Monkey Island 2 Remake

[SyntheticGerbil]

Ah, you're right, just reloading didn't help, I do remember having to quit the game to fix it.

 

I think I just didn't rapidly take Captain Dread's ship from location to location in Act 2 last time I played, so I just assumed ScummVM fixed it.

[Valkian]

Mmh, very interesting, thanks for the summary SurplusGamer. That does sound more tricky, but it still seems quite possible to me. As most of you probably know, music is recorded almost always into many individual tracks. So if certain transitions call for a specific instrument or set of instruments to remain or fade, it can be done by mixing the music to specific stems of instruments. It does requiere a bit more space than a single stereo file, but not nearly as much as having ALL the individual tracks (which could be up to 24 or more, per piece).

 

I will certainly play it again soon, now I'm curious about it. I would be quite disappointed if they don't manage to pull it off.

[Serge]

Okay, it IS a bit more involved than you remember. The main two things that they need to do like this:

 

Indeed. Add to that that iMUSE also allowed programmatic transposition of the individual instrument tracks, which was also used some places in MI2 and FOA. Then we're starting to add quite a few CPU cycles to the sound engine. This is, almost for sure, one of the places they'll compromise. And knowing how high the music department is on the budget list on most games these days (which is to say, not very high at all), I have a feeling it will be a lot more compromised than that. I.e., most of what MrC says, is not gonna happen in the Special Edition.

[s-island]

Some transpositions, like the cook chase, could be done by recording the four or five loops since they're not random. It won't be the same without the music getting more and more insane.

[KestrelPi]

What gives me hope is that Jesse Harlin seems to have really good instincts for this stuff. Without being a fan of Monkey Island he managed to take the MI1 tunes, update them and in some cases really change them significantly, but without ruining what was great about the tunes in the first place. He really got the style down well, he -gets- it.

 

For MI2 I feel like he'll need to be much more involved with the construction of the soundtrack and how it actually works in the game, but even if he does have to make compromises as a result of things like budget and time, I have a lot of hope that he'll still be able to capture the essence of what made the soundtrack so great, even if he can't recreate all the complexity.

[Snugglecakes]

What gives me hope is that Jesse Harlin seems to have really good instincts for this stuff. Without being a fan of Monkey Island he managed to take the MI1 tunes, update them and in some cases really change them significantly, but without ruining what was great about the tunes in the first place. He really got the style down well, he -gets- it.

 

For MI2 I feel like he'll need to be much more involved with the construction of the soundtrack and how it actually works in the game, but even if he does have to make compromises as a result of things like budget and time, I have a lot of hope that he'll still be able to capture the essence of what made the soundtrack so great, even if he can't recreate all the complexity.

 

That's good to know... especially coming from you

 

I'm with you on Jesse Harlin, I like him and he does seem to get it.

 

Unlike... JS.

 

Remember that video of the making of the first SE? I quote, "I really wanted to develop the character of Guybrush. We did quite a few development sketches of him in different ways, one of them being with a captain's jacket. We even did some sketches of him with a beard."

 

WHY?! He didn't/doesn't have a jacket, or a beard.

 

How can you "develop a character" for exactly the same game? Sure, develop him for sequels, but man this kind of thing goes so far over my head I will never comprehend it. It's like translating a book and changing the main character just for fun. I really don't get this guy and he clearly doesn't get it either.

[Varrok]

I totally agree with you

[SyntheticGerbil]

Remember that video of the making of the first SE? I quote, "I really wanted to develop the character of Guybrush. We did quite a few development sketches of him in different ways, one of them being with a captain's jacket. We even did some sketches of him with a beard."

 

That should be enough right there to prove that reinterpretation wasn't a must. What if he had said, "I wanted to recreate the look of Guybrush from the cover and Adventurer magazines" instead? I'm sure we would have had a different style. Of course no one is ever going to say what a fan wants to here in those terrible promotional documentaries.

 

Speaking of, when's the cheesy video for this one coming out? Will the pierced broseph Craig Derrick go on and on about his fake love for the series again? Will Ron Gilbert be awkwardly sandwiched inside? How about a Lucasarts exec lying and saying they always cared about their "legacy" of original adventure games?

 

Cynical today... I should stop.

[Snugglecakes]

Cynical today... I should stop.

 

No no I like it. LucasArts can't blame anyone for being cynical after the last decade

Edit: And the more I read your post the funnier it gets

[SHODANFreeman]

I wouldn't think it'd be hard at all to use real instruments and achieve the same effect as iMuse. Each track would simply have to have a standardized time code attached to it like midi does, so that it would be able to swap between multiple tracks seamlessly based on the exact point in the time code the track is at.

[Monkey Mania]

Well, If I had to choose, I'd rather hear the music in its intended glory, without the fancy transitions. It would've been nice to have both, but I don't think LucasArts had enough time to reinvent iMuse for recordings.

 

See how iMuse can break the game

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[ThunderPeel2001]

I remember that on the Amiga, when you were being chased by LeChuck at the end, the music started off AWESOMELY, but then became more and more unravelled and chaotic as it went on. It felt more random than deliberate (or rather, it felt deliberately randomised).

[Monkey Mania]

I wonder if they got Neil Ross back as the voice of Wally.

[elTee]

I hope they added the raft thing.

[s-island]

That's the first time in the 19 years since the game was released that I've seen this bug. I can't even do it in ScummVM.

[ThunderPeel2001]

I wonder if they got Neil Ross back as the voice of Wally.

 

I hope not, he never matched voice of Wally in my head... but I guess, he was still good.

 

I hope they added the raft thing.

 

The what thing?

[Snugglecakes]

he never matched voice of Wally in my head...

 

Yeah... but then neither did Guybrush. I secretly don't like Guybrush's voice at all but it's forgiven because Dominic Armato is such a monkey island nut

[elTee]

Wasn't there some scene with Wally and Guybrush on a raft after LeChuck's fortress that got cut? I think Wally was supposed to fall in or drown or something, they decided it was too cruel. I never liked Wally ;

 

I don't think they'd add it in now that Wally returns in CMI.

[Megakles]

Yeah... but then neither did Guybrush. I secretly don't like Guybrush's voice at all but it's forgiven because Dominic Armato is such a monkey island nut

 

I kind of agree. I think all the voices are overacted. They oversell the jokes. In my head, the voices of the characters were always matter-of-fact. I would prefer it if they underplayed the voices a bit. You don't need an over the top pirate voice to make the material funny, in fact I think overacting is often the death of comedy.

[ThunderPeel2001]

I kind of agree. I think all the voices are overacted. They oversell the jokes. In my head, the voices of the characters were always matter-of-fact. I would prefer it if they underplayed the voices a bit. You don't need an over the top pirate voice to make the material funny, in fact I think overacting is often the death of comedy.

 

Yikes. You're not talking about Curse of Monkey Island are you? Because Armato's acting was perfect in that. He was also great in TOMI, too. The other voices in CMI were also very good.

 

I've not heard him in the Special Edition because playing the SE is like having hot needles dragged through my eyes, but I did hear some of the other voices and YES, they totally sounded like "comedy voice = more laughs". (Hard to believe nobody noticed how idiotic some of the SE voices sounded, but then again, THAT hair somehow got through quality control...)

 

If only someone would create a SOMI: SE editor that would allow me to turn off certain character's voices. It would be a start.

[Valkian]

I'm too used to the spanish voices (they are great), so I'll have to learn to like them I guess, whenever I catch up on playing the new games.

[SyntheticGerbil]

Wasn't there some scene with Wally and Guybrush on a raft after LeChuck's fortress that got cut? I think Wally was supposed to fall in or drown or something, they decided it was too cruel. I never liked Wally ;

 

I don't think they'd add it in now that Wally returns in CMI.

 

Haha, I'm guessing they weren't going to kill him! I always imagined that scene would have Guybrush saving him since he's the only guy around who can hold his breath for 10 minutes.

 

I bet that would be too labor intensive to add in, though. And besides I bet adding scenes would just mean the Special Edition team would find someway to do it poorly without much afterthought.

[Rapp Scallion]

Haha, I'm guessing they weren't going to kill him! I always imagined that scene would have Guybrush saving him since he's the only guy around who can hold his breath for 10 minutes.

 

I bet that would be too labor intensive to add in, though. And besides I bet adding scenes would just mean the Special Edition team would find someway to do it poorly without much afterthought.

 

If I remember correctly, Wally was supposed to look down into the water from the raft, and then loose his monocle, not fall into the sea himself. Still cruel, though

[ATMachine]

If I remember correctly, Wally was supposed to look down into the water from the raft, and then loose his monocle, not fall into the sea himself. Still cruel, though

Actually, first he lost his monocle, and then while looking frantically for it he fell overboard and (presumably) drowned.

 

Even for MI2 this seems cruel. No wonder they took it out.

[OzzieMonkey]

Well, it seems like Lucasarts are planning to give us some more info on the game, soon. Check they're Twiiter page

and scroll down. They say something about more monkey info coming soon, and that they cant wait to see our reactions. Wonder what that means. Trailer? A stage demo? The game getting release early?