What do you love about Monkey Island?

[lmi]

i dedicate this topic to the MI fans.

tell us, what do you like MI for? and what is Monkey Island to you?

to me it’s a lot more than 'adventure game'... it brings back the memories of my childhood...

it arouses dreams...

and on some dark, rainy evening... replaying the Secret of The Monkey Island, while sipping hot cocoa drink, brings about the enchanting sense of magic...

[serweet]

The humour, the characters, the story - all are spot on champion, and keep me drawn in and keep teh games my favourites. They never get boring!

[MusicallyInspired]

Discovering the Island of Monkey Island for the first time and exploring the entire map. That's my favourite part. The absence of music (apart from the map screen) and the jungle/beach ambience from the CD version while exploring the humongous island that really seemed HUGE and uninhabited. I only wish there were more areas to explore on the island.

Yes, my favourite part out of the entire series is "Part III: Under Monkey Island" from the first game.

[Armakuni]

The awesome atmosphere, interesting locations and characters, and the music (!).

And the three-headed monkey.

[Secret Fawful]

The atmosphere and magical quality is something I absolutely adore. I'd take that over the characters, story, humor, or graphics. The atmosphere was the best part.

I do love the humor as well though, and the characters.

The graphical styles the game has had has also endeared it quite a bit.

The first three games had them all balanced perfectly, with events moving along at the proper pacing. The greatest feature of the game is it's puzzles though. It's puzzles really shone, while being incredibly tedious and tough. But beating them without a walkthrough always gives a great sense of accomplishment.

If it weren't for Escape, Monkey Island would be a flawless series of video games.

[doodo!]

I always loved the sex scenes from the games

[ghostgurl]

If not for the humor, then definitely for its classic cult status. It's probably one of the most memorable game series I ever played. I'm always looking for ways to work in dialouge from the games into different situations like "That's the second biggest_____I've ever seen!" or "Look behind you, a three headed monkey!" The fact that a game can have that sort of affect on my life is the whole reason I love the series.

[VagrantWulf]

I'll speak of Lechuck's Revenge here, as it most captured what I love about Monkey Island...

I love it because it's an adventure game, and it's a funny one, to boot. I see it like this: Take a really great adventure atmosphere (like one of the indie movies), add a richly varied setting, add intelligent humour, add pirates... mix well!

I loved Fate of Atlantis, but I loved Lechuck's Revenge so much more, that was partly because of the humour and partly because of the setting. It did a great job of capturing a piratey feel, and the essence of adventure, more than games like Sid Meier's Pirates! (sorry fans) ever did.

It was one of those odd little Worlds where it seemed like anything was possible, and you never knew what you'd find on the next island. This is actually what I'm fond of about the One Piece anime, but that's a topic for another day.

And I remember Guybrush Threepwood being an epic hero, because regardless of his natural ineptitude, he was always brave (to an unrealistic degree), and he could crack wise in any situation. This is a characteristic that a lot of heroes in the best adventure movies have shared.

I feel that the trailer captures that well too, in the ToMI trailer, Guybrush strolls along the deck cracking wise about glowing swords and his tied up girlfriend. That, for me, is classic Guybrush. He's no longer the naive kid (that took away from everything a bit for me), he's grown, and he's out there, and he's as much a pirate as the rest of them. I daresay he's probably The Pirate.

In fact, I notice correlations between that Guybrush and another hero I like; The Doctor (and it's funny that I brought this up recently elsewhere, too). As that's another man that can be crazy, amusing, and just a little bizarre in even the most dangerous scenarios. I think both the MI 2 and the ToMI versions of Guybrush capture that essence really well.

And it's Guybrush that makes the series memorable for me, just like it's the Doctor that makes that series memorable. Guybrush is the quintessential pirate, the most iconic, and the most memorable. If I think of pirates, I think of that Guybrush, and the image really fits.

Combine a varied World filled with adventure and imagination with a hero like that? It's one of the most potent commbinations I've ever encountered. And that's why I love Monkey Island.

[Kaldire]

prolly easier listing things you dont like about MI

whips n quips
wimps and chimps
dames in distress, puzzles leaving you such a mess
chains and pains and troubles to boot
and a mean skeleton man in a pirate captain suit

sorry lol just a lil grogged out on .. grog...arrrgghh

everything about MI is great minus maybe that thing on the new guys face.. what is that thing!

[PorkLord]

Monkey Island for me is a mixture of everything that makes a game great, from enjoyable gameplay that challenges a players logical thinking to wonderful art, characters, story and music.

The dialogue has always been brilliant, and with so much to explore and uncover outside of what is essentially necessary to complete the game, there's usually something funny to find that you didn't notice the first time around.

I replay the original Monkey Islands all the time and no modern games can compare, nothing can continually entertain and amuse such as the MI series

[Wicked Mouse]

The humour above all. The way the puzzles were built. In Curse at least you could NEVER have taken a path where there was no return and then discovering you hadn't saved for over 2 or 3 hours. I also like the graphics And somehow there's something about Dominic's voice for Guybrush that I like

[monkey_05_06]

What I truly love about Monkey Island is the way that you can get so lost in this amazing world. The adventure, the drama, the humour, and of course the endless possibilities. I grew up playing SMI and I'm only a tiny bit ashamed to admit that it took me from the time I got the game in Christmas of 1994 (age 6) until right before EFMI was released to beat the game. Never noticed that you could even interact with the dam at all! Go figure!

But even when it seemed hopeless, the game kept me enthralled for hours on end, trying new ways to further the storyline. At one point my older brother and sister had me convinced (having long since given up on the games themselves) that reading Herman's diary to the monkey might just be a good idea...thinking that he was Herman's "banana picker." I read it literally over 1000 times before giving up hope.

So maybe I'm completely, hopelessly, and relentlessly persistent. In the end I beat the game!

And part of me thinks if it weren't for that the game might not have meant so much to me as it always has...

But back on topic...the whole idea of the game...becoming a pirate...sailing the seas, looting, plundering, drinking swag...the air of adventure is so thick in this game you practically need a pick axe to cut through it. That's fine with me though!

So basically I love MI for pretty much all the same reasons I love The Goonies.

[lmi]

[doodo!]

Originally Posted by lmi

Yes . I love this too, the beautiful relationship from the first game that is corny but believeable in a comical and yet fun way . The beautiful Elaine , the adventrous guybrush threepwood. That photo sums up the two characters almost perfectly and it speaks the heart of the games.

[CaptainXax]

Originally Posted by doodo!

Yes . I love this too, the beautiful relationship from the first game that is corny but believeable in a comical and yet fun way . The beautiful Elaine , the adventrous guybrush threepwood. That photo sums up the two characters almost perfectly and it speaks the heart of the games.

Actually, I always found it entertaining when Elaine punches Guybrush out. Now that's an interesting romance.

[Jake]

Originally Posted by lmi

Reminds me that I need to check out the EGA version...

[esteban]

For me, the real "Secret of Monkey Island" was the EGA version because it was the very first one, I discover the game with this version... In fact, it was the Atari ST version but the graphics was basically the same... I remember the 4 floppy disks to change every 5 minutes...

[playclever]

For me, Scabb Island captures what I love about Monkey Island the best - dark, run-down, rats and swamps and cemeteries and campfire ghost stories, and then layered on top of that some of the most ingenious, silly, and still somehow dark humour.

My perspective is somewhat coloured by the fact that MI2 was the first (graphical) adventure game I ever played, and the hilarious scene where Largo holds Guybrush upside-down over the bridge was pretty much the moment I fell in love with the genre...

Guybrush: "HEEELP! Police!"
Largo: "HA! Scream all you want, there are no police on Scabb Island"
Guybrush: "Then who eats all the donuts and roughs-up the transients?"

[Jake]

Originally Posted by playclever

the hilarious scene where Largo holds Guybrush upside-down over the bridge was pretty much the moment I fell in love with the genre...

Guybrush: "HEEELP! Police!"
Largo: "HA! Scream all you want, there are no police on Scabb Island"
Guybrush: "Then who eats all the donuts and roughs-up the transients?"

Haha same, including that response.

[maximmortal]

Pirates!

'Nuff said.