RAMA
The game begins with the player in a drone shuttle, being
transported from the Newton bay to a spot at the hub site inside
the shell of RAMA. When the player arrives in RAMA and exits from
the shuttle, he or she is immediately greeted by Nicole des
Jardins.
After Nicole speaks and takes the cable car down to the floor of
RAMA, the player obtains his arm computer, an all purpose knife,
and a flashlight from his locker, #2. None of the rest of the
lockers are accessible at this time.
Approach the hub site computer and view the nine introductory
vidmails. These vidmails can only be seen at this particular
location in the game.
After Richard Wakefield's introductory vidmail completes, noise
will be heard from locker #9 indicating that the lock has sprung.
From this point forward, whenever the player is near this locker,
a sound will be heard from inside it. Locker #9 doorknob will
also become a hotspot after the Wakefield intro vidmail has been
read. When the player opens the locker, Puck comes out and makes
a little speech. Puck is then available to the player throughout
the rest of the game, offering hints and information at key
places. After the player obtains Puck, the cable car reappears at
the hub site.
Next the player reads Michael O'Toole's introductory vidmail. The
code given to the player (Code= 4143) by O'Toole in his vidmail
will activate the cable car and carry the player down into RAMA at
any time after Puck is in the player's pocket and the O'Toole
vidmail has been accessed.
Walk away from the hub site computer after having seen the
introductory vidmails. If the Wakefield and O'Toole vidmails
have been viewed, then a realtime vidmail transmission from
Francesca Sabatini will interrupt the game. Francesca asks the
player to fetch her cigarette lighter from her locker. Her locker
key, marked with the #6, is on an International Broadcasting
Corporation (IBC) key ring somewhere around the hub site.
Find the ladder and descend to the ledge. View the nuclear bomb.
Pick up Francesca's key ring that is lying on the ledge in the
opposite direction from the bomb. Return to the lockers at the
hub site.
Open locker #6 (Francesca's) and obtain eight objects that are
inside. The objects are her cigarette lighter, three matrix
puzzle pieces (PL11x- Good, PB32z- Bad, and PL21y- Bad), two map
puzzle pieces (NY Map Section A and CP Map Section A), an unmarked
key of exactly the same vintage as the key that was used to open
Francesca's locker (which can only be seen if everything else is
taken out), and a data cube containing a written memo from
Francesca to David Brown about strategies for obtaining greater
personal publicity from the mission. This data cube may be
inserted into the computer and read.
Discover that the new key opens Otto Heilmann's locker (#7).
Obtain two objects that are inside, namely the straight lens for
the optical instrument in the Wheel Region and an encrypted data
cube. If the data cube is placed into the computer, the message
that will come out is a memo from Otto to his henchmen. The
heading and subject (Code name: Trinity) on the message can be
read; the rest is encrypted.
After all tasks at the hub site are completed, the player may
enter the cable car and descend to the tent site on the floor of
RAMA. Actually, the player may make this descent without opening
either Francesca's or Otto's locker. In that case the player will
have a direct encounter with Francesca when he tries to exit from
the tent site. She will request that the player return to the hub
site for her lighter.
Once the player has completed all the play at the hub site, after
the passage of a specified amount of time he will first receive a
realtime vidmail from Nicole asking him to come on down, and then
later another vidmail from Dr. Brown ordering him to come to the
floor of RAMA.
During the ride on the cable car from the hub site to the tent
site, dawn will come to RAMA. If the player returns to the hub
site later, he will see different lighting conditions and vistas
of RAMA in the background. Future cable car rides will be
instantaneous and uneventful.
Explore the tent site. Discover the specimen tray, currently
containing two matrix puzzle pieces (PL11y- Bad and PL21z- Bad), a
map piece (NY Map Section B), and a red herring piece (one of the
tools from the mouth of the crab biots). Discover and open the
refrigerator, which at this time contains nothing. Find the three
data cubes that Francesca promised to leave at the tent site on
the table next to the specimen tray. These are the Getting to
Know You videos and can be played at any time. On the table next
to the computer, find a new data cube. This one was left by
Nicole, after she met the player at the hub site, and contains a
handwritten note from her as well as an excerpt from one of her
favorite novels, 3001 by Arthur C. Clarke.
Throughout the game, astronauts will be placing other objects in
the specimen tray and in the refrigerator. Of prime importance is
the fermentation agent for the still, which will be located in the
refrigerator throughout the rest of the game after the gate to the
second tier of London is first opened. Other matrix puzzle
pieces, specifically PB11x- Good, PB21z- Bad, and PL32z- Bad, will
appear in the specimen tray at specified points later in the game,
triggered by the player's failure to pick them up the first time
he was in the region where they initially were located.
Try to exit from the tent site. Encounter Irina Turgenyev, who
has come to the tent site to retrieve a cable that will be used in
the attempted capture of a crab biot. After departing, the player
will immediately receive a realtime vidmail from Dr. Brown
explaining about the crab biot hunt and asking the player to
explore RAMA on his own. Dr. Brown's vidmail will also contain a
photo of the crab biot. Soon thereafter the player will find
himself represented as an icon on a third person navigation map.
From this point in the game until the player is allowed to enter
the Iceport, the game is decidedly non-linear and can be played in
many different sequences. What is essential is for the player to
pass through the Beam Region, the Wheel Region, London, and
Bangkok, accumulating both the inventory medallion and the four
objects upon it (the avian ring, a free wild card, the human lair
talisman, and the octospider lair talisman). Until he has
accumulated all these necessary items, the player will not be
allowed to enter the Iceport and continue with the next part of
the game. In this walkthrough the following specific sequence is
assumed for the play: Beam Region, London, Wheel Region, Bangkok.
Whenever the player is not in one of the four specified regions,
he is wandering on the Central Plains in a third person view.
During these interim phases of the game, the player may encounter
biots or other astronauts. These encounters also impact the play
and will be scheduled by the game partly deterministically and
partly according to the player's progress. This walkthrough will
include one set of possible encounter sequences.
During his search for the Beam Region, the player may encounter
crab biot and centipede biot icons on the Central Plains
navigation map. Standing directly in front of a crab biot icon
will cause death. There are three death scenes in the game,
depending upon if the player is killed by a spider biot, a nuclear
blast, or some other phenomenon. Each involve meeting Arthur C.
Clarke. If a crab biot kills the player, the generic death scene
is triggered. Note that standing one space to the SIDE of the
crab biot will allow the player to see a side view of six crabs,
in bowling pin formation, passing through the area.
Coming within one pixel of the centipede biot icon will permit the
player to see the centipede biot in detail, and also to grab a
matrix puzzle piece (PL22y- Bad for the first centipede to pass,
PL21x- Good for the second centipede to be encountered, PB31y- Bad
for the third centipede, continue to cycle until all three have
been taken, then no more puzzle pieces). Centipede biots do not
harm the player. After six centipede biot icons have appeared
during the course of the game, these biots do not appear anymore
on the Central Plains. The two bad puzzle pieces are lost from
the inventory of the game. The good puzzle piece then goes to
Nicole des Jardins and an astronaut encounter with her is set up
for the player on the Central Plains at the first available
opportunity. She remains the next free astronaut encounter until
the player finally runs into her.
Enter the Beam Region. Approach the Trash Biot. This prompts a
video encounter with Reggie Wilson, who explains the trash system
in RAMA, gives the player a data cube of the crab biots in bowling
pin formation, and then departs. Watch the animation on the data
cube. Pick up one matrix puzzle piece (PL22z- Bad) from the bin
at the Trash Biot.
Observe the paraffin cube with the wild card inside. Pick up the
concave optical lens near the paraffin cube. Pick up Central
Plains map piece near cube. Pick up matrix puzzle piece (PL31x--
Good) also near cube. Note: if player enters and leaves Beam
Region without picking up PL31x, the Central Plains map piece, and
the concave optical lens, it is assumed not only that other
astronauts have been in the Beam Region during the interim, but
also that the crab biots came through the area and picked up the
trash. The matrix puzzle piece (PL31x-- Good) and the Central
Plains map piece will both be in the trash biot bin on the
player's second time through. Failure to acquire these puzzle and
map pieces on the second pass will cause them to move to the trash
pit, and be gunked, where they can be found subsequently in the
game. In this case, the player must enter the Wheel Region and
solve the still puzzle before he can complete the play in the Beam
Region and London. If the concave optical lens is not picked up
during the player's first sojourn in the Beam Region, another
astronaut picks it up and places it in the refrigerator at the
tent site.
Observe the biot hangar. Find broken red glass shard in corner
near the biot hangar. Pick up New York map piece near hangar, as
well as matrix puzzle piece PL32y- Bad. This puzzle piece and map
piece will follow the same sequence (Beam Region to trash biot bin
to trash pit with gunk) as PL31x described above. The broken red
glass shard will remain fixed in place throughout the game.
Walk over near the Beam. Pick up matrix puzzle piece PL11z- Bad,
which will also go to the trash biot bin on the second pass
through the region, and then to the trash pit with gunk
afterwards.
Discover the route to London. Leave the Beam Region in that
direction. Encounter Dr. Takagishi on the way. Determine, with
his advice, the timing of the ray. Pass the barrier and turn off
the ray switch. Pick up two map pieces (one Central Plains and
one New York) and one matrix puzzle piece (PL32z) near the ray
barrier. If the player returns to the Beam Region, or enters the
first tier of London, without acquiring these three pieces, then
they are taken by Dr. Takagishi and can be found in the specimen
tray at the tent site at each subsequent time in the game.
Notice the strange fixture on the top of the ray switch. Approach
the outside of London. Open the gates to the first tier of London
by inserting PL11x- Good, from Francesca's locker, in the proper
place on the matrix next to the gate. If two improper pieces are
tried by the player, then the gate puzzle changes and becomes the
matrix originally set for the second tier of London. If this
occurs, PL22x- Good, which would have been located in the first
tier of London in normal circumstances, immediately appears in the
specimen tray at the tent site. For this situation, to enter the
first tier of London the player must backtrack to the tent site.
Enter first tier of London. Door to second tier is in front of
player, RAMA display to the left, a pair of covered puzzle boards
to the right. Approach RAMA display. Activate different elements
using controls. When RAMA model flies through solar system model,
sound effects announce uncovering of puzzle boards. Pick up two
matrix puzzle pieces around display (PL22x- Good and PL31z- Bad).
Pick up remainder of map pieces scattered around room. Assemble
maps of Central Plains and New York on puzzle boards. Pick up
matrix puzzle piece underneath puzzle boards (PB22y- Bad). Notice
hint about inventory medallion and items on map of New York.
Entire Central Plains map will be lit forever on navigation view
after CP map is assembled in London first tier.
Approach door to second tier of London. Insert two proper matrix
pieces, PL21x and PL22x, one having been obtained from centipede
(or Nicole) and the other in London first tier (or from the
specimen tray). If two improper pieces are inserted, door to
matrix closes and will not open again until player leaves first
tier. This process repeats if additional wrong pieces are
inserted.
Enter second tier after door opens. Go down ramp onto elevated
platform around giant trash pit. Discover a matrix puzzle piece
on platform (PL31y- Bad).
Explore walkway around to left, where door to London third tier is
located. Explore walkway around to right, which triggers mantis
biot emerging from door, shining red light on elevator, raising
elevator, and then later causing elevator to descend.
Explore on far side of elevator, pick up box with mystery contents
in out of way spot. Notice that box has sculpture of ray barrier
on its top. Take box out to ray barrier, match with fixture on
ray switch, remove PB32x- Good from open box.
Return to London second tier. Place red glass shard on flashlight
and use on target on elevator. Elevator will come up from below.
Then use red light again to make elevator descend to floor of
trash pit.
Descend ramp from elevator platform to walkways into and around
trash pit itself. Discover critical good puzzle piece, PL32x-
Good, in unusual location (opposite look direction from grate) on
one of these walkways.
Also discover in specific corners, near grates, matrix puzzle
pieces that have been gunked with blue material. At the beginning
of game, gunked pieces include PB21x- Good, PB31x- Good, PB11y-
Bad, and PB21y- Bad. These are all in separate locations. Pick
up all these pieces. Note: six other matrix puzzle pieces may
migrate here, depending on how the game is being played.
Specifically, one or all of PL31x- Good, PL11z- Bad, PL22z- Bad,
PL32y- Bad, PB11z- Bad, and PB31z- Bad may end up gunked in the
trash pit, each in a different spot.
Return up elevator to platform around trash pit. Approach door to
third London tier and insert PL31x and PL32x. If two improper
matrix pieces are inserted, puzzle will change to a new one
requiring different puzzle pieces. The three Bangkok progressive
matrices and the London third tier matrix rotate together as a
group of four.
Enter London third tier. The player is now in the biot display
room, showing mantis, crab, and centipede biots engaged in
animated activities. There are no puzzle pieces in this room.
Around the corner to the left, however, the player will find a
crane biot, a menacing spider biot protecting an alcove area of
the room, and a laser gun.
Do not approach the spider biot. He is hostile and will kill you.
Walk up the ramp to the laser gun emplacement. Activate the crane
biot by firing the laser gun. The crane will hoist the spider
biot off the floor and keep it there as long as the player stays
in the room.
Quickly throw the switch below the monitor in the alcove. The
picture will change from static to the inside room of the wheel
puzzle. Then pick up the inventory medallion, also in the alcove,
and leave the room. If, for any reason, the player returns to the
room, the spider biot will be active again, guarding the alcove,
and must be restrained by the crane biot.
Leave London altogether. Along the way, notice that none of the
elements of the inventory medallion are yet illuminated. Upon
first exit from London with the inventory medallion in the
player's possession, a distressed Nicole des Jardins will be
encountered. Nicole tells player about death of Reggie Wilson and
hands him a data cube of Francesca's news broadcast following the
tragic end to the crab biot hunt. Watch the news broadcast.
Return toward the Beam Region. If the player takes the other path
away from London, not toward the Beam Region, he will be stopped
by astronaut Heilmann, who will tell him that he must turn around
and go the other way. After passing through the Beam Region, but
before finding the Wheel Region, the player may again encounter
either crab or centipede biots. Unless the critical matrix puzzle
piece PL21x has already been moved from the second centipede to
Nicole des Jardins, no astronaut encounters on the Central Plains
will occur until BOTH the Beam and Wheel Regions have been entered
and exited.
Find the Wheel Region and enter it. Pick up matrix puzzle piece
(PB31z- Bad) from trash biot bin (if by any chance the Wheel
Region is entered before the Beam Region, then the encounter with
Reggie Wilson will take place here).
Walk over to mechanical corn field. Pluck sole mature piece of
mechanical corn from field. Discover matrix puzzle piece (PB11x-
Good) among the rows. Pick up this piece. If not acquired before
leaving Wheel Region first time, this puzzle piece will be moved
to the specimen tray at the tent site, carried by another
astronaut.
Proceed to giant ruined biot. Observe sparks, discharges, and
finger twitch. Pick up matrix puzzle piece (PB11z- Bad) and
crowbar that is adjacent to ruined biot. If not picked up on
first pass, puzzle piece will move to trash bin, and thence to
gunk in trash pit. Crowbar remains fixed in this location
throughout the duration of the game.
Move across to pedestal in center of region. Pick up chassis on
ground and mount on pedestal. Observe that the lens holders are
automatically extruded. Insert lenses from Heilmann's locker and
one picked up beside paraffin cube in Beam Region. Also pick up
matrix puzzle piece (PB21z- Bad) near pedestal. This puzzle piece
will subsequently move to the specimen tray in the tent site if
the player does not pick it up during first visit to Wheel Region.
Chassis will always remain in this site-- it is too heavy to be
carried far by astronauts or crab biots.
Continue across to machine that looks like a still. Turn knob to
start flow of fluid into still. Insert one piece of mechanical
corn. Return to tent site for fermentation agent.
While traversing Central Plains encounter Richard Wakefield. Take
lens that he offers you. Soon thereafter encounter Nicole des
Jardins. She is just being friendly and giving advice, but she
mentions that there are interesting articles at the tent site.
Continue to tent site and obtain fermentation agent from
refrigerator. Pick up other game pieces, if available, from
specimen tray and refrigerator.
Return to Wheel Region with agent and lens. Insert final lens in
instrument. The instrument will animate and automatically fire a
laser, aimed toward the Beam Region, where it will melt the
paraffin cube, exposing the progressive matrix piece PB22x- Good.
This critical piece can be picked up on any subsequent visit to
the Beam Region.
Put fermentation agent in still. Gauge now shows full. Turn knob
and liquid comes out, cleaning blue gunk off sink area. Clean as
many as four of gunky matrix pieces. Gauge now shows empty. Each
time player leaves and subsequently enters the Wheel Region, for
whatever purpose, one piece of mechanical corn, good for the
cleaning of five items at the still, will have grown and be
available for plucking. If a piece is plucked during a visit, the
next entry will produce a new piece. Each piece unplucked during
a visit to the Wheel Region remains in position from visit to
visit.
Approach wheel puzzle. Arrival on wheel puzzle ramp for the first
time is trigger for Francesca Sabatini to suddenly appear next to
the player. Francesca gives player decryption card and suggests
the player take it back to the tent site for her. If player
inserts card into computer, then all encrypted memos (including
Heilmann's first one about Trinity, that was found in his locker)
can be read.
Stand on wheel ramp and notice solitary pathway to center of wheel
is currently directly opposite. Descend to walkway around five
spoked wheel. Notice that the center pathway has moved one
position, counterclockwise, during the player's descent from ramp.
Move either direction around perimeter of wheel. Observe that
this time the center pathway has moved TWO positions, again
counterclockwise. Continue to observe wheel motion pattern,
moving around perimeter (wheel moves 1, then 2, then 3, then 4,
then 5 positions counterclockwise with each motion of the player,
and then repeats the pattern). Calculate the correct position to
be able to take the pathway to center of wheel.
Reach center of wheel puzzle. Find a matrix puzzle piece (PB32y-
Bad) and add it to inventory. Notice monitor showing switch at
back of alcove in London tier 3. Also notice matrix controller
card (should be recognized as one of the items on inventory
medallion) being prominently displayed out of reach high on ledge
behind monitor.
Change channel on monitor. Screen shows inside of biot hangar
(there is only static on this second channel if switch behind
spider biot in London has not YET been thrown), which suddenly
springs into life. Monitor now shows spider biot being freed from
behind fence while mantis biots move ladder out of the fence that
has now been opened.
Cross Central Plains to Beam Region and biot hangar. Avoid spider
biots roaming the Central Plains from this point forward in game.
They will kill you. Have an optional astronaut encounter with a
grumpy Otto Heilmann who warns about the dangers in RAMA.
Go to the biot hangar and secure the ladder. Take it back to the
Wheel Region. This time when player mounts the ramp to the wheel
puzzle, the center pathway is offset from the ramp by two spokes.
Descend to the perimeter of the wheel and move around, observing
that the pattern of motion of the wheel is still the same, even
though the initial conditions have changed.
Follow the center pathway to the hub of the wheel for the second
time. Use the ladder to obtain the matrix controller card. Note
that a portion of the inventory medallion now becomes illuminated.
Approach Bangkok. Insert puzzle piece PB11x into the proper
place. Door will open. Two improper tries will cause the puzzle
to rotate to a different matrix.
Enter first room on first level. Carefully observe numerical
displays on walls opposite three learning machines. Left to
right, the machines are called Repetition, Recognition, and
Manipulation. Activate Repetition machine and observe
demonstration.
Show ability to repeat human numbers shown on Repetition machine.
Five consecutive correct answers to increasingly difficult
problems will expose a knob below machine. Turn knob and open
door to human museum. Player may proceed to museum and Level 2 of
Bangkok at this time, but this is not the most efficient way to
play the game.
Activate Recognition machine on first level and observe
demonstration. Show ability to recognize meaning of human
numbers. Five consecutive correct answers will result in a prize,
an octospider crunchie, that will come out of the machine. Player
may proceed to human museum or go next to the Manipulation
machine.
Activate Manipulation machine and observe demonstration. Show
ability to add and subtract human numbers. Make five consecutive
correct answers and earn a jewel from machine.
Enter human museum, observe all the displays and exhibits, learn
about humans. Pick up one matrix puzzle piece (PB22z- Bad) here.
Walk into elevator. Insert two proper matrix pieces, PB21x and
PB22x, causing cover on elevator button to retract. As usual,
insertion of two improper elements will cause the puzzle to rotate
to another matrix. Push elevator button. Ride to second Bangkok
level.
Enter first room on second level. Carefully observe displays
opposite learning machines. Activate three machines and show
ability to repeat, recognize, and manipulate myrmicat numbers.
Successful Repetition shows a knob which can be turned to enter
the myrmicat museum. Successful Recognition earns the human
talisman, one of the items on the inventory medallion. Succesful
Manipulation earns a second jewel. Player may proceed to the
myrmicat museum after Repetition, but can only make progress in
the game by finishing Recognition as well. On all levels
completing Manipulation earns the bonus jewel, but is not
necessary to proceed in the game.
Enter myrmicat museum, observe all the displays and exhibits,
learn about the unusual metamorphosis of manna melon into myrmicat
into sessile and back to manna melon again. Pick up myrmicat
clippers here, which can be used to cut the cable in the giant
ruined biot, thereby freeing the avian from its trap.
Walk into elevator. Input proper matrix pieces, PB31x and PB32x,
into slots. Two improper insertion attempts will cause puzzle
cover to descend (if this is final matrix, as it is in this
walkthrough). Cover will retract after the player leaves both the
museum and elevator areas and then returns. When elevator is
activated, ride to final Bangkok level.
Enter first room on third level. Carefully observe numerical
displays on walls opposite learning machines. Activate machines
and show ability to repeat, recognize, and manipulate octospider
numbers. Repetition rewards player with knob that can be turned
to enter the octospider museum. Recognition earns octo talisman,
one of elements on inventory medallion. Notice that three of the
four items on the inventory medallion are now illuminated.
Successful completion of octospider Manipulation earns third and
final jewel, causing noise to come from elevator. Return to
elevator. Matrix puzzle has folded down to unveil spot for
insertion of the three jewels. Insert jewels. Take Rosetta Stone
into inventory. This special cube matches human, octospider, and
myrmicat numbers on each face.
Enter the octospider museum. Observe the exhibits that tell more
about the fascinating octospider species. Pick up the strange
looking indigo-green tetrahedron that is, in fact, the entrance to
the corridor called Meenie from atrium in the octospider lair in
New York.
Exit from Bangkok into the Central Plains, heading back for the
Wheel Region. Upon exit from Bangkok, since three of the four
inventory items are illuminated, a RAMA quake occurs lasting for
six to eight seconds. Player receives two realtime vidmails in
succession, the first from Irina Turgenyev and the second from
Richard Wakefield. Irina expresses her terror and Richard
explains that RAMA has undergone a trajectory correction.
If player tries to go down the path to the Iceport at this point,
he is met again and turned back by Otto Heilmann. He must go back
toward the Wheel Region. After ten subsequent moves in any first
person region, the player receives another realtime vidmail, this
time from Dr. Brown. Dr. Brown announces that RAMA is now on an
impact course with the Earth and that there is a discussion
underway on Earth about abandoning the mission altogether.
The moment the Wheel Region is entered an avian swoops overhead.
We hear a sound effect as it becomes entrapped by the giant ruined
biot. When the player walks by this giant ruined biot, he hears
the squawks of the avian who is now unable to escape from what is
left of the giant biot.
Open panel on ruined biot. Cut cable with myrmicat clippers.
Apply crowbar to ruined biot finger to release avian. Grateful
avian then offers one of its neck rings to player before flying
away. Inventory medallion is now fully illuminated and,
therefore, the road to the Iceport is now available to the player.
The player may head that way on his own. If not, after twenty
moves the player receives a vidmail from Nicole asking him to come
to the Iceport. This vidmail repeats every twenty moves until the
player does indeed arrive at the Iceport. The way to the Iceport
should be apparent from the Central Plains Map in London, if the
player cannot find it any other way.
When player enters Iceport, he encounters first Dr. Brown and then
Nicole. The player also learns that Takagishi, O'Toole, and
Sabatini are off exploring a mysterious city of skyscrapers that
is located in the middle of the frozen Cylindrical Sea. Dr. Brown
and Nicole walk off together after a non-interactive scene,
leaving the player alone in the Iceport. Explore around the area.
Find the second nuclear bomb and a data cube containing a short,
uncoded letter from Francesca to David Brown. This letter
contains a comment that suggests that Francesca and Brown both now
know about the bomb deployments.
If the player tries to leave the Iceport before the second nuclear
bomb has been found, he is stopped by Dr. Brown and/or Nicole. If
player persists in disobeying orders (here, or anywhere in the
game), he is first warned and then fired by Dr. Brown and the game
terminates.
After finding the second nuclear bomb, Nicole will be waiting in
one of the icemobiles. She will suggest that the player join her.
She then inputs another O'Toole code to start the icemobile.
Nicole talks to the player as they cross the ice. She also sees
Yamanaka and Tabori pass and sends a vidmail to Dr. Brown.
After disembarking from the icemobile on the shores of New York,
player will find an abandoned, broken icemobile that was used by
Takagishi, O'Toole, and Sabatini to cross the ice. Nicole will
stay in icemobile and encourage the player to look around. The
player cannot enter the other icemobile, but can proceed to the
gates of New York and insert the inventory medallion in the proper
place. Gates will then open.
Just inside gate, pick up encrypted data cube in tuning fork
alcove. With decryption card in place, read Heilmann memo to
Yamanaka and Tabori that reminds player that the codes on the
nuclear bombs were designed by O'Toole. Activate each of the five
tuning forks in the alcove. Hear the sounds and see the color
displays. The colors are for octospider use.
Continue down avenue into the avian piazza. A large tetrahedron
sits in the center of the piazza. On one side an avian statue and
a myrmicat statue flank some steps. Place the ring on the neck of
the avian statue. Hear a mechanical sound. A knob appears on the
triangular door. It is too high for the player to reach. Puck
cues that the player cannot reach it yet.
Wander around the piazza counterclockwise. Find and observe the
maze controller alley, the mural alley, the skyscraper alley, the
maze entrance/exit, an unexplained structure that is hiding the
avian lair door, and a niche where two objects can be found. Pick
up both the two sided medallion and the green lens. Notice that
the medallion has a manna melon on one side and a screen on the
other.
Approach the maze controller and activate it with the piece
obtained from the wheel puzzle on the Central Plains. Notice that
the piston in the controller can be moved to any of five
locations, and that the lights above the controller designate
where the piston is located. Determine the meaning of the
controller and the lights by setting the piston in each of the
different positions and then crossing the piazza and entering the
maze to see what the piston setting means in terms of
accessibility to the piazzas of New York. Conclude this
experiment by finding the one controller setting that permits free
flow among all three piazzas. Set the controller at this setting
for the remainder of the game.
Each piazza contains an entrance to the maze. That part of the
maze that is always accessible from the avian piazza is called the
avian maze. The octospider maze and human maze are defined
similarly. Scattered throughout the mazes are five tuning forks
(let's call these A, B, C, D, and E). Tuning Fork A is in the
avian maze, B and C are in the octospider maze, and D and E are in
the human maze. Tuning Forks A, C, and E are red herrings-- they
have no specific use in the game. Tuning Forks B and D, however,
are important in game play. Tuning Fork D in the human maze plays
a key game role in the avian piazza; Tuning Fork B in the
octospider maze controls a key element of the game in the human
piazza. While unraveling the maze controller code and making
multiple trips through the small mazes, the player should pick up
all five of these tuning forks and add them to his inventory.
Walk over to skyscraper alley. Study the features in the alley,
including a pillar that would look like a staircase if tipped
over, four closed doors and one open door, a ramp that leads to
one of these closed doors, a window into a room elevated from the
floor of the piazza, and a tuning fork icon mounted on the wall
beside the ramps.
Use Tuning Fork D on icon mounted on wall in skyscraper alley.
Listen for sound of movement of mechanical system. Notice that
ramp has moved. Repeat process until ramp is lined up with open
door. Ascend ramp and look out window of elevated room.
Observe stools on ledge across piazza. Notice that one of them is
loose and tipped over. Find and acquire disassembled maze
controller piston in elevated room. Descend from room and go to
pillar in skyscraper alley. Install jack and notice that pillar
now looks even more like a staircase.
Climb up pillar. Pick up loose stool. Descend to piazza and
cross to the tetrahedron. Place stool below triangular doorknob.
Climb up on stool and turn doorknob. Tetrahedron opens. Look
around inside but return to mural alley before proceeding.
Observe and interpet mural that indicates relationship between
manna melon and Raman screen.
Enter tetrahedron again. Find periscope machine and activate it.
Notice that machine has an eight position dial and a button that
locks the machine in a fixed position. Rotate the dial to each
location, viewing the bas-relief available at each setting. When
a manna melon appears on the machine monitor, lock the periscope
in that position. A loud mechanical sound will indicate that the
structure hiding the avian door is being lifted away.
Exit from the tetrahedron and notice that the structure that was
hiding the avian lair cover is gone. Observe the avian lair cover
and the two key slots beside it. Leave the avian piazza, through
the maze exit, and proceed to the octospider piazza.
Enter the octospider piazza and walk around it carefully in a
counterclockwise direction, observing the structures and picking
up inventory items along the way. Pass the large octohedron
first. There is no apparent way to open the door. Continuing
around the plaza, enter a winding niche that contains a blue lens
and a tetrahedral key with green on both exposed sides (in the
future the tetrahedral keys will be identified by their two colors-
- this is the green-green tetra). Pick up these objects and
continue past the maze controller alley to another alley,
apparently empty but characterized by repeating panels. In the
corner of this niche pick up Takagishi's video camera and two data
cubes.
Watch the video sequences on the data cubes. On one a pair of
octospiders is seen leaving the octo piazza. The other animation,
also filmed by Takagishi, follows a long, slithering black and
gold tentacle around a corner, into a nest of octospiders, and
then becomes black.
Finding Dr. Takagishi's video camera and the data cubes is the
second of two triggers (the first trigger was standing in front of
the unhidden avian lair door over in the avian piazza) that
together initiate an animated sequence that takes place throughout
the rest of the game, as long as the player has not yet looked
down into the avian lair. Once these two flags have been set,
every time the player enters the avian piazza from the maze exit
again, and subsequently stands in front of the tetrahedron facing
north, the avian rescued fron the giant ruined biot in the Wheel
Region will fly into and then out of the scene. For a minimum of
ten moves, that avian will be next to its lair door, beckoning to
the player, prepared to lead the player into the avian lair.
Three different options exist, depending on the player's response.
The player may enter the avian lair, look down into the lair but
not enter, or never even look down into the lair.
If the player enters the avian lair, the ledges are quickly
withdrawn and there is no escape for the player until he has
completed the gameplay in that lair. If the player looks into the
avian lair, and sees the ledges extend, but chooses not to
descend, then the lair remains in exactly that same state until
the player returns to the same location. If the player does not
reach the spot where he can look down into the lair, then after
ten moves (or longer if the player can still see the beckoning
avian at the end of the moves) the avian flies away, out of the
piazza, and the entire sequence repeats the next time that the
player enters the piazza from the maze entrance and stands in
front of the tetrahedron facing north.
In this walkthrough the player will not return to the avian piazza
(triggering the sequence above that gives him an opportunity to
enter the avian lair) until after he has explored the octospider
and human piazzas and uncovered the human and octospider lair
entrances. This is the way to play the game to have the best
chance of completing the final timed segment in the allocated
period. Therefore, the player should conclude his
circumnavigation of the octospider piazza by locating the artifact
museum alley and also the artifact museum itself.
Pick up the blue-green and indigo-yellow tetras in the artifact
museum alley. Then enter the artifact museum. Notice the colored
displays, four on either side of the walkway and one directly
ahead. Each of the nine displays features a specific primary
color (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, black,
and white). The eight displays on either side each contain an
exhibit that is held in place by a clamp. A diamond-shaped hole
in a plate associated with the clamp suggests that it may be
possible to unlock the clamps and take the objects. In reality,
there are only three objects in the artifact museum that the
player can acquire: the photograph of Michael O'Toole and his wife
that is in the green area to the left of the walkway, the Eenie
gate yellow-red tetra in the blue area on the right (which cannot
be opened until the human piazza has been explored), and a prism
mounted on the slightly elevated stage directly in front of the
player.
Insert the green-green tetra in the proper slot and remove the
O'Toole photo from its clamp. Examine the photograph in detail
and note the number circled on its back associated with a specific
O'Toole anniversary. Note that the word CODE has been written
underneath the circled number. This is the first of the critical
clues to the code that must be determined before the bomb can be
disarmed at the end of the game.
Note that if the flashlight shines on the prism, two colors fall
across the locking plate. Observe also that the prism is mounted
on a plate that can be spun, changing the orientation of the
prism. Dial new locations for the prism until the colors falling
on the locking plate are yellow and orange. This releases the
lock. Take the prism into inventory.
Approach the octohedron in the piazza. Place prism is triangular
hole on the lockplate. Shine flashlight on the prism. A spectrum
appears on the plate and the octohedron door opens. Enter the
octohedron and examine the unusual machine in its center.
The machine has four sliding controls, three identical longer ones
and a smaller one to the right of the others, that can be
activated by the player. These sliders and the body of the
machine are attached to three screens that are elevated slightly
above the rest of the apparatus. On top of each of these three
monitors is a smaller, rectangular screen that constantly exhibits
a color swatch.
Experiment with the right slider and determine that its function
is to designate which of the three screens will be illuminated and
filled with a single, solid color. Experiment with the three
longer sliders, each of which can be placed in five different
settings, and notice that these sliders control the actual color
of that illumination. Change the positions of the sliders until
the colors shown on the three individual screens exactly match the
colors on the swatches above. Each time a match is made, the
machine will signal. When all three colors have been matched, a
loud mechanical sound will be heard from the piazza.
Leave the octohedron and return to the alley where the repeating
panels were seen. Notice that the octospider lair door is now
visible. Notice also the shape of the two separate keyholes, into
one of which the octospider talisman earned in Bangkok can be
placed. The octospider lair cover will not open, however, until
the other key is found.
Depart from the octo piazza using the mazes and proceed to the
human piazza. Enter the piazza and explore in a counterclockwise
direction, past the moat beyond which is an inaccessible door, a
pair of empty alleys, the maze controller alley with its statue of
a human, a complex, closed pentahedron with a tuning fork statue
on one side and a skyscraper on the other, and a final alley,
called Arthur's alley, down which he will walk at the end of the
game. Throughout this piazza are scattered several inventory
pieces: a yellow lens that has no use in the game, the blue-yellow
tetra that opens the clasp holding the yellow-red tetra in the
octospider artifact museum over in the octo piazza, a data cube
with a hastily written memo from Francesca suggesting that she has
encountered danger, and three more tetras that will be of use in
the octospider lair, namely the green-red, blue-red, and indigo-
red.
Go to the front of the pentahedron. Use Tuning Fork B on fork
statue. Hear a door opening sound. Turn around and look at the
pentahedron. A mantis will come out of it and the door will then
close. As the animation continues, the mantis will shine a blue
light on a panel on the skyscraper, which will cause the
skyscraper door to open. The mantis will file through this door
and disappear, the door closing behind it.
Put blue lens on flashlight. Shine flashlight on panel on
skyscraper door. After door opens, enter skyscraper and look
around Mantis Room. At opposite end of room is a small subway
car. Enter and activate subway. Disembark at first stop and
enter Puzzle Room #1. Walk around and examine Puzzle Room #1.
Each of Puzzle Rooms contains the same basic set of displays. One
display is a symbolic representation of the subway structure in
this skyscraper. Another prominent display features blocks
arranged according to size. This is a significant hint about the
basic puzzle activity inside the skyscraper in the human piazza.
On the largest wall in each of the three Puzzle Rooms is a nine
element row with empty frames, under which is a three element
frame column. Each of the frames stacked on the column contains a
picture of something from Earth. Each of the empty elements on
the row and each of the frames on the column is a hot spot.
Experiment and determine that the three frames on the column can
be placed, one at a time, into the frame elements on the row. The
player also has the freedom to remove the column frames from the
row, and restack them. Thus the three column frames can be
arranged in any way the player desires.
Take the three column frames and place them in three of the nine
empty frame elements of the row. Then return to the subway.
Discover at the next stop that the door is locked. Return to the
subway and continue to the next stop. Disembark and enter Puzzle
Room #2, identical to the first puzzle room except for three
different Earth objects featured in the frame elements on the
column. Also, there may or may not be one or more of the frame
elements seen earlier from Puzzle Room #1 in place in the nine
element row. Either way, the player should take the three
elements from the column here and place them on the row. Then he
should continue to Puzzle Room #3 and repeat the same activity.
Somewhere in this process the player will discover that the
purpose of this puzzle is to verify that he is indeed a human (or
someone quite familiar with life forms on the planet Earth) and to
show that he knows the comparative SIZES of the nine objects
(ranging from an amoeba to the planet Earth itself) featured on
the three columns in the three Puzzle Rooms. When the nine
element row is completed, moving from left to right will show a
monotonic increase in the size of the items represented. Each
time that a column frame element is placed into the CORRECT row
frame, it will remain there while the player moves between puzzle
rooms. Incorrect placings will be restored to the column in that
room and will be there again when the player returns. At any
time, the player can exit through the Mantis Room, return to the
human piazza, and continue with the game.
Once the nine column frames have been properly placed in the
array, each of the puzzle rooms will feature a completed array.
More importantly, a door will open at the second subway stop
(between Puzzle Room #1 and Puzzle Room #2) and the player can
pass through that door into another subway car. This car will
carry him to a place where he can activate a machine that creates
a bridge across the moat that prevents entrance to the
inaccessible door in the human piazza. Return to the piazza,
cross the bridge to the moat.
Inspect the door to the human lair. Note the two keyholes
adjacent to the door, one of which will be matched by the human
talisman earned in Bangkok. The other key is not yet available.
Leave the human piazza by means of the maze and return to the
avian piazza. Find the beckoning avian and approach the entrance
to the avian lair.
Look down the central shaft of the avian lair. See the avian fly
across. Note its squawks and the subsequent sound of a door
closing. Notice the ledges below you. Descend one level in the
lair. Hear noise of ledges withdrawing. Look up once and see an
open corridor. Look up a second time, at lights coming from New
York, and determine that an exit from the avian lair is no longer
possible.
Look down the open corridor. Notice that there is a single
illuminated light above the portal, indicating that this corridor
is on the first level. Look across the shaft. Observe that there
is no way for the player to cross. Also note that the door to the
opposite passageway is not open. Proceed down the open passageway
on the first level.
Encounter a closed entryway above which are three strange written
characters. Approach closer, look inside, determine that there is
no way to open the door. Back off two steps, look around, find
the decorated cistern. Activate the cistern by throwing the wall
switch. Spend time watching the activity of the cistern. Notice
that with each drop a different alien character around the cistern
is illuminated. Recall from early experiences in Bangkok that
these characters are myrmicat numbers. Upon departing from
cistern, observe that the three characters over the closed
entryway are also myrmicat numbers, in fact they are 7, 2, 15.
Leave first level in avian lair and descend to second level, where
two illuminated lights are over the open portal. Notice that
across the shaft, still inaccessible, is another open corridor.
Enter the Great Hall of the avians by moving through the open
portal. Once inside, turn in all directions and observe. Note
the guard avian who prohibits departure from the Great Hall. Also
note the three myrmicat numbers over the doorway (4, 12, 15).
Move forward in Great Hall. Observe avian manipulating manna
melon machine. Accept manna melon offered. Cut manna melon in
two pieces with knife. Eat one half of manna melon with spoon.
Notice that immediately after eating melon additional new designs
can be seen on the wall mosaics. Observe that these designs
vanish again after a few seconds. Conclude that eating a piece of
manna melon alters perception.
Offer second half of manna melon to avian. After it eats, the
avian flies to a machine in the distance and beckons. Go toward
the beckoning avian and take elevator ride up to where the three
avian muckymucks are perched. Take squawk box that is offered.
Examine squawk box in detail, noticing that each of the sixteen
individual elements emits a different sound and has a different
number of little triangles around its periphery. Put squawk box
in inventory and look around at other roosting avians.
Descend Great Hall elevator and return to manna melon machine.
Obtain three or more manna melons and place them in inventory.
Notice that guard is gone from door. Pick up mapboard near door.
Examine mapboard, note layout of rooms in avian lair. Eat half a
manna melon with mapboard in hand, observing that three myrmicat
numbers appear in each symbolic room for a few seconds.
Leave Great Hall and second level. Descend to third level of
avian lair. Observe that corridor across the shaft is
inaccessible. Notice bridge controls at bottom left of third
level open portal. Work bridge control device. Observe that
bridge across shaft only extends part way. Enter avian theater
and watch end of play. Turn around, notice number over the door
(0, 4, 6).
Move forward to myrmicat benches. Look left, note that room is
being illuminated by something inside a gourd. Approach gourd and
add unlit gourd to inventory. Now look right and see corridor
leading backstage. Enter passageway and proceed to dressing room.
Look around room, encounter avian who flies away. Discover
octospider lair key in pocket of costume on stand.
Add key to inventory.
Leave theater. Use gourd on bridge controls. Turn controls again
until bridge is fully extended. Cross shaft. Ascend to second
level. Proceed down corridor to Hatchery. Wander around room.
Discover niche on north side of special column. Note there is no
way yet to open the door to the niche. Continue to explore
Hatchery. Find jungle gym on opposite side of the column. Look
up and see rest of jungle gym structure. Climb jungle gym to
loft. Find rope and add to inventory. Climb down from loft.
Note room number (15, 0, 2) above door upon departure.
Descend to fourth level of avian lair. Note that corridor across
shaft is not accessible. Enter open portal leading to schoolroom.
Wander around schoolroom floor, looking at murals and eating a
piece of manna melon in front of each mural. Notice that the post-
melon vision suggests a method for operating the ledges above the
first level of the lair. Note in addition that one set of three
numbers is associated with the visual depicting the RETRACTION of
the ledges, and a different set of three numbers are aligned with
the picture of the extension of the ledges. Copy down the
myrmicat numbers (6, 9, 8) from the mural representing extending
the ledges.
Observe that it is impossible to climb to the podium in the
schoolroom. Leave schoolroom, noting number (11, 8, 3) above
door. Return to bridge and cross shaft on the third level. Climb
up two levels. Approach security/defense door. Squawk door
numbers 7, 2, 15 (numbers seen above door can be translated using
either Rosetta Stone or quick refresher course at the cistern).
Watch door open.
Enter security/defense room. Observe keypad with myrmicat
numbers. Fiddle with knob until picture of myrmicat pool room
appears. Note that far right sliding mechanism causes toggle in
room configuration. This is very important. Also observe that
numbers are illuminated while security picture is present,
suggesting use for keypad.
Input new numbers into keypad. If numbers are those just used to
open security/defense door (7, 2, 15), then a myrmicat message
appears on screen. If numbers are those for any particular room
(room numbers can all be seen on mapboard by eating a manna melon;
alternately, they could have been written down by the player on a
pad each time he visited a room) in the avian lair, then a picture
of that room appears on the screen. Any other numbers entered on
the keypad produce a response that looks like television static.
If the schoolroom numbers (11, 8, 3) are now entered into the
keypad, AND the sliding mechanism is used to toggle the physical
configuration in the schoolroom, then the ramps can be placed so
that the player will be able to reach the podium.
Approach elevator in security/defense room. Note numbers (9, 14,
7) over elevator. Look down and use squawk box on microphone to
input these numbers. Enter elevator and ascend. When elevator
stops turn around and walk to console. Notice slot for object as
well as display featuring the ledges.
Return to fourth level, opposite side of shaft, to schoolroom.
Mount podium using ramps extended while in security/defense room.
Pull lever on podium. Observe again impacts of altered vision.
While at podium, turn around one hundred and eighty degrees. Note
broken elevator descending to somewhere. Tie rope to elevator
handle. Climb down rope into myrmicat area.
Explore myrmicat domain. Go left first into pool room. Notice
pools, including one that has a key in the center. Don't try to
obtain it yet, or the consequences will be disaster. Instead,
locate the pools control area. Push button in center of control
device and notice that water drains out of the pool directly in
front of the player. Next discover that the primary lever is
stuck. Now go back past the elevator into the other side, the
sessile room. Pick up cup that is sitting on a rock. Fill this
cup with fluid from one of the pools. Pour contents of cup on
pool control lever and note that it melts the residue that is at
the bottom of the lever.
Push button on top of lever and notice that it lowers to a
position similar to two others on the control device. Change the
pointer in the center of the control device until it points in the
direction of the pool with the key in the center. This pointer
will be aimed at roughly eight o'clock when it is in the correct
position. Now raise the lever behind the pointer and press button
to drain the distant pool. Proceed to the emptied pool. Pick up
the human lair key on the stand in the center. Take the key into
inventory and climb back up to the hatchery, level 2, this same
side of the shaft.
Locate niche on north side of column celebrating symbiosis between
the avians and the sessiles-melons-myrmicats. Insert human and
octospider lair keys into niche. Door should open. Take myrmicat
ID card out of niche. Remember slot on console that was seen
after elevator ride in security defense room.
Return to security defense room. Open door with squawk box (7, 2,
15) and activate elevator with squawk box (9, 14, 7). Ascend to
special room and insert myrmicat ID card in proper slot. Enter
code (6, 9, 8) to extend the ledges. Notice that the ledges do
indeed extend even on the display.
Leave security/defense area by coming down the elevator and using
the squawk box to open the door. Approach the shaft. Look up.
Notice that ledges are extended. Exit to avian plaza.
Encounter Richard Wakefield upon leaving the avian lair. Richard,
bursting with enthusiasm, informs player that nuclear bombs have
been set by Heilmann et al, and that they will detonate in six
hours, destroying RAMA and everything in it, unless somehow the
third nuclear bomb, which is somewhere in New York, is found and
disarmed. Before leaving Richard, who will himself join Nicole in
also searching for the bomb, gives the robot Falstaff to the
player and tells him to use the Shakespearean robot wherever
necessary in his search for the bomb. From this time forward in
the game, a countdown clock appears on the main game interface.
Find the maze entrance off the avian piazza and pass through the
maze to the octospider piazza. Locate the octospider lair
entrance and insert both the octo key found inside the avian lair
and the octo talisman earned in Bangkok. Descend down the ramps
of the octo lair into the atrium. Hear the noise when standing in
the lair at the bottom of the ramp. Look up at the dome on the
ceiling of the atrium. Notice the rotating color bands that are
laid out in concentric circles, with an octo language header in
the middle of the design. Starting at the header, and moving
toward the spiked, stylized pointer, an octospider number is
formed by the colors on the two circles. Note this number. Note
also that the number changes every time that the player stands on
the pad at the end of the ramp.
Look around the atrium. Notice that there are four tunnels
leading to the rest of the lair. From left to right, call these
tunnels Eenie, Meenie, Mynie, and Moe. The gates to Eenie,
Meenie, and Mynie are closed and locked. The gate to Moe is open.
Walk into Moe. See the pair of octospiders apparently dancing.
Continue into the cistern area, triggering a non-interactive
animation in which the octos see the player, point at him, turn
off their music, talk to each other in color bands around their
heads, and scoot out the back door, which closes and locks behind
them. Walk back now toward the atrium and discover that the Moe
gate has been closed as well and requires a blue-orange tetra to
open it. The player is trapped in Moe corridor.
Examine the cistern area. Francesca Sabatini's space suit is
lying in a corner. In the pockets of her suit are three data
cubes (which can be watched whenever the player desires-- they all
deal, in one way or another, with the Heilmann plot to deploy the
bombs) and a decryption card. Add all these items to inventory.
Next approach the two keyboards in front of the fountains. One of
the keyboard sets has colored keys, and gives a refresher course
in octo numbers. Pushing the colored key (which is a specifiec
octo number) produces the proper number of light beams on the wall
and spigots gushing from the fountains. The second keyboard set,
all white, plays octo music, which is a combination of dancing
waters and colors (since octospiders are deaf). Each white key
produces a different octo "song". If the third key from the left
is pushed, however, the sound of a door opening is heard. Turn
completely around anytime that particular song is being played. A
hidden niche, containing a cache of the tetras that are the keys
to the octo gates, is now visible. To enter the niche, use the
yellow-indigo tetra found earlier in the artifact museum alley of
the octo piazza.
The cache includes nine tetras on a rack. Of these nine, only two
are important in the game, the blue-violet tetra and the red-
orange tetra. Add tetras to the inventory. None of these tetras
will, however, open either of the gates of Moe. Approach the back
door to Moe, the one through which the dancing octos escaped. See
a blue-orange tetra lying on the other side of the gate. Activate
Falstaff and place the robot on the ground. In an animated
sequence, he will pass through the gate and retrieve the blue-
orange tetra. Open the Moe gate and return to the atrium.
Check Mynie gate and discover both that the corridor is blocked
and that none of the tetras in inventory will open it. Observe
the latest dome setting and then open the Meenie gate with the
green-indigo tetra found in the octospider museum in Bangkok.
Proceed down the corridor and turn left into the octo gallery.
Observe the stuffed Takagishi and avian, the wheel commemorative
display (like the one in the schoolroom in the avian lair-- a
foreshadowing of the Wheel Room in the human lair), and six
photographs, one of which is a picture of a nuclear bomb with four
numbers (the seventh through tenth) already entered into its side.
Note also, on the far side of the gallery, an apparent door, with
a lock, but no colors defined for the tetra that would open it.
Leave the gallery and continue down Meenie corridor. Approach the
cylindrical descending pit. Notice that the spikes, that could be
used to climb down, retract whenever the player reaches the lip of
the pit. Go in the Eenie back gate using a red-green tetra picked
up in the human piazza. Find the abacus alcove on the left.
Examine artwork relating abacus to the numerical art of the atrium
dome. Set octo abacus to the number in the atrium dome. Return
to the descending pit. Notice that now the spikes protrude when
the player stands on the lip.
Descend to lower level of octospider lair. Note that abacus off
to left is set at same number as abacus on upper level. If this
abacus is reset by the player, then the spikes retract, making
ascent impossible. Walk to right into dome room. Look up at
ceiling at dome similar to one in octo atrium. The lower level
dome and abacus must be set to the same number for ascent.
While in dome room, notice symbolic map on wall. Recognize that
this is map of upper level of octospider lair. Depicted on this
map is an additional room behind the locked door in the octo
gallery. On map is button which, if pushed, causes red and orange
lights to fill the adjacent triangular areas, thus defining the
red-orange tetra that needs to be used to enter the octo research
lab behind the gallery. This is essentially a simple octo
security system-- colleagues arriving by subway can simply buzz
the octo researcher and it will identify the key that should be
used.
Enter subway station. Inspect large, inoperable subway at one
end. Find Francesca's scarf, which cannot be taken, and a
portable, Polaroid-like photo of the third bomb with its four
numbers already in place. This is an exact copy of the photograph
hanging on the wall in the gallery.
Cross station to tiny subway. Activate Falstaff, who walks in
subway in non-interactive sequence. Access wrist computer and
switch to Falstaff's point of view. Note that Falstaff can turn
around, come back, and see huge boot of player. This demonstrates
process for deactivation of Falstaff.
From Falstaff's point of view, enter tiny subway, push control
button, and watch animated sequence of subway car moving through
tunnel. At other end, subway door pulls away. Observe animation
of octomorphs eating in nest area. After this observation, and at
any time during this portion of the game, Falstaff can turn
around, return to the player, and have the point of view switch
back to the player.
Step forward into nest area as Falstaff. Observe animated
sequence in which huge tentacle from full-sized octo comes into
nest and takes crunchie out of bowl of morph on the far right.
This octomorph exhibits agitation, and then storms off to the
right. The other three eating octomorphs are not affected by the
action.
Turn left as Falstaff. See the giant octo eye in the window.
Watch it disappear. Notice the laser gun against the wall. Add
it to inventory. Turn left again. See the subway entrance and
two permanently locked octospider doors. Turn left one one more
time and see the agitated octomorph standing in front of O'Toole's
Universal Identity Card (UID). This octomorph will not move and
allow the player to obtain the UID.
Turn as Falstaff to face octomorph bowls again. Take octo
crunchie earned in Bangkok (if not in inventory, then crunchie can
be found in research lab) and place in far right bowl. Octomorph
who was agitated earlier now slithers into picture and happily
eats. As Falstaff, turn right and take the UID. Notice that
O'Toole has circled the month and day of his birthday, 3 and 29,
and written words CODE somewhere on the UID.
Return to subway station as Falstaff, find player's boots,
deactivate Shakespearean robot. As player, enter lower level dome
room, observe ceiling, set abacus, and ascend spikes to upper
level of lair. Enter gallery. Proceed to lab door. Notice that
lock now has red and orange colors. Insert red-orange tetra and
enter laboratory.
When player draws near to octo teacher, a long non-interactive
sequence occurs. During this sequence the octo teacher a) says
hello in color, b) indicates that it is going to demonstrate
something (also by speaking in color), c) touches the octo number
for 4 on the pedestal, d) taps while four balls appear on the
translucent screen, e) touches the lower part of the screen with
its tentacle and the human number 4 appears, f) speaks the octo
number four in color while the screen also shows the octo colors
for 4, g) next says to the player, repeat after me, h) then taps
five times to produce five balls on the screen, i) touches the
screen causing the human number 5 to appear, and j) waits for the
player to respond.
Note that the pedestal beside the teacher can spin. The
octospider is waiting for the player to maneuver that pedestal, as
necessary, and touch the octospider number for 5. If this is
properly done, the octo teacher will react joyously. If the
player does nothing for a fixed period of time, or does not
respond correctly, the octo teacher will repeat the part of the
sequence beginning with the octo phrase in color, repeat after me.
The demonstration sequence with the 4 will not be repeated. If,
after three attempts, the player has not yet correctly operated
the pedestal and identified the octospider number 5, the teacher
turns around and ignores the player.
The player must leave the octo gallery altogether before having
another chance with the teacher. When the player returns, there
will still be no demonstration sequence. This time, following the
same basic procedure as before, the teacher will ask the player to
find the number 7 in octospider on the pedestal. Whenever the
player gives a correct response, either the first time or later in
the game, the octo teacher reacts joyously, hands O'Toole's
catechism card to the player, turns off its equipment, and leaves
the laboratory out the back door.
Examine the catechism card. On the back is written 15, ..., ...,
..., 33, underneath which O'Toole has written, in bold letters as
before, the word CODE. Having acquired the catechism card, the
UID, and the anniversary photo from the octo piazza, the player
now has all the clues necessary to disarm the bomb. The five
numbers that should be entered (each is a four place number, so
that 41 becomes 0041), and the order in which they should be
entered, can be deduced from all these clues and the seventh
through tenth digits already in place on the bomb. The key to the
code is that O'Toole's favorite sequence beginning with the number
41 is the source for all the numbers and digits in the disarming
code. Thus 15, the first number, refers to the 15th number in
O'Toole's sequence. Similarly, the 33, the last number, and the 3
and the 29 from the UID, all refer to specific numbers in
O'Toole's sequence.
After the octo teacher has left, explore the laboratory carefully.
Find and add to inventory the following three objects: an
octospider crunchie, O'Toole's crucifix, and most importantly, a
wooden pocket item given to O'Toole by his family showing all the
numbers in his favorite sequence. On this item 41 is identified
as the first number, 43 as the second, 47 as the third, 53 as the
fourth, 61 as the fifth, 71 as the sixth, 83 as the seventh, and
so forth up to 1601 as the fortieth number in O'Toole's sequence.
With this item the player can quickly see what the fifteenth, the
thirty-third, and other critical elements in the sequence may be.
Leave the lab and the octo gallery. Return to the atrium. Exit
from the octospider lair into the octo piazza. Enter the maze and
cross to the human piazza. Find the entrance to the human lair
and insert both the human key found in the avian lair and the
human talisman earned in Bangkok. Walk down the stairs into the
Wheel Room.
Examine wheel puzzle directly in front of player. Notice that
myrmicat numbers are on the wedges on the outermost of three
concentric circles. In the middle are octospider numbers; the
wedges of the innermost circle contain human numbers. A pointer
is on one side of the wheel. Note that there exists one, and only
one, number that is common to all three wheels. Move each of the
concentric circles so that the identical three values are aligned
with each other and with the pointer. The pistons on the right of
the wheel puzzle will operate, a door will pull away, and the bomb
room will be in full view.
Enter the bomb room. Survey the entire area. Hard left from the
player is a crane biot with its target area out of reach. In
front of the player is the nuclear bomb that must be disarmed,
guarded by a spider biot that is threatening. To the right of the
bomb, facing the player, is a black screen that reflects some of
the light. If the player moves to his left, after entering the
room, he will be able to see the target on the crane biot
reflected in that screen.
The player can move right or left from his entrance point without
risk. At each of the four spots (there are two more locations to
the right of the player's first location-- what's against the
opposite wall here is not important) the spider biot moves on a
parallel course, staying the same distance away from the player,
and continues to threaten. If, at any time, the player steps
FORWARD, deeper into the room, the spider biot attacks and kills
him. The player then goes to the spider biot death scene with
Arthur.
Move to the location just to the left of the entry location. Aim
the laser at the target on the black screen. Activate the crane
biot. Watch the crane biot pick up the spider biot and render it
harmless. Walk up to the bomb. Input the proper other sixteen
digits. Notice that each time any group of the four digits is
correct, those numbers lock in place and cannot be changed again.
When all twenty correct digits have been entered, countdown clock
on the bomb will stop, the flashing ACTIVE will change to
INACTIVE, and the player will receive a vidmail from Nicole
requesting that he come upstairs. Walk out of the bomb room and
climb the stairs. Upon entering the human piazza, a non-
interactive sequence will take over. Richard and Nicole will be
in the first part of this sequence, followed by the giant colored
rings of celebration emanating from the Big Horn in the distance.
The player will then be taken to Arthur's alley, where Arthur will
appear with all his menagerie and congratulate the player.
