Details of Return to Monkey Island

[BaronGrackle]

I am enjoying the game fine so far but am unduly disappointed that the Lookout can only see his cataracts, which seems to suggest he is nearly blind... as opposed to being extremely and ridiculously farsighted, which was the funny interpretation I had after looking through the telescope in Secret and hearing Guybrush remark that the Lookout of Mêlée was "looking right at me!"

 

Meh. Maybe the full blindness is a new development in the last 30 years, or maybe he's lying. 😛

[JacquesSparkyTail]

On 9/25/2022 at 8:33 PM, LowLevel said:

This is a detail that (I think) can only be seen for a few moments. Guybrush is sitting on the bench and a small boat is floating in the pond in front of him.

 

That boat is a touching detail. To me it is another hint that he is a bit lost in his memories of past adventures or fantasies.

Just noticed that some time later you find yourself stood behind the voodoo ladies cauldron which is a very similar shape and size to this pond. She then throws a toy ship in which briefly floats before she speaks crypticly about how guybrush has experienced this all before… is that interesting? I genuinely don’t know 😂

[LowLevel]

1 minute ago, JacquesSparkyTail said:

She then throws a toy ship in which briefly floats

 

Really? I missed that! 🙂 It might not be a coincidence.

[Thrik]

1 hour ago, BaronGrackle said:

I am enjoying the game fine so far but am unduly disappointed that the Lookout can only see his cataracts, which seems to suggest he is nearly blind... as opposed to being extremely and ridiculously farsighted, which was the funny interpretation I had after looking through the telescope in Secret and hearing Guybrush remark that the Lookout of Mêlée was "looking right at me!"

 

Meh. Maybe the full blindness is a new development in the last 30 years, or maybe he's lying. 😛

It is possible you were expecting a bit much of the poor guy. He couldn’t even see Guybrush! Unless it was all a ruse to mess with people. In which case the cataracts could be a ruse too. How else would he find his way to the mansion, and see the pirate ship in MI1 for that matter?

 

Maybe Elaine’s alternative route to Monkey Island is simply going west — it’s right there — but nobody thinks to head that way.

 

In all seriousness, I think Guybrush just meant the lookout was facing his way.

[JacquesSparkyTail]

Not sure if this has been mentioned yet but i just walked past the scumm bar for the millionth time and a bottle was thrown through the window from inside. Guybrush had to dodge and then said “hey watch it!” 
 

Now the window stays smashed whenever i go back. Love it. 

[Ahoy Fancy Pants]

Sushi the goldfish is a cameo from Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders if I'm not mistaken. Did not expect a Zak McKracken reference!

Edited September 27, 2022 by Ahoy Fancy Pants

[BaronGrackle]

Outside the museum (Carla's old house) is a playground pirate ship and a playground treasure chest. Guybrush comments that he used to love playing in chests like that, until he was stuck in one for some days.

 

Aside from exaggerating being stuck in it for "days", could this have been from MI2  where he's in a voodoo shipping crate between Part 2 and Part 3?

 

2 hours ago, Thrik said:

It is possible you were expecting a bit much of the poor guy. He couldn’t even see Guybrush!

But he could see Guybrush when Guybrush was on Monkey Island, looking through a spyglass. At least that's what I thought the line meant.

 

But yes, as you say, it could just mean the Lookout was facing that way.

Edited September 27, 2022 by BaronGrackle

[Thrik]

Here’s a thought. Is the intro shot actually just…

 

Moving on…

 

The covered-up ‘spit’ sign itself isn’t particularly subtle, but I enjoyed how the actual location of that area is roughly where it should be relative to the Big Whoop-ified version of Booty Town.

 

[Romão]

 The very first screenshot that was shown of Melee Town showed the alley in High Street made inaccessible by the fish crates. This ended up not being in the game, correct?

 

[Remi]

3 minutes ago, Romão said:

 The very first screenshot that was shown of Melee Town showed the alley in High Street made inaccessible by the fish crates. This ended up not being in the game, correct?

 

 

Correct.

[KestrelPi]

1 hour ago, Remi said:

 

Correct.

Correct.

[deevan]

Does anyone else think that this dialog is a reference to the final puzzles from  the movie "Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade"? Ron also worked on the tie-in game before designing the Secret of Monkey Island. Somehow this line reminded me of the exact words from the movie: "Only the penitent man will pass".

Edited September 28, 2022 by deevan

[Jake]

1000%

[JJ1]

I love Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and I thought the quote was a great nod to it as well.  I love the references to things like that and Star Wars.

[neoncolor8]

On 9/23/2022 at 9:10 AM, immortalwah said:

Can anyone make out the words on Curator's shirt?  It has "Melee" written backwards on it.  Is it the Treasure hunting or Sword Master t-shirt?  Something else?

 

It says MELEE on the shirt. When the turns left/right the font flips too, so it's mirrored on one side. 

Reminds me of the discussion if Bob's  Pegleg is on his left out right side (mirrored sprite).

Was he always called Apple Bob? 

 

Also I thought the museum and the (bit annoying) curator were a nod to the overly-analytic fanbase (aka: also us in this forum), who till today make up their own theories and interpretation of stuff happening 30 years ago, and become something Ron/Dave have to deal with now. 

[BaronGrackle]

1 hour ago, neoncolor8 said:

Also I thought the museum and the (bit annoying) curator were a nod to the overly-analytic fanbase

Ahem, if the museum has a wanted poster with Kate Capsize's face on it AND the list of extensive crimes from MI2, then shouldn't that poster also clearly say the name "Guybrush Threepwood" on it a few times? Considering the result of that puzzle was to create an association between Guybrush's name and Kate's face upon reading it k thx bye

[Thrik]

43 minutes ago, BaronGrackle said:

Ahem, if the museum has a wanted poster with Kate Capsize's face on it AND the list of extensive crimes from MI2, then shouldn't that poster also clearly say the name "Guybrush Threepwood" on it a few times? Considering the result of that puzzle was to create an association between Guybrush's name and Kate's face upon reading it k thx bye

Yes. If…

 

Guybrush didn’t make the stories up for his son and the items in the museum weren’t just theme park collectibles he noticed and included in his story. 🙂

[LowLevel]

I realized only now that at some point the museum closes and becomes a crime scene. 😐

 

 

1 hour ago, BaronGrackle said:

Ahem, if the museum has a wanted poster with Kate Capsize's face on it AND the list of extensive crimes from MI2, then shouldn't that poster also clearly say the name "Guybrush Threepwood" on it a few times?

 

Unless I am missing something from your observation, I would say that the assumption that the museum poster includes the list of crimes is false, because the poster is torn:

 

 

Edited September 28, 2022 by LowLevel

[JacquesSparkyTail]

21 minutes ago, LowLevel said:

I realized only now that at some point the museum closes and becomes a crime scene. 😐

 

I’m pretty sure it’s because you stole the eye patch which the curator says is the most valuable part of the collection.

 

This ended up being a headache for me when it came to getting the bragging trophy as I hadn’t told the currator i was looking for the secret yet. 

Edited September 28, 2022 by JacquesSparkyTail

[Romão]

Jon Laney is clearly a pun and reference to Lon Chaney 

[BaronGrackle]

2 hours ago, LowLevel said:

 

Unless I am missing something from your observation, I would say that the assumption that the museum poster includes the list of crimes is false, because the poster is torn:

 

 

Yes, though the assumption about the list of crimes comes not from me but from the curator! He refers to it when describing the poster.

 

My natural instinct is to infer that the curator knows there was once a list of crimes that has since been lost to history, except for the fact that the game has already established its tone...

 

2 hours ago, Thrik said:

Yes. If…

 

 

  Hide contents

Guybrush didn’t make the stories up for his son and the items in the museum weren’t just theme park collectibles he noticed and included in his story. 🙂

 

 

...so that this is the most likely explanation. We were told very early on to expect unreliable narration built upon other unreliable narration, so headscratcher moments actually feel encouraged.

 

To me, it is more satisfying to think that 'Brush is mixing up some detail in his story, than to take a convoluted headcanon about the curator knowing there was once a list of crimes that is no longer there.

 

So I only bring it up now because it tickles me, being in the midst of this room that highlights bad fans for fixating on details and getting them wrong. 😛

Edited September 28, 2022 by BaronGrackle

[Huz]

4 hours ago, neoncolor8 said:

 

It says MELEE on the shirt. When the turns left/right the font flips too, so it's mirrored on one side. 

Reminds me of the discussion if Bob's  Pegleg is on his left out right side (mirrored sprite).

 

Yes! I assumed this was a reference to the characters in MI1 being mirrored images when they turn around (does that apply to all of them, or just Bob?). I had to look closely to realise they don't carry the joke through to the curator's fake pegleg though - that does stay on the same side as he turns, as you'd expect in reality.

[JacquesSparkyTail]

So depending on what you say to elaine in your first encounter she’ll either just walk away or do the whole “you say bye first” thing. If she just walks away, guybrush looks dejected for a moment. 

[ThunderPeel2001]

On 9/23/2022 at 2:57 PM, Blondebeard said:

After the earthquake and consequently after Guybrush steals Wally's monocle aka business cards, Wally adds a small sign to his sign saying: "Nothing is free".

 

I think this is more in reference to the fact that his business is booming (in direct comparison to the International House of Mojo's).

 

On 9/23/2022 at 8:10 AM, immortalwah said:

Can anyone make out the words on Curator's shirt?  It has "Melee" written backwards on it.  Is it the Treasure hunting or Sword Master t-shirt?  Something else?

 

In an odd, retro, choice: The character are the same facing left and right. So eye patches flip from eye to eye and t-shirts have their lettering reversed, depending on which way the character is facing. It's really odd for a modern game to be honest, because it's not like it would have taken much work to fix.

[BaronGrackle]

On 9/23/2022 at 8:57 AM, Blondebeard said:

After the earthquake and consequently after Guybrush steals Wally's monocle aka business cards, Wally adds a small sign to his sign saying: "Nothing is free".

Let me ask: did you try to use your money pouch on Wally to "settle accounts"? Before I finished Part 1, I could use the money on Wally to pay for the mop map and on Locke to pay for the keys, but they didn't ask for the payment automatically.

 

Have you paid Wally yet?

Edited September 28, 2022 by BaronGrackle