The Last Express: Settling In

The Last Express:

Last week's article on The Last Express attempted to avoid spoilers, but this week the plot becomes the focus, as Robert Cath must begin his investigation into the many mysteries on board the Orient Express.

As mentioned previously, the player gains control as Cath boards the Express shortly after it departed the Paris station. At this moment, the player recognizes nothing except the date, 1914, the appearance of two unnamed characters (later to be revealed as Tyler Whitney and Robert Cath), and that the latter boarded a train illegally to avoid French police.

In spite of the tense opening, the first minutes seem either rudderless or hectic, depending on if one appreciates the circumstance they've embarked upon. The Orient Express, for most of The Last Express, is composed of six cars, the Engine, the forward Baggage Car, the Kitchen/Dinning/Smoking Car, the 1st Passenger Car, the 2nd Passenger Car, and Kronos' car. Cath enters the forward door of the 2nd Passenger Car, which contains compartments numbered 1 to 8. The Last Express contains no tutorial, prologue, or recommendation, enabling the player to wander freely to wander through the narrow setting until they're arrest fifteen minutes later. This first failure occurs if Cath doesn't enter compartment #1 before the conductor, who wants to change the bedding, but will discover something Cath should have seen first.
Fortunately, talking to one of the three conductors reveals a few facts. As American's, Robert Cath looks enough, to the European eye, like a man named Tyler Whitney. A majority of the unobservant passengers will mistake one for the other, and the conductor will remind the player that his correct compartment is #1. And when Cath opens the door, and sees Tyler's bleeding corpse on the floor, he says, “Tyler” in a manner which informs the player of their close bond.

Unfortunately there isn't time for a respectable burial. Cath has boarded the train illegally and is standing over a murdered body. The solution: unceremoniously toss Whitney's body out the window of the moving train! Leaving the compartment immediately ensures another fail state, as Cath's jacket is covered in his friend's blood. Yet, Whitney had courteously removed his coat before being murdered. Cath's goes out the window after the body, and Whitney's compliments his disguise. Now the player can allow the conductor to enter, but before leaving the room, Cath should discover a few letters of friendly correspondence between himself and Whitney. Whitney wanted Cath's help with an unspecified trouble, but tribulation arrived before Cath. Furthermore, there's a empty box, clearly meant to contain an object of value, with only two indents to indicate where something had rested.
If one takes the time to wander the corridor after this traumatic incident, a young child, Francois, can be heard telling his parents, “It was a body, I saw a body fall off the train,” in the sort of tone implying he finds the whole experience exhilarating. The boy isn't the only one who noticed the body, as a little while later, French police board the train. Let's just say, Cath needs to hide somewhere, and inside Tyler's compartment is insufficient. If found, the game displays another of its many failure scenes. Each of these are journal entries composed by another passenger, Sophie, and delivered by her voice with no visual effect except a picture of the diary page with her scrawling cursive script.

Once these dangers are past, Cath can settle in and begin to explore. There are so many people of significance aboard the Orient Express, it's useful to keep handwritten records even if one isn't composing a multi-part video game article. It's the only way to catalog the depth of their character, and try to unravel the mystery of Whitney's murder.

Yet, it's a mistake to see The Last Express as a single mystery. There are many conflicts fomenting, just as the storm of war prepares to sweep across the continent. In his quest to discover Whitney's missing object, Cath may find it useful to search compartment #1 again. Whitney's luggage contains a copy of a Russian folk tale. Though fluent in many languages, Cath can't read it, as it is written in Cyrillic script. Fortunately, there are Russians aboard; an elderly aristocrat, Count Vassili, his granddaugher Tatiana, and her former childhood friend Alexei, an anarchist (or more correctly, a communist revolutionary). Tatiana, a charitable soul, will volunteer to translate the document. It contains the myth of the Firebird, a phoenix.
By now, the Orient Express has passed from Paris to Strasbourg, and is traveling towards Munich. Act 1 is over and Act 2 is about to begin. If Act 1was about settling on the Orient Express, Act 2 enables Cath to meet the other occupants and begin to determine the cause of Tyler's death.

Soon, the enigmatic Kronos, residing in his own personal car, invites Cath for an introduction. He recognizes the distinction between Tyler and Cath, and tells the latter he'd commissioned the former to deliver him an artifact of great value. Kronos expects Cath to procure the object, but Cath demurs, since he doesn't know what or where it is. Shortly afterwards, the seemingly jovial Herr Schmidt, failing to realize his former customer is dead, informs Cath that the weapons will be loaded onto the Orient Express in Munich, and he expects payment upon their arrive in Vienna.

When Cath finally has a moment to return to his room, he sees someone slip inside, and going in, finds himself assaulted by a man with a full beard and a cheap black suit. Milo's seen the massive bloodstain on the carpet which the oblivious conductor has conveniently overlook, and he's seeking to extend the stain with Cath's bodily fluids. Here The Last Express introduces the combat mechanic, a simple minigame, where the only options are avoid an attack or attack the enemy. After a few counter attacks, Milo drops his small knife and explains his situation. Tyler planned to pay the German Schmidt for the guns, and deliver them to the Serbians. As a member of the Black Hand, Milo is dedicated to defending his people against the German-Austrian alliance, by preparing for war. Tyler, Milo explains, wanted to help the repressed people of Serbia. When he saw Cath pretending to be Tyler, he became suspicious, and investigated. Worried the shipment of weapons will be canceled, he extracts a promise from Cath to bring Tyler's plan to fruition, and then departs.
Meanwhile, another passenger is seeking to exert her influence on the Express. Anna Wolff, a well bred Austrian, can be observed charming Herr Schmidt in the dining car and whispering with Tatiana in the corridors. Are they chatting, or hiding something of value? With a bit of snooping Cath ease his way into Ms. Wolff's compartment, only to discover a gun pointed at his chest. The elaborately engowned Wolff knows Cath isn't Tyler, because she broke into compartment #1 and saw the dead body. Pressed by an emotional Cath, she denies being the murderer. Did she take the object (which by this point is obviously the Firebird) or know who did the deed? Unfortunately the player has no means of forcing Cath to ask these critical questions. As mentioned previously, one weakness is the inability of the player to direct the flow of conversation, and its highlighted by Cath's failure at this critical juncture to extract the information critical for his success.

And that's the end of Act 2. Next time, we'll take the information we've gather, and use it to solve the difficult, complicated mess of mandatory actions, which are required for Cath to avoid arrest, ignominy, and death.

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