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Old 09-08-2010, 08:44 AM   #1
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Default Freddy Pharkas - Solved a puzzle I don't understand

Freddy Pharkas is a game I started many times, but never finished. I always encounter a specific puzzle early on that I get stuck at since try to solve it in a way that the game doesn't accept. The proper solution is much simpler and yet for me more illogical.

Let me explain: You are a pharmacist in this game and at the beginning you have to mix the costumers what they need.

The second costumer wants 3 pills/7 days of Quinotrazate. You have to take a look into the game's manual to figure out how to create these pills.
Here's what it says about Quinotrazate:
Quote:
A highly efficacious and useful medication when taken orally at a dosage of NTE 60 mg/day. To prepare: to 15ml of Bismuth Enterosalicyline, add 30mg of Phenodol Oxytriglychlorate to produce Quinotrazate. Mix together in a glass breaker. Stir the mixture well using only a pure clean glass rod. Process into pill form. Usual dosage is 21 pills.
Okay, I always think then:
- 3 pills for each day of a week is 21 pills, sure.
- The doses 3 pills should have is 60 mg. That means, for 7 days, the amount should be 420 mg, that means 140 ml of Bismuth and 280 mg of Phenodol.
- Okay, I mix it, stir it and put it into the pill maker. Then I realize the pills it puts out weigh 42mg per 3 pills instead of the 60mg it should have. The pill maker always makes tenth of the amount you put into it into 3 pills.
- So I think again, I should mix 200ml of Bismuth and 400 of Phenodol together for the right size of the pills. I do that, fill 21 of the pills into a flask. A lot of the mixture remains in the pill maker.

Then I realize that this doesn't work and I always wonder why. Then I read a walkthrough and find out that the solution is much simpler. Just mix together 15ml of Bismuth with 30mg of Phenodol, stir it and put it into the pill maker. This time it won't put out 3 pills tenth of the amount you put into it, no, but seventh, so nothing remains.

Gah! It never made sense to me, but just today I googled the meaning of NTE, and found out that it means "not to exceed", which means, the amount per day might be 60mg/day, but as an absolute maximum. Otherwise, it can be less, and should in most cases. So the opening sentence wasn't a clue for the puzzle but just some "authentic" information, and for me, since I misunderstood it, a red herring.

What I wonder is: Am I the only one who always tries to solve this puzzle the wrong way or are there other people out there who attempt it similarly?
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Old 09-08-2010, 06:29 PM   #2
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Ozzie,

I can tell you that we've never had anyone alert us about that, either in beta-testing or since the game was released. (Or, if Al has heard about it in the years since we worked together, he's never mentioned it to me, and he probably would!)

I think most people just sort of skim over the first line and just follow the instructions after the phrase "To prepare:" without thinking about the total dosage. But I think you were right to try it your way.

Best wishes,
Josh Mandel
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