›

Who else loves the game but hates the map puzzles

doodo!doodo!
edited February 2011 in Tales of Monkey Island
I love this game but I get burned out on all the map puzzles. Gets better every time I play it even though I stop when I get to those map puzzles at the beginning...:p

Comments

  • HaydenHayden
    edited January 2011
    Map puzzles are just a part of each Monkey Island game that I accept and tolerate. No, I don't like them, but I don't dislike or hate them. They're like the bits of lettuce in an otherwise delicious meal; they're bland, they're boring, they're far from exciting, but I'll just get through them and appreciate the good parts.
  • Jon NAJon NA
    edited January 2011
    Don't you have an option for "I find them challenging and at the same time I hate them"?
    I'd vote for that one.
  • IrishmileIrishmile
    edited January 2011
    I have never really enjoyed map puzzles...
  • VeronicanPlayVeronicanPlay
    edited January 2011
    There is what about 3 of them? And they take about 5 minutes to get through. So it's just a matter of getting past it really, so it's done. :)
  • HaydenHayden
    edited January 2011
    VeronicanPlay wrote: »
    There is what about 3 of them?

    There are many more over the course of all 5 games. There is one in almost every game. 'Escape...' had the Mystes O'Tyme Marsh map puzzle, 'Secret...' had the map puzzle in the Melee forest, 'Revenge...' had the Dinky Island jungle puzzle and the bones puzzle (which sort of counts as a map puzzle), and 'Tales...' had... yeah, 3, I think.

    So, all in all, there have been quite few.

    By the way, map puzzles always seem worse in hindsight; they're not really all that bad when you're actually doing them.
  • StarEyeStarEye
    edited January 2011
    I wouldn't count the Dinky Island jungle puzzle a "map puzzle", but I would with the bones puzzle. It worked in Secret because it was new. I also thought it worked in Revenge, because it hadn't become stale yet. Curse didn't have any, did it? Escape had the mysts of time, which was kinda brilliant, but because of the interface it was slow and relatively clunky. But in Escape there was a puzzle within the map puzzle as well (with the time paradox thingy).

    Tales had way too many, but it also had one of the best map puzzles (that I doubt would have worked in the early Monkey Island games due to technology) in episode 4. The rest of the map puzzles in that game were really just time consuming and no fun.

    The best map puzzles are the ones that takes time to figure out, but are reasonably fast to execute. Secret and Revenge was like that. The smooth interface helped it making it less annoying as well. ToMI had unnecessary extra steps to basically do everything but move around. Escape just had a clunky inteface overall.

    Preferrably, there should be no more than one map puzzle per game, unless the varation is big enough to warrant an extra. ToMI didn't really.
  • EduardoEduardo
    edited January 2011
    StarEye wrote: »
    I wouldn't count the Dinky Island jungle puzzle a "map puzzle", but I would with the bones puzzle. It worked in Secret because it was new. I also thought it worked in Revenge, because it hadn't become stale yet. Curse didn't have any, did it? Escape had the mysts of time, which was kinda brilliant, but because of the interface it was slow and relatively clunky. But in Escape there was a puzzle within the map puzzle as well (with the time paradox thingy).

    Tales had way too many, but it also had one of the best map puzzles (that I doubt would have worked in the early Monkey Island games due to technology) in episode 4. The rest of the map puzzles in that game were really just time consuming and no fun.

    The best map puzzles are the ones that takes time to figure out, but are reasonably fast to execute. Secret and Revenge was like that. The smooth interface helped it making it less annoying as well. ToMI had unnecessary extra steps to basically do everything but move around. Escape just had a clunky inteface overall.

    Preferrably, there should be no more than one map puzzle per game, unless the varation is big enough to warrant an extra. ToMI didn't really.

    Curse had the X marks the spot puzzle, which was kind of a map puzzle.
  • HaydenHayden
    edited January 2011
    Eduardo wrote: »
    Curse had the X marks the spot puzzle, which was kind of a map puzzle.

    That's quite true, actually. I'd almost completely forgotten about that puzzle. I actually quite liked that one because "it takes time to figure out, but is reasonably fast to execute" :).

    StarEye, yes, I thought the map puzzle in the Marsh was quite good as well. It was the acquiring of the 'map' that I couldn't stand.
  • VeronicanPlayVeronicanPlay
    edited January 2011
    Hayden wrote: »
    There are many more over the course of all 5 games. There is one in almost every game. 'Escape...' had the Mystes O'Tyme Marsh map puzzle, 'Secret...' had the map puzzle in the Melee forest, 'Revenge...' had the Dinky Island jungle puzzle and the bones puzzle (which sort of counts as a map puzzle), and 'Tales...' had... yeah, 3, I think.

    So, all in all, there have been quite few.

    By the way, map puzzles always seem worse in hindsight; they're not really all that bad when you're actually doing them.

    OHHHHhhhhh. We are talking all Monkey Island games. Here I thought we where only talking about tales. :p
    Guess my statement is a bit off then eh. :D
  • KrohnKrohn
    edited January 2011
    I voted for hate them..but I actually only mean the one in the first episode of tales.
    Not because it would have been difficult to do..but just because it was annoying.
  • jeeno0142jeeno0142
    edited January 2011
    I neither love nor hate them. They're not the best puzzles sure, but they're not bad either.
  • doodo!doodo!
    edited January 2011
    Krohn wrote: »
    I voted for hate them..but I actually only mean the one in the first episode of tales.
    Not because it would have been difficult to do..but just because it was annoying.

    I agree they annoy the piss out of me...I already figured them out the first time I played Tales. They just aren't that fun. I like puzzles, just not map puzzles usually...
  • floweroftheforestfloweroftheforest
    edited January 2011
    map puzzles are boring leftovers from text adventures and should be banished forever.
  • IrishmileIrishmile
    edited January 2011
    Winslow's first reaction when hearing about the Map hate here on the boards.

    96759495.jpg
  • Gman5852Gman5852
    edited January 2011
    Hayden wrote: »
    That's quite true, actually. I'd almost completely forgotten about that puzzle. I actually quite liked that one because "it takes time to figure out, but is reasonably fast to execute" :).

    Uhhh refresh me on that puzzle, I dont remember it.
  • floweroftheforestfloweroftheforest
    edited January 2011
    Irishmile wrote: »
    Winslow's first reaction when hearing about the Map hate here on the boards.

    96759495.jpg[/QUO
    Eh! TU!
    dipstick!
    :rolleyes::D
  • HaydenHayden
    edited January 2011
    Gman5852 wrote: »
    Uhhh refresh me on that puzzle, I dont remember it.

    You're in the theater, upstairs controlling the lights. And you have to use the directions taken from the Sea Cucumber to find out what order to press the buttons in. Once you've pressed the buttons in the correct order, the lights will focus in on the area of the stage where Elaine is buried.
  • doodo!doodo!
    edited January 2011
    Winslow, I'm sorry. Let me speak to Winslow

    Dear Winslow, I like maps, I just don't like it when they puzzle me, then the attention is off the craft and beauty of the map, and the focus is shifted inwards towards my own personal inner demons and struggles...
  • HaydenHayden
    edited January 2011
    You know why map puzzles are so difficult and tedious? It's because we don't have someone there to point out the solution.
  • StarEyeStarEye
    edited January 2011
    *sigh* I guess, we all need a Winslow in our lives sometimes.
  • doodo!doodo!
    edited February 2011
    I would have replayed this on several occasions by now. but those map puzzles...
Sign in to comment in this discussion.