So.... the ending [spoiler discussion]

[MLGedie]

So yeah.... In the final chapter we just don't find out how the story ends because Guybrush just decides to tell a silly version for his son. What do we think about this?

I don't really like it. It would be one thing if we never found out what the Secret WAS, but we don't even get to find out what happens to Guybrush, Elaine, and LeChuck. Who wins? what happens to them? how to they beat him, or escape? The only thing we do know is that they survived, otherwise how else would he be telling the story to his son. Like, imagine if at the end of Pulp Fiction, instead of simply never seeing the inside of the briefcase, we don't even see what happens in the final scenes or what happens to the characters. There's just no real resolution. [/spoilers]

I am keen to hear other opinions though, what did people think?

[BAI GAMING]

I agree completely. I was wondering if I had gotten a bad ending or something but apparently that's how it ends. What a disappointing ending, my god, no answers whatsoever. The plot was pretty normal up to that point too. Why not just make a normal ending?

[Spathiwa]

What made it make more sense to me was reading the plaque on wall in the final scene.

This IS the Secret. This was always planned to be the Secret since the first game. Everyone is finally getting what they wanted.

Sometimes what you thought you wanted isn't everything you thought it would be.

[MLGedie]

Im not sure I understand what you mean - are you saying that the Secret of Monkey Island is the fact that its just a performance, a theme park, a fictional world? If thats the case, why does Elaine pop up after the son scampers off and imply that there will be future adventures? Are they pirates or arent they?

[shadowthief011]

I agree...I wasn't a fan of the artwork, but I played the game nonetheless hoping that I will get to finally see what the secret of monkey island was(though I had the feeling that I wouldn't)...but forget about the secret I didn't even get to see the bloody ending of the damn story...
I understand that Ron tried to capture lightning in a bottle like he did with the second game...but it fell really short of the mark...very disapointing.

[Yistaan]

Escape's giant monkey robot made a better secret that what we got here. This game, although good, overall felt like a letdown after Tales of Monkey Island.

[Spathiwa]

I mean that the theme park is what the Secret was intended to be in the original game. It wasn't included there for some reason. Maybe they changed their minds about including it.

Within the narrative of the game itself, it makes no sense and is probably just something silly made up as part of the framing story. But what the secret is to the characters in the game isn't what ultimately matters, I think.

People want the Secret to be something meaningful. Something that leads to an understanding. It's very possible that the "true" secret is something like that for Guybrush. But it wouldn't be for the player.

Think about the ending of Monkey Island 2. We never find out what Big Whoop is, and if we found out, it might not hold any meaning for us as players.

Instead, we got an ending that WAS meaningful. An ending that was discussed and debated for years. An ending that is still being discussed and debated today. An ending that we finally have an explanation for: the ending of Monkey Island 2 was actually Guybrush's children reliving one of Guybrush's adventures.

That is what this ending is: the final revelation to the players of the ORIGINAL Secret of Monkey Island. An ending that will give closure to some and infuriate others. An ending with meaning.

[Spathiwa]

Or at least that's the interpretation that I have literally built in my mind brick by brick as I wrote these responses. I don't know if I'm at all right about this, but this interpretation, if nothing else, makes me happier about the ending than when I actually watched it.

My first impression was that it was a cheap cop-out. :)

[FairlySadPanda]

There's quite a few achievements and a weird banana-balancing-on-a-rock scene right at the end of the credits, so it's entirely plausible there's something else to find

[Yistaan]

I thought

the subplot about Guybrush doing increasingly shady and destructive things to get to the Secret would get some payoff later, like him becoming the new LeChuck or something. But other than a conversation with Elaine on Monkey Island towards the end, it has no real payoff.

Also did anyone find out what happened to Voodoo Lady at the end? After LeChuck trashed her place she's never seen again. Did they really mean to leave that hanging? Are we to assume LeChuck finally killed her?

[Yes, I have a Mic.]

Originally posted by Yistaan:

I thought

the subplot about Guybrush doing increasingly shady and destructive things to get to the Secret would get some payoff later, like him becoming the new LeChuck or something. But other than a conversation with Elaine on Monkey Island towards the end, it has no real payoff.

Also did anyone find out what happened to Voodoo Lady at the end? After LeChuck trashed her place she's never seen again. Did they really mean to leave that hanging? Are we to assume LeChuck finally killed her?

Oh its worse than that dude. Think back to the beginning. Little guybrush, chuckie and that little girl? Now didn't you think that was a set-up for still being trapped in big whoop by the end? I thought so. But nope.
I was expecting a real mind ♥♥♥♥ of an ending but what I got was the devs going "Pfft, endings. Ammirite?"

Like, I genuinely thought everything had sinister undertones. Elaine was acting shady as ♥♥♥♥ throughout. Did I just imagine that?

[Heart of Ice]

Elaine seemed extremely decent through-out, honestly. Guybrush, on the other hand, way less so, particularly the further along the game.

I wasn't too sure what to make of the ending either... But a pair of things do come to mind.
Go back through the Scrapbook and the new letter on the last page is kind of insightful. And some things kind of click if you think of Guybrush as having some brand of dementia, re: his adventures being the amusement park stuff, his apparently inconsistent stories, his focus on 'old pirate stuff' and how some NPCs suggest piratey-stuff is 'retro' or 'old school'... Might be a stretch, but his just sitting and staring at the very end was .. peculiar.

Also, my post-credits scene was a hand extending several tickets. :U

[Reformatio]

I am deeply disappointed after just finishing it.

[Yes, I have a Mic.]

Originally posted by Reformatio:

I am deeply disappointed after just finishing it.

Yeah. Honestly, the more I think about this being the ending to the entire franchise the angrier I get.
I mean the ending to Tales of Monkey Island wasn't perfect but jesus. It was a better send-off than this.

[K. Constantine]

It's yet another cynical ending like 2, Thimbleweed and Deponia.

Jaded Gen X-ers seem incapable of writing a sincere comedy without huffing their own flatulence about "muh escapism". I had a suspicion that the OG games were endearing and 'good' despite Gilbert and not because of him. Thimbleweed having this same ending confirmed that, and Return now solidifies that Ron Gilbert was always just a jaded pseud and the original games were likely good because of the input of people like Tim Schafer. He has been so mad at people not liking this ending that he's done it for a third time, the exact same thing.

The only people who like this sort of spit-in-the-face ending are pseudo-intellectual midwits with exactly 100IQ who feel like it's "smart" to comment on escapism through a naturally escapist medium.

Have a dumb wojak meme:
https://imgur.com/QuypLmG

[gamer]

I just expected them not to lie so much about the premise of the game. Couldn't even clear that low bar.