Thank you, my friend. The game *has* actually become rather interesting since I crossed that... glitch. I am even thinking of replaying it on my old computer, after finishing on the newer XP. Just hope not to run into any more glitches though!

As for the bomb though, I am thinking ... if the older computer does allow me to put the ladder under the panel, I would probably need to use that key I got from the coded box to open the panel and then a knife to cut the bomb wires... Let's just hope I do get to play it on my older computer AND that it allows me to play on w/out any glitches!

I hope it all works out for you, Zurreen!

And I know the saved game solution was not ideal, but it was suggested with the idea that if no workarounds could be found, desperate times would call for desperate measures and all that.

Thank you, my friend. And I understood the reason for, and appreciated, the saved-game solution. Thanks so much again.

FYI + Question

Okay, guys, I went ahead and after finishing playing the game on my newer XP, I went back and replayed it on my older XP which, as I realized, is the one I'd used to play, several years ago. As it turns out, the game played a *whole* lot better in that one! There was an especially annoying bug in playing on the newer XP where, if I tried to replay anything with a dialog, a screeching sound would appear, shortly after which the sound would disappear altogether! So I would have to reload the game to try to hear the whole thing, if I didn't want to just read the dialog. And then, of course, there was that FATAL bug at Brenner's House, where the hero would pick up the ladder and then freeze in a back-&-forth movement, without ever bringing and putting down the ladder under the bomb panel. As I mentioned, I had to replay without ever picking up the ladder, and just let the time run out, for the woman to appear, in order to get past that particular glitch and still be able to finish the game. But then, I wanted to know what happened if I did successfully defuse the bomb.

Well, I had NO problem with that particular glitch at Brenner's House, when I played it on my older XP! Turns out that no icon ever appears on the bomb panel, as I'd originally thought. But the hero picked up the ladder and promptly put it under the bomb panel, without a hitch. There *was* apparently one little bug though. Recall that an action icon appears (to pick up the ladder) right after you see the cutscene/clue (pi) when you first click on the book in that bookcase. If you click on that action icon right away though, the hero will bring the ladder and put it under that bomb panel, yes, but then you are taken into a close-up on that bomb panel and you can't get out to actually go and get the key from that box you are supposed to open with the pi code! It is still possible to proceed further in the game though if you have already picked up the fireplace shovel. You just use that shovel to break the panel, instead of opening the cover with the key from the code-locked box. [Apparently, that's what you did, oldbroad. Used the shovel, instead of the key.] But if you want to use the key, you better not try to pick up the ladder until after you have gotten the key from the box. I can only wonder though if the bug *might* have been fatal if we hadn't picked up the shovel either! Because you definitely need either the shovel or the key to get at that bomb. I suppose you'd then have had to wait for the time to expire and the woman to appear, as I had to do when I played the game on the newer XP...

There is also another bug which is more nasty *looking* than fatal. Again, on the newer XP, I found that if you used the Map to get to the pool after Jack's raving about not being able to swim, then the action icon did not work, [i][i.e./i], I couldn't get the hero to jump in the pool; and even if I did manage to get him in the pool, I couldn't get that all-important close-up on the hatch there to get the box with the evidence. So the only way I could do all that was to have the hero stand at the Manor's front door and then *walk* over to the Pool, instead of using the Map to get there.

Again, that particular bug did not appear in playing on my older XP but, as I mentioned, a more nasty-*looking* one did and, again, only if I use the Map to get to the Pool. The action icon works fine. The hero would jump into the pool, swim over to the hatch, and get the box, all of that would go fine. But, after I would step out of the close-up, the hero's image would flip into something really crazy - like an open pair of scissors, looked-at horizontally! And he would continue in that silly "posture" (as if he were still swimming, only dressed in his suit) even on to the next scene, talking to Alicia, etc.! So, again, the only way to avoid that bug was to NOT use the Map to get to the Pool.

Other than the above two bugs though, the game actually played great on the older XP. In fact, I think I found a short videotape which never appeared in my game on the newer XP.

Note to oldbroad, especially: Before I forget, I think that review you quoted earlier was wrong. The game is not linear at all. As I mentioned, I played the game several years ago, and again twice now, but never in the same "sequence." The glitch at the Brenner's house was just that: a glitch, with the ladder. The problem the reviewer ran into is more likely related to the possiblity that he/she did miss something. Actually, I was able to finish the game on my newer XP without ever finding that short videotape! In fact, even playing on the older XP this last time, I am pretty sure I could have finished the game without ever exploring those last 3 motel rooms! I'd checked the cemetery right after talking to Robert, and Jack was already there. So I think I could have proceeded right along with the puzzle, etc., without even checking those 3 rooms. So the reviewer must have missed something far more critical - like picking up the Bird Machine or missing the area of the church where the body is found. Those kind of failures would no doubt block any further progress in the game. The problem is that there are just so many areas to explore, things to pick up (which don't disappear even after you've used them and don't need again!), that the reviewer must have just failed to realize that one or more critical object/area he/she had missed that prevented him/her from proceeding further in the game.

Now for the QUESTION that I hope someone can answer for me, *before* I open the Safe and end up with no choice but to finish the game!

We never seem to use Robert card at all, but we can *assume* that is the one we use to get back in his room after he is... gone. More critically, however, recall that we find 3 cards in Robert's room: Frenzy Card 1, Frenzy Card 2, and the Safe Card. Well, we use the Safe Card to open the Safe, of course, but we never seem to need/use either Frenzy Card at all! Also, in addition to the two slides, we also find and pick up something that *looks* like a card in the Safe as well. But the PDA never recognizes that we'd picked it up, and we never get to even see it in our inventory, let alone use it! I have looked up a couple of walkthroughs, including the one by Gameboomers, but they don't mention USING any of those cards either. As I noted earlier, I think I could have finished the game on the older computer without ever exploring the 3 rooms. So that is no doubt why I, and those walkthrough-writers, have all been able to finish the game without using those Frenzy Cards or the Safe's card-like object. But has anyone even *tried* and succeeded in using - or even wondered about - these 3 cards? Please, let me know ASAP, since I would very much like to know if these cards can be used, so that I would be able to do so *before* I finish the game this time (quite possibly the very last time in my life!) Thanks.

Hi Zurreen. I'm thinking that the reviewer was correct for just the reason you are stating - because the game is non-linear, you can do or not do things that may affect something later on in the game. If the game was linear, you would absolutely have to do certain things to even get to certain points in the game. ??

Anyway... that is too much detail for me to really remember about the game, whether or not I tried using (or even found) certain cards. I'm sorry I cannot be more helpful to you regarding that. I think the only way to find out is to go ahead and give it a try.

Thanks for the response. Unfortunately, there seem to be no more rooms left to even open! That was why I looked up the walkthroughs, to see if they had at least commented or wondered about them. But... they picked them up, as I had, but nothing further was said about them. So I guess the purpose of those cards, if any, will forever remain a mystery...

As I was checking around online, I did find that Hitchcock had made a movie, "Frenzy." But then, the other cards we'd found - and used - as well as the rooms they opened, were all named after Hitchcock movies too, like "Psycho," for example.

If only, one of the people reading my post were some kind of a "hard-core" Hitchcock fan, who delved in the game and found something I might have missed, some place where or object on which these 3 cards were supposed to be used...

I remember seeing the movie Frenzy when it was first released and it scared the daylights out of me.

If I see anything about this on line, Zurreen, I will let you know.

Thanks so much, Marian. I would really appreciate it. Guess I'm going to have to finish the game without ever using those cards though...

As for the Hitchcock movies, I never saw the originals. I saw *parts* of Psycho from some foreign channel, which had cut up the version so badly, it was practically reduced to half what must have been its original length! I did see a couple of other of his movies on DVD though - Vertigo and Rear Window. But they seemed ... a little out-dated, compared to movies these days. Still nice and clean fun though.

By the way, since you mention seeing at least one of his movies back when it was actually released... Do you happen to know whether what the game's Robert says is actually true? That Hitchcock's last movies were neither glamorous nor successful, that they failed because the viewers realized Hitchcock hated people, etc.? I did check the wikipedia on Frenzy though, which is said to be Hitchcock's "penultimate" movie, and *that* one at least seems to have been quite a success, as most of his movies.

Are the cards something that are used in a viewer or other inventory gadget?

Sorry if that,s a stupid question. I just really can't remember all the game details.

I don't know if that is true or not, Zurreen. I would have to research that about Hitchcock's last movies.

The Birds is another one of his movies that is well worth watching.

Oh, no, not stupid at all! I am talking about the magnetic cards that were used to enter rooms. The viewer used only 3 slides (red, blue, and green), all of which were then put in the viewer to open the door to the secret hidden room. There were no other slides, and the viewer was not used for any other purpose.

No, these Frenzy 1 & 2 cards went into the PDA section of Magnetic cards - along with the other cards: Psycho, Topaz, Saboteur, etc. - all probably named after Hitchcock's moview and used to open doors in the Motel/Hotel's rooms where the cast and crew members had stayed.

Oh, yes! How could I have forgotten the Birds?! That was in fact the very first Hitchcock movie I ever saw, albeit long after its release. I was pretty young too then, and did not understand much of what was going on. But I certainly got the fear of being surrounded, and later even attacked, by such a huge swarm of those birds!

And, yes, I didn't think Robert could have been right about his views of Hitchcock's success OR personality - that Hitchcock basically hated us people, and all that. But I was even more concerned about... well, those so-called Bible passages that we got to read in different rooms. I realize that there are different versions of the Bible, of course; but I for one was astounded to read especially some of those passages - like Lot's two daughters drugging him with wine and then "sleeping" with him, to preserve his "seed"; or Aaron actually helping the people make that Golden Calf, before which he then built an altar so people could pray to it! I thought Aaron was supposed to be Moses' right-hand man, not someone who would lead the Jewish people astray when Moses went to get those 10 Commandments!

Is that the kind of passages you guys have in your Bible too? (I hope I am not offending anyone, but I did want to know, considering how the game's passages... well, I just found it so hard to believe.)

I haven't played through the game yet, so I can't offer an opinion on that.

Let me know when and if you play it then. I'd be most interested in your opinions.