It is always Curse. Part of it I think will always be because it was the first one I played, not only in the Monkey Island series but the first of all the LucasArts adventures and introduced me to adventure gaming. Nostalgia's a hell of a drug. Having said that, a lot of things from my childhood haven't aged well in the slightest, so I still believe it speaks to the overall quality of the game that I still consider it my favourite. The game just oozes atmosphere with every new background and the style of humour just knocked it out of the park for me. MI1 and 2 were masterpieces too, but Curse to me was an experience unlike anything, it just felt more dense and the most epic of the whole series before Tales came out. I would probably place Curse and Tales right next to each other in terms of the scope of the story, but Curse is far superior in all other aspects; music, visuals, puzzles, characters, it's a game that has it all, not to mention a great musical number. It's not Ron's Monkey Island, but I don't much care, lots of series move on from their creator and they don't have to be inferior, this game proves it in my opinion. Would MI3a be good to have? Of course! Honestly at this point I just want more Monkey Island. Doesn't take away from the fact that Curse is a gem.