ToMI - The Final Score

wkjezz

Ep 4 certainly was the pinnacle of this series for me.


However, now we got to play the whole series, and had our preconceptions answered and settled, how do we as a lovable band of Monkeyheads feel about this latest installment?

taumel

The second half of Episode 4 was by far the best but each episode had it's highs and lows. In episode 1 i've enjoyed the DeSinge Lab monkey riddle, in episode 2 i had a few "finally feels more like a pirate game" moments, episode 3 featured the wonderful Murray, episode 4 had a great second half and episode 5 a wonderful relaxed atmosphere - a little bit familiar from The DIG.

Overall some nice work and an enjoyful game but you honestly also should expect more from a Monkey Island game like a working and pleasing steering solution, better designed and complex riddles, an interesting and deeper story/tasks, better resolution of sound and graphics.

I often had he feeling that TTG are only scratching at what could have been possible. Leaves me satisfied but not enthusiastic. I would rate it in the area 7.5 - 8 out of 10.

OCKi

I give it a solid 9/10 score.

Pros: Pure Monkey Island goodness.
- Story is original and contains plenty of voodoo-piratey depths and drama! (Favorite story moment: Ch5 - When Morgan sacrifices her thread of life.
- The Puzzles are smart and baffling. (Favorite puzzle: Ch 4 - The Feast of the senses puzzle)
- The humor is sharp and hilarious. (Favorite LOL-moments: Ch3 - The whole Murray posing as Santino bit)

Cons: Just minor details really, but the re-use of charactermodels and no live instruments for the excellent Michael Land music are preventing a perfect 10/10 score from me!


I must confess that I was afraid that ToMI would become the "MI - Dumbed Down version" or "MI Lite", but I'm SUPER thrilled that it didn't!
Thank's, Telltale! I'm desperately hoping for a second season announcement next year!

Shale

It definitely did justice to the franchise. It's not unseating CMI as my favorite of the series, but it is a solid installment in every respect, and well worth the name.

eMKayeN

"Was a solid attempt at the franchise."

I generally enjoyed the plot and the characters and it was a fun game to play, although not overly challenging in the puzzles department. For the most part I liked it, read below for more.

Good:
-The characters and feel of past Monkey Island games were there
-The humour was brilliant, I'd probably say my favourite out of any of the Monkey Island games
-Some of the new characters were decent
-The direction the story took was different from past Monkey Island games, they went for some new ideas and it worked for the most part

Bad:
-Puzzles were just too easy, I said in another topic that the episodic nature is restricitive because you have less areas to visit, less items to use and so it's usually pretty straight forward. I think that is what made it feel less Monkey Islandish for me, it's the easiest Monkey Island game I've ever played. Also the interface is just one click stuff rather than "Talk, Pick Up, Use etc" so that limits what can be done too. Some of the puzzles were also quite repetitive, walking around in the jungle only really needed to be done once. Also use hook on locked chest was usually the answer.
-I usually find myself remembering music from the Monkey Island series, this game didn't really have anything overly memorable apart from the themes we already knew and loved from past games.
-As someone mentioned, the reusing of character models in the earlier chapters didn't really help some of the characters, they all looked pretty generic and similar. For example I mistook that guy in the treasure hunt area in chapter 5 for someone else because their models were so similar.

SurplusGamer

From a story and atmosphere perpective, as good or better than I hoped for, particularly towards the end of the series. Still, I think that TTG still have a few things to learn about puzzle design inasmuch as it affects story pacing and other plotting type things.

I also wish they would find some way to invest a little more time into each episode because I think it'd do wonders for polish.

That said, great job and a very solid 8/10 from me.

eggyrocks

Pros:
Playing Monkey Island again.
Did the games justice, episodes were fun, exciting, with plenty of twists and unexpected developments throughout.
Overall very solid story.
Morgan - although slightly dissapointed with her apparently going back to her pirate hunter role - I thought she'd make a perfect crew member for season two.
Characters in general were grand.

Cons:
Probably too easy. MI2 was insanely obscure, ToMI (especially Ep5) was a bit too linear and obvious - with the exception of a couple of map riddles.
Bit too much back and forth (e.g. raft to Club 41 in Ep5).
Expected a bit more to be answered. I don't overly like open endings, when in so many cases the proposed sequel never sees the light of day in the original form.

That's a very basic summation but overall I'd say a very solid 8.5 out of 10.
Can't wait for season two, even if I'd of done a few things differently, and not left quite so many things unanswered.
I hope for MI2: SE too LA

GBTW

It's the modern Monkey Island series, I love it.
It should be remembered as Monkey Island 5.

Is LeChuck finally defeated for good?
If it is so, it's the very last, but who can tell...

I wonder what happens... in the next Monkey Island, if any...
New Tales of Monkey Island or Other Tales of Monkey Island or Tales of Monkey Island 2.

In the meanwhile I hope to get the International localized DVD in 2010 in retail stores like Mediaworld, FNAC, Mondadori Informatica, Saturn, in Italy.

Or just online from the U.S.A. (not preferred method).
Directly in italian stores would be better.

loaldnt

taumel wrote: »

The second half of Episode 4 was by far the best but each episode had it's highs and lows. In episode 1 i've enjoyed the DeSinge Lab monkey riddle, in episode 2 i had a few "finally feels more like a pirate game" moments, episode 3 featured the wonderful Murray, episode 4 had a great second half and episode 5 a wonderful relaxed atmosphere - a little bit familiar from The DIG.

Overall some nice work and an enjoyful game but you honestly also should expect more from a Monkey Island game like a working and pleasing steering solution, better designed and complex riddles, an interesting and deeper story/tasks, better resolution of sound and graphics.

I often had he feeling that TTG are only scratching at what could have been possible. Leaves me satisfied but not enthusiastic. I would rate it in the area 7.5 - 8 out of 10.

I quote the vote. I give an overall 8 at the entire series. But I liked sam & ma more, I admit. Characters like Bosco miss in ToMI

wkjezz

After reading the comments, which were awsome, thank you and keep em coming, i agree TTG was the right people to do the game.

I hope that if a second season is made, that they take enough time to make it right, so if you read this TTG, don't rush it

My Fave (non game play moments)

1.) New Characters, that became just as beloved in their first outing as some of the MI faithfuls. Morgan, Happy LeChuck, Winslow and of course, Santino (for a non dialogue character, he has quite the cult following)

2.) Dominic Armato- A voice actor veteran and pro for sure! Too many great moments made by his ability to read the lines in a good way. My fave was in the last of Ep. 5 "Did we win?" very humble and awesomely cited.

8/10

Frogacuda

Totally exceeded my expectations, and stands as a worthy entry in the series, better than Escape from Monkey Island.

I didn't really expect a return to MI2 or anything, I don't think that'd even be entirely possible. So it's not like I think it's the best in the series, but it's way closer to a real, worthy Monkey Island 5 than I ever would have imagined.

Dinghy Dog

i would give it about a 6, it was good and fun but i found it lacked and wasn't generally consistent enough despite having all the right elements for it to be great. puzzles were very easy and linear (ep5 especially), controls seemed a bit weird (why did we have to put the items in a circle to combine them?), too many bugs/glitches (and even a few typos in ep5). Having said that i found that humour was generally pretty good although lacking the consistency needed in a monkey island game. i found that some episodes were hilarious but then the next would have no where near the same amount of funny moments. Characters were generally well done (i must admit i hated the whole lovey dovey thing with elaine and guybrush) and kept it interesting, although the reuse of models was annoying and confusing.

Overall 'Was nice to see, but didn't fully live up to what I'd hoped for'

RockNRoll

It really lacked for me. What most annoys me is that there were a lot of great ideas but just executed so half-assed that now future installments can't really use those ideas. Such as the cross-roads and the underworld. I really can't believe the lack of imagination and inspiration behind some of the scenery and writing. Episode 3 was great I thought, definitely the best one. If the guys who did that episode did the entire series it would've been a whole new ball game.

So many of the puzzles seemed like such lazy concepts and designs. 3-item quests everywhere. Very little lateral thinking or multi-layered real problem solving. Most involved just traveling between locations and clicking on something. The items you needed and used often didn't make any natural sense, both in terms of why you needed them, and how they were placed right under your nose every time. I mean, the treasure chest with LeChuck's belt buckle? That had to be a result of a late night throwing their hands up and just putting that there. Why on earth would there just be that treasure chest just right there in the middle of the jungle with that? Why would the belt buckle "charm" people? Why would LeChuck leave it there? Nothing about that was even slightly creative or natural feeling. It cut out the whole process of exploring a world for what you need and finding it in a natural setting for it. Similar thing with the BBQ in the first episode, just planted in the middle of the jungle. That's just lazy design.

The locations were often just as lazy. They weren't worlds you were entering, all of them looked minimally set for the story. Everything was only populated by people you needed to interact with. There were no "extras" or environments that made you feel like you just entered somewhere that has a history and a life without guybrush needing to do some specific task. In some ways the graphics were gorgeous, in terms of camera movement and resolution, but when it came to rich artistic design and immersion there was nothing.

ep5 is terrible, imo. the puzzles are totally half-assed, in both concept and execution. they completely ruined what would have been an EPIC monkey island setting in better hands, the land of the dead. they made it completely dull and nonsensical. just thinking about how they made it is truly ridiculous. the episode introduced all sorts of new, confusing plot elements sort of last minute that seemed totally arbitrary and forced. another voodoo recipe? why those ingredients? bizarre. the ending was totally lackluster, and it felt like a half-length episode.

There's a lot more in the grievance department for me, but I'll stop there. I hate complaining so much about it, but I just feel so frustrated with it. Like there was so much promise, but it almost never got there. I feel like one of the main reasons was the fact that it was designed for the lowest common denominator Wii user. Meaning the graphics, sound, size, and difficulty was all scaled back to a shocking degree. I just don't think that's acceptable. If you can't make a monkey island with all the bells and whistles, don't do it at all.