Part of my point is S2 tied everything up so nicely, it seemed the perfect stopping point, I only hope they make the true ending have such a perfect stop-point (and not "...and they all die!" type ending) I've seen waaaaaay too many series end with MAJOR holes in the plot, like they literally stopped in the middle of the story with a cheasy "and we'll get through it all if we work together" line despite NONE of the major characters' quests being even 1/2 completed! I'd rather see the series end earlier on a good note than later on a bad one.
...
Have you read any of the original comics? Seriously, Sam and Max have never belonged to that type of story, it would just be ... weird.
Have you read any of the original comics? Seriously, Sam and Max have never belonged to that type of story, it would just be ... weird.
I was using that as an example... sorry... REALLY good series pissed me off with that "ending" so it's still a bit of a fresh wound in my mind...
Seriously, though, S2 ended so perfectly that it would have been a good palce to leave the series. Nobody can deny that part. I dred season X will suddenly end with only 3 of 5 eppisodes or soemthing...
And acctually some of the comics did have a serious sub-plot to them, but it was played so wacky that nobody took it seriously.
I was using that as an example... sorry... REALLY good series pissed me off with that "ending" so it's still a bit of a fresh wound in my mind...
Seriously, though, S2 ended so perfectly that it would have been a good palce to leave the series. Nobody can deny that part. I dred season X will suddenly end with only 3 of 5 eppisodes or soemthing...
And acctually some of the comics did have a serious sub-plot to them, but it was played so wacky that nobody took it seriously.
I guess it's all on perception, season 2 did have a good ending, but it still left me wanting more.
I mean honestly, Steve Purcell and Telltale will know how to end the series.
I don't really know/care about spoiler tags, so you're warned.
I don't know about S2 having a perfect ultimate ending. I mean it was perfect for the storyline. It doesn't mean they shouldn't tread forth.
The two seasons have nothing to do with each other. They're independent save for some characters and throwbacks. It was funny how some characters had a bigger role, but it's not like Season 1 had gaping plot holes or hinted towards anything which wasn't answered perfectly only because of Season 2. Admittedly, the time-travel to S1 episodes in S2 was cute, but obviously not part of a plot set in motion from the beginning. It took a couple of characters' roles a bit further, and this will hopefully be done in S3, because we love familiarity and posing questions like "What if so-and-so did such-and-such?" ...and what's-her-face, and cheerleader, and the ugly one.
Season 2 started a new storyline with many of the characters introduced in S1, but mostly new characters. Season 1 wrapped up its story just as well, there just weren't as many factors at play and weren't as large episodes for us to feel as awesome as at the end of What's New Beelzebub?
I've been watching Curb Your Enthusiasm a lot lately and that's what it is. Each Season is a story. There may be a very passing reference to a previous season's episode, but it is not the Season Finales and Premiers of Friends or Lost where we are left wondering or building towards something over an entire series.
And are you SERIOUSLY talking about when to end the series? One step at a time, people.
I didn't actually compare Friends and Lost. That's the only similarity between them. I just miss Lost so much, I try to throw it into every conversation. Ugh, 7 and a half weeks...
I'd LOVE to see each season slowly add soemthing ot he plot and have the whole series end with a BLAST that ties together all 7, 10, or 3,000 seasons!
Likewise unlike some her eI would HATE to see a reboot each season. I dont gennerally like truely episodic content (despite the name, TTG's series are Serials, not Episodes)
((on a side note, I loved LOST, I just think they went a little too far and should have ended it a season or so sooner with a slightly less insane plot))
I'm the opposite in a way. I'd like to see the series get a reboot every so often, keeping the same characters and basic sets but changing them up with new elements that shake things up a bit. Part of the charm of the comics, I feel anyway, is that Sam and Max remain constant even through the many different adventures they have. They have some "epic" adventures, it's true, but at the end of the day they're still the same ol' Sam and Max we know and love. Their static nature in an every changing universe is part of their attraction, for me anyway.
Personally I really hope Season 3 has more of a continuous storyline (à la Monkey Island) rather than individual cases that all start in the office. I know that makes sense for private detectives but one epic case would be great. Proper cliffhangers please!
Also hopefully with the recent Wii storage updates (Assuming it will be available on multiple platforms) maybe the episodes could have more unique locations etc.
Also hopefully with the recent Wii storage updates (Assuming it will be available on multiple platforms) maybe the episodes could have more unique locations etc.
Oh God no, please don't have it on Wiiware. Release it on XBLA like Wallace and Gromit, or PSN. I really, really hate it when my PC games are held back by Wiiware.
Note: That's not bashing the Wii's hardware, at least other than its lack of a hard drive. The thing can run Sam and Max just fine, the PROBLEM is that Wiiware is not built for these games, no matter how much Telltale tries to shove them into the space. The quality of the games would not suffer if they were given a Wii retail release instead, and it would be a better value to Wii customers.
Oh God no, please don't have it on Wiiware. Release it on XBLA like Wallace and Gromit, or PSN. I really, really hate it when my PC games are held back by Wiiware.
Note: That's not bashing the Wii's hardware, at least other than its lack of a hard drive. The thing can run Sam and Max just fine, the PROBLEM is that Wiiware is not built for these games, no matter how much Telltale tries to shove them into the space. The quality of the games would not suffer if they were given a Wii retail release instead, and it would be a better value to Wii customers.
I agree wholeheartedly, but it seems that is the direction TTG has chosen and personally I doubt they will stop now.
It means not using point and click to walk around. Some hate direct control, others are fine with it, some prefer it. Sam and Max season three will involve Tales of Monkey Island style direct control as opposed to the point and click of the first two seasons of Sam and Max.
I agree wholeheartedly, but it seems that is the direction TTG has chosen and personally I doubt they will stop now.
Or maybe ToMI Wiiware issues have put them off?
I don't think it's their "direction". SBCG4AP was on Wiiware, Wallace and Gromit was on XBLA, then Tales was on Wiiware. If we go by the logic of a pattern, we'll see another XBLA release, or a PSN release(just as fine by me). I just want Sam and Max to be released on consoles in a form that doesn't castrate the PC product.
but I dont think there should be console games on PCs or PC games on consoles...
Hear me out!
[rant]
If you deveolpe the game for PC, then usually you make a complex game that has complex controls, high-end graphics and FX, and often is very hardware intensive. IF you move to a console you usually hae to slash the FX and graphics, really make the controls awkward, and generally make the whole game a PITA to play
If you develope for a console, then you have a strict overhead for FX, controls, etc. When you try to bring it to PC you end up with over-simplified controls that are annoying (one game I played like that accually used wasd and then simultaneously ;'./ to simulate the xbya buttons) the graphics look cheasy or cartooony, and the FX look like soemthing most of us could produce on a home PC with freeware programs...
This is why I think PC series should stay on the PC and console series shoudl stay on a console! (and if TTG decided to use this strategy and make their games ONLY on Wii, I wouldn't blame them even though I wouldnt get to play any more of them)
Ashton I hate you! Not
I see your point, but since Telltale's games aren't exactly video card-busting-extravaganzas anyway I think it's less of an issue with them. And I'm actually impressed at how pretty Tales looked even thought it was designed with the Wii in mind. It looked really beautiful when I played it at home on my new desktop and big, wide screen, LCD monitor, but I've had to play the last two episodes on my underpowered little tablet pc. Even though I had to set the settings all the way down just to run it, it still looked pretty good. Not nearly as pretty and without any effects to speak of, but after the first few minutes I stopped noticing. Pretty good job, I thought.
Ashton I hate you! Not
I see your point, but since Telltale's games aren't exactly video card-busting-extravaganzas anyway I think it's less of an issue with them. And I'm actually impressed at how pretty Tales looked even thought it was designed with the Wii in mind. It looked really beautiful when I played it at home on my new desktop and big, wide screen, LCD monitor, but I've had to play the last two episodes on my underpowered little tablet pc. Even though I had to set the settings all the way down just to run it, it still looked pretty good. Not nearly as pretty and without any effects to speak of, but after the first few minutes I stopped noticing. Pretty good job, I thought.
The control bit came from several Valve games (Portal, HL2) where the controls suffered when they moved to console... I've not really played many crossover games that started on PC, though I've played LOTS of PC adaptions of console games, and sometimes keymapping sucks and you cant fix it...
I've never played the S+M games on a console, but I know how frail and sickly the Wii's hardware is (especially compared to 360 or PS3) which is one of the reasons when I chose a new box I got a 360, despite my long-time loyalty to Nintendo (and I've not regretted it, though eventually I'll probably get a wii when the wii2 or w/e comes out and the wii is $50) I noticed a free demo on XBL, I may download it just to see how good/bad the controls really are...
you want to laugh at specs... I played the first S+M on my Axim X51v Pocket PC! Amazingly it worked fine, though I had to dump the whole CD onto a CF card, which wasnt fun... though I never have figured out how to get past the 2nd (3rd?) puzzle, so I dont know if it would play all the way through w/o any problems...
The arguement I always use for people wanting iPhone ports is always "The Telltale Tool has enough trouble with the Wii as it is". That said, I've heard the 360 version of Season One shares the dodgy framerate of the Wii version, without the benefits of the pointer (which is easily on a par with the mouse. I haven't played the WiiWare version of ToMI, but I imagine the pointer + Nunchuk combo will be divine in terms of controls).
That said the specs may be slowing down its advance (compare Modern Warfare 1 with Modern Warfare 2, although the latter is an extremely lazy 360 port that shouldn't be touched with a barge pole, so that's probably a bad comparison).
Seriously though, beat Rise of the pirate god, and all your S3 questions will be answered. I swear on a bottle of Banang!
Honestly, I thought about it, but I didnt like the original ToMI, I dont think I got more than 1-2 puzzles solved afte rhours of playing 'guess the verb' and it kinda turned me off to the series...
Honestly, I thought about it, but I didnt like the original ToMI, I dont think I got more than 1-2 puzzles solved afte rhours of playing 'guess the verb' and it kinda turned me off to the series...
There's not "guess the verb" in Tales of Monkey Island, so, you are safe. ^^!
I don't think it's their "direction". SBCG4AP was on Wiiware, Wallace and Gromit was on XBLA, then Tales was on Wiiware. If we go by the logic of a pattern, we'll see another XBLA release, or a PSN release(just as fine by me). I just want Sam and Max to be released on consoles in a form that doesn't castrate the PC product.
I don't feel the PC Monkey Island Castrated at all. In fact, they pull out the most beautiful land of the Death I never seen, and everything just using a cool Art desing.
Now I said that, in fact I also believe Wiiware wasn't built thinking in the kind of games Telltale like to pull off, but they choose to release them there. After seeing the art direction of ToMI, probably they can do it. Maybe the only problem were the places become a bit small thanks to that.
I also wonder if actually they will go to try to release episodic content in XBLA again, really. Mostly because I think there's a reason why Wallace and Gromit wasn't released in XBLA Episodicaly, and just all the remaining episodes at once, unlike in Wiiware, where they actually can do it. I'm sure eventually all the games of Telltale will, somehow, finish there (Unless there's a strong reason for not do it) but must exist some good explanation for what happened with the XBLA Wallace and Gromit Episodes. I also I have to admit I'm a bit of Nintendo Fan and I always suspect a bit about Microsoft (mostly because I know a lot Linux Users =P). So, take it with a grain of salt.
I like the control system they have now, but I think i liked the old SCUMM controls better
mostly because the inventory was always visible, and item combinations were easier
This also.
I don't get why item combining has been done the way it has. Why can't I just click the thing on the thing, instead of clicking the thing on the slot, the other thing on the slot, then the other button thing? You've turned a one-step process into a three-step one. If you're a bit stuck and trying to randomly combine items to see if anything works, it's really fiddly!
I don't get why item combining has been done the way it has. Why can't I just click the thing on the thing, instead of clicking the thing on the slot, the other thing on the slot, then the other button thing? You've turned a one-step process into a three-step one. If you're a bit stuck and trying to randomly combine items to see if anything works, it's really fiddly!
I think it's probably like that to emphasize items can be combined, but also to prevent wildly combining items at random without thinking. I usually didn't even try to combine any items unless I had a pretty good idea what my desired outcome for them was, just because it was too awkward to randomly combine everything with everything.
But then again, it might just have been a poorly refined design decision.
I think it's probably like that to emphasize items can be combined, but also to prevent wildly combining items at random without thinking. I usually didn't even try to combine any items unless I had a pretty good idea what my desired outcome for them was, just because it was too awkward to randomly combine everything with everything.
But then again, it might just have been a poorly refined design decision.
I do think is because, since theres no verbs (Thank god), if you do combine just putting the item over the other, you will transform "select item because I choose the wrong one" in a three clicks process, instead of just 1. Since "Select new item instead of the one I already have" is more used than "Combine", it's a user interface rule make easier the most used functions over the less used ones.
Also, there's a difference with "Faster" and "intuitive". Faster and easier doesn't mean intuitive and easy-to-learn. By my experience, the ToMI method is a bit more troublesome than the scumm one, but, is way easier to learn. Since a videogame must be easy to learn (And combine is not that used) is settled!
I don't get why item combining has been done the way it has. Why can't I just click the thing on the thing, instead of clicking the thing on the slot, the other thing on the slot, then the other button thing? You've turned a one-step process into a three-step one. If you're a bit stuck and trying to randomly combine items to see if anything works, it's really fiddly!
Here is big reason why the combination system was implemented the way it was in ToMI.
Would be better to show a caption like "use thing with thing" when you are hovering one item over another. Then there would be a reminder that it's there, without having to redesign the interface just to serve as a reminder!
Seems like a bad reason for such a massive UI decision really.
And, I don't agree that "replace thing with thing as active item" is more used than item combining, at least not for me. I only pick up the item I want to use. If I want a different item, I have probably already tried and failed to use the first one and it's automatically been deselected. Or I just right-click to get rid of selected item.
But, all seems like a fairly moot debate, as the kids obviously want "progress" and my preferences are clearly too old-school for the Xbox/Wii crowd. I am nearly 30 after all, practically a pensioner.
Seriously, the interface has never got any better since the original MI. I can see the argument that losing the verbs streamlined things a bit, but... well, I *liked* verbs.
Trust me, having hovering text that says "use thing with thing" would get annoying real fast. The current interface may require an extra step or two, but it's attractive and accessible to people who haven't played adventure games before. And new players are any age. My mom's 56, but she's a new player. I like that she can enjoy the game just as much as I do, even though she'd never played an adventure game before Telltale. Maybe you like having to "work" at figuring out how to play a game, but a lot of people want to spend their leisure time relaxing.
Trust me, having hovering text that says "use thing with thing" would get annoying real fast. The current interface may require an extra step or two, but it's attractive and accessible to people who haven't played adventure games before. And new players are any age. My mom's 56, but she's a new player. I like that she can enjoy the game just as much as I do, even though she'd never played an adventure game before Telltale. Maybe you like having to "work" at figuring out how to play a game, but a lot of people want to spend their leisure time relaxing.
To me, it seems more intuitive if you just drop one item on another.
The keyword in this whole conversation is "to me". We are thinking as costumers, while Telltale have to think as a developer. That's REALLY different. Keep that in mind please...
Maybe you like having to "work" at figuring out how to play a game, but a lot of people want to spend their leisure time relaxing.
I hold the theory about he doesn't like to work at figuring how to play either. The problem is, he already did the work and he doesn't want to do it again. So, when somebody goes and change the interface he used time of his life to figure out and have to figure out something different again, even if take less time to figure out, to do the exactly same stuff than before, get annoyed.
Something similar happened when Microsoft change interfaces in office 2007: Some people liked because they get to learn how to stuff they didn't know that exists, while other people get annoyed because they have to learn something again for do the exactly same stuff they were doing before. It's the exactly same idea.
Just remember guys:
1- What is intuitive for you doesn't mean is intuitive for everyone.
2- Easy to use it's not the same as easy to learn (Video games has to be easy to learn, far I'm concerned, while industrial software, like Photoshop, has to be easy to use).
Trust me, has been proven that using the Text Line Input is WAY MUCH FASTER that use Graphic Interface. And I know people who loves Text Line Input because is "easier"*. Really.
*I hold the theory they just want to prove their might as programmers since they lack beard. But that just me
To me, it seems more intuitive if you just drop one item on another.
But it would never occur to her to combine items in the first place. She'd never played any MI games before, so she hadn't thought of that at all when she was trying to solve puzzles. When she saw the two slots for items in the inventory she immediately said, "What this?" and tried playing with it, and then realized she could combine items.
As Ginny said, being easy to use is not necessarily the same thing as being easy to learn. My brother loves his digital SLR, and it lets him do all the things he likes to his photos. I'm sticking to my point and shoot, though, because it does what I need, without my needing to take a photography class to understand how to use it properly.
While I have no problems with the item combination as it exists in TMI, I do think they could have made it just as easy to learn that you are able to combine inventory items without going as far as having a huge clunky box to do so in.
Example: The first puzzle of the game requires you to combine items, as a partial tutorial/introduction, they could have the text at the top left of the screen simply say "Pick up Item 1 and click on Item 2 with it to combine them" and have Guybrush say "I need to combine these two things". For most people who are capable of coherent thought, this would be more than enough of a tutorial to demonstrate that item combinations are possible.
Personally, I still think it was done to prevent item combination spamming by way of making it a lot more fiddly to combine items, so you only try to when you think it will work rather than just being stuck and randomly jabbing everything.
While I have no problems with the item combination as it exists in TMI, I do think they could have made it just as easy to learn that you are able to combine inventory items without going as far as having a huge clunky box to do so in.
Example: The first puzzle of the game requires you to combine items, as a partial tutorial/introduction, they could have the text at the top left of the screen simply say "Pick up Item 1 and click on Item 2 with it to combine them" and have Guybrush say "I need to combine these two things". For most people who are capable of coherent thought, this would be more than enough of a tutorial to demonstrate that item combinations are possible.
One of the things you have to avoid most of the time is tutorials: If exist an idea of how the people can deduce theirselfes of doing that in a blink, use that idea instead of put a tutorial. Make people feel smart, and better. (No, really =P)
One of the things you have to avoid most of the time is tutorials: If exist an idea of how the people can deduce theirselfes of doing that in a blink, use that idea instead of put a tutorial. Make people feel smart, and better. (No, really =P)
The first episode of TMI already includes a tutorial for how to combine items, very similar to what I said.
But it would never occur to her to combine items in the first place. She'd never played any MI games before, so she hadn't thought of that at all when she was trying to solve puzzles. When she saw the two slots for items in the inventory she immediately said, "What this?" and tried playing with it, and then realized she could combine items.
I agree with Pale Man here, that's what tutorials are for. "Easy to use" needs to be the priority, and you need to support it by "easy to learn", not the other way around.
I agree with Pale Man here, that's what tutorials are for. "Easy to use" needs to be the priority, and you need to support it by "easy to learn", not the other way around.
I'll try to prove my theory: Which game was you very first adventure game?
By the way, normally, easy to learn is the polar opposite of easy to use (not always mind you). You have to know for how many time people are going to use that interface and how many people are going to use that interface. Games is not something you usually dedicate a ton of time of realize how to do something (No what to do, how to do!) and not something you are going to use forever or in an extending amount of time. There's another software which is critical the amount of time you dedicate in how to do something, like Software for the Army, and those software are known for been a pain to learn, but they stick on it because how many time you dedicate to do something is matter of life. On the polar opposite, games are something you want to have fun and don't have to work, if a game takes too many work for start, the most possible thing is the people are going to stop playing the game and go to do something else. Since for a game is critical to hold your attention is that moment, easy to learn has to be first.
Comments
It will be awesome!
(Hope you're having fun at work!)
Yep, so much fun...just walking around a building.
Walk around
Post
Walk around
post
...
Have you read any of the original comics? Seriously, Sam and Max have never belonged to that type of story, it would just be ... weird.
I was using that as an example... sorry... REALLY good series pissed me off with that "ending" so it's still a bit of a fresh wound in my mind...
Seriously, though, S2 ended so perfectly that it would have been a good palce to leave the series. Nobody can deny that part. I dred season X will suddenly end with only 3 of 5 eppisodes or soemthing...
And acctually some of the comics did have a serious sub-plot to them, but it was played so wacky that nobody took it seriously.
I guess it's all on perception, season 2 did have a good ending, but it still left me wanting more.
I mean honestly, Steve Purcell and Telltale will know how to end the series.
I don't know about S2 having a perfect ultimate ending. I mean it was perfect for the storyline. It doesn't mean they shouldn't tread forth.
The two seasons have nothing to do with each other. They're independent save for some characters and throwbacks. It was funny how some characters had a bigger role, but it's not like Season 1 had gaping plot holes or hinted towards anything which wasn't answered perfectly only because of Season 2. Admittedly, the time-travel to S1 episodes in S2 was cute, but obviously not part of a plot set in motion from the beginning. It took a couple of characters' roles a bit further, and this will hopefully be done in S3, because we love familiarity and posing questions like "What if so-and-so did such-and-such?" ...and what's-her-face, and cheerleader, and the ugly one.
Season 2 started a new storyline with many of the characters introduced in S1, but mostly new characters. Season 1 wrapped up its story just as well, there just weren't as many factors at play and weren't as large episodes for us to feel as awesome as at the end of What's New Beelzebub?
I've been watching Curb Your Enthusiasm a lot lately and that's what it is. Each Season is a story. There may be a very passing reference to a previous season's episode, but it is not the Season Finales and Premiers of Friends or Lost where we are left wondering or building towards something over an entire series.
And are you SERIOUSLY talking about when to end the series? One step at a time, people.
I didn't actually compare Friends and Lost. That's the only similarity between them. I just miss Lost so much, I try to throw it into every conversation. Ugh, 7 and a half weeks...
Likewise unlike some her eI would HATE to see a reboot each season. I dont gennerally like truely episodic content (despite the name, TTG's series are Serials, not Episodes)
((on a side note, I loved LOST, I just think they went a little too far and should have ended it a season or so sooner with a slightly less insane plot))
Also hopefully with the recent Wii storage updates (Assuming it will be available on multiple platforms) maybe the episodes could have more unique locations etc.
Note: That's not bashing the Wii's hardware, at least other than its lack of a hard drive. The thing can run Sam and Max just fine, the PROBLEM is that Wiiware is not built for these games, no matter how much Telltale tries to shove them into the space. The quality of the games would not suffer if they were given a Wii retail release instead, and it would be a better value to Wii customers.
I agree wholeheartedly, but it seems that is the direction TTG has chosen and personally I doubt they will stop now.
Or maybe ToMI Wiiware issues have put them off?
*ducks*
but I dont think there should be console games on PCs or PC games on consoles...
Hear me out!
[rant]
If you deveolpe the game for PC, then usually you make a complex game that has complex controls, high-end graphics and FX, and often is very hardware intensive. IF you move to a console you usually hae to slash the FX and graphics, really make the controls awkward, and generally make the whole game a PITA to play
If you develope for a console, then you have a strict overhead for FX, controls, etc. When you try to bring it to PC you end up with over-simplified controls that are annoying (one game I played like that accually used wasd and then simultaneously ;'./ to simulate the xbya buttons) the graphics look cheasy or cartooony, and the FX look like soemthing most of us could produce on a home PC with freeware programs...
This is why I think PC series should stay on the PC and console series shoudl stay on a console! (and if TTG decided to use this strategy and make their games ONLY on Wii, I wouldn't blame them even though I wouldnt get to play any more of them)
[/rant]
I see your point, but since Telltale's games aren't exactly video card-busting-extravaganzas anyway I think it's less of an issue with them. And I'm actually impressed at how pretty Tales looked even thought it was designed with the Wii in mind. It looked really beautiful when I played it at home on my new desktop and big, wide screen, LCD monitor, but I've had to play the last two episodes on my underpowered little tablet pc. Even though I had to set the settings all the way down just to run it, it still looked pretty good. Not nearly as pretty and without any effects to speak of, but after the first few minutes I stopped noticing. Pretty good job, I thought.
The control bit came from several Valve games (Portal, HL2) where the controls suffered when they moved to console... I've not really played many crossover games that started on PC, though I've played LOTS of PC adaptions of console games, and sometimes keymapping sucks and you cant fix it...
I've never played the S+M games on a console, but I know how frail and sickly the Wii's hardware is (especially compared to 360 or PS3) which is one of the reasons when I chose a new box I got a 360, despite my long-time loyalty to Nintendo (and I've not regretted it, though eventually I'll probably get a wii when the wii2 or w/e comes out and the wii is $50) I noticed a free demo on XBL, I may download it just to see how good/bad the controls really are...
you want to laugh at specs... I played the first S+M on my Axim X51v Pocket PC! Amazingly it worked fine, though I had to dump the whole CD onto a CF card, which wasnt fun... though I never have figured out how to get past the 2nd (3rd?) puzzle, so I dont know if it would play all the way through w/o any problems...
That said the specs may be slowing down its advance (compare Modern Warfare 1 with Modern Warfare 2, although the latter is an extremely lazy 360 port that shouldn't be touched with a barge pole, so that's probably a bad comparison).
Honestly, I thought about it, but I didnt like the original ToMI, I dont think I got more than 1-2 puzzles solved afte rhours of playing 'guess the verb' and it kinda turned me off to the series...
There's not "guess the verb" in Tales of Monkey Island, so, you are safe. ^^!
I don't feel the PC Monkey Island Castrated at all. In fact, they pull out the most beautiful land of the Death I never seen, and everything just using a cool Art desing.
Now I said that, in fact I also believe Wiiware wasn't built thinking in the kind of games Telltale like to pull off, but they choose to release them there. After seeing the art direction of ToMI, probably they can do it. Maybe the only problem were the places become a bit small thanks to that.
I also wonder if actually they will go to try to release episodic content in XBLA again, really. Mostly because I think there's a reason why Wallace and Gromit wasn't released in XBLA Episodicaly, and just all the remaining episodes at once, unlike in Wiiware, where they actually can do it. I'm sure eventually all the games of Telltale will, somehow, finish there (Unless there's a strong reason for not do it) but must exist some good explanation for what happened with the XBLA Wallace and Gromit Episodes. I also I have to admit I'm a bit of Nintendo Fan and I always suspect a bit about Microsoft (mostly because I know a lot Linux Users =P). So, take it with a grain of salt.
This also.
I don't get why item combining has been done the way it has. Why can't I just click the thing on the thing, instead of clicking the thing on the slot, the other thing on the slot, then the other button thing? You've turned a one-step process into a three-step one. If you're a bit stuck and trying to randomly combine items to see if anything works, it's really fiddly!
I think it's probably like that to emphasize items can be combined, but also to prevent wildly combining items at random without thinking. I usually didn't even try to combine any items unless I had a pretty good idea what my desired outcome for them was, just because it was too awkward to randomly combine everything with everything.
But then again, it might just have been a poorly refined design decision.
I do think is because, since theres no verbs (Thank god), if you do combine just putting the item over the other, you will transform "select item because I choose the wrong one" in a three clicks process, instead of just 1. Since "Select new item instead of the one I already have" is more used than "Combine", it's a user interface rule make easier the most used functions over the less used ones.
Also, there's a difference with "Faster" and "intuitive". Faster and easier doesn't mean intuitive and easy-to-learn. By my experience, the ToMI method is a bit more troublesome than the scumm one, but, is way easier to learn. Since a videogame must be easy to learn (And combine is not that used) is settled!
Here is big reason why the combination system was implemented the way it was in ToMI.
Would be better to show a caption like "use thing with thing" when you are hovering one item over another. Then there would be a reminder that it's there, without having to redesign the interface just to serve as a reminder!
Seems like a bad reason for such a massive UI decision really.
And, I don't agree that "replace thing with thing as active item" is more used than item combining, at least not for me. I only pick up the item I want to use. If I want a different item, I have probably already tried and failed to use the first one and it's automatically been deselected. Or I just right-click to get rid of selected item.
But, all seems like a fairly moot debate, as the kids obviously want "progress" and my preferences are clearly too old-school for the Xbox/Wii crowd. I am nearly 30 after all, practically a pensioner.
Seriously, the interface has never got any better since the original MI. I can see the argument that losing the verbs streamlined things a bit, but... well, I *liked* verbs.
To me, it seems more intuitive if you just drop one item on another.
I hold the theory about he doesn't like to work at figuring how to play either. The problem is, he already did the work and he doesn't want to do it again. So, when somebody goes and change the interface he used time of his life to figure out and have to figure out something different again, even if take less time to figure out, to do the exactly same stuff than before, get annoyed.
Something similar happened when Microsoft change interfaces in office 2007: Some people liked because they get to learn how to stuff they didn't know that exists, while other people get annoyed because they have to learn something again for do the exactly same stuff they were doing before. It's the exactly same idea.
Just remember guys:
1- What is intuitive for you doesn't mean is intuitive for everyone.
2- Easy to use it's not the same as easy to learn (Video games has to be easy to learn, far I'm concerned, while industrial software, like Photoshop, has to be easy to use).
Trust me, has been proven that using the Text Line Input is WAY MUCH FASTER that use Graphic Interface. And I know people who loves Text Line Input because is "easier"*. Really.
*I hold the theory they just want to prove their might as programmers since they lack beard. But that just me
But it would never occur to her to combine items in the first place. She'd never played any MI games before, so she hadn't thought of that at all when she was trying to solve puzzles. When she saw the two slots for items in the inventory she immediately said, "What this?" and tried playing with it, and then realized she could combine items.
As Ginny said, being easy to use is not necessarily the same thing as being easy to learn. My brother loves his digital SLR, and it lets him do all the things he likes to his photos. I'm sticking to my point and shoot, though, because it does what I need, without my needing to take a photography class to understand how to use it properly.
Example: The first puzzle of the game requires you to combine items, as a partial tutorial/introduction, they could have the text at the top left of the screen simply say "Pick up Item 1 and click on Item 2 with it to combine them" and have Guybrush say "I need to combine these two things". For most people who are capable of coherent thought, this would be more than enough of a tutorial to demonstrate that item combinations are possible.
Personally, I still think it was done to prevent item combination spamming by way of making it a lot more fiddly to combine items, so you only try to when you think it will work rather than just being stuck and randomly jabbing everything.
One of the things you have to avoid most of the time is tutorials: If exist an idea of how the people can deduce theirselfes of doing that in a blink, use that idea instead of put a tutorial. Make people feel smart, and better. (No, really =P)
The first episode of TMI already includes a tutorial for how to combine items, very similar to what I said.
I agree with Pale Man here, that's what tutorials are for. "Easy to use" needs to be the priority, and you need to support it by "easy to learn", not the other way around.
I'll try to prove my theory: Which game was you very first adventure game?
By the way, normally, easy to learn is the polar opposite of easy to use (not always mind you). You have to know for how many time people are going to use that interface and how many people are going to use that interface. Games is not something you usually dedicate a ton of time of realize how to do something (No what to do, how to do!) and not something you are going to use forever or in an extending amount of time. There's another software which is critical the amount of time you dedicate in how to do something, like Software for the Army, and those software are known for been a pain to learn, but they stick on it because how many time you dedicate to do something is matter of life. On the polar opposite, games are something you want to have fun and don't have to work, if a game takes too many work for start, the most possible thing is the people are going to stop playing the game and go to do something else. Since for a game is critical to hold your attention is that moment, easy to learn has to be first.