Hi there - I’m hoping someone can help. I’ve finished the game and I have questions about how to separate back into Alex and Andra. I don’t know where this stopped being an option. I think it would involve us standing on the Synthesizer but I finished the game before attempting that.
I do have like 70ish saves points so I could go back to that point if needed. But I’m curious if that process is even possible, if that’s where it has to happen, or if it requires something before then? Love the game and all things Emily Short. Appreciate any help you can give me!
I remember Atlantida shooting us and saying it was too late to reverse the merging, that we were fused for good. I have no idea if you can separate earlier in the game.
You can’t really do that in the way I think you’re imagining.
> ask atlantida about fused
“Fused?” you repeat.
“Sometimes a synthetic person gets broken,” Atlantida says. “Forced into a choice he would never have made on his own. Impossible to separate because you aren’t two whole people any more.”
It might not have been totally obvious, but you made a big choice in Cold Storage.
In Cold Storage, you can put gel on one of the objects and send out a stranger, (which is probably what you did,) or you can put gel on Brock and send him out, or, you can put gel on yourself, and volunteer to leave alone. You’ll die instantly if you do it, but you can do it.
Regardless of whether you send out Brock or a stranger object, the game says, “A faint spell comes over you and you feel dizzy,” right as you make that choice. That’s when you and Alex become inextricably linked. There’s no way to escape Cold Storage without making the choice, so there’s no way to escape Cold Storage without that “faint spell.” By the time you face Atlantida, you’re stuck together forever.
That’s also the point where your actions stop being narrated as “we” and are instead narrated as either “I” (if you sacrifice Brock, something Andra isn’t able to stomach) or “you” (if you sacrifice a stranger, something Alex isn’t able to stomach). This throws off the balance and whichever one of you wins out becomes the player character, while the other is relegated to either player (if it’s Andra) or narrator (if it’s Alex).
I’ve also updated my hints above to make it clearer that there’s a real choice being made. (I thought sending out Brock was the “wrong” solution when I played.)
Such a harsh choice then! I admire her for making it the ‘one’ choice though. The weird thing is I chose to send out the stranger, which was Andra’s choice so she could save Brock. But at the end, it’s clear that Alex is in charge - he refuses to wear the sundress when choosing clothing. I did also choose to create a ‘new and better Atlantida’ so maybe that made him override Andra after all? So strange.
Still love the game, just leave the player in a weird ending situation.
Perhaps an alternative solution to the T-inserter puzzle should be added.
If the player has no way to create an “it”, Brock will carry a sign when he is gelled back into existence.
This is a fail-safe to make sure that the puzzle is always completable. The sign can be turned into an “I” object (sign->sin->stint->tint->tit->I) which can become both a tit and an it, so there is no need for an apple, which the player might not have picked up.
I thought about that, but IMO solving the puzzle with the sign is Very Difficult, much harder than just bringing the apple. (There’s a decent chance that the player already has the apple/ale in their inventory as they walk into the room.)
And, in any case, I’ve never seen Brock provide the sign in hard mode, so I’d presumably at least have to document the apple solution for hard mode. It seems strange to me that I’d document the apple solution, which is easier, just for the hard mode solution.
Fair enough, but the current hint is not much help if the player didn’t bring the apple, which makes it seem like the game is soft-locked. Perhaps it should at least be mentioned somewhere that the game is always possible to solve?
The reason Brock won’t carry the sign in hard mode is that it is impossible to enter the Bureau on hard without the hairpiece, and you’re not allowed to drop anything on the way from the secretary to the T-inserter – so the player will always be able to create an “it”: piece->pic->pi->I->it.
To be fair, he did solve it with the help of your hints. After reading them, he eventually decided that he was soft-locked and went back to an earlier save to get the apple.
The maximum post size was increased, so I’ve squeezed an “alternate solution” into the hints, involving the sign in easy mode, and the hairpiece in hard mode.
Hi! I’m the streamer in question. Yeah I was able to finally solve the puzzle but had to go back to an earlier save to get the object in question. I loved the game, but I definitely felt some frustration with that particular puzzle, only because there didn’t seem to be any documentation in the normal mode on how to solve the puzzle so it became a bit more complicated. I really appreciate you working to amend the invisiclues to make that a bit more clear.
I haven’t watched any streams of people playing (and commenting?) IF. I had no idea people were doing it until recently. Where might I find this stream of yours, pray tell?
I need some help: I know the game is always solvable but I think I may have encountered a glitch that soft locks it. I’m in the Bureau testing the t-inserter, and I don’t have anything to create an abstract. I don’t have an apple/ale, and I’m on easy mode and used the wig to get into the Bureau. The hints here say Brock should have a sign but he doesn’t. The “look” command does show a sign either. Any advice? I’m on my first playthrough so I could be overlooking something obvious.