How much am I missing?

When I started playing this series, I had neither played nor known anything about the whole Monkey Island series beyond the fact that the main character is named Guybrush Threepwood. As I've been playing, I've been able to understand any jokes that are not referencing other Monkey Island games. I also made sure to look up characters i knew nothing about when they were introduced (Murray and Stan.) I also looked up and now understand the "insult sword fighting" and the whole "you fight like a cow" gag. But I gotta wonder: is there still a ton of hilarious jokes that i am missing because I have never played the other games? Or can I keep playing without worrying that I am missing out on most of the game because of it? Thanks in advance.
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Comments

  • edited November 2009
    You do miss a lot of subtle references and disguised references.

    Also, you're missing out on some really good, quality adventure games.
  • edited November 2009
    You've got the major ones down, I think. There may be a few minor things like the "A Pirate I Was Meant to Be" song from Curse of Monkey Island being played in DeCava's hut, but I can't really think of too many beyond that.

    I agree with RD though, you are missing out on some quality games
  • edited November 2009
    You do miss a lot of subtle references and disguised references.

    Also, you're missing out on some really good, quality adventure games.

    Trust me, if I ever get the chance, I will get any Monkey Island game I can get my hands on.
  • edited November 2009
    Yeah play the old ones for sure they are worth it... I kind of envy you in a way.... Imagine if you could play all the old games for the first time while waiting for the next episode.
  • edited November 2009
    Now, how would I get around to getting those old games? I don't THINK I have any of the stuff wikipedia says the first game was released on, but I'm terrible with computer words, so I may be just missing something.
  • edited November 2009
    You've got the major ones down, I think. There may be a few minor things like the "A Pirate I Was Meant to Be" song from Curse of Monkey Island being played in DeCava's hut, but I can't really think of too many beyond that.
    Then you're missing a lot. Off the top of my head, there's the chandelier in Club 41, pretty much the entire diving scene in Episode 3, the reference to porcelain, the reference to the past games in Elaine's testimony, the entire opening scene of episode 1 is a parody of the tropes of the Monkey Island series, etc. There are a lot of one-liners that I'm probably missing.
    Wusodoolo wrote: »
    Now, how would I get around to getting those old games? I don't THINK I have any of the stuff wikipedia says the first game was released on, but I'm terrible with computer words, so I may be just missing something.
    Get the ScummVM emulator. It is just about the most stable and user-friendly emulator out there. You can get the Special Edition of the first game, which is built on top of and allows seamless switching to the original. I'm not sure if you can get Curse to run natively on XP/Vista/7.
  • edited November 2009
    Well the first game was just released as an easy to use special edition... so that is easy enough to get on the cheap.

    MI2-4 you can get from amazon or ebay. Sometimes pretty cheap too.
  • edited November 2009
    Alright, thanks guys. Wow, people are so friendly here. Such a nice change from some other forums I'm used to.
  • edited November 2009
    Why don't you just play the old games first? You are kind of spoiling the old MI games for yourself by reading the back-story.
    Playing ToMI without knowledge of the old games is fine, but why would you want to skip the classics?

    MI1 - Special Edition(with voice and high rez grfx) on sale on Steam. It's a must!
    MI2 - ScummVM (googe it) will run it for you. Only skip it if you dislike the lack of voices.
    MI3 - ScummVM will run it. A must!
    MI4 - People don't like this one that much and it may be hard to get it running on a modern computer. Very skippable.
  • edited November 2009
    Then you're missing a lot. Off the top of my head, there's the chandelier in Club 41, pretty much the entire diving scene in Episode 3, the reference to porcelain, the reference to the past games in Elaine's testimony, the entire opening scene of episode 1 is a parody of the tropes of the Monkey Island series, etc. There are a lot of one-liners that I'm probably missing.

    I definitely didn't even think of those when I wrote my first post, though I did get them when I saw them in the game.

    Some other references include the entire recipe for the Cutlass of Kaflu, The Monkey in my Pocket song and really a lot of stuff that Stan said...

    TTG had the potential to go all out with the in-jokes in Trial, but it's probably as good thing they didn't.

    Also: I got Curse and Escape to run on XP without having to use ScummVM, and they worked just fine!
  • edited November 2009
    bobdevis wrote: »
    MI4 - People don't like this one that much and it may be hard to get it running on a modern computer. Very skippable.
    I actually got it running natively on Vista. If I remember correctly, it only required a new launcher that a fan site has hosted somewhere. I could find it, probably.

    I don't think it's as skippable as a lot of people say(that is, I consider it as skippable as Curse, which I don't like nearly as much as a lot of people, while not hating Escape nearly as much as a lot of people).
  • edited November 2009
    bobdevis wrote: »
    Why don't you just play the old games first? You are kind of spoiling the old MI games for yourself by reading the back-story.
    Playing ToMI without knowledge of the old games is fine, but why would you want to skip the classics?

    MI1 - Special Edition(with voice and high rez grfx) on sale on Steam. It's a must!
    MI2 - ScummVM (googe it) will run it for you. Only skip it if you dislike the lack of voices.
    MI3 - ScummVM will run it. A must!
    MI4 - People don't like this one that much and it may be hard to get it running on a modern computer. Very skippable.

    Well, Since I was able to play the Sam and Max games without any knowledge of the comics or the old Sam and Max game, I just assumed the same would go for ToMI. Now I realize that was kind of a dumb thing to assume, though. And as I said before, I'm gonna try to play the older ones now. Ooh, if the first one is on steam that won't be hard to get. Thanks for the help.
  • edited November 2009
    I do not suggest skipping any of them considering there are a lot of fantastic puzzles and jokes in all of the games.... MI2 is my personal favorite BTW
  • edited November 2009
    I actually got it running natively on Vista. If I remember correctly, it only required a new launcher that a fan site has hosted somewhere. I could find it, probably.

    If anyone needs it:

    http://quick.mixnmojo.com/escape-from-monkey-island-setup
    A replacement installer (setup program) for Escape From Monkey Island. The installer that comes with the game can be problematic with newer versions of Windows and refuses to work at all on 64 bit Windows.

    This installer works on both 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Windows and has been tested on Windows XP and Vista. It should work fine with all Windows versions though.

    It performs a full install of the game and comes with my Escape From Monkey Island Launcher – which adds extra features beyond those in the game’s original launcher.

    And you should play all 4. And if you want, play the original in original format, and later in the special edition version.
  • edited November 2009
    Wusodoolo wrote: »
    Well, Since I was able to play the Sam and Max games without any knowledge of the comics or the old Sam and Max game, I just assumed the same would go for ToMI. Now I realize that was kind of a dumb thing to assume, though. And as I said before, I'm gonna try to play the older ones now. Ooh, if the first one is on steam that won't be hard to get. Thanks for the help.
    Nah, it wasn't a dumb thing to assume at all, especially since you had no knowledge of the series.

    Two things about the special edition:

    1. You can switch between the old and new versions at any time after the credits roll by pressing F10

    2. One of the first things you should do is switch to the original game and press the + key a few times. It increases the speed at which new text comes up. The voices are linked to the original game's text speed, and if you don't speed it up the voices feel a bit "stilted".
    Eduardo wrote: »
    Oh, great! Thanks for finding that, so I wouldn't have to! ;)
  • edited November 2009
    Irishmile wrote: »
    Well the first game was just released as an easy to use special edition... so that is easy enough to get on the cheap.

    It's here on Steam;

    http://store.steampowered.com/app/32360/

    And is available through a few other download channels if you're in North America.
  • edited November 2009
    And you can download the other games by just searching in google, I think emuparadise has 2 and 3 on there for download, you just run em in ScummVM.

    You are missing out on a great series.
  • edited November 2009
    Suggesting using warez may not sit well with the owners of the license...

    Not that I don't think they should release all four of them in a pack over Steam, using ScummVM if needed.
  • edited November 2009
    Ironically enough, suggesting software piracy is not the best idea.
  • edited November 2009
    who would have thought eh?
  • edited November 2009
    bobdevis wrote: »
    Why don't you just play the old games first? You are kind of spoiling the old MI games for yourself by reading the back-story.
    Playing ToMI without knowledge of the old games is fine, but why would you want to skip the classics?

    MI1 - Special Edition(with voice and high rez grfx) on sale on Steam. It's a must!
    MI2 - ScummVM (googe it) will run it for you. Only skip it if you dislike the lack of voices.
    MI3 - ScummVM will run it. A must!
    MI4 - People don't like this one that much and it may be hard to get it running on a modern computer. Very skippable.

    I dare to disagree with your opinion on those games. How can you suggest a new fan to skip LCR?!?
    MI - as said above, a must. It's how it all started. Easy to get on Steam.
    MI2 - the most twisted, mind-blowing part of the series. You'll learn origins of Guybrush's coat, the diving scene, melody that Guybrush whistles in Bait Shop and much more. For me - best in the series. Use of ScummVM highly recomended (but I mennaged to run CD version on XP without any additional programs).
    MI3 - Nice, cartoony graphics, nice story (with little rushed ending) with many memorable characters. If you wonder where the song played by toy manatee comes from or what's the
    mountain of ice
    mentioned by Guybrush is - just play Curse.
    MI4 - The most disliked in the series. It's quite nice 'till you get to Monkey Island. The good: story to the part on Monkey Island, some atmospheric locations (like Mysts'o'Tyme or Reeducation Center), revisiting old places. The bad: ugly graphics, bad controls, two irritating puzzles (
    stones and Monkey Kombat
    ). Woundn't call it skippable - it just isn't as good as the other games.
  • edited November 2009
    MI2 is still the pinnacle of adventure games. To me, and many many others, it's the perfect adventure game. The adventure game every other adventure game should strive to be.
  • edited November 2009
    MI4 isn't all ugly either... I think the backgrounds are quite nice actually its the character models that are ugly but that is mainly due to the age of the game....
  • edited November 2009
    The models aren't really ugly either. I think the 3D graphics in EMI has aged pretty well. It's not the graphics that are the problem with that game, it's the story and some of the puzzles.
  • edited November 2009
    Irishmile wrote: »
    MI4 isn't all ugly either... I think the backgrounds are quite nice actually its the character models that are ugly but that is mainly due to the age of the game....

    For me the models in EfMI felt like painted statues - without any expression. Older Grim Fandango models were more alive.
  • edited November 2009
    Yeah origami people
  • edited November 2009
    I know about the custom MI4 launcher. It runs on my Vista 64 bit boot, but there are annoying graphical errors and crashes here and there. Also, the MI4 keyboard controls is the worst idea EVER.
    I do agree that the game itself is nice though.

    Yes, MI2 is very cool. I'm just saying there are people around that would not want to play it just because there is no voice audio.
    I did play it myself obviously, but I hate midi music of any kind. Basically I just muted everything and was listening to my own mp3's.
  • edited November 2009
    I'm the same way...

    Except I watched a walkthrough of Curse of monkey island.

    Nerrrr.
  • edited November 2009
    More than anything in TMI, you are missing three great classic adventure games and one so-so sequel. ;)
  • edited November 2009
    Novotnus wrote: »
    For me the models in EfMI felt like painted statues - without any expression. Older Grim Fandango models were more alive.
    That's actually how I always felt about Curse. Everyone in the game feels like stiff, cardboard/paper cut-outs to me. And their default, idling animations always feel stilted or awkward.
  • edited November 2009
    I did play it myself obviously, but I hate midi music of any kind. Basically I just muted everything and was listening to my own mp3's.

    Wow... I can understand hating MIDI but you really missed something.
    Even though it sounds pretty crappy technically speaking, MI2's soundtrack is one of the best ones i ever heard. Lame sounds, but great tunes.
  • edited November 2009
    Yeah, music and atmosphere was a HUGE part of what makes MI2 so good. But play the Amiga version, and you'll get great sound, even if it's missing two tunes (the jail on Phatt, and the Woodtick theme). That, or get the proper sound emulation for MI2 via ScummVM to get Gravis Ultrasound, which is even better than the Amiga version.
  • edited November 2009
    You've got the major ones down, I think. There may be a few minor things like the "A Pirate I Was Meant to Be" song from Curse of Monkey Island being played in DeCava's hut, but I can't really think of too many beyond that.

    I agree with RD though, you are missing out on some quality games

    Oh, wow, I missed that one. I'm going to have to listen better when I go through again.
  • edited November 2009
    Well, I decided to get Secrets of Monkey Island on steam when I was buying Borderlands, so I'll be able to play it soon. Thanks guys
  • edited November 2009
    Try not to miss MI2:LCR. It is still the best in the series.

    Hopefully eventually Residual will be able to play MI4, I don't really remember that much about MI:4, I don't think I enjoyed it all that much.

    Of course, thanks to Scummvm, MI:1, 2 and 3 can run on a PSP (and a pile of games consoles) and 1 and 2 can run on a nintendo DS.

    (Worth noting that were really really a lot of references to past games in Chapter 4).
  • edited November 2009
    Yeah I was really excited when I got MI, MI2, and Sam and Max running on my Nintendo DS
  • edited November 2009
    I'll try that eventually, but there is one problem: I'm not too good with computers and thus have no clue what you guys are talking about XD
  • edited November 2009
    Scummvm is a free application that helps run older Lucasarts games on your newer PCs..
    Basically all you do is copy all the files from the old game disc into a folder on your desktop and run Scummvm load from the folder you made and you are in business.
    http://www.scummvm.org/

    from the faq
    http://www.scummvm.org/faq/#3_1
  • edited November 2009
    All the MI worked fine on my comp, no ScummVM. Am I just lucky? I have XP
  • edited November 2009
    StarEye wrote: »
    Yeah, music and atmosphere was a HUGE part of what makes MI2 so good. But play the Amiga version, and you'll get great sound, even if it's missing two tunes (the jail on Phatt, and the Woodtick theme).

    Well, first, Woodtick is the ESSENCE of the soundtrack in that game, so it's enough to be a deal breaker. And also, just 2 tunes? as far as i remember, you also don't get the voodoo lady music, and not the music when you're on captains dread's ship, and no music also at the alleys at phatt island, outside of the mansion, or at the waterfall. In other words - a lot more than 2.
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