Who should make Monkey Island 6?
Who do you think should make the next Monkey Island game? Lucasarts or Telltale? One game or episodic?
Personally, I think Lucasarts has really gone downhill since The Curse of Monkey Island came out, and I'd much rather see Telltale do it. Though I was extremly sceptical about the episodicness at first, I quickly realized that:
1: We get 5x2=10 hours of Monkey Island instead of 4.
2: We get a month of really neat speculation in between each time.
3: We get to give feedback, so they can improve the game (Which is very evident in Tales: compare Launch of the Screaming Narwhal with the last two episodes)
All of this makes me like episodic better.
Personally, I think Lucasarts has really gone downhill since The Curse of Monkey Island came out, and I'd much rather see Telltale do it. Though I was extremly sceptical about the episodicness at first, I quickly realized that:
1: We get 5x2=10 hours of Monkey Island instead of 4.
2: We get a month of really neat speculation in between each time.
3: We get to give feedback, so they can improve the game (Which is very evident in Tales: compare Launch of the Screaming Narwhal with the last two episodes)
All of this makes me like episodic better.
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So, TTG for me. Don't care for the method of delivery, but it would be nice if it could be combined into one game afterwards if made in episodes...
If the development considers this option/feature from day 0, they can make it happen and put the internal plumbing needed and build around the episodes.
The way TOMI is done now makes it incredibly complex, but I sense that in future releases that could happen.
Still, it's not a deal breaker to me. I'd settle with a "launch next episode" from within the game (skipping the current and next episode's launcher)
What happens now the voodoo ladies 5 game contract with lucasarts is complete or does talesOfMI not count?
10 hours?! Did you even listen to the dialogue?
Awesome, although it may have been because you were so familiar with the previous games.
I had replayed all of Tales after chapter 5 came out, and I did it at my more or less fastest. Still 7 hours.
Tales was not anywhere near bad. It wasn't all that close to perfect, either, but honestly we have a fairly good plot going on right now. Changing developers or storytelling style doesn't seem like a good idea at this stage, really.
I played each game once initially, chapter 1 a second time while waiting for chapter 2, and all four chapters when I ran the series while waiting for chapter 5. So I'd played chapter 1 three times, chapters 2-4 twice, and chapter 5 once prior to the race. I was decently familiar with it, and I still got an hour more out of it than I got out of Escape. And I was falling asleep during Escape and was kind of slow.
But now that Tales turned out to be better than I dared ever hope for, I wouldn't want to have it any other way. Probably not even if LA hired Ron Gilbert full time to design 2D point & click adventures with unlimited access to their booty chest of Star Wars-generated income.
So I voted Telltale, episodic. I might have gone for the "LA/Gilbert/Star Wars money" option if there was one.
Lucasarts isn't really equipped for a game like Monkey Island (most of their adventure game staff started Telltale after all) and they'd have to be seriously evil bastards to shut Telltale out after they were the ones who so handily resurrected the franchise.
And leave Gilbert out of it, if he can't make a game without breaking the chronology.
Gilbert actually said that his MI3 could be worked around CMI, and since TMI follows on a lot more from CMI (serious lack of EMI references in Tales except for the odd sentence or two) I'd assume TMI could be worked in as well as long as it did not mess with Gilberts vision.
This is a ridiculous argument. It bothers me every time I read it. I voted for TTG, but seriously, just because LucasArts doesn't have the "old" staff (Ron, Tim, Dave, etc.) doesn't mean their current staff is incapable of making a decent adventure game. People shut them down before even giving them a shot because they're so loyal to the original adventure game developers. There are other developers out there waiting for the opportunity to make a good adventure game, and some of them, some of them might even work for LucasArts. You can't just assume that because some of their staff moved to TTG, now LucasArts can't make a decent adventure game. Anybody can make a great adventure game, even the staff at LucasArts.
[/rant]
Sorry, I don't mean to pick on you LowMoralFiber. You're not the only person to have said something like this before. I just had to say something this time.
Didn't Ron say something about Monkey Island 3a? Maybe he was joking though.
I wholeheartedly agree.
I've been a fan of the Monkey Island series ever since playing 'Secret' on my old Amiga 600 when I was 11, and I've loved all of the games with the exception of 'Escape', with whom I have a platonic relationship at best. And I also have a special place in my heart for 'Curse', because I don't think I've *ever* looked forward to a game as much before or since. (granted, a lot of that was down to 'how will they resolve the ending from MI2?!') So I can't say that I'd be entirely thrilled to see Ron Gilbert's 'real' MI3, but if it can be worked into the chronology without displacing 'Curse' then I'm all for that.
Back to the matter at hand: I've loved everything that Telltale have done with the series. I love the design, I love the music, I love the puzzles and I especially love the writing because I'd never have thought they could get away with
tl;dr - TELLTALE ARE AWESOME, MOAR TALES PLZ
Okay, maybe the current staff hasn't shown themselves incapable of making a decent adventure game, but at best that argument can be used to support giving them the benefit of the doubt. They still haven't proven themselves capable either, and if the games currently coming out of LucasArts are any indication, their specialty may lie elsewhere. If LucasArts were to ever take interest in producing new adventure games again, I'd be all for giving them a chance, but I certainly wouldn't want to risk having an unproven team testing the waters with our beloved franchise. Let's see them try out making an adventure game using a new IP, and we'll talk about LucasArts making Monkey Island 6 after we see how that goes.
Including the homeless man living in a bathroom at the bus station. Everybody has to start somewhere. I will not stand with the people who hold up their noses at the attempts of others.
Oh... wait...
I would argue with your "anybody can make a great adventure game" idea, though. Maybe anyone can make an adventure game, but it takes something really special to make a great adventure game. Or is this one of those "Ratatouille" things, where you mean "not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere"? If that's the case, then like I said, if there's anybody left there to make an attempt, I'm willing to see it, I just don't want to take the chance with Monkey Island until their first attempt has been made. I'm willing to give them a chance to prove themselves, I just want to see them prove themselves worthy before handing Monkey Island over to them. Telltale had already proven to make exceptional adventure games and I was thrilled to hear that they got the Monkey Island license. I'm willing to give LucasArts or anyone else the same treatment. Show me you can make something special, then I'll give you my blessing to mess with one of my favorite series.
Also, I actually liked SoMI:SE.
For those who want to judge against LucasArts for what's been done in the past by others (EMI, S&M: Freelance Police, Full Throttle 2), you've forgotten that none of the people who were behind the development of these games are with LucasArts anymore (to the best of my knowledge). LucasArts has a relatively new president, new developers, and a new vision for games. To blame these people for those things is unfair.
Then there are those who have seen the recent games and believe the new developers could never make a decent adventure game. This is also unfair. Just because MI:SE and Lucidity didn't turn out as well as expected doesn't mean everything from this point on will also be "garbage." Everybody has to start somewhere. Compare Bone to TMI. And besides, the developers at LucasArts haven't even been given the opportunity to make an adventure game yet, so you should at least hold judgement until they do.
From the LucasArts website:
"Lucidity comes from our effort at LucasArts to form several small internal development teams and give them the creative freedom to make games that surprise, amaze and inspire," said LucasArts President Darrell Rodriguez. "The re-imagining of The Secret of Monkey Island and the development of the all-new Lucidity are just the beginning of this effort."
Or to keep more in the gameworld, why are you here? Are you lured here, like me and many others, because former LA-adventure employees work here on Sam & Max and Monkey Island? TTG spend time building their rep, and that rep is known. LA also has a rep. Should I just forget it, for... what exactly? I am sure you would be thrilled if Bungie (creators of Halo) or Valve or who-ever made Crysis would make an adventure now would you? No? How odd... shouldn't you be by the definition you are trying to impose on us?
I really don't give much of a damn about the individual people working in a company, excluding a few "names". People come and go, in any company. I am basing my opinion on a company on the companies own history and reputation, and what games they made in the past. If they haven't made any, sure, they get the power of doubt until they proved themselves (or not). And if they make games I dislike I am NOT getting warm over any other project, even if it is something new they never did before and I should swoon all over them for it, as you have said we should.
Should Obsidian deside to make an adventure, would I be interested, even if they never made one before? Sure!
Should Bungie deside to make an adventure, would I be interested, even if they never made one before? Hell no. Not "others", LucasArts themselves. They get what they build. I like them for, say KOTOR, but then they f*cked up KOTOR2, and now they make TOR instead of a KOTOR3. Sorry, LA, but it's rather easy to say that's because of "others" (BioWare, Obsidian). LA gave MI to TTG, which was a good move which makes me like them a bit more, but no... I defintely do not have any faith in them pulling off a MI or any adventure game by themselves just about now... Bold words, which are just words until proven otherwise. Yes, there is Ludicity and the MI games, but totally convincing of a new vision it is not yet. After all, EA just did the same, and there isn't a lot to notice from it just yet. Talking about that, EA changed leadership and staff many times too. Doesn't mean I am giving them a clean slate every single time that happens. Do you? I bet you don't do either... I doubt anyone assumes so, but until totally sure I rather they not continue on old titles, but rather have a more reputable company, like TTG do it.
LA lost my faith, let them fight to retake it. I am not just giving it up based on pretty scetchy promises it will "get better". You have to pretty naieve to just get faith on such a small promise. Humans lie. Humans suck. It's what they do. And many companies making promises as the one LA does now show they like nothing more than not hold onto them at all. Sorry, but I am not going to trust a company to make a quality game until I see some solid evidence that they are, infact, capable of doing so.
And if they do show it, only then I would be willing to look forward to more of their games (like now with TTG or Obsidian). Way to write of like... 20 years of LA Adventure games. Woot! But I have to admit, they made some incredible improvements, and many legendary games. Oh wait, they never got the opportunity to make any games, right? That all the people working on those legendary games left is LA's OWN FAULT. That none of them remain doesn't fill up my heart with hope and anticipation as it somehow does yours. Yes, they haven proven themselves yet. Does that mean I have to give them MI6 for a first attempt? HELL NO.
As you might have already noticed I use "Cautionous until proven otherwise" unlike your optimistic "Awesome until proven otherwise".
Edit: In case you didn't catch it, I voted for TTG too you know, so I don't necessarily disagree with you entirely, just on some things.
how about a compromise of the current status of LucasArts as a development house as unproven, awaiting further testing.
I know Stemmle co-designed Tales, but I believe Grossman was design director, not Stemmle.