Zaxx

Note that I didn't say explain as in "they tell you what is going on", I said explain away as in "trying really hard to desperately squish all the meaning and intention out of MI2's ending in order to fit their limited interpretation of what MI is". They were cowards about it in order to please a vocal part of the playerbase that didn't like MI2's ending and that's why it's a terrible solution, not because they gave you an explanation. Guybrush floating on that dodgem saying "well that was a thing" and leaving it at that would have been an explanation too but it's one that respects the idea of MI2's ending having multiple meanings. Something like how Blade Runner 2049 didn't give you an answer to Deckard being a replicant or not in order to keep all interpretations of the original movie still intact.

Wouldn't something like that be too revealing though? Would you want to know what's in the briefcase in Pulp Fiction? Or how the Joker got those scars in The Dark Knight? I don't and I think not knowing what the secret is (pun intended) makes those elements really fun.

Oh, I don't think they did sadly, for example that giant "explanation dump" you get from LeChuck near the end of Curse just might be the worst piece of writing in the entire series if you ask me (well if we don't count the oop-eek-aack stuff from Monkey Kombat :)). I'm absolutely fine with Curse just starting with Guybrush sitting on that dodgem at sea being "well that was wild but I got out", I think trying to explain away Monkey 2's ending was really bad because the people who liked that ending didn't want an explanation anyway. Monkey 2's ending is great because it gives you that whole new meta "interpretation layer" for MI but that's it, other than that it could be just some voodoo magic and that's fine, I don't need a detailed explanation on what and why happened.

I hope it won't turn into Terminator Genisys either (if you saw that film then you know what I mean) but when it comes to adhering to canon I don't view that as super important. There are already examples of MI not caring about that too much and I don't think any of the inconsistencies really affected the stories on a whole. For example Herman getting retconned into being Grandpa Marley sure didn't feel right but it's also very much a case of "who cares?" Retcons can be handled well too if the refit just works and makes sense. I don't know how Murray is going to be in RTMI for example because I always just assumed that Guybrush "creates" him when he fires the cannon in Curse (and it's pretty obvious that's what happened too) but it can be different since we never saw that actually happening. Murray just being a skull of eeeevil even from before MI3 might even make more sense considering that the games always portrayed him embracing his skullness. As for the game being meta in general I'm really hoping for that. I don't want Thimbleweed Park levels of meta content with the whole point of the game being that but I always loved that aspect of MI 2. I don't want the world of MI to actually end up being a figment of Guybrush's imagination but I love the concept that it can be like that. It's a ton of fun to replay the games looking for all the elements that remind you of an amusement park and to try to figure out what kind of rides they could be for example. Lots of rollercoasters and haunted house rides for sure. In a way the meta stuff is what keeps MI timeless I think simply because people still talk about those things. It's a bit like how Cooper is at the end of Twin Peaks: there are lots of possible explanations, none of those will ever be confirmed and that's fun. Hey, maybe Guybrush has spent the last 30 years in an amusement park and in all games after Monkey 2 he was just played by a tulpa!

Oh, I wanted to look up Kevin Blackton's other performances and found out that he sadly passed away in 2017. Human LeChuck was actually his last role.

I thought that the voice for human LeChuck was the same guy who did "demon" LeChuck in the original version of Episode 1 before he got recast for Earl Boen. After doing some imdb digging that doesn't seem to be the case, imdb lists the Episode 1 voice actor as Adam Harrington. So yeah, we never heard Kevin Blackton doing the ghost-zombie-demon pirate version, that might be interesting if it ends up being him in Return.

Me too but I have to say I'm not worried. I'm a huge voice acting nerd when it comes to these games, hell I didn't buy the otherwise sweet looking Skunkape Sam & Max remasters because they recast Bosco (the new less energetic version just doesn't feel like how the character was written), I never liked the Voodoo Lady in Tales of Monkey Island (sounds like a white lady doing the generic "African voodoo" voice) and Elaine in Escape because "that's just not her voice"... but with LeChuck I think it's a bit easier to sell a new actor simply because he looks different in every entry. For example I think whoever did human LeChuck in Tales was great and since Return will follow the ending of MI 2 then he might be Chucky for half the game, who knows?

Yep, overall the art managed to incorporate the SoMI color palette in a very recognizable way it seems, you just get that vibe. And it's like they managed to find a good balance where those who prefer pixel art will get a lot of the benefits of that while people who prefer the remasters won't think that the art took a step back. The only thing I'm a bit worried about is the nostalgia aspect, I hope they won't go overboard with that. I'm happy to see Melée Island back but I also have a tiny pyrite parrot on my shoulder saying "well it's the third time, you know". So don't Force Awakens it, Ron, please.

I'm just really happy that it looks different and clean / consistent. I always liked the fact that every MI game has a somewhat different art style that all somehow still fit into the overall "MI art design" and this one seems to nail that too. I'm sure I'll grow to love it if the animation work is anything like what we've seen in the trailer. With that said I really hope that somewhere in the distant future there is another MI game with Bill Tiller's work, I just want to see that man work on an HD MI game. Consistency and just the whole thing looking clean is even more important to me than just liking the looks of the game though because I think that's where Escape and Tales really missed the mark. I don't want to bash those games because I still like them very much but just for the sake of explaining what I mean: they had some very jarring moments where you got the sense that something was rushed or was left looking bad because of budgetary reasons. See Tales constantly recycling character models and environments while also skimping on a lot of interior areas, Escape having some really badly made backgrounds and cutscenes etc. They were just messy. With this more stylized and "lo-fi" art style I just don't see those problems occuring, they can just make a beautiful adventure game from an adventure game budget without it looking or feeling cheap. As a result of that I'm pretty sure that Return will be miles better to engage with than the previous two entries. Aaand there's a bit of a Broken Age vibe I really appreciate too. Anyway I just registered so hey, everyone!