Good Old Games announces 'major new publisher' (LucasArts)

[Ignatius_S]

The big reveal is in just over three hours, but it's going to be LucasArts. The first six titles will be:

Star Wars: X-Wing Special Edition
Star Wars: TIE Fighter Special Edition
Sam & Max Hit the Road
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

For the first three, this is the first time they've been available digitally.

Bit of a discussion at: http://www.gog.com/forum/general/tomorrows_lucasart_releases_confimed_so_far

[garbed_attic]

I own all the adventure games, but I still think that's glorious since it might get more people playing them!

[Mister Six]

I quite fancy Sam & Max. Depends what the price point is, though. I've already bought it once. Anything more than a fiver will be taking the piss.

[garbed_attic]

In a sense, it's not wholly necessarily since SCUMM-VM has always worked fine... but, y'know, I do love those games.

[Ignatius_S]

I quite fancy Sam & Max. Depends what the price point is, though. I've already bought it once. Anything more than a fiver will be taking the piss.

$10 each according to someone posting from an official GOG account - wouldn't be surprised if there was some kind of deal at launch.

The $10 mark is the Steam price for a fair few LucasArts games and I can't really see it being less – I think they'd be worried about 'devaluing' the brand(s) by a permanent bargain basement price and going by all the feedback I've seen, there hasn't been complaints about the price.

In a sense, it's not wholly necessarily since SCUMM-VM has always worked fine... but, y'know, I do love those games.

Not everyone wants to use emulators. Personally, I think extending the amount of affordable titles that people can buy easily is a very good thing. (*edit* As you say, it's going to get more people playing these games.)

[Mister Six]

I don't have the CD any more, so it's buy it or copy it. Though TBH other than being a generally good egg there isn't a massive incentive not to copy it. LucasArts doesn't make anything I want to buy any more, I already paid for it once, everyone involved with the project already got paid (and probably don't work for LucasArts any more) and they won't be making any more Sam & Max games so there's nothing to encourage.

But $10 for a top game isn't bad at all.

[Ignatius_S]

I don't have the CD any more, so it's buy it or copy it. Though TBH other than being a generally good egg there isn't a massive incentive not to copy it. LucasArts doesn't make anything I want to buy any more, I already paid for it once, everyone involved with the project already got paid (and probably don't work for LucasArts any more) and they won't be making any more Sam & Max games so there's nothing to encourage.

But $10 for a top game isn't bad at all.

Maybe I'm just a mad fool, but I'm hoping these releases might encourage remastered versions. There's going to be a Grim Fandago one and it had been reported that not long before it was sold, LucasArts had nearly finished one of Day of the Tentacle – although that was unconfirmed (FWIW, I'm inclined to believe it). With the change of ownership, Disney has made it clear it's happy to license.

[Steven]

I loved Lucasarts adventure games, they were my favourite thing when I was a kid. I've still not played Grim Fandango and I'm sure the reason it failed is the same reason I didn't buy it after playing the demo, the keyboard movement wasn't intuitive and removed the comfortable familiarity of the mouse operated SCUMM system. Tie Fighter and X Wing were both also really good games, but it would need a bit of a graphical update as I remember even at the time they looked pants.

[Ignatius_S]

Sam and Max is £3.69, as is Indy. The others are £6.19 each - Monkey Island and KTOR is usually £7.79, so are on discount for a while.

[falafel]

I don't have the CD any more, so it's buy it or copy it. Though TBH other than being a generally good egg there isn't a massive incentive not to copy it. LucasArts doesn't make anything I want to buy any more, I already paid for it once, everyone involved with the project already got paid (and probably don't work for LucasArts any more) and they won't be making any more Sam & Max games so there's nothing to encourage.

But $10 for a top game isn't bad at all.

Didn't they get shut down anyway?

[Mister Six]

Who got shut down?

Sam and Max is £3.69, as is Indy. The others are £6.19 each - Monkey Island and KTOR is usually £7.79, so are on discount for a while.

Is Monkey Island the remastered, HD version? Otherwise I have no idea why it would cost so much more.

Never played KOTOR, but I know everyone loved it. Is it as good as everyone says, and would it play okay on a laptop, or would I need a mouse?

[lazarou]

Who got shut down?

Is Monkey Island the remastered, HD version? Otherwise I have no idea why it would cost so much more.

Never played KOTOR, but I know everyone loved it. Is it as good as everyone says, and would it play okay on a laptop, or would I need a mouse?

I fucking loved KOTOR, but haven't revisited it lately and wonder how it stacks up after we've had several Mass Effects in the interim. If nothing else, it has a spot-on feel for the material, better than the prequels ever did. I never got around to the sequel as it launched in such a broken, unfinished state I was waiting for the fan patching project to finish the job before giving it a shot. They ended up dragging their heels so long a splinter group started from scratch and finished their own patching project, so I'm eagerly awaiting that one.

Regarding keyboard control, it might be a bit of an awkward one. It was designed with Xbox support in mind, so it sports a streamlined interface, but it's also from the time when controller support and the like on PC was a complete mess, so it doesn't actually support proper xbox-style controls, instead relying on mouse & keyboard alone, and I seem to remember it being fairly mouse-heavy, especially in combat. That said, combat is pause-based, so it's not at all reliant on quick motion.

[garbed_attic]

Is Monkey Island the remastered, HD version? Otherwise I have no idea why it would cost so much more.

Looks like it is the remastered one... which I'm tempted to play for the voice acting, but not so much the graphics. I want to be able to play it with the old graphics, new music and new voices but I don't think there is an option to do that.

[Bored of Canada]

Looks like it is the remastered one... which I'm tempted to play for the voice acting, but not so much the graphics. I want to be able to play it with the old graphics, new music and new voices but I don't think there is an option to do that.

On the iPhone version, you literally swiped your fingers down to change the new art style to the original style and original music. This will likely be the same. Just press tab or something to switch between new and original. But I don't think the voice acting carries over to the original version. Second one also comes with an ace commentary from all the guys who made it.

Honestly I loved those remastered editions. I played the originals so many times. May as well play it in the new style as a mildly different experience as you'll be on auto pilot with the puzzles anyway.

[garbed_attic]

That's a good point! It's just a lovely world to inhabit, really.

Also - hands up - who root beers *all* the ghost pirates?

[Consignia]

On the original releases of the Monkey Island remake, you either had the all the new art, new music and voice acting, or the "old" art and music, no options in between. Although you could dynamically switch between the two. I think this was quite unpopular so they let you pick individual options in the Monkey Island 2 remake, and may have updated the older releases.

I say old art and music, it's the VGA and CD music version. Frankly, even this is too new for me. EGA and PC Speaker, then we'll talk about classic Monkey Island experience.

[syntaxerror]

The artwork of the Monkey Island remakes was horrible, completely lacking in charm and the animation just seemed really half arsed. Oh and the voice acting completely killed a lot of the humour in it for me too. To go back and hear characters speak in what I knew as a text only game just felt so wrong. By contrast, I loved the voice acting in Day of The Tentacle, but thats because it was there the first time I played it. Bah.

[BPFHAY]

The artwork of the Monkey Island remakes was horrible, completely lacking in charm and the animation just seemed really half arsed . Oh and the voice acting completely killed a lot of the humour in it for me too. To go back and hear characters speak in what I knew as a text only game just felt so wrong. By contrast, I loved the voice acting in Day of The Tentacle, but thats because it was there the first time I played it. Bah.

THISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

[Consignia]

The artwork of the Monkey Island remakes was horrible, completely lacking in charm and the animation just seemed really half arsed . Oh and the voice acting completely killed a lot of the humour in it for me too. To go back and hear characters speak in what I knew as a text only game just felt so wrong. By contrast, I loved the voice acting in Day of The Tentacle, but thats because it was there the first time I played it. Bah.

Definitely agree. To be honest, I felt the series died from the The Curse onwards. It was too wacky and cartoony.

You could say Day of The Tentacle was too wacky and cartoony as well, but it felt just right to me.

[Ignatius_S]

...Is Monkey Island the remastered, HD version?....

It's the remake - so the one you're talking about.

...Never played KOTOR, but I know everyone loved it. Is it as good as everyone says, and would it play okay on a laptop, or would I need a mouse?

Oh, good Lord, yes - it's a fantastic story-driven RPG. If you you like the Star Wars mythos, it's a no-brainer - if you don't like Star Wars, I would have trouble not recommending it. I would say it's worth having a look at the iPad version reviews if someone is unsure if it holds up.

I fucking loved KOTOR, but haven't revisited it lately and wonder how it stacks up after we've had several Mass Effects in the interim...

Brilliantly.

...I never got around to the sequel as it launched in such a broken, unfinished state...

Firstly, many many thanks for letting me to defend the second game - it's a genuinely novel experience to have to not argue why the first game is should be considered a such a good game and worthy of consideration in line with the second.

The second game is not broken in any shape or form. In order to meet the release deadline that LucasArts set, Obsidian had to finish the game prematurely, which meant that content didn't make the final release. As much as I regret this, it's still a brilliant experience and built on the first game impressively. I have to admit that the end sequence when the game was finished was incredibly disappointing, it was impossible not to acknowledge the improvements (e.g. light sabre building) that the second game made - and I think it's fair to say this was reflected in the reviews at the time (which I later found to be spot on) that acknowledged the improvements. After the second game, it was hard going back to the first.

These days, when the games are discussed, the first game is given relatively short shift because of the improvements made in the first game. Personally, I think this is unfair - the first game is more consistent and the end sequence of the second (after the gameplay) is one the most disappointing that I've experience, however I seriously would struggle recommending it as the better game. The most frustrating aspect about KOTR 2 is that content was left out but if I had to pick one game, that's the one I would - but personally I would go with both.

[Ignatius_S]

...Is it as good as everyone says, and would it play okay on a laptop, or would I need a mouse?

Sorry, forgot to comment about this - my gut feeling is to say mouse. The combat is really turn-based, but I think it would be nest using keyboard and mouse.

[syntaxerror]

Yeah, the difference was that DOTT was a blank slate, whereas Monkey Island 1 & 2 established a direction then completely ripped it up with the third game. I don't remember hating this decision at the time and seem to recall enjoying Curse, but it holds no value whatsoever in nostalgia, and I've never felt inclined to go back and replay it unlike the first two, which I've played, and loved, many times over.  Interestingly,  it is exactly the same reason I hated the remakes yet loved DOTT, that I loved Grim Fandango yet didn't (and never have) want to touch Monkey Island 4 with a very long stick.

[Bored of Canada]

I really love Curse. Absolutely love it. Especially the artstyle. It's different from the previous two, but to be fair the first and second are very different in tone too. Second one's the sweetspot for me. I love forst one to bits but I don't think it's that good a game in a lot of ways. Especially in how much it drips off halfway through when you actually get to Monkey Island.

LeChuck's Revenge is brilliant. Utterly brilliant.

I tried Sam and Max Hit the Road a few years back but I didn't get on with it at all. Tried all those Sam and Max games over the years, but never ever ever connected in any way with them. Not for me. I wish it was.

I'm not as fussed about them releasing Grim Fandango again. I'm waiting for the HD version with the fixed controls (and I'm hoping with a few of those puzzles scrapped too). Is there a release date for that?

[Ignatius_S]

...I tried Sam and Max Hit the Road a few years back but I didn't get on with it at all. Tried all those Sam and Max games over the years, but never ever ever connected in any way with them....

Nothing to worry about - it just means you have no soul.

...I'm not as fussed about them releasing Grim Fandango again....

I doubt that they will - if Disney allowed the original game to be released, it would hardly encourage other companies to pay money to license new versions of other LucasArts games. It's possible, but I suspect that the money from Double Fine (subsidised by Sony) will be sufficient.

...Is there a release date for that?

Don't think so. It's a time-limited Sony exclusive - don;' think there's a clear idea of when the first releases will come out or when it will be released on other platforms.

[syntaxerror]

LeChuck's Revenge is brilliant. Utterly brilliant.

You might just be right - not even having to load a separate floppy disk (it came on 12 of the fuckers) just to watch Largo gob on the wall put me off :)

[Steven]

I think it's because Lucasarts had proper artists working on the graphics, you had comic guys like Steve Purcell which obviously is what led to Sam & Max being produced, and a host of others shaping the character design and backgrounds. It sort of reached its zenith during production of Monkey Island 2, where they had a much bigger team of artists, and this bled into other projects like DOTT and Indy And The Fate Of Atlantis. What I think happened is the shift to 3D art, which hoved into view during something like Full Throttle, meant that a lot of these more classical artists got the boot.

When you get into a project like Grim Fandango which was essentially entirely 3D other than textures and maybe some element of character design, all of this is out of the window. Monkey 3, I didn't like the style at all and it felt like they'd Disney-fied the world I'd grown to love, the team was changing and that showed in the ideas and execution, Ron Gilbert, Dave Grossman and Tim Schaffer weren't on it, I don't know if they took most of the original art team with them or if the cartoony design was a stylistic idea. But by the later jaunts such as the other 3d sequels I imagine most of the original art team had gone by the wayside and obviously a lot of the other talent there had left. Which is probably why the Special Edition's graphics weren't inkeeping with the original style, these graphics were done by non-computer people who were drafted in during the early days of graphic art, they were used to doing comic books and posters and the like, it's a different style and functionality.

You might just be right - not even having to load a separate floppy disk (it came on 12 of the fuckers) just to watch Largo gob on the wall put me off :)

To quote Nigel Tufnel, they go to 11. I should know I'd draft in a mate to swap the fuckers while I played it on my Amiga. Indy and the Fate of Atlantis was the same, which is why Lucasarts went strictly to PC shortly afterward as they desperately needed hard disks or CD Roms to make the games playable.

[Consignia]

I did love the gag in Monkey Island about changing disks to get into those awesome catacombs in the forest. The best part was the game actually tried to read the disk, so you could hear the drive whirring whilst it verified you put disk 43 in. Fourth wall breaking that you could not do today with yer digital downloads and what not.

[Leo2112]

Disney have really come good with this - it was generally believed when they took over the rights that they would just let the old LucasArts stuff rot.  With this news I should think it likely that the original Star Wars trilogy will finally get a decent release too.

[Mister Six]

Yeah, the difference was that DOTT was a blank slate, whereas Monkey Island 1 & 2 established a direction then completely ripped it up with the third game.

I loved the first chapter (and all the gorgeous cel-animated cutscenes; hope they have HD versions of those somewhere) but once you're off the ship it almost instantly runs out of steam for both its story and its puzzles. The plot never goes anywhere (certainly not as satisfying as MI's sense of growth and exploration) until it's time to meet this game's iteration of LeChuck, and the puzzles are fucking confounding.

Yes, the 'monkey wrench' puzzle in MI2 was nonsense (especially if you're from the UK and think of it as a spanner) but there was nothing as awful as sawing through a plank so you would fall into a vat of chicken grease so you could cover yourself in feathers and pretend to be a devil chicken. Just... what? And that nonsense about digging a nail out of a plank so that the bed on top would bounce off a spring and catapult a corpse into a graveyard where it would become a zombie and run off with a ghost. I mean... tch.

I felt similarly about Grim Fandango, though that was less egregious. But the final chapter really was thin on the puzzles, and it left me feeling like the game was slowly deflating in front of my eyes.

[The Region Legion]

Good to see X-Wing & TIE Fighter finally available again. I managed, through much bother, to get my copy of the 98 version installed and running on Windows 8 only a month ago, but it would appear that the GOG download includes the original 94 version as well? That's an achievement and a half, the world has waited too long for this already.

Now they need X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, and the online functionality re-introduced. Pipedream I reckon, but people would have said the same for these having a digital release at all not too long ago.