ThunderPeel2001

No, you can play with the safe to your heart’s content. He’s only triggered to return when you ring the bell (or leave and come back, I believe). I know you can use the sound effects to crack the safe (if you're paying close attention), but I can’t get sound in EGA in ScummVM. I think it’s a long-standing ScummVM bug that they’re looking at at the moment... but I wasn't sure if I was just wasting my time even attempting it.

That is good to know and makes me feel more confident in Ron and Return to MI! Also just to be clear: I do not "hate" TWP’s ending. Hate is far too strong a word. I felt completely “meh” about it. Like I never cared to experience it again. I wasn’t the slightest bit angry or agitated or anything like that. Just left cold by it.

Just watch it If you’re not hooked by Episode 2 then it’s probably not for you, though! Also bear in mind that it was the first TV show that looked like a movie — revolutionary for the time. It really stood out. These days even TV comedies look like movies. It’s still wonderful though!

Also I have to add: I cannot see any meaningful similarities between Mulholland Dr and MI2! Convince me @Remi!

Yes! I am a huge Lynch fan, and a huge Twin Peaks fan. (Unrelated to my level of fandom, but I was once married to someone who worked on the show. I know a LOT about Lynch and TP in general.) The Return was a difficult first watch, because I wanted the original show back sooo much. (I took the day off work to watch it — it actually started on my birthday, nice coincidence.) There were staggering highlights (eg.Part 8 and the amazing ending), but it took some adjusting. But FWWM was the same, and now it might be my favourite slice of Peaks. When I watched The Return the second time I enjoyed it a lot more though. It really is a GREAT series that ties together nicely, and you can appreciate that a lot more on the second run. But the ending was always amazing. Gave me goosebumps. (I hate it that the clip of the scream is used everywhere — that should be banned so it shocks first time viewers.) Anyway, as much as I love that ending, all I want from Return to MI is a GOOD ending. Season 3’s ending was a GOOD ending. It wasn’t particularly divisive, (it was generally well received in the TP community) but it was still challenging and provocative. I just don’t want Ron to try and create an ending that he hopes half the people who see it will HATE. Because that’s not being true to the story, it’s being disingenuous and contrived. Lynch and Frost didn’t sit down and say, “what could really fuck off half the audience?” They wrote the appropriate ending to the story they were telling. And it worked wonderfully. I think we’re all ultimately saying the same thing. Sorry, that was a long answer to a short question. On some topics I just get carried away

I wonder if anyone knows this, but does the storekeeper's safe have a combination you could hack in Part 1? Or does the game code just lock the safe no matter what Guybrush does? Would be interesting to know what the game does (if anything) if you opened the safe while the storekeeper was with Carla.

Hmm, he's literally said he didn't have a story in place (watch below -- I've set the video to start where he's talking MI3): Of course, Ron likes to keep his cards close to his chest.. and this was October 2020, so in theory he was already working on Return to Monkey Island?!? So maybe we can't trust what he says here...

I know I'm repeating myself, but I wouldn't get your hopes up. I have a strong feeling Ron didn't have a clue about that ending and didn't have any way to resolve it. I think he just did it and was going to worry about it later. And here is why I think that: Ron discussed difficult endings at PAX Australia in 2013 and he talked about them as if they were a thing unto themselves. Not an unfortunate side effect of not finishing a planned trilogy, but something you should aim for. See what you think of what he said here (emphasis added by me): I understand what Ron is saying, and I even agree with it. But I especially agree with: "You shouldn’t enrage your audience all the time just to enrage them." And I feel that's what he tried to do with Thimbleweed Park. It was like, "I know, the game just never resolves anything and just ends! That will be interesting!". I think the truth is more complicated than Ron believes: You can't just choose to polarise an audience, because you actually need to make them care first. (This is why Thimbleweed Park's ending didn't work for me, even as a shock. I didn't care. I didn't care about the world. I didn't care about the story. I didn't care about the characters. The only thing that could have made me care was a clever ending that tied everything together. I doubt I'll ever play it again -- I've tried and quit.) I understand the desire to provoke an audience, but it's not something that's easy to do well. And if you fail, you fail harder than if you tried to satisfy them. (And I don't mean "fail" in the cool, edgy way Ron is trying to romanticise -- I mean fail in the "leaves audience feeling meh" kind of way.) The worst way Ron could end Return to Monkey Island would be to try and "top" his ending for MI2. At this point it's become expected. "Oh gee, Guybrush is just series of computer signals in the computer I'm playing -- how meta!" or "Oh gee, Guybrush is a construct of the author and the audience -- how meta!" or "Oh gee, Guybrush is really the player wanting to be somewhere else, but why do I want to be somewhere else? What does that say about modern living? How meta!" I can also see the game attempting to walk a tightrope between "is this reality, or is it just a child's dream?" the entire time. Like that episode of Buffy from 20 years ago which did exactly that ("Normal Again") or that movie K-Pax. Right now I'd challenge Ron to give Return to Monkey Island a good story and satisfying ending. If Ron resisted the urge to try and provoke the audience and focussed instead on crafting a good story. That would surprise me. I think if you're deliberately trying to provoke ranty emails in 20 year's time, there's something disingenuous about that. With MI2 the ending truly came out of nowhere because that's how it was discovered: It just appeared one day and felt right to Ron. I think provocative endings have their place, but the truth is that once you've made the audience care what happens, it's easy to be provocative: Just don't give what they hope to see. Voila! A provocative ending. Unfortunately when such an ending is expected it's no longer provocative. This is just a long way of me saying: I love Monkey Island for the world, the characters and the story. I didn't love it just for the few minutes at the end of Monkey 2. So, you know, don't fuck this up, Ron! Watch Ron's whole keynote here: UPDATE: July 2022. I actually replayed THIMBLEWEED Park and completely revised my opinion of it, and its ending. In short: I found it completely different the second time around and LOVED it. I was as surprised as anyone. So my reservations about Gilbert and endings has totally changed. I think (well, hope) that he’ll give the Return a proper ending, rather than just one that will calculatedly divide fans. I’m far less worried, anyway!

If they do that, I hope that's the only thing from EMI they consider trying to fit into RTMI. It would suck if someone on the RTMI team was like, "Hey, let's try and fix Monkey Kombat!" or "let's bring in more references to the later games!". I have a feeling Ron is just focussed on making his game, though. Phew. Speaking of characters who could appear, there's so many to choose from the first two games I'd like to see again. Actually one of the things I enjoyed about EMI was seeing Otis and Carla again. And being on the original islands was a great idea -- except they were unrecognisable, so that ruined it. I hope Melee and (presumably) Monkey Island don't have their geographies changed at all. Actually all this reminiscing is making me want to play the first two games again... sigh.

Ha. I love the idea that he's in hell... and maybe he's so annoying they send him back!

Once again, there are SO many ways to explain these things. I’m not saying this is what Ron is doing, but off the top of my head: Stan: We never release him from the coffin in RTMI. All conversations happen through the lid. Maybe we actually provide him with some sustenance to explain how he didn’t die. Voodoo Lady: Easy. You could literally repeat the same dialogue and it would still make sense. RTMI: Guybrush wants to tell her his stories of heroism and bravery (just like he tries to tell everyone on MI2), she’s not interested. CMI: Guybrush STILL wants to share his stories, she’s STILL not interested.

So wait… if Ron has been working on this for two years, does that mean he was working on Return while he did this?

It didn't stop him designing the Tales of Monkey Island box art

Any derivative work is automatically owned by Disney and can be shut down by them. Nothing Ron can do will change that, and as someone who is currently having to work with Disney… let’s just say they can be VERY protective of their IP. (Ron is in a great place because the IP currently dormant and not making them any money, but they still most likely don’t want to open the door to Guybrush and Herman Toothot erotic fan games.)

Or after MI4 or after Tales. This conversation was all in reference to Devolver Tweeting that RMI "picks up where Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge left off". Ben made the point that they might have meant thematically, and Goury said it was impossible to have a game set after MI2 and before CMI AND include Murray. So I was explaining how it's actually very possible to have both things IF Devolver's Tweet meant it literally. Random thought: Is Tim prevented from participating because of his studio's deal with Microsoft? I mean they basically bought DF in order to have exclusive Tim content on XBox. He can't really moonlight for someone else.

Ron likes it when we're all confused... I agree with others who have said that a multiverse solution would feel lazy right now. I forgave Marvel because they did it so well, and there's a long history with Spider-Man having lots of different universes, but just throwing it into MI because it's easy or "different" would be disappointing. I know Ron loves how upset everyone was at MI2's ending, you have to remember that 99% of the series wasn't that ending. It was a largely straightforward piratey adventure... and that's the thing we love. I hope he doesn't sacrifice characters and story trying to outdo himself on the weirdness front. Also despite what anyone says, there's a million easy ways to bring Murray into the narrative and still set the game before COMI. It's not a tricky narrative problem to solve at all. Your favourite TV shows and films do this sort of retcon all the time. ("Darth Vader killed your father... I mean he IS your father.") Some quick and easy solutions: Guybrush bangs his head, affecting his memories (despite this sounding lazy, it actually would allow for the whole of CMI to be reframed in an incredibly interesting way -- this is literally what Planescape Torment did and it's considered one of the best written narratives in gaming history -- it also featured a talking skull that pretends it's never met the protagonist for an interesting narrative reason). Voodoo. Did anyone forget that we have spells in this universe? Curses, enchantments, magical amulets... pick one and apply to your story as needed. This one is harder: Guybrush and Murray never actually cross paths (maybe we play as Elaine in parts of RMI and she's the one who gets pestered by him). Personality: You do the whole Lois Lane/Clark Kent thing. Guybrush is just annoyed by Murray the whole time and refuses to acknowledge him. There are SO many ways to make a direct sequel to MI2 that is set before CMI and features Murray. However that doesn't mean that's what Ron has chosen to do...

Wow, never heard this. It's great. I wonder if he someone could reach out and get those songs another way.

And here's the photo from that night in Feb 2017! It really incredible meeting him. He seemed very chilled out, but incredibly smart. And Jenn Sandercock (who is now working on Return to MI) took this photo.

The game starts directly after MI2 and doesn't negate CMI, so the obvious solution (which I hope Ron is doing) is to simply explain what happened between Guybrush being a kid and ending up in a sea worthy bumper car. (And maybe he can explain how Guybrush became so phobic of porcelain in the process.)

I wouldn't overthink it, Ron revealed during his Video Game History Foundation deep dive (see here: https://gamehistory.org/monkeyisland/) that he didn't have many plans beyond Guybrush going to hell. And he's also said that if he made MI3 now it wouldn't be the same game he would have made back then (it simply couldn't be, he's a different guy). We're just getting what Ron wants to do right now. I'm looking forward to it!

I agree with assessment that 1 is a more enjoyable game. It's the one I fell in love with (like no other game before it). And I was absolutely over the moon when 2 was released... but something was always "off" for me. Guybrush quite simply wasn't Guybrush. He really is a completely different character, and I missed the sweetness and charm of the original game. Of course I still played MI2 to death, and eventually learned to love MI2 for what it was. I now adore the world and the atmosphere. (Although I think back and I can't believe how much I suffered with those 11 disks on my Amiga!! Every change of scene required loading and swapping. And the second disk drive did nothing to help. I learned Zen patience from playing MI2...) However there was another thread running throughout the game that I picked up on: The pressure to make a sequel. Guybrush is constantly complaining that blowing up LeChuck wasn't enough, and he feels under pressure to do something bigger and better. Was that the writers echoing the pressure they felt making the game? It also seemed they basically stopped writing dialogue by the time Guybrush got to LeChuck's Fortress (everything is "Nice sign", "Nice door", "Nice skull"). Did they care less? And the ending itself is completely without joy. Merely a shock for the audience. (Although we all love it now... a lot of us were scarred by that ending!) There's even digs at MI2 within the game itself: Phatt Library famously includes a book with quotes from Hal Barwood (of Fate of Atlantis fame) on Monkey Island 2: "You can't polish a turd." and "Less is more." So this undercurrent made me feel the developers themselves weren't particularly happy, which had led to a less joyful game. I got to ask Ron Gilbert about this when he came to London. I'd waited 15 years for the opportunity! He thought for a moment and said, "Yeah, I can see why you'd say that, but we weren't under pressure. I actually start making MI2 before anyone at LucasArts had given us the greenlight. I thought it would be better to ask forgiveness than permission." So there you go. Of course, I'd love to know what Grossman, Schafer and Borowick have to say! (I also got to ask Barwood about that book in an email interview that I tragically lost. He said he felt it was the programmer's way of making fun of the pithy snippets of wisdom he'd share.)

I smell a CMI remaster if RTMI is successful...

There's definitely things I really enjoyed about EMI, I do think it's unfairly maligned sometimes. But it was also really lacking in the usual MI atmosphere. The world felt cold and empty compared to previous games. And the ending went off the rails... but it would be a lie to say that I didn't spend most of my time enjoying it.

I don’t know. I feel you can probably choose to ignore specifics in the Carnival of the Damned given the voodoo stuff surrounding it. I need to watch that CMI info dump again though.

EMI created a plot hole regarding Herman Toothrot. I remember that.