When having a look at the World High Scores today, I saw that in Falcon Manor Easy it is now possible to gain $ 38.950. Before dafalcon changed some things, the maximum was $ 36.925. As far as I knew.

So reason enough to play that very first mansion again. But ... I got in troubles. I am not sure yet if I am stuck or if it is a SJS (= Sir Jack Stuck).

Things went well till I did slide down the pole with my rainbowkey and chose to open the left (red) door. After taking everything (?) in the left wing, I used the purple key in # 19296, took the green key and opened the green door in the same room. Because I didn't find a blue key in the left wing as before, I was glad I could continue to the right wing from below, but finally ended with having only a YELLOW key. To continue I need a GREEN or a BLUE key. Or I should be able to change the gold in silver blocks. At the right time of course.

I've also just been playing through everything again - started with Falcon Manor Easy and then Normal.  And, well, I have a complaint or maybe I'm not finding which way to go properly (in Normal)  :-/ but I when I get to the second tier down (the green door is in the middle - and yes, I easily found the green key and can go back and forth there), in both rooms 18297 and 18294, there are slides down, but once you go down to the next tier, you can't come back up or go across to do the other side! I can't get everything on the right side AND on the left side - it seems to be one or t'other!  I'm not stuck; I did everything on that level, but I can't find a way to do the WHOLE mansion!   :'(

suzanne

Well, it is a public secret that I never liked Falcon Manor, because it was never possible to visit the whole mansion. But, unless I am very wrong, I believe it is even worse now.

To be sure, I am going to look again. NOW.

We could always pounce on deFalcon ::) and see if he can do a little update... :o

Never knew why I kept the dmg-files from previous MM-versions. Until know. Reloaded version 1.0.4 to check what the rooms 16095 and 16296 were looking before. Watch the differences!!

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1° So in the left wing was a blue key which is now gone. (Although no images of it, in the right wing was a red key which is now gone as well.) No real problem with that, except that I don't like it. Even more of the mansion can't be visited now in one walkthrough.

2° But the changing of room 16296 seems to create serious problems. After opening the left purple door and taking the green key, opening the OBVIOUS green door in the same room leads in my opinion to a Sir Jack Stuck. The player is supposed to take that green key to the far left end to open the green door over there and to continue pole down. But I am still not 100 % sure. Why should dafalcon have placed that green door to give access to a small part of the right wing?

And I used the green key to open the far RIGHT door at the end of the little maze section up above (with all the ladders & silver & gold blocks and gray doors)... and slid down that pole - which is another part of the problem - because when I got to the bottom of that pole, there were red & blue doors with purple keys behind them) at opposite ends and NO KEYS!

This was in "normal" - doesn't sound very normal to me!

suzanne

About my point

1° The background word "OR" with the 2 arrows explains everything in the room at the bottom of the pole below the rainbowkey. A player is forced to go left OR right. Not funny, but however.

2° After a large break I did check it again and I am very sure now that there is a Jack-stuck when a player opens the green door in room 16296. Probably independent from whether he opens the left red or the right blue door in the room mentioned above.

@ suztours: Do I understand you right that in Falcon Manor Normal you chose to go right through the blue door at the OR-fork? Before going down by the right pole beyond a green door and getting into troubles.

Humm - well, I'm usually pretty observant (a tour guide has to be), but frankly, when I'm playing MM, I hardly look at the background - just do a quick scan around to see what's up and I'm off.

Remind me which room (number?) and I'll check...

suzanne

suztours and Freddy, thanks for your playing through and taking a look at Falcon Manor Easy and indeed finding that most Cardinal of all Mansion-Building Sins, a Jack-Stuck.  My goal was to create a streamlined way to be able to experience both the Red and Blue sides of the mansion for those who want to do so, without actually forcing an observant player to do so if they choose not to.  Instead I just broke it.  An update has been sent to Vern.

Freddy, take a look to some of the other changes made to Falcon Manor Easy.  I think you will find that it is now possible to visit all of the rooms in the mansion (after making allowances for my fixing of the Jack-Stuck ... which I think only affected players who chose red side then went through the green door).  Correct me if I'm wrong, Freddy, 'cause I made this change for you.

Suztours, I'm not sure if I understand your comments about Falcon Manor Normal here ... I think I'm getting confused between Falcon Manor Easy and Normal.  Can you explain again what you have run into with Falcon Manor Normal?

That is very fast Alan/Falcon. :) Looking forward to the update.

About the normal-version. I believe Suz went right through the blue door, solved the IMO very nice gray door puzzle and took the right pole down. And there she got in troubles somehow by missing one or more needed keys?! Suz ... ?

Freddy wrote on 19.06.2007 at 06:27:09:

About the normal-version. I believe Suz went right through the blue door, solved the IMO very nice gray door puzzle and took the right pole down. And there she got in troubles somehow by missing one or more needed keys?! Suz ... ?

There are a series of red and blue doors down in that section which are simply coin dumps... depending on how you play the above section, you could end up with an extra blue or red key, and this is just a way for you to unload that extra key and make some coins.  Not my most elegant solution to a problem, but it certainly shouldn't prevent you from moving forward.  If it DOES somehow stop you from moving forward, let me know more details so I can look into that further.  I'll be half a world away from my Mac (I'll be in Guam) for about a month and I'm leaving in about a week, so I want to get any needed changes done before that.

suztours wrote on 19.06.2007 at 05:00:11:

Remind me which room (number?) and I'll check...

Room 18895.

EDIT: I notice now that there is no "OR" with arrows in the background of the normal version.

@ suztours & Alan/falcon:
It is clear that the situation in the normal version is completely different. It looks like A/F only changed the easy version?!

Here is room 19296 in the normal version.

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Alan - in Normal - in the level with rooms 18297 and 18294, I was able to do all of that, but then I had to decide which pole to slide down as I couldn't get across to do the other side of the next level.  Because there are steps to climb up in that area, if you would simply put a step (or a disappearing platform) in room 18297 (on the left side, where the pole is, it would be possible to go back up to there and across to slide down the next pole and then do the whole mansion, which would be a lot more satisfying!

suzanne

:)
A few days ago I received an email from Alan/Falcon. He is going to rearrange all three Falcon Manors in a way that, like all other included mansions, they can be visited in one walkthrough. Thanks for doing that Alan!

YEAH! ;D Thanks Alan!  I've just been playing Falcon Manor Hard - will wait for the revisions and start again...

suzanne ;D

It is good to see that the "old" included mansions are more popular and more played than we sometimes think.

This is great news! Thank you, Alan.

;D

Just an important note here... I'll be on a small island in the pacific, away from my mac  :'(, for the next few weeks --  as I told Freddy, I think I know how best to make it possible for a determined player to be able to get all the gold in FME/N/H, and I'll be making those changes and sending them to Vern when I have them.  Unfortunately that can't happen until after I'm back home.  I did send Vern a fix to the FME Jack-Stuck; hopefully that will be updated soon, and the new FME/N/H can come whenever the next MM update rolls around after that.

Alan - a small island in the Pacific, eh?  Have you ever read "The Sex Lives of Cannibals" by Maarten Troost???????

suzanne

:o

;D Don't get nervous - the book has nothing to do with either sex ::) or cannibals  ;)

It's just a great read about one person's experiences on a small Pacific island!

suzanne

:(

;D  The inquisition ... ;D

For Alan and anyone else on their way to a Pacific island... have a listen: http://www.blackstoneaudio.com/audiobook.cfm?id=4357&mp3=1

suzanne

Hey all,

I can on the Easy Mode of Falcon Manor not becomes 100% Secrets. Can somebody help me plz??  :-[

Hi Mikee

I assume it is NOT possible now. But daFalcon is fixing all three Falcon Manors, when he is back from holiday. So, please have a little bit of patience.

No problem. Thx!  :D

I just finished replaying FM easy.  As you've said it is not possible to open the red door first in the third section and then do the blue part.  It is possible the other way around, though.

However.

After I finished the blue and red part of section 3 and went down to the 4. section on the pole furthest to the right, I couldn't find any key to open a few doors scattered around there, each with small treasure behind it.

And coming down to the next section below I couldnt find any purple key for a small treasure alcove.

On the bottom with the exit there is a yellow door.  I know I could have spared a yellow key but I didn't.  I am not sure I like puzzles where you have to keep a key for a section you cannot see on the map when there is an opportunity to use it earlier.

I finished with 92% secrets, which is not acceptable since I've got 100% before.

I know that Alan/Falcon is fully aware of the problems. He already sent an update of the easy version to Vern, but it will not be released, because he decided to rearrange all 3 versions of Falcon Manor in a way that ALL rooms and ALL money will be within reach with one walkthrough. Per mansion, of course. Would be vast improvements, I think.

Let us say that there are ... works in progress. ;)

Freddy wrote on 06.07.2007 at 04:30:43:

Let us say that there are ... works in progress. ;)

And since I joined the forum today and not next week only because I'm trying to walk through *all* of the falcon easy and nightmare easy, I just have to ask if the works in progress also have been finished and thus included in the 1.1.1 release, or if I'm not such bad a player as I start to think?

Tried "everything" to find a way to visit all of the manor in both cases, even having the builder open trying to figure out which order I have to use the keys not to miss a single bag of coins [even though I'm on holiday, my logical thinking shouldn't be that damaged by only two weex off]

As far as I know you cannot visit all parts of those mansions in one play.

brell wrote on 03.01.2008 at 04:45:46:

As far as I know you cannot visit all parts of those mansions in one play.

:'(

I might have to add an extra key to them then, just for my own satisfaction of having visited all of them...

but it's not the same... So when you see the "total number of points" in the builder, it's the total number of placed gold, not the total number of achievable gold? hmm... i c  :(

And I know even more. There are no works in progress any more. The designer of the Falcon Manors is and will be absent for a while. Therefor Vern decided not to change these mansions until he is back. Clear mistakes will of course be fixed.

To summarize: in the 3 Falcon Manors it is NOT possible to see all rooms in one visit. :(

I have to bow my head low and admit that while I was going and investigating the secret sex lives of cannibals in Guam, I completely forgot about my plans to make all of Falcon Manor accessible.   :-X

I see now what Suztours and others are concerned about -- I definitely created the mansions in a way that prevented players from being able to open all doors and visit all rooms, but I see where that is leading to confusion and frustration and Freddy disliking my mansion  :'(  So I have to try to really re-work all of this and at the same time make sure I don't break it again!  

Is this really the only built-in mansion where it is not possible to get all the coins?

I do have to mention however that I'll be getting married (yay me!  [smiley=happy.gif]) in November (on 11/11!), and only have a few hours of free time a week right now, most of which is being put towards making a website for the wedding and other wedding plans -- so this could take a while and I wouldn't suggest anyone hold their breath.  That said, Freddy, you should still have my e-mail address, and feel free to poke me every so often to remind me that I said I'd do this!   [smiley=embarassed.gif]

Alan -

MAZEL TOV! ;D

Looking forward to pics and news as plans develop and of course, of the wedding itself!

suzanne

Alan Falcon wrote on 29.01.2008 at 18:04:52:

Is this really the only built-in mansion where it is not possible to get all the coins?

No.  In Nightmare Mansion (at least the easy version) it is impossible to enter all rooms in one go.


Alan Falcon wrote on 29.01.2008 at 18:04:52:

I do have to mention however that I'll be getting married (yay me!  [smiley=happy.gif]) in November (on 11/11!), and only have a few hours of free time a week right now, most of which is being put towards making a website for the wedding and other wedding plans -- so this could take a while and I wouldn't suggest anyone hold their breath.

You mean you let your private life have a higher priority than our MM life?  8-)

suztours wrote on 29.01.2008 at 18:30:08:

Looking forward to pics and news as plans develop and of course, of the wedding itself!

Thanks!  I've got the domain AlanandAshly.com but the site is all still being built behind the scenes -- we are working really hard to have it done by February 1st.  Well, except for when I've been taking these MM breaks, of course. :-)

While I don't love the idea of major changes to included mansions that are intended to do more than simply try to fix a Jack-Stuck, I do feel that the modified versions of Midnight Mansion that I have just completed are justified "upgrades" to the previously included versions of Falcon Manor.  For one thing, I found one possible Jack-Stuck in Falcon Manor Hard and fixed it.  For another, Freddy has been warning everyone on these boards about upcoming changes to Falcon Manor (and thus the High Scores List for Falcon Manor) for several months now.  And finally, it does seem that the vast majority of you all want to be able to know that it is at least possible to open every door, collect every coin, and reach every secret in a single perfectly-played run-through of a mansion.    So it is for these reasons that I would like to submit my revised mansions to review for Vern.  

But!  Before I do, I'd greatly, greatly appreciate some beta testing from members here who would be willing to run through at least one version of the revised Falcon Manor and also have a look in the editor to see if I managed to introduce any new Jack Stucks or failed to achieve my goal of allowing everything (significant*) to be gotten in a single run-through.

Please contact me on these boards though PM with your e-mail address if you are willing to test at least one version of this mansion, and I will send you the file.  Once I feel that the mansions have been actually tested by someone other than just myself, I'll send them to Vern to be included in the next update of Midnight Mansion.

* Due to the design of Falcon Manor, it became necessary to include one door which the player may or may not be able to open, and which only leads to a single key of a different color.  Depending on a random choice you make earlier in the mansion, you may or may not have to use this door to swap your key for another colored key.  There is no gold behind this door, and no secrets, so at worst you would simply have a door that remains unopened, but at no actual loss to you.

This has been harder than I first imagined, and I've ended up making some relatively significant changes.  In fact, there are now new secrets in (I think) every version of Falcon Manor!  A HUGE thanks to those of you who have sent me a PM and started the testing process. :-)  Without your help, I wouldn't have been able to continue to make changes during the free block of time I had today.   :D

New eyes are still appreciated, and if you would like to be one of the first to try what could become the "new" Falcon Manor (if Vern decides to go with it!) then please send me a PM with your e-mail address and I will send you the mansions.   8-)

I appreciate the help so far, testers!  :-)  Thank you so very much!

I still do need someone who would be willing and able to play through the hard version to test for Jack Stucks and provide feedback.  Post here or send me a PM and I'll get you the files to try out.  I hope to be able to get a stamp of approval on this soon to send to Vern to have ready for the next MM update!

Again, thank you all!   8-)