Indiana Jones & The Ultimate Game Discussion

[The Tingler]

Okay guys, we've got a big Indiana Jones-based discussion coming up and we thought it'd be fun to invite some non-staff Indy fans to volunteer to take part in this upcoming feature.

 

Basically we'll be discussing the main four Indiana Jones games, and deciding on which is the best one.

 

To that end, I need people who have played the following (to at least a talk-aboutable level, although preferably finished):-

 

Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade (the adventure game, obviously)

Indiana Jones & The Fate of Atlantis (ditto)

Indiana Jones & The Infernal Machine (PC or N64, not Game Boy!)

Indiana Jones & The Emperor's Tomb (PC, PS2 or Xbox)

 

To find out which game holds the Indiana Jones name best, we have several qualifications to judge each game by. We'll discuss each game in turn. For each game we talk about several of these planned areas of discussion and then individually give scores out of 10 for each one. These areas are:

 

Story/Writing - how engrossing is the story? How well-written is it?

MacGuffin Quality - how enticing is the goal? Does it make sense?

Music/Sound/Voice Acting - how good, catchy, realistic are they?

Graphics/World detail - how well detailed is the world? How good is it to look at?

Design/Challenge - how well is the game designed? Is the game fun to play and challenging?

Action/Indy Quotient - how Indy is it? How action-packed is it?

 

We'll go through each of these areas for each game and score them before moving on to the next game. We each give scores of out of 10, which are then added up to give the official score for that game. For example, if there are four of us, each area will be out of 40 and the final score will be out of 240.

 

I'll chair the discussion, but basically we're just having a good ol' chat about Indy games. It will take place as soon as a few people have volunteered and we decide on a mutual meeting date. It will probably be held on an IRC channel, that's probably the easiest way. Should be fun!

 

At the moment the three Mojo staff members involved are me, Gabez, and S-island/Zaarin. If we get loads of applications (that'll be the day) we'll make a decision based on personality, friendliness, and who buys us the most chocolates.

[clone2727]

Some questions:

 

- I have Emperor's Tomb for the PS2. I assume that is ok as well?

- Also, I haven't beaten it, but I am quite far into the game enough to judge it.

- Any specific version/platform for Indy3/Indy4?

 

Otherwise, I know the other three quite well. Indy3 was my first adventure game, and still one of my favorites. Indy4 was great too. I also know Indy5 quite well.

[urluckyday]

Aww man, I'd love to get on this, but alas, I never played The Last Crusade...can't wait to see the results though!

[The Tingler]

I completely forgot about the PS2 version! But then I do have a blind spot where Sony exist. And no, no specific platform, although preferably the talkie version of FoA.

 

I can actually email you Last Crusade if you want, urluckyday! It's small enough to fit in an email attachment and then you just play it with ScummVM. Just send me a message with your email and I'll post it you.

 

Oh, and jp-30 has just (tardily) joined on the staff side too, so it'll just be you two from the forum side if you can play a bit of Last Crusade first urluckyday.

 

Apart from that, try and play a bit of them all again to refresh your memory.

[Gabez]

Free Last Crusade? I guess it's urluckyday!

[Ray Jones]

I only played the adventure games. :/

[clone2727]

I completely forgot about the PS2 version! But then I do have a blind spot where Sony exist. And no, no specific platform, although preferably the talkie version of FoA.

Well, it doesn't really matter for Indy4, but Indy3's FM-Towns version's sound is CD quality and the mac version's interface adds a lot to the game. Too bad the FM-Towns version costs too much...

 

I can actually email you Last Crusade if you want, urluckyday! It's small enough to fit in an email attachment and then you just play it with ScummVM. Just send me a message with your email and I'll post it you.

Bah! Illegal-ness!!!!

 

Apart from that, try and play a bit of them all again to refresh your memory.

I just played Indy3/Indy4 full through recently. I'll try and play Indy5 (it's a killer on WinXP, keeps throwing assertions).

[The Tingler]

I'm playing Infernal Machine on Vista at the mo, and despite some occasional glitches in the top left corner it runs fine.

[clone2727]

I'm playing Infernal Machine on Vista at the mo, and despite some occasional glitches in the top left corner it runs fine.

It runs fine for a while, but then throws an assertion. I'll check it out again later.

[The Tingler]

Call me stupid, but what's an assertion?

[neon_git]

It runs fine for a while, but then throws an assertion.

 

Do you mean it throws an exception? If you do see if you can post what it says - might give a hint as to what the problem is.

[The Tingler]

Where are you two based, clone2727 and urluckyday? And how early/late are you prepared to stay up to do this?

[urluckyday]

I dunno, I'm not much for "illegal-ness," so I'll leave my spot open to someone else. Best of luck though, and I can't wait for the responses!

[clone2727]

I'm eastern US, but I can't stay up too late. I am busy most of the day now.

 

No, it was an assertion. @The Tingler: assert(x); translates to: if x is false, quit

[The Tingler]

It's not illegal! The game's 19 years old and has been impossible to buy since the 90s! This is the only way anyone can play it!

 

As for time, that could be a problem as jp-30 is based in New Zealand.

[clone2727]

It's not illegal! The game's 19 years old and has been impossible to buy since the 90s! This is the only way anyone can play it!

Game copyrights last for 90+ years.

 

As for time, that could be a problem as jp-30 is based in New Zealand.

Hmmm... If he comes on irc in the morning, and I at night it could be possible. Or, we could just do it on e-mail. That would just be a bit slower.

[The Tingler]

I share the Abandonware viewpoint - if we can't actually buy it, then we should be allowed to get it by other means. Do you think the FBI are going to kick down your door or something?

 

... oh, and the rest of us live in Europe.

[elTee]

Don't [swear word!] offer to send people games illegally man. Whatever you say in private messages and personal e-mails is your business, but this is a public forum and you're staff. I understand your viewpoint on this, believe me, and I don't want to be the Man, but... just don't do it

[The Tingler]

I think that's a bit of harsh viewpoint on this very silly matter, but I'll run with it.

[Shmargin]

I'm in, if you want my personality, read the S & M forums here on the site.

 

By the way, I already know the winner, and I'll give you a hint:

 

It's the only one of those games that was an original idea, and didnt suck!

 

*picture the Jeapordy theme playing right here*

[Gabez]

I think that's a bit of harsh viewpoint on this very silly matter, but I'll run with it.

It might be a "silly matter," but it's always been our policy -- it originates back when it was morally dubious, and we had a real relationship with LucasArts. Today it just looks bad.

 

There's always eBay and things like that. None of that money will go back to LucasArts, but at least you'll get to have it in a proper box rather than floating around the ether in an e-mail.

[The Tingler]

Hmm. Most developers feel that buying used copies is just as bad as pirating since the people who made it get no money out of it, but I will concede the point.

 

And anyone who dares suggest that Indiana Jones & The Infernal Machine sucked gets taken outside. Unless of course you're saying that was the great one and Fate of Atlantis sucked, in which case Gabez will be the one to administer the savage beating.

[Thrik]

To be honest the Mojo policy isn't really an issue (although if the games are still available like in the case of Grim Fandango we should obviously encourage it, if nothing else so retailers are prompted to query LucasArts when their stock runs out).

 

The real issue is that the LFNetwork does still have an ongoing relationship with LucasArts, albeit pretty much just for Star Wars drivel these days. There's also a fairly old legal agreement dating back years that gives LucasFiles the rights to host fan games/etc without getting cease & desists from LucasArts, so long as they're not for commercial purposes. Not so relevant anymore, but it's nice to have.

 

You never know, these ties might come in handy when Monkey Island 5 comes out in 2015. ;

[Gabez]

Hmm. Most developers feel that buying used copies is just as bad as pirating since the people who made it get no money out of it, but I will concede the point.

 

And anyone who dares suggest that Indiana Jones & The Infernal Machine sucked gets taken outside. Unless of course you're saying that was the great one and Fate of Atlantis sucked, in which case Gabez will be the one to administer the savage beating.

That is true about buying used copies... I suppose I'm just old fashioned, and think that buying a game in its box on a CD is somehow treating it with more respect... and I'd be jolly surprised if anyone said that Fate of Atlantis was the worst one! But not so outraged that I would savagely beat them outside.

[The Tingler]

I would.

 

And while I still maintain my point, I agree that I shouldn't have offered it on the forum. I would have done it non-publicly via PM or email, but urluckyday has that disabled.

 

And I won't do it again. Chris bad.

 

As for discussion, it's complicated with jp-30 in New Zealand and clone2727 being in the US, with the rest of us in Europe. 5 would be a fine number if we can work it out.