EFMI: Really as bad as some fans think?

[Lechuckiemask]

It was actually This very game that helped me get into the rest of the series- I literally fell in love with it. Is the fact that it's not made by the same people (Schafer and gilbert) as bad as all that? I love thier games- they're gods of gaming, I agree, and Phsychonauts is my most favourite platformer. But EMFI came under harsh critisisms- yet it's just as witty as the others. Monkey kombat is a dissapointment, granted. But it's a genuinely charming game. The plotholes can't be blamed so much as the story makes good enough sense, and fan theories give fans something to do. I just enjoyed playing it. So I must know what the true big issues are here...having played the others and having enjoyed them just as much. What am I missing?

[CanadianWinter]

I thought it was ok, although when I'm playing a game with this sort of control scheme, I always think of Grim Fandango, and when I was reminded of Grim Fandango, I stopped playing EFMI and played GF. So it took me a looooong time to finish EFMI because I would always play GF instead

[Lechuckiemask]

XD, I see...i understand the Grim engine put off a lot of people, but having never played Grim (and I'd love to) I had no idea that the engine was going to be any different at the time... made the next games feel more interesting, too.

[KR]

There's just something about EMI, some unnamable thing, that offsets my enjoyment of it in comparisson to the others. I love it all the same, being an MI game. But I don't know what it is... the annoying interface, the 3D graphics, the storyline, the not as likeable characters, Monkey Kombat... must just be a mix of all of the above, but I can't quite put it just on par with the others. I don't know. I like it, and I enjoy playing it (usually). But compared to the others, it just feels a bit lackluster :\ But that's just my opinion.

[Fearless Flying Monkey]

Yeah, there's just something not quite right about it.... The theme of the real estate maybe.... Or the fact it hints that a giant monkey robot is the secret of Monkey Island. It's just not as well rounded as the other games either, since it's full of litttle bugs, whereas the others have very few. Plus it has my most hated of puzzles. The Mist'o'Time marsh.

[KR]

Plus it has my most hated of puzzles. The Mist'o'Time marsh.

Ugh, yes... Come to think of it, the previous games didn't have any puzzles that enticed you to write stuff down... This game had several... the time marsh, Monkey Kombat, Dave's machine riddle thingy... annoying. And in the previous games, the puzzles seemed to just make sense being where they were... In EMI they seemed thrown in JUST for gameplay. Just my opinion, of course.

[Haggis]

Come to think of it, the previous games didn't have any puzzles that enticed you to write stuff down...

Well, there was that puzzle in SMI with the shopkeeper's safe... and anyway, most adventure games have me scribbling down something at some point, I rather like that, actually. One puzzle from EMI that I did find annoying though, is the one where you throw the boulders down the canals. It makes no sense, and I hate timed puzzles, they make me feel stressed. Same with the mugs of grog melting in SMI. Overall though, I wouldn't call EMI bad, perhaps just not entirely on par with the other games in the series.

[KR]

and I hate timed puzzles, they make me feel stressed

YES! Like with the lil sushi boat to melt the wax painting, or the hand u have to grab while dead-eye dave is sleeping... meh...

[Fearless Flying Monkey]

I actually agree about the scribbling thing. All the other ones I didn't scribble anything down, but for EFMI you're pretty stuck without it. It is frustrating.

[CanadianWinter]

I'll also add that EFMI was the first Monkey Island game I played that I actually needed a walkthrough for. The other games I could have been stuck for a while, but I just loved them so much that walkthroughs were unneeded as I didn't become bored with them like I did with EFMI. The puzzles were so ridiculous that even with a walkthrough it makes no sense. For instance, prying the manhole cover off, then reading it to get 3 names, which you need to tell to Dave in a story in order to get a prosthetic skin so you can stretch it over the manhole to get inside the bank made no sense to me at all.

[Lechuckiemask]

Yes, there wome things that you really had to scratch your head about to get done, as if they were trying to be a little to clever with the puzzles. I mean, c'mon, who knew to check what pegnose petes scent would be made up of?
They missed a trick with the real estate gags, especially concerning steve. He would have been all over it and a little more noticable in that kind of environment, instead of just having the one area to himself and not much else.
I did enjoy it though except...while a stone LeChuck possessed statue is pretty ingenious as his next step, a giant robot monkey...isn't so much.

[Fearless Flying Monkey]

Yes, there wome things that you really had to scratch your head about to get done, as if they were trying to be a little to clever with the puzzles. I mean, c'mon, who knew to check what pegnose petes scent would be made up of?
They missed a trick with the real estate gags, especially concerning steve. He would have been all over it and a little more noticable in that kind of environment, instead of just having the one area to himself and not much else.
I did enjoy it though except...while a stone LeChuck possessed statue is pretty ingenious as his next step, a giant robot monkey...isn't so much.

Who's Steve?

[Lechuckiemask]

XD, stan. Too jumbled and thinking about Ratchet and clank, for some reason...O.o
Darn you, cera bellum, or however it's spelt.

Actually, who did guess that Charles L. Charles was Lechuck? (I got quite the shock, but felt it shouldn't have been revealed until much later.)

[Fearless Flying Monkey]

I wasn't all that shocked. I was more surprised that LeChuck wasn't in fact Ozzie to be honest.

[Lechuckiemask]

Hmm...an interestingpoint.This is the first time LeChuck essentially was the minor villain and had more of that recurring character status (Which he is, but I mean like an annoyance rather than a villain kind of thing) with another villain taking a main role.