Adventure Gamers - Forums

After a brisk nap - 28 March 2013 04:04 PM

Maybe I should admit that I’m not wild about the comic. It’s fun enough, but it feels really lightweight compared to all the other prominent Vertigo titles (almost all of them now canceled). I think one of the big problems is that it’s not written with an endpoint in mind, so it has a bit of that superhero “never-ending serial” feel to it; and with a large cast, it can often become a bit soap opera-ish. And unlike a series like The Walking Dead, which might also be open-ended (and which I’m not a great fan of either), it doesn’t have a strong focus or distinct point of view. Story arcs don’t build on each other to some greater whole, but just sort of head off in different directions.

I’ve no idea of what the gameplay would be either. (But I haven’t played a Telltale game in a while, so I don’t really know their style anyway.)

I read the first few collections. I liked it a lot, but would tend to agree that it feels lightweight, evidenced by the fact that I have no real desire to ever pick up where I left off.

Alan Moore’s “Smax” (one book) also plays with classic characters in more interesting ways. Plus there are some adventure game references in there.

Yay, fables!

I just split the last few days’ worth of King’s Quest conversation into a new thread. Let’s keep this thread on topic about The Wolf Among Us. Thanks.

Panthera - 29 March 2013 02:04 AM

Interesting. I dropped the comic because it was too dark and gritty for me.

Oh. What’s with Telltale picking up the dark and gritty franchises? I want more of the light and fluffy, like Wallace & Gromit and Bone

Which could explain why it wasn’t as strong as seasons 1 and 2 (and killed off the series   )

None of Telltale’s Sam & Max games held a candle to Hit the Road.  The humor just wasn’t there with Telltale.

It was for me. Some of the Telltale stuff was hilarious. Wasn’t Purcell involved in all of the Sam & Max games? I always thought he was responsible for the humor.

Yeah, I know he worked with them in some capacity, but I’m not sure how much of the actual writing he did.  I dunno—your mileage may vary, of course, but I always felt like Telltale’s games fell flat compared to Hit the Road or the earlier comics.  There’s nothing in them that touches the old Surfin’ the Highway collection, for example.  My opinion, of course. 

Oscar - 02 April 2013 09:37 PM

It was for me. Some of the Telltale stuff was hilarious. Wasn’t Purcell involved in all of the Sam & Max games? I always thought he was responsible for the humor.

He was involved in the planning stages in an advisory capacity, but not actually responsible for any of the writing.

Although I liked the Telltale Sam and Max games, and even enjoyed their humor, I didn’t think they captured Purcell’s voice very well. Which, in fairness, is almost impossible to replicate. I’ve kind of moved my hopes for Sam and Max’s future to a movie, or maybe more comics.

I actually really liked the Telltale Monkey Island game. Monkey Island had already been through a few writers, and ToMI felt much more like a real part of that series to me than Sam and Max did to its IP.

Frogacuda - 02 April 2013 11:37 PM

Oscar - 02 April 2013 09:37 PM

It was for me. Some of the Telltale stuff was hilarious. Wasn’t Purcell involved in all of the Sam & Max games? I always thought he was responsible for the humor.

He was involved in the planning stages in an advisory capacity, but not actually responsible for any of the writing.

Although I liked the Telltale Sam and Max games, and even enjoyed their humor, I didn’t think they captured Purcell’s voice very well. Which, in fairness, is almost impossible to replicate. I’ve kind of moved my hopes for Sam and Max’s future to a movie, or maybe more comics.

I actually really liked the Telltale Monkey Island game. Monkey Island had already been through a few writers, and ToMI felt much more like a real part of that series to me than Sam and Max did to its IP.

Yes!  I agree completely.  Well put—they didn’t capture Steve Purcell’s voice—inasmuch as the way the characters were written just didn’t feel like a complete mesh with the series’ past roots, particularly in Hit the Road and the earlier comics.  It was kinda-sorta close, but ultimately fell flat, for me.  I also think the voice acting was partly to blame, too.  Telltale’s voice actors, particularly for Sam (but Max was nearly as bad) just didn’t capture the comic timing of the actors from Hit the Road—the Hit the Road voices felt like the way I had always heard the characters in my head when reading the comics.  That game was truly an amazing piece of voice casting.  I just don’t think Telltale’s writers got Sam & Max, frankly.  I don’t think they really understood the magic of the humor.  They focused too much on the idea of zany randomness, and missed some of the dry wit of the writing in Hit the Road and the comics in particular.  The Telltale games reminded me a lot more of the watered down (and ultimately subpar) Saturday morning cartoon.

And yeah—they did a MUCH better job with Tales of Monkey Island.  Aside from the utterly aggravating move to end the story on a semi-cliffhanger and set up an anything-but-certain sequel, I thought they did a great job capturing the tone of the series.

I didn’t even realise they were voiced by different actors from Hit the Road until now. But then it’s been an eternity since I’ve played Hit the Road so I have an excuse

Lambonius - 03 April 2013 12:06 AM

And yeah—they did a MUCH better job with Tales of Monkey Island.  Aside from the utterly aggravating move to end the story on a semi-cliffhanger and set up an anything-but-certain sequel, I thought they did a great job capturing the tone of the series.

It was satisfactory. Have you replayed it though? Let’s just say my second time around wasn’t great. So many moments I didn’t have the first time. Strangely, Escape was just the opposite.

If I had to choose between a new Telltale Sam & Max and a new Monkey Island, it would be Sam & Max for sure. I’m still hoping for a new Monkey Island before Dominic Armato gets old and croaky. Just not from Telltale.

Oscar - 03 April 2013 12:22 AM

It was satisfactory. Have you replayed it though? Let’s just say my second time around wasn’t great. So many moments I didn’t have the first time. Strangely, Escape was just the opposite.

If I had to choose between a new Telltale Sam & Max and a new Monkey Island, it would be Sam & Max for sure. I’m still hoping for a new Monkey Island before Dominic Armato gets old and croaky. Just not from Telltale.

Yeah, I’ve played it a few times through.  I agree; it’s not as good as the original four games.  Well, at least not as good as the first three.  I liked Escape, too, but it ALSO had a number of groaner moments—both in gameplay and story.

Story-wise, I think Telltale did okay—I liked the new characters of Morgan LeFay and the Marquis.  They really felt like a natural fit with the established Monkey Island series.  And I think, for the most part, they got the tone and humor down.  And in this case, solid and series-consistent voice acting was a key part of this.  I think the game suffers from some crappy puzzles, as all Telltale games do, and it has an utterly terrible interface.  But tonally, I think they got the feel of the series down pretty well—not perfect, like I said, but better, in my opinion, than Sam & Max.  The only story elements I really didn’t like was the fan-fiction-y overarching Voodoo Lady conspiracy, that of course, never got resolved.