Articles

New Lucasforums Poll 23 Mar, 2010, 23:17 / 23 comments


Excited about the new Monkey Island 2: Special Edition? Then show it!

The latest poll on Lucasforums is asking "how do you feel about the Monkey Island 2 Special Edition?" and (at the time of writing) "meh" is tied with "excited!!"

Vote here if you want to show the Star Wars people that they're missing out.
23

23 Comments

  • TheJoe on 25 Mar, 2010, 18:05…
    Well they did my work for me this time, so that's ok.
  • Threepwood4life on 24 Mar, 2010, 17:01…
    Speaking of votes, I've heard Monkey Island Special Edition is up for nomination in the Xbox Live 2010 Arcade Awards, you should be able to vote on your Xbox dashboard
  • GozzoMan on 24 Mar, 2010, 10:34…
    "Meh-but-enticed-by-the-commentary" ^_^
  • Shmargin on 24 Mar, 2010, 01:53…
    I almost agree with "meh".

    I mean really, I love the classics, and I think its great that Lucas is showing them love, I bought MI:SE already to boot.

    BUT!

    I havent even bothered to beat the remake yet. Why? I played these games back in the day when they were new. And I played the hell out of them. And over the years, with SCUMMVM and stuff, I have continued to play them whenever I got the urge.

    When scene for scene, word for word, I know whats coming up, it looses at least a little bit of something. The new graphics are alright, but honestly come off almost looking a little too much like shockwave flash style, than classic LucasArts style.

    Like I said, it's great Lucas is acting like it likes its old IP again, but without them actually making something new, it seems like theyre just cashing in on the fact that great writing in video games died 20 years ago, and now they can sell it for $20 a pop without having to remember how to write again.

    It's almost too little, too late, you know?

    Call me when they announce a new Maniac Mansion sequel, or something that doesnt have "Special Edition" or "Remake" in or around the title.
  • noah on 24 Mar, 2010, 14:25…
    Personally, I view the remakes as a chance for the current LucasArts staff to get more comfortable with and up to speed on eventually making their own full-fleged adventure game in-house, be it MI5 or something else.

    Not having played it yet, of course, but I already see MI2:SE an improvement over SoMI:SE.
  • Kroms on 24 Mar, 2010, 16:00…
    "Personally, I view the remakes as a chance for the current LucasArts staff to get more comfortable with and up to speed on eventually making their own full-fleged adventure game in-house, be it MI5 or something else."

    Oh, MI5 was already made. It's called Tales of Monkey Island. It's all kinds of awesome.

    I don't want the new team to make a new MI game. That's for Telltale, Double Fine or whoever Ronzo's involved with at the time.

    Why do you guys care about brands so much? Seriously. Would you still want them to make it if they changed their name to Lucid Games or something?
  • Jeff on 26 Mar, 2010, 01:10…
    FWIW, Telltale doesn't consider Tales as "MI5", pretty sure it takes place after a supposed MI5 game (I remember hearing this when they announced it last year).

    I agree with you though, I don't think I'd want LucasArts making a new Monkey Island game, would much rather see Ron take on the project.
  • Kroms on 26 Mar, 2010, 09:10…
    They clarified that comment at the forums. It's just meant as a joke; that the story takes place after a supposed MI5 where Guybrush gets the items to make the Legendary Cursed Cutlass of Kaflu and LeChuck is a walrus.
  • noah on 24 Mar, 2010, 22:51…
    Sorry, I politely disagree, largely for format, budget, mechanics, and aesthetic reasons. None of which imply the TT efforts are objectively bad in any way, I'd like to also politely and rationally point out.

    I didn't mention anything about brands, for their own sake, factoring into my optimistic and hopeful viewpoint. I only even mentioned MI5 as a throwaway, because in my mind, *if* LA were to do (or even farm out) their own stand-alone, full length adventure title, I would assume it would be a MI sequel. I am of course also assuming it's probably their most widely known, popular and successful franchise outside of Star Wars and Indiana Jones.
  • Kroms on 25 Mar, 2010, 07:23…
    "Sorry, I politely disagree, largely for format, budget, mechanics, and aesthetic reasons."

    It was clearly a Monkey Island game - it said so in the title. It was clearly in canon. It doesn't matter if it was made for $1 or $1 000 000, if it was an adventure or a brawler, or if it was any good, it was the fifth official Monkey Island game, complete with the LucasArts label and the original team members working on it. I can't see how you're rationalizing your ideas at all.

    I'm especially confused about format. Keep in mind that Tales's format means 15 acts inside of 5; but that the length is anywhere between 10-20 hours, aka the length of the first game.
  • noah on 26 Mar, 2010, 19:58…
    "It was clearly a Monkey Island game - it said so in the title. It was clearly in canon. It doesn't matter if it was made for $1 or $1 000 000, if it was an adventure or a brawler, or if it was any good, it was the fifth official Monkey Island game, complete with the LucasArts label and the original team members working on it."

    Alright, this statement implies to me that it's just the phrase "Monkey Island" on the cover that designates any entry as a sequel to the core series to you.

    Do you really think a very low budget brawler or adventure game with the name "Monkey Island" in the title would make it an official sequel? By that logic, is "Masters of Teräs Käsi" an official Star Wars sequel to, say, Jedi Knight? Would a "Monkey Island Desktop Adventures" also be the same as MI5?

    I agree that Tales handles the canon nicely, but other aspects of the episodes say to me that it is decidedly a spin-off series, akin to a made-for-TV serial, based off of and inspired by the initial book or film. The "Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" springs to mind; well intentioned and solidly implemented, but ultimately in a different class of media. (Yes, one could argue Crystal Skull weakens the case here.)

    While the cumulative length of the episodes is comparable to the sequels, I find the piecemeal and portioned delivery via the episodic format to be a frustrating gaming experience which undermines the overall flow of playing a stand alone, full length game, and works against polish and consistency that the team tries to place into the series, ultimately coming across as being shaped to be instantly gratifying and disposable. Given the constraints of TellTale's development and business model, I think Tales is fantastic for what it is. However, it doesn't quite satisfy what we've (perhaps "I've" is more fair) come to expect from a sequel - *especially* so from a LucasArts sequel, even if it's just expectation from their sequels of yore. I believe the time and budget constraints are readily, and detrimentally apparent in the Tales episodes, and from Sam & Max as well. The end products feel more like exercises in rapid content delivery (albeit very well intentioned and admirably done with as much care as they can squeeze in) rather than something crafted with art, intricacy, detail and richness for long-term savoring and appreciation.
  • Kroms on 26 Mar, 2010, 21:37…
    Believe it or not, any game - and it could have robot dragons punching sharks with jetpacks and drills for fins - is a Monkey Island game if it says "Monkey Island" in the title. Especially if it's made by the original creators.

    "The end products feel more like exercises in rapid content delivery (albeit very well intentioned and admirably done with as much care as they can squeeze in) rather than something crafted with art, intricacy, detail and richness for long-term savoring and appreciation."

    I'd postpone long-term judgements for the long-term, if I were you.
  • noah on 26 Mar, 2010, 22:08…
    Oh sure, I'm not saying in that case it wouldn't be a quote-unquote Monkey Island game (more like a game couched in MI trappings) but, as in your example, I do not feel it would be a proper sequel to the main, core franchise, i.e. MI5. Far from it. In this context, Tales is absolutely much, much closer to the mark, but still a ways off. Perhaps that's enough classifying granularity for some…for me, not so much.

    "I'd postpone long-term judgments for the long-term, if I were you."

    Fair enough, but I'd offer that I felt the same way about MI2, 3 etc. when they were initially released as I do now. That is to say, I could recognize and relish their inherent qualities back then, as much as I can appreciate them, and be retrospectively grateful for them, years later.
  • Kroms on 27 Mar, 2010, 08:27…
    I should probably mention that the chances of a full-length MI game in this day and age are rather slim. Never say never - we did, after all, get MI5 (whether you believe that or don't want to) in 2009 - but, from where I'm standing and due to financial reasons, it's probably impossible. Probably.
  • The Tingler on 25 Mar, 2010, 06:48…
    I'd be happy for them to make a new Indiana Jones adventure...
  • Capn_Nacho on 24 Mar, 2010, 18:56…
    It confuses the hell out of me when people say they only want to play an "MI5" developed by LucasArts. LucasArts is NOBODY, and I mean that in the nicest possible way.
  • noah on 24 Mar, 2010, 22:52…
    "It confuses the hell out of me when people say they only want to play an "MI5" developed by LucasArts."

    Good thing I didn't say that then! :D
  • Logic on 24 Mar, 2010, 13:14…
    mm.. I gave up wanting Lucasarts to make more adventure games around the time they no longer had any staff remaining who worked on any of the adventure games I cared about.

    The new blood have potential though.. Lucidity showed they can conjure really nice aesthetics (though the gameplay was weak in concept and weaker in execution). It would all depend on the writing team, really.

    I'd love to see LEC make 2D adventure games again (seems that the download market is perfect for 'em) but not sequels to the oldies. New and old LEC are too disconnected for them to be in the same spirit. If they created some new adventure IP though, I'd be all over it.

    MI2:SE is a day one buy for me, although like most people here I imagine, I've also already played these games to death, and still play them in ScummVM when I have the urge (had yet another great time with MI2 not too long ago).

    I played through the first SE to hear the music more than anything. I wasn't sure about it visually. This one looks better, though, and the special features have me plenty excited.
  • Kroms on 24 Mar, 2010, 06:31…
    Call me when they announce a new Maniac Mansion sequel, or something that doesnt have "Special Edition" or "Remake" in or around the title.

    You want a sequel to Maniac Mansion, made by a company that does not have any of the Maniac Mansion or Day of the Tentacle staff.

    And then you're expecting it to be good.

    Good luck with that.

    Telltale and Double Fine are doing the good adventure game stuff. The team at Lucas are new, inexperienced and would fuck up a Maniac Mansion game faster than you could say 'Bernard'.
  • Shmargin on 25 Mar, 2010, 01:02…
    Yeah, I know that none of the original guys are there, been a fan of LucasArts since Maniac Mansion, seen its glorious moments, and its horrible downfalls.

    And youre right, they probably would fail on an epic level if they tried to take on a new Maniac Mansion or something, but they can at least get the ball rolling to make something happen.

    Basically, what I'm saying, is that if 8 years ago, before scummvm came out, (ie, before fans had to take it into their own hands to even play anything from LucasArts) if at that point, Lucas had released a scene for scene remake, that is so exact, you can switch between the 2 views, then yeah, then I would have been excited for it.

    What I really want Lucas to do now, if they have no ability to make anything themselves worth playing, is continue to license their shit out.

    My main point, is, a word for word remake of a game I have played 20 million times, does not excite me. It's not out yet, but I can play it right now, and laugh at the same jokes everyone will be laughing at when it comes out.

    I guess you can call me when Tell Tale makes a new Maniac Mansion, or something else without Remake or SE in the title
  • elTee on 24 Mar, 2010, 09:32…
    Don't mock the guy for wanting them to make new sequels to classic games, man. Day of the Tentacle was made by Schafer and Grossman, who didn't work on Maniac Mansion at all.
  • Kroms on 24 Mar, 2010, 14:14…
    I know; it's why I made sure to separate the MM staff from the DotT staff (I thought the wording conveyed as much).

    The new team hasn't shown the kind of chops it would take to helm something like MM3. That's my point: Schafer and Grossman proved themselves on their first project; these guys still have a lot of learning to do.
  • Udvarnoky on 24 Mar, 2010, 02:07…
    now they can sell it for $20 a pop without having to remember how to write again

    And yet they choose to sell it for $10 instead!