Me too! 
(both things)
(Then you should probably play Labyrinth first… )
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That’s a bit streaky for my liking.
Oh look, full circle!
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Wait until your next flight and think about me if you order your tomato juice… 
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Wrong thread.
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Do we even have a breakfast thread? And why should we?
Not yet - I thought you meant the film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. (New song of the day in 3 … 2 … 1 …)
Because it’s fun! (I guess… )
Ahahah that’s a good one! 
Spoilers ahead…
So I enjoyed The Secret of Monkey Island. I’m sure I played it on a friend’s computer back in the day, but I barely recognised anything this time round – which is nice, I guess, as I could play it fresh.
Having said that, it’s quite difficult to review it with the hindsight of all the well-known storylines, characters and motifs. It’s such a famous game it’s difficult to not be influenced by its history.
Anyway, disclaimer out the way.
The thing I liked most about it is the humour. For me it’s the perfect amount – it didn’t feel like every possible joke was being squeezed out of the game. The jokes were complementary to the story, which took the foreground – and that’s how it should be. Most of them took me by surprise, and made me laugh a lot. Their tongue-in-cheek style is right up my street – it doesn’t take itself too seriously.
The story itself is good, but not brilliant. I think that’s perhaps the hardest bit to get right though, as it has to work with the puzzles and mechanics of the game. I feel like the story is never going to be perfect in the way that a novel or film might be.
I thought the ending was a little abrupt. It felt significantly quicker than the earlier chapters – maybe because I figured out what I needed to do quite quickly, but I did feel a bit ‘led’. I think I remember Ron saying he feels the ending of a game shouldn’t be dragged out – which does make sense in some ways. I just felt a bit like I got clues about what to do next then the game did it for me (to the extent that I keep having flashbacks and thinking, oh, did I do that bit?)
Other thoughts
I’m not a huge fan of romantic stories but I liked that Guybrush was kind of an ‘accidental’ hero, and Elaine had some spunk.
The in-game hints were useful. I liked that I could just hit ‘H’.
I wasn’t that keen on having to listen to all those long diary entries.
The navigator’s head was much easier to follow than in TWP.
I should note I was playing the SE enhanced version, though I occasionally toggled to the classic version. (Not sure if hints were part of the original game?)
Some of the pointedly sarcastic quips made me chuckle – such as this
And I liked this dig at Sierra (the only major one I remember, unlike TWP which was a bit over-saturated)
On that note, as much as I loved some of Sierra’s games (and I’m biased because I started with those), I find it much more enjoyable to play a game knowing I can’t die a totally unforgiving death – but still with enough challenges and constructs to make you try hard and really think about the puzzles.
8/10
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The story is as basic as it can be, really. It´s a hero´s journey with a a main character who grows over the course of the story, a villain who captures the girl and a happy ending. I think it didn´t start to get complicated before part two. I would have been perfectly satisfied if there had been only one game. Gladly part two was even better.
That is actually the part that was really special about the game. The fact that the classic damsel in distress part was reverted and it turned out Elaine was perfectly good at saving herself. It was ahead of it´s time in that respect.
They were not.
That bit was so much more sublte in Monkey Island than just flat out saying “If this was a Sierra game I would be dead now”. Back then it felt like a funny competitive dig at the competitor. Today it just feels bitter.
I haven´t read On Stranger Tides, so it would be interesting how much of an influence it had on the game and how many plot parallels there are. That disney ride that keeps getting mentioned is so low on plot that it couldn´t have been much more than a basic idea giver.
However over time I am noticing more and more parallels with the plot and characters of The Princess Bride, does anyone else feel that? I can´t help but wonder if that one might have been a major influence on the first games plot and characters.
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Yeah, and really that’s fine. It means more focus can go into the gameplay and puzzles, and it doesn’t get overcomplicated.
Indeed. I had to remind myself of that since I’m playing it after that time.
Exactly. It left a nasty taste in my mouth.
I haven’t read/seen either of those. I would imagine it’s a plot that appears in a lot of stories though, as it’s quite basic. Unless you’re talking very detailed similarities.
I haven´t read the Princess Bride book, but seen the films countless times because it´s one of the greatest things ever.
Westley is a simple farm boy who falls in love with Buttercup and goes to sea where he becomes a pirate. Buttercup gets captured by Prince Humperdinck who forces her to marry her. Westley befriends a group of swashbucklers who help him on the way (one of them a tall brute, and a guy with a moustache who speaks with an accent). There is a scene where Westley cheats on a drinking contest much like Guybrush has to in Monkey Island 2. There are some steampunk elements with machines that don´t really belong in a medieval inspired fantasy world(just like Monkey Island). The ending takes place in the church where the force marriage is about to take place.
It is not exactly the same but I see a lot of little details there.
Oh yeah, see what you mean – that is pretty similar.
Can you name an adventure game without a “basic” or “simple” story?
(Especially the Sierra games had much more simpler stories. For example Larry 1 - it hasn’t even a story. 
)
Not the best example, but The X-Files Game (movie point-and-click). And maybe What Remains of Edith Finch. I guess most games stick to a basic storyline, and that’s why.
That’s true. The Space Quest series was basically the same thing repeated.
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Darkseed
The Cat Lady
La Noir
Loom
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Oxenfree? Primordia? Loom? Layers of Fear? TLJ/Dreamfall/Chapters? Dune maybe? Depending a bit on what you mean, but MI is certainly on the more straightforward end of things.
Which is really the worst part of CoMI to me in retrospect. (I played CoMI first, so at the time it was just a trope like any other. I didn’t realize the trope had been subverted by the series previously.)
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