What would Monkey Island be nowdays,if Ron Gilbert had made his MI3 in 1992?

[alkapel]

If Ron had made his Monkey Island 3, I beleive that nowdays Monkey Island would be an old old game (like Day of the Tentacle)! And I think that never would be a sequel! Neither Curse, nor Escape, nor Tales! So i think that Monkey Island now would be an old good memory for all of us.. What do you think?

[MonkeyMania]

It would have suffered the same fate as the King's Quest franchise.

[Polychrome]

The world of "what if" is useless at this point, IMO. For all we know, they could have dug through Ron's desk at work after he left and used the contents to put together Monkey Island 3.

The game as we know it? I wouldn't have it any other way. (With the exception of better graphics for a very specific title, but I figure that'll happen eventually.) Maybe I'm alone in saying this, but there's some really good things that have come out of MI being what it is. The commentaries about pitching the game to Ron Gilbert (on the Tales disk) lead me to believe things wouldn't have been all that different anyway.

[Chyron8472]

Originally Posted by MonkeyMania

It would have suffered the same fate as the King's Quest franchise.

Not quite. The King's Quest series had 7 point-and-click titles (8 doesn't really count.)

Monkey Island may very well have stopped at 3 if Ron really had made his MI3 back in the day (which I still am not quite convinced he ever really planned to.)

[doodo!]

Seeing how he clearly meant to end the franchise with the second game and never really had a secret to begin with, I'd say it would be a really shitty game.

[MonkeyMania]

Alternate History of Monkey Island
Engine 1
(1990) The Secret of Monkey Island
(1991) Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
(1992) Monkey Island 3: The Treasure of Big Whoop
Engine 2 (DOTT/S&M)
(1994) Monkey Island 4: The Curse of Davy Jones
Engine 3 (Would-be CMI) The Cartoon Era
(1996) Monkey Island 5: Blackbeard's Passage
(1998) Monkey Island 6: The Stone of Untold Legend
Engine 4 (Grim Fandango)
(2000) Monkey Island 7: The Pirate Legacy

Then Death

[jeeno0142]

Originally Posted by MonkeyMania

Alternate History of Monkey Island
Engine 1
(1990) The Secret of Monkey Island
(1991) Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
(1992) Monkey Island 3: The Treasure of Big Whoop
Engine 2 (DOTT/S&M)
(1994) Monkey Island 4: The Curse of Davy Jones
Engine 3 (Would-be CMI) The Cartoon Era
(1996) Monkey Island 5: Blackbeard's Passage
(1998) Monkey Island 6: The Stone of Untold Legend
Engine 4 (Grim Fandango)
(2000) Monkey Island 7: The Pirate Legacy

Then Death

It would have been nice to experience a new monkey game every couple or so years instead of having to wait a decade. That said, the wait was worth it.

[StarEye]

I guess it all depends on what Gilbert had in mind for his big finale. Nobody knows if there would be some irreversable ending that would prevent any sequels to happen, or if the ending would open up for more sequels or even prequels.

Either way, IF the series had ended at three games, I'm sure that there would be ways to use the franchise even today in some way or other. For one, there could definately be a special edition. And second, I'm sure the series would be able to continue without having a continuing story. For example, Tales of Monkey Island could very well have been a series of short stories that happened between Monkey Island 1 and 2 - and for all we know, maybe even between MI2 and 3. Heck, maybe we'd get a Monkey Island Zero - the story of how Guybrush ended up wanting to be a pirate and his journey to Melee Island. Maybe a LeChuck's Origins - the tale of how LeChuck ended up as an undead pirate, destined to roam the sea for all eternity, had it not been for the bravery of a young wannabe pirate.

There are so many possibilities, that I'm surprised we haven't seen MORE games than we have already.

[Polychrome]

Originally Posted by doodo!

Seeing how he clearly meant to end the franchise with the second game and never really had a secret to begin with, I'd say it would be a really shitty game.

Did he now? Is there a quote saying this somewhere? An interview? I'd love to see it. I know I've seen threads like this on the 'net before claiming a quote where his idea for an MI3 would actually fit snugly in the existing continuity.

There's many arguments about what the ending of MI2 means, and frankly I don't find it as concrete as people seem to think it is. Taken as a whole, the ending wreaks of "The end....or is it?" Sheesh, before the appearance of Elaine mid-credits, I thought it was some kind of bizarro prequel.

Now, maybe it was planned out differently. Maybe it was intended to continue as a Muppet Babies type thing where we got the crazy adventures of two kids' imaginations, but I don't see anything that implies that there would never be another game.

For the record, I don't think there's a "secret" and that that was supposed to be a running gag. But I don't think that really has any bearing on whether or not more games were planned.

[Chyron8472]

Originally Posted by Polychrome

I don't see anything that implies that there would never be another game.

The fact that he left LEC before ever taking the time to even start making it.


Also, the fact that the end of MI2 is stupid and nonsensical implies that the storyline wasn't important enough to make a proper ending for. Why then should he have planned to make a third game when the ending of the second nearly throws the plot out the window?

(by "nearly" I mean that CMI was still able to recover from it.)

[doodo!]

What I was thinking to be honest. Either way everyone is entitled to their own piece and peace of mind.

[Edward VanHelgen]

if Ron made Monkey 3 then there wouldn't be Monkey 1 and 2 at all

take THAT MI alternate history fanboys!

[Polychrome]

Originally Posted by Chyron8472

The fact that he left LEC before ever taking the time to even start making it.

Meaningless. The reasons could have been anything from artistic differences to another studio offering him better pay for a different project. Maybe even "life changing events", as HR departments call it. We can't read too much into the guy's personal life.

Also, the fact that the end of MI2 is stupid and nonsensical implies....

It implies nothing more than the devs wanting to make a few goofy Star Wars gags. Honestly, I think a lot of fans read way too much into that ending.

[Danny]

This has been discussed to death I believe. I do share the views about the MI2 ending being nonsensical and implying there were no plans to continue. CMI took the ONLY possible plot explanation to be able to continue, how woulda Ron do it differently than that?

Also, at the time Lucasarts wasn't really into long adventure series, they kept looking for the next best thing with Full Throttle, The Dig etc (they didn't continue the Maniac Mansion series, so why MI?).

CMI came when adventure games started to falter but Lucasarts most likely felt a new MI would be the best chance to ride the new success of cartoon-graphics adventures led by Discworld and Broken Sword. I guess The Dig was a disappointment as well plus they probably started developing CMI before the new Star Wars and 3D wave that eventually meant the death of Lucasarts adventures.