Adventure Gamers - Forums

diego - 01 June 2013 12:06 PM

kate me - 31 May 2013 04:34 PM

About the map, I actually think the map is only for the European version, if I remember right.

Or perhaps the map is added with the patch? Now I can’t remember because I’ve already patched my game.

From Wikipedia:

A patch was released for the European version which added a map of the Academy to be displayed from the game control console. The map was purely for display; the player could not use it for quick navigation to a room as in Simon the Sorcerer.

I don’t know anything about the US version though, did it contain the map from the beginning?

TimovieMan - 04 June 2013 01:22 PM

Darn, I’ll have to tread carefully in this thread to avoid spoilers (since I do plan on playing this at a certain point in the future).

You an me both.

     

Part 2: “The Doll, the Wolfie and Mustavio (again!) “

 

Loading

I’ll shut up for a while and let you enjoy the view:

More mysterious pages. Moving on to the new regions of the castle

Another door

Just my luck. Let’s go somewhere else for now:

A library of a sort.

Zak insists on telling how he was transformed to wolf (it was a potion, actually). BTW, Lydia and Zak seemingly randomly involve into a chit-chat on occasions. Let’s check that table straight ahead:

The Minotaur Maze! Luckily, it’s no a maze puzzle, but a mini-game:

No dice figurines.

Further exploration reveals the Dinner Hall

(not that I’m expert in recognizing the Dinner halls, but I’ve consulted the map)

No one here, as well. BTW, don’t you think that Lydia is coming as a pretty strong character, keeping calm with the - you know, giant, EMPTY school and everything? I know I’d sh.. my pants, that’s for sure! She’s determined to explore further, hoping to find someone. Zak is showing his courage again:

We’re in the kitchen. There’s a lift here:

Out of order. (we might use it to transport ourselves)

Heading to the garden:

And a full size:

Nice fish.

Zak smells something.

Celeste’s doll! Lydia gave it to her as a bond of friendship. This triggers the first flashback scene:

So, there you go - Lydia’s best childhood friend Celeste is the daughter of the Academy director we met in the intro cutscene. Strangely enough, Lydia “awakes” in front of the gate in the castle:

The “visions” are also stored next to the inventory if you want to view them again. As for now, Lydia thinks she’ll find someone by opening this door.

It’s powered from the machine room. (is it a room with those strange pillars?)

A mage, the caretaker… seems easy enough beside the fact that I haven’t seen anyone in this god forsaken school apart from Must… MUSTAVIO! Ok, let’s find him, the last time we saw him he was taking the fountain road…

and into the forest

This part of the game reminds me of Conquests of the Longbow’s forest wandering

The game pretends we didn’t meet Mustavio in the prologue - he is a merchant, but claims that he doesn’t have a clue about why the school seems deserted. Also, he’s selling those figurines I could use for the mini-game, but Lydia is broke.

     

TimovieMan - 04 June 2013 01:22 PM

Darn, I’ll have to tread carefully in this thread to avoid spoilers

Iznogood - 05 June 2013 04:20 PM

You an me both.

Sefir - 05 June 2013 05:53 PM

Although I also look at it with caution to avoid spoilers…)

I hear you, but I also try in keeping spoilers at minimum as much as possible - like not spelling the puzzle solutions. Obviously, if you look far enough into it you’ll be spoiled as for the story, but I’ll try to write as I play so you can always have a clue how far you wanna look. Actually, I have no idea what I’m doing here (hey, I DO have some past experience, even though it broke in half ) but I’d say these first couple of pages are pretty innocent in revealing too much story-wise.

     

Oh no, not Mustavio again!!! HEEEELP!
Just kidding!
Hey diego, I think you’re closer to grow that majestic tree and near the three trials, right?

diego - 06 June 2013 01:28 PM

I’d say these first couple of pages are pretty innocent in revealing too much story-wise.

True. Knowing Keepsake, you’re not giving to much away.
It’s a bit like someone who doesn’t know if he/she wants to play a certain game and they look at reviews or screenshots to see if it’s worth it. And for those who played the game it’s good that we can remember some stuff we forgot, some funny moments also , and so on…

 

 

     

Take me down to my boat on the river… Well, too bad I don’t have time to swim now as we need to solve the mystery.

Back at the Academy…

You’re barking at the wrong tree, Zak. Let’s visit the Machine room:

Perhaps those strange pillars have something to do with opening the gate?

Yeah, I kinda noticed that.

Hmmm…

It took me a bit of thinking, but since I had no idea what I’m supposed to with the mechanism, I resorted to the first hint, and I’m glad I did that, because:

The game has a very fair hint system - it will tell you if you can’t solve a particular puzzle at that moment. Ok, let’s explore further:

I’ve reached some sort of a water-pump room/Aqueduct. And another puzzle awaits here:

A slider puzzle with a twist. I learned my lesson, so after trying it for few minutes I’ve asked for a hint and learned I still can’t solve it. (do I need some more gears?)

     

The most epic game I ever played. I started it in 2004 and finished it in april 2012!

Took a long break from it. Very difficult in the later parts of the game plus I ended up playing other games in between. But always knew I had to come back to it and complete it.
Great atmosphere, gentle music, and I liked the sound of the teleporters. Still have it installed.

     

As I feel a little stuckish, I’m using the neat hint system for the first time which tells you the desired location:

FACEPALM! Can’t believe I missed that door!

Along the way, we learn more about the Lydia & Celeste backstory.

and it’s opened

Zak acting like a chicken again.

and again

In case you don’t see it, that’s one scary looking owl in the left corner

Lydia is hearing something

That’s a relief!

Unfortunately, she managed to break the pendant Celeste gave to her.

After a few minutes…

We’ve reached the exterior pump

(nice water-pumping sound effects, BTW) Zak is being pessimistic about my puzzle-solving skills

I know what I’m supposed to do, but for now Zak has a point - the mechanism has a really strange logic, but I’m not giving up and won’t ask for a hint just yet.

     

Roman5 - 26 June 2013 05:13 PM

The most epic game I ever played. I started it in 2004 and finished it in april 2012!

But always knew I had to come back to it and complete it.

Yeah, that makes two us (although, I started it in 2006. so it’s not like I’m gonna break your record, UNLESS I prolong the game even further that this year

     

Part 3: “The Three Musketeers Guardians”

This wasn’t that hard puzzle, it’s just that you need to sit through every little animation of the weights, which can lead to frustration, especially if you don’t succeed at solving it within the first couple of minutes. It was still fun to solve it without a hint, and after a few minutes:

VOILA!

Party pooper! Ok, I think I know what I’m supposed to do next - that machine room was never going to resolve by itself. Let’s go.

Oh, a shortcut!

Ok, now I’m sure I’ve done everything in order to solve the puzzle. Heck, I’ve even drawn the mini-map of the machine system:

Well, this will be a piece of cake, right?

After several hours…

Almost there!

Later that day…

I can feel I’m getting closer!

The day after…

Ok, this is definitely the toughest puzzle so far, and one of the more complex I’ve met in Myst clones (I’m not that experienced with Myst-clones, mind you). The puzzle isn’t really that hard once you realize all the right patterns that lead to the solution, and even though I had the right general picture in my head, I’ve been victim of small traps on how the system works which took me longer to solve it.

Finally!

Ok, let’s not pushg it. I hope I can open that gate now.

Yeap. (even though, technically, I’ve already reached upper parts, but alright.)

     

I have just bought and installed Keepsake, partly because of your playthrough here.
I hope i will catch up with you in a few days.

     

Oh, jolly! I’ve only one word of advice to you: Be VERY patient!

     

diego - 16 July 2013 05:54 PM

Oh, jolly! I’ve only one word of advice to you: Be VERY patient!

It seems that in the 5 hours or so i have played now, i have already caught up with you, and perhaps even got a bit further

Okay i might have used the help button a bit more then you did, but so far only the 1st level help, and i might have gotten a few tips from reading this thread.

And that:

Also took me quite some time. What i did was that i took some screenshoots of all the dials, and then viewed them side by side and figured out the path i wanted to used, before i stared to mess with the dials. The only real problem was the last 3 where i had to align all 3 without any confirmation in between, giving me a total of 27 combinations, and surprise surprise the correct one was the very last one i tried, with 2 or 3 complete resets along the way That puzzle alone must have take me about 1½ hour.

Anyway so far i absolutely love the game!