Wait, you're too lazy to complete a minigame, but not too lazy to play a genre of games that requires you to click on everything? Seems a bit weird to me
Also, I haven't played EMI for too long, so I don't really remember what I thought of Monkey Kombat, except for the fact that I couldn't solve the final puzzle of the game at all because apparently I didn't pay enough attention to every detail of the monkeys during Monkey Kombat.
I am going to replay all the MI games around the time MI2:SE comes out though, so I'll tell you what I think of Monkey Kombat then
Wait, you're too lazy to complete a minigame, but not too lazy to play a genre of games that requires you to click on everything? Seems a bit weird to me
Not at all. I enjoy a classic adventure game with its elements of combining puzzles, interacting with other people, exploring places. I just hate to be stuck in one place and to be doomed to find out about some annoying clockwork-puzzle. If I'm in the mood for that I play different games. Have you played "So Blonde"? It's flooded with mini games, mostly at places where they are totally unnecessary. Some of them are funny, but I was glad to find out that I could skip them and go on with the main game.
Anyway, Monkey Kombat's dimension in EMI is not what you call a mini game though.
I wouldn't say I "liked" it, but I certainly didn't mind it too badly. It's no more pointless stupid grind than insult swordfighting. And hey, at least Escape isn't as damaging to the franchise as a whole as Curse was.
I actually found many parts of Escape quite funny and again, definitely didn't despise the game as much as many seem to. But in what way was Curse more damaging? I'd actually consider Curse to be the best in the series, where as I can list several things from Escape that were damaged so badly they can't ever be included in any future games.
I didn't despise Escape, myself. Just that it was a bit of a disappointment after Curse. Curse was definitely, IMO, the best Monkey Island of the original series. So much to say about that one, including the art design, pacing, puzzles, and what you actually accomplish in that game. It just felt like Guybrush did a bit of everything and hit against a lot of aspirations in that game. Softly-spoken prophesies as well.
So oddly, Escape really felt more like a Tag-on extra to a fairly complete original trilogy, without really starting a new big thing to worry about. It felt more like *hey, here we are again, ummm...let's do something entertaining* instead of, "You thought things were ok after Curse, but his troubles are *just* beginning."
However, here's where I think Telltale came to the rescue. When they started up the new Monkey Island series, they kind of made something Escape should've been. Start off with something big enough to really throw a monkey wrench into the consumer's understanding of what's going on, and increase the threat. Then they put you through an adventure that actually raises the stakes over the original series.
Don't get him started >_>
Short version: He dislikes the direction the series took with Curse.
I really like Curse though. Probably partly because it was the first Monkey Island game I played. But the music is great, the story is good and that art style is fantastic, so that probably contributed somewhat to my opinion too
I was okay with Monkey Kombat the first time I played the game but the fact that the insults change with each replay sort of annoyed me. So, I just get my brother to do that bit (he loves Monkey Kombat).:D
I never really understood it and I just decided to blow it off and to find ways around it. It's really the only part of the game that takes time and effort. Aside from the time clock maze. Though I don't think any of the MI puzzles take that much time.
It's not worst than the insult sword fights. I feel the same about them: boring, slow and not necessary at all.
At least they're funny and easy to learn and keep track of in your head. Monkey Kombat exists solely to provide an hour long chore and isn't even fun the first time.
Not to mention that it pretty much kills any chance of an Escape speed run. I may have been sleep deprived at the time, but the fastest I was able to finish Escape in the last race was five hours and 45 minutes. I have no idea how much of that was spent on Monkey Kombat, but I'm sure it's a substantial amount of time.
Insult swordfighting was simple enough. All you had to was learn insults and what comebacks defeated them. Yeah it wasn't rocket science, but it was fun and that one of the reasons I got Monkey Island 1 and 3. Plus the jokes were amusing. It took a little work but I never found it too troublesome.
Yeah Monkey Kombat was a new approach, but my biggest complaint with it was it took too much effort. You have to learn the codes to switch stances, Learn which stances beat what and have waste time writing it down in a notebook or one of those charts. And the worst part is the codes change every time you start a new game. Now granted some people may wanted to play the game hard core and get all the codes again if they replay the game, but it shouldn't be a requirement.
That and that frustrating puzzle with the dials on Lucre Island to get to pegnose lowers MI4 in my opinion. I couldn't find any hints within the game how to do it, which is poor for an adventure game. Never had any problems like that in Curse.
The challenge. That you really had to track things down to go forward. Basically learning bits of an unknown language. THAT's what made it a puzzle equal to insul sword fighting. I also think the battle stances and the fact Guybrush is actually speaking monkey in it makes it funny, too. Every single time. And yes, whoever thinks Guybrush needs to know all the combinations in it is likely to have not played it in a long time, or at all. You really don't have to know every insult row because every stance is beaten by two stances; you only have to be able to change to one winning stance to beat the opponent's stance.
Btw. Why I like the whole EfMI is that it's by far longer than Curse overally, include the Monkey Kombat parts there or don't.
I haven't got to that part yet. That reminds me, I need to install Escape onto my new hard drive.
I'm actually looking forward to getting to it though, just because it sounds like a legend. An evil adventure fan torturing legend. But I just have to experience it!
Escape isn't nearly as bad as everyone says it is. It's actually quite fun. I think it's just everyone had really high expectations after the previous three games and Escape just didn't quite meet those expectations. For myself, after years of only playing "educational" games and real time strategy, Escape was amazingly fresh and got me into adventure games. It just depends on perspective, really.
I liked it and found it pretty simple to get to grips with. You just need paper, a writing tool and some patience.
What I really hated was the
final battle. How the hell is anyone supposed to know you have to DRAW in order to win!?
Yeah, as far as I can remember that was one of the few times I had to take a look into the walkthrough.
There is one *tiny* clue to this while Guybrush is talking to Allegro Rasputin on Monkey Island and asks him what he can do to avoid the Ultimate Insult from taking over the world. The priest says something like "do as LeChuck does - defeat your enemy with their own weapon". I can't remember the exact line though but even then this is a weak hint at best. Also, talking to Allegro Rasputin about that is optional.
I really wish they'd included such a chart within the PC version of the game. It would've eliminated the problem where players threw away their notes after defeating Jojo Jr., and thereby got screwed in the final endgame sequence.
LucasArts did eventually include an in-game Monkey Kombat move chart in the PS2 version, but for PC gamers that's cold comfort.
That sounds to me like a need for an escape special edition :P
forget jurassic park+BttF, i want monkey kombat season 1. you could have extra noises for different episodes and such. now telltale have those new licences, they could have jeff goldblum vs soda poppers in one episode, jeff goldblum vs the 3D shark from 2015 and so on and so forth. this has great potential especially as season 1 implies more seasons. This is the perfect way to retain the action from the films, while adding a classic adventure twist to it
Comments
Also, I haven't played EMI for too long, so I don't really remember what I thought of Monkey Kombat, except for the fact that I couldn't solve the final puzzle of the game at all because apparently I didn't pay enough attention to every detail of the monkeys during Monkey Kombat.
I am going to replay all the MI games around the time MI2:SE comes out though, so I'll tell you what I think of Monkey Kombat then
Not at all. I enjoy a classic adventure game with its elements of combining puzzles, interacting with other people, exploring places. I just hate to be stuck in one place and to be doomed to find out about some annoying clockwork-puzzle. If I'm in the mood for that I play different games. Have you played "So Blonde"? It's flooded with mini games, mostly at places where they are totally unnecessary. Some of them are funny, but I was glad to find out that I could skip them and go on with the main game.
Anyway, Monkey Kombat's dimension in EMI is not what you call a mini game though.
I actually found many parts of Escape quite funny and again, definitely didn't despise the game as much as many seem to. But in what way was Curse more damaging? I'd actually consider Curse to be the best in the series, where as I can list several things from Escape that were damaged so badly they can't ever be included in any future games.
Herman Toothrot being the major one...
So oddly, Escape really felt more like a Tag-on extra to a fairly complete original trilogy, without really starting a new big thing to worry about. It felt more like *hey, here we are again, ummm...let's do something entertaining* instead of, "You thought things were ok after Curse, but his troubles are *just* beginning."
However, here's where I think Telltale came to the rescue. When they started up the new Monkey Island series, they kind of made something Escape should've been. Start off with something big enough to really throw a monkey wrench into the consumer's understanding of what's going on, and increase the threat. Then they put you through an adventure that actually raises the stakes over the original series.
Don't get him started >_>
Short version: He dislikes the direction the series took with Curse.
I really like Curse though. Probably partly because it was the first Monkey Island game I played. But the music is great, the story is good and that art style is fantastic, so that probably contributed somewhat to my opinion too
At least they're funny and easy to learn and keep track of in your head. Monkey Kombat exists solely to provide an hour long chore and isn't even fun the first time.
Yeah Monkey Kombat was a new approach, but my biggest complaint with it was it took too much effort. You have to learn the codes to switch stances, Learn which stances beat what and have waste time writing it down in a notebook or one of those charts. And the worst part is the codes change every time you start a new game. Now granted some people may wanted to play the game hard core and get all the codes again if they replay the game, but it shouldn't be a requirement.
That and that frustrating puzzle with the dials on Lucre Island to get to pegnose lowers MI4 in my opinion. I couldn't find any hints within the game how to do it, which is poor for an adventure game. Never had any problems like that in Curse.
One of these days...
Btw. Why I like the whole EfMI is that it's by far longer than Curse overally, include the Monkey Kombat parts there or don't.
I'm actually looking forward to getting to it though, just because it sounds like a legend. An evil adventure fan torturing legend. But I just have to experience it!
What I really hated was the
Yeah, as far as I can remember that was one of the few times I had to take a look into the walkthrough.
There is one *tiny* clue to this while Guybrush is talking to Allegro Rasputin on Monkey Island and asks him what he can do to avoid the Ultimate Insult from taking over the world. The priest says something like "do as LeChuck does - defeat your enemy with their own weapon". I can't remember the exact line though but even then this is a weak hint at best. Also, talking to Allegro Rasputin about that is optional.
That sounds to me like a need for an escape special edition :P
I got to it the first time yesterday... I cannot figure it out.
Guess I'm never completing the game....
I guess I don't.