Game 28: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - The Holy Fail

Indiana Jones Journal Entry 5: “These Nazis aren’t real smart, and it’s just as well too. While the castle is crawling with them, I’ve been able to disguise myself as one of them, and then convince a whole bunch of them to let my pass. I’ve actually found where dad is located too, by scaling the outside of the castle and climbing in through the window. Unfortunately the old man isn’t quite as agile as he once was, so I’m going to have to get him out through a more conventional path. Before I can do that, I’m going to have to figure out a way to get past a monster of a man that’s blocking my way on the top floor. I’m a firm believer that everyone has a weakness, and I think I might just have figured out what his is. It’s time to go find out!”

 

Being bad never felt this good!

At the end of my last post, I’d just put the officer’s uniform on that I’d unlocked in the closet. I figured that I’d now have a much clearer path through the castle. Perhaps the guards would just acknowledge me as one of their own and ignore me altogether?! It didn’t take long for that assumption to be proved incorrect. Coming into contact with Guard 2 just outside the closet still resulted in conflict, so I was still required to use stealth to avoid him. Then Guard 3, who I’d already convinced that I was a servant, called me an intruder and starting swinging hay-makers, because last time he’d seen me I was dressed as a servant. I figured out pretty quickly that I needed to stay dressed as a servant while on the ground floor, only putting the officer uniform on once I took the stairs to the second floor.

 

Harrison Ford refused to do nude scenes!

Let’s continue my exploration of level two, starting with the security room in the top left corner. I spent a lot of time in this room, trying endless ways to satisfy the guard that I wasn’t an imposter, but nothing worked. I’m pretty sure I offered him every item I had in my possession and took every conversation path possible, but it always ended with a fight. The drunk guard had warned me to “watch out for that text-book Nazi who minds the alarm”, which made me think that this guy wasn’t going to be tricked by any of my pranks. Eventually I decided to fight him; just to see what would happen if I beat him. It took a few attempts as he was pretty decent, but I took him down, allowing me to explore the room unopposed. I found 70 marks on him too, which suggests maybe fighting this particular guard is the right thing to do?

 

I have a real knack for winning fights with a minimum of health left

The only item in the room that could be interacted with was the security system itself. There were a bunch of lights on the front that I could do nothing with, but the grating on the side was a different story. It was welded into place, so I couldn’t remove it, so I started thinking about other ways I might be able to deactivate it. Liquid always seems a good option for destroying electrical equipment, so I tried using the beer stein on it. It worked, and the security system was deactivated. However, I was still determined to get through the whole castle without fighting a guard. Since I didn’t yet have any idea why I might need to deactivate the security system, I restored my game and ignored the security room for the time being. I could always come back later and fight him again if I absolutely had to.

 

Proof that beer is the answer to everything!

If you look at the map for the second floor (in my last post), you will see that I needed to get past either Guard 7 or Guard 5 to be able to reach the stairs leading up to the top floor. It had seemed to me so far that the walking guards could generally be evaded or coaxed into letting me pass, but the stationary ones in rooms could not. For that reason, I chose to focus on Guard 5. As usual, he didn’t recognise me and demanded to see my papers. After a few failed attempts, I eventually got past him by taking the superior approach. “Soldier! Is that any way to speak to a superior officer!” put him on the back foot, but he still wanted to see my papers. “Colonel Vogel knows of me. Please call him right away” did the trick though, as he seemed unwilling to disturb the colonel. Excellent, I could now access the rest of the floor and get to the one above too!

 

Um...no...but then you're not one are you!

The room just to the south of where Guard 5 was situated, there was a room with a first aid kit in it. I added it to my inventory, despite hoping I would never need it. North of Guard 5 was a room with a window. While I haven’t mentioned anything about it, there are lots of rooms with windows in the castle, but this one was special. I’d tried opening every window I’d come across, simply because I was able to interact with them, but this one...opened! I hopped through it, out onto a ledge that was apparently pretty slippery. So slippery in fact, that Indy changed into his “action clothes” to better deal with it. Oddly, my version of the game’s graphics really screwed up at this point! A whole section of the outside area was a wash of colours that made it really difficult to figure out what I was supposed to be doing. Thankfully the “What is” action allowed me to move the cursor all over the glitch and the game still described to me what was there.

 

Yes, rainbow waterfalls are very dangerous!

Ignoring the glitch, the first thing I noticed was that I was able to open the other two windows on the level I was standing on. The first one led straight into the room where Guard 7 was posted, so that was a no go. The second one led to an empty room that I’d previously not been able to get into. The door had been locked when approached from the other side, yet I was now able to open it from within. Strangely, there didn’t appear to be anything else in the room of interest. Confused, I jumped back out the window to see if there was anything else I could do out there. I noticed I could interact with a brick above my head and the trellis (lattice) on the right hand side of the screen. I began to wonder if I might be able to get onto the trellis and climb up to the next level. Was this just another way to get there, instead of getting past Guard 5 onto the stairs? Or was something else going on here?!

Indy made his bondage preferences very clear!

I wasn’t able to reach the brick or the trellis unfortunately, nor was I able to use any of my items to help me get there. Interestingly, when I tried using my whip on the brick, I was told that “there’s not enough there for me to whip”. What did it all mean? I hopped back inside the room nearby, and it was only then that I noticed I could interact with the brick from the inside! I pushed the brick, therefore giving myself more brick to whip from the ledge. Hopping back out, I then swung myself over to the trellis using the whip, feeling on top of the world! I climbed up the trellis and now had access to the three windows on the top floor. Considering I’d covered every room on level two, I was happy to enter level three this way and start exploring.

(insert exciting music here)

I entered the first window and found myself in a room with a fireplace and a cabinet in the corner. The only thing I was able to do there was open the cabinet, within which I found 75 marks. I have no idea what the marks are for at this stage, but was happy to take them. I wasn’t able to open the door in the room as it was locked, so I went back through the window. On entering the second window, I was shocked to find my father standing right in front of me! Had I somehow avoided the top level altogether by discovering this alternate route to rescuing dad!? It turned out I hadn’t, as the old man refused to go out by the window. I didn’t seem to be able to converse with him and he didn’t want any of the items I had, so all I could do was explore the rest of the room. There was nothing there, and unsurprisingly I wasn’t able to open the door once again.

Er, Dad, you don't expect ME to find another way in do you?

I left by the window and told dad that I’d come back for him. I never came back this way, nor did I really gain anything other than knowledge of his whereabouts from my courageous climbing act. I’ll be very interested to hear whether there was some other reason or benefit to the whole thing. The last window took me to a completely empty room, so I climbed back down to level two and re-entered the window I’d opened in the first place. Once inside, I took the stairs up to level three (pausing to change into my officer uniform on the way) and ran straight into Guard 9 (see map for level three below). Thankfully this one was easily persuaded to let me pass. As soon as I could tell how nervous he was talking to a superior officer, I criticised the wrinkles in his pants and the sauce stain on his jacket, then demanded he stand aside. It worked, allowing me to continue my quest.

The third and final floor!

I entered the door behind him and found myself in the Colonel’s office. Thankfully he wasn’t there, but his vicious looking dog wasn’t too happy about my presence. As soon as I got close to it, it started growling threateningly. The solution was really quite obvious though, and the beast strolled off to its doghouse as soon as I gave it the roast boar I’d picked up in the kitchen on the ground floor. With the dog out of the way, I was able to get the combination that the Colonel had placed in the file drawer, and I was also able to collect the trophy that was sitting on top of the cabinet. I wasn’t at all certain of where the vault would be located, although the large room filled with paintings seemed the most likely place. I’d not found anything that resembled a vault when I’d first checked it out, but then I hadn’t had the combination then anyway. I decided to continue my exploration of the top floor, and head back downstairs later if need be.

Indiana Jones: Dog Whisperer

My next encounter was one that many of you have mentioned in comments. A large brute of a man stood between me and the rest of the floor, but he didn’t look like the type of guy I wanted to get into a fight with. I was able to talk to him, but no matter what I said, it always ended with a fight I had little chance of winning. I began looking at my inventory, wondering whether there was something I might be able to offer him. I tried giving him all the cash I’d collected, but he refused to take a bribe. I then gave him the stein of beer, and watched as he firstly sculled the whole thing in moments, and then secondly crushed the stein on his head! Once he was done, he said “I barely tasted that thimbleful, and you’re still not allowed up here”, before sending me away. Hmmm...did I have something larger I could fill with beer? Yes I did! The trophy!!!

A little thirsty buddy?

After restoring (I might still need the beer stein), I quickly took the trophy back down to the kitchen on the ground floor, remembering to change into my servant’s uniform on the way. It took a while, but I was able to fill the trophy with beer! Before heading back upstairs, I thought I’d take the opportunity to revisit the room with all the paintings now I had the vault combination. My instincts were telling me that the vault must be in there somewhere. I tried picking up, pulling and pushing a few of the paintings and statues until I finally had some success! Pushing the Mona Lisa out of the way revealed a vault door, which I was able to open with the combination I’d retrieved from the file drawer in the Colonel’s office. Everything was falling into place now and I was very excited to find out what was inside the vault that the Colonel felt was so important.

You mean the vault combination? Good thinking Indy!

Inside was the painting of the Grail that the Colonel had asked one of his guards to protect with his life right back in the opening castle cut scene. Sitting alongside it was the small painting I’d given to that guard to get him out of the way. Strangely, I wasn’t able to pick up either of the paintings, nor was able to do anything else with them. I tried everything imaginable, but if there was any purpose to breaking into the vault, it evaded me. I decided to move on, hoping that the solution would come to me down the track. Perhaps I needed my father with me when I entered the vault? Perhaps I would find an item later that would do something? For now, it was time to head back upstairs to that thug of a man, to see if he was as tough as he thought it was. Stay tuned to find out what happened!

Surely there's a reason to be here?!

Session Time: 1 hours 30 minutes

Total Time: 6 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 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!