I would say CMI, mostly because it was the first I played, with MI1 as second. I only played through MI2 once and it was so long ago that I don't recall it well enough to have any particular preference for it (and the game is incredibly hard to find, legally or otherwise)
I would say CMI, mostly because it was the first I played, with MI1 as second. I only played through MI2 once and it was so long ago that I don't recall it well enough to have any particular preference for it (and the game is incredibly hard to find, legally or otherwise)
Curse of Monkey island. The story to Mi-2 was superior to M-I but Curse had the most ADVENTURE...and being adventure games I would have to go with the most furbished and adventrous as best. Mi-2 in second ...well here . Monkey island 3 , Monkey island 2, Monkey island 4 , Monkey island 1 ....sorry monkey island 1 , I didn't hate 4 by the way , atleast it went places . I played these games at about age 15, I am 21 now, so I didn't grow up with them to become dilluded that M-I was a golden snatch. Its dry and not as much of an adventure game as 4.
Even though I started playing the series on the 2nd game, I chose Secret of Monkey Island as my favorite... I just like how the game plays out, getting a ship and a crew and whatnot, hunting down LeChuck, good times.
Err... I think Bernard it's not a pirate... then, The Secret of Monkey Island, simply fantastic. And Lechuck's Revenge is very close, cause it really has a great story and the Best atmosphere of the saga (and what an ending!) but it was too difficult for me when I first played, so I have better memories from the first one.
The Curse was really funny, but it's like a story in an alternative world, there isn't much connection with the rest.
And the fourth game... is the new one, isn't it? There is some crap called Monkey 4?
I played all parts except Curse. I dislike the beanpole-appearance of Threepwood so much that I avoided it the whole time. But I want to give it a try now finally with Monkey Island beeing hip again and stuff.
The original Monkey Island set the scene and rose the bar for what an adventure game could be, but it was Lechuck's Revenge that really refined it. The first Monkey Island is like the Wolfenstein 3D of adventure games, and Lechuck's Revenge would be Doom.
There was a lot of flair in Lechuck's Revenge, like they felt more confident to take a few chances with it, they added to the steampunk feel of the setting (which is something I believe CMI lost almost completely?), and the lines and scenes were very memorable. Anyone remember calling tech support?
I suppose what I'm getting at is that Monkey Island created a great setting, but MI 2 really built upon it and made it feel really cohesive and strangely believable. There was more of a World there than was present in the first Monkey Island game, and a lot of humour based upon that enriched environment.
A lot of the reason that CMI lost the Monkey Island flair I feel was that instead of looking at the setting of Lechuck's Revenge, they just went with a generic Caribbean setting with monkeys and voodoo tacked on just for the sake of having them there, rather than making them integral to the World itself. Oh and, of course, much less steampunk.
Monkey Island 2 had a World rich enough to be turned into a book, or a film, and that's something that I don't feel that any of the other games had. You could try, sure, but the end result would either have lots of artistic license or it'd be very shallow indeed.
I remember relishing the chance to visit new locations in Monkey Island 2, and that was something that I've never felt so strongly about in the other games, in CMI and EMI, I was largely meh as I travelled from place to place, and Monkey Island, while good, was still MI 2 lite (since MI 2 built on it, as I said).
I suppose what I'm saying is that there's more to Monkey Island than just the humour. Heresy, I know! But I felt that Monkey Island 2 had a World that could really be built upon and could become something special, it had a sort of Discworld appeal to it, it could grow and grow.
That's why it's my favourite game, and that's why I'm hoping that Tales of is taking MI 2 and growing out from there, as the series always should have done. The amount of MI2 ignored by CMI felt criminal to me, so I'm hoping for a return to greatness.
So yes, for that reason, Lechuck's Revenge is my favourite, simply because it was the most rich and enriching of the lot. At least, thus far!
I love them all (including Escape from Monkey Island; despite the bad fan press I agree with the ultimate critical appraisal of it), but Curse of Monkey Island stands out as the best in my mind. The voice acting combined with the brilliant writing really draw you in in a way that the subtitled ones can't, the music was great, and the artistic direction and graphics still look top notch awesome even ten years on; I loved that "Saturday morning cartoon" feel that you got from the cut-scenes. Plus, I prefer its delivery of puzzle design over the others, and its game interface. Its simply a timeless classic that will never need a remake, only ever upgrades to keep it compatible (and we've got ScummVM for that)
Not being old enough to have experienced the first 2 games (I was 5 when the first one came out. And I come from an insanely frugal family) I didn't think it fair to vote for either of them. My first taste of MI was the 4th instalment and I thought it was truly brilliant. I didn't actually know it was the least popular of the series until yesterday but I figure that when a new instalment of a franchise comes out after years of nothing then everything else is simply going to fail to live up to the original hype, back in the day, or the nostalgic memories.
MI4 wasn't just a brilliant and funny game, to me, but possibly the best P&C Adventure I ever played.
The Secret of Monkey Island for me. For me it was not only one of the first adventure games experience, but the game was very funny and atmospheric at the same time, something that many other games tried, but failed to achieve. Not too mention gorgeous graphics (at the time) and music.
My favorite is The Secret of Monkey Island because it is the best overall experience of all of them. What a game, so many great ideas inside and only a few not so well done things. What an adventure!
MI2 also was very good, had a very cute intro sequence, graphics were somehow worse, some very good scenes and scores, awesome cover art but a few things also felt a bit strange to me. Finally not as good as MI1.
At first i never liked the graphcis style of MI3 but the music sounded very good in there. The game was good but not brilliant anymore.
The 3D look of MI4 was quite good for it's time, nice style, but the steering was just awfully bad and annoyed a lot, monkey combat sucked completely and dunno it sometimes felt uninspired but it had one masterpiece inside, the time riddle in the swamp. This one stood out so much that it was worth buying the whole game. Still enjoyable but a different league than MI1 or MI2.
Ahh now i remember quite some of the riddles again... :O)
What i always disliked is when things from the present made their way into the game because this destroys the feeling for beeing in a pirate world for me. I also have my problems with games where Fantasy meets SF. I only enjoyed this in a few books like Piers Anthony's Apprentice Adept but also there it's still seperated.
I thought CMI was the funniest, so it got my vote. I hope Murray the demonic skull makes a comeback. I also enjoyed the fact that everytime Haggis talked I wanted to watch "Duck Tales."
My personal favourite is definitely SOMI. It was the first adventure game I played and I fell totally and utterly head-over-heels for it. Such a wonderful atmosphere and story and characters... It was just perfect.
The sequel was very jaded and cynical by comparison, but it was still funny (if stupidly difficult at times).
Curse of Monkey Island felt very different at first, but I quickly loved it. Sure, the explanation for the ending of MI2 didn't completely satisfy me, but it was done so well, I couldn't complain too much. CMI's actual ending was insanely rushed, but after such a brilliantly detailed game, I could totally forgive it. I've probably replayed CMI more any of the other games (although I did replay the first two an awful lot when I was younger!).
I remember enjoying EMI the first time I played it (well, except for Monkey Island bits of the game -- everything went horribly wrong there). It felt very different (its atmosphere was very strange) and not really like a Monkey Island game, but it did make me laugh. I did try and replay it once, but I couldn't get into it.
MI set the setting and everything, but I really feel MI 2 took all the elements of MI and perfected them. Understandably, MI was the first outing so the developers had to still learn how to make that type of game. MI 2 took those lessons and applied them to make an absolutely amazing experience.
Plus, Guybrush and Elaine were kinda jerks in MI 2, which just fit the characters so well. I love CMI, and the voice work of course added to the experience, but Guybrush began to drift more to the pure goofy side than he was in the first two games (his overly lanky appearance didn't help either, though the rest of the artwork is gorgeous). EMI just didn't seem to care about it's history enough and the canon problems ruined it for me.
Of course I love any MI game over most any other game, so it doesn't really matter.
EDIT:
MI 2 was also the most difficult of the series, in my opinion, which was a big plus for me (however, I know a lot of people who hold this as a negative).
I'm not, really.. It was the first Monkey Island game for a lot of people, and was easily the biggest, most profilic adventure game release at it's time.
Simple answer that majpority will be CMI , because many people didin't play first 2 games , because computers were not used as much back then as they were in CMI times ,EfMI times. And EfMI was just crappier.
Comments
I can't pick between MI1&2... I love them both too much to pick a favourite.
Oh, and make a poll to go with the thread.
Not really... It's all over ebay and amazon.
As much as I love MI, I still won't pay more for it than I would for any other game.
Here you go
But yeah, point taken.
Err... I think Bernard it's not a pirate... then, The Secret of Monkey Island, simply fantastic. And Lechuck's Revenge is very close, cause it really has a great story and the Best atmosphere of the saga (and what an ending!) but it was too difficult for me when I first played, so I have better memories from the first one.
The Curse was really funny, but it's like a story in an alternative world, there isn't much connection with the rest.
And the fourth game... is the new one, isn't it? There is some crap called Monkey 4?
I played all parts except Curse. I dislike the beanpole-appearance of Threepwood so much that I avoided it the whole time. But I want to give it a try now finally with Monkey Island beeing hip again and stuff.
There was a lot of flair in Lechuck's Revenge, like they felt more confident to take a few chances with it, they added to the steampunk feel of the setting (which is something I believe CMI lost almost completely?), and the lines and scenes were very memorable. Anyone remember calling tech support?
I suppose what I'm getting at is that Monkey Island created a great setting, but MI 2 really built upon it and made it feel really cohesive and strangely believable. There was more of a World there than was present in the first Monkey Island game, and a lot of humour based upon that enriched environment.
A lot of the reason that CMI lost the Monkey Island flair I feel was that instead of looking at the setting of Lechuck's Revenge, they just went with a generic Caribbean setting with monkeys and voodoo tacked on just for the sake of having them there, rather than making them integral to the World itself. Oh and, of course, much less steampunk.
Monkey Island 2 had a World rich enough to be turned into a book, or a film, and that's something that I don't feel that any of the other games had. You could try, sure, but the end result would either have lots of artistic license or it'd be very shallow indeed.
I remember relishing the chance to visit new locations in Monkey Island 2, and that was something that I've never felt so strongly about in the other games, in CMI and EMI, I was largely meh as I travelled from place to place, and Monkey Island, while good, was still MI 2 lite (since MI 2 built on it, as I said).
I suppose what I'm saying is that there's more to Monkey Island than just the humour. Heresy, I know! But I felt that Monkey Island 2 had a World that could really be built upon and could become something special, it had a sort of Discworld appeal to it, it could grow and grow.
That's why it's my favourite game, and that's why I'm hoping that Tales of is taking MI 2 and growing out from there, as the series always should have done. The amount of MI2 ignored by CMI felt criminal to me, so I'm hoping for a return to greatness.
So yes, for that reason, Lechuck's Revenge is my favourite, simply because it was the most rich and enriching of the lot. At least, thus far!
Curse for me
MI4 wasn't just a brilliant and funny game, to me, but possibly the best P&C Adventure I ever played.
MI2 also was very good, had a very cute intro sequence, graphics were somehow worse, some very good scenes and scores, awesome cover art but a few things also felt a bit strange to me. Finally not as good as MI1.
At first i never liked the graphcis style of MI3 but the music sounded very good in there. The game was good but not brilliant anymore.
The 3D look of MI4 was quite good for it's time, nice style, but the steering was just awfully bad and annoyed a lot, monkey combat sucked completely and dunno it sometimes felt uninspired but it had one masterpiece inside, the time riddle in the swamp. This one stood out so much that it was worth buying the whole game. Still enjoyable but a different league than MI1 or MI2.
Ahh now i remember quite some of the riddles again... :O)
What i always disliked is when things from the present made their way into the game because this destroys the feeling for beeing in a pirate world for me. I also have my problems with games where Fantasy meets SF. I only enjoyed this in a few books like Piers Anthony's Apprentice Adept but also there it's still seperated.
The sequel was very jaded and cynical by comparison, but it was still funny (if stupidly difficult at times).
Curse of Monkey Island felt very different at first, but I quickly loved it. Sure, the explanation for the ending of MI2 didn't completely satisfy me, but it was done so well, I couldn't complain too much. CMI's actual ending was insanely rushed, but after such a brilliantly detailed game, I could totally forgive it. I've probably replayed CMI more any of the other games (although I did replay the first two an awful lot when I was younger!).
I remember enjoying EMI the first time I played it (well, except for Monkey Island bits of the game -- everything went horribly wrong there). It felt very different (its atmosphere was very strange) and not really like a Monkey Island game, but it did make me laugh. I did try and replay it once, but I couldn't get into it.
MI set the setting and everything, but I really feel MI 2 took all the elements of MI and perfected them. Understandably, MI was the first outing so the developers had to still learn how to make that type of game. MI 2 took those lessons and applied them to make an absolutely amazing experience.
Plus, Guybrush and Elaine were kinda jerks in MI 2, which just fit the characters so well. I love CMI, and the voice work of course added to the experience, but Guybrush began to drift more to the pure goofy side than he was in the first two games (his overly lanky appearance didn't help either, though the rest of the artwork is gorgeous). EMI just didn't seem to care about it's history enough and the canon problems ruined it for me.
Of course I love any MI game over most any other game, so it doesn't really matter.
EDIT:
MI 2 was also the most difficult of the series, in my opinion, which was a big plus for me (however, I know a lot of people who hold this as a negative).
I played them all in order, and voted for MI 2. I know a lot of people that began with CMI and they say that's the best game.
EDIT:
I also played them all in order.
I'm not, really.. It was the first Monkey Island game for a lot of people, and was easily the biggest, most profilic adventure game release at it's time.