A more dramatic Monkey Island

[The LeChuckie]

IV'e had an idea for MI5. Wouldn't it be amazing if they got some professional writers in or something.... and made it mroe dramatic... like a move. Not only would it push the boundaries for games givin MI some more dserved recgnition... but It would have a vastly superior story, and create some more believable characters. Course they would have to keep the humor as well... quite difficult me thinks.

 

I'm thinking X-men type drama... Elaine could die or something.

Be honest, who wouldn't want Guybrush to express some proper emotion now and again?

 

This would be AMAZING.... someone send this to LA!!!! NOW!

[Jedi-Monkey]

Elaine cant die! Shes hot!

Wally can die. He irritates me a little bit but I love him.

[Bushmeister]

Funny, I thought nobody could die in a LucasArts adventure game

[Tahnee]

Elaine can't die. That'd be just a tad too much "real emotion" on Guybrush's part, if you ask me (teh angst! teh angst! Just thinking about it makes me wince!). Besides, there are other ways to make a character express "real" emotion besides killing someone they love...and I'd argue that Guybrush has already expressed "real" emotion:

 

MI1 - you wouldn't call the "overwhelming urge to become a pirate" some sort of emotion?

 

MI2 - "Where can I hide?" I think Guybrush was genuinely frightened at the idea of LeChuck's pending resurrection.

 

MI3 - Just watch the introduction again and tell me you don't hear the emotion in his voice.

 

MI4 - (Okay, so I'm fishing for this one due to the general cardboard-like state of characters in this game...but!) I think Guybrush was, honestly, depressed, frustrated and maybe even somewhat frightened when he found himself stranded on Monkey Island. It would've been better if the writers hadn't turned it into a joke. Also, if you watch the "Guynapped!" cutscene...just watch Guybrush's face. It's fascinating to watch all the emotions that you can see on his face and hear in his voice in that cutscene...

[Subjectruin]

Seriously, this is a great idea. EMI was so friggin watered down and silly and light-hearted that (for me) it lost the entire piratey feel that made its three predecessors so great. Make LeChuck scary and generally a bad-ass pirate! Just like he was in the fist game! He is meant to be genuinely frightening, after all, he is an undead pirate.

 

And I say kill Elaine. She treats Guybrush (our HERO for christ's saek) just like a little kid, and why did she lose the hint of the british accent in EMI? She lost her charms and turned into a bitchy wife in the fourth.

 

Get back the feel of the original game - seriously mysterious, but with a hint of humor. Even CMI, which was pretty light hearted compared to EMI, was a fantastic game in every way. They achieved this by making it piratey as hell and actually working to build atmosphere and drama. Tell me Blood Island isn't sad, atmospheric, and dramatic...

[The LeChuckie]

Alright... Yes I was Mainly thinking of EMI when writing this post... and Killing Elaine was just an example. Maybe she could become un-dead and fight against Guybrush.... that's the kind of drama I was thinking of

[Bushmeister]

I would agree that MI4 could do with a dose of dark humour but the other games should be fine (although maybe a little more in MI3). I don't know if having an un-dead Elaine would be good either, probably almost as bad for Ron as her getting married to Guybrush.

[Thrik]

While LeChuck's being mentioned, yeah another of EMI's many screwups was totally removing the evil feeling from him. In CMI he was a good mixture of both, being pretty amusing but also very evil/serious at times (the scene where he is resurrected from his boots is a nice example).

 

In EMI he just cannot be taken seriously. Even when he's a great big fuck-off walking statue, nobody's really that "afraid" of him as a character. Bleh, I dunno.. EMI just didn't work with him very well.

[Benny]

I totally agree, he was rubbish in EMI.

Also he looked crap.

 

In CMI he was moving towards a cartoon 'evil yet also a buffoon' bad guy, but at least it worked.

 

I concur, bleh - bleh is the word.

[Remi]

I completely disagree. The CMI incarnation of LeChuck was my least favorite by far, with him being a lovable, wacky villain. ("More slaw!", "That will show her how much I truly care" and other knee-slappers) The only part that really worked was when he came back to "life" from his boots.

 

EMI's incarnation was better, they at least removed all the wacky, fun and huggable sides of him.

[Benny]

Yes 'that'll show her how much I truly care' did make me cringe, I'd forgotten about that.

 

I still prefer CMI's lechuck though, in EMI he was a non-entity, he wasnt funny and he wasnt evil, at least in CMI he had personality. I'm not even going to mention Charles-L-Charles¬

 

I'm trying to play through EMI again at the moment, there has to be a silver lining in it somewhere, there has to be.

[Jedi-Monkey]

Originally posted by RemiO

EMI's incarnation was better, they at least removed all the wacky, fun and huggable sides of him.

 

What about

'Ive left him alive before. Its always turned out to be a big mistake.'

Thats almost a CMI line. I hate the way that he is second in command. He could have been able to crush Ozzie straight off.

MI2 LeChuck was the best. He scared me so much. MI1 LeChucks only flaw was the easy defeat at the end.

I like CMIs one. It reminds me of the MI1. Hes an evil pirate, with a heart. MI2 was pure evil driven by revenge.

EMI was repaying a debt. Whats that about? That sucks.

 

And as for Guybrush emotion, theres that part where he starts stripping in front of the Booty guard and goes bright red.

[Remi]

Before EMI was announced a lot of people wanted another bad-guy than LeChuck, so really, the designers went for what the people wanted. (If it actually was a good idea or not is another discussion of course. ) Personally I didn't mind so much that he was helping Ozzie, as it was all for his own selfish gain anyway. Plus he had some good lines when he finally took control.

[Governor Phatt]

i didnt mind the EMI lechuck that much as he was kinda CMI lechuck mixed with Largo-style 2nd-in-command-ness

 

Although i hated the ability to shape-shift... and his "zombie form" looked poor

 

i wanna see the old lechuck of MI2 back

[The LeChuckie]

I can't tell much difference between CMI and EMI LeChuck. One of My favs scenes is in EMI when Charles reveals himself as LeChuck, but yes his Zombie form does suck... so it was wise that they chose to stay with his demon form for the main part. Also I'm not exactly sure what LeChuck is now.... how come he can change forms?... is he a spirit thing or what?... Neway... yes He should definately be more evil... but IT's good to see his comedy moments as well... I don't think any of us want a 100% evil LeChuck.

[Governor Phatt]

Well Lechuck wasnt really 100% evil in MI2, but he was genuinley bad guy, and the humour came from him seeming to always get hurt or whatever, ie the beard in the elevator or the lovely underwear scene.

 

And plus he was all tall and pirate like, instead of being some fat ghost with fire for a beard

[Thrik]

He was awesome in MI2, I must say. He was definitely considered the evil that we all know him to be (remember how the voodoo lady states that he's pure evil - he certainly doesn't act it in the latest two games).. but he's still funny because of how he acts. The jokes are shoved into our faces like in CMI/EMI.

 

CMI was closer to MI2's version than EMI by far, but they still both had too much of a slapstick role for him.

[Joshi]

In both MI1 and 2, Lechuck seemed to have some intentions, marry Elaine, kill Guybrush. in cmi, he almost had the same intentions combined, and I can't say I hated him, I just prefered the other two. The emi one seemed slightly confused to me. I can get Lechuck being Fester Shinetop, but Charles L Charles, well, it was predictable, but not very convincing as a 'Lechuck' character. Plus it was funnier in Somi to have Leckuck take the Shinetop suit off as apose to the emi 'just turn into him magically'.

Anyway, I digress.

 

I don't think that Monkey Island was built for drama of the kind you're thinking about (which puts a huge downer on my fan novel, but I knew what I was getting myself into when I started). Huge emotional conflicts aren't what Monkey Island is about. The simplest story seems to work well here (again shooting my fan novel down). Somi, wants to become pirate, becomes pirate, loses girl he just fell in love with, goes after her, goes back to where she came from, rescues her. The plot itself is funny and yet very simplistic and that seems to work really well.

 

I really think the only dramatic/comedic thing that could work would be Guybrush and Lechuck having to work together to acheive a common goal (probably saving Elaine from death or something)

 

My Two Cents

[elTee]

I remember having a really long fanboy discussion with Jake about what would make another Monkey Island game work. Basically, Joshi hit the nail on the head - make Guybrush and LeChuck work as a team for some reason. LeChuck would be very funny, because it would go against his every instinct to help Guybrush - and Guybrush would probably keep teasing LeChuck etc. "Remember when I blew you up?" kinda lines.

[Tahnee]

Originally posted by LucasTones

...and Guybrush would probably keep teasing LeChuck etc. "Remember when I blew you up?" kinda lines.

 

...Which of course would make LeChuck want to kill him even more, but if they were relying on each other then he couldn't...and yeah, that could be hilarious. It'd be the antithesis of all those buddy flicks.

 

I agree with Joshi that the games really don't lend themselves to lots of dramatics, though. There's some occasionally, but it's broken up by jokes. I think you can only throw in so many dramatics before something breaks and everybody goes wildly out of character, which is bad news for us fanfic writers. It's what makes the series unique, though, too.

[Huz]

Originally posted by Joshi

I don't think that Monkey Island was built for drama of the kind you're thinking about ... Huge emotional conflicts aren't what Monkey Island is about. The simplest story seems to work well here (again shooting my fan novel down). Somi, wants to become pirate, becomes pirate, loses girl he just fell in love with, goes after her, goes back to where she came from, rescues her. The plot itself is funny and yet very simplistic and that seems to work really well.

I agree - just what I was too lazy to type out. Monkey Island works because it's got a solid, entertaining story, not because it leaves you sobbing into your hanky at the end of an emotional rollercoaster or anything.

 

Plus, I object to the term "professional writers". Those guys work on Star Trek Enterprise, you know. ¬

[Mr Flibble]

I don't care if she dies! I'm a manly pirate!

Although on the other hand, beautiful pirate princesses aren't exactly 10 a penny...

(Or, for Americans, a dime a dozen. You are a funny lot aren't you?)

Hey! Wait! I don't journey to Monkey island time after time for deep feelings! I want laughs, happy times, and certainly not a dead Elaine!

If I want emotion, I'll go re-play Grim Fandango!

You can't turn MI into something it's not...

Like turning RAP into MUSIC!!

 

Mr Flibble's very cross...

[Joshi]

Originally posted by TyraaRane

...Which of course would make LeChuck want to kill him even more, but if they were relying on each other then he couldn't...and yeah, that could be hilarious. It'd be the antithesis of all those buddy flicks.

 

I agree with Joshi that the games really don't lend themselves to lots of dramatics, though. There's some occasionally, but it's broken up by jokes. I think you can only throw in so many dramatics before something breaks and everybody goes wildly out of character, which is bad news for us fanfic writers. It's what makes the series unique, though, too.

 

Exactly. My fan novel actually has a deep thickening plot, a rich storyline and as many dramatics as you can shake your hanky at. This is probably why it is completely out of context with the rest of the series (of course with cmi and emi, it was never actually "in" context, if you get my meaning). But at some point in my novel, there is going to be an oppertunity for lechuck and guybrush to work together and it is probably going to have everything that TyraaRane just said up there in it. It'll have laughs, but they will be joshi laughs (which will evidentally by Pratchett laughs considering his are the books I read the most and therefore kinda get's imprinted into me) and not monkey island laughs. why, because it is very hard to mimick the humour of three extremely humerous men.

[The LeChuckie]

Iv'e just played the demo for Broken sword 3 and that is exactly what I'm talking about... more of an adventure in the traditonal sense of the word. Excellent cut scenes and all.... Everyone play this (as I'm sure you all will) and think that this is the direction Monkey ISland should head too if it wants to compete. I trust LucasArts will be looking at it very carefully I have to stress though that Monkey ISland should still retain its unique humor as lets be honeset. thats what makes the series. I guess what I really want is humor worked around a better story.

[Joshi]

Well now, drama and story are two completely different things. Drama is a soap opera, story isn't (quite litterally, has any soap opera had any good stotyies lately).