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BaronGrackle

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Posts posted by BaronGrackle

    Mojo Book Club | On Stranger Tides | Chapter 17

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Oh, Chapter 11 has one of the quotes that I wanted to post!

     

    They're following this river to some sort of supernatural nexus, and the environment starts to develop noses, eyes, and generally faces. If Ron Gilbert says he got inspiration from this book, then I'm sure the fungus faces on this path were an inspiration to the mushrooms and face parts under the Monkey Head.

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    Speedruns

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by BaronGrackle

    I became fixated on Stan haggling last year. I think the current speedrun record went with: Walk away, reject 6 extras, offer 2000, offer 5000.

     

    BUT he could have gone with: Walk away, reject 6 extras, offer 5000. Of course, skipping that one click for the 2000 offer probably doesn't save much time.

     

    You could also: Reject 5 extras, offer 2000, offer 5000, offer 5000 again. That lets you avoid the "walking away" animation. I'm not sure if that would save time or not.

     

    Disclaimer: rejecting or accepting the first extra (porthole defoggers) is irrelevant because of a bug, but I imagine it's easier/faster to just reject everything.


    EDIT: The insult swordfighting stuff is fascinating. If you're playing Special Edition, Carla will never use "I've got a long, sharp lesson for you to learn today". So you'll never successfully use the "And I've got a little TIP for you, get the POINT" response against her. But these guys aren't on the Special Edition.
     

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    • Chef's Kiss 1

    Indiana Jones 5

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Fate of Atlantis might not have the most movie-friendly format, but its final hazard is absolutely on par with an Indy film and is easily on my top 3 dialogue puzzles of all time.

     

    And here's a reminder that Last Crusade started the trend of a big guy named Biff that you probably need to sabotage.
    He was the first guy named Biff who loves beer but gets defeated by it; the second was the ghost who initially approaches Guybrush in SMI Part 4 (I recently learned his sprite is named Biff).

    • Like 1

    Tiermaker - LucasArts Adventure Game

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by BaronGrackle

    And mine. You'll see I have a preference for the older pixel titles (though Grim Fandango and Tales snuck through, since their stories grabbed me so much). I really enjoy the worlds set up by Maniac Mansion and Zak McKraken, and Thimbleweed Park to me feels more like a sequel than Day of the Tentacle.

     

    Apologies to Sam and Max and The Dig. They're both great experiences, but something about the settings and characters didn't grab me as much as with the other franchises.

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    The Legend of Monkey Island (Sea of Thieves)

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I was definitely wrong when I guessed RMI would bring an end to Monkey Island, thanks to its (in my opinion) conclusive narrative. I mean... the Prelude to RMI basically destroys most preconceptions we had about canon - in a good way. It destroyed canon in that iconic, Gilbertian Monkey Island way.

     

    Before playing RMI, could any of us have predicted the MI2 ending was something Guybrush never experienced OR imagined? RMI gave us a new lens (a double monocle) to see this universe. If the MI2 ending was fabricated during a single play session between Boybrush and Chucky... then when you go back and play MI2, you're not playing something that happened to Guybrush.

     

    How much of our MI2 playthrough is "noncanon", in this same way? How much of SMI is likewise fabricated? What combination of our games have been Guybrush's experiences, versus his imagination, versus his retellings to his son and others, versus his son and others retelling and/or reinventing them? And this all compounds as we question more and more things, such as whether LeChuck is real... or whether Boybrush or Chucky are real themselves. How likely do you think it is that, in the reality of RMI, both LeChuck and Chucky would be real people?

     

    Like a story shared from the Anglers themselves, our Monkey Island adventures are all fine-tuned narratives. RMI might have told us that the journey is more important than the destination, but it also told us the journey is more important than its factualness, its "canon".

     

    My mistake was in presuming the games would stop because canon is basically dead now. But other people knew better; they argued that RMI made the franchise more sequel-friendly than ever, because literally anything could happen and be part of this grand story. After all, if even the most nonsensical reveals of CMI and EMI could be explained now (e.g. the giant monkey robot and Herman "H.T. Marley" being the result of a single random play session), then how could anything NOT fit in? I read one particular review that shrugged along the lines of, "Everything is canon now. All the games are canon. All the contradictions are canon. That fan game with Guybrush as a ghostbuster is canon."

     

    They were all correct when they said anything could happen after RMI. In fact, "anything" would really be the only appropriate mindframe to take on a sequel. That's the real gift RMI gave us.

     

    LMI is as faithful a continuation of RMI as anything could ever be. "Do you have a story to share?" Well, it does.

    The Legend of Monkey Island (Sea of Thieves)

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by BaronGrackle

    Quote

    I'm kind of happy about the universal enthusiasm in the comments but ... it shows what absurd expectations Ron Gilbert had to fend off for Return. These are the fans that the Monkey Island franchise would have needed last year.


    I know I'm in the minority, but I still see Monkey Island games in three different character-art genres:

    1. Pixel, semi-realistic (SMI, MI2)

    2. Cartoony (CMI, EMI, TMI, Special Editions, and now LMI)

    3. Paper animation (RMI)

     

    I understand that Guybrush in CMI looks nothing like Guybrush here in LMI. But, I still get that Western animation cartoony tone. It's still familiar.

     

    I'm very often wrong in life. That being said? I fully get RMI's designs receiving a stronger kneejerk backlash than LMI is getting right now; it makes sense to me.

    Mojo Book Club | On Stranger Tides | Chapter 17

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by BaronGrackle

    This is one of those funny things about SMI: despite the design documents talking about LeChuck's obsession with Elaine, and despite the Scumm Bar patrons saying he fell in love with her... if you listen to what LeChuck says, he talks a lot about his "plans" for the "governor", and shows little indication that he's infatuated with Elaine romantically.

     

    Quote

    Wait! I'll handle this personally. My plans are too important to be messed up by amateurs.

     

    Quote

    My plans for the Governor are far too important, and much too near completion, to risk letting a would-be pirate like you get in the way.

     

    Quote

    With years of planning almost destroyed by my death, I'm not taking any chances now.

    Years of planning? Planning what? A wedding ceremony? I guess that's the real answer.

     

    But if you tilt your head and squint, it can almost sound like LeChuck has a plan that requires him to be legally married to the Governor of Mêlée Island in general, as opposed to pining over the woman named Elaine Marley.

     

    (Which is interesting when reflecting on EMI assigning voodoo significance to the gubernatorial seal(s), but we've strayed a bit beyond authors' intents.)

    • Chef's Kiss 1

    Return to Monkey Island Physical Box Release

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by BaronGrackle

    On 1/15/2023 at 5:53 AM, Jake said:

    I hope it has an excerpt from Guybrush’s memoirs on the back of the box!


    I think tvtropes has it right: Guybrush's trailer quote has got to be our excerpt! I know you mean on the box itself (which I doubt would happen), but as someone who's only owned the Curse and Escape versions of these quoted boxes, I just like to know they sort of exist in some form.

     

    Quote

    "Three small trials and you're a pirate like us." Fair enough. If only I could stomach the foul brew these scurvy seadogs swilled, the rest would be easy. How could I have known I'd meet a powerful and beautiful woman with a jealous suitor too stupid to realize he'd been dead for years? And how can I crawl through this great stone monkey to find a man who walks three inches above the ground and sets fire to his beard every morning?


     

    I thought I'd killed the Ghost Pirate LeChuck for good. Wrong. How many times can that bloated old fool die? Other pirates tell me there's no escape. Legend has it that the treasure of Big Whoop holds the key to great power... I must find it before LeChuck finds me.


    I've sailed the seas from Trinidad to Tortuga and I've never seen anything like it! The engagement ring I gave Elaine has a terrible pirate curse on it. LeChuck is behind it, I'm sure. I should have known that nothing good could come out of that evil zombie's treasures. And if that's not bad enough, the clairvoyant I met in the mangrove swamp told me that if I am to break the curse and save Elaine, I will have to die!

     

    Spitting the sand of Monkey Island from my mouth, I began to wonder if the life of a mighty pirate was all it was cracked up to be. If only I'd chosen a different path, LeChuck might still be dead, and the mystery of the Ultimate Insult might have remained an enigma. If I'd never picked up a sword, the grog-swilling pirates of the Tri-Island Area might be unthreatened by the twin forces of gentrification and demonic heckfire. If only...

     

    I've sailed the seven seas in search of archaic charms and curiosities; I've raided the sunken smelters of Popgowatu for the finest of tools; and I've worked by candlelight in the yawing quarters of my ship to forge together the raw materials into the finest of blades, all to finally put a bloody end to my undead rival and stealer of spouse. It is now that this sword is more than just a sword; it is a covenant! I'm not exactly sure what that word means, but it sounds right. The seas will sleep soundly tonight, for LeChuck's time is up!

     

    Pirating is in my blood, like adrenaline or stale grog. I've been in enough scraps to fill a dozen scrapbooks. I've got stories about ships, fights, love, treasure, betrayal, and root beer. But how about one that has all of the above? My name is Guybrush Threepwood, and this is a story about the time I finally found the Secret of Monkey Island.

    • Like 3

    Mojo Book Club | On Stranger Tides | Chapter 17

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by BaronGrackle

    19 hours ago, ThunderPeel2001 said:

    I haven't read it in years... the main thing I took away was the sheer lack of direct references to anything in the Ron Gilbert Monkey Island games. Am I misremembering that? Also how the general vibe was a lot darker. I do think there's a character called "LeGrande" early in the book... am I wrong about that? (Then again Gilbert grew up in La Grande, Oregon.)


    It doesn't have direct references, but it's a setting that's about 50% pirate and 50% vodun/voodoo, and Ron has said it was a major influence.

     

    Monkey Island is definitely a more comedic series, but the less comedic mystical parts (especially in the original SMI) ring similarly to the mystical parts of On Stranger Tides. Like... the Prologue introduces ghosts manipulated by voodoo objects and ceremonies. The first chapters have voodoo talismans used for mundane piracy tasks. It has the heads of a two-headed dog, separated and used as navigational trackers because each head will point to the other. That's a far cry from ordinary root beer that kills ghosts, but it's not a far cry from a rare, unexplainable root that can dissolve spirits. (And maybe the root beer isn't even as far removed, since ordinary candy apparently attracts the ghosts.)

     

    I keep it in my mind when I think of Ron Gilbert's earliest plotting for Monkey Island, in which the Secret was a hidden crevice into hell itself. That hell gate puts me in mind of Stranger Tides' prologue, in which the dead are summoned back into the land of the living through a ceremony.

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    Mojo Book Club | On Stranger Tides | Chapter 17

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by BaronGrackle

    Even from the early chapters, I love how precise/scientific the rules of vodun are for this universe. It's highlighted by the antagonist Hurwood, who works with a very logical and scientific mind.

     

    There are a lot of antagonists in this story. Benjamin Hurwood and Leo Friend have been introduced, and the other two I'm thinking of have at least been mentioned... (edited out)

     

    I adore that Shandy has a puppeteering background. It's a little sad that the closest Guybrush has come to this skillset has been his use of ventriloquism in CMI, or his use of the handpuppets in EMI, and I'm pretty sure those are both coincidences.

     

    But, after seeing the influence of puppetry on Shandy's piracy career (an example being his early fight against Philip Davies), I like to think that maybe Guybrush found a way out of the cannibals' hut based on his ability to identify poor flooring.

    • Like 1

    Return to Monkey Island 🚨GAME-WIDE🚨 Spoiler Chat

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    The Prelude was what shocked me. Watching the end cutscene to MI2 rewritten... seeing Booty Island again, in park form, including the spitting contest grounds... Guybrush appearing and teasing "Boybrush" about changing the endings?

     

    The Prelude told me not to trust MI2. I inferred this also meant not to trust MI1, and was encouraged not to trust MI1 when Carla's old house had literal playground equipment Guybrush remembered fondly!

     

    I played the entire game AFTER the revelation that the previous games weren't reliable narratives at all. So no, the ending wasn't a shock for me. :)

     

    LAFITTE'S ANCHOR!!

    • Like 1

    Return to Monkey Island 🚨GAME-WIDE🚨 Spoiler Chat

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    3 hours ago, Gins said:

    Don't even remember that.. is that the ending of a specific character or something that happens when you finished with everyone...? Been a while.

     

    Interesting to have that theme recur so often.


    At the very end, after going down and down deeper into The Cave throughout the course of the game, you somehow end up back at the entrance gift shop (similar to going deeper and deeper into the Monkey Head until you arrive at Melee again). The worker on shift gives you a large key to go in the backroom and get items of heart's desire to replace the three items of heart's desire that YOUR team wants. You go through a section you already went through when the game began, only now it's closing time. Death spike pits are disassembled and packed into boxes... spotlights are suddenly here at certain places... the beautiful waterfall is now lava on the verge of cataclysm... the usual closing time stuff.
     

    You grab the new items and trade them at gift shop, each team member getting the object their heart desires most. Characters who hold on to this object end up trapped in the Cave and can be seen dead in the next playthrough, while characters who give the object back are able to leave.

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    Return to Monkey Island 🚨GAME-WIDE🚨 Spoiler Chat

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I'm replaying The Cave again. It's another story where, at the end, it's closing time at the attraction and time for me to take a literal key and get things ready for shutdown. And also it's never made clear if anything is real or imaginary, how exactly the characters got here, whether they're living or dead, etc...

     

    I think Ron has a meta idea in his head that has leaked out in various video game endings recently, and there's nothing wrong with that.

     

    Ask me at the right time, and I can see Thimbleweed Park as "life has no meaning but we live it anyway and that's the right thing to do".

    Indiana Jones 5

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by BaronGrackle

    On 11/24/2022 at 6:52 PM, Scummbuddy said:

    "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny"

     

    Thanks, I hate it.

     

    ...unless it's that Atlantian sun dial. Or Dial-A-Pirate!


    So... it really is a time travel story, isn't it? The Dial of Destiny is surely a time machine.

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