[sTyLnK]

Think the site is up and running again. =]

[cristane]

Just finished the prologue & I'm off to bed, it's 3.35 AM over here. So far I like it - controls aren't as bad as I thought they would be, and everything else is great - story, design, audio, video. The only thing is, it's really slow if I run it with 1024x768 and Graphics 6, on my 2.0 GB proc & 3 GB RAM laptop. I scaled everything down to 800x600 and Graphics 4, in order to run smoothly. Will give it a go tomorrow on my computer at work which is a lot better.

[Lucien21]

So I tried it out for a little bit.

Played the prologue, wandered around the island for a little bit.

So far it's been fairly positive. Superb voice work, the graphics are better than I expected, the feeling seems MI-ish, the dialogue is good so far.

Only issues:

* Once again the voice sound is overwhelmed by the music. Seems a ongoing Telltale problem.
* Camera Issues at times.
* OMG the new mouse movement control sucks ass. Whoever thought that was a good idea should be keelhawled immediatly. Useless.

Anyway the positives outweigh the negatives so far.

Sleep time (it's 2am)

[oerhört]

I really like it so far, played for an hour or so. The graphics seem a lot better in context and in motion. I've smiled at a lot of the jokes, seem to be about on par with the start MI2 in that regard although perhaps not as hilarious as the start of MI3. All in all, it does remind me a bit about MI2.

I really enjoy

Spoiler:

the in medias res way to begin these games, right into something fun and eventful straight off the bat.

It also seems like the episode format will fit Monkey Island well.

Two thumbs up from me so far.

The one thing I really felt could have been done better was the graphics engine. Although I love the depth of field effect and the look of the game, there isn't enough going on here that it should be necessary to challenge my 9600GT. I expected this to run smoothly at 1920x1200 but had to turn the resolution down a bit to get it smooth.

[PhoenixWrong]

I have black horizontal bars on the screen like I am in a forced "widescreen mode", but I don't have a widescreen monitor. Does anyone else with a regular monitor have this problem? I tried changing the resolution but no dice

[Puzzler]

At first the game was running dreadfully slow on my laptop, but then I changed the quality on the settings option and now it's running smoothly; I didn't have to scale the game down any. I just finished the opening sequence on the boat and now I'm on the island. So far so good. I don't mind the new mouse movement control, in a way I kinda even like it; makes the game feel a little more action adventurous.

[GoT]

Well...

first impression was impossible because it took me about an hour to get it running. I ended up reading all the discussions on the telltale site and not too much later after that i found a file they had to assist with the boot up (changing the graphics settings) and i had it running. However, im still stuck even now in window mode...which leaves me with a slight sensation that im not quite playing monkey island...i cant quite get sucked into the screen like i usually do....i cant expand the windows mode window either, if you get what i mean.

well... apart from that issue... i had a bit of sea sickness in the opening few mintues and a bit of clumsiness with teh movement controls (which you can also use the arrow keys for) but i eventually picked it up. So far i'm loving the actual game, the graphics are tremendous as are the sounds and the humour. Its typical old monkey island [for the 5th time] and i must say im damned pleased to be playing it. I remember being equally impressed when first playing curse of monkey island also but this is some ground breaking stuff right here, very very awesome.

now to get the game to run in normal full screen mode......any advice?

[Phod]

Heh, I played a bit tonight and I really like it. I agree the choice to not just let you click somewhere was an interesting choice, but I think that it's a small gripe considering it's a new Monkey Island game.

I think the review is a tad harsh

[tastebud]

Originally Posted by PhoenixWrong

I have black horizontal bars on the screen like I am in a forced "widescreen mode", but I don't have a widescreen monitor. Does anyone else with a regular monitor have this problem? I tried changing the resolution but no dice

its supposed to be that way. personally i love the bars, just like i love the bars watching a dvd. its not a "problem". i wish more games would go widescreen personally its more stylish that way.

back to my opinion: i've played it about an hour this morning and im pleasantly surprised. the graphics are better than i expected. i like the new guybrush model with the goattee and earrings. seems bit closer to mi2 than the mi3 (mi2 guybrush is my favorite). the controls are not necessarily horrible but could be better. i guess they made it so they'd have less work porting to consoles.no big deal.

[Keregioz]

Dammit....seems like it's time to get a new video graphics card.

The game is pretty good so far btw.

[Vina]

Just got done playing it so here's my little review:

Pro's:
+ Nice animation.
+ Might be a little too early to judge but the humor's definitely on par with the series and had me chuckling.
+ Not too hard, not too easy.
+ I think the new villain's enjoyable. Definitely a cross between charismatic and creepy.

Con's:
- I'm very disappointed LeChuck and the Voodoo Lady's VAs did not return.
- Most of Flotsam's residents could have benefited from more unique models.

So all in all, I had a great time playing it. I was very surprised that my Core2 Duo could not run it at full quality, but I didn't see much of a difference between lvl9 and lvl3 to really bother me anyway.

I think I can guess who the mysterious person at the end is...

[Keregioz]

Originally Posted by Vina

I was very surprised that my Core2 Duo could not run it at full quality, but I didn't see much of a difference between lvl9 and lvl3 to really bother me anyway.

I think it mostly has to do with what kind of graphics card you have.

[cristane]

Played another hour or so, now taking another break, I really don't wanna finish this in one go
So far I'm really impressed, Telltale did an amazing job maintaining the charm & humor of the originals. I really don't mind the new control scheme, and everything else is great. Oh, and it's really funny, made me laugh out loud a couple of times

[theduke]

I just finished about two hours of the game and from what I can see im pretty much pleased. However one thing that really bothers me a lot is the new style of monkey island (EMI and TMI). The atmosphere of the games are just not cutting it for me. Let me explain by comparing the first 3 games to the last 2 (may contain spoilers):
I remember how dark the first three games were and I thought that the darkness added a very unique touch to the games. The islands in those games really lived up to their names like blood island, melee island, plunder island, and scabb island were all very dark atmospheric islands and each one had its own trademark to it. With the new ones I feel that each island is pretty much a gimmick. In EMI you had an island filled with tourist attractions and in this new one you have flotsam island which is an island built from flotsam. The islands of the new games are way too sunny and lively for my tastes and not exactly the blood thirsty pirate islands that I want to explore.
In the first 3 games each building was repulsive and broken down and made the player want to go inside and explore. The buildings had life to them and even the ones that you cannot enter were pretty to look at. The buildings in these last two are very bland and very one dimensional. And EVERYTHING in the game looks like it was made out of plastic. With this new game I wasn’t able to enter any buildings (yet!) but all in all I really don’t care if I ever do.
And last complaint is the characters. I guarantee you every MI fan will remember Otis, meathook, Carla, the three barber pirates, murray, Captain rottingham, Wally governor phatt, Captain Dread and pretty much all or most of the characters from the first three games. Now I challenge anybody to name one new character introduced in EMI. TMI is looking to be even worse than EMI in this category. All the new characters are just really boring to interact with and to look at.
Nevertheless as far as the game itself goes, Im really liking it and the puzzles are really well thought, but that was something I just had to get off my chest and now that I got it off I think I can go back and have fun playing it because it really is a fun game.

[GoT]

Originally Posted by theduke

And last complaint is the characters. I guarantee you every MI fan will remember Otis, meathook, Carla, the three barber pirates, murray, Captain rottingham, Wally governor phatt, Captain Dread and pretty much all or most of the characters from the first three games. Now I challenge anybody to name one new character introduced in EMI. TMI is looking to be even worse than EMI in this category. All the new characters are just really boring to interact with and to look at.

This seems like a VERY common point so far. I've only played half an hour or so and spent most of that walking around talking to characters not trying to solve puzzles... just enjoying the environment... and yeh... i have to agree so far but the guy with the dolls is pretty funny and i think he deserves a special mention because he's very reminiscent of the typical MI type NPC.

[kn0wl]

theduke makes some good points. On the whole I think the characters are good in Tales but two pairs do share character models which is a little disappointing. The character design and atmosphere in the first Monkey Island game is still the standard to match. Some darker environments would be good, there needs to be some contrast, but I still loved the atmosphere throughout Tales:Ep1.

The new control scheme is drawing some complaints. However it's entirely optional and quite good when you get used to it. With a real 3D environment I think clicking on the ground would be problematic on the ship at the start. Don't forget you can run using right click. My main complaint is the slightly fiddly inventory which feels like it takes one click to many to do anything.

[Bruno_Malta]

Just got my copy. Will be posting my impressions soon.

[DustyShinigami]

I had to switch my graphics card and lower the graphics detail to 1, in order to get the game running smoothly, but so far, i've only completed the prologue. From what i've played, seen and heard, it seems promising. The only complaint i have is the control method. I don't like it. I don't like how you hold the left mouse button down and then drag the cursor in the direction you want to go. What was wrong with the point n' click interface from Sam & Max? So it looks like i'll be using the directional keys to move around and occasionally left clicking on an object of interest to move Guybrush.

Also, i wasn't particularly happy that i've had to pay the $34.95. I mean, don't get me wrong, i'm all for supporting Telltale, but i was hoping to pay $8.95 for just this episode at the moment. You can with Sam & Max and Wallace & Gromit, so...

I'll certainly be continuing later on.

[Bruno_Malta]

This graphic intensity that this episode seems to demand looks troubling to me. The early games (S&M) were pretty and were not that demanding.
I hope that Telltale fix that with a patch or improve this one the next episodes. I bought a notebook just to play Adventure games and since none of them are too demanding the hardware specs are not that high. I am worried with Tales tought...from what i read i will suffer to run this one with good graphics.
Any one can tell me how is the difference from high to low? I mean, is it that much different?

[Dale Baldwin]

It ran fairly well one my low-spec laptop, with the graphics turned down to 2 That said it still looked good. I'm running it on my desktop at level 6, and it doesn't look a whole lot different really; maybe more anti-aliased, but nothing majorly different. Anything higher and performance is heavily affected though.