With the latest CSI game out the door and Monkey Island winding down, we should start hearing what Telltale’s next series should be.
another CSi game and Sam and Max season 3 (which I think they are testing for now) seem to be a sure bet but Telltale has said they will be launching a new series on an ip they haven’t done before next summer.
In November they list older Lucas IP in a poll such as Zac McKraken, Maniac Manson/Day of the Tentacle, The Dig, Full throttle, and Grim Fandango
Plus there have been hints that they are doing Tex Murphy from both TellTale and Chris Jones.
I’d like to see Maniac Mansion given the Monkey Island treatment. Do a new special edition of the original and put out an all new episodic season of games.
I’m a huge Lucasfilm / LucasArts adventure fan and was overjoyed when they started with Sam & Max and Monkey Island.
However now I am of the opinion that they should let those classics rest in peace and work on their own IP.
Sure those games are sometimes funny but they lack a lot comparing to the originals.
Well, Boneville was their own IP sortof. Sortof because it was obviously based on someone elses fiction, but at least they didn’t have previous games to rely on.
But that didn’t seem to work out that well (only two games in that series) …
Personally, I thought the S&M games were only mildly amusing, kinda like the “Jokes” page in the free magazine picked up in the apothecary or something like that.
I know many people really liked the series, though, and blame the language barrier - I’m not a native english speaker and fail to understand many of the more subtle puns, jokes and cultural references.
Somehow I remember enjoying the original S&M, though…
Monkey Island … again, TT provide a solid transformation of the old IP, but somehow, a lot of the subtle graphical fun consisting of stuff hidden in the handpainted graphical backgrounds has been lost in the transition to 3D, at least that’s how I feel. Everything feels a bit sterile, and the humor … it’s like when somebody tells you a great joke he once heard, but just is not that good a joke-teller and leaves out a detail here and there and has to correct himself occasionally, though ultimately managing to get the main punchline across.
Plus, I hate Hate HATE the stupid controls.
I agree. I thought Telltale Sam & Max was only so-so. I mean, that’s a lot better than the awful depths to which bad humor in games can descend, but it’s still not that great. There is a kind of freshness to a comic property that I guess it’s hard to resurrect and recreate, especially many years later.
The language barrier may play a part in reception to the SnM series. Ever since SnM Season 1 Episode 1 was released to this day if we are eating Mexican my son or I will say “Mine!” and the other “Nachos!”. That and “Hey Max, I’ve got an idea that involves you, this microwave, and six feet of aluminum foil” to which Max responds “Go on…”
Telltale’s Sam & Max was funnier than the original. Problem was the lack of consistent plot and heavy reclying of scenarios / characters, both “thanks” to the episodic format.
I’d love to see them take up Space Quest or King’s Quest. Rumours are that when they were first starting up they were working on a Space Quest, but then the deal fell through.
I’d love to see a Grim Fandango series involving minor characters from the original game or even brand new characters. Leave Manny and Meche out of it. I’m sure there are plenty of other stories to tell in that underworld.
Only if the original creators handle all the writing. Aardmann’s heavy hand is the reason Wallace and Gromit is the only Telltale creation thus far that has not sucked (which is why I want another season).
Also, since we are talking Sierra, I vote for Leisure Suit Larry written by Al Lowe.
That being said they have a drama coming up and use Heavy Rain as a reference point for it. We’re fucking screwed.
But seriously, what I’d like next from Telltale is for them to switch to an audio codec that doesn’t make everyone sound like they’re talking through a fan.
Couldn’t find the actual Tales of Monkey Island thread, so I’ll just hijack this one a little. I just finished the last episode. I think it was the weakest of the series. The narrative just felt really disjointed to me. I was also expecting a different ending, especially given the dark (for Monkey Island) tone of the last couple episodes and some more closure on a couple of the characters. But it was still good, and overall I thought the series was fantastic. I really hope they do more Monkey Island, or continue any of the other old LucasArts franchises.
