Thimbleweed Park's ending and the Secret of Monkey Island 3

[Pod]

I thought this is where these two threads were going:

I have changed my mind: "Monkey Island 3a" could suck

Short version of this post: “I don’t want a MI3a game by Ron anymore, because I’m afraid that it could ruin the idea that the younger me had of those games.” Long version follows… I have always considered “The Secret of Monkey Island” and “Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge” the only two “canon” games of the Monkey Island series. All the following games might be good but they have nothing to do with the original story that Ron Gilbert had in mind when he designed the first games. To me, it’s …

Ron Gilbert about art and bad endings

I would like to invite you all to invest three minutes of your day/night to read the following text. It’s a transcript of a part of the keynote that Ron Gilbert did at PAX Australia 2013, before the TWP project started. There has been a lot of discussion about the ending of Thimbleweed Park. I think that the following statements about Ron’s personal vision of art might be enlightening. You also need to be willing to endure the pain of failure. I spent several tormented months…

but no one explicitly stated it in those threads, so I’ve created a new one to say that, after playing Thimbleweed Park, it’s very “clear” to me what Ron had planned for SOMI3:

The same fourth-wall breaking ending that Thimbleweed Park has!

Well, I imagine it has “voodoo” instead of “tube-AI”, but that the general gist would be the same. I imagine MI3 would start piratey/theme-parky and the ending would reveal the secret as something like “we only exist in a game! The secret of Monkey Island™ is that it can only be found in an adventure game” etc, and that the player, as Guybrush, would have to thwart @RonGilbert’s plans to continually restart the game, or whatever.

MI1 and 2 already broke the fourth wall a lot: Guybrush talking to the “camera” was a running theme through the whole game, there were a lot of anachronistic objects and speech, the entire MI2 ending. I imagine those LucasArts kidders were just “preparing” you for the ending in a “see, we warned you about this!” kind of way.

And, if this is the ending/theme Ron was thinking of, then, as he says himself:

@LowLevel

A second important statement by Ron was made in 2003 in a chat on the “#monkey-island” IRC channel

The problem with the Secret of Monkey Island is that it’s built up sich a mystic, that when I finally do reviel it, you’re all going to go “That was dumb”.

it really is a really dumb idea

Thoughts?

[ZakPhoenixMcKracken]

[Ema]

I think many people implicitly has an idea similar to yours.

I’m sure you’re somehow close to the truth.

But the chances are we’ll never ever get any closer.

So, now I’ll click a like on Zak’s post.

Now, let’s go off-topic.

[Someone]

@Ema

I think many people implicitly has an idea similar to yours.

Ron wrote that we would be disappointed if we would know his idea. The ending of TWP wasn’t disappointing, so it’s likely that this wasn’t the ending of Monkey Island 3a.

@Ema

Now, let’s go off-topic.

@Ema, how do you do?

[tasse-tee]

@Ema

Now, let’s go off-topic.

You’re doing it wrong - you’re not meant to draw attention to the fact that you’re going off-topic!

@Someone

Ron wrote that we would be disappointed if we would know his idea. The ending of TWP wasn’t disappointing, so it’s likely that this wasn’t the ending of Monkey Island 3a.

Personally, I wasn’t that keen on the ending of TWP, as it seemed to render everything pointless. And for a series of 3+ games, which have built up a story and a universe, I think such an ending would be an unwise choice.

[Someone]

@tasse-tee

And for a series of 3+ games, which have built up a story and a universe, I think such an ending would be an unwise choice.

I agree with you, I wouldn’t chose it as an ending for a Monkey Island 3a too.

But actually it would fit to the happenings in and especially the ending of Monkey Island 2. (You should play the Monkey Island series next ). Beside that, Ron is known for unconventional and/or surprising endings.

[kaiman]

[Pod]

@Someone

Ron wrote that we would be disappointed if we would know his idea. The ending of TWP wasn’t disappointing, so it’s likely that this wasn’t the ending of Monkey Island 3a.

Well, you might have liked it, but TWP got a lot of negative press for the ending and the fourth-wall stuff in general. Isn’t that why they added the “in jokes” option?

[Someone]

@Pod

Well, you might have liked it, but TWP got a lot of negative press for the ending and the fourth-wall stuff in general.

Are you sure? Can you give/name an example (= a review)? I can’t remember negative press for the ending. The critics were about the “in game jokes”. They are “annoying” because only a minority understands them. And that’s why Ron added the option AFAIR.

[Sushi]

@Someone

The critics were about the “in game jokes”. They are “annoying” because only a minority understands them. And that’s why Ron added the option AFAIR.

Actually, it is -fittingly- even more meta than that and the option is an in-game (or an in-development) joke by itself:

ThimbleWeed park in 640x480 on a Commodore 1942 CRT

We added the in-joke option to poke fun at people who objected, not because we really cared.

[Lomion]

I loved the ending of TWP just as I loved the ending of MI2.
So I just grew even more confident in Ron Gilbert’s way of thinking the end of the whole story.

Talking about the ending of MI2, it just makes me feel like there is a secret gate to the world of Monkey Island. It’s not a dream, it might just be a kid’s fantasy, but there is certainly a “world of Monkey Island” somewhere where one can go when one wants to play the pirate. A bit (a lot) like Peter Pan’s Neverland.

[Frenzie]

@Sushi

Actually, it is -fittingly- even more meta than that and the option is an in-game (or an in-development) joke by itself:

Would’ve been funnier if it weren’t disabled by default.

(Discourse, if you don’t want me to reply to stuff from “10 months ago” then I suggest you don’t shove it in my face first.)

[s1m]

From what I’ve seen, (MI) this reminds me of not only the retro aspect of the artwork at a time when it was actually so futuristic back then (like with Don Bluths Dragons Lair) even for the early 80s, it is still futuristic even by today’s standards. I would pay ransomwares demand for the VR version of this.