Those of you who exprienced MI one and two chronologically, what did you expect?

doodo!

I think I played MI 3 after I played through the first two. I played them in order, if I remember correctly.


Well those who did play them in order, and those of you lucky enough to have played the first two when they first were released and then the third, what were you expecting out of the third. Or knowing that different writers/ talent, was on board did you have no real expectations for the game?

StarEye

Well, even before Monkey Island 2, I was a huge Monkey Island fan, and MI2 was one of my most anticipated games ever. It did not disappoint, and I was an even bigger fan after that incredible sequel. I remember being anxious to see what happened next, and awaited the next in the series to arrive not too long after I finished MI2. After all, this was a time when a complete trilogy of a series could be released within a year. Don't forget that one of the most famous games of the time bragged that it had taken two years to make ("It took six days to create the world. Another World took two years!", or something like that). So waiting five years before the next in the series to arrive was borderline unthinkable back then.

Anyway, I was hardcore Amiga user, and didn't really jump to other platforms until '97 or so. That said, while I didn't own a PC, I certainly had access to it, and was able to play the demo when that was released on a magazine at first, then later, borrowed the full game from a friend and installed it on a PC in the school I went to.

First impressions were lukewarm. It was a new Monkey Island game, and I had been waiting for this moment for five full years. The music was absolutely fantastic and the background art was excellent as well. However, I was extremely sceptical to giving Guybrush a voice, and he sounded way too wimpy for me at first. And I have rather wimpy inside-reading voice. I also really dislike the character design, and I couldn't really believe that was Guybrush. I wasn't a big fan of the cartoon look of the characters, too simplistic for my liking.

Of course, I grew to really love his voice, and while I still don't like the character design, especially Guybrush, it doesn't bother me that much anymore.

After completing the game I came to the conclusion that it was certainly a good game, but thought it was relying a bit too much from the first two games. SoMI and MI2LR were very different from eachother both in mood and atmosphere, while CMI kinda took stuff from both games and thus didn't feel quite as fresh as the first games. Something WAS off, and I think the explanation for the ending of MI2 was kinda dumb and too easy. The ending was crazy, so I expected the explenation to be crazy as well, but it was fairly straightforward. I wanted things to really go crazy in MI3, but instead it was a rather simple affair.

I also thought the game was slightly on the easy side as well, but not so easy as to not provide enough challenge (compared to ToMI, it was rocket science).

Also, I thought all this before I even realized that Ron Gilbert had nothing to do with the game. I wasn't extremely impressed, but I still really enjoyed the game. It just didn't live up to the expectations that Monkey Island 2 gave me, and having to wait five years for it to arrive certainly didn't help.

And, while I enjoy Dominic Armato and Earl Boen's voice-over work in the later games, I still prefer playing MI1 and 2 without the voices, because the music is designed to be played in the foreground. The voices kinda gets in the way of the fantastic music, and kinda breaks the immersion for the first two games.

As I side note, I also hadn't played any LucasArts adventure game since Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis when I played CMI for the first time. I missed out on Full Throttle, The Dig, Day of the Tentacle and Sam and Max prior to playing CMI, because I stuck to the Amiga long after LA stopped releasing games for it. That mistake is rectified now, of course, and I've finished every LucasArts game released.