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Casual Playthrough #4 - Enigmatis: The Mists of Ravenwood
Iz -
I’m not sure I understand exactly where this section ends. There are at least two locations where UH is captured. One in the mansion by the vines and one later on. If you have a screenshot of UH in the captured location that might be more helpful.
Well, those of us who are playing for the first time don’t know that we get captured twice, so we’d stop at the first time…
Exactly - Which is also the reason I wasn’t more specific!
I might have foreshadowed that we do get captured, but I didn’t want to reveal when, where or how it happens - So stop when you get captured the first time, by the vines in the mansion right after the screenshot I did post 
You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ
Iz - I’m not sure I understand exactly where this section ends. There are at least two locations where UH is captured. One in the mansion by the vines and one later on. If you have a screenshot of UH in the captured location that might be more helpful.
Well, those of us who are playing for the first time don’t know that we get captured twice, so we’d stop at the first time…
Well, for those of us playing it for the second time it’s a valid question. 
But, I get your point. I can’t be sure, but I think the current segment ends when UH sees what she sees in the screenshot I recently posted.
The last of the screenshots in Iz’s post didn’t really give me any sense of place. Sorry, Iz. I guess that’s what happens when the same character appears in threatening poses all over the place. At least we know where we are supposed to be. It’s going to be VERY hard to wait until Saturday.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
OK, I got myself captured by Whitmarsh, but he left, Becky is in the cupboard next to me, and there’s a sword in plain sight to cut me free, so we should be out in a jiffy. 
It’s going to be VERY hard to wait until Saturday.
Oh yeah. Can’t wait until Saturday to continue (and finish the game?)...
I’m absolutely loving this game so far, the story’s intriguing, there’s a sense of danger, a lot of variety in the puzzles, and even some of the HO scenes are great (the ones where we’re not looking for a list of random items, but for actual pieces of equipment that need assembly - those are more like puzzles than HO scenes AND they make sense in context).
This one’s well on its way to being my favourite of the four CPTs. In fact, if it weren’t for the achievements (which I actually like - they’re a fun addition) and the “here’s a list of random objects to find” HO scenes, I’d say there’s but a very thin line between this casual and a regular AG.
Given that this is the most recent one we’ve played (released in September 2013), does that mean that casuals are becoming more and more like regular AGs???
As for the story so far: let me run with my “the prisoner is the Preacher” theory(*) for a bit: we’ve now learned that the Reapers are pitted against each other in a “There can be only one!” fashion, with the last man standing becoming Asmodai reincarnated. That begs the question “Why did Whitmarsh lock up the Preacher instead of just killing him?”
I get that the Preacher was helpless as his ritual dagger is in Hamilton’s possession, but why would Whitmarsh take a risk like that?
Also, given how we’ve been a nuisance that has even managed to enter his mansion, why did Whitmarsh just turn his back on us the second he had us captured and tied up? That’s just Bond villain stupidity to me. “Let me put you in this easily escapable position and not even place a guard here. Good-bye!” 
(*) I’m more convinced than ever that this theory is correct because of Hamilton’s statement that the two of us meeting each other there is no coincidence. We’re both after the Preacher, so if we encounter each other, that means the Preacher’s near.
Oh, and as for who pushed us down that trap door in the snack bar, I think it’s safe to conclude from this part of the game that the ticket lady is the most likely culprit. It’s certainly she that was peeking through the window…
I’m also very glad that we got to free her from Whitmarsh’s spell. Makes me feel like we are slowly gaining the upper hand in the game… 
Achievement-wise, I managed a “flawless aim” HO scene (less than 4 misclicks) and one with 3 items in 3 seconds. I blundered in this section by accidentally clicking the hint-button during a HO scene (while I was going for an item just next to it), so that could cost me the other two HO achievements. I’ve only switched to a game of Memory once, so no achievements in that department.
The most important to me are the butterflies and illusive objects, though.
I think I have 23 out of 30 butterflies, and I hope I’ll get them all.
I have 28 out of 30 illusive objects, but I think the remaining two were just outside the park entrance in the beginning (I missed them because I hadn’t figured out their mechanics yet). Hopefully I can grab these in a second playthrough (of just that first section). I really want that achievement.
The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka
Well, for those of us playing it for the second time it’s a valid question.
Well as a playthrough leader it is my responsibility to make sure everybody knows when to stop, so I apologize for no being specific enough.
But it was a bit of a dilemma regarding how much I should reveal, I deliberately foreshadowed that we would get caught, at least I hope it came off as foreshadowing and not as a spoiler, but in return wanted you not to know exactly where and when that would happen. I thought everybody would recognize it when you got to it, but was obviously wrong about that.
OK, I got myself captured by Whitmarsh, but he left, Becky is in the cupboard next to me, and there’s a sword in plain sight to cut me free, so we should be out in a jiffy.
It might not be quite as easy as you expect…
Also, given how we’ve been a nuisance that has even managed to enter his mansion, why did Whitmarsh just turn his back on us the second he had us captured and tied up? That’s just Bond villain stupidity to me. “Let me put you in this easily escapable position and not even place a guard here. Good-bye!”
Well… at least in this game there is a reason for it
You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ
I’m absolutely loving this game so far, the story’s intriguing, there’s a sense of danger, a lot of variety in the puzzles, and even some of the HO scenes are great (the ones where we’re not looking for a list of random items, but for actual pieces of equipment that need assembly - those are more like puzzles than HO scenes AND they make sense in context).
I agree, the game has this constant sense of danger, that I felt lacked in the first game. You never know when something is going to happen, and when the raven attacked us and took Becky, it nearly gave me a heart-attack. (I had completely forgotten It would happen )
My favourite HO scene not just in this game, but in all the (few) casuals I have played is this one:
The achievement I’m most proud of is “Faster than Light” for solving a mini-game in less than 1 minute, but also “Eagle Eye” for solving a HO in less than 1 minute. I have all the mini-game and HO achievements, expect the one for finishing all mini-games without skipping, which I expect I will get as I haven’t skipped any yet 
, and the one for solving all HO without using a hint, which I won’t get as I have used hints a couple of times 
.
I have found 25/30 butterflies and 27/30 illusive objects, and don’t expect that I will actually get all I missed at least one butterfly which I noticed just out out of the corner of my eye when leaving a zoom in, without any possibility of zooming in again, and if Timoviman has 28 IO than I must also have missed some of those.
You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ
As for the story so far: let me run with my “the prisoner is the Preacher” theory(*) for a bit: we’ve now learned that the Reapers are pitted against each other in a “There can be only one!” fashion, with the last man standing becoming Asmodai reincarnated. That begs the question “Why did Whitmarsh lock up the Preacher instead of just killing him?”
I get that the Preacher was helpless as his ritual dagger is in Hamilton’s possession, but why would Whitmarsh take a risk like that?
One thing that was not made clear in the prisoner’s story was whether there is only one ritual knife or whether each of the reapers has/had their own. I’m leaning towards the former.
In which case Whitmarsh could not have killed the preacher as the knife was in Hamilton’s custody. Which lends credence to the prisoner being the Preacher. It’s also why Hamilton received the invitation. The best Whitmarsh could do was imprison the Preacher and wait for Hamilton to arrive with the knife.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
I’ve reached the stopping point. It’s a real cliffhanger. (Roothanger?) So far, the UH is very bounce-backable. In Maple Creek she was struck by lightning and knocked unconscious by an exploding altar. In Mists of Ravenwood, she is knocked unconscious by a giant raven and falls in a cable car into the sea. So far the only damage this does – and it’s temporary—is to her memory in the first game in the series.
Furgotten – thanks for the tip on the Monty Python reference – I wouldn’t have gotten it otherwise. It’s actually a very dangerous occupation they’re referring to. Not as dangerous as going after beings with supernatural powers, but definitely up there.
Izno – I smiled while doing that HO screen too. I think that a puzzle or challenge is especially successful if it evokes an emotional reaction. You don’t see that too much in adventure games, and even less in casual games.
I like the portrayal of Becky – she’s sweet, but not too cloying. A difficult balance to reach. The sequence where the UH finds the family photographs, and one of them animates – that’s particularly odd, in my view. It’s as though the UH was there when the scene happened, and clearly she wasn’t.
There’s a nice range of difficulty on the mini-games. I skipped one during this sequence – the directionally-challenged revolving rings. I kept getting so close, but no, not close enough.
Whitmarsh is, I think, more powerful than the Preacher was. He can control people’s minds, as the Preacher could. And the Raven made of mist shows Whitmarsh’s control over the atmosphere – which the Preacher possibly also used in order to direct the storm in Maple Creek. But Whitmarsh’s control of the tree – I don’t think the Preacher had a similar power. All this power has made Whitmarsh overconfident, I think. That’s why he left the UH trussed up in the tree – that, and not knowing that the ticket seller had regained her senses and was misleading him.
One thing that was not made clear in the prisoner’s story was whether there is only one ritual knife or whether each of the reapers has/had their own. I’m leaning towards the former.
I was under the impression from one of the prisoner’s stories that every Reaper has his own ritual knife. On the other hand, it doesn’t seem like Whitmarsh is using a knife for his killings - he’s using his tree powers...
Heh, “tree powers”. 
The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka
I was under the impression from one of the prisoner’s stories that every Reaper has his own ritual knife. On the other hand, it doesn’t seem like Whitmarsh is using a knife for his killings - he’s using his tree powers...
Heh, “tree powers”.
In the last disk you insert in the prisoner’s door prior to being captured the prisoner talks of the ritual knife that the reapers use. He specifically uses the singular form of the noun. Not the knives. So I believe Hamilton has the one and only in his possession.
Also I found the map, but was unable to take a screenshot. I’m using Windows, and simply use Alt-PrtScr to capture. The map is on a different layer and all Alt-PrtScr does is capture the base layer. I think my general guess as to the park’s location is good. The map can be found in the cabin where you find Becky. It’s in the book she shows you when you first talk with her. If you don’t get it there, it’s gone.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
One thing that was not made clear in the prisoner’s story was whether there is only one ritual knife or whether each of the reapers has/had their own. I’m leaning towards the former.
I was under the impression from one of the prisoner’s stories that every Reaper has his own ritual knife. On the other hand, it doesn’t seem like Whitmarsh is using a knife for his killings - he’s using his tree powers...
There is I believe only one single knife. Which would also explain why Whitmarsh haven’t killed the Preacher, because he can’t… That is if the prisoner actually is the Preacher… He might be someone else.
You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ
There is I believe only one single knife. Which would also explain why Whitmarsh haven’t killed the Preacher, because he can’t… That is if the prisoner actually is the Preacher… He might be someone else.
In that case I’ll echo Tim’s statement that this lends credence to the theory that the prisoner is in fact the Preacher.
The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka
There is I believe only one single knife. Which would also explain why Whitmarsh haven’t killed the Preacher, because he can’t… That is if the prisoner actually is the Preacher… He might be someone else.
If the prisoner is not the Preacher, and simply some mortal being, there would be no reason not to feed him to the trees.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
Given that this is the most recent one we’ve played (released in September 2013), does that mean that casuals are becoming more and more like regular AGs???
Yes and no. Casual games are becoming more story-driven, making them more like adventure games. But the story in a typical, recent Hidden Object game is still less complex than that in a typical traditional adventure game. In casual games, you’ll encounter much less dialog, fewer cut scenes, and more streamlined storytelling techniques in general. Mists of Ravenwood has an unusually intriguing backstory, which is one of the reasons I nominated it for the playthrough. It’s a standout among casual games story-wise.
Personally, I thought that, by this point, HO games would allow the player to opt out of HO screens, the way mini-games can be skipped. Which would give these games more of an adventurish feel. That didn’t happen. But the HO screens are becoming much more interactive and puzzle-like, which I enjoy. And more of the recent games allow you to substitute another game for the HO screens—jigsaw puzzles or Match-3, for instance, to provide some variety. And there’s a trend toward fewer HO screens overall in more recent casual games, with increasing proportions of inventory challenges and mini-games.
But unlike adventure games, which strive to integrate the puzzles into the gameplay, most recent casual games are full of arbitrary barriers that halt the story or exploration, and give you a puzzle to solve mostly for the sake of giving you a puzzle to solve. Judging from comments in forums (which admittedly may not be fully representative) casual gamers don’t like to feel lost in large environments, they don’t like tons of dialog, they do like encountering lots of familiar puzzle-types along with a bit of innovation (not the other way around), and they like having multiple ways to interact in each individual screen.
I have finished this section and must say that Becky (the child) is far more smart, brave, and mature than I was at that age. I’m impressed.
At one point UH picked up a full face photograph of the Preacher and stared at it. An excellent clue by the developers; that is, if UH is any good at facial feature recognition.
I did keep up & got up to the point where I found Becky before the deadline but just didn’t have time to post! I’ve now played up to the point where I’ve ‘released’ the ticket seller. I’m still intrigued about who the prisoner is - I just can’t remember from the 1st time I played but I was compelled then to get all of the ‘tokens’ to find out I thought then that he was possibly the angel Raphael but know that he’s not!
I keep forgetting to click on butterflies & look for illusionary objects so I’m not doing too well there! I liked seeing Hamilton again & now wondering how he fits in along with Whitmarsh, the prisoner & now the Preacher
I think the HO screens are a lot more interesting & not too many! Just a little more to go before I get captured somehow!
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