[fov]

Originally Posted by Skyrain

The line is supposed to be attached to a submerged gasoline can, one of Owen's party game rewards. If it no longer is, it was probably cut out.

The gas can is found somewhere else, but I can't remember exactly where at the moment.

I'll be honest, a lot of the riddle cards didn't make sense to me, and I suspect I did the things I was supposed to be doing completely independently of reading those cards. I wonder if it's because things were changed at the last minute from how you intended them?

[crabapple]

Originally Posted by fov

The gas can is found somewhere else, but I can't remember exactly where at the moment.

Spoiler:

From one of those rotted houses that you get to after getting past the billy goat.

I'll be honest, a lot of the riddle cards didn't make sense to me, and I suspect I did the things I was supposed to be doing completely independently of reading those cards. I wonder if it's because things were changed at the last minute from how you intended them?

I didn't find those card clues to be helpful at all, though I think picking up one of them triggered the availability of an object.

Spoiler:

the dice box?

For example, I didn't understand this one until after I solved it

Spoiler:

"Powerful Friends: Want to shine light on the matter? Flowery speeches may win you a few friends."
What was that supposed to mean? That you're going to need a flashlight to "shine light on the matter?"
Then I found the flashlight battery in the flour.

[Scott Nixon]

I'll be honest, a lot of the riddle cards didn't make sense to me, and I suspect I did the things I was supposed to be doing completely independently of reading those cards. I wonder if it's because things were changed at the last minute from how you intended them?

Lots of things were changed at the last minute, but the cards remained faithful even if some of them changed. There were 6 cards in total at the end, and their respective meanings follow:

Spoiler:

Row Your Boat: Self-explanatory.
Talk is Cheap: A reference to the safe in the library.
Old Bones: A reference to the dice box.
Empty Promises: A reference to the gas can.
Taking the Air: Reference to the air pump.
Powerful Friends: The flashlight.

What is the significance of all the stopped clocks?


I have no idea. I had no chance to review the extraneous dialogue that was added to the game like the clock references, and those silly radiators. (Central heating? In England? On an isolated island?)

The clocks were stopped to prevent us needing them to accurately reflect what time it was. The radiators were there from day one.

[fov]

Originally Posted by Scott Nixon

Spoiler:

Row Your Boat: Self-explanatory.
Talk is Cheap: A reference to the safe in the library.
Old Bones: A reference to the dice box.
Empty Promises: A reference to the gas can.
Taking the Air: Reference to the air pump.
Powerful Friends: The flashlight.

Okay - I got Row Your Boat and Powerful Friends.

Taking the Air I realized probably applied after I'd already figured out how to get the pump.

Talk is Cheap, Old Bones, and Empty Promises didn't make sense to me. With the Old Bones one I kept going back to the dead people's rooms to see if I could do something with them.

It's definitely an interesting way to give hints. The Row Your Boat one helped me the most, I think, because I really thought about what it was saying. The others I did try to figure out when I was stuck in the game, but they were a little too vague to jumpstart my brain, apparently.

[Skyrain]

Originally Posted by fov

Okay - I got Row Your Boat and Powerful Friends.

Talk is Cheap, Old Bones, and Empty Promises didn't make sense to me. With the Old Bones one I kept going back to the dead people's rooms to see if I could do something with them.

"Bones" is a slang expression for dice.

Lee

[fov]

Originally Posted by Skyrain

"Bones" is a slang expression for dice.

I get that now, and "if you're game" makes sense now, too. But I was never able to actually do anything with the dice in the game. Can they be used somehow? (After the key is removed from the box, I mean.)

[rtrooney]

Originally Posted by fov

Can they be used somehow? (After the key is removed from the box, I mean.)

Nerp

[eriq]

So I've finally gotten around to installing the game and I wanted to comment on a few things after playing around the first chapter.

First, the graphics are just beautiful. The backgrounds are incredibly detailed and lush. I really feel like I'm in this creepy home on this stormy island. Very cool. The characters, while blocky, aren't that bad. There's something about how they're rendered that makes them all the more creepy. In particular, the scene where they are all read their reasons for being summoned to the island via the victrola. Very creeeeepy!

The sound is what makes this game so atmospheric. The doors, the weather effects, and the music; they all really make the game come alive.

The interface is also clean and very easy to use. I've read there are some hotspots that aren't "active" when you roll your mouse over them but since I haven't gotten that far yet, I can't say whether this has caused an issue.

I agree that they should have let you skip the dialogue and descriptions with the click of a mouse. It's a big annoying.

I am just beginning the mystery. But so far, I am really enjoying it. I tend to focus on the visual atmosphere of these types of games. There is definetely a feel of "The Colonel's Bequest" in the air! Let's see how the game continues to play...

[Stoofa]

Warning: Post contains spoilers.

I JUST finished this game. I really liked it, it completely absorbed all of my attention (a difficult task to be sure). I've never read "Ten Little Indians" so the plot was new to me. I suspected Wargrave up until he was found dead in the screening room, and then I was completely flummoxed. I was sure it was him!!

The graphics were rather old school, but the ocean and the creepy cut scene of the island impressed me. I loved the music and the voice acting was superb, with the exception of Narracott who sounds FAR too posh to be a boatman. Some of his "stock phrases" great amused me. When a door was locked he was almost frantic about it, and he was downright pissy if I tried to pick up an item he didn't think he needed. He sounded like Inspector Lynley in a snit, "Not now Havers!"

I chuckled at the several times a character was speaking to Narracott yet was facing in the other direction, or both the character and Narracott would be facing away from each other. What in the...?

I'm assuming the homing device on the buoy was what Marston picked up on the way to the island. When did he get a chance to swim out and plant it? We were told that it was too dangerous to swim around the island (although Narracott did make it back to the island from the buoy) and wouldn't someone have noticed if Marston had disappeared for a time and arrived back soaking wet?

What was the significance of the first film shown in the screening room? (With the exploding dummy ship.)

What was the sliding panel for in the room behind the safe?

Did Wargrave make a wig for himself or did Gabrielle make it? If Wargrave made the wig, why?? Did he suspect "Miss Brent"?

How exactly could Gabrielle Steele overpower Wargrave and smash the front of his head in repeatedly with a book? I also doubt she'd be strong enough to drag him to the screening room and onto a seat, and that no one would notice her dragging Wargrave into the screening room.

[Asterothe]

Hello I have just joined this forum.
Adventure has been my fave genre since forever.
I'm also an Agatha Christie fan. On my teenage years
I almost read all of her books. My favebook from her was
Ten little Indians. So last week I saw the game on
a shelf and I coulndnt belive my eyes. After completing
it I 'm happy about it but there's something I have to tell.
Really what diffrenece did we make during the game,
excluding last two chapters? All the puzzles we have
solved serve to nothing. It's like reading a book or reading
a noval still. Since the material is amazing it never gets
dull but Patrick has no effect.


Also on the crime scenes eveybody seems so calm. No
exlamations, horrification. Still I loved the game.

[pedx1ng]

I have just finished this game myself. The impression it left me with was very positive; I enjoyed myself thoroughly. That is not to say I didn't have some criticisms.

The graphics and animations were not as off-putting to me as they were to some; I found them adequate and even a little charming.

The voice acting was excellent. I say, I do have a soft spot for the kind of dialogue exemplified in the story. Justice Wargrave quickly became my favourite character, partly due to the voice actor, and partly due to the character's wit. In reading the novel for the first time after completing the game (brilliant idea to include it with the game - kudos!), he was my favorite character there as well.

My complaints are that it was a little easy and a bit short. I should say it was easy except for a couple of puzzles which seemed illogical. Also, for a while I was under the impression that anything that could be manipulated would show to be a hotspot even if you didn't have anything in your hands. But then I realized if you had an item equipped, certain hotspots opened up.

My biggest criticism is that the puzzles I did do didn't seem connected to the story, with several purposeless tasks.

Some examples:

Spoiler:

I got the radio in the drawing room working. It played some music and that is all.

I extracted honey into a glass. I was able to pass it to the doctor, who did not even thank me for it. But the exercise was pointless as it didn't serve to advance anything.

I was able to take fingerprints and compare them to each other. For example, I was able to match the fingerprint on Marston's glass with his attache case. I could also take finger prints from the others, but to what end?

But nevertheless, I enjoyed the game and I hope the developers are given another chance. If they are, I would argue for more puzzles, logical and some challenging, that served a purpose within the story.

[fov]

Welcome to the forum, Pedx1ng and Asterothe.

Also, for a while I was under the impression that anything that could be manipulated would show to be a hotspot even if you didn't have anything in your hands. But then I realized if you had an item equipped, certain hotspots opened up.

I had this problem too. In fact, I missed a lot of fingerprints because I was putting my cursor over things and thinking they weren't useful because no icon showed up. I didn't think to put the baster containing the flour over those same spots.

[Skyrain]

A brief comment to several people who said there were puzzles that had no affect on the game. The honey for the doctor, the apple juice for Emily, even apparently the parlor radio for Vera, were all there so you could get on the good side of a particular character, and get more information out of them, particularly to fill in certain details about various characters' secrets.

My original idea, the suspicion meter, suffered when the game development was truncated, basically reduced to two states where the NPCs provide some information, or more revealing information. The flip side, where the player could get into trouble for getting caught searching rooms, or being caught in them in the middle of the night, causing certain characters to refuse to reveal anything at all, was dropped. Getting the extra information, useful to those attempting to solve the mystery as well as the puzzles, was hard for players to pick up on. Also, while the radio was apparently supposed to get Vera to open up, I couldn't get it to work when I played. During the only opportunity, the scene in the parlor where Wargrave says he suspects Vera, there was no option to ask Vera anything about the past.

If there are other puzzles that didn't seem to matter, please ask. Oh... the conclusion to the part of the story about German spies and U-Boats was to happen in the final cut scenes in Sticklehaven (along with a nod to a certain Belgian detective), and depended on what the player chose to do with the beacon. This was lost as well.

Lee

[Skyrain]

Originally Posted by Stoofa

Warning: Post contains spoilers.

I'm assuming the homing device on the buoy was what Marston picked up on the way to the island. When did he get a chance to swim out and plant it? We were told that it was too dangerous to swim around the island (although Narracott did make it back to the island from the buoy) and wouldn't someone have noticed if Marston had disappeared for a time and arrived back soaking wet?

Narracott encounters Marston on the path just after the beginning of gameplay. Marston has planted the beacon by then, and is holding the paper and twine the beacon was wrapped in. Narracott comments on it, and he tries to cover by saying it's just some trash he picked up. Not something we could do in graphics, but his being wet would be covered by the fact that he had been walking in the rain. In the best of all possible worlds Narracott would have looked soaking wet too. I'm pretty sure in the original design Narracott has some comment about the fact that the thorns blocking the way to the beach had actually been placed there to hide the path. He didn't discover this until after the goats had dined.

What was the significance of the first film shown in the screening room? (With the exploding dummy ship.)

That was based on a real Italian test of a miniature submarine. It was left behind by the Admiralty when their boffins (always liked that word!) were on the island attempting to build a mini-sub of their own.

What was the sliding panel for in the room behind the safe?

I only played that part of the game once, but does the position of the panel move to the other side of the safe deposit boxes when the panel is opened? I'm probably imagining things. Anyway the panel, opened by playing with the boxes led to the grotto where the Admiralty carried out their tests. I think you must have made it there since the rubber raft was the only way to get to that part of the ruined fishing village where a necessary item could be found. Once the root cellar door is unlocked of course, there is a more direct route back.

Did Wargrave make a wig for himself or did Gabrielle make it? If Wargrave made the wig, why?? Did he suspect "Miss Brent"?

Yes, the wig (such as it was--necessarily crude) was made by Wargrave to make it look like Owen had killed him (Chancery reference in the rhyme), and to cover the spurious bullet wound. He stole the yarn to make it from Miss Brent's sewing kit. She's understandably annoyed because she doesn't know who stole it, and complains about the loss to Narracott.

How exactly could Gabrielle Steele overpower Wargrave and smash the front of his head in repeatedly with a book? I also doubt she'd be strong enough to drag him to the screening room and onto a seat, and that no one would notice her dragging Wargrave into the screening room.

1) Wasn't it the backof his head that was smashed in?

2) My idea was she followed him to the screening room (where several clues pointing at Gabrielle were supposed to be found, including a link to the raven earring), knocked him out, and proceeded to clout him a few more times for good measure. He had upset her carefully conceived plan by first dying too early, and then snooping about at awkward moments. She was forced to kill him then and didn't like it.

Lee

[Asterothe]

Thank you for the welcome fov

Thanks for the info Lee but why didn't they implemet any
of these? To have it out before Christmas? It's sad to see
so much potential lost.

[hengst2404]

Wow, I cam her certain that there would be many more negative posts than there are. Having played adventure games from as far back as Zork and police Quest, to this year'ws Still life and Fahrenheit, my feelings were not as positive.

For staters, the as many have said, the graphics were just plain average. I could use plenty of other adjectives to describe them, but ultimately I think average says enough.

For me, the sound category is where to game truly lost me. The music for me simply wasn't very strong. I never felt moved or immersed by the music, nor did I enjoy much of the very poor voice acting.

Overall, especially considering the wonderul books this game was drawn from, I just never fully enjoyed myself. I have certainly played much worse adventure games in my time, but after playing and enjoying games like Fahrenheit and Still life this year, i just expcetd a whole lot more. At least when I played the Colonel's Bequest and The dagger of Amon ra, I actually felt like I was an active participant in the story of the game. This game made me feel as though i was on rails never really doing much to alter the course of the events in the game.

[LeisureSuitedLooney]

Not finished yet, but have really enjoyed this game so far. Also very cool that Lee visits the forum, and enlightening as well. More game makers should have that much interest in what the players think! I do, however, have a few questions:

SPOILER-ish










-Why wasn't the player allowed to search luggage? Seems like finding clues about the guests would have made their suitcases a pretty logical place to start.

-Was the Judge's book, found on one of the bookshelves, ever an interactive object in the planning stages? I REALLY wanted to read it, lol.

-Are there glitches where, if you do something in the wrong order, an object might not be found where it should be? I had to restart from the beginning at one point, and 1 or 2 objects I had the first time seem to not be there the second go-round.

Other than those questions though, I loved it. I even made some of the Chapter-transition screens into bitmaps to put on my desktop. Beautiful scenery. Wish there was an official screensaver for the game. I'm a sucker for downloadable goodies. Can't wait to see what the developers do next, with a Christie story. (*crosses fingers* The ABC Murders *crosses fingers*)

[Asterothe]

Originally Posted by hengst2404

This game made me feel as though i was on rails never really doing much to alter the course of the events in the game.

This is exactly how I felt. I wrote it above. It was like an
not-so-interactive book. We are not doing any difference
in the course of the game.

[Skyrain]

-Why wasn't the player allowed to search luggage? Seems like finding clues about the guests would have made their suitcases a pretty logical place to start.

Searchable luggage was in the original design. Several objects discovered in plain view in the various bedrooms were to be inside various bags. Searching was meant to be a two step process: a cursory search might reveal one item. A more thorough search would reveal another.

-Was the Judge's book, found on one of the bookshelves, ever an interactive object in the planning stages? I REALLY wanted to read it, lol.

Yes, the book was planned to be an interactive object with passages that could be read (a clue in one of them), and with another clue, a torn page, that was to show up later in the screening room. When the player removed the book it would trigger a brief cut scene of Narracott discovering that Blore is shadowing him. This is the book that Wargrave is bludgeoned to death with later on.

-Are there glitches where, if you do something in the wrong order, an object might not be found where it should be? I had to restart from the beginning at one point, and 1 or 2 objects I had the first time seem to not be there the second go-round.

To my knowledge there are no deadends in the game.

Lee

[LeisureSuitedLooney]

Originally Posted by Skyrain

Searchable luggage was in the original design. Several objects discovered in plain view in the various bedrooms were to be inside various bags. Searching was meant to be a two step process: a cursory search might reveal one item. A more thorough search would reveal another.



Yes, the book was planned to be an interactive object with passages that could be read (a clue in one of them), and with another clue, a torn page, that was to show up later in the screening room. When the player removed the book it would trigger a brief cut scene of Narracott discovering that Blore is shadowing him. This is the book that Wargrave is bludgeoned to death with later on.



To my knowledge there are no deadends in the game.

Lee

That's awesome....I knew they had to be, at some point! They just FELT like interactive objects. A sure sign that I've been playing adventure games waaay too long, lol. As for the problem I had not finding an object, I deleted my savegames and completely restarted from scratch. Maybe I just did something in the wrong order. Worse comes to worse, I could just break down and consult a walkthrough. But I want to exhaust every possibility first.