Rick:

There's a map room?!! I may have found it, but not recognized it as such. I redeemed everyone in the first level, so now I'm trying to get comfortable in the second. Everything is moving faster. Where are you?

Morning Annie,
I could not find a map room. I may have mis-read an old thread. I did find find the mask room and put down the colors that match the apparitions. Now along with the matching artifact, I went to a sin room and waited. Bad move, I finally figured that no one was coming and went to another sin room. There was the apparition that I needed to redeem and redeem I did. Well this plan has clock issues big time. After doing this for a bit, while waiting in a sin room, I just thought heck, I'll just do it. Big suprise, it worked.

Notes:
I think the light/color flashes are what in the book are called star flashes and the color matches the apparition that is now out and about in the village. The mask room is a must. You really need the information here first or you would just be guessing as to what color(s) goes with what apparition.
The book also tells of forced to appear apparitions. Instead of waiting for them to come into the village. Click the appropriate star on the clock and those three will enter the village now. I once ran out of time, because the next group was not there yet. There was no one to flash with white light. I think this may be handy in level 2&3. The portals are very important when you are blocked by apparitions. Hint:
You must find the secret rooms for lust and anger. Pride is not a secret room. The saves are ok to use pretty much anywhere anytime. I had to overwrite on a few to save slots. This may be an issue for anyone needing a saved game sent to them. I only have 3 for level 1. I found that the best time to save is after you redeem an apparition, load up on orbs and then save. Your good to go if the clock ticks down. I found orbs and portals in the same places. I made a habit to run through two next door places and restock very quickly. Hint: these two places are at the end of a street and have an inter connecting doorway. I will post notes from time to time. They are really just from reading the book, looking at the little map and making sence of it all.

Great notes, Rich. I'm beginning to think that a walkthrough would be very hard to write. What people need early in the game is "how to." After that it's mainly a matter of bagging all the souls, at least on the first two levels. Things may be different on three, where apparently the apparitions can punish you. I don't particularly want to be punished, thank you very much.

I have been only a little hampered by not having found the map. So far, after a few false starts on level one, I haven't run out of time. I've got six more souls to nab on level two. I've wasted a lot of time looking for a particular sin room on this level in which to finish them off. Finally dawned on me after a good night's sleep that this room doesn't exist, so I'm going back to assign these guys to the sins I have available.

There is one odd thing about the manual. The "bio" for one character, the rock singer, is blanked out. Elvis Presley is listed in the credits, but in the game he's called something else. Maybe the Presley estate didn't think this was funny. Anyway, lacking any information about him, I nailed him with a shrewd guess.

Happy Sunday gaming, Rich!

Arrrrg! It turned out there was another sin room, one that was devilishly hard to find. I'm now on level three.

Afternoon Annie,
Well with your detailed thoughts/hints and help for level 2, it should be a snap. Let's see, everything moves faster and there is a hard to find sin room. What a suprise this is. Oh, Ya and electric guitar guy, that is not even in my book. My book goes by a timeline of characters/apparitions and the only ones after 1940 are Alfred,Carlos and John. I see the picture of a guitar on my sketch pad. Is the guy named like, Billy Ray or Bobby Joe and his sin is Gluttony, from fryed peanut butter and bannana sandwiches.
And yes I do see Elvis/Joe Seely in the cast !!
I hope to try out level 2, for real as you don't really get to do a lot on the free tour.
Question:
How do you deal with the timer and do saves?

I have tabled the stop watch for the moment, as it requires a trip back to the pig sty to find the instructions for converting it from clock mode to timer mode (that's almost like a computer game!).

I spent rather a tedious time yesterday in level two. I accidently lost one of the artifacts and spent two hours trying to get it back, only to realize finally that I was looking for the wrong one! The end of level two was interesting. I made a false move and oops! was told I hadn't redeemed anyone and had failed! Thank heavens for saved games.

I'm going to put off playing until tomorrow. I find all those nasty spirits and the tension producing music are a little much at the moment. Also I'm anticipating trouble, big time, on level three, especially without the map. Maybe I should go back and make myself drawings of the trans-portals...

Are we having fun or what?

Hey all. I've been playing on my laptop while the PCU goes out for his daily run. I've also been following your progress, but didn't have time 'til now to post.

I'm also on Level Two. I just started it and am feeling my way around. I haven't been able to find the Hall of Avarice or the Hall of Sloth. Gonna go back and keep looking -- sounds like maybe it's a bit of a pixel hunt?

In the last level, there were three apparitions per sin. I'm assuming this holds true on level two as well.

I have tried to click on the star on the clock to advance to a specific star flash, but haven't been able to get it to work just by following the directions in the manual. If either of you figure out how to do it, please post!

Unless I get lucky (and I think that luck is a bit of a factor in this game) I'll be on Level Two for awhile. With the timed factor and the apparitions chasing you and the portals getting used up as you flee the apparitions and the artifacts only being available at specific times -- this game is challenging! Now they've added locked doors!

I've enjoyed the apparitions "statements" after they are freed. And Gar Hob's responses. I'm perplexed about Gar Hob. I'm not used to the idea of a Dark Lord possessing a sense of humor.

Annie -- I'm giving you a description of the map here after this spoiler warning. I'm choosing my own crazy interpretations of what the portal icons look like. It'll help until Rick's picture reaches you (I hope).

Spoiler
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Clock on the center of the village (clockface icon) -- no connecting rooms

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Hall of mirrors (simple mirror icon) -- no connecting rooms

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Studio MFer (jester icon) -- no connecting rooms

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Luna Crossing (moon icon) -- connects to The Temple

The Temple (columns icon) -- connects to the Luna Crossing and to the Earth Shifts

Earth Shifts (circle with pellets icon) -- connects to The Temple and to Hall of Avarice

Hall of Avarice (quartered pie icon) -- connects to Earth Shifts

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Poisoned Air (Shut-eyed smoke-blower icon) -- no connecting rooms

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Radiation (globe on frame icon) -- connects to Hall of Lust

Hall of Lust (fancy curlicue mirror icon) -- connects to Radiation

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El Dorado (four circles within a circle icon) -- next to, but not connected to the Hall of Pride -- El Dorado has no connecting rooms

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Hall of Pride (stage icon) - connects to Backstage

Backstage (simple arch hall icon) -- connects to the Hall of Pride, the Mask Room and Underground

Mask Room (winking mask) -- connects to Backstage

Underground (hat and wig icon) -- connects to Backstage and The Abyss

The Abyss (wings-heart-circle icon) -- connects to Underground

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Flood (teapot with square icon) -- connects with The Office and Passage of Time

The Office (desk icon) -- connects with Flood and Hall of Anger

Hall of Anger (square with gear, lower right) -- connects with The Office

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Flood (teapot with square icon) (an entire set of places connects here in the other direction) -- connects with Passage of Time and The Office

Passage of Time (fancy arch hall icon) -- connects with Flood, Plague, Hall of Envy, War

Plague (heart with handles icon)-- connects with Passage of Time and The Nightly News

The Nightly News (Eyewitness icon) -- connects with Plague

Hall of Envy (slicked hair-circle-dot icon)-- Connects with Passage of Time

War (radar icon) -- connects with Passage of Time and Hall of Accidie (sloth)

Hall of Accidie (Chinese balance icon) -- connects to War

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Famine (acorn smile icon) -- connects to Hall of Gluttony

Hall of Gluttony (water pump icon) -- connects to Famine
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Ahhh-- you must clear the apparitions before you can flash the clocdk!!! That makes sense. How'd you figure that out? The manual doesn't tell you!

We posted at about the same time -- if you look above you'll see my attempt at a description of the map.

Hey Rick -- could you proof my desciption of the map by looking at your map and making sure I didn't leave anything out? I don't want to make it harder to Annie (or anyone else who's playing without a map) by accidentally giving misleading information.

Hi Rick. Please cye. I really appreciate this!

Becky: Nice to hear from you again! Now quick, while your PCU is still out running, try this for changing the color on the clock. Start in the room whose artifacts you want to liberate. The owning apparitions must be present; flash them with white light. This will cause both the apparitions and the artifacts to disappear. Now go back to the clock and click on the color you want. When you return to the apocalyptic device room, the artifacts will be there and the apparitions will not.

There's no pixel hunt to find the Sloth room, as you will find out. But, heaven help us, finding the Avarice room!

Rick and Becky: Life on the third level is even more intense. After a few run ins with the Dark Lords, I left their objects alone, and they have left me alone. I suppose I'll have to face them eventually, but I'm sure I don't know how. <img border="0" alt="" title="" src="graemlins/cry.gif" /> Wish you were both up here with me!

Thanks Jenny!

Annie -- I found Sloth and Avarice! Yes, Avarice was difficult but fair, I think. Of course the only reason I found it was that I knew it was there because YOU had found it. I'm still enjoying the feeling of triumph.

I tried continuing the game after the apocalypse just to see what would happen. The locations of transportals and orbs stays the same, but you are wiped of all your inventory, and all the doors are relocked. The apparitions you freed stay freed, so if you need their artifact to open a door, you are out of luck in a big way.

Dagmar Hurt is the only apparition that floats around me but doesn't demand anything. I can even go THROUGH her out a door -- the others block me. I'm having trouble pinning down her sin.

I've found that if I go to a room with apparitions and flash with white light, the apparitions disappear and soon afterwards the clock flashes to the color of the room I'm in, so I can take the artifacts. This has happened twice, so it could be a conincidence. But it seems to eliminate the need to go to the clock and activate a star flash after white-lighting the apparitions of your choice.

I finally unlocked the door to Gluttony. Yes, if you were going to pick a sin....

Annie -- congratulations on your anniversary! I've been in Seattle when it rained. It is beautiful and green there.

Rick -- August was when the church was available. All the EARLY BIRD types had already taken the June dates.

I did some serious OLADing yesterday, and I have just joined Annie on Level 3. Haven't played it yet, just got there and saved.

I got stuck for awhile because I had made an assumption (that there would be exactly three apparitions representing each type of deadly sin) that turned out to be wrong.

I THINK I have figured out the clock. Possible spoiler
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You can only use the clock to advance to a selected color from the position in which you have your back to Famine and and you are directly across from the entrance to Flood. This is the only "view" of the clock that will give you a grasping hand when you put the cursor over a star.

When the game first begins, you can use the clock for any area (click on any star) that the apparitions haven't arrived in yet. Once the apparitions have arrived in the village and "locked in" to their plague area (you've seen that color flashed during the game and the apparitions are now hanging by their artifacts) you must clear the area of apparitions by white-flashing them before you can get the corresponding star on the clock to work.

Occasionally, after white-flashing a plague area of apparitions, the clock flashes the color you are seeking without you having to go click on a star. This doesn't happen regularly enough to rely on though (or at least, I didn't figure out if there was a way to make it dependable).

I think you MUST figure out how to use the clock this way to complete the game or you will find yourself (after the first series of flashes cycles through) twiddling your thumbs waiting for the correct color flash.

When all apparitions have been "freed" from a particular plague area, that color is no longer bright or accessible on the clock.
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Annie -- at the very end of Level 2, did you manage to place the orbs in such a way that you DIDN'T free those black spirit things? I wasn't clear as to whether there actually was a correct order and I blew it, or whether Gar Hob sabotages you no matter what.

Do you think Gar Hob really is the Dark Lord of the 7th Millenium? Or is he an angel with a Jon Stewart sense of humor slumming it for some unknown reason?

Have you noticed at the very beginning of the game that you enter a giant purple tentacle? The whole village area seems to be in/under the tentacle. And in the game-convergence area, it seems that before Uru, Zandi had a radio act on this game.

I've decided that Gluttony (my favorite sin area) should have been a little different. In stead of the mask smoking cigars, there should have been a mask playing a PC game, with stacks and stacks of games next to him. I would edit the dialogue in the area to be something like this:

"I can't get enough of this."
"Never enough."
"Another helping."
"Another round."
"Just one more level."
"If one is good, ten would be better."
"I can't stop until level twenty-six."
"I'll take that one, and that one, and that one."

Hi Rick and Becky! Are we all playing today? The husbandoid finally got off the computer so I can get started.

Becky: I haven't noticed the purple tentacle, though I did catch the Zandi bit. As for the pyramid/orbs thing, I blew it too. I don't think you are meant to get it, as the clues to solving it are in the third level. But I'm incredibly grateful that you reminded me. It may be the solution to my stuckiness if I restart the level and don't release the baddies. Of course, ultimate salivation may require that they be released, but maybe I don't have to let them out til I'm ready for them. Anyway, I'm much comforted that you're up here with me. Let's go get those guys!

Rick: Still waiting by the clock and wishing you success with level 2.

I should have a nice long gaming day. The weather is awful, no rain and mid 80s. Gawd I hate it.