Feldon Note: No EQ2 Content
So what have I been doing instead of updating EQ2Wire? Why getting ready for Talk Like a Pirate Day. 🙂
How? By going back and playing the Monkey Island games of course!
Set in the Carribean, these hilarious point-and-click adventure/puzzle games started in 1990 and have continued since. The latest are Tales of Monkey Island, and the first adventure is available FREE as a gift on Talk Like a Pirate Day.
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition came out just this summer and was completely rebuilt from the original 1990 game with 1920 x 1080 HD graphics, awesome music, and full voiceover. If you played the original, it’s a revelation to see it in HD. If you didn’t, well, it’s just a fun point-and-click (no typing!) adventure and the humor is laugh-out-loud funny. Insult Swordfighting, ghost-slaying Root Beer, what’s not to love? They even added a Hint system so if you can’t figure out a puzzle, you can get a nudge in the right direction by pressing H, rather than running to GameFAQs. (Steam download for 10 bucks!)
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge — Although it is now the only Monkey Island game not available with voiceover and updated graphics (it’s a VGA 320 x 240 256-color game), this game is quite deep and complex and the surreal ending cannot be missed. At the end, I promise you will be saying “What the hell just happened?” and wanting more.
Curse of Monkey Island — After Ron Gilbert (creator of the Monkey Island games) left LucasArts, the remaining team had the impossible job of picking up the Monkey Island storyline and trying to explain the bizarre ending of MI2. They stepped up to the plate and delivered a hilarious, epic game spanning two CDs that explained (almost) everything and even earned a nod from Ron Gilbert that CMI was “pretty good”. This is the first cinematic Monkey Island game, all hand-painted stylized 2D graphics and animated cutscenes. Just remember… We’re a band of vicious pirates, a sailin’ out to sea; and when you hear our gentle singing, you’ll be sure to turn and flee!
Escape from Monkey Island — This is the one I’m diving into today. It is the first Monkey Island game to feature any significant 3D, namely the characters. The backgrounds are still stylized 2D. I’ll update this as I get into EFMI. This was also released on the Playstation 2.
Tales of Monkey Island — After a 10 year gap in the Monkey Island saga, and after LucasArts dissolved their adventure game division, most of the staff moved on to form a new outfit — Telltale Games. They’d been wanting to produce a new Monkey Island game, and they recently got their chance. And Ron Gilbert is even involved, if tangentially. Rather than one large game, Tales of Monkey Island is a series of episodes, released monthly. The first two episodes have been released and three more are expected.
The first chapter in Tales of Monkey Island is free in honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day.
Note that Monkey Island 2, Curse of Monkey Island, and Escape from Monkey Island are all long since out of print and can only be found for aftermarket purchase on eBay. Until they go back in print, or get remastered in high definition (one can live in hope), a Google search for “complete Monkey Island Saga” may serve you well.
Gaming History
Before I started playing EverQuest II, I played a lot of adventure/quest type games. King’s Quest, Monkey Island, Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Eternal Darkness. These solo adventures that require solving puzzles and unlocking new areas is what got me into gaming (along with side-scrollers like Castlevania, and semi-RPGs like Legend of Zelda). MMOs are a very recent addiction for me.
Back next week with updates on Game Update 53 and other things EQ2.