Return to Monkey Island (2022) - Ron Gilbert onboard!

[Majora]

Played this for a bit this evening and was so impressed at how much better it looks in motion than it did in stills. It's gorgeous. Great music too, love the new arrangements of the classic tunes.

[Benny]

Yeah when you're actually playing the visual style looks so much better than expected. I think it looks particularly great in the close-ups.

 

The music is of course, excellent.

 

I think the voices have been a bit more variable, but generally also great. I think the sound mixing on them is just a little off at times.

 

It's made me laugh several times, and feels like a real labour of love. I definitely dig it, the odd frustrating puzzle aside (which lets face it is a staple of the genre: and it's been quite rare which is a good sign, plus there's the hint book so progress is entirely unaffected if you wish).

[therearerules]

Really enjoyed this until I remembered Ron Gilbert can't write endings anymore. Still worth a gamepass play.

[Benny]

I was also a bit deflated at the end. 

 

Spoiler

It just kind of finished. And in a somewhat unsatisfying way without any resolution to what's been happening. Which they do play on a bit, but it really does feel like it was building up to a confrontation with LeChuck that never materialised.

 

But still, unsatisfying as that was aside, I thought the overall game was excellent, and part 4 was just a very strong example of the genre and my favourite section of the game.

[Benny]

The best thing about the game is that while playing it it really felt like I'd been transported back 30 years, but in a really warm and cozy way, but without the frustrations usually associated with revising old games as all the decisions made to streamline and improve the formula are very smart.

 

Lovely game overall.

[merrychan]

3 hours ago, Benny said:

The best thing about the game is that while playing it it really felt like I'd been transported back 30 years, but in a really warm and cozy way, but without the frustrations usually associated with revising old games as all the decisions made to streamline and improve the formula are very smart.

 

Lovely game overall.

I'm finding that too, really nice overall but at the same time I'm not compelled to sit down and play it for hours like point n clicks of old like Steel Sky (which we all know is the best point n click ever) 

[MattyP]

Finished up on this the other night. Felt like I'd been transported back to the 90s! Lovely tweaks to the visuals and sound.

 

Ending was a bit odd and abrupt but kind of unexpected too although quite fitting!

 

Reading the scrapbook note at the end was quite well emotional about the journey from the developers point of view. 

[MK-1601]

On 02/11/2022 at 19:09, CrichStand said:

Awesome news that this is coming to Gamepass next Tuesday. Recently played through the 1sr game for the 3rd time. Absolutely loved it back in the day.

 

So yeah, picked Monkey Island 2 up with that free cash Microsoft handed out, for seemingly no reason, a while back. Fuck me, how difficult is it?!?!? It swings between satisfying puzzle solving and absolutely dreadful design at the drop of a hat. Within the first hour I’d encountered numerous puzzles that made no logical sense at all, even when I looked up the solutions. I’ve now just hit a bit that absolutely takes the piss! No clue whatsoever as to what you need to do. Looked up the solution and you need an item from another island but, to get it, you need to stand in a specific part of the screen, otherwise the scene doesn’t change and the option to talk to a certain character doesn’t appear. Fucking appalling!!! 😂

 

It’s really annoying because when it isn’t pulling daft shit like this it’s quality and really enjoyable. Sounds like Return to Monkey Island has maybe ironed that kind of stuff out.

I've played through MI2 loads of times and am not sure what this bit is?

There are definitely some annoyingly obscure puzzles in the game but you have to put some basic level of effort in.

 

...

 

Actually this reminds me, something that they messed up in the special edition of MI2 was the timing of loads of animations are off. Things like the wheel of fortune and Rapp Scallion's transformation and nailing the coffin shut are supposed to be uncapped (so they'd play out as quickly as a contemporary CPU would allow), but they've changed them to be agonisingly slo-o-ow. ScummVM is still the best way to play it.

[CrichStand]

30 minutes ago, MK-1601 said:

I've played through MI2 loads of times and am not sure what this bit is?

There are definitely some annoyingly obscure puzzles in the game but you have to put some basic level of effort in.

 

...

 

Actually this reminds me, something that they messed up in the special edition of MI2 was the timing of loads of animations are off. Things like the wheel of fortune and Rapp Scallion's transformation and nailing the coffin shut are supposed to be uncapped (so they'd play out as quickly as a contemporary CPU would allow), but they've changed them to be agonisingly slo-o-ow. ScummVM is still the best way to play it.

 

 

Spoiler

The Fisherman.

Seems to be quite a common issue. You can see them on the screen in the distance but, there is no option to interact with them in any way when you place the pointer over them, and there’s no indication who they are or that they’re not just scenery. However, if you walk to the very end of the platform they are on (there’s no real reason to) then the screen changes and you can suddenly interact with them and talk to them, and in doing so gain access to another “puzzle” that you need an item for, that then gains you another item to use, to solve another puzzle on another island. It’s just really poor design imo.

 

I played and completed Monkey Island back in the early 90’s and the vast majority of it was solvable using logic. Finished the one on PS2 with no real issues (as far as I can remember). With MI2 a lot of the game is either way too obscure or just has very little logic to it. Thankfully it still has loads of charm which makes up for it.

 

Need to put some more time into Return to find out how it stacks up properly but, it seemed to be the easiest of the series, that I’ve played.

[MK-1601]

Huh, weird! Certainly at the time I would have taken it for granted that if they'd bothered to draw something and you can walk there to try doing that. Though I'm sure if I went back to a game of that era I'd not played at the time I'd have problems with it. I've bounced off Grim Fandango (which I think I only played a demo of at the time?) every time I've tried to play it since.

[Lorfarius]

I finished on Friday night and now I've had a bit of time to mull it over think it was a proper Monkey Island ending.

 

Spoiler

I think the first two games set some really good atmosphere with the music and style with the second creating this weird almost mythical ending that could never truly be topped. They never had that in mind and 30 years of people corssing their fingers and hopping for something legendary was never going to happen. The whole thing was a joke based on a Disney ride in the first place so happy it's done.

 

As a game for me there was far too much time wasting and I groaned at a fair few puzzles which had me walking across entire islands to pick something up and walk back, then have to repeat the process (LeChucks ship and Monkey Head come to mind). Nothing really made me laugh oout loud beyond a chuckle and probably a bit below Curse for me. Its done now and can happily move on to something else. Didn't leave me with a rage or sadness like Shenmue which is a good thing.

 

[kiroquai]

Finished. Much later than expected (people kept telling me having a kid would wipe out my game playing for a while but did I believe them? No). Overall, enjoyed it with a few caveats. Full spoilers within, so beware!
 

Spoiler

As said, my overall feeling is positive. It was great to have Guybrush, LeChuck and Elaine back after all these years. And Stan! New characters weren’t quite as strong, I thought, but the new pirate leaders were quite fun. Also ended up enjoying the art direction, too. Felt like it fit.

 

Puzzles were pretty good for the most part, although I do feel the section with the five keys needed a little rejigging. As it was, a hell of a lot of puzzles, scenarios and items get thrown at you all at once and it’s a little overwhelming. A couple of the puzzles tripped me up too - the museum one with getting the flag and the contest of heartiness, where I knew the solution and just didn’t work out the precise way I was intended to do it for a rather awkward amount of time.

 

That ending… mm. When Guybrush clambered out of the caves and emerged out the side alley door with all the prop pieces, my wife (who loves Monkey Island and had up until now been happily watching me play) sat bolt upright and said ‘WHAT?’. Must admit that initially, when it all seemed like all of Guybrush’s adventures had been elaborate games he’s been playing set up by Stan my heart sank a little bit. Thinking that Guybrush’s quests didn’t actually happen (within the game’s world of course) actually kinda felt like a big rug-pull from Ron Gilbert.

 

The little twist that followed revealing that actually it was Guybrush just ending his story to Boybrush in a slightly silly way that didn’t actually reflect what happened was simultaneously relieving and a bit of a cop-out. I mean, I get it; by offering us the dialogue options it does, the game is basically telling us that the secret of Monkey Island is whatever we each want it to have been all along. But… eh.

Found Elaine’s role in it all quite curious. It was like the game was building to something with her, only for it to not happen. Her entire nature being somewhat distracted and even a bit off-handed to Guybrush felt odd. Plus, the part of the game where she is following around after Guybrush finding all of the dumb shit he’s caused and then taking him to task about it near the end. Kinda vibe of ‘you can’t just keep doing this crap anymore, Guybrush’ overall. Interesting.

 

I’ll happily take the ambiguity if it means we get another game some day.

[Unofficial Who]

4 hours ago, kiroquai said:

Finished. Much later than expected (people kept telling me having a kid would wipe out my game playing for a while but did I believe them? No). Overall, enjoyed it with a few caveats. Full spoilers within, so beware!
 

  Hide contents

Found Elaine’s role in it all quite curious. It was like the game was building to something with her, only for it to not happen. Her entire nature being somewhat distracted and even a bit off-handed to Guybrush felt odd. Plus, the part of the game where she is following around after Guybrush finding all of the dumb shit he’s caused and then taking him to task about it near the end. Kinda vibe of ‘you can’t just keep doing this crap anymore, Guybrush’ overall. Interesting.

 

In regards to Elaine

 

Spoiler

I read somewhere that originally the plan was to have Elaine break up with Guybrush as she's just fed up with his shit, he's not endearing, he's a one man wrecking crew and there's an interesting sub-text about adventure players just creating havoc in their quest to get what they want. But during focus testing people really didn't like where that was going. So they changed it so they stay together.

 

Surely this came late in the piece because it totally looks like she's going to be done with him what with various inhabitants going to her with stories about the shit her hapless husband has caused, it felt like for a bit the twist was going to be that Guybrush was a bigger monster than Le Chuck given his obsession.

 

[Lorfarius]

I wish

Spoiler

they'd pulled a Fate of Atlantis with her, maybe shared part of the adventure as they were travelling along.

 

[kiroquai]

Original LeChuck voice actor Earl Boen has passed away at 81 

[Anne Summers]

So I finished this a good while ago but only just got round to coming here to ask about the few things I'm not sure about ...

 

Spoiler alerts for throughout the game so I wouldn't read this if you haven't finished it, but I guess most people have by now ...

 

Firstly - but I assume that I skipped a whole bunch of stuff in the opening area, where I am playing Boybrush, There's a spitting contest which I didn't win, and what looks like several other puzzles, but you can skip all of this just by finding Guybrush right away and getting him to start the "real" story. Is there any point to hanging around here first, though? Winning the competition for example?

 

Secondly, on my first trip to Melee Island on my first playthrough - I seemed to get myself irretrievably stuck at one point, which seems strange - and had to reload. This is what happened - the fact you can throw various items into the fire in the Scumm Bar seems to make it possible? Basically, the burnable items are all the items that you can use to make the head of the mop (pasta, etc - can't remember the others right now). Now, because I'm used to being able to do anything in these games, without it messing up your ability to win, I just threw everything into the fire that the game would let me. I assumed I was working towards solving a puzzle of some kind. Then after finding myself unable to progress for a long time (although I realised I needed a head for the mop), I was forced to take a peek at a solution online (the in-game hints don't seem to cope with this section very well). The solution just gave me a list of objects that I could use for the mop head - all of which I'd thrown into the fire! Now, the solution didn't mention the fact that you could burn them, so perhaps whoever wrote it just didn't try this, and didn't know you could get yourself stuck (if you can). But now I'm left intrigued - had I actually got myself irretrievably stuck here? Or is there some way of finishing the mop even if you burn all of the items that seem to be options for making the mop head? Is there a legitimate reason for being able to burn various items in the Scumm Bar fire?

 

 

 

[thesnwmn]

2 hours ago, Anne Summers said:

Firstly - but I assume that I skipped a whole bunch of stuff in the opening area, where I am playing Boybrush, There's a spitting contest which I didn't win, and what looks like several other puzzles, but you can skip all of this just by finding Guybrush right away and getting him to start the "real" story. Is there any point to hanging around here first, though? Winning the competition for example?

 

You didn't miss anything really. Maybe the odd gag and I think at least one achievement. But it's just a tutorial.

 

And it's not a spitting contest.

 

2 hours ago, Anne Summers said:

Secondly, on my first trip to Melee Island on my first playthrough - I seemed to get myself irretrievably stuck at one point, which seems strange - and had to reload. This is what happened - the fact you can throw various items into the fire in the Scumm Bar seems to make it possible? Basically, the burnable items are all the items that you can use to make the head of the mop (pasta, etc - can't remember the others right now). Now, because I'm used to being able to do anything in these games, without it messing up your ability to win, I just threw everything into the fire that the game would let me. I assumed I was working towards solving a puzzle of some kind. Then after finding myself unable to progress for a long time (although I realised I needed a head for the mop), I was forced to take a peek at a solution online (the in-game hints don't seem to cope with this section very well). The solution just gave me a list of objects that I could use for the mop head - all of which I'd thrown into the fire! Now, the solution didn't mention the fact that you could burn them, so perhaps whoever wrote it just didn't try this, and didn't know you could get yourself stuck (if you can). But now I'm left intrigued - had I actually got myself irretrievably stuck here? Or is there some way of finishing the mop even if you burn all of the items that seem to be options for making the mop head? Is there a legitimate reason for being able to burn various items in the Scumm Bar fire?

 

Spoiler

A quick search suggests that maybe the Voodoo Head cannot be burnt and is a valid mop head