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It's perhaps also the MI game that's most self-consciously a sequel since MI2, but I guess we'll know for sure when we play it. CMI was more like a 'reset', obviously at the beginning and end it addressed a lot of MI2 stuff, but the main action was pretty self contained from that story. EMI comes closer I think, In a way it sort of seems like the approach we'll get here - it almost follows on from where one game leaves off and then uses Melee Island as a kind of base camp for the rest of the story. But it's a very different version of Melee Island and so it feels a bit harder to connect the dots back to MI1, and after that the story introduces so many new elements of course. Tales obviously self-consciously wanted to break direct continuity and imagined some other adventures happening between EMI and it, providing a buffer for another sort of 'reset' With Return, we'll see how it lands. Maybe the titles have something to say about their place in the series (this is a little tongue-in-cheek, but fun to think about): Secret was about being let in to a fun but slightly mysterious world. 2: LeChuck's Revenge: was the first and only numbered sequel and already hints at a darker follow up. Curse was about... the simultaneous blessing and curse of inheriting what MI2 left us with. Escape was about escaping from tradition and embracing a maximalist, wild interpetation of what MI could be. Tales was mainly just about telling a cool story in the universe, where there are many stories to tell. Return is about getting back to the story Ron started telling, and finding a new way to tell it.

I hope that the sizable number of spoken lines (we're talking three quarters of Mass Effect 2 here 😃 ) means we'll get a sizable number of locations to explore. It would be a bit of a disappointment if Mêlée Island is limited to docks, lookout point and governor's mansion, especially since there wouldn't be an overview map (SACRILEGE). I want all the overview maps. Mêlée, Monkey, Brr Muda, Terror Island + Dread's map. In fact, I'd love to control the ship a bit more directly on the overview map! I'm kind of interested in returning to Stan's old shop. According to Stan on the website, these ships all sunk to the ground, so that would be an absolutely terrific location for somebody with ten minute air reserve lungs to explore. I'm pretty convinced that Dave and Ron wouldn't just redo two entirely known islands and then add two more with just one or two locations on top. They know that this won't do the trick. There has to be a balance between the nostalgia and new, shocking and exciting – and they've struck the right chords for that with the graphic style already.

Guybrush should be on this list, as Murray's henchman.

The more the Cursed soundtrack comes out in these threads (thanks by the way, I appeciate it), the more I feel the urge to "remaster" it and give it a new coat of polish 🙂

Not so sure of that. I always had the impression that he just wanted to make his “real” third entry and that’s it…

I don't necessarily agree that every piece of media should have a clean conclusion with no loose ends. I do think though, that if the intention is for a larger series with foreshadows, it needs to be appropriately mapped out, so there is some real pay off for those foreshadows. There is nothing quite as satisfying than when a story comes together. It adds further value to previous installments and makes it extremely satisfying to go back and see all the hidden references that now make perfect sense. Many writers will make the claim that they had the story mapped out. When watching or reading it though, it's usually incredibly obvious when a story was mapped out vs when it's not. I agree that too many forms of media are too preoccupied with jumpstarting a franchise, that they don't focus on making nice, self-contained entries that hint towards something more. When done right though, both can be achieved, and can be immensely gratifying to follow, so long as real thought and planning is given to the bigger picture and not skimping on the details and care for each, individual entry. That being said, I am hoping for some sense of closure with Return to Monkey Island. I'm fine with some loose threads, but would love for the larger narrative and saga to have some form of a conclusion, as the website is implying.

Mr. Fossey should be on the list! His loyalty to LeChimp is noble, and it's impressive what he is able to achieve with his crew of monkeys.

Go in blind, mojole’s unkind Read the thread, knock ‘em dead 👕 I beat #Mojole #134 and all I got was this stupid t-shirt. 1/6 💚💚💚💚💚 https://funzone.mixnmojo.com/Mojole/

I think the cabinet was also a cereal box prize. The key is just another part of a matching set.

I thought we agreed Chris Pratt is the definitive voice of Guybrush?

This was particularly common in the early 2010's, during the whole "young adult novel turned movie" phase. Lots of movies at the time were so confident and dedicated to the idea that they were going to be "the next big thing!" that they forgot to focus on just making it good. So many movies that I can't for the life of me remember the titles of now fell into the trap of starting a bunch of plot threads in the first movie, resolving none of them, ending on a cliffhanger, and never making a sequel. Which now in the grand scheme of things, ten years later, made that viewing experience ultimately worthless. Only a very small number of those franchises ultimately made it through to the end of the series as I recall (Divergent never even made the final movie due to diminishing returns and poor fan reaction.) My point is (and I know I've made this point before) I'd rather MI ended neatly (or as neatly as we could expect from Ron at least) on a strong note with as much of the legacy talent still with us as possible, than have it continue for years and diminishing in quality overtime, losing more and more of the talent over the years, eventually having to recast Guybrush with Harry Styles, or the like. I'd actually rather have a complete reboot than watch MI slowly lose, piece by piece, what makes it so special.

👕 I beat #Mojole #134 and all I got was this stupid t-shirt. 6/6 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 💚🖤🖤🖤🖤 💚💚💚💚💚 https://funzone.mixnmojo.com/Mojole/

I've always thought the moments of sudden silence were the biggest loss between the floppy and CD versions. They added a subtle menace to the island that I think was a large part of why the game made such an immediate impression on me as a kid. It felt fun, no doubt, but also dangerous.

I kinda hope Melee Island is limited to the town/docks and the rest of the game is more heavily focused on Brr Muda/Terror Island and any other locations we may not know about. All I hope for is we get something new added to the world that is just as extensive and worthy of exploration as the places we're already familiar with. I hope for example that Brr Muda isn't limited to the courthouse and the building opposite that we saw last week.

Guybrush has comments for Turning On and Off the grog machine.

Yes, the sound of the waves on the dock was actually quite irritating because it was just a CD track. Every time you entered the scene you heard the same ambient noise in the same way. It felt very artificial. Honestly the older I get the more I just like to return to the original work, rather than try to make it into something it was never meant to be. It's OK to have rough edges. It's not a mistake, it's flavour! (There are exceptions to this rule.)

As I recall there's added ambient noise--crickets, birds, waves lapping, etc--in the spots without music. Which are fine in their own right, but I've always felt the effect of suddenly emerging into total silence was more interesting.

Every franchise should treat every instalment, episode, movie, or game title in the series like it is the final one and wrap up everything neatly and tidily. I say that because storytelling nowadays seems to consist of nothing but unresolved foreshadowing, plot twists that never make sense, character arcs that are never completed until the actor leaves and they kill him off, sudden stupid cliffhangers, red threads lost and found, a gazillion between and after credits teasers, stories that tend to end in the middle and have never even begun. Lots of friction always ending in the status quo. Story hooks and story hooks but never resolution, never closure because they're not letting you off that hook. It doesn't really matter whether Return to Monkey Island is "planned" as the last part. If it sells badly, it will be the last part, and if it sells well, it won't be. Even if Dave and Ron kill off Guybrush and Elaine in the last scene (I mean a good, visible, undeniable "Beyond Time and Space" character death), and ReMI sells well, in two years somebody will have them both pulling a Ripley, a Westley, a Shepard, or a Spock. Thesis: You can not "conclude" a truly successful serialized narrative. No, you're quite right. I would alway favor the exciting new narrative from the same creator. Sadly, it's not how the market works. The license drives the sales. Make a new franchise, no one gives a ship. The positive outlook is of course: (1) More Monkey Island from Dave and Ron? Where do I have to sign with my own blood? (2) One of the core reasons we're so excited is that it's A NEW MONKEY ISLAND BY RON AND DAVE. If Ron ever had the license for Monkey Island, he would have made a new one every few years. This is new, this is fresh, this is exciting because the series was dead for 13 years and returns to Ron after 31 years. (3) I've long held that belief, i.e. that a truly satisfying instalment in a generations old franchise is indeed impossible. Then I watched Blade Runner 2049. Maybe it's the one in a thousand sequel, but even if it is, other sequels should get the same chance.

Thanks! About MI2 I can't do a full recreation of the three hours or so, and beside I think the SE did a good enough job. ... but maybe some tracks here and there, published sparingly... I'll think about it

You make some interesting points, but you're forgetting that a new Monkey Island game doesn't necessarily need to be made by Ron & co. Also "internet drama" is kind of a stupid reason not to make a game or any form of art. I do agree that after this one, I would like to see Ron focusing on an original game idea (probably that RPG he was trying to make before Return). I think we kind of had this situation before with Escape. It had a pretty definitive ending for 9 years, even though it was kind of a stupid one (maybe that's why some people hated it, in retrospect). Thinking about it now, Guybrush being thrown off the cliff at the end could have meant that there weren't any more cliffhangers and that it was meant to be the final chapter of the series.

Yeah it’s weird. Melee Island in general had this very creepy quietness to it when I played it as a child, with no ambient sound effects like in the CD version, and slightly less music too. It was jarring to hear the music, although it is appropriate, as it was always an eerily still, lonely dock for me. Especially when you explore minus Stan.

It wouldn't bother me at all if it was. We get to uncover the secret of Monkey Island, in a game made by the creator of the series itself. It's kind of like the end of an era. I'm open to the possibility of new games after this one, either sequels or spin-offs, but to me this will probably the end of the Monkey Island "saga". (Unless we get a completely open ended finale with a lot of unresolved plot points and character arcs, in that case nevermind...)

Yep! If I didn't look into this thread before I would have the same result @OzzieMonkey had 👕 I beat #Mojole #134 and all I got was this stupid t-shirt. 4/6 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 💚💚💚💚💚 https://funzone.mixnmojo.com/Mojole/

I honestly think it would be for the best if this were the finale. 1) Ron has made sad comments about the hard work he puts into his own original creations, without owning the IP. I read one he made about The Cave. The sad truth is, it's very unlikely that Ron will ever own the IP to Monkey Island. 2) This game's internet drama is just a sample of the baggage that comes from a new entry in a decades-old franchise, in which there are fans from multiple generations and entry points, with different/contradictory expectations based on that. It's impossible to perfectly balance that, EVEN BEFORE you get to the concept of appealing to new players in a new generation. If Ron's creative juices are still flowing after this, I think he and his fans would get the most out of a new story that he owns entirely, and which has a blank slate. Just my opinion.

I'm surprised there hasn't been more speculation on if Largo might return. He's not been mentioned or alluded to yet, but given that his ending was pretty ambiguous in MI2 (as was the Voodoo Priest's for that matter) I suppose the door might be open for him to reappear. If he doesn't, I guess we just have to assume that he and the Voodoo Priest died in the fortress explosion! (Hell, maybe Largo became one of the skeleton pirates for all we know!) I'm still very curious if all of the returning characters will have their original voice actors or not. Otis in particular. Carla seems to be her MI1 voice actress (and she also voiced the Voodoo Lady) but everybody else is unanswered on that front so far.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if there are even more returning characters we haven't seen yet. I doubt they'd want to spoil all the cameos and returning characters before the game comes out. I think the reason why there is more returning characters in this game than any other is because according to the website, this is the conclusion to the Monkey Island series. If that's true then it makes sense to bring back alot of characters to wrap it up nicely. Oh while its on my mind, do you all really think this is the final Monkey Island?

Yeah, I almost made a post like this earlier. Curse also has Lemonhead, and Escape of course has Herman. Arguably, Secret has Cobb while Curse has Manny! It does put Return on top as having the most returning characters, and we don't even know how far that goes. Considering the Thimbleweed Park reaction from newcomers who didn't like/understand constant in-jokes, I wish they'd make all the Monkey Island games available on Switch.

With the pirate leaders we already have a lot of familiar faces now - and (if I haven't forgotten some) more than in any other game. Besides Guybrush, LeChuck, Elaine, the Voodoo Lady and Stan (who appear in every game), ReMI already has: the Lookout, the old Pirate Leaders, Carla, Otis, Murray, some Scumm-Bar people (the cook, Cobb), Wally and Herman Toothrot. For comparison: MI2: Men of low moral fiber, Herman Toothrot CMI: Wally EMI: Carla, Otis, Meathook, Murray TMI: Murray On one hand I'm happy to meet all those people again, on the other hand that's really a lot. I hope that many, many new characters will appear to balance that out. Other than that, I really like new clip (especially the music)! It has, like almost everything so far, a beautifully melancholic mood, including Guybrush's expressions. 🥰

I consider Tales a good 'first try' for the team and I wish they'd got more tries, in a way just like they did with Sam and Max and got better and better at it. They were clearly limited by hardware, and it took quite a while for the series to hit its stride, but I liked a lot of it and what it was gesturing at. I think a lot of people are kind to it because it feels like it's heart is mostly in the right place, and seems to be trying to get back to some of the the more mysterious aspects of the earlier games, even if it doesn't always completely succeed with it. It was a game that... to me felt like it was interested in understanding what makes a Monkey Island game tick and finding new ways to express that, which I personally found more enjoyable than EMI's 'turn it all up to 11' approach. I do think the puzzles are better than I remembered, when I played it earlier this year. They're not terribly difficult, but I did get stuck sometimes, and honestly I'm not sure I'd especially want a much harder time than that. I've always liked my adventure game puzzles to provide some enjoyable resistance, not to stop me dead. I don't mind being a bit stuck, but I never enjoyed grinding to a halt.

I originally thought of voting for Largo but then I thought about it and I went with Bob. I really like the whole pathetic nature of Bob and it makes him really likeable to me. He also was the most capable, thinking about it... Also where's the Murray love?? He was part of LeChuck's crew and followed his orders, so why not include him in the mix?

My guess is Part 1 is dedicated to Melee for a bit of indulgence in nostalgia and Part 2 onwards is new stuff until we reach Monkey Island. I'd like to think that the teases we're getting have purposely focused on early parts of the game so as not to spoil a good chunk of it. We haven't even seen the carnival or been given even the tiniest hint of how we get from there to pirate world again.

Eazy. 👕 I beat #Mojole #134 and all I got was this stupid t-shirt. 3/6 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 💚💚💚💚💚 https://funzone.mixnmojo.com/Mojole/

So i noticed they've been showing alot of Melee Island. Do you think all old locations will be present (circus, forest, bridge, Stan's old ship area, Meathooks house etc) Also with the new key shop, do you expect more locations we haven't seen on Melee Island.

🥰😍🤩 Tell me more!

You summed up everyone wrong with the original mess and everything right with this "Cursed" remix 😉 The original silence remains best to my ears... Re: Turn off/on. I remember knowing the game so well that I seem to recall at least one line being cut from the CD version as a result of the change to the MI2 interface... but I can't remember where. Turn off stove? Really can't remember. You lose the amusing descriptions of the melting mugs, too

Without the packaging: the old captain hid his key in a cereal box - arguably the one nearest the front, since Guybrush coincidentially grabs the correct one. With the packaging: the prize included in the cereal box by the manufacturers is a key that happens to open the cabinet on the Sea Monkey - arguably the cabinet uses a very basic "lock" that can be easily picked. Equal parts silly to plausible for each, methinks.

One of my very first thoughts after the announcement was that so far a Gilbert-helmed MI has meant the Men of Low Moral Fiber showing up somewhere, so it would only be appropriate for them to be in ReMI!

Ron, Dave and Tim. Calling it!

This version is nice and easy to listen to on a playlist. But within the game itself (in my opinion), it would be too low-key, too subtle, too quiet and smooth. Is that a marimba? I'm missing out on the trumpets! Stan's shipyard music is big and brassy and in your face. It's huge and obnoxious and as loud as his jacket. Blaring horns and crashing cymbals! The man drags you into a used car commercial and suffocates you! I enjoy how the Special Edition treated it.

Yeah, it wrings about as much is possible out of that Stan theme. And I love its arrangement of the Circus, and the way A Pirate I Was Meant To Be sneaks in as the intro to the SCUMM Bar. The whole point of that soundtrack is to retcon the Curse feeling back into Monkey 1 and it does a lovely job of it.

I must say, although I somewhat get your dislike for that musical cue, I do like its rendition in the "Cursed" edition of the Secret of Monkey Island soundtrack:

I was watching an Escape from Monkey Island video on YouTube recently, and not only were there people saying EMI is their favourite Monkey Island, the conversation somehow turned to Stan’s music and someone said the original game’s Stan theme was their favourite in the entire series. As you can imagine… I heartily agreed.

No love for big-boned and thin-guy from CMI? They carefully resurrected LeChuck by meticulously tossing his hot voodoo shoes into the ships storage, along with a wished-for barrel of grog and a chicken. That's some powerful magic.

They forgot to reveal "the secret".

I chugged every carbonated beverage I could find in the studio, but I'm going to have to give my belching a B-. The humdinger I was shooting for eluded me 😞

It looks like the three probably-not-that-important-anymore Pirates took over the store.

@Rum Rogers pointed out on Twitter that those 3 pirates in the shop look an awful lot like the original 3 pirate leaders. My guess about what the pirate leaders are doing there is that since the new leaders got rid of them, they've imposed a whole new different set of 3 trials that you need to pass to become a pirate, and having been kicked out of the pirate club they are now working in this fish shop while they try to live up to the new pirates' weird demands.

I call absolute bullshit on this "word" Eep ook ack! I failed at #Mojole #134. 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 https://funzone.mixnmojo.com/Mojole/