[thornton_s]

Hi,

does anyone know of a list or post where games with dead ends are mentioned, as i have begun to get back into my adventure games collection (way over 200) and do not want to commit to a game only to find that i have messed up at the beginning and have to start over. I know a lot of sierra titles(KQ,SQ,LSL,PQ series) have this problem and on the earlier games it was acceptable as they were very short and easy to backtrack to, however with later games (KQ5 & 6) it was much more frustrating as they were quite large games.

I know it was mostly older games which had this issue, just thought it might be a good idea, especially for newcomers who are used to the new adventure games which don't have any.

I know this site has some mentioned on the games A-Z but is incomplete and it is really difficult to find this sort of information on other sites.

I am currently engaged in the kyrandia series (anyone know of any dead ends on these).

[Sandman]

If you are playing Black Mirror be careful

Spoiler:

When you go under the foundation of the mention. You have a gun with 3 bullets. Shoot the middle bar (I believe) of the door to get out of the underground foundation. You going to need one more bullet from the remaining 2. Just save the game before shooting.

[Dara100]

I was wondering the same thing myself as I've been reinstalling my large collection in XP. The ending of Myst springs to mind. If you haven't saved recently and choose wrong there's no going back.

These aren't strictly dead ends as I think you mean them, but the effect is the same. Angel Devoid has to be restored from saved files frequently. There's a lockup too that requires starting from a patch save. Darkseed kills you if you don't finish the day in time. Return to Zork? Seems like I remember the "dead" screen but not if it restores you.

[Veovis]

Ark of Time has a dead end, or at least I never found out a way to get another piece of something that I used in the "wrong" way. Had to restore to a MUCH earlier saved game to get through the game.

Spoiler:

If I remember correctly I gave a piece of meat to a dog where I should have saved it for some other use. There was no way of getting another piece of meat.

Crappy game anyway...

[HandsFree]

It's said to be impossible, but I managed to get myself stuck in Ankh.
If it happens you get stuck immediately, so you don't have to replay much. Unless you used only 1 save...

Spoiler:

In the palace Assil can give inventory items to Thara, but Thara cannot give them back. And of course I gave the item away that I needed to progress.

There's also a dead end in 'A quiet weekend in Capri' but the manual points out where it is.

The Final Cut seems to have a bug causing a dead end, but I didn't encounter it.

And in 'Titanic: Adventure out of time' you may have to replay a big part of the game in order to get to the optimal ending (depending on what you forgot to do). But you can always get another ending, so technically that's maybe not a dead end.

And there are lots of games, like Still Life, where you hear essential information only once. If you miss it, you can't solve the problem and will have to reload. But of course you can find the info in a walkthrough also.
In Still life this happens

Spoiler:

in the Red Lantern, where you need the names of the paintings. You hear them only the first time you click on them.

[rtrooney]

There's a dead end in Shivers1, but it takes a convoluted path to find it.

[thornton_s]

I wasn't aware that some of the modern adventures also had ways to get stuck.

I guess the sensible thing to do is save often and in as many different slots as the games will let you. Better to have to play a third of the game again than all of it.

Can the games A-Z on this site be edited by anyone as it would be useful to start adding to it ? A few are mentioned as having dead ends but they don't really specify.

I was thinking about starting Black Mirror again shortly, whereabouts is the dead end in this?

[Trader]

The ultimate dead end game is Fable [the origin Fable on PC not Xbox]

Spoiler:

The dead end game is the whole game itself

[Dale Baldwin]

Originally Posted by thornton_s

Can the games A-Z on this site be edited by anyone as it would be useful to start adding to it ?

No, it can't, sorry.

I was thinking about starting Black Mirror again shortly, whereabouts is the dead end in this?

Quite a way in you'll have to fire a gun, and you have limited bullets. Save before firing the first time and you'll be safe.

[Shany]

I can't think of any recent games with dead ends, but here are a few older ones:

- Gabriel Knight 2:

Spoiler:

In act 6, if you go into the actor's room without picking up some tape then you cannot go on.

- Nightlong:

Spoiler:

Near the end you need to kill a snake, but you can mess this up and you won't be able to try again.

- Discworld:

Spoiler:

This one has a few:
During the game you need to enter the palace several times, however the guards won't let you unless you use some item on them. The problem is you only get about 3-4 items to get past the guards. If you use all of them you're stuck.
In the game you travel through time. If you move a certain butterfly before perfoming a certain action you won't be able to capture it and will be stuck.
There's a very confusing scene where you need to swap two book jackets under a time limit. If you mess this up you will be stuck in an endless loop.

[thornton_s]

Thanks for that, just started The Black Mirror again, the Kyrandia games are on hold, just can't seem to get into them again at the moment.


OK, now Fable is one i have on my list to do, i bought it on ebay without any packaging or manual (just the disc in a jewel case). I remember reading about it on HOTU but haven't got round to playing it yet. Are there a lot of dead ends ?

[Trumgottist]

Originally Posted by Shany

I can't think of any recent games with dead ends, but here are a few older ones:

- Discworld:

Spoiler:

This one has a few:
During the game you need to enter the palace several times, however the guards won't let you unless you use some item on them. The problem is you only get about 3-4 items to get past the guards. If you use all of them you're stuck.
In the game you travel through time. If you move a certain butterfly before perfoming a certain action you won't be able to capture it and will be stuck.
There's a very confusing scene where you need to swap two book jackets under a time limit. If you mess this up you will be stuck in an endless loop.

Those bugs doesn't exist in the version I have. (Can't say for certain about the last one with the books - I didn't experience the bug you describe, but maybe I just got lucky - but I'm 100% certain about the other two as I did those actions many times before figuring things out.) Look for the patch.

[The Seed]

Jack Orlando is said to have a few thousand. It's pretty much a masterclass in how not to design an adventure game.

[Penguin In Bondage]

I was looking for just such a thing recently. The only thing I found was this - http://movies.tom-bernhard.com/dead_ends.html

I can't vouch for its overall accuracy, though.

[Len Green]

There is most definitely a dead end in Fable.

There is also one in the recent game Evil under the sun --- depending on which order you perform actions !

[tastebud]

I'm pretty sure Kyrandia 1 had a dead end... at least if I remember correctly...

Spoiler:

If you grab a wrong flower and fly to the last island as a unicorn... you can't go back to grab the right flower to put on the grave... something like that.

[Murray the Chao]

Originally Posted by Penguin In Bondage

I was looking for just such a thing recently. The only thing I found was this - http://movies.tom-bernhard.com/dead_ends.html

I can't vouch for its overall accuracy, though.

I can see a few errors already.

1. I don't know of any dead end in Journeyman Project - the time travel element prevents this.

2. I know of no dead end in Inherit the Earth.

3. How would you dead end in Starship Titanic, which is completely open-ended?

4. It is possible to dead end in King's Quest VI - not getting Styx water on the Isle of the Dead, for example.


Also, I have head of a dead end in Night of the Raving Dead, but I have not confirmed this.

[stepurhan]

Originally Posted by Murray the Chao

3. How would you dead end in Starship Titanic, which is completely open-ended?

If you lose your picture of the stars above your house (by putting it into the transfer system without a valid destination) then I presume you can't solve the last puzzle since you need the picture to do that. In fact, presumably that would work (or rather, fail) with any item lost in the system, was there a way of getting these back?

[Harald B]

Originally Posted by Murray the Chao

Also, I have head of a dead end in Night of the Raving Dead, but I have not confirmed this.

The Sam & Max episode? I doubt it. I haven't noticed one, and no-one in the Telltale forums ever mentioned such a thing. What would cause this alleged dead end?

[Jadefalcon]

Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender has one.

There's a glass window holding back the sea you have to destroy using improvised explosives made out of a few parts.

If you place the explosives on the ledge next to the window before assembling the timing mechanism it will allow you to do so, but it wont allow you to attach the timer to the bit on the ledge. You have to completely build the bomb THEN place the finished product on the ledge.