Hello,

I'm currently playing through TP and am a bit confused. I'm trying not to use any walkthroughs, so I ask my question here.
Near the beginning of the game, there's a chance that one of your characters get knocked out and dragged into an alley. As I was terribly freightened, I restarted the game and made sure that didn't happen.
Now I'm starting to wonder if I missed out on something by doing that, and whether I need to replay the game, letting things play out differently. Or is there a chance to get knocked out later?
I particularly hope that I don't miss out on any specks of dust ;-)

There is noly one (jokingly) dead end in the game, otherwise you can always beat the game.
You can find a method to save the knocked out character, no need to save and load.

Even if you choose to see the only dead end, system will make an autosave for you.
So after seeing the funny end, you can load the save and keep playing.

Thank you, I'm not worried about a dead end though, just about missing out on parts of the story. It appears the vast puzzles can be solved in several orders. Sometimes I stumble on a solution for a puzzle of which it appears I'm only meant to solve it later, and sometimes certain segments seem to end before I got the chance to solve every puzzle. It's very confusing.

I believe Mr. Gilbert has said in the past that the kidnapping of the agent is optional and not necessary to win the game. As for missing out on anything, well, I would say that if you don't go through that scene, you will miss out on having it happen. ;)

I think it serves to advance the story a little bit and giving the game atmosphere.

I agree that the combinatorial and non-linear nature of the game increases the complexity of its play and that solving some puzzles out of order can be very confusing. What I try to do is avoid "solving" anything until there is a clear motivation to do so.

For instance, combining certain items to produce something or taking a particular action which has not been clearly indicated by the motivations of the characters or the story as part of a puzzle. At times, when I have taken such actions prematurely, by the time I finally encounter the puzzle, I may have forgotten the items or the actions and may not connect it to the puzzle properly, causing me to get stuck inadvertently. Therefore, I avoid taking such actions prematurely.

-dZ.

There is a lot you can miss in the final chapter. Make sure to play each character as long as you can before following the hint for Delores.

There is a slight difference between the solutions, depending on who you let get knocked out. One of the chars has a phone, the other must find a telephone and have (or get) coins for it.

The cellular phone does not work in the sewers, therefore I assume that there are no differences between both agents.