Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis - Jones in the Fast Lane

Written by TBD.

Indiana Jones Journal Entry #3: Sophia suggested we look for Atlantis together but I felt she'd just cramp my style. I'm using my own wits to find out if the place is real or the myth I've always thought.

Now that I've reached Atlantis on the TEAM path, it's time to backtrack and try to get here by WITS alone. So let's say goodbye to Sophia and use our wits in the fine city of Monte Carlo.

Thanks. Try not to get captured by Nazis while I'm gone.

MONTE CARLO

After finding Trottier walking the streets of Monte Carlo – I know which guy he is this time so I don't have to ask random strangers if they are him – he asks me a question to prove I've read the Lost Dialogue. I answer correctly and he tells me that he can't help me, but gives me his business card that I can use to convince others to help me.

Well, Monte Carlo was particularly easy, some might say pointless, on the WITS path, so I made my way to Algiers.


ALGIERS

Algiers looks rather empty without the schwab vendor and the knife thrower and his audience.

I must admit, at this point I wondered if perhaps the WITS path just removed puzzles from the game instead of adding new ones.

Ignoring that thought, I make my way to the artifact merchant, and Omar Al-Jabbar isn't there, but instead I meet his servant, Paul.

He takes two steps forward then takes two steps back 

Paul needs a reason to allow me to see Mr. Al-Jabbar so I show him Trottier's business card. He leaves the shop and asks me to wait. I look at all the stuff in the shop for a while, then leave as Paul hadn't come back yet. I notice that I can 'Walk to City Streets' at the edge of the screen. When I attempted to do so on the TEAM path, Indy just says that he won't do it because he'll get lost. Now I can do it.

Unrelated fact: In 1980, Indiana Jones invented a video game and called it Pac-Man

After randomly wandering the streets for a while I go back to the market, where I find a new guy standing around acting happy... or drunk...

... or both.

I go back to the antiques store and Paul comes back and tells me Omar won't see me.

I leave the store and talk to the happy chap in the fez, who's still in town. He tells me there's a festival going on right now.

He also tells me his favourite 'Kevin Bloody Wilson' song

Fez-Man doesn't know where Al-Jabbar lives, but back in the Pac-Man streets I notice man in red fez is also walking the streets. This gives me an idea. If I can make Paul wear the red fez, I can follow him as the red fez sticks out amongst the crowd. I go back to the market when Fez-Man is there and talk to him again. This time I compliment him on his fez. If I choose the right dialogue options I get what I want. If I choose the wrong dialogue options the conversation ends and Fez-Man leaves. I can leave and come back constantly but I'm lazy so I save a game early in the conversation and keep trying until I he gives me the goods.

Okay, now you just sound like a 1960s Batman villain

I can now go back to Paul and offer him my fez. (I know what you're thinking - I tried and Indy refuses to wear the fez.) When I point out to Paul that the fez will make him taller, he takes it.

You complete me too, Paul 

Now, when I ask Paul to check again if Omar will see me, I can follow him because the red fez makes him stand out amongst all the white dots and if I'm close enough...

Entering the house, I'm greeted by Omar. He's not happy to see me.

Then clearly you haven't heard about the time I drank poison wine given to me by my arch-enemy in Shanghai, or the time I gave a grail diary to a Nazi agent, or the time...

Omar then sends Paul off to call the cops, leaving me to explore his house while we wait. Every time I try to take or use any items in his house Omar comes to me and objects. I quickly work out a plan. I touch something in his walk-in closet. He joins me and tells me to stop, then I leave the closet and lock him inside. He wishes various types of death on me as I ransack his house.

I doubt my entrails would feed more than 2, 3 jackals at most. 

I take a bamboo stick, which I use to get some hanging cloth which turns out to be a map.

Indy must really be starting to feel like an idiot for telling his students that X never marks the spot.

With Omar's map to the Atlantean dig site in my inventory, I steal Omar's camel. With the camel I explore the desert much like I'd previously done while on a balloon during my TEAM path play. This time there's an added obstacle in the form of people on camels that are labelled “TROUBLE” when I mouse-over them.

Tomorrow night on Border Security Algeria!

When I'm caught by one of these guys I'm just sent back to the city to start again. If I was unable to save during this section I'd quickly get frustrated and annoyed, but as I can save the game at will this isn't a serious problem.

Again, like when I explored the desert in a balloon, I stop off at nomad camps on the way, and they point me towards my destination using my map.

What did we just say about X marking the spot?

I get to the dig site, and once again find a broken truck. But this time the puzzle is different.

Last time it was a spark plug and distributor cap. I wonder if the FISTS path truck needs a spark plug and carburetor

I solve some of the same puzzles as I solved on the TEAM path. To summarise...

• I find the ship rib (yay!) rubber hose and clay jar in the dark 
• I siphon the gas from the truck to fill up the generator's tank 

But there are some differences:

• I got an orichalcum bead from inside the clay jar that wasn't there on the TEAM path. 
• The mural of Crete on the wall has been damaged and is now unreadable. 

• Pressing the circle at the top of the Ark of the Covenant painting opens a secret compartment. On the TEAM path, the compartment was empty. Here it contains a statue.

• There's a telegram on the truck seat about a trap set in Monte Carlo for Trottier. 

• I went back to my camel, who'd run away. 

Indiana Jones - missing the point since 1936

I hadn't found a battery for the truck, but I remember the cutscene with Kerner and Ubermann that Indy should have no knowledge of, so I know that the statue with an orichalcum bead makes a great power source.

And now we have a battery and our truck works.

So it's off to rescue Trottier and/or Sophia

MONTE CARLO II

In Monte Carlo, I speak to Trottier to try to warn him. He doesn't believe me, and he won't answer my other questions. I give him the telegram, and he still doesn't believe me, but while he's telling me off for wasting his time, a car double-parks and two guys in suits come towards us.

Are you implying that standing motionless while two Nazis kidnap you isn't helpful?

After considering letting the Nazis keep him, I get in a car. Not having time to worry that people in Monte Carlo leave their cars unlocked and with the keys in them for any stranger in a hat to steal, I follow the Nazis through the streets.

Unrelated fact: In 1980, Indiana Jones invented another video game and called it Rally-X

The Nazi car drives randomly through the streets, which go on for a few screens both horizontally and vertically. After chasing the Nazis for a while, I manage to cut them off by taking a shortcut and crashing into them. Trottier had been thrown out of the car, and the Nazis use the flimsiest of excuses to leave the guy they went to a lot of effort to kidnap.

Why are the Nazis acting like joyriding teenagers?

Trottier quickly gets up after I rouse him, and now that I've seriously injured him he's willing to help me. He offers me his Sunstone as well as some information.

Let me guess – it's in Crete?

Well, I'm honestly surprised!

Trottier is convinced that Thera is the Atlantean Lesser Colony. So I'm on the way as soon as he gives me the Sunstone.

I hate you, Trottier.

He tells me where he threw the Sunstone away. It was near the corner of Boulevard des Guerres des Etoiles and Rue Truffaut.

The next step is simple trial and error. I walk around Monte Carlo using the same top-down interface as the driving sequence. Stopping at a corner brings me to a closeup similar to the car crash screen above and I can read the street sign if it has one.

Most street names are recognisable to people who only speak English, being mostly famous people or food. I had to look up “des Guerres des Etoiles” though.

My strategy for this sequence was pretty simple. Keep checking corners vertically until one of the streets is the one I'm after, then do the same thing horizontally.

At this point I thought that perhaps I was wrong about the WITS path just removing puzzles, and perhaps adding simple trial-and-error sequences was its definition of using WITS.

After 9 minutes of trial-and-erroring I found the right street, and opened a drain to get the Sunstone.

I'm not sure who I'm showing off to here, but I've got a Sunstone!

And now, it's off to our next location:

Thera!

And we'll leave it there for today. Next time we'll visit Thera and perhaps somewhere else as well.

Session time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Total time WITS: 3 hours 20 minutes
Total time combined: 7 hours 50 minutes
IQ Points: 160 of 444
Nazis killed: 0 - but I almost killed a Frenchman!