Did Curse destroy Monkey Island?

[SHODANFreeman]

I always thought the entire atmosphere of the first two MI games was incredibly campy and comedic, I have never understood why people think they were serious and/or dark in any way.

[muggy]

Originally Posted by Pale Man

I always thought the entire atmosphere of the first two MI games was incredibly campy and comedic, I have never understood why people think they were serious and/or dark in any way.

Oh, they both had their moments, don't get me wrong. It would be incorrect to say that SOMI and LR were both very serious, straight-faced games.

But they did have their moodier moments - especially LR. I found the setting of LR always a little bit odd and unsettling, which I think was because of the artwork, and also the fact that the plot was very rambling and uncertain. It wasn't your straightforward Damsel-in-Distress plot that Curse and, I suppose, SOMI was.

You were never really sure of a lot of things in LR, and that of course became even more blurred when you got to the end of the game.

Of course, there were some very campy moments in the games, admittedly. But I do to this day feel the tone of the first two games, LR especially, is definitely different from Curse. 'Darker' might be an over-simplistic and perhaps incorrect term to use - it's difficult to explain, but I have always felt there is a level of dissonance in the first two - a mixture of comedy and uneasiness - that does lend itself to that bittersweet tone.

(Sorry if I haven't explained myself very well!)

[doodo!]

Originally Posted by muggy

(Sorry if I haven't explained myself very well!)

You better be sorry, people actually went through the trouble of reading that!

GOD!

*ARGH!!!!* *URGH!!!!!* RAGHHHH!*

Honestly I never got the argument before, esp next to the first game, but I agree with you with LR, definitely. You've worded it appropriately.

[Hassat Hunter]

Originally Posted by Pale Man

I always thought the entire atmosphere of the first two MI games was incredibly campy and comedic, I have never understood why people think they were serious and/or dark in any way.

Agreed (and I played LCR before CMI).
Blood Island certainly got that 'dark athmosphere' as well IMO.

[metroidreborn]

Originally Posted by Pale Man

Yeah, my response was to RD's claim that every character in the entire game was a pirate.

Yeah, I see that now. I apologize, my mistake.

[MonkeyMania]

Destroy is such a strong word, it should be "Did Curse change Monkey Island?"

[Jenny]

I think most would agree that Curse -changed- Monkey Island. Destroy IS a bit extreme though.

[Kitmit13]

O gosh you have to be joking D: CMI is my favourate XD Though I have a fondness towards SMI and MI2 since these games I was playing with my dad when I was age 3 growing up. Just a childhood memory I guess. The style of CMI was lovley and the animation was perfect, id say it had the most effort put in then all MI due to the hand animation. With 3D you can pretty much make the 3D modal then all you have to do is put them around like a puppet. Le Chuck never seemed that serious to me, he just seems to be like a love struck pirate who got his hands on a lot of voodoo. I'm sure any rotton pirate, no matter who they were as a person (dumb, smart, posh etc) when getting their hands on a huge heeping helpful of magic, would take the same kind of evil actions le chuck did. I love Le Chuck and im glad he's slighty less evil in CMI cause he scared me in the 2nd and 1st games D:

[Ikzai]

I think CMI fits in with the first two. They all seemed to be real sequels continuing onward. But Escape came out and it felt loose - different. Like a side story. Tales also had this feel for me.

[Epic Kiwi]

I've played all of the Monkey Island games, and I don't remember the island ever being destroyed by a curse.

[sharper]

I skimmed through most of the posts here and a lot of what I was going to reply with has been said. You could say Curse 'changed' the monkey island series, though I would personally call it 'refined' as changed still has a slight negative connotation to it. And 'Destroyed' is just down right ridiculous IMO. Unless you are a MI2 Fan Boy/Girl that loved the 'kids imagination' concept then I could not understand how anyone could claim CMI 'Destroyed' anything.

CMI was fun, the characters were distinct and enjoyable, the audio was so well suited, the interface was simply brilliant, the plot felt complete and concise, the gameplay had some variation to it that made it more interesting than its predecessors, the art style was beautifully uniform and interesting... I could go on, but I think I've stated my opinion enough.

[floweroftheforest]

It didn't ruin it for me!
I played the somi and lcr in quick succession on the amiga.
Curse didn't come out on the amiga and it was quite a few years later that I played efmi on my sons pc.
After the initial shock of how guybrush et al looked I soon got over it and enjoyed the game for itself.
Quite a few years later having finally joined the pc world I bought a copy of the comi and eventually got it to work.
I loved it!
And then came tomi and I love that too.
I think I'm just a monkey island freak to be honest.

[MusicallyInspired]

Originally Posted by sharper

I skimmed through most of the posts here and a lot of what I was going to reply with has been said. You could say Curse 'changed' the monkey island series, though I would personally call it 'refined' as changed still has a slight negative connotation to it.

Some would say "refined" is too positive.

[S@bre]

Originally Posted by Jade Zealot

I don't remember the island ever being destroyed by a curse.

Give it time. I'm sure something to that effect is about to happen in Lost, and unemployed evil tropical smoke monsters might be migratory.

[Epic Kiwi]

Originally Posted by S@bre

Give it time. I'm sure something to that effect is about to happen in Lost, and unemployed evil tropical smoke monsters might be migratory.

That's so sad..!! In that case, I say we start an anti-Curse group to make sure those poor smoke monsters still have a home.

[VoodooDerina]

Curse didn't destroy Monkey Island, CMI destroyed that specific Monkey Island atmosphere built in the first two games.

I don't know why Curse Fan Boys/Girls have constant need to call someone MI2 (or Ron Gilbert) fanboy(girl) in a rather abusive way
As if there is a "cold war" or something between "Revengists" and "Cursists"

[sharper]

Originally Posted by MusicallyInspired

Some would say "refined" is too positive.

You won't even agree that the interface for CMI was refined in that you didn't have to go to the bottom of the screen to select "look at" or "use" then click on the object? I found it much smoother and more intuitive to click on the object and have your basic actions available to you instantly. I guess I am among the few whom appreciate that though.

[SHODANFreeman]

Originally Posted by VoodooDerina

Curse didn't destroy Monkey Island, CMI destroyed that specific Monkey Island atmosphere built in the first two games.

I don't think it destroyed the atmosphere, I think a lot of people let a difference in art style ruin the atmosphere for them, but for me, I thought the atmosphere was perfect.

Then again, I also think Wind Waker is the best Zelda game made in the past decade, so what do I know.

[MusicallyInspired]

Originally Posted by sharper

You won't even agree that the interface for CMI was refined in that you didn't have to go to the bottom of the screen to select "look at" or "use" then click on the object? I found it much smoother and more intuitive to click on the object and have your basic actions available to you instantly. I guess I am among the few whom appreciate that though.

Of course. I'm not talking about me. I said "some". But either way saying CMI refined Monkey Island is a pretty broad statement and doesn't just speak specifically of the interface. Besides, you didn't have to go down to "look" and then back to the object. You could just right click and get the default action (which was usually look).

[Jenny]

Just an observation. I happen to like pixel art A LOT for some reason. So I don't know if that is what is affecting my opinions. But maybe the reason some like SMI and LR better is because they were able to create what they wanted out of it.

I always thought it left it to the player to fill in the blanks. Because every little feature wasn't defined (like in the latter styles) so you could imagine what you wanted, to a certain extent. Or in another direction, you would be less bothered by something you think is out of place? Could this atmosphere everyone (myself included) talks about, be a product of this?

This is all based off of a purely visible reaction.

Also, add to that the voices that weren't there. Nomatter how good they are, they aren't based off of our own imaginations and decisions. Kind of the difference between reading a book and watching a movie. In a book, nomatter what the author intended, part of the interpretation is left to the reader.

I really love CMI. I know my posts make it seem like I don't sometimes, which isn't true.