Adventure Gamers - Forums

Lady Kestrel - 25 August 2018 12:33 PM

Is the hieroglyph book supposed to go into inventory when I pick it up?  Mine didn’t.

You have it. Go to Menu|Flashback. It should be there.

BTW, I went back down to the boat area and was able to activate the easter egg. The good news is that I used a saved game from the first time I went back down, so I didn’t need to ride the elevator.

rtrooney - 25 August 2018 12:47 PM

Lady Kestrel - 25 August 2018 12:33 PM

Is the hieroglyph book supposed to go into inventory when I pick it up?  Mine didn’t.

You have it. Go to Menu|Flashback. It should be there.

Oh, I had forgotten about the flashback function.  Thanks for reminding me.

SoccerDude - 25 August 2018 06:31 PM

I completely missed the dead man on my playthrough, and thus missed the book. I was wondering what everyone was talking about when they kept saying dead man, so I retraced my steps and got the book. This is why I dislike slideshow navigation

Don’t feel bad. I got on the boat and looked over what I thought was the front end of the boat, and saw the dead man. I erroneously thought that I needed to navigate the boat to the shore, get off and inspect the dead man. Nope! Think I spend close to twenty minutes before I got off the boat, walked back to the door and found a walking path to the dead man. It was then I realized that I had been trying to steer the wrong end of the boat. Once I had that, the boat puzzle clicked into place. That said, I don’t think my problems had anything to do with slideshow navigation. I just made wrong assumptions and thus failed to notice an available path.

Question: Of those playing, how many have not reached the stopping point? I ask, because if we’re all in the Office tapping our collective fingers, maybe ID would consider setting us free with directions for the next episode.

Just a question. Personally, I’ve not been keeping track of who has made what progress.

*raises hand*

I’ve had a busy weekend and haven’t even started yet.

And even if I had, I tend to be a slow player, so speeding things up will usually leave me in the dust.

I’m averse to using walkthroughs, particularly for a game I’m supposed to know like the back of my hand. However, two things came up. One is not knowing how Intense Degree is going to turn a non-linear game into a linear one. So, while my 20-year-old memory of how I used to play the game might kick in and tell that I was to go to this room from that room, ID might have another idea. Second, there a several first-time players here. And, while ID said to keep your pencils and paper handy, a first-time player might not know what’s important. I know I didn’t the first time I played the game. Around the third or fourth time I had developed a system.

I’m certainly not recommending you use the actual walkthrough, which takes place from page 7-of-18 on. But pages one through the first half of page seven, titled “operational notes,” gives a pretty good description of the system I used back in the day. Of course the more I played the game, the more items got added to the system. Then, by the time I was on my eighth playthrough, I didn’t need it anymore.

Anyway, this http://www.balmoralsoftware.com/shivers/shivers.htm is the walkthrough document I was talking about. Give it a quick look. If you don’t want to refer to it, don’t! I’m not recommending its use. But, if your drawing of a two-headed snake pot lid is as bad as mine, it might come in handy.

I’ve finished the first section. Took less time than I thought it would, but still easily took me an hour and a half to two hours. I’ll leave it up to you guys to decide just *how* slow that is.



Initial thoughts:

Navigating the slideshow screens will constantly leave me worried that I *may* have missed a corner somewhere.

I found the coloured ‘vase’ tile outside the museum entrance by accident, and I had completely missed the coloured ‘sun’ tile the first three times I explored the place, because it didn’t occur to me that I could walk behind the stone sculpture.
My notes also didn’t include the tile colour until I realised that was relevant, but we can chalk that up to me adjusting to taking notes again.


The gear puzzle was more devious than I thought it’d be, so that took me quite a few tries to get right.

I managed to duplicate the “I don’t feel so good” easter egg, so that definitely works!

Our first Ixupi encounter made me jump. I was not expecting that…

I should have read LK’s post warning me about the other one near the fireplace. I can confirm there is one. It got me.
But at least now I know how to recognize when an Ixupi is near.

I had to invert my cabinet puzzle solution in the office workshop to get the actual result. Baffled me for a bit because I was sure I was right.

And my God, that elevator puzzle is tedious…

Intense Degree - 23 August 2018 03:58 AM

Optional things to discuss

1. If it’s the first time (FT) you’ve played – What are your initial feelings/impressions and is it anything like you thought it might be? Does the game feel easy to access/get into for you?

Well, it’s reminding me why I disliked the first Myst game. I keep fearing I’m missing something in the navigation, and I constantly want to go to places I can’t get to. It’s odd navigating like this.
Also, there’s something off everytime I’m facing a wall and the only directions are to the left or right. I keep fearing something will leap at me because I can’t see what’s just next to me.

So no, it’s not that easy to access/get into, but that has everything to do with the slideshow navigation.

3. What about those graphics?! Those are some …interesting 90’s colours and textures aren’t they?

I’m old enough to remember how most games looked in the mid-90s. This is pretty much what I expect. It hasn’t dated well, but it’s hard for me NOT to place it in its proper era, so it doesn’t bother me at all.

5. (FT) – How are you getting on with the slideshow movement controls? Easy to use or keep getting lost in weird circles?

It’s not difficult to use, but I have my issues with it. See 1.

6. Just for fun – Urban Explorers are average people who explore abandoned buildings/structures for fun (at least that’s what they’re called in the UK). Is it legal? Well… aside from the probable trespass, possible breaking and entering and potential criminal damage… err… maybe! Is it safe? Well… err In some ways it’s really quite similar to our AFGNCAAP here in Shivers. So what about you, have you ever… would you ever… if so, where? (https://www.theurbanexplorer.co.uk/ if you’re interested in more info)

No. It doesn’t sound like my kind of ‘fun’. Besides, I don’t see the point. Sounds like a complete waste of time to me.

rtrooney - 23 August 2018 05:30 PM

Similarly, I had a minor problem with the second maze. It can be solved by luck. But if you use the timeless-but-tedious “keep your right hand touching the wall” method, you will eventually reach the elevator.

What second maze?

If you mean the hallway between the lake and the elevator, that was just a hallway shaped like this: -[]-
Hardly a maze to me?

Hey all, sorry , a busy few days has kept me away from the forums, but fear not, I’ll post up the start of Section Two later tonight or tomorrow morning.

A bit of news from Marcia. Her internet is not great where she is to put it mildly, but she is shortly leaving for America for a couple of weeks so hopes to drop in on us when she can get online there.

Finally, Judging by the comments, I’m sure everyone’s probably milked all they can out of the short first section, but just in case, here are some things that you could have done, but might just have have missed…

Very light exploration spoilers below.

Found a dead body
Seen a ghostly apparition (of a man)
Visited a bedroom
[spoiler]Read a ‘picture book’[/spoiler]

Intense Degree - 29 August 2018 03:03 PM

Very light exploration spoilers below.

Found a dead body
Seen a ghostly apparition (of a man)
Visited a bedroom
[spoiler]Read a ‘picture book’[/spoiler]

I did visit the bedroom, and returned to the office. I’m not sure what you mean by picture book. I did read the journal on the desk in the bedroom. Is that it?

Aside from the visit, there does appear to be another potential Ixupi hiding place in that location. I hope I will find it elsewhere because the only access requires two more elevator rides.

EDIT: FWIW, I’ve not heard back from Willie Eide. If Marcia were to invite him to join it might have more impact than my invite since we haven’t been in contact since around 2000. Just a thought.

I’ve also prodded my Canadian friends. I’m pretty sure their absence is due to the fact that they are unfamiliar with how playthroughs work here on AG. Back in the CompuServe days, if a group of people were playing the same game, we’d discuss it on the main forum. Which made following the thread somewhat difficult. (But, not impossible.) And if we needed to discuss things as a group, someone would suggest we meet in one of the “conference rooms.” It all worked out, but could be somewhat confusing.

I’m glad you posted that hint list, Intense, because I hadn’t found the bedroom.  I went back into the game just now, and I can’t believe I missed looking behind the tapestry.  Now I’m caught up, and I think I know where another Ixupi is hiding.  That warning sound is giving me goosebumps now, but even worse are those ugly green warm-up suits in the wardrobe.

“Fabric” is an Ixupi. So there may be two up there. Never thought of that.