longest journey bug (spoiler ch.2)
Rodney Paul Mayton
I was really enjoying playing The Longest Journey until I ran into an
odd little "glitch".
My wife and I are both playing this game (separately), and if that had not
been the case, I would not have known there was a glitch at all. I would
still be trying to make something work that would not work because of a bug
in the game.
spoiler below
When trying to pick up the iron key in the subway, I attached the
clothesline to the clamp and then inflated the ducky and combined it with
the clamp/clothesline. In the menu, when looking at this combination, I
could see the clothesline at first, but after I did not use it immediately,
the clamp was no longer pictured with the clothesline attached. If I clicked
on the clamp and "eyed" it, the line was still shown as being attached, but
in the small icon menu version, there was no indication that the line was
attached. I noticed this but figured it was just a graphic glitch and would
not effect the tool's use. WRONG. I spent half an hour at least recombining
the inflated ducky to the clamp/clothesline and clicking on the key,
continually hearing April say "I can't reach down far enough!"
My wife had solved this puzzle the night before on her first try (I had by
now tried it around 30 times), so I described exactly what I did to get the
key and she said that is what she did and it worked for her. Finally, I gave
up and asked her to get the key for me. She inflated the ducky as I did,
combined it with the clamp/clothesline, and clicked on the key...."I can't
reach down far enough!" was April's response.
She had a game saved before she got the key so I closed my game and opened
her older game and proceeded to the key puzzle. I combined the clothesline
with the clamp and sure enough it showed the combination in the icon menu. I
inflated the ducky and combined it with the clamp/clothesline. I then
clicked on the key...and April proceeded to "fish" up the key with no
problem. I used windows explorer to copy this session into my saved games
folder so now I can continue on.
All I can figure is that a bug in my game prevented April from recognizing
that the clothesline was indeed attached to the clamp, illiciting a response
predicated on the line not being attached. I would have gone on and on
trying to make it work, thinking that I was doing something incorrectly. If
anyone else has this problem, it is not your lack of ingenuity, it is a
glitch. If my wife had not been playing a separate session of this game (and
solved this puzzle successfully), there is no way I would have known I was
doing it correctly but prevented from moving forward in the game because of
this bug.
By the way, if I am off base here (and it is not a glitch) and there is sone
way to get the game to re-recognize the attached clothesline within the
bounds of gameplay, please let me know.
Rodney Paul
Jenny100
news:90351a$q1o$1...@news.usf.edu...
It's a known bug. The North American version of the game includes
a file called tlj_faq.html which describes the bug. I don't know why
they weren't able to fix it instead of noting it in the FAQ, but here's
what they say (in case you have a European version of TLJ that
doesn't include the tlj_faq.html file:
Q How do I get the iron key up from the subway track in Chapter Two?
You should have a rubber ducky and a clamp in your inventory
already. If not, look around and come back later! Now, examine
the rubber ducky (look at it), and remove the band-aid. Do the
following as quickly as possible (you’ll only have a few seconds
to do it): Make sure the ducky is inflated (if it’s not, inflate it by
using the mouth-icon on it). Combine the clamp and the clothesline,
and then the rubber ducky. The ducky will keep the clamp open
as long as it’s inflated, and the clothesline will let you “fish” the
key up from the tracks using this makeshift tool.
Q Nope, doesn’t work. April keeps telling me she can’t reach
the key. What gives?
You may have found a nasty little bug that prevents April from
getting any further. Restore a saved game prior to combining
the three items. Go into the inventory and, as before, combine
the three items, but don’t look at any of the objects you are
combining. Now try again.
Madness
<snipped bug>
> It's a known bug.
And it had me stuck for a decent half hour or so, then I
continued playing -- straight into chapter 2, at which
point I could go no further. Looked up that FAQ on
the website and found I had to replay most of
chapter 1.. (earliest save game I had). Damn bugs!
> The North American version of the game includes
> a file called tlj_faq.html which describes the bug.
I think that's the only 'show stopper' in the entire game
though, (not including the odd crash or two). Excellent
otherwise, don't let a bug stop your enjoyment. :-)
}:> Madness <:{
--
"In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom!"
~ J. G. Ballard (b. 1930)