This is the most sequential, interconnected story Telltale's ever told. Mike and Mark have a glorious plan for the arc of the entire season and we hope to be revealing as many questions as we do answers to the series' questions every month. I get psyched just thinking about it.
Woah, woah, woah. I'm getting all filled with fanboy tension... One of the main things that EFMI did wrong was totally screwing around with the Monkey Island universe. It rewrote the history of the much-beloved first game, for example... even though we'd all played it!
Surely it would be wiser to step away from the hallowed-ground of the earlier games and start setting up your own mythology with these characters?
...guess it's too late now, though! Lol.
(*Crosses his fingers and hopes for the best* -- I'm still damned excited!)
Okay, I'm about to start a new rumor. I think that Ron Gilbert is going to make a Monkey Island 5, and it's going to "fix" the trajectory of the story arc to include his vision of how the story was supposed to (but ultimately didn't) continue after M.I. 2.
We already have the following info...:
- Ron Gilbert has previously stated that if he had a chance, he'd have done a sequel that "rights all the wrongs" with the story arc.
- Mr. Gilbert was consulted before making Tales, i.e. he participated in brainstorming sessions.
- It has been stated in this very forum by members of the Tales dev team, that the SECRET of Monkey Island is "for Ron Gilbert to tell". Or something to that effect.
- Tales will skip directly to being considered "Part 6". Monkey Island 5 will presumably be an "imaginary" prequel to Tales.
My theory is that this "imaginary prequel" thing will be a convenient device to allow Ron and LucasArts to shoehorn their 40-hour sweeping tale in between part 4 and "Tales".
If Ron would do that, one of the changes would be to not have Guybrush and Elaine in a relationship
And they are still married in TMI, so I think it's not the case...
Nice theory though
I realize that he could not undo the marriage (it's well known that Ron didn't approve of the marriage... if he had been invited, he would have raised his hand during the "If anybody has just cause..." part of the ceremony).
I'm talking about the convoluted way in which the MI 2's esoteric ending was just explained away in CMI. CMI's story was not Ron's original vision of how the story would continue -- the entire story arc would have been very different if Ron had been invited to the party. But it may not be too late -- there are still creative ways in which a very clever story-teller such as Ron could fix things. But like you said, he'd still have to compromise on the marriage thing. :-)
Even if he doesn't attempt to "fix" anything, I still think he's going to do MI 5. And while he's at it, he may just give away the big *secret* (or invent one).
I think Mark and Mike have constructed the character's with both classic and new motivations -- Tales is definitely a story that stands on it's own. The questions and answers I mentioned shouldn't be interpreted as us referring to old canon OR as us turning this into a monkey-tastic version of Lost -- just that each episode is interconnected and that there are both episode wide AND season wide arcs for your savory consumption. And in my humble opinion, they're deeeeelicious.
(This is just me speaking, Mark and Mike have their own opinions, I'm sure) It's always a delicate balance when you return to a beloved series: we want to make something that sits alongside what you know and love, but is also new and interesting. We want to be canonical, but also tell a new story. Bottom line, we want the Monkey fans who have been waiting all this time to finish each episode feeling like we did right by them. Hopefully you guys do!
It's not the Ron "wasn't invited" to the party. He left the party. I bear him no ill will of any kind, and would love to see what he'd do with a new MI game of his own, but I don't expect the other people who worked on the series to abandon it just because Gilbert struck out on his own.
First off, what was the reasoning behind giving Guybrush his current look? I like the tradition of Guybrush looking different in every game he appears in, and I have to say I'm absolutely in love with how he looks right now. The weird cross between his CMI/MI2-look really works for some reason. But yeah, how many versions of the new Guybrush were there, and what made you decide that this look was the one you wanted?
!
Well, we took into account the way people responded to the previous looks of Guybrush. Most people really dug his blue jacket and look from 2. Many people didn't like the tall lanky version from 3, but we still wanted to stylize and have it feel like Guybrush. His real personality, for me, came out when he finally had a spoken voice. We also wanted to have him seem older because this is essentially after MI5. He just came across as creepy with a beard. I had fun drawing him regardless the way he looks. I have a sheet of old Guybrush drawings laying around here I'll see about posting. Once Guybrush was designed, he served as something to gauge everyone else off of (i.e. Elaine compliments his shape)
I have a question for you guys that shouldn't be spoilerish. Does this game go back to the feel of the first two games, the last two, or is it a unique beast all it's own?
It sounds like you're more interested in continuing the story rather than making a game chock full of what the fans want (which I agree with). I'm all for a quality fresh product versus everybody getting their favorite character cameo.
Well, we took into account the way people responded to the previous looks of Guybrush. Most people really dug his blue jacket and look from 2. Many people didn't like the tall lanky version from 3, but we still wanted to stylize and have it feel like Guybrush. His real personality, for me, came out when he finally had a spoken voice. We also wanted to have him seem older because this is essentially after MI5. He just came across as creepy with a beard. I had fun drawing him regardless the way he looks. I have a sheet of old Guybrush drawings laying around here I'll see about posting. Once Guybrush was designed, he served as something to gauge everyone else off of (i.e. Elaine compliments his shape)
Great concept art by the way!
Curse of Monkey Island was the reason I started to really work on my drawing skills, so the art of Monkey Island was always important to me. After seeing the art for TMI, a lot of the inspiration I thought was gone, came back so thanks for that
The first thing i thought was, Why ... not ... LOOM...!
But I love MI quite as much and have great confidence in you guys, really.
Two tiny questions (sorry if they might be stated before, but the only oney who have to read this massive thread is you...muahaha.)
1. Are the puzzles going to be as easy as in your other games? Or are we getting some real point&click Adventure finesse?
2. Judging from the video (which might be shots from an early alpha/beta?) the scenes look as clean/empty as in Wallace&Gromit. What I loved about all the older Adventures was, that there was a lot of eyecandy in the background. Any chance of having some?
3. Why not Loom?
Ok, guys, I'm pestering the forums with this question, now that I've bought the game I think this is the right thread and forum section where to ask:
the choice of using so few polygons for the models, expecially for inanimated ones, is due to limitations of the engine, limitations of time, pure choice (unlikely) or simply the space limitations for the Wii Ware?
Please Telltale, answer to this one!
It's not the Ron "wasn't invited" to the party. He left the party. I bear him no ill will of any kind, and would love to see what he'd do with a new MI game of his own, but I don't expect the other people who worked on the series to abandon it just because Gilbert struck out on his own.
I wouldn't expect that either. It's just that he's mentioned previously that he would have liked to have been consulted for part 3, to complete his vision of the story. He never seemed upset about it, it was just a wish. So I think it's cool that they made a point of inviting him to participate in TMI, and moving forward it would make sense for him to make a MI 5, since it almost seems like the Telltale team *want* him to tell the sweeping 40-hour epic that part 5 is supposed to be.
I dunno, just guesses/predictions. I'm not married to the idea -- at this point I'm just so glad that the excellent Telltale team has picked up the gauntlet.
Ok, guys, I'm pestering the forums with this question, now that I've bought the game I think this is the right thread and forum section where to ask:
the choice of using so few polygons for the models, expecially for inanimated ones, is due to limitations of the engine, limitations of time, pure choice (unlikely) or simply the space limitations for the Wii Ware?
Please Telltale, answer to this one!
Thanks anyway, love ya guys!
Hopefully Wallace shows a taste of what our engine is capable of... But yes, we do have to do a bit of economizing for Wii Ware.
Also -- even though July 7 is around the corner, there is still stuff going into the game every day that just rocks -- games get awesome FAST and there's going to be a lot of stuff shipping with the game that we haven't shown yet, from the way environments animate, to FX and the like.
First off, what was the reasoning behind giving Guybrush his current look? I like the tradition of Guybrush looking different in every game he appears in, and I have to say I'm absolutely in love with how he looks right now. The weird cross between his CMI/MI2-look really works for some reason.
You hit the nail on the head! Right from the begining we decided we wanted to shoot for a look that fell somewhere between MI2 & CMI. These are generally most people's favorites (Often depending on which one they actually played first.) We wanted to keep a bit of the lankiness that kind of defined Guybrush in CMI, and couple it with that Iconic coat & beard we saw in MI2 (That is if you squinted enough).
Hopefully Wallace shows a taste of what our engine is capable of... But yes, we do have to do a bit of economizing for Wii Ware.
Also -- even though July 7 is around the corner, there is still stuff going into the game every day that just rocks -- games get awesome FAST and there's going to be a lot of stuff shipping with the game that we haven't shown yet, from the way environments animate, to FX and the like.
I perfectly understand, and can't wait to play the game (you made more curious now )
Thanks for answering, and congratulations to all of you guys at Telltale!
You hit the nail on the head! Right from the begining we decided we wanted to shoot for a look that fell somewhere between MI2 & CMI. These are generally most people's favorites (Often depending on which one they actually played first.) We wanted to keep a bit of the lankiness that kind of defined Guybrush in CMI, and couple it with that Iconic coat & beard we saw in MI2 (That is if you squinted enough).
Perfect choice, imo! And I've always been with MI2 Guybrush! Absolutely love his look!
But Guybrush's sleeves are 8-sided prisms! We've already noticed, too late!
Too bad geometry shaders for tesselation are only being added in DirectX 11; otherwise it should be easy to turn that 8 sided prism into a 64-sided one on the graphics card...
Still - my urge to buy a Wii then throw it off a cliff or something for hampering PC games is rising steadily...
How do the puzzles compare with the old games, or are they more in line with your Sam & Max puzzles? Do you have an overarching philosophy on the challenge and gameplay aspect of TMI? Any new types of puzzling?
I personally really hope you are putting a lot of effort into nice, challenging open-ended puzzles that stand up to the old style and not making it really easy and hand-holding for the lowest common audience.
Would it be at all possible to have a higher rez option in the PC version?
Aaaah... Fans are always eager to give games makers twice as much work. :rolleyes:
Bumping on the subject of the rendering abilities of Telltale's engine, most of the games I've seen from you guys (from Bones to Sam & Max and screenshots/artworks of this new Monkey Island game) seem to just rely on rendering coloured polygons, with the occasional texture here and there.
By no means would I demean the artistic direction of your games, and I think this cartoonish simplicity fits them quite well actually, but I'm certain during your tests, fooling around with the games engine, you tried a cell-shading-style rendering.
Would you mind telling us why you didn't kept it in the end? Is it because you wanted to make sure those games could run on even the most humble PCs (you know, those with dreadfully incapable but cheap Integrated Graphics Chips, which immediately overheat if next to them you put a piece of paper with the word 'shader' written on it)? I know (for having worked on a project for it) that the Wii is more than able to handle a cell-shading-style rendering. Or is it purely an artistic decision? Those games being very cartoonish, I'd have thought such a rendering style would suit them just fine.
Thanks!
(and sorry if the question has already been asked over and over again elsewhere on the forums I must admit I didn't read them all)
I'm still kinda on cloud 9 so questions aren't coming as easy as praise and excitement but here are a few anyway
1) It was mentioned that the Lucasarts Secret of Monkey Island remake was getting not just the sound of Michael Land, but a full orchestra too? Is Tales also getting that orchestra treatment? I know you have Mr. Land helping you but will you also get a full (perhaps monkey filled) orchestra?
2) This is kind of a subjective question and general feeling - I happened to think Curse of Monkey Island had the most random/absurdist humor which I LOVED. While SoMI was my favorite of the series overall, CoMI was the most funny to me. MI2 was a bit darker to me, in both theme and humor. In terms of humor, which game would you say ToMI is closer to? Again, subjective and I don't really expect a real answer as much as opinions from the staff.
3) Will we ever find what rhymes with 'orange' so that the crew from CoMI can continue their singing?
Would it be at all possible to have a higher rez option in the PC version?
Short Answer:
Doesn't matter on Windows; Your computer's hardware is the limit.
Seg's Long Answer™:
The way things work is that we have one core set of data of the highest quality the art/sound personal makes. When it gets to my desk, it's up to the packaging process to take that data and deal with it working on the target platforms.
For the Wii, the compression dials are turned up quite a bit due to the limitations of WiiWare itself (40mb max) and of the limited power of the graphics. There's also a point where a certain amount of texture data makes no difference. Even in component and widescreen, the Wii is still at a very low display resolution.
On the Windows side of things, the dials are very low if not at zero; Enough to take the edge off. The quality at that point is all on your computer's specifications and your screen/speakers.
I should note that we've changed how audio is done since and including Strong Bad. Before the audio was pre-compressed and fixed for all builds/platforms. Now the sound is re-compressed at build time with each platform having different compression ratios. While this increased the time it takes to make a build, we're in a lot more control of how little or much sound is compressed.
For WiiWare, we turn the dials a little high to fit the 40mb cap. Within the production cycle, we start with a blanket compression, then start tweaking by character and then individual lines. On Windows, it's a blanket small amount of compression to take the edge off, but usually leave it be; It's just that good.
If you didn't like the sound quality in Sam & Max Season 1 and 2, it's gotten a lot better!
-snipped-
3) Will we have a bit of 320x200, 16 colours, full 2D moment in one of the episodes of the game? For old times sake?
Or more simply, in this bit in The Curse Of Monkey Island, when Guybrush looks through a hole in the ceiling of a cave (or similar, fading memories you see...) and says "Whoa, you should see that, full realistic 3D". Now, in one of the new 3D episodes, we could see the 2D head of an old-style guybrush popping out of the ground saying that same thing again. A little wink to the old fan(rt)s.
Cheers!
Say like a room with a stunningly rendered group of 3d Jaguars? and a CMI Guybrush head peeking through a crack...
How do the puzzles compare with the old games, or are they more in line with your Sam & Max puzzles? Do you have an overarching philosophy on the challenge and gameplay aspect of TMI? Any new types of puzzling?
I personally really hope you are putting a lot of effort into nice, challenging open-ended puzzles that stand up to the old style and not making it really easy and hand-holding for the lowest common audience.
The puzzles will be more brain bendy than Sam & Max, but I can comfortably say you won't be using a monkey as a wrench to turn off a waterfall. Inventory combination is in, and you can go deep-diving in dialog trees to your heart's content. I don't know how it will end up comparing to the old Monkey games, but we are over the course of the series definitely pushing the tone of the puzzles a bit further back into the classic realm of hurting you a bit before they reveal their secrets than people who know us might expect.
Of course, the Telltale hint system is also there as it is in all of our games, so if you decide that in your old age you'd rather be entertained by a Monkey Island game without it crushing your very soul in the process, you can turn the hint frequency up. (Alternatively, you can turn hints off, too, of course.)
WiiWare files are limited to 40MB, I read...
The question is, is it likely that the pc episodes will be sized like that? Honestly, it seems a little weird to me, since the S&M episodes were often sized over 100 MB! (no, the "!" sign is not a factorial, it's just a "!").
It would sound like a little step back.
The PC and WiiWare releases will be based on the same original high quality master data set, and then we'll be wrestling it to the ground and stuffing it in a 40 meg box to put on WiiWare. We've done a few tests and it's already running and looking pretty nice. I think Wii customers will be confused/surprised by what jumps out of that box.
WiiWare files are limited to 40MB, I read...
The question is, is it likely that the pc episodes will be sized like that? Honestly, it seems a little weird to me, since the S&M episodes were often sized over 100 MB! (no, the "!" sign is not a factorial, it's just a "!").
It would sound like a little step back.
The PC versions of Strong Bad were around 70mb - 110mb per episode. Strong Bad wasn't texture heavy as Sam & Max is.
The PC versions of Strong Bad were around 70mb - 110mb per episode. Strong Bad wasn't texture heavy as Sam & Max is.
I'll be very interesting to see how you get MI down to 40 Megs. I imagine piratical settings—wood, palm trees, sand—would be hard to render well without a lot of different textures.
Comments
Woah, woah, woah. I'm getting all filled with fanboy tension... One of the main things that EFMI did wrong was totally screwing around with the Monkey Island universe. It rewrote the history of the much-beloved first game, for example... even though we'd all played it!
Surely it would be wiser to step away from the hallowed-ground of the earlier games and start setting up your own mythology with these characters?
...guess it's too late now, though! Lol.
(*Crosses his fingers and hopes for the best* -- I'm still damned excited!)
We already have the following info...:
- Ron Gilbert has previously stated that if he had a chance, he'd have done a sequel that "rights all the wrongs" with the story arc.
- Mr. Gilbert was consulted before making Tales, i.e. he participated in brainstorming sessions.
- It has been stated in this very forum by members of the Tales dev team, that the SECRET of Monkey Island is "for Ron Gilbert to tell". Or something to that effect.
- Tales will skip directly to being considered "Part 6". Monkey Island 5 will presumably be an "imaginary" prequel to Tales.
My theory is that this "imaginary prequel" thing will be a convenient device to allow Ron and LucasArts to shoehorn their 40-hour sweeping tale in between part 4 and "Tales".
Please somebody tell me if I'm at least warm.
And they are still married in TMI, so I think it's not the case...
Nice theory though
Ack Chee Oop?
That makes two of us then.
I loved the monkey combat.
I realize that he could not undo the marriage (it's well known that Ron didn't approve of the marriage... if he had been invited, he would have raised his hand during the "If anybody has just cause..." part of the ceremony).
I'm talking about the convoluted way in which the MI 2's esoteric ending was just explained away in CMI. CMI's story was not Ron's original vision of how the story would continue -- the entire story arc would have been very different if Ron had been invited to the party. But it may not be too late -- there are still creative ways in which a very clever story-teller such as Ron could fix things. But like you said, he'd still have to compromise on the marriage thing. :-)
Even if he doesn't attempt to "fix" anything, I still think he's going to do MI 5. And while he's at it, he may just give away the big *secret* (or invent one).
(This is just me speaking, Mark and Mike have their own opinions, I'm sure) It's always a delicate balance when you return to a beloved series: we want to make something that sits alongside what you know and love, but is also new and interesting. We want to be canonical, but also tell a new story. Bottom line, we want the Monkey fans who have been waiting all this time to finish each episode feeling like we did right by them. Hopefully you guys do!
Well, we took into account the way people responded to the previous looks of Guybrush. Most people really dug his blue jacket and look from 2. Many people didn't like the tall lanky version from 3, but we still wanted to stylize and have it feel like Guybrush. His real personality, for me, came out when he finally had a spoken voice. We also wanted to have him seem older because this is essentially after MI5. He just came across as creepy with a beard. I had fun drawing him regardless the way he looks. I have a sheet of old Guybrush drawings laying around here I'll see about posting. Once Guybrush was designed, he served as something to gauge everyone else off of (i.e. Elaine compliments his shape)
It sounds like you're more interested in continuing the story rather than making a game chock full of what the fans want (which I agree with). I'm all for a quality fresh product versus everybody getting their favorite character cameo.
Great concept art by the way!
Curse of Monkey Island was the reason I started to really work on my drawing skills, so the art of Monkey Island was always important to me. After seeing the art for TMI, a lot of the inspiration I thought was gone, came back so thanks for that
But I love MI quite as much and have great confidence in you guys, really.
Two tiny questions (sorry if they might be stated before, but the only oney who have to read this massive thread is you...muahaha.)
1. Are the puzzles going to be as easy as in your other games? Or are we getting some real point&click Adventure finesse?
2. Judging from the video (which might be shots from an early alpha/beta?) the scenes look as clean/empty as in Wallace&Gromit. What I loved about all the older Adventures was, that there was a lot of eyecandy in the background. Any chance of having some?
3. Why not Loom?
the choice of using so few polygons for the models, expecially for inanimated ones, is due to limitations of the engine, limitations of time, pure choice (unlikely) or simply the space limitations for the Wii Ware?
Please Telltale, answer to this one!
Thanks anyway, love ya guys!
I wouldn't expect that either. It's just that he's mentioned previously that he would have liked to have been consulted for part 3, to complete his vision of the story. He never seemed upset about it, it was just a wish. So I think it's cool that they made a point of inviting him to participate in TMI, and moving forward it would make sense for him to make a MI 5, since it almost seems like the Telltale team *want* him to tell the sweeping 40-hour epic that part 5 is supposed to be.
I dunno, just guesses/predictions. I'm not married to the idea -- at this point I'm just so glad that the excellent Telltale team has picked up the gauntlet.
Hopefully Wallace shows a taste of what our engine is capable of...
Also -- even though July 7 is around the corner, there is still stuff going into the game every day that just rocks -- games get awesome FAST and there's going to be a lot of stuff shipping with the game that we haven't shown yet, from the way environments animate, to FX and the like.
You hit the nail on the head! Right from the begining we decided we wanted to shoot for a look that fell somewhere between MI2 & CMI. These are generally most people's favorites (Often depending on which one they actually played first.) We wanted to keep a bit of the lankiness that kind of defined Guybrush in CMI, and couple it with that Iconic coat & beard we saw in MI2 (That is if you squinted enough).
3char
I perfectly understand, and can't wait to play the game (you made more curious now
Thanks for answering, and congratulations to all of you guys at Telltale!
Perfect choice, imo! And I've always been with MI2 Guybrush! Absolutely love his look!
Cheer up, buttercup. You'll never even notice.
Would it be at all possible to have a higher rez option in the PC version?
But Guybrush's sleeves are 8-sided prisms! We've already noticed, too late!
Sorry, off topic, sorry!!!
Still - my urge to buy a Wii then throw it off a cliff or something for hampering PC games is rising steadily...
Oh wait - where's the next volcano?
np: The Wooden Birds - The Other One (Magnolia)
I personally really hope you are putting a lot of effort into nice, challenging open-ended puzzles that stand up to the old style and not making it really easy and hand-holding for the lowest common audience.
Aaaah... Fans are always eager to give games makers twice as much work. :rolleyes:
Bumping on the subject of the rendering abilities of Telltale's engine, most of the games I've seen from you guys (from Bones to Sam & Max and screenshots/artworks of this new Monkey Island game) seem to just rely on rendering coloured polygons, with the occasional texture here and there.
By no means would I demean the artistic direction of your games, and I think this cartoonish simplicity fits them quite well actually, but I'm certain during your tests, fooling around with the games engine, you tried a cell-shading-style rendering.
Would you mind telling us why you didn't kept it in the end? Is it because you wanted to make sure those games could run on even the most humble PCs (you know, those with dreadfully incapable but cheap Integrated Graphics Chips, which immediately overheat if next to them you put a piece of paper with the word 'shader' written on it)? I know (for having worked on a project for it) that the Wii is more than able to handle a cell-shading-style rendering. Or is it purely an artistic decision? Those games being very cartoonish, I'd have thought such a rendering style would suit them just fine.
Thanks!
(and sorry if the question has already been asked over and over again elsewhere on the forums
I second that, I was wondering this also. For how long has the game been in development now?
1) It was mentioned that the Lucasarts Secret of Monkey Island remake was getting not just the sound of Michael Land, but a full orchestra too? Is Tales also getting that orchestra treatment? I know you have Mr. Land helping you but will you also get a full (perhaps monkey filled) orchestra?
2) This is kind of a subjective question and general feeling - I happened to think Curse of Monkey Island had the most random/absurdist humor which I LOVED. While SoMI was my favorite of the series overall, CoMI was the most funny to me. MI2 was a bit darker to me, in both theme and humor. In terms of humor, which game would you say ToMI is closer to? Again, subjective and I don't really expect a real answer as much as opinions from the staff.
3) Will we ever find what rhymes with 'orange' so that the crew from CoMI can continue their singing?
*Over-the-Internet high five*
<===
I applaud the Curse team for coming up with door-hinge. I know it doesn't technically rhyme, but it's pretty darn good:
The cap'n burst in, lookin' like he'd kick down the door-hinge
"We'll surely avoid scurvy if we all eat an or-inge!"
Short Answer:
Doesn't matter on Windows; Your computer's hardware is the limit.
Seg's Long Answer™:
The way things work is that we have one core set of data of the highest quality the art/sound personal makes. When it gets to my desk, it's up to the packaging process to take that data and deal with it working on the target platforms.
For the Wii, the compression dials are turned up quite a bit due to the limitations of WiiWare itself (40mb max) and of the limited power of the graphics. There's also a point where a certain amount of texture data makes no difference. Even in component and widescreen, the Wii is still at a very low display resolution.
On the Windows side of things, the dials are very low if not at zero; Enough to take the edge off. The quality at that point is all on your computer's specifications and your screen/speakers.
I should note that we've changed how audio is done since and including Strong Bad. Before the audio was pre-compressed and fixed for all builds/platforms. Now the sound is re-compressed at build time with each platform having different compression ratios. While this increased the time it takes to make a build, we're in a lot more control of how little or much sound is compressed.
For WiiWare, we turn the dials a little high to fit the 40mb cap. Within the production cycle, we start with a blanket compression, then start tweaking by character and then individual lines. On Windows, it's a blanket small amount of compression to take the edge off, but usually leave it be; It's just that good.
If you didn't like the sound quality in Sam & Max Season 1 and 2, it's gotten a lot better!
Say like a room with a stunningly rendered group of 3d Jaguars? and a CMI Guybrush head peeking through a crack...
The puzzles will be more brain bendy than Sam & Max, but I can comfortably say you won't be using a monkey as a wrench to turn off a waterfall. Inventory combination is in, and you can go deep-diving in dialog trees to your heart's content. I don't know how it will end up comparing to the old Monkey games, but we are over the course of the series definitely pushing the tone of the puzzles a bit further back into the classic realm of hurting you a bit before they reveal their secrets than people who know us might expect.
Of course, the Telltale hint system is also there as it is in all of our games, so if you decide that in your old age you'd rather be entertained by a Monkey Island game without it crushing your very soul in the process, you can turn the hint frequency up.
The question is, is it likely that the pc episodes will be sized like that? Honestly, it seems a little weird to me, since the S&M episodes were often sized over 100 MB! (no, the "!" sign is not a factorial, it's just a "!").
It would sound like a little step back.
The PC versions of Strong Bad were around 70mb - 110mb per episode. Strong Bad wasn't texture heavy as Sam & Max is.
I'll be very interesting to see how you get MI down to 40 Megs. I imagine piratical settings—wood, palm trees, sand—would be hard to render well without a lot of different textures.
Looking forward to seeing it!