I miss the ,,Insult battles,,

[Fury]

But a minigame....

[StansCoffins]

The OP's post sounds like Guybrush in an Insult Shanking match with 50 Cent.

[JedExodus]

Nah, it's too grindy. You know the mechanic so you're not really being tested on wit or guile untill maybe the last battle where you have to improvise against new insults.

It's iconic and I look fondly on it, but we don't need it

[Thespis]

http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/...8&postcount=24

[Rather Dashing]

Thing is, they did discover a way to make it fresh. The fight with Morgan IS the same thing, but freshened up SO well that people don't seem to realize that it has the same exact purpose.

[nitsujsedohr]

Yeah, I have to agree that insult sword fighting was great. I could live with it both ways, back in or without. Alot of people are downing the Monkey Combat, actually had a chuckle from it. I know it was a cheap joke, but I got a few seconds of laughter at Guybrush in those poses. It was really just filler in EMI, I think maybe I've changed my mind though. Insult sword fighting shouldn't come back, let the past be the past.

[Ash McQ]

I would like to see a proper insult fighting. You know, how it was supposed to be in the Orginal Monkey Island, therefore with real variance, not with the same insults again and again. Like when you fight carla, but like that one with every pirate. If not, then better not. I mean its cult and all, but that bit of the first game is gameplay-wise pretty dumb tbh.

[Astro Gnocci]

As many said already, i do think insult swordfighting is a great idea in itself, but the gathering of those insults was extremely tedious. It was great fun the first time around but a real pain in the butt when you replay the games (and don't forget that one of the main appeals of the episodic format is just that : replay value).

I actually liked how they handled it in EMI. The arm wrestling thing wasn't funny to me, but having you already knowing the insults and come backs and just having to figure out which fitted which was pretty clever and avoided the tediousness of the earlier ones.

Oh, and

Thing is, they did discover a way to make it fresh. The fight with Morgan IS the same thing, but freshened up SO well that people don't seem to realize that it has the same exact purpose.

I second that.

[Avistew]

I miss it, but I don't want it to reappear again. I think it was good in the first and third game, and bad in the game-that-never-was. I think it's good to miss it, it means we didn't grow bored of it, so it shouldn't appear again (although references to it are always good).
I'd prefer something new and original.

[taumel]

Hmm, i liked the insult sword fighting so far a lot. In the end it's a hunt after some information in order to get passed something. It's a benefit if it's well done (nicely integrated and with good phrases) but obviously also can be annoying if it isn't.

[Rather Dashing]

Originally Posted by avistew

I miss it, but I don't want it to reappear again. I think it was good in the first and third game, and bad in the game-that-never-was. I think it's good to miss it, it means we didn't grow bored of it, so it shouldn't appear again (although references to it are always good).
I'd prefer something new and original.

How in the WORLD was it good in the third game? I'm completely baffled by this. You already KNOW the mechanic, and the added "rhyme" gimmick is only a puzzle for two seconds if you don't realize that several responses rhyme, but only one fits.

So, more or less, it's copied from Secret. It's not something new and good in Curse, it's an annoying attempt to capture the magic of the first game by REPEATING THINGS VERBATIM.

You're stuck going around, collecting insults, just like in the first game but without the puzzle aspect of learning the mechanic as you went. It was bland, unoriginal, tedious, and the second worst aspect of Curse. In fact, it's more tedious than it was in Secret, because every other fight you have to go all the way back to the store to grab better canons. It was like someone looked at the adventure genre and said "You know what this needs? The worst aspects of the RPG genre!", and went ahead to make the Curse Insult Swordfighting section.

Why was Escape's implementation worse?! As already noted in this thread, it removed the tedium of Curse's cut-and-paste implementation. Of all the things to fault Escape for(while obviously turning a blind eye to Curse's faults, apparently), why choose one area where it did something FAR better than Curse?

[Danny]

No, it was fun in the old games, but no need to use it in every MI game.

[StansCoffins]

Originally Posted by Rather Dashing

How in the WORLD was it good in the third game? I'm completely baffled by this. You already KNOW the mechanic, and the added "rhyme" gimmick is only a puzzle for two seconds if you don't realize that several responses rhyme, but only one fits.

So, more or less, it's copied from Secret. It's not something new and good in Curse, it's an annoying attempt to capture the magic of the first game by REPEATING THINGS VERBATIM.

You're stuck going around, collecting insults, just like in the first game but without the puzzle aspect of learning the mechanic as you went. It was bland, unoriginal, tedious, and the second worst aspect of Curse. In fact, it's more tedious than it was in Secret, because every other fight you have to go all the way back to the store to grab better canons. It was like someone looked at the adventure genre and said "You know what this needs? The worst aspects of the RPG genre!", and went ahead to make the Curse Insult Swordfighting section.

Why was Escape's implementation worse?! As already noted in this thread, it removed the tedium of Curse's cut-and-paste implementation. Of all the things to fault Escape for(while obviously turning a blind eye to Curse's faults, apparently), why choose one area where it did something FAR better than Curse?

I agree to an extent: it was lazy to reuse the concept, and the insults were nowhere near as sharp (most fell flat for me). But I actually think they got away with it due to the brilliant atmosphere of that sequence, the grudge the player has against Rottingham, the singing pirates and the feel of gradually getting more and more formidable (missing in Secret). In the end, despite being a grind and featuring weaker insults, it's one of my favourite chapters in the entire series.

As for Escape, well, I think it's partly to do with it being Flanderised: up to then it had simply been a swordfighting mechanic lampooning how in fiction the fights seem to be determined by who is being taken the piss out of the most. But in Escape, it's become a bloody franchise that people over the Caribbean are playing ("Insult Darts", I mean WTF?), has lost all of its awesomeness, and is taken to literal extremes (Ozzie taking over the Caribbean because no-one understands his Australian slang is one of the most moronic ideas ever, and hurts the otherwise solid "Rupert Murdoch takes over the Caribbean and replaces pirates with tourists" plot.

[Astro Gnocci]

You're stuck going around, collecting insults, just like in the first game but without the puzzle aspect of learning the mechanic as you went. It was bland, unoriginal, tedious, and the second worst aspect of Curse. In fact, it's more tedious than it was in Secret, because every other fight you have to go all the way back to the store to grab better canons. It was like someone looked at the adventure genre and said "You know what this needs? The worst aspects of the RPG genre!", and went ahead to make the Curse Insult Swordfighting section.

You're right, but the fact that the insults were new and that it had been a long time since i hadn't done it somehow made up for it, at least for me.
It did hurt replay value, though, just like in SMI, which is a shame because i liked the overall atmosphere of the sea battles.

Why was Escape's implementation worse?! As already noted in this thread, it removed the tedium of Curse's cut-and-paste implementation. Of all the things to fault Escape for(while obviously turning a blind eye to Curse's faults, apparently), why choose one area where it did something FAR better than Curse?

As i said, i do think they done the right thing as far as the mechanics is concerned (already having the insults in your "inventory"), but what i think what threw a lot of people off (me included) was the way it was introduced. The fact that just any game seemed to be done with insults and that, although allowing you to solve a puzzle, it didn't have any real importance, made it feel kind of casual. As someone (maybe you) said earlier, the point of the whole insult fighting thing was to simulate some epic swordfight without implementing some weird "action mini game" gameplay, but there was just nothing epic in the bar arm wrestling.

EDIT : well, seems like we agree, Stan You said it better than me.

[StansCoffins]

Heh, great minds think alike and all that.

[doggans]

Originally Posted by Rather Dashing

In fact, it's more tedious than it was in Secret, because every other fight you have to go all the way back to the store to grab better canons.

Oh, were you supposed to keep going back? I always just waited until I had enough treasure to buy the final cannons.

I agree that the return of insult swordfighting was pointless and redundant, BUT I do enjoy the insult swordfighting sequence from CMI a bit more than the one from SMI. I think there only should be insult swordfighting in one game if any, but I would gladly give up the SMI one for the CMI one.

[StansCoffins]

That's actually how I feel about Curse in general. It shouldn't exist, but it does and it's f**king incredible! It's almost like a fanfic that's so good it surpasses the source material even if it jars with it. I hate what they did to the second games's ending, but I can forgive that when everything up to the end of Blood Island is one of the finest gaming experiences ever.

Sorry, off topic. I do that a lot!

[nitsujsedohr]

they should have insult politics! The law of the land is decided by who has the wittiest come backs and sharpest tongue.

[Astro Gnocci]

nah, that's too realistic

[balin2k]

loved them but, i wouldnt say i miss them.