Return to Monkey Island

[KestrelPi]

If the release date is Talk Like A Pirate Day...

Monday 19 September

 

 then uuhhh

 I would say this is a countdown. Including this one but not including the 19th, there are 10 Mondays left. That's 10 little mini clips for them to plan.

 

Put it this way... I no longer think it's November, because that would mean they'd be doing this for like 20 weeks up to release which feels like an awful lot of tidbits to release. But 10? Nice round number? Mm, that's believable.

 

(alternatively believable, on the 19th Sept they drop the release date as Thursday, for day and date with Switch store)

Edited July 11, 2022 by KestrelPi

[Vainamoinen]

Did nobody on youtube make a supercut of all the title cards in all the games with music?!

[MurraySchull]

37 minutes ago, KestrelPi said:

If the release date is Talk Like A Pirate Day...

Monday 19 September

 

 then uuhhh

 I would say this is a countdown. Including this one but not including the 19th, there are 10 Mondays left. That's 10 little mini clips for them to plan.

 

Put it this way... I no longer think it's November, because that would mean they'd be doing this for like 20 weeks up to release which feels like an awful lot of tidbits to release. But 10? Nice round number? Mm, that's believable.

 

(alternatively believable, on the 19th Sept they drop the release date as Thursday, for day and date with Switch store)

 

Yep, I think you're onto something here! I'd be willing to bet on 19th September being the release date now, and will assume that it is until further notice!

 

I guess that makes September Monkey Island Month, then! Will begin with MI1/2 classic, then CMI-Tales, then MI1/2 SE, then ReMI! My last series playthrough (and first for a good many years) was able to be completed within the space of a week. That was over the Christmas holidays, however, when I didn't need to account for the dayjob! Will probably begin 1st September and go from there as-and-when.

[KestrelPi]

Anyway so I put MI2 Guybrush through a face depixelizer

Edited July 11, 2022 by KestrelPi

[AndywinXp]

2 hours ago, BillyCheers said:

Yes! 🙂

No, really. Id love to know, as I’d always wondered (maybe in another thread). To me it all sounds live (but I don’t have a very good ear for such things, so…).

Sure! (Note that whenever I'm saying "synth" I'm actually referring to sampled instruments from the E-MU Rack Instruments)

• Drums are live except for orchestral pieces (where there are marching drum patterns, like snare rolls);
• Percussions are also live for most part except when there are a LOT of percussion, in those occasions the live percussions are augmented by synth ones (the cannibal theme on Blood Island is a perfect example of mostly synth percussions);
• Marimba and steel pan are live on in-game pieces, and synth on cutscenes (except for the intro cutscene and the Elaine becoming a statue scene);
• Reed and woodwind instruments are for a good half live and for the other half synth in-game, while are completely synth for the cutscenes (except for the main theme, in which the only synth instruments are the hammond organ and the MT-32 organ);
• Keyboard instruments are synth (organ, harpsichord);
• Bass guitar is always live, played by Michael Land himself, and can be heard on any band based track. Non-band tracks use a synth pizzicato doublebass instead;
• Electric and acoustic guitars is always always live (thank god, sampled guitars just suck 🙂); 
• The whole orchestra (violins, violas, strings in general, brass instruments, timpani) is synth;

[KestrelPi]

3 minutes ago, AndywinXp said:

 

• Electric and acoustic guitars is always always live (thank god, sampled guitars just suck 🙂); 

I think that was definitely true in '97 but less so now. It depends a bit on the style, but I've cobbled together some fairly convincing guitar work on samples when I don't think my playing is up to the job. I do think it struggles with styles with a lot of complicated finger work, though.

[Laserschwert]

2 hours ago, Vainamoinen said:

Did nobody on youtube make a supercut of all the title cards in all the games with music?!

To be fair, I think only CoMI had different tunes per title card, so that would be really repetitive.

 

Speaking of which, I really hope (and am quite confident) that they'll vary the cue for each chapter card in RtMI.

[KestrelPi]

4 minutes ago, Laserschwert said:

To be fair, I think only CoMI had different tunes per title card, so that would be really repetitive.

 

Speaking of which, I really hope (and am quite confident) that they'll vary the cue for each chapter card in RtMI.

 

If, as I feel, they're trying to reference The Journey music with this version (just like they referenced the LeChuck theme for the part 1 card in CMI) then I guess the preceding scene to this might take place on a boat. At least, Michael Land seems fond of the theme as it gets used in Tales quite a bit.

[AndywinXp]

34 minutes ago, KestrelPi said:

I think that was definitely true in '97 but less so now. It depends a bit on the style, but I've cobbled together some fairly convincing guitar work on samples when I don't think my playing is up to the job. I do think it struggles with styles with a lot of complicated finger work, though.

Speaking as a (primarily) guitar player I'm probably biased, but I personally still think things like slide guitar and more complicated dynamics are not very credible when done on VSTs 😛 

[KestrelPi]

2 minutes ago, AndywinXp said:

Speaking as a (primarily) guitar player I'm probably biased, but I personally still think things like slide guitar and more complicated dynamics are not very credible when done on VSTs 😛 

Oh yeah well I mean I've played classical guitar since very early, and have since picked up other styles so I know my way around, but I'm just not very much of a performer in general, I was always more interested in writing than playing, so I mean that I tend to be happier now to go to samples than I used to be when I'm not so confident in my playing.

 

Besides, it's surprising how much stuff sounds like a guitar if you perform it right and just stick it through guitar rig

[BillyCheers]

57 minutes ago, AndywinXp said:

Sure! (Note that whenever I'm saying "synth" I'm actually referring to sampled instruments from the E-MU Rack Instruments)

• Drums are live except for orchestral pieces (where there are marching drum patterns, like snare rolls);
• Percussions are also live for most part except when there are a LOT of percussion, in those occasions the live percussions are augmented by synth ones (the cannibal theme on Blood Island is a perfect example of mostly synth percussions);
• Marimba and steel pan are live on in-game pieces, and synth on cutscenes (except for the intro cutscene and the Elaine becoming a statue scene);
• Reed and woodwind instruments are for a good half live and for the other half synth in-game, while are completely synth for the cutscenes (except for the main theme, in which the only synth instruments are the hammond organ and the MT-32 organ);
• Keyboard instruments are synth (organ, harpsichord);
• Bass guitar is always live, played by Michael Land himself, and can be heard on any band based track. Non-band tracks use a synth pizzicato doublebass instead;
• Electric and acoustic guitars is always always live (thank god, sampled guitars just suck 🙂); 
• The whole orchestra (violins, violas, strings in general, brass instruments, timpani) is synth;

Thanks!

Amazing how good it sounds anyway (especially for 1997). I’ll definitely listen to the score more carefully next time!

 

As for the title chart: I really like the look, but can’t help to think, that it looks a bit… stiff? I think I’d prefer it to have a bit more animation than just a small zoom at the beginning… but maybe they’ll at some for the final game.

[KestrelPi]

1 minute ago, BillyCheers said:

Thanks!

Amazing how good it sounds anyway (especially for 1997). I’ll definitely listen to the score more carefully next time!

 

As for the title chart: I really like the look, but can’t help to think, that it looks a bit… stiff? I think I’d prefer it to have a bit more animation than just a small zoom at the beginning… but maybe they’ll at some for the final game.

 

Yeah, I feel like they could have done something with a having the bits of scroll swoop in, but then again, haven't basically all those screens so far in previous games been static? I don't specifically remember for tales.

[BillyCheers]

50 minutes ago, KestrelPi said:

 

Yeah, I feel like they could have done something with a having the bits of scroll swoop in, but then again, haven't basically all those screens so far in previous games been static? I don't specifically remember for tales.

I think (!) in Tales the parchment flew away at the end, which was nice. The other ones were just still, yes.

I think as the rest of what we saw is so we'll animated and lively, that this feels a bit "boring" to me. But maybe they'll animate it a bit more later (or it feels different in the game itself).

Anyway, it still looks great and miles better than the ones in EMI. 😬

Edited July 11, 2022 by BillyCheers

[Remi]

25 minutes ago, BillyCheers said:

Anyway, it still looks great and miles
better than the ones in EMI. 😬

 

Doesn't the EMI one have animated characters (not the letter kind) overlaid onto it?

[BillyCheers]

8 minutes ago, Remi said:

 

Doesn't the EMI one have animated characters (not the letter kind) overlaid onto it?

Okay, you're right there, of course.

But to me, those were never "animated" title charts, but rather parchment backgrounds on which they simply put text and still had room for one or two character models... They weren't really designed as a cohesive, animated screens (at least to me).

[Staple Remover]

[demone]

Looks like there's also a lot of positively around these tweets as well (at least from what I'm seeing) which makes me happy in addition to the awesome music and title card. I hope this makes the team feel good and motivates them to continue sharing. While the selfish part of me just wants to see more, I also hope the positivity makes the team feel good.

[OzzieMonkey]

Oh yeah...we're close. I can feel it. Monkey Island Monday, woo! Great chapter screen, so glad they're keeping up the tradition. Interesting that the tune is different, not sure how I feel about that, it'll take some getting used to, but it's certainly not a dealbreaker by any means. I really like that dramatic zoom out at the beginning, really adds to it, I think. 

[Knight Owl]

On the music thing,

 

I think, because A. Ron said the music was recorded live (which I know doesn’t mean the entire thing will be, but at least a good enough chunk of it must have been for him to say that), B. This is a small ensemble track, which is the exact sort of thing I think we were expecting to be live instruments, and C. The flute definitely sounds like it could be real, I would hazard a guess and say that the flute is probably real.

 

But yeah, the fact that we can’t really tell whether or not it’s real just from listening to it means that it doesn’t really matter; it sounds GOOD and has lots of character, and that’s what counts. 

[Remi]

For the chapters, here's a short comparison video I put together...

 

 

[Marius]

12 hours ago, KestrelPi said:

I would say this is a countdown. Including this one but not including the 19th, there are 10 Mondays left. That's 10 little mini clips for them to plan.

This confirms the game will have 10 parts. What a power move!

[BillyCheers]

Soooo, today’s #TreasureTuesday! 🥳

What do you guys think Ron will post for us today?

 

Also really looking forward to #WallyWednesday, #ThreepwoodThursday, #FanserviceFriday, #ScummbarSaturday and of course #SecretRevealedOrYourMoneyBackSunday! 🙂

[Vainamoinen]

11 hours ago, Laserschwert said:

Speaking of which, I really hope (and am quite confident) that they'll vary the cue for each chapter card in RtMI.

 

They have no choice. The slow and cozy flute version can only be used for the "Friendly Place" with the 🔪 and the 🩸. It doesn't even fit all those not so friendly places afterwards. 

 

1 hour ago, Marius said:

This confirms the game will have 10 parts. What a power move!

 

My thought exactly. But I'd rather not have ten parts, because that would not just be "long" but also very linear.

 

I'd rather have a part 2 in which the world opens up or rather explodes into a gigantic playground of four or five islands for us to explore. 🗺️

 

Speaking of which, they better not release an overview map of all the islands any time soon because that's probably the moment I go insane with anticipation.

 

 

Edited July 12, 2022 by Vainamoinen

[Marius]

19 minutes ago, Vainamoinen said:

But I'd rather not have ten parts, because that would not just be "long" but also very linear.

Clearly they are split into three games. Return to Monkey Island is the first, followed by End of Monkey Island (2024) and finally Rebirth of Monkey Island (2026). I thought that was obvious.

[MurraySchull]

Yeah, I don't know if it'll be ten parts, nor do I think that's what they'll be revealing over the next nine (or so) #MonkeyIslandMonday's. And even if there are ten parts, I doubt they'll be anywhere close to an equal length (i.e. Escape/Tales). I think it'd be more likely we'll have one gigantic chapter, and a few smaller chapters on the side like MI1-3.

 

I'd be happier to see more variety in these weekly posts. (i.e. "What's Herman Toothrot up to these days? Find out in ReMI!" , "The first spoken word of ReMI is "You!" Find our what happens next!" , "It's official! Chris Pratt is the new LeChuck!" etc.)