Return to Monkey Island 🚨GAME-WIDE🚨 Spoiler Chat

[demone]

16 hours ago, neoncolor8 said:

I don't know if this was already discussed, but why did the melee clock show a different time on the map to the secret?

 

I thought that there was gonna be a puzzle where you had to repair the clock and change the time according to the map (8 o'clock or maybe 11:40? hard to tell) to get access to the secret. But no. 

 

Also: who put the safe there? Stan?

Nice observation on the clock, never noticed that.

 

As for the safe, my take was it was indeed Stan who left the safe there given that Guybrush (and the hover-over text) reveals at the end that Stan was behind the gaudy chest.

Edited September 30, 2022 by demone

[Sadbrush]

6 hours ago, neoncolor8 said:

I don't know if this was already discussed, but why did the melee clock show a different time on the map to the secret?

 

I thought that there was gonna be a puzzle where you had to repair the clock and change the time according to the map (8 o'clock or maybe 11:40? hard to tell) to get access to the secret. But no.

 

 

Man, what a missed opportunity! It would have been so satisfying to finally fix that clock after all this time, especially after Guybrush makes that comment about it being broken. Maybe those dark runes graffiti could have also come into play since it's in the same area.

 

Quote

Also: who put the safe there? Stan?

 

I keep meaning to ask about that. Who told Corina to store the safe there and not allow anyone to move it? It has to be Stan, since it contains the gaudy chest we see at the end. But I was really hoping for more exposition to come out of this revelation, and why it becomes so convoluted with the five keys and everything. Also, Widey Bones: Feels like there is so much we have yet to learn about her, but then she turns out to be another cardboard cut-out. Dang, the more I think about it, the more I can pick apart holes. 

[Marius]

58 minutes ago, Sadbrush said:

Man, what a missed opportunity! It would have been so satisfying to finally fix that clock after all this time, especially after Guybrush makes that comment about it being broken. Maybe those dark runes graffiti could have also come into play since it's in the same area.

I love the museum guys explanation that they could fix the clock, but at this point it would confuse the citizens. 😄

 

59 minutes ago, Sadbrush said:

Dang, the more I think about it, the more I can pick apart holes. 

I love these “holes”, to me they make the world feel bigger, and reinforces Guybrushs “tunnel vision”. There are even more of them. There seems to be a whole story about Lockes mom that we only scratch the surface of. Widey is always living close to Locke? What is that all about? My gut feeling also thinks that Lockes mother created the safe, not Stan. I have zero proof. Just a feeling.

And I am satisfied by not knowing the answer, but just know that are more actors and stories out there that we dont fully hear until Guybrush wants to actually listen to them instead of just focus on keys and The Secret.

I love it!

[NightWalker]

7 hours ago, Romão said:

As I kept reflecting on the ending, some new thoughts have sprung. This will be an enormous post, soI’ll be truly grateful to those who manage to read the whole thing.

 

So called “metanarratives” have been told before, across various mediums, whereas by placing the audience as the unwilling target of some sort of storytelling, fourth-wall breaking pun, or resorting to the “it was all in the main character’s head and imagination all along” angle. 

 

Regardless of how masterfully conceived these “metanarratives” can be (whether in the form of books, movies, etc.), there is inevitably a gap, a distance, between what the characters are experiencing and what is our own reaction to those experiences. A good storyteller will diminish that distance, create greater empathy between the audience and the characters, but we are still outside witnesses, external observants. We can be touched emotionally by the story, but that tends to come down to how much empathy has been conjured between us and the characters, on how much we can imagine ourselves in the characters’ shoes, on how much we can “relate”.  

 

However, I feel RTMI takes this to a whole new level, using a storytelling method that is a particularly perfect vehicle for exploration of this kind of thematic undercurrent: the point and click adventure game.

 

This goes beyond the mere notion of being able to control where the main character goes,  or how long we can linger in certain places or  even the choices of dialogue (within the  obvious limitations of the game framework). Those are just the mechanical and functional means of the storytelling experience.

 

We learn, in what I think is a pretty definitive and unequivocal conclusion, that the world of Monkey Island is a plateau of existence, a mental place, a dimension, if you will, where Guybrush finds solace, refuge, escapism and entertainment. I won’t go into the discussion whether this dimension is any more real than the one where his everyday existence is taking place. What seems pretty definitive to me, is that those two dimensions are separate, they are two different things, although elements from the “everyday dimension”, to a certain extent, seem to feed the fabric of the Monkey Island dimension (and probably vice-versa. as well), as the things we experience almost subconsciously in our everyday lives can also feed our dreams. 

 

This Monkey Island dimension might have been triggered by Guybrush’s experiences, both as a child and as an adult, in a pirate themed amusement park, as a way to escape from a reality that is either too sad, too painful, too dull or too empty to face without solace. The details really don’t matter. And this is where the “metanarrative” comes to its full fruition. We are not witnessing Guybrush escaping into an imaginary pirate world, as he tries to take some reprieve from his everyday existente, while feeling empathy for his plight.

 

No, we are Guybrush! 

 

As much as I ever felt in any work of art, we are indeed the character. We are not empathizing with Guybrush, we are not relating to Guybrush. We truly are Guybrush. We are the ones looking for solace, refuge, escapism and entertainment in a fictional pirate world. We are the ones (particularly in this forum of such dedicated fans), who treasure and look forward to the moments we spend in this Monkey Island dimension. We don’t do it to spend the time while waiting for the train to arrive. We don’t do it because there’s nothing else to do. We don’t do it to fill in the blanks in our daily schedule. We make it a pinnacle of our leisure time. It’s primetime worthy. In those playing hours, we rather be in the Monkey Island world than in whatever real life has to offer , regardless of how happy or fulfilled we feel.

 

I don’t play Monkey Island the same way I play other games. Not even in the same way I play other point and click adventure games. It’s not to reach the end, get a dopamine fix or an adrenaline rush. I play it for the experience, to live in that world for a bit. That’s why I like  linger in the wonderfully evocative locations, just wander around the locals, why I look forward wish to get stuck certain puzzles, so as the music and ambiance seep through my skin and become engrained, so as to when we listen to the soundtrack, it will immediately conjure up memories and feelings of those precious moments spent in the Monkey Island dimension.

 

And I know Monkey Island is not real. Guybrush knows Monkey Island is not real. But it is true. And it matters. And that’s why we like to discuss the minutiae of this world, what things are “more real” than others (although nothing of it is really real), why we hang posters of it on the wall, listen to the soundtracks, replay the games knowing by heart all the solutions to every single puzzle. We want to keep visiting the same amusement park, we get excited when there’s a new ride on the horizon and we love riding the same old, well-worn, familiar rides.. And when not in the amusement park itself, we reminisce by looking at ticket stubs, park maps, promotional brochures. 

 

And I, like Guybrush, want Monkey Island to be as real as possible. So I keep chasing the horizon, clinging on to every small thing that might make it a little bit more concrete. I want to make LEGO models of Melee Town, the Giant Monkey Head and Woodtick. I want character statutes to proudly display on my bookcases. I want to wear T-Shirts of the Legendary Treasure of Melee Island. But it is not real. It 's not concrete. It can’t be.

 

And just like Guybrush, I felt disheartened when I reached the back alley of Melee Island at the end of the game. It’s time to go home. My day at the amusement park is almost over. No more new rides to try. It’s with heavy hearts that I turn off all the lights in the park. I have to get back to my more mundane existence.

 

But this game gives us something absolutely new. Almost revolutionary. It shows us a Guybrush with a life outside of Monkey Island. And a happy and fulfilling life at that, with a beautiful family. And we realize, maybe for the first time, that Guybrush doesn’t really need Monkey Island anymore. He’s ceased to be obsessed by it.

 

And this is where The Secret comes in. And how it really could never have been something of true importance. It was a red herring all along, a distraction, something with an importance that grew in an unwarrantedly disproportionate manner throughout the years. It was ever only something that was part of the fabric of Monkey Island, among many other things. It was never its raison d'être, never a cipher to understand the whole thing. Monkey Island is not a mystery to solve, but a “reality” to experience. Like life itself.

 

Lechuck lost sight of this. Monkey Island ceased to be a “good place”, where one could have sprawling adventures, meet colorful characters and visit fascinating places. It was all about The Secret, looking for some sort of resolution, an answer, something with which to cover the gaping holes in his existence.

 

At the end of the game, Guybrush is finally freed from this anchor (ohh, symbolism). He can now visit Monkey Island because he wants to, not because he has to. It’s something that adds to his life, it doesn’t replace it. And it has become a pure thing again. A place where he can play pirates, simple as that, only constrained by the limits of his imagination. Stories being told around a campfire.

 

In light of this, the very beginning of The Secret of Monkey Island has become even more perfect. Guybrush arrives at Melee Island not by ship, but by walking through a stone archway, as it were some sort of portal, and declare bluntly and plainly:

 

 

This is all we want. We are Guybrush from the very start. We want to be pirates in a make-believe world. That’s why we are playing. Even the setting is perfect. How else would a Pirate setting be enticing unless when seen and interpreted by a child-like imagination? Throw any serious degree of historicity in it and the whole thing crumbles, with all the pillaging, violence, depravity and filth involved. It has to be a Pirate universe as imagined by a child. Again, it was never about The Secret. The whole point of experiencing Monkey Island is perfectly captured by the very first thing Guybrush says.

 

There can never be a Monkey Island prequel. There’s no other possible beginning. To do it would be to corrupt it. Nothing exists before that declaration of intent. That’s where the whole dimension of Monkey Island is born. “I want to be a pirate”. That’s the absolute summation of what Monkey Island is all about.

 

At the end, Guybrush (and myself), realize there’s peace to be found in knowing there’s no deeper meaning behind all of it. Monkey Island is a “good place” to visit every now and then. Guybrush has regained the purity of intent shown in that very first scene in The Secret of Monkey Island. The whole thing has become unburdened by overarching narratives, unsaddled by strict continuity between adventures, freed at last from the shackles of having to provide answers and meaning. 

 

Elaine emphasizes this by suggesting yet another adventure. Of the simpler, purer kind. And how perfect and crucial that little intervention is. Brings the whole thing full circle. And Guybrush sits on that bench, looking truly at peace with himself (as I see it), having regained the true purpose of Monkey Island. That image is the perfect coda to the Ron Gilbert trilogy. The lookout scene in SOMI as an overture. This is one as an epilogue.

 

 

The world of Monkey Island is now wide open. There was never a better time to create new stories in it. Purer stories. With more cannons and less “canon”.

 

I became a father 6 months ago. A little Boybrush named Manuel. Like Guybrush, I now have a family to share the world of Monkey Island with. And it has become something new again. 

One of the best analysis I have ever read about the series. I agree with every concept you expose. I think that is the true meaning of the ending too. You exposed it perfectly.

[LowLevel]

8 hours ago, neoncolor8 said:

who put the safe there? Stan?

 

Yes, because it is up to the owner/manager of the pirate-themed escape room (Stan) to prepare the rooms with puzzles, and the preparation includes locking objects in places that must be opened with keys. The escape room is not just a park to be passively observed, but an interactive experience that poses challenges that Stan constantly improves. That's why Guybrush says:

 

... which also explains why the Voodoo Lady says that she has signed a contract and can't help you to open the safe. She is part of the escape room staff.

 

And everything fits quite nicely if you take in account something that Ron Gilbert said in 2017 in a Reddit AMA:

 

(Source)

 

Edited September 30, 2022 by LowLevel

[Sadbrush]

Were escape rooms a thing back in 1990? That's another idea that I feel has changed from the original intention of this world and was probably only added on later. 

[NightWalker]

15 minutes ago, Sadbrush said:

Were escape rooms a thing back in 1990? That's another idea that I feel has changed from the original intention of this world and was probably only added on later. 

Maybe it was the original idea but it wasn't called "escape room" by then. Maybe it was a park with a kind of treasure hunt events or something like that... Look at this part of Monkey 2

 

 

 

I extracted the images from a video of Youtube, the original source is:

 

Edited September 30, 2022 by NightWalker

[LowLevel]

1 hour ago, Sadbrush said:

Were escape rooms a thing back in 1990?

 

I do not remember escape rooms existing 30 years ago, at least not in their current form, but NightWalker pointed out something that might be similar.

 

However, despite the references to previous games, the important point to me is that RtMI is definitely a game that has embraced the present, and in 2022 escape rooms exist and may have been an inspiration for the new game.

I find this statement by Ron particularly enlightening, especially regarding the fact that being trapped in the past can limit creativity:

 

Quote

"We wanted this to be a new Monkey Island, not just another Monkey Island," says Gilbert. "At the same time we could not ignore the past and invent everything from scratch: we needed an anchor to make people understand that this is the world they know and love. This is why Mêlée Island is so preponderant in the first part of the adventure, but then very soon we move into completely new areas, with new situations and characters. Because the danger is of being trapped in nostalgia, repeating the same things over and over for the pleasure of the fans. We absolutely didn't want that for our game."

 

(Source, translated from an interview in Italian)

 

This is not the only statement regarding the fact that the developers did not want the game to be trapped in the past.

In April 2022 they stated:

 

Quote

 

Ron: "Everything we've done is building a game for the future, not necessarily the past."

Dave: "It's a new Monkey Island game rather than another Monkey Island game, which is a subtle distinction, but an important one... making it the same but better is always the challenge,"

 

(Source)

 

I remember that this sentiment had also come up in other interviews, so I was well prepared for the fact that the authors did not want a game that tried to adhere to past ideas.

 

In 1990 we did not have fully voiced characters or social movements critical of science-backed health care, but both are common now in 2022 and the game makes use of them. Escape rooms might have been another modern inspiration for the writing.

Edited September 30, 2022 by LowLevel

[Garystu]

1 hour ago, Sadbrush said:

Were escape rooms a thing back in 1990? That's another idea that I feel has changed from the original intention of this world and was probably only added on later. 

 

Wikipedia says the first videogame escape room game was a 1988 text adventure. The genre seems to have really taken off in the early to mid 00s though, which does match my personal experiences, but the early to mid 00s is also when I saw A Lot of gaming for the first time so I don't have a clear perspective.

 

Modern escape rooms were inspired by a subgenre of adventure video games, which is really fun to think about! ...In the context of a fan theory which I don't really agree with. Or even have strong feelings about liking or disliking. "Is monkey island an escape room?" idk, no strong feelings from me tbh. Oh Well.! I could just talk about escape rooms, is all.

 

I mean to some extent, of course Monkey Island has always been like an Escape Room. Like a platformer is like parkour, like an FPS is like extreme paintball. I know the fan theory here is trying to make a deeper connection and I get that, but.

[ThunderPeel2001]

delete me!

Edited September 30, 2022 by ThunderPeel2001

[Thrik]

12 hours ago, Romão said:

As I kept reflecting on the ending, some new thoughts have sprung. This will be an enormous post, soI’ll be truly grateful to those who manage to read the whole thing.

 

So called “metanarratives” have been told before, across various mediums, whereas by placing the audience as the unwilling target of some sort of storytelling, fourth-wall breaking pun, or resorting to the “it was all in the main character’s head and imagination all along” angle. 

 

Regardless of how masterfully conceived these “metanarratives” can be (whether in the form of books, movies, etc.), there is inevitably a gap, a distance, between what the characters are experiencing and what is our own reaction to those experiences. A good storyteller will diminish that distance, create greater empathy between the audience and the characters, but we are still outside witnesses, external observants. We can be touched emotionally by the story, but that tends to come down to how much empathy has been conjured between us and the characters, on how much we can imagine ourselves in the characters’ shoes, on how much we can “relate”.  

 

However, I feel RTMI takes this to a whole new level, using a storytelling method that is a particularly perfect vehicle for exploration of this kind of thematic undercurrent: the point and click adventure game.

 

This goes beyond the mere notion of being able to control where the main character goes,  or how long we can linger in certain places or  even the choices of dialogue (within the  obvious limitations of the game framework). Those are just the mechanical and functional means of the storytelling experience.

 

We learn, in what I think is a pretty definitive and unequivocal conclusion, that the world of Monkey Island is a plateau of existence, a mental place, a dimension, if you will, where Guybrush finds solace, refuge, escapism and entertainment. I won’t go into the discussion whether this dimension is any more real than the one where his everyday existence is taking place. What seems pretty definitive to me, is that those two dimensions are separate, they are two different things, although elements from the “everyday dimension”, to a certain extent, seem to feed the fabric of the Monkey Island dimension (and probably vice-versa. as well), as the things we experience almost subconsciously in our everyday lives can also feed our dreams. 

 

This Monkey Island dimension might have been triggered by Guybrush’s experiences, both as a child and as an adult, in a pirate themed amusement park, as a way to escape from a reality that is either too sad, too painful, too dull or too empty to face without solace. The details really don’t matter. And this is where the “metanarrative” comes to its full fruition. We are not witnessing Guybrush escaping into an imaginary pirate world, as he tries to take some reprieve from his everyday existente, while feeling empathy for his plight.

 

No, we are Guybrush! 

 

As much as I ever felt in any work of art, we are indeed the character. We are not empathizing with Guybrush, we are not relating to Guybrush. We truly are Guybrush. We are the ones looking for solace, refuge, escapism and entertainment in a fictional pirate world. We are the ones (particularly in this forum of such dedicated fans), who treasure and look forward to the moments we spend in this Monkey Island dimension. We don’t do it to spend the time while waiting for the train to arrive. We don’t do it because there’s nothing else to do. We don’t do it to fill in the blanks in our daily schedule. We make it a pinnacle of our leisure time. It’s primetime worthy. In those playing hours, we rather be in the Monkey Island world than in whatever real life has to offer , regardless of how happy or fulfilled we feel.

 

I don’t play Monkey Island the same way I play other games. Not even in the same way I play other point and click adventure games. It’s not to reach the end, get a dopamine fix or an adrenaline rush. I play it for the experience, to live in that world for a bit. That’s why I like  linger in the wonderfully evocative locations, just wander around the locals, why I look forward wish to get stuck certain puzzles, so as the music and ambiance seep through my skin and become engrained, so as to when we listen to the soundtrack, it will immediately conjure up memories and feelings of those precious moments spent in the Monkey Island dimension.

 

And I know Monkey Island is not real. Guybrush knows Monkey Island is not real. But it is true. And it matters. And that’s why we like to discuss the minutiae of this world, what things are “more real” than others (although nothing of it is really real), why we hang posters of it on the wall, listen to the soundtracks, replay the games knowing by heart all the solutions to every single puzzle. We want to keep visiting the same amusement park, we get excited when there’s a new ride on the horizon and we love riding the same old, well-worn, familiar rides.. And when not in the amusement park itself, we reminisce by looking at ticket stubs, park maps, promotional brochures. 

 

And I, like Guybrush, want Monkey Island to be as real as possible. So I keep chasing the horizon, clinging on to every small thing that might make it a little bit more concrete. I want to make LEGO models of Melee Town, the Giant Monkey Head and Woodtick. I want character statutes to proudly display on my bookcases. I want to wear T-Shirts of the Legendary Treasure of Melee Island. But it is not real. It 's not concrete. It can’t be.

 

And just like Guybrush, I felt disheartened when I reached the back alley of Melee Island at the end of the game. It’s time to go home. My day at the amusement park is almost over. No more new rides to try. It’s with heavy hearts that I turn off all the lights in the park. I have to get back to my more mundane existence.

 

But this game gives us something absolutely new. Almost revolutionary. It shows us a Guybrush with a life outside of Monkey Island. And a happy and fulfilling life at that, with a beautiful family. And we realize, maybe for the first time, that Guybrush doesn’t really need Monkey Island anymore. He’s ceased to be obsessed by it.

 

And this is where The Secret comes in. And how it really could never have been something of true importance. It was a red herring all along, a distraction, something with an importance that grew in an unwarrantedly disproportionate manner throughout the years. It was ever only something that was part of the fabric of Monkey Island, among many other things. It was never its raison d'être, never a cipher to understand the whole thing. Monkey Island is not a mystery to solve, but a “reality” to experience. Like life itself.

 

Lechuck lost sight of this. Monkey Island ceased to be a “good place”, where one could have sprawling adventures, meet colorful characters and visit fascinating places. It was all about The Secret, looking for some sort of resolution, an answer, something with which to cover the gaping holes in his existence.

 

At the end of the game, Guybrush is finally freed from this anchor (ohh, symbolism). He can now visit Monkey Island because he wants to, not because he has to. It’s something that adds to his life, it doesn’t replace it. And it has become a pure thing again. A place where he can play pirates, simple as that, only constrained by the limits of his imagination. Stories being told around a campfire.

 

In light of this, the very beginning of The Secret of Monkey Island has become even more perfect. Guybrush arrives at Melee Island not by ship, but by walking through a stone archway, as it were some sort of portal, and declare bluntly and plainly:

 

 

This is all we want. We are Guybrush from the very start. We want to be pirates in a make-believe world. That’s why we are playing. Even the setting is perfect. How else would a Pirate setting be enticing unless when seen and interpreted by a child-like imagination? Throw any serious degree of historicity in it and the whole thing crumbles, with all the pillaging, violence, depravity and filth involved. It has to be a Pirate universe as imagined by a child. Again, it was never about The Secret. The whole point of experiencing Monkey Island is perfectly captured by the very first thing Guybrush says.

 

There can never be a Monkey Island prequel. There’s no other possible beginning. To do it would be to corrupt it. Nothing exists before that declaration of intent. That’s where the whole dimension of Monkey Island is born. “I want to be a pirate”. That’s the absolute summation of what Monkey Island is all about.

 

At the end, Guybrush (and myself), realize there’s peace to be found in knowing there’s no deeper meaning behind all of it. Monkey Island is a “good place” to visit every now and then. Guybrush has regained the purity of intent shown in that very first scene in The Secret of Monkey Island. The whole thing has become unburdened by overarching narratives, unsaddled by strict continuity between adventures, freed at last from the shackles of having to provide answers and meaning. 

 

Elaine emphasizes this by suggesting yet another adventure. Of the simpler, purer kind. And how perfect and crucial that little intervention is. Brings the whole thing full circle. And Guybrush sits on that bench, looking truly at peace with himself (as I see it), having regained the true purpose of Monkey Island. That image is the perfect coda to the Ron Gilbert trilogy. The lookout scene in SOMI as an overture. This is one as an epilogue.

 

 

The world of Monkey Island is now wide open. There was never a better time to create new stories in it. Purer stories. With more cannons and less “canon”.

 

I became a father 6 months ago. A little Boybrush named Manuel. Like Guybrush, I now have a family to share the world of Monkey Island with. And it has become something new again. 

I hereby designate this an award-winning  take. Thank you. 😄

[BaronGrackle]

When I first heard about literal "escape rooms", it definitely felt like they had inspiration from adventure games. They even use some of the same moon logic.

Edited September 30, 2022 by BaronGrackle

[ThunderPeel2001]

15 hours ago, Romão said:

I became a father 6 months ago. A little Boybrush named Manuel. Like Guybrush, I now have a family to share the world of Monkey Island with. And it has become something new again. 

 

Read the whole thing. Lovely summation... It also matches what I wrote in the "head canon" thread yesterday 

 

 

23 hours ago, ThunderPeel2001 said:

We're Guybrush on the bench, and Boybrush are younger players (our kids, if you have any) listening to us talk about the great adventures WE used to play...

 

Edited September 30, 2022 by ThunderPeel2001

[Senax]

8 hours ago, LowLevel said:

The escape room is not just a park to be passively observed, but an interactive experience that poses challenges that Stan constantly improves.

 

I like the whole idea of the MI games being a kind of escape room experience, because it would fit so well to the door in the back alley of Mêlée Island.

 

Guybrush needs a break from the "MI2 escape game" as the confrontation with LeChuck is becoming to stressful - so he is allowed to temporarily step out of the escape room (courtesy of Stan, who is watching?). In RtMI, he solves all puzzles and steps out "regularily", and is sad the escape game is over too soon.

[Thrik]

Initially I thought Dee was meant to be a child version of either Madison’s magic wielder or Flair, similar to the whole Chuckie/LeChuck and Boybrush/Guybrush paradigm.

 

This never came to anything so I’m guessing it was just a similar design (indeed just like how the two adult characters I mentioned look similar), unless anyone knows better.

[LowLevel]

22 hours ago, Marius said:

Widey is always living close to Locke? What is that all about?

 

My simple explanation for this was that Widey is, like Guybrush, so obsessed with the Secret that she follows Locke wherever she goes, to see if the golden key Locke inherited from her mother somehow comes back into her possession:

 

[Carlius]

Very nicely put before @Romão! I fully agree, what Ron and Dave did, actually opens up Monkey Island to have a future.
Also 😊 congratulations on your little ManuelBrush 

Edited October 1, 2022 by Carlius

[madmardi]

Hey, when was this added to the website?

[LowLevel]

4 minutes ago, madmardi said:

Hey, when was this added to the website?

 

I'm not sure: either the day the game was released or the day before/after that.

[Aytiel]

On 9/30/2022 at 4:23 PM, Thrik said:

This never came to anything so I’m guessing it was just a similar design (indeed just like how the two adult characters I mentioned look similar), unless anyone knows better.

I noticed that captain lila was coincidentally also one of the people to walk through the door at the end. The three that walked through the door resemble the children at the beginning...

 

This is some nice theory material but I haven't seen anyone think up of one. Maybe doors are symbolic for the seperation and connection of two worlds like in Psychonauts or Deltarune. Only that it's more than just symbolic in those games. It could be that it's also like that in Monkey Island and some magic-time-meta-story stuff is up with them. The random doors in melee island (tm) are also very freaky.

Edited October 4, 2022 by Aytiel

[Hube]

I kind of wish they had done a little more with Dark Magic as an element of the plot... It would have been cool to see a Dark Magic/Occult LeChuck  of some sort

[BaronGrackle]

11 minutes ago, Hube said:

I kind of wish they had done a little more with Dark Magic as an element of the plot... It would have been cool to see a Dark Magic/Occult LeChuck  of some sort

Just finishing Part 3... Lila uses Dark Magic for both the disguise and "decrypting" the map... both instances involve using personal information to steal the identity of someone else for access. First Gullet, then LeChuck.

Edited October 1, 2022 by BaronGrackle

[Hube]

39 minutes ago, BaronGrackle said:

Just finishing Part 3... Lila uses Dark Magic for both the disguise and "decrypting" the map... both instances involve using personal information to steal the identity of someone else for access. First Gullet, then LeChuck.

 

Oh yeah, don't get me wrong, it's utilized plenty-- I am just curious as to how else this could have been further implemented in the story, or how it might be used in a future entry. For example, I would have liked to see it be a more direct threat to Guybrush...

[Aytiel]

The game is really great there are just some things that prevent me from being able to recommend it to friends. The humor is sometimes predictable and comes across a bit too much as being 'for children' for its simplicity (most of the time, there is a fine line). It fits with the theme cause its literally a story told to a child tho I guess...

 

Another small thing is that I sometimes wish that they would have looked more at the current state of meta games like Undertale and Deltarune for more inspiration. Alot of those use everything a 4th wall break can offer. Like the horror aspect for example. The creepyness of being called out really goes under the skin in them. And they're being more consistent with alot of the details so that endless theories can be formed. Undertale even stays a "(semi-)conventional story" by fusing the barrier between game world and reality. It's really hard to explain but I think I have a video that explains it pretty good if anyone is interested.

Edited October 2, 2022 by Aytiel

[Gins]

1 hour ago, BaronGrackle said:

Just finishing Part 3... Lila uses Dark Magic for both the disguise and "decrypting" the map... both instances involve using personal information to steal the identity of someone else for access. First Gullet, then LeChuck.

"Dark Magic" is very similar to hacking via social engineering.

You spy personal information and can use it to guess a "password" to gain information or to impersonate somebody by "logging in" as them.

 

I'd not be surprised if that inspired it.