Sunday, December 3, 2023

Mindshadow: Bourne on a pirate ship

 

We resume Mindshadow onboard an old schooner, passage bought for the price of a bottle of rum, and still no memory of our identity.

The boat is a somewhat small area, with a telescope on the starboard stern, an anchor on a winch secured by a chain, and a portside deathtrap of a lifeboat where a blank canvas has been stashed. Below deck, the ship's surgeon remarks on my head wound, and further down the ship's crew gives me a chilly reception.


I couldn't figure out what to do next, so I used my final condor hint.


As an aside, if I had a real copy and ingame saving worked, could I have just saved before taking each hint and reloaded? Or would it be like the Gobliiins trilogy where if you try to do that, the hint you just spent doesn't come back?

For now, I'm not cheating the system, but I did make an emulator save before just punching people. The manual encourages this. Hitting the captain and surgeon proves fatal, as does hitting the crew, but "PUNCH MAN" within the quarters does the trick.


Past them, the galley.

 

The cleaver seems to be the only object of note here. Interacting with other objects gives amusing but unproductive results.

The cleaver chops the winch-chain, freeing the anchor.


The starboard telescope sights the Royal Navy flagship, to which I sneak off by the gangplank, avoiding the furious captain.


I map out this new area at the English shore quickly. It's a bit smaller than the initial island, and there are no quicksand mazes.

In the south docks, an old fisherman fishes.

I am certain I need that pole.

A babbling drunkard on airport way gives me a hint.


East, past a commercial street, an unwakeable man sleeps in the dead end of an alley.


Searching him produces a hat and £210.

Northward is Rick's Cafe.


I check in my hat - you don't have to in order to enter, but if a game lets you do something, there's a reason for it.

Drinking Rick's cocktails is fatal.


Examining it first is the correct move.


Immediately recalling The Demon's Forge and the first puzzle that stumped me, "FOLLOW MAN" gets me to a new area.


For the first time in the game, I get a response from the "THINK" command.

It's cryptic, but it's something.

I relieve myself, wash my hands - both commands are recognized - and leave, grabbing my hat on the way out. Except, it is not the right hat!


All the way north, a seedy, suspicious store holds no wares whatsoever.


Obviously he sells the forged tickets, but I'm not sure what to say, and besides, I have no money. "BUY TICKET" prompts him to ask me what for, but nothing I answer seems acceptable. Not AIRPLANE, LUXEMBOURG (the plane's destination), nor MERCHANDISE, SUCCESS, BOB, TYCOON, or whatnot.

Returning to the fisherman, £5 buys his pole, which fishes a newspaper out of the sea.


The bum by the airport also accepts cash, and gives me the password "CHANDRALT." The shopkeep is receptive and sells me a ticket for my remaining £200.

Seems like there's nothing else to do, so I take the plane.

 

Map of the ship:


Map of England:



1 comment:

  1. The little animations in the otherwise static room illustrations are rather charming!

    ReplyDelete

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