Return To Monkey Island - MI2 sequel from Ron Gilbert

[Darkozric]

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ShaggyDogStory

 

[ferratilis]

 

[Keshik]

Why are people always like this.

 

[El Presidente]

"I'm a gamer, not like those normies who consume cheap stuff like Call of Duty and Battlefield, they would never understand fine, tasteful art such as Return to Monkey Island's graphics."

 

[rusty_shackleford]

"honour"
ofc it's a e*ropeon

 

[Cunt Dickula!?]

When was the last Medal of Honor even released 2010 or smth?

 

[El Presidente]

I'd play Medal of Honor over Monkey Island Resurrections any day of the week

 

[infidel]

Same here, but if you remember MI2 ending, everything was just a imagination's product of two overexcited boys in theme park. Or not. Never liked this ending.

Heh, I always thought they were both transported back in time into a different timeline with LeChuck retaining his knowledge and Guybrush losing it, that's why the red eyes. And Elaine was left in the current timeline, hence the rope scene.

 

[Fowyr]

Why are people always like this.

You don't even know a half of it.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/2060...398021990/?insideModal=1#c5241649843398113991

The art style is quirky, charming, detailed, superbly animated, and absolutely oozes character and expression. So much that it makes the old games seem stiff and lifeless by comparison, as wonderful as they are, especially 1 and 2. It really doesn't matter at all that this may technically be a cheap/easy technique when it is executed so well. I'd suggest it is exactly that that allowed them to put so much focus on the animation, expressiveness, etc.

It's perfect for the game, imho. I'm happy this closed-minded whining over the art style, which got old months ago, seems to be a vocal minority opinion, and primarily one held by people who haven't actually played the game yet - just complaining over screenshots. Just look at the reviews of people actually playing the game!

Perhaps someone will make a plugin that renders the game as a 320x240 mosaic for those stuck in the past.

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

Why are people always like this.

You don't even know a half of it.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/2060...398021990/?insideModal=1#c5241649843398113991

The art style is quirky, charming, detailed, superbly animated, and absolutely oozes character and expression. So much that it makes the old games seem stiff and lifeless by comparison, as wonderful as they are, especially 1 and 2. It really doesn't matter at all that this may technically be a cheap/easy technique when it is executed so well. I'd suggest it is exactly that that allowed them to put so much focus on the animation, expressiveness, etc.

It's perfect for the game, imho. I'm happy this closed-minded whining over the art style, which got old months ago, seems to be a vocal minority opinion, and primarily one held by people who haven't actually played the game yet - just complaining over screenshots. Just look at the reviews of people actually playing the game!

Perhaps someone will make a plugin that renders the game as a 320x240 mosaic for those stuck in the past.

That guy posted exactly the same comment on Indie Retro News. Are these bots or what?

 

[80s Stallone]

Why not reveal Monkey Island to be a coping fantasy of Guybrush, being a victim of his stepfather's abuse, a big burly bearded rocker type. "Ready to board, pirate!"

 

[zapotec]

Oh i see Overwhelming positive on steam

 

[Ravielsk]

So what I am getting from all the posts here is that this is essentially a pointless game that does not advance the plot of the previous games nor does it add anything to them. Its filler at best and a shitty attempt at a reboot at worst.

I also absolutely love the attitude towards "retro-fascists". What exactly did Ron expect? That he will make a not-sequel 30 years too late that looks worse than the 1990 original and get a pat on the back? I have indie games on videogame magazine DVDs decade old that look better than this.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

So what I am getting from all the posts here is that this is essentially a pointless game that does not advance the plot of the previous games nor does it add anything to them. Its filler at best and a shitty attempt at a reboot at worst.

I also absolutely love the attitude towards "retro-fascists". What exactly did Ron expect? That he will make a not-sequel 30 years too late that looks worse than the 1990 original and get a pat on the back? I have indie games on videogame magazine DVDs decade old that look better than this.

Putting plot and graphics aside, what I've been hearing is that the humor is awful, its filled with references to past games that basically just go "remember this?" and the puzzles are a complete joke. These aren't even takes from the Codex, that's other, more positive forums for you. This basically only appeals if you haven't played the originals since they came out and felt nostalgic for them.
Either way his tactics have worked, since its number two on the best-sellers list. I didn't figure that that many people would buy it based on the lackluster number of views on the trailer, but I guess I was wrong. We'll see if it has legs beyond the nostalgics...

 

[Jenkem]

"hahaha you are a fucking retarded man-child for enjoying the story I told you!"

ron gilbert is such a fucking nonce

 

[HeroMarine]

the humor is awful, its filled with references to past games that basically just go "remember this?"

The Family Guy formula.

 

[Mary Sue Leigh]

Is there a "Look behind you, a three headed monke!" option in every single dialog?
That's the level of callback I would expect.

Ah well, sad this neither bombed with tasty meltdowns nor turned out to be a worthwhile game. Meaning it has no entertainment value either way, which is the worst outcome.
What's the next big thing that might produce any?

 

[MRY]

It is probably going to be the most successful non-first-person adventure game of all time, certainly of modern time (almost 16,000 simultaneous players first day, I don't know any any comparable numbers on Steam for an adventure game), and has 95% positive rating with over 1,000 reviews within 24 hours. As a useful point of comparison, Broke Agen peaked at 3,000 simultaneous players in its first month, has 4,000 reviews after 8 years, and is 82% positive. King's Quest peaked at 700 players in its first month, has 2,500 reviews after 7 years, and is 89% positive. Unavowed, WEG's crowning glory that was considered a mass-appeal title, peaked at 300 and has 1,500 reviews after 4 years.

The only adventure game to even be in the same ballpark is The Walking Dead. It like 6,000 simultaneous players at launch (and even when steeply discounted only hit 12,000), but it has 35,000 reviews (after 10 years) and is 96% positive. It is largely considered the most mass-appeal third person adventure ever, no? We'll see whether RMI has the same legs; impossible to know after two days.

But in every measure to date, the game has objectively succeeded, even if subjectively it's not to the tastes of a particular player or small group of players. They picked the right art style, the right humor, and the right tone for the market. Yes, they had a popular brand. (So did King's Quest.) Yes, they were backed by Disney and other powerbrokers. But at the end of the day, a game has to find its players, and RMI did.

Not sure whether I'll ever be one of those players; nothing I've seen about the game is to my taste. But the ugly angriness and angry ugliness in this thread is unbecoming. It's too late to change RMI or even the perception of RMI. The only way to save the things you loved in games from the past is to support the games you love that have those elements, whether it's Blackthorne's stuff or Pyke's or WEG's or any of a dozen other developers making adventure games of all stripes. You're too weak to tear down RMI, but not too weak to lift up Statis: Bone Totem or Brok the Investigator.

 

[Mary Sue Leigh]

The Stasis games are really good, Unavowed looks interesting..
But is Brok a game that non-furries can also enjoy?

 

[Alienman]

Just like the rest of the world, ugliness is rewarded.

 

[Red Hexapus]

So here's my take after finishing the first chapter and starting the second one on a borrowed copy:

> the art style is generally OK in motion, worse than MI1 and MI2 obviously, but I would still place it above Disney-esque "Curse of.."
> the puzzles are simple even when playing on the so-called "hard-mode", at least there is no "moon-logic", but still it feels like "Baby's First Adventure Game"
> the game runs on "remember this" cliches, there is some humour there, but I still would prefer if they came up with something original (it reminds me Star Wars VII in this regards and it pissed me off there too)
> there are people saying the prologue fixes the ending of MI2; I felt the opposite, that the prologue feels forced on, just to fit in with the following narrative
> there is a fucking TRIVIA book with trivia cards strawn around which ask non-diegetic questions about the games and creators of games e.g. "which year Ron Gilbert started working in Lucasarts" or "was was the system MI1 was released on initially"... seriously WTF

After that I thought enough is enough and decided to see the ending on YT and... well, let's say I was expecting the secret would never be revealed considering how they could never handle it properly.

spoiler about the ending

It is a T-shirt and I'm OK with that, especially considering the T-shirts in the first game. I'm not OK with the "it was all a theme park attraction" meta non-ending. A huge "fuck you, I'll do it again" middle finger from Ron.

TLDR; art is OK, puzzles are meh, game is mediocre, don't play it if you loved MI1 and/or MI2

 

[Dexter]

But is Brok a game that non-furries can also enjoy?

I'm pretty sure the developer is actually a furry, but if you could watch and enjoy something like Talespin or Chip n Dale in the 90s you can probably enjoy this. It has a 3-4 hour long Prologue that you can play for free though, so there's really no harm in trying:

 

[Morgoth]

So is the story/puzzling/writing still up to snuff or is it just an overrated old man's vanity thing?

 

[ADULF HITLOR FAN KLUB]

It is probably going to be the most successful non-first-person adventure game of all time

Funny how a shit game, that everybody seems to despise and even had bad ratios on Youtube, currently appears to be succeeding.

 

[Pyke]

Im more and more convinced that trying to figure out how popular something is by Twitter outrage and YouTube ratios is a fools errand.
Normies don't care about that stuff. They just want to play things. Outrage has become a marketing tool as much the trailers themselves. As we have moved away from websites and traditional advertising and towards social media advertising, it's really a case of 'if it bleeds it leads'.