A Christmas saved by Joey and Jason

[fernewelten]

So here's a hints and tips thread for A Christmas Saved [MAGS December edition]

Where's Scratchy?

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In the top right corner of the maze.

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How do I get there?

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Joey's headlights can illuminate all passage parts that lie straight ahead.
The walls on the perimeter of the known maze are thick to make it easier to see where the doorways are.

Apart from that, you're on your own, I'm afraid. The maze is randomly generated.

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So how do you get past Scratchy?

That's a lengthy process, but here's how to get started:

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You need to get her to like you. So start off tactfully. If you simply go off on her with impertinent requests, she'll become miffed in no time.

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I noticed. So once that happens, what do I do?

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The only successful option is to apologize.

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That doesn't get me far. What did I miss?

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After you apologize, you must really restart "from square one", i.e., greet her anew and so on.

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But I'm running out of options. All of them seem to irritate her.
1.

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Hint: The last dialogue option is always a safe way to back out of dialogues.

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2.

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You might have entered into the conversation a bit too hastily. If you look (right-click) around a bit …

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So how do I know when the time of pleasantries has passed?

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Well, you know, she starts to like you. And you'll get audio feedback. Once you do, you'll no longer get the options for the pleasantries, but you don't need them either (unless you drive her up the wall again).

All the "Tell me again" options are safe.

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What's up with the whistling?

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There are three of them:

• I'm miffed.
• I'm now at peace again. (Restart with greeting her.)
• I like you. (Often, a lot of options will disappear that you no longer need.)

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I need to find some trivia (facts). Where do I get them?

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Well, you know, we were told to make this contest about “companions” …

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I need to find something for Scratchy, namely., …

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… a broom.

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* Where?

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Joey and Jason need to find something adequate in Jason's room.

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* What?

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The paint brush on Jason's desk can be repurposed.

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* I know where it is, but I can't take it.

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Joey (the forklift) must tell Jason (the boy) to look out for the broom, otherwise, Jason won't see the need.

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So what exactly do I need to say about Scratchy's various experiences?

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The facts are randomly generated, sorry.

But note that you can safely select the “Tell me again…” options to be told all the respective facts again. Also note that in the Scratchy dialogues, each line must be confirmed by a click, so you can take as long as you want to process those facts.

Each dialogue should comprise an option (the last option) that allows Joey to safely back out. Some of these last options will terminate the conversation, but no worries, when Joey gets back he can jump right into the “Tell me again …” options to reprise where he left off.

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[lanchong]

Thanks for these tips. I'm unfortunately stuck much earlier in the game.

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I found Joey but I can't get out of the bedroom. I suppose there's a door key somewhere?

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Cheers

[fernewelten]

Thanks for these tips. I'm unfortunately stuck much earlier in the game.

Hi lanchong,

don't try that.

Instead, you need to ...

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get Joey (the forklift) out of the room, but not out of the door.

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Of course that means searching for Joey; he's hiding in the room somewhere.

Also,

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after Jason (the boy) has realized he's locked in, he's willing to look at some things that he didn't want to look at before because he'll want to retrieve his spare key.

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Note that Jason (the boy) can click on Joey (the forklift) and vice versa. That opens a short dialogue with the option to change who is the playing character. For some actions, Joey is suited and Jason is not, for others it is the other way round.

There's also an option to transfer aims: If Jason needs something specific, he can tell Joey to look for it and vice versa.

[lanchong]

Thank you, fernewelten. I've progressed a bit further. Now...

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I've given Joey new batteries and moved the school bag away from the mouse hole. But Joey doesn't dare to get through the mouse hole. How to convince him?

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[fernewelten]

Hi @lanchong

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Jason/Joey need to get the idea that someone has made away with the key through the mousehole.

For that, Jason (the boy) must look at the mousehole after he has found out his bag is torn up. I think Joey will do likewise provided he looks (right-click) at the mousehole.

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[Shadow1000]

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I have already told the mouse that I will find a broom. I've been through the whole cheese and chore dialogues and she says she likes me. I read the hint that says that i need the brush. When I try to take it, Jason says that he doesn't want to waste time. So, how do I get the brush?

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[fernewelten]

@Shadow1000

I hope you haven't uncovered a bug.
Edit: I'm afraid you do have uncovered a bug. Thankfully it seems to be compensated by another bug, namely, that Scratchy doesn't strictly need that thing  after all, as soon as Joey has run through all

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3

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main dialogues.

Has Joey (the forklift) ...

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told Jason that he should look out for a mouse broom? As Joey, click on Jason and select “Please look out for...” in the dialogue.

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[/s]

Scratchy has the following dialogue, too …

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Scratchy has the tunnel dialogues (reached by “Your maze is very well constructed! ...”)

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[Shadow1000]

@Shadow1000


Scratchy has the following dialogue, too …

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Scratchy has the tunnel dialogues (reached by “Your maze is very well constructed! ...”)

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How do I get to that particular dialogue? It's not in the list of things I can say. Do I have to say something else first that's available?

[fernewelten]

@Shadow1000

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• Before ringing the bell, look (right-click) at the lamps, the doormat, the door (If you're in the middle of a dialogue and want to catch up on that, repeatedly choose the last dialogue option until the dialogues exit -- Scratchy shouldn't get miffed because of it).
• Ring the bell.
• Greet Scratchy, e.g., by choosing "Hi".
• Compliment Scratchy on the lamps, the doormat, the door until you get the audio clue. Just two of them should be sufficient.
• You should now have access to the following dialogues:
  
  
  
  • "You keep everything spotless here..." (on repeated visits: "Tell me again about your daily chores")
  • "Mice are said to be real cheese connoisseurs." (on repeated visits: "Tell me again about your cheese hobby.")
  • "Your maze is very well constructed! ..." (on repeated visits: "Tell me again about your tunnelling career.")

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[Shadow1000]

@Shadow1000

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• Before ringing the bell, look (right-click) at the lamps, the doormat, the door (If you're in the middle of a dialogue and want to catch up on that, repeatedly choose the last dialogue option until the dialogues exit -- Scratchy shouldn't get miffed because of it).
• Ring the bell.
• Greet Scratchy, e.g., by choosing "Hi".
• Compliment Scratchy on the lamps, the doormat, the door until you get the audio clue. Just two of them should be sufficient.
• You should now have access to the following dialogues:
  
  
  
  • "You keep everything spotless here..." (on repeated visits: "Tell me again about your daily chores")
  • "Mice are said to be real cheese connoisseurs." (on repeated visits: "Tell me again about your cheese hobby.")
  • "Your maze is very well constructed! ..." (on repeated visits: "Tell me again about your tunnelling career.")

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Right now my only choices are:

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-Give me that key, you vermin
- Nice nose..
-tell me again about your chores
- Tell me again about your cheese hobby. 
- Are you living alone?
- How many children do you have
- Nice ears
-Nice weather
- Have you seen a key?

I've been through the cheese and chores options many times and get the right answer and no new options appear. Anything else makes her get upset. I can't get the brush. Can you please advise as to what to do next?

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[fernewelten]

Well, I'm stumped.

On a hunch, can you re-download the game? Just to make sure that nothing has been corrupted somewhere.

[Shadow1000]

Well, I'm stumped.

On a hunch, can you re-download the game? Just to make sure that nothing has been corrupted somewhere.

Sure, I can try that. Would my progress be available or would it require starting over?

[heltenjon]

I've completed the game, but there is a bug, I'm afraid.

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On my first go, I gave Scratchy the broom, and Joey said that he didn't want to ask for the key yet. After finishing all the talking, the mouse doesn't give out the key, he just says that we have run out of subjects to talk about. Then I retried, thinking I perhaps had to finish the talking first, then giving him the broom afterwards. But as it turned out, this time around, when we finished talking, he thought he had already received the broom, and gave me the key in return.

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[heltenjon]

Right now my only choices are:

Spoiler

-Give me that key, you vermin
- Nice nose..
-tell me again about your chores
- Tell me again about your cheese hobby. 
- Are you living alone?
- How many children do you have
- Nice ears
-Nice weather
- Have you seen a key?

I've been through the cheese and chores options many times and get the right answer and no new options appear. Anything else makes her get upset. I can't get the brush. Can you please advise as to what to do next?

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This may be obvious, but:

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Have you noticed that you can click on the arrow-type thing underneath the dialogue options to see more dialogue choices? Does the colour work make it invisible to you somehow? The dialogue options you list doesn't have a "talk more later" sort of option, which is supposed to be the one on the bottom.

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[Shadow1000]

Right now my only choices are:

Spoiler

-Give me that key, you vermin
- Nice nose..
-tell me again about your chores
- Tell me again about your cheese hobby. 
- Are you living alone?
- How many children do you have
- Nice ears
-Nice weather
- Have you seen a key?

I've been through the cheese and chores options many times and get the right answer and no new options appear. Anything else makes her get upset. I can't get the brush. Can you please advise as to what to do next?

[close]

This may be obvious, but:

Spoiler

Have you noticed that you can click on the arrow-type thing underneath the dialogue options to see more dialogue choices? Does the colour work make it invisible to you somehow? The dialogue options you list doesn't have a "talk more later" sort of option, which is supposed to be the one on the bottom.

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Yes, I realize there's an arrow for the rest. I just omitted the "I got to be going" from my list because it was obvious that it's not the one to get to the point where the mouse asks me for the broom

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Thanks!

[sthomannch]

Unfortunately I ran into the same problem. Not enough options (seem all very similar), and I have seen the white arrows :-)

Otherwise it looks good.

[heltenjon]

Unfortunately I ran into the same problem. Not enough options (seem all very similar), and I have seen the white arrows :-)

Otherwise it looks good.

If you want to see the ending, you can read my bug report a couple of posts back here.

[sthomannch]

No chance, had all dialogs about

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cheese, tunnel, cleaning

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Sometimes the game crashes during the dialogs. If not I always end up upsetting the mouse, no way to get out even if I apologize again and again.
I thought I have finally downloaded the latest version. Suspect something else goes wrong earlier in the game.

Error message:In "Dialog 19", line 17, Error running function '_run_dialog19', Null string referenced.

Also, some options go away, but the wrong ones it seems (the offending ones remain). Error happens when I answer to all three topics with the correct answers, then it crashes. Seems reproducible.

[sthomannch]

Finally made it, with a lot of persistence. But had several crashes. The last time I tried, I did only ask once about a cheesy question

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French cheese, but I ommitted any question about Danish cheese, this is the only difference I'm aware of. The answers are in the dialog anyway as soon as the first question is answered.
Then I also get the "good" options and then it is easy to proceed.

I also understand the pressure for MAGS and it is not easy to test all ideas users can come up with.

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Thank you very much again for a nice game, was fun despite the problems I had initially.