Exclusivity over the license.

[Valiento]

Well, that prediction sounds ominous!

[wilco64256]

Originally Posted by Anakin Skywalker

Why are you even here? You already decided you aren't going to like the game. Don't even bother playing it.

I'm also curious if he's still allowed to watch the games on Youtube if he's determined to dislike them?

[Cez]

I'm honestly not worried with Telltale pulling off the atmosphere. They are kings of that, and they have proven, time and time again in the past that they can adapt to any IP. Wallace & Gromit feels like Wallace & Gromit, Monkey Island feels like Monkey Island, Strong Bad feels like Strong Bad, etc.
I know the designers in the studio and they are all crazy talented. Yeah, they are not Sierra fans, but they were probably not Strong Bad or Wallace & Gromit fans either. And they made those happen.

So, storyline wise, I'm sure they'll do the right thing. However, Anakin, I'm not sure you'll like it, because if you have the mentality that the King's Quest characters were just avatars for you to immerse in the adventure, I'm almost sure that's not the way Telltale will treat them. They will give them the Monkey Island approach, with an overarching story with key moments that will serve for cliffhangers, and to pull that kind of stuff, you have to have some sort of convoluted plot going that allows for these key moments and revelations to develop. Yes, they won't take it as far or as dark as we took it with TSL, but Telltale is known for developing great characters and stories, which goes against your ideal of the simplicity to be found in a King's Quest.

Take a look at Tales of Monkey Island for example. Yes, the game feels much like a Monkey Island game, but you never found the amount of intrigue, betrayal, and even darkness that was found in Tales in any of the previous games. For sure, no character in Monkey Island was ever murdered in the way Guybrush was at the end of Episode 4, or Morgan in the same episode --and then we had a depressed Morgan in Episode 5 which is the kind of stuff you hate about TSL. Or the fact that Guybrush and Elaine were affected by the plague and turned into evil zombie-like-pirates. That stuff wasn't present at all in previous Monkey Island games, but it's, to Telltale, what makes a story. And great stories they do write.

On the subject of puzzles, I'm sure Telltale won't do what they are doing with Jurassic Park here. They are also very good at switching the gameplay style to match that of the franchise. Tale may not have been as hard as past Monkey Island games, but it was a great adventure game with some very clever puzzles. Oh, and, if JP gives us hope, they will have deaths included in this game! It'll probably be much easier than any past King's Quest game, but I'm sure there will be some clever puzzles to keep us entertained.

What I'm seriously more concerned about is the "exploration" side of things. I'm not sure how they will pull off the great number of characters and environments that we've come to known in past King's Quest games. They did a great job in Monkey Island, but even Monkey Island didn't have the diversity of a King's Quest game. I can only hope that since my days at Telltale, they've found ways to ramp up their production to be able to offer a large world filled with many different characters. If they find a way to do this, I can tell you that this game will shine.

[Rather Dashing]

Originally Posted by Cez

I'm honestly not worried with Telltale pulling off the atmosphere. They are kings of that, and they have proven, time and time again in the past that they can adapt to any IP. Wallace & Gromit feels like Wallace & Gromit, Monkey Island feels like Monkey Island, Strong Bad feels like Strong Bad, etc.
I know the designers in the studio and they are all crazy talented. Yeah, they are not Sierra fans, but they were probably not Strong Bad or Wallace & Gromit fans either. And they made those happen.

So, storyline wise, I'm sure they'll do the right thing. However, Anakin, I'm not sure you'll like it, because if you have the mentality that the King's Quest characters were just avatars for you to immerse in the adventure, I'm almost sure that's not the way Telltale will treat them. They will give them the Monkey Island approach, with an overarching story with key moments that will serve for cliffhangers, and to pull that kind of stuff, you have to have some sort of convoluted plot going that allows for these key moments and revelations to develop. Yes, they won't take it as far or as dark as we took it with TSL, but Telltale is known for developing great characters and stories, which goes against your ideal of the simplicity to be found in a King's Quest.

Take a look at Tales of Monkey Island for example. Yes, the game feels much like a Monkey Island game, but you never found the amount of intrigue, betrayal, and even darkness that was found in Tales in any of the previous games. For sure, no character in Monkey Island was ever murdered in the way Guybrush was at the end of Episode 4, or Morgan in the same episode --and then we had a depressed Morgan in Episode 5 which is the kind of stuff you hate about TSL. Or the fact that Guybrush and Elaine were affected by the plague and turned into evil zombie-like-pirates. That stuff wasn't present at all in previous Monkey Island games, but it's, to Telltale, what makes a story. And great stories they do write.

On the subject of puzzles, I'm sure Telltale won't do what they are doing with Jurassic Park here. They are also very good at switching the gameplay style to match that of the franchise. Tale may not have been as hard as past Monkey Island games, but it was a great adventure game with some very clever puzzles. Oh, and, if JP gives us hope, they will have deaths included in this game! It'll probably be much easier than any past King's Quest game, but I'm sure there will be some clever puzzles to keep us entertained.

What I'm seriously more concerned about is the "exploration" side of things. I'm not sure how they will pull off the great number of characters and environments that we've come to known in past King's Quest games. They did a great job in Monkey Island, but even Monkey Island didn't have the diversity of a King's Quest game. I can only hope that since my days at Telltale, they've found ways to ramp up their production to be able to offer a large world filled with many different characters. If they find a way to do this, I can tell you that this game will shine.

Definitely one of the best and most respectable analyses on this forum. Your insight is definitely appreciated. I don't think I have anything to add to this, really.

It doesn't exactly give me hope, though.

[Valiento]

I don't know if you were to combine all the Tales of MI episodes into one game, I don't think it would have been too off the mark from previous MI, which were also 'episodic' in nature. Just back then you got all the episodes at once.

This new KQ may mirror the approach taken by KQ7, at least in episode/cliffhanger department. Though who knows if we'll be playing one character, or switching between two like that game.

I wouldn't necessarily like them to go the "Dsney" approach in style, of KQ7... But it is technically the closest to allow Lucasarts style whimsy, if they wanted inject that kind of humor into the KQ world. Who knows if they chose that route maybe they could actually pull it off better than KQ7 did.

[Rather Dashing]

Originally Posted by Valiento

I don't know if you were to combine all the Tales of MI episodes into one game, I don't think it would have been too off the mark from previous MI, which were also 'episodic' in nature. Just back then you got all the episodes at once.

I think it's very easy to disagree here. The overarching storyline and point-to-point drama was far more important in Tales than even in Curse of Monkey Island(where Guybrush spends a lot of the time at the start dicking around on Chicken Port Island). Yes, it all *adds up* to something important, getting a crew and a ship and such. But the actual puzzles and gameplay aren't driven by the drama of "I need to get a crew" or "I need to get a ship", and there isn't anything in the plot progression that is mean to put its hooks in you emotionally. The way the whole thing is told, one as kind of an open world that you dick around in and the other as more of a guided, crafted storyline, that is definitely different from a design and(ultimately) end-user perspective.