Part 2: Doctor Exposition

Doctor Exposition



The light flickers as the elevator doors shut.



The phone on the wall is apparently for paging doctors or patients, the sign on the floor says that this floor is undergoing renovations and there are some small keys at the end of the desk.

One of them is labelled "F.B.", I assume that means fusebox.

Well, I guess we'd better talk to the security guard.

What's with the lights?

Straight to the point. I wonder how long and tedious this discussion will be?

Hey, old buildings. You know? Always got problems. If the plumbing ain't broken, the lights are on the blink. It's giving me a headache, let me tell you.

Did you have contact with Lauren Blackwell while she was here?

Nope. Doesn't ring a bell. She was in temporary care?

No. She was in long-term.

That's a whole different floor. This is the floor for the temp patients.

I see. So what exactly happens here on the temporary ward?

It's just that. Temporary. Most insurance plans only cover a two-week stay, so this floor is designed for a high turnover rate. That's why the doctor's offices are usually down here. They need to be on hand when new patients arrive.

That typo is in the game, not my mistake.

I'm here to see Dr. Quentin.

Uh huh. Is he expecting you?

I've got this letter right here.

Okay. Looks legit. Go right in. His name's on the door. You can't miss it.

Surprisingly, that wasn't too bad. But this is. I can't decide if this is the worst bit of the game or if the bit immediately after it is. Time to meet the doctor.

http://youtu.be/yRWhydCR7Qs

For anyone who skipped that, here's the summary. Lauren Blackwell, Rosa's aunt, was in the hospital because she was constantly screaming, yelling incoherently and hurting herself and others. Lauren's mother suffered from the same condition. The doctors couldn't get much information out of them, but both of them mentioned the name "Joey" although none of their relatives knew anyone by that name. Dr. Quentin is concerned that the condition may be hereditary although he has no helpful advice for Rosa.

Leaving the office we go back through the lobby. The lights flicker again as the elevator doors open. I guess it does that every time. Back in Rosa's apartment, an envelope is lying on the floor. Must be the documents that Dr. Quentin promised to send over. This would be the other contender for worst bit of the game.



Yeah, that's 25 pages. For those who choose to skip them, Lauren's bother Jack expressed concerns about their mother and then later about Lauren. Both of them are heard to mention Joey, and Lauren is seen wandering around the city at odd hours, talking to apparently random people and sometimes to herself. Before Rosa has a chance to examine the photos, the phone rings.



RosANGelina. Hi.

Hi Bob.

Thanks SO much for submitting your last review on time. For once.

Yeah.

I got a LITTLE assignment for you today.

Assignment?

Human interest, Blackwell. Suicide. A college girl named JoAnn Sherman.

That's awful, but-

You know the Britany House? The NYU dorm?

Yes, but-

Speak to some people on her floor. Get a word in with the roommate.

Listen-

Speak to the R.A., too. And hey, see if you can score a picture of the girl.

But I don't do that stuff! I write book reviews.

Versatility! Time to get out of your comfort zone. Jeremy's over at city hall covering that strike, so you're it. Get cracking.

And with that Bob hangs up. This conversation was much longer in the original version of the game.

I HATE him so much. Is freelancing for that stupid paper even worth it? I guess it keeps me writing, but... Oh, whatever. I'll just go over there and get it done. It's not like I don't have enough death in my life right now. Maybe this isn't a bad thing. It's like being a real reporter, sort of. My old notepad should come in handy for this.

Told you we'd be needing that. We now have access to the notes interface, but since we don't have any notes yet I'll hold off on showing that. I'll also be holding off on visiting the NYU dorm, because we promised to pay Nishanthi a visit and we may as well get it out of the way now.

But before that, let's have a look at those photos.



That's definitely Auntie Lauren. She's looking at something off camera. I wonder what it was. I assume that's my mother. She sort of looks like me, I guess. Other than that, she's a total stranger. Is that my... dad? He looks so young. I always pictured my dad as being older.



Well, that's that. Time to visit Nishanthi.

http://youtu.be/KRC-7nsUNrc

The thing with the dog biscuit is weird. It probably looked like I cut it together wrong, but literally all I did was skip the dialogue options. When Nishanthi says you can feed the dog she's actually giving you the dog biscuit, but there's no way you can see that that's happened. If you want to feed the dog immediately then you have to end the conversation.

You can repeat that bit as often as you like. Any time you don't have a dog biscuit you can ask Nishanthi for one, and any time you do have a dog biscuit you can feed it to Moti. If that doesn't scream "this is going to be the solution to a puzzle later" I don't know what does.

And with that, the worst is behind us. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the game is 100% great from here on, just that we won't be asked to read 25 pages of backstory again. All that remains for this update though is the commentary track video.

http://youtu.be/5R5_RGbSjQk