Pytho's mask musings (spoilers)
Frisco
I have a few questions about the possible endings however (please note that
these topics may have already been discussed but my newreader has been swiss
cheese lately, and Deja has been something less than helpful).
SPOILER SPACE
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OK.
I absolutely loved this game. The prose, dialogue, plot, characterization,
etc. were fanatastic. I especially loved the disjointed feel of getting to
know a world that only has a tangential relation to our own, and interacting
accordingly. I would at this time, like to propose another comp called the
Short Ingold Comp. The comp will only have 2 participants (Jon Ingold &
Emily Short), and they will have 2 months in which to produce as many high
quality pieces of IF as they can.
Wow, Emily! That's like, 3 great games you've produced in the last year or
so (unless of course I've missed one)! & between you and Ingold that's about
7 great games in the last year and a bit!
<Francesco sighs and stares forelornly at a year's worth of his own code
displayed on the screen>.
Please keep the strong contributions coming!
Anyway, just a few comments about the various endings.
Is there any way to get the king to drink from his own goblet? I had a tough
time putting the goblet back on the king's place setting. I think it would
have been cool to see what would have happened had the Earth Minister and
Valik's plan for the king, come to fruition.
If I drink from the king's goblet, there is talk of me being embarressed
about my outfit, a clang of swords, and then... what, exactly? This was my
favorite ending just for the ambiguity alone but I'd like to hear some ideas
from other players as to what exactly was happening at that point.
Placing the goblet on either Valik or the Earth Minister's setting results
in neither becoming king. It just sort of occured to me that if either had
discovered that they'd drunk the leche, they'd probably want to keep their
mouths shut about it and assume the transformation to power without arousing
too much suspicion. Instead, they ultimately betray each other.
Did anyone else find getting the key to the unobtrusive door to be a
difficult puzzle? It was more or less the bottleneck that this very
expansive game needed to flow through to progress, and it resulted in me
walking around asking everyone about any minute detail I could think of in
an attempt to move the plot forward. I probably should have thought of the
solution earlier but it just never clicked for me. For curiosity sake, is
there any other way through the door without help from the court physician?
Again Emily, great job! I look forward to your next piece.
Francesco
Lucian P. Smith
: SPOILER SPACE
: Is there any way to get the king to drink from his own goblet? I had a tough
: time putting the goblet back on the king's place setting. I think it would
: have been cool to see what would have happened had the Earth Minister and
: Valik's plan for the king, come to fruition.
I wanted to try this, too. Word on the street is that there is indeed
such an ending; version 2 will probably make it a bit more
easily-accessible.
: If I drink from the king's goblet, there is talk of me being embarressed
: about my outfit, a clang of swords, and then... what, exactly? This was my
: favorite ending just for the ambiguity alone but I'd like to hear some ideas
: from other players as to what exactly was happening at that point.
For me, that was part of the curse of being that way--I didn't care to
know what was happening, so the game didn't tell me. I'd sub in the
switch-with-Valkir ending if you want something to fill in the mental gap,
though ;-)B
: Did anyone else find getting the key to the unobtrusive door to be a
: difficult puzzle? It was more or less the bottleneck that this very
: expansive game needed to flow through to progress,
This is exactly what happened to me, too.
: For curiosity sake, is
: there any other way through the door without help from the court physician?
Oh, there's a way to get help from the physician? I got help from the
maid ;-) The footman was no help, but this could possibly be because I
gave him the silver coin, and gave the gold coin to the maid.
: Again Emily, great job! I look forward to your next piece.
As do we all, my friend. As do we all.
-Lucian
Alex Hoffer
> Anyway, just a few comments about the various endings.
>
> Is there any way to get the king to drink from his own goblet? I had a tough
> time putting the goblet back on the king's place setting. I think it would
> have been cool to see what would have happened had the Earth Minister and
> Valik's plan for the king, come to fruition.
Try switching two ordinary goblets with each other.
<snip>
> Placing the goblet on either Valik or the Earth Minister's setting results
> in neither becoming king. It just sort of occured to me that if either had
> discovered that they'd drunk the leche, they'd probably want to keep their
> mouths shut about it and assume the transformation to power without arousing
> too much suspicion. Instead, they ultimately betray each other.
Maybe loss of craftiness is part of the transformation?
> Did anyone else find getting the key to the unobtrusive door to be a
> difficult puzzle? It was more or less the bottleneck that this very
> expansive game needed to flow through to progress, and it resulted in me
> walking around asking everyone about any minute detail I could think of in
> an attempt to move the plot forward. I probably should have thought of the
> solution earlier but it just never clicked for me. For curiosity sake, is
> there any other way through the door without help from the court physician?
Yeah. This wasn't obvious. The physician can also get you into the
library, so if you got in there that way it's a little easier to figure
out the kitchen door. The maid can also unlock the door for you.