Adventure Gamers - Forums

I’ve now finished chapter 3 which I didn’t like as much as chapter 2 & have a vague recollection of feeling the same the first time I played the game. 
Otherwise I did enjoy the puzzles although I was on the verge of using a game save for one of them. The puzzle was one which I’m sure is a nightmare for anyone who doesn’t like sliders which I normally do but after taking a while to complete, so I thought, I realised that the symbols needed to be in order. I did it eventually but this was as the planets puzzle earlier where a player may need to research externally.

TimovieMan - 03 April 2023 04:47 AM

NOOOOOoooo, not the “slide paper under the door and push the key out on the other side” puzzle!!! And played completely straight, too. At least mock this, damnit!!!

I completely get your frustration but I didn’t mind it as sometimes for me a very familiar puzzle is a nice relief.
It was preferable to going back & forth between Eleonor & Louis to repeat instructions but it did become apparent as to why Louis was so unamenable ….fix the doorbell…..leave that & mow the lawn…..etc 

I’m not sure that this chapter overly advanced the story? except for acquiring the key but I found the approach to the abandoned house picturesque & a nice surprise as I had no memory of it. Also, I found the night time scenes impressive. 

Yes, I finally finished chapter 2 (thank Chrissie for your advice!)

I hate that everything is so slow: people take a long time before they are ready when you want to talk to them, and sometimes the only thing you have to say is that you have nothing to say :-)

On the other hand, I love the development of the story. It is really nicely done, with the books you find and other discoveries. It makes you really curious to the rest of the story.

I will play on at a slower pace than most of you, so please go on with the next chapter even if I have not finished this one!.

I just finished chapter 3. Having to wait until the uncle decided he remembered the meaning of the three words was a bit cumbersome.
I loved the puzzles.

The most beautiful image was that of the shadow of the bats against the door of the abandoned house.

Just finished Ch.3

Although, it was less intense and dark, I think it was the right move - to get the player away from the Black Mirror mansion and from increasing grimness of the situation.

I still very much enjoy the overall type of puzzles in this game. Despite the fact that I absolutely ABHOR sliders, and this one was especially tricky. It took me several tries, but I managed with no help, I was really tempted, though.

TimovieMan - 04 April 2023 05:09 PM

Also took me a couple of moves before I figured out why the knights moved to some spots and not others. I didn’t make the link with chess, despite being a chess player myself. Once I did, the puzzle was easy-ier.

Was completely stuck on this. I forgot that he referred to it as something something chess, since that observation is only available once, and I think the knights look like dragons there, so I was moving them trying to figure out a pattern without much luck for awhile, gave up and already went to look for some help, when (thankfully!) - just in the search results I read the description for moving like an actual knight, and everything immediately clicked so I ended up solving this myself after all.

******

I don’t mind puzzles that need me to look stuff up, by the way, like horoscope or planets. I wouldn’t even noticed I was doing it if it wouldn’t be mentioned here. It’s kind of an automatic move at this point.

I do appreciate a nice combination of inventory/environment and these kind of numerical/logical puzzles. I can see more and more why I liked Black Mirror when it came out.

TimovieMan - 04 April 2023 05:09 PM

Does anyone know what the actual trigger was for Richard to research the Celtic gods and goddesses?

I kept aimlessly running around, and occasionally going back to him, and suddenly he had the answers, but I have no idea what made the difference…

I’m gonna say three times a charm, maybe? I asked trice (while leaving location after each), and he always had slightly different responses, and third was it, I believe.
I felt genuinely bad for how Samuel went about Richard’s business..It did lead to a sort of comedic moment later, yeah, but looking at how much stuff needed to be rebuilt, repurchased and recalculated (although he potentially got every ratio correct - we’ll never know) I couldn’t help but feel sorry.

*******

Also, I feel like it was a bit ham-fisted the way writers connected strife with blood. I thought Samuel asked about blood absolutely out of nowhere, and I wish I’d been given some verbal/dialogue cues or backstory/item descriptions to come up with this myself.

******

I did find “rich people and their servants” thing that keeps going full steam here part hilarious part annoying. It makes both sides of these interactions quite unpleasant, although one side has a reason for it, and the other - only entitlement, but still. Samuel is just not very pleasant, period. I’m ALMOST used to his snooty way of talking. I do want to help him though, so I suppose his redeeming qualities (whatever they are) so far outweighing all the haughtiness. 

I felt like this chapter ended at the very intriguing point, and I really hope we get to visit Ashburry in the next one. Want to keep going but will manage to wait 2 days

DCast - 05 April 2023 05:49 PM

Samuel is just not very pleasant, period.

Yes, it is really strange to play like a character you don’t like at all!

Even stranger that I had completely forgotten this aspect of the game. I remembered that I liked the story and the puzzles, I vaguely remembered the settings, but I somehow completely forgot about his character.

I just finished chapter three. I echo most of what’s already been said about it. The chapter doesn’t bring the story much forward and is mainly about obtaining the key. I did enjoy puzzling my way to that goal though.

Again, I don’t think it’s fair puzzle design to rely on knowledge that is not obtainable in-game. This time I did have to alt-tab and google my way to the info I needed. I did enjoy solving the puzzle after that though. Like others I was stuck on the jewelry box puzzle for a while, but once I figured out the connection to chess it wasn’t that hard to solve it.

I got Samuel’s head chopped off in the crypt. Maybe I would have been more careful if I had read the inscription on that pillar first but I’m not sure. A bit unfair I think.

Some things in the chapter is downright silly. The whole fooling Richard with the ink/oxidant puzzle has already been mentioned. Another silly moment is when Richard refuses to give the key to the crypt to Samuel because of how angry Eleanor would be but think it’s a good idea to give Samuel acid to melt the lock. C’mon…

A general thing that bothers me a tiny bit with this game is that Samuel talks too much, both to others and to himself. There are unnecessary phrases at the beginning and end of most dialogs, such as “can I talk to you for a moment” and “I will go now”. they get a bit tiresome and slow the game down. Also, Samuel has a tendency to overexplain what he’s doing and why.

Enjoying the game very much though. Hope we can continue on with chapter four pretty soon.

I finished chapter 3 also. Cant say i enjoyed this one as much as the previous. Story wise not many things are happening and is heavy on puzzles.

I spent way too much time on slider puzzle. While i had guessed right the pattern and the order of the signs i thought the top right and bottom left tiles of the middle cube were reversed. That leaded to try to solve an unsolvable puzzle. I had to check internet how to solve the slider puzzles and actually learned generally how to solve those and that some of those are unsolvable from the start. Anyway, after i saw a screenshot of the solved puzzle i realized my mistake and it was a matter of minutes afterward to progress.

Also i had problem with the knights puzzle. I couldnt understand why the knights were moving to only specific spaces. It didnt help that some of the spaces were black and some white, which is irrelevant. I had to check a guide again and when i found the movement to be chesslike then it was easy.

Other than that i was stuck finding hotspots for long time. First it was the logs for the stove and then the steam. Spent too much time walking around pixel hunting. I really dont like how hotspots disappear and reappear in this game relative to which part of the puzzle you are. A way to highligt hot spots would make this game so much better.

Also Samuel show a diferrent character this part. He destroys property, deceives, steals and all of that just to get to a key and learn the truth. I guess is because of the gameplay but still the change of character is kinda sudden.

This chapter exhausted me with the puzzles, i hope rest of the game is easier.

sylv - 06 April 2023 01:55 AM

DCast - 05 April 2023 05:49 PM

Samuel is just not very pleasant, period.

Yes, it is really strange to play like a character you don’t like at all!

Even stranger that I had completely forgotten this aspect of the game. I remembered that I liked the story and the puzzles, I vaguely remembered the settings, but I somehow completely forgot about his character.

I also completely forgot about his personality, and I think I mentioned it in the very first post - that’s how peculiar this fact was to me. But I realized something after reading your post - I played Black Mirror back when it first came out in a different language. Now I’m wondering if the written dialogues (with Samuel’s snobbishness) or voice-over (he has this robotic arrogance going - I’m not a fan, although the others are very decent) ever carried over into localizations? I’m playing English version for the first time, and it sticks out like a sore thumb, so I think that either localization did smooth the overall character over (maybe even without realizing it), or maybe, as a teen, I just didn’t care all that much about this aspect then.

I finally got a chance to catch up yesterday.

I’m still making my way through Chapter 2, although since I’m stuck in the underground elevator shaft I hope that means I’m close to finishing this one.

I’ll echo many things that others have said, and it also bugs me when I accidentally double click on a hotspot and lose the ability to read the description (save for reloading a previous save).