Which game do you think had the best story?

[metroidreborn]

Simply taking into account story, plot points, and character development and not the graphics or puzzles, which game do you think was the best in that department?

[Secret Fawful]

Well, this was a tough one, but I had to go with Secret. LeChuck's Revenge is my favorite of the games, my favorite game, and it had my favorite story, but that doesn't mean it had the best story. Tales was great as well but it had hiccups here and there, and Curse and Escape probably had the weakest stories for me.

Secret, though, that game had the most classic story. A classic tale of a hero who must overcome obstacles, fight evil, and find love. Secret's story is so classic among the rest of the games that for me, it ends up being the best. It flows perfectly, has no problems that I can even think of, and it's just timeless. It ranks up there with magical stories like The Hobbit and Beauty and the Beast. The magic behind the story is part of what made it so great, and so attractive.

[Purple Tentacle]

Hmm - tricky but I voted for Monkey Island 2.

I thought it was well structured, starting with a simple goal which then lead you onto a bigger adventure. There was a certain mystery about it with the dancing skeletons, the infamous ending and Big Whoop itself.

It just felt the most 'piratey' to me in terms of storyline. It had it all with treasure maps, un dead pirates, voodoo, villains etc.

Tales of Monkey Islands story was hit and miss for me. I think Telltale did a good job in terms of character development and adding a more emotional atmosphere to the series, however I didn't actually like the premise for the whole game.

A voodoo sponge was just too random and silly for me, much like the 'Ultimate Insult' of the fourth game.

I thought 'The Pox of Lechuck' was a pretty interesting idea but I personally felt it wasn't really explored enough. It seemed to only really affect Elaine in the way I expected and was cured before it had any real kind of impact on the Caribbean (or the story itself)

There were also one too many plotholes and plot points that seemed a little far-fetched. Elaines 'plan' for example and the seemingly pointless monkeys which were hyped up to be something really important.

I know they were used but...

The only reason i'm picking on Tales story is because I would have voted for it otherwise. Each individual episodes mini story was told very well. I just thought the main plot was rather weak and not focused upon enough.

[coolsome]

Im gonna to say Tales because it was in my opion very dramatic and the trust theme playing trough out the whole game was great. Can Guybrush Trust LeChuck, Morgan and The Voodoo Lady? Guybrush being stabed by LeChuck in chap 4 was a total suprise for me I even began to think he was good. The epic final battle with Guybrush having to give up his last shred of life to save elaine and the world and useing the ring to return was one of the best endings ever

[S@bre]

Normally on these things, I go for CMI. However, on story alone, I think SMI is the winner, if for no other reason than "the original is the best". I'm with Secret Fawful on this one.

[Ash735]

Story, as much as I love Curse, the only major story and back story feeling came at various parts, in simple terms the story was just save your girlfriend with a lot of mistakes and obstructions happening in between.

For me, again, I love the Curse story, and it would probably come second fighting with Tales but Monkey Island 2 wins on story, it's just so much deeper, SMI acted as a way to introduce us to these characters so by the start of MI2 we know who they are so the story takes foot instead, and with all the twists, weird moments, mind blowing moments, the atmosphere, the islands each having their own back story and feeling, etc, when it all came together I just felt the story was brilliant.

[MrFerder]

Secret has a classic storyline and great characters.

Revenge is intriguing but the unfullfilling ending makes it seem like an incomplete story

Curse feels a little too random and patchwork. The Ring, the Amusement Park, Blood Island. There were so many disparate plot ellements that it lacked cohesion to me. Plus it reduced all the characters to Saturday morning cartoons.

Escape has a good cinematic flow to it (forshadowing, reveals) but it was more about battling coperate red tape than other pirates.

Tales had a rich story, with strong character arcs and good mystery. Being in parts, it's hard to see the big picture, but it overall had me feeling for the characters and engaged in the story much more than, say, Curse.

[VeronicanPlay]

My vote goes for Tales, the story had some brave twists and turns. The plot had me at the edge of my seat and left me in excitement of what would happen next.
The characters has matured a lot, and we got to see sides we have never seen before.

The others where just funny adventures, but that was about it. Telltale dared taking risks, and they all worked for me

[zhebrica]

For me it was hard to choose between SOMI and TMI. TMI was more character-driven, and I liked what they did with that side of it very much, but SOMI had a good balance between memorable characters and a classic, well-structured story, so I voted for it. But both had stories that I think could be adapted to stand on their own *as* stories, not as games.

EMI also had some strong story elements, but was bogged down way too much in the attempted retconning, and it was also a story I just didn't like, which disqualifies it for me.

LCR's story was kind of all over the place with a lot of odd twists, and I felt that it leaned more heavily on humor than plot. Great game, but very quirky.

CMI was a solid game, but not because of its story, which had very little depth, as others have noted.

[Chyron8472]

I voted for Tales, though Secret is a close second. LR drops down the list for me because of the ending. Secret might be a classic tale of pirates and rubber chickens, but Tales' story I think is better because they shook up the story with well done plot twists and on screen major character deaths.


Anyways, who voted for Escape??

[Hassat Hunter]

ToMI, which isn't that surprising seeing they went more for the "cinematic" experience, while the first 4 MI's were just trying to be pure adventure games. And thus not willingly made the story "suffer" a bit for a few additional mindbreakers...

Anyways, who voted for Escape??

I can guess, but that probably makes people tell me I'm a troll... *hint hint*

[Everlast]

I voted for SOMI because i always was looking forward of what will happen next. I remember thinking that when i got back from Monkey Island feeling a little dissapointed that the game was over. I felt the story was too short and that something should have been added. But still SOMI is what started everything people wanted to pillage, and attack boats and stuff like that. And even though that didnt happened, the story held it all together.

[Scrawffler]

I liked the Tales storyline most. Really exciting, always looking forward to solving the next big puzzle to find out what would happen next; the storytelling aspect was very well done too, which helps.

LeChuck's Revenge comes in a very close second though. That was another one that always kept me very interested in what would happen to the characters. I did feel it had a few slightly weak moments in the storyline though, but overall I really liked it.

[Hayden]

Secret has a classic story, but Tales' storyline is more complex and intriguing.

[Rather Dashing]

It's between Secret, Revenge, and Tales. Secret feels like a pretty classic Errol Flynn pirate film, Revenge is a bit more complex but no less clean-cut, and Tales really has you "aware" of the narrative at all times in a way that Curse, Escape, and even Secret at times simply does not.

Curse and Escape, um, kind of abandoned the story for the vast majority of the game.

[LeBart]

I voted for Tales. Ask me again tomorrow and I probably will have changed my mind.

[Rather Dashing]

In case anyone cares, I went with Revenge, though Tales is close and I'm glad to see the general opinion seems to follow my split.

[Alcoremortis]

It was a hard choice, but I went with Tales, mainly due to the last two chapters, which were just amazing in my opinion.

[dthoupis]

Revenge all the way. Epic cinematographic story and so piratey.

[StarEye]

LeChuck's Revenge. The story consisted of getting four map pieces (among other things), and each of them had a story behind them that you learnt along the way, were subtly hinted at. Plus, the whole game was filled with puzzles that were directly related to the story, unlike so many other games. You knew all the time WHY you had to do this and that puzzle, or overcome that obstacle. This isn't so much the case anymore with modern adventures.

Secret was the same, really, in terms of puzzles. Heck, most of the MI games had this - and this was what makes the games so damn fun to play, even for the twentieth time. You're not playing through a collection of puzzles, you're playing through a story. In Monkey Island, the story IS the gameplay, while in modern adventures, the story is in the background, while the gameplay is almost entirely disconnected. They're like two different entities.