[Agustin]

Originally Posted by Fien

Let's see some hands: Who managed to finish Maupiti Island?
Not even its staunchest fan, Agustin.

Touché

However it provided MONTHS of fun before I surrendered to a walkthrough.

BTW it can be acquired on DotEmu for three bucks: http://www.dotemu.com/en/download-ga...maupiti-island

[Ascovel]

Originally Posted by Agustin

Touché

However it provided MONTHS of fun before I surrendered to a walkthrough.

Gasp! You never told me that! I thought the game could be figured out on its own.

[Agustin]

Originally Posted by Ascovel

Gasp! You never told me that! I thought the game could be figured out on its own.

I guess it's possible provided:

a. You have the wit of Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot and Columbo combined.

b. You are a hermit without responsibilities and commitments to attend in your life.

c. You are extremely lucky.

[gray pierce]

The Last Express is a must play and it ran very smoothly on my XP laptop. Didn't even need scumm or dosbox.

Also I highly recommend Overclocked. It's not exactly a whodunnit but more a psychological thriller in the veign of Shutter Island. However the level of involvement in the game and with the main character is unmathced by any game I've played. It's a little light on the gameplay side but if you love a good story with real flesh and blood characters you have to try it out.

[7h30n]

There. I got the Maupiti Island from dotemu. Now all I need is buy a notebook just for Maupiti Island where I can track my notes. I intend to solve this mystery without walkthrough!

[Agustin]

Originally Posted by 7h30n

I intend to solve this mystery without walkthrough!

You are a brave, brave man.

[Kurufinwe]

If you manage to obtain and decode the secret notes all by yourself, you'll have my eternal admiration (and I'm not even talking about finishing the game!).

[7h30n]

Perhaps I'll post my gameplay here.

Either way, I need to arm myself with a real notebook for this game. Time to write it all down like a true detective. Maybe I make my first walkthrough of the game if I manage to ever solve it. I guess this will occupy me for (a) year(s)

[CoyoteAG]

Just curious for those who have played Maupiti Island -- what makes the game so hard?

[rottford]

Surprised no one mentioned Sinking Island. Definitely a whodunit adventure. And quite an attractive one, especially if you love Art Deco.

[shezcrafti]

Nobody has mentioned Heavy Rain yet?

[rtrooney]

I'll throw my hat into the ring with Still Life's predecessor, Post Mortem.

[Kurufinwe]

Originally Posted by CoyoteAG

Just curious for those who have played Maupiti Island -- what makes the game so hard?

Agustin has linked to his review, which explains pretty well how the game works.

Basically, it tends to be realistic to a fault. Time passes independently of what you're doing, and people move, events happen and locations become accessible or not depending on the time, regardless of whether you're here or not — and you only have two days to crack the case. There's tons of stuff to explore, each location letting you search drawers, cupboards, under the furniture, etc. for items which you can examine, touch or take (95% of which are irrelevant to the investigation). Likewise, the conversations have dozens and dozens of topics. And the story gets really complicated: it may start off just as the mystery of the missing hooker, but it eventually introduces drug trafficking, coded messages, spies, murders and old pirate legends — and it takes a while to figure out how these things fit together. Add to that that you have to take into account the everyone's mood: if you ask too many questions, or are caught searching people's rooms, the characters will refuse to speak to you, or you might get beaten up, kicked off the island or murdered.

And that's where the game's realism completely flies out of the window: there's no way you can solve the mystery on your first playthrough, or even on the tenth, so you have to imagine that your character is some sort of clairvoyant who already knows what's going on or has lived through these two days countless times in previous lifetimes — as the player has! The suspension of disbelief is further shattered by the fact that should you, after countless replays, reach the secret location where the endgame takes place, the game interrupts your playthrough to ask you twenty questions to check that you've really understood everything (which you probably haven't at that point). That's just ridiculously punishing.

The game is not without merits. The mystery is really interesting, and the place definitely has an atmosphere (I guess it's not everyday you get to play in a mid-century tropical brothel). If the story had been told linearly, divided into chapters, with time only progressing when you've found the relevant clues, each chapter ending with some sort of plot twist or big reveal (and the story definitely provides a lot of these), and alternating between chapters devoted to conversation, room searching, or treasure hunting (so basically gameplay and story mechanics along the lines of GK3), it could have been a superb game. Or it could have stuck with its mechanics but remained simple and straightforward enough that it could be solved in a few playthroughs, as was the case of its predecessor Mortville Manor. But as it is, it's just an exercise in frustration, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

(This wasn't supposed to turn into a full-blown review... Sorry!)

[CoyoteAG]

Originally Posted by Kurufinwe

Agustin has linked to his review, which explains pretty well how the game works.

Basically, it tends to be realistic to a fault. Time passes independently of what you're doing, and people move, events happen and locations become accessible or not depending on the time, regardless of whether you're here or not — and you only have two days to crack the case. There's tons of stuff to explore, each location letting you search drawers, cupboards, under the furniture, etc. for items which you can examine, touch or take (95% of which are irrelevant to the investigation). Likewise, the conversations have dozens and dozens of topics. And the story gets really complicated: it may start off just as the mystery of the missing hooker, but it eventually introduces drug trafficking, coded messages, spies, murders and old pirate legends — and it takes a while to figure out how these things fit together. Add to that that you have to take into account the everyone's mood: if you ask too many questions, or are caught searching people's rooms, the characters will refuse to speak to you, or you might get beaten up, kicked off the island or murdered.

And that's where the game's realism completely flies out of the window: there's no way you can solve the mystery on your first playthrough, or even on the tenth, so you have to imagine that your character is some sort of clairvoyant who already knows what's going on or has lived through these two days countless times in previous lifetimes — as the player has! The suspension of disbelief is further shattered by the fact that should you, after countless replays, reach the secret location where the endgame takes place, the game interrupts your playthrough to ask you twenty questions to check that you've really understood everything (which you probably haven't at that point). That's just ridiculously punishing.

The game is not without merits. The mystery is really interesting, and the place definitely has an atmosphere (I guess it's not everyday you get to play in a mid-century tropical brothel). If the story had been told linearly, divided into chapters, with time only progressing when you've found the relevant clues, each chapter ending with some sort of plot twist or big reveal (and the story definitely provides a lot of these), and alternating between chapters devoted to conversation, room searching, or treasure hunting (so basically gameplay and story mechanics along the lines of GK3), it could have been a superb game. Or it could have stuck with its mechanics but remained simple and straightforward enough that it could be solved in a few playthroughs, as was the case of its predecessor Mortville Manor. But as it is, it's just an exercise in frustration, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

(This wasn't supposed to turn into a full-blown review... Sorry!)

Well I appreciated it -- thanks! It's a shame because when I read the description of it, it sounds so great but then I hear what it is really like and I don't so much feel like playing it anymore.

[7h30n]

I've been playing Maupiti Island and at the moment I'm still learning the interface. (And I filled a page of my notebook with important character details)

When I click on my energy state I get a message: "You should have noticed X percentage of clues". What does that mean? Does that refer to clues at my current location/screen or the whole available percentage at my current game state, or what?!

Another question: How can I use items in this game? E.G. Use key on door?

[Kurufinwe]

Originally Posted by 7h30n

When I click on my energy state I get a message: "You should have noticed X percentage of clues". What does that mean? Does that refer to clues at my current location/screen or the whole available percentage at my current game state, or what?!

It's a score that keeps track of the main things you can find in the game, i.e. important items you can discover, events you can notice, etc. According to a walkthrough I've found, the points are only added at the end of each hour, to prevent you from knowing exactly what element got you the points.

Another question: How can I use items in this game? E.G. Use key on door?

Generally, you select the item in your inventory and then use one of your verbs ("put" in particular, I guess). For keys, however, it seems like you can just go in when you have the right key without needing to use it on the door.

[Origami]

I also took on the challenge of finishing Maupiti Island on my own. =P

[7h30n]

Originally Posted by Origami

I also took on the challenge of finishing Maupiti Island on my own. =P

He he. Excellent! If I ever manage to finish it on my own I'll probably scan my hand written notes and upload them. I am writing them in English but my handwriting will probably be unreadable to most of the people xD

@ Kurufinwe, thanks for the answers!

[diego]

I think we should seriously start the tournament Who can finish Maupiti Island first without any help. The trouble is, the tournament may never end

[Guyra]

This is one of those times where I get the feeling there are a lot of masochists on this board...