Monkey Island 2 Remake

[OzzieMonkey]

We've already seen the monkeys, so I don't think there's any doubt about them being in the intro. As for the theme, I trust Jesse Harlin with it, and I think it'll sound fantastic.

 

Well, that was just the little intro thing for Lucasarts. I'm talking about this:

 

[Rosefull]

I disagree.

 

Really? I thought the light horror comedy thing pretty much hit the nail on the head. What do you think about it?

[jermy721]

While i dont like the cartoony looking version it always seemed weird looking at pictures of guybrush in the old games because he looked more like a real hero

[Kroms]

They just cannot get rid of the best rendition of the monkey island theme.

 

But what does the CMI theme have anything to do with Monkey Island 2?

 

We've already seen the monkeys, so I don't think there's any doubt about them being in the intro. As for the theme, I trust Jesse Harlin with it, and I think it'll sound fantastic.

 

I see no, err, evidence that they cut the intro. In fact, considering that they re-drew the chapter screens, I say they left it in. You guys are just being paranoid at this point.

[KestrelPi]

Yes, seriously. They had a little Lucasarts Logo intro thing in the last game (and almost every LEC game I can think of) and it looks like they have one here too. Nothing at all to suggest that the music/credits sequence has gone. In fact, this little intro would only even make proper sense if the sequence is in there.

[Monkey Mania]

Really? I thought the light horror comedy thing pretty much hit the nail on the head. What do you think about it?

 

Dark Adventure Comedy

[ThunderPeel2001]

Yes, seriously. They had a little Lucasarts Logo intro thing in the last game (and almost every LEC game I can think of) and it looks like they have one here too. Nothing at all to suggest that the music/credits sequence has gone. In fact, this little intro would only even make proper sense if the sequence is in there.

 

Really? Doing the same joke twice? I hope it's not in the finished game...

[Rosefull]

Dark Adventure Comedy

 

Well, that makes sense, too. Though I never found Monkey Island very dark. All the darkness is so shrouded in humor that it lightens it up. At least that's what I always thought.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Dark Adventure Comedy

 

With zombies...?

[Kroms]

Really? Doing the same joke twice? I hope it's not in the finished game...

 

One could simply show-up before the main menu, as was the case with Tales.

 

With zombies...?

Sure.

[ThunderPeel2001]

That was a RomZomCom (aka horror comedy romance).

 

Besides, I quite like the tag line: A Dark Adventure Comedy... with Zombies.

[KestrelPi]

Really? Doing the same joke twice? I hope it's not in the finished game...

 

Bit of a bizarre thing to say. Lucasarts have done jokey things with their logo stretching all the way back to DOTT (replacing the guy with a tentacle) and possibly before, but I can't quite remember. The one in MI1:SE was old school guybrush digging up the logo. This one is the monkey dance thing. They've always played around with the logo, this is just another example of that.

 

[KestrelPi]

Incidentally, I never really thought of MI as dark either. It has its dark moments, sure, but mostly I think it was just atmospheric, which isn't the same thing.

 

Again, I'm pretty sure when I was enjoying it as a 10 year old I didn't care how dark it was or wasn't, I just knew that it felt really awesome.

 

MI2 is such a diverse game though, that sometimes I wonder if MI2 had come out now instead of in 1991 we'd all be complaining about how Booty/Phatt Island isn't piratey enough, and how governor Phatt is too cartoony and other such things. When I find myself doubting something in a new MI game, I try to imagine it in Monkey Island 2. A lot of the time, it works.

[clone2727]

Bit of a bizarre thing to say. Lucasarts have done jokey things with their logo stretching all the way back to DOTT (replacing the guy with a tentacle) and possibly before, but I can't quite remember.

I think the earliest is Indy3 VGA, where the train goes through the LucasFilm logo, but DOTT is the earliest I know of with the LucasArts logo.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Bit of a bizarre thing to say. Lucasarts have done jokey things with their logo stretching all the way back to DOTT (replacing the guy with a tentacle) and possibly before, but I can't quite remember. The one in MI1:SE was old school guybrush digging up the logo. This one is the monkey dance thing. They've always played around with the logo, this is just another example of that.

 

 

Wow, you complete misunderstood what I said. I said: "the same joke twice". As in: The LucasArts logo shoos off some monkeys, and then Guybrush comes along and................... shoos off some monkeys. See. The same joke. Twice!

[ThunderPeel2001]

Incidentally, I never really thought of MI as dark either. It has its dark moments, sure, but mostly I think it was just atmospheric, which isn't the same thing.

 

Again, I'm pretty sure when I was enjoying it as a 10 year old I didn't care how dark it was or wasn't, I just knew that it felt really awesome.

 

Compared to MI, MI2 was a very dark game.

[Monkey Mania]

Wow, you complete misunderstood what I said. I said: "the same joke twice". As in: The LucasArts logo shoos off some monkeys, and then Guybrush comes along and................... shoos off some monkeys. See. The same joke. Twice!

 

Yes, the same joke would've been strange if this were a brand new game, but it isn't. The Logo shooing off the monkeys is just a nod to the fans.

[Aububuh]

Well, that was just the little intro thing for Lucasarts. I'm talking about this:

 

 

I know that's what you're talking about, I'm just saying that they don't appear anywhere else in the original game, so it's pretty safe to assume that they'll be where they're supposed to be. Either way, with as much as they've said they're keeping to the original game, there's pretty much no way they'd drastically change the theme from what was in MI2.

[ATMachine]

I think the earliest is Indy3 VGA, where the train goes through the LucasFilm logo, but DOTT is the earliest I know of with the LucasArts logo.

That only happens in the VGA upgrade. In fact it's a bit of a recycling of unused content. In the earlier EGA version apparently the original intro featured a long shot of the train traveling through the desert, over which the game title was displayed. After this the camera cut to the closeup of the boxcars for the credit sequence.

 

The long shot was ultimately deleted to save disk space (but can still be seen in the original EGA non-playable demo) and so there's no train in the EGA version. But it was put into the logo of the later 256-color upgrade.

 

Wait, weren't we talking about MI2??

[SyntheticGerbil]

I think the monkeys need to be shooed off three times for the joke to work effectively, in my opinion. Once makes sense, and two is only half-assed.

 

They had to change the character designs in CMI for animation purposes. The original designs couldn't be translated very efficiently into the non-pixellated look 1997 demanded.

 

That kind of stuff is super time consuming and hard in almost any animation decade really.

 

But the worst bit is being very dismissive of the idea that LEC's interpretation of MI for these special editions is just as valid as their own. And the reason it's just as valid because of the huge amounts of respect that have obviously gone into it.

 

I'm not really interested in starting another back and forth about cartoon tone and appearance and whatnot since this is all getting rough again, but I take note with the respect aspect here.

 

I didn't feel any respect was given at all the first time around, so I would not treat that as a given. Sure Craig Derrick can gush and front all he wants, but you are forgetting that these are still basically outsourced jobs. The first time around was cookie cutter outsourcing, ugly art, misunderstandings, buggy games, amateur errors, and whatever else. This kind of crap has been plaguing the animation industry for decades now. For all the credits that roll after the first SE, there doesn't seem to be many that did their actual jobs. If they paid 20 QA Testers, how come none of the things even 2 out of 20 regular players would pick on were fixed?

 

The accusations of rose-colored glasses hindering the liking of the special editions aside, I would not like the art for the first one were it in any game. The second one is looking much better, but of course it comes with the backwash of the first one, so it's ridiculous to get so upset about any critical thought or skepticism.

 

MI2 is such a diverse game though, that sometimes I wonder if MI2 had come out now instead of in 1991 we'd all be complaining about how Booty/Phatt Island isn't piratey enough, and how governor Phatt is too cartoony and other such things.

 

Why would two decades make us complain any more or less how silly or piratey something is? The time wouldn't make any difference because the frame of reference is the original game. But then we have to get into the argument whether the remake has been further stylized or not, whether the voices are suited, and whether pixel resolution truly makes all the difference or promotes more imagination at lo-res. I think it's all just...

...a RomZomCom (aka horror comedy romance).

[Rosefull]

I know that's what you're talking about, I'm just saying that they don't appear anywhere else in the original game, so it's pretty safe to assume that they'll be where they're supposed to be. Either way, with as much as they've said they're keeping to the original game, there's pretty much no way they'd drastically change the theme from what was in MI2.

I agree. If there's one thing LucasArts has done beautifully in the remakes so far, it's keeping it exactly like the original. Nothing's removed; only enhanced.

[KestrelPi]

Thunderpeel - I see. But in that case, I still don't get the problem. The logo is a clear reference to the game. It's cute. This is exactly the sort of thing people get hung up on that I just don't understand.

 

Incidentally, part II of my bias piece is online, since somebody asked http://nukezilla.com/2010/05/31/unconvinced-pete-the-gamers-guide-to-cognitive-bias-part-2/

[KestrelPi]

 

Why would two decades make us complain any more or less how silly or piratey something is?

 

Because we're not the same as we were 20 years ago, and because familiarity with something changes our perceptions of it in a measurable way.

[Laserschwert]

 

Awesome!

[Rapp Scallion]

That one's good. Really good actually. They should use this one, mkay.