you have ruined the MI style of dialogue

[adventureaddict]

Originally Posted by icedan

oi, AUSTRALIAN; can you explain why it wasn't boring for me in Monkey Island 1, 2 and 3.

Since you're from NZ, i'll let the 'AUSTRALIAN' thing slide.

But I do believe it happens(perhaps less often) in the previous games as well. Don't quote me on that though, I may be wrong.

[Impossible3144]

Originally Posted by CuriosTiger

I certainly liked the original MI dialog style better. In the original games, there were a couple of occasions where Guybrush said something other than what you'd expected, and that added comic effect.

When you do it in EVERY DIALOG, the comic effect is lost.

Except they don't. It happens a few times with Nipperkin, and is actually pretty funny. The other options would have been pretty out of character, but it's funny to imagine them as what Guybrush was thinking of saying - and what you think isn't always what comes out. I'm all for ridiculous dialogue options, but I can respect the way they decided to do it. The first four games did it as well!

Maybe a few more times when your choice changes the dialogue would be good... On the other hand, I hate feeling like I've missed dialogue, and all the times this happened actually prevented there from being 2-3 lines that I was unable to pick which may have had hilarious results. This way they can focus on writing dialogue everyone can see. The comedy to those choices is just in the choices, and that's actually enough.

It's ridiculous to complain that a minor detail like this completely ruins the game. It still sounds and plays like Monkey Island and still has the same great writing. It doesn't feel wrong because of a few little spots where they simply added humorous "fake" options rather than having nothing at all.

[icedan]

Originally Posted by Frogacuda

Except in this case he does say basically what was written, but he phrases it differently so you get two jokes for the price of one. Except for one or two spots where all the choices come out the same (EVERY Monkey ISland game did these, it's just a joke) you still have full control of the conversation.

I'll play the game when I get home tonight. But to be clear, a typical conversation in a previous Monkey Island game.

Line 1 > My name is Guybrush Threepwood.
Line 2 > Who are you?
Line 3 > Have you seen my monkey?

I choose Line 3.

Guybrush says: "Have you seen my monkey?"
Character Replies: "No, I haven't seen any monkey's, now leave me alone!"

Dialog changes to:

Line 1 > My name is Guybrush Threepwood.
Line 2 > Who are you?
Line 3 > Are you sure you haven't seen my monkey? I can see banana's in your back pocket.

So, by selecting Line 3, I have been lead down a new path discussing my lost monkey.


But from what I understand, TMI is more like this:

Line 1 > My name is Guybrush Threepwood.
Line 2 > Who are you?
Line 3 > Have you seen my monkey?

I select Line 3.

Guybrush says: My name is Guybrush Threepwood, I'm a mighty pirate!"


Which is a problem because it makes the game linear. Please tell me it's not like that.

Excuse me if I am being particular about this, I am a game designer and am just purely interested.

[Zeik56]

From what I've seen so far there's only been one conversation that was actually like that. People are just overreacting and trying to pretend the whole game doesn't care about what you choose, which just isn't the case.

[JFrosty]

Yeah, not all the game is like that.

Seriously, guys, that's hardcore nitpicking.

[Iamdan]

Making a thread about it is fair enough, but did you really need to make a youtube video?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16RO-ddmSE8

[Frogacuda]

Originally Posted by icedan

But from what I understand, TMI is more like this:

Line 1 > My name is Guybrush Threepwood.
Line 2 > Who are you?
Line 3 > Have you seen my monkey?

I select Line 3.

Guybrush says: My name is Guybrush Threepwood, I'm a mighty pirate!"

That's not how it works at all. It's more like this:

Line 1 > My name is Guybrush Threepwood.
Line 2 > Who are you?
Line 3 > Have you seen my monkey?

I select Line 3.

Guybrush says: "Hey, have you seen a monkey running around here... er, I mean besides the ones that are normally running around?"

It's just a rephrasing of whatever you choose. Just play the game, people are being stupid and they're sucking you into their vortex before you get to play it for yourself.

[beuwolf]

I agree with the original post: this new dialogue is terrible.

When you make a new monkey island game you have to keep certain elements of the game or you lose the entire atmosphere.
Having the dialogue choices make no impact on what Guybrush is saying or on the outcome sucks big time. Just look at the difference in the intro when what you say to Lechuck matters vs. later on in the game....

Utterly disappointed here...

"Great" job TellTale, you managed to save some $$ on dialogue lines... hooray for you and for ruining this long awaited experience....

[Frogacuda]

Originally Posted by beuwolf

"Great" job TellTale, you managed to save some $$ on dialogue lines... hooray for you and for ruining this long awaited experience....

Dude, play the goddamn game. You're under a completely mistaken conception. They wrote twice as many lines for this system just to make the game that much better. Every time you choose a line, he says something with the same intent/meaning but phrased a different way, usually with a joke thrown in. It's the same as Mass Effect or Tex Murphy.

[xChri5x]

Originally Posted by beuwolf

"Great" job TellTale, you managed to save some $$ on dialogue lines... hooray for you and for ruining this long awaited experience....

Holy s***, you must lead a sad existence.

[Wiseman4545]

God, some of you people are the biggest bunch of whiners I have ever seen. The worst part is that it's all over something so completely trivial and asinine. I could understand if this was some truly significant issue, but of all the things you could possibly complain about this is what you make a fuss over?

I'm honestly ashamed that I belong to the same fanbase as you people. This is pathetic.

[icedan]

Thanks Frogacuda for a clear explanation, only took 3 pages; says a lot about these boards unfortunately.

[Septa]

Beware my english suck !

I really like the game.

I don't mind Guybrush saying something a bit different from the answer I choosed. It's fun.
But I must say that I found quite cheap the fact that Guybrush would say the exact same things for all my choice in the first dialogue on the island...

It's one the cheapest things in bad jrpg and wrpg, I was a bit disapointed to see that in Monkey Island.

I hope it's not something which will happen in every dialog.

[beuwolf]

Originally Posted by Frogacuda

Dude, play the goddamn game. You're under a completely mistaken conception. They wrote twice as many lines for this system just to make the game that much better. Every time you choose a line, he says something with the same intent/meaning but phrased a different way, usually with a joke thrown in. It's the same as Mass Effect or Tex Murphy.

What are you talking about? If that were the case then it is acceptable.
But in all the dialogue choices i have seen since the intro, the choices have no effect whatsoever on the outcome: Guybrush just says the same line all the time (see the above example about going to rescue the wife).

[devoir]

Originally Posted by Frogacuda

Dude, play the goddamn game. You're under a completely mistaken conception. They wrote twice as many lines for this system just to make the game that much better. Every time you choose a line, he says something with the same intent/meaning but phrased a different way, usually with a joke thrown in. It's the same as Mass Effect or Tex Murphy.

You realise that you are completely missing what most of the people in this thread are talking about?

They're talking about the conversation with the reporter at the start of Chapter 1 which seems very poorly written. The intention, I believe after talking to others, was to be a callback to the prior installments in the series where Guybrush says one thing despite the multiple options. However in the previous games it was obviously funny, whereas in this one it's incredibly bland and banal.

The reporter asks him what his name is, Guybrush has four fairly standard answers. No matter which one you pick, Guybrush introduces himself how he normally does. Fine. But then you have the option of saying what you're looking for. You have three or four options regarding a ship, saving Elaine/finding LeChuck/getting back to the rock of Gelato (paraphrasing here). No matter which option you choose, you end up saying finding Elaine.

I can vaguely understand what they were trying to do (callback to previous times that Guybrush has had multiple options but goes for the 'safe' dialogue regardless of what the player chooses), but as you can see it was so poorly executed that most people think it's just being cheap.

[icedan]

Or maybe it's a bug?

[Frogacuda]

Originally Posted by devoir

You realise that you are completely missing what most of the people in this thread are talking about?

Different people are talking about different things, and there seems to be a lot of confusion all around.

They're talking about the conversation with the reporter at the start of Chapter 1 which seems very poorly written. The intention, I believe after talking to others, was to be a callback to the prior installments in the series where Guybrush says one thing despite the multiple options. However in the previous games it was obviously funny, whereas in this one it's incredibly bland and banal.

Whether or not the joke worked is a matter of debate, but I think most people seemed to miss the fact that that was just a joke/callback. They seemed to think it was a "cost cutting" thing or some other nonsense, and then others seemed to think the whole game was like that and not just the one or two lines in the beginning.

If the worst thing you can say about the game is that a couple jokes failed, then that hardly seems worthy of a thread saying they "ruined the whole style of dialog."

[devoir]

Originally Posted by Frogacuda

Whether or not the joke worked is a matter of debate, but I think most people seemed to miss the fact that that was just a joke/callback. They seemed to think it was a "cost cutting" thing or some other nonsense, and then others seemed to think the whole game was like that and not just the one or two lines in the beginning.

If people didn't get it, if it wasn't funny, then the joke doesn't work _for those people_. If people, upon further reflection, don't link it back to being a callback or realise that it's a failed joke, then it's failed rather badly. I'm a pretty big MI fan and I'm on a couple of other boards with healthy Monkey Island fan populations; it's not isolated to a few people 'whining' here.

Apparently, and I can't vouch for the truth of it as I haven't played a heap, it comes up in other conversations than the reporter one.

I'm not going to touch the other ancillary issues brought up in the thread, but I just wanted to clarify the particulars of this one because I was confused as hell as to why there was such a poor choice in dialogue delivery at a major beat in the game.

I'll agree this particular issue hasn't ruined the dialogue system and leave it at that.

[Bas]

I certainly liked the original MI dialog style better. In the original games, there were a couple of occasions where Guybrush said something other than what you'd expected, and that added comic effect.

When you do it in EVERY DIALOG, the comic effect is lost.

This guy nailed it.

[jp-30]

Every dialog?