Return to Monkey Island [OPENING Spoilers only!]

[KestrelPi]

Basically what I suggested in one of the other threads.

 

We know the game starts where MI2 leaves off, directly. And we know from interviews that the start of the game and how it proceeds from the carnival is a guarded secret and is going to be interesting in SOME way.

 

So I bet we'll want to discuss it. But we might not be ready to dive into a full-on spoiler thread when we do. I propose this thread for discussing the very opening of the game.

 

Depending on how the game actually opens, I am going to suggest that here is the place to discuss spoilers for, but NOT BEYOND, for example:

 

1) The Part 1 splash screen

2) Guybrush's arrival on Melee, assuming that's the first proper island.

3) After the Big Interesting thing happens.

 

Whichever feels most appropriate, use judgement. Basically because the end of MI2 is weird we can expect the start of ReMI to be weird. When that weirdness subsides and this game starts being more of a normal Monkey Island game, that's when to stop talking about it here and start using the full spoiler threads. How about it?

[Niemandswasser]

There's a part of me that thinks the graphics in the carnival opening might be based after MI2's before whatever happens to trigger the transition to "present day" or however we're reckoning it. I don't have anything fueling this suspicion except that that one bit in the 2015 King's Quest that flashed back to KQ1 graphics was awesome and worked really well as a comment on past, present and future, and by the same token it might be kind of neat to physically pick up EXACTLY where MI2 left off before moving on to what's new. But also maybe not, who knows!

[KestrelPi]

3 minutes ago, Niemandswasser said:

There's a part of me that thinks the graphics in the carnival opening might be based after MI2's before whatever happens to trigger the transition to "present day" or however we're reckoning it. I don't have anything fueling this suspicion except that that one bit in the 2015 King's Quest that flashed back to KQ1 graphics was awesome and worked really well as a comment on past, present and future, and by the same token it might be kind of neat to physically pick up EXACTLY where MI2 left off before moving on to what's new. But also maybe not, who knows!

I'm going to put my chips down and say I bet they DON'T do this. I don't feel strongly about it either way, but I'd like to see Rex's depiction of the carnival.

My prediction for how it opens, summarised from speculation else where is that one or more of the following might happen

 

• As we journey through the carnival we see attractions that mirror different parts of monkey island games and as Guybrush's imagination wander, the world slowly morphs back into his pirate fantasy
• We see an older guybrush taking his own kids to the carnival which has become more run down since he last visited. And he reminisces, which triggers something like the above
• We see wizards of oz style real-world versions of characters from the MI universe at the carnival

 

If I get any of this right, I'm gonna crow about it.

 

If I get all of it totally wrong, I'll probably praise the game for surprising me.

[Niemandswasser]

Oh, I don't feel strongly about it either, and I'm quite fond of the new visual style. It just seems like a possibility, given Ron's statements about why he wants to pick up right from there.

[Jake]

I think I’m going to set up a separate subforum and fresh threads when release hits, so for now I’d consider this still a speculation thread. 

[demone]

As much as I enjoy reading the speculation of the carnival, among everything else for this game, I'm going to refrain from even attempting to give my own input because I feel that whatever really is happening is going to be something truly unexpected. I would actually be initially disappointed if it goes the whole "child fantasy" route. With everything that's been said about what happens in the opening and then onward, I think it's something much more disturbing honestly. 

 

With Ron revealing that there are multiple endings with plenty of room for interpretation, I think it's going to be much more complicated. This is the probably the first time in a game where I actually don't want to make a theory. I'm truly at a loss on even trying to speculate what Ron and his team have cooked up and I very much love that lol

 

Edit: Okay, I lied, I'll speculate about the opening music:

 

I think after the Monkey Island theme, there will be a few seconds of silence on a blank screen until we hear the carnival music, perfectly innocent. It the gradually plays with a hint of something sinister, but not overtly at first as we finally fade into the carnival setting with Guybrush. As you play through the carnival and solve puzzles, the music gets darker and more creepy as the world begins to morph. All hell finally breaks loose and the music goes full on MI2 mode before transitioning into the melody for this game, finishing the credits.

 

Edited September 15, 2022 by demone

[Niemandswasser]

53 minutes ago, KestrelPi said:

• We see an older guybrush taking his own kids to the carnival which has become more run down since he last visited. And he reminisces, which triggers something like the above

 

I feel like we know this won't happen in the opening, since we Ron's said starts exactly where MI2 ended. (I also feel confident that the "it's all Guybrush's fantasy" interpretation is approximately four days away from the dustbin of history, but I'll indulge it until then 😛)

[OzzieMonkey]

Man, it was a stroke of genius to make the carnival part of the giant monkey robot this whole time. Who knew that Guybrush's parents were really Pegnose Pete and the Marquis De Singe? 

 

...Ok, I'll come back when I've ACTUALLY played the game. 

[KestrelPi]

6 hours ago, Niemandswasser said:

 

I feel like we know this won't happen in the opening, since we Ron's said starts exactly where MI2 ended. (I also feel confident that the "it's all Guybrush's fantasy" interpretation is approximately four days away from the dustbin of history, but I'll indulge it until then 😛)

I don't think it'll happen immediately during the opening, I just think it could happen later during the opening

 

Also I think there's perhaps a way for all the stuff I said to happen without it necessarily *simply* meaning that it's all Guybrush's fantasy but I don't want to get into it right now

 

 

[Wally B.]

I'm actually guessing the whole carnival part will not be a simple cutscene that explains what happened, even if it's with weird stuff. I'm hoping it'll be a playable part.

Maybe we get stuck on the park and by examining things Guybrush starts making comparisons (like we all did with the fact that the park is actually a messed up Booty Island) and starts to remember things.

 

If they did try that hard to stay consistent with MI3 like they said in interviews, then we know Guybrush escapes with a bumper car, and maybe we'll get to do that, but it seems unlikely to me...

 

It's probably some time-warp voodoo stuff. The other games happen, but somehow Guybrush escapes from Big Whoop and skips those and starts from this game, but maintaining his memories from previous games (?)

(It's a stretch, but that's the weirdest thing I could think of...)

 

Edit: or maybe we just have to make that hangover remedy to stop being a kid and make a bumper car float to escape 🤷🏻‍♂️

Edited September 15, 2022 by Wally B.

[BaronGrackle]

He had a half-eaten corn dog. That was probably the egg ingredient.

[KestrelPi]

1 hour ago, Wally B. said:

I'm actually guessing the whole carnival part will not be a simple cutscene that explains what happened, even if it's with weird stuff. I'm hoping it'll be a playable part.

 

 

I'm also of the feeling that it'll be playable, but I think it'll be a playable prologue rather than Part I.

 

I do think it somehow relates to the Secret, perhaps tangentially, but in SOME way, since it makes sense to me that if you find the secret in this game. What we know about the secret so far is that you're going to find it, it will be the same secret that Ron had in mind in 1990 and what he said in an IRC chat room some years ago:

 

Spoiler

Q. Can it actually be seen/found in MI1 or MI2? I'm not asking you to reveal it

A. Yes, if you really look at what's going on, you might be able to come close. There are a lot of jokes, that aren't really jokes. The problem with the Secret of Monkey Island... is that it's built up such a mystique, that when I finally do reveal it, you're all going to go "That was dumb".

 

[ThunderPeel2001]

11 hours ago, Jake said:

I think I’m going to set up a separate subforum and fresh threads when release hits, so for now I’d consider this still a speculation thread. 

 

A separate thread for each Part could be useful?

 

[SPOILER FREE]

[PART 1 DISCUSSION ONLY]

etc.

[Rapp]

Black screen, music:

 

Then the image appears and we find ourselves standing with Guybrush's parents and Chuckie. We go a little further to the right and we can see more locations similar to Booty Island, such as a ball throwing contest (instead of spitting). For some reason we have to enter the prohibited area for all people who are not part of the park workers. For that we will solve puzzles that involve interacting with Chuckie and our parents and going through "Booty Whoop". Once the objective of entering the restricted area is achieved, we take the elevator and appear in Melee.

What conflicts with my elevator idea f is that Monkey 3, which is now canon, establishes that Big Whoop is on Monkey Island, which would make getting a crew and going there like we saw in the trailers pointless. But hey, it was fun to speculate.

What I really want to happen is what I put above, that the first thing we have from the game is the music of the park and then the image appears where we left off in Monkey 2

Edited September 16, 2022 by Rapp
My mistake