Difficulty

[Rammbock]

Wow a new Monkey Island. This is really great news.

I hope they will make an inventory that lets you combine items like in the old games. I very much disliked the way they did it in sam&max. Allowing items to only be used directly with the environment is simply too easy. It destroys the atmosphere of such great adventure games.

But a new imperfect Monkey Island is certenly better than no new Monkey Island. :)

[tmsmyth4]

You will be able to combine inventory items according to gamespot.

"Tales of MI will have the traditional puzzles that use items you find in the environment, as well as a combination of objects, which can be combined in your inventory" (ToMI First Look article, Gamespot)

Not having this in Sam and Max took away fun/difficulty, glad to read Telltale have changed this for ToMI:D

[harald]

[Insert here the usual fanboy ramblings about how Telltale Games is too great a gift to the undeserving mankind.]

Now that that's out of the way:

Yes, this is my biggest concern at the moment too. My only concern, actually. I hope people agree that the difficulty level of for example Wallace & Gromit is not enough for MI. Monkey Island wouldn't be Monkey Island without some challenging brain teasers. Combining inventory items is one thing, but the general complexity of Telltale's puzzles needs a boost if they are going to work in a Monkey Island game, I think. So far, Sam 'n' Max did it best. But they are also more flexible than than the MI franchise since they have appeared in many different forms and media and have adapted to everything. MI is exclusively an adventure game series and needs to stay that way. S&M, SB and W&G work brilliantly as "story-telling games with puzzle elements". But please keep Monkey Island a classic, challenging adventure game, even if distributed episodically! If anyone can do it, I'm sure Telltale can. My two cents, anyway.

[gandalfill0]

I'm a bit worried about the time based help system...

I sincerely hope is completely and utterly optional, and you can easily deactivate it.

I want nothing to do with it...

[Bialar]

I'm a bit worried about the time based help system...

I sincerely hope is completely and utterly optional, and you can easily deactivate it.

I want nothing to do with it...

As far as I can tell, setting the hint system to the lowest setting in both Sam & Max and Strongbad resulted in either the AI not providing hints at all, or at least making them so cryptic and random that I never recognized them as such. There shouldn't be any reason to worry, I don't doubt MI will be the same.

[Jake]

We're going a little more classic with the puzzle insanity, but we're not going to drive it all the way off the cliff. :) Inventory combination is back and better than ever. Also, you can dial the hint system up or down to your desire. Right now you can choose to give hints with four levels of algorithmically-generated frequency, from "never" to "often."

[patters]

We're going a little more classic with the puzzle insanity, but we're not going to drive it all the way off the cliff. :) Inventory combination is back and better than ever. Also, you can dial the hint system up or down to your desire. Right now you can choose to give hints with four levels of algorithmically-generated frequency, from "never" to "often."
hell yes

[tmsmyth4]

mmm puzzle insanity :p

[gandalfill0]

We're going a little more classic with the puzzle insanity, but we're not going to drive it all the way off the cliff. :) Inventory combination is back and better than ever. Also, you can dial the hint system up or down to your desire. Right now you can choose to give hints with four levels of algorithmically-generated frequency, from "never" to "often."

Well....

Once you are established as the new Monkey Island saga home you SHOULD drive it all the way off the cliff....screaming YEEEHAAA on the way down.

C'mon we want some heavily insane puzzles around here. Is not that I'll be unsatisfied about the awesome stories and punchlines you should be polishing right now.... but I'm in a dire need of some old school mind twisting.

Also, thanks for clarifying the help system thing.

[darkowl]

For me, perhaps the biggest obstacle for this series will be the interwoven puzzles.

All of Telltale's games so far have been linear, "lock" based puzzles where you have to solve (usually three) things to open up the next "lock".

In Monkey Island, specifically number 2, you had many, many of these things going on at once, and often the solution of one puzzle formed part of another - and sometimes objects were re-used many times in different puzzles.

I hope the puzzle structure is a little more free-form, but I feel that you can only really achieve a lot of that with a big gameworld, which then necessitates a bigger game - and that means that Monkey Island would be better suited to one game, rather than five "episodes". Hmm...

[turingmachine604]

For me, perhaps the biggest obstacle for this series will be the interwoven puzzles.

All of Telltale's games so far have been linear, "lock" based puzzles where you have to solve (usually three) things to open up the next "lock".

In Monkey Island, specifically number 2, you had many, many of these things going on at once, and often the solution of one puzzle formed part of another - and sometimes objects were re-used many times in different puzzles.

I hope the puzzle structure is a little more free-form, but I feel that you can only really achieve a lot of that with a big gameworld, which then necessitates a bigger game - and that means that Monkey Island would be better suited to one game, rather than five "episodes". Hmm...

I'm worried about this too, episodes - although I see the necessity of using this format for adventure games this day and age - really does place some limitations in terms of puzzles and gameplay.

[AMG]

Since you do have a hint system, there should be no need for too easy riddles? :P

[Jenny]

I loved the complexity of the old puzzles! Yes, please drive the puzzle insanity way off the cliff, just provide us with a rubber tree. ;)

[xChri5x]

http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/samandmax/images/b/bf/Htr_item_retriever%2Bhand.jpg

Oh what fun we'll have!

[thanatos56]

I'd love to try a game where the puzzles are absolutely off the cliff.

Goodbye cruel adventure game!

...Eh, forget it.

[Sven Viking]

I'd love to try a game where the puzzles are absolutely off the cliff.

Goodbye cruel adventure game!

http://www.thediscworld.co.uk/sierra1-1.gif

[taumel]

We're going a little more classic with the puzzle insanity, but we're not going to drive it all the way off the cliff. :) Inventory combination is back and better than ever. Also, you can dial the hint system up or down to your desire. Right now you can choose to give hints with four levels of algorithmically-generated frequency, from "never" to "often."

JIIPPPIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE! *bouncing around*

[Jenny]

One of my favorite screenshots!

[Edward VanHelgen]

i didnt quite catch it, is there gonna be integrated hint system? what will it look like

those can be quite good, as earlier adventure games did in a great manner, like for example Phantasmagoria with narator giving you the hints, Torin's Passage also with level of hints, or Keepsake also has a good one

[Edward VanHelgen]

i just watched this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8s2aDo9txk

interesting thing is more difficult levels, something that was done in Curse and skipped in Monkey 4., and a hint system

what i sort of liked in these hints is if they are be puzzles themselves also. so, the clue will be covered in mystery not giving the answer right away but rather something to think of, like in phantasmagoria, and eventually if you want the hints will tell exactly what to do, like - Open that door, you fool.

the only problem is that how to restrain players from over using the hints, if they are included. there has been some ideas, like in Torin's Passage where you points are reduced if you ask for hints constantly, or something like a hint countdown timer.

[onlyamonkey]

I'm impressed by the way TTG handled the puzzles in Sam & Max, it got me more into actually spending some time off-screen just walking around thinking what possibly could work next. It was very stimulating, so I really couldn't care less whether the puzzles had more of a "just click everything everywhere and combine everything with anything" kind of style or more like "think it over, it's logical and it will come". However, a few more stuff in the inventory to work with really would be cool, it got a bit too simple in Sam & Max.

[Irishmile]

Combining items was always great in the MI games it made you think outside the inventory..... or rather think inside Guybrush's pants... because that is where he keeps all his cool useless junk... BTW is he still gonna stuff everything in his pants that was always funny in the third game.

[SurplusGamer]

I've enjoyed the previous Telltale adventures to a greater or lesser extent, but I haven't cared enough to spend time figuring everything out. But I know with Monkey Island I will be playing this with hints dialled all the way down so I can get maximum time out of it!