Unpopular opinions

[Zaxx]

10 hours ago, roots said:

I don't think Curse is a bad game in a vacuum, but I do think it's a bad Monkey Island game.

I think that Curse is a great game in a vacuum and it also might be the best MI when it comes to puzzle design... but it's a cluelessly terrible sequel to the first two games. It was always fascinating to me how CoMI rids MI of a few layers when it comes to its story (by mainly how it deals with MI2's ending) and how it tries to revert the characters to a "favorable from a marketing point of view" default state.

 

For example Guybrush and Elaine are just together now again even though the problems of their relationship weren't resolved in the last game. But it's a Disney movie now, you can't have relationship issues in a Disney movie. And then you get all the returning characters, the unapologetic callbacks to the previous games, it just feels like the safe Hollywood sequel where everyone just acts very "marketable"... and that's the worst direction imaginable if you want to make something interesting.

 

On the other hand it's a testament to the puzzle design, the art direction and the voice acting work that everything I just talked about kinda never bothered me.

[Jake]

My unpopular opinion: I don’t like the new thumbs down emote. 

[Vainamoinen]

47 minutes ago, Jake said:

My unpopular opinion: I don’t like the new thumbs down emote. 

THANK YOU. 🧡

 

Any kind of emote that can instantly express negativity towards a post/member will be used as such. The thumbs down, the rolling eyes and for fuck's sake the middle finger can be slapped on a post as negative value judgements. This is an extremely dangerous social experiment. Communities have been ruined by less. 😬

[s-island]

We've heard you about the reactions and have updated them to hopefully make things better! Rolling Eyes has remained, but is now a neutral reaction so it doesn't remove reputation points anymore.

[Thrik]

2 hours ago, Jake said:

I liked the big blocky one but also never thought the Gold Guy was a good logo. It’s now a little fun in a kitschy 90s way, but it never made sense for the games group. I’m honestly glad they’re back to their original original logo. I think Mojo had a history of gold guy logo at some point that revealed it was foisted off on the games group because it was commissioned for a company-wide rebrand but was rejected, and they wanted to save the design work somehow?
 

Fake edit: Found it, it’s the Gold Guy Exposed article. 

It’s really nice and nostalgic to see the old logo used again. With that said, I did enjoy how the gold guy was adaptable to being dressed up, turned into a skeleton, etc. 😀

[Vainamoinen]

1 hour ago, s-island said:

We've heard you about the reactions and have updated them to hopefully make things better! Rolling Eyes has remained, but is now a neutral reaction so it doesn't remove reputation points anymore.

 

What do you mean, "removes reputation points" 😱

[Thrik]

That all-important meaningless number within everyone’s profile, of course! 

[Vainamoinen]

47 minutes ago, Thrik said:

It’s really nice and nostalgic to see the old logo used again. With that said, I did enjoy how the gold guy was adaptable to being dressed up, turned into a skeleton, etc. 😀

 

Yeah, I loved the gold guy and his/her shenannigans. And it really set the game division apart from the rest of Lucasfilm. They started with nothing Lucas, not even Indiana Jones. I liked how this was reflected in the logo.

 

11 minutes ago, Thrik said:

That all-important meaningless number within everyone’s profile, of course! 

 

Downrep killed the GOG forum. Hate this stuff, even if the guys with the rep in the negative four digits may have deserved it. Besides, there could never be an actual "Unpopular Opinions" in a forum with thumbs down mechanics, which is what downrepping is. No one would post in this thread for fear of posting an actually unpopular opinion. It enables users to gang up on someone. It gamifies bullying.

 

So glad they removed it, hopefully completely.

 

I may even post my truly unpopular opinion one of these days. Didn't lie up there. It exists, and I'm ashamed of it.

Edited June 11, 2022 by Vainamoinen

[Thrik]

It’s a fair point. I think it could set a nicer tone to only have positive reactions. We’ve only ever had the middle finger one previously, but I suspect the ‘nicer’ rolling eyes could actually end up being used more sincerely to unkind effect.

[Remi]

After a summoning of Mojo's Ethics Board, we decided to remove the rolling eyes reaction. (Feel free to still use it through the emojis, though! 🙄)

[madmardi]

4 hours ago, Remi said:

After a summoning of Mojo's Ethics Board, we decided to remove the rolling eyes reaction. (Feel free to still use it through the emojis, though! 🙄)

 

🙄

[madmardi]

On 6/11/2022 at 4:24 AM, Trapezzoid said:

The LucasArts logo was bad, but so was the rectangular big-L-big-M LucasFilm Games logo. Only the pre-1988 curved logo looked good.

 

Blasphemy! They all look great, and I absolutely loved what they did with the gold guy in different games. And that's a fact not an opinion. A fact that is completely unbiased and not clouded by a childhood-induced wave of nostalgia.

 

How can you not love this?!?!

 

Edited June 12, 2022 by madmardi

[Niemandswasser]

My unpopular opinion: Bill Tiller has always given me weird, uncomfortable vibes, and I never liked anything he did post-LEC. It always struck me as a bit dishonest how willing he was to present himself as part of the "LucasArts brain trust" when publicizing his subsequent solo games, glossing over the fact that he'd only ever been involved in the art department rather than with design or writing. He seemed weirdly fixated on being the one to restore "the Good Old Days of adventure gaming," despite not having any kind of track record as a writer or designer on the games to which he advertised his connections, and he seemed to assume that a fanbase would materialize for each project he put out on the sole basis of his involvement. Then there was the weird thing he started doing a few years back where he'd only refer to CMI as "The Pirate Curse of Monkey Island" because that was its "original" title in development...he just struck me as having an inflated sense of his own importance and a disproportionate feeling of ownership over a game to which he'd been one of many contributors. (I'm using the past tense here because he doesn't seem to be active in game design anymore.)  I've never interacted with him and he may be a lovely person for all I know, but in all his public-facing appearances over the years I just never got good vibes.

[ThunderPeel2001]

15 hours ago, Vainamoinen said:

THANK YOU. 🧡

 

Any kind of emote that can instantly express negativity towards a post/member will be used as such. The thumbs down, the rolling eyes and for fuck's sake the middle finger can be slapped on a post as negative value judgements. This is an extremely dangerous social experiment. Communities have been ruined by less. 😬

I flagged this many months ago. Glad it’s finally been actioned

[Toymafia88]

Secret of Monkey Island goes downhill after Melee Island. (Its still good, but Melee is the best part of the game)

 

Most of my fondest memories with the game are with Melee Island.

 

I just found the puzzles and atmosphere not as interesting part 2 and 3.

 

It might be a  nostalgia thing where i spent a good chunk of my childhood in Melee Island.

Edited June 12, 2022 by Toymafia88

[OzzieMonkey]

5 minutes ago, Toymafia88 said:

Secret of Monkey Island goes downhill after Melee Island.

 

Most of my fondest memories with the game are with Melee Island.

 

I just found the puzzles and atmosphere not as interesting part 2 and 3.

 

It might be a  nostalgia thing where i spent a good chunk of my childhood in Melee Island.

I pretty much agree with what you're saying, though idk if downhill is exactly the right word; that to me at least implies that the game is just bad after Melee, and I wouldn't say that, maybe just that the game hits its peak early and the rest is a lot more straightforward. MI2 feels a lot less like that; you start with a miniturized version of The Three Trials puzzle structure with the voodoo doll and then the game really opens up. Curse feels like an even balance going from a small Part 1 to a whole island to explore, before giving the game room to breathe with a return to insult swordfighting and then a whole new island to explore, until the end which does feel abrupt (what I would give to see that extended rollercoaster sequence implemented in a remaster 🤤 ). Escape does that pretty nicely too actually, and Tales, while limited by the episodic model, was very engaging for the most part.

In Return, I hope to see something along the lines of MI2's open space but with Curse's pacing, albeit with a more substantive final act. It's also interesting that the series' namesake is probably the least interesting place to explore overall, and at risk of expressing another unpopular opinion, I actually think Escape improved upon MI1's depiction in terms of giving you more stuff to do, even if the stuff you were doing wasn't always ideal. The Church of LeChuck is a great location, for example. I hope the island is used appropriately in Return, and I'm also curious if Ron will keep the carnival being on Monkey Island as canon or not.

[Jake]

Not to sweatily defend Monkey Island as a location, but it being very “normal” in MI1 is kind of cool when the game is called “The Secret of Monkey Island,” in that you’re spending all this time there, in an empty, silent, relatively normal place, all the time knowing that somewhere there is some deep dark secret to discover. (I’d also argue Monkey Island doesn’t stay in one’s memory as well as Melee but once you’re playing it there’s a lot of good stuff. I’d concede Melee is the more memorable part though.)

[Toymafia88]

27 minutes ago, OzzieMonkey said:

I pretty much agree with what you're saying, though idk if downhill is exactly the right word; that to me at least implies that the game is just bad after Melee, and I wouldn't say that, maybe just that the game hits its peak early and the rest is a lot more straightforward. MI2 feels a lot less like that; you start with a miniturized version of The Three Trials puzzle structure with the voodoo doll and then the game really opens up. Curse feels like an even balance going from a small Part 1 to a whole island to explore, before giving the game room to breathe with a return to insult swordfighting and then a whole new island to explore, until the end which does feel abrupt (what I would give to see that extended rollercoaster sequence implemented in a remaster 🤤 ). Escape does that pretty nicely too actually, and Tales, while limited by the episodic model, was very engaging for the most part.

In Return, I hope to see something along the lines of MI2's open space but with Curse's pacing, albeit with a more substantive final act. It's also interesting that the series' namesake is probably the least interesting place to explore overall, and at risk of expressing another unpopular opinion, I actually think Escape improved upon MI1's depiction in terms of giving you more stuff to do, even if the stuff you were doing wasn't always ideal. The Church of LeChuck is a great location, for example. I hope the island is used appropriately in Return, and I'm also curious if Ron will keep the carnival being on Monkey Island as canon or not.

Yeah after I posted it i realised downhill wasn't the right wording. I more meant it wasn't as memorable or as interesting but still good. 

Edited June 12, 2022 by Toymafia88

[Sopabuena]

Escape from Monkey Island has the best Guybrush design, and the red suit is iconic

 

[Vainamoinen]

10 minutes ago, Sopabuena said:

Escape from Monkey Island has the best Guybrush design, and the red suit is iconic

 

 

It certainly is the last truly original Monkey Island costume design we've had. SE1, SE2 and even Tales were derivative designs. I so hope they're going for a completely new design in ReMI.

[BillyCheers]

3 hours ago, Vainamoinen said:

 

It certainly is the last truly original Monkey Island costume design we've had. SE1, SE2 and even Tales were derivative designs. I so hope they're going for a completely new design in ReMI.

And it was the only one to change his outfit through out the game (if you don’t count the dress in MI2). I really liked that. Hope they do that in Return (maybe even beard progression 😬). 

Edited June 12, 2022 by BillyCheers

[ThunderPeel2001]

7 hours ago, Toymafia88 said:

Secret of Monkey Island goes downhill after Melee Island. (Its still good, but Melee is the best part of the game)

 

Most of my fondest memories with the game are with Melee Island.

 

I just found the puzzles and atmosphere not as interesting part 2 and 3.

 

It might be a  nostalgia thing where i spent a good chunk of my childhood in Melee Island.

For some reason I believed that completing Melee would result in the game being complete. When I got to go on a voyage I was so excited. When I reached Monkey Island I was ecstatic. The game just kept on giving!

While Melee has a lot of charm and puzzles, I love Monkey Island itself. For me it wasn’t empty it was mysterious. But yeah, Melee certain had more going for it. 

 

[neoncolor8]

18 minutes ago, ThunderPeel2001 said:

For some reason I believed that completing Melee would result in the game being complete. When I got to go on a voyage I was so excited. When I reached Monkey Island I was ecstatic. The game just kept on giving!

While Melee has a lot of charm and puzzles, I love Monkey Island itself. For me it wasn’t empty it was mysterious. But yeah, Melee certain had more going for it. 

 

I love Monkey Island for being so empty and big. It's pure nature with some tiny spots of human activity, surrounded by ocean. Lonely and mysterious.

 

Needless to say that I didn't like the idea of an amusement park and a giant robot. I really hope it's back to being a lonely island. 

[neoncolor8]

(deleted)

 

Edited June 12, 2022 by neoncolor8

[Marius]

SoMI Guybrush outfit is my favorite. By far. I love that it's very simple, black and white.

And it makes me happy that he chose to wear something similar in EMI again.

 

(Not disliking the others. I like the blue coat in LR, but mostly because it's a perfect continuation after SoMI, matching Guybrush new bloated ego.)