Zeusthecat

I'm sorry to hear man. I can somewhat relate as I was completely miserable in my entry level job after college. I saw a dark and depressing road ahead of me and over the course of a year I slowly put all the pieces together to make a clean transition into something I love doing (and within the same company). It sounds like things are a lot more complicated for you right now though so that might not be an option. I hope you can find some way to make some meaningful change but I would at least say you have accomplished a lot in your life by just getting where you are now. It may not be as exciting as what other people around here are doing (and honestly, working on traffic management software isn't exactly exciting either) but I'm sure what you do has some sort of positive impact on people even if they aren't aware of it. And remember, you can always blackmail your boss for a yearly salary and then get a carefree job at a fast food place. It worked for Kevin Spacey.

I wasn't allowed to have soda growing up but this:

I do remember them talking about this game at one point and making me really want to play it. Maybe I subconsciously remembered them talking about that specific part and that made it easier for me to figure it out. I'm also curious, what puzzles were considered really difficult in this game? Is the path I took considered much easier than the wits path and that is where the real difficulty is? I honestly struggled for much longer periods on MI1 and MI2 and never felt like the puzzles got quite as crazy in the path I took in this game. Then again, this is the 7th LucasArts game I've finished at this point and since I've been playing them all back to back the vocabulary of these games is becoming pretty ingrained.

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis It was a really good game.

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis completed! Not counting all the time I sat idle, my total playtime was right around 20 hours. And I never used any hints (unless you count the mini hint from toblix earlier on my rib cage comment) making this the second LucasArts game I got through without resorting to hints. After freeing Sophia, I continued on through the door I had busted down earlier. The next area was a circular hallway with a few rooms coming off of it. As soon as we made it to the second screen Sophia told me to follow her into an adjacent room where she started to act really Nur Ab Sal-y. I spent some time talking to her/him and was quite entertained by all the various lines of dialog. I also happened to look at Sophia's necklace and found that putting orichalcum in the mouth caused her to take the necklace off. After that I looked around the room, picked up a scepter, and continued on through the other rooms adjacent to the hallway. Two of the rooms had nothing in them but the last room had a big tractor-like machine with a mouth for receiving orichalcum and three slots to the left of the mouth. I found that I could put the scepter I had picked up into each of the slots and use it as a lever but I couldn't get anything to happen after activating the machine so I figured I'd need something else to serve as an additional lever (or 2). As I left that room I noticed some designs on the ground and then some more designs on the wall back in the hallway. It looked like they represented different lever positions and from each picture it seemed like I would only need 2 levers to make one of the valid configurations. I wasn't sure what else I could use as a second lever so I decided to go back to Sophia to figure out what I was supposed to do when she took her necklace off. Once I got back to her I made a few more attempts at making her take the necklace off and tried using various items unsuccessfully. Then I remembered how she put the necklace in the gold box in the labyrinth so we could use the orichalcum detector without interference. So I made her take it off one more time and was finally able to snatch it up with the gold box and throw it in the lava. With Nur Ab Sal's influence gone Sophia was finally free and she was able to re-join me. Unfortunately I still didn't have the second lever I needed. At this point the only thing I could think was that maybe there was some way I could get that door hinge back that I had used to prop up the cell door. I had tried picking it back up after freeing her but it was wedged in there so I assumed it wasn't something I couldn't retrieve. I figured it was worth another attempt anyways and thought maybe I could just lift the cell door again to free the hinge since Indy was obviously capable of doing so. Luckily, the game was kind to me and did a good job following my logic. When I lifted the door the hinge fell down and I was able to pick it up. With my second lever in hand I headed back to the tractor. Before starting the Atlantis tractor I went back and looked at the two designs I had observed earlier. One of the configurations appeared to make the tractor go straight and the other indicated some kind of swirly left turn-y motion. With that knowledge I started up the tractor and put it into the "straight" configuration. As soon as I did so Sophia hopped on and the tractor started careening down the halls. The view switched to a sort of over-the-shoulder view and everything was going by really fast. I wasn't sure if there was some timing I was supposed to follow so I just flipped the levers over to the "swirly left turn-y" position and careened right through the inner wall. After smashing through the wall the tractor plunged into a lake of lava and I was sure that I had fucked up. To my surprise though, Indy and Sophia had jumped off at the last moment and now had a new path to follow. The final destination was near. After following a short path from where the tractor crashed, I found myself in a big central lava area with lots of rooms and paths. I trial and error-ed my way through until I finally made it to the end. Luckily, by this point in my LucasArts adventure I had become trained to carefully observe all environments and made a mental note of a big mural on the wall that had three rings with a single symbol shown in each ring. I wasn't sure what it was for but figured there was a good chance it had some purpose because these games have trained me to be ultra paranoid and consider every possibility. Sure enough, the very next area had another spindle and I had already exhausted all of the configurations from the Lost Dialog. So once I saw this I went right back to the previous area and took a screenshot of the mural. It looked like the noon sun was shown at one position, the full moon in another, and the volcano in the last position. Once I had that screenshot I went back and solved the last puzzle of the game. At this point I was ambushed by Nazi bastards that took advantage of my smarts to gain control of the "god machine" I had just activated. Kerner insisted on dying first and I used my cunning to have him try the machine with only one bead which turned him into some weird fucked up goat creature that jumped into the lava out of shame. The mad scientist dude decided I should be the next candidate and I went through a whole bunch of dialog options to try to get him to change his mind. I had saved the game during the conversation and got to see Indy turned into a god a few times and kill everyone before reloading my save and trying again. Eventually, I was able to trick the bastard into trying the machine on himself which resulted in him turning into Cinder from Killer Instinct and bringing everything down. Indy and Sophia were barely able to escape as the floors and walls crumbled around them and they made it to the submarine just in time. Then they had one last embrace as a new volcano emerged from the ocean and then retreated and the credits rolled. So, yeah, this game was really fucking good. The writing was excellent, I loved the voicework throughout the whole game, and it was the perfect Indiana Jones experience. One of the things that impressed me the most was the difficulty curve. It started pretty easy at the beginning and ramped up at a steady rate until it got pretty difficult at the end (but not overly difficult). In my opinion, this has game has had the best puzzle design so far and I feel like every puzzle ended up having a nice logical solution (at least for the path I took). Thank you Idle Thumbs for making me aware of this game! It was definitely a stand out experience.

Yesss! The door is open now and Sophia is freed! After finding that statue piece I went right back to the robot/statue guarding the door and everything just clicked. I used the cabinet diagram as a guide and figured out how to make each arm move forward and back and then found that I could attach the chain to each ring (one end on the ring stuck to the door and the other on the ring that was attached to the functioning arm) so that the arm that was still intact could pull the door down. Then the door pin fell out and I was able to give that to Sophia so she could prop the cell door open and escape. That was definitely one of my favorite puzzles! I have to say the "exchange" between Indy and Sophia after I freed her was one of my favorite exchanges in the game. Man, the writing in this game is so good. I'm totally pumped after solving that.

I played for awhile last night and am stuck again. After getting my crab raft I found a room with a cabinet containing some kind of metal piece. I also looked at the cabinet and saw that it had a weird design on it. There wasn't much else besides that until I made my way to the other side of the circular canal and found a room with a door being held shut by a big robot. I was able to prop the ladder against the robot, climb up, and pull its chestplate off so that I could access his innards but it appears that I am missing one last piece to get it running again (I have the wheel, the gear, the weird metal piece from the cabinet, and the orichalcum bead). I tried interacting with everything else in the room in every way possible (the rings hanging off of the robot's arm, the chestplate debris, and the chain attached to a pillar in the room) but it looks like I am stuck. I also haven't found a way to rescue Sophia yet so I continue to be stuck on that front too. After hitting these dead ends I wandered back through all the rooms and after some pondering I think I settled on what needs to happen for me to get through the door that the robot is holding shut. I re-examined the cabinet door in that room I found and it seems to vaguely show the necessary placement of the items in the robot's innards. I see symbols that seem to represent some of the robot items I have and I noticed that one of the other symbols shown in the center of the picture and on top of the wheel looks to be the necklace that Sophia has. That would make sense since there doesn't seem to be any place to put the bead right now, just a bunch of pegs to fit the other items. So under this assumption I believe I need to free Sophia and use her necklace and the other items I have in a configuration similar to that shown on the cabinet door. Then when I have everything placed properly in the robot's chest I'm betting the final step will be to put the bead into the necklace's mouth to open the door. The only problem with all of this is that I still have no idea how to free Sophia. I find it suspicious that there are so many things you can say to her when lifting the gate but I've gone through every dialog option and there doesn't seem to be any way to convince her. I've also tried giving her every item I have, I've tried using every item I have on the gate, and I've tried interacting with the broken robot in that room in every way possible. I've also combed through every room multiple times and I'm just not seeing any other options. I plan to toil a while longer so if you give any hints, continue leaving them in spoiler tags. I just need some emotional support right now. Please tell me I'm not crazy and that I'm not missing something painfully obvious. Edit: Jesus, right after posting all that I find a statue part right by the broken down robot that I can pick up. Fuck yeah and I'm stupid.

I assume you can pull up flowers and re-plant them like in Wild World (I haven't tried yet)? If so I think I have some purple and blue flowers that you can yank from my town.

Oh my god! Brilliant! I can't believe I forgot about that.

I saw an exchange in another thread about who was nerdier and it was inspiring. So I am starting a dedicated nerd cred thread (damn, I feel like Dr. Seuss). Why I'm the biggest nerd: I have the whole DragonBall Z collection and have watched it through several times I have a sweet ass video game collection I'm good at math and enjoy solving math problems I'm an electrical engineer I've had lengthy discussions with co-workers and people here on which is the best/worst Pixar movie. I've also had lengthy discussions about why Dash Rendar is a douchebag followed by a ping pong match to ultimately settle the debate Whenever I browse Netflix I almost always put on documentaries The few times I've worn a watch it's been a calculator watch I still like reading Where's Waldo books I created a thread where people can boast about their nerdiness

Twig, do you realize our avatars are polar opposites? It's pretty cool. Tip #7.1: All meals must consist of tortilla chips covered in shredded cheese and microwaved for 55 seconds. For gourmet meals add jalapenos.

Tip #7: When requesting something from your significant other, always start with the words "would you kindly".

Ah, that was a couple years after I ended my subscription. I think I subscribed from issue 91 through 220ish. I used to go back through my old issues (because I kept all of them) and re-read them. It was kind of cool hearing about the upcoming Legend of Zelda for N64 while playing Mario Sunshine years later. To add to my nerd cred, every issue of Nintendo power came with a poster and I put every single one on my wall. I eventually filled up every inch of every wall in my room with their posters and had my entire ceiling covered before I ran out of room. I think the first couple posters I got were for The Lost Vikings and Goldeneye 007. And their 100th issue poster was pretty badass too.

It is the attitude of a man-baby. Where's Nick Breckon when you need him?

Which issue of Nintendo Power was that? When I used to scour pawn shops for old games I once came across issue number 2 (I think it had Simon Belmont on it) and stupidly didn't buy it. That was truly a great publication for a long time and I subscribed for over a decade. +100 nerd points for you.

Chris, I always enjoy hearing your opinion on AAA games (and any other game for that matter) whether it is negative or positive and I imagine the majority of people that listen to the podcast feel the same way. That is one of the things I enjoy so much about Idle Thumbs. You guys call out some universally loved games on bullshit that everybody else ignores while highlighting awesome things about other games that nobody else seems to notice. If people can't handle a perspective different than their own then they can eat a giant 8-bit cock.

I can't wait for scientists to discover the satan particle. The thing that takes mass away from matter.

The only games I haven't finished in the last 10 years or so were some Wii games. I think Trauma Center, Sonic and the Secret Rings, Mario Galaxy, and New Super Mario Bros. I really should finish those Mario games. They were fun but for some reason I got sidetracked with other games. Other than that I always finish every game I start. I think it all started with Cyborg Justice on Sega Genesis. Ever since beating that game as a kid I figured anything was possible.

So I've continued listening to the Giant Bombcast and I think I've completely changed my mind from my initial impressions. It is a really good podcast and those guys have grown on me quite a bit. I started from the beginning of the run (April-ish 2008) and I've made it to September 2008 so far. It looks like it will take a very long time before I catch up to current episodes and I couldn't be happier. I'm definitely glad I stuck with this one.

A true nerd would never be able to agree on any set of rules or scores and they would constantly be up for debate. And if they ever did agree on a set of rules they wouldn't be true nerds. That being said, you definitely qualify as a nerd for challenging the validity of this thread.

Yes, it totally was you. That gives you some good nerd cred. Edit: and elmuerte, Revenge of the Nerds is one of my all time favorites. I've seen that no less than 30 times.

Then maybe I am utterly retarded. I think I was on the right side of the screen and was trying to hit 7,4, and 1 to punch but nothing was happening. Then again I was caught off guard and wasn't expecting the fight since it let me run away the first time.

I still fully expect that in two years we'll have flying cars, hoverboards, jackets that automatically re-size and dry themselves, shoes that tie themselves, hydrators, giant shark holograms, cars that use trash as fuel, masks that remove years of aging, sunglasses made of pure aluminum and no glass that we can still somehow see through, devices that carry us around upside down when we're old, and that the fax machine will have made a comeback. If Moore's Law has taught me anything it is that a lot can happen in two years. Edit: Oh yeah, and 80's cafe's where Michael Jackson is your waiter. This is one I actually do expect.

Life is a crazy awesome whirlwind right now. Our baby boy is now 7 weeks old and our daughter started preschool last month. Between work, helping my wife as much as I can with him, and spending the rest of my time doing things with my daughter, there hasn't been much time for anything else. To add even more, we decided two weeks ago that we would check with our lender to see if it would be worth it to refinance our house. After running the numbers she was confident that home prices have gone up enough for us to get out of our FHA loan and refinance into a conventional loan. Unfortunately that meant we needed an appraisal so last week I spent every moment I could afford sprucing things up and getting a bunch of yardwork done just to make sure we had every possible advantage. We hope to hear the results today and I am nervous as hell. Either it comes in high enough and our mortgage payments drop substantially or it doesn't and we are out another $500. I suppose either way it is a gamble that was worth taking. Despite the nonstop barrage of stuff going on and never having a break, I am actually really happy with where I am in life. Sure it would be nice to get some of that free time back to play video games and do other things I enjoy but it really is rewarding being a parent and I'm trying to enjoy and reflect on how special all of these moments are. I've spent so much of my life up to this point looking towards the future and what needs to happen next to get me where I want to be and I feel like the things I look forward to now are much less significant than the things that have already happened and are right in front of me. It is pretty fucking surreal and I feel incredibly fortunate. Now I just need to realize my lifelong dream of retiring by the age of 32. 4 more years.

Ah, I tried to avoid them because I got in one fight and realized I had no idea what the fighting controls were and died. I assumed it would be the same as Last Crusade so I kept trying to hit the number keys.