I finally got the game and now I am lost. The gametime is 0925am and I have just gotten a paper bag that has some crystals inside from the Sauna. Now, what do I do?

Have you been outside and looked around yet? Mostly the start of the game is to orient yourself with the surroundings and Talk and talk and talk with different characters. It is best to talk to them after an action or after meeting other characters.

Yeah, this game has a REALLY slow start--it took me forever--well, hours and hours--to actually get the clock to advance in the beginning.

Watchmaker is EXTREMELY non-linear, so you don't immediately need to worry about "what to do" with each inventory item as you find it. You carry around a lot of stuff that has no obvious use until much later. Collect stuff, talk to people and eventually a path will open up.

ww

Well, I talked to a few of them but I guess not enough. I think that I will need to start over because now I am having a big problem. The gametime is now 10:50AM and I am using Victoria on the 4th floor and about to talk with the maid. The WT says that after I give her the bracelet, the time will update but it doesn't. I am supposed to ask her everything especially about the supervisor, Carla's private life and the gala evening but that subject doesn't appear as an option. What am I doing wrong now???

Hmmm, let me see if I can remember. I know that you get those options by talking to other people. The cook maybe? You don't need to start over!!! There is no wrong here. If you seem to be blocked the best thing is to go somewhere else and try something else.

Oh, you also might try talking to her as Darrell instead--he is more personable and charms the ladies, and I often had more luck with him than with the relatively colder Victoria. These characters do have certain things that one can do but the other can't, so if you can't accomplish something with the character you're using, switch to the other and try again. And try not to pay too much attention to the clock. AT the risk of sounding flaky, it's the journey that matters.

ww

Thanks ww, I guess that Victoria can go and talk to Jude again.

Well, I restarted the game as I was getting nowhere on the first attempt. Now I have the supervisor, the cook and Henry to talk with for the first time. I have the wine bottle. Should I offer it to the cook or just carry it around for a while?

talk to everyone first before you give the wine bottle to the chef.. I had Victoria and Darrell in the kitchen when I gave the wine bottle to the chef so one of them could get the keys

Hugs

Tig

Thanks everyone but now I am about ready to use the cd as a frisbee. I have tried everyway I can think to generate the Gala Evening option under Carla's name but no luck. Without the calling card from Corona in my inventory, there is no way I can open the briefcase that I found in Henry's cellar, via the cistern. I checked on the correct numbers from the WT and Darrel keeps repeating that I need the right combination to open.

Huh. I wish I could help you, but I had no problem with getting anyone to talk! The only thing I can think is, I wandered around the castle and grounds for about 2 days just looking at stuff and talking to people before I even got the clock to advance.

Is this one of those games where the combinations change, so your briefcase might not have the same combination as the WT?

ww

ww, you are probably right. The WT says one thing but until I can get Corona's calling card, I won't know the numbers written on the back side. Can either MaG or Tig offer some advice here on my problem?

Be sure that you've talked with Jude about Carla and her private life.

Then when you get Carla to talk about her private life - she will talk about meeting rich men or something like that in the hotel, parties at the hotel and this will trigger the gala dialogue.

Then under things and facts, use the down arrow to see Gala - ask her then about it.

This is one of the quirks of this games. There are new dialogues added and if you don't scroll down (arrow) you might miss asking or finding new leads.

Hope this is the problem and that you can move on from here.

Oh yeah, I had forgotten about that! I remember now that messed me up until I discovered it accidentally.

WW

Thanks MaG for the tip. I haven't been using the keyboard down arrow, only the mouse to move around.

Duh.......I finally figured out the arrow thingy. It isn't on the keyboard but on the box that has the things and facts lists. I noticed it on the right side. This gave me the Gala evening and Carla gave me the banknote calling card.

Now, here is my next problem. I followed MaG's WT, got the 4 medallions and went to the lion statue. Put 1 in the lion's mouth and down the stairs. Survived the sand trap and came back up. Then according to the WT, he goes to the Natorium and meets an irate Greta but she isn't there. The game time is 4:55pm but on the WT it should be 5:15pm. Should I have gone and wandered around some more before going to the garden????

Grandpa--

You probably missed something somewhere (not knowing this WT, I don't know what...) Watchmaker is really non-linear. The actions you need to take to advance the clock can happen in any order. So when you've completed an action that doesn't mean that your clock will necessarily be at the same time as another person's, who has completed the same action. So probably the thing that triggers the meeting with Greta hasn't happened yet. Can't remember what that is.

BTW, I noticed that you said you were only using the mouse. There are some puzzles in this game that you really have to use BOTH the keyboard and the mouse to complete, or else you don't get the right visual angles and stuff. I found it helpful to use the mouse to cover big distances and the keyboard to look at details.

WW

Ok ww. I wandered around the castle and only found Greta in the kitchen storeroom to talk to. I found the cook in the Plain Bedroom, passed out drunk on the bed. Anderson is not inside his office for me to get the photographic plates, nor is the caretaker inside his house. Raul is dead at the labyrinth entrance so there is no way to get inside his house. Anderson's apt is locked, where I think that Jude is and won't answer the door when I knock. Where did Carla disappear to???? The only thing that I can think of to do is to return to the chapel and look around there for clues or go to the garage and count the cars inside.

Grandpa, this is what I found in another walkthrough: "Most likely what you missed is the question posed to Stephen about Greta. Since he is asleep, you cannot talk with him, but if you go find him in the bedroom, then return to the kitchen, he will have gotten up and you can ask the question, triggering the scene with Greta as you leave the kitchen..."

I really wanted this game. Even downloaded the demo ....... probably glad I didn't get to "own" it now No longer available here in OZ.

I was put off with the timeclock thing in the demo. Does it get better? Lots of dialogue and wandering back and forth.

Rainbow-As soon as I finish this game I will trade it with you and will send it to you via airmail. Which timeclock are you referring to? The game time or the clock in the tower?

I finally went back to an earlier saved game and followed a different WT. I got Greta to talk to me at 5:15pm (gametime) and now Darrel is about to talk to the caretaker to make a new wooden cog for the machine inside the Watch Tower.

Now I have another BIG problem. I went to the Clockwork room, inserted the metal star into the machine and after the panel opened, I set the indicators to 2,7,4,11 and 9. I saved at this point. Then I went to the open passage, saw the henchman looking at dead Corona and tried to get back to the machine to set the indicators all to 6's. I don't have enough time to do this before the henchman shows up in the room with me. Then the game freezes up. What am I doing wrong here???

The best hint-tactic to do this is before you go to the passage to see henchman, Corona and then get back - set the machine to 6 except for the one of the 5 settings. So that when you run back all you have to do is set just that last knob and be free of the pursuer. It should freeze then.

If it does - post again and I think I have a saved game here.