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Can i just say some of the jokes in Return have wonderful clues to the ending. For example, this joke reads differently with hindsight!!! 🤯

Dave Grossman's very silly answer to this question:

I'm not sure if this has been patched out yet, but on the Switch version you can access a debug menu by holding down three fingers on the screen for a couple of seconds. Lets you toggle a bunch of stuff, change chapters, rooms etc. Not sure if it's easy / possible to access on PC either. Had a quick look through it, but might be of interest to some!

I keep thinking about the rug pull at the end and how difficult it must have been to write effectively. Because the game sets you up for it, all the way through, and that becomes more obvious the more you think about it. The constant allusions to being disappointed when something ends, or when a secret is revealed, everyone warning you that the secret might not be worth all the effort, when you really look at it the game is really, really saying all the way through. So it would be really easy to have the end not feel surprising, or not feel like the rug pull that it is. It must have been really quite hard to balance the desire to make the themes of the game clear with still wanting the ending to feel like a surprise. I know at least that the last thing that I expected when going through that door was to see that back alley again (great choice, by the way. Arriving there was always a big moment of wonder in MI2, and actually not to have to confront LeChuck, and to have it end the way it did. When Guybrush says 'not yet' I feel very in-sync with Guybrush in that moment. Despite everything I still wanted the big denouement even though I knew, and had been reminded so many times that it won't live up to what's in my head. And then even in the options the game presents you with. You can decide to reject what you see and go back, you can decide to take the key but not open the box, you can decide to not open the key or box, but ... much like Guybrush, I'm weak. As soon as I saw the key there I was never not going to open the box. And so it's very fitting that when I do, it's just a stupid t-shirt. I think the next time I finish it I'm going to take the key and leave. To me that's the ending that is where I ended up closest to emotionally after I had processed everything about the ending.

I might be one of the few who loved the ending of Return to Monkey Island, but I was elated that Ron Gilbert retconned the notion that Guybrush fantasizing as a mighty pirate back into the game series; I enjoyed the meta ending in MI2 where Guybrush and Chuckie were paying pirates at an amusement park. In my headcanon, Elaine was originally a cast member a la "Disney princess" in the sense that she worked at the amusement park. She probably gave Guybrush a chance when he asked her out due to his love of the park and playful personality

Not sure if anyone else noticed/posted this, but when you find Herman, you can use the pieces of paper on him and he'll reveal that they're from him. They are pages from his copy "At the End of the Plank" and he was using them to help mark his way throughout the cave.

I must say Part II of this game is probably my favorite "Island-less" act in all of the Monkey Island games. Everything was perfect

Here’s a thought. Is the intro shot actually just… Moving on… The covered-up ‘spit’ sign itself isn’t particularly subtle, but I enjoyed how the actual location of that area is roughly where it should be relative to the Big Whoop-ified version of Booty Town.

Will grab some Room select Room name turned on, actors turned off I did try some of the toggles (show textures, show walkboxes etc.) with no immediate result, but maybe need to restart with those enabled or something.

I saw the end of Twin Peaks the Return in part as Frost and Lynch doubling down on an indictment of coopers self-motivated and maybe self-satisfied and definitely hubristic belief that he has the power to save people who are beyond saving, or maybe don’t want to be saved, or maybe don’t need to be saved. It happened a bit at the end of the series 2 finale, happened again in fwwm (his advice about whether or not Laura should take the ring), and was aggressively doubled down on at the end of The Return, where after already combusting multiple times attempting this, Coop fights his way out of the black lodge (or whatever it is) only to drag a seemingly random woman to Laura Palmers house, arguably doing far more harm to the universe than good in the process. That image at the original series finale of him smashing his head into the mirror again and again was stuck in my brain as the scene cut to black at the end of season 3. Unsurprisingly some fans were absolutely livid at this: Where’s coopers heroic end? Why didn’t he save Laura for good? Lynch is trolling us, spitting in our faces! It’s more of the same! I feel like with Twin Peaks The Return, Frost and Lynch were at least in part saying, definitively, “you heard us the first two times,” knowing some people won’t like that at all but doing it anyway. Like you said, I don’t think Gilbert and Grossman were being as arms-length about it, and I feel like across the prologue, entirety of Part 5, and the epilogue, they satisfyingly answer far more than Peaks ever did (and more than I expected them to with Monkey, to be honest. But like Frost and Lynch, I think they were definitely declaring “we don’t ever want you to be 100% comfortable with this, and we never did. If you missed that the first time, now it is laid out even more clearly.” I’ve never minded that about 2, and found Return’s… return to those ideas super thrilling. As a kid it was actually probably my first exposure to an ambiguous and deliberately unsettling ending like that, and I remember not feeling ripped off or betrayed, but more “oh I guess stories can end like that? that’s cool”* and then had almost thirty years of food for thought on lots of subjects. * I first played 2 on easy and wasn’t sure I’d found the real ending, but because I didn’t like it but because it was irregular, so I replayed on hard and got the same one and said “okay that’s how it is.”

I finished the game yesterday late in the night and I still haven't fully digested what I have experienced, but I still haven't been able to spot thinking about it. Probably the first time it has ever happened with a computer game. Took me a while to read all the posts in this thread and it has been an absolutely fascinating discussion, with some truly wonderful and thoughtful insights throughout. Just some very scattered thoughts, I hope to write something more coherent in the future: - Having Guybrush and Boybrush as our POV works wonderfully well. Not only it allows to reconcile the various and often conflicting viewpoints and tonal shifts in the previous games, but it is also a clear reflection of the various stages at which we, the players, experienced these adventures: whereas as a gullible innocent child or a nostalgia-hungry, seasoned adult. - I really don't interpret the ending as a sort of "anything goes" or "make up your mind about it" kind of situation. It's actually quite definitive in some of the answers it provides. Again, we come to the fundamental differences between plot and story. The ambiguity is not so much about what happens (plot), but rather what it means. - Some people like to call the ending "meta", but I feel that's really reductive. Great works of art require some degree of input from its audience. Art is always a dialogue. It's not a monologue. It will generate outputs that vary with the input given by its audience. - In that vein, I feel this sort of storytelling has probably never found a better vehicle for exploration that the point-and-click adventure game genre. We dictate the pace, the timing, how we linger in certain places. We are, as much as possibly we can be, the main character. Not a spectator. But an active participant in what's unfolding. So what reflects upon the main character, reflects upon us as well. It would not work as well if this were a movie, or a book, or what have you. So that urge for escapism to a fantasy pirate universe is out own urge, that's why we play these games to start with. So the consequences associated with unraveling what's behind the curtain, sustaining this fictional construct, hits a much a deeper chord. -Although this might be a very egocentric point of view, this game seems tailor made to where I'm at in my life right now. I became a father 5 months ago. My whole professional career has been tailored and greatly influenced by my exposure to Monkey Island (I will elaborate a bit on this in future posts). It was deeply touching to realize that all this obsession with Monkey Island is good and all, has given me countless moments of bliss, but it's very important to place in its proper rank in life's priorities and goals. Don't let it consume you or drive you. And that some things you really cannot experience again. But if you are at peace with that notion, you can go back into the rabbit hole and experience new things with a lot less baggage on your shoulders and maybe, just maybe, regain some of that child like wonder in experiencing new things , freed from expectations and nostalgia that have metastasized into our senses. In that sense, that Elaine line about a new quest felt like a renewal of what Monkey Island can be, in its purest form.

I've uploaded a few more pieces from the soundtrack: Mêlee Island Suite, In the Forrest, The Scumm Bar Suite, International House of Mojo Suite, LeShip at the Docks and the Fish Shop. Since there's a music ripper in the works, I think I'll maybe just do the Scurvy Island Suite and then wait for that. Here you can also listen to all tracks of Laserschwert and me in this playlist: Have fun!

The reason I put Return first was because not only do I find it a great game on its own, but it made me appreciate the other games even more. So, even as much as I love the other games and have nostalgia for them, Return actually makes me appreciate them even more now knowing what's been established in Return. It reframed how I view the entire series in a great way.

6) Escape from Monkey Island - EfMI is not a terrible point and click, but at times it really feels painful, mischaracterizing the characters even further than what Curse did and the puzzling lore about insults and way more... even gameplay wise, the tank control are painful (at least for PC), the maps hold up until the Monkey Island finale with lots of boring puzzles. All in all, my least favorite and the only one I refuse to replay given how difficult it was to run on my PC 5) Tales Tales is a difficult beast to describe, as it's a 5 episode series, and the tones and mood of the stories are inconsistent at best. It suffers of very low production values, with lots of repeated models. While I find Winston hilarious, I consider Morgan LeFlay and Marquis LeSinge not fully realized despite their huge impact to the story. I love what they do to the main trio, and I wouldn't have minded to follow the hints of the Voodoo Lady being evil. Episode 3 and 5 are the best, but all in all... it felt very forgettable, but not bad. I will never forgive them for trying to make "You fight like a cow" sound badass. It was stupid. 4) Curse Curse is a good game, maybe even great... but it has a flaw: it is a sequel to the original Monkey Island duo-logy. On its own, it is a very good game, almost outstanding, with plenty of good moments. Blood Island and Plunder Island were great places, and the Barber Pirate Trio and KIng Andre, very funny and good characters. LeChuck, while he is at his funniest here, balances it out with heinous acts (killing the Big Whoop crew, ruining the Goodsoup Family). However, Guybrush's character was brought back to his 1 incarnation, Elaine was turned into a Damsel in Distress until the final act (admittedly, it was Guybrush's fault...) and the two final chapters... they were bad, took me out of the experience and the finale was underwhelming, all while trying to DESPERATELY fix the ending of 2 (just say it's a reboot) Oh, also, Murray is here. Hilarious at the beginning but... I must admit though, he was getting annoying by the end. Also, I am sad the italian version didn't have the 'A Pirate I was meant to be' song. I guess too hard to fix into the iMUSE 3) Secret of Monkey Island The original, and what a banger it was. What can I say of this iconic masterpiece that people haven't praised? The Special Edition voicework is top notch, the art direction... uh.... yeah.... I am not sure what they were thinking when it comes to that. I am not a fan of Guybrush and Elaine, but here it was so obviously a joke. LeChuck... was okay, he needed more presence. The dialogue and the humor on spot and I have laughed a lot of times. Monkey Island is a little tedious to travel through, but that is the worst I can think 2) Return to Monkey Island ... I won't lie, I love this game. I wish it had better puzzles and the jokes were a little sharper, but the story and the world was top notch. As someone who didn't enjoy the art direction, it fits perfectly given the context, and I am glad to have seen the continuation of the series by Ron GIlbert. I might have enjoyed watching maybe Monkey Island 3, but alas, that has been lost ever since Gilbert left to create Humongous Entertainment. LeChuck was a bit weird, and I think it goes beyond the unfortunate recast due to Boen's old age and retirement. Maybe, eventually, this game will become the best, but it just misses the one grain of brilliance to beat my favorite 1) Le Chuck's Revenge Basically everything I loved of Secret of Monkey Island, but better: a more open, vivid world, bigger puzzles, a more driven and scarier villain, and ... what I like, the plot behind the plot, with Guybrush's struggling nature. I just love how there is more than just a silly adventure, treated earnestly, although still with plenty of irony. Right now LCR is my favorite with Return coming close. If I had the hard puzzles of LCR (except the Monkey Wrench, screw that) with the plot of Return, I'd have the perfect game

Well I finally feel ready to discuss ReMI... and there's 18 pages of hot takes to work through 🤪 I'm sure they're filled with interesting and thought-provoking discussion, though! My main takeaways were: My, what a PLEASANT game. Everyone is so damned nice about everything all the time. ("Remember that time I blew up your ship, left your stranded on an island, and you were nearly eaten by cannibals?" "Oh yes, but don't worry about it!") Guybrush is unbelievably nice and non-destructive, too (apart from maybe two moments where I felt they added them afterwards because he'd been so nice) LeChuck has been defanged from his absolutely terrifying MI2 version. OH! And the art style is amazing! That was my first impression. I was like, "Oh shit! I love how this game looks". And I was definitely someone who was unimpressed with the screenshots and trailer. The whole game looks so much better when you're actually PLAYING it. The ending still bends my brain a little. I suppose I want to believe everything really happened... but the game sort of tries to have its cake and eat it, too: The games are retellings of fantasies that have been had... inside a fantasy pirate world. The opening sequence and the park bench are all "reality", but it's a reality where pieces-of-eight are real currency and pirates are real. It also means that the ending he told his son was just randomly weird: "And then I remembered I was in a fairground where I worked as flooring inspector..." Okay, dad! Thanks for the crappy ending to the story. Are you feeling OK? I'm getting a bit worried. It's a bit odd when you think about it... but Ron wouldn't have it any other way.

I've just finished the game. It's GREAT. And I love the ending, it made me cry.

Somehow Zoltar replied: "You look more like a flooring Inspector" And somehow that became reality

About the horse armor, you can also: show it to the museum curator; throw it into the fireplace of the Scumm Bar.

I have always considered the Voodoo Lady (who is sometimes called "the fortune teller", at least in the MI1 demo) to be a representation of an element common to Disneyland and amusement parks: fortune telling machines: By the way, one of the fortune telling machines in Disney parks is the pirate Fortune Red. null

Maybe from the front page of the subreddit one can get the impression that the ending is massively disliked, because “I didn’t like it” posts are choking out the rest of the discussion, but when there is an actual poll, even in that community, extremely positive to at least neutral-to-positive reactions win out. So, plenty of people enjoyed it even if they didn’t all think it was perfect. They just aren’t posting about it as much there. Anyway, good take and theory on the ending! I’ve always read Elaine as maybe a little older than the other characters, at least in the hypothetical “kid fantasy” reality, and what you said tracks as a fun possibility.

The chat on the speedrun discord is being quite secretive about routing, tips, etc. I've done a hard-mode speedrun and grabbed the achievement as part of it. My advice would be: Use Easy Mode - it's a lot quicker (20-25 minutes). Double click to run places quickly. In chapter 4, press M or use the map in inventory to jump straight to it. In chapter 3, you don't need to steal LeChuck's theme, just play it - it doesn't change. The 'alternate' ending by heading back into the caves is probably quicker.

I don't know if this has been pointed out yet, but I noticed how well Guybrush's arc as an improving storyteller during ReMI ties into how he acts in MI2, what with how he keeps annoying everybody with his "killing LeChuck" story. He was a crap storyteller!

We've been updating TP Explorer to add support for ReMI but its still a work in progress. Proper music dumping will come in the next release, I have it working manually but I done the code to do it automatically yet.

Obviously, I have a VERY vested interest in what happens with Monkey Island going forward, so take this for what it's worth 😄 But one of the things I kind of love about how the fellas wrapped this one up is that I don't think more would diminish anything. I love how they've kind of closed the loop while setting up almost a kind of framework that all of these stories inhabit. In some ways, I feel like this frees any future projects, should we get them, to simply be fun Monkey Island stories, new adventures, a standalone chapters, without the burden of dealing with the larger questions and setup. I feel like it would now be possible for a new game — with maybe just a couple of subtle nods to the metastory — to simply tell a fun story. I mean, it would be tough to top the emotional pull of RtMI. And maybe the best thing would be not to try. But so long as any future adventures are deferential to what we just played, I don't think there's any reason they'd have to detract from anything.

I just played a little bit of Monkey1, just strolling through Mêlée town. I must say, it’s pretty chilling walking through High Street now. 😨

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

The game gets a 0/10 for me for not being able to pick up the staple remover. …but besides that, this may be the best or 2nd best game. I’m doing a replay on casual mode to see if there’s anything I missed.

Yes, I did just read that post and reply to it not long ago. 😆 And yes to relativity. I'd rather play Escape than many other video games, but I consistently rank it last among MI.

Apparently they tried to translate it into italian and part of the translation is into the code, but then came the notice from Lucasarts that every other version except english would have that scene cut because translating it well into every language was a pain. On youtube there's a video that explains how to see the italian version on ScummVM, but honestly I wish there was some way to hack the game to unlock it while playing normally (sure, the song won't be all translated, or at all, but it's one of the most iconic moments of the series)

In a way, it's sorta satisfying. They can troll all they want: they didn't stop Ron from making the game he wanted to make. The game was very well received by both critics and fans. They are spamming some review sites, but it's just sad at this point. They are only robbing themselves of a great experience because they can't look at something with mature and open eyes. Granted, I don't think every negative review is a troll, but there is definitely some review bombing on certain sites.

I think the Prelude's amusement park is "more real" than what it looks like after you take control. I think it's a stuffed giraffe instead of a pirate... modern currency instead of pieces of eight... a restroom instead of an outhouse... trash cans instead of barrels with sunglass rats.

This is great news! I've been oogling that book for a while and I'd love an English copy! Of course I don't have any reason to complain at all the Monkey Island goodness that's being released recently, but I do have a question for the author: I don't know how the book is structured, but what I'm wondering is if you'll update the book to include Return to Monkey Island. After all, if I'm not mistaken, the French version was released before ReMI was even announced. I am a completionist at heart, and I'd love for every chapter to be mentioned!

👕 I beat #Mojole #189 and all I got was this stupid t-shirt. 2/6 💚🖤🖤🖤💚 💚💚💚💚💚 https://funzone.mixnmojo.com/Mojole/

I played it on my Steam Deck, so I had a very similar experience!

👕 I beat #Mojole #188 and all I got was this stupid t-shirt. 2/6 🖤💚🖤💛💛 💚💚💚💚💚 https://funzone.mixnmojo.com/Mojole/

I really love everything you said. This is also my theory, I couldn’t have expressed it better. Thank you!

Yeah, I should also point out that I very much enjoy Escape, both in gameplay and story. It's just a testament to how much I enjoy the others and not a testament to how bad it is. There are several things I would change, such as how Murray was used, but I still very much enjoy it.

The first few seconds of the "Underwater" track above contain a harp riff that reminds me of the Spinner Cay cue:

I just did another quick playthrough trying to pick up some more trivia cards and achievements, but it's really the ending that's still on my mind... I've now played through about 5 of the different ending options, and read the Mojo article to look at the rest, but I have to say I've been thinking about the ending to Return non-stop since I originally finished it. My goodness... I think it's going to take me a really long time to process all this! Besides some of the items Jake mentioned above, for me the most emotional part was turning off the lights and leaving... First time I played it I don't think it really hit me as hard as my mind was so overrun with everything, but now the more I think about it I just start feeling really... emotional. I guess for me it's really about realizing that it's all over (for now) and it's back to reality. When Guybrush appears surprised to be back in the alley he makes the comment, "Oh no... not yet!" and the sadness in his voice.... just gets to me. And it's exactly how I feel. Personally, life's been super busy and stressful these past few years, and hearing about Return's announcement was an unexpected oasis of excitement that I didn't ever expect... and something I didn't realize I desperately needed. I've been looking forward to this game more than any game I've ever looked forward to in my life, and even though I've been swamped with both personal and work stuff these past few months, I carved out some time this week to focus on just this - escaping from reality for a few days to go on an adventure as a loveable pirate. Unfortunately, after this weekend (that's all I could allocate) it's really back to reality for me, and all those things I've been pushing off. Sure, both Guybrush and I can always return to those old adventures (and potentially even new ones?) but that has to wait until another day... as it's closing time. <Sigh> I really really loved the ending, and I think it tied together so many themes for me throughout the series, not just MI1 and MI2. If there was one reservation I had as I played Return, it was that I struggled for a while trying to piece together 'when' the story took place. And more specifically, it bothered me that there wasn't clearer references to some of the events from Escape. That being said, I loved the scrapbook and the reference to the 'cushy government jobs', and I felt they did a respectful job with Herman, and by the time I neared the end of the game I was okay with how they chose to handle past cannon. And then ending came. For me it felt like it made everything okay and wrapped all 6 chapters of the series together into one nice big bundle, allowing me to understand that these are all just separate adventures stories that are just meant to be... fun. And that's it. They allow Guybrush (and all of us) to escape from our lives as flooring inspectors, and temporarily enjoying being a pirate. And I'm okay with that. And if this is our last adventure together... I will be okay with that too. Damn... I feel like I've been stabbed in the heartstrings!

So Craig Derrick just tweeted something interesting: https://twitter.com/craigderrick/status/1572142330609831937 Scroll down and you'll see that he tweeted: Apparently it got people so fired up that Eurogamer decided to call it newsworthy: https://www.eurogamer.net/fans-think-lucasfilm-games-is-teasing-a-maniac-mansion-return What do you guys think? After Monkey Island, do you think we'll get another Maniac Mansion game? Or maybe a remake? And do you think Ron Gilbert will be involved?

In the ending, you can take a photo as a pirate, which was also possible in real life at PAX and Gamescom. 🙂 More generally, the recreation of Melee shown at events was a giant real-life reference to the ending. 😁

I apologize in advance for my English as it is not my native language. The ending of RtMI has left me extremely sad. It was perfect and worked for me on so many levels. I was devastated turning off the lights. I believe this is the end of Monkey Island series or how we knew it. It was so symbolic. Yes, you could escape back and keep pretending of having adventures while also receiving “I don’t believe” achievement. The achievement in itself is quite telling. I played MI in my early teens. Back when I really struggled to understand many of the dialogs. My vocabulary improved immensely through the first two games. MI2 will forever remain the greatest game of all times for me. I cried watching the trailer of RtMI. Cried again during the prologue. Cried while turning the lights off, and still feeling incredibly sad. For me it all came to a simple understanding. Your adventures in this world are done. Go back and keep replaying them but now the lights are out. The final story is now told. For many the meta ending doesn’t work, but honestly with such lofty expectations after 30 years, no ending would have worked for everyone. Is RtMI a perfect game? Honestly no. There were a number of issues. Humor was definitely lacking compared to earlier games. The closure with Elaine with respect to the cutscenes where she learns about Guybrush’s selfish behavior was not satisfying. But it did wonders in tying up the series. The prologue and the ending were a masterclass in storytelling. The final shot of Guybrush sitting alone will remain with me for a long time. It is so beautiful and devastating at the same time. Unbelievable!

Talking of details, I really appreciated whole presentation of the game. Not only the voice acting, the animation and the art style, but also the “technical” side. From the main menu (background and music), the inventory, the fonts (I loved those, very fitting), the intro and really everything was almost perfect to me! 👌 Something I kind of missed in EMI or TMI. There were always things that bugged me (especially in EMI). You can really feel how much time, love and work was put in ReMI.

Part 3

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.

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.

This is close to my arc with it. I got to the end and literally sat back from my computer in my chair and said "huh." And then was quiet for a little while. Then paced around my house for ten minutes thinking . Then went and excitedly told my wife all my thoughts on it because I had no one else to tell because nobody knew the game existed yet (she said "cool" or something, and I can't blame her because it WAS COOL).

Part 4:

Okay, my thoughts as of right now.... I absolutely loved this game. The ending....I'm going to be thinking about for a while, but I think Ron has quite literally given us the keys to come up with whatever conclusion we are most happy with. I think the true secret of Monkey Island is that it's a series of stories that Guybrush came up with based off his own experiences in an amusement park that Stan owned (he visited it as a kid and always kept coming back even as an adult, married and as a flooring inspector), with Stan tweaking the story and animatronics every now and then as the years went on (very much like the POTC ride after the movies came out). Guybrush used the park as inspiration to tell his son exciting stories. The Secret is something to keep the stories going on forever. Guybrush in his youth was truly an orphan and found solace in the amusement park to become a pirate, met Elaine, perhaps tried to defend her from a bully named Chucky/Charles, though she was already defending herself quite capably. He meshed those experiences with the park attractions. Now then, as for my own personal take more ingrained with the "fiction"; I think the answers you can give kiddo Guybrush is what you believe as the true ending; the answer that I finally settled on (I replayed my save many times) was that Elaine was right and it didn't matter what the secret was. Her cutscenes observing Guybrush's destructive actions and the conversations she had with Guybrush while walking were too compelling. LeChuck, his crew, Madison and her partners, were all killing each other by the end and Guybrush did so much damage in his own quest. I like to think, in the end, Guybrush realized it didn't matter anymore, while LeChuck was enveloped by it. Guybrush has everything he ever needed. Sure, I would've liked to have seen my take with own eyes, but then, that would've only been the ending I wanted to see then, wouldn't it. LeChuck was consumed by the secret and Guybrush settled down to have a family. I didn't need to see one more showdown with LeChuck; we've gotten that 5 times prior. Sure, I wanted to see one again when I was playing it, but now.....nah, I'm good. Seeing Guybrush as a father with Elaine, as an actual pirate or a flooring inspector, it doesn't matter. The Secret was that other things mattered more. Guybrush has that now. @DmnklyThank you. You are Guybrush to me, Ron, Dave, and so many others, and a massive part of my childhood. You have no idea what you meant to me growing up. Actually sending a message to you on the day I finished this game.... I can't believe it is actually happening. I was nine when I first played these games, when Curse came out. The circle is now complete lol I couldn't be happier.

Adding a bit of diversity here! My favourite game is The Curse of Monkey Island and unlike a lot of people that prefer the game because it was their introduction to Monkey Island series this was actually the third Monkey Island game I played. The first one being LeChuck’s Revenge: Monkey Island 2. I must say that I didn’t get most of the jokes as my english back then was really basic and most of the witty dialogues went over my head. None the less I still enjoyed playing it but for me it was just another great adventure game. The second game I played was The Secret of Monkey Island (CD version) and I must say I enjoyed more than LeChuck’s Revenge: Monkey Island 2. Then in 1998 I played The Curse of Monkey Island and that’s when I really became a fan of the series. It’s hard to say why this one and not the others, but I think the main reasons are because of the amazing drawings by Bill Tiller and the atmosphere it creates with Michael Land’s music on top of it. The Blood Island part is definitely my favourite as it’s very mysterious and exotic and almost makes you want to go there. Of course, not all is good. I felt the carnival part a bit boring and the ending a bit rushed, but overall it’s still an awesome game.