Thoughts, ideas, and storyline for 2nd Season TOMI
There seems to be a running tangent in other threads, which has devolved inevitably into arguing over continuity issues, and minor questions about who is likely to reprise as secondary characters.
This thread is for suggestions on a future TOMI season. So grab those thinking caps (not the dunce hat) and present Telltale Games with your suggestions.
This thread is for suggestions on a future TOMI season. So grab those thinking caps (not the dunce hat) and present Telltale Games with your suggestions.
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A really simple (and obvious) one - I think almost everyone here would like more interaction options in the next season either in the form of a verb-coin or something with a similar function.
And yes we've heard plenty on the issue of Pyrite parrots, Crossroads, and semantics of who can and who cannot go there.
I have not figured out a way for the Marquis' return though if he did, I imagined he'd somehow steal LeChuck's essence from the Voodoo lady (Science for the win), perfect his immortality elixir, and as all scientists do - inadvertently bring back LeChuck.
Perhaps the Voodoo lady can be forcibly removed from her NEW abode, charged on suspicion of overly spicy herbs, or failure to return Voodoo library book.Something inane like that. Besides for all her voodoo she has proven that she can be kept caged up.
What I want to see is: character development. To me, character drive the story, and Monkey Island has fantastic, likeable characters. You care about them, and that connects you to the story, which makes it more meaningful (or is that just me?).
Elaine, I think, is most deserving of character focus. I mean, let’s take a look. She was introduced and fairly fleshed out in MI1, was mostly uninvolved in the story of MI2 (even the party was only a small chunk of the game), was a statue for most of CMI, was around but didn’t do too much in EfMI, and was poxed and/or possessed for the majority of ToMI. Her lack of focus might be one of the reasons people had issues with the end of ToMI – her actions seemed to come out of nowhere. She’s a badass pirate-governor, she deserves more screentime!
Also Morgan. Oh, Morgan – I’m so attached to this character, it’s a little silly. I think it’s fairly obvious now that she’ll play some kind of role in the next story. Her development from Leviathan to Pirate God has been excellent, gradual, and believable, and I want that to continue. Her story isn’t over yet! The same could be said for Winslow (who is awesome in his own right) and the Voodoo Lady. ToMI has uncovered so many depths that need to be explored!
Another thing I’m curious about is locations. Should places like Melee and Monkey Island be brought back? It seems like it’d be something of a double-edged sword to me. It’d be lovely to see the locations again, but there’s always the worry that they’ll be brought back without a purpose. This is sort of how I felt about Murray’s cameo in EfMI – he was a loved part of CMI, but his appearance in EfMI was, well, rather pointless. I think locations should be brought back if they have a purpose. Then again, considering how TellTale handled Stan and Murray’s reappearances, I have full confidence they could revisit an old island and still have it seem like a new, original location, and not “that island from all the other games”.
This especially applies to Monkey Island. I think it’s one of the most important places of the series, and CMI and EfMI sort of… overtook it. I’d like to see how TellTale would handle any potential revisits. (Personally, I’d like to see a run-down, abandoned Carnival of the Damned. Or have a hurricane wipe the whole thing, I dunno. I just like the deserted island aspect of it all.)
I think that Telltale does more or less fine in the storytelling department. I think they need to have writers and production work together better though, and realize what they can expect. Tales is their first episodic series with "serious" plot points, and it shows. There's tons of foreshadowing that ends up not being realized a month or two later, because something obviously got changed or cut before release. Now this could be due to a lot of reasons, but I think it's most likely a bit of a disconnect between what the writers write and what the technical side knows they can pull off in time. Not sure, though. Just fix the foreshadowing without a payoff issue, please.
I think we know we can combine items now. Mention the mechanic in the tutorial and then drop it, please. This is a really minor annoyance, but an annoyance nonetheless.
Can we please ramp up the puzzle difficulty a bit? I'm not even looking for LucasArts classic difficulty here, just Sam and Max Season Two difficulty. I want to get snagged on more than one or two puzzles during the course of an episode. This is really the biggest failing of recent Telltale adventures. I sort of solve it with a flow-of-consciousness sitting, when I remember playing each Sam and Max episode for a week, stopping several times per episode at a puzzle I just couldn't get yet. I don't think I've gotten any sharper, and in fact my acute puzzle-solving ability has gotten a lot weaker since Infocom and Sierra(and the industries around them) died and could no longer keep their vice-like grip.
To help the above, fill the world with more stuff. More believable stuff. Or make existing background stuff clickable. Have it do something, or let us pick up junk. I don't need the amount of stuff we had in the Monkey Island 2 ending, I just want to be able to not think that every single thing I'm holding is absolutely vital to something I will be doing in the next 20 minutes. As a side note, let us carry more stuff with us to the next episode and then let us do something with it. I loved that about some puzzles in Leviathan, with the eyeglass? That was great. I want more puzzles like that.
Also, kill D'oro. In a horrible, horrible way. And please, please do not ever do another game with the atmosphere of Episode 1. Thanks.
Keep up the good work on the camera angles and lighting. If the whole season looked as good as the finale of Episode 5, it would have been the best-looking Monkey Island game ever.
I'm sure this is nowhere near everything, and I'm sure I could have elaborated more on all points. Sorry for being unable to really competently articulate myself.
I think the reason for that is pretty simple: the medium of video games are inherently interactive, and it's easier for the player to attach themselves to the character that is essentially "them". Because you share and aid in their trials throughout, you are generally inclined to bond with them.
Yes, yes, and yes. For the real die-hard fans that take the MI series as if it were an eponymous character are surely scathing that Tales did not include the actual Island, which in itself has developed many intrigueing characteristics (mainly due to the SECRET, which btw, a giant robot monkey is not the secret
of MI and Tales should return to this particular facet.)
As for seeing the wrecked Carnival of the Damned again, I'd pay double the price to see. But I think Escape has left a huge scar in that department, in that Monkey Island was milked dry, especially locations like the Giant Monkey Head. (We can only assume LeChuck and Ozzie cleared the park.
But memorable locations like Plunder could be used, though not entirely, at least some of it. I had mentioned in another post that it would be interesting to return to some familiar locales like Plunder, or Melee, just to see their development given recent events. For example to see whether an Island like Jambalaya remained pirate-free; all cushy and commercialized. And in other instances, returning to places like Blood again (briefly) finding Goodsoup alone and hungover. The back-story could be: he did have a thriving return to business, but a disease now known as the LeChuckin pox killed off most of the tourists.
Something like that anyway.
I'm all for returning to Monkey Island.
All this, definitely. I'd particularly like to be able to pick up or acquire things in one episode that are absolutely no use until a later one. Obviously they'd have to find someway to force the player to pick up the item so that people don't get to the next episode and think 'wait, I've never picked that up!'. I do also miss the useless inventory items - there were quite a few in the last episode of Sam and Max weren't there? That was a good thing. A yes, more clickable stuff that is literally just for Guybrush to observe. Having these things would make the game more difficult because at the moment you can solve most puzzles by working out what items you've already used in your inventory.
-Try to avoid the character models the more possible. And if it's necessary to put a fat one, please make it different from Winslow!
-Put a character from old games that is a surprise. Murray and Stan are always expected, but a return of Largo, the men of low moral fiber or Wally would be AWESOME
-Fix somehow the continuity problem with Big Whoop. I'd like to hear an official explanation in the game for that
-If you need to put a plot that involves all the caribbean like in the last chapter of tales it would be great to hear in dialogue or show in some cutscenes what's going on the islands that we visited in the other games, like Melee, Scabb or Booty.
-More Winslow. I absolutely want more Winslow
You've seen the Christmas card, right? How much more Winslow do you want?!
As for season 2, the only thing I'd really like is seeing Elaine become a more interesting character. Morgan finally added an interesting female character to the franchise, even though Elaine has been a staple of it since the beginning. But since her characteristics are not much more than being Guybrush's wife, being almost supernaturally resourceful, and in CMI and EMI, being extremely violent, there's not a lot to go on. There could be some good stuff in there though. The whole megalomania thing when she was demonic was pretty cool, maybe they can go there or explore some as of yet unseen characteristic of Elaine.
Now that Morgan is a ghost pirate hunter in the living world, and has shown some affection for Guybrush, and now that Lechuck is gone, maybe some role reversal here.
Guybrush vs. Lechuck becomes Elaine vs. LeFlay
I'm not saying Elaine should become the person you play as (though that could be cool), but maybe sill play as Guybrush, but from Elaine's point of view. Setting up such a big plan to accomplish a goal, and near the end of every chapter, meet up with Elaine to find some random, commical plot developement between her and Morgan.
I think there's already some conflict between them. i would be like a continuation of the fight from ep. 4
Which is exactly why I'd like to see Telltale try it. Everybody knows Guybrush and they love the mook, but a lot of people don't see why he loves Elaine. Show us! Not to mention what I've described is basically what they did in Secret. Think about it, Guybrush wanting to become a pirate dominates the first chapter, but then it's about saving Elaine. But by the end you realize
So in a way, it'd be bringing the series back full circle to stick Elaine in the center of things again.
LeChuck is back from the dead and he's gonna try and take over the carribean/world at the same time as marrying Elaine.
How could you ever suggest such a ridiculous, non-canon, totally unforeseeable type of thing like that?! You, sir, must be mad. Flame flame flame, flame, flame flame.
You know what? That'd be actually awesome to see a villain similar to Dr. Facilier.
Agreed. There must be more potential taken out of Elaine's character. Personally, I found her to have become a bit too stereotypical a character over the last few games. I mean, I never really understood why Elaine "wants to go back being a pirate at the end of EMI - she'd never been one before, right? There was a lot more mystery behind that woman back in MI1, granted, maybe that was also due to the lack of screentime, but mainly because she had something "inapproachable" as a woman of politics, she was cryptic in a way. Not sure how to put this, but maybe you see where I'm going.
As the true center character of the Monkey Island universe I agree that season 2 should try and focus on Elaine. Maybe she has a secret as big as the Voodoo Lady's? I mean: can anyone answer me the question why the Voodoo Lady would have forced LeChuck to chase for Elaine's love all those years? I don't see why she'd do that (yet LeChuck says that it was part of her doing, too). I see an interesting attempt in revealing some background knowledge about Elaine in season 2, and, as Lena said, show a vulnerability in her character. It's a little nonnatural for a woman not to have an emotional breakdown after a decade or so of massive stalking.
Anyway, personally i would like to see a structure similair to tales, in the respect lechuck isn't revealed as the villain until the very end. But i think for that to have a proper effect, he needs to be absent for chapters 1-4.
That's a really good point that seems to have been forgotten a bit as time has gone on. The main conflict of the series is really centered on our former governor, and Tales has begun to bring her back to the forefront of the story. It'd be nice if we could get a little resolution to her character.
This is both a good point and a hilarious line. Seriously, as tough and kickass as Elaine is, even she must get a little freaked out from time to time at the thought of how persistent LeChuck is. I'm not saying she needs to turn into Irene Dunne, but a hint of frustration at least might be nice.
It might be nice to add a little Aztec flavour into the mix as De Cava was reminiscent of a conquistador I don't think it would be too far fetched. It's a good source of cursed treasure, evil gods and disturbing monkey creature statue's at least.
Disney does the best villains, so any bad guy (or girl!) sharing similarities with one of theirs would most likely be awesome. Although I haven't seen The Princess and the Frog yet.
Yes, I think LeChuck needs to take a back seat in the next installment in order to keep things fresh. That was one of the great things about TMI - they found a way to avoid LeChuck being (obviously) evil for most of the game, although there was a wonderful "is he / isn't he" undercurrent. The introduction of another interesting villain, in the form of De Singe, was also very welcome.
It would be poor storytelling to keep the main antagonist absent until the end though. And weird for people who start with the sequel instead of playing TMI first.
Perhaps the story could revolve around someone trying to resurrect LeChuck, and Guybrush needing to stop them. Still LeChuck-related but not more of the same "har har har I'm going kill Guybrush and marry Elaine" business.
Also agree with the comments about Elaine meriting some serious character development in the next game. Elaine has been around for 5 games now, but in just one game Morgan has completely leapfrogged her in terms of character development.
As for puzzles, it would be great to have less "find this shopping list of items in the jungle", and more puzzles like those in Lair of the Leviathan. The solutions in that chapter were often based around knowing other characters and their motivations (e.g. "breaking" the brotherhood to find the Tongue of the Manatee). I really liked that. There were also interesting things that I've never done in other adventure games, and really play to Telltale's strengths - like the way the "faceoff" puzzle made excellent use of their capability to do expressive facial animations.
Those things aside, I'd just like to see how the writers continue the Voodoo Lady story they've set up in TMI.
Please now is time for a second loom part, or best MANIAC MANSION 3, ZACK MC CRACKEN 2 or THE DIG 2!!!
Wish the best!
Juan Ignacio
from
Argentina
I'd appreciate that very much, too.
And I totally agree with those previous posters who would like to see much more character development for Elaine. She's got a lot of potential.
Guybrush and Elaine have a kid.
A return of Wally, I think the last I saw him (if I remember right) was in the carnival of the damned in MI3.
And I missed seeing Herman Toothrott/H T Marley as well!
As far as Big Whoop was concerned, I thought that was explained away in MI3 as the secret of big whoop was actually the ability to turn people into undead minions, being why the carnival was built on top of it, to attract the living and create the undead!...(it's been a while since I played the older games tho, so I may be wrong!)
Agreed, I'd love to see ol' Wally again
I think they'd have a hard time putting him in the game after EMI. Few people want to see THAT Herman.
And more Winslow too!
EfMI introduced a lot of continuity snarls regarding Herman/H.T. While it could be interesting to see how Tales handles it, it could also bother a lot of people, since Escape is a rather polarizing game to say the least. And (iirc), when Morgan first met Guybrush and listed off a number of his accomplishments, she conspicuously omitted anything from EfMI. I just wonder about that.
Introducing relatives/children of main characters is a gamble. I'm not terribly fond of the idea, and... I dunno, I just don't think a child could really fit into the MI world. It's not exactly kid-friendly.
This, basically (although something like the original Feast was an inventive spin on that). However, like the transition from Sam and Max season one to season two, I think that the puzzle quality will improve in the future. TT has gotten a feel for what works best and what we like, so they can implement that from the start. I like puzzles where you have to feel out the answer, with the illogical logic that you just sort of expect in the world of MI.
I know some of you won't like the return of these characters (I wouldn't necessarily like it either), but I'm just saying that I can see it happening anyway.
Morgan will somehow be some major trouble, probably the Elaine - Morgan rivalry will be source to some funny twist and turns
Something really unexpected will happen.
There will again be tension between Elaine and Guybrush (Guybrush can be a bit dense at times)
What I'd like to see:
As much as I love LeChuck, I'd like him retired to keep the character fresh for the next sequel.
I'd love to see someone like Largo to be the main villain.
I loved how Telltale actually pushes characters across their boundaries (like Elaine becoming a demon bride, or killing Guybrush). Please continue to be ruthless to your characters. The more bizarre the better.
Oh, yes - more Winslow please. And keep the good work with the side characters like WP, Krebbs, D'Oro.
I think it would be awesome to play as Elaine or even do a Broken Sword 2 style schtick where you have to swap from one character to the other to solve a particular puzzle. Elaine definatly needs some fleshing out. We even know who Morgan's first love was and what her pet was called. Does even Guybrush know that about Elaine?
Then, I'd like the game engine to run a bit more smoothly, and a more open game world, if possible. And also, season one was missing a bit of the atmosphere that made especially MI2 so great (think of the three main islands, for example) but that'd pretty much gotten lost with MI 3 & 4, so I don't blame it on TTG. Still, getting that back would be amazing.
- More Murray!
- More silliness like the 'pirate I was ment to be' song, more songs please! Interwoven with the serious stuff it creates a nice dynamic atmosphere.
- More pranks, interaction with things that do funny stuff like slapping a floor board, coming up on the other sideof the wall and the character standing there gets wacked and can't see who does it or something like that.
- More monkeying around, more monkeys, more monkey islands! Maybe monkey island has sunk to the bottom of the ocean, maybe it is infested with voodoo magic and all sorts of magical items pops up, uncovering more secret, more ancient stuff buried in there for us to explore.
- I've seen flotsam island a little bit as monkey island. Getting there and escaping it was just as hard.
- More chapters!
- More difficult logic puzzles
- More comments and clickable items.
That's it for now