Episode 1 - likes and dislikes: my take.
Congratulations, Telltale gurus, on releasing the first episode of Tales of Monkey Island. You've made a great start.
In particular, I was very impressed with:
1) The opening confrontation with LeChuck. Epic, exciting, and funny - and it really captured the classic Monkey Island feel. This might actually be my favourite opening moment to any game in the series.
2) I love Guybrush's visual character design. You've taken everything that I liked about Guybrush's design from LeChuck's Revenge and CMI and somehow combined them to create a new Guybrush who surpasses them. Best Guybrush yet.
3) The facial animations - and the background environmental animations - really breath life into the game. Wonderful stuff.
4) The music is great.
5) The mouse only control method, whilst initially a little too "sensitive", is easy to get used to. After just a short time, I found steering Guybrush around with the mouse to be a painless and enjoyable experience.
What I didn't like:
I only have one criticism, really, but it threatens to spoil my enjoyment of the series, so I'll throw it out here...
The game (so far) lacks the piratey atmosphere of the first three games. It's all too similar to EfMI in this respect. I'll try to elaborate.
Ninja Dave action figures? A pirate glassblower who makes unicorns? A "New York" reporter? You tube references? A pirate cocktail club? And all of them encountered in quick succession, one after the other? It's this sort of thing (when overused) that ruined EMI for me. Although it's not quite so bad in ToMI, the problem is still clearly evident.
The balance seems off - the first three games were wonderfully piratey with the occasional effectively used anachronism. The fourth game in the series (and seemingly the new episodes) represented a shift away from this, which significantly lessened the Monkey Island feel. The problem, I think, is that the contemporary references are too prominent - too "in your face" - and there are too many of them to the point where they dominate the feel of the game.
Other than this problem, well done guys! The episode was fun and I look forward to playing the future instalments.
In particular, I was very impressed with:
1) The opening confrontation with LeChuck. Epic, exciting, and funny - and it really captured the classic Monkey Island feel. This might actually be my favourite opening moment to any game in the series.
2) I love Guybrush's visual character design. You've taken everything that I liked about Guybrush's design from LeChuck's Revenge and CMI and somehow combined them to create a new Guybrush who surpasses them. Best Guybrush yet.
3) The facial animations - and the background environmental animations - really breath life into the game. Wonderful stuff.
4) The music is great.
5) The mouse only control method, whilst initially a little too "sensitive", is easy to get used to. After just a short time, I found steering Guybrush around with the mouse to be a painless and enjoyable experience.
What I didn't like:
I only have one criticism, really, but it threatens to spoil my enjoyment of the series, so I'll throw it out here...
The game (so far) lacks the piratey atmosphere of the first three games. It's all too similar to EfMI in this respect. I'll try to elaborate.
Ninja Dave action figures? A pirate glassblower who makes unicorns? A "New York" reporter? You tube references? A pirate cocktail club? And all of them encountered in quick succession, one after the other? It's this sort of thing (when overused) that ruined EMI for me. Although it's not quite so bad in ToMI, the problem is still clearly evident.
The balance seems off - the first three games were wonderfully piratey with the occasional effectively used anachronism. The fourth game in the series (and seemingly the new episodes) represented a shift away from this, which significantly lessened the Monkey Island feel. The problem, I think, is that the contemporary references are too prominent - too "in your face" - and there are too many of them to the point where they dominate the feel of the game.
Other than this problem, well done guys! The episode was fun and I look forward to playing the future instalments.
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Comments
You've said it better than i could, but i agree 100% on the complain.
And as you said, it's not so bad either... Just a bit disapointing.
Is it just me, or is the dialog alternatives not representative for what's actually being said? What I recall from the top of my head is the conversation with the reporter right after you strand on Flotsam Island. I felt that several of the alternatives you had to choose from wasn't being accurately reproduced.
An example (which I only vaguely remember): The reporter wants to make a deal with you. You get three options or something: I pressed one of them, and all Guybrush said was "A deal?" What happened to the rest of it?? Why give us choices if they aren't mentioned that way anyway? The same thing goes for the "Deep Gut" alternatives (Elaine's mother is here?) etc.
I really hope this doesn't continue throughout the game.
Not so much in itself, when done well this can be hilarious. There was just too much points at which what you picked made no difference whatsoever... A bit frustrating, yeah, but not too big a deal for me.
I didn't much like the you tube joke either. I inwardly groaned in fact because it was exactly the modern pop culture reference that isn't really part of the MI humour. Sure MI had references, but usually only to other lucasarts things or classic references... I don't recall any topical humour.. and to be honest with you, ninjas and utube strike me as rather I dunno... inappropriate? The ninja/pirate thing is only amusing if you understand the whole pirates vs ninjas rubbish and Utube is like referencing any other website or a store or something... you know? Just, didn't mesh for me. I expect jokes of a slightly less "ooo pop culture reference! Let's tap a demographic!" nature. Part of the charm of the first two MI games at least, was that there wasn't any topical references and the pop culture was old old classics or lucas back catalogue. (Though the reference to Lucas' student film was a nice touch, and the indy references. When we gonna get a star wars quip?)
Overall I liked the game, it was fun... but i'd like to see NO MORE map mazes thank you very much... and a bit of a cut back on the internet references I suppose. Maybe i'm just old and not used to adventure games referencing the net, I dunno... I always liked the anachronisms but for some reason, internet memes don't strike me as worthwhile fodder.
Buuut, I could ramble on for ever about that minor issue lol. Overall, it was fun. I hope to see more and more improvements in furthur installments and await episode two with baited breath!
But what bothers me way more is how awfully crappy fire and explosions look. I mean com'on: It's 2009, and there are mobile phone games with better special effects than that. Of course, MI isn't about special effects. But being "told" that there is an explosion without actually seeing an explosion (but just things/persons flying around) is just wrong. And though it's obvious why it doesn't destroy the characters or objects we still need (for example a certain kind of clothes), it could at least leave black traces in the environment!
But aside from those things, it's another great Telltale Game. I especially liked the Wallace reference, though it felt kinda strange in the MI universe. X3
(Those two universes don't really fit to each other in my opinion.)
Oh: And is it just me or does a certain unicorn-selling person sound like a certain everything-selling person from SBCGFAP?
I also really appreciated (I know this is a bit lame of me to mention) the pirate-y language in the confirmation email. It made me laugh.
I LOVE the whole 'enchanted hand' angle, too. Great. Love it.
On the dislikes front, I think that 'Flotsam Island' wasn't quite as well realised as the rest of the Islands from the MI series... By which I mean, that I didn't get any distinct theme (apart from, obviously, the whole 'winds' thing) or sense of place on the island. I think this came from there not being enough indoor locations... In fact, there weren't any, apart from the brief period inside Dr Singe's. To summarise: more vistas, please!
Still, it IS only the first chapter, and I don't think this will really stand out as an issue unless all the other islands/locations are like this.
that sock needs a good darning, darn you sock!
Everything was made from flotsam...
LOVED that joke!
Except it wasn't really; at least, not noticeably... It was only on the Screaming Narwhal (as in the ship itself) that they made that obvious.
I suppose what it really came down to for me was too few characters and too few indoor (or indeed ANY) locations. Whether or not you agree that it was a problem, it's a fact that there were fewer of both than in any previous MI island.
But the game has lost the pirate spirit that Monkey Island had up to MI 3, or maybe 4 if you want. The graphics dont help with a different Guybrush, and the story is no good. I miss that pirate times with Monkey Island, I certainly DO NOT like this version. Actually the only MI thing in this game is the name of Guybrush Threepwood and the music.
And it is difficult to move the character with that new systrem. I just want point and click or as if MI3 or with the instructions.
Assuming you're talking about the Blood island in MI3 and not a completely different game, I completely agree... The atmosphere of that island was so wonderfully original, distinctive and also pirate-y and enchanting, too..
(Though, personally, my favorite island level was the Scabb, Booty & Phatt tri-island one in MI2, for the sheer variety and detail)
This isn't a criticism of Tales exactly, (I'm used to everyone in monkey island looking like they're constructed out of lego after MI4) I just don't understand why any company would chose to lose the depth of expression from already existing, high quality animation techniques, in favour of 3d graphics which still aren't really good enough to replace the old system.
In two words:
Financial Issues.
That being said the game itself was mostly enjoyable. There's enough of good things to say about it that everyone already knows so I say the things that bugged me a bit. First of all the graphics were maybe a little too cartoonish. Yeah, I know, its MO ofcourse they're cartoonish but they simply weren't as stylish as I remember the previous games were. Secondly I think some scenes would have benefitted if they had more decorational objects like the boat for example. They looked quite crude. A lot of people complained about the jungle puzzles. I didn't think they weren't bad however it felt like a little bit of recycling the same scene. Three puzzles on a very same setting is too much.
I got somewhat a feeling that the guys at Telltale, while definedly making a good work, were in a rush to bring the game out on time. A little more time would surely have smoothed things out a bit. Now before you start crucifying me let me say that I'm not complaining. I enjoyed the game and I'm waiting for the next episode. My only fear is that the episodes might turn out to be a little too similiar. Even good stuff can get repeatative in five episodes (which feels like a lot playing and thats a good thing) but I'm having my hopes high. And all in all lets face it, 30 some bucks for 5 episodes that each take probably roughly 2-5 (for me I'd estimate 3,5) hours to beat is one damn heckofa bargain nodoubt!
The new Guybrush is awesome. He is just the Guybrush I've always imagined. MI3&4 left Guybrush-wise the same feeling like the pop culture references in the 4th one. Please stop them, they are annoying and don't add anything to the humour.
But nevertheless, this is a brilliant start. It turns out to be the best Monkey Island since the second one!
Edit: Cant wait for the new special edition of The Secret of Monkey Island with proper cartoon style. Like all of these types of adventure games should look like.
Yeah, I get the feeling that people only pay attention to the negatives. ToMI's Guybrush looks great, doesn't he? I absolutely agree that this is a brilliant start to the series. Sure, there are a few areas that could do with a little tweaking and refining, but the game truly feels like a legitimate, worthy Monkey Island game.
I can't wait for the next episode!