BaronGrackle

I would have enjoyed a compiled video of all the Previously Ons, but I'm learning it's too in-depth for them to all exist in the same playthrough (e.g. in Part 4 he reminds you how many keys you have and how close you are to getting the others).

What's funny is that he's VERY attentive if you try to add the pepper after the contest starts. But by that time, the queen already has her piece! The judge just saves Guybrush from spicing himself!

Unrelated to the puzzle: my children and I liked our initial idea that these challenges are so commonplace, the current queen maintains her reign by 1) being really good at algebra, 2) winning ties in the case of the face contest, and 3) never having a supply of fish for the eating contest to happen.

Hmm. I can't 100% guarantee this, actually. 😅

Well, I knew I had to eat an alternative (there's popup text for "sneak hagfish on your plate" or something), but my problem was I peppered the fish beforehand, and I thought I'd be able to stock the basket with this and then get NEW fish at Mêlée... but the game nullifies that possible solution. The sabotaged fish will stay in the contest basket indefinitely, until the moment you get replacement fish on Mêlée. When you get replacement fish on Mêlée, the fish in the contest basket will magically disappear. Because Guybrush's fish supply has been changed, it changes the state of fish he has deposited elsewhere. (It kind of reminds me of the Phatt City Library checkout physics, where the only thing that actually affects the "number of books Guybrush has checked out" is the number of books he is physically holding, regardless of how many different names those books were checked out to or whether you gave a book to a Fisherman instead of returning it.) My problem was: I didn't interpret this to mean I had the right answer but was doing it wrong. I interpreted it to mean that regular hagfish could not exist at the same time as peppered hagfish... and when I looked at the hagfish in my inventory, Guybrush felt it was important to tell me they looked like snakes... therefore, a spent a good hour or so on Terror and Scurvy Islands looking for some sort of snake or worm to sneak on my plate. 😆

I just solved this one last night. I was stumped because my first attempt looked like: 1) Make the fish spicy. 2) Put the spicy fish in the contest basket. 3) Go back to Mêlée and find new fish. 4) Go back to Brrr Muda, ready for the contest! 5) The contest basket is empty again. It took me way too long to figure out the laws of hagfish and the universe. I spent some time on Terror Island looking for worms or something I could eat instead.

I'm in Part 4, but you can spoil me: does the northern section of Monkey Island go unexplored this game? I've read things indicating I'll come back just before the end, but I think it will be mainly the areas we already saw in Part 3..

I'm feeling a renaissance of appreciation for the ISLAND of Monkey Island itself, rewatching playthroughs of SMI Part 3 and EMI Part 3, in between the times that my children and I make progress at RMI (a game that uses Monkey Island's vista for its title screen). For your consideration: * In Secret, the Cannibals live on Monkey Island, which has a dormant volcano. * In Curse, the Cannibals live on Blood Island and explain they have tamed the local volcano (Sherman, AKA Mt. Acidophilus), which had been wildly active before they repaired its diet and set it at peace. Until Guybrush ruined it. * In Escape, the Cannibals are absent from Monkey Island. And... the volcano is active now. I want to know the name of the volcano god on Monkey Island, as learned by the Cannibals, and I want to know the diet regimen they gave it before it binged on Big Whoop carnival mojo.

That's funny. I always count Rogers' Cabin as a separate island, but not Booty Governor's Mansion. It's probably because of the underground tunnel. But arguably, both would count or not count equally.

Well, I gave a paragraph of Star Wars things that make me happy. For other people that list might include lightsabers, the Force, hero's journey in a fantastic space setting... a minimum of one action sequence... 😆

The Star Wars fanbase is amazingly layered and contradictory, spanning across multiple generations of fans who are looking for a wide variety of contradictory things, to the extent that "I like Star Wars" or "I don't like Star Wars" sound extremely limiting. I loved Rogue One, and I love Andor. I think it's because I am a "Star Wars 90s EU fan". I love dense worldbuilding, and I didn't even notice the most recent episode had zero action scenes until somebody pointed it out to me. I've heard the criticism that it "doesn't feel like Star Wars", and I understand that criticism exists because of how many different Star Wars's there are! But for me... I became a Star Wars fan through Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II. I went to a friend's house and watched him play Shadows of the Empire. At school, another friend described to me the story campaign for TIE Fighter. Yet another friend described to me Thrawn and the New Republic and Imperial Remnant. If I were to give a summary of the original Star Wars/A New Hope film to someone, I'd mention that the Emperor dissolves the Imperial Senate, because to my brain that's a very inportant and compelling part of the story. Then when Phantom Menace came out, even though I hated Jar Jar and Ani like a good '90s teenager, I never understood why people had a problem with the opening crawl or the political backdrop of the story - to me, that was the meat and potatoes! So when I watch Andor, it feels more Star Wars to my "90s EU Lucasarts" fanbrain than most other live action products. Plus, he has a Bryar pistol. And also they mention Fest. So you know... easy fanservice for my ilk. 😛

So far, my absolute favorite part of Return has been when LeChuck landed on Monkey Island and used the Mop Map (which Guybrush had used on Mêlée Island to find its historic mop tree), and he was somehow able to follow that map's directions to accidentally find a different mop tree on Monkey Island.

To be fair, in Secret everything past Part 1.5 is the quest to save Elaine and defeat LeChuck!

If I could change a single major part about Curse? I would remove the parts of LeChuck's monologue that detail the amusement park specifics of the Carnival of the Damned (dynamo monkelectrics, family friendly, etc.). Along with the earlier cutscene specifically showing the roller coaster. Then, when Guybrush is strapped at the beginning of Part 5 and eventually asks, "Why a carnival?", LeChuck would take a minute to understand what he meant. But then he would laugh and explain that Big Whoop is an unmistakable rush of evil that overtakes you, etc. etc. "Are ye seeing a carnival right now, Threepwood? That be a product of your own mind, harr harr!" Or, keep LeChuck's awareness of the carnival, but say it was tailored that way because it was in Guybrush's mind, and LeChuck went into it fullswing because he hates Guybrush that much.

I TRIED to give Herman that paper to tell him about the exit, but no go. Is there any way to save Grandpa?

I was unclear! Although my wife has excellent taste (in other areas), she is the one who does NOT remember Back to the Future 3 fondly. But that's okay. The kids will have to give it a view before we can get to the Telltale game.

Well, God bless you guys. And some day, you'll be able to indoctrinate those little ones with your favorite media as I do with mine now! (But my wife doesn't always help. She's poisoned them on Back to the Future 3, but someday... 😆)

Just leave me with my Mutiny on Monkey Island designer document, so I can read it over and over again as I tell myself that somewhere in Ron Gilbert's brain, the secret of Monkey Island was a hellgate beneath a crack in the earth, described in detail.

No system for it?

A Diplomacy tabletop variant. Either focusing on this Caribbean (Tri-Island Pirates, Undead Pirates, Phatt Island, Skull Island Smugglers, Australian Developers, Vaycaylian Merfolk, Brrr Muda), or on Monkey Island itself (Cannibals, LeChuck, Herman, Jojo, Madison).

Guybrush: "Somehow it was more exciting before I knew that." Me: "Nuts to that, old man! I kind of wanted to know her name, and now I know her name." 😛

Someone was commenting on the "Nothing is free" sign that appears in Part 3, and Guybrush comments on the monocles. I suggested that maybe it's because you didn't pay Wally... but no, that's not affecting it. I paid Wally early and often, and the "Nothing is free" sign still appears in Part 3 with Guybrush commenting on the monocles.

Maybe it's a mistake? Maybe they'll add an update that lets you skip cutscenes, and the No Sign will go away.

Playing on my own, I think I would have powered through. But with my kids... we had an opportunity on Friday to play a few hours, but the Scorched Alaska puzzle was roadblocking us... Instead of throwing those hours away and trying again next weekend, we used the Hint Book to confirm that our solution was on the top deck. After that, we figured out to use the Knife on the cannon light, instead of just using the food on the cannon light itself. Hint Book is a timesaver. The game's fine in its own way, but... I'm kind of ready to be finished now. We've got two golden keys and were making steady progress when we stopped for the night.

Well, when you press the Y button (on the left) during a cutscene, the upper-left corner of the screen has a red-circle-slash sign that leads me to believe that it would theoretically be a skip button, but that it can't actually be used to skip anything. But the period button is reliably ending sentences.