I'm a massive Monkey Island fan & I used to hold Ronzo as something akin to a deity... however, there's been 3 Monkey Island games without him. There are now more Monkey Islands with no Ronaldo than there are with him. Kinda weird.

Were they good? Wellllllll.... Curse was awesome. Quite worthy of standing with the original two, even if the last chapter was a bit weak.

Escape was ok. It had some very funny dialogue, even if it wasn't as true to the spirit of Ronnie's work as Curse was. But it was undoubtedly a Monkey Island game, nitpicking aside. The problem is the controls, but hey... it's what you have.

Tales... Tales was simply coasting on nostalgia & brand name alone. Not to mention it was a huge slap in the face to every fan. After 10 years of no Monkey business, the Adventure studio that promised to go back to point n' click, delivers A BRAND NEW GAME... with the same or worse controls as Escape. And a much weaker, blander story. Gee, thanks Telltale...

So, while Gilly could probably disregard Tales, in my opinion it'd be just wrong to do the same to Curse & Escape. Sure, it's his characters, but they were expanded in the spirit of his original creations & I don't think there's that many people who are willing to simply forget those two adventures & the direction the characters went.

They're every bit a part of your Monkey memories as the original duology, and it'd be quite jarring to have the characters rewound back to where they were at the end of LeChuck's Revenge.

There's also the fact that Gigi hasn't done anything groundbreaking ever since LeChuck's Revenge, so what are the odds HIS Monkey Island 3 will win against a Curse backed up by amazing artwork, a Michael Land soundtrack, a great story, a voicework that redefined the characters & last but not least, over 20 years of nostalgia when/if the new one will be published?

Unless he gets the whole crew back together, I don't hold much hope for whatever he's going to do with Monkey Island, even if it's his own creation.

If Ronster does get the whole crew back together... well, then it might very well be worth it. Maybe they won't be able to conjure up the amount of magic required to pull off a Machine Head, but I would certainly settle for a The Battle Rages On...

We'll see.

Yeah, it was... in 1991. I'm sorry, but I see absolutely no reason to go all pixels when we can have really beautiful looking adventure games now, like Daedalic's Chains of Satinav, Deponia series, Night of the Rabbit etc. A game does not need to look like it's from 1991 to evoke old-school sensibilities, there are plenty of game that have proven so.

I know there's a lot of people who love pixels, and I do not begrudge them their fun with games like that. I'm only speaking for myself- I have no interest in games that pretend it's still nineteen ninety fuck. I'm interested in games that attempt to combine the worthwile elements of old-school games with modern graphics and gameplay improvements.

I still very much enjoy many old games, with their old graphics and various incoveniences, but that is, for me, an entirely different matter (at least for me).

It was? Damn, I had no idea. I enjoyed it. Not nearly as much as the first three, but more than Escape. I definately didn't see it as any kind of betrayal.

Meh. I felt it was because they went back on their promise of making point n' click games, I was really hoping for a good old p&c Monkey Island.

They had already released Wallace & Gromit with the bad controls, but I was kinda hoping it was a one-off thing. I guess I only have myself to blame for expecting that a promise would be kept.

Incidentally, I like Wallace & Gromit more than Tales & find the awkward controls are more fitting for that particular game. A shame I didn't register on GOG in time to get it here. I have it on my Telltale account, but that place is filled with cobwebs & broken dreams. *cue sad violin*

Anyhoo, I played through Tales, but I do find it to be the weakest of the series. Some funny bits & clever writing at times, but overall, not quite up to par. It's not horrible, or anything. Just not as good as the other MI games, in my opinion.

And things cease to be beautiful because of changes in technology? Shit, does that mean that we should write off black and white films? What about oil paints, does everyone have to use acrylics now?
The point is that just because advances in technology have opened up new possibilities, there's nothing wrong with using older techniques for a particular effect or simply because you like it. A game doesn't need to look like it's from 1991 to evoke old-school sensibilities, but has it occurred to you that people might make it look like that simply because they like pixel art?

If you'd write off games for using pixel art, it's your loss.
I enjoyed it more than Escape too.

There is a clue hidden somewhere in my post. It might be in the following sentence: "I know there's a lot of people who love pixels, and I do not begrudge them their fun with games like that. I'm only speaking for myself" I guess you'll have to deduce the answer to your question from that.

Seriously though- I just don't like pixel art. At all. I absolutely agree that things don't have to use cutting edge technology, and that things don't cease to be beautiful because technology aged (at least not most times). It's just that I personally don't like pixel art. I don't mind it in old games, because that's what they had to work with. But new games that try to look all pixel 90s... nope. No way am I picking up Pixelweed Park over Anna's Quest or Samorost 3 or any other p&c game from my wishlist.

Again- I'm only speaking for myself. If someone loves pixels, and (for example) can't stand the cartoony look of Deponia, that's fair enough.

I'm aware that EfMI had retcons, which is part of the reason why I don't look upon it favourably. =P Still, though I am hardly a fan of EfMI, I'm not exactly sure that retcons are a solution to retcons.

Furthermore, MI2's ending not resolving the way Gilbert imagined it is certainly a deviation, but it's not a retcon, since the continuity at that part didn't continue until CoMI was created.

I hope so, I love Monkey Island games :)

It´s Threepwood ya scurvy dog :P

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I meant it in a sort of metaphorical way. Ron Gilbert already had a resolution in mind at the time so for him it was a recon.
I read your post as suggesting that it was sone kind of retro hipster nonsense, but I realise now that it was probably just in my head. I was defending against something you weren't saying.

I am happy to see that there are so many people that care about this great game series. Thank you.
Now maybe GOG will have one more reason to try to get Monkey Island 3 and 4 here.
Also, lets hope that Gilbert will be able to do something and get the IP from Disney, even that Monkey Island is considered a direct rival to Pirates of the Caribbean.
Thank you once again, and I will post news whenever there will be.

Personal interpretations and desires, even when coming from (one of) the creator(s), are not official continuity, though. Even if Gilbert interprets it that way, that doesn't make it officially a retcon. For better or worse, Gilbert wasn't there to establish the continuity how he envisioned it, so it's not relevant to the subject of continuity.

Depends on who you ask :D. I mean, I personally do not consider Curse of Monkey Island to be part of the continuity, never mind Escape from Monkey Island. And I am pretty sure most fans of the series absolutely and totally ignore Escape's contribution to the story (not so much CoMI, I guess). And that makes sense. You are talking as if discussing an overarching story set in a cohesive and consistent world. I can almost absolutely guarantee that the developers of Escape were not at all bothering with that beyond taking a couple of the major characters, the Island itself (not even mapped the same) and cramming some variation of insult swordfighting in there.

A comparison could be, for example, how the recent Amazing Spiderman movies have been completely discarded, and the character has been reset to just after getting his powers.
Or how the Star Wars extended universe has been completely discarded, and new stuff is now going to replace it.
If the stuff that was to be discarded was worth salvaging, individual fans certainly would, building up in their mind "alternate universes" or whatever (as I do with the Star Wars stuff).
Escape from Monkey Island...honestly, I don't think anyone considers it worth salvaging. It added nothing of value in terms of story arc changes or new characters or locations, and tried to ham-handedly retcon Herman Toothrot (in such a forgettable way, I have no memory of it).

Not really. Those are total reboots, not meant to be in the same continuity, so it's not a good comparison. I think something like Highlander 2 is what you are looking for- something that theoretically, officialy, is supposed to be in continuity, but it makes absolutely no sense for it to be.