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Community Playthrough #27: Tex Murphy: The Pandora Directive

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Jabod - 12 March 2014 02:54 PM

Never had a problem with the crossword but I’ve always been good at them - cryptic or otherwise. [spoiler]Mayan calendars on the other hand [/spoiler]

I suck at them! Even in my own language…

Iznogood - 12 March 2014 02:50 PM

Btw: have anyone noticed this painting:

I don’t know what I find more disturbing, the picture itself or the fact that it is one of Tex’s favourite

Art critique is one of the best things about Tex Murphy, I hope Tesla Effect has whole museum for commentaries Smile

     
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Made it through day one. Not sure how much I missed, or how important what I missed might have been.

I will admit that the interface does make me feel a bit queasy at times. Going up and making the turns on the hotel stairs was not pleasant.

One thing regarding the game: I am not experiencing any of the sound problems others have reported, but I am experiencing another problem. I have two programs running on my desktop. One is a weather reporting program. The other is a stock market reporting program.

When I load TPD and play, then exit, both programs are no longer running on my desktop and must be reloaded. I’m sure its because of a DOSBox conflict, and doesn’t cause any great harm, but it’s a PITA nevertheless.

     

For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.

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I imagine doing a crossword in a language other than your native language would be particularly challenging.

According to Mobygames, Pandora Directive was available in French, German, Spanish, and English.
Is anyone playing the game in a language other than English?
If so, is the crossword changed to that language?


I haven’t noticed any technical problems—at least not yet.
I’m using the Mac version from GOG, which uses DOSBox—so actually it’s the PC version running inside the Mac version of DOSBox.

I use a trackball mouse because I have such tiny desk area (not much larger than mouse-size).
Navigation is weird, though I don’t think it’s any worse with a trackball than with a mouse.
You roll the ball around instead of moving the mouse.

rtrooney - 12 March 2014 09:20 PM

I will admit that the interface does make me feel a bit queasy at times. Going up and making the turns on the hotel stairs was not pleasant.

I’m having the same problem.
The first time I played the game (many many years ago) I didn’t have “motion sickness” problems until a mazelike area much later in the game.

     
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crabapple - 13 March 2014 12:08 PM

I imagine doing a crossword in a language other than your native language would be particularly challenging.

According to Mobygames, Pandora Directive was available in French, German, Spanish, and English.
Is anyone playing the game in a language other than English?
If so, is the crossword changed to that language?

I played the French version many years ago. If I remember correctly, they just removed the crossword.

(That version was entirely awful, as are most dubbed versions of games / movies / tv shows. They gave Tex that ridiculously posh voice…)

     
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crabapple - 13 March 2014 12:08 PM

I imagine doing a crossword in a language other than your native language would be particularly challenging.

I took Iz’s advice and am playing the easier version of the game. There is no crossword in day one, or at least not one that I found.

     

For whom the games toll,
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I found the crossword to be doable for the biggest part, but got stuck with 6 or 7 words missing.
Luckily a few were googleable so that gave me enough letters to finish it (googling ‘lock’ wasn’t very helpful).
So now I’ve entered apartment A.

For those playing bad Tex, is it possible to get two day 2 without being nice to Chelsee?

Just read the review for Journey of a Roach (because it’s now on gog) and apparently it has an achievement for finishing it within 18 minutes! Thumbs Up Pff, so glad Big Finish is in business again.

     
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Time for some thoughts on Day 1.


First, I have to say the intro is still really impressive after all these years. Not so much the murder scene at the beginning (I keep forgetting it’s even part of the intro every time I replay the game), but the scene at Louie’s, with Tex and Chelsee, and then Fitzpatrick. FMV games have received a lot of flak over the years, but when the actors and the director are good, no amount of polygons is ever going to replace an actual human being. I’ve played TPD numerous times, and I wasn’t even sure I was in the mood to replay it at this point, but it just took Kevin McCarthy (Fitzpatrick) a couple of minutes to get me curious and excited all over again.

(By the way, I hope everyone caught the UAKM Easter egg!)

Still, I’m not motivated enough to be playing in Game Player mode. No stupid fireballs for me this time – and no crossword!


The chapter was very brief. I did spend some time exploring the neighbourhood, although I avoided Crazy Gary. (He’s an annoying character played by an awful actor; I’m not going to interact with him until I absolutely have to.)

When I first played the game, I remember thinking that the first chapter lacked direction, because you could spend so much time walking around and talking to people with no clear notion of what this was supposed to achieve. Of course, now that I mostly know the game by heart, I enjoyed hanging out with those characters again.

I’m going for the dark path, but not being too much of a jerk. Just a bit. Well, except with Nilo, who’s scum, and Clint, who’s ridiculous. And Rook, but that’s just friendly banter. And a little bit to Chelsee, because seriously make up your mind woman. But I can’t be a jerk to Louie. Innocent


Miscellaneous excerpts from my notes:

* Damn, Chris Jones was young! Whoever said he didn’t look any older in Tesla Effect need to get their eyes checked.
* That font looks far too much like Comic Sans for my taste…
* WTF is this weird glowing pen that Fitz is using?
* I miss the sax for the day intros…
* Vidphones and fax machines! Welcome to the future! (Interestingly enough, Tex had an iWatch of sorts in Martian Memorandum. Where did that go?)
* The controls are really awful. I’m dreading Roswell.
* So Eddie Ching had Hamm Underwood killed. I don’t know if I’m sad about that.
* Can I punch Nilo? Can I? Can I? Pleeeeeease…
* (day end cutscene) And Tex gets hit in the face. Again…


By the way, I’m also re-reading the book in parallel to replaying the game. (Day 1 was chapters 1-2.) Is anyone else doing the same?

     
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Kurufinwe - 13 March 2014 02:36 PM

* Damn, Chris Jones was young! Whoever said he didn’t look any older in Tesla Effect need to get their eyes checked.

That was compared to Overseer, not TPD, and I said he didn’t look *that much* older. Definitely not the 15 years it were. Innocent

     

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

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HandsFree - 13 March 2014 02:27 PM

For those playing bad Tex, is it possible to get two day 2 without being nice to Chelsee?

No. You can annoy her, get her a wee bit angry, but, in the end the only way to get the “date” is by being friendly and without the date you don’t get to talk to Nilo.

     

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Tex’s apartment used to be a dance studio? Yeah, right. Those dance step markers are ridiculous. One set of footsteps looks like someone taking baby steps and, for another grouping, you’d have to be either a contortionist or be leaping from one step to another. Actually, now that I think about it, the movement in the game is a bit like dancing with an enthusiastic but erratic partner.

I’m exploring the neighborhood and getting to know the residents. Tex has some great descriptions. He’s keeping me on my toes with his dialogue responses—I think he’s going to give a compliment, and instead it turns out to be an insult.

I tried dumpster diving. I got the lids off, but haven’t figured out how to get inside yet.

Just curious about the water cooler comment. How did it figure in UAKM?

     
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Finished Day one, evil Tex is kind of a jerk but no too bad, it’s not possible so far to be very mean to Louie I think, except not paying up.

Kurufinwe - 13 March 2014 02:36 PM

(By the way, I hope everyone caught the UAKM Easter egg!)

mmm, what was it? Bourbon special?

Kurufinwe - 13 March 2014 02:36 PM

* I miss the sax for the day intros…

Hear, hear. The days intro lack personality

Becky - 13 March 2014 07:27 PM

Just curious about the water cooler comment. How did it figure in UAKM?

Bad guy killed another and stuck his head inside the watercooler Don’t ask how is that even possible Smile

     
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wilco - 13 March 2014 07:52 PM
Kurufinwe - 13 March 2014 02:36 PM

(By the way, I hope everyone caught the UAKM Easter egg!)

mmm, what was it? Bourbon special?

The murdered woman in the intro has an interesting box among her possessions.

     
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Becky - 13 March 2014 07:27 PM

Tex’s apartment used to be a dance studio? Yeah, right.

If I remember correctly, Tex was actually moonlighting as a dance instructor to make some extra cash in UaKM.

Becky - 13 March 2014 07:27 PM

He’s keeping me on my toes with his dialogue responses—I think he’s going to give a compliment, and instead it turns out to be an insult.

Yeah that is the downside to this kind of dialogue system, sometimes it turns out the exact opposite of what was intended, but look on the bright side, in how many games do we get to make dialogue choices like:

 

Becky - 13 March 2014 07:27 PM

I tried dumpster diving. I got the lids off, but haven’t figured out how to get inside yet.

You can’t, but now that we are on the subject:
Every time I’m close to a dumpster I think of the two times my ex-wife tried to cook. - Tex Grin

rtrooney - 13 March 2014 01:49 PM

I took Iz’s advice and am playing the easier version of the game. There is no crossword in day one, or at least not one that I found.

You are correct, there is no crossword on ENT and even on GP it is 100% optional.

Kurufinwe - 13 March 2014 02:36 PM

When I first played the game, I remember thinking that the first chapter lacked direction, because you could spend so much time walking around and talking to people with no clear notion of what this was supposed to achieve. Of course, now that I mostly know the game by heart, I enjoyed hanging out with those characters again.

Yeah I fell the same way, like meeting some old friends again. I however do seem to recall that originally I pretty much rushed directly to Apartment A, and didn’t spend time to explore the neighbourhood or speak to anybody but Chelsee and Nilo before Day 2.

Kurufinwe - 13 March 2014 02:36 PM

* Can I punch Nilo? Can I? Can I? Pleeeeeease…

I think we all fell the same way, at least I do. But I guess we will have to do with keeping his wallet Naughty

     

You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ

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Iznogood - 15 March 2014 05:59 AM

If I remember correctly, Tex was actually moonlighting as a dance instructor to make some extra cash in UaKM.

Does he do any dancing in UaKM? Just curious. It would be fun to watch.

I’ve been hanging out with Crazy Gary, and his madness is contagious. (Or perhaps I was taken in by the fine way he rolls his “R"s.) I found myself offering Crazy Gary all of Tex’s remaining cash, knowing full well that Tex would have to go back to eating dog food and making his way through every challenge in the game without the power/convenience of offering bribes. I was surprised at the response.

I finally found some money lying around. I hope the other money stashes don’t come with moral dilemmas. Though with the “path” system, the moral dilemmas aren’t going to go away, are they?

Wilco—I won’t ask, though I can’t help visualizing how it might have been done. I can see now why it made sense to replace the water cooler.

     
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I’m downloading the game from GOG right now. I can’t promise I’ll stay on board for the whole playthrough, but I’m thinking of aiming for Mission Street on Gamer mode with a maximum score. Masochistic, but it’s the only way I can think of playing the game that I haven’t already tried. Tongue

     

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