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Casual Playthrough—Phantasmat
Once again I’ve fallen behind. Really thought this time I wouldn’t but then again stuff came up, sigh. Just finished the second part and will be continuing of course.
Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier
I’m ready for the final section. I like the number code puzzles in the sewers. They make it easy by showing your entry each time until you punch in a new one.
“Rainy days should be spent at home with a cup of tea and a good book.” -Bill Watterson
OK! I nominated the game so I’m going to give myself some leeway here. I just finished the game for the third time. I wanted to play the game in all three modes. Unfortunately the Challenge mode and Extreme mode trophies are identical.
Extreme mode is stressful. All HO and M3 games are timed. You start an HO at four minutes. Seconds are added for each object found, and deducted for bad clicks. When you switch over to M3, that’s the time you have to finish off the sequence.
Because of the way I play the game I don’t think there is any way to get max scores across the board. This is, I will never get a M3 max score.
So why did I jump ahead? One because you apparently can’t start a new player while playing an old player. So as much s I wanted to see the waif apparition Iz mentioned, I couldn’t look for it without losing all my trophies.
So now I’m starting another new game and am going to search for that image.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
I think the “problem” with Angelica is that it left people without absolute certain knowledge of what had transpired. (Even with the addition of the Bonus material.) I don’t view that as a bad quality. Considering the amount of discussion the ending generated, I would consider that to be a good quality.
The thing is, I don’t mind open-ended stories, and I don’t mind ambiguous endings, but personally, I thought the ending to Angelica Weaver was neither…
It was imo a confusing mess with a culprit that came out of nowhere, a motivation that doesn’t make sense, and no explanation whatsoever for the inconsistent use of supernatural elements throughout the game. The bonus CE chapter actually managed to make things worse. Sure, it generates a lot of discussion, but is that really a good thing if most people are just baffled?
Anyway, back to Phantasmat:
Finished the underwater section. Shortest section so far, I felt.
It confirmed my thoughts about the assistant (she was indeed left waiting at the altar, and since she didn’t want to leave the church, she drowned in the flood), and it explained the story of the old lady rather well (and with a lot more depth than could be found in any of my theories).
So she poisoned her husband to get his wealth, but regretted it immediately as she realized that she did in fact love him, and to cope with this regret she moved out of the house and into the hotel, and spent a lot of time visiting his grave (which I assume is where she was when the flood hit).
The old lady’s story somehow makes me think of Julianne Moore’s storyline in the (brilliant) movie Magnolia (which is actually odd as there’s no murder involved): marrying a rich old man for his money, hoping he’d die soon, only to then fall in love with him and to regret her false reasons for marrying him so much that when he’s on his dying bed, she’s barely able to live with herself and doesn’t want any of his wealth.
Still no idea how that bank robbery fits into any of this. Does that make the proprietor the bank robber? Did he kill the previous hotel owner for the deed to the hotel or because he found out about the robbery?
And who killed the adventurer? Isn’t that supposed to have happened AFTER the flood?
As for the questions asked:
1. We are very much alive. The other three are very much dead. I stand by my theory that we have to make them “move on” by showing them they’re dead.
2. Didn’t we see her eyes in our rear-view mirror just before the car crash? Other than that, no, I don’t think we saw her.
@ Iznogood: that ghostly apparition was in the forest maze, iirc. So AFTER we’d already met the assistant…
3. I don’t think they can manipulate things. We’re doing everything for them (with the very first puzzle at the hotel - the generator - as a prime example). On the other hand if that adventurer died while the main characters were already dead, then who killed him? Maybe they DO have the power to manipulate things???
4. One of the descriptions in the hidden room in the Mayor’s house spoke of a hat that must’ve been very fashionable in the ‘20s. So that’s when I guess the old lady poisoned her husband. And I figure her moving to the hotel happened shortly after that.
As for the flood, the clothing that the three wear, plus the technology found in the hotel and the town would suggest the late ‘50s to me.
@ Tim: I didn’t see a date on that diary (nor anywhere else really)... 
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
Regarding the adventurer… [spoiler]I think the adventurer simply went mad, albeit a madness caused by the proprietor’s ghost. And he simply died of (un)natural causes. The other alternative is that he committed suicide, with the cause being the same. Although it’s used as an object in one of the HO scenes, there was a pistol in the skeletal hand of the adventurer[/spoiler]
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
I thought the young assistant’s story was the most confusing. It was said she was left waiting at the altar, but the flood was not sudden if most people managed to escape and they had evacuation notices. Even the most wedding-obsessed bridezilla would not insist on being married at that church at that time. And if she did, was the groom just being sensible and thinking the wedding would naturally be postponed or did he indeed jilt her? Did she stay at the church thinking her life was over anyway? The socialite’s assessment of her as a silly little goose seems appropriate although she doesn’t seem like one in the game.
There’s another thing that changes when you play in Extreme mode. The mini-games/puzzles get harder. Using the first “electric box” puzzle as an example, in Casual and Challenge mode the dials rotate independently. I Extreme mode they are interlocked so rotating one rotates some of the others.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
My answers to the questions I posted earlier:
1. I agree with those who think we are alive.
2. I also agree that the eyes in the rear view mirror at the very beginning of the game are those of the Girl. So we get a glimpse of each character before meeting them.
3. I think the characters are more powerful than it first appears. They seem to have control to some extent over what we see, at least in the indoor areas. The portraits in the hallway that change and the seaweed that starts growing in certain places—that I think is caused by one or more of the characters. The images in the tea were, IMHO, controlled by the Socialite. And the spectral light under the water that makes it possible to explore the underwater areas—that has to have some sort of source, and I suspect it’s provided by a character—probably the Girl, who wants us to explore there. The headstones in the cemetery have no names on them—the game even points this out—this might be because to the Socialite (who controls that area), the names were not important to her except for her husband and the famous monument (was it an explorer? I don’t remember now).
4. I agree that the Socialite left the mansion and moved into the hotel in the twenties—there’s a comment in the mansion that the fashions in the hidden room are from the twenties.
Most of the questions asked by others in this thread will be answered by the final and Fifth Section that we’ll play on Halloween.
Until then—just in case anyone has been noticing—how many instances of human skeletal remains have we stumbled across in this game? Including those in the Hidden Object screens? Once Section Five is finished, we might be able to identify all of them.
Still no idea how that bank robbery fits into any of this. Does that make the proprietor the bank robber? Did he kill the previous hotel owner for the deed to the hotel or because he found out about the robbery?
That will actually be revealed in the part I “accidentally” played, so don’t worry that will be explained.
And who killed the adventurer? Isn’t that supposed to have happened AFTER the flood?
Yes many years later as I understand it, and it was the proprietor who killed him. He mentions on one the tapes that he is scared that the proprietor will kill him. But exactly how it happened is unclear.
So she poisoned her husband to get his wealth, but regretted it immediately as she realized that she did in fact love him, and to cope with this regret she moved out of the house and into the hotel, and spent a lot of time visiting his grave (which I assume is where she was when the flood hit).
I don’t think she ever loved him, remember their weeding picture. Instead she regretted marrying him in the first place (for his money), and of course also regretted poisoning him. But I don’t think that she for one second loved him.
@ Iznogood: that ghostly apparition was in the forest maze, iirc. So AFTER we’d already met the assistant…
yes I realize that now - But there is also as you mentioned, the eyes that might be her:
But most important, she is right here in the very first part of the game:
I don’t know why she doesn’t show more clearly on the screen-capture, instead of just a dark shadow, but if you play the scene you can very clearly see it is her.
As for the flood, the clothing that the three wear, plus the technology found in the hotel and the town would suggest the late ‘50s to me.
Am I really the only one that pays attention to the cars in this game???
Clearly a Rolls-Royce Phantom VI, which Rolls-Royce didn’t start producing before 1968!
No other/earlier Rolls-Royce has the same front with the double headlights.
You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ
Am I really the only one that pays attention to the cars in this game???
Accidental anachronisms happen all the time in period piece movies/series/books/games/etc.
I’m not saying you’re wrong, but the devs could have made an error… 
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
The eyes in the mirror may or may not be those of the girl. If I were to do a side-by-side comparison, I would think they’re the eyes of the proprietor.
Re: the Rolls Just because the Rolls, first produced in 1968, is at the bottom of the lake doesn’t mean it had to arrive there before the flood. If our protagonist had crashed 1/4 mile further down the road her 2008 car would have been down there as well. Wouldn’t mean that the flood couldn’t have occurred before 2008.
Re: the spectral image at the crash site I restarted the game yet another time specifically to try to see this image. Didn’t. See the first sentence. I still see no evidence of our seeing the girl prior to our first meeting with her outside the shack. If we were ever to have seen a spectral image it would have been along the path to the hotel. After all, we started first, but she managed to beat us there as evidenced by our finding her in the basement.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
Am I really the only one that pays attention to the cars in this game???
Accidental anachronisms happen all the time in period piece movies/series/books/games/etc.
I’m not saying you’re wrong, but the devs could have made an error…
They could have made a mistake, but if that is the case then I will be severely disappointed.
Re: the Rolls Just because the Rolls, first produced in 1968, is at the bottom of the lake doesn’t mean it had to arrive there before the flood. If our protagonist had crashed 1/4 mile further down the road her 2008 car would have been down there as well. Wouldn’t mean that the flood couldn’t have occurred before 2008.
The car is clearly dressed up as a wedding limousine. Theoretical It could have landed in the lake later, but a much more likely explanation is that it was the limousine used for the young girl’s wedding.
Also even though their clothes look old fashioned, then it actually does fits with the 70’s, and similar with all the rest of the items we see.
Re: the spectral image at the crash site I restarted the game yet another time specifically to try to see this image. Didn’t. See the first sentence. I still see no evidence of our seeing the girl prior to our first meeting with her outside the shack.
I know it isn’t obvious from the screenshot I captured (for some unknown reason she is turned into a dark shadow in the capture). But if you try to walk through the electricity at the first scene before doing anything else, she makes a quick dash from the shack down towards you, and turns to our left right before the electric wires. It all happens very quickly only about a single second or two, so it is very easy to miss. Also it is not a spectral image but the girl in her normal clothes and everything. (The white lady I mentioned turned out to be later)
You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ
Not sure I about the wedding limousine. Aside from a rose and a piece of cloth draped over the hood there’s nothing that says this was the car that was intended to drive the happy couple. In fact, as TimoveMan stated earlier regarding the intended groom…did he get cold feet or was he a practical person who, aware of the impending flood, left, but expected his bride-to-be to meet him on high ground. After which they would re-schedule everything. If I buy into your theory, and assume the limo driver had the same information as everyone else, why didn’t the driver head for high ground? Why is his skeleton still behind the wheel?
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
First of all I have finally managed to snap a better picture of the girl, and enhanced it a bit to make it more clear what we are looking at.
Its from the same area that I circled in yellow in the previous picture:
Not sure I about the wedding limousine. Aside from a rose and a piece of cloth draped over the hood there’s nothing that says this was the car that was intended to drive the happy couple. In fact, as TimoveMan stated earlier regarding the intended groom…did he get cold feet or was he a practical person who, aware of the impending flood, left, but expected his bride-to-be to meet him on high ground. After which they would re-schedule everything. If I buy into your theory, and assume the limo driver had the same information as everyone else, why didn’t the driver head for high ground? Why is his skeleton still behind the wheel?
As for the groom, then I believe that he got cold feet and didn’t show up at the wedding, the bride waited and waited for her beloved to turn up 
, and ultimately waited for too long and got caught in the flood. Had he turned up then they would have had plenty of time to conduct the wedding and get to safety long before the flood. Realizing that his failure to show up had caused the death of the women he loved, he then committed suicide out of grief and shame. So I see this as more as a tragic Romeo and Juliet story than as a stupid girl that drowned in the flood.
As for the car not necessarily being for their wedding. Well it does have the cloth and large rose draped over the hood, it is white and it is a freaking Rolls-Royce, which only very few people can afford, and which is often used for weddings. You could argue… and in fact you have… that it was not for their wedding, or that the cloth is just a part of the HO and not actually a wedding decorating, but it would be a hell of a coincident for a car like that to fall into the lake, just outside the church where the couple was to be wedded.
As for the driver, I don’t know. Just like the cloth and rose, the skeleton could just be a part of the HO without any real meaning, though I don’t actually believe that myself. But it could also just be a very dedicated limo driver, who didn’t want to leave his customers. It could for that matter be her father or someone else close to her, that didn’t wanted to simply abandon her in the flood, tried to get her to leave before it was too late, and got caught in the flood himself. Remember it was a flash flood and not simply a slow rising of the water.
Edit: I am inclined to agree with you, that it is probably not her we see in the rear view mirror.
You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ
This was an evacuation and/or flood warning that had, at least, several days advance warning.
I find it hard to believe in any theory that relies on a belief that this was a surprise.
But, let’s wait until we finish on Friday. Then the discussion can really begin.
Re the girl[spoiler] I played that sequence yet again and didn’t see it. But I don’t doubt for a minute that you captured what you saw. So even if I didn’t see it, I guess we had visual contact with all three before we actually met them.[/spoiler]
Don’t know exactly why I put the above in a spoiler tag. 
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
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