[Annoymous Broccoli]

thanks for trying it out anyway Fienepien, figured something like that would happen.

Now to finish it!

[veruncheek]

Hey guys,
I was away for some time. Nice to see people popped in :-)
Some news from Jordan Mechner concerning TLE - he posted this on his web:

http://jordanmechner.com/blog/2009/03/the-last-express-remixed

A couple of years ago, for a fun weekend project, I captured a dozen hours of gameplay footage from my 1997 adventure game The Last Express and edited it down into a single, 75-minute linear narrative.

Other than a walk down memory lane, I’m not sure what it’s good for. It doesn’t work as a movie — the demands of game vs. film storytelling are too different — and the low-res, dissolve-between-still-frames animation looks awfully clunky now. But for anyone who’s interested, here it is (in eight 10-minute segments).

Spoiler alert: If you haven’t played the game, Part 8 gives away the ending.

His web is awesome, btw. He is genius.

[Annoymous Broccoli]

Finished it last night (well actually more like the early hours of today)..really amazing, if short, game..although you are kinda screwed if you don't get the whistle near the beginning! Maybe the game wont let you progress further until you do but I dunno about that. Good ending as well, if somewhat sad.

I'm not sure what the tower is supposed to represent though, at the beginning and on the ring at the end?

[Fien]

Veruncheek, I saw the new entry in his blog last night. Of course I immediately started it, but I only got Part One. How do I see the other seven parts, do you know?

@anonymousbroccoli: If you haven't traded the beetle, you can find the whistle much later on the floor. I think in the restaurant car, not sure. That tower? Nobody knows. Except Jordan Mechner. Probably something to do with the 13th tribe in Israel.

[veruncheek]

Originally Posted by Fienepien

Veruncheek, I saw the new entry in his blog last night. Of course I immediately started it, but I only got Part One. How do I see the other seven parts, do you know?

Other parts are here:

http://vimeo.com/jordanmechner/videos

Will watch it later, will be back here in few hours...

[Fien]

Thanks veruncheek. Of course not everything could be included or it would have been much longer than 75 minutes. It was interesting to see what Jordan Mechner chose to leave out. I'm glad two of the most interesting and well-written exchanges between Cath and Anna were still there, about spying, political games, the Balkan... you know the ones I mean. They never fail to move me.

[veruncheek]

Originally Posted by Fienepien

Thanks veruncheek. Of course not everything could be included or it would have been much longer than 75 minutes. It was interesting to see what Jordan Mechner chose to leave out. I'm glad two of the most interesting and well-written exchanges between Cath and Anna were still there, about spying, political games, the Balkan... you know the ones I mean. They never fail to move me.

I know... I love those brilliant-written dialogues. And every dialogue in TLE is just wonderful I´ve probably mentioned it before, but I love Schmidt and Abbot dialogues. They are such fun. Oh, this made me think, I´ve put mp3s of them somewhere for those who want to listen to them. Aaargh, I cannot make the link work. Will later repare it...

Anyway. It is nice to see Jordan still remembers TLE even though he is very much into screenwriting / comic book adapting lately.

[Annoymous Broccoli]

I love the scene where Cath dances with a drunken Schmidt..always makes me smile.

[Fien]

Hey veruncheek, all this talk about TLE made me replay bits. I waited for Anna in her compartment after the concert, and got caught snooping, just like you said. That was fun. To pass the time waiting for her, I rang the bell for the conductor... knock-knock... "you rang, madame?" Cath doesn't reply, and then the conductor mutters: "that's electricity for the future". Hehehe... I'd never come across that one before either.

I also tried to find the easter egg in the baggage car. Could you please tell me what it is? And since you're Czech, do you know what Vesna says before the fight with Cath on the roof of the train?

[Nautilus]

Playing it is better than watching it.

[veruncheek]

Originally Posted by Nautilus

Playing it is better than watching it.

That's probably good, isn't it?

Originally Posted by Fienepien

I also tried to find the easter egg in the baggage car. Could you please tell me what it is? And since you're Czech, do you know what Vesna says before the fight with Cath on the roof of the train?

I could not "open" the easter egg myself, I guess you must check trainmaster's paper in specific time, I can just post picture here to prove it is there but we could not get to it (the pic is from the source files of CD 1 and 2):



Well, Vesna is Serbian, NOT Czech And to be honest, I really do not understand Serbian, Russian language is closer to us, or Polish, but not Serbian.
But I´ve read the translation on YouTube by native speaker. It was something like: "Maybe the Serbian peasants were not much of the obstacle for you." She really is devoted, isn't she... But the truth is, there are no absolute BAD or GOOD guys in TLE. Everyone has his/her truths, interests... And that is great.

YouTube is fun I found there Karl-Heinz Teuber's (August Schmidt) profile, there is also some Last Express stuff. I am probably gonna ask him if he has more for his admirers :-)


HERE IS THE LINK TO MP3S WITH AUGUST AND OTHERS:

LINK

Will add there some more audios later, as well as complete documents from the game (letters, diaries etc.)
_____________________________________________

My last EDIT, correction of what I´ve written earlier:

CD3: CATH - ANNA conversation

There are 3 possibilities of cutscene with Anna after you win the fist fight against one of Serbs:

1. they kiss and Anna goes to stop the train
2. they quarel, Cath explains both she and Schmidt were set up and Anna goes to stop the train, with Cath saying: "Anna, wait"
3. Cath says "it doesn´t matter" and Anna goes to stop the train - this is the shortes cutscene from these three

Cath and Anna's conversation differs depending on whether
you followed Anna into her room for a kiss after defusing the
bomb...and whether you found the crossed-out letter to Baron
Unruh in August's compartment. If you found the letter and
kissed Anna, Cath now reveals a further plot twist suggesting
that both Anna and August are pawns in a conspiracy to start
World War I. (It makes no difference, though; she doesn't
believe you.)

- from TLE: The Official Strategy Guide

[inm8#2]

There are a few great games that stand out as pure, rich storytelling and worthy of a film. This is one of those games.

[Fien]

Originally Posted by veruncheek

Wow, this must be his mum's favorite pic... still wet behind the ears and far too young to be the designer of one of the best games ever.

She really is devoted, isn't she... But the truth is, there are no absolute BAD or GOOD guys in TLE. Everyone has his/her truths, interests... And that is great.

You can't be totally bad when you're passionate and/or deluded about some cause? Well, I don't know about that, to be honest. Killing people for your precious art collection is pretty bad, for one thing.

And thanks for the translation of Vesna's words. She's certainly dedicated to her cause.

[veruncheek]

Originally Posted by Fienepien

You can't be totally bad when you're passionate and/or deluded about some cause? Well, I don't know about that, to be honest. Killing people for your precious art collection is pretty bad, for one thing.

And thanks for the translation of Vesna's words. She's certainly dedicated to her cause.

Well, I was not thinking about Kronos at the moment I wrote that. (I had those national things of the 1914s on my mind). I meant nothing is black and white, you know, in TLE. In many games you have just GOOD and BAD guys, nothing inbetween.
Of course, our lovely August has his darker side, too. As well as anybody. Yes, Kronos is evil. No doubt about that. Hi is mysterious, he knows too many things, but it is revealed he has spies, he has Kahina, so it is the question how much of the knowledge is "his" and how much of it is imported by other people... He controls people and is not tied by anybody's interests but his own, which makes him probably the bad guy of the game, if I speak in these terms.

EDIT: I feel I have to edit once more, because this theme is important for me. Characters in TLE are thought in depth, they have backgrounds, motivations, history, these things make them act like they act. And I still think: yes, there are no ABSOLUTE bad or good guys - this goes even for those who kill or intend to kill: Serbs and Alexei Dolnikov. I feel somewhat different for Kronos, as I wrote above. I was not sad he died. Vesna was fanatic, so I was not sad, too. But there is this background story for her:

Vesna Savin
At the age of 12, Vesna saw her family slaughtered
by the local Turkish militia. A Croatian, she fled
into Serbia and joined a Bosnian irregular fighting
unit. Since then, Vesna has lived in the mountains
and honed herself into a merciless fighter.
Suspicious of all outsiders, she's a humorless, dedicated
soldier and a loyal comrade to Milos.

(from TLE: Official Strategy Guide)

And what about Kahina - why is she so devoted to serving Kronos?

Proud and taciturn, Kahina is the last of an
ancient Matabele tribe of female warriors who
were defeated and driven from their Southern
African homeland. Kahina owes her life to
Kronos, and her loyalty to him is total and
unswerving. Her command of English,
French, Ndebele, and other languages makes
her an ideal secretary, bodyguard, and general
factotum to Kronos wherever he travels.

(from TLE: Official Strategy Guide)

[Fien]

Veruncheek, I found the Easter Egg! Thanks to you, that goes without saying, because I wasn't aware there was an Easter Egg. I was more or less systematically clicking on the train master's papers, not really expecting to find it, when suddenly this really big Jordan Mechner appeared out of nowhere. Quite a shock.

Spoiler:

The last page, the line with the words "movements" and "guides", click on the single "a" on the right.

[veruncheek]

Originally Posted by Fienepien

Veruncheek, I found the Easter Egg! Thanks to you, that goes without saying, because I wasn't aware there was an Easter Egg. I was more or less systematically clicking on the train master's papers, not really expecting to find it, when suddenly this really big Jordan Mechner appeared out of nowhere. Quite a shock.

Spoiler:

The last page, the line with the words "movements" and "guides", click on the single "a" on the right.

Wow! You are genius!!!
Finally we know how to do it. Wow...
I will have to check it out.
I think this one is the most difficult. The other two I found myself. This one I was not able to find even though I knew where to search. I simply expected it will appear from nowhere at the end of the papers in certain time. Naive me
BIG THANKS for your lucky try, Fienepien!!!


EDIT: Tried. Great!!! Yep, this could not be hidden more.

[veruncheek]

Cause I posted the same thing twice, I edited it and put here some pics instead...

[veruncheek]

Sorry for double-post (ooh, wait, triple-post)...
I just have fresh info for any fan wondering or confused why Karl-Heinz Teuber was credited as Josef Scholz for his August Schmidt part in ending titles of TLE and in manual of the game.
To my question he answered this:

Hi Veronika, This was Non - Union - Shoot and I was 1994
a Union member............Unfortunately I had to change my name to Josef Scholz which was my grandfathers name, in order to get this job, because they needed a German - speaking actor. I enjoyed very much playing this part.............I am so glad you have fun with it.

My best wishes to you Karl-Heinz Teuber

I love internet. After more than 10 years I am in touch with people who were part of TLE team...

[colpet]

Thank you for posting the links to the cut scenes. Though the game wasn't for me, I did find the story interesting and I'm glad I was able to experience it.

[Origami]

I don't know if this easter egg is familiar or not. But if you do nothing during the concert, Cath falls asleep, and you a familiar someone say something.