demone

With regards to how slow Adventure games can be, what I always loved in MI and others were those puzzles where you were basically stuck in a limited space and your options/solutions were also limited, but you were comforted in the fact that everything you needed is there. On the smallest scale, it would be the Phatt Island jail or LeChuck's torture chamber and on the larger side, you have LeChuck's ship from Return, a relatively smaller space when compared to the rest of the game. Those help break up the game a bit and reward the players with a different type of difficulty. When the game truly opens up with multiple islands, I really feel a sense of epicness and cinematic action, but one that I control as go from island to island and explore. So much better and more immersive than a huge cutscene or a quick time event in my opinion. Even as I get stuck, there is still so much to try and places to go, npcs to meet with funny dialogue, etc. For me, when you were limited to a smaller but still big space like an entire island, that's when my frustration can start churning up if I get stuck because I'm constantly going through the same island and characters. I think for this reason, LeChuck's Revenge and Return struck a near perfect balance for me. One last thing to note for smaller scenarios is a shout-out to Tales, because I loved the puzzle/sequence of fighting Morgan at the start of episode 2. It was a puzzle, but wrapped in an action sequence that I never tired of watching, which was also partially because just having a genuine swordfight and seeing Guybrush being an actual badass was awesome as well. I love that type of puzzle format as well. The crazy escalation in episodes 4 and 5, with twist upon twist, was also peak MI storytelling for me and I became so invested, that I didn't care if I got stuck on a puzzle. And of course the brilliance of Return, in that there is this large, overarching story, but also all these details that are there for you to connect the dots. A story not dictated to you, but partially told with the rest of the puzzles scattered for you to put together. It makes the environment and characters another puzzle/piece of the story for you to connect. This also increases replayability as you go through again and pick up on additional details you didn't notice before because you didn't have the context of the ending or other story beats and sequences throughout the game. So, for me, I think the amount of locations open to the player, as well as those more limited scenarios, along with how dynamic the story beats are, always went a long way to make me feel like I was still progressing even when stuck because I was still moving through various locations or going through different scenarios.

Regarding the three pirates (four counting the one with the silver key) that were found dead on Terror Island, I always assumed LeChuck murdered them during one of his visits to the island since his diary mentions roasting smores with Iron Rose over burning bodies on Terror Island. There were tongs and a campfire where the bodies were found, so I always assumed that was the implication. I like to think Terror Island was a sort of a retreat area for LeChuck to perform some truly horrific stuff and voodoo magic, to the point that the island itself began to emulate some of that evil. That's more of my headcanon though.

Finished the first tale for Legend of Monkey Island and got through a good portion of the first tale for A Pirates Life last night and had a blast doing both. Definitely the sailing portions are a bit of a grind for me, outside of the amazing sea and wave effects. I imagine sailing is where playing with a crew is particularly rewarding, but the onland portions were a lot of fun. So many nice Easter eggs. I also really enjoyed some of the lore they added to Melee Island and the Marley family.

I got around to downloading the PS5 version last night. I was mainly doing the tutorials and started the Tall Tale for "A Pirates Life" (on Safer Seas) and the game looks absolutely gorgeous. The art style really does look like a spin on Monkey Island and something that could fit nicely as an entry. The sea, sky, and clouds all look so real and I got lost several times just standing and appreciating the visuals, especially when it was a day-to-night transition and vice versa. The gameplay isn't exactly my cup of tea, but with an art style this good, I easily got sucked in. Also, I really like the partial sense of dread you feel just by sailing, knowing at any second, some leviathan can appear. I'm also really digging the extensive lore, both for the Tales and the larger storyline. Looking forward to diving into all the Tall Tales, especially for "Legend of Monkey Island".

Ah, I see! It flips over to reveal it. I tried to slide it out initially, but you basically just push it and the section flips to reveal the USB. Thanks for the info, very clever indeed.

I think it's indeed just meant to be a decorative, fake floppy disc. I think the USB stick portion of the description on the site was simply inaccurate.

One other, cool little detail I found in the scrapbook, that has some very interesting lore implications, is that on the pages with LeChuck's voodoo doll, next to the torn leg is a note saying, "Use imagination for real damage." That implies that Guybrush did not really do that much damage to LeChuck at the end of that game and was instead his imagination creating the carnage of LeChuck's leg and arm falling off. Makes sense given the context of the games we now know. Especially with them not really being brothers, then it makes sense that Guybrush's voodoo doll would not be 100% effective. Taking it a step further to connect with Curse, LeChuck had probably already cast a spell on Guybrush right at the start of the tunnels and Guybrush was seeing what he perhaps wanted to see in the fight, along with disturbing imagery, such as his deceased parents. Boybrush and his friend Chucky add in their own spins and what we have as the ending of Monkey Island 2 is essentially a mishmash of an embellished tale with Guybrush's imagination and unreliable memory and Boybrush and Chucky's own retelling and twists.

Yeah, I was actually half-expecting that Guybrush's monologue from the first trailer ("Pirating is in my blood, like adrenaline, or stale Grog.") would be on the back of the box. Would've been perfect as a memoir.

Just saw the announcement that SoT is coming to PS5. Between that and the release of Safer Seas in December, I will most likely now get this game, if for nothing else than to experience the Tall Tales.

Mine just arrived and everything came in perfect condition. The Golden Key and Lure pin are both very well made. The scrapbook has some additional jokes not present in the game that made me laugh out loud. A standout for me was next to Wally's picture, Guybrush begins to write, and misspell, "cartographer," and crosses it out to simply write "the map guy." Also, really cool that the section about "Return to Monkey Island" has an additional seal on it for people who want to avoid spoilers until after they finish the game. Everything else; the box itself, poster, soundtrack, game CDs, Floppy Disc (which I might use as a coaster when replaying the games), manual, and especially the letter from Ron and Dave are all well made and authentic. Reminds me of the good old days of buying PC games. Only gripe is no excerpt from Guybrush.

Yeah, got my notification as well for the PC version. Everything seems to happen in twos with Monkey Island lol In this case, the documentary and now the physical release

Wow, incredibly well-made and a great watch. I got a little emotional at certain parts, especially at the end. Even though it's been nearly two years since Return was announced, I still found myself thinking during my watch of the documentary, "I still can't believe we got this Monkey Island after decades." The documentary reminded me just how many things had to go right for Ron and Dave to be able to make this game. Some overall, scattered thoughts: Even though Ron has since confirmed the Secret in several interviews, it's always great to hear his and Dave's thoughts on it. Also cool to know that Dave also knew the Secret the entire time, all the way back to the development of the first game. Ron's read of "On Stranger Tides" did influence decisions that ultimately got him further from focusing more on the Secret in the first game. That makes perfect sense. It sounds like the Voodoo mythology, LeChuck, and Guybrush were truly born from that read, while the landscape and the Secret itself were always there in Ron's mind during initial conceptualization. I love hearing Dom say, "I will always hope for another, but I think this is the first time I feel comfortable if this was the final one as well." That summarizes my thoughts on Return as well. I loved the game, narrative, themes, and ending so much, that I would be okay if this were the final one.

I think the intent at the time was to simply have people talking and theorizing as much as possible, with the audience not even sure if anything they experienced was real (this much was more or less confirmed in the commentary for the special edition of MI2). Ron did confirm that the Secret the entire time was that Guybrush was in an amusement park, but his vision shifted as the first game took full fruition and how he would officially reveal it became a work-in-progress you could say. I think in some ways, Ron wanted an ending that harkened back to that original concept/secret without really addressing or answering it head-on either, that's what the third game would be about, and we essentially got exactly that in Return. There was no master plan necessarily, just an ending to get people talking while also layering in much stronger implications about the nature of the Secret. As others have said, how Ron and Dave were able to resolve it in Return is nothing short of amazing and a huge testament to how talented those guys truly are in their craft as designers and storytellers. In all my years of imagining how they would resolve that ending, I never considered the final scenario we got; it was satisfying, emotional and heartfelt, and tied everything up rather nicely while still leaving room for some speculation. The resolution to the ending was always the bigger mystery for me personally rather than the Secret itself and I couldn't be happier with the payoff. It was well worth the decades of waiting and I never thought that would be possible. In retrospect, I think that ending was Guybrush realizing that he was in an amusement park - his world of fun and danger to shield himself and mind from the true dangers and feelings of his reality of being abandoned by his parents. By Return, he has accepted it, embraced it, and ultimately started a family; it was now our turn to understand it through one more epic adventure through a son bonding with his father.

Yeah, Dom also mentioned this during his most recent interview with Laura Cress. I think we might get another game a little bit sooner though (still not for several years though), simply because I think that, despite the series not being the money maker of other franchises owned by Disney, I think the last year has demonstrated just how passionate some internal groups in the larger company, as well throughout the industry, are about this series and I think that might enable more frequent entries. The last year proved Monkey Island has a strong enough fan base to warrant a game every now and then. I think we've seen several times now how that passion can sway or even override the corporate/office politics at work. That being said, I'm pretty content with where the series is. With there now being 6 official entries in the series, with the last one being the one so many were waiting for, an entry overviewing Ron's vision for how the series continued from the end of 2, and a spinoff crossover. I would rather a game come out when it has a story worth telling that can expand the lore and mythology in a meaningful way and a team that understands and respects the themes of the series. I think that every game in the series has done just that up until this point and Return does serve as a nice conclusion, but also opens up the series to allow many other paths/stories to be taken. It can be easy to use the storytelling nature of the series as a crutch though to throw in any random element, so I would prefer for any future game to have a degree of self-control.

Yeah, bizarre but fun. The way the tales were first overviewed by the development team themselves was that it takes place after Curse, so it was already set and it's a cool little detail to discuss on how this can fit, even if it is a crossover spinoff, and not necessarily to be taken as an absolute. And yeah, one of the great things about Return is how it opened up the series to allow multiple stories and interpretations without sweating on the details that much.