Video Game Thread 2.0

[Art Vandelay]

Finished Curse of Monkey Island. I have to say, the Windows 95 era was when LucasArts really hit their stride. Granted, I felt like Monkey Island 2 wrapped everything up quite nicely, and Curse just feels like a typical shoehorned sequel. It would've been a lot better as a whole new IP, but it was still a very well made point and click. Well, aside from the final act, admittedly. That carnival was kind of a chore, and the final showdown with LeChuck was just painful. But overall I'd say the good outweighs the bad. A lot of the jokes actually got a laugh out of me, and art style is quite nice. So yeah, fun game.

In other news, I discovered that ResidualVM is a thing, so I'll be playing Grim Fandango next. I've been itching to try that game for years now, so I'm quite excited for it.

[Sleepy]

Finished Curse of Monkey Island. I have to say, the Windows 95 era was when LucasArts really hit their stride. Granted, I felt like Monkey Island 2 wrapped everything up quite nicely, and Curse just feels like a typical shoehorned sequel. It would've been a lot better as a whole new IP, but it was still a very well made point and click. Well, aside from the final act, admittedly. That carnival was kind of a chore, and the final showdown with LeChuck was just painful. But overall I'd say the good outweighs the bad. A lot of the jokes actually got a laugh out of me, and art style is quite nice. So yeah, fun game.

In other news, I discovered that ResidualVM is a thing, so I'll be playing Grim Fandango next. I've been itching to try that game for years now, so I'm quite excited for it.

I had no idea what Grim Fandango was until I was playing Monkey Island 3 and found the "Ask me about Grim Fandango" badge in Blondebeard's shop.

[Art Vandelay]

I had no idea what Grim Fandango was until I was playing Monkey Island 3 and found the "Ask me about Grim Fandango" badge in Blondebeard's shop.

It's what inspired me to see if there were any halfway sensible means of getting it running on Windows 7.

[RavynousHunter]

I had no idea what Grim Fandango was until I was playing Monkey Island 3 and found the "Ask me about Grim Fandango" badge in Blondebeard's shop.

It's what inspired me to see if there were any halfway sensible means of getting it running on Windows 7.

There is!  I don't quite recall it, but I've played it on my laptop (and beaten it), and she runs Windows 7.  There's a specific program for it that acts as a DOSBox-esque compatibility layer for it.  Alas, I don't recall its name.

[Sleepy]

Is it ScummVM? It allows the Monkey Islands to run perfectly on Windows 7.

[RavynousHunter]

Is it ScummVM? It allows the Monkey Islands to run perfectly on Windows 7.

I think so, aye.  If nothing else, the name sounds familiar.

[Art Vandelay]

ResidualVM, actually. It'll run all two of those LucasArts adventure games that ScummVM can't handle.

[Askold]

Finished Curse of Monkey Island. I have to say, the Windows 95 era was when LucasArts really hit their stride. Granted, I felt like Monkey Island 2 wrapped everything up quite nicely, and Curse just feels like a typical shoehorned sequel. It would've been a lot better as a whole new IP, but it was still a very well made point and click. Well, aside from the final act, admittedly. That carnival was kind of a chore, and the final showdown with LeChuck was just painful. But overall I'd say the good outweighs the bad. A lot of the jokes actually got a laugh out of me, and art style is quite nice. So yeah, fun game.

In other news, I discovered that ResidualVM is a thing, so I'll be playing Grim Fandango next. I've been itching to try that game for years now, so I'm quite excited for it.

Curse is a pretty good game. Escape from monkey island on the other hand isn't very good. It has a few decent jokes but has many horrible puzzles and the fighting system is just bad.

But the Telltale games made good Monkey island games and those you should try.

[Sleepy]

Tales of Monkey Island was a pleasant surprise, since Escape turned out to be somewhat of a letdown. It had the old Guybrush we loved and all the appropriate jokes.

[Art Vandelay]

Finished Grim Fandango. You know all those people saying it's one of the greatest adventure games ever created? They're absolutely right. Such a brilliant game. My only complaint is that it seriously left me wanting more, but I guess that's only to be expected when an adventure game has a fantastic setting. Specifically,

(click to show/hide)

I wanted at least a couple more Rubacava sized areas. Something big and with a good three or four nice long puzzle threads (if that's not a term already, I'm coining it) to really sink my teeth into. Every other area is so much smaller and simpler, it felt like a bit of a let down.

Also, in general, I just wanted to explore that world a hell of a lot more than would be feasible for a game from 1998. It's a shame it didn't get any sequels.

Moving on, I've decided to take another crack at Conker's Bad Fur Day. It would seem that I'm on a bit of a late 90's kick when it comes to gaming.

[RavynousHunter]

Is it odd that I kinda want a remake of The Darkness (the first one) in the engine used by Wolfenstein: The New Order?  I feel like it'd make Jackie at least ten times more awesome if he were powersliding through hallways blasting enemies while the Darkness ripped others to pieces.  Mostly, I just miss how gritty and awesome the first one was.  Don't get me wrong, I love the second, but the first was just fucking gut-wrenchingly good, I loved the art style, and Kirk Acevedo will always be Jackie Estacado, for me.  Oh, and keep the music from the original.  Because to this day, it remains one of my favourite game scores of all fucking time.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JWZAqza27E" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JWZAqza27E</a>

Metal.  As.  Fuck.

[Askold]

It would be kinda hard to make a sequel for Grim Fandango. The story definitely ends there with

(click to show/hide)

Most of the main cast moving on leaving only the big demon.

The world was kinda fun though, but it would need new characters to make a "sequel" or something set in the same world.

Similarly Full throttle has an amazing atmosphere even if the "Mad Max style postapocalyptic USA" is not a fresh idea, but revisiting the world seems silly because that story was done and finished.

I guess Ben and his crew could get into another adventure so it is easier...

[Dakota Bob]

As long as it gets a release for PC, I'm game. I loved Darkness 2 but I don't wanna have to go back to playing shooters on the PS3 just for Darkness 1, I can't handle 30fps games anymore

[RavynousHunter]

I honestly can't tell the difference between the two.  I'm better at telling crappy texture work than anything above 30fps.

[Art Vandelay]

I'm suddenly remembering why I never finished Conker's Bad Fur Day the first time around. The first half or so of them game is quite competent in terms of gameplay and the writing is quite enjoyable if you like toilet humour. The second half, however, is almost exclusively shooter and turret sections which control like absolute garbage, and the writing devolves into a heap of pop culture references, all of which are now very dated.

I hate it when games start of strong, only to go out of a very disappointing note.