Last we left our— *ahem* — intrepid young hero, Junpei, he was just beginning his search for a way out of the currently-flooding cabin in the boat that should have blown up but I guess really didn't.
This is precluded by one ploddingly-written tutorial for exploring, which normally would be acceptable, given that I can understand how some people haven't played a game like Phoenix Wright and gone through investigation segments, but come now. When you have to be told the purpose of escaping— something that should be insanely obvious to anyone with two brain cells to click together —then something isn't quite right around here.
We don't have a whole lot to check out around here, since it is a small cabin, but there are some obvious things, like the blue briefcase
◊ sitting on the bunk. Unfortunately, it's locked, so we'll have to come back to it later.
Over by the stove is an old teapot or something, and inside the stove itself is... a screwdriver?
◊ Uh. Alright. Whatever. Checking the tea kettle provides us with... a blue key!
◊
Excellent. Let's go pop that briefcase open and reap the sweet, sweet rewards.
...Or not.
Junpei: I guess I'm gonna need some sort of code for the dial.
Interesting if true, Junpei! Let's get to looking for a way to get it open, preferably before you suffer a slow, terrible death by drowning. ...After we get away from the tutorial about minigames, anyway.
Searching the room further turns up a cornucopia of items and a disturbing lack of screenshots for said items. To remedy this, I have made some artistic renderings that should give you a good idea of how the items looked.
Around the sink we find a note
◊ pinned to a bulletin board, a framed photograph of a ship
◊, and another tutorial, this time about combining items. Examining the photograph informs us that the frame's backing is screwed on. Why, we have a screwdriver! How convenient! As if it were... planned this way...
Sarcasm aside, opening the back of the frame reveals that there's a bizarre combination of numbers and triangles written on the back of the photo. It looks suspiciously similar to the triangles on the note we just got. Ultimately, I'm sure this code will have something to do with unlocking the door, but for now, my rampant kleptomania insists we get that briefcase open.
There's a well-hidden closet I almost didn't even notice behind the stove. Opening it reveals another freakin' briefcase!
◊ This one is red, and like the blue one, it's locked.
The red key
◊ just happens to be taped to a covered-up mirror, and upon grabbing the key, we're launched into a flashback sequence as Junpei looks into the mirror
◊ and finally remembers what happened to him.
It's a long, repetitive sequence, so I'll summarize:
[*] Junpei comes home at midnight; finds his window open.
◊
[*] Man in gas mask
◊ appears.
◊
[*] Smoke bombs
◊ and passing out!
[*] Nonary Game!
[*] ????
[*] Profit!
With that out of the way, we now have every item this room has to offer, and we're ready to open the briefcases.
They keys, obviously, turn one lock, but we also have to put in a numbered code to open it all the way, which is where the triangle codes come in handy. I suck at stuff like this, however, so I spent about an hour on this before I got pissed, rage quit, demanded the numbers from my friend, and finally solved the puzzle. You call it cheating, I call it using a lifeline. Next time, I'll poll the audience.
And did I mention that every time you navigate away from the briefcase minigame and come back, you have to sit through the tutorial all over again? Very annoying.
Anyway, when we open
◊ the red case, we find some red-colored key cards.
◊ Upon opening
◊ the blue case, we get a file
◊ on how to find the digital root of a number. Basically, to find a digital root, you just keep adding numbers until you get a single-digit number, which is the digital root.
The example the game gives us is to find the digital root of 678. 6 + 7 + 8 = 21, but since 21 isn't a single-digit number, you add the two digits together. 2 + 1 = 3, making 3 the digital root of 678. It's a lot more simple than it sounds, really.
Opening the file also gives us a calculator for use during certain parts of the story, and some blue key cards.
◊ Now we really have everything here, so it's time to try and open the door, lest we drown.
Upon examining the lock beside the door, we're prompted to use the key cards. After swiping all the cards from both sets, however, Junpei becomes annoyed that nothing is happening. He then decides to try combining the cards to make an equation that equals out to 5 as the digital root. Compared to the briefcase puzzle, this is insanely simple. 6 + 7 + 1 = 14; 1 + 4 = 5. Ta-da. WE FOUND IT!
◊
The door's open, so it's time to ditch this pig.
Accompanied by a wall of angry water
◊, Junpei shot out of the room and into the opposing wall. Gasping to catch his breath, he looked around. He was in a narrow hallway.
The water that had followed him out of the room was rapidly pouring out of the door. It flowed quickly down the hallway, and slammed into the foot of the short flight of stairs. Just 5 steps in fact.
And at the top of this short staircase...
Junpei: A door!
◊ Another door!
Junpei leapt up the stairs, straight for the door. The door burst open, and Junpei exploded out of it, only to freeze in his tracks. What other possible response could there have been to what he saw?
Junpei: Wha...what the hell...?
His voice trailed off, and all he could do was stare.
A polished floor stretched out before him, ornate staircases rising up from the edges, each one of them equidistant from the others. The stairs and pillars were solid wood, and Art Nouveau embellishments and decorations covered the walls and pillars.
It looked like nothing so much as the entrance to a luxurious mansion
◊ from the early 1900s. Junpei couldn't help but wonder...
Was he really in a ship?
The water quickly filling the hallway behind him suggested that yes, he was.
◊
As he looked, a fresh wave rolled out of the room he'd been in, gathering speed as it moved toward the stairs.
Junpei: Yeah, that's what I thought... This is totally a bo— Wait, what the hell?! A wave?!
◊ Sh-Shit! I gotta get outta here!
Junpei spun around, his wet shoes squeaking in protest on the polished floor, and ran toward the tremendous staircase in front of him.
[C Deck]
[B Deck] *
As he ran, he glanced quickly at the plates mounted on the wall, denoting the decks of the ship. He took the stairs 2 at a time, not entirely sure where he would find himself.
Just as he began to wonder where, in fact, the stairs did lead...
Find out next time, on the third installment of Junpei Does Dallas 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors! And sorry about some of the items having no screenshots. I have no idea what happened to the ones I took.
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