Rate Monkey Islands: Best to Worst

[Corv]

Originally Posted by Eddie

Haven't played CoMI. Just hate the character art too much.

word

[purple_monkfish]

2, because it's the first adventure game I ever played, the setting is wonderful and it still makes me giggle. Plus the self referential and messed up plot twist thing whooo..
then it gets tricky... 1 and 3 are about equal for me. Probably 1 first because it gets going a lot faster.
so...

2
1
3
TOMI
and then 4 which while not a bad game in itself, is just plain horrible for a MI game.

[guitarsareboring]

3/2 (they change depending on hom I'm feeling), 1, 4 ... I think.

Not sure where 5 will slot in yet but providing it gets a little harder it could end up pretty high.

[Corv]

I am actually quite shocked that there are people who rate Curse higher than any of the 2 originals. I can not undestand it. The only reason I can think of is that it's people who didn't play the originals when they were acutally new and/or played Curse first.

Is here anyone who played MI 1 and 2 when they were released and still thinks that Curse is better?

This is no random Curse bashing (even though I hate the art style and the fact that a huge part is just made out of recycled MI1/2 jokes), I am honestly interested and want to know why.

[DinghyDog]

I can't rate TMI after only one episode, but for now this is what I think:
1)LR
2)SMI
3)CMI
4)EMI

[Mataku]

2
3
1
5
4

[Frown]

1. MI2 - The clever puzzles and the way you can travel anywhere anytime put this one on the top.
2. MI3 - Ah, gotta love this one.
3. MI4 - This game has a fantastic soundtrack, and while the controls aren't too good, it's still a great adventure.
4. MI1 - Don't get me wrong, it's still a great game. But video game music is a very important factor to me, and this game has very little of it.

[Voodoomaster]

I think none of you can correctly classify TOMI, because it's just an episode against four full games...what if next episodes are much better ? Or much worse ?

However

Mi2 & Mi3 (love the same. Not just games, but pieces of art)
Mi1
Emi (imho, this is terrible. Good AG, but terrible MI)

TOMI maybe should be between "Mi2 & Mi3" and "Mi1", but I still don't know.

[purple_monkfish]

I played the two originals back in the early 90s. I believe it was ooo, about 1995 before I got my hands on Secret though, no second hand games market existed in NZ back then. Unless you trawled the want papers, you weren't going to find old games unless you bought them in the first like, 3 months, after which they went off the shelves and that was that.
I had to go to America to get a hold of Secret lol, I think it wasn't till Curse came out that I got a chance to play Revenge completely. We didn't own a copy, I was playing a shamefully pirated copy on my "uncle's" pc one evening and fell in love. For years it became my mission in life to find that bloody game damnit!
Yeah... it was a serious quest that.

But anyway, I think I hold 1 and 3 in similar regard. 1 is charming but 3 has such gorgeous art direction and there's so much obvious love put into it you know?

[Paintbrush]

If I can judge by the first episode of ToMI, my list will be going to look like this:

CMI
TMI
MI 2
MI 1
EMI

Originally Posted by Corv

Is here anyone who played MI 1 and 2 when they were released and still thinks that Curse is better?

I did. At least MI2 (I was playing MI1 much later, around the time EMI came out, I think). MI2 was amazing, but i guess it just didn't click with me quite as much as CMI did. It's hard to explain. Great puzzles, humor, graphics, music, voices, atmosphere.. it just worked. As far as I'm concerned CMI was (and still is) THE ultimate adventure game

[turingmachine604]

Originally Posted by Corv

I am actually quite shocked that there are people who rate Curse higher than any of the 2 originals. I can not undestand it. The only reason I can think of is that it's people who didn't play the originals when they were acutally new and/or played Curse first.

Is here anyone who played MI 1 and 2 when they were released and still thinks that Curse is better?

This is no random Curse bashing (even though I hate the art style and the fact that a huge part is just made out of recycled MI1/2 jokes), I am honestly interested and want to know why.

See I love SoMI but I view it as the developers still testing the waters, not exactly getting everything right. MI 2 took everything SoMI did and refined it to make it the best game ever. None of the other MI games match MI 2's puzzles, atmosphere, traveling between islands at any time, plus it really stands out being the only one in the series where Elaine is more an ancillary character instead of the focus of the plot, making a lot of new puzzles and references instead of relying on the jokes of past games (it's still the only one without insult sword fighting - we'll see in Tales - and it's still great).

Curse added a lot to the series in terms of art direction and voice work, but I can't forgive what they did to Guybrush. In fact, part of me hates how Curse set the tone for Guybrush to be drawn overly lanky and goofy looking. Yet, I love the non character art in Curse, the cloud design, etc. Still I think Curse is a more refined game than SoMI, which is why I rate them 2, 3, 1. I get people ranking Curse higher, because it's more user friendly but I do think a lot of the Curse love comes from people - like you said - playing Curse first then going back and viewing the older games as dated at the time.

ToMI is not the best in the series. First off, we've only played a 1/5 of it so no one should be judging it yet. If we are only judging it by the opening episode then it was too easy, and the island had less character than the opening islands of past games. Granted, I still loved ToMI but no one should really be listing it as the best (at least not until it's finished).

Escape was great too but what really puts it last on the list for me is how it disrespected a lot of the previous canon. Plus, it's a fact that 3D ages worse than 2D and Escape has really aged the worst (despite being the most recent not counting Tales). Still Escape is better than a lot of other games, just not the other MI games.

[turingmachine604]

Originally Posted by fryeguy

First, the use for the piano-monkey is something that I never would've figured out aside from random guessing.

What about the JoJo puzzle from MI 2 makes people hate the game? I never had any trouble with any puzzle related to him in any playthrough.

Is it when you had to use him as a monkey wrench? I can understand non-english speakers having legitimate trouble with this, but otherwise it was pretty straightforward

I don't get people ranking things lower by saying the puzzles didn't make sense. There isn't a single puzzle from the first two games that I didn't figure out logically.

[tmesis]

Originally Posted by Corv

Is here anyone who played MI 1 and 2 when they were released and still thinks that Curse is better?

Yes, I played them all as a kid and rate them 1, 3, 2. There's not an awful lot in it for me - all brilliant games - but though I didn't like 3 as much at first I've found I've wanted to replay it more often despite the hateful song & dance thing on the ship. Plus I didn't like Guybrush with a beard in 2. Or the ending. :P

[WinterSnowblind]

3
2
1
4

Though the first three I love a lot, and only barley like three more than two, etc.. I also think it's unfair to rate Tales just yet, though if it keeps up the same level of quality, it'll probably squeeze in before the original game. It would be impressive if it ends up worse than the fourth - although even that one had its moments.

[thatdude98]

Originally Posted by Frown

1. MI2 - The clever puzzles and the way you can travel anywhere anytime put this one on the top.
2. MI3 - Ah, gotta love this one.
3. MI4 - This game has a fantastic soundtrack, and while the controls aren't too good, it's still a great adventure.
4. MI1 - Don't get me wrong, it's still a great game. But video game music is a very important factor to me, and this game has very little of it.

HALLELUJAH! Someone who didn't rate MI4 as the lowest! MORE POWER TO YA!!!!!!!!!!!! MI4 is one of my favorites.

Speaking of that, Let me revise my list. I changed my mind:

MI3
TOMI: LotSN
MI4
MI2
MI1

[Mad Mary]

Originally Posted by Frown

4. MI1 - Don't get me wrong, it's still a great game. But video game music is a very important factor to me, and this game has very little of it.

So you really should play the SE.

[PariahKing]

1. LCR
2. SMI:SE
3. CMI
4. SMI
5. EMI

Tales is not rated because it's not done.

[Zinc]

1) SoMI, LCR, CoMI, ToMI
2) The Phantom Menace
3) The Hotty and the Nottie
4) Dragon Wars
5) Escape from Monkey Island

[thin029]

Tales, Escape, Secret Special, Curse
Never played Revenge or the original first

[pilouuuu]

Originally Posted by Dyne

1. Monkey Island 2: Lechucks Revenge - It was more intelligent, darker, and told a much better storyline than the first game. It was a great step for the franchise. I'd consider it as The Empire Strikes Back of the Monkey Island series.

2. The Secret of Monkey Island - An instant classic that revolutionized adventure games. Nostalgia is also part of the reason why I have such a fondness for it.

3. The Curse of Monkey Island - I don't think I had ever been so anticipated for a game like I was when I heard the news that a third entry was being made for this groundbreaking franchise. After the cliffhanger that Lechuck's Revenge left us with, I was desperate for answers. Well, I got none and I remember being quite disappointed. But apart from that it was still a fantastic game and I have fond memories of it.

As of now Escape from Monkey Island and Tales of Monkey Island are currently on par with each other. My final verdict will come once the rest of the episodes are released. The move to 3D hasn't quite captured the magic of the original games in my opinion, but they are still brilliant nonetheless.

Hey, great analogy there! LCR is like the Empire Strikes Back, TSOMI is just like Star Wars because it is the classic that started it all. Maybe not as technically advanced as its sucessor, but pretty much a perfect game.

Then, COMI could be like Return of the Jedi. Return of Guybrush! Not such a classic as the previous, but a very enjoyable iteration.

And finally... EFMI is The Phantom Menace for obvious reasons! It even has a mention of Jar-Jar!

Hopefully TOMI is more like Revenge of the Sith than Attack of the Clones. Or even better more like the reboot of the ST franchise of the new Star Trek movie.