Questions left after finishing the game!

[Serdni]

Solved the game by figuring it all out, enough to solve all the puzzles, but I am still left with some questions I couldn't puzzle out. Perhaps someone can shed some light?
Such as:
- in the prison cell, there is a note that says 'I can hear you, naughty, naughty'. Perhaps not pertinent to the plot, but who was it from and what does it mean?
-In 'Going once' Tesa clearly knows Moumaati and hustles her out . Is there a reason or clues as to the reason for this?
- Where and how did OPIG learn about the disks, how to use them and how and where did they get them all?
- Is it just me or is Tesa suddenly younger? It has no bearing on finishing the game, but what have I overlooked not to know what happend?

These are just from the top of my head. I just feel like I am missing much of the larger picture, the smaller stories woven through the main plot. Or perhaps I need to play the first game to make it make sense?

Thanks

[neetronica22]

Tesa looks younger in the later chapters and the ending cutscene but it can be considered as a visual inconsistency.
This game's art style becomes sometimes abstract and inconsistent.

[Serdni]

@neetronica22 :
I thought so as well for a second, but she clearly has grey hair when wee meet her first and later in the lab she has brown hair. I doubt a backstory went 'and then she dyed her hair' And were it an inconsistency, it would be an odd one to make in a game with so many details well executed...

But thanks for your take.

[Tom S. Fox]

Maybe Eugene used the idol to age her down so the investors wouldn’t recognize her as the pseudoscientist whose building they repossessed.

[darien]

Originally posted by Serdni:

in the prison cell, there is a note that says 'I can hear you, naughty, naughty'. Perhaps not pertinent to the plot, but who was it from and what does it mean?

That note was sent by Jimmy Beswick, who occupied the cell next door to Arthur Blythe, and overheard him working on his escape. This is attested to by the journal found in Beswick's own cell ("... a hacksaw, was it? It sure has sounded like it the past few nights"), along with the note in his pocket in the yard ("... forget whatever you think you heard.")

In 'Going once' Tesa clearly knows Moumaati and hustles her out . Is there a reason or clues as to the reason for this?

Tesa and Moumaati both want the idol, and Moumaati was able to outbid Tesa for it. Tesa wants to get her out of the auction so she can steal it herself. This is mentioned in the "Events" puzzle for the chapter: "Tesa Nevari was outbid by Moumaati Dasilva... so decided to steal it instead." While Blythe is upstairs doing the actual stealing, Nevari is downstairs keeping Dasilva occupied.

Where and how did OPIG learn about the disks, how to use them and how and where did they get them all?

No doubt they learned about them via Oriel Toussaint, the professor of Lemurian history they had on staff. Most likely he also provided them with the basics of understanding them (the note explicitly from Toussaint on the Chapter 3 selection screen contains instructions to get OPIG staff started understanding the idol, and no doubt he provided similar help with the disks), and the rest they determined through testing. There's no way to know how they got them *all,* but OPIG has a lot of resources, and some of them were acquired at artifact auctions. Toussaint is, in fact, present at just such an auction in "Going Once," attempting to acquire one.

Is it just me or is Tesa suddenly younger? It has no bearing on finishing the game, but what have I overlooked not to know what happend?

I didn't view her as actually having gotten younger, but just as having "made herself over" to fit her new role as a corporate consultant rather than a hippie guru. At the end of Chapter 3, we see Eugene Marmot making the phone call to hire her on, and she shows up in the org chart as "independent consultant." The next time we see her, in chapter 5, she's tamed her crazy hairdo and put on comparatively normal clothing, which makes her look a bit younger, though there's nothing to suggest she's actually gotten younger, Lazarus Herst style.

These are just from the top of my head. I just feel like I am missing much of the larger picture, the smaller stories woven through the main plot. Or perhaps I need to play the first game to make it make sense?

Playing the first game isn't a bad idea (it's great, and if you liked this one you'll like that one too), but it's not actually deeply connected at all. Part of the style of these games, though, is not to give explicit confirmation about every detail of the plot; they're intended to leave you thinking.

[Serdni]

For the note: Yes, I see now that it was his cell neighbour. He overheard, sent the note, was bought off with a bag of tobacco and gave him the clippers and sheets.
I remember thinking it odd that he would just give sheets to a cell neighbour

Thanks for that one:

As for the Going once; perhaps it is as you say. But still, how did she know her name. Just nitpicking now, I know.

As to the disks, I too figured the professor would be involved, so I like you explanation, though there is nothing in-game I can find that fully supports it. He is a professor in Lemuria culture but he might as well be trying to buy the idol...
I guess I will look at it as with the question How did Arthur Blythe know all the locations of the idol parts and just accept it.

And Tesa? Ok, just beter make-up and a do-over.


I did play the other games, but to long ago to remember it all. I did indeed remember the Lazarus guy, so thought it might be connected.
And yes, I love how there seems to more story than what is asked to be deduced. It's the backtracking and the little (so.....then, this....?' moments.

Thanks for your view of things.

[Serdni]

Originally posted by Tom S. Fox:

Maybe Eugene used the idol to age her down so the investors wouldn’t recognize her as the pseudoscientist whose building they repossessed.

Perhaps, but I was trying to find confirmation in the game of any theories that came up, to see if I missed some obvious of obscure clues.

[darien]

Originally posted by Serdni:

As for the Going once; perhaps it is as you say. But still, how did she know her name. Just nitpicking now, I know.

Nothing wrong with nitpicking in cases like this. I'd suggest that even if Nevari didn't know Dasilva's name prior to the auction, she learned it when they met; the auction only had six participants, and the list of drink orders visible on the counter at 8:41 demonstrates that identities were not kept secret. Indeed, other people call each other by name -- Erwin Bogart says "I wonder if I can get Ms. Knightley's autograph" at 7:44 and "are yeh gonna buy me another drink, Tesa?" at 8:41. It doesn't seem odd that they'd have been introduced to one another.

As to the disks, I too figured the professor would be involved, so I like you explanation, though there is nothing in-game I can find that fully supports it. He is a professor in Lemuria culture but he might as well be trying to buy the idol...

True, but we know that, as of 7:44, he's already been outbid on at least one lot that he wanted, and the idol hasn't come up yet -- "outbid again. Robbie was right... why did I even come?" Of the three lots that have sold at this point, only one is Lemurian: the "seal" that he was outbid for by Aurelia Winston... and the letter to Aurelia Winston written by Oriel Toussaint in chapter 5's "Ancient Artifacts" explicitly states "I read about your new 'seal' display. Want to know what it really is?"

I guess I will look at it as with the question How did Arthur Blythe know all the locations of the idol parts and just accept it.

That one I can't give you any concrete answer to. We know that Blythe and Nevari were working together for a while, and we know that Nevari was obsessed with these artifacts and had OPIG backing up until they finally cut her off. But, yeah, it does seem mighty convenient.

Thanks for your view of things.

Always happy to engage in a round of theorycraft. :-)

[the unstoppable if]

Did anyone speculate on this little detail? A bit of reach, perhaps
So Tim Spender is having an affair with Jasmine Patel. Given the similarity between Jasmine Patel and one of the models from the beach shoot, I wondered if there's more to Eugene's obsession with blonde models with beauty marks?

[Harald B]

Originally posted by Serdni:

I guess I will look at it as with the question How did Arthur Blythe know all the locations of the idol parts and just accept it.

Before going to jail for murder, Arthur Blythe worked for the Museum of Lemurian History where he secretly pocketed and sold the parts to various parties over time. He then helped find the buyers after meeting Tesa Nevari. This is in the newspaper in the chapter 2 overview.

[Mechalibur]

Regarding the discs: OPIG has them because Tesa had them, and they took over the entire Harmony Foundation. When you look at Tesa's checklist of parts in the first case of Chapter 2, one of them is a set of 4 discs stacked on each other. They found out how they work through experimentation (Jack has notes on the specific duration of each one).

[Paul]

Originally posted by Mechalibur:

When you look at Tesa's checklist of parts in the first case of Chapter 2, one of them is a set of 4 discs stacked on each other.

Those are the lenses, not the data disks.

[Mechalibur]

Oh the data disks. Got it.

[SDSkinner2011]

I've got one- why did the Lemurians collapse? The original game implies the idol was responsible. Then we get to the museum (Ancient Artifacts)

We learn
Lemuria had 4 era
Progress
Golden
Turmoil
Restraint

The Golden Idol is from the Golden Age (same design scheme of gold plating + crystals).

The seal with Echo Secunda's memories (and the automaton in the museum) are both from 800 BC, the Restraint era.

This seems weird; in the Lemurian Vampire there were 14 sentinals. We only see the bots arm, but it looks gold plated (probably from the golden age). So The timeline doesn't match.

[Tom S. Fox]

How does the timeline not match?

[darien]

Originally posted by Harald B:

This is in the newspaper in the chapter 2 overview.

Oh, good catch! I missed that.