Thursday 5 September 2013

Game 34: The Colonel's Bequest - Won!

Laura Bow Journal Entry 8: "I finally did something worthy of my father's training, but it's very hard to feel good about it. I shot Rudy was he was trying to kill the Colonel in the attic. Thankfully I didn't kill him, so the police were able to come and take him away. I can't understand why Rudy would try to kill Henri after all that has happened. After all, he didn't kill anyone else. It was all Lillian, with Rudy greedily trying to finish what she started so he could get to all of Henri's money quicker that he would have otherwise. I can't believe my good friend was so insane! I guess that's why I couldn't see what was going on until it was too late. I just want to go home now..."


 Act VII: Where Everyone Just Hangs Out and Stuff

So here we are at Act VII of The Colonel’s Bequest! There were only five guests possibly alive at this point; with a fair chance at least one of Lillian, Henri, Clarence, Celie and Rudy had also bitten the dust at the end of Act VI. My money was on Clarence, and I also had a strong feeling that Lillian was going to be the one behind the whole traumatic evening. As usual, I set out in search of all these remaining characters, and since I’d finished Act VI just outside the study with Rudy, I went back inside to begin the hunt. Immediately I noticed something interesting! The glass case that had previously contained a silver derringer had been smashed, and the gun was gone! One of the weapon cabinets was also wide open, so I set about looking for clues. I didn’t find any, with no other weapons missing and seemingly no prints on any of it. I now knew that someone had a gun though, and it was likely the murderer! Instead of going further into the house, I decided to see whether Rudy was still sitting on the steps outside. He wasn’t on the steps, but he was there, walking away from the house and then off screen.


This is why you should have listened to me when I typed "smash glass and get gun" earlier on


 Catch and kiss was always very exciting on the estate

I followed Rudy, only to find that he was strolling along the same aimless route that Ethel had been taking earlier on when in her drunken state. At one point he said to me: “Somethin’s wrong; I can feel it. I don’t understand what’s goin’ on around here. Where is everybody?!” He didn’t stop at any of the locations he passed, but I did! When I entered the chapel, the progress clock appeared and ticked over to 1:15. Celie was sitting on one of the pews praying, and she spoke the following to me after my entrance: “What’re you doin’ here, girl? Somethin’ mighty terrible is happenin’! Evil spirits is all ‘round us. I think we’re a’goin ‘ to die before this night is over!!” I tried to get more out of her, but she didn’t appear to want to listen to me. If both Rudy and Celie were to be believed, neither of them knew where all the missing family members were, meaning neither of them were the killer. They both could have been lying of course, but I didn’t have any major reason to suspect either of them. Soon afterwards I entered the playhouse to find Lillian once again talking crazy with her dolls. The clock ticked over to 1:30, yet I wasn’t able to communicate with her in any way. I did notice something very telling though! There was a chalk board in the corner of the room with seven marks on it. One for each victim!


 If you'd listened to anything I've been telling you, you'd bloody well know where they are!



 You always know how to cheer me up Celie!


 I wonder what it means? Oh well, never mind!

I checked out all the other outside locations, but couldn’t find Clarence or Henri. I therefore re-entered the house, heading straight for the parlor to see what quote I could get out of Polly. “AWWKK! Sleep tight, my pretties. AWWKK! In the basement... the basement.” Well that was very interesting indeed! I tried to think of who might have said that, and could only come up with Lillian or possibly Celie. Was the murderer storing the victim’s bodies in the basement? Where was the basement anyway!? Jeeves’ room is in the cellar, but I’d been there recently enough to know that there weren’t any bodies down there. What had I missed!? I put that question aside for the time being, and made my way up to Clarence’s room. As soon as I entered, it was very apparent that he’d been the next victim! “Uh, oh! A bad feeling comes over you as you look around this room. The small desk chair has been knocked over and you see a fresh bloodstain on the rug!” The notebook that Clarence had been writing in was still on the desk, so I made my way over to it and took a look. The progress clock popped up once again, and it was now 1:45.


 AWWKK! Where's exactly is the basement...the basement. AWWKK!


 Well it serves you right chair! I told you to stay out fights! Now look at you!

Clarence had only written on one page of the book, which was dated May 27th, 1925. “I’m terribly apprehensive about what’s going on here. I can’t say why... just call it a bad sensation... but as the evening wears on I’m feeling more and more alone. Where’s Wilbur? Where’s Gertie? Where’s Gloria? Could they have left without me? Is there a way to leave the island that I’m not aware of? Still, the spine-tingling feeling won’t leave, and frankly, I’m scared.” I couldn’t find anything else of interest, either on the floor or on the desk, so I moved on with a purpose. I’d suddenly remembered that Lillian had been writing in a book that she stored in her case during Act VI. Since she was now in the playhouse, perhaps I could find out what she’d been writing about?! I stopped briefly on the way to see whether any other items had been left behind in the hidden rooms, finding a dusty bootprint on the floor in one. As with the other bootprints I’d come across so far, I didn’t appear to be able to do anything with it, so left. On entering the room where Lillian’s case was situated, I was shocked to find Rudy there, and the progress clock moved onto 2:00am...Act VIII!


 Excellent! If only my father had taught me what to do with it!


 Act VIII: Where Laura Finally Does Something, After Initially Doing Nothing

I didn’t want Act VII to be over yet, as I still hadn’t found Clarence’s body, so I restored a couple of minutes back and looked in all of the remaining rooms. I found Clarence in the bathtub, with a dagger lodged deep in his chest! I searched his body: “Shaking terribly, you search Clarence’s body and establish that he did indeed die by a stab wound to the chest. Upon further searching you discover a pack of matches in Clarence’s coat pocket. Thinking it might come in handy, you take it with you.” I immediately thought of the lantern hanging behind the Colonel’s horse Blaze, and how I hadn’t been able to get to it. Surely the matches were to light the lantern, but for what purpose (the basement?), and how could I possibly get it without Blaze kicking me to death? I spent some time restoring to each fifteen minute interval, marking down where everyone was at each stage. Normally I would stop at this point and write a new post, but I felt like the end of the game was very close now. I decided to push on, and will do the same here in an attempt to get both Acts VII and VIII done in one session.


 This kid is a natural I tell you!

What I make of Act VII
  • Lillian begins the hour in the playhouse talking to her dolls, before leaving for an unknown destination.
  • Henri spends most of the hour in his room, before typically disappearing around 1:45.
  • Celie spends the entire hour in the chapel praying
  • Rudy walks around outside for the first three quarters of an hour, before entering the house at 1:45 and searching for something in my room.

 I can promise you that there is only dust under there. Believe me, I looked!

I watched, intrigued, as Rudy walked around the room, pausing to look under each piece of furniture. It wasn’t clear exactly what he was looking for, and trying to speak to him resulted in him telling me to “Beat it, kid! This ain’t none of your business!” As soon as he left, I opened Lillian’s case and read her diary: “Dear Diary, I’m so terrible upset! I can’t believe Uncle Henri would do this to me! I thought I was like a daughter to him and now I find out I’m no more important than any of those other creeps! They can’t get away with it, you know...they just can’t! Between you and me, Diary, you know they have to go...because of what they all did to me. I KNOW they were all in it together to have me put away in the nuthouse. I was never crazy, they just wanted me out of the picture! Now they have to...” That’s where the diary stopped, but it was enough to inform me that Lillian was not only acting crazy this evening, she’d clearly behaved this way before. So much so that her family had put her in a mental asylum! It was time to go and find out who she’d got to next, but first I used the monocle on the diary and found another fingerprint.


...and find...a fingerprint!

There were only four people to find now, so I figured it shouldn’t take long to get through Act VIII. The only one I could find in the house was Henri though, sitting in his wheelchair in his room smoking a cigar, just as he generally always was. The only other thing of note that occurred in the house was that Polly told me the following: “Gotta get the gun... get the gun! AWWKK!” Well I knew that someone had stolen the gun, but not who it was. I figured it wouldn’t be long before I would find out! So where would Celie, Lillian and Rudy be? I decided to head straight for Celie’s shack, and her response to my knocking was “Please!! Leave me outta this!”. It really did seem that she was going to stay locked in her shack for the rest of the night! I made my way from screen to screen in search of Lillian and Rudy, only to stumble on a scene I really hadn’t expected!!!! I walked into the hedge garden as the progress clock appeared onscreen and ticked over to 2:15am, and there I found a body lying next to the fountain. It was Lillian!!!!! I’d been quite certain that she was the killer, so it came as quite a shock to find her dead. There was a gun lying next to her on the grass. Had she perhaps killed herself? My examination revealed a “horrible gunshot wound to her chest area”, making suicide an unlikely cause of death.


 Oh oh! It's Polly isn't it! I should have known! It's always the quiet ones!


 Well, the game certainly surprised me with this one!

“What’s this?! You suddenly find a skeleton key in a pocket of the old army cape. Since it may be useful, you take it with you.” Aha...the key would likely get me into the attic!!! I picked up the gun: “As you stop to pick up the derringer your eye happens to fall upon the bullet not far from Lillian’s hand.” I picked up the bullet too, and successfully put it in the gun. I made my way back to Celie’s shack to make sure she was still there at quarter past two. She was, but as I walked away, a message appeared saying “Is that Beauregard barking?” I went from screen to screen looking for the Colonel’s dog, eventually finding him scratching near the front door. I thought perhaps he was trying to show me an entrance to the basement, but couldn’t find anything of the sort. There was however a note attached to the doorknocker: “Meet me in the hedge harden.” It seemed likely (at the time) the note had been put there to draw Lillian into a trap that resulted in her death. I entered the house, where I was told that “You hear scuffling further upstairs.” I made my way up to the attic, stopping in on Henri’s room to see whether he was there. He wasn’t, but there was something on the floor that hadn’t been there previously.


What? No prints on the gun? So now they're being careful?!


I give in! Is it?


What do you think I'm doing!?

It was Wilbur’s doctor bag, so I looked inside. “The contents are a mess inside. It looks as if someone has hurriedly searched through it.” I didn’t understand what that might mean, but I excitedly climbed the stairs to the attic door and unlocked it with the skeleton key. I entered the attic to find Rudy and Henri wrestling with each other. “Oh, no!! Colonel Dijon and Rudy are in the midst of a fierce struggle! You see a hypodermic needle between them and it’s impossible to tell which of the two men is the aggressor. This is indeed a dangerous situation!” I hesitated, trying to figure out which of the two was attacking the other, only for Rudy to stick the needle into Henri. I was shown a close-up of Rudy: “Whew, that was close! I want you to know that I acted strictly in self-defense! That old coot lured me up here and when I wasn’t lookin’ he tried to stick me with a hypodermic needle from Dr’ Feels’ bag. I hate to think what was in it, but it must have been awful bad...look what it did to Uncle Henri! He tried to do to me what he did to the others. I found out that my uncle lured us all here so’s he could kill us! He NEVER had any intention of leavin’ his money to any of us at all! He only wanted to get rid of us. He’s been sneakin’ around here all night... and one by one he’s been murdering everyone! He had us all fooled, let me tell you! He was in a lot better shape than we all thought! Well, it’s a shame about everyone else, but at least you and I are still alive.”


 Sigh...with Fifi dead and Celie in hiding, who's going to clean up this mess!?


 So why couldn't I get up here in the lift!?


 No way buster! I'm going to restore, and there's nothing you can do about it!

I became more and more certain during Rudy's explanation that he was lying. I’d seen him looking for something under all the furniture in my room not long back, and it suddenly clicked that he was likely looking for Wilbur’s bag. Did Rudy really kill everyone though!? What was I to make of Lillian’s behaviour, chalk board markings and diary entry? Before I could think any more on this, I was shown Laura leaving the estate the next morning, then standing on a ferry approaching New Orleans wharf. “You consider last night’s events. Was Rudy telling you the truth...or could there be more to the story? Oh well. You’ll probably never know. Best to forget it, and go on with your life; maybe the police will find the answers. Poor Lillian...poor everybody.” The words “The End” appeared, and I have to tell you that I felt very unsatisfied indeed! My performance was rated and I was shown the notes I’d collected on the way, but I’ll skip showing you this for now. You see, I couldn’t let the story finish like this! I had to restore and at the very least experience a more satisfying conclusion! So it was that I restored my game, and entered the attic, once again walking in on Rudy and Henri fighting. I typed “shoot Rudy”, and that’s exactly what Laura did! “You have shot and wounded Rudy.”


 As much as being passenger is an apt way to describe my involvement in the game, I had to try for a better ending


Left handed and everything!!!

This time I was shown a close-up of Henri, who gave me a much more convincing version of events. “Uh, thank you, young lady, ‘er, Laura. That was some mighty fine shootin’...for a gal. I guess I owe you my life don’t I? Why, my nephew was tryin’ to kill me with poison in one of Wilbur’s hypodermic needles! Ohhh, it’s terrible what’s been happenin’ here tonight! I invite everyone here to tell ‘em about my will and they end up killin’ each other over it. Truthfully, I WAS keepin’ my eye on everyone in the house tonight, or so I THOUGHT! I didn’t see any of the murders. It wasn’t until I met Rudy in my bedroom that he told me what had happened. I couldn’t believe it! He told me that my niece, Lillian, had finally gone totally berserk and out of a crazy jealousy was killing everyone that she thought had gotten between HER and ME! She managed to just about murder everyone ‘til she attacked Rudy with my derringer. Rudy managed to wrestle the gun from her and in self-defense, killed her instead! My nephew, seeing as how everyone else was already dead, decided to finish the job by killing me with a hypodermic needle and say I died of a heart attack induced by the terrible deeds that my niece had done! I can’t stand much more of this! Laura, please find Celie and tell her to fire one of the signal rockets that we use to summon help in emergencies.”


Rudy has to be the stupidest man alive! To think he would have got the whole inheritance to himself anyway!

The police arrived the next morning and took the wounded Rudy away in cuffs. Celie, Henri, Beauregard and I watched them float away, and then Henri spoke up. “I somehow knew that one day Rudy would run afoul of the law. You’ve been a loyal servant to me for many years, Celie. And both Beauregard and Blaze trust you. I’ve decided to leave all my money to you... PROVIDED you take care of my animals for the rest of their lives.” Unsurprisingly, Celie agreed to this proposal: “Course, suh. I cain’t think of nothin’ else I’d rather do. Thank ya, suh.” The game closed with Henri talking to his dog: “You know, Beauregard, people are funny creatures. They’re greedy, they’re rude, they’re selfish. That’s why we live way out here, to get away from them. But we couldn’t get away from them completely, could we, boy? No, not completely. But, everything will be okay, now.” I received the Seasoned P.I. level on the Sleuth-O-Meter (just as I had during my previous ending), which is surprisingly the second best level. I thought I was pretty rubbish at this game, so I was happy with that result. Instead of going through each of the notes that followed, which let me know the things I failed to achieve, I will post the screenshots below (only the ones that were listed as INCOMPLETE). I’m not going to play through the game again, so you’re all welcome to tell me all the things I missed. I'm dying to know!


 So they couldn't find the basement either hey!


Really?


Tough night to make friends! I thought Beauregard liked me!


I kept thinking I should feed something to Blaze, but couldn't find anything


There was another hidden room?


 They're just about the only items I used at all!


 What is this? Thief IV: The Colonel's Bequest?


Huh? I really have no idea what this stuff is.


Not surprising, given how long it took me to figure out how to do it.


 Why does that even matter?


 The Doctor's Bag did too!


 AWWKK! The basement! AWWKK!


 Oh do tell!


 Hey, I found Henri's cigar and cane in one! Surely that counts!

Session Time: 3 hour 00 minutes
Total Time: 12 hours 00 minutes

40 comments:

  1. So... you missed a lot. Ironically, most of the "Adventure Game" components of the game! Here's a few things I noticed from my recent play through.

    "The basement" is the biggest thing you missed. You should have noticed those chutes went SOMEWHERE and it was how Lillian was hiding the bodies. There was also a walled-up portion in Jeeves' room that should have been a hint.

    One of the items you needed was in the armor. If you oil the arm or the whole thing you die, but you can oil just the face I think. That gives you an item you can use in the hedge garden to open a secret passage. You'd still die if you went down there because it's too dark... so you need the lantern and the matches, as you suspected.

    To get the lantern, you had to befriend Celie because she had a carrot that you could use. To do that, you needed to not waste the bone on the dog when you did, but rather use it to lure him out of his dog house later. Inside is Celie's necklace (which I think you should think of as a murder weapon like the rolling pin, although it wasn't). When you give it to her, she becomes much nicer to you and will let you into her house and will answer all sorts of questions about your housemates. Get the carrot, feed to horse, get the lantern, wait for what's-his-name to die to get the matches, and you are set. You found the bodies!

    But there's a side quest here about a lost family treasure. There's a hint hidden in the chapel. If you walk in the right spots, you find a creaking floorboard which is hiding a family bible which gives some of the back story. That encourages you to find something in the bell, which plays out exactly like you did it except you just needed to type "ring bell" from the side instead of under. That gives you an object that you can use in the basement to access a further secret area which contains the treasure. I missed this the last time so I don't recall what it is, but you need it for the best ending.

    The only other thing I can think of that you missed is the key to the elevator which is hidden in the cannon in Henri's room. When he's not in his room, you can sneak upstairs and explore two more rooms, find his old military stuff. You'll see that the murderer was dressing up as Henri as well, but not that much more.

    That's all I can recall. Ironically, the game is a lot more fun when you manage to get the basement puzzles because you have a real "adventure game" of a time trying to put the objects together to get down there.

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    1. Family treasure: Meant originally for Sarah, last of the Croydon family, whose ghost you've seen couple of times at the graveyard (I think Celie and Clarence could have also told you more about this back story). The bible would have clued that there was something in the visor of the knight armour, which contained also a note telling how the parents of Sarah left her family jewels somewhere. From the basement, you can access the Croydon crypt, where the jewels are hidden in a tomb, supposedly belonging to someone called Ruby (except from a family tree within the bible you would have known that there was no Ruby Croydon).

      Key to the elevator: When you could have seen Henri walking, you would have also seen him doing something with the cannon, which would have been a hint for the hiding place of the key.

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    2. Oh yes, if you find the treasure, Henri will comment on it in the end and lets you keep it.

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  2. Well, finally you finished! That score is surprisingly high, I expected less, too!

    Person befriended: As said above, Celie.

    Took food item from: Carrot in Celie's house.

    The missing secret entrance is in the basement.

    Objects used more than once: You can use the crowbar to open a loose floorboard in the chapel, which reveals a bible; and to open the vault containing the treasure

    Valuable Object is the treasure.

    Religious article is a bible, hidden in the chapel.

    Items Requiring closer scrutiny: Cigar butt.

    Rudy also has gambling habits. Ethel and Celie would've known about it, IIRC.

    The cognac decanter also changed location. First it was in the parlor, the in Fifi's room.

    Ultimate location: Basement. As you figured out. (Best scene in the game, sad that you missed it.)

    Person with Surprising secret: If you spy the Colonel in his room at a certain time, you'll discover that he can walk!

    I don't know why you didn't get the "colonel" as a secret passage user. Maybe it has to do with the above point.

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    1. Oh, you also needed to look at the cognac decanter with the moncole. It also had fingerprints, after it moved to Fifi's room.

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    2. And the crowbar you would have found in the carriage house, in the carriage.

      I think that to get colonel as the secret passage user, you would have had to make some more detective work on the topic of cigars. There's two persons smoking at some point (I think Clarence was the other one) and you would have had to actively LOOK at them when they were smoking, so you could really say it wasn't Clarence's cigar.

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    3. BTW, instructions on how to trigger/discover all of these notes are located here: http://colonelsbequest.net/hints/Notebook

      About the docor's bag: You have to look at items at least twice to know that they have moved. Once before, and once after the location change. Trickster probably didn't do the former with the bag.

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    4. One addition to objects used more than once: Oil can, used both for the visor and the bell.

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  3. BTW, why is the last 'e' in 'incomplete' always on a second line? Yet another trick of ScummVM? <_<

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  4. Congratulations, another notch on the headboard!

    I have to admit I'm not finished with it yet, still on Act II. But that's only because I've lost all interest in it and probably won't finish it either. :p

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  5. I remember playing this game quickly over a weekend in the early 90s. I had a friend who owned the game and met me at a rec center on Saturday morning to give it to me. She wanted it back Sunday afternoon. So I went home and actually installed the game to RAM using the RAMDRIVE utility and played the hell out of it.

    I do recall that it felt like a game you could basically fumble your way through. I didn't realize that advancing the clock was not time based, but actually triggered by events. Being in a rush to play the game, I imagine I did all I could and returned the game afterwards. I don't remember finding a family treasure. I recall having a little more fun with the sequel since it was more interactive. Still, I enjoyed reading your trip through the game and sparking quite a few memories of things I saw.

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  6. On a completely different note, Trickster began playing first game of the year 1989 (Chamber of the Sci-Mutant Princess) 15th of September, so if the Final ratings - and Year that was - posts won't be too delayed, he will have played and blogged through 1989 in less than a year.

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    1. I think this is actually the most momentous thing to speak of. Given that this is really the golden age of adventures, and that the games after about 95 are either very linear/easy or sparse, we might actually be looking at getting into the next millenia's games by around about 2020! Especially if enough games (cough, monkey Island, cough) are playable largely by memory.

      Well done, Trickster!

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  7. Weekend sale on Steam, Focus Home Interactive catalog 50-75% off. Loads of Sherlock Holmes games, the Runaway series, Yesterday and The Next Big Thing either individually or in packs.

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  8. Thank you everyone for the info! Here are my thoughts, which I'll obviously expand on in the Final Rating post. I think it's worth raising concerns now though, in case I'm totally missing the point on some of this stuff (wouldn't want to punish the game for something I just didn't understand).

    Basement: I knew there was a basement, which is what made is frustrating that I couldn’t find it.

    Armor and Bell Tower: I died whenever I touched either of these, so eventually figured I just wasn’t supposed to. I think I would have persevered had I found the information suggesting there was something in the armor (from the bible?) and that I needed the bell for something (also in the bible?). As it was, I had no puzzles to solve, so had no idea what I might or might not need.

    The whole game seems to have hinged on me finding the necklace, but there were so many reasons why I didn’t find it. The fact that I was able to give the bone to Beauregard while he was in the kitchen technically “dead-ended” me, at least from a complete story point of view. I’m also certain that I looked in the doghouse when Beauregard wasn’t in there, and didn’t find anything. I assume I missed hints that a) Celie is missing her necklace and b) that it might be in the doghouse, otherwise it’s all just guesswork isn't it?

    Creaking Floorboards: This is probably the thing I have the biggest issue with. I walked into the chapel numerous times, but mustn’t have walked on the exact spot that causes the floorboards to creak. Does it tell you about the creak or are you just supposed to hear it? I made a habit of right clicking on pretty much every item whenever I first walked into a room. If I didn’t find anything in a section of the room, why would I go there?

    Hah, I never realised that Lillian was dressing up as Henri! I did wonder why she died with an army jacket on though, and I’m guessing that explains the boot footprints too!

    Sarah’s Ghost: I am happy to hear that the ghost did actually have a reason for being in the game.

    Items requiring closer scrutiny: I definitely tried looking at the cigar butt with the monocle and was told there was nothing interesting about it. Perhaps I just typed cigar!

    Doctor’s Bag: I’m certain that I looked at both bags. I guess it’s possible that I restored at some point and made it so I didn’t see the first one.

    @Ilmari: I did find the crowbar. I just couldn’t find anything to use it on.

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    1. Finding the creaking floorboard in the chapel is iffy, and the only way to know to use the crowbar to open it for the bible. When found, Laura stops and a message pops up saying the floor creaked.

      The bell is not mentioned anywhere, and really aggravating. If you're not standing in the right spot it just kills you with no hint that it was your positioning that was the problem.

      I'm not sure what commands you were using on the armor, but it asks where to apply the oil and looking inside the helmet seemed obvious to me.

      No hints about the necklace. When checking the doghouse early, it says there's nothing there... yet. Keeping the bone around to get the dog out of his house seems like a good idea, but only in hindsight. I agree there's not a good indication that it's necessary.

      No worries, it's possible you would have completely missed the basement as I did. I have the lit lantern, turned on the fountain, and then was completely stumped for what to do next. I found no indication that the statue could move, and needed to be pushed to open the secret passage to the basement.

      I probably would have scored higher if had started searching bodies prior to Clarences since I missed the monocle, which is a large portion of points. All I have to say about that is Laura must have some really bad eyes.

      Good job on wrapping it up. Enjoy all the rot13. ;)

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    2. I've got to say, this feels like a really bad adventure game.

      So, should we have told you as soon as you gave the bone away Trickster?

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    3. @Canageek:I wouldn't say it is a bad game. It merely is designed with a different approach in mind. You're expected to replay the game at least a couple of times, and discover new exiting details. It's like when a movie is better on a second viewing. Most of the stuff that is easy to miss is related to the optional treasure, and so somewhat obscure by purpose (although they went too far with that #!"#% bell solution).

      @Zenic: Both the bell and the armour are hinted at in the bible: "Sarah, Our end is near. The bell will ring solemnly on our final night, and then will sound no more. Sir Lancelot will forever salute us. Do not weep for us, my child. We will watch over you. We love you. Do not ever forget. Mama"

      I don't think Trickster ever looked at the elevator handle? It'd clearly revealed that there's a key for it.

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    4. I don't know, it seems to have a lot of things that kill you if you aren't standing in exactly the right place and such. Easy to miss is one thing, but if you keep getting killed by the axe and bell, why would you try again next game? I guess the ending screen helps that, but it seems a cheap hack to try and fix bad puzzle design.

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    5. Oh yes, the deaths are definitely bad. I know that Sierra is known for their overly arbitrary and unpredictable deaths, but they apparently wanted to set a new record in this game. It feels like an uncreative way to make the game scarier. In a game where exploration plays such a big part, the player shouldn't be punished for doing it.

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    6. I think it's obvious that the priorities of the producers were on story and not on puzzles this time. Considering that this is a detective game of 80s, it is even wonder that there's any traditional puzzles at all. I'd also note that it was part of the detective game genre in 80s that the player was expected to play the game more than one time: here finding the real culprit is at least relatively easy, and the replay is mostly just tying up loose ends, unlike in some games, where you had to restart twenty times even to arrest the right person.

      As for the deaths, I am not sure if they are any worse from an average Sierra game of the era. Here at least there's some sure way to avoid the death and it's not just up to pure chance whether you'll succeed or not (like in KQ4 with its randomly appearing cave ogre).

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    8. Frankly, when giving the bone to Beauregard didn't grant you any perceivable reward, I'm surprised you didn't restore your game right then and there to get that bone back. Even you wondered if you'd deadended yourself right there with that move.

      If you make it up to the attic early enough, while looking in the trunk of clothes you can examine the boot and it tells you there is an eagle insignia on the heel. Later when looking at one of the footprints (I think the muddy footprint near the rolling pin) you can look at it closely and it tells you that the eagle imprint is visible.

      Regarding the cigars, you need to have evidence that it is Henri's cigar and not Clarence's. I forget the exact syntax, but I think I typed something like "look cigar" while Clarence was smoking and it told me that it appeared to be a large, fine quality cigar, whereas Henri's cigar is described as short and stinky. Later when you examine the cigar butt, you are able to identify it as Henri's due to this detail. Moreove, you can show the cigar butt to Henri and he yells at you about picking up his cigar butts, which further cements it as Henri's and not Clarence's.

      As far as the floorboards go, if you type "look floor" (which I did on every screen) it tells you that you notice some loose floorboards in the chapel, which is your clue to inspect the floor more thoroughly. So it is not quite as random as just happening to walk in that one particular area. :)

      I managed to get a perfect Sleuth score and complete all notebook hints, but have to give a big chunk of that credit to my daughter who insisted that we keep trying to ring the bell. The item found in the bell was critical to our ultimate success. :)

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    9. Oh, also another detail -- some of the characters' responses to different "ask about" and "tell about" queries will vary depending on what act you're in. For instance, in Act 1 most people will tell you they don't know anything about it if you "ask about Fifi and Jeeves", but a couple acts later people have plenty to say about it... :)

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  9. Just a reminder that I'm running a competition with three different games as prizes. This is your last chance to enter, as I'll be giving them away before the end of the day!

    They are:

    1. A New Beginning (kindly donated by Canageek)

    2. Tex Murphy 1 + 2 Collection (uncollected prize)

    3. Quest for Glory 1-5 Collection (uncollected prize)

    If anyone is interested in getting a copy of any of these games, please send me an email telling me why (in fifty words or less) you think you should get it. The best answer for each game will win it! The email address is theadventuregamer@gmail.com.

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    1. I've sent the winners the codes they need to redeem their prize. Congratulations to Kenny McCormick, whose compelling poem of loss, and longing for adventure, got him a copy of the Quest for Glory Collection. Congratulations also goes to Draconius, whose mathematically precise entry won me over, even more than his sob story about never winning anything.

      No-one put an entry in for A New Beginning. Does anyone want it? First person to say yes gets it! It looks like a good game!

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    2. I'll take it to play along with you in a few years.

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    3. Wow, that was the worst donation ever. I'd feel bad if I'd paid money for it.

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    4. Thanks Trick. And here I thought my ability to count would never get me anywhere. I knew my inability to pull on the heart strings of others certainly never will.

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    5. Really though, if anyone speaks up before the weekend is over, I'll defer to them. I really don't need another game to play. ;)

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    6. I would gladly have applied for it if I didn't have it already.

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    7. Fist-pump! I'll be redeeming it this weekend when I get back home.

      By the way, Tricks, I have a copy of The Ship on Steam available that I can give away. How do I send it over to you?

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  10. Adventures from Daedalic - up to 60 % off this weekend on GoG!

    http://www.gog.com/news/weekend_promo_adventures_with_daedalic

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  11. Elementary, My Dear Holmes! has been suspended by KickStarter:
    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1375982935/elementary-my-dear-holmes

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    1. Damn, I just noticed that is from Vancouver, where I now live.

      Would anyone give me CAPS if I contact the guy and set up an interview? :D

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    2. No, because you already have many more than me, plus we all know you're going to try and do it anyway. :b

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    3. Hah, I'll give you some if you can manage to get them to say more than they already have in the comments on KS. ;)

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  12. After ending again you can see the something awful forum alternate explanations of the events. It's interesting, if a probably something that didn't touch even the wildest daydreams of the writer.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKqhTz-zpfA&feature=youtu.be

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OObUcEOji4&feature=youtu.be

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  13. By the way, Videio Games Live has a kickstarter, and they are doing some versions of classic adventure game music, including Monkey Island.

    I'm in at the $35 level, to get Levels 1, 2 and 3 (the new one) and the Earthworm Jim soundtrack, though I probably should have gone for the $25 level, as I don't really care about that last one. Ah well, I'd feel bad lowering it now. :S

    Anyway, they have some digital samples up and some links to past concerts, so you can hear a bit of a preview. I'm sure you can find better samples though, as these don't match the quality of past recordings I've heard.

    I'm still kicking myself for missing them when they were in Toronto.

    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1916334303/video-games-live-level-3-game-composers-of-the-wor

    A bit better then the MT-32, don't you think?

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  14. Some random interesting stuff related to the game:

    Old TV trailer

    A funny bug

    An easter egg (from Hercrabbiness' Let's Play)

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