Dagger of Amon Ra playthrough

[notbobsmith]

Just finished The Dagger of Amon Ra. I did end up having to cheat a little. I was stuck near the end of Act 5 only to find out I had missed the smelling salts at the end of Act 4. I’m not sure how I missed that. And then I had to go back again because I used all of my snake oil in Olympia’s office. Grrr. At least I figured that one out for myself. Overall, it was a pretty good game. It fit the mold of a traditional adventure game, but kept some of the elements of Colonel’s Bequest. I’m still a little unsure of the ending. I finished Act 5 with “A little more effort and you could be the best investigative reporter…”, so I think I found almost everything, but when I had to answer the coroner’s questions I’m not sure it all fit together. I’m not sure if the evidence supports the conclusions about the murderer. There are a lot of red herrings and the only really conclusive thing was at the end when a victim says the killer’s name. The problem is that this was a cutscene and you weren’t there when it happened. The coroner’s inquest is actually a pretty clever way of evaluating your performance; you get rewarded for parts of the mystery you solved. It’s more interesting than a simple points system. That said I don’t think the implementation was done quite right here since it doesn’t feel like I completely solved the mystery. Maybe I missed a few things. Next is my replay with a walkthrough.

Other thoughts: the voice acting was pretty good for non-professionals. “Buy Sierra Products” I did like the atmosphere in Colonel’s Bequest more and it was a bit of a stretch that no one could leave the museum. I had fun, but I don’t think it’s quite there with what a game like this could be.

It's funny because, I've beat LB2 several times (last time was in 2015). (Although, I swear that was only 6 months ago... crazy!) I am not entirely sure I understand LB2's ending - or how it all comes together. (I might be missing things, and thus clues that might have pieced it all together). But I feel like LB1 was a much better feeling with the setting and much easier to believe and understand (even if you missed things).

So it's not just me. Well, I'll be giving it another playthrough. Maybe it will clear things up a bit more. I skimmed through a walkthrough and found some of the things that I was missing. I know I missed a few conversations where I was supposed to hide. I found the notes for the meeting times, but didn't figure out how to get there at the right times. There was some other stuff regarding Carrington, but I managed to figure most of that out already (I opened the steamer trunk). LB1 maybe had a clearer conclusion, but I still feel that there wasn't any way to figure out the killer on your own. Depending on your choice at the end, you are given two scenarios and you can't really disprove either of them.

[notbobsmith]

Just finished my second playthrough with a walkthrough. I'm pretty sure I got everything this time according to the walkthrough that I used. I ended Act 5 with a "So far so good. Keep it up." but I'm not sure if that's the best possible ending. LB1's breakdown at the end made that more clear. I still don't think everything comes together in the end. I did pick up on a few more things during the interviews that make sense in retrospect. And I did find a grape juice stain on Carter which does implicate O'Riley. One thing that I also found was when you ask O'Riley about Carter, he says that the coroner removed the body, but later you find his body in a suit of armor. I'm not sure if this was evidence that O'Riley was responsible or a script mistake. For that matter, why was Carter's body moved? The official hint book does expand on things a little, like a fingerprint on the glasses that matches the suspect. Maybe it would have helped if this was expanded on during the coroner's inquest. "Correct. The X you found does match with the suspect" or something.

Other notes:
I felt a little bit hobbled by problems with saving and restoring. I only used a few locations that I knew were "safe" to save, like the hall with The Thinker. Otherwise I risked getting an "Oops" error when trying to restore. A lot of times the control icon was greyed out for no apparent reason so I couldn't save or restore there, even in my safe spots.

I'm not a fan of the timer. I had to backtrack a bit because I was late for one of the "appointments". I kept missing it literally by seconds.

The murderer got off kind of easy for 8 murders considering 1926 criminal justice!

One thing I did miss was that when you find the diary, a entry gets added to your notebook. Unfortunately, it gets added after all of the hieroglyphs so I did not notice it was there until near the end of the game, so I missed asking characters about it.

All an all, an interesting pair of games. Certainly structured very differently from the traditional Sierra adventure. I may have been critical of them but overall I did enjoy them.

[Tawmis]

Just finished my second playthrough with a walkthrough. I'm pretty sure I got everything this time according to the walkthrough that I used. I ended Act 5 with a "So far so good. Keep it up." but I'm not sure if that's the best possible ending. LB1's breakdown at the end made that more clear. I still don't think everything comes together in the end. I did pick up on a few more things during the interviews that make sense in retrospect. And I did find a grape juice stain on Carter which does implicate O'Riley. One thing that I also found was when you ask O'Riley about Carter, he says that the coroner removed the body, but later you find his body in a suit of armor. I'm not sure if this was evidence that O'Riley was responsible or a script mistake. For that matter, why was Carter's body moved?

I always suspected the murderer moved said body, because of possible evidence on the body. (But with the limit of the game, you can't remove the body from where you found it). So I think the lie if you heard it, was to imply the suspect who lied is indeed the murderer.

Other notes:
I felt a little bit hobbled by problems with saving and restoring. I only used a few locations that I knew were "safe" to save, like the hall with The Thinker. Otherwise I risked getting an "Oops" error when trying to restore. A lot of times the control icon was greyed out for no apparent reason so I couldn't save or restore there, even in my safe spots.

Weird, I had played it not too long ago (aforementioned in this thread somewhere) - and I hit none of those Oops errors.

All an all, an interesting pair of games. Certainly structured very differently from the traditional Sierra adventure. I may have been critical of them but overall I did enjoy them.

Definitely very different - because of it being more... "open" as to what it will show you next based on what you find. So you can "complete" the game without doing key things.

[notbobsmith]

you found it). So I think the lie if you heard it, was to imply the suspect who lied is indeed the murderer.

Other notes:
I felt a little bit hobbled by problems with saving and restoring. I only used a few locations that I knew were "safe" to save, like the hall with The Thinker. Otherwise I risked getting an "Oops" error when trying to restore. A lot of times the control icon was greyed out for no apparent reason so I couldn't save or restore there, even in my safe spots.

Weird, I had played it not too long ago (aforementioned in this thread somewhere) - and I hit none of those Oops errors.

I'm not sure what the issue is. I ended up getting the GOG version which appears to be the same as mine. The GOG version does not have the patches added and uses ScummVM instead of DOSBox. I'm also using a patched AUDBLAST.DRV that I found on Vogons, but I doubt that is the problem.

[Tawmis]

So - now playing the GoG version (but I took the files and run them through DOSBox rather than ScummVM) - guess what I got?

I got this when I restored from the Dock in Act 1. And now when I restored just inside the museum in Act II. It's frustrating because I went around asking people all these questions...

Other restore locations seem fine.

The question dialogue in LB2 is horrid. I don't understand why they didn't go the GK1 route - both faces, and the items/people/places.
And the fact that when you talk to them - you always have to reclick where you just were.
And if it's people, and you were on page 2, now you also have to click page 2 again.
Way too many clicks. Especially since this part is needed for the game. And having to do them again?
Extremely frustrating...

I don't think I've ever seen this error in the non talkie version.

[Semi-Happy Partygoer]

So - now playing the GoG version (but I took the files and run them through DOSBox rather than ScummVM) - guess what I got?

SIERRA.png

I got this when I restored from the Dock in Act 1. And now when I restored just inside the museum in Act II. It's frustrating because I went around asking people all these questions...

Other restore locations seem fine.

The question dialogue in LB2 is horrid. I don't understand why they didn't go the GK1 route - both faces, and the items/people/places.
And the fact that when you talk to them - you always have to reclick where you just were.
And if it's people, and you were on page 2, now you also have to click page 2 again.
Way too many clicks. Especially since this part is needed for the game. And having to do them again?
Extremely frustrating...

I don't think I've ever seen this error in the non talkie version.

This brings back bad memories. Seems to happen sometimes even if you seemingly do everything right. I’ve never gotten this message in ScummVM, only DOS.

Yes, the interface definitely could’ve been better. Questioning everyone during Act II takes ages because of constantly having to reopen the notebook.

[Tawmis]

This brings back bad memories. Seems to happen sometimes even if you seemingly do everything right. I’ve never gotten this message in ScummVM, only DOS.
Yes, the interface definitely could’ve been better. Questioning everyone during Act II takes ages because of constantly having to reopen the notebook.

As a result of the error - I was making multiple saves (just in different rooms). I'd save in one area, move to another room, save, move to another and save.
Just as -a, -b, and -c.

And yes, the interface...
Also would have been nice, if they did what they did in CB - where when someone spoke, their name is somewhere (like under their profile photo when they speak).
Some of the characters began to blur to me as to who their names were (especially among the doctors and then the egyptians - who was who).
Only because there's so many damn characters. And when you reach the end - you gotta remember quite a bit of stuff "when questioned."
I purposely answered incorrectly to get the "bad" ending (had saved in the furnace area, so not far back) - then did the "good" ending.

Just felt like this game could have been much better with some minor tweaks.

[notbobsmith]

So - now playing the GoG version (but I took the files and run them through DOSBox rather than ScummVM) - guess what I got?

SIERRA.png

I got this when I restored from the Dock in Act 1. And now when I restored just inside the museum in Act II. It's frustrating because I went around asking people all these questions...

Other restore locations seem fine.

The question dialogue in LB2 is horrid. I don't understand why they didn't go the GK1 route - both faces, and the items/people/places.
And the fact that when you talk to them - you always have to reclick where you just were.
And if it's people, and you were on page 2, now you also have to click page 2 again.
Way too many clicks. Especially since this part is needed for the game. And having to do them again?
Extremely frustrating...

I don't think I've ever seen this error in the non talkie version.

So the error wasn't just me. Good to know.

Another thing about the notebook that was kind of annoying and prevented me from getting 100% was that one of the questions got kicked all the way to the end and I didn't notice that it was there until the end of the game. I forget the question, but it shows up after you learn the Egyptian symbols so you have to go through several pages of notes to get to it.

[Tawmis]

Another thing about the notebook that was kind of annoying and prevented me from getting 100% was that one of the questions got kicked all the way to the end and I didn't notice that it was there until the end of the game. I forget the question, but it shows up after you learn the Egyptian symbols so you have to go through several pages of notes to get to it.

The Countess thing - there's a matter of a diary.

And how can you tell if you get 100%? There's no score thingie.

[notbobsmith]

Another thing about the notebook that was kind of annoying and prevented me from getting 100% was that one of the questions got kicked all the way to the end and I didn't notice that it was there until the end of the game. I forget the question, but it shows up after you learn the Egyptian symbols so you have to go through several pages of notes to get to it.

The Countess thing - there's a matter of a diary.

And how can you tell if you get 100%? There's no score thingie.

I haven't played it in a while, so I thought it gave a ranking like the end of Colonel's Bequest. Looking at some videos, I am apparently mistaken. Going through my posts during my playthrough, it looks like the game does make a comment of your progress near the end. So I think I still was missing something the last time I played.

[Tawmis]

I haven't played it in a while, so I thought it gave a ranking like the end of Colonel's Bequest. Looking at some videos, I am apparently mistaken. Going through my posts during my playthrough, it looks like the game does make a comment of your progress near the end. So I think I still was missing something the last time I played.

Each time you finish an act (I think after Act III, once you're inside) it says things like "Great Job, Laura" and "Do I smell a promotion in the air?"

[notbobsmith]

I haven't played it in a while, so I thought it gave a ranking like the end of Colonel's Bequest. Looking at some videos, I am apparently mistaken. Going through my posts during my playthrough, it looks like the game does make a comment of your progress near the end. So I think I still was missing something the last time I played.

Each time you finish an act (I think after Act III, once you're inside) it says things like "Great Job, Laura" and "Do I smell a promotion in the air?"

Odd. I just seem to remember a similar ranking like in Colonel's Bequest. Mandela effect, I suppose.

[Collector]

You could ask on sciprogramming.com. Someone might be able to track it down to make a patch or at least see if the ScummVM fix could be used in an SCI patch.