I did enjoy the game a lot, and even if none of the elements of the game were original, they were put together in a professional manner. It's not the *the* best adventure game ever for me, but it is a product that is well worth it's price, and you can clearly see all the work and effort that was put into it, and that was exactly what I expected from this game. The highlight of the game for me was the writing style, the jargon and slang that the robots were using was very clever and felt natural in the dialogues (which flowed effortlessly throughout the game). And I liked the reference to A Canticle of Leibowitz ,as it is one of my favorite novels.

I'm sure if I started nitpicking I could come up with several minor flaws, but instead I'll just list my biggest one, which was Crispin. He was just way too typical and predictable. He would have been alright in smaller doses though.
I would have also liked a bit more puzzles, as there weren't that many in the game and most of them were very easy to solve. But all in all it was a good game and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys this genre.

LOTS OF SPOILERS

I've gotten 7 endings:

- refuse to join metromind, get dumped in the dunes (not shown)
- join metromind, merge together
- jump to my death
- use virus on scraper, good ending with crispin and clarity, metromind survives
- use virus on radio tower, killing everyone except yourself, fulfilling Horus' original mission
- threaten to torch core, leave, good ending w/ crispin and clarity, metromind survives
- torch core, sacrifice yourself to destroy city, fulfilling Horus' original mission

Not sure about achievements, some I'm not sure how I got, others don't unlock until you beat the game and I couldn't figure out any way to check them at that point.

I think the only ending I didn't get was EFL, Primer, and 187th together at end of game. And no idea how to get it, I didn't think there was any way to save 187th.

I spent hours on that info kiosk (after I'd already figured out the code) and only got 'oblique' and 'redlien'. So I never found Memento (though I think it was probably that bot at the bus stop ...). Was I supposed to figure out that redlien haiku? Seemed impossible, got frustrated and gave up after the 1000th word guess.

Didn't get Oswald away from the bar, I used the 'lie' early before I read the note, and he wouldn't fall for it again. Couldn't figure out any other way.

Sent Crispin up to read the clock, and the time shown got logged into my data collector. I have no idea what that was for. It wasn't for the kiosk though (lol I tried everything).

Not sure if I did the Goliath puzzle right, I didn't kill Gamma, I trapped him, but I think Alpha and Beta killed him. Left there feeling like there was maybe a better way to solve that.

Anyone solve any of these?

I plan on another playthrough, this time with commentary. Gotta figure out that last ending. (IF its the last ending ...)

You got every ending. EFL, Primer, and 187th, if you got them, appear on any good ending slide.

There's a way to save 187th. You don't need any special prerequisites. Try to figure that out by yourself, it's the best individual puzzle in the game (and the best meta-puzzle is, of course, the UNNIIC's tag).

The clock entry in the datapouch is padding, to avoid the eigen-X problem.

Memento is in the kiosk. It's the most difficult puzzle in the game. (Try reading in another direction.)

Since you spoke to Goliath, you did that puzzle the right way.

Thanks! I managed to figure out the kiosk with that hint. The worst part is I actually noticed that word before but didn't try it, thinking it didn't make sense. I was trying words that had something to do with the plot.

I've got a couple questions bouncing around my brain.

I actually didn't even know 187th could be killed. I thought I had to remove everyone from in front of the courthouse before proceeding (I'm taking it that's what saves him?) Still, despite doing that and giving Primer his medal the achievement didn't unlock for me, so I'm not sure I did it right.

What is "the eigen-X problem"?

The Memorious puzzle was probably my favorite in the entire game. Probably because I was good at it. I love that kind of stuff. For me the hardest puzzle (not including just plain missing something and banging my head against a wall forever) was the entire puzzle with Oswald and Cornelius. I eventually solved their logic problem, but I have zero short term memory and had really work at it. Then I had really no idea how to judge the case anyway. Oswald was unhappy with joint custody and I never got him to stop drinking. Can you, even? Does that have any effect?

Also, I think my game glitched because when I looked up videos after the fact to see if I missed anything minor during the end sequence there was a line about asking who killed the humans. I was actually really curious why this didn't come up in my game because I DID learn that it wasn't ME, but I reloaded my game and it wasn't an option.

I thought the Oswald/Cornelius problem was going to be a full-blown matrix logic puzzle. I hadn't done one in years, so I was worried that I wouldn't know how to diagram it correctly. Fortunately, it was a bit simpler :)

Still, it took a lot of attention to detail (particularly the second clue/question).

If you don't do anything useful during the countdown, 187th appears and rescues Horatio, then shuts down.

Each X is useful for one (often: and only one) task. This leads to metagaming, which is potentially undesirable. Some games actually aim for it, having the player discard/destroy items when they are no longer needed, and removing hotspots.

Heh. I solved the O&C puzzle on the first try (without asking them to repeat or writing anything down) and was surprised by how easy it was - I expected something like the zebra puzzle. The kiosk on the other hand... I asked for hints twice. That's how much I suck at word puzzles.

(My favorite puzzle is the courthouse showdown. As soon as I got the necessary information, I knew what it would be useful for, and waited for the chance to use it. "Forfeit yourself, you glitchy son of a toaster!" AWESOMESAUCE.)

(Speaking of awesomesauce: there are a lot of hints for all sorts of improbable situations, such as if you don't use all the conversation options in a dialogue for some reason. For example: We should ask Ever-Failthful about the robot who stole our power core, boss. If only to hear him say "knave" and "forthwith.")

Joint custody is "correct", as in, this is what makes O&C join Horatio and gets you the achievement. To make Oswald stop drinking, SPOILER ALERT read the note from the bartender, then use the transmitter on Rex and take the oil SPOILER END.

My favorite bit in the judging scene is the difference between Horatio's reasoning for the Nullbuilt option and Clarity's verdict.

Weird. I just checked to see if the option appears when I Esc from the grand reveal - it does.

Speaking of Nullbuilt... why IS Horatio in his 5th version? What was his build as Horus? Did he somehow downgrade himself and remove all memory? (Wasn't he the ship itself? Is Horatio a drone of it?)

Horatio is a servitor/partial (the third-to-last line of the log is "RUN PARTIAL SERVITOR BACKUP"), like Alpha/Beta/Gamma for Goliath and Factotum for Factor. He has encrypted part of his memory to not think about EXISTENTIAL HORROR. And he had four false starts, so there's a lot of stuff not to think about (if you get a meh ending, v5 will follow suit). Since EFL mentions meeting v1 at the shrine (btw - it's the radio-guided cluster bomb from the log, "DATA <missile silhouette = clusterbomb>"), v1 was also the servitor; Horus presumably had her own version number (perhaps 318).

I think once a player has discovered the log, it is not spoilery/unfair to reveal other mysteries. The replay value of games is generally perceived to be not as high as it was when the world was young, and it is better to have something "spoiled" than to never know it.

Wasn't sure whether he'd found the log (I was under the impression he hadn't). Also, I guess there was meant to be some emphasis on *me* in "better for me not to run around . . . ." I think it's healthy for creators to participate in conversations about their work, but I'd rather players bounce stuff around themselves, rather than me rushing in and giving a Definitive Answer (which, in any event, isn't definitive because half the time you guys will know the game better than I do!).

Ah, I thought this game was actually pretty good about that. After all, one would suppose a plasma torch and crowbar to be very good generally useful items, and so they were.

Also I'm just getting a vibe that you are quite good with math and numbers. I've never had a head for it, all my degrees are in language and writing. This is a game that apparently has puzzles for all. :)

Nah, i found the log and decrypted it, leading to me getting most if not all the endings. (Including what i suspect to be the "good" ending.)

A servitor, hm? Makes sense. Not sure about the 4 false starts (haven't heard of those), as a version number kinda implies a rebuild. :)
So the "Nullbuild" thing is part of the version numbers? Or was v1 Horusbuild? (Although, I suspect whoever made Horus also created the servitors, making them both of the same build.)

Unrelated to that, i couldn't be bothered with the Rex lawyer puzzle and just handed it off to Justice. They weren't happy. >_>

Incidentally, is it worth it replaying the game with commentary on? Are there sufficient amounts of it and are they adding info?

C: "Boss, do you remember what your prior versions were like?"
H: "No, I told you a hundred times, there are a lot of corrupt sectors in my memory files."
C: "Maybe Horatio version 4 was nice."

H: "Crispin Horatiobuilt, version 1. He'll be version 2 once I put some arms on him."

H: "I don't remember ever meeting you. I'm Horatio Nullbuilt, version five."
EFL: "Ahh. Five is a righteous number, holy before Man, for five were the Primordial stewards, built by Man to safeguard the last, lost city of Metropol. But I met thy first version and thy third. Thou camest in thy infancy, in wroth confusion, denouncing the shrine as a weapon once turned against thee. Later, thou returnedst, penitent, and I taught thee the mysteries of Humanism. Yet, though memory be fleeting, faith endureth."

So each substantial upgrade / change is a new version. A memory wipe and a rearrangement of the decision matrix certainly qualifies. v1 retained more of Horus's memories. v3 encoded more of those memories away but still went crazy to the point of unviability.

MM: "Then I welcome you, Horatio Horusbuilt, Manbuilt, brother."

The fabrinymic stays unchanged between versions. There is no hard and fast rule for fabrinymics, though, as evidenced by the Rex lawyer puzzle (unrelated: I listened to the commentary at the shrine and changed my mind again; "Factorbuiltbuilt" is indeed correct), it's more a matter of "what's in a name".

I think the pre-upload servitor was to be used for maintenance operations and interacting with human-oriented interfaces under the direct command of Horus's central AI and had rudimentary intelligence of its own; therefore, the partial is for all intents and purposes a new entity that can be called Horatio Horusbuilt, or Horatio Manbuilt, or Horus Manbuilt for that matter - MetroMind doesn't like option 3, I wonder why ;-) . v5 doesn't remember, though, so he has an empty fabrinymic.

Yes, absolutely. (Be warned, though, that a substantial part of the commentary is plain wrong and undersells the pure awesomeness that is Primordia, but even those can serve as springboards for discussion.)

Make sure you listen to Philosophy behind Primordia at the shrine. And read [url=http://home.earthlink.net/~yotick/testament.htm]The Inheritors[/url], because there's a lot more to it than what Mark quotes.

Arrival is death, departure renewal;
The well-worn tool is the final jewel.