I liked parts of this game, but this needs to be done: my Personal Quips Wiki
For your safety/sanity, I have spoilered the parts that would be considered rants.
I understand it left out was due to tech difficulties, but I really would have liked point and click movement.
I got stuck very early on since there were no real clues as to where certain puzzles were--not to mention seemingly useless items being the solutions to a problem. For me, I had no idea the anchor would trigger a coal fire. I saw the oil and thought "fire!", and I searched the whole fricking island and there was no fire. The clothesline did not catch my attention at all until hours later and the clue as to where the card was did not lead me to the socks at all!
Hints should be directly in the dialogue or associated with certain items, and not placed in random places in unrelated things.
I understand that some puzzles take time to solve but when you solve it, you're supposed to go, "OHHH, it's so obvious now!", not, "...what?? Are you kidding???"
ex 1. On Guybrush's boat with the monkey coffin.
ex 2. Use breath mints on grog.
ex 3. Use chain to get onto ship so that the captain will throw hot coals on you.
ex 4. Find club membership card in random socks.
ex 5. The tar puzzle.
ex 6. The map puzzle.
ex 7: The 2nd map puzzle.
ex 8: The marquis totem.
ex 9. The tar puzzle.
Bad jokes/continuity problems:
Character continuity: Guybrush's extreme porcelain phobia.
Character continuity: Elaine's love-hate for Guybrush.
Continuity: Guybrush's mention about the "mother in law visit": ELAINE'S MOTHER DOES NOT PLAY AN ACTIVE ROLE IN HER LIFE.
D'oro the explorer.
Bad joke: U-tube.
Bad joke: God of breaking wind.![:\](https://community.telltalegames.com/resources/emoji/confused.png ":\")
Toilet humor? Really?
General: Marquis de Singe.
Overdone jokes:
Forgettable Driftwood... I mean Seepgood. I mean Mancomb! Wait, what?
Wait... that's not what I chose! Why is he saying something else!
Lack of memorable characters:
This is a work in progress... Please don't complain in this thread. Disagreeing with some points is fine, but you saw the title and you knew what was coming.
edit: It seems people are mistaking my criticism with my extreme difficulties with the game. I played through the game fine. I didn't cry and sob over how I had to spend 10 seconds to realize that I had to use the vane to figure out the wind direction on the 2nd map puzzle or anything. I'm just making a point.
I understand it left out was due to tech difficulties, but I really would have liked point and click movement.
I got stuck very early on since there were no real clues as to where certain puzzles were--not to mention seemingly useless items being the solutions to a problem. For me, I had no idea the anchor would trigger a coal fire. I saw the oil and thought "fire!", and I searched the whole fricking island and there was no fire. The clothesline did not catch my attention at all until hours later and the clue as to where the card was did not lead me to the socks at all!
Hints should be directly in the dialogue or associated with certain items, and not placed in random places in unrelated things.
The glass blower's glass breaking horn should have been used specifically only on items labeled as "glass", or "unbreakable glass". This was a problem when you encounter the "crystal nose". How hard would it have been to make it an "unbreakable glass nose", or if you want to be more subtle, at least make all the glass items the same color. Or at LEAST make Guybrush try to break it and say, "Guess that's not gonna work". Indirect hints are better than NONE AT ALL.
I understand that some puzzles take time to solve but when you solve it, you're supposed to go, "OHHH, it's so obvious now!", not, "...what?? Are you kidding???"
ex 1. On Guybrush's boat with the monkey coffin.
Use monkey coffin with special monkey? Logical... "use" monkey coffin to open and find flat root beer? Not so much.
ex 2. Use breath mints on grog.
Uhhh, why is it flat again? Using repetition with puzzles is never good. There's no point since the first puzzle was solved this way to begin with.
ex 3. Use chain to get onto ship so that the captain will throw hot coals on you.
What?? Just having to use that as a puzzle title is terrible to begin with! Who even does that in the first place? Oh, a person is trying to get on board my ship to take command! I guess I'll DROP HOT COALS ON HIM.
ex 4. Find club membership card in random socks.
This is not a good solution to a puzzle, especially when the hint was "I lost it when I first became captain of the Narwhal." It makes absolutely no sense. In 2 years, not once has the captain worn socks. Not once has he reeled in his laundry? Not once has he put on those pink pantalons? Also, putting two solutions into the same place is never a good idea. Each object should have a sole purpose. It's fine if you can use the item in more than one place, but never put two solutions to two separate problems in the same place, especially when it's not in the same object. This could easily mislead people to thinking they're done. They could have easily put the sock in a random place for us to find. They could even have included a hint like, "I lost it way back when I first became captain of the Narwhal. I'd wager it's because I lost my lucky sock. It's always one sock you know? They just disappear!"
ex 5. The tar puzzle.
Seriously? Okay, man the wheel. Have posessed hand smack it and then turn the ship wildly. Pretty funny. Use cannon to break barrel? Logical. Look at map to get into fight with hand in order to get stuck in the tar?? What?? Why dont I just stick my hand in the tar to begin with? This just doesn't make any sense.
ex 6. The map puzzle.
There is no clear demarcation of the order of steps. This made the puzzle harder than it needed to be. Also, it was not obvious that you should use the map with the wishing well. Just putting a picture of a hand gripping a map next to the well could easily mean "START FROM HERE", not PUT THE MAP OVER THE WELL TO START THE PUZZLE FOR NO EXPLAINED REASON.
ex 7: The 2nd map puzzle.
Are you serious? ANOTHER one? Wasnt the first one bad enough? There wasn't even anything funny that happens along the way. This seemed tedious and entirely pointless. Was there even a point?? Isn't this game supposed to be fun??? And use the wind? I mean, considering how the first puzzle worked, it would make sense to follow the SOUND of the wind on the paths. Not pull out your weather vane to see where it's blowing. Why not just put a picture of the weather vane? I know alot of people had trouble with this one.
ex 8: The marquis totem.
Okay, I thought this was pretty funny, until I realized you couldn't stuff the vane into his ###. So I pulled out the weather vane to see if I could see the face. There was one last face, and since it had not been used yet, it should have been that one by process of elimination, right? Unfortunately, Guybrush hardly holds the damned thing out for more than 2 seconds so I ended up pulling it out two more times to figure out which eyes, nose and mouth to use for the final god. It worked. I had NO idea that the actual solution was to use the Marquis' vocal ows, ees and moans of pleasure (???) to figure how it went. I DID like that they made you use a wheel of cheese on the imprint of the jail cell inscriptions, showing that someone broke it deliberately to decorate the windows. Using the theme of the island as a solution to a puzzle was at least some sort of brilliance.
ex 9. The tar puzzle.
Seriously? Okay, man the wheel. Have posessed hand smack it and then turn the ship wildly. Pretty funny. Use cannon to break barrel? Logical. Look at map to get into fight with hand in order to get stuck in the tar?? What?? Why dont I just stick my hand in the tar to begin with? This just doesn't make any sense.
Bad jokes/continuity problems:
Character continuity: Guybrush's extreme porcelain phobia.
At first mention, Guybrush didn't react whatsoever. He only does so when he picks up the doll, while he wouldn't even have touched in past games. Yeah, he vocalizes his discontent, yet he touches it anyways. Could have easily have been a plastic doll.
Character continuity: Elaine's love-hate for Guybrush.
Elaine was always a tomboy: she was a female pirate who was the governor of a tri island area for pirates. She fought off advances of typical pirate men (Fester Shinetop), and she never needed saving, as she has proven to Guybrush time and time again... except in the 3rd when she ended up turned to gold--but that was Guybrush's fault to begin with. The whole point to her character is that she never really needs saving, and that's all she did this time around, aside from being lovey-dovey.
Continuity: Guybrush's mention about the "mother in law visit": ELAINE'S MOTHER DOES NOT PLAY AN ACTIVE ROLE IN HER LIFE.
Aside from Herman Toothrot, she has not had any family play an active role in her life, and that was not necessarily canon, at least in many fans eyes.
Hispanic pirate with fruity accent that plays with dolls. Enough said.D'oro the explorer.
It didn't even rhyme. And seriously? D'oro the explorer? Seriously??
Bad joke: U-tube.
It should have been either really obvious, or not there at all. There seemed to be a vague reference to it, but there werent really any jokes relating the glass U to youtube. At least ones that were evident or funny IMO.
Bad joke: God of breaking wind.
Toilet humor? Really?General: Marquis de Singe.
The perfume kiosk merchant in EFMI was a pretty funny character. He was french, snooty and wore a powdered wig/white makeup. Basically, the Marquis is a rehash of this character, only much more effeminate, cheesy and demented. Not that I hated his character, but it seemed in poor taste to do something that's already been done. Unfortunately the guy providing the voice for him didn't seem to have a good grasp on a French accent. It was extremely inconsistent, which grated on my nerves.
Overdone jokes:
Forgettable Driftwood... I mean Seepgood. I mean Mancomb! Wait, what?
They way overdid this one. Geepwood, sheepwood, dogwood, manhood! It's just not funny after the 9000th time!
Wait... that's not what I chose! Why is he saying something else!
My god. It was hilarious in the first game. But that was only one set of lines, with one person, and it was because Guybrush was momentarily stupefied by the stunning beauty that is Elaine Marley.
Lack of memorable characters:
This is a big one! I can't even remember any of the minor characters names, aside from the Marquis de Singe, and that was only because Dominic Armato was the only one to mispronounce the name. Their quirks were not at all amusing either. A glassblower that... well, he was just a glassblower. Then there was the legless drunk that was... uh. Well he... had a magical spyglass... for some... reason?
This is a work in progress... Please don't complain in this thread. Disagreeing with some points is fine, but you saw the title and you knew what was coming.
edit: It seems people are mistaking my criticism with my extreme difficulties with the game. I played through the game fine. I didn't cry and sob over how I had to spend 10 seconds to realize that I had to use the vane to figure out the wind direction on the 2nd map puzzle or anything. I'm just making a point.
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Comments
ewww..
lol
Dora the Explorer is a popular American cartoon featuring a Hispanic little girl.
Er... yeah, and?
In fact, I think this make two map puzzles in Tales successfully made the swamp puzzle from Escape of Monkey Island somewhat more 'fun' in comparison.
Just stop playing now
Yeah, it was schticky, but it just wasn't schticky and/or obvious enough.
Also, to the troll above I wasn't struggling by any means. I'm pointing out problems with the game and puzzle design. Many puzzles aren't logical at all, especially by old adventure game standards. If you read through Ron Gilbert's recap of programming MI1, you'll notice he took care to make every puzzle make sense, be funny, be memorable and not be repetitive. MI1 will always be one of my favorite games because of this.
The glassblower's horn -
The monkey coffin -
The mints -
The chain & coals -
The socks -
The tar puzzle -
The map puzzle -
The 2nd map puzzle -
The Marquis totem -
The doll phobia -
Elaine's uselessness -
Elaine's mother -
D'Oro the Explorer -
U-Tube -
Marquis -
The name thing -
Not saying what you choose -
Memorable characters -
With the hot coals. I had tried to climb the anchor first to get on the ship. So after I had fallen off the plank and left that giant grease stain there and I needed something to light the bombs the first thing I thought about was climbing the anchor again and seeing if the coal that bounced on the dock would light the grease. It did.
As for your rant about the tar puzzle. Why, when the hand is trying to stop you from saying where you would like to go do you think it would let itself be put into the tar and make things easy for you? It made perfect sense to me to 'trick' the possessed hand into get stuck in the tar.
My only complaint is that maybe the puzzles were a little too easy.
---
EDIT -> Curse my slow typing two posts in the time it took me to write one
The glass blower DID say his unbreakable glass was made from the crystal reefs around Flotsam Island though.
I have to agree that some puzzles were not really obvious though, such as the Narwhal / fire thing or right at the end how you need to "trap" your hand.
Hey, we're talking about pirates here
I agree it wasn't that obvious or intuitive, but if you tried to stick your hand in the tar directly, obviously it would resist. It's the whole point of the scene, you know, Guybrush's hand getting conscious again and trying everything to prevent Guybrush from going back to LeChuck and Elaine.
I have to agree but hey, nothing to get angry over. Remember the puzzle about finding directions to Pegnose's home back in EfMI? That was a different story.
I did it your way, too and needed Guybrush to hold it out more than once, but what's wrong with that? Jeez, you really seem hell bent on trying to find something bad about this game.
Okay, what's the point of this thread then? The whole point of a discussion forum is to discuss different opinions and if you're allowed to state yours, we are also allowed to disagree with you, are we not?
I'd also like to point out that I'm merely pointing out some unintuitive things. I didn't necessarily stop or have problems with all of the mentioned puzzles. I'm just noting that you would never have seen these problems in previous games.
I am a DIE HARD fan, and I'm really sorry to see the series go down this way though it is a marked improvement over MI4.
While a lot of the puzzles are not so illogical to be difficult to solve solvable they're still unsatisfying. The root beer, membership card, grease fire and hand in tar puzzles are all solved solely by clicking on everything you see. It's an adventure game staple that you click on everything, but it's kind of lame when doing so is solving puzzles left and right.
I pointedly said that it's fine to disagree on points, but it's completely antiproductive to say something like "this thread is stupid! ur dumb!" etc.
Also, I'm not LOOKING for things wrong with the game. They're just there. I can't blindly look at this game as a masterpiece because I'm a fanboy. I'm simply looking at it as a person who has played all 4 of its predecessors and judging it based on the bars raised by 1-3, and subsequently dropped to the bottom by 4.
Looking back over the thread, I would have been a massively successful troll if I had wrote this with the intention of sparking discontent amongst you guys. I'm honestly surprised there aren't people that disliked it more than I did.
It's the interfering hand that he's trying to cover in tar, of course it wouldn't just let him
You're right. It still doesn't seem like it would be that difficult.
I congratulate you on your ability to find stuff about all games.
And the puzzles should be fun, not facepalm worthy.
Adventure games are, and always have been, an exercise in lateral thinking.
That said, I progressed through the game relatively quickly and with general ease and I enjoyed myself greatly. I find it very hard to identify with any of the points you made, except perhaps for finding the Root Beer inside the Monkey Coffin. That did seem a little unintuitive.
I thought it was pretty hilarious in Curse where you can choose from a wide variety of dialogue expressing your disdain and mistrust of the Skull Island Smugglers, yet when you select your response, Guybrush announces: "I trust you completely!"
Yeah, that worked really well... I don't know, the sarcasm and wit seemed alot sharper in CoMI than it is this time around. I just find myself groaning more than laughing.
Actually, I did the puzzle in the opposite manner. I went to the wheel, turned the ship, went down and fired the cannon and then looked at the map last. It probably would have made more sense if they only allowed to to work it the other way around (force you to attempt to point at the map first, something I never did).
To be honest, I have to agree with you here. The humor didn't seem as clever or witty as the previous games (excluding EFMI which I thought was quite groan-worthy a lot of the time). Hopefully it will pick up as the series progresses. Sam & Max was a bit like that for me, the first few games were a bit lame, but it got better in later episodes.
Yeah, that's what I'm really hoping. I know it takes some time for some series to get into full swing. Not all the jokes were a swing and a miss, which is why I'm still looking forward to the rest.
You've never been infected with the Pax of LeChuck, have you?
Seriously though, even the Voodoo Lady tells Guybrush how bad this curse is that only
but hey now... just you wait n see what they pull out their... heads..
minds blown.. minds.....blown...
Most of them were really cool and creative. I really would like to see more of these puzzles.
Yeah. That's why I played all the way through MI 1-4, Kings Quest 5-7, Laura Bow, Day of the Tentacle, Willy Beamish, Indiana Jones: FOA, Sam and Max hit the road, Grim Fandango, the Longest Journey, Dreamfall, and shelled out 34 bucks for ToMI. God, I hate adventure games so much.
Nobody made you read it.
But not King's Quest 1-4? Sounds to me like you hate typing!
Sorry.
I know you're just messing
Now what's your excuse?
I really don't get it, I suppose if I was a member of the TTG staff, I'd just ignore that thread, you're not trying to give your little contribution, you just want to change everything and criticizing pretty badly all the things, just like the game was a total mess.
This is a very very good game, with just a few small things to maybe enhance or modify a bit, but just a BIT.
And D'Oro the explorator is a very bad joke, and that what makes it so funny. Just like "do you like fish sticks ? So you're a gay fish".
Not sure if replying to sarcasm with sarcasm has the same effect.
Crushing response. Bravo!
Something not entirely logical was is in another object? Seriously?
And you weren't suppose to know that hot coals were going to be thrown on you, it was a consequence of trying the do something with the chain. What I find amazing is that you hadn't even tried clciking on the chain.