Return to Monkey Island

[KestrelPi]

13 minutes ago, Toymafia88 said:

Were you on the fence with where the hell to put Return like i was?

 

It starts after 2 so it makes sense to put the poster after 2. But its the 6th game and could have content set after Tales...

 

Its not 3 and its not 6? What the heck is it 😂🤣 where does it go?

 

Presumably referring to this

 

I would say... reading between the lines, that is... to really be able to have a conversation about this, we'll have to play the game.

[MurraySchull]

24 minutes ago, Toymafia88 said:

Were you on the fence with where the hell to put Return like i was?

I defaulted to putting it after MI2 so that the “Ron Trilogy” would all be on the same line (that and since ReMI begins in the carnival, I feel justified putting it there regardless of what happens in the rest of the game) and then the “Non-Ron Trilogy” of Curse, Escape and Tales, could be on the same line too.

 

I also realised this is technically the first time Murray has appeared on a poster! Very curious to see what kind of a role he has this time around. Even though you can definitely hear the age in his voice now (compared to CMI especially) it’s fantastic that Denny Delk agreed to come back. I wonder if they’d have even put Murray in the game if Delk had declined, or been unable, to return. He wasn’t Ron’s creation, after all.

Edited July 1, 2022 by fentongames

[MurraySchull]

Double post, sorry!

Edited July 1, 2022 by fentongames

[Toymafia88]

8 minutes ago, fentongames said:

I defaulted to putting it after MI2 so that the “Ron Trilogy” would all be on the same line (that and since ReMI begins in the carnival, I feel justified putting it there regardless of what happens in the rest of the game) and then the “Non-Ron Trilogy” of Curse, Escape and Tales, could be on the same line too.

It does look really right like this. Its nice to have Ron's games together and the non-Ron trilogy underneath.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Incase you're wondering if they're reading your Tweets, I sent a nice message of support to the team (@grumpygamer @phrenopolis @JennSandercock @DavidBFox) and got likes back from them. Why not let them know that there are people who there who are super excited about Return!

[OzzieMonkey]

5 hours ago, Toymafia88 said:

Were you on the fence with where the hell to put Return like i was?

 

It starts after 2 so it makes sense to put the poster after 2. But its the 6th game and could have content set after Tales...

 

Its not 3 and its not 6? What the heck is it 😂🤣 where does it go?

Us in 2009: Tales' setting in the chronology is confusing! Is it MI5 or MI6?

Return to Monkey Island: Hold my Grog

[demone]

7 minutes ago, OzzieMonkey said:

Us in 2009: Tales' setting in the chronology is confusing! Is it MI5 or MI6?

Return to Monkey Island: Hold my Grog

I remember when the team said that Tales took place after a figurative Monkey Island 5 to symbolize that much had happened since Escape. Then in the commentary for episode 1, they said they then realized it was a mistake to say that in public because fans took it very literally lol

[Sopabuena]

So apparently Bill Tiller likes the new art direction:

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CfWrjkPpGT4/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Edited July 2, 2022 by Sopabuena

[MichaelSon]

8 hours ago, fentongames said:

 

😏

 

Good call! I just threw this together, really! Give us a minute...

 

EDIT: Updated!

 

Dude, you’re AWESOME !!!

That really brings new flavor to the menu.

Amazing job. 
I really 😍 it 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[MichaelSon]

7 hours ago, Toymafia88 said:

Its not 3 and its not 6? What the heck is it 😂🤣 where does it go?

I hope they make an ingame joke about it 🤩

[ThunderPeel2001]

This is maddening. It was painful waiting for an update, but instead of sating me, the trailer has made the wait for release even more excruciating!

[OzzieMonkey]

51 minutes ago, ThunderPeel2001 said:

This is maddening. It was painful waiting for an update, but instead of sating me, the trailer has made the wait for release even more excruciating!

I think a release date would've made it easier cause I could kinda remove myself from the hype a little bit and jump back in for a series playthrough right before it comes out. Now though I'm still obsessively checking all the usual spots every day for news on when it might arrive 😜

[Sopabuena]

1 hour ago, ThunderPeel2001 said:

This is maddening. It was painful waiting for an update, but instead of sating me, the trailer has made the wait for release even more excruciating!

Absolutely. It’s been a while since I want to play a game so badly. It’s not only nostalgia or the fact that I love the franchise. It actually looks really fun to play and I’m genuinely curious about the story and character development 

[demone]

1 hour ago, ThunderPeel2001 said:

This is maddening. It was painful waiting for an update, but instead of sating me, the trailer has made the wait for release even more excruciating!

What gets me by is the idea that by the time I have my holiday decorations up and I'm drinking my hot chocolate and rum, I'll be playing this game, even if it comes out months before that.

Edited July 2, 2022 by demone

[OzzieMonkey]

Upon once more staring lovingly at the cover art, I've noticed that the clouds just above Murray are darker and form a shape that looks like he's wearing a pirate hat 😂

Edited July 2, 2022 by OzzieMonkey

[Vainamoinen]

The publisher steps in.

[Toymafia88]

6 hours ago, OzzieMonkey said:

Us in 2009: Tales' setting in the chronology is confusing! Is it MI5 or MI6?

Return to Monkey Island: Hold my Grog

So true 😂

[Dmnkly]

12 hours ago, KestrelPi said:

I would say... reading between the lines, that is... to really be able to have a conversation about this, we'll have to play the game.

 

Pretty much 🙂

[Glokidd]

I totally just stumbled onto a pun that might end up having something to do with the Key Queen/King(not sure):

 

Monarch-Key

 

...

 

I'll let myself out

 

 

[Toymafia88]

6 hours ago, ThunderPeel2001 said:

This is maddening. It was painful waiting for an update, but instead of sating me, the trailer has made the wait for release even more excruciating!

The release date is all I need.

 

No more screenshots or trailers. Maybe 1 gameplay clip to see the new point and click system in action.

 

Once I have a release date I'm going to be avoiding news and try to go into the game as blind as possible.

 

It's funny before the trailer I felt STARVED!

 

But that trailer... I can't believe its under 2 minutes long. Its so packed with cameos, throwbacks, exciting new moments that I felt like I had seen too much... 

 

I kinda wish Stan, Otis and Swordmaster were kept secret as a surprise in the game. Hell even the Loom guy is shown!

 

I'm just hoping there are other returning characters we haven't seen.

 

But man... it does worry me that they don't have a release date by now... what if this becomes a Tmnt Shredder's Revenge situation where they keep saying 2022 and eventually it gets delayed a year...

Edited July 2, 2022 by Toymafia88

[Lechuck]

On 7/1/2022 at 12:21 AM, Jake said:

The EGA closeup portraits look really damn close to the box art for Monkey Island 1, and the way the Monkey Head and LeChuck’s ship look are also a close match. Monkey 1 and its box art do look very similar. The box art was drawn by one of the primary background and character artists on the game. It’s closer to a Struzan-style poster for a movie (imagining a heightened moment that doesn’t exist and/or a dreamlike collage), than to Mega Man (wildly and wholly unrelated), to me. I think the aftermarket VGA portraits have forever made the MI1 box and the game feel misaligned, but they aren’t.

 

With Monkey 2 things start to separate more, for sure. 

 

Monkey 2 has a mix of styles in its close up moments. The campfire near the beach and the fisherman both veer towards cartoony, but Rapp Scallion is quite realistic and is a pretty close match to the box art.

 

The mismatch in styles never bothered me, and still doesn't - they just went with what was right for each moment. They tended to treat the horror aspects with a bit more realism, which I always liked. It was fun horror that still felt a bit dangerous - it trod its tonal tightrope very well.

[Lechuck]

On 7/1/2022 at 12:23 AM, Udvarnoky said:

 

This seems dubious to me. The box art strikes me as more of an exercise in hypothetical movie poster art than anything else. Ultimately, the only safe interpetation of how the game "should" look is how it actually looks.

 

Are you saying that we're supposed to look at, say, the Zak Mckracken box and not link that to the character in the game? What about the Day of the Tentacle and Sam and Max Hit the Road boxes? And Curse of Monkey Island?

 

In the same way that Harrison Ford's likeness is featured on the Indiana Jones boxes, the box art is there to fill in the void that pixel art can't convey. They're showing us what the characters are supposed to look like, so that we'll imagine them like that in the game. And as Jake pointed out, the close ups in MI1 do resemble the box art depictions.

 

 

Edited July 2, 2022 by Lechuck

[KestrelPi]

1 hour ago, Lechuck said:

 

Are you saying that we're supposed to look at, say, the Zak Mckracken box and not link that to the character in the game? What about the Day of the Tentacle and Sam and Max Hit the Road boxes? And Curse of Monkey Island?

 

In the same way that Harrison Ford's likeness is featured on the Indiana Jones boxes, the box art is there to fill in the void that pixel art can't convey. They're showing us what the characters are supposed to look like, so that we'll imagine them like that in the game. And as Jake pointed out, the close ups in MI1 do resemble the box art depictions.

 

 

I think the suggestion is more that especially in the early 90s box art wasn't necessarily intended as something that was making a big statement about the game that could be used as a reliable guide of what the artists intentions with the game art were.

 

And in MI1 with its not-appearing-in-this-game pirates it at least seems like they were playing a bit loose with it. Their main purpose was to be eye catching on a shelf, and basically convey the vibe of the game, nothing more.

 

It's not that the box art and the game have nothing to do with one another, it's more like... we can't necessarily make too many assumptions about what the characters were intended to look like based on what was on the box. 

 

After all, if the box art was supposed to be a clear statement of the game artists' intent, then why is Lechuck deep green and slimy looking in MI2 but pale and skeletal looking on the box?

Edited July 2, 2022 by KestrelPi

[Scummbuddy]

10 hours ago, MichaelSon said:

"Is this game 3 or 6?"

I hope they make an ingame joke about it 🤩

I'm suddenly back on Phatt Island, down an alley... "If this is three and this is six..."

[KestrelPi]

Here's my completely wild stab in the dark guess at how we get from the end of Monkey Island 2 back into the game.

 

Right where we leave off, Guybrush starts wandering the theme park, and we scroll along with him. As he does we see various attractions pass him by in the background and foreground. They allude to the various different adventures he's been on, but not just the ones before Monkey 2 but the ones after too.

 

Perhaps we see a cart selling Goodsoup brand soups. Maybe we see a giant robot monkey ride in the back. Definitely a grog machine. A volcano themed rollercoaster.

 

As he keeps on walking, the boundary between this world and the world of Monkey Island starts to become a bit looser. Maybe Guybrush starts changing, too. Gradually getting his coat back, then boots, etc, when he passes behind foreground items, until he's fully back in Monkey Island again but we get the sense that the timeline isn't so important any more because of what we've seen.

 

Alternatively: similar to above, but at some point it transitions between guybrush visiting the with his parents to Guybrush taking his own kids there. But the park is now older, a little more run down, some of the attractions have lost a bit of their lustre, and it's not what it was before. Guybrush starts to imagine what Melee island would be like now, if he returned to it after all these years...