I have never enjoyed a discussion of a game or a book as much as I am this one. So many theories and ideas that I never even thought of. This is helping me get through my anxiousness about 2 games on their way to me and not arriving yet - can only crochet so many hats in one day! Need to keep 'busy' as usual. But I am having a chuckle or two over your offerings and it sure makes one think, think, think - ah, 'brain power', its a wonderful thing! Or as Martha says, "it's a good thing". I believe the maid's letters is just the pages on the pad which the letter was written on, since I had to use the pencil to bring up the words as they were only indentations, not faded writing (at least that is what I believe, how would one restore faded writing by pencil-scribbling on top of them?). How clever of the maid to have written her mom in French so the Blackwoods and the doctor could not (one assumes) read it! What is the tipoff that the remains in James' coffin is female? The garment it has on looks like a burlap shroud or loose gown of some sort...if that is true then I missed that clue. I like the idea that the butcher was delivering meat on a regular basis and billing the bank account for his payment until the funds run out....I also like the idea of a sequel for us to find out what the creature does from here on out...does it live FOREVER? Gotta go make a phone call now, be back later.
Love, Betty Lou :kiss:

Aw, a fellow crafter!

For me, it was that the garment looked like a shirt, but with no front opening -- men don't wear shirts like that, and since Catherine's body turned up elsewhere, I assumed the body in the crypt was the maid's. But as Augustin pointed out (here or elsewhere, I forget), the maid was hardly likely to have stuck around. I don't know why, but "shroud" never occurred to me.

Back to the bank account...if James's account is still active, and Milton didn't seem to have access to it (to judge from the hard time the bank gave to Michael when he pretended to be Milton), does that mean that James is still alive, and Milton's dead? (I'm still trying to reconcile people with bodies.)

When did Michael pretend to be Milton? When I had that conversation, he pretended to be an associate from the hospital. And I never was able to find out about the bank account at all!

I think it really is James in the coffin, it's catherine in the ground, the Dr. is still around someplace and the maid went home. ANyway, someone knows what's going on--hence the eviction notice.

hey, kuddles-okay, I was looking at the conservatory during the credits. So? I don't get it.

WW

Are you out there The Haze???? Betty Lou???? WyseWoman??? Polo Diablo???? Kuddles???? and all the rest???


Has anyone not called the bank number until the last possible moment? Right before you descend in the lounge? Hmmmmmnnnn???????

inferno

I don't recall exactly when I called the bank, but it wasn't right at the last minute; it may have even been Day 2, and one of the options I had in talking with the banker was calling myself "Dr. Christopher Milton, a close friend of the family, and I demand some respect!"

Oh, edited to add:

Yeah, I'm lost too.

I am one of the beta-testers infernoj13usa, just trying to supply some alternative explanations here and there, to clear up some of the confusion. Not saying that what I suggest might have happened is the absolute truth or what Nucleosys had in mind.

Yes, I did call the bank and know all the possible dialogue-options.

If the meat was tossed down the grate in the fireplace then it would end up in the tunnel not the prison. And the door was bolted so Robin couldn't get to it.

If the doctor (or Blackwood?) climbed down the ladder into the tunnel why did they need a hole in the furnace as well.

If Robin has dug a tunnel, and needed to break through the wall to get to the earth, why didn't he break through the wall next to the door and escape that way.

Were the scratches the sound of the doctor feeding Robin at night via the furnace. Was he hiding in the house...

I called the bank early Monday morning and got a clerk (named Robert Blake, strangely enough) who wasn't helpful and threatened to call the police! I tried calling again later several times, but Michael always said, "I don't want to push my luck!" and hung up.

I guess from what you're saying, Inferno, you get different options if you wait until later. But it seemed obvious to me that investigating the bank account was necessary, so I did it first thing.

WW

To wysewomon; If you still have the game loaded, you might save a game before you go to the grate and then make that phone call several times. You'll speak to Robert Blake every time, but you can follow the different paths and become even more confused as you learn even more.

To Inferno; I'm still here, but I am embarking on a quest. I am about to play this game again, but this time I have three pages of notes before I start the game. That hasn't happened since I played "Space Invaders" on my Atari game. I will either solve some things to my satisfaction (Or simply drive myself nuts)

I wonder now if we all don't need to re-evaluate the game. We all said it was good, but if a game can get a large number of evidently smart adults confused and frustrated while not getting them hostile or angry, perhaps we need to consider applying the word great. I was never so MYSTified by a game before.

What kind of notes did you need to play Space Invaders??

Bella is right and the mystery behind the maid has been solved - she obviously got away and made it to the police. Remember that you don't pick the letter per se, which we can assume successfully arrived to its destination, but only a paper with some markings.

The clue you all seem to be surprisingly missing can be seen during the final sequence. It's not the growing flowers, although they can be significant as someone pointed out, but something else, a small detail, maybe just a strange illusion... yet something that could confirm one of the theories.

It's right in front of your eyes.


Has anyone pondered about the significance of the phone number on the newspaper?

Oh, so much to think about here! Yes, I wondered about who wrote the telephone number on the newspaper (?Bailey?) and why....I too called the bank at the time Mag's w/t indicated it and pretended to be Dr. Milton, never gave a thought to trying to be anyone else or calling more than once, thought I had 'picked up' enough info to KNOW that the account was still open and active and had LOTS of money in it, but could not determine if there were deposits being made from anyone. I am so thrilled to know you guys are 'getting a kick' out of this ongoing discussion....I just love it! And I am seeing other ideas being 'put out' there for me to contemplate, more questions asked and some with possible answers or 'different paths' to take in summarizing this game. I can just see the person or team who wrote the 'script' for this one sitting there having a good chuckle over all the clues and tossing in some red herrings and enjoying a good laugh cause the 'joke's on you(us)'...would love to have one of them come forward and steer us towards the 'truth' of it all. Watching the credits at the end? May have to go back there and read them all again, I tend to skip them and just exit the game, maybe I missed something important?
Rael, there is a significant clue in the ending sequence, something right in my face, and I don't see it or cannot interpret it? Have seen the end of the game twice only now and MUST have MISSED whatever you are talking about - you are 'dangling the carrot' again! mmmmm
Love, Betty Lou :kiss:

You mean the police chief's phone number? I just thought it made sense for them to have the number of the man investigating it. Are you suggesting I'm not thinking hard enough about it?

No, but who wrote the number on the newspaper? and why? Catherine is dead, James is crazy or dead and the doctor is trying to keep the secret of the monster 'child' from the outside world, but someone wrote that telephone number on the paper and stored those newspapers in the attic, who I wonder and why? (I know, we needed those clues in that place and at the time but that fact should not enter into the game 'story') Was someone else investigating the mystery of this mansion before I (Michael) came along and bought the house and moved in?
Love, Betty Lou

I have some thoughts about what happened in the game and I am trying to string them together to form a loose, very young theory. I was hoping some of you could add input.

In the end, after Michael drives off in his car, we travel back to the lair beneath Blackwood Manor. After a moment, the camera begins to travel from the corner by the table, through the room, into the hole, through the long tunnel, up toward the light, fade to black, still scene of greenhouse with flowers in bloom, and roll credits. Watching this scene reminded me of the metaphor often used to describe birth (death too). This led me to thinking that maybe what we were seeing were events yet to unfold. That thought reminded me of the page Michael wrote for his book while staying in the house. On that page his heroine Marian is describing what I assumed to be her daughter. It reads....

"...but Marian wasn't seeing Cathy. Her memories haunted her back and displaced reality giving room to the vision she had spent months trying to forget ever since her visit to the old house."

To paraphrase the rest, Marian goes on to remember seeing Cathy emerge from a passage way (womb) small face contorted in a grimace (much as a baby looks right after birth). It goes on to say,

"A ghost would come from the past, but what she had seen came from the---"

My guess is that word is future. Maybe the house is some sort of metaphor for life or mankind...... .....(voice trails off uncomfortably)


Any thoughts?

So, another country heard from... We've had rational and practical; supernatural; and now we get metaphysical. I can't wait to play this again and answer all my questions so that I can post them on here and have people politely and correctly show me I'm not quite right.

Note to Rael; You posted your birth year as 1980. I bought Atari five years before that to play Asteroids and Space Invaders. I was the first guy on my block to have any sort of post-Pong video game. We took notes; kept score on paper; and wrote letters on a typewriter. (All this means, of course, is that I am old!)

Note to Kuddles; You can call that number if you like.