The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time (PC) (GOG.com)

 

Took a long time get past this scene.

Well, I seem to have been trapped into a computer game revival at the moment. I'm still playing through Quest for Glory V, but I got the itch to play Legacy of Time again, even though I had some problems getting it started last time. Well, this time I got it from GOG.com and... it didn't start. After some tinkering I got the game to start and show the intro scene and I got to when the actual game starts and... my cursor didn't show up. Back to the drawing board, did it again and now it didn't start again. I got my hands on some external things to fix the files, but that didn't work either (which also was a pain to get my hands of since the computer erased the files as soon as I got them). In the end I fixed it by lower the resolution and then I tinkered a bit again and didn't even have to do that. Still, cursor now leaves a trail over the screen and I can't see Arthur or the items I have selected at the screen, but the game works and I could complete it without problem. At least no disc swapping. 

Still a great game, if a bit easy now that I've played it so much that I know the puzzles by heart. I still learn a couple of things that I missed as a kid, the siddah for example was a reincarnation of the last siddah that couldn't reach Nirvana due to pride. I also tried to see how free I was about finding different disguises. The only one that forces you to get one I would assume is Shangra-La since you need the pilgrim. I also got the feeling that each artifact was closer to two of the six elements described in the game (earth, wind, water, fire, space and time) which I thought would mean water and earth Atlantis, fire and air El Dorado which left time and space for Shangra-La, but El Dorado pretty much used all four elements in protecting the artifact as well as a irrigation system that gives water to the top of the mountains. And the monks have their steam tunnels and such which is the only highly advanced thing they show I assume (beside the staircase or the ability of transmutation. 

Still, I hope they add the game to ScummVM some day since I would love for the graphical problems to be solved and I'm a bit spoiled by the ease of use for that program. Still, took me something like 5-6 hours and I recall that it took me a year to solve as a kid. I must have been a really stupid kid... or the fact I didn't know what they talked about might not have helped. Probably the scary steam tunnels that did the most, even though you probably get the map early and it shows where you are. Tried to play the game with information from the game and El Dorado and Shangra-La is rather straight forward, but Atlantis I had to make at least one leap. After getting into the temple with the gold medallion I got a bit stuck in thought, I thought there would have been a mentioned of the water effect and the need to visit the windmill, but no. I had to go there since it was one of the few locations I had (and that I need to get there to get into the tunnel in order to find the artifact).

Still, looks great (besides the glitches), might need a bit of clean up. Music is great. This might explain why I like the FMV games I've played, they are really focusing on atmosphere. Gabriel Knight 2, Phantasmagoria 1 and this really feels atmospheric, the first in their horror theme and this in mystery. The actors works great, but they are hindered a bit about the blue or green screen work. 

The Journeyman Project 2: Buried In Time

 

Caught Somewhere In Time!

Finally the Journeyman Project 2: Buried In Time have been added to ScummVM and I at last can understand the whole trilogy. I played the other two games in the series back in... 2015? God dammit, that was a long time ago. I was gonna try the Sierra FMV-games like Phantasmagoria and The Beast Within, but some bugs stopped me from that so I tried this instead. My musings over Pegasus Prime you can find here and Legacy of Time you can find here and here. Story begins sometime after the events of the first game and Gage Blackwoods future self from 10 years forward appears in what the game calls a jumpsuit. He puts the present Gage in the suit and cloaks it while Agent 8 appears and apprehends him for breaking his house arrest for being put on trail for stealing historical artefacts and causing time ripples on his mission. But he got the idea that he will be constantly watched so he gets a jumpsuit from chief engineer Daughton (not the same actor from Legacy of Time) and gives it to the present-Gage that no one will check on. So the hunt goes to four different time periods. Chichen Itza in South America, an english castle in Normandy, Leonardo Da Vinci's workshop in Italy and a space station in the 23d century. Already better locals with both future and actual historical places.

Now, stupid me chose to play in Adventure mode which is harder with more puzzle, while I might have had more enjoyment out of the walkthrough mode, but hey, I solved the other two games so why wouldn't I be good at this as well? Well, maybe cause there is a lot of busy work and repeating actions to some of the puzzles. And you don't get Arthur until you solved parts of the space station, while under a timer due to no air as it is derelict. And that was the first problem. I knew I could find Arthur at the space station, but I end up in space without propulsion equipment, so back to Gage home, checked the other areas, but found a couple of items, but not much. Back in the home began checking even more, guess what? I missed a certain area where you could order things by punching in numbers... which you get from commercials from the TV when you watched the news. Every time you wanted them, and the cheese thing you need for the space station you gotta get for every visit, since it's one use only. And you gotta punch in the code every time. Why not just let me push it and then have it as a short hand in the menu from the replicator? Or maybe not have a one use item? Or I could have been good enough to just use one, but even the walkthroughs suggest jumping back to the beginning, forcing you to get another. 

So I used a couple of walkthroughs to get through the game. Doesn't help that I find the layout hard to navigate. Many areas looked the same, and, while innovative, things like the space station makes you walk in several directs since you are in zero gravity so it's walking on ceiling and all that. And I got lost in Da Vinci's workshop with more hidden ways around the courtyard. Another irritating thing is that you constantly have to switch between items and microchips that powers your suit with cloaking, translation or Arthur so that you can get the hints and such. Or even the damn menu for saving and restoring the game (thankfully ctrl+S works, but then you have to reset the items for use). So a bit cumbersome, and I should probably had used a numerical pad since that is easier than using the mouse pad. So the games have some issues I don't like. But the story is interesting. Finding hints of the person and trying to figure out who is the real culprit. I got that it had something to do with the art sale for the Louvre since it's fairly simple to see that the items corresponds with the time zones. And fairly early you get foot prints from a jump suit that leads you to an id that incriminates Agent 3, but then I knew that from the third game. That and I got a glimpse of the 3 on her suit in the castle.

Maybe should have been some internal logic puzzle that it was her other than when I found the last clue it was just a recording of her. And I gotta say I liked the final Chichen Itza as well since it was the precursor for the Shangri-La in Legacy of Time, but with mayan mythology instead of Buddha traditions. Well, captured by Agent 3 Arthur sacrifices himself to create a virus that sends him and Agent 3 into the temporal vortex. Meanwhile after regained freedom the news break that the Krynn ambassador has left the talks about time travels future after changing their stands from allowing everyone their own technology to wanting its dismantling. With that you get a code to their base where you recapture the items with the blueprints of the time travel technology. Agent 3 disclosed that she did it after being sent to the early 20th century observing mankinds atrocities like Auswitz, Hiroshima and so on, observing mankinds bloody past and feeling that only a couple of hundred of years can't undo our constant bloodlust. So she acted like the scientist who gave Soviet Russia the secret of the nuclear bomb since they also believed that if more had it it could uphold the terror balance. That was a bit naive of her we learn as when we get the items back and right before escaping the ambassador shows up and tells that the Krynn will use it to correct their forefathers mistake in not travel to the stars and become the first sentient space race. And they also began acting for abolishing time travel which tells me that they didn't intend to let any other race get the power as they promised Agent 3. You escape, future Gage is released and is awarded another medal while present-Gage is mindwiped and sent back. And the story continues in the third game.

As stated, it has some problems for me. Like the first game the jumps points are the same so you gotta redo puzzle after puzzle and in the game you are supposed too since you get clues you need to get later. But losing items and retrieving them to get back to that point is just tedious. But it's an interesting world, and Arthur heightens the whole experience. Not only do you actually learn stuff, but the references can be rather funny. But you misses him in several chunks of the game which leaves everything to your own grey cells, and I don't know if I get smarter or more stupid with age. Checking out the Walkthrough version, and guess what? No need for getting items through the replicator, no timer in the space station. But the puzzle is gone getting Arthur and basically most problems, might be boring in the long run. Now that this game is on ScummVM one can hope that in another 6 years we can get the third game as well so one can play it as intended.

The Journeyman Project - Pegasus Prime

I don't know if that is a scene from the game

So after a great deal to get the last game working I decided I've had enough with troublesome installs and such so I was mighty pleases that the remake of the first game was compatible with ScummVM and decided to check it out. And it worked like a dream, no delays and no audio glitches or crashes. So I started playing, came to the TSA and was noted for being late (I took my sweet time exploring and finding my keys) so I restarted to get the most point as fast as possible. I then noticed something peculiar. To access the inventory you need to press either clear or tilde... which don't exist on a Macbook air (not any portable Mac at all). So how would I solve this since the game is pretty much unplayable in that state. I try some remappable keyboard programs, non works. So in desperation I go to the attic to get our old iMac keyboard and plug it in. It works, but have no clear or tilde keys either, but a del button and I think I stumbled on a conversation that it also worked. Bloody hell it didn't. In desperation again I started pressing every single key and through luck one key responded with the correct action... the damn 7 key on the numerical pad. I can't access any easter eggs, but I could at least play the game.

Figuring out my keyboard is harder than defeating you, Poseidon!

Story is that you are Gage Blackwood, Agent 5 of the TSA and you are once again late to work. Especially bad since all other agents are out watching the first contact with aliens right outside your apartment and you must take over from Agent 3. Your boss commander Baldwin is on your case and some old man going to the roof keeps you from reaching your work. You arrive and are forced to re-read all information on time travel, about protocols and the creator Dr. Elliot Sinclair. Looks rather familiar that fellow. And then it happens to Baldwins chagrin, a temporal rift and you are the only one able to stop it. You travel a couple millions year back to the TSA safeguard archives and finds out that a Mars colony blows up while Aliens appeared, a nuclear bomb scuttled the global peace talks and a proponent for reaching out to the aliens are assassinated. Fairly interesting places to visit, a Marsian mining colony, an underwater military base and a scientific symposium in Sydney. Sadly, as someone pointed out, they look rather similar as futuristic corridors since the earliest place is in 22nd century and then 23d and 24th century respectively. Since I already played the last game I know Dr Elliott Sinclair is behind it and why, although this games make him just seem paranoid.

Also, I didn't check any walkthrough for a solution to the puzzles, played it in one go and finished it in one day. Maybe it's because the puzzles are fairly simple or maybe that I had a fair idea what to do and if I got stuck just checked another time zone. Doesn't mean my stupidity didn't try to stop me for a while. One part of the game is to fill an air tank so you can walk in the Marsian mines, I sit at the filling station were you can choose from different gases and such and I can't get it to work. Incompatible it says, do I need to replace the nozzle? The thing was that I kept pressing the CO2 because it was the first thing I thought of in air. And sure, part of the answer is in it, O, but it was a real face palm when I figured it out. 

I lost my heart to a TSA Agent!

The changes in the remake I gather is mostly the FMV cutscenes and many characters are appearing in the other games, like Baldwin, Agent 3, Sinclair and the INN news anchor. Strangely a character like Megan Love that is Gage's girlfriend doesn't reappear (at least not in the third game). And I must say that I greatly prefer the actor for Gage Blackwood in Legacy of Time. Maybe should wait until I play the second game when he actually made his debut in the role. Other things about the game is that it has some arcade style sections in the game. For example a mine cart race and space dogfight on Mars and an underwater submarine battle around the military base. You hardly do anything than watch, but it looks and sounds rather awesome with the music and a full view screen of the action. The submarine is the best with good music and the intense feeling as the military tries to hail you, shoot at you and several torpedo's flying past you and damaging your ship. Then again, due to restarting the zone every time you go back and some of the scenes you must watch and can't skip I might see why some can't stand them. Lastly, I now know why the last puzzle in Legacy of Time is turning those pyramids. It's because it's a legacy (HA, get it?) from the first game when the final puzzle is draw and fill out all the lines in 6 different shapes... while under a timer to deactivate a bomb. God I hate timer puzzles.

Save me Arthur, you're my only hope!

The Journeyman Project 3 - Legacy of Time (2)

And this scene... wait, I already mentioned that

So I got the game working and played through it from start to finish. The story is that due to the incident involving time travel has caused the alien federation to persuade Earth to shut down their time travel program since the risk are to great. This at the same time as the rouge Agent 3 that almost succeeded in selling their secret to another alien race and almost framing Agent 5, Gage Blackwood, for the crime is still out in the time stream infected by the AI Arthur. Meanwhile the alien federation is attacked by the Quell Thalas (or however they are spelled) that are headed for earth to search for three alien artefacts that was left by some ancient highly advanced aliens. So your goal is to get the artefacts to avoid repeating the past when the aliens clashed over earths greatest civilisations (Atlantis, El Dorado and Shangri-La) wiping them out of existence.

El Dorado... funny, I don't remember that scene either

The game plays as you as Agent 5 travels to these civilisations one day before their destruction to search the three different temples for the artefacts. With the chameleon jump suit you copy the appearance of the different inhabitants and there interact with them. Apparently giving it more dialogue compared to the earlier games and more focus on listening in for clues. To your help you have Arthur, the AI that sent Agent 3 through the time stream and started the path of the game. Always helpful and commenting on your surrounding gives a more lively experience. Also, you could ask him for help with the puzzles, but I've always went through all options since I liked hearing him talk, even though he gave obvious clues. Really, most of the actors are rather good with the great star being Graham Jarvis reprising his role as Dr. Eliot Sinclair, the father of Time travel and villain of the first game. Rather expanded back story as the lone survivor of Atlantis that due to the artefact had prolonged life into the 24th century, explaining his hatred for the aliens as they destroyed his home.

In the 20th century Dr. Sinclair was a rather famous actor appearing in shows like 7th Heaven

Most gameplay is solving puzzles, either with items, choosing the right disguise or logical thinking. Sadly if felt a bit lacking as it was rather easy, which probably was due to me play through this game a couple of times as a kid, but still. As expected you sometimes need items from other time periods to progress, but El Dorado and Atlantis just need one item to finish them and they feel rather short. The big one is Shangri-La were you need more items than ever in the largest puzzle quest. There you need to solve the 6 paths of the Buddha to reach the heavens and obtain the artefact. You must show humanity, pass through the fires of hell and so on. I think they might have wanted more since if I know my Buddhism there are 8 paths on the wheel of life before reaching Nirvana (I have now studied up on Buddhism for a possible DnD campaign and what do you know, there is just 6 realms to traverse into enlightenment, guess they thought me more than I suspected). It's also the one I had the most trouble with as a kid. First finding the black Buddha since it was in the steam tunnel maze combining two things I hated, mazes and scary underground areas with scary music. Then it was the damn music puzzle. Easy to find the solution as it is in plain sight, but the damn pattern are hard to decipher and the damn 5 isn't a 5. I don't know how often I played the same note over and over again, went back and read the pattern again and did it over again. Real satisfaction finishing it. And what is the reward for doing all this? A final puzzle that goes the 7th Guest route, turning three pyramids to create a light pattern.

I hate this puzzle

Playing through it again I still love it and find it really satisfying finishing it, but it feels short for a 4 disc game, and there really isn't that much in the different areas, except Shangri-La. Maybe that is the problem with FMV games that you have 4-7 disc and really, there isn't that much ganeplay. Thankfully the most game I've played from the FMV area are rather good in the story department and it some decent actors and this game really excel in that department. Even if it begins in media res from the second game it works fine without playing those (it worked for me) and I really like stories of the lost civilisations and such and the mythology they build up are amazing and at the same time feels mysterious and educational (even if most are fictitious some are based on real world like the Minoans, the true story of the gilded man and Genghis Khan). Also the characters feel alive, and some you feel sad for as you know they will die the next day, the warriors of El Dorado who believe they will stand a chance against the space ships, the peaceful monks of Shangri-La. The Atlanteans are a bit more ambiguous since they are a bit more militaristic and hostile against their neighbours. Sadly the only one (beside Sinclair) that survives the destruction is Genghis Khan and we now what a nice guy he was. In hindsight the saddest story is that of the potter and olive oil vendor siblings since you basically fool the potter in disguise of his sister to leave the oven causing the pots to crack since no one is taking care of that. The potter believe his sister slipped up and she don't know what he talks about meaning the last thing they will discuss before they die is arguing about something you caused. Don't you feel bad now? I say play it, it's a great game.

The whole gang, and most are killed by the beginning of the game

The Journeyman Project 3 - Legacy of Time (1)

This scene never took place in the game

So playing all these old adventure games got me craving for one of the better ones I could remember from my childhood and one I actually completed, The Journeyman Project 3 - Legacy of Time. Why we got the game in the first case was thanks to Myst. We bought the sequel Riven and on that game was a demo for this game since both game was published by Red Orb Entertainment. So looking through my parents game collection (more like my fathers game collection) I'm able to locate our original 4 disc version of the game and I put them in the external cd-drive for our Mac. Disc doesn't read. I take it out and look at the back, it's scratched, they are all scratched.

Scratches, a gamers nightmare

So I began searching the internet for tips and tricks to solve this. It was toothpaste there, vaseline here and god knows what. The only thing that happened was that the game at least wasn't booted out of the drive, but the files was horrible damaged. Apparently the original package case wasn't the most optimum place to store the cd's in. Probably for the best as well since I learnt that the current Mac OS X ain't backwards compatible. So what do you do as a person with a broken game and an internet connection? You download a digital version of course. Sadly non works of the current Macs, only windows. So I began researching and finds out about this nifty little program called Wine. It somehow tricks the computer to think it's windows based for that program. How neat. So I set out installing and downloading the softwares I need for this and forces myself through a very loose guide on Terminal to get it running.

Where were the green colours?

I'm able to install the game and start it up, I hear the intro music and click a new game. A box without text in my way. I knew there was some trouble with the text in the box and pushed on. Hmm.... seems like we skipped the intro movie, but at least I'm at the beginning of the game, but there is still a box in the way. I press escape and flickering by I can see a "switch cd box" and I realise it doesn't work. Failure. Alright, so I'm not the best computer geek that can whip out some mad hacker skills. I need some help... to the internet. So I look around and apparently some are pointing toward a tool called wine bottler. Supposedly it creates an app around the program that you then launches. So I thought, maybe if I put all the information inside the app it will work like ScummVM and such. I get that, goes through a much simpler program, creates an app that even have the game logo and start it up. The music is heard, I click New Game and... same problem again. No cd's detected. Well duh, there ain't none besides my scratched ones. Same problem and of to the internet again. I'm pointed toward Wineskin and get that one. Third times a charm right?

The reason console games are better is because they at least worked while repeating over and over

Same result. It doesn't work and it apparently misses the disc. So I presume the files I've have aren't sufficient. So I search the web again and find iso-files for the four discs and download them. And what do you know, I finally got the first disc working. Finally, it worked. Spending more time on getting this game to work than playing the game from start to finish. A little setback happened while playing through the first part of the game as it wanted to change disc. Lucky I saved before and tried the only thing I could think about, loading all the iso's for the disc and loaded the game again. Worked perfectly. Might switch the disc's out for the dvd version so I just need to juggle one disc instead of four. Sadly I realised the limitation of Wine. The game was jumpy, moving or people moving in front of me caused hacks or whatever you called. Lucky the nostalgia warmth in my heart made me overlook those flaws since it was so fun to watch it, hear it and play it again. Another thing wrong was that at times the audio scratched or whatever and once a movie froze the whole game. But I played it from start to finish.

Barely that is

The actual game will be talked about tomorrow.