Cressup talks to the legendary video game developer Ron Gilbert all about his latest game, Return to Monkey Island. If you haven’t played the game there ARE spoilers – we even finally find out what the secret of Monkey Island is once and for all!
The Game: https://returntomonkeyisland.com/
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Chapters:
00:00:00 Intro
00:00:59 How Return came to be
00:04:23 How it was kept a secret
00:05:47 Best reaction to the game getting made (from Dominic)
00:07:09 Announcing on April 1st
00:08:10 Which characters didn’t make the cut
00:10:15 The beginning of Return to Monkey Island
00:11:20 Were there any other beginning ideas?
00:13:50 What does the beginning mean?
00:18:35 The writer’s cut
00:21:16 Melee Town and how it’s changed
00:22:40 Fan reaction to the game
00:26:15 Cut content from the game – Cogg Island
00:30:14 Terror Island
00:31:19 Guybrush as a “chaotic neutral” character
00:32:44 Elaine in Return to Monkey Island
00:35:47 LeChuck in Return to Monkey Island
00:41:41 The Secret of Monkey Island finally REVEALED!
00:44:12 No confrontation at the end – why?
00:46:52 The one true ending?
00:49:26 The note from the scarpbook used to be the T Shirt
00:51:00 How Ron felt finishing the game
00:53:21 The Future of Monkey Island
00:55:35 Return to Maniac Mansion?
00:57:11 Return DLC?
00:59:59 Foreign Voiceovers
01:01:04 A new game where you play as Elaine?
01:03:09 Were any of Guybrush’s adventures real?
01:04:48 Ron’s favourite David Lynch film
01:05:30 There’s an ending we haven’t yet discovered
01:07:15 Captain Madison in Return to Monkey Island
01:09:06 What was the hardest part making the game?
01:11:00 The game’s UI
01:14:00 Where was Meathook?
01:16:20 Monkey Island theme park?
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00:57:11 A DLC doesn't have to change anything about the story. I would LOVE to see (and pay for) a DLC with the developers' running commentary just like in the first two Special Edition games.
Really enjoying this game. I'm about 2/3 through.
the game does seem to lack heart 😢. the passion and attention to detail in previous games made it clear that they were the result of a labor of love. this game seemed like it was made by someone who was just doing their job, just checking all the boxes and what was required for it qualify as an adventure game, definitely not by someone who loved what they did.
it is almost as if some specific incident drained him of all the enthusiasm and passion he had for the game. something that inflicted so much trauma that working on the game just gave him a bad taste in his mouth and he just wanted to get the thing over with. he may deny it had impact on his work, but I believe it did and the psychological damage done may take a long time to recover from. 😭
Ron Gilbert fell into the trap of intersectional feminism and hired a bunch of Lesbians and Betamales full of soy to promote his irrational political views to you. That's about all that was really in RtMI. Just ignore this garbage. Horrible voiceacting from these people, bad writing, bad artwork. Game engine is great though. But Leftists just have zero talent to tell a good story.
I loved gullet. He made me laugh many times
Great interview. Enjoyed the game Ron. I assumed the wheel puzzle at the end was a nod to the original copy protection on the floppy disks 😂
Thank you very much, Mr. Gilbert, for the 2022 game of the year (at least in my opionion) and giving your insight on various things in this lengthy interview!
Thank you so much for this great conversation with one of the best game creators out there! I would love to see his eventual approach to an Elaine game. If I were to do it, which of course wouldn't be Ron Gilbert's approach by definition, I'd have Elaine on an adventure with a teenage Boybrush, and perhaps another offspring, where the player has to balance her no-nonsense approach with the chaotic nature of her kids. Perhaps the object would be to HIDE the Secret…or to come back with a story that would earn the kids their own "Grand Master Chum" standing! 🙂
Thank you very much
I was just googling about Ron and found this video! So cool to see this was recent, lucky too! Edit: Just getting past the first 2-3 minutes I can already tell this is gonna be a good one.
I think it's no coincidence that Tales, the most dramatic game in the franchise, started with a LeChuck that no longer cared about the secret of Monkey Island, while in this game where many people are saying "nothing meant anything" has him chasing it again. This only reaffirms that from the beginning, the secret was never meant to be something dramatic, quite the contrary. Increasing the stakes in the non-gilbert games was possible because they didn't carry the responsibility of having the secret be tied to it all. I understand the multiple-ending decision because it's the recogniztion that these characters, that started as jokes, came to have stories that made us root for them or get worried that something genuinely bad could happen to them, without being dishonest in hiding what they were supposed to be.
Sadly, I didn't like the new Monkey Island at all, but I do truly hope that everyone else had a blast!
So let's get this straight…
Guybrush isn't actually a pirate, he's just an incredibly mental ill person who spent his adult life at a pirate themed amusment park hallucinating that it was actually real, and going on numerous big hallucinated adventures, only to one day partially wake up, just as his hallucinated life is finaly about to come to a climax, to realise that the town/characters around him are just a set, while still hallucinating that the treasure/secret he's been chasing in his hallucinated life is real……….
And then years latter he has a son, who he decides to pyschologically torture by telling him that his hallucinated life of being a pirate was real, while throwing in clues that it is all a lie (like the part where he tells him that the town is actually fake) just like a murderer who purposefully leaves clues for the detectives………….
That is litteraly the worst "story" I have ever heard!
Ron Gilbert is a freak!
I'd be hones, I didn't like the art style at the first glance, but after couple of minutes i stopped noticing it. After an hour or so, it grew on me. I believe it gave the artists a lot of creative freedom, instead of doing pixel art, or Curse of Monkey Island rip-off.
Is there a Linux version coming ?
I always liked the design and colorfulness of monkey Island just like with crash bandicoot or rayman. It was so lively and the music gave it a real nice atmosphere too. ^^ Sometimes I wonder what would happen if Toby Fox and Ron Gilbert created a game together in a new world with new characters. The puzzles and mysteries meshed with the humor would be such a insane fit.
I have no idea who you are, so forgive my ignorance, but how does someone with <600 subscribers snag interviews with both Ron and Dominic?!
edit: After watching, it was a great interview. One burning question I had when I finished the game was: If Stan and Elaine are real, what on earth are they doing whilst Guybrush is off living his fantasies? Is Elaine actually curing scurvy?!
I'm glad you guys touched on the QOL improvements, especially the "Previously on" and the hover text. Both are simple additions that really move the stagnant genre forward.
Awesome game!
The only criticism is no Linux support! Why?
Everything Dinky engine does can be done in PIXI JS and CT.JS and be even browser-based, with effects, particles etc.
i never saw anybody comment on the wires and structural damage under monkey island near the end of return. are these the missing easter eggs mr gilbert?
Do you have another editing of the video full screen with no game on the back?
Cool int.
“The story of the story of Monkey Island” was my video! Glad to hear Ron liked that interpretation.