The Last Express

Three reasons I opened this thread:

1. It's a wonderful, wonderful game and it's on GOG right now, and you should all go and buy it.

2. Then, you should go and fill the work page with some more tropes.

3. Then, you'll be able to explain to me both the ending and how to get all the alternate endings :<

edited 9th Feb '11 8:34:49 AM by TheBigSock

I absolutely loved the “realtime ALL THE TIME”-feel the game had going, and I'm kind of surprised nobody's done anything like it since.

I had a devil of a time buying a copy even two years after it shipped, such a shame Broderbund fumbled the thing. I wonder if they'll ever make good on the prospect of a DVD version with higher quality assets?

Eric,

3. Which ending? Did you got the "official ending"? Just so I know how much I should spoil. Besides the negative endings (being killed, being arrested or kicked off the train at the next station) there are 3 endings, with various levels of "goodness"... all "good endings" are a quite a bit bittersweet. Personally, I preferred one of the alternate endings to be better than the official one.

edited 18th Feb '11 12:57:49 PM by val

From what I understood, there's two where you reach Istanbul (I got one of them which I think is the best one) the other one is where you don't blow the whistle and you die on the train. I understand there's a third ending where you get off the train with the suitcase full of money.

This is not on the main page, so I allow myself to put everything in a huge spoiler to protect those who stumble upon this page accidentally. I got all the three "good endings" - by good I mean you don't die or get arrested, as all the endings can be considered Downer Ending.

After a seeing all the endings and 90% of all conversations (the rest can be found in youtube videos, for example), I think I got them all.

The three endings, and how you can get them: (it seems the spoiler tags don't work here, so stop reading if you haven't played the game)

• 1. You get off the train in Vienna with a suitcase full of money.

pro: you're rich!

con: you didn't solve any of the mysteries, you don't get the girl, you miss nearly half of the gameplay.

How to get this ending: Arrive in Vienna so that the Firebird egg is in in the possession of Kronos, either by giving it to him or by not hiding it good enough and allowing his servant to find it. The suitcase doesn't matter, if you have it, he allows you to keep it, if not, he gives it to you.

• 2. You hand over the "merchandise" to the Austro-Hungarian authorities, allowing August Schmidt to be arrested.

pro: you get the girl and have a chance of staying together, you get rewarded by the Emperor. The Firebird remains in your possession. Tatiana, her grandfather, and the British detective survive.

con: you'll have a guilty conscience about being responsible for starting the war. Of course, the war starts anyway, but how can you know it in character? By the way, as the paperboys all shout in Vienna that "Serbia answers", you maybe could deduce that the war will start regardless of your actions, so actually I prefer this ending to the third.

How to get it: don't uncouple the sleeping wagons from the train before confronting Milos. Anna will stop the train to not put the lives of the passengers in danger. I guess she was right, as all those passengers who remained in the front of the train die in the canon ending. The others would probably have died as well.

• 3. Have the Firebird kill Kronos. Canon ending.

pros, cons: as it ends in a cliffhanger, hard to say.

How to get it: arrive to Constantinople with the Firebird in your possession, give it to Kronos, help him open it, and blow the whistle to make it attack him.

In all the other "endings" you either die or get arrested:

• You die if losing any of the fights
• You get arrested if anyone finds the body of Tyler or catch you with bloody clothes.
• You get arrested if you don't hide successfully from the French police who search the train at the first station after Paris if you threw the body out the window before the night.
• You get kicked off the train at the next station if you annoy the passengers or the conductors too much.
• You get killed by the terrorists if you don't show the money to August Schmidt and don't get off in Vienna (ending 1.).
• You get killed by Kahina, Kronos's servant, if you steal the briefcase and keep both the gold and the Firebird until shortly before Vienna.
• You get arrested if you allow Anna to be killed shortly before arriving in Vienna.
• You get killed by Alexei's bomb if you don't steal his detonator and go to sleep after Vienna or wait until 22:40.
• You get killed by Alexei's bomb if you steal his first detonator but wait until 22:40 or go talk with Abbott, failing to realize he made a second detonator. "Dynamite? What dynamite?"
• You get killed if you make any mistake while disarming the bomb.
• You get killed by Kahina if you arrive in Constantinople without the Firebird, refuse to give it to them or take too much time to open it.
• You get killed by the explosion set off by Tatiana if you don't blow the whistle to activate the Firebird at the very end.

edited 19th Feb '11 3:01:45 AM by val

They were talking about this game on HG 101: http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/lastexpress/lastexpress.htm

Looks pretty cool.