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Oh wow... DID NOT KNOW THAT. I mean, I think where I fall on this is that the literal SECRET, as it were, is that there is an amusement park that actually exists and that some amount of what we're seeing is fantasy. Which, I mean, it's easy to overthink, but we've been buried in a metric crapton of "clues" pointing directly at that since the very beginning. How MUCH is fantasy is where things start to get subjective, I think. Bits of it? Some of it? Most of it? All of it? Hard to say. I don't know if Ron and Dave have very clear notions of where those lines are drawn, or if it's kind of fuzzy for them too. But while it's fun to ponder (and I intend to continue doing so!), I feel like that's of secondary interest. Like so many good stories, it isn't about what it's About. And what it's About is abundantly clear, even if what it's about isn't.

At this point, I think the puzzlemaster Lynchian/Terry Gilliam interpretation would be that Guybrush was an orphan who took solace in imagining pirate adventures at the Big Whoop amusement park, and everything — EVERYTHING — else is a defensive construct of his mind, including Elaine and his family. Only now he's trapped and can't cope without the fantasy, and lives life as a tripped out semi-vegetable in a late-stage Sam Lowry dreamworld. Whenever he gets a little too close to reality, things start to fray and fall apart because he just can't handle it. The choice to shut down the carnival and move on with his life ends with him looking peaceful — completely alone on the bench — because he's finally reached a level of comfort with the truth and he and his mind are all there ever was. But if he refuses that reality and turns around, he's fully embraced the fantasy, and sails off with his fictional love in his fictional piratey world. I don't think that's it. But I like it 🙂

I adored the ending so much. It hit home for me personally, as I was once able to walk around the sets of a large pirate-themed attraction and It felt just like that moment, where I was transported back onto Melee and the world around me came to life.

2nd run (in english that time) and... ❤️

HEY! Finishing Return, it blew my mind to see Stan being a constructor of "Adventure Parks". I never saw that coming. There was no hint at this anywhere in the whole series. Right? Wait, hold on.

I think this is from Part 1 or 2 …

Like a lot of people here, I initally had the "what the hell" reaction. And I thought about it, for several hours and up to this morning. Then the whole thing grew on me, it just clicked! I wrote some scattered notes about the ending, which I'd like to share with you: So, what did I gather from all of this? I think that the secret (in a way) is that the Monkey Island saga are Guybrush's adventures, as told by him to his son (kind of like how it happens on the TV show How I Met Your Mother, which means: exaggerating them and changing their details when he feels like doing so) . This reasoning allows for every single game - even the monkey head becoming a robot - to be canon (if we really want to talk about canon anyway). The games are just a visualization of Guybrush's adventures, but in the way he tells them to his son: e.g., EFMI happened, but some details might not be necessarily real. The actual secret that Guybrush found that day might not be important (and in fact it might have been fairly disappointing to him, a thing which brought him out of the "loop" of the obsession over this fabled thing). But the bottomline is that this is a father teaching a valuable lesson to his son: if you build up exaggerate expectations over something, it will NEVER live up the hype and you might risk obsessing over it endlessly. Of course there's still some room for interpretation, IMHO; the very ending might even be literal, in the sense that Monkey Island stories might be: In part tales of Guybrush in his very early youth, lived in the times in which the very concept of pirating was starting to go out of fashion and "modernity" was starting to sink in; In part outright fiction which he made up for his son while working (after his youth) as a flooring inspector for a pirate themed amusement park. This reasoning might even justify the fact that Elaine found the map to a treasure, just to help him relive those same very old adventures. Finally, the final decision about what the secret is up to the player: what was the secret? Gold and jewels? Friendship? It's better not to know it? Anyway we decide, this choice will directly influence the post-credit scene, which might actually might constitute the only things which we are sure that really happened in that world. Again, we are the one to decide what really happens! We can even re-open the "employees only" door with Stan's keys and take the backwards path for a different ending with a different post-credit scene (Guybrush and Elaine sailing on a ship), which might just mean: Guybrush didn't want to believe/know the secret, so he just bailed on it, with the consequence that the MI stories are real and not some kind of metaphore. I think this is a clever way to try and make everyone happy.

Hello! I finished the game last night, had the classic "Huh.", and then warmed up to it. Then I went to bed. And this morning, my partner asked me about the ending, so I told her what happened. And I talked and talked, tried to explain what was going on, which I couldn't, but I kept talking in excitement, and the longer I talked the more tears where flowing. Really!? Stupid game makes me cry and I don't no why? I wasn't able to explain really what was going on, but I felt this strong warmth from this game. The letter really hit my heart. Can't even make sense of all these feelings while writing you this. And I love it. I already miss the game, and I want to replay it immediately.

Seconded. And it's why I was frustrated by some of the discussion on OTHER BOARDS we will not mention, because some people saw this ending as a rehash — Ron and Dave going back to the same old, same old. A tease. A prank. Letting you think there would be a resolution and then giving you the same ending yet again. Lucy pulling away the football one last time. And I just wanted to jump through the screen, "Nooooooooooo! Don't you see it? THIS is the changeup ending. THIS is the time Guybrush finally walks away and seems at peace with it. Cross-reference that with the strong themes of aging, relevance, etc. and this ending is the crysknife that slowly and quietly slipped through your shield, and you didn't see it until it was pressed up against your side."

Somehow Monkey Island returned... And we're playing it. I was fortunate enough to be a playtester on the game so I already got to the end a while back. I am extremely eager to discuss the entire game with all of you so I made this thread. I'm guessing it'll take a little while for others to get there but in the meantime this thread is GAME WIDE spoilers. That means ending discussion etc is fair game in here! I'm going to hold off on posting my thoughts for a minute so some others can catch up but... I can't wait. It's been a long few months holy hell.

They had to cut her to avoid the game getting an “M for Mature” rating. They said her character brought in too much violin-ce.

Alright, I have played all of the game, and I have opinions: I will start wiith this: the Artstyle. It was a controversial change... and it's not my cup of tea. This said? I pictured the reason why Ron and Dave had picked this style and... it worked. From the beginning to the end. I busted in laughter when the reveal of the cliffhanger of Monkey Island 2 was treated with such a simple yet fitting hilarious joke, I was a bit miffled by how much the Amusement Park had been changed, It looked more like... in-line with the world ... now, here is a thing. I have never been in Guybrush X Elaine. In Secret, it was an hilarious joke and it fizzled out before Revenge. I never bought the relationship in Curse, it was awful in Escape, got incredibly cringe in Tales ... and yet, I really liked it in Return. Elaine might be at her best period, doing her own thing, yet being supportive and around Guybrush when needed. The whole 'irresistible charm' bit actually took me by surprise ... However, I am sad to say, I didn't like LeChuck. In the games, he was either kind of a buffoon or, in a few rare case, a complete threat. Somehow, this version doesn't quite commit to either. I also dislike the fact HE is fictional, when the presence of Chuckie implied he was 'realer' than most.I did like the way his love for Elaine was framed as completely false, though, and he had some moments he hit just right (like how he dealt with Iron Rose and kept punching anyone dumb enough to challenge him to a sword fight). Of all things, LeChuck felt the one who got shafted the most Missed Opportunity: Gullet should have been a zombie version of Largo LaGrande, as both fill the similar role of being small guys with huge egos who prop themselves up by hiding their softer sides and bullying those who can't fight back. I love the new version of Insult Swordfighting as the Chum story-telling arc. Pretty sweet and ties up to the ending I liked a lot the new character, they had a lot of personality and quirks, enough for me to wish for them back in other stories! The final Puzzle made me giggle: the very first puzzle in all the franchise, before even booting up the game fully. OF COURSE this had to be 'final boss' of the franchise. We had crossed reality! I never had an issue with the ending, but I love how 'compromising' this is, allowing the fans to choose what is the Secret. Personally, I see the Secret being a story, ever changing with time, audience and narrator: so this is why the Secret in 1 was 'Hell inside the Monkey Head', in 3 was 'gates of hell', in 4 was 'GIANT MONKEY GUNDAM' and so on and so forth. When the hypothetical 'Monkey Island 7: Wally Has Had Enough', there will be a new Secret of Monkey Island to find and explore. And it's sad how some people missed it and are just 'so it's just Monkey Island 2' Right now, despite some off things, I feel like Return is my favorite Monkey Island, and I look forward to playing it a few time. I may not have agreed to how the story was all the time, but it was the story Ron and Dave wanted to tell and to see their success all I can say is .... BRAVO!

Yes, I tried to read that thread but my spidey sense started to tingle as if some statements wouldn't have been written if the writer didn't have post-prelude information. It was more of a feeling than anything else, but I'd rather go into that forum section when I finish the game. 🙂

I mean honestly the idea that Guybrush is a Sam Lowry / Brazil like figure responding to trauma with fantasy is also just *chef's kiss*. In fact the retreat back to fantasy ending kind of cements that interpretation, as well as the fact that you can...

I think it makes perfect sense, but it doesn’t make the literal interpretation any less valid. This is what I love about meta endings. You can get different meanings from them depending on what level you’re reading them. It can be a story about a pirate. It can be a story about an orphan lost in a fantasy world. It can be an allegory of Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman’s work, something that makes us reflect as players – was the Secret that important, in the end? It can also just be, and we don’t need to overthink anything, just feel. I absolutely love that.

Finally... It comes next week. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thirdeditions/monkey-island-book-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-saga

PS — all times refer to the one true time zone: the one I’m in. ;

Don't know if it is the good topic but... How not to have a thought for the cook's monologue?

I wish people would already record some of the in-game music. I'd like to listen to the soundtrack outside the game!

Giving myself a BIT of credit:

I guess this counts as fan music? 😛 This is awesome, I didn't know @Dmnkly played the accordion! I really have to follow up and join the jam with bass and drums...

Come to think of it, I suspect anybody who grew up on Terry Gilliam is primed and READY for this kind of ending 😄

Mind. Blown.

Again, I apologize for my English. I’m French. I’m trying my very best. Also, I realized I barely read other people’s posts because I was so in shock about what I experienced. I absolutely love these interpretations, and it seems like we all felt the same way while finishing the game. I, too, had to stop the game and just think for 10 minutes, then talk to my wife, then think again… It’s now been two hours, and I feel like I’m not gonna be able to sleep. I especially love demone’s analysis. Thank you so much for that. And yes, for sure, you’re both right. We don’t need a final battle. I’m so into that kind of stuff, usually, I didn’t realize how powerful it actually is to just not have one. I love the fact that Guybrush is finally at peace with his life. I was playing with my daughter earlier today, and I couldn’t stop thinking about old Guybrush telling fun and silly stories to his kid. It’s so touching. The last shot is literally him being at peace. It’s beautiful. I felt like I was seeing both Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman, finally done with this chapter of their lives. … Also, I just realized I’m talking to Dominic Armato, which is adding another meta level to everything. I love your voice, by the way – my family has been hearing you almost non-stop for two days. A bit unrelated, but now, every time I play a new game, my three year old daughter looks at the main character and goes: “… Is it Guybrush?!?”

I hadn't even realized there wasn't a battle against LeChuck until people online started pointing it out! Now I kind of wonder what one would be like, but I also think its pretty great that they didn't do it. LeChuck is stuck on the wheel, now along with Madison and her crew, but Guybrush managed to get out (it seems, at least?!). I know the folks who like Tales had wondered if any of its plot elements would come up in Return, especially the LeChuck/Guybrush/Voodoo Lady stuff that appeared in the very late parts of Tales' story. I didn't expect them to reference any of it, and they didn't, BUT when I think back on those parts of Tales, I remember Elaine was consistently pushing Guybrush to not keep falling into the same patterns (which LeChuck was insisting the Voodoo Lady was forcing them into through deceit). In Return, Guybrush actually escapes the pattern, with some nudging from Elaine, but LeChuck definitely does not! Guybrush eventually pops out of it to a theme park where everything is stuck on loop, but he's not part of it anymore, and can go home. I know that is probably not the primary read of that ending scene, but that whole notion of Guybrush and LeChuck on an endless wheel from Tales re-entered my brain this week and I was glad to see that Return has some resonance and resolution to that thematic arc, even if the "lore" parts about the voodoo lady are left behind.

There seems to be. Haven't done this yet though: https://steamcommunity.com/app/2060130/discussions/0/5241649843399175667/

Did the Prelude tonight! I guess I owe an apology to my defamation of Bill Tiller. The Calvin and Hobbes stuff is definitely there. I wonder if that Chucky kid is ever weirded out that Mr. Threepwood has so many stories about fighting a pirate named LeChuck. I shall continue following this string to see where it leads.

The prologue presents the idea that the world of the games is part of a storyworld that exists somewhere between how father Guybrush retells his adventures to his kid, how Guybrush remembers them himself, and how his kid imagines them. It cleverly speaks to the subjective nature of video game narratives, where the players inhabit a story the developers programmed, and re-tell it in their own way. It also strikes a delicate balance between resolving the LeChuck's Revenge cliff-hanger and honoring the previous three Monkey Island games that came after that cliffhanger. In fact, the neat way Return's answer to the Revenge cliffhanger builds on the narrative baggage of the previous games, especially the idea of Guybrush as an older, married, established as pirate who has had lots of adventures, makes me wonder whether a satisfying resolution would have even been possible in 1992. I feel like both MI1 and MI2 benefited from this sense of nagging dread, which helped to balance the general corniness of the world. Both games are constantly hinting that there is something actually quite terrible about treasure you're seeking. In Secret, it's a portal to Hell, which gave me the absolute heebie jeebies as a kid. It sort of feels like you're on the edge of unraveling the entire world. In Revenge, that same sense of dread is still there, in particular with the cutscenes that show LeChuck closing in on Guybrush each time he finds a map piece. However, Ron has admitted that he wasn't sure how to end the game, and I think he went with something that felt uncanny the same way that Hell did, without really knowing how the cliffhanger would resolve. So there's this great sense of the world collapsing in MI2, but how do you come back from that? I can believe that Ron possibly intended the games to be sort of like a child's fantasy, but I think that idea works more as a vibe than as an overt plot point or M. Night Shyamalan twist. I think he was able to get the dread of the MI2 ending by sort of subverting that child-like vibe and making it overt in a way that feels uncomfortable and wrong. But it does kind of write the story into a corner. I never wanted a Monkey Island 3a that revealed that the previous games were imaginary, and I also never though the anachronisms were something that needed to be explained. Even if you do want those things explained, that's nowhere to start the first chapter of a computer game that might be another player's entry to the series. Return makes the Childbrush section work because seasoned players understand it in context of Revenge, while newer players will just experience it as a 'junior pirates' tutorial section. No one was doing in-game tutorials in 1992. It's possible that Ron had a great resolution planned for the start of MI3a, but he certainly didn't stick around at LucasArts to tell it. I find it hard to believe that it would have felt as natural of a resolution as what Return delivered. And in a weird way, I'm kind of glad to have had 20 years of speculating about what that resolution could have been. It's been fun!

A couple more bullet points: I like the writing, I think it's the snappiest the game has been for a while, but I feel like we could have had more classic 'pick your favourite of four jokes' for Guybrush to interrupt with moments. I wonder if that's partly Schafer's absence being felt. After Full Throttle and Grim I always considered him the king of dialogue trees. I liked the ones in this game where it was basically 4 variations of the same line. LeChuck's voice was no substitute for Earl Boen's version, but for the story they were telling I don't think it had to be. Pre-voice LeChuck was full of menace especially in 2, while post-voice LeChuck became more of a comedy villain. In Return he's more ... sad. This is a LeChuck who doesn't know why he's doing it any more. It's become a rote, almost corporate exercise. He can barely inspire enthusiasm in even his most loyal crew, and I don't think we're supposed to be scared by him. Maybe that's a shame as I love the design and was hoping for a steer back towards menacing-lechuck that we never really got to, but I see why they went this way for the story they told.

Blown away by this game so far, for reasons everyone else is saying. They went all in on character with those closeups and the first-person mouseover text and I am LOVING it. The mouseover text is so elegant, a wonderful touch. The scrapbook discrepancies felt to me as specifically retcons to present Guybrush and Elaine's relationship as smoother and sweeter all along (even in light of all the new mushy lenses to view the series through). Don't know where the game will go, but their first interaction was hecka wholesome. I played Curse for the first time recently (no nostalgia) and that game putting them in love after MI2 is wild, the biggest retcon. For Return to embrace the marriage as it's doing, it may as well in turn make a few small tweaks to support that. That's how it came off to me at least. What a needle thread, and yes! This feels like a Humongous game for a wider audience. The Prologue's tone is great and so in line with those games! This feels like it's taking a lot from Humongous so far. Those games dropped the verbs necessarily all the way back then, and were breezy clean adventures for it (with very simple puzzles). Making them for kids but enjoyable by parents meant simple and readable, going down smooth, with high quality and good taste. This is finally taking up that torch and going further with it. There's heritage down to specific presentation too. Clicking on a character and hearing a small tree-less interaction, then clicking again for a different also snappy interaction is straight from those games. Marrying LucasArts adventures with some Humongous flow and readability is working really really well so far.

Well, I feel weirdly pleased with myself about talking so much about how all the pre-release speculation is part of the fun of all this, and that we should value that more, in the context of the ending I just watched. Also: here is a list of idle thoughts I've had while and after playing the game that are in no particular order: I can not imagine them coming up with a better solution to the end of MI2 than the prologue. It ticks all the boxes I wanted it to: it surprised me (a little bit, I did call some of it), it leaves a lot open to interpretation, and it allows for an explanation of some of the mystery surrounding the series without removing the kind of eerie ambiguity that it needs. It somehow performs the magic trick of making it so that everyone who has had an idea about what was going on the end of MI2 gets to be a LITTLE bit right. Except people who thought it was all just a voodoo spell and nothing more? I guess those people would have a hard time claiming they're right. No but hang on, since we're never shown what REALLY happened in Guybrush's version of events, even THOSE people could claim that LeChuck still placed Guybrush under a spell at that part of the story, and everyone STILL gets to walk away happy. Remarkable. I think the way they treat Elaine in this game is as good as possible, given that they didn't want to address the trouble the relationship has been in, in the past. It makes sense to me that she is here own person, with her own agenda, not directly supporting his agenda (and having her own) but not going out of her way to interfere with it, either. I think that's a fairly healthy way to run a relationship between two people whose ambitions might occasionally otherwise cause tensions. Structurally the game feels quite different to the ones before it. For the first 3 parts we explore some specific locations, then only when it gets to part IV does it feel like the game really opens out with island hopping fun and a high number of nested puzzle threads happening at once. I don't think it's a negative, it's just not quite how I imagined it working. Melee really does feel like the most important island in the game. It has the most characters and locations over all, and it features in more of the parts of the games, and so forth. I'm fine with it. Terror Island just was a terrifying island. I guess sometimes it does live up to the name. Huh. That said, I don't know if I really got a sense of place with the other islands in the same way as Melee. They don't feel quite so lived in, quite so fleshed out as, say, Booty, Scabb, or Phatt, or even Plunder and Blood Island. I can't help but feel like they come off more like... places that exist in order for Guybrush to have puzzles in them, rather than places with their own life independent of whatever Guybrush is up to. Brrr Muda comes closest to feeling like it is a real place, but it's still a bit empty. Most people just grunt. There's a town hall, a courthouse and a prison camp and a castle, and the town hall is basically rooms set up for 3 trials. I'm not quite lost in the vibe of it in the same way as something like Scabb.

My stages of dealing with the ending: Slight disappointment. Think about it for ten minutes; things sink in; not actually that disappointed. Think about that I've been thinking about it for ten minutes -- must mean they've done something right. Appreciation sinks in. It was the "right" thing to do. Set up the second play-through. Plan on re-watching Twin Peaks: The Return. (And possibly The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.)

Hi everyone, I'm new here, but not too new. I have been reading mixmnojo since the early 2000s and I was a member of the forum. I don't remember which account. I apologize in advance for my poor English. I finished the game yesterday. I was shocked and shocked and stayed that way for a while. I immediately talked with friends and the amazing thing is that the more you talk about it, the more you like the ending. I liked the ending immediately, but I METABOLISED it after hours, after slept and after having talked with other "theorists". Last night this forum was a safe place, there were few replies but I really liked those few. I found the ending to be very introspective. I summarize here what I have said and commented elsewhere: The secret is what you want it to be, almost like a "your future is whatever you make it, so make it a good one". Guybrush is a storyteller. He may have lived through those stories or not. It doens't matter. They are stories handed down and conversely told again. Each of us experiences a little bit of his mental traps, from time to time. But when the story passes from mouth to mouth it undergoes changes and it is right to vibrate the imagination. Guybrush is the flooring inspector of an amusement park where he has been working for years. Perhaps the lookout is even the person who is in charge of guarding the gates. After all, the flooring inspector joke happens in the earliest stages of mi1 play. What we pursue in life can obsess us to the point that when we reach it it can disappoint us. Fantasy allows us to recreate the worlds we want and Boybrush isn't ready for that yet. My theory is that Guybrush is still a dreamer who lives a fulfilling, but not necessarily exciting, reality. My theory is that Guybrush wanted to give a life lesson to his son, and then realized that it is not the time yet. Much better to get back to playing. In short, as I wrote almost everywhere: We are all Guybrush in our 30s, 40s, 50s and so on. We were all BoyBrush when we played the first Monkey Island in our very early years. So, I wanted to have my say, Thank you all for the interesting ideas, useful for shaping my personal theory.

I painted the cover for the Spanish version of this book , but I still haven't read it as it's still at the print.

They might want to hire a new marketing person at that particular organization...

I think that’s what I liked most about this game: It doesn’t feel like “Ron’s show” only. There are so many layers that acknowledge the other games and other media in a great way. It kind of feels like Ron has grown up a bit since his earlier statements about a Monkey 3a and that he really knows what this franchise mean to the fans. It feels very welcoming to everyone – without betraying his own thoughts and ideas. And the best thing: He revealed his original secret (which is okay), but also gives us enough to make our “own” secret out of everything. It’s really kind of genius. (Also it’s funny how some people complain about the ending, while it’s clear that they didn’t understand it at all…). As everyone, the more I think about it, the more I like it.

Did anyone notice that Neil Druckmann (The Last of Us and also a huge Monkey Island fan) is in the credits listed as a voice actor? Anyone knows where he is in the game? Update: Ron already clarified on Twitter (Moved this from the main RtMI thread as it didn't make sense there)

There's a "Pappapisshu" on Terror Island if you touch the thorns on the rocky beach.

I've said a lot of passive aggressive and regular aggressive things about this game, and I'll probably have more in the future, so I should make note of my positive thought so far: I was kind of anxious that Ron Gilbert was going to give us a single explanation for this world, and tell us (in George Lucas fashion) that this explanation was his singular vision that he had from the very beginning. But I don't think he's taking that path. I feel like this setup with unreliable narrators... not just one unreliable narrator, but multiples... is a humble rejection of that singular vision concept. But it's also a setup that has a lot more beauty than simply saying: "Don't think about it too hard." And if so, then I'm relieved. I couldn't have believed this was just a straight story like On Stranger Tides, because of the goofiness and modern bits. I couldn't have believed this was just a nine-year-old imagining things, because of the adult thoughts and comments Guybrush occasionally has. I couldn't have believed that the ORIGINAL original Secret of Monkey Island was something unrelated to a voodoo hellgate, because I've read Gilbert's own words in the earliest design documents. Monkey Island is literally a fictional setting that has shifted over decades due to multiple writers, due to the changing perspectives of the same writers, and due to the reception of those stories by the audience/fans - an audience which has included previous writers from earlier entries of the series as well as future writers of upcoming stories. The first game had its beginnings before Indy Last Crusade and wasn't finished until after... I have no doubt Ron and the others had multiple ideas about the game's nature that evolved up to the day of that game's release, and continued evolving beyond it - and that's even before considering the sequels. If you wanted, you could illustrate this metaphor by taking an image of that park bench scene and photoshopping Ron's head on Guybrush, with people like Ahern, Ackley, Clark, Stemmle, etc. as the surrounding kids. And because the franchise has existed for decades, people like Jake here would have actually been kids when the first story was told. And naturally, there's no reason to think Guybrush would tell the same story exactly the same way as he would have several years ago... especially after he's heard variations of those stories repeated by the kids, and wants to enthrall them further. I've heard the George Lucas narrative of a singular, unchanging vision which I can't quite believe (because we know things have changed with him). I've heard the Tad Stones narrative of no continuity whatsoever, which I can't quite believe (because there are pieces to the stories that clearly carry over, so "no continuity" seems like a cop-out). With those other writers and universes in mind, it's nice and a bit refreshing to have the Monkey Island story microcosmed to this image. So thank you for not lying about a single genius vision, but also for not telling us "don't think about it too hard". Because goshdarn, I like to think about it too hard.

I'm a little confused by these early lines, when the "parents" look at the parrot. It is a perfect reflection of our own thoughts. But I keep thinking why are they surprised by this parrot? Are there no parrots in "real life"? Also, it's the same parrot the locksmith has in her store. Anyone else wondered about this? Am I overthinking? Whatever it is, I am excited to be majorly puzzled again.

Hey, has anybody floated the idea that Boybrush isn't Guybrush's son, but rather Guybrush's troubled orphan kid self, and in passing his wisdom on to his "son," he's healing himself? I'm off to bed, but... that 🙂

👕 I beat #Mojole #183 and all I got was this stupid t-shirt. 3/6 💛💛💛🖤🖤 🖤🖤🖤🖤💛 💚💚💚💚💚 https://funzone.mixnmojo.com/Mojole/

Well, if you're not sick of me, I guess that's a good sign 😄 Thanks for the kind words. And absolutely no apologies. Even if your English weren't flawless (it is), you'd be no less welcome and appreciated!

Specifically in our interview. Sheesh! And yes, I'm confirming.

Yeah, I would only change 2 things. Some type of final battle with LeChuck. There's been so many throughout the series that I didn't mind too much, but would've been a nice transition to the ending. And freeing Wally. There's gotta be a way lol For right now, my head canon is Elaine freed him. Other that that, my expectations were exceeded in basically every way. The more I think about the ending, the more I love it.

This has also been my impression too. I understand why it's optional as it probably hurts the pacing first time round, but people who want the slow pace of an adventure game world to live in for a bit will appreciate it. Also I'm fairly certain they just re-insert a few jokes in that weren't in the original too which I found to be decent.

The funniest detail about the three pirates from the MI1 cover was the fact that one of them actually still wore the belt with "PURCELL" on it. Also, as soon as I entered the prison and saw everone wearing striped prison uniforms, I said to myself, "The only logical thing to do is to have Stan have stationary stripes, like his plaid jacket", and bingo, there it was. Music-wise they've referenced a lot of classic tracks, like the diving theme from MI2, each time Guybrush was underwater and obviously the love theme when Guybrush and Elaine shared the screen. Also, I'm sure I heard at least one track from ToMI referenced somewhere.

I think this is the most warm and likable Elaine’s ever been. I don’t know if i’ve ever heard them tell each other directly that they love each other before but it went a surprisingly long way to making the relationship feel legitimate. Then as people slowly start complaining about guybrush to elaine i was thinking that his running around adventuring was going to put a strain on their relationship as elaine was finally hearing all of the awful things he does when she’s not around. I was starting to think that the story wasn’t going to be about finding the secret at all but about saving the marriage and my heart was in my mouth. But then there’s that scene where the two of them are walking through the jungle and elaine basically reveals that i was worried over nothing. She knows exactly who he is and accepts him for it. The love for eachother was on display in this game more than ever before. Secret, curse and tales all showed guybrush’s love through grand gestures but return just put them side by side and let the characters act naturally. I don’t know how but that for me was so much more effective. I feel like very little was actually done with elaine in the game but they still took me on a journey. From adoring this couple, to losing my mind with stress, to adoring them all over again.

Unrelated to anything, the structure of Return has made me think back to 2 and how it also told its story through a frame flashback, and opens on even more storytelling (Bart and Fink). Monkey Island 2 also has moments of the events of the past game being seen through this murky lens (“the Voodoo Lady said SHE did in LeChuck!”). Return takes that and runs with it. Not just the frame story but the lure guild where you take your story and keep pushing it until the truth gets farther and farther from you in the fog. Storytelling, subjective truth and reality, unreliable narrators, and just letting things run on for too long out of blind excitement come up a lot in the series! Not sure what that means but 🤷‍♂️ Anyway we are now crazy deep in frames! This isn’t quite right but almost, if you tilt your head and squint, we have Guybrush in a park telling his kid, who is reenacting with his friend at the fair, the story of Guybrush hanging from a rope in a hole, telling Elaine about the time he told two pirates on a beach about the events of Monkey Island 1.