Who else thinks Murray is overrated?

Whats with all the hype over that skull? Sure, he was very funny in CMI and had some amazing lines. But in EMI he was completley boring and i thought he was just thrown in to please fans. No funny lines at all and the tooth-clicking got on my nerves.

So...why all the hype. I have no problem to bring Murray back for one episode. I have no problem to encounter him into the Manatees stomach...but whats with all the begging to make him "a crew member"? He isn't THAT special...

Prove me wrong, but I can live without the skull!
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Comments

  • edited August 2009
    Just forget about what you saw in MI4 and do like me: pretend like it was never made.
    That game ruined so many childhood memories and loveable characters, including Murray.
  • edited August 2009
    Lockmort wrote: »
    Just forget about what you saw in MI4 and do like me: pretend like it was never made.
    That game ruined so many childhood memories and loveable characters, including Murray.

    Oh don't get me wrong. I liked MI4 a lot and it had some nice parts. Okay, i hated the interpretation of Monkey Island itself and the plastic look, but it was still Monkey Island.

    I just thought Murray was crap in MI4.^^

    Oh...and i don't play MI for rehashed "childhood memories".
  • edited August 2009
    Oh don't get me wrong. I liked MI4 a lot and it had some nice parts. Okay, i hated the interpretation of Monkey Island itself and the plastic look, but it was still Monkey Island.

    I just thought Murray was crap in MI4.^^

    Oh...and i don't play MI for rehashed "childhood memories".

    By "memories" I meant playing the games ofcourse, nothing more -_-

    I don't see MI4 as a Monkey Island game since they ruined Herman Toothrot (can't be Elaine's grandpa), they threw away the whole pirate setting (Planet Threepwood....), they made LeChuck a henchman (stupid Ozzie), the controls were impossible, the new characters were boring (I.Cheese), and Monkey Combat was just;.....well......wrong
  • edited August 2009
    Agree on all things! But still:

    liked the "detective" part of accusing Pegnose Pete.
    liked Jambalaye Island and the dark island next to it a lot for the atmosphere.

    Hated the charackter models. Man, were they worse.
  • edited August 2009
    Well, I have to admit, the time travelling puzzle and the detective puzzle were kind of fun.
  • edited August 2009
    Murray is fun. No less fun than a lot of characters, and I think he's kind of overrated, but I wouldn't be upset to see him IF HE'S USED WELL. The issue is, I only really liked him in that first puzzle of CMI.
  • edited August 2009
    Murray is fun. No less fun than a lot of characters, and I think he's kind of overrated, but I wouldn't be upset to see him IF HE'S USED WELL. The issue is, I only really liked him in that first puzzle of CMI.

    Are you talking the Goodsoup Family crypt part? That was basically the characters shining moment. Up until then he was just a lot of talk, but there you found out he really is good for scaring people.
  • edited August 2009
    I have to admit I don't remember a lot of details from MI4... I never gave it a second run through.
    I do remember in MI3 however that Murray didnt get near enough lines in my opinion, so I think part of his appeal is that he always leaves you wanting more.
    That and he's just awesome.
  • edited August 2009
    The running joke in this game about looking at skulls and asking if its Murray is funny
  • edited August 2009
    as Mi4 was my first introduction to murray, I wanted to know more about him... Where the fudge did a talking skull come from?
    But I was taken in by his deliciously EVIL character!
    So bring it on! Murray = Huray!
  • edited August 2009
    The head of the navigator thinks Murray is overrated. No one else.
  • edited August 2009
    I'm gonna pretty much agree with the OP here.
    Don't get me wrong, I love Murray, but I don't want to see him constantly, and well, I think his time in Monkey Island is over.
  • SkySky
    edited August 2009
    Of course he is overrated, he's just a skull. But still, here is hoping he will make an appearance in one of the episodes to come (as well as Stan, Meathook, Otis and Carla, H.T. Marley aka Herman toothrot, the beautiful cursed Masthead etc...)
  • edited August 2009
    But in EMI he was completley boring

    As was the entirety of the game :(
  • edited August 2009
    You know what Murray needs, a body. Yeah, I know the whole head thing is sort of his trade mark, but think about it? Murray with a skeletal body opens up a whole world of funny possibilities. I think him only being a head has served it's purpose now. Time for something new to rekindle his character for everyone.
  • edited August 2009
    yeah, he would be like richard nixon in futurama...
  • edited August 2009
    I thought Murray was great in MI3, I really did.

    And I think that's the way it should have remained. Bringing him back was a bad move and a bad idea.

    I don't think that a character being nice and original means you need to bring him back.
    I'm not hoping for old characters to keep popping up in ToMI. A reference from time to time is nice, but what I'd really like is some new, interesting, original characters.
    The force of Murray was that he wasn't some old character coming back. He was new.
    Sure some charracters are reccuring in every game so far (Guybrush, Elaine, Lechuck, voodoo Lady, Stan...) but the new characters are what makes every one of the games unique in its own way.

    I love human Lechuck, I'm starting to like Windlow and I'm pretty curious about Morgan. I'd rather see these being more developped than Largo, Wally and Murray pop back for no reason whatsoever.
    (Of course one of them is always welcome to come back if there is a very good reason for it).

    I don't think Murray is overrated as a character. I think fans who like something tend to ask for more of it (be it a show, a series of books or a character) and forget that one thing that made them like it in the first place is that it was new and original.
  • edited August 2009
    I think Murray's overrated by some people, but I also think most of us would just like to see him make a cameo appearance for the humorous dialogue that's sure to ensue. Personally, I'd like to see him make at least one more appearance in the series to make up for the disappointment of EMI.

    Really, the only past minor characters I believe are worthy of cameo appearances are the Voodoo Lady, Murray, and Stan. The rest (Largo, Wally, Meathook, etc.) seem like they should be confined to the story lines of the past games.
  • edited August 2009
    I'm all in favour of new characters, except there are some that must remain: Guytbrush, Elaine, LeChuck, Stan AND Murray! I place Murray in the group of characters that must return.... He's more popular than Stan, and this guy appears in all MI games. Murray surely deserves more than just a cameo. In EMI he was terrible, but so was Stan (he didnt even need to be there and wasn't funny at all), LeChuck (an henchman???), etc. And the crewmember Murray thing is so that he could comment your actions like Max does in the Sam & Max games.
  • edited August 2009
    I love Murray. He's exactly the kind of incongruous humor that makes Monkey Island fun to play.

    Stan can go though. I hate annoying sales people :p
  • edited August 2009
    I'm looking forward to seeing Murray. And it's nice to see that the Telltale team seem to know how to model skulls (rather than just drawing a face on a white ball like in EMI). So I'm going to think of this as Murray's second appearance, and the one we saw outside Planet Threepwood was his cousin, Murry. That should be the official story.

    In fact, I hope Guybrush says something in TMI like "Oh hey, Murray. Last time I saw you was at the carnival of the damned. I dreamt about you once outside some place called Planet Threepwood, though... that was a pretty weird dream... if I remember correctly I escaped Monkey Island in it. But that was just a dream, so let's stop talking about it. JUST A DREAM."
  • edited August 2009
    SubSidal wrote: »
    And the crewmember Murray thing is so that he could comment your actions like Max does in the Sam & Max games.

    I was initially against this idea (because it would give Murray too important a role), but I think I'm starting to warm up to it.

    I could see this happening for a limited time (no more than half an episode). I think it would be pretty entertaining to hear Murray's commentary every once in a while. He could just be hanging out in Guybrushes inventory or something, like in CoMI.
  • edited August 2009
    While I did love Murray, I don't think it's essential that he return and if it's just as a cameo or because they just want to put him in then no he shouldn't. Actually, the only character I'd feel was needed to really make a return is Largo, as he seemed to just disappear after MI2 with no explanation and his presence made it feel like LeChuck actually had people working under him just like Bob did in SoMI, though with the added benefit of it showing that there were more than just random undead in his forces (and added credence to LeChuck having a spy network in the caribbean).
  • edited August 2009
    Murray is a fun character.

    But I'm one of the old farts that only consider Gilbert's work to be the "true" Monkey Island games, and since Murray first appeared in MI3 he was and always will be a new, somewhat unimportant character.

    But bitterness aside, I think it's way funnier to watch Guybrush check every skull for its potential Murrayness then to actually have Murray come back. Monkey Island series is already chokeful of references and recycling old characters to death, I don't really think it's necessary to force feed them constantly in every story. I am already dreading the yet another appearance of "wacky" Stan.. come on, Guybrush nailed him into a coffin for a good reason..
  • edited August 2009
    No way! He is a charismatic, cynical and funny character! The conversations between him and Guybrush in Curse were hilarious!
  • edited August 2009
    Like all the other characters, Telltale will use Murray properly. I imagine he will be back to his hillarious self.
  • edited August 2009
    wisp wrote: »
    yeah, he would be like richard nixon in futurama...

    Ooh, now a futurama series would be cool, 3D Leela.

    I liked Murray, but am not all that bothered either way if he comes back, he wasn't that funny or important.
  • edited August 2009
    Zhadnost wrote: »
    I liked Murray, but am not all that bothered either way if he comes back, he wasn't that funny or important.

    I'm kinda this way too, I thought he was quite funny sometimes but it wouldn't bother me if I didn't see him again.
  • edited August 2009
    You know what Murray needs, a body. Yeah, I know the whole head thing is sort of his trade mark, but think about it? Murray with a skeletal body opens up a whole world of funny possibilities. I think him only being a head has served it's purpose now. Time for something new to rekindle his character for everyone.

    A body? I'd rather see him having a brainless henchman (LeChimp?) that holds him in his big mancrushing hands and strokes him like a cat or something. Kind of like a Bond parody.

    To stay on topic Murray IS overrated. There are plenty of characters I'd like to see just as much. Where is the Lemonhead fanclub, for example? :p
  • edited August 2009
    I wouldn't mind if Murray appears again but a bucketload of Murray reference from Tales of Monkey Island is just about enough for me.
  • edited August 2009
    I think Murray is a great character, but sadly he's been damaged by his cameo in Escape, things didn't make sense, like why could Murray now float and spin and stuff? That was part of the Joke in Curse, he's just a normal skull who can't move at all except for talking and using his jaw to nudge himself around (Blood Island) and when he did make big jumps it just left the player guessing how the hell could he do it? Having him as some sort of annoying floaty skulll who constantly clackers working as a guard for a commercial establishment just damaged his character somewhat.
  • edited August 2009
    Murray has sold Monkey Island to a lot of my friends simply based on his existence in the demo/intro.
  • edited August 2009
    Ash735 wrote: »
    I think Murray is a great character, but sadly he's been damaged by his cameo in Escape, things didn't make sense, like why could Murray now float and spin and stuff? That was part of the Joke in Curse, he's just a normal skull who can't move at all except for talking and using his jaw to nudge himself around (Blood Island) and when he did make big jumps it just left the player guessing how the hell could he do it? Having him as some sort of annoying floaty skulll who constantly clackers working as a guard for a commercial establishment just damaged his character somewhat.

    As far as I recall in EMI he was supposed to be on a rotating chair. Unfortunatly the guys from LucasArts didn't bother animating the chair. So they gave him a 2d chair and they kind of tried to put the 3d Murray model on top of it, which didn't work that well. In result, alot of people thought Murray who was just floating and spinning around. But if you look at the chair, Guybrush still mentions it's a spinning chair. Shame really. :rolleyes:

    Sorry about that. Now, let's stay on topic.
  • edited August 2009
    Murray is the Bender equivalent in MI. He's the evil, cynical character that everybody loves...
  • edited August 2009
    Murray is definetley one of the top-notch characters in the Monkey Island series, but yes he is overrated. It bugs me how many people try to quote him by just saying something wannabe-menacing and then add a "MuaHahaHAhahaAH" at the end of it. It's silly and annoying, kind of like his dialouge in EMI.

    But yeah, he definetley rocked CMI bigtime. The only appearance that felt forced was when he showed up in the crypt, but thats nitpicking. He definetley sold me to the series after playing the CMI demo. If the writing is as good as it's been so far, along with Denny Delk doing the good ol' voice, I think we're in for a treat. I just hope his appearance will be just for one episode.
  • edited August 2009
    The running joke in this game about looking at skulls and asking if its Murray is funny

    I totally agree and I think that should be the extent of his involvement. He's funny as long as he's used sparingly. Too much and it just becomes annoying. I would be okay if one of the episodes had a SHORT quest that involved Murray, but I think the developers are far better off leaving him as an occasional joke, nothing more. And the idea of making him a crew member or otherwise bringing him back permanently makes me cringe.
  • edited August 2009
    Ash735 wrote: »
    I think Murray is a great character, but sadly he's been damaged by his cameo in Escape, things didn't make sense, like why could Murray now float and spin and stuff? That was part of the Joke in Curse, he's just a normal skull who can't move at all except for talking and using his jaw to nudge himself around (Blood Island) and when he did make big jumps it just left the player guessing how the hell could he do it? Having him as some sort of annoying floaty skulll who constantly clackers working as a guard for a commercial establishment just damaged his character somewhat.

    Reading this, I seem to get the impression that they may have been trying to turn Murray into a copy of Morty from Torment, especially with the teeth clacking and floating about.
  • edited August 2009
    SubSidal wrote: »
    Murray is the Bender equivalent in MI. He's the evil, cynical character that everybody loves...

    Hey, yeah! I've never thought that before but they are very similar characters!
  • edited August 2009
    Ash735 wrote: »
    I think Murray is a great character, but sadly he's been damaged by his cameo in Escape, things didn't make sense, like why could Murray now float and spin and stuff? That was part of the Joke in Curse, he's just a normal skull who can't move at all except for talking and using his jaw to nudge himself around (Blood Island) and when he did make big jumps it just left the player guessing how the hell could he do it? Having him as some sort of annoying floaty skulll who constantly clackers working as a guard for a commercial establishment just damaged his character somewhat.

    Maybe Lechuck gave him freaky voodoo powers :eek:
  • edited August 2009
    Jazzy wrote: »
    Reading this, I seem to get the impression that they may have been trying to turn Murray into a copy of Morty from Torment, especially with the teeth clacking and floating about.

    Morty ROCKS!
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