Return to Monkey Island 🚨GAME-WIDE🚨 Spoiler Chat

[Knight Owl]

28 minutes ago, ThunderPeel2001 said:

That's literally what I said, yes.

Sorry about that btw, I misunderstood what you were saying. I think we’re both on the same page 😅

Edited October 3, 2022 by Knight Owl

[ThunderPeel2001]

52 minutes ago, Knight Owl said:

Sorry about that btw, I misunderstood what you were saying. I think we’re both on the same page 😅

 

Don't worry about it 👍

 

 

Edited October 3, 2022 by ThunderPeel2001

[BaronGrackle]

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.

[NightWalker]

3 hours ago, BaronGrackle said:

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.

 

This explanation keeps bein perfectly valid to me. If we take into account that Curse if a new adventure that Guybrush tells to Boybrush, and that (as the video games) the story continues the story of Monkey 2 (that Guybrush told Boybrush too), it is a perfect way to bind all the things inside the fantasy world of Monkey Island (the world inside the imagination of Guybrush).

 

Yeah, we know that the last minute of Monkey 2 was a rehearsal of Boybrush and Chuckie, inside their minds. But when Guybrush told the story of Monkey 2 to Boybrush the first time, the ending of the story was Guybrush being trapped inside the tunnels of Dinky Island and dissapearing from Elaine. So, inside the storytelling world that Guybrush creates for Boybrush when he tells his stories, he had to find a conclusion for the next story (Curse), and the explanation of Curse is perfectly valid since that point of view.

[ThunderPeel2001]

2 hours ago, BaronGrackle said:

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.

 

Yeah, I was wondering about that... something about the plants, and where they grow? *shrugs*

[Joe monsters]

8 hours ago, BaronGrackle said:

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.

 

I'm laughing so hard. I didn't even think about it. This is so funny.

[Marius]

9 hours ago, BaronGrackle said:

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.

 

Wally is that good at making maps.

[Gins]

I loved the foreshadowing of the cliff with the rubber tree, then when Lila and the others left the plateau, I was sure Guybrush would bounce right back up from the rubber tree.

 

I was laughing when he landed on the stump of that tree instead 😂

[Thrik]

11 hours ago, BaronGrackle said:

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.

Or is it the same island and the state of the tree and indeed which island you’re on really just down to your imagination?!

[LuigiHann]

14 hours ago, Gins said:

I loved the foreshadowing of the cliff with the rubber tree, then when Lila and the others left the plateau, I was sure Guybrush would bounce right back up from the rubber tree.

 

I was laughing when he landed on the stump of that tree instead 😂

 

That was really well done. I don't remember them explicitly mentioning the rubber trees in Return (until you see the hover description on the stump) so I think that must be a very different emotional journey depending on how well one remembers the first game.

 

And unless I'm misremembering, I think the cliffside is interactable when you first explore Monkey Island, and Guybrush will comment on how sturdy the cliffside is, messing with anybody hoping to trigger a reprise of that bounce.

[Remi]

4 hours ago, LuigiHann said:

 

That was really well done. I don't remember them explicitly mentioning the rubber trees in Return (until you see the hover description on the stump) so I think that must be a very different emotional journey depending on how well one remembers the first game.

 

And unless I'm misremembering, I think the cliffside is interactable when you first explore Monkey Island, and Guybrush will comment on how sturdy the cliffside is, messing with anybody hoping to trigger a reprise of that bounce.

Keep walking out onto it and he’ll start jumping on it. Return after falling and he’ll refuse to walk out to it. 

[Gins]

On 10/4/2022 at 7:47 AM, Marius said:

 

Wally is that good at making maps.

Regarding Wally... in Monkey 2 he was that good that he told us he memorized the entire Big Whoop treaure map, so it's ok that we don't have it anymore.

 

In Return, he obviously got supernaturally good at maps, yet he couldn't memorize a map to across the street? 🤔🤔

[Marius]

1 minute ago, Gins said:

In Return, he obviously got supernaturally good at maps, yet he couldn't memorize a map to across the street? 🤔🤔

Oh he definitely remembers! In Part 1, Guybrush only asked if Wally has a map to The Secret, not if he knows where it is.

[Thrik]

[Gins]

22 minutes ago, Thrik said:

Ah right, he does say that. Legal contracts are still the darkest magic in the Monkeyverse 😬

[Knight Owl]

Possibly more foreshadowing to it being an escape-room esque experience?

[madmardi]

 

On 10/5/2022 at 11:55 AM, Remi said:

Keep walking out onto it and he’ll start jumping on it. Return after falling and he’ll refuse to walk out to it. 

Yea, I thought it was funny when he started jumping. I kept doing it while wondering if he would eventually fall, but eventually gave up. Still wonder if there was a hidden easter egg there if you keep on jumping like 50 or a 100 times....

 

BTW, is there any CTRL W option in RtMI? I tried but couldn't get anything to work.

[Gins]

A thing I'm not sure anyone mentioned, but I felt resonate with me through Elaine:

 

Naturally I identified with Guybrush ("We are Guybrush", as per the brilliant writeup from earlier), and quickly figured out that this is an older Guybrush, a more grown up Guybrush. This Guybrush dealt with the loss of his youth, with obsessions from the past, just like I craved a new adventure in the vein of the good old ones.

 

I nodded along the way and thought, yeah, Ron gets it.

 

And then we get a glimspe of what our wife is doing with her time. Elaine isn't chasing some dreams. She's living in the moment and fights a deadly desease that she's not personally impacted by, simply for the greater good, not for politics but because it's right.

 

And as if it hadn't already been clear from the start that no Secret could ever live up to our imaginations, it really stung that I realized that I was a grown man after all these years but I wasn't Elaine, only Guybrush.

 

However, the game also says it's ok to be Guybrush. He brings a smile on people's faces. Elaine loves him, tolerates and even encourages his quest.

 

And he's a great, loved dad. Having a daughter of my own now, I want to try to be a bit more Elaine, but I don't want to discard my inner Guybrush.

[Al.DeHyde]

Well I feel like Guybrush. I've recently finished playing a game that took me back to being a kid and had to return to the real world but my daughter is running round pretending to be a pirate!

 

That's funny, I've only read up to page 5 of this discussion so far. I typed out my reply then read the post by @Gins above which says pretty much just what I was thinking but much better 🙂

[KestrelPi]

Recently had a little 'Elaine-as-antagonist' pondering

 

I'm like 99% sure this isn't intentional but I was just looking at the last conversation you have with her and thinking...

 

'What if she's the one putting a spell on Guybrush?'

 

The last conversation you have with her is... weird.

 

First Guybrush says something like 'there you are' and she says 'where else would I be in a bit of a ... strange tone of voice. It's a weird thing to say anyway. Then when he says he's confused where he is she dismisses everything he's saying as time flying when he's having fun, and then when he asks how she got there ahead she just says something vague about keeping one step ahead. Later she shrugs it off by saying 'that ending gets weirder every time you tell it', almost like she's deliberately encouraging him to become more confused about what really happened. And then as soon as he starts to think about it too much... she distracts him with news of a new adventure.

 

It's a bit of a weird interaction, but it makes a lot of sense if you think about it as her putting a spell on him or working things from the background.

 

Also you remember how at the end of MI2 she says 'I hope LeChuck hasn't put a horrible SPELL over him or something.' Again, slightly weird thing to say, makes sense in the context of the ending but also makes sense if you think of it as her saying it sarcastically, because... well, she knows that's what's happened as she's behind it. She has no reason to know LeChuck would even be down there. Same with the 'Oh dear' as he falls in the pit.

 

Might LeChuck be in cahoots with Elaine somehow? Well, maybe there's more to that L+E carving and bridal veil than the game is letting on.

 

Again, I don't really think they're doing this deliberately, but I'm interested in it as an alternate read.

[OzzieMonkey]

4 hours ago, KestrelPi said:

Recently had a little 'Elaine-as-antagonist' pondering

 

I'm like 99% sure this isn't intentional but I was just looking at the last conversation you have with her and thinking...

 

'What if she's the one putting a spell on Guybrush?'

 

The last conversation you have with her is... weird.

 

First Guybrush says something like 'there you are' and she says 'where else would I be in a bit of a ... strange tone of voice. It's a weird thing to say anyway. Then when he says he's confused where he is she dismisses everything he's saying as time flying when he's having fun, and then when he asks how she got there ahead she just says something vague about keeping one step ahead. Later she shrugs it off by saying 'that ending gets weirder every time you tell it', almost like she's deliberately encouraging him to become more confused about what really happened. And then as soon as he starts to think about it too much... she distracts him with news of a new adventure.

 

It's a bit of a weird interaction, but it makes a lot of sense if you think about it as her putting a spell on him or working things from the background.

 

Also you remember how at the end of MI2 she says 'I hope LeChuck hasn't put a horrible SPELL over him or something.' Again, slightly weird thing to say, makes sense in the context of the ending but also makes sense if you think of it as her saying it sarcastically, because... well, she knows that's what's happened as she's behind it. She has no reason to know LeChuck would even be down there. Same with the 'Oh dear' as he falls in the pit.

 

Might LeChuck be in cahoots with Elaine somehow? Well, maybe there's more to that L+E carving and bridal veil than the game is letting on.

 

Again, I don't really think they're doing this deliberately, but I'm interested in it as an alternate read.

Cue a new team doing exactly that with 30 more years of people going "that's not what Ron would've done" 😂

[BaronGrackle]

SMI:

Governor Marley, unelected despot of Mêlée Island, uses voodoo magic and socio-political acumen to stage her own kidnapping. She set the pieces in place for her citizens to witness the destruction of the Ghost Pirate LeChuck at her hands, in a massive PR gambit! Foiled by Guybrush.

 

MI2LR:

Rising unpopularity forces Marley to flee Mêlée Island with a band of loyalists. Landing on Booty Island, they bribe and strongarm Governor DeWaat out of power and secure the governorship. Marley is shocked to learn that both Guybrush and LeChuck are still active. She hunts down Guybrush and, after gathering what information she can about why he and LeChuck seem to be prominent forces still, she casts him into the pit of her latest invention - a voodoo mindscape. Guybrush and LeChuck shall be trapped here forever, out of her way.

 

CMI

Marley rallies her forces, sailing on Plunder and Mêlée Islands and proclaiming the Tri-Island Area. The Caribbean is starting to buckle under her influence. But then LeChuck escapes his mindscape and corners Marley on Plunder Island. Guybrush escapes and curses her into a gold statue. Marley's empire crumbles. And as the curse is eventually broken, Marley is still trying to understand how Guybrush and LeChuck can be stupid enough to not see what's going on, while still foiling her with marriage attempts.

 

EMI

Desperate, Marley brings naive Guybrush and a crew of mercenaries to reassert power on Mêlée Island. They get attacked off the coast, and land with too few numbers to force authority. She sends Guybrush away while trying to win her election by any means necessary. A lot of insanity happens. When it's all over, she finally gives up on Mêlée Island. She gives up on governorship. She gives up on conventional strength and earthly powers.

 

TMI

Marley takes on a demon form and maintains its powers indefinitely. The Voodoo Lady Corina engineers Guybrush and LeChuck to clumsily block her path, but Marley's demonic form cannot be denied her.

 

RMI

At last! The Demon Pirate Marley successfully imbues the energies of a Hades Pomegranate into a lime tree. Anyone who partakes of these Limes will be pulled into sync with the underworld, from which Marley can trap them in her new and improved voodoo mindscape! There will be no escape this time, not for anyone.

LeChuck is already permanently trapped. Then, so is Guybrush. Soon everyone will join them. Everyone.

 

. . .

 

There's only one choice.

Edited October 20, 2022 by BaronGrackle

[LuigiHann]

That's fun, I like it. Reminds me a little of the Frozen fan theory where...

Spoiler

... the trolls are the real villains.

 

It makes just enough sense to be interesting to think about. 

[OzzieMonkey]

I thought about another layer of unreliable narration in Return. We have the real events, Guybrush's retelling, Boybrush's interpretaion, but then we have his friends who play with him. I kinda like the idea of the more bizarre plot threads that get ignored here (like Grandpa Herman or the robot monkey) are ideas they had. Do you remember being a kid and sometimes having this one friend who was a bit of an outcast, and sometimes had ideas for your game that you thought were silly, but your parents would remind you to be nice and make them feel included so you begrudgingly indulged them? That could be an interesting read on things. 

[ThunderPeel2001]

Thinking about it, there’s nothing from stopping a sequel establishing that park bench Guybrush is part of the curse of Big Whoop. Or throwing some ambiguity back into the mix.  

 

It would be disrespectful and insincere, but it could happen. Just thinking out loud