Game 41: Les Manley 1 - Seeking Some Alone Time

Les Manley Journal Entry 6: "Don't ask me why, but I've started to build up quite the collection of Elvis style clothing. Given my quest, I guess it could be somehow useful at some point. To be honest I've been a bit distracted by all the hot women that seem to be popping up all over the place at the moment. If it's not Lyla by the pool, it's that sexy Susie in the dry cleaning joint, not to mention Stella calling me out of the blue too! If I could only find somewhere to get changed around here..."

Luckily Les realised there was something important he still needed to do in the direction his head now faced.

All up I’d have to call my last session a very successful one! After all the difficulties I had in New York, the relatively small environment in Las Vegas has allowed me to knuckle down and focus on puzzles long enough to figure out what the creators were expecting me to do (or perhaps hoping I couldn't). That’s not to say it was all smooth sailing though, as once again this post will end with a request for assistance. My last post ended with me feeling the wrath of Mr. Fabulous, with his goon Vito literally ripping my head off and handing it back to me. I started this session by revisiting the pool area, but no matter what I did, the result was the same. Since there were no further locations in the hotel to check out, there had to be something I could achieve at the pool, the lobby, the dry cleaner, or the room with the maid. I decided to revisit each area, asking everyone I found about everything I could think of. I didn’t find out anything important, but did receive points for asking Susie about The King: “While doing my dissertation at Yale, I often used a modified Sicilian defense. I liked to build staggered fortifications around him with pawns. Then I’d get my bishops in a file and sneak my rooks out the back door.” (10 points) Once again the game rewarded me stumbling upon a joke, despite it offering me nothing in the way of progress.

Susie: Sexy and smart!

While asking Bernardo the concierge about Lyla, Mr. Fabulous, Susie, The King etc., I happened to examine the phone sitting on the desk in front of him. “My phone is primarily used for paging hotel guests.” Hmmm...was there anyone I wanted to page? I wanted to remove the maid from the hotel room, but typing “page maid” didn’t give me the result I was after. Then it hit me! I needed to talk to Lyla, since she may just know where The King is located. Perhaps I could page Mr. Fabulous to get him out of the way! I typed “page Mr. Fabulous”: “Bernardo finally gives in to your persistent nagging. He picks up the phone and relays your request to the hotel operator.” (10 points) When I headed back out to the pool area, I could see Mr. Fabulous on the phone in heated discussion with the operator. I wandered over to where Lyla was lounging in the sun, and found her alone as I’d hoped I would! Unfortunately, trying to interact with her in any way resulted in “Get lost, wimp. You’re blocking my sun.” With nothing else to do, I sat down on Mr. Fabulous’ now vacant sun chair. “After taking a seat next to this gorgeous creature, she finally seems ready to acknowledge your existence.” I was shown a close-up of Lyla, skimpy costume, eighties haircut and all! “You’re making me sooo hot. I’ve got to do something to relax. I just have to do something to cool myself off.” I have absolutely no idea why me sitting down next to Lyla caused her to react in such a way, but regardless, she took her sunglasses off, hopped up, and dove into the pool.

Persistence? I only asked the guy once!

I am?! Are you really that easily pleased?

Apparently Lyla is about seven foot tall as well!

This left me alone, and since I’d noticed Lyla had taken her glasses off, I typed “get glasses”. I should point out that it was next to impossible to see the glasses sitting on the table, so I imagine some players may not ever have tried this command. It worked though, and the glasses were described as looking “like they’re fit for a KING.” By now it was becoming very clear that I was collecting a bunch of clothing items that would eventually make me look like Elvis. I had a cape, a scarf, and a pair of sunglasses, and I knew there was a white suit at the dry cleaners too. I still figured I would need to find some sort of ticket to be able to claim the suit, which meant the only thing left to do was try to get the skeleton key from the maid’s cart. I hadn’t seen any locked doors anywhere where it might be useful, but with no other leads, I made my way back to the room. After a few minutes of random failed commands, I stumbled on something interesting. There was a sign on the room door that said “No Disturb-o por favor”. I’d messed up the bed to try to get the maid to enter the room and therefore leave the cart unattended. Perhaps she wasn’t going in because of the Do Not Disturb sign! I picked up the sign, and waited to see if anything would happen. Nope, she still wouldn’t enter the room!

The future looks bright!

...and very big pockets.

I found that I could put the sign back on the door easily enough, but regardless of whether it was there or not, the maid simply wouldn’t leave the vicinity of the supplies cart. I’ve stayed in my fair share of hotels, and I wondered whether there was anything on the back of the sign. I typed “turn over sign”, even though it was in my inventory at the time. It worked, and the sign now read “Maid-o Service-o por favour”!!!! (10 points) I’d figured it out, and putting the sign back on the door resulted in the maid finally entering the room to clean up my mess. I quickly walked over to the cart and tried to pick up the key: “With the stealth of a panther, you snatch the key from the maid’s cart!” (10 points) Yes!!! I was actually getting somewhere! My excitement was only negated by the fact I had no idea what the key might be for. Thankfully I didn’t have to think about it for long, as re-entering the elevator gave me the answer. “Having acquired the hotel’s skeleton key, you’re now able to go to places henceforth unreachable.” I was taken to a room I’d not seen previously, and hoped that somewhere in the room I might discover the dry cleaning ticket I needed. I could find nothing of interest in the first room, but walking to the left of screen brought me to a section with a spa bath and a staircase heading upwards. I quickly discovered that I was unable to ascend the stairs for some reason, so focussed all my attention on the spa bath.

Henceforth unreachable?

I'm sure the designers thought this was extremely modern at the time.

OK, that's funny!

When I looked in the spa I was told “Besides the drain, it’s squeaky clean. Not a hair in sight.” After re-investigating every other item in the room and finding nothing, I figured there had to be something interesting about the spa. I didn’t seem to be able to fill it up or get in it or anything one might normally do with a spa. Eventually I typed “look at drain”, since the spa description had made a point of mentioning it. “There might be something stuck in there. However, the drain is too small for even your wimpy wrist to fit.” Eureka! Helmut would be small enough to get into the drain! I typed “put helmut in drain”, but the message I received back didn’t fill me with confidence. “OK...But he’ll never be able to get back out!” I tried a few things, but it became clear that putting Helmut in the drain had dead ended me. I’d been so certain too! I restored and looked through my inventory in the hope of some inspiration. When I saw the dental floss, I had an idea! I typed “tie floss to helmut”, hoping that I might be able to lower him down into the drain. I wasn’t confident that it would work, since I didn’t believe the game would have such a clever and logical puzzle, but it did! “After you extract the final length of floss from the container, you gently tie one end around the waist of the World’s Smallest Man...being careful not to pull too tight – thus severing him in two.” (10 points)

You mean apart from the stairs right?

It's actually surprising when I solve puzzles in this game using logic.

I was shown a close-up of the spa bath drain, where I witnessed the well-dressed Helmut being lowered into the water. To my delight, the little guy swam across and picked up a dry cleaning ticket that was lodged in there! To my disgust, I found myself grinning, and feeling generally happy about playing Les Manley. Things were starting to come together nicely, with logic actually producing results and some level of satisfaction. I shook this unwanted feeling of joy out of my system, and reapplied the grimace of loathing and repulsion that had previously held a permanent place. I had the ticket, and Helmut was back in my possession too. (10 points) I rushed back to the elevator and into the dry cleaning shop to hand my receipt in to Susie. “The clerk pays little attention to the fact that you’ve just shown her a receipt almost 20 years old. She goes in the back and brings out a gold-laced white jumpsuit worthy of a king.” (10 points) Awesome! Surely now I had the entire outfit needed to dress up as The King! There was one major issue though. I’d tried putting on various bits of the costume throughout the game, but in every instance was told I needed to find a good place to get changed. Since there weren’t very many locations in the hotel, it didn’t take me long to try putting the suit on in every one of them. Even in the most obvious places, such as the bathroom in the hotel room, I simply wasn’t able to do it!

Honestly, why isn't Helmut a superhero? He's awesome!

The poor guy seems to be getting smaller every scene though!

Um...yes. Actually, you know what, I have one here that says you belong to me too.

Was there another location outside of the hotel? I really didn’t think there was, but figured I should rule out the idea before continuing my hunt inside. When I got back to my starting position, I realised I’d never gone to the right of screen. Perhaps there was something else there! “The desert. Some call it dry, lifeless, the devil’s wasteland. Others find beauty in its stark vistas. The truth is: It suck either way.” Oh great! I’ve played enough adventure games to know that deserts rarely end well. Scenes from Deja Vu II, Conquests of Camelot and Larry III came to mind, and I wondered whether this was a good time to open up Excel and start a map. I walked eastwards, and to my great surprise found a telephone box in the middle of nowhere! It was ringing too, so I walked over and answered it. Was I already hallucinating? I was shown an image of the gorgeous Stella, lying on a bed in lingerie, talking to me on the phone! Les: “H-h-hello?” Stella: “Hi, Les. It’s me.” Les: “Stella! Why are you calling me way out here in the desert?” Stella: “Remember I said I’d give you a call later? Besides, Steve wanted an excuse to show another picture of me!” Les: “I can see that.” Stella: “Well...I’ve got to go now. Good luck with your search!” Les: “Bye! Thanks for calling!” Stella: “Sure...any time, Les.” (10 points) As if Accolade hadn’t ripped off Sierra enough, now they’d gone and included self-referencing humour too!

Well who else could it be for? I don't see anyone else around here!

Sorry Steve. This didn't automatically make you a household name among gamers. Nice try though!

Sadly, despite gaining points for finding the phone, it didn’t appear to help me in any way. I began exploring the desert further, but it became apparent that the environment was simply repeating indefinitely. Even worse...walking back from where I came from didn’t take me back to the hotel. I did wonder whether the thermos full of water was needed for the desert in some way though, so tried drinking some. “Phew...I’m glad I brought this water to drink. Not only does drinking it quench my thirst and clear my sense of direction...it gives me more points!” (10 points) This didn’t help me to find any new locations, but it did allow me to find my way back to the hotel. My little excursion out into the desert had resulted in nothing but points, which meant I still had no idea where I was meant to get changed, if indeed this was what I was supposed to do next. After another twenty minutes or so of wandering around, I had to give in. I was stuck! I’m therefore requesting assistance again. I’ll be cranky if I’ve overlooked a specific spot where I’m supposed to get changed, but I think it’s more likely that I’ve missed something else completely. At least I managed to solve a few puzzles unassisted during this session, which gives me hope that I might get through the rest of the game with my reputation relatively intact. Or not!

So not finding the thermos wouldn't have caused a dead end. Not sure about the peanut butter yet though.

Session Time: 1 hour 00 minutes
Total Time: 7 hours 00 minutes

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: I've written a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring one. Please...try not to spoil any part of the game for me...unless I really obviously need the help...or I specifically request assistance. In this instance, I have made a request for assistance. Thanks!

Guest Game 1: Circuit's Edge - Teetering on the Edge

Night... I've lost track: "I'm out. That's it. No more leads. I ran around searching for Abdul-Hassan the past few nights. Now my final bit of information lies with Tamara Carter, and a single bullet found in the Herrera apartment where Marco was found dead. Will I ever unravel this web of connections?"

Well, I suppose I've wasted enough time being lazy.

Truly sorry about the delay. I've been procrastinating on this game for a few reasons. Mostly I'm not having fun with it, and that's partially due to the game's asinine way of presenting itself. In fact it's gotten to the point where I'm stuck. We'll get to that and the official request for assistance soon enough. So, on to the game. While exploring I accidentally left the game running for a number of hours. I'm not sure how long, but I discovered two things. I can't die from starvation or exhaustion, and the task to recover Abdul-Hassan has a time limit. A hidden one. Oh how I detest timers in my games, especially hidden ones. I restored my save (did I mention there's only one save), and set out to solve what I originally assumed was a side quest.

Finally a response to showing someone the ransom note.

I wandered through the night, reviewed my notes, and decided the best place to look for a lead on that bullet was Crazy Abduls. Before I got to that though I found I needed to solve the case of the other Abdul. The ransom note didn't mention a date or place to drop off the money. I started down my list of usual suspects and hit upon Saied. When I showed him the note he broke down crying. This exchange reminded me that the manual mentioned them being involved... maybe I should read it over again. Still, it wasn't all that helpful on the surface; however, at the mention of cologne I realized I might have a lead. There is a fragrance shop; maybe they could identify the scent.

I'm not sure how anyone could identify a single smell here, but like most logic in this game let's put that aside.

The shopkeeper identified the flowery aroma as that from tiger orchids. They're in short supply at the moment, but there's only a single "odd woman" that purchases the cologne made from these flowers. Next stop, the flower shop. There I learned the tiger orchids are imported from Brazil, but are currently held up by customs at the docks. The docks are another area outside the Budayeen described as the type of place I would hang out in if I wanted to get jumped. A cab ride later I looked up the address the florist gave me for the warehouse; it was completely locked up, although the description helpfully pointed out a high window.

Not sure why I couldn't just use my lock-breaking skills.

To bypass the security system I once again used the Phantom moddie (cat burglar skills). In a more traditional adventure game this would have required rope, a grappling hook, and clippers to disarm the security system. Instead I'm asked to answer what skill chip should I use this time? The description of Alpine Jack when equipped is that he wishes he had something to climb, and was eager for colder climates. Fairly obvious I needed it to scale something. Inside the warehouse it was too dark to see what each package was, yet still light enough to make out two from Brazil. I grabbed both and made my escape. In the moonlight I identified one package as tiger orchids, and the other as Cuban cigars. I took the tiger orchids back to the fragrance lady, who would create a new batch of cologne and call me once the "odd woman" picked it up. With the down time I followed up on my other lead.

Is explosive a colorful term, if not then how was there a bullet left to examine?

Well now I know the gun, and it's obvious from the description there's only one in the whole Budayeen. Every street dealer I've spoken to has only redirected me towards Abdul's shop when asked about a magnum. Seems this lead is going nowhere for now. I tried to sleep off the night's events back at my apartment, but was rudely awakened by the fragrance shop owner. She told me the woman picked up the cologne, but didn't leave her name or address; however, there was a number on the order form. The number was to Muhammad's Glass Shop, and the first place I was stumped. I called, left my name and number, and rested for the night... no call back. So, I paid him a visit instead. I asked him about the tiger orchid, "go see the florist." I asked him about Abdul-Hassan, "He's behind the counter at Hassan's store." I showed him the ransom note, "not interested". I asked about scent, aroma, flowery smell. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. With no other description and at my wit's end I asked about "odd woman."

How could I give a description when I was never given one?

The odd woman was none other than Madame Mimi, the local fortune teller. Before I left Muhammad's, I forked over 150 kiam for a finished crystal ball she was expecting. I figured she would feel better about talking with me if I did her this favor. Her building was just down the street. Her place was decorated in books on various occult subjects. She sat at a table with a crystal ball, which had a slight crack, and a pack of tarot cards. Showing her the new crystal ball elicited no reaction. I had to hand it to her to begin the exchange, which ended as quickly as it started. At least she repaid the 150 kiam. So I sat there staring into the new ball. Asked for my palm read, my fortune told, my tea leaves interpreted... nothing worked. I asked about tiger orchids, nothing. I asked about... I think you know where this is going. I searched through my notes for that one keyword that would allow me to continue. Aroma, no. Scent, no. Ransom, no. Abdul, Tamara, "odd woman;" no, no, no. Cologne! That was it.

Well that's helpful, another dead end it seems.

These random quips are so rarely fitting.

"Very close to death" obviously meant the cemetery just outside the Budayeen on the opposite end of the street from Bill's taxi. As soon as I arrived I saw a man. A man I had seen before. This time Marid recognized him immediately as the one who assaulted him at Kenji's place. A heated fist fight followed. With the help of my Kung Fu Master moddie and steelfists I beat him down until he ran away. Left behind in the aftermath was a radio direction finder. It was damaged beyond repair, but I took the frequency it was set to and entered it into my own. It lead me to a locked warehouse.

An explosion? How am I possibly going to do that?

After all the different ways I've picked locks, circumvented electronic locks, and bypassed unknown security alarms, I now needed to blow a door open with explosives. Seriously? Well, this line seems to have dried up at this point. I took stock of my possessions once more, and reviewed my potential leads. Tamara seems unrelated to finding Abdul at the moment, and the bullet doesn't seem to be much help either. Only thing left are these Cubans. Maybe they belong to the smoke shop just around the corner from Marid's apartment.

What? No. These are cigars. Here, just let me light one up.

Turns out I was carrying around plastic explosives. That takes care of that. Back to the warehouse! This should be simple: 'use' plastic explosives on warehouse. Yeah, not that easy. The game helpfully informed me I didn't seem to have all the parts I needed. Well, how the heck should I know how to use this stuff? I looked through everything I had and noted a wire and a countdown timer. Seemed logical, but once again I was told I didn't have everything I needed. I stumbled back into the street trying to drum up a clue. I started asking everyone about the terrorist. Eventually the clue about the smoke shop owner reading about him hit me over the head as I entered the Maq'allah's News stand.

If he's so infamous, why haven't I heard of him?

Luigi Casolari, now there's something I could use. Maybe there are some designs at his apartment. I hopped on the cop's computer terminal only to find they had no record of him. No record? Really? This game really hasn't covered all its bases. It's so constricting. Asking anyone about Luigi results in the same response as asking about "terrorist." That is anyone except the mortician. Luckily I kept the morgue pass around just in case I needed it. His only belonging was a moddie called the demolitionist. With that chipped in I instantly knew the missing item was a detonator. Crazy Abdul easily furnished one from off the menu. This game really makes very little sense. He got upset at me for inquiring about a .357 magnum, but happily sells me a detonator. The hypocrisy is outstanding.

You're not going to use it for anything illegal, right?

Well, that took care of that door puzzle. Inside the warehouse I found my assailant from the cemetery. It turned out the man wasn't Tamara Carter after a sex change. It was Alejandro Herrera. I didn't get the chance to ask him about his brother or Tamara. He jumped me immediately. With nowhere to run this time he quickly fell. As he drew his last few breaths, he admitted to the kidnapping, but it was his boss' idea. He then claimed to have killed Madame Mimi, although I wasn't aware of that at all. At the end, he half-warned half-threatened that his boss would get me.

I wonder if I had English 101 daddie in place if I'd have understood his yammering. I didn't care to check.

After a full night I returned to my apartment and found Papa's muscle men hanging out. They passed me a note and money. The note congratulated me on the good work finding the boy, and encouraged me to continue my investigation. Mahmoud Hassan was equally pleased, and rewarded me with a portable holodisk viewer and a static pistol (an electrical weapon). A holodisk viewer, what use could that be? Hmmm, maybe there was something more to the message Tamara had left. It turned out no, but the game surprised me in a completely new way. In such a way I didn't expect. I mean, for all its faults in strict linear progression with no outside the box thinking possible, this one response blew me away.

Who's eyes? Tamara's? Was there more to the vid... no wait, this is wrong.

Well, I broke the game, and reached another dead end at the same time it seems.

Against medical ethics, but a nice bribe would be nice.

Okay, obviously I skipped over something. It seems the code for this item wasn't programmed correctly, and doesn't check my location. Based on the conversation I figured the person I must be "speaking" with in the above screenshots was the nurse from the medical clinic. I confirmed this by visiting the clinic and asking about Tamara Carter, and received the response that the nurse was terrible with names, but might recall if I had a picture. In any case, I followed the trail of emerald earrings from the jeweler to a street dealer, to a dancer named Lily. The street dealer described her as a blonde, maybe. A couple of other dancers claimed Lily had some new emerald earrings. Asking anyone about Lily seems to produce only an unhelpful "seems familiar" phrase. I thought this was definitely the next step. But, when I finally found Lily, something must have been lost in translation because she didn't know anything about any earrings.

Yes, you, earrings, have?

I wonder if accessing the conversation with the holoviewer at my apartment messed up my game. I wonder if there's a completely different Lily I should be stalking. I wonder why the hell am I still playing this game? Well, at least it isn't Les Manly. In any case, I'm officially requesting assistance. If I can't make heads or tails of what I need to accomplish next, then I'll use said assistance, but I have a feeling I'd be stuck here for quite some time without it. My only leads are Tamara and a mystery magnum. Lily sure isn't providing any assistance. Specifically, I'd like to know if I'm doing something out of order, if there's a different Lily, or if I should be tracking down that magnum. I feel like I'm all out of options though and Tamara seems the best lead for explaining what's been going on.

Session Time: 3 hours 30 minutes
Total Time: 12 hours 30 minutes

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: I've written a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of Zenic requiring one. Please...try not to spoil any part of the game for him...unless he really obviously needs the help...or he specifically requests assistance. In this instance, he has made a request for assistance! Thanks!

Game 41: Les Manley 1 - Pulling Teeth

Les Manley Journal Entry 5: "I've made it to Vegas, albeit by non-standard transportation. After getting Fred's cape and Bobbi's scarf (through means I'm not proud of), I was launched from New York to Vegas in a most fortunate manner. It's great to be here, particularly now that I've met that stunner named Susie in the dry cleaning shop. I really hope she can give me more than the typical service!"

Stealing from The World's Strongest Man seemed like a good idea at the time

Just in case there was any doubt after my last assistance-filled post, I will state right here that I hate Les Manley: The Search for the King! It’s beyond belief that any designer would be able to sleep at night having unleashed a game so shamelessly illogical. There have been a few discussions in the comments around whether or not Accolade intended for the game to be stupidly difficult so that people would be forced to buy their hint book. I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, putting everything down to bad writing, but I’m not so sure now. I sense mischief!!! I push on nonetheless, and have managed to solve a puzzle that I’m convinced someone would have placed a bet on. I put much more time and energy into this one for two reasons: 1. Aperama’s confidence that he will be pulling in loads of CAPs was clashing with my ego, and 2. I ran into trouble right at the start of my next session, meaning my next post would only have been a couple of paragraphs long. Speaking of paragraphs, I’ve wasted almost an entire one here, so I’ll get on with it. My last post finished with me having finally got my hands on Luigi’s rosin. There was little doubt that the rosin was required to help Frederick von Leepov climb his ladder, so I made my way into the big top to find out what would happen next.

Death-defying hey? That's a bit optimistic!

I gave the rosin to Fred, and thankfully it was the correct thing to do. “Fred accepts the rosin, removes his cape, and prepares for his death-defying leap!” The crazy guy shed his cape, climbed the ladder, and jumped! Unfortunately for him, he missed the shallow pool at the bottom completely, forming a body shaped crater the way I had during my brief visit to Las Vegas. With Fred apparently dead, I picked up his “majestic looking cape”, and after a brief yet unsuccessful questioning of the stupid Alona, left. I couldn’t think of what I might need the cape for, but since the only “puzzle” left was to figure out how to retrieve Bobbi’s scarf, I thought perhaps the cape might play a role. Perhaps she would be willing to trade? I made my way over to her house and tried to give it to her. It achieved nothing. Perhaps I should wear it? I typed “wear cape” and was told to “find a good place to change”. Interesting! I tried putting the cape on while standing behind her couch, since that seemed to be the only place that she wouldn’t be able to see. It didn’t work, and I began to wonder whether I was supposed to get changed prior to entering the house. That would be pretty bitchy, since there is no way to re-enter the house once you’ve left. I restored my game back to prior to entering, and then walked around the game environment looking for places that I thought could be considered “a good place to change”.

At the very least he would need a smaller size now.

It does look like something The King would wear.

I doubt Bobbi would mind me stripping off right here and now

I tried getting changed in the equipment room, in my office, behind the fence near the circus etc. No luck! When I found myself on the eastern most screen, where work signs blocked my path, I got the idea in my head to try climbing the fence. To my astonishment, it worked, and Les scaled the fence into what I figured would be Bobbi’s backyard!!! This felt like a big moment, but once I was there, I had to wonder why. There was a clothes line there, but it had nothing on it. I didn’t appear to be able to interact with anything else, or enter Bobbi’s building through a new entrance. I tried getting changed into the cape, but was unsurprised when it didn’t work. Had I stumbled across a red herring? One thing seemed certain though…there was nowhere suitable to get changed in New York. I had to assume that I would wear the cape once I reach Las Vegas, but this left me with no clue as to how to get the scarf. Did I even need the scarf? There had to be a reason why I could sit and chat with Bobbi in her home. I re-entered the house, desperate to figure this puzzle out without requesting assistance. At this point I turned to my wife and asked her what a man might say to a woman that he was trying to get to know. Her responses were very similar to all the things I’d already tried. “ask about bobbi”, “ask about job”, “ask about interests” etc. etc. No luck!!!

I'm pretty sure Les could have squeezed between some of those pickets.

Thank you Captain Obvious!

It suddenly crossed my mind that most people talk about the weather when they don’t have anything to say. I typed “ask about weather”, and was stunned when Bobbi replied with “Sure is hot lately. Makes me kind of thirsty.” Progress! Was I supposed to offer Bobbi a drink, despite being in her home? I typed “ask about drink” and received the stock parser response “Please. One verb at a time!” I tried several different variations, but using drink in a sentence always ended up with the multiple verb message. Why the hell did she tell me she was thirsty if she didn’t want a drink? Was I supposed to use another word other than drink? Beverage didn’t work. It was then that I typed “ask about cola”, thinking of Coca Cola. Bobbi’s response was “Perfect on a hot summer day.” Surely I was onto something here, but as usual the game was making me work extra hard. I typed “ask for cola”, and finally something significant happened! “Just a sec, hon. Don’t go away… I’ll be right back.” As Bobbi left the room, I felt certain that I was now going to be able to steal the scarf. I couldn’t move or type though, and was frozen to the spot until she returned with my cola. She put it on the table and sat back down. What now!? Should I drink it? I couldn’t think of why, but tried anyway: “Take it easy, Les. You’ve got to watch your caffeine intake. Even the fumes make you nervous and clumsy.” Oh come on!!!!

Was asking about the weather the only way to get the thirsty comment? I really lucked out if it was!

My only motivation seemed to be to get the scarf. What role could a glass of cola play in that task? Bobbi didn’t seem to want to give me the scarf until we got to know each other better. Had asking for a drink somehow made us closer? I typed “ask for scarf” again and found that it had! “Well…I usually show the scarf to only my closest friends. But I guess it’s OK.” Bobbi took the scarf out of its case and laid it out on the table, right next to my cola. I still couldn’t pick it up though. Was I supposed to spill the drink onto the scarf? Why would I do that? Why did I want the scarf anyway? I typed “spill cola” and got “What do you wish to spill the soda on?” Um…what do you think I want to spill it on? I typed “spill cola on scarf” and watched bewildered as Bobbi ran around the house in a panic! “Well, now you’ve done it. She’ll probably have to wash it. But before she figures out that washing it might remove the magical healing powers, I’d suggest leaving!” Leaving? Without the scarf!? I was given three options, but considering they were “Scram”, “Vamoos” and “Sayonara”, I soon realised there was only really one. I found myself standing outside Bobbi’s apartment, wondering whether I’d done something wrong. What was the cola for if not to spill it on the scarf? How does Bobbi washing the scarf make any diff…eureka!!!...the clothes line!!!

Nothing says friendship more than a demand for a coke!

This is the second game in a row where the designers forgot to give me any motivation

It's like Choose Your Own Adventure, except not

I walked east until I could see the clothes line over the fence. On it…was the scarf! So everything I’d just gone through was merely to get Bobbi to hang the scarf on the line so I could finally steal it! I climbed over and picked it up (10 points), wondering whether I now had everything I needed to go to Las Vegas. I raced over to the big top, saved my game, and then stepped onto the Test-O-Strength. As before, I was launched from New York to Las Vegas, crash landing close to the Las Vegas Casino Hotel. This time I wasn’t told that I was missing items, so it looked like I had indeed collected everything I could in New York. However, I was informed that poor little Helmut had burned up "during re-entry"! There’s no way that I could have gone through everything I’d done to get Helmut, only to kill him on the way to Vegas. Either I was supposed to do something with him in the Big Apple, or I needed to find a way to get him to Vegas unharmed. Going through my screenshots, an answer came to me. Could that be the purpose of the mailbox? I became certain that it was when I noticed there was also a mailbox in Vegas, right near where I’d landed. I restored my game and tried putting Helmut in the mailbox outside the bus station. “Helmut has been mailed.” (10 points) I wondered how any mailman would know to deliver him to the mailbox in Vegas, but then scolded myself for questioning the logic found in Les Manley.

I love it when a good plan that no-one would ever consider comes together!

Small AND susceptible to standard atmospheric physics. Helmut was dealt a shitty hand.

You have to love puzzles you can't possibly solve without dying first.

This time when I arrived in Vegas, I walked over to the mailbox and looked in it. “Inside the mailbox is Helmut.” Hell yeah! I picked him up, and made my way to the Casino. I could take either of two overhead walkways to reach it, but my experimentation told me that both arrived at the same point. That point was the hotel lobby, where a man named Bernardo manned the desk. I tried to talk to him, but he didn’t seem to want to communicate. Some further experimentation let me know that there were two separate pathways I could take out of the lobby (ignoring the one I came in on). I decided to go to the right of screen, arriving outside a dry cleaning establishment. I wandered in to find an attractive woman waiting to service me. “Susie the cleaning girl. You wonder if she gives one hour service.” My first thought was that the scarf had significant sweat stains on it when I first saw it, but then I remembered Bobbi had washed it after my intentional spillage. I tried showing it to Susie anyway: “It’s not dirty, Les. Remember? Bobbi washed and hung it out to dry.” How Susie would know this is anyone’s guess, but I knew it to be true regardless. I tried showing her the cape, but that garnered no response at all. What else would I need a dry cleaning business for? Would I come across an item later in the game? Would I find someone else’s laundry ticket, the way I had in Manhunter 2?

I see they rolled out the red carpet for me.

Cool! Just what I don't need!

Apparently Les' parents were aware of this deficiency as soon as he was born!

I decided to see whether I could get some “extra” services out of Susie, but any attempts were met with “You’re not manly enough for me.” Before I left, I thought I would try looking at the suits I could see on the rack. Doing so displayed one particular white suit: “Upon closer examination, you notice that it was sewn with expandable elastic seams.” It seemed to me that I was attempting to dress myself up as The King, with the scarf, the cape and the white suit all doing their part. I was informed that the suit had been there for a long time, but my attempts to grab it resulted in “You can’t just take it.” I had nothing in my inventory that seemed helpful, so I left the shop for now and continued along the corridor to the right of screen. This took me to a hallway which ended with an elevator. Most interesting though was a large portrait of a smiling man on the wall. There was a plaque next to it containing the schedule for Mr. Fabulous’ show. I knew about Mr. Fabulous due to Lyla Libido (The King’s ex-girlfriend) currently having a relationship with him. When I looked at the picture, I got: “He may be fabulous... but there’s only one KING. And according to Lyla Libido, he’s not half the man THE KING was...uh...is...uh...well, you get the idea.”

Hmmm...am I going to end up being The King?

Yep...I hate the guy already!

I hopped in the lift and typed “press button”. I had no idea what button Les actually pressed, but the lift ascended to a random level. There I found a recently made up room, and there was a maid vacuuming the hallway alongside her cart of supplies. Examining the cart revealed that it contained towels, soap, disinfectant and a skeleton key! Obviously I was pretty interested in that key, so I tried to pick it up. “The maid seems upset.” I tried to talk to her, but she didn’t speak English. No matter what I tried, the maid wasn’t going to let me take anything from that cart, so I left it behind and focussed my attention on the room. There was a TV, a small table and a bed, as well as a bathroom leading off the back of the room. When I turned the TV on, a news reporter had the following to say: “This just in. One Lester P. Manley said to be hot on KING’s trail in WILL’s million dollar contest...Col. Bob in uproar over disappearance of Helmut Bean...and now back to the President’s State of the Union Address”. Checking out the bed revealed that it was a “Vibra-Massage 720”. I didn’t seem to be able to get a massage, but sitting down on the bed ruffled up the sheets. “Oops. Now you’ve created extra work for the maid.” I thought perhaps I could get the maid into the room to fix up the bed while I stole the skeleton key from her cart, but the language difference was a real barrier to that plan.

Racial stereotype much?

Yep...it's a bathroom!

I wandered into the bathroom and looked at the toilet, bath and sink, uncovering some dental floss in the sink. (10 points) While I was in the bathroom, I thought I would try putting on the cape and scarf, but still I was told to “Find a good place to change.” While I was convinced I needed to distract the maid and get the key, I couldn’t figure out a way to do it, so made my way back down to the lobby. Mr. Bernardo still wasn’t very interested in talking to me, but I did figure out that he would answer some questions. I found out that the hotel was currently booked out, that Mr. Fabulous was their biggest drawcard, and that Elvis stayed there “once or twice”. Nothing particularly interesting, so I took the other pathway out of the lobby. I re-appeared poolside, where numerous hotel inhabitants lounged around under umbrellas. None of them seemed interested in talking to me, so I walked to the left of screen. There I found Mr. Fabulous, lying near the pool with a woman I assumed was Lyla. “Please kid, no autographs. Get lost, or you’ll answer to Vito.” I tried talking to him anyway, at which point his bodyguard grabbed me by the neck and literally removed my head from my body!!! It was Game Over, and I decided my session had gone on long enough too. I have no idea what I’m going to do when I next play. I guess I’ll try talking to Lyla and hopefully figure out what I’m supposed to do with the maid. It's sure to painful no many what I do!

I'll probably end up using this floss to lower myself ten stories or to capture a pterodactyl!

The humour continues to fall flat, feeling like a poor man's Leisure Suit Larry.

Hey, I was still using that! Actually, on second thoughts...

Session Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time: 6 hours 00 minutes

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: I've written a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring one. Please...try not to spoil any part of the game for me...unless I really obviously need the help...or I specifically request assistance. In this instance, I've not made any requests for assistance. Thanks!