Topic: Which version of Tales of Monkey Island?

I'd like to try Tales of Monkey Island, but I'm not sure whether to get it on PC or WiiWare.

They're both about the same price. The WiiWare version has some technical issues, but my PC barely meets the minimum requirements, and the WiiWare version would be more convenient and would appear on a bigger screen. Any recommendations?

If that's the case, then definitely the WiiWare version.

Telltale sells the PC version for less then the WiiWare version. Each chapter costs 1000 wii points each(with a total of
5 chapters) while you can get the PC version for 34.95 for the entire series from the online store.
If your computer barely meets the minimum requirements you may want to consider the WiiWare version.

Wow, tough call.

If you can find Wii Points on sale* then go WiiWare. The convenience and bigger screen are nice, and performance probably won't be that different if your computer is barely up to spec. (On the other hand, it's easy to upgrade your computer later on and get better performance. That just doesn't help you right now.)

*I usually get them 25% off during video game accessory sales at department/electronics stores. Toys R Us and Best Buy have both done several sales last year like this.

The PC version costs $15 less than the WiiWare version and doesn't have the bugs that the WiiWare has. There should be no question, the PC is the better version.

Either are worth of your time

Keep in mind that I only want the first episode to start with in case I don't like it. Each PC episode on its own is $9. If I get the whole set, it would only save me $5 on PC. I'll go with the WiiWare version.

Well, I tried it out on WiiWare, and I'm extremely happy with my purchase. The loading times are annoying, but I didn't find the technical issues to be a big problem. If you use the subtitles (although they're pretty small), there's no problem with missing stuff from the low sound quality. You actually need the subtitles if you want to know what most of the funny book titles are on the Voodoo Lady's bookshelf. Having never played a Monkey Island game before (or any point-and-click adventure game), I thought the puzzles in this game were set at a good difficulty, challenging but not too difficult or logic-defying. Then again, I'm an adult with an IQ of 133, so others may find the puzzles too difficult. I also like control-stick movement. I'll be getting the rest of the episodes over the next two or three months as I can afford them.

@Bulbs

I also found that it helps immensely if you go to the options menu and turn the music way down, because it tends to be too loud in relation to the voices. You'll be happy to know that the technical issues are at their worst in the first episode, and things tend to run pretty smoothly in the others, with minor framerate issues here and there. The text is indeed small, and I had a very hard time reading it when I played the first 2 episodes on my old standard TV, but with a larger screen and 480p over component cables I can now read everything just fine.

Happy you enjoy it, Bulba. Don't worry, the technical flaws do improve in the second episode.

Yes they do. The series as a whole has been very good. I'm working on ep 3 at the moment.

I did this too - it made a huge difference and was much easier to hear what is happening afterwards.

You'll be happy to know that the technical issues are at their worst in the first episode, and things tend to run pretty smoothly in the others, with minor framerate issues here and there.

Great news! I finished the first episode last night and near the end was getting pretty tired of the lagging and loading. I don't mind a few bumps along the way because the game has been enjoyable so far... but if the technical aspect improves it would be much appreciated.

Also, did others find episode 1 very short? It was about 2 hours all told for me, and I have to admit it was a surprise to find out that I had finished so quickly.

By the way, although I haven't played any point-and-click adventure games before, I'm not a total stranger to inventory puzzles, as I've played some inventory puzzle games on the GCS (game creation system), Megazeux.

I'm very happy with this game and have downloaded all 4 chapters so far. Can't wait for the fifth chapter being released here in EU.

It's very fun and has great innovative puzzles. If you want to play it from your couch on your tv get the WiiWare version.
The technical issues aren't that bad - sure I too wish it would run smoother - but the game is amazing and I just love all Monkey Island games.

The Monkey Island series is my favorite of all time. I think Monkey Island 2 is the best game EVER made. I haven't played Tales yet, but 3 things bothered me:

1) Why couldn't LucasArts make this sequel themselves.
2) The disparaging comments made by a Tales executive in a forum about the Wii capabilities. I don't really feel like giving money to such a company now.
3) Why would the Wii version cost more?

So I'll see which one i'll end up playing and how.

This game is as close to a direct LucasArts sequel as we're ever going to see. From the Wikipedia page on TellTale Games:
"Telltale was founded by a group of former LucasArts employees who had been working on Sam & Max: Freelance Police, a sequel to the 1993 game Sam & Max Hit the Road, prior to its cancellation on March 3, 2004. In an early press release the vocal public response to said cancellation was cited as a main reason the company was founded.[3] The Telltale Games team has a large collective experience working on LucasArts' famed classics."

From the page on Tales of Monkey Island:
"Development of the game was led by Dave Grossman, who co-designed the original two games of the series, with Michael Stemmle contributing to writing and design. Ron Gilbert, the creator of the franchise, was involved in the planning of the project. The game's music was composed by Michael Land, while the core cast of The Curse of Monkey Island [developed by LucasArts] reprise their voice acting roles."

He was not an executive, just part of their programming staff at some level. The creative forces behind the series have been very vocal in support of the Wii as a platform for their series. The complaints, by the way, were partly legitimate insofar as the WiiWare service has a very small filesize limit, which forced the games to be very compressed. The remarks were blown out of proportion in the gaming-blog world, however.

I'll let others tackle the reasons behind this, but for me, it's well worth it in order to relax on the couch and use the Wii remote to point at things. That comes down to your preferences, however.

Regarding cost, how much more expensive is it on WiiWare than other delivery methods?

Spending 1000 Wii points for less than 2.5 hours of entertainment (in the first episode) is a bit pricey. Luckily I was able to find Wii Point cards from several retailers at 20-25% off during video game accessory sales last year. So full game on Wii would cost roughly $40 based on that.

(Edit: Based on what hobbes said above, I'm guessing the PC version costs $35? Not a big difference, and worth the extra cost for me since my PC can barely run Nethack.)

Although I REALLY wish that TellTale would tweak their engine to perform better on Wii, they are providing experiences that I enjoy in game genre that was thought to be dead, so I don't mind paying a bit more to support them. (Especially since I snagged Sam & Max: Season 1 on Wii for only $15... it's almost like I own them.)

1. "This game is as close to a direct LucasArts sequel"

thanks, i had no idea, and it's good to hear. still, i would have preferred the familiar LucasArts logo/stamp.

2. "The remarks were blown out of proportion in the gaming-blog world, however."

if they fired this programmer and said that he's full of B.S then i would be ok with it. IIRC, he didn't comment on the file size but on the actual specs of an iphone being better.

"use the Wii remote to point at things."

I agree with you, but with all the pirating/modding/cable connectors to TV etc, I want the version to be the same quality and same price, kinda.

"I agree with you, but with all the pirating/modding/cable connectors to TV etc, I want the version to be the same quality and same price, kinda."

That's true, you might seriously consider just connecting your laptop to your TV, then, if you have the proper cables. I have the necessary equipment to do so, which would indeed produce higher resolution visuals and overall quality, but I still went with WiiWare just for the pointer controls and the convenience of not needing to hook up my laptop each time I play.

I spent at least 6-7 hours on each chapter.