MI5:YOUR IDEAS

[Nickelstein]

If MI5 were to ever come out what would YOU like it to have?

Me:Next Gen Graphics,Awesome Storyline, and finally utilizing the T-rating(some curses here and there,maybe some little sex jokes like in Vampyre Story, and some dark sequences)

[Capn_Nacho]

Don't make the game at all.

[Snugglecakes]

Yep. In fact I would've preferred it if MI4 was never made either. Whenever I think Monkey Island, I think about the first two games, and to a slightly lesser extent CMI. I prefer the memories of Monkey Island to having another version made that is as far off the mark as MI4 was.

[Udvarnoky]

I don't understand why you so many people on the internet seem so opposed to the notion of an MI5 if the right team were making it. Yeah, we know, Ron left after MI2, and afterward the series took a different direction. Guess what? It's still a damn great collection of four games with plenty of room for future (high quality) installments. The franchise doesn't belong to Ron, and it never did. Until he somehow buys the rights and makes his brilliant "true" third game himself, I don't see why everyone's so concerned about it.

 

If some capable developer makes a fifth one (and I mean a fifth one that recognizes that the previous four happened and not Monkey Island 3b: Ron Gilbert Edition), I think the direction that needs to be taken is to ground things in a decidedly more classic pirate feel, as EMI's satirical anti corporation theme (whether you liked it or not) clearly does not need to be continued. With Horatio now the governor of Melee again and Guybrush and Elaine free to live adventurous lives on the high seas, the door is open to a game that doesn't have to have much of a connection with the past from a storyline perspective. Look at how standalone CMI was despite having to begin the game with some sort of an explanation for MI2's ending. EMI leaves the future wide open, so there's no excuse for a fifth game that doesn't tell a compelling and generally self-contained pirate yarn. Honestly, as long as some decent writers are on board and solid visual style is conjured I'm not super-concerned about what an MI5 would be about exactly. Obviously if the project was in the wrong hands I'd rather let the series end where it currently does, but I think being inherently adverse to the idea of a fifth game no matter what is pretty silly. To me that attitute is not all that different from the people who refuse to consider the existence of CMI because Ron Gilbert didn't make it. (Those people, in case you didn't know, are called morons.)

[Gabez]

Welcome to the forums, Snugglecakes and Capn Nacho!

 

I quite like idea of a series reset, like you have in TV shows. But whatever they do, they should go back to the roots of the first two games.

 

Something about Guybrush being old with children, and yearning for the old days would be good as well. Or a prequel about how LeChuck died.

[Thrik]

I... uh, what Udvarnoky said!

 

I definitely have no real interest in seeing a different Monkey Island 3, as I love the Curse of Monkey Island just as much as its predecessors. I think it took the series in a good direction despite the mental ending of MI2, and if a Monkey Island 5 could do a similarly good job of carrying on after the insanity of MI4 I'd heartily endorse it.

 

To this day I'm not sure if it's nostalgia or genuine enjoyment that makes me love the first three more than the fourth, and I kind of suspect this goes for a lot of people — even if they don't realise it.

[Nickelstein]

Guys this thread is about what YOU would like in MI5 if it was ever released.

[neon_git]

Well, apparently I'm a moron because my ideal MI5 would be a Ronzo helmed MI3b cowritten by Dave Grossman and Tim Schafer.

 

MI4 shat all over the continuity; the storyline has to be tied into pointlessly complex knots to make any sense of it. To try and continue this storyline without contradicting it would be a hassle, and if you're going to start a new storyline why bother making it Monkey Island? Why not just have a pirate themed game with it's own name?

 

As for what would happen in my magical MI3b, if we assume that the end of MI2 gets explained and we go back to everything as it was: LeChuck returns having been reincarnated as a monkey, but nobody knows it's him. Elaine decides to leave the Caribbean so Guybrush and Monkey LeChuck sneak onboard her ship as it leaves. After some hilarious puzzle solving during which both LeChuck and Gubrush reveal themselves and fail to impress Elaine a sea monster attacks! Our lovable trio have to join forces to tame the beast and get it to give them a lift home.

[Thrik]

Guys this thread is about what YOU would like in MI5 if it was ever released.

Guybrush, Elaine, and LeChuck.

[Udvarnoky]

Well, apparently I'm a moron because my ideal MI5 would be a Ronzo helmed MI3b cowritten by Dave Grossman and Tim Schafer.

 

You're not a moron for wanting that. I think anyone in their right mind would play such a game.

 

if you're going to start a new storyline why bother making it Monkey Island? Why not just have a pirate themed game with it's own name?

 

Maybe because the Monkey Island universe is really awesome and a great place to tell new pirate stories in? See: CMI. Or are you suggesting that new Monkey Island games should tell only old storylines? We should just be doing retreads and bringing back every single member of the previous games' cast? Good sequels have a familiarity, but are not synonymous with "rehash."

 

Also, whether or not EMI screwed up continuity is debatable, but it's not like there's any reason to delve any further into Horatio/Toothrot's backstory at this point anyway, so I don't see what the hassle would be in making a new storyline that doesn't contradict EMI's. Just put Guybrush and Elaine on a new adventure that doesn't become entangled in past characters' back stories and thus requiring misguided amounts of pointless retconning. How hard is that?

 

Anyway just to claim that I added something productive to this thread, my ideal MI5 would see Guybrush and Elaine working together as a team. We did the damsel in distress story in MI1 and MI3, while in MI4 they were actively working toward the same goal, but separately. Being that they're both pirates and they've been married for some time now, it's time that Guybrush and Elaine were seen "in the field" together, so to speak.

[ThunderPeel2001]

The first three games were great, but EMI sucked. I'm sure it would be possible to create another classic, but I'd rather not risk the disappointment.

[diduz]

I'm with Udvarnoky in this: no need to insist on the Horatio T. Marley backstory in a MI5.

MI5... why not?

 

What I'd like to see: nothing in particular, as long as Guybrush goes exploring NEW islands. Part of the continuity problems that arose with MI4 were related to an unnecessary desire to revisit old locations with a new plot.

[Nickelstein]

Yay new islands like Spittle and Pinchpenny Island

[Nickelstein]

I do recall a Monkey Island 5 project thats being done. It has its own beta and everything;even a vid of the beta on you tube.

There was also a another project that looked REALLY good you guys have to see it, this guy is talented! Unfortunately its in German!

[Sven_Q45]

Yay new islands like Spittle and Pinchpenny Island

Dito!

[Capn_Nacho]

Udvarnoky: I can't say for sure where my cynicism comes from, here, but I promise you it isn't out of unfettered admiration for Ronzo. Seems like a brilliant guy, but his velveteen touch isn't the only thing that makes good games.

 

To be honest, though, I really did loathe MI4, and didn't enjoy CMI nearly as much as everybody else seemed to, but my lack of interest doesn't really come from that angle. I guess it's the same reason I'm not particularly interested in seeing a Psychonauts 2 or a Grim Fandango extension; I personally don't see any reason to continue these (wonderful) franchises. Seems a bit hypocritical when I'm excited out of my mind for Sam & Max Season 3, but I'm way more interested in seeing new stories and new characters-- and again, not because I want to marry Gilbert, but I kind of felt like MI2 was the end of it.

 

That said, I agree with the opinions that a new MI should come from at least a semi-clean slate, and NEEDS a nice look.

 

AND THANK YOU FOR THE GREETING GABEZ!!!!!!

[Udvarnoky]

I don't understand how Grim Fandango and Monkey Island are even comparable when it comes to sequels.

 

And yes, welcome to the forums! (Though considering you've been leaving comments on the main page forever I hardly consider you a new member of the community!)

[Capn_Nacho]

I guess I don't see how they are either.

 

Hell, who am I kidding; if a new Monkey Island were announced, and looked promising, I'd probably be really excited for it. I just don't know who'd possibly develop it.

[Icebox]

If they make a new one, do a sequel to CMI in in the style of MI2. Nuff Said. There's some fanart floating around, a fake one, called "The Darkness of Monkey Island". Dare to Dream.

[AlfredJ]

Yeah, like most people here, I never liked MI4. I didn't really mind that a lot of charm was lost in the graphics (the 3D was just too primitive, but it wouldn't be a dealbreaker for me, if only the rest of the game would have been decent...), and I didn't mind the horrible controls (they didn't stop me from loving Grim Fandango), but most of the humor fell flat, and the creation of all the 'Lost-like' revelations were maddening. The Toothrot-backstory is the biggest crime of the game; take a great character - one that already has fantasticly idiotic (in a good way!) backstory - and ruin it with this crap. I remember I stopped playing the game for about 6 months after seeing that scene. This is exactly the same reason the Pirates of the Carribean-sequels failed. The first part was brilliant, exciting, funny, and above all fresh. Every joke in the sequels was a reference to a joke made in the first movie, and they ruined Depp's character by exposing his backstory and removing all the mystery that made him so awesome in the first place.

I don't even remember a lot of the game. I remember the first feelings of doubt when Guybrush shouts 'Hey, it's Timmy the monkey!' in the beginning of the game. I remember the talking Monkeys. I remember Planet Threepwood. I remember Horatio. I remember the pain.

There were parts in the game that felt good. My memory is a little foggy, but there was this part in some kind of swamp where you have to travel through time to give yourself some kind of item. That was nice, I liked that. There were a couple of scenes like that, just Guybrush doing stuff that he could be doing in one of the three previous games. But most of it was just crap. It could have been an excellent game.

 

I wouldn't mind Monkey Island 5. I'm a ridicolously big fan of the first three games, and I think someone like Telltale could really pull it off. After all, I never really liked Hit the Road, but they made me love Sam & Max through their episodic games. But yeah, it's probably never going to happen, what with Lucasarts and lawyers and all that.

 

 

That said, this thread made me want to give MI4 another chance. I'm going to try playing it again, and just try to appreciate it for what it is. And turn off the sound when the talking monkeys come.

 

I really don't like talking monkeys.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Very good! You forgot the horrendous Monkey Kombat... I'd be interested in your impressions of EMI now. Please let us know your thoughts when you play it.

[Nickelstein]

I only played the demo and already I was dissappointed! The controls are horrible! Why can't it just be point and click? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!It has to the goddamn keyboard! Dieser ist SchieBe! Mein Gott!

(I like to rant in German now, I dont know why.)

[Sven_Q45]

OT:

@Nickelstein

Where do you come from actually?

[Nickelstein]

Im American but my family comes from Haiti

[japigia]

i would buy a MI5 at once!

i love all 4 games, especially CMI, and there is no better adventure series than the Monkey Island one.

 

i imagine a fith one to be a little bit "darker" than EMI, with a new adversary who found Big Whoop too, became a zombie pirate like LeChuck, creates a skeleton army and steals all Grog reserves which is naturally a part of a bigger sinister plan...

No one else than Guybrush and Elaine depart from melee island to search for the only one who can help them to defeat this new threat...LECHUCK!