The Let's Play Archive

The Dagger of Amon Ra

by Bacter

Thanks! We like it too.Why not check out some similar LPs from our recommendations?
What would you like to tag this LP as?
Tag

Original Thread: Walk Like an Egyptian - Let's Play The Dagger of Amon Ra

 

Introduction



Friends, let's!

TWO NOTES

*NO SPOILERS in this thread, even in spoiler tags. This is a mystery game, and we'll be guessing the mystery as we go along, which will lead to an alternate ending!

*While there is no plot overlap, besides the same protagonist (who wasn't developed at all), I also LP'd the first game in this series, The Colonel's Bequest.

END OF NOTES































EXTRA VIDEOS


One of the best conversations. Spoiler-free!









ROOM DESCRIPTIONS



ABOUT THIS LP

Wot's this then?

The Dagger of Amon Ra is the sequel to The Colonel's Bequest, a murder mystery adventure game made by Sierra entertainment and released in 1992. It features, like the first game, our plucky heroine Laura Bow, and a whole gaggle of pre-murdered jerks.

So... it's the same game then.

Not at all! I mean sort of. The Laura Bow series is sort of based around Agatha-Christie style mysteries, which involves a constant protagonist encountering a series of modular murder mysteries.

That said, this is a VERY different game. Taken on by a different developer, Bruce Balfour, this game keeps the core of the original (observation, character development, spying, mild autism, psychics), but the gameplay, art, music, character development, voice acting, puzzle solving, even sense of humor are VERY noticeably different.

Is the ending better?

Uh. Yes and no? No comment. It's not so good that I don't think we can do better - just like last LP, we'll be generating our own ending!

Very original.

Stick with what works, I say!

So what are all these videos?

Bro-op: Alright so for each update we'll have a Bro-op portion with myself and my two handsome* guests, Mzbundifund and Skippy Granola. This will be the bulk of the LP, it's the straight up play-through.

This part could be described as "guided exploration". I don't want to do another perfect run of Laura Bow and her Uncanny Prescience, because that's extremely unrepresentative of how the game is played. And this isn't like an FPS, where even if you're really, really good, the game still unfolds in basically the same way as a first time player. The experience of watching Laura just tear through all the right places, questions, and eavesdropping places would be a much shallower experience than watching people really explore and figure out things.

That said, nobody wants to watch us get hung up for an hour looking for the right thing to pick up or right room to go to for plot advancement. I'll be here to keep things on track, and Mzbundifund and Skippy Granola will be our handsome* daring explorers, playing through for the first time.

We'll have to solve the mystery at the end based on the clues THEY find, not on ALL the clues, like in the Colonel's Bequest! I think this is a far superior way to do these mystery LPs.

Pro run: Laura is graded on her performance every section. Weirdly enough, even though most of the actual mystery is solved through conversation, eavesdropping, and deduction, the game only grades Laura on how many specific actions she performs and how many entries in her journal she gets.

That means I'll be able to show off what it takes to get top grades all the way through without spoilers. Mostly. I'll also use this video to show off my favorite parts of the LP if we miss them, which is totally possible. There is a LOT of content in this LP.

For whatever reason, the voice actors are stuck in my head permanently. I could give a decent impression of the delivery and cadence of most of the lines in this game. It could be because the voicing is superlative, or just because I played this game when I was young, but I feel like I need to share it with you all.

You played this game when you were young, huh? How'd you do?

Awful. Worst ending. Same as Colonel's Bequest. These games are TOUGH! And the "time marches on" thing still applies here. You can miss a BUNCH.

Anyway, third and final video - Speak easy?

That's pretty much like "after hours" from the Colonel's Bequest. Historical information, character information, interviews, etc. I've got interviews with actual, real professionals from a big variety of areas lined up for this LP, because fortunately everybody thinks I'm a serious adult person when I ask them for an interview.

Fridge Door




Laura interrogates Yvette the only way she knows how.



Not that she COULD, but if she COULD, she WOULD.

Thread Participation


Alright my droogs, so how are we gonna chime in this time?


Well FIRST: I obviously encourage discussion of mysteries, new york, egyptology, anything Amon Ra related in fact! I'll let you know if it's too off-topic, but I haven't had that in 2 LPs.

But for the thread in PARTICULAR

1) QUESTIONS There are a TON of possible questions you can ask people about. Every major character and most minor ones have unique dialogue for them. Some of them have SECRETS, some are window dressing, some are hilarious. Each chapter (except for chapter 1!), we'll have a list of people and a list of possible topics to ask about. We'll get any questions asked in the bro-op portion for free, and then I'll ask 5 questions and reveal the answers to you. If you pick right, you'll make the mystery easily solvable, if you pick wrong, you'll be more in the dark!

2) FAVORITE CHARACTERS So I think I'm gonna do the 3-ending thing like I did in my first LP. That means one canon ending, one fan-made ending, and one me ending. For every chapter (including chapter 1, but there are two parts in chapter 1), I'll want votes for the favorite character. You can base your favorite on any qualities you want, but the votes will have an effect on my ending.

3) THREAD THEORIES For the fan-made ending, somewhat like last time, I'll ask a few questions per chapter that I'd like you to make up an answer for.


Anything you jerks decide to make for the LP will show up here.


Laura Bow - part time voyeur, full time reporter. Hasn't lost her thick nawlins accent, HAS witnessed more deaths than most people.

Steve Dorian - We're not sure what to make of Mr. Dorian so far. We met him on the docks and were apparently besotted immediately, but then he somehow showed up at the invitation-only museum opening? He's also a painter and sculptor, only working as a dockhand to make money. Yvette seems to be attracted to him.

Wolf Heimlich - Security guard for the museum. Very harsh, strict, claims to have an assistant but maybe doesn't?

Olympia Myklos - Respected curator for the museum, but not the Egyptian exhibit. She's Greek, death-obsessed, creepy as all goodness, but fairly genial so far.

Archibald Carrington III - Owner of the museum. Blustery, British type guy. Vaguely pleasant, doesn't seem to be too worked up about the dagger theft.

Detective Ryan O'Riley - Hard drinking Oirish cop in charge of the theft of the dagger. Openly contemptuous about putting resources into such a theft, would prefer to be cracking down on "real crime", like, well, murders! Involved with Yvette, and apparently doesn't know she's involved with everybody else in the world.

Countess Lavinia Waldorf-Carlton - Aristocratic old lady who is almost the picture of the black widow. Odds are good that you shouldn't trust her farther than you could throw her (and she's surprisingly heavy). Appears to know Ziggy. Thinks an Egyptian death cult is behind the theft.

Dr. Pippin Carter - Archaeologist who discovered the dagger. Amazingly unpleasant, agreed to meet Yvette in the Egyptian exhibit, accused Dr. Smith of the theft, and threatened him with violence. Found stabbed with a replica dagger in a sarcophagus in the Egyptian exhibit.

Ramses Najeer - Accountant for the museum. Meek family man, who is nonetheless described as having a quiet foreboding. Unknown how well he knows Dr. Smith, but is certainly passionate about his Egyptian heritage and wanted to see the treasures of Amon Ra returned.

Dr. Ptahsheptut Smith - Egyptian activist and Egyptologist. Loud and belligerent, wants to see the dagger returned to Egypt. Accused Carter of stealing the dagger, and certainly hated him a lot.

Ziggy - Creepy stunted stool pigeon, who seems to know more than he lets on. Knows the Countess, might know Yvette. Claims to have a good idea who stole the dagger, but is keeping quiet for his own safety.

Yvette Delacroix - We've taken great strides forward since The Colonel's Bequest, where the French woman was relegated to "sexy maid" status. Yvette is a sexy secretary, and, depending on how you interpret conversations, has slept with all but two named male characters in the game. She at least pretended to admire Carter, and agreed to meet up with him, Det. O'Riley, Dr. Carrington, and Steve Dorian privately later in the evening. I guess Det. O'Riley somehow doesn't know about any of her other affairs.
Archive Index