Counterfeit Monkey

[donde]

@maga

@evouga

Finished the game.

Is there any solution to the Cold Storage other than sending out Brock, or sending out a random prisoner? I was thinking I would need to send out an object that’s much more dangerous in its natural than transmogrified form… but nothing came to mind.

(1) There is another solution, but you’re not going to like it. (2) In earlier versions, it was possible to create fake people and throw them out. No longer. (3) Gel yourself and have Andra take the fall.

That’s all of them? Aw. (Spoilers/comments for all endings.)

[spoiler]I figured there’d be another Cold Storage solution toward a non-fused ending. Andra’s dream suggests Alex’s project could still happen, but in the pro-Andra, no-Atlantida ending, Alex is less than optimistic. Still, maybe the pro-Andra, new-Atlantida ending means Andra is listening to Alex’s needs enough for the arrangement to work.

I guess you could say the pro-Alex route gives an equally happy result, since the island revolution and yacht crew wind up the same no matter whom you sacrifice. (And it has my favorite closing line.) But we end in Andra’s world, so I’m skewed toward wanting her to be happy. Andra is also “you-the-player” while Alex is “I-the-parser,” so if I’m forced to choose between them, I feel better when Andra’s won. The pro-Alex endgame is much more jarring, with all the pronouns defiantly I rather than you. You ought to be equally noteworthy for replacing we, but I completely missed that the first time because you is so neutral in IF. When Alex won’t let me leave without remaking Atlantida, I feel like I’m suddenly in Rameses. His endgame narration is almost invasive (“I open your wardrobe”) and his reply to Brock is no more pleasant.[/spoiler]

[cg5]

@maga

@cg5

About the endings

I’ve finished it, but I don’t know how to get the ending where you turn the atlantida back into Atlantida. I assume I need to somehow turn the little a into a capital A. The stuff in Private Solarium seems promising (the jacks are arranged in a letter A and there is an A on the napkin) but I don’t know what to do with it.

The dais, back on the other side of the portcullis, has a homonym function.

I suspected that, but I assumed it’s impossible to get back past the portcullis after the counterweight is destroyed

[Biep]

@Sadienova

I ran into that problem too. I tried differently verbs. Pull ____, switch ____, turn ___, use ____. Eventually one of them worked (sorry can’t remember which one).

All right: bonus question!

What instrument would Anglophone Atlantis have had for solving the guess-the-verb problem?

[orlanth]

@cg5

I suspected that, but I assumed it’s impossible to get back past the portcullis after the counterweight is destroyed

you can use something from Atlantida’s apartment to open the portcullis from inside[/spoiler][spoiler]something you find on the balcony

the jacks

[Jugwine]

@flanagan

Also, how do you get the “cntr”? I have found references to that in people’s questions and the errata notes, but I never figured out how to obtain it.

It’s on the podium.

Did you (or anyone else) ever figure out the hard-mode Watertstone? I’m still baffled, though my messing about got me a couple of achievements in the meantime. Is there a list of all them anywhere? Here’s what I have so far:

Admiral Thoureaux award for removing every letter of the alphabet in one playthrough
Alex Rosehip award for completing the game in easy mode
Amanda Waterstone award for discovering cultic passages
Finished tutorial mode
Jocasta Higgate award for reconstructing pagan worship on the island
Lucius Quagmire award for viewing unusual films
Propper Rosehip award for talespinning
What have other people gotten?

[emshort]

I’ve been less hasty about giving hints about hard mode, since presumably people doing hard mode want to have that genuine challenge-y experience. But here are some hints that don’t totally give it away. First, a suggestion about the method you’ll probably need to use:

The synthesizer may be even more powerful than you give it credit for.

For instance, in the synthesizer in easy mode, you could make COCK + SHRIMP TAIL = SHRIMP COCKTAIL, not just COCKSHRIMP TAIL or SHRIMP TAILCOCK. What does that imply to you about how the synthesizer works?

…and a couple oblique clues about specific solutions to this puzzle:

One of the possible solutions is a cheese.

Another is a set of bowl-like containers.

[eyesack]

I was a little disappointed that you couldn’t use

the ass and the lie

to make

Lassie

or to use

the ass, as, and sin

to make

an assassin

Though I guess that last one is against the rules.

[Ryam]

In the university section, is there any way to

save Professor Higgate?

I managed to

turn on the secretary’s computer and look up her page, with a copy of her stamp of certification,

but I can’t figure out what to do with it.

[maga (Sam Kabo Ashwell)]

@Ryam

In the university section, is there any way to

save Professor Higgate?

No.

You may be able to do her some good later, and indirectly.

[Aquillion]

Even if you could, it’d cause problems, because…

…saving her at that point would presumably offend Waterstone, who is right there and is implied to have caused the whole thing by reporting her to eliminate a rival for tenure – and you need his support (even once you physically have the invitation) to back you up on the phone by saying he gave it to you.

[maga (Sam Kabo Ashwell)]

@Aquillion

Even if you could, it’d cause problems, because…

…saving her at that point would presumably offend Waterstone, who is right there and is implied to have caused the whole thing by reporting her to eliminate a rival for tenure – and you need his support (even once you physically have the invitation) to back you up on the phone by saying he gave it to you.

Waterstone’s gone by this point. (And Waterstone certainly doesn’t need tenure.) I think you mean Brown, whose support is irrelevant at this point.

[Steven_Watson]

Really enjoying this so far, but alas I am in need of a hint (at 39 points):

I’m guessing by the fact that the game is still telling me to check the dead drop that I need to find a way to expand the hole or declutter the junk? If so, how is this done. Gentle hints would be much appreciated, it’s probably something silly I missed anyway.

[emshort]

@Steven28

Really enjoying this so far, but alas I am in need of a hint (at 39 points):

I’m guessing by the fact that the game is still telling me to check the dead drop that I need to find a way to expand the hole or declutter the junk? If so, how is this done. Gentle hints would be much appreciated, it’s probably something silly I missed anyway.

What do you see in the hole at the moment / what have you found there?

[Steven_Watson]

Thank you! I really did over complicate that one…

[moskewcz]

i’m looking for a hint for the remove all letters achievement (easy mode if it matters). i’m only missing one: Q

i don’t remember seeing any words with Q other than the SQUID->QUID near the end (which seems like it should anagram to QUIDS?), but then i wasn’t really looking early on. i have the synth at that point, but i guess that’s a bug, so the solution shouldn’t invole using it then? so, other than that, i dunno what i can try on the squid … maybe i do something on the boat? but then my inventory seems to go wonky around kayak time (i’m assuming i shouln’t sweat that as it’s something related to being so close to the end). or did i just miss something earlier?

[matt_weiner (matt w)]

So I need to make some noise.

I’ve tried these two things (I believe one of these works in a later version, but I’m playing version 2):

turning on the jigsaw

and

messing with the alarm clock to make it go off

the latter of which, I am told by a reliable source, will never work.

What should I do? I’m pretty sure this is something to which there are lots of solutions.

My inventory:

a keycard (which opens the small door)
your H-remover (upgraded to handle abstracts)
a wrap
a shuttle
a pass
a backpack (being worn, and open)
a monocle
some Origin Paste
a coat
a crumpled cocktail napkin
a shrimp tail
a sign
a crossword
a jigsaw [note: this is the saw rather than the puzzle, I already crossed myself up once with this]
a roll
some asparagus
a lime
a May
some sage
a pearl
an apple
a pill
a shopping bag
a ball
a map of Slangovia
a piece
a ring (which opens the sturdy iron gate)
a banana
a clock
some pans
a letter
Guidebook to Anglophone Atlantis
a tub (open)
some restoration gel
a jotter
a flash drive

[Guy_P]

Look at a certain pastry in your possession.

The wrap.

I’m stuck myself, at score 79:

[spoiler]How do I create the ambiguous item? Here is my inventory:

We are equipped with the following essentials: your P-remover (upgraded
to handle animates and abstracts), a backpack, a flash drive, a monocle,
some Origin Paste, some nap (really the smuggled plans in disguise), and a
tub of restoration gel.

We are also carrying an ass, a ballcock, a ban, a bandana, a pair of
Britishizing goggles, a card, a coat, a coffee-maker, a cross, a crumpled
cocktail napkin, Guidebook to Anglophone Atlantis, a jigsaw, a jotter,
Journal of Third-World Economics, an key (which opens the apartment
door), a leaflet, a leer, a map of Slangovia, a May, a member, a poppy, a
ring (which opens the sturdy iron gate), a screwdriver, a shopping bag, a
shrimp tail, a shuttle, a stick, Studies in Primary Language Acquisition, a
swatch, a sword, and a wig.[/spoiler]

[maga (Sam Kabo Ashwell)]

@matt w

So I need to make some noise.

You’ve only recently upgraded to abstracts. A lot of the solutions involve these.

You know what’s really noisy? Music.

In fact, you have at least two different ways to create kinds of music.

The easiest one involves the removal of a silent letter.

Turn the wrap into rap.

[matt_weiner (matt w)]

Thanks maga!

[matt_weiner (matt w)]

Last night I dreamed that I had to try to kill the secretary in Samuel Johnson Hall, whereupon the game would give me a snarky message about “So you want to kill her? Well, you can just be her!” and I would get to switch control to her, whereupon I would be able to do a lot of the stuff I needed to do. In my dream, I thought, “Well, that was underclued.”

This is clearly my brain’s way of telling me to ask for another hint, particularly because there isn’t a secretary in Samuel Johnson Hall.

So I’m a little confused as to my next goal. I need to get Waterstone to talk to me, but he’s gone into his office and shut the door and won’t acknowledge me even when I show him stuff through his office window.

[spoiler]It seems like the obvious thing to do is to put paper in the printer, so his job will print and he’ll emerge from his office. (I have to say this rings very true to life; if there’s no secretary or grad student there to load the printer, the professors will just freeze up. Or try to load the printer themselves, but I understand why Emily didn’t want to simulate the resulting chaos.)

(That’s hyperbole; most professors can fill the paper drawer, maybe after a little while of hopeful waiting about for someone else to do it. What caused chaos was the other day when I had to change the toner, partly because I couldn’t find the toner for the right device. And trying to print double-sided really does tend to bring about the Apocalypse.)[/spoiler]

So I’ve seen something that would solve that problem:

the ream of paper in the Aquarium bookstore

but I can’t get it right now because

Lena won’t let me in, in a way that makes me think that’s not actually a puzzle I’m supposed to be able to solve.

There’s another little loose end I could try to work on:

the trap door in the corrugated hut

but I’m not sure what to do there, or what would count as a suitable object to fix it.

In my dream I was thinking about making a bear and turning it into a bar to prop open the door, but I was worried about what would happen when I made the bear.

Here’s my inventory:

[spoiler]We are carrying the following essentials: your S-remover (upgraded to handle animates and abstracts), a backpack, a flash drive, a monocle, a roll, some Origin Paste, some pans (really the smuggled plans in disguise), and a tub of restoration gel.

We are also carrying an apple, some asparagus, a ball, a banana, a clock, a coat, a cross, a crumpled cocktail napkin, Guidebook to Anglophone Atlantis, some ink, a jigsaw, a jotter, a keycard (which opens the small door), a letter, a lime, a map of Slangovia, a May, a pass, a pearl, a piece, a pill, a ring (which opens the sturdy iron gate), some sage, a shopping bag, a shrimp tail, a shuttle, a sign, and a word[/spoiler]

So far the only thing I’ve figured out to do with my last major upgrade is

turn the kudzu into a kudu so I could find the old-language shrine north of Roget Close, but that doesn’t seem to open up anything else right now.