Root beer (i think it is better that people reading this post have finished RTMI)

[karmo]

I don't know how seriously i should take my own thought, but i can't un-think it now.

Spoiler

Root beer is liquid and liquid would short circuit electronic machinery like animatronics.

 

[Gins]

Would be cool but so would water or grog. Also it was established in MI2, that root beer only works on ghosts, not zombies, as you can douse LeChuck in it and he doesn't die. (The new leaders didn't get the memo though 😂)

 

Related to root beer though, something that I've missed maybe throughout my many playthroughs:

What are the hints that root beer is a substitute for the magic voodoo root?

 

Just the color and the "root" in its name? Or were there more elaborate clues?

[Remi]

13 minutes ago, Gins said:

Would be cool but so would water or grog. Also it was established in MI2, that root beer only works on ghosts, not zombies, as you can douse LeChuck in it and he doesn't die. (The new leaders didn't get the memo though 😂)

 

Related to root beer though, something that I've missed maybe throughout my many playthroughs:

What are the hints that root beer is a substitute for the magic voodoo root?

 

Just the color and the "root" in its name? Or were there more elaborate clues?

 

There were a couple, including one saying it goes well with some vanilla ice cream -- a root beer float. Not sure how well those translated outside of the US, though.

[Gins]

10 minutes ago, Remi said:

 

There were a couple, including one saying it goes well with some vanilla ice cream -- a root beer float. Not sure how well those translated outside of the US, though.

Ah that explains it. It probably didn't translate well to my culture (Austrian) so I missed these, even though I played in English. I kinda got that it references root beer (because I knew the solution from earlier playthroughs), but I'd wager it was quite more on the nose for Americans. Thanks!

[karmo]

8 minutes ago, Gins said:

Would be cool but so would water or grog. Also it was established in MI2, that root beer only works on ghosts, not zombies, as you can douse LeChuck in it and he doesn't die. (The new leaders didn't get the memo though 😂)

Spoiler

It might be even more farfetched, but what would be equivalent of new form of undead in case of destroyed animatronic ghost that unreliable person thought was real? Maybe person in undead costume. In that case guard who wears LeChuck costume foreshadows fact that Chuckie is really wearing costume.

8 minutes ago, Gins said:

 

Related to root beer though, something that I've missed maybe throughout my many playthroughs:

What are the hints that root beer is a substitute for the magic voodoo root?

 

Just the color and the "root" in its name? Or were there more elaborate clues?

Spoiler

Why is root beer in grog machine in first place? Maybe because fact that in theme park they would serve non alcoholic beverage only. Anyway, if voodoo root and its uses are established lore in park, someone taking it all too seriously would look for liquid that has root in it to fight ghost. Either that  or it is representative of good enough substitute mentality that solutions in that game seems to follow sometimes.

 

 

[Gins]

25 minutes ago, karmo said:

  Reveal hidden contents

It might be even more farfetched, but what would be equivalent of new form of undead in case of destroyed animatronic ghost that unreliable person thought was real? Maybe person in undead costume. In that case guard who wears LeChuck costume foreshadows fact that Chuckie is really wearing costume.

 

Yeah it definitely fits the whole substitution game that is constantly played throughout Secret, perhaps that alone is hint enough as you've substituted countless things to get to that part.

 

You substitute so many things in Secret and without checking, I'll hypothesize that you substitute less in later games. In Return I'm not even sure if you substitute anything at all. Maybe the sign of a more grown up mind who has a harder time playing along with that.

 

Or I just misremember 😆

[BaronGrackle]

1 hour ago, Gins said:

Ah that explains it. It probably didn't translate well to my culture (Austrian) so I missed these, even though I played in English. I kinda got that it references root beer (because I knew the solution from earlier playthroughs), but I'd wager it was quite more on the nose for Americans. Thanks!

It was gradual and kind of beautiful, as an English-speaker playing it blind.

 

1. First you encounter the Grog Machine. Root beer is kind of memorable (funny?) because it's the only thing that isn't a type of grog, but the grog is clearly Coca-Cola.

You are still early in the game and have a lot more time left. It is very unlikely to be your last sitting.

 

2. You eventually hear about a very, very rare root (or antiroot, sometimes) that can be weaponized to kill ghosts. It's the last one in existence.

You are far into the game but still have more puzzles to solve, which might take time. It is probably not your last sitting.

 

3. The cannibals weaponize your root as a carbonated liquid in a seltzer bottle, and they mention it goes good with ice cream.

You are near the end of the game and don't really have puzzles anymore. You are probably going to finish the game in this sitting.

 

4. Guybrush and Elaine openly call the potion "root beer" when threatening ghosts.

Your game is almost over.

 

5. Guybrush gets his new root beer from that same Grog Machine you looked at probably on the first or second day you played the game.

 

 

For me? I didn't even start to realize my magic root was going to be ordinary root beer until #3 on that list, and even then my brain was thinking in terms of "this is very rare and magical" and also "this is ordinary soda" simultaneously, somehow. And my brain didn't even remember the Grog Machine version until the very end, when Guybrush landed in it, and my brain completely made the switch to "this is ordinary soda".

 

I think it helps that I hadn't looked at the Grog Machine in literally months, since I was playing straight. And by the time the cannibals made their "root beer" references clear, I was basically at the end.

Edited October 24, 2022 by BaronGrackle