Adventure Gamers - Forums

Played a bit of day 2, up to the point where you find out the Hambletons’ backstory.

The day starts with the game’s most WTF puzzle. You want to develop your photos, and you need to use the right chemicals to do that. The character knows which ones to use, since he’s an amateur photographer, but how is the player supposed to? The info is not in the manual, and doesn’t seem to be in the game… Unless there’s a clue I (and every walkthrough writer) have missed, I can’t begin to imagine how the designers thought the players would figure this out. (The first time I played the game, I’m pretty sure I looked it up in an encyclopedia or something similar.)

Anyway, don’t bother trying to figure this out. (Although, if you feel like figuring it out yourself, you can try to start from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photographic_processing.) The solution is: metol, hydroquinone, Sodium thiosulphate, potash metabisulfite.

But after that awful bit, I really liked what happened. The story’s moving fast (poor Jugg!), lots of reveals and tension, clearer objectives, and the gameplay makes more sense (despite some iffy stuff here and there).

Oh, one last bit of advice for later in day 2: Draw a map. You’ll know when. And you’ll thank me in the end.

I had some time to spend on the game this morning & have not really progressed that far! My concentration is not very good at the mo, I’m still early on in Day 1, not grabbed enough for a marathon so far & just playing a little here & there trying to avoid looking as much as I can (but needing to occasionally) at the 2 walkthroughs I’ve just printed off! I’m very open-minded about the game so far & some of the characters that are obviously based on actors are driving me mad as I can’t think who they are! 

cirroid - 22 February 2016 09:07 AM

I think it was kind of intuitive to hide behind the trees, but maybe that’s just my previous walkthrough talking, and I just remembered the solution subconsciously.
The running thing reminded me of a certain Broken Sword puzzle (you all know which one I’m talking about ), but in this case there’s no harm done, because you don’t need to know the fact that Parker can run to solve the “puzzle”.
[/spoiler]

Not intuitive at all in my opinion. The game doesn’t foreshadow(tutorial) in any way or gives the impression that there will be QTE’s. Also, the situation in where you have to press a key looks like a cutscene. Hard to figure out it’s interactive.
By the nature of the game it just leaves you thinking that you missed an item or forgot to do something.

cirroid - 22 February 2016 09:07 AM

I think it was kind of intuitive to hide behind the trees, but maybe that’s just my previous walkthrough talking, and I just remembered the solution subconsciously.

I felt the same. I mean, he’s standing there in plain sight like a moron. Of course you want him to hide! But as you said, that might be a vague memory of an earlier playthrough talking.

.

cirroid - 22 February 2016 09:23 AM

Kurufinwe - 21 February 2016 05:59 AM

OK, zane, I’ve reached the point you’re at. A
By the way, I HATE games that do that (not letting you pick up items until you “know” you need them). Ugh.

That was okay imho, because Parker said something like [spoiler]“I leave them here for now” before, and it’s actually more realistic than carrying around items just for the sake of it.
(Okay, I have to admit, the writers weren’t consistent at all in that regard, because… 3 branches + 1 creeper, for example. That’s some funny stuff to carry around.)[/spoiler]

I didn’t mind leaving the Boleskine stuff in the chest, because the game reminds you of it. The rubbing alcohol in the drawer, on the other hand, bothered me quite a bit.

cirroid - 22 February 2016 09:07 AM

Oh, and a little tip of my own for those who haven’t started yet: if you see the two men near the fence, SAVE.
Minor spoiler: it’s very easy to die even if you don’t try to go in on purpose again. Happened to me twice , and lost some progress the first time around.

That’s when I learned the hard way that this town means business… -Don’t come near! Surely nothing will happen if I walk a bit mor… BOOM

About the QTE event, I surely won’t forget the frustration so I’m sure memory plays a part in here

Ah yes that scene by the fence is when i first learned death exists in this game. Granted, it should probably be assumed in a lovecraft setting. Would a call of cthulhu game without death really be a call of cthulhu game ?

I solved the photos puzzles, I now know more about Photography processing than I ever cared to learn. Thanks wikipedia! (actually it was pretty fun, I saw the link Kurufinwe shared and googled all the components after) I do wonder how this was solved in 1993 if you didn’t have an encyclopedia

The design of the game is sometimes hilarious. Just went through the part in Jugg’s house (after getting the photos) and solving the puzzle to open the secret passage (cool puzzle). When Jugg is dying you can just hang around, read some books, go out and only after that give him the note so him can finally die. All that after he says there is no time to call a doctor

wilco - 22 February 2016 06:22 PM

The design of the game is sometimes hilarious. Just went through the part in Jugg’s house (after getting the photos) and solving the puzzle to open the secret passage (cool puzzle). When Jugg is dying you can just hang around, read some books, go out and only after that give him the note so him can finally die. All that after he says there is no time to call a doctor

you keep mirroring me! i just came here to post about the same thing
Parker just goes about his business looking at books and commenting about bindings being odd with a guy bleeding in the middle of the floor