Monkey Island 2 Remake

[Thrik]

Just about every single-player game has achievements. It's not rea... in fact I'm just to post my reply from when we discussed this same thing earlier in this very thread:

 

I don't think people really get achievements to impress people. They're more designed to entangle the many completionists out there in an eternity of playtime, artifically boosting the longevity of the game.

 

Once upon a time you'd get a ****ty in-game reward or something for collecting every coin or whatever — now you just get a tacky API-driven pop-up from the 360. This aspect saddens me as gone are the days where doing everything gets you like a whole new world to play.

 

I guess for those who do like to have pointless goals to meet (seems to be no shortage) they're good. If you're like me however you turn notifications off and never think about a single achievement. ;

In short: some people like them so what's the problem with having them there for people who do? Games get criticised if they don't.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Why the ****'d they add achievements? The original didn't have achievements and the new one shouldn't either. It's a ****ing adventure game! achievements are for multiplayer games!

 

Is this a joke?

[Snugglecakes]

I think I'm repeating myself but I'm with LordTrilobite on this one. I still see achievements in this kind of game, particularly this one, as unwanted fashionable tinsel. Cheerleaders, basically. I just want to watch the game.

 

Probably showing my age

[The Tingler]

I think you mean 'play' the game. And if Monkey Island 2 comes with cheerleaders, my estimation of it might be raised even further.

[MusicallyInspired]

So don't....achieve them? They were in SMI:SE as well, you know.

[Snugglecakes]

Nope I meant watch... as in the sports game with the cheerleaders!

 

I guess I'm a bit old school. Cheerleaders piss me off greatly. I'm a big football (soccer) fan, there will never be cheerleaders in European football. The sport itself is what we go to see. It's far more classy without cheerleaders. I always think that sports that need cheerleaders are flawed, they have to add extra and quite common "entertainment" to make up for it? Or to "lead" the crowd in "cheering"? Shouldn't be necessary.

 

I'm of the opinion that the game itself should be plenty enough entertainment without adding all these bits that actually have nothing to do with the experience. A graphic adventure in particular should be just that. I've never bought a book that came with free candy for example. It's irrelevant, the text in the book should stand on its own two feet.

 

I'm probably wrong of course but hey. That's just me

 

And actually this horse has been beaten to death already so I'll just shut up!

 

Besides, I'm busy putting up the poster than came with my Sam & Max DVD

[Haggis]

there will never be cheerleaders in European football

 

Those are the cheerleaders of ADO Den Haag, a football club in the Eredivisie, the highest Dutch division.

 

Is it silly? Sure. Are there people who like it? Probably.

 

Are achievements silly? Sometimes they can be. But in the end, they don't take anything away from a game, they just add an opportunity for completists. If you don't want to get the achievements, nobody is forcing you to.

[Thrik]

Just so you know, you can turn them off entirely in your console settings. Or at least the pop-ups which tell you you got them. This was basically the first thing I did.

[Snugglecakes]

 

Those are the cheerleaders of ADO Den Haag

Noooooooooooo!!!!! Haha! I'm getting on a plane right now to sort that out!

 

If you don't want to get the achievements, nobody is forcing you to.

 

Yeah I know I'm just being old and difficult

[Threepwood4life]

Just found this on Kotaku an interview with Craig Derrick

 

http://kotaku.com/5549234/monkey-island-remakes-could-mean-more-adventure-from-lucasarts?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kotaku%2Ffull+%28Kotaku%29

 

Could the success of the Monkey Island Special Editions herald LucasArts' return to straight adventure games? I spoke to Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge project lead Craig Derrick about the new remake and the possibilities it raises.

 

It's a time of resurgence for Guybrush Threepwood and the cast of the Monkey Island series. The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition was released last July for Xbox Live Arcade, PC, and iPhone. Telltale Games added a new chapter to the saga with the episodic release of Tales of Monkey Island.

 

Now LucasArts is gearing up for the summer release of Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge. Like the first SE release, it takes the original game and gives it a current-generation makeover, with updated graphics, new voice work (mostly from the original cast), a hint system, an art gallery, and a reworked musical score.

 

It's a larger, more complex game than the Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition, but lessons learned and tools developed while creating the first game helped speed the process along.

 

"I believe that leveraging all of the skills, technology and tools developed for the first SE was the ONLY way we could have evenly possibly created a Special Edition as complex and large as Monkey Island 2 while adding NEW features in the same time it took us to create the first game," said Derrick, further explaining that much of the development was handed over to LucasArts' Singapore team this time around.

 

"The distributed nature of the teams between San Francisco and Singapore introduced some new challenges, but since some of the first Special Edition was created there they understood what to do and I've very proud of the amazing job they've accomplished."

 

It was this distributed development system that paved the way for the inclusion of a Special Edition commentary, recorded for the game at the 2010 Game Developers Conference by original creators Dave Grossman, Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer.

 

I asked Derrick to detail how this entertaining new feature would work.

 

"The commentary is an optional feature that works very similar to those found on film DVD's. After turning the option on from within the bonus features menu the player will be given a choice to listen to select scene commentary while playing through the game," he explained. The player will be prompted via on-screen cue when there is commentary available. Pressing the button causes the game audio to lower, the screen to go letterbox, and silhouettes of Grossman, Gilbert, and Schafer to pop up on the screen to deliver their comments, Mystery Science Theater 3000 style.

 

"On most occasions the commentary appears as you enter one scene or another, but it will also appear after a particular moment has occurred providing further commentary or anecdotes about the scene. It's fantastic and I fully expect to see this feature to continue to be in more and more games."

 

That feature alone should be more than enough to get fans lining up for the game when it hits the iPhone, Mac, PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 this summer. What, no iPad? Did I waste $500 on this silly thing?

 

"Yes. Yes, you did," quipped Derrick. "I'm kidding! I have one too and I like it. It does seem to be missing something, though. Not sure what. Maybe I'll go think about that and let you know if I come up with something."

 

Teasing iPad comments aside, could the strong fan reaction to these remakes indicate a more adventure-oriented direction for LucasArts?

 

"We've always been in the action AND adventure game," Derrick responded. "It just seems that we've been emphasizing one over the other lately. The Special Editions and Tales of Monkey Island have been a way to measure the audience's reaction to us doing more straight adventure games and to see how the audience reacts to Monkey Island so many years after the first and last game in the series. It's been pretty successful so far."

 

But don't expect a new pure, point-and click adventure title from the company any time soon.

 

"But if we were to truly get back into the "adventure" business then I would say we need to take some of what we've learned from the "action" side of the business a little bit, look at today's audience sensibilities and reinvent the genre just as we did with Maniac Mansion 23 years ago."

[Rosefull]

That's an interesting interview! I'm excited about the commentary thing, haha. That's gonna be really fun I think.

[Thrik]

Yeah the commentary feature sounds incredible. I hope it's as thorough, something about hearing the developers' thoughts as they play the game with me is very exciting to a nostalgic fanboy. ;

[ThunderPeel2001]

I'm looking forward to hearing it, but I don't think it's going to be that revealing... Probably more like them trying to make each other laugh. Great, but not what the fanboi in me wants to hear. I think doing commentary for games is very hard, but we shall see!

 

Strange that they made this game in exactly the same time as the first SE... I hope there won't be rough edges like in that one.

[Rosefull]

I wonder if the commentary will discuss in-game secrets and whatnot, or if it'll all be more about the making of and stuff like that.

 

There's so many ways it could go.

[Threepwood4life]

Just found this on Youtube, anyone from the UK and Europe will remember GamesMaster very well, short, sweet and straight to the point.

 

(This BBCode requires its accompanying plugin to work properly.)

[Snugglecakes]

Brilliant!! I love stuff like this!

 

I dare them to explain exactly which 6% of it wasn't perfect though

[anothercustard]

(This BBCode requires its accompanying plugin to work properly.)

[Snugglecakes]

Watching now... but the very first sequence is pissing on my battery already. Quite funny yeah but it's not the same as the original I love that original bit with Guybrush tapping his foot. I'm guessing they didn't recreate those beautiful gold images for the opening credit sequence either.

 

Thanks for posting.

 

EDIT: Ok ok... this is gonna be good. I'm laughing myself silly. Can't wait for the commentary, love the concept art, the backgrounds look great. Buuuut... the first SE backgrounds also looked great until I saw them in HD. We shall see!

 

EDIT #2: iMUSE!!!! THEY DID IT THEY DID IT! I'm literally dancing all over my desk. I am sold. Absolutely awesome!

 

iMUSE!!!!!!!!!!!

 

And I must say, Guybrush looks great. Even I think so. And I'm really old and grumpy. And because they did the iMUSE thing, I might be able to forgive a few others things.

 

Although I still have 4 concerns:

 

1. Elaine's outfit has nothing to do with Elaine's outfit in the original. Why?

2. Direct control? Ok ok as long as I can still sit here with one arm sticking out of the blanket using nothing but a mouse. I hate direct control so very very much.

3. The interface... haven't used it, don't know what to expect, but it could make it or break it.

4. The box art. I don't think I need to explain.

 

You know, I'm still far from convinced about the current LucasArts crew. 99% of them are just not doing it for me.

But Jesse Harlin, walk tall young man.

[Rapp Scallion]

I'm quite impressed actually! But why does Dom put water in his mouth when he's screaming when Guybrush sinks into the acid pit? I thought only the bottom half of Guybrush was going to sink into the acid? Had preferred a true heartbreaking scream of unimaginable pain, actually. I guess LeChuck had preferred it too.

[Kroms]

What, you wanted them to electrocute Dom or something?

 

It's strange you guys think of MI2 as being this super dark - I don't know, really - orgy of death. All of the darkness always struck me as being ironic. I've made a claim in the past that Monkey is a cartoon - I don't think it is, really, but it's definitely not as sardonically twisted and evil as people make it out to be.

 

4. The box art. I don't think I need to explain.

 

Box art on a downloadable title? Haha who cares?

 

It's also weird you're thinking the voice acting ruined it. Just mute that stuff. It's still the same dialogue.

[Kroms]

Also, wow, they got so many of the voices right. Kate's...look, is off. But her voice is spot-on.

[Snugglecakes]

Box art on a downloadable title? Haha who cares

 

I do.

 

The voices are great actually! I'm even warming to Largo. But most of all I'm helluva impressed with the iMUSE stuff.

[Kroms]

Yeah, the iMuse thing - if they really have pulled it off - is pretty great. They'd have succeeded where even the CMI guys hadn't done a 10/10 job.

 

Complaining about boxart on a downloadable game...I mean, there's no box. It's like complaining that a poster in a movie (as in a poster you see in the movie itself) is crap.

[Thrik]

Music sounds awesome, most voices sound great, and the art is consistently lovely. Yay!

[DPB]

2. Direct control? Ok ok as long as I can still sit here with one arm sticking out of the blanket using nothing but a mouse. I hate direct control so very very much.

 

This bits optional, it's something they added so the it works better with a controller in the console versions, but you can still use point and click in the PC version.