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For me personally, the biggest bummer about the militant wing of the online fandom is the grumpiness they would occasionally make me feel toward Ron himself. For something like twenty years now, every time Ron would allude to his hypothetical return to Monkey Island, it would ignite all over again this collective expression of desperation and entitlement from the usual corners. The supportive reactions could be alarming. And it grew tiresome to see it happen over and over again, since it was such a dependable cause-and-effect. Ron says "Monkey Island"; the volunteer troops assemble. And so whenever Ron would make an innuendo, or hint at how he'd continue his story if given the chance, or express his interest in buying the IP from Disney, I'd say to myself, "Would you please stop kicking the beehive?" Because whatever Ron's intentions were, people would get riled up anew at everything he said. But in retrospect it was unfair to hold Ron even indirectly responsible for the behavior of his most irrational devotees. In a way, I was probably being too optimistic, because I was in effect trusting that the mob needed any help from its messiah to whip itself up into a frenzy. That he's had to resort to locking down his blog goes to show that the mosh pit will swap from carrying you to trampling you on a dime. While I don't want to overdramatize it, I do think what happened to Chuck Jordan's relationship with the series is instructive. He's talked more than once about how Monkey Island was the reason he switched majors in college and pursued a career in the games industry. A total fanboy, who winds up landing a job at LucasArts and somehow working on the third game in the series. Straight-up Cinderella story stuff. But in the years after that, it seems the bloom came off the rose for him, and, reading between the lines, I infer that his constant exposure to the "But you know that wasn't a real Monkey Island game" drumbeat played a non-zero role in that. And the irony is, it's probably the very same people that have made Ron lower the portcullis now. That uncompromising mentality victimizes everybody in the end, because it's really just a kind of fanaticism laundered as something else. It could style itself as "pro-Ron" only because until now Ron's Monkey Island comeback had the convenience of being an abstraction. Now that it's going to be an actual thing and thus revealed to be, you know, a mere video game, the church is going to have to subtly shift its dogma. First the holy grail was whatever game Ron wanted to make, and when that one turns out not to cure leprosy after all, the object is going to be recast as the one he would have made. The fantasy never has to end so long as you keep reengineering the game such that you can never actually make the touchdown.

I only just became aware of this, but apparently the Amiga version didn't include the "I hope LeChuck hasn't put a SPELL on him or anything" line at the end. Those of us who played the Amiga version had even less of a clue what the ending meant... no wonder we were traumatised 😆 I know there's some other minor artwork differences, but it makes me wonder when that line was added... or if it's just a bug? (Also wasn't aware until now that Tami Borowick led the Amiga conversion... I wonder what her memories of that project was, given that it was the version we played for so many Europeans.) Video below will jump straight to the scene in question...

Interesting piece... not sure how much of it I agree with. I agree with the bit about Monkey Island's puzzle design being pleasingly varied from regular inventory puzzles, though, and many adventure games being too reliant on 'use x with y' at the exclusion of everything else you can do (and I don't just mean verbs - I don't think having lots of verbs makes an adventure game better in any meaningful way, I mean stuff like the seagull, the grog puzzle, the maze directions, the ship bartering, following the shopkeeper and so forth). But that said, I still feel like the basic gameplay loop of adventure games of exploring, talking to people and collecting items and trying to think of how to use them to proceed basically works for me, and I don't overly feel like that basic idea has had its day and needs to go away. I just think that it needs to be backed up with really solid characters, writing and story to keep it interesting. As for Ron's piece I mentioned, yeah - I like it, and I think it holds up remarkably well. But it's nothing if not blunt.

In my limited experience it seems to me that people have lost the ability to debate over the years. Both online and in real life. It often seems now that if you disagree with someone it's often automatically taken as a judgement against their character, and so people dig their heels in -- defending their character, rather than their argument. (Worth bearing in mind that we ALL have bad days where we can do that, no point in pretending we don't.) It seems we forget that you can be a good person, and worthy of respect, but with a bad argument. There's no allowances to be "wrong" anymore. And because there's this feeling that disagreeing with someone is an attack on their character, it can sometimes be seen as bullying (although when it's online, it sometimes is: tens, hundreds, even thousands vs one individual). Which brings me to another problem I feel I see: Tribalism. "If you don't agree with me, then you must be the enemy." It seems all grey areas are ignored, and everything is partisan. (Especially in the USA: "The longer a debate happens between two Americans, the closer it gets to becoming a partisan issue.") So if you criticise Biden's wife, you must be a pro-Trump misogynist, for example. And more than that, the "other side" aren't just wrong anymore; they are Satan worshippers. Pure evil personified. They must be stopped! It's only a shame we can't shoot them all into space! There's an old Voltaire quote that I like: "Man is never so cruel as when he sure he is right." And there's so many echo chambers making sure everyone is convinced they're right these days. (I personally try to avoid this: I'm extremely liberal, with very liberal friends, working at a very liberal company, living in a very liberal city -- I already know what my side thinks! So I read bipartisan news and try to find centre-right leaning editorials to hear different viewpoints. But my social media experience still reflects my take on the world...) Debates are important for exploring and testing ideas, so it's sad that this skill seems to be dying off. (I engage in debates with people I don't agree with in order to understand their logic and to test mine against theirs -- sometimes I won't learn anything, but often I will hear a new argument and reconsider my position. I often like it when I'm proven wrong because it means I've learned something.) The ability to debate used to be considered one of the most important pillars of knowledge and learning: Critical thinking is one of the greatest gifts humans have and it was believed important to cultivate it. But I think these days everyone is exhausted by the seemingly never-ending cultural debate. There's often no respite from it in media, so we don't want debate in our personal life, too. I can't wait for this weird period in history to end.

Apparently for quite a while Tales Episode 4 was the longest game name on Steam and was used for testing. Eventually other games with longer names have displaced it.

I'm taking this, posted without context and apropos of nothing, as a sign that Kelly has some secret info on an upcoming Loom sequel: Could Devolver Digital have worked out a RTMI style deal with Lucasfilm Games and Brian Moriarty?!

I'm trying to think back, because I did first play it on Amiga. It's funny, that line has always stuck out as a bit odd to me, and I think the reason why is because I never had it in the version I played.

It seems unfair for a certain sect of fans to expect him to walk a higher road than the rest of us Ron is just a human being, with all the normal contradictions and inconsistencies. It seems people want to hold him to everything he's every said. I'm sure when he wrote that "If I Made MI3" post, he sincerely meant every word.

Yes, I don't doubt that things that Ron has said over the years come from a mixture of the extreme bluntness he's ALWAYS exhibited (we're talking about the person who preceded Monkey Island with an essay called Why Adventure Games Suck), and a genuine desire to talk about the most beloved thing he ever created. If he can be accused of one thing (and I have sometimes been exasperated by his posts, I admit), it's of being a little slow to understand just how much a particular corner of the internet hangs off his words, and as such a little unrestrained in saying things which were just inevitably going to stoke flames. And I kind of get that. We've all been there to SOME extent, I think, deciding to say something on the Internet and then later wondering if we should have just left it alone. If Ron's worst crime is to do that repeatedly, it's not all that bad. Even if whenever I saw Ron and Monkey Island in the same headline my heart would sink, I wonder if I wouldn't also, in the same situation, be unable to bite my tongue. What's important is his behaviour now, and to me there's nothing but good news there. His approach to this announcement has been very collaborative. It was an excellent decision to announce Dave, Dom and the 3 composers straight away and follow up with a string of other team announcements. It was an excellent decision to nod to CMI in the announcement video. It was an excellent decision not to position this as a fan-pleasing throwback, but another game in the series. It's just a shame that, probably in part because of the way he's talked about the idea of a sequel in the past, a small number of fans are choosing to see this as a betrayal before it's even out the door.

I do think it's fair to say however that Ron likely didn't say these things to specifically galvanize a distase for any Monkey Island that wasn't his work. That was the assumption the not-my-Mokey-Island-ers have taken out the ether and made a mantra on their own accord. It didn't help that a few very popular youtubers in the genre took the stance as well against everything past 2. A well written post or cleverly presented video monologue can have the effect of influencing a large group of people to have the same opinion as you, especially if you have a strong following. Basically I place at least a strong part of the blame for this on (almost) anyone who spouted for the last few or more years that anything after 2 isn't Canon, a voice and sentiment I have only heard getting echoed more often than ever ever since a certain extremely popular adventure genre youtuber made a vid ripping apart COMI as a monkey island game specifically... I mean I get it, i always wanted to hear Rons story, whether or not LeChuck really is Charles L Threepwood or whatever and to know where he was going to take it from there, and I know the feeling is mirrored by many of us here. I think the difference between that and what these others are doing though is for the last few years they have been crapping all over everything other then their holy 2, the hard work that others picked up to continue stories we love. These devs are people that have become friends of our community and even people who come from the community who worked hard to earn the right to help make monkey island for us all. I hope one day to achieve that myself somehow but I know if I do I now will have to deal with this distaste by default from a small but very loud few even though they likely never took the time to give it a chance or came into it with preconceived notions and a crummy attitude. I know in that case, i would have to let places like this be where I check the response to what I'm doing. I hope im not assuming too much saying this myself as im not esactly team or anything but its fair to say mojo was built on love of these games, out of the want to talk about them and to share excitement with every new piece of new/media/etc. Pretty much the whole of my early web experience *was* the scumm bar and the Monkey Island webring, this has always been where I find myself gravitating too and I can't remember the last time I was at a computer and there wasn't at least one Mojo tab open. These are the opinions about the games that I share and why Mojo has been a constant for me for so long (even in the worst times) That being said, I really don't recognize most the names of the loudest detractors claiming to speak for all old true fans... not saying mojo Is the litmus test for our fandom but I honestly don't know how you can be a diehard fan, have access to Google but never come across this place... that's bonkers. I mean I'll allow for lurkers don't get me wrong but these are not quiet people who would just hang back clearly

Yeah, that's fair enough - I actually haven't played either of those on PC myself which is why I generalised in my post, but I understand Double Fine did a really comprehensive technical upgrade on their Special Editions so I shouldn't have lumped them in with the two that LucasArts did. There's also frankly an air of legitimacy with those re-releases that simply comes from Tim Schafer himself.

It was always a mini CD, just packaged as a tiny record. Here's the original:

ReMI is the preferred usage in the Mojo Style GuideTM. I'm just following orders.

I’m expecting ReMI to not only fail to concretely clarify anything about the deeper lore of MI1&2, but actually make it even more ambiguous, driving fans mad for another 30 years. 😀 The mystery and feeling of there being something else there that you can’t quite grasp is such a fundamental part of the original two games’ atmosphere that I think a spiritual sequel to them would be robbing both those and itself if it gave everything up and tried to play the explain game. I will thoroughly enjoy a ReMI that continues to play with those themes in a non-commital manner, rather than trying to make literal sense of them like Curse. Creating ambiguity around what has and hasn’t happened canonically in the series will only enhance this wonderful effect.

Okay, that’s kindof a relief then. I don’t really want 3-5 to be undone after all the great things that came from them. If it were up to me, I’d set the first third/half of the game directly after MI2, explaining how Guybrush escaped the carnival/became an adult again, etc. Then have a “20 years later” or whatever time jump, where Curse-Tales could theoretically have happened in that timeframe, but we don’t go too into the details of those games and it’s ultimately up to the player to decide if they’re still canon or not. I guess a big question mark in terms of the plot would be “are Guybrush and LeChuck actually brothers?” Which I always assumed they are since the LeChuck voodoo doll works with the skull of Guybrush’s parents, but it’s a pretty huge thing for the rest of the games to completely ignore! So I’d imagine we’ll finally get an answer on that now! Also I don’t know if/how Ron would U-turn on Guybrush/Elaine being married since that apparently wasn’t his original plan. If we do have a time jump to post-Tales, I personally think he’ll keep them together and maybe introduce some complications, but that’s all speculation! And finally, Ron did hint at one point that the Voodoo Lady being evil was an idea that he had that Tales ended up hinting towards. I feel that after Tales, that should be explored more here. (Also would love to know if they got Leilani Jones Wilmore back too! Looking over her filmography, she’s mostly been providing audio description tracks for movies lately, the latest being 2019. Hopefully she can be convinced to return!)

I think in interviews they’ve since clarified this to include all the games. From the Adventure Gamers interview: Like Murray, can we expect to see nods to Escape from Monkey Island and Tales of Monkey Island in this game? Ron: We very purposefully don’t do anything to invalidate any of the canon that’s happened in those games. We’re not saying any of those things didn’t happen, we don’t talk down to them at all. We embrace a lot of the things we liked in those games. So we were very, very careful about that. I remember some of those conversations Dave and I had, there was this kind of tendency to just throw everything out, let’s just start over. But the thing we finally came around to is, these are very beloved games. We didn’t make them, but there are still a lot of good things in those games, and we wanted to embrace those, not whisk them away. Dave: We talked all about canon and these other games, and the fact that we liked them, and the audience liked them, and so we made it our point of philosophy to adhere to canon wherever possible, but with two caveats. One of which is, it’s actually kind of hard to keep track of everything that’s canon, and some of these other games don’t even agree with each other. So a little bit of paradox is necessary and probably healthy for us as creators and as human beings. And the other caveat is that too much canon can get in the way of the story you’re trying to tell, so we decided that we would adhere to canon unless it was going to get in the way, and we would ignore some minor details if we needed to. Ron: Which I think the other games did as well. You have to be a little flexible in that stuff. You keep it where it’s convenient, and you ignore it where it’s convenient. Ron: Yeah, you don’t want to create paradoxes, you don’t want to do things that are so bad that people are like, “What the heck?” But I think the little things, you just have to let the story be what the story is. Dave: Canon’s kind of a modern idea, isn’t it? If you think about the old myths and things, nothing ever made sense from one story to the next in those. I blame comic books for our slavish adherence to canon.

Oh goodness, I hope not. I was unimaginably disappointed when I heard it again in EMI, hearing what they've done with the theme is one of the highlights of a new Monkey Island to me. The fresher the sound the better, as long as it maintains some of the spirit of the original.

Changing the subject, slightly... Something I always used to think was really cool was how the theme to MI2 was really done in a different style to the first game. The sound of the original theme was really 'classic' of course, and it feels like since MI2 all the versions of the theme have really followed that template, albeit with some tweaks to the arrangement, but it always disappointed me that we never really heard a version of the theme that really had a very different feel to it. It was even more disappointing that EMI's theme was basically just CMI's and that (mainly because of technical constraints), the Tales version ended up sounding so limp compared with the previous versions. So my question is, are you hoping for a theme in a new style? A couple of weeks ago I made a version imagining how I might do a MI theme in a different feel to 1 and 2, and came up with this. Yeah, I know, shameless self promotion but this question has genuinely been on my mind so much that I made a Monkey Island Theme Remix for the first time in 30 years.

What the hell is wrong with people?! I've waited 30 years for Ron to make another Monkey Island game, now he's actually doing it and people are anything other than HAPPY? Gah! I'm sure you won't see this Ron, but from my point of view I just want you to make the game YOU want to make.