Let's Play Torin's Passage! (Please help?)

[Rath Darkblade]

So ... all these years later and I'm finally (yes, FINALLY) playing Torin's Passage. But ... I already got through the first two lands, and I'm now in Pergola (land #3).

But I'm now stuck in the place where you have to arrange everyone and have them sing an arpeggio. I mean this bit:

https://sierrahelp.com/Walkthroughs/Tor ... rough.html



Can anyone please help? (Pretty please?) I've tried everything and I'm completely stuck.

Thanks!

****EDIT****
Never mind. After a long time being stuck, I realised that I could turn on the Closed Captioning (oops). And when I did, and listened to those notes again ... and took notes, and tried again, and again, and again ... I finally got it! (Possibly by random luck!)

Then I tried with the tenors (men), and got it within two or three tries! (Again, possibly by random dumb luck!)

Thanks for your help and drawing up the walkthrough above.

[Rath Darkblade]

Aaaaand ... I'm stuck again. Alas, I'm stuck on the very next land, the one with lava.

I know that I need to get 5 cannonballs and put 4 of them in the see-saw, so they balance against Torin.. But when I do that, Torin still weighs more than them. And when I try five, then they weigh more than Torin.

There's just no way for me to get balance here ... and as long as I don't, the game won't progress.

Can anyone help? Pretty please?

[Tawmis]

This whole area is such a pain... You need 5.... but really, you need 4.

Maybe discard one from that screen somewhere?

If ye need more of a hint...

[Rath Darkblade]

Thanks, Tawm! I used your video (plus hints on Sierra Chest) to make it through the rest of Asthenia.

I agree with you: the whole of Asthenia, compared to the other worlds, is drab and lifeless. It's all browns and yellows, nothing else - and there's no other characters to talk to or interact with. It made me feel like Sierra just made it up to make the game take longer, especially that maze screen where you walk around and around and around, right before you get to the lava screen with wooden corks (?) floating in it.

I have to wonder: how the hell are there wooden things (corks???) floating in lava and not burning immediately?

Anyway, I made it to Tenebrous now. Boogle's nurse costume is, um ... interesting. (I wonder how they got that into a children's game. It reminds me of the Nurse character from Animaniacs, or Bugs Bunny in his cross-dressing moments). I also loved it when Boogle Broke the Fourth Wall. (He gives Torin a kind of napkin laced in ammonia. Smelling salts, I think?)

Hopefully Tenebrous is more interesting than Asthenia was!

I accidentally watched a bit more of your video, and yes, I also liked Torin's "yelling-while-falling-'til-he-can't-yell-any-more". That also happens when he falls down that ladder. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH *OOF!!!* AaaaaaaAAAaah *OOF!* *oof!* Aaaaaaaah *OOF!* aaaaaaaaaaaaaah... *oof*"

You found the FAST way to get to the Lands Below!

Oh, and as for Boogle turning into a safe ... that's another Looney Tunes joke. EVERYBODY gets hit by safes. (Or pianos. Or anvils. Or big mallets).

[Rath Darkblade]

Huzzah! And I've just finished Torin's Passage. (Yes, for the first time).

There was lots of wandering around and not figuring out where I am supposed to go (especially in Asthenia). Lots of cursing at the computer screen when I couldn't figure out the codes to make that darned phenocryst thing DO anything! (Even now, I don't know why those codes are supposed to make any sense).

But I have just one question: what about Leenah, the princess from Escarpa? Torin rescues her in Pergola, and she goes back to Escarpa. But in the end, she's not even mentioned. Whatever happened to her? Did Torin just abandon her to despair and disillusionment? Why, that no good son of a king!

Thanks again for your help, Tawm. It was fun. (Boogle was especially fun). And yes, I could tell right away that white-haired person (Torin's uncle, I think) was the villain ... 'cos he had a slimy voice.

Incidentally, my final score was 967 / 999. (I think I used a clue once or twice, dash it). Does something special happen if you get the maximum score?

[goatmeal]

Seems like I recall reading somewhere that you would have learned more about what happened to Asthenia (why it was dead and barren) if a sequel was green-lit...

[Rath Darkblade]

Seems like I recall reading somewhere that you would have learned more about what happened to Asthenia (why it was dead and barren) if a sequel was green-lit...

Hmm. Here's a question: since Asthenia is barren, and there is no-one around, who keeps the "fun house" (where you get the cannon-balls from) operating? Who greases and maintains the catapult -- and everything else (including the traps)? Decay happens, you know.

(All right, I know I shouldn't apply logic to a game with talking daisies ... but ...)

Also, whatever happened to Leenah? (The princess from Escarpa?) Halfway through the game, it seemed like she and Torin were about to have a Big Damn Love Moment(TM), and then Boogle popped up in the middle. But Torin promised to look her up in Escarpa, and he didn't. (Grr).

[goatmeal]

Also, whatever happened to Leenah? (The princess from Escarpa?) Halfway through the game, it seemed like she and Torin were about to have a Big Damn Love Moment(TM), and then Boogle popped up in the middle. But Torin promised to look her up in Escarpa, and he didn't. (Grr).

Al Lowe's Game Design documents are a fascinating look into how a game like Torin's Passage gets made:

https://allowe.com/games/game-designs.html

From Page 10 of the PDF, Chapter 3: Pergola:

"They are interested in each other, but will wait until the sequel before any fireworks to happen."

[Rath Darkblade]

OK. I read through the whole thing, and now I have even more questions.

- One of the Design Goals says: "humor comes from humorous situations, not cheap sit-com put-down laughs." In that case, why the Bitternuts?

- When Torin enters the "Mountains of Lava" scene in Asthenia, this is supposed to happen: "Indiana Jones swings under a bridge, supported only by his whip, and falls into the lava. Tripe and Viscera, the two-headed buzzard from Escarpa, notice him, but decide not to eat him because 'he's way over-done'."

That's SUPPOSED to happen, but I never saw it? *shrug* Did you?

- As for Leenah: 'You boastfully announce you'll save her ... but she turns out to be a capable heroine in her own right. Eventually you do "help her", but only after she saves you from danger first.' (Aha - which happens when Leenah dresses Torin's wound - it's just a scratch! No it's not, your arm's off etc... and where Boogle learns how to become a Nurse).

But this makes Torin and Leenah sound a bit like Larry and whoever he happens to fall in lust with. Does that sound about right?

- Finally, the Closing Credits (and "Coronation Ceremony") were written out. Torin would be Crown Prince, and Boogle would become Court Jester. But I never saw that, either. *shrug* Any ideas? Did you see it?

[goatmeal]

This was likely the original (or slightly updated) design document, but Al freely admits that later on he simply made change to the game and never updated the document to reflect said changes...

From that same web page:

At some point during the development process, I stopped updating the design document as changes were made and we just made the changes directly into the code.

[Tawmis]

But I never saw that, either. *shrug* Any ideas? Did you see it?

Probably what goatmeal said...

But did you get Al Lowe's personal message?

[Rath Darkblade]

Oh! The thing about using the bagpipes on Licentia instead of the spell book? Yes, I saw that. (It doesn't even make sense to use the bagpipes, so I did it, just to see what would happen).

Is that Al Lowe speaking? I haven't heard his voice except in that one video where he appears with Josh Mandel and other Sierra veterans.

[Tawmis]

Is that Al Lowe speaking? I haven't heard his voice except in that one video where he appears with Josh Mandel and other Sierra veterans.

That is Al Lowe.

And you have heard Al Lowe talk before.

If you've watched Neverending Nights.

He voices one of the characters in one of the episodes entitled "All Time Lowe"

[Rath Darkblade]

Yes, I've watched Neverending Nights ... but I forgot, because it was a long, long time ago (in a galaxy far away, young Padawan!)

Sorry, I could resist adding that second one