detailed environments/character models are essential. Videogames are like a work in progress, we always look forward to playing something that feels more real and alive than the previous game.

Tetris is still one of the best games I've played. And those versions of it which are designed to feel "real" are easily the worst.

[King Mark 3,631]

Were not talking about the same type of games at all .I 'm not talking about puzzle or paddle games you can play on your cell phone or Nintendo DS

I'm talking about epic RPG games with open worlds to explore. They need to feel as immersive a as possible,and that includes being up to date graphically. And I don't mean "photo realistic" .Fantasy games look better if they look a bit cartoony with bright colors

[Marian Schedenig 8,192]

Putting aside that we disagree regarding RPGs, I think the only RPGs LucarArts has done is KOTOR? (The first of which I briefly tried and disliked conceptually)

[John Crichton 4]

A great game is a great game, no matter how technically proficient the graphics are. And if you're judging graphics, you always have to take into account the era it was made. New technology dates so quickly these days.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

I thought KOTOR's graphics were top notch. It was the 1st game i saw iwth decent lip movement.

And it was bioware's fault, if there was any...

It is a huge improvement from Neverwinter nights to KOTOR.

[Marian Schedenig 8,192]

I thought KOTOR's graphics were top notch. It was the 1st game i saw iwth decent lip movement.

That credit goes to the very first Wing Commander, for me. They did lip-sync animation of cartoon characters before anyone could even afford actual speech audio. Seriously, the face animations formed the correct vowels matching the subtitles.

[BurgaFlippinMan 7]

Putting aside that we disagree regarding RPGs, I think the only RPGs LucarArts has done is KOTOR? (The first of which I briefly tried and disliked conceptually)

Conceptually?

[Marian Schedenig 8,192]

I remember being highly annoyed by the combat system.

[BurgaFlippinMan 7]

OK. So you just don't like the D&D system then?

[Marian Schedenig 8,192]

It's not that. I've played several (old) D&D video games and I play pen & paper D&D every once in a while. The D20 system is fine. I didn't like how the control over your party was split into these queues (as far as I recall) in KOTOR. It's really only been a short try, years ago, I may even be doing it injustice. But I definitely didn't like it. I generally dislike party-based RPGs where you end up action-controlling one main character, but KOTOR's alternative approach didn't excite me either.

[King Mark 3,631]

I think it's similar to Neverwinter Nights and Dragon Age in terms of controls

[Quintus 5,399]

Knights of the Old Republic was ace, back on the original Xbox.

Hey Koray, how much do you want for your copy of Demon's Souls, including shipping? Play.com are messing me about with my order and it still hasn't been dispatched due to it being out of stock longer than expected grrrr...

[John Crichton 4]

KotoR was the first, and still only, game in my life that I had real marathon playing sessions. I think my first playthrough was done in about 3 or 4 days.

[Marian Schedenig 8,192]

I think it's similar to Neverwinter Nights and Dragon Age in terms of controls

Haven't played those. I still want to look at DA, but from what I understand, I'm only interested in the PC version. I could easily get the PS3 version, whereas the PC version will only be of use to me if I can sure it can be convinced to play in Linux, but the combat system seems to be butchered to exactly all the things I dislike on the console versions.

[King Mark 3,631]

The combat controls for Dragon Age are very difficult on the console. It took me at least the first third of the game to master them efficiently. I think on the PC you can slow things down a bit more

[John Crichton 4]

That's why I ended up going for the PC version rather than PS3. I have to turn the graphics down, but the controls are much, much better.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Hey Koray, how much do you want for your copy of Demon's Souls, including shipping? Play.com are messing me about with my order and it still hasn't been dispatched due to it being out of stock longer than expected grrrr...

Part of me still wants to play it, perhaps venturing into another part of the world before taking on the Tower Knight, but I don't know... If I was ever going to sell it I was planning on making some pocket cash since I got the limited edition. That goes for $80+ easy.

[Quintus 5,399]

Give it another go, I dare you! $80 for it preowned would be a sweet profit would it not? The copy I've had on order for ages is costing me £39.99 and it's also the limited edition; which for some strange reason is cheaper than the game only edition. Play it again

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge (Special Edition)

Man these games are great. Love all the Lucas references, like Indy's whip in the antique shop, the ending being exactly the same from Return Of The Jedi, and the LucasArts call box in the jungle. The music is fantastic as well.

[Jay 37,352]

It's been a while since I've played... what is the ROTJ ending?

I thought the ending was

Young Guybrush and Young LeChuck in the modern day carnival

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I don't think spoiler tags are necessary. That ending was hilarious though, telling my parents "I'm Guybrush Threepwood and I'm a mighty pirate! I don't need to worry about such things."

Might get crucified for this, but I may be talking about the Empire Strikes Back ending. LeChuck tells Guybrush he's his brother, and Guybrush's reaction is exact to Luke's when he finds out Vader is his father.

[Jay 37,352]

Yes, thats Empire Strikes Back, not Return Of The Jedi

[Marian Schedenig 8,192]

The finale, even before the carnival twist, is creepily surreal. I'd love to see Gilbert's original MI3 get made.

[Jay 37,352]

I could die happy if that ever got made

Still annoyed 20 years later that LucasArts let him go, and that they brought in other guys to continue the series without his input

[Marian Schedenig 8,192]

I could die happy if that ever got made

Still annoyed 20 years later that LucasArts let him go, and that they brought in other guys to continue the series without his input

And yet MI3 is awesome. It's a strange case of a probably completely misguided, yet nearly perfect sequel.

[Jay 37,352]

I wouldn't go so far as saying nearly perfect. It is, though, very good. The final act takes it down a few notches. And the whole time I can never shake the nagging feeling of knowing none of this is what Ron Gilbert would have done.

It is, though, very enjoyable yes. The voice cast was all superb, and Murray was a wonderful addition.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

Yes, thats Empire Strikes Back, not Return Of The Jedi

Its both.

When you pull lechucks leg and he falls, hurt. He asks you to lift of his mask live vader did before dying.

[Wojo 2,453]

[Jay 37,352]

Ha!