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SMI: Governor Marley, unelected despot of Mêlée Island, uses voodoo magic and socio-political acumen to stage her own kidnapping. She set the pieces in place for her citizens to witness the destruction of the Ghost Pirate LeChuck at her hands, in a massive PR gambit! Foiled by Guybrush. MI2LR: Rising unpopularity forces Marley to flee Mêlée Island with a band of loyalists. Landing on Booty Island, they bribe and strongarm Governor DeWaat out of power and secure the governorship. Marley is shocked to learn that both Guybrush and LeChuck are still active. She hunts down Guybrush and, after gathering what information she can about why he and LeChuck seem to be prominent forces still, she casts him into the pit of her latest invention - a voodoo mindscape. Guybrush and LeChuck shall be trapped here forever, out of her way. CMI Marley rallies her forces, sailing on Plunder and Mêlée Islands and proclaiming the Tri-Island Area. The Caribbean is starting to buckle under her influence. But then LeChuck escapes his mindscape and corners Marley on Plunder Island. Guybrush escapes and curses her into a gold statue. Marley's empire crumbles. And as the curse is eventually broken, Marley is still trying to understand how Guybrush and LeChuck can be stupid enough to not see what's going on, while still foiling her with marriage attempts. EMI Desperate, Marley brings naive Guybrush and a crew of mercenaries to reassert power on Mêlée Island. They get attacked off the coast, and land with too few numbers to force authority. She sends Guybrush away while trying to win her election by any means necessary. A lot of insanity happens. When it's all over, she finally gives up on Mêlée Island. She gives up on governorship. She gives up on conventional strength and earthly powers. TMI Marley takes on a demon form and maintains its powers indefinitely. The Voodoo Lady Corina engineers Guybrush and LeChuck to clumsily block her path, but Marley's demonic form cannot be denied her. RMI At last! The Demon Pirate Marley successfully imbues the energies of a Hades Pomegranate into a lime tree. Anyone who partakes of these Limes will be pulled into sync with the underworld, from which Marley can trap them in her new and improved voodoo mindscape! There will be no escape this time, not for anyone. LeChuck is already permanently trapped. Then, so is Guybrush. Soon everyone will join them. Everyone. . . . There's only one choice.

I finally came back after finishing Return, and even a few days later it's still feel kind of too fresh in my mind, so I don't know if I can really compare it to the others, but I'll try. I'll update my previous list and maybe shear some reasons (I'll try to be brief) of why they are ranked there. I'll go from 6 to 1, for the sake of being different 6.Tales of Monkey Island I really love Tales, and I really like that it's trying to bring this more adult mature story into the Monkey Island universe, that it poses questions about the characters and the world. To me it doesn't really feel like a true Monkey Island though. It doesn't really feel like it's part of the story, it's more of another chapter. It's not a continuation, as much as it is a new beginning . Which is fine, by the way, but it doesn't follow the kind of narrative and story structure that I enjoy from a Monkey Island game and I guess it comes from the episodic format. What keeps this most behind the others is the fact that I don't really feel like it's an adventure game sometimes, especially in the first chapters. It feels most like an interactive story, which is not really what I'm looking for in my Monkey Island. So yeah, great game, love it, not really my cup of tea. 5. Escape from Monkey Island The black sheep of the franchise, which I think gets WAY too much hate that it deserve. It's fun, great music, charming graphics (yes, it is, it's not ugly, shut up), great locations, and clever (if not a little frustrating) puzzles. What keeps this one behind the others is the fact that the plot is a little weak, it doesn't really advance anything and it's just an excuse to make a game. I like the social commentary they came up with, but it really does end there. LeChuck is stolen away from the focal point of the story to be a somewhat side villain. But other than that, it's a really solid game and I admire it for trying to do something different and actually kind of succeeding in making me believe that it's still set in that world that we all love so much. 4. Return to Monkey Island Here it is, everyone's new favourite! Again, it's kind of too early for me to really digest, maybe I'll change my opinion in the future, but for now, here it is. Return is a great game, it does feel like the next chapter of the saga, it's not something they made up to make a sequel like Escape and not a new different storyline like Tales, but it's the next logical step for the series. There's few things that this game does wrong (if any), it's got a killer soundtrack, very beautiful art direction and scenery, a really great story, loveable characters, and very well thought out puzzles. The puzzle design really surprised me, because it's all very logical and direct, and they make you really stop and think, but not to the point where it gets frustrating (even though I found the answer to some to be kind of too obvious). I really love that the structure is kind of a mix of both 1 and 2, with a first more linear part and then going around different islands and doing things in the order you prefer. So all in all, it's really down here because during the second part, I didn't quite feel immersed. There's something odd about it that I can't quite put my finger on, maybe it's the fact that there seems to be few people to talk to and have meaningful dialogue during the "open world" part, or that Terror Island has no people and it's kind of just a maze, along with other islands with maybe a little too few locations (I can gripe more about this on another forum post maybe). So yeah, moving on, great game, loved it, still digesting it. 3. The Curse of Monkey Island My introduction to the series, so probably I'm biased, but still. Great art, the best videogame soundtrack ever made, great atmosphere, great everything. It's probably still the funniest Monkey Island, every line of dialogue is gold, and every gag lands perfectly. Some puzzles are a little cryptic, but they're all very smart. Every location is a delight to explore. Playing it, really does make me feel like I'm playing an animated movie. I don't know how to explain it, but every time I play I'm having so much fun, and the fact that the goal is not "find treasure" or "save the world" but "save the person you love", gives me great motivation to go on and it gets me closer to the story and the characters. Also, in hindsight, I really love how they managed to continue the story and make Guybrush grow as a character, while also regressing him more closely to the first game's iteration. Too bad for Elaine being a statue the whole game... 2. The Secret of Monkey Island Come on guys, this is a classic. It really just has this magic quality of making you feel like a kid in this giant pirate amusement park, filled with adventures, people to talk to, fun activities, and GROG! But really, it has the ability to immerse people in that world, to really make you feel like you're becoming a pirate with Guybrush, and it's all so cleverly and organically put together. The puzzles are still some of the smartest puzzles in any adventure game I've ever played. The fact that there are multiple solutions for different puzzles because they would make sense, in a 1991 game astounds me. There's also the feeling of mystery surrounding Monkey Island that most of every other game, permeates the whole game. The music is still amazing, every track is a banger, atmospheric, catchy and immersive. The story is simple yet captivating, just like in Curse, only Elaine gets out better as a character... Nothing much to say here, it's a masterpiece. 1.Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge I don't know if I can add anything that hasn't already been said about this game. It has a perfect story, perfect dialogue, perfect art, perfect music, perfect atmosphere, perfect sense of exploration and adventure. I don't really know how else to describe it other than perfect. Yeah, the puzzles are a bit on the hard and frustrating side, but sometimes that's my kind of jam, so it works perfect for me. I love that every Island has someone to talk to, fun things to do, dangers at every corner. That sense of danger is also what makes this game more engaging for me. Sure LeChuck is a big meany and tries to kill you in the first one, but it's more of a "yeah, you're in my way, whatevs", in this one his objective is find you, torture you, kill you and then torture you some more until eternity. The thing about Monkey 2 is that it makes me feel like I'm part of the MI world, that I can go wherever I want, when I want, that there are consequences to my action, that everyone I meet I can talk to etc... To me Monkey 2 is the perfect game and that's why it's number 1. I'll probably change my mind in the future, but when I do I'll try not to write an entire essay

I like being able to sense an enormous world outside of the protagonist. I like excitement, anxiety, discovery, mystery. Even though I didn’t fully realize it until this year: I crave drama (tragedy) blended with comedy, and realism blended with fantasy (cartoon). Secret Secret has risen to be my favorite. My brain has cemented it as the great blend, the proto story, the embryonic beginning that could have gone in any direction. In Secret you can spot references to the world being an amusement park… or a small community… or a novel… or a video game… or a straight, non-comedic adventure. It has money in numbered amounts like Zak McKraken or Indy 3, even though it doesn’t really matter if you have 478 or 480 or 482 pieces. And it doesn’t matter if you buy Stan’s ship for 2000 or 5000, or how many extras you get. And it doesn’t matter whether you have the romantic scene between Guybrush and Elaine at the docks, or whether you kill Bob or not, or whether you leave Herman or your crew behind, but the fact that you can do it is embedded in the game. I authentically felt the twist when swordfighting was revealed as a dialogue series instead of an arcade sequence, because I had come from Indy 3 and Sierra’s Conquests of Camelot (and I think part of the reason that twist hit me was because swordfighting was originally going to be an arcade sequence like Indy 3). You can feel the fingerprints from Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean, from Treasure Island, from Sid Meier’s Pirates!, from On Stranger Tides, from The Princess Bride. Drama blended with comedy is listening to Estevan talk about LeChuck in fear, or pondering the story of Herman and his Captain. Realism blended with fantasy is seeing the closeups of Guybrush and Elaine juxtaposed against bouncing from a rubber tree, or gradually realizing that the incredibly rare voodoo antiroot potion is somehow ordinary root beer. There is an unreal quality to knowing for 30 years that it’s always night on Mêlée Island, and then learning that no, sometimes there’s a sunset. You just never saw it. (The fansites in the early '00s didn’t seem to mention it as much as the stump joke, I guess.) And all of you know that for me, I didn’t learn Ron Gilbert’s original Secret from the plaque in MI6; I learned it from Mutiny on Monkey Island. And so, for me, that’s also in the bones of MI1. Revenge Monkey Island 2 was my favorite game for many years. Part of that is because I first played it in high school, and the melancholy hit nicely. Part of it was the soundtrack, which I still think is the strongest. Part of it was the bits of realistic art… a combination of the intro sequence (I want to visit with that group of playtesters having a picnic with mugs of drink) and the character sprites for our main cast which resembled those of MI1 (which I forever associate with realistic art akin to Indy 3 and Loom) to the extent that it took years before I realized how much of MI2’s other characters were cartoonishly drawn. I love that this is a heroic tragedy for Guybrush – I find similarities in other modern stories I enjoy like The Cave and Shovel Knight: King of Cards. And it still has a few unformed holdovers similar to MI1, such as the numbered money system (still irrelevant) and the fingerprints of things like Sid Meier’s Pirates! (e.g. expecting every pirate community to have a governor’s mansion – an expectation that disappears from new islands in MI sequels). Tales Tales has risen to third on my list because, even though it’s firmly on the cartoonish side of the MI spectrum, it tries to evoke those feelings of drama, tragedy, and fear that I had in the original games. When Chapters 3 and 4 started casually referencing the deaths of characters, I had an anxious sense of “something is wrong”. And I love that sense because it made me remember the hanged Captain from MI1. Learning that I killed Captain McGillicutty in Chapter 2, that his humorous sinking scene with the pyrite parrot had led to actual drowning? It made me reflect on whether I had killed Rum Rogers Jr. in MI2, or Efitte Lafoot in MI3. As I type this out, I'm realizing it made me reflect on Guybrush's path of destruction in the same way that MI6's mop tree and Elaine investigations was aiming for. Tales didn’t have the blend of realism and fantasy (likely no MI game will again), but it did have a blend of tragedy and comedy. Curse > Return > Escape After that, I consider the other three games to be fun Monkey Island titles. They’re enjoyable adventures, but I don’t feel the blending as strongly. The blend of realism with cartoon remains off the radar. And the blend of drama/tragedy with comedy is mixed. Yes, MI3 gives LeChuck a high body count and depicts one of his most frightening moments when he’s reborn as a demon to slaughter a crew… but I didn’t felt the threat carried toward Guybrush. Yes, MI4 explores supernatural feels in its deconstruction of insult fighting, its power and primal connection… but you have to stretch a lot to escape the realm of comedy. (WE’RE IN THE NONSPOILER FORUMS) Yes, Return to Monkey Island

I really loved the "cozy government job" reference to Escape and the whole fishing story being straight out of Tales. I don't know why but it made me so happy to see those two games "represented" in some way in the game other than the scrapbook.

I think one of the messages of Return, even if it is an uncomfortable one, is that, as you age it becomes unhealthy to remain invested in fantasy worlds the same way you've been as a child. As in, you can still be invested and have fun, but try to not get real life issues take the back seat to questions such as "what is the Secret of Monkey Island"? Of course, many players already realized this for themselves, so they don't want to be reminded of this uncomfortable idea while trying to enjoy the limited free time they still have as adults. ("Congratulations on figuring it out too Ron...") There are those who know this and it resonates because of that ("Yup Ron totally gets me"), and I think this group might just enjoy Return the most. Then there those who didn't think about it that way before and they say wow and might change their lives because of it. ("Ron is a genius!") And you have those who got their bubble burst and refuse to accept that message. ("Don't judge me Ron.") I want to make sure to say that I don't intend to mean any judgment, and that the quotes in brackets are just there to paint a picture, not to put people into boxes. I just tried to formulate the four quadrants of two arbitrary categories and probably most players can freely put a dot for themselves anywhere on that space. And of course such that dot can likely move about over time. My guess is that those in the first and last quadrant tend to be more disappointed with the game than those in the second and third, and that the emotions are stronger for those in the third and fourth.

The way I see the ending (having finished it a couple of days ago) isn't "it was really all a dream". To me this ending changes nothing on the discourse about "is the Monkey Island world a fantasy or reality?". We now kinda know what Ron thinks, thanks to the interview with Cressup, but in that same interview he does states that what he thinks doesn't matter. He does imply what his vision is, but never states it, because the ending of the game (so the "canonical" secret) is made open to interpretation. Even better, the game let's you decide what the secret of Monkey Island is, and that is the real answer. To me the meaning of the ending is that it really doesn't matter if it's real or not. Monkey Island is a videogame world, it's not real to begin with, but it feels real to us, to Boybrush, so in our mind it becomes real (not in a delusional way, like someone suggested, but in a fantastical way). But we do have to acknowledge that it's not real, that it's fiction, and that there's a moment where it's time to get out of the fiction, even if it's too early for us. We can decide to stay in the fiction, be greedy and selfish and isolate ourselves in our own fantastical world, or get out and share it with those you love. Maybe it's a bit cheesy, but that's how I perceived the ending. Probably not what they meant, but I don't really care about that, because I know I'm not getting it "wrong", and neither is anybody else. Ron himself said that he didn't want people getting stuck on the idea that whatever he says is canon and that that's the way it is and can be no other way. This ending, for me changed nothing about my enjoyment or perception of the other games (I mean, not in the grand scheme of things, it's not like I'm going to play Curse and think "oh, what does it matter, it's only a fantasy world in a theme park...").

Recently had a little 'Elaine-as-antagonist' pondering I'm like 99% sure this isn't intentional but I was just looking at the last conversation you have with her and thinking... 'What if she's the one putting a spell on Guybrush?' The last conversation you have with her is... weird. First Guybrush says something like 'there you are' and she says 'where else would I be in a bit of a ... strange tone of voice. It's a weird thing to say anyway. Then when he says he's confused where he is she dismisses everything he's saying as time flying when he's having fun, and then when he asks how she got there ahead she just says something vague about keeping one step ahead. Later she shrugs it off by saying 'that ending gets weirder every time you tell it', almost like she's deliberately encouraging him to become more confused about what really happened. And then as soon as he starts to think about it too much... she distracts him with news of a new adventure. It's a bit of a weird interaction, but it makes a lot of sense if you think about it as her putting a spell on him or working things from the background. Also you remember how at the end of MI2 she says 'I hope LeChuck hasn't put a horrible SPELL over him or something.' Again, slightly weird thing to say, makes sense in the context of the ending but also makes sense if you think of it as her saying it sarcastically, because... well, she knows that's what's happened as she's behind it. She has no reason to know LeChuck would even be down there. Same with the 'Oh dear' as he falls in the pit. Might LeChuck be in cahoots with Elaine somehow? Well, maybe there's more to that L+E carving and bridal veil than the game is letting on. Again, I don't really think they're doing this deliberately, but I'm interested in it as an alternate read.

On 05.10.2022 we released our Maniac Mansion remake "Meteor Mess". The classic cult adventure game returns to your PC after 35 years. Explore the old mansion again with Dave, Bernard, Razor, Syd, Michael, Wendy or Jeff and save Sandy from Dr. Fred and the evil meteor. A simplified verb structure, default actions, hotspot display, as well as a camera zoom make your rescue mission easier. In addition to the English voice-overs, you can choose from various languages for the subtitles. Dead ends have been removed from the game as far as possible. Furthermore, an additional walkthrough has been added to the game. This time, solve the game using Jeff's extraordinary abilities and explore new rooms in the country house. More information about the game can be found on our website: https://www.meteormess.de Or download the game directly on itch.io: https://vampyre-games.itch.io/meteor-mess ... and now it's time to go BACK TO THE MANSION !!!

An idea that I don't recall being mentioned, following on from the idea that the secret of Monkey Island is a gateway to Hell. When Guybrush steps through the code-wheel door at the end of Return he enters hs own personal Hell. One where all of his impressive adventures were nothing but imagination. Where the fantastic secret he finally managed to discover was nothing but a joke T-shirt. Where the archenemy he triumphantly defeated multiple times was nothing but an animatronic. It also fits in with the old "Guybrush goes to Hell and Stan is there" plot.

I thought about another layer of unreliable narration in Return. We have the real events, Guybrush's retelling, Boybrush's interpretaion, but then we have his friends who play with him. I kinda like the idea of the more bizarre plot threads that get ignored here (like Grandpa Herman or the robot monkey) are ideas they had. Do you remember being a kid and sometimes having this one friend who was a bit of an outcast, and sometimes had ideas for your game that you thought were silly, but your parents would remind you to be nice and make them feel included so you begrudgingly indulged them? That could be an interesting read on things.

Ever since the confirmation that the original Secret was that Guybrush was indeed indulging in his fantasies within a massive pirate-themed amusement park, my mind has gone wild with viewing each game in this context. I'll admit, I've never done this prior to Return coming out because I wasn't that big a fan of that being the Secret, but now with how Return has handled it, I've grown to love it. With that being, I thought I would create a thread with some of my own thoughts and headcanon thrown into the mix with regards to how each game's narratives fit into the Secret of Guybrush visiting and amusement park. The Secret of Monkey Island Guybrush, having grown up in an orphanage after his parents abandoned him (at least in his mind) and bullied by his peers for his name, escapes reality to indulge in a fantasy world with a massive pirate-themed amusement park. He starts with the Melee Island park, where he completes carnival games to become a pirate, winning T-Shirts and other prizes. He is greeted by the park owner, Stan, at one point, though he finds him a bit sleazy and only obsessed with the profits the park brings in for him. Regardless, Guybrush enjoys meeting new kids, who despite finding his name weird, embrace him rather than bully him. He meets the park's fortune teller, the Voodoo Lady, who creates the scenarios for the park and guides where visitors can go for adventure. Guybrush begins making genuine friends and is in awe of the park, the attractions and especially the animatronics. However, there is one that genuinely disturbs him and that is the animatronic of LeChuck, the park's most iconic villain, inspired by the most bloodthirsty and notorious pirates of all time. An amalgamation of the worst of the worst and something that even begins to contaminate the fun fantasy that Guybrush was having up until that point. However, he also meets Elaine, another park visitor, and the pair really hit it off. Guybrush's fantasies begin taking control as his love for Elaine collide with absolute fear of LeChuck and thus, we have the basis for the first game's narrative. Guybrush and Elaine become good friends, though Guybrush's newfound ego of having friends and believing himself to some sort of hero eventually put a strain on it. LeChuck's Revenge Guybrush's ego cause Elaine and him to have a falling out. Guybrush's reality begins to break down with his imagination slowly fading throughout the game, noticing more of the real world in his fantasy. To distract himself from these feelings, he embarks on one of the park's most iconic prizes, Big Whoop, going through the extensive park attractions to get the map pieces and win the prize, which turns out to be an E-Ticket at the Dinky Island park. However, Guybrush's feelings of loneliness begins to seep back in. At one point, he hits his head and has a disturbing dream indicative of his feelings of his parents. When he needed them the most, they abandon him to the mercy of LeChuck, inspired by the animatronic, but has now become a symbol of Guybrush's fears and loneliness, something truly frightening that even his imagination can't control. He also comes across a bully, Largo, and his imagination has him as LeChuck's right hand man. All the negative aspects of his life are now revolving around LeChuck as a representation of his fears, resentments, and loneliness, explaining how LeChuck knew Guybrush grew up in an orphanage. By the time Guybrush wins the E-Ticket, his discovers the maintenance tunnels for the park and his reality comes crashing down. His negative feelings of his parents, now dead to him, cloud his mind, appearing as skeletons. It's at this point his son, Boybrush, puts his own spin at the end and the weird ending plays out. In reality, Guybrush realizes he is simply in an amusement park, but to sustain the illusion, he comes up with the scenario that the park was constructed by LeChuck, Big Whoop was a dimensional gateway to hell, the tunnels connected the islands together, and LeChuck put him under a spell. The Curse of Monkey Island This one takes places many years later with Guybrush, now a flooring inspector, rekindled his love with Elaine and the pair have been in a relationship for several years. Guybrush asks her out on a date to the park where they first met, where he plans to propose to her. However, upon arriving in a bumper car, Guybrush is amazed by all the updates Stan has made to the park with new attractions and LeChuck now a demon; Guybrush's fantasies take over once more, slowing down his proposal to Elaine. In the end, Guybrush proposes to Elaine, she accepts, and they get married several months later at the church in the Melee Island park, catered by questionable food of the Scumm Bar restaurant. Escape from Monkey Island The park begins to fall on hard times since its popularity has dwindled over the years. Stan, desperate, turns to a shady business man, who plans to update the park to be less pirate themed and more family oriented to appeal to larger commercial interests. Yes, this is my attempt to include Ozzie Mandrill. He slowly begins to update the park, even creating a new carnival game for something called the Ultimate Insult, much to the dislike of Guybrush and Elaine, who see the park as a literal part of their lives. Guybrush's fantasies imagine the previous incarnations of LeChuck teaming up with this businessman, threatening to taking away everything that made his life with Elaine. Through some of their life savings, Guybrush and Elaine are able to help Stan out, prevent Ozzie from taking over the park, and reupdate it to garner more visitors once again. This cements Guybrush as a good friend to Stan, who allows him to visit whenever he wants, even trusting him with his keys and to close the park down at times. The whole giant Monkey Robots and JoJo Jr. the talking Monkey, are a result of Boybrush's active imagination. Tales of Monkey Island Elaine and Guybrush's marriage is hitting a slight snag, as Guybrush begins to wonder if they are truly meant to be together forever. He begins to worry that Elaine will eventually leave him for someone else. That fear manifests itself as the human LeChuck, while Guybrush meets a park employee, Morgan. Guybrush begins to wonder if the park is nothing more a childhood dream he can't let go, beginning to slightly resent the park and the fantasies it creates, which manifests as the Voodoo Lady pulling the strings since she creates the scenarios of the park. Morgan and Guybrush hit it off, but Guybrush's feelings never wander from Elaine, which Morgan eventually accepts and greatly admires. In the end, Guybrush talks to Elaine and she reaffirms to him that she will always be by his side, same way that he is always by hers. Guybrush's fears of losing Elaine are banished once and for all, realizing all that the park, and the Voodoo Lady, has done for him in his life. Return to Monkey Island I think this is covered pretty extensively, so I won't go into extreme detail, but I think it's the adventure of Guybrush finally earning the most coveted prize, The Secret, in an intricate quest of earning keys in in-depth carnival games. The Secret is T-Shirt for him, but the amusement park for the player. In the end, Guybrush finally lets go of his resentment for his parents and is no longer afraid of LeChuck, who is banished to hell to fight for a meaningless Secret in the fantasy, and an animatronic that Guybrush shuts down in reality. Guybrush and Elaine start a family with Guybrush retelling the Tales of Monkey Island to his son, who puts his own spins on them with his own reimagining. Eventually, Guybrush and Elaine take Boybrush to the original amusement park, where it all began, and enjoy it as a family.

Is there hidden puzzle in game?

When you choose any other line while speaking with Elaine (including good bye), option to choose line "Elaine! Thank god you are here!" disappears.

Something something Part 5 is called Beneath the Monkey Head. Something something Guybrush kept going down and down and down and down but never turned to go back up, is still deep beneath the monkey head unless he chose to deny what he THOUGHT he saw. (Something something Guybrush didn't climb the ladder up and is still trapped in The Cave.) Something something in the Prelude, that door you came out of remains the "scary door". It doesn't even need to be seen as disrespectful of Return. Ron told us in that Cressup interview that it's likely he and Dave Grossman have different opinions on which ending is most accurate, and Ron doesn't want to say which one he prefers because he doesn't want it to "become canon". If that's true, then I'm pretty comfortable in my belief that Return kept things vague and mystery-boxy on purpose, that every interpretation is plausible because all of them have evidence of being the one(s). When you're replaying the end of MI2 and coming to the amusement park and LeChuck's glowing eyes and see the toy giraffe, it's equally plausible that the thing is a toy giraffe or a sleeping pirate.

I'm back guys and I suck now at this! 👕 I beat #Mojole #211 and all I got was this stupid t-shirt. 5/6 🖤🖤💚🖤🖤 🖤🖤🖤🖤💛 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 💚💚💚💚💚 https://funzone.mixnmojo.com/Mojole/

Hey all, I thought it could be fun to post and maybe receive requests for images generated by the amazing Dall-E AI. Here's an example of what it created with a Grim Fandango screenshot from the Land of the Living: This set what instead generated from the input string "An oil painting of a mad scientist, his nurse wife, their disturbed son and the two tentacle family pets: And last but not least some odd-looking variations on Guybrush and Elaine: Hope it is acceptable to open such a thread here, personally I'm so excited about this stuff, feel free to request something LucasArts related if curious about it

If I could change a single major part about Curse? I would remove the parts of LeChuck's monologue that detail the amusement park specifics of the Carnival of the Damned (dynamo monkelectrics, family friendly, etc.). Along with the earlier cutscene specifically showing the roller coaster. Then, when Guybrush is strapped at the beginning of Part 5 and eventually asks, "Why a carnival?", LeChuck would take a minute to understand what he meant. But then he would laugh and explain that Big Whoop is an unmistakable rush of evil that overtakes you, etc. etc. "Are ye seeing a carnival right now, Threepwood? That be a product of your own mind, harr harr!" Or, keep LeChuck's awareness of the carnival, but say it was tailored that way because it was in Guybrush's mind, and LeChuck went into it fullswing because he hates Guybrush that much.

That is my problem. RTMI is a meta-commentary on the franchise, to the extent it leaves the conventional narrative as little more than a vehicle to carry said meta-commentary. My issue isn't that the "the secret" was underwhelming, or that it doesn't tie up every loose end. I'm well aware of the value of maintaining some basic level of mystery within a setting. My issue is that there is no journey. What I wanted from RTMI was more Monkey Island. Not commentary on Monkey Island.

I like how in escape you give carla and otis cushy government jobs and carla used that to work her way up to govenor while otis is literally exactly where we found him at the beginning of secret. This makes perfect sense for both of these characters to me. Carla is a driven hard working person who will make the most out of what she’s given and otis will always end up being the lazy cowardly thief in a jail cell no matter what opportunities come his way.

If I can get slightly personal for a minute, I have severe anxiety and am prone to very intense depression, and it tends to make me value clarity a LOT, because otherwise I tend to overthink, catastrophize, and generally think the worst of any situation. Because there are so many ways to intepret things, it overloads my brain a bit and picking one version never quite sits comfortably for me because it always feels like I'm denying something. Man, I'm really thinking too deeply about a videogame, I suppose it's good that it is so thought-provoking, though it's personally not in a way that feels right for me. Maybe I just need to give it time. I think I'm also in the minority of really hoping this isn't the last game, just so I can close out the series on a higher note for my own preferences.

It's the intrinsic flaw of endings that are intentionally laid open in this manner. From a dev perspective I can see how it might seem like the benevolent move; you're graciously allowing the people to make up their own mind on what happens. But I think the reality of such an approach is it just leaves people feeling unfulfilled. People want to see the author's take on the story, and RTMI robs the player of that due to how insubstantial it is in terms of conventional narrative.

So I've played the game a second time and I've been stewing on the ending some more, and I think I can pinpoint why I'm finding it difficult to accept. I'm really struggling with the idea that every character we've met, except for Stan and Elaine, are just animatronics. Especially LeChuck. I can't help but feel like the magic has been sucked out of the world by the end, because all of Guybrush's battles with his supposed arch-nemesis feel meaningless if he's not even a real person. I think where I'm feeling the most frustrated is that while the ending seems to be Ron giving everyone whatever interpretation they want, the version where the entire fantasy is completely real is framed as the player being in denial rather than a valid way of seeing things. Idk...could the theme park be a magic place where everything comes to life but the secret turns everyone back into their animatronic forms? That's a theory that could work I suppose. Both Lila and LeChuck who are part of the attraction transform when they enter the door under the monkey head, but because Guybrush lives outside of it he doesnt? I feel like I have to do a lot of mental gymnastics to maintain the illusion for myself, and it kinda bums me out. The other one I've heard is that the minute Guybrush steps through the door it's his older self making stuff up for his son at the end to teach him a lesson about building up mysteries, but then what REALLY happened? I really hope someone can help me find what I'm missing because I've seen such an outpouring of joy about the ending and I just felt like a kid who's just been told Santa Claus isn't real.

For me the conundrum was always that... ever since the early 90s, I trusted the end of MI2. I believed that it wasn't just an anti-ending. It wasn't just a non-answer or a curse or whatever else. It was something, and wondering what that something was has been with me all this time. I believed that if ever Ron were to make a game that directly addressed it, it would do it justice. But Then Ron moved on, other games were made, in the series. And it wasn't that they didn't trust the ending like I did... it was more that they were not in a position to address it. Whatever Ron had in mind, he wasn't saying, and they went off in their own direction. and the thing is, I liked a lot of those games, so eventually I just sort of let it go. I never really expected the ending to be revisited in any detail, and I kind of made peace with it. To the point that Ron's hinting at 3a actively irritated me. The ship had sailed, and I was worried most of all that there'd be no way to revisit that moment without damaging everything that came after. That's why I'm so pleased that the solution they finally came up with is such a broad and generous one, one which makes all the games better just by existing. It feels like a game that actually welcomes 3, 4 and 5 into the family, and invites us to the table, too, and shares the love around. And while I think it's understandable that they gloss over some of the more outlandish plot details of the later games, I'm glad that we end up seeing allusions to all the entries to one extent or other.

Here's the first one! It gets quite weird if we keep part of the text: Edit 1: Edit 2: Edit 3: It won't let me upload EMI's cover art due to not specified possible violations of terms. 🤔 Looks like even Dall-E hates it (I don't). This'll have to do: Edit 4: