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AG Community Playthrough #43: Sinking Island

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chrissie - 14 August 2017 09:56 AM

I’ve reached the part where Norm gets the phone-call from his wife. I managed to explore most floors except for the upper ones only accessible from the heliport. I went straight to Lorenzo’s apartment & spoke to him 1st before looking around which seemed to be the trigger for wanting to eat?

We didn’t do as many floors as you before the first trigger, so I guess that first one is timed as well and not depending on player action. Jack exited the elevator at the heliport for the first time when he suddenly got the urge to eat, so no chance to explore that part of the building before lunch for us. We’ve got there afterwards though.

Thanks for confirming the physical release came with a manual. I usually like reading through a manual to get in the mood for a game, and perhaps get a head-start on the gameplay. But I guess in this case the game explains itself well enough with a manual.

     
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wilco - 12 August 2017 07:17 PM

Is there a way to travel to quick travel in the game? Navigation is clunky and there’s a lot of empty rooms to go through

Also, is there a way to jump a line of dialogue? Right-mouse skips the whole thing so I miss the answer but I’m already tired of Jack ALWAYS repeating the exact same question… “Do you know what’s for dinner today?...”  Angry

Being able to skip travel / conversations would break the timed version of the game. The whole point of that mode is that you should pick your conversation topics wisely instead of asking everyone about everything.

 

kabouter - 13 August 2017 02:37 PM
Iznogood - 10 August 2017 07:17 AM

The odd thing is that even though I love his games, I have never read any of his comics Meh Perhaps something I should remedy?

The French wikipedia article on the game mentions Sokal saying the story is basically an Inspecteur Canardo investigation: “L’Île noyée est à la base une enquête de l’Inspecteur Canardo dont on a vaguement repris les grandes lignes.” So if you like the set-up of this game, perhaps you’ll like the Canardo books as well.

They both feature a murder on an island that’s sinking into the sea, but that’s about it in terms of similarities. The plot, characters, atmosphere and locations are completely different.

(Canardo’s pretty great. You can skip the first few ones, in which Sokal hadn’t quite figured out the tone he wanted to go for, but the rest are good. I remember L’Ile Noyée being among my favourites. L’Amerzone—which I guess is more or less a prequel of sorts to the game of the same name—is the best; unforgettable ending.)

chrissie - 14 August 2017 09:56 AM

I’ve reached the part where Norm gets the phone-call from his wife. I managed to explore most floors except for the upper ones only accessible from the heliport. I went straight to Lorenzo’s apartment & spoke to him 1st before looking around which seemed to be the trigger for wanting to eat?

All the events are time-based, even in adventure mode. (The clock is still running, it’s just hidden from the players. And it freezes when you reach a deadline, e.g. at 4PM on day 1, which is the deadline to complete the second mandate in timed mode.)

If I remember correctly from my recent playthrough, lunch is at 1:00PM and the phone call at 1:50PM.

     
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Thanks Kurufinwe for the explanations which do make sense!

For you kabouter I’ve scanned some of the info at the beginning of the manual - hopefully you can find a way to enlarge it!  Smile

     
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chrissie - 14 August 2017 11:01 AM

Thanks Kurufinwe for the explanations which do make sense!

For you kabouter I’ve scanned some of the info at the beginning of the manual - hopefully you can find a way to enlarge it!  Smile

Thank you Chrissie! The resolution isn’t very high, but I was able to read it. The second section gives a bit more background on Walter Jones than is immediately obvious from the game (and he isn’t around anymore to tell Jack Norm about it…), so I like having that extra bit of info.

     
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chrissie - 10 August 2017 01:56 PM

I did check out the cabin which was a little cheeky as Jack should have had a warrant in hand to do that & I felt that Kolio was taken advantage of in the absence of one?

I thought that too, especially when right after that the lawyer and pretty much everybody else, demands to see a warrant before we can snoop through their stuff. So I guess we are taking advantage of his lack of knowledge of his rights!
But warrant or no warrant, it is not like we aren’t gonna search everywhere and take everything that isn’t nailed down as soon as nobody is looking, is it?! It is after all an adventure game.

kabouter - 11 August 2017 03:24 PM

I foresee a lot of just walking from one end of a screen to the other for several screens just to get somewhere. And usually a game that involves interviewing suspects also involves a lot of walking around to confront people with the statements of others.

Or run - but yeah!

wilco - 12 August 2017 07:17 PM

Is there a way to travel to quick travel in the game? Navigation is clunky and there’s a lot of empty rooms to go through

Nope!

But there is a nice little feature, where you can see the current location of everyone in the Character Database, so at least you won’t have to run in vain.

wilco - 12 August 2017 07:17 PM

Also, is there a way to jump a line of dialogue? Right-mouse skips the whole thing so I miss the answer but I’m already tired of Jack ALWAYS repeating the exact same question… “Do you know what’s for dinner today?...”  Angry

Not that I know of - but you don’t have to ask everybody of everything (coming from one who has asked everybody if they have any medical knowledge - fully knowing the answer Meh)
And if you accidental skip an answer, if they said anything important it will automatically be added to your clues database where you can replay it.

Kurufinwe - 14 August 2017 10:34 AM

All the events are time-based, even in adventure mode. (The clock is still running, it’s just hidden from the players. And it freezes when you reach a deadline, e.g. at 4PM on day 1, which is the deadline to complete the second mandate in timed mode.)

I wasn’t sure if perhaps some events where based on some hidden triggers, but it seems like you are correct, and everything is time-based.

kabouter - 13 August 2017 02:37 PM

The French wikipedia article on the game mentions Sokal saying the story is basically an Inspecteur Canardo investigation: “L’Île noyée est à la base une enquête de l’Inspecteur Canardo dont on a vaguement repris les grandes lignes.” So if you like the set-up of this game, perhaps you’ll like the Canardo books as well.

I probably would, but unfortunately I speak neither French or Dutch, and it looks like only very little of his work has been translated to English Shifty Eyed

     

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

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Kurufinwe - 14 August 2017 10:34 AM

Being able to skip travel / conversations would break the timed version of the game. The whole point of that mode is that you should pick your conversation topics wisely instead of asking everyone about everything.

 

Makes sense, I should really stop asking everything… the punishment in the non-timed version is listening to dumb questions…  Neutral

Iznogood - 14 August 2017 01:08 PM

But there is a nice little feature, where you can see the current location of everyone in the Character Database, so at least you won’t have to run in vain.

 

I missed that, good to know Thumbs Up

     
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Part 2 - Day 1

Even though not everybody has finished the first part yet, I believe it is time to start the 2nd part.

You should play until the end of day one.

You have one week until Monday evening (CEST) the 21st of August to complete this part.


By now I expect that everybody has solved the first mandate:
1. Was Walter Jones’s death accidental?

Most will probably also have made significant progress on the 2nd mandate: 
2. Who was at the Belvedere of the Tortoise on the night of Walter Jones’s death?

And before the end of the day, you will also have the answer for the 3rd mandate:
3. What happened between Walter Jones and Baina on the Belvedere of the Tortoise?


BTW did you know that apart from the small recap you get when you load a game, you can also double click on a solved mandate to get a small comic book style recap, of the events you have uncovered, like this:

Or that you can double click on a statement to hear it again:




Another small note or hint:
The “present evidence” part can be a bit strict, and you might think you have placed all the right evidence or that evidence A is just as good as B, but it does require the exact evidence. At least in retrospect I however feel that it always make sense, and that some evidence might be related to the mandate, but doesn’t strictly speaking answer the exact question being asked.
So my advice is to pay attention to the exact phrasing of the mandate - and of course make sure the progress bar for that mandate is at 100%, before trying to solve it.

Have Fun!

     

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

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Hey all, thought I might join in with this one - finished the first part so far.

I don’t know how but this game had gone completely under the radar for me, I’d heard the name but had no idea it’s a Benoit Sokal game. Thanks for the CP so I can discover it! Thumbs Up

I do think that it is unmistakably a Sokal game from the introduction onwards. The beautiful graphics, the feeling of empty decaying grandeur, the PPA design, the horribly un-idiomatic English and the vast number of empty screen/spaces all feel comfortably familiar.

I completely agree about Jack Norm’s remit to be searching people’s private things. Obviously taking things that aren’t yours is one of the foundational principals of an Adventure Game (as Izno said) but when he just walked off with that huge diamond without so much as a “by your leave” I did find it pretty shocking.

I agree there has been a lot to take in so far with all the interviewing and even just getting to know who the characters are.

Also, I don’t know if this is just me being thick, but it took me a while to work out how to complete the first mandate after you have checked the body on the beach right at the beginning. I mean that I literally didn’t get the process after clicking on the puzzle piece for a minute or so. It was simple enough in retrospect, so maybe just my stupidity. Did anyone else struggle?

Finally, the premise of the game reminds me quite a lot of Clue Chronicles: Fatal Illusion, although this game seems 1,000 times better already!

Looking forward to part 2. Smile

     

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I’m behind. I’m well over two hours into the game, and it’s obvious I’ve missed something along the way. I’ve interviewed nine people. Well, actually eight since one of the inhabitants can’t talk. I really hate the idea of starting over. but backtracking every square inch is equally distasteful. My only thought is that I missed something in one of the conversations. Although I am asking everyone about everything. I did accomplish the first mandate.

     

For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.

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rtrooney - 15 August 2017 12:37 PM

I’m behind. I’m well over two hours into the game, and it’s obvious I’ve missed something along the way. I’ve interviewed nine people. Well, actually eight since one of the inhabitants can’t talk. I really hate the idea of starting over. but backtracking every square inch is equally distasteful. My only thought is that I missed something in one of the conversations. Although I am asking everyone about everything. I did accomplish the first mandate.

Perhaps you missed the same thing I missed at first? It took me a long time to find a location close to the Tortoise Belvedere that contained a vital material clue.

We completed day 1. Because we were stuck on a part of the second mandate, we had collected already almost all evidence required to reach the end of day one after that, so it was a very short session this evening Smile

We’re still eager to continue with the investigation (but hoping less island-crossing is involved than in our efforts to solve the second mandate…) as the plot is thickening.

     

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I wonder if you have to question the mute girl.
It seems very rude and useless, but the option is there.

     
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kabouter - 15 August 2017 02:31 PM

(but hoping less island-crossing is involved than in our efforts to solve the second mandate…)

You do remember what the game’s title is, right? Tongue

     
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crabapple - 15 August 2017 02:32 PM

I wonder if you have to question the mute girl.
It seems very rude and useless, but the option is there.

I mostly chased her around asking to look at her feet for the first two hours.

     
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No, the mute girl won’t let you photograph her feet! You just need to look where her feet have been aside from the crime scene.

     
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I thought the photograph hands was pretty weird at first since it was the first thing we asked Sonia at the beginning.
Btw, I think it should be possible to compare the footprints of the picture of Baina with the footprints next to the wheelchair but the game doesn’t allow

Kurufinwe - 15 August 2017 03:29 PM
kabouter - 15 August 2017 02:31 PM

(but hoping less island-crossing is involved than in our efforts to solve the second mandate…)

You do remember what the game’s title is, right? Tongue

Now I’m imagining the ending seen at the helipad surrounded by water pointing to the culprit Smile

     

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