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Odd Puzzle Solotution in The Penal Zone (Spoilers!)

Pillow TalkPillow Talk
edited May 2010 in Sam & Max
I noticed that at the end of the game when you're in the Moleman shrine setting up the dimensional rift generator, that you can plug a large power cable into the Devil's Toychest and then turn on the boiler to make the molemen sweat, causing a puddle of sweat to form around the presumably electrified chest.

My original thoughts were that I set up this trap and then wait for the rift to close and Skunkape to try and open it, but instead you just need to use the paddle ball to entice the dumb gorilla to let go and get sucked into Sam & Max's Penal Zone (lol, I love that gag).

Is this other "puzzle" misdirection? The rift never closes no matter what you do or how long you wait, so there is nothing the "electrified" chest and puddle of mole juice accomplish.

Comments

  • JoopJoop
    edited April 2010
    Sierra wrote:
    Sorry, you couldn't get the Gorilla in the rift on time.
    The rift closed and the Gorilla ripped you to shreds.
    Hope you saved your game!
    ...
  • Harald BHarald B
    edited April 2010
    The point of the mole juice is to make the floor slippery so that he loses his balance and gets sucked in. Electrocution wouldn't be a bad idea, but then you'd have to close the rift, which is the only thing keeping Skunkape from beating you into a pulp.
  • Pillow TalkPillow Talk
    edited April 2010
    Joop wrote: »
    ...

    Shenanigans. I set up this trap and even left to go eat dinner and he was still hanging on for dear life.
  • Rather DashingRather Dashing
    edited April 2010
    In Telltale games, the rule is that things generally don't change unless you make them change. What if the rift closed before you "set the trap"? You be dead, that's what. It can't be time-based, obviously, because the rift could close without the sweat and the power cable plugged in.

    Besides, the power isn't electricity. It's evil magic.
  • Pillow TalkPillow Talk
    edited April 2010
    Rather Dashing wrote: »
    Besides, the power isn't electricity. It's evil magic.

    So perhaps I am not powering the chest, but using the chest to power whatever the heck the other end of the cable is attached to. :O

    I am well aware of the "no death" policy most adventure games have. Only one I ever played that you could die was Lighthouse. However, sometimes there's a logical error and you miss something you can't go back for and get stuck with no way to progress forward.
  • JoopJoop
    edited April 2010
    Pillow Talk wrote: »
    Shenanigans. I set up this trap and even left to go eat dinner and he was still hanging on for dear life.

    It was a joke. In the old Sierra games, when you made a wrong move you'd die, and you'd get these big squares of text with these kind of messages. ;)
    It's kinda sweet that you tried that and went to eat your dinner though.
  • Harald BHarald B
    edited April 2010
    Pillow Talk wrote: »
    So perhaps I am not powering the chest, but using the chest to power whatever the heck the other end of the cable is attached to. :O
    Well, yes. The other end goes to that socket and powers the rift generator.
  • Giant TopeGiant Tope
    edited April 2010
    Pillow Talk wrote: »
    So perhaps I am not powering the chest, but using the chest to power whatever the heck the other end of the cable is attached to. :O


    Actually that is the point entirely.
  • caeskacaeska
    edited April 2010
    Joop wrote: »
    It was a joke. In the old Sierra games, when you made a wrong move you'd die, and you'd get these big squares of text with these kind of messages. ;)
    It's kinda sweet that you tried that and went to eat your dinner though.

    Damn I so miss the old Sierra games where you could die in all sorts of comical fashions.
    Like leisure suit larry 2, where if you didn't pick that thing up at the beginning of the game you would be stuck and unable to complete the game when you reached the end. Bring back those kinds of puzzles!
  • JoopJoop
    edited April 2010
    caeska wrote: »
    Damn I so miss the old Sierra games where you could die in all sorts of comical fashions.
    Like leisure suit larry 2, where if you didn't pick that thing up at the beginning of the game you would be stuck and unable to complete the game when you reached the end. Bring back those kinds of puzzles!

    I kinda like 'm for what they are. But I'm never going in there again without a walkthrough. I would've spend 20 hours on a game when realising I had to pick up a pixel in the beginning!
    So... No, we don't need to have these kind of puzzles anymore.
  • caeskacaeska
    edited April 2010
    Joop wrote: »
    I kinda like 'm for what they are. But I'm never going in there again without a walkthrough. I would've spend 20 hours on a game when realising I had to pick up a pixel in the beginning!
    So... No, we don't need to have these kind of puzzles anymore.

    Ah, but those were the truly challenging adventure games.
  • Rather DashingRather Dashing
    edited April 2010
    caeska wrote: »
    Damn I so miss the old Sierra games where you could die in all sorts of comical fashions.
    Like leisure suit larry 2, where if you didn't pick that thing up at the beginning of the game you would be stuck and unable to complete the game when you reached the end. Bring back those kinds of puzzles!
    You obviously never played Infocom's Trinity. You had a limited inventory AND if I'm remembering this correctly every single level got destroyed in a nuclear explosion. Sometimes you couldn't know which items you needed from an area until after it was destroyed.
  • JoopJoop
    edited April 2010
    caeska wrote: »
    Ah, but those were the truly challenging adventure games.

    Truly frustrating too. ;)
  • Hassat HunterHassat Hunter
    edited April 2010
    Good to know I wasn't the only one thinking about electrifying Molemen.

    Also, there are a few timed puzzles in TTG games (Bomb from ToMI 1 for example or shooting the monster in 205).
  • caeskacaeska
    edited April 2010
    Rather Dashing wrote: »
    You obviously never played Infocom's Trinity. You had a limited inventory AND if I'm remembering this correctly every single level got destroyed in a nuclear explosion. Sometimes you couldn't know which items you needed from an area until after it was destroyed.

    No, I never played that. This is probably weird but now I'm actually wanting to play it.
  • Rather DashingRather Dashing
    edited April 2010
    caeska wrote: »
    No, I never played that. This is probably weird but now I'm actually wanting to play it.
    It's an Infocom text adventure. The game is sort of a weird fantasy thing, with a lot of history and social commentary on nuclear warfare. Now, it's been awhile since I've played it, so my memory is pretty fuzzy(so I may be wrong on the details); but the way I remember it is that you find yourself in the near future, right before a fictional bombing. I'm pretty sure the story is that you're on vacation or a work trip in London and the sirens go off. Luckily, you find a door simply floating in the air, and go through it before the bomb goes off.

    Or, you know, you don't. And you die. That's kind of how Infocom games worked.

    Anyway, you travel between sites of nuclear explosions, some fictional, most real, and you have some task to complete before the place goes up. You finally end up at the Trinity test site in New Mexico in the 1940s.
  • WapcapletWapcaplet
    edited April 2010
    Trinity is, hands down, my favorite Infocom game by far. An absolutely amazing game.

    Man, I wish Brian Moriarty would leave the academic world and go back to game design.
  • JoopJoop
    edited April 2010
    I love how this topic got offtopic after only a few posts.
    Gotta love the Telltale forums. ^^
  • MolokovMolokov
    edited April 2010
    Hassat Hunter wrote: »
    Good to know I wasn't the only one thinking about electrifying Molemen.

    Also, there are a few timed puzzles in TTG games (Bomb from ToMI 1 for example or shooting the monster in 205).

    The thing with the timed puzzles in TTG games is that even if you run out of time the first (second, third,...) times, the situation can be set up again so you can still solve the puzzle.

    You can never ever get stuck in a situation where you can't complete the game (unless there's some obscure software bug).
  • Chartreuse DavenportChartreuse Davenport
    edited May 2010
    Exactly! Just look at when Sam and Max are trapped in the penal zone with a time bomb. Nothing happens!
  • DideroDidero
    edited May 2010
    Maybe time stands still in the Penal Zone.
  • Rather DashingRather Dashing
    edited May 2010
    Really, Sam? Any second?
  • Secret FawfulSecret Fawful
    edited May 2010
    Rather Dashing wrote: »
    You find yourself in the near future, right before a fictional bombing. I'm pretty sure the story is that you're on vacation or a work trip in London and the sirens go off. Luckily, you find a door simply floating in the air, and go through it before the bomb goes off. Anyway, you travel between sites of nuclear explosions, some fictional, most real, and you have some task to complete before the place goes up. You finally end up at the Trinity test site in New Mexico in the 1940s.

    Maybe it's just the Grickle craze right now, but why do I see that entirely in my head in Graham Annable's art style.
  • NeatNitNeatNit
    edited May 2010
    Harald B wrote: »
    Well, yes. The other end goes to that socket and powers the rift generator.
    Actually, if I looked at the cables right, the side that was attatched to the chest was the wrong one. It leads to where power should COME FROM, not GO TO. It wasn't satisfying solving it like that :(
  • Power46Power46
    edited May 2010
    To me, it looked like the time bomb would go off on 6/14/55, AKA June 14th, 2055. I wonder what happens if you set your computer's clock to that date and load up a save file from when you are in the Penal Zone with the bomb.
  • AvistewAvistew
    edited May 2010
    NeatNit wrote: »
    Actually, if I looked at the cables right, the side that was attatched to the chest was the wrong one. It leads to where power should COME FROM, not GO TO. It wasn't satisfying solving it like that :(

    It seemed that way to me!
    I actually only put it in the chest to get it out of the way, so I could plug the thing in the other half.
    I was surprised how it turned out.

    Of course, I hadn't even realised it was the same thing that powered the outlet. I was seeing them like two different power outlets.
  • HubertHubert
    edited May 2010
    Power46 wrote: »
    To me, it looked like the time bomb would go off on 6/14/55, AKA June 14th, 2055. I wonder what happens if you set your computer's clock to that date and load up a save file from when you are in the Penal Zone with the bomb.
    Heh. Talk about an Easter egg...
    Avistew wrote: »
    It seemed that way to me!
    I actually only put it in the chest to get it out of the way, so I could plug the thing in the other half.
    I was surprised how it turned out.

    Of course, I hadn't even realised it was the same thing that powered the outlet. I was seeing them like two different power outlets.
    Yeah. As it was, I solved that puzzle just by doing something random, not something that made sense in the slightest...unless Sam's & Max's office is actually a power plant for the rest of the city???

    ...but then why would the outlet in their building get it's power from outside the building?

    ...Where was that power cord GOING, anyway? Did Max sign some literal "Deal with the Devil" and sell his electricity to Satan in Hell?
  • Hassat HunterHassat Hunter
    edited May 2010
    Good to see I am not the only one solving that puzzle by "randomly using items in order to create comic mischief". Something I should have apparently be no longer to do at that stage of the game ;).
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