Monkey Island

Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition out now on Steam. Also Tales of Monkey Island, a brand new adventure.

Is it worth it? Tempted by nostlagia, wary after my hueg Grim Fandango disappointment.

reviews:
http://uk.xboxlive.ign.com/articles/100/1003651p1.html
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/07/review-tales-of-monkey-island-launch-of-the-screaming-narwhal/

Not a fan of episodic releases, so if I played at all I'd wanna wait for the whole thing to be available. The new hint system sounds kind of interesting but on the whole I've gotta say I'm not that into pixel-hunting in the 09.

Loving the original on the iPhone. Interface is a bit lazy -- you drag (in a laggy way) a virtual pointer around the screen. You get used to it though, and you need for a lot of the puzzles, which do involve pixel hunting. The hints are probably a bit too easy to get to now.

I'm not sure it's worth paying for the new version considering you can get the regular old edition online for free. The only difference is going to be voiceovers and fancy visuals, right?

I played this and Day of the Tentacle a couple years ago and found both just as entertaining, if not more, than when I played them as a kid. So I would say: yes, give into your nostalgia temptation, whether you get the xbox one or the scummvm one.

been playing the iphone versions of these games and enjoying them alot. however I forgot how fucking hard they are. like the card catalog sequence in part 2. are you kidding me? how is someone supposed to just figure that out? I guess Im getting dumber in my old age.

found the first remake in the series much more playable and fun than the sequel, not to mention a zillion times less frustrating. god knows how i coped in the early 90s when there was no internet full of hints and walkthroughs. i'm guessing i spent a fortune on the helpline, as they jokily mention in the directors commentary. i wonder how much revenue those phonelines brought in? i know i spent quids and quids worth on the dizzy the egg helplines.

both games still fun btw, and the 2nd one did and does look prettier. but man, some of the puzzles in MI2 are out and out evil

downloaded the Tales from Monkey Island package from the Playstation Store last night. It seems pretty fun so far and consistent in tone with the original games but it has got to be one of the ugliest games I have seen on the PS3.

check out this dude (link because it's a big pic): http://www.scummbar.com/tx/games/tmi/screenshots/talesofmi_narwhal.jpg

"If I Made Another Monkey Island..." by Ron Gilbert

It would be a retro game that harkened back to Monkey Island 1 and 2. I'd do it as "enhanced low-res". Nice crisp retro art, but augmented by the hardware we have today: parallaxing, depth of field, warm glows, etc. All the stuff we wanted to do back in 1990 but couldn't. Monkey Island deserves that. It's authentic. It doesn't need 3D. Yes, I've seen the video, it's very cool, but Monkey Island wants to be what it is. I would want the game to be how we all remember Monkey Island.

http://grumpygamer.com/5777333

Can we please kickstarter this? I've got 50 bucks i'll throw down.

it's got to be better than that last thing, when i watched Joel playing it it had some of the most interminable cut scenes i've ever scene

Ron Gilbert OTM. Except I'm not sure what he means by 'lose the verbs' - what would replace them? Possibly a failure of imagination on my part, possibly a minor warning sign that it wouldn't be 'how we all remember Monkey Island'. Also I don't give a shit about 'full voice', but I'm weird like that.

Maybe replace the verbs with pictographic icon wheel? Count me in for the full voice thing too, playing the remastered 1 & 2 from a few years ago, it sort of wasn't as funny with the dialog being spoken rather than read.

The Monkey Island 3 they released was a good game but narrative-wise seriously a letdown for me, and it really brings joy to know RG wants to start from right after 2.

I have fond memories of working through the third one with my awesome college roommate, as part of a larger sweep of miscellaneous adventure games (KQ6, Seaquest, god knows what else), it was good collaborative fun and while we got horribly stuck a few times I think it was a fun game. At least it wasn't ugly like the fourth one. At the same time, I can't remember a damn thing about it specifically, not one puzzle, not one joke, not one payoff - whereas I have the first one memorized. TBF I probably played that one more than just the once, too!

I've played 2 probably a dozen times. Sometimes i will just load it up and watch the intro credits and listen to that amazing music, with the faded pictures of real pirates. Effing amazing.

that intro music for MI2 is all-time

first 2 games are obviously classics but 3 is the one that's in 'best pc game ever' territory for me, it just felt so much more immersive and expansive. if they could make a new game anywhere on the spectrum between the first 3 in look & feel it'd probably be amazing.

i'm surprised you guys don't like 3, but i suppose if you guys loved 2 it's understandable

it had Scrooge McDuck singing in it, come on guys

oh god remind me not to play 3 ever then

And Murray, the funny skeleton head, was the standout for me. Which is sort of too bad because the first game already had you carrying around, arguing/joking with, and swapping necklaces with a relatively intact decapitated head.

Third game just felt like alot of recycled ideas. The second one recycled a few but really had a much more idiosyncratic tone.

https://www.behance.net/gallery/59547099/Pixel-Art-TV

love these

those are great

We need a "Music that sounds like Monkey Island" thread

Wow wow wow!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCU0npOKXVo

damn. very nice arrangement and performance! could easily hear that over the closing credits or romantic climax of a big-budget Monkey Island movie... tho for reasons of tone i feel like the opening credits should be closer to the game soundtrack, Caribbean instrumentation, etc.

way back when Doctor Casino was more of a musical pseudonym i def had a couple tracks where i was kinda leaning into Monkey Island territory in my mind, tho outside observers assumed i was going for Tom Waits.

Blood Money is definitely riffing off a similar style, but I'm not exactly sure what that style is. Caribbean, yes, but it's not to my knowledge calypso or reggae despite sharing similarities. The time signature switches on Monkey Island theme are pretty mindblowing

I never thought about it before, but I played the first one of these a lot and now I'm wondering if it had an outsize influence on my music taste. I also was obsessed with Sid Meier's Pirates

I was literally saying this yesterday to a friend online. I wonder how much my love of reggae and Caribbean music comes from this game

I've credited Pirates, which I don't think even had music, with at least partially fuelling a general interest in the Caribbean (which is a pretty lol origin story, I know), just sailing around that map for hours and hours, learning all the island and city names.

10cc dreadlock holiday

trying to pick a few examples of tunes that give off a bit of a Monkey Island vibe without going too much down that gypsy swing/festival cabaret vibe. i thought i'd have loads of examples but can't think of too much. it's collaborative, so feel free to add any good ones

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4q6SjgDzjZQQ35MRWsi8NG?si=Nl7xR3TpTmixeGwEo8ZrGA

thread is reminding me that i think i never actually finished 2? will need to remedy this immediately, feels like the perfect project to focus on while marking time til my vax

I really love the Stranglers' 'And The Boat Sails By', which I always thought had a Monkey Island vibe to it.
(The track is from their time with singer Paul Roberts, which is overall not so highly acclaimed, but I think they had some strong moments in this phase too. I like the entire 'About Time' album a lot.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5az2MPJ--w

yeah between Pirates! on the C64 and Monkey Island on PC, and some choice Playmobil sets, the pirate milieu was a pretty big part of my childhood at the turn of the 90s. even the word "grog" was a fascinating mystery.

god there's got to be an XTC or Roxy Music song that would fit this. I was thinking Kid Creole but couldnt' find a track that really had the vibe

if we're talking marimbas and lofi beats, The Knife - Pass This On foots the bill.

Also loads of tunes off Console - Herself, a personal fave album of mine

haunted marimbas in two lone swordsmen it's not the worst i've ever looked etc; also emily's theme from the brick soundtrack, maybe a bit too downtempo though.

Maybe it's because they've got a song called "Monkeys Uptown" but Iron & Wine must have a few of these.

actually listening to it now, it's perfect

This always reminded me of Monkey Island by way of Out Run:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx0yCpfNPmw

(Skip to 4:15 for buildup)

This is so good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf7VQiu1MGo

that's so great

i love this too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr-84mjV3CI

How did they manage to get so much character and musicality out of those tiny cards and processors? There's no concession for sloppiness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sahskKAxSCY

Apparently it ignores all but the first two games, when Ron Gilbert stopped working on them.

its not like anyone cares about the monkey island narrative timeline anyway. 3 was my favorite game for a while as a kid but have at it

...there's soooo much internet kerfluffle about the MI timeline especially post-LeChuck's revenge. And 3 WAS great!

But it sounds like he IS keeping part 3 as canon (not so much 4 and 5), Gilbert tweeted it somewhere. Also they did manage to get back the voice actor for Guybrush so he obviously doesn't totally hate that entry

pixel art or gtfo

nah only joking, i've played the hd versions of the first two and they're still great. Looking forward to this though.

man i played the HD version of 2 last year and at one point i thought i'd go for the full nostalgia experience and switch to the OG 640x480 version and the images were almost indecipherable to my 2022 eyes. in my memory those games seemed so detailed lush, but it really gave me a fuller understanding of how much work my 12y/o imagination was doing to fill in all those images.

Some interesting behind the scenes stuff here, courtesy of the Video Game History Foundation:

https://gamehistory.org/monkeyisland/

Really amazing work they did for that!

I never finished Thimbleweed Park -- it's great but I didn't have enough time, and then Breath of the Wild turned up.

This is cool though, will dweebily purchase on the day of release I'm sure

I've never played 3 - I remember being disappointed as a kid and quitting after a couple hours

3 has graphics that still look great to me today. The new game is using some of the same voice actors.

I never finished the telltale series. I installed it again last month and... no, just no. Tired jokes and so slow and ugly.

Yeah. Even on Thimbleweed, which doesn't quite hit the mark, Gilbert's a singular writer, especially with gags. He's sort of classically "corny but without being actually corny" and that's hard to imitate precisely.

Yeah, 4 was.. eh. I kept meaning to get around to 5, maybe I'll grind it out in time for this new one to come out.

I loved 3, though. I mean, the sea shanty part alone made it worth it. And the voice of Scrooge McDuck!

I got Return to Monkey Island for Christmas and have just finished it. Strangely sad!

i just finished it a couple days ago as well, very solid entry

I liked the theme tune bit and was quite proud of getting that. The second-last puzzle in the last part had me grumbling for quite a while!

i quite enjoyed return to monkey island but the very ending didn't work for me - seemed like they needed to expand that part a bit to make the point they were trying to make bc it felt sudden and confusing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxMwWG1lyJI

i should look up more marimba music. such a fun instrument.

That whole album is gold btw. That's more of an instrumental interlude track but there's loads of marimba all over it