OzzieMonkey

It could also be an extra layer meant to cast doubt on what is truly real and that whatever the REAL secret is, that is what fell out of the scrapbook. This is assuming that you interpret the ending of the game as Guybrush embellishing the truth to his son.

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.

Cue a new team doing exactly that with 30 more years of people going "that's not what Ron would've done" 😂

I relate to what you're saying, because what I said earlier in this thread was very close to what you're feeling atm. What I came around to is, the game is deliberately making reality and fiction blurred and ultimately putting the decision into your hands as to what is real and what isn't. For me, yes, the world of Monkey Island is a theme park, but I don't really side with the more bleak interpretation that Guybrush is hallucinating, suffering a psychosis, etc. I prefer to think of the Monkey Island world, both the theme park, and the outside world where Boybrush plays with his friends, as a place where anything becomes possible. In the case of the theme park, it's magical, and all those animatronics come to life as long as they continue to live inside the park.That's why LeChuck and Lila cease to be real people once they go through the door to the Secret. That is ultimately the true triumph Guybrush has and forever will have over LeChuck; he is fated to be contained within the park and never live outside while Guybrush can leave with Elaine, have a family, and share stories of his adventures. When seen through this lense, not only does the Secret not really matter to the overall experience, but neither does dwelling over what is real and what isn't. The lines are blurred, we can all be right because there is no definitive answer, and we can keep talking about it forever. The next game is now free to be a simple pirate adventure unburdened by the Secret and no longer beholden to any true vision. Ron I think has surrendered the series to us and to the people who kept the series alive in his absence. To me, not only could Guybrush be us now and Boybrush be us when we first played the series, but from another viewpoint Guybrush is Ron and Boybrush is every other dev who has worked on the series; Ackley, Ahern, Stemmle, Clarke, Jake, whoever comes next, taking the original story and adding their own spin, like the kids playing out the adventures. Looked at like that, it only makes the series more beautiful and rewarding to go back to. I totally get it if you still feel the same way after reading this, but this is just my two cents as someone who was in a very similar positon upon seeing the ending for the first time.

After so long without a new Monkey Island game, I'd hate to see it fade away again for another decade. Return is doing really well, it's getting great reviews, hopefully selling well, nominated for Joystick awards, etc. The chances of another one sooner rather than later are pretty high, imo. I think it just depends on if Ron wants to do it or if Disney want to shop the IP around to others, like Skunkape, or New Telltale. Personally I think it'd be great to see Wadjet Eye do one, that'd be cool. Return I think has really freed the next entry to be unburnded by the idea of the creator's "one true vision" or wondering what the Secret is. The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that one big theme of Return is Ron essentially surrendering Monkey Island to us. I know people have interpreted Guybrush as fans who grew up with it and Boybrush as when we first played, but I think that also, Guybrush is Ron and Boybrush is all the people who played his games and went on to make Monkey Island games with their own takes. He's saying "Monkey Island is more than me, we all make it special", and I think that's where I eventually found the beauty in the ending. I know that a lot of people have said that they're fine with this being the last one, and I get that. But also, I think this is a rich world that, regardless if you believe it's real or not, is ripe for further development and as long as there is a fun adventure worth going on, there should be another one. The series has never been more ideally placed to have a Curse-style simple adventure OR another serialised story like Tales, probably moreso than when those games were released and some people were too focused on their wish for Ron to take over to appreciate what was given to us. I do think that the next one should absolutely go to completely new places, no more revisiting past islands with as few returning characters as possible, just the core gang who always show up. If a new story is not to be, I think now is the perfect time to make remasters of the remaining games and put all of them together into a nice package.

Those who've seen my posts in the spoiler discussion will see that I've really struggled with the ending, but I'm really finding that I've come around to loving it and the way it gives validity to any interpretation. I think I initially just took the whole thing literally which is why I felt really let down, but then I understood what it was doing and how it frees the player to create their own meaning and...wow. Yeah it's actually great. I think it's really hard to rank it above my top 2 which are MI2 and Curse; it's almost impossible to compete with those early childhood memories, but as far as new games in the series go, it's pretty dang good. I love the art style, might be my favourite next to Curse (I think a remaster of that game would blow it out of the water). I think what brings it down for me is that there is a LOT of time spent on Melee and I've always been more interested in new locations, so for me it took a little too long to get to that aspect of the game. Overall though it was pretty neat.

I really like all of LeChuck's crew. Iron Rose for the Aussie accent (represent!) and general personality, Putra's got a fun design, Gullet's such an asshole in a fun way, Flambe's voice and general apathy are a great combo, obviously it's great to see Bob back even though he's upside down the whole game. I think Flair probably got the shortest end of the stick. Judge Planke is just off his rocker, I'm a sucker for a good pun so Locke Smith..brilliant. I thought the new pirate leaders were a great foil with all the triple-crossing, though I think Trent was underused.

It is news to me that you only need to sign the form at the bottom. I spent way too long making sure each check was logical. What a waste 😂

Actually that's another one I got stumped on, for the exact same reason 😂

Damn Brr Muda torches My middling Return to Monkey Island trivia game score: 99/100 MojoMeter: 💚💚💚💚💚 https://funzone.mixnmojo.com/RemiTrivia/

The trivia cards No, but seriously, I had no idea how to flatten Murray for ages because I mustn't have read the flavor text describing the launder machine and had no idea how I was going to do it. I also struggled to figure out the maze on Terror Island and had to use the hintbook to get how to work out the order. I was also stumped on treasure chests under the monkey head for a while. I also didn't get what the mop tree map wanted me to do, I was getting sent back to the beginning of the forest numerous times because I was just following the lines, not the plants. I think you can tell that I'm not as good with puzzle puzzzles as I am with working out what objects to use on what things and the like.

Ok, I guess I should do a new ranking. Not gonna put all the other Lucasarts titles in this time though. 1. Curse 2. LeChuck's Revenge 3. Return 4. Secret 5. Tales 6. Escape If you've seen my posts about the ending to Return, you may be under the impression that I don't like the game. Nope, I'm just having a bit of trouble digesting the final moments and what it all means for me, but it's overall really good. Just not top 2 good...but maybe that'll change over time.

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.

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.

I think I'm somewhere in that zone, too. I don't completely hate it, there's a lot about it that I think is brilliant, but there's a part of me that perhaps, at my stage in life, isn't ready for an ending like this. I've experienced a lot of existential crises recently and I think right now this is confronting in a way I'm not sure how to process. I actually felt a bit depressed after finishing it, but I'm reflective enough that I can recognise that isn't on Ron and Dave, they've crafted something really thought provoking that I think I have to come back to later to fully come to terms with.

All I said was that there would be more than 4 "Parts" and I was right 😜

Wait, you can?! I was trying to figure it out! I tried using Stan's keys but it didn't work.

I don't know if anyone else got this ending, but I just went back the way I came through the monkey head and the game just ended with an achievement notification saying "I don't believe". Clearly I've missed a very different ending if I just turn the switches off 😜

Just finished Rise of the Pirate God. Now to try and sleep knowing the game is out at 2am my time

I really don't know how I managed to get this with such limited guesses. 👕 I beat #Mojole #181 and all I got was this stupid t-shirt. 3/6 🖤🖤🖤🖤💚 🖤💚💚🖤🖤 💚💚💚💚💚 https://funzone.mixnmojo.com/Mojole/

Day 2 of my Monkey Marathon, just finished Chapter 1 of Tales. Finishing all of it should get me through most of the day, then when I get up tomorrow morning Return will be out! I'm so excited, we're so close!

This morning I started my 2 day MI marathon and I'm up to Curse. Man, it feels weird to see the ending to MI2 and know that I will never see it the same way again. Taking a break for lunch and then it's Curse and Escape. Tomorrow I'm dedicating to Tales and then it's RETURN TO MONKEY ISLAND BABY!

Man, that's tough. I kinda don't want to predict anything, i want to just enjoy the ride. So I'll go with something small. The game will have more than 4 "Parts".

I'm not looking forward to people immediately tweeting at the devs on midnight "WHERE'S THE GAME?!"

That'd be my guess too, considering how Ron and Dave have talked up the release as the Ultimate Monkey Island Monday.