Think of it as not much different to how CMI worked, for example. CMI had seperate, distinct chapters taking place in completely new locations, with new goals and sub goals, linked together by the story of the Curse. This should be similar - we don't know what the linking story is yet, but we're told there is one.
It's just that in the case of Tales there will be 5 chapters of more or less equal length, while in CMI it went short (ship)-long (plunder)-short (insult fighting)-long (blood island) -short (carnival)
Think of it as not much different to how CMI worked, for example. CMI had seperate, distinct chapters taking place in completely new locations, with new goals and sub goals, linked together by the story of the Curse. This should be similar - we don't know what the linking story is yet, but we're told there is one.
I think episodic and full games are actually two different mediums that have as much as movies and TV as common - a lot, but not everything. You can't cram together five episodes of House or the Simpsons and call it a movie.
Totally disagree. TT said, that TOMI will have a big Storyline, and that there will be a big difference, when you compare it to Sam and Max. So it seems to me, that there is one big game, which eventually could be splitted into parts. (Hope not)
Downloadable episodes maybe episodes. But if i get my fullversion, I want to play one big game, if there is one big Storyline. Otherwise i'm thinking of not to buy it, because Sam and Max disappointed me in that way, although it entertained me. But i can't imagine, that works with MI, too.
There are still a lot of Fans who believe, that the fullversion of the game will be one big game, some are shocked and surprised that the fullversion maybe splitted into Parts, cause they did not play, the sam and max games, yet. I also was very surprised, when i played the sam and max season, and after a few hours i saw some credits. But it was called "Sam and Max - Season One".
Tales of Monkey Island don't has any "season" in the title. So i hope it won't be splitted anyway. Maybe some TellTale-People could give us an answer.
I don't mind about the episodic format providing each one is long enough to last most of the month at say an hour or so a day - I may however end up spending every waking hour playing it!
I don't mind about the episodic format providing each one is long enough to last most of the month at say an hour or so a day - I may however end up spending every waking hour playing it!
One hour a day would make one single episode 30 hours long, which is longer than most full releases these days. I expect the length of a single episode of TMI to be in the 2-8 hours region.
To be honest, it's hard playing one episode knowing that I have to wait for another episode to play more but I would rather play through episodes than have no new Monkey Island game at all.
but I am genuinly concerned that adventure games as a whole are falling down the same route as other genres... and am talking about games like Football Manager, Unreal Tournament, Half-Life and recently Sam & Max...
but recently am swayed to support new Frenchy guys Quantic Dream... I believe they are evolving adventure games the way it should... pushing themselves to make the next game they make really great and better than the last one... their track record i think demonstrate this...
The problem with Quantic Dream is that they take around one million years to develop a game, as interesting as they are. That can't be standard practice for a viable adventure game; something that isn't as easy to hype as the next big FPS or similar.
As for track record...they've released two games in ten years! (soon to be three in eleven). That said, I am looking forward to Heavy Rain.
I want to play games not entire series to get the plot of a story... i don't want a to get a "To be continued" sign at the end of the episode even after i've spent £30-£35 on a purchace
Okay. Wait until December and then play them all straight through
Totally disagree. TT said, that TOMI will have a big Storyline, and that there will be a big difference, when you compare it to Sam and Max.
But Sam and Max had a "big" storyline as well which each episode built on. I don't understand why many are expecting the episode structure to be so radically different.
But Sam and Max had a "big" storyline as well which each episode built on. I don't understand why many are expecting the episode structure to be so radically different.
Probably because Telltale have specifically said that Tales episodes are much more chapters of a big story that S&M are.
Probably because Telltale have specifically said that Tales episodes are much more chapters of a big story that S&M are.
They're still going to be episodes, though. I think it's more like a TV series with a strong, cohesive overall plot rather than being very episodic in nature. You still don't get a movie at the end by ramming it all together into one big package, but you get a strong and epic story over the course of a season.
One hour a day would make one single episode 30 hours long, which is longer than most full releases these days. I expect the length of a single episode of TMI to be in the 2-8 hours region.
Haha yeah, I'm not sure I was thinking logically last night. I'll just make sure I get every line of dialogue out of it!
They're still going to be episodes, though. I think it's more like a TV series with a strong, cohesive overall plot rather than being very episodic in nature. You still don't get a movie at the end by ramming it all together into one big package, but you get a strong and epic story over the course of a season.
Yeah thats what I meant. The fact TTG have stressed it has a much more cohesive overall plot that S&M is what I was trying to get across to Spooky666.
they dont do episodes because they want to be able to create a different kind of story, they could make one big game and add 5 chapters, this would be exactly the same ...
they do episodes because there is a commercial thought behind it, if they do episodes and the first one sells very bad, they can stop the production, people who have bought the game still have a start and an end of the story ... but im sure monkey island will sell more copies then all telltalegames together, so there was no need to do episodes, they knew from day one on that they would make 5 episodes so they could have made one big game which i would prefer.
know i must wait one month after each episode until i can play the next chapter, which really sucks. people who are not such big fans of it will get the game as a whole on dvd, they will be able to play it as a whole, real fans will have to wait 5 months until the can enjoy the end of the game
After initially being skeptical, I have grown to love the episodic format for, I imagine, much the same reasons as the Telltale staff loves making them, i.e. shorter turnaround time, quick storylines, and greater variety of stories to tell.
Secondly, I do not have the luxury of time that I once did and it is nice that I can usually finish a Telltale episode in one evening. Plus when I am done I can come to the forum and speculate on what's next....
I've got to say that I would agree with the op, if TTG didn't have such a strong track record with episodic gaming releases, as opposed to... well, pretty much every other gaming company out there that's tried the same thing. Half Life Episodes failed pretty spectacularly as an episodic series, Sin Episodes didn't make it past the first release (although a lot of that was due to quality issues, in my opinion).
But TTG, since they started releasing Sam and Max, has delivered their episodes on time and of a high quality, so I'm more than happy to have them continue with the structure they're comfortable with.
(Not that I have any say in the matter, of course )
they dont do episodes because they want to be able to create a different kind of story, they could make one big game and add 5 chapters, this would be exactly the same ...
they do episodes because there is a commercial thought behind it, if they do episodes and the first one sells very bad, they can stop the production, people who have bought the game still have a start and an end of the story ... but im sure monkey island will sell more copies then all telltalegames together, so there was no need to do episodes, they knew from day one on that they would make 5 episodes so they could have made one big game which i would prefer.
know i must wait one month after each episode until i can play the next chapter, which really sucks. people who are not such big fans of it will get the game as a whole on dvd, they will be able to play it as a whole, real fans will have to wait 5 months until the can enjoy the end of the game
The reason Telltale is releasing MI episodically is because from Telltale's inception, it set out to be the leading developer in episodic entertainment. Our games are meant to work like interactive TV shows. And check this out, it's totally up to you whether you play the episodes as they come out and join in the speculation of what comes next. Or you could play the full season when it all comes out as package deal. It's up to you! I personally don't see why people have a problem. It's like watching a season of your favorite show when its on TV or buying the box set when it hits retail. You're gonna have to wait longer to enjoy it if you wait for the season to be over, but you get the added bonus of having access to the whole season.
So really I don't know how people can complain. Unless of course people are just upset that others are playing the new Monkey Island before them :cool:
So really I don't know how people can complain. Unless of course people are just upset that others are playing the new Monkey Island before them :cool:
That shouldn't be the case, if they don't want to play it. If they were "jealous", surely they'd join in the fun?
I'd say there is a legitimate stigma against episodic entertainment. I don't think I've seen anyone else do it well. Look at Half-Life 2 Episodes, look at even the Penny Arcade Adventures that have great content but far too much time in-between.
I think the episodic concept is new, and it's something that kind of needs to be proven. I think that's the general consensus at Telltale, with the Season Pass and the DVD specifically being an economic means to make consumers more comfortable with digital distribution and the episodic format.
So really I don't know how people can complain. Unless of course people are just upset that others are playing the new Monkey Island before them :cool:
yes thats it, i dont want to have to wait between episodes, but even worse would be having to wait 5 month until i can play all 5 together, im a csi fan and i watch the series on tv because the next day when i go to work every one talks about the last series, thats the only why i can avoid spoilers, but i also buy the series later on dvd or download them because i want to get the story, when i have to wait between episodes i always have problems to remeber what happened before, its the same with monkey island, i will play the episodes because i have no choice, but i really dont like having to wait a month between each of them.
as i said before i dont think a game is better only because its splitt up into several parts, there is no advantage for the game, you can also make a big game which chapters or with multiple storys, the only advantage producing episodes is a commercial one, because its less risky for the development firm which produces the series, but as i said, if you do a monkey island game there is almost no risk cause fans will buy it no matter what ... i just hope telltale will make another mi and i hope that one wont have episodes, or at least i hope they gonna release all the episodes at once.
Telltale was started from day 1 to create episodic games. We really like the format, and see all kinds of opportunity to do great things with it. Episodic is just different than long form. I can't imagine a good "Seinfeld" movie or a good "Lost" movie. I really think TOMI is our best use of the medium yet, and we're still just getting going! Give it a shot and I promise you'll enjoy it!
um monkey island has ALWAYS been episodic... its just that the 3-4 episodes per game were bundled together on one CD... in about 5 months well have a full monkey island game just like the others in the series and the only difference is that well have had the oppertunity to play the episodes as they completed them instead of waiting 5 months for the full games release to play the full game
People want to have their cake and eat it too. They want seventy-eight episodes of the game lasting 1000 hours each, translated into 216 different languages with a free boxed copy, free swag, free soundtrack, personal concierge service to help install the game and open the game shortcut and a helper monkey, possibly with three heads (or more). And they want all of this *yesterday*.
Seeing as you get a whole season (five to six episodes at a total run time of fifteen to twenty-five hours on average) for thirty-five bucks, I don't see what the problem is. All this does is allow Telltale to deliver us content on a regular basis rather than simply giving us one product every two years.
I personally really loved the Sam & Max seasons (in the middle of Season Two right now and I think it already far surpasses the first season in quality and humor) and the episodes are not a bad way to deliver us our adventure game cravings.
The reason Telltale is releasing MI episodically is because from Telltale's inception, it set out to be the leading developer in episodic entertainment. Our games are meant to work like interactive TV shows. And check this out, it's totally up to you whether you play the episodes as they come out and join in the speculation of what comes next. Or you could play the full season when it all comes out as package deal. It's up to you! I personally don't see why people have a problem. It's like watching a season of your favorite show when its on TV or buying the box set when it hits retail. You're gonna have to wait longer to enjoy it if you wait for the season to be over, but you get the added bonus of having access to the whole season.
There are two main reasons people meet episodic games with skepticism:
1) Although Telltale has consistently delivered complete episodic series (well... aside from Bone) they're the only company that's done it right, and there are a lot of other companies out there mucking things up for you and making people hate episodes. To most gamers episodes mean broken promises and shattered dreams. Insecticide, Sin Episodes, Half Life, Penny Arcade Adventures... All these episodic series that leave on cliff hangers and never deliver give the format a bad name.
2) You're talking about an existing series/franchise with existing expectations and people are going to resist changes no matter what in that regard.
You're right though, Tales of Monkey Island is an authentic-feeling Monkey Island game that happens to be released in 5 parts initially, and I think people should give it a go and stop worrying so much.
I also really liked the fun of getting a new Sam and Max every month. In that case I didn't think of them as one big game, but I still liked having something to look forward to each month, and I felt sad when the season was over.
I for one absolutely love Telltale's episodic style. I've always played LucasArts-style adventure games for their stories, and I think it's great that Telltale offers well paced stories that aren't artificially lengthened by frustratingly asinine puzzles. Despite what a lot of reviewers say, I think that TT games mostly have terrifically designed puzzles. They're complex enough that they leave you with a sense of satisfaction without losing so much hair along the way. There's also practically no filler, almost every puzzle moves the story along in a thoroughly entertaining manner. To be honest, these are the kind of puzzles that I've always wanted in a game. They make the design in old Sierra titles and even some LucasArts ones look absolutely shoddy.
So, thank you Telltale for moving forward in a genre that's even more stuck in the past than JRPGs.
To most gamers episodes mean broken promises and shattered dreams. Insecticide, Sin Episodes, Half Life, Penny Arcade Adventures... All these episodic series that leave on cliff hangers and never deliver give the format a bad name.
I think that's harsh on Half-Life because no promises were broken with that as far as I can recall. Valve said that the episodes would allow them to deliver more Half-Life games, more quickly and that's exactly what they've done so far. The gap between Episode One and Episode Two was *much* shorter than the gap between Half-Life 1 and Half-Life 2!
Overall, as far as the Half-Life episodes are concerned, break-neck release speed is a much lesser concern than the overall quality of the games, which have been outstanding. They rightly take as long as they need for them. Episode is really just a name and it isn't used in as much of a high-concept fashion as Telltale do.
I think that's harsh on Half-Life because no promises were broken with that as far as I can recall.
Releasing games whenever you feel like it is fine for a large game (or a movie) but if you never knew when an episodic show was going to be on, you'd never watch it.
Half Life Episode Three was originally scheduled to come out in Summer of 2007. It's two years late and we haven't even seen a trailer and it's not coming until 2010.
So basically by the time the episodes are done coming out, they will have taken 6 years to release a sequel to a game that only took them 5 years, despite recycling the engine and 90% of the graphics. If you can't see something messed up there, you might want to look again. Episode Three will look ancient by the time it comes out. Even Episode Two did.
The problem is that while companies like Telltale are tightly managed and organized and feel a commitment to their customers, Valve runs their studio like some kind of goofy hippie commune where people show up and work on whatever they feel like and no one ever goes into crunch cycle. I'm sure it's a wonderful place to work, but it's not how big boys do things and THAT is why they take so long to produce anything, NOT because they spend more time "polishing and tweaking" than anyone else.
I'm not sure if this has been said already but the obvious reason for it being episodic is so people can pay less for a 'taster' of the game (ie episode 1) which isn't as much of a commitment as spending the full 30 or so dollars on an entire game. A gamer who is unfamiliar with the 'franchise' may then be willing to take a chance on something they wouldn't normally risk and if they like it, buy the entire game.
Also it benefits people who maybe can't afford $35 but CAN afford $7 per month or whatever it costs for each single episode.
Comments
It's just that in the case of Tales there will be 5 chapters of more or less equal length, while in CMI it went short (ship)-long (plunder)-short (insult fighting)-long (blood island) -short (carnival)
I assumed the Pox was basis of the main story.
Totally disagree. TT said, that TOMI will have a big Storyline, and that there will be a big difference, when you compare it to Sam and Max. So it seems to me, that there is one big game, which eventually could be splitted into parts. (Hope not)
Downloadable episodes maybe episodes. But if i get my fullversion, I want to play one big game, if there is one big Storyline. Otherwise i'm thinking of not to buy it, because Sam and Max disappointed me in that way, although it entertained me. But i can't imagine, that works with MI, too.
There are still a lot of Fans who believe, that the fullversion of the game will be one big game, some are shocked and surprised that the fullversion maybe splitted into Parts, cause they did not play, the sam and max games, yet. I also was very surprised, when i played the sam and max season, and after a few hours i saw some credits. But it was called "Sam and Max - Season One".
Tales of Monkey Island don't has any "season" in the title. So i hope it won't be splitted anyway. Maybe some TellTale-People could give us an answer.
One hour a day would make one single episode 30 hours long, which is longer than most full releases these days. I expect the length of a single episode of TMI to be in the 2-8 hours region.
Eh, not so sure. It probably has something to do with the main story, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was just a small piece of the puzzle.
I'm incredibly excited at the thought of anything new regarding mi and am salivating at the thought.
You listed four great games. What's the problem?!
The problem with Quantic Dream is that they take around one million years to develop a game, as interesting as they are. That can't be standard practice for a viable adventure game; something that isn't as easy to hype as the next big FPS or similar.
As for track record...they've released two games in ten years! (soon to be three in eleven). That said, I am looking forward to Heavy Rain.
Okay. Wait until December and then play them all straight through
But Sam and Max had a "big" storyline as well which each episode built on. I don't understand why many are expecting the episode structure to be so radically different.
Probably because Telltale have specifically said that Tales episodes are much more chapters of a big story that S&M are.
They said each chapter will be a new island, so it appears this is the case.
Haha yeah, I'm not sure I was thinking logically last night. I'll just make sure I get every line of dialogue out of it!
that's one of the things that made me most excited. But I will believe it when I see it.
Yeah thats what I meant. The fact TTG have stressed it has a much more cohesive overall plot that S&M is what I was trying to get across to Spooky666.
(But they are called Chapters now too...)
they do episodes because there is a commercial thought behind it, if they do episodes and the first one sells very bad, they can stop the production, people who have bought the game still have a start and an end of the story ... but im sure monkey island will sell more copies then all telltalegames together, so there was no need to do episodes, they knew from day one on that they would make 5 episodes so they could have made one big game which i would prefer.
know i must wait one month after each episode until i can play the next chapter, which really sucks. people who are not such big fans of it will get the game as a whole on dvd, they will be able to play it as a whole, real fans will have to wait 5 months until the can enjoy the end of the game
Secondly, I do not have the luxury of time that I once did and it is nice that I can usually finish a Telltale episode in one evening. Plus when I am done I can come to the forum and speculate on what's next....
But TTG, since they started releasing Sam and Max, has delivered their episodes on time and of a high quality, so I'm more than happy to have them continue with the structure they're comfortable with.
(Not that I have any say in the matter, of course
The reason Telltale is releasing MI episodically is because from Telltale's inception, it set out to be the leading developer in episodic entertainment. Our games are meant to work like interactive TV shows. And check this out, it's totally up to you whether you play the episodes as they come out and join in the speculation of what comes next. Or you could play the full season when it all comes out as package deal. It's up to you! I personally don't see why people have a problem. It's like watching a season of your favorite show when its on TV or buying the box set when it hits retail. You're gonna have to wait longer to enjoy it if you wait for the season to be over, but you get the added bonus of having access to the whole season.
So really I don't know how people can complain. Unless of course people are just upset that others are playing the new Monkey Island before them :cool:
Have you ever seen more complaining about a game prior to its being released? (I'm not completely innocent on this point.)
It will be interesting to see whether or not the amount of complaining increases or decreases after tomorrow.
I'd say there is a legitimate stigma against episodic entertainment. I don't think I've seen anyone else do it well. Look at Half-Life 2 Episodes, look at even the Penny Arcade Adventures that have great content but far too much time in-between.
I think the episodic concept is new, and it's something that kind of needs to be proven. I think that's the general consensus at Telltale, with the Season Pass and the DVD specifically being an economic means to make consumers more comfortable with digital distribution and the episodic format.
yes thats it, i dont want to have to wait between episodes, but even worse would be having to wait 5 month until i can play all 5 together, im a csi fan and i watch the series on tv because the next day when i go to work every one talks about the last series, thats the only why i can avoid spoilers, but i also buy the series later on dvd or download them because i want to get the story, when i have to wait between episodes i always have problems to remeber what happened before, its the same with monkey island, i will play the episodes because i have no choice, but i really dont like having to wait a month between each of them.
as i said before i dont think a game is better only because its splitt up into several parts, there is no advantage for the game, you can also make a big game which chapters or with multiple storys, the only advantage producing episodes is a commercial one, because its less risky for the development firm which produces the series, but as i said, if you do a monkey island game there is almost no risk cause fans will buy it no matter what ... i just hope telltale will make another mi and i hope that one wont have episodes, or at least i hope they gonna release all the episodes at once.
Me? I'm just happy there's new Monkey Island.
I personally really loved the Sam & Max seasons (in the middle of Season Two right now and I think it already far surpasses the first season in quality and humor) and the episodes are not a bad way to deliver us our adventure game cravings.
There are two main reasons people meet episodic games with skepticism:
1) Although Telltale has consistently delivered complete episodic series (well... aside from Bone) they're the only company that's done it right, and there are a lot of other companies out there mucking things up for you and making people hate episodes. To most gamers episodes mean broken promises and shattered dreams. Insecticide, Sin Episodes, Half Life, Penny Arcade Adventures... All these episodic series that leave on cliff hangers and never deliver give the format a bad name.
2) You're talking about an existing series/franchise with existing expectations and people are going to resist changes no matter what in that regard.
You're right though, Tales of Monkey Island is an authentic-feeling Monkey Island game that happens to be released in 5 parts initially, and I think people should give it a go and stop worrying so much.
I also really liked the fun of getting a new Sam and Max every month. In that case I didn't think of them as one big game, but I still liked having something to look forward to each month, and I felt sad when the season was over.
So, thank you Telltale for moving forward in a genre that's even more stuck in the past than JRPGs.
Overall, as far as the Half-Life episodes are concerned, break-neck release speed is a much lesser concern than the overall quality of the games, which have been outstanding. They rightly take as long as they need for them. Episode is really just a name and it isn't used in as much of a high-concept fashion as Telltale do.
I'll take your point about cliffhangers though!
Half Life Episode Three was originally scheduled to come out in Summer of 2007. It's two years late and we haven't even seen a trailer and it's not coming until 2010.
So basically by the time the episodes are done coming out, they will have taken 6 years to release a sequel to a game that only took them 5 years, despite recycling the engine and 90% of the graphics. If you can't see something messed up there, you might want to look again. Episode Three will look ancient by the time it comes out. Even Episode Two did.
The problem is that while companies like Telltale are tightly managed and organized and feel a commitment to their customers, Valve runs their studio like some kind of goofy hippie commune where people show up and work on whatever they feel like and no one ever goes into crunch cycle. I'm sure it's a wonderful place to work, but it's not how big boys do things and THAT is why they take so long to produce anything, NOT because they spend more time "polishing and tweaking" than anyone else.
"Maybe their just trying something different"
Also it benefits people who maybe can't afford $35 but CAN afford $7 per month or whatever it costs for each single episode.