The Longest Journey 6: Getting Past the Borked Part

Oh dear. I though I wasn't going to be able to proceed. I hit a nasty glitch that turns out to be extremely common in this old game.

At one point you need to try to enter the city police station. But when you enter, the cutscene turns out to be corrupted somehow and the game crashes completely. I ran in. Crash. I walked in. Crash. I tried over and over again hoping to get lucky. Crash crash crash crash crash.

Corrupted cutscene

So I looked on the GOG community discussion board, and found out that lots and lots of people have encountered this problem. Sadly, none of the solutions there worked, but one commenter said that there was a workaround.

So I went to the walkthrough and found out how you're supposed to get into the police station anyway. The only reason you need to enter where the game crashes is to talk to the cop there to find out that only prisoners and garbage can get in. Then you go out into the street again, and:

I'm going to reveal the solution. I don't think this is a spoiler, because it looks like this is such a common problem that people need to know it.

The real way in

1. Go back to the street, to the screen where you enter from the subway. Touch the roadblock. April will read a number on it. Now look at the street sign and touch it. April will read a number on that.

2. Put your hand on the roadblock again. April will change the number on it, and the roadblock will move.

3. Climb into the dumpster that was behind the roadblock's original position. April automatically will be transported into the police station.

The only reason to go into the front door of the station, where the game crashes, is to find out that garbage can get into the station. Therefore, the puzzle becomes getting the garbage to be picked up by the automated system to get a ride into the station.

Whew!

It's a shame, though. The YouTube walkthrough I'm using for these screenshots has the whole scene with the cop in the police station. It's quite funny, but those of us with corrupted files can't see it.

Meanwhile, before that, I had another extremely long conversation with Cortez.

AND! I finally read April's diary. You access it not in the inventory screen, but on the main menu page (where it says "April's Diary." Ahem.)  Turns out to be a really useful item. Not only does it give some nice backstory for April, but when the Control Icon briefly flashes throughout the game, that means that her diary has been updated. It's a really handy way to keep track of what you're trying to do in the game and why. Really handy.

So this is serious progress! I really thought I was done when I kept getting that crash.

Also, I'm going to be fairly busy in the coming weeks. If I have time over the weekend I'm going to try to get through as much of the game as possible, but things that are out of my control could slow me down considerably. Just a heads-up about that! (I did get though the door to the police locker room at least. I will pick it up from there when I can.)

Next Entry.

The Longest Journey 5: History Lesson

So my first stop in this new place, which turns out to be a parallel Earth, leads to yet more extremely long dialogue.

Rather cleverly, the game gets April to "understand" the language in the place through a series of unintelligible, but with increasing English words, speeches. Once she learns that she's in a place called "Arcadia," she ventures out into the local city. 

It isn't medieval, but there are medieval elements. Our first stop is the "stalls" in the marketplace. There we find a dancer, a map seller, and a guy running the three-coin monty scam. He has a talking bird. I'm sure we're going to wind up with that bird somehow.

The Marketplace

I want that bird!

From there we go to the docks, where we find an extremely loquacious old sailor who, coincidentally, has lost his talking bird to the conman, and a ship's captain who is going to give us some difficulty.

Shut up already!

This guy needs to change religions.

I must say that so far the puzzles here are much easier than in the previous setting. There are clues, and that's most appreciated. But first the long long dialogue kicks in again. The priest tells April the whole history of the two worlds. And talks and talks and talks.

Fortunately, for those who zone out during all this, the game has a section in the index where you can re-read all of the dialogue. It's a handy feature, and I'm using it.

Well! So I have made my way to the Earth guy who knows Cortez, and it turns out that he last saw Cortez in 1934. That's a nice relevation! So, more mystery!

Brian, from Earth

I stopped there. Now that I've (apparently) earned my way into this area by getting through that too-often ridiculous puzzle outside the theater, I'm looking forward to finding out what's next!

Next Entry.

The Longest Journey 4: Puzzling

Well, I remember now why people abandoned adventure games (still my favorite genre). Sometimes the puzzles are just ridiculous.

OK. Yeah. In an inventory game, generally if you click on everything and try all items with everything, eventually you will find your way through the puzzle. And I really like puzzles that are many-layered. You have to do one thing that leads you to another thing that finally gets you where you need to go.

But sometimes they're just unfair. Here's a subtle hint: if April is in her room, look out the window. Um, no. Don't just look out the window. You have to open the window first.

Now, having done that you will see:

Rubber Ducky

And with that you have a real chance of figuring out at least one thing to do with this scene. If you remember something that you might have missed earlier. And when you think you're done, keep trying things on this screen, because you're not done.

And you also have to solve this puzzle:

You can do it!

Actually I didn't find this one all that difficult, although I had to keep fiddling with it. But you have to figure out how to start.

And then, you have to put together some things you've collected for what appears to be no reason. Just try everything in your inventory on everything else in your inventory. And then figure out where to use it.

I did remember one part of it from when I played this game about 15 years ago. I was so proud of myself that I actually was able to dredge the silly solution up from my memory.

How do you get rid of the detective? I remembered!

This is just part of the getting-into-the-theater puzzle so that you can meet Cortez and get sent off into . . . somewhere.

I'm in!

For a tiny hint, April observed this interesting occurrence the night before: 

A dancing creature!

And this is why I love adventures! It's the imagination. I actually like puzzles, although the complicated get-into-the-theater puzzle really does go too far.

OK, I confess that I went to a walkthrough to get through most of that theater puzzle--especially the ducky and what you eventually do with it. I managed to do pretty well with the alleyway part of the puzzle on my own.

Hunt around and try stuff.

And once we get into the place where Cortez sends us, things do get imaginative:

Traveling through what?

Traveling to where?

Yeppers! So now I'm ready to really get into the journey mentioned in the title. And I do hope it is long, because this really is an outstanding game.

But the puzzles, even though I like puzzles, can be somewhat ridiculous. When logic no longer applies or your progress depends on not missing some tiny thing from a day earlier, they go too far.

The make up for it with imagination though. So I'm ready now for more of that!

Next Entry.

The Longest Journey 3: Talk, Talk, Talk

Still in the very early stages of the game because April keeps talking, and talking, and talking to people. She's talked to Emma in the café, to Charles in the café, and to Stanley in the café, who doesn't like to pay his employees.

I have found a small glitch that I'll have to be careful about. At least twice now I've hovered my cursor over people and items and the icon for choices (looking, talking, or taking) did not come up. When I first got in the café there was Charles, and I did my best to try to talk to him, but could not get the cursor.

Carlos, who has a lot to say

Also, there is a bowl of bread on a table, and I tried to see if I could get a cursor for taking a piece, but nothing. Later when I was going through the video walkthrough, April talked to Charles right away and had no trouble taking a piece of bread.

Emma, who has even more to say. And there's the bread.

I doubt that this is a problem in just my copy. It's an old game. I'm betting that the original players had the same problem. Anyway, it's a glitch, and I'll have to stay aware of it.

I also got into the subway and figured out how to buy a ticket (or rather, a week of access). 

The subway. Don't jump the turnstile.

The game takes place in what appears to be the 22nd century. You get onto the subway with your genetics. If you jump over the bar you get five years in jail

I still haven't done a basic adventuring task. April has a diary in her inventory, and I haven't read it yet. I really do need to go through that, because you never know when you're going to find clues. So I've got to take the time to do that tomorrow.

The future-time setting really doesn't look all that much different from the 1990s, but so far there have been some upgrades, especially this view of the city.

Flying cars?

So tomorrow it's diary time, and we'll see what awaits us at the end of the subway.

Next Entry.

The Longest Journey 2: Memories

Still just in the very early stages of the game. I'm just wandering around and having conversations. I have found what's pretty clearly going to be a mechanical puzzle, but I have no idea why I would need to solve it yet, so I bypassed it for the moment.

What will I do with this, and why?

I've have a conversation with somebody named Cortez. April doesn't seem to like him much, but he says she has a destiny that she cannot avoid. April didn't like that. After that I wandered into some areas that I distinctly remember from my original playthrough years ago.

It's all coming back to me, but fortunately, only the locations. I can't remember the story much at all. So, despite the memories, this is like a new game to me! Yay!

Aha! I've been here before!

I immediately recognized the above area. I went to all the exits and saw the subway, the playground, the café and eventually found my way to the art school where April actually did some work.

Another long conversation

She also had another long conversation with her friend who showed up, and again she talked about her nightmares involving talking female dragons. 

I've also got a message that Carlos wants to talk to me, but I have to find the place where he's waiting for me. Will do that tomorrow if I can.

The conversations tend to be pretty long so far in the game, but the voice acting is top notch, so that's a big help.

At last I found my way to the café, where I saved for the day.

Looks like a good place for more conversations

Again, I'm using aYouTube walkthrough for these screenshots. I'm playing first and then letting the videos run without audio, so I'm not getting any nasty spoilers so far. I'm hoping this will work!

Tomorrow!

Next Entry.

The Longest Journey 1: One of the Best Adventures Ever

After having so much fun with Avernum 3, I almost started it again on "hard," but I was poking around in my games folder and remembered this fantastic game from 1997. This is a truly iconic game that set standards for a long time. I remember that they insisted they would never port it to Macintosh, but I was able to play it many years ago on my Mac with a virtual machine of Win 97. Worked perfectly.

Got this copy on GOG, which is pretty good about keeping things up to date and working in the latest OSs (better than Steam, I think). This works fine, although there is an annoying problem that I had hoped they would have fixed by now. Nevertheless, I found the solution so it's going to be fine. 

UPDATE: GOG has at last updated the game and has solved the empty dialogue box problem described just below. Now you get the Yes and No options just as though there were never any problem. Download the game from GOG and enjoy!

I noticed when I fired this game up about a year ago that when you tried to quit, all you got was a white rectangle in the middle of the screen. If you hit "escape" you can briefly see that it's a dialogue box with "yes" and "no." But the image fades almost instantly, so you just have to get lucky with your cursor to quit. 

However, I checked the GOG discussion board and learned that although there is a fix for it, all you really have to do is hit "y" or "n" and the game will respond. And it does! So I'm OK. Some people had this same problem with saving, but my copy is working fine that way.

Well! That problem solved, I decided to dive into the game. I played it, as I said, many years ago, and I remember that I agreed with the hype: it really is one of the best adventures ever. Also, I finally have a copy of the sequel, so let's go!

We open with a strange dream that our protagonist, April, has:

What world is this?

My apologies for the black borders around the screenshots. Actually there is one other problem with the game. I can't take screenshots with the PC. So I've gone to a YouTube walkthrough to grab some shots for this blog. Extra work, but at least I can get what I want and not just forget to grab a shot during the game.

We get a bunch of mystical transformation shots:

Is someone controlling April?

And then finally April wakes up in her room. As a good gamer I search the room and take whatever I can, then head downstairs for an extremely lengthy conversation with the boarding house owner.

This lady loves to talk

And no, I didn't forget to grab the matches on the table. You always need matches in an adventure game. I also checked the bulletin board and found out how to manipulate things to ask about items. Got a nice new item that way.

So, I think I'm ready to head out into the world! And will do so tomorrow!

Next Entry.

Avernum 3-16: Finished!

So I finally finished! Super fun game. This might just be the best Avernum yet! And as I recall, I didn't like the original version of this game as much as the others. But this had lots of variety and a bunch of stuff added so that it was constantly interesting (except for the Golem factory, which actually is optional just because it's so difficult).

At the endgame we get to go back to the caves, and that's absolutely fitting for Avernum. First, we have to get through the barrier to it:

The Great Walls

After fighting our way through this Vahnatai enclosure, we emerge, TA DA! into the caves! Wheee!

Battle won, here's the entrance

At last! Home! (sort of)

And we battle our way through this area, learning just a bit from an unsuspected ally, until we reach the final dome of the great Vahnatai mage, Rentar-Ihrno. 

See the blue dome at the end

The battles here really aren't all that tough, but we do get to go exploring and pick up lots more loot. I do not know why I bother to pick up loot when I know I'm at the endgame. There is no place to sell it or spend the cash. Just habit. It's fun. (It's greed.)

But finally we find stairways that get us into the basement. There, we have to focus four beams onto the crystal. Fortunately, there are no movable mirrors involved, only switches.

All done!

That done, it's back upstairs for the final battle. Frankly, I didn't find even the final battle all that difficult. The main goal is just to get one character through to the control panel.

Not really that tough to break through

Once we reach the control panel, we just have to decide which buttons to push. It's not immediately apparent when we've got it right, but eventually, it works.

Hint: one's wrong. That gives solvable options.

I finally got it. Did not look it up. And when you've got it, you just sit back and watch the final spectacular sequence:

Destruction!

Rewards!

But here's a very nice touch. Jeff Vogel, at the end of the game, thanks us for playing! That's sweet and appreciated.

And it's a nice ending too!

Don't forget to look at your medals! I finally got the "home" medal. I had assumed that it was for buying Hawke's Manse during the game, but nope, it's for finding a new home for Avernites. And then, we also get a nice hero medal.

Almost filled in!

I got the medal for completing the game on the "normal" setting. If I want the other two, I would have to do it on "hard" and then, apparently, on "torment." 

I know I can't win on torment. However, I did get through an Avadon game on hard. 

I think I just might try it!

Thanks for following my adventures with Avernum 3!

Avernum 3-15: Back to the Endgame!

Spent the day cleaning up a buncha stuff. I found the elusive fifth stone circle. Turned out to be the closest one to the beginning. Sheesh.

So I got all of the Level 3 spells except the ones that I probably will find very soon. I had a bunch of stuff crafted and sold it. Found a few more blessing machines for my good equipment. Sold a bunch of stuff. Bought skills for lots of coins. Had a bunch of potions made. I've kept a decent amount of coins in case I find another spells merchant (I rather doubt that, but you never know).

I even found the one town I hadn't explored yet:

A new place!

It was on an island, and even had the funniest mage in the game! (Wish I'd taken a shot of the guy, but he's just a little character in a blue robe, anyway.)

Also found just a few areas I hadn't explored in some dungeons. Found some nice items too!

I also found the last box of soldier's possessions. I had simply missed the box, even though I had looked for it at least three times previously.

But I was unable to clear up a quest from a character who wanted to meet someone who had met the Empress. I have met the Empress. I went back to her twice and did all the dialogue options and it never cleared the quest.

I left the fine meal quest unfinished. The location was fairly far away from where I was, and they took my sugar from me last time. That's all they get. I also deliberately did not destroy the Temple of Divine Lucre. They're greedy but nice to me (well, I joined to get their spells). I'm not gonna slaughter 'em. Morals.

So now I'm back at the Great Walls, which is the beginning of the endgame. I'm fairly satisfied that I did all I could do, or wanted to do. 

Tomorrow: the endgame.

Next Entry.

Avernum 3-14: To the Endgame and Return

So yesterday I fought my way right up to the endgame. But that will wait. I realized that I had missed most of the Keep of Tinraya. Shoot, it's supposed to be a big town! I wanted to see it.

So I went back. 

Glad I did. There are a few loose ends that I certainly don't need to do, but hey, why not just go back and do 'em? I had missed the fifth stone circle that would give me the Level 3 spell for Return Life. It's the only Level 3 priest spell that I missed. Still missing several Level 3 mage spells.

Also there were a couple of quests I didn't get done. I'm gonna go back and do 'em! Thanks to the great "Randomizer" on the Spiderweb Forum, I know basically what to do.

First, however, I destroyed the plague of the Alien Beasts. When I first entered Tinraya I saw a sign that the sewers were in the southeast corner. That sign would not have been there if the sewers were not important. So I went there and climbed down, and there I found the fight against the beasts, but especially against the Vahnatai.

I plowed through the sewers until I was captured. One character (Aldous, of course) gets to go wandering. He finds a control panel and we know just enough Vahnatai lore that we can figure it out.

I was a bit worried that I wouldn't have enough Vahnatai lore, because at the top of the Golem Factory I found a big green crystal. That wasn't the first one of those I had found, and normally I just put them in the junk bag and sold them. But then I noticed that the thing gave you Vahnatai lore! Shoot! How many did I sell? (Probably no more than one or two, actually.)

But I had enough (well, so far; I'm not at the actual endgame yet). I escaped and had a fairly easy fight with Vahnatai, then made it to another of their area with beams and mirrors. I really don't like having to deal with beams and mirrors, but at least these are blue beams so they don't actually kill you unless you get careless. Just go into fight mode and only get one of your party zapped.

Here's what I finally worked out. This probably is a stupid solution, but it's what I came up with. Used every single damned mirror, too.

Get the power away from the central crystal

I hadn't looked ahead. There was a huge area with mirrors all over, but no beams. I'm pretty sure I turned off all those beams when I diverted them from the crystal. From there it was pretty much of a cinch. I just fought my way down this long valley, bypassed this circle (but next time I'll go in), and found the "Great Walls."

What dangers might manifest inside the circle?

And at that point I realized I'd missed most of Tinraya! So I went back. Had to slaughter the remaining alien beasts in the city, of course, but after that it was just exploring. And that was fun!

We emerge from the Vahnatai area.

As soon as you enter from the Vahnatai area you're swarmed by beasts, but they go down pretty quickly with the warped blade (it was more useful than the upper-level battle disciplines, and I just switch back to the discipline blade when I need it) and with ranged spells. 

Then I just had fun exploring. There are items in the shops and rooms just like any other city

Getting Goodies!

First, of course, I checked the job board, which had some of Jeff's patented humor:

Embiggen to read

And just a little more exploring:

It was fun!

So I did that, then used my crystal to go back to Upper Avernum. I got (finally) that Level 3 mage spell from the Portal Fortress, and am about to go out into the world again to clear up those few things I still want to do. 

I want to sell stuff and use the cash to buy training, which usually is darned expensive. I want to find a few more Level 3 spells. I want to clear up only a few quests that are still open (except destroying the Divine Lucre encampment. I'm choosing to be moral and not do that one). And I want to have elixirs and magical equipment made, because I've been collecting the ingredients for them for the whole game.

So I'll do those things, and then return to the endgame! Whew!

Next Entry.