Lucas Arts™ nostalgia

[madhair60]

Is there a ScummVM-style piece of software for the Sierra games? A great feature would be an autosave chronology after every action you did, summarised in a big long list ("gave Dairylea Dunker to Ant King"). The saves would be put in a special section and would happen automatically after any action at all.

Sadly, no, but the GOG.com collections are all configured and good to go with DosBox.

[HappyTree]

Yer alll a bunch o' scurvy land-lubbers. Get with the program, daddio, we have colour TV and everything. Talking Monkey Island is great!

[mcbpete]

Is there a ScummVM-style piece of software for the Sierra games? A great feature would be an autosave chronology after every action you did, summarised in a big long list ("gave Dairylea Dunker to Ant King"). The saves would be put in a special section and would happen automatically after any action at all.

ScummVM works for a lot of Sierra games now too. Here's the full list of games that work for it - http://www.scummvm.org/compatibility/

[I accept the terms of the]

"The Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight"

Haha!

[mcbpete]

Don't knock it, that game taught me a lot of life lessons ....

[Petey Pate]

I've played the recent Monkey Island Special Editions, and I found that the voice track didn't work very well at all.  Not because of the voice actors (who included some well known professionals like Jess Harnell and Rob Paulson), but I think it was down to the fact that the dialouge was originally written not to be spoken out loud. None of it was changed for the recorded voices, and it often sounded quite clumsy and awkward.  It could also have been down to weak voice direction, I'm reminded of how even guys like Mel Blanc and Daws Butler could be pretty terrible in numerous 80's TV cartoons where no one gave a shit about how well their lines were read.

[A.A]

Grim Fandango, Monkey Island 2 and Day of the Tentacle are all amongst my favourite games of all time.

The only thing comparable to their greatness to come out of Sierra's adventure gaming era was Jane Jenson's Gabriel Knight series.  They were exceptionally well-told stories. Tim Curry was brilliant.

The rest of their catalogue, however, is mediocre at best (Laura Bow excepted; which I'm rather fond of)

[Lt Plonker]

Yes, I think out of all the Sierra games I've played, those two series were my favourites. Although both Laura Bow games had a few examples of very unfair deaths; I'm thinking namely of that bloody chandelier in the Colonel's Bequest and crossing the road in Dagger of Amon Ra. At least with Gabriel Knight, the threat of death was usually fairly obvious. Agreed, Tim Curry - the entire cast actually - were bloody great.

Someone's uploaded the 'making of' video that came with the game:

Part 1

Part 2

[A.A]

I also loved the graphic novella  or whatever you want to call it which came with the game. So much emphasis on character and story; just wonderful. The music for all three games was stunning too. My favourites:

GK2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiHHE6FJMDc

GK3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUSSa8aHAMk

Jenson's latest- Gray Matter- wasn't as compelling- and the music definitely wasn't as good- but still highly atmospheric and well worth a look-see. 

[I accept the terms of the]

I'm playing through Monkey Island on the XBox now, on the old graphic setting (of course). I usually flick through to the new graphics on every scene to compare, and they often make me angry.

For example, the insult pirates? Instead of fun, gnarled pointy, mostly-unique ugly men they're just the same identical modern Disney handsome young man wearing a different hat. It really enraged me. Being able to switch between graphic styles instantly with one button is a power that should not be granted to people who are concerned about the decline in quality of most things.

[HappyTree]

Ah but in the new version you get the hilarious voices. Just listen to the craven simpering of Lu Chuck's skeleton servant. Or the annoying salesman tones of Stan in the used shipyard. Or the ridiculous effeminate growl of Meathook as he cowers from the terrible beast in his hotel.

When I finish this one I will buy the second adventure and play it also in the updated version. I also like the revised Star Wars films and do not fear reheated rice.

[I accept the terms of the]

You should hear the voices in my head, they're much better. They have plans for people like you, the voices.

[A.A]

Don't get the hate for the special editions. I thought the voices were fantastic; and while I wouldn't rave about the updated graphics, they did the job for me; and were occasionally quite impressive even. 

The only thing that annoyed me was the first remake; and how you couldn't get voices in the old graphics. Just a pain. I find it exceedingly difficult to get through games without voices these days.

[MojoJojo]

I personally find voices a pain in the arse and far too slow - and it doesn't help that the voice acting is normally crap. The voices on the demo of Monkey Island 3 are what turned me off from ever playing it.
Most games I play with subtitles and skip the voice acting once I'e finished reading.

Why I find it voices such a pain in games but OK in TV/movies I don't know. Maybe I just don't watch anything with dialogue as tedious as it is in most games, or maybe it's because I have more fun things to do in a game.

[Mister Six]

Just wanted to echo the distaste for the 'improved' Monkey Island graphics. I'm not entirely against such updates, but the bland, generic, soulless designs are completely at odds with the tone and style of the old version. Lt Plonker's box comparison is spot-on; Purcell has an eye for characterisation, atmosphere and composition that the new artists (who, I'm guessing, are just a bunch of uni grads led by someone with no real experience in character design) completely lack. There's also a misunderstanding of the character - Guybrush shouldn't be cool and cocky, as the Dreamworks-style expression implies. He should be naive, lost and a bit out of his depth. And a bit goofy too.

As much as I disliked Curse of Monkey Island, I think the character design in that game was about as good as you could hope for from a high-res version.*




*Although it lacked the creepy, sinister air of the other games, as pointed out above.

[I accept the terms of the]

He looks like Robin from Maid Marian and Her Merry Men there, which is fun.