I feel sad and angry about this.
I understand people not liking the art, but it went too far. Some people acted horribly, being rude, and judgmental… This is just a game, come on!
It’s like they don’t get they’re talking to other human beings.
I really hope the team hasn’t been too depressed about this.
I’m personally incredibly excited about the new game, and I’m sure everybody did an awesome job.
We’re finally getting Ron’s vision, with almost complete creative freedom, and people are being ridiculous about it.
Again, you can like or dislike anything, it’s fine.
But please, let’s act like adult and be respectful.
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I agree with all your sentences, except for the quoted one 
OK, you mean: it’s a game, there are a lot of more important things happening in this world.
But this game is something other than just a game.
It’s something undescribable, it brings a lot of positive emotions, and everyone wants to be joyful, by feeling all those positive sensations.
Anyway, some people went too far, I agree with Ron’s decision.
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Unfortunately, it doesn’t work anymore. 10 minutes ago it worked, in fact I wrote a message… uh oh… 
Anyway, I just wrote that I agreed with Ron’s choice to shut down the blog temporarly, and that we must stay calm, wait, and say what we think about the game only AFTER having played it. Not before.
I absolutely agree that a full critical assessment and reaction to the game can only be arrived at once it has been released and people have played it.
However, I will say that I don’t think that there’s anything remotely wrong with being critical of the art direction gleaned from the screenshots, just as there’s nothing wrong with sharing an admiration for the art direction. It’s all just fans reacting to early glimpses of the game. That’s what fans do.
What’s key is that all and any critical views ought to be expressed with the knowledge that they are early reactions, not concrete reviews and more importantly, that such views be expressed with respect to the developers and without a sense of entitlement. It’s sad that certain people are evidently incapable of doing so, but this is the Internet after all and lots of people are entitled, rude s**t heads. In other news; the sky is blue.
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Yeah, I think so too. But I couldn’t find nice words to complete my sentence:
“Luckily Ron is smarter than the average… self-proclaimed critic out there”
I give him all credit and I am sure he will push through on his vision. But I would also totally understand if he would like to tell everyone to 
*beep* off. I know I would if I got to hear over 30 years to please make this game, in whatever form… and then be met with criticism that’s way out of proportion based on a teaser trailer and 4 screen shots.
Imagine Disney wasn’t in the equation and it was a one man’s endeavour. I’d let everyone sweat and wait longer: “Yeah… so I decided to redo all the art with fully customisable skins. EGA and amiga DLC pack. I also need some time to rewrite the whole story to make sure everything is in canon with the games you kept writing did not happen in your minds. The game will not be released soon. I am sure you understand and don’t mind waiting another 10 years. You survived the last 30, right?”
Of course, I am just being spiteful and vengeful. So count your blessings it is the ever nice Ron and his team who are making this game and not me!
I hope so too! Even as a mere outsider I get depressed from what I read.
One of the things I read on Twitter was a guy who started attacking the creators of CoMI that they were just surfing on the renewed interest for MI with RTMI but that nobody’s waiting for their HD remake of Curse or something 
Then Jonathan Ackley called him out and the OP started to apologise (kinda) and change tone to being misunderstood and blah blah.
The thing is, a game is not only a commercial product but also a lot of time, energy and love put into a playable form of art. That by itself deserves respect.
This 
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Disclaimer: this post might be unpleasant.
I’m not surprised by the reaction of the fanbase.
I’m sad because of it, but certainly not surprised.
It’s fault of stupid people, sure. But Ron has his liability, too.
He had orchestrted a precise way to announce the game. He wanted -through surprise- to arouse a specific reaction in the fanbase, and he was smug about the result in the first interview. But maybe he didn’t predict the drawback caused by the surprise effect.
And I’m not surprised by the hate some fans can vomit, too. Ron is the kind of a guy you love, or you hate. Or maybe both at the same time. This people have only found in the art of RMI their casus belli.
I don’t think people have been hateful about the announcement. I feel like most people were actually happy about it, surprised in a good way.
And I thought he has been humble in the interviews, to be frank, as well as transparent with the process.
So I don’t think I can agree with what you’re saying.
The only part I can understand is the one where you saying that Ron’s art has been polarizing – which I think it’s the reason why I personally found it fascinating.
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Yeah, it’s now very possible that Ron and his team may be de-moralised by the reaction of some. The game we all begged for for 30 years and in all honesty thought would never happen, now being criticized for its look based on a couple of screenshots before it’s released.
He may now be thinking “why did I bother”, and more likely, “I won’t bother with that again”.
I just can’t believe that fans of MI1 and MI2 can’t at least wait till they’ve played it before posting whatever negativity they have towards it.
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I’m not following your logic here. Naturally fans are going to post about what they think of the screenshots. Providing that any critical opinions are not expressed in an entitled and aggressive manner, then that really ought not to be an issue. It’s not realistic to suggest that fans should not discuss a new game in a series they love when screenshots are released, simply because they have a few early criticisms towards the art direction.
Think of it this way; it’s like viewing a movie trailer. Can you review a movie based solely upon seeing the trailer? No, of course not but you can still have an opinion about what the movie looks like based upon viewing a trailer and you can be left feeling positive about watching the movie itself, or you can be left feeling that it looks bad. You can then share those thoughts with other people. It’s fair game. They wouldn’t have released screenshots from the game unless they wanted people to form an opinion about it. As with any marketing, they were hoping for a positive reaction but people are still allowed to have a reaction either way.
Besides, by your own logic, fans equally ought not to praise the art style until they’ve played the game either because how could they possibly have a positive opinion about the art direction without playing the final game to completion? Yet, I’d hope you’d agree that such logic is nonsense, correct? Well, the same applies to early critical opinions. Of course fans are going to discuss their opinions of preview material; both positive and negative. It’s the manner in which certain criticisms have been made that’s the issue, not that people have critical thoughts and opinions.
That’s not my logic. I never said anything should be praised OR criticized. I’m saying wait till the thing is finished. Anyway, it’s clear from the Grumpy Gamer blog the message that has been sent to the team. And that’s a shame, and for me, anyway, a disappointment.
That same healthy pinch of detachment that I mentioned in a previous post is also a fabulous medicine to detect and safely handle those Internet neighborhoods where impolite statements abound.
I periodically visit (without even logging in) only two Twitter pages to get updates about the game: Ron’s tweets and the hashtag #returntomonkeyisland. Be sure that those pages don’t contain any caustic comment: they emerge only if you dig deeper.
One of the things that I dislike about polarized discussions is that the topic moves from the piece of art discussed to what people think about it. In this case, it’s no more about the game, it has become about people’s opinions, how they should be expressed, how emotions lead people to use hyperboles or to become offensive.
It’s for sure interesting to observe these behaviors from a social and anthropological point of view, but it takes away attention from the game itself, which to me is the most interesting topic to discuss.
Also, there are almost 8 billions people on this planet and I really couldn’t care less about billions of “reaction videos” on YouTube. 
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That’s my point though; you said that you can’t fathom why fans are posting their preliminary thoughts on the art style, before playing the final game. I’m saying that they’re doing so because it’s generally a fan’s wont to do just that, any time preview material is officially released; to evaluate the material and to discuss their opinion about it with other people among the fandom.
I mean good for you if you are choosing to not have any kind of opinion about the game prior to its release, but note that not everyone is you, nor do they necessarily share your desire to not engage with preview material at a critical level.
To get things back on track; what do we all think that LeChuck’s corporeal form will be in Return to Monkey Island? We’ve had Ghost-LeChuck, Zombie-LeChuck, Demon-LeChuck and Human-LeChuck thus far.
My money is on Unicorn-LeChuck.
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All jokes aside, I was thinking about Evil Kid LeChuck, from the ending of MI2. Not sure how it could work for the entire game, but that would be interesting.
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Evil Kid Chucky, using voodoo magic? That would be interesting, though perhaps a little too familiar…
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I turned on “fandom” for this a number of years ago. For the life of me, I can’t remember what specifically caused me to get so mad about them but it would have had to have been 2015 because I was working on Barbershop 3 at the time that I was telling people I’d lost all hope for the nerds who had become the bullies. Can anyone think of what fandom was raging about back then that would have made me turn on them?
But basically what it came down to was that I was sick of all these clueless people who are defined by what they like rather than by what they do who were acting as if enjoying something was an achievement that entitled them to ownership and control over someone else’s art.
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I remember what it was! Of all things it was when I saw someone on Facebook talking about the 2015 Josh Trank version of the Fantastic Four. Someone simply said “We deserved better” and that was the moment that crystalized everything for me.
Anyway we can all agree that Ron’s main fault is not being active on the forum anymore, where we all respect and adore him 
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I assume that the first manifestation of him in the game will be a voodoo-energized Chuckie!
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If @RonGilbert doesn’t read in this forum, maybe @David is here. And hadn’t Dave also an account here? 
Anyway: I guess the devs have more important stuff to do. But if some of you busy guys are reading this: We like your work! 
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