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Return to Monkey island by Ron Gilbert : 19 september 2022
I thought Gilbert intentionally made Thimbleweed Park play like Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken, and it worked really well as a 80’s throwback, so there’s a good chance he will make Return play or at least feel like the first Monkey Islands. He already promised two difficulty modes.
PC means personal computer
Why are people so sure it’s going to be a wonderful game?
My expectations are not very high. Thimbleweed Park was an okay game, I guess. Certainly not a masterpiece. Ron Gilbert is past his prime and that’s really nothing to be ashamed of at his age. Same goes for Tim Schafer and his Broken Age. Even more so for Jane Jensen and that awful Moebius of hers. And as much as I like the Tex Murphy games, Tesla Effect was mediocre at best. Have any of our beloved developers of the 80s and 90s produced a
masterpiecereally good game lately?
You raise a valid point. Personally I really enjoyed Thimbleweed Park and would go as far to say that, in my estimation, it’s quite possibly the best adventure game of the 21st Century. Still, I think that your approach is a wise one. It’s difficult to be disappointed when one’s expectations aren’t too high. Rather you only stand to be pleasantly surprised, should you enjoy the game.
Dave and Ron writing together again after so many years is a exciting combo.
It really is, though it’s a shame that Tim Schafer isn’t there too (though I understand why he’s not, given that he has his own studio to run). I’m wondering if a certain lacking key element of those first two Monkey Island games will be felt by his absence.
I thought Gilbert intentionally made Thimbleweed Park play like Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken, and it worked really well as a 80’s throwback, so there’s a good chance he will make Return play or at least feel like the first Monkey Islands.
The most reassuring thing which Ron has said about the game is that it’s a proper piratey adventure. That was one of my main sticking points with the latter sequels; that they didn’t feel like they were allowing the player to take part in a proper pirate adventure and to do piratey things.
I didnt play broken age, but Tim’s Psychonauts 2 was just as good as the 1st one to me.
I’m surprised things being for children have a negative connotation here, considering most of us were kids when we grew to love these things. I think it’s safe to say that age range was in fact a large part of the target audience. Perhaps I’m not alone here finding myself without a mini-me to inspire looking at things with fresh eyes? Admittedly I think of reproduction as a bit of a vampiric prospect.
I’m surprised things being for children have a negative connotation here, considering most of us were kids when we grew to love these things. I think it’s safe to say that age range was in fact a large part of the target audience. Perhaps I’m not alone here finding myself without a mini-me to inspire looking at things with fresh eyes? Admittedly I think of reproduction as a bit of a vampiric prospect.
I would hazard a guess that many of us who are of a “certain age” found adventure gaming later in life than as kids. My first game was KQ1, released in 1984. If my math is correct, I was 37 when I played it. (And, yes, that’s right. I’m 74 now.)
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
I was also surprised that ‘cartoons for children’ has been used as a pejorative. I love Looney Toons. I also like Spongebob, Dora the Explorer, Johnny Bravo, Powerfuff Girls, Dexter’s Lab, Scooby Doo, Dragon Ball, Batman, Droopy, Pink Panther, Bozo, the old TMNT, and loads of others. To each their own, but I’m happy to play games that harken towards any of those aesthetics.
Edit: For reference, one of my first adventure games was Conquest of the Longbow. I was born in ‘87, so was probably 4-5 when I played it. Other games played around that time include KQ 4, 5, and 6, as well as Space Quest 4. We probably played DoTT a year or two after release, as I distinctly remember the day us kids chipped in together and bought it at the mall for less than $20.
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In another demo of how Ron is hip to the youths, DAE notice how the game’s name plays on the “Return to Monke” meme?
I was also surprised that ‘cartoons for children’ has been used as a pejorative. I love Looney Toons. I also like Spongebob, Dora the Explorer, Johnny Bravo, Powerfuff Girls, Dexter’s Lab, Scooby Doo, Dragon Ball, Batman, Droopy, Pink Panther, Bozo, the old TMNT, and loads of others. To each their own, but I’m happy to play games that harken towards any of those aesthetics.
You might be happy to, it seems Ron Gilbert is not.
Anyway, one of the things that drew me to LucasArts, Sierra, Discworld and Simon the Sorcerer games as a kid was the adult humour and themes, the cartoon tv-show did not have those and were clearly aimed at children. I didn’t even understand all the jokes, because I was a kid. And I don’t dislike DotT’s art style, Ron does.
The art style of Return however, just looks cheap to me.
Edit; I also seem to remember Torin’s Passage and KQ7 being heavily criticised at the time of release, because they looked like Disney cartoons.
To me it’s just amazing that we are getting a 2d monkey island game. I was certain if there was ever another Monkey Island game it would be mandatory for it to be 3d. (Like Sam and Max)
Out of curiousity, if you had to choose between another 3d game in the vein of Tales or the return to monkey island 2d art, which would you choose?
I’ve always felt Monkey Island lost something in 3d so i’m very happy for a 2d take. I just want to see how they handle Guybrush.
To me it’s just amazing that we are getting a 2d monkey island game. I was certain if there was ever another Monkey Island game it would be mandatory for it to be 3d. (Like Sam and Max)
Out of curiousity, if you had to choose between another 3d game in the vein of Tales or the return to monkey island 2d art, which would you choose?
I’ve always felt Monkey Island lost something in 3d so i’m very happy for a 2d take. I just want to see how they handle Guybrush.
I think it’s a bit unfair to make the choice between 2022 flash art and 2009 not-very-well done 3D. TellTale never had cutting edge 3D, and none of their games ever looked fantastic, except maybe The Wolf Among Us with the comic book cell shading. There were far better looking 3D games at the time, and even if you disregard that, there is a plethora of different styles to choose from within the realm of 3D.
Probably unsurprisingly, I never liked TellTales rendition of Guybrush (or other characters for that matter). But I still think you could make a great looking MI 3D game, given the right style and art direction.
To me it’s just amazing that we are getting a 2d monkey island game. I was certain if there was ever another Monkey Island game it would be mandatory for it to be 3d. (Like Sam and Max)
Out of curiousity, if you had to choose between another 3d game in the vein of Tales or the return to monkey island 2d art, which would you choose?
I’ve always felt Monkey Island lost something in 3d so i’m very happy for a 2d take. I just want to see how they handle Guybrush.
I think it’s a bit unfair to make the choice between 2022 flash art and 2009 not-very-well done 3D. TellTale never had cutting edge 3D, and none of their games ever looked fantastic, except maybe The Wolf Among Us with the comic book cell shading. There were far better looking 3D games at the time, and even if you disregard that, there is a plethora of different styles to choose from within the realm of 3D.
Probably unsurprisingly, I never liked TellTales rendition of Guybrush (or other characters for that matter). But I still think you could make a great looking MI 3D game, given the right style and art direction.
I think its not far off in the sense that Telltale are a bigger team than Terrible Toybox. I also doubt Terrible Toybox have the budget or manpower for good 3d. I feel if it was made in 3d it probably look like DeathSpank or the Cave. Which i dont think would look better than their current 2d.
To be fair i am a bit biased. I can’t think of point and click game that wouldn’t prefer being 2d.
I thought Gilbert intentionally made Thimbleweed Park play like Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken, and it worked really well as a 80’s throwback, so there’s a good chance he will make Return play or at least feel like the first Monkey Islands. He already promised two difficulty modes.
As far as I remember, that was part of the original Kickstarter premise for Thimbleweed Park: to make a game that would look and felt like it could have come out during the same time as ZM and MM, but also modernise it a bit in terms of snappier UI, music and voices.
So, while it was a retro throwback game, a term Gilbert doesn’t seem to like, it was also a modernized retro game at the same time. A sort of a continuation if Lucasfilm had continued doing games with the same UI.
Personally, I liked Thimbleweed Park. I thought it was a charming and well-made adventure game. I think it was, as a game, better than Broken Age, but I didn’t dislike that either. And the documentary they produced of the making of Broken Age is pretty solid as its own piece.
And while I’m on the topic of Tim Schafer, I’ve heard nothing but positive things about Psychonauts 2, which I’m gonna get at some point when I have the time.
To me it’s just amazing that we are getting a 2d monkey island game. I was certain if there was ever another Monkey Island game it would be mandatory for it to be 3d. (Like Sam and Max)
Out of curiousity, if you had to choose between another 3d game in the vein of Tales or the return to monkey island 2d art, which would you choose?
I’ve always felt Monkey Island lost something in 3d so i’m very happy for a 2d take. I just want to see how they handle Guybrush.
I think it’s a bit unfair to make the choice between 2022 flash art and 2009 not-very-well done 3D. TellTale never had cutting edge 3D, and none of their games ever looked fantastic, except maybe The Wolf Among Us with the comic book cell shading. There were far better looking 3D games at the time, and even if you disregard that, there is a plethora of different styles to choose from within the realm of 3D.
Probably unsurprisingly, I never liked TellTales rendition of Guybrush (or other characters for that matter). But I still think you could make a great looking MI 3D game, given the right style and art direction.
I think its not far off in the sense that Telltale are a bigger team than Terrible Toybox. I also doubt Terrible Toybox have the budget or manpower for good 3d. I feel if it was made in 3d it probably look like DeathSpank or the Cave. Which i dont think would look better than their current 2d.
To be fair i am a bit biased. I can’t think of point and click game that wouldn’t prefer being 2d.
If only it was actually-any-good-2D, like MI2 or 3, I would have no qualms with that. The choice between bad and mediocre is not really one i care to make. There are way smaller studios than TellTale that have created fantastic 3D visuals.
Incidentally, Ron has reopened the comments section of grumpygamer.com. The old post are still deleted tho, as far as I understand.
Is there a fight song for heated internet debates about entertainment?
@Toymafia1988: this is personal, but I would subject myself to early 2000s 3D graphics and tank controls for this experience and I’m not even a particular Monkey Island fan(-b).
I love a couple of the puzzles in the first four games, the music and the theories about the plot and ending to the second installment. I’m pretty confident the game will deliver in at least two of the three departments and that’s good enough for me. If the game is more than 15 bucks, I’ll have to consider buying it in about a year or two, which is also good enough for me.
I wonder who will create the music for this game.
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