Advice for drinks puzzle...

[themaestro13]

Okay, after spending like an hour on this on my own and doing a bunch of fruitless web searching I decided to pay this forward.

If you're in episode 2 and you need to get everyone a drink to get into the VIP section, here's my advice:

1. As far as I can tell, there is no "clever" solution for figuring out the drinks people want. It's basically all trial-and-error, otherwise known as the WORST kind of puzzle. The only exception is the tech guy sitting at the table. Interact with his drink and Turing will tell you what he's drinking.

2. Most of the types your looking for (bitter, sweet, spicy, etc.) have an obvious name from the drinks menu. Keep scrolling through and start with the obvious solutions. Alternatively, google "Read Only Memories drinks" and you'll find a full list on the wiki.

3. If you're still having trouble (bitter was a b**** to figure out) you can leave the bar and come back in and hope for an easier drink type. I believe everyone's preferences are randomized.

4. The solution I eventually found for bitter was Sazerac.

RANT TO THE DEVS:
Really?! This is not a puzzle - it's a test of patience and an eggregious one at that. If you absolutely felt this "puzzle" needed to be this way, at the very least you could have cut out the 8 lines of dialogue between me canceling a drink and me getting to another one. When you create a "puzzle" like this with no alternative solution and then artificially make the process 10x longer than it could be, you are straight up disrespecting the player's time. There are much worse games out there that don't make this mistake and you can do better than that.

[Stellar]

I remember being really irritated that one of the patrons asked for a sour drink, and I got her EVERY SOUR DRINK on the whole list and she didn't like any of them. I eventually went to other parts of the game and came back and I was somehow able to get past that part...really dumb.

[Eldredpe]

Whiskyrita will also work for bitter.

The answers for the puzzle seem to be mostly intuitive based on drink ingredients (if you're fairly familiar with the properties of various liquors and mixers), though the answer for bitter does seem a little picky. There were a few other drinks that seemed like they ought to have worked for that and didn't.

[WhatAGenerousThirtyTwoCharacters]

Beer works for bitter, I got that through sheer luck (the fifth item i tried).

[SupaPowaDood]

There's a way to take all the guessing out of the drink puzzle.
If you look at the drink next to the man in the center of the room it will tell you whats in the glass. Then just give him that drink. From there its just trial and error in the discussion tree. No luck involved.

[Lanika]

I found a drink that is both spicy and sour. The Gut Puncher. I was picking and chosing according to the names trying to find one that fit.

[hylozoist]

"Really bitter" required a Rusty Nail

[Pandamator]

I'm stuck with the really bitter lady. Sazerac doesn't work, beer or rusty nail doesn't work and so do a hundred other drinks. Nice puzzle there. way to kill the flow

[Ailes]

I don't think it's too much a big deal. I never had issues so to speak of with it but maybe I just got lucky.

Provided it is working as intended - because Sazerac was what I gave the bitter lady (the one who talks about her brother getting harassed by Human Revolution protesters) and she immediately accepted that drink.

What I agree on is that perhaps a skip feature for at least certain dialogues would be nice. Especially when you have your preferred diet set to non-alcoholic you need to listen to Turing advising against most of your orders on and on again.

I mean, if you really can't handle it you can just go with the IT tattoo parlor guy. Turing explicitly tells you what he is drinking. The remaining "puzzles" in this game, if you want to call them as such, are absolutely foolproof. If this was a more oldschool point & click game your story flow would be interrupted much more often by way longer stretches. Other players might as well dislike the (non-)depth of gameplay in this title (I'm happy the way it is because I want to enjoy story and characters and not get thrown off course by artificial obstacles).

[Pandamator]

Yeah but somehow I alienated the gay guy and the IT guy went off solving his problem. So I'm stuck with the lady and I suppose that after a few wrong tries she just doesn't accept any more drinks even if they're the right ones.

So I guess I'm stuck with the choice of starting a new game or quitting entirely, which is, well, game-breaking...

Edit: ooooh, never mind, it was my mistake. Apparently she changes her taste every time you save the game, so I was offering her all the bitter drinks while she wanted something else...

[Ailes]

Originally posted by Pandamator:

er mind, it was my mistake. Apparently she changes her taste every time you save the game, so I was offering her all the bitter drinks while she wanted something else...

That happens in some other instances of the game too. The IT guy can have a different drink too.

I don't think you need to start the game anew or quit. This isn't a very harsh game even if it has some game over or go-back-to-checkpoint scenarios. Quite a few game overs only happen by stressing certain dialogue options/object use actions a dozen times where you are told in relatively clear words that continuing in doing what you do will see you punished.

I haven't seen what happens when all hybrids walk off but I was actually going to find out in the next couple hours (on a sidenote, what makes the IT tattoo parlor guy a hybrid, I can't tell just by his looks?). I imagine there to be an alternative then. If you really get a game over for making all three hybrids walk away - well that would be a bummer. But then again you must try rather hard for that to happen, and the game does actually tell you to save often.

[Ailes]

Well, Sylvan came out again and dragged me into the VIP area (is it always him? I don't think I'm gonna test it). There is actually an achievement for failing this "puzzle".

[ubercub]

The game does not distinguish from "very sour" or "a little sour" - those quantifiers don't mean anything and it's just the flavor of the drink you're aiming for. Here I made a list.

7 Minutes satisfies SWEET
AirDrink satisfies NONE due to it having no ingredients
Antarctic Harvest satisfies SWEET, BITTER, FRUITY, SOUR
Bear's Wintertini satisfies SWEET, FRUITY
Beer satisfies SWEET, BITTER, FRUITY, SOUR, SPICY
Bionic Femme satisfies SWEET, BITTER, FRUITY
Blue Fairy satisfies SWEET, FRUITY
BlueBoi satisfies SWEET, BITTER, FRUITY, SOUR
Butch Flower satisfies BITTER
Buzzer satisfies BITTER
Canopy satisfies SWEET, FRUITY, SOUR
Clumsy Belarussian satisfies SWEET, BITTER, FRUITY, SOUR
Core A'peel satisfies SWEET, FRUITY
Den Svenska Bjornstammen satisfies BITTER
Dougies 'N Creme satisfies SWEET, BITTER, FRUITY
Drinking Game satisfies SWEET, BITTER
Fluffy Dream satisfies SWEET, FRUITY, SOUR, SPICY
♥♥♥♥♥♥' IDK satisfies SWEET, BITTER, SPICY
Garibaldi satisfies SWEET, BITTER
Green Tea satisfies SWEET, BITTER
Groggy Nog satisfies SWEET, BITTER, SOUR
Gut Punch satisfies BITTER, SOUR, SPICY
Hassy Spike satisfies SWEET, BITTER, FRUITY, SOUR
Ingredients and Ratios satisfies SWEET, BITTER, SOUR, SPICY
Kir Royale satisfies FRUITY, SOUR
Maple You Closer satisfies SWEET
Michelada satisfies BITTER, FRUITY, SOUR
Mo' Sugar Rush satisfies SWEET, FRUITY
Modest Connie satisfies SWEET, BITTER, SOUR
Natasha Allegri satisfies SWEET, BITTER, SPICY
Netherworld satisfies SWEET, BITTER, FRUITY, SPICY
Onyx Rum satisfies SWEET, BITTER, FRUITY
Persian Joon satisfies BITTER
Power Play satisfies SWEET, BITTER, FRUITY, SOUR
PT satisfies SWEET, BITTER, FRUITY
Radimastr satisfies SWEET, FRUITY, SPICY
Rusted Lace satisfies SWEET, BITTER, SOUR, SPICY
Rusty Nail satisfies SWEET, BITTER
Sazerac satisfies SWEET, BITTER
Scotch, Drop, and Roll satisfies SWEET, FRUITY, SPICY
Sickly Sky satisfies SWEET, BITTER, FRUITY, SOUR
Sober Chauffeur satisfies SWEET, BITTER, FRUITY, SOUR
Sour Appletini satisfies SWEET, BITTER, FRUITY, SOUR
Spicy Gentleman satisfies SWEET, BITTER, FRUITY, SOUR, SPICY
Subtle ♥♥♥♥♥ satisfies SWEET, BITTER
Sunshine Cloud satisfies FRUITY
Tastes Like Orange satisfies SWEET, BITTER, FRUITY, SOUR, SPICY
TMF satisfies SWEET, FRUITY
Tokyo Tea satisfies BITTER, FRUITY
WeinerJuice satisfies SWEET, BITTER
Whiskey satisfies SWEET, BITTER, SPICY
Whiskeyrita satisfies SWEET, BITTER, FRUITY, SOUR
Wolf Bite Shot satisfies SWEET, FRUITY

The only other value the game tracks for drinks is alcohol level, for your diet and getting drunk. If any of the above doesn't work out in game, it's a bug and let me know to fix it. :D

[Arynis]

Whoa, that list is so awesome! I love in-depth information like this.

I also didn't realize there'd be different alcohol levels, considering it felt like it would take the same amount of drinks (~5 -> ~3) to get drunk each time. It seemed faster while I was going for the achievements, but I assumed that was because I was repeatedly getting drunk, not because I happened to drink drinks with heavier alcohol levels.

EDIT to not double post:

I haven't seen what happens when all hybrids walk off but I was actually going to find out in the next couple hours (on a sidenote, what makes the IT tattoo parlor guy a hybrid, I can't tell just by his looks?). I imagine there to be an alternative then. If you really get a game over for making all three hybrids walk away - well that would be a bummer. But then again you must try rather hard for that to happen, and the game does actually tell you to save often.

Well, Sylvan came out again and dragged me into the VIP area (is it always him? I don't think I'm gonna test it). There is actually an achievement for failing this "puzzle".

Yeah, I think it's always Sylvan. He takes you in as a failsafe if you fail with every patron, earning you the Unsociable achievement.

Also, Boris isn't a Hybrid I think, the VIP area is for Hybrids and friends, so non-Hybrids can also enter if they have a good rep. Or at least that's what I gathered.

[ubercub]

Yep! Heavier content gets you drunk faster. That's how drinks like Tokyo Tea, Gut Punch, Power Play, Hassy Spike, and Drinking Game will only take a couple, and drinks like AirDrink, Green Tea, Sober Chauffeur can be alcohol free.

[Arynis]

I recall someone mentioning Tokyo Tea before as a more effective drink, but I didn't know of the others. Thanks! :D