Game 41: Les Manley 1 - Won! (No, really, I have this time)

I thought I was done with Les Manley! I’d reached the end of the game and while it’s true the climax I experienced wasn’t the most positive piece of closure one could imagine, it was still an ending. However, once I’d posted about it, the comments started coming in. You guys weren’t happy for me now that I no longer had to endure this pile of poo. None of you cheered that I could finally get onto something better (well xyzzysqrl kinda did, bless her)! You were disappointed that I’d given up the fight, and concerned that I might treat future game climaxes with the same nonchalant approach. Most of all though, you all appeared more than a little let down that I hadn’t had a complete mental breakdown when I’d finally had the rug pulled out from under me. You wanted “seething”, “teeth gnashing” and “writhing in agony”. Well, the truth is that I was indeed a little pissed when I realised I’d missed something, but as Kenny so astutely judged, I just couldn't “give a rat’s ass about it”. It's a very good sign of just how bad a game is when the player couldn’t care less whether the protagonist lives or dies at the end. Anyway, the companions have spoken, and overnight I have come to agree that I really shouldn't leave it this way. I’ve committed to seeing this damn thing through to absolute completion!

Well at least I know the resurrection card isn't here!

I’ve not yet read any of the hints that the community (literally) left me, and I’ll say up front that my biggest fear is that I don’t have a save game far enough back to be able to restore to. I guess we’ll know soon enough. In fact, let’s try something a bit different. I’m going to play the game at the same time as posting, intermittently updating the blog so you can all (well, whoever’s awake and reading right now) see exactly what I’m up to. I’ll start by reading the first hint, which was left by Ilmari, and then see where things go from there. Hint 1: “Somebody *did* foresee a violent ending”. Oh no! That can only be Madame Zarmooska, way back at the circus! I had so much trouble with her already! Could this resurrection card be somewhere in her caravan? Where? I looked in the skull and I think I looked under the lizard too. Should I read the second hint before going all the way back there? No, the first thing I’ll do is load up the game and see when my earliest save game is. I have a bad feeling though! Nope, I didn’t have a save game in New York, but it didn’t turn out to be all that bad. I turned the game speed up to nearly max and played through from the start to Madame Zarmooska in less than five minutes. Now...let’s see about this card!

If Zarmooska foresaw it, how can I possibly avoid it? I mean, psychics are never wrong are they!?

What I'm about to write literally occurred a few minutes ago. The first thing I did was type "look at card", in the off chance that I might get a helpful response. "I don't see the resurrection card here" was all I got. I tried a few other things, but it was clear I wasn't going to be able to achieve much while Zarmooska was still around. I touched her to make her disappear, grimacing at how stupid that puzzle was once again. With her out of the way, I tried looking for the card again, and was shown a picture and description!!! "Entitles bearer (that means YOU, Les) to 1 free resurrection." At least now I knew that it was actually here in the caravan, but when I tried to get it I was told that it was "not in view". I set about examining the crystal ball, candles, lizard and skull as closely as I could, starting with the ball. I tried looking at, under and in the ball, and then tried to open and move it, but none of those commands worked. I then tried the same commands with the lizard and lo and behold, typing "move lizard" was the solution! "Touching the lizard seems to trigger a hidden mechanism." The resurrection card appeared out of the lizard's mouth! I have to ask...how on earth could anyone figure out that they were supposed to do this without help? I guess you could fluke it, but I was only able to solve it because I absolutely knew it was there, and even then it was just luck.

Who knows how I could get a description of it if it wasn't in view, but whatever.

Why of course there's a resurrection card in the lizard! Who wouldn't think of touching it to make it come out!?

I'm shocked to say that it took me about twenty minutes to play through the entire game if I exclude trying to figure out how to get the card. Once I reached the climax, I was still uncertain of how things were going to play out. Would Les automatically use the card? Would I have to use it at a specific time? It turned out the former was true. The mob still ran him over and killed him, but this time I witnessed his spirit leave his body and ascend into heaven. Once he'd reach the pearly gates, he was joined onstage by several angel musicians for a short period before waking up in hospital, apparently alive and well. The nurse of course was a blonde bombshell, and the first thing Les did was give her a photo of himself (i.e. The King) performing in heaven. The scene switched to show his boss, who would clearly now owe him a million bucks! The station didn't have the cash of course, but "Les did figure out a way for the station to pay off on the contest. And now, after taking over as owner, president and CEO of WILL, he has turned it into the highest rated station in the country. The stunning Stella Hart still works for the station but now she's Les' personal-assistant-in-charge-of-raises."

An average Saturday night turned into something much more interesting for this audience.

Actually, thinking about it, this is probably the real Elvis onstage, and Les just took a picture of him. What's your take?

Oh my. That is a pretty picture!

Oh the days before Photoshop. Everything was legit back then!

The game closed by describing what happened to all the other important characters. Col. Bob now manages his own chain of S&L's, Zarmooska got sucked into the spirit world and now makes cash channeling mortals, Helmut hosts his own talk show, Mr. Fabulous works at a burger joint, Vito plays Nintendo, Bobbi gave up her obsession with The King and is now awaiting the arrival of a Venusian spaceship and Lyla is tanning as usual. And that my friends, is really it this time! Final Rating post to come...

Oh God! There's actually a sequel to this!

480 out of 500. Don't even think about telling me that I haven't finished!

Session Time: 0 hours 30 minutes
Total Time: 9 hours 00 minutes