The Monkey Island Conundrum

[Gonzosports]

Howdy.

I have never played a single Monkey Island game. I've heard they're great, from peeps on this forum, and friends, and I have a question...

We don't know the release of The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (tentatively scheduled Summer), but we do know that Tales of Monkey Island comes out on July 7.

My question is this - should I wait to play Tales before I play Secret? For narrative/character sake, is it best I'm introduced to these characters in the first game? Of course, I'd prefer to start playing Tales right away - but considering the fan love this series gets, I would like to do it right...

...so should I wait?

[misslilo]

Hmm, tough question.
But personally I would wait, since you never played any of them :)

I don't think the wait will be that long anyway :D

[tastebud]

yeah i would wait. lucky for me i played monkey island in 1992 i believe it was, so im all set for tales :P

i dont think youll have any trouble following tales if u started playing it right away, but i think it'd be nice start with 1

[Keregioz]

I highly recommend waiting to play at least SOMI first if not all the previous games in the right order (especially MI2).
It is supposed to be released this summer so you shouldn't have to wait too long.

[Gazzoid]

Yep. If i were you, i'd wait for SOMI - SE. Or even play them all first before Tales...

[RockNFknRoll]

i don't think the experience will ever be as magical as it was during the time it was released, so honestly i don't think it would matter too much what order you play them in. though there will be tons of references and backstory and repeat characters and such that you won't understand if you don't start from the beginning.

[Foozwah]

I'd play them in the right order, and rather than waiting, I'd just start with SoMI in its original/classic incarnation, right now.

[GoT]

Yeah you've got plenty of time to at least get through SOMI before the new ones come out next month.

[DaveGrossman]

I'm going to go out on a limb and disagree with most of the people who've posted so far, and recommend that you dive right into Tales as it releases, whether or not you've finished Secret (or any of the other LucasArts titles). Playing the "first run" of Tales as it comes out, speculating along with everybody else about what's going to happen next month, is a part of the serialized story experience that I'd hate for you to miss. (I might compare it to watching new episodes of "Heroes" as they air, instead of next year when everyone else is finished talking about them. The conversation is part of the fun.) The new series has been deliberately designed to be a good starting place for an audience previously unexposed to Monkey Island, so that everyone would be able to enjoy it this way.

I was one of the principal writers and designers of both The Secret of Monkey Island and LeChuck's Revenge, and am now intimately involved with Tales of Monkey Island as Telltale's design director, so I speak with something like a mother's love for all of these games. You should definitely play them all. I just don't think you should necessarily start at the beginning.

(By the way, in 1993, people asked me whether they should play Maniac Mansion before starting Day of the Tentacle. I also said no then.)

[Keregioz]

Or.....you could play the old version of SOMI right now while you wait for TOMI.

[Gabe]

Dont wait for anything Gonzo play the trilogy on ScummVM
aqap,every moment without knowing these games your loss only.