The Big LucasArts Playthrough

[syntheticgerbil]

Where did you get that nazi's backstory? I don't remember reading these things in the manual.

[Zeusthecat]

Where did you get that nazi's backstory? I don't remember reading these things in the manual.

 

Hehe, sorry about that, I was just being a dork. I did find it odd though that there was a lone nazi stranded at the dig site who shot me down and crushed himself. I wanted there to be some kind of deeper meaning behind it and they left it fairly open to interpretation so yeah. I'm dumb.

[syntheticgerbil]

Haha, I wasn't serious, I suck at the jokes.

[Zeusthecat]

Nah, I knew you weren't serious. I just feel this constant need to explain myself because I tend to get insecure after saying goofy shit.

[Udvarnoky]

This is an appropriately awkward time to reveal that when we were talking about the Cobb death animation, I got weirdly obsessive about knowing who the animator was. I assumed Purcell since he seemed like a safe bet for all the grotesque stuff (exploding skeleton Indy, Bishop Mandible's decapitation) in those days, but I couldn't be sure.

 

So I asked him.

 

I'm pretty sure it's not one of mine. I was going to guess Mike Ebert or Martin Cameron but that's as close as I can get. I'll ask Martin next time I see him if he knows.

 

I hope you were all thrilled by this.

[syntheticgerbil]

Haha, it's okay, I used to bother Steve Purcell with all kinds of Sam and Max questions in elementary and middle school because I had his personal e-mail address and could abuse it. I sent him a very embarassing fan comic of Sam and Max.

 

A few years ago I used the same e-mail to ask him about the backgrounds for Loom I think, to clarify if he did any of them, but I forgot the response or the matter at hand. It's somewhere on Lucasforums.

 

Actually though, I am thrilled. I always assumed Steve Purcell did that animation. You can kind of see his style sometimes with the timing (the Last Crusade wrong grail death and LeChuck's explosion in MI1 are very similar), so it's usually safe to say for the early stuff something really dynamic or comical tends to be his.

[Roderick]

While we're on the topic of disclosing embarrassing developer-fan relations, I had a string of e-mails with Lennie Moore, the composer of the Outcast soundtrack. That guy was the most charming, friendly dude, and I a fumbling, awkward teen saying probably all the wrong things. Good times.

[Zeusthecat]

Damn, that's some cool stuff. Steve Purcell sounds like a pretty cool dude for taking the time to respond to questions from random people. I remember sending questions in to Nintendo Power and Game Informer as a kid and never getting a single response.

[Zeusthecat]

Last post on my progress from last weekend.

 

After fixing the truck at the dig site I was finally on my way to Crete. Once I arrived I immediately noticed another mural thingy on the ground. I tried using my sunstone on it but had no luck. So I read back through the Lost Dialog and saw that I would need a moonstone to activate this one. With only one direction to go, I headed into the ruins.

 

Once I reached the ruins I immediately saw a shitload of doors to various rooms. As I systematically combed through the ruins and the rooms contained within I discovered a bull's head and bull's tail concealed by some rocks along with a big set of bull's horns. Shortly thereafter I found a diagram in one of the rooms that showed a straight line drawn from each of the bull parts to the edge of the bull horn nearest to that part. The point where the lines intersected beyond the set of bull horns seemed to signify the location of the moonstone. Luckily a surveyor had left a transit behind so I picked that up and brought it back to the bull's head/bull's tail where I found that I could mount it and look through it to draw a line of sight. I adjusted the view several times but each time I clicked Indy just described whatever object I clicked on and nothing would happen. I expected to see a different point of view from each location and have some common point of reference that I would be able to click on from each location when the transit was pointed just beyond the edge of the bull horns. Instead, it was the same static image from each perspective. After looking at the diagram again and noticing that each line seemed to just touch the edge of the set of bull horns I went back and tried again. This time I lined up my point of view so that it was exactly on the edge of the bull horns like in the diagram and when I clicked a line was drawn along my viewing angle. When I repeated on the other side another line was drawn and a big X was shown where the two lines intersected. Fuck yeah, I had my goddamn moonstone.

 

Now that I had the moonstone, I went back to the mural thing and tried to use it. It wouldn't fit so I checked the Lost Dialog again and saw that I needed both stones at this location and that they needed to be configured a certain way. So I put them both down, rotated them to their proper positions, and voila! A secret door opened.

 

I headed through the secret door and found myself in an underground labyrinth. I immediately saw a shelf with three heads on it. I started picking up the heads but after I had the third one a nearby gate slammed shut blocking my way. So I put one of the heads back in order to keep the door open and continued on with the other two heads still in my inventory. As I explored the labyrinth I found another room with a shelf and gate, a room with a statue, and various other pathways. I tried putting my two heads on the shelf I had found but they weren't heavy enough to lift the gate so I was forced to leave that be until I could find a third object that would give me the extra weight I needed. I then went back to the room with the statue and after investigating it, the head rolled off of the statue and onto a platform at the base of the stairs. Once Indy and Sophia stepped onto the platform, it lowered us down to another level where we quickly found Sternhart's remains and a walking stick. After reading his note, I noticed that I could interact with the nearby waterfall and found that there was a chain behind it that Indy could use to climb back up. With that knowledge in mind I headed back down the elevator to investigate further.  Unfortunately we weren't able to get far because the path through the next room was blocked by a gate and it didn't look like there was any way to open it from the outside. Luckily there was a hole just above and to the left of the gate that I figured we could use to get around it. I tried to convince Sophia to go through and also tried to convince her to boost me up but she basically said "fuck you". And that's where I finally stopped playing.

 

I figure there must be some way I can convince her to go through that hole so I will continue my persuasion attempts when I get back to it, hopefully today. 

[SecretAsianMan]

I remember the first time I played this game getting very frustrated in Crete.  I knew that the transit had to be used on the bull head and tail and that I had to get line of sight with the horns, but it took me such a long time to finally click the exact right spot I needed to for Indy to draw the lines.  He just kept telling me he saw stuff.  At one point he said he saw a door that I didn't see, which I thought meant that I had uncovered a hidden door.  Nope.

 

Also, I like that when you look at Sophia through the transit, she waves.

[Zeusthecat]

At one point he said he saw a door that I didn't see, which I thought meant that I had uncovered a hidden door.  Nope.

 

Also, I like that when you look at Sophia through the transit, she waves.

 

I thought the exact same thing with the door and immediately ran over to try to access it. Then when I saw Sophia waving I thought for a moment that the game was telling me I would be able to control her and get her to go stand around the area I was trying to aim at. It turns out she was just having a good time.

[Karimi]

That Nazi backstory was hilarious. I remember playing FoA as a kid and being glad I put that Nazi out of his misery. Also, one less Nazi to fist-fight.

 

Can't wait till you get to Grim Fandango.

[Zeusthecat]

I've hardly had any time to play over the last couple weeks but I was finally able to put some time in today... and I'm stuck. I ended up getting past that gate by talking to Sophia some more but there didn't seem to be anything to do beyond that. Sternhart's note mentioned him needing an Orichalcum detector so I've been going around each room using mine with no luck. I also haven't been able to get past that other gate yet since I am only able to take two heads and the gate seems to need three to open. I'm hoping there's a way I can prop the door open where the three heads were originally so I can take the last one or find another heavy object that will work as the third head.

[SecretAsianMan]

Hints

You already have the item you need to get the third head.

You've been carrying it since the beginning

What item is Indy most known for?

[Zeusthecat]

Oh shit, I just found out I could use my whip from the next room to get that third head. It should have been obvious since one of the objects I could interact with was "statue head in the next room". Derp.

[toblix]

Yeah, it's one of those in hindsight obvious hints you feel dumb for not getting right away. At least that's how it was for me. Anyway, keep us updated, and also do the two other paths!

[SecretAsianMan]

It's also because it involves the whip, something you've been carrying since the beginning.  It's easy to overlook items you've had forever in favor of new items or thinking you haven't found it yet.  The first time I played FoA, I tried using the whip on everything in the beginning, but as the game progressed I kept forgetting I had it.

[Zeusthecat]

I wasn't able to get too much further over the weekend, life is pretty damn busy.

 

So after getting that third head I went back into the room with the shelf and was finally able to get through that gate that was blocking my way. I continued on and found myself in a room where a chock was holding an elevator counterweight in place over a stone shaft. I could see a gold chest of some kind on the other side of the room but couldn't reach it. I tried to use some of my items on the chock and ended up freeing the counterweight when I tried using the staff I had picked up from dead Sternhart. With the counterweight free there didn't seem to be anything else I could do from my position in that room so I went back and took another path I hadn't tried yet. This brought me to the bottom of the stone shaft where there was an elevator and a big statue head. I saw I could interact with the mouth so I stuck my penis in it and the elevator activated taking me to the top of the shaft (and by penis I mean staff, sorry, this game totally set itself up for a dick joke right there). After the elevator ride I was able to get the gold chest and a couple orichalcum beads and then headed back to Sophia.

 

Once I got back to Sophia I tried talking to her and saw that I now had an option to ask for her necklace. After a little bit of prodding she agreed to put her necklace in the chest so we could use the orichalcum detector without interference. We then continued on through the gate that we had opened earlier. Without interference from Sophia's necklace we were able to find a hidden door in the next room that was covered by some rocks. I had to use the ship rib to pry the rocks loose but once I did we were finally able to make our way through the door and into a big room that had a scale replica of Atlantis with a spot for the stone discs in the middle. With a little help from the Lost Dialog I was able to orient the discs properly and open one of the doors that had been locked. Once I made my way in there I was greeted by Kerner who demanded the stone discs. I refused and he killed me, but I got a good laugh when the game told me that Kerner found Atlantis and then drowned. So I reloaded my most recent save and gave him the discs to avoid certain death. He then locked me in the room and I had to use the ship rib once again to pry some rocks loose and make my escape.

 

While I was in the process of digging my way out, Kerner had kidnapped Sophia and taken her to his submarine. Luckily, I was able to get to it before they took off and once onboard I promptly knocked out the captain and assumed his duties. Then I was brought back to reality by a crying baby and I had to stop playing. After I stopped playing I did a shitload of yardwork and dreamed about all the Nazis that are going to get fucked up next time I play.

 

I really enjoyed this whole segment of the game. The ruins and labyrinth sections were really fun and the puzzles were satisfying to solve without being too difficult or ridiculous.

[Zeusthecat]

More progress made over the weekend and I think I'm getting close to the end.

 

After knocking out the captain I saw that there was a lever and an intercom nearby. Naturally, I first tried pulling the lever which unfortunately caused it to break off. Then I figured I would give the intercom a shot and ordered all crew members to the bow of the ship. After that I finally headed down into the main area of the ship to try to rescue Sophia and recover the stone discs.

 

After making my way down the ladder, I immediately saw Sophia being held at gunpoint one level below me. I tried to go down there to free her but the guard heard me when I attempted so I was forced to find another way. I decided to head to the next room where I picked up some bread and cold cuts and made myself a delicious sandwich. I had Indy eat some of it because I figured he was probably pretty hungry but he only ate half. I thought he would be hungrier than that so I kept trying to make him eat the sandwich and found that it was a magical Atlantis sandwich that could feed him for eternity. From there I continued on to the next room where I found a stein and some battery acid. After filling the stein with battery acid I headed over to a small room that was adjacent to where Sophia was being held captive. I was able to tell her to distract the guard and was finally able to sneak up behind him and knock him out with Sophia's help. Now that she was free and keeping an eye on the unconscious guard, I continued on through the ship to try to recover the stone discs.

 

I found a plunger in the next room and saw Kerner and the scientist dude talking to each other in a room on the other side of the wall. After a little bit of dialog between the two, I was able to discern that the stone discs were being held in a lockbox on the other side of that room. So I headed back up to investigate the other end of the ship and found a ladder going down to a little maintenance area that was adjacent to the wall with the lockbox. There didn't seem to be any way to open the lockbox from that side so I tried pouring the battery acid on it which burned a hole right through the box and gave me access to the contents inside. In addition to the stone discs, there was also a small key in the box which was just what I needed to unlock the rudder controls for the ship. Now that I had everything I needed to take control of the ship, I unlocked the rudder and then went back up to the captain's area to replace the broken lever with the plunger. With all of the controls available, I took control of the ship and made my way to a nearby airlock. I had finally made it to Atlantis.

 

After exiting the submarine, I found that it was too dark in the airlock to see anything. I found a ladder nearby but after picking it up and making my way a little further in Sophia was captured again and taken through a door on the other side of the room. I kept feeling my way around the room and was able to set my ladder up on some rocks to make it up to the area where she was taken. I wasn't able to go through the door but I did find a big stone case nearby that had a wand with a mouth. I put a piece of orichalcum in the mouth of the wand and saw the room light up. It turns out the wand was really a light wand and I could now see everything in the room including a big statue that was holding the door shut. I noticed the spindle on the bottom of the statue and put the three discs in it to try to open the door. I tried rotating them to the same position I used in the labyrinth but nothing happened so I went back through and re-read the Lost Dialog. When I saw the line "The final path will open to contrary minds" I figured that meant I should do the opposite of the pattern I used in the labyrinth which ended up working. Now that the door was open I proceeded into the maze.

 

As I worked my way through the maze I found many rooms, passages, and contraptions. I spent a decent amount of time scouring the environment and picked up a number of items including a rib cage, statue head, eel figurine, stone cup (which I obtained after going back and getting the ladder to cross the gap in the room), a gear, and a bronze wheel. Some of the various rooms I found were a machine room with a funnel at the top of the room, crab central, a lava forge type room, and a room with a fish statue and two other statues holding a door shut. I also found two separate passages that led me to vents in the room where Sophia was being held prisoner. As I kept exploring the maze and internalizing all of the locations and items I started solving some of the sub-puzzles. First, I was able to give an orichalcum bead to the statue in the room where Sophia was (by slipping it through the nearby vent) which caused him to wake up and kill the guard. Then I found that I could put the stone cup on the pedestal in the lava room and attach the statue head to the plaque to cause the cup to fill with lava. Finally, I was able to take the cup of lava to the machine room and pour it into the funnel after replacing the bronze wheel that was missing from the machine. This gave me an unlimited supply of orichalcum which I was then able to give to the fish statue in the room with the two statues holding the door shut. Unfortunately when I did this one of the statue heads fell off and the door remained closed. I pondered my predicament for a little bit before remembering that I had that eel figurine. I remembered what had happened in Iceland so I gave some orichalcum to the eel and threw it in the water where it caused all of the water to quickly evaporate. Then after one more attempt with the fish statue the door opened just enough for me to squeeze through.

 

I had finally made it to the last part of the maze and went straight into the holding room to try to free Sophia. I was able to lift the cell door but no matter how many times I tried Sophia was not willing to risk going under the door as I held it. I also tried giving her every item in my inventory to try to prop the door open but she wouldn't take anything. I decided to leave her and continued to the next area where I was immediately blocked by a room that had a canal containing a giant octopus. He looked hungry so I tried giving him my magical Atlantis sandwich but I guess he didn't like sandwiches. I also tried giving him the rib cage and everything else in my inventory but nothing worked. I also couldn't use my ladder to cross the canal and my whip continued to be useless. And this is pretty much where I stopped.

 

I did continue to run around the maze and try different things but never made any further progress. I found that I could put the rib cage in crab central and thought maybe I could catch some crabs to feed to the octopus but that turned out to be a stupid idea. I also thought maybe I could feed the dead guard to the octopus but Indy couldn't pick him up so that idea was out too (unless Sophia can help me carry him when I free her). So now I'm stuck and have been for at least an hour of playtime. I've been running ideas through my head and the most obvious solution I can come up with is that there must be something I can give to Sophia so she can prop the cell door open and escape. As far as the octopus goes, I think that would be secondary to freeing Sophia since I figure she can either help me carry the dead guard in there or she can use her necklace + orichalcum to get past the octopus somehow. I've made a few more rounds through the various maze rooms and the only other thing that keeps nagging my brain is crab central. What is it for and why can I put a rib cage in it?

[toblix]

Why would the crabs get in the rib cage?

[Zeusthecat]

Why would the crabs get in the rib cage?

 

It's little comments like this that get my mind racing. Either you are just making an innocent observation or you are hinting at something greater. Maybe I need to open the rib cage. Maybe I need to put my magical Atlantis sandwich in the rib cage to lure in sandwich-hungry crabs. Or maybe, just maybe, you are fucking with me.

[syntheticgerbil]

I forgot how to solve any of that part. I remember it being frustrating though.

[SecretAsianMan]

It's little comments like this that get my mind racing. Either you are just making an innocent observation or you are hinting at something greater. Maybe I need to open the rib cage. Maybe I need to put my magical Atlantis sandwich in the rib cage to lure in sandwich-hungry crabs. Or maybe, just maybe, you are fucking with me.

It's a little from column A, a little from column B.

 

Also, for future reference, assuming I'm remembering correctly, the part where you arrive at Atlantis and Sophia gets kidnapped (again) is the point of convergence for the 3 paths.  So if you decide to play through the other 2 in the future, you only need to get that far and then they're all the same again.

 

And kudos to you for remembering to carry that ladder around.  I spent way too long trying to figure out how to do things before remembering there's a ladder and then running all the way back to get it.

[Zeusthecat]

And kudos to you for remembering to carry that ladder around.  I spent way too long trying to figure out how to do things before remembering there's a ladder and then running all the way back to get it.

 

Thanks! I did actually forget to grab it when I first headed into the maze but as soon as I got to the room with the gap I knew I needed to run back and grab it... that is, after I looked everywhere for a spot to use my whip.

[Zeusthecat]

So it turns out those crabs love Atlantis sandwiches. And that giant octopus just wanted a crab. After figuring that out (thanks toblix for the nudge in the right direction) I got on my crab raft and went into the room on the left and quit playing since I only had a few spare minutes last night to try that stuff out. I still have no idea how to free Sophia but I'm hoping my crab raft will take me to a room that has what I need.

 

As far as the sandwich goes, I don't seem to recall any place where the game would have ensured that I picked up the bread and cold cuts on the submarine. It seems like I could have done that whole segment and never picked those items up thus leaving myself hopelessly stuck in the maze. Is there a point during the submarine sequence where the game forces you to pick that up before you get to the airlock?