Return to Monkey Island

[Rum Rogers]

8 minutes ago, Thrik said:

Haha. Unfortunately this is just a React thing, as well as SECRET_INTERNALS_DO_NOT_USE_OR_YOU_WILL_BE_FIRED. We had a good ‘laugh’ about this at work once.

Haha thanks for saving me from getting back to JS shenanigans. I did that for years (no React.js though!), and I'm glad I'm free from that nightmare now 😂 But yeah it's seriously hilarious I must say!

[Vainamoinen]

10 minutes ago, madmardi said:

I think I've watched the trailer a million more times since my last post.... waiting for the release date is going to be excruciating!

 

So you managed to pull off a 181 year task in less than 24 hours. I guess you won't have a problem sitting through three to four months in a little under a quarter hour ... 😅

[Marius]

I only watched the trailer a couple times and try to forget most of it’s content until release. I wish I could play the game blind (not literally!). Hey, how is the IRL timeskip technology these days? Is cryostasis still cool?

Sigh. Anyway. *watches the trailer again*

[KestrelPi]

I wonder what will happen in I Wonder What Will Happen In

[KestrelPi]

Y'know, given the trailer and how much Ron likes trolling his own audience in general, I think he should have followed the modern trend of just re-using old names and called the game...

 

The Secret of Monkey Island.

[Marius]

2 minutes ago, KestrelPi said:

Y'know, given the trailer and how much Ron likes trolling his own audience in general, I think he should have followed the modern trend of just re-using old names and called the game...

 

The Secret of Monkey Island.

Haha, or just: “Monkey Island”. Technically none of the previous games have that title.

[BillyCheers]

6 minutes ago, KestrelPi said:

Y'know, given the trailer and how much Ron likes trolling his own audience in general, I think he should have followed the modern trend of just re-using old names and called the game...

 

The Secret of Monkey Island.

Or "The Monkey of Secret Island" to piss everyone of totally.

[MurraySchull]

I've also realised with ReMI that there really seems to be an effort to maintain the geographical consistency with the other games.

 

Granted, this was only really an issue in Escape, where Melee and Monkey Islands were basically completely redesigned for seemingly the sake of it (even taking the puzzles in Escape into account, it seems like they could've mostly gotten away with keeping the layout of the previous games' islands consistent), plus the Tri-Island area map screen was completely reworked (Phatt/Booty were nowhere near each other, for example) but it is nice to see that with ReMI, they do want to maintain the layout of the islands from previous games, which helps maintain the illusion that, even between games, it's all the same world.

[Marius]

Now that you mention island designs: I can’t wait for the map screens 😍

[MurraySchull]

Oh, yes! That's been a consistent factor in all the games, so I'd imagine they'll be here too. Wonder if there will be special camerawork involved this time, given the engine it's being developed in. The atmospheric effects really help to bring the world to life this time around.

[KestrelPi]

Further trailer/website-based speculations:

 

It says 'It’s been many years since Guybrush Threepwood was last locked in a battle of wits with his nemesis, the zombie pirate LeChuck.' But if that's the case, what's been happening?

 

I doubt that LeChuck would have willingly just put his ambitions to capture and marry Elaine on pause.  I think there's a clue, here.

 

I think Guybrush and Elaine haven't been in the world of Monkey Island for a while. And I think we're going to get a clue about what that might mean in the early part of the game. In the text, it says: His true love, Elaine Marley, has turned her focus away from governing and Guybrush himself is adrift and unfulfilled, having never found the Secret of Monkey Island.

 

But this is all very vague, isn't it?  What does 'adrift and unfullfilled' mean. What have they been DOING and why isn't LeChuck in the picture? If anything this whole setup gives me vague vibes of... remember Hook?

 

And what about LeChuck? A desk with a corporate nameplate and a stress ball? I think life as a ghost pirate has become bleak and tiresome for him. Why? Well, possibly because he's had no Guybrush and Elaine to chase around. He's settled into a bland, corporate version of terrorising the seas, without anything to aim for. Finding out they've returned is probably the best news Hook... er, I mean LeChuck's had in years. It brings out the fire in him and he comes a fearsome force once more.

 

...

 

Or maybe something different to all that.

 

 

Edited June 29, 2022 by KestrelPi

[MurraySchull]

GUYBRUSH: I found it... After 32 whole years of searching... The Secret of Monkey Island...

 

(opens treasure chest)

 

GUYBRUSH: Wow! It's-

 

*credits*

[BillyCheers]

2 minutes ago, fentongames said:

Oh, yes! That's been a consistent factor in all the games, so I'd imagine they'll be here too. Wonder if there will be special camerawork involved this time, given the engine it's being developed in. The atmospheric effects really help to bring the world to life this time around.

I really liked the zoom-out effect in Tales for the maps. Perhaps a small transition to a more map like overview...

[OzzieMonkey]

4 minutes ago, KestrelPi said:

Further trailer/website-based speculations:

 

It says 'It’s been many years since Guybrush Threepwood was last locked in a battle of wits with his nemesis, the zombie pirate LeChuck.' But if that's the case, what's been happening?

 

I doubt that LeChuck would have willingly just put his ambitions to capture and marry Elaine on pause.  I think there's a clue, here.

 

I think Guybrush and Elaine haven't been in the world of Monkey Island for a while. And I think we're going to get a clue about what that might mean in the early part of the game. In the text, it says: His true love, Elaine Marley, has turned her focus away from governing and Guybrush himself is adrift and unfulfilled, having never found the Secret of Monkey Island.

 

But this is all very vague, isn't it?  What does 'adrift and unfullfilled' mean. What have they been DOING and why isn't LeChuck in the picture? If anything this whole setup gives me vague vibes of... remember Hook?

 

And what about LeChuck? A desk with a corporate nameplate and a stress ball? I think life as a ghost pirate has become bleak and tiresome for him. Why? Well, possibly because he's had no Guybrush and Elaine to chase around. He's settled into a bland, corporate version of terrorising the seas, without anything to aim for. Finding out they've returned is probably the best news Hook... er, I mean LeChuck's had in years. It brings out the fire in him and he comes a fearsome force once more.

 

...

 

Or maybe something different to all that.

 

 

I think that, if most of the game takes place after Tales, LeChuck could potentially still be a bit of goo in a jar held by the Voodoo Lady, so it could just be that there's been a period of peace for Guybrush where he hasn't faced him since that last adventure.

[Vainamoinen]

Just typed in a deadline at work. Should have ended in "EOB" i. e. "end of business". My left hand was positioned incorrectly on my keyboard (one key to the right) so instead of EOB I typed RON.

 

THIS HAS TO MEAN SOMETHING. Release date tomorrow or something very similar. 🏴‍☠️

 

Maybe I'm just going crazy because Return to Monkey Island is still not in gog.com's catalog.

 

 

Edited June 29, 2022 by Vainamoinen

[MurraySchull]

If the majority of the game does take place after Tales, I guess that means diving deeper into weather the Voodoo Lady really is evil or not could be possible, especially knowing that she is definitely in the game now.

 

And yes, really like those map transitions in Tales! Hope we get something like that here too.

[OzzieMonkey]

4 minutes ago, Vainamoinen said:

 

Maybe I'm just going crazy because Return to Monkey Island is still not in gog.com's catalog.

 

 

I don't think there's cause for concern yet about it appearing there, Steam tends to get wishlist stuff early no matter what other stores it's on. I image that as soon as we get a release date, potentially with pre-orders, it'll show up there. I think by then if there's no word about a GOG release at all, THEN we might have to assume there's an exclusivity window for Steam.

[Jake]

21 minutes ago, Marius said:

Haha, or just: “Monkey Island”. Technically none of the previous games have that title.

“Monkey Island One” - Xbox style.

 

8 minutes ago, BillyCheers said:

I really liked the zoom-out effect in Tales for the maps. Perhaps a small transition to a more map like overview...

❤️ I made those zoom-outs! It was something I’d had in my head for years as something I wanted Monkey Island to try, especially if it ever went full 3D. I loved the maps in Monkey Island 2 especially, how you could see tiny Guybrush on them, and he’d walk under and over parts of the canopy cover. It felt somehow like I was there, very easy to imagine actually walking through the island as the one or two pixels that said “Guybrush” slowly traversed the screen. I thought literally flying up through the clouds from the game scene to the map could potentially accentuate that feeling. (Unfortunately Tales had basically no budget for the maps so they look pretty cheap, especially Flotsam, but I’m glad I got to try the effect.)

 

Given ReMI’s scrapbook vibes I don’t expect the exact same feeling from the maps (no game but 2 has given me that feeling to be honest, even Curse which also had the helicopter view for its map screens) but I’m sure they’ll be beautifully made.

[KestrelPi]

1 minute ago, OzzieMonkey said:

I don't think there's cause for concern yet about it appearing there, Steam tends to get wishlist stuff early no matter what other stores it's on. I image that as soon as we get a release date, potentially with pre-orders, it'll show up there. I think by then if there's no word about a GOG release at all, THEN we might have to assume there's an exclusivity window for Steam.

 

I don't think Steam tends to go in for exclusivity windows given that they don't exactly need to provide a lot of incentive for people wanting to be on their store.

 

Either way, I have my own reasons not to want to go through GOG (which I won't get into but essentially I really dislike some of the stuff their parent company has said/done over the years) but I hope that everyone gets to download it on whatever platform they like.

[Jake]

14 minutes ago, KestrelPi said:

I don't think Steam tends to go in for exclusivity windows given that they don't exactly need to provide a lot of incentive for people wanting to be on their store.

Yeah, there’s no such thing as a Steam exclusivity window. 

[KestrelPi]

I thought I'd compile the signs of characters apparently aging that I've noticed so far. Sorry for the terrible quality of these:

 

Guybrush's eye wrinkles and seemingly greying stubble:

 

Voodoo Lady's eyebrows  and eye wrinkles

 

Wally's eyes too - pretty subtle in this case:

 

 

Stan has greying temples:

 

 

Also mentions on the site something like 'At my age you need a bit of touching up' with regard to the visuals

 

And of course the lookout is balding and growing a very long beard:

[Knight Owl]

Maybe I'm reading too much into things, but I wonder if Ron saying that this game isn't "MI6" is a hint to this game not taking place linearly in time. Ron has called Curse MI3, and I have to wonder, what makes that game MI3 any more than this game is MI6? The only technically numbered game in the series is 2, so I don't really see what's wrong with fans calling the rest of the games in the series by their number in the order they came out – that is, unless Ron was actually referring to the chronology of this game's story, which I believe Dave called "amorphous."

[madmardi]

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Edited June 29, 2022 by madmardi

[Laserschwert]

I'm still convinced that the framing of the game is Guybrush narrating his adventures. The scrapbook in the trailer supports this theory, so I guess with Guybrush making stuff up, changing stories, etc. the timeline of the games is very much in flux throughout. Somehow like most of MI2 being told by him to Elaine, but dialed up to 10.

Edited June 29, 2022 by Laserschwert

[Vainamoinen]

34 minutes ago, KestrelPi said:

I don't think Steam tends to go in for exclusivity windows given that they don't exactly need to provide a lot of incentive for people wanting to be on their store.

 

You're quite right here. Valve has no need to eliminate the competition through exclusivity deals. Factual PC exclusivity still occurs on Steam extremely often. It's getting increasingly more difficult to explain to developers why they should go through all the hassle to publish on other platforms as well even though they'll still likely make 97%+ sales through Steam. And with Disney at one of the helms, I mean, you never know. They have some icky ideas concerning copyright, that's for sure.

 

13 minutes ago, KestrelPi said:

I thought I'd compile the signs of characters apparently aging that I've noticed so far. Sorry for the terrible quality of these:

 

The Voodoo Lady's full head of grey hair would be the first thing I'd mention. And probably the only one. A lot of these aging signs seem ambiguous to me. The Lookout especially was the "old man" stereotype 30 years ago already.

 

47 minutes ago, Jake said:

I loved the maps in Monkey Island 2 especially, how you could see tiny Guybrush on them, and he’d walk under and over parts of the canopy cover. It felt somehow like I was there, very easy to imagine actually walking through the island as the one or two pixels that said “Guybrush” slowly traversed the screen.

 

Literally the only thing I might end of lamenting the graphic style for is the maps. I love maps! I draw maps! But we'll see how it turns out. It might even still work with a more wacky map.

 

1 hour ago, BillyCheers said:

Or "The Monkey of Secret Island" to piss everyone of totally.

 

The factual title would be "The Secret of the Secret of Monkey Island" though. 😅