The Legend of Monkey Island (Sea of Thieves)

[LuigiHann]

"LeChuck has turned the memories of this island into a prison for Guybrush" makes for a nicely flexible slice of unreality. Plausible enough that this is the "real" Guybrush, plucked from wherever in his timeline into a "what if" world of sorts and trapped there. The beard evokes the idea that he's been stuck there a long time.

 

 

38 minutes ago, dognut said:

https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@grumpygamer/110527367608903722

 

disney gonna disney.

 

I don't get why they do this. Disney the faceless corporation I can understand not wanting to hire him on, and I imagine NDAs would stop the voice actors and game dev staff from mentioning it unofficially, but why wouldn't Craig Derrick or Mike Chapman who are ostensibly big fans of Ron's work at least keep him in the loop? Such a continual needless bummer with this stuff.

[ThunderPeel2001]

4 hours ago, Gins said:

This Guybrush looks exactly how I'd imagine a Guybrush who'd continue on the same path MI2 Guybrush was. Older, more unkempt, bigger beard, more full of himself but also more down about not getting the recognition he wanted, and still broken up with Elaine.

 

He looks terrible. There's definitely a through line of what Guybrush looks like between the games (ignoring, of course the first Special Editions which doesn't exist), especially since his look has been established more and more in higher definition: A long thin face, with a blond side parting and a straight nose. He's unrecognisable here. I can only assume it's a limitation of the game engine.

 

 

[anothercustard]

OK, we really need to play Sea of Thieves this time! Who can I crew up with?

[dognut]

28 minutes ago, LuigiHann said:

I don't get why they do this. Disney the faceless corporation I can understand not wanting to hire him on, and I imagine NDAs would stop the voice actors and game dev staff from mentioning it unofficially, but why wouldn't Craig Derrick or Mike Chapman who are ostensibly big fans of Ron's work at least keep him in the loop? Such a continual needless bummer with this stuff.

i'd get if they reached out to him and he said he wasn't interested. but it really does seem like Disney only wanted him for the "sequel," and nothing else. hell, they didn't even reach out to have him contribute (in any way) to the Maniac Mansion re-release via LRG.

[Scummbuddy]

2 hours ago, OzzieMonkey said:

LOL so I watched a reaction video to the trailer and as soon as the Lucasfilm logo popped up they said "they're doing a Star Wars crossover with Sea of Thieves?" 😂

I was just sitting there, watching an Xbox preview show, minding my own business, when that iconic music started to play. I literally said outloud "What the f...?" and was pleasantly surprised!

 

I'm super sad to hear that involvement of any kind with Ron wasn't bothered with.

 

And here I was attempting to start tracking down the musical composer of the previous Monkey Island tie-in on Sea of Theives for a MOJO article, and now we have a whole expansion based on MI.

[Sadbrush]

Wow, I wasn't expecting another Monkey Island entry so soon. That's awesome that Sea of Thieves finally embraced its inspiration, they had already included a well-known MI Easter egg since before.

 

 

2 hours ago, dognut said:

https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@grumpygamer/110527367608903722

 

disney gonna disney.

 

I suspected as much, but I'm sad to hear Ron wasn't asked to consult in any way (once again). Especially since it seems like the developers hold the original games in such high regard. Ah well. At least Dominic and friends appear to be back. This might be enough to get me to buy an Xbox...

[Jake]

1 hour ago, Sadbrush said:

This might be enough to get me to buy an Xbox...

Sea of thieves is on pc as well!

[Staple Remover]

I’m excited to return to monkey island!… again 

[Huz]

Yet more evidence for the boxers-or-briefs debate, I see!

[Garystu]

If the trailer is any indication, its just rehashing SoMI's Greatest Hits TM in full 3D. Sounds like something that would have been really novel for 2003. I understand the novelty, but yeah.

 

I'll also probably stick to watching it on YouTube. Not onboarding onto a GaaS just for this.

 

a part of me wants to be excited for Rare developing a Monkey Island thing but im not. oh well

Edited June 12, 2023 by Garystu

[Vainamoinen]

I'm kind of happy about the universal enthusiasm in the comments but ... it shows what absurd expectations Ron Gilbert had to fend off for Return. These are the fans that the Monkey Island franchise would have needed last year. I haven't seen a single commenter go "well, the cheap graphics don't really fit the franchise" or "actually, Guybrush couldn't grow a beard" or "why have they emasculated the main char" or "so Murray is gay now?!?" or "actually, this would look so much better with MI3 graphics" or "did they have to steal the tired old Spaceballs joke?" or "they better not have an MI without Elaine!" ...

 

They just enjoy the whole thing. Now I do want to play it. Damn.

 

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by Vainamoinen

[Niemandswasser]

44 minutes ago, Vainamoinen said:

I'm kind of happy about the universal enthusiasm in the comments but ... it shows what absurd expectations Ron Gilbert had to fend off for Return. These are the fans that the Monkey Island franchise would have needed last year. I haven't seen a single commenter go "well, the cheap graphics don't really fit the franchise" or "actually, Guybrush couldn't grow a beard" or "why have they emasculated the main char" or "so Murray is gay now?!?" or "actually, this would look so much better with MI3 graphics" or "did they have to steal the tired old Spaceballs joke?" or "they better not have an MI without Elaine!" ...

 

They just enjoy the whole thing. Now I do want to play it. Damn.

 

 

 

I have a sneaking suspicion the overlap between the two groups is more significant than one would hope

[Lagomorph01]

9 hours ago, Niemandswasser said:

I have a feeling that now Disney has been made aware there's an active audience for this particular thing they own, we're going to have more and more Monkey Island "content" shoved down our throats in perpetuity, until we find ourselves longing for the days when we only got one of these every few years to a decade and each one meant something. If you don't believe me, I invite you to Google "Disney's entire business model for the past 15 years or so"

This is my biggest fear (at least regarding MI). I'd rather have it stay in obscurity with the occasional gem appearing whenever we least expect it... But I guess capitalism's gonna capitalate. (is that a word?)

[Vainamoinen]

This forum needs a proper search function. I'm pretty sure that at some point last year I wrote that we wouldn't need to be afraid that the Monkey Island license would be buried with Return. Which was the prevalent notion, mind you. Now we have the opposite reaction. Because the license resurfaces once in a predictable gaming context that paid hommage to MI before.

 

Disney won't bash the Monkey Island license to death, while my personal horror vision has a fair chance of becoming a reality, and is a reality in this particular case.

[Lagomorph01]

I guess we have different horror visions. I'd rather have a franchise be left alone gracefully then for it to become the next Disney cashcow. As for the moment though, I don't see that happening, so I think we're safe in that regard. I just get a little antsy when a franchise I love appears in unexpected places with people working on it who don't have any previous relation with it.

 

I do think Disney is slowly paying more attention to this franchise and the buzz it's been getting. Especially since they can't quite seem to kickstart Pirates of the Caribbean anymore, but do know the hype those movies brought.

[KestrelPi]

Yes, the whole stuff surrounding Ron Gilbert is annoying. I mean my take away from Return is that it was an acknowledgement from Ron that Monkey Island never was and never will be fully his, and that in that spirit all ways of telling the story are valid. So were they really that afraid of letting him know they were doing a side thing?

On the other hand, this is exactly in the spirit of the sort of thing that it should be possible to do with Monkey Island post-return. Could not care less if or how it fits in the timeline since 

Spoiler

as far as I'm concerned it can all just be read as kids playing games about Guybrush's stories

Also fine with how Guybrush looks here, it's completely in keeping with the character style of Sea of Thieves and it looks in some shots of the trailer it's an attempt to be closer to the hair colour depicted in the first two games, which I'm into.

Part of me wants to say, look, it's not very deep and we don't need to overanalyse it. People in Rare were clearly into the Monkey Island games having already inserted a homage, someone at LucasFilm said 'hey do you want to make a thing' knowing that Return would make Monkey Island a bit more relevant again and the Rare folks were into it. 

Sea of Thieves is good, Monkey Island is good, this crossover event will probably be a nice time for people who like both those things. As much disdain as I have for brands and corporate culture... I do think it's possible to just enjoy that a thing exists and someone cared enough to make it happen. Because I find it hard to believe that this was done cynically, and it wasn't just some people's passion project. No matter how well Return did, nobody was looking it and thinking  'right, now time to find new ways to exploit that Monkey Island cash cow.' I think as fans we probably overestimate how much currency Monkey Island really has in this day and age. 

 

This exists, and it'll probably be made with love. There are worse fates for a series.
 

[neoncolor8]

14 hours ago, neoncolor8 said:

Wow! 

I would love to explore the islands in 3D!

The only bummer is that it's only playable for a some time and will disappear eventually, at least that's how I think this SoT stuff works?

Someone explained that this content will most likely be permanently available! 

[OzzieMonkey]

So we know the cast is returning and that sadly Ron wasn't involved, but is ANYONE from the old guard involved in writing/design? That's probably the one thing that slightly worries me, though it's not like this is a full blown new adventure game with no familiar names attached, so I'm probably more lenient on it in that area.

[Lagomorph01]

48 minutes ago, OzzieMonkey said:

So we know the cast is returning and that sadly Ron wasn't involved, but is ANYONE from the old guard involved in writing/design? That's probably the one thing that slightly worries me, though it's not like this is a full blown new adventure game with no familiar names attached, so I'm probably more lenient on it in that area.

My guess is that if they didn't ask Ron, they wouldn't ask Tim or Dave or any of the sequel writers either. I do think Rare had a really good sense of humor in the Donkey Kong Country/Banjo Kazooie days, but I have no idea if anyone involved in those games is still on the team. Haven't really played any of their games since they split with Nintendo.

[dognut]

46 minutes ago, Lagomorph01 said:

My guess is that if they didn't ask Ron, they wouldn't ask Tim or Dave or any of the sequel writers either. 

amusingly, Tim now works for the parents company. that said, i agree. i'm guessing Rare wanted to do their own thing since it's within their established world - so it needs to somewhat fit.

[Aro-tron]

I kind of like that Guybrush looks a bit wonky. The hair style even seems to homage the hideous MI:SE hair, which is actually very funny.

 

Other than that, I'm not at all invested in the art style of this game. Seeing Stan swinging his arms around in 3D without his jacket being a repeating pixel pattern was almost painful. It made me reflect that a lot of what I liked about these games was not what they represented, but how cleverly they were designed. Like, I don't care if LeChuck actually has a dead crow on his hat. I really appreciate how Purcell worked that into the sprite design, but to me it's not an interesting choice in 3D, even though it's now become a calcified part of the character design.

 

Part of me feels a little bit sad that so many fans who were repelled by Return just wanted something like this - a Mario Movie version of Monkey Island.

 

On the other hand, it does make me appreciate Return a lot more.

[KestrelPi]

I expect it will be a loving tribute that won't involve the original writing team. Hey, lots of people think that worked out reasonably well for Curse! 

[demone]

Yeah, Disney not even telling Ron about it doesn't surprise me, but still really rubs me the wrong way. 

 

Even with Tales, Dave wasn't excited and didn't even really want to do it until he was allowed to tell Ron and he was able to be involved in a consulting role.

 

Beyond starting the series, Ron has always remained invested in it and the games he didn't make and always gave good and honest feedback and his thoughts on the games and usually had high praise and respect to the team working on it. 

 

I just wish Disney respected how close this series is for Ron and at least told him about it.

 

[WorldMaker]

18 hours ago, Mintopia said:

There's an interview with Creative Director Mike Chapman, where he goes into more detail.

Timeline-wise, it's set after the end of Curse of Monkey Island:
 

So could be an interesting 'what if'. Maybe these aren't the 'real' Melee Island/Monkey Island and instead are versions within the Sea of Thieves. Either way I am hyped and here for this.

 

They definitely aren’t the real islands. In the interview Mike Chapman admits that all the Tall Tales take place in the Sea of the Damned. He says that in the context that they will be in spaces safe from PvP, but that also likely says a lot about where this all fits from a Lore perspective in Sea of Thieves: the Sea of the Damned is Sea of Thieves’ Limbo realm between deaths (where if you are lucky the Ferryman takes you back to the Sea of Thieves after you die instead of leaving you stuck somewhere in the Sea of the Damned). The Sea of the Damned is haunted by ghosts and memories. Those likely aren’t the real islands but the Memories of them. (Many of the NPCs like Stan would likely also be Memories.) Lore-wise this was also the case for much of A Pirate’s Life, the Pirates of the Caribbean Tall Tales, where most of the locations were the Memories of Captain Sparrow out in the Sea of the Damned.

Guybrush getting accidentally trapped into his own memories of Secret of Monkey Island sounds very Guybrush (especially after Return).

[JacquesSparkyTail]

26 minutes ago, Aro-tron said:

I kind of like that Guybrush looks a bit wonky. The hair style even seems to homage the hideous MI:SE hair, which is actually very funny.

 

Other than that, I'm not at all invested in the art style of this game. Seeing Stan swinging his arms around in 3D without his jacket being a repeating pixel pattern was almost painful. It made me reflect that a lot of what I liked about these games was not what they represented, but how cleverly they were designed. Like, I don't care if LeChuck actually has a dead crow on his hat. I really appreciate how Purcell worked that into the sprite design, but to me it's not an interesting choice in 3D, even though it's now become a calcified part of the character design.

 

Part of me feels a little bit sad that so many fans who were repelled by Return just wanted something like this - a Mario Movie version of Monkey Island.

 

On the other hand, it does make me appreciate Return a lot more.

Point taken but i just wanna point out that stans jacket was accurate. I’ll admit i had to squint to double check. Not sure if it was because it was too dark or there was just so much going on that it got lost but it is definitely doing the thing.