Jo
Skunk
Forest Ranger
Posts: 2,045
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Post by Jo on Jul 29, 2022 13:30:43 GMT
Keepsake Group Play GROUP PLAY GAME ~ KEEPSAKE
July 29, 2022-start anytime
-All members are welcome to join us! -Start anytime on July 29th -Play at your own pace -Stop by this thread to post comments as you go -Have fun
TIPS
Pay attention to the story Nathaniel tells in the introductory movie. Keepsake is a tightly-knit story, which is gradually revealed throughout the play, ending with a meaningful conclusion.
You will meet Mustavio first of all, who will give you a brief tutorial on the game's interface. one of the most important things he tells you is that help is always available by clicking on the Question-Mark button at the lower left of the screen. Any time you are attempting to solve a puzzle, it will give you a series of hints. The First Hints tell you the object of the puzzle, the Second Hints give you more details, and the Third Hints tell you as much as possible without revealing the solution. If you still can't figure out the puzzle, the final option is to simply give you the solution. If you are NOT in the middle of a puzzle, but rather meandering around wondering what to do next, the Help button will tell you what you need to do next, and where. It does not, however, tell you how to get there. That's where I come in. Finding your way around the school is half the battle. It's a very large environment, and it takes some getting used to.
The save function works differently than most games. There is no option to "load" a prior game. You use either the "save" or "save and quit" function to leave the game. When you come back to the game, rather than using "load," you'll use the "continue" function. You will be able to store eight saves only.
You may consistently use both the arrow and the star cursor to successfully move about, but use the glowing white cursor to make sure you are positioned correctly.
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Post by lurkercat on Jul 29, 2022 14:58:44 GMT
Mustavio tells me to consult the Manual if I want to know something from the tutorial (as do the intros of several of the walkthroughs Jo pointed to. Ummm, what manual? In any event, can someone who paid more attention than I apparently did to the tutorial remind me of what the difference is between the starred symbol for movement with and without the bright white center? I know Mustavio told me, but that has disappeared from my little mind.
Oh how I wish the map were a transportable one. I've already tired of running everywhere, particularly with multiple "continuaions" required just to get from one place to an adjacent one, and some odd placements for the movement "arrows" (like frequently on a railing rather than on the pathway). Seems like the developers put in an awful lot of detail that cannot be interacted with...though I do keep trying.
And the inventory system confuses me. I've got a pendant in it that I dont recall ever picking up, I was surprised not to need to access the inventory to use items in it (eg, merely having the keys let me use them on doors w/o my needing to access them....actually a nice convenient feature), and some things I pick up do not seem to go into inventory. I did find, for example, that the loose pages I picked up did not show up there....which totally confused me till I eventually found them in the tab with the magnifying glass on it instead of the backpack tab.
Zak is cute.
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Jo
Skunk
Forest Ranger
Posts: 2,045
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Post by Jo on Jul 29, 2022 15:37:29 GMT
Mustavio tells me to consult the Manual if I want to know something from the tutorial (as do the intros of several of the walkthroughs Jo pointed to. Ummm, what manual? I did a dozen or more searches trying to find the Manual on line with no luck. So my only option was to dig through my bookcases and find my physical copy of Keepsake. And I did it!
I hope you can read that. I'll scan it in a little bit. Bound to be a clear image that a photo taken with my phone.
I was lazy this morning because I'm a bum with nothing useful to do anyway and didn't get up until about 8:30 only to remember that we didn't have a thread for Keepsake. So just ignore any blatant errors.
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Post by good2bqueen on Jul 29, 2022 15:59:09 GMT
Downloading now so will start this afternoon. Still haven't finished the last group play game. Never was a good dancer. Starting to wonder if these true adventure games are beyond my abilities but it's fun to join in so will do my best. the game looks so good I can't resist.
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Post by lurkercat on Jul 29, 2022 16:06:24 GMT
My goodness Jo , you are a literal archival library! Was impressed at your online search skills, but even more impressed that you've got the physical aspect covered too. Thanks for the info. Image shows up just fine. And I remain in awe at your gaming bona fides!
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Jo
Skunk
Forest Ranger
Posts: 2,045
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Post by Jo on Jul 29, 2022 16:22:37 GMT
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smitty189
Squirrel
[TI18] "No great mind ever existed without a touch of madness" Aristotle
Posts: 1,004
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Post by smitty189 on Jul 29, 2022 17:03:31 GMT
Don't know what I'm doing wrong but the game keeps freezing and I have to start over guess I better start saving frequently
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Jo
Skunk
Forest Ranger
Posts: 2,045
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Post by Jo on Jul 29, 2022 17:09:47 GMT
Had my lunch and I'm going to get a cup of coffee. Then I'm going in!
I played Keepsake when it came out and loved it at the time. Will I still love it? Or will this play through ruin my happy memory? We'll see.
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Jo
Skunk
Forest Ranger
Posts: 2,045
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Post by Jo on Jul 29, 2022 18:13:06 GMT
Don't know what I'm doing wrong but the game keeps freezing and I have to start over guess I better start saving frequently @smitty189 , Where in the game is it freezing? According to users in the Steam Community Hub for the game, there are three common crash points: 1- During the second trial where you have to use the levers with zak as a cat to find the right combination. The game crashes and shuts down all the time, I had to restart many, many times so I could end it. 2- During the ship in the bottle puzzle on Nathaniel's office. When she is in the stairs maze the game crashes all the time. I had to restart lots of time. I suspect if it has something to do with the steam achievements, because there was a message of something about it. 3- During the ending credits. The game simply crashes and I couldn't see what happens after that.
And there are several comments about crashes while doing some puzzles. One is at the forge altar where you have to get the combination in the right order the first time you try. It's click the following 5 disks in this order: {Spoiler} 1 3 4 6 9 with 1 being the rune in the top left corner and 9 the rune in the bottom right
Several other people suggested that following a walkthrough exactly solved the problem if the crash was during a puzzle.
There is also an unofficial Patch 1.7 (https://www.4players.de/4players.php/download_info/Downloads/Download/45276/Keepsake/Patch_16.html) which has no negative comments in the Community Hub. Makes me think it's safe and effective.
I found two more maps which are very clear but the text is in German.
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smitty189
Squirrel
[TI18] "No great mind ever existed without a touch of madness" Aristotle
Posts: 1,004
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Post by smitty189 on Jul 29, 2022 19:26:40 GMT
Jo, No my freeze points were running down the stairs in the machine room and the stairs in the great hall and yet another stairway that I don't know the room. I'll just keep saving the game and work around it that way. It may be that I'm clicking too much but THANK YOU for the help. On another note the maps are a real godsend as my sense of direction is terrible and that is a vast school.
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Post by good2bqueen on Jul 29, 2022 19:30:17 GMT
Jo , you're my hero! I love exploring a big open world game but here I kept trying to memorize each door and stairway and it's so huge I have not had much success. So glad to see a map! Thanks. The school is beautiful and it was nice to get a companion because it was just so quiet at first. I can't remember who recommended it but Good Going!
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Jo
Skunk
Forest Ranger
Posts: 2,045
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Post by Jo on Jul 29, 2022 20:13:38 GMT
.........it was nice to get a companion because it was just so quiet at first.
That was exactly why I loved this game so much. I had just come off a binge of playing the Myst games. They're all solo exploration with no one to talk to. I enjoyed them but it was lonely. When I ran across Zak the first time, I was thrilled to have a sidekick. And he made me laugh which is icing on the cake.
We owe this game to moni. She found it several months ago and got it added to our list. Thanks, moni!
I've only played for a few minutes so far. Been fiddling around with stuff and then my Mom called. Back to the game!
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Post by lurkercat on Jul 29, 2022 22:12:36 GMT
You've probably already noticed, but you do have a map in the game too (bottom left button). It (sort of) tells you where you are by marking your location in blue. Pretty indiscriminate, though - sometimes it actually marks the room you are in, but often just colors much of a wing blue, so not necessarily all that helpful. I did find it useful for getting a "general" idea of where I was, in case I wanted to go back. Doubt I'll be able to find my way back to most of the spots though & will no doubt just blunder about, continually checking where I'm at, in hopes of getting "nearer" to where I want to be!
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Jo
Skunk
Forest Ranger
Posts: 2,045
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Post by Jo on Jul 29, 2022 23:18:33 GMT
I am totally lost in an Escher painting.
That's me sitting by the arch quietly sobbing. I can see lots of interesting places. I just don't know how to get to them. I need one of those ladders.
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Post by lurkercat on Jul 29, 2022 23:31:13 GMT
Grrrr. It does absolutely no good for Hint to tell me where I need to be if it wont give me a frigging clue of how to get there!! I WAS there and the game whisked me away & locked a gate to prevent my return. Aaaaarrrrrggggghhhhhhhhhhh!!!!
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Jo
Skunk
Forest Ranger
Posts: 2,045
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Post by Jo on Jul 30, 2022 0:17:20 GMT
This is from the Universal Hint System under General Gameplay Tips and might actually help. At least I'll know if I'm moving in the right direction.
Triggers This game is loaded with "trigger" events. Many times the trigger is obvious -- for example, you won't be able to get through a locked door until you have the proper key. Other times, the trigger is not at all obvious. There may be puzzles that you should be able to solve, based on the fact that you seem to have everything you need to do so -- but many puzzles won't be solvable until the proper time in the game. Often the trigger can be entirely unrelated to the puzzle you would like to solve, and it may be as simple as picking up an object, or visiting a specific location, or looking at something.
To know what triggers you may be need to complete, click the purple question mark at the bottom left of the screen when you are not in a close-up of a puzzle. The game will show you something that you need to do. To know whether you are ready to solve a particular puzzle, you can go into a close-up of the puzzle, then click on the purple question mark in the bottom left of the screen. The game will tell you when you don't have all the pre-requisites to solve the puzzle. In this case, it will be necessary to complete some other activity and return later to try again.
Using the Map
Click on the pinkish icon in the bottom left corner of the screen (it has a diagram of four directional arrows, positioned like a plus sign) to open up the map. Note: To close the map again, click on the red icon at the bottom left of the screen.
The map indicates Lydia's current location by highlighting that location on the map in blue. Sometimes that can narrow down her location to a single room, and sometimes that can only narrow down her location to a group of rooms and hallways. If you are relatively lost and cannot figure out which room (of a large group of rooms) Lydia is in, move her around a little, checking the map often. Either you will eventually walk into a familiar room that you can easily locate on the map, or she will eventually move into a new area. As Lydia moves into a new area, the new area will be highlighted on the map, and it will provide you with a clue as to her current location -- the junction point between the old area and the new one.
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Post by lurkercat on Jul 30, 2022 0:37:50 GMT
Ok, I admit it, I caved. After running around aimlessly and fruitlessly trying to find my way back to the basement, having been up and down seemingly every staircase accessible to me multiple times, I finally turned to Jo's Universal Hint System guide. Under "Inside the Academy - The First Section", there is a delightful entry called "How do I find a specific location in the Academy...", with directions for how to get to each specific room. Since I wanted the map to be a transportable one anyhow, I really dont consider it cheating to just be able to look up the path to a specific room. I used it & I'm gonna keep doing so (so THERE!!). Running around aimlessly is NOT my idea of fun and not why I play adventure games. Once I've found a path somewhere, I want to just be able to get back to it without any mental gymnastics or memory tests...and this lovely guide lets me do just that. I may be well-behaved & only use it for places I've already found on my own once, but I'm definitely not going to continue to frustrate myself finding my way back each time I need to revisit a room. BTW, for other challenges, I LOVE UHS's method of gradually giving hints to point you in a direction without giving away the whole enchilada. If I'm going to cheat, I do indeed like to cheat as little as possible...and UHS does do a good job of helping achieve that.
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Jo
Skunk
Forest Ranger
Posts: 2,045
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Post by Jo on Jul 30, 2022 1:05:06 GMT
lurkercat, UHS is the best. Unfortunately, video walkthroughs have become the preferred medium du jour and it is not being updated. It's great for older games.
I'm going to try the map method first and if that doesn't work, I'll be following closely in your footsteps.
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moni
Squirrel
[TI0] [TI0]
Posts: 1,061
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Post by moni on Jul 30, 2022 1:08:22 GMT
Grrrr. It does absolutely no good for Hint to tell me where I need to be if it wont give me a frigging clue of how to get there!! I WAS there and the game whisked me away & locked a gate to prevent my return. Aaaaarrrrrggggghhhhhhhhhhh!!!! Yeah, this game will have a lots of back tracking. I.e. items, which cannot be used yet, won't get picked up, so we will need to go back to pick them up when it is time to use them. Some scene will be locked, and it will be an other way to access them as part of a puzzle. The hint system wasn't developed in these games (anno domini) - so much is left to the players to think for themselves.
Most of the "hints" are given by the conversation between Lydia and Zak. And visit Mustavio when get "stuck", he will have more and more info unlocked as the game advances, and he also will have items we need.
I've played this game a very, very long time ago and it took me a month to finish it. Then again, this was my very first real adventure game I've ever played, and still the most enjoyable since.
The Steam copy of this game is a "remastered" copy - the original was only available on a disk back in the times - so yes, there can be a "freeze" here and there - this was one of the main complaint about Keepsake among Steam reviewers. So do save the game often, especially when you got a new info, and definitely right after you've solved a puzzle. If the game "freezes" and needs to be re-loaded it will start from the last saving point (and much progress can be lost).
I remember how frustrated I was when some of the difficult puzzles gave me a hard time - I'm still missing an item, how to get back there, what a hell I need to do here - and it was actually paired up with my far from perfect English (I wasn't fluent in that time, not even close) But I also remember the overwhelming satisfaction when I did solve a puzzle.
So I'm over with joy right now to play this game again with others may find it unique, as well, and I'm very excited to see, if I have the same experiences like the first time around. everybody for willing to give this game a try!
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Jo
Skunk
Forest Ranger
Posts: 2,045
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Post by Jo on Jul 30, 2022 2:22:37 GMT
Ya know, I am an idiot.
And it opens as pretty as you please in my browser.
My Alabama Grandma would have said, "If it woulda been a snake, it woulda bit you, bless your heart!".
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