KestrelPi

Also, while I was there: Come up with 10 different theories for what the secret of monkey island is: 1. The secret of Monkey Island is that there is no secret – it's just a fun place to visit. 2. The secret of Monkey Island is that the monkeys are actually aliens from another planet. 3. The secret of Monkey Island is that the island is actually a portal to another dimension. 4. The secret of Monkey Island is that it is haunted by ghosts or other supernatural beings. 5. The secret of Monkey Island is that it was once used as a laboratory for experiments on animals (or humans). 6. The secret of Monkey Island is that it contains a treasure trove of pirate booty. 7. The secret of Monkey Island is that it is the home to a lost civilization or race of people. 8. The secret of Monkey Island is that it has magical properties and/or powers. 9. The secret of Monkey Island is that it is the location of a powerful and/or evil being or entities. 10. The secret of Monkey Island is that it will be the site of a future apocalyptic event.

Today I asked an AI to "Write a detailed synopsis of a new game called Return to Monkey Island set directly after the end of Monkey Island 2, including details of how the key shop and courthouse are involved:" The game begins with Guybrush Threepwood being shipwrecked on the shores of Monkey Island. He is soon met by a band of pirates led by Captain LeChuck who mistakes him for one of his long-lost crew members. After being taken captive, Guybrush manages to escape and finds himself in the middle of a battle between the pirates and the native monkeys. He eventually makes his way to the pirate headquarters where he meets up with LeChuck's first mate, Carla. Carla tells him that LeChuck has been seeking a powerful artifact known as the Idol of Ultimate Piratey which will grant him absolute power. She also reveals that the only way to stop LeChuck is to find four pieces of a map which lead to the location of the idol. With Carla's help, Guybrush sets out to find the first piece of the map which is being held by Governor Marley in the governor's mansion. After infiltrating the mansion and acquiring the first piece of the map, Guybrush attempts to leave but is caught by Marley who demands that he turn over all pirate treasure in exchange for his freedom. Guybrush manages to talk his way out of it and escapes but not before overhearing Marley mention something about meeting up with someone at The Cutthroat Arms tavern. At The Cutthroat Arms, Guybrush eavesdrops on a conversation between Marley and Le Chuck wherein they discuss their plans to double cross each other once they have possession of the Idol. They also mention that there are two more pieces of the map, one held by Mr. Fossey at Fossey's Fabulous Key Shop and another held by Judge Grindstone at courthouse square. With this new information, Guybrush sets out to acquire these last two pieces ofthe map so he can finally put an end to LeChuck's reign of terror...

Haha, I hope my little dig was taken in the spirit intended, which was friendly and not-particularly-serious

I mean my unpopular opinion is that I don't feel strongly about it and I find it a bit odd that people have such a strong reaction to it. Which I realise is subjective but does at least feel borne out by the two replies. People let most of the OTHER unpopular opinions stand😉

I feel obliged to add my 'I like the updated monkey island logo' and have no strong feelings about returning to the old one to unpopular opinions. It feels more or less respectful to the original logo to me, while adding a torn treasure map effect, and giving the lettering a little bit more of a piratey feel. I sort of wish it was purple, I kind of like the idea of each of the games logos getting their own colour? But other than that, I'm into it. The original was fine, I s'pose But I feel no special attachment to it, and I don't think anything about it particularly says 'piratey adventure' to me. If anything the new logo takes it closer to this:

Also, I don't know where to put this so it'll go here. Wasn't expecting to encounter this reference in FFXIV today:

Yeah, you may be right there that I'm misremembering that slightly. I also think you're right that the game gets better with this, as it goes along. That's also my memory of it, but I'm still early on.

Finally got round to finishing Thimbleweed Park and I know a couple of people were curious what I'd make of it so here are my non-spoilery thoughts: * I think the game looks and sounds great. Don't love all of the voice acting, but generally think it achieves a good aesthetic, even if that kind of bobblehead character style isn't one I'm particularly fond of. * I don't think the game has a lot of great puzzles. I got stuck and used the hint line quite a few times, and 90% of the time it wasn't because there was a clever piece of logic I hadn't worked out, but more like I hadn't tried one particular thing with one particular character, or there was an item I'd missed which was hard to get to. In particular, the middle of the game I really felt had a lot of busywork to it any not a lot of actual nice 'a ha!' moments. lengthy example: * The final parts of the game I think actually did have some nice puzzles in them. * I do think the character work overall was a little bit shallow. The most developed arc was clearly Dolores, and I liked that character, and I don't know if I'd have prefered a more focused game with just the one lead character, than the character switching. * I didn't find the game particularly funny, but that's mainly I think because I'm not super fond of the sort of self-referential thing this was going for. Characters like Ransome really don't do anything for me, also. * if this sounds a little negative I'd say that my overall impression of the game is that I had a decent but perhaps slightly underwhelming time with it. And my spoilery thoughts: After this, I started my replay of Tales of Monkey Island. While I'm still being critical: * First of all, enjoying it over all. * That control scheme is nooot working for me in 2022 * I think this is probably to do with there being size limitations on the game for the Wii, but I forgot this game does that telltale thing I really dislike which is to give a dialogue choice and then have the characters either deliver the same response no matter what the line was, or actually just read out a completely different line which only slightly resembles the dialogue choice I picked. When I pick a line in a Monkey Island game it's because I want to hear Dominic Armato read that line! * Whoof, yes, this is still the worst version of the main theme to me. It's just the MI1 version, but not even sounding as good as the MI1CD edition, and worst of all, it just ends abruptly, in a weird place. I forgot about that. * The puzzles are a bit trickier than I remember. I remember it as being a kind of easy game, but I've definitely had to think a few times. I've turned hint frequency all the way down. I've been enjoying the difficulty level so far. * I think it can be forgiven for reusing character models for minor characters, I just wish this wasn't also true of ones which would become recurring characters like Winslow. * I'm quite enjoying the music implentation, for what it is. I forgot about the dynamic parts of the soundtrack, it's nice.

Heh...

It was real subtle stuff. I think it might have been around some confusion to to with the order of events of how things went down in Grulovia? Personally I can't see them remastering/remaking the first game any time soon when there's so much new stuff they'd want to be doing. It's a nice dream but if there's one thing good I want to come from the Microsoft deal it's that I'm hoping that the team now get a decade or two of much greater freedom in the games they can get made because of not having to worry about who will fund them, and it feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity to spend some of that time touching up an old game.

I played it about 6 months before it came out. For many of their games they do a 'friends and family' playtest period of a couple of weeks. Almost all the speech was in, and the gameplay was pretty much locked down, it was mainly cutscene polish and minor bugs at that point that were holding it up, but I remember we also pointed out some plot elements we were a little confused about toward the end of the game that meant that they added a little dialogue later on to clarify some stuff. I think Tim talks about it in one of the videos. My best video game boast is that I'm in the credits for Psychonauts 2 three times - once as a community moderator, once as a playtester, and once as a backer

Yeah, that's right competing with your memories which are all the condensed highlights (and maybe one or two low points) and your imagined ideal game which is perfect, but also isn't real.

On balance though I think I'd do it again. I think the first time you play an anticipated game is ALWAYS weird, so I definitely felt that with Psychonauts 2. So while it added to the weirdness that I played it with some music cues missing, and lots of animations unfinished, and very occasionally some voice lines missing, and a variety of bugs/polish stuff to contend with, it didn't feel too bad to me for that to be my first experience of the game. By the time the game came out, I was actually really interested in re-playing it. I could see what had changed, but also with none of the baggage that playing an anticipated game for the first time usually comes with. The game that a game actually is, is never the same as the weird amorphous blob of a game in your head, so when you first play it the reality is always competing (unfairly) with that idealised version in your head. I expect the same will happen with ReMI. The first time I play it it'll be weird, because I have all these expectations about what I'm going to get and none of them are going to be QUITE matched, I'm sure. It'll take a couple of play throughs in order for me to be able to meet the game on its own terms. So yeah, the actual experiencing the unpolished version of the game is actually quite nice, because your expectations are automatically lowered by knowing it's incomplete, and then by the time you get to replay it your expectations are set appropriately. The bit I like less is just not being able to SAY anything. Just having to sit on it for however long, instead of experience it as a kind of communal event.

This would largely be Devolver's decision, I suspect. But personally I think we should experience the release same as everyone else. While having a website sometimes gives Mojo access that other's don't have, I think we're best as a collection of fans, experiencing things in the same way as fans. Like... being part of the Double Fine community moderation team means that sometimes I get access to information and things ahead of time, and it's a double edged sword honestly. It's nice to get the scoop on some stuff, but it's hard to hold onto that and not be able to discuss it with the rest of the community, especially when you see something a long way ahead of time. You have to sort of form a little mini-community with the people who also got the early look, and that can feel uncomfortably cliquey. And when you're looking at work in progress, there's a definite trade-off between the fun of seeing something early, and unpolished, and maybe with some interesting bugs or flaws, and seeing something pristine for the first time as a fan is expected to. Not that that last part is a concern in this situation, but still, I think there's a certain niceness to most of the Mojo contributors experiencing stuff at the same time as everyone else.

Well, we know at least they're building with controller support in mind (because one of the bugs mentioned it) so I'd be surprised if it's not launching on modern consoles, and Switch would seem likely. I think we'll hear about platforms with the trailer, but I don't think it's going to be trailered first at a console event.

It's a very good attempt at recreating Rex's line styles, but I'd love to see a version where they attempt to recreate his brush and shading styles, too, since he never really makes stuff that's just flat like that, everything has a little bit of texture to it.

I think it's unlikely in the extreme that Ron and Devolver would choose the first proper reveal of the game to be at a nintendo event, or that Ninendo would want to prioritise it above other announcements they might want to make, but I'm willing to be proven wrong.

I think they're going to skirt around how the carnival stuff connects to the rest of the story since I expect from what we've heard so far that's a cool story moment that they don't want to reveal So I think the trailer will just reveal more about the vibe of the game and how it looks and feels in motion. I think it'll be short, and very non-spoilery.

I think all MI themes should be a completely new take on the theme that is reflective of the mood of the game. If MI1's theme was just the sort of basic naive version of it, simple arrangement but adventurous melody MI2 version is a little bit cynical, it's funked itself up a little in a bid to stay relevant, is a little bit busy and chaotic in parts, and added a layer of glitz that feels at home with where guybrush's attitude is at the start of the game. CMI is closer to MI1's but much more ambitious in its arrangement, but that matches how the tone and structure of that game is closer to 1, but the production values have skyrocketed. So, EMI's theme I thing should have been closer to 2's again - everything with a layer of glamour over it, to reflect the changing state of the islands, and the influence of outside forces. Hearing the CMI theme in EMI again was one of the biggest let downs of it to me. And the worst part is that it keeps the abrupt ending of that version without actually ... using that in the cutscene, like they do in CMI. For me, there is NO definitive MI theme, the whole point is that they should be reflective of the game they're in. But if there were a definitive version, it couldn't possibly be CMI's because it's not even the whole thing - it doesn't have the end of the tune! When I hear ReMI's theme, I want the version to tell me a little about what I can expect from this iteration. (Also... I like Tales a lot, but the less said about that version of the theme, the better)

Hmm, I'm not so sure. I think EMI has some really great tunes, you'd have to have that given the people involved. But I think it lacks the unity of vision that the MI2 and CMI soundtracks have. Much of the time it feels like each of the composers have gone off and done their own thing in their own way, and spend much less time than they did in MI2 turning that into a cohesive vision. To me it's like the difference between an album that has a bunch of bangers on it, but is a bit of a mess, and an album that hangs together stylistically really well. I think things can be unpolished in different ways, and for me the EMI soundtrack is good but unpolished

Well I think that it gets to the core of what I don't like about EMI Elaine, which is that I never got the sense that Elaine wielding power over Guybrush and ordering him around was part of their relationship dynamic. Before EMI the most she ever bossed Guybrush around was when she insisted he finish his trials so that they could ... well, sleep together, basically. In fact, if anything Guybrush is Elaine's weakness. She's strong, independent and resourceful, and clear headed, but Guybrush gets under her skin in a way that brings out her softer side. But you wouldn't know that to play EMI, in that game he behaves more like a puppy who is eager to do whatever to please her, and she's more than happy to utilize him for whatever errand best suits her purposes, which isn't how I see that relationship at ALL. At least in the CMI version, for all its faults, I can envision the world where Elaine gets so blindsided by the return of Guybrush that she momentarily forgets about the bad times.

What I do want to say is that I think there are moments when Boyd definitely does approach what I want with that character, but it varies from line to line. Like only a couple of lines later I think 'That's okay, I've got time' is a good read. I think later on here initial reaction to Guybrush asking about the map is on point, has exactly the sort of bite and edge I want to the statement. Then she says 'I should have known better' and it's like her attitude to the situation has changed mid-read. It's not that the reads are bad, I just think they're very inconsistent. There's the potential there though so I'm hopeful that Ron and Khris in combination will get something good here.

To me it's not the lack of polish compared with Curse that became most striking, it's the lack of polish compared with Grim. Anyway, yeah. I think I sort of agree. I don't hate that they changed Elaine's voice for EMI. I hate that they did it, then had an opportunity to give her a more prominent role, but ultimately reduced that to the role of a nagging quest-giver for the majority of the game. So I now always associate that voice with an overbearing, unlikeable version of Elaine.

American: Laura Dern in Jurassic Park could pull it off. She doesn't take bullshit and gets things done, but has a side to her that's warm and kind. British: Can't think of a specific performance but something in the region of Emily Blunt?

I don't necessarily agree with the earlier point by the way that the characterisation wasn't well done - actually I think that they do a fairly good job of implying a lot about her character. But I do think she's definitely underused in the first 3 games. She is supposed to be an important character, and his main motivation in the 1st and 3rd games, but gets less screen time and dialog than Stan. Or Herman Toothrot. Or the Men of Low Moral Fiber.