Not quite; because even if you are a hater, it is incredibly hard to resist (especially for such a long-awaited thing as a MI-sequel) all the teasing you read and hear about everywhere for half a year or so!
I tried it, and resisted until after chapter 2 was out; but there is a point where human willpower cannot prevail without the help of Voodoo.
And I could say full games are for lovers and haters alike; you can play them through in a weekend if you like, or you can play it in little bits and pieces; especially with MI games being divided into chapters anyway. :P
That's true..... But I still think playing a new once a month is better than waiting a whole year. And if I recall, I learned about the series before the first chapter was announced. And before it came out, I found a way and played all 4 games. So.... Thank you Telltale!
This is for me the first episodic game.
I actually like it, the wait between the chapters is part of the experience. I don't think it's better to play the whole game in a couple of days. Anyway, if you wait for the DVD release, you will get a whole game at once.
I also think that LucasArts will never give all the Monkey Island rights...
Episodic is great for lovers and haters If you want to play it right away, just play a chapter each time it comes out. For haters, wait till the last episode comes out. It's a win-win for everyone XD.
I agree !!!
Sorry, but I love this episodic format, and I love the waiting for the next episode in forums and communities, sharing comments with other fans, and similars...
Not quite; because even if you are a hater, it is incredibly hard to resist (especially for such a long-awaited thing as a MI-sequel) all the teasing you read and hear about everywhere for half a year or so!
I tried it, and resisted until after chapter 2 was out; but there is a point where human willpower cannot prevail without the help of Voodoo.
And I could say full games are for lovers and haters alike; you can play them through in a weekend if you like, or you can play it in little bits and pieces; especially with MI games being divided into chapters anyway. :P
You cant really blame TTG for your lack of will power.
It's like waiting to watch a whole season of a TV on DVD. Doesn't meant they should wait only release it as a movie.
When I first started the series, I posted something along the lines of "please please make a full-blown game in the future.
Now I've got used to it, however, I'd agree that the advantages mostly outweigh the disadvantages.
There's only one thing I massively miss from the old games: the world map. It really, y'know, tied the game together.
I know we get maps at Spinner Cay and Flotsam; but in the old games where you had the map showing ALL the big islands, you really got a sense that you were travelling around adventuring in this huge world. Because we don't see that for the most part in ToMI, you feel like you're stuck on a more linear path.
My suggestion would be to keep the episodic format, but gradually increase the number of places you can visit over the course of the episodes (maybe have it start with a blank map and islands are gradually added as you find out where they are).
You can keep the old islands the same throughout the game, there doesn't have to be any new dialog for the old characters. (Except where it was relevant to a puzzle where you had to travel back to an old island to see someone new or do something you couldn't do before)
I realise that download size is a problem, but perhaps you could have the successive chapters share content from old games (meaning you'd be required to buy the earlier chapters before the later ones, but realistically how many people buy only a single episode from part-way through a series?) Alternately you could have a shared content system where earlier episodes' content is downloaded but not the actual executable required to play them.
The really nice things about episodic content are:
- You get to start playing the game months before you would otherwise
- It's nice having an extra something to look forward to every month
- You can add extra jokes and respond to the community in some quite unique ways
- It means I don't sit and mission the entire game for however long it takes, and have no other life during that time
- It makes me take the time to stop and click on every single thing to get the most out of each episode, because I know it's going to over quickly
- As a developer I can totally see the advantages in terms of production cycle and the reward of delivering good, solid releases, and on time at that! Bigger projects are way more prone to "deadline creep" and burnout...
I realise that download size is a problem, but perhaps you could have the successive chapters share content from old games (meaning you'd be required to buy the earlier chapters before the later ones, but realistically how many people buy only a single episode from part-way through a series?) Alternately you could have a shared content system where earlier episodes' content is downloaded but not the actual executable required to play them.
Well, there are the logistical issues with that. First of all, you don't only have to buy the earlier episodes, but you also have to keep them on your hard drive for six months. I honestly delete an episode when I'm done with it, and don't play it again until after the DVD comes out.
Secondly, you can't share content on Wiiware, and they're already cramming as much as they possibly can into that space. So the solution would have to be 1/5 of the content to allow us to explore it all.
Third, there's the issue of actually IMPLEMENTING it without failure.
And fourth, well, WHY do it in the first place? If you have nothing to do when you go back, there really isn't a reason to allow you to go somewhere that you'll be unable to use for DOING anything.
You cant really blame TTG for your lack of will power.
Of course I can! Demanding so much willpower is a form of psychological torture!
If they would just reduce the quality a bit I could wait....maybe I should ask them to make the games shittier.
It's like waiting to watch a whole season of a TV on DVD. Doesn't meant they should wait only release it as a movie.
I wouldn´t wait for a DVD either. But there are a few differences; most episodes of a TV-series do not end in a cliffhanger. Most episodes have a self-contained story good enough to stand on its own, with a a larger story-ark over it. The ones that do always end in cliffhangers are and require regular viewing daily soaps; and those are broadcast daily as the name implies, the average TV series is at least weekly.
Now ToMI has the cliffhanger endings and pretty much stories that only work with knowledge of the other chapters; like a soap, but you have to wait 4 - 6 weeks to see what happens!
If ToMI was an open end series that comes monthly for as long as it sells, I´d be happy with it....but it is really one fully planned story already, a full and it´ll be over.
And beside that...and many people will wanna behead me...today´s TV-series are 95% crap!
Since the slowly falling quality of Enterprise, there has been no series I have been looking forward too! Stuff like Monk or Psyche is okay, but I am certainly not looking forward to it all week.. Now ToMI is an EVENT I really look forward too!
Now I know I can´t change anything...but when the question about episodic or non-episodic comes up like in this thread I will tell my honest opinion, and that is that the episodic format is the only flaw of ToMI in my eyes.
And beside that...and many people will wanna behead me...today´s TV-series are 95% crap!
I totally agree, but then I have always played a lot of computer games instead.
At the moment I'm watching South Park and Heroes every week. Heroes is mostly pretty lame but still has some occasional great moments, the series is starting to pick up now by episode 6/7. I don't even HAVE a TV
The kind of TV shows I had in mind all feature cliffhanger endings and are weekly. 24, LOST, Heroes, Flash Forward etc and it's part of what makes them great IMO.
This is for me the first episodic game.
I actually like it, the wait between the chapters is part of the experience. I don't think it's better to play the whole game in a couple of days. Anyway, if you wait for the DVD release, you will get a whole game at once.
I also think that LucasArts will never give all the Monkey Island rights...
The wait is hard but I do like the hype and talking with fans for a whole month... that is well worth the wait.
Comments
I tried it, and resisted until after chapter 2 was out; but there is a point where human willpower cannot prevail without the help of Voodoo.
And I could say full games are for lovers and haters alike; you can play them through in a weekend if you like, or you can play it in little bits and pieces; especially with MI games being divided into chapters anyway. :P
I actually like it, the wait between the chapters is part of the experience. I don't think it's better to play the whole game in a couple of days. Anyway, if you wait for the DVD release, you will get a whole game at once.
I also think that LucasArts will never give all the Monkey Island rights...
I agree !!!
Sorry, but I love this episodic format, and I love the waiting for the next episode in forums and communities, sharing comments with other fans, and similars...
You cant really blame TTG for your lack of will power.
It's like waiting to watch a whole season of a TV on DVD. Doesn't meant they should wait only release it as a movie.
Now I've got used to it, however, I'd agree that the advantages mostly outweigh the disadvantages.
There's only one thing I massively miss from the old games: the world map. It really, y'know, tied the game together.
I know we get maps at Spinner Cay and Flotsam; but in the old games where you had the map showing ALL the big islands, you really got a sense that you were travelling around adventuring in this huge world. Because we don't see that for the most part in ToMI, you feel like you're stuck on a more linear path.
My suggestion would be to keep the episodic format, but gradually increase the number of places you can visit over the course of the episodes (maybe have it start with a blank map and islands are gradually added as you find out where they are).
You can keep the old islands the same throughout the game, there doesn't have to be any new dialog for the old characters. (Except where it was relevant to a puzzle where you had to travel back to an old island to see someone new or do something you couldn't do before)
I realise that download size is a problem, but perhaps you could have the successive chapters share content from old games (meaning you'd be required to buy the earlier chapters before the later ones, but realistically how many people buy only a single episode from part-way through a series?) Alternately you could have a shared content system where earlier episodes' content is downloaded but not the actual executable required to play them.
The really nice things about episodic content are:
- You get to start playing the game months before you would otherwise
- It's nice having an extra something to look forward to every month
- You can add extra jokes and respond to the community in some quite unique ways
- It means I don't sit and mission the entire game for however long it takes, and have no other life during that time
- It makes me take the time to stop and click on every single thing to get the most out of each episode, because I know it's going to over quickly
- As a developer I can totally see the advantages in terms of production cycle and the reward of delivering good, solid releases, and on time at that! Bigger projects are way more prone to "deadline creep" and burnout...
Secondly, you can't share content on Wiiware, and they're already cramming as much as they possibly can into that space. So the solution would have to be 1/5 of the content to allow us to explore it all.
Third, there's the issue of actually IMPLEMENTING it without failure.
And fourth, well, WHY do it in the first place? If you have nothing to do when you go back, there really isn't a reason to allow you to go somewhere that you'll be unable to use for DOING anything.
But, that world map DID tie the game together
Of course I can! Demanding so much willpower is a form of psychological torture!
If they would just reduce the quality a bit I could wait....maybe I should ask them to make the games shittier.
I wouldn´t wait for a DVD either. But there are a few differences; most episodes of a TV-series do not end in a cliffhanger. Most episodes have a self-contained story good enough to stand on its own, with a a larger story-ark over it. The ones that do always end in cliffhangers are and require regular viewing daily soaps; and those are broadcast daily as the name implies, the average TV series is at least weekly.
Now ToMI has the cliffhanger endings and pretty much stories that only work with knowledge of the other chapters; like a soap, but you have to wait 4 - 6 weeks to see what happens!
If ToMI was an open end series that comes monthly for as long as it sells, I´d be happy with it....but it is really one fully planned story already, a full and it´ll be over.
And beside that...and many people will wanna behead me...today´s TV-series are 95% crap!
Since the slowly falling quality of Enterprise, there has been no series I have been looking forward too! Stuff like Monk or Psyche is okay, but I am certainly not looking forward to it all week.. Now ToMI is an EVENT I really look forward too!
Now I know I can´t change anything...but when the question about episodic or non-episodic comes up like in this thread I will tell my honest opinion, and that is that the episodic format is the only flaw of ToMI in my eyes.
I totally agree, but then I have always played a lot of computer games instead.
At the moment I'm watching South Park and Heroes every week. Heroes is mostly pretty lame but still has some occasional great moments, the series is starting to pick up now by episode 6/7. I don't even HAVE a TV
The wait is hard but I do like the hype and talking with fans for a whole month... that is well worth the wait.