10-07-2011, 11:54 PM | #81 |
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Oh snap! I'm done with part 4.
Spoiler:
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10-08-2011, 01:39 AM | #82 |
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What is Tex short for, exactly? Strange I've played almost all the Tex Murphy games and I still don't know that
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10-08-2011, 06:08 AM | #83 |
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Tex stands for Texas, Oscar. Whether that means anything or they just liked the sound of it, who knows.
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10-08-2011, 09:46 AM | #84 |
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A few notes on the first part of this section (before going to the post-office):
I really enjoyed the part of the lodge, with the game of cat and mouse with Slade. However, the interface feels particularly clunky when you have to hide fast --- thankfully, the game gives you plenty of time. Slade's hit list has a lot of interesting information. In Mean Streets, about halfway through the game, you met an accountant from Gideon Enterprises names Arnold Dweeb, who sold you a long list of people who had received money from the company. That list gave numerous new leads and provided momentum for most of the second half of the game. In Overseer, Dweeb was removed, but the idea of a list of names providing several new leads was retained --- in the form of Slade's hit list. Let's discuss the list in detail now. Spoiler:
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10-09-2011, 07:29 PM | #85 |
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Alright, trailing a bit, just finished part 3.. It seems to me at this point that Gideon is going to be the crux around whom the whole game revolves. I suspect going forward we'll see more clues in the form of different links to Gideon Enterprises which will ultimately flesh out the whole story.
Why did Gideon start his company? How did it get so big? Was there someone we don't know who was actually responsible for Gideon's growth? I suspect J Saint Gideon has a dual role here.. hes not everything he seems to be. I'm at Slade's lodge now. Either I'm missing replacing some item, or I'm hiding at the wrong place because he keeps finding me :/ |
10-09-2011, 08:27 PM | #86 |
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Oh well looks like that was a bug.
Spoiler: |
10-09-2011, 10:39 PM | #87 |
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I'm just past the post office cutscene. I'm getting the feeling that the whole Law & Order thing is a red herring. Its far too obvious as a villain. Gideon looks suspicious to me.
Who is Slade working for? Right now it seems to be the Law & Order party. His mission seems to be to terminate everyone with knowledge of the project. But why? So far the characters seem to be neatly divided into the pro-Law & Order and anti-Law & Order factions. Wanda Peck, Gideon, the mutants all seem to be against, while Schimming, Carl Linsky are all pro. |
10-09-2011, 11:03 PM | #88 |
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About St Gideon (from the perspective of a person playing for the first time):
He is of course the primary suspect of mine for the following reasons: - he seems so nice and helpful. In Tex Murphy adventure games, Tex is accustomed to bribe, threaten or beg to interview people he meets. They are reluctant to share what they know and annoyed by questions. St Gideon is a sharp contradiction to that which makes me extremely suspicious - he claims to be a chess master and so far it seems as I am looking for a King who sets all the pieces of the game... - Michael York is sort of too good an actor to waste him on some consultant who helps Tex in making progress in the game once in a while - he seems to be a victim and totally innocent -> nothing points to his guilt more Also, my game also stopped working during the weekend. I made backup of saved games and reinstalled the game - I could not get it to work any other way. On Law and Order: This is really funny, to hear all those references to LO party - there is a real Law and Order party in Poland. Quite humorous, so many things they have in common |
10-10-2011, 09:00 AM | #89 |
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Back on track. I'm done with part 4. And looks like the story has just taken the first twist
I just played ahead a little bit and Spoiler: Anyway getting back to this part Spoiler: |
10-10-2011, 09:03 AM | #90 | |
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Quote:
More questions: Spoiler: Last edited by Siddhi; 10-10-2011 at 09:06 AM. Reason: more questions... |
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10-10-2011, 09:04 PM | #91 |
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I liked the part in the Law and Order party building, apart from that annoying puzzle where you have to count the letters (in very little time if you're playing in Gamer mode and want to get full points).
I hope everyone found the picture of Sylvia (with another wig!) and Schimming in Knott's office. Make sure to phone Schimming and ask him about it... Anyway, we're now moving on to section 5. This section ends when you discover the location of Greg Call's secret lab. We'll move on to the next section on Sunday. Note: There's a particularly stupid "puzzle" in this section. If you get completely desperate for a lead near the end of the section, you should Spoiler:
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10-11-2011, 02:03 AM | #92 |
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I'm playing along, but trying not to say anything about the plot since I know where it's all going. Reading everyone's speculations is fun, though .
We're now on the part of the game where I remember vividly being stuck for days. We didn't have the internet at home in 1998, so when my brother and I were completely stumped we had to wait until I could go to the library and check a walk-through. (Ahhh, those were the days.) Anyway, if you find yourself at a total loss, the spoiler text in the post above will give you some guidance. More complaining about this from me in the spoiler text. Spoiler: |
10-12-2011, 10:11 PM | #93 |
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Clint Howard = win.
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10-15-2011, 11:59 AM | #94 |
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Boom.
So that was Robert Knott. And his cabin. Oh well. I found the shootout in the cabin a bit weird. It's supposed to be this very tense action scene, but then it's full of farcical moments, such as Tex reading his rulebook while being shot at, or the ridiculous thing with the blow-up doll. Once again, weird. At least we're starting to get answers: we know what it is that these people are willing to kill for. On the other hand, the scene with Tex, Chelsee and Sylvia after the cabin was great. It was a nice bittersweet scene, well written and convincingly acted, and the interplay between past and present was cleverly done. Also, for the first time in the game, you could actually feel some sort of chemistry between Tex and Sylvia --- though, obviously, it's not a tenth of what's there between Tex and Chelsee. The idea of making you revisit all locations at random to find the Braille book, and then one more time to find out who knows about NEXUS, was pretty sloppy design. But I can live with it. There should be tonnes of answers in Greg Call's secret lab.
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10-16-2011, 06:11 AM | #95 |
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Let's begin section 6. This section ends when Tex receives a message from Jorge Valdez.
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10-18-2011, 10:00 AM | #96 |
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The guy playing Jorge Valdez should have been nominated for the equivalent of a gaming Oscar.
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10-18-2011, 10:56 PM | #97 | |
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Quote:
(Spoilers for the Nexus lab, though not the big reveals.) I enjoyed visiting Greg Call's lab. Answers aplenty! But I'll keep those for a later post. First, a few random comments. One thing that really struck me about the lab was how chock-full of Easter eggs it was: the Links LS mug, Intel merging with Frito to corner the chip market, Bill Gates's grandson, the guy facing 13 and a half counts of manslaughter (do we even want to know more about that?), the label on the Kamikaze implant warning that it has "only been tested on desperate college students seeking spending money"... and of course a cameo by writer and co-designer Aaron Conners as Greg Call. There are little jokes and Easter eggs everywhere in the game, but the concentration was particularly high here. I had horrible memories of the "maze". But this time I just got it right in a couple of minutes, without running out of time or power. In my previous playthroughs, I tried to work out the way before going in, and ended up getting confused and running out of time. This time, I just dived in and moved at random until I stumbled upon the implant. I guess that "When in doubt, just move at random as fast as you can" should be my new motto! Cracking Greg Call's password has always been one of my favourite puzzles in the game. It's not particularly difficult, or even clever, but I'm a sucker for coded messages. Another thing that struck me is the final step in the long uncheesification of mutants in the Tex Murphy games. Contrast Larry Hammond in Mean Streets and Martian Memorandum: There's a lot of make-up, obviously, but it's not ridiculous; that last shot of him as he leaves the lab actually has a certain flair. Likewise, Greg Call looks like someone who could be in the X-Men movies and, despite all the bad acting, Jorge Valdez looks pretty snazzy, pustules and all. That was really a strong trend in the evolution of the Tex Murphy games. In the first two games, the idea of having mutants was mostly an excuse to do all sorts of crazy, ridiculous stuff: Possibly this is also a reflection of the evolution of the general taste of our culture. We still have tonnes of, say, super-hero movies, but their looks have had to be completely re-invented, because the spandex suits of the 70s, and all the associated visual and narrative style, seem so cheesy to us now that we wouldn't even be able to take those stories and characters seriously. It's possible that the evolution of the looks of the mutants in the Tex Murphy games also reflects that evolution in taste.
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10-19-2011, 08:07 PM | #98 |
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Sorry, I'm trailing again
Hopefully will catch up this weekend |
10-24-2011, 12:10 AM | #99 |
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Bump because Jim Slade says so!
How is everyone doing? I guess if we go by the 5 days per section trend, we should be in the middle of part 7 out of 8 right now. So, the last part of the game begins on Wednesday the 26th? Right now I've just finished exploring Spoiler: I imagine the last part of the playthrough begins with Tex in a cell? Been a great game so far. I'm a sucker for the Bay Area settings. The story has gotten more interesting, and although it seemed obvious who was pulling all the strings from the beginning, it's been a fun ride delving into all the mystery of Linsky's death. I've also enjoyed Tex's quips at various points of exploration.
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10-25-2011, 07:29 AM | #100 |
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Kurufinwe warned us he wasn't going to post long and thoughtful posts... and then he went and did just that. Great job! I will post my thoughts tonight or tomorrow, when I've had time to read all the contributions.
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