Update 3: Timrod in Realizing Automatic Screenshot Tools Exist
One thing I realized doing Updates 1 and 2 was that taking manual screenshots of a game with automatic text advancement is both really hard and really annoying. Today I took care of that by getting a one-button screenshot tool (unfortunately, the Steam overlay will not work with ScummVM, which I use to run Dagger of Amon Ra). This means that I can get far more screenshots without having to go through the same dialog ten or fifteen times. Unfortunately, due to a technical mishap, I had to restart the game. It only took like, ten minutes to get back to where I was.
Fair warning, the character we’re about to meet is basically the most racist in the game, to the point where I can easily understand how some people might feel uncomfortable reading it, let alone watching a video LP of this part. If that’s not your thing, I’ll post where this character comes into play and then again after all of the interaction in this update is over.
Anyway, after getting back to the taxi, we remind Rocco of his duty to carry around reporters for free and get a free ride to Lo Fat’s Chinese Laundry.
If you’ll look in the lower-left hand corner, you’ll notice three boys sitting around. Their names (from the left) are Tubby, Biff, and Stinky. These kids represent one of the first missables in the game. First, let’s try talking to them.
: (in an assholish tone) “Biff.”
: “I was only asking!”
: “Yeah, well don’t ask again.”
Charming little kid. Anyway, Biff confirms with Laura that his two hobbies are burning ants with his magnifying glass and baseball. Say, didn’t we have one of those things?
: “Hmm… not bad. I’m not sure about this ‘Bob Ruth’ signature, but it’s not a bad imitation.”
: “Stitching integrity is about 89%. Wanna trade?”
: “That’s just what I was thinking. I could use that magnifying glass you boys are using.”
: “Have we got a deal?”
: (Stinky) “Hey, what a gyp! Now how’re we gonna murdalize those ants?”
: “Ease up, Stinky. We’re almost out of ants anyway. Then we’ll go to Old Man Meadows’ place and bust his windows.”
With that, the kids get up and leave, leaving us free to enter Lo Fat’s laundry. This is the point I was talking about earlier, so you can feel free to stop here and pick back up in a bit if it’s not your thing. I’ll put another line below this section. One final note in this section, though: the magnifying glass is missable once we finish Act 1. Thankfully, Sierra was “merciful” and made the point at which you get stuck without it fairly early into Act 2.
Anyway, welcome to Lo Fat’s Chinese Laundry.
We can actually learn a lot about Lo Fat from looking at the banner behind him.
Before I talk to Lo Fat, let me explain what sets him a cut above Detective O’Riley or any of the other stereotype characters in terms of sheer racism - his voice. In the CD version, Lo Fat is voiced by one of the developers (who is definitely non-asian) speaking with a pidgin Chinese accent. You can still get a pretty good idea of what it’s like through the text. Unlike most conversations, I’m going to be posting straight screenshots of Lo Fat’s dialog so that it’s clear I am not making any of this up… but also because he gives us some important character notes. There’s only one thing we can really talk to him about right now, and that is the Leyendecker Museum.
: “Ever been to the Leyendecker Museum?”
: “Anybody else from the museum ever come here?”
: “Have you been there recently?”
: “Besides Mr. Heimlich and Dr. Myklos, are any of your other customer Museum employees?”
Lo Fat doesn’t have too much more to tell us, other than implying that Yvette gives him.. sexual favors.. in exchange for doing her laundry. No, I am not making this up either.
: “Is it something private?”
If you skipped the previous part, you can start reading again here. A side note here, Yvette is essentially an expy of Fifi, the french maid in The Colonel’s Bequest who was known to be carrying on love affairs with several people on the side. The developers behind this game were all kinda horny (Roberta and Ken Williams did a softcore porn thing that was included on one of the CDs I had with this game on it as a kid) and I guess this is how they let that out.
With that over, we can now head to the local docks. I haven’t posted the intro sequence yet (that will be the last update before Act 2) but the reason we’re going here is that this is where the ship that brought Dr. Carrington and Dr. Carter back from their expedition in Egypt is docked.
Meet Steve Dorian, voiced by Josh Mandel… who you may also know as King Graham in King’s Quest V (and later that one Retsutalk episode). Steve sounds like King Graham if King Graham was possessed by Satan at all times. He is, as you’ve probably guessed, a stevedore. Specifically, he’s the stevedore who unloaded the Andrea Doria (the ship Carrington, Carter, and a few other people took back from Egypt). Like Lo Fat, Steve doesn’t know many of the people involved with the museum, but he does have a few choice tidbits of information we’ll need later.
First, let’s ask Steve about Dr. Carrington:
We can then ask him about the only other person that we can, that being Dr. Carter:
Finally, we can ask Steve about the museum, which is what actually sets the event flag that lets us continue.
: “What do you know about the Leyendecker Museum?”
: “That’s where Mr. Carter’s Egyptian crates were going. Nice place. Ever been there?”
: “Actually, I’m attending a fund-raising party there tonight.”
: “Sounds like a formal party. What will it cost to get in?”
: “I don’t know. I’m covering it for the newspaper, so I get in free.”
: “I thought the museum was closed today.”
: “It is, but the party isn’t 'til 7 o’clock tonight.”
: “Sounds like fun. Enjoy yourself. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to work.”
I apologize to The Dark Id for stealing his gimmick. It won’t happen again. Steve walks off into the sunset (presumably to drink away the memories of King’s Quest V) and we can call Rocco again to take us to the final new destination of Act I: the speakeasy.
Right away, you can see the door we’re looking for. This is actually the first place (that I’m aware of) that you can die in this game - if you knock on the door and give the person behind it the wrong password, Laura will go down in a hail of gunfire.
Fortunately, we know the password. Just like Sergeant O’Flaherty said, we’re in like Flynn.
There’s actually a bit to do in the speakeasy later, but for right now we’re interested in the bald guy in the bottom-right. This is Ziggy, the stoolpigeon that Crodfoller told us about.
: “Are you Ziggy?”
Ziggy is, uh, a bit of a freak. His face twitches all over, and he sounds like an Igor (the one played by Bela Lugosi, not the servant of Philemon). At this point, we’re prompted to pick a name from Laura’s notebook - picking Crodfoller is the right answer.
: “Crodfoller? He’s an old pal of mine. Whatcha want ta know?”
We can try questioning Ziggy about any number of things, but he doesn’t know much. The correct answer here is to ask him about Egyptology.
: “What kind of riddles?”
Yeah, there’s no way we’ll ever have to deal with that riddle later. Let’s leave Ziggy to his drink and get out of here. Taxi!
Uhh.. you’re not Rocco. Who the hell are you?
Meet Bob “The Slob”, the only other taxi driver in this game. We’ll have to choose our words carefully here, because Bob’s taxi actually has an item we need to progress. I don’t know if choosing wrong is a death or not, as I forgot to try it while playing through for the LP.
We want the first option. Before we show Bob our press pass, though, let’s rummage through his trash.
Hoo boy, we get to go see Lo Fat again. Tune in next time for the final meeting with Lo Fat, followed by the end of Act 1 and an update containing the game’s intro sequence! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a characters page to update.