The Story about the Milk

So here's what happened. There I am, happily living, and I spill an entire glass of milk on the computer keyboard. Well, it wasn't the entire glass. Some of it spilled on me.

This was a major spill. First time in 22 years of computing that I've spilled any liquid on a computer and I made up for lost time.

Alas, the keyboard would type, a bit, but it was gibberish.

I've got an older keyboard and plugged that in. More gibberish. That old keyboard was sitting next to the first one (just as my old blueberry iMac sits next to my Intel Mac), and later I realized that it got the spill too. The only survivor was the wireless Intel Mouse. It also got milked, but dried out, apparently.

Of course, because neither keyboard worked, I thought I'd zapped out something inside the 'puter. But I called the marvelous Mac tech who saved the 'puter a couple of months ago when the hard disc crashed (I got a new 1TB hard disc and an upgrade to Snow Leopard, plus 95% of my data saved for $300). She gave me the name of a Mac consultant who told me to try a mouse on it. If that worked, then I hadn't zapped the 'puter.

The mouse worked, but by this time I'd restarted the 'puter and it was over on the XP side. I couldn't get back to the Mac OS.

So I ordered this nifty little keyboard from Apple for $49, which arrived within 24 hours. It worked! It typed! But the 'puter wouldn't recognize the option key, which is required for it to get back to the Mac OS on a restart.

For those who aren't Maccies: Intel Macs can run both a Mac OS and a Windows OS. It really is like having two computers in one. Under the program "bootcamp," which is a free part of the Mac OS, you can buy your own copy of a Windows OS--in my case it's XP--and load it onto part of your Mac hard disc. Then you just restart the 'puter to get to XP. There I can play XP games. It's where I'm playing Lost Souls, actually. To get back to the Mac OS, you restart from XP, and hold down the "option" key. That brings up a choice of either Mac or XP. You choose Mac, it loads, and you go on your merry way.

But the 'puter wouldn't recognize the option key on the nifty new little keyboard. I figured that my older 'puter needed an older model keyboard. So I made an appointment at the "Genius Bar" in the local Apple store, which has lots of keyboards, for today, Tuesday. My sister came down from L.A. to sit with Dad and I carted the 'puter down there.

Aha! The Apple Genius found another way into the Mac OS! I can keep my nifty new little keyboard. I don't need the option key at all. I can restart into Mac OS directly from XP, and I can restart into XP by going into the Mac prefs and switching the startup disc to XP. Voila!

So it's all good, and it only cost me the $49 bucks (well, $57 with shipping and taxes).

I hope to get back to Lost Souls by the end of the week. I have one more doorstopper book to get through for my Paying Job at Kirkus Reviews.

Would have finished all six books by now and be back to Lost Souls already, but for the milk.

Lost Souls (6), Day 3, Additonal Addendum

OK. I'm in (although I don't really want to be in).

I figured that I must have missed some kind of clue in reading that newspaper in the Ladies Room, so I went back and pieced it together again. This time I didn't have any technical problems, and the paper came together and allowed me to take it, which it hadn't done before. After that it was easy to find an item I needed, enough to get me into the horrible dining room.

And the dining room in the original game was so nice. Haunted, but quite nice really. Pity.

So at last I'm in. But it's nighttime here in California and I really don't want to be in that hotel when I'm alone in the dark. I went right back out again to that warm fire (which still wants an inventory item I don't yet have) and saved there. I just couldn't leave the poor, shivering inspector standing in that awful place for a week, all alone, well, except for those there with him, of course, who or whatever they may be.

I feel better that it was a technical glitch that prevented me from moving on rather than my own stupidity. I don't know if this would happen on a regular PC. I'm playing with an Intel iMac under XP. No other problems with it at all--it really is like having two computers in one--but it could be that the Mac base caused my problem. More likely it's this new Logitech mouse I bought, which has been a bit screwy on the Mac side. No matter now. It wasn't my own stupidity (I mean, I really am better at playing these games than that!) and I solved the problem all by my cheery self without going to a WT.

Actually, this really was a very well done turn-on-the-lights-and-get-in puzzle.

I may not get back to the game for a week or so, but at least I won't have to spend that week frustrated, and neither will the poor inspector.

Lost Souls (5), Day 3, Addendum

Well yup, I missed something all right. Alas, finding it has not advanced me in the game though. All I had to do was push on the door in the ladies room to find another little shock, and another newspaper jigsaw puzzle to put together.

One technical problem: each time I try to put together one of these jigsaw puzzles, my cursor wants to get stuck on the left side of the screen. It took me some doing to get out of the screen once I'd solved the puzzle.

Finding the puzzle did get me one new experience. I decided that I had to go over every node and look both up and down, which led me back to the water tower. I climbed that again and got a "here" signal to shine my flashlight. That yielded yet another puzzle for which I do not have the required inventory item. It's not the remains, so to speak, of the tape recording item grab. That only took a hand movement. This time it's asking for an inventory item.

That was the sum total of my progress, however. No node yielded anything new.

I do have a "puzzle," if it is one, that I have yet to understand. There is this pulsating thing in the ladies room sink. If I touch it I get a vision of vodka and pills, both of which I have in my inventory. However, I can't seem to do anything with them.

No, I do not want to go to a walkthough. No, I do not want to set the game option to "easy." It's on "hard" and I'm keeping it there. I imagine that an "easy" setting wouldn't have any effect on finding items anyway.

Alas, I may not be able to get back to the game for a few days, although perhaps I'll break down and try again. I have the day out tomorrow for shopping, then on Tuesday I'm supposed to receive six books to review for Kirkus (my job, such as it is). I have to get those books done before I can play again.

I'd say there's a good chance, though, that I'll get a bit of playing time in. I want to get into that hotel (although no doubt, I'll regret it!).

Whatever I'm looking for, it's somewhere I haven't looked. Can't blame it on pixel hunting either, as these pixels actually are too large.

Time away from the game often helps.

Hmmmmm.

Lost Souls (4), Day 3

Well, I've made some progress, but am well and truly stuck for now.

The Station Master's office didn't hold as many treasures as I'd hoped. Found another installment of the little story of four sisters. Now I have two sisters, and have listed clues about both. No doubt I'll need that information later in the game (if I can crack into the later game).

Had a good little puzzle in the office of getting all the trains into an emergency stop. Not difficult. Found a newspaper--perhaps someday we'll find out why every one of Boakes's games have something to do with the end of April. For now, if I'm right about "Bonfire Night" being Guy Fawkes Day, then the game is occurring on November 5th.

Well, the train puzzle gave me a clue, and I was able to open up a small new area with a watertower. I knew I hadn't seen that before. Climbed up and found tapes to fit the reel-to-reel tape recorder I'd discovered in the office (apparently its last treasure, alas). Played those and met what can only be the voice of Mr. Bones.

Also found a sort-of steering wheel on the ground by the tower. However, I can't penetrate any deeper into the woods there. OK. Back to the regular area. The steering wheel doesn't work on any of the places that want inventory items I don't have, so I decide to try playing the tape everywhere I've encountered Amy--on the bridge, and in the telephone area. Nothing. I play it in the obviously haunted Ladies Room, but no dice there either. I play it by the fire, in the station, in the Station Master's office. Nada.

Yesterday, in the station, near where I found the Station Master's letter, I found a box that I can open, but I can't take anything from it. Maybe I can make that a scissors stash? If I ever find any scissors?

I'll take this space to say that I really like the menu screen and its music. Nice.

For now, though, I indeed am well and truly stuck. I've explored everywhere. There doesn't seem to be anything left for me to do.

Which means I haven't explored quite enough. I've missed something.

I will ponder upon it.

Lost Souls (3), Day 2, Addendum

Ah HA!

I figured it out. I indeed did have the correct number. Cracked it with one try. Once I realized that I just wasn't working the lock properly, I pondered upon how it might work differently.

I received a flash of insight. Things are not always as they seem. (Hmmm. Where have I heard that phrase before?)

I think I was thrown off course by my experience with James Burke's Connections game, which featured a combination lock that worked like a bicycle lock, and was overly sensitive, and gave me fits.

Heh. This one doesn't work that way. One tiny clue: twirling direction doesn't matter.

Clever Jonathan!

Well now, this is turning out to be one corker of a turn-on-the-lights-and-get-in puzzle.

A side note, however. This kind of frustration is what puts the average person off of adventure games. We the persistent will enjoy the endorphin-like shot of glee when we crack a tough puzzle that has driven us slightly mad. Most folks, though, perhaps more reasonable folks, will just walk away.

I am greatly glad I persisted, and did not go to a walkthrough.

However, I saved the game again just after I opened the door. Must take care of Dad. He has his beloved Nascar race to watch tomorrow, so I should get more playing time.

Ah, what treasures await me in the Station Master's office?

Lost Souls (2), Day 2

Frustration.

Back to the combo lock. Thinking about things, I decide to look at an earlier saved game to see if that ghost who stopped me in the station room (the ghost obviously was the Station Master, as he came out of the Station's Master's office) might have been wearing a badge with a number on it.

Nope.

(Of course, that would be ghastly game design. But still, I wanted to take a look.)

So, back to the clues. Reading the letter from the Station Master again, I see that it says to enter the three-digit station code first. Good. That cuts the number of required attempts in half.

Also, upon closer inspection I find that more than half of the possible numbers are eliminated, because they are tasks not done by senior staff. That leaves the mail. We have the time written on the Station Master's goodbye letter. That should lead us straight to the correct number, and I think it does.

But it still doesn't work, no matter which direction I start twirling.

So, not to be daunted, I write down every number (being sure I've got them right), and an "L" and "R" on either side of each number. That's eight numbers, with 16 attempts. I check off each attempt. All fail.

OK. Perhaps the correct three-digit number really is the one I saw on the side of the building.

I try that. All 16 times. All fail.

Continue searching. No, I can't get into the hotel the way I got in last time, in the original game. That means, according to the map, I have to find the key to the dining room, or some way to break through the chain on the door.

I look around everywhere I can go. Now that the lights are on, I'm able to see more areas. I wind up back in the Ladies Room, where I find a disgusting object (yes, I touched it and got a clue to something), and a voice seemingly coming from one of the stalls. I talk to the lady. Is it Amy's mother? Is she dead too, or is this Amy or some other nasty ghost trying to trick me?

I also find another hot spot, with a toolbox that needs a key. I'm guessing that I'll find the key to the toolbox in the Station Master's office (if I ever get in) and in the toolbox I'll find some heavy cutters that will get me in the dining room door.

Maybe.

Almost certainly, that means I have to get into the Station Master's office.

But I can't.

I'm actually fairly sure I've figured out the clues, and I have the correct eight-digit number. I'm just not working the thing properly.

This situation is known in adventure gaming as "a stuckness."

I will let it stew in my tiny brain, and try again tomorrow. If I can't make any progress, I'll have to go to a walkthrough, and I really, really don't want to do that.

I must think of something new to try.

Hmmmm.

Starting Dark Fall 3: Lost Souls (1)

At last I've started playing the latest game from the great Jonathan Boakes, Dark Fall 3: Lost Souls. This is a sorta sequel to the original Dark Fall game that launched Boakes into the adventure gaming world. Lost Souls uses the same location as Dark Fall I, which I think is a really nifty idea. It takes place later in time so the place is more derelict than in the first game, but apparently has some of the same characters. I've played the original at least three times, so I know my way around the place. So far that's proved to be helpful. Those who haven't played the original will find good clues to guide them around.

Disclaimer: I'm blogging about this game right after I play part of it. I don't know what's going to happen. Any conclusions I reach in the blog may or may not be correct. I'm trying to avoid spoilers.

It is said that this game is much darker than the first. Yup. Very much darker in tone and, so far, in available light. It also has been said that one shouldn't play this game alone in the dark. Check. I started in the bright California afternoon after planting some flowers. This looks a bit too creepy for my usual taste even though I adore a good ghost story, but we'll give it a go anyway. In daylight.

It all seems confusing at first, but stuff starts to happen. A pretty easy jigsaw puzzle starts us off, then we're chased, or we run, from the train tunnel where we've been hiding, or perhaps, living, amid discarded mannequins. "We" are the Inspector who was trying to find little Amy, who disappeared five years ago under eerie circumstances.

I wonder if "we" are dead or alive?

No matter. To avoid being dead, I'll switch to first person.

I stumble along onto the train platform, just outside the station waiting room. OK, I figure out how to get in and find an inventory item, but then I'm blocked by a ghost from entering the room any farther (that's the very ghost, in the picture on the box). I can't access my inventory or do anything and this ghost, who sees me but just seems curious, won't let me by. OK, so we keep on exploring elsewhere. I decide to go back to the restrooms and there I find another item, plus a brightly burning fire that wants some kind of inventory item that I don't yet possess. (And there's something that sounds dangerous in that restroom. I get outta there.) However, I find more stuff outside. A fuse. The electrical shack is blocked, so I assume we won't be using that area this time.

I wander around some more and go to the other side of the platform. Hmmm. I can't get into the hotel the same way I did last time, but I find a book that gives me one part of a little story. I can't get though the fence to the little garage. There must be another way into that in this game. I do manage to go up over the bridge and find another fuse, plus Amy, who is taunting me and certainly appears to be a ghost.

So yeah, I think Amy's dead.

Also I find a close-up of DT (Dowerton?) and three numbers. Break out the notepad. My character seems to be very cold, breathing out mist and shivering, perhaps a hint to keep moving? I keep seeing green and red flashes, and I assume that's some kind of ghostly warning until I realize that the game is taking place on "Bonfire Night" (Guy Fawkes night?). These must be fireworks. Aha. Also, I enjoy looking up. Always did like computer game night scenes with stars and moonlight.

Back to the tracks, cross over again and find the door to the dining room that I can't yet unlock, and a cigarette machine that seems to want coins I don't yet have. Well, I've found some stuff. Let's try that fire again and see if I have what it wants. Nope. However, I'm more careful about looking around, and I find a control box that does want something I have. Bingo! I move the box in front of the electrical shack. So I am intended to go in there! The box drops at first, but I figure out how to raise it enough to get into the shack.

Aha! I indeed am partway through the obligatory Adventure Game "turn-on-the-lights-and-get-in" puzzle, and it is coming in several layers, which is just how I like things to be. I find out how to get light in the shed, then realize that I need one more fuse. That means I haven't explored enough yet. Back outside, look around, find it eventually. Put the fuse in it's slot and zing! A great lights-coming-on sequence, nicely done.

Now that's the kind of puzzle I enjoy. Satisfying! Stumble around finding stuff, don't know what's going on yet, get a bit frustrated but still interested, keep stumbling around, then it comes together and I find the solution. Feels like a good golf shot.

Oh yeah. This is why I play adventure games.

But somebody's trying to call me on the phone somewhere!

Back to the waiting room and the ghost is gone. I can find the phone easily because I've been here before, but new players already have a map if they want to consult it. Exploring more and finding more clues I see that I need to find an eight-digit number to get me into the Station Master's room. There it is, with

. . . a combination lock.

Drat.

I've hated combination locks in computer games ever since I had terrible trouble with the one in the old James Burke's Connections game. First, I figure that the three-digit number I found outside is part of the combination, but then I realize that no, there are three clipboards, each giving a different part of the part of the number. Well, that's easy.

However, there are plenty of five digit numbers. I figure from other clues that the one I want is one of two possible colors out of four, but there are two of each color. Also, I don't know where the three-digit number goes--in front or behind? And I don't know which direction to start twirling on the combo lock. This leaves me with plenty of twirling to do, not counting mistakes, which are easy to make.

So I twirl and twirl and twirl. I am sick of twirling and I haven't cracked it yet. No, I refuse to go to a walkthrough this early in the game. I can figure this out. I'm sure I've got all the clues, it's just a matter of figuring out which direction and which number to use.

So I quit for the day. I really, really don't like this kind of puzzle. It's too labor intensive. Yeah, I realize that the lock is from 1947 so it can't be digital, but geez, I'd rather do a hunt for a key.

I have no doubt I could get into the hotel now that the lights are on, but I want to try the Station Master's room first. It may give me a key to the dining room, and/or coins, and/or whatever item that fire wants. It would be nice to get those puzzles done first and perhaps advance the storyline a bit more.

So I'll let it stew, and come back tomorrow.