Machinarium 8: Progress! Progress!

Ah ha! I truly am proud. I managed to get through the whole greenhouse section on my own! Yay me!

It isn't straightforward but if you just keep clicking on things it does make sense. Also you need to be a bit lucky, which did happen for me.

One warning: to get the sunflower oil, you have to pump the machine a LOT.

I even managed to find my way back to the main square with no trouble at all. Took a shortcut. Fun.

So now I'm in the arcade:

Which machine? That machine!

It's super easy to figure out how to use one of the machines. It turns out, however, to be a machine with a space invader game.

I am really functionally lousy at space invaders.

Fortunately this one looks super easy, so I might have a chance.

I will get back to it when I can! Still having fun with this challenging but fantastically inventive game!

Update: Good folks, there is a real chance I won't be able to finish this game. Numerous tries at space invaders and I can't win. I did just learn that I can use the arrows and spacebar on my keyboard to play it. I am getting slightly better, but I have my doubts that I'll be able to do this. Still, I will keep trying.

Next Entry.

Machinarium 7: Pots

Have been playing in little bits and spurts for several days. Have managed to make my way (finally) from the girlfriend's window up to the greenhouse.

My problem was that I did a buncha stuff with the girlfriend and then was away from the game for a day or two. I forgot what she found (she gets items too). When I came back I didn't look for any items she might have and couldn't find anything to do with her. There's a game at the end of the platform where our guy is standing and I won that, but it didn't do anything for me.

So something was wrong. I checked the WT, and it said to stand on the stove pot and open the cupboard.

The lift. At the end is a puzzle.

My shot of the girlfriend. The pot is behind her.

If you look at the screenshot I took there is a cupboard on the left. You're supposed to open it and take what's inside. If forgot I had done that. 

Once I figured out that I already had what I needed the area got much easier, especially because I'd already solved the puzzle on the lift! So, all of that done, I was able to up and find the greenhouse, which is guarded by a rather intimidating fan:

The fan has a quiz for you

Luckily for me I can be bad at the type of puzzle the fan wants, so I got in.

Now then. There is a lot to do here. First we have a puzzle to solve that's actually kind of a fun one. I have also planted my plant (kinda obvious that in a greenhouse you ought to do something with the plant you've been lugging around).

What to do? What to do?

But that is as far as I've managed to get. More searching ahead!

Next entry.

Machinarium 6: Breaking Out!

A HA! So I found the third red wrench. I tried half the morning to figure out the water pipes puzzle. 

I could not.

I looked it up.

This is NOT the solution

Actually the solution is more straightforward than the mess above leads you to believe, which means it's a good puzzle, actually.

Yet I'm glad I looked it up. When a puzzle gets to a certain point, solving it almost emphasizes the frustration.

BUT! That done, I was able to make sense of the information that was behind the lady. Indeed, it means something. It allowed me finally to retrieve the item I needed that would allow me to awaken the sleeping giant wrench in that scene. He did what I asked him to do, and that led me to . . .

Outside!

A whole new area of the game! Yippee! 

Now, of course, that item at the end of the platform has stuff to manipulate, although I really didn't do anything to it. But I was able to move the "lift" down anyway, and there I found:

How the characters communicate

My character's girlfriend! She has been kidnapped by the bullies who plague all the innocents in the game. Apparently the main goal of the game is to rescue her and live happily ever after.

Now then. I am outside her barred window. She is inside. I have no idea what to do next, but I will start to poke around.

Feels good to get out of the last area! Perhaps I'll get a more linear plot for just awhile. No doubt I'll have to figure out how to manipulate the lift I'm on.

But I have advanced! Hooray!

Next Entry.

Machinarium 5: Doing More

Have just been pecking away at the game, looking at a WT occasionally but mainly just poking around. I have made some progress, but am stumped about some major things.

I did manage to repair all of the musicians' instruments, which leads to my little robot guy dancing!

Get the rhythm!

That meant kinda following the WT on what I'm calling the "balcony," which includes a slider puzzle (um, not difficult. Don't forget you can take one piece out).

The reason is to catch the cat

I did manage to catch the cat, but had no idea what to do with it. That's where the WT came in.

Now I'm in the main square, and I have figured out how to manipulate the clock! I can do two things to it, both of which get reactions. I thought that the reaction of the lady would allow me time to enter another area, but either I didn't pick the correct area or I'm wrong about that. I did, however, grab a clue that is behind her when she gets up, so that must mean something. The other reaction gets a guy to show up in an upper window, but I have no idea what to do then either.

I'm also stumped with the screen that is directly under the main square. I have found two red wrenches, but I need three, according to my robot's graphic bubble thought. I have looked at the WT and know what I need to do to wake up the big wrench that's sleeping on the pipe, but I cannot reach an item that I need to accomplish that task.

What to do?

So, at least I'm enjoying the antics of my little robot character. He crosses his arms and waits if I don't click the screen quickly enough. He doesn't just walk down stairs; if there's a railing he slides down them!

Sliding down the rail!

I remain massively impressed with the art and sounds and music in this marvelously inventive game! I think I might be about halfway through it. My problem now is that the plot has ceased to be linear, and has become more open. So I'm having trouble figuring out what to do. When I make new discoveries, however, things ought to start falling into place. Ergo, I really want to stay away from that WT and just continue poking my way around!

Update:  Breakthrough! I found the third red wrench and now can tackle the pipes puzzle! I will solve it tomorrow! On my own! Yes I will! So: to bed!

Next Entry.

Machinarium 4: Playing a Game

Well this almost stopped me. OK. I managed to get the previous screens done and advanced to the next area. Here, we're deeper into the city and have discovered a little nightclub area. With musicians!

Musicians on the left, an oil bar on the right

The musicians have issues, and that is the next task. I have managed to solve the problem of the one in the middle, which involved playing an extremely difficult game of 5-in-a-row.

We enter the oil bar on the right, and there we find a patron who has his game set up.

Wanna play?

We need to play because we need five of the playing pieces to solve the problem of the middle musician. However, this game is extremely tough. Extremely tough.

Very, very difficult to win

I will admit that after several dozen tries (I was determined to do it myself!!) I looked up a possible solution. There is a YouTube video that shows you specifically how to do it, but actually your opponent does not always do what the video says he always does. If he starts toward the middle of the board, you're going to lose. So it seems to be a bit randomized. If he starts toward the top of the board then you can win. I finally followed the video, because I really thought I wasn't ever going to win the thing.

My philosophy regarding hints and walkthroughs is that if the game is completely stalled and your frustration level has reached the point that you're not having fun anymore: look it up. 

So I did. Now I'm playing my game again! 

Things are now moving between several screens. By keen observation I was able to solve another puzzle—actually a pretty easy one involving getting some oil for an elderly robot. So now my task is to wander around and observe some more. I've found clues. I just don't quite know what they're telling me yet. So! Tomorrow!

This is a challenging but very sweet game. I love my little robot character.

Next Entry.

Machinarium 3: Chasing the Red Dot

Well really it's the green dots we're after, but somehow—and I really don't know how—I did it!

There wasn't much to do except go back downstairs. I found the clue to the timer. Set it properly and the final cell door opens. In that we find a little mini-game:

Move all the green dots to the center green triangle

This thing is not as easy as it might look. Yeah, you ought to be able to figure it out because it does work logically, but I couldn't get it. I looked it up online and learned that it's randomized. Some configurations are easy and some tough. To reset it you jump out of the room and jump back in again.

I tried for a couple of days (in short bursts) to get this. Finally I just mindlessly started fiddling with it and voila! It snapped into place and I had it! 

Of course, you get an inventory item when you solve it. 

That took me outside again, and I haven't yet really figured out what I'm doing there. I did meet a lady:

Who are you, Madame?

I left it there. We'll see if there's any kind of relationship to develop. I am confused about one thing: earlier I had the option to climb up onto those two boxes and couldn't. In their original location there is a ladder, so if I could manage to do it, obviously, I'd climb the ladder. This time, however, I pushed them to this area. Dunno why or what might happen next.

But until I find out, I'm just glad to get by that puzzle!

Next Entry.

Machinarium 2: Jailbreak!

Aha! I have managed to figure some stuff out! But not without some serious difficulty at first.

The furnace room, an early puzzle, truly stumped me. Turns out you can mess up your game pretty easily (although I forgot that I could have gone back to a save game). You have to figure out how a conveyor belt works. It has three levers that control it, but you can't bulldog your way through it. Each of the levers has an up, a down, but also a halfway point. That gives far too many positions to just bulldog your way through, and you have to figure out what to do with it before you really know how you're going to use it. I do not think it's a fair puzzle.

(forgot to take a screenshot, so I grabbed this from a YouTube WT)

I did well by myself in that scene until I got to that part of the puzzle. Looked it up. OK, that told me the purpose, so I was able to figure out some stuff with that knowledge. But the second part of the puzzle is to tinker with some wires. There are four. You have to just pick the right one. I didn't. There is a way to fix it, but only if you pick the correct wires to begin with. So the fix didn't work either.

I went back to the start and replayed until I got there, and then followed the WT, which got me out of the jam. Shouldn't have had to do that. (Well, I should have reloaded my saved game).

I'm doing far better now! We wind up in a jail cell. There are only so many things you can do, so I was able to figure it out. Got through the whole scene on my own! Felt great!

The jail. You can do it!

Now I'm in the next scene. At first I was completely stumped, because there just didn't seem to be anything to interact with. I'm trying to get by a guard without him seeing me. I've figured out the first part—I have distracted him. Now I clearly have only a certain amount of time to do the next action. I can see where it is but nothing works. Ergo, there's something else I have to find. But at least I know what to do now.

Don't let the guard see you!

Update: Ah ha! A little more poking around and I figured it out! I first wound up in the jail cell corridor and set a timer there. I don't know what it controlled, but it must have worked because I have truly escaped to the outside!

Set the timer on the left

And I'm out!!

So this indeed is turning out to be a fun game! It's marvelously imaginative, and playable anywhere on earth because there is no language. The characters "think" in pictures.

So far, except for the unfair furnace puzzle, this is really great stuff! Average playing time for this game seems to vary from about 5 to 10 hours. So it isn't a 40-hour marathon like some of the classic adventures, but it certainly packs a lot of fun into the time! I'm so relieved that I seems to be able to figure it out now, although no doubt I will face some daunting puzzles again soon. So! Onward!

Next entry.

Machinarium 1: Robot Brains

Although I really need to do a WASD game to increase my skillz, I have a touch of tendonitis in my left wrist right now so I don't want to strain that. Better to stick with PnC for the time being.

This is a beautifully drawn little cartoony game that is tough, but actually can be solved if you just try each and every thing there is to do on the screen. It does make logical sense. OK. I like logic puzzles. However, this is going to take me quite a long time to complete, so I may start another PnC game as well.

Plus, I can't take screenshots on my Win 10 laptop—the shot just winds up as the underlying GOG screen. The screenshots do work on my Mac, however, so I'll play this game there. The Mac is my main computer and is in the same room as my treadmill, so I can take out my frustrations by walking. Good for me.

Super artwork here!

So far I have conquered the first puzzle without hints—putting together my little robot character. I figured out most of the crossing-the-bridge sequence, but did need a hint on that. I couldn't make anything of the next sequence and followed hints almost completely on that. 

Got help with this screen

But that's OK. I'm learning how the game works. Now I'm in another tough spot but I am working my way through it. I think it may take some time, but imagine the thrill when I beat it!

So, I'll see how I do. I think this is going to be quite difficult, but this game won all kinds of awards in 2009 when it came out, so I'm looking forward to some nifty stuff!

And I love robots.

Next entry.